Chapter 25- Jealousy Spurns Truth

With pleasant surprise she saw his eyes were half closed in want, but he looked away from her, “I’m jealous.”

This statement was unexpected, to say the least. His voice was deep and angry, possessive in a way that nearly made her cry with unearthly satisfaction and happiness. At the same moment, she was annoyed with both herself and him. Why would he be jealous? Of Erek? For her? Oh dear… and why was she so happy he was jealous? The answer was obvious enough but it wasn’t…good. This doubt should be gone… long gone; damn her self-hatred.

“Oh,” her squeak made him look at her.

“Damnit…” he took a step forward and plucked her up to a sitting position, “Why is that so unbelievable- Taylor…” he hissed, big hands folding over her cheeks, keeping her eyes to his, “I love you so much, why do you insist on not believing this? You’re mine! I want you to believe me!”

“I do!” she said, eyes wide, “I do! God only knows how thankful I am for you.”

“You…” he growled, sending a shot of fire down her body. He let her go and ran a hand through his hair, “Taylor, you shouldn’t be thankful for me! I am thankful for you!” he shook his head, “Gods… I love you.”

The last words came out so…pitifully accusing that Taylor stood and snaked her arms around him, “I am thankful, Anton. I am so, so thankful.”

He sighed, his body rising and falling irregularly, “Taylor…”

She hugged him tighter and looked up into his slightly pained face with an adoring smile, “I love you Anton.”

He looked down at her and slowly a smile broke over his gorgeous face, “You know I love you too.”

Bending to give her slow, deep kiss, Anton slid his hands to the small of her back to pull her closer, fingertips playing with the hem of her shirt. As his skin brushed hers she moaned, in turn pulling a growl of anticipation from him. His hands spread under her shirt and began to slowly inch it upwards, revealing more skin.

She pulled away and pulled her shirt down, looking at the floor guiltily. Braving a glance at Anton, she winced.

He was a mixture between heartbroken, totally pissed off, and horny. Above all was the pain on his face that radiated his love for her like she had never and was sure she would never again see on another’s face.

“I’m sorry…” she said, tears blooming unbidden, “I…”

He silenced her with a kiss, once again soft, tender, and simmering with passion, he pressed against her, walking forward and toppling them onto the bed. As he crouched over her, he muttered in her ear, “You will see as I see.”

She frowned; still woozy from the kiss- she highly doubted it.

Anton’s expression was annoyed anger once again, and he moved himself down to bury his face in her stomach, and turn to look at her, “I love you.”

He pulled the shirt an inch upward, silencing her anxious pleas by swirling his tongue over her skin, “I love you.”

Taylor gasped as he pulled the fabric higher, her fair skin riddled with scars, “I. Love. You.” He kissed each mark, caressing her skin. He stopped and then smirked, flicking out his tongue which might as well have been forked, “This feels good…” he licked a broad stripe up her stomach, watching with delight as she whimpered, eyes closing in ecstasy, “Mhm…” he slid his tongue down her stomach to pull down her slacks just enough to see the gravity aided indention of her hip, “Tasty…and mine.”

He slowly twirled his tongue over her, pricking her skin with a fang, licking the bead of blood swiftly as it swelled. His eyes were hooded and twinkling as he watched her reactions to every touch, “You’re so beautiful my dear…”

She slowly opened her eyes, breath uneven. She couldn’t see any difference in herself… she was the same… ugly…but…

He moved back over her and whispered, “I’m very much resisting ripping this useless piece of fabric from you and showing you just how beautiful I see you as…” he laid a soft kiss under her ear. Her breath caught and she groaned at the idea.

“Anton…” the word was a breath and the one it was spoken to trembled at the sheer need and begging in that word.

“…I-If I gave in now, I would loose a large amount of respect in your eyes, whether you will admit it now or not…” his last few words were distracted as her hands moved down to fumble with the pants button, “Taylor…”

Her eyes were open fully now, her face set, “I still can think currently, your fault for talking so damned much,” she grinned at his glare.

“Taylor… don’t- ngh…” she had completed her mission and was exploiting the new open area, “Stop…”

“You don’t want to, do you?” she asked, in a quizzical voice as though she expected a certain answer already.

He couldn’t answer, his head was bowed, his arms, holding him up over her, were trembling and his breath was short and shallow, “Taylor…” his voice was low and dangerous.

The redhead sat up, pulling away.

Listening to his ragged breathing, Taylor stared at the floor as she pulled her shirt back down.

“Taylor…” he took a deep breath and picked her up, to her annoyance. He set her back down on his lap, smiling softly at her perturbed expression and arms crossed over her chest.

