Chapter 11
Her tent was sumptuous. Filled with fine rugs, heavy furs and wools. A chaise lounge, fireplace roaring away, and a deep pile bed with a thick comforter and pillows. I looked for his latest bed toy and found a young boy dressed in silks and furs lying at the foot of the bed. He didn’t look as if he were breathing but I saw his hand moving to wipe at his face. He looked like a native from the border of Tenistan, a state near the southern reaches of Ehrenberg. He was fair-haired, blue-eyed and tall.
“Does he know what happens to your lovers, Blackfin?” I managed to rasp and for my reward, I was thrown to the floor where I lay in a tangle of limbs. I noted with wry amusement that I was leaving a mess on his fancy rugs. He sent the guards away, bent at the waist to grab me by my hair and dragged me over to the edge of the bed.
“Tomas,” he ordered and the boy lazily sat up and blinked at us. His mouth formed an ‘O’ as he stared at me.
“Is this him?” He asked coming alive. “This is the creature you promised I could have?” I looked at Blackfin and the boy. He slid off the bed and leaned over me to cup my face. Delicately, he bent and placed his lips on mine. I gagged and pushed at him but something odd was happening. Something seemed to be pulling out of me and into the youth so that I felt weak and helpless.
Abruptly, my body flickered with little blue flames, my fangs elongated and I was biting his neck, drawing back what he’d taken from me and more. Ecstasy filled me, made me feel as if I were a hundred feet tall and strong as a mountain. Then, it curled in my gut and I threw up, breaking the curious bond between the two of us.
“Incubus!” I whispered, wiping my face on the bed skirt.
“Vampire,” he whispered and touched the leaking holes in his throat.
Blackfin smiled. “Tomas, did you taste his blood?”
“No, Master. Nor his soul. Yet, he touched mine.” The incubus looked worried. “Can he feed on my kind, my Lord?”
“Apparently not. Nor you on him. Tomas, bring me a tender young treat for our Toby.”
“No! No more children will die to feed me, witch,” I said but he ignored me.
The male incubus slipped out of the tent without any outerwear returning in a few moments with a soldier dressed as if just readying for bed. His eyes looked dazed and he had an obvious erection that he did not attempt to hide. The incubus had already tasted him, hyped up his lust and he entered Blackfin’s tent with an eagerness that haunted me. Blackfin stepped aside and told me to eat. I refused.
He said, “Shall I call the good Sgt. Hudson to remind you what disobedience brings you?”
I shivered. I couldn’t bear the thought of another session under the flagellum. Trembling, I reached up and accepted the young man’s hand wondering if what he saw was a gentle young maiden instead of the beaten bloody creature who would take his blood.
“How much?” I whispered to Blackfin.
He spread his hands. “Whatever you wish. As much as you need. There are hundreds more like him ready to feed you. You have only to ask.”
I vowed I would take only enough to let my body heal. I bent my head towards his neck and let the allure wrap him so that he saw the most beautiful maiden of his lifetime kissing him. As my fangs pierced his arteries, he sighed and his body gave in to his climax. Blood filled my mouth, settled in my stomach and I took more until all I could taste was the thrill of life’s blood filling me until to my horror, all I held in my arms was the thin, shriveled corpse of a hundred-year-old man.
I dropped the corpse in disbelief. Stared at the two of them. I could not stop. I wanted to stop but I had been unable to tear myself away before I had drained him of life.
“What did you do to me?” I asked, I pleaded with them to understand.
“Nothing, Tobias. This is what you are. Embrace it. You have no control over the craving and once you bite, you must imbibe to the end. There are no half measures in your curse.” He pushed his face into mine. “The blood will heal your wounds. Hudson can and will torture you again on my command. You are my prisoner, my thrall to use as I see fit. You cannot fight me for my magic and power stronger than yours and the incubus has chained you on my orders.”
“Chained me how?” I asked, my heart beating hard in my chest.
“When you bit him, he exchanged blood with you and that blood is bound by magic to me. He cannot defy me nor can you.” He smiled at me. “Remove your rags, Tobias and bend over for me.”
Aghast, I stared at him, shaking my head but even as my words screamed ‘no’, my body obeyed his orders. “Please,” I begged. “Don’t do this to me!”
“I always keep my promises, Toby,” he said breathing in my ear. “You would do well to remember that.”
I could see the demon thing watching from the bed with lustful eyes. “When you are done, Master,” his lips curled in a sadistic smile. “May I imbibe in the creature also?”
Blackfin put his hands on my hips and stroked my naked flesh. My stomach curled in terror, the bloody stripes on my back flaring in pain as he scraped his nails across. “You may and all your friends as well,” the wizard promised.
I closed my eyes and whimpered just as the ground trembled beneath my feet and alarms sounded. Blackfin let go and I fell onto my stomach. “Stay!” he said as he bolted from the room leaving me alone with the incubus.