CHAINS AND CARNAGE

Her breath came in ragged bursts as her pulse hammered against the fragile cage of her ribs.

She could smell the terror that clung to the woman before her like a second skin, and beneath the layer of that fear, Crystal could smell it.

Blood.

Rich, thick and laced with warmth.

Her stomach twisted violently as she desperately fought the urge to leap forward and consume her whole.

Saint stood nearby, watching and waiting as amusement curled at the edges of his lips. "Go on, little warrior," he murmured. "Drink."

Crystal's hands trembled as she curled them into fists.

No.

The scent was cloying and intoxicating, instantly turning her insides to liquid fire. The hunger curled sharply and unnaturally in the pit of her stomach.

In response to this, she dug her nails into her palms, forcing herself to breathe through the nausea. "I won't," she whispered firmly, and Saint chuckled in a low all-knowing tone.

The priestess whimpered behind the gag, while her wide, desperate brown eyes pleaded for mercy.

Crystal swallowed hard, her throat dry as she fought to contain the hunger that seemed to ravish her.

Saint sighed dramatically at her stubbornness. "How disappointing." He smiled mockingly as he turned his gaze towards the gagged woman.

Crystal barely had time to react before something coiled around her wrists, yanking her backward. Cold dark metal-like structures snapped into place, chaining her against the damp stone wall.

"No" she gasped as her muscles strained against the shadowy chains,

She tried to trash around, but the bindings held her down tightly.

"You see, my dear…" Saint whispered as his voice deeper into something dangerously soft as he knelt behind the trembling priestess, weaving his fingers through her matted hair,

"This one knows how to surrender and perhaps, she will be able to teach you."

He whispered as he gently lifted her chin up and brushed his thumb against the woman's trembling lips.

The priestess shuddered as her breath hitched at his words, strangely expectant as she visibly let her body relax against his, as though she knew and wanted what was coming next.

"Let her go!" Crystal screamed as she struggled against her restraints. Saint ignored her, dragging the golden tip of his claw ring along the woman's throat, just deep enough to bead crimson against pale skin.

The scent hit her like a blow. Crystal stiffened as her stomach twisted in revulsion,

No,

Desire.

Saint turned to her then, with his silver eyes gleaming wickedly. "Do you feel it?" He asked, with a voice as tender as the softest notes on a piano. "Are you finally going insane from the hunger?"

Before she could think of something snarky to reply him with, her eyes widened as she watched him slowly and deliberately undress the priestess with an amused smirk gracing his face.

His hands traced her spine, lingering over every shiver and every flinch. Blood welled from the shallow scratches he left in his wake, tiny crimson rivers against her dark flesh.

Crystal's breath sharpened as a strange heat prickled beneath her skin.

She shouldn't be watching.

She shouldn't be reacting, but her treacherous body betrayed her.

She watched as Saint's fingers found the priestess's nipples, rolling and pinching until she cried out, her body arching into his touch.

He hummed, satisfied, before dragging his mouth down her neck, lower, until... Crystal squeezed her eyes shut. "Look at me," Saint ordered in a voice that no one would dare disobey.

Her eyes snapped open, against her will and better judgment.

His gaze met hers as his fingers disappeared inside the priestess, slow and deliberate as it curled with practiced precision. The woman moaned, writhing into him and begging for more.

Saint smirked, keeping his pace torturously slow. "What's wrong, warrior? Not so brave anymore, are we?," he murmured in a voice that was definitely meant for her and not the woman gasping and whimpering beneath him.

Crystal bit her lip as her body tensed while she pressed her thighs together, but it did nothing to stop the slow, agonizing pulse of heat in her core.

Wrong.

All her life, she'd been taught to avoid this,

It was wrong.

But she didn't dare look away. And Saint saw it all; The shudder in her breath. The flush creeping down her throat as well as the perfectly hidden awe and terror of seeing something she'd never witnessed before.

He pulled his fingers from the priestess before shoving it down her throat, he chuckled darkly as he watched her gasp and splutter for breath around his fingers. "My little pure priestess" he mused, eyes still locked onto Crystal. "Do you like what you see?"

"Please stop" Crystal whimpered as she watched the priestess struggle against her binds while searching for air.

There sharp sound of metal unbuckling bounced off the walls of the room.

"No," Crystal whispered, shaking her head. "Please...."

She didn't want to watch that,

Anything but that.

And he happily ignored her.

The priestess gasped as he filled her in one brutal thrust, her cry a mix of pleasure and pain. Saint let out a low groan, his grip on her hips bruising as he pulled her body flush against his, setting a rhythm that was hard and punishing.

Crystal immediately looked away, but the shadows restraining her curled around her chin, harshly forcing her gaze forward.

She saw everything.

The slick, obscene stretch of flesh on flesh. The priestess's body jerking with every thrust. The sheen of sweat on Saint's skin,and the flex of his muscles beneath his pale skin as he easily turned and flipped the woman however he wanted.

Her own body throbbed in response and she bit her lip harder, drawing blood.

Saint didn't stop.

And she knew he wouldn't stop.

And if that wasn't horrible enough, there was a quiet and dark part of her that didn't want him to.

His eyes flickered to her, watching her shake and shatter as he bared his fangs and sank them into the priestess's throat.

