Blood and Bondage: Under the Skin Serial Part Three

by K. B. Ladnier

  I sank back against the edge of the coffin, bringing my knees up and wrapping my arms protectively around myself. I was afraid for Vex. Not just because he was my maker and ticket out of this place for me and Diego, but because in the short time we’d had together, I couldn't imagine not having him in my life. His kiss solidified that. I cared for him and I worried for his sanity if Bellamy kept injecting him. He was too close to the edge of losing himself.

  Who would he be if I didn't get him away from here in time? Would I be enough to help tear the bondage that Bellamy had Vex wrapped within? Or would neither of us escape this nightmare with our sanity intact?

  Chapter 20

  I sat in the same spot for what felt like hours, steadily rocking myself back and forth with anxiety.

  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if Vex didn't come back. My mind raced a million miles a minute as I watched the second hand on the clock in Vex’s room tick away. I was lost to the silence. Anyone watching me would've assumed Vex’s insanity was rubbing off a little on me by how I just sat staring at the door.

  Finally, I heard the lock click on the door just before it swung open to reveal a dazed Vex. I jumped from my seated position and approached him cautiously, fearful of what would happen if I made any sudden movements.

  “Vex…” I whispered to him as I took several small steps closer.

  His eyes were far more red than usual, telling me without a shadow of doubt that Bellamy had shot my maker up with more of that shit. He seemed lost as he closed the door behind himself and leaned against it, his eyes closing slowly and his body tense.

  “Vex. Please talk to me,” I could feel the tears welling. I was scared that this was it. This was the final straw to make my beautiful maker snap once and for all.

  It truly was amazing how fast a maker-progeny connection could be established between two vampires. Could he feel me as I felt him, though? The drug was numbing any of the usual things that I felt from him and it terrified me to no end.

  “Please … you have to say something to me or I will lose it,” I tried one final time to get his attention. Anything would do at this point, as long as he stopped standing and feeling like a statue.

  His eyes suddenly snapped open and zeroed in on me. It was a predatory stare. I felt that stare all the way down to my bones.

  “Lucy…” he finally said softly.

  Somehow, that's all it took. My name on his lips was everything and nothing. Every doubt I've ever had of holding back my love was shattered into pieces so small, you couldn't differentiate them from sand. I was done hiding behind doubt and indecisiveness. I would take what I wanted. I wanted Hollis. I wanted Sloan. I wanted Vex. All of them would be mine. I’d learned how short life was even for an eternal creature like myself. So much had been taken away from me before I truly had the chance to just enjoy it. The time wasted would be lost to me forever, but if forever is what I had left, then I’d take every second to bask in the love I've been offered on a silver platter.

  With this decision made, I leapt onto him, wrapping my arms around his neck and sealing my lips to his. His response was immediate.

  One second he was against the door, us both fully clothed. The next, I was against the door and we were bare, tearing into each other violently. Desperately. He crashed into me with a vicious hiss and I was immediately a goner. We bit into each other simultaneously, giving ourselves over to the rapture of our mutual climax. Blood ran down between our bodies, lubricating our touching skin as we started all over again.

  After one rather forceful thrust, the door splintered beneath my back, making him pull me away. He carried me to the bathroom and managed to turn the water on in the shower without his mouth leaving mine, stepping in under the hot spray. He set me on my feet and turned me, pressing the front of my body against the cool tile of the shower wall.

  One hand ran up my thigh and to my hip, the other fisting into my dreads to pull my head back.

  “I will never tire of seeing you like this. Feeling you writhe in my hands.” His hand moved to my inner thigh, tracing up higher and higher until his fingers were gliding along my sensitive flesh.

  I moaned loudly as he played with me, his other hand grasping tighter into my hair just before his mouth came down onto my neck. I felt his desire behind me, pushing against my backside with need.

