A Smell So Sweet by BelovedStranger

Dark Desires III

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The final instalment for the Dark Desires lemon trilogy is now complete! I plan to make it easier for readers and put all three closer together instead of spread throughout the lemon oneshot collection. There will be TWO more oneshots after this one, then Stella Mira’s Spicy Challenge will be complete, which will bring ‘A Smell So Sweet’ to an end.

Prompt: Basil

I did not use the spice by name but used a historical note at the end of this chapter if any are curious.

When hot liquid burned her lips, her tongue unconsciously licked at it, scraping against strong muscles, but the taste of copper made her recoil. The pleasure-haze Kagome had been in not a second ago vanished as she recalled her lover’s words.

“Drink, my aijin, my Kagome. Be mine forever.”

Then the memory of being bitten before that filtered through her fuzzy mind. Another drop of poison on her tongue. She shoved against Sesshomaru’s chest and turned her head to the side, ignoring the blood dripping down her chin and across her cheek after accidently rubbing it in the blood spilling down his chest.

“No!” She shoved again but was unable to move the immovable. “Sesshomaru?! What are you doing?!”

His voice was firm when he answered. “Making you like me.”

“But why?!” She would have said more, but going from blissful and relaxed after her last orgasm to confusion at his actions left her incapable of thinking properly. His face was without inflection as she glanced up at him. He didn’t seem displeased by her refusal but neither did he have that far too erotic look while they were…previously engaged with each other. Instead of her dark lover staring down at her so intently, a stranger took his place, and that was really what he was, wasn’t he? A stranger.

“I have lived for centuries; no, longer yet,” he began in a cool, unaffected voice, very different from his heated murmurs. “More importantly, I am the king amongst vampire kind. Do you understand what that means, how long I have lived?”

Vampire…king..? her mind recited. Blinking up at him, her eyes going wide as the full weight of the implications he’d said settled upon her mind, she realized she’d probably gotten herself in to more than she might be able to handle. She shook her head in answer. She wasn’t sure what answer he was looking for, so decided silence was her best option.

Now he stroked her hair in a gentle caress, but though his actions were tender, his expression had not changed, and for some reason, her eyes were drawn to his lips. They were painted red from her blood. Her neck began to burn where he’d bitten her, but Kagome stifled the urge to cover it with her hand. It was more of a dull ache than real pain, anyway.

“It means that I have lived a very long time, that few things give me genuine pleasure, and you, little mortal, have reminded me why this world is still worth living in.”

“I don’t…understand,” she whispered.

His hand stroked down the side of her face, along her cheek bone, down to her jaw, before his thumb rubbed over her lower lip. When he drew back, she saw a spot of blood on his thumb before he stuck it in his mouth and licked it away. The sight tightened things low in her abdomen.

Reaching down, he cupped her left breast, using his wet thumb to roll her nipple until it hardened beneath his touch. Kagome shuddered but not in distaste. No, as always, she responded to his touch, yearning for more even though they’d already done it—how many times already?

“We are compatible, you and I, Kagome. After this night, I have come to realize just how greatly.” He scraped a deadly claw gently against her puckered flesh, eliciting a hiss of pleasure from her. “You fulfil my every dark desire. Can you truly say that any other man can ever satisfy you as completely as I have?” Now he whispered to her as before, wickedly, temptingly. That voice of his effortlessly turned her mind away from fighting him and into compliancy. It was dangerous; he was dangerous, and that was why she craved him so intensely.

No. No one else had ever satisfied the sexually submissive woman she knew herself to be, a woman who waited for the right partner to take her to heights she’d never dreamed of or could accomplish on her own. Sesshomaru had given her a mere taste this night of realizing that all her darkest fantasies could become a reality. How could she fight against the one thing she’d ever wanted?

Her eyes flickered open without her realizing she had closed them, only to see the dried trail of crimson stain his chest. The wound he had made was already closed, leaving no trace of its existence save for the blood. And then she knew. What he offered, tempted her with, was not a choice she could make lightly, and really, no matter how compatible they were in bed, that didn’t make for a start into eternity. And that was precisely what he offered her—eternity. Her human mind could not grasp the enormity of that one, simple word that held a world of complexity.

She grabbed Sesshomaru’s wrist and stared up into his blood red eyes—inhuman eyes. They only confirmed the enormity of his ‘gift’, made her claw her way back from the pleasurable haze his sinful touch invoked, back to sanity.

“Being good in bed is not nearly enough reason to become like you,” she said bluntly in a low voice.

“Then tell me what you believe to be a sufficient reason,” he compelled her, tightening his hold around her breast, before leaning down to tease the tip with his tongue.

