Ash (Fire & Blood Book 2)

by Alexa B. James

  “Hilarious, Timmy,” I said as I hugged myself. “I'll be sure to ask the next time the king is taking requests.”

  “I'm not kidding, Kori, it's the only way we'll be able to negate his powers for long enough to kill him.” Timothy staggered backward a step and his gaze traveled far away. “Ravage is going to find you here--in front of the Tree of Life. I have to go.”

  My little brother sprinted to the trellis and started to climb. Ten feet up, he paused and turned back. “Oh, Kori... I…” he said, “You have to keep going no matter what.”

  The fear in his eyes made me tremble, and I had to broaden my posture to stay upright.

  “What did you just see?”

  Timothy shook his head. “It’s too late to stop it. It’s better if you don’t know.”

  Then he was climbing higher up the trellis and disappearing into my room. I wanted to go after him and demand that he tell me what he saw, but Ravage would probably show up in the garden at any minute. Even though everything in me screamed that I should find out what Timothy saw, I turned away and stepped carefully in my heeled boots as the stone path threatened to roll my ankle.

  Over the past year, I’d been able to fill in pieces of the time I lost. The memories were gone forever I was pretty sure, but during Timothy's visits, he'd tell me accounts of what he, Brendan, and Genevieve witnessed. He told me about how I’d plotted and planned to escape back to the human army but ended up believing in the three Kings of Portland when no other humans did. Timothy told me about my immediate distrust and abhorrence of the Sorcerer. I hadn’t known that it was Ravage in disguise, only Timothy knew that, but I had known that the Sorcerer was manipulating the officers of the rebel army for his own means.

  There were still so many holes in what I knew. But the visceral reaction I had to the magical ivory tree at the center of the garden, had to mean something terrifying had happened around this strange tree.

  It stood out against the colorful foliage all around it, and every time I saw the bone white trunk, panic and grief echoed through my heart. Yet at the same time, I felt as if the tree and I were connected, like it was my cruel mother, and I was still attached by an insidious umbilical cord. At night, I could swear that the tree watched me through Ravage’s windows, approving of me lying in the bed of my enemy.

  “I knew you would be here,” Ravage said from behind me, making my heart jump.

  “I can't seem to be able to stay away,” I told him as I stared at the ivory trunk.

  When the king didn't respond, I turned to find Ravage’s angry gaze passing over my tight, sheer dress. The blue lace showed every part of my nakedness. Only my legs were covered up to my thighs in high leather boots. Even though the lines of his chiseled face looked sharpened by anger, my nipples began to pucker under his gaze, and my clit felt sensitive as he peered at the junction between my thighs.

  I held out my hands. “You seem upset, but I did exactly what you wanted.”

  “I’m furious—but not at you, Kori. I will not be happy again until I bathe in all three of your lovers’ blood.”

  The image flashed through my mind of Ravage storming through the palace soaked in crimson. It had been Timothy’s prediction, and I was guessing that Ravage had it too. Were we still on a collision course for that fate? I hated being stuck in a world where my opponents held all the cards and I was empty-handed. I held my head high as I stepped carefully down the path toward Ravage. My pulse felt like a moth that was trapped in my neck. “Did Death withdraw from the match?”

  “No.” Ravage put a hand around me, his fingers possessively cupping my ass. I hated that my arousal grew at the heat of his hand, but warmth suffused my core, and my skin felt almost too sensitive as the lace shifted while I walked. We crossed down the familiar hallway of the palace, past windows with views of the delicate bridges crisscrossing the abyss below. Electric lights illuminated the caves across the crevasse that led away into the world beyond Nightendale.

  Two warriors opened the door to Ravage's throne room, and as soon as we stepped inside, they closed us in. As far as I knew, Ravage hadn't used this room since the night where he held a banquet here back when Ash, Death, and Ruin were the three Kings of Portland, and I was their consort. The space was completely empty now, save for a bed featuring prominently in the center of the room.

