Peter continued to knead her clitoris through the flimsy, semi-transparent material. She felt nothing – only repulsion.
“You now have a decision to make. It’s entirely up to you to choose your fate. Let me explain to you, Miranda, that whoever turns you into a vampire – owns you. That means, if I let your father have his way – you will be his. To do with as he wishes. As you can see, he is no longer Arthur Perry, but a creature without a conscience. That means, you will be the first woman he’s tasted and he will want to taste more.”
Her father struggled against Rachel’s firm grasp. His movements were clumsy and awkward – she had no trouble keeping him still.
“You’re probably wondering why he’s weak. It’s because he’s been fed only once since being turned into one of us. We offered him Perrone, that nosey police officer. He’s the one over there.”
Miranda looked behind the coffin. She saw the once impeccable white dinner jacket soiled with filth and his own dried blood. The starched white collar ended without a head topping it. Miranda searched the floor and found it in the corner where it had been thrown.
“It was Rachel’s idea. She is so very smart. Much more clever than you – and more beautiful, I might add. As for your father, of course, we switched bodies. Before he even made it to the cemetery. And the switch wasn’t even discovered when Stroker went and disturbed his grave – all to throw you off our scent, but then I suppose one old, decaying, disgusting old man is the same as the next. He wasn’t missed.”
“You’re disgusting!”
“Thank you! To transport him and keep him contained, we interned him in the pine box which befits his station in life – and nailed him shut in his prison. Normally, he would have easily been able to rip out of his wooden cage, but didn’t have the strength. We didn’t allow him to feed at Weatherly. It’s why he was so desperate to get shipped out. We let him influence that dolt Pinckus. He thought he was escaping, but we knew where he was being sent. I was waiting here in the museum that night, to overpower him and cage him up again. Rachel hadn’t yet become one of us and needed help. Since then we’ve kept him under lock and key. He thought he was attaining his freedom by being shipped to the Americas, but it was all part of the game.”
“This is insane!”
“No, you’re wrong. That part is not insane, but the next part is. I’ve told you what will happen if you are bitten by your father, but you also can choose to be bitten by me. It will mean, I can use you anyway I want. I will have you doing things you never dreamed. You will be a slave to me eternally. That means forever, my little mouse.”
Miranda began to fight. It caused Peter to remove the hand from between her legs.
“I will never choose either!”
Peter brought his hand underneath her armpits and lifted her up. He spoke into her ear.
“Really? Not even to save Reginald? And your mother?”
Miranda stopped squirming. He set her down with a thud. She recovered her balance thinking about the offer. She hadn’t considered them. Her mother. She couldn’t let her mother be turned into one of these things.
“And Chase? Was that real or part of this charade?”
“No, Chase is dead. Not a vampire. Just dead. Rachel saw to it. She barely broke the skin. When he awoke, he did a swan dive off the balcony. Killing him was another way of hurting you.”
“But how do you know he jumped? You can’t be at two places at once!”
“We saw it up here,” Peter said tapping his temple. “Once we get into your mind, we can see everything. He jumped from the balcony like a crazed frog. You should have seen him! Quite entertaining.”
“Shut up! Don’t you dare make light of my brother’s death!”
“We can do as we please, Miranda. It’s you that are under constraint,” he whispered as he tugged her arm upward at the elbow.
“Stop!” Miranda screamed. It felt like her arm were being broken. In another second, it would snap in two. Slowly the pressure eased off. “And all this is about those things? Just things that father took!”
Peter swiveled her around and hit her across her face. She fell and skidded into Stroker’s legs. He reached down and lifted her – holding her while Peter approached. Peter shoved his face into hers and shouted – livid with fury.
“I TOLD YOU BEFORE, THEY WERE MY THINGS! MY THINGS!” he lowered his voice to a growl, showing his fangs. “No one touches my things, Miranda. No one dare. But the great Arthur Perry took it upon himself to disobey. And he must pay. I told him what I was going to do and he begged for me to spare his family’s life. I said he could only choose one that he could save and he chose his wife.”
“You lie!”
“And I said that was fine, and now it’s your turn to choose as he chose ….”
“YOU LIE!”
“… to be a slave to your father who will perform unnatural acts that are decidedly felonious upon his daughter. Or me, who will do the same ….”
“LIAR!!!”
“… to his only marginally attractive daughter named Miranda. Too bad you weren’t born beautiful like your mother, Miranda. I might enjoy the sordid pleasures I choose to inflict on you.”
“LIAARRRRRR!!!!” she screamed spitting into his face.
He grabbed her between her breasts, by the underbanding elastic of her bra and pulled her to him.
“Oh, this will be fun.”
Miranda tried to avoid his kiss, but couldn’t. He pressed his tongue into her mouth until it invaded her throat. She gagged, but he held his tongue deeply wedged. When he slid it out, she vomited on the floor. She collapsed onto her knees, retching until her stomach was emptied.
“I’m afraid you made quite the mess.”
He pulled her up by her hair. She swung her arms making contact with only air.
“Rachel,” he purred.
Rachel allowed Arthur to stand up. The whites of his eyes were fraught with red. The ghastly pairing encircled the black pits that now served as his eyes. He looked like a wild animal. A rabid bat wanting only to bite down on anything that got in his way. She looked into his eyes and saw nothing of her father. No humor, no compassion, no love. Her father was gone – replaced by this shell that only resembled him. Instead of his warm, caring eyes, there were black holes – the ones she’d seen in her dream.
“Are you lying about not harming my mother?”
“No,” he said flatly.
“And Reginald?”
“He will live the few short years he has left.”
“And if I don’t choose?”
“Then I will have your mother brought here. I will violate her in front of you and I will violate you in front of her. Then I will turn her into a vampire and keep you human so you are the one that is aware of what she’s become. I will keep you locked in this room and you can see her every single day trying to tear you to shreds and pleasuring me.
Miranda couldn’t allow that. She was used to making decisions. This one was the most difficult of all.
“I will choose you – willingly – if you promise not to hurt them.”
“This is getting tiring, Miranda. I said ...”
“SAY IT!”
Peter brushed his hand in the air as if swatting a fly.
“Alright … I promise.”
“Promise what?”
“Not to hurt them.”
“And?”
“Turn them into vampires.”
Miranda closed her eyes and looked into the blue eyes of her tormentor.
“Then I choose you.”
“Good girl.”
He picked up the ends of his cape and covered her. She heard her father protesting with grunts and growls as he was removed from the room. Velvet followed his mistress turning to hiss at Miranda before leaving. The rest followed leaving Peter alone with Miranda. He ran his tongue over her jugular vein. She arched her head to the side giving him complete access to her.
He bit deeply into her flesh. She moaned in pain a
s she felt his thick fangs enter her neck. She felt the rush of a sickening weakness overtake her as her blood was drained. Miranda was overcome with nausea – a revulsion that burned her soul. She wanted to pull away – wanted to stop him, but she knew she couldn’t, and so she let him drink. He was gasping in between sucks as if orgasming. She loathed the sound – loathed the thing making it. She heard him swallowing her red blood and felt his erection against her groin.
She fell into a strange netherworld – floating between this world and the next. A sea of black enveloped her. It was as if she were among the stars. Disappearing into the velvet darkness of the endless universe. Flying into the night as he carried her on infernal wings. Alone and not alone. She was losing consciousness and losing her sense of self. There was only a semblance of Miranda left when she heard a voice from beyond the curtain of black that was suffocating her.
“I lied.”
With that, she fell into a heap and drifted off into that eternal sea called death, wondering what, if anything, lay beyond.
Adduné (The Vampire's Game) Page 61