Bite Me: A Vampire Anthology

by Cain, Addison

  Guilt was a foreign emotion. He ruthlessly pushed the vulnerability aside.

  Then it hit him. How was she still there? The moat of light was his prison, not hers. She could have walked out any time she’d wanted while he was incapacitated. It was the main reason he’d always kept the blood sources tied to the devil’s chair. He couldn’t risk drinking too much contaminated blood too fast and losing control. Especially if his only feeding source wasn’t secured.

  “Did you hear me?” she snapped, clearly annoyed with him.

  “No. Head hurts,” he stammered.

  “Good. You deserve it.”

  His brain was only working at half speed. “I do?”

  “Hell yes. You should have been up front with me the second I got here. I had to put all of the puzzle pieces together on my own while you took your nap. Of course, it’s not like I had anything better to do anyway.”

  When he opened his eyes to squint at her, Lily stood at the side of the bed, her arms crossed and an angry glare on her beautiful face. If she’d told him the truth and he had really been sick for three days, it was impossible to know what she now knew.

  “Why not afraid?” he managed to get out.

  “Afraid?” Lily scoffed. “I’m terrified, but I’m also starving and desperate to go home, so I decided to trust that you’ll be helping me to escape.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you owe me?”

  “I owe no one anything.”

  “The hell you don’t. You were sick and I took care of you.”

  He didn’t say what he was thinking which was that as sick as he’d been many times over the last twenty years, he had never once been in danger of dying. It was one of the perks of immortality—unlimited torture opportunities.

  Armand rolled, attempting to push to his feet. He’d feel better if he wasn’t lying vulnerably below the beauty. It was only when he lifted his right arm that he realized she’d chained him to the bed.

  He was not amused. “Release me now.”

  “No. Not until I get what I need from you.”

  “And what is it you need?” He collapsed back to the bed, closing his eyes to fend off the shooting pain.

  “For starters, food. And then a key to the dungeon’s outer door, and finally a weapon to use against the Irish idiots in case I run into them when I’m escaping.”

  “Is that all?” he deadpanned.

  “No.” When she didn’t answer, he opened his eyes again, waiting for her reply. “I could really use another bottle of that Cheval Blanc St. Emilion wine that I found in the mini-kitchen. It was amazing.”

  His anger flared. “You drank my last bottle of St. Emilion? I was saving that.”

  “For what?”

  “To toast my enemies’ deaths after I get out of captivity.”

  “Well, you’ll have to come up with another way to celebrate because that was the only thing you had for me to eat or drink down here, except water. Unlike you, I actually need calories.”

  Armand suspected she was fishing, trying to trick him into disclosing tightly held secrets with anyone outside of the Order, let alone a mortal. Still, if she’d been free to roam his haven unfettered for three days, it was impossible to know for sure.

  “That bottle was priceless. Irreplaceable.”

  “I’d say. The note with it was dated 1948. It was a victory bottle produced after the war.”

  “I told you. Priceless. Wait, how do you know what it said?”

  She didn’t speak German.

  “It was in French. I don’t know who Monsieur Garnett was, but it seemed that he really owed you a big favor.”

  The biggest. Armand had spared his life and the life of his consort. He wouldn’t be making that same mistake again in the future if given the chance. He’d gotten soft before his captivity, but his leniency days were over. It was that sort of mercy that had led to his present predicament.

  Lily had continued talking, but he had to force himself to listen as his head was still pounding. He wished he were stronger so he could self-heal faster.

  “… almost given up figuring things out until I found the leather bound rule book thingy. It was in English, not German.”

  “The rule book? What…” Impossible. She couldn’t have found the black ledger. He kept it secured.

  “I figured that helping to rescue the patriarch of the Order of the Jagged Cross, Lord Armand von Kassle, had to be worth something. For starters, one bottle of old and expensive wine, and then after you woke up, your help escaping.”

  Merde.

  Armand proceeded with caution. Her discovery wouldn’t change her destined death sentence, but it just may force him to speed up the normal timeline for his donors. It was a shame, because he suspected he could have many days of fun with the beauty with a smug smirk on her face before she’d eventually grow so weak from starvation that he’d take mercy on her by drinking her blood dry. There would be no happy ending in this adventure for her.

  So why wasn’t she cowering in fear?

  “You look rather proud of your detective skills, Miss Lewis. There is just one small detail you might have overlooked.” When she didn’t interrupt him, Armand was grateful his head had begun to clear of the fog the drugs often left behind. It gave him the energy he needed to start the process of regaining control over the brave young lady and her mesmerizing eyes.

  He’d be lying if he said he didn’t love every single moment he spent inside the subconscious of Lily Lewis. He moved slower this time, gently threading his way in where her free will resided, dripping his commands to her in drops that would emulate her own thought process. Lily was about to have a burning desire to unlock his wrist from the chain.

  Armand backed off when she shook her head, fighting the intrusion of his command. Her mental strength was remarkable. He rarely met humans with the ability to push back on his power in even the slightest way, let alone a young woman. In his experience, society had made them some of the most vulnerable to his power as they often lacked the confidence of more mature women.

