by Renea Mason
The emotions that boiled through me ranged from disappointment to fury and confusion. Marcus, noble? It was such a contradiction to how I saw him.
His next assertion interrupted my mind storm. “Your father was so disappointed that I rejected you. He went in search of other opportunities for you. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you meeting Julian wasn’t an accident.”
All I could do was stare at him as tears flowed down my face.
“There’s something special about you, Dora. Something that makes you dangerous to my kind. Perhaps all of supernatural kind. I also suspect it’s the real reason they keep you here under lock and key.”
“This is fucking unbelievable.”
He grabbed me by the chin. “I can still see your innocence through all your pain. I’ll spare you my punishment tonight. But you need to start acting like the lady I know you are.”
“Fuck you.”
His jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing with anger. I waited for him to bend me over his knee or something, but instead he released his hold on my face, stood and after placing a kiss on my forehead, he returned to the sofa. “Sweet dreams, little one.”
Son of a bitch. I was never going to be able to sleep after that.
Chapter 8
Tease
Given Marcus’s behavior, it was hard to believe he was the same person who made his confession the night before. He was completely back to his old self, which in many ways made things over the past week significantly easier. I couldn’t afford to feel things for him, especially sympathy or worse yet, admiration. “Would you put some clothes on?” I scowled at him as he entered through the ironbound door to my room.
He paused, looked down at his bobbing cock and then back up me. “No.” He strode to the kitchenette in all his glory.
The past two weeks had been torture. Since the episode on my couch where I nearly fucked him, and the revelation that this was not the first time we had met, he had been relentless, refusing to wear any clothes. But I wouldn’t give in to his ridiculous tactics.
He picked a muffin from the tray of magically summoned food and tossed it to me. By the time I realized what he was doing it had already smacked me in the chest and thudded to the floor. “Ow… why in the hell did you do that?”
“Because you need to eat.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. You need your strength.”
I raised an eyebrow. “For what?”
“I need to eat. I’m just about out of energy.”
I bent and picked up the muffin. “Then here…” I whaled it at him, completely missing him, causing the moist pastry to stick to the wall. “You eat the muffin.”
He rotated his head slowly to take in the sight of my mutilated muffin only to turn back and fix his gaze on me, revealing his fangs. “Vampires do not eat muffins.”
“What exactly—” The thought brought me up short. “Oh shit. No way.” It had been bad enough that every thought I’d had of him since that night he mounted me on my sofa featured us fucking in one of a million different ways. I was so horny and wound so tight, that if the tales of the vampire bite were even the slightest bit true, I’d be screwed. Literally. Multiple times, and that would be devastating.
“You’re the only one who can help me. I’m getting weak.”
“You’re going to die anyway, so I fail to see what the difference is.”
“So shall I let you die of starvation? You do want to die. That will surely do it.” He took two steps toward me.
“That’s not fair.”
“Exactly. You have something I need. We need each other to survive. I don’t plan on dying. So I ask you again… Please give me what I need. Trust me, I won’t be the only one who gets something out of the bite.” He winked.
I ran toward the door and bounded down the stairs before he could touch me. He had to stay in the tower, I didn’t. I had to get away from him. Besides, I was needed at the desk in the morning. Wednesdays were always busy.
I fell through the door at the bottom of the tower and slammed it closed with a thud. The library patrons looked up from their books. Wendy shot me a death stare and pressed her extended finger to her lips. In an overly loud whisper she chastised, “Nice of you to join me.” She stamped the book of the woman in front of her.
“I had some things to take care of.” I lied.
“Every day? What has been up with you?”
I looked around the room. “Wow, things are light for a Wednesday.”
“Well, ever since the vampire king went missing, he’s not here to draw the female crowds on Wednesdays, and they stopped coming.”
“You have got to be kidding me. How trampy do you have to be to only hang out at the library hoping to get laid?”
Wendy coughed, “I, for one, wouldn’t have complained if he asked me.”
