by TJ Michaels
Idiot. Sidheon had probably tested the drug on vamps. While she had vamp-like abilities now, she wasn’t a vampire and he’d obviously miscalculated how long the stuff would work on a human. Instinctively pushing her psychic shields into place to make sure Sidheon would remain unaware of her rapidly increasing lucidity, Carin breathed a sigh of relief when no one came barging into her room to stick her with any needles.
By dinnertime, she was just beginning to feel halfway right again when her mind tilted sideways.
Bix charged into her head, filled it to the brim with concern and boiling rage. Assuring her husband she was fine, Carin smiled when he cursed a blue streak into her head, spitting mad and promising all kinds of nasty things in store for Natasha.
“Bix, Natasha’s working with Sidheon.” She stiffened when his blue streak turned black. The man used some curse words she’d never even heard before. Was that old Latin? Boy, he was pissed, and he was coming for her. And Sidheon. But when he told her what he wanted her to do, she almost lost her dinner.
Chapter Eighteen
Carin watched the rolling surf through the bolted window of her bedroom. At least it had a private bathroom and she wouldn’t have to be held captive and smell like one, too. A small knock sounded at the door. Carin snorted. Like she could walk over and just open it. The damned thing was locked, so why the hell were they knocking?
She crossed her arms over her chest and stood, toe tapping with annoyance as it slid silently open. Chase, head lowered to the carpet, ambled in.
“Hi, Chase. What’s wrong?” she asked kindly.
“Dr. Sidheon says you will dine in an hour downstairs. He sent this for you to wear.” He kept his gaze on the floor as he held out what was supposed to be clothes.
Carin’s lip curled up on one side when the man produced something fit for the best Los Angeles hooker. A short leather skirt, a cap-sleeved leather bodice and high-heeled leather ankle boots, all black. All in her size. There was no way in hell she was going to wear this. Had never worn anything remotely close. Ever. Only Bix had managed to get her the slightest bit out of her conservative bent, and she hadn’t gotten up the nerve to sport an outfit like this even for him.
“Look, you tell Aleth I said he can take this outfit and stuff it up his ass.” She made to toss him out when the sickly man’s raspy words brought her up short.
“I—He said. Well, D-Dr. Sidheon said if you, if you refused…he would p-personally re-tie your hands and feet and…and,” Chase stuttered.
“And what,” she asked hotly.
“F-Feed you by hand.”
“What the hell does feeding me by hand have to do with these clothes?” she screeched, her temper as hot as San Diego in July.
“He said you would be, um, be naked, ma’am.” If she didn’t know better, both she and Chase blushed but the man remained so deathly pale she couldn’t tell. Carin snatched the leather outfit from the man’s hands, shoved him out the door and slammed it shut.
In exactly one hour, she walked into a large dining room, escorted by a very uncomfortable Chase who saw her in and ducked out as fast as his shuffling skinny legs could carry him. The room was shaped like a large rectangle and reminded her more of a conservatory than a dining room. The lengths of both sides of the room were all glass with skylights and beveled glass making up most of the ceiling as well as an entire wall looking out to the darkened beach. Comfy-looking couches and chairs surrounded a man-sized fireplace. Huge pillows done in burgundy and black brocade took up the rear of the room. The place would be lovely if Sidheon weren’t in it.
The scent of roast pork and fresh bread assailed her senses as she sat at the head of the table. Sidheon smiled at her from the other end with a pouting Natasha at his side. Her steps faltered but a second later she snapped her backbone into place and shook off her fear and surprise. Besides, her two known enemies weren’t the cause of her discomfort. It was…the others. The dining table seated twenty-two, and every seat was occupied by both male and female vampires who all looked like they’d rather eat her than the spread Sid had laid before them.
Keeping her mind quiet, Carin concentrated on the sumptuous spread and stuffed herself with honey-baked turkey, rosemary bread stuffing, fresh asparagus in some kind of butter sauce and hot yeast rolls. The meal was finished off with baked caramel apples and, for Carin, a cup of steaming hot black coffee. The vamps indulged in blood-laced champagne.
