Zane's fingers found their target,
moving in a slow circular pattern, his pace determined by her reaction. His
lips and teeth found her nipple, and began to nip and suck it gently, increasing
in pace and intensity as he went.
Nicoleta arched against him pressing her head back into the pillows, eyes tightly
shut, her hands grasping at the bedspread beneath her.
Judging by her reactions, Zane
decided his affections were indeed welcome, and done at least pretty damn well.
He smiled against her breasts, while he added another hand to the mix, alternating
them to get her as close to the edge as possible without ever letting her over.
Nicoleta bit her lip so hard she drew blood when she felt *two* hands upon her.
She tried in vain to bite back her second cry, but failed and moaned aloud.
Her body was slowly becoming suspended in a state of desperation.
Zane's nose caught the scent
of blood, and his lips slowly left their position, tugging at Nicoleta's nipple
as long as possible as he raised his head, stretching it to the maximum before
allowing it to fall back into place. Zane's tongue moved along her bottom lip,
lapping at the trickling blood, his eyes peering up to catch hers.
With a sly smile, Zane's mouth enveloped hers, sucking at the small wound on
her lip, as his hands increased their pressure furiously, begging her to find
her way over the edge into ecstasy.
Nicoleta felt his lips suckle the wound she had inflicted upon herself as he
kissed her passionately. His fingers made her seem to burn brighter and brighter
within until stars danced behind her closed eyelids and unable to scream his
name due to the kiss she bit down, drawing forth his blood with her own, her
body trembled beneath him. They now had matching wounds. Zane suckled at her
lip softly, and moaned into her lips as he felt her teeth bite into him, drawing
forth his own blood. The flow from her wound was slowing, and the sweet taste
of her blood flowing down his throat was not something he wanted to give up
so easily. His fangs extended, and he bit down again, enlarging the cut on her
lip, making it deeper, until blood again flowed freely from it again, which
he took in anxiously.
Nicoleta whimpered both in ecstacy and pain from the feel of Zane deepening her wound. She began sucking hungrily on the wound she herself had inflicted upon him, savoring every drop of the rich tangy fluid. Her hands moved slowly down his sides and back up before clenching his shoulders as she continued to tremble.
Zane's hands began to explore the rest of Nicoleta's body, as if he wanted to memorise every curve, every single piece of her. Blood still flowed freely into his mouth, and he lapped up every drop, savouring the wonderful taste that was her. He found himself sighing into her mouth, just holding Nicoleta gave him a peace he hadn't known in a while.
Nicoleta felt his hands begin to roam and she inwardly sighed. His touch was so soft and so gentle, it relaxed her to the depths of her soul. She wanted to stay there forever, conclave be damned.
Her tongue gently licked at the slowing flow of blood before she bit down again drawing forth more with a soft, muffled moan of pleasure.
Zane let out a gasp as he felt her teeth attack his lip once more, and sighed as he felt Nicoleta begin to lap at his blood once more. His hands continued to roam along her back, as he felt himself become more relaxed than ever before.
His mind began to swirl a little, and Zane gasped curiously as images began to float into his mind, images--memories that were not his own. He whimpered lowly, a tentative sound, wondering if these were things Nicoleta meant him to see.
Images of a little raven haired girl flitted before his eyes:
In the first image, she stands on a stool in an earthy looking kitchen, leaning over a large wooden bowl situated on a brick counter. Through an open window before her, rolling hills of green can be seen for miles as well as other little houses with tiled roofs of earthen colors. Beside her stands an elegant looking woman who she resembles almost completely except the woman's skin is a little tanner. The little girl appears to be mixing something in the bowl with her hands, a doughy substance, and talking happily with the woman, who beams with pride at what the tiny child is saying. The woman laughes outright suddenly and kisses the little girl's nose, who then squeals with delight and drops the bowl of dough to the counter, fleeing the kitchen. The woman runs after her and in a few moments through the open kitchen window Zane can now hear laughter ring out as he witnesses in his mind's eye the woman catching the little girl and swinging her up and around in a circle before hugging her close.
Zane watched the images cross through his mind, and smiled against her lips, feeling the happiness that was the entire situation.
In reality Nicoleta giggled softly against Zane's lips, not seeing the memory of her mother and her in their kitchen together that she was subconsciously sending to Zane, merely feeling the emotion associated with it and passing it off as being a sensation he evoked within her. However a sense of dread filled her suddenly and she tried to shake it off by kissing him with a greater intensity.
