Clove : Book 4 of Lord Emperor Vampire Series

Drive by and drop.

I figured out what the hell I was going so wrong. I was trying to tell Skell what to do. Skell don’t like that. Strange, I know but that’s just how it is. (Check out journal/rants, How do you write? Are you kidding me!! - THE RISE OF VADER.) This explains what the heck has been going on.

Kudos and questions later. ENJOY!
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It’s later!

LMS: Thanks for the kind words. I am still hoping to get published, but I think I am going to have to pony up some cash and get a professional editor. I have too much smut for mainstream publishing and too much plot for porn so I think I might have to go the vanity press route. Big Sigh. That’s how it’s looking up anyways…I’m still researching the subject.

Rainy: you are psidekick. Yes, there will be an unguarded piano. Yes there will be a discovery. Yes it will be explosive. Just not in this chappie. (evil grin. Bwa hahahaha)

Paper.heart ; Claudius/Alexander issues are a Sex chappie. They will be addressed but it might not be for a while.

L: a 5 part trilogy. Hahaha. I have no idea. I only planned on one book. So these other three are a gift. Right now…I have a feeling it is going to 5. eep.

AsyenMari: Am I going to leave in the ‘false starts’? I’ve tried to use chapter 3 over and it doesn’t really fit anymore. I can’t even use the hot sex scene. Darn, I’ll have to write more smut. It really is such a hardship. (ah, not.)

ATOI: Carl is the first name of Andrews. It sounds familiar…I can’t place it right now. No wait, wasn’t it that arrogant sprinter? Oh well, it doesn’t matter, is ass is grass.

Since I’ve been having re-writing issues, I have been remiss with the LOYAL and TRUE. Apologies my sweeties….hmmmm pocky…. LMS; paradox; romanticfae (x2); rainy (x2); rosemary (x4); rosei (x3); paper.heart; Anon (x2); Dark Avenger; Laur; ex-cathedra; Jae; Natana; k (x2); meadows_peak; fleur; L; AsyenMari; a.taste.of.insanty

SPOILER ALERT!!



Due to the initial reviews, I must say, The brothers will be back! Yes they will. However, I shall let it be known that while X, Sex and Azrael have killed others before, it has been in the name of protection, not vengeance – I am classifying this as a much darker place than the brothers have never explored before and I find that neither of them has the depths of evil to go that far. Tah dah, here is Skell and his heart of darkness.


ON WITH THE SHOW. ENJOY!


Chapter 145: Straightjackets and Braids

They had me in a straight jacket. I wrenched at my arms and they did nothing. What was even more humiliating was the damn ankle cuff locking me on the hospital gurney. There were men in black in each corner and two more outside the door. I gave an agonized cry of frustration and laid back on the bed. Son of a bitch.

At least I got the burn over and done with.

I just laid back and stared at the ceiling. Everything was clearer than it has been in a long long time. There still was a fuzziness in my head but it was clinging to the edges of my mind now, not covering everything, masking everything. Haley. Haruka. Claudia. Claudia and my babies. There was a mama’s girl and a before, the redhead, and after, the white haired, me. The crumbled picture was spread out on the small tray beside the bed. Daddy. I was a Daddy. I closed my eyes as a muscle spasm in my temple ripped across my scalp and twitched my cheek.

There was movement by the door. I flicked my eyes toward it. The brown Vampire was there with a basket. The men in black moved out of the corners and left the two of us alone. I watched him as he walked in. “Armor.”

“Good. How is your head, Little One?”

“I’ve been drugged for five years, what do you expect?”

“It’s been seven years, Xavier. The anniversary of your capture was three weeks ago.”

Seven? I started as his hand touched my face. I blinked up at him. “At least you know my name. I will fix your hair.” He ran his hand along my hairline and pushed my long white locks back behind my ear. “I cannot image the hell that you have gone through, Xavier. To drive you to the edge like that. Forgive me.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Now that I finally found you, I was not going to let you go. I will never let you go, X.”

I stared up into his eyes. He was earnest. There was a strength in those orbs. He spoke his heart. I could do no less.

“I’m not Xavier.”

“I know. You are not Sex nor Azrael either.”

Sex? There was a vampire named Sex? That was fucked up…but it felt right. Sort of. It felt more of a fit than any of the other names I’ve been called. I twitched as a thumb rubbed at my forehead. “You are thinking too hard.”

“It will leave wrinkles.”

He stilled. “Yes.”

