Cathedral (Cradle of Darkness 1)

A new necklace lay around my neck. One bearing a ruby the size of Manhattan. A weighty choker crafted in the old world by artisans and jewelers long dead. It was nothing like the sleek, modern pieces Ethan’s assistant would choose for me. It was a treasure long kept, hoarded, and draped over my throat as if he’d waited millennia to put it there.

A quick flick of his nail and black blood dripped down his neck. Warmth splashed my lips, the salt of ever-living flesh followed. Drained, addicted, I drank. Far, far more than I should have.

It was the orgasm that snapped me out of the feed.

The bastard had dared to put his fingers inside me, my skirt bunched and my panties stretched by his fist. When our eyes met, mine full of accusation, his thumb brushed my clit, and I shuddered.

“This time I want to watch you.” And he moved his hand again.

It wasn’t just the shock of it all, it was the hunger. There had been no suitors arriving demanding their chance to seed the vampire king’s daughter. There had been no human males seduced in seedy bars or dragged into dark corners before the clock struck midnight. There had been no playful touch from a selfish lover or his blonde toy waiting to lick my pussy when said lover was done.

Starved for touch… that’s what I was as I lay under Malcom’s weight and felt my hips rock of their own accord to the pressure of him strumming my clit, riding the fingers that hooked and beckoned my insides to run with lubricant.

I came so quickly, my eyes on his, that I didn’t understand what was happening until a cry broke from parted, swollen lips. Lips he kissed when dumbstruck incredulity took the fight from me.

His stilled hand parked inside my pussy, a cunt that tremored and twitched despite my horror, refused to budge. Even when I muttered a sad, “My father…”

“Isn’t here.

Was that anger in the unflappable Malcom’s voice? Anger toward his king?

“I’ll be punished.” Horribly punished, Malcom’s house arrest having forced me to break several of the rules I survived by.

Fingers squelching from my fluids, the male teased every last nerve below. “Let me make love to you. If there is a child, there will be no reprimand.”

“Jesus.” Was that my breathless voice, my head tossed back as if I might close myself off to all of him if I just refused to look. “No.” I was going to die of pleasure in a blood-drunk haze of agonizing and instant lust. “Malcom, stop.”

And he did, rearing back to sit over where I was spread and ready. Licking his fingers of my juices as he studied all that lay before him. “What do you want in return for letting me have my way in this?”

Was he out of his mind? I couldn’t even stop the laugh that jiggled my breasts and drew his eye to the neckline of my rumpled dress. “The centuries have set you mad.”

There was no moving him, by strength or by power. A point proven when his finger came to trace the swell of my breast and no grip on his wrist might stop him. “I’d rather not force you, Jade. Name your price.”

“Did you think playing house with me would warm me up?” Anger set my heart pounding, narrowed my eyes, and layered a hiss in my voice. “You make me sick.”

No amount of spite seemed to affect the man. In fact, he began to rub himself over me as if he were a cat in heat, soaking the front of his trousers with the tell-tale lubrication that drenched my panties. A full body massage with just a few carefully maneuvered limbs.

His weight on me. The smell of a delicious, available blood source that left my insides fluttering.

Tongue flicking my ear, pelvis grinding against where I’d begun to ache for more, Malcom whispered, “Jade?”

I would never be able to live with myself, the shame would kill me. “No.”

Knowing how best to disassemble me, the constant demon in my life offered a greater temptation than I could resist. “Not even for Ethan?”

My nails dug into Malcom’s back. Lashes flaring, I drew in a breath but found no ready reply.

“Did it not cross your mind to ask me to change him? You wanted to keep him forever, didn’t you?”

And then my heart raced for another reason. “But you said…”

“Give yourself over; let me make love to you, and I will see your human turned. A member of my household, protected by my name. An eternal Ethan to do with as you will. I’ll even see his centuries of service are cut in half.”

“My father…” Why did all my statements always circle back to Satan?

“Will enjoy the irony more than you can imagine.” Smirking, Malcom leaned back so I might see his face. “Do we have a deal?”