Having slipped past her mental shields with the blood connection, he caught brief snatches of her fears. They sliced Nina to pieces without mercy, and Kristina had disappeared. What were their plans for her and the other bloodslaves?
He let go after a minute or so, and looked up into her glazed eyes. He had another glimpse of her mind before she blocked him out with her reformed mental shields. She still feared the unknown, but she appreciated the way he had treated her with respect. He’d taught her the only lesson she would ever need from him – trust. He was a vampire she could trust with her body.
“I never take more than I should, and I never take what you won’t give willingly.”
She nodded and stared at him with an unreadable look.
He stepped away and she almost fell over. He caught her up in his arms and appreciated her slim, delicate build. She was almost too dainty for his liking, too breakable. He wondered why Dmitri had chosen such a frail woman for a bloodslave.
The brunette nearest him cleared her throat and pulled her hair aside with a tentative, hopeful grin. Aaron was struck with the strangeness of the moment. These ladies were applying for membership into his household, his life. They were stuck with him and Michelle by default, an inheritance of sorts.
“What is your name?
“Oksana.” She had quit trying to hide her beautiful little handful breasts and smiled when he checked her out up and down.
“You know I won’t hurt you, Oksana, right?”
She nodded and stepped up to him, her cheek rubbing against his she was so close. He took her in hand and tasted her neck. She made delightful little noises as he sensed her open nature and willingness to please him. He cupped her ass and drank deeply of her savory flavors. That hit the spot beautifully. He was tempted to strip off her pants and see what she had to offer, but, that might not be the best thing to do in a room full of people, and he doubted he could get it up again anytime soon.
He let up from her neck, licked the wound once to seal it, and stepped away. She giggled and blushed, waving her hand in front of her face to catch some air as she swayed, dizzy. By the way she twitched and continued giggling, he figured she was probably still in the middle of her orgasm. What a wonderful creature. This one Aaron understood immediately, a perfect little bloodslave if ever there was.
The last girl pushed past Oksana and pulled her hair aside, looking down and away. He caught the impression there was something not quite right with her. She avoided his gaze and waited for his bite impatiently.
“What is your name?”
She looked off towards Katya who turned off the water in the shower and stepped out of the sliding glass doors to glare at all of them, Aaron included. Katya found a towel and proceeded to ignore everyone as she dried herself.
The brunette didn’t say a word. Aaron studied her. Something he couldn’t put his finger on nagged at the back of his mind. Something about her hair cut. “I said, what is your name?”
She scoffed and finally looked at him squarely. “Natalya.”
In his mind’s eye, an image of a tiger-striped naked woman superimposed over the top of Natalya’s dark brown eyes, soft round tits, and that same obnoxiously defiant tilt to her chin.
“Ah, you’re the Tiger Lady, from 411.” He couldn’t help but chuckle. “I bet you know exactly where the otrok is, don’t you? You probably know the count of each vial.”
Her eyes squinted at him with a grudging acknowledgment. She had probably recognized him all along. He tried to pierce her mind and found that same wall blocking him out. This girl was a hot mess, a trouble-maker. Aaron couldn’t for the life of him figure out why Dmitri would have kept her around. Too obnoxious for Aaron’s tastes.
But what was he supposed to do, send her packing? Force her into agonizing withdrawals through his refusal to bite her? That wasn’t very fair. Aaron and gang had killed the girl’s master. He’d inherited this … harem. He had a responsibility to these women. The otrok might come in handy when dealing with a brat like Natalya.
“Look, Natalya, you don’t want to be here anymore than I want you to be here. But, if you intend to stick with me, you better drop this shitty attitude. Quick.”
She looked at him, really looked at him. Her eyes traveled up and down his body as though assessing whether he was worthy of her. Cocky little bitch. He considered making her wait, making her beg for it. No, that wasn’t cool. Dmitri must have done something to make her like this. Aaron wasn’t about to become the next Dmitri in her life. Fuck that.
