Belladonna - One Bed (Patreon)

The room was exquisite. The kind that I hadn’t even dreamed of. It was placed at the top of a bluff, overlooking the market. Above the lanterns, I could see the stars shining. They winked in and out of existence.  I raised my hand, waving back at them, watching as stardust swirled to spell out my name, asking me if I could come play.

“Not tonight,” I told them. Not most nights, now.  Not until I figured out a way to get back to my body.  And even then, I didn’t know if the option would be there.

They looked on at me in disappointment but they understood. Cosmic beings had an eternity to play. Sometimes, that meant they went far between their games.

Turning, I looked back at the room. Silks hung from the ceiling in deep plums and maroons. Gold lined settees of teal velvet were pushed against the walls, and a large sunken tub with koi swimming between the bubbles.  The crown jewel of it all, however, was the bed. One large enough to fit at least a dozen people, most of them twice my size.

The door clicked open, calling my attention. Belladonna swept in, her curls piled half way upon her head with small tendrils dripping down her back. She wore a sheer black dress that draped across her thighs with skeletal applique reaching up to squeeze her neck. With her signature blood lipstick and her molten eyes, she filled the room with the sheer magnitude of her presence.

“You found it,” she said with an air of pleasure..

“The three vampires you sent to escort me made sure of that,” I told her.

She smiled at me coyly but her lips clearly said that I was toying the line of cheekiness.  Some days she enjoyed that. Other days, she would rather sit in silence. It depended on if she had Baron duties or not.

Pulling her silk gloves from her hands, she placed them on a large onyx dais. “Well, what do you think of our accommodations for the evening?”

I looked around. “They’re beautiful. But you know that.”

She paused, taking in my tone. “You are displeased.”

“No, of course not,” I said quickly.  How could anyone be displeased when they were showered constantly with finery.

“But?” she pressed.

“Bella, it's nothing. This is really stunning. I don’t even know how to describe how amazing it is.”

Her stare searched every inch of my skin. From the day I met her, she had this ability to see right through me. To see through everyone, really. It’s what made her good at her job and so terrifying at times.

The click of her heels were loud echoes through the expanse of the room. She walked towards me with an even pace, her hips swaying from side to side. When her fingers gripped my chin, it was with the most gentle of pressure.  I felt my eyes shifting to hers as if on their own accord.

“I would really appreciate it if you would tell me why you are displeased, dear heart.”

Like always, I felt a twitch deep in my gut. One that spoke of the pull she had over me. Once, I had asked if she was hypnotizing me. If that was even a thing for vampires. She had laughed loudly, brushing her hand across the line of my cheek. But she had never answered.

“I want to spend time with you,” I told her finally.

“You are spending time with me.”

“I want to spend time with the real you.”

At that, her grip fell.  The face Belladonna showed the world had been harder and harder to crack since she had become Baron.  Sometimes, when she came home, she forgot to leave it to the outside world.

“We cannot do that in luxury?” she asked, clearly miffed.

“We can, but…” I glanced over at the bed. “I mean, are we planning on doing that in luxury with several other people and a few giants?”

Rolling her eyes, she stepped away from me, beginning to take the pins down from her hair. “Please. Do you think I would let giants into our bed? I do have class.”

“You know what I mean, Bella.”

“I clearly don’t. I fail to see why the size of the bed means I’ll be fucking other people.”

My eyes widened a bit. I could see strands of hair rip from her scalp as she flicked at the pins, tossing them to her vanity.  “Whoa. That's not what I said at all.”

Her lips were thin, her hair tumbling in soft curls down her back. “Come unzip me.”

I walked over to her, settling at her back and looking at her reflection through the mirror. She had paid quite a bit to have that magic installed within any of the mirrors that she owned. I wondered if this place just offered it as an accommodation.

“You seem agitated,” I whispered to her.

She took off her bracelets and rings as I unzipped the back of her dress, letting the material fall to the floor. It left her completely bare in front of me.  Slowly my hands encircled her waist, coming up to cup her breast as I slowly ran my fingers across the adornments she had pierced there.

“It was not a good day,” she stated, reaching for a cloth to take her makeup off. “I wanted today to be perfect. I had wanted to actually be here when you arrived. Take you dining. Show you off to everyone. Yet, do you know what ended up stopping me? Bureaucracy. Damn bureaucracy. I am about ready to take the Knowings name in complete vain and kill them all.”

“I doubt the Knowing would care,” I told her gently, pressing my lips to her shoulder.

“Oh, they would. Believe me they would. Bastards don’t want anything to do with them to be tarnished. Hence why they cast out so many of their kind.”

When her face was free of makeup, she turned in the circle of my arms, grabbing me by the back of my neck and bringing me in for a fierce kiss. I felt her fangs slit against the old scabs on the inside of my mouth as she sucked my bottom lip, moaning as my blood hit her tongue.  When she was finished, I was dizzy, aroused, and desperately trying to figure out if this is what she needed or if this was her way of distracting me from her needs.

“I’m sorry,” she said gently.

“No, I like those sorts of kisses,” I told her.

“Not for that,” she said, voice dipping deeper. “But now that I do know that I will have to spoil you a bit.  What I am sorry for, is not taking in your request to be together. I thought this would all suit you but I forget that you are sickeningly sentimental at times and just want to cuddle in front of the fire.”

I refrained from saying that was what she wanted to do. At least when she was being sickeningly sentimental’.

“I want to be in bed with you,” I told her. “And I want to be crammed in together. Forced to lay practically on top of each other.”

“How romantic,” she sneered.

“You know it is.” I laced my hand in hers.  “But, I also want to do whatever you had planned. Because I know you and you probably thought about all this meticulously.”

Belladonna never did anything half assed or the spur of the moment. She was a control freak if I ever met one. Despite her only inviting me to this a week ago, I knew she probably had booked the place three months in advance.

“That was all ruined do to someone named Ryohl.”

“Well, fuck Rhyohl then.”

Her face twisted in utter disgust. “Not even if you paid me.”

Tugging me over to the bed, she threw me on it, crawling over me to strip me of my own clothes. Her tongue followed each inch of skin exposed as she hummed against me, nipping small little scratches across my belly to bring the blood to the surface.  When I was naked and panting, she pulled me to her, the two of us curled in the middle of the very big bed.

“Better?” she asked.

“No, because now I’m horny.”

She nuzzled against my neck, placing a thigh between my legs. “That was the point,” she purred.

“But I want to do something for you.” Bella enjoyed sex. I knew she did. But it didn’t let her unwind like it did me.

“How about,” she whispered, “I take care of you. And then, you can sit and read to me for a while.”

I felt my heart melt. “Did you bring the book we were reading?”

“It’s in the nightstand.”

Reaching up, I ran my fingers through her hair.  “I would love that.” Like this, she looked so much softer. So much more of the woman I got to know rather than the one she gave to everyone else. I loved this version of her. I felt privileged that she trusted me enough to see her.

“Then lie back, dear heart. And let me have some fun.”

And really, who was I to complain?