He also wanted her body.
Aria shuddered, desire pooled through her. It was something that she hadn't been ready for, something she hadn't given because circumstances always seemed to separate them. But even though they were on the run, adrift in a world that provided no security, there were no barriers between them anymore. She didn't even care that they were kneeling on a kitchen floor right now; she was so swept up in the aching desire pulsating through her.
He pulled away from her, shaking as he held her. "Arianna," he moaned.
"I understand. I know what you need." But though she said the words, she wasn't sure they were right. She knew he craved this as badly as she did, but she wasn't entirely certain that it would be enough. She sensed that he may require more than just her blood and her body. He already had her heart and soul; she didn't know what else she could give him to ease the distress she sensed growing within him.
"Arianna." His voice was a low groan of torment. "You are so innocent. So sweet…"
"I'm not that sweet."
His smile was strained, his eyes dark and tortured. "True," he agreed. She grinned at him, sensing the easing in his mood that she had been hoping for. "There is so much you don't know about me though. So much that you could never understand. There are things that I have done…"
She placed her fingers over his mouth, silencing him. "Don't Braith. You're not going to scare me away; you are not going to drive me away. You are not your father, you are not Caleb."
"I am a killer."
"I have killed also," she managed to choke out.
"In self-defense. I killed for pleasure, for joy." She tried to turn away from him; she had no desire to hear this. She knew what he was, knew what he was capable of; she had witnessed the full force of his brutality earlier. He grabbed hold of her though, pulling her back toward him. "You have to hear this Arianna."
"I understand Braith; you don't have to do this."
"I do, because you don't understand. I never killed for pleasure, never killed for the joy of it." She frowned at him, not understanding where he was going with this. "Until Jack took you away from me."
Aria recoiled, the color drained from her face. He was right, she didn't understand this. He had told her about the blood slaves he'd taken after her escape, and though she hadn't asked, she'd assumed that he hadn't killed them. The Braith she knew was kind, caring, overly protective, and as willing to die for her as he was willing to kill for her, but he was not vicious. And this conversation was taking a turn toward cruelty that she hadn't expected from him.
"And then I lost myself to the pleasure of the blood, the pleasure of sex, and the pleasure of the death." She felt nauseous. She was going to throw up. He was a killer, she understood that. There were other women before her, she knew that. He was over nine hundred years old for crying out loud, she'd be a fool to think there hadn't been other women, but she didn't care to hear about them. And she didn't want to hear about him glutting himself on them, in thriving on destroying them. He leaned closer to her, his eyes burned with a strange fire. "I did not enjoy it for long Arianna."
She shook her head, forcing herself not to recoil from him. She loved him, but how did she assimilate the monster he was describing to the man before her? "Why?" she managed to croak out.
"Because for brief moments of time I was almost able to forget you, but I eventually realized that I didn't enjoy it and it truly didn't help."
She stifled a moan as she closed her eyes. Guilt stained her soul and twisted in her stomach. It was not her fault that he had done those things. He had chosen to kill, but her absence had been the catalyst that sent him spiraling over the edge. "Why are you telling me this?" she whispered.
His hand was gentle as he gripped her chin. "Because you must know."
She shook her head in denial. She loved him, she truly did, but now she felt ragged and raw. He had starkly reminded her of things that she didn't like to recall, reminded her of the fact that, though she had no one to compare him to, there were probably hundreds, if not thousands, that he would be comparing her to. He had also harshly reminded her of the fact that he was a monster, or at least he had the potential to be. He would never harm her, but what would he do to someone else that stood in his way?
She knew the answer to that, and it would be something immediate, and violent.
"Arianna, you have to understand what it is that I am saying to you." She blinked, her eyes burned with tears, but she was confused as to why he kept pushing this. "I can't lose you again; it sent me into a dark spiral. It snapped something inside of me, turned me into something evil and twisted. It wrecked me. I upheld my promise, I didn't reclaim any blood slaves after the last time I saw you. I couldn't, the thought of them was repulsive to me. But I cannot lose you from my life again, many will not survive it."
