The Kiss of Death

Chapter 12

****WARNING EXPLICIT****

Eleanor's POV:

        "I think you just might be dessert." I whisper under my breath, feeling giddy and nervous and excited all rolled into one big ball of hot mess as I straddle Will's thighs and press a light teasing kiss to his lips once again. I feel his strong hands slide across my thighs, over my hips, and up my lower back causing my shirt to slide up and reveal more of my skin. I tangle my hands into his hair and lean over him, my hair creating a curtain around us looking deeply into his heated eyes, isolating us from the outside world as he reaches up and slams his lips into mine. I close my eyes as our lips clash hungrily together and I can feel my body heating further, thrilling shivers of pleasure rolling through me at his touch, urging me on.

    Long minutes pass as we continue devouring each other in a hurried frenzy. I feel him growing hard beneath me and moan softly against his lips before he rips his mouth away from mine and latches onto my neck, pressing open mouthed kisses to my neck as I tilt my head to allow him better access. His hands grip my hips, squeezing lightly as he rolls his own hips up to grind into my core. I gasp, my most primal urges taking over, and roll my hips in return, reveling in the heat that pools at my center. 

    His chest rumbles as an animal like growl explodes from his lips and I'm so hot I can hardly breath. How does he affect me like this so quickly? We are near perfect strangers and yet here I am unable to resist this new and consuming need for him both physically and mentally. I want him so desperately. I need him inside me like I need the air to fill my lungs. I need him in every way. Mind, heart, body, soul. I need all of him and though I know this is all happening way too fast, I can't seem to make myself stop. Just when I think I may combust Will rips his mouth away from my skin and sits back in his chair, turning his head away to breathe deep, catching his breath.

    "Hold on. Wait." He pants out, his hips reflexively lifting up into mine again as if out of his own control. My mouth falls open on a silent moan as I open my eyes to look down at him again. "You little minx, you'll be the death of me. Let me breathe for a minute. I need to think." 

    I sit back a little bit, biting my lip nervously. Did I do something wrong? I know I'm pretty inexperienced but he seemed to be enjoying himself, at least I thought he was. I frown and my brows furrow as I watch him, my breath coming in short and uneven as I try to calm my body down enough to think. I was enjoying myself a little too much and thinking about how wanton I must've seemed has my cheeks blushing scarlet. I roll my eyes up to the sky, then squeeze them closed, willing my embarrassment away.

    When I glance back at him a few short moments later he's studying me intensely and if any of the burn in my cheeks had started to recede, surely it all came bursting back at his sharp and open curiosity. I will myself not to look away and wait for him to speak.

    "I can tell that I'll have my hands full with you, you're insatiable." He smiles wide, teasing me and effectively lightening my mood once again as he presses light kisses to both of my cheeks and then my nose. "I want you so badly it hurts." He murmurs as he pulls back just far enough so that he can rest his forehead against mine to look me in the eyes. "I just want to do this right. I don't want to rush into anything with you." 

    I can't help but give a short sigh of relief at his admission before letting my eyes fall shut for a short minute. "I thought that.." I trail off, looking into his eyes once again, not sure I want to bring my insecurities to the light.

    "I know." He cups his hands on both sides of my face and his face suddenly turns serious. "We are made for each other Eleanor. You are absolutely perfect for me. In every way. I don't want you to doubt that or what you do to me, ever. I'm impossibly, inexplicably, completely and totally in awe of you. There's nothing that you could do that would make me want you less."

    I freeze, my body stiffening as I process what he's just said. A part of me is terrified  but I can't help but feel a certain thrill at his revelation. It's all happened so fast, we went from perfect strangers and natural enemies to soul bonded mates within minutes and everything has been on fast forward since he first bit into me. As confusing and exhausting as this whole thing has been, through all of the stress of uprooting my life and losing my sister, to hear him say it out loud is almost a relief. It's nice to know that we both seem to be affected the same way by this soulmate bond.

    I smile softly and press a soft yet quick kiss to his lips. "Ditto.." I whisper awkwardly, not really too comfortable yet with putting myself out there like he seems to be. I wonder how he manages to be so open and confident and assume that his place of power plays a huge part in it. I hope I will become just as comfortable in my own skin as him some day. "Well since the mood is officially shifted, what do you want to do now?" I ask as I run my fingers through his hair with one hand while moving to slide off of his lap and stand up.

