0748469001330321113 slavetoherdesires jillmyles (2 page)

―It‘s okay. I managed to escape Aloysius ten years ago. I‘ve been on the run ever since.‖

Ten glorious, glorious years. I‘d known it would eventually catch up to me, but I was still unprepared to return to Aloysius after all this time. If anything, those ten years had given me a taste of freedom and I wanted more. I‘d never go back to him – even if it meant my death.

He glanced over at me, his eyes resting on the ruffled cleavage of my French maid costume, and a faint frown of disapproval curved his mouth down. ―Clearly.‖

―I‘m not dressing like this because I want to,‖ I retorted, irritated at his manner. ―I don‘t have a choice. Aloysius called my cell and issued the command for me to wear this.‖ Since he was my master, I had to obey his every command – a succubus could never contradict the 8

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vampire or Serim that had created her. ―Trust me, if I could change into something more normal, I would. Right now a potato sack sounds far more comfortable.‖

His brow wrinkled as he regarded me. ―I thought you said you escaped your master ten years ago?‖

―I did. But I can‘t seem to escape him entirely.‖ I put my hands on my knees and shifted in the too-low seat. ―No matter where I go or what name I assume, Aloysius always seems to find me. He hasn‘t come to collect me yet – I think it amuses him to feel that he still has the control even though I‘m not under his roof any longer. It‘s a game to him – a new and exciting game with a bigger game board.‖

And it made me sick to my stomach that I was still his pawn.

Noah sat behind his desk once more, the lines on his face grim. He gave me a slight hand-wave, indicating that I should continue my story as he searched through his desk for something.

―We‘ve been playing this cat and mouse game for several years,‖ I said. ―I can live with the stupid costumes or the time he called me and instructed me to walk backward for a week. But he‘s grown tired of our game. He wants me to return to him, so he‘s forcing my hand, and I have no options left.‖

―How so?‖

A wave of memories rushed through me, and I clamped them down, forcing myself to remain calm and steady. ―I‘d recently taken up with a human lover to kill the Itch. Nice guy, even if he watched too much football. But Aloysius must have heard about it – he killed my human lover and left me another surprise phone call.‖

Noah raised an eyebrow. ―Phone call?‖

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I nodded. My hands twisted together in my lap and I clenched them hard, thinking about Aloysius. Hatred for him bubbled up inside of me, but I forced my voice to remain calm, flat.

―He calls from different numbers every time, just to throw me off. Not to force me home, just to mess with me. Giving me small ridiculous commands to ruin my day and remind me that he was the one in control. I changed my number over and over, and when that didn‘t work, I stopped using phones because it got too obnoxious. I think he did something to Jorge‘s phone, so when I found Jorge – my human – dead on the floor, I tried to call 911. It called Aloysius instead. He could have just commanded me to come to him directly, but then that‘s not as much fun, you see.‖ I gave a light, nervous laugh, even though it wasn‘t funny. Not funny at all. Poor Jorge.

―I see,‖ said Noah in a soft voice.

―I have to come groveling to Aloysius of my own free will,‖ I said, my voice bitter and mocking. ―If he catches me, that‘s no fun. But if I have to crawl back to him? That breaks my spirit. Reminds me that I‘m his and not my own. He likes that, and it‘s far too easy for him to just show up and grab me. So instead, Aloysius let me call him. And when he picked up, he commanded that I could touch no man but my master. Him. And since I have to have sex every two days to survive, things are going to get tricky in, say…‖ I leaned over his desk and checked the time on his computer. ―Eight hours or so. Which is why I need to find David. He‘s my other master.‖

It was either that, starve, or return to Aloysius. Right now, starving was looking like a pretty tempting alternative.

―When was the last time you saw David? I‘m curious,‖ said Noah, pulling out another desk drawer and glancing through a stack of folders.

―The night before I turned into a succubus,‖ I said. ―1889.‖

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―Well, I imagine you‘ll be happy to see him, then,‖ Noah said, his voice still guarded.

Not in the slightest. But I didn‘t want to tell him that, since Mr. Noah Gideon seemed to be David‘s gatekeeper. So I just said, ―Oh, I can‘t wait to see him again.‖

Sure hoped I didn‘t give in to the urge to punch in his face when I saw him, either.

