Retribution (Book 3 of The Dominion Series) (24 page)

I can just make out their words, but my French is rusty, having stopped studying it a few years ago. I can read written French better than listening to it.

Michel turns to Gabrielle and speaks to her in French. I can hear well enough to know what they're saying.

"Voulez-vous obéir?"
he says, his voice firm.
 
"Will you obey?"

"
Oui, mon Seigneur. Comme vous voulez."
She smiles and her voice is soft, seductive. "Yes, my Lord. As you wish."

"Très bien, Elle,"
he says and smiles in return, running the backs of his fingers over her cheek.
"Très bien, mon petit."
"Very good, Elle. Very good, my little one."

She leans her head into his cupped hand and he bends down and kisses her, his kiss long and deep. The image of him kissing her is like a knife in my heart. I press my fingernails into my palms.

I shouldn't feel this way. I chose
Julien
. I
want
Julien…

Soren turns away from them, his hands clasped behind his back, walking to another couple already engaged in an embrace. Before he does, he glances my way and our eyes meet.
  For a moment, I feel as if he's in my mind, searching for my response to seeing Michel with Gabrielle.

He smiles and raises his eyebrows.

Bastard
.

Julien pulls me against him. "
Eve
…"

I can't help it. Tears bite at the corners of my eyes.

"He's doing this to torment me," I say, staring in Julien's blue eyes. "Why?"

"Who can say why?" Julien says and there's a hint of frustration in his voice. "He loves to torment. He's the god of mind-fucks. It's best not to try to understand because then you're pulled down to his level." Julien brushes the tear from my cheek, and runs his fingers through my hair. "Just try not to think of everything that's going on around us, Eve, and kiss me." He pulls me closer. " I can't make you forget, but please let me try to make you happy," he says, his gaze moving over my face. "Your happiness is the only thing left in this life that matters to me."

He slips a hand behind my head and pulls me down to his mouth, kissing me. His kiss is like a salve on my wounded heart, a flood of love moving through me, momentarily taking away the pain. I could almost forget about Michel being with Gabrielle.

Almost
.

Except that when I pull away, I see them again, and now she's kneeling between his knees, kissing him, her arms around his waist, his arms around her shoulders. Throughout the room, the other couples are likewise busy with each other, at various states of undress.

"Eve," Julien says, taking my chin in his hand, turning my face away. "Stop doing this to yourself. Michel's with her now. You're with me."

But Gabrielle is opening Michel's shirt, unbuttoning it, then kissing him, her mouth moving from his neck to his chest, from one nipple to the other, then lower, her hands already on his belt buckle. I can't stand to watch, but can't tear my eyes away either. Is she really going to do that now, in front of everyone?

Of course she is. That's the whole point of all this. Soren's making me jealous.

Why? Does he want me with Michel?

Julien pulls me back to him and tries to kiss me again, but I don't respond to him, my mind fighting the endorphins he's trying to release in me to gain my compliance.

"Stop," I whisper. "Let me be what I am. Let me feel what I feel."

He frowns, exhaling heavily.

"You really prefer pain and heartbreak?"

I don't know what I prefer. "It's what I know."

He turns his head away as if in exasperation.

Over against the wall, I see that Gabrielle now is performing fellatio on Michel. He has a hand on her head, as if to encourage her as she moves up and down on him. He leans his head back, his eyes closed. The sight of her pleasuring him sends a stab of lust right to my sex, but at the same time, I feel almost overwhelmed with jealousy.

"Eve,
stop
," Julien says, his voice harsh. "You're with me. Look at
me
."

When Michel stops Gabrielle and pulls her up into his lap, grabbing both her hands with one of his, pinning them behind her back. He moves the shoulder of her gown down to reveal her neck and breast, biting her shoulder, drinking her blood.

"
Baisez-moi
," he says, his voice almost a growl. "Fuck me."

She straddles him and it's just too much. I can't sit here and watch any longer.

I push away from Julien, turning to find Soren. He's standing off to the side of the huge room, leaning against a large marble fireplace mantle, watching his servants perform.

I stride over to him, my anger overcoming me.

He turns and sees me, then raises his eyebrows, standing straighter.

"Eve," he says, as if a bit surprised that I'm approaching him. "I can see Julien didn't make you drink the other glass of champagne. Pity."

"What is it you want from me?" I say, my voice breaking. "Did you want me to choose Michel? Is this what all this is about?"

I wave my arm around to the room where the other couples are in various states of undress and in different lewd poses and postures. Gabrielle is riding Michel and I am barely able to hold back my tears of anger.

"This is about pleasure, Eve," Soren says. "Something you need far more of, apparently." He smirks. I see Julien approach and hold my hand up to stop him. He does, his face searching out Soren, who nods.

"I just thought it would be good for you to see that Michel has moved on. You made your choice. You should know the price. He needs someone now that you've woken his libido once more."

"I did no such thing. He did that all on his own."

"And what was he supposed to do once he found he couldn't compel you to forget everything as he initially planned? He had to claim you, or I would."

"Why haven't you claimed me if that was your goal?"

He smiles briefly. "You're far too much trouble for my tastes. In contrast, Michel always liked a challenge. I figured he'd control you for me. He might have been able to but I don't think Julien can. I don't think Julien
wants
to control you. He likes you like this, doesn't he? All wild and untamed…"

"I can hear you," Julien says.

"Of course you can, Julien. If I didn't want you to hear, I'd have sent you away."

Julien comes to my side and slips his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him.

