by Sofia Daniel
“Commence the punishment,” said Captain Tanar between panting breaths.
Nero didn’t start right away, but shuffling footsteps from all around and the squeak of wheels told me that the vampires edged closer for a better look. A large, warm hand stroked my buttocks, and another thick finger rubbed over my clit.
Pleasure sparked from my throbbing nub, and without meaning to, my back arched, and my thighs parted. I clenched my teeth, trying to regain control over my traitorous body. “Just do it.”
“Eager little frumosi,” Dr. Grannus said with a dry chuckle.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the vampires’ heavy breathing. Wasn’t the doctor supposed to make sure I didn’t get hurt? From the way he spoke, he sounded like he enjoyed watching girls get spanked.
The first strike sent a stinging pain across my ass-cheek, and before I could cry out, Nero dipped his fingers between my folds and circled my throbbing clit.
My core pulsed with the intense sensations, and I let out an involuntary moan.
The men around me stepped closer.
Nero’s erection dug into my side. “Count them.”
“One,” I gasped out.
The next spank came immediately after and made me whimper. He followed it with another whack that was so hard, my eyes watered. “Th-three!”
I cried out, and Dante pulled my hands off my face and knelt in front of me.
Aquamarine eyes shining with glee, he unfastened the buttons of my blouse, so it gaped open. “You look so beautiful, laid bare in front of my vampire brethren, exactly where you belong.”
I thrashed on Nero’s lap, but he held me down with his forearm and delivered two sharp slaps.
“Count, or we’ll make you strip naked for the cat.”
“F-five…” It took me a second for the image of Captain Tanar’s nine-tailed whip to form in my mind, and Nero rubbed my clit before delivering another spank. “Six!”
Dante’s beautiful, cruel lips twisted into a smirk, and he slipped his fingers into the cups of my bra and tweaked my nipples. I thrashed about on Nero’s lap, while he delivered blow after blow, interspersing them with the most delicious strokes of pleasure. I squeezed my eyes shut, and the muscles of my core pulsed with need.
With Dante rolling my nipples between his fingers, Nero alternating between stimulating my clit and delivering painful slaps, I couldn’t tell whether this was purgatory or paradise.
Tears gathered in the corner of my eyes. Nero’s fingers brought me close to climax, only for a palm to deliver a slap that dampened my arousal. All the while, I had to count out blows while Dante pinched and pulled my nipples, timing the pain with Nero’s interludes of pleasure. Sweat trickled down my brow, and slickness gathered in my folds.
I cried out, not caring about the male vampires crowding around me, or the erections bulging out of their pants. This was torture. I couldn’t tell which I hated more, the constant teasing or the relentless spanking. “T-twenty eight!”
With the gentlest of up and down movements, Nero stroked my clit, which felt ready to explode. Dante kneaded my breasts, making sure to swipe his thumbs over my nipples in a maddening rhythm. My ass-cheeks burned, and wetness trickled down my inner thighs. I needed his fingers inside me. Now.
Another whack mingled pain with pleasure, and I moaned out, “Twenty-nine.”
With the final spank, regret filled my chest. It would be over soon, and the boys would leave me a desperate, sweaty, unfulfilled mess. They’d probably make me beg to pleasure them, just so they would allow me to climax. “Thirty.”
Dante held onto my biceps and gave me a fanged grin. “I’d say she’s ready.”
A shiver of apprehension scuttled across my skin.
“Well done.” Nero spread my legs wide, revealing my sopping sex to everyone in the room.
I tried jerking my legs together, tried wriggling out of his grip, but he held me in place. The friction made my core muscles twitch and spasm. “W-what are you doing?”
The male vampires crowded around us, blocking some of the light.
“She’s ready,” Nero said, his voice hoarse. “Do it, Raph.”
“D-do what?” I shrieked.
“The nectar of a frumosi female has healing properties,” said Dr. Grannus, his words quickening with excitement. “Magic dictates that if Raphael can consume enough of yours, the wounds you inflicted on him will heal.”
