Chained: A Dark Vampire Romance (Midnight Mafia Book 1)

by Zara Novak

  “I didn’t know, Don!” Draco pleaded from the floor. He was lying on his back with his hands held in the air, cowering in fear. “I wouldn’t have touched her if I knew, I swear!”

  Vincent said nothing at first, he held out his hands and one of the splintered table shards flew up into his palm. “Too late. For this you die, Varsi.”

  “You cannot kill me!” he pleaded. “I am a made man!”

  “I’ll deal with those consequences later,” Vincent growled. He lifted his hand to strike the point down into Draco’s heart. Before he could Draco had other things in mind.

  “Then deal with this!” Draco roared. As he said the words some sort of liquid sprayed from the hem of Draco’s right hand. It hit Vincent and he let out a cry, turning away from the assault to shield himself. In that short second Draco jumped to his feet, burst across the library and broke through one of the library windows, fleeing into the night.

  Wind swept in from the cool night, bringing a whisper of sound to a scene which was now silent. Vincent was crouched on all fours with one hand on his face. His back was facing me. I tentatively put one hand on the library’s door and took a step forward.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, not really sure what I was doing. Whatever Draco had just sprayed Vincent with had temporarily incapacitated my captor. I should use this time to carry on with my escape. I could use the broken window that Draco had left behind.

  And find yourself alone out there with that mad man? A vampire that had just tried to kill you?

  “Holy water,” Vincent growled, not removing his hand from his face or moving from his crouched position. “He must have had some sort of device in his sleeve. A dirty trick. Nothing I wouldn’t expect from a vampire like Varsi.”

  I glanced at the broken window and then back at the corridor outside the library. I still had time to run.

  But he saved you, and now he needs help.

  My mind was caught between two places. Did I stop and help the bastard that had taken me as his slave in the first place? I knew what I had been getting into when I decided to work with the mob, or at least I thought I did. I knew the work came with the possibility of danger; I just didn’t expect that danger to look like this.

  It wasn’t my fault that I was here, Vincent was not innocent, but I could not completely absolve myself of responsibility. If I’d been patient, kept my hands clean and stayed away from dirty work I never would have crossed paths with this mad man.

  As things stood, he had just saved my life, and now he needed help.

  I couldn’t believe I was doing this, but I did it, nonetheless. I let out a very deep breath and turned my back on escape. I walked forward, stopping a few paces behind the injured vampire.

  “How can I help?” I asked. “Are you badly hurt?”

  “The holy water got me pretty bad,” Vincent said. “It has burned my face and blinded my eyes.”

  I swallowed and looked down at his crouched figure, wondering what he would look like now. Vincent Cartello was a truly beautiful man, regardless of his sins and my relationship with him. No one deserved to have that taken away from them.

  “Let me see,” I said.

  He hesitated for a moment, but then he lowered his hand. He didn’t turn to face me, so I walked around and crouched to see him, gasping as his face came into view. His red eyes were now completely white, and his flawless marble complexion was unrecognizable. It was like a knife had slashed at a pristine silk sheet.

  “How bad is it?” he asked.

  “It looks painful, but it might heal,” I said, though I knew the words were a lie. This kind of scarring, it would be with him for the rest of his life.

  “You are a bad liar.”

  “Do you want a mirror?”

  “No point. The attack has completely blinded me. Normally I would heal, but I need to wash away the water. I need your help.”

  “Tell me what to do.”

  “There is a small room at the back of this library. In it you will find a carafe of blood and one of water. Bring them both to me. Quickly. If we don’t act fast the damage will be permanent.”

  I nodded and ran the length of the long room, skipping over the shattered remains of bookshelves and books sent flying during the fight. I found the room, retrieved the two glass containers and brought them back to Vincent, kneeling before him as I set them on the floor.

  “Water first,” he said, holding out his hand. I pulled the stopper from the glass container and handed it to him. Vincent lifted it up and poured it over his face, emptying the carafe entirely. Water flowed down his body and splashed onto the stone tiles, making a large puddle on the floor around us.

  “Blood?” I asked as he set the empty container down. He nodded and took the next one from me. He lifted this too, but this time he held it to his lips. Vincent tipped it back and drank it all down without spilling a drop. Once he was done, he set the second container down gently. I watched as the change came over him.

  His face started to blur, the skin looking like it was moving under a high-speed camera. The scars left behind from the attack quickly undid themselves. Skin threaded itself back together and the burns shrank away like evaporating pools. The last thing to change were his eyes. The milky white orbs slowly cleared, and two crisp circles of crimson appeared under the surface. Shining black pupils were the last thing to form, reopening the windows to his soul. It was a miracle. The healing stopped, he blinked and looked at me.

  “Now there’s a sight for sore eyes. Thank you, Rachel.”

  I nodded, though I didn’t say anything else. I watched as Vincent squinted at the low light and examined the dim library. New eyes were seeing the world for the first time, I imagined they probably felt a little sensitive.

  “Without your help I think I would have been in some serious trouble there,” he said. “I think you are slowly beginning to earn my trust.”

  “But…” I began.

