by Marian Tee
I shouldn’t be doing this alone. Master should be with me, but where was he now? Back with his trollop, the woman who had left him first. Why couldn’t he understand that I was the better choice?
The hospital loomed before me, decrepit and abandoned still, but now I saw it with new eyes.
No one would know if I did it here.
No one—
STOP IT, ZARI, STOP IT!
I covered my ears and closed my eyes, willing everything to be blank.
“Lady Zari?” Erou demanded.
But no one would know if you did do it here. You’re a good girl. Everyone knows you’re a good girl. Why won’t you just do it and end your problems?
I shook my head wildly. Why was I thinking such thoughts? Why?
“Zari?” But the voice didn’t belong to Erou this time.
It was Alexandru.
My eyes flew open.
I almost cried out in relief until I saw her.
Jealousy, vindictive, murderous, evil, screamed inside of me like a banshee.
I knew then that the visions were true.
I will kill Katarina, sooner or later, and then it would be over for all of us.
I had to be free of Alexandru. I had to make sure I never saw him and Katarina together, and I prayed that it would be enough to stop this poisonous feeling inside of me from spreading.
My decision made, there was only one thing left for me to do.
Spinning around, I threw myself at Erou and kissed him.
Chapter Six
ALEXANDRU AND ZARI
The worst things in life always seemed to happen in slow motion. He had learned this in the hundreds of years he had spent hunting down outlaws and seeing comrades fall in battle, often without warning.
None, however, had been as excruciatingly slow and so agonizingly painful as seeing his pet suddenly fling herself into another man’s arms and place lips that should have only been his on another man’s mouth.
“NO!” Alexandru did not hesitate. In the blink of an eye, he was there, throwing the younger man aside. Erou flew through the air, landing over a dozen feet away, his back hitting the second floor window of the hospital before crashing back to the ground.
If he had been human, he would have been dead.
Fury iced his veins, threatening to unleash the demon side of him that Alexandru always kept chained. With a curse, he turned his back on Erou. He dared not spare the other man a glance, and that alone was already an act of mercy. If he took another look at the baby vampire, Alexandru knew he would end up killing Erou Damaschin.
His head snapped towards Zari. “Why did you do it?”
He was angry, Zari realized shakily. But under the rage, she saw something else – pain. Her heart broke at the sight of it, but she knew this was how it should be. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she ended up killing Katarina just because she couldn’t stand the thought that Alexandru didn’t love her.
“I want to be free—”
He whitened. A second later, and he had her in his arms, his mouth covering hers, his lips swallowing the rest of what she had to say. Kissing her hard, he snarled in her mind, Never. I will never let you be free of me.
She tried to struggle away, tried to wrench her mouth from his, but it was no use, Alexandru no longer bothering to temper his strength even the slightest bit. She opened her mouth to scream, but he only used it to drive his tongue inside, further deepening the kiss.
Only when she gasped for breath did he lift his mouth. But he didn’t let her go, his arm even tightening around her waist as, without taking his gaze off her, Alexandru commanded, “Leave.”
He didn’t turn around to ensure that his order was obeyed. It was already a foregone conclusion because with the mood he was in, only the world’s greatest fool would have dared disobey him.
Zari couldn’t believe it. “Lord Erou!” she screamed.
But Erou had already started walking away, and the other enforcers trailed behind him.
Her head snapped towards Lady Katarina, and she couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw that the other woman was also walking away. “Don’t you want him back?” she shrieked.
“Enough.” Alexandru’s harsh voice had her head snapping towards him, and Zari gasped when she saw the lust glittering in his eyes.
“I should have done this the moment you started pushing me away,” Alexandru rasped.
Her eyes widened, her Master’s words the only warning she was given before he sank his fingers into her hair, gripping her in place before his mouth slammed down on hers again. She gasped into his kiss, stunned at the speed in which her body betrayed her. She had been wet the moment she felt his touch, but now she was soaking, the wetness even dripping down her legs.
“No!” She beat his chest, trying to shove him away. “Let go—aaah!” Zari screamed as he pulled her down to him, and he fell to the ground while she fell on top of him. His arms slackened slightly, and she took advantage of it, crawling away.
Her heart raced madly as she tried to escape. She mustn’t let him make love to her. If she did, her love for him would reach unparalleled heights, and so would her jealousy, her vindictiveness—
And then she felt it, fingers circling her ankle just before she was pulled back.
“Noooo!” she screamed.
“You can scream all you want, my pet, but it won’t do you any good,” Alexandru growled. “Your screams aren’t out of fear…and everyone knows it.”
“Shut up!” She didn’t dare look at him, only thrashing and kicking. She managed to land a kick, and when he grunted in pain, she tried to crawl away again. The skin on her knees was starting to feel tender, but she didn’t stop moving—
Alexandru grasped the back of her dress shirt.
“Let go—”
Riiiiiip.
