Better or worse?

She’d forgotten how cathartic pain could be. The more pain she experienced the more she seemed to float out of her body. She disassociated herself from everything, and let her body become limp and literally bend to William’s machinations. It seemed to work as William quickly got bored of her and would leave her bloody and weak but alone.

So there she was, in her bloody and gore covered dungeon room. William had left one of the barred windows open so she’d been burning in the sunlight for several hours until the sun moved to the other side of the sky. She hadn’t even had the strength to huddle in the corner, so instead she was lying face down near one of the walls. Her hair a matted mess of blood, her body covered in tons of cuts and stabs, her back, rear and thighs burned from the exposure to sunlight. Even though the sun had gone down for a few hours she had still not woken. She was far too weak to answer the call of the darkness. Her dungeon prison was quiet as death, although the smell of gore was quite overpowering.

It had been quite some time since Max had been able to get to Kiara his brother spending every waking moment in his dungeons with her. He had come up with every excuse possible that he could find but nothing had worked. He had been left with no choice in doing something that he promised himself that he would never do. He had created several new young vampires and let them loose in a part of London - Chelsea. That would certainly keep his brother busy for a good couple of hours knowing that his brother like to handle these kind of situations himself.

He barged into the dungeons and found Kiara flat out on the floor unresponsive and sped over to her grabbing hold of her neck tilting her head to the side.

"Feed Kiara...You must feed now!" he hushed.

Pulling back his sleeve he bit down into his wrist freeing the blood and held it over her mouth, he could see that she would have been to weak to drop fang to feed herself. There was only a limited amount of time before his brother returned.

The blood filled her mouth and for a few seconds nothing happened. It wasn't until it began to glide down her throat aided by Max's frantic hand that she managed to open her eyes.

Gone was the spark of fight inside her, that sass that carried over from her wolf days. Her expression rivaled that of a small child, tired and weak from being beaten over things it did not understand.

The blood strengthened her enough to swallow what was in her mouth, regaining some form of consciousness and the ability to speak albeit in a weak whisper.

"am I dead yet?"

Massaging her throat to help his blood glide down her throat. He hated seeing her like this but there was only so much that he could do, he only had a short amount of time before William returned.

"Well technically you are a vampire so you are dead Kiara" he joked hoping to at least lighten the mood.

She groaned, the blood healing most of the cuts and minor wounds, but it wasn't enough to heal the sunlight burns on her back and legs.

She swallowed the rest of the blood and reached up to rub her eyes. "How long is he gone for this time?" she asked, wondering if it would be even worth it to heal and clean up just for William to return soon and undo all the work.

The wound on Max's wrist healed, he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away the blood so that there was no trace that he was even here.

"He will only be gone for a couple of hours, maybe less it depends on how long it takes for him to kill the vampires that I made yesterday" he grumbled, hating the fact that he condemned innocent people to death by his brother.

She sighed as she sat up slowly, not feeling as groggy. "Then leave me here Max... a few hours isn't worth being found out" she said as she looked up at him with a weak but genuine smile.

"Its alright... like you predicted he grows bored faster"

Max already had a part of him screaming at him saying that he should leave and never come back. It would be the best for him but also for her. He could not give her a gleam of a bright future where William was not involved in any part of it.

"Your just as stubborn as you always have been, even now....I can't leave you. You know that I can't Kiara!" he hushed angrily at her.

She smiled. "Yes you can Max...you must. It's dangerous enough we sneak around when he's gone for days but hours? You can't risk it... I can take his anger but you don't deserve it"

She groaned, trying with what little strength she'd regained to stand. If she could just return to her usual corner and go back to sleep... then William would be none the wiser.

"I have had years of my brothers cruelty, there is nothing that I cannot handle Kiara" he assured her.

But Max knew that her stubbornness was one of the reasons that drew William to her among other things.

"Don't make me say it Kiara! Now stop being so bloody pig-headed. I am staying!" he snapped at her making his point very clear "We have time...I have time" he added.

She managed to stand but had to lean against the wall to remain standing. She managed a small chuckle.

"Careful Max....some may think you actually care" she said as she closed her eyes, trying to push herself through the overwhelming desire to sleep.

She took one step forward and it had been one step too many as she fell on him, her hands bracing on his chest, her knees barely supporting her weight.

All the effort that Max had been working on to not get too involved with his brother's girl was failing. He could not stop himself from doing and feeling what he did no matter how hard he tried.

"That is the problem" he grunted.

Catching her when she fell against him he braced himself for something that he knew that was coming a long time ago. He titled her head back and pressed his lips to hers.

