by Alisha Basso
Why did everyone keep calling me a guest? I was a prisoner! Were they all delusional?
Arian looked stricken. “Then I will take my leave.” She turned abruptly. “I will send Nadia for your tray.” she said to me, in a voice filled with rancor.
“No, you will take it back. I do not wish to be disturbed tonight. Send Nadia home. I will attend to Grace.” He stood by the door and folded his arms. He watched Arian with cold eyes. He was so powerful and sure of himself. An overwhelming presence I was having a hard time ignoring. I watched as drops of water fell from the ends of his long hair. Arian reached for the tray with trembling hands, her back to Seth she whispered, “I will remember this,” it was so soft I almost didn’t catch it. Then she turned and left the room.
Seth closed the door after her and then turned and leaned against it. His cool silvery-blue eyes slid along my skin like a physical caress. My head felt a little better. I could feel the ring on his finger. It was close enough to clear my mind and give me a little more energy. I needed that damn thing back.
“Grace,” he sighed, his voice a gentle whisper, and much softer than it had been with Arian. “I am so pleased to have you back with us.” He pushed away from the door. His body was amazing, I found myself staring at his chest. I could be cocky about resisting him, but in the flesh, Seth was a much harder man to push away. I was in trouble, again.
He walked toward me. I met his eyes and felt my body tighten as he slid his white teeth along the plumpness of his bottom lip. I bolted off the opposite side of the bed and stood against the wall, using the bed curtains to block my view of him. I blew out my breath and tried to get a handle on my jumping nerves, but before I could exhale, he was there. His vampire speed was shocking and I staggered back. He caught me, his strong arms wound around my waist.
“Let go of me,” I demanded, struggling in his arms. My traitorous body sparked and sizzled wherever his hands touched me. “I am not your guest,” I said weakly. “I am not going to have sex with you and I am not going to use the ring to get you what you want, so just back off!” He let go of me abruptly, stepping away. I stumbled backward as I tried to regain my footing. His eyes had changed to lifeless black.
“Oh crap,” I turned, ready to fly out of the door. I’d decided to take my chances with the scary things outside. They seemed safer at the moment. I got about two steps. Then he was in front of me again. “Would you stop that?” I yelled, stomping my foot like a child.
“There is no escape, Grace, only acquiescence.” He moved to the door and turned the lock.
“I may be your prisoner, Seth,” I scowled, “but you don’t own me. I am still my own person, I have free will, and I say no. You can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do.” I took a step back.
“You are wrong but for one thing but I believe by the time I am finished with you, you will be doing what we both want, voluntarily.” His stare sent chills all over my body. It was hard to keep my confidence, with those lifeless doll eyes boring imaginary holes into my head. At least his teeth remained normal. “Did you forget that I hold the lives of your friends in my hands?” He closed the distance between us. His breath sent goose bumps along my skin. “You should know that at this precise moment Eden awaits my command. Tell me Grace, should I let him taste your precious Ann? And what of your hero? Should I allow Chloe to sip from your lover?” He shook his head, “How I long to give that command. Warlock blood is a most potent nectar.” He reached out, wrapping his large hand around my wrist, he pulled me hard against his body. The low cut of the gown allowed my bare skin to press against his naked chest. His skin felt cool. “I will not force you to my bed. That is beneath me, however, I am confident you will soon be warming my sheets.” I said nothing. Arguing was stupid, especially when I was panting and obviously attracted to him. “Right now all I will ask of you is a small sacrifice to ensure the safety of your friends. A sort of fig branch of trust?”
“Trust?” I snorted derisively. “You don’t blackmail and threated to earn trust.” I narrowed my eyes.
He ignored me and I jerked as he grazed his lips along my jaw. “You burn me. Your heat is a balm for my missing soul.” The points of his deadly teeth lengthened as he bent his head. “I wish to taste you again. Not from a scratch, Sweet. I want to be inside you. If not my flesh then my teeth.” His breath sent chills along my bare skin. “I have longed to be inside you from the first day I saw you. You are one of a kind, special. Do you know what that knowledge does to me?” He growled deep in his throat. “Your blood is the rarest blood in the world and it is mine alone.”
