Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
It was almost too good to be real. Victor. There. Mine. And Zee’s. The blindfold was his surrender. And his desire, if the bulge in his pants was any indication. I took Zee’s place between Victor’s parted knees, and waited a few calming moments to clear my head and admire my surrendered vampire.
A route formulated. A journey that would take me all the way down to my final prize between Victor’s legs. I’d start at his neck, kiss him there, then move down.
Zee’s hands settled on my shoulders, then skimmed down my arms, as a reminder he was here and wouldn’t be leaving.
Victor’s tongue swept across his bottom lip. Unable to resist a second longer, I braced an arm on the bed beside him, and sucked his lip between mine. The last time we’d been together as a threesome, Zee had been under me, and Victor behind, with his fangs in my neck. This time, Victor was under me and Zee behind.
“Unbutton my shirt,” Victor ordered, his voice level. Despite being blindfolded, he was still in control .
I fiddled with his buttons, popping each one free, then flicked open the shirt, exposing his fine chest. His small gasp when I swept my tongue over his nipple was all the encouragement I needed. I’d never had him like this before. Wanted to. Dreamed it. Needed it. Had come close a few times. But here he was, his heart racing, its thumping beat close to my lips. His heat always surprised me, and his steady breathing helped keep mine calm.
Zee’s hand stroked down my back, and a moan slipped from my lips. Yes, this was bliss.
Victor’s hand came up, clutched at my hair and gripped, firm enough to deliver little shocks of pain, but in a good way.
Zee’s warm fingers dove under my T-shirt—pushed it up—and his soft, warm, wet lips skimmed my lower back, his tongue flicking.
Oh my stars. I was done for, at their mercy. This was already too much. The lines between us had blurred. I greedily wanted more.
“Lower,” Victor growled.
With his hand still in my hair—as guidance, not force—I abandoned his nipple, and swept kisses down his chest, over lean abs to where his belt prevented any further exploration. Victor’s left hand came in, tugged at his belt, and flicked it open in seconds. He left himself partially undone, waiting for me to unwrap the rest. At the same time, Zee had reached around and worked at my fly, opening it with professional ease.
This was some kind of glorious torture. My main focus was Victor, and getting to where we both needed me to be, but I also had Zee’s touches tugging at my focus, teasing more pleasure to come.
I reached inside Victor’s pants, encircled his cock, and finally had him in my grip. Mercy, he was hard and warm, but soft too. His lips parted, fangs down. He shifted his hips, arching his back some, giving more of himself to me. The tie hiding his eyes added a layer of crazy that made this all a thousand times hotter.
Bowing between his knees, I slid him deep between my lips, finally living the dream. Zee was doing something with my pants, shifting them back, but it was an afterthought as I licked and sucked, slicking things up. Victor’s open mouth and his short, sharp breaths showed a vulnerable side few got to see. It was a privilege and a treat.
Zee scrunched my ass in his hands. My balls and cock ached with need. If he was going to work me over while I worked Victor, I might lose my mind.
My curse was intact, there was no risk of that lashing out, and we were mostly certain Zee’s little parasites wouldn’t be able to get their freaky teeth in my dragon insides—now we all knew what I was. Which meant, for the first time, the three of us were free to relish each other. Zee might even get a boost from it. The wards definitely would.
We needed this, more than any of us dared to admit.
A tight, heavy pressure pushed at my ass. I gasped off Victor’s cock.
“Easy,” Zee purred. “I got you, baby.” Zee leaned over me, hugging my back to his chest, and whispered, “There are no safer hands than mine.” He grasped my neck, holding gently, and eased his cock in, filling me up. Victor’s hand tightened in my hair, urging me back to his eager dick. I swallowed him down, sucked him hard, and worked my hand, rocking with each of Zee’s thrusts. We were connected now, in mind, body... and spirit, if there was such a thing.
I hadn’t known it could be like this. So perfect. So beautiful. The three of us together as one.
Somehow, all the horror, the bloodshed, the trauma I’d spent a lifetime running from, had led me right here, into their arms. And maybe I’d do it all again if I knew they’d be waiting for me.
