by Marian Tee
Soon, his hands were gripping her hair tightly, his hips jutting, his cock pushing fully inside her mouth in frantic motions. Once, he tried to pull her off but she resisted, digging her nails into his thighs to let him know this was what she wanted.
Him coming in her mouth.
“Zari.” The ragged note in his voice told her he was close, making her strive to get all of him inside her mouth. She worked hard to control her gag reflex, sensing how important it was for her Master to have the entire length of his cock warmed by her mouth.
So. Fucking. Good. The words were all Alexandru could think, his mind blown away by his pet’s unrestrained passion and desire to please him. Inch by inch, his cock was lost deeper in her mouth, and when the head of his cock hit the back of her throat—
“Zari.” The strength of his release had him throwing his head back with a groan, his cock shooting out jet after jet of come. Instead of being overwhelmed, his pet took it all, swallowing every drop, and seeing her do it had him coming even more, prolonging his orgasm until he didn’t think it would ever end.
When it was over, he watched his pet lick her lips dry, a gesture that had his semi-erect cock start to stir. She saw it, too, and her eyes widened at the sight. “Master?” The way her Master’s cock was swelling in size, bit by bit, had her gulping. Eating his cock had been an unforgettable experience, but it was tiring, too, and she didn’t think she would survive it if her Master took her now. The pleasure would just be too much.
Still, his cock grew.
“Master?”
Her panicky tone amused him. If he wasn’t feeling so spent himself, he would probably have taken her, just so he could see his pet panic even more.
“Relax, pet,” he murmured finally, taking pity on her. He patted his knee, and she immediately rested her head against it. A second later, she felt her Master’s fingers threading through her hair, stroking and massaging her scalp. It was wondrously restful, and her eyes began to drift close.
He said quietly, “You didn’t go to your classes again, did you, pet?”
She didn’t want to answer.
After a beat, he murmured, “Where have you been then?”
“With Rhapsody.”
“And?”
“I was out in the forests with…Lord Erou.”
“Ah.” The hand on her hair stopped moving for the briefest moment. “If you want me to be jealous, I am.”
She looked up at him. Was he jealous? Could he be jealous when she was only his pet and another woman held his heart?
Slowly, Alexandru said, “You’ve been looking at me like you’re always on the verge of saying something.” He paused. “Is it the contract? Do you want out?”
Zari looked away. “I’ll only leave you if you tell me to, Master.”
Gazing at her, he wondered why she felt both so close and yet so far. He said flatly, “Then you must also remember that I’m selfish. I gave you a choice in the past, pet. You chose to sign the contract and be with me. I won’t ever let you go unless you ask.”
*****
Her Master was gone again when Zari woke up. It made her wonder where he spent his time, made her wonder if he ever thought of her when they were apart. The thoughts made Zari hate herself but even so, she was helpless against the doubts that crowded her heart.
This is not like you, Zari, she berated herself as she took a quick shower. You’re the girl who spent your whole life in the jungles, hunting for your own food, building shelter from twigs and leaves, and living right next to lions and tigers. It won’t be the end of the world if your Master leaves you.
But no matter what she said to herself, the words were all useless, her heart stubbornly beating only for her Master and no longer for herself.
Outside her dorm building, Zari was surprised to find Lord Erou waiting for her, looking like one of the Knights of the Round Table with his uniform and the hilt of his sword gleaming under the sunlight. Girls who walked past him all turned to give him second and third glances, longing in their eyes. She had a feeling they would have fainted dead away if Lord Erou had cared to return any one of those glances.
When she came to him, he said formally, “Good morning, Lady Zari.”
“Good morning, Lord Erou.” She belatedly remembered to curtsy, making him smile.
“Where to?”
She blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“Are you going to class then?”
“Umm…”
“I thought as much. So where are you heading then? I’m sure,” he said in a gentle teasing voice, “you’ve spent some time last night thinking of another way to get yourself in trouble.”
She reddened.
It was Erou’s turn to blink, the way she blushed so becomingly making him lose his train of thought for a moment.
“I was wondering if there was a place we could go where we’d be able to look up the Madonna’s background.”
“The library,” he answered readily. “There’s a section which only Masters can access, and it contains all the necessary information about the pets enrolled here.” At her questioning look, he explained, “It helps with the selection process when a Master’s looking for a pet.” Again, he smiled, and the friendliness of it had Zari wishing for one moment it was Lord Erou that she had fallen in love with instead. Foolish, stubborn heart. Why couldn’t it just beat for one whose own heart could still beat for her?
Inside the library, Erou’s presence was enough to have an assistant hurrying to serve them, scraping and bowing as he escorted Erou and her to one of the private offices at the back. He looked so nervous and intimidated. Zari was beginning to wonder if she really knew anything about the vampire beside her. He was always the perfect gentleman with her. It didn’t make sense, Zari unable to think of anything Erou could have done to inspire such fear.
