Chapter Three ~Serenity~

The young maiden was laid out before my master, on display for him to visually feast on. His prize. A gift from his reluctantly loyal servant. There was no doubting the girl’s beauty as she lay surrounded by dirt covered bedding, her own angelic look refreshing the rustic beauty in the decimated room of the old house. Rumors and talk of the Lord's angelic daughter were scattered across the southern lands. We had been hearing the stories for days now. Her unique and otherworldly elegance was such that the king had already promised her to his son. The prince would have to wait his turn. The girl was all for Vondorian now, if he could find a way around the complication I had so foolishly stumbled upon.

I had gone to collect her under my master's orders, the goal was to entice the girl. Invade her mind with a familiar dark skill from vampire lore. Mortals made it so easy to seep into their heads, this girl was no different. I invaded her mind from beyond the walls of the manor, crept into her sleeping dreams and called her to wake. Vondorian's goal was to use the girl like a puppet, to spirit her away in the middle of the night, and return her before daybreak so no one knew of the abduction. After that the girl would do whatever he wished, allowing Vondorian to take Tentusa from within. The young maiden would be forced to kill those around her, including her father leaving a wake of destruction and devastation. He enjoyed watching others bring about the demise of the things they cherished the most. It was the perverted enjoyment he got from all of this.

Once chaos overtook the house, the king of the land would have no choice but to intervene. From there it was simple. With internal fighting among one of his lands the king would make a personal appearance to right the scandal, leaving him open for attack outside the safety of the palace. Without the king, the capital would be vulnerable. A perfect welcome to the hordes of Vamdari who would soon invade this land. This was how my master worked, in the shadows. Lurking about and watching everything he touched tumble into bloody chaos.

My goal had a few more minor details as I forced the girl to seek out her father, guiding her in a sleep-like state around the manor. I would steal her away by force but where the Lord could bare witness. It didn't have to be her father, but the twisted side of me wanted to gift him that torture. I wanted Lord Davros to know no one was safe in his city. Maybe then Tentusa might have a chance at survival.

When the sandy-haired boy stopped her on the way up to the Lord's chambers my influence was shattered, she woke like from a dream forcing me back into my own mind. It could be argued that my ability of mental manipulation was not as refined as my master's, but it was strong enough to overpower this weak-minded child.

There were few things that could wake a mortal from a vampire's influence as strong as my own, pain being the most commonly used among those who still knew and believed in vampires. In reality any emotion or feeling would do to awaken an imprisoned mind, but it was so rare in mortals. They didn't have the strength or focus of will. They falter, sway. A single suggestion could shift their mental state and make a mortal weak against our invasions, but this girl was not faltering. I could see it as I peered back into her mind, felt it through the subtle link. Love. So I had to improvise. Attacking the sandy-haired boy while steeling the girl away, but making sure to keep to the shadows. I wanted them to know, wanted them to see their treasured beauty being swept out from under them. They didn't need to know I was the one making fools out of them.

Now all that stood between my master and his conquest was love, it was an emotion Vondorian so often mocked. He commanded me to stay and witness his masterful conquering of this young girl, but I had my doubts. He could implant thoughts, influence wills, and weaken the strength of a mind, but he couldn't change a pure feeling. Even with alterations it would still be there. Like a faint echo of reality drawing the mind away from him. It caused questions, doubts, and this type of operation commanded complete control, he commanded control.

How then?

I watched with heightened interest as he circled the young girl lying upon the ragged bed. His eyes carefully studied every feature of her young body carving a jealous path through me. She was young, barely old enough to be considered a woman but she had the body of an angel. Long flowing blond hair shined against the limited candle light in elegant waves that encircled her sleeping form, creating a soft golden glow on her creamy white skin. An innocence finished with a pair of full pink lips that had a natural pout. She was everything I was not.

My body had seen too many battles. Despite the rapid regeneration vampires are known for there were still scars that marred my deep olive skin. Curves that were more defined than the average beauty crafted my figure, my thighs thick and strong from years of training. My arms were solid not slender and creamy like so many other females. I was a creature crafted for war and marked by darkness with my raven hair that hit my lower back, and the deep scarlet eyes, which mirrored Vondorian's ownership over me.

Even before I had become this thing, my appearance could not compare to her. My birth race was known for their odd appearance and frightening skills. They were social outsiders. No, I could never compete with someone like this angel, and it pissed me off.

Making one last circle around her sleeping form, his hand traced along the aged wood of the bed frame. His fingers were so light and delicate dropping onto the dulled red blanket. A smirk spread across his lips as he lowered himself to sit on the bed's edge.

