Thrall of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 4)

by Bella Klaus

  I licked my lips, for once not daring to answer back. “Just do it.”

  His hips nestled behind mine, with his erection sliding across my wet folds. When its bulbous tip rubbed against my swollen clit I shuddered against his larger body.

  Valentine held me up with an arm braced around my ribs. His hand massaged my breast before he tightened his fingers around my nipple hard enough to blur the line between pleasure and pain.

  “Do you want my cock or not?”

  Heat flared across my cheeks, bringing with it a full-body shiver. “Please.”

  “Then you must vow to me never to interfere with any of the plans to bring about the new order.”

  My throat spasmed. I couldn’t even offer him a false promise because he would smell my lie.

  With his free hand, he reached between my legs and took my clit between his thumb and forefinger. My eyes rolled to the back of my head. It was so sensitive I could feel his fingerprints. My swollen nub pulsed and twitched under his gentle rolling motions.

  Valentine tortured my nipple with one hand and pleasured my clit with another, making my entire body feel like an exposed nerve. I bit down on my lip, trying to stifle a moan, but Valentine knew exactly how to pleasure my body and which points and angles he could manipulate to make me bend to his will.

  A low growl vibrated across my back, reminding me that I hadn’t responded to his command not to meddle with Kresnik’s affairs. My heart kicked up several notches, my breath quickened, and my mind whirred for an answer.

  “I’ll do whatever I can to stay safe, alright?” I murmured. “That means no direct confrontations with anyone, no more lying to you, and I’ll return to this room as soon as I’ve finished whatever’s required of me downstairs.”

  “You will have to offer me more than that.” Valentine nibbled on my ear, adding to the exquisite torture of his erection rubbing from my opening to my clit, but never staying in one place for long enough to give me any satisfaction.

  “Alright.” I arched against his broad chest, adjusting my hips for a little more of that sweet friction. “I’ll obey you except for when it contradicts a direct order from someone in higher authority.”

  He continued those maddening movements, holding me steady so I couldn’t move. A whimper of frustration reverberated in the back of my throat. If I’d played along with him earlier, he wouldn’t be extorting me so mercilessly. Even after I worded my promise carefully enough to avoid being caught in a lie, he still didn’t believe me.

  “Valentine,” I whispered. “Please trust me.”

  “Very well.” He pulled back his hips and entered me in a smooth thrust.

  The stretch and pressure and fill of his huge erection tore a silent scream from my throat, and a moan as he pulled out to thrust into me again. My upper body collapsed onto the soft mattress, and I balanced my weight on my elbows. His large hands held my hips in place, allowing him to shove into me with long, even strokes.

  Valentine leaned over my back and lapped at my jugular. My eyes fluttered shut as his magic sent the sensations from his tongue down to my clit, and I tilted my neck to the side to give him more access.

  My breath came in shallow pants. He would bite me soon, and we would seal an oath in blood.

  For the next several moments, he quickened his thrusts to a fast, relentless pace that kept me suspended in helpless ecstasy. He had never been so forceful, so controlling, and I slumped on that bed, helpless to do anything else but submit to the pleasure.

  One of his hands travelled up my belly, over my ribcage, and to my breast. Valentine rolled my sensitive nipple between his fingers, generating sparks of pleasure that rolled my eyes to the back of my head.

  Heat flared across my every nerve ending, and my entire body felt like a conduit for pleasure. Pressure built around my molten core, which spasmed and clenched around his thick length. I was so close.

  “Repeat the words after me,” he said.

  “In English?” The words came out in a stutter.

  No matter how far gone Valentine had shoved me down the rabbit hole of debauchery, I knew better than to make an oath in a language I hadn’t fully mastered. In my current state of mind, I didn’t have the wherewithal to even deal with double-speak and wordplay in English.

  “I, Hemera Griffin,” he said with a bite in his voice.

  My heart would have sunk if he hadn’t been pummeling me so hard, driving me to a boiling frenzy. Part of me had hoped he would recite the blood vow with my nickname. I repeated after him through clenched teeth.