I belonged here. I couldn’t trust my memories so I’d rely my feelings, my guts. This body yearned for me. Armor easily topped 6 foot and was more than 200 lbs. He looked like he could rip off your arms but I didn’t get any uneasiness about him.

I had an itch on my stomach. I pulled at my arms. “This isn’t necessary.”

“You ripped through our defenses like they were nothing more than paper machete. You out maneuvered the men in black. Your Loyal are the best of the House of Assassins and you tossed them around like they were children’s toys. You have gotten very strong since Orel Wessel took you. Until we get a reading from the Seer, you will have to put up with this.”

I rolled toward the gate and tried to rub my stomach against the bars. Crap. A hand came around and pulled me over to my backside. “What are you doing?”

“I got an itchy stomach.”

“Just ask, Little One.” Armor stood up and used his massive paws to rake his fingers up and down my straight jacketed belly. I could see why dogs start quivering. OOOhhh, it felt good. A little too good. The brown Vampire must have felt lit because he stopped and lifted the back of his hand to my cheek. “Since you are not my love, Xavier; and you are not my little brother Sex, I will stop. You are not my sibling rival, Azrael neither, who are you?”

“Orel Wessel called me Ed.”

He didn’t even pause at that. “What did you name yourself?”

Intuitive big man. “Skell.”

“Are your brothers in there with you?”

I frowned. Brothers?

“From your expression, you have not encountered them. Which may or may not be a good thing.”

I laid for a moment, “Is that why I have different points of view?”

“You have their memories.”

“I have their triggers too. Apples.” I leaned over and sniffed at the brown Vampire. “What sort of name is Armor?”

He picked up and brush and pushed me upright, settling behind me, propping my weight against him. He pulled on my hair, sweeping it back off my face. “May I?”

May I what? He took my silence as consent. He buried his face in my white locks and popped a woody into the small of my back. Here I was trussed up like the Christmas turkey and tied to the bed. If he wanted to do anything about it, I was just going to have to grin and bear it. He picked up his brush and began lulling me with another trigger I didn’t know I had.

“Armor. That is what my older brother called me, right from the beginning. We are alike Skell…the brothers and I. Fractured psyches in one form. I was his protection, so my name is simple.”

“Xavier, Azrael and Sex. Do I even want to know how he got that name?”

“I gave it to him. I did not like the name Edward.”

I had a flash of horror. I fought the relaxation my body was falling into as he stroked the brush through my hair. “Orel Wessel said I was made without the Covenant.”

“I did it without Xavier’s consent. I’ve done many things to Xavier without his consent. For the longest time I believed that my actions created Sex. Instead, it just re-awoke him.”

I expected to feel rage or fear but there was….acceptance? What the… “There is too much going on to explain how we got were we are in a simple hair brushing. Marcus, my brother, had a contract to kill Xavier. I wanted him instead. I birthed him without his consent. We discovered you are from the Royal House, the Blue Blood line. Your wings and your blue flame.”

“Orel Wessel said I was a mutant.”

“I would not trust a word that Orel Wessel says. I sincerely doubt that Father would consider himself a mutant.”

Silence filled the room for a bit. It was a comfortable silence. The scent of apples tickled my nostrils and that in turn tightened the strap running between my legs. This body knew that one….and it wanted him. I had a flame burning deep inside my chest for him. It was odd. It wasn’t my desire. Who’s was it? “You fucked Xavier.”

He stilled. “I did not fuck, as you so eloquently put it, Skell, Xavier. We are mated. He is the love of my life. We made love. We shared our selves. I gave him my soul. All that is not encompassed in ‘fucking.’”

Crap. I just pissed in his corn flakes. I jerked on my arms again. Damn it.

“Have you got an itchy stomach again?”

“No…I’ve got a hard on and it’s killing me. I’m conditioned to the scent of apples.” I hung my head forward. “What happened to Kevin?”

“We did not leave him there. It would be an insult to him. Based on what you were prepared to do, I figured the fledgling held some importance in your life, so I had him buried beside Reggie.”

Reggie….Reggie…A black marble angel sheltered him from the elements. He was a friend…a little brother. I drank his last drop so he wouldn’t be afraid. I closed my eyes. “Has there ever been any happiness in their lives?”

“Misery loves company, Skell. Happy memories will come back. The lab has reported that whatever Orel Wessel was shooting into your blood stream is almost gone. The traces are smaller and they feel that the memories should return.”

