All Souls’ Night: A Midnight Doms Boxset

by Renee Rose

  I can still feel Arneis everywhere. On my tongue, between my thighs, and worse… in my heart.

  “I’m just tired, Fayola. I think I’ll rest for the day while you and the queen go to the Serranos’ meeting.”

  Staying in bed will also give me an excuse to not see the queen. Sooner or later, she will hear of my dealings at Club Toxic last night. Will she cast me out? And for which transgression? Attempting to take the meeting with the Serranos? Exposing the supernatural world to humans? Or having a sexual encounter with a man?

  Whatever punishment she metes out to me, I will take it, even though I have already learned the error of my ways. Queen Malika was right to keep us from the vile creatures known as man. One brought me to such heights of pleasure, only to dash me down into unimaginable pain.

  I know now why the queen cuts off that appendage of any man who wants to remain in her presence. She has only been trying to protect herself and her daughters from men’s treachery.

  I wonder if the queen has ever had her own intimate encounters with men. If she had had a night like mine, she certainly wouldn’t have cut off Arneis’s member. Even though his words after the act had cut deep, the way he’d kissed my body and moved inside of me had been magic.

  “Well, you’re going to have to rally,” Fay says, rising from the bed. “The queen mother is looking for you.”

  I let out a long and weary sigh. It’s time to face the drums.

  So, he’s done it. Part of me hadn’t believed he truly would: that he would expose not just my fangs, but my body to the world. He’d put on display what we shared between us like it meant nothing. Likely because it hadn’t meant anything to him.

  I dress in a colorful bazin. The vibrant cloth is a trademark of my mother’s people, from the western part of the African continent. I pull on the cowrie shell necklace that was an heirloom from Queen Amina, the warrior regent and my great, great grandmother. If I am going to be chastised or cast out, it will be with my head held high like my fearless ancestor.

  When I walk into the room where the queen is, I see that she is feeding. Queen Malika’s braids fall forward, obscuring her face as her fangs sink into the neck of the man on his knees. The man’s face is docile as she takes her meal. His hands are clasped in front of him in his lap, where his member would lie if he still had it attached.

  But there is pleasure on his features. I know that a vampire’s bite can be enjoyable to humans. However, I suspect the gratification on this man’s face has more to do with serving his queen than sexual stimulation.

  When I bit into Arneis’s jugular, he groaned with pleasure. I knew it was pleasure because I felt his cock pressing into me and spending.

  Queen Malika unlatches from the blood servant’s neck, and the man sags. Am I imagining things, or did his eyes flutter? He keeps his eyes closed, his features going docile once more.

  The queen dabs at her mouth with a cloth. “Good evening, hartlam. Have you eaten?”

  Hartlam? Eaten? Where is the ire, the anger over what I’ve cost the race of vampires the world over?

  “You’ll need to hurry,” the queen says. “We’re leaving in a quarter-hour.”

  “Leaving?”

  So this is it. She’s sending me back across the ocean. Even if I had wanted to search for Arneis, I won’t be able to. I will truly never see him again.

  “Yes,” says the queen. “Our meeting with the Serranos is in an hour. There’s an awful belief about the Africans who were stolen from the motherland and brought here. The notion is that they are always late to functions. They call it CP time. I don’t know what it stands for but it’s such an erroneous way to think when my ancestors first broke the day into time periods using obelisks.”

  I ignore the history lesson and focus on the earlier words. “You want me to come with you to the Serranos meeting?”

  “Yes, hartlam. I think you were right. It’s time you take on more responsibilities.”

  My tongue is tied. I’m not busted. I haven’t been exposed.

  Here I am, getting what I wanted after doing exactly what I wasn’t supposed to be doing. And I am being rewarded for it. But all I can think is not about how to extend our financial empire. All I can think is: will I see Arneis at the Serranos’?

  Chapter 13

  “Please.”

  The fabric of her colorful gown inches up her lithe thighs. Her caramel against my honeyed skin tones makes my mouth water, but not as much as watching the rope bind her legs.

