by Heather Long
Ancient whispers drifted along the hallway.
Yeah, that wasn’t creepy.
Arms folded over my breasts even if my nipples could probably cut diamonds they were so stiff, I tossed a mental coin. Pivoting left, I hurried along. The place had a bathing room. Maybe the toilets were there.
The heavy fucking doors were all through this section. Some gave with a good shove, others just held like they were made of iron. I found two more bedrooms, no bathrooms.
Okay. Think Fi.
I couldn’t feel the bottoms of my feet anymore, which was probably good, hopefully my bladder would freeze before I peed. It was bad enough I was running around bare-ass naked covered in spunk and flecks of dried blood. At the thought of the dried come, I swore my pussy flexed.
“Enough of that,” I informed myself. “You should be nursing a pulled muscle after all of that. Or three.” It certainly felt like I was. Not that I was complaining. At the end of the hall, I pushed open the last door and nearly wept.
It wasn’t quite the porcelain altar of the Ritz with a fancy French bidet, but it was a working toilet with a tile floor, and rough amenities. There was even a shower stall. I flushed the toilet once to make sure it worked.
Since my breath kept fogging, I was surprised the pipes weren’t frozen. The water swirled away, and I grimaced as I settled on the seat.
Nope. Fuck that.
Too cold. I squatted.
I don’t care how unattractive it might look or how much my core complained. At least the prison had access to a toilet without walking through the wilderness of a keep to find it.
A keep in the wilderness.
A sudden longing for my house on the cliff with its floor to ceiling windows and ocean views flooded me. Southern California was so temperate. Getting cold there would take some serious effort.
Unlike this gothic monolithic nightmare.
A long sigh escaped me as I relieved myself. Seriously, it took me a while to pee. I would probably be dehydrated at this rate. It didn’t matter, the relief was so profound, it was nearly orgasmic.
Eh.
Maybe not that good.
Still, it was damn nice.
Finished, I cleaned up and flushed again, then moved to the sink. What were the chances of hot water in here? As much as I ached, I’d rather go find that hedonistic bathing chamber I’d been in the day before.
I’d also like some damn privacy.
I debated finding my way back to the guys or striking out to explore. The rest of me was rapidly growing numb, too. How long did it take frostbite to kick in?
There was no mirror over the sink. Well, I didn’t really care what I looked like at the moment. Probably better not to scare myself. I did, however, rinse out my mouth. No toothpaste or even a toothbrush—not that I would borrow one of their toothbrushes. Suck their dick? No problem. Use their toothbrush? Gag.
With a finger, I scrubbed at my teeth, then wet my mouth and spit a few times. Not great, but between the icy water and my finger, it helped.
Top of the list, toiletries.
Second item on that list, clothes preferably, including a fucking parka.
Where was this asinine place anyway?
Once in the hall, I stared back the way I came then cocked my head toward the stairs.
Vampires were supposed to have really sharp hearing, right?
So I focused.
Yeah.
I couldn’t hear much more than the faint whistle of wind from somewhere and the sound of my own breathing. Yeah. Impressive I was not. The lack of emotion was also telling. Every living thing possessed some form of lust. A lust for life, a lust for food, sometimes a lust for their next breath. Even the most devout possessed a lust for something. Shockingly enough, a lust for charity and a lust to do good things could exist. Granted, it was like having a plain potato chip with zero flavor and no seasoning—it could fill the hole, but it lacked any real satisfaction.
Still, the only hints of it I could detect came from behind me.
The guys.
So…we were alone.
Fine by me.
I descended the steps to start my hunt. Baths and clothes. Maybe just clothes, and I could get the hell out of here and make my way back to where I belonged. Then I could hunt down Dimitri and shove a cactus up his ass. I had stilettos thicker than his dick. Maybe I would start with one of them and work my way up to the cactus.
