The question remains: why me? What did I do to garner his attention? What is it about me that has made him obsessed? I do nothing but mope around my apartment, go to work, unload some of my problems on Dr. Mallory, then repeat the dull cycle.
I need to talk to Letum. I deserve answers. If only he would stop hiding, it’s not like I haven’t figured out he purposely disappeared. He obviously wants me and thought that Evan was in the way.
Eventually, I fall asleep. Just like the last time, I wake up somewhere other than my bedroom. This time I don’t ignore the nagging feeling in the back of my head that tells me this isn’t just a dream, but something else entirely. Something more, something real.
The velvet blankets tangle around my legs as I move to sit. Like the last dream, the void above me is swirling with shadows, each flicker is another soul being sucked into the void.
Candles are lined around the room, creating a triangle with the bed in the middle. I only just realized that the triangle is almost as large as my bedroom.
Letum dressed me in something just as revealing as last time. Or maybe I dressed myself in it. I pull myself off the bed and wrap the red velvet blanket around me to try and hide as much of me as I can. The black carpet is plush beneath my feet, and I can’t help but wiggle my toes before inspecting the room. It’s like he’s keeping parts of me I thought I lost.
The four walls around me are painted black, hidden behind grand bookcases filled to the brim with an assortment of items: books, skulls, ornaments from all around the world, vases, and more things that I thought I had lost.
There’s a picture of me beaming in front of the Trevi fountain when Dahlia and I backpacked through Europe for two months. A poorly made paper plane and crane with my messages on it. The pearl hair clip that I got when I was a little girl. A mug that I made with Dahlia on a Wine and Pottery night. My sunglasses. A little elephant that used to live on my bed and I slept with it every night.
A fireplace simmers calmly between two bookcases, right in front of a chaise flanked by a single-seater wingback couch. There’s something about this room that is familiar, I just can’t put my finger on why.
My body is so attuned to Letum’s physical presence that I know exactly when he materializes behind me.
“You look good in my space.” The rumble of his voice casts silken shivers through my body.
I spin around and become caught in his trap. He’s wearing the same sleeveless cloak that shows off the mouthwatering curve of his muscles. I didn’t get the chance to run my fingers over the ridges the last time. Would he shudder under my touch? Would the marks on his skin recoil from me? Would I be able to feel them?
“I know who you are,” I force myself to say. Having practically his entire body on display is too distracting, especially when the sharp ‘V’ on his stomach is pointing directly to the area that I’ve been wanting to feel between my legs for longer than I care to admit.
“I did tell you my name.” His tone is almost teasing.
I frown. He knows what I meant. “I know what you are.”
Though I can’t see his face, something tells me that he’s smiling. “You have solved my riddle?”
He moves forward, and I will my feet to move back, when all they want to do is meet him halfway. So the only choice I have is to stay in place and be at his mercy as always; a place I have come to love. Truthfully, I have always liked being at his mercy a little too much.
He doesn’t stop until he’s less than a foot away from me. His presence is taking the oxygen straight from my lungs and replacing it with the smell of the woods right before a hunter pounces on its prey.
The smooth expanse of his chest is directly in my line of sight, making the need to reach out and touch it even stronger. Up close, the swirling shadows beneath his skin remind me of flames flickering right before wisps of smoke escape into the night. Like a flame, it’s warm to be around, but you know it will be scorching to the touch.
“Yes,” I mutter and look down at my feet. What if I’m wrong and make a complete fool of myself? I spent time researching what his name meant, and the answer I found was the only thing that has made sense since the accident.
“Look at me, Lilith,” he whispers as he tips my chin up to him. My muscles give up the battle for control and the velvet blanket drops and pools around our feet.
“I can’t see you.” I sound so meek. How could he be interested in someone like me?
“I can see you.”
There’s nothing he has ever said that has been truer. He sees me more than I see myself. Fear bubbles inside me, like maybe if he keeps looking, he’ll figure out he does not want me anymore, and that I have nothing to offer.
He leans down and brushes his lips against mine. I breathe in to try and capture his scent, wishing I could stay like this forever. His affection for me oozes from his skin and rains all over me, and everything feels right.
He laces his fingers in my hair and our lips collide only to break apart a moment later. “Tell me, my night monster, who am I?”
I suck in my bottom lip before saying, “You are the one who refuses to take my soul. You are Death.”
A rumble of approval sounds from his chest as he returns his lips to mine. “Good girl.”
My knees almost buckle from the two words. I lean my whole weight against him just to feel him beneath my hands. I’m not sure who makes a move first, but our lips crash against each other and my hands develop a mind of their own, exploring his body, feeling the hard muscles of his back that are hidden under soft skin, wishing that he would just take the goddamn hood off.
Molten heat pools between my legs and I try to pull him even closer, not wanting an inch of space between us.
Letum hums in approval and returns the favor by kicking the velvet blanket away from our feet, stalking forward slowly and pushing me back until I hit the edge of the bed.
His movements become more urgent, kissing my neck like he’s waited a lifetime to do it. Despite the hunger in his movements and the hard length pressed against my thigh, his entire body is rigid like there’s a beast trapped in his skin, wanting to devour me.
Warm hands ride up my thigh and circle my waist as he devours my neck. “He didn’t deserve you.” His voice is heavy with lust and burning with rage. The duality does something perverted to my insides, and I almost ask him to say it again until I realize exactly what came out of his mouth.
The words douse the fire, and sober me. He lifts off me because of the slightest pressure I placed on his chest. I just wish I could see his face so I can tell how he’s feeling.
“Why did you kill him?” I demand. “It can’t just be because I was dating him, I’m sure you would have killed him a long time ago if it were that.”
Instead of responding, he drops to his knees between my legs. My breath stutters and my legs widen on instinct. He plants a kiss on the inside of my thigh, and I almost forget the question that I asked.
“I did not kill him,” Letum corrects and places another kiss on the opposite thigh. “I do not kill. I take.” His large hands start massaging my thigh, tugging my core closer to the edge of the bed. “However, you are right, my dark love. He was not in my way. I could have taken you whenever I wanted.”
Blood rages in my ears from my pounding heart at his words and from his fingers that are slowly lifting the dress up my hips to reveal the wetness he caused. Death hums darkly and tears his attention away from his next meal and back to me.