Nocticadia: A Dark Academia Gothic Romance

Another glance back at the staircase, and I frowned. No way it should’ve taken that long. The guy was too much of a neat freak to have to rummage through a car for ten minutes. Or maybe it just felt like ten. Either way, I wasn’t sitting around any longer.

I tied my boots, after having stuffed my bloody foot into my white sock, and hobbled my way back up the staircase. It mostly just stung, anyway. Not like I needed surgery on the thing.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I nearly fell backward on seeing Devryck next to his car.

His body twitched and convulsed, and ignoring my foot, I darted toward him. A sharp sting streaked through my knees as I skidded across to him.

“Devryck! Devryck!” Like last time, I turned him on his side and looked around for something to place under his head.

Jumping to my feet, I noticed his coat lying in the backseat, and I snatched it up. As I attempted to crumple it, I felt a hard object inside, and rummaged through the pocket.

A syringe filled with the purple substance.

Breaths heaving, I stared at it in my hands and looked at him, unconscious and seizing.

I could’ve called emergency, but they might not have gotten there in time.

“Fuck!” I took hold of his trembling arm, studying the map of veins sticking up. “Fucking drug addicts do this shit, Lilia. Just give it to him!”

Using the sleeve of his coat, I tied the fabric around his arm like a pathetic tourniquet. An emergency kit lay scattered over the passenger seat, and I rifled through it for an alcohol swab. With trembling hands, I swallowed back the thought that I was too late. That he’d been seizing too long. That his heart may have long since clocked out.

Panic goaded me as I tore open the alcohol packet and scrubbed it over a vein in his forearm. Breathing hard through my nose, I popped the cap of the syringe and lined the needle to his pulsing vessel, the tip of it bouncing with both of our shaking. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Please.

Through a mist of tears, I pushed the needle, praying I hit the spot, and dispensed the fluid into his arm, as I’d watched him do that night in his office. Seconds ticked by, his body still wracked with tremors.

“C’mon, Devryck, please. Please!” I ran my hand over his damp hairline and choked back a sob. “You can’t leave. I won’t let you. You hear me? I won’t let you fucking die. You are my most important thing, and I swear, if you don’t come out of this, I will fucking hunt you down in the afterlife.” More seconds. “Wake up, Devryck!” I scrambled for my phone, tucked inside my bag that I’d left in the car, but by the time I returned to his side, he’d stopped shaking.

A cold hollow expanded inside my chest as I stared down at him lying so still on the ground. No. “Devryck, wake up. Please.”

He didn’t move. His chest didn’t move. Eyes didn’t flutter. There was nothing but a sickening stillness that tore at my ribs.

Dread stirred in my gut. It slithered up into my chest and wrapped its cold fingers around my heart, squeezing until I couldn’t breathe. I shook my head, falling beside him once more. “No. No!” I punched his chest.

His lips parted for a loud gasp of breath. Another gasp. And another. Eyes still closed, he rolled his head to the side, and on a terrified wheeze of relief, I zeroed in on his chest, clocking each rise and fall that told me he was breathing. It was then I noticed the sweat sticking to his face and neck.

With the inner part of my wrist, I felt his forehead and cheek. “Oh, God, you’re burning up.”

I needed to get him somewhere I could administer some water and something to bring down his fever. My dorm certainly wasn’t an option, and I’d never been to his staff apartment on campus. The hospital maybe, but what if they did a blood test and found the toxin? Could he have gotten in trouble for that?

He let out a quiet grunt, but when I lifted his eyelid, his eyes remained staring, pupils constricted. Unconscious.

I shoved my arms under his armpits and lifted his upper half. The guy was so bulky and heavy, I could hardly manage, but after a few deep breaths, I strained my muscles and turned him just enough to pull him into the backseat of his car. Awkwardly fumbling to heft him onto the seat, I heaved out of breath with the toil, and shifted his legs over the seat to close him in.

It’d been a few years since I’d driven a car, and as I slid into the driver’s seat, anxiety coiled itself around my nerves. I fired up the engine and drove back toward Emberwick, which we’d passed on the way. In the backseat, Devryck groaned and grunted, and when I peeked in the rearview, I caught the shine of sweat thick on his body. Minutes later, I finally reached the downtown area and pulled into a spot in front of the apothecary I’d visited weeks back. Leaving him in the car with the windows cracked, I jumped out and dashed into the shop, where the older woman who’d helped me before greeted me with a smile.

