Ill Will

by Cate Corvin

  He let out a low snarl and yanked his shirt off. I leaned forward and ran my tongue over his hard, rippled stomach, but he pulled the shirt over my head, covering my nakedness, and scooped me up like a bride-groom.

  I struggled against the bonds of the fabric as he carried me through the city, moving with the vampires’ insane speed. I still hadn’t freed myself from the shirt when we reached the crimson lights of Club Bathory.

  “You’re not yourself, Victoria.” He kicked the door open and carried me inside, past a surprised Chloe, and down the stairs. “It’s demonic influence. Forced lust.”

  “The only forcing I care about right now is how hard you’re going to force me to fuck you.” I squirmed against his chest, pleasure rippling through me.

  “Who fed this to you?”

  I got one hand free and touched his face, tracing his sharp jaw and full lips. “Who cares?” I asked dreamily.

  “I care, shíorghrá. Because I’m going to break every bone in their body before I flay them alive.”

  A coil of hot rage rose under the uncontrolled lust. I knew who had done this… but Càel gripped me closer, and I forgot the anger. “Wow, that’s the sexiest thing you’ve ever said.”

  “I’d be happy to discuss the intricacies of flaying any time you like, Victoria, when you’re not full of incubus saliva.”

  I had no idea where in Club Bathory he’d taken me, but he released me just long enough to open another door and slam it behind him. I managed to squirm out of most of the shirt by the time he laid me on a huge bed.

  To my dismay, he backed away after he put me down. “Where do you think you’re going?” I ripped his shirt off and tossed it aside. The only sensation I wanted to feel was his skin against mine, screw clothes.

  He took me with a ravenous look, his cock straining against his jeans. “Incubus saliva doesn’t wear off on its own,” he said, his voice gruff. “It’ll stay in your veins until you burn it away.”

  I climbed across Càel’s bed, stripping off the thin panties and tossing them after the shirt. My clit felt swollen against my wetness, waiting for his touch. “Please come to me, Càel.” I wasn’t above begging. Not when I was this close to getting what I needed.

  He took a step forward, then another, until he was kneeling at the side of the bed. I slipped my legs over the side, pushing my hips forward and opening my thighs.

  His face tightened, but he kept eyes fixed on my face. “I want you to know that I would wait to touch you, but I can’t stand the thought of someone else being the one to burn off the incubus spit. You’ll be like this until someone fucks you.”

  “I don’t want you to wait,” I said impatiently. I leaned forward to unbutton his jeans, my hands shaking, but he pushed me back on the bed, finally allowing his gaze to drop below my face. I bit my lip against a groan as the hardness of his cock grew even firmer against the fabric of his jeans, and he trailed his fingers from my shoulders to my breasts, his thumbs running over my pebbled nipples.

  Bright, hot delight spiraled through me, centering in my pussy. I couldn’t stop my head from falling back, making soft sounds as his fingers moved downwards.

  He’d barely touched my wetness before he let out a snarl, pushing me flat against the bed, spreading my legs, and plunging his tongue into me. A tidal wave of lust and relief washed over me as my hips curled to meet his mouth. I buried my fingers in his blond hair, gripping a handful when he made a satisfied sound.

  My body spasmed when he sucked my clit, swirling his tongue around me until my legs were shaking. The desperate lust drove through me, pressure building low in my stomach, and I let out a cry when a climax thundered through me.

  I hadn’t even stopped trembling when another surge of lust hit. It wasn’t enough, as amazing as it felt. I needed more.

  I writhed against Càel’s mouth, my breath rasping. “I need more of you.” It was more of a whimper than words, but he held me down and ran his tongue over me before he stood up and slid his jeans off.

  Christ, he was huge. My pussy throbbed at the sight of him, the ridges of his stomach ending in a hard expanse of muscle and a perfect cock.

  I stretched out on the bed with a grin as he climbed over me, every flex of muscle lithe and mesmerizing, and paused with his cock poised to slide into me.

  “Hard.” I arched towards him, gripping the sheets over my head. My nipples ached for his tongue. “Rough. Tear me the fuck up, Càel.”

