Within seconds, I hear their footsteps behind me.
My breath picks up as I race down the pavement and squeeze through a narrow crack in the university walls, heading straight for Priory Forest far beyond the school grounds.
“There’s no place to hide from us!” Dylan yells, laughing like a crazed man on drugs.
He’s right. I’m not safe anywhere. Not in my room. Not in the university. Not anywhere.
My mind guides me toward the trees, hoping and praying I might get away.
I went looking for Nathan and found three serpents lurking in their den, waiting for some prey to enter their domain. And I did it, willingly, knowing I could cross their path and be swallowed whole.
Fuck.
I should’ve stayed away.
Too late.
They’re right behind me, chasing after me with grins on their faces.
This is a fucking nightmare come to life.
“Fuck yeah, run little whore, run as fast as you can!” Dylan roars, his Anubis wolf mask barely staying on.
I can’t believe this is happening. They’re fucking insane.
I have to get away, fast.
Past thick trees I bolt, jumping over stones and loose rubble lying in my way. No time for missteps, no time to glance over my shoulder.
But when I take one glimpse to my left, there’s a wolf in a mask with a glint in his smile chasing me.
“I’m gonna fucking catch you!” he roars, closing in on me.
I veer to the right, but Alistair is right there, bolting through the woods, his skull mask glowing in the moonlight. Every tree a mere flicker of darkness as they both corner me.
I’ve never felt fear like I’m feeling it tonight.
Suddenly, a hand wraps around my arm and pulls me down on my side, my ass bumping onto a rock. I shriek as Felix knocks me farther down and crawls on top of me. I claw at his chest and punch him, but he quickly grasps my wrists and pins them in the mud.
The look on Felix’s face is savage. “Mine.”
“What do you want?” I yell in his face. Even though he’s wearing that creepy LED mask, I know he can see me. “Let me go!”
Dylan and Alistair lean over me, their masks even more terrifying from down below.
“I told you we’d catch you,” Dylan says, tilting his head down to gaze at me.
“Nice outfit, Pen,” Alistair says, staring at me with black-painted eyes. “Makes me wonder who you’re going to suck this time.”
“Fuck off!” I spit, fighting off Felix, but he’s much stronger than I am.
I reach into my bag, searching for the knife.
“Hold her down,” Felix barks at his friends.
Alistair snatches my bag from my hand and throws it away. “You won’t need this.”
Then he and Dylan step on my arms until I howl with pain.
It hurts so bad, tears stain my eyes.
Felix roughly grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. “Let me see those tears, Pen.” He leans in and his tongue dips out to lick the salty drops off my cheeks. “You look so fucking pretty when you cry.”
“You’re sick,” I hiss, pulling my head away.
His fingers only clench harder, digging into my cheeks. “Yet you’re the one who came to us.”
“I told you I was looking for Nathan.”
“Because he’s in the diary?” he asks.
Of course they’d read through all of it. Fuck them.
“Because he left a fucking note under my door, and I need to know who’s responsible for my sister’s death!” I rasp. “And if it’s one of you …”
Dylan laughs. “If it was, what would you do? Kill us?”
Alistair bursts out into laughter.
“I’d sure as hell fucking try,” I growl back.
They all laugh now.
“You’re the first one to even dare to say it out loud,” Dylan says. “I like it.”
“Nathan didn’t do it, did he? You’re using him. You made her jump, and you’re trying to cover it up,” I say through gritted teeth.
Felix’s eyes home in on mine, his body tensing against me. “You’d do anything for your sister, wouldn’t you?”
I nod.
He tilts my face until our mouths are nearly aligned, and he leans in to lick the seam of my lips, only to lean back and whisper, “Then show me how far you’re willing to go to find out the truth.”
I gulp, ignoring the thrumming in my core.
Fuck these boys. They’re only trying to use me.
When Felix pulls back, I spit on their boots. “Fuck you.”
They smash their feet into my arms harder until the pain makes me groan out loud.
“Gladly,” Felix replies. “When we’re finished with you, you’ll be creaming from all your fucking holes.”
“Like I’d ever let you,” I say.
“I think you will …” The creepy LED mask on his face almost makes it look like he’s smiling. “Because we’re the only ones who can give you what you want.”
“Just admit you made her jump,” I snarl. “That’s why you keep chasing me, isn’t it?”
The boys laugh. “Don’t you get it?”
Felix grabs me by the hair and lifts my head. “It wasn’t us.”
“What?” I gasp, confused as fuck. “You expect me to believe that?”
“We didn’t make her jump,” Alistair adds. “She was—”
“A friend,” Dylan interjects.
A friend?
No. Fuck that. That can’t be true.
Can it?
The three boys look at each other.
Felix drops my head on the ground. “You won’t ever find out what happened to her on your own.”
“Then help me!” I yell.
It’s a last-ditch effort, but what else can I do?
He pauses and looks at his buddies, exchanging looks like they can talk without saying a single word.
Suddenly, he pulls a giant knife from his pocket and holds it underneath my chin. “Help you?” He tilts his head. “And what makes you think we want to?”
I shudder in place. Fuck, what do I say?
“You said she was a friend. Friends want to know why friends killed themselves.”
I don’t know what else to say. Even though I don’t believe a word he said, maybe I can still convince them to help me instead of attempting to kill me.
Felix doesn’t say a word.
“You want help?” he mutters after a while. The knife slowly drags down my neck, and I hold my breath. “Our help comes at a price.” I swallow as the blade reaches the bust of my outfit. “So I’m going to ask you again … what are you willing to do?”
“Anything.”
