Chapter 21 – Bite Me

I stand in front of his door; it's 8:00 on the dot. I knock quietly without even thinking about it. After a second, Caius opens the door. His expression is back to his normal seriousness, which somehow puts me more at ease, while his clothes are still, well... reflecting his newfound style. He's wearing a gray t-shirt and sweatpants. As he gestures for me to come in, I realize I've never seen him wear anything "short" before, so the short sleeves really throw me off.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," I tell him, shaking my head as I walk past him and plop myself down on the same couch I made myself at home in last time I was here.

"Do I?" he questions. An amused grin breaks his serious demeanor.

"You have a wife, Caius. I can't imagine she'd be happy knowing I'm here."

"But you came anyway," he reminds me. I roll my eyes.

"You know, I may be physically indestructible, but my feelings aren't. I'm not going to just sit around and be some object of amusement for you. Everyone in the castle seems to think something's going on between us, when I have no idea what myself."

He sighs, and sits down. "I met Athenodora in a time of weakness, and we stuck together for convenience. When I met Aro and Marcus, she was with me, and she formed a friendship with their wives. In the beginning of our rule, it was originally going to be Aro, Marcus, and I at the face of it, but there was opposition from female covens," he started. I remember hearing about this a bit, "They wouldn't have accepted us without female representation, so we introduced Aro's and Marcus's wives. It wasn't good enough though; they needed to see three women alongside three men. Once again, Athenodora was there, already trusted, and convenient. She was introduced to the outside as my wife, and we were able to transition into power a lot easier." He pauses, but my eyes don't leave his face as I wait expectantly.

"She was introduced to the outside as my wife, but there was never a proposal, there was never a wedding, and there was never a marriage," he elaborates. My eyebrows furrow.

"Then why is she still here? You guys are still in rule despite not having Marcus's wife. Would anyone really challenge you at this point if you let her go?"

He breaks eye contact to glance down at the floor. "Up until recently, having her around has still been useful." He shakes his head before meeting my eyes again. "Letting her go is pretty much impossible at this point anyway. She wouldn't be stable enough to live outside of Corin's powers." I understand, but... if Caius actually is as interested in me as everyone seems to think, I can't imagine that it would be possible to keep things a secret from Athenodora for much longer. She's already suspicious. "It's not a problem you need to worry about," he starts, probably after seeing my concern. "Trust that Aro, Marcus, and I know what we're doing. We've dealt with our fair share of problems, plenty that were much more complicated than Athenodora."

"I guess so..." I trail off. It brings me some comfort hearing that he isn't as concerned as I am, but also I just can't help feeling nervous about the whole thing, about the part I play here at the castle with him. My heart is beating in my chest as I build up the courage not to ask, but to hear the answer. Is everyone really right about sensing something between the two of us? Is it really possible for vampires to be wrong about their senses? Is that why I'm anxious? Is it because I'm afraid of hearing that they were wrong this whole time, or because they were right? I take one last deep breath. "So, how do you see me then?"

Caius is on the sofa next to me before I can blink. His knee is gently touching mine, radiating an iciness strong enough to pierce through his and my pants onto my skin. The sudden chill triggers goosebumps up my entire body. He lifts his hand to my cheek and guides my gaze to meet his. Before I can process what's going on, our lips meet, and all the worries I had seconds ago melt away as my mind gives into this moment. All rational thinking is out the window when he pushes me onto my back, our lips still locked. He's too strong for my body to resist the movement, but I'm definitely not trying to. His movements are slow and careful, as if he's gauging my reaction. I'm entranced by the unexpected softness, and sweetness of his lips, by the strands of his golden hair tickling my cheeks, I instinctively wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer. I feel him smile into the kiss as our bodies finally meet.

After a moment, his lips leave mine. I open my eyes questioningly and my heart jumps immediately upon making contact with his. I don't think I've ever seen a vampires eyes this dark before, not even on my first day here when they were at the peak of their hunger. I gulp, and his eyes flicker down to the sudden movement my throat makes. Before I have time to wonder if he would bite me, I have my answer. His lips trace my neck from my ear, down to where my pulse beats strongest. The trail his lips take leave a path of fire and ice behind. Fire from the heat of my body, and the ice from his. The mix of conflicting sensations takes away any control I have left over my body, and I can't help but let a strong, but desperate breath escape my ever so slightly parted lips. His movement stops immediately and I feel my pulse throbbing, still under his touch.

"What would you do if I could turn you, right now?" he asks; there's a raspiness to his voice that wasn't there before, a coldness that makes my heart skip a beat. I feel more vulnerable in this moment than I've ever felt before in my life. It's as if my physical body is gone, and all my energy is focused on my hyper-awareness of the emotions between us.