The smile faded as she seemed to catch on that something was wrong.

“I need help! My … my … professor. He’s got a fever. He’s burning up pretty bad.”

“Oh, my!” She shuffled around the shop, grabbing various things from the shelves. My mind was so wired and wound around Devryck’s condition, I didn’t even notice what she’d grabbed. The two of us dashed out into the parking lot, and she opened the door, sliding into the narrow space between him and the front seats.

“Oh, he is very warm. Very warm.”

I waited outside the car, pacing, biting my nails. I’d always put a lot of faith into holistic medicine, but what if it didn’t work? What if the toxins screwed with the healing properties of the herbs?

She dragged a cool cloth over his brow and left it there, before crawling her way back out of the vehicle. “I’m going to make him some iced black rock tea. It sometimes helped bring my son’s fever down. Just cool him with the cloth. I’ll be right back.”

With a tearful nod, I slid between the seats, as she had, noticing that she’d unbuttoned his shirt and rested his head on his crumpled coat. It took me back to the day in his office, when he’d yelled at me for using it. The thought somehow managed to break through my fear, and I chuckled.

“If you don’t come out of this, I’m burning all of your expensive coats.”

“You’re not … burning … my coats,” he mumbled, and a wheeze of elation shook my muscles.

“Devryck? Open your eyes. I need to see that you’re okay.”

He squinted and grimaced, as he shifted on the seat, but he opened his lids to show those beautiful, fiery eyes. Though his pupils were blown, he seemed to have awareness. Lucidity.

I brushed the hair from his damp forehead and shuddered out a panicked breath. “You scared the shit out of me. What the hell happened back there?”

“The … toxin … stopped working.”

Disappointment loomed like a dark cloud between us. “Why? I thought you figured out how to make it sustainable?”

“I … was wrong.”

“I administered the dose in your coat. Are you mad?”

“Mad … that you … saved my life?”

A frustrated chuckle escaped me. I didn’t want to laugh, damn it. That whole scenario still had me shaking.

“Here,” the woman said, as she passed me a tall glass of black liquid whose surface sparkled as if there were diamonds in it. “Have him drink some of this.”

“What is it?” Devryck asked, his voice delirious.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re drinking it whether you like it, or not. I saved your life, therefore you have to listen to what I tell you.”

“Fuck. You’re going to … hold this over me. Aren’t you?”

“For as long as necessary. Now, drink.” Steadying his arm, I helped him as much as I could, as he scooted himself to a sitting position.

He frowned, as if still in pain, and the sweat still clung to his chest and neck. With an unamused expression, he took the drink from me and sipped it. With a slight raise of his glass, he nodded at the woman. “Thank you.”

“I’ll be back to check on you in a minute, okay?”

“Oh! What’s your name?” I asked, before she walked off.

“Francesca.”

The sound of that name rippled across my heart, and I wondered if she’d been the one to inspire my mother’s alias. “I’m Lilia. Thank you.”

With a wink, she hustled into the store, and I turned back to Professor Bramwell.

“So, what … you can’t feel anymore? Is that why you’ve avoided touching me today?”

Brows lowered, he stared down at his drink. “Perhaps the most vindictive torment was having a brief moment of knowing what you felt like.”

“So, what does this mean?”

“Back to the drawing board.” On a sigh, he took another sip, longer than the last, and handed me the glass. “Not a fan of tea. Not even your disturbing gothic variety.”

Through an uneasy smile, I accepted the glass and stared down at the sparkling fluids. “It’s black rock. And it’s apparently very hard to come by, so I’m not letting this go to waste.” I chugged the rest of it, which wasn’t a whole lot, and wiped my mouth on the back of my hand. Another failure meant that he was at risk again. That he might’ve died in my arms back at that cove. I didn’t even want to think about what might’ve happened back there. “I think it’s pretty good, actually.” Pushing away those somber thoughts, because goddamn it, he’d be fine, I smiled. “How does it feel to know I just swallowed your spit?” I asked and forced a chuckle, desperate for distraction.

