Seduction in Blood

Nikolas Ashwood sat quietly in the library, reading one of his favorite books of all time. The firelight flickered, causing shadows to dance on the dozens of bookshelves, lined perfectly around the room. He looked up to admire the architecture of the library, white walls embellished with gold, littered with dozens of windows, and over five thousand books he had collected over the past 100 years. Darrien had agreed to letting him build the library when they moved to Washington ten and a half years ago and Nikolas took full advantage of that. He was inspired by the art of the Sistine Chapel and had the ceilings painted with various famous art works. The archways made the room seem bigger and more romantic, especially when lit by the natural light from the windows. His floor choice was immaculate; it was almost like walking on golden and white mirrors, but it was nothing more than expensive marble tile.

The double doors at the end of the library came open, causing Nikolas to close his book and turn his full attention to the person who entered the room. His blue eyes studied the young woman who came forth, her name was Leila, the newest member to the servants. She was very young merely fifteen years of age, Nikolas hated to see someone so young thrust into a life of vampires and demons. Her dress was very simple, dark gray color with a white apron tied neatly around her waist, and polished black shoes with a slight heel. Running his fingers through his dark brown hair, Nikolas placed his book on the small round table beside him and stood up. Leila stopped a few paces away and graciously bowed to him.

“Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Ashwood, but Darrien is missing.” Leila held out a manila envelope and Nikolas quirked an eyebrow, taking hold of it. “We found this is in his room on his desk, I thought you should know.” Pulling out a piece of paper, Nikolas noticed it was a small map of a little town outside of Seattle. Furrowing his brows, he noticed as address was circle and flipped the paper over. Written neatly in the center of the paper was one word: Clara.

“Thank you, Leila,” Nikolas said softly, slipping the paper back into the envelope. He gave it back to her and turned around, grabbing his jacket off of the back of the leather chair he had been sitting in moments ago. “I have to go, make sure the castle is clean upon our return.” Nikolas smiled warmly at Leila, slipping his coat on and adjusted his deep red tie. Nodding in compliance, Leila stepped aside and bowed to Nikolas as he made his way for the door.

Entering the main corridor on the first floor of the castle, Nikolas took long strides towards the front door. He came into the main foyer that was lighted by a diamond encrusted chandelier. Leaning against one of the white columns that decorated the entryway was a handsome blonde haired man, wearing a blue button down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black silk-like pants. Stopping in the middle of the room, where the two were lined up perfectly, Nikolas sighed softly and smirked a bit.

“He’s found her has he?” the blonde asked with a soft chuckle. He pushed away from the pillar and put his hands into his pockets. Nikolas licked his lips and turned to face the blonde man, who was the same height as him.

“You are not allowed in the house, leave now.” Nikolas watched the intruder as he walked around the room, admiring the lighting and paintings hanging on the wall. Dark green eyes met vibrant blue ones, no words had to be spoken, it was just understood.

“Okay, Nikolas, I get it. Do me a favor and tell Darrien I stopped in.” Nikolas narrowed his eyes at the blonde as he walked up to the French doors and flung them open. The unwanted guest stood in the threshold and turned back around. “I have a message for him.” Like a bat out of hell the young blonde was gone. Shaking his head, Nikolas walked out of the house and pulled the doors shut. Darrien would not be happy to hear that Ethan was back in town.


“Bye girl, see you on Sunday!” Kayla, Aria’s co-worker from the ice cream shop, shouted as they parted ways. It had been a long day at work and Aria had a hard time smiling, she just kept thinking about how much of an ass that jerk-off Johnny had been. They had been together for ten months and that was long enough for him to know her inside and out, yet he abused her. She didn’t want to be mopey and sad, but she couldn’t help herself. No girl would ever want that type of public humiliation. Aria tried to push the thoughts of the days events into the dark corners of her mind and took in a deep breath.

She was going to just let it go, Johnny said those things out of anger not because they were true. Biting her lip, Aria pulled her hair from the messy bun she had atop her head. As the brown locks came tumbling down like leaves in the fall, she reached for her keys in her small handbag. She could see her rusted up truck sitting beside and island of trees. Her keys jingled as she pulled them out of her purse and stuffed the hair clip inside of her bag. When she arrived at her car her phone began to ring. She figured it was her mother checking to see if she was off work. Plucking her phone from the small purple bag, Aria looked at the screen. Her eyes spotted a vile name and she scrunched up her nose.

“I don’t want to talk, so leave me alone.” Aria’s answer was cold and harsh, she was so sick of Johnny. He just wouldn’t take the hint to leave her the hell alone. He screwed up, he hurt her and lied to her, he had no one to blame but himself. She was about to hang up, but Johnny begged for her to hear him out. “No! Stop calling me, I never want to speak to you again.” She instantly hung up her phone and tossed it into her bag. So much for being able to forget about him.

