by annie nadine
“Annie, it is Baden,” he called out to her. She let out the breath she had been holding and moved to open the door. As she did she realised she still had the dagger in her hand. To conceal it she wrapped it up in her hair and opened the door, smile ready.
“Baden, you almost frightened me to death!” She said, relief obvious in her voice.
He tilted his head just a little and smiled at her in such a way that it chased away all of her previous fear. He was looking absolutely delicious as always, in a simple ivory slip-shirt and casual black pants. She loved how he flouted society’s social conventions and dressed however he pleased. She moved to him happily and he enfolded her in his arms. As she rested her face on his chest she couldn’t help but think about how he had come to mean so much to her in such a short amount of time. In her rush to touch him she hadn’t realised that she stepped outside of the house when she went to him.
“Sorry I frightened you,” he apologised, smelling her hair contentedly. He couldn’t help but relish in the joy he felt stirring in her soul.
“What are you doing out here? Come inside with me where it is warm,” she invited. He smiled to himself, glad he didn’t have to work out a way to get inside.
“Lead the way,” he said. She took his hand and walked inside, closing the door behind them and locking it. He inspected the house as they walked through.
“Where have you been?” She asked as they walked into the parlour. A fire was already lit and Annie sat close to the warmth it was casting on a large, brown leather sofa. Baden joined her, sitting close so their bodies were touching. It made her heart beat faster and he smiled when he heard it.
“I was not sure if there would be people here when you first arrived so I held back,” he explained easily enough. He became distracted by the way her skin looked in the firelight. He touched her lightly on the cheek and she lost whatever it was she was going to say. He slid even closer to her on the divan and leaned his face near to hers. Their lips were almost touching. “Tell me, Annie. How much do you love me?” He asked, dropping his hand from her cheek to her waist. She sucked in a breath and looked at him, trying to find words.
“I feel more in love with you with each passing day,” she said breathlessly.
He leaned in and kissed the side of her neck softly and slowly. Nerves trickled into her stomach and her breathing faltered. Again Baden couldn’t help but smile. He wanted her to love him more than anything he ever wanted before.
“I find myself falling in love with you more than I thought possible,” he whispered to her, his breath brushing against her neck. She was surprised at how intense his feelings were in such a short time but weren’t hers intense too?
He pulled his head back and looked at her. The longer he stared the more she felt like she fell into him. She couldn’t even remember her own name or where she was, all she could think was that Baden was with her. Just when she felt like she couldn’t feel any more overwhelmed he slipped his arm around her waist. He pulled her towards him and leaned towards her which made her lean back, leaving no other option than for her to lie down against the soft cushions. Her legs were resting across his lap and Baden was leaning over her.
“Tell me a secret,” he asked. He watched her face closely, memorising everything about it, just as he had every other time he had seen her. She contemplated what she was about to say carefully and finally decided to tell him. She mustered up her courage and spoke.
“Ever since you saved me I have dreamt of you every night,” she confessed. He took a moment to let what she said sink in. His silence made her fear that he thought her foolish but a satisfied smile soon came across his stunning face and abated her worries.
The fire fell softly on part of her face and he couldn’t help but touch it. Her skin was warm and appealing. He liked that he wanted to bite into her prefect, warm, pulsing neck. Maybe just one bite? He would make sure he was gentle. He would not hurt her, just a taste?
He slid his hand down to her neck slowly, seductively. He could feel her chest rise and fall against him, he enjoyed the feeling of life in her. She was barely covered by her sheer nightgown and it teased with hints of skin in all the right places. He looked down to her lips that sat partly open in desire, wanting him to kiss them. He had always wanted to drink someone through their lips but he never had because there was no one who had tempted him to. There was something intimate about it that made him keep it for someone who lured him into the act. Now he wanted it more than maybe his self-control could contain.
He leaned towards her forgetting himself for a moment. His teeth gripped her bottom lip tightly but he paused when he remembered himself. Maybe it was the hint of fear in her eyes that stopped him or maybe that was hope he saw?
The problem Baden found with the skin of Annie’s lip was that it was delicate and though he controlled himself it didn’t stop the small trickle of blood that escaped. Just a drop or so fell into his mouth and spread across his tongue. He paused a moment in alarm but when she did not scream he sucked just a little to pull a few more drops through her lip.
Her blood was warm and tingled on his tastebuds. It tasted like lust felt. It was unbridled and passionate and full of intense flavour. Nothing else had ever tasted like her and he knew nothing else would. In that moment of inner debate that precedes the rush of adrenaline from wanting someone no matter what, he let go of her lip but remained close enough so their lips were still touching. He pulled one of her legs over him and moved so they were both completely lying down on the settee; her legs draped either side of him, him lying on her.
