by Ker Dukey
A loud sob rips from me.
I miss him.
Benny grips my jaw and angles my head down so he can look into my teary eyes. “We’ll get him back. Soon, Doll. And then we’ll be whole.”
How does he know?
Am I that transparent?
I rock my hips, and his fingers bruise my flesh as he bucks his hips into me. He’s thick and it’s almost painful, but it’s a sweet sort of pain. It makes me feel alive.
“I love you, my pretty little doll,” he groans against my mouth. His teeth nip at my bottom lip as his thumb rubs against my clit. Pleasure zings around me, and I fall back against the steering wheel. His eyes are wild and manic as he visually devours me. “Tell me what I need to hear.”
I moan when he pinches my clit. An orgasm splits through me and seems to steal my soul straight from my body. I clench around him and cry out as his heat gushes deep inside me. Knowing I’m no longer on the pill makes my heart hammer. He’s marking me. I’m his. Forever.
“I love you too, Master,” I purr as I sit up and kiss his mouth again.
He tangles his fingers in my hair and pulls me back slightly so he can stare at me. His brown eyes soften as he regards me. “Monster. You’re not to call me Master anymore.”
My brows crash together. “But—”
“I’m Monster. He’s Master.” His kisses my mouth. “And you’re our perfect little doll.”
I run my fingers through his hair that’s still buzzed short and stare at him in confusion. “You told me you were the master.”
“We all have our roles,” he mutters, his stare on my mouth. “I’m no longer going to fight them. I won’t fight any of my urges anymore. You. Him. It’s what I want.”
“I want it too,” I breathe.
His cock jolts back awake inside me.
“I have to tell you something,” I squeak out. “I can’t start this on lies.”
He darts his eyes all over me. “Tell me what?”
“When we went to deal with Kami,” I whisper, shame rippling through me, “he and I…”
“You fucked?”
His body is tense. Coiled and ready to spring.
“Not exactly.” I lift my gaze to his. “We both were so overwhelmed at having you back. The way he talks about you…with such love…” I bite on my lip, “it turns me on.”
He snags my throat in his brutal grip, his eyes wild with mania. “What did you do?”
I choke out my words until he loosens his grip. “He touched me. Made me come. I felt him on me. Inside me.” I lick my lips. “It didn’t feel right, though. Like we were missing a piece.”
“When we get him back,” he snarls, his grip once again tightening, “I’m going to take turns putting it in each of your asses.”
I moan and rock against him. “You are the master.”
“No,” he growls against my mouth, sucking on my bottom lip hard enough to make my pussy clench in response. “You both are my dolls. I’m your monster. I fucking own you both.”
He doesn’t come, but instead shoves me over into the passenger seat. I’m just sitting up when my car door flies open. He plucks me from the vehicle and carries my naked body into a house I’ve never seen before. We barely make it into the kitchen before he has me bent over the table. His cock pushes into my pussy, then he pulls it out. I scream in pain, my fingernails gouging marks into the wood, when the tip of his cock begins proding into my ass. I try to scramble away, but he grabs a handful of my hair and yanks as he drives all the way into me.
The pain is harsh, but beautiful. It kills me, yet it breathes life into me. I hate it, but I love it. He grunts and grunts until he empties his seed deep inside the place he set on fire. He’s dragging me to hell with him, and I don’t even want to put up a fight. When he pulls out roughly, I nearly vomit from the pain of it. I’m worried I’m bleeding or worse.
“I’m sorry,” I sob. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I love you.”
He tugs me into his arms, and there isn’t anger shining in his eyes. No, his browns swirl like melted chocolate. He grins at me, and I’m positive it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
“You didn’t hurt me, Doll.” His lips crash to mine. “When you talk about him,” he breathes against my mouth, “it just really turns me on. You free the beast.”
Eager to lure the monster even further from the cage, I narrow my eyes. “His cock was in me twice. I wanted him to come inside me.”
