Lure (Marko Delacroix #3)

by Alaska Angelini

  The mattress shifted as he moved more in my direction. Although I somewhat kept my attention on Sayer, my real focus was on Tessa. Her breathing was so slow, almost nonexistent. The separation of her lips and lax features once again forced death into my mind. Faces flashed before my vision, causing my hands to clench. I fought to breathe as I was thrown back into my past. Back to holding one of the many bloody men whose lifeless eyes stared up at me.

  “Do you think you’ll make an obedient slave, Hunter?”

  Sayer’s breath was suddenly brushing against the back of my neck. I jumped, gasping as the room was before me again.

  “I will be the best slave for Tessa.”

  “Wrong answer. For both of us,” he hissed.

  My eyes closed and I tried to still my pulse past the shock of the memory. Slowly, I nodded. Anything to diffuse the situation. If I could make Sayer calm, maybe he’d change his mind and leave. I knew what he intended. After all, he hadn’t finished fucking Tessa. I noticed he rarely came with her. Not unless she was fighting him, and she’d learned to stop doing that relatively quickly.

  “Good. Now bend over the bed.”

  Opening my eyes was almost impossible. When my lids lifted, I brought my gaze back to Tessa. I didn’t procrastinate or put off the inevitable. I knew what would happen if I fought. He liked that too much and I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of hurting me more than I knew he was already going to.

  The top half of my body leaned over the side of the mattress and I immediately wrapped my arm around the small of Tessa’s back. Blood met my forehead as I placed it against her ribs and I closed my eyes again, bracing for Sayer’s invasion.

  “You learn faster than I thought. Or maybe you secretly want this.” His fingers stroked up the back of my thigh and my jaw clenched as they moved over the curve of my ass. For days now, he kept Tessa and I both nude. It was a sign from the beginning of how things were going to be with him here.

  “I don’t. Just get this over with.” My words were forced, clipped, as I fought the rage shaking my body. Fear should have been there, but my hate overshadowed any other emotion. I’d never wanted to kill someone as much as Sayer. Not even Marko, and that showed me just how deep my revulsion ran. I had to find a way to end this.

  Pressure circled around the entrance of my ass and my hand clutched Tessa’s hip. Tighter, I hugged her. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect her. If, somehow, this was the cost to prove my love and duty, it was all I had left.

  “Someday you may come to enjoy what we all have. It doesn’t always have to be a bad thing when the three of us share each other. Tessa will learn who to obey; you will learn, too. Once the two of you know your place, things can fall together perfectly. I can see it. It’s beautiful. With Marko dead, nothing will stop Tessa and me from reaching the top.”

  His finger disappeared for only a moment before it was replaced. Wetness messaged directly over my entrance and my whole body tensed as his finger slowly slid inside. I couldn’t stop myself from clenching around the penetration. I didn’t want this, yet I knew I couldn’t stop it.

  I stayed quiet as he withdrew, only to surge deeper. Tessa body jerked at my increasing grip and I loosened, grunting at the pain as he slid in another finger, stretching me wide.

  “When Tessa faces Marko again, there will be no hesitation. She’s going to know the repercussions. She’s going to finish him immediately.” The anger lacing his tone only increased the brutality of his thrusts. He had no care to be gentle.

  “Marko is going to kill you. I’m going to kill you.”

  Tessa’s clear English had my head jerking to face her. How many times had she repeated that statement in her head to make it sound so clear?

  My hand shot up to cover her mouth but she snapped her teeth in my direction, causing me to pull back.

  “Is that so?” Sayer’s hand stilled, but he didn’t stop violating me.

  “Yes. Take…hands off human…you’re dead.”

  “Shut up, Tessa. You’re only making this worse,” I rushed out.

