Aria left the village a couple of nights ago after our discussion, where I'd found that city in her stack of road atlases. She didn't say much of anything except to tell me to keep our planned departure to myself. I've spent the following days and evenings essentially pacing since I was packed that next morning with some clothes, a stash of snack foods–flaming hot cheese puffs making their triumphant return into a backpack's side pocket–and lastly, a set of necklaces, a tiny pouch of smoking leaf I got from Merrill and a small home decoration some fey put in their homes to remind them of the Wilds. I made sure to choose good, general trade items for the other side of a seam.

When you go through, you don't have any currency for whatever part of the world you've entered, so you have to get some from the local fey or whatever is running the marketplace. There's not always a marketplace, but most cities do have them. So to handle that, you make sure you bring trade items through, and everything generally is smooth sailing, so long as you keep to yourself and don't draw any attention. The hardest thing for me to always get used to is the constant hum of noise, loud and soft. I'm just not a big fan.

I'd almost forgotten about the other things going on with me until one of the weans ran up to my door, knocking insistently for me to come out to the front gates of the village. I made the short walk through the village and slowed to a stop when I spied a wiretail about ten feet from the front gates, mounted by a young-looking woman with her pale blonde hair pulled back into braids. I'm not ashamed in the slightest to admit that my breath–maybe even my heart–caught in my throat at the sight. I can see her defined but delicate features from where I'm at, and as soon as her seafoam-colored eyes turn in my direction, I can't help the smile that creeps across my face.

I start jogging towards the front gate, then pass it without slowing. I don't slow to a stop until I'm about three feet away from where Cassandra is sitting on the back of her wiretail.

"Hey, stranger."

"Hello, Orion."

"So, are you just going to stay on your cat, or will you come join me?"

Her eyes slowly pace over me, almost carefully or expectantly, which I don't necessarily understand. She doesn't initially respond, but finally, she elects to murmur just loud enough for me to hear.

"Your village seems to all be very interested in what's happening right now."

"Yeah, wonder why? A mysterious and beautiful woman appears again outside the gates on a magical beast from the Wilds. She won't come inside until she sees Orion, the strapping young elf-kin still working on becoming a master hunter."

"Strapping? Maybe calm down on the ego there." She laughs a little, her lips parting finally to let me see a little smile on her face.

She loops a hand into the saddle for her wiretail, then slides off to the ground. When I started moving back to the village, she followed me. The wiretail she's leading seems relatively indifferent to everything happening and is much quieter than Ranger ever is. I look over at Cassandra as we walk toward the stables, then finally lower my voice and murmur.

"I'm happy you came."

"I almost didn't."

She gazes at me while saying it, locking her eyes on mine so I know it's true. I start to say something to follow up, but we're interrupted by Gallen pitching a fit about his stables becoming a zoo.

He goes on and on about how he doesn't have room for another wiretail and how we need to be less pushy with our animals. It isn't until I tell him we could use one of the village's pocket doors to keep the wiretail in temporarily that Gallen puffs up and denies that option, muttering and telling us he'll get it sorted out. We leave Cassandra's wiretail with him, the old harmless grump he is, and then head back out into the village and towards my home.

"Cassandra–can I call you Cass?"

That question makes the left side of her lips crinkle and tilt up, almost like she was trying to hide it initially but then just gave up and smirked crookedly.

"Yes, Orion, you can call me Cass." She stiltedly replies.

"Is this weird?" I exasperatedly sigh. "What is even happening right now? I'm just–I'm happy to see you."

"You have questions to ask me but don't want to do it in the middle of your village."

"Well, yeah, that's definitely the truth."

We crunch across the gravel walkway through the village and to the front of my home. Unlike Khalil's, mine doesn't have a neat little half-fence out front or anything; it's just a patch of some grasses, a tiny and sad shrubbery I've named Curtis, and some boards of wood I haven't had the time to cut down smaller for arrow shafts.

"Orion, this is your home?"

"Yeah, this is me. It's not much, I suck at decorating, and I'm not here a whole lot unless I'm making arrows, in-between hunts, or trading runs or something. So yeah, that's your warning." I laugh a little bit, semi-embarrassed.

"It's quaint, it fits you."

"Not sure how to take that."

"It's a compliment in this case."

"Well, okay. Don't smash Curtis." I gesture at the sad little shrubbery, trying its hardest to grow where I planted it. She smirks in response but doesn't say anything before pointedly going around the shrub with a purposefully wide berth.

