Apex Predators

by Natalie Bennett

  Neither seemed surprised at her back. It had to look like criss-crossed rail road tracks. The brunette beamed at her the blonde gave her a half smile. “Alright, I think you’re ready, you’re supposed to go to the foyer now.” The blonde told her walking out of the bathroom.

  They all walked down the stairs together. She went into the foyer and Caedmon was already there. He eyed her slowly up and down his eyes roaming her body when they reached her face he smiled at her. “You are beautiful, you look gorgeous.” She smiled up at him. “Thank you.”

  He reached for her hand and wrapped it through his arm. “We have a show to watch.” Her stomach turned at what was to come.

  They went into the stable through a private entrance she had never seen until now and into an elevator she also had never seen until now. The doors opened into a large lounge type room he walked through and out a glass door.

  This was the balcony he always watched from. The view was of the whole arena and the crowd on either side. A long bar ran behind the long cushioned bench sofa. Piper was already here looking amazing in a black strapless gown.

  He sat her beside Piper and he sat on the other side of her. Cieran was on the opposite side of Piper. They were soon joined by Lorintha, a pudgy older man, a man her age, a very attractive man named Garreth and another woman named Hannah.

  The announcer’s voice boomed out of the PA after about five minutes. A very large vampire was holding the end of a chain, attached to it, was what she assumed was another vampire but something was wrong with it. It was like a mutant or something.

  It had regular skin but a bit pale, it was crouched down like a dog on its haunches, slobber ran down its face and his eyes were like black holes. His teeth were large and jutting from his mouth as sharp rows of points with two huge fangs at the top and bottom.

  It was making a weird growling sound and had a thick gold plated collar around its neck. The announcer said his name was Buck. How was someone supposed to fight this thing? It turned out they couldn’t.

  The first set of girls into the arena were clearly newly kidnapped they had the confused look and took in the room together. Then they froze looking at Buck who was wiggling like an excited dog as he watched the two girls.

  The man holding his chain reached down and unclipped it. Buck sprang forward on all fours barreling straight into one of the girls. She gritted her teeth and put her hands in her lap as the girls face was shredded and her screams filled the room. She fought to keep her face impassive.

  Piper had gone still beside her. The other woman was freaking out like anyone normal would but that cost her, her own life. Buck launched in the air from the first girl to her, landing on her like a grasshopper. She was dead within seconds.

  The crowd went wild. She didn’t understand how they could get a rise out of this. Then the thought occurred that could have easily been her and Piper if they would have even made it this far.

  The next round was a set of identical twin men. The first men she had ever seen here that weren’t vampires. They held up a little better than the previous victims but they both were killed in the end.

  She swallowed the bile rising in her throat. The trucks came in to remove the bodies and do the sawdust switch. “Would you like a drink?” Caedmon said from beside her. She gave a forced small smile and nodded. She wanted the whole damn bottle.

  He was handed a small glass that he handed to her. Coke and Rum, she thanked him and took a sip. He sat it behind her on the bar when she was done sipping. He pulled her closer to him and turned her head.

  “I’m glad you’re up here with me.” In this case so was she. Be up here with him or be down in the arena with whatever the hell Buck was. “Me too.” She said quietly. He smiled softly and started to kiss her. She expected him to pull away when the next round started but he only deepened it.

  He pulled away and grinned at her trying to get her bearings as the third round ended like the others had. He had kissed her during people screaming as they were torn apart.

  Something was very wrong with this man.

  She didn’t know how Piper could deal with this. The fourth and final round was started and she was surprised the red head was still alive; she came out with two other girls all looking her age.She figured the two were friends or sisters based off the hair colors.

  One had sleek straight hair that was a deep magenta and hung in a chic cut straight to her shoulders while the other girl, who was probably one of the prettiest girls she’d ever seen had an ombre effect of deep black at the top, with deep purple blended into it and then went to small strips of burgundy and ended in a deep orange.

  On anyone else she would have thought they looked like a clown but she looked like it could have been her natural hair color. Her hair hung to her waist and she had pale creamy skin.

  All three were in the same maid like uniform still. She could see Caedmon’s gaze locked onto the dark haired one why Cieran was watching the other two. The round started and Buck cocked his head as if trying to pick which one he wanted more.

  He went for the short haired girl. As he leapt the dark haired one went for the wall and she watched the short haired girl grab the red head and toss her into Buck. They hit the ground and Buck flipped the woman and tore into her like she was a piece of meat.

  She looked up at the ceiling trying to ignore her screams of pain. How could someone do that!? The crowd loved this round. Caedmon and Cieran laughed. This was funny to them?! He had slept with that woman.

  The dark haired woman ran back and shoved a sword straight into Bucks head. The crowd jumped to their feet. The two women were led from the arena and the crowd started to rise.Caedmon rose and held out a hand to her. She did not want anything to do with him, she took his hand and he helped her up.

  She didn’t say a word to him; her acting skills would have gotten her any star roles at the moment. He led her back outside and to where a long stretch limo was parked. The door was opened for them and he helped her inside.

