The Darkest Colors- Exsanguinations

by David M. Bachman

  Raina almost blurted out that she’d had other motives for agreeing to the trip, but she kept it to herself for now. Instead, she listened to the soft techno-flavored music, stared at her drink, and swirled the absinthe about with a subtle gyration of the glass, considering the Duchess’s words. She had a point. Raina didn’t entirely agree with it, but it was a good point, nonetheless.

  Regardless of her true reasons for coming along, she had agreed to this trip. She had accepted certain risks, certain potential consequences. If one such risk was the potential for recklessly placing herself in harm’s way … well, then, she had no one else but herself to blame for being in this position. Just like everything else before, whatever happened to her from here on out was her own damned fault.

  “I need to know everything that you know about this person. And I mean everything,” Raina said after a few seconds.

  And so she told her. Serenity explained that the individual in question went by a screen name Mistress Monsoon, she was thirty-six years old, an Aquarius, divorced, born and raised in the Phoenix metro area, fond of cats, and she had at least one child – a son of unknown age, but old enough to be in the military. She was also a fan of old horror movies, old music, old cars, old fashions, and generally all things “old school.” Giving more information than Raina really wanted or needed, Serenity also went on to explain that Mistress Monsoon was a “squirter,” she liked bondage, she had a rather large collection of “toys,” she sometimes dabbled in candle play, and she considered herself to be straight but was “open to experimentation.” This Mistress Monsoon character was a moderator for a message forum that specialized in discussing fetishes of every sort – surprising, as Raina had expected there to be a religious connection to Serenity. She was a very, very private person that kept her personal and public life quite strictly separated, and Serenity considered herself to be rather privileged to even know what little she did about Mistress Monsoon. She did not know exactly what Mistress Monsoon did for a living, exactly where she lived in or around the Phoenix area, or even the vaguest hint of her physical appearance, aside from being a thirty-something female with a “thing” for always dressing in black.

  Serenity had become rather over-descriptive in relaying these details to Raina. With each detail, she felt it necessary to relate a story to her of conversations she’d had with Mistress Monsoon. Raina was into her third drink and already beginning to feel the alcohol, which was rather surprising considering how little absinthe had actually been put into each – she could thank the higher content percentage for that. Serenity was matching her drink-for-drink, although her consorts had chosen to abstain and busy themselves with serving drinks and performing other tasks elsewhere in the house.

  Sophie wasn’t just keeping up but also surpassing her, as she and Thomas graciously accepted drinks of their own from Serenity as she soon brought out a bottle of cognac and a tray of ice. She and Thomas were almost completely silent for the duration, except for one point at which Sophie excused herself to go to the restroom. Upon her return, she sat quite closely between Raina and Thomas, “accidentally” placing a hand high upon Raina’s thigh as she sat down and giving her a sly smirk. An occasional glance aside while Serenity spoke showed Raina that Sophie was increasingly daring to be more and more physically affectionate towards Thomas. First it was a hand upon the knee, then upon his thigh, then the soft sound of an occasional kiss. Not long after, her hand again found its way to Raina’s knee. As before, she gently removed Sophie’s hand. This time, Sophie instead placed her other hand upon Thomas’s lap and brazenly groped him through his pants. Apparently, like Raina, Sophie was a bit of an amorous drunk … and a lightweight, too, as her eyes and her actions showed that she was already fairly inebriated.

  “It appears your servants are quite relaxed,” Serenity commented with an amused smile.

  “I’m sorry,” Raina said immediately, turning to Sophie and giving her shoulder a light bop. “Could you two please not do that? You’re being rude.”

  “Oh, sorry … sorry, your grace,” Sophie slurred with a fang-flashing grin as she forced herself to sit upright and place her hands innocently in her lap. “I’m being bad again.”

  “Nonsense, dear,” Serenity said with a loose wave. “I am not offended in the least. Sexuality is the most beautiful and harmless of our natural tendencies as vampires.”

