Crazier things had happened, hadn’t they?
The only thing he could name was his refusal to slaughter that young girl after being ordered to do so. Thyos had been a good soldier. He never questioned orders. And he hadn’t questioned orders at that point, either. He just disregarded them.
Today, he knew there were witches and humans and vampires being slaughtered nearly every day. He knew the vampire harem was being raped by the emperor every night. He did care about that.
So why that small witch?
Why this one?
He was thinking too much.
He was thinking on purpose.
Yet he was still hard. Just the thought of her kept him solid as a rock.
He closed his eyes, not sure where to start with his fantasy. Another thing that never happened to him.
But then, his eyes drifted shut, and he began to picture the way she looked in his flat, her torn dress with her blood staining the off-white silk. The way her hair was messy and tangled and still braided. The way the edge of her teeth met her bottom lip.
He let out a low groan as he began to fall into a slow rhythm. He was in no rush, but thinking about her seemed to add to his pleasure.
What he would do to her. All the sounds he would draw out of that pretty little mouth, much like the sounds he heard this evening. Except he would make her open her eyes so he could look into them as he gave her pleasure she had never felt before. Pleasure only someone as experienced as he was would be able to give her.
He grunted, leaning forward and bracing his left forearm on the wall of the shower. His body took up the small space; he would not be able to fuck her here. But perhaps there was a place he could take her where it would be just the two of them.
The beads of water on his back added to the sensation, and he sighed as they relaxed the tension in his muscles.
He would want her to scream his name so everybody heard it, so everyone knew he was the one fucking this witch and bringing so much pleasure to her that no man or no witch would ever be able to satisfy her the same way. He wanted to ruin her so no one who came after would be able to match up. He wanted her nails to dig into his back so deep and so hard, his blood healed her wounds. He wanted her to shatter on his cock as his seed shot into her tight, warm cunt just as he slid his fangs into her neck and sucked life from her.
Because he wanted to feed from her and fuck her simultaneously.
And when she was finished, ragged, out of breath, in a slight amount of pain, he wanted her to turn to him and demand that he do it to her again, leaving bite marks on her body that would not go away.
Every human he had fed from had returned to normal after feeding, in that his marks vanished nearly instantaneously. Thyos did not think she’d noticed, but as she tried to redo her braid, his marks were still on her neck.
And that was his undoing.
His cock erupted with his seed, getting onto the wall, on his hand, dropping down to the floor and mixing with the shower water. His orgasm lasted longer than he expected it to, shaking his entire body, from the roots of his hair to the tips of his toe nails. He felt it long afterward as well, not realizing his own touch could make him cum like this.
But, he knew, it wasn’t just him. He knew his body, certainly, and he knew the proper ways to touch himself to cum fast or to draw it out. But the power behind this climax could only come from the subject he had been fantasizing about.
The witch. She was trusting, naive, remarkably incapable and ignorant and yet so deliriously beautiful he could not comprehend such a creature existed.
This was a problem. He hoped to be rid of her forever. Perhaps she would not return to the arena because she did not have any magical ability.
It would make sense.
He needed that to happen.
He did not know what he would do if he saw her again.
Because he wanted her. That much was certain.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud pounding on his door.
He turned off the shower and dried himself off before wrapping the towel around his waist. He felt his body tense like a python ready to strike. He never received visitors. He highly doubted the witch was stupid enough to travel to East Babylon by herself again.
He did not have a peephole so he cracked open the door. When he saw a flash of crimson, his entire body stilled.
“Thyos Berkano,” one of the guards vocalized. “You’re under arrest. If you would, please step out of your dwelling.”
“And what is my crime?” he asked. He wasn’t terribly worried; the emperor liked to pull shit like this all the time as an excuse to get him to fight.
“Socializing with a witch,” the second one said.
Thyos turned pale. That was not what he was expecting.
Chapter 11
Aurelia shifted nervously from her position in the middle of the Colosseum. She had never seen this many eyes before, and the fact that they were all on her and looking at her disdainfully caused her stomach to clench and tighten like a threatened snake. Her hands were positioned behind her back, each hand holding the opposite elbow, her feet hips-width apart. From her periphery, she could see a purple storm overhead, silent but fatal.
She had no idea what she was doing here. She had no idea why the emperor had requested to see her, specifically, before one of his important gladiator matches.
It was unheard of.
The emperor was a man of short height but handsome nonetheless. He had a distinctly human smell about him, tinged with an aura of power. He continued to look at Aurelia. While it wasn’t lecherous, exactly, it wasn’t particularly pleasing. It was more like a study than a leer, but she wasn’t quite sure why he would be interested in her. He already had his slaves who were willing to fulfill his desires. She highly doubted he would want to crawl in bed with a witch.
At that moment, something caught her eye. She turned her head to the right, and there, being pushed out of his battle cell, was none other than Thyos. His keeper was Adela, and she seemed to be putting more emphasis on the pushing than she really needed to.
