“Calm down,” Sebastian says, placing his hand on my leg.
I swat him away. “Don’t touch me.”
He winces from the way I say it. No wonder. I feel grossed out and dirty that he touches me the way he does. As if he’s some sort of disease. It does feel like I’m surrounded by death.
“Stop,” he says calmly. “It won’t help you.”
“Just let me go then.”
“I can’t do that and you know why.”
“I can take care of myself just fine. I have two legs, a healthy set of lungs, and I can run like hell, so I’ll get myself to safety just fine.”
“No, you won’t.”
His fingers return to my leg and dig in, squeezing me. “Your legs are strong, perfect for fleeing, but they’re still no match for men with rifles who know how to shoot from a distance. You’d be easy prey. The only one who’s ever allowed to hunt you down is me.”
His touch becomes lighter again, softer, as he starts rubbing my leg, warming it up and creeping me out at the same time. It feels like he’s petting me.
“I want you to be safe,” he says, “to be okay. That was always my plan.”
I turn my head toward the window and look outside. Now that I know the full truth, it’s like I have even less of a chance to get my freedom back. I can’t give up. I just can’t.
So I force myself to continue ravaging this car, kicking and shoving, pulling out everything I have, just to make a point. I will not fucking give up on my life or on Ashley. The strong Lillith is back in full glory and I’ll be damned if I lose that part of myself again.
“You had to go and resist …” Sebastian grumbles, and then he grabs me by the waist and pulls me toward him. Something sharp is pointed at my neck. His knife.
“I told you what would happen if you kept on fighting me,” he whispers in my ear. The blade is painfully sharp, and I can feel it cut into my skin. I squeeze my eyes shut. “Stop!”
“No, not until you stop fighting and let it go.”
“I won’t.”
“Then I don’t have any other choice.”
With the knife, he creates a line down the base of my neck and onto my shoulder. I yelp from the sharp pain, but gasp when I feel his hot mouth press down on my skin. He sucks, his tongue dipping out to lick me. He hums against my neck, holding the knife close to my vein as he kisses the blood off my skin.
“Hmm…” He groans in such a dirty way, it sounds as if he’s going to come. “Delicious.”
A red mark is left on my skin as he retreats.
Licking his lips, he says, “As expected.”
“You’re disgusting …” I murmur.
“Disgustingly aroused,” he says, biting his lip. “I want another taste.”
He dives in again, but I manage to push him away. “No!”
“Yes …” He keeps coming, biting my shoulder, and I squeal.
“Please!”
“What?” He kisses my skin and then bites me again.
“Please … stop,” I say, blinking away the impending tears.
“Oh, but that’s impossible now that I’ve tasted your blood. You are so deliciously riveting … I’ll never have enough.”
I’m so sick to my stomach that I could throw up. Although I’m not sure whether that’s because of him or because of the fact that I just faced death.
“Please … I don’t want this,” I say, feeling humiliated for having to beg him again, but I want this to stop. I need this to stop.
“But I do … and that is where I hold the power and you don’t,” he says, twisting the blade in his hand.
“Just stop … let me be … for just a few minutes,” I plead. “Just let me sit here in peace.”
“And you will stop fighting? Stop trying to trash my car?” His tongue darts out again to lick my skin, sending shivers up my spine.
“Yes.” I sigh, moving as close to the window as I can manage, far away from him.
“Good.”
Suddenly he slides away again, back to his own seat. Fazed, I turn my head and gaze at him, then at the wound on my shoulder, which is still oozing blood. He just bit me and now he’s suddenly done? This was all a trick to get me to be quiet.
“Now we’re both bleeding,” he muses.
From his corner, he smiles at me. He brings his finger to his face and swipes up a drop of blood left on his chin, brings it to his parted lips, and licks up my blood from his finger like it’s a lollipop and he’s savoring the taste.
I cringe a little.
“Now be a good fairy and sit still.”
Accompanying song: “Bad Moon Rising” by Mourning Ritual