The Shadow Zone 2: Winning Madeline Page 5
And even though he knew she’d do something, get him off somehow because he was her new employer, his body was as tight as a bow. Anticipation left him excited in a way he’d forgotten. How long had it been since he’d wanted something as much as blood? More? Had he ever?
Madeline proceeded just as he knew she would. Like in a favorite dream, he watched her settle herself on her knees at his side. Her slender white hands hovered over him tentatively, like she was getting ready to pet that same poisonous snake but wasn’t sure she should. He watched her throat work as she swallowed hard.
It took everything he had to stay still, not to pull her into his arms. He’d mean to comfort her but he’d just frighten her more. It wasn’t a good place to start. He’d tucked his own hands behind his head, wanting to be as non-threatening as he could be.
After her moment of nervous hesitation, her hands lowered to his chest and a jolt of excitement like nothing he’d experienced outside of blood shot through him. Her fingers clutched lightly at the fabric of his shirt, gently probing the hard skin beneath.
Her gaze darted to his face in surprise. “You’re… warm,” she whispered. “I thought…”
Maddox nodded. “I fed, so I’m warm for now.” Then he realized he might want to explain that. “No humans died. No worries. I’ll explain it all one day when you’re… ready.”
She swallowed hard again. Her hands trembled. But they moved up his chest until they found the buttons at the top of his black shirt and slowly began to undo them.
Maddox’s breath caught, and he didn’t have to breathe, as she efficiently undid all of the buttons, her fingers swirling against his skin with feather soft touches. When she undid the top of his slacks and pulled down the zipper, it felt like it would destroy him to stay still.
Her fingers slid into his slacks, finding no other barrier, and wrapped around his cock like open flame. Damn! He’d forgotten how warm a human woman’s touch felt, particularly on that part of his body. It was hot, soft, indescribable when she pulled him free of the slacks and began to caress him with both hands.
“Do you like this?” she whispered.
Was she kidding? He nodded. What else could he do or say? He really wanted to strip the robe from her slim, fragile body so he could explore every inch of her delicate human flesh. Then he wanted to bury himself inside of her, surround her…
The soft pads of her fingers were torture on his aching, engorged flesh. First things first. It was pretty clear what she intended to do and while he’d take anything she wanted to give him, he had to survive it. With some dignity intact. Right now he felt like he could blow come all over her pretty face but it wasn’t the most romantic way to start.
And he wanted to get to a place somewhere in the neighborhood of romantic with Madeline… One day.
“You are… beautiful for a…”
It was the second time she’d called him beautiful. He liked that. He also liked that she was talking to him. He knew from watching her in the past that if she really detested a client she didn’t talk or make a sound. It was promising.
Madeline sighed, her breath a flame blowing across his hard skin. Her head lowered and he watched in fascination as her tiny pink tongue slid out to stroke the swollen head of his cock in a gentle circle, hesitant because she probably wondered what he’d taste like.
Well, he was made to be appealing to his prey and that’s what she was in reality. His prey. Maddox couldn’t fight back a smile when she paused and then lowered her mouth to slide the head of him in.
Her low groan had his hips lifting from the bed and his dick aching. She lost her hesitation more by the second and with her mouth working up and down on him, her tongue swirling around him inside that warm, wet cavern. It was all he could do to hang on. Madeline teased, sucked, licked his cock with her expert tongue, the practiced fire of her mouth, and his sanity began to shred.
She groaned from routine. He groaned from a place where he was in complete and utter ecstasy. Watching her pretty blonde head bobbing up and down as she tortured him with her mouth nearly undid him, but he fought on selfishly, wanting every second he could stand, wanting her mouth and hands on him forever. Wanting to die, finally face oblivion, from it.
Maddox’s hips pumped, his hands shredded the pillow behind his head and he growled. His balls tightened and he felt like his entire body would explode and kill her in the process. Damn, what had he been thinking? That this pitiful human girl would pose no threat to him? That she wouldn’t be able to drive him crazy with the skills she used so effectively on her human and Lycan clients? He was a fool.
As orgasm violently charged through him, he yelled, his gaze fastened on her. He wanted to die. He wanted to bury himself in her. He wanted to taste her blood while he fucked her. He wanted… he wanted.
He came in an explosion that ripped through his body and had him thrusting furiously beneath her. Madeline held on, catching every drop of his semen that her clever mouth drew out until he was spent. Considering his strength, that was saying a lot. She swallowed before easing him down with little flicks of her tongue, tender touches of her slim fingers.
Maddox was wrecked. The bedding was kicked everywhere and feathers littered the mattress around his head where the remains of the pillow rested. Before he could straighten himself up, her hands were there, gently fastening his slacks but leaving the buttons on his shirt undone. Would she let him do that part? Did she want to see his chest?
Could he be more of a pathetic, weak-minded fool?
She stayed where she was as he struggled to sit up. Fresh guilt hit him hard when he heard her stomach’s familiar growl. All that food within her reach behind him. More than she ate in a month, he realized.
Smoothing her now dry hair back from her perfect face, he shook his head. He’d like to kiss her more than anything, have her fall asleep against the heart that would be pounding so hard for her if it could.
