Beast
an excerpt

Tastes

Tha-thump. Tha-thump. Tha-thump. Tha-thump. His heartbeat echoed through her very soul. The beast goaded her with tantalizing memories of tastes, warm and salty. But she held it at bay. Soon, she cooed to it, soon. There were other lusts she had to fulfil other than that for blood. And the mortal before her was man enough to satisfy them. She kissed him softly, tasting the warmth of his mortal lips, lingering a moment to meet his gentle gaze before abruptly bringing her foot to his chest and thrusting him down to the bed. His shocked expression lasted only a moment before being replaced with one of mischievous approval. She grinned wickedly, her dominant approach, little did he know, would soon spell his doom. He waited patiently, and watched, as she turned her back to him and removed her coat. She allowed it to fall to the floor behind her, revealing her tight fitting bodice beneath. She shot him an alluring look at him over her shoulder before sitting down upon the foot of the bed. She made him wait a little longer while she unpinned her hair, and then crawled up the bed to lie atop of him, ensuring he got a good look as she did. She again tasted his lips and felt him trembling slightly, a symptom she recognized from experience. With his jaw held tightly in her hand she locked his gaze and drew upon her power.

“Wait, until it’s time.”

The trembling abruptly ceased and he relaxed, though he retained his firmness. Even if he had wanted to disobey her he couldn’t, so she continued without fear of accident. His strong hands were roaming her back, clearly looking for a clasp or zip or other means to remove her coverings. But it was well hidden, so she could prolong the fun as long as she wanted. He gave a moan that was frustrated, but as an undertone to his obvious delight.

They caressed each other for a while, spreading kisses over their partner’s body, and when she sensed he could bear the suspense no longer she gently pulled away from him and slid off her bodice. She pushed the blood in her system to the surface to ensure a rosy complexion. He moved to undo himself but she lunged down and pinned his wrists to the bed.

”Please… Allow me.”
“If you insist.”

He grinned and opened his hands to indicate his acquiescence. She unfastened the first few buttons and pushed back his shirt to reveal his strong chest. He was an underwear model, and worthy of a Daeva, she smiled at her choice. A fine specimen indeed. She undid the rest of his shirt and explored his body with her hands, starting from his abs and working his way up to his arms, she pushed the sleeves back to completely remove his shirt. Once it was off he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, their bodies pressed firmly against each other as they kissed. She pulled away again to remove the rest of her clothing and he did the same. Once they were fully naked he once again seemed eager to get to the “good bit” but once again she made him wait. This was an art she was experienced in and she knew how to make the very most out of it. Once she finally decided it was time to let him have his way she submitted, rolling over and letting him get on top. He reached over the side of the bed and grabbed a condom from his bag, deftly removing the wrapping and fitting it with one hand. She smiled, knowing it was unnecessary in her case but she appreciated his responsibility in anyway. She pulled him in close and spread her legs. He kissed her tenderly, but being slightly taller than her he had to slide up before he could push himself inside of her. She kissed his neck gently while he moved within her. As he climaxed she leaned close to his ear and whispered.
“Say my name.”
He moaned ”Catherine, my goddess.”
”Close enough.” She sunk her fangs into his shoulder and began to drink greedily. The pleasure of feeding was even more intense than the orgasm they shared. He gasped, half in shock and half in ecstasy. Catherine hadn’t found someone this pleasing in a long time, and thoughts began running through her head at breakneck pace, competing with the pleasure that was inundating her brain. If she drank him dry like she planned she couldn’t have him again. Perhaps she should take up the practice of keeping a herd. Sure it took a bit of the fun out of the hunt, but this man, though he was quickly loosing the blood required to maintain his desire, certainly made up for it. It took her a few seconds to fight the urge to continue drinking, to deny herself the pleasure, and to break off the contact. As she did he lost consciousness and collapsed on top of her.
”Damnnit.” She knew it might already be too late but if she was quick she could yet save him. She pushed him out of her then rolled him onto his back, as she did she bit her wrist and held it above his mouth. It wouldn’t actually replace any of the lost blood but it would infuse him with some of her strength and would also begin the Vinculum.
She hurriedly put on some clothes, and pulled some onto him as well, then slung him over her shoulder. Jogging, at a pace one would not expect from a woman carrying a man weighing significantly more than her, she made her way to Clarendon Street and headed towards Albert Park. The Alfred hospital was just on the other side. If she got him there they could more than likely save him. She sprinted around Albert Lake, ignoring the looks the few people who were out and about so late gave her. As she got closer to the hospital she slowed down to a more human pace since she was more likely to run into trouble carrying an unconscious person this close to the hospital, and she’d rather not have to answer to her unnatural strength as well in the unlikely case she was caught. She cut across Roy St and slunk onto the grounds of the Alfred. Once the doors to the emergency room were in sight she waited for the paramedics who were taking an unconscious and bloody person, hooked up to all sorts of tubes, into the hospital. She quickly looked around to make sure no one else was around before dashing over and leaving him in front of the emergency room doors. She hoped he would survive now that she’d gone to all this trouble to keep him alive. If he was going to die anyway she should have exsanguinated him completely.

