Netherworld: Drop Dead Sexy (8 page)

“Usually the donors are romantically
linked to their vampires, but you get the blood groupies too.” Dan
shrugged.

Just as I didn’t like to think of Dan
as a murderer, I shied away from thinking of vampires feeding on my
fellow humans. Jeez, Tristan was a vampire. Surely he drank the
bottled blood though. Thinking of him chomping on someone’s neck
grossed me out.

I wondered about his reputation among
those who knew him best. “Do you like Tristan?”

“He’s fine, a decent man as a ghost.
Honorable for a vampire. He keeps those of us who have something to
offer busy.” Dan sighed. “The worst thing about being dead is the
boredom. The world above keeps on going, but we’re stuck here,
always the same.”

I frowned. “But surely intelligent
minds always find something to keep their interests?”

“Even Plato ran out of things to
ruminate about centuries ago.”

I stopped, my mouth dropping open. “You
know Plato?”

Dan chuckled at the awe in my voice.
“No, but I’ve read everything he’s written, including the stuff
after he died. If you look around the library, you’ll find a lot of
the greats are still creating if death hasn’t driven them insane.”
He urged me forward, past more noisy rooms.

“Does that happen a lot? People going
insane?”

“Unfortunately. The monotony of
eternity is a brutal master. Here we are.” Dan stopped in front of
a door. Using the gold key, he unlocked it. “After you, baby
girl.”

My thoughts a jumble of half-formed
fears, I stepped into the room.

The room was stunning, even a little
overdone, but the King George had been all about opulence. The dark
mahogany of the bed, dresser, and nightstands gleamed in the warmth
of glass lamps. Over the ever-present whiff of burnt things floated
the freshness of recently washed bed linens. A full bar sat in one
corner, with a seating area nearby. A peek in the water closet
revealed a deep free-standing bathtub. Everything was
old-fashioned, but the finest of its day.

Covered dishes lay on a table by the
seating area. Delicious scents found their way over to tease my
nostrils. A bottle of champagne sat in a bucket of ice. I shook my
head and restrained myself from making the comment, this would be
the life if I wasn’t dead.

Sometimes I can control my
impulses.

Instead I said, “Now isn’t this just
yummy? Thanks for indulging my curiosity,” I added as Dan stood
patiently by while I investigated the room.

He smiled. “It’s always interesting to
see this place from the perspective of a new resident. Shall I pour
some of that champagne?”

“Lovely.” I turned in a slow circle,
thinking something was off about the room. After a moment I had it.
“It’s odd to be missing a TV.”

“
Television was long after
this hotel’s time.” He popped the cork and quickly poured as
champagne fizzed over the mouth of the bottle. “You can always go
above ground and watch the living’s televisions.”

I sat down at the table as Dan took the
covers from our meal. I sniffed appreciatively at the baked salmon
in a cream sauce, herbed green beans and scalloped potatoes baked
in three cheeses. My mouth watered. “Is this real food or ghost
food?”

Dan laughed. “The bubbly is from the
memory of a very good sommelier who worked in this hotel in the
1890’s, and the food is from the memory of a top chef who cooked
for the Goulds when railroad barons were still in
vogue.”

“I’ve never tasted anyone’s memories
before.” I took a cautious bite of the salmon, and moaned with near
orgasmic delight as it practically melted in my mouth. The creamy
sauce was the perfect mix of savory with a tinge of sweetness.
After I swallowed I said, “This is weird to be dead and eating.
Delicious but weird.”

Dan raised his glass and I clinked mine
to his. “Don’t worry. The novelty wears off soon
enough.”

We ate and drank in companionable
silence for awhile. I found myself almost stopping after devouring
half my plate. The old habit of calorie counting tried to have its
way with me, and it took a few moments before I realized I could
pig out without repercussions. After all, how would one get fat on
memories? Feeling marvelously decadent, I cleaned my plate and
sucked down three glasses of champagne. Dessert was a gorgeous
confection of moist chocolate cake, strawberries and fudge sauce. I
ate mine and half of Dan’s when he claimed he wasn’t much for
chocolate.

