by Heather Long
Maddox let out a growl.
“What was that? ‘Oh, thank you, Fin. You’re right, Rogue was the perfect one to summon for this situation,’” he mimed the answer to himself, pitching his voice almost perfectly into Maddox’s deep rumble. “No problem, Mad. You know, I’ve only got our best interests at heart.” He waved off the make believe gratitude with the air of a cocky grin. “‘You’re too humble, Fin, it doesn’t suit you. You were right, and I was, and yes, I know you don’t hear this often, but you should. I was wrong.’ Hey, it takes a big man to admit something like that, my friend. Have no worries, I won’t lord it over you, much.”
A snicker escaped as Maddox snorted. “Keep patting yourself on the back.”
“Someone has to,” Fin said easily, and I could have sworn he winked at me. “Hang on a little bit longer for us, beautiful Fiona. Rogue will be here at nightfall, then you two move and I’ll meet you. Between us, we’ll get you out.”
“You sound very confident,” I told him.
“That would be because Rogue knows what they’re hiding here, he won’t let them say no. While he’s making a lot noise, we’ll slip out unnoticed. It’s a whole thing. Just trust me.”
“She doesn’t trust easily,” Maddox warned, not that I needed him to answer for me.
“But we’ve already got a connection, Fi and me,” Fin argued. “You just sit over there and be all grumpy in your grumpiness, and let me handle this.”
Granted, he was kind of cute and amusing, but Maddox wasn’t so bad when he wasn’t talking. He definitely made the air warmer.
See, I was using my positive people skills. They did actually exist.
A yawn split my jaw before I could say anything though, and both went a little quiet.
“You feeling okay, Kitten?” Maddox pressed his nose to my hair and took a deep breath.
“She looks a little pale, course, you both do. Firelight’s not exactly ideal lighting for determining coloring…” Fin drifted closer. I hadn’t really paid attention to his movement the night before. Course, it had also been dark. He didn’t quite touch the floor as he moved.
How much effort did it take to do that? Not to mention, what was he that he could do it at all? Astral projection was a rare talent, and most who possessed it didn’t advertise it. They made the best spies and, under certain circumstances, excellent assassins.
“She lost a lot of blood yesterday.” He motioned to the dark stain on the stone. Yeah, I wasn’t going to comment on the fact the stone had all but absorbed all that blood. The dark brownish stain was all that remained of my pooled blood.
“Then feed her, asshole,” Fin said abruptly, all trace of playfulness gone from his tone. “You can certainly spare a pint.”
“I’m not hungry,” I said before Maddox could snarl. The fact that the arm he had around me tensed and the rest of him seemed to vibrate suggested his rather vehement response to the accusation.
Fin jerked his gaze to me.
“And I don’t heal that way anyway.”
Head tilted, he stared at me. “You do realize you’re part vampire, right?”
“You do realize that’s an oxymoron, right?” What was it with people telling me what I was? “There’s no such thing as a part-vampire.” Hybrids didn’t exist. Do join the party line. Why else was I in this prison? Oh yeah, because I’d broken some covenant by existing.
Right.
“Agitation. Pallor. Exhaustion. Dissociation, bloodlust, and madness follow. Baby vamps have to eat.” He ticked each item off like I was five.
Yeah, my estimation of Fin began to drop by several points. “I’m a succubus,” I reminded him. “That’s not how I heal.” Or feed.
“Well, I’m pretty sure Maddox still remembers how that works, just let him…”
“Fin,” Maddox snapped. “She already told you she wasn’t hungry. Leave her alone.”
Oh ho, he was defending me now? The flip-flop was enough to make anyone a little dizzy.
“Yeah, but she’s going to need her strength, and if she’s waning after only a day in your company, what’s she going to be like tonight?” He folded his arms, and I swore I could almost hear the tapping of his foot, even if it wasn’t audible.
“We’ll be fine,” Maddox stated smoothly. “Speaking of conserving energy, you should.”
