Beneath the Shadows of Evil... Taken Read online

  Chapter Thirteen

  Mikhal paused outside his sister’s bedchamber. As he did, the sound of her weeping wormed its way into his heart. He knew he had to have a serious discussion with her about Alliana, but he also knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Marishka was his sweet pet. She was his darling baby sister, and the only other being on earth that was truly worthy of his admiration and love. There were others, like Lucian, whom he held in high esteem, and some, like dear old Enid whom he even had a fondness for, but Marishka was his life. She had been by his side as his Lady all these years, always encouraging him in his quests, cheering him on as he cast a red haze of terror across the countryside, and helping him achieve whatever his heart desired.

  She was his jewel, his pride, his darling love, and he felt no greater joy than when her eyes shone with a lust for life. He’d had to carefully cultivate the passion for existence back into her heart for many years before the sparkle he loved, had returned. It had taken everything he had to restore the laughing girl of long ago, and now he was loathe to hurt her. She’d suffered so very much during her existence, and now she was feeling displaced and abandoned because of his actions.

  If anyone else had caused such weeping and heartache in his darling love, they would have been tortured until there were no more screams left in their pitiful body. Their pain would have at least appeased hers, but that was not how it could be now. He had no pain to offer up as a sacrifice except for the agony the sound of her sobs caused him. His only hope was that Marishka would know that her heart wrenching cries caused him immeasurable suffering.

  Mikhal knew he simply couldn’t allow her to continue feeling like this. It was out of the question. He would not have her retreat from him and return to being the haunted shell of a woman she’d been during the terrible reign of their Sire. Every time he saw tears in her eyes reminded him of the countless nights she had suffered at his Master’s cruel hands. It drove a knife in his heart to see her unhappy. Whenever a look of sadness robbed the light from her smile, it reminded him of the girl from long ago with the huge dark eyes who had always pleaded for death. Things simply had to change. He couldn’t allow the tension between Marishka and Alliana to go on, for that could easily push Marishka over the edge, and into the sea of insanity.

  Mikhal raised his hand, ready to lift the latch and go to Marishka, when another voice inside him stopped him. This voice spoke of the other woman in his life. The one who was lying in his bed, scared and ill. The little bit of a woman with golden hair and fiery green eyes who carried his son inside her body. His mind flashed on her image again, this time as he had seen her last. She’d been so frail. Her cheeks had lost their bloom, and were now pale and almost translucent. The dark smudges under her eyes told of weariness and suffering. He also remembered how those very eyes had looked at him with such fear and loathing as she tried so valiantly to be strong. ‘What of Alliana?’ his mind whispered as he felt an unwanted twinge of affection for his mate. ‘What of Alliana?’

  Alliana was his wife and she was now in a fragile condition, therefore it was even more imperative that Marishka keep her hands to herself. Mikhal also knew the taunting had to be kept to a minimum as well. Alliana fought fire with fire when it came to his sister, and battles weren’t healthy for his son. There could be no more slaps and no more sharp barbs. He would have to walk a very fine line between appeasing his dear Marishka, and protecting the mother of his heir.

  Taking an unneeded breath to sustain him for the unpleasant argument he was sure was to come, Mikhal knocked on the chamber door and waited for Marishka’s reply. When none was forthcoming, Mikhal pushed open the door to try and mend the heart of his darling girl. Could it be done while also impressing upon her the need to leave his wife alone?

  Marishka was sprawled out on her bed face down in her rumpled ball gown, weeping as though her heart was shattered. Her arms were flung over her head, her body shaking with sobs, her hair a wild dark mass of tangles on the pillow. Mikhal’s heart constricted in his chest; he never could stand the sight of her tears. Never.

  He approached the distraught figure before him silently, and sat on the edge of the bed, then laid his hand on the small of her back, rubbing tiny circles, as he sought for the right words to soothe her aching heart.

  “Darling, it isn’t as bad as all that. You’re still my favorite girl.”

