by Zara Novak
I woke to the sound of fire, and as my eyes flickered open, I found myself in a stone room. Sitting up I realized I was lying on an ornate four poster bed. Gone were my riding leathers and cloak, and in their place was the most intricate red lingerie I had ever seen in my life. As I sat further up, I noticed a heavy iron cuff around my right ankle, its thick chain leading to a post at the bottom of the bed.
On the left wall there was a hearth, its fire the only light source in the dark room. There was nothing else apart from the bed and the fire. Across the way the light quickly faded into darkness, the other side of the room obscured by pitch black. It was almost as if the light was too scared to venture that far, so abrupt was the change.
A figure came forward from the darkness. It was Ronan. Behind him three others followed. Victor, Xander, Shadow. It occurred to me that I perhaps should have been terrified waking up in such a fashion. I had been abducted by these vampires, taken away from my home to a strange place and was now chained to a bed in a dark room, wearing lingerie that hadn’t been on my body before I’d… how did I get here?
“You owe Xander your life,” Ronan explained. “When you fell from my back, he was the one that caught you. The thanks lays with him.”
“He caught me?”
“Mid-air. He is the fastest of us all. We all have our own specialties, that is why we work so well together as a coven. Xander is the fastest and has a great tactical mind.”
I considered the vampire on Ronan’s right. He was a little taller than Ronan, still muscular but not as bulky. He was beautiful in his own right, with short ink-black hair that sprouted from his head in looping curls. My eyes gazed at the other two vampires. Who were they?
“And them?” I asked.
Ronan nodded to the vampire standing on his left. “Victor has the greatest physical strength of us all. He is also the most gifted fighter. His combat knowledge is second to none.”
Victor’s frame gave that away. He was the shortest of the group, though still over six feet, but his body was clearly the biggest. He had a buzz cut, and strong features that reminded me of an Olympian.
Lastly, I came to the vampire on the far left. A chill came over me as I looked at him. His hair was long, black and shaggy, making him look like a wild dog that shouldn’t be messed with. He was the most slender of the four but was still in good shape. Something in his eyes made me want to move back.
“And him?” I asked with trepidation, my heart tying in my throat.
“Shadow,” Ronan said. “He is the… darkest of all, an essential part of the coven. He does the things that we cannot. He is a man without limits.”
Man. As I stared into those deep black eyes I wondered if the word came into play here.
“And you’re the leader,” I said as I gladly looked back at Roman.
“You learn quickly.”
I looked to his hands, which were still moving ever so slightly through the air at his side. “You’re controlling them, keeping them back.”
“They are all thirsty to take you, but I have them under control.”
“What is this curse?” I said.
Ronan’s red eyes sparkled. “You have seen our other forms now. We are not normal vampires.”
“You’re… dragons.”
“Draconic Vampires,” he said. “The gift was given to us. We took it gladly. With such power we could be among the most powerful vampires in the world, but our impatience and youth blindsided us, we ignored the warnings.”
“Warnings?”
“The magic beating through us does so with great savagery. It is so strong that without an anchor to keep it in check we are slowly losing our humanity. Without a woman, a mate, we continue to lose ourselves each year, finding it harder and harder to keep grasp of our minds.”
“That’s why you brought me here.”
He nodded. “The only way to tame this great magic is for us each to take a breeder for a mate, one with the strength to keep our power in check.”
I swallowed. “And I suppose that’s me?”
“We knew as soon as we scented you, that you are the only one that can help us.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “And I’m just supposed to… fuck you all? And you’ll all be sane again?”
“Mating is only the start. Each of us will take you as our mate and bond with you. We cannot just pick up any woman and bring her back here. We need a strong woman, a breeder whom we can make a bond with for the rest of our lives.”
“I don’t understand, you want me as a wife… for all of you? And you’re just going to share me?”
Ronan nodded as it was absolutely normal. “Yes. Before we took our power, we would never have done such a thing, but the magic changed us, it has made us one mind in a way, a mind with four different faces. We aren’t just going to share you, we want to, and as you lay with each one of us your bond with all of us will grow.”
“This is insane,” I said.
“Sometimes life is insane.”
“But you’re… brothers.”
“Not by blood. But by coven.” He looked at his three associates. “You notice their eyes, black and wild?” I nodded. “They are on the edge of savagery. The only thing that can bring them back is you. Remember the way I was before I claimed you?”
Ronan had been mindless, speaking in broken vampire, his eyes black just like his brothers. The vampire standing before me now was a stark contrast to his past self. I had thought he was a savage only hours ago. It was easy to forget how much he had changed.
“There is a great mind in each of these men, and I guarantee you will see it as you help bring us back. When we are united again, we will worship you as our queen. Our great draconic power has yet been able to flourish, all because the magic beating through us keeps our minds trapped in barbaric cages, but when we’re under your control…”
He trailed off, his eyes gleaming with wonder as he considered whatever fantasy played in his mind. Meanwhile I looked at the three suitors, fear beating through me as I wondered what they had in store for me. At this moment in time I had no idea where I was or how I would get out of here. Escape felt a long way away.
