Alongside the front door was another door. It opened suddenly and three men that looked like Ramet appeared. They were tall and broad shouldered with dark skin.
“These are my eunuchs they are like your friend. They can no longer function sexually which makes them perfect guards for me, for they covet neither men nor women. Do not test their strength, for you would regret it!”
Ramet stared at those so like him. They looked disdainfully at him.
Ned spoke to them. “Now my guards, this is Ramet. He is like you. You will train him and explain to him what happens if he falls short of my expectations. Please make it all clear to him.”
I had a feeling whatever they said to him would be more powerfully said than what Ned could say.
The Ferals were unloaded quickly. They shrieked and cried out but were instantly quieted. They were chained together and brutalized by Ned’s guards and led away by Handlers.
Ramet turned to look at me one last time. I wondered when I’d see him again. I wondered if I would see him again.
As Ned went to take me, I hissed. I could not help it.
Now, I had a warning, “Come, Justine,” Ned said. “Let us do this civility, because if you fight me or harm me, your dear friend will pay the forfeit.”
I had no doubt and climbed the stairs. I was about to enter hell once again.
Ned opened the doors. A well-appointed vestibule and hall were revealed. The walls were papered with fine wall coverings and portraits. Gilt framed they were. I glanced at them and saw they were pictures of naked men and women pleasuring one another. I was not at all surprised.
Down we went until we came to a parlor. “How do you like it? I have furnished it over the years, always seeking to improve it.”
I found it remarkable, though I said nothing. I didn’t wish to give him the satisfaction.
It was all quite plush, with handsome carpets and gilt furniture, much of it looked French. There were ornate sofas and chairs, along with handsome tables and a writing desk. Massive cabinets from floor to ceiling were stocked with books.
“Those are antique books ...I paid a pretty penny for them.”
I wondered who he was trying to impress.
“My friends love it.”
That explained it, his friends or more likely his customers.
“I know the best people,’ he said. “Royalty and nobles from all over the world. There are barristers and actors who frequent my establishment...and there, do you see it? That door opens into a special room. Would you like to see it?”
I nearly said no but stopped myself. “Come,” he motioned.
I was ushered inside. There were cushions and mirrors on the walls and ceiling. I could just imagine what this room was used for. Just then he nodded to the Handler and my handcuffs were removed but only temporarily for I was then handcuffed from behind.
He smiled as he tore my dress from me, watching me carefully, he was smiling still when he bent forward. I closed my eyes when I felt his lips on my breasts. And when he began to suckle them I cried out.
“No!” he said. “No need for that. You will come around. I can be very engaging. You will see, besides, there is your good friend to think about and his safety.”
He told me he was going but would be back very soon. “I suggest you don’t act up for you will be punished.”
I had no doubt.
CHAPTER 36
He had already shown me I was his property and he would enjoy me sexually. The rest of the evening he was almost pleasant. “You will become used to it here, Justine. Others have.”
But how could they? How could anyone, even a vampire?
He was studying me. Just as I felt myself beginning to squirm, he smiled. “To show you my good faith, that is that you can trust me—I will show you to your own chamber. Yes, my dear—your very own place to sleep and rest if you like. There are shutters that permit no sunlight to come in. They are locked, that is they are permanently shut in such a way they can never be breached, even by a vampire.” He went on, “As I have told you, I have had many vampiric mistresses. If I were to tell you none of them fared badly would you believe me?”
The contemptuous expression on my face was his answer. He merely smiled. “Perhaps I shall show them to you some time.”
“That would be good. I would like to meet them, where are they and why are they no longer here?”
“They have done well for themselves. Each has found contentment with one of my friends. Some live in England and others abroad. Each and every one of them is kept as a mistress by a man of great importance and wealth.”
For a moment I wondered if I could believe him.
“You must be hungry after your long journey. I can have blood brought to you. There is enough of a store here. I will summon someone...”
He did. One of the eunuchs came and I was so disappointed it was not Ramet.
“Fetch some nice ruby port...”
He handed the eunuchs a pitcher. “Only the best...from one of the men.”
While we waited for the eunuch to return, Ned asked me to sit in the parlor. “Yes you see. No forced sexual play now. I am sorry, do forgive me but I was overcome by your charms before. Now we will sit here and chat like two intelligent adults. The thing is, Justine—you are never going to suffer here, that I can promise you.”
The eunuch returned. Ned thanked him and introduced him to me. He looked proud. “Nemitob, this lovely wench is called Justine. She is Ramet’s friend.”
He was as handsome as Ramet, but he didn’t have the kindly expression my friend has. He looked capable of cruelty. It was the set of his mouth more than anything. He bowed to me. “I am here to serve.” He said in a deep voice.
“Yes,” I thought, to serve Ned and do all of his murderous work for him.
Ned looked very pleased with himself. “Only the best,” he said as he handed me an ornate goblet. “Drink, my precious.”
The smell alone made me feel voracious and I felt ashamed. I couldn’t wait to down it. What we really are is never far from the surface.
“Go and drink!”
