"Mmmmm." Her fingers stroked the defined angles of his face, studying him, pleased by what she saw. Anyone looking at him would want him in their bed. "I slept very well. I hope you did so as well. You'll need all your stamina tonight."

She saw the l.u.s.t flare in his liquid brown eyes. It had taken little mental encouragement on her part to bend him to her will. From the beginning, he had been more than eager to provide her with whatever she demanded.

"Anything you wish, Electra. You know I am yours to command."

She sank to her knees between his legs, her tight black leather skirt riding up over her pale thighs, the red shirt pulled tight across her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s. His gaze traveled down her body and she saw the need fully bloomed in the thick bulge between the apex of his hard thighs, could feel the heat of his desire.

But he would never take, not unless she allowed it. She rested her hands on the tight muscle of his steely legs. His hands remained on the arms of his chair, but she could feel him tighten with antic.i.p.ation.

Licking her lips, she allowed her fangs to lengthen in preparation, knew the feral glitter was already present in her heated gaze. "Are you?" she purred. She felt the tenor of his breathing increase, heard the harsh rasp of need. And expectancy. "Show me your submission," she demanded in a firm, yet silky tone of voice.

As she watched, he slowly angled his head away, pulling down the collar of his shirt, baring the thick column of his neck for her perusal. The defined, purple vein throbbed with life, calling to her.

She leaned closer, drawing a red-dipped nail along the line of the vein, and saw a spasm pa.s.s along its length. She pressed for a moment, constricting the flow of blood and watched as its color deepened, as though preparing for her. Visions of the pulsing veins along the length of his c.o.c.k had her wet with antic.i.p.ation to taste that particular pulse of life as well.

That was for later. She licked her lips as she stroked the warm, pliant flesh of his neck with her nail. "Do you want me to take my pleasure of you there?"

His heavy gaze was locked with hers, unable to look away. "I am yours, Electra. What I have is yours to command. Always."

Dropping forward, she licked the fat, pulsing indication of life, then swiftly sank her fangs deep, piercing it. She felt the wash of his special brand of heat spill into her mouth. Drawing quickly from the exposed tissue, the exquisite vibration of his moan of acceptance sent the heat pulsing through her, then she lifted away, satisfied for the moment. Blood trickled from the tiny dual wounds and dripped onto the pristine collar of his shirt, stark, vivid crimson against virgin white. What a beautiful blend of colors.

"Good evening, Electra," a dark, sinister voice called out. Electra whirled around to face the unannounced guest in her home.

Her shocked gaze met the imposing presence of the tall, broad, silver-haired vision of the last vampire she expected to see in her home at this moment.

Quickly, she rose to her feet and wiped away the few drops of blood that remained on her lips. She moved in front of Nate in a protective fashion although she knew in the long run it was of no real use.

"What are you doing here, Johan? It's been a long time."

He strode into the room as he removed the swirling black satin-lined cape he wore, then riveted a gaze toward Nate, who had risen to his feet and now stood behind Electra. "You," he pointed at Nate, "take this and put it somewhere. I do not want it wrinkled."

Electra swiveled around to see Nate's gaze turn to her, questioning uncertainty evident there. She nodded and he stepped forward to accept the cape and gold-embossed cane Jonah held stretched out to him. As Nate accepted them and was about to turn away, Johan reached out and curled his long, pale fingers into the lapel of his jacket drawing him closer.

Electra knew that look and it would be impossible for Nate not to accede to the wishes of the master vampire. She was impotent to help him; it was not her place. Johan took what he wanted, when he wanted it.

If she thought her words would stop Johan, she would have reminded him that Nate belonged to her. But she knew Johan-all too well. He now drew Nate inexorably closer and understanding his ability to control, Nate would be unable to resist the pull of the strong vampire's mind. When Nate's face was but scant inches from Johan's, he held him motionless, studying him closely. She saw his attention lower to study his lips, then move to the fresh marks of her possession but moments ago. She saw his lips curve into a smile.

"He belongs to us."

She straightened her back. "He belongs to me."

Slowly, he turned his head to laser her with a cold black stare. "What you claim is mine as well. Do you dare to challenge my right of possession?"

She knew better, or at least she should have. She wanted to rebel. After all, she had become strong over the years. She could challenge him. Looking into his eyes, she knew. No matter the pa.s.sing years and the strength she now had, she was no match to the power of this particular vampire and never would be.

Her gaze flitted away, accepting defeat, yet hating she had no choice. "No."

He released Nate, who staggered back, seeming to be unsure of what he should do next.

