Crimson Desire (5 page)

Sang was completely quiet and even his steps were without sound as he came beside me and continued onward, lips trembling as he noticed the castle looming closer.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, we made it to the front metal gate of the castle that stretched all around the place, wrought with intricate designs of flowers, vines, and dragons. Our captors stood us in front of the enormous arched door, and Grey banged a lion-shaped doorknocker three times. The door rose just a few feet so it wasn’t up all the way, and out stepped Annabelle dressed in a flowing black gown which swept to her feet and hugged her figure in all the right places. It had long sleeves with lace at the ends that spilled over her wrists and a corset-like bodice.

“Hello, my wonderful pets. Come on in, and I’ll introduce you to everyone,” she announced politely.

We were shoved into the castle. It was dimly lit by torches which were hung on each side of the wall as we first went through a narrow but long corridor and then through a great area decorated with huge tapestries of unicorns and mythical creatures, knights, and royal kings and queens. It was lusciously carpeted in red, and in the middle was a silver throne with two winding staircases on each side. We were turned to the right and through a small door which lead outside to a grand garden blooming with rose bushes and all kinds of flowers, bushes, and tiny trees. Standing between the rows of the garden were people—a lot of people—some dressed in modern-day attire while others wore dirty rags and were on their hands and knees beside the regal looking men and women who held an air of importance.

“Welcome, my children, welcome!” Annabelle bellowed over the chattering of the crowd. “I have a special treat for you this evening.” She whispered to Sang and I, “Get on your knees and sit upright.”

We did as instructed, then our hands were bound in chains behind our backs, and I felt like a prisoner being introduced to jail.

Maybe it was.

I struggled against my restraints, but Grey knelt down and uttered in my ear, “Just relax and obey the queen for now. You don’t want to disappoint her as she’s showing you off to everyone, do you? You’ll just be tortured, and I promise it won’t be fun.” His voice was low and self-confident, and I knew that he was probably someone of rank. His name was Lord Greyson, so he did have a status. I wonder what I was to them, these odd people with ones of lower status-below them.

Annabelle brimmed with joy as she pointed to me and yelled, “Here I have Lily, Darius’ new and only turned vampire!” There was clapping and cheering as she yanked on my hair and forced my head up so I could see into the eyes of everyone assembled, and I felt humiliated and ashamed this was happening to me. I might as well have been naked I felt so lowly and degraded with the chains around my hands and the position I was in.

“And here we have the return of one of my favorite subjects, Chester!” She patted Sang on the back and ruffled his hair affectionately as the crowd jeered and clapped again, some people going so far as to whistle and yell words of praise and appreciation.

“It’s not Chester, it’s Sang,” I grumbled, and Grey kicked my hands so hard that I flinched with the unexpected pain.

“Now, you may play with Lily and Chester, but remember, in the end they are
mine,
so if they displease you, you come straight to me, and I shall discipline them thoroughly.”

Annabelle turned around and ordered, “Take Chester to the bathing room and bring Lily to the blooding room. When you’re finished, bring Chester to me in my quarters and Lily to her new room, understood?”

Both Rose and Grey said in perfect synchronization, “Yes, my queen.”

“Good.” She ruffled Sang’s hair again and walked inside the castle where I lost sight of her. Grey tugged on my chains as if I was a dog, and I got on my feet to follow him when he whipped his head around in anger.

“Don’t follow me on your legs; follow me on your hands and knees.”

“What? Are you kidding?” I fumed.

Sang spoke softly, “Lily, do as he says. You don’t want him to report to the queen, do you? You have no idea what she can do to you. Please listen to me.”

“This is ridiculous! Bullshit! Why should I listen to him?” I yelled at Lord Greyson. He wasn’t my father, for goodness sake.

He replied rather tenderly, “You don’t want to find out what can be done to you in the torture chambers. Please, for your own sake, just listen. Everything will be so much better if you listen.” He unchained my hands from behind my back and instead fastened them around my neck.

I looked into Sang’s sad, crimson eyes and decided that I’d try and listen for now. But if something really ticks me off later, I won’t be afraid to speak my mind.

