Page 25 of Bloody Kingdom

The people who work in this house are so weird and cagey. Despite knowing I have no right to be let in on the secrets that fill this house like silent ghosts, I’m starting to grow tired of being in the dark.

Icouldn’t check on Ira when I woke for the night because as I made my way to his room, she was in there and it was not safe for me to be in the same room with her. My hunger has been steadily building since Quincey came into my life. I was ravenous when I woke up.

Instead of going to the meeting with the landowners of a new property I’m looking to purchase as planned, I’d instructed Duke to drive me to Rowena’s. A year ago, I made her underground club off-limits to myself, it’d become more trouble than it was worth. In the past two weeks since Quincey arrived, I’ve visited there three times. Each time I know it’s a mistake, but the bags of blood just aren’t satisfying my hunger like drinking from the vein does—or usually does. Despite feeding off a live source, when I leave the twinge of hunger is still alive.

In the back of one of the dark secluded rooms, the woman whimpers and moans as I pull mouthful after mouthful of her blood from her veins. The venom that coats my fangs makes the whole experience pleasurable for them. So pleasurable, she’s become like an addict. That’s how Rowena is able to keep girls employed. Like a drug dealer, she gets her girls hooked on the high of being fed on.

Valerie’s hands slip from where they’d been clutching my shoulders as her body starts to go limp. It’s my sign I need to stop soon.

This isn’t the first time I’ve fed off her, she’s been one of Rowena’s girls for years. Val’s loyal and smart enough to keep her mouth shut about what happens within the walls of this establishment. She understands the repercussions if she doesn’t. Just like me, Rowena has little spies stationed all over town, if one of her girls starts talking about the existence of vampires like Rowena and myself, they’re taken care of without hesitation. There’s a reason that Rowena has been able to keep this club running for so many years, she’s ruthless. If there’s the slightest suspicion one of her girls is thinking about talking, Rowena will silence them permanently.

Yes, the morality of this place is lacking. It’s nothing more than a whorehouse serving the upper-class vampires of New Orleans. Instead of selling sex, Rowena is selling blood. Though I suspect sex isn’t completely off the table for many of the vampires who visit here. It would be easy to take advantage of the women, the euphoric high that they experience after being fed on makes them compliant. Easy.

I’m not a good man, I’ve done things I’m not proud of and I’ve taken more lives than I’ve saved, but what happens in this club is something that fills my black heart with guilt. That’s one of the reasons I stopped coming, I couldn’t stand the lingering shame I felt each time I left.

But the overwhelming hunger I’ve had as of late is overpowering any guilt I may have.

Before Quincey, the way Val fills the room with breathy whimpers and moans would have gotten me hard. I’ve never touched one of Rowena’s girls, but that doesn’t mean my body didn’t react to the way they enjoyed being fed on. But now, Val’s sounds of pleasure do nothing to me, my cock has never been less interested in someone before. I can kid myself and say I don’t know why it’s different now, but I know the answer. It’s because none of the noises she makes compare to the ones that Quincey makes. They definitely don’t compare to the way she cried out my name as she came.

As thoughts of Quincey fill my head again, I push Val off of me with a frustrated growl and stand to my feet. Coming here was supposed to relieve the desire I had for my newest employee, not make my mind run rampant with more thoughts of her. “Fuck!” I hiss as I pull the pocket square from my suit so I can remove any blood from my mouth.

Val, with her eyes closed, curls into the red velvet chaise lounge we’d been sitting on. She looks completely content; a smile even grows on her lips as she falls into a peaceful slumber.

I’m glad someone found some peace during this transaction.

I leave the room and attempt to make a clean exit through the club without being seen. With the lingering hunger itching at the back of my throat, I feel irritable and not in the mood to engage in small talk.

I should have known I wouldn’t be that lucky. Ten feet from the exit, a hand snakes out of the shadows and caresses my chest, halting me in my steps.

“Leaving so soon?” She purrs like a cat as she slinks out of the dark corner she’d been hiding in, presumably waiting for me.

“Rowena.” My tone tells her exactly what I want her to do. I’m being courteous by giving her the opportunity to do it herself, because if I remove her hand from my body, I’m going to break her bones in the process. I might even smile while I do it.

Slowly she pulls her hand from my chest but makes a point to drag her fingernails seductively against the fabric of my shirt. “Did you enjoy your time tonight? We’ve missed you coming here.” Her blood-painted lips pout dramatically. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’m sorry I can’t return the sentiment,” I tell her dryly as I take a step away from her in case she gets any ideas to put her hands on me again. We’ve played this game before, in the past I may have been reckless in indulging it, but I realized my mistake last year. Rowena is a power-hungry snake, and she knows the one way to cement her authority is by taking me as her mate. I vowed to myself and the woman I lost so many years ago that I would never take a mate.

“So cold,” Rowena murmurs. “You didn’t use to be this way toward me, what happened to you, Silas?”

“You know what happened.” I couldn’t control the growl in my voice if I wanted to. “You know what you did—what you almost did.”

Her dark green eyes roll in her head as she scoffs, “Come now, Silas. You can’t still be upset overthat. I told you it was a simple misunderstanding. I got caught up in the heat of the moment.”

In one fast, fluid movement, I’m standing directly in front of her. I invade her space but make a point to not touch her. “Almost forcing an irreversible mating bond isn’t asimplemisunderstanding.” I keep my voice low, but even. “You attempted to take something from me that I’m not willing to give you. Or anyone, for that matter. Nothing has changed since that night. I don’t want you, Rowena. You were simply an easy fuck—you’ll never be more than that to me. Certainly not my mate.”

Her face contorts with anger and hurt as she shoves away from me. “You’re wrong, Silas. One day you’ll see what I’ve been trying to tell you. We would be good together.”

I chuckle coldly. “You’re delusional, Rowena.” With that, I stride out of the dark club, ignoring Rowena’s attempts to call me back.

She should be asleep,the hour is too ungodly for any human to be awake, but when I walk into the kitchen after returning from Rowena’s, I find Quincey sitting on the counter, legs crossed under her. A bowl of cereal sits in her lap as she types away on her phone with her fingers. She hadn’t bothered turning on any lights, the only light in the entire room comes from the moon beaming through the French doors and the blue light of her phone.

The dim light highlights the soft angles of her heart-shaped face, not that I would need any light to make out the features of her body. I can see her perfectly.

The smart thing would be to turn around before she spots me, but instead my hand flips the light switch on the wall. I half expect her to jump out of her skin like she usually does, but she doesn’t flinch a single muscle. Instead, she simply tilts her chin in my direction. Pastel blue eyes scan over me slowly before returning to the screen in her hand.

“Hello honey, did you have a good day at work?” Quincey asks, in a fake upbeat way.

I frown, taken aback by her question. “Wha—” I begin to ask but stop when I figure it out. “You’re joking with me.”

---