  “But what about your escape attempt,” he said, the hint of a smile forming on his new face. “Well I can’t say I didn’t expect that entirely. Nothing about what happened here was an accident.”

  “I beg your pardon?” I asked.

  “You saw the fight that just happened here Miss Chase. That was very real. You have seen now the capacity of my strength and speed. A human could not sneak up on me or surprise me.”

  “But I hit you.”

  He just laughed and shook his head. “No. I let you think you hit me. The torch exploded after I summoned a sphere of air around myself. The sudden increase in oxygen made the flames swell. I had already apparated before the torch could hit me.”

  “Apparate?” I said, wondering what the word meant. I then remembered how he had disappeared in a cloud of smoke. “The smoke…”

  He disappeared briefly then, as if to demonstrate the skill. One moment he was a man, the next he was a churning cloud of black smoke. The cloud soared up into the air and spiraled back down to land behind me. I turned just as I saw it materialize back into the form of Vincent.

  “I followed you through the castle, staying close as you tried to escape.”

  “The shadows,” I said, recalling the strange figures I had seen on the walls. “That was you. And the moving torches too.”

  He nodded. “I am invisible, but not completely. Truth be told I let you escape. This was a lesson.”

  “The moral being?”

  “That there are things in the castle much more dangerous than I am. Varsi was perhaps the worst and most perfect example. He immediately recognized the power you have inside you. The scent and call of a breeder are very difficult to ignore for a vampire. Despite that he intended to kill you, and he was only seconds away from doing so.”

  “You planned to be blinded?”

  “That part I hadn’t anticipated. Varsi is a man without character, as I am sure you have already ascertained. There was one thing I didn’t anticipate though, that you would stop to help me. That is very illuminating Miss Chase, and it
is the first step in the right direction, to gaining my trust and your freedom again.”

  “I have a chance of being free?” I said, not really believing I did.

  “Not in the sense you think. You will never go back into the real world without my hand on your shoulder, but if you survive your training and bear me an heir… if you continue to surprise me in the ways that you have. Maybe things will work out well for you.”

  “So, I’m still a slave,” I said, swallowing at a lump in my throat.

  “One act of redemption does not forgive your transgressions,” he said. “When we are done together there will be no need for locks. An open door will not tempt you, for you will see that you have everything that you already need.”

  Whatever sympathy I had felt for the man then vanished. There was no empathy, there was no forgiveness. He was a monster, through and through, even after me saving him. “This moment meant nothing to you.”

  “Oh, it did, and you will see a small reward for it, but that does not lessen the punishments we have in store for your original sins. Neither does it delay our schedule. Your training is set to begin. You will be disciplined for the inconveniences you have brought upon me, and then we will get your body ready. It is vital I mark you and claim your body with my scent, so that any other vampire you may meet will instantly know you are mine, forever and always.”

  “I won’t go with you,” I said.

  A wicked smile came back in answer. He stepped forward and brushed his fingers down my cheek. At once I felt the power of his vampiric ability spread throughout my body. He walked past me, and my body turned on its own accord, like a dog unable to take its eyes from its master.

  “You can come willingly or not,” he said. “The choice is up to you.”

  “I’m not making anything easy for you,” I growled. “Never again.”

  “In that case we’ll take the express route,” he said. In a flash of movement his shadow leapt through the air and swept me off the floor. The next thing I knew we were flying through corridors and up staircases with lightning speed. I barely had time to scream, all I could do was cling on for dear life as shadow and light blurred around me.

  We finally came to a stop in a large victorian bathroom. It was modern by design, but gothic and medieval in appearance. Black and white marble ran across the floor and counters. Gold trim accented stone panel walls. A large tub lay ahead of us, easily big enough to hold ten.

  He set me down, half-throwing me out of his arms so I had to stumble forward into the room a few steps. With another swipe of his hand the door behind him closed and locked itself.

  “What now?” I said, crossing my arms over my breasts. Up until now I had completely forgotten I was almost naked. That was how terrified I had been.

  “Punishment.” His eyes flared black. “Cleansing. And maybe even a reward.”

  “I will not cooperate,” I said defiantly.

  He just smiled. “I do not expect you to.”

  I expected him to surge forward again, rushing at me with that impossible speed of his, but this time he walked forward very slowly. The urge to back away from him was strong, I felt like a rabbit staring into the eyes of a tiger, but stronger still was the way he captivated me. I couldn’t explain why or how I felt these things, all I knew is that I couldn’t look away from those hypnotic red eyes.

  I hated him with every atom in my soul, and still I couldn’t ignore those enchanting good looks.

  “So, what will it be?” I said, trying my best to maintain an air of confidence. I didn’t want to look like I was afraid in his presence, even though I was. “What does the ‘vampire master’ have in store? Do I have to massage your body from head to toe? Wash your clothes? Make your dinner?”

  His eyes glinted with the light of silent amusement. He clearly knew something that I didn’t.

  “No, those are all trivial things, slave. I like to keep things much more traditional.”

  I had opened my mouth to fire back another sassy question, but before the words could escape me, another explosion of movement came from my unpredictable captor. One second we had been standing, the next we were halfway across the room, him sitting in a chair and me bent over his knee.