“Do you recognize your lover?” The emperor cooed to Aurelia, his voice filled with both condescension and humor. “I know many of my fellow humans love the feel of a vampire’s fangs sliding into their flesh and sucking the life from them. They’re blood whores. I never expected a witch to be the same.” Without warning, he reached out and moved her hair over her shoulder, revealing two distinct puncture marks Aurelia was certain would have gone away on their own.
Nobody could hear the emperor speak. Then again, nobody needed to. When he had exposed her neck and pointed at her, shouting out blood whore, she started to draw more and more attention. People began throwing things at her; drinks, food, dirt. Some hit her, some fell away. If there was to be a battle today, the arena would need to be cleaned in the interim.
How had he found out?
“You know the rules, witch,” the empire said. “If a human male chooses to give you attention, you should take it as a compliment.”
“He was going to kill me after I refused to let him have his way with me,” Aurelia said. Though her heart was beating hard in her chest, she managed to keep her voice steady. “Should I not do everything in my power to protect my innocence so the man I choose to marry may possess it?”
He took a step back, surprise in his eyes. “You have your mother’s eyes, witch,” he said as he took her in. “But I recognize that defiance anywhere. I did not think I was capable of reproducing. My wife, the broodmare, did not seem capable of handling my sperm. But a witch…” He let his voice trail off.
“Perhaps even your mother’s cunt had the ability to milk my cock for a fertile seed.” He reached out, ready to cup Aurelia’s cheek.
She ducked out of the way. “You lie,” she said. She could feel that familiar tingling sensation, something in her body uncoiled, ready to be released. She refused to let him touch her. Even a hint of his skin would make her shudder with disgust.<
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“You think so?” he asked. “You think I know nothing about you, Aurelia Stone? You think I do not know about your lack of magical ability? How you have a sharp jawline like me. Your father does not have one. Your mother does not, either. You are my daughter, witch. The only child I have. And I intend to kill you because of your ill-advised tryst with a vampire.”
Aurelia looked at him and did not say a word. She could hear the crowd. They were growing restless. They wanted to see what was going to happen to her. Paletyn was known for putting on a show. Aurelia did not expect him to reveal his hand so soon.
He raised a brow. “You don’t deny it?” he roared. “That my daughter let a vampire place his cold, dead cock between her legs? You realize vampires can procreate, do you not? The majority have them been cursed since the Rift. It is quite easy to pass their disease down. We’ve had to kill a number of fated children due to the rise in vampire-genetic babies.”
“You what?” Aurelia’s cool look of indifference vanished.
“Did I stutter?” Paletyn asked. “You think it is healthy for a vampire to breed with a human? You think that child would grow up to live a normal life? I don’t want that abomination walking around.”
“And what am I?” Aurelia demanded through gritted teeth.
“A mistake,” Paletyn said, no hint of remorse on his handsome features. “A pleasurable one, but a mistake nonetheless.”
“Are you saying I am your daughter?” Aurelia asked, her face blanching when his insults finally sunk in.
“Are you this stupid?” Paletyn asked, glancing sideways at his guard. “I swear, the stupidity must come from your mother’s side. It is not a trait that runs in my family, I can assure you of that.” He shifted his eyes back to Aurelia and cocked his head to the side. “Are you saying that your mother has not told you? No, I suppose she wouldn’t. A way to protect you, I’m sure. From what, I don’t know. Probably because my wife would have had you slaughtered in your sleep had she known I sired a child with someone else. You’re a threat to the entire empire should something happen to me.”
Aurelia sneered. “I do not want this pitiful empire,” she said. “I do not need power to make me feel powerful.”
Paletyn sneered at her. “You stupid girl,” he said. “How could I have made something so idiotic? How could you have come from my loins? Perhaps I should tell my wife after you endure this punishment and allow her to decide how to kill you. She’s a twisted bitch. She’ll probably have you raped by our slaves and impaled on a spear through your cunt. What do you think?”
Aurelia whispered something, hoping she could cast one spell, any spell, to free herself from her bindings.
He laughed. “You’re pathetic,” he said. “Do you know why you’re here? Do you know how I found out about you?” Aurelia kept muttering spells, hoping something would stick. Paletyn continued to laugh before responding. “That human who wanted you ran straight to me to tell me everything that had happened. He said Thyos, a vampire, rescued you, a witch. He said he was able to tell that you were a witch because of your attire.” The emperor’s – her father’s – eyes dropped to her attire to make a point. “Such fine silks to clothe your bountiful body. I cannot help but feel sympathy for the man. He certainly knew what corruptible beauty looks like.” He ran his hand down her cheek, too intimate for a father to do to a daughter. “I would have done the same thing, were we not related.” His serene face turned into a scowl. “It is too bad you could not keep your legs shut with a vampire.”
Without warning, Aurelia was forced to her knees by one of the emperor’s guards. She struggled against it, but his power was too strong. She knew if she continued, it would deplete her energy. Granted, there were humans she could supplement from if need be, but she wanted to save as much of her own energy as she could. Just in case she felt a surge of power she could use to her advantage.
“We can’t start without your partner,” the emperor said slowly.
