Dark Awakenings (Danse Macabre Book 2)

by Christina Quinn

  Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. I jumped drawing a startled breath.

  “Servant Services.” A female voice called through the door.

  “Fuck,” Aleksi cursed under his breath releasing me. “One minute,” He called in response.

  “Servant Services?” I asked watching Aleksi walking to the door.

  “They tend to each Vampire’s servant making certain they’re… appropriately attired. They’ll paint your nails, curl your hair, do your makeup. They’ll do this every day you’re here to make sure you fit my specifications exactly.”

  “Why does it seem like you’re not happy about it?”

  “Because I’m not. But… I suppose it does have its advantages.” He spoke the last bit before he opened the door. On the other side was a severe looking woman with her gray hair in a high and tight bun. She wore a strand of pearls at her throat and a simple, elegant black boat neck top and knee length skirt. Her eyes were a steely blue gray that made me shiver with a glance. Only one other person could make me feel so utterly self-conscious with a glance, and that was my mother. With a look I was an eight year old again, my fingers frantically traced over my clothes.

  “Aleksi! I’m so happy I finally get to pretty someone up for you. Though she isn’t quite what I expected.”

  “And what did you expect, Claudia?”

  “Someone not so pretty. You have an ego on you Aleksi. You are usually loathe to not be the prettiest in the room.” The woman teased as she entered.

  “I’m standing right here.” The words just slipped out.

  “Clearly she has not been with us long. Such a mouth on her, you’ll need to correct that.” She continued as she pulled a cart full of cosmetics and hair styling implements into the room. Aleksi shot me a look but softened after a moment.

  “Autumn knows her place. No need to run off and report to daddy my mouthy servant. She’s been through a lot lately.”

  “I miss the Aleksi that would have walked over and slapped the girl across the face for speaking out of turn.” The woman pouted as she approached me. Her long, thin hands reached for me and I flinched. “Calm yourself, girl. I’ve been stripping and primping servants for the last twelve hours.”

  “Short staffed?” Aleksi asked as he walked over to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. That familiar touch rendered me utterly docile as those thumbs trailed between my shoulder blades. Claudia stripped me and led me into the bathroom with Aleksi.

  “You have a remarkable body. I’m here to help that body of yours gain your Master prestige. You want to please Aleksi don’t you?” She finally spoke to me as she roughly bathed me and scrubbed the makeup off of my face. “She really is a remarkable specimen, my congratulations.” The woman addressed Aleksi as she stepped away from me letting me raise from the bath as he lingered in the doorway.

  “You have no clue.” He smiled at me. “She’s usually very well behaved. No one can compare to her. She’s my world, Claudia.”

  Claudia dried me and gestured for me to step in front of the mirror. The bright blue light knocked all of the golden undertones from my skin. I looked washed out and pale as she attacked my long black hair with a round brush and a blow dryer as Aleksi continued to watch me, ours eyes locking from time to time.

  “She’s certainly easier to work with than most. Tristan’s wife refused all of my makeup suggestions and spoke the entire time. Clearly he didn’t explain how things would work here.” Claudia grumbled as she started curling my hair and a smirk spread my lips. The idea of Leslie sitting through this was laughable, she’d have a conniption. “Oh look at that smile! It’s like she has a little secret.”

  “Leslie is her best friend,” Aleksi added as Claudia pinned the curls in my hair.

  “Ah, you and Tristan always were thick as thieves. You should have seen Estella’s servant when I finished with him. The contact lenses she picked made his eyes almost as blue as yours. She’s always so careful you’d never look at him and know that probably the week before he was covered in bruises.”

  “Estella likes to show off how well she treats Byron. She has that pedigree of being a Renfield, she has to set that immaculate example that her crop strikes don’t bruise.” Aleksi sighed and crossed his arms. That breathy noise drew my attention as Claudia pinned the last curl in place.

  “What of your pedigree, Aleksi? If anyone has the weight of their bloodline on their shoulders it’s you. What do you think? Gold and Red? Black and Gold? Black, Gold and Red?”

