Familiar

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Blade 2.

Summary: Eva, a familiar of Damaskinos, is given to Reinhardt for one night as a gift. Things don’t go quite as she expected.

Familiar

Eva Szilagyi walked down a corridor deep within the Damaskinos compound, her heels ringing out her progress along the bare floor. Terror had sunk its claws into her long before and, despite her best efforts, shivers still racked her thin frame. What else was she supposed to feel while walking to her death?

When Kounen had called her into his office that morning and told her what their master had agreed to, her legs gave out and she collapsed into one of the leather chairs in front of his desk. “Why me?” had been all she could say.

Kounen ran his hand through his neat blond hair, an uncharacteristic gesture that gave away his distress. Eva knew he had feelings for her that went beyond the boss-secretary relationship they had, so this must be an especially bitter pill for him. But both of them knew their feelings and wishes were irrelevant. They were familiars. Only Overlord Damaskinos had the power and the freedom to do what he wanted. “I don’t know how this happened, Eva. But they asked the overlord for you specifically.”

“How? I’ve never even met any of the Bloodpack.” It was true–whenever Kounen’s dealings had brought him into contact with the vampire warriors, which wasn’t often, he’d found another girl out of the secretarial pool to assist him. Plus, Eva dressed to fly under male radar, coiling her long auburn hair into a bun, eschewing makeup, and dressing in the dull neutral colors that made her blend into the woodwork. Ever since its formation, the members of the Bloodpack had terrified her. She had only seen them from a distance, but the aura of callousness they projected still reached her. They had no regard for any life, human or vampire, except maybe their own. Often she had wished they would hurry up and kill the Daywalker so she wouldn’t have to see them again. They frightened her more than anyone. Damaskinos mostly ignored her and Nyssa, his daughter, was kind to her on the rare occasions when they met, but they owned her. If the overlord decided to bestow her upon someone as a favor or a reward, she was powerless to refuse. How she longed for time to run backward nine years, back to the days when she worked as an ordinary secretary at the World Health Organization and thought vampires were just boogeymen that her peasant grandmother sometimes spun stories about. Unconsciously her fingers went to the tattoo on the inside of her left wrist. The Damaskinos glyph, mark of her servitude.

“The overlord didn’t inform me of how or why you’d drawn his notice, only that you should go to Mr. Reinhardt’s quarters at seven p.m. tonight and stay there until he dismisses you.” Kounen didn’t bother hiding his contempt. He served his master to the best of his ability but despised the Bloodpack. True, they were all purebloods, but not a one of them showed a shred of the breeding or culture that the overlord possessed. Vulgarity repulsed the lawyer, and the vampire hit squad had plenty of that. “He also said that you were to wear your hair down and loose and that your clothing should be more colorful than what you normally wear. I believe he means that you should dress as if for a date.”

Eva laughed and put her hands over her face, trying to hide the tears that threatened to fall. “Well, then, a date with death it is. How long do you think it will take him to kill me?”

“No. No.” He moved to her quickly and put his arms around her. “You are Damaskinos property and under his protection. Killing you would be an affront to the Overlord, regardless of whether he even knows your name. He’d execute Reinhardt for it and he knows it.” Kounen ran his hands over her back, feeling the sobs he couldn’t hear. This violation offended him. Eva, in his mind, was his, not some sex toy for that depraved beast. Why the hell couldn’t he just go pick up some vampire female at the House of Pain? He wanted to kiss her, soothe away her fear, but didn’t want to give her anything else to process at the moment. Maybe she would get through it all right. It wasn’t impossible. And he would be there for her when it was over. “I promise he won’t kill you, but I can say nothing about him hurting you. I was instructed to find another girl to perform your duties tomorrow.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. What the Bloodpack wants, it gets. That’s the overlord’s policy for the hunters of the Daywalker. And I am a familiar. If I disobey, I die. If I run, I die. Death is at the end of all my roads.” He had tried to comfort her, but she knew the truth of the matter. Reinhardt was the hardest of hard men; she doubted he feared anyone, even Damaskinos. What was his displeasure over the death of an insignificant human familiar to the vampire who had slain his own father in combat? She was useful to Kounen, of course, but they could replace her easily. Could a human female even survive mating with a vampire without being turned or killed? Eva thought not, which was why she had taken special care with her appearance tonight. She wanted to die beautiful.

As instructed, her hair flowed in a straight shining fall over her shoulders, reaching almost to her waist. An evening gown had materialized in her quarters by the time she returned from Kounen’s office, a sleek sheath of emerald satin that left her shoulders bare and matching velvet pumps, along with a note that said, “Wear this.” It was unsigned, but she was wise enough to recognize the order. Although she had not been instructed to do so, she assumed she should wear makeup, so now her eyes were outlined in careful lines of kohl and her normally pale lips were the shade of garnets. Or blood returning to the heart for oxygenation. Hers would soon run in a vampire’s veins for a little while, until the life left it and forced him to feed again. No vampire had ever fed on her, and she only prayed death would not hurt as much as she suspected.

Reinhardt’s door was closed when she reached it, but when she raised her hand to knock, it opened. The leader of the Bloodpack lounged in the doorway, a glass of what she assumed was whiskey in his hand, his omnipresent sunglasses in place. Music floated out of the room–Eric Clapton, she noticed with surprise. It didn’t fit Reinhardt. If she’d ever thought about it, she would have pegged him for a Rammstein fan. He wore a long-sleeved black silk shirt, opened enough so she could see the hair on his chest, and black jeans. It seemed a little dressier than what she had heard he normally wore. Keep calm, she ordered herself. Eyes down and don’t speak unless you’re spoken to. Be submissive and he might let you live through this. It was her only hope and a faint one at that. “Come in,” he said, stepping aside to let her pass.