Paletyn turned and looked toward the opposite direction, to a mouth of a cave where the opponent would be if they were participating in battle. At that moment, Aurelia could make out Thyos, dressed in his brown leathers, being forced out of the entrance. He was not bound, but there was a spell she detected that prevented him from fighting back. It was not terribly strong, but Thyos did not seem intent on fighting it, either.
In a manner of minutes, he was brought to Aurelia and the emperor, still a safe distance away so he wouldn’t be able to try anything. Not that he would. Thyos owed her nothing. He was the one who’d saved her life. He was the one who had hurt the human. He was the vampire. She was the stupid witch with no powers who couldn’t defend herself, not even to save her life. She was the witch who needed vampire’s blood in order to get her powers out of her, and now that they were, she somehow couldn’t compel them out at will.
Adela was right. She was pathetic.
Thyos met her eyes, a heavy question in his irises. Aurelia had no idea how to respond. She pressed her brows together and looked away, hoping he would understand that she never intended for this to happen. She couldn’t even look at him, knowing that she would be the reason he died. Not on the battlefield, not in this arena with fifty thousand screaming fans, but because he saved a witch from getting raped and possibly killed.
In that moment, she hated herself.
Without warning, the emperor—her father—placed his hand on her back and pushed her down. From the corner of her eye, she could see Thyos tense, but she hoped he was intelligent enough not to do anything.
Then again, why would he? He’d already made it very clear he was not the sort of vampire to care about anything, let alone a witch who couldn’t even protect herself from her attacker.
“Away with the protection,” the emperor instructed the guard to his left.
She heard him mutter something, and in an instant, her entire gown from the sleeves all the way to her waist vanished. She was completely topless, her breasts and navel exposed for all to see. The human spectators began to notice what was going on, and they quieted to see what would happen next. Some whistled. Others cheered. Aurelia felt her face heat up with so much shame, she nearly cried. She had never been more humiliated than she was right now, in this moment.
The emperor moved from where he was standing and walked over to someone she couldn’t see. “I want one lash for every hour of friendship she’s had with this vampire,” he instructed.
Probably the whipper.
“Twenty-four lashes. And then stop. Give her a moment to breathe. And then start back up. I want her back so red people will think it’s the color of her skin.”
Aurelia sucked in a breath. She was frightened. She had never experienced pain before, this kind of pain.
And without warning, she would suffer it the instant the whip cracked her back open and blood began to spill.
Chapter 12
Thyos was ripped away from Aurelia by a spell. When he threw a steely glare over his shoulder to the witch who cast it, he came in contact with a surprisingly familiar set of hazel eyes. Except instead of flecks of green in the gold irises, there were flecks of honey. She narrowed them at him, as though she was not afraid of him. And why should she be? Vampires had roamed Citta di Paludi as little more than peasants at best, slaves at worst. Emperor Palentyn was known for having a harem of female vampire slaves, dressed in silver in order to control them. He also had two male witches cast spells, protecting him during the fucking.
The raping.
Shouts and cries rained down on them. Probably because of their embrace. Though nothing romantic occurred between them, even friendship between a witch and a vampire was spit upon, usually worse.
Thyos could not believe he actually cared. But the crack of the whip on her back reminded him of the thunder from that night, fifty years ago, when the Rift occurred. It did not help that the emperor made a show of humiliating her. Revealing the puncture marks on her neck—his puncture marks—to everyone so the audi
ence started to rain down boos, throw food and drinks and worse at her.
And there she stood, defiant and unflinching, taking their disgust and torment like one of the beautiful statues this city was known for before the Rift.
Thyos had admitted that this woman was beautiful upon first seeing her, but now, she was nothing short of breathtaking. If goddesses did exist, he imagined they would look like her.
And then, the emperor forced her to kneel into the mud, ruining her outfit, getting her face and hair dirty. Without warning, one of his male guards whispered something, and her tunic disappeared from her body, leaving her completely bare from the waist up. Even then, she did not cover herself up. She continued to look at the empire with a steady gaze.
When the whip cracked her back, Thyos could watch no more. He was surprised there was no spell holding him in place. He moved and allowed himself to be surprised for only a second. The witches would soon realize their mistake, but not before he could get to her, to step in front of the lashes. It would do no good. They were already condemned to death.
But he could feel the pain each time the whip cracked her skin. Her blood was in him just as his was in her. They were fully bonded now.
There was no going back.
He would rather take the lashes and feel his own pain than be swept away in hers. He did not understand it, but it hurt more not feeling it physically and experiencing it mentally, and he did not want to do so anymore. He did not want Aurelia to feel such anguish anymore, no matter what it cost him.
As such, he positioned himself in front of Aurelia just as the fourth crack pierced the sky. Lifting up his arm to protect his face, the black strip of leather coiled around Thyos’s wrist, and using his supernatural strength, he flexed his bicep, pulling the witch responsible for inflicting the lashes toward him. Using his free hand, Thyos reached over and ripped out the witch’s throat.
Poisonous Temptation: Division 2 (The Berkano Vampire Collection) Page 7