Duella Book 3: The Witch and the Vampire Series (11 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Duella’s
head was swimming. He tried to open his eyes. He tried to raise one hand, only to find it was secured above his head. He jerked his eyes open, alarm gripping his insides. He was naked. He could feel the moist air from his prison closing in on his flesh. He tried to move his legs. His ankles were secured fast. He opened his mouth and bellowed loudly, gnashing his teeth. His eyes began to glow red, his ire surging to the fore. He struggled against the bindings at his wrists and ankles.

“You cannot escape me.”

Drucella’s
voice was soft, kind, yet forceful. She appeared to him them, naked, her voluptuous body coming toward him as though she were floating on a light breeze.

 
He gazed at her, taking in the sight of her large breasts and trim waist. Her hips were curved,
her
long legs shapely. Pale blonde hair hung about her shoulders and seemed to float around her face, making her appear more vision than the witch he knew her to be. He turned his eyes away, refusing to be taken in by any more of her games.

“Do not deny your desire,
Duella
.”

“I have no desire for you,
Drucella
.”

“Your cock tells me otherwise. It is beginning to grow hard. Your lust for me is evident.”

He felt his body responding to the sight of her body. He gritted his teeth. He had no desire to succumb to his own sexual lusts or to revisit the past. Their relationship was history. He stifled a groan of discontent. His love for her had meant nothing in the end. She had sentenced him to a fate worse than death—a curse that he could not escape from.

She stroked his chest with her palm. “Say that you want me,
Duella
. Say that you want to fuck me.”

He kept his head turned from the sight of her. He pinched his eyes closed.

She trailed her fingers along his side, dragging a nail up his thigh to his crotch. “Your cock stands tall. It desires me.”

“A cock has no mind of its own.”

She laughed softly. “Then it is you who
desires
me,
Duella
, for your cock grows enormous. Turn your head and look at me. Have you forgotten how beautiful I am?”

“You are not beautiful,
Drucella
. You are only evil. And I have no desire to look at you.”

“You lie.”

He sensed her arousal as he fought his own. He bit his bottom lip as her hands slid across his abdomen and wrapped around his cock. Her fingers stroked his length, causing him to suck in a quick breath. He tugged against the bindings at his wrists, trying to free his hands.

“I’ve missed you, my lover.” She drew in an audible breath. “Your flesh feels wonderful in my hand. You are so big and hard.” She released a long sigh. “Say that you want to fuck me,
Duella
.”

He gritted his teeth and remained silent. Her hands stroked and manipulated, bringing him to the brink of orgasm. He tried his best to ignore the tingling sensations as they manifested inside his body, but when he felt her mouth suck his cock in, he jerked his head around and released a loud bellow.

The heat of her mouth drew his body arching upward, pushing his hard cock to the hilt. He moaned and bucked his hips, hating himself for being so weak. She sucked his cock and stroked his balls, bringing him to orgasm.

He moaned and jabbed his cock into her mouth, releasing his semen against the back of her throat. She swallowed it down, stroking his balls while he milked the final drops into her mouth. She shivered and ran her hands along his abdomen, stroking his flesh and making him moan.

She released his cock, and threw one leg across his hips. She stretched out atop his body, her hands finding his male nipples and tweaking the tiny nubs to taut buds. She kissed his chest, following the dense spray of black hair upward to his collarbone. She paused and raised her head, gazing down into his eyes.

“Now that I have satisfied your lust, my lover, you shall satisfy mine.” She swiveled her hips atop his abdomen, inching her crotch atop his cock.

The feel of her hot crotch against his limp cock rapidly brought new thoughts of lust to his mind. He groaned and turned his head
away,
hoping that by eliminating the sight of her he would stop his body from reacting to her teasing. But his body was quick to betray him. His cock rose quickly to press against her hot slit.

She laughed softly and reached one hand to grasp his cock, sliding it up her slit with ease. She began to move atop his body, her palms splayed across his male nipples. She rode his cock, taking it deep inside her body. She closed her eyes and lolled her head back on her shoulders. Her mane of white-blonde hair spilled about her shoulders and hung in silken tendrils across her bouncing breasts.

He couldn’t resist the temptation to look at her, to caress her body with his gaze. She was a vision of loveliness—a woman to tempt any man—mortal or vampire. He groaned and felt the heated shards of climax growing in his belly. His balls knotted as the sensations grew nearer. They exploded within his body, making him weak with regret for the act with her and filling him with exquisite sensations at the same time. He squeezed his eyes shut and lost the battle to hold the orgasm at bay.

“Say that you love me,
Duella
. The climax is upon me!
Ooooh
!”
She bucked her hips, bouncing atop his cock and driving it deep inside her body. She dug her fingernails into his chest and bit her bottom lip as the sensations took control of her body. She raised her arms, grasping her breasts and toying with her nipples. She closed her eyes and drew in great gasping breaths.

He felt the climax begin to wane from his body. He turned his head and looked at her once more, hating himself for giving her such pleasure with his body. He thought of Miriam.

Sweet Miriam.
I’m sorry.
Remorse filled his insides. He had betrayed her. He had fucked another woman. He knew at that very moment he loved Miriam.

Yes! I love Miriam!
He held his body
still,
refusing to give in to
Drucella’s
bucking gyrations as she sat atop his cock. It, too, was growing flaccid as she sat on it, urging it to become hard again. “Get off me.”

