“Ares!”

Her heart was threatening to jump out of her throat by the way it was drumming frantically inside her tightening chest. Her frenzied gaze was moving in every direction following an invisible haphazard trail as her mind allowed only one word to leave her lips every time she parted them,

“Ares?!”

‘Where did he go?’

After placing a small bowl of her blood in front of a stoic Henry, her unsure heart had started beating uncontrollably in fear of facing the consequences of her abrupt confession, but the moment she returned to see the cold empty spot in front of the fireplace -the injured lord nowhere to be seen- the reason behind her fright had changed altogether.

‘Cyrus cannot enter the castle without permission. Is it.. Ruth?’

She was getting hysterical by the minute. All kind of thoughts were swarming her head yet one thought dominated them all,

‘I won’t be able to handle it if something happened to him.’

“Ares!”

Calling his name at the top of her lungs, she wandered from room to room in search of those familiar emeralds, her quest eventually landing her into his own bedroom. Seeing its semi-parted door, with a barely visible impression of a bloodied hand, lead her to hurriedly push it open.

A soft material touched the sole of her foot as soon as she stepped inside the bedroom making her whip her head down in its direction. There, in a bloodied mess lay his bunched up satin shirt right in front of the entrance,

‘He removed his shirt. He must be in there.’

Her eyebrows scrunched as she picked it up gingerly before looking around the room to find more traces of him. Soon enough, her eyes fell upon a fading trail of blood disappearing behind a door she had a fair idea about—the fourth door, where she had spent her last night in future.

Sauntering forward with light footsteps, she followed the subtle trail, reaching forward to place a hand on the door’s handle to push it outwards, producing a low creak.

Instead of the cream coloured marble she remembered from her memory, a beige coloured beer stone lined the walls, paving the floor she walked upon. Her astonished eyes were dancing across the murky room, dimly lit with the help of a few torches nestled safely in the grasp of sconces bordering the walls on her both sides. The multiple bulbs decorating the ceiling to give it a starry night appearance were no longer to be found, bathing the room in an even darker, mysterious look.

The pool she had let herself lose on a similarly dark night was devoid of any reflection of twinkling stars, instead the burning flames in her surroundings produced their own hazy images in the pit of the still water making it look like a stream of red hot lava nestling a sleeping beast in its core.

“Ares.”

For the umpteenth time, the name left her fluttering lips as her gaze settled upon the bare chested man partially submerged in the fiery water. His head was leaned back, making the shadow of his Adam’s apple pop more against his pale skin as he rested his head on the raised border of the pool.

The vampire looked like he had jumped straight out of an artist’s darkest imaginations.

Pursing her lips to get her raging hormones under control, she took quick strides to reach the vampire lord, kneeling before him to place a gentle hand on his ice cold cheek,

“Are you okay?”

Slowly, the dark shadow cast upon his hollow cheek bones lifted up as he raised his thick eyelashes to reveal ruby coloured irises,

“I heard you, but I couldn’t call back loudly.”

Not answering her question, he explained himself the moment he opened his plump looking mouth.

“It’s okay. I understand.”

Rubbing his lightly scruffy cheek with her palm, she continued staring lovingly into his eyes until his next question caught her completely off guard,

“Do you want to come in, too?”

“Huh?!”

Her eyes grew bigger as her gaze kept switching between the undulating water stirred up by his sudden motion and the worn out rubies staring expectantly at her.

“Should.. I?”

“You are my wife, and we love each other. Need I say more?”

Despite his weary appearance, the teasing smirk dancing at the right corner of his mouth looked too tempting to be ignored,

“Moreover, you need to wash all the blood covering you.”

His teasing hadn’t ended apparently urging her to puff her cheeks in humor as she narrowed her eyes while trying her best to imitate their medieval accent,

“Is my lord disgusted by me? Such crass behavior.”

She had barely finished uttering that sentence out when a sudden tug on her wrist dragged her into the waters, drenching her head to toe as a loud squeal broke out of her mouth,

“What the-”

“Shhh, I do want you covered but not with my blood, love.”

