Enslaved (4 page)

She was aware of a roar of rage, but all she could focus on was the ache and the color draining from the room....within seconds the universe swallowed her up...nothingness claimed her...and the pain ceased.

Vince pulled away from the slave he had been feeding from the moment he heard her cry out in torment. It wasn't like the scream she would give when the pain got to her, mixed with the ecstasy that always came from his feeding. No, this sound was of pure distress, something Vince thought
should not come from an angel.

He was in a daze as he wordlessly slid his seat back and roared with anger as he stalked closer to his brother who held the body of
Viktoria
in his arms. It was like Vince was watching from outside of his body as he took hold of the girl and seized Jon by the collar of his shirt, hoisting him into the air before flinging him easily across the room into a wall.

Vince could tell that
Viktoria
was out cold by the way her limbs lolled uselessly like a rag
doll's
. Seeing that
Viktoria
needed attention soon he growled in a nearly silent voice that, despite its quietness, chilled and filled the room, "We'll deal with this later, brother. It will not be as pleasant as the snapping of your windpipe, though ripping your head off will be quite enjoyable for me. I'll summon you at midnight, until then...." Vince didn't bother to finish the sentence as
he walked out of the room
stiffly,
Viktoria
nestled safely in his arms, well as safe as
Viktoria
could ever be in his presence.

Vince laid
Viktoria
down on his bed, glowering at the large and animal-like tear in her throat, it poured blood and it took everything Vince had not to feed from her that very moment. Though what he was about to do next would surely test his restraint. Leaning down he moved his tongue over the wound, licking clean the blood, his saliva
mending the gash in her flesh.

He sighed when he pulled away, every part of him thirsting for her blood, her life as it's being sucked out of her, her pleasure as it transferred to him, making everything around him blur away. Vince wasn't sure how a human such as
Viktoria
could possess so much power of him, it was disconcerting, yet he welcomed it every moment he got.

Vince sat down on the bed and pulled
Viktoria
to him, resting her head against his chest, his hands stroking her hair as she regained her strength. When he was sure that
Viktoria
would be fine on her own he'd go and rip his brother to shreds. Vince would savor every second of it, drink Jon's blood while he was still clinging onto the last shreds of life he could get,
then
he would behead him. It would be a long proces
s, but he'd enjoy it very much.

Viktoria
stirred in his arms an hour and a half later for the hundredth time, awakening him from some kind of awkward sleep. Vince had entered a state of being half-awake and half-asleep throughout that period she had awoken and fell back asleep.

Groaning quietly and blowing black hair out his scarlet eyes, Vince sat up and brushed hair out of
Viktoria's
scrunched up face.

"Vince?" She whispered uncertainly, cautiously as if she was
afraig
that it was Jon holding her in his clutches.

Vince felt a little less stressed out when she said his name without the 'master' part. "Yeah,
Viktoria
, how are you feeling?"

She sighed and tried struggling to sit up, then realizing it was a lost cause she settled back into his arms and said, "Sore all over, a little light headed and a little tired, extremely..." her words trailed off as she slipped back under into unconsciousness, leaving Vince as angry as ever.

Jon, he thought bitterly for the hundredth time.

He wasn't sure what Jon was hoping to accomplish with the stunt he pulled at breakfast, but he was sure that his brother was up to something and Vince would made it his goal to figure out Jon's motives, even if it was the last thing he did. No one would hurt his
Viktoria
and get away with it, except for him.

He looked down at
Viktoria
and thought,
If
I'm going to do this, I'll do it for
Viktoria
. I have a claim on her, Jon crossed the line and nearly killed my property – and if he was being entirely honest with himself – his most prized possession.

Chapter 7

Tori felt as if she were a cube of ice as she struggled to wake up and move her limbs. She remembered Vince talking to her earlier, but no matter how hard she tried to awaken she couldn't...dreams assaulted her as she fell back into sleep....those dreams were the reality of the past- of her past. They were t
he turning point in her life...

Tori smirked flirtatiously at the bartender, flipping her snow-white hair over her bared shoulder. She knew that this wasn't her, but the break-up had pushed her over the edge and she NEEDED to escape the pain...the only other thing she could think of was a sex on the beach and a night out by herself.

"Ma'am, I'm not sure..." the guy said, but by the smirk on his face Tori knew she had him.

"Call me Tori," she purred, "all I want is one drink..."

"How old are you?" He asked.

"Why don't you tell me?" She countered, leaning over the bar and running her finger down his strong bicep.

"Fine, one drink."
He muttered after staring into her eyes for a minute.

