I Thirst for You — Chapter 18 - The Dark One

Although drinking her blood was his precise plan, Cord had just tested her at that moment to see how brave she was. He expected her to refuse then, but to his stunned reaction, she accepted. His fiery little butterfly actually accepted. That got him encouraged even more to proceed with biting her wrist.

And now, this happened.

Surely not of blood loss.

Cord replayed that sentence in his mind over and over again when he saw Amanda faint. Her body sagged like a sack of grain against the chair. A curtain of her hair covered her neck - to his relief - while most of her face was pressed against the back cushion.

Painstakingly, he pulled his mouth from her flesh and stared at her with hooded eyes, hints of passion managing to spark from it before he had them snuffed.

Blood continued to come out from her wrist in beads but he didn’t mind licking it clean. Hell, the blood could wait. Her well-being couldn’t. Try as he might, he couldn’t shake off the intense concern filling his dead heart for her.

He recalled what happened seconds ago. Of how wonderful his lips felt like against her skin. How it almost placed him in a blood lust when her crimson liquid passed down his throat. His tongue, and the way it latched onto her flesh, was wickedly glorious. He couldn’t want anything anymore other than her. Not the blood bags. But her alone.

Although he so, so wanted to, he didn’t suck much of her blood, so surely blood loss wasn’t the reason for her fainting.

The question that came to mind now was what?

What caused her state?

Probably because of the shock to find him a vampire? Probably because he pushed her to the limits? Made her afraid too much?

Whatever the reason, he didn’t linger on it. The one thing that Cord paid attention most was to bring her to her chamber. ASAP.

“Jerome!” his voice boomed all over the dining room.

Without delay, the one called raced inside and came to a halt before him, bowing his head with perfect execution.

“Master, your orders?”

“Where is Dayana?” Cord asked, now covering Amanda’s slowly healing pinpoint wounds with his thumb. The smell of fresh blood could trigger a want from not only his relatives but also from the staff, especially the night-shift who had shared the dark fate with him. Although he had great belief the Head Majordomo, who was a vampire too, wouldn’t try and sample the woman, he didn’t want to take any chances.

“Inside Madame O’Malley’s bedroom Sire, readying the bathroom and her mattress, ” Jerome answered.

“Good, ” Cord said, pleased, “Go there and open the door for me.”

“Right away Sire, ” he answered, not at all surprised of the change in the color of his Master’s eyes from a glassy red-green to a greenish-blue. He had seen this color before, when the Master was still human, before he was turned into a creature of the dark.

As the butler left the room, Cord stared at the unconscious lovely creature again.

She may be a special human but still, she was as frail as the rest. Easily broken. Quick to disappear. And because of that thought, a surge of something akin to protectiveness pass through him.

Could he actually let her leave and make her a bait to end his three-year-long battle with his rogue biter? He couldn’t be sure now.

Carefully, he brought her wounded wrist down, placed it on top the other, and then with one easy movement, lifted her up bridal style.

Her weight, in all honesty, was a delight. He’d never lifted a woman before. Never. Not even to or from his bed. So this arrangement brought a good change for him.

And her warmth too when her body pressed against him. Such was it that a wicked grin crossed his face when a wild, unexpected but not unwelcomed thought surfaced.

She would make for a good cuddle under the bedsheets indeed.

With her face resting under the crook of his neck, her scent wafted through his nostrils strongly. His fangs ached again, wanting to sample more, but he scolded it, clenching his jaw shut to push the misbehaving enamels back.

Her welfare - that’s his top priority for now.

He passed the halls, the foyer, the stairs, the whole time of which he kept a close watch on Amanda for any sign of awakening.

As expected of a Master with the ability to wield the shadows, he moved about undetected by his subjects and relatives, even those who had sharp senses. What a bother it would be if they were to see him with a woman, and much worse a human.

At one point, during his travel to the west wing, Cord noticed Amanda cringe, her brows almost meeting hinting she was in discomfort. Her lips pressed thinly too and he heard her whimper in pain.

Whatever the cause of her unconscious reactions, he was damned sure it wasn’t good. Like the time when he found her in chaos amidst in a deep sleep, bathed in the full moon’s light.

What was she in turmoil of, he wanted to know. Badly. And to find that out was through questioning her again. This time, he expected her to answer. After all, she was indebted to him. He did show her his true self. Now it was time she do the same. A truth for a truth.

