Blood is Honey-(Adley Reed)

[Indigo]

Indigo stood close to Adley. Her hand found the hard curve of his hip as she listened to the scenario he had planned out. If it were too dangerous then he would be there. That eased her mind for the most part. The only concern, or curiosity perhaps, was how does one go about approaching the chosen source. It wasn’t like she was one to just walk up and cut to the chase and have her mouth on someone she just met...well sort of perhaps not quite like that but this was a bit different than meeting Kaspar, Adley and Jay. A lot different. They didn’t set out to bite her in sixty seconds or less. Adley did admit to wanting to make her a fountain of blood that he could dance in but even that wasn’t biting. And that was what she was out in the night intending to do, right?

“So, just find someone that seems appealing, lure them in and then go for it or is there an art to having someone willing to offer up a vein and a few pints?” She wondered as she glanced down at her feet and the contrast of the litter peppered street beneath her sandals. “Seduction is fair, right?”

Indigo couldn’t imagine it being so simple as saying what she needed and a wrist being produced. Wasn’t this going to be a challenge for Adley? He did, after all, feed off her frequently. When he didn’t he got it elsewhere. Not that it bothered her because it did not. It was like her drinking down a smoothie or whatever she was into for nourishment. Sort of a if you have an itch you scratch it type thing.

“Just give me some tips and let’s see how well I have this whole thing down.” She lifted her chin a bit in commitment to doing the deed. “Oh!” She remembered something. “Is there a way to find something sweet tasting and not so...coppery? I had a penny in my mouth once as a kid and it tasted awful. Not that you tasted that way. You happen to be sweet if you didn’t know.” She slowly grinned.

[Adley Reed]

A few tips, she said. Adley should have known this was where they would end up -- he’d have to share his own experiences. Truth was, it had been a while since he’d had to feed from a human, and when he had? He had never really been too gentle about it. Indigo gave the impression that luring them in and biting, just like that, was an odd way to go about it. But Adley often didn’t even share a greeting with those he’d fed on. What was the point? It wasn’t as if they remembered…

“You don’t have to overthink it,” he said, even as they crossed the street.

“If all goes well, they won’t remember you. It’s… I mean if you want to seduce someone who’s appealing to you, it makes it more enjoyable, so if that’s how you want to go about it, then that’s how you should go about it. I… just found people who were alone and I… bit without asking in some secluded place out of sight. And when I was done I left them there,” he said. He didn’t clarify whether he left them there dead or alive. He didn’t particularly want to clarify, but he could definitely say that he was glad for his new way of life. Although he struggled to begin with and lost a friend along the way, he now preferred feeding on vampires. It was easier. If he killed them, no one really missed them. Most of the time, he didn’t have to. Most of the time, his ‘meals’ were willing. And he was lucky, in that regard.

He could have been more romantic about it, he knew. He could have been a seducer, if he really wanted to be. But he had always been a little too impatient for the long game.

“As for the taste, I’m not sure you’ll find it dissatisfying,” he said, trying to be serious through his lazy grin. It was good to know he’d at least tasted good in that complete ****-up of a night. “I think people taste different given their different ways of life. So it’s a matter of just finding what you like best?” he said. As if they were just talking about a food court, and discovering one’s favourite foods for the first time. It was so strange.

The pub loomed ahead -- as Adley predicted, not very busy. He held Indigo still at the corner so that they could observe. “Anyone catch your eye?”

[Indigo]

The fullness of her bottom lip was pinched between her teeth while she surveyed the pub that was in the distance. It was safe enough that they wouldn’t appear odd doing what they were doing. Not too far though. Her indigo orbs were able to watch what was available, even make out some details to make the selection process easier...if that is what it was considered. She licked her lips, tasting the night air and the sweetness she imagined beneath Adley’s skin. What it did to him. Did anyone catch her eye? Her gaze shifted to him. Everything else he had offered up to make this first time easier for her was lost.

“You.” She breathed out as if a prayer was attached to the truth that flowed through her lips. A truth she would never be able to shake for as intense it continued to be. It filled her as she gazed at him. “And you will watch?” It was reassuring to hear he would. “Make sure I don’t go too far?”