She blinked. Had she been stronger she may have protested in some way. Right now she barely registered his lips on hers. It was strange. For a long time now they had remained at a safe distance. The most contact they had was when she fed from him, and usually from the wrist. They hadn't dared risk the neck after the last time.

Her hands balled into fists on his shirt, her eyes closing, her body more than willing to surrender its weight to him. All she managed to do was pull her lips away from his for a moment.

"Don't Max.... if....if your brother finds out, we're both done" she whispered. William would kill them both, even more so because William still had to force her to bend to his will, never had he received any bit of her affection willingly.

Max's head rested against Kiara's his eyes gazing down into her's.

"I do not care...For so long my brother has denied my every single desire...But no more...He has denied me the last thing that I want....You will be free Kiara....We both will if you will have me?" he whispered gently to her.

She smiled, closing her eyes, feeling a wave of weakness wash over her. "If only....you'd been...my maker" she whispered, her whole body swaying dangerously. She needed more blood but anymore and William would surely know that something was up.


She clutched his shirt to try to keep herself upright. "d-did you know...sunlight hurts?" she said, being a tad delirious.

Max did not care if William caught them his main priority was Kiara. Gently leaning her against the wall so that she did not fall he sped over grabbing a steel chair and sped back before she collapsed.

"Here...Sit on me" he instructed.

Max sat himself down on the chair and directed Kiara so that she was straddling his lap facing him.

"Feed from me" and began inclining his neck to the side.

Kiara swayed dangerously again, not until Max had her sitting more safely on his lap. Her head was resting on his shoulder, facing his neck which he was offering to her.

"Max...I can't... he'll find out" she said, glad she wasn't spending her energy on standing. "We don't have much time... leave me be tonight... we'll get another chance some other time"

"Kiara there might not be another time if when my brother finds out....Trust me" he whispered.

When he could see that she was not budging he had no choice, he reached into his pocked and pulled out a small blade and slit the side of his neck letting the blood pour from the wound.

"Feed me from....please" he begged her.

Kiara's eyes bulged the moment she saw the blood. She didn't have time to argue or protest. Her body lurched forward and she latched until his bleeding neck like a ravenous leech.

When the wound began to heal she bit him again, a bit roughly at first but her bite turned gentle. She groaned, her hand caressing his cheek as his blood flooded her body. It was delicious and every swallow made her stronger, healing the sun burns on her skin. She pressed herself against his body, licking his neck as the last few drops entered her mouth, the bite healing over.

Max tilted his neck further to the side so that Kiara could have better access to the wound that he had made, when she latched on his erection grew stiffer in his trousers. His arms wrapping around his waist pulling her closer to his own. His eyes rolled into the back of his head at feeling her fangs deep in his neck.

"...Kiara....." he groaned his hands sprawled across her back.

She groaned, pulling her mouth back. The blood healed her fully and she felt that rush of power and desire Max had taught her how to fight. She felt him bulge beneath her but she was used to his reactions, however she wasn't prepared for the tight hold he had on her body, keeping her secured to his lap.

"Max...." she whispered, trying to face him. Sex would be the last thing either of them needed. Their relationship was complex enough as is with plotting against William. Not to mention William and his machinations had done a good job in killing most of the desire she could have in bedding any male.

Max's grip tightened around her back and pressed her body closer to his, he did not want to let her go. His forehead rested against her, his voice ragged and low. He knew that they could be caught any moment but he did not care.

"...Do you want me to stop?" he whispered.

She shuddered, the blood making her crave him even more, wanting to lay with him and forget all the horrible things William had done to her body, but did she dare risk it when William could show up at any moment?

But...if tonight was her last night as a vampire, she'd spend it in the best way she could think of.

"No...I don't want you to stop" she said in a throaty tone as she crushed her lips against his.

"No...I don't want you to stop"

That was all the confirmation that Max needed before tilting Kiara's head to the side and let his lips glide across her flesh his tongue darting in and out sensually. Slowly trailing across the base of her neck before reaching her lips as one of his arms snaked around to the back of her neck to hold her there.

She shuddered and let out a soft moan. This felt like the ultimate 'fuck you' to William. All William wanted was for her to bend to his will, to crave him as much as he seemed to crave her. Yet it was his brother, who had done nothing but shown her a small droplet of kindness that had achieved what William had not.

She didn't even care that they were in a bloody, gore filled dark dungeon, that the walls were forever painted crimson because of her blood, that scattered about were instruments of torture she was now intimately familiar with.

She squirmed in his lap, moving her arms enough so she could slide out of the dingy blouse she was wearing. It was nothing more that blood and tatters and it would get in the way anyways. She slid out of it, tossing it aside and exposing her bare upper body to Max's hungry gaze.