It was a sound I rather liked, a sound that made my cock harden all the more.
Instincts took over. As I pumped in and out of her, I ran my tongue over my teeth, tasting remnants of her, wishing I had more. Her pussy, slick and tight, never wanted to let me go. With every thrust of my hips, Felice moaned, her whole body trembling beneath me, milking me for all I had.
Had she felt this fantastic, this tight in the basement? It felt as if her body had been made for mine. Like this was me officially laying claim on her. Every part of her.
It mattered not what she felt like last time. It didn’t matter that I had her blood on the brain, that the only reason my heart beat so fast and my eyes saw so clear was due to her hot, life-giving blood. The only thing that mattered now was following my instincts, and that was to take her. To fuck her.
The whole bed jerked with my hips. It wasn’t like I tried to be gentle. Right now I felt the desire to be rough, and Felice made no moves to stop me, doing nothing but taking my cock and filling the air with her gasps and moans.
My hands gripped the excess fabric of her dress, my gaze on her ass below me, watching as my cock disappeared inside her, coming out covered in her wetness. A familiar ache began to grow in my balls, pressure blossoming inside of me. My release came all too soon. Pleasure dominated every part of me, causing me to slam into her one last time, close my eyes, and groan.
My groan did come out sounding more like a growl than anything, but maybe that was just the blood talking.
The scar on my neck pulsed with all of the blood flow in my own body, and I was sluggish in pulling out of her, watching as my white cum started to dribble out of her sex. A beautiful sight, truly.
I breathed hard, still feeling a bit overwhelmed by the orgasm, and I stepped away from her as I began to put myself away. Felice was slower in fixing herself, reaching to her knees to pull her panties up and lower her dress skirt. If I had my way, she’d be naked and offering me her blood four times a day.
Mmm. Maybe we’d get there. I’d give her time.
Because I needed more.
Chapter Eighteen – Felice
Later that day, Lucien dragged Bram out of the basement. I had to change after my little encounter with Payne, but I couldn’t complain too much. That was…I mean, I had an aching wrist yet again, but I dared to say it was worth it.
Watching him drink my blood—that had been strange, but once I was able to get over the fact that it was my blood he so greedily gulped down, it was kind of hot, knowing he needed me like that. As if, without me, he’d be nothing. Maybe he’d still be dead.
Or maybe he only wanted my blood because it was mine that brought him back, but I didn’t want to think about it like that. I much preferred the former: me. I was the special one.
It was funny, because growing up, I never thought I was special. Yeah, I liked to set fires and watch things burn down. Yeah, sometimes even the tiniest of things set me off. Yeah, I started that fire at the Smalls’ house, knowing they were all inside. But none of those things made me special.
This place…Grimmstead made me special, but I had no idea why.
Since literally everyone had to be around me when I confronted Bram, we chose to do it in the library. Lucien’s office was a little snug to accommodate all of us. Payne was the only one I didn’t know whether he was coming. He and Bram had some unfinished business. As in, really bad feelings for each other, and rightfully so. It wasn’t every day that your head was sawn off of your body and used like a basketball.
I was on my way to the library, my eyes on the floor, watching as my boots kicked out from under my dress with each step. I was both nervous and excited to talk to Bram—probably foolishly, I thought I could solve all of Grimmstead’s problems now that I’d literally brought Payne back from the dead. Nothing felt impossible to me now.
At least, I thought I was headed to the library. That’s where I thought my legs were taking me. Apparently not, because with a sudden jerk, I realized I stood before the door to the basement, its eerie hinges creaking as it swung open, revealing the dark, dank depths of this place.
Hold up. Did I open this door? What in the world…
You know, that wasn’t even the weirdest part. The most bizarre thing about me suddenly being in front of the open basement door was that I also carried a knife.
A knife.
The biggest one the kitchen had, by the look of the steel.
I jerked away from my hand, my fingers uncurling from around handle, letting it drop to the floor. “What in the world…” Great. Now I could add talking to myself to the list of strange things for the day.