Silently she did what he asked, but when she entered the room she received an unpleasant surprise. One of the other members of the Bloodpack sat in a chair beside the bed, an open bottle of tequila near his hand. He was bearded, his hair platinum blond on top and in the back, where it was cut long, short and dark on the sides, and he wore a short-sleeved chain mail shirt with black leather pants. Chupa, if she remembered right. No. Not two. Maybe, with luck, she could have survived Reinhardt alone, but there was no way she could mate with two and live. And she wasn’t allowed to cry, not unless they wanted her to. She was a familiar, her only duty to serve them. Suddenly she felt a hand pass over her hair, tangling in its length, and found herself helpless to prevent a flinch. “What’s your name?” Reinhardt asked.

“Eva.” How could he have asked for her when he didn’t even know her name?

He handed the glass of whiskey to her. “Drink this.” She downed the liquor in a few gulps, welcome warmth spreading through her. If only he’d given her enough to drink herself unconscious. But she could not ask for more than he wanted to give. “You’re Kounen’s regular secretary, right? The one he keeps away from us.”

Her heart sank. That’s how they knew her. “I am his secretary, sir. I wasn’t aware that he had been keeping me away from you, as you say.”

Reinhardt laughed. “Don’t lie to me, Eva. I’ve lived here for over a year and I’ve seen you maybe half a dozen times. You’re never with the lawyer when he’s around us. What’s he guarding there, hmm?”

“I don’t know what you mean, sir.” Pleading ignorance seemed the best course. She kept her eyes focused on the carpet. Deep blue pile, nothing special. In the corner of her eye she could see Chupa’s boots, his legs crossed at the ankle.

“He want you for himself?” He slid his hands under her hair and began to massage her head.

The unexpectedness of his action took her breath. He wasn’t hurting her; it felt good, the tips of his fingers rubbing her scalp, gentle, unlike him. Her body wanted to let go of its tension, but she knew better. It was an obvious trick of some sort to make her relax, then he would be on her like an animal, tearing her throat, savaging her. Both of them would. She had to stay on guard, judge what he wanted and obey. Being a familiar meant figuring out what someone wanted before they said and giving it to them readily. Speed often meant the difference between life and death. Eva had no chance now, though, so what did it matter how quickly she obeyed?

His fingers tightened on her skull, just enough to bring her back to reality. “I asked you a question.”

“I don’t know, sir.” She didn’t even pretend ignorance now. “He has never said anything about it to me.”

Her shivering, which had abated when Reinhardt began massaging her, returned in full force. Across the room Chupa set down his bottle with an audible clank. “You’re choking me with your fear. You’d better calm down.”

Eva couldn’t stop her flinch or shrinking backward. Reinhardt’s hands lowered to her bare shoulders, his skin cold against her own warmth. Vampire body temperature was around fifty degrees if they hadn’t fed recently, she remembered. Cold as the grave, in other words. He sounded almost amused when he said, “Yeah, man, that’ll make her feel relaxed. You sure have a way with women.” He let his fingertips trail over her shoulders, sending a shock of awareness through her. Eva kept her eyes down, doing her best to submit to him and deny the physical response she had just experienced. God, how long was this going to take? If they intended to rape her, kill her, she wished they’d hurry up and get it done. She was tired of waiting.

Chupa rose from his chair and approached them. Eyes down, eyes down, ran through her mind in a terrified litany. “You know we can smell fear, right, little familiar? It’s like perfume to us. And you smell damn good right about now.”

“Thank you, sir,” she whispered.

With the speed of a striking rattlesnake he seized a handful of her hair and brought his face in close to hers. Eva managed to avoid making eye contact. Unlike Reinhardt’s, his grip hurt. “Are you ready for this?”

“Yes, sir.” Tears filled her eyes but she blinked them back. Eva promised herself she wouldn’t die crying and begging. Her death would have dignity even if her life had not. Willing her muscles into stillness, she tilted her head to one side, baring her neck for his teeth. She caught her lip between her own teeth, bracing herself for the pain.

Seconds passed, and nothing happened. Reinhardt’s hands remained on her shoulders, caressing them in a manner she almost found comforting. “Easy, Chupa,” he murmured. “Remember what we talked about.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he replied, sullen. Eva felt his breath, hot on her skin, and thought she might faint from sheer fear. Then his tongue was on her throat, sweeping from the base of her neck to her ear, and it startled a cry out of her. He growled and sank his fangs into her jugular before she had time to form another cry.

Different from what she’d imagined. Eva had thought the pain would be terrible as the vampire sucked the life out of her, but aside from the hurt of the initial bite, all she felt was a flood of warmth, all through her body from her toes to the crown of her head, that turned in the blink of an eye to the most intense physical pleasure she had ever known. Her experience with men had been limited, even before becoming a familiar and Damaskinos’s exclusive property, and none of the few she had slept with had evoked this primal a response in her. She moaned with the sensation, letting her head fall backward onto Reinhardt’s shoulder as her legs weakened. The bigger vampire locked an arm around her waist to keep her on her feet, but her consciousness of the world around her had faded to a single point: the place where Chupa’s mouth had locked onto her neck. Of all the things she had imagined death as feeling like, an impending orgasm had never been a possibility. A steady stream of moans left her lips as he continued to suck. The world started graying out, then snapped back into clarity as Reinhardt pulled Chupa from her, both she and the vampire whimpering with disappointment at the sudden loss. “Just a pint, man. That’s as much as she can afford to lose at one time.”

“Good. Shit, that was good. You were right about this one.” Chupa ran the back of his hand over his mouth. It came away stained with several smears of her blood. Red like rubies...then his tongue flicked out and he lapped at the liquid, his dark eyes searching hers out. A thrill of remembered pleasure shot through her at the sight, and she had to fight not to meet his eyes. Familiars did not look vampires in the eye.

Reinhardt bent his head and licked at the still-bleeding punctures. Her head lolled to the side as she let him taste her. Then he turned her face toward him and asked, “How do you feel? Dizzy? Nauseous? Faint?”

“Not really. Am I going to turn, sir?” If he said yes, as soon as they finished with her she would kill herself with silver or sunlight. She would never live in darkness like they did.

