Pushing the woman's head into the folds of the mattress while his weight pinned the rest of her down, Dorin pumped his hips several times into her and before long he unravelled, grunting and twitching as he climaxed.
Once he was done, he picked himself off of the woman's back, pushing her aside with little effort. With a sudden clarity flooding his mind, he climbed out of the bed, strutting over to where he'd hung his silk robe. He threw the garment over his body, covering his toned figure.
The dark-haired human he'd moments ago pleasured himself with turned to her side, curling her hands beneath her cheek to lift her face high enough off the bed so she could observe the panting man. He was very handsome— his hair was a light brown, falling over his forehead reaching his thick eyebrows in loose curls. His eyes when it wasn't shining were grey with flakes of brown in between.
In addition to his physical beauty, Dorin carried himself very well. His physique was fit and he was always well groomed, which often left all the women he'd been with in the past questioning his sexuality for he was obsessed with his appearance far more than any straight man they knew.
“Here I was thinking a beast like you could go all night, my lord,”
Chuckling to himself, he replied after lighting up a cigar and taking several puffs from it. “Beast or human, no man in this world can go all night, sweetheart, especially with that prize between your legs,”
Amused, the woman cackled and usually, Dorin would've indulged in his women sharing his humour, but with so much on his mind, the woman's voice sounded grating as she laughed and laughed.
“Get out,” he spoke in between puffing his cigar. His request perplexed the woman. “What?” she questioned, wondering why the sudden change of mood.
“You heard, leave. I paid you, and I paid you well. I will send for you when I need you again,”
“Are you serious?” the dark-haired woman questioned as she sat up in bed with a scowl.
“Leave!” the acting marquess exclaimed. His fangs flashed in her face and although she'd been exposed to what the man was, even allowing him to feed from her once or twice in the past, the sight of the protruding teeth still didn't stop her from flinching.
Quickly she jumped out of bed, gathering up the sheet to use to contain her nakedness as she left the chamber to find another one to get dressed in.
As she ran out of the man's sight, she bumped into a lady she'd seen but only in glimpses. From what she'd been told by the other women the marquess slept with and the humans who lived and worked in the castle, the mysterious woman with the dark aura was his mother.
“Pardon me,” the frantic courtesan said, avoiding eye contact and was gone from the older woman's sight in a flash.
Sauntering into her son's chamber, an amalgamation of curiosity and disappointment written on her face, Lady Inaya came upon him as he frantically smoked the cigar, its thick smoke curdled, choking the room.
“I reckon her escape still weighs heavily on your mind,” the older vampire's voice rang out inciting Dorin to flinch. He was so deep in his thoughts that he did not hear her presence.
“As it should be,” his mother then followed up with when she saw noted the worry in his being.
Frowning at her familiar face and scathingly sharp tone, the man continued to numbly smoke. “We searched the area where we last saw her, it turned up empty. There was no trace of her there, not even her scent. The tree I remembered vividly falling with her, do you know what happened to it, hmm?” questioned the marquess and his tone of voice made his mother arch a perfect brow.
Smacking his hands together for dramatic effect, the man replied. “It vanished, just like that!”
“That's not possible. Things don't just vanish; either it was never there or it moved somewhere else, but things never just stop existing,”
“And that's the thing, Mother,” he said turning his full attention to her intense gaze. “Trees might have limbs, but they can not walk. It couldn't have picked itself up and gone somewhere else and I know what I saw, even if I didn't remember I have my two fools who saw the same thing as I. The tree was there,”
With a sigh, the woman walked over to a lounge and took a seat, facing her son. “When you whine like that you almost sound like him. He was such a sissy at times, took a lot of convincing to get him to do things,”
Straightening her posture and gathering her thoughts, Lady Inaya continued. “I raised you better than this to be quite honest. I raised you to think critically, to look where no one else would look and to see the possibilities, but you've failed me,” she said, pausing to add to the anxiety she saw visible on her son's face.
“The reason you weren't able to find any trace of her in a place you remember vividly seeing her has to do with certain forces, Dorin. It might not have been her doing, but it, sure enough, sounds like magic and I'm positive that if you went back and studied the wood and the mountains, you'll find exactly what you've been missing, however, that ship has sailed. Ana will not stay there, but where she might be is with friends and colleagues she knows would shelter her,”
“What are you saying?”