Johan turned to look at Electra. "I am in need of some diverting entertainment this evening. I heard you had acquired new blood."

"I don't want you here, Johan."

"When have you ever had a choice, my dear? I own you, don't forget it." His voice demanded her attention and her acceptance.

"Why now?"

"I told you. And, of course, I thought it was time to check up on you. It's been what-a hundred years or so? Time pa.s.ses so quickly when one is immortal, don't you agree?" His eyes glittered with intent. "I wouldn't want you to forget who sired you. Who retains possession of your black little soul. Everything you are, everything you have, belongs to me."

She remembered her first meeting with Johan in 1898. Her name had been Clara Thomas then and she had been the wife of one of the dignitaries at the court of Franz Josef at a time when Austria was in its glory. She and her husband had met Johan at the opera, and Arthur took a particular liking to the darkly handsome, well-to-do gentleman, even going to the extent of inviting him home for drinks.

In her previous life, she had been someone else, a wife who knew her duty to her husband and always acceded to his requirements. There had been no question. He did not ask her if she minded the addition of a guest in their carriage to accompany them home. Would she have objected if given the chance? It was doubtful. She had learned over the years not to question Arthur in any respect. He was not pleasant company when he was angered or crossed.

There had been something about Johan that drew herand her husband as well-into his dark realm. His eyes, dark pools mesmerizing her, sent her heart thundering in her chest, with a strange need warming her body, a desire to be touched by him. He knew of his effect; she could see the awareness in his eyes, and doubted she was the first to fall beneath his spell.

It was an alien emotion for her and it had frightened her. She never would have thought of looking at another man, being a respectable woman in a time when infidelity in a wife would never have been condoned. But that night had changed her life. Actually, that night had ended her life as she had known it.

He had held them both spellbound. It was only afterwards that she realized what had happened and how quickly they succ.u.mbed to his desires and become p.a.w.ns in his game. She remembered that night with the same clarity as if it were only yesterday rather than a century ago in another country.

He had sipped at the cognac from the gla.s.s Arthur handed him. She sat on the edge of the sofa, her hands clasped tightly watching them as they stood on the other side of the room before the fire.

"This is fine cognac, my friend," he said, saluting Arthur with the gla.s.s.

Arthur grinned broadly, preening at the compliment. "Thank you. I brought several cases with me from England when I was a.s.signed here."

"Yes, it must be one of the finest I have had the pleasure to taste in quite some time. I am most impressed. I do appreciate fine things." His gaze had turned to her with an intensity that seared through to her soul. It had felt as though she were falling through the sky and she gasped as she tried to cling to the moment, to the room, but she felt herself being drawn from her body.

Unable to look away from his hypnotic gaze, she found herself powerless to move, to turn away. Consciously, she knew he was on the other side of the room, yet it felt as though his hands were stroking her body, touching her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, burying inside her. Her breathing grew more erratic and she had felt close, so very close to falling off the edge of the world.

Then he broke the connection and it felt as though she'd been dropped to the ground. The air whooshed from her lungs as she fell back against the cushions of the sofa. Rapidly, she blinked, trying to a.s.similate herself to what had just occurred, her body still humming from the ghostly ministrations.

As she looked at Johan, she saw his attention was now focused on Arthur who stood as if transfixed. She saw the obvious bulge in her husband's pants and felt her own body respond to the s.e.xual need exhibited.

Unusual wanton thoughts entered her mind and she was unable to halt their a.s.sault on her senses.

Without breaking the connection with Arthur, Johan carefully set his gla.s.s on the mantle of the fireplace.

"You have a very beautiful wife, Arthur," she heard him say in a low, hypnotic tone.

She saw Arthur nod slowly. "Thank you, Johan. She is a good wife."

Her breathing again altered as she felt ghostly fingers trailing along her body, magnifying the l.u.s.t building inside her. Unclasping her shaking hands, she gripped the side of the sofa, fighting the pleasure running rampant through her.

"Yes, she is very attractive. And you are a good host. I imagine you always see to the pleasure of your guests as any good host would do."

Again, Arthur nodded. "Always. Is there something you wish? I would be honored to extend you every courtesy."

She saw a slow smile spread cross Johan's chiseled lips. "I would like to sample the delights of your wife's beautiful body. Would that meet with your approval?"

She should have felt horror at what she was hearing. But she did not. Instead, her body tingled with the possibilities. The hands on her body became more demanding and she arched, wanting them deeper inside her, yet they teased and taunted her with the possibilities that awaited. She held her breath, waiting for Arthur's response.