“So…” I said, pulling Ronan back to the present. He looked at me.
“Without my control my brothers would fight over you like wild dogs, ripping each other apart until only one of us was left alive. Victor would win in a raw test of strength. He is the strongest and most gifted fighter. Shadow’s control over our dark magic is most powerful, however. He may very easily kill us all.”
“I thought you were happy to share me?”
“We are, but they are deep in the throes of their dark savagery, and our minds don’t work as clearly like that. So, we must take you one by one. I went first, because it is my control that helps me retain my humanity the most. As for the next… it is entirely up to you.”
I blinked. “Me?” I hadn’t been expecting that. How was I expected to make a choice like this?
“You,” he repeated. “Give a name and that shall be the next of us whom you will take under your control. Xander, Shadow, or Victor.”
I had to remind myself to breathe as I considered the three men. Each was beautiful in his own right. For a girl that had never so much as received attention from the opposite sex—outside of standard tribe pairings—a part of me was excited that I had four handsome men at my disposal.
But they were vampires, and they had abducted me. I had to keep reminding myself of that, even if my heart was running away in my chest.
“Why the chain?” I asked.
Ronan considered the shackle around my ankle. “We were not sure how you would react upon waking. Our castle and its surroundings are dangerous, if you had woken when we weren’t here you might have run off and got hurt.”
I wasn’t so sure. It felt more like a security measure than something for my own benefit.
“You can take it off then, now that you’re all here.”
For a moment he looked unsure. “Give me a
name first and then the chain can come undone.”
Ronan obviously wasn’t the type to give something away without getting something in exchange. My eyes traced back to the suitors before me, all as scary and intriguing as the next. How was I supposed to play this? There was Xander, the one that had saved me from my fall. There was Victor, the muscle. And then there was Shadow… Ronan’s explanation of Shadow’s purpose had been vague at best, but my impression led me to believe he was some sort of cold-blooded killer.
They were all vampires, but there was something about him that filled me with fear, for that reason Shadow was off the table. That left Xander and Victor. As Xander had been the one to save me he seemed like the obvious choice, but Ronan had said he was the fastest and smartest amongst the group, that meant my chances of outsmarting him were potentially limited.
What about Victor though? I examined him. Of all the vampires he seemed to be the most reserved, lumbering at the back of the pack, his chest falling and rising slowly with each monumental breath. He was the strongest and apparently the best fighter, but if he was the brawn of the group perhaps my chances of escape were best with him.
“What happens when I choose?” I said. “What then? One takes me on the bed while the other watches?”
“No,” Ronan answered. “Making the others watch while they wait their turn would put a strain on my control. I couldn’t hold them back. Your suitor will take you to his part of the castle, and there you will make your bond with him. Once that is done, we will reconvene, and you can pick the next.”
That was promising. If I was alone with Victor my chances of escape would be much higher than if the others were keeping a close eye. I knew what I had to do now.
“I choose Victor,” I said, clearing my throat as I did so. “He will be the next.”
Ronan looked a little surprised. “Very well. I had expected Xander as thanks for him saving your life, but the choice is yours entirely.”
With that he stepped forward and unclasped the shackle around my ankle. The brandished steel fell away and I pulled my leg back. Ronan turned to the others and quickly spoke with them in his broken vampire tongue. After a few words Shadow and Xander stepped back with reluctant hisses, and Victor stepped forward, his dark eyes looking into mine.
“I have appealed to what humanity I can in Victor. After a few moments I will relinquish my control of him, and he will take you back to his part of the castle. I would not expect gentleness until his mind his back at the forefront of his eyes. He will not hurt you, but he may act in an unpredictable manner.”
What an intro to a first date.
“Okay,” I said, trying not to show my fear.
Something came over Ronan then, it was as if tension left his body. He let out a deep sigh and I felt a wave of energy dissipate through the air. He stepped back and I saw Victor slowly come to life. His breath quickened and he looked around the room as if breaking from a dream.
His dark eyes fixed on me and a low grumble rumbled through his chest. “Mine,” he said.
Fear broke through me as a tide of adrenaline. Before I could even stand up from the bed the vampire had blurred across the air and thrown me over his shoulder. If he was the slowest of the group, then it didn’t account for much. His speed and strength were clearly still far beyond mine. He turned back around to face the group and let out a terrifying and sharp snarl that made my blood run cold. It seemed to scare the others too, each of them seemed to step back out of instinct and Victor charged forward to the shadowy end of the room.
At the opposite end there was a door. He threw it open and shut it again as we burst into a long stone corridor. We began moving down corridors and down staircases, taking turns, never slowing as we left the room further behind.
My first impression of my surroundings was confusing to say the least. Victor’s speed slowed to more of a human sprint as we tore through the corridors, but it was still hard to take everything in. I couldn’t possibly say how big the castle was, but we had done at least four sets of stairs in our short flight, and it seemed that every corridor had another three or four running off from it.
