Moonlit Surrender
Chapter Twenty-Three

"Wake up."

Lucy woke slowly with a groggy groan to replace herself tucked under a feather stuffed duvet in a massive four poster bed with soft powder blue drapes hanging from its banister. The room around her was huge and decorated in expensive furniture with connecting rooms she could see through open French doors. The hearth to her left dominated the bedroom, its roaring fire crackling and snapping loudly as its warmth radiated all around her. "Wake up, brat," Doris snapped impatiently once more.

Lucy rubbed her eyes, trying to make sense of her surroundings, how she got there, or why she found herself naked beneath a mound of covers. She reached a shaky arm up to her neck to replace two barely scabbed over punctures. It was real. The whole night was real.

"Go get cleaned up and dressed. You'll eat your meal with the master tonight," she informed bitterly, refusing to make eye contact with the girl.

"Doris," she said softly. "I know this doesn't mean much, but none of this is what I wanted."

"And you think I did?" she hissed. "It is what it is. I won't always be a fledgling vampire. I'll replace my power one day and won't need to serve the likes of him."

Sounds like the enchantment is wearing off.

Maybe this growing contempt can be exploited.

Doris didn't stay to talk it out, instead rising from her chair by the bed and leaving Lucy to her own devices.

Sitting up and swinging her legs over the bed felt like one of the hardest things she had ever had to do, the languor making her limbs feel heavier as if she was moving under water. She found herself having to stop and lean on the various pieces of furniture as she crossed the room, slowly searching for the bathroom, sure this was the master suite Lerexus had once tempted her with. The bedroom double doors opened up to a sitting room which held two adjacent rooms, one a walk-in closet that could've been a suite of its own, and the private bath he had mentioned. An expensive marble floor, painted walls, mirrors, seating, and other luxuries adorned the room, making a bath here seem more a social event than an intimate affair. At the far end of the room in front of the elaborately carved mantle and crackling fire was a porcelain tub still steaming. On an ottoman nearby was a clean dress, sleeveless, and somehow sheerer than the last as her captor continued to flex his control over her.

After washing away the dried blood on her neck and the crypt's dirt from her hands and knees and dressing, she waited patiently in the sitting room for Doris to come back and take her to whatever dark hole Lerexus waited for her in. It was not Doris who came through the chamber's door, but the master of the castle himself holding a tray of hot food instead of power bars and water.

"Good evening," he greeted with an unexpected politeness.

Too confused to return the sentiment, she found herself only able to stare as she watched him set the tray down on the table beside her then take a seat across from her. "I'm told you worked in a coffee house. On a hunch, I assumed you might enjoy a cup."

She looked down to replace a mug of steaming coffee with a couple packets of sugar and a small pitcher of cream beside it. "You did?"

What the fuck is happening?

"Please," he motioned to the tray. "Eat. You'll feel better with a full belly."

She couldn't have refused even if she wanted to, ravenous and parched, she consumed the meal with very little grace.

As she ate, he spoke. "You may recall we were having a little conversation about your future. Have you given it some thought while you were languishing away in my luxury?"

She licked her fingers clean and gulped down the last of the coffee thirstily. "You know, I didn't really get the chance. There's just something so distracting about being drained of most of my blood and flirting with death." Her sarcasm did not amuse him and she saw a warning flash in his pale eyes.

"Let me try to remember all this. You claim John is out of the picture and so now my choices are either to join you and live under your thumb for the rest of forever as your 'queen', or - and let me make sure I'm getting this right - die. That was the basic gist, yes?"

His nostrils flared and his posture stiffened. "Yes," he hissed in annoyance. "That was the gist."

"Kill me," she answered coolly.

Shock colored his face for a moment. "What?"

"Kill me," she replied again calmly.

"You're confused. Blood loss can have that effect."

"Kill. Me." She rose slowly from her seat, holding onto the arm rest as her head spun and threatened to bring her back down. "If there's no more John, I don't want to live. Immortality holds absolutely no appeal to me, especially without him, and I'd rather die than go back and live the empty life my ex offered. So, go ahead and kill me and just be fucking done with it. I'm tired of you toying with me like a cat terrorizing a mouse."

