15
Tian
Inez was driving me insane. Most men would be thrilled with a blow job most days without having to reciprocate or worry for the woman, but not being able to touch her when I itched to was… Maddening.
Beyond maddening. It was pushing me too far, and I worried I might do something unforgivable if she didn’t stop with these games.
But I wasn’t worthy of her if that was where my mind was. I didn’t deserve any woman if I even thought such things. If there was such darkness inside of me.
In my defense, it went on for weeks. Weeks.
The only rare time I got to touch her after her menstruation was when she was overloaded, and then she’d let me finger her to bring her relief. That was it.
Yes, I was losing my mind.
What was left of it.
Especially after Keres showed up and her husbands and the men she accepted into her bed hovered over her. They were constantly around her, so I could only have those few minutes here and there and then she only sucked me off where I blew too fast like a youngster.
Getting bugs on a burst transmission timer and taking out one of Keres’s nobles got me two mind-blowing blow jobs the first chance she had. Not back to back, but two in one day, and it was clear they were in thanks since she basically choked herself on my cock.
And I loved every second of it. Not really that she was in pain but that she would take things so far for me. That she would actually do that when she denied me everything else.
There was one thing that I was glad about her being distracted by all of her men. I could get answers then about the land mines and what Keres said. Inez had ordered all of us to stay away from there and not to get involved anymore, only to report on what we could get from the bugs.
Not much. Keres was grieving, clearly having cared about that noble. She was also healing which was not how it should be for a princess, so Inez was right that she was partially undead or… It made me shiver to think of what new hell Erebus had unleashed on this world now.
But there was something I needed to know. Something that didn’t add up in my head, and it was keeping me from the little sleep I could get. It was making me more aggressive, and that worried me for Inez.
I had to know.
It took a bit of convincing, but Eddie finally relented and we got a fairly silent drone in the air with the best camera. A bit longer since I wouldn’t risk the young vampire and he got me eyes on what I was looking for.
I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing until he changed the camera option and then I saw it. I saw the answer.
“You are the best young vampire I’ve met in many, many years, Eddie,” I praised.
“Can I get it out of there now?” he whispered, his voice shaky. “I know I shouldn’t be scared, but I am. She’s Erebus’s champion.”
“Yes, bring the drone back,” I confirmed. “And I understand. Many of our families had legends about Erebus and if He had or ever picked a champion. You saw our boogeyman up close not two weeks ago. Even I’m shaken.”
“Yeah, okay, thanks.”
The moment he retrieved the drone and we had what we needed, I whisked us back to the castle and asked him to be quiet about what happened. He only would after I promised that I was reporting it directly to Inez and not to worry. Then he agreed because “everyone was a bunch of fucking gossips.”
He was amusing, and I didn’t get amused much.
She was in her tower but alone, not even guards, which shocked and scared me. Not in her room showering and they were in the hallway. I felt Vitor in the stairwell, but he was too far away and it was only him?
“What part of leave me the fuck alone and piss off was unclear?” she seethed as I walked into her greenhouse area.
I let out a slow breath and tried to control my upset, worry, and now anxiety at speaking with her. “I apologize. I was unaware you wanted to be alone. I found out something and came to tell you—shocked you have no guards and—”
“A husband trying to wipe my ass?” she drawled, not even looking up at me. “They ignore me for weeks or months at a time, but I do something dangerous—it’s a fucking miracle I’m not a complete basket case who doesn’t act out all of the time just so they consistently act like they care about me. Fuckers.”
Wow. Okay… Wow . Something had really gone down and I’d missed it.
She sighed when I didn’t say anything, her pretty green eyes finally meeting mine. “Is it at least good news?”
I didn’t react, my thoughts racing. “I don’t think it’s either good or bad, simply news you should know. A piece of the puzzle that has irked me.”
Amusement filled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure you absolutely want to talk about what’s irking you when we’re truly alone and no one’s even listening.”
Vitor could hear that, but clearly he knew the line of where she could sense him. I wasn’t going to bust him… Simply note it for my own reasons.
What she said hit me and I cleared my throat. “I’m not here about that.”
“Oh? Really?”
“No.” She stood, and that was the moment I saw what most didn’t see in her. Or willfully ignored.
