He left her line of sight, and she buried a restless hand in her pussy, stroking her clit to soothe the raging fire building between her thighs. When he returned, she made no effort to stop touching herself, since he hadn't forbidden it... exactly... At the familiar sight of the red velvet ropes in his hand, her heart raced with excitement. Many times, he'd used them on her for both their pleasure.
"I'm going to tie you in knots." Jalen stopped before her, his gaze centered on her masturbating. "Stop touching yourself, Nadya. You're not supposed to enjoy all of this any more than I enjoyed not knowing your fate."
"Yes, Master." Immediately, she dropped her hand. Jalen intercepted it, bringing the appendage to his mouth, where he thoroughly licked her fingers before pulling her arm behind her. She offered no resistance when he took her other hand to bind both of them behind her back. The rope bit into her skin just enough to feel it, and she shivered at the sensations. He bound her wrists to her ankles, but didn't tie her feet together.
A sound of satisfaction rumbled his chest when he stepped back to survey her, looking pleased. Hobbled as she was, lying partially on her stomach and partly on her side, it was difficult to look up to see his expression, but she managed.
"Lashes are appropriate, so you can know the sting of uncertainty."
Nadya smiled, pleased to see the whisper-soft whip he produced from a back pocket. It was the softest kid leather. She sighed with satisfaction at the first lash of the whip. Each strand separated, smacking her ass with pleasing coverage that left enough sting to remind her she'd just been spanked.
Jalen struck five times with the whip before pausing. Nadya groaned when he rubbed the tender flesh to dissipate the tingle. "Thank you, Master."
"I want your mouth open for only one purpose, my love." Jalen pushed his cock against her face, using one hand to slap the head lightly against her cheek. When he rubbed his erection against her lips, she parted her mouth to accept all of him. Nadya bobbed and sucked on his shaft as he continued striking her with the whip across the lower thighs, buttocks, and back.
Their mingled cries of pleasure must have masked the sound of the door opening, because Rem caught them unaware as he charged across the room, lunged at Jalen, and toppled him to the floor. "Leave her alone, you sadistic fuck."
"Rem --"
He didn't allow his brother to speak. Rem pressed his forearm against Jalen's throat. "I should have known I couldn't trust you. Here I was, starting to think you were a good man who had just chosen the wrong path. I was a fool."
"Rem, stop it." Nadya rolled onto her side in order to better project her voice and to see the two men. "He isn't hurting me."
"Don't defend him, Nadya. There are marks on your skin."
She nodded. "Okay, yes, he is hurting me, but because I want him to. I need this aspect of Jalen's sexuality as much as I need your tenderness and caring. You might not understand why we enjoy this kind of play, but you must know it is consensual. I like having him whip me."
Rem eased his hold on Jalen, allowing his brother to roll away. The men rose to their feet almost in concert, eyeing each other warily. "I don't understand this, and I won't pretend to." He shrugged, gaze still on Jalen. "If that's what she wants..." Trailing off, Rem looked toward the door, soon turning to leave.
"Don't leave, Rem." Panic made her voice thick, and she had to swallow the lump in her throat. Would the darker side of her relationship with Jalen prove to be too much for Rem, with his gentler nature, to accept?
He turned back to her. "I ain't leaving for good, love. You two need your privacy."
Nadya shook her head. "I don't want you to go."
Rem looked lost. "What do you want from me? I don't have a role in this game."
"Playtime is over," said Jalen. "This can wait until another time. Right now, let's fuck Nadya until she forgets her name."
After a brief hesitation, Rem nodded and returned to them. Clearly impatient, he shed his clothes along the way, and by the time the three of them were on the bed again, he was naked.
Nadya reveled in his gentle fingers unfastening the ropes, and she shivered when he bent her over his lap in order to brush his lips across the marks on her back. As he soothed the sore spots, Jalen laid beside her, turning her head so he could kiss her. Her tongue engaged his in passionate battle, and sensations flooded her body. She was wet and ready for them.
Jalen and Rem guided her to a sitting position, and Jalen pulled her onto his lap. His slippery cock, clearly lubed already, nudged her anus, but he held off. "I think most of the families are accepting the union. What do you think?"
Rem shrugged as he knelt in front of her, the hair of his chest tickling her skin. "No one has openly challenged us yet, except that harpy houseguest of yours." Distaste laced his tone, and he licked her neck, as if making the effort to cleanse his palette.
Nadya wriggled, trying to impale Jalen's erection. To her frustration, he held her still against him, his hands vises locking her hips in place. "I want --"
Jalen interrupted her, still talking to Rem. "Kumiko won't give up the anticipated merger easily. She's the type who likes power. I've been thinking and have come to the conclusion that we have to show her we're completely serious about this union."