“Look at the table by the bed.” Eva did, registering a syringe and a small glass vial of liquid. “That’s the cure for vampirism. One of the Daywalker’s allies created it a couple of years ago. When this is over you simply inject yourself. You’ll stay human. We wouldn’t offend the overlord by turning you, anyway. Chupa here, well, he just wanted a taste to get himself in the mood.”

“The mood for what, sir?”

He laughed. “You aren’t that stupid. And don’t call me sir.”

“Sorry...” Her teeth closed before she said the word again. “Mr. Reinhardt, if you don’t want me to call you sir, I don’t know what else to call you.”

One of his hands went to her face and he ran the other through her hair. “Dieter. In this room, nowhere else, I’m Dieter.” Her hair seemed to fascinate him, as he let it run through his fingers like silk off a bolt of cloth. “I was right. You do have beautiful hair once it’s out of that bun.” Then he lowered his face to hers and found her mouth. Feeling his tongue put pressure against the seam of her lips, she opened for him instantly and he groaned, holding her head in place as he explored the depths of her mouth. She tasted the copper of her blood on him and her nipples hardened against his chest. Since she had small breasts to begin with and the dress was strapless, she hadn’t worn a bra, so only two thin layers of fabric separated her body from his. Could he feel that? God, she didn’t want him to. Eva wanted things to be simple again, just wanted them to lay her down on the bed and rut with her until they exhausted themselves and she could crawl back to her quarters and nurse her injuries. Familiars weren’t supposed to have needs or enjoy what was done to them; compliance and pretense were all anyone required, so why was Reinhardt asking for more? And why was Chupa going along with it? From what she’d heard, he only liked vampire females, the sluttier the better. She’d never heard any stories at all about Reinhardt’s preferences. No answers presented themselves, and the question faded from her mind.

While Reinhardt’s mouth remained locked to hers, Chupa pressed his body against her from behind, moving his now-warm hands up over her sides until they cupped her breasts. He rubbed his hips against her ass, the shape of his hard-on searing itself into her awareness. A remnant of her previous terror still clung to her mind, but most of it had been subsumed by the pleasure. Don’t relax, don’t relax, her desperate mind warned her. It’s a trick, a trick... She could feel him lifting her hair off her neck, then the brush of his mouth and bearded cheek against the back of her neck. He nipped lightly and she shuddered.

Reinhardt released her lips with a sigh. When her eyes fluttered open, Eva found herself looking at her own reflection in the lenses of his sunglasses. Did he intend to keep them on while he fucked her? “You’re still frightened.” She opened her mouth to deny it, but he put a finger over her lips to quiet her. “I smell it on you. I think I need to help you relax a little.”

Before she could protest–not that she would have, since she was a familiar and trained to obey–he put his hand through the thigh-high slit in her skirt and found the juncture of her legs, his fingertips pressing lightly on the silk-covered flesh. Her hips bucked toward him involuntarily and a loud “Oh!” escaped her, the open need of her body making her blush. Reinhardt gave her a thin smile and leaned toward her. “You have amazing skin, Eva. That’s the first thing I noticed about you. Your hair was the second.”

He circled her clit with his index finger, teasing her with the light contact through her panties. Chupa made her lean back against him and plunged his hands down the bodice of her dress, rubbing her breasts roughly. The contrast between Reinhardt’s delicacy and Chupa’s strength sent a hard jolt of arousal through her. She’d never experienced anything this powerful and wild in her life. Eva clenched her fists and tried to remain passive, a receptacle for their needs, but their touches drew unwilling gasps from her and the pleasure throbbed in her every nerve. “See, this isn’t so bad after all,” Reinhardt whispered as he took her earlobe between his teeth and bit down, hard enough to mark her but not break her skin. “You like this, Eva. I can smell that too. You don’t have to be scared of us hurting you. We’ll take care of you.” His baritone rumbled through her and it gave her a strange kind of comfort. Of course she still didn’t believe that she’d see tomorrow, but he’d given her hope that he might make her death easy.

Eva’s thoughts slipped away as the men continued caressing her, Chupa rolling her aching nipples between his fingers and kissing her shoulders lightly while Reinhardt held her against him with a hand on her hip and continued his stimulation of her clitoris. How could she be expected to do anything but feel, give herself over to them? That was what they wanted, and it was her duty to give them what they wanted. At that thought her training broke and a sustained wail erupted from her throat. Chupa laughed. “Think the little familiar’s coming around to our way of doing things.”

“I think you’re right,” said Reinhardt. Easing his fingers into the waistband of her silk bikinis, he found her clit again, the sensation much more intense for both of them when skin met skin without the barrier of cloth. “Just let go, Eva. Don’t fight it.”

She could only gasp as the desire bloomed in her. Reinhardt played her like a virtuoso, building the ecstasy only to back off at the last moment, leaving her sobbing with frustrated need, then stoking the fire again. Her body thrashed, beyond her control, until he and Chupa had to tighten their grips on her and small bruises formed under their fingers. “Easy, easy,” Reinhardt told her, but she was beyond hearing, her body’s responses driving her. She had never lost control so totally in her life, even before she’d been trained as a familiar, but these two deadly men wanted her out of control, burning alive with lust. Reinhardt and Chupa both wanted her to come for them, for what reason she couldn’t guess because her pleasure must be irrelevant, but with the demanding ache building in her abdomen, she found she didn’t give a damn about their motivations.

Reinhardt’s voice sounded hoarse when he spoke, but she paid little attention. “Chupa, man, you should feel her right now. She’s all hot and wet and squirming in my hand. You got no idea what you’re missing.”

“Different from a vamp female?” he asked. His palms now teased her nipples, standing out pebble-hard from her breasts, while noises of delight left her lips in a steady stream.

“It’s a whole new world, man. Just the cure for what ails you. You’ll love it. So will she.”

“You sure about that?”

“Our Eva’s not going to disappoint us. Are you, sweetheart?”

“No, no,” she moaned. “Please don’t stop. Ohhh...God! More. More, please, please.”

