by Sedona Venez
The person knocked on it again, this time so hard that door vibrated violently. Something was wrong. Really wrong, which was confirmed when my heart started hammering, and bile rushed up my throat.
My hand trembled on the door, dreading what I would see on the other side. I pushed it open with trepidation, only to see one woman crumpled on the floor with lifeless eyes, and another with her eyes glazed over and mouth hanging open as she clutched the broad chest of a tall, chiseled faced, dark haired man whose dark predator eyes stalked me as he leaned against the marble countertop like he actually belonged there.
What. The. Hell? Oh, this couldn’t be good. Which was confirmed when he smiled at me displaying wicked sharp incisors.
“About time you got here. Just think, you almost missed out on all of the fun,” his voice rumbled with a light accent that I couldn’t place.
I arched a brow at his cocky smirk, wondering what in the world could he find remotely amusing about this freaky situation.
He continued. “We need to talk. Frankly, I think it’s way overdue, don’t you?” His brow arched.
“What? Why would you think any conversation is required? I don’t know you.” I scrambled back towards the door with a cloying instinct to escape. I knew this was a mistake when my brain started to feel foggy.
I shook my head in vain to clear it. “Stop fucking with my mind, vampire.”
His response was a sneer. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the best decision to piss off vampire man, but I knew from his sly look, he was the type of man that would pick any weakness, my weakness, like a vulture.
His eyes transformed to heat and determination as he boldly took me in from head-to-toe making me shiver deliciously. “Good, so you know what I am.”
I rolled my eyes. “You have fangs. I’m not stupid. You’re a bloodthirsty leech.”
His hooded eyes locked on me. “Name calling? My name is Alik, use it.”
My nerve endings tingled as I swallowed my sudden anxiousness. My voice was annoyingly breathy as I asked, “What?”
He arched a brow, sneering. “Do I look like I’m playing, Infinity? Use my fucking name.”
I held up my hands in a placating gesture, “Okay, relax.” I swallowed hard when the woman mewed, rubbing against him suggestively. “Alik, what are you doing to her?” Whatever it was looked like a prelude to an X-rated movie.
“Amusing myself,” He looked down at her smugly. “She’s a pretty little thing, isn’t she?”
I tried to laugh but it fell short. “Well, I’m not into women, and I’m definitely not into her like you seem to be.” For the first time in my life, I was scared to death as I watched the woman swaying and mewing as he ran his fingers over her breasts then tweaked her nipples, which she seemed to enjoy by their pebbling.
“Alik, let her go. If you want to talk to me, then let’s talk.”
“What makes you think that you’re in any fucking position to make demands, Infinity?”
He looked at me with icy eyes. “Do I look like a man that negotiates or takes orders?” He scraped his incisors along her pale throat. “Delicious,” his eyes transformed to a blood-red color as he looked at me menacingly. “Now back to us,” his rough gravelly voice caressed me in a way that made me shudder with a lust that shamed me.
“I said let her go.” I put more strength in my voice, forcing the confidence that I did not feel. Gawd, please let this be over soon, because I didn’t know if I could hold out much longer without succumbing to his dark enticement.
He smiled like freaking sex on a platter. He knew that I was fighting my attraction to him. Shit, he could probably smell it on me like perfume.
“I’m feeling indulgent today. So, let’s play a game shall we? If you get her to come to you, then she’s free to go. If not…”
“Hey! Come over here.” I snapped my fingers sharply while she smiled at me goofily.
“Get your ass over here right now or vampire man is going to suck you dry, and I don’t mean in the earth shattering going to make you come way either.”
Alik leaned down smelling her hair causing her to spin around clutching his shirt, looking up at him adoringly as she slithered down to her knees, groping at his crotch.
“Oh hell to the no! There is no way I’m standing here while you get a blow job. Really?”
My face pinched with insane anger and I wasn’t sure if it was ridiculous jealousy or actually being grossed out.
He chuckled, a sly sound that grated on my nerves. “No need for jealousy. The only one I want on their knees before me is you. And don’t worry, I do reciprocate.”