"You're not going to," she promised.
His hands were on her face, his eyes forceful and smoldering. "Whatever this is between us, it's something that I don't understand, it's something strong, intense, pure, and yet consuming. It is something magnificent and precious, but it can also turn me into something horrendous. Losing you would drive me mad. I am one of the strongest of our kind, I am a prince, and my blood is powerful, old, untainted. If I snap, if I go on a rampage, I will destroy many people before I am stopped. If I am stopped."
"Braith I will never leave you," she promised.
"You are human Arianna. As long as you stay human you will be mortal, at risk of death."
"Braith…"
"I can't take the chance of you being killed. I can't risk that."
Realization was cold and vile as it hit her with the force of a brutal slap. He did covet more than just her blood, more than her body even.
He wanted her life. It was the only thing she couldn't give him right now, if ever, but seeing the amount of stress he was under, she wasn't sure she would be able to stop him from taking it by force.
- CHAPTER 13 -
Arianna was still pale and shaken. She hadn't spoken since he'd made his revelation to her, she had barely even moved. Every once in awhile, she would stare at him, her eyes would darken, and her hands would begin to tremble in her lap once more. She was the strongest human he had ever encountered, perhaps even the strongest being he had ever come into contact with, but his confession, his openness, had rattled her completely.
As had his intention to take her humanity from her.
It was not something he looked forward to doing, but it was something he had to do. Something he was going to do. He realized that now, he just hoped that eventually she would be willing. He didn't know how he would handle it if she wasn't, didn't know how he would handle it if she remained human. But he couldn't take the chance of losing her again. When he thought back to the things he had done after she left him, he was repulsed by his actions. He was shocked by the depths of his depravity, shocked by his fervent need to lose himself in blood, sex, and death in order to try to forget her. He'd never experienced the ravenous brutality that had encompassed him before then. It had ensnared him within a web of death that had done little to ease the torment residing within his soul.
A torment that she had inflicted and only she had eased. He'd come to realize that it would only ever be her that could pull him back from that dark place. A place he'd entered a few times today, slaughtering and killing anyone that had posed any kind of threat to her life. She could pull him back from the brink of madness; she gave him some kind of control over himself. But it was a control that was unraveling rapidly.
He knew that, he could feel it within the marrow of his bones. She would be his undoing, as he would be hers.
She was everything to him; she was his light in a world that had been black before her. She couldn't stay human, and he wasn't sure that he could change her. He'd heard of it being done before, but had never witnessed it, and had never attempted such a feat himself. It was risky, many didn't survive.
He was determined that she would.
r /> "Braith." Ashby was watching him warily. Yet, there was something in his eyes, something almost knowing. Braith stopped pacing, tilting his head as he studied his enemy. "What have you gotten yourself into?"
Braith strode toward the window. He pulled the curtain back to peer out on the dawning day. He didn't expect Jack to make it today, but perhaps by nightfall. "Have you forsaken your right to the throne?"
He turned as the young vampire girl made a startled sound. He'd tightened her bonds, making it almost impossible for her to move. Arianna's pleas had saved the woman's life; it wouldn't take much for him to change his mind though. "You are the prince?" she questioned in awe.
"I am no prince," Braith growled at her.
The girl tugged against the ropes, struggling to break free. Arianna watched her with fascination, but he could see the deep turmoil churning behind her eyes. She didn't like what he'd done to the girl, but she didn't protest it either. She seemed resigned to the fact that the woman would remain tied up.; she wasn't resigned to this situation though as her eyes came back to him.
"So the son has turned his back on his father. Caleb must be thrilled," Ashby purred. "What must Jericho think?" Braith remained silent; Ashby would learn soon enough that Jericho had abandoned his place in the palace before Braith had. "The palace streets will run red with blood if Caleb ever ascends the throne."
