by Sophia North
"Don't make fun of me, I have questions. About you know...what it's like."
Dante looked at her in puzzlement. "You're a doctor and an extremely attractive woman - are you telling me you don't know about sex?"
"Of course I know about sex! Love it, have had plenty of it ...with men!"
"Ah, you want to know if it is different with a vampyre. Truth is, I don't know - I've never been with a human woman as a vampyre. For me, I never wanted to be with a woman who wasn't my Mate."
This term gave her pause. "What do you mean by Mate?"
Dante hesitated, unsure if he should proceed. "It's a foolish romantic notion from a time no longer relevant to my kind."
"Don't be coy. Tell me, was Zara yours?"
This was exactly where he didn't want the conversation to go, but he couldn't lie to Simone. "Yes."
His confession crushed her heart slightly, but she didn't have anyone to blame except herself. She'd demanded honesty and so she received it.
"If Zara was your Mate - you're telling me you and she never..."
"Consummated our love? No, never. We did other...stuff." He finished lamely.
"And the other morning...were you going to, you know - go all the way with me?"
Her attempts at an adult discussion were as pathetic as his.
"What I feel for you is like nothing I've ever felt before. With Zara there was a bond, I will not cheapen her memory by denying it. But you, you make me ache with desire. So yes, the other morning, I would have made you mine - completely."
Simone's hand shook as she raised her glass to drink some water. The vamp really did have a way with words. "Okay, good to know. I think that will do nicely for now. If you would be so kind as to direct me to the section in your library about The Terrors, I think we'll call end of play for the night."
"Good to know? Really, Simone, are you sure you want to leave it at that?" he asked suggestively, revving up his seductive magic on her.
Unfortunately for him, she was not interested.
"Dante, I could easily let you take me upstairs and have your way with me all night - and it would be fantastic. You may not have had your fair share of human women but your skills at pleasing my sex are quite...advanced. No doubt from centuries of practice with the opposite vampyre sex. Ah, ah - before you call me prudish or jealous, let me say this: I definitely appreciate their contribution to your education. But where would a night of passion leave us? Satisfied? Absolutely. Yet also in a much more complicated web. Don't know about you, but I could do without any further complications for the time being."
"So you want our relationship to be platonic," he surmised, disappointed.
No, what she really wanted was for him to ravish her on the kitchen table.
"For now. We also need to tone down the sexual innuendo and limit any opportunities where more intimate contact may take place."
"Platonic eunuch - got it," he sullenly remarked. "Shall I escort you to the library, Dr. Radcliffe?" Dante stood and formally offered her his arm like the eighteenth century gentleman he used to be.
Better to have him angry than trying to seduce her for the moment. "It's the twenty-first century, Dante - I can walk there myself."
Chapter Twenty-Two
SIMONE STRETCHED LIKE a contented cat.
Last night had been an unforgettable experience. For hours she'd poured over book after book until finally dragging herself off to bed, where she'd slept like the dead for lord knows how long.
Snuggling into her pillow, she sighed contentedly. Her data download in the library had drained away the sexual tension she'd felt following her encounter with Dante. It hadn't been easy for her to turn down his offer to continue where they'd left off before Vlad had so rudely interrupted them.
His crestfallen face when she'd laid out terms and conditions of their relationship going forward bothered her more than she wanted to admit. But she hadn't known what else to do.
Her world had changed so much in a matter of days it was hard to keep up, and sex with Dante would have only further complicated it. She'd been wrong to let down her guard and allow such intimacies to pass between them.
She'd be stronger going forward.
As long as Dante played by the rules and kept his...
"Good morning, Simone," came his rich baritone voice from the foot of the bed.
...distance.
"Dante!" she screeched, scrambling to cover her nearly naked state beneath a sheet. She'd been too tired last night to do more than strip down to her panties before collapsing in exhaustion. "I thought we agreed to limit the intimate opportunities."
"Yes, we did, didn't we? How remiss of me, my apologies."