If it was a huge concern it was confusing as to why her skin was peppered with tiny bumps of anticipation. Anticipation that was exhilarating and stimulating enough that her mouth was watering. Certain parts of her were noticeably far more sensitive as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Cotton brushed roughly against her waking flesh. The pure white dress around her thighs lifted and clung with the breeze around her curves. Her hand brushed the hem back down when it came close to reaching the height of her bare hip.

“Her.”

Indigo set her sights on a female that appeared to eat well and was healthy enough that it was hard to ignore her juicy shape. Her eyes followed her to the spot her feet stopped just in the dark space out of view of the pub door. Soon a flicker of a lighter at work glowed.

“Come with me?” Her expression asked him to as much as her words did as she stepped backwards extending her hand out for him to take.

[Adley Reed]

Me, Adley thought. Yes, it would be too easy to get caught up in one another -- too easy to get distracted by that which they had been denied for such a long time. But they had to be strong.

The questions that Indigo asked were a given. Yes, of course Adley would watch. Of course he would go with her! It was why they were here. It was why he had come with her, otherwise he wouldn’t have insisted they come out at all, and he wouldn’t have made a deal of it being a necessity. He’d have left Indigo to her own devices, if he were entirely oblivious. But these were the things that were required; these were the things that his own sire should have done with him, but which he had missed out on.

She didn’t have to ask twice; even before she offered her hand, Adley was following. As he stepped from the curb his fingers twined with hers, tugging her arm behind his back so that he could press a lingering kiss to the rise of her cheek. He nipped at the skin before pulling back, his stride taking them both confidently toward the prey that Indigo had chosen.

The girl glanced up as she felt the shadows obscure her from the street. Adley flashed a disarming grin, hoping to calm the girl, to try to assure her that she was in no danger, when she was about to have the night stolen from her. Maybe she had friends inside who’d come looking after she was gone too long.

“Mind if we bum a cigarette? We’ll share one…” he said, hoping to distract her so that Indigo could make her move.

[Indigo]

Indigo carried the tingle of the nip at her cheek with her as they approached the one she selected. Her senses heightened incredibly with each step until their arrival. Quite possibly it was fueled by the prospect that she was going to actually bite a human being she never met and was still fully clothed while she was intending to commit the act. Or it could be that there was an aroma that was rising and advancing her sense of newly acquired appetite she was finding stronger than her ability to keep in check.

The woman showed no apparent wounds but she most certainly bleeding. When her lips opened she could nearly taste it. As awkward as the discovery was, and its likely source, Indigo felt the rush of intention tugging at her to act impulsively. Was Adley immune to what was filling her nose and lungs as she took in a healthy amount of air that she didn’t need? Did he feel the same when she was previously inconvenienced by the monthly visitor? She never thought it about it until that very moment. It reminded her she had a lot to learn, discipline to develop and she was trying her damndest to focus on the fact he was at her side ready to witness her bold move.

While the woman took notice of Adley’s question with her expression of surprise Indigo didn’t wait to see if the stranger minded if they smoked. Her gums felt like there was a rush of fluid swelling suddenly beneath the surface. Her mouth was under an influence she never experienced before and soon her hands went for the woman's wrists sending them back with a grip that she wasn’t aware she had.

“Don’t you ******* bite…”

A sharp pitch in the woman’s voice releasing the warning broke through the words inspired by Indigo’s unexpected moves. Of course the first time had the potential to suck. And the allurist was fully prepared to do that as well when she was caught off guard by the woman’s knee coming up and cracking her between the legs so hard she felt the jarring through her pelvis, up her spine and radiating through to her ribs.

“You freaks!” As Indigo felt the air rush from her lungs in an audible gasp the sudden crash of a skull hit her forehead. “H-E-L-P!”