    He watches me for a moment as I make my way to the bed and climb up, sitting up with a pillow in my lap, my legs crisscrossed in front of me. "I was thinking today, after the trip to the hospital, I really don't know much about you." He pauses and quickly collects our dinner plates and places them outside of our door for the staff to collect. He then grabs two forks from the table, the wine, our glasses, and produces from seemingly out of nowhere a big piece of strawberry cheesecake before makings his way over to the bed to sit beside me. He hands me a fork, places the cake between us, and fills up our glasses as I immediately start digging into the creamy desert. 

    "We could do a little Q&A thing." I mumble in response, my mouth full of cake making my words a little more muffled but I know he heard me. He chuckles and nods as he samples his first taste of the cake as well, humming in appreciation. 

    "Okay, I'll start." He holds his fork up, examining the bite he'd scooped up as if he is in deep thought. "What's your favorite color?" He murmurs just before the fork passes his lips.

    I smile, swallowing quickly and licking my lips before answering. "Okay, going easy on me. I guess orange, the golden shimmering kind, like the reflection when the sun sets on the water. Or I guess yellow is cool too. And you?" I plop another bite into my mouth.

    "Green." He murmurs simply, making a point to stare directly into my eyes and making me blush scarlet once again. I wonder briefly if his favorite color has always been green or if it might be me and my eyes that have changed his mind. Deciding to brush off the minor embarrassment, I blurt out the next question.

    "How long have you been a vampire? Who changed you?"

    He tilts his head, placing his fork down on the plate as he leans back to sip his wine. "That's two questions." He teases me lightly. "I was born this way. Some vampires can procreate, those are the nobles, and others are bitten and turned. They stop aging and can no longer reproduce as soon as they awaken. But I guess to answer your first question, I'm 183 years old."

    I gasp and almost inhale my next bite of cheesecake which sends me sputtering and coughing until I can manage to take a drink to cool my sore and scratchy throat. "W-What?" I blurt out.

    He slaps me on the back to help ease my coughing fit and a lopsided grin graces his face as he peers down at me. "What is more shocking, my age or the fact that I'm a lamia?"

    I shake my head some, confusion masking my features. "Firstly, I have no idea what a lamia is.. Secondly, obviously your age is a bit shocking. 183 years old? You're literally over 150 years older than me and we were just making out like a couple of teenagers." I fling my hand in the direction of the table and chairs we had eaten at as I speak, gesturing to the spot where it all took place. "How can you look so young?"

    "Three questions now, four if I include the lamia bit which I do." He sets his wine down and lays on his side, propping his head on his hand as he studies me for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "Lamia is just another name for born vampires. I'd like to remind you that you are in fact a teenager still. And for the record I quite enjoyed 'making out like a couple of teenagers' and I plan to do it again as often as possible." He teases me and wriggles his eyebrows, his face breaking into a devilishly handsome smile before he resumes answering.

    "Lamia can stop their aging whenever they please. We can also resume aging if that is what we wish, but most prefer to stay quite young, that's when our bodies are at their strongest. I stopped aging at 22 years."

    "I was just making out with an old man." I murmur more to myself in a state of shock before I burst out into a fit of nervous giggles.

    He rolls his eyes and chuckles with me for a moment. "Yeah, yeah. Okay my turn to ask another question, and since you have yours racked up, I'll ask for more personalized responses." He rolls onto his back and stares up at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought for a few long moments before he speaks again.    

    "Tell me about your family."

    I can't help but tease him. "That's not really a question.." I grin and he rolls his eyes. I stop to think, taking a sip of my wine to wash down the cake. 

    "Well there's my mom, her name is Lucy. She's very sweet and down to earth and so strong, I like to think I look a little like her but she's much more.. I don't know.. Regal looking? Beautiful. And my dad, his name is Thomas, he's super tall and built but in a lanky kind of way. He's a little more bookish and kind of uptight, but not around her. With her he just sort of lights up, you know? Her and my dad met when she was just a little older than me and fell head over heals for each other. They're those parents that are so in love its almost uncomfortable to watch. I'd always hoped I'd find a match like theirs when I was younger."

