Tattoos and Cupcakes (Amulet of Queens Book 1)

by Everly Taylor

  Seemed easy enough, but everything did on paper though, right? Taking a deep breath I lifted his wrist to my lips, opening my mouth wide to allow room for the long fangs to fully puncture the skin there. Before I could back out I sunk my fangs in deep, the soft flesh giving way under my sharp teeth. I stopped when my lips closed around his wrist and I felt the blood pool in my mouth, its heady taste shooting straight through me like a triple shot of espresso.

  I felt him groan beneath me, shifting closer. The pleasure Calledora told me about must be kicking in. He started stroking my hair, his bliss evident beneath me, bulging from his pants. Inwardly I laughed, this guy had nothing on a certain other boner I had the pleasure of watching while I worked.

  Swallowing hungrily, I pulled deeply from his wrist, desperate to fill that cavernous hole that had made itself known inside of me. It was like a drug that I couldn’t get enough of and I was determined to have my fill. It wasn’t satisfying me fast enough though, I wanted more, and I instinctively knew where I could get it. I pulled away from his wrist and knelt on the couch, pulling him toward me so I could get a good angle on his neck.

  Calledora grabbed my wrist from her place next to me. “Selena, I think that’s enough for now.” She tugged on me.

  There was no way that was enough, I had to have more. I shoved her off of me, sending her crashing into one of the cabinets across the room, wood and glass crashing down around her. Not waiting for her to return I sunk my fangs deep into his throat, the pulse there pumping his blood, a steady thick flow, into my mouth, filling me much faster than it had at his wrist.

  I sucked greedily at his throat, not sure how I had been able to deny myself this for so long. There was no way something like this could be so satisfying if it was wrong, could it? I pulled hard again, forcing my fangs a little deeper, drinking as his blood flowed slower now, his body sagging against me. The pulse at his neck slackened and the blood flow decreased as I drained him.

  Quickly, as the thought hit me, I drew my fangs back, licking the punctures at his neck to stop any more blood loss, then repeated the same motion at his wrist. As much as I wanted to keep going I couldn’t take his life. That wouldn’t make me any better than the people I was learning to protect myself from, would it? I went to check his pulse, but realized I could already sense it beating just beneath his skin. He was weak, but I knew he would be okay.

  I sat back on my heels with blood trickling down my chin from my messy feeding. Leaning back farther, I wiped the blood off the best I could and I propped myself against the edge of the sofa as Calledora pulled herself out of the rubble. “Selena, what the hell was that?” she asked, getting to her feet.

  Smiling sheepishly, I replied, “I’m sorry, I have no clue. I stopped though.” I motioned to my slumped over companion.

  “I’m glad you did, I would have never forgiven myself if you had not stopped,” she said, coming over and checking him for herself. “He’s weak, but definitely alive.” I couldn’t decide if she looked relieved or terrified in that moment.

  “Why don’t you go get some rest? You will need it for tomorrow. I will take care of him to make sure he recovers,” she suggested. I agreed, not because I thought I needed sleep, but because I could tell it’s what she needed from me in that moment. I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened when I flung her from me, but it clearly shook her.

  Following her directions I found my room, knowing I wouldn’t be asleep for a while, the new blood coursing through my system was an adrenaline rush like I’ve never had before. I was just going to lay on the bed for a minute to rest before I changed for the night. Laying my head down on the soft pillows, I instantly fell asleep.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Selena

  The sound of frantic voices arguing pulled me from my sleep, deep and male, I would know them anywhere. Following the noise down the hall, I recognized the upper floor of the club and made my way toward the men. I reached the half open door and peered in, the three of them stood inside fighting heatedly.

  “No one just fucking disappears out of thin air Adrien,” Damien said, pacing back and forth.

  “You know just as well as I do that there is other shit at play here Damien. I don’t know what the hell happened to Selena, but you can’t go exploding on Valentina like that, she has no clue what happened either,” Adrien argued, more frustrated than I had ever seen him before.