His lip twitched away a grimace, holding onto his composure with an iron grip. "You've only begun to experience what terror I can wreak on you, little mouse. Do not test me." He rose up to his full, slender height and stepped closer to look down at her, watching her arm quiver and her body threaten to give way to the exhaustion that darkened the skin under her eyes and washed her skin out to a ghostly pallor.

"I have nothing left for you to threaten to take away, Lerexus." She spat his name contemptuously. "So let's be done with this game. It's getting boring."

His face darkened into the sneer he had been holding back, losing that strained control over himself and hissing with bared fangs inches from her face. The metallic scent of her blood still clung to his breath and sent bile rising in her throat. His hand grabbed her by the throat and held her up to meet him eye to eye. "Now listen to me, you deplorable little shit, your precious John will be arriving at the castle soon. I intend to work out this unpleasant business with him and bring him home for good, but I swear to all the gods man has ever worshipped, I will cut him down in front of your very eyes if you so much as look at me with defiance. You will be a good little mouse and obey my every command and mind your manners and keep that infernal sassy mouth of yours shut. Slip up just once and I will tear him to pieces. Once my business with him is resolved, we will revisit this conversation once more. Understood?"

She wanted to scream. She wanted to punch him. Set him on fire. Put this evil thing through as much agony as he had inflicted on her. She also was beginning to understand why John betrayed him. "Answer me," he growled.

"I'd hate to stain those spotless floors with whatever toxic black sludge pulls through the veins of a vampire."

"That is the last time I will tolerate your cheek. From this moment on to the end of time itself you will address me properly and politely. Have I made myself clear, sugar?" he hissed low.

"Yes, Master," she enunciated angrily.

He set her back down and she collapsed backwards into the chair, too weak to hold herself up, and watched him exit with his long black robes trailing behind him like a cloud of smoke. Unfortunately, his departure did not ensure her some silence and solitude as Doris entered quickly to usher Lucy back down for more chores.

***

It wasn't long before Doris was guiding Lucy away from making beds and washing stuffy, outdated clothes favored by the halls' undead residents and leading her down to the main floor to the front sitting room where Lerexus waited, lounging on one of his many expensive couches like a Roman emperor. It was in this natural pose - when it occurred to her for the first time - he must've been mortal around the same time period, perhaps even some sort of nobility then. He certainly held the air of someone accustomed to an abundance of undeserved privilege.

"Stand there, quietly," he instructed.

"Yes, Master," she responded appropriately with a bitter grimace.

The burly guard appeared at the arched doorway. "My Lord?" he asked meekly. "Yes?" Lerexus answered.

The guard looked unsure of how to relay the information he had. "Uh, he's here."

Lerexus' eyes narrowed. "Yes? And? Have you captured him?"

"Uh, well, there was no need."

The master of the castle rose up onto his feet worriedly. "What are you talking about? Did you let him go?"

"No, Master. It's... I mean-"

"Spit it out!"

"He's in the foyer, my Lord."

Lerexus' brow furrowed in confusion, then he laughed merrily. "Very well." He turned back to Lucy. "Stay right where you are." Then he exited with his guard.

Lucy remained at least in the room as she was instructed but scrambled to the edge of it to peer through the open archways to spy on what was unfolding in the foyer. She needed a double take, sure she was imagining John standing there in front of the massive doors, shrugging off his suit jacket and folding it neatly over his arm. He looked collected as ever, though his lips were pressed together tightly, the only subtle hint at his agitation.

"I must admit," Lerexus' voice echoed off the marble and stone, "I was expecting a grander entrance, something a little more dramatic than the front door."

"I'm not here to play your games," the smoky bass of her professor's voice filled the halls.

Lucy melted from behind the couch she was leaning on, sure she was never to hear that sound again, but for the cheap imitation left in her memories and dreams. His voice was so familiar and felt like home, and for just a moment, she felt like everything might turn out okay.

"Very well," Lerexus answered. "Let us speak plainly and as the civilized men we once were. Join me for a drink?"

John gave a slight nod and followed him towards the sitting room.

