Blood Vengeance [COMPLETED]

Chapter Twenty-Three - Dust

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, and despite the smile plastered on his handsome face, the irritation in his voice was apparent. He clutched her hand in his and raised their arms above their heads in a gesture of unity. He held her arm aloft a moment, before bringing it down with his, lowering her to the floor in a great sweeping bow.

The Vampires raised their glasses, applauding their talent and toasting their skill, as Arthur forced her into more uncomfortable bowing.

"Nothing," she said, smiling, but all the while searching out Hector amongst the faces in the crowd.

"You liar. You were perfect and then you lost it halfway through. Something knocked you off. What was it?" He glanced at her when they rose from their last bow, and his gaze flickered to her feet. "You didn't change your shoes," he observed.

"I couldn't find anything better."

He frowned at her, pulling her towards him in a final embrace, and the noise of the crowd rose up in a wave of sound that raised her up and pulled her down all at once.

"I know you're lying," he whispered. "Your face is as pale as ash. You look like you've seen a ghost."

Selene shivered, despite the warmth of his arms around her, and a compulsion to tell him the truth overcame her better instincts.

"Hector," she whispered.

The smile on Arthur's face barely flickered for a second, but his eyes blazed with rage.

And then he kissed her, drawing her closer, so close that almost every part of her body made contact with his.

It was more than she could endure; so much more intense a sensation than she had anticipated or imagined. Desire filtered through her body from her lips, filling every cell with lust. Every thought of Hector vanished; even the sound of the audience, who were, without exception, screaming with drunken excitement, barely registered.

And then she swooned in his arms, just like the fairytale princess she had imagined herself to be, her last conscious thought a realisation of how ridiculous she would look to everyone in the room, fainting in his arms. But she was utterly unable to resist the wave of blackness that stole her consciousness.

*

When she woke, she found herself lying on the chaise longue in Arthur's bedroom.

"Are you alright?"

Selene sat up, her head still dizzy. To stop herself collapsing straight back down again she reached up and pressed her fingers to her temples.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You passed out. I don't know how we're going to work this out, Zero. I'm not a fan of sleeping with unconscious women. There's no fun in it." Arthur laughed, and Selene scowled at his distasteful joke.

"You took me by surprise," she murmured, begrudgingly. Without thinking, she lifted a finger to her lip, feeling a throb where his lips had come into contact with her own.

"Please don't do that," he said.

"What?"

"Pull at your lip like that. It makes you look so...tempting."

She dropped her hand, as though her lip had scorched her fingers. "Sorry."

"The real question is; who made you faint?"

"What do you mean?"

"Me or Hector?"

Selene shook her head; she had forgotten entirely about Hector, and now she wondered whether she had imagined him entirely.