The audacious remark followed by the endearment almost took her breath away as she stared dumbfounded at the man holding her close to him in the pool with his hands enveloping the whole of her back.

“May I, love?”

For a moment, none of them made any statement, choosing to communicate silently through their eyes. His burning gaze was flickering between her clouded eyes and pouting lips unraveling their deepest need to her hazy mind. Not being able to handle his sharp gaze, she lowered her lashes slowly keeping her eyes fixated at the cold pair of lips right in front of her vision. She had no idea how much time passed as they stayed locked in the same position, the trance only breaking when she gingerly moved her face forward, her mouth hovering over his, her button nose lightly rubbing his sharp one as she kept parting her lips, remaining undecided in her pursuit. Their heaving breaths, cold versus warm, were colliding with each other, creating fumes that seemed to have intoxicated them both.

Gradually, both of them moved their faces forward, their lips meeting halfway. Her warm fingers hastily found their way to his raven hair scattered all across his face, gently pushing them back before entangling themselves in the mop of hair resting on top of his head as his luscious mouth continued placing long hard pecks to her top and bottom lips in an alternate manner.

“Mm..”

A low moan found its way out of their meshed lips for a brief moment they parted to find some air before joining again in a messy union of flesh and need.

It felt like fireworks going off all at once inside her head. The emotions that they shared mutually, the thread of desperation tugging them towards each other, it wasn’t the heat of the moment, it never was. It solely depicted the power of their uncanny love which transcended centuries, always finding a way to bring them back together.

After a moment as she slowly got her sanity back, she detected his lips quivering slightly against her swollen ones, causing her to place her hand on his shoulders to push him back and stare at his face directly,

“You’re trembling. You must need blood.”

Lifting her left hand that she had used previously to cut and collect blood for Henry, she raised it to the motionless vampire’s shivering lips,

“Come on, drink.”

Following her statement, a small lopsided smile graced his lips as he peered at her through his thick dark lashes,

“I have never seen a human so eager to sacrifice their blood. Are you not afraid of me? Not even the slightest? Your purity baffles me at times,”

The frown marring her forehead soon turned into an awestruck look as she heard him say his next words,

“How much more are you trying to make me love you? I am already at my limit, love.”

He was staring straight into her eyes, his exposed chest heaving up and down in an animalistic way as his needy eyes gazed longingly at her. Hardly a minute had passed before he reached out for her outstretched hand, engulfing it in his large one to bring it closer to his cold mouth.

She watched with a bated breath as the man lightly pressed his fingers into her palm, urging her to unclench her fist and expose the wound to his sight. Getting the idea of his gesture, she slowly unfolded her fingers to reveal a deep gash present at the center of her palm with dried blood sticking to the curved swollen edges of the skin. He had kept his eyes trained on hers all this time and he continued to do so as he lowered his eyes, staring straight into her soul while his cold tongue stuck out of his slightly parted lips to lick the patches of dried blood sticking to the grotesque flesh.

“It must have hurt a lot.”

His icy breath was fanning her hot inflamed wound, numbing it along with all her other senses, only sparing one feeling to dominate all her thoughts.

Need.

“I need more, Faith.”

As if mirroring her thinking, the vampire lord wrapped an arm around the curve of her back, tugging her closer to his towering figure. He was bigger than her, a lot more stronger. She was a rag doll in comparison to him and he could easily use her to satiate the animal residing inside of him yet he never did it. Instead of behaving like an angry toddler who took his desperation out on its toys, he chose to follow the path of a responsible adult keeping her under his protection, never once using any excuse of their different natures to define or justify actions—the conduct of a true king.

He was indeed her king.

Out of nowhere, she felt the tips of his wet raven locks tickling the side of her neck, breaking her chain of thoughts to bring her back to the reality.

‘What is he..’

His face was snuggled in the junction of her neck and shoulder, grazing the tip of his nose against her pale skin, running it along the length of her neck while he continued to inhale large puffs of air inside his burning lungs.

