The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels
Page 168
Lucifer had drawn him here for this reason. “Go on, then, impress me.”
“One thing in particular.”
“Then share it with me.”
“Radu was loved all his life by men and women alike.”
“Yes, I know. It did not endear him to me.”
“They loved him for his face.”
“But no one as much as he loved it himself.”
Dracula hissed at the thought. “His vanity sickened me my whole life.”
“Is that how you would punish him?”
“Yes, I would take away his face. Let him live for an eternity without it.”
The idea aroused Lucifer. “It is a good revenge.”
“But one I can never have.”
“You should know one thing.”
Dracula stood up. In the darkness, he saw only the face of his brother. “What?”
“Where he is at this moment, his face brings him only pain.”
“It is not enough. I want him to really suffer.”
“He does suffer.”
“Not by my hand! I want to be the one to heap misery on him.”
“Yes, I can see that.”
“I shall never have that chance. He has rotted for close to thirty years.”
“Anything is possible.”
“What are you saying?”
“It is why I am here.”
“You can deliver him to me?”
“Yes, I can do anything with a soul in my domain. There are few forces in the universe that possess my power. I want to do this for you.”
Dracula straightened up at once. “How can you do this?”
“There is always a way.”
“You said once a soul had passed through the Hall of Justice it was too late.”
“He did not pass through there.”
Dracula did not understand. “Why not?”
“He was a soldier. The Grand General took him in the moment of his passing.”
“Then give him to me. I beseech you.”
“It is not so easy to give you what you want.”
“You said you could do it. And that you would, for me.”
“You know I can. And, yes, I want to. But everything has a price.”
“I shall meet that. Say what it is you want of me.”
“The Grand General owns his soul.”
“I do not care. What is the price?”
“The Grand General would not want to release him.”
“You do not have to bargain with me.”
Lucifer grinned. “Very well.”
“Tell me what you want. I shall meet your price.”
“I want the blood of thirteen virgins to fall on his grave.”
“Is that all? Why thirteen virgins?”
“Few sacrifices are as sweet to me. Thirteen pure souls, untouched and unsullied. You have to do it well before dawn. Do that, and I shall re-animate your brother.”
“It shall be done. I want it this night. This is the reason you brought me here. I want to see Radu.”
Chapter 31
WALLACHIA. THE OUTSKIRTS OF TIRGOVISTE.
MARCH, 1503. THE SAME NIGHT.
It had been a good night for Varkal. He had gone to the house of a woman he had had his eye on for years. She knew him well. When he entered her bedchamber, she did not seem too distressed.
The woman sat up in her bed. “How did you find your way in here?”
“It was not so difficult,” he answered, with a confident grin. “Where there is a will, there is sure to be a way.”
“So, you have decided you want me at last?”
“I have always wanted you.”
“Well, you have never shown much of an interest.”
“I have always had my eye on you.”
“For how long have you known me?”
“I have no doubt you can tell me. Fifteen, or perhaps twenty years?”
“Since I turned fourteen.”
“And that is how long ago?”
“Nineteen years in all.”
“Then I was right.”
“In all that time, you never once made as much as a pass for me. You fucked everything old enough to bleed, but never did you come near me.”
“Perhaps you were too special to touch.”
“Oh, stop. I made it clear enough that you could have me whenever you wanted.”
He walked to the bottom of her bed. “Now where is the sport in that?”
“You would rather I did not want you?”
He grinned. “Then I would have to chase you.”
She smiled at his intonation. “Yes, and break down my defences.”
“I always love a challenge.”
“You shall not find that here.”
He shrugged. “Then perhaps I should look elsewhere.”
“Ugh,” she groaned. “Men!”
“It is why you love us so.”
“What? That you leave us frustrated, always?”
“It keeps you on your toes.”
“Why? When all we need from time to time is a good fucking.”
“Is that what you need?”
“It is what I have always needed. God knows, I shall not have it in this house.”
“Then why do you remain here?”
“Believe me,” she said. “If I had somewhere to go, I would go.”
“So, in truth, all you need is a warm bed. And a roof over your head?”
“What do you mean?”
“It is enough to keep you here.”
“It is better than living on the streets,” she reminded him.
He smiled at her. “You could make a healthy living on the streets.”
His joke had the desired effect, and she threw a pillow his way. The blankets dropped from her body. He eyed her perfect breasts as they bounced up and down.
A smile escaped his lips. “You are the image of perfection.”
“I always have been. Yet you wait till this night to tell me.”
“I have been indisposed.”
“I know, for nine whole years! Where have you been?”
“I have been here and there. In these times, I come out only at night.”
“I heard the stories of you.”
“Oh? And what did you hear?” he asked, stepping closer.
“That you killed all those women.”
He looked down and gave a knowing nod. “I heard that story too.”