Nadya reached for Rem's hand to guide it to her breast, and then whimpered with frustration when all he did was lightly squeeze the globe before letting it rest in his hand. "Touch me, Rem," she purred, trying to sound sultry.
"Hold on, love." He brushed a light kiss across her mouth before lifting his head. "I don't know what else we can do to prove to her that you're not marrying her crazy ass. I understand why you think you owe her something, but I think you're going to have to drag her out of the house if you want to get rid of her."
Jalen finally relented to her squirms, loosening his hold on her hips. Nadya lifted her bottom until his cock barely penetrated her opening. "You might be right, but I've come up with a plan that should show our sincerity to all the families, and especially Kumiko."
Nadya sighed with satisfaction as she sank onto his erection. Rem now cupped both her breasts and was rubbing her nipples. She was satisfied and content to block out the details of their conversation. She had more important matters to pursue -- such as getting both their cocks inside her as quickly as possible. Her pussy ached for something to fill it.
"What'd you have in mind?" asked Rem as he cuddled closer, the head of his cock rubbing against her clit before he lowered it to nestle in her opening.
Nadya lifted her ass higher to accommodate Rem's questing cock, forcing Jalen to lean back slightly in the process. "Fuck me, Rem." He grinned at her and complied, sliding as deeply into her as the position would allow. She leaned back against Jalen, her hair falling over both their shoulders and down his back.
"I think we have to make Nadya one of us."
She froze in mid-thrust. "What?"
"You mean a vampire?" asked Rem, already shaking his head. "I won't do that."
Jalen seemed to have anticipated his objection. "It's no secret how much you hate being a vampire. Everyone knows you were converted against your will, so you wouldn't undertake making a vampire lightly."
"I won't undertake it at all." Rem seemed on the verge of separating from them and storming out.
Nadya was starting to see the brilliance of Jalen's plan, and she reached out to Rem, putting her hands on his shoulders. "He's right, love. If you and Jalen both convert me to a vampire, it will prove your commitment to me and the union."
His features contorted, revealing his confusion and pain. "Don't you understand how terrible it is to change? How dangerous? Do you really want to be dependent on blood?"
"Your transformation wasn't typical, Rem," said Jalen. "It can be a beautiful process, or it can be horrifying. No one made an effort to guide you through the visions and dreams that plague the one being transformed. We wouldn't do that to Nadya."
"I can't do it," said Rem. He was so upset that his cock was softening inside her.
Nadya nodded. "It's okay. You don't have to." Disappointment pricked her, surprising her. She'd entertained the thought of asking Jalen to change her since the three of them united, but hadn't really considered it a possibility. Apparently, she'd hoped for it to be anyway, regardless of what she'd told herself.
"Brother --" Jalen put a hand on Rem's shoulder, "-- there's one thing you aren't thinking about."
Rem's stiff shoulders and firmly set lips indicated he wouldn't surrender to any argument. "What's that?"
"Barring any accidents or death in battle, you and I will outlive Nadya by at least a hundred years." He rubbed his chin against the top of her head. "The idea of spending a century without Nadya is unthinkable. I can't do it. Even if I could, there is a more political side to her early death, one that we have to address. Not knowing we are brothers, the other clans are going to be expecting our union to splinter when she dies. Some might be content to let Nadya live out her natural lifespan. Some won't."
Rem paled as the implication set in. "Is this really the best way to protect her though?"
She felt Jalen nod when his cheek brushed hers. "I think so. As a vampire, she'll be more resistant to any assassination attempts, and our converting her together will signal to those waiting for the union to dissolve that it is permanent. Even Kumiko will have to believe it then."
"I'd let you turn me into anything if it meant getting rid of that harridan." Nadya said it lightly, but she couldn't hide the underlying note of seriousness. Kumiko had to go, and if becoming a vampire was the way to get rid of her, she could do that. Besides, the thought of leaving Jalen and Rem alone for so long was intolerable. Almost as unbearable was the idea of growing old and feeble while they stayed young and strong, aging at a much slower rate. "Please change me."
Rem's shoulders dropped, and while he didn't verbally consent, it was clear he was in agreement. Jalen began thrusting into her again, and Nadya returned his thrusts, making sure she wiggled her bottom to stimulate Rem's semi-flaccid erection. Soon, he was hard and filling her pussy again.
They fell into a thrusting trance, the three of them moving in union. Completely filled, Nadya strained for climax, needing it as much as she dreaded the moment when they would separate again, at least until the next time the three of them made love. Their throbbing cocks pounded into her, pushing her to the brink of orgasm. Her pussy convulsed, and her back passage clenched tighter around Jalen's shaft.
"Now," said Jalen in a reverent whisper. "Bite her, Rem."
