I wasn’t fooling myself about the female vampire. Katja was unstable, unpredictable, and I didn’t believe for one minute she was over her obsession with Gabriel. Her willingness to help me now was only because her run-in with Kartel had gone unexpectedly awry. The chance to see me naked and on my knees was just too good to pass up. Life, I decided, really was filled with the most amazing twists and turns.
I felt pressure against my throat and realized the necklace was around my neck, much like a choker would be. Katja gave a little tug, enjoying my discomfort before a low growl had her backing off. Following Ryiel’s directives, she moved with a quiet efficiency, winding the long string of dark opals around each shoulder blade before coming back under my arms. I’d like to say the few traces of sympathy I saw on her face were genuine concern for me, but I knew better. Making Ryiel believe she was capable of compassion was more like it. And it was a lie. The chain of smooth stones now circled each breast before crossing over my stomach to go behind my back once more.
“Hands,” she murmured in my ear. I hesitated, waiting for Ryiel’s nod before complying. “Palms together.” When most people put their hands behind their back in order to be restrained, they usually put them side by side, palms facing outward. The awkward position Katja had requested put an immediate strain on my shoulders. From the complicated looping and crossing over that was happening behind me, it was going to be impossible for me to free my hands.
I think that’s the idea, let’s not forget this is all about submission. . .
I jerked when I felt Katja touch the cheek of my ass. The cool feel of her fingers coupled with the unexpectedness of the touch made my pulse quicken and my heart rate boom.
“It has to go between your legs and come out in front.”
I don’t know why she was whispering; it wasn’t as if Ryiel couldn’t hear her. But perhaps she finally got what I was doing and was trying to make me feel better. Or not. I parted my legs slightly, enabling her to pass the chain between them. The process of securing my hands had reduced the chain to a single strand of opals, with the largest stone fastened to the last link. I stared down at the dark, apricot-sized gem now looped over Katja’s fingers. The red and green striations seemed to glow, making the damn thing look as if it was winking lasciviously at me.
Katja drew in a breath—one deep enough to make her nostrils flare. She had a hole pierced in her left naris, something I realized must have been done before she was turned. I don’t know why I found it so extraordinary. People have been piercing various body parts for well over a thousand years. Having her nose pierced sometime in the sixteenth century would not have been so strange.
“You understand what this means,” she said, turning the opal over so it lay in her palm. “Once this is inside you, it can only be removed in one way . . . by one person.”
“Yeah . . . I know.” Trepidation made my voice husky. “I’m just worried it might fall out when I move.”
“It won’t,” Ryiel said. “It’s charmed.”
I snorted. “Charmed? That’s not exactly what I’d call it.” I looked down at Katja, who was looking back up at me with a steady, unflinching gaze. “Go ahead,” I told her. “Put it in.”
She actually didn’t have to touch me, which was a godsend as far as I was concerned. The moment the edge of the opal made contact with my skin, it kind of jumped out of her fingers and slid inside me almost as if it had a mind of its own. There was no real pain. Just an uncomfortable feeling of fullness in a way that was totally different from having Gabriel inside me.
“Are you okay?” Katja asked.
Whether real or as a way of appeasing Ryiel, she did look concerned.
I nodded. “Yeah . . . I’m okay.”
I clenched my inner muscles to see how the stone would react and was mildly disgusted to feel it move with me. There was nothing at all sexually exciting or stimulating about it. I inhaled deeply and then exhaled slowly. My heart was still beating like a Triple Crown winner.
That’s a good thing. If you’re thinking about having hot sex with a demon, it should be racing. I decided not to chastise my inner bitch. She would be my only companion on this descent to the Dark Realm, so I wasn’t about to alienate her. God knows I needed all the friendly voices in my head I could find.
“What now?” I stared at the silver-eyed vampire, doing my best to swallow down the fear that was trying to claw its way out through my throat.
“He should find you kneeling,” Ryiel said. With his hand on my elbow and being careful not to let his fingers touch any of the opals, Ryiel helped lower me to the carpet. If I thought it had been a chore standing on it, I could already tell it was going to be murder on my knees. He dropped to my side, gracing me with one of his special-moment smiles. “Now you wait.”
The sound of Katja inhaling a breath told me she was going to say something, but I really wasn’t in the mood. Seeing the look in my eye, Ryiel said something that had her making a smart about-face and exiting the room without sparing me as much as a glance over her shoulder.
“How long do I have to wait?” I could feel the panic starting to rise. What if Gabriel came before the demon? There was no way I could keep him out.
“Don’t worry,” Ryiel assured me. “The Chain is calling to him. He knows you are waiting.”
I swallowed and forced myself to be calm. “Then you had better leave and make sure Katja leaves with you.”
He stood, and I tried to look up at him, but the configuration of the chain would only let me raise my head so far. “Keep your promise to me, Ryiel.”
He nodded, his dark hair flowing around him like a cape. “I will.”
I didn’t see him leave because I closed my eyes, but he left the bedroom door open so I could hear the latch of the apartment door click when he closed it firmly behind him.
I had never felt so alone. Or so terrified.
