“Oh, just that I’m sure it will always escape my understanding. Don’t worry about it.”
The comment she’d made about her uncle, combined with her knowledge of when and where the sunlight first hit in the morning made my blood run cold. “Are you giving yourself to the sun?” I asked quietly.
She nodded. I could see her throat working as she swallowed and her lower lip trembled slightly.
“Why? This world isn’t so bad once you get used to it.”
“It’s not that. I would love to learn about everything that has happened since I went into the black sleep, but the mage’s spell didn’t work. I can’t drink from anyone.”
“What?” I whispered, shocked by the development.
“I tried drinking from my cousin, whom I have fed from multiple times before, and my uncle even deigned to let me try to feed from him, but nothing worked. It all made me sick and felt like poison burning my lips.”
“Nothing worked?” I asked, throwing her own words back at her, unsure if I even wanted to hear the answer.
“Nothing.” She sighed, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “I refuse to let myself turn into an insane, starving creature, so this is my solution.”
“There has to be another option. Why don’t we work on it together? You can try to feed from me if you want?” I said, throwing everything out there to do anything to stop this beautiful, kind, tormented woman from throwing her life away.
“You would let me feed on you again?” she asked in an incredulous tone.
“What’s a little bite if it means you get to live?” I asked.
Hunger sparked in her eyes, and not just for blood. I was willing to bet that she found me just as attractive as I found her, but now was not the time to be flattered by such things. “I would give you whatever you wanted if it meant you would come inside this morning instead of giving yourself to the sun.” My voice came out huskier than I’d intended, but she was looking at me like I was a choice cut of meat, and damn if that didn’t get my motor running.
“Where?”
One word from her lips and I was ready to turn myself into a buffet for her. “Wherever you want,” I said.
Her hand came up and rested against my face for a moment before she turned my head to the side and bit my neck. I hissed at the sweet sting of her fangs, something I wasn’t allowed to do earlier in court. Here with just the two of us, though, I wanted her to know that I felt her, that there was nothing anonymous about what was happening between us.
I could almost feel my blood filling her mouth. When she didn’t immediately withdraw, I took that as a good sign. “Blair, hold on. I’m just going to move you so you’ll have better access,” I said softly. I felt her head nod slightly, so I rotated and picked her up, settling her on my lap as I leaned back against the tree. There was nothing as sensual as being able to feed and protect a woman at the same time.
Small sounds of pleasure escaped her as she continued to feed. I knew I should be worried about the amount she was taking from me, but I didn’t really care. When she shifted her weight so she could straddle me, all I could do was groan with pleasure. Feeding wasn’t inherently sexual, but going for the neck certainly increased the intimacy, as did sitting on their lap. There were only two places more intimate to feed from—the chest, which wasn’t so much about feeding as it was about biting, and the femoral artery on the inner thigh, which was generally about both.
Without thinking about it, I found my hands cupping her ass in those sweatpants, which I discovered were more like leggings. When her hips rocked against mine, it was too much. I rose to meet her with every movement, and soon enough, she was moaning against my neck.
The whole experience was surreal, and I loved every second of it. I could feel the blood loss starting to affect me, though, and I knew from gut instinct that she wasn’t planning on stopping any time soon. The scary part was, I was okay with that too. All I wanted was to save her. I didn’t know why, but it felt like it was so much more important than me being able to get up and walk away from the encounter.
When she pulled away from my neck, I could see my blood dripping down her chin, and it was the sexiest sight in the world. Her head was thrown back and her breath came in gasps, with her chest practically heaving in my face. I wanted to touch her, to feel her skin against my own, but I didn’t have the energy to lift my hands, let alone anything else.
As she looked down at me once more, I saw her eyes widen. “Oh, no. No. No, no, no, no, no. What have I done?” A heart-wrenching sob escaped her, and I tried to tell her it was okay, that I didn’t mind, but I couldn’t make my mouth move. When the darkness came for me, I didn’t fight it. I just slipped into it like a fish into water.
Chapter Six
Blair
When I pulled back from Colt and saw what I had done, I was in shock. We both just sat there for a few seconds before he passed out due to blood loss. Alarm bells went off in my head. I wasn’t about to let him give his life to save mine. Part of me knew I should never have told him my plan, but I had been feeling weak and didn’t really want to die, but I wasn’t prepared to live with constant hunger, either.
I quickly got off his lap, blushing profusely as I did so. The memory of how he felt moving against me was still too real. As I scooped him up, I thanked the makers that I was strong enough to carry him given his size. I took the shortcut out of the maze, the one that only my family knew about, and hurried to the house.
Sneaking through the halls to my bedroom was more challenging than I’d expected. I needed to get to my room unseen, but hauling him around was definitely taxing my sneaking abilities. I just hoped I could get to my room and find a human in time to save him.
The biggest secret we vampires never talked about was what blood loss did to us. Since only the elite royals and the highest-ranking nobles had to feed on other vampires, most never needed to know, and those who found out? Well, they weren’t normally saved. We could die from blood loss, just like humans. It was long and slow and painful, but it could happen.
