by Nina Bangs
Unconditional love. They'd always given her that. Blythe's memories of that love strengthened her and gave her the courage to go forward. For love.
Without warning, the fire parted. The suddenness made Blythe stumble. Afraid that it would close again, Blythe ran through the opening, still holding Sparkle above her head.
"Whoa. Put me down. I feel seasick."
Blythe put Sparkle on the ground, and started to turn away.
"Don't worry, I'll wait for you here. When I do a good deed, I do it right." Sparkle sat and wrapped her tail around herself. "I'd try to contact Mede to help us, but he's afraid the Big Boss will zap him if he hurts a human, and he'd definitely have to hurt some humans here. He wouldn't be much help." She sounded unhappy with the thought. Distractedly she glanced at her tail. "Is my tail singed? It feels singed."
"Your tail is fine." Drawing in a deep breath of cool air, Blythe walked toward the large group of women gathered around the center of the clearing.
They were so busy arguing that Blythe was in their midst before any of them noticed. As the women turned to confront her, she marveled at how beautiful the face of evil could be. Every one of the women had a face and figure that would ensure any man's undivided attention. And according to Darach, they were wealthy and powerful, too.
The woman who stepped forward to challenge her had long dark hair and gray eyes that glittered with banked emotion. They were the eyes of a huntress—a frustrated huntress, because as Blythe scanned her feelings, the woman's impatient anger washed over Blythe. And just beneath her surface emotions flowed a molten river of ugly greed: bitter and horrifying. Blythe shivered.
"How did you get through the fire?" Even as the woman spoke, she glanced past Blythe to Sparkle and the fire-free path she guarded. The woman'e eyes widened. "You need not answer. I see, but I do not understand."
Blythe gave the woman credit for not backing away from her, but she supposed that women with the nerve to practice the vicious cruelty these women did, would need a certain kind of perverted courage.
"Why are you here? Do you think to save your lover?" The woman's smile was cold and pitiless.
Blythe widened her eyes and hoped she looked sufficiently innocent. "Of course not. Do I look stupid?" Like, yeah. "Clara told me what you guys were planning, and it sounded like fun. I've been doing it with the vampire for thrills, but it looks like you've got a kinky twist on the sex thing. I was hoping to join in." Blythe pasted a hopeful look on her face. She'd be lucky if she got through this whole thing without throwing up.
A woman behind Blythe spoke up. "What about the cat? It's keeping the path open with magic. If you truly wish to take part, make the cat close the path. We want no others joining us." The woman sounded as though a magic cat was nothing to get excited about.
Of course, women who believed that having sex with a vampire would make them immortal wouldn't even blink at a magic cat.
"You're joking, right?" It was getting hard to maintain a happy face. "No way am I cutting off my escape route. I don't trust you, ladies. So the cat keeps the path open."
They all nodded as though her distrust made perfect sense. Nice, friendly group.
"You and the others in the castle speak strangely." The first woman's suspicions seemed to have eased, and now she was merely curious.
And you act strangely. "We come from far distant lands." Blythe figured she'd better leave it at that. There had to be just so much weirdness these women could accept. Then again, maybe not.
The woman studied Blythe with a calculating stare. "The vampire is not cooperating. Since you have already enjoyed his body, you might be able to offer some suggestions." She nodded, then smiled. "Yes, I think your arrival shows that the fates favor us. If you are able to help us tonight, we will allow you to join us." Her expression suggested that not many were lucky enough to receive that kind of invite.
Blythe was almost ready to scream with her need to reach Darach, to see what they'd done to him. But the mob gathered around her cut off her view of the clearing's center.
"Everyone was arguing when I got here. How can the vampire not be cooperating? From what Clara said, I guessed that he didn't have much choice in the matter. I thought that you'd have everything under control." Please let me see Darach.
