by S J Doran
Mara grinned up at him, “worried for your Seelie Queen? Honestly, how is it even possible you have not tupped the virtuous light Fae yet?”
He nudged her, his face suddenly stern, but amusement brightened those dark eyes. A vast improvement of the torment they had reflected earlier.
“She is married and a mother, bite your tongue wench.”
“I will happily do it for her should she refuse to...”
The sound of that familiar voice made them both turn to find none other than Basileus standing not ten feet away, accompanied by an unfamiliar male. Neither one fit the description of handsome for their features were not masculine. Instead they both had features which made them look almost delicate, beautiful.
The platinum hair and icy blue eyes which were a trademark to Basileus’s celebrated looks stood sharp contrast to the raven black hair and deep crimson eyes of the vampire.
It was near impossible to tell age with their kind, but guessing from appearance, he had likely not yet reached his sixteenth year of life before having been turned into a vampire.
“Teresa, you look like one of the porcelain dolls my sora used to carry around.” The vampire reached to lightly spin her around as he spoke, his tone marked by a slight eastern European timbre. “It makes me want to play with you.”
Even she could sense the heavy influx of lust radiating from both males, her gaze quickly locking with that of the sin-eater as he reached for her mid spin and pressed her back to his side.
“Hasn’t anyone taught you to look but not touch?”
His tone was heavy with malice, and had Basileus not been busy ogling the vampire at that precise moment, he surely would have recognized those dark, angry eyes glaring at him as belonging not to Dimitri, but the demon king.
“Dimitri, what has come over you…?” Basileus turned, Cass glared.
Shit...Coming up short with a way to diffuse the situation she pressed her palms against the demon’s cheeks, pulling his head down as she rose up onto her toes and pressed her lips against his. The kiss wasn't tender or sweet, but hard and demanding, meant as a warning.
Rather than pull back and collect himself as she had expected, his arms closed around her waist, pulling her into his chest as his fingers splayed against the small of her back. She tried to nip his bottom lip when his kiss began to sear her, his tongue brushing the seam of her lips in demand for her to open.
To her own surprise she did. Gone was the warning she had tried to send him, for the world simply fell away, dragging Basileus and the vampire along with it. In that moment only their kiss existed, and the odd fluttering stirring deep within her belly. When he slowly withdrew it was she who needed reminding of who they were supposed to be, and the danger they currently found themselves in.
“My apologies, I fear I have not fed well tonight. My darling wife was just about to see to my needs...” He grinned down at Amara who had regained enough sense to shoot him a murderous look, “Would you gentlemen care to join us?”
She hissed near his ear, “what in the nine hells do you think you’re doing Sin?”
He squeezed her side, pushing her to follow both males who already were confiscating one of the bedrooms.
“We need the vampire’s eye, and I have some questions for my exiled subject.”
Whether it was due to the wine, the kiss, or the absolute absurdity of their situation she wasn’t sure, but Amara couldn’t hold back a grin when she looked up at the demon in disguise.
“I’ll flip you a coin for the eye.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
no one said it was going to be easy
His head was swimming. He couldn’t recall ever being drunk from alcohol, it was far different than the oblivion of poison. There was a giddiness in his belly, he wanted to pick up the Priestess and twirl her around. Then bend her over the back of this fancy sofa and fuck those frilly panties off her.
Almost as though she knew the direction of his thoughts, Amara glared daggers at him, digging an elbow into his ribs. When she reached for the goblet in his hand, he growled. Too far. He was enjoying this feeling.
“Wits about you, demon.” She hissed under her breath. He bent down and stole another kiss, grinning wickedly when her expression went blank. Yes, he was definitely getting to her.
The giddiness sobered when Basileus followed them into the room and shut the door behind them. Suddenly, this wasn’t fun anymore. His heart was racing, and he was looking for an exit.
Amara’s hand tightened around his, and she stepped in front of him, her nimble fingers working at the complicated buttons on his ensemble, her hands running down his chest, soothing him.
