"What..." I gasped. "What are you?"

Sebastian laughed, and it was like bells tolling in my head as he dropped his human facade. The lapis blue of Sebastian's eyes bled into the palest blizzard blue, surrounded by the thinnest ring of blood red. "I have many names but the one most fitting, falleg Nornunga minn is...Upír."

Upír--the Alvöru Meira en Menn who feed on blood. My fear rose to a whole new level.

"No, no, no, Luka would have told me."

"Luka has been mine since she was sixteen. She is aware of the punishment for betraying me."

It was I who felt betrayed. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as my knees crumbled and I sat hard on the lounge. Luka was my closest friend and I shared everything with her, including my body. We had been physically intimate since we shared university accommodation. It was Luka who taught me everything I now know about kissing, touching and being with someone sexually. The lump in my throat returned and my breathing felt labored.

Sebastian sat adjacent to me again and wiped the tears from my cheek. "Hush, hush, Seraphina, Luka didn't betray you. She loves you and she would never do that to you. I have suspected who you are for a long time now. It's time I claim you." Sebastian pressed me back onto the lounge to lie above me.

"What do you want from me?" My voice was pitifully frail as I tried to press him away, but I doubt he even noticed my physical objections with his strength.

"Everything Seraphina, starting with your blood..."

All of my power was through nature, and what I knew I had worked out over the years, not having my parents or any relatives to teach me. I started crying as my eyes caught sight of the client chairs. I used what power I could and picked up one of the chairs, hurling it towards him. Sebastian blocked it and knocked it away with ease, barely even turning his head to glance at it.

My hands were still trapped between our bodies. I called witch-fire to my hands, covering them in absinthe-green flame. It burned him and he recoiled, pushing back onto his knees, but before I could lift them to do more damage he slapped me across the face, so hard I nearly lost consciousness.

"I was hoping we could do this the easy way. It would be a lot less painful for you." He placed his hands on my bare thighs and ran them up pushing my silk wrap dress up at the same time. When he got to my hips he let his hands move over the material of my dress to run up the rest of my body. My body temperature soared at his touch.

"You look so beautiful in jade silk, Seraphina. It feels so similar to your skin and the color makes your sea- green eyes look vibrant." His hands circled my breasts, his thumbs brushing over my nipples.

I lay there dazed, hearing his words and feeling his hands, but not quite up to moving yet after the blow to my head. "Why?"

He laid back down on me and put a kiss on my chest over my heart. "Because of who you are, because of what we will be together." He placed another kiss on my collarbone, then at my neck just over the jugular vein.

I hated that my body was responding to him, my pulse quickening. He kissed his way up to my face. He turned my head towards his, looked into my eyes, and then kissed me fully. Still shell-shocked by the force of his blow, I kissed him back, our tongues dancing with each other, and for a moment I forgot.

His hand moved to the button fastener at the side of my dress and moved the top wrap aside, exposing my lace bra on the right. He pulled the lace down to uncover my breast, the nipple taut. He stared into my eyes, then moved down and placed his mouth on my breast, beguiling the nipple into sending shocks of pleasure down to my groin, making everything go tight and wetter still. His right hand was pulling the lace of my briefs aside, his thumb teasing my pearl. His middle finger slid inside me; he was caressing me at all levels of pleasure.

I started to come back to my senses before Sebastian amplified his onslaught of pleasure, letting my body's want override my brain which was screaming no! His mouth returned to mine, his left hand taking over at my right breast; his mouth seemed hotter now. My hand was in his hair, the other resting on his shoulder blade pulling him toward me, and I realized my hand was on skin, that at some point he'd removed his suit jacket, and shirt--I hadn't even seen it.

My hands came round to the front of his shoulders and started to try to push him away; my body was finally starting to respond to my brain. I don't think he even noticed. His fingers increased their pressure and speed, making my back arch from the building sensation. His mouth, so hot on mine, moved to my neck, making me moan even more. Then his mouth was back at my breast, my hands were on his head again, not resisting.