Fuck! Now my panties were wet. My arousal unfurled with a snap. This was irrational, but I wanted him so bad that I could taste him on the tip of my tongue. The feel of his mark running through my veins. He was like my drug and I definitely needed a fix, bad. I was totally not focused here. Damn, keep your mind off his penis, Infinity.
The woman fumbled to unzip his pants. I actually felt a pout forming before he snatched her hand away, pulling her up roughly. “Game over, Infinity. I win.” He pulled her hair aside, sinking his sharp incisors into her neck. She struggled, clawing at his chest as he drunk deeply until she stopped moving, making soft gurgling sounds before lying limply in his arms. Looking at me darkly, he licked the last drop of blood that clung to his lower lip allowing her to slump to the floor.
“You. Here. Now!” He barked.
My body trembled, struggling to resist him. He was my test. He was what I feared most, yet wanted so badly. ‘The darkness will consume me because I was his to claim’ the mad rant of the strange woman from my dreams repeated in my mind. I knew that I failed as soon as my feet moved and I was standing so close that I smelled his mouth-watering aftershave. His presence surrounded me and the world fell away. There was nothing but Alik, and he knew it.
He backed me against the wall, grabbing my chin with surprising softness, tilting it up. “This game ceases. I am no longer willing to play.”
My hands fisted in his black shirt. “I swear, Alik,” my head felt cloudy, limbs heavy. I panted, fully enjoying the possessiveness of his grip. “I’m not playing games with you.” All I could literally think about was the word ‘three’ over and over again. My body trembled as I dug deep to find the strength to pull away from him and I failed. “Why? She had nothing to do with this. With us. Nothing.”
He stepped closer, brushing my jet-black hair away from my cheek, his finger wrapping around a curl before trailing down my neck. “Do you really think I give a shit about her? Or any human for that matter? I’m here for you. You’re mine and nothing you can do or say will change that now.”
He stroked my cheek. “You’ve been reckless, Infinity. Did you really think that you could thumb your nose at the Collective and live? You disregarded all of my warnings. You are naive and reckless. I did all that I could to prevent this exact moment.”
I tilted my head, looking at him through my eyelashes, whispering, “What moment?”
He pulled me against his chest digging his hand into my shoulder painfully. “This fucking moment, Infinity. The moment of me standing here before you, not as your consort, but as the man sent here to kill you.” He sighed, “You pushed them too far, and the decision has been made to destroy you for the betterment of the Vampire Collective.”
“No, I, you can’t.” I rasped and swallowed, “She said that you wouldn’t.”
His hands gripped my body as he leaned his forehead against mine. “I don’t know who she is but she can’t save your ass right now. Only I can. You’re mine. Come with me and all will be forgiven. As my consort you will be untouchable, but on your own you are dead.”
My lust started to slowly cool and logic finally started to slowly kick in. Fuck, what was I doing? I was standing in a bathroom panting over a vampire who may or may not be some crazy ass stalker assassin for a corporation of vampires. This was some crazy shit.
“No!” He held me tight as I tried to back away. “I w
on’t. I will never choose to be with a monster like you. You might as well kill me now.”
“You’re already with a monster.” He leaned down scrapping his incisors against my throat. “You just haven’t accepted it.”
Burning coursed down my neck. The panic set in, causing me to kick with futility against his brute strength. I was going to die. The strange woman lied.
“Please, Alik. Don’t do this.” Anger and fear fought within me. Fear was winning by a land slide.
He stepped back slightly, running his tongue over his fangs while looking at me suspiciously. “Who are you?” He spat.
“What?” I squirmed a little as he stared with venomous eyes.
“Your blood,” He grabbed a handful of my hair pulling me completely off the ground as he buried his face into my neck. “There’s more power than I thought in your blood.”
My head snapped back, with feet dangling mid-air. Tears ran down my cheeks. Strands of hair snapped from my scalp. “Let me go,” I rasped through the pain.