Chapter 28
I had no idea how much time had passed since Ryiel left. It might have been ten minutes or five hours.
If it was five hours your muscles would have seized up!
Good point. And it was nice to know my inner bitch had not abandoned me.
There was a part of me that kept clinging to the foolish notion that Ryiel was going to suddenly appear in the open doorway yelling “Gotcha!” and applaud me for being such a good sport and playing along. Of course, the reality of my situation said no way in hell would any prank pulled by a vampire involve getting me naked. Or include Katja in the planning.
This was no prank.
I took a couple of deep breaths. Inhaling deeply, exhaling slowly. If I didn’t do something to restore my heartbeat to a more normal rhythm, I was going to keel over before I had a chance to fix anything.
Um, just so I’m sure I understand... why are we doing this again?
Because I refuse to live the rest of my life with the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head. It’s enough I know the Dark Realm exists, but allowing this demon the freedom to interfere in my life—and the lives of those I love—is completely unacceptable to me. He crossed a line using Laycee, and if I have the chance to right this, I will.
But Laycee is not in danger anymore, and neither is her baby.
True, but the weak link in this entire scenario is me. The only way to be sure he can’t hurt anyone else I care about is to deny him access to me, and the only way to do that is to break the contract between us.
This plan isn ’t foolproof, you know.
Nothing ever is, but it’s all I have, and I will make it enough.
Good. As long as you understand . . .
If my inner bitch was able to manifest herself into a real person, I would have wrapped her up in a big Aleksei-style bear hug. Just as fear was about to overwhelm me, she brought me back into focus, reminding me of why I needed to do this.
And one last thing . . . why are you decked out like some sort of expensively wrapped sacrificial offering?
Because I have it on good authority
that demons love receiving gifts. Especially the bright shiny kind. Now go rest up. If I have any hope at all of being convincing, I’m going to need your help.
Piece of advice?
Sure. I’ll take all the help I can get.
Don’t try to seduce him. That’s not what he’s looking for, and besides, with that hairdo, you’ll never pull it off.
Gee, thanks.
My heartbeat had returned to a more normal rhythm, and although I fully expected it to explode into racing cheetah speed the moment he appeared, I was hopeful my demon would be vain enough to assume he was the cause. It’s not like I was going to be able to hide it from him. The ache in my shoulders was starting to really bother me, and my thigh muscles were flirting with the notion of cramping. Unfortunately, because of my unique necklace, there was no way I could reposition myself.
You’re supposed to be submissive, and that nearly always includes kneeling.
Good reminder.
“Oh my God—what the hell are you doing?”
I turned my head and groaned to see Gabriel standing in the doorway, his hands clutching either side of the doorjamb. I could see the strain on his biceps as he looked at me in horror. I shouldn’t have been that surprised, and yet I was. Since he knew Ryiel wanted to talk to me in private, I would have expected Gabriel to remain at the penthouse until he heard from me. And Ryiel had given me his word he would say nothing. It seemed that someone hadn’t been able to keep his promise.
“Gabriel . . . go away. You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Ahhh, sweetheart, no. I can’t let you do this.”
I’ve never seen him look more hopeless, more filled with despair. What I had done, what I was doing, was far worse than any other mistake I’d made with him.
“Gabriel . . . you have to go.”
He crossed the room and dropped to his knees before me. Reaching out with his hand, he cupped my chin and raised my head so I could look at him. “You don’t have to do this, Rowan. Not for me. I promise we’ll find a way to get through this. We still have almost twenty-five years to find a way out—”
“Stop!” I snapped.
I stared at him, narrowed my eyes, and took a long, hard look. He stared back. The devil, as they say, is in the details.
Or the demon is in making a mistake . . .
Something about this whole scenario was off. It felt slippery and wrong. I was looking at Gabriel, but my sense of him was fractured. It was as if I was only being allowed to see a part of him, which didn’t make sense unless . . .
“God, you’re so fucking arrogant,” I sneered. “You really think I would go to all this trouble for you?”
“What are you saying?”
His voice dropped to a husky whisper that was almost right, but not quite. Just as his eyes were almost the perfect shade of neon-blue, but were now darker at the edges—something I’d never seen before. Praying I wasn’t making a mistake, I swept my eyes over him, taking in his customary all-black wardrobe of shirt, pants, and boots. Boots I couldn’t help but notice as he’d crossed the room because the silver tips glinted at me. Gabriel wore biker boots. He wouldn’t be caught dead in cowboy boots. Slowly, I let my eyes travel up to the hand that was now resting on his thigh. The hand that bore no wedding ring. The circle of mahogany between twin bands of platinum had stayed on his finger since the day I’d put it on. Gabriel never took it off, but he wasn’t wearing it now. And then there was his comment about still having twenty-five years. How could that be when Ryiel had already negated Gabriel’s obligation to take Jenna’s virginity?
With a jerk of my head, I pulled my chin from his grasp. “Okay, if you want to stay and watch, be my guest. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“You’re not seriously going to go through with this?”
Another mistake. Where was the outrage? The man I loved would not be pleading with me. He’d be all kinds of pissed and making sure I knew it.
