Chapter 14 - A Most Dangerous Position

Chapter 14 - A Most Dangerous Position

Hypnotized?

Under a spell?

Or tied on invisible strings?

That’s what it somehow looked like when Amanda stood up and strode towards the sleeping Master.

Her eyes were a deep violet - the brown shade in them gone. There were swirls of red in the center appearing alive just like the waves in the sea and the clouds in the sky.

She had no mission in mind. Nothing at all except to....

“Kill him...” she voiced in her thoughts as she stared at Cord with anger. “I’ll kill him...”

Like a cat undetected in the night, she moved fluidly, kneeling and drawing her legs apart to sit on his lap. Her weight, surprisingly, didn’t even wake him.

She placed both palms against his heart first feeling for a steady beating there but found none. This didn’t stop her. It only made her narrow her eyes at him and poised to lock her hands on his neck.

“Rexcord Alexander Vitalis, I’ll bestow on you the gift of death,” she declared - her voice creating a lulling echo - and then tightened her grip.

She yielded a choked response from Cord upon waking. Surprise was clearly visible in the reflection of his eyes once he saw her straddling and strangling him.

In reality, the lack of air doesn’t actually kill a vampire. They didn’t even need oxygen in the first place. But there was something in Amanda’s fingertips that screamed of danger. Something caustic, like holy water in a demon’s flesh, or something electric charged, like a nuclear plant in the middle of an explosion.

Her strength was surprisingly beyond what was expected in a woman. She held onto his neck like a vice-like grip all the while Cord attempted to subdue her.

He grabbed a hold on Amanda’s wrist and yanked them away from his neck. It failed though.

She fought back, pressing her weight even more onto his lap and locked her knees against his thigh.

“Aman...da, ” Cord managed to breathe her name. He clenched his teeth and stared up at her with the same amount of anger in his eyes. “Ama...nda!”

“Don’t struggle Rexcord, ” Amanda replied, pressing her forehead against his. Her aura spilled of sensuality. She looked like a vixen with the straps of her nightgown down and her cleavage in full view. A vixen not to give pleasure to a man though, but to offer a vindictive death.

She licked the bridge of his nose - tasted a little bit of his sweat in the process - and pressed her fingers deeper into his throat, making permanent indents on it. “For all you have done, you deserve to die!”

But the Master was fed up.

Using his supernatural strength, Cord quickly stood from the high back chair and flipped them both onto the king-sized bed. Holding her waist, he pushed her against it, and though she still clutched his throat, he was clearly at an advantage.

Amanda, seeing this, retaliated. Hissing, she wrapped her legs around his hips and turned them around, this time with her above him, straddling him again. The nightgown bundled up in her hips, slender legs making a bountiful show. It would have looked like they were having a heated fucking to an untrained eye, but no. No.

“Die!” she shouted, eyes welling up with mixed tears of anger and an unknown emotion. Her thumbs found his Adam’s apple, constricted it and heightened the caustic energy on her fingertips.

Black tendrils began to take form along the neck veins of Cord. It traveled slowly to the surrounding areas, leaving a trail of what looked like his petrified skin. She wickedly grinned at the progress of it, released a succubus-like throaty chuckle, and licked her bottom lips in pleasure.

Cord, witnessing this, would have had a hard-on. Heck, in all honesty, he was already having a hard-on just being like this with her, but sensing real danger, he responded by hurling himself up and shoving Amanda under him again. He secured her shoulders with his hands, did the same on her legs with his knees. He brought his weight down to her, body to body, until her nipples touched his chest, only but his shirt and her nightgown of flimsy fabric stood as an obstruction.

“Aman...da!” His voice sounded raspy and choked. He looked at her with eyes glowing red, trying his best not to summon his shadows to effectively incapacitate her.

It would have been easy for him to do that, or to throw her into the window and out the castle, but he didn’t. Even though his immortal life was at threat, he still was cognizant of her health and safety.

But why was she behaving like this in the first place? he asked himself.

The answer to that came as a surprise to him.

The necklace.

The swirls of red inside it somehow coordinated with the swirls of red in Amanda’s eyes. In Cord’s blind point-of-view though, those reds were a bright white that he knew weren’t normal.

So, without waiting or looking for more evidence, Cord released her shoulder, grabbed the chain of the necklace, snapped it once and threw the object on his left - making a clicking sound when it hit the wall.

Instantly, the red in Amanda’s eyes vanished, and the shade returned to her normal violet-brown. She inhaled deeply and released her grip on Cord’s throat - her hands turning into fists in between them.

“Get. Off. Me, ” she ordered with quiet menace. Her eyes, though normal it was, still emitted half of the immense anger she showed seconds ago.

Cord set his mouth in a hard line.

“Not until you explain to me exactly what had just happened.”