  Their eyes met. His own breath caught as he recognized the same heat he’d seen in her gaze when they’d made love days before. As much as he’d enjoyed their tryst, he’d been acutely aware that she’d participated because he’d commanded it. She’d been helpless to resist.

  Today, that melting caramel swirling in her heated gaze was all her. The sweet scent of her arousal surrounded him, surely impacting him as strongly as his own mind control influenced her.

  She broke their visual connection to obey, reaching down to unlock the lock holding him captive. As the chains fell away, so did Armand’s control over Lily.

  He waited for her to truly wake up and try to run from the room after realizing she’d freed her dangerous captive.

  Instead, the impossible happened.

  The dark-haired lass leaned down to brush her lips across his in a soft kiss. It was most unexpected, just as the feel of her small, warm palms were as she placed them on his bare chest, supporting her body as she deepened their kiss.

  To her, it may feel like a repeat of their tryst days earlier, but to Armand, her initiating the passionate kiss felt brand new. It was the first time in decades where the woman in his arms was there of her own free will—where she wasn’t cowering away, afraid of his elongating teeth becoming visible as his own body responded to the sexual lure of her scent.

  The passion between them stoked higher as the kiss deepened, turning into an open mouth exploration. Armand lost himself to her, enjoying the intimacy more than he’d have ever thought possible. Testing her, he reached up, pulling her down into his arms. Her curves molded against his body perfectly, taking his cock to full-mast.

  Since when had he become as starved for sex as blood? In part, it was a sign of his recovery, but he knew it was more than that. In his centuries on this earth, there had only been a handful of women he’d allowed himself to get close enough to forge the kin
d of intimacy he currently felt with the near stranger in his arms.

  Armand rolled them, pinning her body beneath him as he fumbled with the buttons on the shirt she wore until he gained access to her firm breast that filled his hand perfectly. He was reminded of just how warm-blooded she was as she groaned, thrusting her hips up to increase the friction between them.

  Out of breath, Lily turned her head, gasping for air while running her hands up and down his back, raking her fingernails across his skin.

  Her neck was a mere inch away—her sweet blood there for the taking. If three days had indeed passed, the bulk of the drugs in her system would have passed by now. There was absolutely nothing stopping him from biting down. He could drain her in no time. It would be the merciful thing to do to thank her for the kindness she’d shown him by caring for him. She hadn’t eaten in days. Her hunger would only get worse. He knew something about that, but she didn’t have the benefit of immortality to fend off death.

  As she turned to look back into his eyes, the craziest idea he had ever had took hold and wouldn’t let go. If she were immortal…

  No. He rejected the idea immediately. Only the most powerful vampires could survive the torture he’d been put through. His enemies hadn’t counted on his strength.

  But Lily? Even under the best of circumstances, the change was dangerous. She’d never survive without an unlimited supply of blood during the transformation. To even attempt it would only expedite her death, adding new layers of tortured pain to her final days.

  “What is it?”

  He’d lost himself in thought, not realizing she’d been studying him.

  “It’s nothing,” he lied.

  A sad smile graced her swollen lips—the lips he suspected he would never tire of. “You are a bad liar,” she accused.

  “And you are a brave kitten, mon cherie. There are not many alive who have called me a liar and lived.”

  Her smile dimmed. “Do you really kill for such things?”

  He wanted to bring back her smile. It reminded him of what sunshine used to feel like on his face in his youth.

  “Of course not, my pet. It is just that no one is foolish enough to accuse me, at least not to my face.”

  Her audacity. She grinned. “So if I let you get away with calling me your pet, will you let me get away with calling you a liar?”

  The smile came to his lips before he could stop it. “I have not known someone as brave—or better, foolish—as you, Lily Lewis. I am not sure I understand your motives for taunting me.”

  “My motives are simple.” She paused long enough that he wasn’t sure she’d finish her thought. He prepared to break into her thoughts to ferret the truth from her just before she added, “I want us both to walk out of here. Together.”

  “And exactly how do you plan to do that? You’ve seen what happens to me when I leave the dark sanctuary of my haven and venture out into the specialized lights. And while I do not understand your lack of fear of me, I am grateful you did not leave into the light when you had a chance.”

  “Oh I did,” she admitted.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I went out into the moat of light, but there is only the one door they brought me in through and it is barricaded. I can’t get it open, but I was hoping that together, we could get it unlocked.”

  Armand’s heart no longer beat like a human, but if it did, he knew it would be racing at her proposal. His Lily did have something to bargain for her life with after all.

  Dare he get his hopes up? He had a plan, and this wasn’t it. What if they attempted the escape and failed? It could set him back years… decades.

  But what if they succeeded?

  “There might be another problem,” she added. “But maybe you should roll off me first before I tell you. You’re squishing me.”

  Armand’s bark of laughter escaped. What a delight her fresh innocence was in his dark world.

  He rolled to his side, refusing to release her as they ended up lying on their sides, looking into each other’s eyes as they sorted through their complicated options.

