by Lucinda Dark
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I spat.
Vampire-Torin grinned at me, flashing his fangs. “I was invited.”
“The fuck you were.” He didn’t seem to mind the vitriol I spewed at him. Instead, he took it in stride, turning me around the ballroom in a tight fitting tuxedo that molded to his frame. The lapels of his coat slid against his abdomen and drew my eye to his tapered waist. I gritted my teeth and tore my gaze away.
He threw his head back as he spun me in a circle and laughed. “Oh, my sweet mate, merely sleeping under the same roof as I do is invitation enough.”
“Like I had a fucking choice?” Music flitted overhead, soft and sharp movements of bows being drawn over taut strings. It held a note of haunting quality—a collection of operatic voices rising just above the violins’ notes.
The dress I wore was a soft, pale white—something out of a damn Gothic novel. The lace was etched over my arms. It raced down to circle my wrists in soft cuffs. But unlike a Gothic novel, the gown left my front on full display, cups of satin squeezing my breasts up and nearly spilling them from the top as the bottom skirts clung to my limbs. Something wet touched my calves and I jerked, looking down. A red splash of blood coated the lower layers of the dress. Blood. It disturbed me more to feel how very unruffled I was by the sight of it.
“Is there anything so comforting as dancing with one’s mate?” Vampire-Torin asked.
I scowled, once again attempting to tug my hand free from his grasp. In response, his fingers tightened around my wrist, yanking me closer as his other arm banded around my waist. He crushed me to him until breathing became difficult. “I love this look on you, Sweetheart,” he whispered, lowering his head and nipping at my earlobe with one fang.
“Oh, bite me,” I snapped before I thought better of it.
He drew back and smiled. “I would love to.”
Ripping my hand from his, I pushed both of my palms against his chest, managing to gain just an inch or two of distance as I narrowed my eyes on his face. “What do you want?” I demanded. “Why are you in my dreams?”
“Didn’t you want to see me?” he asked, stopping as the arching crescendo of the music came to an abrupt halt.
“Not particularly,” I deadpanned.
He tsked, reaching up and booping me on the nose, the odd action making me blink at him in confusion. What the fuck? “Let’s not lie to ourselves,” he said, taking my hand and whirling me out and away from him before whirling me back.
“Torin,” I snapped, “the music’s gone.” Even if it hadn’t been, though, I wouldn’t have been comfortable with this.
Vampire-Torin side stepped and spun me around, crossing my arms over my chest in a too fast movement. He snapped his fingers and the strangely melancholy melody from earlier was forgotten as rock music flared to life. I glanced around, but just as I noticed before, there was no band or radio. The music simply came to life—brought to fruition from seemingly nowhere at his command.
“What is this?” I demanded again as Vampire-Torin hugged me to him—my back to his chest, and swayed softly.
“The honeymoon,” he replied, grinding his cock into my ass through our clothes. My back went ramrod straight at his hardness.
“Torin.” His name was a warning hissed through gritted teeth. He ignored it, continuing to sway back and forth as he ground himself into me. He hummed along with the thumping bass of the rock ballad, the sound rumbling in his chest.
I closed my eyes for a brief moment but snapped them open when he released me and I fell. I thumped back against soft cushions, an array of pillows breaking my fall as sheer curtains descended around us. I lifted my gaze to Torin’s as he stood over me, his finger going to the buttons of his tuxedo. He undid the jacket and slid the thing off, tossing it away as the music continued in the background. My mouth grew dry as he undid the cuffs of his white dress shirt next and then untied the bowtie at his throat.
“W-what…” I swallowed. “What are you doing?”
Vampire-Torin continued to dance, his movements rhythmic and sensual as he undid the row of buttons from his throat down to where the dress shirt was tucked into his black slacks. The reveal of his chest was slow and deliberate. The shadowed lines of his muscles, as they were revealed, made my mouth water. His shirt was pulled the rest of the way off and discarded as the song changed and turned darker with the beat of something that would have felt more at home in a club. The volume lowered as the light in the room dimmed. I struggled up onto my elbows as Vampire-Torin came down over me. He found my ankles and pulled off the ballet flats I’d found myself in, tossing them over his shoulder as he smoothed warm palms up my calves and thighs.
