Page 21 of Fate of a Blood Moon (The Hades Blood Moon #2)

Rachel

M y cell rang, and that familiar unknown number popped up on the screen. I groaned as I shut the water off in the bathroom sink. Was I ready to hear Andrei’s voice this early in the morning? Despite how much I hated what had happened last time, curiosity won.

I need to know how he’s manipulating the bond to this extent. How the fuck did he project himself into my head like that?

Lifting my phone from the counter, I tapped the green ACCEPT button.

“My little dhampy,” Andrei’s deep voice flowed from the receiver. “What are you wearing?”

A smile tugged at my lips, but before I could answer, there was a sharp tug within my mind. My vision swam as Andrei pulled me into the projection of a dark room filled with gray smoke. As I looked around, I let out a low whistle.

“I won’t lie; this power evolution is pretty fucking cool. I am curious, though. How did I manage to take over the last time? If I were to call you, could I manipulate the visions—control your demented head and keep you at my mercy?” I asked. “If you know where I am, why not meet me here in the flesh?”

A figure manifested from the darkness, and Andrei stepped through the smoke. A wicked grin was on his face as he walked over to me. “I’m a little tied up at the moment. This will have to do for now.”

Once he reached me, I stepped back, but he seized my hands, wrapping his long fingers over my wrists. The strength in his hands was real, too real.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I cried out, lifting my knee to strike him in the groin. But then I felt Andrei manipulate the bond, and my limbs jerked down. What the fuck? My body no longer obeyed me, like trying to punch in a dream. “How are you doing this?”

Andrei sized me up, a dangerous heat flaring in his eyes. “This is how the bond was always supposed to work. If my dhampir is in trouble or causing trouble, I need to feel her physical energy. To seek it out and control it. That’s how a guardian is supposed to protect you.”

“Oh, bullshit,” I snapped. I didn’t want to believe that the bond had this kind of power. I was already unlucky enough to be tied to him against my wishes. Of course, he’d weaponized it against me. “Release me, Andrei. You have no right holding me like this.”

“Neither Tony nor your other guardians ever used this ability,” he continued, clearly ignoring me, “but I bet if they did, they would have used it often , considering your rebellious nature. But I think its amplification has something to do with my witch heritage and the fact that Valentina turned me. Not to mention, you and I shared blood. So, why don’t you relax, love? Enjoy that we can still meet like this despite being a thousand miles apart.”

My eyes widened. Andrei was always a demanding, heartless bastard, but this … something felt wrong. His intent was dangerous. What he projected went beyond his control-freak persona. This was pure obsession.

“I don’t want to see or feel you,” I said. “I’m free from monsters, remember? Let me be free.”

Andrei frowned as he released my wrists. Before I could move, he lifted his left hand, and another image manifested.

Horror bathed my veins in ice as I took in the steel bars of a giant birdcage forming around me. I ran toward them, wrapping my fingers around the bars. Then I pulled hard, using my vampire strength to pry them apart. They didn’t budge. I channeled more of my strength and tried again.

Still nothing.

What the fuck?!

“Something is happening in the States. A war is brewing between the supernatural species, putting everything at risk. The wolves plot to take New Orleans because the Four-Fold Accord is broken, and the covens will retaliate. They’re building an army, and you’re too far away for me to protect you from what’s coming.”

“This is your idea of protection?” I snarled, slamming a fist against the icy metal. “A fucking cage? Andrei, I don’t need your goddamn protection. I am gone. I plan on staying gone.”

Andrei looked around. “I know this cage might be scary, but think of how safe you’ll be. No one will hurt you. Not the witches, your mother, no one. You were meant to be like this.”

“What …? You’re out of your fucking mind. What is wrong with—”

His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his mouth fell slack. I recoiled from the bars into a defensive stance. After a few seconds, Andrei’s eyes returned, and they had gone from dark brown to pitch black. Dark energy pulsed in the space between us. Something cold and murky, like a lake of sludge.

Andrei was under the influence of evil. I sensed something was wrong from the last vision. This confirmed my suspicions. Malice was pouring off him. It felt like his own but more twisted and amplified. “Andrei? Andrei! Is there a witch near you? Wake the fuck up!”

