Passion After Dark (23 page)

I don
’t know why the whole thing had upset me, to see how sexual vampires are, how free they are with sex shouldn’t have caused the reaction in me that it did. Hell I wrote erotica and yet when I walked in on two people having sex and seeing a room that was lightly equipped for someone who might like a little BDSM or something and I’d gone all anal over it.

I
’d over reacted a little but at the same time I wasn’t ready to be exposed to Dominick’s kind of lifestyle. He denied that he was like Fabian and Francesca but he was vampire, it had to be inside him and sooner or later he’d want to be a part of that scene again. He might have chosen to live a life as close to human as he could, but he couldn’t avoid those around him and they were always going to be in his life.

No matter how many times I thought about it though and convinced myself that I was better off without Dominick, it didn
’t lessen the pain. He had brought something to my life, a sense of belonging, of excitement, a feeling of having something that made my days enjoyable, that I looked forward to.

H
e’d simply blown me away with his stunning good looks, those sexy, magnetic eyes of his and god the sex, the sex was amazing, unbelievable, mind blowing and the most incredible sex I’d ever had. Who would have known that being bitten and losing blood through sex would be so fucking erotic, but it was.

Dominick had made me feel beautiful and special with the way he spoke to me and treated me plus all t
he huskily spoken Italian had been so sexy even if I had no idea what he was saying to me.

“
Oh god Dominick.” I whispered, my heart aching at the thought of my life without him and with a muffled sob into my pillow, I began to weep for all that I had lost and the bleak future I faced without the man I’d come to love being in it.

Dominick.

Dominick woke in a tangle of sweat soaked sheets and immediately his memories tortured his mind and he moaned as the pain of losing Allegra closed in on him again.

He
’d dreamt that he’d heard her crying and she’d been sobbing his name over and over again. God but it had felt so real but it could only be a dream. She didn’t want to see him anymore. She’d been so calm about walking away, much calmer than he was and he was supposed to be the creature some considered had no soul.

He was hard, his cock straining up, tenting the sheets and he groaned. If this is how it was going to be every time he thought of Allegra, it was going to be a long, painful, hard, eternity.

With an impatient growl he kicked the sheets off and grabbed his cock, closing his fist around it, squeezing it until it hurt. As his anger at how his life had fallen apart in less than 24 hours crashed over him again, he began to work himself through his hand, hard and fast.

On and on he pulled on himself, deliberately causing himself pain, not stopping when he began to shred the skin on his cock and the blood flowed freely and when he was finally a raw, bleeding mess of torn flesh, he cried out and pumped out
his release, his cum mixing with the blood on his bed. He collapsed back on his pillows and with a gasp which turned into a sob, he passed out again, falling into a deep sleep.

Allegra.

It was late by the time I woke again and I climbed out of bed, feeling suddenly much older than I was. My body ached for him. Every single inch of me wanted him again but I had to be strong, I couldn’t go back to him because nothing would be different. His lifestyle and mine were too alien. I don’t think I could ever come to accept it. The fact that I’d felt a moment of arousal meant nothing. I had no desire to participate in that kind of lifestyle, not really. A moment’s curiosity did not pave the way for a lifetime of what took place in Dominick’s and his family’s lives, not in my book.

I peered at myself in the mirror of my bathroom and found a part of myself wishing I
’d never taken that drink of Dominick’s blood. I wanted to feel sore from his possession of my body, to see the puncture marks in my neck where he’d fed but his blood had healed me, wiping all evidence of my time with him away.

My body ached like the devil though but it wasn
’t in memory of the sex with Dominick, it was the ache of defeat, of bone crushing pain and misery that I would never see him again, that my body would never accept him into it again, that he would never drink from me or share his blood with me again.

As the reality of my situation settled over me and the pain speared through me yet again, my tears began to fall until I collapsed on the t
iles of my bathroom floor and sobbed until I was spent, my body weak and nothing more than the occasional shudder ran through me. I needed to be free of this torture, I needed to forget, I just wanted the pain to be gone.

I finally dragged myself off the
floor, washed my face, brushed my teeth and reluctantly dressed on day one of my future without Dominick.

When I made it downstairs Cassie was in the kitchen drinking a cup of one of her herbal teas and she smiled at me when I walked past her to put the k
ettle on.

“
Good morning sleepy head.” She chorused at me and then her eyes met mine and her expression changed. “God Allie, what’s wrong? You look terrible.”

“
Gee thanks Cass. I love you too.” I attempted to smile at her but I just couldn’t seem to get my lips to make the necessary move and curve up. I’m sure the end result was more of a grimace than a smile, but it was the best I could manage.

Beau must have sensed something wasn
’t right and he pushed his nose into the palm of my hand and I patted him, glad that there was one male in this world that loved me even if that one male was my dog.

“
What’s wrong Allie? You look like you’ve been crying?” Her expression suddenly changed. “Oh god, please tell me everything’s ok with you and Dominick.”

As soon as sh
e mentioned his name I burst into tears again and heard Cass say something although I wasn’t sure what and then her arms came around me and I dropped my head on her shoulder, sobbing until I thought my heart would split in two inside my chest.

She held me
until my tears were nothing more than a few hiccupping sobs and finally I straightened and continued to make my coffee.

“
Are you and Dom over?” She asked and I nodded as I wasn’t game to try and answer her or I’d be in tears again. “Can you tell me what happened?” She spoke softly, her voice filled with concern for me, but all I could manage was to tell her I couldn’t talk about it yet.

I looked at Cassie and images of her hanging from the ropes with Fabian pounding into her so hard, she would swing away f
rom him only to have him drag her back and the sound of their bodies slamming into one another, played over and over again. I dropped my eyes from hers suddenly embarrassed for her over how I’d seen her and now here she was, totally oblivious to what had taken place last night.