But what he wanted and what she needed were very different things. It was time to free her of responsibility. That’s why she waited.
“This is my room at Rick’s home,” he said simply, wanting to cut to the chase. “So we’ll share it. Is that all right?”
Concern clouded those pretty purple eyes but she nodded.
“I would very much like to read, relax my mind right now,” he explained, trying to come across as bored and no longer interested in her. As if. Pulling a thick tome of Shakespeare from under the bed where he’d planted it earlier, he patted her on the head gently. “Do what you will. I won’t require you for the rest of the night.”
“As you wish.” Her voice was low, respectful. Oh, how familiar he was with that tone. Her eyes, however, were alight. He knew she was hungry. Slowly she rose and he feigned interest in some boring passage from A Midsummer Night’s Dream that he’d read two hundred times.
Maddox pretended not to notice when she retrieved the apple and devoured it with more zeal than he’d ever seen a newborn vampire display. The grapes, the pears, the cheeses, all went the same way, and after a few moments, she seemed to forget he was even there.
He got to watch her in between mindlessly scanning the meaningless words before him. She sipped the fine wine from Rick’s cellars when she’d finished eating and Maddox smiled, knowing it would help her sleep. Hoping, anyway.
He didn’t have to hope long. Less than an hour had passed and she fell asleep on the carpet by the tray of food, sleeping more soundly than he’d ever witnessed -- and he’d watched her a lot.
Well, he’d have to wait to taste her lips, her body. He could do that. But he decided he would enjoy one thing. Rising silently, he lifted her from the floor and carried her back to the bed to lie beside him.
Madeline never stirred, curling on her side with her small hands tucked under her chin like a child. Maddox faced her in the enormous bed, watching her breathe, wondering what she dreamed of. One day he hoped she’d dream of him.
She was his now. One day, she’d know it.
Maddox was gone when Madeline awoke the next morning and that was only the start of the seed of unease growing in her stomach. An older gentleman brought in a heated cart loaded with all sorts of foods, some of which she’d never seen before. But she didn’t feel like eating much. She wasn’t entirely certain whether the gentleman was human like her or…
Shortly after that another young woman came in to help her bathe. It was her second bath since she’d been brought here, only now it was less of a surprising treat and more of a worry of why they were so concerned for her hygiene. They wanted her clean when they ate her?
The room where she bathed was unlike anything she’d ever seen. Where did the water come from anyway? Madeline had never lived in a place where water came into the house by any means other than her two hands and a bucket. She’d read about the bathrooms civilization had a century ago but never expected to see anything like it.
The young woman Madeline had enjoyed talking to the night before was frightening to her today. Now she noticed how Amy was pale like him… Or was she only imagining things?
Maddox was a vampire. That was what he’d told her anyway. Unease grew every time the word echoed in her mind. All Madeline knew of vampires was what her father had mentioned to her mother once when he thought she and her brother were asleep.
He’d said they couldn’t go out in the sun and they were cold as the dead. He told her they drank a person’s blood until they drained them dry. That they were monsters. She’d been too terrified to sleep that night and that fear never really left her. People disappeared often in her world. It was just the way things were. Was it because of the vampires?
Lycans she accepted. They’d always dwelled along the fringes of humanity. They didn’t feed on people, of course, though they definitely posed a danger. But they were marginally accepted with some among her kind and they had a pulse.
Madeline couldn’t say that of vampires. She’d never even seen one until now. And Maddox was claiming to be a vampire. She had no way of knowing if his claim was true or not. Her mind spun on and on with questions and fears.
By the time she was dressed again in the robe, another woman waited in her room. The woman said she’d been sent by Maddox to fit her for new clothes. New clothes? Would she be alive long enough to wear new clothes? Besides, she was his whore now. What did it matter what she wore?
Still, that was the only thing that gave her hope. Why would he order clothes made for her if he planned to kill her?
And he wasn’t the only vampire here. Would he protect her from the others? Or would she be on her own?
When that appointment was over, she was dressed in a new blue robe that was a better size for her. Another meal was brought by the same older gentleman who’d brought her a morning meal. When she saw him again, she was sure he was human. But she was able to eat even less than she had earlier which wasn’t saying much.
Finally she was left alone, and in the silence, with nothing to do but stare out the window at the magnificent view until the sun began to set, fear began to gnaw at her. Where was Maddox? Was he hidden because the sun was up? Did they need humans to guard them?
There were other humans here. The gentleman who brought the food, her. Ivy…
That reminded her of Ivy and her father. Maddox had explained they’d been brought here for their safety just as she had, that Ivy’s father would work for his friend. Had that been true? He’d promised they’d be safe. He’d promised not to hurt her.
Deciding that perhaps seeing Ivy and Gerald, verifying that, would make her feel better, she resolved to see if she could leave the room. Her heart quickened at the thought. No one had told her not to leave the room. Still, there was the chance that by leaving the room, she’d be in danger.
Well, she’d just have to take that risk.
Madeline was almost surprised the door wasn’t locked. She pushed down the handle and it opened silently.