“Can I, Faith?”

The way he never failed to ask about her decision always perplexed her. The tone he used to acquire her consent wasn’t that of an authoritative person who couldn’t stand taking ‘no’ for an answer. Contrarily, it felt like a genuine inquiry of someone who had complete trust in your reply.

“Yes.”

The word left her mouth enveloped in a deep breathless sigh which soon turned into a surprised squeal as the vampire gripped the shoulder of her dress, almost tearing them apart to expose the top of her pale chest. Even in that furious action, he had been gentle enough to avoid damaging any part of her skin.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her skull as he dipped his head in her cleavage, digging his teeth in her soft flesh, being careful not to penetrate too deep.

“Ah!”

Clearly enjoying the loud moans of pleasure escaping out of her lips, he kept assaulting her bare skin, leaving his bite marks adorning her pale flesh like a bunch of medals.

Her brain was too fuzzy to define the situation yet she had a clear idea regarding his unexpected actions.

He was only damaging her superficial skin, feeding small bits from different places so that he wouldn’t end up losing control by drawing too much blood out of a single place at once.

“Ares...”

His one hand was securely wrapped around the small of her back whilst the other one kept roaming all over her body, every now and then, he’d collect water in the curve of him palm and let it fall all over her skin, wherever he noticed his dried blood sticking to it. One second his slender fingers would be rubbing the skin resting above her throbbing carotid and the other they would be tugging at the neck of her dress, trying to yank it down further.

Soon enough, his frustration lead him to turn her around in his arms, grab the front of her wet dress clinging to her skin with both of his hands and tear the fiber open into two halves, inciting a gasp out of her sore throat as her rib cage moved forward on its own, making her head tilt back, resting on the curve of his shoulder. His dominating actions had turned her legs to jelly making several spasms to travel up her bent spine as she breathed rapidly through her parted lips. Her hard breathing was forcefully interrupted yet again as his big hands traveled up her waist to envelope her bare chest in the cage of his strong arms making her squirm more inside his hold,

“Is it safe to assume that I have found myself a haven in this precious heart?”

His left hand was caressing the skin above her heart ever so slightly whilst his cold breath tickled the hair tucked behind her ear.

“Yes...”

She was getting agitated by the minute. She had no idea what she wanted but one thing she was sure of that she wanted it now. She wanted more.

“Do not regret this, Faith.”

She knew these words all too well. These words were just the beginning of a show that was going to run until one or both of them passes out of exhaustion, and from experience she knew the one to pass out first was definitely going to be her.

“Nothing about you can ever make me regret.”

Not giving her more room to say anything else, he turned her around in his grasp immediately, giving her a long tender kiss before detaching his mouth from her,

“Let us go to our room.”

Gripping her waist, he placed his other hand on the limestone to push himself and jump out of the reddened water before shifting her in his arms to carry her bridal-style towards the darkness creeping out of the semi parted door, leading to their bedroom.

A mixture of fear drowning in a pit anticipation crawled its way inside her heart making her tighten her hold on his broad shoulders which didn’t go unnoticed by him,

“Trust me, Faith. I shall never harm you. I pledged to protect you with my life.”

He had uttered the words lowly, but she had managed to hear them due their close proximity.

The room was barely lit with the help of a lone torch burning in one corner of the room. Besides the king-sized bed, only a wooden table and a single chaise was resting against one wall of the room, much like how it had been in the present. The large room was fairly empty yet their combined presence had somehow managed to fulfill it to its core.

She, too, had come to know by that time, nothing mattered as long as they were together. Time, place, era nothing.

In every timeline, in every place, Faith and Ares belonged together.

“Omph!”

A muffled squeak found its way out of her O-shaped mouth as her journey with her scattered thoughts was cut short by her falling down on a soft surface. Supporting her weight on her elbows, she craned her head to look around only to find him perched with one of his knees resting at the corner of the mattress as he stared down at her with an undeniably hungry gaze.