  “Come for me, Lucy. I want to hear you beg for more as I take you,” he whispered against my neck just before ramming hard and deep inside me. I screamed with pleasure, every nerve ending inside me firing at once. My fingers clawed uselessly at the tile as he went faster, harder, deeper.

  Over and over I fell apart, the hot water slicking every inch of our skin. Until finally, I felt his release coincide with another of my own.

  He pulled away and turned me, taking my face in his hands. Vex stared at me with more love and adoration than I thought was possible with his eyes still clouded with the drug.

  “You are my resistance,” he whispered before leaning down and kissing down my neck once again. “Your blood is fire, burning away the effects of the drug in my system. And your touch a caress on my battered soul.”

  “We’ll fight through this, Vex. I swear to you, you will be free of him,” I replied into his chest as I ran my lips along the skin there and dragged my nails down the corded muscles of his back.

  “As long as I have you, I am free of him.”

  He wove his hand back into my dreads gently and pulled my head back to kiss me passionately.

  If I could choose between living a thousand lives, or living just one with him and my other two men by my side, I'd choose them all twice over.

  ***

  After making love several more times in Vex’s shower, he pulled me down into his coffin next to him, wrapping his arms around me and holding me the whole day we rested.

  I dreamed for the first time since I was taken of a time when I’d have Hollis, Sloan and Vex all next to me. Loving me. Each holding a special place inside me that completed me in their own ways.

  Hollis and his protective soul.

  Sloan and his golden heart.

  Vex and his chaotic mind.

  They were me and I was them. They each played a specific role in my life and I’d be broken if even one were to fall. I would never let them fall.

  A crashing sound jolted me and Vex out of our rested state just before the lid of his coffin was ripped away. Ten BloodLust drugged vampires stood around us and began yanking us both up from the coffin. We both hissed in anger at being manhandled as they tugged us out of each other's grasp.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Vex shouted at the vampires just before someone started clapping behind the crowd.

  “Well done, Vasiliy! You really believed I had no idea of your philandering with your young progeny here? I see everything.”

  A man stepped between the crowd of vampires, still clapping his hands. He was beautiful, but the darkness behind his eyes only made me realize I was finally meeting Bellamy in the flesh. His skin was so pallid, it was almost translucent, but it only added an unearthly glow to him. His raven black hair was a mess of curls and he had a full beard to match. He was a massive man and would've been easily mistaken for a body builder. His accent was hard to place, but definitely European. It had a deep lilt to it that commanded obedience.

  “Who the hell is Vasiliy?” I had to ask.

  Have I mentioned my mouth runs away from me when I'm scared?

  “That’s my real name, Lucy. He’s the only one who uses it though,” Vex – Vasiliy? No Vex, replied through gritted teeth, not taking his eyes off his Ancient maker.

  “I'm going to have to get you to explain where Vex came from one day,” I said, trying my best not to show how terrified I really was.

  “Oh, that won’t be happening, little dove. You won't live to see someday. My progeny here signed your death warrant the moment he made you. It was only a matter of time until he led me to you. I just had to be patient.”

  Vex
tugged against the restraining hold and managed to take a step closer to Bellamy. “You will not fucking touch her!”

  Bellamy smiled. “Oh, I won't be the one to do it,” he stepped closer to Vex. “You will.”

  Wait what?

  “Take them to the common room. Better give this little vampire a fighting chance with some more room to run. I wonder if she could kill her own maker if it meant saving herself.”

  My eyes widened with anguish at what he was insinuating. He’s going to command Vex to try and kill me…

  The vampires started shoving us forward, both of us yelling and clawing to break free. It was hopeless, though.

  When we were ushered into the big room I had first seen when Vex took me from my cell, I was thrown to the floor. I landed hard on my hip and groaned in pain at the impact. I looked over my shoulder and saw the vampires vacating the room, leaving Bellamy holding Vex in a chokehold with a massive syringe to his neck.

  “I honestly don't care how this goes. Either he will kill you on a stronger high than he’s ever experienced and I will be rid of you once and for all, freeing my progeny. Or, you kill him and rid me of a traitor only to die another day when I take you and your city down. The choice is yours, Lucy Bryant.”