POP!
The knife popped one of the buttons off the bust. My breasts are barely kept together by only two buttons now.
He slides the knife under the next one. “You want us to find the people responsible for your sister’s death and destroy them?”
I nod.
POP!
The second one flies off, leaving only my nipples unexposed to the cold air … and their hungry gazes.
“Then you will do everything we say,” he growls.
“What does that even mean?” I ask.
“Anything and everything we want,” Dylan adds, adding pressure to my arm until I squeak. “Our. Personal. Whore.”
Fuck.
I knew they’d ask this, but hearing them say it out loud still brings chills to my body.
Felix pushes the blade underneath the final button. “Now what’s it gonna be, Pen?”
I suck in a breath. “How long?”
“For as long as it takes to find the fuckers,” Dylan says, running his fingers through his bleached hair. A filthy smirk forms on his face. “But by the time we finish with you … you’ll be begging for our cocks.”
“I doubt that,” I retort.
Felix pushes the tip of the knife into my skin, making me viscerally aware of my bad predicament. And that there might not be another option for me to get out of this alive.
Unscathed? Impossible.
I take another big gulp.
“Your body will belong to us,” Felix adds. “Do we have a deal?”
Sweat drops roll down my forehead.
Not because of the answer.
But because of what they’re going to do when I open my mouth.
“Yes.”
It rolls off my lips so easily. As though I didn’t just give my own life away.
But that word signifies the end of my conscience.
The end of my own damn sanity.
POP!
The bust gives way, and Felix immediately pushes aside the fabric to reveal my nipples to all of them. Dylan licks his lips at the sight, and Alistair even removes his mask for a moment.
“Damn, what I wouldn’t give to suck those,” Dylan mutters.
“Horny bastard,” Alistair jests.
“But you know what? I fucking can because you’re mine too now.” Dylan removes his boot from my arm, only to bend over, grab my breast, and cover my nipple with his mouth.
And for a moment, I almost moan out loud—until he bites.
I try to punch him, but Felix thrusts the knife underneath my throat.
“Anything and everything, remember?” He leans in so close I can feel his breath on my skin, and his tongue dips out to drag a line across my cheek. “Little whore.”
“Don’t call me that,” I say under my breath.
Felix covers my mouth with his hand. “I’ll call you whatever the fuck I want. Because you’re mine now, and I will do whatever the fuck I want with what’s mine.” He grips my other tit. “Now scream, little whore, scream.” He twists it so hard I can’t stop the yelp from coming out. “That’s it. Give me all your pain and all your fucking tears.”
“You’re fucked up,” I say.
“Oh, you haven’t seen the worst yet,” he retorts.
And he grips my face instead and slams his lips onto mine.
The kiss is overpowering, devouring, as if he wants to consume my very soul and take me to hell with him. With a forceful tongue, he pushes my lips open and claims my mouth, then bites my lip so hard I bleed.
He groans and licks up the blood, then gathers spit in his mouth.
“Open your fucking mouth,” he says.
When I do, he dribbles it inside, and I can feel the warm juices roll down my tongue and into my throat.
“Attagirl,” he says, and he pushes my mouth shut. “Now swallow.”
It’s disgusting. Heinous. Yet I still feel the urge to clamp my legs shut when he sits down on top of me with his hard-on poking my belly.
“You don’t know what you’ve done, Penelope,” Dylan says, sucking on my nipple like he can’t get enough. “Oh, how many times I’ve dreamed of sucking these tits until you screamed my name.”
“Hey, save me a slice too.” Alistair removes his boot and walks all the way to my feet. He tilts his head sideways and says, “I can see your fucking panties from here. Did you dress for the occasion?”
“She’s a vampire, can’t you tell?” Dylan jokes.
Felix twists my nipple even harder until I can barely take it anymore. “She got ready to suck.”
Suddenly, there’s a hand near my panties, and I freeze completely. “Wait, that’s—”
Felix plants a hand over my mouth. “Ours. And no one stands between us and the pussy we want.”
A finger slides across my slit, feeling me up, toying with me straight through the fabric. And when I turn my head sideways, I can see the skull mask and its blackened eyes staring right back at me, like he enjoys getting caught.
“I wonder how wet she can get from us using her,” Alistair murmurs.
His thumb circles my most sensitive spot, pressing harder and harder with each turn until it becomes hard to breathe.
When I said yes, I knew what it would entail.
What I’d sacrifice in order to know the truth.
But I wasn’t prepared for how many sensations I’d feel all over my body.
And how badly I want to pretend I’m not getting wet.
“That’s it … getting all wet already just from a little tugging and toying,” Alistair says.
“Oh, so you like getting used?” Dylan quips, licking his bottom lip.
“Knew you were a filthy one,” Felix adds, and he pushes open my mouth. “Now open up. Vamps suck, don’t they? Show me.”
When my lips part, he shoves two fingers inside again and pushes all the way until I gag.
“Good. Lemme see those tears,” he says.
He’s a vicious bastard getting off on my tears.
Because I can feel him grow bigger against my skin. And from the corner of my eye, I can definitely see it too, straining against his pants.
“She’s checking you out, Felix,” Alistair says, still toying with me, making it insanely hard for me to concentrate on what’s happening, instead of the growing desire building in my body.
“Oh, interested in the D already?” Dylan says. He releases my nipple and stands up. “Maybe it’s about time we give her some, then.”
My eyes widen when he pulls down his zipper.
Oh God, it’s really happening.
“Lesson number two, Pen,” Felix whispers into my ear. “Regret your choice? Too late. There’s no taking it back.”
