Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
JADEON
With all my will, I resisted the urge to place my hands around Orpheus’s neck and strangle him.
Or drain him of his blood and evil.
I had to keep my head for fear of what he would do to Catherine. Of course, he was well aware that he had the advantage, and I hated him for it. Orpheus led me down the long dark corridor running beneath the club.
Was I even going to live through this?
Had I pushed my desire to save Catherine to its limits.
I’m here, Catherine can you hear me?
Her voice found me in the dark; or was that an illusion, too. It was a faint whisper. Not, words merely a sense of compassion, of understanding as her presence pushed me away.
I need answers, I conveyed, need to see you, need to hear it from you.
Behind us walked four of his cohorts, including Marcus.
Their sinister presence increased my uneasiness and unnerved me when they returned my gaze with menace.
Hearing an occasional noise emanating from the rooms we passed, one after another, confirmed that the activities within them were of an erotic nature.
Orpheus stopped in front of one of the doors and placed his ear up against it, listening.
Turning the handle, he gestured for us to be quiet.
Opening the door, he allowed me to peer into the room.
The scene astounded me. A blonde woman was tied with leather straps to the rear wall, her head flung forward as if in a faint.
She was completely naked, and her fair hair fell over her face.
Two women stood in revealing outfits, playing and taunting their seeming victim.
The blonde raised her head and cried out for more. I was relieved to see none of the women in the room were Catherine and scowled at Orpheus.
They laughed at me. The point of no return. Hesitating, I considered bursting in to save her . . .
But then she moaned, a long-drawn-out lustful cry.
One of them kneeled before her and parted her labia, licking her clit, lavishing her with pleasure.
Groans echoed, sounds of pleasure escaped their willing captive.
As one of them indulged her, knelt between trembling thighs, the other walked around her and struck her back with a whip, slowly at first and then more insistent.
It was a breathtaking vision—a moment that stunned me into stillness.
The sheer grace and power of the vampires, moving around her as if gravity bowed to them.
Seeing this, whatever this was, felt like discovering a new language spoken entirely through movement, beauty, and emotion.
My breath caught—it was mesmerizing in its purest form.
I glanced back at Orpheus, who had seemed intent on startling me—but in truth, he had stirred something deep within me.
From within the room, the two female vampires bowed respectively to Orpheus and his entourage.
The door was closed shut.
“I think we’ll have more luck in here.” Orpheus led us into another of the rooms, similar to the first and obviously used as such, judging by the décor of shackles on the walls and the leather accoutrements.
The purple-haired girl who had previously been standing at the bar with the others was now leaning in the corner. I studied Orpheus’s motives for having her here.
Orpheus grinned darkly at me. “Enjoy.”
He meant her.
I was done. I lunged at him.
In a fury, his men attacked me. Orpheus pulled the girl to face the wall and distracted her. Then, he covered her eyes with his hand.
With a thwack, I managed to throw one of them off, and he fell to the ground with a thud. His neck was broken, and he lay where he fell.
“You are so fired,” Orpheus said to him.
The man recovered, leaping up with supernatural speed and struck me in the stomach, winding me.
Orpheus withdrew his palm from the woman’s eyes.
“Or perhaps not,” he said, allowing the eager girl to watch the fray.
His men shoved me up against the wall, securing my hands within shackles, fastening them tight. Another punch, this time to my chest.
I struggled for air.
Orpheus watched on, obviously amused, while the young girl rested on a high-backed chair calmly observing the activity as if she had seen it all before.
“Gillian Stewart, allow me to introduce a dear old friend of mine, Jade.” Orpheus lowered his voice. “Isn’t it amazing what turns some men on?”
I was horrified, realizing the girl thought that I was in the club for this.
“I will kill you, Orpheus!” I shouted.
I had to get out of here.
“Someone needs to be punished?” he teased.
“Fuck you!” I said.
“Now we’re talking.”
“Where is she?”