My words failed to reach him. Instead, he grinned before stepping forward, phasing through the bars like a goddamn ghost. It should be impossible. But this was outside the realm of reality. He trapped me in his vision, so he could do whatever he wanted. My heel caught on the floor when I stepped back, sending me tumbling to the floor. I scrambled on my ass until my shoulders hit the other side of the cage. My attempt to tap into my vampire abilities was futile; it felt like something had smothered the power within, and whatever I did to alter the vision last time was severed.

I needed to get away from Andrei and break out of this vision. The last place I wanted to be was inside his head, especially now, but the dark magic that leaked from him left me without options. I couldn’t flee as Andrei grabbed my ankles and yanked, causing me to slide across the floor toward him.

The icy sludge of power moved over me, snaking its way against my skin and freezing me in place. Fear overcame me as I felt a subtle shift of force roam near my stomach. My lips parted, and I wanted to say something—anything—but the words wouldn’t come.

“Do you want me to stop?” he purred, the icy power morphing into a heated smoke as it slipped down my pajama pants. Andrei wasn’t using his hands, but he controlled the power that did it. It slid over my thighs delicately, slowly parting them, while I had no choice but to take it. The smoke entered me, thrusting slowly as if to allow me to adjust to what was about to happen. My mind rebelled against this unwanted touch, but pleasure ignited my body, making me gasp.

“Oh, fuck!” I cried out, my hips bucking. It felt good, so fucking good. This was beyond fucked up, and I needed to pull myself together and make this stop, but when I tried to object … I couldn’t. The energy curled at an angle, rubbing against all the right spots that made my eyes roll into my head. “No … don’t stop.”

Andrei’s hands were on me now, ripping my clothes down the front, leaving me naked on the floor. That strange smoke slid free from me and wrapped around my limbs, keeping me prone. I looked up at Andrei and saw he was naked as well, kneeling between my legs. His sculpted abs and slightly tanned skin were on display as he held his cock, giving it slow, teasing strokes. He was thoroughly enjoying seeing me tied down by the magic.

What the hell kind of power is this? This isn’t the guardian bond. No, it feels wrong … foreign.

“This … is exactly how I like you, Rachel,” he hummed, those eerie dark eyes boring into my soul. The urge to look away and hide from that intensity was strong, but my body wouldn’t obey.

“Held against my will while you violate me? Fuck you,” I spat. He grinned, amused by my defiance.

“Such a dirty mouth. But don’t worry, I know the perfect way to shut you up.” Andrei moved his hips slowly, prodding his cock between my dripping folds before entering me with a gentle thrust. I hated that man to my core, but goddamn him, his cock felt good inside me. His hands gripped my ass and lifted my hips, thrusting harder into my wet pussy. From that angle, he stimulated me in a way that had my heart racing. I had no power to fight him off … and part of me didn’t want to.

His muscular form caged me in as he moved. My eyes tried to flutter closed, but the energy pried them open, forcing me to watch Andrei claim my body. No matter how much I wanted to escape this—I couldn’t.

“You … get off of … Fuck,” I panted. I wanted to tear Andrei’s throat out, fight back, do something . But pleasure melted my resolve like molten lava. My body shuddered, lost in the sensations that burned through me from all directions. I was in heaven, even though a demon like him was fucking me.

Andrei’s lips lowered to my collarbone, leaving a trail of angry kisses as he fucked me like he wanted to brand every inch of my skin. Each kiss was timed perfectly with his thrusts, slowly chipping away at my sanity. This shouldn’t feel so good.

This is a vision. None of it is real. Andrei isn’t really here.

“You can fight it all you want,” Andrei growled. “But I know what you need. I know exactly how you need to be fucked.” The words were filthy and wrong on so many levels. As much as I wanted to lie to myself, he was right.

“Go to hell, you sadistic bastard,” I managed to say as a moan escaped my lips involuntarily. A wicked grin spread across his face again. Whatever image of himself Andrei had conjured in this space was twisted and brutal.

“Oh, I’m already there, love.” Something shifted in his body then. His thrusts grew wilder, as if he was pounding all of his anger and fury into me. More smoke-like power brushed over my breasts, tickling my nipples like tiny needles, just short of piercing the skin. It was oddly pleasurable, enhancing the ecstasy I was already drowning in to impossible levels. My toes curled, my back arching as the sounds of my wetness accompanied his frenzy.

