Taken: The Vampire's Concubine: Part One

by Desiree Broussard

  Zander watched her with approval, but he didn't comment on it. “What's up with all of this?” Keely asked in a low tone of voice as she waved her hand around in the air. “I feel like I'm standing in Victorian England.” She stopped and looked down at her clothing pointedly before adding, “Or maybe in some kind of harem.”

  A smile teased Zander's lips but his voice was neutral when he replied, “Vampires, as a whole, are full of romanticism. We enjoy the arts, and we can be quite dramatic and artistic. We also enjoy the finer things in life, which you have probably seen within our palace. From my studies, I learned that England passed through many eras before becoming modernized, but this isn't an era for us. It's our way of life. There's nothing romantic about space planes and technology, so it has no place in our general society. We are timeless, and we appreciate the beauty that can only be found in your past.”

  “Why aren't you dressed like the others?” Keely asked curiously. In his black t-shirt and black pants, he looked quite modernized.

  “I'm part of the guard,” he informed her, as if that explained everything. The spectators immediately parted as they passed through. Up close, Keely could see the lust burning in some of the men's eyes. Their eyes looked nearly wild, frenzied even, almost as if they were starving. A shiver went through her. Here with Zander she felt safe, but what about later, when she was alone with one of them? There would be no one to stop her unknown mate from losing control. It was a horrifying thought.

  “We basically police our world,” he continued, leading her underneath a concrete archway and into some type of tunnel. It was dark, except for the occasional muted light fixtures mounted at the top of the walls. Within its dark depths, it was chilly. He stopped in front of another door and opened it before gesturing for her to go in. “So we are expected to dress differently.”

  He wore the simplicity of his clothing well. Secretly, Keely preferred it to the outlandish outfits that she'd seen the other men wearing. She stepped into the room, her eyes widening at the flurry of activity inside.

  They appeared to be in some type of dressing room. The other women from the space plane were there, some of them dressed in gowns like she'd seen the other women wearing, while the rest wore outfits similar to hers, although in different colors. They stood quietly as their hair was touched up or their make up reapplied. Their expressions ranged from fright to boredom, although the women buzzing around there were quite animated.

  Keely wished she were anywhere but there. The minutes were quickly passing her by, each one bringing her closer to the moment she would be mated. Zander turned to leave, but stopped when her hand shot out and gripped his forearm.

  He stared at her, his dark-blond eyebrow arching curiously as he waited for her to speak. In that moment, desperation overwhelmed her. Once he left, she would be alone in a room full of strangers in a world that wasn't even her own. It didn't register in her mind that he, too, was a complete stranger. “Are you sure there's no other alternative to this?” Keely asked him in a quiet voice, her eyes locked on his face.

  A troubled expression crossed his rugged features, but it left quickly when he shook his head. “I'm sorry,” he told her, in a quiet voice of his own. “Goodbye, Keely.”

  And with that, he turned and walked out before shutting the door behind him with a resounding click. He never looked back.

  Zander was gone, and they'd never even kissed. Keely was filled with regrets but especially that one. Someone laid a gentle hand on her back. Turning her head, she met Olivia's eyes. The other woman smiled at her kindly before saying, “Come over here with me, please. We need to touch up your hair and make up.”

  Keely followed her to the line of women by the wall. Surprisingly, all of them were young and pretty, but surely there were women of all ages with the vampire factor? She stood uncomfortably at the end of the line as she thought about it. Maybe they had an age limit. After all, a woman only had so many years to reproduce. After menopause, she'd no longer be useful.

  One of the woman came over and silently worked on her hair before touching up her lipstick. Keely couldn't have cared less. Really, why did they bother going through the trouble? Looks really didn't matter, at least not when it came to her reason for being there. After a few minutes, the other woman finished and walked away. Keely sighed in frustration.

  “Have they hurt you?” The question came from the woman standing next to her. Keely recognized her voice immediately. She'd been one of the passengers on the space plane, the one that had confessed to being scared.

  “No,” Keely replied, but she didn't look at her. It would have drawn attention to them, something she didn't want. “What about you?”

  “Surprisingly, everyone I've met has been kind, but it's not enough.” Her voice thickened at the end. She stopped and swallowed before continuing, “Did they tell you why we're here?”

  Keely nodded her head, the movement small and mostly unnoticeable. “Yeah, we're basically their breeders.” Her words were sarcastic, but it reminded her of what she'd done with Zander. He hadn't used protection, and she'd never had any reason to be on any, not that she would have been able to get it back on Earth. Keely wanted to laugh bitterly. Even now, she could already be fulfilling their purposes, and she wasn't even mated yet.

  A shudder passed through her, but the other woman didn't appear to notice. Keely felt chilled. It wasn't that she wouldn't want or love her child, rather she feared what kind of life it would have on Legionnaire. Her future was horribly uncertain, despite the reassurances she'd already received.

  “What is your name?” Keely asked the other woman, trying to keep calm.

