by Gayla Twist
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked. “I mean, seriously. What’s your problem?”
“My problem?” Vagnar look somewhat confused.
“Yes,” I said, nodding my head quite adamantly. “Do you really think it’s normal to throw an entire wedding just for the opportunity to try to pounce on the bride?”
“Pounce on you?” He looked a little bewildered. “Is that what this whole fuss is about? My dear,” he said, shaking his head. “I have no intention of pouncing on you.”
“You don’t?” I asked. I was completely confused. If he wasn’t trying to jump me, then why was he chasing me all over the countryside?
“Of course not,” Vagnar said, shaking his head. “I intend to give you a gift; lovemaking so incredibly that you’ll quiver every time you think about it.” His eyes seemed to almost be glowing as he stared directly at me. “We will share a pleasure so intense that you’ll never be able to lay with your husband without thinking of me.”
And then I was airborne, hurdling through space, flying blind and desperately trying to get away. “That’s right,” Vagnar called after me. “Run. I love it when they run.”
Vagnar’s minions were after me in an instant. I didn’t get more than a hundred yards before a silver net came down over me. I shrieked with pain as the metal seared my skin and I was dragged to the ground.
“Careful with her,” Lord Vagnar commanded as a vampire wearing heavy leather gloves pulled the net away and yanked me to my feet. “Be gentle,” he insisted. “She’s just a fledgling, after all. She doesn’t even know what’s best for her.”
I was so grateful to have the silver away from my skin that I let out a whimper of relief.
“You poor thing,” Lord Vagnar said, taking off his coat and sweeping it around my shoulders. “There’s no reason to be afraid. I promise that I will be gentle.” And then he felt the need to add, “At least until you beg me to be rough.”
I looked up at him with his handsome face and his eyes as intense as a laser. “Is it possible for vampires to throw up?” I asked. “Because I think I just barfed a little in my mouth.”
Vagnar smiled. “You are entirely charming.”
With half a dozen vampires standing around me, I knew it was useless to try to flee again. I had to go back to the castle with them. I had no other choice. It did occur to me that Alice and Karl Braxton were there. I sincerely doubted they were going to just stand idly by and let Vagnar do what he planned to do. Alice hated me; she’d made that abundantly clear, but she loved Jessie and I was Jessie’s wife.
“Do I need to bind your wrists and haul you back to my castle kicking and screaming, or will you fly there of your own accord?” Vagnar asked.
“I’ll fly,” I told him in a faint voice, pretending like all of the fight had been drained out of me. It hadn’t, of course, but I was trying to be smarter. I needed to think of a plan. There had to be some way I could escape. I decided to bide my time and look for an opportunity.
We flew with Vagnar at my side and his cronies surrounding me. “You’re not a natural flyer, are you?” he asked, with a misplaced desire to be conversational.
I just glared at him. Did he really expect me to chat?
“Your fiancé should train you,” Vagnar went on, as if I had actually responded. “I’m rather surprised that he hasn’t.”
“Husband,” I said.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Jessie is my husband now,” I said in a very flat voice. “We are married.” It seemed like something that Lord Vagnar, of all people, should remember.”
“Yes, of course.”
We flew the rest of the way back to Chateau Bourgeois in silence.
All my wedding “guests” were assembled in the great hall for my return. When we entered the castle, they let out a raucous cheer. The sound of their laughing voices made me want to scream. The men kept slapping Lord Vagnar on the back and the women kept winking and beaming at me. One woman even went so far as to squeeze my arm and say, “I wish I was you.”
What was wrong with them? Were they always just horrible people? Or did the prospect of eternal life leave them without any kind of moral anchor? Their open enjoyment of my distress made me want to spit in their faces.
At the top of the stairs, Vagnar turned to me and said, “I’ll leave you now. Momentarily, of course. I need to tend to my ablutions. I’m afraid I worked up a bit of a sweat while pursuing you and I’d like to be fresh for our time together.” When I said nothing and just stared at him coldly, he added, “Unless you prefer a man with a bit of musk about him.” He cocked an eyebrow in my direction, meaning for it to have a roguish charm. And if I’d simply been watching the adventures of a handsome cad in a movie, I’m sure I would have found him appealing. But the fact that he intended to have sex with me against my will really threw a bucket of cold water on any attraction I may have felt for him in a different situation.
