No. Not if. When.
He had no idea what it was going to look like, but he knew there was no way he could do it without power exchange.
Would Kelsey agree to it? He didn’t know.
25
Kelsey rose three hours before the sun set, which meant she was up at two forty. It was a record for her.
Clearly, none of her housemates expected her to be up, because only Etta was in her suite when she rolled out of her hidey-hole.
“You’re up early.” Etta didn’t show surprise. Her sentence was merely an observation.
“Yes. The sun feels as if it’s draining me, and yet, I’m awake.”
“You’ll get used to it. We aren’t quite as strong when the sun is still up. I’m at about eighty-five percent, I think, but I recall being fifty or sixty percent when I was younger.”
“Sixty feels about right. Maybe sixty-five. More than half, but not by much.” She blew out a breath. “But I feel much stronger than I think I was in Australia, even with the sun sapping some of my power.”
“Yes. You’ll no longer be bottom of the food chain when you come to the coterie house. If I’m not mistaken, you’re going to be somewhere in the middle.”
The door opened, and Eunice stepped in.
“You’re up?!” Unlike Etta, Eunice sounded shocked.
She wanted to point out that he hadn’t knocked, but somehow, it was okay — in the same way it was okay for the vampires who’d been over her in Australia to ignore any rights she might have. It made sense, since Etta and Marco had assigned him as Dominant to her. She was under orders to see him as over her, so she did.
She was stronger now though. A lot stronger. But it didn’t matter.
“I’ve called for Collosa,” Etta said. “He’s at the Drake offices, but says he can get away. He’ll be here shortly.”
“He’s doing a physical inventory on ammo,” Eunice said. “Something that needs doing, but he can step away from.”
Kelsey crossed her arms. “Ya’ll are keeping Aaron and Nathan apprised of things, otherwise he’d be guarding someone.”
“That’s the deal.” Eunice told her. “Two months for you to get settled, and then we re-appraise the situation.”
Etta wore a beautiful, slinky red dress. Not formal, but not exactly everyday, either. It came to just below her knees, and it hugged her body to show just how thin she was. Etta smoothed it down the back of her thighs as she sat on the sofa, and spread her arms to the sides, resting on the back of the sofa. She crossed her legs, and looked regal. She had the power of a Master Vampire despite the fact she was Secundo.
“Eunice texted me while I was down, asking for a meeting with me when I rose,” Etta told her. “I’ve approved his request.”
When she didn’t continue, Kelsey looked to Eunice.
“I didn’t expect to like you,” Eunice told her. “But then you showed up in a motherfucking Prancing Pony shirt, and asked about a D&D game — and after showing up three times, my friends have asked you to DM. It’s unheard of.”
Humans fill in with words, at a time like this, but the vampires had taught her you learn more by being silent. So while Kelsey wanted to tell him she liked him too, and how happy she was to have someone in the house who understood her, she remained silent.
Eunice walked to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “I haven’t had a relationship in nine years. I train submissives for other people. I’m aware some of the submissives who’ve come to me to be trained have wanted a relationship with me, and some of them offered themselves for a three-month term, once their training was finished. One offered herself for six months, completely giving up her autonomy in exchange for being my slave. My housemates will argue those were relationships, but the fact of the matter is they had an expiration date from the beginning. I never, even once, considered asking them to stay longer.”
Part of her wanted to put her hands on top of his, over her shoulders, but her inner voice told her to keep them at her sides. Her vampire training told her to keep listening, but her instincts told her she needed to give him something. He wasn’t used to this kind of thing, and she could sense his tension and discomfort, even if she couldn’t smell it.
“I liked you from the start as well, and I was disappointed you were so clear, at first, about not interacting with me, other than as the disciplinarian.” The sentence didn’t come out right, at all, but she decided not to try to fix it. Georgio would’ve told her to let it stand, that she’d just make it worse by trying again.
Eunice glanced sideways to Etta and looked back to Kelsey. “I’ve asked for a change in that status. If you’re okay with it, Etta has agreed to act as spotter. I’m still not volunteering to be a blood donor, but Etta feels...” he shook his head. “No. I’m not laying this on her. This was my suggestion. My intention. I want to dominate you in ways that have nothing to do with punishment. I want to train you to my voice, my demands.” He took a breath. “But I don’t want it to fuck up who we are outside of the bedroom.”
Sometimes, the submissive has to make a move. She just does. Kelsey slid her hands up his chest, between his arms, grabbed him by the shoulders, pulled herself to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms circled her body, and she leaned her chin against his shoulder, her mouth angled away from his neck so she didn’t make him nervous. At five-seven and five-ten, they were nearly the same height. So different than a hug with Collosa, but both perfect in their own way.
“The first year I was a slave — a human sex slave to vampires — I had to learn how not to be a nerd. It was more than clothes, makeup, and hair. It was learning about small talk, learning to never quote Gandalf in normal conversation. I’d spent my life avoiding social norms, and they forced me to confront them head on. I rebelled, and I very nearly walked away.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I wanted to be a vampire. I want to know where technology is in two hundred years. I want to ride the wave of it. No, I want to be part of the wave — mold it as we go. In the near future, AI is going to be a serious problem. Not just for a decade, but for centuries. I want to be there to help corral it so it doesn’t decide humans need to be eradicated. That’s only possible if I cheat the grave.”