The woman's expression turned vicious. "Five of us have mounted him, but he refuses to give us his seed. No matter what we do, he defies us. If you can't help, we will hurt him until he cooperates or dies. No vampire has been able to withstand us as long as he has." Her gaze turned almost maniacal. "But he is also the most powerful vampire we have ever captured, and therefore the most valuable to us. He could truly make us immortal. Can you destroy his control?"
Hurt him? Rage coursed through Blythe, giving her the courage to do whatever it took to steal their victim from them. She almost gagged on the words she had to say. "I know all the places to touch and stroke to bring him to the peak of desire. He'll come for me. And once I've broken his defiance, you can use him."
The woman nodded. "It sounds logical."
I'm glad someone thinks it's logical. "Aren't you going to tell me your names? If we're going to work together, I'd like to know what to call you." Blythe offered her best fake friendly smile. She wanted their names so she could personally hunt each one down to make sure none of them ever again enjoyed a moment of happiness.
The woman gave her a sly grin in return. "We don't share real names. Therefore, if one of us is taken, she cannot betray the others. You may call me Margaret."
"Hey, I love it. Phony names. You can call me Vi." Short for Vengeance Inc. What a great idea for a new company. From what she could see of this time, she could make a fortune with a company like that. And she'd start with these women.
"So what about a group name? Something powerful to throw fear into vampires everywhere. I think Immortal Huntresses has a certain panache." Try Bitches from Hell.
Margaret shook her head. "We use nothing that could identify us."
"Hey, it's your call, but I think every team needs a name to pull it together. It bonds people and affirms their common purpose." It would also help anyone tracking the group to find and destroy its members, but it seemed Margaret already knew that.
"Tell me what you've done to the vampire so far." She had to know, but at the same time she didn't want to hear it, didn't want to feel the sick rage coursing through her.
Margaret nodded and sighed. "We had to draw some of his blood to weaken him once the bog myrtle wore off or else he could have used his power to free himself. Then when he defied us, we disciplined him in hopes that the pain would make him comply. All has failed."
Through a growing haze of fury, Blythe recognized that Margaret was capable of almost anything.
"We did all that we had done with the others. While the bog myrtle still held him in its grip, we forced him to drink blood mixed with opium, thorn apple, and various potent herbs. The man who made the potion swore that it would never fail. It would produce a massive erection and uncontrollable sexual hunger. The vampire's erection is indeed huge, but he refuses to give in to the sexual hunger."
Blythe knew Darach's power to control his emotions and his body. She couldn't even think about the pain he was enduring. If she didn't say something fast, she'd probably launch herself at Margaret and do some serious facial damage. That wouldn't help Darach, but it would sure give Blythe a lot of satisfaction. It would also blow away any chance you have of rescuing him.
"Maybe you need to go back to that man and get a new potion." She started pushing her way through the women.
"We can't. We killed him as soon as we had it. There was always a chance he might speak of us to someone." Margaret's tone said that the man's death was of no importance. "I hope we did not weaken the vampire so much that he cannot perform."
Blythe's fear for Darach was almost enough to bring her to her knees. Even before these animals had bled him, Darach's strength had been diminished because of the blood he'd given
Thrain. Would he have enough strength to leave here under his own power?
She had to see him now.
There must have been something scary in her expression, because the crowd of women parted in front of her. She got her first look at Darach.
And knew that if she had a lethal weapon in her hand, she would kill all of these soulless predators without even a twinge of conscience.
* * *
Chapter Fifteen
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They had stretched Darach naked on an X-shaped platform that was about knee high, then bound him to it. His wrists and ankles were bloody from his struggle to free himself.
The women hadn't stopped there. They'd cut deep gashes in his torso and thighs. The bloody ground around the platform was a testament to their effectiveness in weakening him.
The horror they'd visited on his body continued. Someone had whipped him. Bloody welts crisscrossed his chest and stomach. She assumed this was punishment for his refusal to service them.
They hadn't bloodied his erection. Of course, they wouldn't want to damage the instrument of their immortality. But whatever they had forced him to drink had made him so large and hard that Blythe had no idea how he had held back his orgasm while each of the five women rode him.
