by Taryn Rose
A metal door slammed in the distance, the sound echoing through the lair where she had been taken hostage. A click-clacking of heels grew louder until a beautiful devil stood in front of her with arms crossed.
“Marion,” Skarlet said under her breath, as if uttering a profanity.
“Hello, Skarlet.” Marion’s thick, black bangs and matte lipstick were as harsh as her demeanor.
“I was on my way to see you when I was snatched—”
“Tell me, Skarlet,” she interrupted. “Why has my Trio become a duo?”
“They tried to kill me, Marion.” She drew a breath.
“With good reason, I’ve heard.”
“Please, honorable one…” She forced Marion’s proper title through her teeth.
“Why shouldn’t I terminate you right now?” Marion paced, turning her back to her.
“They were going to kill an innocent girl.”
“A human that you were supposed to deliver for testing. And what happened?” She looked down. “Did you decide to keep her for yourself?”
“They were going to kill her,” she repeated.
“Yes,” she said, pacing. “If her blood failed.” Marion turned to face her prisoner. “But you didn’t allow us to test her,” she yelled. Her voice reverberated through the dungeon.
“Because she would not have survived the test.” She struggled to find poise, but it was impossible. “A man was about to rape her when I found her. She was wounded badly, and I…”
Marion approached and breathed down her neck. “You saved her,” she whispered. “What a hero you are.” She put her hand on Skarlet’s inner thigh. Skarlet closed her eyes, enduring the entitled hand.
“Marion, please,” she whispered.
“Did your human do this?” she asked, sliding up under Skarlet’s body suit. She reached into her warmth, and Skarlet steeled herself as Marion brushed a fingertip past her opening and pressed down on her clitoris. “You are engorged, my dear. And quite lubricated. And I didn’t even do anything yet.” She pushed her finger inside.
“Stop!” Skarlet shrieked.
“Oh, but you like when your human does that.” Her teeth grinded, belying her calm demeanor.
Skarlet pinched her eyelids together, trying to will away Marion’s debasing fingers. Her body disobeyed her and welcomed the sexual activity, and she was humiliated that her pleasure sensors could be aroused against her will. That damn bestial instinct. A tremor of disgust shook her all over and her stomach felt queasy. “Please, Marion.” How dare she touch me? Her fangs pushed down in a rage, and Marion laughed. She had the nerve to laugh at her!
“Please what, Skar? Continue or stop? You forget I know your true nature. We are brutes of the night, you and me. You could never get enough of this, remember?” Her mouth moved into a sly smile as she moved inside her. And Skarlet was reminded how Marion knew her sensors better than anyone else since the inception of her vampire existence. It was a violation. Yes, Skarlet had fucked her share of vampire women, eaten from humanity. Degraded others with her strength. But the thrill was cheap, and ended with maturity as it does for all vampires who discover an inner moral compass. Skarlet’s human core remained intact despite the physical changes, and she held on to it—changed her ways because of it. Skarlet believed that she indeed had a soul.
“I was young then,” she managed in a whisper, and Marion’s face immediately soured. She fiercely withdrew and Skarlet staggered out a breath, relieved it was over.
Marion inhaled sharply. “You smell like human,” she said and slapped Skarlet across the face. “You beast! You tasted her! You fucked and drank our human!” She smashed her fist into Skarlet’s jaw, then kicked her repeatedly in the abdomen until she was coughing up blood and could no longer recoil, her body limp.
“No!” Exhaustion and futility eclipsed her will to fight, and her ears rang in pain.
“You’re lying! You dare lie to me? To the Commission!”
“You ruined my life, Marion,” she eked out. “You took me away from my mother,” she sobbed, and spit blood at Marion’s boot.
“You were lucky that I raised you!” Marion yelled at her like a parent to an ungrateful child. “No one else would take on an Amazon who fancies other vampiresses.”
“I was sixteen,” she wept.
“Your mother couldn’t possibly understand what you had become. I was the only one who understood you, Skarlet. And you threw that away.” Her eyes were vicious.
“You took advantage of my youth.”
