Beyond The Walls (NOW ON AMAZON!!!)

The Shadows

Ruqwik closed the distance between them and cupped her cheek. Hadley held her breath in agonising anticipation.

"Breathe," Ruq whispered.

The word was a warm exhale against Hadley's ear that untangled countless knots of nerves inside her. She breathed. Shakily at first, then steadier.

Hadley closed her eyes, focussing on her breath.

Ruqwik's fangs grazed Hadley's neck. Visions of Ruqwik tearing through dogs and killing a vampire without touching him flashed behind Hadley's closed eyes. She was suddenly afraid. She tried to push down the fear. Shove it into the darkness of her mind. This was the right...

Hadley's terror-filled thoughts suddenly cut off.

A new feeling immediately replaced it, building up inside her.

The feeling started at the base of her stomach. Butterflies. Confetti. Warmth. Her breath hitched as she felt the warmth spread through her, lower and lower, past her navel, to the top of her pelvis. And lower still...

"Wait! Stop. Just... hold on," Hadley said, breaking the spell.

Ruqwik pulled her fangs out. Hadley took a step back. She almost jumped the vampire and ravaged her right there and then, but instead, she took another unsteady step back and wrangled with her sudden desperate, licentious feelings. Vivid thoughts of her and the vampire tousling naked on the forest floor were making it hard to think.

Hard to breath.

"Did I hurt you?" Ruqwik asked. Hadley looked up at her. The vampire's eyes were halfway open, filled with the same feelings coursing through Hadley, which acted as extra fuel dousing Hadley's own lust.

"What are you doing?" Hadley asked, breathlessly.

Ruqwik closed her eyes. She was struggling for control too.

"I accessed a part of your mind... you were... afraid... I wanted to help you... relax?" the vampire started to explain, struggling to find the right words.

"You're turning me on." Hadley said. She took another deep breath to centre herself. "You didn't do that before."

The feeding in the forest – that first time they'd met – had been quick and painless.

Emotionless.

"I... didn't want you to be afraid of me." Ruqwik whispered, her voice pleading with Hadley to understand.

Hadley's heart was threatening to jump up and out of her throat and walk away. But the fear was fighting with another feeling. A sense of connection that beat all logic. Ruqwik needed her. And she needed the vampire too. It made no sense why this would be true, but it was etched into Hadley's very soul.

And it was about a lot more than just blood.

"I'm not afraid of you, Ruq," Hadley said. It wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't a complete lie either. "You don't need to reach into my mind to force me not to be."

Ruqwik shifted her weight and turned away, as if embarassed. She nodded and turned around to walk back to camp.

Hadley sighed.

She wasn't thrilled with what had just happened, but this was about more than her feelings. Especially feelings that would disappear into the darkness in her mind before she knew it. Ruqwik was hiding her Venom identity for a reason. Hadley suspected it would harm the vampire if the secret was out, and the thought of Ruqwik being harmed in any way turned Hadley's insides into a twisted ball of mangled metal.

Once again, Hadley reached for Ruqwik's shoulder to stop her. "Wait."

The vampire stopped but didn't turn to face her.