Chapter Twelve
Iwoke up in a strange bed, not in a strange place.
The shelves, upon shelves, upon bookshelves surrounded me, welcoming me back to Professor Radu’s quarters.
I stirred under the sheets, making a half-hearted attempt to push them off and sit up, but I didn’t so much as twitch a finger before giving up.
I felt terrible. I was tired and dizzy. My skin was cold and clammy, but also so sweaty, it was grossly sticking to the sheets. My head felt like it was immersed in another hazy cloud, and my heart was fluttering wildly in my chest like a trapped bird.
I didn’t know the symptoms of rapid and extreme blood loss, but if I had to guess, I was experiencing every single one of them.
High above me, two silver, lamp eyes floated above the rafters.
“W-why...?” I croaked. “Why... am I alive?”
“Oh, you beautiful, perfect, tasty thing.”
Something dropped on the sheets. I didn’t need to look to know it was drool.
“Why would I kill you?” His voice was soft and flickering like the candlelight. “If I did that... I’d never find the other one. Your sister.”
Two words, and they punched through the haze. “What did you just say?”
“Two of you,” he breathed. His shiny eyes went out as he closed them, sinking deep into his daydreams. “I’d keep you both.
Both of you so fresh, young, and plump. Both of you all mine.
” Radu moaned deep and low in his throat.
If he told me he was jerking off, I would’ve believed it.
“When one of you needs rest after my feeding, I’d simply switch to the other one.
“Always fed, always satisfied, always blood.”
Radu appeared on top of me, dropping his hands on either side of my head.
“Ahh!” I screamed, sinking back as far as the pillows would let me.
“I would never kill you, sweet Charlie.” Dipping down, Radu licked my lips—an act equal in intimacy and possession. “You’ve made me happier than I’ve ever dreamed of. You’ve given me everything.”
I gaped at him. “You— You can’t have me, you raving corpse! And you can’t have my sister either! We’re not walking blood bags here for your sipping pleasure,” I shrieked. “And—and—”
I whipped my head back and forth, and regretted every second of it. My skull was really pounding now. “Is that why there’s a bed in here all of a sudden? Did you bring this here for me?”
Radu cocked his head, studying me and my wimpy rage. “Of course.”
This was the most I hated someone for confirming my guess. “Let me out of here right now.”
He laughed. “If you want to leave, sweet one, leave.” The vampire swept out a hand. “The door is not locked. You’re not restrained or chained to the bed. If you choose to get up and leave, I won’t stop you.”
“Good!” I willed strength into my limbs—wiggling and heaving against the sheets. Flipping facedown on my front, all the strength left me—abandoning me to his taunting laughter. “Are you enjoying this?”
“Yes.” An emotion other than boredom or menace filled his voice. “For the first time in three hundred years.”
I tried to glare at him, but I could only point my head as high as the third shelf from the bottom. “I want out of this room. You brought me here. You bring me back.”
“Back to what?” Radu flopped down beside me, laying his head on his hands. “Did you forget the highest authority in this school ordered your execution?”
I stilled. Believe it or not, I did forget that. I was little preoccupied with the whole being drained and kidnapped by an insane vampire.
“And sure,” Radu mused, “if you’ve got a deal with Lucifer to get you out of trouble, he will stop them killing you.
In all my years, I’ve never known him to renege on a deal.
But even so, it’ll be very hard for you to find your dear sister when you’re under threat by a constant and never-ending storm of vampires who want your blood, demons who want your soul, and werewolves who want your body. ”
“What do you mean? Why would—?”
Radu plucked out his phone and tapped the screen. My voice filled the room.
“Because I’m a human mortal woman, and as alive as they come.”
“You recorded me?” I bleated. “Why?”
“Simple. With this, I can break your glamour whenever I want. I can even upload this to Dead Drop and expose you to all of hell. Lucifer may step in and save you from being killed, but— Oops,” he crowed, looking around. “I don’t see him here now.”
Radu’s smirk was terrible.
“That must mean he doesn’t get involved if your life isn’t in danger, which it is not now.” He gestured to the room. “You are in a soft, cozy bed in an unlocked room with a man who has no intention of killing you.
“How many others out there would be content with just keeping you? With whisking you away and taking only enough?” His voice slithered into my ear. “Who will protect you then? Will your skewing hell lord even try? Will he care if the next hands you fall into are even bloodier than mine?”