  It was a four-poster bed with no pillows or blankets, nothing but a thick mattress. Hanging down from the bars over the bed was what looked like a harness with manacles. Another set of manacles dangled from the top of the headboard.

  The doors opened across the room, and Death stalked through. Death wore an outfit similar to Ravage, a loose tunic and jeans. When his dark eyes met mine, I felt a jolt of connection through me, like there was an invisible tether that had always joined us, but I'd forgotten it was there until we were together. He tapped the wood bed. “You work fast, Ravage.”

  Ravage pulled me closer to his side. “I’d planned to use this for my feeding with Kori--alone.”

  “What's going on?” I asked, my voice coming out sounding panicked. “Is this normal?”

  Ravage's fingers brushed my hair away and he wrapped a hand around my neck, his fingers tracing over my skin. “Kori, this is the one request you can say no to on this day. You can walk out of here and go up there...” He pointed to a second story where there was a row of windows with bars along the front. “I have a room for you up there, separate from the rest of the royal court.”

  I glanced up to see that below the painted roof, Ruin and Ash stood, leaning between bars, watching us. Several others stood there as well, courtesans and vampire royals, who were all dressed up like this was some sort of event.

  “What's the request?” I asked.

  “Death has dug up an obscure law that hasn't been enacted in master vampire challenges for a hundred years. In the last seven challenges, the master and the challenger drank from separate feeders.”

  “And in all seven challenges, the master won,” Death said. “That was why the law was written in the first place and also why it was likely suppressed by former masters.”

  Ravage scowled over his shoulder, looking like he might tear Death's head off before the battle even began. “The competitors in a master challenge have to drink from the same human before the challenge.” Ravage's hand slid from my butt to my front, and he cupped my sex and pulled me against him. “You are the only one who I'm willing to have sex with or who I want to feed on, Kori--which presents a problem.”

  “You want to both dry bite me before your fight?” I nodded. If Death drank my blood, he’d see flashes of the future too, leveling out the playing field.

  “The bite can't be a dry bite,” Ravage growled, his fingers rubbing along my throat as his other hand tightened around my sex.

  Between the contact and his words, my wetness slickened Ravage’s fingers, betraying my desire.

  “According to the law, master vampires can draw more from a dry bite than others can, and we need to get the same quantity of blood from you.” Ravage leaned past me, and his nostrils flared. There was anger in every line of his tight features. “So, either I fuck someone other than you or you fuck someone other than me. Pick, Kori.”

  I leaned back to glare into Ravage's green eyes. “Or you could just withdraw and let them go.”

  “If he does that, he forfeits the rank of master vampire to me,” Death said. “It would shred his bonds to his warriors, and I would take control of his armies.”

  Ravage didn't answer, but his glower grew progressively darker. “Duchess Dread's new courtesan volunteered to take your place, Kori. If you do decide to do this, I want to be inside of you the entire time Death is. I will be inside of you first and last,” he continued. “And then I will tear Death limb from limb, and we will never speak his name again.”

  Blood pumped in my ears. I didn't know what Ravage wanted me to say, but I was certain that it wasn't the truth, which was that I would pay almost any price to be with Death one l
ast time.

  After having a fixation on Death, Ash, and Ruin for years while I was a courtesan and they were warriors, I risked being tried for treason just to have one night with them, and that was before we'd ever been lovers.

  I didn't remember the time when Death was truly my lover, but a desperate desire surged in my heart every time I thought about him. And, horrible as it might be, if I was with Death while Ravage was inside of me, it almost made the twisted pleasure that was surging through my core right now okay.

  Then there was the fact that this was Death's plan, and Ravage clearly didn't want to do it. Anything that Death wanted and Ravage didn't want, I knew was the plan to follow.

  “What do you want me to do, Ravage? I can't figure it out,” I said, following the sense I had that helped me say what people wanted to hear.

  Ravage said nothing at first. He was the most jealous and possessive vampire I could even imagine. Maybe he felt an aversion to intimacy with someone other than me, but I was guessing that it was the idea of losing my Tempus power when Ravage drank from someone else that was more important to him than anything.

