Perfidia's question echoed in the narrow stairway, more a threat than an invitation. Going my way, indeed! She left us no choice, for her menacing presence prevented us from pushing past her into the house, and there was no other way out of this subterranean lair.
We were at her mercy.
"Are you afraid of me?" she mocked. Again she sipped on her cigarette, her eyes flaring a feral green as she blew the smoke from her nostrils like the deadly dragon she was. She awaited our reply as though she had an eternity to hear it-for she did.
I let out an exasperated, tired sigh. "Look, I'm sorry we woke you up, but it was Pink's idea-"
"Pink schmink," the vampire muttered. Her pale gown flowed over her body like sparkling champagne as she shifted suggestively, giving Billy a direct shot of her parted thighs. Even in the corridor's dimness, her vee of curls was visible through the sheer gown, and the air around us became redolent with the scent of her wet sex. "Playtime is over. Now that Pink has warmed you up, it's time Mr. Tripplehorn learned the discipline for becoming your lover, Andrea. You will follow me. We will begin at once."
"I don't know what your game is here," Billy retorted, his brown eyes flashing, "but I want no part of-"
"Game? You think the continuation of your existence is a mere parlor trick to us?" Faster than we could fathom, Perfidia pinned him to the wall by sticking the end of her cigarette holder against his windpipe. "And if you think for one minute you have any control over what happens here, you're even denser than I anticipated."
Her nasty little tsk, tsk whispered doom in the gloomy passageway as Billy and I held our breath. "Could be you'll require more than the usual harnessing and whipping," she mused aloud. "I hope this muscled body of yours will fit into my cage, Billy, because I'm sure your ego will require some shrinking-"
"You will NOT be locking him into your infernal-"
Perfidia didn't even touch me with the finger she pointed to shut me up. The sheer malevolence flickering in her gaze shot through her digit, stifling my outburst-suggesting she had a lesson of control and humiliation in mind for me, as well.
"You've come to a crossroads in your sheltered life, my dear Andrea," she said in a coiled voice. "A young woman ready to take on a lover-believing she's entitled to a life outside these walls-is old enough to know the truth about who she is and why she's alive. For all your intelligence, you've remained blissfully ignorant for far too long.
"So you'll be coming with me now," she continued with Billy, her lips curling with her subtle turn of phrase. "Coming only when I allow you to, and every time I command it. A lesson every lover should learn-and I'm just the woman to teach it."
My mind reeled with the questions I'd avoided since my childhood in the Sisters' orphanage, for I'd never needed to know the details of my birth. I tried to hang back, tried to stall for time and perhaps the diversion Perfidia's blond slaves or Cerise could provide, but the vampire turned. Her power pulled us up the stairs without allowing our feet to touch the rough stones, let alone allowing us to protest or reason with her. I tried to catch Billy's eye-to signal my apology or warn him silently of the dangerous situation that might await us-but his gaze was locked on the alluring curve of this mistress's backside.
Control, indeed. An illusion mere mortals dared not trust while in the presence of Pink, Pandora, and especially Perfidia; a concept that took on deadly meanings while dealing with the undead. I could only ascend behind her, sensing her revelations would leave me scarred and smarting long after I left this powerful house. I wondered if Billy would even have me, after the way I'd brought him here under false pretenses, and then watched helplessly as the Three P's caught him in their thrall.
Perfidia topped the stairs, which would bring us into the back corner of the pantry on the main floor. She reached for the doorknob-a formality for those of us who couldn't spirit ourselves through the polished panel of wood-but the door flew open with the force of a hurricane. There stood Pandora, looking lush and alluring in her fitted gown of black lace, yet her expression bespoke a warning I knew better than to ignore.
"I'll take over from here," she stated quietly. Although we were inside the house, her lace skirt shifted with the wind of her displeasure.
"I don't think so," Perfidia retorted, standing taller and sleeker in the face of this unexpected opposition. "We have always agreed that when Andrea found a man, we would transform him into a lover like no other, and I'm taking my turn."
"You're taking revenge," Pandora countered, "and in your unrested, unfed state, that becomes dangerous fare. Revenge is a dish best eaten cold."
