Renata kissed me gently, her mouth sealed against the side of my breast as she licked the blood from my skin, tracing the already knitted wound with her tongue. Her mouth followed the path of my blood as she drank it, though not once did she forget the knife in her hand. Its tip cut lightly over my hip when I forgot it, and I startled, jerking on my bonds again.
I spread my legs and rested my head back against the hard wall.
Renata nipped at the skin below my navel. “Are you ready, cara mia?”
The sweet flow of desire weighed heavy within me. I no longer felt the flicker of fear or the awkward fluttering of it in my belly. I felt calm at last. The two leviathans no longer struggled but became one as desire swallowed fear.
“Yes.”
Renata did not ask me if I was sure. She took me at my word and began the game in earnest, cutting me over and over. At times, her blade was quick and dancing and I felt the pain after the initial cut. Other times, her hand was lingering and steady, so that I felt the creeping crawl of the blade as it parted my skin with aching sluggishness.
Always, she soothed me with her mouth, nursing and salving my wounds with her tongue and encouraging my desire to rise after its painful descent.
When she was done, I felt weightless and surreal, as if she had given me some sort of mind-altering drug. And I wanted her desperately.
“Her body is an instrument, Dracule, and like any instrument, you must learn to play it to truly hear the sweetest music it is capable of producing.”
I heard the knife fall to the floor and knew she was done with it. Renata would not stop to put anything away. She would not risk snapping me out of the pleasant state of mind she had put me.
The tips of her fingers brushed the skin between my knees and I opened to her. She caressed me tenderly, exploring me effortlessly before easing inside me. I moaned as every muscle within me tightened at the coaxing of her hand.
Renata raised my thigh to her hip, and I used the shackles at my wrists to raise myself and lock my legs around her waist. She pressed me back against the wall and kissed me, deep and unhurried. The taste of my blood was everywhere inside her mouth. The rhythm of her hand mirrored her tongue as she penetrated me. She pushed into me as deep as she could go and withdrew slowly.
She pulled back, pausing for only a second to find the angle she wanted. Her thumb slid across me while her fingers worked inside me.
Her silken lips met mine again and I opened to her, moaning her name. When she brought me, it was a gentle and luxurious thing. I hung loosely, barely able to keep my legs locked around her hips.
Renata laughed and took me down.
“Please,” I whispered.
“Please what, cara mia?”
I gave her a look to let her know I didn’t believe she hadn’t read my thoughts. She knew what I wanted.
“Very well, then,” she said. “But I think now it is time your Dracule joins us.”
Renata sat on the bed and held me in her lap. I kissed her neck, opening my mouth and sucking lightly. I felt more than saw Renata direct her attention to Iliaria.
“What say you?”
Iliaria echoed Renata’s response to me. “Very well.”
I felt Iliaria move up behind me before she drew aside my hair and her mouth moved at my shoulder, persuading me to moan against Renata’s neck. Renata handed me off to Iliaria while she rose from the bed to remove her gown.
I touched Iliaria’s face and pulled her mouth down to mine. She returned the kiss briefly, letting me feel the sweet drag of her fangs before drawing away from me completely.
“You will not hurt me.” I searched her face, trying to understand why she had pulled away.
Iliaria gave no response aside from a blinking stare. Renata came to us, and for what seemed like several minutes, they stood, facing each other. Strangely, there was no tension between them, only a quiet knowing.
Renata trapped me between the two of them. She touched a dark lock of Iliaria’s hair, and for a moment, I thought she would lean over me and kiss her.
Renata must’ve caught the image, for she startled and looked down at me with an expression of surprise. She laughed and placed her hand against the side of my face. “Cara mia, cara mia,” she chided.
Iliaria may not have read my mind, but it wasn’t hard to guess what I’d been thinking. She shook her head at me. “That would be a very bad idea.” She held me against her as she moved toward the bed and crawled across it on her knees toward the middle.