The ringing in her ears thanks to the head throbbing ache spreading over her face somewhat dulled the air piercing cry for attention. Indigo was feeling as if she had been unleashed from chains holding her back. Her hands held on to the warm wrists in her grip and pulled in the flailing body to her mouth. It was an odd first placement for a bite but it served the purpose. Her teeth worked like penetrating hooks that sank into woman’s face and so that her mouth enveloped her nose. There was minimal blood to draw thanks to the bone and cartilage that was plentiful in the spot she ended up. More squealing erupted as she tried to tap into a source. The minor amounts of warm fluid arriving to her mouth made it nearly impossible for Indigo to let go. She was ravenous for what she had writhing in her hands. Power and sustenance in one glorious combination.

[Adley Reed]

There were many things that Adley could have done, but which did not come to pass. Even as he witnessed the situation spiralling out of control -- even as he recognised within Indigo the same frenzy that fuelled him -- he could do nothing to stop it. Sure, yes, he imagined wrapping his stronger arms around Indigo and wrenching her from her prey, getting the both of them out of dodge as fast and as far as possible. He imagined doing the right thing, and letting the girl get away with her life. The screams would eventually bring witnesses. They needed to leave.

Adley reached forward with every intention of keeping the situation from escalating; his fingers curled around the victim’s mouth, fingers digging into her skin to keep her squeals and screams muffled. His arm was wrapped around the wrong woman, though. He knew this, but the blood was spilled and it was all too late.

The girl was no longer an innocent human whose life was precious, whose life she should keep. She was just a bag of flesh and bones, pumped full of hot, adrenaline-fuelled blood. Her head was wrenched back and to the side, blood spilling over Adley’s fingers from the wound Indigo had made over her face. The slender neck was bared to them both, tendons and veins stark raised rivers in an ocean of cream. There was no hesitation as Adley’s canines tore into the flesh, ripping open the vein. His lips didn’t close over the wound. The blood sprayed from it, covering his face and reaching for Indigo, too.

Horror should have been paramount, but instead that plump lower lip of his curled into a satisfied smile. The body in his grasp continued to struggle, the desperation growing. But there was no hope for her, now. None.

It was not the taste of the human blood that he relished, but the heat of it, the colour, the beauty of it. The woman in Adley’s grasp was released as he instead reached for Indigo. Their prey was trapped between them as he tugged Indigo toward him, as his tongue lapping over her chin as his mouth claimed hers in a violent, tooth-sharp kiss. His canines shredded at Indigo’s lips, her blood mixing with the heat of the human. Breaking the kiss, he leaned back so Indigo could have access to the wounded human, to the gaping hole in her neck.

When he should have been hauling her away and telling her no, he instead encouraged, revelling, relishing in the gore.

[Indigo]

The shower of blood was all that it took for the display of Indigo’s welcoming hands to rise and wash over her face. A joint press of her fingers tugged at the swell of her bottom lip. The venous fluid shooting out from the generous vein offered to her mouth every reason to savor the itch spreading over her gums. She was hungry for the fix it would deliver. One that she was meeting for the very first time. It was fueling the uncontrollable lust that was boiling through her veins. A greedy merciless appetite reared up and took in the sight of Adley embracing the screaming stranger and suffocating her screams with his hand. What should be shocking in appearance was hardly such for her. She was more than ready to join in.

Somewhere between the intent and the action a switch was hit and it was a no-brakes race through a bloody frenzy of flesh and vein. Her body formed tight against the curves of the hot writhing female and suffocated the gurgles of pain and panic with her own mouth sealing the source of the dying last sounds. She swallowed each one while digging her hands into Adley’s body on the other side to sandwich in the meal that unexpectedly came between them hot and fresh. How long would it take for her to die? The rush went through Indigo and had her drawn that much more to the one on the other side. The fading warmth was absorbed as her hands gripped his face while he claimed her bottom lip tearing it in the process.

The woman had little left in the seconds that passed which meant dessert was arriving with the pull of his hands for her to slide across the flesh divider between them. The nameless female dropped like a heavy weight to their feet. The awkward placing of her feet had her rising upward by mere inches as she used the still body beneath her for a platform. Nothing about it was right except for what it was doing for them in that stolen moment of self-serving need. With the slick glide of her damaged lips over his she lost any control that could possibly be drawn from to remove herself from the situation that would surely drawn attention.