  “Yeah, well … there’s a time and a place for everything,” Raina said with a hinting glance to Sophie and then Thomas.

  “Then what better time or place than here and now, in the safety and tranquility of my home?” Serenity proposed, spreading her arms wide in gesture.

  “I’m sorry, Duchess, I…”

  “Please, dear … Serenity,” she insisted with a slightly unsteady wave of her hand. “Let us dispense with formalities. As members of the High Court race, we are forced to deal with all of that far too much. We must be ourselves whenever we can and not lose touch with whom and what we truly are.”

  “I know what I am,” Sophie told Thomas, grinning and nudging him with her elbow. He replied only with a politely restrained but sexy smile.

  Raina swallowed the last of her drink and set the empty glass down upon the table. “I’m just not comfortable with people making out around me.”

  “It arouses you, doesn’t it,” Serenity suggested, making it a statement rather than a question. “It is sometimes difficult to separate your own feelings from those that you sense from others nearby, especially other vampires.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Then why should their actions bother you?”

  “It’s inappropriate.”

  “But dear,” Serenity pressed, touching her own heart, “that’s simply not the case here. This is the House of Tranquility. Within these walls, love is to be celebrated and shared, not shamed.”

  “Love is one thing,” Raina said, “but being drunk and horny is another.”

  “Love comes in many forms, dear. Sex is merely an expression of one’s love for another.”

  “That’s how it’s supposed to be, sure. But in reality, sex is sometimes just mutual masturbation.”

  Serenity narrowed her eyes slightly. “You seem to regard sex as a dirty, shameful thing.”

  “Well … in a way, it is pretty dirty,” Raina confirmed with a nod, folding her arms.

  “How so?”

  Raina shrugged, explaining, “I mean, usually it involves one person sticking parts of their anatomy into another person and moving it back and forth a lot. And then there’s almost always an exchange of bodily fluids…”

  Sophie hummed approvingly and Raina looked to her with a frown. Seeing where Sophie’s hands were now going since she’d put them in her own lap, she slapped her shoulder again, this time a bit more firmly. Again, Sophie ceased her shameful actions, but she giggled at Raina’s reaction of disapproval and slumped back against the couch, lazily slouching much like Thomas did next to her. She was practically mocking Raina’s authority now, like a child rebelling against her mother. Perhaps she should not have tried to be so friendly and casual with either of them, earlier…

  “Then please forgive my rudeness, dear,” Serenity said. “I suppose that I was mistaken about you. I had not figured you to be quite so … conservative.”

  Raina raised an eyebrow at that. “Is that a nice way of saying that I’m some kind of a prude?”

  “I meant nothing of the sort.”

  “I’m not easily offended by sex, if that’s what you’re implying,” Raina insisted, “but I’m just not comfortable with people getting their freak on around me, especially now that I’m a High Court. I mean, what people do behind closed doors is their own business … y’know, just so long as they keep it behind those closed doors.”

  Serenity considered that for a moment, then nodded. She drained her glass quickly, set it upon the table with the others, and stood abruptly, visibly swaying just a bit – she was buzzing pretty well, too. The Elder snapped her fingers a coup
le of times and called to Lord Gerald, who appeared within a couple of seconds as though he had been waiting all along for her to call him.

  “I suppose it would be best if we gave them some privacy,” Serenity told Raina with a nod to Sophie and Thomas. To Gerald, she said, “Could you be a dear and prep the heat therapy room for us?”

  “Of course,” he replied with a pleasant smile, immediately turning and disappearing through the kitchen door.

  Serenity turned to Raina and gestured invitingly for her to stand. “Would you care to join me?”

  “For what?”

  “Total relaxation,” she replied. “Lord Redhorn is an expert in massage and aromatherapy. He has a private practice here. We have everything here to make you at ease. Massage tables, sauna, spa, heated swimming pool … and we are all licensed and certified massage therapists. I don’t mean to impose upon you, dear, but I really must insist that you be treated to the absolute best experience possible during your time here.”