Braith snorted in disgust as he shook his head at Ashby. "Do you really think my father is ready to hand over his rule?"
"I think that Caleb will try to take it from him, when he is ready to."
"You may be right."
"It will be horrific and violent."
"It will," Braith agreed.
Frustration flashed across Ashby's handsome features. "You know what will happen with Caleb in charge Braith. You know what he will do. This pretty little thing that you've brought in here, you know what Caleb would do to her!"
"He'll have to find her first."
Ashby climbed to his feet. Stepping forward, he halted as he was brought up by the constraints wrapped around him. "Braith, this is Caleb we are talking about. He will raze every town in order to find you, in order to make sure that you do not come back and try to reclaim your birthright. You think your father is a sadistic son of a bitch, he has nothing on Caleb."
"I know my family Ashby," Braith's voice was low, deadly.
Ashby shook his head. "You have no idea of the stain that rests on their souls," Ashby told him. "Of their cruelty and immorality."
"And you do?" Braith inquired.
He pondered the question. "We didn't turn against your family because mine was hoping to take over, or because we cared about the humans." Arianna glared at Ashby. "We wanted nothing of power Braith, you know that. We were an easy going lot, all of us. Power was never our goal; fun was all that we ever required, freedom, no restraints. It wasn't power we sought Braith, it wasn't to save the human race."
Braith folded his arms firmly over his chest, leaning back on his heels as he studied his brother-in-law with disdain. "Then what did you want?" he demanded.
"Peace Braith, we simply sought peace. Things were well enough before the war. So what if vampires didn't mosey about openly in public? Who cared that we had to keep our identities secret? Not me, not my family, not you. It's not as if we didn't have fun, not as if we didn't take whatever we required, whenever we required it anyway. Why upset the balance? Why take a chance that it could all go wrong? That it could be even worse afterward?
"And it was worse afterward. For everyone. We were relegated to these positions that none of us wanted. You had always been the prince amongst our people, but you know you never liked it, and until the war you never thought seriously about what it meant. Do you think I enjoyed being married to that bitch sister of yours? Natasha could suck the fun out of the happiest fellow. Which I was, until that time."
Braith was not surprised to find Arianna enrapt by what Ashby was saying. He wanted to remove her from this room, and Ashby's poison, but he knew that she wouldn't go. Besides, Ashby was right; Natasha was cold, hateful, and almost as twisted as Caleb himself. And though Ashby was fun loving, and more than enjoyed his share of blood, he had never relished in the death as so many members of Braith's family did. As Braith had.
"We didn't require power Braith, we only wanted to be free. Apparently you have decided the same, or else you wouldn't be here."
Braith would like the same thing, but he wanted Arianna to be free even more. He aspired to have her experience a world that she had never known, one that was safe and secure, one where she didn't have to fear his father and brother, one where she did not have to fear him. "Will they be coming here Braith?" Ashby inquired worriedly.
"I don't know," he admitted.
Ashby jerked against his ties as he lurched forward. "You can't leave me here if they do! I am sorry for what happened to you, I always did like you; you know that. You were an unfortunate casualty Braith; you were not the intended victim. Your father was."
"That is supposed to make things better?" Braith barked.
"You care nothing for the man either," Ashby retorted. "I lived within those walls, I knew you from a young age; I know what that bastard did to you! I know what you endured at his hands!"
Arianna slowly turned toward him, she was still abnormally pale, and there was a vacancy in her eyes that shook him. Though he hadn't completely kept the abuse he'd taken from his father from her, he hadn't elaborated upon it either. She didn't have to know about that horror on top of all of the others she had endured. "Braith?"
He shook his head; he wasn't going to go into details about it, not now. "They are going to come here?" the vampire girl croaked. When no one answered, she lurched forward, a terrified scream erupting from her. She ripped and jerked against her bonds, her head whipped back and forth as she continued to scream wildly. Arianna recoiled, the woman was wild, crazed, her fangs had extended, and her eyes were a vicious shade of red.