She glanced down and then back up to his face with a stony expression, “I’m sorry.”

“Taylor…” he reiterated, placing his hands on her shoulders, “You know you want to wait, why do you push me like this?” he looked like he was in pain again- this time a different type.

Her façade broke and she stared at him, “Because… I like to know... that I affect you this way, I would like to know that I make you as utterly crazy as you make me…” she sighed, “I’m sorry…it sounds so selfish…”

“It is,” he said and he chuckled at her expression, “That’s good! You aren’t selfish enough! With me anyway…” he took her playful hit to shoulder with a grin and slowly sobered once again, “I understand. I get it. But if I showed you just how crazy you make me, right now…” he grinned, fangs glinting, “You would not be walking easily tomorrow.”

Taylor shuddered, “You’re ridiculous…”

Anton smirked and winked, “I know you, that’s all.” He smiled, “Look love, vampire lust isn’t easy to fight, even with multiple lovers. Celibate…” he took a deep breath, “You don’t know how much willpower I have exercised…” he chuckled wearily, “I love you, and I really don’t want to let go without it being…perfect timing…” he said, staring at her with a smile, “I will love every part of you when I get the chance.”

Taylor shivered again, “You aren’t helping anything…”

Anton shrugged, scooting backwards further onto the bed, wincing as he did so.

Taylor smirked as she leaned into him.

He glared, “Taylor…”

“Stop doing that,” she said, tracing his chest with a finger, slowly descending to unbutton his pants again, “I’ll help you…”

He gasped lightly, eyes closing, “You’re evil, woman.”

She giggled and he moaned.

The next day after school Erek was doing something, so Taylor had taken the bus home. When she entered her room, “Anton.”

The shadows by her closet revealed the vampire, “Hello love.” He wore a black duster that swished around his ankles, muscled chest pale and perfect leading to crisp black dress pants.

“Hello to you too,” Taylor said, smirking.

He walked forward and kissed her intensely, taking her face in his hands, pulling her close to him to feel her.

Taylor closed her eyes, the soaring sensation of being this near to him, feeling him assaulting her mouth, utterly intoxicating.

He was the one to break the kiss, untangling his tongue from hers reluctantly, sucking on her bottom lip as he pulled away, “Mm, hello…”

She smiled and bit her lip, still sensitive from the extra attention, her cheeks a light pink, “You’re terrible…”

He grinned and winked, “You love me babe.”

She nodded, “That I do.”

Anton’s smile widened and he chuckled a bit, a small blush appearing on his cheeks as he looked down at the floor and then back to her coyly.

Taylor nearly died at the action, and hugged him with a small squeal, “You are so adorable…”

He chuckled, “Yeah yeah, sure.”

“You blushed!” she said, bright smile threatening to burn up her face, blue eyes twinkling.

His lips twitched, “Yeah so?”

She shook her head and buried it in his chest, laughing. He held onto her and closed his eyes, putting his face in her hair and laughing along with her.

“Aren’t you going to ask how I, a vampire, blushed?”

She looked at the ceiling with a curious expression then smirked, “Eh, nah, I bet its just left over blood from when you fed this morning~”

He raised his eyebrows, “You. Are. Unbelievable.”

Taylor chuckled, “Hahaha~”

He shook his head and rolled his eyes, “You’re correct.”

The redhead giggled and kissed him, “Lets do something.”

“Well, there are lot of options with that statement…” he said, innuendo clear in his crimson eyes, and she slapped his shoulder playfully to his laughter.

“I mean like… something…you know, like…” she blushed scarlet, “Maybe… a date…?”

Anton blinked and then smiled, picking her up and hugging her close, sliding one hand down her back and over her thigh to wordlessly instruct her to wrap her legs around him.

“Okay, what do you want to do?” he smiled, “Its fairly cloudy outside…”

She smiled, “Hmm… what do you want to do?”

“Are we really this terrible that we have to play this game?” he asked, and she laughed.

“N-no! I just…” she smirked and closed one eye, sticking out her tongue, “I want to be with you public…”

He smiled, “Alright, then I suppose I’ll have to change first, and we’ll just figure something out…”

Anton took off his jacket and walked to her closet to drop it in there, before he waved and his hair tied itself in a low ponytail with a deep blue ribbon, and his eyes darkened to the same color.

He walked back to her and flashed her his normal eyes as he slid his arms around her, “So…where to, love?”

She smiled and went up on her toes, pulling his head down with a hand on his neck to kiss him, “Anywhere…”