He ran his hand along the skin of her inner thigh and felt the desire pulsing through her soul. This was more intense than any other time he had ever wanted anything, more so than his desire to kill had ever been. This time it wasn’t his hatred fuelling him, like everything in his past, but his soul’s desire to have her. He pushed his arm under her back, which brought her closer against him, and gently held her neck from behind with his hand. Her head fell back allowing her neck to sit bare and unprotected. He moved his face away from hers just enough to see her slightly swollen lip, lightly stained with her blood. He looked into her eyes and saw the recognition of what he was. He paused waiting to see what she would do.
Annie looked up at Baden and lost all of her breath. The warm fire only exposed part of his face and he looked just as beautiful as he always did, if not even more. His eyes were lit by the fire and burned a brilliant blue, making him look unearthly. The only thing out of place was the hint of blood that rested on his lips.
Suddenly she remembered back to when she invited him in, to the times he would appear out of nowhere and his unexplainable curiousness. She realised what he was. She had felt him draw the blood out of her lip and now she lay there wrapped in his arms, utterly vulnerable to him. Her neck exposed, waiting for him.
Somehow, instead of being afraid she felt eager to have him all the more. A strand of hair had fallen onto his forehead so she lifted her hand and calmly moved it back into place.
He watched her carefully as she rested her arm back down by her side. He looked right into her eyes and after a moment of what looked like consideration she tilted her head off to one side. The movement was minimal but he saw the invitation she was extending, she was asking him to bite her. He could feel the craving in her soul. Before he let his need control him he slowed himself. He moved with caution and never looked away from her eyes as he moved toward her neck. His lips had stuck together from her salty blood and he eased them apart in anticipation. The closer he moved the faster her heart beat. When his lips were inches away from her neck he whispered to her.
“I would never hurt you,” he promised. She took a deep, shuddering breath from the anticipation.
Ever so slowly he placed his lips against her neck and kissed her. It left a faint stain of blood on her skin in the shape of his lips. He dragged his mouth open against her neck and grazed her skin gently with his teeth. He would do this carefully so she fe
lt no pain, only pleasure. He tilted his head to one side and measured a small distance with his teeth, enough so it would give him a mouthful but still keep her clean.
It was best to puncture quickly, once he did he could help her enjoy it. Along his travels he had been taught how to release a different kind of bane, not one that would turn the one who was bitten but one that would equally spread through their body with a different purpose. That purpose was to make the experience of being bitten far more than enjoyable, it made it incomparable. Some humans had become addicted to it and paid for snatchers to bite them. They were risking their lives but they found the pleasure worth the risk. With this in mind he pushed his body into hers to distract her and sunk his teeth into her skin.
The taste of her skin was milky and sweet but her blood was intoxicating. Mixed together they made a smooth, sweet and exceptionally drinkable fusion. He let his bane spill into her as he drank. A small trickle of blood ran down her neck and along her chest but she didn’t have time to notice.
Annie didn’t have time to feel the pain of being bitten before the bane started spreading through her. As it rushed through her body it warmed her and became overwhelming. She felt closer to Baden than she thought was possible and she pulled herself even closer to him with her arms around his neck. She willingly threw her head back further to expose her neck even more and he growled from the rush it gave him to have her willingly give herself. She gripped his back in an attempt to mediate the feeling and she couldn’t help but let out a scream. Baden knew full well he wasn’t hurting her. Her whole body tingled from him and she thought she might die from how utterly rapturous it was.
It was almost as if she hoped she would die. And at that moment she thought she might be willing too, for him.
CHAPTER 20
Baden took in one last mouthful, carefully measuring out a safe portion so he wouldn’t harm Annie. Somehow he could control himself better with her.
He moved his head back and covered her bleeding neck with his hand. It would stop soon with his bane in her. He looked at her, his hair ruffled and lips covered with her blood. She looked up into his eyes and then to his lips. He leaned in closer to kiss her. She was about to kiss him, everything in her wanted to kiss him but she moved her head away slightly so he paused. The words soul snatcher had floated into her mind just before their lips met.
“Kiss me,” he whispered, studying her closely. His words made her want to cry as they conjured up a fear in her she thought might consume her. He could feel the panic in her soul and he wondered what had changed to make her feel that way.
“What did you say?” She asked trying to mask the dread. She started to recall everything Eli told her about soul snatchers.
“Kiss me,” he whispered again and he moved to kiss her. She avoided him again and had to think quickly because if he kissed her he could steal her soul. Her soul argued inside her because she wanted to kiss him but was it safe to? How had she let herself get into such a dangerous situation? After everything she knew she had willingly given in.
“I feel light headed, may I please have a drink?” She asked, hoping to distract him. Before she could blink he was gone.
