Fire Ch. 01

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Enithermon
Enithermon
1,049 Followers

Thea's mind flashed suddenly. She found herself remembering her cottage. There were men at her door in the night, unexpectedly. She knew them all. She'd fought them, and they'd dragged her from the house and through her little garden, throwing her in a cellar. Two days she'd sat there in the darkness. They'd left her bread and water, but that was it. Two days later, when they reappeared, she was too frightened to fight them as they bound her and tossed her on a cart, or when they tied her to the pole. Thea shuddered.

The woman frowned and came to her, taking her hands in hers. They were warm and had a brittle softness, like parchment paper. The sensation snapped her out of her memory and she smiled weakly at the woman who wore a look of maternal concern that she hadn't seen since her grandmother had died.

"That sounds about right." She jested half heartedly. She sighed and pulled her hands away, and fidgeted with her wrinkled skirts.

"Well, we'll get you cleaned up. I might have a blouse and skirt somewhere around here that might fit you tolerably well. That one looks a little worse for wear, and masters almost done fixing the bath." Thea looked up at that. "He's fixing it?"

"Well I can't lift like that, and my Barin's got a bad back, old age creeping up on you. Timothy could probably lift it," she mused "but he always makes a mess. So that's one of the jobs he takes upon himself. Oh, dear how rude of me. I'm May by the way."

Thea gave her a bobbing curtsey. "Thea."

"Well let's take you to your bath Thea." Thea happily complied.

"May?" she asked timidly as she was led into the dim hall and down a narrow corridor.

"yes dear."

"Is...is he...the master I mean, is he a sorcerer?"

May turned to her blinking oddly. "A what?"

"A sorcerer?"

May turned away. "No."

Thea sensed that there was more to that answer, but May didn't look like she wanted to discuss it. They stopped just a few doors down and pushed the door open. It was a comfortable looking bedroom, smaller and cosier looking than the last one she'd been in, but nearly as sparse. There was a fire going, and large tub half full of slightly steamy water in front of it. "Hop in dear." Thea undressed and slid into the water. It felt incredible. It was amazing how much better sleep, food, and a bath could make you feel. She still remembered how inhuman she'd felt the night before, for the last few days in fact, but now, it was like a dim memory. May took her clothes and left, leaving her a drying blanket next to the fire. She was left alone with her thoughts once again.

A week ago had someone told her this would be her future she'd have laughed at them. She'd been getting strange looks from the locals as of late, but she always did, she couldn't have guessed they meant her any more harm than they usual. Her grandfather had been born in a nearby town and had the fair features and small frame of the locals, but her grandmother was viewed with some suspicion because of her shock of red hair that still to the end resisted turning grey, and her rather outspoken ways. But she was a married woman, who'd done her duty by her husband and given him children, so she was accepted to the degree that those town folk could accept any outsider. Thea however not only had dark features, brown eyes, and dark auburn hair, but was tall and strong, the same height as many of the men, apparently her father had been a large man, though she'd never met her parents.

Since her grandparents had died she'd lived alone and cut her own wood, and tended her garden, even caught her own rabbits with little handmade snares to survive. It wasn't an easy life, but it was her own. It wasn't that she was resistant to the idea of marriage, but ever since she'd moved there as a child she was singled out as an outsider, and scorned, so that no young man even considered her a suitable partner, and by the time she was old enough for a widower to consider she was already becoming a pariah. She'd spent her young life trying to belong, and eventually became a little embittered by her treatment and gave up on being nice and only bother being civil...what was the point of trying when no one ever cared.

She sighed and splashed the water lightly with her palms, distracting herself from her unhappy thoughts. She was assisted by a knock on the door. "Come in" she called, thinking it to be May with some new clothes and stepped out of the bath pulling the towel around her body and shook her hair out by the fire. "Did you find that skir.." She froze in mid sentence and stared into the dark flaming eyes she remembered from last night.

"I'm sorry, when you said come in, I thought you were dressed." He made no motion to leave and she felt the heat of his eyes as he scanned her barely covered frame.

S

he blushed profusely. "May is finding me clean clothes.'" He nodded.

