Unbalanced

VI

Slamming the knife into the wraith in front of her, she spun to face the newcomer as she rose to her feet. She took a step back, warily watching her old enemy.

“I was hoping I’d run into you again,” she smirked, feigning confidence. The last time she ran into this particular wraith, she had only been on a couple of hunts. The elders told her that her target was young by wraith standards and would be an easy kill. They were wrong; she was faced with a power far greater than she was prepared for. She nearly died, and he got away, leaving her bleeding in the street, clothes torn from her body and soul drained. She doubled her training after that and was never defeated again. He scared her though, and now those fears were creeping up again. She had to clear her head of her insecurities or she wouldn’t walk out of this alley.

“As was I,” the wraith drawled. “This time, I’ll finish what I started when you were just a little girl with a knife.”

“I’m not 15 anymore, asshole.” She held her ground and waited for him to attack.

“Well, let’s see how your skills have grown, shall we?” As he asked the question two more wraiths stepped out of the shadows behind him.

Shit! Nicoleta was outmatched and she knew it. She had to find a way out of here. She couldn’t beat him last time when he was alone. She may have gotten better, but she couldn’t take down a wraith with his power AND two goons at the same time. Not to mention jackass number one could easily jump back in the fray now that she's outmatched. There was no way she could fight all of them, and she needed a plan. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to think. His goons were coming at her, fast.

Nic dropped to the ground between them as they reached her, flinging her hand out behind the wraith on her right. He stumbled as her knife ripped into the soft flesh behind his knee and hit the ground. Nic sprang back up and backed against the wall, preventing the other wraiths from getting behind her. It wasn’t the best move, strategically, and now she was cornered. Damn it! These were exactly the kind of mistakes she couldn’t afford to make.

“Tsk. Tsk,” the second henchman shook his finger at her and smiled. “That wasn’t very nice.” He stepped towards her, slowly. Languishing in the anxiety rising within her.

She slammed her hand into his nose as soon as he was close enough and buried her knee between his legs as he brought his hands to his face. The strike bought her enough time to get out of the corner she had backed herself into, but only to be grabbed by the wraith from her past.

“Still so easy to catch,” he murmured into her ear as he squeezed her knife hand until the weapon fell from her grasp. The other two, already healing from their injuries, were gaining their feet and heading towards them.

She struggled against her captor to no avail, although she did land a kick in the face of henchmen A when he stepped up and called her a b***h. Unfortunately, as satisfying as the crunch under her boot was, it encouraged their ringleader to force her down to her knees.

“Honestly, I’m kind of disappointed, little warrior,” he purred. “I thought after all these years, you would be harder to take this time.”

“f**k you,” she seethed.

“You might taste better than I remember,” he whispered, gently brushing her hair off her neck, and sliding his tongue across the bared skin. He slid his hand up her body, being sure to caress her breast on his way to her throat.

Nic shuddered as she tried to pull away from his mouth, but she knew he had her. One hand squeezing her throat and the other around her waist, holding her securely against him with her arms pinned to her sides. There was nothing she could do from this position but wait. As soon as he was finished toying with her, he would drag her soul from her body to feed. Hopefully, that’s all he would do this time.

Laughing softly, the wraith dragged his finger toward the back of her neck. To the hollow spot just below her skull, and jabbed his fingernail into her skin, severing the ties that kept her soul grounded inside of her. The pain was instantaneous and excruciating, she cried out as he removed his hand and inhaled deeply, drawing her soul to him.

She didn’t notice when his henchmen evaporated in front of her. Nor did she notice when the connection between her and the parasite behind her was broken. As the tether inside of her slipped back into place, Nic hit the ground. Blinking furiously, she tried to focus on the scene in front of her, but all she could see were glimpses of motion moving too fast to make sense out of.

“Lita. Lita, are you alright?” Lucien rushed to her side after the last wraith evaporated in a puff of smoke. “f**k,” he snarled as he gathered her into his arms and lifted her from the street.

She woke up a few hours later to find herself alone in her hotel room. Sitting up she looked around for Lucien and noticed the balcony door was slightly ajar.

“I didn’t want you to think you were alone,” Lucien explained as she reached the door.