Fabian, suddenly I thought of him and what he could do.
The thought entered my head and I straightened as the idea took root in my brain. I wanted him to do to me what he’d done to Cassie. Not the sex, but could I get him to wipe my memory as he’d done with Cass? I wanted the pain I felt over losing Dominick to be gone and if I could have my memory wiped, it would be like I’d never known him. The question was would Fabian do it for me and what price would I have to pay? I knew he wanted me, he’d made that clear already but could I have sex with him in exchange for him wiping my memories clean of Dominick’s existence?

“
Face it Allie, you wouldn’t remember having sex with Fabian anyway. He’d wipe that from your memory along with all memories of Dominick.” That little voice inside my head had to be all practical and point out the obvious.

Suddenly the thoughts filling my head helped improve my mood. I was going to do it, I would go and see Fabian and get him to take away all memory of ev
er having known Dominick and pray that the price I had to pay was not too great.

Chapter Fifteen.

Dominick.

Dominick slept all day, a
restless, tortured sleep and he woke as the sun was settling low in the sky. Reality crashed down on him again and he remembered, Allegra was no longer in his life.

The only woman he
’d ever loved, the one person he’d been so sure was meant to be with him for eternity and she was gone.

He sat up and his eyes fell on the blood soa
ked sheets. His hand still bled slightly and when he peeled the linen back off his body, his cock looked raw and painful. It probably was painful, but he couldn’t seem to feel it, he couldn’t feel anything.

He knew he need
ed to feed as he was weakened from losing his blood to Fabian and now he was growing weaker from the blood he was losing from his self inflicted injuries. He should feed but he couldn’t work up the energy or motivation to do so. What was the point? Did it really matter if he died? If it meant being free from the pain he was in now, then he would welcome the final death and with the decision made, he lay back down in his bed and rolled over, letting sleep pull him under again.

*********

It was dark when Dominick woke again. He braced himself as the familiar pain and despair washed over him and something else, there was a feeling of unrest, uneasiness and he didn’t know why.

He pulled himself out of bed and
noticed his injuries were starting to heal but without blood it was much slower. When he saw himself in the bathroom mirror even he had to concede he looked fucking awful. His normal olive complexion was washed out and his cheeks sunken. His eyes were bloodshot and red rimmed and his lips had dried out and were cracked.

Again he felt that fleeting moment of uneasiness and Allegra
’s face filled his mind. Why was he seeing her everywhere he turned now and in his dreams?

While he was staring at himself and wondering if the lack of blood was sending him crazy, he heard a knock at his door and it opened. It had to be Fran, only she would ent
er someone’s home without waiting to be invited.

He walked out of the bathroom, moving slowly as he was too weak for anything else. If Fabian hadn
’t taken so much blood from him last night he’d have felt better tonight but he had been nearly drained and since he hadn’t gone out to feed, he was running on empty now and it showed.

“
Fuck me brother dear. What the hell is wrong with you? You look like hell.” Fran’s voice broke through his slow progress across his bedroom.

He turned to Fran noticing she was dr
essed in yet another one of her black flowing dresses. Her black painted lips were curled up in amusement as she watched his old man shuffle as he headed back to his bed.

“
Fuck off Fran. If you’ve come to dump shit on me, go away. I’m not feeling well and I want to rest.”

He
r eyes were on his bed, the blood stained sheets. “My god Nicky, what have you done to yourself? All that blood. Let me see, where are you hurt and what the hell happened?”

“
Stay out of my life Fran. Why are you here or is it just to gloat over me not having Allegra anymore?”

“
Let me see what you’ve done to yourself Nicky. I know I like to tease you and torment you brother dear but I don’t actually get off on seeing you suffer like this.” She said and he raised an eyebrow at her, not entirely convinced she wasn’t toying with him again.

“
It’s nothing Fran, don’t worry about me.” He tunneled his hands through his hair and winced when the action tugged at the ragged skin on his hand.

She grabbed
it and turned it so she could see his palm. “Oh Nicky, Nicky, what have you done? Is this from the broken ornament I saw downstairs?”

He nodded. “
I’m fine Fran, stop fussing.”

“
There’s a lot of blood on that bed for a few cuts on your hand Nicky. Where’s the rest of the blood coming from?”

“
Forget it Fran, it’s not your concern.” He was starting to get tired of the endless questions. In fact he was getting tired, physically tired. He needed to sleep some more.

Suddenly Fran ripped the towel free from around his waist and when she gasped, he knew his
cock must look bad for her to react the way she was. She wasn’t the squeamish type normally.

“
Oh Nick.” She gasped and he looked down at himself, reluctant to meet her eyes. “What have you done? You are a fool. Why aren’t you healing? You look terrible. When did you feed last?”

Dominick was too busy looking at the bloodied, mangled mess that was his cock and even he felt sick when he saw it. Fuck but he
’d made a mess of himself. Still, did it matter? He wasn’t going to need it. He had no intention of having sex with anyone else. He’d lost Allegra, all he wanted now was to die.

“
I asked you when you fed last Nick, answer me.” Fran’s voice interrupted his miserable thoughts.

“
Last night from…from…it…it was Allegra.” He whispered.

“
That doesn’t make sense, you should have healed. Fabian drank from you when you were foolish enough to try and fight him Nicky. Did he drain you?” Dominick nodded, too weary to answer her. “Fucking hell Nicky, didn’t you go out last night and hunt? You would have needed to feed to make up for what he took from you. You didn’t though did you? That’s why you’re so weak and not healing now.”