She heard a car engine rumbling and turned around seeing a red sports car roll up. Scoffing, Aria put her hands on her hips and shook her head. It was Johnny, he just didn’t get it. He parked in front of her truck, blocking her from being able to drive away. Obviously he didn’t think she wouldn’t run his stupid behind over. Climbing out of his car, Johnny approached her in his striped polo and beige cargo shorts. Too bad she didn’t think he as attractive anymore, all she saw was a pig. He held his hands up and asked her to not hit him or throw things at him. Rolling her blue eyes, Aria crossed her arms over her chest.

It was a very humid and still night, Aria had been outside for like five minutes and she was already feeling beads of sweat forming on the back of her neck. All she wanted to do was go home, get out of her black pants and ugly neon pink polo. Johnny was not apart of that plan, nor was anyone else. The surfer boy walked around his car and stood at the nose of her Chevy, earning a cruel glare from the brunette. If it wasn’t for the rumbling of his car engine and the buzzing of the florescent light overhead, it would be dead silent.

“Stalking me now? Why don’t you get it? I’m a fat bitch and bad in bed? Why come here then?” Aria fired off not waiting for a single moment.

“I don’t know,” Johnny replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“Then leave,” Aria hissed, turning around. “I’m going home.” She unlocked her truck door and climbed inside, slamming her door shut. Johnny just stared at her and walked to the driver side. Turning the key in the ignition, Aria’s truck roared to life. Pulling her door open, Johnny placed his hand on the wheel. She huffed and shook her head, not looking at Johnny for a second.

“Turn it off,” Johnny commanded. Aria furrowed her brows and turned to face Johnny. He was threatening her and that was enough to make her shove him back. As he stumbled back, Aria caught a vile scent like something was burning. “Come here!” Johnny reached for her, grasping her upper arm. Aria yelped and tried to fight him off, but he pulled her from the truck and onto the ground. Grunting, Aria looked up at Johnny as he loomed over to her. He looked different, evil, and dangerous.

“Johnny, stop it!” Aria begged as he knelt down before her and grabbed her by her throat. She gripped his wrist and tried to pry him off of her, but even with all her might, Johnny was unfazed. His hold on her became tighter and tighter, she could barely breathe. “Johnny!” she managed to croak out, but he stood up still holding her. Her feet dangled a few inches from the ground, her face turned beet red, and her hold on his wrist weakened with every passing second.

Gasping for air, Aria felt warm tears rolling down her cheeks. Her vision began to go blurry, but she could tell something was wrong with Johnny. His eyes were solid black and the veins in his face started to bulge from his skin. The veins were a deep purple and made his skin look like it was cracking and peeling away. He didn’t have his usual warm skin tone, instead it was a sickly pale white color. Kicking her feet, Aria tried to hit him, but with the lack of oxygen she had no strength.

Her eyes began to close and she felt like she was falling. Johnny had been knocked back into his red sports car and cried out in pain, but it was more like a piercing screech rather than a human’s common cry. Aria felt herself fall to the ground and began to wheeze and cough uncontrollably. She quickly reached for her throat and tried to crawl away, but her strength was gone. Collapsing on the ground, she rolled onto her back and went wide eyed as she saw a cloaked figure pinning Johnny against the passenger side of the car.

“Return to the pits of hell you disgusting monster,” the cloaked figure commanded in a deep, powerful voice, lifting Johnny up by his neck. “Tell whoever sent you that they have no business in my territory.” Aria panted heavily and watched as Johnny burst into ash and fell into a messy pile on the asphalt. Shivering, Aria tried to stand up, but couldn’t manage it. The cloaked figure knelt down to the ground and took a handful of the ash. She couldn’t really tell what he was doing, but she could tell he had brought it up to his face.

Her back came up to a tree, which she used as a crutch to stand back up. Johnny was gone and this person had saved her, but whether he meant to or not was yet to be determined. Licking her lips, Aria finally got control of her breathing and calmed herself enough to stand straight with the help of the tree. Her rescuer stood up and tossed the ash into the air where it scattered about the parking lot. It just didn’t make sense, Johnny couldn’t have just burst into ash. That kind of stuff only happened in fairytales and horror stories. Aria shook her head, believing it all to be a dream and she would wake up at any moment.

“You were very lucky,” the cloaked stranger said, turning around to face her. She couldn’t see his face, due to the shadow created by his hood. “Had I come any later he would have taken you.”

“What happened to him? Where’s Johnny?” Aria questioned quickly.

“Dead.”

“I don’t understand, he was just here! What did you do? What are you?” She was terrified of what she had just witnessed. Sure, Johnny was acting a bit psychotic, but she never wished for him to die. “Johnny was a good person, a pig, but he didn’t deserve to die!”

“The Johnny you know never existed,” he replied, walking forward. “Now sleep.” His voice echoed in her mind and though she wanted to run, her eyes shut and she fell into his arms.