Chilled to the Bone (16 page)

With Doreen, he’d always known she could throw him across the room if she needed to stop. Paradoxically, that made him relax when topping her to a degree he’d never quite managed with anyone else. Even though they were going to spend possibly the rest of the week on guard, worrying about being attacked, he still felt that deep contentment. When all this was over, he knew he’d want her again. And again.

Damn. I sound like I’m falling in love.

Chapter Eight

Friday night, Charles wasn’t there when she woke up. They hadn’t talked about the future. She didn’t want to hear him say no. The week she’d agreed to was over now. For all the chaos, Charles had been there resolutely by her side and was the one person who could distract her from the sense of foreboding she felt. Her body tingled at the thought of the way his lips had tugged at her nipples, how the flogger had felt on her back and ass, how he’d brought her to screaming orgasm with nothing but his fingers on her clit and a vibrating egg in her pussy. She wasn’t going to ever forget, since a moment later, all the vamps had piled into her tiny apartment trying to protect her. Too bad it had made so much sense to make sure her bodyguards had an open invitation. She couldn’t blame them for thinking something was wrong with the noise she made. She was definitely getting another apartment when this was done.

Charles had brought a cello over one evening. He claimed it was a loaner from a friend, but she suspected he’d rented it. The first few notes had been awkward and strained, but soon she coaxed the instrument to bring forth its beauty. He had listened to her with almost scary intensity. She had never thought she sounded her best as a soloist; the larger the orchestra, the better she felt. But he brought something special out in her, and she didn’t set the bow down again for hours.

When at last she was done, he had simply told her, “I have to get you into my studio.”

Maybe Charles would be at Dark Xanadu, maybe not, but the vamps expected her to be there. Could she really stand to watch him play with someone else? She wasn’t sure. In fact, she was pretty sure she’d want to rip the little minx’s throat out, if there was a little minx.

Pemberton had sent a message, even if Charles hadn’t. Two of his vampires were missing. They’d started making a point of checking in at the church first thing in the evening, and Charles had done one surprise inspection, with more promised, since he’d been able to tell Mickey had been magicked. Rather than risk the inspection, apparently two had decided not to check in at all—unless they forgot, which wasn’t likely. In any case, the news didn’t make her feel any better. Still, two against the eight guarding her? She liked her odds.

She was surprised not to see Charles as she scanned the floor at Dark Xanadu. Maybe he didn’t want to see her playing with someone else either—no, that was silly. For one thing, she wasn’t going to. For another, he didn’t strike her as the kind to run from anything.

“Hello, miss.” A slender girl nearly as pale as she was stood in front of her, dressed in black skimpy bits of black leather, her hair a mix of black and blood red, her lips so dark a shade of red that at first Doreen thought it was black.

“Hello.”

“Looking for someone to play with?” asked the girl hopefully.

“No. Sorry.”

But the goth girl wasn’t giving up. “I can take a good beating, miss. You can go after me with all your strength, if you like.”

She has no idea.
“I’m not a Domme,” Doreen said.
Why am I here again? Oh, right.

“No problem,” said the goth girl easily. “I can switch. What’s your poison?”

“Me,” said a voice behind her.
Charles.
She hadn’t been aware of how tense her shoulders had been until she felt them suddenly relax at his voice. Then he touched her, right over the left strap holding her dress on, and she felt a tension of a much more pleasant kind. “I’m her poison. Run along, Angelica.”

Angelica’s eyes widened, and she curtsied. “Yes, sir. I didn’t realize she was with you, sir.” She took three steps backward, as if she wasn’t supposed to turn her back on him, almost backing into a Dom spanking his naked wife on the spanking horse. Then she turned and ran off.

“Sorry I’m late,” Charles said. “Pemberton had me doing another one of those inspections.”

“It’s so good to see you.” Doreen leaned back into Charles, and he wrapped his strong arms around her. Leather cuffs jingled from where they were attached to his belt. “But what did you do to frighten that poor girl?”

“We played, once, when she was brand new, but I didn’t scare her. She has a flair for the over-dramatic. She knows a Dom likes to have made an impression, so she’s playing it up.”

Doreen looked up at him, raising her eyebrows.

“Really. A simple flogging, nothing very intense.”

Jealousy rolled over her. She’d known he played with other women before her. Probably, since he didn’t like forming anything long-term, he’d played with half the women in the club. But Angelica was someone specific for her to focus those feelings on. “Like ‘em pale, do you? Did you have sex with her?”

For a moment, she thought he was going to lose his temper. “I like
them
in all sorts of shapes and colors,” he said at last. “And no. I’m sorry for cutting in. It was presumptuous of me. I’ve no claim on you, at this point; your week is up.”

“Just like that?”

“A week has seven days in it, last I checked.”

“Okay then.”
How did the conversation go south so quickly?

“All right.”

The two of them stared at each other for a long moment.
It would only take a moment of my power, and I could start this conversation over, and he wouldn’t remember it.
It was so tempting.

Then suddenly his lips were pressing against hers, and she opened her mouth to kiss him instinctively. Her tongue wrestled with his, her heart pounding against his chest. She could feel his heart pounding too. She wanted him, his blood, his everything.

“I want you,” he said, out of breath.

“I’m yours,” she told him.

Then she let out a squeak as he picked her up. She might be the one with supernatural strength, but he was plenty strong enough to carry her wherever he wanted. “Nooooooo!” she yelled, even though she was happy to go wherever he took her.

