Summoning Shadows: A Rosso Lussuria Vampire Novel (29 page)

“No.”

“Then why do you stand there as if at any moment you will turn and leave?” I asked.

She stayed silent and I went to her and stood on the tips of my toes. I rested the tips of my fingers against her neck. “My hard-shelled Dracule, when will you realize that I cherish you no less?” I took her hand in mine and she let me guide her to the bed. “Yes, I want you to join us.” I pulled at the blouse she wore and began unhooking the small metallic clasps that held it closed around her body. “I have missed you both immensely, incredibly. Why would you think for an instant that I would turn you away?”

She licked her lips, a sign of nervousness or uncertainty. “I do not know.”

I freed the last clasp that held the blouse closed and pushed the material behind her back. I touched her then, placing my palms flat against the smooth expanse of her stomach. Her muscles rippled against my hands, but she didn’t protest or draw away, and I didn’t stop.

Renata moved up behind me. Her hand buried in my hair, grabbing a gentle handful as she guided me to move my head to the side. She took the skin of my neck in her mouth and nibbled lightly, sending a chorus of chills over my skin. Her mouth followed those little bumps to the back of my neck and lower.

Iliaria bowed her head and kissed me. The dance of her lips and tongue was slow and sweet, lighter and less deep than Renata’s kiss had been. Renata’s hands moved over my body and encouraged the honeyed song of desire to rise and sing through my blood again. She guided us back onto the bed and Iliaria’s mouth followed mine until she knelt above me, craning her neck for my kiss. I wrapped an arm around her waist in effort to pull her closer.

She drew away as Renata’s hands caressed down my hips and thighs.

“Did she hurt you?” Iliaria asked.

“Morina?”

“Yes.” She cupped my face tenderly in one of her hands. “Did she molest you, Epiphany?”

The look in her eyes put a pleasant shiver in my bones. “No, no she did not molest me. Though, I sought to seduce and sway her, to no avail.”

The corner of her mouth rose while that dark expression still lingered. “You tried to seduce her?”

I lowered my gaze, suddenly uncertain if what I had just told her was a good or a bad thing to have revealed. “Yes.”

Renata clicked her tongue softly at my ear, making me flinch unexpectedly. “Surely, your loyalty to us is not so easily swayed, cara mia.”

“I…” I closed my mouth and thought about my words before I spoke out of hand. “I had very few options left to me, my lady. I couldn’t think of another way to escape.”

Iliaria’s expression became a near frightening thing. “You could have called me,” she said.

I tried to read them both using my empathy and could not discern either of their intentions. As if they had discussed it, both had thrown up a wall to keep me carefully out.

I frowned and knew it bordered on pouting. “I can’t tell…Are you really upset with me or are you both toying with me?”

“A little of both,” Renata said, this time sounding amused. She dragged her nails over my stomach and I shifted beneath her hand. “I daresay, your misconduct while we were not present is enough to warrant punishment.”

Iliaria grinned widely to reveal the canines on both her upper and lower jaw. Her tail swayed predatorily behind her where she knelt above me. “I daresay, indeed.”

As far as punishment went, it was fairly exquisite. Renata laid me out on my back and pinned my wrists above my head. She held me while Iliaria crawled between my legs.

Iliaria set her thumbs against me as she spread me open. She licked me in a broad stroke. I gasped and Renata set her weight into the hold she had on my wrists. Iliaria lifted her head to gaze up the line of my body.

“It has been long since I have pleasured a woman this way. My apologies if you find my skills lacking.” Her lashes fluttered closed before she bowed her head again. This time, even with the expectation of her tongue, I writhed when she buried her face in my mound and sealed her mouth over me. She drew me between her lips, lightly at first, her tongue flicking against me lazily and in a way that sent tiny flits of pleasure shooting up through my body.

Iliaria continued to make love to me with her mouth, carefully letting me feel the sweet glide of her fangs. She applied just the right amount of pressure, the right amount of sucking and licking to bring my breath short and make my body burn with the heavy longing of climax.

But she did no more than that.

“Mmm, do it slowly, Dracule. I want to watch you make her writhe and plead. I want her to beg you for her release.”

In the end, I did. Iliaria teased me with the languorous rhythm of her tongue until it was a sweet torment that made me beg and fight Renata’s hold.

No matter how long the time that had passed since she had pleasured a woman with her mouth, she blessedly was not lacking in skill, by any means.

Renata flung a leg over me to straddle my face and I raised my mouth to seal a kiss against her, shifting my head slightly to part her folds. Her body tightened at the touch of my tongue, but she gave the command coolly, “Now, Dracule.”

Iliaria sucked roughly and I stifled a cry, setting my nails into whatever bit of nearby flesh my hands could find. Renata’s hips pressed forward solidly against my face, encouraged by the flick of my tongue and my nails set into her skin. I drew her between my lips, tucking her lightly between my teeth. Iliaria’s tongue danced against me and I fought the orgasm that threatened to overwhelm me, fought to please Renata with some measure of talent. Renata’s breath stirred the air above me, short and clipped. Her hand touched the side of my head as she buried her hands in my hair. Her hips began to dance, and I bit down a little harder to keep from losing my hold.

She groaned above me, a sound that let me know I was close to going too far over the line between pleasure and pain. I flicked my tongue against the tiny bead of skin tucked between my teeth. Renata moaned, her head flung back and body rocking with the waves of her climax as she fought to stay on her knees above me. When the orgasm passed, her gaze met mine and she lowered her face to kiss me.

“Now, cara mia,” she whispered.

I released my control and cried out. Renata sank her mouth down hard on mine again. She kissed me and her tongue played between my lips as Iliaria’s tongue played between my legs. And this time, at the sensation of them both, of being filled by them both, the orgasm hit me in a hurricane of ecstasy.