A tremor ran over my body. They were going to— I hung my head and let out a noisy breath. They must have planned this all along. Arousing me beyond reason and have Raphael feed on my juices in public.
Tears of humiliation gathered in the corner of my eyes, but I didn’t beg or cry out. If this made a difference to what I had done to poor Raphael, I would endure. Endure the humiliation of being so exposed in front of centuries-old beings. Endure the stares and the growls, and the excited panting of the vampires in the room. Endure his tongue where no guy had ever gone before.
The wheelchair creaked, followed by the sound of knees hitting the ground. Dante’s rough hands spread me open, as though presenting a banquet for Raphael to eat.
“Careful not to take her blood without consent, Mr. Striga,” said the doctor. “We still don’t know the extent of Miss Stephens’ abilities.”
Raphael’s panting breaths warmed my sopping folds, making my nipples tighten. I balled my fists and clenched my teeth tight. Why did he hesitate? The sooner he buried his head in me, the sooner those men would stop gaping.
The sound of a zipper from somewhere within the room made the muscles of my core clench, and I ground out, “Just do it.”
Raphael’s breaths became labored. Whether it was because of nerves or the sunstone burning his digestive tract, I couldn’t tell, but right now, I needed him to cure himself.
“Please,” I whispered.
“Go on, Mr. Striga.” The doctor’s low, throaty tone sounded like he would do it himself if Raphael wouldn’t. “Miss Stephens has given you her consent. If you can’t take her word for it, see her arousal for herself. She’s hot and wet and aching for your tongue.”
Nero spread my legs further apart, as though to demonstrate the doctor’s point, and the males in the room all shared grunts of approval.
I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched my teeth, and balled my fists. If Raphael didn’t do something right now, I would sob. Right in front of all those blood-sucking lechers.
Cool, trembling fingers settled on the backs of my thighs, and a tentative tongue swiped at my folds. The touch was so light, I nearly howled with frustration. I forced my breath into the slow rhythm of four counts in, eight counts out. After how I had hurt Raphael, it was no surprise he was hesitant to taste my so-called nectar.
“How is she, Mr. Striga?” asked the doctor. “As sweet and succulent as she looks?”
Raphael made a satisfied noise in the back of his throat and placed his cool lips on my folds, which contrasted with the hot blood coursing under my skin. His tongue made long, steady strokes up and down my slit, grazing my clit but never giving me enough friction to climax.
I shuddered and whimpered under his touch, and the males in the room chuckled.
“I must confess to worrying about the plight of Miss Stephens,” said Professor Proust. “She’s one of the most willful frumosi we’ve recruited in months, but it seems she has taken very well to her new role. I expect she’ll be eager to feed the three of you in no time.”
Nero barked a laugh, and his fingers dug into my thighs, as though he wholeheartedly agreed with the headmaster’s pronouncement.
My eyes rolled to the back of my head. Why didn’t they just be quiet and stop distracting Raphael? Raphael lapped at me like he’d been starved for an eternity. His groans and growls made pleasant vibrations against my sex. With each passing moment, Raphael’s strength grew. With each moment, my desire for more increased.
Raphael slipped two fingers into my sopping core, stretching and filling me where I needed him
most. My muscles spasmed and clamped around his digits. When he pulled them out, leaving me empty, a cry stuck in my throat.
“That’s it, Mr. Striga,” said the doctor. “Scoop out as much frumosi nectar as you can find.”
Raphael continued pumping those fingers inside me, twisting, scissoring, making me jerk and spasm, but always pausing to lick my wetness off his fingers, and never giving me enough friction to work up to a climax.
Tears of frustration streamed down my cheeks. This endless cycle of arousal and denial was more than I could bear.
“Please,” I whispered.
“See how she begs,” said Commander Shanks. “This is the way to subdue a frumosi female.”
Raphael ran the flat of his tongue over my pulsing nub, making circles light enough for my juices to flow, but not enough to make me climax. I jerked my hips to increase the friction, and for Raphael’s touch to feel like more than just a graze. The older males made lewd comments about my eagerness to please my Liege Lords, but I blocked them out. They could go fuck themselves. I needed Raphael to fuck me.