  Marishka didn’t reply. She had her Mikhal right where she wanted him, and planned to draw out her drama as long as she could. It served him right if her tears made him feel guilty. His actions had broken her heart. How dare he mate that little bitch? How dare he embarrass her like that before all the minions? And last but not least, how dare he throw her from the whore’s bedchamber as if the chit mattered? Let him suffer and dare to explain away his vile actions.

  “Marishka, please. Don’t you see that all this has been necessary? I did it for us. For our future.”

  Furious that he’d dare suggest such a thing, she turned on him, eyes flashing, face contorted in rage. “For us? How could you say that to me? You had no need to mate her, Mikhal. No need at all. You did it to spoil my fun and to embarrass me. You did it to cause me shame! You did it because you’re a despicable, evil, beast that cares not for my feelings. I am the Lady of this castle, and I am the one whom everyone is supposed to love and pay homage to, now that bitch can strut around with your mark on her neck as sweet as she pleases and no one can touch her, including me.”

  Mikhal reached for Marishka, but she rolled out of his reach and hissed at him, not at all ready to be pacified by his arms. “Come now, love, it isn’t that way at all. I did it for my son and for us. Her being my mate doesn’t change the fact that you are the true Lady of this castle. Everyone knows that. We are vampires, sister dear. Do you honestly think the minions are going to honor and respect her? Besides, she hasn’t a clue what I did to her so she can hardly try to lord it over you. Your position is safe, Darling.”

  “She should be like all the other lowly humans. One and all should be able to torment her and beat her as we please.”

  “My son is in her belly.”

  “It is more than that, you fool! You said she was to be your new toy Mikhal, not your life’s mate. Don’t you know what you’ve done? Toys are played with, toys are used, toys are exploited then tossed away like the rubbish they are; mates, are not. You lied to me, Mikhal, and you’re lying to yourself.”

  “No.”

  “Prove it. Throw her to the minions and find a new whelping bitch to sire your heir.”

  The thought of his minions cornering Alliana in some dark corridor and laying their filthy hands upon her enraged Mikhal to no end, she was his. That was not what he had in mind for his bride. No one would ever touch her tender flesh or see her luscious body. She belonged to him.

  “She’s special, Marishka. She’s the Golden...”

  Sensing his true thoughts, Marishka flew into a rage, letting out a shriek that cut him off. She came at him, claws bared, and laid open four bloody scratches on his cheek before Mikhal could stop her. Turning, allowing her beast to emerge, her amber eyes flashed and her tongue came out at the sight of his fresh blood. She snarled fiercely, heart breaking, passion and anger roiling deep inside her as Mikhal caught her hands and struggled to stop her assault. Spitting, shrieking, a blur of talons and fangs, she fought him like the mad woman she was, but Mikhal wrestled her onto the bed, straddling her twisting furious form, and pinning her hands over her head.

  “Stop it, Marishka. There is no need for this.” Mikhal’s blood flowed freely down his torn cheek, dotting the tops of her straining breasts with crimson droplets as her eyes filled with bloodlust. She rose up under him, grinding her pelvis between his splayed thighs, trying to invoke his lust. Mikhal’s grip tightened on her wrists as his jaw clenched with a fury that matched her own, but Marishka ignored his rage and thrust up against him again. She would drive all thoughts of his little Gypsy whore from his mind one way or another.

 
Feeling her body writhe beneath him, seeing her unconcealed passion but feeling none of the old stirring in his loins, Mikhal was faced with a new dilemma. Once there had been a burning lust within him for the beauty that was his sister, but now there was nothing but revulsion at the thought of bedding her. His body longed for the soft, warm, and pliant creature that lay down the hall, not the cold spitting woman who lay eagerly upon the bed. How was he to rebuke her and not shatter her heart?

  Mikhal sat up straight and rose to his knees, trying to avoid Marishka’s rising hips, but the woman would have none of it. She rose up, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him down and drawing her tongue slowly across his tattered cheek, lapping up his blood then purring in his ear as her hand stroked his back and buttocks.

  “It’s been far too long, my Mikhal. Come to me now and show me I still have your heart. Forget her and love me. Prove the mating bite means nothing to you.”

