Cake: A Blood Nation Novel (Volume 1)

by Derekica Snake

  Marcus’s voice turned dark. “I was the one who got him the Hellcat. I started searching for it as soon as I realized that I could not heal him.”

  He sounded so despondent that I went to move towards him again, but Claudius tightened his grip around me further, preventing me from leaving him.

  “He is supposed to be your Cherished One, and yet you broke him as easily as if you were a toddler in the sandbox, and you left him laying there.” Claudius’s damning words filled the room of the basement. “He was little more than a drone for three days. He had to be under constant supervision. He could not even eat on his own. Your fledgling was only four days old, and you abandoned him.”

  Marcus let loose a deep breath. “I know. I did it without thinking,” he tried explaining. “When I heard that some upstart vampire group had dared to attack my Little One…”

  “You decided to finish the job,” Claudius snapped, cutting him off.

  “That was not the intention.”

  “But that is what you did. You truly do not deserve Xavier.”

  “He is mine!” Marcus laid his hands on the end of the stage.

  “I thought that you would have learned by now that your love is not the kind he needs,” Claudius said calmly. “All this time, I have been counseling you that Xavier is not a worthy mate, and I was wrong.”

  Marcus was looking up at us, his stolid face an impassive mask hiding his emotions. “I am glad that you see that, Father,” he said tightly.

  “You, my cherished son, are not worthy of him.” Claudius paused for a moment, watching as Marcus’s lips thinned. “Nightshade has taught him more in five hours than you have since you took him. Your only talent seems to be fucking him.” I stumbled as Claudius shoved me forward. “He is in Flame now. You could hurt him as much as you wanted, and he would still come back to you for more, at least until his crisis was over. I think he asked you once if fucking was all there was for him with you. Well, is it? Is he only in your heart and mind when you are hurting him?”

  I so did not want to be here in the middle of this, standing awkwardly between them. I wanted to leave them alone together but…

  Stay where you are, Xavier.

  Claudius had spoken to me in Silent Speak, but he continued to speak vocally to Marcus. “Of course, I must take my own part of the blame for this mess. I could not get your father’s misdeeds out of you, but I made a promise back then that his legacy would not create more victims.” Claudius took two steps forward until he was abreast of me, and looking down at Marcus, he declared, “I take Xavier…as my son.”

  “No! You cannot. I told you, he is mine,” Marcus cried out in anguish.

  “Is he?” Claudius challenged. “Something is missing, my cherished eldest. Or did you not even notice?”

  Marcus looked at me, and for a moment there was a flare of red flame in his deep brown eyes. His mouth quirked at the corners and then froze as his searching gaze passed my eyes and settled on my jewel-less ear, and all expression faded from his face.

  “Xavier took it off while he was still trying to recover from your mental rape,” Claudius explained. “Do you understand how badly you hurt your own son? He was not in his right mind, and he was trying to get away from you.”

  No, that wasn’t what happened. Not really, and I had to let Marcus know that, but Claudius slapped a physical binding on me to prevent me from jumping off the stage and going to him. And because I stayed at Claudius’s side, Marcus took that as my rejection of him, and his head dropped low.

  “I am truly sorry, Xavier.”

  “Marcus?” I stared down at him from the stage.

  “Claudius will take care of you now. I still have work to do.” And with a determined lift of his chin, Marcus turned away from me.

  “What? Wait, I need you, Marcus,” I implored.

  “Father, please.”

  I found myself pressed back against the raven-haired vampire once more, Claudius’s strong arms wrapping around me and urging me tighter against his body.

  “I have three covens left,” Marcus said. “They went to ground, but I have leads on them.”

  Claudius splayed his fingers over my chest as if he were trying to hold my heart together. “Do not dare to call Xavier’s name when you kill these coven fledglings, Marcus. Those seven that you stole from his mind were vengeance, but the rest of this is a masterpiece of your own making.”

  I watched as Marcus turned his stony set face back to us. “Father,” he said, impassively, “will you be at the Manor?”

