Seven

GIA KEPT QUIET about Layton’s tattoo. He would find out soon enough she also had an Ouroboros, just below her left shoulder blade. The ink on her skin meant that instead of always recreating herself, she was just looking for her true form. Gia never felt at home in her life, she knew there was something absent from it and was searching for the one thing that would make her feel infinite. Every road she had taken in her time on earth led her to where she was in that moment. She met Layton, and he was in her path for a reason, unbeknownst to her. Gia looked deeper into meanings that others. She wasn’t sheltered enough to believe Layton only crossed her path to help locate Zach. No, there was more to their story than that.

 “Lie on your stomach,” Layton ordered.

“Why?”

He leaned down so his face was centimeters from hers, “Because I want to fuck you but I don’t want to see your face.”

Gia recoiled at his words, hurt slamming into her. “No.”

“Excuse me?” he cocked his head to the side and studied her.

“You heard me, I said NO.”

“You may not tell me no, Miss Pendleton.”

Gia scooted out from under him and moved to the edge of the bed. “I will not lay there and let you treat me like that. Do you have any idea how hurtful it is to hear someone say they don’t want to look at you while they are fucking you?” hot, salty tears burned the backs of her eyes. “I’m out of here,” she stood and collected her clothing. When she picked up the torn shirt, she let out a sigh.

 “You may not leave,” he stood behind her.

Gia pivoted around, poking her finger into Layton’s granite chest. “You, cannot speak to me the way you have.”

 Layton secured her wrist in his hand, “This isn’t a game,” he groused.

“You’re right, it isn’t a game. It was a contract. One I should’ve never put my name on. I don’t need your help bad enough for me to feel like a whore, Layton,” she took a few steps toward the doorway, hoping to hide out in the bathroom she spotted down the hallway. When one of her feet crossed the threshold, she felt her body being pulled backward. In an instant, her spine bumped against the wall and Layton’s hands were holding the sides of her face. Gia’s heartbeat slammed against her ribs, and her breaths whooshed from her lungs, untamed and hurried. Fear should have enslaved her, but she surpassed the urge to cower from the creature who demanded too much of her. The hardened features of his vampire form softened ever so slightly that she almost missed it. His chilled skin seeped through her cheeks, cooling the storm palpitating just underneath her skin. Gia knew beyond a shadow of a doubt she wouldn’t leave Layton’s house without letting him inside her body. The sheer magnetism he possessed was too much for her to deny. “I need you,” her eyes connected with his. The pain and despair in his florescent blue irises sparked emotion that Gia kept hidden most of her life. She couldn’t make his pain disappear, but she could grant him pleasure for the time being. Reaching downward, she undid the button and zipper of his jeans. Her hands slipped below the waistband, pushing the rough garment down to reveal a pair of satin boxers. The outline of his insistent erection stamped against the fabric, causing anticipation to mount in her body. When she eased his cock from its binds and wrapped her fingers around him, Layton tossed his head back and groaned. In one solid motion, he dropped his hands from her face and placed them on her hips, lifting her so she could wrap her legs around him.

“I won’t be gentle,” he growled near her ear.

“I don’t want you to be gentle,” she replied. With a thrust forward, she was full. A scream escaping her mouth, forever searing into her mind when she felt complete.

“You’re so fucking warm,” he held himself still inside her.

“Fuck me,” she whispered. “Give me everything.” Layton lifted his head and peered into her eyes. She wanted to record his expression to memory so she could look back on it for years to come. The way he held her to the wall with minimal effort, the slight nuances she noticed in his facial features and the way it felt to have him connected in such an intimate manner had Gia’s emotions spiraling out of control. Being with a vampire wasn’t just sex, it was an art form she wanted to learn. Each thrust of his powerful body drove her further off the edge of something epic. It was full of cataclysmic seconds that led up to something that couldn’t have been measured in time or the expanse of space.

 “I want to feel your warm body come on me,” he breathed against her neck.

“Make me,” she challenged. Harder, he pushed his cock inside her body, inciting sparks to explode like the report of fireworks on Independence Day. Her fingers grabbed for anything she could hold onto, landing on his forearms. At that moment, she would have signed a million contracts just to feel that way forever. The gritty, animalistic approach to sex ruined her for anyone else. She would never find satisfaction with normal again. The storm didn’t abate either, it circled around until all she could see were sharp flashes behind her closed eyelids. The sensations began in her toes, then crept upward until a familiar numb sensation took hold of her core. With her spine arched, Gia repeated Layton’s name while her body spun out of control. He was truthful that he wouldn’t be gentle with her and Gia thanked the heavens above for that fact. The sexual partners in her past always assumed that she needed to be treated like a delicate Fabergé egg but she didn’t have a handle with care sticker plastered on her forehead. Gia wasn’t sure what she wanted until the encounter with Layton. He fulfilled every desire and fantasy she could dream of. He was beautifully flawed with underlying flashes of heartache and misery that called out to her. She’d seen her own pain along the way, but when she was with him, her past ceased to exist. It was as if she were reborn the moment she barged into his office.

 “Fuck,” he groaned, shaking her from her inner ministrations. Gia watched as he began the rapid fall into climax. With his head thrown back and his fingers digging into her hips, he came with one last powerful plunge into her depths. It was a thing of beauty to see him give her everything without hesitation. The moment he pulled himself free of her was when reality slammed on the brakes and rolled across the highway.

 “Go clean yourself up,” he righted his clothing and dismissed her. How could an encounter overflowing with perfection lose its sparkle and land at her feet in a heaping pile of nothing? It wouldn’t have mattered if Layton’s humanity was intact or not, he was a selfish vampire whose only recourse in life was to fuck and feed his way through the human race. If he would use her for the fucking, then she would use him to find Zach. Once settled, she would turn her back on the vampire race and walk away.

***

It was close to dawn and Layton could think of nothing else but to get away from Gia. He would treasure the daylight hours spent in his coffin because those were better than having to be in her presence. Anger bubbled to the surface while he walked down the stairs to the basement level of his home. He carried his shirt in his hand, gripping it with such force that the material would soon tear. His other hand when to the tattoo over his heart, yet again, tracing it with his fingertips. Gia didn’t think he saw the one on her back when she’d turned to leave his room, but he had. Baffling as it was, he couldn’t help but feel a certain connection, a kindred spirit with her because of the ink. That was what caused his ire. Instead of distancing himself from the human, he only wanted her more. She wasn’t something that could be extinguished from his lust filled thoughts. Gia was different. Layton knew to proceed with caution. The brightest of lights always bore a shadow when you looked at it from a certain angle. He didn’t know what her darkness was just yet, but he would’ve bet everything he had of value that Gia wasn’t what she appeared to be.

“I was wondering when you were coming down,” Astrid startled him as he reached the basement.

 “My apologies, sister.”

“She’s a screamer, that one,” she pointed upward. “Sounded like you were killing her.” Astrid laughed as she pulled the top of her coffin open.

“I wanted to,” he admitted.

“You’ve never taken the life of a human though. Why would you feel that way about her?”

 “I can’t explain it.”

“Well, in case you didn’t notice, I’m not your fucking shrink and I need my beauty sleep,” Astrid rolled her eyes and stepped into her cherry red casket. She said nothing else as she reached up and pulled the top over her. Layton shook his head and did the same with his daytime bedding. When the lid shut, he closed his eyes and tried to push the thoughts of Gia Pendleton away. It was no use, he would dream of her from that moment on. She would haunt every iota of him until he descended into madness.