“Call me by my name, Eva. I want to hear you say it.”

She hesitated for a moment, remembering how utterly improper it was for a familiar to be so–well, familiar. Reinhardt made a sound of mock disappointment and started to withdraw his hand from her. “God, no, don’t stop, please...”

He stopped moving his hand away, letting it rest atop the damp silk over her mound. “You know what I want to hear.”

“Dieter.” A dam burst in her mind when she said his name. It horrified her, but she couldn’t stop herself from begging him. “Please..I need you–want you so much. Can’t stand it, I hurt so much, Dieter, please.”

“Oh, sweetheart, that’s all you had to say.” Then his fingers returned, his touch firm and sure, and she felt her insides knot up, the tension growing unbearable. All her weight rested on Chupa’s frame, her toes barely brushing the ground, every facet of her consciousness centered on the pearl of nerves Reinhardt was working. So close, she knew she was right on the edge, then he pressed the heel of his hand into her, hard, and her orgasm hit her, a scream of purest pleasure ripping its way out of her throat. “What do you want?” he asked as her body arched into him.

“Both of you. I want you to fuck me. I want more of you.” Part of her mind, the part conditioned to be a familiar with no desire but to serve, cringed in shame at this, but the human side of Eva that had just discovered passion wasn’t embarrassed by her words. They were the truth.

“We can manage that,” said Reinhardt, brushing his lips against her forehead. “Chupa, you want to take her dress off?”

“Yeah.” He found the zipper and drew it down, the satin sliding over her body until it pooled at her feet, leaving her standing there in only black silk panties. Eva felt the cold metal of his chain-mail shirt against her back and shivered. He explored the smooth skin of her stomach and delved between her thighs. She let out a strangled moan when he found what he wanted and began massaging, his touch light on the sensitive flesh.

“I knew that dress would look good on you, Eva. Now look at me.” Reinhardt’s voice startled her and she lifted her gaze to his face. “Take my shirt off. I want to feel you touching me.”

The words made her ache as much as Chupa’s touching her did. No man had ever wanted that from her before. In the past it had been enough for her to cooperate, to lie there passive while they got their rocks off. Never had she been asked to be a full participant. Her fingers shook as she undid the buttons of his shirt, the material gaping to reveal the hard muscle and silky hair underneath. Reinhardt put his hands on top of hers and guided them to his chest, moving her palms over his chilled skin. The difference in their body temperatures brought home to her how different they were, how alien to her previous experience of men. Now it wasn’t off-putting; in fact, she found it somewhat arousing. Oh, she had been missing out on so much. His nipples hardened when she raked over them lightly with her nails, his groan inspiring her to get closer and take one in her mouth.

Chupa pulled her bikini panties down her legs, where they wound up entangled with her discarded satin dress. It made her head swim–she stood naked between two fully dressed vampire males, caressing and being caressed, a fresh bite wound on her neck, and she craved more. Unbelievable. This wasn’t her. This couldn’t be her. This couldn’t be Eva the diligent secretary, the perfect soft-spoken lady that Kounen harbored an unrequited love for, the familiar who cowered from the Bloodpack. This morning she would have died to keep Reinhardt and Chupa away from her–now she felt as if she’d die if she couldn’t have them inside her.

Eva shoved the shirt off Reinhardt’s shoulders and shifted her mouth to his other nipple, his body arching toward her. Such a rush, having this cold and dangerous man under her power, even temporarily. That she was even more under his didn’t matter. When she brushed her fingertips over the hard bulge in the front of his pants, he seized her wrist. Chuckling at the flash of dismay that crossed her face, he raised her wrist to his mouth and traced the Damaskinos glyph there with his tongue. “I’m not angry, Eva. You’re just moving a little too fast. We don’t want this to be over too soon. We want you to remember this for the rest of your life.”

Then Reinhardt stepped away from her. She had the stray thought that he must have absorbed body heat from her because she felt cold without him near. But Chupa didn’t give her time to focus on that. As soon as Reinhardt moved off, he wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed her hard, his tongue plunging into her mouth with a devouring kind of greed that made her throb with passion. She slipped her tongue into his mouth, tasting much more of her blood than she had when Reinhardt kissed her. It excited her no end, as did the sharp points of his fangs. Fisting her hands in the long hair at the back of his head, she turned as aggressive as he was in the kiss, trying to bruise his lips with hers, flicking at his fangs with her tongue. That made him growl with enjoyment and break the kiss. “Hold on,” he said as he gripped her ass and lifted her, her legs going around his waist to hold herself up. This position spread her wide open and Eva gave a harsh groan as she felt his leather-covered cock rubbing over her core and the chain-mail of his shirt against her bare breasts. “You like this?”

“Yes, yes,” she gasped, tightening her grip on his neck.

He made a pleased sound and smoothed his hands over her back. “I figured you did. You’re so hot I can feel you right through my pants.”

“I can feel you, too.” Eva ground herself into him to prove her point, making him gasp. “And you feel so fucking good.”

“Damn,” he muttered and started to pull his chain-mail shirt off over his head.

She grasped his wrists gently, preventing him from completing the motion. Chupa was a bad-tempered guy, from the gossip she’d heard, and she worried that he might hurt her before she could explain herself. “Please don’t. Not yet, anyway.”

“Why not?” But he didn’t sound angry, just puzzled.

“Because I want to feel you on top of me while you’re wearing it.” When she heard those words leave her mouth she wanted to die of shock. In embarrassment she hid her face in his shoulder, hoping her statement hadn’t upset him. After all, Reinhardt had been the one who wanted her to ask for what she wanted. Chupa hadn’t said a word to her about it, had barely said a word to her since she’d been here. No, he preferred touching to talking. Her body went all warm at the memories and her hips shifted against him.

Chupa tipped her head up. To her surprise he was grinning, his sharp teeth bright against his beard. “You know just what to say to a man, mujer. Got to admit I didn’t think much of this idea when Reinhardt brought it up, but it’s growing on me every second.”