It was painful to think of how being on all fours would ruin my beige jacket and jeans, probably put a hole in them, and it made me angry I had to get around this way until told otherwise. Sang was in front of me as we went inside the castle and were lead separate ways. I made a kissy face to Sang as he was directed into a dark hallway, and he reciprocated the act. Greyson yanked on the chain and pulled me forward until we came to a small room that was bright with ten torches.

“Why hasn’t she modernized the place? You know, electricity and plumbing and what-not?” I asked him.

His jaw was rigid. “She likes to have things old, because she doesn’t want to remember how old she is. She’s about as old, maybe a bit younger, than your Darius. And there is electricity in some of the rooms. And there is working plumbing, too.”

“Oh.”

I noticed a wide stone chair with a metal table beside it, and Grey told me to stand up and sit down. I did as he said, and he immediately strapped my hands and legs down with thick leather strips and placed a gag inside my mouth. I was going to try and break loose, but I remembered Sang’s words and decided against it.

Grey left and shut the door, leaving me alone and helpless in the tiny room. I could hear the echoes of footsteps outside and closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see what was on the table. What were they going to do? Were they going to torture me now?

The footsteps stopped, and in came Annabelle, who quickly shut the door behind her and proceeded in slowly. Her face beamed with happiness as she hummed a song to herself, the same song Sang had hummed on the plane and stared deeply into my eyes until I had to turn my head because they were so fierce and penetrating.

“Welcome, Lily, to the blooding room.” She spread her arms as to take in the whole room with one gesture and then went to the table and picked up a few things.

My eyes widened with fear as I saw what she had, and I wished I were Sang instead of me this moment.

In her hands was a long-ass needle, complete with five small glass vials, a thin rubber cord, and an elastic band. Oh, no. Please don’t use that needle. Anything but a needle. I’d hated those accursed things since I was small because of a very unpleasant experience, and from then on, all hell broke loose when I had to have one stuck in me at the doctor’s. Since being on my own, I’d managed to avoid the evil objects, but now, there was no escaping it. I was bound hopelessly to a chair while Annabelle wrapped the elastic around my arms and tapped the vein inside my elbow.

I screamed into the gag, tied to move my arm away, but it was no use.

“Oh, you don’t like needles?” she asked with pity.

I vigorously shook my head and arm, tears welling in my eyes and trickling down my chin.

Annabelle laughed cruelly. “Oh, then what fun we’ll have!”

As the needle got closer and closer my vision became unfocused and then melded into a blur, and I silently passed out.

The waves lapped soothingly against my bare feet as the saltiness of the beach filled my lungs and calmed my body.

Darius was beside me, bent over on the ends of his heels, splashing the water onto me in pure delight and deviance. He wasn’t the Darius I knew. He was a Darius from a different time, a different era, and he had a scruffy face, and his hair only reached the middle of his back instead of his ankles. The genuine smirk on his face was priceless, and I felt myself doing the same, happy with the simple playing we were doing, laughing from deep within our hearts as young lovers would.

I scooped my hands into the ocean and threw a wave of sparkling water at him, and he did the same to me. Our hair was soaked, and we had wet, joyful faces. He backed away from the water and sat in the warm sand. I sank my toes into the sand and joined him, sitting cross-legged beside him, and looked up into the cool azure sky where seagulls circled above.

He looked into my face, and I stared into the bottomless depths of his beautiful amber eyes. He smiled lightly and pressed his cherry red lips to mine. We savored the taste of each other before pulling apart, and I rested my head on his shoulder. We watched the waves roll one onto the next, foaming onto shore in a white bubbly expanse, the ocean seeming to breathe naturally out and in with each receding and pushing out of the glimmering water. It had a pulse, a heartbeat of its own. And I listened to Darius’s heart thrumming against his chest, and he glanced down at me, caressed my cheeks, my hair, lovingly and tenderly.

The ocean disappeared and so did Darius, and I was stuck all alone in a vast land of grey before I realized I was dreaming and woke up with a small gasp.

I lay in a feathery bed with plump stuffed pillows and warm blankets tucked around me. The room around me consisted of a bed, a nightstand, a tall lamp, a mirror, and a closet. It smelled like mildew and moist dirt with a sweet hint of a scented apple candle. To my surprise, there was a pink stuffed unicorn lying next to me, its little beady eyes staring at the ceiling. It wasn’t one of my unicorns, as I had a large collection, but it was cute and so soft, and I hugged it to my chest as I noticed Grey leaning against the doorframe, sleeping on his feet.

