She laughed and pushed a step away from him but found her hand still lingering in his. She did not wish to let him go. “They cannot, but they are dangerous in their own right. They—” She looked back toward the house and realized no one had come down the stairs to join her. She blinked in confusion. “They should have been right behind me.”
“They’re still asleep, I’m afraid.”
She looked back to him. He was still smiling, but something had shifted. Just barely. His eyes were no longer blueish violet. They were purple. And something about them shone and glinted like a jewel in the light. Luring her deeper. Calling her in.
And she was helpless.
Fear gripped her suddenly as some kind of snare wrapped around her mind. She whimpered, feeling like a trapped child.
“No, no, don’t be afraid, my beautiful. It’s all right.” He shushed her gently, reaching up to stroke her hair tenderly and to tuck a stray strand behind her ear. It didn’t help the panic that was rising in her mind. “The vampire illusionist owed me a favor. Your friends are all still quite soundly dreaming.”
When he traced his knuckles over her cheek, she leaned into his touch. She didn’t know what drove her to do it. She didn’t mean to. She hadn’t wanted to.
She was screaming in her mind, but nothing came out. Something else had risen to take its place. Something deep inside her, primal and low, had roared up and taken over.
It saw what glittered in his unnatural eyes and heeded his summons.
Monster. He is a monster!
This is wrong!
She was fighting as hard as she could, but she was helpless. And that scared her more than anything else. But those eyes…they had her in their snare like a metal trap around the leg of a deer.
“Don’t be scared, my angel. I have you. You’re safe.” He leaned down to place a slow kiss to her forehead. “I will take care of you now.”
Finally, she managed to force her words out of her throat. But they were strangled and broken. “My friends, they—they’ll come for me—”
“I’m afraid they won’t even notice you’re gone.” His voice was a low and sultry purr. It resonated through her body, and something hot coiled deep inside her. “They won’t know what’s happened for quite some time. Now…kiss me, my sweet.” He tilted her head back to look up at him.
The sight of him cut through her panic like the ring of a silver bell. Something in her struggled, fought, then…let go. She was left basking in what she saw. Chiseled and handsome, it was as though someone had painted before her the most perfect man she could imagine. He was her deepest fantasy brought to life. An impossibility she could not believe could possibly exist.
She could have sworn her heart stopped.
Mordecai smiled for her.
“You are one of them,” she whispered. “You’re…you’re—”
The jaws of a beast had come from nowhere at all and sank deep into her soul.
The man in front of her had found her weakness. His inhuman eyes glinted with the promise of safety. Of a warm fire on a cold night. “Yes. I am. And so, I will greet you again, in truth. I am Mordecai, Captain of Dracula’s demonic army. Hello, gorgeous one. I have been waiting for you.”
“I…” Bella tried to take a step back, but he took her hands, lacing his fingers into hers, and pulled her back to him. She could not find the strength to resist. Her body heated under his gaze, and something dangerous—sinful and wonderful—pooled in her core.
His gaze raked down her body then back up to her face. He pulled her into his arms, and she did not push him away. His hand pressed to her cheek, eager to touch her. “So innocent…so tender. So ripe.”
Something pulled her under the waves. Something grasped her, invisible and terrible, and consumed her. Her mind struggled like a fish caught in the talons of an eagle.
She was prey.
She had always been prey. She had been such a fool to think otherwise.
And this creature…this creature was her predator.
This was right. This was as it should be.
When his fingers grazed over her neck and cradled behind her head, she fell into his embrace. She melted, surrendering to it completely. It was sudden and inexplicable, like being taken by the tide. It was rushing her out into the deeper ocean, and there she knew she would drown. She floundered, struggling to free herself, but it was inevitable.
Wicked thoughts crashed over her. Things she wanted to do to him. Things she wished he would do to her. Her body was burning in desire, instant and inarguable. He was controlling her—this was wrong! She tried to push away, but she had no strength left in her body. “No, please…”
He shushed her as he gently stroked her cheek, cradling her into his chest. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. I will never hurt you.” His lips grazed over her ear. Bella shuddered and reached out to touch him. He let out a dusky, heady, and inhuman growl as her hands traced up the lines of his throat to his cheek, exploring him as well.
He was every prince from every novel she had ever read as a child. He had burst from the pages of her imagination, and every part of her cried out for him. She had known it when he had danced with her, but she had not wanted to accept the truth. Now that she knew it, she wanted him no less.
“This is wrong,” she whispered. “You are wrong. You are not real.”
“I am very real,” he answered, ghosting his lips over hers. “I am as real as anything you will ever have.”
It was as though her body were aflame. His hand on her lower back threatened to trace farther down, and that was all she could think about. But still, her mind struggled for freedom. “What…what are you?”
He smiled. His breath was hot where it washed over her. “Incubus.”
A demon of lust. Of course. He would feed on her and consume her. She had been so naïve to think the only creatures that walked this nightmare would drink her blood. This creature wanted to drink something very different indeed.
And she found she did not wish to run from him.
“This is wrong,” she insisted.
“By whose standards? Why should pleasure be shamed? And oh, what ecstasy I can bring you.”