Lady Inaya sighed. “Do I have to spell everything out for you? Narrow down who you think might still have her best interest and visit them. I'm sure I'd be able to detect a lie from one or two of them. Then, we'll imprison the liars and torture them until they tell us her whereabouts. With this plan, we have to move quickly because if she leaves Ashea this time your chances of finding her again becomes slim,”
Combing his fingers through his soft curls, Dorin was visibly stressed and although his mother pitied him, she also felt annoyed.
“If you had listened many moons ago when I told you to get rid of that girl, this would've never happened, but no, you chose to play with her as always. Like a cat whose belly was full so instead of doing his domestic duties, he found a friend in the rat that lived in his wake, now look at you,”
Angry that his mother was right, the marquess scowled in her face before marching away. Stopping in his tracks at the door, he turned back to her. “I'll compile a list of all the people I remember her being friends with and as soon as I'm able to, I'll visit them,”
“Good, it is about time you take matters into your hands,” his mother replied, ignoring him as if he was but a mere fly in her presence.
The man ground his teeth as he made his way down the halls. He was seething with rage and needed an output for it and sure enough, his thoughts drifted to the cells.
The course he'd begun to follow, Dorin strayed from, his new destination? Showing up at the entrance to the dark, fetid prison cells beneath his castle, the marquess came upon a guard standing duty in front of the only cell that was occupied.
When the guard with the shining eyes saw him, the man scrambled to bow before his superior. “My Lord,” he greeted, his head bent forward.
“Open it, I want to see him,”
The guard, not questioning the order nodded. “At once,”
A bunch of keys jingled as the man sifted through them. Quickly though, he pulled out the specific key needed to open the cell.
Stepping into the mouldy and dark enclosure, the marquess's impeccable gaze landed on the face of the vampire who regarded them with fear in his eyes. Although there was minimal light in the vicinity, Dorin held a scowl to the man. He also held within his heart an insurmountable hatred.
“Enjoying captivity yet? No?” the man asked rhetorically.
“Neither did Ana. She hated this place, although she never verbally complained. I knew from her mannerisms and facial expression though. So I thought to myself, since you let her use you to escape, well, it's only fair that you take her position down here.”
Stooping in front of the man, Dorin snatched a handful of his hair and yanked hard, causing him to groan as he looked directly at him.
“And captivity for her meant more than laying in this filth, being fed every several weeks and getting a change of clothing on occasions,” clicking his tongue, the marquess added. “Oh no, it meant much, much more,” he grinned, alluding to the notion of torture.
×
The women chuckled amongst themselves as the Lady of the House poured them each a glass of the finest blood there was on the market at the time. This decadent, crimson-coloured substance was so rich in sight and aroma that it allured one woman, The Baroness of a small area located south of Endeavour to the extent that she could not control herself when the cup was placed before her.
Curling her fingers around the slender glass, she brought it to her lips and threw her head back, gulping down the blood in mere seconds. Her eyes flashed a golden glint thereafter, singling that the properties within the blood awakened the thirst and hunger she experienced.
The other finely dressed ladies around the elegant table, watched as she gorged herself. After several seconds of silence, the women laughed at the lack of restraint their peer showed at the moment.
“My, my, Lady Valerie, why that blood must be impeccable to make you discard your decency in that manner,” said the hostess herself, offering a smirk so seductively charming, none of the women there were able to deny her beauty and charisma. Even so, one of the Ladies she often had many clandestine affairs with offered a lascivious smile in return that she acknowledged with a discreet nod of her head.
Chuckling nervously now that she was called out for her ravenous behaviour, Lady Valerie blushed and puckered down in her seat. “It is just that lately, our supplies have dwindled in quality. It seems the humans these days didn't favour their ancestors for the quality of their blood has reduced tremendously,”
“Or it could be your husband who rears and collects the crappiest of humans for you and yours to dine from down in what's it called, Trenchhall?”
“Treasurehall,” Lady Valerie corrected, her face contorting with irritation.
