“Are we all just food to you?” I whisper and try to tear my eyes off two men, barely visible in the shadows in the farthest corner. One is pushed face first into the wall, the other holds him tight, his mouth latched onto the first man’s neck. Curiosity and revulsion fight for space in my chest. Someone pushes a drink in my hand and I gulp down half the contents, enjoying the spicy taste of tomatoes and celery, and the numbing bite of the vodka. The man who is being pushed against the wall buckles but the vampire doesn't seem to notice, or care. The doctor in me wakes up. I glance at Selene. “That man… he’s lost too much blood.”
She snaps her head around to look where I’m looking and then everything happens at once. Selene blurs and has crossed the room before I can even blink. The couple in the corner is suddenly surrounded by… people. Or non-people. Guards. The human is pale and looks dazed. The vampire gestures as he is escorted past me, seems to be saying ‘so what?’, as he throws me a curious look. He smiles, showing way too many teeth, and then licks his still bloodied lips, looking as if he’s contemplating eating me next. He is a tall, rough beauty with a short beard, thick dreads tied at the back of his neck, cascading between his shoulder blades, and deep brown skin, smooth and shiny. He’s beyond gorgeous, and looks positively devilish.
”There. He’ll be all right.”
I jerk and tear my eyes off the hungry vampire, looking up at Selene, then I follow her gaze over to the side of the bar where one of the guards seems to be having a staring contest with the victim.
”What are they doing?”
”He’ll forget he was here, go home and get on with his merry life.”
”Mind control?”
She nods. ”Very handy.”
“Lou says he’ll never do that to me. He says it’s dangerous.”
“He’s not wrong, It’s a fickle tool and it can have undesired consequences, toying with someone’s mind.” Her light gray eyes seem to turn darker. She swallows and looks away.
“Did you… did it happen to you?”
Selene looks back, holds my gaze, and seems to contemplate whether she’ll answer or not.
“I’m sorry, I—”
“I was betrayed by someone I trusted. I thought he was someone he wasn’t. He turned out to be the monster I had always feared. Mind control is cruel and random. In the wrong hands it can be a disaster. Some of the submissives you see around you are attached to a Master and don't need to have their minds wiped. Some come here once, and can’t leave knowing what went on downstairs. They have had a moment in bliss, have served their purpose, and can proceed with their lives.”
“Purpose?” I know the answer, but I just need to hear it. It’s frightening, it’s perverse, and it’s enticing.
Selene smiles and lets her fangs descend.
“Okay,” I say shakily. “I get it.”
She strokes my hair and I feel like a lapdog, like a pet, cared for, but not an equal in any way, shape or form.
“I’ll get you a refill. Sit with me until Lou gets back. I have no plans, and I quite enjoy your newbie fascination with everything. It’s so cute.”
With a new drink replacing the old one, I make myself comfortable on the cushion, fold my legs under me and study the interactions surrounding us. The heat is getting to me and my pussy weeps for attention, burning with the need to be touched.
When I think I can’t take any more, a pair of legs suddenly block my view. I look from the flawlessly shined black shoes, up along black suit pants and then he crouches before me, his deep brown eyes glinting. Danger, desire, everything I need.
Lou
I had to escape her. I had to take to the streets. Her lust, her inviting scent, her tantalizing dark gaze, pleading for me to take her, nearly did me in. If I hadn’t run, I would have lost all control. I could have fed in the club, but I don’t want to taste another submissive’s blood when I can have hers. I don’t want a stranger’s sweet blood, sizzling with pheromones, high on adrenaline. I want hers, and only hers. So I’ve prowled the shady parts of town, stalked the prostitutes, the homeless, the unfortunate, looking for the human predators that circle those areas.
I got lucky. Within an hour I fed on two assailants, one beating a prostitute, the other mugging an unconscious man. I’m full and my human is a little safer.