“He’s not that great.”
“Oh yes he is. Have you seen his ass?”
I glared at her. If she only knew. “Yes, but he’s a womanizing prick.”
“Just think of how experienced he must be. I’d take my piece.”
I wrinkled my features in disgust. “Gah… You are impossible.”
“But it doesn’t matter, rumor is, he’s dead.”
“No, he’s not.”
She spun her head to look at me. “How would you know?”
“I…ahhh…I mean…he’s a vampire and all. Can’t die.” Shit. I changed the subject. “Where are the books that need to be taken downstairs?”
She pointed to the huge stack of books in the corner. “Right. All of those.” I loaded my backpack and headed to the doorway down, praying the spider queen wasn’t waiting for me.
It took nearly all day to get all of the tomes back into their proper locations. Wendy stood and grabbed her bag, ready to leave for the day. “Hey, I can’t be here tomorrow, so it’s all you. Sorry to do that to you, but Fifi has an appointment at the vet.” Wendy was notoriously unreliable.
Normally I would have been irritated, but it gave me a reason to stay out of the tower. “No problem.”
“Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“You just don’t seem to be yourself.”
“I just have a lot on my mind.”
“You know, if you were anyone else I might buy it, but you’re stuck here, there’s not exactly a lot of drama in a library.”
“There’s more than you’d think.”
“Whatever you say. You might want to call Baba Yaga and see if she can get you an appointment with a supernatural shrink.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll take it under advisement.”
“Fine, don’t then.” With a hop and a skip in her step, she strolled through the room while I followed.
With the closing of the door, one word left my lips, “Fuck.” I reached up, flipped the latches on the magical locks, and leaned my back against the door. Time to face Marcus again.
Nearly out of breath when I reached the top floor, I expected to find Marcus milling about in the books, but he was nowhere to be found. When I stepped into my home, the first thing I noticed was the lump on my bed. He lay on his side away from me, thankfully under the covers.
I summoned my dinner, but he didn’t stir. The book I devoured on the sofa was completely uninterrupted as he lay still in my bed. Funny, I didn’t think vampires slept, and he needed to get out of my bed. “Come on. Nice try. But I know you don’t sleep and that’s my bed. Take the couch like you always do.”
Without complaint, he tossed back the covers and slid out of my bed. His steps were slow and deliberate. Before he could take a seat on the sofa, he collapsed.
Without thinking, I ran to him. “Marcus, are you OK?”
When I lifted his head, his eyes were dark and distant. I wrapped my arms around him and tried to sit him up, but he was a large man and my efforts proved difficult. His eyes were closed. “Marcus, wake up.” I slapped my palm against his cheek try
ing to get him to respond. Nothing. “Fuck.”
Managing to right him somewhat, I felt for a heartbeat. How fucking stupid could I be? He had no heartbeat, he was dead. Well, undead actually but…fuck. “Look, you massive fucking pain in the ass, you better open your eyes. You better start spanking my ass for cussing up a fucking storm.” I shook him. “Who the hell is going to parade around my kitchen driving me half fucking insane everyday?” I slapped him hard. “Huh? Come on. Fucking answer me.”
This was not supposed to be the way things went. He wasn’t supposed to die. Well, at least not when I had to deal with it. He stirred.
I grabbed his face between my hands. “Marcus, what’s wrong? How can I help you?”
He groaned.
“You stupid motherfucker, there has to be a way to fix this? What happened?”
He mumbled a whisper. “The hunger makes me sleep.”
“But you’re not sleeping.”
“I know. It’s like a coma. I’ve gone too long without feeding. I’ll keep losing consciousness off and on, until I finally succumb altogether. It’s one of the most dangerous things that can happen to us.” His eyes rolled back in his head, and he was out again.
Oh shit. “Marcus, please…” It wasn’t as though he could hear me. Droplets of water peppered his face. With a swipe of my thumb, I smeared the tears across his cheek. I closed my eyes. They weren’t his tears, but rather mine. It was stupid to be sentimental. Stupid to even care. In the end, we were both doomed.
