Chapter 28
The Grass is Black and
Dead on this Side
The moment I saw him I froze, I couldn’t even take that first step needed to get me into the room.
I had dreamt of this moment for so long and now the man I had been obsessed with was right there.
I felt myself going crazy the longer I went without seeing him in the flesh and now this was it.
Here I was and I couldn’t even take one bloody step!
But he finally turned in his seat and the second those burning silver eyes of his made contact with mine, I was trapped.
Locked inside his personal spell and I could do nothing I wanted to do, for now all I seemed to want to do was run.
I suddenly realised the mistake I had made but I had no choice now.
I needed to see this through and hope that just more than my heart would survive.
Because, how could I tell a man I loved him when he didn’t even know me? Hell, but it sounded impossible just thinking it! But I couldn’t help it.
It was as though I was born to love him, cursed even.
But like I said, he didn’t know me and what I knew of him was hard and cold and brutal.
Was I really the one in this world meant to tame such a bloodthirsty beast? Was this really what the Fates had in store for me?
Well, there was only one way to find out because now there he was and I was caught in his sights.
I knew this when he started beckoning me forward with a simple flick of a couple of fingers.
So, I took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator, noticing how the room widened into a much larger area than you would have thought.
The large space on the top floor narrowed back towards a staircase, meaning I must have come up by a private elevator.
Next to these doors I noticed another pair of doors that looked far more intimidating and I wondered if, like in Afterlife’s VIP, this was the entrance to his private home?
The rest of the upstairs was set out like a playground for an X-rated club, where all that was on the menu was sex and blood.
Vampires and demons alike all fed freely along with indulging in the acts of the flesh.
But that wasn’t where the weird ended but seemingly only where the normal began, for everything after that just got weirder and weirder.
Like the woman in the centre of the narrow room who was dancing round and doing a sexy routine inside a giant old-fashioned champagne glass that was filled with what I could only assume was blood.
She was splashing and teasing her audience with it as at least thirty people all sat round watching her blood tease.
The whole of her face was hidden under a lace mask with only blood red lips showing through.
Then there were two white haired twins that were dressed like broken dolls, only let’s just say that it didn’t look like it was part of their costumes where their skin had been sewn together.
It started at their hands where someone had joined by sewing each of their fingers together using a crude crisscross pattern.
One that had been done with a thick needle that impaled their skin and which was still hanging down in between them by the red thread.
It swung like a pendulum dripping with the blood that slowly trickled down the pierced flesh.
They also had crosses on their faces along with sewn circles around one eye each.
Then, these thick crude stitches of red cord, tied in the shape of hearts over naked breasts and exactly where their actual hearts were buried beneath tortured twisted flesh.
They were simply skipping back and to, obviously holding hands and letting their large attributes swing and sway freely.
There was also a line of cages that had inside what looked like willing humans all dressed in barely seen underwear.
Each had messages written on their bodies with words and phrases trying to entice a buyer, for a group of people all sat waiting their turn to be called up and chosen.
I watched horrified as some placed five euro notes into one of the cages like it was a change machine.
It ate up the small amount of money and the door swung free, and an excitable girl jumped out into a man’s arms.
Seriously, were all these people drugged?!
How could he have all of this happening in his club? What kind of man was he? I swear was it me or was the air in here getting thick and making it hard to breathe?
I glanced back to Lucius, knowing that I was walking towards him painfully slow, as I took it all in and he seemed amused by the sight.
Was it my face, was I giving away too much of the horrors of this place and what I thought.
Alright, so for someone who had zero sexual experience other than a self-induced orgasm, then I confess I was seriously naive about all of this…this…well the kinky side of sex.
But then this, well this must have been something else entirely because it wasn’t your simple whips and handcuffs type of gig.
No, this was a sexual deviant’s playground!
Which begged the biggest question of all…what did that make its owner…what did that make Lucius?
I continued on, tearing my eyes from the scene as best as I could, and I winced when I heard the chuckles of people that I passed knowing I was the source of their amusement.
This part of the room was much larger and, thankfully, somewhat tamer than at the back.
It spread out at the center in an arc that curved over the floors below, meaning you could see everything but the parts below it, like the band.
