Alpha Damon (Sienna) novel Chapter 244

Tatiana:

The halls were dark when I returned, the scent of iron still clinging to the air. Though it was one that was foreign to me at this point, I still smelled it. I still found myself being satisfied with it. Being around it was a reminder of strength. It was a reminder as to where I had come to. It was a reminder of what I wanted.

Giovanni’s bloodletting had satisfied him for the night, at least, that’s what he believed. The man who did not understand anything that was going on around him made me want to laugh, but I suppressed that. I couldn’t let him see past my veil.

I slipped into the room like mist, my body silent, my thoughts louder than ever. I could still hear Lysandra screaming in the back of my mind. She’d felt me. Fought me. She did her best and I would have still consumed her hatching, not screamed, called for help, resisted to let me in her mind.

She’s stronger than she looks.

But he wouldn’t know that. He must never know. I wouldn’t allow it. Let him resent her. Let him want to get rid of her, just as they all got rid of what was mine. She was to die too. He was to lose whatever was left of him.

He stood at the far end of the chamber, facing the fireplace, his shirt half-unbuttoned, sleeves rolled, fingers stained red. Always red.

“You were asleep when I left, I thought that you would be resting.” he said, not turning around. “Now you’re awake. And you seem to be up and about.”

“I’m always awake when you’re near,” I said softly. “I would rather I not sleep, but not to waste any moment that I could be spending with you.”

He chuckled low, amused but tired. “That sounds like a lie. One that you seem to be letting out in front of me right now. Though I do not take you as a liar, you normally are more honest than this.”

“Only if you want it to be.” I said gently. “I wouldn’t assume that you want this to be a lie, because I do not. I want this to be our reality. I want this to be our truth. Unless you have other plans, Giovanni.”

He finally turned. The light from the fire caught his face, sharp, cold, beautiful in the way only monsters could be. The man that I had once found beautiful, that I once was in love with, that I admired, with everything that I had, now looked like nothing more than a stranger to me, a monster in my eyes.

“I’m done with my blood,” he said, stepping closer. “At least for tonight. I assume that I would be getting more tomorrow. They seem to be rotting with fear. I thought that this would strengthen them, but they seem to be coming down one by the other. I’m going to need to get more of them.”

I let my robe slip slightly from one shoulder, exposing skin chilled by the night air. “Then I would assume that you want to take other things. Me perhaps?”

“You always offer,” he murmured, moving slowly toward me. “And I always wonder why.”

I would

I tilted my head, lips curving. “Because I remember when you used to take it like it meant something. When you used to hold me in your arms. Graze your canines over my neck. A kind of submission that showed me that I belonged to you.”

His jaw tensed. Just slightly. A tell he didn’t know he had.

“You remember too much,” he said.

“Someone has to.” I said, lowering my voice to above a whisper for his ears to hear, to seduce.

He reached me then, his hand sliding up the side of my neck, fingers pressing just beneath my jaw.

His breath was warm when he spoke again. “I gave you this life. Resurrected you from the dust. You belong to me now. I don’t want you to go to anyone else. I don’t want to think about you being with anyone else.”

I let my eyes close as his lips brushed my skin.

Yes, I thought. Keep draining. Keep feeding. Keep fueling what you don’t understand.

I could feel it inside me, the way his power threaded through my veins when he tasted me. I could feel the echo of every soul he took, feeding me, waking me. But not just for myself.

For them.

They were coming through faster now. The lost. The murdered. The forgotten. Spirits with unfinished hunger. Some whispered. Some screamed. Some laughed as they rose. Allowed them to rise, to stand, to come back for what they wanted to come back to. To get what they wanted and what they deserved.

But one was silent.

I pressed my lips to Giovanni’s ear as he wrapped his arms around me.

“You’ll keep going, won’t you?” I whispered. “Draining the ones who beg. Killing the ones who deserve it. You’ll do it for me.’

He paused. “Is that what you want, Tatiana?”

I smiled, teeth just grazing his bottom lip.

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

He laughed softly and pulled me tighter against him. “Then it’s yours.”

He didn’t know.

Not yet.

He didn’t know that his slaughter was opening a door.

That I wasn’t seeking life, I was seeking return. One for revenge, for anger and anguish.

But Dorian’s silence haunted me more than death ever could.

And until he answered my call…

I would keep using Giovanni’s hands to tear the veil apart.