The heavy stone walls threatened to close in on me as I made my way down the steps. The lack of natural or artificial light wasn’t doing much for the mood. I half-expected to Dr. Frankenfurter to pop out and start singing in his teddy.
Lips curling at the mental image, I tried to cast Grumpilstilskin, Dick Face, or Astral-Boy in the role.
Astral-Boy for sure. He had that angelic look and the body I’d been sleeping on would definitely look fine in or out of a teddy.
I descended two full flights of stairs before I found another set of doors. These things were big enough that Maddox would be able to fit through them maybe.
Huh, maybe that was why the place was so tall and wide. They’d had a dragon hanging out, probably saved money on the repair bills. Dragon would be nice right about now, at least he was his own heat source.
The door opened into a huge hall. Three steps led down into a sunken floor area. Columns lined it, and there were even larger gated doors to my right. I’d bet all the non-existent money in my invisible clothes those went outside. Based on their height and construction, they had likely been built with Maddox in mind.
Joy.
Twisting, I glanced at the huge receiving hall. It was like something out of the Middle Ages—right down to the throne on a dais toward the end. There were a few seats around it, but the throne was definitely that. Maybe not ornate, but definitely elevated.
So which of them was the master of the keep?
My money was on Rogue. He had that arrogance to him. In fact, he kind of made Maddox look like a pussy cat.
A grumpy pussycat, sure, but still a kitty dragon.
The idea made me snicker despite the gloom of the place. The ancient whisper drifted against me like an errant breeze. Another shiver worked its way through me. Yeah, I wanted the mansion on the cliffs over the beach, not the old-world keep in the assback of nowhere.
Back up for the baths, or maybe down?
Wait. This was the receiving hall. Most of the stuff on this level would likely be for public access. I glanced back at the stairs. Those pools had heated water coming from somewhere; old world construction would use cisterns and aqueducts.
Downstairs it was.
It took me another thirty minutes of hunting, but I found it by following the smell of dampness, and it was tucked on a lower level on the far side of another huge open space. This one wasn’t as decorative, but I could almost hear the clang of steel and the rustle of leather. A training room?
That kind of made sense.
I couldn’t feel anything anymore. Once I shoved the door open, warm moist air hit me like a slap to the face, and I sighed in absolute relief.
Shoving the door closed, I leaned against it. It was hardly a workout to walk all over the place, but I was bone-deep tired. I headed over to the first pool and slid into it. The hot water stung my icy flesh, and I hissed, teeth clenching as the shivering and teeth chattering hit me all over again. I needed to wash, but I couldn’t get my fingers to cooperate.
“If you’d wanted a bath,” Fin said idly. “You should have just asked me.”
Hypothermia kept me from letting out a startled scream or jumping like one of those girls in a horror movie this place would make the great set for. However, I did spin and punch him square in the nose. The sudden motion sent pins and needles raking through my frozen limbs, but the numbness protected my hand when a couple of the bones crunched at the blow.
Fin winced and put a hand to his face, even if the blow barely rocked him. A real smile curved the corners of his mouth. “Maddox said you we
re a fighter.”
“Fuck you.”
“I won’t say no.” His grin grew more teasing, and I rolled my eyes as I sank into the water. Sobering, he shook his head, then shed a heavy robe before following me into the water. “Come here.”
“Why?” Hostility rolled off the word, but it didn’t slow Fin down. He grasped my arm and hauled me over to him.
“Because you’re freezing, Beautiful. And I can help warm you up.” He pulled me right to him, one arm around my waist and the other hooked around my shoulders.
The hot water swirled around me, but he was warmer still, and his hands were like brands where they rested against me. He sank us down to sit so my shoulders were under the water. My tangled hair was soaked from the mid-length down, but I didn’t care.
“If you knew I was up and looking, why didn’t you just tell me where the bathing room was?”
“I didn’t know you were looking for it,” Fin told me, then kissed my nose. “My apologies, Beautiful.”
I stared at him. “You thought I was wandering around this frigid ass mausoleum naked for kicks?”
