Compelled Read online

  COMPELLED

  By Carla Krae

  Published by Carla Krae at Smashwords.

  Copyright 2011 Carla Krae

  First Edition

  Cover art by Dara England.

  The right of Carla Krae to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All characters in this publication are purely fictitious and any resemblance to real persons--living or dead--is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written consent of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to the vendor and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Previously…

  Why had this happened to me? Had I not been faithful and obedient? My brothers died and went to Heaven, yet I was denied. Why must I bear this curse…what purpose lay before me?

  “Adamo, I am four hundred years old. Whatever you are planning, you will not get away with it,” Juliet said.

  “I do not have plans. On the contrary, I am lost.”

  “You would rather have died with the others?”

  “Yes. It would be the natural order of things.”

  “Perhaps I will tire of you and give you your wish, Adamo. We do not grow old, but we are not invincible.”

  A seed of hope grew in my heart. I would do my best to bore this creature.

  COMPELLED

  So many scents and sounds bombarded my senses on the journey. Cypress trees, olive groves, vineyards and wheat fields. Though the curtains were down—and I was afraid to touch them without the woman telling me to—an overwhelming amount of information came to my ears and nose through the thin walls. It was probably fifteen years ago, at least, since I’d been on the roads, so with no idea where we were going, I could only guess by the scents of the countryside flora. I longed to see Italy again and cursed the stupid curtains.

  Her eyes were closed, but somehow I knew she still observed me. “Like a newborn, aren’t you?”

  “Pardon?”

  “I forgot what it is like to be new. Like a puppy.” She set her hand on my shoulder and squeezed a pressure point, making me near-curl off the bench from the pain. “I don’t like dogs.”

  “Please…”

  “Nose to the ground, dog.” She kept applying pressure until I was bent double, then I felt her shoe on the back of my neck. “Stay.”

  She could stomp my head off my shoulders if she wanted. I felt as sure of it as there were four seasons and twenty-four hours in a day. Fear chilled me to the bone. For the first time in my existence, I didn’t know if I would survive the next minutes or hours…but it was what I wanted, right? To end this?

  No…not exactly like this. I no longer had certainty in the fate of my soul, but dying in this position would not weight the scales in my favor.

  In a burst of energy, I pushed off my hands, knocking her leg aside and pouncing on her faster than I could have imagined. I wrapped my hands around her throat and she—

  Laughed.

  Laughed!

  “So there is a backbone in you!” Faster than I moved, she rolled our bodies. “But I prefer being on top.” Like the viper I’d thought her to be, she struck at my neck.

  Her speed was too much for me. She bit deep and shook her head, mangling the soft tissue and causing the most intense, burning pain of my life.

  You did it. She is going to kill you. Make your peace.

  Blood flowed into the carpet of the carriage. My vision went black.

  I welcomed oblivion.

  “Juliet,” one of the men barked. So that was her name.

  She growled, but froze. The carriage had stopped.

  “My lady…if you bleed him out now, the carpet will be ruined and the carriage of no further use.”

  She rose. “You are too practical, Vittore. Can’t I have any fun?”

  “When it is prudent, my lady, of course.”

  She moved to him and stepped out of the coach. The man, Vittore, leaned in, waved a hand over me while speaking in a foreign tongue and my neck tingled.

  Oh merciful Heaven.

  The excruciating pain played all over again and then I felt my flesh knit together. Lifting a weak hand to my neck, I discovered unblemished skin. “No…” I whispered, and curled in on myself. So close and the bastard pulled me from the jaws of Death.

  A hand wrapped around my ankle. I was yanked out of the carriage feet-first to drop on the ground with a thump. They could kick me, stone me…I did not care.

  “Get up, fool,” he ordered.

  “You don’t own me.”

  He grabbed my shirt and hauled me to my feet, a surprising feat for a much smaller man. “I do not, but she does and you will not embarrass her by wallowing in the mud.”

  “Let me go. I am of no use to you, any of you!”

  His eyes were black in the dark. “Listen, boy. You have no rights. You are a pet, one she will tire of soon, but until then, you will do as you are told.”

  I nodded. He released my shirt. Juliet petted his head, he turned to her, and she kissed him in a vulgar manner. I turned my head away.

  Could I run while they were distracted?

  Nay, men on horseback had come around the coach on either end and flanked me. I couldn’t outrun a horse, and they had sword sheaths on their belts. If any of them carried muskets, the risk was too great.

  “Is it not precious how you can see his little mind working even in the dark?” she said.

  “We need to keep moving. There isn’t much time.”

  She sighed. “You are right, of course. Back in the carriage, dog.” And kicked me.

  I scrambled inside, my stomach turning at the wet sound of my shoe on the bloody carpet, and sat on the opposite bench from before. Vittore helped Juliet inside and closed the door. A word was given to the driver and we started rolling again.

  She was grinning like a feral cat, fangs showing. “You are a tasty treat, Adamo. But attack me again and you will beg for the sun. I do not tolerate disobedience. Ask Vittore about his scars some day if you do not believe me.”

