Mira Ch. 03

"It's not yet sunset," Rillan said.

Mira flinched when she heard his voice. It wasn't as if she didn't know he was there somewhere. But she hadn't actually noticed him when she entered. He was standing next to his fireplace, staring into the flames. Shadows darkened his features and made him seem more menacing as he stood there.

"When the sun can no longer reach it, I'll open it. But not before."

Mira nodded quickly, but remained silent. She was very tired and was afraid of how he would react to any continued conversation about the shaft. He didn't seem upset at the moment, but she wasn't willing to risk it. "I suppose then I should get ready," she suggested and yawned.

Rillan was amazed. Her voice didn't waver a bit. He smiled at the yawn. It was a strange compliment. Generally people who are scared don't find time for yawning. "You look tired," he said gently.

Mira blushed. "I suppose a little." Her heart started racing a bit. Would he be angry if he knew she had planned it that way? She was trying to read his face but the shadows obscured any clue as to his mood. "Why do you always keep it so dark?"

Rillan looked around. "I don't need as much light to see as you do. Darkness doesn't bother me."

Mira nodded. She knew that. "Well," she started uncertainly.

"Are you truly in such a hurry," he asked. He wasn't sure how to take this.

"Not a hurry exactly, just… I don't know." Her eyes fell on the door to the shaft again.

Rillan watched as she did her best to look everywhere else. You just don't belong down here, beautiful, he thought sadly. "Mira," he said seriously. "Why are you here?"

She looked up at him in confusion. "Because you said-"

"No," he interrupted. "Why did you choose to be a sacrifice? Why did you choose this life?"

Mira stared at the shadowy figure in front of the fireplace. She didn't want to answer that. There were too many sad memories there. "Does it matter?"

"Yes," he said in an authoritative tone that bit into her. "I need to know why you chose this."

There was a long pause while she tried to find a way around it. There was no point in lying. The only reason she didn't want to talk about it was because she didn't like talking about it. She didn't think it'd make a difference. "You killed the man who killed my father."

Rillan wasn't sure he wanted to know who or when. But if she felt like she owed him something then that could explain a lot. "I do my assignments. I didn't kill anyone for you Mira."

She shook her head. "I never said that. I didn't have anyone left after he died. I volunteered for this because it gave me a purpose."

"Purpose," he echoed quietly and then turned back toward the fire. He could certainly understand that. "Far be it for me to impede someone in their purpose. Take your clothes off Mira."

He didn't watch, but he listened as soft swishing sounds told him that she was complying with his order. Rillan had been longing to take her again since that first night they had been together. It had been a very long time since any woman had responded to him the way that she had. She found him terrifying when he turned. He had no delusions about that. But she forced herself to bottle the fear well enough that she responded to his touch with something other than fear. She'd never know how much that meant to him. When the room went silent except for the crackling noise of the fire Rillan finally turned around.

Mira had her eyes closed. She was waiting for him to descend upon her, fangs protruding from a mouth too large for his face and black coal eyes sunk deep into shadowed sockets. The image in her mind started her heart racing and she waited.

Rillan stepped up to her. Mira's chest was expanding and contracting with labored breaths and he watched her breasts rise and fall with the effort. He could guess what she was thinking. Leaning in close to her, he breathed in the scent of her hair. His breath on her cheek made her flinch. She hadn't realized that he was so close.

Mira's heart was pounding in her ears. The vision in her mind grew progressively worse. She imagined his thin pale lips curled back from his fangs, his ears set farther back on his head and his skin almost translucent white pulled tight over his sharply angled cheeks and jaw. His voice startled her.

"I know that your racing pulse has nothing to do with wanting me right now," he said gently. He reached up and stroked her cheek. "In truth I'm no better than your teachers. I gave you a foul impression of me." He leaned down and lifted a handful of hair to his face. "I'm sorry. It doesn't have to be like that. I've rarely done this Mira, but I'll give you a choice."

Mira's brow had furrowed and she appeared confused, her eyes still squeezed shut.

"Look at me. I haven't changed."

She opened her eyes and found that he was only inches from her. Rillan's dark blue eyes bored into hers. Mira almost forgot that she was naked until his gaze shifted. She blushed a deep red that only worsened as he smiled. "What," she asked as she cleared her throat, desperately wanting something to cool her heated embarrassment.

