She knotted her hands into fists. “But I don’t belong to Vincent!”
The ghost’s smile broadened. “Vincent? You’re not for him; you’re for me. He’s simply going to provide for your care.”
Luxi’s mouth fell open. “You? What for?”
“Those of your kind feed my kind.” The ghost’s eyes narrowed. “Vincent is my host, but there is not enough in him on which to dine properly. On you, I shall feed well.”
Feed? Luxi shook with rage. Anger was good; anger kept the fear away. She bared her teeth at him. “Over my dead body!”
“If need be.” The ghost chuckled. “But I doubt it will be necessary.” He pulled his hand from the control panel.
The lift stopped and the lighting flickered. They were between floors.
The ghost unfastened his cape and dropped it. The cape fluttered briefly, then disappeared altogether. He reached up to tug on the red satin tasseled cord held through his scarlet epaulette. The waist-draping loops passed under and around his right shoulder about three times. Pulled completely free, it looked about four feet long. He focused tightly on Luxi and wrapped one end of the slender satin cord loosely around his wrist, letting the other end dangle, floating around him like a serpent.
Luxi eyed the phantom rope and backed up against the opposite wall. She clenched her jaw. “I am not going to let you tie my hands.”
The ghost tilted his head and snorted. “Dear child, this is not for your hands. Remove the robe.”
“What?” Luxi choked. “No!”
The ghost pursed his lips and shrugged. “I can choke you to barely conscious and do this with you on the floor, right through your clothes. To me, only your skin is substantial. Or you can stay upright and awake.” His smile returned. “I prefer your cooperation. Choking leaves such nasty bruises on the throat.”
Luxi licked her lips. If he choked her unconscious, there was no telling what else he’d do. “Just the robe?”
“I need to see what you have under it.”
Luxi snorted. “You could have asked! I have a dress on.”
“How long?”
Luxi frowned. “To the floor.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “Then you will need to raise your skirts to above your waist.”
Raise her skirts? Luxi reeled back against the wall. “Oh, hell no! Forget it!”
The ghost shrugged. “Very well, choking it is.” He took two long steps toward her and raised his hands.
Luxi slid and then rolled away from him, but there wasn’t anyplace to go in a lift. His hand caught in her hair. She jerked to a halt. “Ow! Shit!”
He caught her shoulder and spun her around to face him.
Luxi screamed and scratched for his eyes.
He sneered and turned his head away from her clawing fingers, then shoved with the flat of his hand against her breast bone, slamming her breathless against the wall. His hands closed around her throat high up, his thumbs pressing deep into the pulses under her jaw.
Luxi couldn’t breathe, not in, not out, and her head was getting light fast. She dug her fingers into his hands.
“One last chance. Cooperate or go to sleep. If we do it this way, you will awaken with a vicious headache -- if I don’t squeeze too hard and kill you accidentally.” His hands loosened.
Luxi gasped for breath and her pulse slammed in her ears. She glared up at him.
He raised his brow.
She held his stare, trying desperately not to give in to the fear howling for her attention. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
He backed away and smiled. “I am pleased.”
Chapter Thirteen
Luxi turned away from the archaically uniformed ghost, unfastened her cream-and-gold court robe, and let the heavy silk slide from her arms.
The ghost tugged the robe from her fingers and tossed it to the far corner of the lift.
Luxi scowled and bent over to part the bottom half of her pale cream robe and the white silk robe beneath it, then grabbed the sheer shift.
“All of it.”
Luxi lifted her head. “All of what?”
The ghost leaned back against the wall with his arms folded. “Lift all of your clothing and remove your undergarments.”
Luxi froze. She wasn’t wearing undergarments. Amun’s idea, of course. The brief flash of annoyance brought back what little was left of her courage. She took in a deep breath, released it, grabbed everything and lifted. She was standing against the wall with her crotch exposed. It was humiliating. Her cheeks filled with heat and she turned away, closing her eyes.
“No undergarments, and yet, you blush. How interesting.”
Luxi’s eyes snapped open. He was kneeling right in front of her, looking up at her with his brow raised. She hadn’t heard him move. She rolled her eyes. Of course she hadn’t heard him move. He’s a ghost. They didn’t actually make sounds.
He snorted, and lowered his gaze, focusing on her crotch. He reached up and caught her above the knees. “Wider. Stand wider.”
Luxi shivered under his cool fingers and parted her legs.
He unwrapped the cord from his wrist and carefully folded the entire length in half. The twisted satin cord looked a lot longer this close, and about as slender as her finger.
Luxi frowned. “What are you going to do with that?”
He glanced up and a smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “Bind you.” He leaned forward and passed the folded cord behind her, bringing it up to her waist, then took the tasseled ends and passed them through the loop at the other end. He brought the loose ends up, then passed them down, under the double cord around her waist, against her skin, then through the resulting loop at the bottom, and pulled the knot snug. His fingers tugged at the cords binding her waist, loosening it just a bit.
Luxi didn’t get it. The cords weren’t even tight around her. “You’re tying my waist?”