It was only then that she realized they were no longer standing on the street. They were standing somewhere else—indoors—a comfortable room, with a gently flickering fire. He moved her back and unclasped her cloak, letting it fall beside them. Before she could speak, she was lying on a chaise lounge, with him over her.
Everything was moving too quickly. She could barely keep track of what was happening. She felt drunk. Like everything was just a bit blurry. God help her, her hands were dug deeply into his clothing. “Am I really this weak in the end?”
“You are not weak. And this…this is not the end.” He brushed the fabric of her skirt up around her waist. Suddenly, he was teasing at the dance that her body wanted him to fulfill. “This is the beginning.”
She felt the hard, inarguable presence of him there. Promising. Teasing. Begging. “You are a demon. A monster. This is what you do. I am only one of”—she broke off as he pressed against her again—“one of many.”
“And what is the fault in that? I have so much love to give.”
“It isn’t love…”
“Demons may love. Oh, we love the fiercest of all. Why should I not love as much and as many as I can? You could do the same. You could have made those two men you travel with very happy.”
“I’m not a harlot—”
“Harlot, slut, whore…” He sighed. “Your culture has so many words for a wanton woman. But what about words for men? There are none. If your friends wished to take twenty women in a day, they would be lauded for their virility. If you took twenty men, you would be shamed. Where is the justice in that?”
She did not have an answer for him. There was none. She tried to shake herself free of him, tried to knock loose whatever control he had placed over her. But with each teasing caress, she descended deeper and deeper into
his grasp.
He leaned down to kiss her, and her last bits of strength shattered.
It felt so good.
He felt so good.
This was safety. The end of struggling. The end of having to fight the darkness that had always threatened to consume her. It was calling her home. He would keep her safe. He wanted her. No! She broke away from the kiss, tilting her head away from him. “You’re lying to me.”
“Lying? You think what I feel for you is not real? What I feel for you is more real than anything else in your life has ever been. More permanent. I will always want you. Give to me, my beautiful, gorgeous, delicious creature.”
Somehow, at some point, her clothes had disappeared. She was not sure how or when, but suddenly they were gone. She lay naked beneath him. Turning her head away, she was ashamed once more.
But his moan brought her attention back to him. He was looking down at her, not in disdain, not in triumph, but in worship. “Look at you…how can you be embarrassed by this? This body, gifted to you?” His hands trailed up over her. “This is divinity. This is the only God I need to know. This is the only God you need to embrace. Let me fall to my knees at your temple.”
Her hands no longer twisted in the fabric of his coat, they traced over naked flesh. She caressed his sculpted muscles and was eager for more.
Her legs were up on his thighs, and she felt his hot skin beneath hers. She could not help but let her eyes trace down between them. The sight was so lurid, so profane, it took her breath away.
“I can give you everything you have ever needed, Bella.” He kissed her throat, hovering over her as he tortured them both with his teasing movements. “I can give you a home. A family. Love. Pleasure. You belong here with me. But I cannot do this unless you ask me to. You belong here, you know you do. Say it. Call me home to you, and I will give you all you need and more.”
Perhaps if she had just kissed Eddie, slept in his arms, and surrendered to his love for her, she would not have been so weak in the end. “Is your name really Mordecai?”
He smirked. “There is power in a name for my kind. We do not give them lightly.” He leaned down to kiss her again, searing, tender and passionate all at once. It made her want to beg him for more. To kiss her harder—rougher—to not be so gentle with her. As he broke away, he whispered, “I gave my true name to you the moment we met. You pulled it from me. I could not bear to think of you crying out any other.”
This creature over her said she belonged here with him. But it was wrong. “I can’t…”
“I want you for my bride. I have never mated another. I have never made another soul to match mine. But I feel you—I need you, Bella. Be mine. Say it…I beg you.”
An incubus wanted her for his mate? Oh, God above, how she wanted him to sink into her depths and release her from this suffering.
She wanted him.
She wanted the simplicity he offered.
All other concerns fell away in the face of the simple, easy truth.
“Do you really want me?” She could barely breathe.
“More than you can imagine. Do you want me?” He never faltered in his slow, unwavering strokes, but not yet ending her torment and driving himself inside. “Do you want to come home?”
Yes.
She did.
Something in her crumbled and surrendered. She couldn’t fight it anymore.
She arched herself up into him. “Take me.”
6
Maxine awoke and rubbed her hand over her face with a small grunt She had never had so many visions in such a short span of time in her life, all thanks to the Vampire King. It was an exhausting thing to suffer before the nature of the dreams came into play, let alone after taking into consideration that he was an intense individual at the best of times.
But something told her she would not have any opportunity for real rest anytime soon. Not until she was dead.
“Bad dream?”
She jumped at the closeness of the voice. Bella was sitting on the edge of the sofa next to her, smiling down at her. Glancing over, she noticed both Eddie and Alfonzo were asleep elsewhere in the room.
Something instantly felt odd.
Maxine pulled herself up, edging away from Bella to sit at the far end of the sofa. “I’m all right.” She watched the other woman silently for a moment. There was definitely something…awry. Something that did not feel right. Then, it hit her. Her eyes went wide.
