Chapter 42 #2
Kaiser removes the black ribbon from around my neck and replaces it with the collar. The metal is cool to the touch, and I stroke it, enjoying its weight on my neck. There’s something comforting about being held like this. Forever. Maybe that’s why the submissives at Club Empire looked so peaceful.
Father Francis comes forward and starts intoning something solemn, speaking another language.
Kaiser leans in and whispers, “It’s Latin.”
“What does it mean?”
“You’re one of us.” He nods to the ranks of masked men. “Joined to them through me.”
I close my eyes and let the words roll over me. You are not alone. But it’s a lot to take in, so I just let myself lean into Kaiser’s warmth and his scent.
Father Francis says in English, “Above all, you commit your life to the one you have chosen. You will be bound together by water, by fire, by death, and by blood. So shall you vow.”
“Yes, I so vow,” Kaiser says.
“Yes, I so vow,” I say and shiver, because this feels huge. Like a graduation, a wedding, and a funeral all rolled into one.
Focus, Bella!
Together we dip the dagger into the Giant’s blood, then into a goblet that Lucy holds.
Kaiser helps me up, and we join hands over a silver bowl set on the altar above the Giant’s head.
“Together in life. Bound by death,” Father Francis murmurs, making the sign of the cross over our hands.
The Devil pours the bloody water from the goblet over our hands. I expect it to feel cold, but it’s not. It’s warm, and somehow that’s worse.
I’m a killer. I’ve always been, but now, taking part in a ceremony of death and communion, I get how fucked up I am.
But this is natural, right? Life and death flowing in one endless circle.
Everyone dies. Sometimes, I just help things along.
Trim the diseased limbs and prune the vine of humanity so it bears good fruit.
Someone has to do it. It might as well be me.
Father Francis steps back. So do Lucy and the Devil. Several robed Fraternitas figures approach the altar, where they lift the Giant’s body and cart him away.
I stare up at Kaiser, every nerve ending sizzling with excitement.
“Is that it?” I ask.
“That’s it.”
He lifts me off the chair and sets me right on the altar. Feels a little sacrilegious. I like it.
He grips my hair, pulling my head back. I gasp, and he tugs my hair harder, baring my neck to him. Dom Kaiser is back, and he’s all business.
I lick my lips. “What now?”
“Now I claim you properly.” And he pushes me to lie back on the altar. The silver bowl crashes to the floor, and pink water spatters everywhere. He forces me down on the stone slab, releasing my hair so he can hold me down by my throat.
I love it.
I feel alive.
My hair is soaking up the bloody liquid, and I don’t care. Wash me clean. Wash me bloody.
“Kiss me,” I whisper, and he does. He leans over and tastes my lips like he can’t get enough of the flavor.
I try to lean in, wanting more, and he pulls my hair, controlling the kiss.
It feels so good to be held down, controlled.
He’s trapped me, and there’s no escape. He will never leave. He wants me too much.
His hips grind into me, and I could cum just like this. But when he rears up and tears open my bra top, I shudder with happiness.
“Yes!” I shout. I look around. There’s no one here. No more Devil or Lucy. No more Father Francis or St. James.
We’re alone.
“They’re gone,” I say. Even the men in masks have disappeared. They left silently, and now it’s as if they’d never been. I wonder if they were here at all.
“No one gets to see you like this,” He skates a hand down my bare chest. “No one touches you. No one but me.”
“No one,” I promise. From now on, I’ll poison my enemies from afar.
He drags his lips down my neck to my shoulder. I’m still covered in blood and poison, and fuck, I don’t want to hurt him, but I don’t want him to stop.
“I feel, I feel you,” he murmurs against my skin.
“Kaiser, please, I need you.” My skin is hot and too tight. I feel like I will die if he doesn’t claim me now.
He drags his lips down my neck, between my breasts, to my belly. Pleasure blooms through me. I can do nothing but lie back and let him worship me. My hands are free, and I touch every part of him I can reach. His shaved head, his ears, his forehead.
He licks between my legs. Holy Hecate, yes!
Heat bursts through me, and I want more.
He drives the fingers of his right hand deep into my sex.
It feels so good, I come up off the altar, my voice ringing out in the cathedral space.
Kaiser grabs my wrists, keeping me from fighting him.
He’s holding me like he never wants to let go.
“I will never let anyone hurt you,” he murmurs. His lips are soft, but his grip on my wrists is hard and cruel. No mercy.
“Yes, more. Touch me. Hold me down. Don’t let me go.”
“Have to taste you. Fuck.” He pushes his whole face into me. His shoulder muscles bunch, his blue eyes flashing up to meet mine. I writhe, but he pins me, forcing me to lie here and take it.
And I. Love. It. The sight of him pressed into me, the feel of his tongue licking me, his fingers strumming my clit—it’s all too much.
I come hard, with the love of my life on his knees before me, drinking me down. Then he rises up and claims me, fucking me right in the hellish sanctuary, while we’re both drenched in the blood of our enemies.
It feels right. It feels like deja vu. Inevitable.
It’s not normal, but we will never be normal. And that’s the way I like it.
I look pretty and sweet, but inside, I am as deadly as nightshade. To love me is to court death.
Kaiser knows this. He understands. He has a kill count I aspire to. He will teach me his ways. And I will teach him mine.
Together, we will be the deadliest couple on Earth.