"I'll come back later." He turned and left, only to be replaced by May mere seconds later.

"Dear what's wrong?" May frowned.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Thea shook her head a little to clear the cobwebs that his gaze had caused. May lay down a few clothes on the bed and left her to her business. She didn't have to wait long for the man, master, or whatever he was, to returned. He stood silently at the door until she invited him in to sit in a chair by the fire. She sat on the edge of the bed and folded her hands in her lap. "I'm Thea, by the way." She offered after they had sat in silence for a while. He looked up from the fire he'd been gazing into.

"Jairus." Was all he said before returning his gaze to the fire.

She nodded. "Ah, thank you for the bath." She tried again. He only nodded. "um, if you can tell me where I might dispose of the water then I'll be happy to finish..." she trailed off, uncomfortable with his silence.

"I'll show you." He stood and grabbed one of the handles, motioning for her to grab the other. She obeyed promptly and grasped it with both hands. On his nod they both lifted. It was very heavy and sloshed just a little. He lifted his easily with one hand as her own arms strained. "If you need to put it down, just say so."

He led them out into the hall and down a little set of stairs, which was much easier than it looked, in most part because he went first and grasped the tub at the bottom, shouldering the giants share of the burden. Down stairs they moved through another hall that seemed directly under the one they'd come from. There were a few doors set in the stone work walls and one large one at the end. He nodded for her to set the load down and unlocked this door as well.

Outside the night was clear and cool. The fresh air rushed into her lungs and invigorated her. She breathed deeply and grasped the tub. They took it out along the wall and dumped it several feet away. She looked around and saw no lights beyond the door, just darkness and the outlines of great trees. Once empty he carried the tub himself and led her back indoors, leaving her free to examine her surroundings. The house, to her amazement, seemed to be carved right out of the stone of a great cliff. There were no features defining it from the rough stone. The door was surrounded by ivy, so that unless you stood directly in front of it, it was very hard to make out. She could see in the distance what might have been the makings of a garden, but it was difficult to make out in the dark.

"What a strange place." She uttered as they passed through the door and she ran her hands along the cave walls, for that was what they were she realized, though carved out carefully into the rectangular shape of a proper hall. He glanced at her over his shoulder.

"I think it was a hideout for bandits once. But who knows who created it. I liked it because it has no windows."

She frowned at the back of his head. "Why would that be a good thing?" He didn't answer and she felt the nervous chill return. He returned the tub to what looked like a store room. After that he opened the door next to it and held a torch inside.

"The kitchen. The rooms are all upstairs."

He continued upstairs, and returned her to the room she bathed in. She sat on the bed. He stood. "This will be your room." She nodded. He stood there a long time then sighed and closed the door behind him, shutting them in together. She fought a brief surge of panic and waited for him to continue.

"If you'd like to stay you may, though we don't have much space, and I don't have a need for three servants, let alone four." He paused again, slowly lifting his eyes to meet hers. "There might be a task for you though, if you would be willing. It would not be difficult, but it might be rather...disconcerting." she felt her back tense and she wet her lips with her tongue. When she said nothing, he continued. "In the woods you asked me what I was." She nodded when he seemed to look to her for a response. "I am not human. I am a vampire." She blinked and stared.

"What?"

"I am a vampire."

"Are you joking" a smile played on her lips, he couldn't be serious...he looked serious, but then he always did.

"I am not"

"Really?"

"Yes"

"I don't believe you."

"I can see that."

She was about to jokingly ask if he could turn into a bat when he opened those fascinating lips and bared his teeth at her. Her words melted and she watched in morbid fascination as two rather pointed looking canines emerged and slowly began to extend until they lay across his bottom lip. They actually grew longer before her eyes. He took a step forward, and she instinctively leaned away.

"My god" she whispered.

"Now do you believe me?" she nodded vigorously and he retracted his teeth and closed his mouth.

"As a vampire" he continued, ignoring her shock and fear, "I need to feed more or less regularly or else I become weaker and the hunger becomes difficult to control, in which case I tend to behave...badly."

