Free Scarlet Vamporium: Vamporium #2 by Poppet[vampire] Page A

compressing hands.
    He leans so close I can feel his ragged exhalations, belatedly realizing he's just checking to see if I'm breathing.
    “No,” I mumble, choking on tears and distress. “I am not okay.”
    “Where ye hurt?” he demands, his own panic deepening his voice to husky hoarseness, his hands now examining my arms and legs.
    “Stop it!” I scramble backwards, trying to get away from the inspection.
    “What is it? What the hell is happening?”
    “I'm going to be punished for this,” I gasp, terror squashing the last of the air from my lungs, cracking my brain in half with agony.
    “Fer what?”
    I wave my hand frantically, indicating 'everything – all of it'.
    “I won't tell. Why'd ye think I was tryin' tae get ye the hell away from Roddie? I'm tryin' tae protect ye, Ellie.”
    “You don't understand. We're a secret. Selene is going to send me to the dungeons...” terror shuts my voice down, stilling my vocal chords in a tourniquet so tight it hurts.
    The demons, down in the underworld, in the darkness, the burning, the flogging, the stench, the cold, the heat, the chains, the torture...
    Oh god!
    Curling in, holding my knees, rocking, I'm shaking, my bones rattling when my teeth chatter.
    I'm restrained, my rocking stilled, a deep shhhh whispering in my ear.
    Blinking, it finally dawns on me that he's wrapped himself around me to give me a hug, to offer comfort. No hug in the world is going to save me from this punishment.
     
     
    We sit tightly together for a long time, until my tears succumb to numb resignation.
    His hand strolls up and down my spine in endless caresses, his other arm snuggling me against him, our legs tangled, long hair mingling together into knots of affection.
    Inhaling a jagged deep breath, I withdraw, sitting upright, wiping my eyes. “It's not your problem. This is my fault. Sorry I made you freak out, it's just... just...”
    “Just what?”
    “I'm not supposed to tell, or show, and my punishment–” Terror snags my tone again, gripping my throat and squeezing for death. Coughing, my eyes watering, I choke through it, “I'll be sent away, and it hurts... real... real bad...”
    “Why? I dinnae understand what ye did? As far as I can tell yer freakin' out over nothin'.”
    “No, you don't understand how it feels to be chained naked in the dark and whipped so hard you end up drowning in your own blood!”
    He snaps into standing so quickly it almost makes me dizzy.
    Holy cow he can move fast.
    Staring down at me, leering aggressively, he snarls, “Whit? Who's going tae dae that tae ye? I won't let them!”
    “You can't stop them.”
    “Watch me,” he growls. It's the grunt of a warrior before he beheads the beast.
    And it makes me smile – then laugh – until I'm wriggling on loam with helpless giggles.
    “Ellindt, yer messing with my heid lass. Whit is so funny?”
    “You, you are so incredibly sweet!”
    He doubles over in mock pain, pretending I kicked him in the jewels, “Ouch! Sweet? Hit me where it hurts why don't ye.”
    “But it's true. You couldn't save me if you were a legion of angels. No one can save me.”
    It's a sobering thought, cutting short my smile, and we end up staring at each other through the dim gloom, intimate tension tightly strung between us.
    Falling forward onto his knees, he shimmies to me, sitting back on his haunches and holding my legs, “They, whoever they are, dinnae need tae know. You don't tell them and I won't tell them.”
    That's true. No one witnessed it. If I can hide my thoughts from Selene I might just get out of this.
    Nodding, agreeing, I hope it will be that simple.
    “C'mon, we have our opened drinks in the car, let's go get them. I think I need it efter all that drama.”
    “I'll get them,” I say. I've broken the seal so I may as well embrace the fact that he knows what I am and what I can do. No point in having secrets now.
    Snapping my fingers, thinking of the beers snugly nestled between our seats, I