  “All we can do is focus on trying to find answers, arguing amongst ourselves is not going to solve anything. We just need to move forward and take it one step at a time,” Aldrich added, trying to keep the peace.

  “Easy for you to say, you don’t fucking care about her the way we do,” Damien shouted, turning to Aldrich.

  “You don’t know how I feel about her, so take that shit back,” he growled, his warning apparent. “You have no fucking right,” he started, as his stride closed the distance between the two of them, “just because—” He stopped as I pushed the door open and made my presence known.

  I stepped into the doorframe, looking between them. It was probably better to break up this little powwow before things got too out of hand. Adrien rushed over, lifting me in his arms and spinning me in a circle, burying his head in my neck. “Holy shit, you’re okay Selena,” he murmured against me. Damn, it seemed like it had been forever since I had been away, it was almost like this was a dream.

  Laughing as he put me back on my feet I looked over at the other two, not really sure what to say considering what I had just overheard. Not to mention I had snuck out on Damien right after some really intense sex. “Hey guys.” I waved lamely, with Adrien still holding my other hand.

  Damien rushed across the room and dragged me against him. “Don’t ever fucking do that again,” he muttered against my hair, squeezing me tightly again as he kissed my temple then pushed me back to study me. “Where the hell were you?” he asked, always the one to demand answers right away.

  I was saved from answering the question for the moment when Aldrich stepped up next to Damien. “Hey princess, it’s good to have you back,” Aldrich said, his eyes full of emotion and daring Damien to say something. Stepping away from the other two, I went to him and hugged him close, and he hesitantly put his arms around me, holding on.

  “Thank you for worrying about me Aldrich,” I said, standing on my toes and placing a small kiss on his lips, his eyes widening in surprise. It was tempting, so tempting, to find out more about what lay underneath Aldrich’s stoic shell, but for now I had to wait and answer questions.

  Turning back to the other two, with Aldrich still by my side, I thought for a moment about where to start. I wasn’t exactly sure how much they did or didn’t know. If it weren’t for the fact that I could still feel the darkness quiet inside me, I would never have believed that what I was about to share with them actually happened. I doubted they would even believe me.

  “So, are you going to tell us where you went? Why the fuck there is blood on your sleeve?” Damien added, lifting my hand and showing the blood I had wiped from my chin earlier that evening.

  “It’s kind of a long story, can we sit down?” I requested, trying to give myself more time to figure out how to explain everything.

  I realized my error when he grinned and nodded to the bed. “If you want to sit, you sit there. We are not leaving this room without answers,” Damien demanded.

  They appeared to have been arguing in one of the smaller rooms, which consisted of only a queen bed and a comfortable looking chair. Well, I wasn’t going to let this stop me. I sat on the edge of the bed, with Damien in the chair in front of me, and the other two each taking a side.

  “So how much do you already know?” I ventured.

  “We were called to Valentina because you decided that bleeding on the amulet by yourself was a good idea. When she called us we never expected to find you gone, maybe hurt, but not gone. And she had no explanation as to where you went,” Adrien recounted, making me wince a little at the hurt in his words
.

  “I’m sorry, I had no clue,” I apologized. “I thought it would be just like when Valentina had done it, some blood and done. I had no idea it would fucking transport me somewhere,” I said, hoping they would understand.

  “What do you mean transport you somewhere?” Aldrich inquired next to me.

  “I still don’t know exactly, but I bled on the amulet and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in the woods somewhere. I didn’t get a chance to ask Calledora how the amulet brought me there, she just said that if it did, then I was the right person,” I explained.

  “Care to explain who Calledora is?” Damien asked.

  “Shit.” I drug my hand through my hair in frustration. “I’m not really explaining this well, am I?”

  “Not so much Cupcake.” Smiling reassuringly, Adrien squeezed my thigh. Damn, when he did that it made heat pool between my thighs. Now was not the time for that though, especially with all three of them in the room.

  “Okay, let me try again…” Ugh, I was terrible at these things. Adrien’s hand on my thigh was not helping, and it was worse now that Aldrich had moved his hand to my lower back. I was sure it was just to show support, but damn these men were killing me.

