The Vampire's Kiss (Other World Series Book 1) (3 page)

“Maria, calm down.”  Neil pulled the small
woman away from Val.  She kicked him hard in the shin and he winced and let her
go. 

“She should have let you die, Val.”  She
hissed at him before turning and stomping towards the kitchen.

Neil turned to him and Val actually felt a
trickle of embarrassment at the look on the big man’s face.  “Why would you be
so cruel to her, Val?”

“I don’t know.”  He was lying.  He had done
it because he had been disgusted by her despite her willingness to help him. 
He had been so sure that her blood would taste horrible that he had just wanted
to get it over with.  All of that had changed the moment he had tasted her. 
Now he was craving her, and he never imagined that she would be able to resist
him.

“Do you really believe your cruelty is why
she can resist you?”  Neil asked curiously.

Val shook his head.  “No.  I have done this
to other humans in the past and although it helped lessen their need a little,
it did not diminish it completely.”

He didn’t know why Abigail could resist him
but he was determined to find out.

* * *

“Abigail?  Are you okay?”  Maria’s warm
hand touched her back hesitantly and Abby looked up from where she was staring
at the kitchen table.

“Just fine.”

Maria glanced at David.  He was pouring
water into a pot and he widened his eyes a little at her.  She shrugged.

“I’m going to go put this over the fire in
the fireplace.”  David said as he lifted the pot from the counter.  “We’ll have
your tea ready in just a bit, okay?”

“Okay.”  She said absently.  She had
returned to staring at the table.

“Abigail, you saw Val in the living room
right?”

“Yes.”

“And you felt nothing?  No need for him?” 
Maria spoke hesitantly, as though even mentioning it would make it happen.

Abigail didn’t reply and she reached out
and gently tilted her face up.  The girl’s eyes were soft and unfocused and
Maria frowned.  “Abigail?”

Abby blinked rapidly.  “I feel a bit of a
draw to him.”  She admitted as she pressed her lips together tightly.  “But
nothing I can’t handle.”

“Are you sure?  Val has changed his mind
about feeding from you again.”

“Has he?  How generous of him.”  Abigail
said sarcastically.

“It will help.  I know it was frightening
for you last night but they do have the ability to make it - well – less traumatizing. 
I’ll get Neil to talk to Val about being gentler.  And it will only be until
we’re in Karna.  Once we’re in the city it will be easier to avoid him, and the
craving will wear off.”

Abigail shook her head.  “No.  I don’t need
his pity feeding.  I’m perfectly fine.”

“Abby, what you’re feeling right now will
only get worse with time.”

She frowned.  “You said it would get
better.”

“Only if you’re not around him.”  Maria
replied patiently.  “You will not be able to avoid him, and it will be at least
another ten days before we get to Karna.”

When Abigail didn’t reply, Maria pressed
her gently.  “There is no shame in allowing him to feed from you, Abby.  It is
better than going mad with the need.”

“I’m stronger than I look, Maria.”  Abigail
said sharply.  “Please will you go for a bit?  I’d like to be alone.”

Maria hesitated and then nodded. 
“Alright.”

As soon as she was gone, Abby grabbed the
edge of the table until her knuckles turned white.  She closed her eyes and
began to breathe, deep flat inhales through her nose and soft, long exhales
through her mouth.

Her entire body was throbbing and pulsing
with the need to go to Val.  She continued to hold the table, knowing it was
the only thing that was stopping her from going to the arrogant vampire and
asking him to fuck her.  Asking him – hell, pleading with him - to bite her
again. 

Her pussy throbbed as she imagined lying on
her back and parting her thighs so Val could kneel between them.  His cock
would be big and thick and fill her completely.  She knew that as well as she
knew her own name.  He would fuck her until she was begging to come and when he
finally allowed her to, he would sink his fangs deep into her throat and the
pleasure would intensify until she -

She was actually starting to stand when she
got control of herself.  She moaned low in her throat, resisting the urge to
shove her hand down her pants and rub her clit.  She bit the inside of her
cheek until she could taste blood and forced herself to concentrate on her
breathing. 