He abruptly dropped me, allowing my body to awkwardly slide down his body. “You belong to Maxim?” He roared, his eyes angrily searching my face as his fists clenched. “What is he to you?”
I slapped frantically at him. “Fuck you, you psychotic freak.”
He backed me against the marble countertop. “Speak or I’ll snap your neck. Maxim. How do you know him?”
I hauled back with all my strength, punching him in his face. I grabbed my hand in pain. It felt like I literally hit a brick wall. “Leave me the hell alone. I don’t know anyone named Maxim.”
He snarled viciously like some sort of wild animal. “Fucking lies. You smell like him. The only thing keeping me from breaking your neck is the fact that you haven’t fucked him.” With a snarl, he whirled me around, throwing me into the wall so hard, my head cracked against it with a thud. “Why the hell do you smell like him?”
My head swam, blinking like a fool until I noticed that he was holding a knife. “What did I just say? I. Don’t. Know a fucking Maxim.” But I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should. Maxim....the name echoed in my head as I committed it to memory.
With sonic speed, he swung, slicing me across the arm. I clutched my arm in pain as blood pooled around the gash. I tried to side-step his inevitable next attack, when he stepped in slicing me across my other arm. The biting pain from the arm gash made me delirious and frantic to flee his manic wrath.
I screamed. “Mother fucker! Maybe vampire women get hot over blood and death but attacking me is not a panty dropping proposition.”
“I’m not trying to fuck you, Infinity. I’m trying to kill you.”
Pull it together, I chanted in my mind like a prayer. Survival. I knew that if I could calm my nerves, I could survive. No, not just survive, but kill him. Him or me. It damn sure wasn’t going to be me. Blood dripped down my arm, my heart pumped, pain was not even a thought. My mind raced through everything Mom taught me in our sparring sessions. This I could do. Would do. My pulse slowed. My frantic thoughts calmed. The pain mercifully subsided; I looked quickly at the gapping gash on my arm. It wasn’t bleeding anymore.
He circled me with this weird smirk, his eyes cold, deadly, taking in my rapidly healing wounds. “Just like I thought. You’re not human. Time for the ultimate test, baby. Let’s see if you can survive death my beautiful monster.”
“Monster?”
We stared at each other. The word monster made my heart stutter. There was no way I could heal this fast unless I was one of them. A fact that I would dispute with my last dying breathe.
He smiled with incisors glistening. “What would you prefer? Consort?”
I moved back a step. He took a step forward. We circled each other in this weird seductive death dance.
He smiled. “Death will look so good on you.”
Death? Nope, not today. I could do this. I could beat him. Something in my soul knew this.
“Not today. This Superstar is going to fuck. You. Up. Bloodsucker.” I had nothing to lose, and everything to gain, my survival.
Alik roared. Furious, he charged me, his feet just skimming the marble floor, racing toward me, violently fast. I hurled myself at him, my hands and fists attacking him from every angle. Alik blocked, twisted, and kicked with amazing speed.
My heart pumped with sickening excitement as I planted my heel in his face, smashing in his nose. His eyes narrowed as he calmly reached up, snapping it back into place. He stepped back, staring at me. The expression on his cold but handsome face seemed to change to one almost of respect.
Damn! Dead. That’s what I needed him to be… dead, dust, history. I cart wheeled, kicking him again, followed with a flurry of punches. He went down as I mentally prepared for a happy fist pump when he flipped to his feet with inhuman speed, getting me in a choke hold.
Oh no you don’t, losing is not an option. I flipped him over my shoulder, kicking him in the nuts as he landed. He curled up, groaning as I calmly approached, staring down at him with a look of cruel indifference.
“Fuck you, Alik. Go back to the grave you crawled out of.” This was the last word.
I started to back up towards the door when he started to laugh. Not the chilling creepy kind of laugh but a husky, sexy, toe tingling laugh that made me apprehensive.
My eyes widened as he flipped to his feet grabbing me by the neck with his one arm, pinning me against the wall. He was squeezing the life out of me, his face inches from me. I head-butt him with enormous force, but he barely moved. In fact, he smiled.
