I could kill my mother for failing to mention the type of party she was hosting. Introducing Thea to vampire society was dangerous–for both of us–but this was worse than throwing her into the deep end. It was tossing her into the open ocean. I shouldn’t have told Sabine that she was my girlfriend. Clearly, she was going to force me to prove it.
“Julian?” Thea held up her mask. “Can you help me?”
I took it with a grim smile. “Of course.”
Thea turned away from me and I placed the mask over her eyes. She reached up and adjusted it carefully. I’d discounted the effect seeing her at a blood orgy might have on me. I’d expected it to be a test we faced weeks from now at the earliest. After I’d introduced her to sexual pleasure and sated my desire for her. I could stop myself from claiming her virginity under normal circumstances, especially if I was allowed to have her in other ways. But blood orgies were designed to arouse, every element an aphrodisiac meant to encourage blood-lust.
Generally, the wilder parties were reserved for smaller groups or held much later in the season, after more matches had been made. Hosting an orgy this early meant the event would live up to its name. Usually, couples paired off, preferring dark corners and privacy for their mating rituals. Tonight there would be no such courtesy.
I tied the mask around her head. The ends of its ribbons slipped through my fingers as easily as my chance to be the one to educate Thea about her body. Thea moved to face me, her green eyes catching the light reflected in her mask’s gold flourishes. She didn’t look human. She would easily pass as a familiar with her dazzling beauty and easy grace. But that was a different problem altogether. A human might find herself lured into becoming a snack. I was prepared to face that danger. But if others believed she was a familiar, they’d also assume she was eligible.
I brushed a gloved finger over her lips, trying to decide what to do. I couldn’t let her walk in there alone, even for a few minutes. Hopefully the scent lingering on her from my jacket would be enough to keep any overly eager parties away. But there was only one way to mark a human or familiar as off-limits–and I’d sworn I wouldn’t do it.
I’d have to improvise.
I ran my tongue over my teeth as my fangs lengthened. There wasn’t time to explain the stakes to her, so I hoped she would forgive me. And if she didn’t? Maybe it was for the best. If the Rites meant hosting orgies a few days into the season, I wasn’t sure she could survive the next eleven months.
“I’m sorry,” I said in a quiet voice, hoping the vampires at the door were discreet. I couldn’t imagine they’d been employed in such a position if they weren’t. Moving closer, I angled my face over hers. Venom pooled in my mouth the closer I got.
Thea gazed up at me, mistaking my intentions. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine. I’ll just find a bunch of humans on my side, right?”
I paused and considered her point. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Yes, it would be imperative to reach her as soon as the party started and the groups began to intermingle. But she wasn’t in danger of falling into another vampire’s hands before then. Not that familiars couldn’t be as vicious as my species.
“Still,” I said tightly, “don’t get too friendly.”
The last thing I needed was Thea to spill any juicy details to someone else. If anyone found out that she was a virgin, heads would roll. Quite possibly my own. And there was no way my mother would buy that I was in a serious relationship with her.
She grinned at me, her eyes dancing behind her mask.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re very overprotective,” she whispered. “It’s kinda adorable.”
Adorable? Adorable was one word that had never been used to describe me. Apparently, I needed to rip a few more people apart in front of her. The sooner she dispelled any romanticized notions about me, the better.
“Pet, I am a goddamn Neanderthal, remember?” I growled. “Stay out of trouble.”
“Or you’ll punish me?” Did I detect a hint of hopefulness in her words? My cock twitched in my pants as if expressing its opinion.
“You’d like that,” I murmured, moving closer to her in the darkness. “Just remember that if you’re in trouble, I’m likely to behead whoever’s standing between us.”
She gasped, her eyes widening. Thea didn’t say anything as she processed how serious I was about this.
“I’ll behave,” she murmured dutifully before drawing an X over her chest. “Cross my heart, I won’t flirt with any other vampires.”
Something rumbled in my chest and I barely contained the jealousy vibrating inside me at her playful suggestion.
“Julian, I–”
The arrival of another party interrupted her and we stepped to the side. The newcomers chose their masks and hurried into the party.
“Sir,” the elderly attendant said, “guests should be inside by now.”
“I’m not a guest,” I growled at him.
“I’m aware of that, which is why the festivities are on hold.”
“Hold?” Thea repeated in confusion.
“They can’t start without us,” I told her, gritting my teeth so hard that a fang sank into my lower lip. My mother wasn’t just having a party. She was putting me on display for every eligible familiar to lust after. The sooner I showed them all that I was spoken for, the better. “We should go inside.”
Without thinking, I leaned down and kissed Thea. I’d meant it to be a gentle parting and one more opportunity to plant my scent on her. But she responded with an urgency that left me questioning if she was more scared than she let on. I took her mouth roughly, forcing my tongue past her lips, and reminding her exactly what I’d promised her later tonight. She’d be rewarded as many times as I could manage for playing along with these silly vampire traditions.
When we broke apart, she smiled dreamily at me and then slipped away toward the entrance reserved for attending mortals.
The male vampire at the door cleared his throat and stepped to the side to allow me passage into the other wing of the house.
I stalked toward the entrance, getting more annoyed with him by the second.
“Enjoy yourself this even–”
He choked as I lifted him by the throat off his feet and slammed him into the stucco facade. “Try to manage me again, and I’ll rip your heart from your chest and feed it to you.”
I released him to his feet. He caught himself easily and pinned a blank look on his face. “Of course.”
