DeVante's Coven (20 page)

Roderick’s Tony was infused to the very marrow of his bones with an old world Native spirit, a spirit so far removed from the world it remained only as a myth. An entity so strong, in fact, that his body might never change completely to vampire. And Reed… well, DeVante suspected Daniel was in way over his head thinking he was the stalker there. DeVante had not yet examined Reed, but he would, and soon. He knew he would find that Reed was more than human, certainly, and wouldn’t Daniel eventually be surprised about that.

He supposed it could be innocent, just happenstance, that his flock would naturally only be attracted to extraordinary individuals. But it felt contrived, orchestrated, that each of his fledglings should be drawn to exceptional mortals in a short frame of time.

It felt like one of Katarina’s machinations. An effort to isolate DeVante by pulling his children away from him. He knew she had it in her head that isolation would drive him to her, and the notion stuck with her even though such tricks had never worked. Truth be told, he preferred to be alone. If she wanted to make up with him, she was going about it entirely in the wrong way. He would think she knew better by now.

The timing was truly nightmarish. So many innocents surrounded him, Lily, Tony, Reed—along with all of Daniel’s minions, the mortals who gathered at his house and loved him, fed him.

DeVante had yet to decide how he felt about that. He had always considered it taboo, cruel, even, to keep mortals nearby as a food source. But he wondered in this wired, connected world, if Daniel actually had the better idea. The safest way to survive. And Daniel’s minions were not kept as cattle, they were more like stray cats who hung around as long as they were fed themselves. It seemed to be working, but so far Daniel had only taken little sips, had never starved himself into a frenzy, had never frightened them, had never killed on home ground. When one of those things happened—and it certainly would— the brilliance of the idea might tarnish.

DeVante wondered, if Katarina had a game going on, what far-reaching implications there might be for Tony, for Reed, as pawns in that game. Would they be allowed to survive? Would they want to?

He started training Lily the way he always started—he taught her to submit to his slightest cue—dropping to her knees, forehead pressed to the floor. It was the first thing he taught them all. The lesson repeated and repeated until it was known by heart, internalized, an instinct rather than a thought.

Lily gave up her will to him easily, almost gratefully, as if it were a relief to have done with making decisions altogether. She wanted him—someone—to control her, because she could not control herself.

He stared at her huddled form on the floor and wondered if he could love her.

He had thought loving Emily was a weakness, and that her decision to leave, his letting her go, would make him strong again. And yet he was not letting go. He was obsessed with her like a teenager, keeping track of her, wanting to measure her happiness, wanting to twist the events of her life to his favor so she would run back to him for comfort.

He could almost understand Katarina’s position, her clumsy machinations to force him to need her. DeVante wanted to do the same with Emily. He missed her twisted wit, her ability to laugh at herself and the world. At him. He had loved her, and battled nightly a keen sense of loss now that she was gone. He wanted to close himself off again, be distant from all these new children. But perhaps Emily had effected change in the core of his being, because as he stared at Lily, obediently waiting for her next lesson, he realized with horror that he wanted to connect with her. Wanted to love her.

And wondered how there could be strength in that.

Chapter 24



How to seek revenge

The only big scary thing that happened to Roderick during his daytime torture was that he fell in love with Tony. It was a day of fear, and a day of trust, and Tony had proved exceptional, staying with him, soothing him. Tony, unafraid of the sun, talked him through the day. Roderick wished a thousand times over that he could have Tony’s murmuring comfort in his head, but had to settle for listening to his voice.

Tony, with his laid back calm demeanor, probably saved Roderick’s sanity.

So when DeVante directed him to accompany Tony back to Vegas to wrap up Tony’s loose mortal ends, Roderick went willingly. He invited Daniel along, as well, in hopes of patching their relationship, but Daniel refused.

He couldn’t really be surprised at Daniel’s refusal— his sweet smiling boy was so enamored with Reed that nothing short of an emergency could drag him away. If even. It was a minor disappointment. And DeVante had made it crystal clear that Roderick’s first responsibility right now was to keep track of Tony.

