by Tia Wylder
He brought his lips up to mine. Just as we kissed, he effortlessly slid himself into me. A moan escaped my lips as he pulled out slightly and thrusted downward again. His hips moved with a perfectly rhythm. I watched the muscles in his arms and chest undulate beneath his skin as he slammed himself into me again and again.
The passion between us was undeniable. He released my wrists and I sat up. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and we sat facing each other. With his legs beneath mine grinded myself against him. He cupped one of my breasts in his hand and massaged it as I felt his hot breath against my neck.
He picked me up and walked over to the dresser where a television sat across from the bed. He threw the TV like it was nothing. I watched it slammed onto the ground as glass shattered across the floor. He sat me down on the surface of the dresser and held me in place as he thrusted into me. The dresser slammed into the wall behind us. Our thundering rhythm filled the entire room. I begged him not to stop as I felt another climax coming. The glow in his eyes intensified. We came at the same time. I screamed and he roared like the dragon he was. It shook the very walls around us. When it was all done, he carried me back to the bed and laid me down.
He didn’t climb into bed with me. Instead, he stood at the window looking out into the parking lot.
“Aren’t you going to sleep?” I asked.
“No, I’m going to stand guard,” he said.
“Could you lay with me, just until I fall asleep?”
He turned and looked at me. His eyes still had that soft glow that I couldn’t quite place.
“As you wish,” he said.
He climbed into bed with me and I rolled over onto him. My hands pressed against his chest and I listened to his heartbeat as I slowly started to fall asleep. I didn’t feel him get back up. In my dreams he never left.
Chapter Four
Dorian
I laid with many women in my youth, but this human, this Harley, she was different. She was beautiful, captivating, and full of life. There was a part of me that was drawn to her, as if my journey through the stars was always meant to end here. I felt the guiding hand of fate upon me as I looked down at her sleeping form.
I had almost fallen asleep beside her. I couldn’t allow that to happen, though. She had saved me. I believed her when she said we were being hunted. I had to keep watch, but it was hard to protect her when I did know what threat we faced. As I turned to face the window, the door to our room exploded open. Shards of wood sailed through the air as four heavily armored humans rushed inside.
I charged toward them, but their weapons were faster than me. A ball of blue light shot out from one of their contraptions. The impact made me lose control of my limbs and I fell to the ground in a heap. I felt control coming back, but the armored humans surrounded me before I could resist. They picked me up by my arms and held me on my shaking legs.
A woman walked inside as Harley hurriedly put her clothes back on. The woman had pale skin and hair black as night. Her eyes were a cold gray as she looked at me with contempt.
“It seems we’re just in time,” she said, “give him the clothes.”
One of the humans dropped a clear bag with some sort of clothing inside.
“Put those on, we don’t have much time,” the woman said.
“Who are you and what do you want?” I asked.
“Dorian, what’s happening to me?” Harley screamed.
I turned away from the humans and saw Harley standing in the corner. Tiny specks of color were breaking off of her like grains of sand. They floated upward like a reserve rain. She seemed to be crumbling like an ancient statue.
“What have you done to her?” I asked the woman.
“I didn’t do anything, it’s what you haven’t done yet that’s causing the problem.”
“Dorian!”
I had enough feeling in my legs and arms to move. I pushed through the humans and ran to Harley’s side. I reached out to her, but my hands passed right through her body. She broke apart, and disintegrated into dust before me until nothing remained but her voice that still echoed in the air like a memory.
I turned back around and saw the woman staring back at me with a stoic expression on her face.
“Start talking or I’ll kill you where you stand!” I shouted.
“Look Dorian, this little alien abduction romance of yours is over. If you come with us, I’ll explain everything,” she said.
“No, you tell me now!”
“We don’t have time, Dorian! You want to save her? You have to come with us now!”
I begrudgingly walked over and took the clothing out of the bag they provided. They were strange garments, similar to the ones that Harley had been wearing. When I was dressed we walked outside into a pitch black night. Only the strange lights built by humans illuminated the area around us. The night sky was blank, devoid of a moon or stars.
“Is there not a moon in the sky of this world? I saw it when we first arrived,” I said.
The woman nodded. “Yes, there was one.”
“What happened to it?” I asked.
“They devoured it.”
My entire body froze.
“They’re here?”
“Yes, and we don’t have much time, so you need to come with us now.”
The woman led me to another machine like the one Harley had put me in when I first arrived on Earth.
“I can fly much faster than your machine that travels along the ground,” I said.
The woman opened her mouth to say something when one of the armored humans appeared. He lifted the visor of his black helmet and I saw his face for a brief moment.
“Ma’am, I’m reading movement all around us. We may need his help,” he said.
The woman sighed.
“Well, maybe you’re alpha male attitude will come in handy, Dorian. You’re familiar with the Old Ones, yes?”
I nodded.
“Good, well the ones you’ve seen are just a fraction of the monstrosities they have at their disposal. Good news is that your dragon’s fireworks on all of them. We’re going to drive, and you’re going to follow us. Keep us safe until we arrive and I promise you’ll see your Harley again.”