The growl that roars from him is downright terrifying. He tosses me on the hard surface of the table before roughly flipping me back onto my stomach. I’m worried he’ll take my ass again when fire cracks against my flesh.
Whap!
Whap!
Whap!
He whips my ass with his strong hand until I’m not sure I’ll be able to sit. I cry and don’t have the strength to move.
“Do you like it when I beat your ass for taunting me?” he hisses, his palm soothing away the sting.
“Do you like it when I talk about Viktor and I fucking around without you?” I challenge back, twisting my head to look up at him.
Provoking my beast is my new favorite thing.
His lust-glazed eyes tell me he likes it a lot.
“I asked him if you’d both put your cocks inside me at once,” I murmur. “Will you?”
He leans forward and runs his thumb along my bottom lip. “If I fucking feel like it, I’ll do a lot of things with Master to our little doll.”
“What kinds of things?” I roll onto my back, imploring him with my gaze.
“Painful things.”
“I like it when you hurt me.” I sit up, despite the sting on my ass, and lock my fingers behind his neck. Bringing him down to my mouth, I smile against his lips. “I like it when you take care of me too. You know best, Monster.”
“Such a good doll,” he croons. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up and in one of your pretty dresses. I want you to look perfect for Master.”
“I want to look perfect for you too,” I tell him with a happy sigh.
He grins as he scoops me into his arms. “You look beyond perfect, Bethany. You are perfect.”
I can’t help but think how not perfect my sister is.
Only I can be exactly what Master and Monster need.
I’m a perfect little doll.
I’ve been practicing for a very long time.
Viktor
DILLON HAS BEEN KEEPING ME here on purpose instead of moving me into the prison system on remand. He’s making sleep impossible and offering me slop for food, knowing it will never pass my lips. He deprives me of basic human needs, then brings me into his little four-walled cage for questioning, thinking that without sleep and food, I’ll forget who I trust and scream for the ones I love.
Falling into his trap will never happen.
He will not defeat me.
“Is my lawyer here yet?” I smile, feeling anything but smug. Inside, I’m crumbling at the thought of Elizabeth being pumped with chemicals to cure her of her inner monsters. She doesn’t need curing just because they don’t feel safe with the beast living within her.
“What is your full name?” the mundane officer asks.
“Which one?” I taunt, and this new arrogant bastard glares over at me.
Dillon must be off with his family. They circle this routine of someone new coming in to try to break me. They’re all pathetic. It’s almost laughable. If I weren’t in dire need of a shower and some shuteye, I’d enjoy the game.
If Vlad is indeed here to eradicate the one person who weakens me, then I won’t be in here for much longer anyway. Vlad will bring this place down brick by brick if he needs to. Thoughts of him hurting Benjamin make me want to scream from the top of my lungs and rip my heart from my chest so I won’t have to suffer the agony of it. Everything we’ve endured to finally be at a place where we accept we need each other will have been for nothing. He is more a part of me than I am, and Elizabeth completes us. He holds my s
oul and she my heart. I refuse to live in this world without them. The battle lines are drawn, and if anything has happened to Benjamin, no one will survive the war I will bring down on this world.
“Answer the damn question,” the officer snaps.
“I’m quite parched, actually,” I deadpan. “Would you mind ever so much and bring me a drink?”
“Of course, sir, what will it be? How about a whiskey on the rocks?” he mocks.
I’m tempted to use his tie to strangle him when the door suddenly opens and Dillon stands there looking worn out and tired. That fuckhead needs a vacation.
“Leave us,” he tells this moron.
“It’s getting pitiful now, Detective.” I yawn and roll my shoulders. “It’s like you’re not even trying anymore.” My heart nearly beats through my chest when Dillon moves into the room, and behind him, my brother follows. I stand and jar from my cuffs being chained to a hoop on the table. “Moy brat,” I breathe.
“Mladshiy brat, rad videt tebya,” he rattles off in our mother tongue.
I sigh and smile at him. “It’s good to see you too. Please tell me you bring good news with you.”
