Page 82 of The Monster and the Last Blood Match

Beckham sighed. “One day I will get you to stop asking questions.”

“Unlikely.”

“A drop is a drop of blood.”

“What kind?”

He gave her a sobering look, and she understood.

“You mean people here are drinking blood that isn’t a match,” she gasped in horror.

“It’s just a pick-me-up. Nothing that would cause anyone any harm or any more harm than they already wish on themselves.”

Reyna was still trying to process that when Roland, Cassandra, Sophie, and Felix showed up at their table. Roland was in a suit, while Cassandra had opted for a long black lace dress that was entirely see-through and somehow managed to be more revealing than Reyna’s lingerie. Felix was in nothing but black boxer briefs and a gold studded collar. He already had bite marks in his neck and as usual looked a bit dazed and out of it. Sophie was confident and cool in a white bridal lingerie set that contrasted with the dark tones of the room.

“Good to see you, Beckham,” Roland said with a tip of his head. Reyna noticed the red hue of his drink and shuddered. Just what she needed—a feral Roland Batiste.

The way he looked at her made it seem like he was slowly undressing her with his eyes. She felt as naked as the women laid out on the tables in front of him, and she shifted uncomfortably.

“Glad you could make it, Reyna,” Roland said.

She glanced away from him and kept her mouth shut. The memory of what he’d said at the ball came back to her, making her sick.I will find you later, love. Be sure of it.

The lights flickered twice, signaling for everyone to take their seats. Sophie sat next to Reyna, who breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that Roland wouldn’t be within arm’s reach. He creeped her out, and knowing he was drinking a drop didn’t help anything.

A busty woman in a black lingerie and long sheer robe that trailed behind as she walked stepped onto the stage at the front.

“Welcome ladies, gentlemen, and all manner of deviants.” She extended her arms out to the crowd and strutted across the stage. “I’m Dee, the Madame of the Vault. You’re now locked in to my world of debauchery. No one comes in, and no one goes out. You know the rules.” She winked as she sashayed across the floor. “Tonight, I have a special treat for you. A rare delicacy draped all in white. Some strapping young lads and a few…taste testers. Prepare to be bewitched. I give you a feast.”

She gestured to the bed. Reyna leaned forward as a trembling young woman stepped out in a white dress with a hem that brushed her knees. She looked the part of a sacrificial lamb, and she had everyone’s rapt attention.

Fear rolled off of her, and she was powerless to do anything to stop it.

“Our little delicacy may look like she’s frightened.” The woman tapped her on her perfect red mouth. “In fact, she probablyisfrightened, right, darling?”

The woman nodded, trembling.

The madame circled the woman. “But everything that will be done to her tonight—andeverythingwill be done to her tonight—will be exactly what she asked for.” She slapped her gently with a riding crop. “Tell them your safe word.”

Reyna grasped Beckham’s hand as the woman answered. She thought Beckham would throw her off, but he closed his hand around hers.

“Where have you brought me?” she whispered to him.

His gaze was hot on her body, and when she turned to face him, she found him gazing at her exposed throat. He licked his lips with an appetite that he never showed. His free arm ran along the back of her chair, and he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

“Exactly where you wanted to be.”

“Is this a…abloodbrothel?” Reyna asked.

“Precisely,” Beckham said into the hollow of her throat.

Reyna was both terrified and intrigued by the prospect of a blood brothel. The woman was shaking like a leaf, but she didn’t try to run or cry out. Reyna saw herself in that woman onstage. Take away the penthouse and the one-man show, and in the end, it was all the same thing.

“And they’re going to perform sex acts?” Reyna’s voice trembled at the question.

Beckham’s lips brushed her skin. “It’s a scene. Everyone agreed to be part of it. But do you agree? Do you want to watch?”

“I…”

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