“M-more,” I cried out. “Please!”
His tongue flickered across my swollen nub, and I cried out.
“Easy, Raph,” muttered Nero. “Don’t let her climax too soon.”
Dante rolled my nipples between his fingers in time with the movements of Raphael’s tongue. With his increased vigor, Raphael spent less time feeding, and more time pleasuring me. Soon, he worked out a rhythm where his entire mouth covered my sex, and the tip of his tongue circled my clit then flicked up to my core to collect the nectar.
I bit down hard on my lip and lost myself in the sensations, in his deep, masculine moans of satisfaction. The background noises receded, and it was just me, Nero’s strong hands holding me open, and his hot prick pressed against my side, Dante’s fingers tweaking and teasing my nipples, and Raphael’s clever and relentless tongue.
Pleasure rippled through my core and built with the quickening of Raphael’s mouth and tongue. Sweat beaded on my brow, and my breaths came in shallow, desperate pants. The three of them kept me suspended in a form of delicious delirium that had me babbling and moaning for more until something shattered, and all the sensation that had gathered in me imploded in a climax so intense, my vision went black.
“Dante?” Dr. Grannus voice echoed in the periphery of my awareness. “You have some residual scarring from Miss Stephens’ attack. Would you like to—”
“No,” he replied. “I’ll heal on my own, thank you.”
My body collapsed onto Nero’s lap, who rubbed my bare ass, aggravating the sore skin. “Consider this the first of many punishments.”
Any thoughts of escape melted into the puddle of goo that had become my brain. Nero pushed my skirt over my hot, aching ass, leading to groans of disappointment from the older vampires. Humiliation seared through my veins. They’d all seen my most private part. They’d seen me writhing like a cat in heat on Nero’s lap, and they’d seen me come apart in an earth-shattering orgasm.
Nero lowered me onto the floor, where I knelt with my head bowed and my fists on my thighs. How much lubrication had I produced? From the way Raphael had moaned and groaned and lapped at my entrance, it had to be a significant amount.
The door opened, and several feet shuffled out, along with the squeak of an empty wheelchair.
Raphael helped me to my feet. He was still thin, but the circles under his eyes had gone. “Thank you.” My scent carried in his breath. “This is the first time I haven’t felt any pain in days.”
I hung my head, a tight fist of remorse squeezing my heart so hard my eyes watered. Nothing, not even the humiliation I’d just suffered could compare to what I had done to Raphael. “I-I’m sorry!”
He hugged me to his chest. “They explained what happened. Anyone willing to throw you to a newly made werewolf deserved to die. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Why did you refuse treatment?” Nero asked Dante.
“I’m not sick enough to put my mouth on that.” He stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut.
Prickly, hot shame rose to my cheeks, and I dipped my head into Raphael’s shoulder.
Raphael pressed a kiss on my forehead. “Sorry about Dante. The situation’s rather complicated.”
I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t.
We stood together for several moments, me, still shell-shocked from that mortifying spectacle, and Raphael being warm and forgiving and patient. Eventually, the gong for lunch sounded, and Raphael escorted me through the hallways with Dante and Nero keeping their distance behind us.
“I hope that wasn’t too humiliating for you,” Raphael murmured.
My insides squirmed at the thought of someone undoing their zipper during that display. “Why couldn’t you guys have asked me for help? I would have done it for you.”
“I didn’t want to force you into a situation like that,” said Raphael.
“But you drank—”
“The scent of your arousal was already in my nostrils. My blood roared for it. By the time they helped me off that chair, I was already beyond the point of self-control.”
I glared over my shoulder at Dante and Nero, who whispered behind our backs. “Did one of your brothers plant the holy hydrolat in my bag to get me in trouble?”
“They wouldn’t be so petty,” Raphael replied.
No, but Pigtails would. She had specifically come over to gloat about my punishment, just as she had gloated when Nero had saved me from the werewolf.