Renata laughed again as she lay down beside me. She reclined on her side and propped her chin on her fist. “You do me an injustice, I think,” she said to Iliaria.
“I am going to pretend you did not just say that.”
“You do not believe that I could bring you pleasure?” Renata asked.
Iliaria’s tail twitched and swayed.
“Renata…” I said.
Renata grinned widely enough to reveal her fangs. “Hush, dolce mia. If she was not so easy to tease, I would not do it.”
Iliaria was a blur of movement. She straddled Renata and pinned her wrists to the bed with a victorious smirk.
Renata’s eyes narrowed as she frowned and pushed against the hands that held her wrists. Iliaria used her upper body to apply more weight. “Do you really want to test your strength against mine?” Iliaria asked.
Renata pushed her arms up again and still only managed to gain a modicum of ground before Iliaria shoved her back down.
“You will lose,” Iliaria said, “and I do not think you will enjoy that. You both wonder why I hold back. Do it,” she said to Renata, “put your strength against mine. All of it.”
Renata said, “No.”
“Perhaps I should dominate you then, just to prove my point.”
“You are more than welcome to try,” Renata said. “But proving your physical prowess and strength does not mean you will dominate me.”
Iliaria leaned in close and whispered, “Then perhaps I should seek your lover’s aid, hmm?”
Renata laughed. “What makes you think, Great Siren, that Epiphany will help you?”
“Epiphany?”
“Eh?”
“What do you think?”
“Yes, what do you think, cara mia?”
What did I think? I wasn’t sure.
“She is unsure, Dracule.”
“And I think you underestimate her.”
“I’m not quite sure what either of you are talking about,” I admitted, aroused but aware of a dangerous undercurrent.
“It’s a very simple question, my sweet.”
“Well, I don’t get it.”
Renata gave Iliaria a look that said, “see, I told you so.”
She tried to get up and Iliaria shoved her back down again.
“Do not be hasty. She has given neither of us an answer, unless, you are scared?”
“I am not scared of you, Dracule. Epiphany is not a dominant by nature. You cannot expect her to be what she is not.”
“Give the girl a chance to speak for herself. What is your answer, Epiphany?”
“Let me see if I’m following you; you’re asking me to dominate Renata? To help you dominate Renata?”
“Yes.”
“I…” I looked at Renata. “What do you want, my lady?”
At my response, Iliaria stared at me with something close to exasperation.
“You really do not have any desire to be in control?”
“I’m not sure what you mean…to dominate? No, not really.”
“You have no desire to have your wicked way with her while I hold her down?”
“Is that what you felt when I was chained to the wall?”
Iliaria’s eyes darkened and her lashes fluttered as if the memory played inside her mind. “Yes.”
“Very much so,” Renata mumbled.
I looked at her then and thought on their words. With her arms stretched above her head, she was beautiful, but Renata was beautiful anyway.
I crawled to them both and knelt, sitting back on my heels. I touched Renata’s stomach and her muscles twitched against my hand. I traced the hourglass curve of her figure.
“What do you want?”
Renata smiled softly at me and said, “Discern it.”
“Iliaria?”
“Yes.”
“Release her.”
Iliaria let go of Renata’s wrists. She sat back and folded her wings behind her.
Renata watched her with a heated stare, taking in every inch of the Draculian flesh in front of her.
“Contrary to what you may assume, I am not repulsed by you, Dracule.”
“I will not let you dominate me.”
I felt something then, a tendril of emotion from Renata.
“I don’t think she wants to dominate you, Iliaria. I think she’s curious about you,” I said.
“Does that bother you, cara mia?”
I blinked. “Why would it?”
Iliaria looked very suspicious. “Curious…in what way?”
“Not in a way so bad as you seem to be thinking,” Renata said.
“Now I am confused,” Iliaria said.
I touched her arm. “You know how you make love to me?”
“Yes…”
“Will it bother you to stay where you are?”