  “Please.”

  I pull the rope tight. The twine pinches her skin, holding her tight. My fingers ache to hold her flesh in mine again.

  “Hold still,” I hear myself say. “I want to remember every detail of this moment.”

  I can’t see the deep pink of her intimate flesh as I move closer. But I remember every detail. Every taste. Every scent. Every quiver.

  The sound of Sanai’s cries fills my ears until she cries out. Darkness still colors the screen on my phone as the camera’s eye presses against the massage table. Even though she has orgasmed, I haven’t had my fill. I lap at the nectar that seeps from her core. The sound of my tongue against her flesh is the chorus to the whimpers of her voice.

  It’s over all too quickly. I press rewind and listen to the scene again. And then again, making sure to stop before the end, when I became a monster to the precious creature who’d allowed me so close to her treasure.

  I barely slept a wink all last night and into the day. My thoughts were consumed with Sanai.

  My hand goes to my neck. It seeks her bite. The small puckers make my whole body sizzle with want when I touch them. It’s a want that will never be filled, because I will never see her again. Except in my mind and on this video. So I stay in bed and allow myself to get lost in her as the day goes by.

  “Arneis, get up,” calls Cari from the other side of the locked door.

  My thumb scrambles to pause the video before Sanai can scream her orgasm again.

  “We’re making pancakes.”

  I sit up in the bed. I wasn’t aware that vampires ate. My stomach grumbles, reminding me that I haven’t eaten in over twenty-four hours. I throw water on my face, then put on a clean shirt left by Gaius. The two of us are the same size, and with similar tastes in clothing, though this garment likely costs the same amount as my annual salary as a public servant.

  Making my way into the kitchens, I see that a feast is laid out on the tables. My sisters are flipping flapjacks onto a serving plate. Gaius is sliding crepes onto a platter. Hadrian mixes up sangria in a glass pitcher.

  I sit down and allow my older sister to fuss over me. Marechal fusses over all attended, as is her way. I am surprised that she is here and not back in her lab, blending the latest grapes from the harvest. She worked impossible hours before. Much like I did. But here we are, sitting down for a family dinner—or first meal, as it is called in this household.

  I can’t follow the train of conversation. Much of it has to do with Virius, the third Serrano brother, who was recently taken hostage by a group of female shifters—women who had worked the harvest on the Durand vineyards for as long as I can remember.

  No one at the table seems overly concerned about Virius’s predicament. I was there the night he was taken. It seemed to me that the male wanted to be kidnapped by the voluptuous leader of the jaguar shifters.

  “We’ll get this cleaned up before your guests get here,” says Cari.

  “Don’t bother,” says Hadrian, pulling her into his embrace. “We’ll take care of it. You two enjoy your girls’ night out.”

  “Cari and I are headed out for some shopping and girl time,” says Marechal. “Do you want to come, Arnie?”

  “To girl time? No, thank you.”

  Spending time with my sisters has always been a favorite pastime of mine. Except when they go shopping. I tend to frequent the same stores. When I do, I go in, get exactly what I want, and head out. Marechal and Cari have to try on different versions of the
same clothing in various stores, all of which easily takes hours.

  Before they head out, my sisters both embrace me. Then they’re taken back into the arms of their vampire lovers. I watch silently as Hadrian and Gaius fuss over them before reluctantly letting them climb into Cari’s car.

  “They have you two wrapped around their fingers,” I say out loud.

  “True,” says Hadrian. “My still heart beats for that woman.”

  “Marechal consumes my waking thoughts,” says Gaius. “My sleeping ones, too.”

  Hadrian pulls out his phone. I can see he has a tracking app open. The bleeping dot moves down the street in front of us. He sees me staring and shrugs. “I’m open about my obsession with her.”

  For the first time since I’ve known the man, I crack a smile. These two truly love my sisters. They would never let anything bad happen to them. I have never felt as deeply as they do for any of my girlfriends.

