Dare To Be Loved

by Stacy Lee

  “Open your mouth, Marnie.” She shakes her head. I stop and hold myself half way inside her. She whimpers. “Open your mouth and I’ll keep going.” Again, she shakes her head. I back out to barely there. She whimpers again but keeps her jaw locked. So I do the only other thing I can think of, I slam into her, hard. She gasps, opening her mouth wide in shock.

  I shove my wrist between her lips, letting the blood fall freely down her throat. She thrashes her head then grabs my arms and tries to pull it away. Then just as I expected, her shoves become tugs as she holds it closer clamping her teeth down and taking long pulls from me.

  In the grand scheme of things she was meant for this, meant to be mine. She craves my blood as much as I crave hers. With relief I begin to move. I let my head drop to her neck and run my tongue over the exact spot as earlier. Her body shivers right before I plunge my fangs into her skin. Her body arches and she instantly climaxes.

  Her blood explodes into my mouth filling it with her sweet taste of brown sugar and vanilla, pure heaven. I take two long deep pulls reveling in the blissful taste of her. She bursts to life on my tongue and slides down my throat causing it to tingle in delight. My world erupts. I jerk inside her several times as I continue to drink deep. All too soon I pull back knowing we had four more times. I couldn’t take too much or she would be weak before The Claiming was done. She lets my arm drop from her mouth while I lick the wound closed on her neck. My wrist would heal on its own in a matter of minutes. Shifting I pull from inside her, then settle beside her and gather her into my arms. When I look down at her tears are coursing down her cheeks. My heart stops beating.

  “Hey, what’s this?” I ask a whip a tear from her cheek. “Did I hurt you?” The irony of that statement is not lost on me. Of course I hurt her, I had just deflowered her.

  “No.” She sniffs.

  “Then what is it?” She clinches her teeth and shakes her head. That’s when I know. “It was the fact you enjoyed the blood, isn’t it?” She nods and buries her face in my chest. When I begin to chuckle she slaps my chest, her hand quickly retreats to twist in the sheets.

  “It’s not funny. It’s wrong on so many levels.” She pouts through her sobs.

  “Marnie, it might be wrong in your human world, but in mine it’s a way of life. One you will need to get used to. This is your world now.” She nods then wipes furiously at her face.

  “I know and you said I only had to do it for The Claiming but it’s hard to get the thought to go away. I mean, blood is something doctors wear gloves to mess with. Police, EMT’s, firemen, all of them protect against it with rubber gloves. Hell, even when people have sex they use rubber condoms to protect themselves from bodily fluids, blood included and I just drank yours. People who drink blood usually end up in jail as cannibals facing death row! People like Hannibal Lecter, for heaven sake. It just goes against everything I’ve been taught. And yet…..” Her voice fades and her eyes slide to my wrist.

  “And yet?” I prompt when she remains silent.

  “I want more.” She whispers horrified. I throw my head back and laugh. “It’s not funny!” She cries but a smile tugs at her lips.

  “It is funny because I had to force you to do it to begin with. But it is good to know I won’t have to resort to force next time.” I grin at her. Her eyes sparkle as she smiles back. I think it is the first genuinely relaxed real smile she has given me. “You’re beautiful.” I kiss the tip of her nose but the smile fades. Oh no, no depressing moments now. I roll with her placing her on top of me straddling my waist. “I just realized something.” She raises her brow at me but I wait for her to ask.

  “What did you realize?” Her hands rest on her thighs. Only where she is sitting does she touch me.

  “You never once touched me.” She averts her eyes. “Marnie? Tell me why.” It is a command not a question.

  “I didn’t know if I could. I’m not very good at touching.” Aw, she was insecure. Probably a drawback from her Uncles abuse.

  “Well this time, it is all you.” I cross my arms behind my head and smirk at her surprised expression.

  “Again?” She asks. “So soon?” I lift my hips to grind my very ready erection into her.

  “Oh, yes. Again.” Very slowly an impish grin spreads across her lips.