Behind us, I hear a woman moaning and the three of us turn to watch as Elle arches her back, her long blonde hair falling down her back as she rides Michel. Michel has his hands on her breasts, squeezing them, tweaking her nipples, and then she cries out as if she's coming, gasping through gritted teeth.

"That Elle is such a good little performer," Soren says, chuckling. "So responsive. Able to have orgasm after orgasm. Michel will be in seventh-heaven. I love how generous I am, Eve, to turn her over to him, considering he killed her what – almost eight-hundred years ago?"

I stand in shock, my mouth gaping. What does he mean?

"That's Marguerite?"

"No," Soren says. "Just her clone. I dug up her ashes and charred bones and found enough of a hip bone with preserved genetic material in it to make a copy. We always thought that burning would destroy a vampire permanently, but you mortals and your genetic technology, we're able to overcome that barrier to immortality. It's not her of course, and this one's a lot more submissive. I trained her well, right from her first blood. She'll be some solace to Michel, considering he wanted you so badly."

I turn to Julien. "Did you know she was Marguerite?"

He frowns. "What are you talking about?"

I point to Gabrielle. "There. With Michel. It's Marguerite!"

Julien frowns. "It's not her. I don't know who she is."

I turn back to Soren. He only smiles.

"Compulsion is such a neat trick, Eve." He steps closer to me. "You read the manuscript. Can you imagine how wonderful it feels for Michel to have Marguerite at his command instead of commanding him? It totally blows his kinky little mind." He twists his hands together conspiratorially. "To have her so compliant, so malleable. It's brought out the Dom in him so very nicely. He had to fight it with you, keep it in check. He didn't want to scare you. But with Marguerite? I mean, Gabrielle? He can just bind and spank and fuck her to his heart's content."

"You're a
monster
…" Tears cloud my vision. "You still haven’t told me what you want from me," I say.

Soren regards me with an expression of triumph.

"I don't intend to. As I said before, when you figure out what I am and what
you
are, then you come to me. We'll talk. Now, if you're not going to take part in the festivities, please leave. Julien, take her home. She's destroying the pleasant buzz all this lust and sex has given me."

Julien pulls me away, but before I leave, I catch one last sight of Michel and Gabrielle –
Marguerite.
Michel's fucking her from behind as she bends over the chair, her gown pulled up around her waist. His clothes are still on, but his shirt is open, his pants down around his ankles. He leans over her, his hands cupping her large full breasts. Then, he bites her shoulder as she arches her back in pleasure.

That would have been me, if I'd have chosen him and my body can't help but respond to the sight of them.

I turn and rush away, getting to the door where I turn around. Julien and Soren stand close to each other, and Soren takes Julien's face in his hand. He speaks to Julien, but I can't hear what he's saying.

Then Julien comes to me without a word, walking past me to the door. I follow him out of the huge room, away from the ornate tapestries and chandeliers sparking in the candlelight and out to the car.

We drive home in silence. I lean my forehead against the cold window and bite my cheek to gain control over my emotions. Julien says nothing, but I can hear his breathing and it's fast, as if he's fighting his emotions.

Soren created a clone of Marguerite? He trained the clone to be a proper submissive? He gave her to Michel?

I can't believe what a monster he is.

We arrive at our cottage, and I rush inside once Julien unlocks the door. I go to our bedroom and into the en suite bathroom to wash my face. I feel soiled, having been in Soren's presence and want nothing more than to get out of Luke's velvet dress and into my own clothes. I brush my teeth, staring at my bloodshot eyes, my nose still red from crying.

On top of it all – the anger at Soren, the arousal seeing Michel fucking Gabrielle --
Marguerite
, the despair at Michel's apparent happiness with her, I feel the need building in me for vampire blood. I need to feel Julien's arms around me. I need to feel that sweet oblivion that his blood and body give me.

I leave the bathroom and he's not in our bedroom. He's not in the office, checking emails. He's in the kitchen standing at the island with a knife and a small crystal goblet. Blood drips from his wrist into the glass. When he sees me standing in the entry to the great room, he looks back down to the glass without a word.

"What are you
doing
?" I say in shock.

He doesn't reply. Instead, he licks the wound he's made. He picks up the glass and walks to me.

"Here's your blood," he says, his voice low. Then he goes to the closet and takes out an extra blanket and pillow. He throws them both on the couch and sits down, removing his shoes and socks. "I'm sleeping here."

"
Julien
…" I say, my voice breaking.

"Don't talk to me, Eve. Just go."

"Soren's done this to you," I say.

"No,
you
did this to me."

He can't understand. I drink down his blood quickly, then I go to him and kneel on the floor beside the couch where he lays, with his back to the room, the blanket over his shoulder. I pull the blanket away and run my hand down his arm. I take his hand in mine, threading my fingers through his. "Don't shut me out."

He pulls his hand away quickly and then turns over to face me, but his expression is hard.

"I thought you made a choice. It seems you still want Michel."

"I chose
you
," I say. "But you have to understand…"

"I
don't
understand, Eve. You say you love me, but why are you so jealous of Michel with Gabrielle?"

I shake my head, unable to explain.

"I loved him," I say weakly. "It's just too soon to see him with someone else. That's all, Julien."

"I can't be with you tonight, Eve. Don't touch me again. Just go to bed. We'll talk in the morning."

"No," I say, desperate now to have him forgive me. The blood has started to work on me, and I feel so warm and aroused, and he's so beautiful in his heart-broken way, his blue eyes huge. "Please…" I lean closer to him, wanting to kiss his mouth, but he turns his head away.