My hands balled into fists. If I didn’t do something about Pigtails, her next stunt might be deadly.
Chapter 16
Although Raphael was out of his wheelchair, he still needed further treatment to return to full health. My fluids had only repaired the damage done to his digestive tract, but the time he had spent unable to feed had taken its toll on his body. He returned to the infirmary, and I made my way to my room, trying to think of ways to avenge myself on Pigtails. This time, instead of rushing in without thinking, I would bide my time and wait for the right moment to strike.
Raphael wasn’t at dinner, and I scampered to my seat at the front of the dining hall, avoiding the gazes of the other two Stryx Brothers. Captain Tanar might have referred to Nero as my Liege Lord, but we had specifically made a protection agreement that didn’t include blood servitude.
A knocker brought a massive bowl of oyster stew, served with a thick gratin of breadcrumbs and melted gruyere and Emmental cheese that reminded me of Mom’s fondue. A lump formed in my throat. Since the incident with the werewolf, I hadn’t spent much time thinking about Mom and Daniel. I’d also pushed Gates to the recesses of my mind, even though he was back to being a human until the next full moon.
Part-way through dinner, Professor Proust stood and tapped the side of his glass with a clawed finger. “Attention students! With Yule rapidly approaching, I would like to announce the first of our matchmaking balls for the academic year.”
Excited chatter filled the room. I glanced in the direction of Kat and Annette, who hugged each other. I took a sip of apricot juice. This ball didn’t sound like good news at all.
“All unattached frumosi are required to attend,” continued the headmaster. “We have a wonderful selection of eligible vampires, including Lord Lilin!”
Silence broke out, and I cast my mind back, trying to remember why this vampire was so special. There were two clans independent of the Vampire Parliament because they were more powerful and ancient than Dracula. The first was Stryx, and the other was Lilin. Apart from that, I knew nothing about either of them.
Professor Proust said in a less confident tone, “Lord Lilin has agreed to accept one of you wonderful young ladies in his harem.”
I let the rest of the conversation wash over me. Now that Commander Shanks was no longer dogging my every move, I was free to attempt another escape.
Later, as I walked out of the dining hall, an annoying voice behind me asked,
“Did you enjoy your punishment?”
I turned to find Pigtails and Juno sneering. Zarah stood at her side with her head bowed. I snatched my gaze away. Giving her forlorn looks would only incite the girls to make a show of hurting or groping her. “Did you plant that bottle in my bag?”
Pigtails smirked. Juno, who stood beside her, stepped forward. “Maybe Zarah will find her punishment just as enjoyable.”
In the blink of an eye, Nero appeared behind Juno and clamped his hand on her shoulder. “Threatening or hurting Alicia’s friends to cause Alicia mental anguish is a direct attack on the Kingdom of Stryx.” He spun her around and glared into her huge, blue eyes. “Was that your intention?”
Juno shook her head and rushed out of the dining hall. Pigtails and Ponytail hurried after her, leaving Zarah behind.
Swallowing hard, I bent my head and tried to make eye contact with my former roommate. “Are you al—”
“I have to go.” Zarah hurried out of the dining hall.
My shoulders sagged. Apart from abducting her myself, I didn’t know what I could do to help Zarah.
Nero wrapped a hand around my arm. “Come with me.”
I glanced up into his dark eyes, but he stared ahead at a point beyond the double doors. “Where are we going?”
“The infirmary.” Dante appeared on my other side. “We’re going to visit Raphael.”
We found Dr. Grannus standing behind a seated and shirtless Raphael, listening to his back through a stethoscope. Although Raphael no longer had the bulk of his brothers, he had already regained a little of the weight he had lost from not being able to feed. His lean, muscular physique made my mouth water. Broad, muscular shoulders, leading to sinewy biceps, and prominent pecs with a tight eight-pack. A peculiar tattoo adorned his chest of a horned owl, but on second reflection, it might have been an upside-down bat.
I licked my lips and followed a trail of coppery hair from his bellybutton to the waistband of his pants.