It was Tony’s turn to sigh. “Nothing exactly in order, and I’m not sure what’s memory and what’s fantasy, because I was mostly blindfolded. I have a very vivid imagination.”

“Okay. Well, what do you think you remember?”

“A party. Naked girls—I was the only boy.” He stared at the sidewalk. “Being tied to an examination table, somebody... Slim, I think was his name, doing
things
to me. Things that I don’t want to describe.”

Roderick shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter.” And it didn’t, not to him. He was mostly just fishing for information. “So is it your feeling that this ‘Slim’ guy hurt you?”

Tony shook his head. “I don’t remember, but no, it doesn’t feel right. Trying to remember him better doesn’t give me a cringe. There was something else going on. I don’t think Slim was the main event.”

“So think about it while I sleep. And think about some ground rules so I can find you when I wake. It trips me out not to know where you are. Oh, and one more thing… absolutely no feeding during the day. I can’t force you to stay with me, so you will have to control yourself. If you don’t, DeVante will step in.”

Tony nodded. “I’ll come back here at dusk and wait for you to wake up. And I can easily go without feeding. That isn’t anything to me.”

Roderick eyed Tony with complete disbelief. Feeding wasn’t anything to this kid. Damn. They had nothing in common whatsoever.

Chapter 25



How to pay for foolishness

It was only a couple of blocks to Leonard’s apartment building. The further they got from ‘Teasers the more apprehensive Daniel felt. Oh fuck, he didn’t even know this guy, didn’t know where they were going. Sort of knew what the guy had in mind, and suddenly felt genuinely scared. He must have been pulling back, dragging at Leonard’s arm, because Leonard started talking.

“Just around the corner, here, don’t be nervous. Is this your first time? I promise to be gentle. If you need to stop just say “red” and it’s all over; got it? That’s your safe word. Here we are.”

Leonard led him up two steps to a door, unlocked it, and Daniel followed him inside. It was an apartment. A normal apartment. No chains on the walls or anything like that. Daniel didn’t know what he expected, maybe a dungeon or something. “Let me get you a drink,” Leonard said, and disappeared through a doorway that must have led into the kitchen. He came back and handed Daniel a glass of amber liquid. Daniel took a sip. He didn’t know what it was, but it tasted sweet, had a kick of alcohol. He drained the glass. Leonard took the glass from his hand and set it on a table. He walked behind Daniel and slid his hands beneath Daniel’s shirt, pulling it over his head, and massaged Daniel’s back.

“Mmm, that feels good,” Daniel said. He rolled his neck from side to side, then lost his balance, stumbled back against Leonard and giggled. “What was that drink?” He thought he should feel alarmed, but he just felt like jelly.

“Something to relax you, this being your first time and all. Come on, come downstairs.”

Leonard held Daniel tight and helped him walk across the room to what looked like a closet door. But when he opened it, there were stairs leading down into the basement. The dungeon. Daniel giggled again. “I don’t think I can do stairs. My legs are missing.”

“It’s okay,” Leonard assured him. “I’ll help you.” He practically carried Daniel down the stairs, with Daniel giggling the whole way. They entered a room softly lit from hurricane lamps along the walls and Daniel stopped giggling. It really was a dungeon. Chains with cuffs hung from the walls and in one corner was some sort of hammock made from leather straps.

Leonard led Daniel to what looked like a narrow weight bench that jutted out into the room, with chains in an upside down V coming down from the wall above, cuffs ready. “Sit down.”

Daniel sat, and allowed Leonard to place first one wrist, and then the other, into the cuffs. Leonard unfastened Daniel’s shoes, and easily jerked his legs free of his jeans. Then he positioned Daniel’s legs so he was straddling the bench as he sat, back against the wall, hands suspended slightly above his shoulders.