The middle section was framed with the same huge metal columns that were attached to the stage below and in between the steel frame work was frosted glass panels that I guess prevented anyone from taking a nose dive three stories down.
It was decorated with a black tribal pattern like a gothic thorn that was thicker at the bottom, creeping its way up to the top.
I couldn't help but steal a glance as I was prompted further into the room by the guy behind me.
Like I said, you could see everything from up here, especially the bar area and where I had been stood.
The centre of this wide space was taken up with a huge sofa that curved round and could easily have fit up to ten people upon it.
Covered in a black velvet material with blood red piping around the edges it certainly stood out against the wooden flooring.
Even the base of it was of a gothic nature, being made from thick dark oak and its feet were carved into large dragon’s feet with deadly talons that were actually embedded in the floorboards.
And at the centre of that imposing gothic setting was its King.
“Lucius.”
His name slipped from my lips on a barely heard whisper only I knew that he hadn’t missed it.
His eyes told me as much when they burned brighter for a second.
I had seen many of my dad’s kind do this and it was once described to me as a sign that someone’s other side, their demon or their angel, was showing through.
It was as though a piece of themselves was permanently on lockdown but every so often it would act up and try to push itself through, fighting for dominance or control over their host.
“Ah, but to what do we owe to this, such a royal presence, to grace my humble little establishment?”
Lucius’ voice rang out in a taunting way, as he leant back against the couch, resting one out-stretched arm along it’s back.
He looked like such a powerful figure and far more intimidating than he ever looked in my dreams, that was for damn sure!
He wore a tight pair of fitted black trousers that were tucked into a pair of laced grey boots that looked as if he couldn’t be bothered to tie all the way up.
Meaning the tops of them were peeled back at the sides and buckled to the rest of the straps on his boot.
With this he wore a black shirt that was rolled up at the cuffs and was open at his neck, unbuttoned all the way down to the start of his waistcoat.
This meant that you could see the defined chest muscles just peeking through and he looked utterly solid.
He looked casual smart without a jacket and the unconventional biker boots with his expensive looking suit.
One that was without a doubt made to measure, as it was molded to his large frame perfectly.
He was dressed entirely in dark shades other than the blood red stitching against the dark grey tweed material on his waistcoat.
He was officially the sexiest being I had ever seen in my entire life and for that reason, along with many others, I couldn’t seem to find my voice.
That and the stunning blondes that were sat either side of him, one of which he had obviously been feeding from if the two bloody puncture marks on her chest were anything to go by.
If anything, it looked like blood on tap with them still bleeding that way.
Of course, the pain of seeing this and making me suffer was one I hadn’t been expecting or prepared for.
In fact, I just wanted to excuse myself and run home as fast as I could, hoping and praying that this was the end of his hold on me and my heart.
But of course, I had come too far now and he wouldn’t let me go that easily without first doing what he looked as though he did best…playing the puppet master.
“Well, does this royal visit come with a voice?”
he asked in such a way it made the others around him snigger and I swallowed hard.
“I…my father thought it best that I…”
I started to say when his laughter cut me off.
“Oh, I doubt greatly that daddy knows where his precious little girl is right now, for I think I would find myself with a few more unexpected guests to accommodate, instead of just this lost little lamb I see before me now,”
Lucius replied, making me tense my hands and hating the way he ridiculed me for nothing more than who he thought I was.
“I am not lost,”
I stated bravely, straightening my back and showing him that I had some courage.
He raised his brows in feigned surprise and then grinned before slapping his hands to his knees and making me flinch as he rose to his full height.
I don’t know why but I couldn’t help but take a step back and I didn’t know why I let him intimidate me so much.
Not considering I had grown up surrounded by tall, well defined men that were much bigger than me.
Was it because I knew how dangerous he was? How powerful? Or was it because deep down I knew what he was to me, what I was to him that certain Fates had deemed so? But from the looks of him now and the way he walked slowly towards me with indifference clearly written there to see, then did he not know what I knew? I would have said not.
“You’re not lost, you say?”
he asked, tapping two fingers on his slightly blood-stained lips as if toying with me and I so badly wanted to put my fingers to my mouth and nibble on the ends.