“You’ve swallowed worse.” He groaned and pushed himself forward, toward the passenger door. “Let’s get out of here before she brings more of that shit.”

“Be nice. She’s the reason you’re not having a febrile seizure right now.”

“The toxin is the reason. But I suspect this dose won’t last more than a couple days. The seizures will get worse. So, I should get back to the lab.”

I scrambled out of the backseat, allowing him to stand up alongside the car, and when he did, he tottered to the side a step. “Maybe I should drive?”

“Maybe not. I just need a minute.”

“I’m going to thank Francesca again and let her know you’re okay. You’re sure you’re okay to drive?”

“I’m fine.”

“Okay, be right back.” I jogged back into the shop, where Francesca greeted me with a smile, and as I handed off the empty glass, she held up a bag for me. “A bit more black rock tea.”

“Oh, no. I can’t. You’ve given me so much already.”

“Please. In case his fever returns.” As she handed it off to me, she clutched my hand in hers. “He’s a Bramwell.”

“Yes.” I hesitated to admit it, though, already suspicious of her opinions.

“They’ve lived on this island a number of years. Just be careful, dear.”

I offered a smile, in spite of the urge to tell her that what she’d heard about Devryck was nothing but gossip. “I will.”

“Take care.”

When I exited the store, Bramwell was already in the driver’s seat, the car revving as he teased me to hurry up. I slid into the passenger side, and he took off back toward the university.

“I have to leave on business for a couple of days,” he said, glancing over at me.

“Oh. Okay.” Man, today turned out to be a roller coaster, what with Gilchrist’s visit and what’d happened at the beach. Now the disappointment of him leaving.

“Have you registered for next semester?”

I’d gotten the email from Langmore, but hadn’t taken the time to do that yet. “No, not yet. I will.”

“Good. I’m going to pre-approve you for the second semester neuroparasitology. And my gross anatomy lab.”

“I thought that was reserved for med students,” I countered.

“It is. But I’m the professor. I can add whoever the hell I want, if I think they’re smart enough to keep up. So, make sure to add that one.”

A smile teased my lips. “What if I don’t want to take it?”

“You’ll take it whether you want it, or not.” He gripped my thigh and quickly recoiled, jerking the car with his movement. Frowning, he held up his hand, twisting it around as if it were something foreign in front of him.

“What’s wrong?”

“My sense of feeling’s returned.”

I glanced at his hand and back. “That’s fantastic.”

“That’s impossible.” He pulled the car over, off the main road, and down some obscure little side street. As the car skidded to a stop, he depressed the lighter. When it popped, he held the heated end of it near his skin, and his frown deepened. “It’s reversed.”

“The toxin is working, then?”

“I don’t think so.” He flexed his hand and curled it into a fist. “I was still numb after the injection.”

Puzzled, I shook my head. “Then, how?”

“What did she give me back at the apothecary?”

“I didn’t see everything, just kali phos, I think. And elderflower. And the tea, of course.” I tugged the small satchel she’d gifted from my bag and handed it to him.

He snatched it out of my hands and held it up to the light, where the sparkling surface glinted through the bag. “Lilia … this might be what’s been missing. This might be what can sustain the toxin.”

“I mean … it would make sense, right? The birds that don’t get infected. The … the … the … natives who used the black stones as teeth.” I gestured toward my own, noticing the tremble from excitement running through me.

“I have to test it. To make sure it doesn’t degrade the toxin, at all. But you might’ve just figured out a brilliant complement.”

“Well, technically, I didn’t–” Before I could finish, he dragged my face to his, crushing my lips with a kiss.

“Get over here,” he said, pushing the seat back to a lying position. “Get the fuck over here.” The rough and needy tone of his voice mirrored the need pulsing through me. After the stress of earlier, I’d had a rush of pure adrenaline pumping through me. The prospect of burning it off enticed me enough to move without thinking too much about how the hell we were going to do so in his car.

I climbed over the console and straddled his knees in the cramped seat, the steering wheel pressed against my back, as he hustled to unbuckle his pants.

With hasty hands, he sprang himself free and hiked up my dress. “The condom,” he said, staring up at me. The dangerous turbulence in his eyes sent my heart in a frenzy. He looked at me as though he were fantasizing his baby in me, then quickly blinked out of it.