Inside the office, Zari was stunned to find state-of-the-art servers spanning an entire wall. Since the school went by the old-fashioned name of La Scala Legaturia, which in English loosely translated to the “School of Bonds”, she had expected the rest of the school to be just as primitive, with dusty handwritten records rather than files encoded in a private database.
Erou headed to one of the computer stations and held out a seat for her. “Lady Zari?”
“Thank you,” Zari said and tried not to be too self-conscious about his nearness when Erou sat down next to her and bent forward to reach for the computer mouse.
She jerked when upon moving the mouse, his arm brushed against her breasts.
Erou flushed. “Apologies.” He hadn’t meant to cop a feel, but he was a man, too. He would not forget how soft she felt against him.
She cleared her throat. “It’s all right.” Blushing, too, she quickly turned her gaze to the screen. “Is it there?”
“Ah…yes.” This time, he was extra cautious as he moved the computer mouse. He entered his password as a potential Master to access the database and in seconds, he had retrieved the files of Miranda Donnelly.
According to the files, Miranda was a Legacy pet, which meant she had come from a family who had served vampires for generations. It was the opposite of her situation. Zari was a First Made, a pet acquired through “other” means.
She read the name of Miranda’s Master, who also happened to be a baron. “Do you know him?”
Erou nodded. “He’s a jolly fellow, carefree, the kind who spends most of his time in balls.”
“Do you mean parties?”
He shook his head. “No. I do mean ‘balls’. He’s lived in Chalys all his life.”
“Ah.” Now Zari understood. The Kingdom of Chalys was a world-famous attraction because all its people still lived according to traditional Victorian customs. Women wore corsets and gowns, men wore breeches, and people rode carriages and horses instead of cars and buses. There was no Internet, no digital gadgets, and plumbing and air-conditioning were the only modern-day technologies allowed on the land. Outside Chalys, humans believed the customs w
ere to make the kingdom a permanent tourist attraction. What they didn’t know was that the old ways were to prevent humans from finding out that ninety-nine percent of the kingdom was made up of otherworlders.
“There’s a note on the file,” Zari remarked. “Something about her not being a native from Chalys. Does that matter?”
“For old-fashioned families like the baron’s here, yes. Legacy pets raised outside Chalys are considered…impure.”
“And the plot thickens,” she muttered. Miranda was the killer. That was a fact. But why did she kill a homeless man? She needed evidence to clear Rhapsody’s name, but her visions didn’t count since Alexandru would kill her if she ended up revealing herself as a soul seer.
“Insanity is always a possibility,” Erou suggested, his tone pensive as he scrolled down to read the rest of the file. “But I’ve talked to the guards deployed to watch her and they haven’t noticed anything strange about the girl.”
“Then maybe, whatever made her do it only happened in the past. And it has yet to happen again.” Her eyes slid back to the screen and the photo of Miranda Donnelly looked back at her. She was like Little Miss Girl Next Door, someone who wouldn’t even be able to hurt a fly. Her background was impeccable and there was nothing dysfunctional about her family.
“What if it’s the baron?” Zari asked. “What if he’s the one making her do it?”
“For what purpose?”
She lifted her shoulders in a confused shrug. “I don’t know…I just feel like this girl’s so devoted to her Master…wouldn’t it seem like whatever’s caused her to do that, it would have something to do with the baron?”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Enter,” Erou said.
The door opened, the assistant bowing before mumbling, “Another Master would like to use the room, milord.”
“We’ll be out in a minute,” Erou said. “Thank you.”
“Understood, milord.” The assistant bowed again before leaving.
“We have to go,” Erou told her as he stood up and pulled her seat out for her. “This room can only be used by one Master at a time.”
“Oh. I see.”
The worry in her gaze prompted him to say, “I’ll have someone ask around about the baron.” His words had her brightening. The sight of her smiling was both a painful and joyous sight. Why, he wondered, did he have to feel this strongly for a girl who couldn’t be his?
“Lady Zari…” He had been about to reach for the knob before turning around, surprising Zari into stepping back. The sight had his jaw hardening. This time, she was stepping back. It meant something had happened between her and the hunter – something that probably caused Zari to harbor false hopes again.
“You know this won’t end well, don’t you?”
She nodded.
Frustration lined his voice as he demanded, “Then why? Why would you choose him?” He stepped towards her, something in him making Erou want to hold her—
But before he could, the door opened.
In front of him, Zari whitened.
Even without looking behind him, Erou already knew there was only one person who could make Zari react like that.
Chapter Five
The moment Alexandru appeared in the doorway, a breathtaking smile broke over her lips, prompting him to ask teasingly, “Did you miss me?”
Instead of answering, she asked, “Did you miss me?” She didn’t wait for his answer, running to him with a laugh. He caught her in his arms, his lips catching hers even as her legs went around his waist.
He raised his head. “Does that answer your question?”
She nodded.
“Come with me next time and we—” He stopped since she had been shaking her head the moment he spoke.
“You know I can’t,” she said softly. “You know you can’t. I will only be a distraction to you when you hunt, and I don’t want that.”
