“Do you like this?” the baroness asked, her lips touching Jany’s shoulder.
“Yes,” Jany managed, scarcely able form a coherent word.
“You want more.” The baroness made the suggestion sound like a command. “Tell me how you want us.”
“More,” Jany whispered, almost all of her attention on the maid’s lips between her legs. “Give me more. I want more. I want you.”
The baroness laughed, her chuckle a feline’s lazy purr. “Greedy girls,” she whispered, “get what they deserve. They get everything.”
Without warning, the maid put her hands around Jany’s hips, pulled her farther down and kissed her intensely. The slow jolts turned into a great flare, and Jany’s eyes flew wide open. At the same time, as if unspoken agreement, the baroness released one of Jany’s arms and took hold of Jany’s hair. When she had a firm hold, she pulled Jany’s head back, and bit down on Jany’s shoulder.
A violent orgasm filled Jany, exploding from the depths of her longing and shook her like a doll on strings. The sounds of her rushing blood, the rolling thunder and the cascading rain blended into a deafening clamour as the wave broke through her body. She had never known that pain and ecstasy could be so hard to tell apart. Moving beyond her control, she arched her back so hard it hurt, and opened her mouth to scream.
She never got the chance.
Moving so fast Jany had no time to react, the baroness covered Jany’s mouth and stopped Jany’s shout short. She let go of Jany’s shoulder, but no sooner had the hurt from the baroness’s bite eased off before it came again, this from Jany’s neck.
Alarmed, Jany realized that the baroness had bitten her again, harder this time, and she screamed a muffled whimper into the baroness’s hand. But even though pain bloomed from the wound, the hurt did not make Jany pause. Instead, the baroness’s bite merged with the wave and drove the peak higher, making it well up inside her and eclipse everything. On the horizon was not just a looming orgasm; the baroness and the maid had brought Jany to a terrible height, and behind the closing wall of rapture was another crest, this one much larger and darker. Moments before she came, she happened to glance down
– and there, on the white sheets, a small drop of blood was spreading like a miniature rose.
Then, finally, she understood.
While the maid and the baroness ravaged her as they pleased, all the pieces fell into place in Jany’s shattered mind. There had never been a disease. No ropes had ever held the maid down. This castle was not haunted by a hidden vampire.
It had been the baroness all along.
The woman had drawn Jany into her web, lured Jany to her lair, and was now revealing her true self. A highborn woman with immense influence and connections, and a nightmarish creature of even greater power. The two were combined in one unholy being, and it was right behind Jany.
And it was Jany’s own fault. She had been played for a fool. No, she had been a fool, rushing headfirst into a trap while blinded by lust. Once the baroness had killed her, the whole town would be in peril. They had to be warned. She had break free, escape this chamber and let the duke know. She had to fight. But her climax allowed for nothing of that. The vampire’s bite had ushered Jany over a cliff, and she was plummeting helplessly into an abyss of uncontrolled pleasure.
When release finally came, it hit Jany like a blow, blackening her vision and wrenching her body until she ached in every fibre of her being. It was the glorious, lethal ecstasy of forbidden night-time stories, a storm of savage pain and feral bliss. All air left her lungs in a violent scream; the baroness had at last removed her hand. Specks of darkness filled her view. She was fainting, perhaps dying, and she did not care.
Jany did not know if it lasted seconds or hours, but after she had stopped shaking, the maid moved up so that Jany once again was straddling her hips. The baroness let go off Jany’s arms, but Jany’s limbs were too numb to hold her upright, so she fell forward into the maid’s embrace.
The maid caught Jany and held her close, soothing her hair and whispering in her ear. Jany was too delirious to understand a word, but managed to look up into the maid’s eyes. It might be the last thing she saw. The woman’s expression surprised her: she looked at once compassionate, smug, and eager.
“I enjoyed that,” the baroness said contentedly behind Jany. “Much more than I anticipated, and I had high expectations. I always do. You, my dear Jany, will be an extraordinary addition to my court.” She slowly ran her hands over Jany’s buttocks as she spoke. The maid gently pushed Jany over so that she lay on her side, and Jany looked up at the vampire.
Sitting naked at the end of the bed, the baroness was a goddess of Nordic beauty and devilish charm, radiating authority and self-possession. Her fair hair was spilling down her back and her blue eyes were alight with an eerie fire that rivalled that that across the room. Visible against the baroness’s lower lip were the tips of pointed fangs. They did nothing to lessen the woman’s outlandish beauty. If anything, the sight only made Jany breathe faster in marvel rather than fear.