Shaking my head, I bent to retrieve the knife. Within ten minutes, the knife was safely back in the kitchen and I was headed to the library once more. For real, this time.
The tables in the library had been moved aside, along with most of the lounges. The one chair that remained untouched sat in the center of the large room, where a chained man reclined, looking quite comfortable, given the circumstances. The windows in the far back of the room let in the dying daylight, the sun having broken through the clouds some time ago. The whole room smelled old, ancient books and manuscripts.
Or maybe that was Bram, since he’d been locked away in the basement for so long.
Ian and Dagen stood near each other, each wearing the same clothes they always did. Of course, Ian’s look was messy and uncaring, while Dagen’s was…well, normally his clothes were wrinkled and stained, but for whatever reason, today he looked better. Overall, he simply looked better, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of our little, uh, ménage a trois.
Just as I suspected, Payne wasn’t here. Kind of disappointed in him, since I’d just freely given him more of my blood. I mean, how much did the man want?
Lucien stood before Bram, his arms crossed, the muscles on his back tugging at his suit. I came into the room, seeing nothing but his back, at first. Once I coughed, alerting him and the others to my presence, Lucien turned, a scowl on his face, allowing me to see Bram.
Bram’s green eyes snapped to me. His black hair was greasy, hanging over his face. A vile smirk grew on his lips, the telltale sign it was still very much Bram and not Koda. Koda never wore such evil expressions.
My heart tugged in my chest. Poor Koda, being locked away inside for so long. I was going to bring him out, no matter what I had to do.
“Well, well, well,” Bram spoke, earning himself glares from every man here, “you’re the one I have to thank for this, I’m guessing.” He scooted himself up in the seat, his wrists held together with chains, as were his ankles. There would be no running now. He glanced over his shoulder, looking at the windows. “Daylight. So that’s what it looks like. Huh. I’d almost forgotten.”
Lucien took a step toward him, his arms dropping to his sides and his fists clenching.
“What?” Bram spoke, baring his teeth. “Going to punish me some more? Go ahead, hit me. Let your inner monster out, Lucien. We all know it’s there. You are a Grimmstead, after all. It’s what you Grimmsteads do.”
To my horror, Lucien looked like he actually wanted to hit him.
Not cool.
Then again, Lucien had met his end at the tip of his knife, too, so I supposed I understood where he was coming from.
I moved deeper into the library, standing beside Lucien. “Don’t egg him on, Bram, or he’ll drag you right back to the basement.”
“Ooh, scary,” Bram said, apparently not thinking it was scary at all. Bram, I realized, probably didn’t think anything was scary.
No. Everyone had fears, just like everyone had desires.
I cautiously drew towards him, leaving Lucien’s side to stand before Bram. I then did something I probably shouldn’t have: I leaned down, getting in his face. Bram, to his credit, continued to smirk and look like he wanted to rip my face off.
But why did he have to be so hot while looking as if he’d love tearing me limb from limb?
“You’re clearly not afraid of being thrown back downstairs,” I whispered, my face less than a foot from his. So close I could feel his hot breath, my skin warming at the intense look in his eyes. “So let me ask you this, then: what are you afraid of?”
Bram, unimpressed with my line of questioning, made no moves to lean forward, though he did pull his wrists apart, clanging the chains. I didn’t blink. I kept my gaze fixated on his face, on the smooth lines of his jaw. Not a trace of dark stubble. Time itself must’ve been strange downstairs.
“I have no fears, Felice,” Bram finally spoke. “You should know that by now.”
“See, I don’t think that’s true.”
Bram’s smirk curled downwards into a frown as he said, “And why do you think that?” I had no doubt that if he was free, his hands would be around my neck once again.
“I think you have one fear.” I paused, letting my own smile take shape. “I think, Bram, your worst nightmare is to be trapped inside Koda forever. To always watch but never feel. To be locked away—not in the darkness of the basement—but so far back in your mind that you can’t get out.”