I winced as my right arm brushed against the pillows and rolled my sleeve down to see that the skin inside my elbow was a light pink and was healing fast. I stood up and looked in the mirror and saw I was in a white flimsy nightgown made completely of chiffon and lace, and it was beautiful and fit me well. I was disturbed someone had undressed and dressed me and angry at the thought, too, but I couldn’t do anything now. I was trapped within Annabelle’s castle and helpless against her for the time being.

I got back into the bed and cuddled with the unicorn, who I named Ted, and savored the warmth of the blankets. I wondered about Sang, where he was, and how I longed to see him. I wanted to know so badly how he was doing and to see those gorgeous crimson eyes look deep into mine.

I sighed, pressed Ted against my face, and drifted away into sleep.

* * * *

I slowly opened my eyes and everything was fuzzy and then came into focus as a flickering line of candle flames caught my attention. I stood upright, spread-eagle, arms cuffed above my head, legs wide apart, and strapped to the poles of the bed. I was completely naked save for my long blonde hair which cascaded over my breasts but didn’t conceal the hardening nipples. I was on Darius’ king sized bed with the crimson bedspread and lovely black silk curtains. I swallowed hard and prayed that I wasn’t having a nightmare, because that would suck in my current condition.

The curtains were pulled back to reveal Darius’ naked form, slim but muscled; his pale pallor enlightened by the flickering flames of the candles. He pounced onto the bed and rose to his full six-foot-three right in front of me, and I savored his bare body, the curve of his ass, his jawbone, and the gleaming muscles which rippled with each movement he made. His wavy chocolate hair flowed behind him like a filmy chiffon stream, and his amber eyes were a deep golden hue in the candlelight.

I wriggled against my restrains, but I was secured tightly and had no way of escaping. A low guttural growl came from Darius, and he caressed my hair softly, slid his hand from my forehead to my neck and to my collarbone, and then to my breasts where he gave them a good slap and a squeeze. I winced at the sudden movement but felt myself blush wildly at his electric touch. His icy fingers were like satin gliding along my skin as he pinched and worked my nipples, rolling them between his thumbs with great delight and then lowering his mouth to suckle on each one. I moaned and bucked against him, and he drew away, licked his lips, and combed a hand through his long mane.

“Darius,” I breathed. “What are you doing?”

He smiled wryly. “What does it look like I’m doing, my dear? I’m pleasuring my love.” He roughly pressed his smooth lips against mine, and I kissed back, and our tongues danced between our mouths. When we parted, I whimpered for more, and he shook his head. Instead, he bent down and gingerly opened my legs wider. I wanted so badly to close them but I couldn’t with the cuffs, and his fingers pried my aching lips open and slid inside, causing me to arch my back and scream in ecstasy. He smiled up at me and licked my hot opening with his wet tongue. He flicked in and out, side to side, nibbled on my throbbing clit, and pressed hard on that little nodule of pleasure deep within. I came, and his face was smothered in my nectar, and he wiped it off with his long fingers and licked it slowly, tantalizingly.

“Please…” I begged. “Please come inside me. I want you in me. Now.”

“Is that an order?” he mused.

I grinned. “Yes, it’s an order,” I purred.

“As my love desires.” He bowed and thrust his hard cock into me in deep, quick motions. He rode me like a horse, and I rolled with the energy, rocked with his body in a perfect rhythm so that we were one in that fleeting, perfect moment. He released his seed and filled me, and I cried out in pleasure.

He pulled out of me, undid my binds, and we panted side by side on the bed. He kissed my eyelids, my cheeks, and brushed my lips with his fangs teasingly. I felt the hunger growing inside me, rising and rising, and I clamped my mouth onto his throat and sucked his sweet coppery blood until I was satisfied and could drink no more. He rolled me onto my back so that his knees straddled my hips, and his cock stroked the inside of my right thigh. I moaned, and he slid it in fast and hard, causing me to scratch his back and the blankets. When he came, totally spent, I embraced him tightly, rolled so I was on top, and planted a row of fiery kisses down his toned chest and to the tip of his phallus. His eyes fluttered crazily as I drew his organ into my mouth and suckled it slowly, took the length inside me to the hilt, and then slowly slipped off.