She sat back in her L.A. ‘Ho costume, pushed back her chair just a bit, crossed her booted feet and put them up on the table. Sipping the strong brew, she was more than aware the short leather skirt gave Sidheon an eyeful of almost the whole length of her bare legs. So, he’d thought to tie her up and hand feed her if she misbehaved? Nasty bastard. Only her promise to do as Bix asked made her tamp down her anger and put on a sweet-as-apple-pie face.
Several other pale and unhealthy-looking folks cleared the dishes. She thanked a particularly skinny female for a refill of her coffee. Her wan, weak smile made Carin wince. The girl looked like a strong northerly wind would blow her away. Carin looked closer at the wait staff and immediately knew the truth. Chase wasn’t the only ill vampire here. Every one of these frail-looking so-called servants were vampires.
What the hell had happened to them? Why did every vampire around the table look healthy while all the staff looked sick? Fuming, Carin slammed her cup down, ignoring the hot coffee sloshing onto her skirt and tablecloth. She shot to her feet with her hands fisted on her hips, glared at Sidheon down the long length of the table and roared.
“Aleth, what the hell is going on? What have you done to these vamps?”
“Oh, not much, my dear. Why don’t you take a closer look, good doctor?”
With a flick of his wrist, the same young woman who’d smiled so happily at Carin’s compliment now approached her with trepidation, dropped to her knees and cowered on the floor.
“There, there, I’m not going to hurt you. I promise,” Carin crooned to the female as she took her seat once more. As the girl relaxed, Carin gently touched the cool skin of her face and neck, and then quickly examined her teeth and the whites of her eyes.
Sucking her breath in on a sigh, Carin couldn’t keep the heartfelt sadness out of her voice. She was so sorry for this female it was all she could do to keep the tears in check.
“Aleth, how could you do this? You’ve altered them. This girl’s skin feels like tissue paper. There’s no way a vampire female should be this frail and weak.” Carin looked down at the miserable face and whispered for her ears only. “I’m sorry. We’ll fix it, okay? I promise. Now go on before you get in trouble.”
As the girl scampered away, Sidheon rose, tugged Natasha out of her seat next to him and stalked around the table towards Carin. With one arm around his consort, he leaned lazily against the table, much too close for comfort. Carin’s eyes never left his.
On an exasperated sigh, she asked, “Aleth, what do you want with me?”
A lone finger snaked out to wrap around a loose strand of her hair. “You know, Carin,” he said, his voice smooth as silk, “I’d hoped to woo you, perhaps even make you my mate. I’ve always been fond of you. Your beauty, and of course, your genius.”
Natasha flinched as if Sidheon’s words physically cut her. With fury in her eyes, she yanked away from him but remained by his side.
Sidheon grabbed Natasha by the hair, yanked her back against his body and pressed his groin flush against her butt. A hand slipped under the traitor’s blouse while he conversed with Carin as if they were all out for an afternoon stroll. Ewww, now this was just nasty, and not in a good way.
She wanted nothing more than to storm out, but remained in her seat instead, reminding herself that she’d promised to keep Sidheon in that damned dining room as long as possible. Carin picked up her coffee again and tried to ignore the mad scientist and his even madder Liaison. But boy was he making it hard.
Carin gulped a fortifying swallow of the strong brew and sai
d, “You’ve always been fond of me, Aleth? Really? You could have fooled me, especially when you tried to gut me in front of my own house.”
“Just a misunderstanding really. I was quite relieved when I heard you’d taken a sabbatical from Idac.” He tweaked Natasha’s nipples through her bra and the female vamp gasped and moaned desperately as if someone were cutting off her air supply. Yet Sidheon’s gaze remained glued on Carin. “Before my partner here confirmed anything, I knew no one but V.C.O.E. could have pulled off something like that on such short notice, and only if you were alive.”
“But why try to take me out at all?”
“Because, my sweet Carinian,” he purred into Natasha’s ear, “I knew you were at least aware, if not sure, of what I was doing. I couldn’t risk allowing the V.C.O.E. to get to you.”