“If what you say is true, about the three brothers, they come back, what happens to me?”

“Would you like me to lie?”

“Have you before?”

“Once. I pretended to be my brother when I first took Xavier. I thought it would have been a little too much to face for him to know about the fractures.”

Apple vampire in chains, his face in absolute ecstasy as I brought a hand whip down hard across his back. His eyes opened and stared down at me with pure…love? I shook my head…well I attempted to shake my head to clear my mind but the hold Armor had on me prevented it. Azrael was mated with apple twin one – Marcus. And that was all fucked up. I frowned. I should have been freaking out when I woke up in this straight jacket. Being confined usually was the worse thing in the world for me. I would rage and roar until I hurt myself to the point Orel Wessel would have to release me or taser me unconscious. What the hell. Apparently, Azrael turned uke for his brown vampire. “Marcus and Azrael are freaks.”

Armor let out a big sigh. “It’s wrong to belittle a brother, but yes, Marcus is. Azrael and Lanseng had to gang up and kick some sense into his heart and mind. Azrael and Marcus were getting better.”

“Lanseng?”

“This is too much for you to take in at once. Each brother had a mate. In some cases, they had extra partners.”

He was right. Faces were popping into view as he said names. Sometimes with clothes…sometimes not. Lanseng, blue hair, tanned flesh and crimson eyes looking so good in formal clothes, looking even better with his hair tangled around his face and his cheek flushed with completion. “So, what happens to me?”

“I do not know. Are you just another brother who had to emerge to survive while in the care of Orel Wessel? Will you cycle through with them? Are you your own man? You will have many questions, Skell. Many I cannot answer, but I will strive to tell you the truth.”

I felt him gather all my hair at the nape of my neck and brush it sleek on my head. “Royalty…wings and a blue flame mean royalty. Father is royalty. Why does it hurt to look at him?”

“Sex and Father did not part under the best conditions. Misunderstandings can lead to a hurt heart. We searched for you, Little One. The Lycan’s searched. Marcus searched. Lanseng looked however he looks. It was as if you vanished off the face of the earth. I wish I could say that my faith in your survival was strong, but I faltered. I gave up on your returning. I have just proven I am not worthy to be at your side.”

What can you say to that? I don’t know. He was speaking to the elusive Xavier. In a matter of speaking, Xavier had fallen under Orel Wessel’s onslaught. Just because I had some of his memories and mannerisms, didn’t make me that Vampire that had captured this…Armor’s, this protector’s soul.

“Listen to me. I have never thought that I would be such a whiner. I have discovered much about myself since you have been gone. As Father has said, I am only one year older than you. What could I have done even if I had been with you? Our first time together, Xavier’s and mine, was our first time. I did not know what I was doing other than my own excitement. It took us a while to figure things out between us.

“How old are you?”

“I am 11. Marcus has had the Welcoming ceremony.”

“Welcoming ceremony?”

“Marcus is now 250 years old. He is now considered an Ancient. I know…how can he be so much older. I did not stay long when I did come out to the world. It is only since Xavier, I demanded my share. Even then…when I gave up, I retreated back inside Marcus. In truth, you are older than me now.”

“You’re giving me a headache.”

“I would like to braid your hair.”

“Can I stop you?”

“Just say no.” I canted my head back and looked at him. I…no this body that that much power over him? He was a big man. He was a powerful vampire. I didn’t care if he thought was only a teenager that body was an Ancient. He could snap me like a dried out twig. I could do many things, but aside from burning, I sincerely doubted I could defeat him. He reached out and cupped my chin. “This was a lesson that was hard to learn, Little One. I almost lost you because I took what I wanted without your consent. Eventually, I made sure you enjoyed yourself but…in the end it was false pleasure and it caused more devastation that I never intended. If you say no, I will stop.”

“Your cock is drilling a hole in my back.”

“It does not matter. As I said, I will not die if I cannot ease it.”

“You can fuck me.”

He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I do not fuck. I love. I am sorry you cannot tell the difference, Skell. It is not something that Orel Wessel would teach you.”

I felt him tug on my hair. I thought he was going to make it one long braid down the back but he was making a thin whip like cord. His fingers flew and when he finally got to the end, he slipped a metal ring on it and pinched it closed. He started the next one. Eh, it didn’t hurt. I closed my eyes and rested against him.

This felt good, minus the straight jacket. I was tired. My stomach gurgled.