“My second real op in the military, I quoted Gandalf.” He grimaced with the memory. “I rapidly learned that isn’t appreciated. Look, if you want to keep me as a friend, I get it, but I’m interested in taking this farther. At the same time, you have a connection with both Collosa and Fabio, so it seems simplest to handle this first time as a threesome. Fabio’s in Knoxville today on a one-person job. Collosa’s available.”
She made a quick decision, rested her cheek on his shoulder, and spoke in the softest, lowest voice she could manage. “We can figure out the details later. For the next couple of hours, until aftercare is finished, I’m at your command, Sir.”
Because if he wanted to make this more, he’d have to be involved in aftercare. Kelsey didn’t have a whole lot of lines she planned to draw, but that was one of them.
He used the same soft tones, though deeper. “Don’t think I didn’t hear the demand in there. Lucky for you, I’m looking forward to aftercare.”
He rubbed her back and spoke in a normal voice. “Etta. I assume you can monitor us from the other suite on this level?”
“I can.”
Having her in the other room merely gave them the illusion of privacy, since Etta would be in Kelsey’s head, but that was okay.
A ding over the household speakers let them know someone was coming up the driveway, and Eunice pulled his phone from his pocket. Five seconds later, he let them know it was Collosa, and Kelsey didn’t bother to let him know she’d known he was close nearly a minute before the ding.
Etta stood and looked at her, appraising her. Judging her. Finally, she said, “A mongoose and a grizzly bear. Both mammals. Both strong.”
Kelsey looked for the message in those words as Etta walked out of the room. If
she was going to have an animal resonate with her, it was most likely to be a warm-blooded mammal. She did much better with them, energy-wise, than she did with bird or reptile shifters.
But she wasn’t likely to find the shifter she’d want to bring around her in larger numbers for another century or more.
And yet, her former master had brought in all kinds of shifters — which meant it was possible she was ready, she just hadn’t had fed from one yet.
But feeding from them wasn’t the only way to figure it out. The effects from a sexual exchange of energy might show it as well.
Did Etta think her animal might be the mongoose? Could that be why Eunice knew when she was awake? When she was strong or weak?
James walked in the door, and all thoughts fled her mind. At six foot ten inches tall, he was exactly a foot taller than Eunice, and he probably weighed two hundred more pounds.
And yet, she wasn’t certain who would win if the two of them fought. She was absolutely certain she never wanted to find out.
She moved to back up, and Eunice let go of her. James stepped to them and cradled her cheek in the palm of his huge hand.
“Sometimes, sex between us is gentle. It’s about the connection — something I’ve only experienced with one other, before you. Sometimes, it’s about me giving you what you need, and sometimes it’s about you taking what I need to give you.”
She nodded. All of that was true, and she valued her time with him, no matter which kind of day it was.
“Tonight, you’ll take what I give you.”
He paused a few seconds. “I need to hear it from you, little one. Look at me and say it. If you don’t mean it, I’ll know.”
More than anything, she wanted to be what he needed. Wanted to be a vessel for his pleasure. She met his gaze a few seconds, to be certain she meant every ounce of what she said. “Tonight, I’ll take what you give me.”
Collosa looked up, met Eunice’s gaze. The two of them were nearly always on the same wavelength, whether they were sharing a woman or interrogating a prisoner. Sometimes, Eunice preferred good cop while Collosa was the scary bad cop. Other times, Collosa was the good cop while Eunice made the detainee shit his pants just from slow, deep threats of what they could do if information didn’t come spilling out.
It was the same when they shared a woman — good cop, bad cop, and it was fun to switch back and forth until she didn’t know if she was coming or going, but she knew better than to do anything without their fucking permission.
“Strip,” Collosa told her. “Go to your knees and kiss his boots. I’m gonna take a quick shower.”
She turned back to Eunice, who stood with his arms crossed, waiting for her to decide what to do.
But there wasn’t a decision. She’d put herself at the mercy of these men. She’d agreed to be submissive to them — not only because it was apparently important a baby vamp have keepers, but because she never wanted to be the person in control during sex. She’d been put with vampire men who weren’t as strong as her in the past two years, and she’d hated it. Abhorred the fact her ability to decide to be submissive was taken from her.
She wanted to submit, but she wanted to choose who she submitted to.
Kelsey wasn’t likely to have the opportunity to choose for another hundred years, at least. These men had been foisted on her, but she didn’t mind. If she’d been given the choice, she’d have picked them, once she got to know them.
So without hesitating, she pulled her tank top off, then the exercise bra, unfastened her jeans, and pushed them down along with her underwear. It killed her not to stop and fold them neatly, but she tossed them all onto the sofa, stepped to Eunice, dropped to her knees, leaned forward, and put her lips to one of his boots, just below the laces.
The boots were black leather and looked like some kind of military footwear. A hint of her lipstick stayed behind when she rose back to her knees, and she focused on it, rather than lifting her gaze to Eunice’s face. He hadn’t told her his rules, so she’d remain in place until given orders.
