by Foxx, Nia K.
She’d dressed quickly after hearing Dumitri Dracul’s voice in her head again, this time unable to chalk it up as jetlag or a dream state. It was real, as if he’d stood next to her and whispered in her ear.
Certain she hadn’t gotten everything but not bothering to look around for missed items, Kyra zipped her bags and picked up the light cases, making for the door without so much as a backward glance.
“Are you going somewhere, meu dulciuri?” Dumitri greeted as she barreled into his chest.
Even at five-foot-eight, her neck craned back to look up at him. She took several retreating steps back into the room.
“I-I have to leave. I’ve forgotten some very urgent matters back home,” she lied lamely.
“Such as?” He followed her inside, the door closing slowly behind him of its own volition.
“They are personal matters.” She tried to look unaffected by the reality of being in closed quarters with him. “Matters that involve my boyfriend,” she forced firmness to her explanation.
He arched a dark brow. “The football player, William Southerland, if memory serves me correctly.”
How did he know that?
“Yes, William and I have become quite serious but we didn’t part on the best of terms. So I’m sure you’ll understand if I leave now.”
“No.”
“No?” She wasn’t surprised by his single word response.
“As I told you last night, meu dulciuri, I am a very jealous man. I will not allow you to run to the arms of another man.” The storm raging in his eyes belied the calmness of his tone.
“You can’t stop me from leaving.” Her voice sounded weak to her ears.
“Can’t I?”
She stared in stunned silence, digesting the truth of his words. Although he stood there in an unbuttoned ruffled shirt and form fitting pants, she could see there was nothing foppish about him. He could physically keep her in the room if he wanted, not to mention keeping her in the castle.
“What do you want from me?” she asked in exasperation.
“Everything,” he answered with a passion that sent a shiver down her spine. “The other guests are waiting. Why don’t you freshen up and join them for breakfast,” he suggested, as if she hadn’t just announced her departure. “Be sure to ring for Ivan. I wouldn’t want you to get lost wandering around.”
Dumitri stood for several seconds regarding her rigid stance. She was confused, frightened even. He could read her without telepathically touching her mind, so raw and pure were her emotions.
He felt a slight twinge of regret at what he would have to subject her to for her to truly become his mate. Last night was only the first step in their bonding. The others would require his total domination of her. He still needed to complete two full blood exchanges for her body to go through the awakening. His cock hardened at the thought of his incisors sinking into her warm, dark flesh, her life’s blood flooding his senses like the most potent aphrodisiac.
“If you dally here too long, I will take it as an invitation,” he said roughly, allowing his incisors to lengthen just enough for her to glimpse them.
“What are you?” She couldn’t mask the quiver in her voice.
“I am Count Vilhelm Dumitri Dracul, the one known as Count Dracula.”
She bit her lip at his admission. It was insane. This all had to be a part of the castle’s show, the “journey” that Dumitri spoke about yesterday.
Be quick, meu dulciuri, came his mental parting.
Kyra’s eyes rounded at the telepathic communication. Meu dulciuri. He’d called her that last night in her dream… which really hadn’t been a dream.
What was going on? She remained rooted to the spot for several moments after he left while recent events played over in her mind. The beginnings of a headache threatened.
You are going to make yourself ill. Do not worry over these things. You will become accustomed to your new life.
Fat chance. She yelled the mental response. And stay out of my head.
* * *
When Kyra was finally escorted into the dining room, the hodge-podge group of attendees was finishing up their breakfast. She breathed a sigh of relief at Dumitri’s absence, not wanting to confront him again. The chair she dropped into offered a reprieve to her unsteady legs. Greetings were briefly directed at her in the form of curt nods or quick good mornings, but it barely halted the conversation she’d joined.
“At the risk of sounding a little,” the French man began, “Did anyone else experience anything strange last night?”
There was a pregnant pause while the guests glanced around the table as if to gauge the others’ reactions.
Kyra wasn’t ready to share her erotically surreal encounter with the strangers nor any of the other oddness she’d experienced since stepping foot in the castle. But there was a spark of hope at the possibility she wasn’t alone in the weirdness.
“What happened to you?” she encouraged the French man trying to keep her tone neutral.
“I dreamt… well, at least I thought I dreamt, that someone was in my room last night.”
“Go on,” encouraged the Spanish woman.
“It was a woman who appeared as real to me as you all sitting here.”
“Did she do or say anything?” Kyra asked.