“We will get you something to eat and drink once Lanseng gets here. Until then rest, Little One.”

“That is Xavier’s name.” I didn’t open my eyes.

“Yes it is. I hope he can hear me. Not that I do not like you Skell, you are different and I love my X. I want him back.”

“Honesty can be brutal.”

“Shall I keep quiet?”

“Freedom is a precious thing, Armor. Don’t ever waste it.” I snuggled tighter against him and tried not to think of the scent of apples nor stretching out in an apple orchard nor the pulsing blood keeping my cock hard. I won’t die from a hard on either…but. It was honesty time.

“I raped Kevin.”

He stilled.

“They would bring me fledglings they captured off the street. Orel Wessel called them cast offs. I remember five. There might have been more. I had no control over myself. I raped them and the first three I drank them dry.”

Huge arms enfolded me and his head pressed against the side of my own. “The last two, Darius and Kevin, I just raped…but in the end I still killed them.”

“I have no words that can ease your burden, Skell. This may be just a theory, but…when Orel Wessel kidnapped you, did they know about the Phoenix wings?”

Phoenix wings? The burn? “I don’t know. I thought I was only gone for five years…you’ve told be it’s been seven.”

“The side effect to the wings, is something called post burn hyper metabolism. In effect, every burn causes your body to use all it’s resources to heal itself. When it runs out of resources, it begins to take muscle. You begin to waste away. If you leave the effect to accumulate until the wings force themselves out in an unplanned burn…you end up almost to the stage of blood starvation. If you are blood starved, Little One…you are a feral creature who will do anything to live -- including killing.”

“And the rapes?”

“That is a burden you can lay at my door, Skell. I conditioned your body for sex.”
He took that guilt from me easily. Too easily. “I took this body from virgin to whore in the span of one year. Do you wish me to ease your suffering, Skell?”

“I thought you didn’t fuck.”

“I was wrong. You need care.”

“Your called Claudius, Father.”

“We are brothers under his care. Not by blood. I cannot remove the straight jacket. I thought you were fast before. The decision is yours, Skell.”

Tears burned my eyes. I blinked but more just replaced them. The apple vampire had given me more piece of mind in the matter of fifteen minutes that Orel Wessel did in all of five years, no, seven years. “Armor. My brother. Show me what love is. Care for me. I haven’t had it and I’m tired and alone.”

“You are not alone any more, Little brother. I will not call you by another’s name while we do this.” He took a knuckle and pressed it under my jaw turning my head toward him. “Gentleness is always the way to start, Skell. It doesn’t matter if it feels like you are going to explode, gentleness is always desired.”

I leaned forward and brought my face into the crook of his neck, burying my nose in his hair – an apple orchard. I felt tears burn in my eyes again. Orel Wessel knew that the essence of apples was their main weapon of control. I got docile and happy when I got apples, when I got fledglings scent marked like a green spy. My body knew him. Memories of him were disjointed and out of sequence but I was content and happy to be with him, on him, to have him on me, touching me through the multitude layers of cloth. I moaned.

His lips found mine and we kissed. I wanted to dive in and rip into his tongue, to taste that sweet essence in it’s pure state but his words on gentleness stayed my course.

A single word came to mind -- Beloved.

He opened his eyes and I looked into the deep dark brown of baker’s chocolate. “Beloved.” The word rolled off my tongue. A red flare flashed in his eyes.

“Yes…I am his Beloved, as he is mine. I care for you, Little Brother.” He reached down and loosened the strap that was digging painfully. “I will care for you, Skell.”

I wish I could always be cared for this much. Big brother had a mouth on him and he knew how to use it. I could do little but enjoy it.. One leg was chained to the railings and my arms were wrapped around me in a hug. He knew how to draw the most out of me. My throat tightened with pants and I tried to keep myself quiet. He wasn’t having any of that. I arced up into his mouth and gave a gargled cry. He caught my ass in his big hands and pulled me deeper into his mouth.

I had the presence of mind for probably a millisecond to look down and see everything masked with rich otter brown hair. Just then he let me slip out of his warm mouth and he did a porn star hair flip. My heart caught in my chest. I knew him. I just didn’t remember snippets…I knew him. I threw my head back on the pillow and jutted deep into his mouth as he worked me to a frenzy. My hips bucked upwards then…everything just got blissful.

“Little brother?”

Another name floated up to the surface. “My stupid fuck.”