The sound and feel of her clothes being ripped off had her body trembling in fear, anger, and something terribly akin to excitement. When Zari felt her jeans being ripped off next, the fabric no match for a half-demon, half-vampire’s strength, her pussy only quivered and became even wetter. She knew then. Alexandru was right. She wanted this.
“Come back here.”
She bit back a moan, only realizing then how much she had missed hearing the seductive purr of his voice. Even so, she still struggled, thrashing wildly as he yanked her back—
She gasped, eyes flying open as she slammed back into him, still on her knees, and her bottom connected with his bulging arousal.
“Noooo!” Excitement and fear colored her screams as Zari felt Alexandru positioning himself behind her, heard Alexandru unzipping himself. Dazed with desire, she looked around them, wondering if they really were doing it here, in the middle of a freaking ghost town, and in broad daylight.
She shrieked again when she felt his hand on her panties. A moment later, he ripped it away from her—
“Jerk! Bully! Bastard!”
But her Master only laughed, a rich dark sound that spoke of his arrogance and knowledge of her. “You can say whatever you want, my pet, but we both know this will tell the truth.” And as he spoke, he slid one finger into her without warning, thrusting all the way down, until his finger was knuckle-deep inside of her.
“Aaaaah.” Her back instinctively arched in response, bringing her bottom up even as her entire body tensed and shook.
Seeing her naked response, the way her breasts shook at the smallest movement, snapped Alexandru’s control. With his free hand, he grasped her bra from the front—
“No!” But the word came out a moan.
—and he ripped it away in a second.
She screamed, but it only seemed to excite Alexandru even more, with the way his breathing had become harsher. She could feel his big strong body shaking harder, too, and she wondered dizzily if he would really force himself on her. And would it really be force? Would it really be rape when she was so wet—
She had her answer in a heartbeat.
His cock shoved
into her without warning, big, long, and hard as a rock.
Zari screamed. “Bastard!”
Alexandru only laughed, pulling his cock out and then thrusting it back inside her hungry pussy.
His laughter incensed her, but his arrogance aroused her. She tried to struggle away from his pounding cock but every time she did, he only pulled her back to him and drove his erection harder and deeper into her.
“I hate you!”
He pounded into her harder, eliciting a gasp from her, and Zari’s back arched once more. “I can see how much you hate me,” he taunted. Gripping her by the hair, he forced her head to the side so he could lean forward and kiss her. She tried to bite him, but he was too fast and he punished her by reaching for her breast and pinching her nipple hard.
She gasped into his mouth, and she gasped again as he kept pinching her nipple while his cock plunged into her relentlessly. “Bully!” She spat the word out even as her throat tightened and her body quivered. Oh God, she was close!
And he knew it, too.
The knowledge worked like an aphrodisiac, triggering his own orgasm, and his balls tightened. “Be glad that I want you too badly to punish you,” he gritted out. “Because if I had the strength, I’d like to fucking leave you here, aching and hungry for my cock until you begged for it—”
“Never!” But the way she was already pushing her bottom towards his cock belied her answer.
“Never, you say?” He laughed humorlessly. “This day won’t be over when I prove you wrong.”
She tried to get away from him again, but her stubborn resistance only excited him more. It proved to be the final trigger he needed to push him all the way. He groaned, realizing his orgasm was just a few thrusts away. Wanting them to come together, he reached under her body for her clit—
She screamed, her back arching, her eyes rolling back to her head—
“Come for me, pet. Now.” He pulled out and then hammered his cock back inside her as hard and deep as he could.
She screamed.
He groaned.
Both of them came in an instant, and Alexandru let his senses take over.
Zari’s eyes closed as her orgasm swept her away. His movements were wild. It was a mindless rutting, his cock nearly ripping her apart, his fingers digging into the side of her hips.
She loved every minute of it, and she wanted more. She moaned with each thrust, her body jerking as he filled her with his hot sticky cum. There seemed to be no end in sight, Alexandru’s thrusts not slowing down the slightest bit, and his cum overflowing out of her pussy to streak down her legs.
When he finally pulled out of her, she fell down on the ground, tired and limp.
She thought it was over but she was wrong. Another moment later, she felt Alexandru’s strong hands holding her by the waist, and then she was being flipped to her back. He was still fully clothed, his cock jutting out from his pants, still powerfully erect. And yet here she was, naked and lying on the ground, her legs parted like she wanted more of him.
The thought had her whimpering, and she realized with shock that it really wasn’t over for either of them.
His emerald green eyes captured her gaze. “Beg for it.” A cruel, playful taunt that should hurt her, anger her, or even just make her run away, but it did none of those things.
Instead, it made everything go away, made Zari so lost in the heat of the moment that everything ceased to exist. Where she was no longer mattered. Who could see them, hear them, was no longer important. But best of all, even the guilt was gone, too. Just this moment, she was free.
“Please, Master.” Her voice was delicate, innocent and provocative at the same time, and filled with aching need.
Hearing her say the words like that, seeing her eye him so damn hungrily like she wanted to eat him then and there, made Alexandru shudder. Too goddamn long, he thought violently. It had been too goddamn long since he had heard her call out to him like that!
