Bete Noire

by Christina Moore

  “Please, allow me to assist you.”

  From inside Ash’s cell, Lucien spit out his angry answer in French as he snatched the chains away from his assistant. Looking humbled and angry Sebastian stumbled into Tristan’s view.

  “Aw, what’s the matter, elf? The big mean vampire threaten to eat you too?”

  It was a fresh night but already the American had managed to piss off Sebastian. It didn’t help that he’d just been debased in front of the prisoners, even if only one of them understood the words. Sebastian’s fists clenching tightly at his sides as he silently fumed. The look in his eyes as he glared at Tristan said he was thinking not very nice things about him. And you know what? Tristan was okay with that if it kept him from helping his Master hurt Ash.

  The sound of chains from the next cell made his skin go cold and he forgot all about distracting the fae when Ash screamed. Even if the word in that scream was English, none of the others would have understood it. The fear in it, it was enough to stop Tristan’s heart.

  Lucien however reacted in a very different manner, bellowing with laughter as he dragged her out of the cell by way of heavy duty manacles. When Tristan saw her chained like that, naked with her hands behind her back linked to the big collar around her delicate throat, he found a breath to suck in and then let loose a string of curses that made Sebastian’s eyes widen in surprise and blush in honest embarrassment.

  The vampire stopped outside of Ash’s cell to look at him. “I really do like your style, Uruwashi!”

  “Leave her the fuck alone!” he screamed, immediately moaning as drums, the worse kind of bass, pounded in his head.

  “Fuck this and fuck that? Is that all you American’s can say? Fuck, fuck and fuck?”

  Despite the paralyzing fear Ash felt, a softly muttered “Yes” slipped past her lips.

  Tristan held his breath, looking at her in desperation. He relaxed a little when she smiled ever so faintly as if to say everything was all right. But everything wasn’t all right. He was trapped and she was in Lucien’s hands and there was nothing either one of them could do about it.

  “Mon Dieu,” Lucien quipped. “I didn’t think you were a quitter, Tristan. You’ll spoil all my fun.”

  He refused to take his eyes from Ash. She was naked and dirty and all but unharmed save for the fresh cut over her eye that was already healing. She had a fang set into her lip, making it bleed as she thought of a way out of the mess. To Tristan, she looked determined and terrified all at once, like a trapped animal. Trapped with nowhere to go but with enough intelligence to know the deep shit she was in. That she would surely die if she didn’t flee.

  “Please,” Tristan whimpered, forcing himself to meet Lucien’s eyes. “Don’t. Don’t do this.”

  “And what is it you think I intend to do?”

  He licked his lips slowly, thinking carefully on what to say. In the end the first thing he thought of just blurted out. “You’re going to rape her.”

  Lucien laughed and laughed and laughed. It was the funniest damn thing he’d heard all week. “Why do all American’s assume men are only interested in women to rape? Is your country full of raging Vikings and the like? Honestly.”

  Tristan frowned at the boy vampire. His legs were suddenly weak—really, they’d been weak all along but he was too stubborn to listen. At his limit finally, he slipped to the floor. He hit the ground with a grunt and barely missed knocking his head on the sidewall. Shit, he was starting to feel dizzy again. Was he drugged again while he was sleeping?

  “Take me,” he said, eyes blurring out of focus for a moment so that he couldn’t see the stupid grin on Lucien’s face.

  “I don’t want you.” Lucien turned away only to immediately spin to face him again, dragging Ash with him so that she moaned a pitchy noise as the chain jerked on her neck and she fell into him. “No. Not entirely true. I do want you, just not right now. Time, dear Uruwashi, there’s always time and I’m going to take it. Asta deserves all the time I have. You’ll just have to be patient and wait for you turn.” He tilted his head to the side. “Ever been had by a man? Oh, well, look at you, of course you have.”

  Tristan sneered but didn’t have the energy to fight back and he always had energy to run his mouth at maximum rudeness. Lucien laughed and spun, jerking Ash along with him. She gave a strangled cry, like she was trying to suppress the sound. Tristan was left helpless on the cold floor of his cell to watch as she was marched into the cell opposite his.

