by BETH KERY
“I’m not Teslar, Alison,” he said wearily.
“I’ll say you’re not,” she countered, her tone disdainful.
“Did you come here to help me or to act like a spoiled brat?”
She jolted in shock at his harshness before she rolled her eyes and made a disgusted phffing sound. She glanced up and gasped.
“What the—”
“Alison, meet Fardusk and Isi,” Saint said evenly.
Fardusk stared impassively at the slight girl from his lofty height. “I have seen her before.”
“Yeah. When you’ve been shadowing Teslar, no doubt,” Saint said.
“She’s one of his future entrées,” Isi said, his expression disdainful as he looked Alison over. “Or, wagering from the size of her, one of those tasteless, low-fat appetizers.”
“Fuck you, Chief Head Up His Ass!” Alison shouted as she leapt off the MinerMobile, looking fully prepared to take on a skilled Iniskium warrior who was twice her weight. Isi’s dark eyes widened in surprise before he cracked a grin, his white teeth flashing vividly in his dusky face.
“Actually, he’s the Chief.” Isi hitched his thumb at Fardusk, who watched the exchange without twitching a muscle. Isi pointed at Saint. “And he’s our leader, seeing how he made us what we are. So why’d you bring the tiny morsel, Saint?”
“Stop your teasing, Isi. It’s obvious Saint wants her to lead us to Teslar’s new den,” Fardusk said.
Alison refused to back down, however, edging toward an amused-looking Isi with her hands balled into fists.
“Alison, thicken up the skin a bit, huh? Isi rides everyone. It’s nothing personal,” Saint chided, although in truth, he was thinking just the opposite. The warrior’s sense of humor had grown dark since Javier Ash had turned his lover into a revenant several years ago. But presently, Isi’s manner was almost playful.
“Does this chamber look familiar?” he prodded, trying to distract Alison. She glared at Isi balefully before she glanced around as though she’d just noticed where they were.
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Which way?”
Alison pointed to the right corner of the huge, concrete-reinforced chamber, still glowering at Isi. When they got there, she nodded to the floor. The three males removed several coiled hoses and wheelbarrows filled with concrete reinforced bolts. A few seconds later, Fardusk knelt and tried to lift the metal grate on the floor.
“Is it nailed shut?” Alison asked.
Fardusk’s massive biceps flexed, stretching the fabric of his white T-shirt. Metallic popping noises echoed off the high concrete walls. Several nails skittered onto the concrete pavement.
“Not anymore,” Fardusk deadpanned as he set aside the grate. The fringe on his leather vest flew up when he lightly sprang into the black hole he’d just revealed. Fardusk’s boots struck the ladder with a dull, metallic sound, his head and shoulders poking out of the hole. Alison made a squeaking noise of shock.
“You guys aren’t normal. What…you’re all vampires, right?” Alison accused as Fardusk lowered the ladder and Isi dropped blithely into the dark hole, grabbing the ladder with inhuman speed and ease.
“We’re the Iniskium,” Isi told a disgruntled Alison with a brash grin. “And since you’re here with us in the underground, you’d better thank your lucky stars we’re not normal, tiny morsel.”
Saint thought he was going to have to shove Alison down the hole when he ordered her to follow Isi.
The woman’s drunken, high-pitched laughter was amplified by the crystal-lined chamber. It interfered with Teslar’s appreciation of the earth’s harmonious, soothing song. He was becoming so powerful by feeding within the chamber that he hardly required sleep anymore. He could have never fed again and remained strong; the crystals amplified the earth’s vitessence to an exponential degree.
Of course, it was ridiculous to think of never feeding again. He had only two aims in life, to feed and to defeat Saint. After he slaughtered his annoying clone, he could devote himself full-time to his one true love. Teslar’d thought the discovery of the crystal chamber was the most important discovery of his life. But last night had changed his mind.
The woman and the boy were even more significant. Kavya had told him long ago that some day he would encounter something that he would want so much, he would be willing to sacrifice everything in order to obtain it. When he’d seen the woman, he’d recalled Kavya’s prediction. But the riddle-speaking Magian had ignored him for centuries, and Teslar’s respect for him lessened as his own sense of self-worth grew.
