Page 36 of The Vampire’s Mercy (Blood Melody #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

PARIS

I’d been expecting to have to wear a kinky leather outfit of some kind. Instead, I found myself back in the jeans and crop top number. So clean and pressed it had to be new.

Staring at myself in the mirror, freshly preened, my temples throbbed. These were tighter clothes, much more tantalizing than my original outfit. Silkier even. And they did nothing to curb the fear turning my stomach.

I can’t do this.

My toes curled inside my shoes, my skin a stomping ground for goosebumps.

I can’t do this.

I chewed on my bottom lip, considering a leap from the window, when Silvanus appeared in the mirror behind me.

Damn.

I watched him watch me, not about to be the first one to speak. From the coldness of his expression, he must have heard what I’d said earlier.

Was he pissed off? Did he want to tear these jeans from my body and spank me?

Who gave a fuck, when he looked good enough to ride. A black leather harness crisscrossed his chest, partly constructed with silver chains. His hair was tousled, falling across his smoldering red eyes, and those leather trousers hugged him like a wet dream.

My dick responded with merry pulses, balls tingling.

Wow. He really pissed me off and whet my appetite at the same time.

You can spank me hard if you like…

Silvanus leaned against the dressing room doorframe. “I received a new memory while in slumber.”

I licked my lips, my own memories of the taste of his blood dancing on my tongue, dick firming by the second. “Oh?”

“I remember a man with golden hair,” he said. “Exquisite gold, as if spun from fire and light.”

“Who was he?” I asked, a cracked timbre in my voice.

He pushed himself off the doorframe, slowly striding toward me. “I couldn’t see his face.” Closer, closer, tracing the back of his hand across his abs. “And he didn’t tell me his name. But I knew him. I know him.”

“Oh,” I whispered, backing into the mirror. “You saw nothing else?”

“No. Does this mean your power lingers inside me? That it’s working without you singing?”

I bit my lip for a moment. “Erm, yeah. It might. Which would be good, right?”

Slowly, seductively, he nodded his head. “Yes.”

Please don’t come any closer…

“I heard what you said earlier,” he practically purred.

“I…” I cleared the squeak from my throat. “I thought you might have.”

He wiped the side of his mouth with his thumb, eyes raking my body. “It wasn’t anything I didn’t know already.”

My pulse quickened, skin alight with hungry sparks. “I…what…fuck.”

The vampire king came right up to me, his lips pausing within kissing distance of mine.

More like biting distance.

A gasp escaped me, his proximity excruciating, exhilarating. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, so tempted to press my lips to his.

I watched him smile, his fangs out. “Is this too close, Paris Raine?”

Yes.

No.

Fuck.

Dick so hard it might burst its way out of my jeans, I turned my head away. “Yeah. You’re too close.”

Man, I’d never been this flustered in my life.

He chuckled, stepping back and folding his big arms. “Do you have any theories on who this golden-haired man might be?”

I clutched the base of my throat. “No idea.” Whoa, it was hot in here. I fanned myself with my hand, sidestepping out of his closeness. “Sorry.”

“You’re not sorry.”

“No, I’m not.” That felt good to say.

He looked too amused for his own good. “Is this torture for you yet?”

“Yet?” His abs were a real attention grabber. “It’s pure hell.”

“Doesn’t seem that way,” he countered. “In fact, you have an easy life here, considering you’re a murderer.”

Good. I liked this side of him. It worked wonders on the boner, reminding me of the hate between us.

“Takes one to know one,” I countered, which wasn’t my best retort.

“Indeed.” He looked me over again. “Memories, eh?”

Was he talking about my outfit? “Not a great memory for me.”

“Not this.” He waved a finger up and down my body. “My memories.”

Ugh. Did we have to waffle about his issues right now? “What about them?”

He didn’t answer.

“Why are you in here?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be at the feeding room or whatever?”

“I’ll go where I please.”

“Right.” I flexed my fingers. “So, what happens next?”

“You drink of me.” His lips spread into a wolfish grin.

“Don’t remind me.”

His head tilted slightly to the side. “You don’t enjoy how I taste?”

“Obviously I do.” Whoops. “I mean… Oh, fuck off. You know I do because you made me this way.”

He chuckled rather than scold me.

My bloodthirst reacted with a mighty vibration of longing.

His smile dropped, a weird sorrow passing over his face. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes glassed over while he stared into space.

“Silvanus?”

No answer.

“What—”

Elio appeared, unable to hide a recoil of horror from finding the king in here with me. Well, that’s what it looked like to me.

His cheeks bloomed crimson. “Apologies, Majesty. I didn’t know you were here.”

