“It doesn’t sound like it was your fault, exactly.”
Doreen shook her head. “I didn’t ask to be made a vampire. He picked me up out of nowhere and made me… He sucked me dry and forced his blood down my throat, and well, I don’t remember all of that either. But it doesn’t matter if it was my fault. It was still me. I may have killed someone, maybe several people. I’m sure I would have, if he brought them to me too feed on. It’s probably only my cowardice stopping me from remembering the details.” As she talked, she squeezed his hand, harder and harder.
“Doreen, you need to let go of my hand now.” Before you break it.
“Oh. Sorry.” She let go of it and shook her hand. “See what I mean. I’ve no self-control.”
Self-control enough to stop from taking my mind over when you were dying. He knew whatever happened when she was tied up by Mario, there was no way she would choose to kill to drink now, no matter what the consequences were. She’d demonstrated that. Maybe she’d become a better person, or maybe she hadn’t killed at all. It would probably have given Mario more control over her if she thought she had, and from what Kent had told him, Mario was a sadistic son of a bitch. Obviously Mario had done a job on her self-image as well as on her life. He made up his mind.
“Come,” he said, and walked towards the bondage frame. He caught the startled look on her face, the way her eyes widened and her lips made an O, but he kept going, confident she’d follow. And follow she did, her bare feet making only a faint noise on the hardwood floor. He thought back to the night before and the way her feet had sounded before she stopped him from his second attempt to call 911. How fast could she move, anyway?
The frame was made of sturdy oak two-by-fours, painted black. The beams made a square seven feet on a side, with U bolts set in the beams every foot or so for holding a submissive in almost any position on the inside of the square. A sub who wasn’t extra tall could even be suspended a few feet off the ground; he knew the frame, supported by metal poles set at angles to the square, could support her weight and then some. On the outside edges, there were hooks from which hung manacles, cuffs, chains, and various lengths of rope.
Out of habit, he rubbed his hands over the wood, peering at it from every angle. There wouldn’t be anything wrong with it; it had been built a month ago, and he’d tested it then with his own weight to make sure it would hold a sub.
“No,” said Doreen, her voice low but full of terror.
“No chains.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
“I don’t even know if I could stand to be tied up. You don’t know what it was like.”
“You’re right. I don’t. But I know what you’re like, and I’m willing to stake my life on that tonight like I was last night. I trust you, Doreen. Trust me.”
She nodded slowly and without any apparent conviction.
He took a few six foot lengths of rope and tied them to the top beam, four feet apart. He made loops with the extra, hoping he wasn’t being watched too closely by a novice. There was a right way to make rope cuffs so they wouldn’t cut off circulation, and this wasn’t it. Did he even have to worry about things like that with a vampire? He’d assume so unless he found out otherwise. In any case, cuffs weren’t what he was trying to make. “Come here, and grab onto the loops, Doreen.”
She moved into position in the middle of the frame, but hesitated. “How do you know I won’t go crazy and start killing people? Even if you’re willing to take the risk—“
“I can’t take it for others,” he said, finishing the thought. “I’m not. Do as directed.”
“Yes, Master.” She started to slip her small hands through the loops, all the while shaking her head. To get to both of them at once, she had to spread her arms wide, and she could barely reach them.
“I didn’t tell you to put your hands through the loops,” he said sharply. “Just grab them.”
She blinked. “Sorry.” Her jaw visibly relaxed as she adjusted her hands to hold on to the rope.
He smiled. “That should be ‘Sorry, Master,’ but I’ll let you off the hook this time.”
She grinned at him. That gesture, at least, he could read fine.
“We’re going to try something I call mental bondage,” he told her.
The grin was replaced with a frown. “I agreed to let you control my body, but there’s no way in hell you can control my mind.”
“No,” he agreed. “Well, maybe nudge it a little. Getting to a different mental state is part of what BDSM is all about after all. Or sex in general. The brain is the key to the fun. But that’s not what I mean, anyway. I’m not going to try to control your mind; rather, your mind is going to control your body.”
She chuckled. “Isn’t that what it usually does?”
“Yes. Exactly. And yet not quite. Stay still, love.”
“That’s easy.”
He grinned. “Then you should be very good at it. Now imagine for a moment your hands can’t move from those ropes. I know you’re strong, but hold onto them and pretend you can’t let go.”
She nodded, her eyes narrowing.
“I’ll move your legs to where I want them. Make sure your hands stay put.”
He squatted down between her legs and moved her right ankle a foot and a half to the right. “It can’t move now,” he told her.
“I’m pretty sure it— Oh! Yes, Master.”
“Is your mind strong enough to hold it in place, love?”
She hesitated a moment. “Yes.”
“Now the other one.” He moved it to the left, spreading her legs more, her body lowering in response. If she held her feet there, there’d be a tension in the ropes as she tried to hold onto them. Looking up, he was at the right angle to see her sex glistening beneath her dress. He grinned. Good to know she was enjoying herself, and that he could read her physical reactions. He stood up so he could see her eyes again.
