Hunger Embraced (The Hunger Series) (16 page)

“That’s better. Trust me. Hold still and be quiet.”

It
was
him. I didn’t feel any better about the situation or his choice of words. Like I was some kind of disobedient dog who needed its master to come out and discipline it. The disparaging remarks had stung my pride.

“Yes, well, that can be remedied, can it not? All the necessary implements are here. All the court is in attendance.” Stephan paused, and when I looked up to meet his eyes with fury blazing out of mine, he snorted and leaned against the back of the throne. “We heard you did not like the idea of a public ceremony, although we gather you have not become so picky about your…proclivities…in recent years.”

A hush of laughter ran through the room, and my cheeks heated, along with every other inch of exposed skin.

“As a gesture of our goodwill, we will grant you a private ceremony with only one of our choosing and a Guardian to ensure it is completed. And then you will appear before us to pledge your loyalty to this court, or we will be forced to take measures to ensure your compliance.”

He sounded like one of those men who beat his wife while telling her all the many reasons it was all her fault. Yeah, right. My father may have told me to complete the ceremony, but I wasn’t ready to let go of my humanity. My chances of getting out of here at all were whittling down to slim and none.

“I can’t do it, Daniel.” I whispered the words into his shoulder, knowing many of the vampires in the room would be able to hear it anyway. He shifted his weight, brushing his hip against my waist. Too briefly, but I knew weakness would be exploited, and he wanted to warn me against showing anything to the beast in charge.

Some of the beings—I couldn’t think of them as people—were so beautiful it hurt to look at them. But the others, oh Goddess, the others… I tried not to focus on them and stared instead at the woman behind the throne and slightly to the right. Short and curvaceous, with fuck-me lips that glinted in the candlelight in a dark crimson red, she swayed on her feet back and forth to a rhythm only she heard.

At first, I thought she wore lipstick. Then a lazy dribble ran over her lower lip and onto her chin. Stephan followed my gaze and strolled over to her. He stepped in to her left and caught the underside of her jaw in one extra long finger, leaned in, and licked the substance off in one smooth swipe. I looked around for the source when I realized it was blood. For it to be that fresh a bleeding human was somewhere nearby. The low light provided by the candles hid more than it revealed, creating pools of shadow in the corners and under the tables. No humans I could ferret out other than me.

I wrinkled my nose. The whole spectacle disgusted me. She continued to spit the fluid out and allowed it to drip onto her chest. Perhaps she was lacking a few marbles or under some kind of spell. Her expression never changed, mouth half open, eyes staring straight ahead. I shivered. I knew that if I didn’t play my cards right, I might find myself in a similar situation. The Feeler would stand us back there like statues or artwork, possessions on display until our services were required.

“Veronica is special to us. As you are special to us.” He turned his attention back toward me, sucking the tips of his fingers. “If your father had not interfered so long ago in Venice, we would not be here today, scrounging on scraps.”

He clamped his hand on Veronica’s jaw until she collapsed to her knees, cringing and shirking away. No sound left her mouth, even though her skin mottled under his fingers from the pressure. The blood continued to flow in a slow, unending stream. Either her self-control was that good or she’d been conditioned to silence. I’d never manage that kind of discipline. Pity filled me for her predicament and added more fuel to the fire to get my ass out of there at the earliest opportunity.

The weight of the knife in my boot offered a measure of reassurance. They wouldn’t take me without someone getting their ass stabbed. I’d make sure of it.

“Venice?” The word tumbled from my lips before I could stop it. I clamped my lips closed to try to stop anything else from escaping.

Word vomit will not help the situation. Get your shit together. The more scared you get, the more powerful he gets.

The terrible, yellow eyes narrowed, and he spun toward me on one heel. “You forget we can sense the emotions rolling off you like a fresh summer wind. Veronica had the same sort of rebellion in her veins once. It only took us twenty-two years, eight months, sixteen days, nine hours, and forty-six minutes to break her. We do enjoy a challenge.”

His features melted and ran, filling out in some places and shrinking in others. He became taller, broader shouldered, muscular, and swarthy. The visible skin darkened to an even olive tone and black, loosely curled hair sprouted from his bald scalp. A wide grin spread across beautiful, masculine features, showing off white teeth behind full sensual lips.

