Blood is Honey-(Adley Reed)

[Indigo]

Indigo took in the sensation of Adley beneath her hands. She drank it in as if it was able to have the same effect before she entered the world she was now a part of. The sedation no longer worked but she held on to what she could recall and it was just enough that she was aware that together they had went beyond what was planned. The cool crisp material against her skin was no longer flowing with the air around her. It was caked at her form and a visual reminder she shouldn’t get comfortable in it. Not anymore. Something so simple could be enough to betray her and the one she was holding on to if it stayed with her.

“I am.” She could taste the hints of life lingering beneath her gums, across the surface of her lips.

Maybe she was answering too soon. Was she really? It was still there stiring with a determination to hang on like some hidden beast until it was fed. The blood became something that summoned it forth. A trigger she was unprepared for and apparently so was Adley. Now it would be apart of both of them. Larger than the lives that it would cross paths with and take hold of. It was powerful enough she had to ask.

“This doesn’t go away?”

She felt uneasy, still under its hold and was searching for away to shake it. Her mind filled with the colors so rich, the fresh blood on warm skin. The slick silken threads of human tissue that comprised the flesh she tore into. It felt like a release was waiting for her. One that would free whatever she had acquired in the attempt of her first draw from a human.

“I want more.”

She voiced aloud while uncertain of just what else could satisy that part of her that was wanting more. Blood, the power of it, the way it roused her was all consuming and she was so unprepared. Her eyes looked at him then towards the direction from which they had left. Sirens screamed in the distance. She should feel something but part of her wanted to turn back, to see the aftermath. The parade of sound sharp and constant alerted the sleepy section of the city that something happened. She was responsible and that needed intervention. It was growing and it was bigger than both of them. The risk and their appetite. She squeezed at his flesh beneath her hand.

“Are you okay?”

Was that even fair of her to ask him after the fact? Her hand cupped his jaw and her thumb followed the outline of his lips. Despite everything that happpened she wasn't through. All she could think about was that she wanted to feel the lethal points behind his lips coming for her next.

[Adley Reed]

Okay. The question sounded foreign to Adley, like another language. He couldn’t tell right now whether he was okay or not. He understood that maybe Indigo didn’t, either. Although she’d answered in the affirmative, maybe she wasn’t in the state of mind to really know, properly, where she stood. Adley himself felt high, his body all jacked up on adrenaline and fuelled by need and lust and hunger. It all clamoured for attention and yet he forced himself to stand still, jaw tense as he assessed Indigo’s wellbeing.

The questions drifted toward him on a delay; his brow furrowed at the first one, first shaking his head and the nodding. The context was unknown.

”It goes away. I mean, you won’t feel like ripping out everyone’s throat as soon as you see them, it’s just when you see the blood. When you smell it. It’s a trigger,” he said. This thing they were stuck in now, this limbo of tentative self-control, was temporary. It would fade – probably after they got out of their bloody clothes and washed all the red stains down the drain.

”But when you see the blood… no, no. It’s not going to go away,” he said, leaning in so his forehead rested against hers. Adley sometimes compared his self-control to sex – it was far better for both parties if he delayed his own climax. Right now, with the scent of blood in his nostrils and a source for blood at his fingertips, he felt like he was on the edge of a climax, and the delay would only make the outcome that much sweeter. His fingers curled into fists, one against the wall behind Indigo’s head and the other in Indigo’s hair. His eyes closed.

She wanted more. More what? More blood. She can’t have got enough to satisfy her hunger. And yet to seek more would only result in another death.

”We can’t,” he decided, even though he sounded pained and reluctant. The reasonable, moral man within was battling with the frenzied beast who wanted nothing more than to tell Indigo she could have whatever the hell she wanted.

”There are blood bags in the fridge at home. We need to go home. We need to shower. We need to… to re-assess,” he said. His eyes rolled open – the bright gleam was tempered, and he had clearly leashed himself, forcing himself to say these things. They still had to get from here back to the car, and that was going to be a mission in and of itself.

[Indigo]

His eyes were like brilliant points of understanding she wanted to drown in. He knew what she was battling. The fight was not only her own. Shimmering indigo orbs drank in the haunting green pools that called her. Adley was right. They needed to leave where they were just as she felt inclined to do. Could it be so simple as to step under the spray of a shower and cleanse it from their skin? Could the plastic pouches satisfy the lingering monster that clawed beneath her flesh in the unseen layers? It was what it was. A monster that was fierce and insistent when it was exposed to the summoning of fresh blood.

Blinders wouldn’t help then. The sight of blood was only the half of it. Coppery-rich earth tones layered with the sweetness that could be tasted in the air on the tip of her tongue. That she would be fighting every time it came to her. Yes, that was going to be like a needle delivering a shot of something to charge her system and send her into overdrive. Her hand brushed over his cheek and curled to form at the back of his neck. She squeezed gently then removed her hold. Now they needed to act.