He gave the obnoxious brat exactly what she wanted when he snatched her up in his arms and growled in her face. “Is this how you like it?” He bit her hard and squished her perfect little breasts against his chest as he squeezed her ass in a tight grip.
She didn’t fight. In fact she straddled his leg and started humping. She rode the high, trying to get more out of it. With her blood he tasted her emotions. She wouldn’t have a problem if he stripped her and fucked her right now, in front of everyone. The voyeur liked it that way.
Michelle tapped him on the shoulder and whispered in his ear. “Enough, Aaron.”
Her voice of caution sunk in, and he released the Tiger Lady’s neck. Oblivious to anyone else, she kept grinding her warm, damp pussy on his leg, humping and grunting her way through a dry fuck. Aaron looked back and found the other girls had turned away, perhaps embarrassed at Natalya’s display. They were accustomed to seeing Natalya behave this way. The girl had no sense of propriety, a true veteran of the sex trade.
Aaron held onto her, allowing her to get off on his leg, until she finished with another grunting sigh. She smiled at him with fully dilated eyes that said she was up for anything, anytime, anywhere, and kissed him full on the mouth. “Bolshoe spasibo.” When he obviously didn’t understand what she had said, she grinned and reached down to grab the bulge of his cock through his towel. “Thank you.”
Okay, maybe he could see a reason Dmitri would keep Natalya around. She was the go to girl. He could bend her over whenever the mood overtook him. Aaron wondered what kind of twisted things Dmitri might have forced these women to do … together. He vowed to be better than that, to treat them with the respect and care they deserved.
Aaron held Natalya casually in one arm and reached out to bring Oksana into his embrace. He kissed them both on the foreheads and looked to the blonde. “I didn’t get your name.”
She became shy all of a sudden and blushed, again. She’d returned to hiding her breasts from him. After a moment of silence, she finally met his gaze with a look of hope. “Svetlana.” This girl could be someone worth knowing, if he handled her delicately. There was far more beneath her surface.
“Come here, Svetlana. Group hug.”
Slowly, she stepped up and released her hold on her breasts to hug the other two women, face to face with Aaron. He loved watching the rosy red blush on her face as she let it all hang out on display. It was a petty pleasure, but standing with a gang of topless bloodslaves made him feel like the Czar of all Eastern Europe. “Listen up ladies. I’m the new boss, the new master, and things are going to be different from here on out.”
He glanced to Michelle and jerked his head to bring her over. She slipped in between Oksana and Svetlana, seamlessly nudging into the middle of them. Michelle joined the group hug with a huge fang-filled grin and a luscious lick of her lips.
“This is the beautiful and deadly Michelle de Mornac. Michelle is mine, and I am hers. Where I go, she goes. If you’ll give us a chance, we can be yours as well, the both of us. We can make this work, together. Michelle is also your new master.”
All three women assessed Michelle with wary glances.
“This is a good thing, ladies. A very good thing. Michelle and I share everything, and I do mean everything.”
To punctuate his words, Michelle kissed Oksana dead on the lips, tongue and all. The girl’s deep brown eyes flared with shock, but she didn’t pull away. Michelle leaned away to catch Oksana’s e
yes and then squeezed her ass, laying claim to her half of Oksana’s behind. Oksana rewarded her with a bright smile and bit her bottom lip, her attraction to Michelle unmistakable.
Aaron squeezed Oksana’s shoulder. “I think we’re all going to be one big happy family.”
The ladies didn’t look exactly convinced, but they grinned. Except for Natalya, who just rolled her eyes. Aaron knew what it would take to deal with her. Natalya needed a hardcore vampire grudge fuck to bring her in line. Aaron looked forward to the challenge.
“Oh great, a game of topless football?” Katya stood wrapped in her towel with a look of sheer disgust. She pegged each of the women with her hate-filled eyes. “No matter how much fun you’re planning, he’s only got one cock.”
Natalya reached down once more to rub the lump of Aaron’s crotch through his towel, as though taking dibs on the only penis in the room.