  I scratch at the back of my head. My hand grazes over one of the bumps of my neck, the one that pains me. Hadrian catches my movements.

  “Domitia was cruel,” he says. “We are not all like her. Many of us live in close-knit families and make our way through life together. But there are some who are power-hungry and sadistic. Just as you would find in humanity.”

  I’m coming to see that. My hand tracks over to my other bite. A different shudder runs through me.

  “You have a second bite,” says Hadrian. “Exactly where were you last night?”

  I don’t answer, though I know that I will have to in order to get their help in finding Sanai. I’m just not sure where to begin.

  “I got a bill from Club Toxic this evening,” says Gaius. “It was for a private room. But I was here at home all night.”

  That’s as good a place as any to start. But before I can open my mouth, a car pulls up in the drive. It’s not Cari’s car. This is a luxurious town car, with tinted windows.

  I know who will step out of it before I see her. I’m already moving towards her. My heartbeat kicks up. My thoughts are consumed with her.

  And then I see her.

  Chapter 14

  I like this part of the desert state better. It brings to mind the rolling vineyards in northern Africa. Even though it’s the dark of night, I can make out some vibrant colors in the wine country. The smell of Carignan berries tickles my nose. My tongue detects the sweetness of Marechal grapes nearby. The two scents together rouse my hunger, making me think of Arneis.

  His blood tasted of the sweetness I now smell. Was he brought up in wine country? He said he is related to the Serranos. Those three brothers trade in wine. It’s why the queen and I are going to see them: to expand the wine trade from our vineyards in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.

  “You’re different.”

  I turn to the Queen Mother. She is eyeing me with those shrewd eyes. I’m not sure what she sees. The fact that my sacred berry has been plucked?

  “You seem more sedate. Perhaps even more mature.”

  I purse my lips instead of responding. I don’t want her to know that the reason for my overnight growth spurt is a man. Or do I want her to know it? I loved everything that happened between Arneis and myself. Everything up until the end.

  “When we go home, I’m giving you more responsibility.”

  Home? To an enclosed palace and eunuchs, where I have to keep my legs closed and my mouth shut about the advancements in the world? Is that the life I want?

  The answer is clear in my mind. It rings loudly in my ears. I can’t go back. I want to stay here in this monochrome city, where there lives a man with eyes the same color as the grapes in the vineyard outside the window.

  “What if I stay here?” I say. “It will be inconvenient to travel across the ocean each time we need to have a meeting or deal in a transaction.”

  “You expect me to throw one of my daughters to the wolves?” The corners of the queen’s mouth turn down.

  “Your daughter is a vampire, and has your blood. A dog would heel under my command.”

  Queen Malika grins at this. Her chin lifts and her chest thrusts out as she regards me.

  I mirror her movements. I love this woman. I have looked up to her for so many years for all she’s done for my people, for my family, and for me personally.

  But I come to a realization then—one just as big as losing both my virginity and my heart to a man who hates my kind. Just like I am not the demoness who hurt Arneis, I am not my queen. And I do not want to be her.

  I open my mouth to tell her this, but the car comes to a halt. I hear the crunch of tires underfoot. I feel the world stop around me. I smell him before I see him.

  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew there was a possibility that he might be here. His features had faltered when he’d called me a monster, as though he’d had trouble making the falsehood stick in his mind. As he looks at me now, I know he doesn’t see something from his nightmares.

  Arneis walks out of the front door of the impressive house, a palace in its own right. He is flanked by two large males. But my gaze keeps going back to him.

  Shame colors his dark eyes. The purse of his lips begs me for my forgiveness. I give him my hand.

  “Princess Sanai Amina Mohamud of the queendom of Orun. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  Arneis takes my hand in his. He doesn’t bow over it and kiss my knuckles as he should. Instead, he stares deeply into my eyes, trying to communicate a depth of feeling that only I can understand. Or so I think.

