Caramel: Book 3 of the Lord Emperor Vampire Series

Dark Avenger
Thanks for the kind words. You made me well up and sting my eyes. As for my color being orange….that is scary. I just painted my living room – Devilish (burnt orange color). I love the color, my friends find it a little too much. Eh, it’s my room. I can live with it. I ‘ahem’ downloaded that song you mentioned…ooh, that screaming was a little frightening. I have no idea what is being said, but it kind of reminded me of someone breaking down and crying in anguish at a grave side. I am glad you have caught up, now you’ll just have to wait with the rest of the Loyal as I try to get my thoughts in order. :)

Rosemary
Q: Marcus has had former lovers. What were they like?
A: As Marcus is a survivor of sexual abuse, in some instances he is still a victim, the few and far in between lovers that he has reached out to are non-threatening, inexperienced and naïve. I am pulled in the direction that they were even human so they could have no chance of ever challenging him at all. (kind of sad, really)

Many thanks again to those who are keeping up with me. When the chapters start coming out almost one day apart, you know the end is nigh. Thanks for the reviews and comments and questions: Demon Ashaka (x2); Dark Avenger(x5); a.taste.of.insanity; sesshomarunaraku; laur; k; fleur; rosemary; spirit and rosei

WARNING: MOLESTATION


Chapter 130: Practice


“Absolutely NOT!”

I clenched my jaw together and counted to twenty three and a third before I opened my mouth again. “Both the Baroness and I agree.”

“This wedding is to be an event that the whole of the Nation can celebrate. I will not have it trivialized by youngsters.”

I felt Claudius come and stand behind me. I could sense the body heat radiating off him. Here I was, arguing with Thomas the Elder, the High Councilor’s highest of the high, and murderer of my misunderstood fruitcake of a great, great, whatever, grandfather in order to marry my lover’s natural born daughter and I was horny as hell. How fucked up is that?

“We are only getting married because the Council insisted on it.”

“Then it would be wise for you to keep following the Council’s advice.”

I opened my mouth to say something about the Council’s advice and were it could be stuck when Father’s voice came over my shoulder. “You know the roles I play in this, Thomas. Know that I am speaking as a Father, both as Claudia’s and as Xavier’s. They have…ahem, tested the waters so to speak.”’

“Tested the waters?”

“Claudia is pregnant. She is carrying triplets and the doctors fear that she will not carry to term, especially is she is subjected to the trials and stresses of a grand Imperial wedding. This way, the little ones will be legitimate and Claudia’s only concern will be her babies. Also, Claudia can be moved to Von Drachenfeld and be under the protection of the Loyal since Orel Wessel has risen it’s ugly head once more.”

“What? What is this?”

“Claudia and I were having lunch at the Underworld.”

“The shooting, and the blood trail! Was Claudia injured?”

Well thanks for the concern. “Claudia was fine. A little shaken but more angry than hurt. She will not move into Von Drachenfeld until we are married. I have sent my Bodyguard to her condominium but it would be easier if she were at home.”

Thomas turned and looked at me. Really looked at me. I had changed since the Introduction. Aside from my impression of a Siberian winterscape, I was stronger and had some confidence that was lacking previously. “I won’t allow anything or anyone to harm my wife and children, Thomas.”

“There is an arrogance about you that was not there before. It rings too much of Sigmund.” Claudius reached out and almost crushed my shoulder. Murderer. I lowered my head in a slight bow.

“I have found I have a protective streak in caring for those I love. Even if they are stubborn.”

“When?”

“This Friday evening. It will be a small affair. Only those that need to be there will be invited.”

“The High Council will be invited as Nation witnesses.”

“We are honored.” Claudius butted in again. I smiled. Through clenched teeth.

“I will have the license drawn up and bring it to the ceremony.”

“Thank you.” Father stepped back to allow me to leave the Council Chambers.

I paused and turned back toward Thomas the Elder, High Councillor. “How did you make contact with Orel Wessel before?”

