Page 21 of Mating Season
Finally, I open my eyes, and I wish I hadn’t. I’m in a large stone room that I swear is a throne room. It’s all dark gothic design. It’s exactly what you would expect a vampire’s castle to look like—absolutely no mysteries to unravel here—though I assume it doesn’t look like a gothic castle on the outside. I’m pretty sure people would notice that.
I’m lying on the cold stone floor, and he’s sitting above me on what looks like a throne with a terrifying looking guard standing on either side of him.
He has cold ice blue eyes and a sneer on his handsome mouth. Oh, no question, he’s hot. But he’s evil—and not the good kind of evil. He’s not the “villain… but not really”. He’s not the misunderstood beast who just needs to be healed by a good woman’s love.
No, this guy isempty. There is nothing inside him to melt, nothing to fix. Nothing to reach. He feels older than the earth itself, and I know I have no hope of manipulating him.
“No, you really don’t,” he says. “I’m glad you’re at least smart enough to recognize that, even if you weren’t smart enough to do the one thing that could have saved you from me. Accept the bear’s mating mark.”
I feel somehow suddenly even more vulnerable than I did just a few minutes ago—if even my thoughts aren’t private… what hope do I really have here?
“Did Cooper not tell you about me?” he prods, twisting the knife in deeper.
“He told me about vampires,” I say, realizing the complete redundancy of even speaking to a man who can read your mind.And did Cooper really tell me about vampires, or did he just mention in passing that they existed?
“No, I mean me, specifically. Or maybe he just doesn’t know. I killed his brother’s mate. She was quite an entree. She tasted like red velvet cake. I admittedly have a weakness for sweet things. She was so good, I just gorged on her blood until she was no more. But… I like to think I’ve grown as a person since then. So don’t worry, I plan to take my time with you—use restraint. Who knows… maybe you could be my pet for years… decades… centuries, even. My blood can keep you at just the right…vibrancy… for my taste—for as long as I wish.”
No, Cooper failed to inform me of all of this. And now I’m back to being mad at him. Sure, now that I have a control in this experiment to compare with, Cooper clearly isn’t evil. But, he might be a fucking dumbass. How could he not tell me about this?
And have you blame him even more for being forced into mating?
I wonder briefly if this is my own traitorous internal dialogue or if the vampire has pushed this thought into my head. But I know deep down, it’s me finally seeing reality for the first time.
“You know, poppet, that death defying stunt you pulled to escape the horrors of being mated to a total sweetie pie like Cooper? That wasn’t your idea, so I hope you aren’t planning to claim it was.”
He snaps his fingers like a hypnotist breaking his spell, and all at once the dream I had last night floods back into my mind, and I know it was only being held back from my awareness by the vampire. He slunk into my dreams last night. He gave me every piece of the escape. I followed his plan exactly as he’d laid it out, like some zombie acting out a play. It was all a trap.
I’m torn between relief that I don’t have to blame myself for running away from Cooper this time, and disappointment thatI only thought I was fully in control while I was planning and executing my escape. It felt so real. It felt like my idea. But even if it wasn’t, I still did those things. There was no supernatural power that led to my success. I could have just as easily failed and fallen to my death.
The vampire doesn’t seem interested in my mental hamster wheel; he just continues his villain speech.
“I’ve been tracking you since you returned from California. Unfortunately Cooper beat me to you… initially, at least. It was quite a puzzle to figure out how to get you out of a locked penthouse in the middle of the day when he was away, no less. I had to go to great lengths. The number of people I had to enthrall, well, you just wouldn’t believe the work I’ve put in to acquire you. You should feel flattered. First there were the tenants just below you… I had to get them to move out, quickly and at the last minute. I had to get the building owner to go along with it, and then clear out the apartment as he justhappenedto decide he really needed to remodel everything and bring construction workers in. It was some of my finest work. And of course one of my human servants brought you to me once you were out in the wild again.”
I can’t stop the tears. I have nothing to say to this monster. And I know begging won’t do any good. There is no humanity in him, so why bother?
“Oh, come now. You’ll have wealth and luxury here, too. I mean, you’ll eventually have luxury, once you’ve earned my favor. I don’t just give out nice airy rooms for free, you know. I’m not quite so eager to please as your besotted mate.” His dark gaze sweeps lewdly over me, and I know exactly how he plans for me to earn my nice room. “Eventually you’ll grow to enjoy my touch, my bite, the feeding. It’s all quite dark and erotic. I’ll turn you into a completely new creature. And you’ll forget all about silly pesky things like freedom and art.Makingart, that is. I planto expand your no-doubt subpar education onrealfine art. I have some of the rarest paintings in the world in my collection.”
I don’t have any brave words. The banter that easily flowed between Cooper and me is absent in the face of this primeval threat.
He sighs. “I do hope you’ll become an interesting conversationalist, poppet. It’s really not enough to be young and pretty and have delicious blood. Are you understanding me? Are you mute? Speak!” He barks that last word out at me like I’m a dog.
“Yes, I understand,” I bite out.
“Good. I would hate to have to just drain you, but if you aren’t going to be the slightest bit entertaining, it doesn’t matter how rare your flavor is. I’d prefer someone grateful for the opportunities I present. I’ll show you the world. We’ll travel everywhere. I’ll put you in the finest clothes, keep you in the most luxurious lodgings. All you have to do is be a tiny bit agreeable and pleasant. Do you think you can manage that? I mean, it’s only your life on the line here, after all.”
“Yes,” I choke out. Thankfully my inner voice has stopped taunting and judging me for my choices. For all I know, the vampire has been manipulating my mind from the very beginning.
“No,” he says, “You don’t get to put that on me. Also, I would start to guard my thoughts, if I were you. I can be quite sadistic when I’m displeased with a blood doll. Just something to keep in mind. Rodolfo?”
He gestures to one of his guards, and a moment later, I’m picked up off the floor and placed on the vampire’s lap.
I shudder in his cold embrace as he strokes my hair as though I’m a pet he just picked up from the pound. And he probably does see me this way. He did call mepet, after all. It’s such a vampire cliché, but I’m sure this is how he truly sees me. Just anamusement. Something to dress up in little Goth Barbie outfits. Someone to train to do tricks. There is no reality in which he would ever see me as his equal.
Cooper might be an otherworldly being, but he’s not inhuman.
“That’s because a shifterispart human,” the vampire says. He can’t even pretend to stay out of my mind, and I have no idea how to keep him out. What doesguard your thoughtseven mean? I can’t just stop thinking.
He takes my chin in his hand and turns me sharply to face him. His fingers are long and elegant, and his grip is like a vice. He’s very pale with dark hair and lips so red he looks like a goth who has painted his face with makeup, except that it isn’t makeup. My heart rate picks up speed as it occurs to me that he may have already eaten tonight. How else would his lips have this much color? Did he kill them? Did he…? I refuse to let my conscious mind complete this thought, but he picks up on it anyway.