“Yes. Home.” Her eyes danced lightly between his in steps of acceptance. “We can deal with everything there.”

She made the first move and weaved her blood crusted fingers through his. Each flake was like a debriding layer of proof that was present between them. Was it ever enough for them? Blood, sex, risk and the reward? She was intoxicated and rolling through the foggy haze her mind and body were sentenced to. There was always a consequence to any action and they fully shared this one. It was difficult to defy the temptations that buzzed through her begging to give in to more. It wouldn’t be enough to overcome her willpower. His eyes spoke to her and the message had been received. She would toss all of it aside to get him home. To keep him safe. She had to.

Taking the lead was easy enough. If only the reappearance of flashing lights had not interrupted the route she intended to take back to the jeep. So much for the ease of strolling back to the vehicle like any average couple after a night out together. She sank into a business entry against the stone that framed the doors that were closed and locked hours ago. Once the darkness returned she stepped back out with Adley’s hand firmly secured in her own.

“I say we run to the jeep and don’t let anything stop us.” She gave his hand a swing to prompt agreement. At least she hoped he would find it worth trying. Right now they stood out like bloody criminals waiting for discovery. “Unless you have a better plan?”

[Adley Reed]

It wasn’t all as serious as Indigo made it out to be.

But it was as serious as Indigo made it out to be.

It was both serious and not serious – Adley struggled to comprehend the entirety of the consequences of what they had done. They, together. There would be no blame between them. It was no one’s fault. It was their nature. It was what Adley would repeat to himself, over and over. It was their nature. It could not be helped. What were they supposed to do about it? There were measures that they could take. But for tonight, it was too late to take any. It was done, and now they had to get home.

Home.

Adley was not thinking about showers, or washing the shame of their actions down the drain. It wasn’t hard for him to move because of fear or reluctance, but because he wanted nothing more than to take Indigo’s lips between his, to tug at her skin with his teeth, to break the surface and gorge himself. He wanted to tear her clothes from her skin not because they were covered in blood, but because he wanted to get at what was beneath. The shower did not appeal to him because of the lusts that it would wash away, but because of the lusts that it would help to sate.

They had barely left their hiding space when they were forced back into shadows again. At this rate, it was going to take them all night. Until Indigo suggested that they run. Adley thought about it, before he nodded. Not a solemn nod, but a nod accompanied by a grin. Run, yes. They could run again. With his fingers tightly tangled in Indigo’s, Adley stole a kiss from her lips, a kiss he trailed down her neck, nipping at the skin over the vein.

No, later.

And then he started to run, tugging Indigo along with him. The breeze whipped at his skin, feet pounding on pavement. Around one corner then another – at the third corner they nearly barrelled into another strolling couple. A disgruntled whatchit was muttered by the male counterpart, whose eyes widened at the sight of the blood-soaked beings he was confronted with. But he would barely have seen the gleaming eyes and the flashing teeth of a grinning mouth before Adley and Indigo were off again, Adley never once losing his grip on Indigo’s hand, lest she get any ideas about maiming.

HEY.

Maybe it was an attempt to stop some murderers, make some kind of citizen’s arrest. The woman whispered harshly, a was that blood?! heard before Adley pulled Indigo down another alley, a shortcut to the Jeep. Finally, eventually, they reached the vehicle. Adley slammed up against the metal, fingers beneath the door handle even as he dug in his pocket for the key.

”Nearly home, Bee. Nearly home…” he breathed. It wasn’t a respite, but a promise.

[Indigo]

Through the night the scent of death followed them. It was not so much an aroma she wanted to leave behind as much as it was on her heels inspiring her to move faster to keep a measurable distance between it and her so that temptation did not win. Her hand was weaved in a death grip around his. She wouldn’t let go before and now more than ever she kept up with his leading pace. She would follow him through hell if need be to get him safely back home. Once she got him behind the closed door of their safe little hive she would get back to what she wanted to do. He was going to be the dessert on her blood crusted lips.

Briefly hopping on one foot she found the opposite one had an issue of a broken strap clinging to it. Faster than Cinderella heading towards the magic pumpkin she tore the sandal from her foot and left it behind. Soon the other was deposited to the same fate. The small rock scattered across the streets bit at the soles of her feet. They were getting closer. A couple bodies briefly came into the path they took and a verbal warning was delivered. She ignored it and continued behind Adley. The change of route through an alley had her feeling the harsh reminder that street sweepers did not include the alleyways in their route.

“You got the keys?” She exhaled the question while pawing at the passenger door in front of her. The sounds of distant sirens were written off until the bright warm beams of headlights seemingly appeared out of nowhere. “Hurry!” She called out the obvious and turned so that her back was to the lights.