I shook my head in the end as I didn’t know what to say to him to stop him from mocking me the way he seemed to enjoy.
“Then enlighten me, whatever drove such an innocent little doe into the wolf’s den?”
he asked, pausing his motions before taking a step towards me and frightening me enough that I took a sudden step back.
I banged into the glass panel making it vibrate and I gasped.
“I…I…”
I started to stutter out my words as he continued to get closer until soon he rested an outstretched arm over my head with the gloved palm against the glass.
I so badly wanted to ask about that hand as I still didn’t know.
It was the same at the first time I had seen him as he always seemed to have it covered.
Why? Just what was he hiding from the world?
“You…you…you were saying?”
he taunted, drumming his leather covered fingers against the glass as a clear sign that he was waiting for his answer.
The sound felt like it was beating in time with my pounding heart, as from this close I could see, smell and hear everything.
I could smell the intoxicating scent of his aftershave, a sandalwood and leather, with some spice I couldn’t place.
Then there were the small lines near the corners of his stunning eyes, that I wondered if they creased deeper when he smiled or laughed? There were the flecks of blue ice bursting outwards in his eyes and the long lashes that framed them.
The chiseled jawline that just begged for a pair of soft fingertips to trace along.
There was even the small sound he made like an impatient hum to himself, like a habit even he didn’t realise he had.
He was finally real to me.
And my heart couldn’t cope.
“I came here to…”
I stumbled on my words again and this time the grin he gave me was one that totally belonged to a sadist.
“To? Come on Princess, for I will be in my coffin before long,”
he teased as I knew he didn’t sleep in a coffin like the story books would have you believe.
Seriously, who did he think I was, some Vampire groupie that had no clue they were real? I decided to hold on to my anger at the way he was viewing me and said this time with less of a trembling voice,
“I am here to tell you that I will be moving here.”
At this he raised a brow in question before saying,
“Oh, will you now? Then tell me, Sweet do I at least have time to pack my bags before royalty evicts me?”
he taunted again, and I scoffed before saying,
“Well, obviously not here, here…”
“Obviously,”
he mocked, doing so in the same tone and nodding his head condescendingly.
Then he raised a hand up and started to touch me, making me flinch and suck in a startled breath the second he made contact.
It was like feeling a supernatural current dancing along my skin.
He paused a moment as if he too had experienced it, that or he was giving me time to adjust to the feel of his touch.
“And this pretty little black dress, was it for my benefit?”
He purred the question as he started to run his fingers under the thin straps and downwards until they were getting closer and closer to the curve of my breast.
I held my breath and even found myself unable to keep my eyes open at the feeling of my dream man touching me for real this time.
“I asked you a question, Princess,”
he reminded me sternly and my eyes snapped open at the sound of his authority being revealed.
“I thought I would… that you would…”
I found I couldn’t finish that sentence as I felt far too exposed doing so.
“Find you ripe for the picking?”
he finished, and I suddenly blurted out,
“No! No, I didn’t think that,”
I told him making him smile this time and for once it wasn’t one done to mock.
“You do not wish to entice me then, as the others do?”
he asked, suddenly frowning and I was surprised by his question.
So, I shook my head telling him no and surprising him again.
But then it was his turn to shock me as the second my gaze wandered to the blondes he had referred to as the ‘others’, he suddenly slammed a hand against the glass in a moment of anger.
Then, at the same time, his lips were suddenly snarling dangerously at my neck.
I screamed in shock and froze, feeling as though any moment a chunk of my neck would be missing and thinking it was quite an important piece to lose.
But, instead of feeling the pain I just felt the fear.
That blinding fear that had my heart trying to save itself by pounding its way out of my chest like a Captain jumping from a sinking ship.
I waited, not knowing what to expect next when suddenly I felt his lips against my neck, not so much in a kiss but more a grin against my skin.
Then I flinched the second I felt a cold set of fangs extending against my tender flesh.
The second I moved even the slightest bit his free hand came to my side to hold me still.
I swear his hand was so large it spanned half of my belly as he pushed me back flush against the glass.
“Now hold still whilst I play with my new toy,”
he warned, making me suck in a startled breath at being referred to as his play thing.