I head across the small patch of grass and up the steps to my small home, then open the door for us both. The light of our daytime illuminates the interior, and I start to walk inside, expecting her to follow me. After about twenty seconds, I realize she is not behind me, and I turn to head out of my living space and back to the doorway, puzzled.

"You all good, Cass?"

"Yes."

"Uhhh?" I look at her questioningly while she stays standing there just outside the door.

"You have to invite me into your home, Orion."

"Oh damn! That's real? Wow, I thought that was not a true thing."

"Oh, it's true." She murmurs in response, her seafoam eyes not wavering from me.

"Well, Cassandra, would you like to come into my humble home?" I speak overly puffed up like I was some theater announcer.

She shakes her head with a little bit of a laugh under her breath, but then she steps inside behind me, and I close the front door behind her. I gesture at my little sitting room right off the doorway.

"Doesn't look like much, but the couch is comfortable. I had it made by someone in the village a couple of years ago after I saw one similar to it when I was on a trading run in the human divide. It's not the same, obviously, but it's close enough. Comfy, too. I sleep on it all of the time."

"Don't worry about impressing me, Orion. Items don't impress me; trust me on that. Too many people use items to try and impress others because they lack an actual personality."

"I think you just complimented me for having a personality?"

"I suppose I did." She moves in my direction, and I don't move from my planted spot in the center of my small living room.

As she draws close, I can't help myself; I reach one of my hands up and rest it against her waist. The coldness of her body radiates through my hand almost as quickly as my hand touches against her clothing. Cassandra doesn't move away, but she does stop with a couple of inches between us, her seafoam eyes searching mine, though I don't know what for.

"I was afraid I'd never see you again, Cass."

"You almost didn't."

I frown, my eyes lowering momentarily to the floor, trying to piece together the spinning thoughts in my mind after she says that.

"Don't overthink it, Orion. It had less to do with you than with me. I told you about the territorial reaction I was getting with you. It's not necessarily always a safe thing, and I wasn't going to continue to let you walk yourself right into a situation you weren't prepared for. But, when I got your message, I–"

I break her diatribe by leaning forward and pressing–no, crushing–my lips against hers. Her body's icy touch does not affect my feelings towards her. I move my hand, which was already resting against her waist, upwards so that I wind up curling my arm around her upper back to hold her against me. I know that she could break away from me if she wished, but I don't care. I physically needed to kiss her lips and smell her faint perfume.

Cassandra initially tenses when I interrupt her speaking, but she relaxes just as quickly, one of her cool hands sliding up my free arm and past my shoulder. She tangles her fingers in my hair possessively before grabbing my braided hair and tugging my head back–but gently–to break our lips' connection. Breathing heavily, I open my pale eyes and search her face.

She lifts her lips in a smile, a fraction mischievously, and tugs my hair again. It's not hard enough to hurt but enough to make me laugh.

"What are you doing?" I grin at her.

"I haven't decided yet. But, this is a good little leash for you."

I laugh genuinely when she threatens to use my long, braided hair as a leash. She nudges me back towards my sofa, and I fall onto it, with her slowly crawling on top of me right afterward. Her fingers release my hair and rest on my chest. Cassandra's cold hands against my chest remind me of the night out in the Wilds when she stepped away and left me wanting more.

This time, though, her fingertips slowly pull up at my old shirt celebrating the "2019 high school state champion basketball team" from someplace I don't even recognize. Cassandra continues to slowly shift my shirt upwards from my waistline and past my abdomen before she leans down, pressing her cool lips just above my navel. I groan a little, but in a way that's more longing than anything. Her cold breath brushes across my stomach when she turns her head just slightly to murmur against my skin.

"You're mine now, Orion. You've chosen for us both."

A warm rush floods my entire body like she turned on a light switch for my nerves with just those words alone. I start to lean up from the sofa, my lips hungry and wanting another chance at Cassandra's full lips. Just one of her hands presses down on my chest with barely any effort, but her strength is overwhelming; I couldn't struggle against her if I wanted to–which I don't. She pushes me back onto the sofa with just that one hand, and I don't fight it. Instead, I lean my head back into the sofa's plush cushions and tilt my eyes to watch the top of her golden braids of hair spilling across my abdomen and ribs.

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My breath catches here and there as she presses her lips along the muscles of my core, the shock of her icy lips against my skin that feels nearly on fire with passion. I writhe occasionally as her free hand drifts down between us, teasing my very evident yearning by brushing across it occasionally. She seems content to let me stew in restrained passion, her lips and hands touching me, tasting my skin.