The woman arched against him as his hand curled around the soft flesh of her neck, a strangled cry slipping from her lips while her body trembled violently as her pleasure and life drained away in tandem.

Saint drank deep.

The scent and sound of it was too much for Crystal to bear.

Crystal's breath hitched; it was a strangled and broken sound that escaped as her tongue darted out to wet her cracked lips.

Her hunger was an open wound, raw and gnawing, as a beast inside her screamed to be fed.

Saint pulled away, blood dripping from his lips.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, as his silver eyes focused on her,

"Look who's still watching" He whispered condescendingly as he flashed a smug grin at her.

By the time he was done, the air was thick with heat, the scent of sweat and sex clung onto the stone walls.The chains binding her wrists were tight and the cold bite of metal against her skin grounded her in place.

But it wasn't the restraints that held her still. 

It was him. 

Saint barely spared her a glance as he pulled away from the priestess, his body was slick with sweat, and his breathing flowed out, slow and unbothered.

He ran a hand down the woman's trembling spine in a lazy and possessive manner.

Crystal's stomach twisted at this. 

Something inside her burned, clawing its way up her throat. It wasn't just rage. It wasn't just disgust. 

It was something worse. 

Something she refused to name. 

Crystal's body locked up and froze. 

She wanted to scream at him, curse him and rip him apart, but her mouth wouldn't move. The words were lodged in her throat like sharp splinters. 

Then, just as easily as he had met her gaze, he dismissed her, shifting his focus back to the priestess. 

A flick of his wrist. A clawed fingertip tracing the delicate column of her throat. 

Then, he applied pressure. A shallow drag of his shimmery accessory against soft flesh. 

A single drop of blood welled up. 

The scent hit Crystal like a brick to the skull and her brain buzzed. 

Her entire body seized. 

Her fingers curled and her nails dug into her palms.

The chains rattled as she tensed, a shudder rolling through her frame. The room blurred at the edges and her vision tunneled. 

Blood. 

It was thick in the air; Sweet, metallic, warm and alive. 

Crystal clamped her jaw shut. She shook her head, violent and desperate as she assured both him and herself. "I won't," she choked out. 

Saint only hummed, tilting his head. He dragged the priestess forward, pressing her closer.

The scent grew heavier and denser, filling every breath Crystal took. 

"Won't?" His tone was almost amused, as if the word itself was a joke. 

He moved in slow, deliberate steps, closing the space between them. When he crouched in front of her, his fingers brushed against her chin, tilting her face up. His gaze seemed to burn straight through her. 

His smirk formed slowly and his eyes held a knowing gleam. "Then tell me, little warrior..." His voice dropped to a whisper, his breath ghosting over her lips. "Why are you trembling?" 

"I'm not" she yelled in a coarse voice.

Saint sighed, almost lazily, and pressed a single finger to the fresh wound on the priestess's throat.

Then, he slowly lifted it to Crystal's lips.

A drop of blood smeared against the velvety skin of her mouth.

Crystal's body reacted immediately. Her breathing hitched and a jolt of something sharp and electric shot down her spine, her senses screamed at all directions in confusion.

Her tongue flicked out before she could stop it, just enough to taste.

The moment it hit her tongue, everything around her seemed to shatter.

Heat slammed into her like a tidal wave and the hunger exploded.

Her throat clenched and her stomach twisted with violent need.

Saint saw and felt it. It made him smile as she'd done exactly what he had expected from her. "Oh, my poor, starving little warrior," he murmured, leaning close as his lips brushed against her ear. "Why fight it?"

Crystal shook her head violently. "No, have mercy," she choked out as her eyes blurred with tears.

Saint exhaled softly and without another word, he released the priestess, shoving her forward.

She collapsed at Crystal's feet, her pulse was slow yet she remained alive as her blood dripped onto the cold stone floor.

Saint crouched beside her, one hand gripping her jaw, tilting her face toward him. "This is mercy," he whispered, his thumb smearing the priestess's blood across her bottom lip. "You're starving and she is dying painfully slow. End her suffering." Crystal trembled violently as his lips hovered over her ear. "Drink."

She clenched her teeth so hard her jaw ached. Saint chuckled. "Still fighting?"

He leaned in, his breath warm against her cheek.

"Very well." And then, he ripped the priestess' throat open.

Blood gushed forth in a slow, sluggish flow and the scent pulled Crystal under and drowned her.

Her mind screamed "No" but her body moved before she could stop herself, and she lunged.

In a second, her teeth sank into torn flesh, her full lips sealing over the wound.

The first pull shattered her. Heat, raw and intoxicating, flooded her veins as she drank.

She drank until the priestess' whimpers faded into nothing and the body beneath her fell slack, only stopping when there was nothing left but the sound of her own heavy breaths.

When she finally pulled away, her lips were wet with crimson and Saint was waiting patiently.

His silver eyes burned with triumph.

Crystal's body shook as she met his gaze. Horror and something far worse coiled in her gut as she only realized what she had just done at that moment.

Saint reached out, thumb swiping across her bloodstained lips, amusement curling at the corner of his mouth.

"See?" His voice was silky, smug and victorious.

Crystal shuddered, bile rising in her throat as disgust ravaged her whole being.

Saint leaned in, caressing her face tenderly as he pressed his forehead to hers as she shuddered at the coolness of the golden jewelry on his fingers as he whispered.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?"