The good natured mirth that that filled his expression when he heard the magic word of triplets faded. “What are you saying, Xavier?”

Us as brothers were known by few, and in my opinion, the fewer the better. Marcus and Armor were a well kept secret for decades. No one outside of the immediate Von Drachenfeld household and retainers knew that Liam, the progenitor, had merged with William. Von Drachenfeld was turning out to be a house of mirrors. You never knew what you were getting. “I understand they are an old and ancient society dedicated to eradicating my family line. You know I am something of a student of history. Your name comes up as my great grandfather’s most trusted advisor, yet, he died alone with a dagger in the back.”

“Xavier.” Claudius reached out and began crushing my other shoulder.

“What are you saying, Lord Emperor?”

“Just an observation, Thomas. Out of all that tragedy, you seem to have benefited the most.”

“You even sound like Sigmund when you speak of things you don’t understand. Sigmund started out as a good leader. Bertha his Blue wife was barren and he was permitted to take a mistress. It wasn’t until she came along that he started to spiral into madness.”

“Funny, one person’s madness is another’s clarity. This is not a marriage of love, it is intended to produce winglets. You know my preferences lay in another’s bed. Now that three little ones are coming into this world; I may have never thought to be a father, you should know, Thomas, I will be a loving father. I will be a nurturing father. I will be a protective father.”

“And why are you warning me?”

“I am happy to stay as I am. Head of the House of Assassin and CEO of Shadoe Inc. There is more than enough headaches just running those two entities. I am content to keep a minor seat on the Council floor.”

“But?”

“And this is a big but…if my House is threatened in any way. If my wife, consorts or children are endangered in any way. I will bring everything I have down on the culprit. If dissolving the High Council and declaring myself Blood Emperor is the only option left to ensure my family’s safety, know that I will do it.” I felt a ring of blue encircle my iris. “It’s in your best interests, Thomas to keep Orel Wessel away from me and my House.”

I bowed to the High Elder and pivoted on my heel heading out of the chamber. I heard Claudius saying something but I concentrated on getting out of the chambers before I did something else I would regret. Damn it. Me and my big mouth. It was the same damn thing that made Xavier challenge Hades. Injustice.

I made to the corridor leading to the street when Father finally caught up to me. I got rammed back first into the wall and he pressed his palm flat on the chest just below our lockets. “Your honesty is going to get us all killed one day, Sex.”

“He killed Sigmund to get where he is That chair that sits above everyone is on the bones of my great grandfather..”

“We have no proof.”

“We have an eye witness.”

“Do not go creating more enemies before we can kill off the ones that are already moving against us, Sex.” Father caught his hands in my hair and made sure I was looking at him. “You have Britta, Orel Wessel and Alarik moving against you right now. Of those three, the most immediate threat is Alarik. Leave Thomas in his den. You know where he is, and what his motives are. Until you truly want to dissolve the High Council and take over, leave Thomas were he is.”

“If Liam wanted to announce that he was a former Lord Emperor, he would have already done it. The more surprises we can keep under wraps, the better. Now, you have a day and half to get this wedding planned.”

“Me?”

“Claudia has the planning big celebration for the Imperial Wedding underway. You cannot expect her to plan two, not in her condition. Your mother is all well and full of good intentions, but I have spoken to your Dad, and she is trying to do too much. She needs to recover from her heart attack. So that leaves us.”

“Us?”

“You.” Sasha dived in and stole a chaste kiss. “Me.” I returned the favor tangling my hand in the back of his hair. I slipped him some tongue. He bit me. He actually bit me. My little wound got urged into his mouth and he savored my essence. I went on low simmer as his body sensuously rubbed against me. He twisted his head and I opened my jaw wider to accept him. His thigh pressed my legs open and rubbed on my awakening member. Who was I kidding? I’ve been semi-hard since brunch. Sasha pulled back, “Lanseng and Marcus.”

