Sacrum - 20. Chapter 20: King Romero

His gaze was heavy-lidded, and it spelled out a four-letter word: lust. He stalked towards the bed at a leisurely pace. The vampire looked so much like Vincent, that for a moment I was convinced it was him. Except he seemed a couple years older, and his clothes were outdated.

He stopped, and I followed his hungry gaze to a stunning antique canopy bed with red velvet and heavy ivory silk curtains, where a voluptuous woman lay naked on the splendidly large pillows behind her, as still as a Renaissance painting.

She was human. I could detect the tiny movement of her heartbeat in her long and smooth neck, as well as in the faint blush of her cheeks. He tilted his head and inhaled her scent in the air, and I could almost feel his ravenous hunger in my own sleeping body. It was a positively agonizing sensation.

“It’s been too long,” he said, his dark red eyes devouring every inch of her stunning physique. I couldn’t blame him; my eyes were doing the very same thing. She was Aphrodite in human form.

“You’ve kept me waiting,” she complained in a jokey yet partially agitated tone. Her full red lips pouting. He smirked, seemingly amused by her complaint.

“I had matters to attend to, my sweet,” he replied, and if I closed my eyes, I would have sworn it was Vincent’s voice I was hearing.

Her long gold hair shimmered under the light of the opulent chandelier above. Her blue eyes were as clear and as deep as the Arctic Ocean. She was, simply put, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

“Always with the excuses. One day, I won’t be here at your beck and call, and you’ll miss me terribly,” she warned, gently caressing her left calf with her perfectly manicured foot. I could see the self-restraint that it took him not to simply lunge at her, as his eyes worshipped her full curves. But he took his time as if he was a patient and experienced wine connoisseur preparing to uncork a rare vintage.

“My capricious little darling,” he commented, slowly unbuttoning his black shirt with one hand. She watched his fingers with a slight intake of breath. There was a large tent forming in his pants, and she giggled and licked her lips in anticipation at the sight. The sexual tension between them was so tangible, that I worried the room would erupt in a fire at any given moment.

“I hate when you leave me hanging,” she continued, slowly raising to her knees and revealing the ample perky breasts underneath her blond tresses. He tilted his head yet again, and I could tell it was getting more difficult for him to stay in control with each passing second.

She playfully got on her hands and knees and crawled toward the handsome vampire.

“It wouldn’t be so fun, if you didn’t have to wait for it a little,” he teased. His shirt all the way open. She had completed her journey and was inches away from his pants now.

“Mmm, no, that’s not true. I could never get bored of this,” she exclaimed in her sweet raspy tone, then nuzzled her face against his still clothed erection. He gently caressed her cheek.

“How is it possible that you get lovelier each time I see you?” He asked.

“It’s because I’m so in love with you,” she confessed, now gently skimming her lips against what seemed to be the head of his erection. He inhaled sharply. “Without your love I’d turn into an ugly old maid and wither away.”

“We can’t allow for that to happen,” he said, his voice even lower now. She momentarily sucked on his hardness through the material of his pants.

“Dahlia,” he groaned her name, his head rolling back in pleasure. She gently pulled down his pants and her perfect lips gracefully slid down along his impressive shaft in one smooth go. He growled as he watched himself disappear in her willing mouth.

“Romero,” she replied, coming up for air. The lovely blush in her cheeks intensified.

“You are my undoing,” he told her, slowly kicking off his pants from around his ankles. Then, in a swift movement and with one arm only, he lifted her up and placed her on her back, laying his body firmly on top of her. His eyes were wild with need, and for a moment I was scared for the blonde beauty. How could a ravenous vampire stop himself from destroying her delicate body during sex, when he was so obviously hungry for her? But despite his appetite, he continued to show a saint-like restraint as he wrapped his lips around her perfectly pink nipple and sucked gently, making her moan in ecstasy.