“Why are you helping me?” I asked.
Because Dorian, if you don’t do this, we all die. I’ve seen it more times than I care to count. Just make sure we make it there alive. Oh, and give me those clothes before you shift. No sense in ruining perfectly good designer clothing.”
I undressed and they climbed into their machine .As I transformed into my dragon form, I heard the Old Ones coming from all sides. I heard their hushed whispers floating through the air like oil in water.
My vision as a dragon was impeccable. My eyes cut through the darkness and I saw their shadowy forms closing in on us. The human’s machine of travel moved off and I flew into the air. As I soared above it, I saw the Old Ones climbing onto the road ahead of them. With a single push from my wings, I shot forward past them. I opened my mouth and sprayed liquid fire through the air. The burning light cut through the ones in the road just as the human vehicle passed through them.
I flew up higher to scout ahead. That was when I saw flying Old Ones for the first time. They were twisted dragons with tattered wings and a long neck that ended in a massive circular mouth filled with hundreds of teeth. They ignored my presence and flew down toward the moving vehicle.
I gave chase. One of them landed on the roof and dug its claws into the metal with a loud screech. I flew over it and bit down hard on its neck as I passed. It lost its grip and struggled to break free as I flew upward into the sky. I released it from my jaws just as I painted it with fire. The crumbling creature fell through the air like burning paper and dissipated into nothing.
Two more came from either side and ambushed me. They latched their claws into my sides and dug their teeth into my flesh. Down below I saw the vehicle approaching its destination.
I closed my eyes and focused all of my
energy inward. I felt pure light building inside of me. When it reached a breaking point, I saw Harley’s face as I unleashed the full extent of my power. The fire came out through the cracks in my skin and blasted outward in all directions at once.
The creatures were burned into dust and I was free to land as the humans climbed out of their machine. I landed and shifted back into my human form. The woman threw the clothes back to me and I dressed myself.
“Not bad, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” she said.
The very air surrounding us started to pull upward. I turned my head to the sky and saw the mouth of a World Eater breaking descending toward us. The light that show upward into the sky from the human’s lamps curved as it was devoured by the black hole above.
“Follow me!” the woman shouted.
One of the humans pulled out what looked like a metal staff. The top of it opened and we were suddenly enveloped in blue light. A dome above us seemed to protect from the World Eater’s pull.
The vehicle that had taken the humans here shot up into the air beside us. The ground beneath started to crumbled. We moved beneath the blue dome and into a massive building. It was breaking apart around us. The roof tore off and ascended into the sky as we entered. We sprinted across the open area and into another contraption. The room we stood in started moving down, no doubt protected by the blue dome’s influence.
“Dorian, listen to me, you have to save her!” the woman shouted.
“How?”
“They went back and killed her. Without her, the World Eaters succeed. If you save her, you’ll change everything. You’ll save us all.”
The moving room stopped and we moved out into a room with a massive metal circle. Colored wires ran into it, wrapping around the structure like snakes. The woman broke free of the blue dome and pressed several buttons on a metal box beside it.
“This is how it always happens Dorian, now it’s up to you!”
The metal circle filled with darkness.
“Go through Dorian, save her!”
Even underground, the space above us tore open. The blue dome faltered and I watched the humans and the woman ripped upward into the World Eater’s gaping maw. I ran forward as I felt its influence bearing down on me. I dove through the darkness.
I came out on the other side and found myself standing in a dark room. My entire body was glowing with a strange light. I looked to my right and saw a young girl in her bed. She had the sheets pulled up over her face, but I recognized her.
It was Harley, but she was just a child. I looked over and saw an Old One looming over her bed. I didn’t hesitate, I charged forward and took whatever hold I could on its shifting form. We stumbled backward through another portal. A terrible force all around me pulled in every direction. My body was being ripped apart. The pain was so great that I lost control. The light built up within me again until it was at a breaking point.
I exploded with the force of a dying star and pushed back the darkness around me. When I opened my eyes again, I was in my dragon from, floating in the ocean of stars. Around me, the body of a World Eater was crumbling. Had I destroyed it from the inside?
Around me I saw other World Eaters crumbling apart. Their infinite bodies stretched into the distance but even they were slowly dissipating. I was barely conscious, but I had enough energy to smile as I fell into a deep slumber. I don’t know how long I drifted through the stars, but I felt my strength coming back.
More importantly, I knew I had saved her. With her past-self safe and the World Eaters destroyed for now, Earth would be safe. I crashed after an endless amount of time. I slowly opened my eyes and found myself lying in the sand of a vast desert. The light from the star above was channeling energy into me.
A woman stood over me with a concerned expression on her face.
“Harley?” I asked.
Her eyes went wide.
“You know who I am?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Okay, wait right there, let me get you something to cover yourself with!”
She ran off to get the same blankets she had used last time I awoke on this planet. I did not know if the events would repeat as they had before, or if my influence changed the course of time.
Whatever happened, one thing was certain: we would be together.