Amanda snorted. “Mister Vitalis, just so you know, I don’t take orders from a vampire.”

“Hmmm, you were so pliant on calling me by my real name earlier, what happened to that?” he stated, a sparkle of teasing happened by chance in his eyes. He could never forget how she just called him his full name when in fact nobody knew of that except his long-deceased human parents. “And just so you know, this vampire in your front saved your sexy little ass in the pond. I should expect a better show of gratitude from you, not repaying it by attempting to kill me.” He tried to brush a finger along her flushed cheeks, but Amanda awarded him a pointed glare.

He stopped midway, but only to quickly grab a hold of both her wrists and place them above her head.

“No!” she squealed and squirmed under him, but his bulk above her and his strength practically were like a jail made of iron bars.

“Tell me what you are now or so help me, I’ll do so many things to you, you’ll only moan in pleasure under me, ” he commanded, the sexual innuendo in his words didn’t sound like a tease. His glassy reddish-green eyes lingered on her face first, until he couldn’t keep it from dipping down to her free show of breast. It was at times like this that he wished he wasn’t blind. He’d definitely love to see how pink her nipples were.

To Amanda, she didn’t even notice that one hard nub peeked, not until she saw it in the reflection of his eyes. She shifted, arched her back to successfully hide the delicious view under her nightgown and threw Cord a look of disgust.

“You’re despicable!” she spat, clenching her teeth. “All of you!”

“All of us?” Cord’s brows twitched. “Care to explain that please.”

“You!” she widened her eyes at him. “Vampires! Dark ones! You use us. Make us love you. And then kill us! Take our life essences!”

She pertained of her ‘family’ and the past memories she recalled from her nightmare. It was already an obvious clue for Cord to discover what she truly was, but it seemed that he missed it.

“I’m the Master of all your so-called vampires, Amanda. As far as I know, I prohibited killing humans long time ago, ” he answered, misinterpreting her words. “That’s the reason why I’ve been trying to ask you about the murder you witnessed in the Circuit. It involves one of my kind. I want to punish him. End his worthless immortal life and make it an example to others.”

“You?” Amanda’s voice rose a decibel higher, clearly in disbelief. “Huh! You’d actually do that? You said so yourself you are their Master. Aren’t you supposed to look after your own? Don’t lie to me Mister Vitalis. I know for a fact that the culprit is conspiring with you.”

“Conspiring with me?” Cord grinned. “Don’t make me laugh Amanda. It doesn’t mean because I’m a dark one, I’ll do atrocious things or command it.”

In the back of his head though, he knew he was lying. He had done cruel, savage things back in his first years of being turned, especially when he was still on a rampage, cold-hearted and merciless. But that was then. Long buried in his treasure of regrets. He had changed now. Or more like mellowed down, done with being a vampire.

“I’m different, ” he continued when Amanda remained silent. “I saved your life remember? If I don’t-” he paused, trying to pick out the exact word before freeing it, “care for you, you would have been six-feet under by now, drained of blood because of your attacker.”

“My attacker...” Amanda echoed softly. For a moment, there were pictures that flashed in her head, scenes of that dark gloomy morning in the pond, but she blinked them out of her consciousness, rather too distasteful to even remember. She frowned and snorted.

“Don’t expect me to thank you, ” she said. Vampires didn’t deserve her gratitude from the start.

Cord merely grinned again.

“No, I won’t. What we are doing right now is already good payment for me, ” he cited. One hand gripped her wrist even more when Amanda unconsciously shifted.

Their bodies were just too close. She could feel his breath touching her face, while Cord could no longer deny the heat that moved in between their contacting legs.

“You’re blushing. You like this position huh?” he asked, mildly teasing, which produced a sneer from Amanda.

“Don’t jest.”

“Ahh, but Amanda. I like how you lay in my bed, under me.”

“Let. Me. Go, ” she replied, highlighting every word.

But Cord shook his head and tsked.

“Like I said, not until you tell me who you really are.”

Amanda, fed up, rolled her eyes and released an exasperated breath. He had showed her the truth about his nature, it was now time she do the same, and she was clearly aware of that. After all, she did agree with his dare.

“It’s not what I am, but what my ‘family’ once was, ” she started with eyes showing mild anger and sadness. “My family had been in hiding because of you - the dark ones. You killed them, one by one, take their life essences. They were forced to act like normal humans and stay like that for all eternity. My mother always told me to avoid your kind, but she never had the chance to teach me how to spot one. Hence, probably, my oversight when it came to you. Dammit, I should have known you were one of them, and even their master.”

After that, Cord’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second.

“Don’t tell me you’re-”

“Yes. I am, ” Amanda interrupted, lifting her chin up to at least show pride instead of fear. There, he had finally known what she really was. What would happen now then? Would he drain her life essence too? Take whatever ability she had that she herself doesn’t know of?

