Playing with Passion Theta Series Book 1

by Gayle Parness

  No. And he never would. Why did the loss of a family he’d hardly ever thought about suddenly cut into his gut like a saber? Perhaps because it brought with it so many other unanswered questions. Were his parents alive? Did he have siblings? If he’d been free to grow up normally, could he have helped them survive? None of these questions would ever be answered.

  But there was one question that might have an answer. Was freedom a possibility, or would their attempt at escape end in a brutal death for all of them? The Director wouldn't be easy to fool and practically impossible to kill.

  But could he continue to be satisfied with half a life, when he knew so much more was possible? The answer lay deep in his heart, a place now permanently occupied by a determined female who had shifted his worldview so dramatically. He was still suffering from vertigo because of her unexpected announcement that their own powers could set them free.

  He’d experienced her magic. What would happen if he, Gene and Ingrid combined their powers?

  Mack took in a deep breath to still his radical thoughts and set to work, connecting to the source. The troupe had a show to open. He would shelve her ideas and focus again on them tomorrow.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Are you nervous?” Diane asked, adding more mascara to her already stiffened eyelashes.

  “Not at all.” Ingrid’s energy was topped up, and she was feeling positive now that Gene was on board with her scheme.

  Diane sighed. “Tonight’s script is brutal.” Diane was playing the leading lady role, the master vamp’s blood mate, fiercely loyal and vicious when crossed. She’d be responsible in the fantasy for torturing Ingrid and Gene’s characters—two young vampires from a rival nest who’d seriously injured her mate in an attempt to kill him. They’d be chained in silver, raped, beaten, and left to burn in the sun. This kind of scenario was emotionally draining on everyone, so they tried to conserve their energy as much as they could until it was needed.

  Troupe actors didn’t actually feel any pain, but projecting the anger, the agony, and the terror would leave its mark on their psyches for a few hours at least. Ingrid knew she’d need the support of Gene’s friendship tonight as much as he’d need hers.

  In the car, Ingrid had held Gene's hand and leaned against his shoulder, comforting her troubled mind by breathing in his minty soap and citrus scent. Last night's activities had recharged their psycores, but more importantly, they'd begun to form a friendship not simply dictated by their circumstances. They’d chosen to trust each other, empowering themselves with that simple truth. Even though the evening would be a tough one, she’d found herself smiling. Gene's ability to bond on a deeply emotional level had worked its magic on Ingrid, the same way it did his audience. And she was so not complaining.

  Mack called the troupe together twenty minutes before the show was to begin.

  "You're going to blow their undead minds tonight. The troupe will get bookings for the next decade. Relax and focus. Alan and I are here to support you." Ingrid was surprised when Mack approached each troupe member individually, clasping hands with the men and lightly hugging the women, offering up some private words of encouragement. She’d never seen a PM show such respect to his actors.

  Mack hesitated when he reached her. The rest of the troupe had already left to get into position and pull up power. She smiled to put him at ease.

  “Don’t look so worried. I’d never let my troupe down during a performance, no matter how I felt about The Director. I'll behave, and I appreciate your patience."

  "We're all glad you've joined us." Mack said, returning her smile with a gorgeous one of his own.

  Ingrid glanced at the group. "Some of them, maybe."

  “Give them time.” Without thought, he leaned in to hug her, and with the barest touch of skin-on-skin, Mack’s source-fueled axis connected to hers. Ingrid’s responded with a wash of its own, answering his call. They slammed down their shields at the same time, both of them looking embarrassed and backing away.

  But she was glowing inside, filled with the confidence and hope only Mack’s energy could supply. Mack whispered, probably hoping no one else had noticed the exchange. "Sorry.” But he didn’t look sorry at all.

  “We’re going to have to make sure our shields are always strong when we’re around each

  other.” They locked gazes for a few moments. "You aren't doing that consciously, are you?” He shook his head and lowered his hands, embarrassed by the obvious evidence of his enjoyment.

  "Me either." His shoulders relax slightly. "I think some of these vamps are going to be reaping the benefits of that power surge tonight. I only wish it could be us."