  Mikhal lifted Marishka’s slight body and turned her so she was cradled in his lap as he knelt on the bed. Marishka, thinking he was going to comply with her wishes, pulled his head down for a kiss, but Mikhal turned his head and spilled her from his lap, reaching back to untangle her arms from his neck. He’d had enough, and her persistence was revolting him.

  Marishka rose on her knees as she spun to face him, and made to fly at him again but Mikhal shoved her back, rougher than he intended. “Stop it Darling, please. I am not going to take you to bed.”

  “Because of her!”

  “Marishka, I’m tired, and yes I’m concerned about Alliana, but only because she carries my son. I need to return to her chambers so that I may check on her condition.”

  “Liar!”

  A low growl of barely suppressed rage rumbled deep in Mikhal’s chest. Her stubbornness and refusal to accept how things must be was pushing him to his limit. “Stop it, Marishka. I’ve made my decision and I won’t discuss it further.”

  “Was she that good in bed, Mikhal? Did her mewling little virgin body please you so very much? Can she do the things I do for you? Does she even have any idea how?”

  Mikhal turned away, thinking of the differences between the two women and knowing which one he preferred without a doubt.

  “I know every inch of you. I know exactly how to give you exquisite pleasure. I am the one who knows the dark games you like to play. I am the one who allows you to take me in every degrading way imaginable, and I am the one who makes you scream every time I touch you. Me, Mikhal, ME! And do you know why, dear brother? DO YOU KNOW WHY? It’s because of what he did to me! Because our Sire trained me so well; all those nights of agony at his hands turned me into what I am today, and for years you have reaped the pleasures in my bed. That, my love, is why I’m your perfect little whore, so don’t you dare come in here and tell me you don’t want me anymore. Don’t you dare! “

  Mikhal was devastated by her words. Even though he knew she received as much pleasure as he did when they coupled, it hurt him that she might think he'd been using her. Guilt joined with the anger inside him, confusing him. To be reminded of how her innocence had been stripped from her still cut him deeply, and what she said about him being the one who benefited from her past horror struck a cord of truth deep in his heart.

  “That’s enough, Marishka. Please try to understand.” He had to make her listen without exposing the truth. The fact was Alliana’s warm body and her natural response had done everything and more to satisfy his lust. Her unbridled passion had shocked him last night. Nothing had been calculated, nothing planned. She hadn’t even been trying to please him, but still she had managed to stir him in ways he’d never felt before. He hadn’t wanted dark games with his wife. Her natural response and fire had been more than enough. Unfortunately, he couldn’t reveal that truth to Marishka.

  “Understand? Understand! How am I supposed to understand when your words say she means nothing, but your actions show me your word is nothing but lies? I know that she has bewitched you brother dear, and I will make her pay for coming between us.”

  Her tirade pushed him over the edge. Mikhal had had enough of her rants. Where once he had seen a loving, beautiful woman, he now saw a jealous, vengeful shrew. “You know you can’t touch her now, Marishka, and even if you could, I would hope my request to leave her alone would be enough to stop your quest for violence against my wife.”

  “I may not be able to harm her now, but others can and will do my bidding. As you said, dear brother, I am the true Lady of this castle, and I assure you that I shall not stop until she pays for stealing you away.”

  “You threaten me, sister?”

  “No Mikhal, I threaten your Gypsy whore. Tell her to stay out of my way if she wishes to live. Perhaps you should lock her away for the safety of your son.” His rejection had driven all reason from her brain and her eyes were shaded by only a jealous rage. Nothing mattered but getting rid of the bitch that had come between her and Mikhal.

  Mikhal advanced on her and grabbed Marishka’s upper arms, shaking her violently until her teeth chattered in her skull. “Don’t ever dare to threaten my wife again. As much as I love you, Marishka, and I do love you dearly, I will not allow you to hurt her or my son. He is my future and he grows inside her body. You would do well to remember that and heed my warnings.”

  “How, Mikhal? How can you even suggest you’d harm me because of her? I am your sister, your lover; I have stood by your side for over a hundred years. Where is the loyalty I am owed?”