  “Yes, signora.” I had no more energy to fight.

  By the time we reached the villa, I only wanted sleep. She kicked my foot when the carriage stopped and gestured for me to precede her. I opened the door and surveyed my surroundings.

  Unlike the typical garden style I remembered, the entrance to the house was shrouded by trees. Had this been done on purpose to protect the vampires, or did they overgrow from neglect? I wondered what region we were in and if I would recognize the name. The air was cold, yet I did not feel it like before. Strange.

  “You. Boy.”

  I turned to one of the men.

  “Follow your lady inside.”

  Juliet was walking up the front steps, Vittore at her side. She paused and looked back at me over her shoulder, the look in her eyes chilling my blood. Hurrying to catch up, I wished for my walking stick. The men laughed at my awkward gait. My muscles weren’t used to speed.

  The villa was old and smelled musty, like a cellar. It must have been closed up and emp
ty for a while. A grand staircase led up to the living quarters. Her heels clicked to a stop on the polished stone floor.

  “See to it he has the room next to mine. I need someone to eat,” she said to Vittore, and turned down one of the halls.

  “Come with me,” he said, grabbing my arm.

  “Unhand me, sir. I can walk of my own power.”

  He gripped the collar of my shirt and lifted me off my feet. “You have no power here. The men answer to me and I answer to Lady Juliet. Hold your tongue or I will serve it to you fried in oil. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He smiled, an unpleasant expression. “Good.” He dropped me, grabbed my arm again, and climbed the stairs.

  We went right at the top and continued to the end of the corridor. He stopped at a closed door and took a ring of keys from his pocket. When the door was unlocked, he shoved me inside. It closed and locked behind me.

  Once a grand room, it was quite opulent despite the coating of dust. A four-poster bed stood in the center with a dark red and gold coverlet. The chest of drawers sat against one wall, a pitcher and basin on top. A tall cabinet on the other side had a full-length mirror next to it. I walked to the mirror to see what I looked like now, and gasped.

  “What sorcery is this?”

  I tapped the surface of the mirror with my finger. It was hard, cool, and seemed normal, yet my reflection was absent. Was this an affliction of the vampires? How cruel to be granted my sight, yet denied my image!

  Perhaps I didn’t exist. Yes! Perhaps this wasn’t real at all, a figment, an imagining.

  A dream.

  I pinched the back of my hand. Nothing changed. Thinking it might need to hurt more to wake me, I pinched the skin on my arm hard enough to bruise.

  Still nothing.

  Perhaps I could escape my captors, if not my fate. I went to the window and tried to open the shutters, but they were bolted shut.

  Exhaustion and despair started taking hold. Tired of fighting, I stripped off my shoes and climbed into bed. It was a feather mattress, the first I’d felt since boyhood, and the softness lulled me to sleep.

  ****

  An intensely pleasant sensation coursed through my body. No sight, no sound—only these strange waves of elation. Then…the scent of roses and spice.

  “There you are, bello. I thought you might sleep through the whole show.”

  Juliet sat on my lap, nude. I moved my arms to shield my eyes and found I couldn’t. Chains jingled above my head where my wrists were restrained.

  “Get off of me.”

  She rocked her hips and I felt another wave of sensation.

  “What are you doing?”

  Her brows rose. “You really don’t know?” Then she rolled her eyes. “No, of course you would not. If it wasn’t for making wine, a monk would be useless.”

  My eyes shut against her nudity, I said, “I don’t understand.” Her weight shifted and I felt her arms rest on my chest and pressure on my manhood.

  “Adamo…look at me.” Though I didn’t want to, I looked. Her face was right in front of mine. “Do you feel this?”

  Something squeezed down there. I nodded.

  “I did that, Adamo.”

  “Yes, but--” Another squeeze. The corresponding feeling was…amazing.

  She pushed up on her hands and rocked her hips again. “It gives you pleasure when I do this, yes?”

  I nodded. My breaths came in time with her movements. Then I remembered, “Wait, no, you shouldn’t--”

  She pressed her hand over my mouth. “Adamo, you’re dead. No longer bound to the rules of man or deity. We do what we want. Feel what we want. Do not argue with me or there will be consequences.” To enforce her point, her nails dug into my chest, drawing blood.

  God help me, but the pain enhanced the pleasure I was feeling. Something called to a part of me and I felt something answer back. Fangs suddenly poked my bottom lip and an animalistic noise rumbled in my throat.

  Juliet smiled. “Better.” She bent down and touched her lips to mine.

  I watched her move on my lap like she was riding a horse and became entranced by her bouncing bosom. They were lovely, with rosy centers. Feeling an urge to touch her, I strained against the chains. The manacles cut into my wrists. She moved faster and faster, then her body convulsed and she let out a loud cry. Was she in pain?

  She sighed and it sounded happy. “Thank you, childe.” She moved off my lap and the bed, then put on a robe from the floor and secured the tie around her waist.

  “My lady…”

  “Yes?”