I couldn’t get drunk from the booze,
but I felt giddy nonetheless from my feast. Portion control had so
flown out the window. Sitting back in my chair with a contented
sigh, I asked, “So what’s in store for the rest of the night?
Obviously we don’t sleep.”

Dan stretched. “We’ll go to tonight’s
para meeting. Some of Tristan’s aides will want to question you,
try to help you recover your memories.”

“They’re all ghosts too, or can the
other paras see me?”

He shook his head. “You’ll have to
enter the body of a living channel to speak to
everyone.”

I frowned. “What?”

Dan reached to pat my hand. “Try not to
worry about it yet. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to
it.”

He regarded me for a moment before
carefully speaking again. “Can I ask something without
offending?”

I was pretty sure I knew what direction
he was heading. “You mean about me being an escort?”

He nodded. “Were you good at it? I
mean, I know you’re pretty incredible with sex.” His sudden evil
grin made me chuckle.

“Thank you.”

“But sex isn’t all of it, is it?
Otherwise, you’d just be a prostitute.”

I smoothed the fringe of my flapper
dress and admired the beadwork. “For me, sex is only a small part
of being an escort. In fact, I didn’t have to sleep with my clients
at all, but they paid extra if I did, under the table. I planned to
use the money to go back to school and take up fashion design.” I
grinned. “As you noticed, I have a natural flair for
it.”

Dan smiled wistfully, almost as if sad
for my missed opportunity. “You would have been good. You have
excellent taste in clothes.”

“Thank you.” I thought about my life
and decided to come completely clean with him. After all, he’d
shared his darkest secret with me. “I’d have probably done it
without the money. The sex, I mean.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “I have a man-sized libido. I
love sex. I might even have an addiction to it. Sometimes I wonder
if I’m not a nymphomaniac.”

“But whereas if it were me, a man
sleeping with a bunch of women, it doesn’t play as ugly in
society’s mind as when a woman does it.”

“Exactly.” Boy, I sure liked Dan. I
sensed no condemnation from him. He was so smart and yummilicious.
I thanked my lucky stars he’d been the one who found me in those
woods.

“What else did you offer your dates if
sex wasn’t the main gist of your work?”

“I had to be intelligent and up to date
on the latest political and business news. I needed to be a good
dancer and conversationalist. Whatever my regulars were into, I had
to be as well.”

“Plus maintain a certain image.” He
looked fascinated.

“Of course. If I was to be seen at a
function with my date, I couldn’t be an embarrassment.”

“But you couldn’t always be seen. After
all, the commissioner you mentioned being a customer couldn’t let
it get out he saw someone outside his marriage.”

I shrugged. “When I wasn’t a piece of
jewelry for some man’s ego, I was his dirty little
secret.”

Dan’s eyes were warm on me. “I think
you’re a lovely lady.”

I glowed under the straightforwardness
of his admiration. “You don’t treat me like trash even though I
dated men and slept with a few of them for money. There’s always
been this underlying sense of unworthiness from even my best
customers.”

Dan frowned. “I killed a man,
Brandilynn. I committed the most heinous of acts and ruined many
lives. I’m not about to judge you for having sex to feel good or to
pay the bills.”

I swallowed. I’d conveniently forgotten
his status of a murderer for a little while. “I just can’t wrap my
head around you killing someone.”

“I couldn’t either for a long time.”
Dan looked at his hands, examining them as if they held the secrets
to the universe … or to a man’s soul. “I suppose if you feel backed
into a corner with no way out, you can do just about
anything.”

“Am I safe with you, Dan?” I
blurted.

He looked me in the eye. There were
volumes of truth in his gaze: strength, compassion, and weariness.
The sad knowledge that in the end no one can fathom their own
darkest instincts. I thought perhaps in us all lies something no
better than the most base of animals. Something hidden deep beneath
our pseudo-civilization. Call it survival instinct if you want to
be pretty about it. But in the end, I thought the truth of human
nature might be as cold as a vampire’s eyes.