  “Do promise to obey the direct orders of Valentinus Sargon de Akkadian,” he said.

  Triumph flared through my chest, and the muscles of my core quivered. He hadn’t used his title. I pushed back against his thrusts, saying the words after him with double enthusiasm.

  “I will follow his directions without subterfuge or complaint, and work for the glory of his master.” He released my nipple and slid his hand back down toward my belly.

  As his finger circled my clit, I cried out, the words spilling from my lips. Valentine’s true master was his soul, not Kresnik, and I was happy to repeat the vow. Besides, under such exquisite duress, it was impossible to refuse.

  He continued those fast, long strokes. “I commit to these vows in blood and in semen and in thrall—”

  My head snapped up. “What?”

  “Repeat after me,” he snarled.

  I said the words through trembling lips, curling my fingers into the mattress. Would this backfire on me since I had no intention of following his orders if they contradicted those of my soulmate?

  Valentine’s satisfied snarl resounded against my back, and he plunged his fangs into my neck. A burst of pleasure erupted from my core, releasing wave after wave of spasming ecstasy and heat.

  I convulsed, clamped, cried out as Valentine continued to slide in and out of my core, lengthening my climax until I slumped on the mattress, wrung out like a rag. As he roared out his climax, filling me with spurts of warm fluid, I drifted into a rapture-induced haze.

  The final thought that struck me as I lost consciousness was the effect his thrall would have on the vow.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I was back to floating on a sea of clouds, except this time, within a whistling wind that swirled around my senses like a gnat. I curled my toes, feeling the mattress yield beneath my feet. Either Valentine hadn’t given me so much thrall this time or I’d built up an immunity to it after being bitten so many times.

  Bright light seeped through my closed eyelids, pulling me out of sleep, and the wind turned into a voice.

  “Miss Griffin,” the voice said.

  I cracked open an eye to find the room empty without a single dust mote in sight. Sunlight streamed in through the tall windows on the left, making the curtains of the four-poster bed shine like spun gold. On the right, a fire continued to crackle in the hearth, filling the room with a faint scent of pine.

  The other side of the bed lay untouched, and there was no furry presence curled up by my feet. Had Valentine forgotten to let Macavity in after his hunt? What if he’d gotten himself captured? I shook off those thoughts. In his Bengal form, he was small enough to hide his presence. Macavity would be alright.

  Silence fell across the room, but a faint crackle of demonic magic danced on the periphery of my senses. I raised myself up to my elbows and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. This had to be Hades.

  “Show yourself,” I said.

  Wisps of white smoke emerged from behind the footboard, making me pull the covers up to my collarbones.

  “Modest all of a sudden?” he said in a deep voice filled with amusement. “From the sounds you were making earlier, you’re no shrinking violet.”

  I pursed my lips, glowering at the ash cloud, which had fashioned himself into a column. There were a hundred things he could be doing within an enemy stronghold, such as gathering information on defenses, plots to overthrow the Supernatural Council, magical and mys
tical weapons. Why had he chosen to spy on Valentine and me?

  “How much did you see of last night?” I snarled from between clenched teeth.

  “Enough to know that you outsmarted King Valentine.” Hades chuckled. “My, my, what a virginal femme fatale.”

  “I’m not a virgin.”

  “Technicalities,” he drawled. “Although there is one hole King Valentine has yet to breach.”

  Heat burned my cheeks, and I pulled the covers closer around my body. Valentine and I had never, ever discussed anal sex. He’d never even penetrated me there with a finger. This wretched creature standing in front of me was just trying to throw me off balance so he could trick me into reuniting his body without getting anything in return.

  Taking in a deep breath and forcing all the warmth out of my face, I soothed out my expression and glowered at the space where he’d fashioned a pair of eyes out of dust. “Are you going to annoy the thrall out of my system?”

