Page 23 of Blood Claims (Garnet Dagger Mafia #2)

PUTTING THE FEAR IN FOREPLAY

“ V anessa.” The second I heard my name being whispered, I opened my eyes, surprised to find myself alone. My mind instantly questioning where Victor and Tal were and if not here, then who had called my name?

As for where I was and how I got here, this time I did remember, and I remembered it well. Just as I memorized every moment Tal had claimed me on the kitchen island.

But as for what came after, well, that had me blushing for different reasons.

The way he had slipped his cock from my dripping pussy to then gather me up in his arms. The way he walked me back into the bedroom we now all shared and straight into the bathroom.

And as for Victor, he had followed behind, passing us once inside the luxury space to fill the huge bath.

One that could easily fit six people. Or should I say, two large vampires and me, because that was exactly what happened next.

It wasn’t enough that I lost count how many times they had made me come. Wasn’t enough that they had spent the day treating me like a queen they wanted to drown in luxury. Wasn’t enough that they had cooked for me, held my hands in the park, lavished me with attention.

No, now they wanted to do even more.

And if I thought I felt treasured before, then this was next level, because they each took their time in washing every inch of my body.

Cleaning me of the mess they had made with gentle hands.

Hands that contradicted the bruises and bites they had made on my body earlier.

Bites that were tender but worth it, because every time they focused on one, it sent a shiver through me as their gazes heated.

Their feather light kisses on each had me squirming in their arms as they continued to pass me between the both of them.

Which meant that one minute my back would find itself against Victor, before the two would swap positions.

When it was Tal’s turn, he would wrap his big arms around me.

His fingers stroking my breasts as he licked lazily at my neck, stopping the bleed but not enough to heal the bite his brother made.

During this, Victor soaped up a cloth, taking one of my legs in his lap as he stretched out to the side of us.

This was so he could hold my ankle while running his soaped hand up toward my sex.

But the second I started squirming, Tal would tighten his hold, telling me I was going nowhere.

Coaxing me to relax. Something that became impossible as Victor teased my tender sex, whispering his clothed hand over it.

Then before I was allowed to let my orgasm build enough to climax, they would swap me over and I would be slipped into Victor’s arms once more.

This went on for a while, until they eventually had me begging and pleading with them to let me come.

Just like they knew they would. But they denied me up until every inch of me was clean and my hair had been washed by Victor’s talented hands.

My breasts, Tal played special attention to, which only ended up adding to the maddening experience.

The array of emotions this brought out in me ranged from frustrated, to angry, to pleading. Before finally ending on blissful release, and them insisting I then thank them. Or should I say, they demanded this from me as part of my lesson to learn.

It was clear they not only liked control, but they liked to have me verbalize everything…

Especially the begging.

Of course, by the time this had finished, my whole exhausted body felt like Jell-O.

Which meant for the second night in a row, food was consumed in front of the TV…

pizza, this time. After which I fell asleep halfway through Tal’s choice of movie, John Wick, against Victor’s wishes.

However, the second I felt myself being picked up and carried to the bedroom, I woke up.

This meant that I didn’t miss the way they stripped me naked from the pj’s they had put me in after the bath.

Each of them worked together so that I didn’t have to lift a finger.

And I knew better than to try and protest. I had tried this before, only to find myself growled at or with Tal’s fangs snapping at me.

So, I let them, and I secretly relished every second of it, never having had it before.

This level of loving, attentive care… it was becoming addictive.

I quickly found myself in between them, just like last night. A sweet contentment settling in deep as I was surrounded by them both. My body was held flush against them, both with an arm draped over me, keeping me connected to both men.

I had never slept so well.

Well… until my name was called.

And this time, I could see that it was still dark outside because the curtains remained open. The dark room was nothing but shadows cast by the glow of the city below that never slept. This, and the moonlight that peeked from behind the clouds.

The brothers were nowhere to be found, which made me instantly wary, wrapping the sheet closer around me because the room wasn’t exactly warm and inviting. Not without Victor and Tal there to comfort me.

It was a clear indicator that there was no way I was going back to sleep without them.

So, after spotting my pj’s on the floor, I stepped my naked self from the bed and rushed to get them on.

My nipples pebbling against the white tank top I wore.

As for my pants, these were made from a fleece fabric, patterned with blue and white vertical lines, and neither were enough to ward off the chill in the room.

However, it was when I was getting dressed that I first noticed it. Those shadows cast by the moonlight had started to move closer before stealing my breath in horror. They formed around a figure by the window, making me finally gasp in fright.

My hand went straight to my heart, stalled at the sight.

Because I couldn’t help but recognize the giant of a man I had encountered in my dreams. Which was why I staggered back the moment he took his first step toward me.

