The Sacrifice (23 page)

The vibrator finally pops free and lodges itself against my
throbbing clit. Instantly my spine arches as the pleasure rips through me like
a hurricane. I’m still on edge from everything that Aiden has been doing to me
the past three days and there’s no stopping the impending orgasm.
Oh
Goddess, I’m going to come! I’m going to—

“I don’t understand, madam,” Barnes says through the door. “Is it
your friend or your cousin or both? Should I make lunch for two or three?” Out
in the main part of the house, the doorbell chimes again.

“Three!” I gasp as the purple vibrator takes me to heaven whether
I want to go or not. “Or no, two. Damn it, Barnes, I don’t
know.”
My
spine is arching and my clit is tingling with the much needed relief. I try to
take a step but the tight leggings trip me and I fall to the floor with the
vibrator still going to town.

“Ms. Krist, are you quite all right?” the butler asks, sounding
concerned. “Did you fall? Should I come in to assist you?”

I’m flat on my back, having what feels like multiple orgasms,
tangled up in the harness and leggings with the vibrator buzzing between my
legs like a freaking chainsaw. The doorbell is ringing nonstop now and the
butler wants to come in and 'assist' me. I think I’m going crazy.

“No,” I moan, finally managing to shut the vibrator off with
trembling fingers. As soon as it stops teasing my clit, I feel more in control.
My pussy is still throbbing, but at least I’m not coming anymore. It’s
amazingly hard to think while you’re having an orgasm—something I guess I never
really noticed before. “No,” I say in a more normal voice—which is to say, I’m
not moaning like a porn star. “I…I’m fine, Barnes, honestly. I just dropped my
uh…my hairdryer, that’s all.”

“Is that right?” He sounds doubtful. “Well then, if you do not
require assistance I shall answer the door. Whoever is seeking entrance to the
house seems most impatient.”

Yeah, that sounds like Lexy. “You do that,” I croak. “I’ll be out
in a minute.”

With a little more fumbling, I’m finally able to release the other
side of the harness. I put it on the bed and pull up my leggings, feeling
strangely empty and undressed without it.
But freer too,
I remind
myself.
And now I don’t have to admit everything to Lexy.

Taking one last look at my flushed face in the mirror, I smooth my
tangled hair, take a deep breath, and run out to meet my cousin.

But it isn’t Lexy standing in the open doorway when I finally get
to the front of the house. It’s just a UPS man and he looks strangely familiar.
He’s muscular and swarthy with thick black hair on his arms and legs that
almost looks like a pelt.

With a start, I realize it’s Emil Sanchez, leader of the Curved
Horn Satyr clan. He’s in human form today, which is to say the bottom half of
him isn’t noticeably goaty—well, aside from all the disgusting body hair, that
is. He has on a baseball cap, probably to hide the two stubby horns growing
from his forehead. Maybe he’s spent too much time in his satyr form and can’t
go back to his human form without them. When he looks up at me and smiles, my
theory is proven correct—he also has the slotted yellow eyes of a goat.

“Hello, pretty lady,” he says, grinning. “Got a delivery for you.”
His eyes flicker over my blouse, taking in the way my nipples tent the thin
fabric and his grin widens.

I cross my arms protectively over my chest. When he looks at me
like that, I smell smoke and somewhere, someone is lost in the darkness, crying.
I shake my head, trying to get rid of the strange vision.

“Madam, this person appears to have a package you need to sign
for.” Barnes turns his blind eyes in my direction. “Were you expecting
something?”

“Uh, no.” I give Sanchez a hard look, which he returns with a
lascivious grin. “What is this about?” I demand.

“Just doing my job, ma’am,” he says with deceptive mildness. “Got
a package for you.” He shoves a clipboard at me as well as a greasy pen which I
take with distaste. I’m sure my fingers are going to smell all goaty and nasty
just from touching it.

