by Marian Tee
When Erou came to his feet, his gaze was troubled. “I hope you haven’t made your interest in this case obvious.” If it had been up to him, he wouldn’t have allowed her to come here. But since he wasn’t her Master, all Erou had been able to do was accompany Zari and make sure she was safe.
Zari couldn’t meet his gaze.
That wasn’t good. “Lady Zari?”
“I, umm, might have…befriended…one of the suspects in the case?”
Erou groaned.
“But it’s just because everyone thought she was the one who killed the man even though they have no proof at all,” she said defensively. “I felt bad for her and so I just wanted to talk to her and then…” Her voice trailed off.
“You know what I think?” He took a step closer to her. In the past, doing so would have made her back away. But she didn’t, which convinced him further that his hunch was right.
“All this is just your way of distracting yourself about what’s really bothering you.”
She looked away, muttering, “Nothing’s bothering me.”
“Yes, there is. Something has been bothering you since the time we caught the serial killer at the library.” She had almost died there, and thinking about it still made Erou’s heart race. Even though he had spent so many years in the company of humans, pretending to be like them as part of his job, their fragility had never really dawned on him until he realized how Zari had placed herself in mortal danger, using her visions to track down a killer who had been preying on the humans in town.
Since then, Erou had been unable to stop himself from keeping an eye on her, and it was for that reason he was able to tell her, “I know you’ve been skipping classes, too.”
Her eyes widened.
“The school’s administration is very understanding and forgiving, but it has its limits. If you continue with what you’re doing, you could be suspended – even expelled.” He paused. “I’m sure it was what’s on Lord Alexandru’s mind as well and why he came back mid-hunt.”
This was news to Zari. “I didn’t know he hadn’t finished the hunt.” Alexandru had made it seem like it was done, she thought uneasily. Was that so she wouldn’t feel guilty like she was feeling now?
The revelation didn’t please Erou. Anything that hinted of the powerful hunter thinking of Zari as something more than his human pet was definitely not good news, at least not where he was standing.
He looked at Zari. Eighteen. Soul seer. Human. They were not the ideal pair, but the urge to claim her vibrated strong and constant like his heartbeat. There was something about her that made him feel. All these years, honor and pride in his work had been the only things that kept him going. But they had not made him feel alive.
Only Zari did.
When he had been dying, she had come to his aid, uncaring of the rules she would break. That they had been strangers then didn’t matter to her either. “That day,” Erou heard himself say. “Why did you do it? Why did you let me feed on you when Alexandru’s your Master?”
“You were dying—”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t think that’s just it.” He captured her wrist when she was about to turn away, using his strength to pull her back. She gasped as their bodies came into contact, his muscular body making her feel even softer against him.
Zari said nervously, “Lord Erou, please let me go.” She couldn’t understand what had gotten into her friend. He had never been this…insistent. Although he had let her know from the very start that he wanted her to be his pet instead of Alexandru’s, he had always respected her decision.
Until now that was.
Erou said quietly, “I’ve been called by my father. I need to go back to Chalys and stay there indefinitely.”
Oh.
“I want you to come with me.”
Her heart broke at the words. “Lord Erou…”
His lips curved in a bleak smile. “That’s what I figured.”
Her heart hurt a little more. “I can’t,” she whispered.
“That’s why I asked. That’s why I hope you can answer.”
She wanted to look away from his gaze because she knew what she was about to say would hurt. But she didn’t. Lord Erou deserved her to face his feelings head on, just as he had shown her his feelings openly, even if he had known from the start that she belonged to someone else.
“I was thinking of my Master.” Even though her voice wavered, her gaze remained steady on him. “I thought that if I gave my blood to you, the day would come that when he needed the same help, there would be another person who would do the same thing for him.”
And so it was always the hunter, he thought. Always had been the hunter.
*****
“You have been crying.” Rhapsody’s words were matter-of-fact like they always were when she made the observation. Zari was in the other girl’s room. When Erou had insisted on walking her back, she had found herself blurting out about wanting to visit Rhapsody first. Anything was better than having Erou take her straight to her Master’s rooms. Above all, Erou and Alexandru should not come face to face, especially not today.
At the girl’s words, Zari leaned back to check her reflection on the full-length mirror mounted on the wall, and the red eyes that stared back at her made Zari wince.
“Did Lord Erou make you cry?”
Zari was startled. “You know him?”
“Part of my lessons during home schooling was to know every important member of Chalysian society.”
“You’re amazing,” she told Rhapsody honestly.
“No. I’m just being practical.” The tone was as practical, without any sense of bragging or false modesty.
Zari sighed. “I wish I could be more like you.” If she was, maybe none of this would hurt as much. Something occurred to her, and she asked haltingly, “Have you…have you studied about heartkeeping?” She held her breath.
“Of course.”
“You have?”
“What do you want to know about it?” No curiosity, just a practical offer of help.
Zari beamed. “I think I love you, Rhapsody.”