Groaning, he lifted his hips just enough to nudge me upward. He stuffed his hands down into his shrugged pants pocket, and after tearing it out of the package, he smoothed the condom over his jutting shaft.

I only just pulled my panties aside, before he took hold of my hips and brought me down over his groin. Already wet, I sank onto him with ease, biting my lower lip as his cock filled and stretched me.

“Fuuuuck!” He tipped his head back, eyes lost to ecstasy.

Hand to my nape, he dragged me in for a kiss and pressed our foreheads together.

My hand shot out against the window, fingers scratching at the glass, desperate to clutch something. To tear and scratch and claw. My hands longed to destroy, the way he destroyed me from the inside, turning me ravenous and greedy for him.

“You’re the fever in my veins,” he said through clenched teeth, as he drove into me with furious determination. “An incurable madness I can’t shake. Fucking you is the only thing that keeps me sane, Lilia.” He fused our lips together, stealing my breath, and when he broke away, his hand moved to my throat, squeezing just enough to part my lips and trap the next breath. A dizzying euphoria swept over me, and my body jostled as he tore the bust of my dress down, exposing my breasts so they bounced and jiggled with every decimating thrust. “This pussy is all I think about. All I crave. You’ve infected every part of me, and I can’t stop. I can’t stop this obsession.”

The lack of air, his words, and the feel of his cock filling me had my head in chaos, my body in a state of paralysis. He squeezed tighter and a mewling sound spilled from my lips.

“No. No quiet sounds from you. I want to hear you fucking scream. You’re in the throes of fire now, Little Moth. Show me how much it burns.” He loosened his hold just enough that I let out a hoarse and throaty moan.

I gripped the seat behind him and rode him hard, relishing the pained look of ecstasy on his face when he tipped his head back, jaw tight, veins popping from his neck.

“Ahhh, fuck!” His fingers dug into my hips, as I upped the pace, the wet sounds a testament to how hot the man made me.

“I want to feel you come all over my cock.” he rasped.

The car jerked and bounced with his aggressive thrusts.

My moans escalated as a hot, coiling pleasure surged through me.

I clenched my eyes, but opened them at a grip of my nape.

“Eyes on me. I want to watch you come.”

A bolt of lightning struck my muscles, pulling them to a wire of tension, and his name reverberated inside my skull as I screamed it over and over.

He crushed his lips against mine and bit my lower lip as he pulled away. “You are a merciless vision of perfection.”

His hips shifted below, urging me up, and he lifted the hem of my dress as he pulled out of me and slid off the condom, tossing it into a trash receptacle beside him. While I settled back on his thighs, he continued to thrash his cock, and seconds later, hot jets painted my thighs, as he directed his release across my flesh.

With his lip caught between his teeth, brows pulled tight, neck shimmering with the sweat of his rough and overworked body, he grunted, watching himself come all over me. As if he was marking me. Making me as his.

The sight of it made my womb clench.

He pulled me on top of him, holding me there, and I rested my head against his marble chest, hearing his heart beat a wild cadence. Such a beautiful sound after what had happened earlier. “We probably shouldn’t have done this here. Out in the open.”

I smiled, my cheek still pressed to his warm skin. Although I hadn’t seen another car, or house, in sight when he’d pulled off, he was probably right. We needed to be more careful, though admittedly, that had been part of the thrill for me. My hair lay plastered to my damp skin, the windows fogged with our intense fucking. “Devryck,” I said breathlessly, every muscle spent and liquefied. “I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“This is beginning to feel like more than just sex for me.”

“So, why does this scare you?”

“Because I can’t see past the void, and it feels like this is when things fall apart.” The sting in my eyes was an irritating nuisance. I didn’t want to cry in front of him. Not after this. My emotions felt like livewires bouncing on hot sparks. “If you ditch me now, if you cast me aside–”

“Hey.” Fingers tangled into a tight grip at my crown, and he pulled my head back, staring down at me. “You don’t have to be scared. I will never hurt you, Lilia. In fact, I’ll rain hell on anyone who ever hurts you again.”

I loved him. Every cell, every fiber of my being couldn’t hide that truth. Even if I wasn’t bold enough to say it or brave enough to risk the universe stealing it away from me, the words were as real as my fears.

The words I kept secret like all my other trinkets–safely tucked away.