Tamed By My Alpha Vampire
Chapter One
There’s this dream that I have almost every night. It’s so vivid and beautiful, but then it becomes a terrible nightmare just before I wake. I shed a single bloody tear each time I’m wrenched from my dream and placed back into my accursed existence. In my dream, I’m walking through the halls of my mansion. The windows are open and sunlight gushes through them in bright columns. I can see the particles of dust dancing through the light like fireflies. I step through the light and feel the warmth of the sun brush my skin like the touch of a lover’s fingertips.
I can feel my heart beating in my chest. Thundering forward like a proud stallion. I can feel blood coursing through my veins. I feel life bursting out from within my soul. I want to run, shout, dance, and see the world around me, but I don’t. I continue walking calmly down the hall. The house is empty, but for once I don’t feel alone. My heart races faster as I approach the intricate doors that lead outside. There’s a table to the left of the door. It has a painted finish that depicts vines growing across the surface and down the legs.
The vines portrayed on the table have the illusion of life, but they are not living. I, on the other hand, can feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I can feel my soul singing a song it had long forgotten. On the table is a pitcher filled with ice water. Droplets of condensation run down the sides of the glass like tears. I reach down and pick up the pitcher and the empty glass beside it. My parched mouth aches for water as I watch the liquid slosh into the cup.
I bring it to my lips and drink as slowly as I can. The crisp and refreshing taste of water splashes against my tongue and for the first time in hundreds of years, I taste it. My stomach clenches as if reaching out to take more of the water. My body begs for more of it, but I put the pitcher down.
I turn towards the door. My hands reach out, trembling as they touch the smooth metal of the elongated door handles. This is it, the moment that I reach every night, and every time I wonder if this is the only way it can end. My hands pull the handles down and the doors swing open. The morning sunlight rushes past me like a tidal wave. I feel the warmth spread across my skin. I close my eyes and smile as I bask in a light I had all but forgotten.
There’s a moment here, in the apex of this dream that I have had every night for centuries, it’s a moment where everything is right and perfect. A moment of perfect serenity as I teeter over the edge of my fate. As the moment passes, the warmth on my skin intensifies. Every inch of my body starts to crackle and burn. My eyes shoot open as the pain overwhelms me. I lift my hands up and watch as the skin bubbles and blisters. My flesh peels back and blackens before falling off my bones.
The sunlight evaporates my body like a puddle of morning dew. My bones turn to dust and my soul shatters in the burning light.
My eyes shot open and I felt the warmth of a crimson tear sliding down my face. Another day, but the dream is still the same. I reached up and pushed against the metal ceiling directly above my face. The lid of a human-sized box lifted above me and followed the path of its hinges to the right. It clanged against itself and sent an echo through the underground chamber.
I pressed my hands against the metal side as I climbed out. It should have been cold, wet, damp, or something, but I didn’t feel anything. I stood silently in the darkness and listened for my heartbeat, tried to feel it like I did in the dream, but there was nothing. My chest was silent and cold. Whatever heart once thundered there, beat its last long ago.
When the lights were on, my vision was the same as any human, but when darkness came I saw things differently. My eyes could pierce the veil and gaze upon the very fabric of existe
nce. I could see her heart beating in her chest. It appeared to me as a tiny sphere of light that pulsated in the center of her chest. Her veins ran outward from it, painting an intricate network of illuminated pathways.
That stale white glow that appeared to me. It was the way blood looked in darkness. The light called to me like water called to a man stranded in the desert. I didn’t feel things like excitement or adrenaline anymore, but I still felt some kind of supernatural rush when I saw the way blood glowed in the darkness. I traced its path through her body, looking for the perfect point to drive my teeth into her flesh and drink that liquid light from her veins.
I walked over to the light switch and flipped it on. The intricate network of light that made up her body faded as the fluorescent bulbs above illuminated the darkness. I no longer saw her as food, instead I saw the hair, skin, eyes, and lips that made her something more. I was once like her, human that is, and there was a time when I pitied them, but that time had passed long ago.
She had dark caramel colored skin and jet black hair. When she first came to me, she was voluptuous and healthy, but now she was barely more than skin and bone. Without enough food and water, my daily feedings were slowly killing her. She wouldn’t eat or drink most days either. When I asked her why she would willingly hasten the arrival of her death, she would simply spew out words unknown to me.
I preferred it when they didn’t speak my language. It was easier that way, but in cases like this one it could be problematic. My business connections allowed me to have a new “wife” whenever I wanted, but all the money in the world didn’t change the fact that it would take several days for her to get to me. I couldn’t wait that long, not at this stage in the cycle.
I walked across the cold marble floor to the bars of her cell. It was built into the corner of the basement, with polished steel bars running from the ground to the ceiling. Barbaric, yes, but necessary. There were times when my wives would be excited by the concept of being fed on, but in most cases they acted like caged animals. This one used to have fight in her, but now her skin didn’t hold the same color. It was dull and clung to her body. Her eyes were sunken back into her skull, but they still held that same fire. I could taste the fight in her blood, it added a spice that I particularly enjoyed. Today, though, that fire would be snuffed out. I could tell by looking at her that she had no more fight left.