The straw-blonde temptress tossed her head as though to step into the kitchen. "Andrea needs to know who her-"
"Andrea needs to know nothing but the love of a man who adores her."
The black-haired beauty gripped Perfidia's forearms, while all around us the air filled with little whirlwinds of an approaching storm. Pandora's raven hair rose around her face in coils like snakes, ready to strike whomever challenged her authority. In all my years, I'd never seen this witchy woman pull rank on her companions, but as the oldest and most powerful force among them, she demanded the compliance of her two sisters with a wicked strength that set them in their place.
I swallowed hard. If Perfidia's intentions had invoked Pandora's wrath on such a grand scale, then surely the secrets about to be revealed were the sort I could do without knowing. I had enough troubles, just trying to keep Billy out of the Magistrate's way until I could prove he hadn't killed Lucy. The currents of Pandora's personal whirlwind made me think Miss Legg's murder was an insignificant matter indeed, compared to whatever her paler partner wanted me to know.
"Go back to bed, Perfidia. Don't make me tell you twice."
The scorned blonde pivoted in place to flash her fangs at us-and then vaporized, like the effervescence of the champagne she resembled. The hissssss of her disappearance left no doubt in my mind that she'd be back, however, and that she'd take matters into her own unhallowed hands at a time when she could do me the most harm. I had never trusted or even liked Perfidia the way I'd taken to the other two ladies. I got that goose-bumpy feeling of being buried alive-lost beyond the reaches of even Pandora-as the atmosphere surrounding us settled down again.
"I'm sorry you two had to witness that," the lace-clad lady before us murmured. "At times like this, my powers bring me only sadness and regret."
Billy shifted beside me, as though he wondered if Pandora had nasty plans for him, as well. "So you really are…vampires?"
"Oh yes, Billy, make no mistake about who you're beholden to," she replied, her smile more toothy than usual. "And because you've discovered who we are, Perfidia's hackles are up. She's trying to protect us, to be sure-we haven't survived all these centuries by flaunting ourselves foolishly, you see."
Pandora stepped back to allow us entry, her expression waxing pensive. "Our omniscience weighs heavily upon us at times," she reflected. "Perfidia's past is perhaps more…pertinent to your situation than mine or Pink's, but that doesn't mean I'll let her ruin your future on a whim. With a flick of my little finger I can make the whole orphanage disappear, along with the children and the memories of those who abandoned them here. It will be as though we never existed, out here beyond Redemption."
What a mind-boggling concept! "And what will happen to you-to us-really?" I asked, reaching for the comfort of Billy's hand.
Pandora shrugged, causing her ample breasts to almost overflow the low, lacy bodice of her black gown. "We'll take up in a new place, with a new purpose. After a century or two, any town-and any reason to be there-can lose its charm."
Her obsidian gaze enveloped Billy's bare body as she said this, while one thin strap of her gown drifted coyly down her pale arm. With her raven hair falling about her shoulders, mussed and lovely, and her lips of devil red lifting into a bow-shaped smile, Pandora allowed her allure to settle over us. Such a temptress she was! Her lush breasts bulged slightly with her every breath as she pondered her options.
"Billy, my sweet," she murmured, widening her eyes to swallow him whole with her subtle power, "you are about to become the lover every female on earth secretly craves-a partner whose sole mission is to please his woman again and again. Miss Pink proved your prowess with that big dick, but I'll teach you to drive Andrea wild without it!"
With a puckish wink, she made Billy's member shrivel and cling to his body as though it feared being seen.
"What the-? How am I supposed to-?" Tripplehorn scooped his pitiful pecker into his palm to protect it, or perhaps to resuscitate it. "I don't know how you expect me to-"
"Ah, you see the crux of it now," the vampire crooned, and she turned to lead us through the back of the house. "It's never occurred to you, I know, but most women are expected to oblige their men under very similar circumstances-being taken when they're not the least bit interested, or before they've been properly aroused. Never forget this, Billy: every woman wants to be seduced. And there's no such thing as too much foreplay."