“That’s why I’m the leader of the Bloodpack,” Reinhardt said. While Eva and Chupa had been distracted, he’d gone to the bed and pulled the comforter and top sheet down. She had to suppress a giggle because he still wore his sunglasses. Maybe he did intend to keep them on during sex. “Bring her over here, Chupa.”

He crossed the room in three quick strides, causing her to cry out with the sudden delicious friction against her center. Chupa disengaged her legs from his waist and laid her across the bed, then settled himself down next to her. Reinhardt lay down on her other side, propping himself up on one elbow. “Look at her skin, man.” He traced the skin of her breast with one finger. “Veins show right through, like Carrara marble. And look at her blush now. Vampire females can’t look like this, just human. Blood’s all hot and close to the surface. Goes all the way down her chest, too.” Leaning toward her, he ran his tongue over her breast, flicking the hardened nipple before settling down to suckle. Eva’s eyes rolled back as Chupa took her other nipple in his mouth to suck. Their hands were everywhere at once, on her arms, her stomach, her legs, dipping between them, and the sensory overload made her dizzy. How was it possible to do so many fantastic things to a woman’s body at one time? The need raged through her, a newfound addiction, making her helpless to do anything but urge the two men on with the movement of her body and her sounds of pleasure.

After a long time–minutes or hours, she couldn’t guess–Chupa pulled himself up to sit against the headboard of the bed, shifting Eva’s upper body across his thighs. She started to ask why when Reinhardt slipped off the bed and knelt, drawing her legs up to drape them over his shoulders before he buried his face in her. In the single shocked moment before his tongue made contact and drove away everything except sensation, she saw that he had finally taken off his sunglasses. His face looked oddly open without them–and then he went to work. Eva writhed as he teased her with long slow strokes of his tongue around her clit, barely brushing it until her body rolled back and forth under his hands and he dug his fingers in to hold her hips still before finally dragging his tongue firmly across the aching nub.

She thought she’d go crazy from the desire he created in her. “God–God–Dieter, don’t stop...” Her body arched until she thought her back would break and she climaxed hard, but he didn’t give her time to calm down, continuing to tease her with tongue and lips and the brush of his mustache until she writhed again, the need climbing while Chupa stroked her breasts and belly. She grabbed fistfuls of the sheet as her thighs clamped themselves against the sides of his head. So good, so damned good. How had she ever convinced herself that she didn’t want this? “I want it–oh, Dieter, please. Please make me come. I need to–ohhhh!”

Eva bit her lips to hold back the full-throated screams of pleasure that threatened to erupt, then shoved her fist into her mouth as ecstasy rolled right over her and she couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t longed for them to take her, fuck her, make her come. Chupa eased her fist from her mouth. “Just let him make you feel good. Go ahead and scream if you need to. Our living quarters are soundproofed. And after this, it’s my turn with you.” Reinhardt chose that moment to flick her throbbing clit hard with his tongue and she came, screaming at the release with all her strength, the contractions wracking her body like chills. Her mind drifted, disconnected on currents of bliss, and the men let her rest for a few minutes before they continued their pleasuring of her.

Reinhardt traded places with Chupa, who straddled her, a knee on either side of her hips, and picked up his open bottle of tequila. He poured a stream of the cool liquid over her breasts, which ran over her torso to pool in her navel and drench the sheets on either side of her. Leaning down, he began licking the tequila from her skin with long strokes of his tongue. His mouth covered every inch of her: collarbone, the flesh of her breasts, her ribs, the flat plain of her stomach, the tip of his tongue dipping into the hollow of her bellybutton before sucking out the Cuervo. Then he lifted his head and ran his tongue over his lips. “You taste like salt, mujer. I like it. All I need now is a lemon.”

He took her nipple in his mouth again, but this time let her feel his teeth. He rubbed one of his fangs over it, and the sudden consciousness of it–the smooth enamel and the sharp point that had been sunk into her neck earlier, as well as the stunning pleasure it had brought–and of how thoroughly she was being seduced made her push more of her breast into his mouth and wail. “What are you doing to her, Chupa?” asked Reinhardt as he caressed her face and hair, his finger tracing her opened lips as she gasped for air.

He released her breast with an audible pop to answer. “Rubbed her nipple with my fang.”

“Well, keep doing that, then. She seems to enjoy it.”

Chupa gave him a disgusted look. “Thanks for the advice, Einstein. I never would have figured that out on my own.”

“Glad to oblige.”

Eva whimpered and raised her hand to Chupa’s face, her palm stroking his cheek. Her blood must have started losing its vitality in his veins, because his skin felt much cooler than it had earlier in the evening. He froze, looking down at her, and her eyes shifted away from his face to regard his collarbone.

He moved until his body covered hers, his weight pressing her into the bed. The chain-mail shirt dug into her skin, and she knew she’d still have the marks tomorrow. If she lived. “This is going to leave an impression on you,” he remarked. She wasn’t sure if he meant his shirt or the whole experience.

“I don’t care. I have to feel you.” She pressed herself harder against him, almost mindless with need.

“Ssh. Mujer, listen. You will.” He brought his face down to hers and kissed her hard, his tongue plundering her mouth. Eva had a stray feeling of surprise that he was such a good kisser, but reminded herself he was a vampire. It made sense that he would be good at using his mouth. “So hot,” he murmured.

Reinhardt said, “You don’t know the half of it yet.” He had taken to massaging her scalp again, slow and gentle, seeming content to let Chupa take the lead for now.

Eva let out a sound of anguished desire and Chupa shuddered. “Damn, man, I can’t take this anymore.”

“You think Nyssa would have been like this?” the older vampire asked. “Think she would have driven you crazy this way?”