I propped him up and sat with my arms around him. Why had he not pressured me? Other than the muffin incident earlier that morning, he hadn’t said a word.
He clutched my arm as he came to. I maneuvered so that I could focus on his face.
Before I could say anything, he placed his palm on the side of my cheek. His voice was raspy and soft. “Promise me something, please.” The sadness in his eyes was overwhelming.
“What do you need?”
“Please keep me safe. Don’t let them take my body. You’re all I have to protect me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. The thoughts that traveled through my head were most unwelcome. Sympathy. Compassion. Neither one could lead to anything good. I was done with this life. But his eyes stared through me, into my soul. A selfish stray thought told me that he couldn’t possibly fulfill his oath if he were sleeping and that he needed to live to pay his debt—give me the death he owed me. But it was silenced by my need to save him, so I could talk to him, torment him, discover more about him. I didn’t want to care about him. Fuck!
“Please,” he breathed on a whisper.
“Fine,” I huffed. “I won’t let anyone kill you. That’s supposed to be my job anyway.”
Air hissed through his lips, and he was out again. I tried to stop the tears, but they refused. It was as though something in me beyond my own selfish need was grieving him, seeing things I couldn’t. Was I really ready to go? Did knowing that he saved me from a life as his slave once and spared countless young girls a similar fate make me see him differently?
His eyes fluttered open.
Not sure if it was his vulnerability, or if I had finally gone insane, since there was no sign of selfish need, but I leaned in and inclined my head.
“Here…drink. Try to keep it from hurting.”
“No,” he whispered.
“Why not? I thought you needed to eat. I’m offering myself as your personal buffet. Are you seriously turning it down?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“The withering from the curse you cast has started. With that, along with the hunger, it won’t be long until I die. The withering hurts. My body aches, but in the hunger there is nothingness. I can’t kill you, Dora. I’ve watched you, held you, seen you as more than someone to fulfill my needs, even that first time when you were offered to me. I can’t kill you willingly.”
“Marcus, I—” I touched his face.
“Don’t worry. You’ll get your wish. Your curse linked our souls. You will die with me. From what I studied, the curse is designed for there to be no way out. Your wish will be fulfilled either by my hand or by my death. But at least this way I won’t have to see it. Your heart will simply stop when the last of me turns to dust. But please don’t let them take my body before it’s time, spare me the humiliation.”
Even faced with to the certainty that my dying wish would be fulfilled, I still could not quiet my need to save him. I wiped the tears from my cheeks, sniffling. “But if you eat…”
“What? I’ll live? I’ll be in agony for the remainder of my time because you’d rather be dead than bound to me. Trust me, my choice is selfish. By not feeding from you, I’ll suffer less in the long run. I’d drain you dry right now and let Baba Yaga strike me dead, but she’d make it even more excruciating. So this is the only option. It’s the only way I can fulfill your wish.”
“No!” I shook him. “I mean… Fuck.”
I wanted him to respond. To deliver on one of his spankings for my cursing, but his head slumped to the side. This was not how it was supposed to happen. But honestly what did I expect? A clean death? I wanted no attachment. No feelings. A stranger delivering a single blow, but that Goddamn Baba Yaga. She screwed everything up. Now there were feelings and complications. Motherfucking witches. They were what got me into this mess. Julian, why?
My tears cascaded down Marcus’s face, dragging with them the reality of the situation. My fantasy of freedom shattered with each drop.
He moaned and his body jerked.
I whispered under my breath. “You son of a bitch.” I held my wrist to his mouth. “I wanted nothing more than for all of this to end, but now it can’t. My death can’t be at your expense. Please…” I begged, hoping he might hear me.
His eyes opened.
“Feed,” I demanded.
He tossed his head from side to side. His fangs protruding over his lip. “No. No. No.”
“Do it.” Anger and desperation laced each word.