Victor’s body strummed, his veins ablaze. I could feel their heat, even if I couldn’t see it. He tore off the blindfold, and fixed his primal gaze on me. I peered up from between his knees, bobbing over his dick. His gaze skipped behind me, and I guessed what he saw—Zee, with his wings spread, head back, drinking in the waves of lust, blazing like the brilliant incubus he was.
The shuddering gasp that left Victor, coupled with Zee’s firm thrusts, had me coming undone. Ecstasy strung tight, then spilled over, and I came. Victor pulled me off, gasped, and with a few final strokes, his creamy cum pulsed over my fingers. Zee’s hip-thrusting stuttered, he clutched at my hips, rammed home, and growled out a moan, coming deep.
Messy, sweaty, spent, battered, bruised, Zee slumped over me, and I slammed a kiss on Victor’s mouth, trying to touch his soul with my tongue. Victor gave back as good as he got.
We were wrecked in the best way.
Breathless, coming down off the high, I snuggled down. Victor tucked me in against his side, and Zee slumped between us, resting on our legs, his wings flopped over us like leathery blankets. Little zig-zagging purple sparks danced through his veins.
And together, we dozed.
“Demon,” Victor greeted, barely looking up from his teacup.
“Vampire.” Zee sauntered by our table and ordered a drink from Tom at the bar.
To anyone who didn’t know us, it might have appeared as though they’d gotten worse overnight. But in truth, everything had changed for the better. We were a threesome, a trio, a trinity. They’d still keep each other at arm’s length in public, but that was just how it was between them. Inside, where the feelings were, they cared.
Returning to our table with a neon colored breakfast cocktail, Zee hid his wings, flopped into a chair, propped his heeled boots up the table, crossed at the ankle, and glanced over. “What?”
It was no accident he wore his skimpy, Not Your Babe T-shirt over low-riding tight pants.
“It’s nice of you to finally grace us with your presence,” Victor said cooly.
“Excuse me, but looking this good is a fucking art. I can’t just roll out of bed and show up with hair like Adam’s.”
“What’s wrong with my hair?” I asked, patting my unruly mop.
Both of them fell silent. “Nothing,” Victor finally said, taking a sip of his tea. “It’s lovely.”
“Thank you, Victor.”
“Simp.” Zee coughed into his hand.
“Now you’re here Zee, we can discuss where Jimmy’s family are, find them, and get control of the gremlin situation. Victor? What did your tracking software show you?”
He straightened and set his teacup and saucer aside. “There’s an old chapel in the grounds of Daisy’s mansion. Isolated in the mountains. The vampire who kidnapped Jimmy’s family?—”
“Armand,” Zee said.
“Armin,” Victor corrected. “He’s low-level in the hierarchy. Something of a bottom feeder, but clever enough to see an opportunity to inflate his status by presenting the royal family with a gift.”
“Like you were hoping to do when you bundled Adam up and dumped him at the duke’s feet.”
“Indeed.” Victor dipped his chin. “According to the tracking software, Armin was last spotted by a convenience store security camera entering a fire-break road, heading toward that area. There are no other buildings in the vicinity, just that chapel. I surmise that Daisy’s council are gathering their gifts there for The Queen’s Coming .”
“Fuck, I wish that was going to be as much fun as it sounded. We should get up there and poke around,” Zee said.
“This can’t be legal, right?” I asked. “As much as I don’t like Leomaris, maybe we should tell him what’s going on?”
“Religious ceremonies are not against human laws, and do not fall under the remit of the SSD. Technically, pixies are classed as vermin, not people. There is nothing Agent Leomaris or the human authorities can do.”
“What if they do manage to open the veil?” My heart thumped harder.
“It’s unlikely, right?” Zee asked. “Wasn’t it fucking hydrocarbons or something that tore it the first time? What are a few ritual sacrifices going to do?”
“Hydrofluorocarbons,” Victor corrected. “The working theory is that since the Lost Ones settled here, we’ve been changing the environment around us, making it more like our home, and more susceptible to fourth-dimension leakage.”
Zee frowned. “The what now?”
“Magic,” I said. “Humans have always had access to it, but only a few practiced—like the Romani, hedge witches, some psychics. Those kind of people. Most are laughed off as crazies. But when the Lost Ones poured in, we upset the balance, and now we’ve settled, so has magic. Curses, glamor, even your allure, Zee, and Reynard’s ability to sway weak-willed minds. Most humans can’t do those things—because they’re fourth-dimension skills, and humans are three-dimensional creatures—but we can, and the more we do, the more it leaks into this world.” They fell silent and blinked. “What? ”
“That’s the first time you’ve admitted to being a Lost One, like us,” Zee said.