  I cleared my throat. Focus damn it. “So yeah, I bled on the amulet and woke up in the middle of some woods. I found Valentina’s mother, Calledora, with all of the other past queens waiting in some church looking place. She said they had been waiting for me and I needed to train, I needed to accept who and what I was before I could return.”

  They all stared at me blankly, and Adrien was the first one to speak up. “You don’t think that it’s weird at all that they were waiting for you, in some place that none of us have ever heard of before?”

  “Sure, at first I did, but they had so many chances to hurt me and didn’t. Not to mention why would she take the time to train me if she had any intention of harming me? I trust them Adrien,” I said.

  “How did you escape to get back to us?” Aldrich asked, ever the logical one.

  “I didn’t exactly escape, I fell asleep.” I winced at the way that sounded. “Yeah, okay, I know that sounds crazy when I say it that way, but I did. I laid on the bed to rest for a minute with no intention of actually going to sleep, I was too energetic from, well, I just was, and the next thing I knew I was here.”

  They all looked at me skeptically, still silent. “Does it matter how I got back? I’m at least back, aren’t I? Unless you’re going to tell me that dream walking is a thing too and I’m not really here.”

  They laughed. “No princess, dream walking isn’t a thing, at least not that I have ever heard of. And certainly no dream is as beautiful or as real as you are,” Aldrich complimented, running his hand up and down my back, making my gut clench.

  “So what were you energetic from?” Damien inquired, watching me closely and in a way that made me feel like he could see right through me.

  “Training, you know, and stuff,” I replied vaguely. I had no clue what they would think of me if they knew I had almost killed a man trying to feed for the first time. I wasn’t ashamed of feeding, it was thrilling and satisfying in a way nothing else had been before, and they knew that being what I was, it was necessary. Hell, they did it too. The almost killing someone was the part I was hesitant about.

  “Lena, how much training could you have possibly done to make you so tired? You were only gone for about four hours,” Adrien said.

  “That’s impossible. I was gone for more than a day!” I insisted. They looked at each other, doubtful. “Look, I’ll prove it to you,” I continued, inspired now to show them my new trick. Please, for the love of all that’s holy—or is it unholy because I’m a vampire? It didn’t matter—please let this work.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on the dark now settled within me, and I let it surface, the power surged outward and I opened my eyes to their collective gasps. Adrien’s hand tightened on my thigh making me glance at him, his eyes hungry and dilated, and his fangs descended. What the hell had made that happen?

  Looking to the other two for answers I realized I wasn’t going to find any. Aldrich’s hand cinched tight in the fabric at my back, and he, like Adrien, also had his eyes locked on me. His pupils were enlarged and ravenous, and he too seemed surprised that his fangs had come out of their own accord.

  Damien perched forward on the edge of his chair, gripping the arms of the seat, his knuckles whitening with the force. The level of excitement was very apparent through his jeans, his face a mirror image of the other two.

  “What the hell guys?” I asked, watching the three of them.

  “Lena, when the fuck did you learn to do that?” Aldrich questioned, his voice hoarse and thick with unspent desire.

  “I told you, Calledora started training me. Or finished, now that I’m back. I don’t really know. It still seemed like she wasn’t finished which is why I’m not exactly sure how I got back here,” I pondered. My tongue darted out to lick my lips, and feeling the point of my fangs I played with them, running my tongue back and forth between the top two.

  “Fuck Lena, don’t do that anymore,” Damien choked out, swallowing hard as he tried to contain himself. I never thought I would have enjoyed seeing him lose control like he was, but it was turning me on to watch the three of them struggle to remain composed. I wanted them to lose control though, and I wanted to be the one to make it happen.

  “Do what, Damien?” I teased, slowly running my tongue across one of my fangs again, pricking it just a bit, blood welling to the surface. Flicking my tongue out between my lips I rolled the little bead back on my tongue, the heady flavor a reminder how much I had wanted more.