Maybe they couldn’t recognize it because they didn’t know what it was or their lives had been so blessed that they had never been touched by something traumatic and exceedingly dark. A list of reasons.
But I knew the truth that few knew.
The truth I wasn’t sure even Inez knew or accepted.
Inez had a monster of her own inside of her and I was seeing it in her eyes at that moment. Her monster studied me and delight filled her eyes. “No, you have something good to tell me and want the reward .” She clucked her tongue when I opened her mouth. “Don’t lie to your princess, Tian.” She ran her fingers along my neck and down my chest. “You love your blow jobs.”
“I do,” I agreed, already learning that I could trust her with praise and she wouldn’t turn it around. That it was rewarded and what she needed. “I wouldn’t risk them.”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“But my mind is trying to figure out what I learned still, so I didn’t think about the reward yet,” I confessed, telling her the truth. I realized something and adjusted my neck. “You’ve trained me to come directly to you and tell you immediately.”
She chuckled darkly, leaning in and pressing her lips against my ear. “So I suck my well-trained dog’s cock almost every day? Does that make me your bitch?”
“You’re my princess,” I whispered, unsure of how to handle that minefield.
She hummed. “Tell me what you know, my trained man, and let’s see what reward you get today.”
Today? I needed to circle back to that but focused on what she wanted. I leaned back so we were almost kissing. “Eddie flew a drone so I could get eyes on Keres’s coven.” I swallowed when anger filled Inez’s eyes. “I’ll accept your punishment. Don’t blame Eddie. I promised him that it was worth it because my gut told me it was needed.”
“Were you right?” She snorted before I could answer. “You’re my paranoid partner in plans. Of course you were.” Just to make her point about being paranoid, she opened my jacket and ran her hands over all the weapons I carried even to come see her.
I didn’t care as long as she kept touching me.
“What did you find?” she breathed against my lips.
“The noble killed himself,” I told her, nodding when her eyes went too wide. “I put a very visible line of land mines just at the doors, My Princess. I wasn’t trying to kill or risk those trapped.”
The monster was pleased, licking her lips, but her tongue brushed against my lips as well. “It was a warning.”
“It was,” I confirmed.
“Tell me,” she ordered. “I want to get to your reward.”
Me too. Gods help me… Me too.
“One land mine didn’t go off,” I explained. “And we could survive that. Even at your age, you could survive it. Lose a leg probably, yes, but survive it. Especially with others right there to help? It didn’t make sense.”
She frowned. “No, it doesn’t, and why didn’t others think of that?”
“Because they probably assumed there was more to it like I put a bunch down and he fell into them or—they were just happy I got one.” I gave a half shrug, trying to swallow a moan when she moved her fingers down my pants. “I thought maybe he fell onto the others in the line, but that made no sense either unless he was Eddie’s age.”
“How can you tell he didn’t?” she hedged. Because she was so smart, understanding almost immediately filled her eyes. “You can tell the blasts were all at the same time.”
“Yes, with Eddie’s different lenses and how the blasts—things look different when one blast after another. Different angles because the dirt under moves or whatever. No, this was all three at once.”
“About the height of a person who threw himself on them,” she whispered.
“That’s what I think, yes. He noticed them and saw them as his way out of being tied to Keres.”
A flash of pity filled her eyes for the briefest of seconds before it was gone. She realized I’d seen it though and gave a half shrug as she pulled away. “From the recordings, she seemed to truly love him, thought he loved her.”
“She’s—”
“I know,” she snarled, the monster coming back and her fangs even coming out. “I know what she is better than you do, Tian. I’m just like her.”
“You’re nothing like her,” I argued.
“I’m just as much a whore of a God as she is, and it’s probably dumb luck Aether chose me instead of Erebus,” she growled. “Watch, it was the two of us, and she died, so He picked her or something. We don’t know. All I know is she had no choice in all of this just like I haven’t. You cannot ever understand what that is for us. Never.”
“You’re right, and I’ve seen you understand more than most,” I whispered. “Even how Kaitlin’s nobles let you best her after giving vows to protect her.” It shocked me that her monster was more than angry.
Which was part of the reason her monster came about. It was a shield just as mine was. Inez saw those failures and warning signs and took steps emotionally and mentally to protect herself.
