Page 46 of You Will Crave Me
“Damn, that was hot. Did you enjoy my son’s mouth, Wei Xian?” Dante asked him.
Lee laughed and sat up. “Always, Sir,” he said, then began to put his limp dick back into his pants. “I’ll leave you two alone.”
“Thank you,” Dante said.
I fought hard not to fidget, because Dante being here made me nervous. I was trying to figure out what I may have done to warrant the visit. I’d been feeding like he wanted me to, even killing innocent humans, because I had no choice. Dante was determined to break down the last remaining shreds of my humanity. The longer he sat there in silence looking at me, the more I felt like the walls were closing in on me. My eyes darted around the room, because I could feel the weight of Dante’s scrutiny and it was driving me crazy. So much so, I was starting to sweat.
“Will you say something,” I said, finally unable to take it.
“I gave you an order a week ago. Do you remember what it was?”
I thought about it and groaned. “Look—”
“No, you look, my orders aren’t requests, Dominic,” Dante snapped, cutting me off. “I gave you an order to sire a child and here you sit, childless. Why?”
“I can’t bring myself to do this to someone else,” I said.
Dante rolled his eyes and sighed. “For fuck’s sake, you love being a vampire. You certainly loved being a wolf and running with your pack. Don’t bother to bullshit me, I already know that’s the truth. Lie to yourself all day, but don’t play that fucking game with me.”
I hated to hear him say those words to me, because I couldn’t deny them. For everything I tried to hate about being what I was, the pleasure it gave me, the freedom, and power were addicting. Maybe I was just weak. “I… I just need to wrap my head around it.”
“Embracinga human?” Dante asked.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“There are plenty on the registry begging to become someone better than merely mortal. Take your pick from that,” Dante said.
Truth was, I knew about the registry, but hadn’t bothered to look at it. I didn’t want to have to sire a child. To have to teach that vampire how to feed, hunt, and kill. That was the real reason why I had ignored the order. I wasn’t coldblooded enough for that shit.
“Oh, you honestly believe that, Dom?” Dante asked.
“What?”
“What,Sir,” Dante corrected.
“What, Sir?” I repeated.
“That you aren’t coldblooded enough to train your child.”
God, I fucking hated him reading my mind.
“It’s true, Sire,” I said.
Dante laughed and I felt the anger rising within me. What did he find so fucking funny?
“Good God.” Dante sighed. “Okay, this is what’s about to happen, because you disobeyed my command. I can’t have you doing that, Dom. Not only are you my son, but you are a Beta Capo and Lord of this district. That shit is unacceptable. So, now you have to be punished.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, typed on the screen a bit, then turned it around to face me. I looked at the screen and noticed it was a video of a live feed. And my friend Delilah was in the video, naked in the middle of a dark room. Her wrists were bound and suspended above her head by a chain in the ceiling. She was being beaten by several women and men, each taking turns punching, kicking, and slapping her, and she was in tears. Her body was covered in bruises, wounds, and blood as they tortured her.
My heart sank and a special kind of rage overcame me. “Oh my God, Dante, what the fuck are you doing? That’s Delilah!” I yelled. Before I knew it, Dante had kicked me so hard in my face, I blacked out for a second or two. When I came to, my nose was broken, teeth were missing, and my mouth was full of blood. My face and mouth throbbed until it was all healed up. It was an odd sensation feeling new teeth grow in the holes old teeth used to be in. I swallowed the blood in my mouth out of instinct, but it still grossed me out.
“Watch how you speak to me,” Dante warned once I sat back up.
I wiped the blood from my nose, but didn’t suck it up. Instead, I wiped my fingers on my jeans. “You’re angry with me, take it out on me, not her. You said you were going to turn her, Sire,” I pleaded.
“I was, but then you pissed me off. So, now, this is what’s going to happen. You have one friend left: Zachery. He will be your child. You willEmbracehim tonight. But first, you’ll have to find him. Let’s sharpen those hunting skills of yours. You have four hours to find him,Embracehim, and present him to me at my home. I left a trail, don’t worry. Trust in your wolf senses. For every extra hour it takes you to present your new child, it extends Delilah’s torture. And the pain will also increase. This…” He gestured to the screen. “This is phase one. I’m sure you can imagine what the pack can do when it’s allowed to play with its prey.”
I felt like I wanted to throw-up. Why, why did I keep expecting Dante to be the same man I grew up with? Why did I keep thinking he gave a shit about humans like he used to? “Please, Dante… don’t do this to her.” I crawled over to him, on my knees now. I looked up at him. “I will turn Zachary tonight. I will turn another human too if you want me to. I will kill whoever you want me to. I’m done fighting you. You’re right…” I had to pause to swallow my pride as tears fell from my eyes.
“Go on,” Dante said.