Katya’s eyes locked with Aaron’s and a wicked squint formed. “Better start buying stock in Viagra if you’re planning to bang all of them and the regulars too.”
She turned and stomped out of the bathroom.
* * * *
Chapter 21
“Bribes have been paid to the families of the dead soldiers. More bribes have been paid to the neighbors who complained to the police that they heard or saw something. Bribes have been paid to the police. A cover story will hit the news that there was a gas line explosion.” Urvashi lay back, relaxed in a massive arm chair in a sitting room on the ground floor of the mansion.
Aaron shook his head, finding it hard to believe. Only in Russia could a massacre of this size be swept under the carpet at the cost of a few million rubles. What an unusual place to live, where justice is bought and sold by the highest bidders.
Urvashi smiled at his train of thought. “All of the staff have been fired and threatened with a gruesome death if they ever speak a word of what happened here. They received a very generous severance pay. We are in the process of hiring new people. In the interim, we’re on our own in the kitchen.”
That explained the sandwiches everyone had been eating at every meal.
Urvashi’s lazy right hand draped around a crystal goblet of Amaretto on the rocks. Her eyes crinkled with enjoyment as she sipped her liquor. “The good news is I’m told that Dmitri made no provisions in the event of his death. The fool thought he’d live indefinitely. We have plenty of time to enjoy his property while we figure out who gets what.”
Aaron’s jaw about dropped out of his mouth in shock. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Urvashi winked at him. “I’m taking control of his empire as we speak.”
“What’s it all worth?” He knew Michelle was wealthy, to the tune of double digit millions, and she had no problems spending money on him, but that wouldn’t stop him from making a grab at a slice of Dmitri’s fat cat pie. Aaron’s future suddenly seemed a whole lot brighter.
“I don’t have a final number yet, but it looks like it’s over two billion.”
“Holy shit.” Aaron could hardly imagine what anyone would do with that kind of money. It could take several lifetimes to spend it all.
“Most of his wealth is tied up in assets, real estate and business operations. It’s not really liquid, sitting in a bank account. But, these things can be sold, or produce dividends and profits. The value can be realized, eventually. Except for Pharzyme. The laboratory suffered an unfortunate accident. There’s been a fire…”
Aaron shook his head. Urvashi was still dead set on getting rid of the synthetic venom. He almost spoke his mind on the issue, but thought better of it. She seemed irrationally fixated on eradicating that drug, and there was little Aaron could do to change her position on it. She’d lopped off Dmitri’s head over it – Aaron wasn’t winning that argument.
“So … did you ever get into the vault? I haven’t seen it yet.”
She shook her head, but smiled. “It’s right where Kristina said it would be. Ivan will be opening it for us shortly.”
As though taking his cue from Urvashi, Ivan sauntered into the room in a thick black bathrobe and his combat boots. He looked every bit the Russian mercenary strolling through his newly confiscated mansion. He rubbed the monogrammed ‘Dmitri’ on his robe and grinned. “I’m thinking of keeping this as a reminder of what a supreme asshole he was.”
Ivan plopped down in a chair beside Urvashi and leaned back. “So, I guess I missed the end of our little party with the leech. I don’t recall how it happened.”
Aaron had a moment of gruesome flashback to Ivan’s busted up body lying sprawled out, half man, half beast, and half dead. He caught a shiver from the image that was forever branded into his brain as the creepiest shit he’d ever seen.
Urvashi laid her hand over Ivan’s with a gentle reassuring touch. “You gave him hell, Ivan. I helped you finish the job.”
Ivan watched her closely. “Are you certain … he’s dead?”
Aaron and Urvashi nodded together simultaneously. Urvashi winked at Ivan, and Aaron snickered. “She made sure of it. Took his head clean off. His corpse was removed in two pieces.”