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Interrogation

Catherine and Lucian didn’t have to wait long before the Circle struck again. They were training in an abandoned parking lot when a number of shadows began moving towards them. This time Catherine and Lucian wasted no time assessing the threat, they knew that their supernatural abilities were their only advantage, the ninja being just as or more skilled than they were, and far more numerous in numbers. But their supernatural abilities were certainly a very large equalizer. They paused only long enough to count their adversaries, ten, two less than Kelly’s worst case scenario prediction, then they engaged their enemies before they found themselves caught in their net. Catherine flashed past the first ninja, grabbing his head between her hands and twisting as hard as she could. There was a sickening crunch and the ninja fell to the ground “One down” she shouted “Nine to go!” Lucian engaged his first foe, bringing his blade around in wide strokes, seemingly from random directions. The ninja blocked the first few of his blows but Lucian’s speed overwhelmed the ninja and he quickly broke through, ramming his sword into the man’s stomach. Catherine noted that the ninjas now wore tinted lenses over their eyes which prevented her from making the eye contacted required to dominate them. She loosed three daggers in quick succession, two of them hitting their mark, the third clattering off into the distance. The ninjas responded in kind with a volley of throwing stars, most of which she evaded nimbly, but two of the sunk into her torso, the blades biting hard into her flesh. She tore them out with a snarl and loosed them into the skull of another ninja. In the meantime Lucian had taken down two more ninja, leaving just three alive, they used their speed to double team two of the surviving ninja before they knew what was happening. Catherine had always known that spending so many nights training herself in Celerity were worth it, and she was very glad Lucian was picking it up quickly, it had saved her skin many times before and probably a few dozen more in the last few nights. There was one ninja left still standing, and this one they had to take alive, which is always a tough thing to do with a person who is brandishing a sword. Catherine held her arm out to the side she took aim very carefully and ran as fast as she could, her feet a blur across the stones, she closed her eyes and winced as the ninja’s blade hit it’s mark in her side, but the manoeuvre worked nonetheless. Her arm caught the ninja in the throat and he was knocked to the ground, his sword clattering to the ground beside him. Unfortunately he was made out of tougher stuff than most mortals, he rolled over and grabbed his sword then kicked his legs into the air, which served to propel him upwards and allow him to land on his feet. He looked between Catherine and Lucian unsure what to do. Catherine darted in again to attract his attention, but it was a bluff. As the ninja turned his attention to the woman speeding towards him Lucian came from the side and used his fist to land a punishing blow upon the side of the ninja’s head. The ninja fell to the ground, unconscious and Catherine bent down below him, issuing a quick strike to his temple to ensure he would not wake up for another half hour at least, which would give them time to get him somewhere safe and properly restrain him. They left the ninja where he lay for a few minutes while they gorged themselves on the blood of his fallen comrades, storing as much of it as they could. They couldn’t afford to run dry during a battle as they’d not only loose their speed and ability to heal themselves of grievous wounds, but they’d fall unconscious, leaving them as sitting ducks for anyone.
Once they’d drank as much as they could Catherine bent down and picked up the ninja slinging him over her back. “So?” She asked Lucian “Where are we going to take him?”
Lucian scratched his head, thinking for a moment. “I supposed we could take him back to our house. So long as he’s unconscious the whole way there he won’t be able to learn anything, and our windows don’t let in any light when we don’t want them to so it’s not like he’ll be able to get any information about it.”
Catherine nodded agreeing with his reasoning. They set off toward their home, keeping a keen eye out for any more shadowy assailants, but the journey was mostly uneventful, except for a cat that startled them both when it shout out from under some bushes.
They looked around the house for a few minutes, wondering where best to put him, they settled on the drawing room as it had little furniture it, which they quickly moved out, except for a single wooden chair, which they left in the middle of the room and sat the unconscious ninja. Lucian guarded the ninja while Catherine searched the house for something appropriate to tie him up with. She eventually found some rope that was in one of the drawers. She brought it in to the room and began to work on tying up the ninja, making sure the binding was tight enough to keep him in place.
“Where’d you find this?” Lucian was puzzled
“It was in the third drawer, you know. Where we keep all the odds and ends.”
“Why on earth do we have enough rope to tie up a ninja conveniently stored in our junk drawer?” Lucian looked at her sceptically
