Stephen (18 page)

They were all gone. As of the day before, when he’d returned from the mall, the household staff had disappeared. When he’d asked Velvet about them, she’d only shrugged. He had a feeling that they were much like the man in the basement, dead. But he’d found a note in the kitchen early this morning and he felt slightly relieved.

“
There are all manner of meats in the freezer. I would suggest you begin eating red meat, rare at every meal, including breakfast.” Edward had sat down to finish reading when he realized why the butler was telling him this. “We have moved to another estate to prepare it for her arrival. She believes when she finishes here, she will need to lay low for a while. I do hope you get what you deserve.”

Edward was pretty sure he was, too.

The mall had been a bust. His information had been correct, of course, but Kelley had left before he could find her. The wolves he’d had looking for her to come there had called him the moment she’d gotten out of the large stretch limo with the other women. It had only been on his list of places to look for just over an hour.

Edward had thought of the way she’d looked, his stepdaughter, in the picture he’d seen of her. He’d spoken to Hump twice more since that day, and both times the man had told him that if he didn’t get some money soon, then Edward was getting no more information. And he assured Edward that what he had was vital to what he wanted. Edward was pretty sure he was going to tell him something he already knew, but the man might have something. He’d made an appointment to talk to him again today while Velvet was awake. She said she’d get what he wanted.

Edward looked around the kitchen and the mess. He’d never had to cook for himself before, and his first attempt at making himself a steak had ended badly. He glanced at the burn marks up the wall and the countertop that had suffered as well, and wondered if Velvet would even notice. As far as he could tell, she’d never been in this room, at least not since he’d known her. But he’d eaten it all the same, terrified of being drained by her when she woke.

He looked at his reflection in the window over the door. He looked…he didn’t look thin, but looked like a man who had been very ill for a very long time. And he’d weighed himself yesterday morning and nearly cried. Before Velvet he’d weighed two hundred and ten pounds. Not really fat, but he’d been overweight for his six foot two frame. Now he weighed one twenty-five. Only half his former weight. He looked gaunt, his eyes were sunk back in his head, and his hair was falling out. Then there were the open wounds.

When she’d gone down on him after she’d gotten up, Ted had remarked on the ones on his back as well. Edward had been itchy but didn’t know there were wounds. Velvet said there were two on his dick and that she’d done it. He had looked after they’d all had sex and sure enough, she’d bitten him. And when he’d looked at his back, those too looked like bite marks. Ted had found him looking at them.

“
She’s marking you. For that matter, so am I. I kind of like the way it looks on you.” He asked him why. “So nobody will want you. But I’d ask her to lay off if I were you. If you don’t let her convert you soon, she’s going to do it anyway. Those bites are deep, and if they become too infected, as in you’re dying from them, she can convert you without your permission or let you die.”

She was killing him so she could do what she’d been telling him she was going to do for days now. According to the butler, she needed his permission to change him. Or if not that, then he’d have to be dying. Right now it was a toss-up if he was going to make it until he could get out before she did what she wanted.

“
You should know that I’m going to bring in another partner. I can’t have you getting it in your head that you’re the only one for me.” Velvet shoved him back on the chair and sat on his lap. He’d not even heard her come in the room. “It’s time to feed me.”

The bite to his throat had him screaming. Edward tried to pull her off him, but she wrapped her arms around his head and held him to her mouth. He could feel the life draining out of him and thought he’d welcome it. Darkness took him away smiling.

When he woke, it was dark in the room. He’d never been one to be afraid of the darkness, but the cold seeping into his body was more than he could stand. Moving slightly, he realized where he was and who was beside him, and her body was as cold as death. And he knew that’s just what she was. Death. Then he thought of where he was. Christ, she’d taken him to her lair.

“
I will rest easily tonight, but in the future it will be your job to protect me.” Edward didn’t say anything because he wasn’t sure he could open his mouth without screaming. “From now on, until I turn you, you’ll sleep with me. Then when the time is right I’ll make you like me.”

“
I don’t—” She cut him off with a low growl and he swallowed twice before continuing. “I will protect you. You won’t…you won’t kill me, will you? If you wake in the night, you won’t kill me, right?”

She yawned and sank her teeth into his shoulder, and Edward felt his cock harden. The fucking monster didn’t know when enough was enough. When she reached down to fondle him, Edward knew that as soon as he could get to the kitchen, he was cutting his throat. No amount of money in the world was worth what he was going through right now. When he came, she rolled on top of him and a light flared behind her body, silhouetting her for him. He couldn’t see her face well, but enough to know that her fangs were long and sharp right now. They got longer the angrier and the hungrier she got.

“
You do anything stupid and I will be very pissed at you. I’ve enough of your blood right now that if you were to try and cut your throat to spite me, I’d feel it and save you by turning you anyway. You understand what I’m telling you?” He nodded. “Good boy. Now, stick that cock in me and let me ride you until I come. I’m very horny right now.”