  He wavered, then the decision solidified in his eyes. He pulled upright so I was straddling him, gripped my hips, and thrust me down on his cock.

  I made a strangled sound of pure ecstasy and bucked against him, following the base commands my body instructed me to do. Càel picked me up, both hands under my ass, and slammed me into the wall.

  He hammered into me like he wanted to split me apart, growling against my throat. Waves of pleasure surged through my body with every thrust. Càel didn’t fuck me like a slayer; he was an animal, pounding so hard my entire torso quivered, battering me into the brick wall.

  I bit down on his shoulder between gasps, leaving a perfect set of teeth marks when I came again, liquifying against him. He had me in just the right spot to grind against my clit, drawing out the orgasm.

  His teeth brushed my shoulder, found my neck. Fangs slid over the tender skin of my throat and I swallowed hard. I was vulnerable, at his mercy….

  And thinking clearly. The liquid Will had dosed me with- incubus saliva- was wearing off with every cresting wave of pleasure, no longer battering in my veins like something else was driving my body.

  Càel pushed upwards, his pelvis grinding into my hips, stretching me out around him. Exactly what I’d wanted.

  To my intense shock, I still wanted him. I writhed against him, taking as much of him as I could, tilting my head back for his teeth, but he didn’t bite. I pushed away a twinge of disappointment.

  I could always say it was the saliva, but for now I wanted to lose myself in him and forget everything that had happened tonight.

  “Let me ride you now,” I demanded, trying to push the same urgency into my voice I’d had when the incubus’ influence had been on me. Càel’s thrusts slowed, stopped, and he carried me back to the bed.

  His light blue eyes were glittering as he collapsed with me on top of him, his hands running over my waist and breasts, teasing my sensitive nipples. “Take whatever you want, shíorghrá.”

  I rocked on him, my hands splayed out over his chest. Càel held my thighs, his stomach flexing as he held himself back from driving upwards.

  He made a noise low in his throat when I leaned forward to kiss him, my eyes fluttering shut. I tasted myself on his lips, his tongue sliding into my mouth to tease me.

  When the next endless orgasm burst through me, I gasped against his lips. His growl was a low, heavy reverberation in my chest that drew out the sensation of my nerve endings melting into bliss.

  But everything else was starting to hurt as the last traces of demonic influence left me. My lip ached fiercely and countless bruises were forming all over me. My next gasp was more pain than pleasure, but there was one last thing I needed from Càel.

  “Now it’s your turn,” I said, sitting up as smoothly as possible and grinding against him. “I want to feel you come for me.”

  I fucked him hard, putting all my effort into it, because I wouldn’t feel this from him again. I wanted him to have the most mind-blowing orgasm of his long-as-fuck life after what he’d given me.

  His thighs tightened and his hips drove upwards. The sound of his groans and panting against the sensation of his cock pulsing in me was incredible.

  A sharp pain tore through my ribs. Beatrice had kicked me, and now I was feeling the pain. Càel was upright almost instantly, still buried in me while he examined the developing bruises. “Are you back?” he asked, cupping my face in one enormous hand.

  It was so easy to forget what he was. What kind of vicious killer brought a slayer home and took care of h
er?

  “I’m back.” My hands were wrapped around his shoulders to hold myself upright. There was no hiding from the intimacy of being face-to-face. I couldn’t even look down to hide my gaze, because I was still wrapped around him, and the sight of the body I’d just used would just bring back that latent, forbidden lust.

  “Will you tell me now?”

  I shook my head. Under the afterglow, the black rage that I tried so hard to tamp down was a seething ocean, slowly engulfing me one dark thought at a time. I needed to keep it from bubbling over, for just a little while longer. “I need clothes, please.”

  Càel drew a hissed breath when I stood up, letting his slick cock slide out of me, and only that smoldering ocean of rage kept me from going back for more.

  I needed to get back to Libra Academy and salvage what I could, ensure I still had a place there.

  Will, Sura, Apolline, Beatrice, and Lydia… I’d fix them on my own time.