His voice was hypnotic. I swayed, mesmerized by his words and gentle caresses. His breath on my neck felt incredible. I shook myself out of his trance and pushed at him, fighting myself as much as him. I knew what he was capable of, even without the threats.
“All you have to do is refuse me this tiny sip,” his cruel eyes met mine, “and their fates will be sealed. I don’t have to describe what horrors await them at the hands of my coven. I will let you imagine the worst.” His smile was deadly as his hands slid along my back. I felt his fingers glide over my butt. He shuddered. “What will you decide?” he glared.
“You are the worst kind of devil,” I hissed. Then I reached up and pulled my hair over to one side and tilted my head as an answer to his request. I hated giving him what he wanted. I lost the first battle. But I knew that he would soon touch the ring to my bare skin and then I would win the war.
I looked at him. He was staring at me; his breathing was rapid, causing his chest to visibly rise and fall. He knelt down, gripping my arms tightly against my sides he rolled his eyes up, looking into my face. “You do things to me that no woman has ever done.” He drew his breath in through his clenched teeth. “I should throw you to the floor and push my cock deep inside you.” He closed his eyes and sucked in a slow breath. My skin had broken out into a billion goose bumps as he rested his forehead on my stomach. “My control is slipping.” He looked up at me again and licked his lips. I saw a flash of sharp white teeth. He gave me chills just knowing what he was, what he could do. “You need to relax, Grace. It won’t hurt if you relax. You will be alright. I won’t damage you.” He stood then and lowered his mouth to my wildly beating pulse. I felt the velvet softness of his tongue lick a seductive path across my skin. “God, you taste amazing,” he breathed, before his teeth penetrated. I whimpered and held my breath, my fists clenched tightly at my sides. Pain, sharp and quick struck my neck. He leaned down and took me into his arms. His lips locked onto my flesh, he walked slowly to the bed. The sheets were cool on my back, his solid weight pressing me firmly into the mattress. He continued to feed from my body.
I was heavy with desire as my mind twisted into a spiral of a thousand feelings and thoughts. Erratically, images entered my consciousness. I saw a man, his powerful hips glistening with tiny beads of sweat as he slid his manhood in and out of the woman beneath him. The powerful muscles of his back flexed as he worked her. His black hair was free and flowed down his back in messy tangles. The image shifted, his eyes were closed. He moved to sink his sharp teeth into the tender flesh of the woman’s thigh. Blood seeped from the wound. Her long legs were spread to accommodate his body, her brown hair cascaded onto the bed in damp knots. Silky rope bound her arm at the wrists. They were fastened to a hook on the headboard. She turned her head frantically from side to side, moaning with pleasure. I saw her eyes.
They were mine.
“Holy shit.” I jerked upright, knocking Seth away from my neck as the erotic vision faded. A look of pure contentment replaced the wild hunger in his eyes. He rolled onto his back, his smile told me he was fabulously satisfied.
“You taste like nothing I have ever had.” He turned onto his side, bending his arm, he braced his head in his hand. “You are liquid fire,” he sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, “sweetened with lust.” He moaned and then crawled toward me, a frightening smile spread across his face.
I pushed
him back. “Hold on just one damn minute,” I was still stunned, “What the hell was with the mental slide show?” I sat up and scooted back, as far from him as I could get.
His lips turned up in a lazy smile. “That could have been us the night you left me for another man’s bed. It’s what should have happened.” He scowled, his mood shifting, “I have thought about that night many times since you ran from me.”
“But I never, we never…did any of that!” I was astonished. He had a very fertile imagination. I felt myself blushing.
“I want that night back. I could have taken you while your mind was clouded, but I chose not to. When we make love, I want you to be willing. I want you to writhe beneath me, wild with your own pleasure. I want you to scream my name as I drink from your body.” His eyes faded to their lovely silver-blue. “You will never long for another man’s bed, that I can promise.”