  “Well, that’s … very generous of you, Serenity. But really, I’m fine with just having a few drinks.”

  Serenity paused to chuckle. “You don’t really believe relaxation can only be found at the bottom of a bottle, do you?”

  Raina hesitated before reluctantly bringing herself to stand, confessing, “Well … it’s always worked for me in the past.”

  “Then by all means,” the strawberry blonde High Court said with an eager smile, “allow me to show you what you’ve been missing.”

  As they departed the room by heading through the kitchen door, Raina glanced back over her shoulder to where Sophie and Thomas still sat upon the sofa. She had already unfastened his pants and thrust her hand inside to go right for the goods. Thomas was lying back with his arms upon the top edge of the sofa, that oh-so-sexy and subtle smile upon his face. He raised his hands and arms just slightly in what was either a shrug or an invitation for her to join in. At this distance, Raina could clearly tell now whose feelings of lust were whose … and, damn it, she didn’t feel a bit different than she had when she’d been sitting right there. She wanted him … and Sophie … both.

  What the hell is wrong with me?

  Raina forced herself to close her eyes for a moment and turn away to leave the room before she made her desire any more embarrassingly obvious. As before in the plane, she realized that something almost needed to happen between the three of them – by then, more a question of when than if. And little by little, she was beginning to not even care if or when it did happen. Hell, at that point, she almost wanted it to happen, and soon. Well … almost.

  * * * *

  Chapter Thirteen

  Serenity gave her a brief five-cent tour of the place, leading her through a very cozy but well-equipped kitchen that rivaled the one in the Fallamhain Estate, out the back sliding patio door, and across the covered walkway that led from the large house to the separate stucco-styled structure that housed the full nautilus and spa facility of Lord Redhorn’s private practice. The heated indoor pool was surprisingly large, dominating a large majority of the interior. To the right of the pool as they walked in, there were two massage tables of a flat, conventional type and a third of a fancy, upright ergonomic design that disturbingly reminded Raina of the fixture in Duvessa’s torture cellar. Farther beyond to the right, there was a free-standing tiled shower, and on the far end was an inset spa.

  Along the right wall, Serenity pointed out each of the rooms as they walked past them. First was a restroom, second the entrance to the sauna, third the service door for the sauna, fourth a changing room, fifth a utility closet – “Sorry, nothing fun in there” – and finally an “intensive therapy” room with two-way mirrors across its front that allowed privacy for those within. She opened the door to the last room to show Raina the miniature indoor rock garden, complete with a softly trickling water fountain and surrounded by a photographic mural of a forest scene. Additionally, there was a pair of very comfortable-looking reclining black leather chairs – faux leather, of course, just the same fancy vinyl that covered the massage tables.

  The facility was very impressive and professional-looking, to say the least. There was a private entrance that led to the building separately from the front covered parking area, so Lord Redhorn’s clients could come and go without having to track through the house and disturb whatever may be going on within … which, based upon Serenity’s reputation, could involve anything from a religious ceremony to a full-on orgy. Lord Gerald had already laid out a pair of folded white terrycloth robes and several neatly folded white towels for them and he informed Serenity that the sauna would be up to temperature and ready within a few minutes.

  “Would you like for me to assist you?” he offered in a soft-spoken voice with his hands clasped together. He spoke with a slight lisp, his mannerisms were a bit feminine, his features a bit too soft, and his hair a bit too perfectly-styled. Had it not been for Serenity’s known appetite for her consorts (and others), Raina might have stereotypically presumed that he was gay – an unfair assumption, she knew, but instinctive just the same.

  Serenity kissed him briefly upon the lips and caressed his face lovingly. “We’ll be fine, my love. I would like to personally see to our queen’s care.”

  “Not a queen,” Raina muttered under her breath for what felt like the hundredth time.

  “More drinks?”

  Serenity looked to Raina, who merely shrugged. To her consort, the Elder replied, “Leave us a bottle of rum and some tumblers, if you would … just in case. I don’t think we’ll be getting too carried away.”