He longed to possess the woman, but there was no need to sacrifice anything. Teslar did not sacrifice; he was too deserving, too supreme. She would be his, eventually. A creature of such power and beauty—like life itself distilled—must belong to him.
And to think his sanctimonious clone had been hoarding her all to himself.
Teslar would actually be amused by his clone, if he weren’t so busy hating him with blistering intensity. How Saint managed to continually deny what he was, to choose suffering over the potential magnificence of his existence, was the most flabbergasting, annoying riddle Teslar had ever encountered.
The woman laughed shrilly once again.
“Get her out of here, Marcellus. She annoys me,” Teslar ordered impatiently.
Javier Ash paused in the activity of running his extended fangs across a nude female’s shivering naked torso. Teslar met his first lieutenant’s gaze across the chamber. At least Ash’s evening meal had the courtesy not to annoy Teslar with her braying laughter. Ash was used to his preferences. Teslar rolled his eyes in a long-suffering manner. Ash gave a small smile and sunk his fangs into the female’s hip, the action so effortless, he might have been biting into melting butter.
His latest prey’s hand paused in stroking Teslar’s chest. Teslar gave Elliot a warm smile when he realized the beautiful young man had been put off by the sharp tone of his voice. Elliot resumed petting him worshipfully.
Marcellus’s expression had frozen in the midst of manic mirth. The Scourge slave’s face was pockmarked and hideous, as Teslar had used the Iron Maiden on him for the Final Embrace when he was still in the beginning stages of learning how best to create fear in his victims. That had been several decades ago, before Teslar had perfected and refined his methods.
Marcellus stared at the human woman who knelt before him, wearing nothing but a thong, as if he’d never seen her before. The woman’s hand paused mid-shaft on Marcellus’s thick, glistening cock. Her smile trembled, and her eyes widened in dawning horror at the abrupt change in her companion’s countenance.
Ash lifted his head, a thin rivulet of blood dripping from a fang to his chin. The woman he’d been biting writhed and moaned in protest at his withdrawal.
“Marcellus, don’t you dare,” Ash said, his tone resembling a dog owner who saw his pet start to lift its leg in a public place.
Marcellus hissed, bearing a mouthful of spiked fangs. He ripped out the woman’s throat so abruptly that he ate her scream. She fell over onto the floor with a dull thump, her blood soaking Teslar’s rare oriental carpet.
Teslar made a sound of weary disgust.
“You moron!” Ash shouted, springing off the couch where he’d been lying with the female. He charged across the room, back-handing the Scourge revenant hard across the face. Marcellus spun around and flew into the wall. Blood spurted across the crystals.
“Get it out of here, now!” Ash roared, pointing at the woman’s corpse. “You can come back later and clean up the mess you’ve made.”
Marcellus staggered to regain his balance. He turned around slowly, blood smearing half his Iron Maiden-kissed face.
“But…she displeased the Master,” Marcellus fumbled.
Ash bared his fangs. “The Master hates a mess even more, idiot. You displease me at the moment. Shall I show you the same treatment?”
Marcellus moved quickly to follow Ash’s orders.
“Thank you, Ash. Yo
u may leave now as well,” Teslar said after Marcellus had clambered out of the chamber.
He sensed Ash’s gaze shift from him to Elliot. Elliot snuggled closer in his arms. Teslar couldn’t say he was surprised by the young man’s reaction. Ash evoked terror with just a glance.
When he wasn’t inspiring blind lust, that is, Teslar acknowledged with distant amusement as he watched Ash sweep across the room and lift the naked woman into his arms. The female stared up at the handsome revenant, completely at his mercy.
Well, at least she’d die happy on this night, Teslar thought in an off-handed fashion. It was a wish most humans were never granted.
“I’m glad he’s gone, Master. Javier Ash scares me,” Elliot admitted after the chamber door had closed with Ash and his prey on the other side.
Teslar sighed. He noticed the deathly pallor on the boy’s face as he stared at the pool of blood on the carpet. Well, maybe Marcellus’s idiocy was not completely without purpose.