“I turned you into a proper vampiress warrior. I gave you a place in society.”
“A society? Is that what you call this?”
Marion snarled and her fangs broke through. She resumed the beating and Skarlet slipped in and out of consciousness.
She dreamed of dying. Of white noise. Peace. In her vampiric existence, she was never able to rid herself of Marion. And she wondered how the older vampires believed and trusted in her enough to bring her into the Commission when it was so obvious she was a swine and a liar. But there was no greater ruse than Marion’s beauty and false charms. She drifted back into awareness.
“Your punishment will be decapitation by silver ax.” Marion spoke to her again then started for the door.
Despite her suffering, Skarlet breathed a sigh of relief. Marion had not even asked where Emma could be found. She got what she had hoped for. Her life in exchange for the girl’s. Emma could go on and live fully, with no watchful eyes on her. She prayed Emma would heed her advice and relocate to a Scandinavian population. Immediately.
Chapter Seven: Emma
Hours had passed and Emma still hadn’t heard from Skarlet. Her body was already aching for her, taunting her with its expectation of repeated passion. But it was more than that. Her punctures had closed and a new supply of blood was backed up, in need of delivery into her vampiress, to sate her and satisfy Emma in return. Yes, her neck needed to be torn into anew. Emma’s body felt one with Skarlet’s and her desires.
Her spine straightened against the headboard as she drew a sharp breath. A premonition blasted her mind like a bolt of lightning. Something was terribly wrong. A feeling of dread washed over her and she turned pale. As her blood circulated inside the vampiress, an awareness of Skarlet’s emotions took over every fiber of her being. Her lover’s torment exploded through her veins.
She cinched her robe and checked her phone. Nothing. She couldn’t wait any longer. Biting her nails, she dialed.
“Theo, I need you to meet me at the Pierre with your car. Bring Chris. I need your help.”
“I can’t believe you’re dragging us into this!” shouted Chris from the back seat. “You don’t even know where we’re going.”
“Spontaneous road trips rule,” joked Theo as he drove. “You do have some idea of where we’re going though, right?”
“North,” she said.
“Oh great, north. So we’ll just keep on going until we get to Albany then. Peachy,” said Chris.
“It’s called Goshen. Just stay north. I’ll feel it when we’re close.”
“You’ll feel it? What the fuck, Emma?” Chris flailed his hand until it landed on his forehead.
“If we do find her, what’s your plan? To save her from what, exactly?” asked Theo, keeping his eyes on the road.
“To save the good vampire from the evil vampires? This is not a burlesque,” Chris added.
“Maybe I should write that,” Theo said.
“You can joke. But it’s my blood they’re after. Once they have me, they’ll let her go.”
“So it’s okay if they hurt you instead?” said Chris.
“I know they’re torturing her and I can’t stand it. They won’t hurt me.” A tear fell from her eye as she kept her focus straight ahead.
“My dear, you’ve been bitten by the vampire.” Theo squeezed her shoulder. “A love bite.”
“You don’t know what they’ll do to you. Do I need to remind you what happened in our apa
rtment?” said Chris.
“All I know is I have to find her.”
“Lord help us all.”
“Look, I know how it sounds…”
“Um, bat shit crazy?” said Chris.
“I could never live with myself if I didn’t find Skarlet.”
“I still can’t believe you’re dating a woman,” said Theo, yawning.
“Who happens to be a vampire,” Chris added.
“Was it our influence?” Theo asked.
“There it is! Goshen! Turn off here.”
“Mazel tov,” said Chris, and the car swerved off the highway.
Chapter Eight: Skarlet
Marion returned after what seemed like an eternity. She held a silver ax in her arms like a precious pet. “I always knew this day would come,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “I even have an official decree to carry out your sentence.” She held out the parchment paper for Skarlet’s viewing. “The other Commission members were more than happy to sign your life away.”
“Liar!” Skarlet yelled.
“You are too rebellious for your own good. You always were.”
“Death will be sweeter than your tyranny. Give me death!” she shouted. “As long as I never have to lay my eyes on you again!”