“I can’t…” he whispered, closing his eyes.
“You can, and you are.” She whispered back, patting his cheek.
“I must say, Dimitri,” Basileus’s smooth voice carried across the room. “I’ve never known a vampire to be generous with their property.”
Amara’s eyes widened briefly, her teeth biting down so hard on her lip that blood welled. Cass couldn’t help himself. His tongue lapped up the bead of it, lingering long enough that her tongue darted out to meet his.
“Perhaps,” Cass said, trying to emulate the proper speech of the vampires, “it is my wife who is sharing me tonight. Is there more wine?”
The young vampire carried over a decanter, refilling Cass’s goblet.
“It’s quite the soiree.” The vampire said, moving back to Basileus’s side. “Not very often that Lord Jareth opens his home.”
Cass downed the goblet, despite Mara’s tugging at his arm.
“I must have missed the memo,” Cass said raising his brows as his hand trailed down Mara’s spine. “I am lost as to the reason for it.”
Basileus looked up from where he’s been running his mouth down the vampire’s neck. “I doubt David knows either.”
The vampire nodded as he spoke. “We’ve all been kept out of the dark.” Cass furrowed his brows at the mixed sentence. Wasn’t sure if it was an intentional play on words. “But we are happy to entertain some of the most powerful of our kind here tonight.”
Cass and Amara’s eyes met. What kind of shit heap had they landed themselves in?
“mm, yes.” Basileus said, his hands working to remove the vampires clothing. “very entertaining.”
Cass shuddered, every part of him recoiling. He didn’t want to be in this room. That vampire looked far too young--
“It’s odd to see you here, Prince of Pleasures.” Amara said, her voice light and flighty. Assuming she sounded like the lady vamp she was impersonating. Cass didn’t like it.
Didn’t like anything about this.
How did she know Bas’s title?
“I have been invited to stay here, since my visit to this realm will be on-going.” Bas said, his blue eyes glowing, “and I don’t find I mind at all.” His hand went down David’s pants and Cass’s entire body clenched.
Amara whipped around. “Don’t you dare puke again.” She hissed out low.
“If you would care to feed, Dimitri, my blood is powerful. You and your wife can take turns.” Basileus spoke between deep kisses with his vampire lover. “Or both of you at once.”
Cass’s breath caught in his throat. He couldn’t do this. Bad fucking idea all the way around.
Amara’s leg raised up and hooked around his waist, and she pulled his head down. “Your potion is wearing off too fast. We have to move.” She whispered in his ear.
He sighed with relief, letting his power out by increments, feeling around the room, testing, tasting. The lust was so thick it nearly brought him to his knees. His cock that had been semi-erect all night went completely stiff, and he rocked it against Amara’s hips. Sin absolutely stained the walls of this room. he drank it all in.
“Oh. Shit.” Amara spoke low, easing back from Cass.
The young vamp collapsed to the floor first, Cass took everything corrupted inside of him- it didn’t leave much. He was far older than
he appeared and used his youthful appearance to his sick and twisted advantage. The vampire’s sins were so varied, Cass’s head already spinning from wine and faerie blood—
Power swamped his synapses, he groaned, fists clenching, jaw set. And found himself standing in front of Bas. Who had the gall to look him up and down and lick his lips.
He grabbed Bas by the throat and pushed him back to the wall.
“Well. You’re certainly not Dimitri.” Bas grinned crookedly, his hands grasping Cass’s arm as he peered into his eyes. “One word, Cassius, and you’d lose your head.”
He tightened his grip. “Who said I’m going to allow you to speak?” he turned back to Amara. “Forget the coin toss, love. Go for it. I’ve got my own toy.”
Amara’s eyes lit up, well, Teresa’s eyes. But they had the same wicked glint as his Mara. She bent over the quivering heap of vampire on the floor and hooked a dainty claw into the corner of its eye.