  “If you get too bored, Uruwashi, I know a certain faerie that will gladly entertain you while I attend to Asta. You know,” Lucien stopped just inside the doorway to the other cell. “I think he had a bit of a crush on you until you called him a…. well, you know.” He winked and then ordered Sebastian to make sure Tristan didn’t hurt himself while he was busy with Ash.

  Tristan shook his head, noticing his hair stuck to the back of his neck and forehead. He’d been sweating since before he woke but only just realized it. Damn, he really needed to clear his head. “Fucking sadistic bastard. What do you want?”

  “Vengeance,” Lucien answered the first hint of annoyance in his tone.

  “So, let me get this right…” Tristan let out a throaty groan, as he wobbled to his feet. His eyes found Ash’s for a moment and all he saw in them was fear. She’d resigned herself to her fate but he hadn’t. “All this—Killing Yuki’s whatever they are to her, running off, making those high profile kills along the way… all of this was just to avenge… Guinevere?” None of it made many sense though.

  Lucien broke out into a big smile. He motioned to Sebastian, handing over the lead of chains that held Ash to him. The vampire shoved his hands into his pants pockets, still smiling and looking at his feet as he walked up to Tristan’s cell. “Ah, the simplicity of the human way of thinking.” He looked up and Tristan gave a little gasp, moving back at the look in the vampire’s eyes. He was sure he just saw the flicker of flame in them. “Sure, Asta is important to me,” he said, his natural accent thickening with each word. He’d spent so many years suppressing it but nothing could banish it completely. “She’s mine. She’s always been mine.”

  Behind the smug vampire, Ash whimpered. She was a fighter but her memories, the knowledge of what was about to happen to her were finally outweighing her instinct to retaliate. She was after all, at her very core, human.

  “But she’s really only the consolation prize here. A cog in the master plan.”

  Tristan understood immediately. Didn’t Lucien say the other night that it wasn’t Ash he really wanted?

  “That’s right… Uruwashi.” He practically purred his name. “You. You’re the last of the Uruwashi.”

  “So?” Tristan snapped. It wasn’t like any of them needed a real reason to want him dead. The name Uruwashi alone was death warrant enough.

  “Uruwashi tried to kill Master.”

  “Only tried? Hell, it was Malik and Yuki that did. Why take that out on us?”

  Lucien was starting to look truly aggravated. “You don’t understand a thing. It’s no surprise you’re in a cage.”

  “Temporary arrangements,” Tristan snarled feeling a little bit more clear-headed than before.

  Lucien stepped up close to the bars, taking one in his hand. “Maybe I have been unclear. I want Asta, yes. Much of this—” He motioned around him with his free hand. “Is about her. But ultimately, it is about you.”

  “Wha—”

  The vampire leaned close enough to press his forehead to the bars and in a low voice said, “I want you, Tristan. No… Uruwashi. You’re going to be mine and do everything I say.”

  Tristan laughed despite the pounding in his head. “Yeah, okay, good luck with that.”

  “You doubt me?”

  He laughed again with a little snort. “I’m the most hardheaded person I know. Just ask—” He stopped but Lucien heard the name anyway: Ash. Tristan had drawn the vampire’s attention to her again.

  Lucien smiled, looking back a
t her for a moment. “Yes, I know.” He sighed, returning his attention to Tristan again. “But she can also tell you how very persuasive I am. I’m about to show you just how persuasive I can be and then I’m going to let you sleep on it. And then tomorrow we’ll talk again and see just how hardheaded you feel. But you will be bitten and you will follow my every order.” Lucien smiled at the worried look on Tristan’s face as he slowly walked backwards to claim Ash again. “You’ll see.”

  Tristan licked his lips nervously. He was a fighter, and a mouthy one at that. But after all that Ash had said to him before dawn and the look in Lucien’s eye… “Please,” he whispered, eyes pleading. “Please, Lucien.”

  He let out a long, steadying breath and struggled to his feet. His toes were so cold they hurt and his hands ached. Was he going into shock? Was he hurt worse than he realized? None of that mattered right now, all that mattered was saving Ash. And since he was physically incapable, his mouth was going to have to do all the heavy lifting.

  “Don’t do this.”

  Lucien laughed. “Sweet, but you need to understand the way of things, Uruwashi. I have to convince you to behave and Ash is the prop to this lecture.”