Not even the thin trail of blood that ran down one side of the baroness’s chin made the vampire look appalling. She was the most magnetic creature Jany had ever met. The baroness’s smile was faint but predatory, and to Jany’s complete surprise and growing horror, her body responded with a warmth that spread through her abdomen and farther down, stirring her again. Only her weakness stopped her from reaching out to the baroness.
Jany wanted to cry and laugh at the same time; she was doomed, having perhaps only minutes to live, and she was craving her murderer. Moving sluggishly, she touched her fingers to her neck. Trying to stop the blood flow was pointless; she was so exhausted she could barely more her arms. Still, she would try. She would not meet death without a struggle. Her fingers found the wounds on her neck, and she winced, imagining her ruined flesh, her –
Gaping in surprise, she prodded the place where the baroness had bitten her. There were no large wounds or shredded flesh. Her skin was intact. She looked at her fingers. Almost no blood. That was impossible; the bed was still stained with red from when she had been bitten. No injury healed this fast.
The vampire saw Jany’s confusion and made an annoyed grimace. “Oh dear,” she said. “Did you think I would let you die? A woman as irresistible as you?” She shook her head. “I could barely contain myself until now. Had I not risked causing a scene, I would have taken you in the stairwell where we first met.” Reaching down, she ran a sharp nail along Jany’s thigh. “No, my dear. No sweet oblivion yet. You have a much greater destiny to fulfil.”
As soon as the baroness touched her, Jany moaned from both fright and pleasure. She wanted to flee, but at the same time, she wanted the vampire to take her. Her gaze fell at the vampire’s neck.
“But you,” Jany said, her voice trembling. “You have no – there are no – ”
“I have no scars on my neck?” The vampire’s laugh was almost inaudible over the rain. “You silly, adorable being. If my brethren were to walk around with hideous marks on our throats, how could we possible ever be safe?”
The baroness laugh slowed to a wide smile. “Only those under our spell, our lovers and our pets, are marked. And those scars heal fast, too. Come next week and there will be no trace on your body.” She tilted her head. “Not from my kisses, that is. We’ll find out what desires that hide in that clever, rational mind of yours. Some of them might leave other marks on your body.”
“Please,” Jany begged weakly. “Don’t torture me. I’d rather die.”
The vampire made a disgusted face. “What kind of lady do you take me for?” she demanded. She reached out, placed a finger under Jany’s chin, and forced Jany to meet her eyes. “You are mine now,” the baroness said, “and I will do with you as I please, but there will be no suffering. As long as you do as you are obedient.”
“Why?” Jany asked. “Why this charade, this game?”
The vampire smiled widely. “Because I can,�
� she said. “I enjoy games. As long as I come out on top.”
Shivering, Jany closed her eyes and drew a shuddering breath. She had gambled with her sin and lost. Her world had spiralled out of control and catapulted her into this surreal situation, and she was here to stay, forever. The thought of leaving the baroness’s side filled her with agony.
“You have a strong will,” the baroness noted as she studied Jany’s face. “And a fiery soul as well. But an intelligent woman like you will see reason. Forget the world in which you have lived, and remember only one thing: From now on, I am your law.”
Transfixed by the baroness’s eyes, the naked truth filled Jany’s soul: She was in love with a vampire. A being of utter evil. Creatures from which other nightmares ran away. The baroness was darkness incarnate, and Jany was already prepared to kill to protect her. For a chance to share the vampire’s bed, she would do much more.
But not all was lost. Deep inside Jany, a voice reminded her of the life she had led until this day.
Remember all those women for whom you have lusted, the whisper said. Long autumns and endless springs, surrounded by men and women revelling in each other’s company behind curtains and in alleys. Nights when everyone shared their bodies with others, screaming with joy under the stars. Everyone but you.
This is your revenge. Perhaps dread and wickedness will line your road, but at last, the pleasures of the flesh are yours for the taking. Even if you aren’t the one doing the taking.
“I know,” Jany heard herself say. She swallowed and forced her voice to become steadier. “I am yours.”
The vampire’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You are a quick learner,” she said and smiled. “I can see in your eyes that you mean what you say. I have a task for you, but first things first. Dedication such as this must be rewarded. Turn over.”
Still stunned from her climax, Jany did not understand what the baroness meant, but the maid gently pulled Jany back on top of her. Feeling the maid’s naked skin under her sparked the fire in Jany again, and she lifted her head to kiss the maid – but the maid put a finger over Jany’s lips and shook her head.