  Her black eyes met mine and I wasn’t able to turn away fast enough. Like gravity, I was sucked into the darkness. Where I expected her fear or anger to take over, I didn’t find it. Calmness and a sense of peace settled over me. I could still hear voices, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. And I knew Sayer was still having his way with me. Yet, I felt nothing. Nothing but a sense of relief for the first time since I’d come to this underground hell. Whether time stretched out for seconds, minutes, or hours…I wasn’t sure. Warmth blanketed me…coddled me, like I was a baby. And in the blackness, I was safe. Free of my duties and responsibilities.

  But it didn’t last long enough.

  Pain jolted me from my blissful haven, so intense and sharp, the gag was automatic. My fingers dug into Tessa’s hip as my body curled into itself, heaving through the agony of what was happening to me. My toes dug into the cement as I tried to scramble away, but I couldn’t move.

  “Say it. Say it, Princess!”

  I looked up in time to see Sayer digging into the side of Tessa’s face with his fingers. Blood dripped down her cheeks from his nails while he shoved her head more into the pillow. I could feel his weight over my back while he kept his cock buried inside of me.

  “Say it!”

  Spit sprayed out of her mouth, barely making it to the bed, her face was being pressed down so hard. I thrashed, slamming my elbow back into his ribs in quick succession. It was enough to have Sayer swaying to the side, but closer to her.

  “You will say it! You are mine! You think Marko is going to protect you? Where is he now? That’s right, he’s locked away. And he’ll stay that way forever if I have my way. You’ll never see him again so you might as well let him go and start worrying about the other man you love.”

  My head snapped back at his pull and I locked up completely as his teeth and fangs bit into my neck. The thickness from his poison was immediate. Tessa’s screams pierced the room so loud, I fought against Sayer’s hold so I could cover my ears. Harder, he gripped, thrusting his cock into me wildly as he drank my blood. The pain engulfing me was easing, twisting and morphing to some sick form of arousal. I didn’t want to enjoy what he was doing. I didn’t want to like it…but suddenly, I did.

  “I told you,” he said, breaking from my neck. “Tell me you want more.”

  Tessa’s screams continued, but I didn’t care. I held her waist tighter, pressing my fingers into her skin as I stared, fascinated. An animal was taking over me from his venom. I needed more of his cock, but I needed…

  Sayer reached forward, jerking Tessa’s legs apart. He didn’t have to tell me what to do. I was lost, gone, as I dove forward, burying my face right into her pussy and ass. I wanted to taste all of her. To fuck her in both places with my tongue while Sayer had sex with me the one way I never thought I’d want to experience.

  “I knew you’d see my way, pet. Feast on what belongs to us while I take care of you.”

  He rested more into me, reaching around and stroking down my length. His thrusts turned slow, tortuous, making my head even fuzzier. I couldn’t think or decipher anything but my cravings. And I was desperate for Tessa’s cum. For his, inside of me.

  Vibrations from the continued screaming made my body hum. They weren’t lessoning. The steady volume buzzed in the distance: high pitched, low pitched, long, short. The vast power from behind the voice never wavered. I wasn’t sure how long it went on. All I could do was suck and lick on every inch of her most private areas. But I never got what I wanted. What I longed for the most. Sadness started to etch in and with it, the pain of what was happening to me. Swelling inside my ass increased as Sayer pounded harder. Each sway forward jostled my stomach and regardless of my drugged state, I heaved again. And again. Words spoke lowly behind me, but I couldn’t focus on anything but the moans beginning to pour from his mouth. Warmth pumped into me and I couldn’t hold in what was dying to escape from
the moment the vampire had touched me. Reality was starting to sink in. What I’d done was pushing through and mortification didn’t even break the surface of the guilt starting to fester inside of me.

  Still, the screams continued, even after Sayer pulled out and left me lying there limp in my own vomit.

  Broken. Yes, he wanted to break me. He wanted to break her. Perhaps he’d done his job. Tessa and I were his toys, and he’d accomplished what I thought no one could ever do. Sayer shattered me. Defeated me. And I’d violated her. I was just as bad as my rapist. He wanted to show us who had the power, and it was all too clear. No one was coming to help us. We were alone.