Protect herself from what she saw as being inevitable one day.
She was smarter than most to see the reality of it and worry because the hearts and minds of people were fickle.
“That is good information we needed, and you do deserve to be rewarded.” She smirked letting me know it would be more punishment too since I’d touched on nerves of hers as well.
Her saying that sparked her words earlier for me again and I realized something, grabbing her wrist when she reached for my pants. I searched her eyes, seeing vulnerable Inez who thought she was going to be rejected instead of her monster that could be as dark as mine.
“You saw something,” I breathed as my anxiety slammed into me, I quickly tried to control my heart rate and let out a heavy breath to release the anxiety. Too much filled her eyes too fast and let me know that I was right. “You remembered something. You keep saying rewards, but it was one reward—it didn’t start as rewards, but it did, didn’t it?”
“I didn’t say you could touch me,” she bit out, her gaze focused on where I was holding her.
Instantly, I let go, and I saw her monster was happy that I obeyed like a good boy, but I crowded her, sniffing her hair like she loved.
Like that fucking leopard did that I wanted to kill most days.
“Please, tell me as my reward tonight,” I begged her, actually begged her. “Tell me what you saw.”
She struck fast and sank her fangs in my neck, drinking deeply from me but just as fast pulling them out and not licking the wound closed in punishment.
But I still fucking loved that she drank from me. We both knew it.
She took a step away and used her power to slash at me. I was ready for the pain to follow… Except none came. I glanced down and saw she’d only hit my clothes.
Inez smirked at me when I only looked at her in surprise, not hiding that I was also impressed. She did it again and again until my clothes were rags hanging off of me.
“Feel better?” I asked, genuinely wanting to know if that had helped her.
She snickered. “I need to practice.” Her eyes ran over my body like a caress and I instantly went hard, something she liked a lot.
Inez liked to be desired. We all did, but she did especially after all she’d been through even before finding out she was a vampire, then even more so after her husbands broke her. Now she was almost obsessed with it after learning what her family had done to her.
“Do what you want with me, but tell me what you remember,” I begged.
She tilted her head as she studied me before meeting my eyes, the monster fully out at what I’d said. “You’re going to have to pick there, Tian. Do you want what I remember or what I saw? ”
Oh shit. I let out another heavy breath and then a second when I realized what she saw involved me.
She chuckled when she grasped I’d figured it out. Inez moved back to me and licked her bite closed as her fingers danced along my cock. She kissed my neck. “Yes, I remembered something. Something disturbing that made me very grateful that you had a big part in saving me even if Darius abducted me. I saw part of my training that you made sure didn’t happen.”
“Is that why I’ve been being rewarded?” I swallowed loudly. “The only reason?”
She slowly sank to her knees and stared up at me, letting my dick hit her face. “Is this a reward, Tian?”
“Yes.”
“Is it what you want?”
“I want more and we both know it.”
She hummed happily. “We both know you do.” She licked the head of my cock and took it too deep until she choked. Then she pulled off and laughed at whatever was on my face.
Probably euphoria.
“Yes, the blow jobs are part reward, but you also know they’re part punishment when you want to fuck me.” She winked at me as she pushed to her feet. “And more.”
“Tell me what I did to be punished. Please.”
She hesitated and then moved her hand to my chest before brushing her lips over mine. “I didn’t say I was punishing you, Tian.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know, and it’s actually cute when you’re so smart,” she purred. “Exciting even. Tying you up this way and fucking with you.” She gave me another soft kiss. “I’ll make a deal with you—a blood promise from you.”
“What?” I breathed against her lips, willing to give her almost anything when her hand grabbed my cock.
“I like the idea of you being my well-trained man. You hate it though. We both know you do.”
“I do.”
“Do you want to feel how wet it gets me that you’ll be well-trained for me?” she teased, knowing I already scented it. She didn’t even wait for my answer. “I want to push you too far, Tian. I want to see how far you can hold out. I want you well-trained and about to snap. It fucking excites me.”
“What’s the blood promise?” I asked.
“That if things go wrong, you have a letter for Kristof ready that you accept full responsibility,” she said, shocking me maybe more than I’ve ever been shocked before… In regards to her at least.
I let out a heavy breath to control myself. “And in return?”
“I’ll tell you exactly what Aether showed me.”