"Of course, Johan, my home is yours."

"My dear Clara. Perhaps you should retire to your room. I would appreciate it if you would disrobe and await us there."

She had no choice but to do as he requested. In a haze of l.u.s.t she rose from the sofa, her juices dripping down her thighs, urgent to do as he wanted, knowing her desire would be a.s.suaged soon.

Stripping quickly with shaking hands, she lay naked upon the bed, waiting for them, her body on fire, no thoughts of propriety running through her head, only of the need to be taken by the man who had directed her to prepare herself.

When they had entered the darkened bedroom, she noticed something different about Arthur. He was pale and his movements were sluggish. She watched as he silently undressed and then moved toward the bed. It was only then that she saw the vivid marks on his neck, but had no idea what had caused them.

Climbing onto the bed, he moved behind her to gather her into his arms. Notching her comfortably between his legs, he then reached down to press her legs apart, opening her wide to Johan's studied attention. He then cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with his hands, as though displaying her to the man who hovered near the door.

"Is this how you want her? Does she meet with your satisfaction?"

She trembled with antic.i.p.ation as Arthur held her, watching as Johan slowly began to undress. He turned his attention to the couple on the bed. "Perfect, Arthur. I thank you for the gift. You are a superb host."

He came to her then, claimed her in a way that she would never be the same, and Arthur held her, displaying her, doing exactly as Johan commanded. After f.u.c.king her, deep and hard, time after time, bringing her to climax after climax, she became practically senseless with pleasure, allowing him to do anything he pleased to her and acquiescing to whatever he demanded.

He then turned his attention to Arthur and swiftly drained him of almost every last drop of blood. He had sipped from her veins, slow and leisurely, as she lay there still caught in the throes of his l.u.s.t, as he marked her his possession.

If she was honest she would admit by the time he took her, she had been eager to be his, would have died if he had not claimed her. He had taken her in l.u.s.t as Arthur watched. But afterward, that was when he began the seduction of her soul and laid claim to her body and her life.

She remained with him for ten years after that night, hunting by his side, reveling in his possession. She had loved him with a vampire's deep pa.s.sion as he drew her into his decadent, erotic world. She had not looked back, nor had she mourned Arthur's death. It was only now that she realized that Nate's devotion reminded him of herself so many years ago. Not once in all the years that pa.s.sed had she regretted her decision to succ.u.mb to Johan, not even after he left her did she regret her choice in accepting immortality.

He never warned her that he planned to abandon her. One night they had fed voraciously and he had made savage, delicious love to her, leaving her totally exhausted and replete. Then he vanished, just like that. It almost broke her, but in the end she had survived. It was then she learned the fine line between love and hate.

After that night, she left Austria, deciding to travel to the United States, to a relatively new world of challenge, attempting to leave the memories of her vampire sire and lover far behind.

Here she had remained, a solitary creature who fed, but never sought to acquire a dedicated companion, never needed one. Until Nate. Often, she wondered if Johan had been killed, yet something told her he had not, or she would not still be walking the earth.

He left her desolate and now he appeared as quickly as he had disappeared from her life. For ten years she had been his lover, sharing in his pa.s.sions, his pleasures. For close to one hundred years, she went on to survive without him, to revel in her own limitless power.

She glared at him across the room, wanting to deny him, to demand that he leave her house. It took everything inside her to remember that she hated him. Yet, she felt the strong pull of his attraction as though the years had never pa.s.sed. Unwillingly, she felt herself drawn across the room to stand before him.

He raised a hand to cup her face, dropped it to her neck, then leaned forward and branded her lips. Searing icy heat blazing through her. Her body remembered his touch, his taste, his dark pa.s.sion. He bent her to his will, and she succ.u.mbed, as he knew she would, as she always did. Even the span of years could not quench her addiction for him though it had lain dormant for so many years.

She would do anything for him. Had done anything he asked. She remembered that dark moment so long ago. Flush with his possession, her body tingling, needing more of him, when Arthur's last heartbeat was about to stutter to a halt, he handed her a knife to claim that last breath from him, in Johan's name.

She did as he demanded. In that last spark of humanity she had been the one to end Arthur's life and in so doing, became the willing possession of this master vampire. He owned her as surely as she knew he would now claim Nate.

He ripped the red silk blouse from her body and tossed it to the floor. His mouth sucked at her lips, yet again drawing her deeper beneath his control, a firm reminder of their past. His hard hands worked at her clothing, tearing her delicate bra open and pushing it off her shoulders.

