To His Hell and Back-Chapter 164: Those Better Days

It took a while until she could hear Cassius who had stopped drinking her blood. He had pulled away but his large hands still held her fingers, locking together which began to feel naughty. No, maybe not naughty but rather sinful. So sweetly sinful. It didn’t feel good to be bitten, it hurts. But it feels good to see Cassius who had licked his lips from the blood, appearing as if he couldn’t have enough and would have drank more if it wasn’t for her current condition. He couldn’t have her faint or turn dizzy from too much blood loss so he could only resort to licking the leftover blood.

Arabella saw as he slowly pulled his fingers away, wiping the blood on the corner of his lips with his thumb and then licking the surface of his thumb with a smile.

She gulped as the entire scene was far too picturesque, making her wonder if this was the feeling anyone would feel whenever they had managed to satisfy their partner with their cooking? But it feels a bit naughtier than that though she wouldn’t come to admit it. Ever.

She only noticed how long she had been staring at him, burning her gaze anew on his skin, when he turned his eyes towards her, shifting his entire focus back to her face. He walked closer and she instinctively turned her neck which elicit a chuckle out of him.

Wait. That made her look like a ready prey!

She cleared her throat that had felt too dry after the long silence that stretched as Cassius had drank her blood, "Was it good?"

Cassius raised his eyebrows. There were many question she could have asked other than that such as: "Haven’t you had enough?" Or "Do you have to drink even more than you already did?"

With her fiery personality those questions would have came from her mouth and it would have sound as normal as ever. But instead she had asked if it tasted well, if she tasted good, and if she didn’t she would turn sad.

But that question felt too foolish for Cassius. Her blood didn’t taste good. It had tasted divine. It tastes better than anything he had ever brought into his mouth. So sweet to no end and though he dislike sweetness, her was the kind of sweet that made his mouth water just by thinking about it. Her blood was so addictive that perhaps he could have turn into a mindless worshipper for it.

"Better than anything I’ve ever eaten," he answered her sincerely and gat sincerity could be felt so deep in her heart that she began to feel a sense of excitement. There was something terrifyingly sweet about the satisfaction of being able to make someone feel gratified by her blood and it was the first time Arabella had known how pleasing someone could make her feel more elated.

So stupid, thought Arabella in her head. She wasn’t like this usually and at some point being with Cassius makes her to forget her usual self. It wasn’t that she hated her current self. It just that now, she didn’t know her own action which made her feel foreign in her own skin.

From protecting him, to giving him her blood. She thought she would stab him if he ever came to ask to drink her blood but that had turn out differently than she had imagined.

"Do you feel dizzy?" He asked her, breaking the long drawn thoughts in her head.

She shook her head, "I- I feel sleepy." That she did not as she had just woke up but Cassius doesn’t know that.

"After sleeping for so long?" He smiled when he asked her and when his finger reached out, she could feel it brush with her skin and she realized that he had pressed his silky handkerchief to her neck where it had bleed and gently wiped the traces of blood from it. "Well you must be tired. I drank quite a little. Let’s go get you back to sleep."

Arabella nodded and held the handkerchief tighter to her neck as Cassius led her back to his bed. She slowly climbed up like a turtle and then lay down like a starfish. Meanwhile he had moved to cover her body up to her chest with the thick duvet which made her skin that had turn cold from the wind to warm up once again.

She couldn’t really tell if it was his presence that made her warm or the duvet or the fireplace that had began to crackle as it licked the ceiling of the fireplace.

She found herself truly lulled by the drowsiness, maybe an effect after being bitten. But nothing else from her body felt out of sorts, instead she felt light and rather healthier than before. It’s as if he had suck out the bad blood from her.

"They say you’re different from other vampires," Arabella said to him, her head slightly turned and she kept the conversation despite her eyelids that had grown heavier. "That you don’t drink blood because of a special reason so I thought that was true."

He laughed, his voice sounding sweeter than ever as he shook his head, "The only special reason is that I don’t want to die yet. There are so many rumors in this castle, Bella. You will exhaust yourself just by listing them, let alone believing in all of them. Though I suppose some are true."

"Some?" She was curious which was true.

"I am different from the rest of the vampires," he said to her with a thoughtful expression, "Marissa or the King, they share my blood but we are still far apart in term of strength."

It could sound like an exaggeration or a shrug of confidence but she could tell that wasn’t why he had said so.

"Even the late Queen?"

"Even her," he confirmed. "I can show you next time but you must have seen some things I have done which you felt different."

She hummed as she nodded, the drowsiness began to pull her away from the conversation no matter how much she had fought it, "Even I’m different from other humans right?" She could hear him quiet, as if finding away to answer her and she smiled, "Being different isn’t bad right? But I wonder what is it that’s different from me. Not knowing is scary."’

"We can look at it," he said to her and then his hands heavily pressed her eyes. "For now you should sleep. You don’t have to worry about the rest, we can think about it tomorrow."

Yes, she had always looked forward to tomorrow but for the first time, if tomorrow didn’t come, she didn’t think it would be all too bad. Cassius tonight felt different and she quite likes this side of him. She tried to look at his face to remember his expression tonight but her eyes couldn’t resist it any longer. As if being told to sleep make her lose control she lightly duck her head inside the pillow, her consciousness fading into sleep while Cassius watched her over the whole night until sunrise appear and lit a whole golden glow over him.

Protecting himself was difficult but now he has someone more important than his own life. It would be more treacherous from now on but why is it that he was looking forward to it? Not the bloody mess, but the thought of more days to come where he could spend it with her. With Arabella.

The same morning the castle began to turn busier than ever.

Especially when a carriage from another kingdom had stopped before the castle’s gate and a lady stared at the castle wall with a smile played on her sly lips.