Vampire's Embrace: A Vampire Queen Series Novel

by Joey W. Hill

  “Steele.”

  The man moved from the corner. Bracing his hands on either side of Nina’s displayed breasts, he held the chair steady to prevent Nina or his Mistress from overbalancing it. He was close enough Nina’s chin brushed his chest, and she was looking up into his face. When he glanced down at her, his gaze was inscrutable as always. She had a mad thought that The Mistress had conjured him from a statue. Something that stood in the shadows of a garden overgrown with nightshade and tangled vines, a being covered in grey stone until she touched him and the façade cracked, bringing his body to life while the still implacability of a statue remained his core, his soul. But his knuckles, pressed against her shoulders, were infused with heat.

  “No.” Nina’s protest was ignored as The Mistress covered her eyes. She was in darkness, but it wasn’t merely a blindfold. It was a hood that covered her head, laced on the sides so it molded to her face like a second skin. A breathable fabric at least, but she couldn’t see, and her mouth was covered.

  “It is not Steele before you. It is your Master. It is Lord Alistair, watching your training, taking pleasure in your submission.”

  Would the man who rescued her from a beach of death take pleasure in seeing her robbed of all her choices, her will subjugated to a world and a future she hadn’t chosen?

  I want you begging me to let you release. Nothing in your mind but your need for that permission. If you get too close, you tighten your grip here as a reminder of whose will you serve… You know what I am, and you know I can be ruthless. I’m far scarier than anything you saw on that beach.

  Some part of her knew he would take some pleasure in this. But that wasn’t as horrible to her as feeling the contraction between her legs that responded to the thought. How could she convince them this wasn’t what she wanted, if The Mistress’s words, the images she was spinning in Nina’s brain like a deft spider, had her tongue-tied and confused? Aroused, and not just physically. That was the worst of it.

  She didn’t want this. She didn’t. But with her sight taken, and Steele’s strong hands on her shoulders, his body close enough to her face she could inhale male heat, she thought of Alistair on the beach. In the caretaker’s cottage.

  Her on her knees between his spread ones, his hand on her throat as he drank, his fingers caressing her rabbiting pulse.

  “You think you can hide in your head,” The Mistress said. “You can’t, Nina. There is no room for pretense. Your Master will give you three marks to bind you to him. When he does, he will have access to every room of your mind, your heart and your soul. There will be nothing you can hide from him.”

  Fear clutched her anew, trying to deposit her in the hands of panic. Her lips moved against the fabric, a soundless what, but The Mistress must have read her body language.

  “You have been told of it by your sister, perhaps, but didn’t believe it? Assumed it meant something figurative, that it would be ‘like’ he could read her mind. No, Nina. Lord Alistair gave you the first mark, the geographic locater. The second mark gives him access to your mind. He can read your every thought, and speak to you in your head. You can communicate with him without words as well.”

  A quick stroke of her temple, her quivering jaw. Her neck was beginning to ache, a lot, and the repetitive swallowing of her stretched throat was a strain. “It is a comfort, a reassurance. And a way to learn his needs even more quickly.”

  The Mistress paused, her thumb caressing Nina’s lips. Nina remembered how Alistair had done that, the firmness of the touch. The Mistress knew about Alistair giving her the first mark. Had he told her how he’d touched her during their brief time together, to help The Mistress conjure him this way?

  “Open your mouth. Be very still so I won’t cut you.”

  Nina froze, but parted her lips. The quick hint of a slim blade, and The Mistress had slit the fabric of the laced mask over Nina’s mouth. She adjusted it around Nina’s lips so she could feel the female’s touch on her mouth more directly. She realized The Mistress had taken Steele’s place and stood directly over her, probably looking down into her tipped up face as she spoke.

  “Then there is the third and final mark. The one that binds you to him for all eternity. This life, and every life thereafter. Whereas the second mark gives your Master access to your mind, the third leaves no room closed to him, as I said. Your heart and soul are his to explore, to dig deep into everything you are, and bring you to a depth of connection you cannot envision until you have experienced it.”