  Chapter 10

  Marko

  Like gravity—like the tide—Tessa’s presence pulled me. I knew the moment they had her on the move. Her power was but a speck of what I was made up of, but I could feel it nonetheless. And I was hoping it was because she took in more of my blood.

  Over a week and a half had gone by before I discovered what I was experiencing was her. When it registered that my sense of direction drew toward a certain location, I could imagine where she was in the underground city. Easily, I could piece together her path. But I couldn’t see her and she had yet to talk to me again.

  Maybe Sayer’s blood had won. It was possible after what she’d displayed when she was in my cell. My powers and instincts were what was responsible for me being able to pinpoint her. Not a bond or any ties. But at least I had this. It drowned out the loneliness, gave me something to focus on while killing the hours before I found out whether I got another meal or not. And I had to try to focus. After I knew what Sayer was doing to her, it was all I had not to go insane. I longed to shred him to pieces. I couldn’t think of his name without my fangs shooting down, ready to filet him alive. And I would, when the time was right.

  I let the first time I’d seen Tessa replay over and over in my mind as I greedily held onto her imprint of energy. She’d spoken French to me. The beauty of the realization, and her words, were perfection. Had there not been bars between us at that moment, I would have gotten on my knees and begged her to love me. She was still new, easily moldable, but the last visit told me Sayer was already beating me to the punch—and not in a good way. What I’d spoken to Julius was the truth. Sayer could ruin her for good. If she sunk down too far, there’d be no coming back. She’d be a killer. The worst kind of vampire there was, and she’d have to be put down. There was no getting around it. She’d be ruined.

  I had to figure a way out of here. Tessa needed me more than ever. I knew she fucking wanted to spend her life with me and I was going to make it happen. Just like she’d said as a human while she was under the influence of Sayer’s blood—together as vampires, we’d rule. And we would. Fuck doing it on my own, I needed her. Not just her blood, but her love. And she needed mine to heal her. We’d be unstoppable once I killed the bastard. We’d be…one.

  Footsteps in the distance had me rising just as Julius appeared. Feeding wasn’t that far away but given the fact that a supplier wasn’t with him, I knew he wasn’t here for that reason. Was he thinking about what he’d done? Was his guilt eating at him? I prayed it was. I stepped closer to the bars, once again hoping his eyes would tell me something. Like any time he came to me, he refused to meet my gaze long enough to for me to discover anything.

  “I’ve come to update you on the meetings you’ve missed.” Julius’s arms crossed over his chest and I could tell he didn’t want to be here. He seemed preoccupied. He definitely wasn’t worried about the meetings. What was he thinking about? I stepped closer, still not taking my focus off his eyes. Was Tessa still getting raped? Beaten? He had to know…

  “There’s a rise in the west. In the Los Angeles area, to be exact. A small group of a few hundred have come together there, somewhat like I saw in the beginning of Hunter, but their leadership is weak. They, along with a few other groups around the country, have broken into the underground cities in the area, hunting our kind. They soak their stakes in holy water. Much like Hunter did when he shot Tessalyn. It’s a dangerous situation, but Axis doesn’t seem too bothered by it. At least, that’s what Sayer is assuring me. I don’t like it. The humans catch on too quickly. They’re defying law enforcement, coming together to figure out a way to rise against their government. It’s unsettling to me, but I don’t feel that there’s a real threat yet, and I don’t think there will be as long as Hunter remains here.”

  That couldn’t have been Julius’s main concern, but I went along with his words, saying the one thing I knew would spark his anger. “You think he’ll stay so he can get raped by Sayer, too? I’m sure your approval of that situation will have him loving our life. I don’t see him wanting to run away and kill us at all, do you?”

  Light blue eyes cut up to mine and I pushed into his mind with every ounce of strength I possessed. Visions exploded before me and I locked onto our connection. As I moved my head closer, the makings of his past assaulted me. I dove in further, flying through his human years, until I was fighting through the centuries of Julius being a vampire. The deeper I got and the stronger he’d become, left me wading through memories that felt like tar. They gave off the impression of sticking to my skin and in my lungs, making it hard to breathe, but I didn’t stop until I got to Tessa being changed.