  Vex’s eyes were fixed on mine. Bloody tears ran down my face as I watched him. His fear was almost palpable as he mouthed the words ‘I love you, Lucy’ just as Bellamy pushed the end of the syringe, emptying a massive amount of BloodLust into my maker.

  I cried out as Bellamy let go and Vex fell to his knees. His body convulsed and blood began dripping from his nose, eyes and ears. Bellamy walked backwards through the double doors leading out of the room, an elated smirk stretched across his lips.

  “Have fun with my progeny, little dove.”

  He slammed the doors shut and a lock clicked into place, but I ignored it all as I watched my maker steadily stop convulsing.

  Oh god, no…

  Chapter 21

  Red spread across the whites of Vex’s eyes to the point there was no white left. Bloody saliva dripped from his mouth as it opened. He let out a feral growl that was far more monster than man before rising to his feet.

  I scrambled backwards in a crab crawl, my hand outstretched before me in surrender.

  “Please don't do this, Vex…remember who you are. Remember me,” I pleaded in a whimper, continuing to back away as he prowled forward predatorily.

  “Vex…you can fight this. I'm your resistance, remember?” My back hit the wall and he hissed.

  I cried harder, not knowing what to do or how to get through to the man I knew lay beneath the monster. I used the wall as an anchor to pull myself up, getting ready to run at just the right time. I wouldn't play Bellamy’s sick and twisted game. No matter how far gone Vex was, I would never kill him. I couldn't.

  I watched in fear as he got closer and started to crouch. It was now or never.

  Just as he sprung, I jumped out of his way and took off as fast as I could, bracing myself to break down the door leading to one of the halls. Surprisingly, it worked. The wood splintered and broke apart, giving me a little hope I could outrun him.

  Monster Vex screeched behind me as I continued to run. I remembered several of the passages that led down to the cells. I needed to get there and get Diego. An idea formed as I rushed into Viper’s room, one of the few rooms that had a secret passage.

  I screamed when I ran in and saw what was in there as I threw the door closed behind me. Four piles of ashes with four hearts lying in each one. Bellamy had killed them. I knew without doubt these were Vex’s men. The door to the room banged behind me hard enough it thrust me forward, accidentally putting my foot into the blood and ash mix of one of his men.

  “Ewww!” I shook my bare foot off and rushed to the door that was hidden in the closet, throwing it open and high tailing it down the narrow, stone staircase.

  When I reached the bottom, I had to quickly remember which direction to go each time I turned down a hall. I began yelling Diego’s name when I realized I was getting lost.

  “Lucy?” I heard him four doors down and made a beeline for the cell. I opened the door and hugged him quickly when he met me. “What’s going on?” He asked.

  “Bellamy drugged Vex beyond a level I can help him fight off. We have to lock him up in one of these cells and come back after it's worn off. I need your help luring him.”

  He nodded. “Just tell me what to do.”

  Vex’s hissing growl echoed along the corridor, letting me know we had little time. I filled Diego in on the plan and quickly got myself ready.

  I stood just inside the cell, my back to the open doorway and called for my maker.

  “Come and get me, Vex! Tasty white meat, cell block 28!”

  “Really, Lucy?” I heard Diego ask with sarcasm from his position behind the open door on the outside of the cell.

  I shushed him, hearing Vex’s footsteps approaching fast. “In here, Vexie!” I hollered again.

  Just as expected, Monster Vex shot into the cell, not stopping to look left or right before entering. I slipped out quickly and Diego slammed the cell door shut with a loud bang, throwing down the latch. I looked through the window just before Monster Vex slammed his body against the steel door, making me jump back.

  “I’m so sorry, Vex! I’ll come back for you!” I cried, clutching my fist to me racing heart. It killed me to cage him like an animal, but it was the only thing I could do until the BloodLust wore off.