  “I want it to be. You know that, right?”

  Alan arrived before she could reply. "Warning on ten."

  "Thank you, ten." She turned away, wanting so badly to shake some sense into this stubborn male who wouldn’t hear her. If she, Gene, and Mack sat down together and talked, they could begin to form a strategy. Taking another step toward freedom.

  Gene was stretching out his muscles and warming up. He gave her a wary glance as she started a quick version of her usual stretching routine, her expression determined.

  "You look upset. Did Mack say anything?"

  "No. Everything's fine."

  "Places." Alan loped back to his equipment, ready to begin.

  Gene and Ingrid clasped hands, as did the other two couples, each of them pulling up power and creating their characters. When the curtain rose, there was a sprinkling of weak applause. Most vampires considered themselves too classy to show appreciation in such a mundane fashion.

  The performance began when Mack sent out a thrust of powerful magic, boosting the actors’ energy. Alan added music and scenic effects to set the mood as Gene and Ingrid sent their two young vampires into the darkness of the night and the danger that awaited them. At the same time, hundreds of undead minds reached out to Ingrid’s. In expert style, she connected with each one, allowing them to experience every aspect of her fantasy character’s brief life.

  Mack's power fueled Ingrid’s body with his magical support, allowing her to focus on the smaller details that made the experience more realistic for the audience. The young vampires coupled with a violent lust that had males and females moaning in the audience. After her capture, the fantasy female's bloody tears stained her clothes as the audience wiped at their own faces. Later, her screams had them grabbing at their throats, their cries loud enough to burn their vocal chords.

  Gene moved with grace and strength, refreshing Ingrid’s psycore energy with every twist of his body, keeping eye contact to help them continue to focus. When Diane made it a trio, Ingrid gave her a mental shove, bringing a gasp from Diane, but also adding a new dimension of dark potency to her character, the master vampire’s mate. Eyes flashing with excitement, Diane grinned at Ingrid and shoved back.

  This kind of exchange was normal during a performance, but Ingrid was determined to stoke up Diane's level even more, hoping she'd feel less nervous regarding the experiments if Diane benefited from them herself. Gene joined in with his energy exchange, a welcome warmth helping to fuel the darkest moments of the last scenes. The torture, and finally the burning, had the audience, many of whom were master vampires, raging with blood lust and biting viciously into their blood slaves’ necks, having brought them along to the show for just this purpose.

  At the end, the troupe was greeted with deafening applause, a lot of exposed fang, as well as more private body parts. Satisfied that she'd done her best, Ingrid joined the other actors, lazily hugging and leaning on each other, all of them exhausted.

  Mack slipped his mini H-tab into his pocket and took his time joining the group. "Is everyone feeling all right?" They nodded, still smiling. "Good. Your performance was extraordinary. Please gather your things and get ready for the after-show party with Elias’ people at the Marquis."

  Sam shook his head. "Do you really think that's such a great idea? Ingrid, Gene and Di have th
em all worked up. It'll be hard to keep them from acting out—maybe getting violent and forcing one of the females to give blood.”

  Ingrid’s skin crawled as they all stared in her direction, knowing she’d probably be the one honored in that way. Without comment, she twisted to face Mack. He tightened his mouth, saying to the group, "I'll morph and come too. I won't let anything happen." The PM wasn’t usually welcome at these kinds of parties, but Mack could disguise himself as a guard or a server or even a vampire.

  The rest of the troupe did as instructed, but Ingrid stuck around to hear the truth. "Tell me."

  Mack kept his expression neutral. “The Director wants you to take care of Giovanni. He's the visiting master from Solano."

  "Take care of?"

  "Not fuck or pull up a fantasy. He was definite about that."

  Ingrid took a moment to watch Mack's face. Something else was up. "He's punishing me for some reason. What did I do?"

  "He sensed what you did with Diane."

  "He’s here?”

  “He left.”

  “I didn't pull up extra power."

  "He knows."

  "Diane probably never created such a realistic projection in her whole career."

  "That's not the point. You took initiative and went against his protocol. He won't tolerate much more."

