Shamira looked down at the ground, then back up. “Have you been harassing Patrick?” she asked, almost spitting her soon-to-be-former brother-in-law’s name. “You know he and his lawyer have backed off of Samantha a lot. Seems to have started right after I asked you to check in on her.”
Clyde grinned. “I may have a couple of associates that might have calmly discussed the situation with Mr. Patrick outside of his place of work late at night. Just possibly.”
Shamira smiled back. “Give her space for a bit. And if you hurt her, you know what happens right? I wasn’t allowed to go after Patrick because he’s human . . . kind of . . . but your ass I can kick.”
“Of that I have little doubt,” Clyde replied, giving an outrageously extravagant bow.
“Well Lord Pritchard, I see that you’ve taken to sniffing at table scraps,” came a voice about ten feet away. Both of them turned to see that Lord Lacroix was sauntering over.
Shamira hated the fact that Lacroix was pretty damn gorgeous in an annoying kind of way. His tux fit his six foot frame well, and his short black hair played well off his flawless pale complexion. Good-looking or not, she was convinced this man was evil beyond words, and her guard was up.
“Why is it that it always takes a redneck to remind a prissy-boy like you about minding your manners?” Clyde said, stepping between Lacroix and Shamira. Sebastian instantly appeared at the werewolf’s side, and the two of them made an imposing pair. This caused Lacroix’s security chief, a swarthy-looking vamp named Jonas, to step forward as well. “What do you want, nancy-boy?”
“How droll. I’m assuming from your uncouth behavior then that you’re already humping Lord Stapleton’s leg and have signed on for this lunacy?” Lacroix glanced at Sebastian and sneered, but paid no attention to Shamira at all. She wanted to deck him. “This is more of zoo than a real house.” Finally he looked at Shamira. “And apparently that one must be a true dog to need a mask.”
Sebastian’s hand on Shamira’s shoulder tightened to prevent her from moving forward and punching him in the nose. Insulting was acceptable behavior apparently, but beating the crap out of someone who richly deserved it wasn’t. Instead, she just observed.
Several others came over to join in yet another argument about the Tribunal’s edict. Shamira just looked at Lacroix and his guard. There was something wrong about him, but Shamira couldn’t put her finger on it. Then she used her Shadow Sight, and . . . she suppressed a gasp. That was odd, very odd.
The one thing that finally got Lacroix to shut up and stop insulting everyone around him was when Shane and Alessandra came over. Lacroix’s look towards Lord Stapleton was nothing short of acidic, and his opinion of the Representative wasn’t apparently much higher.
“Lord Lacroix,” Shane said, making an effort to look down his nose at his rival, “I see that you have wasted little time ingratiating yourself into my more civilized company.”
“I rarely associate sleaze with civilized, but whatever makes you happy,” Lacroix replied.
“Lord Lacroix, you WILL show some respect,” Shane said smoothly. “Even if you have forgotten how to behave around a regional lord, surely you haven’t forgotten the rules for when a Tribunal Representative is around?”
“Of course,” Lacroix said, his voice turning to wine as he reached for the Representative’s hand and kissed it gently. “Truly a flower amongst all this . . . rabble.”
Lacroix and Shane began to debate for the millionth time that evening, and everyone else pretty much kept out of it. Alessandra made sure that things stayed cordial, though Shamira could almost feel her dislike for Lacroix rolling off in waves. Shamira pulled on Sebastian’s hand until he glanced at her. She motioned gently to one side, indicating a desire to speak with him elsewhere.
Sebastian nodded and drew his slave away, cornering her against a tree and fondling her openly. It was expected for the dominants in Shane’s house to treat their subs like this. Of course, it still got her a little hot . . . okay, a lot hot.
“What’s on your mind?”
“I can see his blood,” she whispered.
Sebastian blinked, trying to process that statement. “Come again?”
“I can see his blood inside his veins instead of just smelling it. The inside of his body is dark, and his blood . . . he can’t hide what is in his blood from me. There’s something hiding in his blood. I could pick it up with . . . you know,” she added, rolling her eyes around. She wasn’t supposed to mention any of her Shadow Aspects out loud. “Then I looked normally, and his eyes are weird. I didn’t think vamps got bloodshot eyes, but his are. Just a little anyway. And he’s got all these nervous twitches –”
“You don’t think –” Sebastian muttered, scarcely believing his ears. “You think he’s ON morning star?”
Shamira nodded, groaned softly as Sebastian rubbed her crotch. “Yeah, that’s what I think. It makes sense. He’s basically challenged Shane in defiance of the Tribunal’s orders, he seems to think he’s got a lot more stroke than he does . . . Doesn’t morning star give you a feeling of god-like power?”
“It makes sense,” Sebastian replied, slapping her pussy through the leather. “You think better when you’re angry or horny don’t you?” he chuckled.
“Yes sir,” she murmured. “Sir, shouldn’t we –”
He grasped her crotch harder. “Don’t be contrary with me. If I want to take a moment to remind you of what you are, then I will.” Then he put his lips close to her ear. “As soon as the meeting breaks up, we’ll talk to Shane about this.”