  They sat at the end of the car, Piper and Cieran at the other and the people from above came in as well. Lorintha sat right beside him on his other side. She went into her own little world to try and get herself back on track. She had to get away.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “That was fast Caed.” Lorintha said staring at her. He took her hand and kissed it. “You know we don’t waste time Rin.” She glanced around the limo, Piper was quiet, Cieran was whispering in her ear but she wasn’t really reacting to it, she was just as affected as she was over that “show”.

  “When will you finish turning her?” That had her attention. “Very soon.” Finish turning her?! He had already started? “Finish?” She asked looking at him. “You can’t tell?” He asked pulling her closer to him. She shook her head no.

  “Half looks good on you, you’ll be flawless as a full, if you don’t change your mind.” Garreth added.

  Half? No, that was impossible. Shouldn’t she feel different or something? Didn’t she though? She didn’t feel the pain on her back anymore when she should have, she felt energized in a way she hadn’t before and her vision was better. That’s how she clearly saw what the women and Buck looked like from her vantage point on the balcony.

  She had to stop herself from hyperventilating. What did half mean? She knew nothing about any of this; they weren’t even supposed to be real. “She has no choice in the matter anymore, she can accept it or she can hate me but it’s getting finished.” His voice had a threat laced in it.

  She realized he knew; he knew she didn’t fully plan on becoming like him; he had to know she didn’t even like him.

  Of course he would know. He was probably way older than thirty-three. He was considered the “master” of his kind with his brother he ran the whole damn society, he was smart and he always seemed to take in everything in a split second. He had known the whole time and had just gone along with her pretending to give one shit about him.

  She didn’t react and give herself f
urther away. She just remained silent the rest of the drive. They got to a large black glassed building and got out of the limo.

  The whole inside of the building was done in black marble flooring, black velvet round booths and sheer black curtains hung from the ceiling as dividers. The room was dark besides very low silver lights spaced out.

  She saw a sign for a restroom as they walked to a staircase and up it. The top floor was vacant besides them. A long velvet black couch ran down the wall. Two black mattresses were in the center of the floor evenly spaced. This wasn’t a restaurant, not for humans anyway.

  “Master Caedmon, Master Cieran, how may I serve you this evening?” A scrawny man rushed in and asked. “Bring us something from level A.” Ceiran answered. The man nodded and rushed off. Caedmon leaned in and kissed her neck as they waited.

  “I’ve wanted to be inside of you all day.” He said in her ear. She didn’t mirror that feeling but she gave him a forced smile she hoped looked legit.

  The scrawny man came back leading three women completely naked with silk blindfolds over their eyes. “I’ll take the blonde.” Cieran said and the blonde was walked to him.

  “I want the dark haired one.” Caedmon said and she was led to him. The pudgy man and Garreth were left with a carrot red head. All the vampires rose. Piper moved so she was beside her as they did.

  The men undid their suit jackets and took off their ties why the two women pulled their hair up out of their faces. Caedmon took Lorintha’s hand and they guided their choice to one of the mattresses. Cieran and the other woman did the same, why pudgy and Garreth moved further down to where another one was.

  She just sat with Piper in silence. Caedmon had the girl on her back and was kissing her body the same way he had hers the first time they slept together. Cieran had his mouth on his girl. Piper looked away from him and she knew her friend was hurt but she had already known the brothers weren’t monogamous.

  The girls were all moaning loudly in pleasure. She was highly uncomfortable. This was not her kind of scene. She didn’t know why he would bring her here.

  Lorintha was sucking on the woman’s nipple. Then almost simultaneously they moved to either side of her neck and bit down. The woman moaned twice as loud as she just had been. Then as quickly as they had started they bit in harder.

  The woman jerked as if to get away but they pinned her down. She started crying and her cries mixed with the sobs coming from the other girls except Cieran had bitten the other girls thigh open and the women was at her neck.

  The girl twitched and then stopped moving. They just killed her. It wasn’t long before the other girls were quiet. She had just sat here and watched that happen and did nothing.

  Caedmon and Lorintha pulled away from the girl and came together. They were kissing hungrily and it wasn’t long before Caedmon had her dress up and she was on her knees. He pulled a condom from out of his pocket and had it on within record time.

  Piper took her hand as he shoved into the women. She was not going to watch this. Cieran was on his back as the other women climbed on top of him. This was so morbid and sick. Her mind yelled at her to get up and haul ass. Piper must have had the same thought. She slowly kicked her heels off.

  Piper had hers off already. She felt Piper count to three with her fingers on her hand. They moved slowly at first. Then they bolted, they made it down the stairs before she heard Cieran yell.

  They knew these men moved inhumanly fast. They were right they were already down the stairs. She felt Caedmon’s hands grab her but she managed to break free.

  She knew they would never make it out the front door and followed Piper into the bathroom.

  They slammed the door and locked it.