Rillan's eyes met hers again and he reached up to cup one breast in a cold calloused hand. Mira shivered as his frozen digits closed around her soft mound and gently squeezed. He circled her nipple with his thumb and licked his lips, anticipating the feel of the firm nub in his mouth. "In the past," he said and his eyes dropped to the breast he was playing with, "most of the girls who have come here have wanted as little contact with me as possible. So I waited as long as I could and then I went to them. But you seem to be capable of dealing with me better than the others have been. So I give you the choice. I need the same amount of blood no matter when I take it. I can either come to you and drain you near death once and a while or I can come to you and take small amounts more often. You'd not feel the kind of pain and sickness as you did before, but you'd have to lie with me more frequently." As he finished the suggestion his eyes nervously returned to hers. He had never wanted to read anyone's thoughts before. She was so strange to him.

"I don't understand why anyone would choose pain and sickness over time with you." Mira felt his thumb and finger pinch her nipple. This time her racing heartbeat had nothing to do with fear. Mira momentarily lost track of what she had intended to say. "Uh," she looked into his dark blue eyes. "How often would you need to…" Mira's voice trailed off as his other chilled hand began to slide along her hip and he stepped closer, bringing his mouth so near hers that she could feel his breath on her lips.

Rillan smiled as a little whimper involuntarily escaped her mouth. He neglected to tell her that he had been too annoyed with most of the other girls to bother with little pleasantries like this. They were all so frightened of him that it made him feel as though he was raping them. With the others, more often than not, he took their blood and left their bodies alone. He couldn't help himself with Mira though. He almost felt alive when his touch was able to cause her such obvious pleasure.

Rillan nudged her nose with his own, repositioning her face so that he could kiss her, but he only teased her with his lips, coming close and not quite touching her. To his delight, Mira's hands snaked up into his hair, stopping his game and bringing his lips to hers. She felt the strange cold of his skin as her lips pressed against his. Heat flooded into his body from her. Rillan pressed his tongue along her lips and she parted them, allowing him to taste her mouth.

He rolled her nipple between his thumb and finger and a soft moan bled into his mouth, stopping the kiss. Rillan lifted his head and looked down into her eyes, answering her nearly forgotten question. "The more often I feed the less I need to take and the less sick you will feel from the experience. I leave the choice of timing to you. Come to me when you're willing. But know that if you don't come to me, I will eventually come find you."

Mira nodded, not really caring at this point what the rules were. She only wanted him to keep touching her. She had never known anything like this in her life and she wished that this part would never end, as much as she hoped the feeding would never come. Is his touch worth the price of it?

Her obvious compliance only confused Rillan. He wasn't sure if she was insane, masochistic, or so empathetic that it didn't matter. He couldn't make himself believe the later. In truth, in this moment he didn't care so much about the why. He hadn't been with a compliant woman in so long. Whatever her reasons were, they were good enough for the now. Besides, the conversation would serve as a decent reason to spend time with her later.

Cold hands slid across Mira's heated skin and goose bumps broke out along her flesh. Rillan leaned in to her and closed his eyes. Her hands were on his shoulders and he pulled her body against his own, reveling in the warmth of her, even through his clothes. Rillan stroked down her back. His fingers danced over the goose bumps as Mira shivered. Her breath was coming in heavy waves and her little hands had fisted in his shirt. When he looked to her face again her eyes were closed and her head had lulled back across her shoulder, exposing the pale line of her neck to him.

Everything in existence momentarily melted away. Rillan leaned down and kissed her neck, tasting her skin and taking in the scent of her arousal. A soft seductive beating just beneath the surface tantalized him. Rillan felt the hunger roll in his stomach and surge through his dead body, as certainly as he felt her heartbeat pounding in her chest pressed against his. Before he could lose his control he pushed her away.

Rillan paced across the room. Mira's look of disappointed confusion was not lost on him as he stood near the fire. He laughed, almost manic as he stared into the flames eating away at the wood in the fireplace.

"Did I do something wrong," she asked timidly.

"No," he growled. "Get into the bed Mira."

Rillan didn't even look up at her. He knew full well that his eyes would frighten her. He was about to lose the fight with his hunger. He had waited too long. This one deserves better, his mind chanted. "Close your eyes Mira," he said almost too softly for her to hear. "Don't open them."