The orgasm overtook her as their mouths pierced her skin. They sucked her neck, draining her blood just as surely as her muscles tightening and spasming around their cocks drained them. Their hot spurts of release shot into her as her warm blood filled their mouths. A sense of vertigo overwhelmed her, making the room spin.
Nadya clung to her lovers as the dizziness worsened, and a black veil fell over her eyes. She hovered on the edge of unconsciousness, and surprisingly, another orgasm. When Rem pushed his wrist against her mouth, she drank from the wound her tongue found. The taste of his blood was coppery and salty, but not wholly unpleasant. Jalen brought his wrist to her mouth, pressing it beside Rem's. Nadya lapped the blood that dripped into her mouth, no longer able to discern whose blood she was ingesting. As planned, their blood mingled in her, as hers now flowed in their veins. Her pussy tightened as she came, and the euphoria of her climax ushered her into a state deeper than unconsciousness, but with a heightened level of awareness beyond anything she'd ever imagined.
Chapter Five.
Several days later, Nadya rode through the Q on a white mare in the company of two men from Jalen's militia. She didn't necessarily agree that she needed protection, especially since word of her conversion had surely reached all the provinces by now, but her lovers had been insistent. Their combined strength and sense of purpose, when exerted upon the same goal, was nearly insurmountable. Arguing had proven for naught, but at least she'd remained firm in her conviction that she had to see her grandmother without Jalen and Rem. If she could get her grandmother to see her at all, her best chance was by herself, not with the two vampires at her side.
All around, signs of rejuvenation manifested themselves. The streets were free of litter and waste. New ditches flowed with water for crop irrigation, and cleared fields showed sprouts of greenery here and there. Other groups had undertaken the task of upgrading the buildings, and several structures looked new after renovation. Even the people themselves showed marks of change. Homespun clothes still seemed to be the norm, but most were neat and clean, recently repaired, or newly woven. The most amazing sign of transformation was in the children. The ones she saw playing looked healthier, without the hollow cheeks indicative of too little food that she remembered from when she'd lived among the humans of the Q.
The apartment building where she'd lived with her grandmother remained unchanged, though it seemed to have fewer residents. Her newly heightened senses told her that as much as the forlorn air of the building itself. Nadya dismounted, trying to ignore her bodyguards, and entered the building. The stairs were rickety as ever, but she treaded them confidently, knowing all the weak spots.
She knocked on the closed door, no longer feeling comfortable just walking in. After a second, she heard the shuffle of feet and her grandmother's heartbeat as the older woman approached the door. Nadya held her breath when the door opened, not certain if Granny would even allow her past the doorway.
A look of displeasure contorted Granny's face, but she didn't slam the door. "What do you want?"
"I wanted to see you." Nadya smoothed the front of her dress nervously. The plain cut and fabric, deliberately chosen so as not to remind her grandmother of her new life of luxury, had no wrinkles, but she needed something to busy her hands.
"Why?"
"Because I love you. Oh, Granny, please forgive me," Nadya begged as she threw herself against the other woman. Tears leaked from her eyes, and she cried harder at her grandmother's rigid posture. Finally, Granny put an arm around Nadya, her entire body softening. "I've missed you so much, Granny," she whispered against her grandmother's neck.
"I've missed you too, child." Granny sounded gruff, and her eyes were moist when she stepped back, leading Nadya inside.
When the two guards would have followed, Nadya held up a hand and closed the door on them. Rem and Jalen could insist she have protection, but they couldn't make her take the men everywhere. She wouldn't bring the vampire guards into her grandmother's home. As a vampire now herself, she must have been an intrusion to her grandmother's sensibilities on some level.
Nadya edged away from the chair nearest the window, avoiding the patch of sunlight falling across the cushion. Once safely in the shadows, she removed the heavy veil that had shielded her sensitive skin from the late afternoon sunshine and sat in the other chair. Granny sat in the window seat, and after a few moments of awkwardness, they were soon talking just as they had in the past.
No, there was one critical difference now. Granny was treating her with the respect due a fellow adult, not as a child. Peace settled in her heart as she sat in the old living room where she'd spent her first eighteen years, basking in the glow of her grandmother's love again. She wouldn't have changed any of her actions, but it lightened a burden she had carried for months to know Granny had forgiven her and still loved her.
Several hours passed before Nadya knew it. "I must get back," she said after a look out the window. Shadows dotted the landscape, and it would be fully dark before she arrived back at the DuMond mansion. She took her grandmother's hands in hers, squeezing for a moment before releasing her. "Thank you for understanding, Granny."
Granny frowned, her gaze still full of concern. "I won't pretend to understand why you're with either of them, but I love you. All that matters to me is that you made the choice voluntarily, and that you're happy. You deserve better than your mother's fate." She sniffed. "So did she."
"I know." Nadya swallowed the lump in her throat, biting back the melancholy emotions that threatened to destroy her warm glow of happiness. Clearing her throat, she said, "I am happy."