  “Yes. I will have to feed Xavier,” Claudius confirmed. “We will not have time to leave before sunrise.”

  Marcus nodded. “Then I will find somewhere else to stay.”

  “That would be best.”

  “See to Xavier’s Flame,” Marcus said as he began walking away from the stage. “He should not have to suffer. Make him your Cherished Son.”

  I was sort of dumbfounded as I watched him head up the set of stairs without looking back. “Pretty?” I called.

  Marcus paused on the stairs for a moment without turning, and then he continued up, carefully stepping around Nightshade. I made a soft whining sound in my throat as he disappeared from view.

  “Stay with me now, Xavier. I will take care of your Flame for you,” Claudius whispered into my ear, digging his hand into the waistband of the kilt and letting his fingers slip into my underwear.

  “I want Marcus,” I cried softly.

  “I know. But I am here for you instead. I will take care of you.” He caught my erection and began to stroke it, pressing his lips along my temple and neck as he did so, giving soft, sweeping kisses that left no marks behind them. There were no teeth touching me. I wasn’t getting any wildness. Why was he doing this so slowly, being so gentle?

  “Harder,” I urged, pressing my hips forward, trying to get more stimulation from his squeezing, gripping fingers.

  “No.” Claudius’s touch turned into a tease and a whisper.

  I reached behind me to pull him closer, but he blocked my touch.

  “No.”

  I offered my neck.

  “No.”

  He pulled his hand from my kilt, his arms gripping around my waist, and I found myself being dragged back to the overstuffed chair I had posed in earlier. Claudius set himself on it and then sat me on his thighs. I opened my legs and wrapped them around the outside of his knees, trying to wiggle myself in place on him.

  “No. Keep still,” he told me. I felt him rest his face on my shoulder. “What did he do to you? Are you tainted too?”

  “I need…I need Marcus.”

  “No.”

  “Please…bite me. Fuck me hard. Make me cry,” I begged.

  “I am too late. I have failed you. I have lost both my sons to this madness,” Claudius sighed sadly. “I will do as you ask, Xavier, but only because I love you. Do not forget that,” he said, bringing one hand to my throat and holding me back against him tightly as he ripped the kilt from my body. My underwear was torn off next, and then Claudius was spreading my legs wide, hitching me up and positioning my body until I could feel his cock pressing against my entrance.

  “Please, please, please…”

  “I’m sorry,” Claudius whispered, as he tore into my portal, using only his seeping precum as lubricant.

  As he pushed in, his hand tightened on my throat as if to keep me from getting away, but I wasn’t trying to. Instead, I bit my lip as the searing pain of his brutal entry eased, and I felt the familiar, growing sensations of lust taking over. A low, keening cry started at the back of my throat as I relaxed my body and slipped down further on him. He was different from Marcus, but it was a good different. Really, really good.

  “Bite me. Keep fucking me, and bite me.”

  I almost wept when Claudius complied, sinking his fangs into me. He thrust into me and then sucked on my neck, over and over. When he finally pulled his fangs away, he offered me his wrist, pointing out the best spot to bite, and
he hissed in pleasure as my fangs sank in.

  I lapped at his blood. He tasted of spiced cloves, earthy and rich, and slightly burning. His taste was rich and intoxicating, making me feel dizzy. Crap, I felt like I had just guzzled a whole bottle of expensive wine.

  Claudius began to hammer up into me, his hips thrusting forward and back, and then he brushed a thumb over the sensitive head of my cock. I groaned and exploded, clenching my teeth, and wallowing in pleasure as he worked himself towards his own completion.

  He bit me on the shoulder, human style, as he ejaculated. I groaned, feeling that intense burn of the Flame and the oversensitivity of my skin fading away as he did so.

  Pulling me back against his panting chest, Claudius turned my face towards him, looking at my eyes. Satisfied, he pressed his lips to my temple and then reached out and laid the discarded kilt on my naked lap.

  “What the hell just happened? Did Marcus just leave me?” I asked.

  Claudius looked longingly up at the stairs, but the only thing to be seen was Shade’s black tail swaying off the edge of the landing as she continued to faithfully guard the entrance.