“Settle down, little ones,” the hostess, Lady Estermore chimed at the women who often bickered like children whenever they were around one another. The explanation for this? She had a particular suspicion that Lady Ruth was fond of the Baroness and her way of expressing this was portrayed in her antagonizing Valerie, usually in playful banter. Still, she needed to mitigate sometimes because although she recognized the two's bickering to be something far more complicated, it still did not stop them from causing a scene every once in a while.
“This has nothing to do with Baron Heath's collection of the blood, it's the quality that has dwindled and that has nothing to do with us, but with whom the humans choose to procreate. Albeit, here in the halls of Blaise Keep, we will always bless thee with the finest blood our money and power could garner,”
Raising her glass in the air, signalling a toast was a wealthy woman, Nadja from a place outside of Ashea called Painite. She was the woman whom Lady Estermore loved discreetly. “That the Lady always does whenever she entertains. She goes above and beyond for her friends and associates, and for this, we are thankful,” she praised.
The other women around the table lifted their glasses filled with the crimson substance and quietly cheered to the older hostess whom they all loved and adored.
Just as the Lady of the house was about to take her seat amid her friends, a servant girl, after knocking at the door to announce her presence walked into the room where several pairs of eyes found their way to her. She made sure to avert her eyes from them to not offend the women.
Twirling her fingers behind her back where her hands were clasped. “My ladies,” the young vampire said, keeping her gaze on the floor.
“Yes?” Lady Estermore quietly addressed.
“Pardon my intrusion, Mistress, but there's someone here to see you,”
Offering the servant girl a confused glare, the older woman probed further when the girl did not expound. “Did you learn the name of this someone, or why they are here at least?”
“They weren't forthcoming with any sort of information, they only requested to see you urgently. When asked why they needed an audience with you, the woman would not say, my lady,”
"So this person is a woman?"
The servant girl nodded and with this Lady Estermore allowed her gaze to fall upon the faces of the curious women around the table. Slipping them a friendly smile, she stood up gracefully. “Apologies my ladies but it seems as though I'm urgently needed, a woman is here to see me,”
Turning her attention to the servant, the woman studied her carefully. “Be sure to serve my guests anything they want while I'm away, I'd appreciate it.”
“Of course, mistress,” the girl said, curtsying before the lady.
With that, the woman cladded in the dark lace-infused gown that flowed behind her as the steady streams of the river that cut through the lands of both Treasurehall and Endeavour sauntered away from the hall. She already knew her home well enough to predict exactly where a visitor would be if they came and that was where she went.
Bustling airily into the waiting room that doubled as a second entertainment area during gatherings, Sylvia paused in her strides when she caught sight of the stranger's back.
A woman stood glaring out the window, observing the many topiaries that decorated the ground below and afar. That was all Sylvia needed to see: that indelible posture and svelte shoulders, long, jet-black hair before realization set in and her heart suddenly raced within her chest.
At that moment when they were not yet face to face, she could not believe it was who she thought it was, she did not want to believe it for she dreaded getting her hopes too high only to have them be ground to dust like a dried leaf.
“Anastasía?” the older woman whispered, afraid that she might be wrong, afraid that perhaps this was a figment of her imagination but slowly the vampire who looked over the bountiful landscape she remembered avidly visiting as a youngster turned around.
Her lustrous eyes fixed themselves onto the elegantly dressed woman who stood several feet away from her. Even at that distance, she could smell her— roses and spice, a combination Anastasia had never forgotten even after years of being absent from it. A scent that left both her heart and soul aching to seize it up and trap it in a bottle so she could take it everywhere for a time of comfort.
“Sylvia,” the vampire whispered back, tears settling in her eyes at the sight of the woman. She knew her emotions would consume her long before she'd reached there. It had started when she stopped in the village outside of the castle just to admire and take in its majesty.
The older woman, being dumbstruck, placed a hand to her mouth to hide the way it hung loose in shock. Doubt clouded her thoughts and she felt if she blinked too hard she would lose sight of the angel before her.
“Tell me this is not a dream,”
Smiling through the tears that blinded her and the pain that ached in her chest, the raven head responded. “Not a dream,”
Letting out a soft cry, the older woman's face slowly broke out into a smile.