“Love. What a foolish notion,” he said. This was all a game to him, a challenge to see which force was stronger.

The pale blue silk of her gown traveled upward under my master's greedy touch, exposing more and more of her delicate proportions. Pooling blue silk lay across her midsection offering him the perfect view of ripely formed legs. That awful rosemary scent filled the room again and I snarled. I never liked the smell of rosemary, but now it was the smell of jealousy, hate, rage that boiled deep in my core as he touched her. Master had created a new prison inside my mind, a new hell as I watched his delicate touch travel up from the inside of her knee. He never touched me like that. There was never anything gentle when his hand brushed against my flesh. Why do you even care?

“Are you watching?” he asked with a slight husk to his voice.

Was he aroused by this?

I had never seen Master so impassioned by caressing a woman. He often seduced others, toying with their minds and drawing out deep primal desires. It was so easy to manipulate people when their minds were busy craving every inch of him. However, he never seemed aroused himself. He never looked pleased. Those red eyes, they were always blank.

“Yes.” It took every bit of my strength not to growl it, to snap and snarl at him and her.

He's MY master! The foreign voice of my desire yelled into my mind. Too blinded by rage as he climbed on top of her drawing his hand up along the angel's inner thigh. This time I couldn't help the low warning growl that rumbled in my chest. It didn't stop him as he gently lifted her leg to the side, giving him full access to the area between her legs. A sweet moan passed through the sleeping girl's full pink lips and I fisted my hands. Why did I have to watch this? What was he doing? This whole thing seemed pointless.

Leaning down he placed a trail of kisses from the inside of her knee to the meat of her thigh. I could imagine what it must feel like, his chilled breath running along warmed flesh that burned only for him. To be excited by the soft whispers of his lips gliding from one spot to the next, marking his territory with single dominating kisses. He was never so gentle with me, it was all rough, violent seduction. Even in the rare tender touches, pain was not far behind. I felt my core warm watching him seduce her flesh with his lips, clenching my fists even tighter in disgust.

I shouldn't be enjoying this, I shouldn't be watching this. It was far too private and revealing to how much control I really lacked when it came to my silver-haired master. I forced my gaze away, not able to watch any longer. There was a lot I could witness, but watching him please another gripped at my gut too tightly even though it shouldn't.

Silence hung in the air with breathless anticipation, I had to look back cursing myself as I took sight of Master feasting on the young angel's thigh, drinking from her passionately. Fangs burst from my gums and I snarled at them. How I wanted to draw blood, to rip that girl limb from limb and leave her for the animals to pick apart. My master's gaze fixed on me, stilling me and my rage, that all-seeing gaze piercing through the surface to my deepest need. I wanted him, even with his fangs imbedded in the young girl's thigh, piercing her with his painfully delicious bite. Why does she get such an honor? An honor I had experienced only a few times. It made the scar on my collarbone ache for his attention. To feel the sting of his fangs sinking into flesh, the sweet long gulps he would take of my blood.

My nail's ravaged the skin at my palms, the scent of my blood mixed with the girl’s and I heard another moan. It wasn't the gasping child, it was from him. My master moaned at my sage scent sending me into a feverish rush of want. He must have sensed it because he was gone from the girl in a blink, leaving her to writhe around in pleasure from his powerful bite.

He trapped me against the wall pushing his body up against my own, a hand on either side of my head. That smell was all over him, her smell, and I hated it. Her blood dripped from his mouth, it should be mine.

The tension in my fists ceased, lost in his powerful gaze as I lifted my hand to his face. Caressing his flawless features with my blood soaked palm, I traced my thumb over his bottom lip offering him the liquid. The betrayal of seeing him between another's legs was gone, there was only him and I now. He drew in my thumb never averting that hungry gaze from my entrapped vision. The sweet feeling of him suckling on my thumb sent wetness between my thighs. I needed this. I needed him.

“Can you sense it?” he asked with a breathless voice. “My essence is coursing through that girl. She is mine,” he whispered as he leaned into me. A shiver ringing out from where our bodies made subtle contact.

I want to be yours, my mind whispered, knowing he could hear it.

A grin spread across his lips as he drew another of my bloody fingers into his mouth, taking his time to clear every bit of crimson from the flesh. “Ask for it, Serenity. You know what you have to say. You know the words.”

It hung on my lips, the words that would bring an end to my need. Just simple words that could stifle this burning desire he had put inside me. After centuries of playing this teasing game of seduction, I wanted to say it. Bitter vanilla bit at my lips as his breath chilled them, my will on the edge of the abyss. Just say them!