I Thirst for You — Chapter 35 - Hungry for Her

Swirls of purple and red coated Amanda’s irises. Her teeth were like a wolf’s in an attacking mode. Some strands of her hair floated, seemingly alive on their own. And her face was devoid of any other emotion except for hatred. Pure one.

Those were what Cord could detail out amidst seeing just whites and grays in his perspective. But he expected this. He expected this right after noticing the damn amulet around her neck.

Maybe, he could have acted cautiously when he materialized in her apartment, but after he sensed her while still in the throne room, his control snapped and his shadows immediately transported him to where she was.

The strength of her grip on his neck could never be denied though. It was truly suffocating him despite not needing oxygen to breathe. He gnashed his teeth and in reflex, held her elbows to stop her.

His back hit the wall in the end. It was so hard that a landscape picture fell down - the frame and glass broke in the process.

“Ama..n...da!” Cord managed a broken shout. Her fingertips dug deeper into his flesh, discoloring the alabaster skin there with blues and blacks. This alarmed Cord, aware that any minute she could use her witch petrifying ability.

Knowing that this was Amanda even in a trance-like spell, he should have surrendered and left the apartment, teleport away, and return in the safety of his castle, but he wasn’t one to back out in a fight. Especially one with a lethal grip that he could easily avoid - if he uses his shadows.

It was truly a dilemma. To hurt or not to hurt. But in this situation, he valued his life and his life with her, so in the end, he relented.

He summoned the incorporeal blacks, ordered them to surround and immobilize her on the spot. The shadows did as they were told.

“Ackkk!” Amanda cried out, voice straining with the amount of pain that shot through her body. The shadows changed the surface color of her skin into inky black, frozen, without giving her a chance to move. “Rex...cord, I’m goi...ng to kill yo...u! I swear I- ahhh!!!”

His shadows seeped into her skin pores, tightening her nerves and delivering pain there. As a consequence, Amanda shouted again in a complete sound of pain.

Cord saw a look of dread emerge in her teary eyes. It was the usual thing. A usual effect when he turns serious and murderous. He used to savor this in his victims many, many years past but hell, this was Amanda, the woman he lov- care for, and hated watching it in her.

He successfully wrenched himself out of her deadly grip and stepped an inch away out of her reach. With a long, deep sigh, he massaged his neck, feeling the sore there - evidence that she was really strong, almost at par with him.

“Unfortunately my witch, I can’t let you do that.” He stood still and studied her from head to foot, examining specifically her face that still scowled at him.

It had just been two days yet he missed her so. Made him insane and snappy towards his subjects. Made him...well, not like himself.

His eyes landed on her lips, those plump flesh that he wanted devoured. He studied the creases in her forehead too, those unwanted lines that he wanted wiped out with a heady kiss. Her eyes, they were sending him cold daggers, but he planned to change them into looks of pleasure.

Those were thoughts not fit in a quarrel or in a battle. Or even in an ailing woman. Yet, Cord did, and after pondering on them for no later than two seconds, a decision was made.

With a growl as a form of warning, he brought her to bed with a rough shove. Amanda gnashed her teeth when her head hit the mattress. Then, he joined her there - his arms and legs jailing her body.

“Re...lease me!” Amanda shouted, voice mixed with displeasure and pain.

“No,” was Cord stern reply. He touched her cheek for a moment, grazed his hands gently there, and then, like a meteor on sea impact, he claimed her mouth in a sizzling, brutal fashion.

His tongue shot out and danced, guiding and harassing Amanda’s own without giving a heads up. He hoped that she would reciprocate, but on instinct, she bit down on his lip.

Cord growled under his breath, but he didn’t withdraw. In actuality, he loved the pain it elicited, and it drew blood - blood that he graciously welcomed.

“Re...lea...se me!” she demanded again in between his tongue strokes, but Cord was deaf to it.

He continued his attack, this time suckling heavily on the skin of her neck, creating a nasty kiss mark there. He hungered for her. All of her. Not just her blood, but everything that consisted of her.  Flesh. Body. Heart. Soul. And with the way everything was taking place, he didn’t plan for it to end anytime soon.

But, his captive was in danger.

“Ahrg!” Amanda let out another wail as the shadows penetrated her nerve fibers. It tensed her, made her turn like a stone. Made her heart quiver into what seemed like the path to death. “Ahhh!” she screamed again, extreme pain clearly audible.

It was an unfortunate reaction that immediately lost Cord’s focus.  It would have been great if that syllable was born out of pleasure, but pain? Oh, how could he ignore it when his woman was crying in pain? Turning into a body with no life?!

Without contemplating further, Cord summoned his shadows back, releasing Amanda from his hold. He watched her expression ease - her brows turning relaxed, her mouth beginning to soften and her closed eyes less of creases. Her breathing too was getting normal and he expected those to continue.

But that didn’t happen.

Amanda’s strength returned. Her eyes popped open with the same hate that doused Cord’s hope. Despite the shivering of her hands, she immediately pressed her palms against his chest, not to push him away, but to inject her retaliation. Petrify his very existence. “I’ll fucking kill you!” she shouted.

Cord felt her legs scissor around his waist. He would have delighted in this position if they were making love, but with the burning feeling in his chest, it was the opposite.

“Shit.”

It was a scant word to embody the dilemma in his mind.

What to do? What to do? He couldn’t just summon his shadows into her again. He didn’t want to hear her wail in pain the fourth time.