  “Black, gold and red,” Aleksi replied. I watched in the mirror as Nikolai peeked over his shoulder at me.

  “Jesus, I was told you two look alike but…” Claudia glanced at them and shook her head. “Do you share her?” I blushed at the woman’s question. She however held nothing in her tone that suggested it was taboo at all. Aleksi opened his mouth as his gaze went to mine in the mirror. Without the heat from the curling iron and blow dryer I found myself shivering again, as much from cold as from Aleksi’s heavy gaze.

  He answered after a moment, “Yes.”

  “Lucky girl,” Claudia whispered to me as she started applying liquid foundation to my face with a soft makeup sponge. When she had finished with my makeup she started rubbing oil into my skin while I stared at my heavily made-up face. The eye was bold, heavy black eyeliner traced with gold and red shadow. My lips were colored Aleksi’s bright shade of red. The lipstick didn’t feel greasy like bright reds tended to, the color seemed to almost dry on my lips as Claudia finished smoothing the oil over my body. “Would you like to do the honors? It’s exactly what you asked for.” She spoke as she produced a slender red lace and leather collar that had a small round cameo that hung from the D-link. Like an I.D. tag someone puts on their dog. Alexi stepped forward and took the collar from Claudia. He leaned his head against mine for a moment, the heat that came from his body made me ache. I attempted to lean back against him but he took a half step back. His hands closed around my throat for a moment as we watched each other in the mirror.

  “I love you.” He whispered to me before releasing my throat only to line up the collar and fix it in place with the cameo nestled at the dip in my collar bone. “But I hate this.” His hands trailed to my sides his fingers easily finding the dips between my ribs. “I’ll force feed you cheesecake if I have to. Don’t skip any meals here, okay?”

  “Is that an order?” I smirked up at him.

  “Mhm.” He purred before kissing me.

  “Well i-if you insist,” I whispered into his mouth when the kiss broke. He took a step back from me and my eyes went to my face in the mirror. I was expecting to see that bright shade of red smeared across my face and his, but it wasn’t. Aleksi stepped away from me.

  “On that note, I’m going to have them send something down,” Aleksi called as he left my line of sight. Nikolai had gone as well. They left me alone for the first time since I got out of the hospital. Something about being alone with a stranger made my pulse beat fast and frantic. Meanwhile, Claudia was busy picking the bobby pins out of my hair, freeing the careful curls. I shifted, my arms crossed over my breasts as I tried to calm myself.

  “Can you—”

  “Almost done.”

  “I kn-know b-but can you just—”

  “No, I’m not going to stop. I have eight other servants to attend to.”

  “Pl-please just… I n-need…. Please.” My thoughts hardly made sense to me as I started nervously fidgeting and felt my skin grow hot with and almost angry frustration.

  “Calm do—” She didn’t get to finish, with the squeal of metal, the mirror shattered, the light bulbs all popped, that cart of makeup flew out of the door of the bathroom and Claudia was slammed against the wall behind me. I couldn’t say anything as I looked around at the devastation I had caused. The bathroom was now pitch black, only lit by the meager light from the hall. The faucet was mangled, the metal looked like a crumpled ball of paper. Claudia pulled herself off of the ground and smoothed h
er skirt, the marble on the wall was splintered and cracked with no distinct origin. All of this happened in half a second, Aleksi ran in with Nikolai as I leaned against the vanity trembling. They pulled me into their arms, and whispered soothing nonsense to me. Claudia loomed over us and picked the remaining bobby pins out of my hair.

  “It’s okay. Shh,” Aleksi whispered. “I’m here… we’re here.”

  “I’ll send someone to clean up this mess,” Claudia called to us before I heard the door open and close.

  They walked me back into the living room of the suite and sat me down on one of the couches. Aleksi quickly produced his phone and started a conversation that I just couldn’t follow as I slowly recovered from my freak out. My hands were trembling and I felt like I was going to shake apart. Aleksi was there to quiet my hands, kneeling in front of me he folded his around mine, and with those amazing eyes raised to meet my frightened golden stare. His gaze shifted to Nikolai who was behind me with his arms around my waist. I was saturated by that soft cocoon of resonance.

