Page 35 of Nightshade

“Louder, Lustina.” The baron’s hot breath hit her neck, and she shivered with the tension that radiated from him. “Think of your mother this time. Think of her calling out to you in pain.”

The rage inside her churned and simmered, all of the anger, the pain, the fear rising up into her throat, clawing for a voice.

“Say it.”

“I hate him! I hate him! I want to see him burn!” The moment the words tumbled past her lips, she slapped both hands to her mouth.

The baron circled her, a dark smile lifting the corner of his lip, and trembling, Lustina looked away. What had she said? The heavens would surely curse her for saying such awful things aloud. About a holy man, no less.

The baron leaned in, his lips only just brushing her ear when he whispered, “Don’t worry, Lustina. Your secret is safe with me.”

12

Jericho

Body coated in a thin sheen of sweat, I lay breathing hard in bed, every muscle soft and spent. The woman had done a number on me that time, had turned me into a raging kettle of pent-up tension, and though the pinnacle of ecstasy seemed unbearably out of reach, the aftermath had been unlike anything I could recall experiencing.

If only she wasn’t confined to my dreams.

Each time I awoke from her pleasuring, I could recall little more than inky, black locks of hair, and colorful, stardust eyes. Every other feature faded with the dream, leaving her a complete mystery to me.

The dreams happened about once a month, and I lived for the fantasy.

Never much of a sleeper, I preferred the long hours of night over day, but she always made the deviation worth it. Always left me wanting so much more than the emptiness of my room and the lingering rush of blood to my groin. Whoever the girl was, she’d unwittingly set the standard for all my conquests, and I’d found my attraction to other females waning in recent months, as my obsession grew with each dream encounter.

The knock at the door was an unwelcomed distraction, and I groaned as the cluster of females waiting outside my bedroom moaned and begged to come in. They would smell the need on me, no doubt, and primal instincts drove them to sate it. Instincts that I’d happily obliged up until recently. I couldn’t have cared less right then.

Unfortunately, they’d be moaning at my door all night. “Leave me!” I barked, rolling over in my oversized bed.

“Please, Master, let us come in!” One of the voices carried an air of desperation that did nothing for me.

Months ago, I’d have taken all of them into my bed and fucked them until I collapsed. Sex was as much a demonic need as water for a human, and I didn’t particularly like that my desires had become tethered to the imaginary woman from my dreams. However, I’d be fooling myself if I thought I could find satisfaction in anyone other than her. Women had always been a source of physical gratification and release. Nothing more.

But this one, with her beautiful speckled eyes and breathy moans, was something entirely different. A kindred flame. The calm and steady needle of a compass on a stormy sea. Unfortunately, she’d triggered my rur’axze and an excruciating need to fuck her, in particular, which meant I wouldn’t be falling back to sleep any time soon.

Grumbling, I rolled out of bed, not bothering to hide the painful erection that would only get worse as the night wore on. I snatched up the robe laid out on the velvet chaise beside the tall, opened window. Not even the cool breeze blowing in from outside could snuff the fire still burning inside of me. My appetite seemed to be relentless, but I refused to indulge.

I swung open the door to find all the young, female, housekeeping and kitchen staff standing outside of my bedroom, all clad in deliciously sheer nightgowns that showed off aroused nipples. Every man’s dream laid out before me like an all-night buffet.

Except, I wasn’t hungry. Not for them.

“Go back to your rooms,” I said, much calmer than before.

“Master, you’re in need. Let us gratify it. Please.” The brunette, Evie, had always been my favorite in nighttime romps--always willing to carry out some of the darker pleasures that plagued me. She could fuck all night, if I wanted her.

I didn’t.

“I’ll ask you only once more to return to your rooms. Otherwise, every one of you will find yourselves sleeping without a roof over your head.”

Brows pinched with hurt, the brunette stared back at me as if I’d slapped her across the face. “You’re turning us away?”

It wasn’t for a lack of beauty on her part that I chose to send her away. The girl was stunning in that regard. Beauty didn’t stir me, though. It didn’t stoke the fire already burning low in my gut. I’d lived long enough to know beauty was fleeting. It faded like a dying vine in the winter frost. No, I had longed for much more than beauty and the occasional romp. I longed for her--the fair-skinned girl with raven hair and multi-colored eyes. The enigmatic soul that haunted my dreams.

Fresh out of patience, I ignored Evie’s question and stepped through the small crowd, their feminine scents only goading the need cutting through me like a hot blade.

An arm reached out for mine, and when I turned toward the brunette who’d grabbed me, she promptly let go, perhaps seeing the threat in my eyes. “Forgive me, Sire, but you’ve not taken us in for quite some time. We ache for your touch.”

“Then, find another means. I’ve not denied you the freedom to seek out someone else.”