Dante's feigned remorse didn't fool her for a second. The way he hungrily gazed at every glorious inch of her exposed bronzed skin, left very little doubt that he did not regret his actions in the slightest.
Having taken cover in the most undignified manner ever, Simone glared up at him from her sprawled but completely covered position on the bed. "Why are you in my rooms?" she asked sharply.
Leaning against a bedpost, Dante’s sexy satisfied smirk made her heart skip a beat. He looked incredible in his tight leather trousers and black t-shirt.
She felt all tingly at the way he was staring at her.
Nervously moistening her lips, she noticed his nostrils flare at her unintentionally provocative gesture. Inside, she tried to quell her growing desire for him.
The memory of his powerful cock, rock hard and ready to take her, sent shivers down her spine. She knew all she had to do was lower the sheet and invite him to make love to her and he would.
As if reading her thoughts, his eyes glowed with desire for her.
Deciding to have a bit of fun with him, Simone leant up on her elbow but kept her body in its sprawled out position. He seemed to enjoy staring at her ass and she wasn't about to disappoint him.
"Did my question confuse you?" she asked, slowly pressing her hips into the mattress as she pretended to get more comfortable.
Dante couldn't believe his luck. Simone seemed inclined to be playful with him. The crotch of his trousers suddenly felt a hell of a lot tighter. It felt...good.
"No, love. I heard it loud and clear. I was just...admiring the view," he replied in a low husky voice.
"But you're not supposed to do that - we have a deal, remember?" she coquettishly returned, letting the sheet slip down to reveal the mounds of her breasts.
Damn. Dante wanted nothing more than to crawl towards her and lick her hot centre until she begged him to take her. But duty called.
"I do, sweetness. But you do not make it easy for me to be noble. And for the record, I did knock before entering. Many times, and quite loudly I might add. You mustn't have heard me."
"Oh," she replied, feeling a bit silly over chewing him out for breaking the rules.
Dante repressed a smile. He hadn't knocked at all, but why spoil the moment? He rather enjoyed watching Simone en dishabille and being repentant over her perceived mistreatment of him.
"Did you find my library satisfying last night?" he innocently asked.
Simone sat up with the sheet firmly tucked around her. She noted his emphasis on the word satisfying and decided to have her own dig.
Arching a brow, she smiled. "A good data dump can be almost orgasmic, in my humble opinion."
"If that is the case then you need to get out more, love. Or perhaps partake in other pleasurable distractions that can give the data a run for its money when it comes to bringing you to orgasmic levels?" Dante wryly replied.
Quickly calculating in his head whether or not he'd have enough time to make love to her before they left, Dante weighed the variables presented. His pump was fairly well primed, and his preternatural senses detected Simone wasn't far off either. But would he be satisfied with their first time together being a quick romp in the sack?
Amazingly, and much to the disappointment of his libido, he didn't.
Giving
her head a shake, Simone wondered what the hell she was doing. Her blatant sexual innuendo did not match her vow to keep Dante at arm's length. She was practically inviting him to test her theory about believing data was as good as an orgasm, which it patently wasn't.
The bulge in Dante's trousers would have her gasping for breath far more than a dusty old book.
"We need to leave soon for the Meet, Vlad's waiting downstairs," Dante informed her, breaking the sensual spell building between them.
The Meet. He was staying true to his word and taking her along.
"What am I going to wear?" she asked, slightly panicked. Her wardrobe was sadly lacking in vampyre-event attire.
"If you'd care to look towards the door, you'll find Alfred's procured a suitable range of options for you to choose from."
Simone's head turned in the direction instructed. "You bought me a vampyre appropriate wardrobe?" she said in excitement at the sight of a rack filled with different outfits.
Slightly annoyed at her fascination over 'vampyre' fashion, Dante growled, "Yes, there are leather, whips, chains...I made sure Alfred covered all the bases. For fuck's sake, pick something, get dressed and be downstairs in half an hour," he snapped, striding to the door.
