Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Iwaved goodbye to Margaret and George. She looked so happy for me as I walked through Regency with my vampire lover, and I’m sure I looked very happy for her in return. It was wonderful to see them reunited. A couple still in love after a lifetime, despite what George might have been up to in this world.

“Will I get to speak to her again?” I asked Hans as we reached the exit.

“Quite possibly. It depends when they take the road into the light. Some couples prefer to live out the ghost of their past for as long as they possibly can. Margaret will be well aware of their options. She’s been waiting for George a long time.”

“Margaret seems a really nice woman, it would be great to get to know her.”

Hans looked at me as he took my hand. “She’d make a great start to your circle of ghostly acquaintances.”

I saw our taxi waiting on the road outside the club and squeezed his fingers.

“Hopefully I’ll be better friends with ghosts than I’ve been with people. The bar isn’t all that high.”

He opened the taxi door for me.

“Orcop is a small village. Your options were limited there.”

“They probably always will be in Orcop. I’m sure glad I moved to London.”

“Perhaps you felt compelled to move here,” he said as he slid into the seat beside me.

“Yeah, you could say that,” I said, and then it clicked. Hans had always been in the shadows, beckoning me. London sure was a beguiling place, even more so when a vampire wants you there.

The driver turned to face us before I could ask Hans to elaborate.

“Where are you heading?”

“Ashwell,” Hans told him. “Hertfordshire. The Manor of St Louis.”

All thoughts of Margaret and George were pushed aside at the mention of our destination. I’d heard of Ashwell before. I’d seen it in online searches when I was dreaming up my perfect future. It was one of the posh quaint villages outside London. It gave me a buzz just thinking about it. A posh little village hiding a blood house. I couldn’t wait to get there.

“Sounds exciting,” I said.

“Excitement is guaranteed,” Hans assured me.

The world outside the cab windows was alive with a new sense of life for me as we pulled away. I was fascinated by every streetlamp, and every single figure we passed on the roadside, transfixed by the dance of energy I’d never seen before. It was crazy, wild. Otherworldly in the most fantastical of ways.

“It will take some adjusting to,” Hans said. “Don’t worry. You will get used to it.”

I didn’t need his assurances. I was filled with a sense of confidence – stemming from a side of myself I’d never been able to know.

“Did you know I was blocked from myself?” I asked Hans. “Right from a little girl, I mean.”

“I knew your mother and grandmother were trying to block you from yourself, yes.”

“Did you know they were succeeding?”

“I knew they wouldn’t succeed for ever, and that’s all that mattered.”

I felt a horrible wave of sickness at the thought of Mum and Grandma. I didn’t want them to die in chains, running into death with their own souls still hidden away under trapdoors, just like mine had been.

“Very noble of you, I’m sure, But you can’t fight their battles for them,” Hans whispered. “Their road to their soul is their own road to walk. You can help them, but you can’t force their paths.”

“They tried to force mine.”

“Yes,” he said. “But they didn’t succeed, did they? Look at who you are tonight. Look at who you are becoming.”

I wished I could see exactly who I was tonight. I’d love to see myself in a full-length mirror and check out the full scale of my transformation. There must have been as many waves of energy in my own aura as there were in other people’s. Maybe even more so.

“Definitely more so,” Hans said. “Your soul has been unleashed, sweetheart.”

I traced my fingers up his arm, adoring the fresh burst of static as I sensed his aura merging with mine. I had no idea what situation we’d be walking into with the blood house, but no matter what, I knew my heart would be ready for it and I belonged there. I’d follow Hans into Hell itself to see his true living culture.

“It’s not Hell.” He squeezed my knee. “It will most definitely be an experience, though. Expect the unexpected.”

I relaxed into his warmth. “I’m getting used to expecting the unexpected, don’t worry about that.”

I absorbed the new me in the bursts, sparks and jangles of life around me, comfortable in the silence between us as we left London city and set off towards Hertfordshire. I could have asked more questions about the Manor of St Louis and what lay ahead there, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to feel the whole, true shock of it in my veins.

The radio was loud enough that the driver wouldn’t hear Hans’ whisper.

“How do you feel about taking other people’s fangs in your flesh? Is that what you want? Do you want to sample blood play with the other vampires we’ll be joining?”

His eyes were bright in the dark of the cab. I stared right into them as I answered.

“Not yet.”

“Not yet?”

“No, not yet, but maybe one day.”

He smirked. “Sooner rather than later, I imagine.”

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

“Not for all that much longer, little one. Here comes Ashwell.”

We’d reached the quaint little village I’d seen in pictures. The streets were filled with fourteenth century houses with beautiful timbered walls. Gorgeous.