  “Diana,” she replied, inching closer to her. Diana was petite and small-built. With her tiny face and small features, she didn't look old enough to even consider mating.

  Keely quickly introduced herself before asking, “How old are you, Diana?”

  Diana looked up at her with heavily-made up eyes. “I'm twenty.”

  Keely sighed. The other woman was three years younger than her, but she might as well have been a hundred. Keely felt jaded, in fact, she was jaded and tough from the life she'd led, but Diana was the complete opposite. As meek and gentle as she was, it was a miracle she'd survived on Earth for as long as she had. She hoped Diana fared well with her upcoming fate.

  The room was bright from the golden bulbs in the chandelier and around the vanity mirrors. Heavy draperies hung from the walls, while large oriental rugs were spread across the thick carpeting. Everything was bright and shiny, so much so that Keely felt dizzy from it.

  Clearing her throat, she asked Diana, “Did you leave anyone behind?”

  Tears filled the other woman's eyes, making them appear luminous in the lighting. She stared up at Keely, her face pale. “No,” Diana replied simply. “My parents are dead. I have an older brother, but he's married with a family of his own. He has his own hands full just trying to keep all of them fed.”

  A woman clapped her hands together in front of them with a pleasant expression on her face. Keely frowned at her. What was with the vampires? All of them acted as if they were hosting some kind of social gathering. It couldn't be further from the truth.

  The woman slowly stared at each concubine as if she were summing them up. Her hair was up in some kind of intricate design, with a fat curl trailing over the bare area of her chest. Like the other women Keely had seen, she wore a gown with a rounded bodice and a high-waisted skirt. Keely wasn't sure which era it represented, but she certainly wasn't wearing modern dress. In fact, Keely couldn't remember the last time she'd seen any female wear a dress. Where she come from, it wasn't safe to.

  The other woman appeared completely at ease with standing in front of the female captives. “Ladies,” she announced, in a snooty voice. “It's time for us to escort you in. Before we do, though, I want to go over our expectations for the evening.”One of the women snorted, but otherwise the room remained quiet as they waited for her to continue.

 
“We've brought you here for the sole purpose of choosing a mate from our available males,” she informed them, with her gloved hands clasped together in front of her chest. “And you'll soon see that there is plenty to choose from. You'll find our males to be handsome, strong, and protective. Here on Legionnaire, you'll never have to go hungry or worry where your next meal will come from. Once you are mated, your mate will see to your every need and demand. You'll be treated well here.” Her tone implied that each and every one of them should feel blessed, just for being in the room.

  She opened up the fan in her hand and began waving it back and forth in front of her face. The movements were slow and rhythmic, more of a way to keep her hand busy rather than cool herself off. “When we lead you out, we expect you to socialize. At the end of the evening, you'll be asked to announce the male you have picked. If you can't select one, though, a male will be selected for you.”

  Keely scoffed. “How generous of you.”

  She narrowed her eyes at Keely's face, but she didn't rise to her taunt. Instead she ignored her as she turned and walked toward the tall double doors. “Ladies, please follow me,” she said over her shoulder. “And trust me when I say that one day you will thank us for this. Here on Legionnaire, you have a real chance at a future, something you wouldn't have had should you have stayed on your home planet.”

  Keely rolled her eyes. So they kept telling them. So far she was anything but grateful. Instead she felt ridiculous in her gauzy outfit, with her nether lips completely bare and the area between her legs still tender from Zander's possession of her body. She trembled as she remembered how it had felt with his large body behind her and his rigid shaft pulsating within her. Without meaning to she ran the back of her hand across her suddenly sweaty forehead. Just thinking about him filled her with heat.

  Lost in her thoughts, Keely didn't notice when the other woman swung the doors open wide open. She did notice Diana's gasp, though. Diana eyes were locked straight ahead, her mouth gaped wide open, and she wasn't the only one. The other women were staring, too, their expressions ranging from disbelief to outright interest.

  Keely turned her head to see what they were staring at, expecting the worst. “Oh, my God,” Keely muttered, her body frozen into place when she saw what was waiting for them.

  Chapter 5

  If Keely had found the room she was in bright, it was nothing compared to the room beyond the double doors. Numerous chandeliers revealed a ballroom full of gold gilt and windows, with murals of angels and cherubs on the high ceiling. But it was the men that awaited them underneath those lights that had her full attention.

  Never in her twenty-three years had she seen such sexy specimens of total male perfection. Keely blinked twice, but they didn't disappear. One of the other women muttered, “Sweet Jesus,” but nobody paid any attention to her. Instead they followed the other woman as she led them into the room.

  Everywhere Keely looked was men. Most of them were dressed in black jackets with long tails, although some wore jackets of a brighter shade. They were tall and built, a fact that the jackets couldn't disguise, and from what she could see, there wasn't a one of them that didn't look delectable.