When the door clicked shut behind me and I was once again within my safe place, I felt like I could relax a little. Quickly, I moved him to my bed and secured his hands around one of my bedposts. If he woke up in this state, he was likely to attack and devour whoever or whatever was closest to him at the time. This at least might give me a chance to escape.
Without second-guessing myself, I rushed down the hall and into the servants’ quarters that extended off the main building. The room at the end was reserved for the butler, a place of honor for anyone in our employ. I just hoped that Jonathan was still the butler. If it was someone else, then I was going to be up a creek without a paddle. I quietly knocked on the door to the butler’s chambers and held my breath as someone came to the door.
“Lady Blair?” Jonathan’s surprised face filled the doorway as he called me by the name the two of us had finally compromised on when I was a child.
I practically sagged with relief. “Jonathan, it’s so good to see you. May I come in for a moment?”
“Whatever Your Highness wishes.” He bowed his head and stepped aside. If it was any other night, I would fight him on the use of my title, but I didn’t have time for that right now.
Once the door was closed, I turned to him and said, “I need to ask you something, and I want you to be completely honest with me. You won’t hurt my feelings at all with your answer. Do you understand?” When he nodded, concern wrinkling his bushy eyebrows, I continued. “What is your opinion of my uncle?”
“Lady Blair, why—”
“Time is of the essence, Jonathan.”
“He’s a scoundrel. He uses everyone he can to further secure his position, and I fear he will try to rid himself of you before you can be crowned and named a successor.”
I nodded. “Are you still loyal to me and my parents? You need not fear punishment if you are not.”
“I am. Always,” he replied.
“I have one of the
family representatives in my room, and he is in desperate need of blood.”
The butler’s face could not have been more shocked. His mouth worked, but no sound came out.
“It’s not what you think, Jonathan. He was just trying to prevent me from doing something I would regret. I drank too deeply from him. His blood is . . . It calls to me in a way I’ve never experienced before.”
“I will arrange to have a few volunteers sent up to your room as discreetly as possible.” He nodded as he spoke and pulled a robe from the closet to put on over his formal flannel pajamas.
“Thank you,” I breathed. “Thank you so much, Jonathan.”
“You’re welcome, Lady Blair. Anything for your family.”
The two of us parted ways then as he opened the door and went down to where the human volunteers lived, and I went back to my rooms. My heart was pounding in my chest as I opened my door, and I prayed to the makers that Colt hadn’t roused from his unconsciousness yet. As I entered, I took in the sight of the room in a way I hadn’t since before I’d awoken.
Colt lay on the bed, the crimson-and-black sheets matching the dress I had been wearing a few hours earlier. I didn’t remember leaving the ball and coming back to my rooms, only waking and finding my uncle and cousin standing over me, with Kyra offering me her wrist. I bit down and immediately recoiled from the acid that touched my lips.
A frantic discussion had occurred between my uncle and Kyra, but I had been too busy washing my mouth out in the bathroom to pay much attention to it. When I came back, my uncle offered his wrist, and that time, I only had to smell his blood. The scent was enough to know that I wouldn’t be able to drink it. The two of them proclaimed that the mages had failed, and my uncle reminded me of the everlasting hunger I was facing and how disappointed my father would be if I went mad while on the throne. How my behavior would tarnish the family name and make it hard for the noble families to respect us anymore. Eventually, after cursing the mages a few times, they both left.
I shook my head and brought myself back to the present and to Colt. He was stretched out across the bed, and his sandy-brown hair was strewn across the pillowcase since it was a little longer on top. He was more than a little tempting, and I knew if I went any closer, I would drain him to the point of death, so I remained pinned against the door with my hand clutching the doorknob as though my life depended on it.
It was only as I felt it buckle under my grip that I realized I was breaking it. I made myself release it, but remained pinned against the door, forcing my eyes to leave his prone form that called out to the predator in me. My armoire was just as I had left it when I’d gone to sleep. I felt sure that if I opened it, I would find the dresses that I had worn in my previous life waiting for me. The makeup on the table that sat next to it was all new, a gift from Kyra for my reawakening, but the enchanted jewelry box that sat next to it was older than me, older than even my parents, having belonged to my grandmother, and it contained some of my most precious things.
There were other items from my old life scattered around the room. Books, a quill and ink pot next to some paper. There were also things I didn’t recognize, things that didn’t belong to me, but that I guessed Kyra—or maybe even Jonathan—had left for me to see when I woke up. Items that had been of great significance to society and culture when they were invented or adopted.
A knock at the door made me almost jump out of my skin. I turned and cracked the door open so that whoever it was wouldn’t see anything other than me. Jonathan’s concerned face greeted me.
“The human volunteers, Your Highness.”
“Thank you, Jonathan,” I said, opening the door to allow them all in.
The humans wandered in and weren’t shy about looking around. When Jonathan started to come in as well, I blocked his entrance. “It’s probably best if I do this alone. I won’t put you in danger.”
“Your High—”
“Goodnight, Jonathan. Thank you for your help,” I said as I gently pushed the door closed and effectively shut him out of what was about to happen. I wasn’t even sure what was about to happen, for that matter, but I knew that I wouldn’t endanger the one person who cared about keeping me alive.