His brow collapses over his features and he nods for Dillon to leave the room.
“I fucking hate you cunts,” Dillon growls, and if I weren’t concerned with my brother’s pinched features, I’d laugh.
The door slams shut and the room is silent for a beat.
“What troubles you, Vlad?” I dare not ask him about Benjamin in case Kami was lying and didn’t in fact mention my monster to him, only told him I needed him.
Wishful thinking is beneath you, my inner thoughts tease.
“I’ve come to take you home, brat.”
My chest heaves. I’ve yearned to hear those words for too long.
“Father sent for me?” I pray.
He comes around the table and rests his hand on my shoulder. “Otets became very sick, moy brat.”
“Sick how?”
He taps a hand over his heart. “Heart attack, sudden.”
My legs weaken and I find myself falling into the chair.
“I need to see him,” I choke out.
“Otet passed into the afterlife.”
An empty chill rinses through my veins.
My father is dead.
Dead.
I will never get his pardon. He will never tell me it was a mistake to banish me.
“It’s time to come home, Viktor. I need you by my side. We have an empire to run.”
I can’t focus. The hunger and sleep deprivation, mixed with this sorrow and confusion, come crashing into me all at once.
“I’m getting you out of here,” he says. “You have outgrown the roots you’ve planted.”
The door reopens, and Vlad points down to my cuffs. In the next moment, they’re being taken from me. Hands aid me to stand and my feet shuffle forward with someone guiding me. The lights burn my retinas and I just want to close my eyes, the open wound in my chest expanding with every step I take.
“Benjamin,” I mumble, desperate for his council, his comfort, his strength.
“Do not speak his name, Viktor,” Vlad whispers into my ear, and my soul flees. He does know of him. He would have slaughtered him surely, thinking him a threat.
I can’t go there.
I can’t think about it.
For three years, Benjamin has filled a deep void inside me. And only recently, did I help him realize how we fit together. Pieces of a complicated puzzle.
I refuse to think of him as eliminated from the game.
That fucker has as many lives as a cat.
At least that’s the hope I hold onto.
I can’t breathe. Every bone in my body aches. We step outside. Wind and rain suddenly attack my skin, and it scalds like acid. The fire once burning so strong within me is doused to ashes. My life was just something to be broken down to nothing. Taking everything from me and banishing me led me to Benjamin. My dreams, my family, my pride—all stolen from me—but I rebuilt and harnessed my monsters and he came into my life, making everything else fade. He made everything I’d suffered worth it. Nothing mattered and was insignificant because I found him. The heartache, the betrayal, the dark, dark, dark days just led me to his soul, ravished and in need of healing. I did heal him, and he healed me in return.
Without him, I am empty again.
My eyes close and I mentally will Vlad to drive this car he’s ushered me into off the closest bridge. It will make everything easier. Because killing the only person I thought I could still rely on is going to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
I’m sorry, big brother.
Benjamin’s life will need retribution, and all that stained his life will pay in blood. Including Vlad.
“Wake, brat.”
Vlad’s voice startles me. My lids open, blinking away the intrusion of his flashlight shining in my fucking eyes.
“What are you doing?” I bark, my voice hoarse from sleep.
“Checking to make sure you’re not still delirious.”
“I’m fine.”
He smiles softly. “You’re quite remarkable, Viktor. The life you created here is impressive. The man you’re so taken with is quite the myth, the whispered boogeyman. I did my research. Klara was a fool to think I didn’t know whom you surrounded yourself with. I can sniff out when someone is important. Different from everyone else. His need is quite something, and the girl…”
My body stiffens, and I can’t breathe. “The doll.”
His smile reaches up to his eyes. It’s such a rare sight, I just gaze in amazement. “Her madness is extraordinary. I want to bottle it and sell it.” He beams, winking at me. “Come,” he orders, getting out the car.
The door opens and some giant guy nods his head at me. Stepping from the car, I walk side-by-side with my brother for the first time in decades.
