by Sofia Daniel
After sunset, the boys brought me to the marble bathroom and pushed me onto the bench under the showers. They crowded around me, shoved a bottle of shower gel into my hands, and ordered me to get to work.
I glowered at their hardening pricks and tried to tamp down the thrill of excitement between my legs. What was the point of getting turned on when it was never reciprocated?
I took my time to massage them to full hardness, to squeeze and tease them until they throbbed and shuddered and moaned. Even though I resented the selfish pricks, I reveled in the small amount of power I held over them during times like this. I loved making them groan at my command and adored the feel of their gorgeous, hard bodies.
Every night I’d snuck a piece of paper into my crate, and each day I awoke to practice setting it alight. The power felt within a hairsbreadth of reach. I just needed to activate it and turn things around.
After the boys climaxed over my breasts, Dante pulled me to my feet and cupped my face between his hands. Although warm water cascaded down on us from the shower-heads, his aquamarine eyes were still cold as icicles.
He flicked the tip of my nose. “You’ve been a surprisingly good whore these past few weeks.”
“That’s high praise, coming from you, master,” I said, keeping the ‘bater’ quiet.
Nero approached me from behind and massaged the remnants of their cum into my breasts. “You deserve a reward.”
Anticipation shivered down my spine. Would they demand sex? Part of me hoped they would because I was getting sick of trying to tease an orgasm out of myself in front of an audience, only to have them leer and laugh at my sexual frustration.
“Really?”
I shoved my ass into Nero’s erection, partly resenting him for getting hard mere minutes after I’d jerked him off, and partly wishing he’d slip his hardness inside me and give me what I needed.
Nero nibbled on the column of my neck. “We’re taking you out for a walk.”
I arched into his touch, barely registering the promise of leaving the castle. Right now, all I wanted was the chance to climax.
Dante leaned close and licked the other side of my neck. Closing my eyes, I imagined each stroke of his tongue between my legs,
All thoughts of Gates and Zarah evaporated into the ether. Nero lifted my leg and placed it on the bench. He ran his erection between my ass cheeks, while Dante ran his hardness along my exposed slit. I turned to Raphael, who wrapped his hand around his prick and watched us with wide, green eyes.
While Nero rolled my nipples between his thick fingers, Dante rubbed tight circles around my pulsing clit. Molten ecstasy surged through my torso, starting at my breasts and ending at my core. My muscles clenched around nothing, aching to be filled.
Still with one leg propped up against the bench, I leaned against Nero’s hard chest, rested my head against his broad shoulder, and panted hard. This was the first time the boys had attempted to give me pleasure.
“You have a choice,” Dante whispered into my ear, sending pleasant shudders down my spine.
“Yes?” I said in a gasp.
“We can swap places. Dante filling you from behind, and me filling you from the front.”
A moan tore from my lips. After weeks of servicing the boys and not getting anything in return, this was exactly what I needed.
But a little voice in the back of my head screamed at me to pay attention. This walk around the grounds would give me a chance to leave the accursed castle, to see the wards with my third eye, and learn if the knockers stood outside, guarding them. I couldn’t pass it up. Especially not for what was sounding alarmingly like double penetration.
“What do you say?” Dante’s cock head ran down the length of my slit, sending sparks of pleasure up my twitching core. “Shall we take you out, or shall we fuck you?”
I bit down hard on my lip to stop myself from begging to be filled. Right now, I could barely resist them, but if I allowed them to slide inside me, to give me a taste of satisfaction, it might lead to other things. Like letting them taste my blood.
“When can we go for a walk?” I asked.
Nero drew back from sucking on my jugular vein. “What?”
Dante stepped back and scowled. “What did you say?”
I pulled back my shoulders and straightened my posture, blinking water out of my eyes. “I’d like to walk around the grounds.”
Sticking his nose in the air, Dante stepped away, withdrawing the delicious feel of his erection against my clit. “Maybe it’s for the best. You’re an eyesore, and in desperate need of fresh air.”