Lord Vagnar’s henchmen escorted me the rest of the way back to my room. “You don’t always have to do what Lord Vagnar tells you to do, you know,” I said as one of the men opened the door. “I mean, what he’s doing here is pretty perverse. Don’t you think?” I asked as he grabbed me by the arm and stuffed me inside. “Is he paying you, or what? I mean, why would you do this?”
A guard firmly shut the door in my face. My plea had fallen on deaf ears. For whatever reason, they obeyed Vagnar blindly. And if that meant he wanted to force himself on a new bride, then I guess they were fine with it.
“Oh!” I punched the closed door with frustration. If I had been a mortal, it probably would have broken my hand. And it hurt like hell, so I probably did break it. But because I was a member of the undead, after a few moment of my hopping around the room and swearing, my hand began to heal.
I flung myself on the bed, prepared to weep with anger, fear and frustration, but then I quickly got up again. Crying wasn’t going to do me any good. Lord Vagnar would be smirking his way into my room at any moment and I needed to have a plan.
I looked around. There was wood in the room, of course. For whatever reason, vampires never tried to build wood-free homes. Maybe it was just the thrill of knowing that there was a possibility they wouldn’t live forever. Or maybe they just didn’t like sitting on plastic chairs. Either way, I could break the leg off of a piece of furniture and then try to stab him with it.
But I quickly realized that was a bad idea. If I staked Vagnar, then the Bishops would be furious. He was a judge, after all. I would definitely face the sun. Given those two choices, it was better to just let him have sex with me and get it over with.
I shivered, repelled by the thought of it. And I couldn’t help but wonder how being with Vagnar would affect Jessie and my relationship. Would it ever be the same? Would he ever be able to make love to me without thinking of Vagnar? Would I?
“Oh!” I exclaimed again, kicking the bed and causing my foot to throb. I hated that Vagnar had put me in this situation. He was determined to ruin Jessie and my marriage, even before it had begun.
That idea made me pause and think. I sat back down on the bed and put my hand to my cheek. Maybe that’s why Vagnar was insisting on having sex with me. Maybe he could tell that Jessie and I had a chance at eternal happiness and he hated the thought of it. If true, that was just so pathetic.
There was a tap on the door and before I could do anything Yvette entered the room, carrying a stack of flat boxes. “I couldn’t decide what you’d want to wear, so I brought a selection,” she said. Setting the stack on a chair, she pulled the lid off the top one and fished out a pale pink bra and panties for display.
“I don’t need a selection,” I told her. “I need you to help me get the hell out of here.”
“Whatever for?” she asked, looking mildly confused. “You’ll enjoy yourself, I promise.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. Did she really think that pleasure was all there was to this madness? “But I don’t want to enjoy myself,�
� I told her. “That’s the whole point. I’m Jessie’s wife. I’ve made a vow to be true to him because we’re soul mates. That’s why Lord Vagnar wants to ruin our marriage.”
Yvette laughed. “He wants to be with you because you’re pure,” she said, as if it was completely obvious to everyone but me.
“But…” I stammered. “I’m not a virgin. Jessie and I have been together.”
Yvette dismissed my statement with a wave of her hand. “But that was when you were a mortal,” she said. “I told you, no one wants to deal with a vampiress that’s never had sex as a mortal. Not with that whole, messy hymen thing. Lord Vagnar wants to have sex with you because you’ve never had sex since being turned. You’re an undead virgin.”
“But…” My brain was spinning. “How could he know that? The only person here that knows that is… you.”
Nodding, Yvette said, “Yes, I told him. He had his suspicions, naturally, — seeing that you’ve been so recently turned and Jessie Vanderlind has quite the reputation for being a gentleman — but it was nice of you to confirm it so obligingly.”
“I told you that in confidence,” I exclaimed, getting to my feet, my blood pressure reaching the boiling point.