“Yeah, this is all good and fine, but you still haven’t answered my question. Why hold me here? I’m no threat to you, even if I did know what you were up to. And where the hell is here anyway?” She tried to block out the sound of Natasha’s ragged moans as Sidheon played with her breasts and slid his hands up under the front of her barely there skirt.
“Well, since nobody knows where you are, I see no reason not to tell you. You’re in a quaint little manor on a beach in Northern California. And while you’re here, you’re going to tell me exactly what you think of my research.”
He wanted to talk about his research? Shit. Not good. It got worse when he explained his plans for V.C.O.E. The bastard planned to use his biological weapon to blackmail the Council. If they refused to make him the leader of a rogue vampire state he would use the serum he’d developed. And since it only affected those with pure, unaltered vampire DNA, he could put it into a main water or food supply and no one would be affected except his kind. Every vamp in the area would be toast, literally, in a matter of hours.
“Let me get this straight. You want every vampire declared a rogue by the Council to be placed under your guidance so you can create a rogue state and live happily ever after?” Carin couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The man was definitely crazy. What made him think he could control a whole horde of lunatics with fangs? She was amazed at what she was hearing and forgot to put her psychic shields in place. Watching Natasha writhe and moan against Sidheon as he kneaded her breasts like bread dough wasn’t making it any easier.
She screwed up her face in disgust. Sidheon chuckled and flicked one of Natasha’s nipples into a hard, stabbing point.
“But you’re right,” Sidheon continued, “the Elders would want to know how I planned to control them. The same way I’ll control the Council. Cross me, and they die. Give me what I want or they die. Finance my projects, or they die. Simple, yes? As for you, I don’t actually need you. I do, however, want you.”
Carin’s skin crawled when Natasha’s blouse slid down her arms to the floor, a black lacy bra following close behind. Carin felt her lip curl as she watched the woman raise her arms behind her, wrap them around Sidheon’s neck and pant like a dog in heat. All the other vampires seated around the table pushed back their chairs and headed for the comfortable love seats and mounds of pillows in front of the huge fireplace. Watching Sid and Natasha make out must have given them ideas of their own. Soon the whole room was full of moans, groans and all-out lust.
“You don’t need me, Aleth, and judging by the handful of tits you’re juggling, you don’t want me either. I want to go home. Right now.”
“Now, now, my sweet Carinian. You aren’t in a position to make any demands, except one.”
“And what’s that?” she sneered, swinging her feet off the table and pushing out of her chair to glare at him.
“You can demand me to fuck you. I’ll definitely comply. In the meantime,” Sidheon growled into Natasha’s ear, his attention still on Carin, “I’ll just have to amuse myself with…other things.”
He turned sideways and pushed Natasha to her knees. She didn’t hesitate in unbuckling the rogue’s belt, undoing his trousers and sliding them to his ankles. A pair of forest green boxers followed and Carin saw more of Sidheon than she’d ever hoped to in her lifetime. She might have been impressed with the size and weight of his cock if he hadn’t been a repulsive bastard. And Natasha was gobbling the man up as if her daily protein intake was in Sidheon’s cock.
Every couch and pillow in front of the roaring fire was filled with writhing vampire bodies, the male and females paired off. A few were in threes, and all of them naked.
Sidheon grabbed a handful of Natasha’s hair and snatched her up off her knees, hiked her skirt up and bent her forward over the table.
Carin almost gagged when he pushed into the woman’s willing body and hissed about how tight the fit was. Eyes closed, she tried to block out Natasha’s groans and moans. But when the woman began screaming bloody murder, Carin’s eyes snapped open. Her dark brown eyes clashed with Sidheon’s azure blue ones. The man hungrily watched her while he fucked Natasha into such a screaming orgasm the woman clawed at the fine finish of the table.
Gross. Carin stilled, concentrated to keep a shield in place, then reached frantically across the bond calling Bix’s name in her head as loud and strong as she could.
“Easy, sweetheart. Easy. I’m almost there.”
She stiffened as Bix’s thoughts rushed through her brain. She closed her eyes and sent him a mental picture of what she was seeing. “Take it easy? Are you shitting me? There’s a damned vampire orgy going on and you want me to be easy? Damned man. Why, I ought to…”
“Carin, move it.”