  “And I can touch you?” She asks hesitantly. I nod. “Anywhere? And you won’t get mad? Even if I do it wrong?” Her blush is gorgeous as her eyes flit downward towards my erection. Her last words give me a slight pause but I choose to ignore them.

  “Anywhere. Everywhere. Do anything you want. We still have three more after this one. I think I can give up control to you once. This one is all yours.” Her eyes scan my body then lift to mine. Fear and excitement mingle in the sapphire depths before a teasing grin slips playfully across her lips.

  Trust me, with a little bit of coaxing she touched me everywhere and with everything. And this time she hungrily accepted my blood.

  ****

  “I thought you said you could cook?” His humor filled voice bounces off the empty kitchen as he puts out the grease fire I started. One thing about this fire, if it got too far out of hand there wasn’t much in here to burn. A refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, microwave, a couple pots and pans and enough utensils to cook exactly one meal, meaning one spatula and one giant spoon. Six plates, six cups, six bowls, and six sets of silverware were the only items in the overabundance of cabinet space and drawers.

  Obviously his brothers joined him for meals occasionally. When I noticed the number I joked with him he would now have to buy a seventh piece to match it all so I could eat to. He informed me his brothers wouldn’t be by to eat for a long time, he needed time with me….naked….on his counter top. Which is where number three had taken place. Number four didn’t make it much farther, it was on the couch, well bent over the couch. I finally made it back in here to make us a very late meal where I had a minor problem with the newfangled stove.

  “I said I could sort of cook. I never said I was good at it!” I laugh out as he tries to smother the retreating flames with a lid. The oil was spreading across the glass top and the fire with it.

  “Success!” He cries out as the blaze is extinguished.

  “Thank you. Now go away while I try to reignite it.” I grin to his back when he walks away shaking his head. The problem was I had never used this glass top burner type stove before. When I put the first chicken strip in the grease it had splashed out all over the burner and had ignited quickly. Luckily I had removed the pan before the food or grease in it caught on fire and it was only the grease on the stove that burnt. This time I place the remaining chicken in then put the pan back on the burner. I was actually a decent cook but he didn’t need to know that yet.

  I turn back to the potatoes I am chopping for french fries and catch site of Dare lounging on the couch, bare ass naked. Damn, he is built. He is also big, everywhere. My body shivers with the memories of our four times so far. As he had said, he gave me control the one time, only the one time, and in no way do I believe I had any say over the situation.

  Nevertheless it had served its purpose to familiarize me with his body. He coached me on how to touch him and where when I just sat staring at his man parts in question. I didn’t have a clue what to do with him. But I did now. I wasn’t as afraid to touch him anymore, however I did it infrequently. I had issues with touching men, even with them clothed. It was something I needed to work on. Uncle’s words weren’t easily forgotten.

  Besides I got the feeling he would rather be holding my hands above my head keeping me restrained than freely touching him anyway. I actually wasn’t sure why he hadn’t done just that but I believe it had to do with what he saw in the dream with Dirk and the fact he was still taking it easy on me. The second time he had coaxed me into taking him into my mouth but as soon as he seemed to be enjoying it, less than a minute into it, he had told me that was enough and I needed to find another way to please him. I think it was pleasing him too much
and his precious control was slipping.

  In the short time I’ve known him and with what Angie said, I knew he prided himself on his control. He kept himself on a tight leash and I had a feeling if he let me hold the handle of that leash the leather would burst into flames. My goal for the last round was to make him loose it. He didn’t know it yet but I had plans for him. If he was going to make me surrender then so was he. Completely and totally.

  I serve dinner to him in the front room. He stays lounging on the couch while I decide to curl into his recliner. Before I can sit down his voice stops me.

  “Take off the shirt.” It was a command not a request. I had put it on to protect my skin from the grease splashing. It hadn’t made him happy. I look to the plate and Coke in my hands then down at my shirt. Unless I went back to the kitchen there was nowhere to put my plate, he didn’t have a coffee table. Obviously seeing my dilemma he lays his plate on the sofa and stands taking the items from my hands with a smirk resting on his lips. With a huff I pull the shirt off and toss it at him knowing full well he couldn’t catch it. How wrong I was! He tosses the unopened Coke in the air, snags the shirt then catches the can.