Leonard walked to and fro before Daniel, just looking at him, then said, “You are a beautiful boy; hang tight while I get some things.”

Daniel giggled again. What else was he going to do? He felt good, lazy, all he had to do was hang out here and Leonard would handle everything. He wondered again for a fleeting moment what had been in that drink to make him feel so silly.

Leonard was gone for several minutes. When he returned, Daniel’s eyes widened. Leonard was ready, all right. The leather vest was gone leaving his upper body naked. He was still wearing the chaps over the leather snap-up jock and the knee high jump boots. He’d oiled his body so his skin glistened. The top two snaps that covered his crotch were undone. Daniel could see a hint of hair peeking out, maybe even the head of his cock.

Daniel’s eyes then took in a black belt that was buckled around Leonard’ hips, from which hung a variety of instruments, and sucked in his breath. He couldn’t even imagine what half of them were
for
.

His whole body tightened in anticipation—this was beyond anything he had ever thought to experience—this went right into Daniel’s parents twisted imaginations of what it meant to be gay. He loved it. Loved the flick of fear, loved that he was tied here, virtually helpless, as far as Leonard knew, anyway. Loved that he was a portrait of young innocent boy-meat before this very well-prepared Master.

Leonard walked to the head of the bench, lifted his right leg over it, and towered over Daniel. He slowly bent his knees, staring into Daniel’s eyes, until his crotch was right in Daniel’s face, the leather covering his balls actually touching Daniel’s chin. Daniel took in a drag of breath, letting the musky smell of cock fill his nose.

His own dick strained upward, impossibly hard. Mmmm.

Leonard ground his hips into Daniel’s face and smiled down at him. Then he patted Daniel’s hair, stroked his brow and cheek, and slipped his fingers into Daniel’s mouth.

“There, good boy,” Leonard said, and Daniel tasted something bitter that dissolved on his tongue.

“What…?”

“Shh,” Leonard held a finger against Daniel’s lips. “Slaves in my dungeon don’t speak unless I tell them to.” He dropped a hand to his crotch and his cock burst free one slow snap at a time. When it was exposed, Leonard swung his hips from side to side, slapping it against Daniel’s cheeks.

Daniel moaned and opened his mouth, practically begging Leonard to fuck his face. Suddenly the room began to spin and Daniel almost cried out. Oh, Jesus. He wondered what Leonard had fed him, and how fast his vampire body would dispose of it. He hoped fast. His stomach clenched up and he felt ill.

“Ride it out,” Leonard told him. “It feels bad right now, but trust me, it gets better. In a couple of minutes, you’ll feel amazing.”

And then Daniel’s mouth was filled with cock, stuffing him, strangling him, and he strained against the cuffs, trying to pull back, to gain just a moment to adjust, breathe, relax his throat.

Leonard didn’t allow the moment. His hands came down to grab Daniel’s head and held him still and close, and Daniel gagged, arms flailing in their bonds, legs kicking at the air.

Leonard laughed, and Daniel was reminded of Roderick; of lust and power.

Before he realized what was happening, he was totally out of control, choking, struggling to breathe, his own dick soft. He could feel tears leaking from his eyes, smell his own fear and helplessness, smelled like prey… and then a moment of clarity, that he wasn’t helpless, he was Vampire and he could tear the chains right off the wall if he needed to. And thank the gods for that.

Daniel made himself relax, breathed in carefully through his nose—hell, he didn’t even need to breathe—which he had forgotten because Leonard so easily managed to elicit pure human response from both his body and his mind. He hadn’t been vampire near long enough to forget how to be human. Being human was still his first response to everything. And as he accepted the cock stretching his mouth, filling his throat, whatever the drug was that Leonard had given him kicked in, and it did feel amazing. His cock jumped, straining to rub against Leonard, rub against anything, and a slow burn filled his veins.

Leonard buried his fingers in Daniel’s hair, his cock still deep in Daniel’s throat. “There,” he said softly. “Surrender to me. Good boy.”