“Well, I like to be prepared for all eventualities.” She said
“You were prepared for ninjas?”
“It didn’t have to be a ninja, there are tons of occasions we might need to tie up an individual.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
Catherine tied off the knot, then removed the ninja’s head wrapping and goggles. He had olive skin and brown hair and eyes, with a thin face that somehow reminded Catherine of a spider. She turned off the light and they sat down against the wall behind the ninja, so he’d think he was alone when he woke up. They didn’t say anything further, just sat there and waited till the ninja began to stir. When he realized he was tied up he began to struggle wildly, trying to break free of the ropes. Catherine flicked on the lights and let the sudden glare burn his retinas for a bit. She walked around in front of him and crouched down to eye level. “Good evening” She said in voice that was slightly too cheery to be natural, her head tilting to the side at the same time as a maniacal grin spread across her face. “Welcome to the latest game show, Ninja in a Chair, where we your hosts, Jenna and Bob-Bob, ask you questions and beat you senseless if you refuse to answer. So why don’t you give a warm welcome to my friendly co-host. Bob-Bob”
Lucian had no idea what the hell she was doing, but he had to admit it was certainly creepy, and also looked kind of fun so he played along adopting an enthusiastic game show host voice. “Why thank you Jenna! Who do we have in the hot seat tonight?”
”I don’t know Bob-Bob why let’s ask him.”
”What a fantastic idea Jenna.” He proffered an imaginary microphone to the bewildered man. “What’s your name contestant?”
“You two are fucking insane.”
Catherine’s impossibly large smile somehow grew even wider “Why thank you, we do try, but remember. This is Ninja in a Chair, and if you refuse to answer, we will beat you senseless.”
”I’m Ni’Charen” the ninja conceded
“Wow fascinating, now lets go on to your first question.” Lucian continued “What the hell do you want with us?”
“It’s our duty to kill all of your kind, you are beasts! Monsters! You all deserve to be destroyed, and our order will stop at nothing, nothing, till all of your kind is exterminated. Understand you stupid whack job?” He spat in Lucian’s eye.
Lucian wiped it away while Catherine continued “Well, a correct answer, but our lucky contestant violated one of the rules, and that warrants him the first penalty. What is that Bob-Bob?”
Lucian didn’t bother saying anything; he just slammed his fist as hard as he could into the ninja’s stomach.
“And there it is.” Catherine announced “Can we get an action replay?”
”Why certainly Jenna!” He slammed his fist into the ninja’s stomach again. Now what’s our next question Jenna?”
”Well Bob-Bob, the next thing we want to know is how the scum sucking kin of our lucky contestant found out about our presence. How was that Ni’Charen?”
He looked at them with utter hatred in his eyes, but he knew that they really weren’t screwing around now so he gave them the answer straight. “You two were first spotted when he jumped an old man in the streets, one of our scouts was watching.”
“Very good contestant” Catherine applauded him “lets see if we can keep the rest of the answers short and concise like that shall we? Then we won’t have to waste any more time smacking you round. Okay? Okay.”
“Now, the next thing we want to know is, how many of you are there?”
”There’s about three hundred” He said with a resigned sigh
“Very good, and what exactly do you know about us?” She wanted to see if they’d found out about the rest of the order
“That you’re a pair of Daeva, but you have some rudimentary powers with dominate.”
“Now we just have one final question contestant. Where is your base of operations located?”
“You expect me to answer that?!” he shouted.
“Well actually yes.” Lucian stated calmly “That is the point of this exercise.”
“You’ll get nothing from me!”
“Well that’s a pity” Lucian smiled, his face an unnerving opposite to his words. He brought his hand across the ninja’s face, the sound of the backhanded slap echoing throughout the room.”
”Where’s the base?” Lucian repeated, but the ninja remained tight lipped. He stomped his foot down hard upon the ninja’s, feeling bone shatter beneath his boot. The ninja screamed but still wouldn’t yield the information.
Catherine unsheathed a dagger. “Never let a man do a woman’s job.” She stated before bringing the dagger millimetres away from the ninja’s genitalia. He seemed to remain steadfast until she brought back the knife and swung it towards her target. The ninja caved, and Catherine stopped the dagger just as it was about to piece the fabric of his clothing.
‘Okay, okay, the monument in Johnstone park is actually an entrance, if you carefully search the concrete you’ll find a notch that opens a trap door, that leads to the underground base, it’s been there for years.”
“Thank you” Catherine said with a pointed look at Lucian, who just smiled and shook his head. “We’re going to leave you now. Thanks for playing. This entire facility is sound proofed so don’t think you can shout for help, it won’t work.”
They left the room and wandered into the kitchen, Catherine sat down at the table while Lucian grabbed thee phone to call the rest of the order.