My fellow elf wore a green mesh vest and skin-tight green jeans, fashionable slashes at random places in the denim.

I watched his throat bob, a vein pulsing in his neck.

Silvanus blinked, eyes on me. “Not to worry, Elio. I’ll escort Paris to the feeding room.”

More horror twitched in the elf’s face. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

The king’s gaze performed another once over of me. “See you there.”

Elio bowed and left.

“He thinks I’m a threat,” I said, my eyes pinned to his.

It took everything to not pop the top button of my jeans and egg him on, convince him to pop the others and peel them from my body.

Stop it!

Just stop it!

The hornier I got, the more my anger dripped.

“I know. Now come.”

Ooo, gladly. “Come?”

“Follow me, Paris.”

“You know he’s jealous?”

“Yes. Now move.”

Ugh. Happy to play two elves against each other, huh?

Damn prick.

“Wait,” I said as he turned his back on me.

He glanced at me over his shoulder. “What?”

“What happened just now?”

“Sorry?”

“You went into a bit of trance.”

“I did?”

“Yeah.”

He faced away from me. “That’s not your concern. Now hurry up.” He snapped his fingers, a command trilling through my body.

Obedient thrall mode activated.

“And I want you to remember this,” he added. “Don’t do anything you don’t want to do. Nothing will be forced on you.”

I’m going to puke. “O-okay.”

Opulent gold lanterns glimmered in sconces fixed to terracotta walls.

Purple drapes were drawn closed against the night, and a sea of red, orange, and teal cushions spread out around me.

Scattered randomly, filling the central part of the circular room, each one was big enough to accommodate half my body.

A plush red sofa made up the edges of the room, more cushions sitting on it.

Wow. A room without the usual black-and-red décor.

At the north side of the room was a raised dais and a throne of onyx and rubies, more cushions dotted around it.

“This is the feeding room?” I asked, the space currently empty.

“Take off your shoes and find yourself a cushion.”

He went to the throne, taking a seat.

Apprehension now a drum in my chest, I obeyed and parked my butt on a teal cushion. Nerves dragging over hot coals, I waited, hands clasped together.

Elio arrived first, accompanied by a vampire woman with an amazing set of pink curls. Wow. What a shade.

They both acknowledged me with tepid enthusiasm, then went to kiss the king’s arse. He offered his hand, which they kissed as they knelt before him.

The woman took a seat on the sofa, while Elio sat on a purple cushion beside the king. He smiled at me kind of triumphantly.

Ugh. His envy thing was now officially old.

Wouldn’t it be funny if the mortal attack came tonight? That’d really shit on everyone’s plan.

Not until I drink his blood…

I found myself constantly staring at the king as he greeted more vampires, each one with a thrall on their arm. All of them were dressed in skimpy clothes, some even wearing bondage gear.

The memo must have been: KEEP IT SEXY.

Vaughn arrived, giving me the friendliest nod of anyone here, a woman on his arm. I’d seen her at breakfast getting jolly over the crunchiness of the cornflakes.

I couldn’t think of anything worse than that cardboardy crap, but thumbs up to her enthusiasm.

Vaughn joined the other vamps on the sofa, the thrall taking a cushion.

I sat amidst the bodies, the room stinking of perfume, speaking to no one while my executioner senses reacted with a bloodthirst of their own.

They all kept their distance from me, body language very much a wish for me to piss off. No flirting came this way, the googly eyes reserved for anyone but me.

Good. I wasn’t in the mood for chatter.

I just want his blood…

The golden clock on the wall chimed midnight, silencing the voices. I sat up expectantly.

Silvanus stood. “My dear ones.” He spread his arms wide, exuding kindness.

Pfft. Yeah, like an owl is kind to a mouse.

Scarlet ribbons of light manifested around the king’s arms, coiling in a steady motion. His eyes brightened, their glow bathing the area around him in scarlet light. And his skin seemed to illuminate with them, like he’d swallowed loads of lightbulbs.

The Heart of All appeared, the red veins crawling across his skin. Pulsating, so vibrant. His citrusy scent filled the air, my mouth dry from anguish, the rest of me squirming with want.

Wow. I needed him so badly.

No. This can’t be me.

I can’t do this.

“It is time to feed from me,” he said, tilting his head back.

The scarlet ribbons broke away from him, separating into many threads, each one finding their way to a vampire and striking them gently in the heart. They all moaned with pleasure, beckoning thralls to them, writhing against the sofa.

The cornflake thrall was the first to move, straddling Vaughn. He hiked up her pink-and-yellow tartan skirt, exposing her bare arse. He spanked it, fangs bared, opening a vein in his wrists.

“Want it, baby?” he purred, eyes flicking to me for a few seconds.