by Jana Downs
Banishment to the Unseelie court was considered the worst fate an immortal could be handed. They were the “monsters” of the Faery realm. Their court housed the exiles of all the other courts, shape-shifting half-beasts and other unsavory beings. The most abundant of the races of the Unseelie were the light-avoiding Vampires who were known to indulge in nontraditional sexual practices and drink the blood of their lovers. Unlike “turned” Vampires who were once human, Unseelie Vampires drank blood only for pleasure. It was barbaric and perverse. Sex was for the mutual pleasure of the couple and for the production of heirs. What the Unseelie did to that tradition unnerved and offended the Seelie court in a way that was inexcusable.
The dreams chasing themselves through his head every night were horrifying by their standards. For all his play as a world-weary urbanite, Corrin was, in all the essential ways, an innocent and a student of the Seelie court. He sighed and ran the months of dreams back through his mind. It was always the same man, always the same sort of situation. Corrin would be bound in some fashion, sometimes alone as he had been in the most recent dream, sometimes bound before a room full of like-minded people who took pleasure in his obvious humiliation. The man would approach him, touching him as if he owned him, hurting him in a way that made Corrin’s obviously flawed psyche view the action as a delicious thrill, and, at last, kissing him with such power that Corrin would wake gasping. He’d been trying to get the images out of his head with little success.
Maybe this vacation would help him get out some of his built-up tension, help him get the human world and all its excesses out of his mind. When he got back, he planned to start courting a few of the female courtiers, preparing for his ascension to the throne in another fifty years, find a wife, start his own family. In short, fulfilling his father’s expectations to the fullest. He had to put this part of his life firmly behind him. His responsibilities were too many to be selfish with his life.
* * * *
The conference went smoothly. They had made the announcement that Prince Corrin along with two of his closest friends from his graduating class were going to be flying to Cancun tomorrow and spending a week at a private resort. His mother had asked the reporters to kindly be respectful, something they all knew wouldn’t be happening, thus why they were putting the deception to the press to begin with.
Now the royal family was holding a “welcome home” banquet in the great hall. They were en route to the royal palace, taking the magically spelled carriage, similar to the ones found in use by nobility in the seventeen hundreds, that was safer to travel in than the bulletproof limos that they used for travel in the human world. They left the quaint country houses of the human world behind and passed the towered gates that served as the entrance to the Seelie realm. Corrin watched as the Seelie emerged from their hidden places that blended into the surrounding countryside to greet their arrival home. The Palace was the only structure visible to the naked eye, all the others could only be seen by people who were magick themselves or had an invitation of the owner to do so.
The palace rose out of the white-granite mountain face like a pillar of nature, almost blending in with yet somehow enhancing the natural beauty that it was comprised of. It had been his home for eighteen years, and he never got over the great Greek columns that were rimmed with gold and the sheer beauty of the hundreds of windows that caught every ray of sunshine. The whole of the palace was done in those colors. Marble statues were placed throughout and the elaborate ballroom was white granite with gold veins.
“We’re glad you decided against attending your graduation ceremony,” his mother said, her voice a perfect imitation of a Midwestern accent. She was dressed in a pale-green summer dress that accentuated the fiery red-and-gold tresses that curled delicately around her slim face and small features. Corrin shared her eye color almost exactly.
His father injected his opinion right after. “More like we’re glad you finally came to your senses and realized that it was a ridiculous human rite that was below your social class.”
His dad was dressed in a suit similar to Corrin’s except the color was a soft golden tan. He wore his hair in the traditional Seelie fashion, long and tied back by the colored ribbons of his household. Seelie men were expected to never allow their hair to be above their shoulders. It was a mark of a commoner to have one’s hair so short that one didn’t need to take care of it. Because they were in the Royal family, Corrin nor his father had ever cut their hair. His father’s hair was just a shade darker than Corrin’s own, more gold than white.