She blinked and released a strangled moan when he turned to her, making no attempt to rise.

“This is one of her favorites. We know Adrian came to see you, Miranda. We wonder if you are regretting now that you did not go him instead of coming here.” He tapped his lower lip and stopped a few inches in front of me. Stephan turned toward Veronica and shook his head. “How do you feel about that, Veronica? He fucked her, my dear.” She made no indication she’d heard him. He directed his attention back to me. “All that untapped power, and all you had to do was go to Adrian. You let fear and childish infatuation lead you astray. The young are so easily manipulated.”

Muffled, dry laughter swept the room again, but this time I felt no embarrassment, only anger, clean and burning. He inhaled, and a tugging sensation nibbled at the edge of my aura when he siphoned some of it away—feeding. I had no choice but to stare at his chest or crane my head to look him in the eye. My tattered pride refused to let me stare at him there. I may have betrayed my fear to these creatures, but that didn’t mean I was their slave. I lifted my eyes to meet his and saw through the façade. He had manipulated his aura, not his flesh. The disgusting bird-like appearance still existed behind a black haze edged in purple and pea green.

I redirected my glare, determined not to feed him even more, and skimmed over the faces around the room. I wanted to see if any of the others masked themselves in a similar manner. None of them looked any different, no matter how hard I tried to strip them of their veneer of civility. The grotesques among them all had the same black haze surrounding their bodies, an absence of some kind. Like their auras had been taken away, and all that remained was a psychic black hole.

My gut clenched. I swallowed to fortify my nerves and looked to my right at Daniel. His aura still blazed before me, so beautiful I had to narrow my eyes against the glare. Goddess he was gorgeous and so
good
. Not a drop of ugliness on him. Only pure, swirling lights danced and swayed around him and through him. Blue dominated his aura, but streamers of purple, gold, and hints of orange sparked and died almost as soon as I saw them. Orange. He was anxious—nervous. I wondered if anyone else could see it but me. Perhaps not. He controlled his emotions so well. I bet he could have tamped that down as well.

I slipped my hand into his larger one and squeezed it. I wasn’t exactly sure of the rules to the game or whose side he was on. The gold—a color that to me meant integrity and resolve—helped me decide to trust him to get me through the next few hours. After that, I’d wing it. Sorta like right now.

“You’re a delusional old prick, you know that?” I let my contempt show on my face and curled my upper lip.

Daniel possessed the stillness of a statue beside me, not moving or breathing. The entire room seemed to be poised on a great precipice, as though a breath had been inhaled and held.

“Guardian. You will escort the Vessel to the preparation rooms. She will receive us after the ceremony. It is time to restore our people to their former glory.” Ice dripped from Stephan’s voice.

I knew my face betrayed my disgust, but I didn’t care. No way was I “receiving” him. No way in hell I’d have sex with that thing.

I looked around, wondering who the Guardian might be. None of the assembly moved, not even a twitch. It was creepy, like being in a wax museum surrounded by figures that looked too lifelike. Daniel’s hand slid from mine and gripped my biceps. I frowned before I could stop myself. His aura sparked with red now, but his face betrayed nothing. He didn’t even look at me as he turned on his heel and started for the far wall. I stumbled behind him, confused and unsure.

“How amusing. She didn’t know!” Stephan’s cackling laughter rang through the chamber and other voices joined in, hollow and brittle to my ears. They laughed until he stopped and then went silent, marionettes cut off as if on cue.

“Guardian.”

Daniel stopped without turning around. I leaned away from him with every ounce of my weight and struggled to get free. I would have had more luck pushing a building.

“You will act as Consort. She will be Blooded when I arrive.” Stephan approached and lifted a lock of my hair to his nose. I twisted away using all the strength in my legs, but only succeeded in plowing into Daniel and getting a hunk of my hair yanked out. “She will swear her fealty or be punished. I expect you to fulfill your duty or steps will be taken. Our court will be the first to employ her services as she is one of our subjects.” He fluttered his fingers and let the strands float to the ground before spinning on his heel and walking back toward the dais. “After that, we may be amenable to releasing her for a period of time to the Vampire Council. We will be sure to report to the esteemed members of your service here today.”