“More of this…”

Her hands placed firmly at his neck as her mouth found his chin. She pressed the weight of her blood soaked body against his attempting to fix him to the wall in some surge of dominance. It was as if there was no stopping her. Not in her mind. She was on fire and the only means of cooling her down was to dig into anything she could get her hands on and devour it with a lust that reached a nearly sateless height fueled with shameless greed. Could he handle this? Her eyes searched for an answer as she growled into the cool curve of his neck stopping short of the tip of her fangs at the top layer of the smooth as silk flesh beneath.

[Adley Reed]

If there was any air in Adley’s lungs it was expelled as he fell back against the wall. At first his hands were at Indigo’s waist, pulling at the cloth, clawing in an attempt to get to the flesh beneath. Fingers roamed until they fisted in Indigo’s golden curls, a tight grip that did nothing to slow Indigo’s frenzy. He wanted nothing than to swallow her kisses and tear another hungry wound into her slender neck. He wanted to taste her, in large voracious gulps. As much as she pushed, as much as she wanted, Adley wanted just as much. It was a battle of the wills, the blood like honey, delicious and thick and fresh, sweet in the way that it could satisfy cravings and addictions.

If blood was their honey, they were soaring high on the sugar they had ingested.

As much as he wanted to rip into Indigo’s neck, he too wanted to feel her rip into his. The growl rumbled against his throat, vibrating through her lithe body that was pressed so tight and close to his. The body was forgotten. The urgency had been banished in favour of this lust, this need. Oh, how they could have fallen if it weren’t for the witness.

“HEY.”

The voice was masculine. There was a tremor to it – fear and courage, all mixed in together. A good Samaritan who was witnessing something terrifying, and a body being used as a stepladder. Light flashed across Adley’s vision, his dilated pupils thinning as sense and wit returned to him in a chaotic crash. Second, of course, to the violent urge to pull the guy into the alley, to rip him limb from limb. He and his phone, held aloft, the bright torch shining upon the scene.


”…****,” he gasped, fingers now pushing at Indigo, his feet finding purchase, muscles flexing as he pushed away from the wall, bringing Indigo with him. The timing! ****, if he’d let Indigo bite, if he let her swallow his blood, gulp for gulp. What then?


”No,” he said, voice guttural and sharp, insistent and commanding.


”No, Indigo. We have to go,” he said. If she resisted, he pushed. He was stronger than she was. He had her wrist held tight in his grip, fingers curled around her slender neck to push her back, to get her teeth from his skin. If he could have, he would have grabbed her by the scruff of that neck to carry her off. As it was, his arm wound around her waist and he lifted her, carried her as he stepped over the body.

If he had to, he would throw her over his shoulder – he would do whatever he had to to get her away from the scene. If he had to carry her, he would. Regardless, he did not let go of her as he ran. He sprinted, as fast as his feet would carry him. Away from the blood, away from the witness. Away from the lights. Was he heading back toward the car? Probably not. But it didn’t matter. So long as they were getting further away.

[Indigo]

Everything was quite alright with the movements of Adley’s hands at her hips. The sensation alone generallly soothed her into some temporary state of compliance if not more. He could calm her storms...all but this one. It was going absolutely every which way but how she planned. It washer lack of self control and discipline that was resposnible. Unfortunately she was missing that cue. There was a need for more that had her ignoring the sound of a voice coming upon them. Her mouth was ready to sink in and go for whatever the budding sharp points of her bite could sink into including Adley. However determined she was the grip of his hand made it an annoying effort. Small unreasonable thoughts filled her such as how to absorb the blood that coated the surface of her not so white dress. The fluid had cooled in the seconds that went by and much of it was acting like a glue keeping the material clinging tightly to her body. She wanted it all and now that he was denying her she gave the scent of fear, human fear a second thought. The original source was at her feet. More was heading their way with a blinding source putting them in the spotlight. That was when Adley cursed the turn of events outloud.