Her fingers roamed through his dark hair, and her legs gently wrapped themselves around his waist. He moved to the other breast and took her hard nipple into his mouth, and she cried out at the rapid lashes of his tongue.

“I can’t get enough of your body,” he said, kissing his way up her throat. It was dangerous territory, but she didn’t seem afraid.

“My body aches for you when you’re away from me, my King,” she whispered into his ear seductively. He grinned, and once again his striking resemblance to Vincent took me by surprise. He untangled her legs away from his waist and began to slowly move his way down. She groaned with impatience.

“But I’m ready,” she insisted. He kissed his way past her belly button and down to her lower abdomen.

“You don’t understand just how tight you are when I’m inside you. You’re going to bruise if I don’t get you all the way relaxed,” he explained.

He parted her lips with his tongue and licked her relentlessly as she screamed and writhed underneath him in euphoric pleasure. I could only imagine how much more overwhelming the sensation would be to a vampire, with our extremely acute sense of smell. But he seemed to relish the scent of her sex and buried his lips, nose, and face as far into the velvet flesh between her legs as was possible, until she couldn’t take it anymore and begged for him to take her.

He pulled himself up and wiped his face off with one swift movement. She trembled with anticipation as the head of his member circled her tender opening, making her slick with his precum. Then in a slow and smooth motion, he drove himself inside of her, making them both gasp in pleasure.

“You’re so soft and warm,” he praised her, sliding in and out of her with complete ease as she pushed her wanting hips further into his thrusts.

“I want you to possess me, I want to be yours forever,” she whispered in a breathless voice, clutching his marble face with her delicate hands.

“You are mine forever. This is mine forever,” he snapped back possessively, driving into her with more and more force, but still restrained enough not to hurt her. I had no idea how he was able to do it.

He buried his face in her neck and inhaled the sweet scent of the hot blood flowing right underneath her alabaster skin.

“Taste me, my love,” she pleaded, and he took the invitation right away by sinking his fangs into her porcelain skin with the quickness of an expert. He continued his hard and fast pace as he drank her blood and she grasped at his back and sunk her nails into his skin with force.

Before he could drink too much, he removed his hungry mouth from her neck and put a pillow under her rear, then lifted her legs onto his shoulders and slammed her body into his thrusts over and over again, watching as her breasts bounced in perfect unison.

“That’s it,” he exclaimed, as her body acquired a thin layer of sweat and the flesh between her legs became swollen with the wave of an oncoming orgasm.

She climaxed violently while screaming his name and plunged her hips on him so hard that his entire body hardened, and his abs became as rigid as those of a Greek statue, after which he slammed forward with a primal growl, releasing himself into her warm insides.

Dahlia cried out in pure bliss.

The two lovers collapsed on the bed, with the blonde beauty wrapping herself around her handsome vampire lover and stroking his chest in postcoital euphoria.

“You’re going to kill me one day,” he muttered, and she gently caressed his face. “This is going to kill me one day.”

“If anyone has the potential to die during our lovemaking, it’s probably me,” she said, and he chuckled. He brushed her golden hair away from her face.

“I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, angel,” he said, and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

“Who knew you could be this sweet, my fearsome bloodthirsty ruler,” she teased, and he smiled at her.

“I guess you bring out the best in me.”

I woke up startled, and strangely excited by my own dream. After realizing that Demetrius was gone, I had gone back to bed, but I didn’t know there would be a whole new world of dreams to untangle when I woke up. How much more information could I handle in one night?

I ignored my own pressing need, which stood at attention underneath my blanket, and reached for my dream notebook. Like Melinda said, the dreams all meant something, and in order to figure out what, I had to write them down and remember all the tiny details, just in case they would come in handy.

Handsome Romero who bore such a resemblance to Vincent was obviously King Romero Carandini, Vincent’s grandfather. But who was Dahlia, and why was she important? How many lovers did King Romero possess? I’d need to figure it out somehow.

But first, I had to say goodbye to my newfound friends and check on the black dog. I found Maurizia, Antoine and Luciana in the cafeteria.

