He nodded in agreement and the car pulled away from the warehouse and onto the road. Luckily, it would only be a short drive to the mansion. But every passing mile marker filled my heart with dread. One night had changed everything and, as confident as I tried to be for Arden, I had no clue what my mother was going to do.
Sixteen
Arden
As a vampire, there’s very little that terrifies me.
Being trapped outside without protective sun gear. My master somehow finding a way to take his gift of eternal life back from me. Being hideous.
But damn did the thought of seeing Madame Leona right then scare the crap out of me.
I wasn’t too thrilled with Eloise’s plan. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much choice. Both of our lives were on the line.
And I sure as hell wasn’t going to let Eloise pay the price for my choices.
So I drove as fast as I could without risking being caught by the cops. The last thing I needed was to end up in jail, where Jardin was more than likely to have someone working for him on the inside. No, the Hart Mansion was our only hope.
Eloise was putting on a confident facade beside me. But I could see out of the corner of my eye that her leg was bouncing up and down and her right hand clutched the door of the car in a vice grip.
The carrier boy had gone silent in the backseat. I didn’t have the heart to tell Eloise that it was probably too late to help him. She wouldn’t accept defeat so easily.
I felt Eloise relax momentarily as the mansion came into view. With a few more quick maneuvers of the car, we were on the grounds and pulling up to a group of people waiting for us.
I didn’t have a clue how they knew to expect us, but I counted my lucky stars.
Once the car was in park, a handful of armed security guards came forward to check on Eloise. She waved them off and yelled at them to check the backseat. Her voice was high-pitched and panicked.
“There’s a boy in there. He was badly hurt. Please hurry, there isn’t much time.”
They obeyed orders and opened the backseat to gently pull out the kid. Christ. His skin was a nauseating grey color. Eloise began to whimper as I got out of the vehicle and went to hold her.
The men carried the boy away to a separate car. Probably to take him to a hospital that received generous “donations” to keep quiet regarding any of Madame Leona’s medical needs.
And speak of the devil.
Her heels were loud on the loose gravel of the road. I turned to look at her and saw she was once again dressed strictly for business. She had on a long dress, not quite formal enough for a ball, but nothing you’d wear for simply lounging about. Her hair was pulled up in a tight bun, her face serious and cold.
I had to give her credit. She kept herself emotionally distanced from clients and rivals better than most. Most blood traders would slip up, eventually. But Madame Leona was a top player in the game for a reason.
And I was now the target of her untrusting hatred.
Damnit.
“Eloise, are you hurt?” Her voice was flat and calm. But I knew it was her way of expressing that she cared. She was checking on her baby bird first. Then the talons would come out.
Eloise pulled away from me and shook her head, wiping away her tears.
“I’m okay; Arden saved me. And he tried to save the boy. Mother... he’s done working for Jardin. We can trust him now. We have to help him though or Jardin will-”
Madame Leona put her hand up to silence her daughter. Eloise looked between the two of us pleadingly.
“I’ll decide what I will or will not do for a man who stole information from me and put that boy in danger in the first place.”
I held my hands in front of me, staying respectful and silent. I was on her turf. I was at her mercy. If I didn’t play my cards right, she’d throw me to Jardin like table scraps.
“Let’s get inside before someone comes looking for. And then Eloise, you will go to your room. I won’t hear a single complaint from you, understood? Arden and I will have a little chat and we’ll see what happens from there.”
I nodded at Eloise to signal to her that it was alright. Because my poor, sweet Eloise looked mortified. Willingly putting her vamp and her mother alone together was surely a recipe for one of our deaths.
Eloise gave in. A small servant girl ran out with a coat to wrap around her Lady and escort us inside. As soon as the large double doors were closed behind us, the servant girl was hurrying Eloise upstairs and out of sight. Presumably to her room.
Madame Leona watched her disappear before turning her attention back to me.
Here we go.
She eyed me from head to toe and back to head again. I couldn’t read in her eyes whether she was satisfied with what she saw or not.
“Did you give Eloise the rash idea to slip out tonight and go look for you?”
I finally showed some emotion. I balked, appalled. “Why would I ever do that? I was trying to find a way to leave her out of your blood war. I wanted her miles from that place, which, for the record, I thought she was.”
Leona nodded and placed a manicured hand on the banister of the grand staircase.
“And when she arrived at that horrid warehouse you were holding the poor boy in, you suddenly had a change of vampire heart? That’s what you expect me to believe?”
“I would almost never consider disobeying my master.” I swallowed hard. “I think Eloise is the only person, human or vampire, I would do something like that for. That’s why I almost considered it a blessing she was out of the picture. I could finally do my job.”
Leona drummed her fingers. She was silent for a moment, thinking. Pondering.
Please let that be a good sign.
What irony it would be if I was so terrified of my own master that I ended up dying at the hands of his rival.
“So what do you need now? Why have you come to my home? I presume its sanctuary from Jardin’s wrath?”