Slowly, the other girl blinked. “I apologize. I am not a lesbian.”
Zari burst into laughter. “It was just an expression, silly.” She turned to face Rhapsody directly, who was seated in front of the computer, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she typed her daily letter to her Master – information that Rhapsody had also voluntarily given up. With the other girl, Zari thought with a smile, what you saw was what you really got.
“What is a heartkeeper?”
“The closest term to it would probably be ‘soulmates’. Every creature with demon blood—”
Zari paled. Demon blood? Lord Alexandru had…demon blood?
“—is born without a soul. Not having a soul makes it difficult for one to be good. That’s the simplest way to define their challenge. Their only hope of gaining a soul is through a heartkeeper – a person destined to share his or her soul with the one with demon blood.” Rhapsody paused in her typing, looking at Zari as she asked, “Do you wish to know more?”
“Lord Alexandru…he has demon blood?”
“He is half-demon, yes. His father was a demon, his mother a vampire.”
“And all the years he’s lived, he didn’t have a soul?”
Rhapsody hesitated. “I do not like talking about hearsay.”
“I do,” Zari answered promptly.
“What I will tell you has not been confirmed,” Rhapsody warned.
“I still want to hear it.”
The other girl said slowly, “It’s been said…that in his younger days, he had fallen in love with another vampire. And that girl was the one who saved him, her heart acting like his soul.”
k.a.t.t
Chapter Four
Alexandru watched her prepare to leave. She had come a long way to reach this point in her life. To be strong and independent, to have the power to help others. She was no weakling, this woman of
his, but even so, it did not stop worry from darkening his thoughts and making his heart heavy. He said abruptly, “I don’t like you doing this.”
She didn’t look at him, didn’t stop packing her things as she said, “I know. But this is what I’m meant to do.”
“Is it?” Alexandru couldn’t stop himself from asking.
Her hands stilled. The air became cold with her sadness. He almost took the words back but he didn’t because it was what he felt.
Still not turning to look at him, she said softly, “Yes. It is…because I don’t want my life to be defined just by what we feel for each other. I don’t want people to only remember me because of who I am to you.”
“Another demon’s involved in this, am I right?” Sir Richard voiced his speculation reluctantly, and it was clear to see on his face that he already knew the answer to it.
“It’s the only possible way for the victim to get into this place,” Alexandru answered. The two of them were locked inside the headmaster’s office, which was hidden high on the school’s tallest tower. Although most people thought of the chubby vampire as clumsy and harmless, Alexandru knew it was only a façade and that the other man was, in fact, one of the most vigilant protectors the school had on its side.
“Do you think the demon’s acting alone, or is it truly possible that one of my students is involved?”
Alexandru’s gaze returned to the two files on the desk before him. One was the girl everyone called the Madonna and whose Master was a well-respected baron. The other was a mystery and her anonymous Master even more so. Of the two, it was clear who appeared more likely a suspect. Of course, leave it to his pet to befriend that same girl as well.
“Why did you accept this girl in your school, Sir Richard?”
“She was escorted here by vampires I personally know. They are trustworthy. I would stake my life on the fact that they would never choose to serve a vampire who wasn’t.”
He had many resources at his disposal, but none of it had proven useful in unearthing any information about Rhapsody. Alexandru had a feeling whoever her Master was, it would be someone even more powerful than he was, and such beings were only a handful.
“Has her Master been informed of what’s happening?”
“Yes.” It was obviously all Sir Richard would say. “Have you come up with any possible motive for this, Lord Alexandru?”
He shook his head. “I hate to say it, but another corpse will be the only way for us to gather more clues.”
Sir Richard sighed. “I feared as much.” His fingers restlessly tapped on the armrest. “The students are getting worried, though. I need to take some kind of action. For the time being, I may have to place those two girls under house arrest.”
Alexandru nodded in understanding.
“The Madonna, of course, will only look even more pitiful. She has that kind of persona. But as for Lady Rhapsody…I am afraid this will only isolate her even more. And people who are close to her may likely be treated the same way.”
“You mean my pet.”
Sir Richard asked frankly, “Has she had a vision about the murder? Is that why she’s suddenly developed a friendship with the other student?”
Alexandru shrugged, unwilling to admit the truth, and that was that his own pet had stopped confiding her thoughts to him. He could, of course, try to read her mind, stealthily, but such a thing was beneath him. Doing so would make him seem to care too much about her thoughts, and that was not a direction he wanted to take.
When he went back to his rooms, he expected Zari not to be there. She had been avoiding him of late, and the only reason she was able to was because he had let her. Since he had come back, his pet had looked at him like being with him was an open wound. One neither of them wanted to heal.
He opened the door, and the first thing that greeted him was her scent.
“Zari?” Her name slipped past his lips, surprise evident in his voice.
She was already dressed for bed, but instead of her usual pajamas she had on a nightgown. With its high neckline, loose billowing sleeves, and ankle-length hem, it would have been extremely modest if not for the fact that it was completely transparent. Completely.