His right hand kept up its tempo while his left unzipped his fly and pulled his erection free. I could feel it against my thigh now, skin to skin. I'm not sure if it was the realization of how large he was, or that his fingers and mouth suddenly stopped their onslaught of pleasure while he undid the fastener on the right side of my dress to expose my whole body to him, or if it was the sound of lace being ripped as he tore my underwear from my body, which brought me back to my senses.

When he returned to kiss me this time, he positioned himself to enter me. I pushed against his chest and pushed the witch-fire through my hands. Sebastian's hands rapidly grabbed my forearms and pinned them next to my head again, this time making sure he was well free of my palms. His grip was so hard it ground my arm bones together, making me cry out in pain and writhe with pleasure at the same time.

"Stop! Please...stop!" I cried out as I writhed underneath him, whimpering from the pain in my arms.

Sebastian frowned down at me, concern etching his features. "But you want this. I can read it in the way you react to me. Why are you fighting what you want?"

"Not like this. Not now."

Sebastian looked down at me and shook his head. The smile returned as he brought my right hand down from beside my head and kissed the inside of the elbow, then laid his cheek against it to look at me again. "Forgive me Seraphina. I will take this one step at a time. I have waited this long to have you, I can wait longer for your body." Sebastian tucked himself away, re-zipping his pants. My body relaxed with relief but also protested at his withdrawal, and I hated myself even more.

"It is nicer for everyone if this occurs during climax, but if you will not permit it, a little pain will have to suffice." Icy rods went up my spine. Sebastian pressed his mouth over the bend in my elbow. I felt the bite, his prominent, razor-sharp eye teeth cutting through my skin as though it were butter. I cringed but then sighed; it wasn't altogether unpleasant.

But he didn't just bite. After his first gulp, Sebastian moaned in unexpected pleasure then ripped my elbow open, opening the artery so my blood poured into his mouth as he drank me down. I screamed for the few seconds of agony before my arm went numb. Within minutes the blood loss was so great I couldn't move. My head lolled and I could see the whole of the room with a vivid brightness.

"Sebastian, I'm back. I stopped downstairs to get those files..." Over Sebastian's back, I saw Luka enter his office. Luka was of average height and very thin; her hair, blonde at the moment and shoulder-length, was braided in pig-tails. She was dressed in a tight-fitting black halter mini-dress that clung tightly to her, accentuating the sway of her hips as she walked. Her face was its usual serene self until she locked eyes with me.

I daresay if it was anyone else but one of her best friends that her boss was bleeding dry, she wouldn't have batted an eyelid. Her face went ashen as she took in my appearance, the pallor of my skin, the slow blink of my eyelids. Luka dropped the file in her hand, papers falling on the floor as she jumped on Sebastian's back to try and pull him off me.

Strong as a nymph like Luka is, Sebastian was stronger. He rumbled in irritation, reached behind him with his right hand, and grasped Luka tightly by the throat. As soon as she stopped fighting to pull him off me, he threw her hard against the bookshelf built into the other side of the office.

Luka hit the shelves, all the air rushing out of her lungs with a "humph", then she crumpled to the floor. I watched as she got herself on all fours to regain her breath. Sebastian's mouth hadn't stopped worrying at my elbow through it all, caught up as he was in his feeding frenzy.

"Sebastian, please!!! You're killing her! Please..." There was a waver in Luka's voice. Sebastian removed his mouth from my elbow and looked back at Luka, sitting on her ankles, tears running down her face, catching her breath and pleading with him for my life.

He looked back to my face while shifting himself atop me. He bent his head to my ear and whispered. "They don't know, do they? You share everything together, but you've kept so much from them." Then his mouth was on mine, the sweet copper taste of my own blood flowing over my tongue followed by the salty cinnamon taste of his blood. I craved it. In that moment the taste of his blood made my stomach spasm in a hunger I hadn't felt in years.

"I didn't expect for you to taste..." He frowned angrily. "We will discuss it later." He moved towards Luka.