  Keely felt like she'd just been dropped into the land of vampire giants. Lingering back, she hoped the others would forget about her, but they didn't. Instead one of them propelled her into the room from behind as the men stood back and watched.

  Instrumental music was playing from somewhere within the room, but the conversations had immediately quieted at their entrance. Nobody spoke as they sized the women up. Despite her best intentions, Keely couldn't prevent the blush that shaded her cheeks and face hotly. She was uncomfortable and miserable, she felt like a lobster in a tank as it was scrutinized for dinner.

  That's exactly what this is, Keely thought with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was being forced to pick a person to dine on her from among this throng of men. None of them cared about any of the females beyond feeding from them and implanting their seed. Keely closed her eyes as she swallowed down the nausea and despair. They might be handsome, and her body might be responding to their masculinity, but that didn't make it right.

  “Mingle,” someone hissed in her ear, but Keely didn't turn around to look. The other four women stepped forward and were quickly surrounded by men. None of them looked back.

  Within seconds, the conversations resumed. Soon the tinkling sound of feminine laughter could be heard over the music. The women eventually branched out before disappearing from Keely's immediate sight. A waiter stopped in front of her. In his gloved hands was a tray filled with elegant glasses. “Would you care for a drink?” he asked her in a formal tone of voice, carefully holding the tray in front of her.

  About to dismiss him, Keely suddenly paused as she studied the glasses. “What are those?” she asked curiously, pointing at the ones halfway filled with a red liquid.

  The waiter smiled patiently. “Those,” he lingered on the word with a meaningful look in the tray's direction, “Those are not for human consumption,” he continued. “These are.” And with that he handed her a glass filled with champagne before moving on.

  Keely studied the glass before tossing it back. To her surprise, it was actually good. Alcohol of any kind was scarce on Earth, so Keely had never tasted it before. Holding the empty glass in her hand, she wished she'd taken two of them. Immediately, she craned her neck as she looked for the waiter.

  “Good evening,” a man said, moving to stand next to her. Keely quickly looked up and then looked again. Hello, tall, dark, and handsome, she thought before turning away. Standing at least six and a half feet tall, the male vampire looked perfect. Everything about him was stimulating, from his sexy dark hair that brushed his collar to his dark piercing eyes that seemed to shine underneath the multitude of lights that hung above their heads. For some odd reason, it made her grumpy.

  Keely ignored him as she resumed her search for the waiter, much to the male vampire's amusement. He chuckled, the sound rich and warm as it washed over her. Her lips tightened in annoyance, but she refused to look at him again.

  “You're a spicy one, aren't you?” Reaching out, he grabbed a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter's tray. He held it out in front of her, teasing her, as he asked, “Is this what you're looking for?”

  Keely raised her hand as she made to grab it, but he quickly pulled it out of the way. “Not yet,” he told her smugly, the glass clasped loosely in his long, elegant fingers. “First, I would like to know your name, and then I'll tell you mine. Once we're properly introduced, I'll give this to you.”

  Her teeth ground together in annoyance as she sized him up again. His classically handsome features looked casual, but his eyes had a determined look to them that she recognized easily. He was the perfect hunter, the type of dangerous being that lulled their victims in by appearing at ease. Then at the last minute they struck their unsuspecting prey, leaving them with no possible means of saving themselves.

  Keely wasn't worried about him hurting her, at least not at that time. None of the men in the ballroom were safe, though, she could find herself permanently attached to any one of them. It was something she hoped to somehow avoid. Bleakness and despair washed over her again. It would take a miracle.

  “My name is Keely,” she informed him before taking the glass from his hand easily. He chuckled again as she sipped it and ignored him.

  “Keely, what a pretty name,” he murmured thoughtfully. They were pressed together quite closely due to the throng of people, and Keely wasn't immune to him. Was it something in the air, or did the vampires just have some type of built-in aphrodisiac? She scowled at the thought as she attempted to ignore just how good he smelled.

  “Well, Keely,” he continued in a low drawl. “My name is Kosmas.”

  Kosmas. Even his name was exotic. Just saying it in her mind made her body tingle. Being among the vampires was enough to make her lose her morals.

  The champagne kicked
in, spreading a pleasurable warmth throughout her body. Maybe the vampires were even more clever than she'd already given them credit for. Alcohol was a guaranteed way to loosen inhibitions, or so she'd been told.

  “Another one?” Kosmas asked, stopping a waiter as he watched her with his eyebrow raised in question. At her nod, he took the empty glass from her hand and set it on the tray before grabbing a glass for each of them. The red fluid inside of his caught her attention before she looked away uneasily.

  He waited until she sampled hers before sipping elegantly at his own. Keely had to give him credit, he didn't just drink it in a frenzy. Kosmas sipped at it as if it were the finest wine, and maybe to him it was.

  Kosmas noticed her scrutiny before smiling at her charmingly. His grin was as seductive as the rest of him was. “Does my drink of choice disturb you?”