Blythe looked around the circle of women until she found the one holding a whip. She might not be able to defeat all twenty of them, but Blythe promised herself that if she went down tonight, she'd take this woman with her.
Blythe closed her eyes for a moment. Nothing in her safe world had prepared her for this kind of savagery or the searing hatred flooding her body, her soul. But she had to push aside her horror and concentrate only on helping Darach.
She glanced at the women crowding close to her. "Back off. I can't do this right with you breathing down my neck."
The women seemed to think this was a reasonable request, because they backed away. They could still see what she did, but Blythe knew that with the fire's loud crackling, they were too far away to hear anything she said to Darach.
Drawing in a deep breath, she walked toward him. Darach was in vampire form, his lips drawn back to expose his sharp canines, and his glittering gaze was fixed on the women. Fear shivered down Blythe's spine. When he finally looked at her, would it be with deadly rage and loathing?
He shifted his gaze to her. What was he thinking? Did he believe that she'd betrayed him? She knew that with his sensitive hearing he would've heard everything she'd said to Margaret. And after his reaction to the recording she'd made for Ecstasy, he might have difficulty trusting her now.
Blythe held his gaze as she drew closer, and for once she wished that he would enter her thoughts so he'd know how she truly felt. He had shown the women his hatred, but he showed her nothing. His face was a mask—expressionless, cold.
Finally, she stood looking down at him. His biceps and shoulder muscles bulged with the strain of his spread arms pulled tight by the ropes at his wrists. Chest and stomach muscles also showed the strain, and Blythe had to look away from the bloody evidence of what they'd done to him. Her gaze slid down to his thighs, spread in obscene invitation to any who wanted to use him. Ropes at his ankles kept his legs apart, exposing him in a way that mocked his helplessness, that said he was nothing more than a virile animal meant to serve them. They offered him no human respect, no pity. And Blythe promised herself that when the time came, she would offer them none either.
She breathed a silent prayer to whatever god watched over vampires and the women who loved them. Darach had to trust her. Without his trust, she didn't stand a chance of getting them out of here alive.
"Don't you think you've lain around here doing nothing long enough, vampire? How about we get our butts back to the castle?" She tried to smile at him, but it didn't quite come off.
"Leave, Blythe. Ye canna free me. If ye try, they'll kill ye. Tell them ye've changed your mind and wish to go back to the castle." Even though his voice gave no hint of his feelings, emotion shone in his eyes.
"Uh-uh. Can't do that for you. Sparkle and I are sort of committed to this rescue thing." Blythe felt almost limp with relief that he hadn't bought into the lies she'd told Margaret.
"I wouldna have thought Sparkle would put herself in danger for another." He speared Blythe with a hard stare. "Ye'll take Sparkle and leave as I told ye to."
"You never know about people until the chips are down. And no, we're not leaving." She tapped him on his chest. "And in case you haven't noticed, you can't make us leave."
Suddenly the mask was gone, as though he could no longer maintain his usual rigid control over his emotions. Fear flooded his eyes. "I have accepted my own death. No matter what they do, they will get nothing from me this night. And when the dawn comes, my life will end. But I canna watch ye die, Blythe. Dinna ask it of me." He made no effort to hide the desperation in his voice.
"Then help me, Darach, because no matter what happens, we leave here together." She held his gaze as she lifted the Ecstasy charm from around her neck, dropped it to the ground, then ground it beneath her heel. "That's what's left of my career. I'm leaving it here to rot. But I won't be leaving you here. Count on it."
His eyes widened, and Blythe figured she'd finally gotten through to him. "Are you ready to listen to my plan?"
"I willna see ye die."
"I'll take that as a yes." She reached down and touched his erection. He winced. "This must be painful by now. They have a lot to answer for." Blythe pushed the anger away. Saving him was all that mattered. "How weak are you?"