  “Estella is going come by and take you to her rooms while they clean up in here.” His voice was abrupt, those words leaving his lips as he returned his heavy attention to me. I could feel both his and Nikolai’s desire muted and dulled by their concern. “I have to go take care of some business but Kolen’ka will be with you.”

  “Oh, al-alright.” I nodded a little as Nikolai rested his forehead against my shoulder. I stared into Aleksi’s eyes, really stared. My clairvoyancey pressed against him, and he fought me but in the end that legendary power won. One might think it a bad idea to peer into the future of someone like Aleksi.

  Seeing his future gave me the distinct sensation of being thrown forward. I could hardly make sense of the images I saw, pale flesh, blood, myself in the throes of ecstasy under him. The last thing I saw was Aleksi attacking Dorian. Aleksi wore his black jacket, and a red scarf with his tight black jeans with the hole at the knee. It was the same outfit he had on as he knelt before me holding my hands, only in the vision his clothes were covered in blood. Aleksi threw Dorian down a hallway like he was a ragdoll. Then he took two steps forward and jumped, his body turning into mist and shadow before he landed on top of Dorian pinning the pleading vampire to the ground. Without hesitation Aleksi darted for Dorian’s throat like a snake and ripped the flesh open. He spit the cartilage and meat to the side and raised to stand over the wounded vampire. Aleksi wiped his mouth of Dorian’s blood and clearly mouthed the words, ‘something to think on,’ before he wiped the blood off of his jacket and threw that bright red scarf on top of Dorian’s twitching form, anointing him in that intense crimson before walking away without a second glance.

  The vision surrendered me, leaving me staring face to face with Aleksi. I smiled. I don’t know why but the thought of the lengths Aleksi was willing to go for his revenge pleased me. He even showed mercy, violent, painful, mercy. I wanted to kiss those lovely lips of his, but I couldn’t bring myself to close the mere inches between us. Vlad was supposed to fix everything and he had turned everything into a mess that Aleksi was fixing. As I looked into those ethereal eyes I knew that he planned more business than discussing Vlad stepping down. No, there was blood in those cerulean irises. That fleck of visual anger belied the placid expression he wore. As we stared at one another I could feel our power press back against one another with every breath I took, a slight pressure messaging every inch of my body. I understood him far better than I ever had before, and for the very first time I was okay with the unspoken dirty deed that he had planned for this excursion.

  “Gregory’s here isn’t he?” I asked my voice scarcely a whisper.

  “Mhm.” His lips twitched but didn’t pull into a smile.

  “Blaine too?”

  “Yes,” he hissed with delight, the corners of his eyes pulled a little but that smile only lurked under the surface.

  “Someone should end them.” I didn’t offer anymore. Perhaps I was a bad person for it but my capacity for forgiveness had been surpassed the moment that Blaine insinuated that he’d break me.

  Aleksi pressed those soft lips to my forehead with those fangs brushing between my eyebrows. Nikolai nuzzled my neck placing a kiss over my pulse. Both of them stepped away from me afterward their quick kisses leaving me utterly frustrated and supremely aroused. There was a knock on the door that coaxed a guttural grave grumble from Aleksi’s lips. His hands fell from me and he left the couch to open the door as Nikolai peeled himself from my back.

  Estella was on the other side of the door, her long blonde hair was loose in messy natural waves. Her makeup was done in those peacock colors she was so fond of. That husky voiced green-eyed blonde didn’t look a damn thing like an investment banker lingering in our doorway in low rise jeans, an emerald tank top with a royal blue knit cardigan tied at her waist. Byron shadowed her in the hallway naked but not unadorned. No, at his throat was a peacock blue collar. That color popped against his translucent flesh making all of his tattoos seem so much more vivid than I remembered them. His large creamy hazel eyes were bright jewel blue from the contact he wore and ringed with black eyeliner and highlighted with peacock blue and gold shadow. With a smirk he nodded to me as he caught me staring, I blushed and looked away. My attention found its way to Nikolai, and I wondered for a moment if they were friends. You do realize that is a completely ludicrous idea, correct? Their proclivities aren’t exactly the type of hobbies discussed in polite company.