The image in Zane's mind changed
now and instead the girl, now a little older, is sitting crouched on the floor
of her room, in the corner, crying. She is mumbling the word mommy over and
over softly beneath her breath. She holds her knees clasped to her chest and
rocks slightly back and forth. Through her eyes Zane sees the door to the room
open and a tall looming male figure heads over to the girl and pulls her to
her feet roughly by yanking on a handful of her long black hair. She lets loose
a cry of pain as she is dragged across the floor. Through her eyes Zane sees
objects and walls and doors blur by as she is pulled down a hallway, a set of
stairs and out a front door
towards a pond. With barely a second of time to register a thought or a single
image the girl's head is pushed under water and held there as she kicks at the
man to no avail. She manages to pull free long enough to take a deep breath,
harsh words in Italian that Zane does not understand are being spoken as her
head manages to clear the water momentarily. The little girl is wailing and
thrashing trying to free herself and Zane can feel her panic as she is shoved
beneath the water again. Finally out of luck her foot hits a tender target on
the man and the frees herself enough to get up and take off running. Her panic
and fear can be felt as she runs wildly never turning back to look behind her.
She runs for what seem like miles before she stops finding an abandoned shack
and collapsing within it.
As a response to the feelings the memory had released within her, Nicoleta began to suck harder on Zane's lip, her teeth nipping at it punishingly. Her slight fear and anger also caused her to dig her nails into his shoulders.
Zane whimpered as he watched Nicoleta's memories flutter through his mind, wishing he could jump into the images and save her...and kill the one that had brought her pain. An unnoticed tear softly fell from his eye, staining his cheek as he watched, unable to help her. His hands rubbed along her back, trying to soothe Nicoleta, as he felt her nails on his skin, and held her tighter to him.
She was calmed slightly though when she too began to feel strange and her mind began to wander. Strange pictures and things she could only describe as memories not her own flooded her brain. She tensed a little...these were Zane's and they were private; she wondered why she was seeing them...
Something deep inside of Zane decided that if Nicoleta could show him some of her memories, her private collection of thoughts, then he too could share with her. He could trust her with things that he had trusted no other with. Slowly, the images in Nicoleta's mind began to come into focus:
The scene changes to a small bedroom, decorated as if it was likely the late 70's or early 80's. On a small poster bed, covered by a Smurfs comforter, a little boy, looking to be around 12, sits cross legged in the middle. Dark blue jeans, rolled up at the cuffs, hug his skinny frame, and he wears a green and white checkered shirt to cover the rest of his tall frame, especially tall for a twelve year old. His hair, mushroom cut, is a dark brown, and very mussed. Arms crossed, he sits, head bowed between them, spreading his locks across arms and forehead, hiding his tear streaked eyes, sobs audible, between mutterings.
The door opens, and two stern-looking adults stand at the door, one carrying a pill bottle. The boy begins to sob louder, his mutterings becoming louder, sounding like 'I won't take them anymore....' repeated over and over. The man, carrying the pill bottle approaches, and the boy curls up tighter, his head shaking. The man grabs him viciously, and the boy recoils, backing himself onto the corner of the bed, against a wall. Screams fill the room, as the boy's mouth is forced open by the man, while the woman pops a medium sized white pill into his mouth. His jaw is forced closed, and they both watch, waiting for him to swallow, which he does, and then they leave as suddenly as the came, no words for the boy.
As soon as they leave, the boy spits the pill into his hand, and throws it across the room. Jumping off the bed, blue eyes covered with tears, he collapses to the floor, beating it with his fists, this time the screams heard louder. 'I won't take them anymore.....'
In the present, Zane bit down
harder on Nicoleta's lip, although he wasn't sure why, and he felt his hands
shaking against Nicoleta, before a shudder wracked his entire body, while he
grasped at
Nicoleta tighter, not wanting to let her go.
As Nicoleta's mind had introduced her to the image of the crying boy she had felt a desire to walk over and hold him, to ask him why he cried, but it wasn't within her power and that frustrated her.
She hated the adults she had seen, they didn't deserve a child like Zane. A boy like that deserved a family that loved him and cherished him, not one that force fed him pills. She knew what that was like, her almost drowning hadn't been her father's first attempt to kill her. She longed so badly to reach for the child upon the floor and comfort him, to tell him he would never have to take another one of those pills or see one as long as he lived, but again it was not within her power.