Shying away from the the specks of fire burning deep inside his emeralds, she played with the rim of her drenched sleeve, mumbling under her breath,

“I’m all wet.”

In a flash, the vampire had placed both his hands on the space beside her waist, caging her lower body with his own, his face extremely close to hers as he asked her in a low gluttural voice,

“Are you?”

“Yes...”

“Can I confirm it for myself?”

Her soul seemed to have left her body the moment he sweetly asked her the permission to touch her, tilting his head to the side to appear more undaunted.

“...Yes”

It seemed to be the only word left in her rapidly deteriorating vocabulary.

Giving her a small reassuring smile, he leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on her swollen lips before giving her shoulder a slight nudge to push her back on the mattress.

His hands which had been resting on the bed previously crept up her waist, traveling towards her exposed chest, his fingers drawing invisible zig-zag patterns on her pale bruised skin marred with multiple hickeys and bite marks causing his brows to furrow,

“Did I hurt you?”

“You didn’t.” She was too quick to answer.

Raising up her gaze to stare worriedly into her eyes, he lowered his head once again, peppering each and every mark with feather light kisses.

Nervous fumbling hands were roaming all over body, eventually stopping at the dress bunched up around her waist, tearing it, along with her undergarments into several pieces with one or two desperate tugs making her jaw drop. Hurriedly she turned the other way, lying on the bed in fetus position to hide her naked flesh from his wandering eyes.

“Have I told you before that you are beautiful?”

“Yes.”

The night she had first appeared in this era, when he had asked her to remove her shirt so he could examine the markings on her back, was still fresh in her mind.

“Then remember that I shall continue to do so, because saying it once or even a hundred times does not seem enough. It does not do justice to your innocent beauty.”

At the end of his sentence, the man had lowered himself to wrap his arms around her bare body, urging her to turn back and let him rest his head on her naked belly.

‘How is this man not a poet or a writer?’

Unknowingly, she had raised her hand to play with the sprawled locks of wet hair leaving several small beads of water on her exposed flesh.

“Wondering how I am rather poetic? It’s because I read a lot while growing up.”

The ability of this man to read her face without even having to read her mind never failed to baffle her. No one had ever been this understanding to her silence. No one was ever able to read the words that had refused to leave her mouth.

‘Yet he does. He always does.’

Pressing her lips together, she gently grasped his cold scruffy cheeks in her hands making him raise her head up from her belly to meet her eyes,

“I love you, Ares. You’re the love of my one lonely pathetic life,”

Tugging his face towards herself, she gave his forehead a small lingering kiss, whispering her next words against it in a small voice,

“I love you, dearly.”

Everything else that happened following her statement seemed like a big black blur to her mind.

Suddenly his lips were meeting hers in a desperate attempt to quench their thirst. They were all over her flesh, her neck, shoulders, arms, breasts, abdomen, he didn’t leave a single patch of skin abandoned. He did more than loving, he was worshiping her body.

Kissing, sucking, pinching, tugging, his assault on her breasts seemed relentless but the actual thing they had both been anticipating was yet to come.

While his one hand was busy caressing her soft breasts, the other one secretly crawled down to the forbidden area between her legs, making her eyes widen with disbelief as soon as she felt a finger rubbing her entrance.

“A-Ares...”

“Are you nervous, Faith?”

He was sitting now, in between her legs, as he peered down at her with a tender look painted all across his face.

“Yes..”

“You are not alone.”

He continued maintaining eye contact with her as he slowly pushed her legs apart, opening them wide to get a better view of her drenched core as his finger played with her visibly swollen bud.

“You were right. You are wet.”

Continuing to tease her relentlessly with his dirty remarks, sinful mouth and skilful lips, he eventually entered a finger inside her making her squeal loudly as a sudden wave of discomfort and pain traveled up her body,

“Does it hurt? Do you want me to stop?”

“No,”

She felt unable to say anything. He was being too sweet to her. It felt unfair to annoy him any further.

“Do not lie, Faith. Your face says everything,”