Maximus nods at me and lets me pass the rack of coats, pulling open the heavy hidden black door that leads to the dungeon. As always, I’m overwhelmed by the heady atmosphere that comes rushing toward me. Music, voices, cries, and laughter, heat, smells of sweat, blood, and copulation. A thrill runs through me as I discern one scent in particular, one that shouldn’t be so clear.
My Kat.
I cover the last half of the stairwell in one stride, coming to a full stop next to the bar, immediately zoning in on the thrones. By Selene’s feet sits Kat, her plump lips parted, her eyes wide, engulfed in the sensual games that go on and on throughout the night. A few feet away, right in front of her, a woman is shackled to the Sybian, the insides of her thighs slick with juices, her eyes rolled back, her face contorted in a wordless scream. Her vampire Dom drags the tail end of a whip across her chest, then lets a lash fall, a barely there snap of leather against skin.
Kat seems hypnotized, mesmerized, unaware of anything else. Her nostrils flare as her chest heaves with her quick, shallow breaths. She is only allowed to have that look on her face when I manage her from now on. My cock strains in my pants as I look between my captive and the tortured woman. I should have a word with Selene about bringing Kat out here without confirming it with me first, but seeing her in raw, unabashed heat chases the shadows away inside me. For a brief moment all I feel is pure joy.
Selene notices me, of course, but Kat doesn't see me until I crouch before her, blocking her sight. “You seem to be enjoying yourself.”
She almost falls back, as she stares at me. Confusion, fright, and ravaging hunger pass her features at a dizzying speed, then a tiny coy smile pulls at the corners of her mouth. “It’s… different.”
I stand, glance around me and then back at her. “Different good?” I don’t have to ask. I smell her arousal. Licking her lips, she looks me over, her gaze hitching at my bulge. She shuffles to get to her feet, but I put a hand on her head, holding her down. “Stay.”
I exchange a gaze with Selene and she gives me a knowing look and a slight nod. Crouching again, I whisper in my little human’s ear. “I want you on your hands and knees. We’re going to walk back to my room and then I will have another drop of that sizzling blood that pulsates right under your jawline, here.” I stroke a finger along her carotid artery and a shudder runs through her.
“Yes,” she breathes.
“Yes, what?” I stand and she looks up at me, her gaze as dazed as if I had in fact exerted mind control.
“I… I don’t know.”
“Yes, Master.”
Kat’s eyes widen and a renewed surge of arousal hits me like a freight train. It takes all I have not to rip up that skimpy dress and bury my cock in her pussy here, on the podium.
“Yes, Master,” she says, her eyes transfixed on mine.
“Good girl. Come.”
Chapter 10
Kat
My dress is so short that my naked butt is on display when I crawl on all fours next to Lou. Cool air wafts against my nether parts and more than one creature—vampire and human alike—stop for a moment to look at us. Shame rolls over me, making my back crawl with unease, but at the same time the thought of belonging to Lou, letting him control me and take care of me, makes my insides melt and my pussy pulsate.
The door to our room stands ajar. Lou pushes it open fully and lets me in. My knees hurt from the hard floor in the corridor.
“Permission to stand?”
“No.” He closes and locks the door. “On the bed. On your back.”
My heart thuds hard as I obey. I can’t keep my eyes off him. He is flawless in his refined beauty, his angelic features a little dubious wi
th the demonic glint in his eyes.
“Spread your legs for me, Katarina. I want to see you.”
I shake as I pull up my knees and slowly let them fall apart, my heart shooting to my throat when he growls. It’s a sound that can’t possibly emanate from a human, and it reminds me yet again that he isn’t. My instincts scream at me to slam my legs together and make a run for it, but I have no choice. I’m his prisoner. He may be treating me like I’m a queen, but I’m a toy, I’m food. I’m weak and stupid, and too curious for my own good, and God help me, I want him to touch me!
Lou climbs up on the bed and kneels between my legs, running his large hands up along the insides of my thighs. “You smell so good. Your blood isn’t ripe yet. It’s sweet, but it’s nowhere near where I will take you once you have healed.”