I wasn’t sure how to put the request any more mildly than that, and I didn’t think Renata would approve of me just blurting it out.
“Aside from your strength, there are other things I’d rather you prove to me, Great Siren.”
Iliaria looked as though Renata had hit her over the head with something, the surprise was so blatantly written across her features. Was it really that difficult for her to imagine that Renata was sexually intrigued by her?
Renata laughed and smiled darkly. “Do I make you nervous, Dracule?”
“Absolutely not,” she said. “I am surprised by the request, is all.”
“Why?” Renata seemed genuinely curious.
“You are really asking me that question?”
Renata shrugged. “Why not?”
“If you two can agree to be equals, things might go a little more smoothly here,” I said. The expressions on their faces told me plainly, they weren’t following my line of thinking. “She’s not asking you to dominate her, Iliaria, and she doesn’t want to be dominated by you and vice versa. Correct?”
Neither disagreed. “Then why can’t you both just agree not to play a game of dominance with each other? Just because you’re in the same bed doesn’t mean you can’t touch each other, and that if you do, it’s not a sign of submission from one or the other. That’s a silly way of looking at things. Pleasure is pleasure.”
Renata smiled slyly at that.
Iliaria said, “I do not trust her.”
Renata’s smile faltered. “I do not comprehend why you do not trust me, Dracule. What have I done to earn your distrust?”
When Iliaria did not answer, I sighed.
“Renata?”
“Yes, Epiphany?”
“This grows tiresome.”
Iliaria let out a rumbling growl that made me flinch. Renata’s eyes widened when Iliaria grabbed her by her thighs. Iliaria pushed them apart and Renata didn’t fight her.
Iliaria rolled her hips and pressed her sex against Renata’s. Renata made a surprised noise low in her throat and clawed out, seeking something to grab hold of. She caught my arm, her sensuous lips parting as she dug her nails into my skin.
I watched as Iliaria continued to roll her hips, dancing her skin against Renata’s, her frustration and anger making the dance more passionate and less controlled. Renata’s nails bit more deeply into me and I made a sound of pain for her. She opened her eyes and guided me to her.
“Where do you want me?”
Before Renata could give me an answer, Iliaria said, “In front of me.”
Renata gave a nod in agreement and I swung a leg over her, my stomach over Renata’s, able to watch Renata’s face as Iliaria moved against her.
Iliaria wrapped an arm around my waist, not once losing the strange chaotic rhythm she had chosen. Granted, she was much gentler with Renata than she had been earlier with me.
I moved until her body nearly cradled mine. Iliaria reached around me, her fingers dipping between my legs as she circled my clitoris.
“Very nice, Dracule,” Renata half moaned. “Very nice, indeed.” Whether she referred to Iliaria’s choice in position or what Iliaria was doing between her legs, I wasn’t sure.
Iliaria pressed her face behind my ear and chuckled, making my skin prickle all over. Her finger began sliding back and forth, rolling my clit in a way that made me nearly lose my balance. I dug my toes into the blanket in attempt to keep myself on my knees.
Renata touched my thigh, clawing me lightly. Her hips moved between my legs while Iliaria moved behind me, against me.
Renata caught me by the wrists, raising her hands. “Brace yourself on me. Put your weight in my hands.”
I blinked and realized, even while being pleasured, Renata’s mind was still going as she figured out the mechanics of the position we’d chosen. I did as she bid me and she took my weight, stretching my arms high above me and canting my body at a slight angle.
“Dracule,” Renata said.
Iliaria stopped playing with me, but I could still feel her moving behind me like something slinky and liquid. I tried to turn around to see what she was doing.
“Tsk, tsk.” Renata called my attention back to her.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“You will soon enough.”
Iliaria pushed inside me from behind and I cried out, my hands curling into fists where Renata held them. Iliaria pushed into me, rough and sudden, before withdrawing and teasing me with the tips of her fingers.