Her eyes widened in surprise and dawning understanding. So Chupa wanted Nyssa. Not much of a shock there, since the Overlord’s daughter had a dark, striking beauty that drew many men’s eyes. Of course Nyssa would never do anything about his feelings or act on hers if she had them, because she would lose her status with the Bloodpack and become only Chupa’s woman. And somehow Reinhardt knew about the situation and had set this up to get his mind off the female he couldn’t have by giving him a human who had no choice but to fuck him. She didn’t expect the hurt she felt at this thought, but she was accustomed to being used. Other than being vampires and biting her, they behaved like every other man she’d ever known. Eva welcomed the reminder that she was just a familiar. For a while they’d almost made her forget it.

“No,” he groaned in answer, raising himself from her enough to pull off his metal shirt and toss it away, then remove his boots and leather pants. “It wouldn’t have been like this.”

Eva kept her eyes fixed on the ceiling. Passion still heated her body, which was good because that would make the sex physically easier for her, but she had regained a measure of control over herself, enough to remember that her responses were irrelevant. She didn’t matter. She was just a body to service them. Reinhardt’s questions had proved her salvation.

Chupa’s fingers trailed over her cheek, startling her. “Look at me, mujer.” She obeyed him because it was her duty but didn’t make eye contact, focusing instead on his lips. Which had been kissing her not so long ago. He made an exasperated noise. “Not like that. Look at me in my eyes.”

Dammit, she hated the idea of doing it, but she was a good familiar. Eva fought the terror her conditioning had installed in her and bit her lips hard enough to draw blood as she forced her eyes up to meet his.

He had blue eyes. Why this should surprise her she didn’t know. Dark eyes seemed to suit his personality better. His irises were a clear grayish-blue with a dark blue ring around the outer edge. They were actually beautiful.

“You’re scared again. And you hurt yourself.” He used the tip of his tongue to part her lips and lap at the blood that welled up on the surface of her lower lip. “Was it that scary just to look me in the eye?”

Reinhardt answered for her. “It’s the conditioning she got when she became a familiar. Involved a lot of negative reinforcement.”

Chupa looked blank. “What does that mean?”

“Pain.” Eva surprised herself by speaking. “When I didn’t do what was required of me, behave the right way, I got punished.” She wanted badly to look away from him, but his eyes held her as tightly as his hands. “That’s how any familiar is trained. I learned from it.”

A flash of some emotion emanated from him, but before she had time to identify it he began dropping light kisses all over her face and she closed her eyes under the onslaught. Then his lips brushed her eyelids, his breath ruffling her lashes. Against her will her body started relaxing and, little by little, her lust crept back in under the gentleness of their knowing hands on her flesh until she was gasping again as Reinhardt’s hands rubbed over her breasts and Chupa’s hand worked its way between her legs. Her hands rose involuntarily and dug into his shoulders. He hissed in pleasure as her nails sank in and the scent of his own blood reached his nostrils. Eva’s eyes had closed again with the intensity of sensations wracking her body, so he tapped her cheek to get her attention. “I want you to look at me.”

She opened her eyes and ran her gaze over his naked body. Chupa might be hot-headed and bad-tempered, but his body was perfect. Every muscle in his torso was sharp and clearly defined, his chest hard and hairless, olive skin unmarked except for the tattoos on his arms, a stylized Native American drawing of the Thunderbird on his left upper arm and an elaborate abstract design that almost looked like a dragon with a blooming red rose of fire shooting out its mouth that covered the upper part of his right arm and spread across the front of his shoulder and upper chest. He ran a hand over his stomach and grinned. “Want me?”

Maybe Eva had to go along with this, but she didn’t have to say anything to him. She gave him a quick nod, which didn’t seem to please him. He crawled back on top of her and parted her folds with the head of his cock, rubbing her clit with it until her whole body burned with ecstasy and she couldn’t keep the sounds of enjoyment locked in her throat. Why wouldn’t he let her preserve some dignity? “You like this?” he asked.

Tears filled her eyes, but she didn’t cry. “Yes. Oh, yes.”

“Why don’t you call me by my name?” His voice was almost plaintive as he flicked his tongue over the punctures on her neck. “You called him by his. Hell, you practically come every time you say his name. I want you to say mine like that.”

“You never asked me–” and her words cut off as he drove his cock deep into her without warning. The sheer pleasure that seized her almost made the top of her head come off. “Chupa!” She cried out at the feel of him inside her. God, she’d never experienced anything like it. Human males were hot, but he was cold, Jesus, his cock was colder than anything she’d ever felt inside her, but it didn’t feel bad at all. It felt so good she couldn’t stand it. Her hips bucked off the bed, but he grabbed them and forced them down, forced her to keep still.

“Shit! Oh, my God.” His face was a rictus, whether of pleasure or pain she couldn’t tell. Her vote would have been for pleasure, if anyone had asked.

“So. What does she feel like?” Reinhardt asked, a tiny grin hovering around his mouth.

“Hot! Oh, fuck, she’s so goddamned hot. Burning me like the fucking sun.” His head was thrown back and his whole body trembled.

“You want to stop?”

Chupa looked at Reinhardt in disbelief. “No. Christ, I love it. I’d kill you if you tried to stop me. The little familiar here’s mine.”

“Haven’t forgotten to share, have you?” He toyed lazily with Eva’s red hair.

“Later. Right now she’s all mine.” Eva tried to thrust up at him with her hips, but he held them in an unbreakable grip. “Stop trying to move. If you move I’m going to come, and I won’t come before you do. So just lie there and let me fuck you. You don’t have to do anything at all this time. Understand?” She nodded. “Good.”

Then he got down to the business of fucking her. Eva trembled at the smooth slide of his cock in and out of her, rhythmical as a metronome. The pressure of his hands kept her hips motionless, and the angle of his penetration ground his pelvis against her clit. Her leg muscles strained with the effort of trying to move against him, respond to the sheer physical pleasure and fuck him back, but he wouldn’t let her. “No, no, mujer,” he murmured to her. “You just enjoy yourself while I do all the work.”

Her head thrashed back and forth, strands of hair covering her face that Reinhardt smoothed away. The way he looked at her was almost sad...but thought vanished when he brought his face down to her and whispered, “You know you popped his cherry, Eva? He’s never been with a human woman before. Surprised?”

