Raphael

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/ Two days ago/

A feather-light touch made me open my eyes. A smooth movement, a gentle touch of the fingertips to my chest. One by one, the buttons freed my chest from the tightness of the shirt.

Propping myself up on my elbows, I helped to take off my shirt without interrupting eye contact. Her azure eyes, like transparent glass in drops of water, plump scarlet lips that I want to lick, bite, and soft snow-white hair tickled my stomach. She straddled me like a true temptress, continuing her slow torture with this sensual undressing while her lips left wet marks on my neck.

Is this perhaps the best awakening in recent days... years... centuries?

And when did she become so brave?

- Raphael! My King...

A sensual whisper touched my ear as I jerked out of bed, opening my eyes. A shiver ran through my whole body, anger coursed through my veins like fire. I clenched my teeth so hard that it took me a moment to notice that my gums were bleeding. Running my tongue over them, my eyes flashed for a split second until I turned to the culprit of my unexpected awakening.

Giselle was sitting on the floor, filled with sincere surprise, mixed with insane incomprehension. One look and her eyes filled with fear, forcing her to crawl further away from me, getting tangled in her own dress. But her fear only fueled the crazy feelings that she awakened in me.

- M-m-my king... - she whispered almost breathlessly, continuing to move on from me.

- Oh, Giselle, you made a big mistake coming here.

- Don’t come near me! What are you? - The princess screamed, wiping away the tears blurring her eyes. – The monster.

A blissful state, a wonderful feeling, a true, primal fear. Fear of death.

- Why are you running away, my dear future wife? Don’t you want to touch my body again? Don’t you like me anymore? - With a sneer and an evil grin, I continued to approach her as slowly as I could to stretch out this beautiful moment.

- My father will destroy you if you hurt me even a little. - She stammered.

- Trust me, it won’t happen until you’re all dead.

A bloodstain covered the iris of my eyes, and my fangs painfully cut through the gums, lengthening. And even this pain was impossibly pleasant, so palpably trembling. It’s been so long since I’ve drunk blood. It was starting to drive me crazy, but who would have thought that this stupid princess would come to me on her own.

This was not part of my plans, but she became more and more annoying from time to time, and this attempt of hers to come to my bedroom became fatal for her. And how could I, an idiot, not immediately understand that my Thea would never take such a step. She is still too immature to become so bold. I am a real idiot for allowing my dream to entangle my mind so deeply that I would not recognize such an obvious lie.

This further fueled my anger and I let go of all the emotions that I tried to restrain for the sake of the Riliya`s princess. The shadows spread out from me like snakes, entwining every centimeter of the floor, they were aggressive, rushing to Giselle’s feet and like blades, leaving deep cut bleeding wounds on her skin.

Her screams caressed my ears. As if clinging to the last thread, she tried to call for help, coughing up blood and scratching the closed door with her nails. I squatted down next to her and roughly grabbed her chin.

Well, wow, she used to seem a little attractive to me, but now, drenched in tears, snot, with her makeup spread out and smeared with blood, she looked extremely dirty, disgusting. Even the fangs retracted, not wanting to be in her flesh. At one point, I suddenly didn’t want to drink her stinking blood and I remembered my sweet girl, whose smell of blood drove me crazy.

This thought sobered me for a moment, and it was at that moment when the shadows reached Giselle’s neck, tightly squeezing her fragile vertebrae, forcing her to choke and choke with blood. Having regained my clarity of mind, I did not allow such an oversight as the premature death of the adamanian princess to happen.

- You’re lucky, you’re not going to die yet. – I said through my teeth, continuing to hold her chin, lifting it and opening her mouth. - My blood will heal you. You’ll wake up tomorrow as if nothing ever happened. In the meantime, forget everything that was here. You didn’t come and never thought about coming to my room.

A drop of blood flowing down the incision in my palm fell into Giselle’s open mouth and she immediately lost consciousness, losing all her strength from a large blood loss.

- DEXTER!

He appeared on the threshold as if he had been standing outside the door all this time and waiting to be called.

- Clean up everything here!

Passing by him, I slammed the door loudly, heading deep into the dark corridor at night. My insides were boiling, my blood was boiling, and my muscles were cramping with bloodlust.