As I spoke, Bram’s emerald eyes narrowed, his lips thinning into a line. To say he was unhappy with my words would be the year’s biggest understatement. He looked like he wanted to murder me.
“So tell me, how close am I? Did I get it spot-on?” The others probably watched, wondering if I had taken some crazy pills earlier, but they didn’t intervene. Maybe they knew where I was going with this.
Sometimes to put an animal back in its cage, you had to rile it up, trick it, get it to return to that cage on its own.
Bram abruptly leaned forward, his forehead grazing mine. The hands on his lap clenched, knuckles turning white. “If I was free,” he growled out, “I would snap that pretty little neck of yours—”
“Lay a fucking hand on her,” Lucien warned, “and the last thing you’ll have to worry about is being thrown in the basement.”
I lifted a hand, stopping Lucien from saying anything else. “It’s okay. Bram’s just upset because I hit the nail on the head,” I told him while staring at Bram. He was so close it was hard to focus on his face, on the way his eyes bore into mine. My voice lowered into a whisper, “I was right.”
And of course I was. If I was stuck in a body with someone else, that would be my fear, to be thrown so far in the back that I could never even hope to get out and take charge again. Bram didn’t want to be forgotten. He didn’t want to become just a memory in Koda’s mind. He was his own living person, with his own sadistic personality and needs.
Bram frowned. “You think you’re some kind of special, don’t you? You think you can walk in here and fix everything.” He bared his teeth as he spoke, but I refused to back away, holding his very close and very angry stare. “You can’t fix me.”
“I’m not trying to fix you. I’m trying to help Koda out.”
He ground his teeth, asking, “And why the fuck would I ever let that little bitch out? He’s useless.”
“He has been locked away inside you for too long,” I told him, my nails digging into the armrests. “Koda deserves control—”
Bram startled me by standing, and I immediately took a step back. He couldn’t move easily due to the chains, but he was still an intimidating figure. “I deserve control,” he roared, shoulders rising and falling with loud, aggravated breaths. “I sat back and watched Koda play nice for too fucking long! It’s my turn, not his.”
I heard the others shifting their weight behind me, but I didn’t look at them. I dared not take my gaze off the beast of a man before me. Koda’s kind features, twisted in a scowl. Still too handsome for his own good.
For my own good, really.
A slow, even breath left my lungs, and I held my head up high as I asked, “Then what do you want, Bram?” The short, easy answer would be murdering everyone under this roof over and over again until the world ceased to exist, but I hoped Bram wanted something else, too. Something that I could use to bargain with him.
Lucien would never let me give Bram anything, so I knew I would have my work cut out for me.
Bram took a step closer, then another, and with each movement the chains on his ankles rattled. “What do I want?” he asked. His green eyes shifted to the others in the room before once again landing on me. “The short answer is everything.”
“Well, you can’t have everything, but I can see what I can do, if you’ll agree to let Koda come back.”
He bared his teeth at me.
“Not forever,” I said. “Maybe I can come up with a schedule for you two—”
“Not to be a party pooper, but,” Ian’s sarcastic voice spoke up, “somehow I don’t think that’s a good idea. Getting Bram on a schedule? That’s like asking a murderer not to murder—oh, wait. That’s right. Bram is a murderer. What good is getting him on a schedule if he uses it to terrorize us?”
Bram, at least, no longer bared his teeth like an animal. Instead, a sly grin had grown. “What makes you think I would ever agree to a schedule?”
I stood my ground, even though Bram was a little too close. When he was sitting down, at least I had the guise of authority. When we were on even ground, he stood taller than me. Wider than me, too. “Because then you and Koda would each get turns in control. Maybe you both could be happy, instead of constantly at the throat of the other, trying to get out.”
“I like being at his throat,” Bram hissed, his gaze dropping to my collarbone, “just like I enjoy being at yours. If you’re trying to entice me to agree, surely you can think up something better than that.”