  “The chains are still on my wrists.”

  She smiled again. “I know.” And she opened the door. It locked again after she left.

  Confusion, then frustration, took over my mood. I was hungry, restrained, uncomfortable, and my body still needed…something. Left naked and exposed on the bed, I also felt ashamed for falling asleep so deeply and letting her take advantage of me. Now I was tainted.

  Impure.

  I prayed for forgiveness, then yelled for help. The vampires might ignore me, but surely someone would show compassion?

  ****

  No one came for hours and I drifted back to sleep. I woke to feeling the cuffs removed from my wrists and gnawing hunger pains in my belly.

  “Thank you,” I said to the maid. The wounds on my wrists were closed, a ring of dried blood around them. The bedclothes had been pulled up to my ribs.

  She was a plain-faced girl in peasant clothes, her skin browned from labor in the sun.

  “Please, miss, what is the time of day?”

  “Not yet evening, sir, but the sky is dark. They say it might rain.”

  Late enough to escape the house. “Is there a way out that the guards cannot see?”

  She turned to me with wide eyes. “Do not ask such things, sir. Please.” So she was a captive, too.

  I wouldn’t endanger her. There had to be another way.

  Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

  What was that sound? “Do you hear a drum?”

  “No, sir.” She brought my clothes to the bed. The sound grew louder.

  I was so hungry.

  She glanced at my face and screamed. My hand shot up to cover her mouth and muffle the sound. The drum beat faster.

  The girl was in my arms and my teeth in her throat before I could think to do otherwise. Oh, sweet… Hot blood filled my mouth as I gulped it down like water from an oasis. She struggled, but it was useless, my arms bands of iron.

  The drum beats slowed.

  My God, what was I doing?

  I dropped the maid like she’d burned me and scrambled to the far side of the room. The beat of her heart pounded in my ears. I almost killed her. Almost took an innocent life. Curled naked in the corner, my mind chanted monster, monster, monster.

  Juliet found me this way minutes later, the maid sobbing quietly on the other side of the bed. I felt the presence of my maker the moment she entered the room, though I hadn’t looked up when the door opened.

  “Pathetic,” she spat. “Take her to the cellar. I’ll deal with this.”

  “Yes, my lady,” a man said.

  She crossed the room to me, heels clicking on the wood floor and skirts swishing around her legs, and grabbed my hair, hauling me to my feet. I howled in pain.

  “We do not cry over food!”

  “Please…end this.”

  Her blue eyes narrowed, her lip curling up when she snarled, “No.” Yanking my head back, she forced me to look at her. “Look at me. You will do as I say when I say without thinking, Adamo. As of this moment, your mind is no longer your own.”

  “My mind is no longer my own,” I heard myself echo. I couldn’t look away from her eyes despite wanting to.

  “You live to please me and perish only when I wish you to.”

  “I live to please you and perish only when you wish me to.”

  Her grip on my hair eased. She stroked my face with her other hand. “Ther
e…that feels better, does it not?”

  “Yes.”

  "Now, Adamo, dress your self and come downstairs. It is time for your lessons to begin."

  "Yes, signora." Mechanically, I walked to the bed where my clothes had been left and picked up the folded shirt. From inside, I watched my body go through the motions, following her commands, and felt an all new level of fear.

  If she could command me to do anything, what would she think of next? What might she make me do?

  I found her waiting in the foyer dressed in a simple shift, like an undergarment. Had she no modesty around all these men?

  "You are hungry, Adamo, are you not?"

  "Yes, my lady." My voice came out in a dull monotone.

  "Follow me." She headed down the same hall she went to when we first arrived and opened a door to stone steps leading down into the earth—the cellar.

  A lit torch on the wall at the bottom of the stairs led the way. It was an open room under the house. The scent of earth, dirty humans, and old blood came to my nose. Chains scraped and rattled somewhere in the dark recesses.

  "Welcome to my larder, Adamo. What is your preference? Young, old, man, woman?"

  "I do not--"

  "Adamo."

  I felt a stronger wave of compulsion hit me and was forced to say, "As is your will, my lady."

  "Good boy." She took a set of keys from her pocket and walked into the dark. I waited. She soon walked back, guiding a young woman by the arm. The girl's eyes were empty. "Eat her."

  My feet moved forward though I did not tell them to, my arms reached for the young woman, my head bent to sniff her neck, and my fangs sunk into her tender flesh. The first bite was into muscle and didn't feel right. The monster inside me took over using my new senses and bit into the girl's neck where the drumbeat pulsed in her throat, releasing a hot flood of blood into my mouth. To that dark force, it was the best thing I had ever tasted.

  The more I swallowed, the more I felt Juliet's pleasure, first from her smile, then her soft hand petting my hair and the nape of my neck. When I heard the young woman's heart slow and stutter, I dropped her and looked to my mistress for approval. She stepped up to me and reached out to wipe a dribble of blood off my chin with her finger, licked it, then kissed me to suck up the rest. The monster inside kissed her back and purred, holding her curves close to my body.