She slowly slithers up along my body, fully clothed as she still is, and rests her hips against mine. I can't help myself; I grip her waist and instinctively grind my still-clothed hips against hers. She doesn't stop me. Instead, she leans back against my hips, letting me sit up and forward with my chest repositioning to press against hers. I catch her lips with mine again, but she turns her head after only a few moments and drags her lips across the side of my jawline–which is when I feel the pressure of two lengthened fangs faintly touching my skin. Goosebumps pop up along my chest, arms, and throat as anticipation mixes with a very faint feeling of fear.

Almost as though Cassandra could tell that the touch of her fangs against my skin caused that reaction in me, she murmurs against my earlobe with a chilling breath of air.

"I'm going to drink from you, Orion. Trust me."

"I trust you." My voice is deeper than usual–huskier and full of barely inhibited lust.

She slips her hands forward against my chest, then catches my shirt in her fingers. Finally, she tugs it up and over my head before tossing it aside into the room. When she looks back at me, I see her seafoam eyes for truly the first time in their hyperfocused and attentive state. I quickly kiss–and then nip–her chin as if encouraging her to do exactly as she said. Right then, the fear of being bitten by a vampire is far less than my desire to feel her take me.

Cassandra smiles against the side of my face after I nip her chin, and I can feel the press of her fully distended fangs in the middle of that smile against my skin. She pulls me close and lowers her face to the side of my neck, trailing her lips and fangs down the side of my throat. I grunt a little bit in anticipation, but she doesn't bite. Instead, I can feel her toying with me, kissing and then pressing her fangs to my skin, alternating in a drawn-out tease.

"Do it, Cass," I growl, giving voice to the desire wanting to burst out of me.

Almost as if obeying my command or finally being encouraged to do it by my state of lust, she fully sinks her fangs into my throat. I lean forward into her at the sharp pain of my skin being penetrated, and she grips me by the back, her cold hands wrapped around my body like a vise. The sharp pain quickly fades away to a much different feeling–almost a floating sensation, a quite pleasant one at that–as she begins to drink from my throat.

She makes a little pleasurable noise while she sups on my essence. I close my half-lidded eyes before allowing myself to sink into the blissful feeling, letting Cassandra do the work of holding up my upper body. She maintains her grip without a hitch as I relax completely in her clutches. After a few minutes, I can feel myself being lowered back down to the sofa, with her body's weight pressing me down onto the sofa. Some part of my brain realizes that she's no longer icy cold, and instead, her skin against mine has warmed like she was still alive. Finally, she draws her face away from my neck, having used her tongue and saliva to close the wound she inflicted on my throat.

I breathe heavily at first–still overcome by the sensation of her feeding on me–and while I probably could move, I don't fight the feeling that wants me to take a moment for what it is and enjoy it. She presses her lips to mine, and I can feel the warmth now radiating from her entire body.

My eyes slowly crack back open, and I start to get some motivation to move my limbs once again. I reach a hand up to brush back loose strands of Cassandra's white-golden hair from her face that looms over mine. Her face is flushed, making her even more ravishing than I thought initially. My body reacts accordingly again, the pressure and throbbing of my body to my rapid heartbeat reminding me in no uncertain terms how much I want Cassandra.

"You're so beautiful. That was amazing–never felt anything like that in my life." I huskily murmur.

She smiles against my hand as I touch her face, her lips still stained with the dark crimson of the blood she just took from me. Her eyes seek mine out, almost as if she were curious about what I'll do now.

I swallow down any other words and lean up, raising us both slightly off of the sofa. I reach down and pull up her shirt without asking. Without hesitation, I tug it off above her head and then toss it aside. Her creamy, smooth skin laid bare before me is too much. I growl without even realizing it's coming from my own throat. I shift my weight over, my arms gripping Cassandra and turning so she winds up on the bottom with her back to the couch's cushions. Though I'm sure she could have easily stopped me, she doesn't, and it only encourages me more.

My mouth lowers to Cassandra's body, hungrily taking in her now-warmed skin and scent with every movement and breath I take. My hands draw along her body, her breasts another undiscovered land to trace and track with my fingers, followed by my lips and mouth. I close my eyes as I use my lips and tongue to worship her pert, aroused nipples. A soft moan escapes Cassandra's lips, and it only emboldens me further. I want nothing more than to take her as she already took me, but my desire to not skip any part of her body for the first time keeps me in line–keeps me from becoming a ravaging beast of a man, even though part of me wants to do just that.

