As they moved through the crowd, Jolie allowed Death to float to the surface.
It gave her street cred.
With each vamp who approached, the second they felt the kiss of Death, they backed away.
If that wasn’t enough, Flynn was a force to be reckoned with too. He was able to use the tendrils to keep the vampyres away. Since he was mostly death, wrapped in what appeared to be a sexy human shell, that worked for them.
As Jolie scanned the room, she gave the order to blend into the crowd. Eventually, Mulduk would seek them out and bring them to his private chambers.
That was their plan.
It was simple.
It was direct.
It was going to work.
It was time for the show.
As Jolie and Flynn found some open space, she picked up a whip. Before she could flick it at her mate, he had other ideas. Moving fast, he had it in his hand and used it to drag her toward him.
With one flick of his wrist, it was wrapped around her waist.
It turned her on.
The look in his eyes.
The ripple of Death beneath his flesh.
It was hot.
When he tugged her against his body, Flynn roughly pulled her hair to the side, freeing her throat.
As he sank his fangs into her flesh, Jolie’s knees went weak. She couldn’t think.
‘I could take you right here,’ Flynn stated. ‘I would love every second of claiming you.’
Jolie swallowed.
‘You taste like heaven, woman.’
Jolie was pressed to his body, and she could see that it wasn’t an act. Flynn was rock hard. As he drank, she wantonly teased him.
The low growl began in his chest. The vibration tickled her throat as he fed.
When he stopped, he forced her to look up and into his eyes. “When we have to deal with him, you will not kill him.”
Jolie blinked a few times. “What?”
“He’s mine. This is my family. This is my duty, and you will not stop me. I can force you, or you can tell me ‘yes, Master’, and we’ll be good.”
Jolie’s laughter filled the air.
“Flynn, if I even get an inkling that you’re using vampyre tricks to control me, there will be no sex for you for so long that you’ll be weeping on a regular basis.”
He grinned. “Is that so?”
“That is so.”
His big hand found the back of her head. “I bet I can get you to comply without even using a trick.”
She went to speak, but he cut her off.
With his mouth.
His lips moved slowly over hers, making love to her mouth. With his tongue, he plumbed the depths until she was loose and putty in his hands. Then, with his free hand, he forced her body back against his.
He was hard, and she was easy.
Setting her mouth free, Flynn grinned.
Jolie had to blink—a few times.
“Damn you, Flynn Brogan.”
He started laughing. “It’s a gift. Now you know how I feel when you chew on your lower lip. I want to do really….”
Jolie waited. “What? What do you want to do?”
He growled.
“Here come Mulduk’s guardians. They’re headed this way.”
As Jolie turned, Flynn pushed her behind his back. There was no way in hell that he was letting his woman get hurt.
It wasn’t happening.
Not now.
Not ever.
“We need to see your boss,” he said, holding up his hand as the vampyres moved closer.
They stopped.
“We came to…”
It was like they couldn’t recall what they were doing there. The two men looked back and forth at each other. It looked like this was going to be easier than they thought.
“Take us to him now.”
The two vampyres led them toward the hallway that would give them access to Mulduk. As soon as they approached the door, Jolie took the lead.
“I’ll handle him. Can you take care of these two?” she asked.
Flynn didn’t like it.
He didn’t want his woman in there with that sick piece of trash, but he knew she was likely going to be safe.
After all, she had Death on her side.
“We’ll handle them.”
Jolie kissed Flynn on the lips, and then repeated it with Jacques. She loved that they weren’t treating her like an invalid. This mattered.
They were a team.
“I’ll be done in a minute.”
As she opened the door, there was a wave of energy. It yanked the knob from her fingers, slamming it behind her.
Then, she was pressed to the wall.
Painfully.
“Welcome, Jolie. I knew you’d be back.”
She watched him moving her way, and as she went to call for her mates, she was hit with a handful of foul smelling herbs. She couldn’t move.
“Tsk tsk, Mistress. Did you really think this would be so easy? Did you really think I was so helpless?” As Mulduk moved toward her, Jolie couldn’t even remember what she was supposed to do.
The herbs.
The scent.
Voodoo.
Then, she was gone into the darkness. Her last thought was her life, and the little ones growing in her. All Jolie could hope was her mates would figure it out.
And fast.
* * * H a r c o u r t e * * *
Paris, France
Mathew watched from the shadows as Clariel lured the two men toward her. They were big, beefy, and would be a good meal. It was sad that this was what their lives had resorted to because of him.
At that moment, they could be with their family and sharing delicious energy. Instead, his jealousy had cost them everything.
“I like it in the alley,” Clariel said, alerting Mathew to his part of the plan. As the two men pinned her to the wall, it would give them just enough time…
Mathew struck.
His fangs found the one man’s throat and he began chugging the blood from him.
The other man went to scream in horror, but Clariel was on him. She, too, began drinking.
In her mind, she called to her friend.