    I look back down at our desert and try decide if I want another bite or if I'll explode. "Then there's Eddie. Edith." I correct myself. "My younger sister. She looks almost exactly like my mother, you can already tell she'll be all curvy and beautiful like her. She's a little bit timid but her smile lights up a room, her laugh is contagious. She's crazy smart too. I have a bet running with dad that she'll aspire to be a doctor or a nurse or something. She's got the grades for it. Maybe a vet if those were still around. She's so sensitive and caring." I put my fork down on the plate and lean back into the pillows, setting my drink down and resting a hand on my overfull belly and laugh once. 

    "This one time, Ed must have been like five or something, mama and I were in the house making dinner, she was teaching me how she seasons her duck, it was always one of my favorites." I pause, reminiscing as if it were only yesterday. "Anyways, Ed was playing out back and dad wasn't home yet, he worked in the village and had some pretty late nights. Well, mama had turned her back for just a minute to wrap the duck back up and put it in the oven, and I was cleaning up our mess when in comes little Eddie screaming and crying like the world was on fire or something." I laughed a little between words as I continued with my story, my favorite part was coming up.

    "Ed wasn't a big crier so when she cried it was usually kind of a big deal. We turned so quick to see and I was thinking maybe something was broken since she wouldn't keep off of that old tire swing dad hung up when I was still small, but she looked fine. No broken bones or blood anywhere, but she had something cupped in her hands. At first we couldn't tell what it was." 

    I look over at Will, grinning from ear to ear and trying to contain my laughter. "The look on mama's face when she discovered what little Eddie brought into her kitchen.." I trail off into a little fit of laughter.

    Will laughs with me, seeming to be enjoying my story so far. "What was it?" He chuckles, his left brow lifting as his curiosity forces him to speak up once again.

    "A dead bird." I pause, gauging his reaction, pleased that his brows shoot up and he makes a face of disgust before breaking out into another fit of laughter.

    "I mean this thing was dead, dead. Like how could she have picked it up without being thoroughly disgusted dead. And dad walked in just as mama started shrieking for her to take it back outside which just made Edith cry harder and run into his arms, shoving the rotting thing in his face and screaming 'fix it, daddy'. He almost dropped her, he was so surprised. They were in full panic mode and all I could do was try to contain my laughter and help mama coerce her into taking the damn thing back out to the yard for a proper burial." I smile lightly, wondering how messed up this story was or if it really was just as funny as I remembered it.

    "She just wanted to help the bird, she didn't know that it couldn't be helped." I mumble quietly, thinking of Edith, my heart wrenching when I remember that she's lost and scared and alone. I close my eyes and count to ten to calm my nerves so I don't ruin this fun carefree mood we've embraced for the evening.

    "What were you like as a child?" He questions and I look over at him, pondering silently, my train of thought shifting away from Ed as I think up a response.

    "Well there's not much to say. I was always really shy so I kept mostly to myself. I read a lot of books, practiced shooting my bow in the clearing by our house, and I spent a lot of the time watching after Ed and helping mama with the chores."

    Will turns his head to look at me incredulously. "You were shy? Why did I imagine a very outspoken and confrontational child with attitude up to her ears?" He laughs softly.

    I feign a mock look of hurt, pressing a hand to my heart until I can no longer contain my fit of giggles and I move to lay down, facing him. "Well there was plenty of that too. I guess I was really only shy unless provoked, like if someone picked on me or Ed, I had no choice but to rough those kids up a bit."

    I rest there for a few long minutes, my eyes feeling heavy with sleep as we sit in comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company and both seemingly lost in thought. I stifle a yawn and close my eyes briefly when I feel Will moving around on the bed beside me and I open my eyes again to see that he has turned to face me. He seems to be studying me closely, his arms outstretched in an open invitation for me to snuggle up next to him. 

    "That's enough Q&A for now, you look tired." He murmurs softly as I slide over to him, resting my head on his chest and wrapping an arm around his waist, our legs tangling together. His arms wrap around me, pulling me snug against him and I can't help but let my eyes fall closed again as his warmth envelops me. I feel him press a light kiss to the top of my head and smile sleepily as my body begins to relax, sleep very close to pulling me under now that I'm safe and wrapped up in his arms.

    Just as my mind begins to doze off, I hear Will mumble something very softly under his breath but I can't make out what it is before the darkness sweeps over me and I'm lost in the sweet dreaming of my childhood.