Those silver eyes glowed in the darkness he created, his shadows stretching along the floor like long, demonic fingers reaching out.

Ones crooked and tipped with claws that wanted to sink into me.

Yet before they could touch me, I quickly turned and fled the room, two names rushing from my lips as I burst through the door.

“Victor! Talon!”

But as I made my way down the hallway, the shadows continued to follow.

The bare glimpse of them seeping under the door giving me cause to keep shooting panicked looks over my shoulder.

It was a dark force that wouldn’t stop, seeping up the walls like water rising.

And the second the shadow could touch the edge of the hanging artwork, it seemed to take hold and bring the picture to life.

The turbulent ocean would crash against the cliffs as a small, shadowed figure approached the edge before falling to her death.

My head then snapped to the art opposite, to find the same thing.

As soon as the shadows branched out and touched it, the scene took on a more violent tone.

The lightening came alive over the castle nestled against the snow-capped mountains.

Until it struck out suddenly, hitting the castle and causing the stone wall to fall and crumble to the town below.

But as if gaining a taste for this destruction, the shadows mimicked this small-scale ferocity on either side of the wall, consuming the pictures in their entirety.

One side formed shadowed waves to come crashing toward me.

My eyes then snapped to the other side that had taken the form of lightening, making it sizzle and lash out with a crackle of energy.

Those jagged forked branches were desperate to reach me as I ran from them.

But as terrifying as all this was, nothing compared to the shadow of the man who emerged.

A shadowed giant who followed, after the double doors of the bedroom crashed open, smashing back into the walls.

The cracks of which traveled the full length, reaching out quicker than the shadows he commanded.

It was enough to make me turn around and run even faster, ignoring the danger trying to reach me. I was tempted to rush into the guest bedroom I had first encountered, in hopes of hiding in there, but it was foolish to think there was anywhere I could hide.

So, I ran faster.

However, instead of reaching the living area, I burst back into in my nightmare.

“No… no, no, no!” I shouted in panic at the sight of the long, dilapidated hallway, with its peeling green walls and rotting floor.

And at the end of it, I could once again see that spiral staircase I didn’t manage to reach before.

The sinister laughter that had once made me run in the first place was thankfully silent.

But, in the end, this didn’t turn out to be a good thing.

Not when it allowed me to hear the heavy breathing at my back.

I swallowed down my fear and forced myself to turn, doing so painfully slowly, as if this would help in whatever terror I may discover.

Whatever horror had followed me through…

or should I have called him the shadow master, because that was exactly who I found.

A huge frame of a man, who was my new tormentor, was now inches away.

His face cast in the shadows of the hood he wore, with only the glint of his silver eyes looking down at me from his much greater height.

His dark presence chilled my spine, making me shake.

But it was when he started to lower his head toward me that my breath held captive in my throat. One that wouldn’t be released again until his warning came.

“Run, little blood rabbit.”

After which, the sound of wood cracking beneath my feet was enough of a memory that I didn’t stick around.

No, I did as he said I should, and started running.

The feel of the floor giving away behind me was enough incentive not to stop.

Not when the spiral staircase was getting closer and therefore signified my safety.

So, I pushed my legs as fast as they would go, my bare feet feeling every splinter of wood as it cracked beneath me.

“I’m going to make it… I’m going to make it… Oh shit, I’m not going to make it! AHHH!” I screamed as I started to go down with the last of the floor as it crumbled all around me before I reached the staircase. That was until, just like last time, a hand saved me.

Only now I was plucked from the air, a single tremble from death. A hairsbreadth away from plummeting into the darkness below, instead falling into the mystery Vampire. One that had taken to stalking my dreams.

My hands landed against his chest, one that felt carved from granite beneath my shaking palms. The deep inhale was one I felt come from him this time.

As if my touch had burned him. Yet the second I tried to take them from his body, his hand snatched out to keep them there.

His sizable grip was unyielding, yet his touch was surprisingly warm and oddly… comforting.

Yet, the second the staircase began to shake, I screamed after being thrown forward again, my head finding itself buried against his chest. Stranger still, was that he didn’t push me away.

But instead wrapped an arm around me, keeping me held securely against him.

The feel of his long fingers curling around my hip made me shiver against him.

“I ran… I ran,” I panted for no particular reason, other than to remind him that I did as he asked.

“Yes… yes you did, Vanessa,” came his deep, raspy voice.

“This is just a dream… it’s… it’s not real,” I stammered out, making him grin, the whites of his fangs glinting in the moonlight, just like in that first nightmare.

“Foolish little rabbit… this is so much more than just a dream, Vanessa…” He paused long enough to lean closer to me, forcing me to bend over the rail at my back just to keep space between us. Which was when he told me in a demonic voice,

“…This is foreplay.”