I sipped it slowly deliberately. Just to show him. But he only laughed. As I drank, I saw flashes of a young man—a handsome man in the prime of his life. “How long does he have, Ned?”
Ned was not expecting such an outrageous question from me. He looked quite startled. “Don’t be what you are not. Don’t pretend to worry about what you prey on because it makes you look ridiculous.”
I had to restrain myself from attacking him. The thought of what he would have done to Ramet stopped me cold.
“Temper, temper!” he teased.
I was quiet after that.
“When will you be retiring?” he asked as though I were a human guest in his house and not an unwilling monster being held hostage.
“It is near dawn I can show you to your chamber.”
I could not believe it when I saw it. It was a room fit for a queen, beautifully furnished with satin wall coverings and pictures. There was an array of rich looking porcelain pieces along the mantelpiece.
“The room is never cold...but if you should like a fire...”
Ned knew that I and all vampiric creatures, being composed mostly of water, could freeze.
I smiled. “It is ironic,” I replied. “Like humans we are composed mainly of water. Yet unlike living humans, our freezing would not mean our death.”
“Strange you are, but alluring nevertheless.”
I was relieved when he moved toward the door. “I shall leave you now. Rest well, my dear Justine. I hope you have pleasant dreams.”
Pleasant, was he joking?
****
Before I lay down, I found myself inspecting the room. I think I was looking for evidence of past mistresses. I began searching through drawers. Mainly they were filled with linen and lacey pillow slips. It was the tall chest of drawers that contained the really interesting items. There were night gowns and other articles of female clothing
, all handsome garments in a variety of colors. Each item was beautifully fashioned. Had they been left and if so why?
It was the writing table that next caught my eye. It was antique, from the Louis XIV Period. I opened the drawer to find gold embossed stationary and envelopes as well as pens and ink. Who would a vampire write to, I wondered? I must have pulled the drawer out too far for suddenly it fell into my lap! As I began to put it back, the bottom gave way and everything fell out. I discovered to my amazement a false bottom. There was a book opened in half, so as not to take up too much room. I pulled it free and saw that it was a journal.
It did occur to me that it might have been put there deliberately, to be discovered by me or some other unfortunate vampire. Nevertheless, and despite my doubts, I found I was anxious to read it. There wasn’t a name anywhere and even the first few pages were empty. I kept leafing through it wondering when I might see some writing.
I did finally. There were entries and a lot of them. I read one and then another. The handwriting was educated, elegant even, the letters clear and beautifully done.
I begin this journal in the hope of finding peace...
It broke off then, leaving just one disjointed sentence. I was fascinated to find something else. I quickly turned several pages until I found what looked like a complete entry.
He said I would grow used to it. It is not long since I was turned. Nay, turned, I was created. That is how I am to think of my transformation. If you are reading this you are reading the journal of Christine Edwards whose life was difficult but whose death was worse...
I had to stop reading for I could not go on. The suffering was too much like my own. Yet, though I felt for this being, I was suspicious. Ned was what he was after all and fully capable of setting something up like this. Still, it might be true. I wondered if I would ask him. And even if I did, I reasoned, how could I believe what he told me?
CHAPTER 37
If I thought Ned was strange, I was not prepared for Anton.
“This is my son, Justine. He wants to meet you.”
I nearly gasped as this strange looking man, very short and squat ambled quickly into the room. His head was much too large for the rest of him. He looked to be leering at me. “I’ve heard about you, Justine.” He said this as he reached for my hand to kiss it! Feeling Ned’s stare I let him. “You are quite a lovely vampire wench.”
And you are a horrible looking little man, I thought.
Ned was grinning at his son. “Anton helps me with everything. He’s one of the very few people I trust. Some of the Handlers are not reliable.”
“Are they not?”
He looked surprised at my tone. But I didn’t care.
“Better watch yourself, Justine.”
The Ramet threat again. I made no reply but turned to go to the parlor.
Ned wanted his son to show off about all the many important jobs he had. “Go on, son. Tell her.”
He began to tell me about the exhibits as he called them. “There are the Weres, proper oversexed creatures they are—half man and wolf! You should see what they get up to.”
I had no doubt I would see this. He went on to explain in graphic detail what the Weres did to their females. “I ain’t never seen so much fucking! And the Ferals! Of course you’re nothing like that, Miss Justine.”
I nearly laughed at the title, but held back. As they were both staring at me, I replied with some nonsense. Ned looked pleased. “How about seeing the exhibits, Justine? Of course it will be a private showing, would you like that?”
Thinking of Ramet’s safety, I nodded.
“Fine! We shall do it after your feed. I shall have it brought to you.”
Actually I was grateful he was doing that, for I could guess what his food store would be like. I knew I’d be seeing it but at least I wouldn’t see it yet.
I had no idea that I would come to think of this time as the time of the strange blood. Yes, the oddly addictive, pleasing concoction I was to come to desire more and more. And it was different than anything I had before.
I suspected it contained something, a herb perhaps? One I was not familiar with. Now, the blood wine tasted bitter. I asked if there was something added to make it taste so.
Ned nodded. “Just something to make you feel better.”
Just as I was about to question that, I realized I felt calmer.