  “Show off.” I retort then grab my food and sit down. His smirk grows into a lazy lopsided grin right before he drops the cold soda in my lap. I yelp and snatch it up, glaring at him. “That was rude.” I try to keep a straight face but the giggle ruins the entire appearance. He flops back down on the couch then takes a tentative bite of his chicken. His eyes grow wide in surprise. I guess he figured because I almost burnt the kitchen down it wouldn’t taste all that great.

  “This is really good, Marnie.” So far our only meal had been in silence, however the comfortable setting and the fact I knew the man much better, well I knew his body much better anyway, I decided to see what he’d do if this wasn’t a silent affair.

  “Thank you. I started cooking for Uncle at age six. Something’s I can do okay. Others I still have issues with.” I shrug not meeting his eyes as I take a bite.

  “How old were you when your mom died?” He asks softly, almost tenderly.

  “Four. Drunk driver hit us head on going sixty-five. Mom slowed to roughly forty trying to drop behind the car beside her to get out of his way, she wasn’t fast enough. The car wasn’t recognizable afterwards. Mom died instantly. I was in the back, didn’t have a scratch on me. They called it a miracle from God. I called it the Devil placing me with his minion and laughing in God’s face.” I shrug and take another bite not looking at him. I didn’t normally talk about Uncle but since he had seen it in my dreams there was no reason to hide it.

  “How old were you when he started hitting you?” I keep eating while we talk but Dare has placed his plate in his lap and hasn’t touched it.

  “Four. One week after they sent me to him. He made me wash dishes but I was too short to reach the sink so I dragged a kitchen chair over to stand in. It was old and rickety. When I climbed in it the entire thing shuddered with my twenty-five pounds. The second night it collapsed under me. He used one of the legs to hit me then told the doctor I fell on the pieces when I climbed up to sneak cookies out of the high cabinet and the chair broke under me. The funny thing is I never hit the ground till he threw me there. I grabbed the counter when I felt it going and pulled myself up.”

  “Why did you see a doctor? Was something hurt badly?” His playful voice of a few minutes ago was gone. The hard, cold Dare had returned. I didn’t dare look at him. I didn’t like him this way, it scared me.

  “He broke two ribs and fractured my wrist.” A loud growl rips through the room jerking my head up to stare at him in surprise.

  “Where is this Uncle of yours?” His eyes glow a furious green, his jaw is clenched so tight I hear it pop, and a little tick has started up by his ear. His expression promised death. If my Uncle wasn’t already dead that is.

  “He died of a heart attack when I was seventeen. He had been in the field harvesting the corn. I didn’t find him till close to midnight. I never went looking for him when he came in late because, well, why would I go looking for trouble? When midnight came and he still hadn’t come in demanding his diner I went searching. I found him halfway between the field and the house face down in the dirt. His hand was still clutching his chest.” I know it is horrible to say but it was a very happy day.

  What I failed to tell him was the night before he tried to rape me but had been too drunk and passed out on top of me instead. I didn’t go looking for him sooner because I didn’t want to be found.

  “Good riddance.” Amen to that. “And the other man?” I knew exactly who he meant but after the reaction to Uncle I found I didn’t want to tell him anything about Dirk. He was very much alive. Unless Dare found him.

  “You need to eat, Dare. There is only about an hour left till midnight.” I state firmly as I rise to take my empty plate to the sink. His hand catches my arm not two steps away from the chair. I freeze in fear. I never saw him move.

  “Who is he?” I shake my head and try to wrench my arm free, he holds it captive. He doesn’t hurt me, matter of fact his skin is barley touching mine but somehow he is keeping the arm still and unmoving. “Marnie, why won’t you tell me?” I look into his murderous eyes and decide to tell him the truth. He said he wouldn’t lie to me, I owed him the same.

  “Because even though he did wrong, I don’t want you to kill him. It would just make you wrong also.” Some of the fire leaves his eyes.