There was more he wanted to say. I sensed it. But whatever orders my mother had given wouldn’t extend beyond her exact demands. He wouldn’t dare speak freely with me about anything else. Whatever the old human had overheard me discussing with Thea had probably given him a few opinions. I wasn’t interested in any of them. But even compelled servants talked, so I hoped my threat would keep him from sharing my private business with anyone else.
The opium den had been added to my parents’ San Francisco home in the late nineteenth century before it became hip among the humans. Vampires and Sumerians had discovered the drug around the same time and were most responsible for the dens that sprang up in cities around the world. A den was an easy way to find fresh blood. Humans flocked to them willingly, and vampires enjoyed the delicacy of dining on the rich, opioid-drenched blood. Naturally, that had gone wrong quickly. It had been an ugly affair with humans using the drug and its highly addictive nature to vilify minorities and working classes. Who would believe the dens were the invention of vampires? The Council had intervened, outlawing the entrance of humans and familiars into opium dens. Only a handful of open dens remained, although all the richest families had at least one somewhere on their various properties.
Ours was inspired by Venice. My father had taken a trip there while the estate was being built. It was a far cry from the back-alley haunts used to lure humans. The den itself could better be described as an opium parlor, seeing as it took up nearly a quarter of the first floor. Tonight it was nearly full. Vampire families crowded the space, leaving hardly any room to move.
No one wanted to miss an orgy hosted by Sabine Rousseaux.
Delicate seven-foot glass chandeliers hung from the twenty-foot ceiling. Each was handblown by Milanese artisans to look like flames blazing above guests. Venetian silks covered the floor pillows scattered around antique tables someone had found in Paris. Opium pipes lay on most of them, an extravagant party favor. Judging from the glassy eyes of some of the vampires I passed, most had already indulged. My father had added Roman dining couches in a fit of nostalgia and most of them were already being put to use.
The party had yet to officially begin, but the orgy had started. It was customary for eligible familiars and vampires to engage one another in feeding and fucking at these events. For those already spoken for there was clearly no need to wait. And ineligible siblings were more than happy to entertain themselves with each other. I spotted several of my peers glaring at the frenzy beginning around them while they waited for the doors to open to the real event. A female I’d met in London a few centuries ago, tipped her head in greeting in my direction and then bent to whisper something to her friend. The females looked back at me with predatory eyes.
It wasn’t unheard of for pureblood vampires to marry each other, but it was the rare pairing that produced a match that might survive the Rites. I ignored them, knowing their interest would fade when they got sight of the male familiars on offer.
I passed a trio of guests pressed against the wall, already half undressed. The female draped over one of the males, moaned loudly as they took turns thrusting inside her. Her head dropped and she caught my eye, flashing me an encouraging smile. Apparently, two wasn’t enough to satisfy her. Another time I would have gladly joined them and relieved the need that had been building up since the moment I’d first seen Thea.
“Rousseaux.” A hand clapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to find Giovanni Valente. He smiled at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes. They watched me with the wariness of a snake. “I wondered if you would be here.”
I tipped my head in greeting. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“And your lady?” he inquired. “Is she with you tonight?”
“She’s here, but she’s waiting with the familiars,” I said lightly.
“I was unaware that she possessed any magic.” He was baiting me now. Searching for information about the relationship that I claimed to have with Thea last night.
“Only over me.” I smiled. “Still, she couldn’t be brought in here.” I gestured to the opium den.
“Ah yes. I forgot the Rousseaux family still followed the old rules.”
“I was unaware there were new ones.” My relationship with him had always been one of mutual necessity. He wasn’t what I would call a friend. He could be counted on when fighting on the same side, but the rest of the time his interest lay purely in himself. That wasn’t unusual for a vampire, but unlike most, he held little regard for his own bloodline. Of course, he would think it was off for me to be here. If he hadn’t wanted to come, no one held enough sway over him to force the issue.
“What do they say? Rules are made to be broken.” He shrugged. “Of course, perhaps, someday, she will be allowed in here. Your relationship must be serious if you’re letting her anywhere near your family.”
“You mean, my mother?” I let my boredom seep into my voice. The less interested I was, the sooner he would leave to find more fascinating company.
“Sabine can’t be happy that you’re involved with a human.”
“Mothers are rarely happy when status is on the line.”
“True,” Giovanni laughed. “Perhaps, though, your lady will enchant her like she did to you–and me.”
I froze. I didn’t have a choice. Inside me, darkness raged, urging me to attack him. The comment sounded innocent but I understood the suggestion behind it. Humans were fair game until they were bound to another vampire through one of the many archaic methods at our disposal. His message was clear. He would respect my claim to her until there was reason to question it.
After that, he could and would do as he pleased.
After I regained enough control, I smiled wanly. “I’m certain she will.”
“But the Rites,” he continued. “You are a firstborn, correct?”
“My sister,” I corrected him. “A few minutes before me.” It was a gamble that he didn’t remember her–or the fact that she had died.
His eyes narrowed for only a moment as if searching through some internal Rolodex. In the end, he grinned. “Naturally. It will be your turn during the next season.”
“I doubt the Rites will be in play then.”
He leaned closer and lowered his voice as if the vampires fucking and smoking all around us gave a shit about what we were saying. “Not if the rumors are true.”
“Rumors?” I repeated.
“I think you need to catch up on the Council’s activities,” he advised. “Or decide what you’re going to do with that pretty little piece of flesh soon.”
“What are you talking about?” I’d lost patience with Giovanni and his exploratory conversations that only led to more questions.
“The Rites,” he murmured, accepting an opium pipe from a passing attendant. He sucked a long drag from it, his eyes turning to glassy onyx. “They’ve enacted them permanently.”
