VLAD

TWO YEARS LATER

" A re you ready, hell girl?" I move to grab her hand, but she's not next to me.

Turning around, I spot her still struggling to lock her gear in place.

"Sisi," I groan, especially when I see her little frown of concentration and the way she's biting her lip…

Not good for my self-control.

"Just a second," she says, placing a finger up.

Not only does she have a fuck me now expression on her face, but she's also drenched in blood, and the combination couldn't be more lethal to my senses.

"Done," she breathes out, relieved. "No matter how many times I do this, I never get it right," she mutters before taking her place next to me, slipping her hand into mine.

"We're already late." I purse my lips, looking at my watch. "The party started thirty minutes ago."

"We'll get there." She pats me on the shoulder, winking at me.

"Let's do this," I say as I open the plane's trap door, the air pressure immediately hitting me in the face.

One look at Sisi and I'm ready to go. Still holding each other's hands, we jump.

Somewhere on the way down we both release our parachutes, safely landing on solid ground.

"How do I look?" she asks as she divests herself of her gear, patting her dress down as if it were the most elegant thing.

"Good," I grimace as the words fly out of my mouth.

She does look good—to me. I'm not sure people will appreciate us showing up drenched in blood from head to toe.

"We look terrible, don't we?" She sighs deeply, her shoulders squared.

"If Bianca wants us to be present, she'll have to receive us like this too." I attempt to cheer her up.

She shakes her head, proceeding to walk in front of me. I don't hesitate as I catch her hand, bringing her into me and swooping her in my arms.

"I think tradition dictates I carry you in my arms." I run my nose around her face, inhaling her scent.

"And who am I to argue with tradition?"

"Good," I chuckle. "I thought you'd have objections. Besides, it's been approximately five hours since I last had you in my arms. I need to catch up."

She mumbles something incoherently, but she eventually smiles at me, not putting up a fight as I carry her toward Bianca and Adrian's house.

Today it's Bianca's birthday, and she's always very anal about everyone attending. And since Sisi and I depend on her expertise at the academy, we can't risk upsetting her.

Soon after Bianca had given birth, her contract in Russia had ended and she'd been in search of a new job. While she's not completely done with private assassinations, she accepted to become an instructor at our academy, V Academy—named so in homage of my sister.

The first year had been a little difficult as things were just taking off, the kids were a little skittish around us as they were getting used to everything.

From the people we'd rescued from Miles' compound, thirteen of them had decided to stay with us, their ages ranging from six all the way to fifteen. All of them had come with different traumas from being Miles' lab rats for so long.

The only thing I'm thankful of is that, from what I gathered, the sexual abuse stopped with the new generation.

The guards' interactions with the children were monitored more strictly and no outside interferences were allowed in Miles' plan.

Of course, that doesn't exclude Miles' own sick depravities, but the kids haven't been too forthcoming on that front yet.

Because every student was dealing with different traumas, we'd had to make allowances for each one, and that meant designing a standard curriculum, but also targeting each age group separately while also carefully cultivating everyone's personal strengths.

Safe to say, it hasn't been easy organizing everything.

Sisi and I had also started to teach them by example, and sometimes when we go on a mission we would choose a student to accompany us depending on the skills required for that particular mission.

The academy has been a success so far, with the oldest already embarking on missions on his own.

We've also decided recently to expand, and to look for new recruits.

Sisi had come up with a plan to look for people like Seth, who'd been forced into a life of perpetual fighting for a living and who have no skills other than their fists. We would be ensuring their freedom as well as a job if they decide to remain with us.

Just now we'd returned from a mission in Vermont, since some sources had been talking about a child slavery ring in the area. Unfortunately, it had been a bust.

"At least we got to kill some bad guys," Sisi comments, echoing my own thoughts.

"True. If nothing else, we got a little blood shower." I smirk at her.

Considering the state of our clothing, it looks like we had a full on blood bath, not just a shower.

But since today's company isn't likely to be offended by our appearance, then we're not in a hurry to change.

"Hmm," I murmur in her hair. "You look so delectable right now I know what I'd like to do…" I trail off suggestively.

"Party first. Other things…" She bats her lashes at me. "Later."