He looked at her to see if she was still paying attention and she nodded her understanding. "So if you are willing you might help me with that. I was in fact on my way to do so last night when I was side tracked. I find I need to scatter my feeding locations as not to attract too much attention."

"Do you kill people?"

He looked at her sideways. "I don't need to kill to feed. My victims are unharmed, and remember me as a nightmare, if they remember me at all." She didn't miss the fact that he didn't actually say no.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked softly.

"Let me bite you." she thought she almost saw him start to smile.

"Really?"

He shrugged. "You can say no, but it would more than pay your way here. I try to provide for all of us, but sometimes the means are difficult and made more so by having to feed...and of course rescuing sacrifices." The hint of a smile did return then.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not very much."

"Can I try it first...before I say yes?"

"Try it?"

"Yes...um, would you, ah, bite me, so I could see?"

He didn't answer but walked over to her and sat next to her. She looked at him nervously and tried not to shy away. That always terrified part of her was going mad, and calling her crazy. She was, she admitted, this was insane, she was asking someone who said they were a vampire to bite her. She'd officially lost it. Her rational brain was still clinging to the fact that she really had nowhere else to go and no home to return to even if she did figure out where her village was from here. Besides, if he was serious, it might not be so bad. Strangely, despite her fear, she still felt an inexplicable trust with him, as if she knew he wouldn't hurt her.

He reached over and took her wrist in his hand lifting it to his mouth, reminding her greatly of last night in the woods. She watched, fascinated, as those long teeth unsheathed and he pressed his mouth against her wrist. She expected pain, but as in the woods there was none, just the hot tingling of his tongue pressing against her pulse. His fingers ran lightly up the underside of her arm making her shiver, distracting her from the strange sensation of his teeth sinking into her arm. She winced as he pierced the skin, but the sharp pain died quickly or rather was drowned with an incredible heat. Her skin tingled and pulsed and she found herself leaning into his shoulder in utter relaxation. Her eyes feeling heavy and her mouth fell open in a silent gasp.

She blinked after a moment and realized he'd pulled away, licking the wound shut and wiping away the blood with his thumb.

"That was it?"

He nodded. "I think I can do that." She thought out loud.

"I'm glad to hear it." She looked up at him and saw that his eyes were on fire. Not just flickering with that alarming inner flame, but burning into her. She had to focus just to breathe. "In that case...may I?"

"May you what?'

"Continue"

"I thought that was it?" She asked uncertainly.

"it is, more or less...if I feed at least every other day, but that's rarely possible, especially when the nights are short as they are now, and last night was the second time I was forced to skip. I'm starting to feel it."

"Is that why your eyes burn?"

"Do they?" He held her gaze still and her chest ached.

"Yes." She whispered.

"Most likely." Despite his steady gaze, she noticed him fidget. The movement snapped her out of her hypnotized state; despite his stony expression he seemed anxious. She shifted, turning to face him and offering up her wrist again. He took it, but only kissed the tender flesh, making her blush at the gentle gesture and tingle with sensation. He wrapped his hand around her wrist, engulfing it, his long fingers caressing her skin as he had the first time.

With slow movements and his burning eyes holding hers, he pulled her to him, until she had to put a hand out to steady herself. Her breath quickened and her heart began to pound in her chest. She shifted her hand, finding with another blush that she'd laid it on his leg. She was about to pull away when he stopped her by capturing her jaw with his other hand. His eyes had become too much for her and she lowered her gaze to his lips. They parted slightly and she wondered with ragged breath if he was going to kiss her. She'd never been kissed, not the way a man kisses a woman, and part of her hoped he would. He leaned in and she felt her own lips part in anticipation. His lips did touch hers, but only just barely, grazing them in passing, but making her shiver nonetheless. His mouth grazed her again, brushing her jaw and the length of her throat. His hand followed his mouth, tracing down her throat and wrapping around the nape, gripping her. She felt his tongue press against her pulse once more, and let out an involuntary whimper. His fingers pressed into the base of her skull making her tip her head and giving him fuller access to her long neck.