“How long has it been, since I've seen you last?” Anastasía asked, still standing where she was but with each second that passed her eyes misted up more and more.
After what seemed several minutes of the two studying each other in both surprise and admiration and worry, Sylvia inched closer to the slender figure.
“It has been too long, my darling,” the Lady whispered.
As if Anastasía was a magnet that attracted her with its pull, the woman found herself in her space, cupping her face in the palms of her cold hands. Left emotional at the gentleness and care in the way the woman caressed her, Ana's lids slid shut.
“I have spent many, many moons wondering about you. Everywhere I travelled I pray I'd run into you but I never did. I even had countless letters written and sent to your cousin so that he would pass them along to you, and still, I had no response from my star girl, but you've finally come home,” the woman said, her silver pools misting up. However, something about the way the younger woman behaved and the sadness written on her visage told a tale of something distressing.
“What has happened to you?” Sylvia questioned after studying the way Anastasía's once supple and tanned skin looked dull. There was a frailness to her figure, her face did not look as full as she remembered it being, but thin and sickly. Her eyes were not as bright and filled with joy, but harbouring some sort of sadness.
There were dozens of scars on the visible parts of her body, scars she'd never seen before. Sylvia knew she had scars even from before, there was a particular one that sat upon the lid of her left eye and continued downward to her cheek; that one had always been there but there were more.
“A lot has happened since you last saw me,”
“I can tell,” replied Sylvia. “I can feel it, the energy that is tethered to you right now is not your own, but you have been carrying it for a while,”
Feeling her emotions threaten to spill, Anastasia gently pulled her face away from the older woman. She did not want to be read like that, especially when she was that vulnerable.
Diverting the conversation from herself and onto something else, Anastasía put even more distance between her and the older vampire. “I see you are doing better than I remember,” she said.
“I see some things haven't changed,” Sylvia replied, pointing to the one thing that had not changed about her.
“Don't do that Ana,” Sylvia crooked, her brows fusing with concern. “You don't get to stand here and pretend as though you have not been gone for nearly a century. Why do you always deflect so much? Where were you? How are you? Why are you here without notice?”
Refusing to speak on why she chose to deflect, Anastasía allowed her gaze to bore right into the woman who relented to her observation.
“I have been doing exceptionally well since you have left, yes. I am now widowed and all of Endeavour belongs to me, since my late husband and I had no heirs and he and all his brothers and their heirs died tragically at the hands of humans,”
“Tragically and at the hands of humans, mh?”
“Oh, most definitely. May their souls rest peacefully in whatever dark abyss they dwell in now,”
Smiling at Sylvia's response, Anastasía replied. “Its quite refreshing to see you have not changed much either, both morally and physically,”
“I can't entirely say the same, Ana. You have changed, I see it in your eyes, I smell it from your pores and it's horrible, whatever this change is. It makes you look sick darling; are you sick?”
“Not sick but hungry,” Anastasía replied humbly. “I travelled on foot for some time,”
Nodding at the words, Lady Sylvia took them as a request and before long slipped out of the room where in the halls she bumped into another servant she instructed to fetch her a pitcher of blood. Returning shortly after, the older woman stood in quietude, observing the emaciated version of the woman she once knew and loved until the servant emerged with what they'd been sent for.
In a quiet exchange, the servant handed the tray to the Lady of the house and bowed before leaving.
“Do not wander too far,” Sylvia informed.
“Yes, mistress,” answered the man. He then left the room to stand outside to give the women privacy and in his absence, Lady Estermore walked over to a table where she placed the tray.
Pouring a generous quantity of blood into the wine glass, she offered it to Anastasía whose gaze immediately locked onto it. She'd smelled the blood the moment the servant started walking down the halls with it and she did her best to remain grounded for she was still so hungry and had been hungry even when she stayed with the woman and the child back in Obscure. She hadn't much to consume except for the sparse blood she drank from her rescuer's veins and although it was divine, it was barely enough to keep her going.
Sylvia regarded her closely. She noted the way her body suddenly broke out with sweat and thought it was concerning. A vein protruded from her forehead, thick and blue, an obvious sign that she was holding back from letting the thirst consume her.