“Wait until you see the Manor,” Hans said, and the driver swung up to the left.

It didn’t take long before a huge building appeared on the top of a hill, at the end of a large sweeping driveway. It was surrounded by fields, in the middle of nowhere. A halo of a glow burning loud on the skyline.

It definitely didn’t look like a brothel when the driver reached the main courtyard and dropped us outside. It was a huge stone mansion, with ivy sweeping the walls.

Hans took my hand in his to help me from my seat. He didn’t need to knock at the huge wooden entrance to the manor as the cab pulled away, as a butler was already there to bid us entry.

“This is Katherine,” Hans said. “She’ll be new to the establishment, firmly accompanied by me.”

“Of course, Mr Weyer,” the butler replied. “Please, do inform me if you need any assistance. Welcome to St Louis, Katherine. Very pleased to meet you.”

“And you,” I said, then spotted the clotted wounds on his neck above his shirt collar.

So, the butler was a blood player too.

“Only occasionally,” Hans said as we walked away. “Devon is one of the least addicted players here, which is a good job, considering he’s the one who manages entry.”

“He’s still an addict, though?”

I looked up at the huge sweep of a hallway around us, with open staircases ascending on both sides. There were huge, sparkling chandeliers and a plush, deep-red rug over the mosaic floor tiles. It felt like we’d stepped back in time.

Hans answered my question about the butler.

“I’ve never known anyone not become a player once they’ve received a decent bite. People are generally addicted as soon as they feel the force of the fangs. Devon was one of them.”

I remembered the intense feeling of pleasure from my own experience. It gave me a fresh round of tingles, right where they fluttered the most. I knew my thighs were already clammy under my dress.

Hans read my body as well as my mind.

“I can’t wait to feel how desperate your pussy is,” he said and one fang glinted when he smirked. My pussy clenched for him. Talk about needy. “But first, let’s get started on the formalities. Let me introduce you to some of my acquaintances. I’m sure you’ll be very pleased to meet them.”

Best be quick or I’ll be coming on the spot in front of them, I thought.

Very funny, his thought came back.

He led me into a huge drawing room off to the side of the hallway. The far walls were lined with bookshelves filled with leather bound books, and clusters of antique chairs graced the room. I’d pictured a scene from a movie where a club full of vampires were dancing around together covered in blood, but instead there were just a few small groups of people.

They turned to face us and Hans greeted them with a raised hand before leading me over to the nearest group.

It took me aback when he introduced me to the first of the figures. A beautiful guy with long dark hair, dressed in a tux with a ruffled white shirt. He shook Hans’ hand firmly, and their smiles for each other were warm and genuine.

“Katherine, this is Edwin,” Hans told me. “Edwin, this is Katherine.”

Edwin, the aristocrat who’d made Hans a vampire?

I don’t know why I was so surprised that he looked like a man in his late twenties, tops. I’d expected him to be a grand old Lord in his seventies or something.

Again. Expect the unexpected.

Edwin took my hand and kissed my knuckles and I swear my whole body fluttered and my heels lifted from the floor. I couldn’t stop the sigh that left my open mouth when he let go.

The man was… powerful. Hot and powerful. I could imagine Hans kissing him. Fucking him.

“Lovely to meet you, Katherine,” Edwin said, “and yes. I’ve known Hans for a long, long time. I’m very honoured to have enabled his transition.”

Could he read my mind, too? Could I read his, if I tried?

“I’m forever in your debt,” Hans said, then introduced me to a woman to the side of Edwin.

She was a stunning creature in a dazzling white dress, who looked to be in her fifties, with her hair up in a bun highlighted by a sapphire hair clip.

“Lady Jane,” Hans said. “Lovely to see you.”

“Same to you, Hans. Pleased to meet you, Katherine.”

“Pleased to meet you,” I replied, but didn’t get the chance to say more before Hans gestured to another aristocratic man off to the right.

“This is Joseph.”

Joseph looked younger and had gorgeous shoulder-length red hair. I would have placed him as in his early twenties.

“I wish.” Joseph laughed and gave me a flash of perfect white teeth as he kissed my hand. “I’m four hundred and seventy three years old.”

“You don’t quite act like it, though.” Hans smirked and Joseph raised his hands.

“I like to play young.”

With that I heard some raucous laughter from another cluster of chairs in the room.

“Just not as young as those rascals,” Joseph added with a chuckle.

I looked across at the group responsible for the laughter, and it looked as though the guys there were even younger than him. They weren’t in tuxedos, just tight black jeans and shirts, several of them with leather jackets over the top.

“We call them the blood boys,” Hans told me. “They’re a little more rowdy than the most of us. Characters, all of them.”