Lucy tripped over her feet to get back to where she was supposed to be standing, and waited out of breath from the slight effort, her body obviously in decline from her blood loss. She was glad to have been given the chance to bathe and comb out her mass of knotted hair before coming down, then felt disgusted for feeling anything even slightly akin to gratitude to the creature floating in with an arrogant grin that would've put the Cheshire cat to shame.

Her captor resumed his pose on the couch and John took a seat in the chair adjacent, his eyes snapping to her as soon as he entered and reluctantly leaving her only for a second at a time. Lerexus did not wait long to flex his new power, commanding without even a glance, "Be a good little mouse and pour us a couple goblets from that decanter there, sugar."

Her eyes dropped to the flagstones beneath her, not out of any due humility, but shame at the words that left her lips, "Yes, Master." It had been one thing to cave on the outrageous demand in private with no witnesses, but to have it flaunted now, and in front of the man she had loved, was almost more than she could bear. With eyes watering, she moved to the table and unstopped the huge crystal decanter and poured the thick red liquid into the pair of glasses beside it, the tangy scent of the blood sticking in her nose. She moved sluggishly, her bare feet shuffling across the room under wobbly knees that threatened to give way at any moment. Her arm trembled weakly as she held the goblet out to Lerexus, then, still unable to look up from the chipped black paint on her toes, she stretched the other one out to John.

She felt his hand wrap around hers and she looked up to replace an ocean of emotion in his gray eyes watching her beneath his furrowed brow. Love? Hopelessness? Regret? No. Pity. It must be pity.

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She straightened, unwilling to accept such a demeaning sentiment. Whatever she had endured here in this forsaken castle did not need to be diminished by the pity of a man who had been childishly trying to relive some long dead chapter of his life and breaking centuries worth of hearts in a vain attempt to do it. She refused his glance and moved coldly back to her post on the side of Lerexus' couch. To hell with both of them. To hell with all fucking vampires.

John did not drink from his cup, setting it on the decorative table beside him with a look of sudden disgust. "What is it you want?" he asked curtly.

"It's been a long time, old friend. You've done well hiding away in your little human hovels."

"A vampire must be able to disappear into the crowd. Wasn't it you who taught that lesson?" John asked.

"Indeed it was, but I could not have known it would lead to my own damnation."

"You don't look damned to me," John replied coolly. He sat up straight with one ankle swung over his knee and his elbow resting against the arm of the chair.

Why is John so calm? Lerexus must've tormented him in the past and now he's totally undone the life he built.

Hatred filled her and her mind flashed with visions of fire and fury, ridding the planet of Lerexus' evil presence in the most painful and humiliating ways possible. Castration came to mind above all other punishments, his sexual frustration evident in the way he debased her with these ridiculous dresses and his eye always leering over her. It was laughable that the only thing that stood between him and that dark release was his own prejudice and vampire supremacist bullshit. Lerexus laughed. "No, not quite. I am not so easily foiled. It takes strength to survive as long as I have."

"Enough of the pleasantries. You said we would speak plainly, so speak. Why have you summoned me here? To what end? Simply to watch me squirm under your thumb? Am I never to be free of you?" John's eyes darkened and there was a frightening rage humming below his controlled countenance that sent a shiver through Lucy.

Naked and under his control. His commands in the air. The sole desire to follow them.

Peace.

No! Liar! Manipulator! He never loved me.

She could feel a steady ache in her head growing. Was he though? Or was it just another web of lies cast by her captor to keep her trapped under his will? Who was she supposed to believe? Why couldn't she replace the courage to bolt or at least throw herself off the castle walls? Why did she still care about what happened to him?

"Free of me?" Lerexus asked in mock hurt. "I am your home, boy, your sire. You belong in my fold. It is within my brood you were born into godhood and within it you are to remain."

"We are not gods, you foolish relic. We are cursed."

"And how giddily you accepted it, with all its perks, supping nightly on sweet virgins and playing the winsome scholar. How willing you were to sacrifice certain death in exchange for this 'curse' of immortality and ability to halt death in others. How exuberant was your debauchery and gluttony under my roof. Cursed indeed," he chortled condescendingly.

She stared in awe at how cool John was able to remain under such goading. He didn't even flinch, not a tightened muscle in his body. He relaxed and held the same demeanor he had at the front of his classroom.