“You’re not listening to me, Gabriel.” I made a noise of disgust. “That’s the problem, you never do. Look, the sex is great, but I need something more, and if you’d been paying any attention to me, you would know that.”
“What do mean something more? What more? I’ve given you everything—”
“Have you? Have you really?” I prayed my eyes weren’t deceiving me. “You had that bitch in here, in my bed! Did you think I couldn’t smell her?”
He stared at me, and the look of horror he’d worn on first seeing me was nothing compared to the expression on his face now. It was all the confirmation I needed. I tossed back my head and smiled at him. “Why do you think I had Aleksei break the bed for me?”
He got to his feet and took a few staggering steps toward the door. “If you go through with this, Rowan, you know there’s no coming back. I won’t be able to look at you again, not after you’ve been with him.”
“Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out,” I mumbled under my breath, knowing he would hear each word clearly. A few seconds later there came a loud retort as the front door banged shut, and even though I knew in my heart it had not been Gabriel kneeling before me, I still had to fight down the urge to weep.
At least you know Ryiel didn’t break his promise to you.
Yeah . . .
I swallowed and felt a mild scratchiness in the back of my throat. My mouth was dry, and I suddenly noticed how warm the air was, but more than that, it felt heavy and thick. Fine time for my thermostat to go on the fritz!
I don’t think it’s your thermostat . . .
I tried to pull a breath into my lungs, but whereas it hadn’t been a problem a few moments ago, now I couldn’t seem to manage a normal inhale. Reduced to taking short half-breaths, I began to pant like one of those dogs with a smooshed-in nose and a tongue constantly lolling out the side of its mouth. Perspiration began to bead on my forehead and upper lip. There was a clammy feeling at the back of my neck. If this kept up, I was in serious danger of sweating off Katja’s carefully designed makeover.
I closed my eyes, straining to hear any sounds coming from beyond the bedroom door, but all I could hear were my own increased wheezing and the rush of blood filling my ears. A drop of moisture rolled between my brows and took the direct route to the end of my nose, where it hung perilously, trembling and quivering, before letting go and splashing on my thigh. Like lemmings throwing themselves off the edge of a cliff, once one had taken the plunge, others followed. In a matter of only seconds, I’d gone from perspiring and leapfrogged into full-fledged sweating. I pulled on my lower lip. The sticky feeling on my teeth told me I was scraping off the bright-red lip gloss. I was more upset that Katja had declared deodorant a no-no.
“No lotion, no powder, no perfume or deodorant,” she told me as I dried off after my shower.
“Seriously?”
Turning my head I sniffed. I was still odor-free, but for how long was anyone’s guess. It seemed to me that the temperature was climbing. Was it just here in the bedroom, or was the entire apartment getting toasty? I was pretty sure the air around me had now cranked up to sauna level. My scalp began to prickle, and the hair at the back of my neck was wet. I could feel my spiky new do beginning to wilt. Gel and hairspray can only withstand so much. Droplets of moisture trickled between my shoulder blades, heading down my back. I pressed my bound hands against my skin. The last thing I wanted was a salty sting in the crack of my ass. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything about my face.
Wetness pooled at my temples and streaked a rivulet down the side of my face and along my jaw. In a matter of moments I was wet all over. And not, in my opinion, in a good way.
I let out a moan. The ache in my shoulders from having my hands tied behind me was getting unbearable, and my muscles began to spasm from the constrained position. I looked down and saw my thigh begin to flutter and jump in a way I’d never seen it do before.
“Awww shit!” I yelled. “If you’re coming, would you goddamn get your ass here!”
<
br /> “Your wish,” said a voice from the doorway, “is my command.”
I shook my head and blinked back the salty sweat that was stinging my eyes. “What did you do? Stop for pizza?”
He chuckled. “I do like a woman who can make me laugh.”
My demon was in his Armani suit persona, and I couldn’t help but notice that everything was exactly the same. Too much the same to be a coincidence. It occurred to me that perhaps he didn’t actually get dressed or put on clothing the way humans and vampires did. If so, surely he would change the tie or his jewelry or his shoes. Perhaps all he had to do was simply picture the image he wanted to present in his mind, and—presto chango—he became it. Certainly would explain a lot.
“Sold any cars lately?” I wheezed, sounding more like an asthmatic pug with every passing minute.
He looked at me, his gaze dark and penetrating as it lingered on every glistening curve of my body. I didn’t care. He could look all he wanted. The sooner he was done, the sooner I could get to my feet. Hopefully.
“You look different,” he commented.
No shit, Sherlock! “Yeah . . . I got my hair done.”
“Your face looks different too.”
“New lipstick,” I told him. Without the benefit of a mirror or any other reflective surface close at hand, I could only imagine the mess I looked. All the sweating, which showed no signs of slowing down, must have done a real number on my makeup. Still, there was no accounting for what some men find attractive. From the slow smile that lifted his mouth, the train wreck look was obviously a favorite of his.
“You’re wearing my gift,” he said, stepping closer to me. “And I was so sure I’d have to wait a little longer before I saw it on you. Like twenty-five years longer.”
“What can I say? I’m a girl who likes to open all her presents at once and try them on to make sure they fit.”
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