  Diego rubbed circles on my back. “Come on, Lucy. We have to get to Hollis. He needs to know about Bellamy.” He gently clasped my elbow, tugging me slightly.

  It was so hard to move, though.

  “We’ll come back, Lucy. We need to go now.”

  I nodded solemnly, kissing my hand and placing it on the window towards my raving maker. One part of my whole.

  “I won't let you fall. I promise,” I whispered to Vex, hoping he could hear me through the fog of his mind. Then I let go and allowed Diego to steer me from the door.

  ***

  It took a bit for me and Diego to work our way out of the bunker. When we did, we exited a small steel door that came out the side of the mountain the place was built within. The door was set inside a small cave, showing us, it was thankfully nighttime outside.

  Only forest and mountain greeted us for the first two hours we walked. We finally reached a road and started walking south. The road was completely deserted, leaving us a little hopeless at hitching a ride before day would break.

  It felt like hours that we walked endless twisting roads, not a city or even a small town in sight. Neither of us spoke the whole time we trekked, only grunting to one another when we needed a rest. We were both low on blood and reaching starvation level fast.

  Finally, salvation greeted us.

  A line of headlights coming towards us gave us a last burst of energy to start waving them down. We didn't care who it was that drove those vehicles, so long as they weren't Bellamy and his men.

  Thankfully, they all stopped. Though, the one in front more so slammed on its brakes. I stopped and let out a small laugh that we finally found refuge. The driver and passenger doors opened, but the blinding headlights gave me no inclination as to who our rescuers were.

  The voices that greeted me, however, were heaven in my ears.

  “Lucy?”

  “Luce?”

  It was Hollis and Sloan.

  “Oh my god! Luce!” I heard Sloan just before warm, loving arms wrapped me in a vice grip. I bawled into his chest and held on for dear life. I took in his musky scent and cried even harder. Then a second pair of arms wrapped around us from behind me, Hollis’ clean scent rolling over me.

  “I can’t believe you're alright. Fuck we were so worried, Lucy!” Hollis said into my hair as he squeezed.

  “I’ve missed you both so much!” I laughed out through the tears, feeling like I could burst from all the love that surrounded me.

  We all stood
like this for a good bit, them taking turns hugging me themselves, kissing my lips, my cheeks – anywhere they could reach on my face.

  After all of our initial shock of finding each other, Hollis greeted Diego and helped load him into the back of one of the vans that was being driven behind them. It seemed like there were two or more STF teams here, all of them looking for us.

  “How did you escape?” Sloan finally asked me as the three of us leaned against the front of Sloan’s car while Diego got looked over.

  “The escape wasn’t the hard part…” I replied sadly.

  “What happened to you? Why were you taken? Who took you?” Hollis prodded, running his hand through my hair like if he stopped touching me I’d disappear.

  “It’s a long story,” I said, rubbing my face with exhaustion. “I’ll have to tell you on the way back to the compound I was kept in.”

  “Wait, what? Why the hell would we go back there? No way! We need to get you home, Luce,” Sloan stated in ‘don’t argue with me’ tone.

  “I have to go back, Sloan. I left someone there that I need to get back.”

  Hollis and Sloan exchanged worried looks.

  “Who, Lucy?” Asked Hollis.

  I sighed. “My maker, Vex.”

  They both gaped at me.

  “I promised him I’d go back for him and I won't break that promise. I need him,” I added softly, the tears beginning to fall again at having to leave him behind.

  Hollis and Sloan just stood there staring back and forth between each other and me, seeming to have a silent conversation. Until finally, they both relaxed and looked at me.

  “Alright. We’ll go get him. But you’re going to tell us everything,” Hollis replied pointedly before walking to the passenger side and opening the door for me to get in.

  Sloan jumped in the driver’s seat and Hollis slid in back, both placing a hand on me and giving me strength at what I’d be facing when we got back to save Vex from himself.

  I’m coming, Vex. Just hold on a little longer…