Was it? I leaned back in the chair. “Oh, I just... Yeah. I’m not really human at all.”
“What? Pfft. Had me fooled. I had no fucking idea.”
“I knew the moment I drank from Adam’s veins,” Victor said.
“Fuck’s sake, Fancy Fangs, I’m trying to be supportive . Even Sebastien knew Adam wasn’t human, and he’s got the IQ of a fucking goldfish.”
“It’s fine.” I shrugged. “I guess I’m kind of human, since I’m stuck as one.”
“About that.” Zee dropped his boots to the floor, leaned in, and spoke quietly. “How do we undo this curse and loosen that glamor so you can get your dragon on?”
No. nope. That couldn’t happen. “Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Blood sacrifice,” Victor said. Of course he’d know all about that.
“Wait, you killed someone to get that glamor to stick?” Zee asked, eyes widening. “Fuck.”
My insides squirmed. “Just a little bit of murder. Which reminds me. We really must do something about the guy you stuffed up that chimney.”
Zee grinned and waggled a finger. “Don’t change the subject, Adam Vex.”
“Might I suggest we focus on getting Jimmy’s family back, and deal with skeletons up chimneys later?” Victor suggested.
“Yes!” I latched on. “So, the plan is, we go up there, find Jimmy’s loved ones, and bring them back here. Jimmy organizes for the gremlins to go somewhere else, and we’re all good. Right?”
“What do we do about the vampires?” Zee asked .
“Nothing.” That seemed fair. It wasn’t any of our business anyway.
“Nothing?” Zee echoed. “Really? We’re just gonna kick back and let those fang fuckers—not you, daddy—waltz in and take the place?”
“Sure. Why do we have to get involved?”
Zee snorted. “Right. Sure. Uh-huh. Why would we want to stop the human world becoming the vampire queen’s playground? Let’s just let the fang fuckers in to murder and enslave every human and fuck up this side of the veil too. Why would we want to stop that, right?”
“We don’t know that they’ll do that.”
Even Victor looked skeptical.
Zee snorted. “’Cause suckers are well known for their bunny-loving, touchy-feely, human-rights activism.”
“Adam, your optimism is commendable, but I fear Zodiac’s sarcasm masks the terrible fact that vampires will take what they do not own.”
“Fuck. Do you hear this? The world must be ending if Fancy Fangs agrees with me.”
“Why would the world end?” I squeaked.
Zee’s frown turned severe. “I know your heart is bigger than this. You saved those fucking pets from pies because you couldn’t walk away. You saved me, a random fucked-up demon you should have walked around, not picked up and brushed off. I mean shit, you even saved Lord Fuck-Hard, and now you’re saving a bunch of pixies. You know this vampire shit is bad, Adam. You were in murder mansion. They almost sacrificed you . Why are you trying so fucking hard to ignore what’s right in front of you?”
I glanced at Victor for help, but from his blank expression, I wasn’t getting any.
“And you look at him ?” Zee curled his lip. “Fine.” Zee pinned his glare on Victor. “Are you going to tell me? ”
“It’s not my place.”
“ It’s not your place? We blew up Reynard Technologies. I saved your ass and your finger from Daisy, and stopped you from becoming pie filling, but you can’t tell me what Adam’s running from? After all that, you still see demon when you look at me?” He slammed his boots down, and pushed from the table.
“Zee, wait.”
He was gone from the bar in a few angry strides.
Victor wore his I told you so expression. “I know.” I buried my face in my hands. “But I’ll lose him if I tell him.”
“You’ll lose him if you don’t.”
“He’s a warrior. He’s brave and honorable and worthy of the prophecy, and I’m... just me. I’m just me, Victor. I happen to have a heart everyone wants to tear from my chest because the prophecy says so. I’m not the answer. My heart is just a piece of me. I’m... a coward.”
Victor grasped my hand on the table and squeezed. “Listen to me, Adam. The prophecy says your heart will save everyone. It is what it is, but that’s doesn’t mean you must surrender it. Prophecy is not fate. Honestly, most prophecies are concocted by bored, drunk monks.”