  The tension building within me had my thoughts spinning away, and I knew I had to just go with my instincts, trusting they were the only thing that would help me navigate through this very dangerous ground. “Choose for me, Ravage. Command me, and I'll do exactly what you tell me to.”

  His hand slid down from my neck and over my thin lace dress. I felt his hand as if nothing was separating us at all. Ravage scratched his fangs gently over my skin as he considered. The high court of Nightendale all stared down at us, waiting for Ravage to choose.

  Finally, he released me. “Get on the bed, Kori.”

  Chapter Seven

  Kori

  My breaths came in shallow gasps as Ravage and Death undressed. They were both large for vampires, and incomparable to humans. I could feel the gazes of spectators all around us from the second story, but I couldn't force myself to look away from the two naked men before me.

  It just seemed so unbelievable that an archaic law would force someone to have sex with two master vampires while feeding. The only believable part was that humans were a prop in this competition of master-hood. It felt as if, according to the law, I was the meal that had to be cooked in the same way and served in the same proportion to each. But as Death climbed across from me on the bed, gloriously naked, all thoughts of food flew out of my mind.

  “Trust me,” he mouthed as he reached up and buckled the manacles attached to the headboard onto his wrists.

  I wanted to cover his lips. Both Ravage and I were intelligent enough to know that this was part of some plan. Instead I mouthed, “I do.”

  I had a gut feeling that I could trust Death, but I also knew that Ravage was a thousand times more devious than any of us. Whatever move they were making, Ravage would find a way to counter it.

  “I’ll allow this, Death,” Ravage said as he gestured to the bed. “But you're not going to touch her until I slide her onto your cock, understand?”

  Death responded by waving his hands, which were secured by the manacles, but we all knew that he could break through the leather binds without even straining. Death scooted up in the bed and stretched out before looking up at me with his dark eyes. The tension in his muscles was taut, and I could see that he was having to concentrate to not break his binds.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, before I thought better of it. I could see the warning signs of when someone felt uncomfortable during sex and was forcing themselves to continue.

  Ravage made a low growling sound. “He’s the one forcing us to do this.”

  Death wasn’t forcing me to do anything, but I didn’t want to have sex with him if it hurt him.

  “I’m fine.” Death’s throat bobbed. “I like to be in control, but I can make this work. Trust me, I wouldn’t be here unless I wanted to be--”

  “Stop talking to one another,” Ravage said.

  The bed shifted behind me, and strong hands wrapped around my waist and lifted me. Ravage set me down to straddle Death's waist. The harness hung directly behind me, and anticipating what Ravage would ask next, I put my hands behind my back.

  Ravage's hands slid over the lace on my breasts and pulled apart the delicate material, tearing holes and exposing me. He locked the manacles at my wrists, the supple leather cuffs tight but not to the point of cutting off my circulation. After, he buckled several more leather straps, securing my arms to my sides and securing around my hips. Next, he buckled straps around my legs, immobilizing me completely. The straps under my hips, ankles, and around my chest held my weight like three soft leather swings, and Ravage pulled a cord attached to the harnesses that lowered me to where he wanted me.

  “Are you okay?” Death asked through measured breaths. He must have seen the lust in my eyes when I met his gaze, because he finally relaxed without me having to say a word.

  Ravage cranked a strap, and the harness lifted in the air.

  Hovering in the air, I had a moment of absolute panic -- knowing what I'd agreed to -- knowing what was about to happen, and then I felt Ravage's thick fingers wrap around my hips.

  I was actually going to have sex with Ravage—the Sorcerer—my greatest enemy. He was going to claim my body. And, though I hated him with every fiber of my being, somehow, I wanted this. And when his cock slid into me from behind, thick and almost too long, I knew that I'd been waiting for this moment all year, dreading it and wanting it in equal measures.

  Ravage was not gentle.