Baden rushed to get her some water but couldn’t find it in the kitchen. There should be a pale of water somewhere, something to drink, anything. He started to panic and had to pause for a moment. She knew what he was now, she knew what he was made to do. Would it change how she felt about him? Would she be suspicious of him? And sadness fell over him as he realised that there was nothing he could do to prove himself to her.
Annie’s heart beat so hard she could feel it drumming against her chest. She gently placed her hand on her neck and felt along the side he had bitten. The skin had already healed and all she was left with was a sticky neck from the blood. Some loose strands of her hair stuck to her and she hated the feeling so she pulled the hair free. Doing such a normal act of fixing her hair felt so strange compared to the situation. She couldn’t help when a small tear escaped her. She had no hope against him, this was it. How could this be the end?
The saddest part was she still wanted him. She wanted him to want her because he loved her, not just so she could be his next soul. When the disappointment and pain started to move in she refused to let it stay. The only problem was when she pushed it away, it left room for the sorrow of losing him to seep in. The hurt from knowing he wanted her to love him but didn’t love her in return made her feel empty. Alone. Yet she was still left wanting him.
Annie resolved that this was exactly what Baden wanted so she tried to pull herself together. There was no time to waste. He would be back any moment and then what? With this in mind she slowly sat up and waited to see if she could hear him. When everything seemed quiet, and all she could hear was the clock ticking, she stood as silently as possible.
She paused a moment to try and hear where he was but he was deathly silent. It was hard not to shake from fear but she did her best to contain herself. When she was satisfied that he wasn’t returning she took a small, cautious step. It was hard to concentrate because the bane was still tingling through her body, so she tried to focus as hard as she could.
It felt like an hour passed before her foot made it to the floor. Her breath came out uneven and her lungs felt full as she tried to balance her breath so it wouldn’t make so much noise. The fear made it feel like time was standing still and the silence made the dread sharp and unforgiving as it stuck into her chest.
She felt relieved that she was making her way out, that was until the floor creaked under the weight of her foot. Her heart clenched in terror and after the slightest pause everything went at full speed. She broke into a sprint and ran for the door, her heart was racing by the time she reached it. In her rush she slammed into the old, wooden door as she blindly grabbed for the handle. Finally she took hold of the handle and pulled, forgetting that she needed to turn it. When she finally realised her error she turned the handle and the door flew open. She had taken one step out the door and towards freedom only to be seized from behind.
The night was black and cold and it chilled Annie to the bone. Her fear filled scream echoed into the empty night where no one would hear it. Baden turned her around in his arms and silence once again ruled the night as he covered her mouth with his hand. She could barely see his face and it made it all the more petrifying. He moved closer and looked at her. She did everything she could to pull away but he was effortlessly restraining her.
“Annie, please. I do not want to hurt you,” he almost pleaded. It sounded so genuine she paused. She breathed heavily from the struggle of trying to escape and her exhaled breath blew the wispy strands of hair away from her face.
Baden’s eyes twitched to the side suddenly and she froze. He went from focusing solely on her to looking out into the night. It seemed as if he could hear something that she couldn’t. All she could hear was the rain starting to drizzle on the roof. Before she could get wet he whisked her inside and slammed the door, locking it behind them. He held her against the door with his body, one arm restraining her hands and a hand clasping her mouth. He slowly released her mouth and watched her, waiting to see if she would scream. Seeing no use for it she remained silent.
“What is it?” She asked after a moment. Her terror was becoming almost uncontrollable. Baden was looking at her but she could tell he was focusing on whatever was outside.
“There is a snatcher out there,” he whispered. She closed her mouth tightly to stop from screaming again. The rain started to fall heavier.
“How do you know?” Her voice came out smaller than a whisper. What should she be more afraid of; the fact that she was stuck inside with a soul snatcher or that in her escape she would come across another?
“I could hear him. He was…feeding.” His face looked as if he was pained as he remembered. Suddenly there was a loud bang against the door as if something had slammed against it. It jolted through Annie and she screamed until her throat burned. Baden pulled her aw
ay from the door and took her into the parlour. They stopped near the fire and he kept her close to him. She was shaking violently.
“Who is it?” She asked, her voice husky from her screaming. Baden listened as the snatcher jumped up on the roof and slowly made his way over to the other side of the house. He could still hear it over the rain though Annie could hear nothing.
“I am just trying to deduce that as we speak,” he answered then a loud smash sounded from her bedroom. She shook vehemently from fear but there was no time to waste.
“He is in,” Baden cursed under his breath. He grabbed Annie’s hand and ran out the front door into the rain. He didn’t have time to try and shelter her. He just had to get her onto the horse and away from there so he could deal with the other snatcher.
Annie could hardly see except for the dull light being cast from the house. She had no idea if Baden was trying to help her or not and now she was trusting him to lead her through the night?