Ned was watching me. “It’s soothing, isn’t it?”
It was actually. I might have even smiled, I cannot be certain. All I can recall is Ned looking pleased.
He waited until I finished it. “You can have as much as you like whenever you like.”
I wasn’t so foolish as not to know he wanted me to take it. If I was feeling the slightest bit rebellious about taking it, the feeling soon faded as I realized I wanted more!
Ned was pleased. “Why don’t you rest now, and Anton and I will come for you later.”
They returned some time later accompanied by two eunuchs. I wondered how Ramet was and I asked. It was one of the eunuchs who told me. “Our brother Ramet performs his duties.”
Ned suggested I not worry about him, adding it wouldn’t help which sounded sinister. “Do not fear. If you fear for him, he fears for you.”
So that was it. He was telling us each the same thing. The threat applied to both of us.
“Come, we will go down the stairs I use for my friends.”
These stairs I was not expecting, nor did I expect to be in a beautifully decorated stairwell with paintings adorning the walls.
“You see, when I have guests they come as you did to my private apartments. Then we can enter the hall in this stylish way. Nothing is too good for my friends.”
The odor didn’t hit me until I was inside. However, as we reached the next level, I did gasp. Ned laughed. “One gets used to it I have found.”
It was when the doors were opened that the full stench caught me. I covered my mouth and nose.
“Oh!” Anton said. “She is offended! Ain’t she, Father?”
“She’ll get used to it.”
It was so over powering, I felt like rushing back upstairs. One of the eunuchs grabbed my arm as though to warn me. Between that and Ned’s evil stare, it was enough to make me behave.
“Look!” Ned cried as he opened the doors. I looked to see a warren of tunnels and narrow hallways, not at all what I expected. I had thought there would be an immense hall containing all the exhibits.
Ned motioned me on. “Come along, their cages are here!”
“But the stink is awful!”
“Really, and what do you think you are? Do you think you are better than anything here?”
I nearly sprang to thrash him. It would have been pointless though. We both knew that. Anton was skipping around me. He reached for my hand and pulled it. “Come along!”
There had to be dozens of cages, all containing Weres. The creatures were in their wolf form, jumping up and down and making the most ferocious sounds. The females began springing toward me. If they had been able to get out, they’d have attacked me.
Their growls annoyed me and I lunged forward hissing. They shrank back looking startled when I did.
“I wonder which of you would win,” Ned asked.
I made no reply, for I was being ushered along again. I could tell we were approaching the Ferals. Feral vampires have their own unique odor. As a rule vampires don’t, that is if they are not blood-splattered from a feed. But Ferals do have a definite odor. It is pungent and strongly sour-smelling. And as they are gross, filthy creatures it is hard to take.
I saw a cage containing about twenty Ferals, male and female. They were even more wild than the Weres. Nearly all of them were copulating—the males taking the females from behind. Ned laughed at his son for Anton was terribly excited. “I want a wench! Oh please, father.”
Ned said of course and smiled at me. Would he? I didn’t know. Suddenly something cried out. It was a shrill cry, nearly deafening, I looked at him.
“That’s the Wendigo we have. Want to see?”
No, he wasn’t about to give me a choice. I was pulled toward the creature’s cage. There, I saw a tall being, covered in hair—being lashed brutally.
“Can’t you stop that?!”
Before Ned could do anything, the creature howled one last time and fell over, dead.
“It’s dead!” the Handler cried.
I was glad for it, for it would no longer suffer, real death can be a blessing.
****
Ned looked full of himself. “Have you ever seen such a creature?”
“No, I have not. He feels pain...”
“He felt pain, now he feels nothing. I got him in North America, in the Canadian wilderness. I go there sometimes. Anton and I often go places when we wish to stock our show.”
I tried to keep my expression blank but it was difficult.
“It’s a flesh eating thing. Worse than the Ferals because it eats dead flesh. And I venture to say it likes it. Punters love it. I had thought of bringing him some company—a female one but the problem is, there are few that exist. They are cursed beings. Their origins are human—humans that turned to cannibalism and were transformed, Indian medicine men cursed them you see.”
Again, I made no reply. “I am tired...and the strain of not seeing Ramet...”
“Oh!” Ned smiled. “I will have him brought to you. Of course you will see him under guard and under threat...but you may see your friend at least.”
I couldn’t believe it. “When?”
“As it is nearly dawn, let us say tomorrow night. You will see Ramet then. Now I will take you back to your quarters.”
I knew I would go back to the journal and read until the sun rose. And so I did.
****
From the journal...
He has come to me. I feared his touch and cringed from it. But then I relaxed and found him pleasing. His lips and tongue exploring me, feeding upon me too. Yes, this human Ned...he amazed me. The joy was spectacular. And when he asked me to entertain his friends I was fearful once again but I need not have been.
They were all exciting in their way. So rich and powerful, I was quite flattered and to be the only female vampire with four and five human men loving me at one time...the results were exhilarating. In time there were other females vampires brought up, each dressed well and perfumed.
Voracious Vixens, 13 Novels of Sexy Horror and Hot Paranormal Romance Page 143