  “Oh ‘lecksi you’re spoiled,” Estella declared, green eyes falling on me before returning to Aleksi. “Can you believe they’re having the wedding here? We haven’t been here since the early nineties. And I loathe the servant code being in place. It’s like he thinks this is still the eighteen hundreds.”

  “Servant code?” Nikolai asked raising a brow. Estella looked at him like she saw him for the first time.

  “Yes, Niki. It’s the old protocol for Servant behavior at vampire gatherings. Back in a time when servants were by large disposable they were expected to be nude at all times, never make eye contact with a vampire, never speak unless spoken to. Obedience was prized back then too. Those with the prettiest most obedient servants were envied. So I say again, Aleksi you are spoiled.” She smiled at Aleksi and he rolled his eyes.

  “I’ll come get you both when they’ve fixed the glass, and everything else.” He reassured me, flashing me a quick and exceedingly charming grin before closing the distance between us. His arms wrapped around me and he kissed me deep and slow letting me feel out and probe his mouth. As our tongues caressed slowly and my body trembled, I felt my skin grow hot and my sex grow hot and oh so wet. My neglected needs sprang to life with that kiss and for the first time since being rescued my desire flared pulsing at the apex between my thighs as my nipples grew rock hard. In front both Estella and Byron, well look at you. It’s just going to get worse you know… how long do you think it’ll be before you’ve added Byron to your list of lovers. Blush colored my cheeks as a gasp broke my throat with the end of the kiss. The five of us went our ways after the kiss.

  Aleksi went to seek out Dorian and I followed behind Nikolai and Estella. I wasn’t nearly as self-conscious of my nakedness as others were of theirs. Several servants passed with their eyes down cast and their hands attempting to cover their nakedness as they trailed behind their masters. Byron was a thing of amazement, he managed to walk with his head held high while at the same time keeping his eyes downcast. The look gave his eyes this almost dreamy heavy lidded quality. I followed his example, my body slipping into ballet posture as we walked to their rooms. Still I could see the eyes of Vampires who passed in the all openly leering me.

  Estella’s rooms were furnished very similarly to her room at Crimson Hill. Everything was Peacock colored. Royal blue, emerald green, navy, burnt sienna and gold tantalized the senses. The furniture was a mix of the ultra-modern and the Victorian. One couch was an antique chaise covered in lush royal blue velvet and strewn with pillows in
those brilliant shades. Those globed drop lights hung from the ceiling on black wires that gave the bulbs the illusion of being stars in an artificial night’s sky. The walls were dark wood paneling with two walls having a beautiful mural of a peacock with its glorious tail spread wide splayed across them. The sitting room was very Estella, a mix of genuine warmth and calculating coldness. Estella didn’t stop when she crossed the threshold. She continued walking until she disappeared into a room off to the side. Byron gestured for Nikolai and I to follow Estella as he locked the door behind us.

  Nikolai walked like he knew where he was going, so I followed. The room was mirrored on all four walls with an antique chaise in the middle with little silver D links at the four legs. There were stocks in a corner that were ornately carved and painted with peacocks in great detail. My mouth hung open as I stared at the room, Byron joined us and sat on his haunches on an ottoman by the door. Estella hummed as she pressed one of the mirrors and it slowly slid out from the wall to reveal a cabinet full of various floggers.

  “What do you think, love? The soft one? We both know Niki can take quite a bit, but… it is her first time.”

  “The brown leather riding crop, Mistress.” Byron replied with that unshakeable enviable confidence. “If it so pleases you.” With his little afterthought—their inside joke—she turned around and stared directly at him with a thoughtful smirk. He however, kept his eyes forward.

  “Someone is getting the white one.” She warned before turning around and retrieving two riding crops from the cabinet, one white leather and the other a deep brown. She held the brown one out to me by the handle and I swallowed. “Oh, go on it’s not going to hurt you. Think of this as… interactive therapy.” I furrowed my brows.

  “You want me to beat Byron?” I asked as my eyes swept across the room to him.