“Ooh.” She cooed. “I bet this is going to hurt a lot. Should I go slow?” Her finger dug in deeper, “or rip it like a band-aid?”
Her claw circled under its eye, the vampire moaning and mewling, Amara’s nostrils flaring. “We must maintain the integrity, so I’m going to be slow and careful-like.”
Cass couldn’t possibly be harder. Bas’s eyes gleamed, lids heavy, his shaking hand reaching for Cass’s cock—
Cass pulled him forward and slammed him back against the wall until his head bounced. “You are not to touch me ever again.” He growled, chest heaving with the exertion of his words.
Then he pulled back a fist and slammed it across Bas’s face, knocking him out cold.
Amara held up an eyeball that trailed some gore, examining it in the lamplight. “Not even a nick.” She smiled proudly and enclosed it in her hand. “You going to finish him off?”
“Let’s just go.” Cass said, shaking his head, trying to clear it. His thoughts were pinging around, fleetingly wiggling out of grasp, power was throbbing through him, alternately subdued by the magic in the faery blood and his wine-soaked brain.
It was a comfortable sort of fog to live in.
He picked up Amara’s hand, smiling and feeling sure of himself once more.
“Let’s go bust into a vault.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
it was a matter of distraction
I can’t do this….
The inside of the vault wasn’t much larger than her world had once been, five by five, enclosed by walls. No light, no windows… no air.
She was struggling to keep her composure, but knew she wouldn’t be able to stay within the small confinement of the vault for much longer. Panic was creeping in. Rivulets of cold sweat trailed down the curve of her back, causing the too tight corset of the pink satin and chiffon gown to cling to her skin. Pink, she detested the color, it made her skin crawl. Her mouth ran dry and her pulse raced.
Another life, different girl, different demon… she could do this.
As soon as they acquired the ring of summons, she would be free from this metal prison. They were doing this for the demon’s safety, to break his father’s power over him, meaning she simply had to pull through, just like he had done.
Again, she reached for the deposit box from which she could sense the imprint of Asmodeus’s power emanating, his ring lay within, hidden behind iron locks.
“Would you stop squirming and hold still, I can almost reach the bolt.”
Open safe, find the ring, open compartment, unlock box, take the ring, place antidote, get out. The plan, while simple on paper was proving much more complex in reality, mainly due to the fact that the particular safety box she sensed the damned ring in was built into the iron wall, which stood eight feet off the ground.
She topped at five foot nine, the sin- eater an impressive six foot six, which explained why she found herself perched atop his wobbly shoulders, fiddling with the outdated mechanical lock while also trying to decipher the code to the damned lock.
Using magic to enthrall it to open would prove much more time efficient, but the imprint of her power would also serve to draw the attention of every vampire attending the bloodsucker convention currently taking place downstairs. Discovery was to be avoided at all costs, vampires, and especially the Blood Lord, were not known for playing nice with their food.
Her hands fumbled once more as the demon shifted beneath her, causing her to spin too far. Her nerves were strung taut, cold sweat stinging her eyes, her hands clammy with it, and the damned demon kept ruining her concentration.
He shifted again “Cass!”
“I’m sorry Mara but it’s too snug. It hurts and I’m going to pop out if I don’t adjust.”
She glared down at the addled demon over her shoulder. “What in the nine hells are you going on about… oh.”
Her gaze followed where his hand was stroking, catching sight of the tightly strained fabric at his groin.
“Sin-eater, we are standing inside the vault of the Blood Lord himself, within a mansion overrun with blood drunk vampires. You think now’s the best time to be sporting wood?”
She couldn’t hold back the grin at the sight of his struggle, her body relaxing. “Kinky demon.”
She could see the corner of his mouth pull up in a sardonic smirk, steadying her purchase with one arm while using his free hand to tug at his waistband.
“You think my alter-ego was using his loud taste in clothing to compensate for his embarrassingly humble endowment? In the future, should I ever see anyone wandering about in flowered corduroy, I’ll feel obligated to put him out of his misery.”