An impatient snort escaped him as we approached the back stairs. "So how am I supposed to seduce Andrea, when you've tied my cock in a knot?"
"See there? So focused on your own organ-your own needs-that you have no concept of ours." Pandora turned to us again, at the foot of the steps leading to the second-floor bedrooms. Her black lace gown slithered down her sleek form, rendering her as naked as we were yet oh, so much more irresistible! "Most men can only fantasize about fucking two beautiful women at once, so pay attention! You're about to live your wildest dreams!"
Before another heartbeat went by, she dipped her head and extended her tongue. My breath escaped me as the rough, pink tip of it shocked my nipple into jutting out for more-a ripe, aching berry to be plucked by those pearly incisors. While I was no stranger to female flirtation, I felt myself slipping into Pandora's thrall as surely as Billy already had. I moaned with need, falling against the wall to allow the vamp her way while Tripplehorn's hungry eyes feasted on us. My heart was pounding with the possibility that she might feed upon me, sipping slowly through each tiny puncture. Yet this thought only made me want her more.
Pandora smiled, letting her fingertips drift along the sensitive skin at my sides. I laughed with nervous need, thrusting my breasts into her face as my fingers found the warm scalp beneath her midnight hair. "Please-I-"
"See there?" the vampire challenged our observer. "Not a cock in sight, and Andrea's so wet and ready she'll explode with the slightest touch. If you're a good student-if you think you're deserving-I'll let you do the honors."
Mesmerized by the sight of her lips laving my breast, Billy stepped forward with his hand extended. My thighs parted of their own accord. I felt caught up in the undercurrents of Pandora's power, helpless against whatever seductive weapons she'd wield. Yet I'd never felt my own strength more keenly. Tripplehorn teased at the curls above my cunt as though caught up in the novelty of such adornment. When I raised my foot to the second step, opening myself, two inquisitive fingers accepted the invitation.
My wanton moan echoed in the stairwell. With my head bumping back against the wall and my hips thrusting forward, begging for more, I'd become a hungry target for their attentions-ravenous for all the passion they could serve up. Pandora suckled, drawing my nipple between her lethal teeth until my blood thrummed. Billy, meanwhile, watched in awe as the touch of his finger pads nearly sent me to the ceiling. He'd barely parted my nether lips before the warm wetness began oozing out of me.
"Can you smell her heat? Her need?" Pandora whispered. Her breath fell warm on my breasts, making them pucker with goose bumps. "Can you feel the excitement mounting inside her now? Stroke her slickness, Billy. Kneel between her knees, to see what you've only thrust at in the darkness before."
His smile made me weak. Not only did he kneel, he let his tongue linger on my skin all the way from my breast along the my side until the curve of my hip drew him inward. With a lusty chuckle he thumbed my lips open, and then parted them wider, inhaling me.
"So warm and wanting," he murmured. "I can see the pulse making her hole quiver. Makes me want to stick my cock-"
"Too bad you don't have one," Pandora chided lightly. With a swish of her hips, she shoved him aside. "And until you learn to put Andrea first, I get her all to myself. You just get to watch. And wish for it."
With that, the beguiling vampire crouched between my legs and parted them farther. As if I weren't feeling open and exposed enough, she then caught the inner ridge of my curls between her fingers and tugged at my lips. She sucked air, anticipating. And then, with a restraint that made me want to thrust against her face, craving her touch, she circled the sensitive, slick skin with just the tip of her tongue.
I bucked, crying out. My fingers again found her head, urging it forward, but Pandora was a woman of iron will and she'd been this sort of a tease for centuries: I was no match for all the ways she knew to drive me insane while appearing to remain utterly collected herself. Slowly--ever so lightly!-she lapped at my inner folds, occasionally gazing up to gauge her effect.
My eyes met hers and a surge of raw passion struck like lightning. I writhed, wishing to evade the purposeful invasion of her tongue-the inevitable baring of my very soul as I begged for more, for completion. Yet I was powerless in her grasp, there against the wall of the house that was hers in every way. I was panting. My hips and thighs strained against her fingers as the heat spiraled inside me.