“No.” He leaned back, keeping hold of the cord’s ends. “Turn around.”
Luxi turned around, totally confused.
The ghost brought his hands around and passed the cords between her legs. “I am binding your cunt.” He slid the ends under the cords around her waist and pulled.
Luxi gasped. The cords slid up between the plump outer lips of her pussy to press against her clit, and continued back and up the division of her ass cheeks to the cords around her waist. “But why?”
The ghost tugged the cords snug, but not tight. “I need your climax to feed.” He slid two fingers along the snug cords, brushing her intimately.
She shivered in sheer revulsion. “What has that got to do with a rope?”
He set two fingers right over her clit. “The binding will stimulate a swift rise, so that you will be ready for swift release when I take you.” Holding that one spot between his fingertips, he tugged the cords free. “Turn back around, slowly.”
Luxi turned around and stared down at the top of the ghost’s head. She seriously doubted anything would get her hot enough to enjoy anything he did to her. “You’re going to rape me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.” The ghost made a knot where his fingers marked. “I feed on pleasure, terror, or death.” He looked up at her. “Which would you prefer?”
Luxi turned away. I’d prefer to be home and asleep. But home was gone. She took a shaky breath. I don’t think Leto and Amun are going to get me out of this one. She closed her eyes. As long as I’m breathing, there’s a way out. I just have to be ready for the opportunity when it comes.
The ghost made a second knot about three inches further down. “Death delivers the entire essence all at once, but of course, the servant is no more. Death is wasteful in one with gifts as plentiful as yours.” He set his hands on her thighs. “Turn back around.”
Luxi turned around and stared at the wall. At least I’m more valuable alive than dead.
The ghost brought the cords to the front and passed it between her legs. “Terror delivers a scanty amount and tends to render the servant incapable of fun
ctioning independently. It eventually destroys the mind.” He pushed the tasseled ends up under the cords knotted around her waist. “Pleasure’s release gives the largest essence without destroying the servant’s mind, or the servant.”
Luxi hunched her shoulders, chilled. It was like he was reciting a menu, or something.
“However, inducing pleasure in a reluctant servant curbs the will.” He drew the cord snug. “Your will could benefit from curbing. You will live longer.” He tugged.
Luxi’s head came up and she inhaled sharply. The small knot put pressure right on top of her clit, and the other knot pressured the sensitive spot just beyond her body’s entrance, just under her anus.
The ghost slid his fingers down along the cords and under, parting her intimate curls and pressing on each of the knots.
Luxi’s clit pulsed in confused interest. She shivered and the hair stood on the back of her neck.
“Perfect placement.” He chuckled softly. He slid both his hands under her and gently finger-tugged the cords apart, framing her clit between them, then pressing the twin cords between her tender folds. “By the time we arrive, you will be more than ready for me.”
Luxi closed her eyes tight and bit back her humiliated moan. Glory, what a sadistic asshole!
“When I thrust into you between the cords, I will be squeezed as though you were a virgin.” He slid a finger under the cords at her tailbone, loosened it a touch and knotted the ends swiftly. “And you are bound.” He stepped back. “Very nice.” He sighed. “Too bad there really isn’t time for other pleasures. You may drop your skirts.”
Luxi hastily dropped her skirts. She had no interest in what the ghost considered “other pleasures.”
The ghost strode back to the lift’s panel and thrust his hand in.
The lights flickered and the lift proceeded.
Luxi bent over to tug the under-robe and shift back into order. The cords and knots shifted against her clit, drawing forth a warm curl of interest. She froze. It felt as though a pair of fingers gently squeezed her clit and rubbed it at the same time. Her nipples tingled in reaction. Oh, shit, the stupid thing actually works!
She had to take a breath before she could continue. If this idea had belonged to anyone other than the ghost, she might have found the binding entertaining ... but there was nothing entertaining about the fate he had planned for her. Rape and draining ...
Fate! There has to be a way out of this! Keeping her back to him, she straightened slowly and opened to her talent for viewing the possibilities. Strands of synchronicity and decision stretched within her mind’s eye.
“What are you doing?”
Luxi froze. He could sense that? She took a breath and scanned down her lines as fast as she could. “I’m contemplating my future.” It was the absolute truth.
He chuckled. “You future will be long, if you are obedient.”
Luxi looked at the lift wall but focused on her talent. The strands showed her a juncture, a decision that shifted away from the ghost and Vincent’s future. Good. She let her talent fall back to a soft hum that would let her know when it was time, but no more.
It was all a matter of waiting for that opportunity to arrive. She just hoped she spotted the turning point in enough time to use it. She also hoped nothing happened to close that opportunity off. Too many strands of decision and potential surrounded it. One wrong move and that option would dissolve.
That meant continuing exactly as she had been, antagonistic, but not too much. She did not want him to choke her unconscious or pull out those phantom blades. She needed to be upright and in one piece to make a good escape. It was a delicate balance. She didn’t want the ghost to think she had any hope left. But she didn’t want him to think she’d given in entirely, either.