“Who’s it from?” I ask, scrawling my signature on the line he
indicates and giving back the pen. I still think it’s strange that the leader
of a powerful satyr clan is a lowly UPS man in everyday life, but I guess
everybody has to work.

“Someone important.” He gives me a most unpleasant grin before
pushing a small brown cardboard box into my hands. He tips his hat briefly,
which exposes his stubby horns. “Have a good day, ma’am.” And then he’s gone.

I watch him leave with relief—I’ve never liked Sanchez or any
satyr for that matter. They take mindless lust to a whole new level so unless
you’re really into being raped, they aren’t the ideal Friday night date.
Thankfully, I almost never have to see him or his kind outside supernatural
gatherings. But when I do see him, he always finds a way to say something nasty
or make a lewd gesture. Actually, this encounter was remarkably mild.

“Is madam ready to close the door?” Barnes asks, reminding me that
I’m standing there with the large front door open, 'air conditioning the great
outdoors' as my aunt would say.

“Uh, yes.” I clear my throat and step back, clutching the box to
my chest.

“Thank you, Ms. Krist,” he says formally and closes the door with
a
snick
before turning to me. “May I ask again if there will be two or
three for lunch?”

I flush, remembering the state I was in last time he asked the
question. “Just two, Barnes,” I say, speaking as formally as he did. “Thank
you.”

“You’re most welcome, madam.” He nods at me, perhaps a touch less
frostily. “Would it please you to have lunch by the pool?”

“Oh yes, that would be wonderful!” I’m getting excited now to show
Lexy the house. It’s not like I own it but if you live in a mansion, you might
as well make use of it. And having lunch by the pool sounds so perfectly
la-ti-da
.
She’s going to
love
it.

A very small smile touches Barnes’ thin lips. “Very well. I’ll set
everything out for you.”

“Thank you,” I say again, really meaning it.

He nods and leaves me alone. I look after him until I realize I’m
still gripping the mysterious box. What’s in it? I lift it to my ear and shake
but I don’t hear a thing and it’s very light—almost as though it was empty. Who
would send me an empty box and why? There’s no tingling in my fingertips so no
magic is involved. At least, nothing overt.

I take the box back in my room before I open it. Inside is a
single slip of paper and on it, in elegant script are written these words:

Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. O. When may it
suffice?

And under that:

Soon.

I stare in confusion at the piece of paper. It seems to be some
kind of a quote or warning. But by who and about what?
Too long a sacrifice
—is
someone trying to say that a year is too long for the designated Sacrifice to
serve the Sovereign? Well, what good is it going to do to tell me that? It’s
not like I can change anything.

I’m still puzzling over the box and its confusing contents when I
hear the front doorbell again. This time it’s Lexy with a laundry basket full
of clothes and—oh joy!—my cell phone. She even remembered the charger.

I give her an enthusiastic hug and then she steps back to look
around. “Wow, this place is swanky! But what the hell is the deal with all the
glass walls?”

“Aiden likes sunlight,” I say, with a shrug. “He says he went
without it for too long and now he wants to make up for lost time.”

“A vampire who loves sunlight.” She shakes her head. “What’ll they
think of next? Well, come on—give me the grand tour.”

I take her to the bedroom first, so I can deposit the laundry
basket full of clothes. But I have forgotten about the abandoned harness, lying
discarded on the bed. I’m quick to put the laundry basket on top of it, but
Lexy is even quicker.

“Oh my Goddess—what’s that thing? Do you
wear
that?”

“Not all the time.” I can feel my cheeks heating and I curse
myself for leaving the damn harness in plain sight. After all the trouble I
went to in order to take it off and then I go and let her see it anyway! It’s
mortifying.

“So he’s into the kinky stuff, huh?” Lexy grins at me and wiggles
her eyebrows. “I thought he might be after what I heard about him.”

“What? What did you hear?” I’ve been living here with Aiden for a
month now and I scarcely know more about him than I did when I first came. He’s
maddeningly evasive when I ask about his past and he has an annoying habit of
answering my questions with other questions.