“If they weren’t held so firmly, I’m sure you could lift yourself up off the ground. In fact, you could probably break free of those ropes if you weren’t being held by something even stronger.” He was talking in a low voice, but he dropped it even further. “Just like you could push against my mind if you wanted to, right now. If you weren’t holding yourself back. You’re so strong.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know how you can say that.”
“Some people love being held in place, but they can’t help but struggle against it. They’re brave enough to say yes to getting tied up, but not strong enough to resist struggling against the ropes.” He slid a finger along the inside of her right thigh, taking advantage of the way he’d positioned her legs a few feet apart. “Now you’re not going to move, are you, love?”
“No, sir.”
“No matter what?”
“No matter what.”
“I believe that. And I intend to prove it to you.” He lazily stroked up her thigh again, slowing down this time as his hand rose, and moving higher than before.
Her eyes widened. He knew what she thought he was about to do, and he could see the hunger in her eyes. He wondered if she was aware of how sexy it was when she licked her lips, but it looked like she was doing it innocently enough. He took his hand away. “Oh!” she said, giving him a look of reproach.
“Remember. All you have to do is stay still. I’ll do the rest.” He walked around her, and leaned back exaggeratedly as if getting the perfect view, although as far as he was concerned, she was the perfect view from any angle. “Nice ass.”
She turned her head and made a face at him. She was still pissed from not being touched, and he was pretty sure she would have protested him groping her pussy a half hour ago. He could insist on a thank you for the compliment, but he doubted it would accomplish anything. Instead, he reached out and patted her bottom. “Remember your hands and feet stay still no matter what.”
She nodded.
He spanked her, starting softly and building up intensity. And her feet and hands didn’t move, a
lthough she did start wiggling her pert little bottom. Harder, and still she didn’t move, although he could swear she was trying to catch his hand and push her pussy back into it with her little wiggles. He marveled; most people Doreen’s size wouldn’t be able to keep their balance, no matter how startled they were, but she was holding on without even her full concentration. Her supernatural strength helped, he was sure, but strength wasn’t all of it. She still had to tense her muscles against the force of his hand, and yet she had concentration left to play games. He smiled. Time for her to have her reward.
He slipped a hand between her legs, moving close behind her to shield her from view. Her pussy was dripping, and his fingers slid easily along her moistened cleft. She slid back, urging him forward, and the flesh of her soft bottom pressed against his cock and made it ache. He’d been so focused on her he hadn’t been aware quite how hard it had gotten, but now they both knew. She ground against him as well as she could while not stepping back, grinning over her shoulder at him.
“If you let me go I think I could get you off,” she told him.
He moaned. “Later,” he said. He pushed two fingers inside her, and she grunted. It might not have been the prettiest of sounds, but it was music to his ears. “How about I don’t let you go and I’ll get you off.”
“With everyone watching?”
“Oh, I doubt anyone’s watching.” He’d blocked everyone out of his mind, and he didn’t feel like letting them in now.
“Not my place to tell my Master he’s wrong, but…”
“Should I stop?” He had no intention of stopping unless he heard a safe word.
“If you make me come in front of all those people I will never forget… But if you back off now, I might never forgive you.”
“Brave girl.” He reached around her, his hand holding her dress down in front while pressing against her mons. Thank goodness for the stretchy fabric. He could feel her clit right through it. He pulled her harder onto the fingers he had inside her, thrusting in and out.
She rocked in time with him, but without being able to hear her breathing, he couldn’t tell whether she was about to go over or not. He prided himself on always knowing, but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to pull back now, and he was there for as long as it took to take her to heaven.
“Oh. My. God.” The way she said the words was half-spoken, half-moaned. Her pussy clamped down on him like a vise, and he wondered if she was going to break his fingers. Then, above them, there was a sickening crack.
Lifting the hand at her front to her waist, he pulled her out of the way of the collapsing frame. She resisted only for a moment, finally letting go of the ropes as she practically fell on top of him when he hit the floor.
“Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God.” The last utterance was almost screamed. Her entire body shook on top of him so hard he was going to have bruises on his backside, but it was worth it to be able to hold her. Above them, the bondage frame sprang back from almost falling in on itself, the supports on the side managing to keep each half upright. The top beam was cracked all the way through.
Now, he was sure, everyone really was watching.
He sat up, holding her in his lap. There would be questions about the frame and how it broke. Brennan, who’d built it, was not going to be happy. I’ll have to help him build a new one. But right now, he had a brand new sub who’d experienced her first scene, and she needed cuddling. Even if she was a vampire.
Chapter Four
Doreen looked about the room, feeling a sense of dread without Charles by her side. Practically speaking, it made no sense. She was a vampire, after all, like it or not, and he was a mere mortal with a good heart and mind but no other skills to help him protect her. But instinctively, she felt safer with him than without.
He would be back soon. He’d only stepped out to take a phone call from Kent, after cuddling her for a long time. Angela had fetched Charles, and Doreen had hoped she would stay around to talk, but she should have known better. She had lost track of the fact that Charles’ friends had plenty of reasons for a grudge against her and very little reason to like her. She envied him all those close relationships, for she hadn’t had any since she died. Not really much before, either. There had been no one in college she’d felt like calling once she’d been free of Mario. And what did a vampire say to her parents?