The reduction of visual evidence would have to suffice until Adley got the car door open. She bounced back and forth on her bare feet as if that would make the metal toothed passports to opening the driver's door appear faster. How long would it take to find his keys in his pocket?

The sounds of the car with it’s high beams on rolled in towards them. She kept telling herself not to look back. The click of a car door opening grabbed her attention just enough that she took hold of and adjusted the side mirror with the hope of providing something to send the reflection of the bright lights back in their direction.

“Hey, sorry to bother you but my wife is in labor and we were told the hospital is nearby. I think we are way off.” A second click had her looking down the alley to confirm it was open ahead of them. “We aren't…” The sound of a woman screaming as if she was in the death throes of survival cut off the man’s explanation. “Oh my god!” He announced in shock at what he found when he leaned back into the car to check on her.

“Baby...keys. We need the keys.” Indigo looked down at the front of her chest and the stiff saturated red material that would never be white again. She pleaded to Adley. “Don’t look back. We need to get the hell out of here.”

[Adley Reed]

The reached the car without too much issue. Where Adley should have been out of breath he was not. He was cool as a cucumber – until Indigo started begging for the keys. Adley had them. He knew where he put them. They were in the same pocket he always put them in, but his bee keyring had got looped in with some stray strands of denim and was stuck. Adley was trying to loosen the keys without tearing a hole in his pants, but he was trying to do so with far too much haste. It was a panic that bled to him from Indigo, and he had to try to dismiss it to work smoothly.

When the car came to a halt nearby, the last thing Adley expected was a pregnant woman screaming as she was giving birth to a slime-covered foetus. The revelation caused Adley to stop yanking at his keys to stare at the car, at the man, his ears near-swivelling toward the screaming as if he wanted only to hear more. This would not end well if Adley got anywhere near that mother, especially if she started to bleed. Surely, he thought, he had morals enough to resist? Surely, if there was a fresh, newborn baby involved, he’d be able to stop himself?

He didn’t want to wait and find out. That was a guilt he would not have on his conscience. Leaving the couple behind without giving any directions would be morally questionable, but it would be better than slaughtering them all just for the view of their blood. The smell of it. The taste of it. The hot feel of it, is it covered his skin….

… a shudder ran down his spine and, pants be damned, he gave one last yank of the keys. He heard a rip and inwardly cursed, but at least he had them freed. The Jeep’s lights flashed as he pushed the button that simultaneously unlocked all the doors at once, and he clambered inside the vehicle. He steadfastly ignored the soon-to-be-father as he called out to Adley, desperation crawling into his tone as he realised these strangers were not going to help. Adley waited for Indigo to clamber into the car, not even waiting for her to be fully inside before he turned the key in the ignition. The engine purred, and Indigo’s door had barely been closed as Adley pulled out onto the street.

Only after they had turned the corner and were well on their way home did Adley start laughing. Nothing was funny, really, but Adley laughed. And he could not stop.

[Indigo]

“I am speechless.” She was frustrated but not enough that she wasn’t aware she needed to peel what was on her body and get rid of it as fast as possible. As soon as the door to their spacious home closed her fingers were at work while she walked to the bathroom on her street soiled barefeet. “That was …”

She couldn’t really come up with a word. Never in her life had she been so out of her mind and out of control. Well that had nothing to do with blood anyways. The crisp material that was caked with blood scraped at her face as she brought it over her head. What should havebeen disturbing was anything but that. The fact her tongue darted out without hesitation to sample what moved over her lips was no surprise to her. She did just chomp a face in a less than subtle attempt to feed. It was not becoming but more importantly it was not so easy to shake.

“I don’t think I ever felt so much all at once and had no sense of control over a situation. Please tell me that you aren’t going through that everytime you feed.” She was genuine in that part and hopeful on his answer being not always because that meant there was some sort of hope that she would not always be so inclined to tear a human to shreds when she was going to tap a vein. “Adley?” Her voice called out. His laughing wasn’t half as audible so maybe he was doing the same thing and getting a grip on the fact they had some clothes to destroy and clean up. “You doing okay?”

She pulled the fabric from her arm and pulled it loose dropping it into a bag that would need to be burned. Surely he would be adding to the offering she just left. Hearing nothing she turned on the hot water then walked back through the hallway. Where was he? Had she missed something?

“Adley?” She palmed her face but couldn’t erase the scent of it all from her skin. It clung to her like a reminder that she could taste the traces of what she had for dinner in the alley.

[Adley Reed]

Adley was right behind Indigo; his laughter had died out in the car. Mostly, he’d been laughing at the arrival of the couple with the baby on the way. He shouldn’t have laughed. If he’d got inside that car, it would be no laughing matter. Now he was home again, he could not wait to get the clothes off his back, shed the scent of blood. Indigo was calling out for him and he swept her up in his arms, ushering her toward the bathroom.