Or at the front of his bed, watching me touch myself for him.

Or unzipping his pants in front of me while I waited on his coffee table.

Stop it! It's pathetic how much you still want him.

"That was a different time, Lerexus, lifetimes ago. A child behaves as a child and a man strives for something greater than himself."

The master of the black castle sneered, catching the subtle insult to his stagnant behavior. Lucy was amused by the comparison of the ancient vampire lord to a child, especially since his go-to was to steal his enemy's favorite toy. The world was nothing more than a giant sandbox to him, and all he could obsess over was being king of it.

He heard the soft exhale from her and snapped, "Come here, mouse."

She cringed, regretting the slip, but felt no other option but to obey. His arm stretched out before she had barely taken a step, pulling her roughly down onto the couch in front of where he lounged across it. His pale eyes stared challengingly over her shoulder into John's as he gripped her wrist in one hand and pulled it up to his plump lips. The other snaked its way over her side and up her soft tummy until it groped her breast through the sheer fabric.

John didn't look away. She was shocked to replace him willingly watching Lerexus claiming her and simultaneously daring him to stop it. She couldn't bear to have him witness this humiliation, to see her powerlessness in the face of someone so vile, and dropped her eyes to the floor.

Without warning, Lerexus sank his fangs into her wrist and split the skin into a shallow gash to suckle at.

She whimpered quietly, but did not fight him, not even when he tore yet another dress apart. This time he shredded it all the way down to the hem so it fell completely open, then his long white nails and lithe fingers were all over her pale flesh, pinching her rosy nipples and scraping down her sternum and navel until his palm settled over her downy mound in a possessive grip. She felt hot tears drop from her eyes and watched them splash on her bare thighs. I can't bear this. How can John watch this? Why isn't he rushing to my rescue?

She dared to look up again, and still he sat in his chair somewhat tense now, but still very much under control. She felt outrage at his icy demeanor, betrayed by his calm. What sort of heartless monster could watch such a thing and sit idly by? Did she mean nothing to him? Though weak as ever and feeling that undeniable exhaustion setting in, she found the strength to glare at him. Against her better judgment, she leaned back into Lerexus and opened her body up to him in a spiteful show of surrender.

She saw one black wing of John's brow quirk up curiously.

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Is... is he enjoying this?

She opened her legs wide and felt an excited hum of delight on her wrist and an all too eager finger slide between her soft folds.

She watched John's pupils expand as his eyes followed his nemesis' fingers spreading her open to taunt him with her pink warmth watering beneath his touch. As long as she couldn't see those otherworldly violet eyes watching her, she was able to focus on the objective pleasure of having her clit teased and feeling fingers slipping over her opening.

Lerexus unlatched prematurely from her wrist to move his mouth up her arm and over her shoulder, sucking and kissing his way up her neck until his teeth were around the edge of her ear. She ignored the smell of blood wafting to her and focused on John's gray gaze still silently watching her.

She moaned and heard both men suck in a sharp breath.

She was shocked by the quiet realization that out of the three occupants in the room, two being immortal and powerful vampires, it was she who commanded it now. She was seized by a sudden burst of energy at her newfound authority. Lucy felt Lerexus' other hand slide up to her breast and grope it roughly with his thumb flicking forcefully across the nipple until it protruded out stiffly. She felt electricity course down into her pussy and arched into the slow rhythm he had begun with the fingers of his hand still spreading her open for John. She felt them sliding up and down either side of her clit and opening, bringing them to life with a hot tingling. She could feel the sweet ache of desire heating her and sending a dull throbbing in her clit.

John watched attentively, a smirk pulling up the corner of his mouth.

He is enjoying this.

"Getting to see a beautiful woman in the throes of passion is a treasure," she remembered the quote.

Then I'll give him a real show.

She reached down and guided Lerexus' fingers inside of her, sighing as she felt them penetrate her opening slowly. Her hand left his and trailed up her body to tease the nipple of her other breast. His fingers curled into her walls and massaged firmly, replaceing that delicate place almost as easily as the philosophy professor who observed them now once had. She was surprised to replace so much tact in his fingertips, to replace he too was as well practiced in pleasing a woman. Probably from women like Doris who were just seeking his station, ingratiating themselves to the master so they could replace elevation within.