And then, it hit him.

The amulet.

With a clench of his jaw, he reached for the God-forsaken object in her neck, aiming to tear it away from her just like what he did days ago, but it was unsuccessful.

Amanda used her strength to bring him down the mattress, throwing her weight on top of him and in effect straddling him. Her palms still connected on his chest - the solidification of the surrounding area in the process.

Cord gritted his teeth, feeling a hot pain starting to surround the area. With his hands immediately on her wrist, he groaned and shot her a pained look.

“For all those witches that you killed, you deserve to die! You deserve to die!” she announced, but surprisingly now, Cord saw continuous tears in her eyes. It dripped into his cheeks like a mourning rain.

“I know... and I’m sor...ry... I really am...” was all Cord could say. The look of hatred in her eyes and the salty tears wetting his face was condemning him. It was roasting his guilt to the core.

Such were the circumstances of their relationship and he hated it. Hated it with all his being. Why can’t he just care for a woman without being enemies with her? Why can’t she be a normal human and him the same? But the truth in his front was real and he cannot just ignore it anymore even if her intense hatred was just born out of her amulet’s memories.

Maybe then, it was for the best. To pay for all his mistakes.

Revenge was never the answer, but he still carried it out on her kind without remorse. And now, he was paying for it. Paying for it real good. He could never be worthy of this woman. This woman that he, with all of his fucked up existence, care - no - loves.

Yes, he could finally say that he loves her. He was done denying it. True to what Pamela had revealed, he was in love with Amanda. And he was willing to accept her judgment. He was willing to cease existing if it meant her peace.

So, still caged in bed, his hands released her wrist and rested on each side, deciding not to fight Amanda anymore. He remained still, choosing to shut his eyes for he didn’t want to see her cry. Her, crying, definitely won’t be a good memory in his final seconds in life.

“Go ahead, kill me, Amanda,” he urged with a low, lifeless tone.

She didn’t reply except for a pained groan.

More female tears dripped down his cheeks. He could feel it cold despite the growing hotness of his chest.

But then, suddenly, that hotness stopped.

“But I don’t want you to die...” were the blessed words that Cord heard before he snapped his eyes open.

He couldn’t be so sure if he was happy and relieved but here she was, one hand on his chest while the other held the crushed stone - a cloud of purplish smoke evaporated in the air from it.

“Cord, I don’t want you to die...” Amanda stated again through clenched teeth. “I refuse to kill you.”

“Aman...da? My God-”

Despite the crushing stony weight of his chest, it swelled of relief and pride and desire. A desire for her.

He palmed her wet, flushed cheek, savoring the feel of her underneath his fingertips. Their eyes connected and both showed the longing in each other.

“You broke your own spell...” he pointed out, touching the corner of her wet eyes that had now changed into her normal hazel violet.

Amanda’s mouth curved into a small smile and let out a sigh of relief. “I’m not that weak, Cord. One thing Matteo doesn’t know about me is that I’m not this easily controlled. I may have some failures during this past two days, not being able to remember you, but the pain in your shadows made me see reality. It was like a fucking defibrillator.”

Cord smirked as if their battle earlier was nonexistent. “A defibrillator huh? How about you move. Get the hell out on top of me. I want to crush my weight on you.”

Her heart was still healing, but Amanda snorted and gave him a smug smile.

“With the stony damage that you have in your chest, I bet you will,” she said and then slowly climbed down off him.

But then Cord, shot out a hand to stop her. “On the contrary,” he straightened and inched his nose on her neck, “I like this position more. I have more access.”

With both hands, he caressed her décolletage. He accessed more skin with a hook of his finger in her dress neckline.

“I thirst for you Amanda,” he continued. His tongue stuck out and licked her neck.

Amanda let out a low moan. She raised her head for better coverage and Cord delighted on this.

“Drink my blood then. You’ll heal quickly if you do right?”

“Correct.”

And with that, his fangs pierced deep in her flesh.

“Ahhh...” Amanda parted her lips, letting out a soft scream of delight. Shutting her eyes, she felt wave after wave of tingles all over her body, most specifically in her veins where her excited blood coursed through. She grabbed his coat collar and held it tight for support.

Meanwhile, Cord sucked and sucked, relishing her blood’s taste and power - her power that had immensely tripled. He had felt this kind of energy before, from a witch he had killed, the previous owner of his shadows. Feeling this again now made him toss a quick question: where they somehow related?

If he was greedy like in the past, he would have bled Amanda dry just to get her life essence and ability, but he wasn’t now, so as an ending, he eased his embrace, retracted his fangs from her flesh and withdrew a little to caress her again.

“Amanda, I want you.”

“Mhmmm,” Amanda moaned as an affirmation. She peeled her eyelids open and stared deep into him, her hands cupping his face.

“Then take me Cord. Fill me in. Right here, right now. My body is craving for you.” She searched for those familiar eyes of his, the greenish brown ones, and saw them appearing, a sign that he was indeed reverting to his human self because of her blood.

Cord’s chest swelled again. His right hand found her brassiere-covered breast, groped on it and asked in a stern voice, “Had Matteo touched you?”

Amanda slightly nodded.

“Yes, he kissed me, touched me, but he wasn’t able to penetrate me.”

A quick look of anger appeared from him towards the blasted mage, but with Amanda’s swift kiss on his lips, it was immediately replaced with a firm resolve.

“Then I’ll erase all traces of him.”