“And it involved me?”
She didn’t answer, the smirk on her lips said it all.
“I also want to know what you meant earlier about punishing someone but maybe not me,” I countered. She implied that I could figure it out if I knew what she did, but… I stayed alive by not underestimating people, and I didn’t understand emotions as well as I’d like.
Heat and amusement flashed in her eyes and she stroked me faster. “Fine, but I want you to make the pledge again if you want, Tian. The one I thought you were crazy to do and pissed off so many. The one that started all of this shit.”
She let go of my dick and slowly unbuttoned her shirt before pulling down the cups of her bra so I could see both of her glorious, full breasts. I took off the rags that were left of my clothes and made it clear from my eyes that I wanted her naked as well if we were going to play these games. She chuckled and did it.
“But?” I asked, getting there was clearly a catch.
“ But I’m offering you to do it to each breast,” she purred. “Once now and once after I tell you. If you want , but even if you don’t want to, you still have to be my well-trained man for…” She licked her lips as she kept undressing. “How long should we say?”
Forever. My answer was forever and that annoyed me. I was too smart to be this stupid over a woman.
“Until you think my reward’s paid off whatever debt you feel is there that I have not asked for,” I whispered. I wanted it clear that I hadn’t expected anything from what I’d done.
Because I hadn’t.
“And anything else you do that pleases me,” she accepted after a moment. “Want to finger me?”
“Always,” I growled.
She smirked at me and hopped up on the table and spread her legs, putting her feet up even. “Finger me, Tian. Finger me and bite my breast like you did.”
Before she pulled the rug out from under me and fucked with my head somehow. That was clear. The monster in her was way too amused for anything else.
However, she was still way more innocent and pure than my monster and the monsters ancient vampires had. I didn’t think it was going to be remotely as big of a deal as she thought.
So I took her offer. I didn’t finger her fast like normal with my ancient speed how she loved. No, I took my time and teased her clit, surprising her but also making it better for her.
“You’re going to regret pleasing me like this,” she panted as she kept my gaze. “And I fucking love it. Shit, I’m so fucked in the head. This is why you keep getting rewards. This sates something so dark inside of me and I love it.”
Even as that made a part of her hate me. I didn’t care.
As long as she let me have her.
As long as she was finally mine.
She came and then watched as I licked her juices off my fingers before cupping her breasts and sinking my fangs into her skin. I drank slowly, loving how she whimpered and clearly wanted more.
I pulled off my fangs and made a show of licking them clean while my cock pressed against her body. “Tell me, My Princess.”
Darkness filled Inez’s eyes instead of bliss. She moved her hand to my chest and let out little shocks which made me flinch. The shit-eating grin on her lips actually made me afraid.
“Yes, I saw you dead, Tian. Aether showed me comforting Kristof as you were dead on a pyre about to be burned.” She bobbed her head as I couldn’t even get my mouth to work. “Ask me what else I saw?”
“What?” I breathed, letting out a breath too heavy in her face so even her hair moved.
She leaned in and pressed her lips to mine. “I also saw a child nursing at the breast you just drank from and you were fussing over me. Your child that I carried and birthed, Tian.”
“I-I don’t understand,” I rasped, my voice shaky for the first time in… I couldn’t remember.
Inez chuckled darkly as she nuzzled my neck and sent little shocks to my skin again. “Aether made it clear that I’m either your end or your salvation. She showed me the two options in the hopes it motivated me to give Her the option She wants.”
I couldn’t even control my anxiety anymore. “What option was that?”
“I said I’d tell you what I saw, Tian. Not what I felt,” she purred. She moved my hand to her throat and smirked at me. “Do it. Squeeze. I feel your rage. Give in.”
I would have immediately pulled my hand away, but she moved her other hand to keep it there and I would have had to actually hurt her to pull away. My mind raced and then I kissed her, growling and pulling away, glad when she let go.
“So your answer is to tame me. Make me obsessed like the others and—” Fear raced through me when Inez threw back her head and laughed.
She laughed and laughed, giving me a look of pity.
What was I missing?
“Oh, you boys can be so fucking stupid sometimes, even you who I think is truly smart.” She slid off the table and knelt in front of me before taking my cock in her mouth.