“Very well.” Marion closed in on her with rage-fueled eyes. She lifted her arms in a fury. “I will hold onto the memory of what we once shared and not what you have become.”
“That is what this is about. You can’t stand that I don’t love you. That I never loved you. But I will die knowing what love is.” Even as her strength waned, her resolve intensified. “I know what it means to feel true love.”
“You fell in love with a human.” Marion put the ax behind her shoulder and clacked those oppressive heels. “And you think she loves you too?” She shook her head, and contorted her face. “You are weak. I’ve always known that about you, Skarlet. And that is why you are going to die. Your weakness is what brought you here.”
“You always underestimated me.” Skarlet said and then breathed in, barely. The shackles were wearing her down.
“You used your powers to manipulate a human and then tricked yourself into believing you found love.” Marion started laughing.
“Stop it!”
“Oh, but it’s so funny! How pathetic you are.” Marion took a deep breath and calmed herself down. Then she raised her arms.
Skarlet winced. Her last thoughts would be of Emma. Of their lovemaking. How her smile made everything wonderful. She prayed for Emma to have a beautiful life.
Chapter Nine: Emma
“You can still turn back,” said Theo.
“No,” she turned her head to him. “I can’t.”
Theo drove onto a dark gravelly path and turned on his brights.
“This is it. I’m sure!” Emma straightened up. “Drop me here.”
“Are you kidding?” Theo said. “This is incredibly creepy, my dear.”
“We’re not leaving you alone here,” said Chris.
Emma sighed. “You are the best friends a girl can ask for. But I can take it from here. I mean it…go home.”
Theo slowed the car down. “I don’t know, Emma.” He looked around. “There’s nothing here.” Other than a single light off in the distance, it was pitch black.
“That’s the warehouse,” said Emma, pointing at the light. “Now please, Theo. Stop the car and let me out. I have my phone and I’ll call if I need you,” she lied. Theo complied and Emma opened her door. He turned off the ignition and he and Chris got out of the car too.
“Guys…” she said.
“We’re in this together,” said Theo, and he embraced her.
Chris hugged the both of them. “You’re like our sister, Emma. We would never let anything happen to you.
They emerged from their embrace to find guards surrounding them.
Emma jumped when she realized she was facing Anhang. “You,” she said.
“Can you believe our luck?” snarled Anhang to Clifton, the other guard.
“Take me to Skarlet,” Emma demanded.
“With pleasure,” said Anhang. “You stay here and watch over the males.”
“With pleasure,” Clifton seconded, licking his lips.
“Leave them out of this. They’re innocent. It’s me you want,” pleaded Emma.
“Don’t worry, Miss Jones. I’ll take good care of them.” Clifton flared his nostrils then ran a finger down Theo’s cheek.
“Get your hands off him,” Chris said.
Clifton pulled off his shirt, revealing beefy shoulders and a well-defined chest. He flexed and inhaled deeply, leaving the boys entranced.
“Hel-l-o,” said Theo.
“On the other hand,” said Chris, and he took off his shirt too.
“And then there were three.” Off went Theo’s shirt as well.
The trio of shirtless men closed the distance between themselves, and Clifton planted his lips on Theo’s. Chris began massaging his boyfriend’s shoulder, watching intently as Theo made out with a hot vampire. His lust growing, Chris moved in and pushed his fingers through Clifton’s dark locks, aggressively pulling him closer until he plunged his tongue into his mouth himself.
Anhang grabbed Emma by the arm. “They’ll be fine. Let’s go,” he said and pulled her along with him as he walked.
“Where is Skarlet?” Emma demanded.
“You’re about to join her. Or what’s left of her.” He smiled wickedly.
Emma turned her head in time to see Clifton moving his hand down Chris’s pants.
“Oh yeah,” Chris exhaled and closed his eyes.
Emma swallowed hard as Anhang wrapped his arm around her waist. The two of them took flight.
Chapter Ten: Skarlet
Marion held the ax above her head.