  “I won’t kill him. It is against our laws to kill a human. But there is nothing stating I can’t leave as many bruises on him as he did on you.” Is it horrible of me to consider telling him? I shake my head.

  “No, Dare. He is a scrawny computer nerd. You would kill him with one hit. He didn’t succeed and I’ve had worse bruises. Please, let it go.” He drops my arm. I take in a calming breath and try to push my fears away. He didn’t hurt me. He said he wouldn’t. I had to trust in that.

  “For now.” He swiftly turns his back on me and returns to his food. I step lightly into the kitchen then let out the breath I didn’t realize I was still holding as I deposit my plate in the sink. I would wash it later; I had plans to set into motion.

  The kitchen had two exits. One leading into the dining room then out to the front room and the other was a swinging half door that led into the hallway out of view of the couch. I slip through the second exit quietly and tiptoe to our room. I knew I wouldn’t have long before he came looking for me so I try to work quickly.

  Grabbing the chair from under the desk I sit it at the end of the bed, far enough in front of it that I can move behind it and directly in front of the door. I take a piece of paper from the printer and a sharpie marker from the pen holder on his desk. Steadying my hand I write in large letters ‘Sit down and clasp your hands behind your back’, then place the sign in the chair. I rummage through his closet till I find what I’m looking for then hide under the bed behind the chair. Seconds later the door opens.

  My body trembles as he walks towards the chair and picks up the note. A low chuckle escapes him. “What are you doing, Marnie?” I stay quiet, I couldn’t give away my position or this would never work. It will probably piss him off and he will be free in a matter of seconds but it was worth a try.

  Besides, it was a test. If he didn’t hurt me for this I might be able to believe he won’t hurt me at all. Not my brightest idea but I needed to know. I needed to push him, my way. In my irrational reasoning he could only get so mad in the bedroom, outside of it he could become furious. Better to try him here where he had something to gain from the experiment than out there where I had nothing to bargain with.

  “Very well, I’ll play. For now.” The last is a warning I should heed.

  I don’t.

  Chapter Seven

  I pretty much figure this is a bad idea when I realize she is hiding under the bed. She is doing a good job of staying still but her breathing is audible to me. With trepidation I sit and interlock my hands behind the ba
ck of the chair while watching over my shoulder to see what she would do.

  Her hands shoot out and loop something around my wrists before tightening it rapidly into a knot. I almost laugh as I realize it is the one and only tie I own. However, I keep my mirth to myself as she crawls out from under the bed to stand in front of me. Her chin is held high, her shoulders back but her body is trembling and fear laces her eyes. What is she doing? She had to know she was playing with fire.

  “Are you sure this is how you want to do this, Marnie?” I ask in a deadly soft whisper. She flinches but holds her ground. She clears her throat twice before she has enough courage to speak.

  “Yes.” She doesn’t move as if waiting for something. Me to break free maybe?

  “Be sure, very sure. Where tying me down is very brave on your part, it might not be your smartest move.” Where was this going? She is visibly terrified, so why? Why do this?

  “I’ve never been particularly smart, but I have balls bigger than yours and mine are made of steel.” Her chin lifts in pride but her hands shake nervously by her sides. I can’t say that I have found those on her body yet, but from what I’ve seen of her personality so far, she was right. She had to have been pretty damn tough to survive her Uncle.

  “Very well, you have my curiosity peaked, Parvulum. Now that you have me here, what do you have in mind?” If she knew Parvulum meant ‘little one’ in Latin, she would probably have had something to say about that right now.

  It wouldn’t hurt to play along for a few minutes; it wasn’t like I couldn’t break the tie if I needed to. I’ve always loved restraints but this is the first time anyone has dared use them on me. I have always been the one in control of this game. I truly was curious where she was going with this.

  She clumsily kneels before me, her hand grabs my knee to steady herself before she jerks it away. My erection jumps at her touch, the electrical currents from the simple brush of her hand ignite my desire. A small smile flits across her lips before fleeing. She places a hand on each bare thigh and widens my legs before slipping between them. Her intentions become very clear. When she has me how she wants me she immediately removes her touch, balling her fists up and placing them in her lap.