“Ah-ah-
ah,”
Lexy trills, shaking her finger at me. “I’ll
tell you everything but first you have to tell me the dirty details of what
it’s like to be the Sovereign’s personal sex slave.”

“Oh come on, Lexy,” I moan but she only laughs.

“You know how it is—you have to give some to get some. Besides,
I’m
dying
to know. You’re the envy of every single girl in the
supernatural community, you know. The last Sovereign was so old and stodgy and
boring. And Aiden James is so sexy and hot and mysterious and—”

“Lunch is served, madam.” Barnes is suddenly standing there at the
doorway, giving Lexy a very disapproving look from his blind eyes.

“Oh, thank you, Barnes,” I say, feeling embarrassed all over
again. “Uh, out by the pool, right?”

“As you requested, Ms. Krist.” He makes me a formal, sweeping bow
and then stands back, indicating that we should precede him from the room.

Out by the pool, Lexy can’t stop gushing about how fabulous
everything is and honestly, I have to agree with her. Lunch is a much more
elaborate affair than the simple fruit and cheese courses that Barnes usually
prepares for me. There’s an elegant chilled cucumber soup to start and then
tiny finger sandwiches filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese. Next a
mushroom and spinach quiche followed by blackberry sage sorbet for dessert.
Barnes even opens a bottle of champagne—something expensive with tiny bubbles
that tickle my nose and go straight to my head. That’s not really saying much
though—I’ve never been much of a drinker.

“So tell me,” Lexy continues as we nipple and sip. “What exactly
is going on here in this weird glass house?”

“About what you’d expect,” I say, and take another sip of
champagne. Honestly, I’m beginning to feel a little tipsy. I really should stop
but it tastes so
good.
“I mean, you know, regular sex slave stuff.”

“
What
?” she squeals. “What
kind
of sex slave stuff.
Tell me, Emma!”

It seems to me I didn’t want to tell her before, but now that I’ve
had several glasses of the lovely champagne, it doesn’t seem like such a bad
idea.

“You know,” I say again. “I wake up in the morning and have
breakfast with Aiden. Then he takes me in the bedroom and makes me wear the
harness.”

“What—that weird purple dildo thing I saw in your room?”

“Yup,” I say and hiccup before taking another sip. “I’m not
supposed to take it off but I did anyway. I thought it would be too weird to
wear it with you here.”

“You got that right.” She snickers. “So then what?”

“He goes off to work and leaves me here. Oh, but usually I spend
the whole day naked except for this.” I point to the collar I’m still wearing.
“And the harness.”

“It’s gorgeous,” Lexy says, looking more closely at the collar
with its dangling pendant. “Is that a real ruby? And did you just say you spend
the whole day
naked?”

“I have no idea if it’s real but knowing Aiden, it probably is,” I
say. “And yes, I don’t wear clothes. He, uh, says he likes to see me. Also, he
wants me to like myself better too or something like that.” I hiccup again.

“Weird,” Lexy murmurs. “But also kind of hot.”

“That pretty much sums up the whole situation,” I agree.

“So what happens when he gets home?” she prompts but I shake my
head.

“Uh-uh, cuz. No more about my kinky daily routine until you spill
what you know.”

“Oh, all right,” she sighs. “But you should know I had to sleep
with a
lot
of vampires to get this dirt.”

“Yeah, like that was such a hardship for you,” I say dryly.

Lexy giggles. “Actually, it’s been a lot of fun. Even if I
am
starting
to feel like a pin cushion.” She looks at me curiously. “By the way, where are
your bite marks? Aiden must be feeding from you, right? I mean, you should
see
my inner thighs.”

“Uh…” I feel slightly uncomfortable, despite my semi-drunken
state. “He hasn’t actually bitten me again since that first night. He, uh, says
that he doesn’t need much blood.”

“Okay, well even without the biting the sex must be
amazing,
right?”
she prompts.

“Actually…” I clear my throat. “We haven’t, uh, done that either.”