  Càel disappeared and returned minutes later with women’s clothing. They had a similar smell as him: like a dark forest, green and herbal, but with a tinge of flowers.

  “You’re closest in size to Rhianwen,” he said, handing me dark jeans and a cream silk blouse, and placing a pair of boots on the floor. “She won’t miss them.”

  I sure hoped not, because I wasn’t walking back to Libra naked. I pulled on the clothes, which were a little too wide in the hip and a little too tight in the bust, and jammed my feet in the boots.

  Càel brushed his fingers through my wild hair and wiped away the crust of flaking blood from my cheek. “I can find you a doctor here,” he said. “You are welcome to stay in the Court.” Some of the coldness I’d come to expect from his kind had filtered back into his eyes, and I knew he was thinking about things like flaying, whipping, and tearing open ribcages.

  We had a common interest there.

  “I have to get back to the school, and hope my reputation isn’t completely fucked.”

  He walked me back up to the entrance of Club Bathory and poured me a glass of water while one of his vampire underlings prepped an unmarked taxi. It was still dark, the moon hanging in the sky.

  Càel gripped my shoulders and touched my cheek. “You will come back every week,” he said quietly. “This doesn’t change our oath.”

  I met his gaze steadily. None of this was how I would’ve chosen to give up on my beliefs. But if Càel hadn’t found me, someone else would’ve taken advantage. He’d saved me from that indignity.

  The ocean inside me surged. Five people were responsible for this. Five people had broken that last barrier I’d held up between myself and the Shadowed World.

  I leaned into Càel, taking a deep breath of the pine-and-forest scent that was now suffused with sex.

  “Of course I’ll be back.” A hint of surprise touched his features when I looked up at him. “I’ll need hands-on courses in flaying people alive. You’re my expert.”

  He’d been scowling from the moment he found me- except when he’s buried in you, my mind taunted- but now his lips pulled back in a grin that didn’t show a speck of amusement, only bloodlust. He leaned close to whisper in my ear. “Just give me the word, Victoria. I’m yours to command.” His fangs flashed white, and I idly wondered what they would’ve felt like in my flesh.

  The taxi pulled up, and Càel opened the door for me. Every moment I spent in his company seemed more and more surreal.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, looking up at him. The scowl was back. With that expression, it was easy to see why everyone was afraid of him.

  He leaned forward and brushed a kiss over my bloodied, swollen lips, his tongue flicking out to taste my blood, and he groaned when I kissed him back. I liked the feel of him, how he took what he wanted, but gave me exactly what I needed in return. “Don’t thank me, shíorghrá. I wanted you.”

  And I’d wanted him, but I’d wanted to make the choice on my own.

  I got into the taxi and let the vampire take me home.

  “Do you have any idea what you’ve done to this school’s reputation, Holmwood?”

  Everything hurt in earnest now. A sharp pain streaked through my ribs with every breath I took. “Yes, sir.”

  Headmaster Burns paced behind his desk. His Death costume was rumpled, lavender shadows stained the skin under his eyes, and he smelled like a whisky bar. “That video was disseminated to several family members whose contributions keep this school running. They’ve already sent messages asking me what kind of institution they’re funding.” His face tightened, gray under unshaven stubble. “Lord Godalming is furious, needless to say.”

  My stomach dropped like a brick. “Please. I… I can come back from this. I’ve got excellent marks for the first semester.”

  I had to stay in Libra. No matter what. Even if it meant taking the heat myself for a little while.

  “Excellent marks mean nothing against repugnant conduct.”

  Knightley was seated in the corner, his chin propped on his hand as he considered me. Ermengol’s arms were crossed over her chest. The young professor I’d invited to fuck me while under the influence of incubus saliva- Professor Darcy- couldn’t even look me in the eye.

  “What did you take that inspired such antics, Holmwood?”

  I shook my head. There was no way I was telling them it was incubus saliva- that substance was contraband, with the blackest of marks against it. Sometimes, inflicting uncontrollable lust on someone was worse than just poisoning them outright.