A grin flashed across his face. “I didn’t know what you were doing, Beautiful, but since you didn’t come back to bed, I thought I’d watch and see. I figured if you wanted us, you would have at least come and woken us up.”
Yeah, that was too reasonable.
I scowled. “Spying is kind of creepy.”
“If I were spying, I would agree with you. I think of it more as advanced protection detail. You get your privacy, and I get to look after your gorgeous ass.” He cupped his hand against my ass. “Speaking of which…”
“I’m sore, you can wait.”
He blinked at the rejection, but his smile only grew. “Good to know, we’ll be sure to take better care of you. Rogue didn’t mean to be so rough, you know. It’s just been a while.”
And I’d had him on a lust loop. “The rough was fine, he’s very talented,” I said with a shrug. “Just I’m definitely sore in a lot of places.” I lifted a hand to finger the puffy bite at my neck. I didn’t want their teeth at my throat, but Rogue had bitten into me while he fucked me stupid, and I hadn’t said a damn thing.
“Why the hell did he drain me?”
Fin snapped his focus from my breasts back to me. No, I hadn’t missed the way he’d zeroed in on them after my comment about liking it rough. Pretty boy here probably didn’t know what really rough was like. I could show him—after I no longer felt like I was straddling a bowling ball.
What the hell was Rogue that he’d knotted up in me like that, too?
Did they all knot like that?
Studying me from beneath half-lowered lashes, Fin traced his fingers up to the spot and a shudder went through me as he circled the bite. “You fed off the warden.”
“So?”
“So, shadow demons have powerful blood, don’t get me wrong. The more of them you take in, the more access they have to you. You probably had a craving for him, he came to you often, then started stretching it out. Making you wait a little bit longer each time.”
Eyes narrowed, I nodded. “I figured he just didn’t think I needed as much. He definitely fed me well.”
“I’d keep that last part to yourself where Maddox is concerned. He already wants to kill the guy. If he finds out he was marking you too, it could be bad.”
I rolled my eyes. “Back to the draining part.”
Fin sighed. “Rogue drained you because we all need to. We need to drain and feed you back up. Your transition was sloppily done, and then giving you nothing but a shadow demon to feed off of is a terrible idea. You’re vulnerable. We’ll make sure you’re not.”
“Uh huh, you know what I hear you saying?” Despite my irritation, I relaxed more and more as feeling surged through my limbs. The hot water melted away the chill. “We want to make sure the only ones marking you are us.”
“Not denying it,” Fin said easily. “We can feed both sides of you quite easily, but we need to balance you out. I should have gotten to you sooner, Beautiful. I missed you by mere hours.”
No skin off my nose. “I’m not staying here.”
“A discussion for another day,” Fin told me, then pressed his lips just below that spot on my neck, and I would have rocked off his lap, but he gripped me tighter. “Not going to bite. You’ve made it clear you don’t want us there.” Another kiss. “Was that where Dimitri bit you?”
Fingers curling, I glared at him. “Don’t dig around in my head.”
“Can’t help it if you projected those thoughts of vengeance so loudly, Beautiful. I have no problem helping you remove his spine one vertebrae at a time.”
Oh. That was a provocative image.
“Or we could nail him to the floor,” Fin continued kissing a path to my shoulder. “Nail guns are really neat. We could start with his penis and work our way out to all his extremities.”
“Vicious,” I approved. “I like it.”
His lips curved against me, then he kissed my biceps and glanced up me. “Bloodthirst is very normal in a baby vamp.”
“It’s not his blood I crave.”
“No, it’s his suffering because he took something from you that wasn’t his.”
Precisely. “And he’s a moron.”
Which was almost worse than if he’d done it out of some evil nefarious purpose.
“Does that bother you more because of his choice, or because you fucked him?” Genuine curiosity lived in that question.