  “Lena, you don’t know what you’re playing with here,” he bit out, trying to look away but failing.

  “Show me,” I dared, no longer caring that all three were in the room with me at once. I wanted it like this, I needed them like this. He just returned my stare, not moving forward, but not moving back either. I guess it was time I made it very apparent how much I wanted this.

  I ran my hand up Aldrich’s thigh. He was the only one I hadn’t been with yet, so it seemed fair I gave him my attention first. It wasn’t completely selfless though, I wanted to feel him inside me as I had the other two, but this time I was going to take more.

  Pushing off of the bed, I turned and stood between Aldrich’s legs, my thighs brushing against his. He looked so unsure and flustered at the same time, and if I hadn’t wanted him already, I would have after that. “Princess, I—” I cut off his protests as I pressed my mouth to his, my tongue delving in to taste him at last. His hands moved to my hips, gripping hard as he returned my kiss with equal enthusiasm.

  Feeling him groan against my mouth drove me crazy. I reached up, tangling my fingers in his long hair as I had wanted to do since I first saw him. Aldrich moved his hands lower, gripping my ass and tugging me closer to him. Finally breaking free from our kiss, he moved his attention to my breasts, holding them and kissing them through my shirt.

  I drew back from him in frustration, before pulling my shirt over my head and tossing it to the ground as his arms slid around me to undo my bra. Laughter from behind had me turning around. “Impatient little thing, aren’t you?” Damien teased, already starting to stroke himself as he watched us.

  “Whatever, you like it.” I stuck my tongue out at him. Yeah, it was a childish move, but I didn’t care.

  “I would watch my mouth if I were you, it will be my turn soon,” Damien warned, so low I barely heard him.

  Aldrich reached up and caressed my now bare tits right at his eye level. He leaned forward and started lavishing my breasts with attention, kissing them softly, almost tenderly, making heat pulse through me as his mouth licked and sucked at my nipples, driving me mad.

  I wanted more though, this just wasn’t enough. Placing a hand on his chest I pushed him back on the bed, making him scoot backward against the pillows so there was room for me as well. Str
ipping his shirt from him as he went, I reveled in the fact that he was mine for now. They were all mine for tonight. His tanned skin accented his hard muscles, and his rippled abs dipped low with that delicious ‘v’ pointing to promises I was about to unleash.

  Climbing on the bed in front of him I flicked open the button of his jeans, as his arousal, pressing against the zipper, made it slide open of its own accord. “Talk about impatient,” I breathed, and then laughed.

  Aldrich pulled me forward, making me straddle his lap as he kissed me hard through my laughter. He worked his way down to my shoulder, unknowingly exposing his neck to me. Heat shot straight to my core as he gently bit down on the curve of my neck, giving me the impression he knew what I was thinking.

  His large hand slid between my thighs, caressing my throbbing center through my jeans, a rough contradiction to the way he was nipping and licking gently on my flesh.

  I felt the bed depress softly behind me, announcing that Adrien had joined us. Wrapping his arms around me, he unfastened my jeans, leaning close as he brushed his lips over my ear. “You know you want to feed from him, your eyes give you away Cupcake,” he whispered before he nipped my earlobe, making my gut clench with arousal. The idea of it turned me on even further.

  Aldrich ran his hands up my arms, grazing against me slightly and driving me crazy with lust. I wanted to lose myself in him, in all of them. He turned and looked at me, his eyes heated and hungry, and in that brief glance I knew he was giving me permission for what I wanted. I wanted to be fucking him while I fed from him, and I hoped he wanted the same.

  Adrien started moving my jeans down my hips as I removed Aldrich’s for him. “No panties Lena?” he said from behind me. “That’s a bit unexpected.”

  “Our girl likes to be naughty,” Damien growled, still in his chair with his cock in his hand, stroking, watching. “Don’t you Lena?” I knew it was stupid, and I knew I was asking for trouble, but I stuck my tongue out at him again. He narrowed his eyes at me and I knew I was in for it. I couldn’t wait.