I hated this, hated how just a few words always turned everyone against me. “Tell that to those who ruthlessly hunted me down. To my own family who turned on me. To every bounty hunter looking for gold. To you, who had your research and development department open a portal to find the Prophesied One. Adam Vex is nothing, Victor. I’m just the wrapper. It’s my heart they all want.” I tore my hand out from under his. “I can’t lose it all again. I won’t. I love him, I love you, and I love this hotel.” I stood, not caring that my chair legs scraping the floor made everyone in the bar look over. “I will not give that up. I can’t. The world can save itself. I’m out. ”
I left the bar, and with nowhere to go that wasn’t infested with gremlins or guests, I fled to the basement—Claymore’s old sanctuary.
But it soon became clear I’d failed here too. Claymore was gone. Victor’s software had said he was probably dead. I knew I wasn’t responsible for every person under the SOS Hotel roof, but I should have done something. I should have tried .
I ambled about the gloomy room, and skimmed over some of Claymore’s old things. A giant pair of shoes, a kid’s drawing of a ladybug... and a black business card, folded in half and dropped beside an empty trashcan, as though it had been tossed there but it had missed.
The card read: Brink Private Security.
The soft flutter of wings signaled Jimmy’s arrival. He landed on the dusty floor and plonked himself down on his haunches.
“Hey there, Grrdug.” Guilt writhed inside me and I tucked the creased card into my back pocket. “So, we think we know where your family are, and we’re going to get them back.” I could do that. Probably. I could save them, like I’d saved the others. Like I’d saved the hotel from Gideon Cain, saved Zee and Victor and Shadow. But save the world?
That’s a lot.
“I think I messed up back there,” I told Jimmy.
He nodded his weirdly screwed-up, cute but ugly little face, then used his leg to scratch behind his ear.
“My parents were the first ones to turn on me.” I sat on the step. “I hatched on the night the stars fell, which is bad apparently. So I was doomed from day one, I guess. That’s how they knew what I was. Nobody said anything though, until I got older. Then the stars fell again. It happens quite a lot, you know—meteor showers, I guess—but in my life, it’s an omen. Falling stars triggered my folks. They heard about this prophecy— a heart will save us. I don’t even know how they got from falling stars to the heart in my chest, but I guess they weren’t thinking much beyond selling bits of me off for gold. Dragons really like gold.”
Jimmy blinked big eyes.
“I ate them.” I sighed. “In fairness, they tasted a lot nicer than they were. Kinda crunchy. Dragon tastes like chicken. We’re like really big, featherless chickens with anger issues. If you’ve met chickens, you’ll know what I mean.”
Jimmy lifted his leg in the air and licked his balls.
“I started running, after that, and didn’t stop until I bought this hotel.”
This crazy hotel. My sanctuary.
“People either hate the Prophesied One for not saving them, or they want to cut out my heart to sell. Or they think my heart’s so powerful it’ll make them a god. That’s kind of where I am right now. Victor and Zee are different, but I’m scared I’ll lose them, so I guess it seems safer to push them away on my terms than have it happen later anyway.”
Jimmy raised his arm and his long tongue swept up his armpit.
“But anyway, I can’t control any of that, so I’m going to get your family back. We made a deal. And vampires are so mean.” Huh. My heart felt lighter, and the basement didn’t seem so gloomy now I’d gotten all that off my chest. “You’re a good listener, Jimmy—I mean, Grrdug.”
Grrdug opened his mouth and the deepest voice I’d ever heard thundered out of him. “Jimmy’s good.”
“Wait.” He talked ? “What?” No, I must have imagined it. “Did you just...?”
He blinked, and fluttered his wings. His little head tilted to one side, then the other.
“Did you speak?” I narrowed my eyes and waited for him to say something else. Nothing came. But if he talked, then he’d understood every single thing we’d ever said to him. He’d played dim. Oh my stars, had we all been scammed by a pixie? “Just so we’re uh... on the same page. Everything I just said—all that prophecy stuff—stays between us, right?”
Another innocent blink, then his wings fluttered, and off he flew, straight into a ventilation duct.
Okay. Jimmy was . . . hopefully, not a problem.