  “I owe you nothing if you dare to harm my mate.” The pure look of anguish on Marishka’s face softened Mikhal’s heart just a bit, and he pulled her to him, trying to soothe her and make her understand once more. “Please love, I’m doing this for us so we may live out eternity with my son who will be the most powerful being on earth. You will want for nothing dear heart, and she will be a thing long past.”

  “I wanted for nothing until she entered these walls. Now I want for everything.”

  “Darling, I beg of you, don’t think like that; everything is still yours, love. Everything and anything.”

  “Are you? Show me your love, Mikhal. Show me.” She once more pulled his lips down to hers in a burning kiss that left Mikhal cold. After submitting for a moment, he thrust her away, sickened by her icy touch. Marishka, stunned and hurt, ran to the bed and flung herself face first upon it, resuming her earlier pose of mourning, her sobs ringing out through the chamber.

  “Marishka...”

  “Get out! Get out!”

  “Very well, my dear. I do love you, Pet.”

  “I said, get out. You’ve broken my heart, Mikhal. I shall never forgive you.”

  “I suspect you will in time, Kitten. Perhaps a new plaything will help.”

  “I want nothing but that whore’s head upon a platter.”

  “Touch one hair on said head, and you will live to regret it, dear sister.” That said Mikhal slammed out of the chamber, storming down the corridor for parts unknown, dragging his hand back through his hair in frustration and anger, his thoughts in a whirl. Women! What was he to do with them?

  Andor watched as his Master walked away. He had been listening to every word of their argument outside the partially opened chamber door, and he was furious. How dare Mikhal the Merciless hurt Marishka like that? He may be the Master vampire, but it gave him no right to trample the feelings of the Lady who ruled the castle as well. It was his opinion that his Master had gone too far when he made the Gypsy bitch his mate, and he intended to put things right. No more would his Marishka suffer at her brother’s hands, he would see to that. All he needed was a little help.

  Andor cautiously approached the bed where his weeping Mistress lay. He desperately wanted to do everything in his power to make her happy again, but he knew he had to be careful. One wrong move and Marishka could easily slay him in a fit of rage. She was all fire and fury, his Dark Mistress of the Night, and he loved her for it.

  His darling Lady was so deliciously evil and powerful, so ve
ry decadent, that tingles of fear and passion coursed through him whenever he thought of her. She’d tortured him in the past on many a night as they played their wicked bedroom games, and Andor knew she had a taste for his pain. Right now she was the one in agony, and she could very well turn that agony on him until he was nothing but a pool of blood sprinkled with a bit dust upon the floor at the least little provocation.

  The sight of her enduring so much torment stirred a hot ball of rage deep within him. What right did Mikhal the Merciless have making her so miserable? Marishka was as much Queen of their clan as her brother was the King, yet he had thrown her aside for a Gypsy whore.

  Anger such as he had never known had coursed through him at the sight of the mating mark on the bitch’s throat. She deserved to be violated by each and every minion in the castle, not coddled and mated. She needed to be tortured until there was no skin left on her pitiful body, and to be tossed into the depths of the darkest dungeons to be fed upon by the rats, but Andor knew that would never happen as long as his Master ruled them. Right now the hateful wench lay all snug in a warm bed, claiming Mikhal the Merciless as her own, and there she would stay until someone took action. Andor vowed he would be the one to take that action. Some way, some how, the Gypsy bitch would be made to suffer for what she’d done to his Mistress.

  Andor approached the weeping Marishka on silent feet, frightened by the fury he knew was churning in her breast, but determined to help her heal. "My Lady, do not weep. I'm here. I shall make it all better."

  Marishka turned on the bed, facing him, eyes shining with tears. Her heart was truly breaking over her brother’s rejection of her. They were not the tears of mere theatrics, no; these tears came from deep within. Mikhal had been her very life for so long, and now he didn't want her anymore. Without his love she was nothing. Her Sire had torn away every last shred of self-esteem inside her and Mikhal had been the one to make her believe in herself again. Well now he didn’t want her, so what use was she? She might as well cease to exist if her darling didn’t love her anymore.