At the end of the image Nicoleta's eyes flew open for a moment. She took in the lone red trail upon his cheek, that could only mean one thing, tears. She felt Zane shudder and clutch her to him and, her own pain forgotten, Nicoleta soothingly ran her hands down his back rubbing slow circular patterns. One of her hands then moved up to gently stroke his hair and she broke the kiss to nuzzle and kiss his cheek for a moment before piercing her lips again and almost feeding it to him as she kissed him deeply.
At the instant of reconnection a new image began to weave its spell upon Zane's mind.
This time the girl is now the woman Zane knows in the present. She is walking alongside a strikingly handsome man down a crowded street in Venice. She stops at a store window while the man she is with talks to a street merchant about a hat and gasps in awe at the necklace shown within. She thinks she's concealed her longing for the bright green bauble and once she reclaims the man's attention they continue down the street. They stop at a fountain where she smiles braodly and sits upon the ledge and removes her shoes. He watches lovingly as she now climbs a top the fountain ledge and hitches up her skirt to expose her ankles scandalously and begins to kick at the water playfully with several children who have gathered around her. As she is occupied the man hurries off.
She begins to search for him and becomes frantic with worry that she cannot find him until with a sigh of relief she spots him heading back her way. As he nears her he scoops her up in his arms and kisses her softly before putting her back down on the ground, telling her to close her eyes. She complies with a tiny smile and feels a large weight settle upon her chest. He clasps her hands in his and tells her to open and see, and looking down she squeals with delight at the large rounded emerald about her neck.
As the image began to fade it could be seen that the woman had thrown her arms about his neck and was whsipering frantically in Italian as she smothered him with kisses...
Nicoleta continued to soothe Zane as she herself for some odd reason began to feel joyous again. She realized she was thinking about the night her Sire had given her the pendant she always wore and smiled against Zane's lips. Maybe her happier memory would help to make him forget the horrid one he had shown her.
Zane felt himself slowly calming
down, and his grip loosened on Nicoleta's shoulders. He found himself smiling
as he watched this happy part of her past, but then something clicked in his
mind.
This...this was probably her sire. The one that she had loved more than anything,
and the one that had been killed. Someone that she had loved so dearly, and
was no longer with her. That was what his mind fell onto, and he sighed in sadness
for Nicoleta, that she had lost someone that dear to her.
Zane thought for a moment, trying to decide on a memory that he could conciously show her of himself. Something happy, something that showed him at peace. Slowly, it came to him, and he bit down and across his lip, both deepening and lengthening the wound, allowing more of himself to flow to Nicoleta, as the images began to form.
A beautiful waterfall, with crystal clear water flowing through it, is the first thing to show. The water flows downward, falling a great length to smash against the softly coloured grey rocks below. Behind the waterfall, for miles on end, are plush green trees: pines, and other coniferous trees. What is noticed next, is the beautiful sun, high in the sky, its rays falling onto anything and everything below it, making everything sparkle.
Finally, the scene focusses on a young man, sitting atop the waterfall, cross-legged on the soft grey rocks above. The man wears soft blue jeans, the cuffs noticeably frayed, and barefoot. He wears no shirt either, displaying a set of rippling abdominal muscles. The tattoos completely identify the man as Zane, although there are less on his body in the memory than in the present. A contented look crosses his face, and there is a guitar in his hands, seemingly an extension of his body.
He looks up to the clear sky, watching a bird fly calmly through it, a contented smile on his face, before finally, he looks back down, at the guitar in his hands, and begins to pluck the strings softly, sending out a flurry of pleasing notes. Slowly, a soft voice becomes audible, singing along to the music, the words themselves making him smile. Completely happy, completely at peace.
Nicoleta felt the flow of Zane's blood increase and moaned, sucking hard at the taste of him...so sweet, tainted with something only he had in him yet unmistakably coppery like all blood. Then her mind began to form pictures again and she gave in to it. Soon she was in awe of the things she saw.
At first she had been glad he had calmed down, but now she was so wrapped up in the images in her head she had forgotten where she was for a moment. He could sing...quite well at that and she was amazed. She smiled within an then came to a decision. There was something she conciously wanted to show him...
She began to concentrate on it despite her heart's insistent pleading not to and bit her tongue hard, putting a small hole in it, causing more of her blood to flow.
In Zane's mind now a new image forms...its of a Nicoleta running frantically through a crowd. People stare at her strangely as she pushes past them fear written across all her features. She makes her way to a large piece of property on the outskirts of a little italian village. She runs into the house and up to a room who's door hangs open into the hall. She comes to a skidding halt in the doorway and lets loose a wail as she collapses to her knees in the hallway.