“She said she wanted to know I was Worthy, or something like that.”
“Worthy of what?” the Greek asked.
The questioned man sat silently wistful for several seconds, absently rubbing at a spot on his neck. “She didn’t say.” His voice sounded faint.
“Well what did she look like?” the British man wanted to know. “We can’t just have some villager roaming about in our rooms. She could be a common thief.”
“She wasn’t,” the Frenchman answered with certainty.
“This evening marauder must be reported to Mr. Dracul immediately,” the British woman chimed in. “And I’ll be certain to lock my door this evening until this woman is apprehended.”
“What about anyone else?” The Spanish woman looked around the table with urgency.
“I believe I heard voices in my room,” the Greek man volunteered quietly.
“Voices?” the Spanish woman queried.
He nodded slowly but added no additional information. The questions stopped and for several uncomfortable moments everyone seemed to retreat within their own thoughts. Kyra wasn’t sure who introduced the next topic of conversation but it offered a diversion from the uncomfortable topic and they all pounced on the mundane subject.
***
After breakfast Ivan announced that the guests could have access to the castle’s garden and first floor level for photo opportunities or general exploration. Not daring to be alone for fear of encountering Dumitri again, Kyra partnered up with the Spanish woman who had introduced herself as Cecilia Fuentes.
“So what happened to you last night?” Cecilia began after they’d snapped several shots of the castle’s exterior in silence.
“I didn’t say anything happened,” Kyra responded quickly, feigning interest in the colorfully manicured flowers.
“You didn’t have to. It was written all over your face.”
“I’d rather not discuss it.” Kyra snapped several more shots, although she wasn’t certain at what she aimed.
“Do you think it was real or an illusion?”
The denial was poised on her lips but the possibility of having someone to confide in silenced it. There was no way she could tell her editor what transpired last night. And William, well that was just out of the question. Images of the night before came back to her with a vengeance. She remembered everything in such vivid detail and it all seemed so real.
“I don’t know,” she lied, looking out into the distance at nothing in particular.
Cecilia spoke after a long silence. “Something happened to me too.”
Kyra turned questioning eyes on her.
“A woman and man came to my room.”
&nbs
p; “Did they say anything?”
“Not to me directly. They knew I was there but didn’t bother to acknowledge my presence. It was as if they wanted me to watch them. They looked like humans but… weren’t. Their eyes glowed like a cat’s and they had… they had fangs.” Cecelia had a distant look in her eyes. “Dios mio, they bit at each other, as if it were turning them on, like animals. I couldn’t stop watching. I felt compelled to do so. Truth-be-told, the scene was very… erotic,” she finished with a shameful whisper, even though they were the only two in the garden.
“Afterwards they looked at me, smiled… and bowed, like it was part of a performance. Then they just disappeared… vanished. I spent most of the night looking for trap doors or projectors, something to explain it, but there was nothing.” Cecilia looked at her expectantly as if she could provide an answer.
“Perhaps we should leave. This is nothing at all like I expected,” Kyra suggested.
“Yes, I am surprised by what took place last night too but there are still six days left, and I’d like an opportunity to experience this “journey” to its fullest to find out what’s really going on here.”
Chapter Four
“I take it your morning was productive?” Dumitri materialized behind her as she looked out the parlor window. Kyra started at his sudden appearance even though she’d expected him, somehow knowing he would seek her out eventually.
“I would like to leave,” she stated, not turning to face him. “You may have charmed all the others with your macabre journey crap, but I sure as hell don’t want any part of it.”
He sighed as if bored with the suggestion. “You know I cannot allow this.”
His answer didn’t surprise her. Kyra watched an animated conversation below between the two Brits and briefly and wondered what it could be about before refocusing on her own dilemma.
“Why?”
“Because you belong with me, in time you will understand.”
“Excuse me if I don’t believe that, so is everyone else being held captive or does the distinct honor belong to me alone?”
There was a long pause before Dumitri spoke again. “You are not a captive. Come with me. I wish to speak with you someplace where we will not be interrupted.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Kyra still couldn’t bring herself to look at him. She knew her resolve would be lost if she did. She couldn’t explain it, but the man… creature… whatever he was, wrecked havoc on her senses. She wasn’t herself around him, had proven her lapse by giving herself to him last night.
“You test me with your denials. Our destiny is together. It has been written since before our births. All that is left is for us to complete the bonding.”