  Mustering all his available energy, Tristan’s fist shot out. It was just a reaction but even in his confused, anger-fueled state he was conscious enough to avoid hitting Lucien in the mouth in case he cut himself and infected his blood with vampire saliva. He regretted the reaction immediately as the pain of the hit to Lucien’s cheekbone shot all the way up his arm into his shoulder. It hurt, but damn it felt good to punch the son of a bitch in the face. The vampire groaned under the hit but barely moved. All Tristan managed to accomplish was proving just how much convincing Lucien would have to do.

  Damn.

  Lucien narrowed his eyes at the man, smiling cynically. “Nice to see you have some energy left. I like a fighter, gives me strength.” He looked down and then back up with a grin. “And how about that, makes me hard too.” The boy vampire winked and then he turned away as if it never happened and snatched Ash’s chains from Sebastian. She whimpered but moved of her own will, albeit stiff and rigid.

  “Wait,” she said suddenly enough that Lucien was surprised at the unexpected noise of it.

  He stopped, glanced at Tristan, grinned and then rolled his eyes to her in an exaggerated motion. “Yes?”

  Ash was shaking even as she tried to force herself to look relaxed, sultry even. “I… I will do this voluntarily.”

  “No,” Tristan gasped.

  She put her hands to Lucien’s chest, pressing a palm over his heart. “If I agree to do everything you say, will you not harm Tristan? No biting, raping, hitting… just.” She stopped to take a steadying breath, leaning in close enough to breathe her words across Lucien’s mouth. “Just let him go.”

  “No, Ash,” Tristan whispered, feeling a part of him die.

  Lucien’s amber eyes where wide with surprise and wonderment. “Why? Why risk yourself for… that?”

  She shook her head, looking tired as the shakes subsided. The boy vampire grunted in surprise and tilted his head to take Ash’s lips as she leaned in for a kiss. Tristan’s jaw tightened as the kiss grew deeper, mouths open wide to each other. Their arms wrapped behind each other. Lucien’s hands trailed back and lower to cup her backside, making the need for Tristan to cry out for abetment.

  Hearing Tristan’s angry thoughts, Lucien pulled out of their kiss, his lips red with Ash’s blood. He laughed, making Ash shudder against him as she panted for air.

  “You both are so very queer, but cute.” He jerked on the chains, pulling Ash off balance and fisted a hand into her hair. She cried out, grabbing his wrist and hitting herself in the face with the heavy chains in the process. “No. ”

  Sebastian straightened, chin rising in pride as he met his Master’s eye.

  “I like my way better.”

  The fae laughed darkly, like the bad sidekick he was. Lucien dragged Ash into the opposite cell. Her hands were unbound and then she was bent over the side of the table closest the door. Ash blinked at Tristan through the bars, eyes wide and full of fear as her wrists were affixed to the manacles at either end. Tristan started to shake from the rush of adrenaline and fear.

  Shit! I have to do something.

  “Hey!” He yelled louder than he thought he could—it was amazing what one could do with the rush of fear and determination. “Elf!”

  Sebastian, who was trying to make himself available to his Master as he set up tools, snapped around to glare at Tristan. When Lucien shooed him away, the fae stomped over to Tristan’s cell looking pissed. “Call me the name of the traitors one more time and consider your life forfeit.”

  Tristan grunted as he moved away from the bars flexing his hand to loosen it. Damn, it really hurt. All his extremities hurt. What did they do to him?

  “Like you could hurt me without cheating. Fucking coward.” Tristan lowered his head to give Sebastian a dark look from under his brow.

  The man stiffened. He knew. He just knew what Tristan was going to say.

  “Elf.”

  The fae roared with anger, his face going red with it as he spun away. Tristan couldn’t help but smile at his handy work and just hoped he hadn’t cost Ash something valuable. The fae let himself into the cell Lucien was working in. Annoyed, Lucien stopped arranging his array of pointy things and turned to him.

  “What are you doing?” he snapped in French.

  Sebastian never bothered looking up as he muttered, “Showing that man his place.”

  The vampire laughed so that it made the others all moan in delight. “You take it too personally, Sebastian.”