Teslar casually whipped off his shirt and dropped it into a chair. Lust mixed with the fear in Elliot’s expression as he stared at Teslar’s bared torso.
“You shouldn’t think twice about Ash. I don’t,” Teslar murmured quietly as he sat on the couch. “He is merely a slave. I care nothing for him aside from his beauty and skill at giving pleasure. You yourself have enjoyed those skills on occasion, pet.”
Elliot flushed and Teslar knew he recalled the other night, when he’d shared Elliot with Ash. He’d sent Ash on a mission to plot some new tunnels he’d discovered near the Chicago River. As a result of his mission, Ash hadn’t had the opportunity to take nourishment. Since Teslar had been in an indulgent mood, he’d allowed Ash to fellate Elliot while he watched.
Despite his stark fear of Teslar’s first lieutenant, Elliot had managed to have an explosive orgasm in Ash’s mouth, satisfying the revenant’s hunger.
“Is that…is that really how you feel about Javier Ash?”
Teslar glanced up sharply when he heard the hesitancy in Elliot’s voice. “Of course. What makes you think otherwise?”
“Well, it is only that…”
“Yes?” Teslar prompted, pushing Elliot’s shoulder, encouraging him to lie back.
“That one revenant—Crowbar. He hinted that you and Ash had once been…you know—a thing.”
Teslar chuckled as he lay down next to Elliot, sliding the bare skin of their bellies together. He stroked the young man’s face soothingly and thought of the moment when he would separate Crowbar’s head from his body.
“My pet shouldn’t be preoccupied with meaningless rivalries on his special night, should he?”
“No, Master,” Elliot whispered.
“That’s right,” Teslar said. His ascendancy over the young man was such that it would be a waste of time to defend himself more, and Teslar never made excuses unless there was something to be gained by it. “Now, let’s get you out of these pants, shall we? Your blood is calling to me, pet, and so is your cock.”
Chapter Eleven
Elliot Birch trembled when he heard Teslar say those words. He was scared to the point of numbness at the thought of the Final Embrace, but Christ, if there was even a ten percent chance it would mean being with Teslar for an eternity, it would be worth it.
Teslar got up on his hands and knees and helped him out of his pants. Elliot watched, mouth agape, when Teslar immediately spread his legs and dove between them. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as Teslar vacuumed his cock into his warm mouth.
“Ah, God,” Elliot mumbled incoherently. It would be worth risking death if there were even a one percent chance he could experience the nirvana of Teslar giving him head for an eternity.
Before he’d met Teslar, his life had been miserable, barren…and worst of all, boring. His parents had rejected him after he’d told them he was gay. His many boyfriends had only been interested in one thing, treating him like a disposable boy toy. What did he have to lose by sacrificing himself?
And he had so much to gain.
His eyes opened into slits. He panted as he watched Teslar swallow his cock whole again and again, his hunger so voracious, his method so precise, it stunned Elliot anew every time he experienced it. He resisted an urge to put his hand on Teslar’s head, to thread his fingers through his beautiful mane of hair.
But Teslar wouldn’t allow that. He’d explained patiently to Elliot that his cock aroused him so much that he didn’t want to be distracted while he sucked it. Teslar’s revelation about how much he adored Elliot’s cock had brought tears to his eyes. But even if Teslar hadn’t admitted to his weakness, Elliot would have known. All he had to do was take one look at the sublime expression on Teslar’s face as he sucked him forcefully to know that Teslar did, indeed, love his cock as much as he loved Elliot.
Elliot’s body shook in ecstasy as he climaxed down Teslar’s throat. After a moment, however, Teslar moved him so that he could run his tongue greedily over the spurting slit of his cock. Elliot grunted and moaned uncontrollably. He watched, mesmerized, as Teslar’s neck muscles convulsed again and again as he swallowed.
“Hmmm, delicious cream,” he praised, his voice made sexy and husky from taking Elliot’s cock so deep.