“I–I don’t know. Never...never thought about it.” So he expected her to hold a rational conversation while being brilliantly fucked? He must be out of his mind.

“I got yours, too, didn’t I.” Chupa’s voice held no doubt at all, just male satisfaction. “No other vampire ever fucked you.”

“No.” It was a whisper of sound. As far as vampires went, she had been a virgin for him. Tears spilled out of her eyes. This was so wrong, all of it was so wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. She just wanted it to be over so she could go back to the way it was before, when she was only a familiar, not a person capable of desire. When she was safe.

Both of them saw her distress–probably smelled the tears even if they didn’t see–and Chupa’s movements stilled. “What’s wrong?” asked Reinhardt as he wiped the hot wetness off her face.

“I want to be numb,” she cried. “You don’t let me be numb.”

“Why do you want that?” Chupa’s voice had an edge she didn’t recognize. His body vibrated with the effort it cost him not to continue driving himself into her. Eva didn’t understand. If he wanted to keep fucking her, why didn’t he?

“When you’re numb you don’t hurt. Everything hurts unless you go numb.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Reinhardt looked at Chupa. “The training. Lots of familiars go numb to deal with the pain. Numbness doesn’t interfere with their functioning unless their master’s a pain freak. As far as I know, Damaskinos isn’t.”

“Good.” Chupa touched her face, letting his hand cup her cheek. “You don’t need to be numb with us. There won’t be any pain here, just pleasure. Don’t you know that by now?”

She sobbed. “I’m afraid.”

“Don’t be. You’re safe.” He turned her face more toward him so she could look at him. “Do you believe me?” And still he wasn’t moving in her.

“Yes,” whispered Eva. She felt him inside her, filling her, the throbbing of her lust at war with the fear that tried to control her.

“Do you want me to keep fucking you?” She could tell how much he wanted to, so why did he even ask? Would he stop if she didn’t want him? Did she want him to stop?

She made her decision. Lust trumped fear. “Yes, Chupa, please keep fucking me. I love it when you–”

Again he cut her words off with the frenzy of his body, driving hard into her willing warmth, almost as if he wanted to erase her memories with the sheer force of his need. And she wanted him to. She needed him to. Still he held her hips down and didn’t let her move, only lie there spread open to his thrusts, letting the pleasure burn through her like a fever. “Chupa...Chupa–oh, I’ve got to come. Please, please let me come.”

“Not yet.” Strain showed itself in his voice. “When you come, that’ll set me off too. I want this to last longer. Shit, I don’t ever want to pull out of you.”

A huge surge of arousal wracked her at his words. “Harder. Fuck me harder.”

He looked at Reinhardt. “Will it hurt her?”

“She’s not made of glass. It shouldn’t.”

“You won’t hurt me.” The sound of her own voice shocked her. When had she become so hoarse? “Please. I trust you, Chupa. Fuck me hard.”

The honest desire in her voice must have convinced him, because he began pounding into her like a battering ram. It felt so extravagantly good she couldn’t bear it. He had absorbed heat from her or she coldness from him, because the temperature difference seemed gone. The tension in her belly grew and grew, Chupa gasping with his own pleasure now, eyes closed, lost in the bodily sensations. Who knew he would be so beautiful in the throes of passion? Eva knew she was on the verge of climaxing again and she caught Reinhardt’s hands in hers, placing them over her breasts. “I’m going to come..ohhh! I love it. Just a little more, a little more, oh, I’m almost there, Chupa. You’re so good, you’re going to make me come. Just keep going, yes, just like that, just like that. Oh God!” On the edge now, one more push, one good push would send her over. He thrust into her again, sliding his hand between their bodies to rub her clit, and she screamed, “Chupa! Chupa! Yes!” as the orgasm hit her like a tidal wave, washing over the both of them as her muscles milked his hard cock until he came himself with an animal roar, the contractions of his body shooting his semen deep into her.

Chupa’s body sank down on top of her and they lay there like that for a minute, getting their breath back. His forehead pressed against her upper chest and her arms encircled him. His skin remained cool, with no traces of the sweat that glazed her own body. She drew a surprised breath when she felt his tongue on the hollow of her throat, licking at the beads of perspiration there. “Like the edge of a margarita glass, mujer.”

Reinhardt had been silent for some time before asking, “So what did you think, man?”

“Different,” Chupa gasped. “So damn good. I fucking loved it. Eva here definitely gets a return engagement, if I have anything to say about it.”

“Priest might enjoy her too.” From where she lay, she had a good view of the older man’s face. He had a speculative look in his eye. What was he doing?

“No,” Chupa said instantly. “He doesn’t like humans. He might hurt her.”

“Well, you didn’t like humans before this. Did you?”

“No, but that’s different. Priest can get any woman he wants except for Verlaine or Nyssa. He doesn’t need this one, too.”

“You don’t think he’d enjoy what you just did?”

“I don’t give a fuck if he would or not. The mujer is ours. I wouldn’t let that prick Kounen fuck her either, and he thinks a lot more of her than Priest would.”

Reinhardt laughed. “Relax, man. Nobody’s going to fuck Eva except for us. I’ll let Damaskinos know that tomorrow.”

A thread of anger still ran through his voice. “You do that.”

Eva lay underneath Chupa, wondering what all that had been about. So Chupa was a little possessive now–what was that supposed to mean? Nothing. Nothing at all, except that he hadn’t gotten bored yet. For that matter, neither had she.

“My turn now,” Reinhardt said, and Chupa rolled off her. The older man ran his hand over Eva’s thigh and said, “On your hands and knees, sweetheart. I think you’ll like it that way too.”

Oh Jesus, he wanted to fuck her up the ass? “Ah, I’ve never–I mean, I’m not sure that would work out the way–I’m not sure–”

He laughed. “No, that’s not what I wanted. Not right now, at any rate. We have to save something for later.”

“Oh. All right,” she said, somewhat reassured. Eva doubted he’d lie to her when all he had to do was command her and she’d obey him. “Could I look at you first?” He still had his jeans on, which she found a little strange. “I’d like to see you naked.”