“It isn’t beneath my social class to attend my graduation ceremony, Da,” Corrin said, sighing heavily. His father’s ideas of class were barbaric. “I just wanted to start my vacation early.”
His father raised an eyebrow. “Whatever you tell yourself to make it morally acceptable to you doesn’t matter, Corrin. The simple truth is that it’s ridiculous.”
His father very rarely thought Corrin had any opinion that was worth approving of. He was thousands of years old and had seen it all and heard it all, and his son’s thoughts were no exception. Corrin gritted his teeth and said nothing.
“Are you sure that we can’t convince you to take a few of the royal guards with you to New Orleans?” his mother asked, her eyes holding a glimmer of concern. His father and mother may have been backward in their thinking in comparison to the modern human, but they did care about him a great deal. He was, after all, their only son.
“No, Mother,” Corrin said. “I will be just fine, and I already compromised by saying that I’m taking a private jet. I want a little freedom before I settle down.”
“You know your father did the same thing when he was your age,” she twittered, gazing at her husband with adoring eyes.
“That is enough, Marietta,” his father said. His voice was as aloof as ever, but his eyes were sparkling. They had quite the romance. Corrin resisted the urge to roll his eyes and cringe. They’d fallen in love and had their fairy tale, and they’d never let him forget it.
“That is where we met as matter of fact,” she continued on, ignoring him. “Every Royal heir since the beginning of the dynasty has gone on a sort of final adventure before coming home to assume responsibility. Humans were just entering the Bronze Age at the time. I was attending a fertility rite in England to celebrate the harvest, and your father was sailing from ancient Greece in a sort of worldwide sailing expedition. He was stopping off near Stonehenge to pick up additional supplies on his way to visit one of his uncles who lived in the middle of the Atlantic with a sea goddess. One of Poseidon’s younger daughters I do believe. We danced at Imbolc, and he ended up staying the rest of his allotted time with me.” She giggled. “When he left, I went with him, unsurprisingly enough. So maybe, you’ll follow family tradition and find your own lucky lady friend while you’re in New Orleans.”
Corrin did roll his eyes then, secretly hoping like hell that it was true, but fearing equally as much that those fantasies running through his head would prevent such a thing from ever happening.
Chapter Two
“Thank God!” Mariah, his best friend, exclaimed as the private plane finally touched down in the crowded New Orleans airport. His dark-haired companion was as excited as he was.
Taylor squealed, throwing her pencil-thin arms around Corrin’s shoulders. “We’re finally here!”
The captain’s voice came over the static intercom as the trio started gathering up their carry-on luggage. “We’re bringing a taxi out on the runway to take you out to where your rental car is parked, Prince Corrin.”
Corrin slung his backpack over his shoulder and attempted to smooth his wrinkled AC/DC T-shirt. “Shall we go, ladies?” he asked, motioning for them to get their purses. A strange excitement infused him as he saw the nondescript taxi pull around to the descending stairs on the side of the plane.
“Look at this headline, Corrin.” Taylor giggled. She threw a US magazine at him as they passed a table that had been set up for their
leisure during the flight.
Faery Prince Playboy Corrin: Most Eligible Bachelor in America? the title asked. Below it was a profile shot of Corrin, a half smile playing on his lips as he talked on a cell phone. He was in between classes walking across the quad. The picture had probably only been taken a couple days ago before he’d left school.
“That is so ridiculous,” Mariah said, looping her arm through his on the other side. “We all know that you are saving yourself for Mr. Right.”
“Ha,” Corrin snorted, not committing to her jibe. “Faery prince playboy? Who writes this shit?”
“Ah, hang in there, baby,” Mariah said, giving him a squeeze. “At least they aren’t calling you names and showing less-than-flattering pictures of you. Admit it, being the media’s favorite celebrity has its perks. Every girl from here to Japan has a crush on you because of it.”
“Like I give a damn,” he said. “Now you sound like my mother. You know she looked at me at the banquet and gave me this lecture about the virtues of womanhood and how going out into the world would finally afford me the luxury of looking for, and I’m quoting, a ‘lucky lady’ who would, also a quote, ‘complete my soul.’”