“And I need to call Kira and . . . and see if she has anything for me.” Shamira bit her bottom lip as she pushed herself against Sebastian’s hand, but he withdrew it. He put his fingers in her mouth, and she sucked on them like a good little submissive.
“Next time we do this, your cum will be on those fingers.” Sebastian pulled his hand away and led her by leash back to where Shane was arguing with Lacroix.
” — and you’ll fail,” the vampire from Savannah. “Maybe you’ve forgotten what being human was like, but I have not. Groveling in the darkness of ignorance, savage and uncouth. But maybe it will be for the best. Humans will react like the apes they are, and it will finally give us an excuse to take our rightful place at the top of the food chain.”
“Be careful what you say,” the Representative said in voice that silenced the rest of the crowd. “Outright revolution is and will always be a direct violation of Tribunal law.”
Lacroix drew himself up and replied, “And you think the humans would care about your Tribunal’s rules when the time comes. Maybe we should take the same frame of mind.” Lacroix was impervious to the gasps of the crowd. In fact, he seemed to relish his borderline-defiance of the member of a Tribunal to her face. Lacroix’s security chief stepped forward and put a hand on his employer’s arm. The two locked eyes, but Shamira couldn’t really get a good feel for what they were thinking.
“Pardon me,” Lacroix said at last. “In the heat of argument, I seem to have . . . lost leave of my manners.” He bowed. “Please accept my apologies, Representative.”
Alessandra nodded, which was all the recognition she would offer. Shamira could tell that Shane wanted more, but violence was strictly prohibited at this meeting.
The meeting began to break up, with some guests going to their quarters while others chose to return to their home ports. Shane had told everyone to meet up in the dining hall once everyone else had left, so the two of them headed there right away. They were the first ones there.
“Okay, I think the first thing we should do is –” Shamira started to say, then felt Sebastian’s hand grip the back of her neck firmly. He’d been playing with her all evening, never letting her know if they were off or on. When he pushed her forcefully onto the table and moved her legs apart with his foot, she knew they were on. And when he stuffed an apple in her mouth and told her to hold it —
“You should be already wet enough,” he told her, unbuttoning his pants and releasing his already rigid staff. “So we can skip the foreplay.” He pushed her fishnet body-stocking and thong enough to the side so that he could shove his length into her core with one swift stroke. “Now move your hips,” he ordered, smacking her on the behind. “You think that I should have to work to fuck you?”
Shamira pushed back and the pulled forward, using herself as an object to stroke that magnificent cock. He slapped her ass harder to spur her on, but there was only so much she could do. She knew he was probably just doing it because he enjoyed spanking her. Also because she enjoyed it.
Yosyp wandered in with Valeska on the end of a leash. “You realize that we eat off that table?” he asked, his amusement obvious even with his accent.
“You think this is the first time this has happened?” He smacked Shamira’s ass harder. “A lot worse has been done on this table, I assure you.”
“Perhaps we could explore some of those ‘worse things’? Valeska, strip,” he ordered. The Chilean assassin slowly slithered out of her clothes, managing to look both shy and sultry at the same time. Yosyp whispered something in her ear which caused Valeska to get a massive grin.
Slowly, the woman began morphing into a really, really . . . really . . . big snake. Shamira hadn’t seen Valeska’s animal form, and she was quite intimidated by the twenty-eight foot anaconda slithering down the table toward her. “Just let her do what she’s going to do,” Yosyp said.
Shamira was wondering what Valeska was supposed to do, then remembered the conversation she’d had with the assassin on a mission downtown. Valeska began to slowly loop herself around Shamira, then began to roll. Soon, there was nothing visible of the vampire’s body between the waist and neck, and Shamira was powerless to move. Super strength or not, she could feel an unnatural power in Valeska’s snake body that was a bit frightening. But Valeska was as much a tool now as Shamira herself, living bondage gear for their amusement.
With Shamira suitably restrained and still basically bent over the table, Sebastian plunged back into Shamira while Yosyp knelt on the table, undid his fly, and let his cock poke out. Semi-rigid, he put it in the captive’s mouth (after removing the apple of course) and ordered her to bring him to full size.
Shamira hummed and sucked, feeling him grow in her mouth. It was something she enjoyed doing, and something she was proud she could do. She couldn’t remember ever feeling quite so confined. All the chains, ropes, and leather in the world couldn’t quite compare to her living prison.
Sebastian had to do most of the work after all, since Shamira couldn’t move. He didn’t seem to mind as he penetrated her folds while smacking her ass with his bare hand. He was more man than Shamira thought she would ever be with. She was amused at the notion that he still didn’t quite measure up to Clara in her mind. After all, her fist was still bigger than the end of Sebastian’s cock, but this was still very, very good.
“I’m reasonably sure this wasn’t the idea behind the meeting,” came Reaper’s voice from the door as he led Bunny into the room.