The Blood is Love (Dark Eyes 2)

He sighs, shaking his head in disappointment, while my heart is aching to hear of Solon’s true origins. To think of him as a happy, well-loved religious man, a man of God, living his life, his calling, and then to have this monster come along and destroy every inch of his soul…it’s too much.

“I didn’t know that I would create such a mad creature,” Skarde goes on. “I wanted Absolon to be like me, to rule with me. I had such high hopes. But he…he was filled with monstrous rage and I could barely tame him. He wasn’t the son or the protégé that I had hoped for, and yet, yet I still felt I was his father. I spent centuries doing what I could to help him, hoping one day he’d gain his senses. It’s a pity that when he finally did, he didn’t want anything to do with me. That hurt, Lenore. It really did.”

“But,” he adds with another sigh, bringing my hands up to his mouth and planting cold kisses on my knuckles, disgust spreading through me, “if it weren’t for Absolon, I wouldn’t be here with you. So I suppose there’s a reason for everything, isn’t there?” He looks to Kaleid. “Are you ready to proceed over the ceremony?”

Kaleid blinks at him. “What? I’m not an officiant.”

Skarde smiles. “Never mind. I suppose it wouldn’t be like it is in the other world.” He reaches out and places his hand behind the back of my neck, pulling me right up to him. “All I need is your blood.”

I open my mouth to protest but then he’s pressing his lips against mine, kissing me around the metal chains, and then FUCK.

He’s biting me, gnawing on my lips, fangs sinking in, ripping my mouth apart.

I scream, trying to fight him off, but I can’t. My own blood is filling my mouth, spilling down my throat, choking me.

“Father,” Kaleid says sharply.

But Skarde isn’t listening. He continues to bite me, his tongue snaking in my mouth, and it’s piercing me, like his tongue has a row of fangs along the bottom.

What the fuck?

I scream again in horror, feeling like he’s turning into a monster in front of me, but the sound gets lost and now my tongue is sliced open and bleeding and he’s sucking so much of the blood back.

Finally, he pulls away, my lips and gums and tongue burning in sharp pain from all the lacerations, my blood smeared around his grin.

“I suppose it’s customary to save the kiss for the end,” he says, sliding his tongue out of his mouth, licking up the blood from his chin, and I see the tiny little fangs at the bottom.

I’m going to be sick.

I turn away from him and vomit, blood and who knows what flowing out of my stomach and splattering on the stones.

“You’re less vampire than I thought,” he says mildly. “Don’t worry, you’ll get the stomach for these things.”

“So, you’re done then,” Kaleid says, taking a step closer to us. “She’s now your bride. I was hoping you could show me your army.”

“My army? The Dark Order?” Skarde asks. “Now?” Then he shakes his head quickly, waving Kaleid away. “It doesn’t matter. We’re not done here. That was only one part of the binding. I have her blood in me. Now she’ll have my blood in her. And then it will be complete. Then she’ll be bound to me, dark as sin, forever.”

My eyes widen and I straighten up, but Skarde is so quick that I don’t even see him. Suddenly he’s grabbing me, slicing open his wrist with his teeth until the blood pours out, and then he’s trying to bring his wrist to my mouth.

I don’t dare open my mouth to scream, though I’m shrieking internally. I twist around, trying to get out of the way, but he’s strong and he’s pushing me back until I’m on the ground and he’s on top of me, one of his knees planted between my thighs, keeping them open, one hand holding my arms above my head. He brings his wrist to my mouth, trying to get the blood inside me, all while I feel him grow harder and harder against my hip, and I know I’m going to feel a lot of pain no matter what happens.

“No!” Kaleid yells.

Skarde pauses, the blood dripping on my face, and I’m still squirming, getting my mouth as far away from him as possible, my lips pressed together until they’re as tight as a vice.

“No?” Skarde repeats with a raspy growl. “What do you mean, no?”

“I need her,” Kaleid says, eyes wild. He takes a step toward us. “I need her for myself. I deserve her.”

Skarde is shocked. He moves off of me, and if he had eyelids I’m sure he would be blinking. I am too, I have no idea what the fuck Kaleid is saying, but at the same time I feel it in my bones that he’s up to something, possibly saying anything he can to save me.