The corridor beyond was open and light. With wide eyes, Madeline took in her surroundings. Maddox’s friend lived in a palace. The floor gleamed. The corridor was lined with tall elegant pillars that were laced together by an intricate fencing. Beyond them was a great open space.
The sound of voices reached her then, one of them his voice. Her heart thundered in her chest but she was brave enough that she silently edged closer to the nearest pillar to get a closer look. When her back was pressed against it, she dared a peek in the direction of the voices.
Madeline had to look down to see that they were in an elegant room below that held an enormous shining table with dozens of chairs surrounding it and beautiful paintings on the walls all around.
Maddox stood below, dressed completely in black again today, with his arms folded across his chest and a displeased look on his face. Seated at the head of the table was another man with dark hair and swarthy skin looking unhappy too. He wore a white shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest and was glancing back and forth between Maddox and a woman who had her back to Madeline. All she could see of that woman was her long, flame red hair and her curvy figure encased in black pants and a snug white blouse.
“What did you tell him exactly?” Maddox demanded.
“Truth is best,” the other man said simply, in a Spanish accent. “So I stuck to that as much as I could. I told the council’s messenger that the Lycans’ attempt to obtain the human recruiter was intercepted.”
“And?” Maddox pressed.
“I told them, unfortunately, the chain of events set in place led to the human recruiter’s demise…”
The woman snorted. It wasn’t a friendly sound.
“Like they’ll believe that,” she said flatly.
“You have a point,” Maddox shot back. “If a dog could figure it out…”
“Asshole.” Julia shot him an angry look.
“Julia.” The dark-haired man held up a hand in her direction. “Please?”
“What about Madeline?” Maddox’s tone was anxious now. “Did you say anything about her?”
The reference to her had Madeline’s heart racing.
The dark-haired man’s voice was calm. “No. There was no need to mention her. Or the girl and her father. The Lycans used them to draw the recruiter out. The council doesn’t need to be concerned with all the mechanics of their plan.”
The woman turned to completely face Maddox now and Madeline couldn’t deny that she was stunningly beautiful. She frowned at Maddox at the moment, clearly not a friend of his.
“I saw the little human girl outside with her father. Why are they here? And who is Madeline?”
Chapter Six
The angry tone of the woman’s voice didn’t imply jealousy at all and for whatever stupid reason, Madeline felt a tiny measure of relief at that. And the woman had seen her friends. That was a good sign.
But Madeline strained to hear the answer that didn’t immediately come. She knew what he’d told her. What did he really want with the three of them? With her personally? Would his answer to them be different?
“Madeline,” Maddox said finally, “is none of your business.”
“Julia --” The dark-haired man attempted to break in.
“Are you going to feed on her, you leech? Is that it? A plaything you can fuck and feed on to amuse yourself for a while?”
Maddox growled at her, a startling sound that reverberated through the huge space and had Madeline gasping in fear.
“Julia, it’s not like that.” The dark-haired man tried to calm her down. “I’ll explain later.”
“Sick bastard,” she spat back at Maddox.
Maddox was still growling. Julia was glaring back at him. The dark-haired Spaniard put a hand over his face in frustration.
He looked up and ignored the standoff between the other two. “The bottom line is that the council is not happy the recruiter is dead even though the Lycans didn’t succeed in getting him.”
“I don’t give a damn if the council is happy or not,” Maddox sn
apped.
“Perhaps you should.” The Spaniard stood, meeting his gaze. “If they were to learn of our new residents immediately, and a full-blown inquiry would bring them here for that reason, it would raise more questions. Yes?”
Maddox didn’t respond but the angry expression on his face eased.
“We’ll let some time go by. I don’t want to create more trouble with the Elders. As you know, they aren’t exactly happy that Julia is here, are they?”
“Forget your people,” Julia threw in. “You don’t think the Lycans are going to let this go, do you? You took away their shot at the cult recruiter. They’ll hunt you down. This is not the end of it.”
Vincent. Vincent wouldn’t let it go. What if he came here, was able to take Maddox and his friends out? He would kill her too. If Maddox had told her the truth, Vincent had used her as bait to get the recruiter, whoever he was. If she had been expendable then, she certainly would be now. “She’s right, Maddox.”
“I’ve thought of that. And I’m sorry.” Maddox was looking at Julia now. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you at risk.”
Surprise lit up the woman’s eyes at that. The other man’s expression was one of surprise as well.
Vincent was after Julia as well? How bad was Vincent then? And what did they mean by “the human recruiter?”
“We have company,” Julia said and when Madeline dared another glance, she found the red-haired woman staring in her direction.
Maddox caught sight of her next, his eyes calm and blue when they glanced up at her. And in the next second he vanished, reappearing at her side. Madeline had no time to scream as he pressed a cool finger to her lips.
“It’s okay,” Maddox said in a calm voice. “Don’t be afraid. Come and meet my friends.”
Meet his friends? Even as he took her arm with great care and began leading her in the direction of the stairs, her heart still fluttered in her chest.
“How… how did you get here … so quickly?”
Maddox smiled gently. “Sorry. I forget you… We can move quickly, my kind.”