Trueblood 01-The-Consolation-Prize (12 page)

He didn’t want to be milked like a cow or even put out to stud like a stallion. He wanted to be free.

“Your mistress?” he asked.

“She’s wonderful,” Krista said loudly and muttered under her breath, “crazy bitch.”

When Krista began to pump, he groaned. “Don’t do this. Please.”

Not much scared Luka, but the tremors in his gut were most definitely fear. As Krista settled on his thighs, she flicked her tongue in and out like a snake and grinned. She had about as much appeal as a snake but Luka knew his dick was engorged. The poor fucker had no choice. Luka had seen these pumps used though he’d never tried one himself. He didn’t need to. He had no problem with the length of his equipment, nor with getting an erection. Until Krista had walked in with that contraption, Luka had been fairly confident that he’d used up his supply of erections for a while on Chloe. His supply of sperm however, was something else entirely. It was wishful thinking that he’d have nothing left. Unlike mortals, his regeneration rate was very high. If Krista kept pumping, he’d eventually supply her with his cum, whether he liked it nor not.

When Krista drew the cylinder away, Luka was as thick as he’d ever seen himself and around the root of his cock sat a black plastic ring.
Not good
. As Krista began to lower herself onto his cock, the door burst open and Eve stormed in.

“What the hell are you doing?” she screeched. “You know what she said.”

Krista let out a bellow of fury, but to Luka’s relief, she got off the bed. When he saw the way they both focused on his erection, he felt like a slab of meat thrown between two tigers.

“Ooh, that looks nice. Go and get her,” Eve told Krista.

“You go.”

“What and leave you alone with that?” Eve turned to Krista. “Hurry, before I --”

The bickering stopped abruptly. Krista grabbed her gown and pulled it over her head just before the door opened. Luka guessed the woman with the curly blonde hair was their mistress. She was tall and elegant and had danger written all over her hard face. She looked around the room and then at Luka -- or to be more precise, at his cock, still stiff as a post.

“We were just coming to tell you, Selena,” Eve said. “We managed to --”

“What a beautiful, beautiful cock.”

Luka repressed a shudder.

“What’s that?” the woman asked, pointing to the penis pump. “You were told no devices, no drugs.” She turned from cold mountain spring to raging whitewater torrent in an instant. “How dare you defy me! How dare you use your own initiative! You pathetic morons. I give you one simple job, something that any vamp could do, any vamp with tits and a brain and you can’t even manage that.”

“Krista did it,” Eve said.

“It was Eve’s idea.” Krista glared at her.

The dominant vamp reared up. She was already tall, but she seemed to grow taller. The air thickened, bristling with malevolence and Luka could almost taste the evil seeping from her pores. Shit, he was in big trouble.

“Get out of here.”

The two fled and his heart began to race. Dawn was approaching. Not quite such a problem for him, he only had to hang on long enough and she’d be forced to retreat to her light-proof lair.

But she moved fast and was naked and impaled on him before he had time to blink. So much for foreplay.

“Give me your seed, Trueblood,” she whispered as she rode him. “We’ll protect you from the Council. When you’ve impregnated enough of us, we’ll be too powerful for them to ignore.”

Enough of them
? So this wasn’t just a few vamps who wanted a baby. Luka wondered what the hell was going on. He knew he had to resist this woman, but he felt his cock responding to the rhythmic friction.
Shit
. He pictured himself lying in the sun, the puff of smoke before he felt the first ray burn a hole in his flesh. The red mark would spread, grow deeper, more painful, join up with others until all of his body was a mass of excruciating pain. That vampire film about the town in Alaska had got something right. Exposed to full sunlight Luka would crumble to ashes.

“Fuck me, Luka. I know you want to. Move your hips. Push into me. Feel me tight around you.”

Luka imagined his blood bubbling in his veins, his body swelling and…the pain, more pain than he could bear. He gasped with another pain as she slammed a clenched fist into his temple.

“Stop thinking of death and fuck me. We’ll protect you from the Council. Give me a child.”

Luka stared at her as she raped him. How could he describe this as anything else? He was humiliated, ashamed, and increasingly furious. Her fangs were out, her breath jerky as she maintained the savage assault on his cock. He didn’t want her to bite him. He would not come.