Skarlet had clenched her eyes shut, steeling herself for the end, when the clang of the dungeon door sounded. Her eyes popped open, and Marion twisted to look behind her.
Anhang walked in, clutching Emma.
Skarlet’s eyes widened. “No!” she screamed desperately.
“Oh my God, Skarlet!” Emma struggled to shake the guard off, but he held her.
“Well, who is this?” Marion looked the young girl over.
“This is Emma Jones, honorable one,” said Anhang. “I found her looking for Skarlet at the warehouse.”
“Emma Jones. The human you fell in love with?” Marion set the ax down. “I cannot believe my good fortune.”
“Let her go,” Skarlet said in the calmest voice she could muster.
Marion flipped her hair and giggled. “What would be the fun in that? You can leave, Anhang.” She waved the male vampire away.
He nodded, obliging. The door slam reverberated throughout the dungeon.
“Please, ma’am…” Emma started.
“Call me Marion.” She licked her lips.
“Emma!” screamed Skarlet. She desperately writhed in her chains, burning her skin. “Aargh!” she shrieked.
“Skarlet,” Emma ran to her and met with Marion’s forceful grip on her shoulder.
“You will stay right here!” she shouted.
“Get off of her!” yelled Skarlet.
“I’m so sorry,” Emma wept. “Please, don’t kill Skarlet.” She dropped to her knees. “This is all my fault.” All Skarlet could do was watch Emma’s futile attempt for mercy. Her vampire heart was breaking.
Marion joined her on the floor. She ran the back of her hand down her lush, golden hair.
“Get off of her!” Skarlet shouted. She couldn’t help herself.
Marion shot Skarlet daggers with her eyes then turned back to Emma. “How is this your fault?”
“I needed to see Skarlet again. I knew there was something about her. When I first saw Skarlet, something awakened in me…a feeling I have never had before. I…I seduced her. I had to have her. And now that I’ve been intimate with a vampiress, I can never go back. You see,” she leaned in closer to Marion
. “I need it.” She exhaled and undid a button on her silk blouse.
Marion brushed a finger down her cheek. “You are only human,” she said, and moved a hand down to Emma’s thigh, meeting with no resistance.
Skarlet was bursting with rage. Her veins throbbed forcefully up against her skin, as if they could break through and attack Marion on their own.
“You don’t need Skarlet to satisfy you. I am twice the vampiress she is,” Marion said and lifted Emma’s chin so that she was forced to look straight at her. Straight into the eyes of the devil.
Emma looked down and breathed deeply, then turned her eyes back up to Marion. “Take me, powerful vampiress warrior.” She thrust her chest out to the devil incarnate.
“That’s a good girl.” Marion unleashed her lust and let out a harsh grunt. Her fangs crashed down.
“No!” Skarlet shouted. Her voice, raspy and dull.
“Silence!” She leaned in close to Emma. “You see, this is how we do things. I enjoyed Skarlet before you got here. And now I am going to enjoy you.”
Skarlet detected Emma’s adrenaline level—her blood was heating, pumping faster. But it wasn’t the result of fear; it was anger. “Emma, don’t do this!”
“Aarrr!” Marion growled and thrust her head forward, clamping down on Emma’s neck.
“Yes!” Emma shouted. “Drink me! Drink me!”
Marion’s fangs dug deep into Emma’s flesh. She was reckless, greedily swallowing heaping gulps of Emma’s blood. Skarlet rattled her chains, shaking her cuffs, the steam sizzling off her weakening body.
“Yes, Marion!” Emma called out. “More!”
“Emma, that’s enough!” Skarlet pleaded. “Please, Marion! You’ll kill her.”
Marion was awash in her forbidden pleasure. “Aahh.” She sucked and sucked some more, her stomach bloating with Emma’s blood. “You intoxicate me,” she mumbled, and continued the assault. Her blood-soaked mouth and sloppy chin, an arrogant display. Skarlet saw Emma struggling to reach back behind her, under the waistline of her skirt.
“Aaah!” screamed Marion, as Emma plunged a knife deep into the side of her throat.