“You will.” Reinhardt unzipped his black jeans and removed them. Her mouth went dry at the sight of him. Now she knew one good reason why he’d let Chupa go first with her. If he hadn’t, she might–no, she would–have had trouble taking him. Definitely well above average there. But a throb had already awakened between her legs, and suddenly she found she wanted all that bigness inside her. A surprised little gasp escaped her and he smiled. “It’ll be all right. I’m not going to hurt you. On your hands and knees now.”

She did what he said, finding that the position he placed her in forced her to kneel over Chupa. Her hair brushed against his chest as she settled her elbows on the far side of his waist. He smoothed a hand over her side as Reinhardt knelt on the bed behind her and tested her readiness by sliding a finger inside her. Eva moaned with the sensation as he added another finger, then two as her hips ground back against him. “You’re all wet, sweetheart. We won’t have any trouble.”

He gripped her hips in his hands and urged her to plant her knees farther apart. She did, shivering with anticipation as she felt the head of his cock nudge at her, then slide past the engorged lips. He filled her to bursting and a little past that, a noise of pain escaping her when the stretching to accommodate him verged on tearing. Reinhardt quieted her with soothing murmurs and stayed motionless until her body adjusted to him, then continued easing himself inside her heat. Twice more he had to stop to let her get used to his size. By the time he was buried in her up to the hilt his own breathing consisted of gasps and she was crying out in pleasure. “Feel good, Eva?” he managed to ask.

“Yes, God, of course it does,” she groaned. “More, Dieter. Give me more.”

“Happy to.” With exquisite care he began to push his hard cock in and out of her, slowly, doing his best not to cause her pain. Eva pushed back at him, answering his every movement with her own, trying futilely to get him to speed up his rhythm. His breath hissed over the skin of her back, raising goosebumps and exciting her with the sound of his desperation. Reinhardt, the epitome of control, was inches away from losing it because of her. Because fucking her drove him crazy. “Doubt if this’ll take long,” he gasped. “Watching Chupa fuck you really got me hot.”

“Thanks,” Chupa replied. Eva’s hair brushed back and forth over his groin with the force of Reinhardt’s thrusts, teasing his cock back into hardness. Seeing her surprised look, he grinned. “Vampires recover a lot quicker from sex than humans do.”

She bit her lips to hold back a moan. Oh, she wanted to take him in her mouth and suck him off while the other man kept fucking her. Even the idea almost sent her into orgasm. “Chupa...?” She let her voice trail off, questioning, as she braced one forearm on his hip and let the other hand caress his hard-on.

He put his hands behind his head. “Be my guest.”

That was all she needed to hear. Urgent, frantic need ruled her as she took hold of him and ran her tongue up the length of him. He cried out and his hips jerked upward, but she put all her weight on him and managed to keep him somewhat still. Running her tongue in circles around the head, she kept a firm hold on the shaft as she took it inside her mouth. Real technique was for later, when she wasn’t almost crazy with passion, and she began caressing with her tongue as she sucked him, taking him deeper and deeper into her mouth until her lips actually touched the skin around the base of his cock. Deep-throating had been a skill of hers for years, but one that she managed to keep secret. She wanted her value as a familiar to be for her work skills, not her party favor ones. But any thoughts other than sex deserted her as she fucked both men. “Oh, God,” Chupa groaned. “Your mouth’s damn near as hot as your cunt. You seeing this, Reinhardt?”

“Oh, shit,” Reinhardt moaned. The expression of need sounded so alien from him. “It’s all down her throat, isn’t it? Every inch of it.”

“You bet your ass, man. And it’s good. It’s damn good.”

The admission drove him over the edge. He seized her hips, digging in with his fingers, and rammed himself home with all his strength, hitting the sweet spot inside Eva that sent her into climax, her body spasming around his cock. She screamed with the pleasure, Chupa’s cock in her throat effectively stopping the sound, but nothing silenced Reinhardt’s shout of satisfaction as he shot his come into her before her contractions had even slowed. The sight and sound of their chain reaction took Chupa by surprise. Eva’s lips and tongue still worked his erection and he could smell her release, Reinhardt’s too for that matter, and then it was just too much for him to hold back. His hips bucked up into her face and he came too, with a cry of delight as she drank him down.

The three of them lay sprawled across the bed, even the vampires too drained to move. Chupa was the first to speak. “Man, I’ve gotta say that you deserve to be head of the Bloodpack. You have the best ideas.”

“You’re welcome,” replied Reinhardt. Rolling to one side, he picked up the bottle of serum from the night table beside his bed and filled the syringe with it. "Hold out your arm, Eva."

Where she found the strength to move she'd never know. Tapping her forearm with his fingers to find a vein, he slid the needle in and injected her with the vampirism antidote. “Let’s get you under the covers. I think you might be getting cold about now.”

Eva summoned up enough energy to say, “I should get dressed and go back to my quarters.”

He wasn’t having any of that. “What were your instructions from Overlord Damaskinos?”

“That I was to report to your quarters at seven p.m. and remain there until you dismiss me.”

“Have I dismissed you?” he asked.

She shook her head, puzzled. “No, you haven’t.”

“Then you stay here. He arranged for you to have the day off tomorrow, and I know you don’t want to waste it.”

A genuine smile appeared on her face. “Then you want...”

Chupa answered for him. “We want to do everything with you. Twice.”

“But we all need to get some rest first. Then it’ll be time for round two.” Reinhardt looked down at her and smiled, and she saw for the first time that he had light green eyes that were just as beautiful as Chupa’s. “You think you’re up for that?”

Of her own free will she pulled his head down to hers and kissed him. Chupa pressed himself up against her back and wrapped his arms around her stomach. When she released Reinhardt’s lips, she said, “Try me.” He grinned in response and pressed against her front, pulling the covers up so that her heat would warm them. It seemed to take only seconds for her to fall asleep snuggled between them, feeling safe for the first time in years.