Page 25

“A brothel, technically,” Beckham said.

Reyna stared around the room in awe. The whole place was decorated in swaths of red, purple, and black. Divans covered with pillows littered the perimeter of the large open room. Tables were set up with dozens of plush chairs around them already occupied by attendees. Everything was centered around a stage with a large white bed on it.

She tore her eyes from the empty stage and to the patrons in the establishment. Many were pulling people into shadowed alcoves where they could do things she could only imagine. Bare-chested men in nothing but tight black shorts carried around trays with cocktails and a little dropper filled with something as red as blood. She didn’t even want to know what that was for. Stark-naked women lay on buffet-style tables filled with all varieties of food. The irony wasn’t lost on her.

The patrons were all vampires dressed to the nines with lapdog humans on leashes and all forms of debauchery. Even though Reyna matched the general attire of most other women in the place, she felt out of her depth. In fact, most people wore less than her. But it was the feeling of power that reverberated throughout the room. Vampires had all of it, and the humans were subjugated to their desires. She shuddered at the thought.

“You said you wanted to come,” Beckham reminded her.

“And now I’m here.”

He leaned over and whispered into her ear, “Take off your robe.”

She didn’t even question him. She could tell by the vibe in the room that this was not the place for questions. She swallowed back her discomfort, looked up at him, and let the material slide to the floor. His eyes crawled over her body again, and she noticed a slight tremor in his hand.

“I need a drink,” he said.

Reyna smiled at the implied meaning in his words.

She followed him across the room and tried to keep her eyes on him alone rather than the decadence and debauchery around her. They took a seat at the back of the room. She tucked her chair under the table until most of her body was obscured.

Beckham sat next to her, and a waiter approached them. She accepted a glass of water, because she wanted to keep a clear head, but Beckham ordered scotch.

“A drop, Mr. Anderson?” the waiter asked.

He waved his hand. “No.”

The man nodded, handed him a drink, and then disappeared.

“What is a drop ?” she asked.

Beckham sighed. “One day I will get you to stop asking questions.”

“Unlikely.”

“A drop is a drop of blood.”

“What kind?”

He gave her a sobering look, and she understood.

“You mean people here are drinking blood that isn’t a match,” she gasped in horror.

“It’s just a pick-me-up. Nothing that would cause anyone any harm or any more harm than they already wish on themselves.”

Reyna was still trying to process that when Roland, Cassandra, Sophie, and Felix showed up at their table. Roland was in a suit, while Cassandra had opted for a long black lace dress that was entirely see-through and somehow managed to be more revealing than Reyna’s lingerie. Felix was in nothing but black boxer briefs and a gold studded collar. He already had bite marks in his neck and as usual looked a bit dazed and out of it. Sophie was confident and cool in a white bridal lingerie set that contrasted with the dark tones of the room.

“Good to see you, Beckham,” Roland said with a tip of his head. Reyna noticed the red hue of his drink and shuddered. Just what she needed—a feral Roland Batiste.

The way he looked at her made it seem like he was slowly undressing her with his eyes. She felt as naked as the women laid out on the tables in front of him, and she shifted uncomfortably.

“Glad you could make it, Reyna,” Roland said.

She glanced away from him and kept her mouth shut. The memory of what he’d said at the ball came back to her, making her sick. I will find you later, love. Be sure of it.

The lights flickered twice, signaling for everyone to take their seats. Sophie sat next to Reyna, who breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that Roland wouldn’t be within arm’s reach. He creeped her out, and knowing he was drinking a drop didn’t help anything.

A busty woman in a black lingerie and long sheer robe that trailed behind as she walked stepped onto the stage at the front.

“Welcome ladies, gentlemen, and all manner of deviants.” She extended her arms out to the crowd and strutted across the stage. “I’m Dee, the Madame of the Vault. You’re now locked in to my world of debauchery. No one comes in, and no one goes out. You know the rules.” She winked as she sashayed across the floor. “Tonight, I have a special treat for you. A rare delicacy draped all in white. Some strapping young lads and a few…taste testers. Prepare to be bewitched. I give you a feast.”

She gestured to the bed. Reyna leaned forward as a trembling young woman stepped out in a white dress with a hem that brushed her knees. She looked the part of a sacrificial lamb, and she had everyone’s rapt attention.

Fear rolled off of her, and she was powerless to do anything to stop it.

“Our little delicacy may look like she’s frightened.” The woman tapped her on her perfect red mouth. “In fact, she probably is frightened, right, darling?”

The woman nodded, trembling.

The madame circled the woman. “But everything that will be done to her tonight—and everything will be done to her tonight—will be exactly what she asked for.” She slapped her gently with a riding crop. “Tell them your safe word.”