  “And what might that problem be?” he prodded her, trying to stay focused on the escape plan and not the heavenly scent of the woman in front of him whom he wanted to ravage.

  “The Irish idiots came down to the door and yelled at me to go back in to you. I don’t know how they knew I was even there. I hadn’t done more than barely try to open the heavy door quietly because I didn’t want them to hear me. It makes me think they have cameras out there monitoring the door to your room.”

  “I’m not surprised. I hear them out there at times after…” He cut off his sentence, wisely realizing that telling Lily that his captors would come collect the remains of his dead donors after he’d roll their bodies into the light. “Nevermind.”

  “Maybe I could unscrew all of the light bulbs to make it dark in there. Then they couldn’t see and you could join me out there.”

  “Perhaps…”

  Armand had never been accused of being a coward in the over two-hundred years he’d walked this earth, but in that moment, he had to admit he was afraid to proceed with Lily’s plan. In part because he couldn’t stand the thought of making a mistake and adding precious years to his captivity, but more importantly, he realized it was Lily he was most worried about. If their plan went awry, he would pay the price of time—Lily would pay the price with her life.

  And that, he found unacceptable.

  “It’s too dangerous. You could be injured, or worse.”

  “So are you telling me I’ll be perfectly safe in here with you then? You have some secret stock of food hidden I’ll be able to eat since I’m pretty damn hungry? I’m not stupid. I understand how this is going to go if I don’t get out of here in a few days.”

  “Lily—”

  “Don’t try to lie to me again. It’s insulting.”

  Each minute that went by—every kiss they shared—every word she uttered… he fell for her harder. The realization was enlightening. He would have said it was impossible for him to care for anyone ever again, particularly a human, yet he could not deny it.

  Lily Lewis was special, and she did not deserve to have her life extinguished just to keep him comfortable until his next donor arrived. As tempting as it was to play house with her, the thought of watching her starve until he had no choice but to put her out of her misery was unacceptable. His captors had already taken so much from him that he could not control.

  The decision to save Lily was his first real choice in almost two decades.

  “We can’t get out that way. They have cameras everywhere. Even if we got the door open, I worry that I’m not strong enough to overpower their weapons.”

  Her face fell with disappointment. “So what? We just wait for me to starve to death?”

  Armand raked his gaze up and down her petite body.

  It just might work.

  “I have a better idea.”

  Chapter 5

  “I can’t do this. I feel claustrophobic. Let me out!”

  Why wasn’t Armand stepping away and helping her to extricate herself from the narrow space? Being jammed into the small dumbwaiter elevator system had been bad enough, but he was about to close the only door and lock her in.

  “You can do this. It’s our best chance. You’re the only person who’s ever been close to petite enough to even try.”

  “But I’m not small enough! I’m going to get stuck.”

  She wasn’t even sure if he could properly hear her since they had to talk softly to ensure the Irish idiots didn’t overhear their movements.

  Armand stroked her calves, the only part of her body still visible to him as he stood next to the ancient elevator he said his butler used to use to send supplies down to him. The massage felt nice, if not a bit weird.

  But then again, everything that had happened to her since the moment she’d been snatched near Paris was strange. As if being kidnapped wasn’t bad enough, she’d been drugged
, thrown into a vampire’s lair to serve as a food source, had the absolute best sex of her life, nursed the ill vampire back to health, and then found out he was one of the most powerful of his kind.

  In comparison, squishing into a tiny box to be hoisted up into the same castle where her kidnappers were seemed rather tame.

  “Here, take this with you.”

  Lily couldn’t see what Armand had just thrust into her hand, but it felt like a knife.

  “It’s my letter opener. It might make a decent weapon if you run into the idiots.”

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel very sharp to me. I want something capable of slicing their dicks off if I get the chance.”

  Armand’s laughter sounded out of place. “I’d pay good money to see that.”

  “I don’t want your money. I just want another bottle of that kick-ass wine and a big juicy steak.” She paused before tacking on, “And chocolate. Lots of chocolate.”

  “You get me out of here and I’ll buy you a chocolate factory.”

  “I’m not sure it’s worth it. I never knew I was claustrophobic, but this is freaking me out.”

  “More than starvation?”

  “When you put it that way… Wait, why haven’t you done this yourself?”

  “Well, for starters, even starved for decades, I’m still too big to fit, but the previous keepers were also a bit more intelligent than the current inhabitants of my castle. They had the foresight to line the lift with silver. Many of the burns on my arms and hands came from touching the inside of the dumbwaiter.”

  “So that is really true? Vampires can’t touch silver?”

  “Is this really the burning question you’d like me to answer while stuffed into the lift?”

  “Excellent point. You can tell me over that bottle of wine later.”

  “Good girl.”

  It was absolutely absurd that his calling her a good girl calmed her, but it did. She’d deny it to her last breath—which the growling of her hungry stomach reminded her would be very soon if she didn’t suck it up and do this.

  “Okay, I’m ready. I wish I knew what time it was upstairs. I’m hoping they are asleep.”