  She was fuming. "Let's be honest here. He wants me to blow this guy—like the whore I am."

  "Ingrid..." He took a step forward, reaching out with his hands, but she retreated.

  "Or does he want me to give him blood? I’ve been told theta blood is extra delicious. Or maybe The Director would prefer he beat the shit out of me?"

  "Please, listen..."

  "Shut up, Mack." Shaking from a combination of anger, fear, and betrayal, Ingrid pushed past her production manager, her body a coiled spring. In the dressing room, she ignored the worried looks of the other two females and cleaned up, refreshing her makeup and hair. She changed her outfit in record time, climbing into the limo next to Gene, surprised to find Mack there, too. Maybe he wanted to make sure she didn't ditch the limo and try to make a run for it.

  "What's wrong, darlin'? You were great tonight." Gene was rubbing her arm, but Ingrid couldn't bring herself to look at him.

  "Why don't you tell him?" Ingrid glared at Mack, unable to hide the hurt. Her logical side knew it wasn’t his fault, The Director was a cruel master, but right now, she was having trouble thinking logically.

  Mack delivered the bad news to Gene, ending with, “I have an idea that could…”

  "Fuck that. He's not touching her."

  Ingrid was pleased by Gene’s vehemence, and she raised her voice to match. "He'll be surrounded by his nest, the rest of the Italian contingent, along with some of the New York hosts." Ingrid crossed her arms over her chest, continuing to glare at Mack. "The Director gave his official okay. I might as well be stark naked and wearing a sign around my neck that says, humiliate and abuse me.”

  Mack started to speak up, but Gene interrupted him. "Elias’s buddy can take me. I'll do whatever he wants."

  "Gene..." Ingrid placed her hand over his.

  Mack shook his head. "He doesn't swing that way. The Director offered you first, but the guy only wants Ingrid."

  "Nice," she grumbled.

  "If you two would listen and stop interrupting, I have this figured out." Mack was starting to sound as pissed off as she and Gene did.

  What did he have to be angry about? "Really? Do tell." She leaned back in her seat, refusing to acknowledge he was capable of having a good idea.

  Mack ignored her. "He wants Ingrid. We'll give him Ingrid. I'll morph. He'll never know it isn't her."

  Ingrid and Gene were completely speechless.

  Gene recovered first. "You'd...?" He grinned, opening his mouth wide and pretending to lick something with his tongue. Ingrid elbowed him in the ribs.

  Mack laughed. "I'm not blowing the guy. I'll say something about the size of his dick or something...make him angry. Then maybe he'll beat me up and be happy."

  Gene was chuckling. "That would be completely out of character for Ingrid. She’d never smart-mouth anyone." They looked her way, maybe hoping for a smile, but she was still simmering in the corner. "C'mon, I was joking. Mack's got it figured out. Why are you still mad?"

  “Aren’t you angry when The Director treats you like a whore?”

  “Yes. But tonight, Mack’s the whore and you’re off the hook.”

  "But… what am I supposed to do? Sit in the limo?"

  "Yes," Mack said, bewildered.

  “At the risk of getting whacked, I’m gonna say duh,” Gene added, ducking when her shoe came flying toward his head.

  Mack took on a thoughtful expression. "You'll have to accompany me into the hotel, like you normally would escort Ingrid."

  "Can I grab your ass?" Gene was really enjoying this.

  "Try it and I'll kick you in the nuts with my spiky heel."

  "You're so violent, sugar. Keep it up. It's hot." Even Ingrid had to admit the two of them together were funny, but Mack was volunteering to put himself in real danger. This was serious.

  "Would you guys stop it, already?" They turned in her direction, doing their best to look attentive. "What if The Director is there?"

  "He's not. He flashed out right after the performance and called me from his Boston penthouse near the Commons. I checked," Mack said.

  Ingrid twisted her mouth in thought. "I guess I should morph too, and sit in the front seat with Johnny, like I'm his friend or something."

  "Why don't you have Johnny park the shuttle and get you something to eat? We're supposed to get picked up again at two am." Mack rolled down the soundproofed security window and asked Johnny about finding a restaurant.