  There wasn’t a window in here. They had just trapped themselves. She was waiting for the door to be hit or something but it never happened. They sat together in silence for what had to be an hour when the lights shut off.

  She heard the lock turned and the door open but she couldn’t see shit. This dark seemed darker than a usual dark room should be. She kept her back to the wall. Then someone’s hands landed on her. She jumped ten feet in the air and screamed.

  The hands gripped her firmly and drug her from the room she felt another body as she was drug out and knew it was Cieran. Caedmon drug her out of the building and to a waiting SUV instead of the limo. He shoved her in the back roughly and climbed in after her. He didn’t speak, he didn’t even look at her and the silence worried her far more than if he would have just done something.

  They arrived back at his house and he got her to his room in record time. As soon as the door was shut he grabbed her by her throat and tossed her. She landed on the floor her head hitting his coffee table. He reached down and grabbed her by her hair dragging her as if she was a dog. She tried to break free but it was no use.

  It felt like her hair was about to be torn from her scalp. Tears of pain burned in her eyes.

  “You ran from me. Did I not tell you to never run from me?” He shoved her on his bed. He leaned above her and then extended her arm and tightly tied it with a thin sash tightly that was tied to his bed. He did the same to her other arm. “What are you doing?!” She yelled as he did the same to her feet.

  He ignored her and ripped the dress down the center and off of her with his bare hands he did the same to her underwear and bra. She knew what he was about to do now. She struggled but she was tied tight. This was one of her biggest fears being played out.

  She started to cry pathetically even though she told herself to be strong. He stood above her naked, she hated how perfectly beautiful this creature was and hated him more for it.

  “Already crying and I haven’t even started yet.” He settled over her and between her legs. He shoved inside of her and she bit her lip to the point of drawing blood from the pain. It hurt.

  He started thrusting hard and deep to the point of making her eyes leak with tears of pain she had tried so hard to hold back the sobs. She couldn’t adjust or move any part of her body to try and ease the pressure.

  He was larger than she remembered. “I want to kill you very badly, but I can’t allow myself to.” He growled as he kept thrusting. She had quieted her sobs and tears ran silently down her face. She just wanted to disappear.

  He had already been inside of Lorintha and had his mouth on that poor girl. He grabbed her throat and put pressure on it. She had to force her swallows around it. He chuckled from above her.

  “You like this.” She cried harder because he was right. Her body was doing the opposite of how she felt.

  Chapter Eighteen

  He switched what he was doing and he started driving into her G-spot and she knew she was about to have a mind blowing orgasm and hated herself. What the fuck was wrong with her? She was moaning and breathing heavy from crying. He let her throat go and grinned.

  “You are an amazing woman.” He leaned down and kissed her neck and she felt the fangs as they pricked through her skin. That sent her over the top. She felt herself clenching around him as she cried out. “Fuck, I could never get tired of this.” He growled as he let go of her neck.

  He kept going. His stamina was amazing. She felt herself building again and he must have to. “Let it go beautiful, come for me.” She tried to hold back to make it go away but she couldn’t she came and he leaned down catching her scream with his mouth before cursing as he finished.

  He undid her binds and after turning the lights out climbed in the bed and pulled her against him. “I will never let you go, if you run I will always find you, that is a promise.” She didn’t speak. She silently cried herself to sleep.

  The next morning she woke to him staring down at her. She looked up at his gorgeous face and into his blue eyes. She had a new determination and resolve to get the fuck away from him and if it meant giving in to him until she did then she could play that game.

  She reached up and put her arms around his neck. He raised his brows at her but she urged him down. He chuckled
but obliged.

  She put her lips on his and she could tell he was surprised. He kissed her back and let her deepen it. He took control like she knew he would and turned it into a rough passionate kiss.

  She put her hands on his back and tried to pull him towards her. He broke off from her and grabbed her hands pinning them above her head. He seemed to be studying her for a minute. She held his stare and he eased inside of her and smiled at her intake of breath. He still seemed to be testing her or something.

  He knew she didn’t want this, or he thought he knew she was determined to nail this role of girl in love with sexy sadistic vampire.

  He was moving slowly and gently. “Harder.” She breathed out. He froze and narrowed his brows at her. “What are you trying to do?” He asked his voice low.

  “I want you.” She quietly responded. He seemed to consider that for a minute and then started moving hard and setting a pace that had her ready to orgasm within a few pumps but he held off and pulled back.

  He kept this up forever. She gripped his back hard as he brought her to the edge just to pull back. “Caed, please.” She said on a moan. “Tell me your mine.” He said picking up his thrust and building her back up. She couldn’t get the words out around her moans. He slowed and she looked him in the face “I’m yours.” She breathed out.

  He pounded into her after that making her say it again and again. She came over and over and her voice was hoarse from screaming and saying what he wanted by the time they were done. Checkmate.

  They showered together where he bent her forward and fucked her from behind bringing her pleasure all over again. As they dressed before they left the bathroom he stopped her in front of the mirror. “Look at you.” He said kissing her neck.