“Then tell me, what do you want, Bram?”
Bram was about to say something, but it was at that moment that someone else walked into the library: Payne. Everyone turned to view him. He looked better than he did before; his shirt was buttoned all the way up, sleeves pulled down to his wrists. He’d even put on a belt. His white hair was combed to the side, his silver eyes immediately zeroed in on Bram. He seemed healthier, now that he’d had a bit of my blood.
My blood…it really did make a difference when it came to him.
The fresh wound on my wrist ached in memory of what I’d done for him, and I forced my stare away from Payne, looking back to Bram.
It was a long time before Bram muttered, “I know what I want.”
“What?” I questioned.
The smile sitting on Bram’s face made my stomach clench, and I couldn’t tell if it was an uneasy tightening in my gut or not. He said one word. One word to rile each and every man in the room up, including Payne: “You.”
I said nothing. The others, though, were not so quiet.
Lucien swore, “No way in hell.”
Then Ian: “I don’t think a beast could ever truly appreciate the beauty that Felice has.”
“He’ll hurt her, surely,” Dagen spoke, his head cocked to the side as he listened to that sound.
Lastly, Payne spoke, heading deeper into the room, “He only wants her because he knows we all do.”
Being stuck in a place like this, surrounded by men who I was supposed to be tutoring, wanted by each of them. Not a position I ever thought I’d be in.
Bram simply shrugged, saying nothing as he fell back into the chair, giving me a smug look. “If you want me to play nice, that’s the price.” He held up his hands, one finger pointed upwards. “Oh, and some time alone with her right now, actually.”
Time alone with Bram was the last thing I wanted, and there was no surefire way to know whether he was telling the truth, if he’d indeed let Koda out afterward. Heck, I could only imagine what Bram wanted me for. A man like that didn’t want you alone to play chess or have a read-along.
I turned to the guys, not knowing what to do. Being alone with Bram was a frightening proposition, but at this point, I didn’t see any other way. Bram was adamant about being the one in charge. How else could we get Koda back? I doubted there were any books in this library detailing what to do whe
n two men shared the same body.
The moment I opened my mouth, Lucien said, “No.”
“For once,” Ian chimed in, “I’m agreeing with our dictator.” That earned him a glower from Lucien, but he was unapologetic in what he’d said.
I moved to Lucien’s side, grabbing his arm. I pulled him out of the library, into the hall, far enough away from Bram so he wouldn’t hear us. “Lucien,” I said, “this might be our only chance.”
“I let you risk yourself for Payne. I’m not letting you do the same for Koda.” Underneath his short beard, his jaw muscles set.
A chill swept over me, and I knew, deep down, I had to do this. “You have to. Things are obviously not right here. We need to all be on the same page, and in order for that to happen, we need Koda back.” I glanced into the library, where Payne, Dagen, and Ian remained, all staring at Bram. Bram, meanwhile, watched me from afar.
God, I shouldn’t be turned on by the killer, but I kind of was.
“You and the others can stay in the hall, right outside. If you hear something that doesn’t sound right, you can barge in and do whatever you want,” I told him. “What have we got to lose?”
Lucien’s hazel eyes stared daggers into me as he replied, “You.”
“You won’t lose me,” I promised him.
He was quiet for a long while. “The chains,” he growled, “will remain on.”
That I could agree with. “Okay.”
After having a bit of a staring contest with Lucien, I returned to the library. Lucien called for the others, corralling them out, even though none of them wanted to go. Couldn’t blame them, because if I was in their shoes, the last thing I’d want to do would be to leave the girl I liked with a psychopath.
But, alas, here we were.
“This makes no sense whatsoever—” Payne was busy saying, and then Lucien went to grab the library doors, shutting them out. I heard no more of his statement, and although it was true, I could also come back at him and tell him that giving him my blood made no logical sense, and yet here he was, walking and talking without a problem.
Grimmstead Academy: Submission Page 20