“Huh, that probably explains your reaction to the full moon and my inability to beguile you, ” Cord calculated. “But still, that doesn’t answer why your blood had an effect on me.”

And speaking of blood, his thirst came alive again, wanting to be sated but he successfully ignored it.

“Beguile me? My blood’s effect? Full moon?!” Amanda shouted in panic. “Had you been fucking with me all this time?!”

Cord smirked, relishing her choice of word.

“To put it bluntly, yes, ” he answered with honesty, “But I’d prefer a different definition of the word fuck, Amanda.”

Once again, his eyes wandered on her generous bosom, ripe and ready if so he wishes to dip further his head and claim it.

Amanda saw this. Though she knew he was blind, it didn’t take away that nagging feeling that he could see. That he was undressing her with his damned eyes.

“You’re despicable, ” she uttered low.

“Oh, but that’s already established, Sweetness. What else do you need to say to me?”

“You’re a vampire. You can never be trusted. Let me go and I will leave this place immediately.”

A memory crossed in Cord’s mind after hearing this.

“Hmmm, just like what you did two days ago?”

“Two days?” A flicker of disbelief appeared on her face. Had she been out that long? That couldn’t possibly be.

“Like I said twice now, I rescued you from death, ” Cord supplied, stamping this on her head as much as possible. “I swam into the pond to retrieve you, Amanda. And most probably, your attacker left you unfinished, in haste, because of me. You should thank me for it. But if you hadn’t left your room that night, we wouldn’t be in this position now.”

Amanda clenched her teeth. Hating that she was now indebted to him, she huffed out loud, “Thank you, okay? There! I said it, so now, let me go!”

“No, ” Cord grounded easily. “You’ll stay here.”

“Are you mad?! This castle is infected with vampires! You! My enemy! You would have me turn to a meal?!”

“No, I won’t allow it. You’re min-” he paused, cleared his throat and smoothly picked up where he left, “You are my guest. They won’t harm you.”

“And you wouldn’t?” Amanda managed a mocking smile. “Even though you saved my life, you still have that vampire savageness in you.”

Cord’s brows twitched. Clearly, she had hit a nerve there.

“Hmmm, point taken, and I reckon you wouldn’t try to kill me too? Just minutes ago, you were so bent on doing that.” He bobbed his Adam’s apple, feeling for a sore there still. Though the petrified skin had already disappeared, it left a numb sensation on the affected area.

“That’s-” Amanda aimed to reason, but stopped. Her eyes flitted down to the healing indents on his neck, looking lost whilst remembering all she did to him in clear detail and the charged energy she undeniably felt that time. “I...I can’t explain it myself.”

“Huh, then I suggest you better ask your bestfriend how he got that necklace for you.” He pointed his eyes at the aforementioned object, staring at it with curiosity as the swirls disappeared.

Amanda did the same, turning her head to the side, but her reaction was different from his. It was one of surprise, realizing it was the amethyst pendant in her dreams.

“You weren’t yourself when you wore that, ” Cord stated, pulling Amanda out of her surprise.

“I’m...I’m aware of that Mister Vitalis, ” she answered.

“Cord, ” he corrected, and like a bipolar, his mood suddenly shifted from that of a serious man, to a playful, teasing version of him.

And just the same, Amanda’s rage returned.

“Get off me then and I will use that name, ” she bargained.

The corner of Cord’s mouth curled upward.

“You know, I’m too lazy to stand up, ” he declared, lowering his body on her.

“Then, I will have to shove you with all my might!” she hastily replied whilst squirming, but she was already too late.

“Cord!” she gasped, realizing he had just pressed his mouth on her neck. Her heart picked up a faster beat. She clenched her eyes shut and tightened her jaw.

“If you’re going to bite me there, then so help me I’m going to do everything I can to kill you, ” she promised.

Goosebumps immediately erupted in her skin when his wet tongue grazed the plane of her neck. It was sensual at first - shooting pleasurable tingles in her belly down to her womanhood, purposeful the next, and then it abruptly stopped. Because of this, there arose in her a conflict of liking it versus loathing it.

“You licked the bridge of my nose earlier, ” he reminded, whispering it in her ear. “I’m only returning the favor. But worry not, as much as I wanted to, I won’t bite you. You don’t know how much you worried me that time, Amanda. Thinking that you were almost drained of blood. I’d be too heartless if I’ll suck what remained in your body even though I know you are still recuperating.”

It wasn’t Amanda’s expectation, but yes, Cord shifted again, released his hold on her wrist and embraced her tightly - her body arching up in the process.

Her breath hitched.

“But really, all quarrels aside between our kind, I’m relieved to see you still alive.”