“Says the one who gets to spend time with her while I lay here under the stone floor with a mouse for company,” Fin grumbled.
“Stop bitching and go away,” Maddox said in an aggrieved tone. “We’ll head up when the torches go out.”
“Fine. But she sleeps with me tomorrow.” He blew me a kiss before focusing on Maddox again. “You got two days. Fair is fair.” Then he was gone before my companion could respond.
“Still like him better, Kitten?”
“Not so much.”
He chuckled, then slid his hand up to massage my nape. “He’s not wrong. You do need some fresh blood. Feeding your dual nature needs to be something you get used to.”
“If that’s your polite way of saying ‘bite me,’ no thank you.” I really didn’t want blood. The image of Dorran cutting himself so the blood trickled out flashed through my mind, accompanying the hot flavor of it on my tongue.
I shuddered and curled my toes as I closed my eyes. I did not want to want it. I wasn’t a vampire.
“The hardest part of the transition is accepting your needs have also transitioned,” Maddox said, drawing circles against my shoulder with his thumb. “You have to feed both.”
“Or what?” I asked, in spite of my intentions of focusing on my house.
“Or bloodlust will set in. The need to sate yourself on whatever you can get your hands on, and you won’t mind killing to get what you need.”
I didn’t mind killing so much now.
“And you won’t be able to tell friend from foe.”
That part bugged me a little.
“For those who truly deny themselves, they may lose the thread of who they are entirely. Minds have broken in transition before, it is why those who are turned are carefully curated.” He was almost likeable as he handled this conversationally, without his domineering and orders.
“Too bad I missed that memo,” I told him, though maybe that was another reason Dorran had taken such an interest in me, particularly when I wouldn’t feed. It could also be he just wanted to have a good time. Though it was something to consider on both fronts.
“I’ll give you some latitude, Kitten, if I hadn’t put the shackles on you—you wouldn’t be half-starved now.” Before I could deny it, he gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Deny you’re hungry all you want, but your body betrays you. You can’t stay warm, can you? It’s why you’re letting me hold you.”
I would have wrenched away, but he had an iron grip on me. I debated and discarded a half-dozen responses, then settled for just ignoring him.
“Fine, don’t answer. But I know the truth, and deep down, so do you. I will not force you, but if it comes down to a choice between risking your sanity or your fury…well, I’ll take your rage, and you will feed. Fin was right, I can more than spare the blood, and it’s old enough that it will sate you.”
“Confident, aren’t you?”
He chuckled. “Very.”
“Hmm. Are you done?”
“For the moment.”
Nodding, I closed my eyes and returned to my house building. I must have drifted off again because he woke me with a gentle shake, and I snapped my eyes open to find myself not just leaning against him, but curled up in his lap like a slutty cat absorbing all that heat.
Okay, I never said I wasn’t a slutty cat.
“Is it time?” I asked, and my voice came out a croak. The torches were out, but as with the night before, his eyes glowed.
“Nearly. Fin said five minutes and we move.”
Extracting myself from his lap, I nodded. He set me on my feet, bracing me as my head swam. Yeah. That wasn’t a good sign. Fuck, I did not want to drink his
blood. Once I was out of here, I’d ditch them and go find some cheerful fucker and seduce him. Then I’d find that asshole vampire and rip his spleen out.
Maybe the so-called prince, too.
I was an equal opportunity bitch slapper.
Maddox said nothing as I made my way over to the sink. I splashed a little water on my face to chase away the sleep. I’d slept a good portion of the day. Then I drank down a couple of palmfuls to wet my throat.
“When we get out there,” Maddox said. “You’ll stick close to me.”
Ah, there he was, the autocratic jerk who issued orders. I’d started to worry he’d been replaced by a kinder, gentler Maddox. No one would want that.
“You will do it,” he continued. “Don’t make me have to drag you out of here kicking and screaming.”
I chuckled. “I already kicked, and you have to be really good to make me scream.”