With a nod, Granny rose to walk her to the door. "Come back soon, child." She embraced Nadya in a comforting, familiar hug.
She took the feeling with her as she left the apartment. The men fell into step behind her, following her from the building. Nadya went to her horse and mounted. The presence of the guards was a minor irritation that she supposed she would adjust to, with time.
Thinking of time had her spurring the horse to a canter. It was getting late, and she didn't want Jalen or Rem to worry about her. She knew they would anyway, probably imagining a bevy of disasters befalling her -- from robbery to a bad sunburn, because she might have forgotten about her new vulnerability to extended sunlight exposure -- as they occupied themselves with their daily tasks, probably each trying to hide their concern from the other. She smiled at the thought and the sight of the road to the mansion, knowing she would be with them soon.
A noise behind her caught Nadya's attention. She twisted in the saddle to see what had caused the clatter, but never identified the source. All she saw was the blur of a thick staff swinging at her too quickly for her to duck. The wood collided with the side of her head and cheek, making her cry out and fall from the horse. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.
Chapter Six.
Nadya woke with a groggy feeling, at first not sure why she was so hung over when she didn't recall drinking anything. Gradually, the sound of her name penetrated the fog, and she turned her head, wincing at the dull dart of pain accompanying the motion. "Rem?" She blinked, not certain if the room was really dark, or if her vision was affected by whatever had left her so unfocused. A gasp escaped her when she remembered the guards attacking her. Some safety measure they had turned out to be. She almost said so, but the sight of the thick ropes holding Rem distracted her. "What's going on?"
He shrugged and then winced, seeming to regret the movement. "I don't know. Some cowards attacked me from behind. They caught me unaware, and it was too late to stop them by the time I realized they were there. Next thing, I woke up here, beside you."
Just where were they? Nadya squinted to make out anything familiar, but it was too dark. Even her increased visual acuity didn't assist her in discerning anything more than a couple of feet away. If Rem hadn't been so close, she wouldn't have been able to see him either. As it was, she could make out little more than the shape of his form. "That's basically what happened to me too. Have you seen Jalen?"
"No." Rem grunted. "I've almost got this knot free," he whispered, clearly worried they were under observation or some kind of surveillance. "Work on yours."
Nadya nodded, testing the ropes holding her. She'd determined she was bound to a chair, but little else. Her bonds held her tightly, but she could feel some slight give when she struggled against them.
A light clicked on from a distance, and Nadya stopped to study her surroundings. The illumination had reached them from another room, but provided enough ambient glow to make out a four-post bed, dresser, and chaise lounge. It appeared to be a guest room similar to the one where she'd spent the first days of her time with Jalen, after he chose her as a tribute.
"What's this all about, Kumiko?" asked Jalen, his voice distant but approaching. "It's been a long day."
"I know, but I have to show you this before I go. You do still want me to leave tonight, don't you?"
Nadya rolled her eyes at the way Kumiko's voice had dropped an octave, to a seductive pitch.
"Yes." His voice was much closer now.
Nadya blinked when the door opened and the light came on. Her eyes had grown accustomed to the gloom, and it took a moment for them to adjust. Her heart leapt at the sight of Jalen framed in the doorway.
"What the hell is this?" Jalen demanded. Nadya could see his rising anger, barely kept in check, as he strode toward them.
She looked around as much as her captivity would allow, finding they were near the closed doors of a balcony. Straining, she looked over her shoulder and saw the same two guards who had accosted her standing on the balcony. Clearly, they weren't meant to be part of this unless Kumiko had need of them.
"That's close enough." The whisper of steel against leather followed the other woman's orders. The tip of her blade rested at Jalen's throat. "Don't take another step in their direction, please." Her formal politeness somehow made her all the more chilling.
Jalen froze, looking more annoyed than frightened by the sword at his throat. "What do you expect this to achieve, Kumiko? What do you want?"
"I want you to come to your senses. I'm offering you a choice. The other clans have fallen in line. They will not challenge you now, with Savage's army added to yours."
"What kind of choice?" Jalen seemed intrigued, but Nadya could tell from his coiled muscles that he was still seething with fury.
"Get rid of these two. I have two stakes from the wall they insisted on toppling awaiting them in the courtyard. How very symbolic, don't you think?" Her girlish giggle sent a frisson of ice down Nadya's spine. "The families will still follow you. Why would they care if you disposed of two human vermin with no bloodlines once they were no longer useful? Savage's army will either disband or follow you, having no one else to turn to." Her voice dropped almost to a hiss. "Think of all the power you can wield. It will be all yours."
"And yours?" asked Jalen softly. "That is the point of all this, isn't it?"
Kumiko gave a demure shrug. "I will take my place as your wife, and we will share the power."