"It's impossible," I choke out. Immediately the softness of his kiss is replaced by something sharp. He doesn't bite down, instead, he scrapes his teeth ever so slightly across my skin. The sensation is immediately addicting. Before I can pull him closer, he pulls completely away from me and gets up off the sofa, walking to the other side of the room. "What are you doing?" I ask, out of breath. I only see his smirk for a second before he shuts the lights off completely.

I widen my eyes, as if I could actually make them adjust enough to be able to see through a pitch black room. After a second another light flashes on, and I see Caius in the glow of the TV.

"We have a movie to watch," he says, waving the Mortal Instruments DVD in front of him. I let out a weak laugh, my senses finally returning to me. Caius puts in the movie and grabs a blanket off the chair next to him. He lays it across the two of us when he sits back down next to me.

Cute, I think, smiling. He definitely doesn't need a blanket to get comfortable.

*

When the movie ends, I look at Caius expectantly. He looks like he fell asleep with his eyes open.

"You're expecting me to comment on the movie?" he asks knowingly. I blink, still looking up at him. He laughs. "I'm sure it doesn't need to be said how ridiculous the vampires were," he starts. "Hmm... the story doesn't line up with my usual interests, but the acting itself wasn't the worst I've seen. I'm not a fan of the main actor though."

"Oh really?" I ask. He must be referring to Jace. "Why?"

"Hmm... there's just something uncanny about him," he says, turning to me.

"Ha! Well, I'm glad you watched it with me anyway," I say getting up.

"Are you leaving?" he asks.

"It's close to my bedtime, I suppose. I'm sure you have other work you're busy with. What do you usually do at night anyway?"

"Just the same kind of work I do during the day," he answers.

"Don't you get burnt out at all? Not having sleep to kind of break up your days, I mean. How do you keep yourself feeling refreshed?"

"We're one-hundred percent refreshed as long as we're well fed," he reminds me.

"Your eyes are pretty dark right now though..." I say, thinking back to when he first started kissing me. "They've been pretty dark all evening." He looks at me thoughtfully.

"I suppose you're right," he admits, "How about you be my refreshment tonight then?" he asks playfully.

I roll my eyes, "As much as I would love for you to drain me of my life source, my human body actually does need sleep soon," I say, scratching my neck.

"Such a shame," he says. He looks curiously where I'm scratching. Dang, he really does need to eat soon. I wonder when the next tour will be? Everyone has gotten super careful at hiding them from me since I accidently walked into that one from forever ago. But really, I leave the castle a lot to see Emily these days anyway so it's probably not too hard for them to plan around when I'll be gone.

"Seriously, why don't you sleep here tonight?" he asks, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Really?! You always struck me as the kind of person who prefers to work in solitary," I laugh.

"Usually I am," he smiles, "But there really isn't anything pressing that needs to get done tonight."

I smile back. This is the longest we've ever stayed in each other's presence, and I'm not gonna lie, it's kind of nice. The thought of going back to my empty bedroom is kind of a bleak one. "Well, you've convinced me," I say lying down on the sofa again. "Do you have a pillow?"

Caius comes to the sofa and stands in front of me, holding out his hand. "Yeah, it's over here." He jerks his head in the opposite direction, so I take his hand and follow him. We round the corner and I see another door I hadn't seen before. It must be his closet. When he opens the door though, I'm immediately shocked at what I see. The room outside just looked like a comfy office/living room hybrid, but this area looks like an actual bedroom. There are some dressers, an actual closet door, and another massive TV on the wall facing a large bed. The slightly ajar door next to the closet reveals some tile flooring.

"You have a bathroom in here too? And an actual bedroom? Why?" I ask. He laughs.

"The bed is new," he smirks. "The bathroom is fully functional as of recently. I just used it for the mirror and lighting before."

I look up at him. "Were you preparing for me to sleep here?" I ask amused. He leans down and answers me with his lips. My arms reach for his neck again and he takes the opportunity to lift me up to his height. My heart is beating against his chest as I wrap my legs around his waist and let him carry me to the safety of the black king-sized comforter. I wish more than anything that I could feel the effect I had on him, if any. Would his heart rate be just as off the charts as mine is? Would his face be as pink and blood rushed as the blush I feel creeping back onto my own face?

My thoughts are interrupted by Caius's right hand caressing my waist. He clutches the bottom of my t-shirt, causing the bottom of his palm to make contact with my bare skin. I gasp slightly at the sudden cold sensation, but it only makes him press down harder into our kiss, onto my body. Without thinking, I take his hand and guide it slightly higher under my shirt. He tenses slightly, but follows my lead. An unbearable fire is spreading throughout my entire body and I want nothing more than for him to extinguish it. I lean my head back further into the sheets, exposing my neck to him again.

"Bite me," I whisper.