She was looking for her place, the place
that she had gone to most of her childhood and teenage years.  It was safe and
warm and after a few moments she slipped into it.  The outside world faded away
and she sat down in the warm grass and stared at the field of white daisies. 
The breeze blew gently and the petals rubbing together made a sound like soft
whispering.

She had grown up in the foster system and
spent most of her first few years being shuffled from home to home.  When she
was seven, she had been assigned to a foster home of an older couple.  At first
it had seemed wonderful but it had quickly turned into a horror show.  The
woman had been a religious nut job and she had beaten and abused Abigail on a
daily basis.  She had threatened to kill Abby if she told her social worker and
to avoid going insane, Abigail had created her safe place.

She supposed it was actually a sign of her
own insanity that she could create a world so vivid and realistic but her safe
place had saved her time and time again.  The beatings, the hours of being
forced on her knees in front of a large crucifix, all faded away when she was
in her safe place.  Even better, she would be calm and in control when she
allowed herself to return to the real world. 

There had been no need to go to her
internal world in years but now, as she sought it out with a desperation born
of panic, she found it incredibly easy to return.  Thoughts of Val faded away
and her grip on the table loosened.  She stared blankly across the room.  A tiny
part of her mind was aware of the soft murmuring of the others in the living
room, of the fly that was buzzing at the window, but most of her consciousness
was fully involved in her fantasy world.

When David returned nearly fifteen minutes
later carrying a cup of steaming tea, she was sitting calm and relaxed in her
chair.  He crouched beside her and set the cup in front of her before gently
touching her knee.

“Abby?”

She smiled down at him, her dark eyes hazy
and far away.  “Yes, David?”

“I brought you tea.” 

“Thank you.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Just fine, thank you.”

He rubbed her large thigh, his hand tracing
tiny circles on the top of it.  She didn’t seem to notice.

Val stood in the doorway of the kitchen and
frowned as David rubbed and circled Abigail’s thigh.  He had to control the
urge to tear the man away from her and he scowled.  What was happening to him? 

“Abby, why don’t you join us in the living
room?  We’re going to be eating soon and – “

Abigail abruptly shuddered all over and in
a low sing-song voice said, “He’s here.”

“Hello Abigail.”  Val was suddenly standing
next to them and David stood and moved protectively in front of Abby.

“Get out of here, Val.”

“No.”

David’s hands clenched into fists and he
glared at the larger man.  “Get out now or I’ll –“

“You’ll what?”  Val laughed, a deep rich
sound, and held his hands out.  “Do you really believe you have a chance
against me?”

With terrifying quickness, he wrapped his
hand around David’s neck and lifted until the man was dangling in his grip. 
“You would be wise to not cross me, young David.  I’m hungry and she has what I
want.”

David pulled futilely at Val’s hand, his
legs kicking as his face turned red.

“Let him go, Val.”  Her voice was soft but
he dropped David immediately and turned to her, dismissing the boy completely.

“Of course, little dove.”

He stood next to her and resisted the urge
to stroke her long, dark hair.  She had unbraided it and it fell halfway down
her back in dark waves.

“Abby.” David gasped out, his hand rubbing
his throat.  “Come to the living room with me.”

Val turned and stared at him.  “Leave us,
boy.”

“Fuck you, leech.”  David spat.

“It’s fine, David.  You should go.”  Abby
said in the same soft voice.

“Come with me.”  David pleaded.

She shook her head.  “No, I’m fine.”

Val’s lips curved up in a smile of triumph
as David flushed and strode jerkily from the room.

Abby was staring at the table in front of
her and Val knelt at her feet.  “Look at me, Abigail.”

With a shuddering sigh she turned and
stared at him.  His blood pounded at the look of need in her eyes.  She did
want him after all, he could feel it radiating from her, and he felt a trickle
of relief go through him.

“Shall I feed from you now, sweet Abigail? 
Would you like that?”  He murmured.

“So you can nearly kill me again?”  The
haze of desire lessened and he could see a small flicker of anger in her eyes.

He smiled easily at her.  “I am sorry for
that, my pet.  I did not mean to take so much.  I promise you it will not
happen again.”

She snorted.  “And why should I trust you?”