Her focus returned to the deposit box, fingers back to upon the mechanism, feeling for the minute give of metal any time she’d hit the correct number in the sequence.
“You are everything merciful and benevolent…”
The rumble of his laughter sent an odd, fluttering sensation skittering through her belly, the same sensation as when he had kissed her back within that gallery. Her nose scrunching at the thought. It’s not him…
She made sure to keep her attention fixed upon the lock she was trying to pick when she next spoke. “You did well tonight demon.”
Though he would never learn the truth of the many crimes committed against him, it had satisfied her to her toes to see him put Prince of Pleasures in his place. Her Cassius would have been proud of the sin-eater tonight, she was.
There was slight give beneath her touch, another number revealed. The rising panic which the demon had helped ease with his comfort and outrageous behaviour slowly turned to excitement, just a few more numbers and the box would open, and they could leave.
“Almost there...” She glanced down at him, only to find him staring up at her, an odd expression haunting those coal dark eyes. And for a brief moment she could swear she caught a flash of hellfire within those dark depths, warming his eyes into heated embers. Her chest gave a painful squeeze, the drum of her heart loud in her ears.
“Mara?”
The persistent fluttering escalated inside her belly. “Yes, Cass?”
“Want to see it?”
“See… it?” She blinked a few times, trying to recover her thoughts, awareness coming to her at the sight of his impish grin as he again adjusted himself.
“Sin, while we are here how about you keep your big head in the game, and your small one in your pants.” Even as she spoke, she could feel his strong fingers lazily trailing up her leg, making it difficult to keep her own head in the game.
“It’s not small anymore Mara, besides you are to blame for my distraction.” His fingers pressed into her thighs, “You and those lace bloomers. I can feel your heat against my neck...”
“Show some self respect demon, I look like bloodsucker Barbie thanks to that transfiguration tonic. I realize there are some who might be into that kind of thing but… Hells, demon what are you doing?”
Strong hands encircled her waist, lifting her above his head as he turned her. “Quit messing about and put
me down.”
Another deep-rumbled chuckle as he lowered her back onto his shoulders “yes Mara.”
Her greedy fingers quickly returned to the intricate lock, the lock giving slightly as the dial slid over the number four.
“I think I got it 14-27-14-77. Birth and death year of Vlad the Impaler. Who would’ve suspected the Blood Lord to possess of a sense of humor?”
She nearly missed the soft click of the lock mechanism releasing when she felt the flow of hot breath between her legs.
“CASS!”
Ignoring her warning hiss, his hands moved up to push aside the layers of ruffles and chiffon, strong fingers sinking into bared skin of her inner thighs, “Not the best idea demo… ahh”
All coherent thoughts ceased when he inhaled deeply from her, as if to claim her scent. “Hmm, you smell like Mara. Dark and sweet.”
By some miracle she remembered to reach her hand inside the vault and quickly snag the safe’s singular content before instinct had her burying her own fingers into the thick length of his hair. His teeth bit into the lacy pink bloomers, scraping against her core.
“Dark gods…” her head fell back.
“You sound like Mara.”
Liquid heat scorched her, leaving her to gasp for air when his tongue slid along the lace covering her mound.
“You taste like wine, rich and heady, intoxicating to the mind.”
Clinging to that final bit of sense she possessed, she quickly yanked the vial En-Rasputin had given her free from the chain around her neck, placing it in the safety box where the ring had been only moments earlier.
Her eyes closed when the lace of her bloomers slid aside, that last barrier between them removed, his hot breath whispering against her bared sex. “And for as long as I have had you against me, you have been looking like my Mara…”
You’ll always be mine, Mara.
Another click had them both look over in shock as the automatic door of the vault slid opened behind them.
“Good evening children.”
The Blood Lord himself stood at the entrance, his posture relaxed, unlike that of the irate looking Fae princess standing beside him.