Huh? Wait. You can’t get the engine going and walk away…I jumped forward and Sasha staggered back till he smacked the other corridor. “You are one big teasy kitten.”

“Teasy, I do not think that is a word.”

“You just have to wiggle past me and I start thinking with my little head.”

Sasha chuckled and kissed my forehead, “I do not wiggle. The High Council is not the place to do this, Fallen. Come, elegance cannot be thrown together in a few hours. We have two hours to get everything started before Marcus is here. Somehow, I think the wedding will not be the center of his attention when Azrael gets here.”

Damn it. I rested my forehead on Claudius’ shoulder. Think unsexy thoughts. Think unsexy thoughs. I needed a haircut.

“I called Claudia and told her she only needed to show up for her wedding. She told me in no uncertain terms is there was not going to be beer and chicken wings at it.”

I laughed and took a deep breath. “Well that goes my first menu.”

Claudius lead the way to the limo. Four Loyal were there waiting for us. Two at the doors to the High Council and two at the doors of the limo. Claudius pulled me to a halt. “Marcus said that you are to practice your searching..”

I let my thoughts sweep the area. I was no where near Marcus’ quickness and I had the beginnings of a throbbing headache behind my left eye by the time I was done. “Clear.”

The mid afternoon sun was unbelievably hot. Even the few steps from the High Council building to the limo was enough to wilt me. I flopped down on the seat and landed on Sang Kyu. I ended up scrambling off him with apologies.

“Like you weigh more than a cotton ball.”

“Sorry.”

Claudius came in and nodded at the Lycan. “GPS?”

“Of course.” Sang Kyu looked over at me and let out a little huff of breath. “You, Lord Alpha have severely pissed off your Szigmond.”

“I’ve doubled my Loyal.”

“You are not to leave without an Alpha escort. I never expected so much rage from that little pup. I think that surprised our Elek as well.”

Well, damn it. There would be no limo loving now. Claudius looked over at me and arched that perfectly groomed black eye brow at me. I should be grateful, it could have been Vladimir and then there would be no way to avoid limo loving. Claudius reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his brow. Okay, first things first…

“Haircut.” I pointed at Claudius, ”You need clothes” I turned to Sang Kyu, “Do you need to eat?”

“I am fine, Lord Alpha.”

“I do not need clothes.”

“You’re sweating to death over there. We’ll get you some play clothes.”

“Play clothes?” I launched myself at Claudius. He caught me and I found myself flat on my back on the seat. “Play clothes?”

“Stuff to lounge around in. Shorts, tees.”

“Ah, I thought you meant hunting clothes.”

“You got enough of those. Where do you get them anyway?”

“Paint by numbers.” Sang Kyu howled in laughter. I got my nose bit and sat back up. Damn it. I rubbed at the end of my nose. What is it with these former Du Busseys?

Edna was surprised as hell when I walked in all hair overwhelmed less than two days after the infamous mullet. She ushered me back out of the main salon because with Sasha trailing me, Kitty and Angel got recognized pretty damn quick. I got nothing overly fancy this time. She got another hank of hair for the kids, and I got underbrushed. She took a straight razor and thinned out my hair. Oh that felt so much lighter. She trimmed up the front, nothing like the mullet though.

Claudius was mortified when she got her hands on him and showed him his split ends. I left him in her capable hands and headed over to the clothing store next door. If you didn’t know Father, you might think he’s in his early twenties, until you see his eyes. I wanted to look like a couple when we hung out. Right now, I think I looked like his little brother. I put a big dent in my credit card.

Then I spied the nipple rings. I called for Az but got nothing back again. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I picked out two matching rings for little brother and Marcus. You owe me big time, Azrael. I slid the rings into my front pocket.

I grabbed what I wanted Claudius to wear right away and left the rest for the Loyal to pack into the limo. By the time I got back, Edna had Father’s hair gleaming and shiny like a shampoo commercial. It just made my hands itch to run through it. I got a brush off my knuckles. “Oooww.”