He could have willed her clothing away, but that had never been his way. He liked the ritualistic human-like contact of baring her with his hands, branding her with his will.

His demanding hands gripped her hips and pulled her to him, grinding against her. She felt her icy pa.s.sion melt beneath his a.s.sault, heat flooding her, her p.u.s.s.y dripping with the need to feel his c.o.c.k f.u.c.king deep inside her.

She reached out for him, clutching at his arms, as he crushed her mouth beneath his. Softness had never been his way. And she realized how much she had missed his brand of pa.s.sion.

He ripped at the skirt and pushed it over her hips, leaving her clad only in her drenched, red silk panties, a garter belt, black stockings, and her black leather boots.

Aggressively, he slipped his huge hand into the front of her panties, felt her hot, wet p.u.s.s.y, and without preamble slid three fingers deep inside her. She gasped with the invasion, yet her channel expanded eagerly to accept him, seeming to remember the touch of him, even after all this time. Searing heat like she had not felt in a century consumed her.

"Johan," she managed to croak as she arched toward him, soft clay in his hands to be molded and fashioned to fulfill his demands.

He thrust back and forth with his fingers, driving her higher and higher toward the summit and she found herself pushing against the invasion, her body craving the powerful release only he could give her.

She had missed this. Oh, h.e.l.l's salvation, she had missed this so much. No man had ever made her want to submit to him. Certainly not the way Johan did. He was the only one who could bend her to his will and make her eager for more of whatever he wanted to give her or take from her.

His hands and mouth consumed her, driving her closer to the edge, and she needed to jump into the abyss so very badly. She heard her breathless pants, could not turn from the sensual a.s.sault.

He pulled free of her and she staggered back, trembling with desire. She looked up at him, her body tight with arousal and anger.

His dark, commanding gaze locked with hers as he raised his fingers to his mouth. She watched as his tongue licked over them slowly, savoring the taste of her. Pulling his fingers from between his lips, he smiled at her.

"As delicious as ever, Electra. More so, I think."

She remained mute, unable to answer him, unable to harness the surging emotions running rampant inside her.

"Nothing to say, my love? You are dripping with need." His eyes turned hard as granite, his gaze shifting. She turned her head and saw Nate, standing there staring at them, shock evident in his expression. She looked at Johan and saw a smile curl his lips.

"Take him and prepare him for me, Electra. You know what I want."

"He's never taken a man, Johan. I need more time with him. To prepare him properly. To make him understand."

"You have thirty minutes. Then I will join you. Have you lost your touch, my dear? Have you grown soft over the years? I remember well how convincing you can be when you set your mind to it."

His gaze seared through her. But Nate was hers, she wanted to scream at him. She did not want to share him. Because she knew that once Johan took him, her needs would come second, always, to those of the master vampire.

Nate had been hers, all hers, and would do anything to please her. She should have known it would not last. Contentment was surely a temporary state even in immortality.

The moment Johan stepped into the room, the sole rule over her domain ended. She may have been mistress for a time, but now Johan was back. Why he had come back she had no idea, but it was of no consequence because through eternity she and everything she was belonged to her sire.

She had the opportunity to deny him when her heart still beat in her chest, and she made the choice. He purposely gave her the opportunity to deny him. She had not.

"I will do as you ask," she finally answered him, rebellion tingeing her words, yet knowing there was no alternative. This house and everything in it now belonged to him if he chose to claim it. And it appeared that was what he was here to do.

She felt the call of his mind and was unable to deny it, moving to him. He stroked a hand down the side of her face. "Of course you will," he murmured. A hand gripped the cheek of her a.s.s and she winced as his fingers tightened, pulling her to him. "Tonight will be most pleasurable for all of us. You will see. I have returned, Electra, and I'm here to claim what is mine."

Her p.u.s.s.y wept with the need to be taken by him, seared with the memory of the pleasure she had once shared with him. So many years had pa.s.sed and she found others to a.s.suage her needs in the interim. Yet now she realized nothing matched the searing pa.s.sion she had shared with Johan.

One part of her hated the thought of losing her servitor to the dark desires of this vampire. Another thrilled at the return of her master, the sire who made her what she was. He was the only one to command her emotions completely, to make her more than she was. Would he make Nate one of them, or allow him to retain his half-life of humanity?

It was no longer for her to question. They both belonged to Johan and it would be as he directed. Live or die by the will of the master. Such was their lot in this eternal twilight world they lived in.

He released her and she turned and stumbled away toward Nate. His eyes registered confusion at the scene before him, his hands were balled into fists.