I stiffened. “What are you doing?” I repeated, letting a growl fill my voice even as my gums throbbed with the need for my fangs to descend. It was only by the force of my will that they remained hidden.
Vampire-Torin’s eyes flashed, luminous in the shadows of the dream. As soon as his arms closed around me, I shoved against his chest and sent him sprawling against the pillows. This time it was me who came down on top of him. My thighs on either side of his hips. I was done playing his stupid game. He thought he had all the fucking power? Well, not anymore. I reached up and summoned a blade. If this was a dream—my fucking dream—then I should have some control, and would you look at that…I laughed out loud as a dagger formed in my palm.
I lowered my arm and held the sharpened tip against his throat. “Why did you bring me here?” I demanded. “And does your other half know what you’re doing?”
“It’s just a dream, Sweetheart,” he said with a grin. I narrowed my eyes as he held up his hands on either side of his head. He could have been facing a harem of brothel workers for all he seemed to care about the dagger at his vein, though. Perhaps it was because I was positioned squarely over his cock which—I grimaced—hadn’t lost any of its hardness.
I sneered down at him. “You’re disgusting.”
He shrugged, the movement pressing his throat against the sharp end of my blade. A line of red welled up and a drop of blood slid from the cut. My gaze followed it as he spoke again. I didn’t hear his words. Everything in me was fixated on that singular line of blood as it hit his collarbone and held. My tongue inched out and swiped over my lower lip as I shook my head and refocused on what he was saying. “—but if this kind of play gets you hot, who am I to refuse my mate?”
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t slit your throat right here and now?” I asked. “It wouldn’t kill you. Hell, I doubt it’d even hurt you.”
“Do you want to?” His smile widened. “You want to slit my throat, Barbie? Do you want to lick my blood? Bathe in it?” My mouth watered. Lick his blood? Disturbingly, I found that I did want that. I wanted to lean down and draw a path up his throat with my tongue. I wanted to close my lips over the wound and suck down the red liquid pouring from it. And as if the fucker knew that, he smirked. “I’ll let you,” he offered.
“Let me?” I repeated, proud of how steady my voice sounded. “From where I’m sitting, I’m not giving you much of a choice.”
“Please, Sweetheart.” A hand snatched my wrist and yanked it away from his throat. I growled and fought to free myself, but in no time at all, my equilibrium was thrown and I was tossed right back into the mound of pillows with an amused vampire sliding over my front. Vampire-Torin plucked the dagger from my grasp and slid it down the front of my gown. “I was just humoring you. But truth in fact, you do need to feed. We both know what happened the last time you tried it.” The last time had just been mere hours ago. We both knew that as well. I turned my head away as I blinked back tears of frustration. “Aw, come on, love.” Warm fingers brushed my cheek. “I didn’t say that to upset you.”
“Everything you do upsets me,” I grumbled.
“Look.” He leaned back, his fingers falling away. For a long moment, I kept my gaze fixated away, until the silence grew too loud. It scraped across my already raw and frayed
nerves. I snapped my head back and glared at him. Vampire-Torin held up his hands and the dagger I’d summoned disappeared. “I’m not armed. You’re not armed. I didn’t come here to hurt you, you have to know that. I’d sooner slice my own heart out of my chest than do that. We’re bound now, Sweetheart. You and me. Sire and Sire-ee.”
“That’s not a thing,” I deadpanned.
“Fine then,” he replied. “Sire and mate.”
“Stop calling me your mate.”
He sighed heavily. His lower lip jutted out from his upper one. “You are what you are,” he said finally. “And I am what I am. So, why don’t you just stop fighting me—at least for now—and let’s make a deal.”
“I don’t make deals with the devil.”
Fingers grasped my face again as he leaned down, his breath brushing against my lips with noticeable heat. “Oh, but you already did,” he whispered. “Denying it would be a lie.”
“I hate you.”