As I slowly work my way down her body, her back arches to lift her skin against my tender ministrations. I slowly start to pull away her belt, which is tossed off into the room. A little amused noise draws my attention up towards her face.

"You should've kept the belt. I could have used that in a few minutes."

She grins at me, fangs ever-present, then slightly bites her bottom lip in the hottest thing I've ever seen in my absolute life. It's all I can do to keep it together. I blurt out a throaty laugh, trying to keep control of myself.

I tug at the waistband of her pants, and I hear the faint thunk behind me on the floor as she kicks off her shoes. I pull down the last remaining bits of her clothing and sit back on my knees, gazing over her flushed body. I drop the remainder of her clothing off to the side, then slide down further on the couch, dropping to my knees on the floor next to it. She turns slightly, but it isn't fast enough for me. I use my hands to slide her body on the sofa to face me fully and then lean forward, slithering between her legs before placing my lips just underneath her navel.

I can scent her natural need now, my own need raging below as well, but I won't be deterred. I nudge her to lean back ever so slightly and continue drawing my lips closer and lower to her core of heat. I tongue the sweetness of her aroused lower lips, enjoying listening to her gasp as I make sure to please her like a lover should. Cassandra threads her fingers around my hair's braid and uses it to grip rather forcefully, encouraging me to continue with proper tugs occasionally. I trail my tongue and lips over her flushed and sensitive sex, paying close attention to the little button amongst the folds. With almost every touch and flick of the tongue, she writhes with pleasure, and I get nearly as much enjoyment at controlling her reaction in such a way.

Painstakingly slowly, I slide my hands up her legs and thighs, touching every part of her that I can while I service her needs with my tongue and lips. She presses the back of my head more insistently, so I move one of my hands over to join the work of my mouth. I trail my index finger along her inner thigh, carefully and slowly, so Cassandra can feel every movement I make. She whispers and moans when I press my index finger into her wetness, and I continue using my tongue to trail circles around her bundle of nerves as I push my finger into her. Slowly, I work my finger into her sex, my lips and tongue paying special care to her pink pearl. I increase the speed as she starts to arch against my hand, letting her feel the stimulation from my tongue and finger together at the same pace.

Feeling her body clench around my finger as she calls out in a moan of sudden pressure release is one that I hope never to forget. Her thighs close on either side of my head, while her hand holds my head against her sex. As she comes, I only slow slightly, elated beyond belief that I could bring such a beautiful creature to the height of pleasure. When Cassandra starts to slow her breathing and her thighs loosen around my head, I lean back slowly, still kneeling on the floor in front of her. I gaze up at her, a lustful glaze no doubt clouding over my eyes. She breathes deeply a few more times before finally opening her eyes and settling those seafoam-colored eyes onto me. I turn my head slightly and place a kiss on the inside of her right knee, not breaking eye contact to do it.

She roughly grips my hair, pulling me up to her by my braid of dark hair. Taking the initiative this time, she crushes her lips to mine, and the sudden aggressive movement spurs something primal in me. Cassandra breaks my belt as she's pulling it off, once again reminding me of her strength and how she restrains it most times when dealing with me.

"Oops."

"Fuck it, I don't need it," I grunt without a second thought.

She laughs a little bit, her bare breasts pressing against my chest as she starts to shift herself around on the sofa.

"No, you don't need it."

She pulls down my pants, relying on me to take care of the clothes that are left deposited at my ankles. Standing up the rest of the way, I step out of them about the same time as Cassandra takes my now-freed hardness in her hand. I almost flinch at the sudden touch, with my body so aroused as it is. The sudden release of my constrained body from the clothes only to be immediately taken in hand is almost too much. I groan in barely contained pleasure.

"Are you going to bite my–"

"Do you want me to?"

"I don't–I have no idea?" My brain is fried and overcome with lust; I only want to feel her around me; any other thoughts are impossible.

"Mmm, let's save it for next time."

I exhale a whisper of noise as she suggests this whole thing will happen again. That exhale quickly extends into a moan as Cassandra places her lips over my shaft and takes me into her mouth. I tilt my head back while she starts to work her magic of mouth and hands. It feels tremendous, almost too good to be real. She's careful not to overstimulate me, but repeatedly only using her hands and mouth, she draws me to the edge of peaking before slowing the pleasure so I don't release. It's a sweet sort of torture.