‘Are you insane? We were only taking energy!’
He was aware.
Only, the anger festered, and he wanted to do something so hateful to punish himself.
‘Mathew! Stop! You’re going to kill him!’
It must have finally sunk in because Mathew dropped the human he’d been feeding from and stepped away. He backed up and pressed himself to the dingy alley wall.
“I’m sorry…”
Clariel released the man she’d been feeding from and went to his side. “I think it’s best you don’t hunt with me. I’ll bring energy back for you. We can’t start drinking humans dry in Paris. We’ll be hunted. You know that, Mathew.”
He was aware.
He hated himself for so much, maybe that’s why he did it. A hunter would end him.
He deserved it.
“I’m sorry. You’re right.”
Clariel wiped some of the blood from his cheek and took his hand in hers. “It’s okay. We’re good. Let’s go back to our place and rest for the night. Tomorrow is a new day, and we have classes to take, and a place to be.”
He let her lead.
He couldn’t say no.
After all, she’d sacrificed so much for him, but inside, he was dead. He was in pain.
He was angry.
Coming here might have been a bad idea.
Maybe it would have been better if Flynn had ended him. Then, he wouldn’t be responsible for what was eating him alive.
Bad things were coming.
Mathew could feel them, and he feared at the center….
Was him.
* * * H a r c o u r t e * * *
Flynn backed the one guardian into a corner. As he focused on him, Jacques was mimicking his position with the second man. They were goin
g to end this and then join Jolie.
Flynn had told her that he was going to be the one to destroy Mulduk, and he hoped that she’d keep her word and let him do it.
This mattered to him.
As he approached the vampyre, the undead guardian looked worried. Moving even closer, Flynn could smell the fear.
Then, he picked up on something else.
There was a little snippet of conversation passing between the two vamps.
How he picked it up, he didn’t know.
It must be one of his little gifts.
Only, he couldn’t worry about that.
They had more pressing issues.
“They are trying to stall us,” Flynn hissed. “Something is going on.”
As Jacques hissed, Flynn lifted the vampyre off the floor and pinned him to the wall with his one hand. “What are you trying to do?”
The vampyre struggled.
Then, Flynn slipped into his mind.
When he saw it, he hissed.
“Mulduk is going to kill Jolie!” Flynn reached for his mate, hoping that the undead guardian was wrong.
When he couldn’t find her, he knew the truth.
Voodoo.
Both men knew how serious this was. Their mate was behind a door and they weren’t able to reach her.
“Kill them,” Jacques hissed, reaching his hand into the one guardian’s chest. His heart was in his hand, and blood was splattering across the white of his silk shirt.
Flynn wasn’t far behind, only he called for Death, much like Jolie did.
The inky darkness leached from him, coating the vampyre before him. His skin melted from his body until all that was left were now ashing bones.
The men turned their attention toward the door.
They couldn’t get in.
There was some spell.
They began beating at it with fists to get to Jolie. There had to be a way. She was in danger.
“What now?” Jacques asked.
“If the door is spelled, then we go through the wall.”
Flynn began ripping into the wall hoping he could get to his mate, and it wouldn’t be too late.
* * * H a r c o u r t e * * *
Jolie woke.
She was trapped, and that was going to make this much harder. Jolie tried to move her legs, but she couldn’t. She was forced to kneel on the floor her legs shackled to the concrete with silver clasps.
Reaching for her mate, she hit a wall.
Damn!
“They can’t help you, Jolie. They can’t stop me from doing my job.”
She glanced over at him as he rested on the couch. He was wearing very little, and it repulsed her. Jolie hoped he didn’t plan on touching her.
The mere thought disgusted her.
“What are you planning, Mulduk?”
He laughed as he stroked himself through the leather of the pants he was wearing.
“I want so much from you that I don’t know where to start.”
Jolie forced herself to remain calm.
“You know what I meant.”
“Very well, you deserve some information. I was contracted by the Tueur to kill your children, and I plan on doing just that. I will cut them from your body, and then watch you heal. Then I will torture you until I have decided I am satisfied with my entertainment. I can’t wait to bury myself in your body. I’ve wanted you for a while. How could I not? You’re lovely.”
Jolie wanted to be sick.
“I will fight you.”
“I hoped you would,” he said, crossing toward her. When he was in front of her, his claws whipped out, tearing through her throat.
Jolie gasped at the pain.
She knew his plan.
This wouldn’t kill her, but the quick blood loss would slowly weaken her until she could no longer hold out against him. Then she would be his to rape and kill.
Jolie screamed for her mates as her jugular burst, and then immediately re-healed.
He laughed.
Jolie watched her blood flying in a sick arc against the stone floor. “You bastard,” she hissed, as he continued his assault. His boot came up to slam viciously into her ribs. The crunching bones turned her stomach and made her gasp for breath.
It reminded her of long ago, and the abuse she’d been forced to withstand.