I felt quite drawn to their energy. I could smell the leather of their jackets from here. One of them flashed me a grin, and nudged one of his friends to look in my direction. Both of them were blond.

“The twins,” Hans said. “And those two guys behind them are kids they knew from school. They were in a rock band when they were younger. Groupies were easy prey.”

The four of them were like magnets to me. I had to force my gaze away from them and give my attention back to the vampires closer.

“Have you had any experience of blood play?” Edwin asked me, and I knew my cheeks were burning.

“Only with Hans.”

“She’s a very new player,” Hans told him, and a look passed between them.

Lady Jane seemed to catch sight of it.

“I’m guessing she’s going to be a spectator, then?”

Hans tipped his head. His smile was divine.

“We’ll see. Certainly initially.”

“That’s a shame,” she said, and switched her gaze to me. Her eyes were just as bright as Hans’ were. “I’d love to sink my teeth right into you, you pretty little thing.”

She put a hand on Hans’ arm.

“Have you introduced her to the dirty bite, yet?”

“Not quite,” he said, and she tutted.

“Shame on you. If you don’t do it tonight, please give me the honour.”

“Or me.” Edwin grinned. “Get in there, Hans, before the blood boys beat you to it. You know they’ll be slinking in there before any of us.”

With so many vampire eyes fixed on me, I felt like a true victim, but it was a good thing. I could have torn my dress from my body and offered them my flesh right there and then. That’s what I wanted. What I needed.

I needed bites and heady pain. And the stretch of Hans’ veiny cock…

“Steady,” Hans whispered. “You’re getting pain drunk before we’ve even started. At least let us get you to a room upstairs before we begin the games.”

With that, he took my arm firmly and gave an excuse us to his friends. He led me away from the drawing room and directed me straight to the nearest staircase. My legs were wobbly as I walked, my breaths quickening.

I knew we were walking into the darkness.

The energy was very different upstairs, much more reminiscent of a gothic horror movie – despite Hans saying it wouldn’t be.

He scoffed a playful scoff. “This isn’t a psycho horror, Katherine. It’s a blood den. There aren’t people with axes waiting up here, only fangs, and flesh that is desperate for them.”

The doors were tall along the landing, and most were closed. I heard hot, heated screams sounding out from one of them.

“That’s Veronica,” Hans said. “You can recognise her orgasmic cries from a mile away. I imagine she’s with Francois and Xan.”

One of the doors was open and the sight inside had me stopping in my tracks, Hans’ arm still in mine. There was a woman spread naked on a bed, bathed in bright light. She had a vampire on each breast, arching her back and begging for more as they sucked at her. One of the vampires was an old looking gentleman, and the other was a woman in a ballgown. My heart was racing. My thighs were definitely wet. I wanted to be that woman.

“Vivian and Marlon,” Hans whispered. “They are a couple. They always bite together.”

I couldn’t help but stare at the scene in front of me, watching the couple work the girl’s pussy as they sucked. Her blood trickling down the pale flesh of her tits.

Hans was smirking as I broke my fascination long enough to glance up at him.

“Strip yourself bare and go join them if you’d like to,” he said. “I’m sure they would very much enjoy your company. Be warned, though, they like to stretch their victims wide. You’re still getting used to taking vampire cock on its own.”

I backed away at that.

“Too soon,” I said. “I’m still getting used to your bites and cock. I’m not sure I want anyone else’s right now.”

He led me further along the landing.

“You might be a dirtier little blood player than you’re giving yourself credit for. I can smell how excited you are, as will everyone else in this building. They’ll all be hoping for a taste of you.”

I burned up as though I’d been caught out committing a crime, but Hans was still smirking.

“There is nothing to feel guilty about. As I said, blood play is addictive, and vampiric lust is ripe in the air. What we have between us is a lot deeper than games in a blood house. Feel free to act as you desire.”

“Won’t that bother you?” I asked him.

“Maybe I’m not quite the gentleman you think I am. I most definitely believe there is a lot more to a soul connection than blood play bites, but I come to blood houses for a reason. I’m not intimidated by you enjoying games of the flesh with other people’s fangs.”

I could see the lust in his eyes. I could feel the burn of his excitement. It took me to the filthy side of him in his bedroom, heightened by tenfold in this place.

Feeling not thinking.

And this time feeling felt an awful lot easier to access. I let my thoughts run free.

“You’re one of the primary players here, aren’t you?” I said to Hans, trusting my intuition.

His smile was glorious as he pinned me to the wall and pressed his mouth right up to my ear.

“Oh, little one, you have no idea. I’m one of the primary blood players in all the world.”