“Stop.” I turned away, refusing to let him see me cry. “Just... stop. You made your point.”
“Good.” A soft, barely there kiss brushed my shoulder. “I knew you would see things my way, sweet Charlie. You finally see that I’m a very good friend to have.”
Three Weeks Later
OR AT LEAST I THOUGHT three weeks had passed.
There were no windows in Radu’s room, and there was no sun to rise and fall through them even if there were. The only way for me to keep time were the three meals a day, four bathroom breaks, shower, and, oh yeah, the feedings. Radu fed from me every two days, on the dot, without fail.
And that wasn’t the only thing he did every two days.
“Ah,” I moaned, eyes rolling up in my head. “Ah!”
Radu fed from my thigh, his orbs black as night as grunts of ecstasy poured from him. You’d have thought he was drinking the world’s finest wine at eight hundred thousand dollars a bottle—savoring each priceless drop. But it seemed the man wasn’t selfish.
Determined for me to share in the pleasure, he had one hand gripping my thigh and holding it still, and the other one plunging in and out of my pussy.
I don’t know when it was decided that every feeding would be served with a side of orgasm, but I’d gotten one every two days for a total of eleven times—which put my count at a little over three weeks.
But to be fair, there could’ve been a bunch more times that I simply didn’t remember. For all my hazy, blood-deprived mind knew, it could’ve been three years since Radu brought me to this room.
A room where, as promised, I wasn’t chained or locked in. He wasn’t even with me for most of the day because he had classes to teach.
I could’ve walked out the door at any time. Sure, it wouldn’t be ideal if Radu outed me to all of hell. I couldn’t comprehend the target that would be on my back if he did, but as it was, more than a couple of attempts had been made on my life already, and Lucifer came through.
So it wasn’t losing my life I needed to worry about. No, my much bigger concern was the fact that three weeks had passed, and the red-eyed jerk hadn’t bothered to free me from the vampire’s lair.
He wasn’t coming.
No one was coming. The only way to get out of this place was to walk out the door, and that was something my weak, venom-drunk body refused to do.
Radu pressed down hard on my clit with his thumb while three other fingers continued working their magic.
I should’ve been fighting him. I should’ve been kicking, screaming, and trying to drive my dinner fork through his heart, but every time Radu fed from me, the very last thing on my mind was making him stop.
My body hummed and thrummed with new life.
I felt everything a hundred times more keenly than before.
I felt the silkworms spinning the cocoons that became the soft, cool sheets wrapping me in their embrace.
The flickering candles seemed to burn twice as bright, and the shadows they cast were more vivid and real than the items creating them.
Dessert that night was dulce de leche cheesecake, and as impossible as it was, I swore I could taste each ingredient individually.
The hot, boiled milk; the smooth cream cheese; the melted butter; the pure vanilla; and the whisked eggs.
They each tickled the right taste buds, and then came together in a symphony of sweetness that was still delighting me an hour after I’d eaten.
Even my ears would’ve picked up every sound, if there was another sound to be heard other than our shared moans.
Radu picked up the pace, heightening my body temperature to the fever pitch. His cool fingers stretched me in all the right ways and places. I could feel each knuckle stroking my walls. I felt every goosebump pebbling my skin as he stroked that spot over, and over, and over, and ov—
“Ahhh!” I screamed, coming so hard black spots danced in my vision.
Radu stopped feeding with a wet, squelchy pop. Flopping down next to me, my dearest kidnapping professor had the most satisfied smile on his face for as long as it took for me to smash my fist into his nose.
“Asshole!”
Santino burst out laughing.
“Don’t laugh at me, you prick!” I punched him again even though it was hurting me more than it was hurting him. “I told you to keep your hands off me when you’re feeding!”
“Did you?” The dead prick couldn’t sound any more smug. “Because I seem to recall you saying something more to the effect of— fuck me, Professor, please, please, fuck me and make me come.”
My cheeks would’ve been redder than a fire engine if I hadn’t just been drained nearly dry. “I also told you to ignore me when I spout nonsense like that. I only say that because you drug me!”
He heaved a sigh. “Honestly, sweet one, how many times must I say this? When I feed, my fangs secrete a venom that induces euphoria and acts as a mild paralytic. This is all to discourage you from fighting and running away. What it doesn’t do,” he said, turning that shit-eating smirk on me, “is induce arousal or lower your inhibitions.