He let his hand hover just above her
tightly-clasped hands.  Christ, she was strong-willed.  He had made a quick
judgement of her in the forest and found her lacking.  Now, watching as she
fought her need for him, he could feel his admiration for her growing.

“I will never hurt you, Abigail.  You’re so
beautiful.”

“Liar.”  She whispered.  “You think I’m fat
and ugly.  You said so last night, remember?  You said you would not feed from
me again because I was fat and tasted bad.”

He winced.  “I’m sorry.  I should not have
said that.  I was being an asshole.  You’re beautiful and taste delicious.  I
would very much like to taste you again.”

“Tough titty said the kitty when the milk
went dry.”  She said softly and he gave her an odd look.

“What do you mean?”

“It means get lost, scram, take a hike.” 
She was breathing shallowly and her hands were squeezing the edge of the table
compulsively.

His frustration grew and he reached out and
cupped her face, knowing that his touch would be enough to convince her.  She
inhaled sharply and made a soft sound of need as her entire body shuddered.

“Look at me, Abigail.”  He commanded.

Her eyes lifted to his and he smiled. 
“That’s right, my dove.  See how much I want you, how much I need you.”

His confident smile faded as the light
disappeared from her eyes.  She stared at him blankly and he frowned. 
“Abigail, can you hear me?”

She didn’t reply and he stroked her face
with his fingers.  “Abigail?  Say something.”

She continued to ignore him.  Her breathing
was deep and even and she had gone limp in the chair.  She was like a living,
breathing doll and he frowned and snapped his fingers in front of her face.

“Abigail!”  He said sharply and she jerked
a little.

“Go away, Val.  I don’t want you to feed
from me.”  She sighed quietly, her eyes still blank.

He gave a grunt of frustration and stalked
from the room.

“How is she doing it?  Do you know?” Maria
asked Neil softly.

It had been three days and they had spent
the daylight hours traveling and their nights holed up in various houses. 
Tonight had been the first night they had not found an abandoned house and they
had been forced to camp in the open.  The entire group was tense and nervous
and sticking close to the small, smokeless fire that Neil had built.

Neil shook his head.  “I have no idea. 
I’ve never seen a human resist a vampire the way she does.”

Maria hesitated.  “It’s like – I think –
it’s like she goes into herself.  She’s there but she’s not there, you know? 
She just disappears and shuts all of us out, but especially Val.”

Neil nodded.  “Yeah.  It’s driving Val
crazy.”

“It’s driving her crazy too.  She’s
slipping, Neil.  She’s built this iron-clad armor around herself but it’s
starting to break apart.  She’s hardly sleeping and she doesn’t have much of an
appetite.  If David and I didn’t watch her and remind her to eat, I don’t think
she would eat at all.”

“Why won’t she let him feed from her?” Neil
asked.

“Probably because he was an asshole and
frightened her the first time he fed.”

Neil shook his head.  “He’s been actively trying
to seduce her for the last three days.  That should have easily overridden her
fear.”

“We have to do something.”  Maria said
desperately.  “I’ll speak to her again, try and convince her to – “

“No, don’t.”  David sat down beside them
and frowned.  “It’s admirable what she’s doing.  Those damn leeches think they
can do whatever they want with us, and she’s showing them we can’t be
controlled.”

Maria frowned at him.  “At what cost?  Her
sanity?  She’s cracking under the pressure, David.”

“She’s just fine.”  David said
dismissively. 

“No she isn’t!”  Maria snapped.

“Whatever, Maria.  You don’t even know
her.”

“And you think you do?”

“I’ve been spending lots of time with her
the last three days.  We talk and I help her to ignore that asshole leech in
the evenings.  She’s a good, sweet girl and she doesn’t need to be corrupted
any further by him.”

He stood and walked around the fire to
Abby.  He sat down on the log beside her and dropped his arm across her
shoulders. She gave him a tired, distracted smile before staring back at the
flames.

“Someone has a crush I think.”  Neil said
dryly.

Maria sighed.  “David hates the vampires,
Neil.  He always has and he always will.  Does he have a crush on her or is he
just using her to drive Val mad?”