  Thoughts filtered through, so vast, I didn’t waste my time trying to decipher them. Instead, I let the conversations and happenings transpiring around her become my sole focus. I could see her placed in a room with a group of other vampires. In Julius’s awe, I watched the black fog roll through the room for the first time. One by one, she took out the vampires, revealing her bloodied with the human dead at the end. It was amazing to witness, but I needed to see more.

  Days went by and I could see Julius breaking his ties with Sayer. They weren’t compatible and Julius couldn’t stand his personality. Less, he began to go to him, until the scene with me here in the cell. The shock Julius held for Tessa’s beating and rape soaked in, confirming the dreams Julius feared. There was an uncertainty on what he should do, but his fear was for Axis, not her.

  Screaming echoed in my mind and I could feel myself pacing in the darkness. I knew whose screams they were and I could feel what he knew was happening. More rape and beatings. For days, this continued. Screaming. More pacing on his part. Sayer always found him in the hall, trying to bullshit like nothing had just happened. My anger turned to rage, then to fury. Quicker, my pulse raced, and Julius’s greed over his reasons for allowing the rapes exploded within me. Before I could hear more, the scene vanished and Julius blasted my chest with a force that sent me flying across the room. I hit the cement wall hard, groaning through the loss of air.

  “How dare you push into my mind. You are not the leader here!” The door to the cell swung open and I held my ground as I saw the vampire in him want the fight, but the leader in him restrain. He stepped back, taking a deep breath. One thing was clear to me and it made Hunter’s words more a reality than ever. With what I’d done, there was only one leader, and Julius wasn’t it.

  “You’re slipping. Something bothers you. Tell me,” I coaxed. “I am not your enemy. Not yet, and it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m your second. You’re supposed to trust me.”

  His jaw tightened as he glared. “You will never gain my trust with your plans. I know what they are and so does Sayer. You’ll never make it as a member of Axis with the route you’re going. We both know you’ll never be powerful enough to rule the higher leaders, so where does that leave you? Dead. Think about it, Marko. One of the rulers will kill you because of your greed and you’ll gain nothing.”

  The words were truth, but I refused to listen to them. With Tessa and her blood, I stood a chance to rule with her by my side. But was Axis what I really wanted anymore? It had always been my main focus. Now all I could think about was protecting and healing the woman I loved. What if I did go along with my plan after all of this? What if one of us died in the process of fightin
g our way to the top? It was all mixing around, twisting in my mind. Was it really worth it? I needed out of here, to clear my thoughts and reground myself.

  “I’m ready to be free now.”

  My change of subject had him shaking his head. “You need more time.”

  “I do not!” I exploded. “I’m good now. I promised I wouldn’t kill Hunter and I won’t. You have my word. As your second, and as future leader, I promise Hunter is safe until you give the word.”

  The hesitation was there. If it weren’t for Sayer, I knew Julius would let me go. What was it about the vampire that was swaying his decisions? It had to be Axis.

  “Another week.” Julius turned his back and I was on him before I could control myself. He’d allowed this to happen to Tessa. He’d hurt her just as much as Sayer by allowing it to continue. Besides…I was the leader, not him. And my chance to be set free was finally here.

  My fangs sunk into his neck and I bit down hard, taking his blood into me for the first time. The power had my eyes widening as I sucked the delicious tonic eagerly. It was so full of everyone’s knowledge, of pieces of the community that would now belong to me.

  I spun him around, wrapping my arm around his back, and pinning him immobile against me. With my other hand, I jerked his hair, sinking my fangs into him again. I’d meant to quit, but I could already feeling myself growing stronger with every drink. The thrashing was forceful, but not more than I could suddenly control. Electrical currents began zapping at my core as the first tie of a bond began forming. With the amount of my blood he’d taken in the past, it was happening at a faster rate than I could process. The immediate connection was one I knew I didn’t want. It wasn’t the reason I was doing this and was enough to break me from the greed of taking more.