Consenting Prey

As soon as he entered the club, dim neon lights and loud music engulfed his senses. But what assaulted his nerves was the overwhelming scent of intoxicated blood.

It was so rousing to his bone-dry throat that he had to mentally control his fangs from coming out. Yet he sniffed deeply into the air.

His gesture made a few already tipsy ladies go dizzy with desire.

Luan was indeed a sight to behold, even in the club's dim lighting. With pale white skin, a brown mane of tousled hair, and a lean frame, many hearts skipped a beat when he took his first step toward the crowded dance floor.

"Ahhh! What a perfect hunting ground for me," sensed Luan.

Seeing his effect on the crowd, he felt even more confident and in control despite the nagging thirst that had increased manifolds in this new environment.

He silently scanned the crowd for his first prey. This prey had to be young, healthy, and, most of all, willing. Because, according to Samael, his new mentor, that was the code of his new brethren.

To be honest, Luan liked it this way.

Because even though he did not know who he was in his past life, Luan found it to be a dishonourable idea to force himself upon someone helpless.

He would instead bait and seduce his way through the challenge.

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And finally, after looking for 15 minutes, he spotted her.

She seemed no older than 24. She was sitting alone at the bar, sipping on a colourful cocktail. Her long brown hair fell in waves over her bare shoulders. She was sober, seemed bored, and looked like she did not belong to this shady establishment.

A navy blue tube top showed off her milky white skin perfectly, while tight black jeans hugged her curves in all the right places.

The mere sight of her was enough for an electrifying thunder to pass through Luan's throat. But he resisted. He stood there and studied her for 5 minutes before making his first move.

While he made his way to her, the female he met at Samael's office suddenly crossed his path like some unlucky black cat. Her red hair flowed behind her tantalizingly. She raised her eyebrows and mouthed the words 'tick-tock' for Luan to discern.

'Good, so they are watching me!' Luan put this annoying thought at the back of his mind. He had more pressing matters at hand for now.

Reaching the intended target of the night, Luan sat beside her and slowly turned with a beguiling half-smile toward his prey.

"I do not know your name, but may I call you Destiny?" he drawled in a deep, slightly bored yet bewitching voice. "You might not know this, but whether I live or die now depends completely on you."

Seeing the woman with fiery red eyes and hair reminded him of her last words a few minutes ago—"And if destiny wills your survival, you will find your first prey right there." So here he was, writing his destiny in the most beautiful calligraphy possible.

That's why a deep thrill of hunt coursed through his veins when he spoke these words.

In return, the woman sized him up and took his bold comment as a challenge. She might have found this move incredibly irritating if it had been any other day or person.

After all, she was dead bored and had been stood up by the same guy for the sixth time. But this dashing man's beautiful grey eyes promised her a good time, and her dejected heart needed a sexy distraction.

'Just because my guy doesn't pay me any attention doesn't mean I can't indulge myself with the attention given to me by an attractive stranger,' her petty mind reasoned.

She teasingly replied, "So what does that make you, then? My slave…"

"Call me whatever you want. But as long as you save me, say in the next 55 minutes..." Luan looked at his non-existent watch: "You are my saviour, my enlightenment, and my awakening." He whispered these words while leaning closer and tracing his long, slender fingers on her bare arms.

Destiny shuddered.

"Ahhhh! You are so cold."

"Because deep within, I am already dead. But maybe your warmth can help me survive for a few centuries," he said caressingly.

His steel-grey eyes looked fondly into her pitch-black eyes. And just like that, her eyes dilated deliciously, and her heart skipped a beat.

From there on, Luan fiddled with her attention for as long as his parched senses allowed. But with every passing second, Destiny was becoming breathless, too.

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After around half an hour, Luan noticed the same bulky man from Samael's office slide into the seat on the other side of Destiny.

It was a signal of his time slipping away from him.

Luan leaned in dangerously close to Destiny. His lips almost touching her earlobes when he whispered, "It's getting quite crowded here. Don't you think?"

Because if he delayed any further, his senses might crumble, and he might start tearing into the throat of the first human being he touches.

"Come with me outside," he said hoarsely, looking suggestively at her wine-red lips and tracing his cold fingers on her delicate neck. With her heart in her mouth, she nodded slowly. Luan spotted a side exit door in the club and, through it, took Destiny by her hand to an abandoned alley.

While wondering why this world was full of so many abandoned alleys!

Through her warm palm against his, Luan could feel her heart beating faster with every step, and the scent of her blood was almost driving him mad. He wanted nothing more than to savour her then and there. Yet the rules demanded that he resist.

Once outside in fresh air he suddenly rounded on her and pressed her hard against the wall, gazing deeply into her eyes again. His right hand was placed against the wall, while his left held her two nimble hands above her head.

Destiny's breath hitched, and her heart started pounding to a different rhythm.

"Destiny, save me. I am dying for a taste of you. Let me taste the warmth of your lips, please." He said in a low and seductive voice. He knew that whenever he called her Destiny, her breath seemed to quicken just a notch.

Destiny's nodded in reply to his pleading. She could not say anything, fearing her voice might give away her crumbling self-control and increasing desperation.

She was thoroughly enjoying their thrilling little game of role-play.

Making Luan marvel, did she love to play a saviour in real life, too, primarily for unworthy males?

"Is that a yes? Oh, I beg you to say it out aloud, Destiny." His sing-song voice was hardly begging. It was teasing her. "Your slave won't act until and unless Destiny wills."

"Yes, it is a yes." She said in an urgent whisper, throwing her cares into the air. As if begging him to go ahead and ravish her.

Luan leaned in and started kissing her hungrily, wreaking havoc on her mouth and forcing his tongue inside it. Her pulse was erratic in response. No person had ever kissed her like that.

Luan himself wasn't immune to the kiss that he had started. He was in danger of losing himself completely at this moment. His electric thirst was tearing openly at his throat and chest.

Even though his breath was ragged to the point of breaking, Luan needed her consent. He broke the kiss.

Toying with her, coming in close, but now not kissing anymore. Destiny jerked her closer and tried to take the kiss for herself, but Luan backed his head a notch and tightened his hold on her hands.

The move made Destiny frantic with desperate desire, like a deprived drug addict. Her brown hair was falling over her now flushed face. And her tube top was riding a bit lower than before, showing her ample cleavage.

But she was past caring. All she cared about was Luan's cold yet euphoric lips.

"Destiny, do you want me to taste you? Taste your warmth, mouth, every inch of your body, and blood," Luan whispered breathlessly, looking straight into her face while his finger traced her tremoring collarbone. Destiny's breath quickened further in pure arousal, and her head fell back - exposing her delicious neck.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Her breath was hitched with every single word, her eyes half-closed with pleasure, and she was under his complete control.

That was all that he needed…

Without further ado, Luan tilted his head and attacked her exposed neck with sharp fangs.

Destiny gave a tiny shriek as Luan bit her neck and drank deeply. Feeling the warm blood flowing into his mouth. It tasted sweet and rich, like the finest wine. But as he drank, two things happened:

- Destiny started moaning in profound pleasure, deepening his hunger further.

- His past life started flashing before his open eyes.