And his pet?
His wicked little pet was just naked under her nightgown.
Completely.
“Welcome back, Master.” She was seated on the floor, her knees bent, legs folded to the side.
Alexandru slowly locked the door behind him. As he walked towards her, he asked, What’s this all about, pet?
He took a seat on the couch. She immediately moved close to him, and Alexandru stiffened as her breasts, covered with such thin silk it felt almost bare, brushed against his legs, making him stiffen.
At the question, she took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself. What she was about to do was something she had read from Pet Grooming. The magazine had the silliest name, but Rhapsody had assured her it gave the most “proper” advice for a pet.
So…here…goes…
She looked up at her Master with the widest eyes possible. According to the magazine, this was supposed to make her as irresistible as a puppy.
Alexandru’s lips tightened. What in hell was she doing really? Right now, she appeared to be attempting to look like…an alien, with the way she was trying to stretch her eyeballs to incredible proportions.
He told her as much.
Zari gasped, quickly returning her eyes to normal.
“What are you doing?” He had to ask. There were few things in this world that his mind failed to comprehend, but this was definitely one of them.
She mumbled, “I was trying to look cute.”
He was stunned.
“It’s been a while, Master. Haven’t you noticed?” Zari’s voice was tremulous. “It’s been a while since you called me…that.”
Her words had the power of a nuclear bomb, quiet and precise at the way it had his heart devastated, breaking into thousands of pieces.
His pet was rubbing her eyes, trying furiously not to cry, and his heart shattered anew. “Zari…”
She looked at him.
And at that moment, it became undeniably clear.
She knew.
About Katarina.
About her being his heartkeeper.
About his heart no longer being Alexandru’s to give.
“Right now, you are that.” His voice was hoarse. “Too damn cute.” Heartbreakingly so.
“Make me feel like your pet, Master.” Because that’s all I can ever be. She felt her Master stiffen, and she wondered numbly if he had somehow managed to read her mind.
He felt so fucking helpless, the way his pet was struggling so hard not to cry. Who had told her? He smelled the scent of two people on her. The Lady Rhapsody and his rival, Lord Erou. Which one of them had told her the truth – one he had been too much of a damn coward to tell her?
“Zari…”
There was something about his voice that warned her of what he had decided. He was going to tell her about the girl who was his heart – his soul – and she didn’t think she could handle it right now.
Maybe, maybe if she was older. Maybe if she wasn’t alone anymore and it didn’t feel like he was all she had in this world.
Maybe then she could handle it.
But she wasn’t any of that.
And so Zari shook her head. “Master, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” She tried to sound lighthearted. “Are you sure you’re not going to command me?”
His head dipped low, silently acknowledging her plea. If you don’t want to talk about it now, pet, then we won’t talk about it. We will never talk about it if that’s what you want.
Out loud he asked her, “Are there any limits to what you’re willing to do, pet?” He saw her eyes light up, as if he had said something she had been hoping he would say.
“There is nothing that I’m not willing to do for you, Master.”
He would give her an A minus for that, managing t
o choke only on the last word. But even so, Alexandru couldn’t deny the thrill of possession that jolted through him. Vampires like him were inherently proprietary and dominant, and the words, no matter how it was delivered, were like a seductive melody to his ears.
“Are you sure, pet? Anything?”
“Anything, Master.”
Had her voice always been this throaty? The thought had him looking at her throat, and he imagined sinking his cock inside her mouth, so deep until his entire length was covered and the head of his cock would hit the back of her throat.
“Eat my cock.”
He expected her to blink in shock, to pull away or protest, but instead she wet her lips, the erotic action causing his engorged cock to try burning a hole out of his pants.
“I would love to, Master,” she whispered, “but you’ll have to teach me how to do it properly.” The words, combined with the way she looked at him under long lashes, were beyond potent.
In an instant, his clothes were on the floor and he had Zari on her knees between his legs. “Wherever you’ve learned this stuff, pet—”
The words had Zari’s eyes widening. How had he known she had practiced for this?
He bared his fangs. “Keep learning it.”
And then he was drinking from her, making Zari gasp and shudder. But it was over before she could even think about it, and her Master was leaning back against the couch like an indolent god who knew that it was a woman’s privilege to pleasure him. It was so blatantly arrogant she should have been turned off but instead she was aroused, and dear Lord, wasn’t that another proof of how hard she had fallen for her Master?
Zari felt his hands holding her head, and she let him guide her to his erection, which looked even more enormous up close. She closed her mouth over the huge sensitive head of his cock and was rewarded by the way her Master groaned.
Slowly, patiently, he taught her how to eat his cock. She learned where to lick, when to squeeze his balls, and how fast he wanted her fingers to move. She learned how much he liked it when she gripped his cock tightly like a vise, learned how biting his head ever so gently made him go out of his mind.