Oh no. Oh no, no, no. I planted my heels and punched Daniel in the arm. The meaty
thunking
sound my fist made when it connected sounded cool, but my knuckles shrieked. Next time I’d hit a brick wall instead.

Services? Do his duty? Council? He continued toward the door without any sign he even felt the strike or me flailing around trying to get free.

“Guardian.”

“Bastard!”

Daniel flinched at the shout and stopped.

Stephan chuckled, perhaps enjoying the betrayal and rage boiling through me. “Take Dominique with you as well. She’s quite attracted to Miranda. Her bloodline is strong and pure. She will provide a hearty meal for the Vessel.”

A willowy blonde peeled away from the wall to my right. Her cheeks were sunken hollows, and her eyes large in a too-thin face. She moved in jerking steps, and her tattered black evening gown tangled around her ankles. When she stopped on Daniel’s other side, he began to move again with resolute steps.

“Oh and, Guardian, we will send Christophe. He will enjoy emceeing the event. We wouldn’t want you to lose control of the girl and be killed.”

I paid no attention to the vampires falling into step behind us. Daniel had my full attention. The one person I had thought I could trust propelled me into slavery.

Chapter Eleven

We emerged into a dark paneled hallway lit by guttering oil lamps. How strange that I had visited this house so many times and never been aware of the rooms below ground.

The pain in my head lessened the moment I crossed the threshold. I could no longer detect the Incubi. Not feeling like my head would split from the inside cheered me, but T.T.B. still had his hand clamped around my biceps.

I jerked my arm again, and he released me. The lamps hung at four-foot intervals, giving just enough light for me to see the tense set of his shoulders and clenched hands. Good to know I wasn’t the only one unhappy right now. No way would I have sex or whatever with that disgusting creature. I didn’t like being a vampire fuck buddy. Stephan crossed the line from unwanted duty to cringe-worthy and disgusting. An aura of wrongness clung to him in a buzzing cloud.

“You must listen to me, Miranda. I can win us free of this.”
Daniel’s voice ghosted through my mind.

Trust him, huh? Maybe he should have used his mind talking ability to warn me before I came downstairs. What a secret to keep from me. Jackass. I started mentally humming Cee-Lo Green—chorus only, you know which part—to drown him out and stomped his foot when he started to project even louder. He grunted in pain, and I smiled in satisfaction.

“That’s right, buster. Cross me and pay. You’re lucky I didn’t hit you in the googlies.”

He cleared his throat. “Miranda, I will act as your Consort for the ceremony. Dominique will help with the sacrifice.”

Dominique shambled along with us. I peeked around T.T.B.’s chest at her to try and catch her eye, but she continued to stare straight ahead.

“Sacrifice?” I’d already killed one person with sex. I didn’t want to do it again.

“Death or sex, Miranda. There must be a death, even if it is only symbolic. Sexual orgasm is a sufficient sacrifice. You will also need to be fed.”

I walked a few steps ahead of him, figuring he’d catch up. Daniel excelled at following me. There wasn’t anywhere I could run to. The hall didn’t have any doors on either side, just more of those oil lamps.

“I don’t do chicks, Daniel.”

“Trust me.”

I snorted. Right. Trust him. “So, how does this work? We all screw, and I feed the Hunger on Dominique and poof! I’m a vampire?”

“I will drink your blood and feed you mine. Your Hunger will feed on both of us. It may…overwhelm you. Do not be frightened.”

“Overwhelm? Do you mean run around all crazy and hit everyone in the room?”

“Yes.”
He caught my eye, and I arched one brow.

Stephan sent me away from the other Incubi for the ceremony. My father had planned to share it with the entire coven. All the vampires here save the Feelers neared starvation. If my Hunger had the potential to rip through everyone around me, it had the potential to eat them all. What would Stephan do if I ate all his food?

Better yet, what if it acted in reverse? What if all that sex magic grabbed them up and they went into a feeding frenzy? Killed all the Feelers?