“Leave us, ” was Cord’s directive once he entered Amanda’s chamber.

The two servants did so without question. Dayana, sensitive to her Mistress’s needs, left a nightgown for her to wear folded neatly at the foot of the bed. Jerome closed the bedroom door for privacy but dutifully stood at the hallway, a shout away, just in case his Master needed him.

Cord arranged her in bed carefully, gently, taking special attention to placing her head on two stacked downy pillows. Tendrils of her hair immediately framed her face. He would have wanted to shove them up the pillow, but opted not to in the end as in doing so he’d fully expose her neck - something that he didn’t want to happen. He didn’t want his vampire side to take over and ruin this special moment. No. No way.

He sat at the edge of the bed, positioned himself to face her, and relished the scene before him.

With the chandelier’s soft light, Amanda’s disarming sleeping face illuminated with more clarity, especially with his eyesight temporarily restored. Her brows, nose, lips, even her ears; her hair, neck, arms and legs, shoulders, perfect collar bone; her cleavage which he sensed swelled for him earlier, her trim waist - every fucking detail he drank all in and made a precise drawing in his mind.

Everything was better than what his gray and white outlined imagination provided. So much better. And with this, he groaned internally suddenly feeling the faint stirrings under his pants. Blast it, a muscle just misbehaved.

He stood up frowning, not liking how it progressed.

Was he so long without a woman that he had this strong effect? Lust and sex wasn’t always his problem before. He had plenty of that in his first years as a vampire. And even when he decided he’d abstain, choosing to avoid temptations in and out of the castle, he had survived for centuries with a hard resolve.

But now with Amanda, his male physiological response wanted to be sated.

Shit.

He clenched his fists and shook his head, battling on whether to remain in her room or not.

“Sleep well, Amanda. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, ” Cord whispered and after a deep conflicted sigh, he disappeared into the shadows, deciding for a very cold shower.

***

“We may not be bound by blood, but we are family because we will it. Because we live in a common belief and we share the same ancient bond. We are connected. All of us.”

Amanda’s mother used to tell her that when she was small. It was the one lesson that was inculcated in her mind. To the bone. To every fiber of her being. She knew what it meant and how it signified the state of their life back then, in hiding, and how it signified her current state of life now, free.

Those words were the very last thing she remembered when she woke up gasping for air in the middle of her dream, or more like flashbacks of what she calls ‘family’ memories.

She had dreamed of them countless times before, but only now were they this graphic and detailed. Each agonizing wail, each blood splattering in the ground, each horrid bite marks in the neck were as real as the mattress she lay. The memories of anger too, sorrow, anguish, despair, and fear were remembered, and it pained her heart real good.

“Oh God, ” Amanda whimpered as she straightened to sit in the mattress, crinkling her brows and trying with great effort to haul in as much oxygen into her lungs. She palmed her face as tears already present when she slept dripped further from her eyes to her cheeks, making a small river down to her chest. It wet the top of the red dress instantaneously but that didn’t bother her.

What bothered her most was the throbbing sore of her healed wrist from what she recalled as Cord’s bite. As she drew her injured arm up for an examination, everything that happened last night came down to her like heavy rain.

His lips on her skin. All of her blood, from her head to her feet, draining and concentrating in that two pinpoint openings. The instant euphoric feeling she felt because of it. And the sucking motion of his tongue that felt so divine.

She wanted to cherish it. Keep it as a treasure.

But of course, she couldn’t.

She couldn’t just forget the promise of danger and death his fangs held.

His bite was the reason why the flashbacks were so vivid. His kind was the reason why she was left alone. His nature was the very thing that her mother warned about to avoid at all costs.

“He is a vampire...” she uttered with a shaking voice. “God, he is a vampire.” And her eyes widened in fear with the stark realization. “He is a dark one!”

How could she have not known? With his hypersensitive senses, his night-shift/day-shift employees, the little slips of words that he spoke, the semi-clotted blood in the throne room’s fridge, they were enough to tell her something wasn’t right. Why was she so blind?

And to top it all, the murder case itself. The culprit and his victim.  It wasn’t just a normal criminal case of the police. It was a supernatural one. No wonder the Master was so adamant about fishing out information from her. And no wonder the culprit used a gun to shot the victim dead in the neck. He may not want to raise suspicions and advertise to the world that vampires weren’t just imaginations of man.

Could it be then? Could it be that the two - the Master and the murderer - were working together? She had great belief that they were. Vampires always, always look after their own kind.