  “That’s the plan.” He leaned forward, edging over the footboard. “Is it working?”

  I yanked on a silk sheet, dislodging it from the bed, and wrapped it around my naked body. After securing its ends around my neck like a toga, I swung my legs off the mattress and landed on the rug.

  My feet sank into its soft pile, and I padded around the four-poster bed with the tall windows on my left. Outside, a group of guards stood around a tall pile of branches staked into a pyre. My steps faltered. What on earth were they burning at this time of the morning? I hoped it wasn’t the bodies of the people Kresnik had chosen for his so-called team of elites.

  Hades huffed. “It’s too late for modesty. I saw everything last night down to how King Valentine pounded your wet little pussy.”

  The words hit like a punch to the gut, making me stagger back. Valentine and I had had public sex in Gourmande, but he had rearranged the fabric of my dress so I wasn’t giving the audience a complete show. Besides, it had been part of a charade to prove to Kresnik that I was Valentine’s obedient little blood cow. Last night had been intimate—between just Valentine and me. Valentine had even let Macavity out to give us privacy.

  I clenched my teeth, glowering at the ash cloud whirling around my body like the eye of a hurricane. How dare this creature spy on our intimate moments and make rude comments about what he’d seen?

  Hades chuckled, the sound like pitchforks scraping over my raw nerves. “King Valentine missed several tricks. I would have pumped you with my seed until it spilled out of all three holes.”

  “That’s because you’re a peeping perv,” I snapped. “In your condition, you couldn’t even stuff a pizza crust.”

  The whirlwind stilled, and Hades coalesced into the shape of a man standing six and a half feet tall. Brimstone filled my nostrils, and his jagged power lashed against my skin with the impression of thorns.

  “I am the Demon King,” he snarled in a baritone that came from the depths of Hell.

  All the fine hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and the moisture evaporated from my throat, leaving me gasping. Even when disembodied and with only one-seventh of his ashes, the creature standing in front of me was powerful beyond imagination. I placed a hand over my collarbone and forced myself not to step back or let him see my fear.

  Through all the salacious comments and jokes, I’d almost forgotten that this was also the being who had helped enslave Valentine, wanted to tear my soul from my body, and cast everyone in the Flame to Hell.

  I gulped. Hades was only in this predicament because Kresnik had taken him by surprise. With the stolen magic of an ifrit, a dragon, a phoenix, and what he’d absorbed from Jonathan, Coral and the others, Kresnik had only managed to destroy the Demon King’s body. Anyone else would have lain dormant in their jars, but Hades was different.

  Hades’ power continued to roil, making my palms sweat. Maybe it was the thrall coursing through my veins, because the old Mera might have quaked. Now, I held steady and stared into the face of a demon.

  This was the moment that would determine how our association would work. Hades was flexing his power, trying to make me cower from his might. If I backed down now, he would continue to taunt and tease me until I snapped. This was no different from the bullies at the academy. I just needed to stand up to Hades, and let him know that I wouldn’t take his bullshit.

  I raised my chin, meeting his dusty eyes. “If you wish to command my respect, then you must earn it.”

  Hades snarled, the outline of his incorporeal form trembling with rage. “How dare you—”

  “You and I both know that I’m the only person in this stronghold who won’t tell Kresnik you’ve broken free from one of your containers.”

  He stilled.

  I nodded. He knew I was right.

  “Now, here’s how it’s going to work between us.” I folded my arms across my chest. “Before I even consider collecting a single jar, I need you to swear that you won’t directly or indirectly drag innocent fire users to Hell.”

  “You don’t understand how Kresnik works,” Hades snarled. “The more of your kind he can bring into the world, the more magic sources he can feed upon to bolster his own power. By the time Kresnik is ready to face the Supernatural Council, every fire wielder in this so-called Flame will be picked clean of their magic.”

  Anxiety wound tight through my insides. This wasn’t exactly news—Kresnik had stolen the power of dozens of young people, including me. But I hadn’t thought he would also draw on the power of everyone else.