“Is it the truth?”
“Does it matter?”
She held her arms out. “I want to know.”
“All my life, I have striven for the ultimate sensation.”
“So, it is true?”
“Believe what you want. Men and women alike always need a story to tell. Is it so important that I am their subject of choice?”
“Why are you always so elusive?”
“It helps them through their mundane lives.”
“Then perhaps I should fear you? You might strangle me too.”
“I might,” he said, grinning in a way that did not dispel her fears.
“Why did you do it?”
“I have already said.”
“Had you come to my bed, you would have known that sensation long ago.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Without having to resort to the things you did.”
“You seem certain of that.”
“I am certain. I am what you have always needed.”
“And what of you? What have you always needed?”
“You are either too blind or too stupid to see.”
He laughed at her tone. “My dear, Anya, in the pursuit of excellence, it is wise to always save the best till the very last.”
“You took your time, then.”
“It is not something so easily attained. If it were, I would not have had the need to resort to those measures.”
“Well, you are here for the now.”
“Yes,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “That I am.”
He studied her with care, tilting his head to one side. “No, I cannot say that I have.”
“I have not a blemish anywhere.”
“I can see that.”
“Then why torture me?”
“Your choice of husband has always left a bad taste in my mouth.”
“He was only a means to an end.”
“But Gales? It is no wonder you are frustrated.”
“He is not man enough for me, if that is what you are implying. I married him only to vex you.”
“It vexed me, and it vexes me still.”
“So that you might take notice of me.”
“It was an extreme measure to do that. I had noticed you.”
“And you punished me for it too. Half my life, I have waited for you to come.”
“Why Gales, of all men?”
“He was the first to ask me.”
“And that was enough to marry him?”
“My family wanted it. They made it happen.”
“His father betrayed mine. Through that, my father lost all that he had.”
“Your father died at Snagov. What did he have to do with that?”
“When my father attacked Mehmed, the older Gales froze with fear.”
“When did your father attack Mehmed?”
“The night ambush at Snagov.”
“That was your father?”
“Yes.”
“I thought Vlad Dracula attacked Mehmed that night.”
“Vlad Dracula is my father!”
The news stunned her. She sat back on her heels and thought about it. “I am sorry, I did not know. I always thought Adrian Gabrul was your father.”
“Gabrul was my guardian.”
That knowledge helped her understand many things.
“That is why I despise your choice of husband even more so than before.”
“Very well,” she accepted, looking deflated. “So, what is next?”
“I am here.”
“For me, I hope?”
“I have no desire to bed your husband.”
She laughed. “You might have come to kill him.”
“That can wait. I would rather have sport with his wife first.”
“Not before time,” she said, her tone admonishing him.
“And for him to know of it.”
She grinned in a manner similar to him. “Yes, I would love to see his face. Be sure you kill him then, before he kills me.”
He began to undress. While he did, she spread herself out on the bed. The sight of her made him ache. He watched as she opened her legs, and touched herself.
She enjoyed the reaction her tease drew from him. “See what you could have had all this time?”
Anya ran her tongue over her lower lip. She moved her fingers from her sex to her mouth. Varkal watched as she licked her juices from them. His erection throbbed. He had stopped to feed on the way here and had a good supply of blood in his veins. She would feel the benefit of that soon enough.
“Open your legs wider,” he said.
“Tell me you want me.”
“I want you.”
“Tell me you need me.”
He squinted his eyes, but liked the game she was playing. “I need you.”
“How much?”
He dropped his breeches for her to see. “As much as this.”
Her jaw dropped almost as far. “My God, why have you been keeping that from me?”
“Perhaps you might open your legs?”
“Oh, yes,” she said, her eyes not leaving his penis. “As wide as you want them.”
“You had best ask nicely then.”
“Damn you!” she cursed him. “Have I not waited long enough?”
He grinned again. “It is the reason I never strangled you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You would have enjoyed it more than I.”
He knelt on the bed between her legs. She looked more beautiful than he ever remembered. They had waited long enough. She was right about that.
“Taste me,” she said. “I want to feel your tongue all over me.”
He found her scent quite heady. As he probed her, she closed her eyes and lay back on the bed. He ran his tongue from her ankle to the back of her knee. Keeping it there, he coaxed groan after groan from her.
“Higher,” she gasped, the ache building inside her.
He planted soft kisses on the insides of both her thighs. She stretched them wide to offer him the perfect view of the treasures that awaited him. He took in a deep breath, her sweet but musky scent filling his nostrils.
She grabbed his hair. “Damn it! Stop torturing me!”
“The torture is as much mine as it is yours.”
He ran his tongue along the line of her groin, her light coat of pubic hair brushing against his cheek. Matted from her juices, the moisture passed to his skin. His ear picked up the faint trickle from her opening. Her clitoris ached from her need for him. It was an invitation he could no longer resist. Moving his head slightly, he slid his long tongue deep inside her.