“I can’t.”
“You know; I should be insulted. You’ve drunk from nearly everything that has a vagina and walks, and yet here I am offering myself to you…”
He cupped my face in both of his hands. “That should tell you everything you need to know about how I feel about you. I gave you up once to save you, why would this be any different? If you truly see living as torture, how can I deny you?” His hands fell to his side and his eyes drifted closed.
Even though he couldn’t hear me, I spoke out loud, “You know, I didn’t ask your permission when I set the curse, why should I start now?”
I stuck my finger between his front teeth and pried his mouth open. Placing a hand on the back of his head, I pressed his fangs into my wrist. “Fuck.” Pain radiated through my arm. Even though the initial strike hurt like a bitch, holding still until he woke up again would be the biggest challenge.
I made the mistake of glancing at the clock. Ten minutes had passed. The muscles in my arm ached as I held it to his mouth.
Fifteen minutes. “Son of a bitch.”
Thirty minutes. “Fuck. This hurts.”
Forty-five minutes. “This motherfucker is going to stay asleep just to spite me. I can’t take this much longer.”
Fifty-two minutes. Searing pain caused a scream to tear through me as his teeth clamped down on my wrist. With each pull, I could feel my resistance fold. He hadn’t acknowledged me, but his hand clamped around my arm, holding me in place.
A groan escaped his lips with each draw and a matching pleasure built deep within me—wave after wave of euphoric delight caused me to crest and fall. Those rumors about the vampire bite weren’t exaggerating. I moaned and a delicious intoxication overcame me. I would have done anything he wanted.
In one sudden movement, he withdrew his fangs and darted across the room. “What did you do?” he growled.
I rolled my head from side to side, trying to focus through the ecstasy. A sigh of contentment escaped. “I s
aved your life.”
Before I could register what was happening, he had his hand around my throat. “You had no right.”
I didn’t heed his warning. “Since when have I been worried about what’s right where you’re concerned?” Whether it was his bite, or the heady feeling that came with doing a good deed, or both, I didn’t know, but I wanted him. He had been torturing me, and I was done playing games. I stared into his eyes and issued my ultimatum. “Let me answer that for you…never. The question is… What are you going to fucking do about it?”
In an instant, I found myself face down on the couch again, in the position that had been the subject of all of my fantasies for the past week. I squealed with the impact of the first smack across my ass. He wound his fist in the side of my panties.
I screamed, “No!”
“You’ve got to be joking. No one has ever refused me after receiving my bite. I’m beginning to wonder if you’re the devil in school girl clothing.”
“Huh? What? Oh… No…just don’t rip the panties. I don’t want Baba Yaga dropping in while you’re fucking my brains out.”
Smack.
“Fuck, that hurts.”
Smack.
He melded his body to my back and whispered in my ear, “I’m going to take that as consent. You agreed. There is no going back.” He licked the side of my neck. “This collar has to go, it’s in my way.”
I grabbed his hand. “You can’t remove it. It suppresses my magic.”
He leaned up and slid my panties down my legs. “I thought you were human. You certainly taste human. In fact…” he pulled my panties free from one foot and then the next and used his palms to spread my legs.
He buried his face between my legs and with the first touch of his tongue to my sex, I shuddered. He lapped at the wetness that pooled there. “I would venture to say you are the most delicious woman I’ve ever tasted. Pure ambrosia.” His tongue delved between my folds, and I gasped with each swipe. “Ummm we don’t have to worry about that collar, I have a better idea.” He shoved two fingers inside me, and I let out a whimper.
He worked his digits in and out of me, building a rhythm. “That’s it. I can feel you growing tight around me. I can’t wait to take you…but first…” He plunged his fangs into the artery on my inner thigh. The piercing sensation gave way to euphoria as his fingers and mouth worked me to climax. I shook under his control. Not giving me a moment to respond before withdrawing his fangs and angling my hips, he buried his cock in my welcoming wetness.