Chapter 6
Autumn
Igasp and step back, trying to escape the man’s—the vampire’s?—piercing dark eyes. He’s just as surprised to see me as I am to see all three of them. But beyond the initial shock that crosses his features, he doesn’t give any reaction to my presence, no indication that he’s seen me.
He’s utterly beautiful. It shouldn’t be possible, and yet there he stands.
Dark blond hair, short but messy. A five o’clock shadow of matching stubble on his jaw.
Broad shoulders, tanned skin. A swirling tattoo covers one shoulder and extends over his chest and down his back.
I wonder how far—I can’t see his back from this angle.
I can see his cock—long, hard, and thick. It’s still glistening from the woman’s saliva. It rubs against her thigh, but he doesn’t seem to notice or care.
But then he lifts his mouth from the woman’s (bleeding!) neck and breaks eye contact with me. Looking at the other guy, he says, “Wait for a minute, Will. I’m taking her ass.”
The other man, Will, pulls out of the woman. The sight of his cock makes my pussy clench. That is one lucky woman.
“I thought you didn’t want to fuck,” Will says.
“Changed my mind.” The light-haired man grabs a plastic tube of liquid from a nearby shelf. He squirts some onto his hand and strokes his dick, which becomes even shinier with the slippery fluid. “Turn around and get on Will, subbie.”
The woman grins over her shoulder at him as she hurries to obey.
I should leave. I know I should. But I feel like he wants me to watch. I feel like…like he’s putting on a show for me. Especially when he quickly glances to the side and makes eye contact with me while he pushes his cock into the woman’s ass.
She groans and says, “Yes, Master Xander. It feels so good.”
Master Xander. I would call him that, I think, if he wanted me to.
He doesn’t respond, but strokes out and in again. The other man, Will, pumps his hips slowly.
I’m so freaking turned on, I can’t handle it.
My hands twitch. I grip them in fists, trying to hold back even though I desperately want to touch myself. I squeeze my thighs together. I bet I could slide my fingers over my clit and come in two seconds. I reach for the top of my leggings.
Will has his eyes closed, as does the woman. But the other man, Xander? The one who saw me? He’s looking at me right now.
My fingers twitch at my waistband.
A smirk comes over Xander’s face. He mouths the words, “Do it.”
I want to. I want to so bad. But I shake my head.
He narrows his eyes. “Now.” Out loud, he says, “Touch yourself.”
The woman impaled on his dick obeys. But I can’t. I shake my head again.
He gestures me forward, into the room. He’s inviting me in? Holy fuck. What would happen if I joined them? They’re…they’re vampires. Would they bite me? Would it hurt?
Would I like it?
Probably. But it’s too much. This is all too much.
Vampires exist. I’m watching one of them fuck a woman’s ass.
I can’t do this.
I step back into the storage area of the basement and start to close the secret door.
“You like that, subbie?” Xander asks, spanking the woman.
“Yes, Master,” she says.
“Every woman we encounter, every woman who agrees to share herself with us? We take her blood, and she takes our cocks. It is pain and pleasure. It isn’t for a scared little mouse.” He looks up as he says it, his gaze sharp on me once more.
Fuck. Those words aren’t for her. They’re for me. I’m a mouse to him. A scared one.
Defiantly, I watch for a full minute. As the two men fuck that lucky woman and her lustful noises increase, my defiance transforms back into arousal. That would feel amazing, to have two men focused solely on me. I’ve never had anyone in my ass, but this lady seems to be enjoying it plenty.
The lighter-haired man, Xander, slaps her ass again and she moans louder. Then he lifts her up by her shoulders and plants his mouth on her neck. The other man sits forward and bites the other side of her neck. They groan, and I think they’re coming.
But I’ve seen enough. I click the bookcase closed so it’s flush against the cement wall. Breath caught in my throat, heart pounding, I hurry upstairs. I’ll sleep on the third floor tonight, in the Asian Nautical History room, as far from this place as I can possibly get.
Those two guys are vampires.
And I’m less disturbed by that fact, and more disturbed by the fact that I wish I was the woman fucking them right now.
Xander
I put on a baseball game because I’ve found, in my many, many years of life, that barring golf, baseball is easily the most soporific sport in existence.
Will wanders in and pours himself a drink at the kitchen counter. “Fuck, man, I can’t get this scent out of my nose. Some kind of flowers. Do you smell it?”
Ignoring him, I pull out my phone. If I start checking my email, he’s bound to lose interest in pulling me into his search for the scent.
The blasted woman must have been hiding here in the library, spreading her scent all over the place.
I’m hoping she’s long gone by now, after witnessing what she witnessed last night.
Frightened little mouse, paralyzed by fear.
She’s been sleeping in the library, is what I’ve gathered.
Whether she’s sneaking past Izzie’s guardianship or somehow doing this without Izzie’s knowledge, I am not certain.
I don’t want to know.
Although if I’m honest with myself, I’ll admit that I have spent far too much time wondering about the beautiful girl and what her story is.
However, it is none of my business, just as it isn’t Will’s.
He slams a cabinet closed and the sharp scent of whisky carries over to me. Excellent. Perhaps if he imbibes, it will dull his senses. Keeping my eyes on my phone, I scroll through my emails quickly.
I almost miss it. A message from Neve. The email is short. GB is back in the US.
“Fuck.” There’s no other information included in the email, which causes me to think that Neve doesn’t know Gaius's travel plans. But the prick has always particularly enjoyed California.
He has always particularly enjoyed tormenting Will and me.
Will plops himself at the other end of the sofa. “What is it?”
“Gaius has returned to our shores.”