  I hid my shock behind a mask of calm. “Is this why the Supernatural Council hands our souls to you?”

  Hades inclined his smoky head. “I keep all your kind locked in a pocket realm, safe from becoming his fuel.”

  As his words sank into my skull, nausea rippled through my insides and crawled up my gullet. This was… unimaginable. Hades was probably telling the truth about Kresnik wanting to consume everyone, but I couldn’t believe he took our souls to Hell to keep Kresnik from rising to power. Hades probably ate our souls with chianti or used them to stoke his fires. The notion that the Demon King was protecting the world from Kresnik was inconceivable.

  I needed time and space to think. My gaze dropped from the ash cloud, and I walked around his transparent form and headed toward the bathroom.

  “Those oafs in denim will never become Kresnik’s army,” Hades said to my back. “They are his fuel. Kresnik means to unleash an army of preternatural beings on Great Britain. Souls that should be bound to the afterlife will remain trapped within their dead bodies, creating an imbalance that will cause this realm to collapse.”

  My steps faltered, and I held on to the bedpost for balance. Hades was right. We learned about soul balancing in the academy. It was mainly the work of the reapers—low-level angels who ushered stubborn souls into the afterlife—but during times of larger imbalances, demons would also guide their share of the souls to Hell.

  All thoughts of standing up to Hades evaporated into the ether. There was so much more at stake than putting together Hades’ body, finding Valentine’s heart, or even regaining my power. Kresnik’s preternatural army was the biggest threat to humanity, but this was also an opportunity for Hades to manipulate me into an agreement that might cost me my life.

  Even if everything he told me was true, I couldn’t follow along with his plan to lock people away in case Kresnik decided to steal their magic. What kind of government murdered people just so that they wouldn’t become victims of a criminal? I shook my head and continued toward the bathroom. Hades would have to find someone else to put his pieces together.

  As I turned the door handle, Hades grumbled something from inches behind my back.

  I whirled around, meeting his dusty gaze. “You’re not following me into the bathroom.”

  The edges of his cloud rippled. “Why not?”

  I clenched my teeth and pulled the silk sheet closer to my body. “Because you should have told me all of this before. Because I’m sure half of what you�
�ve told me is bullshit. Because I need a break from you to think.”

  “So, you have no objections to me watching you shower.” His deep chuckle set my teeth on edge. “What a pity you can’t keep me out.”

  “Will you stop being so aggravating?” I hissed.

  “After you,” he said, sweeping out an arm like a gentleman.

  I knew how to deal with him. The moment he followed me into the cubicle, I would turn on the water and wash his ashes down the drain. I stepped into the white space, and paused in front of the mirror.

  For someone who had been under the influence of thrall, I seemed pretty well-rested. My skin glowed with vitality, and a flush colored my cheeks. Even my eyes seemed different. They normally oscillated between pale blue and gray but today they reminded me of celestite, a delicate blue crystal used to achieve higher states of meditation.

  “What a savage beast.” Hades formed a cloud behind my back. “I would have secured you to the bed with silken sashes, not savaged you into submission.”

  My gaze dropped to the puncture wounds marring the side of my neck, and I tried not to pull a face. Valentine had probably left them there on purpose to mark his territory.

  “Will you at least consider what I’ve said?” he asked.

  “It’s hard to take you seriously.” I bent my neck to the side, examining it for more bites. “One minute, you’re talking about wicked Light Lords bringing about the end of the world, and the next, you’re acting like a wanker in need of a helping hand.”

  His low chuckle prickled across my skin. “Perhaps you shouldn’t be so enticing.”

  My nerves tightened with irritation. “Carry on like that, and you’ll be seeing out the apocalypse as a lonely cloud.”

  His magic crackled. I ignored him and continued toward the shower, making sure to turn on the water first. Hades backed away from the cubicle, presumably to avoid his ashes being swept down the plughole. I suppressed a smile and hung the sheet over the interior of the shower door.