Chapter 16

Anais

I tried not to panic as Leo ran his hands over me again. Not only was I so ready to orgasm that I felt a tightness between my thighs and could barely think of anything other than getting off somehow.

Although I'd had a boyfriend or two and certainly wasn't a virgin, nothing had come close to how good it felt every time Leo put his hands on me. Or in me.

The frustration he had been building in me so far was driving me nuts and he was right, it was making it easier for me to feel comfortable with him, but I also knew that I had almost blown our mission and he had been very angry. I had seen his fists clenching and unclenching and the look in his eyes for a moment.

"All right," he said as he pushed me away and broke the contact between us. "You're not going to get to cum until I know you're going to be an ally in this mission and convince Ludis that you're a thrall. I clearly need to help make you desperate to have me fuck you senseless a little more, but I also need to know if you can actually kill Ludis when all this is done."

I gulped, reeling from all the ways he was toying with me and trying to get me to perform. There was a lot more to this mission than I had ever anticipated, but he was helping me and without him there was no mission. He'd got me back in the same area as Ludis and I had to focus on making this work for him.

For the next half an hour Ludis had me go through martial arts with him, testing my reflexes, basic combat in hand to hand and anything else I knew. I showed him the best of what I could do, but nothing seemed to get close to even hurting him a little. He deflected every attack, blocked every blow and anticipated a significant number of my moves.

"It's clear that you've only had basic training, but you have a few strange moves thrown in."

"I saw my parents and my uncle training sometimes. They had moves and attacks I've never seen anyone do. I learned a few by watching and practicing when they didn't know."

"That explains a lot? They didn't teach you?"

I shook my head. "They wanted to protect me from all of this. Until I was old enough to enroll in the academy of my own free will."

He frowned, the only sign that he felt anything about this. "And did you enroll?"

"I didn't have much choice when they died. But it was two years before the academy would let me train properly and by then I was behind. Apparently most people who join study and train for their whole lives before they even get there."

"Then your parents didn't properly prepare you for this life. You should go back to being a normal civilian."

"I can't," I replied, looking down. "They didn't teach me what I need for a lot of that either. We were on the move a lot. My uncle taught me some basics, but..."

By the time I looked back up at Ludis, he was staring at me intently, but he didn't say anything.

"Being a vampire hunter is all I know. And I might not have had the best start, but I've been learning quickly and I'll keep learning. When I complete this mission they won't have any choice but to accept that I know what I'm doing and can do the job." I folded my arms across my chest, knowing I sounded more confident than I actually was, but I knew it had to be the way I thought and my goal. I had to do this to prove I was worthy of being a hunter.

"All right," Leo said after a while. "Get some rest for a while. I need to run a few errands and I don't want you leaving this suite. If anyone comes by, pretend you're not here and lock yourself in the en suite bathroom.

I nodded, not sure that I liked those instructions much, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it for now.

Leo didn't wait to see if I had any questions or wanted to go with him before he strode to the door and left. I didn't have a key to the room or anything like that and despite feeling hungry again, I didn't dare order any room service.

With few options left I went to try to sleep for a while, but I found myself tossing and turning. Every time I closed my eyes, I thought of Leo and the way he had spent the last twelve hours or so playing with my body, toying with me and making me feel sensations I had never felt before.

I wanted him and it was beginning to drive me crazy.

Thankfully, he wasn't gone for more than a couple of hours and he came back with the most beautiful floor length dress and accessories that I had ever seen. It was a deep purple color that would hug my figure in all the right places and flared out where I would conceal weapons.

It came with a small clutch purse and he had even purchased some makeup to go with it. I blinked as he laid everything out on the bed before me and marveled at how much more he must have spent on me.

"I want you to put this on so we can go to lunch. And then we can pick something else out for dinner. Not that lunch will be... lunch. But all the enthralled will be given plenty of food. To keep your strength up. And we need to repair the damage earlier did to everyone's impression of you. Hopefully with more enthralled for you to watch, you'll get it right this time."

It was clear that Leo wasn't fooling around and I hurried to put the dress on in the bathroom nearby. I was going to prove to him that I was capable of this and that I could pass as his enthralled.

As soon as I put the dress on, a blade strapped to the inside of my ankle, down where the purple boots Leo had bought covered nicely, I admired the view in the mirror.

The dress accentuated every asset I had and still gave me enough freedom of movement that I could attack and fight if I needed to, but it also made it easy for me to be touched, enjoyed and admired.

I would have felt uncomfortable in a dress like this at one point in my life, but as I had grown older, and in the last day of being admired by Leo, I felt different. This would work.

Striding out of the bathroom again, I walked over to Leo and then slowly twirled in front of him. "What do you think?"

By the time I was facing him again, he was shutting his mouth, his gaze roving. I strode up to him and slipped my arms around his waist, giving him a good view down the front of the dress. My insides tightened and I hoped this might finally lead to something more intimate happening between us.

I was hungry for him. Very hungry.

"Okay, I'm going to teach you a few things before we go," he said as he put his hands on my waist and pushed me back to put some distance between us.