They all started laughing at that. Everyone knew that Corrin had no interest in such things, even if he was duty-bound to marry.
* * * *
They arrived at the Renaissance hotel and checked into the president’s suite with mounting excitement. They had an itinerary that would be a frat boy’s spring break dream come true. They were hitting up all the major clubs, the sauciest strip joints, and had mapped out all the cheesy tours that the city had to offer. They were scheduled to take a real “Vampire” tour the following evening. Tonight was the only night they didn’t have a plethora of things to do.
“I’m so looking forward to good night’s sleep,” Corrin confessed, plopping down in one of the king-sized beds in the suite. They all had stayed up late and had pulled all-nighters during the final exam week before graduation. Mariah laughed and fell down beside him, cuddling to the hard planes of his chest.
“I know what you mean. But”—she grinned—“me and Taylor have a surprise for you if you’re up to it.” She traced her hand over his chest, and the other felt the hard indentions of his six pack.
“Oh?” he asked, stilling her hand. “Does it involve the both of you naked in a kiddie pool of K-Y jelly and a wrestling match?”
She smacked him in the chest and pinched his pectoral muscle. “You know, if I didn’t know for sure that you had no interest in seeing such a thing, I would kick your ass,” she said, smiling despite the threat.
Corrin shrugged. “I think it would be hilarious to see. I’d sell tickets.”
“Screw you, Corrin DeMarco.” She winked. “There is this new fetish club that Taylor and I have been looking at online that we’d love to go to. It’s called Purgatory, and her friend got us VIP tickets for tonight, one for you, too. I know that’s sort of against your Seelie thing, but it’d be the last place the paparazzi are going to be looking for you.”
He thought about it for a moment with a frown. Was it safe to go to such a place? His fantasies were intense lately. Maybe if he exposed himself to the human equivalent, then it wouldn’t be such forbidden fruit. The idea had merit. Yeah, he could get it out of his system on their first night. That way he could enjoy the rest of his vacation.
“Um, what sort of stuff is going to be there?” he asked, still uneasy.
He knew that Mariah and Taylor were into that sort of thing, and the one video Mariah had shown him of her doing a “session” with someone had been both disturbing and a turn-on. She’d explained to him that the things that went on, both the subservience and mastery of the participants, were for a mutual pleasure that took both people to a level of intimacy beyond normal sexuality. She’d never asked him to participate in any of her clubs or go to any of her “play parties,” even though she was one of the only people who knew about his dreams. She knew the risk behind such a thing. If word got out to the Seelie court, his life would be over. It must be really important to her to ask him such a thing.
“Well, the first floor is reserved for dancing and a live band that is going to be performing at midnight. The upper floor, the VIP floor, is going to have vendors selling fetish gear, collars, floggers, paddles, that sort of thing. It’s also going to have equipment that will be available for VIP use. I figured that if any of it made you uncomfortable, you could go downstairs.” She paused, worrying her bottom lip. “I know you’ll probably be dancing the whole time anyway.” Corrin let out a sigh. At least there would be dancing. He’d have an excuse even if he were caught.
“There is something else,” Mariah said, looking nervous for the first time.
“What is it?” His friend of the past five years had never been nervous in front of him. Mariah was a tall, willowy brunette with a big mouth and no couth. It was what he loved about her. She was never afraid to tell him anything.
“The band that’s playing is called Desire. They’re Unseelie Vampire class Fae. Their lead singer is a major player in the Scene. I’ve seen his work when we went to that conference in Las Vegas last year. He’s killer with a single-tail whip.”
“Unseelie Vampires?” Corrin asked curiously. He’d been told his whole life that they were monsters but had never seen one in person. “I’ve never seen one. I’m in, just to slake my curiosity.”
“Oh my God! Corrin, you are the best!” she squealed, giving him another fierce hug. “Hey, Taylor! Get your outfit together, girl! We’re hitting Purgatory!”