Reyna grasped Beckham’s hand as the woman answered. She thought Beckham would throw her off, but he closed his hand around hers.

“Where have you brought me?” she whispered to him.

His gaze was hot on her body, and when she turned to face him, she found him gazing at her exposed throat. He licked his lips with an appetite that he never showed. His free arm ran along the back of her chair, and he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

“Exactly where you wanted to be.”

“Is this a…a blood brothel?” Reyna asked.

“Precisely,” Beckham said into the hollow of her throat.

Reyna was both terrified and intrigued by the prospect of a blood brothel. The woman was shaking like a leaf, but she didn’t try to run or cry out. Reyna saw herself in that woman onstage. Take away the penthouse and the one-man show, and in the end, it was all the same thing.

“And they’re going to perform sex acts?” Reyna’s voice trembled at the question.

Beckham’s lips brushed her skin. “It’s a scene. Everyone agreed to be part of it. But do you agree? Do you want to watch?”

“I…”

Did she?

Two men walked out from backstage and reached for the woman. One pushed her hair off of her face, revealing that she wasn’t quite as young as Reyna had originally thought. Probably early twenties. The guy on her right had short dark hair, and he pressed his lips to her mouth tentatively. But the guy on the left with shoulder-length blond hair grabbed her from the other guy and kissed her with vigor.

Reyna was enraptured. She could no more say that she didn’t want to be here than the woman on the stage.

“Reyna?”

“I want to watch.”

The second man shoved the woman to her knees, pulled his enormous cock from his shorts, and pushed it against her lips. Her whimper could be heard through the audience, but she opened her mouth and took the whole thing in. After a few seconds of her bobbing back and forth against him, he grabbed her head and fucked her mouth until she was left gagging and short of breath. She doubled over and coughed.

The other guy took pity on her and lifted her into his arms. He carried her to the bed and lay her tenderly down with her legs toward the audience. He pulled the white thong over her hips and then tossed it onto the stage floor for dramatic effect. He fell to his knees before her and licked her until her cries were almost violent in nature.

Reyna pressed her legs together under the table. She had never seen anything like this before, and as conflicted as she was about what was happening, the woman certainly seemed to be enjoying herself. It was quite obvious that the two men were enjoying themselves. Half of the people in the audience were already enjoying themselves. She couldn’t help but get hot at the thought of doing those things with Beckham, and the exhibition aspect only heightened her desire.

“Reyna,” Beckham groaned into her ear, “you are so turned on.”

“I…I’m not,” she whispered back.

He dropped the hand she had been holding, slid it under the table, and spread her legs open. The table hid what he was doing, but she couldn’t help but flush from head to toe. He pushed his hand up to her black lace underwear and pressed against the material.

“I can smell you,” he insisted. “Are you sure?”

“Why don’t you find out?” she dared him.

He slid the material aside and rubbed against her slick, sensitive skin. She bit her lip to keep from groaning. Then he easily slipped two fingers inside of her and stroked in and out.

She leaned forward into the table and let her mouth pop open. Holy shit!

No one was paying them any attention, but Beckham was fingering her in a club while there were people onstage having sex.

She focused back on the stage—anything to keep her from crying out from an orgasm. The guy had positioned himself at the woman’s opening and fucked her. The blond male was now seated with his cock on her face, slapping it around and then roughly shoving it into her mouth.

Reyna shook from Beckham’s fingers and had to close her eyes. His teeth grazed her neck.

“Open your eyes,” he told her. “You won’t want to miss this.”

She peeled her eyes open as a male and a female vampire slinked gracefully onto the stage. The man wore black dress slacks and nothing else. The woman was in a black spandex leotard and thigh-high leather boots. She pushed the blond man aside easily, and he took a few steps and pumped his hand on his cock.

The woman leaned over, smiled sweetly, and then sank her fangs into the other woman’s throat without warning. At first she screamed, silencing everything else in the room, and then she was abruptly cut off into moans of delicious pleasure.

The first man lost it inside of her at her shrieks, and the male vampire replaced him. He lifted her legs in the air and then punctured the vein in her inner thigh that Beckham had teased Reyna about the other night.

Reyna’s own blood pumped fiercely at this point, and she was close to her own climax. She could barely keep from coming undone immediately as Beckham swirled his thumb around her clit.

“Stop making this so hard,” Beckham groaned.

“What?” she asked, reaching her hand and placing it purposely on his cock.

His hand stilled for a second as she grasped him, but he didn’t stop her. “Staying away from you.”

“You want me, Becks. I’m yours,” she said hoarsely. “Just choose me.”

