Page 52 of Darkest Heart

Thankfully, most of the members were downstairs, mingling with our guests and getting ready to watch the tournament.

I pushed open the door, finding only one of our members asleep in a blood-drunk haze on the bed. Two of the mortals played cards in the sangaree’s absence but stopped on seeing me. I walked past them, and into the adjoining room.

I pulled back the door to the only closed tent, revealing Elizabeth, alone. Fortunately for Adrian, she was clothed. “How long have you been here?”

“Not long,” she admitted, clearing her throat. She rubbed her tired, bloodshot eyes. “They took Carla. You promised…”

I pressed my fingers against my forehead, a headache building. “She was safer here than out there. You shouldn’t have done this. I can’t protect you if you keep barging in here. They will kill you.”

“I heard Carla’s voice.” She closed her eyes, tears pooling in the corners. “When I found her, she was high on venom. Someone had their way with her.”

“I don’t have time for this.” I pulled her to her feet, wanting her out of this tent. “If you can’t stay put, then I’ll let Adrian keep you here.”

“Carla…”

“Is no longer your problem. She’s well fed. All of our mortals are.”

She scrunched her nose, a wrinkle deepening between her brows. “What do I have to do to get her out of here?”

“Was she complaining? When you saw her?”

Her cheeks reddened. “It’s hard to complain when you’re unconscious!”

I blew out a tense breath. “I’m taking you back to my room.”

“Not without my sister.”

I wished she would just behave. The other mortals were watching us. In the third room, some of the vampires who remained were too busy fucking to notice us. “Walk with me and I’ll see what I can do. Try anything else,” I warned, looking down at her with a forceful stare. “I won’t bother.”

“Okay,” she said, wiping her cheeks. I noticed she still had the dagger. I wondered if she’d tried to use on it on whoever had her sister. Another problem I would have to manage later.

She followed me through the third room. “This is disgusting.”

I swallowed hard as an unusual feeling overcame me. Anxiety raced my heart as I watched her expression carefully, her eyes trickling over the room.

“It’s just a glorified sex club,” she said nonchalantly.

“It’s more than that,” I said as we walked. “This is just the space we give our members to be able to enact any fantasy they like.”

“I thought vampires do what they want, where they want?”

I tilted my head. “We all need our darkest fantasies coaxing out of us.” I moved my eyes back to an esteemed couple, a baron and a baroness on a bed. Her delicate fingers were inside her panties, gliding as she watched her husband fuck another woman. “Shame doesn’t exist here.”

“Could be dangerous,” she pointed out. “Freeing, but dangerous.”

“I disagree.” I shoved my hands in my pockets, stepping closer to her side when I noticed a couple lock eyes on Elizabeth. “Suppressing what we really want, refusing to explore it, that’s when it becomes dangerous. Then, it comes out in all kinds of twisted ways.”

“Depends on what that is.”

I chuckled. “I agree with you on that. We do have rules here.”

She lifted a brow, and I smiled. “You? Rules?”

I nodded. “Very few, but they’re important. No children or animals. No killing other vampires.”

“But slavery is okay?”

“Slavery is a strong word.”

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