His cock was so painfully hard that he wasn’t surprised when he came three times before she fell atop him. Rolling her to his side, he lay there for a long time thinking about what the fuck had happened to him. He had no one to blame but himself. Her, too, of course, but there was little to nothing he could do about that now. He was as good as dead or a fucking vampire. He didn’t let himself think of killing himself, but did plan to confront Silva. As soon as the man killed him, the better Edward would feel about the world in general. The sun was nearly set when he finally closed his eyes. Today he’d figure out how to get out of this shit.

~~~

Clar moved down the stairs the next morning a little slower than she thought she would. He’d been an animal last night, and she decided that she’d never hold him off again. Well, maybe she would, but not for long. He’d torn her clothes from her in the front hall before the last car was out of the driveway.

“
Mine,” he’d told her when she tried to get away from him, but he held her. “I’m going to take you here, and if you make a sound, Kasen will watch his master fucking his mate.”

“
Please, let’s go up to the bedroom.” He growled as he pulled her shirt off her. The bra and panty set made her feel sexy, and the way he looked at her then, she thought maybe she might buy the store out. He’d looked…hungry.

“
No.” Her pants had come off next. He tossed them away from her as he stood in front of her, staring. Clar had felt her pussy soaking the panties and tried to squeeze her legs together to stop it. “Let me see. Open your legs and let me see just how wet I’ve made you.”

Trembling, she did as he said. He didn’t move closer to her, but she could feel him touching her as if he were. She moaned when she felt his fingers slide over her belly, and knew that he was doing this to her with his mind. When she reached between her legs to touch herself, her arms were suddenly above her head.

“
I told you, this is mine.” His two steps toward her made her wetter. By the time he was an inch from her, she was panting. Her body wasn’t on fire for him, but a living, breathing flame. His shirt had disappeared, and she licked her lips. The need to taste him was making her want to beg.

“
Don’t make a sound.” She nodded, not sure that was going to be possible when he dropped in front of her. He touched her thighs with the lightest of touches, and she danced on her feet, trying to get some relief. “You can come, but you’ll be quiet about it. If you call down the staff, I’ll be most displeased with you.”

“
Make me come.” He pulled her panties down to her thighs and kissed the area just above her pussy. “Stephen, please don’t tease me. You have been doing this all night.”

He had too. Every time he had come near her he’d touch her in some way, brush against her breast, and cup her ass. It wasn’t long after they had dinner started that he started sending her images of them together. Of her riding him again, his cock in her mouth while she sucked him. She heard herself screaming at the top of her lungs when she’d come, her begging him to fuck her. By the time their company had started making noises about leaving, she was ready to beg them to leave, wanting to help them to their cars.

His tongue played with her clit. She bit her lips to try to keep from screaming, but when he suckled her into his mouth, she couldn’t help it. A cry of pleasure spilled out before she could stop it. He lifted his head and looked up at her.

“
Come.” She came apart, her body let go without him even touching her this time. Before she was finished, another one grabbed her hard and she screamed again. This time she was in their room and he had her on the bed. Her arms and legs were tied to the bed.

“
I’m going to play with you.” And he had. To the point where she wasn’t just begging him to give her what she needed, but promising him whatever he’d wanted. “Anything?”

“
Yes. Please, anything. Just let me come. Please, I’m begging you.” He lifted her up and rolled her over his legs, the ties at her limbs suddenly gone. She thought for sure he’d been going to take her from behind, but he slapped her ass hard enough that she came up off his lap in seconds. “What the hell was that for?”

“
Come here, Clarice, and let me have my fun. If you do, I’ll give you so much pleasure you’ll faint with it.” He lay back on the bed and his clothes were suddenly gone. He wrapped his hand around his cock and began stroking himself. “Would you like to ride me again?”

“
Yes.” Her mouth watered for the chance to take him into her mouth and she moved forward.

“
Not yet. What I want from you is to cause you just a little pain. Not much, but just a little.”

“
Why?” He continued to play with his cock, and she watched as a stream of his cum slipped from the opening to his balls. “Let me suck on you now and I’ll let you spank me.”

“
Will you let me change you? Not tonight, but soon? I want to be able to give you what I am. I want to be able to not worry that I should be safe with you.” She’d looked at him then. “I hold back because even though we’ve come so close to you being like me, you are still human.”

“
You want me to be a vampire?” He nodded. “I won’t know how to…I don’t think I could feed from anyone but you.”

“
And you shan’t. You’re mine. And as my mated vampire, I will be the only one you feed from and I from you. Forever. If you touch another man, for any reason, I will kill him. I am a very jealous man. There may be times when you will have to feed from someone else, but you’ll need to be marked again by me, and I will try to restrain my natural need to kill. I’ll take you hard and bite you so that his scent, his taste will be gone.” She stood there and waited, knowing there was more. “There is. You will be hurt for me to do this. Mortally wounded so that my blood will change you. It’s the way all vampires do it, but because I’m a pureblood, you’ll be as strong as me and have the benefits that I have.”

“
Such as?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to be a vampire, but she was willing to listen. When he sat up, she came to him when he told her to. After she was on the bed, her knees planted firmly beneath her, she moaned when he came up behind her.

“
You’ll be able to take me like this.” His cock filled her. She cried out with his girth; it was so much thicker than she remembered. “I’m inside of you as my beast. Do you feel him?” She did too. It was more than his cock, but his body felt colder, his skin tighter.

Looking at his hands as he held himself over her, she could see his nails. They were long and thick, claws almost. Clarice wondered aloud if he’d positioned her this way so she couldn’t see his face.

“
I have. You’re afraid enough.” He moved in and out of her, and soon she was backing into his thrusts. “You’re going to make me come if you keep that up, and I want to make this last. I’ve never taken a woman this way before. When I bite you, it will be painful, I’m afraid. But if you’d prefer that I not, say so.”