  Ludicrous. Impossible. No one knew what happened in the afterlife. But if the other was true…never to have a thought that was truly private again, to have no part of herself she could hold only for herself, in a world she was being forced to accept…

  No. She would fight and fight and fight until they knew they couldn’t have that. She loved her brothers, her family, but surely they didn’t understand what was being demanded of her. No one had the right to demand another’s soul.

  Breath harsh in her throat, she abandoned thought, rationality and led with pure passion. Hawking up as much phlegm as she could, she spat into The Mistress’s face.

  From the sound, she achieved a direct hit. Since her head was tipped back, she got baptized in the spray, but she didn’t care. “Kill me,” she demanded. “Kill me now, or I do it myself. I will never accept that, never agree to that.”

  She would have expected a fist in her face, or the business end of that switch at the least. She heard nothing. The Mistress had withdrawn, and Steele was back, his hands on the chair again. Had he given his Mistress a kerchief, helped to wipe her face?

  “One knee, Steele,” his Mistress said. She was behind Nina again.

  Her next order must have been pantomimed, or, if she wasn’t lying about that second mark ability, The Mistress had spoken in his mind. Steele’s capable hands closed over Nina’s breasts. In the next blink, his mouth was on her nipple, heated breath teasing it, tongue coming out to play. She jerked, but had nowhere to retreat. Nowhere to lessen the intensity as he traced around it with the tip of his tongue, touched it in little maddening caresses, then a full, wet circle. His mouth closed over it and he started to suckle, a pull that grew stronger as heated liquid swirled in her lower belly, her thighs. He squeezed her other breast with his opposite hand and, after a leisurely suckling of the one nipple, moved to the other.

  Back and forth. Back and forth. It was the only way she was being touched, and yet as he continued doing it, Nina’s whole body was being affected. She tried to hold herself apart, keep her reactions compartmentalized to sheer physical response, like eating a sandwich to assuage hunger, or drinking water to appease thirst. But then The Mistress made it worse.

  “It is not Steele doing this, Nina. Is it? In your mind, it is your Master. Lord Alistair has bound you for his pleasure, and is enjoying a thorough tasting of your gorgeous breasts. Your nipples are getting hard and aching under the pull of his mouth. Your cunt is dripping. You have to swallow back the desire to beg. Not for anything specific. You simply want him to hear the pleading in your voice, because your helpless need pleases him like nothing else. His treasure. His servant.”

  He'd told her he wanted her to beg before she came. How many nights had she done that in the quiet of her room to get through, to get some sleep? The Mistress pushed her into that mindset with little more than a handful of words, because Nina had been bloody well practicing compliance to the idea already.

  Zzzzt! A whistling through the air, and Nina bit back a shriek as the switch hit her directly between the legs. She had no way to close them, to guard herself, though her thighs pulled harder than she’d ever imagined they could, trying to do so.

  “Spit in my face, will you?” The Mistress said pleasantly. “I’m going to do that once again. You will ask me for the strike, as your apology for your rudeness. If you do not, I will do it again. And again, until you deliver a proper apology. With the proper deference.”

  She sounded not the least bit ang
ry, not even annoyed. Which increased Nina’s terror. “I don’t care if I make your tender skin bleed, Nina. Flesh heals. After your Master marks you, he could tear the flesh from your back at dinner, and you would be completely healed by dawn, so he could take you rough as he pleased. You don’t have that resilience yet, but I have been doing this long enough to know just how much I can hurt you and ensure your training progresses with no delays. That will still be far more pain than you wish to bear, I promise you. So, ask.”

  Nina set her jaw, even though it trembled, hard. The Mistress chuckled. “A tester. Such a pleasure.”

  The next blow was worse. Nina’s scream broke through her attempt at restraint. This time The Mistress didn’t give her a pause to think about it. “Ask.”