Simone blinked in surprise at his abrupt change of mood.
Touchy much?
Once alone, she scrambled from the bed to inspect what was on offer. Sliding through the hangers, she settled on an outfit. Hooking the hangers on her index finger, she turned to make her way to the bathroom.
Half an hour didn't leave time to dawdle and she was determined to make every minute count.
*
"ARE YOU SURE you want to take the risk, mate? I appreciate the sentiment. A reasonable woman is much easier to handle than a psycho-bitch, but there is a line. Even for me." Vlad stood at the mantle, dressed as Dante was, in a black Watcher uniform.
"No one can have the slightest inkling who Simone is to me. I need you to do this..."
"What does Vlad have to do for you about me?"
The two vampyres turned to find a completely transformed Simone standing in the door of the library. Dressed from head to toe in black, her tight leather trousers, stiletto boots and revealing leather jacket took their collective breath away.
Vlad let out a low whistle of appreciation. "No idea what you just said - but damn Doc, you wear leather well."
Nervously smoothing back her slicked blond hair, she asked. "It's not too much?"
Vlad walked past Dante and patted him on his black leather clad chest. "Good luck with your plan, mate. I'll be waiting on the platform. Tick, tock."
Simone lifted a brow at Dante as Vlad passed by without saying another word.
"Is something wrong with how I look? I only picked from what was on the rack..."
"You look incredible," Dante quickly assured her. "Too incredible, in fact. Vlad may be right," he muttered, clearly disgruntled at the discovery.
"Right about what?" she asked, completely lost.
"My inability to let him do what he must if we are going to pull this off. Bastard. I hate it when he's right."
"Good god, what the hell must he do?" she snapped, tired of him beating around the proverbial bush.
"You need to be his human supplicant tonight at the Meet."
Laughing over his unnecessarily prolonged build-up, she asked, "That's it? You had me worried there for a minute. And as for the supplicant role...you needn't worry. I played Hamlet in my all-girls public school's performance. So acting the part of a supernaturally tortured human soul isn't a stretch for me." Lifting her wrist, she tapped her non-existent watch. "Tick, tock, Dante - time's a'wasting."
Reluctantly, Dante led her into the main hall. Alongside one of the massive columns, he stopped and clicked open a curved marble-clad door. "Vlad will meet you at the other end."
Simone stepped tentatively into a cylindrical chamber inside the pillar. "It's a secret lift," she exclaimed.
"Welcome to my world, love. Hold on tight."
Chapter Twenty-Three
AFTER A SWIFT and rather harrowing ride in the secret lift, Simone emerged onto a platform where a vintage train carriage softly chugged in place. Blinking in surprise at finding it there, the memory of an old Canadian classic about a young boy with a secret railroad beneath his apartment block flitted briefly through her mind - which was random, but oddly fitting. Perhaps the Canadians had been onto something with their strange little cartoon?
Standing at the far end of the platform, Vlad stood staring up at the workmanship of the bricked tunnel, as if totally engrossed. But Simone got the distinct impression he was avoiding her gaze.
Walking over to join him, she stared up to see what was so fascinating about the bricks. "Well, this is certainly different," she said, trying to break the ice. "When Horatio let it slip Dante's home was underground, I'd not been expecting all this. The vampyre world never ceases to amaze me. It's the strangest mixture of the old and new in so many ways."
Glancing at her from the corner of his eye, Vlad's lips quirked into a wry smile. "Have a guess as to when this was built?"
"Somehow I have a strong suspicion the Victorian era is not the correct answer. So I'll go slightly earlier and say around the turn of the nineteenth century," she ventured.
Vlad snorted in return. "Not even close. Try early eighteenth."
"Pre or Post the Georgians?"
"Ha. You know your history. Most assume the entire 1700s were ruled by the Hanovers."
"Well, there was Queen Anne. Although, let's be honest, she doesn't exactly stand-out as a Queen of England considering who preceded and succeeded her."