“I don’t know, but he’s the least of our
concerns.  We need to try and convince Abby to allow Val to feed from her.”

“Yeah.”  Maria looked around.  “Where is
Val anyway?”

“He went hunting tonight with Eone.  He’s
been holding off, convinced that he would feed from Abigail, but he couldn’t
hold out any longer.”

* * *

Abigail stood, rubbing at her forehead, and
David immediately stood with her.

“Where are you going?”

She tamped down the twinge of irritation
she felt at his nosiness and forced herself to smile at him.  “I need to use
the bathroom.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No you will not.”  She scowled at him. 
“I’m quite capable of peeing by myself, thanks.”

She walked away quickly before he could
protest and disappeared into the trees.  She walked a few feet until she was
hidden from the campsite and pulled her pants down.  She reached into her
pocket and pulled out the small amount of soft paper that Maria had given her
for this very purpose before squatting and peeing quickly.  She couldn’t
believe how quickly she had adjusted to peeing on the ground. 

She stood and pulled her pants up.  She
hesitated – she didn’t want to go back to the camp, not yet.  The voices of the
others, their very presence, was annoying her more and more.  What did she care
about their idle chatter or their attempts at friendship when thoughts of Val
drummed steadily in her head?

She rubbed at her forehead again.  Maria
had been right – it was getting worse.  Hardly a moment went by where she
wasn’t thinking about Val.  When she wasn’t wondering what it would be like to
kiss him, to have his strong hands on her naked breasts, and to feel his fangs
in her flesh once more.  To make matters worse, every time she turned around he
was there, staring at her with those silvery grey eyes that practically dripped
sex.  He was trying to seduce her, she knew it without a doubt, and he was
doing a remarkable job.

She could hardly remember the pain of his
first feeding.  All she could picture now was his hard hand squeezing her
breast and his thigh pushing against her core.  When he looked at her, his eyes
promised long nights of unimaginable pleasure and she desperately wanted to
give in to him.

She released a long, shuddering breath.  It
was getting more and more difficult to slip into her safe place.  The sound of Val’s
deep voice or an image of the dark shadow on his jaw would cut in to her
thoughts just as she was sitting down in the field of flowers, and she would be
ripped out of her dream world just like that.

She should have been freaking out about
being whisked to some other version of earth by a giant glowing orb.  She
should have been giving some thought to how she might return to her own world,
but none of that seemed to matter.  The only thing that mattered was Val.

Why are you torturing yourself like this,
Abby?  He wants you and you want him.  Let him take what he wants.  He promised
he wouldn’t hurt you and maybe then you could get some sleep.  Let him feed
from you just once.  There’s no harm in allowing him to take a small amount. 
And I bet if you begged sweetly enough, he’d fuck you with that big, hard cock. 
He could –

She shook her head.  Val had called her fat
multiple times, had insulted her in front of a room full of people she had just
met, and told Neil and Eone to leave her in the forest to die.  She hated him. 

She let him feed from her once because she
owed him a debt.  She had paid it in full and she owed him nothing now.  If she
could get through nearly twelve years of abuse and psychotic raving from her
foster mother, she could get through this.  Only another week or so and they
would be in Karna, and she would never have to see him again.  She would
concentrate on finding a way home.

A small flickering light caught her eye and
she frowned and moved further into the woods.  Her breath caught in her throat
when she saw the tiny creature struggling silently in a large web strung across
the low branches of a tree.

She moved closer and inspected the
struggling creature.  It was female with long violet-coloured hair and a slim
body covered in a wisp of green fabric.  Her skin was a rich, dark purple and
she was glowing brightly.  She was about the length of a butter knife and the
tiny creature grimaced at her as she twisted and turned in the sticky web.  Abby
realized with a numb type of surprise that large, nearly invisible wings
sprouted from its back.  The wings were currently tucked against her tiny body. 
Strands of the web crisscrossed her body firmly and the more she struggled, the
tighter they tangled about her.

“You poor thing.”  Abigail murmured.  She
was reaching to help the tiny creature when Eone spoke from her left.

“Leave it, Abby.”

