Chained: A Dark Vampire Romance (Midnight Mafia Book 1)

by Zara Novak

  I really found it maddening how he could make me act like this. All he had to do was give me a little tease and leave the prospect of reward dangling in front of me. It made me forget how much I hated him and basically left me slobbering for his affection.

  I kept telling myself to get a grip. One man shouldn’t have this effect on me, especially this fine specimen of a prick. But fuck, hating him was easier said than done. When he put his hands on me and got me worked up, it was very easy to forget about the dark things I wanted to do to him.

  Once again, I found myself wondering how he did this to me. I felt stupid that I kept on falling for his tricks.

  With a flick of his hand the water shut off and he took my hand to lead me out the shower. We dried off together and put on fresh robes. I felt grateful for the shower, even if Vincent had managed to humiliate me all over again. After the bath I was left wondering when I might get clean again. I had been thrown a lifeline, as twisted as it was.

  “We part ways now, momentarily,” he said, “but before I go you plug yourself again.” He walked across the room and retrieved the box from the night before, bringing it back and setting it down on the table before me. The smallest plug was missing now, still in the shower where we had left it, but the other four remained.

  I instinctively reached for the second smallest one when he stopped me.

  “I think we’ll move straight to three,” he said, picking it out for me. My eyes widened as he placed the chrome plug in my hand. It was the size of a large avocado. “What do you think? I think you can take it, especially after our little session in the shower.”

  “I can try, master,” I said. Vincent handed me the bottle of lube and I covered the plug. I squatted down and held onto the stool while I nestled the rounded tip of the plug against my ass. He watched me as I pushed it in. It hurt. I bit my lip and held my breath as I opened up around the object.

  It slid inside and I felt the jeweled base gently close against my ass. I clenched around the plug. I could definitely feel it stretching me more, but it felt good.

  I was still a degenerate it seemed.

  “Very good,” he said as he helped me back up. “We’ll have that tight little hole stretched in no time. If you carry on acting like a good little girl, it won’t be long before I claim that tight virgin pussy of yours. I know you’re aching for it, slave.”

  I opened my mouth to say ‘Yes, sir,’ but he moved forward and kissed me, ripped open my robe and slid a finger inside my wet pussy. The single move alone was nearly enough to make me cum. He dipped his finger in and out, rubbing his pad over the walls and my spot. He fucked me fast and hard. I wrapped one hand around the back of his neck and clamped his lips against mine. My other hand grabbed his wrist and held it firm, my hips grinding against his hand as they desperately sought out an orgasm.

  It was coming. I was coming. Holy—

  “Stop,” he said, growling the words on a low whisper. My whole body was left frozen, this time under the distinct power of his vampire control. My hands relaxed and released him from my grasp, he pulled his fingers from me and put them in my mouth, letting me suck my juices from him. When he was suitably satisfied, he stepped away and gave me back control.

  I took a big breath. I almost felt like crying I was so horny.

  “So easy to tease,” he said with a dark laugh. “You’re not getting off that easy, slave.” Frustration was not the word. Whatever I was feeling now was far beyond that. “Cheer up. A servant will be with you now to get you ready. I will leave to get dressed also. I will be back in thirty minutes.”

  He made for the door and opened it with the flick of his wrist. As it opened a servant girl stepped inside. He passed her without saying anything. I didn’t even have a moment alone to beat out my own frustration.

  I could scream.

  The door closed behind Vincent and the girl made her way over. She gestured for me to sit at the mirror and I did so, wondering what exactly this meeting meant to Vincent, and why he needed me there with him.

  I’d never had a makeover before, but the time seemed to fly by. The girl worked fast and efficiently. She dried my hair and styled it. She did my makeup and picked out an elegant dress from a cupboard hidden on the wall behind us. I didn’t really get a proper look at myself until the servant invited me to stand in the full-length mirror, the same one I had watched Vincent punish me in the last night.

  “Here miss,” she said. “Please check everything is to your liking.”

  I stepped in front of the mirror and gasped at myself, not quite sure that the girl looking back at me was me. My hair had been styled up, with several long curling strands flowing down on either side of my face. My lips were a shocking shade of red and my eyes had been accented with smoky mascara.

  The dress was the real knockout. It was black and red, hung off the shoulders and perfectly framed my curves and cleavage. I looked like some medieval temptress. The servant girl finished off the look and handed me a pair of dark black stiletto boots.

  “I look like a real bitch,” I said.

  “You look beautiful miss,” the servant girl said dutifully. I looked at her and saw the dull gleam of red in her eyes. She was a vampire too it seemed. “Mr. Cartello wanted you to wear this too.”

  She produced a small velvet box. Inside there was a black choker with a large ruby at its center. The girl put it on around my neck and I gasped at myself in the mirror, feeling the weight of the beautiful red stone as it sat at the top of my chest.

  I looked fierce.

  “Maybe this is what Vincent meant about confidence…” I whispered to myself.

  “Be confident,” the girl affirmed. “They will jump on any display of weakness. You have to be strong for him. For us. For the castle.”

  I arched a brow. “What can you tell me about these visitors?”