  He nodded, gave a slight bow to Raina, and then departed, leaving the two royal vampires alone. In spite of the building’s size, there was almost no echo as the door shut behind him, perhaps because of the rather low and acoustically insulated ceiling, and the large amount of green turf-like carpeting upon much of the floor. Serenity turned to Raina with a distinctively intimate smile that made her a little bit nervous.

  “So then,” she said in a much more gentle tone than usual, “would you care for a massage while the sauna heats up?”

  Raina realized that she was anxiously fiddling about with the golden ankh pendant that hung between her breasts, and she forced herself to stop by clasping her hands together. She wasn’t sure why she was feeling so awkward about this. Serenity meant no harm. Raina couldn’t sense the least bit of malicious intent from her. And although there was an unmistakable bit of attraction there, she didn’t figure Serenity to be the type that forced herself upon others. Her intentions were good. She meant no harm. And yet they both could see that Raina was glowing with an embarrassing intensity that betrayed her quiet uneasiness.

  The look in Serenity’s lovely hazel eyes was unmistakably flirtatious, and what Raina sensed from her matched what she saw. It wasn’t brazenly wanton, not quite lewd or overtly sexual. It was odd that she was clearly attracted to Raina on more than just friendly terms, but something about it seemed either less than or beyond the level of merely attaining carnal knowledge. Actually, in hindsight, it wasn’t the first such occasion she had sensed this or seen this kind of look from Serenity, or from others; she had experienced exactly the same from Duvessa, Lady Olivia, Lady Svetlana, and … well, now that she considered it, practically every other vampire she encountered. In this particular context, it was hard to entirely rule out the idea that Serenity might be coming on to her, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was that she really wanted from Raina. She was just curious enough – and perhaps just tipsy enough, as well – to let curiosity get the better of her. But first…

  “Actually,” Raina said after some awkward hesitation, “I think I’d like to visit the restroom right quick, if that’s all right.”

  “Of course, dear,” Serenity allowed with a sweeping gesture of her left hand toward the door.

  Nodding before she turned to walk away, Raina picked up one of the amazingly soft terrycloth robes and two towels, mentioning over her shoulder, “I’ll go ahead a
nd change out while I’m in there.”

  “Great. I’ll get things ready for you out here,” she said with a pleased smile.

  Raina’s shoes clopped softly upon the thin turf-like carpeting over the concrete floor surface as she walked over to the door leading into the restroom. She opened the door and fumbled about for the light switch for a moment before clicking it on, rewarded with the sight of a pristinely clean, very new-looking and large but simple bathroom. The room was big enough that it could have housed a shower, but the far corner of the room opposite the sink and mirror was instead equipped with a row of hooks and a few shelves stocked with towels and assorted toiletries. The room was adorned from floor to ceiling with some expensive-looking beige ceramic tile, and the spotless plumbing fixtures and mirror trim pieces were either brass or possibly gold-plated. The toilet, itself, was so clean and so flawless that she honestly felt guilty for even thinking of using it.

  She set the towel and folded robe down upon the corner of the sink’s broad marble countertop and turned to close the door. She froze as she saw Serenity with her back to Raina, already standing fully nude, having dropped her Greek goddess-like outfit to the floor with swift and silent ease. She watched for a moment as Serenity stretched her arms, neck, and back, then began to hum and move rhythmically and fluidly to a song that apparently only she knew. Her strange dance was like a cross between that of a belly dancer and a hula girl, slow and serpentine with a lot of movement from her very shapely hips. As Serenity began to slowly turn back around in her dance-like motions, Raina finally closed the door, shaking her head lightly. Without a doubt, Serenity certainly was … well … different.

  Raina relieved herself and closed the lid before flushing, setting her shoes on top after slipping them off. The act of standing upon one foot at a time to remove her shoes actually proved too risky to do without the aid of a steadying hand upon the corner of the sink. Was she already that drunk? Raina took a moment to look at herself in the mirror to see if her state of inebriation looked as truly obvious as it felt.