Arian was right about him, he did have a one track mind. “I never left you for another man’s bed. I left because, You. Are. The. Bad. Guy. I left because you kidnapped me and planned to use me for your own nefarious reasons. As, I might point out, you are doing again! I’m sorry, Seth, but despite how much you want to believe it, I never had sex with Lucian. I hadn’t even planned on it. Not that it’s any of your business, it’s just I don’t want you to make him the scapegoat. You have no reason. He is innocent! And as a side note, neither one of you are getting into my pants. So live with it!” I tried to look tough and no-nonsense, but in this outfit I was wearing, who could I? I was irritated. This gown was absurd. “Will you quit dressing me in these flimsy things?" I pinched the silky fabric at my stomach. “I need real clothes. I can’t go around dressed in pajamas all the time. I’m not Hugh Heffner!” I protested.
“I dress you in these things as you call them, because you are lovely, and I believe women should be feminine and wear beautiful things. It pleases me to look at you, to think that only a small slip of fabric separates your naked body from my touch.” He curled his fingers, and gently grazed his knuckles along the curve of my neck. I caught my breath. He was really pushing it.
“More than that separates us,” I reminded him yet again. “If what you say is true, that you will not force me. That would be rape, and you said you were above that.”
His smile was cruel. “Everything changes, Sweet. If you resist me for too long, I cannot predict what I will be driven to do. I speak the truth to you now, but the future is uncertain. Remember, I am a monster, I feed on life. I am not a good person.” He stood and removed his shirt.
I scrambled back, “Whoa, now hold on. You just said you weren’t going to…?” I trailed off as he shook his head at me. Reaching his hand into his pocket, he withdrew the ring. Slipping it onto his finger, he settled back onto the bed. I blew out my breath at the sight of the tiny band of platinum.
“Now, Sweet, let us see what your powers are capable of,” he said.
A thrill shot up my spine. I was going to touch the ring! I sat up and tried to look calm. My mind was racing.
A brow rose and he regarded me for a moment. Seconds passed as he stared at me and slowly my enthusiasm dwindled. Crap. He glared as if to say, how stupid do you think I am?”
“First a test,” he began. “I am curious to see how close you need to be to use the ring. I don’t want another scene like the other night.”
My shoulders slumped, “Fine, what do you have in mind?”
“According to legend, you are the Madea. The ring is merely the vessel for your power. Power you have awakened. The ring is controlled by your mind. It feels you. I know this, because now that I wear the ring, I feel you as well. From the moment I put it on, I could almost taste you in the air. It is so much a part of you. Now, what I understand is that the desire, or, the wish, for want of a better word, must come from the possessor of the ring. You are needed to bring it to fruition. So you see,” he smirked, “you will not be making the wish, I will. All you need to do is touch my skin. The force of your will combined with your compliance should do the rest.” His eyebrows rose. “So, I am sorry to disappoint you, Sweet, but you will not be injuring me tonight.”
My heart sank and I stared openmouthed. He went to his hands and knees and crawled closer to me. I scooted away. I was freaking. If this were true, then we were still totally screwed. I had no plan for this. My ace in the hole had just been reduced to a joker. I sucked in a breath, “What are you going to wish for?” my body shook. “You have to be careful. A wish you haven’t thought about fully can backfire horribly.” I was stammering in an effort to buy time. “You need to work out every detail, you could hurt people. You could forget something vital and end up causing a catastrophe.” I was babbling.
He got to his knees in front of me. “Touch me, Grace. Place your hand on my heart.”
What heart? I thought to myself. He took my hand and placed it on the new warmth of his chest. I shuddered to think that his body heat had come from me. “I need you to agree to do this, Grace. I honestly would prefer not to hurt your friends.”
But he would. I steadied myself and took a long trembling breath. I was terrified of what he may do. But then, I wasn’t too convinced that his little test was going to work. I was almost certain that I would need to touch the ring itself for any magic to come out of it. But I just couldn’t risk the consequences to Lucian and Ann if I failed.
SEVENTEEN
I concentrated, imagining my will as a solid thing; I pushed it from my hand and into him where I suddenly felt the ring. I shuddered as my eyesight blurred, and my mind went totally blank.