- Who’s h... - Before she could finish, I broke the maid’s neck in an instant, picking up her body and plunging my fangs into her neck.

Warm blood flowed down the tongue, enveloping the throat, reducing the degree of internal anger. Having had enough, I left the lifeless body of the servant in the same place. Not caring that someone will discover it. Dexter will probably clean everything up, he’s too meticulous.

Licking the remnants of blood from the corners of my lips with my tongue, I went to the window and stared at the night sky.

- Do you see this sky the same way I see it? I asked Thea, who couldn’t hear me in any way. – That’s right, your world is not as gloomy as mine. But soon he will be like that. It’s only a matter of time.

Pushing my hair back from my forehead, I let out an exasperated sigh, realizing that the maid’s blood was only partially able to appease my hunger. And no one’s blood smelled as sweet and inviting as Thea’s blood. A protruding fang scratched my lip, releasing a drop of blood, which I immediately licked off. I’m already at the limit, but first I need to prepare her. I can’t just show up and bite her. I have to tell her the truth. I have to make her accept this truth.

- I’ve told you many times not to push yourself to extremes. - Dex’s grumbling voice sounded from the side. – What if you couldn’t stop?

- She was there...

- Who? Where?

- Thea. She was there... in my dream. So gentle, warm, beautiful. So inviting. – my nerves calmed down and the words sounded peaceful as soon as I thought about her.

- This obsession of yours with her bothers me. It’s like paranoia. - Dex continued, frowning.

I didn’t answer, but just grinned at his words. It was all true. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. More precisely, if you do not take into account my immense love for Artemis, my wife, the woman who holds my heart. After her, no one could fill my mind and the remnants of a broken heart enough to cause obsession. Every thought of her, every presence near her, causes a shiver through my body, as if small discharges spur me to be as close to her as possible. I want her to be there, breathing, laughing, crying, loving, being loved. I want her to be mine, all, every part of her soul, mind and body. It’s definitely nothing more than an obsession.

And I agree not to let go of this feeling. I sincerely crave it. It’s as if she is the one who breathes life into my existence and as soon as she disappears, a veil of darkness will cover me again.

But she’s not Artemis, of course not. I understand it. No matter what feelings I have for her, no matter how much I want and need her, I will not be able to love her with all my heart. The heart that turned to stone died the day the fire consumed my wife’s body. I can only be obsessed with the desire to possess her, not to let her go.

- And what do you think to do with it? Will you cancel the wedding?

- Hmm... no, everything remains unchanged.. But I’m tired of her, their whole family makes me uncomfortable. You know what I do with people who make me uncomfortable, right? Be ready, after the wedding...

Dexter nodded and walked away, taking with him the unconscious body of the adamanian princess, and I, after standing a little longer, headed towards the dungeon.

The stairs spiraled rapidly downwards, accompanied by the damp walls, the smell of moss and mold. Every step echoed from the walls and the lower I descended, the more distinct the sounds behind the bars became -moans, crying and pleas for help.

Bypassing them all and ignoring them, I walked forward to a tightly locked metal door, thickly hung with spells. It was the only thing that could hold him back, no amount of even the thickest chains would hold him back...

- A vampire... - the prisoner muttered in disgust.

- A werewolf... - I stated mockingly. – I see you look good. It’s amazing how you were able to survive, while all your relatives did not survive the experiment.

- Survive? - The prisoner grinned with disgust. – You killed them all!

- That’s right. And how could I forget that. – I broke into a smile, remembering the pleasant moments from the ball. – I killed them all to a single one, tore off their furry heads, tore their stinking mouths. It was a good day, don’t you think?

- You crazy bastard!

- Well, well, take it easy. The fact that you are still alive does not mean that it will continue to be so. You need to be grateful to her that it’s only because of her that I’m saving your miserable life.

The prisoner froze, realizing who I was talking about, and immediately all the arrogance came off him. He sat down on the floor, chains rattling, realizing defeat, but his amber eyes were shrewd and full of seriousness as he continued to drill them into me.

- You will tell me everything about their plans, what happened there and how many such successful experiments they brought out.

- I’ve already told your bloodsuckers everything. – the man muttered.

- I want to hear everything myself. And only the truth. – my eyes flashed, absorbing the werewolf’s dilated pupils, plunging him into hypnosis.