“You look much better,” I said, giving the tiny vampire a hug. She smiled.

“Thank you, it always just takes a bit of rest,” she chirped.

“Dani, thank you for being the best host,” Antoine said, shaking my hand.

“No, thank you. You guys have been amazing,” I replied.

“The whole Summit was…well, not what I expected,” he said with a slightly morose tone. It seemed like he was still upset about not passing, or perhaps still traumatized by the second task. Luciana glanced over him casually.

“Prepare yourself for more of the same, it’s not going to get any nicer going forward,” she declared.

“What do you mean?” I asked. Her sentiment reminded me of what Demetrius had said in the elevator about how things were in the real world. Perhaps Maratoni and Altieri prepared their Specials for the current reality, which the other three of us seemed maladjusted for. Did I even want to be ready if the real world included torturing others? Luciana snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Where’s the Russian?” She asked, looking around.

“Demetrius left early this morning,” Maurizia replied, and I turned my gaze toward her, eager to learn what she knew about his sudden departure.

“Without saying goodbye?” Luciana asked, “Damn, that’s cold even for him.” I nodded in agreement.

“Yes, he came to see me in the medical wing and brought flowers. It was actually really sweet,” she recalled, and I noticed Luciana narrow her eyes and chew on her lip in confusion and agitation. I found myself suddenly relating to her and upset by the fact that Maurizia got a face to face goodbye, while the rest of us were left in the dust like we didn’t matter.

“Witnessing his gift out there…I can’t lie, it was terrifying. I wouldn’t want to be his enemy. Let’s just be glad he’s on our side,” Antoine confessed, staring off in the distance as we all remembered Trusting falling to her knees and the torture of three innocents that came right after.

“He was like a kick-ass villain last night, I’m just glad we got to witness that for free,” Luciana said with awe in her voice, and it was obvious she had a thing for his bad-boy allure, and that nothing he could do would scare her off. Antoine seemed slightly put off by her description but decided not to comment.

“Well, I hate to have to say goodbye, but it is time for Maurizia and I to go,” he said.

Maurizia must have seen the look on my face because she said, “We’ll be reunited soon and working side by side for the greater good.” Somehow I didn’t see Deadnus allowing for that to happen, but I decided not to burst her bubble. I just smiled and nodded, then gave them another hug goodbye.

“Till we meet again,” Luciana said, not bothering with hugs. She just gave me a short military salute, then left.

I felt a deep sense of loneliness once they were gone. Though we had just met, they all felt like a part of my extended family. As Specials, we were the only vampires truly capable of relating to one another. Now I had to go back to trying to figure things out on my own once again—an unpleasant and tiresome task. On the other hand, I felt excited by the prospect of seeing Vincent, Laura, and Angelo once again.

“Dani, there you are!” Trusting’s voice came from behind me. “If you want to say goodbye to the dog, now’s the time. Someone from the Protection League is supposed to come get him soon,” she said. I felt grateful that she remembered and cared enough to come find me.

“Yes, can I?”

“Of course, come with me,” she said. We walked toward the medical wing. “I just want you to know how proud of you I am,” she said, taking me off guard.

“Oh, thank you,” I replied awkwardly.

“You handled everything with such maturity, my dear. I know none of that was easy on you. I mean, all of you are still underage, but you particularly must have been affected. From losing your Mentor, moving to a new school, and having to adjust, plus your sweet disposition, I just know what happened last night must have been overwhelming. I want you to know we didn’t plan it to go that way. Arani…sometimes she takes things too far.” That was the understatement of the century, I wanted to tell her, but I was touched by her kindness and didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

“Thank you,” I replied, as we reached the vet’s room.

“Dorian,” Trusting greeted the vet, and he grinned at her mesmerized.

“Hello beautiful,” he replied to her, leaving me in stunned silence. She seemed embarrassed but flattered at the same time. I felt like I was intruding on a personal moment.