“How come you not tell me you marry soon?”

“I thought you would be coming to the big wedding.”

“Not been asked to come to any wedding.” She pouted. When Claudius made a move to get out of the chair, she brought down the hair brush on his shoulder. “You not done.”

“This wedding came up real quick.”

“I do hair for your day. That my present. I do your Father and brother too. I will not let my boys get outshined by the girls.”

“Ah…er….thank you, Edna.” She reached over and handed me a black marker. She pointed over at a kitty angel poster. Whoa. The presses were running over time to get them out for sale already.

“I like kilt but this…you are happy and sexy not just sexy.” I signed Sex then attempted to a really bad drawing of the glyph that was supposed to Von Drachenfeld.

Claudius was lectured on how to take care of his hair before he was handed the marker. There was a little devilish glint in his eye then he took his artistic calligraphy and made my poor offering look it like it should be hanging on the fridge. Kitten.

I picked up the bag I carried in and handed it to him. “You can change in there.”

Claudius opened his mouth to protest. I cocked an eyebrow at him. He signed and headed behind curtain number one. “He very beautiful.”

“In more ways than one.”

“Too sad his hair is bad. Look like someone chewed on it in places, broke many strands.”

I grimaced. “Pick hair underneath at base of neck if you must chew. Not so noticeable if hairs break there.”

“Thank you Edna.”

I got a kiss to the top of my head. “My Tommy he is happy. I think he got a girl. Good for my boy. He alone too long.”

“This marriage…it to a girl?”

“I got her pregnant. She is carrying my babies. It is the right thing to do.”

“You not love her?”

“I think I can, but not in the way that she should be. Oh, Edna. Life is not like the storybooks.”

“You say babies?”

“Triplets.”

“Nowadays not too many men would give those babies their name.”

“I can’t wait to meet them.”

“Good boy. I get shampoo for white hair. Remember I said I had shampoo to make hair silver.” Edna disappeared into the store room. Now was the chance to go and stuff her till full of cash. She can’t keep giving out freebies. I headed out into the main salon. It had emptied since we got here. Must be break time. I got closer to the front of the store when I noticed a foot sticking out from behind the semi-circular counter. I glanced at the door. The Loyal were missing. What?

That was as far as I got. A binding slipped over me hard and I froze where I stood. “Well, hello there again, little fuck toy.”

Oh. Dear. Lord. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. An arm came around my waist and pulled be back against a hard body. “You smell absolutely divine today. No Lycan stench on you at all…but there is a hint of something familiar…”

He pushed my head forward baring my neck. Alarik ran his nose up my neck into my hair. “Cloves. That brother of mine has been at you., my little fuck toy…and my mark is gone. We are going to have to fix that right away.”

He angled my head so I was looking at our reflections. He dropped fang to the full extension and then licked my ear lobe. “Cinnamon hearts….perfect flavor for a fuck toy.”

I screamed as he drove his fangs deep into my neck again. I couldn’t close my eyes. I couldn’t look away. I was freaking out as he I watched him drink and drink and drink. His hand moved from my waist and began caressing me through my shorts. He kicked on foot wider and alternated stroking me from his sucking. I raged but his binding was too strong. I began panting from blood loss. He wrenched his fangs out of my neck then leisurely licked at the little driblets that seeped out. I screamed again but all that came out was “Nnnh”

“That’s looks better.” He left the fang marks raw on me.

I stumbled jerked over to a hairdressers chair as Alarik hauled me after him. He plopped down on it then pulled me down onto it squarely on his lap.

“What passes for ranked assassins nowadays is absolutely appalling.” Alarik separated my legs and swung one high over his head. I fought. He draped down the arm of the chair and slid my body down onto his thighs. He tilted my hips so my portal was rubbing against his crotch. “And you were number one, and you can’t even break this hold.”