* * * *
“Well you’re right about one thing, no one is going to recognize me,” Corrin said, staring at his reflection in the mirror like it was some stranger. Apparently they had planned for him to say yes because Mariah had brought an outfit for him to wear tonight that wouldn’t cause him to stick out at a fetish club. Unfortunately, if he went anywhere else, he most certainly would.
He stood before the full-length mirror and looked himself up and down. His hair was loose about his shoulders, freshly washed and dried, preserved in its perfection with the subtle gold glitter sprayed throughout it. It fell to his buttocks in a long, straight, white-blond cascade. His eyes had been lined with black liner, and Destiny had done little tribal designs out from the corners of his eyes that curled around his temples. His eyes looked impossibly pale green lined in black. They looked like contacts.
His chest was bare, displaying the hard body that he worked out daily to maintain. He was a bit paler than perhaps he should be, but he was proud of the tone of his chest and stomach and followed the contours of his body to the loose-fitting black pants held on his hips by a silver belt that was embroidered with swirling images of roses and thorns.
He looked ethereal, otherworldly, powerful. Nothing like he usually looked like. He was typically the epitome of the casual artist, more interested in the images of his paintings than that of his wardrobe. He liked looking like every other American college student. He’d perfected the look in fact. Jeans and T-shirts had been his entire wardrobe. Somehow in this outfit he realized how not human he really was. In this outfit, he looked like the sort of Faery prince found in an Unseelie court or…maybe the slave of one of those princes. He shivered at the thought.
“Wow,” Mariah said, meeting his eyes in the mirror. “You look good enough to eat, Corrin. I’m going to have to beat the other Doms off you with a stick.”
“Dom is the one who does the beating right?” he asked.
“Right. You could call them a Top as well, but some people take offense.” She laughed. “And you, my friend, are going to make them all salivate. You look way too vulnerable, innocent even, dabbling in the darkness. You look like you’re just waiting for some lucky Master or Mistress to put a bit in your mouth and take you where you need to go.”
He swallowed uneasily at the things those words did to him. “Hey now,” he joked, trying to break the tension. “What makes you think I wo
n’t pick up some cute slave girl to spank and screw?”
The joke fell flat, and he gnawed his bottom lip nervously as she regarded him with knowing, serious eyes. “I’ve played this game since I was eighteen, Corrin. Like most Mistresses, I can spot a submissive at twenty paces, especially one who is struggling to accept it. Tonight will be good for you. It may help you realize some of your desires aren’t too horrible to indulge. Those dreams mean something, Corrin. Whether you realize it or not.”
“So you’re saying that I’m some gay guy who likes to be tied up and fucked?” he rumbled, his voice taking on a dangerous pitch. He didn’t like where this conversation was headed. He sighed and let the tension go with a rush of breath. He felt tired all of a sudden. As much as the idea infuriated him, she was right. “Maybe I shouldn’t go…”
“No!” Mariah said quickly, hugging him and putting a careful kiss to his cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you so uncomfortable, Corrin. God knows it’s the last thing I want to do. Let’s just go and have fun okay? We’ll dance and watch and party the night away.”
Somewhat reassured, he nodded. “I know you didn’t mean to, Mariah. It’s just—if they ever found out…” He sighed. “It wouldn’t just be some sort of disapproval thing. The whole world would know about it, and I would get kicked out of my kingdom.”
She put a comforting hand on his arm. “I know, Cor. But there comes a time when you have to realize that even if you don’t act on it, it’s there, lurking inside you.”
“I can acknowledge the attraction,” Corrin said firmly, even though his stomach twisted at the confession. “I like the idea of being with another man, but I don’t know if I’m up for what it will mean if it happens.”
Mariah nodded. “And that’s fine. However, tonight is about fun and dancing. If you find a guy to hook up with, why not indulge? It might be the only time you get to.” Corrin shrugged, not committing either way. She didn’t understand.