“Dani, I believe you’ve already met my husband, Dorian Trusting,” she said, and I grinned in surprise. Never in a million years would I have guessed that my stunning Headmistress would be married to a cute vet. “I brought Dani here to say bye to that great black beast over there,” she said, motioning to the giant dog chewing on a green toy rubber tire in the corner.

“He seems much better today,” I exclaimed with relief.

“He’s back to his old self,” Dorian replied cheerfully. “You can pet him if you want, he’s accustomed to vampires and he’s been very friendly all morning. Not great at listening to commands though, which is strange for a Protection League dog,” he noted.

I approached the slobbering creature.

“Hey buddy,” I said, slowly putting my hand for him to sniff. Would he react aversely to my touch, since I was the vampire who had hurt him? But he made no move to stop me, continuing to gnaw his huge teeth on the toy.

His coat felt like silk, and I gently rubbed his head and scratched behind his cropped ears. He seemed to enjoy it, and even gave me some tail wags. “Good boy,” I said. “What’s his name?”

“Neon.”

Suddenly we heard the ring of a phone in the room next door.

“Excuse me for just one moment,” Dorian said, stepping out of the room.

“He seems to like you,” Trusting noted in his absence.

“I guess he doesn’t hold grudges for long,” I replied, and she chuckled.

When Dorian returned his face was grim. “Bad news,” he announced.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Someone from the League just called. Nobody is coming to claim him, they want him to be put down,” he said with great disappointment.

“What?” Both Trusting and I asked at the same time.

“Apparently they think he’s permanently altered by whatever it is they gave him before the Summit. They said they wouldn’t be able to rely on him to take commands, and that it might be too difficult or even impossible to reteach him, and therefore he is of no use to them.” I raged inside. Not only did they waste the lives of two innocent dogs, now they wanted to add a third one to the pile?

“But that’s ridiculous,” I exclaimed.

“I agree, can’t you convince them that he’s fine and can be retrained?” Trusting asked.

“No, there’s no reasoning with the League, you know how they are Boeriella,” he said, giving her a knowing look. She nodded with understanding.

“Well surely you’re not going to kill him, are you?” I asked frantically.

“No shelter is going to take a League dog, they’re considered too high risk. And we can’t take him home, we’ve already got five dogs, seven cats, four rabbits, and two iguanas,” he confessed, and my mouth fell open in momentary shock.

“Can’t we keep him here?” I asked, looking at his wife.

“We? Dani, we’re a school, we can’t have an animal roaming around,” she said.

“Why not, schools have mascots,” I insisted. I couldn’t let him die.

“Mascots, not giant dogs that were trained to kill,” she protested, but I could see her defenses melting.

“I’ll take care of him. I’ll feed him, walk him, get him exercise and train him in my spare time. I promise,” I begged. She hesitated. “Wouldn’t we all feel safer with him here, especially after what happened before winter break,” I alluded to Van Sant’s murder. She looked over at Dorian.

“He really hasn’t displayed any violent tendencies at all, even when he was in pain. I don’t see why you couldn’t give it a try. He could stay with Dani on his off time, and be outside the rest of the time,” he said, giving her permission. She finally relented.

“Okay, but he is your responsibility, Dani,” she said, and I beamed.

“I won’t disappoint you, I promise.”

Saying I was going to take care of Neon, who I right away started calling Neo, was easier said than done. Yes, I had always dreamt of having a dog, but I didn’t anticipate having one that already had a stubborn mind of his own. Even getting him out of the office and into my room turned out to be a long and laborious journey, as he had no intention of listening to any of my commands. Finally, I managed to lure him over with some peanut butter which I found in Nurse Mildred’s office. I assumed she held snacks for guests like Maratoni’s human blood volunteers.

Other than his incredibly stubborn nature, Neo didn’t pose any other issues. He was easy going and enjoyed playing fetch and chewing on everything in my room. And he proved to be a good distraction from all of my thoughts in regards to my uncertain future.

