Yours Truly Ever And After

The gates neared, and I exhaled, ready to step into safety. Then my door was wrenched open. A hand-cold, certain-dragged me out before I could speak.

Tom Riddle.

My driver, blank-eyed, turned the wheel and drove away under his spell. My car, my escape, vanished, leaving me caged in his shadow.

"Leave me, Tom!" I spat, trying to twist free.

He only drew me closer, his arms like iron. "No. I'm enjoying this far too much." His voice was low, threaded with amusement and hunger.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you back in my life?"

"My problem is you," he hissed. "Without you, I suffocate. With you ignoring me, I want to kill. And tonight-laughing with Slovaski, dancing-what did you want to prove?"

Anger flared hot. "So what if I laughed with him? Who are you to judge me?"

His grip crushed tighter. "I am the one who decides, because you are mine. Bound to me until eternity. Not even death will take you."

"I am not yours," I snapped. "Not now, not ever. I would never bind myself to a monster who lost his humanity long ago. Stay away from me."

For a breath, silence. Then his mouth crashed onto mine, fierce, brutal, a kiss that scarred. I fought, nails scraping, but he devoured me, pulling back only to whisper, ragged, "You are mine."

His teeth sank into my neck; a broken gasp escaped me. He soothed the bite with soft, mocking kisses. At last, he stepped away, triumphant, eyes gleaming.

"This is proof," he murmured. "Your body knows who it belongs to."

Sliding into his car, he left me standing in the gravel, shaking with fury, his mark burning into my skin.