Melissa MacNeal - Beyond Redemption

Pink's grin conceded a point in Billy's favor, but she wavered not. "You can come upstairs with me, to that unsullied bedroom that awaits our night of pleasure, and I'll forget your prying into our private affairs," she replied with an arch of one eyebrow. "Or, you can enter where no man has gone before, and never leave. Uncovering the rest of our secret comes with serious consequences, Billy-much like Adam and Eve getting expelled from the Garden for eating that apple. A little learning is a dangerous thing."

And a twenty-year-old who's full of himself is more dangerous yet. It didn't matter to this young stud that Miss Pink hinted he was in peril, for hadn't he escaped Lucy's clutches, and then been rescued from her father's? He still believed his fate was in his own hands, and that death couldn't touch him!

How I wished for such innocence again myself.

So, as he took that first fateful step toward her-toward the door to his doom-I prepared myself to follow him into the crypt. After all, it was my doing that Billy had come to this crossroads; my own lust that had led him down this primrose path into a nest of ruthless women whose hunger for him would never die. They could string him along for decades, in a state of limbo like they'd induced in our blonde house boys, or by converting him to their own dark, eternal cult. Either way, Tripplehorn would never truly be mine again. And I had no one to blame but myself.

My heart lurched in my chest as Billy stepped through that door, entranced.

At once the twins freed me from Perfidia's machine, and, along with Cerise, they hurried behind me to that gilt-edged portal marking the no-man's land hidden beneath this ancient home. There they stopped, however. Perfidia and Pandora had trained them so tightly, I knew they would never overstep this boundary between the living and the undead. I, however, slipped silently over the threshold to behold the fate that awaited Billy…and possibly to share in it.

Pink knew I was there, of course. She had no doubt planned it this way.

"Before I train you to come every time I call, like the panting pup you are," she was saying breezily, "let's get a few formalities out of the way. Just so you know exactly who you're dealing with."

While the sight of three ornate caskets resting on porcelain pedestals came as no surprise to me, Billy was rubbing his eyes as though the cool, shadowy dimness was playing games with his vision. The center casket of sleek ebony undoubtedly belonged to Pandora-just as the one which now yawned open to reveal its lining of quilted silk the shade of baby's skin would be Miss Pink's.

At the far side of the dusky room rested a box that resembled an oversized rectangular emerald: Perfidia would naturally prefer a bed the color of jealousy and deceit…the color of her catlike eyes. Through its translucent green walls, her reclining form remained visible even though the light of day never invaded this chamber. This implied that she could see through the sides of her bed when she awakened…was perhaps watching Pink beguile Billy while I lingered in the pale light near the doorway.

While this serene, scented chamber fascinated me, I knew better than to forget my wits while viewing the Sisters' resting place. The only light came from the flickering sandalwood candles in wall sconces at the rear of the room, and the dim glimmer of the white porcelain pedestals when they caught light from the hallway. My skin prickled and my pulse quickened; my head swam with a disorienting sense of claustrophobia like I'd seldom felt. Billy Tripplehorn and I, as mere mortals in this mysterious lair, were all but powerless here.

"What the hell kind of joke is this?" Billy muttered. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the gloom, he tensed with the wariness of a wild animal. "If you're trying to scare me, you can forget it. I don't believe in vampires."

Miss Pink giggled demurely. "Nice try, Mr. Tripplehorn. But your nipples are as hard as mine, and your denial sounds as false as the sense of security you're trying to create with it."

At that, she tweaked the slender straps of her negligee, until they drifted down her upper arms to reveal the two pert mounds that were indeed peaked with her desire.

"Isn't it fascinating, how the pulse races with danger-much like it runs rampant with desire? Come here and kiss me, Billy. You know you want to."

He turned on his heel to leave. "This is ridic-what have you gotten me into, Andrea?"

"Oh, don't be too hard on her," the hoyden behind him crooned. "Andrea knows more about the three of us than she cares to admit, and we've sworn her to secrecy. But it is her first time in this room-and she's in love-so she can't be held entirely responsible for your situation. Be gentle."

Like an animal trapped in a cage, Billy pivoted again. "You must be crazy, thinking I'd lay with women who sleep in caskets, in a crypt beneath the house! Why, this-"

"Ah, but you've already succumbed to us!" Pink reminded him with a shimmy that sent her gown slithering down her pale body. "Don't tell me you've already forgotten how Perfidia tied you to the chair and I straddled your lap. A lady hates to feel so…forgettable, Mr. Tripplehorn. We must work on your attitude while you're here."

"Don't count on it, bitch! I'm on my way out of-"

But Pink prevailed by slamming the door shut, using her power in a way that forced Billy to reassess. In his anger-and probably to reassure himself he wasn't alone with a bloodsucker in a closed tomb-he grabbed me by the arms. His eyes shone like polished stones as they searched mine in the darkness.

"Is this why you brought me here?" he demanded in a terse whisper. "To be the plaything of three demented women who act like vampires?"

"It's not an act, Billy," I breathed, cringing when his fingers bit into my flesh. "I couldn't let Judge Legg hang you for killing Lucy-"

"So you set me up with these three? Allowing Alex Moore to hide me here, when you were really preparing me as their next meal?" Billy looked ready to throw me to the floor, but the tremor in his voice belied a deep-seated fear for his life. "What kind of love is that?"

"The kind of love that comes of obeying powers greater than her own," Pink replied from behind him. "Leave her be, Tripplehorn. It's my turn with you now, and I don't intend to give you a moment with another woman! Not until I've bent you to my bidding and you're begging to climax. Again and again, as I will you to."

This got Billy's attention! His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. "But it's not dark yet. If you were truly a vampire, you'd have to remain in your casket-"

"Do you think I'd follow those silly rules?" Pink challenged. She flashed him a saucy smile then, becoming the redheaded coquette he'd met when he first came here. "They only apply upstairs, in the mortal world, you know. Down here, we do what we damn please whenever we feel like it! And I feel like a good fucking, Billy! Off with your clothes!"

Ordinarily, Tripplehorn wouldn't have to be asked twice. Yet as comprehension of his situation dawned, my handsome young stud realized he was in for worse consequences than if Lucy had snared him. With Pink standing before him, stretching her arms languidly above her head to better display her ripe little breasts and lissome body…a triangle of auburn curls that parted in invitation as she dipped a finger inside herself…he couldn't help but respond. That prodigious cock jutted out against the knit of his underwear until finally, despite his rational reservations, he had to yank down the cream-colored garment to free himself. His rapid breathing filled the chamber and his skin took on a sheen of heat.

"A fine start," cooed Pink, looking him over. But she smiled a little too haughtily, exposing her petite fangs when they caught the candlelight. "Now show me your best kissing, Billy-your best moves. And I'll show you mine."