The abrupt silence made me smile wider. Never play the game with me. Turning from the sink, I stared across the void toward the glowing eyes regarding me from their narrow slits.
“Kitten, are you going to cooperate?”
That question was pregnant with all kinds of possibilities.
Then again, so was my answer.
“What’s in it for me?”
“Your ticket out of here,” he promised. “And a long conversation, a real one, with communication on both sides. After that, you’re free to go wherever you like.”
Sounded too good to be true.
Probably was just a lure to get me to agree. Once we were out, he could focus on containing me. He also had allies waiting for him, the irascible Fin and the mysterious Rogue.
Not that I couldn’t handle multiple men, the more the merrier actually. Still…
“Neutral location for the conversation,” I said. “No secret fortress with security in place for my ‘protection.’”
“Done.”
“And if I say no,” I continued crossing toward him slowly. “I’ll mean ‘no.’”
“Understood. But you’ll listen to all of it,” he countered. “Not just the opening lines before you cut me off to go build your house.”
I could live with that.
“Then you have a deal.” I held out my hand. One conversation, and I was free? Yeah, I’d take that deal.
His rough palm glided against mine as he closed his fingers over mine. “Stay with me.” With a gentle tug, he pulled me to him then set my hand to his belt. “Grip back here, stay there. No matter what happens, do not get in front of me.”
“Even if someone is going to try and skewer you from behind?” I mean really, if he wanted to set explicit terms. “Because if they have to stab me to get to you, I’m probably going to move.”
Silence. “Fine. You may take out anyone who comes at us from behind.”
“Lover here, RDF, not fighter.”
“Now that,” he said slowly, his face suddenly close to mine. “Is the first true lie you’ve told me. I have faith in those claws, Kitten.”
A beat.
“It’s time. Save all debates, discussions, and arguments for once we’re out. Just remember, we have a deal.”
“Sir,” I purred. “Yes, sir.”
He shuddered, and I smiled. When everything has been taken from you and all you have left was revenge, there wasn’t much you wouldn’t do.
Even take jabs at the so-called rescuer who inserted himself into your problems.
The door clanged open, and we were moving. The hall had more light, which helped.
It also had a very large, very angry looking corpsesnare, who whirled at our presence and stared right at me, salivating.
“Maddox?” I said lightly when he stared the other way.
“Just stay with me.”
“Yes, well, I just wanted to point out that we might have a problem.”
Turning his head, he paused.
The corpsesnare’s jaw was open, showing his row of shiny teeth and letting bits of saliva fall to the stone below.
“Hi, Puppy,” I greeted him. “Who’s a good dog?”
It snarled.
“Kitten?”
“Hmm?”
“What are you doing?”
“Saying hi to the puppy.”
“That is not a puppy.”
Yeah well, I wasn’t a kitten either. But we did what we did with what we had. The corpsesnare began to approach, a low growl rumbling from him like an avalanche of rocks tumbling down the mountainside.
I could seduce a lot of things, but I’d never tried it against something so…impressively oversized and radiating barely suppressed rage.
Maddox turned abruptly. “Stay behind me.”
No problem. If it ate him, I’d use that as a distraction. Maddox gave me heartburn, and I hadn’t even had a bite.
Bracing himself, Maddox seemed to flicker as the corpsesnare continued to approach, his pace deliberate and measured, hackles up and a constant growl rising in volume.
When he was nearly in snapping range, he roared.
Ugh.
Someone needed to give him a breath mint.
Chapter 6
“It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t dragons.” - J.R.R. Tolkien
The corpsesnare’s roar redoubled along the hallway and set most of the hair on my body standing on end, including the wild tangle of curls falling from my head. While I would have loved a blow dryer earlier, this was not what I had in mind. Not even close.
For his part, Maddox hadn’t moved, not so much as rocked in the face of fetid breath, razor sharp teeth, and a salivating tongue. Even with my hand on his belt, Maddox didn’t seem solid, and yet, his presence swelled. The corpsesnare roared again, but he didn’t charge.