Annoyance clacked my teeth together, and my gaze dropped to his erection. He sure was hot and hard for someone who hated my nudity.
“Maybe there’s something else you want.” Nero’s voice curled around my libido like a constrictor that wouldn’t let go. “Something hard, something filling.”
I shook my head. “A good blood whore needs to look nice for her masters. Maybe the cool air is exactly what I need not to be an eyesore.”
Disappointment flicked across Dante’s face, and a flare of triumph filled my heart. If he thought he could make me beg for sex after insulting me, he had an overinflated opinion of his sex appeal. I was sick of their games and couldn’t wait to escape.
Once I’d worked out how to lower the wards, I’d bring Zarah along and any other frumosi we passed along the way.
For now, I’d just have to focus on mastering my magic and learning everything I possibly could from the upcoming outing.
Later, the boys took me through the hallways and down a dark flight of stairs, which reminded me of my first night at the academy, when Dante and Raphael had taken us to a dungeon. I held onto the wall, trying not to trip over my feet in the dark.
When I bumped into Dante’s back, he muttered, “Somebody, turn on the lights.”
Two torches at the bottom of the stairs flared, and I clenched my teeth. “Why are you taking me to the dungeon?”
Dante turned around, his hair glowing like spun gold in the light of the torches. He smirked, malice glimmering in his blue eyes. “Maybe you’d serve us better as a knocker.”
I held my breath and gulped. “But you said—”
“He’s joking.” Raphael placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I wouldn’t let them hurt you.”
“Much,” I muttered.
Perhaps in Raphael’s twisted mind, he thought it was fine for three boys to keep a girl in a dog crate if she refused to sleep in their beds. I glared at Dante’s broad back. Maybe he thought it was a frumosi’s place to service her vampires and receive little in return except for a muttered command to orgasm for their amusement.
I shoved those thoughts aside and focused on the impending threat. “Why are you taking me to the dungeons if you’re not going to steal what’s left of my free will?”
“Master,” said Dante.
“Ass-ter,” I muttered.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and shot me a dirty look. I smoothed my features into a neutral mask.
“This is the exit vampires use to leave the castle,” he replied.
Gaping at the heavy, wooden door, I choked on air. “Through the dungeons?”
Dante smirked. “Clever, isn’t it?”
“Diabolical,” I mumbled.
The twin knockers at the door joined their flaming torches together before stepping aside. One of them bowed and opened the door, letting in cold, pine-scented air.
“Where’s the dungeon?” I squeezed my eyelids shut and opened my third eye, trying to make sense of what I’d seen. There was no magic that I could discern.
“It’s the door,” said Raphael. “If the knockers open it from left to right, it takes you to a dungeon. The other way around is the exit.”
“Tell no one.” Dante strode ahead and stepped out into the courtyard.
I followed after him. “There’s hardly any point in leaving the castle if werewolves prowl the grounds.”
Outsid
e, the moon shone from an indigo sky littered with brilliant white stars. We seldom got skies like this in London or any major city. A cool breeze swirled around the collar of my blazer, but I stretched out my arms, relishing the sheer space of the courtyard and the dark forest beyond.
Dante took the lead with Nero and Raphael at my sides. Raphael placed a hand on the small of my back, as though we were on a date, and I wasn’t really a plaything of his and his asshole brothers.
“I’ll bet you’re glad to be out of the castle,” he said.
Something between the trees caught my eye. A pair of amber eyes reflecting off the moonlight. “Is it the full moon tonight?”
“The day before,” replied Nero. “Why?”
My heart pounded. “There’s something in the woods.”
“Scared?”
“Wouldn’t you be if you’d encountered an angry werewolf?” I said through clenched teeth.
He stepped closer and gave me a playful pat on the head. “They won’t bother you if you don’t bother them.”