"You're killing me, hell girl," I complain.

Although my episodes had ceased after I'd found out the truth about Vanya's death, I haven't suddenly become normal.

The thirst for blood is still there—I just have full control over myself now.

And Sisi knows too well just how much I love to see her in blood. A turn on for both of us, we'd continued our tradition with the blood baths at least once a month.

It was rather simple. We'd randomly choose some targets from a wanted list, and then we'd kill them until the bath water was fully red. Then, we'd just give in to our animalistic urges in a mating that usually leaves us both out of commission for at least a day.

And looking at her cheeks, so prettily flushed, her mouth slightly parted, I know she wants it—yearns for it.

Luckily, before my thoughts can take a rather dark turn, we arrive at Bianca's place.

"Took you long enough," Bianca says as soon as she sees us standing on her doorstep. But one closer look and she scrunches her nose at us. "For fuck's sake, couldn't you have taken a shower?" She shakes her head, urging us inside and toward the bathroom.

"There are children around." She narrows her eyes at us, as if we've committed the worst offense. "Take these clothes and come out when you're clean. No blood! " she exclaims, thrusting some clothes into our arms.

She doesn't wait for a reply as she turns on her heels, returning to the main area of the house.

I guess motherhood only made her more irascible.

The party is in full swing, music blasting in the house.

And as I look down at Sisi, her baffled expression mirroring my own, we both start laughing.

"We forgot to tell her happy birthday."

"I don't think she would have appreciated it in our current states," I add dryly, opening the door to the bathroom and putting the clean clothes on a rack.

"For an assassin she's very sensitive when it comes to blood."

"She's always been like that. She prefers neat kills." I roll my eyes, because where's the fun in that?

"Her loss." Sisi shrugs, slowly unbuttoning her dress and shimming out of it.

"But do you know what this means?" I ask as my eyes become fixed on her sinful body. She knows what she's doing as she's seductively removing her underwear until her naked flesh is all on display.

And all mine.

In two steps I'm behind her, my front fitted to her back as I slowly move my fingers down her shoulders.

"We have time for a quickie," I whisper in her ear.

Her breath hitches, her pulse picking up as I continue to languidly caress her skin.

"Fuck," she mutters, the sound of her husky voice going straight to my cock. "I've been waiting for this all day," she says, quickly turning around to face me.

"Hell girl," I rasp when I feel her hand moving down my chest before she cups me through my pants.

"I've been walking around with a raging hard-on ever since you pulled the knife from that man's throat," I breathe out, the image forming in my mind again.

"The blood gushing out and bathing you in red…

Hades in the ninth circle of hell but I would have fucked you right there on top of his corpse if the police hadn't showed up. "

She purrs at my words, her nose leaning into me and breathing me in, her hands grabbing the hem of my shirt and pulling it over my head.

"And I would have loved that," she replies just as her lips close over my neck, sucking and licking her way up.

"Fuck," I curse out, too impatient to wait.

Grabbing her by the nape, I bring her forcefully into me, all the pent-up desire exploding in one kiss. I open my mouth on top of hers, devouring her very essence as I feel her curves mold to my body, my erection nestled against her stomach.

Her fingers go lower as she fumbles with my zipper, pulling my pants down and wrapping her hand around me.

"Sisi," I groan at the feeling. "I need you now," I tell her, my hands going to her ass as I lift her up, impaling her on my cock in one swift thrust. She's already soaked, her pussy easily taking me inside, her tight heat wrapped around me and welcoming me home.

She moans deep in her throat, and I push her up against the wall, her back hitting the cold tiles as I start pumping in and out of her.

My hands splayed on her ribcage, her legs wrapped around my waist, I continue to viciously kiss her just as I aggressively thrust into her, letting her feel just how much she affects me—how much she owns me.

"I can't believe I lasted until now," I tell her in between harsh breaths.

"Me neither," she whimpers. "I kept clenching my thighs on the plane," she pauses on a moan, "hoping you'd notice and…" she cries out when I hit a spot deep inside her, "And take me. Fuck, Vlad, harder," she commands me and I can only obey.

Her eyes are half-closed, her rosy mouth parted as she mewls every time I advance and retreat.