Then Pandora backed away. The mere inches between her face and my aching flesh made me feel suddenly bereft, suddenly desperate. When she lifted my leg higher, so my foot rested on the next step up, I wondered if I'd be so stiff when she finished that I'd never walk again.
Yet taking flight makes walking so inconsequential: extending her tongue into a dainty yet wicked pink tip, Pandora advanced toward my open hole with excruciating slowness. I wiggled against her relentless hands, squirming with need and anticipation like I'd never known. And before she so much as touched my clit with that brazen, curled tongue of hers, I was howling with my climax. Like a Banshee I wailed, and when that wayward vampire finally made the lightest of contact, I lost all control of myself.
Billy dove in then, and for the next tortured moments they were both lapping at me, running their hands over my bare body-to keep me earthbound, no doubt. Two mouths teased the ticklish skin of my thighs; two tongues dueled for the honor of tasting my nectar. Two dusky heads bobbed between my legs until Tripplehorn caught Pandora in a deep kiss that spread my wetness over both their faces.
A sly laugh made me open my eyes in time to see Billy sprawling backwards, to land on the floor in an ungraceful splay of arms and legs.
"Sorry, sweetheart," the vamp teased. "Andrea's got me hot enough to boil over, so you'll just have to observe while I sate myself. I'm going to hump her like a bitch in heat, Billy. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it."
With that inexplicable speed that defies the eye, Pandora mounted my thigh-the one that supported me from the floor. She deftly parted her own sex lips, until I felt her wetness against my skin, and then she rubbed against me. Stealthy fingers slipped up my cunt, and I had to clutch her to keep from losing my balance. Quickly, madly, slickly she rode out her desires, her breath escaping in little gasps as her eyes closed with impending need. As she palmed and prodded me, I felt another quake in the making, and together we breathed the siren song only two women of like mind can sing.
And sing we did, until we had Billy groaning for release, as well. I remained in a sated haze, barely able to notice that he still had no cock, to speak of.
"Dammit," he snapped, groping at his balls and the fat nub that refused to grow hard. "This isn't funny, Pandora! You know how badly I want to satisfy Andrea, yet-"
"You may lick us both clean now," she replied demurely. "Then I'll decide if you're deserving of her."
Defiance flashed in Billy's dark eyes but he bit back a retort. He was learning! And he was wise enough to service Pandora first, after choosing between the two pusses that gaped at him from a couple steps above. I have to say it gave me a surge, watching that handsome young man take a lesson from a mistress who always called the shots. Her sigh at the first touch of Tripplehorn's tongue made me long for him, yet it was obvious I, too, would have to wait my turn. As the raven-haired vamp fell back against the wall, she opened to him and began to pant and moan, thrusting her lush hips against his whiskey-colored skin.
"Yes…oh yes, Billy," her sibilant whispers echoed in the stairwell. "Tickle me with your tongue! Tease my clit with just the tip of it-like that! Oh God, yes!"
Spurred on by her lavish praise, Billy pulled back so the touch of his tongue would remain a quick flicker. His hands, so large and powerful and dark, made an edgy contrast to Pandora's pale thighs. He lapped eagerly at her wetness, even as we all realized he was only creating more-even as we all knew he had become addicted to her taste and the pungent perfume that wafted around us in the dim hall. No doubt he was caught up in the spell the wily vampire had cast, but from where I stood, close enough to feel their shimmering heat, I could tell Tripplehorn was as captivated as any man would be by such an provocative woman.
Pandora's hips quivered. Her eyes closed and her jaw went slack with abandonment to the pleasure delivered by her young lover. What a sight she was, with her round, pale breasts swaying beneath the cascade of midnight hair that fell over her shoulders…with stomach muscles that tensed and thighs that tightened every time they felt the spiraling of new need. She was so lovely-more beautiful than I could ever hope to be, although painted with a palette too pale for mere mortals. Ethereal, that was the word for her. Ethereal and impassioned.