“There’s a fine line between love and hate,” he replied airily, his hands sliding up my skirts and bunching them up around my thighs. His fingers pressed against the skin of my inner thighs and he surged forward, pushing himself down between me until only the fabric of my underwear and his pants barred the way. I hissed, reaching up and snapping my hand around his throat as talons ripped through my nail beds. Blood ran down my fingers and over my wrist.
His eyes fucking glittered. He plucked my hand from his neck as if it was nothing more than a piece of lint on his clothes and he brought it up. I knew what he was planning as soon as I saw his face, but even as I tried to yank my palm away, his tongue lapped out and stroked up the center of my palm. His lips moved to my fingers and opened as he sucked one into his mouth. The warm, wet heat of his tongue against my finger had a tie wrapped around my core and the harder he sucked the tighter it was pulled. When he had sucked off the last of my blood and my nails had returned to normal, I was a soaked mess—panting, wanting, needy.
I closed my eyes as he released my hand and sucked in a breath, searching for control. I licked my lips and spoke in a rough tone. “What do you want with me?” I asked. “Why did you bring me here? Just fucking tell me. I’m tired of the games.”
A soft palm settled against my cheek. “Barbie.” He stroked my cheek. Tingles raced through my skin at his touch. And still, I refused to open my eyes. “You’re hungry,” he said. “I brought you here to feed you.”
My lips parted. My eyes slid open. “I already fed,” I said.
His red eyes met mine and though there was possessiveness in his gaze, there was also gentleness. “Who said I was going to feed you blood?” he whispered.
“What—” His mouth slammed down on mine, his tongue sliding inside and I was so fucking tired of fighting, I just let it happen. I kissed him back roughly. Reaching up and palming the back of his skull, I arched my spine and pressed myself against him as he nipped my lower lip, taking it into his mouth as he sucked.
His mouth ravished me, moving from my lips to my jaw to my neck in mere seconds—consuming every hesitation in its path. “You forget,” he said as he sucked at my neck, “you may be dhampire now, but you’re still possessed by a succubus.”
I gasped as his fingers slid up the inside of my thighs and touched my core. His lips curved against my skin. “It seems your body knows what you want more than your mind.”
“My body isn’t the one in charge,” I choked out as his fingers slid my underwear to the side and moved into me. “Fuck!” A moment later, my words evaporated altogether as my body proved just how very wrong I was. I undulated my hips, my body seeking out the movement of his digits. He sank them deep and curled them until they pressed something inside, sliding against a bundle of nerves I didn’t even know I had. He did it again and again, until sweat ran down my temples and I sank my nails into his back. I screamed as an orgasm washed over me, stealing my sanity and leaving me a mess.
“You’re one of a kind, Barbie Steele,” Vampire-Torin said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head at my hairline. “But best of all, you’re mine.”
I didn’t even have the energy to contradict his claim. I was shaky, exhausted, and far too relaxed to do much of anything. He must have sensed that because instead of removing my underwear completely and sinking himself into me as I expected, he pulled his fingers free, rearranged my skirts over my legs and turned me so that he was spooned against my back. And in the dream of Vampire-Torin’s creation, I hovered on the brink of wakefulness and sleep. The dream dispersed, falling away into a vague senselessness.
Satrina had told me to choose a side to feed, blood or sex. It seemed that Torin—both sides of him—was determined to feed both.
Chapter 6
Barbie
Enough was e-fucking-nough. I slammed the pointed tip of my sword into the ground at Torin’s feet, halting all movement in the vicinity. Maverick—who’d been cleaning his gun at the end of the porch—looked up and watched us with curious, guarded eyes. Torin looked down at where the sword rested by his foot, just an inch or so from his toe, before lifting his head to meet my gaze.
“I’m moving back to the McKnights,” I announced. “I’m not staying here anymore. It’s been a week—three since Rome. They have to know something is up.”
Before I was even done, he was already shaking his head. “No, and as long as I go see them regularly, they won’t suspect a thing.”
I leaned closer. “I wasn’t fucking asking,” I snapped.