In the coming days, the hallways of Baritone slowly started to fill up with students returning from the holiday break. My feelings after the Summit continued to be messy and conflicted to say the least. The time spent with the other four Specials had been crucial to my development and helped me adjust to the idea that in just a short while, we’d all be working towards the same goals. But I was still concerned about the prophecy, the crazy idea of rebirth floating around, Deadnus, and most of all whatever suspicious dealings Vincent had with Sebastiano Maratoni.

Thankfully, Vincent’s return made things slightly easier.

“Congratulations, Golden One,” he exclaimed, opening the door to my room on the morning of his return. “You made it through the Summit without butchering anyone. Well, aside from those poor dogs,” he said with exaggerated excitement, and then he saw Neo on the floor. The dog’s ears perked up, and he sat up, regarding Vincent with apprehension for a while.

“Don’t tell me you decided to keep one of the League’s Black Demons,” he mumbled.

“Black Demons?” I asked.

“That’s what we call them,” he said, closing the door behind him.

“They wanted to put him down. I couldn’t let them do that,” I explained. He shook his head in good humor.

“You really have no sense of self-preservation. Of course you’d decide to adopt the beast that was sent to attack you,” he mused.

I couldn’t deny it, I had missed his inquisitively beautiful sharp eyes, his humor, his smile, and the way he made me feel when he was close by.

“It’s okay, I’m a friend,” he said, approaching the dog first. Smart move, I thought. Maybe Vincent had read up on dog books as a child as well.

Seeing that I wasn’t alarmed, Neo allowed Vincent to pet him and went back to chewing on his toy after a while.

“I think I’m in his good graces,” the handsome vampire said, finally coming towards me. He drew me into a long hug, and my arms naturally wrapped themselves around his neck. He smelled like an expensive cologne.

“It was hard being away from you for so long,” he whispered into my hair, then turned his head and placed his lips on mine in a sweet kiss. My head felt dizzy, and suddenly I thought of Dahlia and how she must have felt in the presence of King Romero. Vincent, just like his grandfather, was impossible to say no to.

“I missed you too,” I replied, feeling somewhat guilty. I did miss him; the statement was true. But I couldn’t lie to myself and not admit that I had been quite preoccupied with another vampire in Vincent’s absence. What did that say about me, I wondered. But I consoled myself with the thought that we didn’t exactly give any official titles to our relationship yet.

“Did you enjoy your time off?” I asked, slowly unwrapping myself away from him.

“I did,” he replied shortly, and his mouth curved into a genuine smile. Whatever he had planned with Maratoni, it obviously went according to plan. I decided to take it easy and not assault him with questions right away.

“You didn’t think I could pass the Summit, did you?” I asked, as we both relaxed on my bed. I laid back on my pillow, my legs in Vincent’s lap.

“Of course I did, Dani,” he replied. “I always knew you could do it. I guess being around the other Specials and witnessing them do their thing really helped you come into your own,” he assumed. I didn’t correct him. It looked like Demetrius did not go bragging to Vincent about being the one who taught me, and I decided to keep that secret between us.

“Maratoni filled you in on what happened?”

“He did. Deadnus has completely lost the plot,” he admitted. “If I had known, I would have warned you,” he said, squeezing my calf gently. “I didn’t think the others would let her get away with anything too crazy.”

“Speaking of the others, can you fill me in on some of the vampires from the panel? I hadn’t even heard of so many of them. I feel completely out of the loop,” I admitted. He nodded his head.

“Sure, who in particular are you curious about?”

“Nathaniel Gold.”

“Politically ambitious and really savvy. Nice to your face, but probably as ruthless as Deadnus. His career didn’t really take off until he was able to take over the Specials program. How he got the role, nobody is really sure. Must have done a lot of ass kissing.”

“I don’t like him,” I admitted, and Vincent chuckled.

