“Before the last time I saw you,” he slurs and leans back against the headboard, closing his eyes.
“Three months ago?” I shriek at him. “You haven’t fed at all in three months? Constantine, why?” I grab his hand and squeeze it tightly.
“I deserve to be punished for what I did to you,” he says, opening his eyes and trying to focus on my face.
“No, no, my love. This is too much,” I say desperately. “You need to feed.” I offer him my wrist, but he just glances at it before looking away.
“Why did you come here?” he asks me.
“To bring you home. I have missed you. I love you,” I say quietly.
He squeezes his eyes tightly shut and opens them again. “Are you really here?” he asks me in a daze.
“Yes, my love. I am here to take you back. Please, you need to feed.” I offer him my wrist again. He pushes me away.
“Do you forgive me? Do you forgive my actions? Say you forgive me,” he begs me.
“I do forgive you. Drink.”
“I will hurt you if I feed from you,” he says absently. “I will never hurt you again.”
“Constantine,” I snap at him. “You will feed right now. Stop being such a stubborn idiot.” I pull on the neckline of my shirt to offer him my neck now, needing him to take from me. I do realize that offering a starving Vampire, and an Initial Vampire at that, myself to drink from is probably the stupidest idea I have ever had, and I’ve had plenty of those, but he can’t drain me. I don’t think, anyway. I guess we will find out as his eyes linger on my neck and narrow into two thin slits and he licks his lips as his fangs descend. “You swear that you are here to claim me back as your sire and your lover?” he asks. “Swear to me that is why you are here and not because of some pity mission to get me to feed.”
“I swear to you, Constantine. I love you and I need you. I need you back in my life. I can’t live without you.” I don’t get to say anything else as he launches himself at me, with more strength than I expected, flattening me underneath him on the bed. He latches onto me, his fangs piercing my flesh painfully hard as his hands fist tightly into my hair. He is sucking at such a rate I can feel the blood leaving my body. He has reached the limit and gone past it in record time. I gasp as he bites me even harder, groaning deep in his throat. I start to feel a bit woozy and I am glad that I am lying down, but still he feeds from me. When I am convinced that somehow, he is going to drain me dry, that he is taking too quickly for me to regenerate, he stops sucking. He keeps his fangs where they are though, in my neck, and he whimpers. He releases my hair before he does his fangs and whispers, “I’m sorry,” before he kisses me. I bring my hands up to his chest and push him off me. He looks hurt and then angry that I have denied him.
“You lied to me,” he hisses. “You said you wanted me back.”
“And I do, my love, but before you come anywhere near me again, you are going to shower and change. You reek,” I say in disgust.
He laughs and looks down at himself.
“Yes, I suppose I do,” he admits sheepishly. Now that he has fed, he is all better. Good for him. I feel like crap. I’ll be okay in a few minutes I hope, but in the meantime, I’ll just lie here while he goes to clean up.
“Are you okay?” he asks quietly. “Did I take too much?”
“Yes, to both. Just give me a minute. Go and shower.”
“I’m sorry,” he says again and takes my hand.
I shrug.
“Thank you, Aefre, for coming back for me. I didn’t think you would, and I told myself that even if you did, I would make you go away again. I don’t want to make you go away. Please don’t go away from me ever again.”
“I won’t. I needed this time to process everything that happened. And not just what happened between us, but everything else.”
“Have you healed?” he asks quietly. “I wanted so desperately to help you heal, but I know it wasn’t what was best for you.”
“Yes, I am healed. Mostly. Go and shower now and we can get going,” I say.
He nods. “Will you join me?”
I gulp and shake my head. “I need a bit longer. You go.”
He leans over to kiss me, and I let him before he disappears back to our bedroom. I breathe in deeply and then regret it. It really does stink in here. I can’t believe that he holed himself up in here and punished himself for three months. Although, I must admit that a small part of me is pleased. Pleased that he didn’t just go on with his life, as if this time apart meant nothing to him. It shows me he is sorry and feels guilty about what he did. I get my strength back and sit up. My head spins briefly, but then it is clear again. I head downstairs to find Marguerite and when I find her in the kitchen, I tell her that he is up and fed, but needs a human Feeder immediately and to send one up for me too. I also tell her to go and fix that mess of a bedroom and she bobs her head and rushes to do my bidding.
“You came back,” Nico says, hovering in the doorway
“Of course, I did. I love him,” I say. “You doubted me?”