After all, I‘d written letters to David, begging him to save me from Aloysius, and he‘d never even had the courtesy to respond. He was the only one that could have saved me from a hundred years of hell, and he‘d abandoned me without a second thought. He‘d never returned to see if I was all right, or if I‘d lived, or if I suffered under Aloysius‘s hands. He‘d simply lost interest the moment I‘d been turned and left London, never to be seen again.

No, I couldn‘t say that I was thrilled at the prospect of seeking out David to have sex with him. But I‘d slept with people I‘d loathed more – Aloysius, for example – and I‘d probably do so again at some point, so it wasn‘t the end of the world. I was a pragmatic sort, and if it involved keeping myself alive? I‘d do it, no matter what it was.

Noah pulled a set of nondescript keys from the bottom of the desk drawer and held it up.

―I‘ll take you to David, then, but I have to warn you, he might not be as useful to you as you think.‖

I got up from the chair, wincing when the lacy thong of the outfit rode up my backside.

―I‘ll take my chances on that.‖

#

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We left the building after pausing to wake up both of Mr. Gideon‘s employees. I‘d taken the bus, but Noah insisted that we take his car this time. I got into Noah‘s car with him, even though any sane woman would think twice about that sort of thing. Of course, I was long past sanity and running low on options, and I didn‘t have many people left to trust. I needed to trust someone, or I was doomed.

We drove in silence, the radio off. It suited me fine, because I liked the hum of my own thoughts, and Noah seemed to be a kindred spirit. The longer we drove, though, the more curious I became.

―So David lives with you?‖ I asked, trying to keep my loathing for my sire out of my voice.

Noah paused, glanced over at me. ―I am his caretaker, yes.‖

Now what exactly did that mean? The David I remembered was a quiet but independent sort. ―His caretaker? Has he been…disabled somehow?‖ Uh oh. I began to feel uneasy. All my plans would be ruined if David was somehow incapacitated. I had to have sex with one of my masters within the next few hours, or the Itch would start burning through me. David not being available was going to make things rather desperate.

―It‘s complicated,‖ Noah said. ―You‘ll see.‖

He didn‘t elaborate, his hands relaxed on the wheel. Odd. I bit my lip to keep from asking additional questions – knowledge was power, and I was tired of others having power over me.

So I‘d just wait and see.

We drove in silence for several more minutes, and I made note of major streets that we passed, just in case I had to backtrack on my own. Noah‘s car was clean and I wasn‘t getting the 12

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serial killer vibe from him – and after decades of being around Aloysius, it was a vibe I was definitely familiar with.

Noah put on his blinkers, indicating a right turn. I glanced over to see where we were turning into, and frowned at the sight of the building in front of us. ―Climate controlled storage?

You‘re kidding me, right? Thousands of years of knowledge and experience behind him, and David has a job in a storage place?‖

He‘d fallen lower than I‘d even thought. What a loser. I sure had hit the supernatural jackpot with my two masters – one an unnaturally depraved vampire, and the other a sad sack of a fallen angel.

―You take far too much at face value,‖ said Noah in a chiding voice. ―Like I said, it‘s complicated.‖

―I learned long ago that you can judge a book by its cover,‖ I replied, unbuckling my seat belt and getting out of the car when it stopped. ―And I‘m sorry to say that in a hundred and twenty years of immortality, I haven‘t really seen anything to change my mind.‖

Noah only smiled and moved ahead to hold the door open for me. Guarded, I followed him.

He paused at the front counter and smiled at the desk clerk, showing his key. ―We‘ll be meeting a friend here.‖

The man‘s expression was skeptical as he took in my clothing, and David‘s. ―Here?‖

―Don‘t ask,‖ Noah said, in a voice that brooked no disagreement. ―It is a personal matter.‖

Intimidated, the man behind the counter nodded and returned to reading his paper, watching us out of the corner of his eye. His gaze rested on the ruffled cleavage of my costume, 13

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but he said nothing to deny us. Maybe he thought we were sneaking into the storage units to engage in some sort of kinky sex game.

It was all very curious.