  The man stopped and shot Lucien a dark look that the vampire didn’t see. “How would you feel if he kept calling you something so foul? What if he called you a troll, of all things?”

  Lucien stopped fussing with Ash and looked back to Sebastian with his nose turned up. “Point taken. Ah, very well. Do as you wish, but do not kill him. I need him to see this… Some of it anyway.” Lucien motioned to Ash, staring straight at Tristan, eyes wide in horror.

  Tristan may not have understood what their captors were saying but Ash did. Every word of it. But she couldn’t even speak anymore, paralyzed with fear. One of the many downsides of being what she was meant she never forgot. Even the things Yuki took from her, a shadow of pain and despair lingered.

  “Thank you, mon seigneur,” the fae answered as he finished having his hissy fit with the weapons. He turned back to face Tristan with a gleam in his grass-green eyes and a few tools of “encouragement”: a length of heavy chain, a whip and a ball gag. Tristan swallowed hard and took a step back. He was starting to understand what the two bad guys had been talking about.

  “Now,” Lucien said as he stood over Ash with a knife—her knives—in each hand. “Where to start. So much flesh, so little night.”

  Tristan flung himself against the bars. “No!” His outburst ended in a small gasp when Sebastian caught his attention. The fae looked angry and dangerous in a way that sent his instincts on edge. Tristan remembered how strong the man was. He didn’t look like much to contend with, being so much shorter, smaller than Tristan, but the man was a shinwa and proved that he was no weakling when he all but overpowered Tristan this morning.

  He started to backpedal. Behind the fae, Lucien raised a knife.

  “Stop!” Tristan cried out but it was too late. Ash screamed as the blade tore into the space between her shoulder blades. In a fit of confusion and need, Tristan rushed the door as Sebastian came in. The fae was ready for him and clocked him in the jaw. Not ready to take a hit, Tristan flew back, landing with a grunt.

  “You and I have business, monsieur.”

  “Fuck you, elf!”

  Sebastian growled and kicked out, catching Tristan in the ribs. All of the air left him as he doubled over, clutching his middle. Before he could recover a gasp of air, Sebastian kicked him again.

  From the cell across t
he way, Lucien stopped carving lines into Ash’s back, placing a bloody hand right in the middle of the mess to scold his servant. “I said not to kill him.”

  Sebastian didn’t even hear his Master’s words and Lucien sighed with a shrug as he went back to skinning Ash. The fae kicked Tristan two more times, once more in the middle and then in the face, before he stopped.

  Groaning, racked with throbbing pain, Tristan could only roll around on that dirty dungeon floor clutching his face.

  “Levez-vous,” Sebastian ordered. “I said, get up.”

  “Kiss my fucking ass,” Tristan bit out between gasps.

  Sebastian chuckled, leaning down over him so that the chains fell across Tristan’s bare skin in cold snakes. “You always did have this primitive sort of charm.”

  Tristan could only groan in response. He was too busy trying to fight away the spinning in his head, to clear the smoke from his vision.

  A foot met his back and Tristan was shoved to his stomach. Then hands were grabbing at him, pawing at his arms until his hands were bound behind his back at a sharp enough angle to make his shoulders shudder in pain.

  From the other cell Ash cried out and Tristan forced himself to look up. He was still having trouble seeing clearly but there was enough solidity that he wished he couldn’t see at all. Lucien had repositioned Ash so that she was trapped by the manacles in the back of the cell. A knife stuck out of her belly.

  “Ash…,” Tristan whispered in horror. The boy vampire was killing her.

  “Hardly!” the vampire called out as he moved in front of her with a whip made of leather and metal links in hand.

  The moment the whip cracked down across her face, Sebastian hit Tristan too. The two captives screamed out their pain. But before Tristan could open his eyes, suck in a breath of air, the ball gag was shoved into his mouth. He bit his tongue in the seconds he tried to suck in that breath of air and blood filled his mouth, choking him.

  Unable to spit around the gag he was forced to swallow the hot, tangy liquid. He had a momentary sense of what he could only describe as euphoria, a sense of calm and bliss. It was what he imagined drinking vampire blood would be like—it was what the inhuman part of him said it would be like had he bled Ash that night he assaulted her in the shower and drank her down.