Chapter Five #2
“Oh, I’m walkin’, buddy. Because unlike you, I don’t just sit around spewing fancy lies to get what I want. I’m a woman of action, and this gal is leavin’.” I would swim home if I had to.
“As you wish!”
Princess Bride? I seethed out a breath. Last straw, mister! I marched through the atrium, outside toward the night beach, my heels clacking against the paved walkway. How dare he lie to me. The nerve of that man! I’d been all in, ready to trust and spend eternity with him. “Fucking Stark.”
“Hello there.” A dark figure stepped out in front of me.
My eyes pushed to focus on the face of that greasy-haired man.
Uh-oh. “What do you want?” I asked.
“I remember you. You’re the chick from the Flaming Rooster. The one who threatened to put us in a woodchipper.”
I sure had. I’d known what they were and wanted them to leave. “And I remember how you tore a hole in my uncle’s neck. Nice to see you’re still alive,” I said sarcastically.
“I threw myself on the mercy of Montgomery Stark.”
“And?”
“And now I’m forever his slave.” He shrugged.
Was that what Stark had been alluding to just now? “So he couldn’t kill you.”
“You really don’t know our laws, do you?” He snickered.
“Boo-hoo. Guess not,” I sassed back. I never felt shame over ignorance when it came to things I’d had no opportunity to learn.
For example, I didn’t know how to drive a race car nor do brain surgery.
I couldn’t bake a chocolate souffle or build a skyscraper either.
In the case of vampire law, I was still learning. So what?
He stepped in closer. “You can’t kill a vampire who offers total submission and allegiance in exchange for their life.”
“Well, that’s too bad because Stark should’ve turned you into a sad bag of duck dicks to match your twisted ugly face.”
“You know,” he stepped closer again, “I’d watch my mouth if I were you. You’re still easy pickings. Weak and hu—”
“I don’t give an owl’s boney turd what you think of me, Duck Dick, and neither does Stark. He’ll make you suffer if you lay one finger on me.” Or not. After all, we were in the midst of a breakup.
“I think you do not understand Montgomery Stark,” he said. “Or why you’re really here.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“Enough!” Stark came up behind us and stepped between me and Duck Dick. “I will deal with you later, Herman. Go back to your cottage.”
Herman? That was a goofy name for a biker vampire.
“No,” I said. “I want to know what he meant.”
“Leave!” Stark yelled at Herman, who scurried off down the path.
“What was he talking about?” I asked Stark. “And you’d better be honest, because I will not tolerate a man who lies, even if he is a powerful vampire I am—was—madly in love with.”
“Am or was?” Stark’s shoulders dropped.
Honestly, I was beginning to question my feelings. Maybe because he couldn’t seem to tell the truth. Not even about the little things. It was making me feel like a second-class citizen in his world, in his life. I didn’t like it.
“The one I choose is up to you.” I shook a finger at him.
“I’ve been patient with this whole secret-island situation, the elusive turning process, and the marriage ritual you just sprang on me, but finding out that you lied to my face about killing that Herman guy has burned my fuse down to the nub, so do not lie to me.
No more sugarcoating. What did Herman mean? And why’d you tell me he was dead?”
“Very well.” Stark huffed, knowing I had him cornered. “I lied about killing Herman because at the time you were already distraught, and discovering he was still alive would only augment your emotions. I felt it was my role to protect you. I still feel that way.”
Okay, but that didn’t give him the right to lie. “Why did he say I’m here for another reason?”
“Obviously, he is unhappy about his situation and wishes to undermine our relationship. A little payback. But I did not force him into serving me. He could have died like a real man.” Stark sighed with a grumble.
“Honestly, I wish he would’ve. Herman cannot be trusted.
Also, he is messy and does not clean up after himself.
My other slaves will not stop complaining. ”
“Dear lord, Stark. How many slaves do you have?”
He shrugged. “I lost count.”
My mouth fell open. “You need to let them go.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s just wrong to own another living being,” I argued.
“Humans own cats, dogs, tiny colorful fish—”
“That’s not the same, and you know it.” I shook my head.
“I cannot release Herman or any of the others. It would make me look weak, and that would put you in danger.” Stark lifted his chin in a snobby, proud kind of way. “A vampire who isn’t feared is as good as dead. So are those under his protection, including your own father.”