I moaned and reached for her, growling when she smacked my hand away. Still, I finished. Even distracted and my mind racing… I finished embarrassingly fast. She—her darkness and these games turned me on more than I could put into words.
She did.
She smirked at me as she licked me clean, making a show of it. She stood and pressed her body to mine, every inch of us pressed together. Then she thought better of it and jumped, knowing I’d catch her and I did.
She cupped my face in her hands and kissed my nose, smirking as my hands moved along her firm ass. “I want you dead, Tian.”
“What?” I gasped.
She nodded, giving me that shit-eating grin again before kissing, really kissing me this time. “I wanted you dead. Immediately. After what Aether showed me, that was my immediate reaction. Kill you before I had to later and there were more problems in my life.”
Aether wanted us together.
I swallowed loudly and stared into her eyes. “You’re punishing Aether for making you a mouse in Her maze.”
“Yes.” She beamed at me for figuring it out. “These games get out my darkness and desire to act out—fuck up my life and be crazy with everything that’s happened. You get rewarded for the help you gave me and keep giving me. And Aether gets punished because I’m fucking with Her fucking plans because she wants the Liu bloodline to continue with Her champion.”
I let out a heavy breath. “And you’re not a broodmare.”
“No, no, I fucking am not, Tian.” She gave me another kiss for answering that. “I’ll be honest that I didn’t even like you.” She shrugged when I couldn’t hide my shock. “I didn’t think you liked me. You’re always annoyed and sighing at me and fucking—”
“It’s not annoyance,” I hurried to say, but she kissed me again.
“Aether showed me,” she chuckled darkly. “Mouse in Her maze and me thinking you didn’t like me stood in Her way. So She explained, hoping all was forgiven and we could fall in love and have all the babies She wants.” She tapped me on the nose. “But I don’t think you’re capable of love. Not love that wouldn’t break me in the end.
“And even if you are… Why do I have to fucking fix another one of you assholes? Why is all of this on me? Why doesn’t She come down here and do it Her fucking self?” She struck fast again and drank from my neck, closing the wound this time. “So yes, I wanted you dead. I was actually planning to do it. Give you a blow job and kill you. Sort of like an apology first.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“You were fun,” she chuckled. “Really fucking fun to fuck with. And I’ve been feeling so much better having this outlet with you. I mean, I wasn’t sure I could do it because it would genuinely hurt the man I love and I would do anything for Kristof. Anything, even have your damn babies.”
My mind raced and my body was still so on fire for her that I couldn’t even think of what to say.
She wrapped her hands around my throat as she studied my eyes. “Should I do it now? Should I kill you and tell them that you did something?”
“You couldn’t lie to Kristof like that.”
She chuckled and rubbed her breasts against my chest. “No, I couldn’t, but good you understand that I’ve made my peace with probably having to kill you.” She kept moving, letting my cock brush against her pussy as she pressed her lips to my ear. “Crack, Tian. Do something unforgivable and—”
I sat her on the table and stilled her hips.
Inez beamed at me, her monster absolutely enjoying the fact she was close to breaking me—torturing me. She leaned back on her hands and nodded to her other breast. “Still want to make that pledge?”
“Yes.” I nodded when shock and a bit of anger filled her eyes. “Fuck Aether. I want to, and I think one day I can show you that I’m worth…”
The amusement came back. “Let me know when you can finish that sentence, Tian.”
I cupped her breast and brought it to my lips, licking the nipple even if that wasn’t what I was supposed to do. “Will you ever let me have you?”
“Probably not.”
That was a lie. The flash of Inez was back and she felt guilty about lying to me. Perfect.
I bit her breast and drank from her, much to her enjoyment. Then an idea hit me and I licked the bite closed but kept massaging her breast. “There are other ways to punish me.”
That flash of Inez came back. She wasn’t willing to go that far.
“I’ve never let anyone restrain me, chain me up,” I told her. “Do it and do anything to me.”
“And you want?” she asked, understanding it was a transaction.
I licked my lips and kept her gaze. “Anything. Anything more that you’ll give me.”
She threw back her head and laughed. “You’re worried I’ll make you obsessed, Tian? You’re already fucking obsessed worse than the rest of them and you just haven’t admitted it to yourself yet, you git.”
Inez was completely right. How had I not realized that?