She pulled back her foot and kicked, striking the wall with the ball of her foot. The impact made a nice satisfying metallic bang. She released a breath. It didn’t do any good whatsoever, but it made her feel a whole lot better.
The ghost laughed.
Within her, a strand of possibility pulled away and dissolved, strengthening her path toward escape.
“Come here.” The ghost’s voice was chill and commanding.
Warily, Luxi approached.
“Do not fight and all will be well.” He slid his hand under her hair and caught a handful at the base of her neck. He tugged for good measure.
Luxi winced. Asshole.
“Remember, no one can see me, but you. Walk slowly and do not look into anyone’s face.” He pulled his hand from the lift panel.
The lift stopped
Luxi glanced toward the pile of cream silk in the corner. “My robe!”
“No.”
The doors opened onto a dark hallway.
“Go.”
Luxi stepped out into darkness.
A hum echoed around her and lights flickered into being around them, revealing a filthy, disused cross hallway. To the left and to the right, the hallway continued in darkness. The walls were plain steel painted with broad bands of metallic brown. They were somewhere in the Bronze district.
Luxi trembled. No one would even think to look down here for her.
The ghost turned her toward the left. “Walk.”
Luxi walked. The ghost fell into step with her, his fingers snug in her hair, but not pinching. Around them, the lights bloomed into being, only to shut down as they passed. “Are you doing that, with the lights?”
“Yes.” He snorted. “I do not need light, but I have no desire to have you fall and harm yourself.”
“Oh.” If she wanted to go back to the lift, it would be a run in the dark -- chased by a ghost that didn’t need light to see. Not a good plan. Her hands bunched the sides of her robe. “Where are you taking me?”
“Someplace secure.”
Luxi grimaced. That answer was so not helpful. She took a steadying breath. Okay, what’s down here on Bronze? The lower-income housing and cheap motels were supposed to be in Bronze. She was pretty sure she remembered reading about some kind of shopping district, too, so sooner or later, they would come to a populated area ...
Her talent shimmered within her. Luxi bit her lip to hide her smile. That was where her chance of escape was, somewhere in a populated area. Her best guess was the shopping district. Was there anything else down here? Yes, as a matter of fact -- direct access to privately docked ships.
A shimmer of possibility moved through her. A ship was woven into her possible future, the one she was trying to avoid. That had to be where the ghost was taking her. A shudder of alarm shook her. If she got on that ship, all futures closed to one dark thread.
“Is something wrong?”
“Wrong?” A spurt of sour humor startled a choked laugh out of Luxi. “You mean besides the fact that I’m the prisoner of a sadistic ghost that’s going to rape me?”
The ghost snorted. “By the time we reach our destination, it will not be rape.”
Luxi ground her teeth. “Yeah, right.”
A nasty chuckle echoed along her outer thoughts. “Tell me, how do you find wearing the binding?”
Luxi had been focusing on other issues for a reason: to get her mind off the knots pressing and rubbing intimately with every single step. But now he wanted to talk about it. She took a careful breath. “It doesn’t hurt.”
“This binding is not designed to be painful, merely stimulating.”
Luxi rolled her eyes. Gee, thanks. Now that her attention was on the cords rubbing back and forth against her clit, it was hard to ignore that she was definitely feeling stimulated. The cords were getting damp, too. Her clit gave an interested throb. Change the subject! Change the subject! Change the subject! “Um, there are painful ones?” She winced. Not a good change in subjects.
“A great many.” He chuckled. “Are you getting wet?”
“Uh ...”
“It is a simple matter for me to check.”
Fate no, she didn’t want him to check! “Yes.” Damn it
.
“Good.”
Piss ... Luxi scowled and ground her teeth as she walked.
The lights flickered on directly ahead, revealing a heavy steel circular blast door. They had come to the end of the hall.
Luxi stared up at the door. “I can’t open that.”
“I can.” The ghost tugged her close to the right wall. He plunged his hand within and rummaged. “Ah!”
A ringing, grinding noise filled the small hallway. The door screeched in protest and rolled very slowly to the left. A siren wail blasted into the hall.
Luxi winced. Looks like somebody noticed that the door was open.
The ghost shoved her through the widening crack and into screaming pandemonium.
Chapter Fourteen
Luxi’s first impressions were big, dark, noisy, and crowded. They had come out in the middle of a busy, multilevel shopping bazaar choked with tossed-together stalls made of every conceivable material. The light was uncertain and came from a million different directions, none of which were overhead. Bodies, human and otherwise, mostly otherwise, jostled her as they fought to either get to the opening door, or from it, and everyone was shouting.
Shoved among the throng by the ghost, Luxi tripped a lot. The floors were painfully uneven with cables strewn across them. The smell of oil and aging steel was overpowering. So was the smell of too many bodies of too many descriptions. Alarms were shrieking everywhere.
Luxi flinched under the noise, then stilled. Alarms meant security was coming. Her talent shimmered with tension. It was time to escape.
Luxi let the ghost propel her forward and allowed herself to be jostled back and forth by the anxious crowd.
The ghost’s hands tightened in her hair and swore viciously as he fought to hang on to her.
Hard Candy Page 23