I wondered what his particular part of the castle would look like. If he was the brawn of the group, then I imagined maybe he resided in some sort of dojo. Perhaps there was a smoky room with a boxing ring and martial arts apparatus.
Whatever I may have imagined did not come, and I was taken completely by surprise as Victor took me through a set of Victorian glass doors and into a giant tiled room with a steaming indoor pool. He kept me over his shoulder, but paused momentarily, perhaps allowing me to take in the room so I might understand where we were.
The giant room looked very modern despite its architectural surroundings. A pool with clear blue waters shimmered under bright lights overhead, and on its longest side a large arched window made up the entire wall, looking out across a vista of snowy mountains and a never-ending blizzard.
“Carapath,” I said, whispering the words to myself. I had almost forgot I had seen the mountains on the way here. The vampires really did live in the mountains. Their castle must have been buried somewhere deep within the peaks.
“Home,” Victor said. He walked along the pool’s length, his heavy feet slapping against the shiny gray tiles. We went through an archway at the room’s end, leaving the main pool behind us. The arch led into a more conventional looking bathroom. There was a large iron tub on the wall in front, massage tables, his and hers sinks and areas for getting dry and dressed.
Victor finally set me down right in front of him, leaving only inches between our bodies. I looked up at him and gulped, wondering what was in store. I had to get out of here before I fell any further into this madness, but how? The view from the poolside window alone was testament that this castle would be impossible to escape. If the vampires didn’t get me then the blizzards would.
The vampire lifted his dark eyes, turning his head as he bore into my soul.
“Hurt,” he managed.
My brow knotted as I attempted to decipher his words.
“Hurt? Are you hurt? Do you need help?”
He shook his head simply and lifted his hand to place it on my shoulder. As he did, I became aware of a deep aching that rolled through my bones. I was hurt, and I hadn’t even realized it. Perhaps it had happened during the fall. I had no memory of Xander saving me, but he’d had to act fast and catching me without hurting me might not have been an option.
“Fix. Then mate.”
I was half-wondering if there was some sort of castle doctor when Victor wrapped an arm around my waist and hoisted me off the floor, my legs wrapping around his thick torso as he carried me forward. His sheer strength surprised me, the vampire lifting me up and holding me with little effort like I was some sort of doll.
And then there was the feeling of my sex pressed up against his muscled stomach, mere inches above the very thing that wanted to defile me. The room suddenly felt very hot.
Victor carried me across the room and lay me down on one of the massage tables, climbing on top of me, completely towering over me as his lips came to rest between my neck and shoulder.
“Heal,” he said, a solitary and rumbling word that tickled over my flesh as hot breath. Then he moved forward and I felt his teeth sink into my skin.
“Victor!” I said, my hands slapping against his broad and muscular back as his teeth sunk deep. My entire body tensed in response to the bite. The sharp and searing pain was quickly replaced with a deep and glowing warmth that spread through my body like sunlight.
I was sure I was dead. He was going to drink me dry and leave me as a bloodless husk at the bottom of a bathtub. But no. After only a few seconds of drinking he pulled away, his shining black eyes glistening with madness. His lips were red with my blood. He pulled the back of his arm across his mouth and pushed himself up into a standing position, pulling me up as he did so.
“Heal?” he said, the word sounding more like a question than an instructi
on this time.
I rolled my shoulder as though to test it, and found the ache and tension were now completely gone. He had healed me somehow. But how?
Then my head felt light. Everything did in fact. Every muscle in my body felt loose and warm. My head was swimming. Everything felt lighter. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was drunk. Laughter escaped me, a small giggle at first.
Victor considered me. “Heal?”
“I feel funny,” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady myself. His skin was hot to the touch and his solid body felt pleasant underneath my delicate fingertips. I knew that vampire blood had the power to inebriate humans, but he had drunk from me. How could I possibly be feeling those effects?
He pulled back his upper lip and pointed at his fangs, clearly having read my thoughts as they raced through my mind. I wasn’t quite sure what he was insinuating. Had his fangs injected me with something, as well as drinking from me? It was rumored that vampires could do that, though we never really knew for sure.
All I knew is that I wasn’t myself. I mean, I was myself, but the parts of my brain that chose logic over want had seemed to pack their bags and gone on vacation. Left were the parts that worshiped hedonism and impulse, the same parts that found the idea of a tryst with a beautiful vampire very endearing.
“Mate,” he said, his lip snarling as he growled the words. I realized the delicate red lace lingerie I was wearing was wet between the tops of my legs, where the fabric scarcely covered my pussy. Had I really enjoyed him feeding from me that much?
I swallowed at something as I felt his presence fill the room. Without warning he stepped forward and curled a hand around the back of my neck, crushing my lips against his as he took me. My body had no protest or fight to give, in fact, I gave into him willingly, actually wanting him to take me.
The trap was swallowing me, and I couldn’t even bring myself to try and climb out.
In a fever of passion, he drove me back across the small room and we hit the massage table once more. This time every movement was a frenzy, gone were the measured and delicate touches of a vampire healing me.