Crimson Temptation

The street was still littered with corpses when silence returned. The smell of blood clung to the air, heavy and intoxicating. My crimson eyes glowed as I drew in a breath, savoring it.

But then the hunger hit me.

It had been a thousand years since I’d risen from my slumber, and though Kael’s taste had stirred me awake, my veins still burned with thirst. My body ached for more, demanding it with a primal hunger no queen could ignore.

Kael knelt beside the hunter he had been forced to kill, his hands stained with blood. His shoulders shook, grief and rage carved into every line of his body. He looked broken—yet still fighting, still burning with that stubborn defiance.

I stepped closer, the heels of my boots clicking softly against the cobblestones. He didn’t look up until I crouched in front of him. My fingers curled under his chin, forcing his storm-gray eyes to meet mine.

“You’re trembling,” I murmured, brushing my thumb across his lips. “Is it grief… or is it the bond?”

“Go to hell,” he spat, jerking his head away.

I smiled, unbothered. “Hunter, you are hell. And you belong to me.”

His chest heaved as he glared at me. “You made me slaughter my own brothers. What more could you possibly take from me?”

I leaned closer, my lips almost grazing his ear. “Your blood.”

Kael stiffened. His hand shot to his neck instinctively, as though to shield it. “No. You won’t—”

But the bond pulsed, my will pouring into his veins. His body betrayed him, tilting his head back ever so slightly, baring the column of his throat. His pulse throbbed there, strong and defiant, calling to me like a siren’s song.

I didn’t bite—not yet. Instead, I took his wrist and lifted it slowly. His arm shook violently as he fought me, but I guided it upward until his palm hovered just before my lips.

“You’ll feed me yourself,” I whispered.

His storm-gray eyes widened in horror. “I… I won’t.”

“You already are.”

My fangs slid into his wrist before he could resist. Hot blood rushed across my tongue—his blood, laced with rage and sorrow and strength. I closed my eyes, savoring it, a soft moan slipping past my lips. The taste was intoxicating, more potent than any mortal’s. His essence burned through me like fire, filling the cracks of my hunger.

Kael groaned low in his throat, the sound torn between pain and something else. His free hand dug into the stone street, veins bulging as he tried to resist the pull of the bond.

“Stop,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “Damn you—stop.”

But when I looked up at him, crimson dripping from my lips, I smiled. “Say it louder. Your voice trembles when you try to command me.”

I licked the blood from his skin slowly, deliberately, each stroke of my tongue dragging heat through the air between us. His breath hitched, his body shivering against his will.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” I murmured. “The bond doesn’t only force you—it tempts you. You can’t tell if it’s hate or desire anymore.”

Kael’s jaw tightened, his gray eyes burning like stormfire. “I hate you.”

I smirked, leaning close enough that my lips brushed his ear. “Then hate me harder… and bleed for me again.”

His pulse thundered in his veins, his body betraying him as his wrist lifted once more toward my mouth.

And I drank, slow and deliberate, savoring every drop as the hunter shuddered against me.

By the time I pulled away, my lips glistened crimson. Kael collapsed to one knee, his body weak, his chest heaving. He looked up at me with a mix of fury and something darker—something he didn’t want to name.

I wiped a streak of blood from my mouth with one pale finger and smiled down at him like a queen surveying her conquered knight.

“You see, Kael,” I purred. “You are not only my servant. You are my chalice. My blade. My curse. And soon… my desire.”

The bond pulsed between us, electric and alive, as the night around us fell into silence.

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