“And if I don’t want that? I have a life back in Chicago, complete with friends…and William.” She’d almost forgotten him in all of the madness. A twinge of guilt washed over her.
“You will not mention him again,” he raged, whirling her around in a swift motion that left her head spinning. “Do you wish this man’s death?”
“Of course not,” she replied breathlessly, staring up into the storm that was his eyes.
“Then you will submit to me fully.”
“I… I can’t…” she protested as he swept her up in his arms, cradling her as if she were a child.
“You must and you will.”
With supernatural speed, he moved. It seemed only seconds had passed before they were inside a room in the depths of the castle. At least she thought it was the bowels, although its exact location was blurred by their speed of travel she’d had the distinct impression they were traveling down. The darkened interior obscured any view she might have of what was in store for her.
“You are one of the Worthy.”
He settled her onto a soft surface. A bed. Her pulse quickened.
“The only true mate to a vampire. My true mate.”
She inched away from the sound of his voice feeling behind her to avoid an unexpected drop off. “Vampire? Wow, you’re really trying to sell the whole package aren’t you? Well the dark brooding thing you have down I’ll give you that much, but you’ve come on just a little too strong with the whole seduction of the unsuspecting tourist bit.”
“This is no game Kyra.”
“All right, all right, for the sake putting an end to this experience. Let me just say you’ve stumbled onto a gold mine here. You’ll have everyone on Team Edward beating down your door for a stay, and I’ll even write a banner review…just stop this right now,” her voice waivered at the end of her speech.
Silenced yawned.
“How is you know nothing about your heritage?” he asked softly.
He was closer. How was that possible, she hadn’t felt any movement? “You know, I’m having a hard time trying to hold a conversation in the dark you want to hit a light or something?”
“Your family has never talked to you about the Worthy?”
She remembered hearing the French man say something about it earlier. What the hell was it supposed to mean? Worthy of what? Even if she had an idea of what he was talking about Kyra didn’t feel inclined to answer especially since he insisted on talking in the dark. If the ploy was meant to unnerve her it was working.
“Your kind was made for mine. You, specifically for me.”
“This makes no sense.” She shook her head in denial, gasping as he encircled one ankle in his large warm hand, dragging her back across the distance she’d gained. The feel of something soft encircling where his fingers once were had Kyra jerking for freedom with fervor.
“What are you doing?” She managed to sit up as her second ankle was bound. A hand pressed against her flat abdomen, pushing her back onto the surface.
“No!” she protested, as each wrist suffered the same fate as her ankles. The bonds were secure but with enough slack to allow her slight movement in her limbs. She was trapped, with a man who seemed to be taking this Dracula thing just a bit too far. Left with little choice she did the one option available to her. Kyra inhaled deeply then let loose the loudest scream possible. At first she expected to feel his hand covering her mouth but when that didn’t come she continued her shrieking.
Should I gag you as well to gain your silence? He was in her head again.
Oh God, no, Kyra’s mind wailed, even as she willed herself to calm down.
“Answer me, Kyra.”
“No, I don’t want to be gagged.”
“Good, then you will listen to me. No one can hear you we are.”
Of course not. “Just so you know you’re doing the exact opposite of building trust at the moment,” The retort slipped out.
The gentle rumble above her caused her body to tense for several seconds before she realized he was laughing.
“I’m glad one of us is enjoying ourselves,” she muttered.
“Trust me, my dear, before the night is over you’ll experience pleasure beyond your wildest imaginings.”
“I doubt that.”
“Don’t try to distract me with your obvious challenge. Should I remind you of the pleasure you gained from me last night?”
“I thought I was dreaming.”
She could almost hear his shrug. “We both know that was not the case.”
She felt silly trussed up and arguing with him in the dark. “Do you mind turning on a light or something?”
“Since you’ve asked so nicely, meu dulciuri, of course I will.” The words were barely out his mouth before one wall sconce, and then another illuminated the darkened room, until it glowed with several of the antiquated flaming lights.
“How did you…” The question trailed away as she slowly took in her surroundings. There were no windows, or door for that matter. With the exception of the torch-like lights and ill-placed swords, the dark stone walls were bare. In fact, she lay on what was the only bit of furnishing in the room. It was a bed of some sort, not quite as large as the one in the room she was given but still roomy enough for two people. Her ga
ze traveled the length of her bound wrist, up the constraining material to the metal chain at the opposite end.