It was more arriving in offering. That was working at her like a scratch of firm fingers in just the right spot. No? How could he say no to what was right there. The guy was almost within reach and coming closer. Before she could question his change of mind her body was tugged forward with Adley’s insistent firm hold. Her feet dragged like a child being dragged out of party for misbehaving. Her hands went to the hold at her waist and tried to pull away. The soaked material filled her hands efforts instead as he quickly proved he was faster than she was. Again he had a hold over her and before she could tell him different he picked up his own speed taking her along with him. The absence of the heat that they had been bathing was apparent as the night air rushed over them. It reminded her quickly that they were in a danger she had not experienced before. Discovery. They had done something that she wore vibrant proof of across her chest and face. Panic laced the edges of the maddening need to draw more. There was no regulator except the risk of being found out and even that came second to what she wanted.

The ground was hard beneath her sandaled feet as they raced into the darkness leaving behind the sounds of voices in the distance that could be heard calling for help. Her legs stretched in a long stride to join his in a sprint that had her moving faster than she could remember running before. Where would they go? Could she shake the need that was keeping up with them? There was no time to stop and ask. The moved through the streets finding the refuge of the darkest parts of the city to be undercover beneath the shadows that most wouldn’t look at unless they absolutely had to.

“Adley…” She gasped as her body cleared the nameless blocks with his. “You think it’s safe to…” A bright set of headlights rounded the corner ahead of them and she tugged him with her as she all but dove into the dark alley before they were spotted. “Shhh…”

Indigo could feel the tightening in her chest as if she had completed an olympic run. Was this what he was talking about? What he felt when he found her injured? She pulled him in close to her while pressing back against the wall to narrow their chances of being discovered. Her blood coated hands moved to the back of his neck and held him tight. That woman outside the club could have been her on the dark road. Adley could have left her to the ground with no chance of survival. Roadkill, consumed, devoured. Her eyes washed over his face ultimately taking in the brilliant hues of his own. How did he find the strength to resist? As expected the glow of the lights bounced at the opening of the alley then were lost to the route the driver had taken. She stared at him effectively speechless at the awareness. He saved her life when so much of him had likely compelled him to do the opposite.

[Adley Reed]

The pounding of feet on pavement was euphoric. Fear should have been paramount – the fear of capture. Now, when humans were all aware of vampires, capture would not be good. Surely they would know by now how to keep a vampire locked up, how to kill it. A brutal act of savagery such as he and Indigo had just indulged would not be a forgivable one. And, oh lord, after everything Kaspar was trying to achieve – trying to convince the masses that with all the bad there was good, too. How could Adley stand at Kaspar’s side and preach what he preached when Adley himself was part of the problem?

His grip tightened on Indigo’s hand, as if it could get any tighter.

No time was wasted wondering what the hell he had gotten her into, or what the hell his blood had done to her. They were running to evade capture and Adley should have been bursting to the brim with guilt and fear, but he was euphoric. It felt good to run, especially when the added stamina of immortality kept him going for longer. But they had to stop eventually, and who was chasing them, anyway? The witness could have called the cops, but they’d go straight to the pub. And then they’d have to follow an already cold trail.

Still, Adley went with Indigo as she encouraged them into a dark nook, hidden from the streets, hidden from the headlights, hidden from prying eyes. The spray of the blood had hit Indigo more than it had Adley. Sure, his formerly pristine clothes weren’t exactly spot-free, but he wasn’t paying any attention to his own cleanliness. It only helped that the blood coating Indigo was drying – become hard and cold and stale. But his teeth were still sharp, his body still alert. He wanted to tear the clothes from Indigo, right there and then. He wanted to suck the blood from where it stained her skin. He wanted to dig his nails into the caramel smoothness; he wanted to find the femoral artery.

But they were only images. Things he wanted, but things that he resisted. For now.

Instead, his touch was gentle as it coaxed the hair from Indigo’s face. As euphoric as he might feel, as tense and eager for more, he could not assume that she felt the same. If he had calmed even a little, he had to assume that she had too. And in calm there came realisation, the dead weight of knowing what they had done. Indigo was the most tender soul he knew. And now she was bathed in blood. Just like Adley had imagined, those months ago.

”Are you okay?” he asked. Bodily, he knew that she was fine. She would know, surely, that he was asking after her state of mind.