She pushed against the bed with her feet and arched her back. When her body lifted from the bed, he moved with her. His long, snake-like tongue explored her inside, the sensations driving her wild. She clutched handfuls of his thick long hair and pulled his head tighter to her crotch, groaning hard and describing in short bursts what it was she was feeling. He pushed his palms beneath her buttocks and raised her lower body into the air. She pushed her arms out along the bed as her legs dangled freely. His actions opened her up completely to the attentions of his mouth.
In his excited state, his fangs emerged from their sockets. She gasped when the points pressed against her soft flesh. A slight trickle of blood caught his attention from where they broke her skin. He had to fight the urge to bite her. For fear she might see them, he flipped her over onto her front. The sudden jerk startled her, though he set her at ease once again. Lifting her by the hips, he continued to work her with his tongue.
When her breath caught in her throat, he pressed his tongue hard against her clitoris, sensing the moment. She pushed her face into the mattress, the blanket crumpling on both ends of the bed where she gripped it so hard. Her whole body jerked as he held her firmly in his hands, not letting up.
Anya cried out and bit into the mattress. Her swollen clitoris throbbed against his tongue. He clamped his mouth around her opening to accept her small gush. It coated his tongue. He swallowed it and lowered her back down against the bed, before sliding two fingers inside her.
She sighed hard. “You cannot stop. Finish what you have started.”
He ran his tongue slowly along her spine from its base to her neck. His action drew another long, deep groan from her, and she trembled at the delicacy of his touch. He then pressed his thumbs into the base of her ribs where they joined the spine, and began to massage the area.
“I have to have you,” she gasped, almost imploring him to go further.
His need was as great as hers. He grabbed one of her shoulders and turned her onto her back again. She looked up at him as he leaned over her. Her eyes sparkled, her every sense aroused and alive to him. When he gazed into them, he saw her desire matched his on every level. He positioned himself against her puffed labia, ready to bring her wait to an end.
Her eyes closed again. “Do not be gentle with me,” she whispered, in anticipation of what was to come.
“I shall not be,” he promised.
“I want everything you have.”
“And you shall have it.”
He kissed her on the mouth, his hunger and desire for her almost as powerful as that when he had the need to feed. In this state, he was not sure he would have the ability to control the beast within, but he did not care.
Anya responded with an equal intensity. Her tongue probed his mouth, searching for
his. His fangs had still not fully returned to their sockets, and when her tongue brushed over them, she hardly noticed.
She prodded the backs of his thighs with her heels, urging him to take her as she had always wanted. He grabbed her hair hard in both hands and drove himself into her. She tensed her whole body and gasped out loud as he stretched her to her limit, and filled her completely. When he withdrew and pushed in again, she exhaled and groaned with delight.
The sex was intense, rough and exciting. She clawed and bit him throughout. He had never felt anything as good. She aroused him in a way that both scared and excited him. For the very first time, he had met a woman he wanted to do this with over and over again. She was so different to all the others, and it never entered his head to end the act the way he always did. Once with her could never be enough.
After climaxing, they lay side by side on their backs, the intensity of the act leaving them both breathless. A thousand images flashed through his mind, and an idea that had entered his head during intercourse. It began to eat away at him now that he knew what he was in possession of. If he saw it through, he knew it would incur the wrath of his father. He weighed the prospect of that against his need for her. Is she worth flirting with the forbidden? Over the years, he had bedded or taken hundreds of women. None could rival this one. It was not even close.
He played with her long blonde hair and curled her locks in his fingers. She smiled when their eyes met, prompting him to brush her hair aside and reveal the inviting flesh of her neck.
She giggled when he ran his tongue against the underside of her chin. “That was so worth waiting for.”
“I know,” he said. “I want more of it.”
“Then take me,” she said. “I am hardly about to deny you.”
His tongue moved slowly to her neck, and she shivered with delight when he gently nibbled on her earlobe. The scent of her blood was strong. Mingled with the aroma of sex in the room, it made his every sinew strain to contain himself.
“You are so perfect for me,” she said. “I care not what they say of you.”
Her gentle pulse vibrated against his lips. He pressed them against her skin, breathing in deep. “I know,” he said, emitting a gentle sigh. “So perfect.”
She turned on her side to face him, offering him easier access to her neck. It was her hope that, by moving position, it would encourage him to resume. The feel of his lips and tongue there only served to increase her state of arousal. Her idea paid dividends, and she groaned as his tongue moistened her skin still further. Reaching down, she stroked and teased his semi-hard penis. Her hand worked its way down a little more to test the heaviness of his scrotum. “They are still full,” she said, a trifle surprised. “I must try and remedy that.”