Alarik just watched with passion of a research scientist as he began to hump my ass. He held me tight with the binding but my body began to reach to the stimulation. My shirt got pushed up baring my chest. He gave a wicked laugh as he spied my piercings. “It sickens me to no end to see what these mere Bites have done to you Lord Emperor. They have tainted and defiled you to your core.”

Get off me.

Alarik blinked then smiled that blood chilling way, “You are strong, as should be expected coming from an ancient lineage. Yet, so young.” He shifted his hold and began grinding me down on his hardened groin. “There may be hope for you yet. I’ll give you back your eye, my nephew. The rest I will keep.”

He grabbed me through my cargos and jerked me hard and fast.

Stop it!

“Who’s going to make me stop, Lord Emperor?”

Alastair stilled as Sang Kyu held a straight edged razor to his throat. “I will. Release Lord Alpha.”

“As you wish.”

I don’t know how he did it. I don’t want to know. He squeezed my prostate, and dropped the binding on me at the same time. I screamed out an unwanted orgasm. He shoved me off him and grabbed Sang Kyu’s wrist. He disarmed the Lycan and slashed at him as I hit the floor. The Lycan’s forearm was opened to the bone from elbow to wrist and was bleeding heavily.

“Alarik!” Claudius stood at the entrance to the back room in the clothes I had bought him. There was an icy fury in his eyes and I was horrified to see Carnage transform him.

“There you are, Alexander.”

“Sex?” I shuddered from the aftermath of my…what, unwilling jack-off? Aexander?

“I’m okay.”

“This is something I expected of Alexander – he fucked anything that moved…even if it was his own mother.”

“What Katrina and I…”

“Even now, after you caused her death, you dare to call her by her name.”

“Explain yourself.”

“Bites like you have no morals. She was your Sire. She was your mother yet you rutted like beasts of the woods. Anywhere, for anyone to see. Then you even had the gall to marry. Your own mother. There was no way I was going to allow another abomination into this world.”

Sang Kyu rolled and tucked me behind him under the counter and behind the hairdresser’s chair. Alarik glanced down and dismissed us both.

“Abomination?”

“You didn’t know. You killed her, Alexander. You planted your seed in your own mother’s womb. Incestuous lecher and you are still carrying on your deviant ways. Xavier is your son, yet you’ve turned him into yet another fuck toy. You belittle our Lord Emperor, our Nation’s savior with the name of Sex.”

“You murdered your own mother; My wife, because she was pregnant?”

“Mothers and sons do not interbreed.”

“You bastard.”

Carnage took three stepped forward then dropped to his knees. “You call not call me that Alexander. I at least know who my father was. You cannot fight me, little brother. You locked away your powers in that shield you made after I broke that first one. You only exist because I allow it. I thought you had changed your ways…it seems you were just keeping the fires stoked until you climb a little higher on the ladder of rank. Consort to the Lord Emperor. That will never happen little brother.”

Alarik paused as if he was listening to someone then turned and looked at me. Sang Kyu growled up at the vampire. “There maybe hope still left for you, Lord Emperor. Once you are cleansed, once everything is cleansed, you will lead the Nation back to its former glory.”

“Purebred, you show your Emperor honor with your devotion, but until this taint is removed from him…he is not worthy.”

“Who I serve or may down my life for is not your concern Vampire?”

“Technically, he is my nephew.”

“What the fuck are you doing jacking me off if you claim relations?” I hissed at him.

“As I said, you are tainted by Alexander’s filth. Once you are cleansed, free from that unworthy mark, you will be proclaimed as Lord Emperor to all. Until then…” His cold gaze froze my chest, “you are just a fuck toy. When I get the urge, I will play with you and as you can see, there is nothing you can do to stop me.”

“I will kill you, Alarik.” Carnage returned with venom dripping from his fangs.

“You’ve made that promise before, little brother. It’s been over three hundred years and you still haven’t made good on it.” Alarik stepped over my fallen Loyal and walked out the door out into the street.