“Yes, unfortunately. Quitting is not something you do in this industry without facing some consequences.”
She laughed. I cocked an eyebrow as I couldn’t make heads or tails of if that were good or bad. This woman was a steel wall.
“I’m quite aware of what’s usual in this industry. Well, you’re in luck. I’m willing to make you an offer.”
Well, this was further than I had expected to get. But what sort of offer would Madame Leona want to make with me? I didn’t exactly have many bargaining chips to work with right then.
She continued. “I’ll allow you to take shelter in my home. But, in exchange, you’ll work for me now. I don’t know what Jardin was paying you. But I’ll pay more. You’ll be my new carrier until I can find a replacement, and then I’ll find suitable work for you from then.”
I scoffed, and she held up a finger to shush me.
“As you work for me over the years, you will have the chance to slowly gain Eloise’s trust again. I’ll allow it. And you can remember that. It’s all by my good grace.”
I bit my tongue. I knew this was the moment where diplomacy mattered and I should take her offer, no matter how insulting it was.
And it wasn’t my pride that was hurt. Sure, she was a human giving me a bottom-of-the-barrel offer. But that wasn’t the issue.
I shook my head. “No deal.”
She raised an eyebrow, signaling for me to explain my decision. I noted that she didn’t seem very surprised at my rejection.
Maybe this woman knew more than I thought.
“I’m out of the business now. And I don’t intend on leaving a master just to end up under another. No, I’m not a worker anymore and I’m not here to make a worker’s deal with you.”
I walked past her and got a few steps up the staircase before turning back to her. She could no longer use the stairs as a way to tower over me and try to make herself seem more important just by perspective.
I was surprised she didn’t try to stop me. She merely smirked.
�
�I’m here as a free vampire who is in love with your daughter. I’m a man with something worth fighting for, someone that I care about. I’m trying to make a deal with you that will keep me alive long enough to get back in that fight. And if you don’t want to work with me fair and square, then I’ll say my goodbyes to Eloise for now and you sure as hell are going to hear it from her.”
There was silence. My heart was pounding. So many things that I’d kept bottled up were being spilled to a woman who despised me the day before.
She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Then I suppose that settles it, hm? You may stay here as long as you need to devise your plan against Jardin. In exchange, I expect you to make the decisions that have the best outcome for Eloise. Think about her before you do something daft and get yourself killed. As you’ve pointed out, Lord knows she’ll find a way to blame me for your death.”
The relief washed over me instantly. The infamous Madame Leona wasn’t going to have my head.
Not tonight, at least.
I started taking the stairs two at a time to try and find Eloise’s room. The house was massive, so it’d take a few wrong doors. But I needed to hold her again.
“Oh, and Arden,” Leona called up to me.
I turned to meet her eye.
“I already knew I was going to let you in the house. You bringing Eloise and the carrier boy back to me showed me you had the right intentions. I just had to ensure you had the heart to go through with whatever needs to be done to keep my daughter safe and happy.”
“Your confidence flatters me, Madame.”
She chuckled. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I still barely trust you and I will have a guard watching you like a hawk, but it’s a start. Don’t screw it up.”
“Of course, Madame.” I gave her a salute which earned a playful glare from my host.
Back to finding Eloise’s room.
Poor girl probably thought her mom was skinning me alive.
Seventeen
Eloise
I paced back and forth in my bedroom, hugging my arms around me to help stop myself from shivering. I couldn't tell if it was from the cold that had soaked into my body through the thin dress or if it was from my nerves. Was there really any difference? I had already slipped my high heels off because they were absolutely killing my feet. My ankle was screaming in protest and I was almost certain I had rolled it in the damned shoes.
What was taking so long? My mother had stopped Arden to speak to him in private, and it had felt like an eternity since then that I had been in my room waiting for him. The carrier boy had been rushed away to the doctor, but once I saw him in the brighter lighting of the mansion, I knew it wasn't good. I ached to have Arden in front of me so that I could know he was okay. I dreaded if my mother did something rash and took out her long boiling anger on him. She could do that later, after we had dealt with our more pressing concerns.
My door finally opened, and I halted my pacing, my arms falling to my sides. He stared back at me from the doorway and it all came crashing on me at once. The journey he and I had been on together was so short in the grand scheme of things. But I couldn't ignore the way I felt. The butterflies, the betrayal, the heartache, the questions, the lies, the glances, the dance…
It was like he could read my mind. He pushed the door shut behind him just before I ran at him and threw my arms around his neck, pushing my lips against his. He pulled me in close, his fingers finding their way to my hair, entangling themselves as we kissed. The tears streamed down my face as his lips left my lips and planted kisses on my cheeks, my chin, then my neck. I moaned as he left those tantalizing touches on my sensitive flesh. I didn't give a damn if my mother was on the other side of the door listening. Nothing was going to tear me from him in this moment.
His lips started a downward trail, and I became grateful for the immensely low plunging neckline of my dress. He grinned as he continued to kiss down my stomach in between my breasts. "You are so intensely beautiful."