I snatched my gaze away from the eyes and stared straight ahead, remembering what Gates had told me about circumventing the painful transformation. Those eyes belonged to a dire wolf in control of his faculties. Besides, I had three vampires to watch my back.
The moon emerged from a cloud, and its silvery light bounced off something in the sky that reminded me of the way light would glint off a film of oil on water, or off the surface of a soap bubble.
A breath caught in the back of my throat. Thanks to the onion woman, I could see the wards. It would only be a matter of time before I could make a hole in them and escape.
Chapter 11
One night after classes, I sat on the chaise, feeling a little off. The boys were about to go to dinner when I told them I would have an early night in the suite.
“Let yourself into the cage.” Dante opened the door to the hallway. “We’ll send a knocker over with a bowl of soup.”
As I stood, warm liquid trickled between my folds. I froze at the realization.
Nero, Dante, and Raphael’s heads whipped around, all three of the brothers staring at me as though I’d shouted out their names. Dante released the door handle, making it slam shut. All thoughts of the boys going to dinner were forgotten as their breaths quickened, and their nostrils flared.
Oh, fuck.
My period just started.
Panic burned through my veins, and my muscles stiffened. My period just started, and I was in the clutches of three vampires who believed they owned me.
The boys continued standing at the other end of the reception room, the distance between us not giving me an inch of security. With their vampiric speed, they could have me on my back with my legs splayed open in seconds.
A rapid beat that I recognized to be fight-of-flight fluttered in my chest, sending energy to my limbs and powering them for escape. But I couldn’t move. I remained locked in their widening gazes like a mouse caught in a trap.
This was a predator-prey stand-off, and I had an idea of how it would end. If I made one false move, they would descend on me like a pack of blood-thirsty jackals. But if I stood here and let blood trickle down my thighs like the olfactory equivalent of the dinner gong, I’d have all three of them squabbling between my legs.
“You’re bleeding,” Dante purred.
Nero gave me a feral grin.
“I…” Words dried up in the back of my throat.
What the hell could I say? Denials wouldn’t work, and neither would telling them that I stood on something that smelled like blood. These were vampires. Vampires with acute senses of smell. Vampires who knew precisely what they wanted and felt entitled to get it.
An excuse rolled to the forefront of my mind like tumbleweed. Not having any faith that it would work, I murmured, “My blood is still toxic.”
“No, it isn’t.” Raphael shouldered off his jacket and let the garment fall to the marble floor.
“Wha—”
“It isn’t.” He stalked toward me with the grace of a Bengal tiger. “Last term, you were on your period when we made love. I drank from your honeypot, and nothing bad happened.”
If I wasn’t already frightened half to death, I would have cringed at Raphael’s wording.
Nero’s eyes narrowed, his grin widened, and his fangs lengthened to sharp points. “Is that so?”
“N-no.” I squeezed my legs together, trying to stop the flow, but it was too late.
“Don’t lie to us, whore.” Dante raised his chin and glowered across the room at me with the arrogance of a lion king. “That blood between your legs belongs to us, and we’re going to take it.”
I shook my head, heart pounding with the speed of a war drum signaling its troops to retreat. “Please don’t.” The words tripped out of my lips. “That time with Raphael was different. I really am toxic this time, and if you taste my blood, you might—”
In the blink of an eye, Nero appeared on my left, taking up one side of my vision. “We’ve been patient with you,” he growled into my ear like an enraged panther. “We’ve given you weeks to get used to becoming our property, but my patience has worn to shreds.”
I continued shaking my head, not knowing what else to do or say. Something Zarah had told me earlier surged to the front of my mind. Blood whores were used, paraded, and ultimately discarded. Nero was right. Until this moment, I’d never felt like one.
“Take her to Doctor Grannus,” snapped Dante.
“I could scoop out a bit and have a taste,” said Raphael.