And yet my envy was nothing compared to my lust. Lord, how I wanted Billy to be lapping at my sex! How I wanted him to sigh over me with the same eager hunger I heard in his breathy exclamations. Could he feel the way Pandora faded in and out now, fully fleshed one minute and then appearing as a body composed of separated, transparent cells the next?
Her whimpers escalated. Then her cry reverberated in the stairwell, and Pandora gave herself over to her orgasm. She was slapping the wall, gasping for breath, yet one lovely hand slipped into Billy's thick hair to hold his head in place. On and on she went-or came, as it were-until the rivulets of juice shone like rivers in the moonlight, flowing down her thighs to drip on the wooden stairs.
I had the distinct impression her pleasure could've gone on into eternity, had she not opened her eyes. My expression must've reminded her that her student had other lessons to learn, and that it was my own sexual welfare we were working toward. Batting her lashes as though to clear away a fog of pleasure we mortals could only imagine, Pandora disengaged. With a final sigh, she gently cupped Billy's jaw and eased him away from a puss that glistened, pink and slick, in the dimness.
"You were wonderful," she murmured. Then she leaned down to sample her own essence by kissing Tripplehorn firmly on the lips. "Now work your magic on Andrea. Poor thing's about to die of desperation."
Indeed, I wanted Billy-needed him-more than I ever had. And as though the vampire knew my desires even before I could, she used her mercurial powers to whisk us up the stairs and into my room. I landed on my bed, sprawling and open to the young man I'd fallen for so quickly. And just as my lover realized we'd been spirited through space by our ebony-haired seductress, he found himself growing rock hard. How gratifying, to watch his arousal overtake him as he approached me…even if I had to believe he was still inflamed from lapping at Pandora.
And yet, as he clambered onto the bed to straddle me, it was me he gazed at with those dusky eyes-me he was crooning to while his hands found the curves of my breasts. When it occurred to me that he'd already serviced two insatiable women yet was now eager to fulfill my wildest fantasies, I realized we were in the middle of a miracle: the Three P's created their share of mischief and misfortune, but I couldn't deny that their powers intensified pleasure, as well.
If Billy and I were still caught up in their thrall-puppets merely living out their twisted wills-then so be it! At this moment, I felt so strong and sensuous, I would've invited the bite that would propel me into eternity. If it meant my lover accompanied me into forever with this enraptured look upon his face, I would've surrendered to any of the Sisters.
"I want to please you, Andrea," Tripplehorn whispered, his hands working their magic all over my bare body. "Tell me what'll make you fly, pretty princess, and your wish is my command."
Pretty princess? I couldn't imagine this rebellious young man addressing even Miss Lucy this way, yet he sounded totally sincere-as though I were the only woman he'd ever wanted! And the answer was easy, after watching Pink and Pandora put him through their paces. That cock had hardened to the impressive length which had gotten me into this situation in the first place, and he was rocking against me so it rustled the coarse curls above my cunt.
"I want you so much," was all I could manage to murmur, for my heart welled up into my throat. All my life I'd waited for a man to want me this way-as though it were his sole mission to satisfy me. "Make love to me, Billy-but no, that doesn't half describe what I want from you! Just fuck me, high and hard, like it's the last thing either of us will ever do!"
Where that thought came from, I didn't know-unless I subconsciously suspected this might be our last act. Was that Perfidia fluttering above us, making the flame of the bedside candle flicker ominously?
I refused to let her ruin the finest moment of my life. As Billy drew an enticing circle inside my inner lips with the tip of his dick, my body arched up of its own accord to lure him inside. Together we thrust, and together we let out a wanton sigh that quivered in the air around us. His cock filled me so full I could feel it throbbing inside the tight walls of my pussy, driving me wild without any effort whatsoever.
My muscles clenched, sucking him deeper. A grimace flickered across his handsome face and his eyes closed with the concentration it took to keep him from shooting too soon. Slowly, gingerly, he shifted up and in, his hands at my waist as he balanced on my parted thighs. I thought my clitoris might explode from the glorious, perfect pressure of his weight leaning into it.
With a groan I curled upward, unable to remain patient. "Go after it, Billy!" I rasped. "I don't care what they tried to teach you about control! I just want us to lose it!"