  “What is the meaning of this?” asks the queen.

  “Your Majesty.” The other two men step forward. “Gaius Serrano at your service. This is my brother, Hadrian.”

  Queen Malika waves away the other two vampires. “Why is there a human touching my daughter? Do you not have control over your servants?”

  “Arneis is our brother,” says Hadrian.

  “He’s also a leader in the human community,” says Gaius. “You’ll need his help if you intend to distribute your wine here.”

  The queen sneers. She never deals directly with humans, especially if said human is a man who is fully intact. If she even dares glance at Arneis’s manhood, she’ll have to regenerate her hand, because I will have clawed it off.

  She looks between me and Arneis, her regal scowl firmly in place. But in the end, she inclines her head, the highest of praise a human could hope to receive from her. With a swish of her skirts, Queen Malika steps past Arneis and me as we are welcomed into the Serrano home.

  “Forgive me,” Arneis says once we are alone. “For what I said to you. It’s not what’s in my heart.”

  “I’ll forgive you if you’ll forgive me for the bite.”

  “No,” he says. “Never.”

  My heart sinks. I make to shrink away from him, but I can’t. He’s holding onto my hand. His grip tightens when I try to pull away.

  “It was your bite that woke me up,” he says. “It made me see the error of my ways. I thought I hated your kind. I thought vampires had stolen something from me. But I was wrong. Coming into this world has brought me to you.”

  A slow grin spreads across my face. He wants me. I can have him.

  Arneis dips his head to mine, but before our lips can connect—

  “Sanai!”

  I groan. Arneis presses his thumb to my lips. I kiss it, then nick it for good measure. His breath catches as I suck the drop of blood away.

  That was just an appetizer. I plan to sink my claws into this man as soon as possible. For now, we walk slowly towards the open door.

  Chapter 15

  The talks last an hour. It’s fifty-five minutes longer than I cared to speak. By the sixtieth minute, I’m raring to get my hands on the ties of Sanai’s dress.

  Today, she wears another vibrantly colored gown. Reds and blues and yellows crisscross her slender form in strategically placed strips. Just a few flicks of my fingers, and I could have her hands bound over her head, leaving the rest of her fre
e to slake my desires. I try to push my carnal thoughts aside and pay attention to the lecture at hand. But the only thing I can focus on is how I will bring Sanai to pleasure after this talk is over.

  As beautiful as she is, Sanai is just as brilliant. When it comes to the wine trade, she is knowledgeable and a slick negotiator. I concede on all of her demands. Not only because I have fallen in love with this woman. I concede because her business in Tucson will be a boon to the citizens here.

  By the end of the negotiations, I’ve made a decision. I will be leaving public life. Tomorrow, I will put away my campaign signs and all of my dreams for higher office. I can’t have my personal life scrutinized if I plan to spend the rest of my nights with a vampire.

  “It’s time for us to go,” says Queen Malika.

  The woman rises, but Sanai remains seated. “I’m staying.”

  “That was still up for discussion, child.”

  I find it fascinating that the queen calls Sanai a child even though the queen looks far younger. I am sure the monarch is centuries old. Maybe even millennia. Which brings me to wonder, exactly how old is the woman I want to hitch my life to?

  “I’ll find my own way from here, Your Majesty.” Sanai’s tone is firm, much like when we were negotiating the terms of distributing her queendom’s wines here.

  Something passes between the women. The queen looks between her daughter and me. I prepare to speak up, to let her know that I will protect Sanai with everything in me. But Sanai beats me to it.

  “Don’t worry, my queen. I have him wrapped around my finger. The queendom’s interest will flourish here, you have my word.”

  After another long moment, Queen Malika gives a curt nod of her head. Sanai rises and rushes into her arms. The queen takes the embrace stiffly. But I see the crease of worry in her brow, much like the one I always get when my sisters are too long out of my sight.

  When the queen is gone, I look up to note that Gaius and Hadrian have made their own exits. It’s just me and the princess.