The Deathly Kiss

Three

She slept like the dead and woke sometime around noon. She glanced at herself in the tall mirror on her dresser. Her hair was tangled from drying as she slept. She looked rested, but she felt much more unhinged now that she was less exhausted. Part of her felt like it all had to have been a dream, but Ivan's shirt draped over her body made it undeniably real.

She peeled off the large gray sweatpants he'd dressed her in and folded them. She put on a shirt beneath the large flannel, but somehow couldn't manage to take it off for long. It felt like a shield. It felt safe to be inside where he'd once stood. And if it was kindness that bestowed this shirt on her after he'd let her run home, she wanted to remind him of that kindness. Also, she needed to keep the visible proof it all had happened...

She felt hunger but was conflicted to go down the stairs. If she left this room it felt like pressing resume on an impossible situation. She looked at her bloodied sneakers and stuffed them far underneath the bed.

She pulled her body into the bathroom and re-wet her hair and washed her face, checking for any signs she'd been covered in gore only a few hours ago and saw none. Her hair smelled like tea tree, like his shampoo. 

All of the men she'd known used the shitty all-in-one stuff. Leave it to the...creature-man...to actually take care of himself. It was kind of funny in retrospect. If she felt like she could laugh she might have at the thought.

She pinned her hair in a pile of a bun on top of her head and added small silver clips to keep it in place. She pulled out her blue-light glasses and her ipad and apple pencil and put them in a small saddle bag. She wore white sneakers and socks and a pair of black leggings. She felt strange, but she thought she looked normal, for her anyway.

She descended the stairs to find Pop's in the kitchen making lunch.

"She lives." He joked. And boy, he had no idea how unsure she'd been she would this long.

"Morning."

"Rough sleep? I heard you go out last night." She paused as she placed the kettle on the stove.

"Yeah just some insomnia. I'm fine now."

"You never used to be a light sleeper. What are your plans today?" 

"I was thinking I'd go draw somewhere for a bit, unless you need help with anything."

"Actually you could do me a favor. Do you mind bringing this sandwich out to Ivan? He's been up since god-knows this morning cleaning the barn."

She felt ice shoot through her veins.

"What happened in the barn?" She wondered how he'd spun it.

"Oh...some animal got in last night and took a good chunk out of one of the horses necks. The one it got too was actually set to be put down soon. Bad broken leg. Couldn't stand. Wasn't gonna last much longer anyways, but it's a shame how it died. Ivan was already out there burying it when I came across him this morning after he texted me. Blood everywhere though. Should be all cleaned up now so don't worry. He's just out there straightening up now"

He handed her two sandwich bags.

"There's one for you there too. Don't be skipping breakfast anymore, ok."

She nodded, playing it cool, and took a sip from her mug of earl gray and started walking towards the barn. She eyed her car at the end of the drive... she could run. He'd let her go, but could she really face him again after that? She froze and felt a tug of...sorrow at her heart. Could she leave was the question. She had nothing and no one else. This was her home. How could she leave Pops alone here now after what she'd seen. If he wanted her dead...well she would be. In a corner of her thoughts she acknowledged the kiss...kisses. The memory made her heart race, but she didn't want to think of what that meant right now. Somewhere in her wires had to be crossed between fear and...attraction. She took one last glance at her car, but like anyone...who was she kidding, she already knew what she was going to do. To pretend she might do the smart thing was a farce. She just couldn't.

...

Ivan was sweeping when she approached. His body went stiff as he heard her steps even though his back was to her. He stopped the motion of the broom and turned, staring directly into her eyes.

"Jane." She glanced down at the brown bag in her hand and held it out to him.

"Are you hungry?" And her heart skipped at her choice of wording and the fresh images they summoned. She just watched this man tear apart a farm animal. "Pop's made lunch."

He leaned the broom against a hay bale and approached her, taking the bag from her hand. His eyes never left hers.

He finally looked away, sat on a crate and opened the bag. He didn't seem intent to hurt her as of right now. She glanced down at her own sack lunch and decided to sit on a crate across from him. He looked up in surprise as she sat down and began to eat her own sandwich. This from the man who's just taken a bloody shower with her...but eating in the same place alarmed him? She glanced to the left where the horse and her had been laying just a few hours ago.

There was no trace of the carnage anymore. It was all washed away. She thought it was strange she'd gone from that to sitting across from that man eating ham and swiss on rye in a matter of hours. But whatever survival instincts she had quieted when she was around him. Maybe that was some sort of pheromone he gave off or spell...She still knew he could snap her in half and yet, as he was now, sweeping the barn and eating a sandwich her grandfather had made him, he seemed sad. She realized his eyes were on her face intently. She turned and met his gaze again.

"No one would know it ever happened." Because fuck, why not. She thought she could just act normally, but she couldn't and she wouldn't dance around it. It would just leave her without any explanations...She was used to strange. Even if she didn't talk about it to anyone else. She had nowhere else to go until she could find work and save. She'd already prepared herself to experience pain and fear when she came here, without knowing of him. And with him...She had to live with him there unless he decided otherwise.

Suddenly she wasn't on the crate anymore. She was being dragged by her legs, by her waist; her arms. He was growling like a beast, lifting her up higher and higher onto the upper level of the barn. She was thrown down on a pile of hay, roughly. He was on her, pinning her beneath him.

"Do you think this is a joke?" He snarled. Eyes black and dripping some sort of black, inky substance down his cheeks. "I let you run and you took a nap. You should have run FAR AWAY."

"Do you want me to leave?" Feeling daring she leaned up until their noses touched. "Do you want me to, Ivan?" His mouth unleashed a series of deadly noises. She felt fire in her blood. She felt a tug pulling her closer and closer to him. It was addictive and she couldn't resist. She kissed his snarling mouth into compliance. He groaned like she'd burned him. His body shook and his lips began sliding against her as she pulled him in closer.

His arms wrapped around her, hanging on like she'd disappear. The kiss turned hungry. He wrapped her legs around his hips, settling between her thighs. She moaned and the sound has him release a very human sound of ecstasy. The shirt she was wearing was shoved up, revealing her soft belly and the thin cream bralette she had on beneath it. He moved downward to suck kisses around her navel.

"I want you." She moaned, half delirious from how perfect his hands and lips felt. She felt him hardening against her thigh as he reached her breasts, and she mewed as he pushed up thin fabric and began sucking at her nipples and soft skin. His hips thrust against he thigh out of what seemed to be pure instinct. He moaned. Fuck that sound made her feel like she was dying. Everything besides him felt blurry.

His eyes were pitch black, the whole eye. She felt him panting against her chest before pulling back to stare up at her flushed face.

"Ivan." She whispered.

"We can't." And he was gone. Like in the cottage. But this time she saw traces of the black tears that'd dripped onto her belly. He wanted her. She felt it.