"I wouldna be able to walk even if I could release my bonds. Loss of blood and the vile drink they forced on me have taken all of my power. I canna even enter your mind." Darach's gaze riveted her. "Ye canna save me. I dinna know why ye try."
Sure you do. Think about it, vampire. "Here's what we're going to do. We'll make love, and while that's happening you can feed from me. Once you're strong enough to remove the ropes, I'll try to hold the women off with my Freeze-frame while we escape. Sparkle will close the ring of fire as soon as we're out of it."
"No!" His shout of denial was loud enough to make the women murmur their excitement.
They'd be murmuring a different tune if they knew what he was objecting to.
"I knew you'd love it." Reaching beneath her dress, she slipped off her panties.
"Ye dinna understand." Darach fought his bonds, then lay still. And Blythe knew he was gathering his control, the only thing he had left to fight with. "I love ye, Blythe. My love combined with my great need would prove too strong for me. Once I started to feed, I wouldna be able to stop. Would ye have me die, knowing that I destroyed ye?"
I love ye. Not even the threat of death could dampen her wild spurt of joy. At this moment, she could defeat a thousand evil wackos because Darach loved her.
She placed her finger over his lips. "You'll stop because you love me. I believe in you, Darach MacKenzie, and nothing you say will change my mind."
Blythe watched his eyes and saw the exact moment he accepted what he couldn't change. "I will open my emotions to ye so that ye may use your power if I lose control." He clenched his fists, and she knew he was gathering the remains of that great control around him.
The impatient muttering of the crowd reached Blythe, and she knew they wouldn't wait much longer. She dropped her cloak to the ground; then, lifting her dress, she straddled his hips.
" 'Twould be safer if ye did this without truly mounting me. Your gown will cover all, and none need know. 'Twill be easier for me to control my feeding if I dinna enter ye."
"Mounting? I mount a horse. I make love to you. Don't try to depersonalize this. We're going to make hot, exciting love right here, because I know that if you don't lose control you'll never bite me." Blythe leaned over him, her hair trailing across his bare stomach and chest. Pushing aside damp strands of his hair, she whispered in his ear. "I didn't ever think these words would come out of my mouth." She nipped his earlobe. "Bite me, vampire."
/> She placed her hand over his heart and felt its wild pounding as her words shuddered through him. He lifted his lips away from his fangs in a silent snarl.
"I love it when you snarl at me." She straightened. He probably thought she was a cruel bitch, but she understood how weak he was. He had to have her blood, and he would take it only if she could push him to an orgasm. Only then would he lose his damned control.
The bottom line? She would have to seduce him.
"I willna make it easy." His narrowed gaze promised he'd fight her every inch of the way.
"You're already making it hard." She reached under her dress to run the tip of her finger around the head of his erection. "Sorry, I couldn't resist that." Her voice sounded a little breathless.
Then, miracle of miracles, the corners of his mouth lifted in the beginning of a smile. "I must not smile overmuch because yon creatures would grow suspicious, but ye're the only woman who could make me smile in the midst of such danger." His smile faded. "And such fear." He looked away from her. "Ye never asked me what my greatest fear was, a fear such as ye had for the bittyfluffs."
"I didn't ask because I didn't think you had one." Blythe couldn't conceive of this strong man fearing anything the way she had feared the bittyfluffs.
"But I do, Blythe." He met her gaze again. "I have always feared being bound and helpless. Other than my fear for ye, 'tis my greatest horror. The fear doesna reason, it simply exists. I have never told this to another."
"Then we'll have to do something about setting you free." Darach had just given her a gift worth more than all the promotions she could have ever earned from Ecstasy. "Too bad I didn't bring my copy of the best-selling how-to manual, A Thousand Ways to Seduce a Vampire. Guess I'll have to bumble along on my own."
He rewarded her with another twitch of his lips. "When I first met ye, I wished to know what it felt like to have your hair slide across my bared body. I didna think ye would grant my wish in this way."