Elliot shuddered in bliss as Teslar took his penis into his mouth again. He didn’t know if it was Teslar’s astonishing lovemaking skills, some effect of his supernatural powers, or both, but he typically sucked Elliot to climax three times in a row, sometimes more, before it became necessary to pause before resuming again. It was Elliot’s greatest wish—besides to survive the Final Embrace, of course—that Teslar would allow him to return the favor. But Teslar only laughed every time Elliot tried to reach for the long, stiff ridge that ran along Teslar’s left thigh, pressing tightly to his leather pants or jeans.
“I think we’ll wait for after the Final Embrace for that, pet,” Teslar had explained once after he’d rebuffed Elliot’s attempts to get into his pants. Then he’d surprised Elliot by standing next to the couch where Elliot reclined naked. As usual, Teslar had worn his pants during their lovemaking. He’d ripped at the button fly of his jeans and slid them down to his thighs. A few seconds later, he’d stood over a dazed Elliot, holding his erection in his hand. He’d stroked his length slowly while Elliot stared and saliva pooled on his tongue.
“My cock will rule your world some day. It will be your sole job to pleasure it,” Teslar had whispered. “Would you like that, pet?”
Elliot had nodded, speechless, unable to unglue his eyes from that long penis with the fat, mushroom-shaped, succulent crown. Teslar’s cock and balls were highlighted to erotic perfection by the leather harness he wore. The fleshy spear was the same golden color as the rest of Teslar’s skin, with an added rosy hue.
“I hope you like it in the ass,” Teslar had said huskily.
Elliot had looked up at him, a plea in his eyes. “Oh, yes, Master.”
Teslar had smiled. “Then that’s where you’ll get it once we’re together forever,” he’d murmured before he’d tucked his big cock back into his clothing, climbed back onto the couch, and expertly attended to the erection Elliot had acquired while staring at the most magnificent cock Elliot had envisioned in his wildest fantasies.
Yeah, anything, Elliot thought as Teslar’s firm lips bumped against his shaven testicles in an insanely rapid rhythm. Who wouldn’t risk death if there was even the slimmest chance of living in this carnal heaven with this beautiful God forever? He bucked his hips and cried out as his seed poured into Teslar’s throat once again.
Christ, a one in ten shot was excellent odds, when Teslar’s singular brand of love was the prize.
Teslar slid his tongue over the crown of Elliot’s cock, hungry for the taste of his vitessence to spread on his tongue. When the full flavor of it penetrated his brain, he scowled around the young man’s cock.
Flat. Too much lust. Too much adoration. Too much need.
Not enough fear.
He hadn’t prepared hi
m adequately for the Final Embrace. True, he’d described the process in detail in the past, licked Elliot’s sweat and tears hungrily while he’d trembled in anguish and fear.
As always, Teslar had longed to take blood then. At this point in his victim’s preparation process, it was excruciatingly difficult to abstain. He failed one out of two times and drained his victim completely with his mouth. But now that Teslar knew about the powers of the combination of the crystal room, the willing sacrifice, and the automatic pneumatic exsanguinator, he became increasingly disappointed with himself when he succumbed to blood too soon. When he did so, he felt no better than a callow human boy, spilling his seed after a woman touched his cock for ten seconds.
It made him proud to know he could abstain when he chose. Saint wasn’t so superior to him after all.
Teslar needed the extra edge of power now that he’d witnessed the miracle of the woman and the boy. Something strange had happened to him in the moment when he’d looked into the female’s green eyes and bathed in her powerful vitessence.
He’d glimpsed his destiny.
Since then, Teslar had become consumed with one thought—he needed to grow strong enough to take Saint’s prizes for himself.
Elliot grunted in misery when Teslar abruptly popped his cock out of the tight seal of his lips.
“What… Why do you look so sad?” Elliot asked.
“I am doing you an injustice. You don’t understand the full impact of the sacrifice that you are making, Elliot. There is a ninety percent chance you will be dead after tonight.”
Elliot sat up on his elbows, obviously wild with concern when he saw the paroxysm of grief on Teslar’s face.
“I know how much you worry about losing me, Master.”
Teslar grabbed Elliot’s wrist when the young man tried to reach to touch his hair. He forced a smile to hide his abrupt halting gesture. If there was one thing he couldn’t stand, it was to have a slave touch his mane. Unlike humans, his hair was alive. It made him shake with pleasure to have it stroked.