Reyna squeezed him again as the woman onstage let loose another violent scream. The male vampire was now buried inside of her and running the blood from her wounds across her pale skin and over the white lingerie. The vampire woman licked down the other woman’s chest as the second man came up behind her and fucked her.

“Reyna,” Beckham groaned, and the sound did her in. She lost control as wave after wave of sweet ecstasy ravaged her body. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. This was everything. Dear God! Her body shook with the force of her orgasm, and she had to wait until her breathing steadied again before she could open her eyes.

Once she was still again and Beckham had removed his hand, she reached her own hand between her legs and slicked her finger. She pushed the wet finger up to his lips temptingly.

“Do you see what you do to me? Taste me,” she demanded. He slid the finger into his mouth and sucked her. “That’s yours.”

“Fuck,” he said as he released her.

“Yes, exactly,” she said. “That’s exactly what I want.”

Beckham and Reyna stared at each other as the couples onstage finished their performance. There was a charged minute before Beckham turned back to the stage. Reyna felt dejected at his lack of response. She knew he wanted her. He had proven it just then, and yet he still turned her aside. He still refused to choose her.

Madame Dee walked back onstage to a round of applause from the captivated audience. “Thank you, everyone,” she said, sweeping her hand to the participants. “Thank you. You are all free to use your participation cards as you see fit.”

“Well, that was the best performance I’ve ever seen,” Roland said, turning to face them. “I’d say you two enjoyed it.”

Reyna averted her gaze and prayed she wasn’t as red as she felt. All she wanted was to disappear with Beckham and figure this out or fuck it out. At this point, she didn’t even care. She was so desperate for him she was considering pushing people off of the stage bed to take him.

“Come along, darling,” Cassandra said to Felix. “I have someone I’m dying for you to meet.”

They disappeared into the crowd, and then Reyna was left alone with Beckham, Roland, and Sophie. Sophie looked impatient, but even she realized that this was a place of vampire control.

“Ah, there you are,” Roland said, standing. “I’d wondered if you were going to come after all.”

Reyna dragged her eyes away from Beckham to look at the person Roland was talking to, and her mouth dropped open. What the fuck?

“Penny,” Beckham said with as much surprise in his voice as Reyna felt.

And of course Penelope looked gorgeous. Her hair was draped over one shoulder, long with perfect voluminous waves. She wore a black bustier, fitted black skirt, and fishnet tights. Not as revealing as most of the other humans in the room, but then again, the mayor’s daughter wasn’t exactly like most of the other humans in the room.

“Sorry I missed the show,” Penelope said. Her eyes landed on Beckham, and Reyna saw concern flash into her eyes. Reyna wondered what the hell that was about, but the look was quickly replaced with malice when Penelope looked between Beckham and Reyna.

“What are you doing here?” Beckham asked.

Penelope shrugged. “Roland said you wanted me to come,” she purred, walking around the table toward him.

Reyna felt sick to her stomach. How could she sit here and watch her do this? He had just been inside of her, and now he was going to hang out with Penelope in a sex club?

Beckham gave Penelope a pointed look, but she smiled and touched his shoulder playfully. “I am still invited, right?”

Her other hand ran along her exposed collarbone and to the soft contour of her neck. She was tempting him, teasing him. Reyna watched Penelope flit her eyes over his head to look at Reyna and then back. Penelope was winning. Reyna could feel it. Whatever had transpired had wiped away everything that had happened the last couple of days. It made perfect sense that he would want Penelope, but it broke Reyna’s heart that it always came right back to this.

“Of course you’re invited,” Beckham finally said.

Reyna had had enough. She couldn’t believe this utter bullshit right now. She scrambled out of her seat. “Here, take my place,” she offered. “I’ve no use for it.”

“Reyna,” Beckham said softly, almost pleadingly. But she would hear none of it.

“No worries,” Penelope cooed. Without warning, she plopped down directly into Beckham’s lap. She looked into his eyes, draped her arm around his neck, and then giggled. “You look ravenous.” She tilted her neck toward him. “Have a taste, love.”

Reyna jarred at the near-exact phrasing she had used with Beckham. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and she felt like she might be sick.

“Penny,” he growled.

“What?” she teased as if she were innocent.

Beckham hesitated only a split second before sinking his fangs into her throat. Reyna felt paralyzed as she watched him drink from Penelope. She looked like she was in bliss with her head tilted back and her eyes closed.

Reyna couldn’t believe he would sit there and drink from Penelope. The one thing he always refused Reyna. She had thought it so erotic, watching the people onstage drink, and the thought of Beckham drinking from her was so personal. All of that gone in a blink of an eye. She felt ridiculous, but tears marred her vision, and she needed to get out of there. Get far, far away.

So, without looking back or a thought for her safety, she turned and fled.