“Fuck! I have never been so turned on in my entire life. And I’ve done a lot of living. Centuries of living.” He winked, as his tongue licked his lips.
“Let me go, or kill me.” I spat, punching and kicking fiercely.
“Kill you? Now, why would I do that? And letting you go is not an option, baby. I want you more than ever now.”
My leg grazed his crotch. Shit! He was aroused. Very aroused, and from what I felt, vampire man was huge. “You’re a freak.” I swallowed, panting angrily. “Do you know that?”
He released his grip, allowing my body to slide sensuously against his. “You have no idea how big a freak I am. Yet.” He pressed against me, allowing his engorged crotch to bring home the point. Yes, he was impressive.
It would take more than a well-endowed vampire to impress me. I raised my hand to slap his face. “Get off me.”
He snarled. “Enough! The fight is over. You proved that you are the one. My consort.”
I struggled. “I say when it’s enough. Not you.”
He grabbed my face roughly. “No. I decide that. Let’s not dispute that proven fact.”
I pulled my face away. “So you rough me around. Try to kill me. Press your freakishly big penis against me, and I’m supposed to smile, pull down my panties and let you have at it?”
“Pretty much, but not tonight. Tonight there’s business to discuss.” He responded coldly before his mouth twisted into a warped smile. “Like the fact that Maxim is your father.”
“For the last time, I don’t know a Maxim.” My chin tilted defiantly. “And he’s definitely not my father. My parents died in the Fire and Ash war.”
He glared at me as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a cell, dialing quickly. “Grigori. We have a problem. Your informant fed us fucked up information. She’s not here. We’ll go with plan B, yes? See you in an hour.” He pocketed his phone, looking at me tensely.
“Who the hell was that?” I arched a brow.
“Listen. I’ve bought you some time.” He responded briskly.
“Time? What the hell is going on?” I squeaked.
“I don’t have time to go into details.” His hands tugged and massaged my neck and head. “If you tell anyone about me or this conversation, I’m coming back to kill you myself, understand?”
I nodded with confusion.
He smiled coldly, “I wanted you before, but now, I want you even more. You will be mine.” He crowd
ed my space, pressing his hard body against me as he pressed me against the bathroom stall. “Here’s what you will do. Get your ass to the music arena and perform. You clue anyone in on me, the Vampire Collective or what I suspect about Maxim, and your family and friends are dead.”
Tears streamed down my face. My throat tightened with fear. I nodded.
His eyes were cold and deadly. “Infinity, I need a firm yes.”
“Yes,” I responded resentfully.
“I will buy you some time, but if what I suspect is true, they already know who you are. Listen carefully; I need you now more than ever. You’re the missing key I need to overthrow the Vampire King and take my rightful place on the throne.” He snarled, “This whole thing smells like a major setup, a setup to destroy the only thing that can get me what I want.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Let’s make this simple, shall we? When the time comes, I will claim you before the Collective as my consort. This claim will make you untouchable according to our laws. You will be mine and help me regain the throne for my bloodline. If you run or deny my claim I will kill you and everything you love. Is that clear enough?” He looked down at me with cool eyes.
“Yes. Clear.” Clear that I would never be his consort. That was totally out of the question. I moved away quickly, turning on my heels when he snatched me back. He spun me around, his hands landing on my hips as he tugged me towards him. My lips tingled as he let his fingers walk down my back landing on my ass, of which he squeezed. Shamelessly, I leaned-up nibbling on his neck, licking, and tasting like a wanton woman, then I stopped, stumbling back from embarrassment.
“Lesson number one, Infinity, if you’re going to make a move on a man like me. Commit to it. Like this.”
His mouth crushed mine. His tongue thrust into my mouth, dominating me like I’ve never been in my life. I moaned softly, matching each stroke of his tongue. Dueling as I practically melted into his body. He suddenly changed the tempo of the kiss, his tongue stroking the roof of my mouth. He took me completely over, demanding my submission.