  “I shouldn’t say,” the girl said. “Vincent instructed me not to talk to you, unless necessary.”

  “Well I’m declaring this as necessary,” I said, trying my best to sound bold. “Tell me what you know.”

  The girl looked left and right quickly, as though looking out for spies. “The Cartello family is one of the strongest mafia firms in the vampire world, but others are always trying to be the best. There are five families who can class themselves amongst the most powerful. Mr. Cartello’s operation is currently the strongest.”

  “But?”

  There had to be more to it than that, otherwise there wouldn’t be a problem.

  “But we live in a time of stalemate. No one has the ability to reach out and take everything for themselves. Outside of these five families there is another firm, one of the oldest bloodlines. They are known as the Vigliati. The vampire at the head of the family is an elder vampire named Xavier Vigliati.

  “Everyone is waiting to see which family he will back. Right now, the Vigliati are neutral. Xavier is watching the five families carefully. He has promised to merge his powerful operation with one of the five, but only when he has decided which leader has the most promise. With the Vigliati’s backing, any of the five families would be strong enough to take absolute control.”

  “He is coming, today?”

  “Not him. He has sent three of his daughters. They want to talk to Vincent and get the run of his operation. It will not be a pleasant meeting for him, and they will probably try to test him.”

  “Why does he need me there?”

  “A strong leader always has a slave present, that is the belief of Xavier Vigliati. The fact that you are a breeder, that only makes Mr. Cartello look even stronger.”

  So, I was right. Vincent did need me. A whole lot.

  “Thank you…”

  “Tasha. It’s my pleasure miss. Good luck.”

  A knock came at the door as soon as she was done talking, which made us both jump. Tasha hurried over and opened the door. Vincent stepped inside, dismissing her with a nod of his head. I glanced over at him properly and felt floored. He was wearing
a dark suit with a white shirt and no tie. The outfit was simple enough, but he looked damn good.

  “My my, slave,” he said. “You do brush up well. If we didn’t have guests to entertain, I’d bend you over and fuck you right here.”

  Please.

  “Thank you,” I said. “You look good too.”

  “Let’s go,” he said and held out his hand. “Our visitors are waiting, and they do not like to be kept. Your job is to stay quiet and look strong. Pull that off and you might just earn back that point you lost earlier.”

  “Yes, sir,” I said, playing the part of a dutiful slave as I looped my arm in his and followed him out of the bathroom. We walked through the castle, heading in a direction that very quickly became new to me. Glancing over it was impossible to tell what emotions were running through Vincent’s mind, his face was a mask of flawless white marble, but something about his body language told me he was nervous.

  Maybe this was really my chance to prove myself to him. I could win major points—both literally and figuratively—which could definitely give me an advantage somewhere down the line. This meeting wasn’t just important for Vincent, it was important for me too. I had to play the part and nail it perfectly.

  Doing so might just let me get out of here.

  Chapter 4

  Rachel

  I followed Vincent through the castle, imagining myself as a queen in some gothic horror novel. Every now and then I caught my reflection in a mirror and surprised myself. Vincent really had transformed me into someone else.

  It seemed strange that he wanted me to go into this meeting completely blind. Were it not for the servant girl, Tasha, I would know nothing about who we were about to meet. Surely any information would be better than none?

  I decided to feign ignorance.

  “What can you tell me about these guests?” I said. “Is there anything I need to know?”

  “On top of what Tasha already told you?” he said without glancing over at me. I would have frozen mid-step if he wasn’t pulling me along.

  “I thought it would be good to know.” I swallowed at the knots tying my throat.

  “You thought correct. It was my intention to tell you before meeting them. Xavier Vigliati is a powerful ally, one that each of the five families desperately would like to affiliate with. Right now, the Cartello family is the strongest presence in our world, and Vigliati knows this is. We are also the least volatile.”

  “Volatile?” I asked.

  “You might think me a psychopathic degenerate, slave, and on some counts you are right, but you do not know my contemporaries. The heads of the other vampire families, those that like to call themselves my equals, they are barbarians when compared to me.”

  “If you are the obvious choice then why would Vigliati not make the alliance with you?”

  A few moments passed before he answered. We turned onto a grand staircase and descended. “I am not sure. I believe it is some sort of personal grudge. I am obviously the best candidate to lead our world forward. The other families would have us all at war, I am the only one that can guarantee peace, profit and power for us all. Vigliati doesn’t like me though, he never has.”

  “So, he has sent his three daughters to interrogate you.”

  “Something like that,” he said. “I imagine they have a request. An impossible task that cannot be met. Vigliati will use this task as another reason to discount my empire. I expected a meeting at some point, but not now, and I did not expect to accommodate his daughters. That part bewilders me the most.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because his eldest son is the heir to the Vigliati family. Eric Vigliati. He is the one I would deal with, so why not let me forge the relationship with him?”

  Maybe Vincent couldn’t see the answer, but it was obvious to me as soon as he asked the question. “Because you don’t send a man to do a woman’s job,” I said, actually stopping this time as we reached the bottom of the stairs. Vincent might not have realized it, but I could already tell that he was walking into this meeting at a disadvantage.