“It's okay, you may have it,” she spoke gently to Ana, worried that the younger woman would hurt herself from the way she tried to remain unfazed by the blood.
As soon as those words left the woman's lips, in the blink of an eye, Anastasía rushed over to her, snatching the cup from her hand and chugging the blood. Grunting, she turned her attention to the pitcher which she picked up and chugged too, whipping her mouth with the back of her hand thereafter but remnants of the blood still lingered on her ample lips.
“Gael,” Lady Estermore called out and almost immediately the young, male servant was before her.
“Fetch me one from the reserves,”
“Yes, mistress,”
“And be sure to bring the biggest, strongest one you could find, we need one that can withstand her feeding from them, hopefully,” she added before the vampire could sprint away.
Just the two of them alone once again, Sylvia turned to Anastasía who stood gripping the pitcher and panting heavily.
“Ana,” she hummed. “What happened to you?”
“I was held captive by him,” the younger woman mindlessly answered, fighting the hunger she'd suppressed. She didn't know why she did it, travelling there to Endeavour she'd stumbled upon many she could've drunk from but she withheld herself, fearing if she'd stopped, somehow she would've been caught and taken back. Now, this hunger rippled through her. The blood she consumed only made it worst as she could feel the stripes of pain as they clawed at her stomach.
“By who, sweetheart?”
“Dorin,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes. It hurt saying that out loud. It hurt having to admit that someone she knew for years and had loved and seen as a brother betrayed her so.
“Your cousin, Dorin?” Sylvia questioned in disbelief. Saying such a thing even sounded like absurdity to her.
Biting her lips that trembled, Anastasía dropped the pitcher. It fell to the ground, spilling a small remnant of blood on the plush carpet. Wrapping her arms around herself, the woman couldn't help but burst into tears. And in seconds, Sylvia was by her side, stroking her hair and cooing to her as she sobbed violently.
“Shhh,” the older woman hushed her as she soothed over her head which lay on her shoulder. “Everything's all well, I'm here with you and you're safe,”
“He hurt me,” Anastasía choked. “He was my family and I trusted him yet he chose to betray me,”
Family, the vampire thought. Imagine even after all that he did and all that was discovered she still considered him as family. It showed she was either pathetic, brainwashed or truly saw the man as her flesh and blood.
“How long were you held captive?”
“For as long as you haven't seen me, Sylvia,” answered Anastasía. She pulled away from the older woman when she was finally calmed by her soothing nature. “He kept me hidden at his father's castle in the marsh,”
“God have mercy, a century Ana?!”
Hurting at the thought of everything she endured within, Anastasía grieved. She mourned the loss of an entire century of her life. She mourned who she was before she was locked away, she missed the bubbly person she once was, she missed what she was and as she stood there, trembling from the memories of what happened to her she knew she'd never be the same.
“How did you escape?” questioned Sylvia and truly even Anastasía didn't remember much of it. She knew there was another vampire involved, one who had recently moved to the castle for work, one she'd never seen before that night.
“It's all a blur to me, how I escaped. I remember a man. He was new. He was nice to me and even looked at me which they were not supposed to do. The next thing I know I was fleeing the castle and Dorin and his men chased after me,”
“You hypnotized him?”
“Apparently. They usually protected them against me but this one was not and I probably sensed it,”
Disturbed by what was told to her, Sylvia eventually accepted what happened.
“What do you intend to do now that you're free, might I ask?”
“I don't know,”
“You can't let him get away, Ana, that is for certain. Not only would he have succeeded in breaking you but he will be reaping the benefit of your absence. With you gone, he will continue to be known as the acting Marquess, it is what he's been doing and everyone thought it was because of you. Everyone thought you left him in charge to care for Obscure and tend to your family's duties,”
Anastasía wiped at her tears. She sniffed her nose as she regarded the older vampire. “What did he say to you all about my absence?”
“That you left Ashea because you wanted more: you wanted to tour the world, meet people, have experiences. He told us that you left to find yourself and found yourself you did for you ended up in some foreign land, married to a prince of supernatural origin like yourself. He said this prince treated you well, so well that you did not want to come home,”
“Married to a prince?” Anastasía frowned.
