CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 2 5

INTERLUDE

Eternal regret

TWO DAYS PASSED.

Not that there was any visible clue to their passage from deep within this lightless cell. I knew only because I could feel the rising and setting of the sun like an internal clock.

The first day was bad. I kept remembering that taste on my lips, the way it coated my tongue and zinged through my veins, knowing only that I needed more.

I spent the time trying to distract my mind, but there was nothing to compete with this searing reality, and I knew if I didn't answer it soon, I would lose all sense of myself. So I paced and I listened and I waited for the door to open, resolved to attacking anything that came through it.

By the second day, reason started to abandon me. The need grew exponentially with each hour that dragged by. It consumed me, first the lust, then the thirst, the two of them at war within my body.

I didn't know where it came from. I didn't know what had happened to change me. I only knew what I needed and what I would do to get it. On the one hand I was a ravening beast, a mindless slave to my baser needs. On the other I was a cold, calculating monster who would stop at nothing to get what I desired. There was no right or wrong in this. There was only survival.

The monster in me knew that meant one thing–there would be victims. Predator and prey, a dance as old as time.

The need clawed at my body, driving me close to madness. I growled, I raged, I banged on the door, but nothing responded. Gradually, I grew weaker as my body, deprived of its sustenance, started to turn on itself. I crawled onto the bed and rolled up, shivering with a hunger I had no means to satisfy. I fell into a feverish sleep that was haunted by graphic dreams of blood and death.

It was the smell that pulled me back to consciousness–sweat, salt, blood.

Life.

That, and the drumming of a heartbeat, a requiem of fear. I stirred in the bed and focused my attention on the door.

Soon .

The lock turned, the sound echoing in the empty cell like a dinner bell. I sat up, huddling against the wall like a tightly-wound spring, ready to pounce.

The door opened and a body was shoved inside.

"No, please! Please!"

The door slammed shut again, leaving me alone with…

Prey .

I sniffed; female. Her fear was like the sweetest honey on the back of my throat, further igniting the profane need within me. I watched her shadowed figure standing by the door, her sobs music to my dark heart. Some part of me knew she couldn't see me. That she had no idea she was trapped in a locked cell with her own death.

The beast within me wanted to ravage her as quickly as possible, to quench this ravening lust, but the monster was more patient. I would savor this gift, as much as my appetite would allow. I waited for her protests to die out. For her tears to dry up, along with her hope, all the while driven closer to madness by the lush scent of her blood. Someone had tasted her before this, leaving the evidence on her skin. The thought stirred a blinding rage inside me and I swallowed a feral snarl. No one touches my food.

I stood up, silently unfolding my body from the bed, and prowled closer to her. She didn't know I was there until I reached out and wrapped my hands around her arms.

She screamed and jumped back, slamming against the wall so hard it nearly knocked the breath out of her. So much the better. "No, please," she whimpered, trying to fold herself into the rough stone. I smiled and ran my tongue over my teeth, noting with satisfaction that they had grown sharper. I stepped toward her, drinking in her scent–human sweat, something floral, that heady elixir of fear. And underneath that, the unmistakable musk of a male. Cum. I could smell it between her legs. Someone had violated her before me. I growled at that thought. They might have been first, but I would be last.

I was momentarily distracted by the blood on her neck, the wound still fresh. Judging by the strength of her heartbeat, there was still plenty more where that came from. I pressed my body against hers, ripping through what was left of her shift and pulling the ruined fabric away from her, leaving her bare and heaving in fear. My cock immediately sprang to life.

I had no need to speak to her. This was not a mating; this was lust, pure and primal, and she was my prey. I shoved my cock inside her without preamble and drove it as far as it would go, then started pounding her, each thrust throwing her body ruthlessly against the wall. At first she screamed, then she merely sobbed, the salt of her tears adding a new scent to the bouquet. I bent lower and licked the blood off her neck, the taste sending the most lascivious shivers through me. Yes, this is what I needed. I opened my mouth over her throat and bit down, tearing the flesh, ravaging the wound as if I could drink her down in one hearty gulp.

I was close to climax, the twin needs of orgasm and bloodlust driving me to punish her battered body. I could hear her heartbeat slowing, feel the fight in her weaken. With a final thrust, I came inside her while I swallowed the last breath of her life, the stolen blood sending a surge of power through me.

I pulled away and closed my eyes, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly as I took stock.

For the first time in two days, I felt whole. The need that had driven me close to madness was finally sated, and I was clear-headed once again. I released the female's broken body, watching as it crumpled in a lifeless heap on the floor, then stepped over it and looked around.

Now to get out of this damnable cell.

As if my thoughts had been heard, the lock clicked again and the door swung open. The figure of a woman stood there holding a lantern, her lips curled up in a sadistic smile.

"Did you enjoy your meal?"

I recognized that voice .

Anastacia.

"What did you do to me?" I growled.

"I told you I would watch you destroy everything sacred to you. She was just the start."

She stepped inside and held the lantern up over the body of my victim.

The dark hair. The slight build. I reached down and lifted her chin, sucking in an anguished gasp at the sight of her face.

"NO!"

Anastacia's laughter echoed around me, following me straight to Hell.