Page 25 of Death's Obsession

Though I can’t see his face, something tells me that he’s smiling. “You have solved my riddle?”

He moves forward, and I will my feet to move back, when all they want to do is meet him halfway. So the only choice I have is to stay in place and be at his mercy as always; a place I have come to love. Truthfully, I have always liked being at his mercy a little too much.

He doesn’t stop until he’s less than a foot away from me. His presence is taking the oxygen straight from my lungs and replacing it with the smell of the woods right before a hunter pounces on its prey.

The smooth expanse of his chest is directly in my line of sight, making the need to reach out and touch it even stronger. Up close, the swirling shadows beneath his skin remind me of flames flickering right before wisps of smoke escape into the night. Like a flame, it’s warm to be around, but you know it will be scorching to the touch.

“Yes,” I mutter and look down at my feet. What if I’m wrong and make a complete fool of myself? I spent time researching what his name meant, and the answer I found was the only thing that has made sense since the accident.

“Look at me, Lilith,” he whispers as he tips my chin up to him. My muscles give up the battle for control and the velvet blanket drops and pools around our feet.

“I can’t see you.” I sound so meek. How could he be interested in someone like me?

“I can see you.”

There’s nothing he has ever said that has been truer. He sees me more than I see myself. Fear bubbles inside me, like maybe if he keeps looking, he’ll figure out he does not want me anymore, and that I have nothing to offer.

He leans down and brushes his lips against mine. I breathe in to try and capture his scent, wishing I could stay like this forever. His affection for me oozes from his skin and rains all over me, and everything feels right.

He laces his fingers in my hair and our lips collide only to break apart a moment later. “Tell me, my night monster, who am I?”

I suck in my bottom lip before saying, “You are the one who refuses to take my soul. You are Death.”

A rumble of approval sounds from his chest as he returns his lips to mine. “Good girl.”

My knees almost buckle from the two words. I lean my whole weight against him just to feel him beneath my hands. I’m not sure who makes a move first, but our lips crash against each other and my hands develop a mind of their own, exploring his body, feeling the hard muscles of his back that are hidden under soft skin, wishing that he would just take the goddamn hood off.

Molten heat pools between my legs and I try to pull him even closer, not wanting an inch of space between us.

Letum hums in approval and returns the favor by kicking the velvet blanket away from our feet, stalking forward slowly and pushing me back until I hit the edge of the bed.

His movements become more urgent, kissing my neck like he’s waited a lifetime to do it. Despite the hunger in his movements and the hard length pressed against my thigh, his entire body is rigid like there’s a beast trapped in his skin, wanting to devour me.

Warm hands ride up my thigh and circle my waist as he devours my neck. “He didn’t deserve you.” His voice is heavy with lust and burning with rage. The duality does something perverted to my insides, and I almost ask him to say it again until I realize exactly what came out of his mouth.

The words douse the fire, and sober me. He lifts off me because of the slightest pressure I placed on his chest. I just wish I could see his face so I can tell how he’s feeling.

“Why did you kill him?” I demand. “It can’t just be because I was dating him, I’m sure you would have killed him a long time ago if it were that.”

Instead of responding, he drops to his knees between my legs. My breath stutters and my legs widen on instinct. He plants a kiss on the inside of my thigh, and I almost forget the question that I asked.

“I did not kill him,” Letum corrects and places another kiss on the opposite thigh. “I do not kill. I take.” His large hands start massaging my thigh, tugging my core closer to the edge of the bed. “However, you are right, my dark love. He was not in my way. I could have taken you whenever I wanted.”

Blood rages in my ears from my pounding heart at his words and from his fingers that are slowly lifting the dress up my hips to reveal the wetness he caused. Death hums darkly and tears his attention away from his next meal and back to me.

“He laid a hand on you when he shouldn’t have. He spoke to you in ways that make me regret taking his soul so peacefully.” The lust is gone from his tone. I’ve never heard him sound so serious. “Given the option again, I would make him scream before I took his soul. The sound would be nothing compared to the noises you will make when I’m inside you.”

I squirm under his hands to try and hide the way my traitorous body reacts to such violent words.

Letum reaches for my neck to bring me down to his eye level. My eyes snap to his hands, drinking in the way the muscles in his forearm twitch with each movement. The smoke on his skin doesn't recoil like I thought it would, continuing to dance across his body. I was too distracted last time to pay attention to how the smoke reacts to me.

His fingers tighten around my throat as if he knows that I’ve been thinking about what they’d look like on me, and he wants to make my wish a reality.

“You’re still wearing my necklace.” His voice is laced with carnality and possession, and I can’t help but lean forward to increase the pressure. Letum rises just enough to pull my bottom lip between his teeth, and a needy whimper leaves me. “I’m going to mark your body and your soul.”

I hesitate. “Are you—Are going to take my soul?” Does he hear how hopeful I am? Will he finally accept my offering?

“I already have it.” There’s no uncertainty in his voice, and I’m not even sure how that might be the case. If there is some way beyond my mortal comprehension where he does, in fact, have my soul, that it’s possible for him to have taken it and left me alive; I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually does.

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