by Aja James
“How rude,” Jade declared, dropping her hand.
“And three minutes is more than enough time for me to end you and your miserable little Renfield in Corvinus here. You’ve lost, Anu Medusa. What will you do now that the ruse is up?”
“Have I?” the self-proclaimed True Blood retorted.
“Are you sure you’ve won?”
Before Jade’s eyes, the other female’s form shimmered at the edges and began to shift.
Jade stepped back just in case, for there was no telling what the vampire intended, what awesome Gift she possessed.
Jade could tell just by being in the vampire’s proximity that she was ancient, and therefore very powerful. Perhaps her heritage wasn’t exaggerated, after all.
But instead of shooting bolts of lightning, fire balls or lasers out of her hands and eyes, among other science fiction fantastical things Jade was conjuring in her Hollywood Blockbuster-trained imagination, the vampire simply transformed into something else.
A female who looked attractively masculine, or a male who was exceptionally feminine.
One couldn’t tell at all what the sex was.
It stood over six feet tall, lean and graceful, with wide shoulders and narrow hips. Long, wavy dark hair cascaded like a waterfall down the creature’s back, reaching past its hips. Large, slightly tilted black eyes with glowing red centers, framed with sinfully long and thick lashes, made even more dramatic by mascara and eyeliner, stared at its audience with a patent look of ennui.
A straight, high-bridged, narrow nose led to full, wide lips that puckered in what looked to be a perpetual pout. Flawless, luminous pale skin, almost bluish under the chandeliers, shimmered wherever its long robes provided an opening. A sharp, angular jaw was punctuated with a prominent Adam’s apple that bobbed beneath it in the long, smooth column of its throat.
It was extraordinarily beautiful.
And that was saying something, when vampires were already quite a bit above average in the looks department.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Dark queen,” the creature said in its melodious voice.
“If you’re going to use Bram Stoker’s Dracula comparisons, I would be a more fitting ‘Renfield’ character than poor Corvinus here.”
“Who are you?” Jade demanded.
“I am whoever you want me to be, my sweet,” the creature replied with a seductive smile.
Jade narrowed her eyes.
“Save your games. We will finish this back at the Cove. Whether you’re Medusa or not, you’ll be telling us everything you know about your Mistress soon enough.”
It grinned wide, revealing two long fangs.
“Torture, is it? What fun. But I think your three minutes of charm have expired by now. Look around, Queen Jade. You’re surrounded.”
Sure enough, the Dark nobles gathered were coming out of their pleasure-induced trance, one by one. Had Jade worked her magic on one or even just a few vampires, her charm would have lasted a lot longer.
As it was, her time had indeed run out.
But Jade hadn’t built her empire on tricks alone.
These nobles knew her. They’d chosen to follow her lead. If they decided to choose a different path now, she wouldn’t waste energy stopping them.
She slowly turned full circle, looking at each of the leaders of their Hordes, a challenging glint in her eyes.
“It appears I am surrounded,” she admitted quietly, though her rich voice could be heard clearly by all.
“The question is whether I am surrounded by friends or foes.”
She spread her arms wide as she walked to center stage on top of the dais.
“I am still your queen, if you so desire,” she said to the gathered nobles at large.
“And if you do not, I will resign gladly. Each of you have your own reasons to follow me. If those reasons have changed, if your allegiance has shifted, I take no offense and will pursue no retribution.”
“You have made alliances with our greatest enemies,” Vanessa spoke up, taking a confrontational stance.
“Pure Ones are not fit to lick our boots. They are the reasons we’re no longer rulers of the world. How can you betray us like this?”
“I am suspicious of all Kinds equally,” Jade replied. “You don’t need me to remind you of the civil wars I helped you win against rival vampires, Vanessa. And how about the humans who hunted your Mate because vampire Rogues running amuck exposed your Horde to their detection? How is Jacques doing these days, by the way? Has he fully recovered from his injuries?”
Vanessa lowered her eyes, crossed her arms and was silent.
“We follow the strongest vampire,” the male in the back said, now once more independent from Jade’s guards.
“There have been rumors of your failing health these past couple of years.”
“You have eyes, Mikail,” Jade purred. “Do I look like I’m ailing to you? You have felt my power just now. Am I not the queen you…worshipped before?”
Jade put purposeful emphasis on the word to remind the male that he had indeed worshipped her many, many years ago.
On his knees, on his back. Whichever position she demanded to maximize their mutual enjoyment of the other.
A corner of Mikail’s mouth tipped in acknowledgment, and likely at the graphic memory.
Oh yes, he remembered all right.
“You make a pretty speech,” the creature said languorously.
“But the fact remains that under your rule, vampires as a race have weakened over time, not become more powerful. Medusa will make our Kind stronger than ever.”
“By waging war on humans and Pure Ones?” Jade retorted.
She looked out at the nobles.
“How many of you have lived through persecution, witch hunts and religious trials because one stupid vampire exposed themselves to humans and stirred up bloodlust in the ignorant rabble? Back in those days, there were a lot less of them, but now…”
She shook her head.