My teeth sank into my bottom lip as I fought to regain control, but it was so hard to think. Soon, I was shaking, hanging on by a thread as I struggled to hold it together.

Don’t show him how good this fucking feels. He didn’t deserve the gratification.

As if Andrei had read my mind, he spoke again, his words raspy and breathless. “Let go, my pet. I know you want to come on my cock. Show me how good I feel. How right I feel.” Gray smoke covered my entire body now, tendrils touching every sensitive, exposed area. I felt a soft pressure against my clit—an odd contrast to how ruthless Andrei was fucking me. My feeble attempts at control shattered. A loud moan escaped my lips, melting into a broken gasp as I struggled against the magic. I was going to come—I was on the edge, even if I didn’t want that prick to have the satisfaction. My hips squirmed, desperate to escape his wild pace, but to no avail.

“That’s it, love,” he said. “Surrender yourself and become mine again. I’m going to come soon to that house you’re hiding in, kill everyone there who keeps me from you, and then bring you back to New Orleans. I’m going to keep you locked in my house, where I can fuck you how I want and when I want.”

Another wave of pleasure ripped through me again, choking my voice to where I could only cry out Andrei’s name. Stars burst in my vision, my brain spinning from the build-up. Oh God.

“Before I can do that, I must do one more thing, and I need your magic for it.”

My eyes widened as a powerful orgasm tore through me, the energy holding me down as Andrei took my body for his selfish pleasure. As I rode my euphoria, he fucked me harder and harder until the pain bloomed beneath the surface. Sweat poured from my skin as Andrei continued, with no intention of stopping. He wanted to shatter me entirely.

“You’re the one who will save my soul by opening the gates of Hell. But to do that, I’ll need some of that exquisite blood of yours.”

I blinked at his words. What the fuck is he talking about?

But I couldn’t ask him. I could barely breathe to form the words. My legs were shaking now as I came down from my orgasm. Andrei didn’t stop; he kept fucking me incessantly. He was going to push me to a second release.

“Jase is coming for you, too. Trust nothing that he says. He intends to kill you once and for all. He knows where you are, too, my pet. I’ll protect you, so wait for me.”

Something in my stomach clenched, and the threat sank into the back of my mind. Andrei came hard and fast right then, his head snapping back as he filled me up. That was when the second wave of orgasm seized my muscles. I finally closed my eyes and bit my lip to keep myself from shattering into a million pieces. The rolling sensation seemed to last forever.

The smoke vanished, leaving me chilled on the concrete floor. I carefully pushed myself onto my elbows to look at him. His naked form was now on the other side of the cage, leaning against the bars, and he smirked at me.

“By the way, you can thank Lucy for me. She was careless with her burner phone, and I was able to get your number. Not that it matters now. Soon, I’ll be there in person to retake my fill of you.”

“You think you have the right to me?” I snarled, scrambling to my knees and feeling his cum drip down my thigh. “Naw, I would rather die than have you lock me in a cage.” I gestured to our surroundings. “I don’t know what is fucking with your head right now, but it’s given you an undeserved sense of entitlement.”

Andrei threw his head back and laughed. “You say this even after you came on my cock twice? I’m insulted, dhampy.”

“None of this is real. You’re a projection of insecurity and obsession that forced itself on me. You’re pathetic, and I would never help you.”

There was a flicker in Andrei’s eyes, then a surge of energy blasted toward me. The dark smoke grabbed my throat with brutal pressure. Before I could blink, his fingers replaced the magic, lifting me to my feet and slamming my chest against the bars.

“You are mine, love. Soon enough, you’ll be right back where you belong.”

Andrei’s grim expression dissolved into shadows and smoke as he and the cage vanished. As the vision faded from my mind, I gripped the porcelain sink in my bathroom, dropping the phone. Its glass screen shattered against the tile.

Dammit!

My breath shuddered in my lungs as I drew air in slowly. Andrei did it again. Only this time, it was more potent, more terrifying. I hated the bond’s power, even if the vision felt so damn good. I turned around and noticed a breeze brushing against me, biting against the sweat that coated my skin. That’s when I looked down and realized I was completely naked, my torn pajamas lying on the floor.

Holy. Fuck.