”I fuel those feelings into something else, when I’m feeding,” he said. It was a purr, even as his teeth nipped at the tender skin of Indigo’s neck. He pulled away only so that he could do as she had done – pull the shirt from his torso and hastily tug at the belt around his waist. He was looking forward to this shower, and he was looking forward to curling up beside Indigo while they bask in the glow of the bonfire that would burn the blood that remained.

”They killed me. I suppose they had a reason to. I took what I thought they wouldn’t mind giving but I guess I wasn’t as gentle as they wanted,” he said. Maybe he’d imagined the ways he’d tried to seduce them, the ways he’d healed them at the same time he’d taken from them. Maybe he left their skin a little worse for wear. With his jeans now dropped, he reached into the shower to turn the water on, to let the heat fill the room.

”It’s worse with human blood, I think,” he said. He hadn’t really thought about it, hadn’t tried to figure out the ins and outs. Now that it looked like Indigo was going to suffer the same lack of control, he realised he would have to. To help her, he would figure it out. For now, he could do nothing but guide her into the hot flow of the shower.

”It doesn’t go away. But you can learn to control it. Sometimes,” he said, breathlessly. As much as he knew they needed to talk about it, he really didn’t want to. His fingers fisted in Indigo’s hair, his lips on hers – hungry, searching, ravenous.

[Indigo]

While his hands found her blonde ringlets sinking under the weight of the hot spray overhead her foot tapped and pushed down the drain cover. Simple as that it effectively transformed the shower into an oversized whirlpool tub. As the water climbed around her ankles her body connected to his without hesitation. Whatever calm that had set in with her suddenly was evicted and all that excess of insatiable appetite returned with his approach. He knew the sweet spots and he was hitting every one.

“Let’s just put that off a little longer. I say we enjoy this ride of sensory overload while it lasts.” The tip of her tongue curled over her top lip catching the dropsof water bouncing off her nose. Her hands slapped at the exposed wet skin of his backside and simultaneously squeezed hard. A deep rumble of appreciation vibrated at the back of her throat. Why make it sound like she was open to a change of plans? He knew her far too well. Just as well as she knew him. Both of them knew where it was headed. “Scratch that. Have a seat.”

Her hands slid upward dragging the tips of her nails over the smooth layer of skin beneath. All of him was known to be soft, tender against her own body but neither of them could deny they had a darker side. One that had no issue taking the lead and taking even more than that if the time was right. The wet return of her kiss was uninhibited and insistent and setting the tempo. She guided her hands back down and pressed the heels of her hands into his hips. Of course she hardly had the strength to challenge him if he resisted but she was confident he wouldn’t. The mood he was in, or at least she had the impression he was in, was nothing compared to what she was ready to fire back at him and meet him head on with.

“I promise to be anything but gentle.” She breathed against his ear. The curves and points of her body brushed against his emphasizing her intentions as she pushed firmly down on the bones beneath the grip of her palms. “I only ask you reciprocate.”

[Adley Reed]

Only if you reciprocate, Indigo said, and Adley didn’t have to be asked twice. Although he could feel her trying to move him, trying to bend him and make him sit, Adley didn’t immediately comply. Words were lost on him, now. Words were no longer required. Thirst commandeered him, an insatiable hunger that had his gums aching where canines extended, throbbing with need as he used Indigo’s proximity, her softness, to his advantage. His teeth were knives that tore into tender flesh, the bright red of Indigo’s blood diluted as it joined the drops of water still clinging to her skin. In her rush to get Adley to sit, like a good boy, they’d moved out of the flow of water that gushed from the shower head.

Only a single drop of blood or two were wasted before Adley’s lips closed around the wound that he had created, teeth still lodged in Indigo’s skin. She had requested anything but gentleness and Adley complied, strong fingers dragging across her flesh, her movements constricted by his hold. The only way in which he defied Indigo was by infusing her with blood even as he drank, pulling one heady gulp of blood from her at a time.

And even as he drank his eyes were screwed shut, savouring the barrage of images that flew through his mind, a vivid dance of colour from a world that was not his own, from a bank of memories that he only had fleeting access to. It was addictive, this high, and perhaps a little selfish. That he could get to know Indigo at such an intimate level – but she was afforded the same luxury. He held nothing back, he told her everything. Anything she asked about his childhood or beyond, he gave it up. The only thing she lacked was a visual – she had to imagine it all herself.

It was only after Adley had had his fill that he complied; his hips gave way, his knees bent and he went down, stepping back to perch on the edge of the hot tub. His teeth were stained red and his eyes were bright and expectant, waiting for Indigo to fulfil her promises.