An instant later, my vision cleared. My hand was still resting on Seth’s smooth chest. I felt it rise and fall with each heavy breath. I looked up into his beautiful eyes. He was everything I had ever desired in my wildest fantasies. I felt magma rising up my spine as a terrible longing filled my body. I moved my other hand onto his chest and then slid them slowly up along his muscled pecs to his broad shoulders. I stopped, cupping the back of his head. I watched the hunger in his eyes as I pulled his lips down to mine. Heat seared through my flesh. I felt moisture gather between my legs as my body prepared for his. He wrapped his arms around me and crushed me to him. Lust burned wild in his touch. He fed on my mouth, sucking my tongue into his warmth. He tasted good. Sweet, with just a hint of iron,
My blood. Fear surged into my head and just as quickly as it had begun, the passion vanished. I broke the kiss and scrambled out of his arms. My body was humming from the rush of desire and I struggled to catch my breath.
“Come back to me, Grace,” his shoulders heaved with his breath, despite his calm voice, I could see the tension in his body as he strained to control himself.
I stared at him. My anger at my self-betrayal was all consuming. I couldn’t believe what I had just done. I jumped his bones. Then it hit me. “What was your wish, Seth? What did you ask for?”
His smile was wicked. “The test was successful. I control the ring,” he answered triumphantly.
Fuck.
“You said you wouldn’t force me!” I screamed at him. “Wishing for it is the same damn thing.” I was outraged. “You are such slime. How could you?”
He looked smug and utterly unrepentant. “Grace,” he laughed, the sound smooth and sexy. It was a uniquely, masculine sound that enveloped me, making my body react despite all my efforts to restrain it. “You excel at self-deception. I did not ask that you make love to me. What I seek is the truth. I wanted you to throw your inhibitions away and act as you truly felt.” His face showed pure male satisfaction. “You can fool yourself into believing you don’t want me, but you will no longer fool me.” He lowered his eyes. “You want me, Grace, as much as I want you. You want my mouth on your body, the invasion into your most private parts, tasting you and making you part of my body. You want me to fill you, possess you”. His eyes were growing dark again, the beautiful colors slowly swallowed. “You want the vision, Grace. I see it in your eyes now, even as you try to deny it. I smell it on
your skin. Even as we speak, your blood courses through your body, thick with desire. You want to be bound, under my complete control while I slip into you, while I taste you. I will know that day, Grace.” He laughed, “It will be soon.” He stepped off the bed in one fluid motion, and then he was gone.
I sat up hard. I was angry with myself. I was such a slut. I wanted him. My brain was wrestling with my hormones. How could I want a man who was threatening to harm my friends? He was a monster, not a man - a beast!
However, it didn’t matter to my body. Something about him triggered something inside of me. He was evil, yet he hadn’t hurt me, or anyone really. Ann was unharmed. She had been fed and clothed, sort of. Even Lucian was still whole as far as I knew. He needed me to comply, yet he never forced his hand. He threatened, but he never hurt first to prove he could. I wasn’t planning to test him or call his bluff. I had zero illusions that he would kill everyone I loved if I pushed him. But he didn’t feed on that cruelty. I stared at the door. He was an enigma and if I didn’t watch it, I would be warming his sheets sooner than even he predicted. I needed a plan. I had to get my friends out of here. If I could accomplish that, I hoped they could find a way to come back for me. I had to make a deal, but I wasn’t sure how. It seemed the only thing these monsters wanted from me, besides the keys to world domination, was sex, oh yeah, and blood. I didn’t want to compromise either one. I couldn’t refuse to invoke the ring, if they demanded it. I couldn’t threaten them at all, not as long as they had leverage. The key was to get Lucian and Anne to safety.
I remembered Arian’s desperation. She seemed ready to do anything to get back into Seth’s bed. She was the only one I had any hope of influencing. I put my aching head into my hands. I was going to have to either agree to her demands or plan an escape and rescue my friends alone. Now I knew what a genie trapped in a bottle must feel like. Their phenomenal powers being wielded by the whims of another, relegating them to nothing more than a caged slave and an object. I could grant wishes, but I was never going to have the freedom to use my powers for myself.