Lucy moaned earnestly now, the pleasure pulling her out of her own thoughts to the primal need taking the foreground. His thumb had moved expertly over her clit and began rubbing it with the same vigorous pace of his curled fingers. Her eyes fluttered closed and she rocked into the rhythm, her body arching back into his chest as she bore down with each beckoning stroke of his fingertips. Her hands fell away to grip whatever was nearest for support, one replaceing Lerexus' arm and the other his robed thigh. Her moans grew to loud whimpers and she felt her thighs shaking and her toes pressing into the cold stone. She heard him moaning in her ear as she carelessly dug her nails into him, forsaking any thought for his own comfort.

Above all the commotion, almost as clear as if it had been spoken, she could feel the pull to open her eyes and meet John's gaze still glued to her. Their eyes met and his smirk deepened to a tender smile and he gave her a slight nod, his permission.

No, his command.

She could hear his voice in her head, telling her to come for him.

Lerexus moved his hand from her breast to grab a fistful of hair at the back of her head to yank it back, as if sensing this unspoken bond and jealously trying to sever it.

Lucy yelped from the sudden yank, but the pain only sped her on. Still able to peer down her cheeks to replace those omniscient gray eyes boring into her, she let her body go, crying out unreservedly as she shuddered and gushed her orgasm over Lerexus' hand and sitting room floor.

As she steadied her breathing and regained her composure, she felt a certain satisfaction in having soiled the edge of his sleeve and his precious castle floor. She smiled up at John and felt it returned more in the way he looked at her than the way his lips curved.

A grunt of frustration exited Lerexus and he forced her up onto her feet and across the room until she fell forward to catch herself on the arms of John's chair.

His leg dropped reflexively and he caught her by her waist to hold her steady between his knees. Lerexus quickly pushed her over so her body was bent at a ninety-degree angle with her front half hanging over John's lap and her ass fully exposed to him. The ancient vampire said nothing and offered no warning before roughly forcing himself between her wet folds and into her tight warmth.

Lucy gasped loudly as she was suddenly stretched open and then drilled mercilessly from behind. Each thrust pushed her forward until she was a breath away from John's face. He reached up and gathered her hair to the side for her and filled his palms with her swinging breasts as his sire grunted and clawed at her hips as if angry at the mere fact he wanted her.

She felt the same satisfaction she had at ruining his floor and sleeve as she realized she had crumbled his will just by existing in the same room. How low the proud vampire lord had fallen. To know he felt disgust for himself while he betrayed his own morals made her almost giddy, but to see the smug grin on John's face as he too was aware of this and beamed down on her with a delicious sort of pride filled her with the absolute sweetest pleasure. Lerexus tore away the shreds of what was left of her dress and tossed it out of his way, leaving her naked but for her long hair draped over one shoulder. His hands ran down the slope of her back and over the curve of her hips while he continued to grunt angrily with each stroke. His intensity forced her further into John's embrace until his lips found hers and followed the bob of her head in a passionate kiss. Lucy melted immediately into the familiar euphoria of his tongue sweeping through her mouth and his teeth lightly pinching her bottom lip. It stirred memories of slow, molten kisses stolen in the passenger seat of his car and the raw desire he stirred in her so effortlessly. She leaned in and welcomed his touch with closed eyes and the sensation of home washing over her.

It was a long moment before he broke away from their intimate kiss and dragged his mouth along her jaw until it pressed against her ear. "Come for me, princess."

His permission. His will. His desire for my pleasure.

With Lerexus moving inside her like a wild animal and John urging her on softly in her ear, it wasn't long before she felt the tremors of ecstasy racking her once more, causing her knees to buckle and send her forward into her lover's shoulder while the beast behind her clamped on and lifted her off her curled toes so he did not have to quit until his frustrated growling crescendoed into a sated howl alongside her moans. He stumbled awkwardly as he came inside her, then dropped her into John's lap.

He welcomed her warmly into his arms, letting her clamber up into his embrace and bury her face into the crook of his neck. He cradled her delicately, letting her ruin his slacks with all the smeared fluids dribbling down her legs, and whispered low into her hair, "Good girl."