  “Xavier…he left both of us.”

  I sat up and groaned a little because Claudius was still inside of me. He withdrew, and I felt him plant a kiss on the nape of my neck. I was numb. I didn’t know what to feel. The sexual satisfaction of a Flame was waning quickly leaving what…heartache?

  “Why did you say all those things to him?” I asked. My voice sounded as lost as I felt.

  “Did I tell any lies?” Claudius answered, his hand stroking down my cheek, petting me like a kitten.

  “No,” I replied, barely above a whisper.

  “They were the words of truth I uttered, even if my son did not want to hear them. You are brothers now, though he may deny the claim. We will clear all your things out of the Manor and get you away from him.”

  Numbness was giving way to anger. “All my stuff is here. I just earned it, remember? We just have to get it to the car. That other stuff back in the closet, he can keep.” I was growing furious, and my mind raced with thoughts of Marcus. He had fucked me over and then just walked away. He hadn’t even said, “Sorry I screwed your brain up. Glad to see you’re not a vegetable any more.”

  Xavier. You are not the only one hurt.

  I glanced up and saw the black tail flicking back and forth in agitation. Then I noticed that Claudius had slumped in the chair, his face hidden by his raven locks. I twisted on his lap, pushing his hair back to see tears streaming down his face. I sat there looking at him for a second, unsure of what to do. I’d just had him up my ass, and I couldn’t bring myself to at least hug him?

  Dropping down to the floor, I sat on my knees and held him. His arms automatically came up and he held me too. We must have made a hell of a strange sight…one vampire fully dressed and the other naked from the waist down, hanging onto each other for dear life or dear death.

  Marcus. He had fucked us both over expertly.

  Ahem…

  Shade, you want to come over and join the group hug?

  No. They want to come back down here.

  “Buck up, new daddy,” I said to Claudius, pushing away from him. “They want their storeroom back.” Looking at the kilt, I chose to ignore it. I preferred to wear pants any day. And so I headed back to the dressing room and slipped on my jeans again, tucking in the tattoo shirt I was wearing. I was definitely keeping that.

  Claudius stood at the door, watching me as I got dressed. “I failed you, Xavier. And for that, I am sorry.”

  “You’re one year and too many tears too late with your apology, Claudius,” I told him bluntly. “You’ve explained him to me, and I understand why he’s like he is. But I was a virgin when he took me and made me into his sex toy. I’m hurting, and I feel lost, and right now, that is all I know.” I pushed past him. “Thank you for meeting my Flame needs. I know you don’t like doing that.” My words were short and clipped.

  Let them come down now, Shade.

  As soon as the Hellcat moved her hulking frame, Frederick popped his head in through the door and looked down the stairs, checking to see if we were decent. Once he saw that we were fully dressed and done with our sex session, he came all the way down into the basement, questions burning in his eyes. But he wisely held his tongue when he saw our dour expressions. “What’s wrong?” he hesitantly asked,

  “I’m an orphan,” I told him.

  “No, you are not,” Claudius contradicted. “You are my son, to cherish and spoil.” He reached out and tousled my hair and then quickly pulled his hand back, surveying his gooey fingers. “What is this?”

  “I have no idea. I’m afraid to touch it,” I told him. “I’m just hoping it washes out.”

  “I’ll have the jeans and shirts you posed in folded up and packed in a suitcase,” Frederick offered, handing me a scrap of paper. “And I made out this check for the rest of the shoot. Take it. The campaign is going to be big. What do you want to be known as? What will be your modeling name?”

  “Sex,” I answered immediately.

  “Sex?” Frederick’s eyebrows almost hid themselves in his hairline.

  “That is what he said,” Claudius confirmed, bending down and picking up the kilt, wiping his soiled hand clean on it.

  I looked at the check, and saw the long length of numbers Frederick had written on it. Holy shit.

  “I, um, think you put too many zeros on here.”