The prick of his teeth came quickly and again the pain passed and flowed into a warm heat. That heat mingled with her already tingling body and she felt the fire that burned in his eyes flood through her making her throb all over. She felt a headiness come over her and she tried to focus to keep it from overwhelming her. The one thing that she found she could focus on was the wet, hard sucking sensation at her throat. It was as disconcerting as it was intriguing. She imagined the blood leaving her body and flowing into his with each long slow pull.

Fear warred with the intensity of the sensation and she found herself clinging to him even as she trembled. She hadn't remembered moving her arms. The arm that he had once held was now cradling his head against her throat, and his hand that had held it now gripped her waist and pressed her body tightly against his. Her body rubbed against his and each contact sent a wave of unfamiliar pleasure through her. The fingers of his other hand release her neck and slid down slowly, playing across her collarbone and resting on the soft V of exposed skin beneath, his fingers following the curved of the bone with light caresses.

She sighed and he slid further down still, over the curve of her breast, pausing and cupping it with a firm hand. She was vaguely aware of the fact that she should be trying to stop him. She couldn't quite bring herself to. His rhythmic massaging caresses were clouded her mind with desire, and the little pinch he gave her now sensitive nipple through the rough fabric sent a shock of electricity straight into her sex eliciting a broken cry from her mouth.

He growled in response making her start and tremble even more. His hands became more demanding and his mouth pulled harder at her, crushing against her throat. His hand slid from her breast to her skirt, lifting the thin material and sliding the palm firmly along the inside of her thigh. He did not stop until he was pressed firmly against her heat.

She gasped. Only she'd touched that part of her before and rarely for pleasure, she thought again that she should stop him, but again she remained mute, unable to will the words from her mouth. The feeling was too incredible. He ran his hand along the length of her sex, pressing firmly against some sensitive spot that made her hips jump. She felt how easily he moved against her and knew it was her own arousal that allowed that. She was wet to the touch, very wet. The incredible feeling of his hand against her, his fingers working caressingly, teasing and pinching the smooth folds of her sex kept her from pulling away in shame. As always it was need that trumped all. She groaned and whimpered against him barely heeding the fact that her hips had joined the rhythm of his hand and rolled wantonly in time with him.

When his hands slid lower however, and she felt one long finger enter her, breaching that which had never been opened, not even by her, she broke from her reverie and remembered herself.

"No" she whimpered, pulling away, and looking up to find he'd already ceased feeding on her. His eyes were no longer on fire with his hunger, but they still blazed with something else, and it made her stomach jump into her throat.

"Please" she begged, shifting her hips away from his hand. He stopped and withdrew his hand from her skirt, but not without letting his hand slide along her leg as he did so. He let out a harsh breath and drew himself up, loosening his grip on her waist, but not withdrawing his touch completely. He didn't look hurt or angry, just intense, and watchful. She placed a hand on his chest to hold him at arm's length.

"I...I'm sorry, I'm not...I've never.."

"You need not explain. Though you might have stopped me earlier," he withdrew from her entirely then, standing and moving away. She felt the loss of his presence next to her poignantly.

"I..I'm sorry, I tried to, or at least thought to...but I couldn't." She blushed, realizing what she was admitting. She hadn't wanted to stop him, not at least until he'd taken it too far for her. Or perhaps only too fast she thought with another blush.

He frowned at her, and then nodded thoughtfully. "That happens to some. The effects of feeding are different for everyone...and with everyone. "

"That was an effect?" she asked both relieved and confused. If it was just some kind of spell, than she wasn't some mad wench driven to lust by a man...or rather vampire, sucking at her neck. That thought however made her sex throb again and she frowned in consternation.

"How long does the effect last?"

"It depends, usually it subsides when I withdraw."

"Oh". That would give her many things to consider. Not least that she might actually be attracted to this man. Creature she reminded herself. It was really very hard not to think of him as a man. She sighed heavily at herself...was that really an issue right now. He was man enough...she blushed again at that thought banishing it from her mind.

A throat cleared and she looked up with a start, realizing she'd been so lost in her thoughts she'd been ignoring him. She remembered what he said about the effects being different.

Enithermon
Enithermon
1,049 Followers