I followed Noah down the maze of halls and numbered doors, all padlocked and some with electric keypads that required a computer code. The door that Noah stopped at required both, and he punched numbers into the pad while I waited behind him, arms crossed. The air in this place was bitter cold thanks to the air conditioning, and my get-up wasn‘t exactly warm material.. After a moment, the keypad gave an affirmative beep and Noah used the keys to unlock the second padlock.

And then the door opened.

―After you,‖ he said, gesturing at the cracked door.

Giving him another wary look, I pushed inside.

The interior of the storage room was dark, even colder than the hallway. My breathing echoed in the room which told me that it was not filled to the brim with storage boxes like I had imagined.

The door shut behind me, enveloping us both in darkness. My breath caught in my throat, visions of past memories crawling through my mind – of being forced to live in a cage, trapped in the darkness, no sign of sunlight for years on end–

―Sorry about that. Didn‘t want the security cameras getting a glimpse of what we have in here.‖ With that, Noah flicked on a light-switch and my breath caught in my throat all over again.

The storage room was set up neat and clean, with only one item of note in the room. A large man lay on a narrow bed, unmoving. He hadn‘t changed expression with the flicking-on of 14

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the light, his hands still clasped over his chest in a relaxed pose. He wore a light robe of some kind, loosely belted at his waist. I could see hints of his bare chest underneath the gape of the fabric, as perfect as I remembered.

David.

My breath sucked in as I approached him, staring in shock. Of all the things I had pictured when I saw him again, this was not what I had in mind. Laid out on a narrow slab of a cot, dressed strangely, his skin pale. My fingers reached out to brush against his shoulder and found it cool as well.

―Is he…‖

―Dead? No.‖ Noah‘s voice was curt behind me. ―But he is under a sleep spell.‖

The tension in my shoulders relaxed a little at that, and I brushed a finger under his nose.

Sure enough, warm breath brushed my skin. The cold of his skin must have been from the storage room itself.

It bothered me a little that after one hundred or so years of misery and hardship on my part, David looked exactly the same as I had remembered when he‘d left. Even his hair was styled the same, I noted wryly. The dark blonde curls were rakishly askew in the style of Victorian gentlemen, and long, thick sideburns graced his cheeks. His body was just as muscled and handsome as I remembered it, and the face as peacefully beautiful. I remembered David‘s face well – the delicate cheekbones and elegant line of his chin, and long, thick lashes surrounding his blue eyes. Features almost feminine in their perfect, delicate beauty, if it were not for the stern brow and the large, straight nose that dominated his face, turning all that delicacy into a cutting visage of masculine beauty.

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Oh, I remembered David‘s face very well. My hand clenched into a fist, tightening with anger. ―I see David has not changed over the years.‖

―No indeed.‖

―I suppose I should not be surprised,‖ I said in a light voice, though I still was. ―It‘s not like him to hide away from the world under a sleep spell,‖ I added, feeling the old resentment stir again. ―Very cowardly.‖

I felt Noah move behind me, felt him come to my side. ―The sleep spell was not of his choosing. From what I remember, he angered a friend who had recently turned vampire and walked into a trap. Something about trying to save a female friend of his.‖

I snorted. ―Not likely. He never even attempted to save me…‖ my voice died in my throat and I clenched my jaw. No. Not possible. I moved forward, brushing my fingers across David‘s beautiful eyelashes. A fine layer of dust covered his sleeping features, and that made my breath catch all over again. ―Exactly how long has David been caught in a sleep spell?‖

Noah paused, as if reluctant to explain. Then, very softly, ―I believe the number I was given was one hundred and twenty years.‖

My mouth went dry, my stomach churning. ―I don‘t understand.‖

―It‘s true. He has been caught in this sleep spell since 1889.‖

The same year I had been turned. Surely no coincidence. In 1889, I had accepted a Mr.

David Thornton as my patron, and one night later I‘d been abducted from David‘s very bed by Aloysius, and turned into the creature I was now – driven by sex, immortal, beautiful…cold. A plaything of more powerful beings.

I‘d hated David with every fiber of my being for the past one hundred and twenty years. I thought of the letters I‘d written to him, begging him to help me escape Aloysius, all with no 16

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answer. Of appearing on his doorstep, in the rain, only to find out that he‘d left the city. Left no option but that of the vampire. Abandoned to a cruel, merciless master who hated me.