Beyond Blood

Purity and Passion

As Promised, another chapter. Don't forget to comment, and share too if you can!

( Unfortunately only a sexual tension warning on this one. . .and maybe not for who you expect *wink wink* )

Chapter 12: Purity and Passion

The colour white often symbolises purity and innocence, beginnings and honesty. Red on the other hand, is passion and sexuality, danger and sacrifice. . .for red is the colour of blood after all – Taran

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The door swung ominously shut behind us, Mac making no move to follow us, so I allowed Laura to lead me down the same hall Ness had.

“What was that about? What does he mean, make sure his scent is on you?” I giggled, imagining Mac rubbing against her like a bear marking territory on a tree.

She gave me a sideways glance, ignoring the first question to answer the second by grinning and clicking her teeth together.

Biting, of course. What else would it be for a vampire?

“Wren might not have bitten you, but with his blood in your system, you probably smell a lot like him to everyone with a nose able to pick it up.” She gave me a dramatic whiff. “You do smell different, even to my poor human senses.”

“If I smell like Wren, and I’m meant to be claimed by Taran, is that going to cause a problem?”

Or, now that Taran had bitten and fed from me this morning - a memory that both inspired a throbbing between my legs and a healthy dose of fear skittering up my spine - would I smell enough like him?

I got the sense it wasn’t, not as long as I could feel Wren’s emotions as if they were my own. In fact I was beginning to wonder if Taran biting me this morning wasn’t half to do with the fact he could smell Wren on my skin.

“I’m not sure.” Laura pursed her lips at my question as if it was one she hadn’t considered, pausing outside and oaken door. “If you’re wearing Taran’s collar, maybe they won’t care if there’s another’s scent alongside his. Don’t get me wrong, what goes on here - the sashes, collars, the things that happen behind the red door - it’s only slightly more common a taste to the vampire community as a whole as it is to the human community, but An Toiseach should respect the way things work here on Taran’s territory. They should respect that here claiming a human goes by different rules.”

My curiosity piqued. How had Taran found himself in charge of a place outwith the control of what was to my understanding, the vampire world leaders?

Vampire leaders I was about to be thrown in front of.

Suddenly the box in my hands felt heavier, less like a gift and more like a ploy, a prop to make sure tonight went well; not something actually meaningful. How silly of me to think for a moment that Taran was showing there might be more to us than a transactional agreement.

“Don’t look so glum.” Laura ushered me into a surprisingly cosy living room. “You should let me dress you up again tonight, and do your makeup.”

“I should probably catch up on Uni work,” I mused, taking in the grand room.

Draping red curtains hung from what looked to be two huge bay windows, shielding the vampire residents from daylight streaming in over the top to cast rainbow shards across the roof, reflecting from the strange clear crystals hanging around the walls. Trimmed in dark wood, the walls were painted a dark forest green, apart from the one hosting an ancient stone fireplace, logs crackling away to supply the room’s only real source of light. That wall had the paper and plaster peeled away to reveal the centuries old stone that the building was made from.