“You don’t need me to do the math. I’m as savage as the next vampire, but I don’t like to start wars I can’t win.”
“Medusa can win,” Corvinus declared, then bobbed his Adam’s apple when the Ninja’s blade cut into the skin of his throat as he spoke.
“Can she indeed?” Jade asked rhetorically.
“Where is she, by the way? I don’t know about you, my darlings, but if I were going to vote for a new queen, I’d want to see her in the flesh, not Larry, Moe and Curly over here.”
She nodded to the creature, Antonov and Corvinus in turn.
“Mikail is right,” another Dark noble said in the audience.
“We follow the strongest. You have been strong in the past and led us well, my queen, but you’ve let things slip over the past couple of years. Perhaps it is not a matter of how strong you are yourself, but how strong your contingent is. You’ve lost two of the Chosen. You’ve stopped holding court. Forget the Pure Ones—your network within our world is falling apart.”
Jade walked down from the dais to stand immediately before the speaker, a vampire who was older than herself and therefore deserved her respect.
“I have recruited a new Chosen,” she answered the challenge. “And the Hunter has serendipitously recruited an exceptional digital strategist to the team, made more loyal by the fact that she is his Mate. One must always stay on top of technology these days, you must agree, Jacob.”
“So my contingent is stronger than ever. As to networks…it remains to be seen whether Medusa trumps me there. When other Hives around the world pronounce their support of her over me, perhaps we shall have this conversation again. Until then, all I hear from our host and guests of honor are empty promises.”
“You can easily make your bid for the throne stronger,” Jacob said, and all the other nobles paid close attention, for he had vast influence among their Kind.
“You can take a Consort or Mate.”
Jade narrowed her eyes and leaned aggressively into the vamp
ire’s face.
“I rule alone.”
“You are alone,” Jacob responded calmly, “and that is your weakness.”
“Why don’t you ask this Medusa the same?” Jade growled.
“Perhaps we will.”
“If it’s any help, she will definitely consider it!” the creature chimed in cheerfully.
“What are you afraid of?” Jacob asked, holding Jade’s gaze, ignoring the interruption.
“The strongest Dark queens of our history have always made alliances and consolidated their power through Mating. There is also the succession to think of. If you truly have our best interest in mind, you would want to ensure stability of rule. A Consort or Mate would provide continuity even if you bear no offspring.”
“Enough,” Jade bit out.
“If you lot want to dethrone me, have at it. No need for blood or hysterics. We can all go our separate ways. I will not be dictated to. If I remain your queen, it will be on my terms.”
Long moments of silence fell upon the room as the attendees considered their options.
Finally, Mikail said, “You are still our queen. We are not dictating terms. But we would be pleased if you took the idea of Consort or Mate into consideration.”
From the look in his eyes, he was offering himself as a candidate.
Maximus caught Jade’s eye from the back and raised his eyebrows as if to say, just throw them a bone so we can get out of here without having to cut a bloody swathe across the ballroom.
Jade suppressed a sigh of frustration and ground out grudgingly, “Noted.”
When she gestured for Ryu to take Corvinus, the creature and Antonov into custody, the creature squealed, “Oh look! My friends have come to spirit me home.”
All of a sudden, two dozen deadly, ancient warriors crowded into the ballroom, surrounding the group and blocking the exits.
The Chosen and Sentries drew their weapons en force, and a few of the Dark houses drew theirs as well.
Jade stayed them with a flick of her hand.
The creature tsked.
“No need for violence. They’re just here to ensure my safe return to my Mistress. Let’s not fight tonight, shall we? No hard feelings? Oh, and you can have Antonov and Corvinus.”
The latter hissed and snarled at being hurled under the proverbial bus.
“But you won’t get anything out of Antonov,” the creature said almost apologetically, “he’s a bit brain dead. Corvinus, I don’t know. Have fun with the interrogation.”
The creature sidled stealthily toward the nearest exit where six of its mind-controlled warriors immediately surrounded it like an armored tank.
“Until we meet again, toodaloo!” it waved irreverently, before fleet-footing it out of the mansion.
Jade breathed out through her nose, royally pissed off at losing her prey.
But she didn’t want her guards to risk injury or worse in a battle she wasn’t sure they could win.
Each and every one of the creature’s escort was an ancient warrior, some Dark, some Pure. Jade could feel their power from where she stood.
The Chosen were strong, but there were only four of them, plus Simca. Her Sentries were no match for the mind-controlled warriors.
She hadn’t survived this long by rushing into violence at the slightest provocation.
“I’m done here,” she growled and strode to the ballroom exit, as regally as she’d entered it.
At least they wouldn’t be leaving empty handed.
The brain-dead Antonov and the conniving Corvinus were coming with them to the Cove.
Chapter Thirteen
Jade went straight to her chambers upon arrival at the Cove.
The Chosen would deal with their temporary occupants—Corvinus and Antonov.
Ryu, in particular, knew all kinds of tricks to get information out of the most stalwart of prisoners.