  "I know a great family-owned place on eleventh. I can get you practically anything you want," Johnny answered.

  Leaning over, Ingrid took Mack's hand. “You’re sure?”

  “Don’t you know how I feel about you?” The now-familiar warmth of his energy reached out to connect to hers. “I can’t let them hurt you.”

  “Thank you."

  He squeezed her hand and smiled. "I've thought a lot about what you said. This kind of shit has to stop. I’m with you."

  His warm breath brushed against her hair, her vision narrowing to his stunningly handsome face, blocking out everything else. She tilted her body forward, Mack’s mouth beginning to open.

  "We're here." Johnny called out.

  Suddenly Ingrid was smiling at her mirror image, shocked at how quickly Mack had pulled off the morph.

  "Don't stop now! Kiss each other, girls." Mack and Ingrid smacked Gene at the same time.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Ingrid was able to wiggle over the open divider into the front seat without too much trouble, a sight Gene and Mack enjoyed immensely. After stepping out of the limo and nodding to the curious crowd that had gathered, Mack accepted Gene’s offered arm, ignoring the amused glint in his eyes. No one bothered them in the lobby or the elevator, and they easily located the large room on the third floor.

  Gene stuck around speaking to Elias, a medium sized, dark-haired vampire who claimed to be descended from ancient Egyptian demi-gods. Giovanni was introduced to them a few minutes later, olive skinned and friendly, at least on the surface. After a few silent moments where the ancient master simply stared at his Italian guest, Giovanni nodded. Mack guessed a bargain had been reached. Elias kissed Mack’s hand and escorted Gene to the other side of the room, introducing him to some females who looked extremely pleased to meet with the handsome theta.

  Giovanni paid special attention to Mack’s version of Ingrid, holding the ingénue’s hand firmly in place at the crook of his arm. No slipping quietly out of the room would be allowed. He did his best to be charming—in a master vampire kind of way—but vampires rarely understood that slaves who were being sold to them for sex were not terribly interested in being charmed.

  “I partic
ularly enjoyed torturing your female vampire, Ms. Hudson.” His accent was strong, but still comprehensible. “Her screams sent delightful shivers through my body.”

  Mack was confused by the comment. Did this guy really think an actor would like to hear that? “You connected to Dave?” Mack asked, smiling with a tense jaw. When he made a fist, a habit when he was in a tight situation, it occurred to him that as Ingrid, he had much longer nails.

  Maybe I can claw the guy’s eyes out.

  “Yes, your male Diva. He was quite competent.” Dave had been Diane’s second in command, a vampire enforcer who did most of the actual torturing in the performance. “However, your character filled me with lust and a keen thirst. I am afraid my blood slave did not survive the performance.” Not knowing exactly how he was supposed to respond to that remark, Mack allowed Giovanni to lead him to the bar. He declined the offer of a drink politely and asked only for a glass of cold water, needing to hold on to his focus in order to deal with this powerful supernatural.

  After half an hour of mingling, Elias tapped Giovanni on the shoulder, probably giving him the okay to leave with his date. “Signorina, perhaps you would accompany me for a private dinner, upstairs in my suite?”

  Mack agreed immediately. There was no reason to delay any further.

  It was all so smoothly done. The elevator dropped them at the twenty-eighth floor, where another of the Italian masters, Paolo, happened to be waiting outside the room. Inside, a table of gourmet food had been laid out, but Mack didn't think the two vamps would be patient enough to wait around while Ingrid ate.

  They wanted blood. It was clear in the way they looked at Ingrid's graceful neck and the hint of fang they weren't interested in hiding. Blood usually led to sex or violence, so Mack would have to think on his feet to get out of this situation, all without putting the real Ingrid in danger from The Director. Their boss had agreed that Elias could pass her over to Giovanni. If the Italian master vamp ended the evening unhappy, she’d be the one held responsible. The Director probably knew nothing about the second vampire, but even so, Paolo’s dissatisfaction could also end up being Ingrid’s responsibility.