The time came when I knew I had to confront Morina. The distance I had initially placed between us for peace of mind became a burden. After being forcefully bound to her and held as her prisoner, I still didn’t want to approach her. Gratefully, the last day I spent in the dungeon was vague to me, like a broken and fragmented dream. There were bits and pieces I recalled. Unfortunately, my failed attempt at swaying her with my body was one of those bits.

I let out a breath and finished buttoning the red silk blouse Renata had brought for me. I tucked the blouse into a pair of lightweight black trousers that clung to my body and put on my boots as I perched at the foot of the bed.

Cuinn’s ears pricked in attention. “I know I said ye should figure it out, but ye don’t have to do this, Piph. You can let her rot.”

“Cuinn.” I knelt in front of him and stroked a hand down the back of his head. I raised my sleeve to reveal her mark upon me. “I have to; you know I do.”

He got to his paws. “You’re not doing it alone, then.”

Emilio stood just outside her chamber doors. He brought me up short before I could enter. “Are you sure, lady?”

“Yes, Emilio.”

He stepped to the side so I could enter. Though he had indeed spelled the room, he had not spelled it to keep intruders out, only to keep Morina from leaving her confinement. His magic pressed against me, flowing and tight. The pressure of it made my ears pop. Had I been the one kept under magical warden, I would have liked it even less than the prison in which Morina had kept me.

I shut the door behind Cuinn.

Morina stood before the doors that led onto the balcony. She did not bother to turn around or give me her attention, though I knew she had heard me enter. She leaned against the frame and stared out into the night.

“Morina,” I said her name, keeping my voice soft.

A stretch of silence unfolded between us and I tried again.

“So,” she said at last without sparing me a glance, “the tables have turned and I am now your prisoner.”

“You chose this, lady, not I.”

She turned to face me and the air hissed through my teeth at the sight of her. She had taken off the patch and left her entire face unconcealed. A starburst of pink and white scar tissue decorated the hollow of her missing eye.

She turned back toward the balcony with a measure of cold grace. “Still, you are right to fear me, vampire.”

“I think, Morina, you are more a danger to yourself than you are to me.”

“Which makes me a danger to you,” she replied coolly.

Cuinn sat by the wall behind the door. He remained quiet, I think out of respect and to allow me to handle the situation on my own.

“I don’t think that’s really what you want, Morina.”

She turned back and glared at me. “And what do you know of what I want, vampire?”

A world of hurt and pain flashed across her face, briefly crinkling the flesh at the corner of her eyes. She tore her gaze from mine, perhaps thinking I hadn’t caught it.

I raised my sleeve to bare her mark. “Release me, Morina.”

“I cannot.”

“Why?”

“It is a soul-binding,” she said. “I cannot erase it. I cannot undo it. You don’t get it, do you, vampire?” She came to me and reached out as if she would touch me. I refused to recoil in fear of her and her fingers trembled slightly in the air between us before she lowered her hand to catch my wrist. The nearer she was in proximity to me, the more her sigil tingled where it was embedded in my skin. She pushed my sleeve up to expose Iliaria’s mark and I let her, intent on standing my ground. She traced the inky vines. “We’re bound for eternity, you and your Dracule and I.”

“Iliaria did what she had to do to try to save me from your hands. Would you condemn us all now in your plight of self-destruction?”

“I’ve thought of it.”

“So, that is it, then?” I jerked my hand away from her. “What did Iliaria ever do to you to warrant so much of your hostility?”

Morina swept her hand outward to gesture at the room around us. “This,” she said, her face drawn tight. “You have tasted the memories of this place, vampire. You know what happened here. None of it would have happened were it not for
her
.”

“You blame Iliaria for what happened to Andrella,” I said. It didn’t make sense. And then I remembered Andrella’s words, that Morina blamed herself and others out of a sense of her own guilt.

Morina grabbed me by the shoulders and her fingers dug into my skin. Cuinn got to his feet. I saw his ears flick back and put a hand up to let him know that I didn’t need him to intervene yet.

“Do not ever speak her name to me, vampire. You’ve been toying with me the moment you learned of her and the tragedy that befell this place.” Her fingers bit into my skin even more roughly and I groaned in protest. Her voice fell to a whisper. “How is it that every way I’ve thought to torment you does nothing more than bring me more torment?”

“Because somewhere inside of you, you know it’s wrong.”

“No.” Morina shook her head. “No, I don’t think it’s wrong.” She traced the line of my jaw as if she would memorize it. Her touch unnerved me, but the complicated expression on her face and the intensity of her gaze unsettled me more than that small touch.

“Why do you blame my lover, Morina? How is what happened here Iliaria’s fault?”

“Your lover.” She withdrew with an expression of disgust. “Your lover was the only one that knew, vampire. She was the only one I trusted to tell, and she betrayed me.”

“That’s a lie,” Iliaria said, practically startling me out of my damn boots. She stood just inside the doors that led to the balcony and I wondered why I hadn’t sensed her. I reached out to her, lowering my shields just enough to gain a taste and found that she shielded from me, so much so that even the sigil at my wrist did not trickle with warmth.

Morina’s entire body straightened and stiffened like an arrow.

“Attack me if you wish,” Iliaria said as she stepped more fully into the room. “You were always quicker to fight than you were to think.”

An animalistic growl began to drum beneath Morina’s ribcage.

“Be angry,” Iliaria said, “but know this, Morina. I did not betray you. I am not the reason human men chose this place as their hideout. I did not go out into the human night and guide them here. If you want to know who did, you’ll have to look elsewhere.”

Morina turned her back on me but not before I felt the wave of emotion rise from the center of her body. It hit me and threatened to squeeze the air from my lungs. I suddenly felt light-headed and nauseous and fought to push against that emotional surge, fought to keep it outside of myself.