  Nina shook her head, as much as her binding would allow. And screamed again. It hurt so damn much. Steele hadn’t stopped what he was doing. His mouth was firm and warm on her nipples, his tongue a wet heat that helped him suck and lave, his strong teeth making tiny little nips. Despite her torment, Nina wasn’t unaffected by what he was doing. The Mistress confirmed it.

  “Your clitoris is so full and plump. It makes it all the more ripe for a switching. Feel that.”

  The Mistress’s fingertips slid between her labia. When she rubbed, Nina was ashamed to realize she was collecting moisture. The female vampire held her hand close to her face, so Nina could smell her own arousal. “You see? Now, ask.”

  Another refusal, but Nina thought it might be the hardest thing she’d ever do, because her body was howling for her to surrender. On the heels of that scream, another sound broke from her lips, a deep groan as Steele did something different with his suckling that speared sensation straight to her core.

  “He’s very accomplished, isn’t he? His mouth is a gift from the gods. I’ve kept him between my legs, servicing me for hours, and his jaw never tires.”

  The Mistress’s tone changed, became brisk. “You cannot change your future, Nina. You can change how you feel about it. I will help you do that. Your evaluation is telling me how hard I will need to push you.”

  This was an evaluation? Not even the real training? Nina had a mad vision of The Mistress setting aside her switch to make some notes in a grade book. But before Nina could hope that she would get a momentary respite, that this part of things might be over, The Mistress continued.

  “It appears extreme measures are needed. From this moment forward, while you are here, you will wear no clothes. You will not be allowed a blanket, nor even a napkin at meal times. Another student will wipe your mouth when needed. When you need a bathroom, you will be accompanied. You will be given no privacy, no place to hide. During daylight, our sleeping time, you will be tied to your bed, your legs and arms spread. Your roommates will be tasked with bringing you to climax through a manner other than penetration, while the other two watch.”

  She had to be joking. She must be. But she wasn’t. Nina knew it. She shook her head, and tears clogged her throat, spilled out of her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. She didn’t know why she was trying, since she wore the hood and no one could see. Unless the tears became profuse enough to stain the fabric.

  “Stop this. Please.”

  The Mistress stroked her head. “There it is. The side of you that will be so irresistible. Such fire, such need. You think I’m cruel, that all this is so terrible. But did your Matrons not have to push you hard at times, be seemingly cruel, to ensure you learned your lessons well enough not to endanger the lives of your patients?”

  It was an unexpected comparison that put a hitch in the whirl of thoughts and denials in Nina’s head. The Mistress leaned close, whispered to her again. “The life I am helping save with my cruelty is your own. And I am giving you the chance at a different life. Pain and grief, fear…if roused for the right reasons, they’re all ways to cross thresholds, open your eyes to a far wider world, one that a place deep in your soul knows.”

  Her fingers danced over Nina’s body and Nina gasped again. “Still wet, as if Steele’s mouth had been between your legs all along. The body will respond to physical stimulation, Nina. But you respond to sexual dominance, even the merest suggestion of it, which means your heart and soul are involved. It is the foot in the door that will take you to the rest. You will release for me here before Steele takes you back to your room to begin your training. What’s more, by the end of this month, your body will ready itself with little more than a command from my lips. If you allow yourself the gift, your fire and need will be channeled into a passion for your Master that he will learn to treasure. Though I will not have time to get you all the way there, I will get you as close as anyone can.”

  Nina was shaking her head, couldn’t seem to stop. All of her was shaking, but The Mistress held her fast with the one hand, with the strength of her voice. Though she was blindfolded, it was as if Nina could feel the powerful lock of the woman’s gaze upon her.

  “My promise to prepare you in every possible way for the life of an InhServ is not just a promise to Lord Alistair or the Vampire Council. It is a promise to you as well. I will not break your mind, unless such things can break it. But I will show you what you refuse to believe is possible. That you are not acting as a vampire’s servant. You will not be a puppet. You will be an InhServ, from now until the end of your life. You will honor your family, just as they wished.”