I don’t know how that made me feel as it was conflicting and confusing to be both outraged and turned on from it at the same time.
Then I felt him run his extended fangs up the length of my neck, making me shudder against him.
I felt his fingers flex at my side as if he was holding himself back from doing what he wanted.
“Now answer the fucking question,”
he growled low by my ear and I was suddenly reminded that we weren’t alone as this felt we should be.
I couldn’t help my gaze from glancing over his head and he pulled back as though he felt my actions for himself.
“Eyes! Give me your fucking eyes, girl!”
he barked, making me snap my gaze back to his as if he had just flipped a switch.
“Now, I will not ask again but instead will remind you in other ways, when I tear this scrap of material from your body, baring you to all.”
At this my mouth dropped before I uttered,
“You…you wouldn’t dare?”
I asked in shock making him smirk down at me before the hand on my side suddenly fisted a handful of my dress making it become so tight, it did indeed feel as though one simple tug and it would tear from it seams and render me naked.
“Try pushing me and see where it gets this sweet little body of yours,”
he warned on a growl and my hand acted on impulse and went to his fist to hold it tight in my palm.
I don’t know why but the second I touched him his eyes flashed a completely different colour, one of burning amber.
And for a single moment it was like looking directly into the flames and hoping that they didn’t have the power to burn you.
So, I decided to answer him quickly as I took every threat he issued me as a serious one.
“Yes…I wore this for you,”
I admitted on a breathy confession.
This genuinely seemed to please him and his hold on my dress relaxed and because I didn’t want to push my luck I, in turn, released my hold on his hand.
Then he started to smooth that abused part of my dress out with his palm flat to my skin, making sweeping motions that ran from just under my breasts and down to the top of my thigh.
I swear this time his touch had such power behind it I could feel it driving my sexual urge higher and higher to the point I thought I would come if only he asked it of me.
“That’s my good girl, so honest, so innocent…just look at all this untouched virgin skin on show, just ready to be tasted…to be fucked.”
He snarled this last part as a whisper by my ear and at the same time his hand spanned my ribs just under my bra as he pushed me further against the glass, pressing his body into me.
I shuddered and sucked in a shocked breath through clenched teeth for I was so close, I could feel myself building without him even touching that part of me.
I was both terrified and elevated to the idea of just one fingertip finding my core as I knew that I would have only begged him for more.
I could feel myself getting so lost in him, the way he played me, teased me, mocked me, it was all just a cruel game to him, one I was desperate to win.
But then, just as I felt his lips kiss my neck and his mouth open ready to take their first taste, their first bite in making me his, if only for one long pull of my blood and binding me to him if only for a short time…he pulled away and snarled the horrifying truth in my ear,
“A shame then that I am not into corrupting pretty little virgins with no experience….as I can smell your innocence and it reeks.”
My eyes snapped open and the spell was broken.
I tried to pull away from his hold, confused when he was the one who wouldn’t let me go.
Not until it was that he had delivered his final blow.
“Run on home to your castle, little girl, for you’re on the wrong side of that safe world you grew up in.”
This was when he placed a finger to my painted lips and then ran his thumb down the center, smudging the shade down my chin.
I felt like crying at his harsh and humiliating treatment, so I turned my face away, making him run the backs of his fingers down my cheek, telling me,
“For I can assure you, Princess, it is far from greener on this side, for this isn't Afterlife ...
this is the gates of Hell I own and here… I show no fucking mercy!”
he warned on a growl and snapped his teeth at my cheek making me flinch back.
Then he sealed my shame and mortification when he tugged me roughly into his arms and whispered down at me,
“Not even to fresh little virgins who nearly cum before I have even uttered their name.”
Then he grabbed my chin in a bruising hold, held me still and kissed my lips in the very last way I ever thought our first kiss would have been.
It was just another way for him to make a mockery out of me in front of all his people and I couldn’t help my reaction, I yanked myself out of his hold and before I could stop myself I drew back and went to slap him.
However, his lightning fast reflexes meant that he caught my hand by the wrist before it could touch him with the leather on his palm slapping against my skin.
Then he warned dangerously,
“Not. Wise.”
He said this in a deadly calm that was far scarier than if he had screamed it at me.