“There it is.” Bella lifted a finger to her lips and shushed her. For a split second, her eyes flickered yellow before they returned to her normal tone. “I wondered how long it would take you to figure it out.” She smiled again, although this time a bit more wolfishly than before. “You’re certainly not a disappointment.”
She went to stand, and “Bella’s” hand caught her gloved wrist and pulled her back down. “Now, now, don’t be so hasty.”
“Zadok, let me go! Alfonzo—Eddie—”
“Oh, shush.” She—he?—laughed. “I’m not going to hurt you, silly girl. They are trapped inside my illusion, so don’t bother screaming. They can’t hear us right now.” The other woman’s hand tightened around Maxine’s wrist. “Stop making a fuss, or I will have to rethink how nice I’m being right now.”
Maxine watched Bella’s form in wary fear. She knew the feeling of the soul beneath her hand, even through her gloves. She pulled her wrist away from him but obeyed and stayed seated. There was no point in running. She was useless in a fight with something like an elder vampire. “What have you done?”
“Hm? Me? I’ve done nothing.”
“If Alfonzo and Eddie cannot wake, please drop the illusion. This is extremely unsettling.”
“As you wish.” Bella’s form melted and shifted, changing into that of the smirking yellow-eyed vampire. He placed a hand to his chest in mock insult, crossing one ankle over his knee casually as he reclined next to her. “And I’m hurt you think I have done anything to dear Bella.”
“Where is she? How did you get past the wards they placed to protect the house?”
“So many questions!” Zadok laughed and leaned his head back on the wood frame of the sofa to watch her through lidded eyes. “She is not here. She was taken by another for safe keeping. As for the wards? Simplistic mortals. They do not think holistically. Bar me from the doors and windows all you like, but they did not place wards beneath the ground.”
She pondered his riddle for a moment before she made a face. “The sewers?”
“Mm. Not exactly the most…elegant way to travel.” He grimaced. “But effective. I grew up in the gutters, I’m afraid. It’s a smell I’m accustomed to.”
That was both sad and disgusting. “Is Bella dead?”
“No. Nor does her warden have any plans to kill her. That might change if you do anything foolish.” Zadok’s knowing smile never wavered.
Ah. So, that was his game. She sighed. “How long do you plan to masquerade as Bella in their presence? And to what end? Why have you not simply killed Eddie and Alfonzo?”
“The latter directly involves the former, I’m afraid. Death is too simple an end for our Master’s enemies.” Zadok shrugged. “I think it’s foolish. I would rather scatter their brains out on the walls. But he wishes to have his revenge, and, I live to serve. As to what my game is, I think you do not wish to know.”
“What do you mean?”
“What good would it do to spell out the pain they are going to suffer? None. It would only upset you and do no other good. You cannot stop what will befall them.”
“You speak as if they will not succeed.”
“They won’t.” Zadok’s expression turned oddly sympathetic for a moment. “And you know I speak the truth. One of them has already fallen. The other two are inevitable.” Zadok reached out to touch her where Alfonzo had punched her but pulled short as she flinched away. The bruise on her temple likely still stained her skin. “He will not allow them to walk free if they choose to continue. If they turn away, my offer
still stands. But you know they won’t.”
“Do you want them to leave here, or do you want them to die?” She wasn’t sure what inspired her to ask the question. She thought she knew the answer, but the flash of regret in his eyes had made her question if there was not more beneath the vampire’s salacious personality than met the eye.
Zadok turned his gaze to Eddie. “That one is young. He does not deserve what will happen to him.” He turned to Alfonzo. “That one is a waste of air. He is consumed by zealous and hypocritical hatred.” He sneered. “I’ll enjoy watching him suffer. But the boy? The boy should be spared. I hope he turns away from this place. But I know his type—he won’t.”
At least his cruelty wasn’t universal. “I do not know how I will walk beside them and pretend I do not know what has come to pass, Zadok.”
“You have heard every lie spoken to you by every creature you have come to meet, have you not?”
“Yes, and?”
“Then I expect you are quite talented in the art.” He stretched, and she heard his back pop as he did. “I am not concerned.”
She sighed. “What has become of Bella?”
“Our Captain of the Guard has taken her. Our personal lord demon.” Zadok snickered, finding something very funny.
“What?”
“You do not wish to know.” But still, he did not stop chuckling.
“This time I think I do.”
“She is with Mordecai. He is an incubus.” Zadok cackled loudly, unafraid of waking the two men in the room. “Oh, I wish I could be there to watch!” Maxine moved to stand, but he dragged her back down by the wrist once more. “No, stay.”
“That is disgusting. She is being raped, and you expect me to—”
“I promise you, it is anything but rape.” Zadok smiled. “She has merely been freed from the chains she was trained to wear by society. And if he is half as interested in her as it seems, she is being treated like a princess. That boy is quite talented.”
It sounded like he spoke from firsthand experience. She blanched and looked away. Not that she had any issue with men cavorting with each other. Really, it was simply that Zadok was involved. “Wait.” Then she remembered. “Mordecai. The man from the dance?”
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