“Thank you,” Nic murmured. She wasn’t sure she deserved that amount of consideration, but she was glad that he had given it to her anyway. She reached Lucien’s side, placing her hands on the railing, and thinking about the last time she stood here. As she did so she realized the sun was setting. “How long was I asleep?” she asked.

“About 14 hours, give or take.” He replied.

“s**t. I’m sorry,” realizing she had more to apologize for, she continued, “Lucien, I am sorry. For everything. When I woke up, before, you startled me, that was all it was. I had a bad dream and didn’t expect to find you so close to me when I woke up.”

Lucien turned to look at her, “You didn’t do anything wrong, Lita. I just didn’t like the idea of you being afraid of me. I don’t want you to fear me.”

“Strangely, I don’t think I am afraid of you. That’s part of what bothers me.” She turned to face him, “I should be afraid of you. You’re a wraith. A powerful one. I was taught my whole life that you were evil and…” she trailed off.

“I know what you were taught,” he sneered. He shook his head and turned to face her, as well. “I’m not going to hurt you, Lita.”

“I believe you,” she began, placing her hand over his on the balcony rail. “And, thank you for saving me back there. I’d be dead by now if you hadn’t shown up.”

“Not likely,” he told her as he looked down at their hands. “That asshole liked to play with his victims. He would have made you suffer.”

“I know what he would’ve done.” she said, “Thank you.”

They stood there for a few moments too long, staring at each other as if the blinds were being raised and they were seeing each other for the first time.

“Lita,“ Lucien began.

“I uh, I need a shower,” she said and quickly fled back into the room.

~~~

Standing under the hot spray of the shower, Nic, chided herself for her traitorous thoughts. She may not be afraid of Lucien, but he was still a wraith. It didn’t matter if she believed him or not, that wouldn’t change. She was Surori. He wasn’t even human. Nothing good could come out her forgetting those facts.

Unsurprisingly, that didn’t keep her from wondering if his lips were as soft as they looked. Or if his hair would feel as good threaded between her fingers as it had in her dream. She imagined what it would feel like with his weight pressing down on her, the muscles of his back flexing and moving under her hands. As she did, her hands moved from hair to her shoulders and down to her breast. She sighed in defeat as her mind conjured images of Lucien’s hands in place of hers. Squeezing her breast, she tilted her head back and shifted one hand to direct its attention to her n****e. She rubbed her thumb across the hard bud and pulled at it, gently. Her other hand crept slowly down her stomach to the aching nub at her core. She couldn’t stop the sound that escaped her lips as her fingers gently rubbed that aching piece of her in rhythmic circles. Faster than she would have imagined she had to slam her less occupied hand into the wall to balance herself as sensation burst from her core and she cried out, before clapping her hand to her mouth and realizing what she had just done. She turned the water to cold and stood under the icy blast for several moments, hoping Lucien didn’t hear her, before turning off the shower and reaching for a towel.

Lucien

Lucien expected to hear the sound of the shower when he stepped back into the room. He expected to smell the fruity scent of the shampoo she picked up at the drugstore on their way to New Orleans. He even expected the slight change in temperature, as the steam seeped out from under the restroom door. He was prepared for the images that may bring to his mind.

He did not, however, expect to smell her arousal as soon as he stepped inside, and he wasn’t prepared for the way his body reacted to that scent. Instantly hard, he felt his own arousal straining against his jeans. He had to release the button when the restriction became painful. Lying down atop the bed closest to the sweet scent, he reached into his pants and groaned. He was so hard that he could feel the blood rushing through his c**k as he wrapped his hand around it. As he began pumping his fist, the scent of her arousal grew stronger. He imagined what she would taste like, at least as good as she smelled, he was sure. The thought conjured an image of her body writhing in pleasure while he knelt between her legs. He felt his release building when he heard her cry out from the bathroom and the smell of s*x became unmistakable. He had a split second to register what she must have been doing when his seed spilled onto his hand as a wave of pleasure rocked his body. Not wanting Lita to discover what he had been doing so openly in their shared room, he quickly grabbed a hand towel from the sink in front of the bathroom and cleaned himself off. He heard the shower turn off, as he rebuttoned his jeans and lay back on the bed trying his best to appear relaxed and unaware of her shower activities.