Kill or be killed.

“I will never hurt you, Brandilynn,”
Dan said. “In fact, if you’ll forgive the macho chest thumping, you
bring out the urge to protect. You’re a tough chick on the outside,
but here and there I catch glimpses of a scared little girl,
begging to be sheltered.” He reddened as he said it.

I couldn’t help but shiver as my
insides went all warm and gooey. If Dan did prove to be a Dom as I
suspected he was, he held all the best characteristics. Strong and
protective, just the thing a little sub like me crumbled before. At
least in the bedroom. I wasn’t nearly as mushy when sex wasn’t
involved.

My voice husky, I said, “Are you just
saying that to get me in bed?”

His seriousness faded before the slow
grin that crept over his face. “No, though if that’s a byproduct of
this conversation I’m not going to complain.”

I stood. “What do you want of me,
Sir?”

His lap bulged in response and he rose
to his feet. “I want you, my pretty baby girl. All of you, all to
myself.” He took my hand and tugged me to the bed. “Naked,
Brandilynn.”

I thought my clothes off and stood
quietly as his big, capable hands ran down and back up my arms. His
course then went to where he could cup my breasts in both hands.
His thumbs rubbed over my nipples, turning them hard and
pebbly.

Dan’s voice turned growly with
excitement. “I was raised to respect women, treat them with kid
gloves. But I always had the fantasy of controlling a woman. Would
it shock you to know I want to pinch your nipples? Slap your
breasts until they turn red like Tristan did earlier?”

I shivered in anticipation. “I like
being helpless. I want to be controlled. And a little bit of pain
does things to me. Not the harsh stuff, but spankings are good. For
some reason, my head turns it into pleasure.”

He continued to rub the stiff peaks,
his eyes devouring my mounds. “Were you spanked as a
child?”

“Never.” A little of my passion ebbed.
“My parents were too wrapped up in their own selves to worry much.
And I was a very good girl until college, always trying to get
their approval.”

“You’re carrying some baggage,
Brandilynn. But then, so are we all.”

He kissed me, starting gentle with soft
lips. But his arms around me were strong and firm, making me feel
safe. Controlled. Owned. And when his kiss turned more passionate,
more demanding, I melted against his suddenly naked body. His cock
pressed thick between us, and I thought of all the ways he could
possess me. My inner thighs turned slick with honey.

Dan’s hand crept into my hair, grabbing
a handful so he could tilt my head just so, allowing him to plunge
his tongue deeper towards my throat. I moaned into his mouth,
encouraging his dominance over me.

He broke the kiss and swept me up into
his arms, a real Rhett Butler-and-Scarlett O’Hara moment. I went
giddy with romantic inclinations as Dan crawled onto the bed and
laid me on the downy coverlet. His beefy body half covered mine,
and he gathered my wrists in one hand to stretch my arms over my
head. My sex gushed warmth at the authority with which he held
me.

He searched my eyes. “You do like
this.”

My voice was breathy. “Oh yes Sir, I
do.”

“And your safeword again is
sharkbait?”

“Yes Sir.” Anticipation made me heat up
all over.

“All right then.”

His head bent to my breasts, and beard
stubble rasped against my sensitive skin. Beard stubble on a ghost.
I wondered if I’d ever wrap my head around this being dead
stuff.

Dan sucked hard on my nipple, and
electricity zinged from the stiff peak straight to my crotch. With
a tiny cry, I arched beneath him. He responded by sucking more of
my breast into his hungry maw, his tongue whipping across the
pebbled nub. Then he did the same to my other breast.

He kept at me like that until my
nipples were red and throbbing. Then he nipped one with his teeth,
sending a shock of sensation striking my nether regions with the
force of a lightning bolt. I made a strangled cry as heat pulsed
from the aching nub.