“Unbelievable right? It is why, to this very day I still have not held his audience. I refused to believe that the woman I'd had throws of passion with was interested in men this entire time. I felt like that was something I would've known, but yes, that is what he chose to tell people, especially the rest of your family and from what I can share, it seems as though most of those pampered assholes believed him too,”
“He was always a persuasive man, with many tricks up his sleeve, him and his mother.”
“I don't care about what sort of trick he has, I want to know what you intend on doing to fix this,”
“Lay low,” Anastasía shrugged. “He will be looking for me. He will turn this whole country upside down until he finds me. That means he will come here, and he will interrogate you and anyone else whose mind he was not able to sway from me,”
“He can come,” said Sylvia, scowling at the thought of that snake of a man. “I'll show him what it is like to cross paths with someone like me,”
Gently reaching out and curling her hand around Anastasía's arm, she pulled her close. Looking into her eyes, the older woman felt guilt for not trying harder to reach her former lover.
“You need to put an end to this now or else it will get nasty. He can make up all sorts of lies and schemes once he finds out that you are alive. He will want you dead, which brings me to ask, why didn't he kill you?”
The vampire's thought drifted off. All the horrible things Dorin said to her, all the hatred laced in those words made her teary again. How could someone she grew up with, ate with, laughed with, lived with, and shared a childhood with hate her so much?
“He said keeping me alive was far sweeter. He said he enjoyed my suffering and that one day when my pain no longer brought him gratification he would then turn to put an heir in me,”
“God forbid!” Sylvia exclaimed, her eyes and fangs flashing at the nonsense she heard. She was interrupted amid expressing her distaste when the servant she'd sent to fetch a human returned. Both she and Anastasía became distracted by the person Gael brought with him.
A man almost six feet tall and packed with muscles stood before them. His hands were shackled behind his back, his feet chained together but left loose enough so he could walk. The minute he noticed the Lady of the House in the room, he averted his eyes to the floor.
“Mistress,” the human mumbled.
Turning her gaze to her guest and former lover, Sylvia nodded. “Ana,” she spoke her name, letting her know that this human was hers to dine on.
Immediately distracted by the scent of the man's blood, in a trance-like state, Anastasía walked over to him. Both Lady Estermore and the servant watched as those wonderful colours appeared in the woman's eyes. These colours, this shimmer also reflected in the eyes of the formidable man.
Somehow convinced that he needed to kneel, the human fell to his knees and in mere seconds Anastasía was at his side, her face already in the crook of his neck.
Lady Estermore watched as her guest retracted and sank her formidable fangs into the man's neck, drinking every drop from him in mere seconds, stopping only when there was nothing left to come out from his veins.
The human who walked into the room rather healthy and lively looked like a zombified version of himself. His eyes sunk into his head, his once brown skin was now sallow, and the veins beneath his flesh printed against the skin.
Anastasía had handled his body as if he weighed less than a feather, tossing him aside like a used rag.
Feeling the surge of energy that boosted her body, the vampire felt the strength in her limbs return, though not to its full extent. Yes, this man's blood she'd just consumed was of high quality and it sated her hunger and boosted her immune system, but somehow her mind drifted back to the woman's blood she had two days before. It was perplexing because she barely scratched the surface when it came to the quantity of blood she had from the strange woman, yet it quelled and satisfied something in her that she never knew was lacking.
Nonetheless, as if she'd received some form of clarity or as if the spirit of her former self had possessed her, Anastasía regarded Sylvia with a stern look. She lifted her chin, squared her powerful shoulders and with a firm voice said,
“The time for me to avenge myself is not yet upon us. I must first rest, and gain my strength and only when I would've done this will I be able to properly deal with Dorin and those who aided in my imprisonment,”
From where she stood, the Lady of Endeavour offered a smirk to the younger woman.
“In this, you will have my undying support along with all the ladies under my wing and the support of their husbands,” she replied. “And you are welcomed to stay here for as long as you need a home,” said the woman but Anastasía's mind, at the mention of the word home, drifted back to the little cottage in the middle of nowhere.