She gasped and whirled around, dropping her
eyes immediately to the ground when she realized Val was standing next to
Eone.  It was better, easier, to resist him if she didn’t look at him.

“What is it?”  She whispered, turning to
stare at the creature still struggling in the web.

“She’s a pixie.”  Eone said carelessly. 
She moved forward and glanced at it.  “She flew too close to the web and will
soon be the spider’s next meal.”

Abigail frowned.  “We have to help her.”

Eone laughed.  “Pixie’s are rotten little
creatures, Abby.  Trust me, there is no shortage of them and one less in the
world will be a blessing.  She’ll probably bite you the minute you free her
anyway.  They hate humans.”

“So that means I should leave her to die?” 
Abby glared at her.

“Eone’s right.”  Val spoke quietly from
behind her.  “Pixie’s are never alone.  The fact that none of her own kind have
come forward to help her, means there is something wrong with her.  Leave her
to her fate.”

Eone took her arm and began to lead her
away from the pixie.  “Come, Abby.  It is not safe for you to be here in the
woods alone.”

With a surprising show of strength, Abigail
pulled her arm free and darted back to the spider’s web.  Before Eone or Val
could stop her she had ripped the pixie free of the web and, carrying her
loosely in one hand, marched back to the campsite.

She sat down on the log beside the fire and
began to carefully untangle the long strands of web from the pixie’s small
body.  The pixie lay silently in her hand, staring distrustfully at her as the
others gathered around.

“Ugh.  A pixie.”  Erin’s nose wrinkled with
disgust.  “They’re such vile little things.”

Maria sat down beside her.  “Where did you
find it?”

“It was trapped in a spider’s web.”  Abby
said distractedly.  She was trying to remove the sticky web from the delicate
wings and she was worried that she would tear the wing right from her back.

The pixie winced and her mouth opened in
pain but no sound came out.

“I’m sorry, little one.”  Abigail whispered
softly. 

“Here.”  Maria had left and returned with a
damp cloth.  Abigail swiped it gently across the pixie’s wings.  It helped to
loosen the web, and she carefully peeled the strands away from her wings before
starting to work on the sticky strands that bound her arms and legs.

“You should have left it in the web to
die.”  Bert peered at the pixie disinterestedly.  “They’re nothing but pests.”

“Be quiet, Bert!”  Menora, a soft and quiet
woman who hadn’t said more than five words to Abby, said sharply.  “You’re such
a dick sometimes.”

Landon spoke from his spot by the fire. 
“I’ve heard that pixie’s are good luck.”

“They’re not.”  David said flatly.  “Bert’s
right – they’re annoying pests.”

Abigail ignored them all and continued to
unwind the strands from the pixie.  After about fifteen minutes, the small
creature was completely free of the strands.  She continued to lie in the palm
of Abby’s hand and Abby frowned.

“Maybe she needs some water.  She was
struggling so much.  She must be thirsty.”

Without speaking Neil brought her a cup of
water and Abby dipped her finger into it.  She held it over the pixie and let a
small drop splash on to her face.  The pixie flinched and glared at her.

“I’m sorry.”  Abby smiled at her.  “I
thought you might be thirsty.”

The pixie stood up, her bare feet resting
steadily against Abby’s palm, and cupped her hands.  Abigail dipped her finger
into the cup of water again and shook another drop of water from her finger
into the pixie’s hands.  The pixie drank deeply from her cupped hands, and
Abigail gasped with delight when she shook herself and her wings unfurled from
her body.

She fluttered them rapidly back and forth
and her body rose a few inches from Abby’s palm.  She hovered like a humming
bird for a second or two as her tiny body began to glow, and then suddenly
darted into the night sky.  She rose higher and Abby followed the tiny glowing
light until it disappeared into the trees.

“Ungrateful little slug.”  Bert said but
Abigail just shrugged and turned back to staring into the fire.  The pixie had
driven thoughts of Val from her mind for the first time in days, but already
she could feel him squirming back into her brain like an itch she couldn’t
scratch.

Oh he could scratch that itch for you,
make no mistake about that.

She shuddered and stared moodily at the
small golden flames.  Only another week – she could do this.