“Of course you don’t. You don’t believe he’s worthy of the place he holds. He’s no Vinicius.”

“It’s more than that. I just get bad vibes around him,” I stated. “What about Arcadius Nomad?” I inquired further.

“Famous scientist,” he said, restating what I’d already learned from Demetrius.

“Did he know Vinicius?”

“Sure, they even worked on the Specials Program together for a while.” This piqued my interest.

“And then what happened?”

“This is hearsay, but apparently they got into a disagreement and Vinicius had let him go from the program. Nobody really knows why though.” That was curious indeed. Vinicius wasn’t the type to fire people. Whatever happened between them, it must have been quite serious.

“Dominic Grant?”

“He’s a tough one. It’s hard to know his true position on anything. But he usually goes by the book.” I nodded, trying to retain all the information. The world of vampire politics was something new to me, and I wouldn’t have much time to figure it all out before I turned eighteen. It would make it easier to know who stood where on the spectrum.

“How did you like meeting the other Specials?” Vincent asked, distracting me from my thoughts.

“It was really nice, actually,” I replied truthfully. “It felt sort of like what I imagine meeting your cousins would feel like.” He smiled.

“I hope Demetrius behaved himself,” he stated nonchalantly. I wondered what, if anything, the Russian vampire had told him.

“He’s a bit…standoffish,” I confessed, trying to gracefully get out of the subject. Vincent didn’t seem to pick up on my weird energy.

“Yeah, he likes to keep to himself,” he admitted openly, “It’s probably to do with that shit village Maratoni raised him in. Not exactly the best place to learn how to be social.” I had flashbacks to my dream of small Demetrius, and I felt my chest tighten at the thought. I had to change the topic before Vincent would figure out that something was wrong.

“Okay, weird question and I hope you don’t get offended,” I started, and he raised his eyebrows in amusement. “Did your grandfather have any…female lovers?” I asked.

“You’re right, that is a weird question,” he laughed, but thankfully he didn’t seem upset.

“I was just wondering,” I said innocently. Vincent continued to look at me with amusement.

“Dani, he was a vampire and a King for a very, very long time. Of course he had lovers,” he replied, as if it was obvious. I was slightly taken aback.

“Being a vampire automatically makes one a cheater?” I inquired, perhaps with more attitude than I intended.

“No, not automatically. But it’s not exactly uncommon amongst our kind,” he replied carefully, as if measuring his words.

“Do you know of any particular lovers?” I asked, hoping he could give me insight into Dahlia.

“Not by name,” he replied, staring at me curiously. “What’s this about?”

“Nothing important, I’m just trying to brush up on my vampire history,” I lied.

“Right,” he replied, reading through my lie. His mouth twitched with amusement.

“So if you were King, how many concubines would you have?” I asked, trying to get back to a playful tone. I couldn’t deny that the conversation had made me weirdly and irrationally jealous. His jaw tightened and his gaze darted to my face.

“Just one. An extremely hot blonde, designed specifically for me,” he admitted, his eyes smoldering.

Suddenly Neo started barking at a little bird that landed on a tree near my window, breaking our intense connection.

“No, Neo,” I said, but he didn’t listen. It took about eight more tries and Vincent physically moving him away from the window and closing the curtain, for him to stop going crazy. He then jumped up on the bed, looking at Vincent in triumph. “He still won’t really listen to my commands,” I mused out loud, ignoring the handsome vampire’s sigh of frustration and looking at the big black dog taking up the majority of my twin bed and squishing me to one unsatisfactory corner.

“That’s strange,” he stated.

“Is it?” I asked. Vincent seemed to know something.

“It is. From what Maratoni told me after the Summit, the dogs were supposed to respond to your use of the gift. Once you used your power on them, you would technically become their master and they would obey your commands. You did use your gift on this one, didn’t you?”

“I thought I did, but it all happened so fast,” I replied, thinking back to the traumatic events of the Summit. If I wasn’t Neo’s master, then who was?