I shrugged. “Probably a little bit of both. I just needed to feed, and I figured it was an even exchange. The sex wasn’t even that great.” Hell, I hadn’t even gotten off at first. No, I had come later. He had though.
Twice.
Asshole.
I’d also died later, too.
Good times.
“Oh, we’ll definitely start with his dick then,” Fin told me cheerfully. “Not pleasing you was his first mistake.”
Okay, I laughed. That was funny.
Fin’s eyes twinkled as he grinned. “Feel better?”
“A little bit.”
“Good.” He pulled my hand from the water and kissed my palm. “The soaking pool is much warmer.”
“It was warmer when there were big ass bonfires lit in the hearths, too.” Neither of which were burning right now.
“I can fix that if you like, Beautiful.” The offer came with another kiss, this time to my fingers. “Would you like a fire?”
I studied him. “Are you trying to seduce me?”
“Is it working?” He raised his brows and then ruined the effect with a laugh.
“Not really.” Though he didn’t need to try that hard. He really was very pretty.
“Thank you.” This time, he dropped the kiss on my lips. “But no, I’m not trying to seduce you. Not yet anyway.” With care, he stood and then carried me through the water to the steps before climbing to the second pools. Even though we were in the chilly air for a moment, I barely felt it and steam rolled up from our skin.
Oh, I groaned as he waded us into the hotter pool. Tension I hadn’t even realized I was carrying faded away.
He set me down against the carved spots in the stone that made for a perfect cradle, then knelt between my thighs before he kissed me again. This time, it wasn’t just a peck, but a genuine, open-mouth, tongue flicking, toe curling, pussy-clenching kiss that had me fisting his hair. When he lifted his head, he licked his lips.
“I’ll get the fires started, then I’ll go fetch you a breakfast.”
Real food.
My stomach growled and did a little flip-flop.
“I really can still eat regular food?” It was such an idiotic question. I didn’t want to be a vampire. But all they’d given me at the prison were bags of blood that I wouldn’t touch. No other food. I hadn’t had anything except water in weeks.
“Yes, Beautiful,” Fin promised me. “You can have anything you want. Tell me, and I’ll make it happen.”
I eyed him for a long moment. Things that sounded too good to be true often were. “What will it cost me?”
“Nothing,” he said, frowning, his playful expression turning fierce. “I want to take care of you.”
And I wanted to believe that…
If he heard that thought, he didn’t comment on it.
“Tell me what I can bring you to make you smile.” The quiet plea there touched me, even if I didn’t want to admit it. That, and he really hadn’t made a move to get me to ride his cock. Impressive, since most guys wanted in me within a few minutes of talking to me. But he and Maddox had both handled it well. Rogue had too, really, until I lashed out at him.
Worth it.
“Coffee,” I told him honestly. “I’d kill for fresh coffee, a gallon, I like it with a little sugar and cream. Bacon. I haven’t had bacon in weeks.” My mouth watered at the thought of it. “Real British fry-up actually, the bacon, the eggs, the English muffin, some pork and beans, and sausages.” My stomach growled vociferously, and Fin’s smile grew. “And clothes, my clothes, something I can put on because it’s so cold here.”
Lips quirking, he said, “I will bring you back all that you have asked for, though I might work on a way to heat the place. I like watching you walk around naked. Your body is spectacular.”
I snorted. “If I’m naked, then so is everyone else.”
“Deal,” Fin said with a wink. Then he vanished from the water. Vanished from the whole room. I pivoted to look around for him, but he wasn’t there. Suddenly, fire boomed in one of the fireplaces, then the other. The roar of two miniature explosions made me laugh.
“Nice,” I called out. “Very nice.”
You’re welcome, Beautiful. I’ll be back soon. Relax and stay warm. I’d like that soreness to go away so I can show you just how much I’d like to please you.
Okay.
That was hot.
I heard that…
Dick.
Heard that, too.
I laughed.
Well, I’d give them this.
They weren’t boring.