“With Otet’s passing,” he starts, “I became heir of his empire, and I need you by my side, moy brat. Your exile died with Otet.” I don’t ask where Vika fits in. Without Benjamin and Elizabeth, I don’t fit in anywhere. “I haven’t been witness to your life, but your story is whispered on the lips of many. You grew into so much more than I ever thought possible. I admire the man you’ve become, and I’m proud of you, brat,” he tells me. I want to bask in his pride and praise, but I’m broken.
“Viktor,” a delicate, lyrical voice chimes from the steps of the stunning home we’re in front of. Elizabeth stands there in a pretty burgundy dress, her hair in pigtails and socks pulled high over her knees. Am I dreaming her?
Thud.
A shadow creeps over her form.
Thud.
My monster comes to rest by her side, his wild brown eyes desperately seeking mine. Alive.
Thud.
I stagger toward the steps, and emotion nearly cripples me as I take them in my arms. They smell of soap and vanilla and mine. They smell of fucking mine, and it’s beautiful. It’s so fucking perfect, I can’t take the feelings storming inside my chest.
“You’re home,” Monster growls, relief flickering in his gaze.
“Is this home?” I ask, looking up at the house.
“No,” Elizabeth whispers. She takes my hand and intertwines our fingers. Then, she threads her fingers with his. I reach for him, and he doesn’t pull away. His grip is tight on mine. Together, we stand in a circle, like three fucked-up kids playing Ring Around the Rosy. “This. Us. We’re home,” she finishes.
I close my eyes and grit my teeth. It’s as though my heart is going to claw its way up my throat and throw itself at the two people beside me.
“I want you all,” Vlad announces from the bottom of the stairs, interrupting our reunion.
“What?”
He smirks as he regards us. “Let me paint this clear for you, brat. Life is short, and I’m done living mine without you in it. If they are your family, then they are my family, and they come with you back to your homeland. You’re done her
e. There is nothing here for you any longer.”
I turn to look at Elizabeth and Benjamin.
Benjamin gives me a hard stare, his eyes flickering with a thousand emotions, and nods. “I’m ready for a change of fucking scenery.”
“Away from the people who want to separate us,” our doll adds cheerily. “It’s perfect. I’ve always wanted to travel.”
“Then we will go,” I agree, my tone soft despite the excitement bubbling up inside me.
“Great,” Vlad says as he clasps a hand on my shoulder. “You don’t know how happy this makes me, Viktor. Now, go and get some rest. My plane will be fueled and ready to leave by tomorrow.”
I spent my entire life building The Vault and my reputation here, but it means nothing. In the end, it’s all so goddamn irrelevant.
“Come inside, Viktor,” Benjamin grunts. “I have something to show you.”
I follow them both into the house, relief so strong coursing through my body, I feel like I’ve popped a hundred Xanax. Benjamin leads us through a lobby entranceway and up a swirling staircase. Old paintings in thick gold frames adorn the walls and old patterned carpet line the stairs. It reminds me of our childhood home. Benjamin keeps peering over his shoulder at me, and it makes my heart pound like a rabid beast inside its confines. His walking is much better on that ankle and he doesn’t appear to be in pain from his injuries. Elizabeth dances up the stairs next to me, invading my space and filling it with her whimsical character. She keeps reaching for my hand, our little doll vying for my attention, but Benjamin seems to like to torment her. He swats her away and grips my elbow in a possessive way. Strong. Powerful. Unwavering.
“She’s quite the naughty doll,” he groans over his shoulder before stopping at a door.
Pushing inside, he gestures me in behind him. Elizabeth is on my heels and heat begins to simmer under my flesh. A huge four-poster bed dominates the room, and I feel like I’ve added a cocaine kicker to those endorphins soaking through my veins. My chest is already panting at just the idea of what will transpire in this room. Benjamin wastes no time grabbing his dolly from behind, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and cupping her chin in his hand.