time.
“Come to me,” he urged.
Valia’s eyes flew open as she sat straight up in bed.
Oh my holy fucking shit balls. She sucked in a deep
breath and tried to sort fact from fiction. The things she’d seen… The images
that had flashed before her… Were they real? They felt real. She knew they were
yet she only remembered them in the dreamlike reality.
Rydin was right. He had been locked in a cell and she had
taken advantage of him in the worst way. She’d used him—fed from him over and
over. She couldn’t comprehend it. She didn’t even know how she’d done it, but
now she knew what she’d done to him and it was worse than he thought
She’d bound his aura to hers. Something she hadn’t even
known she’d known how to do. Unholy fuck . No wonder she’d been drawn to
him in that club. She’d tied him to her, against his will, no less. Maybe
that’s why he hadn’t beaten her when she’d brutalized him in his home. Maybe
she’d manipulated his aura without even knowing it.
No wonder he wanted revenge on her. Although she still
didn’t know what the fifty-year thing was about, she’d want revenge if he’d
done the same to her. She’d want the kind of revenge that ended in his slow,
super-painful death.
But how? She had no real memory of the event until now. How
had he gotten there? Wait, he said thirty years ago. Thirty years ago, she’d
gone through her transition to full Sempire . That’s a time when Sempires need more semen than usual. She’d never had any memory of it. Her mother had
mentioned her having a difficult time due to her father’s Sensus demon
DNA. Apparently, the Sensus demon DNA was tough to conquer, but her
mother had never gone into detail and Valia had never thought it important
enough to ask about.
She’d awakened one day and been ready to embrace the life of
a Sempire . It’d been easy for her. Simple. She hungered. She sought. She
experienced. She fed. Now that she thought about it, she realized she’d never
felt fulfilled. Not until meeting up with Rydin in the club. That must be why
she’d been drawn to him and why she felt so complete when he was near. She’d
bound his aura to hers. In a sense, their essences were one.
If he thought he was pissed at her now, he’d really be
pissed and hate her when he found out what she’d done to him. No wonder she’d
always been extra exuberant about her lifestyle, feeding more than necessary.
She’d been trying to fill a void she hadn’t understood. She thought it was only
her natural need for semen, but it was also a need for him.
Had he felt that way too? That longing? That feeling of
being incomplete? Always trying to fill a void?
Guilt racked her as she paced back and forth, unsteadily as
she weakened more, around Rydin’s home. Her Sensus demon abilities were
usually minimal at best but the aura binding explained why Rydin’s aura was so
clear to her. She had to undo it and she swore she would find a way once he
released her. Then maybe they could both find some peace.
She doubled over and clutched her stomach as a pain speared
through her. She needed to lie down. What she really needed was to feed but
there was no way to make that happen until Rydin returned. After remembering
what she’d done to him, she didn’t even feel right taking nourishment from him
but she either had to talk him into it or talk him into letting her go early.
She was afraid to go back to sleep, afraid of what else her
dreams might show her, so she sat in the large, shabby chair beside the bed and
tried to get comfy but still keep her eyes open. But she was too tired and
sleep overtook her.
* * * * *
Rydin sat on a bench outside the pizza joint, Navie’s Pizza.
A few other stores sat in a horseshoe-like configuration in the plaza. He sat
on a bench that rested in a grassy area at the open end of the horseshoe. The
sun shone brightly and the urge to close his eyes, lean back and relax was
overwhelming. Rydin loved the sun and
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