“You’re not a distraction—”
“No one will believe you even if it’s not true. You’re part of the ruling family, and I don’t want the day to come that your people will think you’ve failed them because of me.”
Troubling reports from his men had Alexandru going to the library. Killing demons could be complex, depending on their position in the hierarchy. The demon he was hunting down was particularly high up in the rank, and the more information he had about his opponent, the better his chances of defeating the demon without any innocent bystanders suffering.
But when he reached the library, all thoughts of demon hunting were forgotten when he saw his own pet entering one of the offices at the back with another man.
It was Lord Erou of course.
The library assistant approached him. “You would like to use the office, milord?”
He nodded curtly.
The assistant returned to him after a few moments. “They will only be a minute.”
“That’s fine.” He walked towards the office, cracking his fists. He was supposed to be a cold-blooded hunter, but right now all he could think about was hauling the other vampire’s ass out of the office and beating him to within an inch of his life.
This was not right. This feeling of obsession, of possession – he was not supposed to feel this way for his pet. It was a betrayal in every sense of the word, and he only had himself to blame.
His powers muted, Alexandru was able to reach the office without either of the two being aware of his presence. He listened to them talk about the murder suspect, his body stiff with tension. He knew it was only a matter of time before the soldier would talk about something else.
And he was right.
You know this won’t end well, don’t you?
A harsh smile touched Alexandru’s lips. Of course. A direct stab. He should have expected that from the ever-uptight vampire.
Then why? Why would you choose him?
If he was a good man, he would turn his back now and let nature run its course. Let Damaschin open his pet’s eyes to the truth – that she had no reason to choose Alexandru.
But he was not a good man where Zari was concerned.
He had always tried to be one, but with her, it was as if he was destined to sin. And he would keep sinning, Alexandru knew, if that was the only way to keep her as his pet.
Alexandru opened the door, Zari paling at the sight of him. The younger vampire seemed to be as aware of his identity, murmuring “Lord Alexandru” even before he had completely turned around to face Alexandru.
His gaze didn’t let hers go. He wanted her looking at him and only him. Alexandru offered his hand. “Let’s go.” His voice was neutral, but the words were a command nonetheless.
When Zari took a step forward, Erou said bitterly, “I would have given her up, you know. I would never have made a move if I thought there was a chance you’d eventually admit your feelings for her.”
Alexandru’s jaw hardened at the challenging words, but he didn’t let his gaze veer away from his pet. “Zari?”
“I see it in your face,” Erou snarled. “You want her—”
“Of course I want her,” he exploded, finally looking at the other vampire. “Would she be my pet if I didn’t want her?”
Zari’s heart was beating faster and faster as she listened Erou and her Master exchange words. She didn’t know what to say or do, wasn’t even sure that she should interfere. But then she heard Erou say, “You want her more than that. Admit it.”
Her head snapped towards her Master.
His pet was looking at him now, her heart – fragile but brave all at the same time – in her eyes. In that moment, the weight of his past, all the memories, good and bad, collided with the present, which came with the most dangerous risks and the most wonderful promises.
But in the end, he knew he could only make one choice.
When Alexandru looked at her, Zari’s knees nearly buckled. Even though he hadn’t yet spoken, she already knew, just by the way her Master was looking at her with regret in his eyes.
“I wish it was so, but she can only be my pet.” Before he was even done speaking, he was already striding towards Zari, the pain his words caused her something he felt as well. “Zari—” He reached for her.
She pulled back unthinkingly, her heart breaking when her Master whitened at her rejection. “Master, I…” But she was still at a loss for words. What was there to say when he had good as killed all her hopes?
“Look at me.” A command. “Is it that bad?” His voice was almost violent. “Tell me. Is it that bad, being my pet? Have I ever made you feel that you don’t matter to me?”
He reached for her again, and this time she let him. But the moment their hands touched, she went still, her eyes turning completely white.
Alexandru stilled as well, knowing that she was about to have another vision.
****
Blue. So, so dark, but it was blue. The darkest shade of blue, like sapphires kissed by death.
Choking. She was choking, and she was struggling against something. Not someone. Something. Inhuman. Too strong. Too fast. One moment, breathing was a part of life. The next moment, breathing had become a luxury.
****
When she came back, she was in her Master’s arms, a place that was once her haven. But now?
“Let me go,” she whispered.
Because she sounded like she was so close to breaking down, he released her reluctantly. “What did you see?”
Zari shook her head. Not meeting his gaze, she said, “Master, I had a vision when I touched you.”
Alexandru’s face became expressionless. “And?”
“Did you really come back mid-hunt because of me?” A little laugh escaped her, the sound tinged with hysteria. “You made me think it was because of me, Master. Please don’t deny it. Everyone thinks the same thing. Even Lord Erou.”
“Zari—”
“But you didn’t, did you?” Her eyes became glassy. “You came here because the hunt is here now. The demon you’re hunting is here now, and you couldn’t even be honest with me about it.” She took another step back, as if just his nearness now poisoned her. “Master, right now, I don’t even feel like I’m your pet.”