The mock protestation didn’t even slow him down. He carried her halfway across the room. She was aware of more than a few heads turning to watch them. He finally set her down in front of a wooden post a foot taller than she was, with a metal ring near the top of it.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a post.”

“I can see that,” She grinned at him. Sometimes, she thought they could discuss almost anything, and the discussion would be fun. Besides, he had something evil in mind to have carted her all the way over here.

“You’re happy submitting to me tonight? I usually like my consent to be pretty explicit, but when I saw you, I wasn’t in the mood to calmly negotiate.”

She grinned wider. “I trust you. Besides, I can always say albatross.”

“Indeed.” He looked pleased.

“So how does this work?” she asked. It didn’t look too threatening. She assumed she was going to be attached to it somehow, and it didn’t really worry her. The business with the bondage frame last week had convinced her she could probably break anything made out of wood if she had to.

“Well, first I cuff your hands together. Hands?” He put out his hand, and she placed her wrists in it, crossed together. His hand was strong and warm around her slender wrists, and the warmth seemed to spread all over her body. She bit her lower lip, stopping just short of piercing the skin with her sharp canine. Tonight, he had said. It was better than nothing, but not what she wanted.
But maybe tonight the mage will come seeking my blood. Now might be all I have.
Even if she was helpless in the daytime, she had not yet overcome her human distrust of the darkness.

“Perfect,” Charles told her. He unclipped a cuff from around his belt, and wrapped it around one wrist., then switched which one was on top and did the same with the other. “Try not to break the post tonight, love. Brennan just built it, and while it’s not complicated, he’s a perfectionist.”

“Is that why we’re playing on it? Because it’s the easiest to replace?” She couldn’t blame him, after the frame.

“No. We’re playing on it because it’s new. Brennan has some notion of using it for slave auctions.“

“For what?” She jerked her hands back, not sure she could believe her ears.

“Relax, love.” Charles held up his hands. “Note I’m not involved. Also, no one’s really being sold. The money goes to charity, and the winner still has to negotiate with their prize like anyone else. And it’s not only subs being sold. Dominants auction themselves off too, although they won’t be tied to the post.”

Her eyes narrowed, but her shoulders relaxed. “It’s a game.”

“Yes. Some people find it’s a hot fantasy. Some people don’t. But it’s safe, sane, and completely consensual, like everything else we do here. Like everything you and I do here.”

I used to be such a trusting person. And now I don’t even trust the man who risked his life for me.
She realized she was frowning still from the concerned look in his eyes. “You can tie me up good and tight. With something even I can’t get out of. I trust you,” she told him.

Charles smiled. “You could do worse.”

“Don’t I know it?” Not that she ever trusted Mario. Or thought of him in any romantic way, but she had been somehow bound to him, anyway. By the blood of binding, and by her isolation and ignorance in her new life.

He put out his hand again, and she put her wrists back in. He lifted them over her head, bringing them back towards the post, making her stretch. And then, to her surprise, he let her go. “I almost made a mistake I haven’t made in years.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s very hard to get clothes off a sub when she’s tied up. At least, if you want the clothes to be wearable afterward.”

It took a moment for that to sink in. He wanted her clothes off. Here. Now. In front of everyone, although most of them had seen plenty of her the week before.

“Would you like to take them off, or would you like me to take them off you?” Charles asked. “It might create a fuss the second way, and draw some attention over here.”

She blushed. “I’ll take them off myself, thank you, Master.”

“I thought you might.”

“Everything?”

“Everything. Especially those pink cotton panties.”

She glanced around. Dozens of people would see her naked, but one of them was Charles. She smiled.
One of them is Charles.
The background music, a harsh EBM sound, punctuated by the sounds of whips hitting flesh and the screams and moans coming from the people playing in the club, thrummed through her like a fast heartbeat. It wasn’t music for a slow tease.

She kicked off her high heeled sandals. She’d worn them remembering how useful spiked shoes were when dealing with Mickey. Besides, they made her legs look longer. She pulled the little black dress over her body and dropped it to crumple on the floor. All of a sudden, she couldn’t wait to be naked in front of him. Her pink lace bra didn’t hide the hardness of her nipples. They had started tightening the moment he touched her. She took off her bra, feeling how the cool air of the club made her nipples tighten even more, almost painfully. The heat of his gaze did nothing to counteract that.

Especially those pink cotton panties.
She guessed the dress she wore had been pretty short. Had she leaned over at some point and given him a peek? Or maybe it had fluttered up when he had carried her. It didn’t matter. She hooked her thumbs into the waistband and rolled her panties all the way down.

She’d barely straightened up when his arm encircled her, his hand pressing between her legs. She felt his rough fingers on her pussy, already swollen and wet. One slid in easily. Now he knew how turned on she was. She’d never been easily aroused, and that hadn’t changed when she became a vampire. But in Charles’ hands, she was ready the moment he touched her.

“Good,” he said, obviously pleased by what he’d found. His pleasure sent another thrill through her. He took his fingers away, and she couldn’t help but pout. It had felt so good, even if it was embarrassing.

He grabbed her wrists, and there was a tinkling of chain as he attached the cuffs to the metal ring. She felt her own heart beating faster. Indistinct visions rushed through her mind, and she fought the urge to panic. His warm hand was on her shoulder, and other arm wrapped around her waist. She could feel his heartbeat too. So close. A vein pulsed in his neck, and even restrained, she could probably reach it. Such sweet blood he had.