Drucella
halted her movements, staring at him with her mouth hanging open.
Surprise shown in her blue eyes.
“You don’t mean that. Tell the truth,
Duella
. You have missed me. You have missed fucking me. You have missed being in my bed.”

“I have not.” He glared, daring her to dispute his words. “You have sated your lusts—”

She sneered. Her gaze traveled down the naked length of his body, then back up to his chest, pausing on the amulet hanging about his neck. She reached out one hand and took hold of the gem, urging it into her palm. She closed her fingers around it. “You will relinquish the talisman to me now, my lover.”

She gripped the gem in her fist and gave a sharp tug, seeking to rip it from his neck. The chain dug into his neck, but failed to give way. She yanked again, this time harder. The chain remained around
Duella’s
neck. She screamed and jerked her arm, aiming to rip the amulet free.

Satisfied that the chain was not going to break no matter how hard she yanked or how much she cursed,
Duella
grinned.

She lashed out at him, landing her palm against his cheek. “You toy with me. Take the gem from your neck and give it to me!”

“The gem is mine. And you will never possess it.”

She sneered. Quickly, she dismounted his body, leaping from her perched position atop his cock and landing on the floor, her feet braced apart and her hands propped on her hips. “Then you will pay dearly for your disobedience!”

He laughed mockingly at her.

She waved one hand and vanished, leaving him searching the darkness for any sign of her.

Duella
was determined to free himself in
Drucella’s
absence. He strained against the bindings at his wrists, finally managing to tug one free. He rolled to his side and worked the knots loose, releasing his other wrist. He sat up and untied his ankles, then searched the darkness for his clothing. He had to make his escape before the witch returned.

The space he was confined in was small, a hollowed burrow beneath one of the stone mausoleums. The walls were concave, sloping outward from the base of the hole. He sought the place where
Drucella
had disappeared, hoping to find the doorway to the outside. He felt his way along one wall, his palms sliding across the moist dirt and his fingers digging in.

The urge to hurry and be gone before the witch returned, spurred him on. He rushed around the burrow, frantic to escape. Finally, when he was growing near the realization that she had confined him within some magical port of her own doing, he thrust a hand against the wall and it gave way, opening to the outside. He felt the breeze of the night against his cheek. Quickly he thrust an arm through the opening, then his head and shoulders. Climbing out, he crawled free of the witch’s below ground hideaway.

Naked, he took to the air, transforming into a bat. He set his path toward his newly acquired mansion on the far side of the city, his thoughts on Miriam and the threat
Drucella
issued just before she vanished from sight. Every fiber in his body hoped the witch wasn’t going after Miriam because of his defiance toward her.

He arrived at the mansion just in time to hear the loud ruckus coming from the master suite. He flew to the window where the light shown into the darkness, and hovered outside the pane, gazing beyond the filmy organza curtains. He saw Miriam pressed against one wall of the room and
Drucella
standing before her. In the next instant, he looked on as the witch disappeared, taking Miriam with her.

Aghast at the sight, he turned quickly and headed back to the cemetery.
Drucella
would be a force to be reckoned with when she arrived and found he had escaped,
then
learned that her army of
Gideons
had left him unattended. Perhaps she had sent them away while she played sex games with him. He shuddered at the repulsive thought. While the act had been fulfilling in the sexual sense—he loathed admitting such a fact—it had solidified his love for Miriam in his heart.

He arrived at the cemetery. All was quiet. There was no sign of
Drucella
or her Gideon army. And there was no sign of Miriam. He searched the area, looking closely behind each tombstone and mausoleum as he remained wary, alert for sudden movements.
Drucella
was known for trickery.

His searching turned up nothing. He stood in the shadows of a tree and assessed the situation. Should
Drucella
return to the place where she had held him and found him gone, she would have mounted a search, utilizing her army of
Gideons
. He rubbed his chin with one fingertip, contemplating. Had she returned to the cemetery, he would have seen her. He grasped the amulet and beseeched it for help.

The gem lay cool against his palm.

He sighed. As in the past, the stone gave him no indication of having heard his request. He reviewed all he knew about it, its powers to make things known to him, subtly, as though he had come across the reasoning himself. He cocked his head and stared at the stone. He was unable to remove it from around his neck, yet
Drucella
believed that he had the power to do so and was just being stubborn.

What does the witch know about the stone that I do not?
He raised his eyes and stared at the dark sky. Morning was rapidly approaching. He had to find Miriam and return to the safety of the mansion. As he gazed at the darkness, a tiny light caught his attention. It grew brighter,
then
seemed to fall to earth. He blinked his eyes and took a step back, trying to avoid it as it zoomed toward him.

The light swooped to the ground in front of him, encompassing several tombstones in its brilliance. A door
appeared,
a portal that opened within the light. The brilliance ebbed,
then
pulled at his body to enter. He sought resistance at first, fearful for his safety, but the urge to enter grew stronger. He took a tentative step and quickly found himself sucked in through the opening. He hurtled downward through a black tunnel, his body turning end over end. He opened his mouth to scream, but found he couldn’t utter a sound. His heart raced against his ribs. His temples throbbed.

He landed with a crashing blow.
His body prone against an unyielding surface.
His vision blurred,
then
cleared. He sat up, his body aching from head to toe. Scrambling up to his feet, he wondered if he had fallen for another of
Drucella’s
tricks. The space was filled with light, bright and blinding. He gazed overhead, spying the dark tunnel he had fallen through. Mentally noting that the tunnel might be his only means of escaping whatever lay ahead for him, he cautioned himself about getting too far away from it or losing his direction altogether.