He hoped his hatred was strong enough to make his balls listen to his command. But she came, screaming her release into the air, her contractions dragging at his cock, urging it to respond.

Luka gritted his teeth. He refused to come, yet dawn would. He only had to hang on a little longer.

His mind slid to Chloe and he hoped she wasn’t at the spyhole. He glanced over, heartsick at the thought of her seeing this. Would she understand that he didn’t want it?

He yelped as the vamp tore herself from him. Luka pulled at his chains. He wanted to rip out her throat. Time had run out for both of them.

“Tonight, Luka Varek of the Trueblood clan, you’re mine,” she whispered and drew a sharp fingernail across his cheek. Luka felt his flesh part under her touch. She ran her finger along the cut, lifted it to her lips, and sucked away a smear of blood. Then she was gone.

* * * * *

The idea of sleep was so appealing. She couldn’t -- not yet. She’d tried to free Luka by force and failed. Let him drink her blood and still failed but she’d made some difference which was more than she could say for her attack on the chains. He’d begun to heal after he’d drunk from her, so more blood had to be the answer, only it was obvious there was a limit to how much she could afford to lose. Chloe’s limbs were shaky, the black edge to her vision warning her she needed to rest and allow her red cells to regenerate. The bed looked so good. Then she had a brilliant idea.

Adrenaline flowing, Chloe was suddenly wide awake. She stripped to her underwear and put on a Sunset Spa robe. In the little wicker basket of freebies left in the bathroom was a face pack.

She ripped it open, squeezed dark brown gunk on her palm, and smothered her face in “Instant Brightening Chocolate Sundae Delicious Delight.” When she’d finished, she looked hideous and she smelt like a box of chocolates.

Moments later, as she scrubbed her tongue with a face cloth, Chloe wondered when she’d learn that eating cosmetics was not a good idea. She blamed the manufacturers. Why make something inedible smell good enough to eat and call it delicious? Her marketing brain kicked that idea around for a time. Edible face treatments. Maybe only of interest if you had a partner to lick them off.

Chloe pulled the belt of her robe tight around her waist and made her way downstairs. She took it steady. Her legs were wobbling and head swimming. A vague memory of Luka telling her to drink filtered through. It had, in fact, been something Luka had said that triggered her brilliant idea. There weren’t enough members of staff to feed all the vampires and if all the women fed on their therapists, the guys would be too exhausted for -- well, anything else the woman wanted them for. There
must
be a supply of blood somewhere in Washburn Hall. Since she’d smelled nothing cooking in the restaurant, it seemed the obvious place to look.

Three women sat in the dining room. Two of them had bags of red liquid pressed against their faces.
Yuk
. As Chloe walked past, they dropped the bags on the table, and stood up. She repressed a shudder and made her way to the serving hatch.

“What can I get for you?” asked a small, round, unattractive bald man with a pug nose.

Chloe couldn’t believe he was a vampire. If so, the books had got it all wrong.

“Well?”

Oh God, she had no idea what to ask for.

“Hard…speak,” she muttered through closed lips. “Face…pack…set…solid.”

The man smiled. “Clap if I get it right.”

“’K.”

“One bag of O positive?”

Chloe didn’t move. She wondered how many bags she was allowed.

The man raised his eyebrows. “O negative?”

What if she got it wrong? She had no idea if the blood group mattered. Obviously it did, otherwise this guy wouldn’t be asking her. She was B negative which was rare. Luka had gulped her down. Maybe he liked the taste. Eventually the man got to B negative and Chloe clapped vigorously.

“Very nice,” he said. He walked to the fridge and came back with one bag.

Chloe held up five fingers. His eyes looked as though they were going to pop out of his head.

She put her hands on her hips and tried an imperious glare. Her forehead cracked and a brown lump dropped off. Chloe stared at it for a moment, then picked it up and lifted it to her mouth. At the last moment, she remembered the taste and stuck it back on her forehead. The man put five bags of blood on the counter. She signed for them, gathered them up, and raced out of the room.