“Hey cutie,” said a dark man she’d never seen before. She looked him over. Square jaw and shoulders, slick hair. She nodded to him, hoping he’d move on.
He didn’t. “You really came like a rocket there. Pretty fucking amazing. Didn’t know the equipment was so shoddy here.”
It wasn’t the equipment’s fault, but it wouldn’t be prudent to say. And for all she knew, commenting on people’s orgasms was par for the course here, although the thought made her pissed off. She had more of a temper than she did when she was a mortal, when it would have just made her feel horribly embarrassed. It might have been because now she could back up her anger with more oomph. To hell with politeness. “Go away.”
“Hey, slave girl, don’t take—“
She turned and looked into his eyes, waiting for them to turn glassy as he stared back. “I said, go away.”
He backed off and, after a couple steps, turned and ran straight for the exit. Well, I’m not good for business, but there are times when being one of the walking undead is very convenient.
No sooner had she gotten rid of him, however, than a woman—the platinum blonde she’d noticed watching her and Charles earlier—approached. Maybe she and her boyfriend were looking for a threesome or a foursome or something, but Doreen wasn’t interested. Hopefully, Charles would be back soon, because being a couple with him was all Doreen wanted right now.
When the woman spoke, her voice was very soft, a mumble, actually, too quiet for anyone to hear. Great, a shy pervert. Only her enhanced senses allowed her to make out the words. “I think you should come with us.”
“No, thank you.” She looked at the woman dead-on and wondered if she’d have to make this one go away, too.
“Don’t try your mind tricks, vampire,” said the woman in the same low voice. “They won’t work on me. We won’t harm you. We just want to ask a few questions in private and perform a few tests.”
Shit. “What kind of tests?”
“We want a blood sample.”
Could her blood help someone create a vampire? It didn’t matter, because she wasn’t going anywhere anyway. Obviously, the woman knew what she was, somehow. She supposed it wouldn’t be hard to spot her if one knew what one was looking for. Her display of strength on the strange wooden frame hadn’t been exactly subtle, although most people preferred the natural explanation of shoddy workmanship to believing in superhuman strength. Maybe the woman had spotted the way she’d made the man run from her. She needed to be more careful, perhaps learn to take a few conscious breaths now and then. She tried one, breathing in the warm air, which sat uselessly in her lungs until she pushed it out again.
“I’m Carla, by the way,” said the woman, for the first time talking in a normal voice.
“Hello, Carla.” She didn’t want to even give the woman her name, but it seemed better to stall, and there wasn’t any harm in a name as far as she knew. Besides, being rude might attract even more attention. “Doreen.”
Carla dropped her voice again. “You’re strong and fast and hard to kill, Doreen, but your friend isn’t any of those things. Just a few questions and a little blood aren’t too much of a price to pay for his life, is it?” She chuckled. “Or perhaps it’s better not to care. Humans live such a short life, after all. It’s really best not to become attached.”
For a moment, she wondered if the woman was giving her honest, if cynical, advice. But she’d managed to find the right buttons to push. She would never become that heartless. She would die before she let herself feel people didn’t matter. And Charles wasn’t just any person. He’d saved her life.
“Come on,” Carla
whispered. “Let’s go talk outside.”
She looked around, wondering what Charles would think if he didn’t find her where he told her to wait. If only there was a way to get a message to him.
“You don’t really want to involve him, do you?” Still that quiet voice.
“Okay,” Doreen said as softly.
It was clear from Carla’s expression she didn’t hear what Doreen had said. Just a normal woman after all, who happens to know more than she should. Doreen walked towards the exit and heard Carla’s heels click-clack on the wooden floor behind her. She wasn’t worried about Carla. Doreen felt especially powerful at the moment. It’s odd that I feel stronger after submitting to Charles. But she did. If it came to trouble, she was sure she could handle herself fine.
The leather-clad man Carla had been with earlier was leaning back against a yellow Humvee, the black clothes a stark contrast to the bright paint. Doreen glanced around to see if anyone else was about. A couple of club-goers were getting out of their car, but they headed straight past her to the door. There was no sign of the vampire who’d been following her earlier, but she expected he’d be well concealed.
Doreen walked right over toward him. No sense in pretending she didn’t know who she was supposed to talk to. “So, who the hell are you?”
The man laughed. “You can call me John. Carla explained to you what we want?”
“Some blood and some answers, as I recall.”
“Yes. Exactly. I’ve got the needle right here. We can get this over with quite quickly.”
Exactly what I was thinking. Of course, I have a different idea of the ending.
Carla stood back about six feet, she noticed. These two had something up their sleeves, or they were desperate for what they wanted.
“My blood won’t let you turn yourselves into vampires you know.” Doreen wasn’t exactly clear on how a vampire was made, since she hadn’t been in her right mind when it had been done to her. But it couldn’t be easy, or the whole world would be crawling with vamps by now.
Chilled to the Bone Page 4