Within the room through her tear blurred eyes you can make out the figure of her Sire, lying upon their bed...the once loving eyes glassed over and gone, their once off white comforter on their bed beneath him is reduced to no more than a spreading stain of crimson.
Nicoleta is dragged slowly upright by a servant and fledge within their home and led away from the room. She walks down the hall almost in a daze and opens the door to a small room. Once within you can tell it is a girl's room and is full of feminine things, a dressing table with bottles of pefume, a large canopy with flowing drapes and various other things of that type litter the room.
In a fit of rage and despair to begins to destroy and over turn everything. She shatters bottles, vases, and statues of all kinds. She breaks furniture mirros and tears open the bed sheets and pillows, she never falters once til she is through and the collapses in a bloody heap, having cut herself thoroughly on all the glass and shattered porcelain. She begins to sob loudly and to rock as she did in the corner of her room so long ago before her father took her out to drown her.
In reality, a lone tear makes a path down her cheek before being slowly followed by more.
Zane watched in horror as Nicoleta's memories passed before his eyes. He watched as the woman in his arms curled in a corner, bleeding and sobbing, and wished that he could rush into that room, take her into his arms, and never let her go. He wished that he could prevent her Sire, her love from being killed; anything to take away her pain.
Zane did the next best thing. He broke his contact with her bleeding tongue and mouth, lips sad to leave the tangy, potent liquid, though the need to console Nicoleta outweighed any bloodlust he had.
"Caine....." he whispered, as his lips left hers, still in disbelief at what he had seen. "Oh Caine....." he whispered again, as he hugged her form tight to his, one hand moving up to caress her cheek. His tongue drifted from his mouth, catching one of the blood-stained tears, before his second hand wrapped around the back of her head, becoming lost in her hair. Words failed him, so he simply sat there, hugging her, and wishing he could take her pain into him.
Nicoleta snuggled into him fiercely. She didn't undersand why she had relived that to show him...why she had wanted him to see it at all. She cried quietly the pain almost to strong for anything more...she had cried so many times. She remebered she had fallen sleep in the room upon that floor. She remembered how she had awoken from the shock of a shard of glass inbedding itself in her cheek because she had thrashed around in a fitfull nightmare on the floor. She had awakened to search in vain for comforting arms that no longer existed and had cried anew driving more glass intot he ivory of her skin.
She whispered softly to Zane, "I stayed in that room for days...just bleeding and crying until I was forcefully removed..."
"I'm sorry....." he replied, his voice a hoarse whisper. "I'm so sorry that someone as sweet as you had to ever go through such horrid things. So sorry...." his hand brushed against her cheek again, brushing away some of the fallen tears.
"I'm sorry you lost him....the one who's arms, who's being was able to bring you happiness. I wish that I could bring him back for you....I wish that I could make it so that he had never left...so that you had never experienced that pain which you so didn't deserve...." Zane whispered again, softly, his lips close to her ear, as he continued to hug her tight.
She gently pulled back to look at him, "Its ok...its so long ago..." She smiled shyly at him for a moment, "besides I rather like where I am right now..." She kissed his cheek and blushed, "I said that out loud didn't I?"
Zane blushed himself, and nodded. "Yes, you did." he smiled softly, as he hugged her close to him, again, a soft embrace. "I rather like where you are right now too....."
"Good then its settled I'm not moving..." She cuddled herself to him and sighed, her heart was soaring she just hoped it stayed in the clouds this time and didn't come crashing down.
Zane sat, happy to be able to console Nicoleta, his hand continuing to run through her hair. Slowly, his mind returned to thinking about her pain, making him wince once more, and a thought rolled through his mind, one that caused him to pull away gently, to look her in the eye.
"Nicoleta...." he began, speaking softly. "You showed me something, private...personal...your pain...." he began, trying to plot his words. "I....I trust you....I don't want to keep anything from you..." he bit his lip a little, feeling awkward. "Can I....can I show you something else?" he asked, looking up at her nervously.
She smiled and almost felt as though she were looking into the eyes of that child on his bed. Her fingers traced a path down his cheek before resting her whole hand there gently, "of course gentle heart, you can show me anything..."
Zane nodded, swallowing deeply as he prepared himself to relive the all-too-fresh memories of his attack. Thinking for a moment, he debated what to offer to Nicoleta; his lips again, his wrist. Thinking another moment, and with another deep swallow, Zane decided that he would offer her his blood from the same spot where his life had nearly been taken only hours ago.
Turning his head to the side,
Zane leaned in towards Nicoleta, his throat completely bared, as he waited,
nervous, but trusting.