Her right hand burrowed into his hair, and against her will, she held him to her instead of pushing him away like she should have been doing.

“We’re strangers,” she gasped out, writhing beneath him as he suckled her. A prick of fang, a sting of pain, and she cried out, arching her back into his mouth when he suckled stronger, drinking the drop of blood he’d spilled.

“That did not stop you from coming to my home and into my bed,” he replied, enticing her.

“That’s…different…” she panted.

“Hn, is it really?” he chuckled with dark amusement.

Out of nowhere, the realization that Sesshomaru didn’t need the chains and toys lined along the walls to restrain her and give her that little bite of pain she craved during sex filtered through her mind. Even as he captured her right wrist and held it to the bed beside her head, she knew the strength he kept in check. He didn’t have to tie her down to make her helpless. He didn’t need ropes and chains to restrain her. His hands were stronger than any metal known to mankind. If he so chose, he could literally tear her apart.

Instead of being afraid, a thrill of excitement sizzled across her nerve endings, heating her blood, and flooding her sex with her excitement. No, he didn’t even need the whips and canes or other toys to give her that sting, the burn that came with a well-placed lash either. His claws had cut her, his fangs had easily pierced her flesh. Even as he suckled at her breast like a man starved, the sting from his fang, that tiny cut, made the pleasure more intense as a wave of endorphins flooded her mind.

“You understand now, don’t you?” Sesshomaru asked her, his hot breath bathing her flesh. Had he read her mind? “Only I can give you what you need.”

He kissed her, chastely, tenderly and spoke against her lips. “Take what I offer, aijin, what I offer freely.”

She had enough sanity left to stand firm. “No, Sesshomaru. I know we haven’t discussed limits or safe words but my safe word is red. Red.”

Kagome watched his face as he leaned back to stare down at her, making sure there were no signs of anger or displeasure at her continual negative response to her becoming a creature of the night—a vampire. She saw neither. And thankfully, he didn’t hide behind that emotionless mask he’d done a few minutes before. Instead, he let her see the calm acceptance in his gaze, felt it in his relaxed muscles. She couldn’t help but smile, albeit a small one, at the realization that he was the perfect Dom, and that was exactly what he was.

From the very beginning, she realized, he’d tested her, seeing if she was interested in the same erotic fantasy as he. When she’d insanely accepted his offer to share the night with him, she hadn’t realized what he was, but she’d learned rather quickly, as he had learned that she was submissive. The submissive in her warmed at the realization that she’d pleased him—to the extreme that he wanted to keep her forever by his side. Or at least for longer than her limited, human years.

And like any good Dom, Sesshomaru asked, “Would you like to completely stop, aijin? Tell me what you desire and I shall give it.”

It was a dangerous game they played because if things got out of hand, things would end badly. There had to be complete trust in each other or any future together would be gone. Relaxing beneath him, letting all her tense muscles become lax, Kagome released his wrist and stroked his back. Using her nails against his spine, she felt him tremble, and she couldn’t control the smirk that formed on her lips.

“I don’t want you to completely stop. Just no blood exchanging.”

Now he chuckled, but the sound held no amusement, only wicked promise. “For now. One day you will beg to drink from me.” He kissed her. “Patience is one virtue I have long since learned to utilize.” The next kiss was scorching in its intensity, awakening her desires with merely a dueling of tongues, a scraping of teeth.

A sharp fang nicked her tongue. A sting of pain, the taste of copper, and with a deep groan, Sesshomaru ate at her mouth, sipping at the drop of blood. The next time her tongue came in contact with that wicked point was on purpose. More blood, more eager sounds emanating from her dark lover. He pinched her nipples in encouragement of her actions. Kagome did not mind the small taste of her blood. In fact, Sesshomaru’s animalistic nature fueled her desire.

However, soon his mouth moved across her cheek, along her neck and kissed his previous bite. In apology? Or another promise for the future? She almost wished he’d take her vein again, because after the initial shock, ecstasy erased any discomfort, but he continued south. His fangs grazed her collarbone without piercing flesh. She swallowed thickly, but not from fear, trembling in his arms.

He found her breast again, capturing her nipple. His mouth opened wider, taking as much of her breast as he could, and this time, he was not as careful with his fangs. The points pierced her flesh enough to draw blood. She flinched ever so slightly. Then he drew back and they both watched as her rapid breathing forced two thin trail’s down towards her collar bone. With a few licks, he mapped the path her blood had taken before lapping at the tiny pinpricks.