“Fine, already,” she hissed, easing towards the door. She grabbed her stomach like she was going to throw up and ran for it.
Just as she reached the dining-room entrance, every pane of the wall of glass was blown inward. In swarmed a score of pissed off Seekers and Iudex judges with one thing on their minds. Kicking some Sidheon ass.
* * *
While her husband was taking them out in the dining room, the best thing Carin could do was stay clear of the fighting to keep him from worrying about her. She had to get out of there and the beach was calling her name. She looked behind her and gasped, praying some new energy into her legs as she flew through the foyer and towards the front door. A naked and angry Natasha was close on her heels, and Sidheon right behind with his semi-hard cock hanging out of his pants.
Her fingers wrapped around the doorknob when she was jerked backward by her hair.
She grimaced as rough fingers tightened all the way to her scalp and yanked. Hard. On a pain-filled gasp, she yelled, “So did you tell him, Natasha? Tell Sid how you really want my husband, and not him.”
“Shut up, bitch.” Natasha’s hand snaked out to land a nasty blow against Carin’s left temple while the other tangled deeper in her hair. Carin’s scalp burned and she just knew she was bleeding where the hair was being pulled out.
“You know, I’m getting tired of you yanking me around. I told my husband I’d let him handle this, but keep it up and I’m gonna have to kick your ass.”
“What’s this about her husband, Natasha?” Sidheon crooned, Natasha’s jet black locks wrapped around his hand. If she hadn’t been pissed off, she would have smiled at Natasha’s frown as her hair was being pulled. Maybe she’d appreciate what it felt like to have someone constantly yanking on her scalp.
“You idiot, Aleth,” Carin yelled, then grunted as Natasha pulled harder. “All Natasha wanted was to get back at Bix for rejecting her. But after you killed me, she planned to get him to mate her.”
“I see,” he drawled. “Tired of my cock already, Natasha?”
“Sidheon, she’s lying. I-I swear.”
“She never wanted your tired old cock in the first place.” Carin knew he took it for the insult it was. After all, Natasha was a mere seventy-six years old, while Sidheon, who didn’t look a day over forty, was at least one hundred and fifty.
A primal, beyond angry roar shook the building. All three of them looked back towards the dinin
g room to see Bix tearing into every rogue stupid enough to challenge him.
“Wow, would you look at him,” Carin said in awe. Bix was every bit the bad ass she thought he was. Every blow was dealt with deadly precision. His face full of fury, he ripped out a throat here, snapped a neck there. Then when his katana cleared the scabbard on his back, he was a hurricane in action.
Natasha’s mouth was wide open as she watched Bix in battle. Carin understood because she couldn’t take her eyes off him either. He looked like death itself come to take someone to hell. His handsome face was set in tight lines as his sword and knives flashed in the light cast by the fireplace. He turned, swirled, slashed and punched. Big and powerful, he dwarfed everyone in the room except for her blond avenging angel, Alaan. Power rippled through his arms and back as he lifted a full-grown vamp off the floor and threw him out of one of the ruined windows. Rogue after rogue fell before him. Blades sheathed, his gun cleared the holster and silent shots took down several more while he made his way towards them.
Holy shit. They ashed over.
Then her husband turned and saw her being harassed by Sidheon and Natasha. Lips curled back in a nasty snarl, fangs fully bared, Bix started towards them with singular intent, slowly, as if he had all the time in the world.
Sidheon untangled his hand and backed away with a wry grin as he tucked himself back in his pants. “Well, I’ll just leave you two ladies to settle your differences, eh?” Then he shot out the front door and into the night. The sound of crashing waves filled the foyer in his wake.
Bix reached her side, took one look at her outfit and licked his lips. “Wear that for me when we get home?” He winked and took off after Sidheon, but not before he called over his shoulder. “Take care of Natasha, sweetheart.”
Just the words Carin wanted to hear.
Natasha circled Carin, stalked her like a starving wolf with its prey within its sight. Sweat dripped off her face as she managed a sadistic grin.