“You haven’t yet mastered feeding,” he replied.
I stiffened, but I wasn’t going to back down. I had made up my mind. “I’m going back to the McKnights and I’m returning to school,” I repeated, adding the last bit.
“Barbie—”
“I’m leaving tonight,” I interrupted, talking over him. “If you have a fucking problem with that, well … I find that I just don’t give a fuck.” I reached down and jerked the blade up from the ground with one hand, and turned to stride away.
“Barbie!”
I strode faster, storming up the steps as Maverick stood up, his gun dangling in his grip. His brows were furrowed as I yanked the back door open and disappeared into the house. He hadn’t acted any differently towards me so I had to assume that Torin had kept his mouth shut, but regardless, I couldn’t stay here much longer. The dream last night had only confirmed it. I needed time away from Torin.
“Barbie.” Torin’s call only made me walk faster as I headed back to my room. He caught up to me at the door, his hand wrapping around my wrist and halting my movement. “You know it’s not safe—”
“Then make it safe,” I snapped, yanking my hand from his and turning to look up at him. “If I stay here any longer it’ll start to feel like a prison—hell, it already does. I want to go back to my life. I need to go back to my life. I’m not asking, Torin. I’m demanding. Find a way to make it happen. If we’re so focused on training me to feed, then we’re not focused on what’s important—finding Esperanza and figuring out a way to kill Arrius.” We’d been stationary for too long.
Torin ran a hand over his head, the strands of his hair flopping against his forehead as he gritted his teeth and blew out a hissing breath. He was quiet for a long moment, the inner workings of his mind playing across his face as his lips pressed together and then relaxed, his eyebrows drew close and then separated, his nostrils flared. “I’ll give you some of my blood to take with you,” he said finally. Relief flooded my chest; I honestly didn’t know what I would have done if he’d refused—probably beat him senseless until he agreed or thrown him into a cellar and locked him there.
“Thank you.” I said the words and I meant them. He could hold me here if he wanted. He was strong enough and I was still figuring out this whole dhampire/demon business. He could have withheld his blood from me and forced me to remain in his house.
“But Barbie…” I blinked as he lifted one arm and settled it on the doorframe above my head, leaning down into my space as I pulle
d back slightly. “Just because you’re leaving doesn’t mean you get to avoid me. You can move back in with the McKnights as long as you have my blood with you, but you and I are going to be spending some quality time together.”
“What?” I narrowed my gaze on him. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“No more hunting without me,” he said. “If I call, you come. Do you understand, Sweetheart?”
“What am I? Your dog?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Of course not, but I’m not letting you run away from me.”
I shoved against his chest, pushing him back with my free hand. “Fine,” I growled. “Deal. If you let me leave, then I’ll answer your fucking calls.”
His arms lowered from the doorframe and he took a small step back. “I suppose you’ll be wanting to leave with Maverick tonight?”
“You suppose right.”
He tilted his head to the side. “I’ll have to come with you,” he said. “It’d look odd if you just showed up after all this time and the hospital didn’t call to have you discharged by your guardians.”
“Fine.” I set my sword down by the door and reached for the knob. “You can go now. I’m going to pack.” I took another step back, but just before I slammed the door in his face, he stuck his booted foot inside and halted its momentum. I groaned. “Fucking what now?” I demanded, yanking it open and glaring at him.
He looked to the side and that was when I noticed Maverick had come inside. He stood at the end of the hall, his arms crossed as he glared at Torin. How much had he heard? “Do you really think she’s ready?” he asked.
“Mav…” I sighed, reaching up and pinching the bridge of my nose as I closed my eyes and released a breath. “I want to go home,” I said. I reopened my eyes and let my arm drop.
That amber gaze of his bored into me, staring as if he were trying to delve inside of me and find out my secrets. I stiffened and crossed my arms, waiting. He looked to Torin. “She’s strong enough to handle herself,” Torin said. “She’ll have blood she can drink.” I winced, but he didn’t acknowledge it, just kept going. “She needs to feed every few days for the next little while.” He shot me a look. “It’s her emotions that worry me the most.”