"That's because she wasn't England's queen, nor was Vicky for that matter. But I rather liked Victoria, had some moxy to her, so I was willing to overlook many of her short-comings. As for Anne, she was the first Queen of Great Britain, and what a farce that's turned out to be. But I digress, political discussions are best saved for a night by the fire with an excellent Chianti, wouldn't you agree?"
Simone started to laugh. Vlad Barath was clearly not as he first appeared. How many leather-clad bad-ass Vikings would care to debate the authenticity of the British monarchy?
The swish of the lift door opening announced Dante's arrival.
"Took your time, mate," Vlad bellowed as he approached. "Needed to doll yourself up some more?"
With a slight smirk, Dante ignored the jibe and turned his attention onto Simone. "Ready, love?" he asked, opening the carriage door for her.
"Absolutely," she said with a smile. "Does being a supplicant require some sort of dominatrix-style grovelling? A studded collar and chain, perhaps?"
It may have been a bit much, but the way the pair of them were acting, Simone felt it was time to pull the plaster off and face the music about her role for the evening.
"It's not too late to change your mind, brother. I think it may be better," Vlad was quick to remark.
Simone marched into the carriage. "I am not going to be left behind," she mutinously replied. "We have a deal, Polidori."
Dante closed his eyes and sighed. Maybe it would be better if Simone assumed the role of Master? Vlad's reluctance to perform may mean he'd end up making a dog's breakfast of it and put her at risk.
"Bit of a bossy boots aren't you, Doc? Normally, I'm an admirer of the trait but, are you sure you're up for this?" Vlad asked, crossing his arms and refusing to move.
"Please. I've treated sexual deviants," she returned, settling down on a lovely velvet seat. "Chop-chop gentleman, our chariot awaits."
"The lady has spoken, brother," Vlad informed Dante. "But do bear in mind I did try to warn you..."
"Get on the fucking train and shut it. Not one more word..." Dante growled, as he strode past his friend and onto the carriage.
*
"Simone, are you clear about what you need to do?" Dante asked sharply as the train drew to a halt in a puff of steam.
"Crystal. Stop clucking. The most li
kely candidate for letting the team down at the moment is you! With Vlad running a very close second. I mean, honestly, how difficult can it be to play an overbearing asshole?"
"Careful, sweetheart. You’re making me want to raise my game from slightly deviant to full-on devil, just to see how well you cope," Vlad returned only half in jest.
Dante shot him a look of warning as the carriage doors opened.
They'd arrived at their destination. Time for the show to begin.
Vlad wasted no time in adopting his new persona. Striding over to where Simone sat, he gripped her by the arm and pulled up her to his side. "Stay close, keep your head down and don't look at anyone but me. Ever," he instructed. "Are you clear about my instructions?"
Simone swallowed hard. Fun Vlad had left the building and his Scary Twin was a force to be reckoned with.
"I am," she squeaked, with no need to act the part.
Vlad nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Dante, she's with me now. We'll meet back at yours following the Meet. Simone and I may be late, dependent on the reaction to her presence. Don't break my balls over it, alright?"
"I won't, brother. Keep her safe."
Jostled along through a crowd of vampyres, Vlad eventually steered Simone down a long corridor and onto a large stage. The noise was deafening. There had to be nearly five, six hundred vampyres milling about the intimately sized theatre.
Intent on following orders, Simone kept her gaze down, with only an occasional scan through her lashes. She briefly spotted Dante weaving his way amicably through the crowd. He was hard for her to miss, given she'd spent the ride over trying not to openly stare in admiration at the way he wore his Watcher uniform.
In the past she'd taken great joy in teasing Penny about her attraction to men in uniform. It seemed so cliché. But her opinion drastically changed when presented with Dante Polidori decked out in head-to-toe black leather, with the only splash of colour being the red piping on the collar of his long leather coat. To steal Vlad's words - he wore leather well.
"Mate, who's the dish?" A short, rugby player-built vamp called out to Vlad from the pit.