That was good.
The only lust he displayed at the moment was bloodlust, and it rolled off of him in stomach-curdling waves along with his rotten breath. All at once, Maddox shifted and the air grew hotter, heavier, and…holy shit.
Yeah, I blew that hold onto his belt promise, dropping it like a hot potato as I backed off from the dragon pushing at the walls around us. The stone began to shred as his wings extended. His size was massive, however, far more than the corpsesnare.
Puppy went for another growl, then retreated a step. He didn’t give up much ground, snarling and snapping with each motion of withdrawal he took.
Me? I didn’t hesitate, I was almost to the stairwell when the corpsesnare lunged and fire flooded the hallway.
I winced at the yelping shriek from the oversized beast. Hands pressed firmly over my ears, I dropped when fire flared down the hallway, and the smell of singed hair burned my nostrils. Oh. That was nasty.
The roar vibrating me to my bones wasn’t coming from the corpsesnare. I almost felt sorry for the oversized beasty, particularly when he yelped and pounded away in the opposite direction. All he’d wanted to do was chow down on some prisoner escapees, not his fault one of them turned out to be a damn dragon.
Seriously? Maddox’s arrival had turned my day upside down, too. So I got it.
The dragon in the hallway—yes, that sentence actually passed through my head—twisted around, eyes glaring to find me.
Amidst the smoke and haze of debris, I really didn’t have time to consider the color of his scales. But those slitted eyes glowing me? I’d know them anywhere. He opened his mouth, displaying an impressive array of teeth. Here was hoping we weren’t going to test his morning breath, because how about no?
Still twisting, he knocked more bricks loose, and a metal door screamed as his tail lashed against it, knocking it open. The explosion of magic lit the hallway up like a Fourth of July bonfire gone wrong.
I had to be honest here, something ran out of that cell he’d just carelessly torn open with his tail as it lashed about. His maneuvering that bulk through a hallway nowhere near big enough for him to spread out, not to mention his wings, kicked up more debris. But that thing or person or whatever that ran out of that room
?
It made it three steps in my direction when hot stuff there gave me an up-close look at hungry, hungry dragon. The chomp followed by the crunch of bones was both awesome in its display of power and utterly disgusting.
No sooner had he done it and swallowed did he look at me. Lowering my hands, I met that stare. “One, if you belch right now, you will find a dick shaped hole where your cock used to be. You might be big and scaley at the moment, but you gotta play shrinky dinky sooner or later.” Head cocked, the dragon stared at me, his inner eyelids blinked once. “Second, you better gargle with like industrial strength bleach before you try to bring your mouth anywhere near me.”
Just. Saying.
Ugh.
I had never been so utterly turned on and repulsed by the same action.
What? I was complicated. Suck it.
For the most part, Mad-Dragon—that name was totally sticking—huffed a sound that might have been laughter, even as a hint of fire burst from his nose. Was that the dragon equivalent of a giggle-snort? He continued toward me, showering more debris down from above, and his eyes shifted imperceptibly. The air around him shimmered like a desert mirage.
The temperature in the hallway left me sweating, but I could live with it. Deodorant would have been nice. But who was going to complain? Right, Mad-Dragon of flaming breath and questionable eating habits—I wasn’t going to worry about that. He began to draw back to his original size. The flicker of surprise on his face had me twisting and whirling just as a boot scraped the stone not far from me.
Guard uniforms.
I didn’t wait for whoever this was to identify themselves, I struck. Fortunately for me—yes, I said I was weird—they were also mid-strike as they swung the equivalent of a glowing billy club in my direction.
Catching his wrist as he was mid-downswing, I twisted and lunged forward, slamming the heel of my hand right at his crotch. Armor or not, the impact sent a jolt up my arm, but he still hissed, and his grip on the billy club of doom faltered. I didn’t wait for it to fall as I slid right into him. The lust wafting from him was also tinged with fear. He didn’t want me so much as he wanted desperately to contain me.