“What will you do?”
His hands progress all the way to my burning pussy where he presses a thumb to my clit, rubbing it back and forth.
“You will see, my dear. You will see.” He lowers his head and licks along my slit, parting me with his tongue, dipping it inside, while he keeps the pressure on my swollen nub.
I grab his hair and buck up against him as I’m thrown over the edge in an instant. Having been on the verge of release for hours, I almost black out as I cry his name. Waves of orgasms crash over me, over and over, and finally I’m spent, shaking, tears rolling down my temples. “I can’t,” I gasp. “No more!”
Lou looks up at me, his lips glistening with my juices, a devilish grin spreading across his face. “Dawn is approaching. Rest today. When I wake, I will sate your curiosity.”
A thought strikes me and I sit up abruptly, looking over my bared, unmarred skin. “Did you bite me?”
“Oh, I took a sip.”
“I never noticed.”
“You were preoccupied.”
No shit. Wow.
“I need a shower before I sleep.”
“I have thirty minutes.”
“I can shower alone, you know.”
“But do you want to?”
A shiver runs through me. “No. Not really.”
I squeal when he pulls me into his arms and carries me to the bathroom. “I will always take care of you. I don’t make a habit of kidnapping humans. I will make your stay with me comfortable, safe and… interesting. This is my promise to you.”
“A habit…” I chew on my lip, afraid to prod. “Have you done this before?”
He sets me down and steadies me, holding his hands around my arms. “Done what?”
My cheeks grow hotter. “Kidnapped… you know, a human… woman?” The last syllable barely makes it past my lips. I don’t know what I’m asking.
Lou puts a finger under my chin and tilts up my head. “Are you asking if I have taken a woman before? For my own selfish reasons?” He holds my gaze. I don’t know where to look.
“Maybe?” I whisper.
He cups my cheek and I lean into his touch, desperate for tenderness, for that sense of belonging that flickers almost within reach when he is near.
“I have never even given it a thought before you, Katarina.”
A jolt runs through me and I look up, meeting his almost black eyes. “Then why me?”
He frowns. “No one has ever shown me the compassion, the tenderness… What did you feel in those first moments? When you mourned my passing even though you had never seen me before?”
I gape. I wonder how he knows. But it’s true.
“Loss,” I say. “I felt loss.”
“And then I found you,” he says.
He did. I was lost. He found me. He took me. And why does it feel so right?
I wake before he does. The room is pitch black and I don’t hear a sound apart from my own breath. Snuggling in next to him, resting my head on his shoulder, I long for him to wake while my thoughts race. Images of my life before this pass before me. My apartment, my work, my acquaintances, and most of all my parents. Will I ever see them again? Will he show me mercy and allow it?
Just take it one day at a time. I have to, or I’ll go mad.
I almost fly through the roof when he wakes with a gasp. He stares at me, unseeing at first, confused, then he focuses and a smile spreads on his lips.
“I don’t dream, that can’t be it, but you have somehow snuck your way into the depths of my subconscious.” He caresses my hair, threading his fingers through my curls.
“It’s only fair,” I say. “You’re my whole world.”
His face grows serious. “I don’t make a habit of letting anyone this close. I have almost never allowed anyone to sleep with me.”
“Then… why now? Why me?”
“You needed saving. I don’t trust anyone here.”
“I thought you needed saving. You were dead.”
“I am dead. Come. Let’s get some food into you. You have a long night ahead.”
“I do?” Excitement courses through me. Whatever it means, I’m sure it has everything to do with our little act yesterday.
“Mm-hmm. Bathroom. Now.”
I stand, correcting my lacy, tiny nothing of a nightgown so that it covers my breasts. “Yes… Master,” I say shyly.
His gaze darkens several shades as he looks me over from top to toe, then he blurs and grabs my upper arms in a tight grip, towering me. “You only get to say those words if you mean them. You better not tease me.”