  “What the fuck?!” I said. Looking to my right I saw a full-length mirror on the wall ahead of us, perfectly framing us both. The vampire had pinned my arms behind my back with his left hand, and his other hand was currently hovering in the air above my rear. My stomach was flat against his thighs. “Hey, let me go!” I said.

  “The first lesson of any good little slave,” he said. “Spanking. From your master.”

  I heard his hand move before I saw it. The flat of his palm sliced through the air and connected with my ass, searing the skin with the fire of pain and discipline. I cannot understate the force he used to enforce this lesson, it wasn’t a gentle spank to titillate the senses, and it wasn’t a rough strike to impose a playful sense of fear.

  The hit was fucking hard.

  A gasp of pain leapt from my mouth, squeaking from me like some animal trapped and fearful for its life. There was no pause before he hit me again, his hand left my sore ass, flew back into the air and then it struck down again.

  Crack.

  “Fuck!” I cried, the word stretching over several aching syllables. This hit had felt harder than the first. My poor ass was burning from his punishment.

  “Who am I?” he said, snapping his hand back again to strike me. His palm caught the tops of my thighs and even a little bit of my pussy, which flinched under my cotton panties.

  “A bastard!” I roared, my answer coming as his hand connected with my burning ass again. He struck me again to show his dissatisfaction with the answer.

  “Who am I?” he said, repeating the question, as he did the hand came down again. This time he shuffled my position, so my legs were open wider. Two of his fingers smacked my pussy hard and a squeal came from my throat.

  “Stop!” I gasped. “Stop!”

  “Who am I?” he said again, this time stating the words with a finality that suggested I had better fucking answer the question properly. Before he administered this next spank, he used his free hand to rip my panties down my thighs, the white fabric twisting as it settled around my knees. He spanked me again, his raw skin blistering my ass and pussy with the fire of his furor.

  “M-Master!” I said, gasping the words as heat and pain burned through me. “You’re my master!”

  There was no immediate response from him, but he kept his hand on my skin this time, smoothing the palm gently over the red-raw flesh. It was a temporary reprieve from the punishment, some sort of reward to let me know I had found the right answer.

  “Correct,” he said, allowing his fingertips to smooth over my ass and pussy. My stomach trembled as I breathed fast, air rushing from my mouth and nose in a quick and shallow fashion. It almost sounded like I was about to start crying.

  The pad of his middle finger brushed over the skin, probing just a little firmer than the rest. He ran it around the ring of tight muscle on my hole and then it journeyed down, tracing the slick line of my sore pussy.

  I only then realized that I was dripping wet.

  What the fuck?

  “You realize you have been a bad girl for your master?” he said, his fingertip very gently flicking up and down my wet slit.

  “Yes,” I said, stammering the words after I found my breath. As soon as I answered his hand flew up and sliced through the air again, spanking my sore ass hard. “Ow!” I screamed. “Fuc—k!”

  “Yes, what?” he growled, immediately pulling his hand back in warning, letting me know that another strike was imminent.

  “Yes, sir!” I said, practically shouting the words to buy myself a few more seconds. To my relief he gently laid his hand down on the backs of my thighs, letting the pad of his thumb smooth up and down the inside of my right leg.

  “Very good. Now for your next question. Who are you?”

  My lips open
ed instinctively to give my name, speaking without thinking. The first syllable paused on my tongue as I stopped myself. “Ra—” I began, stopping as I felt his hand lift away from my skin. Fear spiked through me and my body clenched in anticipation of another strike. I had to get this right.

  Who was I?

  It appeared my captor didn’t want my real name, so perhaps he wanted another. Was that the point? Give myself a new name, rebrand myself as someone new under his control? I wondered what type of name I should choose for myself, but then I realized that wasn’t what he wanted at all. He wanted me to sacrifice my name completely. I was to surrender anything personal that identified me as anything other than his.

  Names weren’t necessary in his world. In this relationship I wasn’t human, I was just an object to fulfil his fantasies.

  “Slave,” I said, the word feeling completely foreign and treacherous on my lips. I didn’t want to say it, I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of hearing it, but I couldn’t fucking take another licking from that hand. I’m not even sure it was the pain I was afraid of. After the initial blast it was strangely pleasant it an odd sort of way. The truth was that I didn’t want his hands on me anymore. I didn’t want him to feel how fucking wet I was. “Your slave.”

  “Very good,” he said, gently bringing his hand back down again.

  This time his middle finger ran the length of my pussy again, and any hopes I had of him not noticing my wetness were gone. He pushed the pad ever so slightly inside, my tight walls stretching around him.

  I sunk my teeth into my bottom lip, hating my body for reacting like this.

  “Now you see what happens when bad little slave girls disobey,” he said. “Your ass will be punished. Your body will be punished. Our lessons are only just beginning, and you have a lot to learn. Is that clear slave?”

  “Yes master,” I said. This time the words came with less hesitance. I was already losing myself to him.

  He snapped his fingers and then the bath started to run. He pulled me into a standing position and rose from a chair. I looked over at the tub and saw hot water swirling with various soaps, wondering if the bath had started on a timer. He saw me looking at the water.