Time might be running out but there was no way she’d face Luka looking like a freak. She scrubbed the mask off before she made her way down the passageway. She paused to stare at the toys. Had Rufus changed places with Angel? Was that a smile on Phoebe’s face? Maybe she was going mad.

A peek through the spyhole told her Luka was alone.

Luka opened his eyes as Chloe came to his side. He wasn’t sure how long he would have before sleep overwhelmed him, though Truebloods could withstand the craving to close down for far longer than most vampires. He also woke before the sun had set, a necessary advantage for a clan in hiding.

“I thought I told you to sleep,” he said.

What the hell was she doing awake? He’d bombarded her head with the command. She shouldn’t have been able to ignore him.

“What happened to your face?” Chloe asked.

“A sharp fingernail.”

Chloe winced. “Maybe this will help. I brought you a present.” She dangled the bags of blood in front of his face.

His eyes opened wide in astonishment. “How did you manage that?”

Chloe grinned. “I just asked. It’s the same group as mine.” Her face fell. “Oh, do you need it warm? Shall I microwave it?”

Luka’s fangs slid out. “Preth it againtht my mouth.”

Lisping. How embarrassing. One long slurp. Three seconds. That was a record. Luka burped.

“Pardon me.”

Chloe giggled and pressed another bag to his lips. He could feel the strength returning to his body, an electrical current zinging through him. After five bags consumed at high speed, he was drunk, intoxicated with power, with passion, with a sweet angel called Chloe. One tug, the chains flew free and as he unraveled the restraints from his wrists, then his ankles, he watched her, wanted her. If she’d look down, she’d see how much, but her eyes were fixed somewhere left of his face. She looked -- embarrassed? That damned cock ring was still in place. He reached down and peeled it off. When he stood, Chloe took a step backwards. Afraid of him?

“Chloe, I’d never hurt you.” He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek. Molten need roared through his veins.

She raised her eyes to his. “Come to my room. Sleep there and I’ll find a way to get you out of here tonight.” She grabbed his clothes from the closet and scooped up his shoes. “Do you want to get dressed first?”

“No.” Luka wanted to hold Chloe in his arms, touch her, feel her, stroke her, fuck her.

He picked up the empty blood bags. Let them wonder how he got free. He crawled after Chloe into the secret passage.

“What purpose did these hidden corridors serve?” he asked as she turned on the flashlight.

“I don’t know. I played in them all the time. Look, my toys are still here.” She shone the beam on the shelf and yelped.

“What is it?”

“I thought the dragon was on the left.”

Luka saw the dragon glowering at him. He glowered back. Chloe moved on.

“Are any other access points still operational?” he asked.

“Not that I found but I was…er…distracted once I’d discovered this one. Oh God, do you think there are more naked men hanging in chains?”

“One’s enough for you.”

The breath caught his throat as Chloe reached back, wrapped her fingers around his, and squeezed hard.

“Keep quiet now,” she whispered. “Hold on to me and I’ll lead the way with the flashlight.”

Luka could see perfectly well in the dark yet he let her lead him through the passageways, up wooden stairs, and finally stopped outside her room. She pulled him down to crawl through the gap. The temptation to bite her backside was almost too much. So near, so delectable. Chloe closed the fireplace and turned. They stood looking at one another. For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

“Phew, you’re out of danger,” she said.

And she was in danger
.

“Vampires are never out of danger. It’s an integral part of our lives. It’s okay for werewolves.

They only have a problem when it’s a full moon. Even then, they can take strong drugs and sleep through it. It’s allowed them to remain undiscovered.”
Babbling
? How could he be nervous?

“You mean there are such things as werewolves?” There was a squeak of alarm in her voice.

Luka smiled and took hold of her hand. “You believe in vampires.”

Chloe gulped. “You’ll be safe here. I’ll get you out before they wake up tonight. Somehow. I bet you’re tired. Sun’s just about up. Want to lie down?”

She sounded nervous too. He rubbed her palm with his thumb. “Lying down sounds like a very good idea.”

“The shutters will keep out the daylight. I’ll look after you while you sleep.”

Luka laughed. “I’d rather you looked after me while I was awake.”