Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
CIPRIAN
NEGRU CASTLE
My pet is here. The thought warms my blood, making me eager to find her, take her, and taste her.
However, I calm myself by merely enjoying her citrusy scent, the perfume wrapping around me in a welcoming invitation.
She’s wandering through the main corridor with Marius, her brief tour of my estate coming to an end.
He showed her the dining area—where I expect her to present herself at seven o’clock sharp—the main living rooms, the library, and the grand staircase, and he’s now leading her through the residential quarters.
I wrap myself in the shadows, lurking at one end of the hall as she approaches the room I’ve designated as hers.
“How long will I be staying?” Viviana asks my best friend, her voice soft.
She’s accepted this fate without a fight, something that intrigues me greatly. It makes me want to see how far I can push her before she breaks.
“Indefinitely, I imagine,” Marius drawls, his answer making my lips twitch—something I’m glad he doesn’t see because he would have about a dozen remarks to make in response to me smiling.
Not that my mouth fully curled upward or anything.
But that wouldn’t matter to my second-in-command. Marius is constantly grinning. A trait I find absolutely ridiculous.
“Indefinitely?” my pet echoes, her cheeks taking on a delectable shade of red as she faces my best friend. “You realize people know where I am, right?”
“Do they?” he asks, his eyebrow inching upward. “Or do they just know you ventured to Romania alone to go hunt down a vampire?”
She narrows her eyes. “There are at least a dozen people who know I’m obsessed with Negru Castle.”
Marius leans against the wall beside her future room, his arms crossing.
“Is that meant to concern me? Because it doesn’t.
” He reaches out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, nearly causing me to materialize out of the shadows.
“You really didn’t consider the consequences of this obsession, did you? ”
She merely stares up at him. “Considering the consequences and caring about them are two very different concepts, Mr. Scaevola.” With that, she opens the door to her room.
Marius glances toward me—no doubt sensing my presence in the shadows—winks, and then follows her inside before closing the door.
My jaw clenches. He knows better than to touch my toy. But that doesn’t mean I like him being alone in a room with her.
Of course, he just spent hours in the car with her, too. However, that was because I couldn’t exactly drive her here.
I take a step forward, my hands fisting at my sides.
I could introduce her to her room. Show her the dress I left for her on the bed. Explain the clothes in her drawers.
Only, I tasked Marius with those items because I thought they were beneath me.
Now, I’m not so sure.
Now, I want to… remove him.
And take over.
It’s her scent, I decide. It’s fucking drugging my senses.
Before I can do something asinine, like storm into her room and throw Marius out the balcony window, I teleport to my office and pour myself a blood martini.
When I feel Marius join me several minutes later, I decide to make him one as well. Mostly to curb his appetite. Viviana is my pet, and I will not be sharing her.
“Your little researcher is strange for a human,” he comments as I hand him the glass. “I expected more fear.”
“She’s been researching me for years. And she came here willingly, knowing what I am.”
“Well, she thinks you’re a vampire.”
“To her standards, I am,” I tell him. “But I’ll correct her terminology tonight when I introduce her to my fangs.”
“Pretty sure vampire lore involves fangs, too.”
“Semantics,” I mutter, taking a sip of my drink as I pull up the video feed from Viviana’s room. She’s currently standing beside the bed and running her fingers across the dark red dress I left for her there. “Did she agree to my dinner invitation?”
“I didn’t phrase it as a choice.”
“Good.” Because it wasn’t an offer but a demand. However… “I just want to know how she responded to it.”
“With arousal,” he growls, causing my eyebrows to lift.
“Arousal?”
“Yes.” He takes two healthy gulps of his drink before looking at me. “I’m rather certain your pet has been turned on all damn day, something I would have enjoyed more if she weren’t also doused in your fragrant claim.”
My lips almost betray my inner amusement. But with Marius’s open scrutiny, I manage to keep my stoic expression. “That’s interesting.”
He just shakes his head and finishes his blood martini. “Am I free to leave now that I’m done being your errand boy?”
“Missing your harem?” I wonder aloud.
“Very much.”
I nod. “I think I can handle it from here.”
He sets the glass in the wet bar sink at the back of my office. “Enjoy your new toy, Ciprian. Maybe she’ll be your ticket home.” His silver wings appear as he heads for the mirror that leads to our realm. It’s anchored into the wall and framed by mystical stones from the Strigoi world.
“Ticket home?” I ask, aware of what he’s implying. “She’s not a candidate, Marius.” She’s simply the first mortal I’ve been interested in tasting. It could be thousands of more years before I find someone I feel comfortable enough to bring home for the trials.
And I won’t let the experience become a spectacle.
I am not my father.
“Then I hope you enjoy using her, Your Highness.” He gives me a mock bow, then steps through the glass before I can comment.
Sometimes, my best friend is useful.
Sometimes, he’s infuriating.
Today, he was both.
“Typical,” I mutter, then return to my desk to watch the female walking across my monitors. She’s left the dress on the bed and is now looking through the drawers of her dresser. Her eyes widen as she pulls out the translucent fabric waiting for her inside.
“What…?” she whispers, then holds it up to herself like she’s trying to figure out how to wear it. “Yeah, no. I’m not wearing that.”
I snort. “You’ll absolutely be wearing that,” I reply, aware that she can’t hear me. But I’ll inform her of the rules at dinner. “Or you can choose to walk around naked.”
Either option works for me.
She opens more drawers, her lips pinching when all she finds are more lingerie sets.
Then she stomps over to the closet, which is filled with evening gowns and nothing else.
Well, there are shoes, too.
I wanted the option to dress up my toy, so I decided to provide a few different styles to see what type of dress looks best on her. I went with a blood-red gown for tonight, primarily because I fully intend to ruin it by feasting on her flesh.
Viviana walks back out of the closet with her pretty eyes narrowed at the bedroom door.
My lips twist upward for the second time today when she tries to open it and finds it locked.
“Ugh,” she grinds out, the sound causing my grin to grow into a smile.
This show of irritation pleases me. I was beginning to worry that she might kneel for me willingly. But this means I’ll have to work for her submission.
And that… that intrigues me.
I like the idea of forcing her to her knees and choking her with my cock.
Making her growl around me while I force her to take more.
Come down her pretty throat. Drown her. Then lay her flat against the table and feast between her thighs on blood and ecstasy.
Mmm. “I’m going to enjoy mastering you, princess.”
I just hope she holds my interest longer than the rest. I’ve spent years pining after this female. It will be utterly depressing if my craving is sated just by tasting her blood.
Like all the others before her, I think.
Except there have never been obsessions quite like this.
I’ve stalked prey. Fed on them. Released them.
But those were passing fancies that lasted minutes, not years.
Either this is all a yearning crafted in my mind, or this is something more.
I’m not sure which outcome will be worse for her. Disappointing me or being forced to handle lifetimes of lust.
We’ll find out soon.
Tonight.
At dinner…