  I don’t care. I don’t understand them. They’re like strangers. I want to hate them. I don’t want to love them. But it seemed like she had no choice in that, either.

  “Let’s change this up, show you something else marvelous.”

  Nina tensed, anticipating another blow between her legs, but this time the switch landed against the broadest part of her arse. The strike was followed by a punishing crack with the palm of The Mistress’s hand. She hit Nina’s buttock in a way that made it wobble. And sent more sensation flooding between her legs. The Mistress said nothing more for a little while, merely alternating the spanking with the switch as Nina made little cries and sobs, and Steele suckled her nipples with all the leisure of a man enjoying the taste of his evening cocktail.

  Her body was singing with pain, with pleasure, with arousal, with shattering emotions, and Nina couldn’t command a single thought. The stimulation was cataclysmic.

  Then The Mistress’s voice was against her ear, her body against Nina’s, so she felt the rough lacing of the corset, the pillowing of the woman’s breasts against her back. The Mistress’s knee was on the seat, and Steele adjusted so his weight countered them on the other side.

  “I will beat you often while you are here, Nina. Whenever I desire. For that is your Master’s right as well. But as you have found here tonight, with just this little taste, we can teach you to enjoy it. Pain and punishment are not always about violence and cruelty.”

  When The Mistress’s knee pressed between Nina’s open legs, she strangled on another cry. “Ride me, little rebellious one,” The Mistress murmured. She flexed her leg, the muscles providing friction against Nina, and Nina couldn’t stop herself from trying to move with it, to establish a rhythm. Her knees were bound, but her hips were not. As The Mistress ground against her, demanded a response Nina couldn’t refuse, Nina’s arse lifted and rose. Her wet cunt rubbed against the slick stuff of The Mistress’s tight pants.

  “Oh…oh…” Her aching neck craned back like a long-throated bird’s, and The Mistress helped, tangling her fingers in the bound tail of her hair and hiking back on it further, her mouth moving to Nina’s nape. Nina felt the prick of fangs.

  “Such a temptation you are. Your little cunt so needy. Give me everything. It is what your Master will demand. What Alistair will be greedy to call forth from you, again and again. Say his name.”

  Alistair. She formed the word without sound, not willing to give The Mistress that, but it was a small victory.

  She’d had little climaxes, tentative things, thanks to Alistair’s direction to her. Following his command to k
eep the nightmares at bay.

  Following his command.

  Oh God, she was lost.

  The screams that tore from her throat as she climaxed were more than it could bear, the rawness hurting the vocal cords. She wouldn’t be able to talk tomorrow. But that might keep her out of the kind of trouble her mouth could make for her.

  Or not. She had a despairing feeling that, whether she defied The Mistress or not, Nina was going to be taken down a road that would shatter every shield, remove every illusion she had that her life would ever be her own again.

  They both already knew she was too strong to kill herself. She’d seen men with useless bodies who found the will to live. She couldn’t justify sacrificing her life merely for pride. Even for freedom. Damn it all to bloody hell.

  Steele escorted the new initiate back to her room. He supervised the other three girls as they tied Nina to the bed, made sure the far-too-quiet woman didn’t try to hit them or struggle. Fortunately, she didn’t. She was mentally exhausted, which helped, but there was a woodenness to her features that made him advise the three to keep a very close eye on her. He gave them his Mistress’s interim instructions, commanded Chele to give Nina’s back, neck and shoulders a thorough massage, and then returned to the drawing room.

  He knew Nina had been given her first taste of The Mistress’s implacability. She was soon going to learn what every initiate did. The most ruthless thing about The Mistress wasn’t that the female knew exactly what buttons to push. It was that she had no compunction about stabbing them repeatedly, and with the joyous abandon of a manic toddler. Except she did it for carefully calculated reasons and purposes that would eventually make sense, and prepare them in ways they’d never imagined were vitally necessary.

  It was a tougher journey for some than others. It was going to be particularly rough for Nina, and he had mixed feelings about that.