“Only when she allows,” the maid whispered. “Remember that.”
When Jany nodded slowly, the maid smiled and let Jany rest her head on her shoulder. Behind Jany, the baroness ran her hands along Jany’s back and then pushed Jany’s legs apart, slowly but firmly. Jany gasped in anticipation, but the maid wrapped her arms around Jany to keep her from moving.
“Never say that I am ungrateful mistress,” the vampire said. “Consider this your first reward. Do as I say, and many more will follow.”
The baroness shifted in the bed, and a moment later, Jany felt the tip of the woman’s tongue trace first the curve of her spine, then continue down between her buttocks.
Within minutes, Jany was screaming in ferocious, unrestrained bliss again, but her cries were drowned out by the storm.
*
Pressing her scarf to her neck, Jany walked down the cold corridor, slowly making her way towards the wing where the witchfinder slept. She kept to the deepest shadows. No blood came from the wounds on her neck, but they were still visible. Walking was difficult; the baroness had left her almost unconscious before she had sent Jany on her mission. The castle was quiet, everyone asleep or huddling in their rooms out of fear of ungodly beasts prowling the grounds. Soon, though, the whole castle would be awake.
And a man would be dead.
The stories Jany had heard had been both right and wrong. Vampires defied description. Words were not enough to explain their magnetic radiance, their immense power or their astounding knowledge. Jany’s new mistress knew every secret of both body and soul. She was beautiful and terrifying, irresistible and lethal, loving and cruel. And Jany would never leave her side.
“It’s true that my maids visited that idiot witchfinder,” the vampire had said when Jany had come to; the baroness reward had left Jany unconscious for the best part of an hour. “But they did not go to him for the reason I mentioned before. They went to him to make sure he chose the right room. I did not expect him to be so paranoid that he would inspect their necks and then call for the guards. I was too rash. But there is still time. Here is what you will do...”
When the baroness was done explaining, Jany had left the room immediately. All she could do, and wanted to do, was to obey. Slowly, she turned a corner and looked down a long hallway. Empty and silent. At the far end, next to the witchfinder’s chambers, was a storage room. There she would find what she sought.
“The witchfinder thinks he is above us,” the vampire had said, laughing. “He believes he has the right to make women suffer and burn. I am tempted to go to him now and make him see what true suffering means. Alas, there is no time. But you, Jany, will help him see the error of his ways. Tonight he will have his grandest show ever.”
Moving silently down the corridor, Jany listed for the sound of voices but heard nothing. The door to the storage room opened with a dull creak. She slipped inside, closed the door behind her, and waited for her eyes to adapt to the darkness. A small window let in enough light for her to make out the large barrel that stood against the wall. Several other barrels were lined up next to it.
Before the witchfinder had spotted the bite marks on the maids, the two women had been at work for hours, moving the gunpowder kegs hidden in laundry baskets or bundles of linen. Almost all of the castle’s gunpowder reserve was piled up next to the witchfinder’s room. Piled up against the barrels were dozens of great sacks of flour and wheat. All other nearby rooms had been evacuated by the maids due to broken locks or windows.
Jany looked at the barrels and smiled. What she was about to do was terribly, awfully wrong, but there was no room in her heart for disobedience. Before the sun rose, her newfound devotion would make her a criminal, but she had no regrets.
Once she had been living in an invisible cage, able to move but sentenced live unloved and untouched. Now she was a prisoner chained by dedication, facing a lifelong state of terrified devotion and physical need – yet at last, she was free to love.
Moving carefully, Jany brought out the small tinderbox she had brought and lit the fuse. Once it had caught fire, she left the room and quickly padded down the corridor. In less than a minute, the witchfinder and all his plans would be evicted from the castle in an enormous plume of fire and smoke. No longer would he harass the baroness and her kin.
The maid who had been part of the baroness’s scheme to seduce Jany – her name was Elodie, she had found out – would use the chaos as cover and sneak down into the dungeons, where she would release the two other maids. After that, the baroness, her maids, and Jany would leave the town. The renowned baroness’s authority would get them past the city’s guard at the gates.
Her heart pounding hard in her chest, Jany hurried back to the baroness’s chambers. The explosion would come any moment. As she ran, her head was light but her heart untroubled. She had always prided herself on her sense of judgment, and that had not changed. Tonight, her world had at last become simple and rational.
She was in love with the baroness. For her, she would do anything.
It made perfect sense.
*
THE END
The Unknown Mistress - An Erotica and Romance Paranormal/Historical Novella Page 8