“I’m— I’m not teasing,” I gasp, out of breath.
Lou nods. “Good.”
We eat at a 24-hour cafe nearby and I fill up on pancakes and coffee, scrambled eggs and bacon. Lou is eerily silent, staring at me with a raw hunger I haven’t seen before. It makes my heart pound harder and from the way his gaze lowers to my chest and then lingers on my neck, I have little doubt that he notices. All the ways a vampire could be useful in a hospital keeps running through my mind. Except for the obvious, of course, that they would drain the patients.
We walk a little, but I get exhausted and instead he takes me in his arms and whispers for me to hold on.
The next moment we fly.
Or it feels like flying, but it’s more of a giant leap and then we’re on the top of a twelve-story building, overlooking a large part of downtown Tucson. It’s chilly and the wind tears at us, but Lou wraps his dark gray wool coat around me and has me sit on his lap, safe in his arms.
“It’s beautiful,” I whisper. The lights glitter in the dark, and in the distance there is nothing but a vast void where the mountains rise.
“From afar the world is.”
“And up close?”
He holds me tighter, resting his chin on my head. “Up close it’s much prettier.”
Five simple words thrown together, uttered in the night, and my chest explodes in aching, miserable, beautiful happiness. I have known him for three days. I saw him the first time only six days ago. I already know I want to be with him forever.
“Tell me about your life, Kat.”
“Not much to tell. I grew up in the suburbs of Phoenix, studied, worked.”
“What do you like to do? Have you traveled?”
“I’ve never had the time.”
“Why have you spent your years buried in books? Did you ever want something else?”
“That’s what I did. Something else. My parents are simple people. I managed to get a scholarship, and an education. It was huge.”
“And now I have taken that away?”
I look at my hands, my heart sinking.
“Kat,” he puts a finger under my chin, turning my head toward him. “I will never take without also giving. Do you trust me?”
“I don’t know you.”
He puts a hand over my heart, making it race. “What do you feel?”
“That I want to know you.”
Lou smiles, his whole face lighting up, the sight stealing the air from my lungs. “Then let’s get to know each other.”
When we get back to the club, the upper floor is already packed. I didn’t know it had
gotten that late already. Humans mingle with vampires. I’ve begun to recognize them now, the non-humans. They’re less fiddly, move with more grace, with a predator-like stance. Not all are gorgeous, but many of them have been gifted with brilliant beauty and I can’t help suspecting that whoever chooses to turn someone into a vampire takes superficial beauty into account.
We pass the coat girl, and the two massive vampire bouncers by the hidden door. They both give me a curt nod. I’m but one of probably a dozen of humans who pass this door every night, all of us always accompanied by one, or several vampires. I’m nothing special, and still I sense curiosity in their gazes.
Downstairs the games have begun and the heat is rising by the second. Lou twines his fingers with mine and pulls me to our room. The silence after he closes the door is deafening. Something is changing. Something is going down.
He moves over to the chair and gestures toward the closet. “Put on something sexy. I want to see skin.”
I stand, indecisively, looking between him and the closet.
“Kat. Do as I say.” He leans back and spreads his legs, resting his hands behind his head, pinning me with his dark gaze.
I twitch to action. I know exactly what I’ll put on. I remember his reaction to the black latex shorts and the halter neck bra when we were shopping. If he wants to play games, I’ll give him games. Snatching the two pieces of clothes with me, I disappear into the bathroom, my heart pounding. The shorts have a zipper in the back and I leave it open as I sashay out into the room again, walk up to him and present my back. “I think I need help,” I say and bend forward. I smirk when he inhales, but then it’s my turn to gasp as his hands slide up my thighs. He drags his nails over my skin, the sting making me moan, then he slaps my ass. Hard. I cry out from the pain but stay, the burning sensation shooting straight to my pussy.
Her Vampire Hero (Midnight Doms Book 4) Page 8