“I never thought I would hear that again.” I got cleaned and tucked away. Then Armor moved back up to where he was when all this started. He still had a hard on drilling a hole in my spine. “You should be getting sleepy, Skell. I will wake you when Lanseng arrives. You have been through a lot and need to rest. I will watch over you.”

I trusted him. I laid my head back against his shoulder as he began to make mini braids out of my mess of white hair.

My dreams usually were of fire. Of blue flame that cleansed the sins of the world, of myself. This was different. I was darkness. Turning on my heel there was nothing but…wait. Off in the distance I could see a bright white light. I blinked snapping down my sniper scope vision. There were three people standing in the light. All with my face. I had taken a few steps toward that light but now I staggered to a stop. Those were the brothers. One had the burn and my white hair. One had red hair, just like one of the little girls and red feathers. The last just had punk short hair and guns. Sex, Xavier and Azrael.

I stood in the dark staring at them with a longing like I’ve never known. I could go to them, but then what happened to me? My life had been hell but I wanted to live it. I closed my eyes and hung my head, I felt my hair slide forward hanging over my face. They were here first. They would still be here, if it wasn’t for Orel Wessel. The light called to me. Not yet. I had something to do before I could step into that light and allow the brothers to take over. I had to do it for all our sakes and the sake of those newly made vampires left to wander defenseless in the world.

I had to destroy Orel Wessel -- for the sake of the Nation;, for the sake of my children and for the sake of my own soul. Orel Wessel had to die.

I roused out of sleep by the touch of a hand to my face. A thumb stroked over my bottom lip pulling it down until the edge of the unknown thumb was slick and ran easily over my mouth. I opened my eyes to find myself cocooned in blue hair. A surfer tanned hand was molesting my mouth but it was crimson tinted irises with pitch black pupils pinned me to the gurney. I opened my mouth and the exotic man pushed his thumb into it, stroking my tongue.

“I am yours, Lord Hashmalliam. Command me to any desire. I have waited so long for your return.”

I just stared up at him still lost in the clingy arms of sleep. He pulled his hand back out of my mouth and pulled his long strands of blue hair out of the way and off his neck. He took my shoulders and pulled me upright. My face turned to his neck. Blueberry…
blueberry saltwater taffy. My fangs tingled. “Drink, my Lord.” He pressed his neck right against my fangs. The back of his knuckles stroked the nape of my neck up and down.

He hissed as I took a firm latch on his long smooth expanse. Candy….sweetness mixed with the tart of salt. Candyman…I had this one before. He was my candyman. I took ten big swallows then laved him closed. I tried to pull my arms free. “Get me out of this.”

Lanseng. His name was Lanseng and he was Azrael’s wolfhound. Lanny. He made short work of the straight jacket. Everywhere it had touches me was now itchy. I twitched my shoulders and rubbed at my arms. “Lord Hasmalliam.”

“My name is Skell.”

“Your name has changed many times over the centuries, My Lord, but your core has always remained the same. You are the harbinger of destruction.” He dropped down to his knee beside the bed and bowed his head down to his knee. His blue hair spread everywhere. I shook my head and found the mini braids Armor had been working on all finished now. They looked like little whips. I twisted my head sharply and my hair flew out and snapped…just like a whip. Rather cool.

“I’m not going to argue with you over that…may I call you Lanny?”

“I am a humble servant. I am honored to answer to which ever name you give me.”

I reached down and jerked the cuff apart on my ankle. There was a perfect red circle around my ankle. “Don’t let anyone take away your name, Lanny.” I rubbed at it briefly then flexed it. It would just be stiff until I started using it. I leaned forward laying my right arm on my knee and waited for Lanny to look back up at me. His red eyes finally met mine.

“Thank you for the blood.”

“I live to serve you, Lord.”

“Who do I have to talk to about starting a war?”

“The Lord Emperor Claudius.” Lanny looked at me as if expecting…what? Fireworks? Hysterics? I just had a sharp pain of heart ache. I slid off the bed. I winced as my ankle protested but it was easing already. “This way, my Lord.”

Holy crap, this boy was tall. He smiled back at me then turned and lead me back into the corridors of Von Drachenfeld -- the heart of the Lord Emperor of the Vampire Nation’s household. What I plan on doing is for the good of the Vampire Nation. Lanny repeatedly called me Lord. I felt a cold smile cross my face. Darius hated it when I did this. It had scared him.

Vengeance is mine, sayth the Lord. I was going to scream it.

* * *