Ivan sighed in relief and closed his eyes, ruminating on the news. His hand gripped Urvashi’s and he brought it up to his lips to kiss her fingers. “I am forever grateful, and in your debt. Anything you need, anytime, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Out the corner of his eye Aaron caught a low movement, something bright-colored. He turned to find Lana in a pink sweater and blue jeans holding Katya’s hand. In her other hand she had a half-eaten sandwich. Aaron could smell the peanut butter and jelly from where he sat.
Her face was somber, as usual. He smiled at her, hoping for another glimpse of her radiance.
She scooted a chair over right beside him and sat down at the table, rubbing elbows with him. The girl fascinated him. She was sitting casually with the pack of killers who had just wiped out her entire household and her former vampire master – surrogate father, and she acted as if they were all enjoying a Sunday brunch. She downed the sandwich in no time and Katya handed her a quart of milk.
He looked to Katya and she had a slight grin, watching Aaron and Lana. The girl had thawed Katya’s icy demeanor. Aaron made a mental note of it – good to know a way in when Katya shut him out, which happened all too often.
The whole gang sat there quietly watching this little quiet bubble of normality that had walked into their lives. Aaron turned to Urvashi and speared her with a silent message. {{We are going to have to make provisions for Lana. Her schooling and some kind of normal life. Maybe a boarding school.}}
Urvashi looked down at the little girl and smiled sweetly. “Would you like to travel with us, Lana, see the world and all it has to offer?”
Aaron spiked Urvashi with another silent bump. {{It’s not up to her. It’s up to me. She needs some structure in her life.}}
Lana perked up right away and shook her head emphatically – yes. “Where are we going?”
Aaron cleared his throat. “We might travel soon. No definite plans yet. I think we need to figure out your schooling first. You do go to school, don’t you?”
Somehow, he had begun to sound an awful lot like a parent.
Katya cut in. “I can deal with that. I was thinking she could come with me, to London. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Katya smiled at Lana, but the girl had a stern look on her face.
“Will Aaron be with us too?”
Katya glanced up at Aaron and then Ivan and Urvashi. It was obvious she didn’t quite know how to answer the question. She looked to Aaron and spoke slowly, unsure. “Well, I’m sure we could convince him to come with us for a while.”
Lana shook her head, as if she alone would be the one to decide her fate. “Momma told me to go with Aaron. She said …”
Aaron dived in before things got awkward. “She made me promise to be personally responsible for Lana. And I did promise, didn’t I?”
Lana looked to him, far too serious for a little girl of her age. He
r eyes were so huge, and he thought for sure she was going to start crying. “Yes, you promised.”
Katya was watching him, a strange look on her face. “Well, Aaron will be around, I’m sure, but you’re in the pack now. Your father Abram was in the pack with me, Ivan, Anatoly and Nikolay. Did your mother ever explain to you how … different you are? What it means to be in the pack?”
Lana slowly shook her head. “Momma said that my father was gone. She said Dmitri was … taking care of us.” She looked to Aaron and mimicked his very words. “Dmitri was a bad, bad man. I stay with Aaron now.”
Aaron watched Katya’s face morph into a scowl and she might have even growled slightly. She leaned down close to Lana. “Aaron is no saint, Lana. He’s a vampire, like Dmitri. Vampires are very dangerous. You remember how dangerous Dmitri was? You are not a vampire, Lana, you’re something else. You’re pack. We will teach you how to live in the pack, how to live with … the change. In a few years you’ll understand.”
Lana shook her head – no – her face scrunched up with frustration. “Aaron is not like Dmitri. Mamma said–”
Urvashi slipped her hand over Lana’s. “Don’t worry, Lana. Aaron and I will handle everything. Katya is a good friend, she can help us. She can help you too. All will be explained in time.”
Aaron caught the slight hint of calming influence Urvashi exerted on the girl, and the rough lines of confusion on Lana’s face smoothed out as she visibly relaxed. Lana blinked away her unshed tears of frustration and smiled. It wasn’t quite the radiant grin Aaron hoped for, but it was a start.
This shit was getting complicated.
Urvashi redirected her attention to Ivan and patted his hand. “We have a vault to open. Now, if you please.”