“Huh.” Just as fast as he sat down, Will jumps up again. He moves to the doorway leading to the basement, sniffing loudly. “You don’t smell that?”
“Would you let it go? We have more important things to worry about.” I don’t want to lie to him about the girl, but I will if I have to.
Last night should have scared the girl away. I let her see the possibilities of our brutality. She should’ve run as soon as the library doors opened this morning, yet hours and hours later, I suspect that she’s still here.
Worse, she’s now on Will’s radar. He walks a few steps to sniff at the panel in the wall that hides the secret door.
“Please focus,” I say. “Gaius is likely on his way to San Esteban as we speak. His arrival could upend the tentative peace we’ve cultivated with his followers. If you could sit down for two fucking seconds, Will, we might be able to strategize.”
“I will,” he mutters. “But this is driving me bloody crazy. I’ll be back soon.”
Throwing down my phone, I stand up. “Will, wait—”
But he’s already pushing the panel open and stepping into the library basement.
I groan and fall back to the sofa.
I hope our little mouse has found a very good hiding spot.
Autumn
It’s been a long-ass day. The first half of the day I spent in the Supernatural Phenomena room, trying to find information on vampires.
There’s tons of lore. Just, a fuck-ton of books.
And I feel like at least eighty percent of it is lies.
These men, they weren’t deathly pale. They didn’t have red, glowing eyes.
Their faces weren’t monstrous by any stretch.
They were like movie vampires—handsome, sexy, but without all the sparkles, red eyes, and corpse-colored skin.
Every bit of fictional vampire knowledge in my brain, I’ve been considering. Should I obtain a cross? Holy water? What about garlic? And I should get those things if I want the vampires to stay away from me.
But what if I want to draw them close?
No. Draw them close? Stupidity, madness. I don’t even know if the woman with them survived the night.
Holy shit, what if they killed her?
They wouldn’t. I really don’t believe they could do something like that.
Again—stupidity, madness. I don’t know them at all. I don’t know what they would or would not do.
The second half of the day, I read books in the BDSM room. Kinky shit—that’s what I like, apparently. I loved what that one man, Xander, did with the woman, spanking her while he took her ass. I loved the way the other man gripped her neck before they both bit her.
I loved the promises Xander made. It was as if he was speaking to the woman, but I know for certain he was talking to me.
Pain, pleasure. I want them to mix together. With Will and Xander.
Master Xander. The title doesn’t quite work for me, but I love the idea of calling him something special, something that tells him I belong to him. Sir? Mister?
…Daddy?
A throb in my pussy tells me I’ve landed on the answer.
Stupidity, madness. This is so messed up.
But it’s a fantasy, I remind myself. Everything is okay in fantasy. Just because I imagine it, doesn’t mean I’m going to do it.
My fingers find my pussy. I smear the arousal around my folds, spreading it to my clit, which I rub in tiny circles. This has to be a record for me—my fourth time getting myself off in the space of just a couple of hours.
With my other hand, I pinch my nipple. It’s not pleasurable until I imagine one of those men doing it, instead of me. They’re pinching, biting, spanking, taking me in these secret, forbidden ways that I never considered before.
And two at once?
I come on a sigh, biting my lip and wishing I could be louder. I’m too afraid of attracting any attention, though. They’re vampires—they could have super hearing or something. I can’t risk it.
And how twisted that I’m fantasizing about supernatural men instead of doing the smart thing and running the fuck away? Have they killed people? Are they like Dale? They could be.
Also, what are they doing in this library?
Hiding here, like me? The room I saw them in—I didn’t get a great look at it because I was a little distracted by, you know, the fuck-fest. But it looked like a living room, with a sofa and a television set.
High windows on the far wall, even. Maybe sunlight doesn’t bother them.
Another vampire myth, busted? Either way, it looked like a home.
They probably don’t sleep in cupboards beneath display cabinets like I do.
Something about that room made me think they don’t sleep in coffins, either.
I need to put them from my mind. And after Xander saw me, I need to get out of this library. Instead of wasting my days reading and my nights hiding, I should have been looking for work.
I turn on my side, curling my knees to my chest and fluffing my mom’s old messenger bag to use as a pillow. This entire situation is fucked, every last thing about it.
This will have to be my last night in The Corbin. Tomorrow I’ll write Izzie a heartfelt thank-you note and be on my way. Surely I can find a homeless shelter or an employment agency—or both—while I get back on my feet.
The idea fills me with dread and fear. Inside The Corbin, Dale won’t be able to find me.
Once I go outside, there’s a danger of being seen.
If I were him, I would at the very least send out a detective.
Dale doesn’t like loose ends. He loathes being out of control.
He’s not going to like a public spectacle because it could draw unwanted attention—especially given the fact that he’s been up to no good.
My disappearance might cause some people to doubt his trustworthiness, if it comes to light.
Thinking about Dale is the absolute worst, but I have to face it, face the danger and the fear, because tomorrow I’ll be out there, living with it. Jumping at every shadow, probably.
I close my eyes and trick my brain into believing that I’m safe. Right now, I’m hidden away from the rest of the world. Nobody knows where I am. The Corbin holds me within its walls, protective and strong. I’m safe. I’m safe. I’m safe.
The only hint that something is wrong is a sudden shift of air. A hand, large and strong, slides through my hair and grips it firmly. Whoever it is doesn’t pull or tug—it doesn’t hurt. My eyes pop open, but all I can see is darkness.
Then a low voice rasps in an amused tone, the owner’s lips faintly brushing my earlobe as he speaks.
“I’ve finally found you, little one.”