  “Big campaign. Big, big, big,” Frederick responded. “That last set was so hot.” He turned to face the dark haired vampire. “Sorry, Claudius, we made sure your face wasn’t in the pictures, so you don’t get a check.”

  “I can give you one of the zeros from here,” I volunteered, holding up the check so Claudius could read it.

  “I do not need the money, Xavier. Start thinking of your future.” He gave a small bow to Frederick. “It has been an interesting evening, to be sure. But it is time for us to go. Come, my boy. Nightshade.”

  Claudius followed the Hellcat out of the makeshift studio, his head held high and his gaze steady. No one would ever know that the floor was littered with the pieces of two fractured hearts. That fucking Marcus.

  We were both quiet as we made our way back to the limo, Claudius carrying my suitcase for me. The crowd had thinned out by now, and it was easy to make our way through the smaller throng of people and get into the back seat of the car. I have to admit, one good thing about being a vampire meant I was riding around in style…well, at least while I was with the House of Du Bussey.

  As we drove back to the Manor, I watched the city skyline pass by. Bright lights shining for the dead. Well, wasn’t that a morbid thought. Shade rested her head on my lap, but she didn’t say anything in return. I scratched behind her ears, trying to distract myself as I felt my eyes well up. Oh crap.

  “Do not dare cry for him. If I had known what he was doing with you a year ago, I would have stopped him.”

  The drive up to that point had been silent. At Claudius’s interruption of the peace, I wiped my face and found it wet with tears.

  “I’m not crying for Marcus. I’m crying for you, because I can’t stay with you, Claudius,” I told him. “I need to get away from both of you. You’ve lost not one but two sons tonight.”

  He bowed his head forward. “What about protection?” he asked.

  I knew he wasn’t talking about condoms. I was a wanted fledgling, wanted by everyone, except by the one person who had made me. I blinked hard, telling myself not to cry. I would not cry. I dropped my tear soaked hand back down to Shade’s massive head, my fingers fisting in her fur.

  I got your back, Sex.

  “Where will you go?”

  “Home,” I replied in answer to Claudius’s next question. “There, I will have a Hellcat, a Regent Hunter, a First-Class Battle Mage, and the hunter heir to the Regency to protect me. I think I’ll be safe enough.”

  “What will you do?”

&nb
sp; I had to think about that one before I could reply.

  “A little bit of healing and a hell of a lot of learning on how to be a strong vampire. You know damn well that Armanita is going to announce the Royal Blood Line is back in business. And when she does that, I’d better have a handle on everything, or I’m dead before she gets done speaking.”

  Claudius silently stared at me. He didn’t need to say anything. I understood what his expression meant.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” I told him. “I’m not going to be sitting around pining for some vampire who doesn’t want me.”

  Yes, you will.

  I was grateful that no one could hear the Hellcat but me.

  Yeah…I will.

  Twenty-One

  Nevernever

  I was sitting up in the branches of an old oak tree, breathing in the warm summer night, when a bat flittered past my head. I had to laugh as it squeaked and dipped and dodged, taking off after its insect prey. Speaking of prey…

  Scanning the ground below me, I looked for the familiar flash of red that was Shade’s fur coat. My gifts were coming easier to me now. Not without effort, but if I used enough force of will, I could do everything I wanted to do without the blinding agony and having to resort to sucking down a blood pack to feel better. I used one of those gifts now to find her.

  There she was.

  Standing up carefully, I lightly ran along the branch I’d been sitting on. And when I was sure I would clear the rest of the major branches of the tree I was hiding in, I jumped.

  I had miscalculated such a jump once before. I stress it only happened once. I’d ended up crashing through the branches like George of the Jungle. Clumsy and ungraceful. And talk about hurt. I think I broke every single rib in that fall. And I’d gotten about as much sympathy as any idiot deserved who injured himself in that manner.

  Look before you leap. Any child knows that. Now, get up. I’m not dragging your dead ass back to the barn.

  That was the limit of sorrow Shade felt for me, and the cat then turned away and left me there, alone and hurting, until midnight, when she’d come back with my Dad and a wagon. Let me tell you, a Hellcat truly earns its name.