Enslaved (13 page)

Splice hurried out of the room, trying to keep his nervous stride calm-seeming and cool. Once he was out of
Viktoria's
view and out of earshot he slumped against the wall of the hallway, resting his arms on his knees, and hanging his head in his hands as he inhaled...exhaled slowly.

What had he done? He was about to make out with his cousin's mate, not cool, not cool at all. But he had felt a rush, something he had never felt before. It was like that adrenaline high people got when they were doing something dangerous, like they were jumping off the edge of a cliff into ice-cold water.
 

The thing that freaked him out the most was that he actually WANTED
Viktoria
, wanted her like the blood he craved when he was fasting before a Gathering...it was that bad. He hadn't even known
Viktoria
for more than an hour and all he wanted was to feel his hands on the curve of her hips, her soft-looking lips caressing his own. Splice wanted to experience the sensation of his body pressed close to hers, wanted nothing more than to whisper in her ear and feel that rush he had just lived through, that sense of familiarity despite the fact that he DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HER! And he had lusted for all that stuff in one single moment with one single touch....nothing
was right in this Vampire Hotel, nothing at all, Splice thought, nothing was right in this world.
Nothing.

Chapter 27

Viktoria
was in the dining room alone and eating when Vince found her, his speech already planned out. More lies to add to the web, he thought as he sat down in front of her, eying the plate of human food she was nibbling on.

"You're still eating that?" He wondered as she took a bite of a carrot.

"Hey, I'm not a total vampire, Vince. Plus, I'm extremely hungry for some reason." Her eyebrows puckered than relaxed. "What's wrong, you seem tense." She murmured.

"Well," Vince cleared his throat nervously, trying to keep his expression cool and collected. "You know how my
cousin is a copy-cat, right?"

Viktoria
thought for a moment and nodded, crossing her leg over her knee under the table.
"Yeah, why?"

"Seeing as you're only half-vampire, you'll need, how do I phrase this...? We can say, you'll need special energy only a vampire with
an ability
can give you." Vince murmured.

Viktoria
looked slightly disturbed at this. "Why do I need a vampire's energy, Vince? What aren't you telling me?"

"Because, the vampire part of your soul is dying out, you need someone's energy or you'll just...die." He choked out the last part, knowing that it was true, completely and utterly true. His
Viktoria
was going to die if he didn't let Splice feed her with his energy...

"Who- who's going to be, you know, feeding me?"
Viktoria
grounded out, her voice barely above a whisper, her food forgotten.

"Splice,"

"Oh, God."
She sighed out between a
sort
of gasp/sob. "Why can't you do that? How do you do that?" She wondered
,
her anxiety reaching maximum, Vince could feel it.

"I can't do that because I don't have any special powers and you NEED someone with
an ability
, with a strong soul. Splice has both; I don't." Vince sighed, looking away and running a hand through his black-as-midnight hair, pushing it away from his pale face and scarlet eyes.

"Splice is going to stop by your room tonight, angel." Was all he said before striding off, leaving h
er second question unanswered.

Viktoria
was in her room at sunrise, sitting there, staring blankly at a corner of the ceiling, confusion and misery wrapping around her. She didn't know what the hell was going on, or what Splice was going to do. Tori didn't want to have another encounter with Vince's cousin like she had earlier.

She stroked her gauze-clad arms restlessly, staring at the white fabric, wondering.... what was under this wrapping...? Her fingers were shaking subtly as she found the tail of the gauze and began unwinding it, slowly, layer by layer until....she saw something that she had never seen before.

On her arm were lace-like patterns in silver, dancing all over her flesh. The one thing that stood out the most to her was the mini splayed-out hand tattooed onto the inside of her wrist...Tori shifted her gaze to her left wrist where gauze was also coating her flesh. She unwrapped that, too, and saw a small fist, a closed hand...

Tori recalled the small silver tattoo on Splice's
arm,
it looked exactly like the image on her left wrist....what did that mean? She was musing over this when there was a sullen knock on her door.

"Come in, it's open!" She
called,
her voice no higher than necessary.