As he kicked again, Jolie struggled to turn enough to protect her belly. She withstood another rib shot, but it was worth it. He had nearly hit her stomach and the precious cargo.
“Why are you doing this, Mulduk?” she whispered through the pain. It was like living through Goethe all over again but only worse.
Her children’s lives were at stake now too.
“Because I can, Jolie. I could have killed you right in your bed, and would have except for the simple fact that you entertain me. I was forced to play submissive to you and allow you to strike me at your whim. It took all of my patience to not strike back, but then your mates and guardian would have killed me.”
Jolie glared up at him from her position on the floor.
“Why don’t you call me Master?” he taunted. “You know you want it. I can see it between you and that worthless human of yours. Does he get you off by hurting you? That’s something I can appreciate in a woman.”
Jolie didn’t speak.
He was guessing.
The less he knew the better.
Jolie called for her mates again.
“They can’t hear you. For now, I can have my fun until dusk. By the time they realize you’re in trouble, they’ll be too late. There’s a powerful spell on that door. The Tueur likes the dark arts.”
She was well aware.
“By dawn, you’ll be begging me to kill you, and I will—just before they arrive. That’s poetic justice for trying to bring such evil into the world.”
Jolie pictured her mate’s finding her broken, lifeless body, and she knew it would kill them. Jacques and Flynn would lose control and their will to live. It would be the final push down a very harsh and rocky cliff.
She needed to buy some time.
Jolie believed in Flynn. He wasn’t some average human anymore. He was her one chance.
“Why the humans, Mulduk?”
He paused as if considering her question. “I needed to perfect my craft.”
“Practice? You killed all those humans for the sake of practice?” she hissed in pure disgust.
It cost her. It earned a vicious back handed slap that cracked her jaw.
Nathaniel had been right.
This asshole was sick.
“Yes, I wanted to know just how to hurt them, so I could be ready for you. You see, you were the goal the entire time. The Tueur used donors to get close to you and get you involved in this case. We wanted you fully buried in this so you would be out in the open. More accessible, if you wish.”
Jolie began wiggling her wrists in the silver cuffs. If she could just get free…
“How did it feel to have your own family betray you?” he asked. “Did it hurt when that fledgling invited the Tueur into your room?”
Jolie didn’t speak.
“I was there. I saw you with death between them. I wanted to take you then, but this isn’t my show. We’re legion, Jolie, and we’re watching you.”
She didn’t doubt it.
“This was all part of the plan. Once the commissioner of police had heard the expert in deviant behavior lived in this wonderful city, he couldn’t help but call you.”
She glared at him.
“Oh, don’t be shocked. He was easily manipulated. There are police who work for us too. Your precious human isn’t safe there.”
Well, that was good to know. It looked like Flynn leaving the precinct would be a good thing. There were too many cops there to pinpoint the perpetrators.
“Once your mate knew you were involved, it kept you all tied up in the trap we were weaving—the society, then the underground, your betrayal by that pathetic vamp, and now this. It was al
l a test to study you. They know you are carrying the next Destroyer, but they were wary about the mother of the Destroyer. You have quite the urban legends surrounding you.”
He should be afraid, but not of her.
Flynn was coming.
She could feel it.
When he got there, hell, so to speak, was going to break loose, and this vamp was dead.
Jolie needed to stall.
Again, she called for Flynn.
Nothing.
“If I get free Mulduk, you’ll see exactly what is real and what is legend. I can promise you that,” she spat through clenched teeth, her jaw beginning to heal even as bruises were beginning to form across her body.
“We’ll see,” he said, crossing to a table and picking up a few objects. “The humans were just to draw you out, and Balzac, that nitwit was just to be used as a means to an end. He really thought the Tueur would reward him with your family and power. The Tueur has no uses for people like him or me. We’re tools.”
Yeah, he certainly was.
Jolie watched him closely as he picked up a few objects. There was a claw-like object with silver spikes. He was going to bleed her slowly until she was helpless.
“Don’t worry, Jolie,” he said, noticing her attention to the implements he was carrying. He slipped his hand into the glove outfitted with the claw. “This will weaken you enough that you will barely feel me ripping your children from your body. There’s your silver lining in all of this.”
Jolie gasped as his hand whipped out, burying itself in her chest—inches from her heart.
“How’s that feel, pet?”
Then he forced her mouth to his. With fangs, he began feasting from her lip. With each suck, she could feel the room spinning.
Jolie wanted to weep.
This was going to be the end.
When he stepped back, his hand was still buried in her body. Slowly, he pulled it out, and tore away the offensive material. He lecherously admired his damage to her body.
“So very sexy all bloody.”
He hit her again.
And again.
The pummeling seemed to go on forever.
When he stopped, he was excited, and Jolie knew what would be next.
He was going to sexually assault her.
Dangerous Influence (The Harcourte Vampyre Society Book 5) Page 43