She slid between my legs in a manner that became less teasing and more purposeful. Her gentle fingertips began to trail in an entirely new direction until I felt them tickling along the line of my buttocks.
I tensed.
“Ah, ah,” Renata chided. “Don’t tense, cara mia. It will hurt worse.”
Iliaria’s fingers slid over me and I tensed whether I wanted to or not.
Iliaria actually stopped moving to ask Renata, “Has she not done this before?”
“Actually,” Renata smiled most mischievously, “I don’t believe she has. Have you, Epiphany?”
“No, my lady.”
I’d never really thought to give it a try and Renata had never done it to me.
Iliaria’s breath was warm against the back of my neck while she stroked me between my cheeks. I shuddered for her, in fear and excitement. A thousand nerves tingled pleasantly throughout my lower body. “Take your queen’s advice.”
“That is?”
“Don’t tense. And remember, I am holding back.”
Iliaria didn’t give me time to decide. She pushed her finger inside of me roughly enough that she didn’t have to fight my body. She simply conquered it.
Much to my surprise, my first reaction when she pierced me was to make it stop. It hurt. It hurt more than Renata’s blade parting my flesh.
But I couldn’t make it stop. Renata’s hold on my wrists turned from helping to hold me up, to helping Iliaria to hold me in place.
Iliaria began to pull out of me before pushing into me again.
This time, I cried out in protest.
“Stop fighting, cara mia.”
I looked at her through half closed eyes. Her hold on my wrists loosened, just enough that I didn’t feel so trapped and helpless.
“Relax.”
Iliaria had stopped moving again. “Close your eyes, Epiphany. You are hurting yourself by fighting.”
“You know how to do this, cara mia.”
I drew in a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly.
“Gently,” I said. “I can handle it, but you cannot be that rough, Iliaria. Not there.”
I felt her fi
ngers teasing my entrance before she slid inside of me again. Her thumb and fingers squeezed like a gentle vise, and this time, I moaned, tightening and shuddering for her.
“Better?” Renata asked.
I nodded and Iliaria resumed in a way that I found much, much more bearable. She made a conscious effort to be gentle when I requested it. She took her time with it, and when her fingers moved inside me again, I was able to relax and sink into her. Renata released one of my hands. The subtle plunge of Iliaria’s fingers continued while she moved fluidly behind me and against Renata. Renata reached between my legs as she too began to pleasure me. Her finger circled and flicked against me until my body tightened around Iliaria and the sensation of them both inside and around me brought me with a long, shuddering moan.
Iliaria did not withdraw when my climax passed. I bent and kissed Renata’s stomach, licking and nibbling on as much of her skin as I could reach. Her muscles grew rigid beneath my touch and when she came, she buried a hand in my hair, crushing my curls as she groaned. Iliaria followed a moment later and we slowly collapsed against one another in a satisfied heap.
Chapter Six
I sat in Renata’s high-backed chair with a crystalline glass of Iliaria’s blood in my hand. Her blood was stronger than the Donatore’s, richer and more refreshing, like a cup of perfectly steeped tea. At least, the memory I had of tea in my father’s house.
Home. It seemed so long since I had thought on it. How many years had it truly been since my father had put me on his knee and spoke of my mother? Had I been six or seven years of age then?
I brought the glass to my lips and rolled Iliaria’s blood on my tongue. I tried to recall the taste of tea, the smell of the bitter herbs tickling my nostrils. I tried to remember the feel of the porcelain cup in my small hands.
What would my parents have been like if they had both lived? My memory was that of a child’s, not a woman two hundred years on.
“Mayhap that makes them all the more precious, cara mia, that they are not tainted by age.”
She came to me and rested her hand on my bare shoulder. I had not bothered dressing or covering myself. It was still some hours till dawn, though Iliaria had retired to the other room. Unlike vampires, the Dracule required a certain amount of sleep to function.
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