The Consort (MalexMale) 《COMPLETE》

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The presence of his breathing rattles me, a constant reminder of the absence of his essence. He's not filling his lungs for survival. He's filling them to breathe in my essence. He's filling them as a teasing appetizer to the main course of a meal long overdue.

The drop of blood slipping down my bottom lip becomes the center of his focus, the center of his world. His red eyes swirl with the hunger. I wait for him to close the remaining inches between us, but he doesn't. He continues to stare.

"Go ahead," I whisper. "If you want to."

My encouragement causes the drop of blood to slip down my chin. Bogdan's nostrils flare. He's thrown out of his trance, and his eyes snap up to meet my gaze. The strength of his hold vanishes from around my face.

"I thought the idea of providing me your blood was repulsive."

Bogdan tilts his head back. The moon shimmers over his fangs and red eyes, his appearance more reminiscent to a feral animal than an immortal man. I pale remembering the words of my email. He doesn't give me time to reply.

"We need to go inside," he orders, backing away from me. "Now."

Another rejection.

Except this time, it's my own fault.

I swallow down the disappointment and open the car door. The night air carries with it a trail of feigned calm, and my senses tumble into overdrive. I glance left. Then right. The silence is unbearable. Back home I can go outside and hear crickets chirping, an occasional bird hooting in some low-hanging branch. Out here there's nothing. It's suffocating and pulls at the rest of my nerves like quicksand.

"Let's go!" Bogdan hisses.

I flinch and stand with stiffened limbs. He waits until I'm a foot away from him before jogging up the cracked walkway. Bits of dried weeds slap against my ankles. Even the earth shows little signs of life here. Bogdan fishes for a key in his pocket and glances around him once more. His red eyes are translucent against the black night.

He opens the door and ushers me inside. I expect him to flip on a light switch, but instead there's a stretch of stillness before a burst of candlelight flickers to life on the other side of the room. If it was any other circumstance, I might find the lack of light somewhat romantic. But in this case it's expected.

Vampires don't need light to see. They don't need light at all. Their night vision far surpasses their day vision. I'm surprised he has a candle at all, actually. I blindly feel around me, looking for a place to sit. Bogdan's red eyes and the small candlelight are the only things I can see. Not even whispers of moonlight make it through the unforgiving blinds.

"I'll be back in a moment," Bogdan whispers with a clipped tone.

A refrigerator door opens and closes. The manmade light allows me just enough time to locate a small couch near the edge of the room. I take a seat and draw my legs up into my chest. I used to sit like this when I was a kid. My mom would tell me to sit up straight; it made me look shy and weak. Right now I'm feeling a crap ton of both.

I think Bogdan is still in the kitchen, but when I turn my head I'm startled to find him sitting across from me. His red eyes are glowing. My heart slams against my chest, and I think I see his nostrils flare.

"I can't offer you anything to eat," he murmurs under his breath. "But the water here is clean if you're thirsty."

"I'm fine."