“You are volunteers, yes? No one is forcing you to be here?” I asked, taking in their appearances. It seemed that the humans were having their own party, one where they had painted their faces and worn unusual clothing. The female appeared to be a mostly naked rabbit, while one of the men was a lion, and the other some nightmarish version of a clown.
“No, ma’am,” one of the men said as he looked at the other man and then the woman. As if on cue for some strange dance I had never been a part of before, the three of them began to disrobe.
For a moment, I stopped and stared at the wide expanse of skin being bared to me, before I spun around and said, “Stop. This is not that kind of feeding.”
“My apologies,” the man who seemed to be the leader of their little trio said, while the other two just mumbled something unintelligible even to my vampiric hearing.
“It’s quite all right. Now,” I said as I slowly turned back to them, making sure they had plenty of time to cover themselves back up, “which one of you has not been fed from recently?”
“Me, Your Highness,” the woman said.
“Good. Please come and stand over here.” I gestured toward the bed as I sat down beside Colt. “He is very hungry, but I’ll need to make the initial bite. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, although the waver in her voice told me how nervous she was.
Carefully, I lifted her arm and found the section of her wrist that I needed. I stroked my hand over the skin and brought it to my mouth. When she flinched at the movement, I gently kissed her skin, trying to lull her into relaxation. As the tension dissipated, I scraped my fangs against her, preparing myself for the poisonous taste about to hit my lips.
I took a deep breath, and bit down, piercing her skin. Her blood hit my lips and burned, but I couldn’t let her know; otherwise, the poor thing would probably run screaming with how scared she was acting. I pulled back and immediately closed my mouth so she couldn’t see my fangs or the blood that stained them. Her blood.
As the ruby red liquid slid down her wrist, I pushed it into Colt’s mouth, forcing his fangs into her skin. It felt strange, forcing him to drink, but if I didn’t, he would certainly die. If he couldn’t let me die, then I wasn’t about to let him die in my place.
Slowly, the swallowing mechanism took over, and even though he was still mostly unconscious, he began to feed, the animalistic nature that lurked just under the surface showing itself as his body fought to stay alive. Time slowed down as I watched, waiting for color to return to his face. The faintest tint seemed to come back, but when I looked over at the woman, I saw that she had started to pale. I pulled her wrist out from Colt’s mouth and heard a sleepy grumble of protest from him that was like music to my ears.
I sat the woman down on the small chair tucked in the corner and went to fetch a towel for her wrist. When I came back, I had the quiet man apply pressure with the towel. I’d close the wound, but I didn’t want to while it was still bleeding so freely. There was only so much I could take, and my mouth still burned from the initial bite. Plus, I knew I was going to have to bite the other man since Colt still wasn’t awake.
As the man who I was still thinking of as the leader of the trio came over, I reached for his hand. His skin was warm and soft against my own, and he smelled intoxicating. Nothing like the poison I had felt coming from the woman before. He was the one dressed as a ferocious lion. Tatters of orange and yellow fabric made up the mane that had been around his head until a moment ago, while some face paint had morphed his features to give him a more animalistic nose and mouth.
“What’s your name?”
“People call me Doc, Your Highness.”
“Doc?”
He simply nodded, and ignored what I had meant as a request for explana
tion. I accepted it since it wasn’t my place to pry, even if I was the princess. “Have we met before?”
“I don’t think so,” he said with a shrug. His eyes were such a rich brown, they looked like freshly tilled soil after a storm. The effect was only enhanced by the long brown hair that hung to his shoulders. I pulled my gaze away from his face and refocused on the task at hand. A princess finding a human attractive? I would be the laughing stock of the court.
I bit down on his wrist without any of the touching or seducing I did with the woman. His gasp sounded, and for a moment, I thought I’d hurt him, but then the slight moan of pleasure let me know that he really did enjoy this.
As soon as the blood was flowing, I started to pull back, but it didn’t hurt me the way I had expected. There was no acidic element to it. It almost tasted like a good steak, rich and full of flavor. I had to stop myself after having more than a few mouthfuls because I knew that he was as equally dangerous to my ravenous state as Colt was.
Before I could think too much about it, I pulled his wrist from my mouth and placed it in Colt’s, using the puncture holes I’d already made. A growl escaped the sleeping man next to me as he began to feed on Doc, startling all of us. After a minute or two, I pulled Colt’s mouth open so I could remove Doc’s wrist. Colt’s eyes snapped open as I did so, and when he saw me, he lunged.
Chapter Seven
Blair
“Colt, it’s Blair. Wake up,” I said as I put my hand to his face, thankful that the knots I had tied earlier still held him in place.
Startled brown eyes looked up at me as he began to rouse from the hunger controlling him. “You can leave now,” I said as I turned to the humans, although the only one I really paid attention to was Doc. “Let me close that for you,” I said to both him and the woman.
I reached for the woman first, knowing that her blood was going to taste sour in my mouth. A quick swipe of my tongue, and I involuntarily flinched. I reached for Doc’s wrist and slowly lapped up the trickle of blood that had been making its way down his arm, until I was able to lick the wounds and close them. “Do you remember the way back?”
A Cursed All Hallows' Eve Page 9