She gave a small shrug. “You didn’t say it was in confidence. And even if you did, I would have told Lord Vagnar anyway.”
“Why?” I asked, feeling completely betrayed.
With a radiant smile spreading across her face, she said, “You’ll understand after you sleep with him.” Yvette released a small giggle. “That’s why he has so many devoted friends.”
While she was still amused, I darted forward and slapped her across the face. She hadn’t been expecting it and I hadn’t telegraphed my intentions by speaking first; I just cracked her as hard as I could with all of my vampire strength.
Yvette stared at me, completely caught off guard. She slowly lifted her hand to her cheek. “That was really uncalled for,” she told me.
“Uncalled for?” I all but yelled. “You helped arrange to have me trapped here, you bitch.”
I went to slap her again, but she caught my hand as easily as if I’d been moving through water. “I wouldn’t if I were you,” she said, slowly twisting my arm and forcing me to my knees. “I’m much older and much stronger than I look.”
Once Yvette had forced me to the floor, she let go, giving me a little shove. “I was going to help you make this the most pleasurable experience of your life,” she said. “But you don’t deserve my help.” Yanking the door to my room open, she turned and glared at me before storming out. “You don’t deserve my friendship.”
After the echo of the door slamming shut had faded, I got to my feet. Yvette had a very weird definition of friendship, I decided as I rubbed my arm. The pain quickly faded and I felt the muscles and tendons that had been torn start to heal.
Cautiously, I opened the door to see that there was a vampire standing guard outside my bedroom. We made eye-contact, but before he could react, I gave him a quick nod and shut the door again. Looking down, I noted that there was a skeleton key still in the lock on the inside of the door. So I locked it, leaving the key in place.
It was time for me to get out of my spoiled wedding dress, I decided. I wasn’t going to wear anything that Yvette had brought in. That was all lingerie. I could tell without even opening the lid to a single box. But I had my own clothing. Maybe seeing me in a boring pair of jeans and a comfy sweatshirt would deflate some of Vagnar’s ardor.
But before I could even walk over to where I had stored my clothes, there was a knock on the door. “Are you decent?” Lord Vagnar called.
I froze, saying nothing. I was a trapped in a room with no windows, and a pervert outside the door.
The doorknob rattled a few times and I heard some swearing. “You’re being awfully childish about this,” Vagnar called through the door.
His comment confused me. Did he expect me to welcome him? There was some more muttered swearing and then I heard Vagnar’s footsteps moving off.
I tried to think of what to do. Did I try to overpower the guard? Did I try to stake Vagnar? Did I stake myself? I really had no idea how to get out of my infuriating situation.
I heard footsteps approaching but from a different direction. Suddenly I remembered the mysterious locked door next to my bed and how Jessie had warned me to always prop a chair under the doorknob before I went to bed.
Dashing across the room, I snatched up a chair and jammed it under the doorknob, just as I heard a key jiggling in the lock. A moment later and the door moved slightly, before becoming wedged against the chair.
“Are you serious?” I heard Vagnar ask. Then the door burst open, splintering the chair into a hundred pieces.
Chapter 24
Lord Vagnar entered the room. “My goodness, you are trying to make things exciting. First running off and now this. I must say, you’ve really whetted my appetite.”
“I’m not a virgin,” I blurted, trying to assess the pieces of broken wood by only using my peripheral vision.
“Happy to hear it,” he said. “And I like the spice you’re bringing to the conversation.” His eyes took in my tattered bridal gown. “Although I am a bit disappointed that you found it unnecessary to dress for the occasion.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” I couldn’t help but exclaim. “You come in here to rape me and you’re disappointed that I’m not dressed in something you like? Do you ever listen to the words that come out of your mouth?”
“I am not going to rape you,” Vagnar stated, as if the idea never occurred to him. “I would never do anything so vulgar.”
I gave him a flat look. “You intent to have sex with me against my will. What would you call it?”
Vagnar ran a finger under his lower lip while thinking it over. “I guess I would call it a seduction.”