The door creaked open and closed when a tall, slim figure in black and white entered, eyes blazing crimson...for a moment, Tori thought it was Vince, but that faded the moment she saw the broader shoulders, the jeans, and the way Splice walked. Just as confident, but calculating, cautious.

"You ready?" Splice wondered, leaning against a wall by her bed.

She sighed, pushing her white hair away from her face pensively. Splice had gone over what he was going to do with her a few hours ago. "No, not really," she answered, "but I don't think I'll ever be. Let's just get started."

Splice moved closer and everything around her disappeared into a scarlet haze as his eyes engulfed her, his hands moved to her waist, and both of their sets of fangs sliced into the others necks.

This, Tori thought suddenly, guiltily, was better than any ecstasy she had ever felt...even with Vince.

Chapter 28

Tori found
herself
wrapped in a pair of comforting, cool arms. They seemed to be made just right for her as if a master sculptor had chiseled out the right places for her chin to rest on his bicep, carved the shapes of her legs so they fit nicely with his hips as she hitched them up and pulled him closer to her. His hands rested lazily at the dip in her lower back, his weight held just right so she could barely feel him, but just enough so she could still savor the sense of his body pressed close to her.

Tori felt stronger than usual in his arms, she felt invincible, powerful,
superior
....like a vampire. Thi
s was her third feeding with...

"I have to go now,
Viktoria
."

That sweet, sweet voice whispered in her ear, teeth grazing her earlobe, sending shivers throughout her languorous body that just CRAVED him. Eyes still closed she clutched him closer, lust still pulsing through her veins and limbs.

"Please, don't go," she whispered, slowly pulling back her eyelids and staring into crimson pools that reminded Tori of fresh blood. "Don't go..."

"I don't think Vince would appreciate it if I stayed too long," he whispered....

"Vince? Who's...?
Oh, GOD!"
Tori gasped as Splice climbed off of her and the bed, standing there, looking down at her, an indescribable look in his eyes...they seemed hungry, but not for blood.

She stared at him in horror, though, despite her earlier lustful emotions.
"Oh, no
no
no
."
How could she have forgotten Vince? How could she have allowed herself to forget him and want both physically and blood-wise Splice? But Splice looked so much like Vince, yet so different, much
more free
...wasn't as pushy as Vince was, or as torturous....

Tori still wanted Splice- and Vince.

"Okay, go." She
said,
her voice quieter than a whisper. But Splice heard
her,
he seemed to always hear her...

Splice looked down at her with thirsty eyes, his fingers unconsciously running along her thigh before he whispered, "I'll be back in the morning to feed you,
Viktoria
."

"Fine, I'll see you then." She murmured, rolling onto her side so her back was to him.

"Oh, and
Viktoria
, we need to talk about those marks on your arms. I don't think Vince knows what they are..."

Viktoria
looked back at him, "What do you mean?"

"Well talk later," he promised and glided out of the room leaving
Viktoria
confused, both mentally and physically.

Her body lusted for something wild, something sweet and soft, something that didn't push her...it craved Splice....Tor's mind thirsted for that familiar tug at her mind, wanted to hear that soft, thoughtful voice, wanted to feel that connection between her and Vince....

Tori, with a sickening jolt of understand, realized that she wanted BOTH
DeChorello
cousins....each so different, yet both matching her. Splice fulfilled the need to have something in common, to share power. Vince fulfilled the urge for that painful edge of pleasure, the one that she was always uns
ure of but secretly craved.....

Viktoria
clutched at the sheets of her bed in the dark, suddenly frightened of herself. Something wasn't right with
her,
it was as if something new was emerging inside her, surfacing from an abyss of silence that had somehow contained this restlessness for nineteen years.

But now- now it was aroused and Tori came to the sudden conclusion that this new side of her could not be laid to rest ever again...it was dangerous and powerful, it held secrets that she couldn't get to...

Unable to explain this sudden burst of insight, Tori rose from the bed, slid into the one pair of unused sneakers she had, slipped into a pair of blissful jeans and a T-shirt and she ran...ran out of her room, out of the Hotel, through the forest, and tried to escape the Siren that was now wide awake within her, clawing to get out....

To Be Continued in Liberated...

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