We’d gone full circle, back to the power conversation. “So, basically, you’re all trying to be a bunch of mob bosses. Great.”
“In a way, yes.” Stark nodded.
Ugh. I hated vampire fear-porn politics, but more than anything, I hated how Stark kept breaking my trust. This was no way to start a relationship that would last an eternity.
Still, despite my encroaching doubts, I loved him. I wanted him. I owed him one more chance. But if he failed this next test, we were done. I’d let Daddy guide me through the transformation.
“Take me home,” I said.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve had enough. Take me home,” I repeated.
“Masie, I have gathered my closest allies here to get to know you. It is the first step of the Powoli Tra? Erekcj?.”
The first step of a marriage process he wouldn’t tell me about. More information being held back.
I looked at him, anger bubbling through me. “I have not agreed to marry you, Stark. Nor will I if I hear one more false, sketchy, deceitful word from your lips. Now,” I inhaled slowly, drawing on my patience, “you said I could leave if I wanted to, so are you a man of your word or not?”
He looked away, groaning with frustration. “Yes. I am.”
“Great. Then I’ll go pack my things.”
“As you like. I will make the arrangements to travel home tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow?” I snapped.
“We are vampires, woman, not magical rocket ships. We cannot snap our fingers and travel thousands of miles. We are hours from the mainland and from any airport that can transport our steel containers nonstop to Tennessee. Arrangements for safe travel must be made.”
“You mean…you brought me here in a metal coffin?” The idea terrified me. It was beyond morbid.
“Container. Large enough for us both, though still very confined. Thus the sedative I gave you,” he added casually.
“Oh my god, Stark! You drugged me?” It explained the weird dreams in the dark rusty room.
“I thought it would make the journey more comfortable.”
Stark and his high-handed BS strikes again! He could’ve explained things to me back home. If he had, he’d know that I was against taking drugs of any kind unless prescribed by a doctor. I would’ve sucked up the discomfort like the strong woman I was. But nooo….he drugged me!
“I-I-I just can’t with you, Stark. You and your controlling bullcakes are just too much.” I turned toward my suite.
“You’re going the wrong way!” he called out.
“I’ll go whichever way I want!”
“Very well, but that way will take you to the slaves’ quarters, and I doubt you want to bump into Herman again.”
Dammit. He was right.
I turned to head in the correct direction, not bothering to look at Stark as I passed him. Drug me. Lie to me. Ship me off in a toaster oven!
I got to the door of my suite and opened it. There was Stark standing inside, holding two champagne glasses. He must’ve run ahead of me and zipped right past.
“I don’t want to talk to you right now,” I growled.
“You do not have to speak. Simply listen. But first, you will have a drink.”
That was when I noticed he’d filled one glass with moonshine, and I was too hungry to resist.
I took the glass and downed the pink liquid in two greedy gulps.
“Very good,” he said. “Now, you will calm yourself and listen.”
I marched to the bed and sat, taking off my heels. “Nope.”
“What do you mean, nope?” He set the second glass on the white wicker nightstand.
“Nope. Not listening,” I clarified.
“How about now?”
Was he trying to be cute? “Still no,” I snapped.
Irritated, he grumbled, “Everyone’s waiting. I don’t have time for it to kick in.”
“Kick in?”
“Never mind.” He walked over, grabbed me by the shoulders, and pulled me to my feet. “Look into my eyes.”
Before I could tell him to pound pretty sand, I was swept away by two beautiful swirling orbs sucking me into their atmosphere.
“Tonight, we will drink champagne,” he commanded. “Then we will dance until the sun comes up, and when you wake, you will see that I was trying to care for you because that is my role—as your mate and coven leader.”
His voice hummed in my ears like the voice of God, seeping into my soul. I went for the second champagne glass he’d set on the nightstand and drank it down.
“That’s a good girl,” he said. “Now, let us return to the restaurant and enjoy the evening.”
No, I will not. You can’t make me like it! But as my heart protested, I felt my will slipping away. He’d just done something to me with his eyes!
“Yes, enjoy…” I muttered.
Why are you doing this, Stark? He had crossed a line that could not be uncrossed. Taking away my free will was a relationship ender. It meant he could never be trusted. It meant he didn’t respect me. And I can’t love a man like that.
Maybe this had been the problem all along. He wasn’t a man. He was a vampire who expected to be obeyed, even by me.