Deadly ninja assassins tended to have those skills on their resume.
Jade barged into her bedroom in a storm of need and rage and frustration and more need.
She could use an outlet for her combustible emotions, and she knew just the male for the job.
But when she saw him asleep on the bed, naked beneath a thin sheet pulled up to his hips, some of the pent up hot air deflated out of her.
Just the sight of him seemed to calm her, soothe her.
It also enflamed her.
Silently, she went to the bed, shrugged out of her dress, and climbed in. She curled on her side looking down at the Pure male as he slept.
She didn’t know what to call him, really, even in her own mind.
He wasn’t her Blood Slave, though they’d negotiated his providing those services. The contract was on his terms too. Even three years ago, it had been on his terms too.
He wasn’t her lover, for that word was too close to “love.”
Jade didn’t have the capacity for it.
Perhaps she never had. Perhaps all she understood was loyalty and friendship, respect and commitment.
And of course, she was all too familiar with their opposites.
Love was not an emotion she allowed herself to feel. It was a lie people told themselves. It made them weak because they built their lives around an illusion.
Jade would much rather focus on tangible truths—like lust, hunger, possession, dominance, and power.
What was Seth to her then?
She stroked a light caress over his chest, barely grazing his skin.
Almost immediately, he shifted into her touch and his hand captured hers, trapping her against his beating heart.
It was just an organ that thudded against his breastbone, she told herself. Yet, somehow, she felt the warmth of his heart through her skin, making her tingle all over.
Making her feel.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, and she found herself drowning in their clear, gray lakes.
He was her weakness.
In so many ways, he was her one and only, her greatest weakness.
She’d been careless with her life because of him, blinded to the risks because of her rage and vengeance when she’d confronted Katerina.
She’d gambled with her throne because of him, allying herself to her Kind’s sworn enemies.
She’d starved herself because of him, because no male could satisfy her blood and flesh needs after him.
And yet.
She could never fully possess him. He refused to submit to her.
She lived ever in fear that he would leave her, and the dread of their time together running out fed a wild desperation within her that made her raw.
She’d fought so hard for so long to carve out a place for herself in the world, a place where she felt secure and powerful, in control of her destiny.
And now, because of him—yes, everything was because of him!—she was shaken.
Her position was in question.
Everything she’d built for herself was on the verge of tumbling down around her ears.
Surely no male, no individual, could be worth all that!
He was the richest blood she’d ever tasted, the best fuck she’d ever had, but that was all he was, she told herself.
And she’d use him up to the very last drop before their contract was done.
He’d earn every one of his three requests, she’d make sure of that.
As if he could sense the predatory violence burgeoning within her, an opaqueness came over his eyes, and an invisible mask froze his expression with stoicism.
He released her hand and simply stared back at her, waiting for her next move.
She lifted her hand from his chest and hovered it over his skin, intending to use her powers to drain him of strength so he would submit to her completely.
Even though he’d told her not to do it, not to control him that way.
But he read her mind before she could act upon her instincts.
“Use me however you want,” he said gruffly, his voice thick with emotion despite his unreadable
face.
“I won’t fight you.”
He turned his head to the side facing away from her, exposing the strong column of his throat, where his jugular vein pulsed for her penetration.
With a hiss she stuck. Hard and deep.
At the same time, she came fully on top of him, pinning him down with her body and limbs like a lioness would do to subdue a large buffalo. Despite her much lesser weight and muscle mass, she was completely in control.
In the back of her mind, she knew it was because he let her be.
She pressed one hand over his throat, her thumb directly over his Adam’s apple, while her other hand reached down to grasp his penis in a punishing, possessive grip, reveling in the glorious power and strength pulsing beneath her fingers, hard steel rod wrapped in soft, sensitive satin.
He lay still beneath her, breathing in and out with methodical rises and falls of his chest, his eyes closed.
She wondered whether he was trying to shut out her savagery, the ferocity with which she took him. Shut out the greediness, ruthlessness and unending hunger that was as much a part of her as any claim to nobility and goodness.
Perhaps more so.
She was mostly darkness.
And she would make him acknowledge her.
Her pressure on his throat and sex increased with every swallow of his addictive blood.
She wanted to mark him, own him.
Hurt him.
Because she could. Because if she did, it would somehow prove that she had mastery over him, mastery over her weakness.
His throat moved as he swallowed, and with her torso pressed tightly to his, she felt a slight shudder rack his chest.
But he didn’t utter a sound, no pleas or commands for her to stop. He simply endured what must have been her excruciatingly painful feeding at his throat.
For, a vampire’s effect on her prey carried the emotions and intentions of the vampire.
Because Jade intended to hurt him, she did.
Because he opened himself to her every desire, he felt it keenly.
He felt her fangs like searing daggers in his neck, cutting deeper with every draw of blood. The poison from her fangs that infiltrated his blood razed every cell in his body with fiery pain. The pressure of her hand on his throat threatened to choke him of air. Her unforgiving grip around his swollen sex would no doubt leave bruises for days.