“Again,” he commanded. “Beg for it.”
She moaned at the order, the submissive part of her yearning to be dominated. “Master, please. Please, Master—” She gasped, the rest of what she had to say cut off at the feel of his hands on her ankles as he pushed her legs wide open.
Their eyes locked with each other again.
“Promise me,” he said savagely. “Promise me you will never kiss another man again, never let another man fucking touch any part of you again. Promise me!”
Unable to resist the authoritative demand in his voice, she choked out, “Yes.”
She had barely finished speaking when he drove into her. Zari screamed. Again and again she screamed as he shoved his cock into her heated warmth. Master, Master, Master.
It made him shudder, made him bend down to plump one breast and feed it to his mouth without slowing his thrusts.
Zari wrapped her arms around his neck as Alexandru began sucking on her nipple. “Master!” This time, she sobbed his name out because she could feel it again, the stirring of another powerful orgasm—
Her Master bit her nipple.
And that was it for her, Zari screaming as she came. “Master!”
“Yes,” he growled as he lifted his mouth off her breast. He sank his length into her again, claiming every inch of her wet, shaking pussy. Her come surrounded his cock, filling her passage, and allowed him to slip his erection deeper until the tip of his cock hit the wall of her womb. It was an unbelievable sensation, and with a jerk, he started to pump his seed into her a second time.
“Zari. Look at me.”
She turned towards his voice, her gray eyes made hazy with pleasure.
“I will always be your Master, and you will always be my pet.”
~~~~
They made love until darkness had fallen and she ended up sleeping in his arms in a state of exhaustion. When she woke up, she was in his bed, still naked, and curled in the arms of her Master.
She whispered, “Master?”
What is it, pet? His arms tightened around her as he spoke.
Swallowing, she told him shakily, “Something’s wrong with me.” It was the only thing she could risk saying. She was too ashamed to admit the entire truth.
I know.
She stiffened, and she stiffened even more when her Master shifted. She thought he would let her go then, but instead she felt his lips pressing on her forehead.
Tears burned behind her eyelids.
Her Master was a hunter, whose work required that he become cold-blooded and anything but gentle.
But with her?
He had always been with gentle with her. Always, Zari realized. How could she only realize that now? And God, why couldn’t it be that he was gentle with her because he loved her and not because she was his pet?
Will you tell me what you feel is wrong with you?
She shook her head.
Alexandru was grim. He remembered the autopsy reports he had received last night, compiled by both humans and otherworlders, and the picture had been grisly. Once the demon was able to sink its claws in a soul, a quick meal for it would be to drive the victim to suicide. That had happened with its first few victims. But lately, the demon had become stronger, smarter, more daring, and it had been able to manipulate its victims into committing a graver sin: murder, and all to hide guilt.
I need to tell you something, my pet.
Her eyes rose to his, anxiety darkening them almost to black.
There is a demon on the loose again, and it feeds on guilt. He didn’t speak right away, allowing the words to sink in. When she whitened, he knew that she had realized the truth.
That she was the next victim, and the demon had already sunk its claws into her soul.
“How did it happen?” she asked dully.
“That’s what I intend to find out. I’m betting the demon’s found a host. We kill the host, we end its hold on you.” Alexandru was grim. “But for now, I ask you again. What has it made you guilty of?”
“Something…
I can never tell you about.”
He cursed under his breath. “Zari, dammit—”
“I can’t. Just know that I won’t ever do it, ever. Even if it means I have to be another man’s—”
Never. His tone was savage. Haven't I made myself clear enough? In an instant, he was on top of her, his weight imprisoning her but not overwhelming her. He pinned her arms over her head. “You are mine.”
His mouth crushed hers, and even as despair swamped her, she couldn’t stop herself from kissing him back. Soon, their mouths were no longer their only connection. He rose over her, and when he came back down, his cock slid into her. His mouth returned to her, and she moaned into his kiss even as her legs snaked around his waist and her body welcomed his possession.
With her arms still pinned over head, she could only moan and writhe under him, unable to satisfy her yearning to feel the hardness of his chest, the power in his body. “Master.”
He groaned at the plea in her voice, and with another groan, he pumped his seed into her. She screamed as his warmth flooded her, and arching to meet his frenzied thrusts, she rubbed her clit against him. Heeding her plea, he inserted his hand between their bodies. He flicked the nub of flesh – hard enough to have her vaginal muscles squeeze tightly.
She came, whimpering his name. Alexandru.
When she opened her eyes again, he was on top of her, bracing himself against his arms and his gaze on her face. “Zari, believe in me,” he whispered fiercely. “I will not let harm befall you.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand.” And she couldn’t explain to him and have him possibly hating her. That was something she couldn’t ever handle.
Honor meant everything to Alexandru. Everything. If he did not have honor, he would have put his own desires above everything, would have gone after Katarina and convinced her to marry him. But he had not. Because he was honorable.
Nothing, however, was honorable about murder.
“I need to leave,” she whispered.