He responded with a low moan, leaning into me with that hot, hardened body. Spirals of need shot up from my core until I saw starbursts of red and yellow behind my eyelids. I was already humping up to meet him like a shameless hussy, answering thrust for thrust as our bodies sped toward release. The bed began to shake as though possessed by demons…or by vampires spying on us. Never had I felt such a burning, such a deep-seated aching aimed toward a pinnacle of pleasure like I'd never imagined.
"Let go, Andrea."
Billy's whispered command made my eyes fly open, to meet an obsidian gaze in a face transformed by passion. Did I dare believe I saw love there, as well?
"Let go, so I can fly with you," he continued, his body urging mine into a frenzy of need. "We'll soar up and away, beyond these walls-beyond Redemption and the forces that would hold us prisoner here."
My mind wondered if Pink was planting such thoughts in that head framed by a dark riot of waves, but my body was too far gone to care. I surged, unable to resist the rubbing of his cock against my clit. My muscles and nerves tied into knots and I wrapped my arms and legs around him as I cried out in mindless ecstasy. On and on it went, that relentless pulse of pleasure, until I wondered if I'd pass out from the intensity of it.
Apparently we both did.
When I shuddered awake, Billy still lay where he'd collapsed upon me, pinning me beneath his warm, solid weight. I had a feeling hours had gone by, yet the pungent scent of sex and the stickiness between our bodies suggested mere minutes had passed instead. The bed had stopped rocking and the room had resumed its usual cool, quiet silence.
But I felt vibrations that belonged to an interloper.
Silly me, to fall into the fantasies Billy had planted with his words of love-if indeed he'd even realized he was saying them. Only a fool would forget that forces beyond our understanding were at work in this house, giving a semblance of sweet freedom while wrapping us in the invisible chains of a darker purpose.
And yes, as I blinked to clear my vision, it was the filmy likeness of Perfidia that materialized near the ceiling. She floated above the bed, gazing down at us with a wicked intent that shone clearer as more of her molecules came into place. Her gown was the color of blood, translucent enough to reveal her nudity and of a gossamer texture that rippled like angels' wings.
But this was no angel.
The vampire's thin lips pursed around her cigarette holder, and she exhaled slowly through her nose. Then she chuckled, a mirthless sound of power that awoke Billy.
"What the f--"
"Shhh!" I warned, hoping my eyes conveyed the seriousness of our situation. Try as I might, I couldn't detect the presence of Pandora or Pink.
"They've gone into town," the vixen whispered. She didn't need to add that she'd arranged some trumped-up errand so she could take her turn at us: it was written all over her slender, malevolent face.
With a sweep of her hand, Perfidia produced a stream of rectangular cards that were landing in formation against the wall beside my bed. Only the vampire's black magic held them in place as they appeared in order, from the first card in the center to the tenth one that predicted the outcome, and then the ten that covered these in descending order to end at the center again: a covered Celtic cross. How they stayed in place, quivering a fraction of an inch from the wall, was something I knew better than to ask about.
These were Pandora's new tarot cards! I'd never known Perfidia to take an interest in foretelling the future-she'd always scoffed at the notion of Fate, or anyone's ability to chart and interpret it. As the colorful spread laid itself out, arranged by invisible fingers, I knew without looking that these were the very cards Pandora had dealt downstairs as this whole unfortunate affair with Billy Tripplehorn began to unfold.
My lover squirmed, yet his grimace told me he, too, was being held in place by a force far stronger than he was. "I don't know what the hell you think you're-"
"That's right-you don't know!" the vampire snapped, making him curl protectively against me. "You took your turn spouting pretty words to Andrea-such stupidity, to raise her hopes of escaping! So now I'll do the talking, Mr. Tripplehorn."
She focused on me then, her face alight with an evil shine. "Pandora might've dealt this spread, but it is I-the Queen of Swords-who sits in the top position," she intoned, pointing at the card. "Just as it is I who has always ruled your future…by creating your past."
I had no idea what she meant. But my heart trembled with a sickening sense that I was about to find out.