Although I had hoped to get food, I cooperated, curious what he wanted to show me. He quickly told me of several attacks and signs to look for in moves that vampires made, especially when they were coming in to bite or harm a human.

Most of what he taught me was defensive and it was swift and I would need to practice it to be able to do it instinctively, but it was still an education that might one day save my life. Even if I didn't succeed in this mission, or I did, but went my separate way to Leo after, I would be more likely to succeed and stay alive every day after this.

Of all Leo had done for me, this was the most useful and meaningful. He was telling me how to beat his own kind and even himself. How to become more of an equal.

I focused on this as well, sure that I needed to retain what I could and make him proud. I needed to win back his trust and then win his desire as well.

After another almost hour of training and teaching, my stomach rumbled. I was so hungry that my stomach hurt, but I had been ignoring it. Leo glanced at his watch and nodded to himself.

"We have done enough for now and I'm sure you're in need of food. Come. We'll go to the lounge where my kind will be before dinner." Leo seemed to stiffen and I got the impression that he didn't like the others much. Given they were turned and he was true-blood I wasn't entirely surprised, but I wasn't going to point it out either.

I went with him, taking his hand in mine and bringing his arm in close. To my surprise, he smiled and looked down at the cleavage I had briefly pressed against him.

"That's a little better."

The compliment had me smiling up at him as a thrill of delight and heat rushed through my body. Better was good. Better might get me exactly what I wanted as well.

In the dress I felt much more attractive and it was easier to walk along beside him and imagine him ravaging my body. I tried not to think about what would actually happen when we were actually in the lounge, focusing instead on the feel of his hand in mine and the look I'd seen on his face when I'd leaned into him.

I had made a good start.

As we walked down the corridors and hallways toward the lounge we passed some of the other passengers on the ship. I had no doubt that many of them were human and they gaped at us both. Leo was wearing the same sorts of clothes he had worn the entire time, a well tailored suit and a shirt slightly open at the top.

He had drawn the eye right from the start, but I could tell he wasn't the only one any more. It helped me to stride with confidence and lean into Leo some more.

When the lounge came into view and I could see some of the vampires from earlier, I had to fight the growing fear that I might not be able to sell it to them, but I knew that if they sensed the fear it would make this even more likely to go wrong.

Instead, I tried to imagine how it would feel to have Leo toy with me again and do all sorts to me. I thought of how it had felt for me to kiss him again and all the fear I had turned to desire. If I focused on him and all we'd already done together, I would be fine. If in doubt, all I had to do was want him.

The lounge doors were opened for us by two smiling hosts in the staff uniform of the ship and as soon as we were inside, Leo led us over to a set of sofas arranged near the middle of the room. There were no windows here as far as I could tell and the entire room was lit artificially.

It made sense that this would be in the middle of the ship and there wouldn't be any windows given what Leo told me of the vampires and their ability to be in the sun. I didn't like the claustrophobic feeling it gave me, but I didn't focus on that either.

As I moved into the room, I kept glancing at Leo as if I couldn't take my eyes off him. I wanted him, but I also wanted to find out what was happening here.

Ludis wasn't in the room yet and there were only some of the vampires we had seen earlier, but all of them were looking my way. It was one of the reasons I ignored them all and tried to have eyes only for Leo. While I wanted to listen to my instincts and look around the room for the exits and threats, I had to be patient and make it appear as if my focus was solely on my vampire master.

This time, Leo was a lot more relaxed and he took me over to the bar to get me another drink. I let him order for me, noticing he got the same drink I had ordered the first night in the bar at Vegas. It was hard to process that it had been less than two days earlier and I had been in his company almost every moment since.

"Where are we sitting?" I asked after he put the drink in my free hand. I hadn't let go of the other since leaving the suite and I didn't want to.

"Come over here." He dragged me to the side of the room where there were some of the comfiest seats and I sat down, almost pulling him down beside me when he looked like he might walk away.

Although he frowned at me for pulling him back toward me, I shifted my legs and leaned back, looking at him as if I'd let him screw me right where I sat. This brought a sparkle to his eyes and drew some attention from the rest of the room as some of them chuckled.

"Behave," he said, a smirk appearing on his face. "Or I might have to teach you some patience."

I pouted as if that was the last thing I wanted to learn and some of the other vampires laughed at me, even Leo let out a short snorting laugh.

"Looks like your little pet is behaving herself a little better this afternoon," one of the vampires from earlier said.

"I feel much better after a rest. And Sir got me this beautiful new dress too. He spoils me." I kept my gaze on Leo and my hand out to hold his, even though I knew he was going to pull away."

"She tastes good. I think I got a little greedy with her earlier and made her feel too woozy. I gave her a little food, rest, and a reward or two and now she's just fine, aren't you, my pet?"

"Come back and cuddle as soon as you've done whatever you need?" I asked, hoping that I could continue selling this while he was away from me.

Thankfully someone else brought their enthralled over and then another and another until I was surrounded by giggling, happy women, all obsessed with their vampire owners. It was almost cute and for a moment I could relax among them. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.