Crimson eyes watched her intently, and Kagome knew what he was silently asking. Nodding her head, she signaled that what he was doing was alright—more than alright; it felt good. While he moved to her other breast, he squeezed the abandoned mound and lashed her neglected nipple with his tongue. After one pass, he revealed one of his fangs, let her see it, waited until she watched, and pricked her nipple. Her back arched on a gasp of pleasure, but as if he knew how she’d react, he restrained her. Forcing her to remain flat on her back as he licked the drop of blood away, his eyes burned like fire as he stared up at her.

She reached for him, she couldn’t help it. She wanted to feel his hot flesh beneath her fingers tips, but before she could, he caught her wrists and pinned her hands in one of his own above her head. Just to test his strength, she pulled tentatively. Even as she realized she’d never be able to break his hold—not that she wanted to—Sesshomaru bit the swell of her breast in reprimand—hard. With a strangled sound getting caught in her throat at the flare of pain, his tongue lathered her abused flesh, and pleasure took its place.

“Mmm, Sesshomaru…” she murmured.

“Does the sight of your blood excite you?” he asked huskily.

She nodded and arched her back, presenting her breasts to him in open invitation. His free arm went under her hips, pulling her butt off the bed, and rubbed his thick erection against the mound between her thighs.

“Wrap your legs around me,” he instructed.

He didn’t have to ask twice. She complied with a small cry of surrender, knowing what was about to happen next before— Sesshomaru pressed against her opening, then thrust, forcing his thick length inside her. He didn’t prep her for his invasion, didn’t ease into her, but forced her inner walls to accept him in one strong lunge. Though she was already wet and more than a little aroused, there was still that initial stab of discomfort. And instead of waiting for her to accustom herself with his length and girth, he started a rough pounding that left her breathless.

She writhed beneath him, strained closer, her moans and whimpers encouraging him to continue. Kagome didn’t want him to be gentle. She needed more and he seemed to sense that. He gave, she took. His hand tightened around her wrists and leaned more heavily on them. She hardly noticed as she watched him curl over her, saw how is defined abs bunched repeatedly as he thrust over and over again. Glancing further down their sweat slicked bodies, she was given the perfect view in her raised position to his possession of her body.

The erotic sight made her cry out sharply and the next forward lunge had her tumbling into a mind-numbing climax. Her scream of rapture was stolen as Sesshomaru kissed her deeply. She wasn’t the only one making pleasurable sounds. Amongst the noise of slapping, wet flesh, his guttural groans reached her ears. Another orgasm hit right after the first, or was it a continuation of the first, merely prolonged? She didn’t know, was past the point of coherent thought.

She was just coming down from her pleasure induced high when she felt Sesshomaru’s controlled, albeit fast, pace become erratic. Losing all rhythm, she gazed up at him with rapt attention, though she saw dark spots before her eyes. Possibly from the combination of blood loss and multiple orgasms, she knew she would pass out soon, but his intense expression anchored her to the land of consciousness.

His eyes were squeezed shut and a snarl curled his lips, revealing his fangs as he was lost to his own pleasure. She’d never really gotten to watch him before like this, to witness him consumed body and mind with the need to reach his own peak. His features were stark, sharp bones and fine lines, as beautiful as it was intense. She saw the exact moment before he came. A snarl no human throat could ever make erupted around them before he threw his head back, silver locks flowing around him as he arched his back and thrust one last time inside her, as deep as he could go.

It jarred her, but he kept her in place as warmth flooded her womb. Then darkness flooded her vision and she knew no more as sleep dragged her down into a dark abyss.

Basil

Basil, also known as St. Josephs Wort and sweet basil, is one of the most popular herbs used in cooking. It is a low growing herb with tender, light green large leaves. The leaves grow with a silky look to them, while the flowers on the basil leaves grow to be very large and with a wonderful pure white color to them. Depending on the species and cultivar, the leaves may taste somewhat like anise, with a strong, pungent, often sweet smell. It has been around for thousands of years and over the years the plant has been linked with closely with folklore and mythology. The word basil is a Greek word that means king. In Greek history, basil had great respect from the culture. Basil was used by the Greek and English royalty for their baths, and medicine. Hence why the word basil is still referred to as "the king of herbs" from world-renowned chefs.

In India where it grew originally, it was held in great admiration and was actually used in courtrooms to have the Indians swear their oaths upon. In Italy however, basil symbolizes love. When an Italian suitor wanted to show his love he would place a sprig of basil in his hair to win his hearts desire. It is the same in Mexico where people would keep basil in their pockets in hopes that the man or woman that they loved would return their love forever. In Romania, they followed much of the same legend, where the man would give basil to his love and they would officially be engaged. In ancient Rome basil was called it Basilescus, which refers to the Basilisk, the fire-breathing dragon. As legend says, if you took basil every day then it would ward off attacks from the beast. For many cultures and lands, basil was so much more than an herb to eat, it was a way of life.