I clenched my teeth, wishing I had enough magic to decapitate the copper-headed bastard for his ‘helpful’ comments. This was all Raphael’s fault. Why didn’t he just keep his mouth shut and let me menstruate in peace?
“Too dangerous,” said Dante.
“Agreed.” Nero slung me over his shoulder like I was a sack of potatoes and raced me through the hallways.
I didn’t dare struggle in his grip. It wasn’t safe to wander around the academy, bleeding out of my vagina with vampires roaming everywhere. And things were doubly unsafe now that I’d fallen under the notice of Captain Tanar. Two sets of rapid footsteps accompanied us, which I hoped belonged to Dante and Raphael.
After a few moments, we entered the well-lit infirmary. I raised my head from Nero’s back and glanced around. Curtains covered most of the beds, but I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to wonder who lay behind them. Not when Nero deposited me on an examination table, and Raphael carefully arranged my legs into the stirrups, and Dante fastened the buckles.
Dr. Grannus appeared from a door at one end of the room with Professor Proust on his heels. The former headmaster was now as pale as the doctor, making me wonder whether he’d been pining for Miss Margolyes or was failing to thrive without her blood.
“Medical emergency,” said Raphael. “There’s something wrong with our concubine!”
I ground my teeth and cursed under my breath, not caring that every vampire in the room could hear.
The doctor pushed his mahogany ponytail back over his shoulder and gave me the most peculiar look. A flush burned my cheeks as I remembered the inappropriate comments Dr. Grannus had made while Raphael had been feeding on my ‘frumosi nectar.’
“May I help you, Mr. Striga?” he asked.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I let my head flop to the side and prayed to whoever was listening that this wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened last term at the end of Captain Tanar’s class.
“We need our concubine’s blood tested,” said Dante in his usual self-important tone. “She claims to have toxic blood.”
“I see.” Dr. Grannus’ voice became suspiciously breathy, making my insides writhe with shame. I would have pulled my thighs together, but the stirrups held them open.
The clang of the curtains being drawn shut sent shivers down my spine. Wheels rolled across the hard floor, and the snap of rubber made my eyes fly open. Dr. Grannus perched himself on a low stool between my sprea
d legs and placed on a pair of gloves.
Behind him, Nero, Dante, and Raphael peered over the doctor’s shoulders into my exposed and bleeding sex.
“I don’t consent to an exam.” My words were futile and too late, but I had to say them.
The doctor glanced over his right shoulder at Dante, who inclined his head, giving the older vampire permission to continue.
I clenched my teeth and focused on Dante’s blonde hair, trying to set it alight. Of course, nothing happened.
“Speculum, please?” asked the doctor.
The curtains parted, and a female knocker entered the space holding a metal instrument that reminded me of a gasoline nozzle. It was split through the middle like a pair of scissors, as though designed to stretch a person open. A palpitation reverberated in my chest, and cold sweat beaded on my skin.
My lungs tightened, but I managed to force out, “Please don’t use that on me!”
Nero stepped in the knocker’s path and glared over his shoulder at the doctor. “What do you want to do with that?”
Dr. Grannus straightened. “I need to insert the speculum in Miss Stephen’s vaginal canal—”
“She’s fine,” he snapped. “We only need to know if her blood’s safe to drink.”
The older vampire deflated. “Very well. Please return the speculum.”
As soon as the knocker disappeared behind the curtains, a relieved breath escaped my lungs, and my diaphragm relaxed. Nero also disappeared behind the curtains, and I turned my attention back to Dr. Grannus.
“May I extract a sample of Miss Stephen’s blood?” Impatience tinged the doctor’s voice.
I shuddered at the thought of the doctor sticking his fingers inside me.
Nero emerged through the curtain with a swab encased in plastic. “Use this.”
Hope filled my chest. Even though Nero was a total bastard for blackmailing me into becoming his concubine, and even if he’d transported me to the infirmary over his shoulder, I couldn’t help but feel a wave of gratitude for his consideration.