Curse of Ravens // Mikaelson

10 Nine Years On You

"I feel like I can't hear myself think with all the chatter." I break the silence as we walked through the trees. We were a ways from the party, so the music wasn't as loud and other than the shadows of standing students illuminated by the bonfire, we couldn't make out their details and faces.

"It bothers you so? I find the not thinking part to be... exciting." Xavier told me. I rolled my eyes. He definitely was kidding. He liked the calm, the night. I sent him a knowing look and his teeth flashed in a smile back at me.

"Before you go." I stopped walking and he paused in step with me. I stepped up to him and reached to grab his glass. The vampire let me, and watched as I set both the bottle and glass down. Xavier watched me with an intensity as I closed distance between us. And I could have sworn his eyes flicked to my lips.

I reached up, and touched my thumb to his rosy bottom lip. His fangs slide forward, as though I had commanded it.

"Darling Alice, do not tell me you are already missing the pain." To clarify the meaning of his words, his fingers go to my other hand, and his thumb draws circles into my wrist where he'd drank my blood before.

"Blood sharing is vampire culture, Xavier. Maybe I'm feeling philanthropic." I replied. Xavier walked me backwards until my spine pressed against the trunk of a tree. "Or maybe I would rather it be me in your veins instead of bourbon."

"Blood sharing." The vampire emphasized, leaning against the tree with a hand above my head on the trunk. He leaned down on me, giving me his attention like I was the only thing that mattered in this lifetime.

"My bite is poison to you. It's not a prick on the wrist. It will hurt."

"I have had worse." He spoke slowly, calculating my reaction to what he was suggesting. He thrilled me, but it didn't scare me. I set my hand on his chest, and felt the blood pumping there. It was slower than a humans, but it was there. His white shirt was smooth like silk.

"Did you know some humans think vampire's hearts don't beat?" I wondered.

"They also believe us to be fiction." Xavier jokes, brushing a lash off my cheek. My fingers unbutton the top of his shirt, and grip the fabric to pull him closer. My nose against his neck, his inky hair tickling my face. "Here." He tilts my chin a bit, so that my lips brushed a certain part of his neck. His blood hummed beneath the surface.

I wasn't a vampire, but I already felt like one.

My eyes glow gold, and my wolf fangs sink into his skin. Xavier tenses at the bite, pulling me against his chest. His blood floods my mouth, but I was more focused on the feeling of his carotid pulsing between my teeth. I could feel his heartbeat speed. I wondered if it was from the pain of my venom, or if he was beginning to understand when I told him how it can be fun if time moves fast.

His blood didn't taste all that different from anyone else's. Mine included. Blood was blood and at the root of it all, we're all a little human. That's where we start, anyway. I pulled away after a few seconds, pressing my lips to the wound; I felt it heal under my kiss. It would be back, uglier and painful, but my blood was the cure.

"Alice." He breathed. Xavier runs his finger over my crimson lips. I still clutched his shirt, looking into his eyes. The cool breeze of the night felt amazing on my slightly flushed skin. And his touch was even better. The kiss of the cold air felt like water droplets on rose petals in a dark garden. The distant muffled sound of the party was the only thing that seemed to keep me grounded in this reality instead of the other world I was experiencing.

"Your heart is pounding." I whispered in our shared space, my senses picking up on the thrum easily enough. Xavier pushed the leather jacket off my shoulders. I pull it off the rest of the way and drop it onto the forest floor. My crop top suddenly felt revealing. Goosebumps rose across my bare arms from the breeze. His hand tilted my chin up, allowing him better access to my throat. My breath fogged in the air between us. One of his hands went to the small of my back to pull me closer once more.