Tori sighed and sat back on her stool, she didn't think telling the bartender- who looked to be seventeen- that she was nineteen would be a good idea. At that moment she suddenly wished she had Vince back so he could get her what she wanted, he used to be there for her....

Well, that was ten years ago, she thought idly, pushing away that thought that had just randomly popped into her head. She smiled sweetly at the bartender when he brought her
her
drink before saying thank you and striding off to a booth.

Tori was sitting there, sipping at the alcohol and watching the
clubers
dance and flirt
drunkenly,
she was down to the last dregs of her drink when someone slid into the seat across from her.

Tori nearly choked when she saw the inhumanly handsome man across from her. He had long, shoulder-length black hair worn in a shaggy style, a pale and sculpted face decorated with a long nose that sat between his narrowed eyes that were pitch black and lush with lashes and his lips....His carved lips were curved in a wry, knowing smile that melted Tori's heart.

She hadn't felt that feeling since....well since Vince.

"Hey, darling."
He murmured, his obsidian eyes looking her over hungrily.

"Hi," she responded, unable to shake the feeling of safeness that washed over her.

The man looked around the club and Tori came to the conclusion that he was either nineteen or twenty, by the shape of his strong jaw and toned body she sided with twenty.

"So, what brings you to this rat hole? A pretty woman such as you shouldn't be hanging around a dump like this." The man murmured
,
playing with a necklace laced around his throat. It was a small black cross with a crimson jewel in the center that reached out to the four arms with veins of gold.

Tori turned her eyes away from the man's long fingers playing with his cross and looked at his eyes that were staring at her oddly, as if he were thinking very hard about something.

"Just needed to escape," she answered truthfully yet vaguely.

"Same here," He said.

"What's your name?" Tori asked before sucking down the last of her drink, feeling the guy's eyes on her.

"
DeChorello
.
Vincent
DeChorello
." The guy breathed seductively.

Tori choked once again for the second time that night. "Vince?" She demanded, eyes widening.

Vincent looked thoughtful for a moment, "Yeah, I guess you could call me that."

"Don't you remember me?"

Vincent cut his gaze sharply back to her. "What do you mean?"

"Vince! It's me,
Viktoria
." Tori whispered.

Vince went rigid, spine straightening up until Tori was sure it was causing him pain. Vince's eyes widened ever so slightly. The only word that escaped his lustful lips was:

"
Viktoria
..."

Tori nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face, the break-up's sadness dissolving with...excitement? Hope? Longing? She didn't know.

Vince cleared his expression and smiled; smiled that smile that woke up a thousand memories within her and she didn't decline his offer to come to his house with him....she agreed without hesitation- after all, this was Vince who had asked her, not some monster......

Tori came to a few hours
later,
she found the area beside her in the bed empty and realized with a jolt that she was in Vince's room. She looked around at the crimson walls, the black drapes over the bay window, his favorite chair that she had found him more than once sleeping in. She saw his writing desk, the scene altered because the vase with the black roses was
gone,
she noticed the paintings on the walls of him and Jon, a couple with long, dark hair and scarlet eyes...

Groaning, Tori pulled herself up into a sitting position and moved her legs so they were dangling off the bed. She then forced her body up so she could walk over to the drapes and pull them aside. It was late at night, the stars twinkling in the sky that was undiluted by streetlights and the air was still with the exception of the gentle breeze, the atmosphere was not doused with the ruckus of the city....The only thing Tori actually appreciated about this hell was the scenery, she sighed and was about to move back to the bed when her legs unexpectedly buckled and gave away under her feet.

She collapsed, her head hitting the hard wooden floor with a dull thump. It was getting hard for her to breath, her chest felt tight, her veins empty, body cold, thoughts evaporated into one goal...drink the...drink what?

Tori didn't know, but she was getting aches and pains in her jaws, in her main arteries, and once more, darkness lapped up the light, leeched out all the color from the room, and sent her away into the dungeons of the gloom.

Chapter 8

Vince had left
Viktoria
alone for an hour to feed- he hadn't gotten enough from the morning servant- thinking, what could possibly happen to
Viktoria
in his absence? He opened the door to his room and instantly went on high alert....the bed was empty.

His nostrils flared as he tried to catch her scent. She hadn't left the room and at the sound of a soft, gasping breath Vince knew she was still in the space. He moved closer to the bed and saw
Viktoria
on the ground, she just
laid
there, unmoving, not breathing, skin an unnatural gray...That was NOT good. He had seen that before, seen the symptoms of a human who had been fed from too much and than not revived with the vampire's blood....

Vince hurried to
Viktoria's
side, closing the door with a loud 'bang' on his way back to the bed, and picked her up in his arms, laying her limp body down on the mattress's sheets.