Then he spun me around and gave me a little push so that I stumbled a step towards the staircase at the back of the VIP.
“Now run along, Princess, for you have wasted enough of my fucking time on these silly little games of yours…time for a real drink!”
he said as he let himself fall back on the sofa before putting his arm behind one of the girls and making her giggle.
Then he grabbed the other one by the neck before yanking her hard towards his waiting mouth.
Making this a fitting end to the most humiliating moment in my life.
I couldn’t help the gasp of pain that escaped as I turned around and started running towards the staircase, having first to try and make my way through the crowd of people.
It was the ultimate walk of shame and he and I both knew it.
It was, after all, why it had been done.
He could have just let me go back down in the lift but this way, it only managed to add that extra slice of cruelty to the act.
He wanted me to hate him, now the question was why?
Well, if he wanted me to despise him then he had just got his fucking wish!
So, I didn’t care that people were laughing and sneering at me as all I could feel was the pain.
Even as the hot fat tears continued to fall down my cheeks, I no longer cared.
Let them laugh, let them amuse themselves with the sight of my torment.
I just wanted to run as far away from this Hellhole as I could get.
However, the amused crowd was prolonging my agony in being here, which was when I heard Lucius one last time roar out a command in German.
“Lass sie durch und fass sie nicht an!”
I tried to figure out in my mind what it meant, something about not touching her…this was proven right when suddenly the room parted like the Red Sea for Moses as I was now free to run through the room without being held back.
But then I felt my head begin to spin as I felt myself start to feel foggy.
Like that moment when you first realise you’re drunk, only that was impossible after only one drink?
I reached out to the side, thankfully finding someone’s table to lean on whilst I shook my head to try and get my focus.
I put a hand to my head as if this would help in clearing the fog and when it finally passed I briefly looked back at Lucius.
This left me wondering in my insanity should I tell him that something was wrong with me? But when I saw him look over his shoulder at me frowning and sniffing the air as if he was looking for something, I decided then that I would get nothing but more humiliation from him.
Something no doubt this time about my lack of ability to hold down a drink.
I even saw him motion for the guard that had brought me up in the elevator to come forward, no doubt asking him to make sure I was removed from his club and quickly. I knew this when I saw him speak into his radio whilst still looking at me.
This was when, after staggering a little, I ran for it.
I got to the staircase, nearly throwing myself around the corner holding on to the banister so as not to fall and break my neck.
I must have lost my jacket and my purse at some point because by the time I ran through the front doors of the club, I had nothing on me.
The doorman shouted something at me, trying to get me to stop but I just ignored him and carried on running.
I just needed to get as far away from this place as possible! How could I have been so stupid! How could I have let myself believe in such a man, such a being! He was just a cruel cold bastard who obviously got his kicks by hurting people.
He really was the heartless Vampire King that they said he was.
I finally stopped running and had no clue where I was, but the second I stopped, unfortunately for me the world didn’t as my mind became so lost now that it spun and spun and spun until everything was falling around me.
It was only when pain exploded at the back of my head that I realised it hadn’t been the world falling… but it was me.
For a moment I just lay there looking up at the night sky that kept fading in and out every time I closed my eyes slowly.
Part of me couldn’t understand what was happening and the other half of me just didn’t care.
He had crushed me.
But then, as I lay there on the cold hard floor, I heard something approaching me.
However, when I tried to lift up my head to see, pain exploded in my head.
My eyes refused to focus as I felt as though I had consumed a whole bottle of vodka.
Or like that time aunty Pip let me drink too much champagne and she ended up holding my hair back as I puked whilst she sang the Gummy Bears theme tune like it was a lullaby.
But I couldn’t understand, I had only had the one drink, unless…
This was when a figure suddenly approached and the second they leant down, getting into focus, I opened my mouth to scream when a hand quickly clamped down over my mouth.
For there, above me, was the most hideous creature with rubber textured skin stretched out into a face.
Beady unblinking eyes stared down at me and a mouth full of fangs that remained wide open like it was going to bite me but didn’t close even when it spoke.
Even when its smug voice didn’t fit the snarling mouth of a demon as it reminded me…
“See, I told you demons are real.”