"Cassandra, I can't. I have to have you right now." I growl, barely able to form sentences.

"Fuck me now, then."

The words, so raw and suddenly profane, pull out something inside me that I didn't even know was there. I crash down onto Cassandra's body on the sofa instantly, pressing my lips to her shoulders, her neck, and then her breasts before spreading her thighs with my own. I barely wait more than a few moments before I guide my sex to hers and push myself into her. I pause, moaning and exhaling in heated breath, feeling her muscles clenching around me as my hardness impales her. I bite my lip and move into her over and over again; my hands press down on either side of her body, holding my own body up while I work myself into her with reckless abandon. Any thoughts of anything else in the world are completely gone. I only see Cassandra and no other.

Her moaning encourages me to pull her back to me over and over again by the hips, and each time I slam mine against hers, her voice and noises seemingly motivate a savage side of me that I'd never tapped into before. She reaches up and splays her fingers across my back, and I use my arms to loop around her backside, picking her up into the air in one movement. I rush over to the nearest wall and crash Cassandra's back against the wall, only to press against her as though I wanted to crush her into oblivion with my body. She digs her nails into my back as I continue to thrust and work my way into her, and I feel her legs wrapping around me to keep me in place.

"Come for me, Orion. Give me everything you have left."

I growl at her seductive order, and it's almost like my body wants to obey her command. I can feel the building pressure at the base of my spine while I hold her there against the wall and wildly pump my length into her. My breathing grows more ragged with every moment that passes, and Cassandra can tell just as well as I can that I'm about to release.

Without a word of warning, she sinks her fangs into my throat again just before I come–or maybe it's what causes it. The painful prick of fangs immediately shifts to pleasurable as she drinks from me right at the moment of climax. I breathe out loudly in a yell of pleasure, unable to control my voice at the sudden change. I press her body roughly against the wall, leaning against her while she maintains her thighs and legs wrapped around me. I continue thrusting into her in wondrous euphoria, even after I've finished coming, unable to stop grinding against her as she drinks from my throat.

The floating, pleasurable sensation is too much for me. She seems to recognize that I'm too overwhelmed, and she carefully disentangles herself from me, holding me up for the few moments she needs to close the wound on my throat again and let me get my bearings. My mouth feels dry, and my muscles are spent as if I just ran a marathon. Cassandra carefully leads us back to the sofa, where we both crash together–my head resting against her bare breasts and her hands slowly trailing across my ribs, sides, and chest.

"Mine," Cassandra murmurs, and though it's soft, the tone is firm.

"Yours," I whisper during an exhale.

She repeats the same word twice more, and each time I softly respond the same. I try to speak more, but Cassandra presses a finger over my lips and shushes me.

"No, Orion, enjoy the afterglow."

I don't argue. Instead, I let myself rest against her. We stay like that, barely moving at all, save for the lightest touches of feeling each other's skin. I can feel her skin cooling the longer we rest that way, so I figure the warmth sensation only comes right after a fresh feeding. I don't care; that was the best thing I'd ever encountered in my life. My muscles still feel weak, and my head swims a little, but I still don't care. I turn my head and press my lips against the side of her neck affectionately. She reaches up, slowly running her fingers across my hair and pointed ears.

"I'm good now, Cass. I can breathe again."

"Shhh. Relax for a few more minutes."

And so we go back to another period of time where we rest against each other on the sofa, her cooling off completely and my skin losing its aroused flush. Finally, she presses her hand to the side of my face and slides up to sit normally. She presses her now icy-cold lips again to the corner of my lips and starts to stand.

"I'm going to go wash; I'll find it. You should eat some eggs, trust me."

"You don't have to keep telling me to trust you, Cass. I trust you. I think I'm in lo–"

"–No, don't say that. Not yet."

She doesn't give me another chance to protest. Instead, she heads out of my small front room, and I hear her milling around my house until she finds my bathing tub. I sit there stunned at her abruptly stopping me from professing my love, but it's possible that I could just be emotionally and physically spent instead of being stunned. I hear her slipping into my tub and using it as she said she would, so I sluggishly pull myself off the sofa.

As Cassandra suggested, I make my way into my kitchen and pick out some duck eggs. A few minutes later, I had a small fire going and cooked those eggs in a heated pan. When they're done, I scoop them into a small bowl and wolf them down, even though I initially didn't feel that hungry. I locate my clothes, pull on my pants, though I don't bother with a shirt yet, and leave my broken belt where it fell earlier.