My cheeks flushed red, and I locked eyes with him, my mouth shaped into a soundless gasp as his hand started rubbing upward on my leg through the slit in my skirt. I felt his fingers leaving a blazing heat as they traced higher up my thigh and rested on the edge of my panties.
In a blur, he stood and picked me up in his arms, lifting me off the ground. He threw me gently on the bed and reached under my dress, pulling my panties down to my ankles and helping me remove my feet from them. Where his fingers had been on my leg a second before, there was now his tongue. My breath caught in my throat as his mouth reached its destination. I couldn't hold back the moans as his tongue danced over my sensitive spots. I found my hand grabbing his head and holding it tighter against me.
He switched from that position far sooner than I wanted. But he quickly made up for it by flipping me over and tracing his fingers along the parts of my back that were exposed in the dress. He found the zipper and tantalizingly pulled it down, the sound and expectations sending electric shocks down my spine. The cold air against my skin didn't help to put out the heat that enveloped me. He made quick work of removing my dress and threw it in a pile on the floor. He stepped back, and I flipped myself back over as I watched him pull his shirt over his head, exposing his rippling abs. Next, he unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down with his boxers at the same time, exposing his engorged cock.
Arden was back on top of me, and I relished the feeling of our completely naked bodies pressed against each other. His mouth was back on mine and I could taste the bitter traces of my own juices on his tongue. I was surprised that I didn't entirely hate it. And then I felt it. His cock was there, waiting entrance below. I spread my legs open wider and our lips locked as he pressed forward.
The pressure was immense, and the first few thrusts made me squeeze my eyes tight. Arden could sense my displeasure, and he moved his tongue to flick across my erect nipples. I gasped for breath from the combination of sensations and my natural lubrication began to take effect, making the experience shift from painful to pleasurable. I moaned deeply and Arden's pace picked up. His lips clamped down on my nipples and I could feel his fangs graze them.
It felt like what I imagined standing on the beach was like, the waves of the ocean crashing against the shore over and over. I arched my back as Arden clutched me tighter and tighter with every thrust. The orgasm began to swell, to overtake me. I was no longer on the beach; I was in the water, under the wave. I was drowning in the feeling. And Arden pushed even deeper into me. My heart stopped as I rode the sensation. His own body, and his own orgasm, quivered inside me.
I want to say we spent hours going at it like that and that it was a night of immense passion. And while it was passionate, we were drained. As the orgasms faded away, I could feel my energy fade with it. The night had been a storm of emotions and sleep began to creep into my mind.
Arden watched my naked breasts rise and fall, struggling for air. He swept my ruined hairstyle out of my face and kissed me softly. He pulled out, and I felt empty. Like I was missing a piece of myself. I was grateful that he never broke contact with my skin as he shifted me to make room for him to climb into the bed with me. He held me from behind, my bottom fitting against his bottom half like two pieces of a puzzle, his member still erect against me. His arm held me tight as he kissed my shoulder and I closed my eyes, no energy in me to move.
We could worry about what was outside of that bedroom tomorrow. For that night, nothing mattered except the feeling of him next to me.
Eighteen
Arden
I laid awake in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Eloise was sound asleep in the crook of my arm, snoring lightly. The silk pillowcases and the fluffy duvet felt luxurious as I found it impossible to fall asleep.
What we’d just shared? Amazing. It was unlike anything I’d experienced with anyone else before.
Maybe it was all the pent-up emotions and the adrenaline of the events of the night.
Maybe it was more than that.
But I knew otherwise.
I had to settle this. I couldn’t draw out this fantasy Eloise and I were living in. I didn’t want her to think it could be like forever, only for me to end up dead the second I stepped foot off the property.
No, the time for action was now. And I didn’t have much choice other than to face the music. Take my punishment.
And hope I didn’t die.
Hope that I could come back to her.
I placed a gentle kiss on Eloise’s forehead, careful not to knick her with my fangs. Then I slowly and carefully untangled myself from her sleeping embrace and gathered my clothes from the floor.
Getting quietly dressed, I slipped out of her bedroom, reluctantly closing the door behind me.
Step one done. It only got harder from here on out.
I tread the steps of the staircase carefully as I headed to the door. A guard opened the door for me without hesitation or question. He’d probably been ordered by Madame Leona to do just that. I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that she expected this of me all along.
Somehow that woman always seemed two steps ahead with everyone but her own daughter.
Go figure.
The cold night greeted me like a slap in the face. Just another reason to turn back and return to Eloise. I could still slip into the bed without her ever knowing I’d left.
But I couldn’t do that with a clear conscience.
I had to leave now while I still had the nerve. And I couldn’t give Eloise a chance to pout and beg and change my mind.
Time to face my master.
Ex-master.
I pulled the car up to Jardin’s mansion and base of operations and internally groaned. His guards looked menacing and definitely ready to bash my skull in.
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