“A seduction?” I couldn’t help but laugh, and while I was laughing I took the opportunity to glance at the broken chair. I could probably run fast enough to impale myself on it, but I doubted I would have enough time to grab a piece and stake him. “Seriously?” I went on. “It would take a very long stretch of the imagination to make this a seduction.”
“Aurora,” Lord Vagnar said, fixing me with his eyes. “This is going to be a very pleasurable experience for you. I promise.”
I caught myself gazing at him; taking a moment, just absorbing his good looks. He really was remarkably attractive. It was like staring at George Clooney’s disreputable vampire brother.
“That’s right,” Vagnar said, unbuttoning the crisp, white shirt he was wearing. “You’ve been so busy trying to escape that you haven’t had a moment to think about succumbing to pleasure.” He opened his shirt, revealing a muscular chest and torso. He had a thick patch of hair that was concentrated between his nipples, but tapered off quickly as it descended toward his rock-hard abs. Would it really be so bad to just give in and sleep with this man? I had to wonder. I mean, after all, he was charming, and he’d thrown us a very nice wedding. I couldn’t help but notice that his skin had a glowing tan, like he spent his days basking in the sun. I found myself wanting to reach out and touch his chest; to run my hands over his warm, sun-kissed flesh.
And then I realized that there was no possible way that he could have a tan. He was a vampire. “Do you get a spray-tan or something?” I asked, suddenly coming to my senses.
“What?” Vagnar asked, his eyes instantly losing a bit of their intensity. “What are you talking about?”
“You have a fake tan,” I said, gesturing toward his chest.
“No I don’t,” he said, looking down. “I had a very deep tan when I was turned.”
I shook my head. “That’s not a real tan. That’s a spray-on. That’s tan in a can.”
“Aurora, what does it matter?” he asked, making his eyes all glowy again. “You are about to experience the greatest moment of passion in your life.”
But the influence he’d had over me was gone. I couldn’t
see him as anything but a preening peacock with a fake tan. I shook my head, walked over, and sat down on one of the non-smashed chairs. “Do you know Jessie and my history?” I asked, hoping to dissuade him, or at least delay him from his goal. I needed to stall for time. Wouldn’t Alice eventually arrive with the cavalry? I hadn’t seen in her the crowd when I was escorted back to the castle.
“What’s that?”
“How Jessie and I met,” I explained. “What we’ve been through.”
“I don’t believe I do,” he told me. “Or if I did, I’ve forgotten.”
“I think you’d find it interesting,” I said, making full eye contact with him and nodding my head a little to show the firmness of my convictions. But my thoughts were racing. The Vanderlinds were a well-respected family and Alice was conspicuously absent. Maybe my mother-in-law wanted this wedge between me and her son? I tried to appear relaxed, but the idea immediately twisted my stomach into knots.
“You wouldn’t happen to be trying to play Scheherazade, would you?” Vagnar asked, giving me an indulgent smile. He sauntered over and took a seat in a chair close to mine.
“But it’s just that Jessie and I are soul mates,” I insisted, slightly disappointed he had seen through my pathetic ploy so easily. “If you knew of everything we’ve been through, then you would want to help us.”
“But I do want to help you,” Vagnar said, reaching forward and running one finger along my arm.
“No you don’t,” I told him, giving him a hard look. “You just want to help yourself.”
Lord Vagnar laugh. “Oh, that’s delightful,” he said. “You don’t want to help me, you just want to help yourself,” he repeated. “Like at an all-you-can-eat buffet, or something.”
I had to blanch a little. I had the feeling he was referencing me as the buffet.
“I’m seriously going to tell that to all my friends,” he said, chuckling some more.
If we were mortals, I would have wondered if Vagnar had smoked something illegal. I hadn’t even really intended to make a joke. Then his hand shot out and clamped me tightly around the wrist. “But seriously, I don’t have the patience to sit here and listen to your tale of star-crossed lovers.” He yanked me to my feet. “I’ve waited long enough, let’s get to the main event.” With that, he slung me over his shoulder fireman style, walked across the room and flung me onto the bed.