DEAD SEED (AKA "Vampires Don't Exist")

(CW) SIX: Proposition

TW/CW: Rape/Abuse

Stirring slightly at the soft stroking of her hair and cheek, Aralyn opened her eyes. Harsh reality came back to smack her in her bruised face. She had hoped the night before had just been a nightmare, something dark that had left her behind as soon as the sun arose. Or had it set again? She couldn't tell in this dark room.

There she was, still in his arms, still in her nightmare. Her naked body was entwined with the cold flesh of the creature she hated. Last night he had been warm, but now ... he was cold, colder than Virgil.

She pretended to be asleep, not daring to move. Her back was up against his chest and he had an arm draped over her. She was sore. Her cheek throbbed where Morgan had hit her. Her neck was sore from both he and Aimeric feeding from her. There was a stiffness and burning pain between her legs from being torn last night.

"So soft ... so beautiful. Your pale skin and midnight hair. I would keep you forever," he murmured against her shoulder before kissing it. He kissed up her neck, moving her hair aside to nibble on her ear. "Would you stay with me? Be my queen? I would give you everything you've ever desired."

He knew she was awake; she could no longer pretend to sleep and not hear him.

"Do I have a choice?" she asked bitterly.

He chuckled into her hair. "For now. You know, Aralyn, I've watched you for four years. I've known from the moment I saw you, the moment I smelled your sweet blood, that you were special — that you would belong to me one day. I would have taken you that night along with your sister, but you were too young, only a child. I had to wait until you were more mature, or you would have turned out like your sister."

"What do you mean?"

"Claire is a troublesome creature. Stuck in the mind of a teenager, spoiled and selfish and prone to outbursts. I had no choice but to turn her then as she was already close to her last breath. But you ... you will be different. I will wait until the time is right."

"What happened that night?" Aralyn dared to ask, trying not think of becoming one of them. "Did she really agree to become...."

"A monster," Aimeric finished for her. He ran his hand down her side, stopping to feel her curves. "She had no choice. It was either become one of us or die. I was on the bridge that night, hunting. It's a good spot for prey, you see ... we feed off the lonely, the homeless, the broken, people that wouldn't be easily missed. When the car crashed, I smelled the delicious scent of young blood. I planned on finishing everyone off, but then I smelled you. I knew you would become my new obsession. But as I said before you weren't ready, so I took Claire, that way she could tell me everything about you.

"We both have watched over you since that night."

"You're the one that left the notes and other things," Aralyn said, realizing it then.

"Yes," he crooned, his tongue slithering out between his lips so he could lick over the wounds on her neck. She cringed at the feel of it but didn't try to wriggle away. Aimeric let his hand slide down between her legs again.

"Can I bathe, please?" she asked hurriedly before he could get worked up again.

He stopped. "If you wish. I need to feed first anyway." He sat up and stood from the bed then, grabbing his pants from the floor and slipping them on. "The shower is in there. Go ahead and get started, I'll join you soon." It sounded like a warning.

Aralyn eased off the bed — covering her body with her hands as if it mattered — and went in the direction that Aimeric had gestured. She avoided his eyes as she walked, hoping he wouldn't want to touch her again before she could get into the bathroom. She ran her hand along the wall trying to find a light switch that might work. When her fingers felt the switch, she flicked it on. To her surprise a light came on.