The woman could very well get free if she continued on this way, and she was going to go after Arianna if she did. "Don't!" Arianna cried launching to her feet as Braith strode toward the crazed vampire. She stumbled forward, unnaturally clumsy as her foot got caught up on the corner of the table before her. Ashby launched at her, pulling her back as the girl took a swipe that missed her by inches.
Red flooded Braith's vision, rage ripped through him. He grabbed hold of the girl, shoving her roughly against the wall. Using Arianna as a shield against Braith's charge, Ashby thrust her before him. His hand wrapped around her throat, pulling her head back as he clamped down on her. A bellow of rage erupted from Braith, he stalked toward Ashby, determined to destroy the man that held the only person Braith cared about anymore.
Ashby didn't make a move to hurt her, but he did keep himself planted firmly behind her. Braith couldn't get at him without having to go through Arianna. Frustration filled him; he could feel the swelling rise of bloodlust tearing through him. "I'm not a fool Braith, I'm not going to kill her unless you force me to," Ashby murmured, barely poking his head out from behind Arianna's back. "I am only looking to talk reasonably, and for you to listen."
Arianna tilted her chin, her eyes blazed with pride, it was apparent that she was irritated at having been snagged and used as a shield. She tried to shrug Ashby's grasp off of her, but he wouldn't let go. "You don't have to manhandle me!" she snapped.
Ashby's hand eased its grip on her throat, for a moment amusement flashed through his bright eyes. However, beneath the amusement, Braith could see his terror. And he had every right to be afraid; Braith was going to kill him for even daring to touch her. "Well aren't you the little spitfire," Ashby whispered.
Arianna turned her head to glare at him, her hands fisted at her sides. "Arianna don't," Braith warned, frightened that she might try something reckless. It's who she was after all. Her enraged, bright eyes came back to him. "Give her back to me and we can talk."
"I know that look in your eyes B
raith," Ashby retorted. "I know what you'll do to me if I release her. Just stay calm and everything will be ok."
Braith took another step toward them, Ashby took one back. He pressed against the wall, keeping Arianna before him. "Ashby…"
"I want to walk out of this alive Braith. That is all. I've become content with this simple life; it is not a bad existence. I only wish to keep it."
"If they come here…"
"I don't plan to stay here Braith, I'm not an idiot."
"If that were true then you never would have touched her." Ashby's hand tightened briefly on Arianna, causing her to twitch. "Don't!" Braith snarled.
Ashby's grip eased. "Give me your word that you will not hurt me; that you will let me leave here, alive."
"You have it."
Ashby hesitated, his hand trembled. "I require more than you saying it Braith. Once I release her…"
"Then what do you want?" Braith demanded, panic tearing at his insides. His fingers itched to get a hold of her, to get her away from Ashby's grasp.
"I want her word."
"Excuse me?" Braith asked in surprise.
"I won't let Braith hurt you," Arianna breathed. "Is that what you're asking for? Is that what you need to hear?"
Braith balked at such a thought. Arianna held more power over him than anyone he had ever met, but if he was truly set on doing something she couldn't stop him, could she? The thought was ridiculous to him, but even more ridiculous was the stunning realization that it might be true. "You seem like a nice enough girl, I believe you when you say that, but do you really think you could stop him?" Ashby asked.
"I don't understand what you expect from me then," she responded, her annoyance surging to the forefront again.
Ashby poked his head out from around her again; he turned her face toward him. Braith took another step forward, fear pulsed through him. "Don't." He was stricken by the desperation that rattled his voice. If Ashby decided to kill Arianna, she would be dead before Braith could reach them. He was shaken, the monster inside of him was clawing to break free, while the man inside of him was tempted to fall to his knees and beg Ashby to give her back to him, unharmed. He had never been this rattled and terrified before. "Just give her back to me Ashby, I won't hurt you. Just give her back."