“Two hundred years. Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? Though I dare say it probably dragged for you.” Orpheus turned again to the young female and winked. “The punters love the fantasy. We just play along and fulfill their every desire.”
I pulled on the restraints, struggling against the shackles. “Get out!” I screamed at the girl. “He’s not who you think he is.”
She stared back at me.
“You are in grave danger,” I warned her.
“Shush,” Orpheus said. He pressed up against me, turning my head to expose my neck. He nuzzled in and bit.
Not this.
Not him. My blood poured into his mouth.
His cologne clung to the air, but beneath it, something darker, the scent of power, his power, and of revenge patiently aged.
The sting at my neck had become a seduction, as if we were conspirators in some intimate rite.
His hand at the back of my head held me still. This intimate hold strangely sacred.
I swooned, angry still that I had allowed him to play me again. Dizziness came in waves. My head fell back, my jaw dropped. Orpheus sucked furiously, his body now rocking against mine.
“No.” My words had no strength.
Leisurely, he savored the pleasure of the drink. He quenched his thirst.
Two vampires entwined, bound by fury, their embrace a clash of eternal loathing.
Eventually, he pulled away, wiping the blood from his mouth so as not to alarm the girl.
“Wow! How much bloody drug did you use?” Orpheus glared at Marcus.
Marcus had poisoned my drink, doing his master’s bidding, as though unable to think for himself—I sent that cursed thought to Marcus.
No air in the room.
Orpheus closed his eyes, relishing the rush of my drug-laced blood.
He forced his hand over my mouth and whispered, “Jadeon, I drank a little too much. You’ll have to forgive my rudeness, but if it wasn’t for my willpower, I would have drained every last drop.
So you have something to be grateful for. ”
“No.” My legs gave way, and I hung from the shackles. Despite the high-pitched ringing, it was imperative I stay alert.
Orpheus stepped back. “You’re right. We need to replace that blood loss. I wonder if I know anyone who would volunteer?” He clicked his fingers.
Responding quickly, the young girl stood up out of the chair, waiting for further direction.
“My dear Gill, I have a small present for you.” Orpheus removed a small, clear plastic bag from his shirt pocket.
Gillian’s eyes widened. He waved it before her, and she recognized the familiar white powder within it. She pulled the packet from his hand.
“Don’t snatch! It is a present from our grateful client here. Now go sit down and have a little. It’s very good. Perhaps you would like to share? No?”
Taking a seat in the corner of the room again, she emptied a small portion of the powder into the palm of her hand, glancing up possessively. Pacing the room, Orpheus waited for her to imbibe.
He instructed his minions to leave.
Orpheus knelt beside the girl. “Here, let me help you.” He pried the packet from her hand, pouring a large amount of the white powder onto his wrist. “There,” he offered.
Gill frowned.
“Don’t take it,” I warned her.
“Looks like he wants his drug back,” Orpheus said.
The girl glared at me.
“It will kill you,” I said.
“Would I ever let anything happen to my princess?” He smiled.
Gill leaned toward his arm and sniffed the cocaine—all of it. Her eyelids fluttered and she flopped back into the chair.
“Well, if you thought the answer was yes, you’d be right. That potency of the drug is far too much for your little feeble human body, but that is the least of your worries. Now be a good girl and don’t die just yet.”
Her head fell back, and she lay still.
Orpheus unlocked my shackles. He wrapped his arms around me and lay me upon the cold stone floor.
He could see me weakening.
He slapped my face. “I need you to focus. Now remember, give my regards to Alex, though I will probably see him before you do. Bon appétit, Jadeon!”
Orpheus withdrew, locking the door on his way out.
I staggered to my feet and tried the door handle. I was trapped and reeled from the blood loss.
The dazed girl moaned in the corner.
“I will not do it.” My cries echoed into the silence. “You cannot make me drink from her.” I turned and stared at the girl, resisting the drag of my primal need.