“Did you pay attention to the slave’s rules, when she was here?”
“I tried not to, Sir.”
“Why?”
“She was stupid. Silly. Also, her heart wasn’t in it. She annoyed me. I’d been given orders to not see her, and it wasn’t hard to follow them.”
“Why are you looking at my boots?”
“It feels right. I’m following James’ order and showing you respect. He didn’t tell me what to do after I kissed your boot, but this was his last order, and it felt right to hold this position.”
He took a step back, leaned over, touched her chin, and lifted it until their gazes met.
“It was the exactly right thing to do. You’re correct, the recent slave was both silly and stupid, so she needed rules for every fucking thing. I’m good at delegating rules, but I don’t think I will with you. Keep doing what feels right. If it isn’t what I want you to do, I’ll tell you.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
He smiled. “You’re welcome. Unfasten my pants and lick my balls. No teeth.”
How many times had she fantasized about this? Not a full fantasy, because she wouldn’t let her thoughts go there completely, but the beginnings of one, where she was on her knees, baring his cock, preparing to worship it.
The best part of that fantasy wasn’t going to happen though, because she wasn’t going to drink from him.
And her inner vampire thirsted for him.
So she pushed the vampire down, and licked Eunice’s balls. It was important she showed him she wanted to do this, but it was so damned hard not to lick at the spot right over his artery. She could sense her teeth sinking in, could taste him on her tongue. He tasted so damned good, just licking, and she savored the taste.
She pushed those thoughts down again and payed attention to the spots that got the most reaction from him — same spot on both balls, so she licked all around them. Teasing. Teasing. Teasing.
And then sucked one of them into her mouth and laved it hard and fast with her tongue. He tasted so fucking good, she had to push her inner vampire down yet again.
Kelsey didn’t know how long she licked his balls. Five minutes, maybe. She’d seen Eunice’s cock when he’d fucked the silly stupid cunt, so she’d already known he was big. She’d watched with her peripheral vision when all three men had taken her.
When Kelsey had been jealous because she was never going to experience that.
Now, she had a much closer view, and she made more comparisons. Wider than Fabio, if a little shorter. None of them came anywhere close to James’s cock, though. His dick still scared her a little, even as it excited her.
She continued to focus on what brought Eunice pleasure, and she built on it until the lust poured off him. Since she’d first learned to feed from the lust in the air, she’d learned anticipation is a completely separate category of lust, and one she was a big fan of. She had to let her inner vampire come up a little to drink it in, and it made it harder to focus on licking instead of biting, so she pushed the vampire parts of her back down and stopped feeding from the lust.
The water turned off in the shower. She heard movement and assumed James was drying himself. A minute later, she heard footsteps, the sound of the murphy bed coming down, covers pulled down, a body on the mattress.
“Come lick my dick, tiny vampire. On all fours, between my legs with your little bottom in the air. I’m thinking you need a spanking before we start.”
Kelsey sat back on her heels, put her hands to the floor, straightened her legs so her ass was in the air and her hands still on the floor, and stood. Without saying a word, she walked to the bed and did as James had ordered. She didn’t know why he was giving the orders, but that was okay. It wasn’t for her to know. At some point, she’d need to know what to do in the case of conflicting orders — with vampires, you always followed the most powerful, unless orders were to follow the most recent. With these three, she’d nee
d guidance, so perhaps it was good orders were only coming from James.
“Tell me she has a wooden hairbrush,” Eunice said from behind her. If she wasn’t mistaken, she heard him refastening his jeans and belt. He’d taken his shirt off while she licked his balls, and she’d loved the way his abs moved and tensed while she worked on him.
“Wooden bath brush,” James told him. “Deluxe. Nice and heavy, with a round brush part, big as a saucer.”
“Excellent. I do love beating little submissive asses with their own belongings.”
Eunice waited for Collosa to order her to put the head of his cock in his mouth. This wasn’t the first time they’d done this to a slave, but it felt completely different. Was it because she was a vampire?
No, he didn’t think it was.
He rubbed the back of the bath brush on her perfect little ass cheeks — bubbly and curvy, mostly muscle with just the right amount of cushioning over the muscle. This ass begged to be beaten.
“Suck on the head of my dick,” Collosa told her. “Suck hard. If you come off, you’ll have my cock down your throat for the rest of your spanking.” He softened his voice and added, “Look at me, Kels. Don’t look away. I want to see you when he spanks you.”
There are all kinds of warmups, and Kelsey was going to get the difficult kind today. The kind that happens from two strikes — one to each cheek. He’d used enough bath brushes, he knew how hard to swing for this length and weight. He settled it on her right cheek, the one farthest from him, and then pulled it away and hit her cheek hard enough it pushed her entire body forward a few inches. She kept ’Losa’s dick in her mouth, though he knew it’d been close.
Without giving her time to recover, he took a tiny step back and did it again, hitting dead center of her left ass cheek this time. Once again, she stayed on the head of the grizzly’s ridiculously large dick. Impressive.
Present Tense: Pleasure Times Four (Out of the Fire Book 3) Page 19