"Aren't you going to," she paused, too sweet and innocent to say what she was thinking. "I mean before…"

If Rillan didn't already feel guilty about everything he would have started to now. She actually wanted him to make love to her. He wanted so badly to look into her eyes, but he couldn't allow himself to frighten her any more than he already had. "I'm too hungry right now Mira. Touching you only makes it worse. After the feeding's done I'll pleasure you." My sweet one, he added in his mind.

Mira's mouth went dry. She clamped her eyes shut and went stiff, beneath the soft blankets. He couldn't have given her a more clear warning of his intentions. Mira could hear fabric rustling and then the bed moved.

Her heart pounded so hard against her chest that she feared it may explode through her rib cage. She could feel the shifting of the bed as he moved closer to her. The pressure was all around her. Her mind's eye clutched desperately to a vision of tanned leather skin, dark blue eyes, and a gentle smile. But in the endless moments she waited for him to touch her a monstrous image was steadily distorting the one she was trying to hold onto.

Rillan watched her tremble. The beast in him was pleased at the sight and smell of fear. He craved it. There was something sweeter about blood tainted with terror. He moved slowly, letting his icy touch make her flinch beneath him. Rillan pressed her head to one side and leaned down to bite her. His fangs sliced into her flesh.

Mira whimpered in pain as she felt the sharp piercing and then the rhythmic pressure as he sucked her blood from her. She gasped as the darkness began to swim. Tears squeezed from her eyes and she started to relax as she surrendered to the situation. Rillan's cold heavy body pressed down on her, pinning her beneath him. His icy grip on her arms was painful as he held her down, just in case she decided to fight it. Mira was finding it difficult to breath as the cold pressure on her chest, the pain searing through her neck, and the spinning darkness enveloped her. As she felt her consciousness slipping away she surrendered gratefully to the black.

Rillan took his time finishing his meal. He was careful not to take any more than he needed. Warmth flooded through his body, both from the blood and from being pressed against her. He reveled in the feeling as the chill left him. It wouldn't last long, but he would enjoy it while he had it. When he was sated he lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms. Her back was to his chest and her head rested on his shoulder. His body shifted back to normal and he sighed contentedly as he held her.

Elizabeth drifted back into his mind. That was the last time he had allowed himself the pleasure of keeping a woman in his arms as she slept. He took in a deep breath and let it out, staring up at the cave ceiling. She had been very different though. Elizabeth had lost her mind almost the instant she had been delivered to him. It was easy enough to ignore. She wasn't crazy in most ways. Her mind simply chose not to acknowledge the demon half of him. She behaved as if she was his lover or wife and life here was perfectly normal. At first it had bothered him. But quickly he came to accept it as a reasonable way for her to cope with what he was. Elizabeth smiled and loved him, until he changed or needed blood. Then she would become catatonic until it was over. It was with Elizabeth that he had learned to eat normal food again. She would cook dinner for him, make him clothes. After a while he had even grown to like the way she had adapted. It allowed him to forget himself when he was with her.

Now there was Mira. Rillan wondered how long she could last down here. If she were living amongst her people, he had no doubt that she would be the wife of a powerful person. She would give birth to warriors or teachers. She had the inner strength to know and accept what he was, the intelligence to be afraid of it, but the bravery to survive it. He held her tighter. He knew she could survive indefinitely down here. He would bleed her dry and watch her die slowly.

Rillan pressed his face into her hair and took a deep breath. This was exactly what he had wanted for as long as he had been here. Now he was finding himself unable to justify keeping her here. The others were one thing. Sacrifices that were pitiful excuses for what the people he protected were capable of. To some extent he believed that he was helping their population by eliminating such weak excuses for human beings. But Mira deserved to be married and have children. Things he could never give her. A voice in the back of his head warred with him. Haven't I earned this? She volunteered. It's what I want. Rillan growled at himself and his own misery. One year, he decided.

Rillan wrapped his arms more tightly around her. She was young enough. He'd keep her for a year. At the end of the year he'd send her back to her people, arrange for her to have whatever she needed, and have a new girl sent to him. For now he would enjoy her company. Rillan could feel a strange pain in his chest. For the first time since he had offered himself up for this life he was truly regretting his choice. He had always believed that revenge and the good he had done outweighed anything that life could have offered.

He closed his eyes and shut the thoughts out of his head. It wasn't long before he drifted to sleep holding Mira in his arms.