  Besides, I wanted to take down Will and Sura myself. I’d start by finding where the fuck they’d procured it. No sane apothecary would pass incubus saliva on to a couple of college-aged guys, not unless they wanted a midnight visitor.

  Next, I’d find out how they’d gotten a camera past the Faerie. They’d spent a lot of time planning this. Now I was going to return the favor, with interest.

  “I bought some infernal liquor, sir. I snuck it in a flask and had a bad reaction.” At least it wasn’t completely illegal.

  “And you thought the Samhain celebration was the appropriate place to try out infernal liquor? I expected more intelligence from one of our students.”

  If I’d felt less thorny inside, tears might’ve slipped over then, but a tireless anger flowed through me, holding all other emotion at bay. “I’m willing to do whatever penance it takes to make up for it, Headmaster. I know I can graduate with top marks and restore your school’s reputation. Please give me one more chance.” I looked up at him, swallowing back bloody spit. “Please.”

  Headmaster Burns leaned on his desk and stared down at me. “Knightley? Ermengol?”

  Professor Knightley sighed, and my cheeks burned with shame, but he surprised me. “I say give her another chance, Burns. It’s not the first time, nor is the last time a student will do something extraordinarily stupid.” He flashed me a stern look. “Let the shame be her teacher.”

  Ermengol nodded slowly. “I vote probation. Transfer her to Lux- Liddell is a harsher taskmaster than young Godalming.”

  My stomach flipped. Darcy said nothing, still gazing at the floor when Burns straightened up. “Very well. You get one more chance, Holmwood. Lord Godalming has already been informed of your misconduct.” Of course I was the only one who’d be in trouble, those fuckers had made sure to stay out of the camera’s sight and cut the video perfectly. Everyone might know it was them, but without a face, they got away scot-free. “And you will be on probation for the entirety of the second semester. If you can keep your track record clean, you’ll be permitted to finish out the third semester of senior year and graduate with honors.”

  A poisonous idea shimmered to mind. “Did my stepfather have anything to say?”

  Headmaster Burns gazed at me impassively. “Rest assured your stepfather will be arriving to speak with you in person about your conduct. For now, you can move your belongings to Lux Hall. Miss Liddell will assign your room and team role. Afterwards, you will go see Mater Dolorum.”

  I
swallowed a sigh of relief. I had my chance. One semester was all I needed to drown them beneath the waves of that pitch-black ocean in my skull. “Yes, sir. Thank you.” I moved stiffly when I lurched out of the chair, my ribs screaming, but the faculty were silent as I limped to the door and saw myself out.

  I would be in Lux, right where I’d wanted to be from the beginning. But instead of a ray of light, I would be a blot of darkness, the shadow that ate, and ate, and ate until everything was consumed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  ________

  SURA

  Will’s eye sockets were shadowed dark, like the sockets of an empty skull. He paced back and forth, glaring at his cell phone. It laid on his desk, still and silent. No word of Victoria since she’d vanished into the night.

  There was a void inside him, a black, screaming pit that swallowed all coherent thought.

  “Will.” He didn’t look at me, just continued pacing.

  I almost couldn’t think straight myself. The humanity of the emotions storming through me were almost incomprehensible. What did it matter if we’d taped her? It was just sex. Why were my guts twisting around like snakes, uncomfortable prickles running through my limbs?

  From a calm, distant standpoint, I knew all these things: bitter regret, churning guilt. Fear that we’d hurt her. I was just dissociating, sinking further into the guiltless mind of a demon to evade culpability.

  Prince Sitri would’ve laughed and laughed if he knew what I was feeling now.

  Besides, why should I care? She’d made her thoughts on my kind clear. Sergio Enver, the fake human face I wore, was all she found attractive about me. In her eyes, Sura was trash, less than an animal, worth no more than a black dot of ink beneath the skin. A trophy she’d forget as soon as the sting of the needle faded.

  Victoria Holmwood had only ever been shallow, seeing the surface. Will was right. She was a snake.

  Even if he didn’t now believe it himself.

  “Will. Did you destroy the video?” I tried to pull the Cords of Fate away from him and disentangle myself from that black storm of emotion.