Danse Macabre

12

"Hey, wake up," Aleksi snickered before snapping his teeth by my ear. I groaned, my body was still goo, everything ached but it was a good ache. "You need to eat something," he murmured into my shoulder as he nipped at the sore and bruised flesh. I yelped and twisted against him, coaxing a playful chuckle from his lips.

     "Mmnnn, how long was I out for?"  I groaned groggily as I opened my eyes to look at him. We were still in the room with the pretty pale blue wallpaper, and still in the bed with the rain still falling softly.

      "An hour or so. Leslie and Tristan are still downstairs, they keep reminding me that you need to eat—like I'd forget. No matter how tempting it is to ravish you again my blood is cooling literally," he smirked and slid out of bed. He had at some point during my blissful slumber slipped those tights back on.  I marveled at the play of muscles under the skin as he moved, every slight twitch caused something visible to move like the flesh was dancing. Retrieving my jeans from the floor he made his way back to the bed and held them out to me.

    "Thank you," I murmured quietly reaching up to tug them away. He held on to them tightly, flashing a smirk in my direction.

    "I need to feed," he purred softly, releasing the jeans. Apparently I was tugging pretty hard, because the moment he released them I tumbled to the floor in a boneless heap. His laughter echoed off of the walls. "Are you okay down there?"

    "Yeah," I breathed pulling my jeans on with a little groan. I had been asleep just long enough for that deep soreness to settle in.

 As I wriggled my pants over my hips I realized I liked being this achy. Every motion and movement reminded me of my submission to him. You shouldn't be so proud. You're an independent woman, you owned your own apartment, paid for your own tuition. I paused after I zipped and buttoned the jeans. Miss Manners was right, I was the self-possessed, consummate independent woman doing everything on my own terms. So why the hell did I enjoy being tied up and bossed around with the control of my own body taken from me? I pursed my lips as I stared at the ceiling. I did it all willingly, perhaps that was the ultimate form of control? Or maybe I was so naturally inclined to submission because I had taken control of so many other aspects of my life. Could I be this dualistic creature? You don't have a single dominant bone in your body.

                I slowly peeled myself off of the floor and smoothed my tank top over my tummy as Aleksi bounced off of the bed and stretched his neck. I stared at him again, gaped at his surreal beauty. He seemed otherworldly when he needed to feed, those lips which were usually blush pink were starting to turn a bit on the purple side and his skin turned white pale. He was a statue carved of alabaster, cobalt and obsidian.

     "Well, come along. We need to get some food in you before bed," he practically sang with glee as he draped his arm across my shoulders.

                It was bliss walking through the blue and white halls on his arm. I leaned my head against his shoulder, and practically used him as a crutch when we walked down the stairs. My legs weren't fully functional, every step was practically agony. We turned into the kitchen to find that it had been modernized. The cavernous space was filled with shiny stainless steel appliances and enough counter space to cook meals for fifty.  There were three stoves, three. Who needs three stoves?

                Leslie was sitting on the black granite counter top, the moment her eyes fell on Aleksi she blushed bright beet red. Tristan found it hilarious and chuckled softly patting Leslie on the shoulder. Evan and Colette were also there, they were both standing in the glow of the refrigerator. For a moment, the afterglow abated and I found the image of Evan standing in front of the fridge profoundly sad. Five years ago he could eat that food, and now he couldn't. He was also immortal, so I figured it was a fair trade off but I'd imagine the taste of blood to get pretty boring after a while.