  “What do you mean?” he said, turning and looking at me with a note of sincerity in his red eyes. It was a side I hadn’t seen to him so far. He genuinely needed me for something other than just sex. He needed my mind.

  “Who would you rather argue against, a man or a woman?” I asked.

  “A man,” he answered.

  “Why?”

  He shrugged as if the question was stupid. “There aren’t many out there that scare me, but even I know better to go picking a fight with a woman. Behind every great man…”

  “Exactly,” I said. “God might have given man strength, but he gave women brains. What better way to use that power than to keep those hunter-gatherers in line?”

  “This is a trap,” Vincent said in realization. “Vigliati has sent three assassins to cut me down with words. I have already lost.”

  “Is that why you wanted me here?” I said. “So you had a woman on your side?”

  “I wanted you here because appearance is everything. Vigliati is very old-fashioned. He doesn’t respect vampire leaders without female slaves.”

  Odd. Very odd. “What, why?”

  “Eyes forward. They are only moments away. They aren’t ordinary women, remember that. I doubt we have any chance of coming out of this without a straight loss. Let’s just try and minimize the damage. Vigliati’s daughters are the personification of the word bitch.” I just smirked. Vincent glanced at me. “Something funny, slave?”

  “Let’s just see,” I said. Vincent might have been cautious. What chance did one man have against three banshees? I on the other hand felt right at home. These women might have been vampires, but deep down we were communicating on the same level. I talked their language, but I had one added vantage.

  Several long years of arguing as a profession.

  Let the baptism of fire begin.

  I stared at the room around us as we waited. It appeared to be another entrance to the castle, not the one Vincent had brought me through when we first arrived here. Two giant doors stood twenty feet ahead of us, both at least three-stories tall. Vincent and I waited in silence for a moment and then the doors opened. The giant hinges whistled under the weight of the wood.

  A small group of Vincent’s men walked through, and behind them were the daughters. The three of them were remarkably beautiful, in ways that inspired fear and awe. As they stepped inside each of them let their eyes take in the room, their heels snapping over the marble tiles as they crossed the hall to meet us. When they were ten feet away, they finally stopped. Vincent nodded at his men to leave, and they did.

  “Welcome,” Vincent said to the three women. “Good travels?”

  “As good as one can expect when travelling to this forgotten point of the world,” the woman in the middle said. I quickly skimmed my eyes across the group and took them in. The woman in the middle had shiny red hair the color of blood. She was dressed in leathers, looking like she had just come from a biker convention. On her right there was a woman with startling white hair. She had black boots, a leather jacket and a white dress. The last woman had short black hair and a simple black dress that finished at her knees.

  They were all breath taking.

  “Who is this?” the red-haired vampire said to Vincent, looking in my direction.

  “This is my wife, Rachel,” he said. “Rachel, I would like you to meet the Vigliati sisters. This is Carmen,” he said, pointing to the red-headed biker chick. “That is Della.” White hair. “And this is Rose.” Black hair.

  “Wife?” Carmen said while raising her brow. “When did you get married?”

  “She is a slave, nothing more,” Vincent said. “A necessity to protect myself. The arrangement may or may not be temporary.”

  I glanced over at him, feeling a slight pang of worry. That casual note of indifference worried me, making me feel like I was disposable.

  Well you’re not. I told myself. He n
eeds you, even if he doesn’t realize it.

  Rose, the black-haired girl in the black dress lifted her chin and breathed in. “She’s a breeder.” The rest of the daughters gasped, scenting the air also as if they would recognize it somehow. I found it bizarre that these creatures could detect something about myself that even I didn’t know.

  “It’s true,” Della, the white-haired vampire said.

  Carmen laughed. “Very impressive, Cartello. Bringing a gun to a swordfight. You think this will impress father?”

  “I don’t care, to be honest,” Vincent said frankly. “But I wonder how many of the other leaders have a breeder in their house. I wonder, how long has it been since your father had one?”

  Their eyes all turned cold. Vincent might have thought he was getting the upper hand with his little surprise, but I could tell he was just pissing them off. To make matters worse things were only just beginning. Something told me they hadn’t gone for the jugular yet.

  “Enough of the pleasantries,” Carmen said. “We don’t want to spend any longer here than necessary.”

  “You are not spending the night?” Vincent asked.

  “No,” Carmen said, laughing to herself again. She looked at me. “I’d rather we didn’t.”

  I furrowed my brow. Had she taken personal offence at me being here?

  “Very well,” Vincent said. “Your father sent you here to ask something of me, get it over with. What’s the bullshit?”

  Each of the daughters looked at one another, and I sensed something in the unspoken glance they shared. The idea came to me that perhaps Vigliati hadn’t sent them here at all. They had come of their own volition. They were trying to prove something to him.

  I then noticed the way that Carmen, who seemed to be the leader of the group, was looking at Vincent. Could it be that her indifference to me was prompted by the real reason for their visit? Had they come to make some sort of alliance through other means?

  It hit me then. Carmen wanted Vincent. They wanted a marriage of convenience. The fact that he had now been taken by a breeder put a wrench in their plans.