“I have to leave this place, ” Amanda murmured to herself.

Though wobbly, she stood up, clenching her fists. At first, she wasn’t sure where she was but upon careful inspection of the surroundings near her - from the coffee table to the laptop she placed in the bedside table - she realized she was in her bedroom.

How thoughtful was the person who brought her here, she thought, but she didn’t have time to thank him or her for doing it. What was solely in her mind was to escape, leave the castle, and fast. Very fast.

Sighting her white sneakers, she hurriedly slipped them on and dashed out to the balcony forgetting everything: her laptop, clothes, cellphone, and other necessary items. They weren’t as important to her any longer if her safety was on the line.

She was greeted with a gloomy early morning when she opened the glass door. Angry, black clouds effectively hid the smiling sun.  The wind gushed so strongly that her hair whipped from side to side.

But the atmosphere didn’t concern her nor did the height of the drop from the balcony to the garden below.

Yes. She was going to jump to escape and nothing, not even the fear of cracking her leg bones would stop her.

After climbing up the balustrade, she counted to three before jumping, and when she did jump, her legs didn’t give way. It was as steady and sturdy as it was before.

With her heart pumping fast and fear already climbing up her throat, Amanda sprinted like a gazelle. She didn’t risk a glance when she crossed the back garden and felt a looming stare from one of the castle windows. She just moved forward, passing a man-made pond, towards a grassy clearing, but stopped short when suddenly she saw a shadowy figure ahead.

Her heart even spiked up a bigger beat.

Whoever this was, she knew it not the Master of the House. Although this unknown man had a lesser dark aura than Cord’s, he was still someone to be concerned with especially knowing that she was in a vampire’s lair.

His stance, one foot forward, hands clenched, and his eyes a glow of red, were more than enough to give her a red flag.

Amanda stepped backward, hitching a breath, and blinking fast. He reminded her of the flashbacks she had. A shadow lurking first and then, the attack. Next, blood splashing everywhere, followed ultimately by the neck getting slashed open. Despite her being a strong woman, this and the other gruesome memories that linked to vampires told her not to clash with them. It always, always ended up with death.

“No...” she murmured, lips trembling, “Leave me alone!”

The man continued to advance on her way, stepping in a steady, relaxed fashion as if he wasn’t in a hurry. Although the environment was dark, Amanda could still make out a pointy grin from him and damn, it was enough to sink her heart.

She stepped backward again and again, closer to the pond, not knowing what to do. She couldn’t return to her room and she couldn’t shout for help. Clearly, she was in a checkmate.

***

“I was told that you invited Ms. O’Malley to dinner later, ” Cord asked whilst sitting in his throne. He had his right hand on top of his panther’s forehead while the other rested on the armrest. The way he sat, it looked relaxed and without worries, but deep inside he knew better.

He just had to find a way to occupy himself, make him forget the impulse to return to Amanda’s room until his blindness returned.

Summoning his so-called cousin, Heather, and berating her would be one good way for it.

“Yes, what of it?” the one asked replied, looking tired from after a feeding and a gym session. Her right hand perched on the sofa’s head while the other on her hips.

“Cancel it, ” Cord stated point-blank, staring at her direction even though he now wore the blindfold.

Heather’s brow immediately lifted.

“Hmm, I knew you would order that but no, I’ll have to decline, ” she said.

Cord sighed, putting his impatience at bay.

“Heather, she isn’t a blood donor.”

“I know. She is your most valued guest. Rest assured that I won’t harm her. I just want to befriend her.”

“You mean, you just want to play with her to get to me.”

“Oh com’n Cord, ” she twisted her lips and rolled her eyes. “You know my hatred for you had been doused long ago. I accept what I have become now. I enjoy it even. More than when I was still human. I just like the woman’s attitude. There’s something in her that drew me in.”

“I know, ” Cord replied in a hush and this earned a grin from Heather.

“I know you know. You are our vampire master after all. Cursed as you are, you have the finest of senses. You-” she stopped and stepped backward, taken aback when Cord suddenly stood up, looking alarmed.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked, confused.

“Amanda...” Cord trailed off.

He tuned Heather out of his attention and directed all of his focus on Amanda’s erratic heartbeat. The continuous thunder may have muffled them a little but still, he was able to locate her and once he realized she was no longer inside the castle, he, throwing out his mask of indifference, immediately panicked.

“Shit!”