  He gripped my hips and started a punishing pace right from the first moment. I wanted to look at Death, but my eyes rolled back as sensation consumed me. All I could concentrate on was Ravage’s cock, pumping deep inside me. I had no control, no ability to move as I dangled there. The only thing I could do was cry out as pleasure and pain ripped through me. Without changing his pace, Ravage released the harness until my arms pressed into his front. There was a sharp piercing pain at my neck, and then the world was absolutely perfect. Excruciating pain and euphoric bliss washed through me.

  I could hate this man to my core and at the same time, revel in the dark pleasure of him biting me while he fucked me.

  Ravage slammed into me, filling me deep within, before he lifted my hips and pulled out only to press his slick tip against the pucker of my ass. Still sucking on my neck, he pushed the tip of his dick into me before pulling back out. His cock was slick with my heat, but I wasn’t close to ready. He pushed in again, and I moaned at the invasive feel of him there.

  “Are you okay, Kori?” Death bowed beneath me.

  I didn’t know if I was, but I couldn’t answer as Ravage growled and pushed the rest of the way into me. He stayed there, filling me from behind as he licked my wounds, running his tongue over my neck. As pleasure made my head spin, I had the delirious thought that Ravage was truly the devil when he fucked me, and his tongue was forked as it lapped at my skin.

  Reaching around me, Ravage fisted Death's ready cock and lifted it to my entrance.

  Death growled low, but the sound ceased as his tip slid into me.

  Even with everything, my heart fluttered. I knew what Ravage was doing—this was how he was controlling us. If he was controlling our bodies, then it lessened my being with Death in Ravage's mind.

  It didn't in mine.

  The situation we were in should have been horrible.

  I was tied up, and there were people watching us, and Ravage would kill Death as soon as this was over. But for the first time in a year, Death would be deep inside me. Death's dark eyes asked me for permission, and I wanted to shout yes, but it wasn't safe, so instead, I just gave the most infinitesimal nod.

  Ravage grabbed my hips, sliding me down on Death's cock. His other hand wrapped around my neck, though his fingers didn’t squeeze, and Ravage’s cock stayed deep inside as he slid my body up and down on Death. Ravage released my neck, and a second later, my straps loosened until I was hovering only inches ove
r Death.

  His soapy yet musky scent filled my senses, and his eyes were fixed on mine. I knew we only had minutes together, if Ravage would allow us that, but for those minutes we would be connected in the most physical way that two people could.

  Ravage kept us at a steady pace, lifting my hips so that both men filled me and slid out in a perfect rhythm. Thoughts floated away as I dangled without any control of the sensations thrumming through me. Both love and hate filled me, pleasure and pain. Death was bigger than Ravage or anyone else I'd ever been with, and I couldn't help but moan each time they pushed in. Darkness encroached on my vision as I felt too full, too complete.

  “I love you,” both men said at the same time—one with a voice full of anger and the other like a prayer, or maybe I just dreamed it as I drifted in and out of consciousness.

  Death leaned up until his mouth was next to my ear. “I’m going to bite you twice. It’s important that I bite you like last time.”

  Last time?

  I didn’t remember a single feeding with him, but I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this man wouldn’t hurt me. It was hard to think, hard to breathe, hard to know which way was up or down. I was buried under an avalanche of sensation, and I wanted more.

  “Do what you have to,” I managed.

  Death's fangs pushed into my skin, feeling like two hot spikes of pain. The sensation was so familiar, but I never got used to the excruciating pulse of pain that ripped through my neck. His fangs weren’t pulling away, and suddenly, I understood. Death wasn’t just biting me, he was marking me as his mate. I bit my lower lip, holding in the whimper, not wanting to give away that Death wasn't drinking my blood.

  Death lifted his hips and pumped deeper in me, and I felt like I might burst. I bit down harder on my lip as Ravage’s hands lifted me up and slammed me down on Death. Death moaned on my neck, and I could feel his swollen cock pulse inside of me as he filled me with his cum.