Page 11 of Virgin Sacrifice

It was the fact that the women of Hollow Oak tended to be relentless and volatile in their pursuit of anyone with a bit of money or clout who had the misfortune of sticking their dick in them. Between teaching, my research, and being a Blackwell, I had more than enough on my plate without having to fight off the attentions of some social-climbing heiress. Not when there were so many other options available to a man like me.

Yet, there I stood, in front of my first class of the term, blood rushing to my cock like I was a fucking teenager as I watched her full ass climb those stairs. At that moment, it became inevitable that I would have to punish her for making me want her. And now, due to her own stubbornness, I had the entire term to do so.

I pulled up to the main building and parked my car on the far end of the stone-lined driveway that wrapped around a rather ostentatious fountain in the front. As I hurried up the marble steps, narrowly avoiding the rain that began coming down, a smile crossed my lips at the thought of having her under my thumb for the next few months. I wondered just what it would take to break those tears free of her.

Making my way through the main house, the house I had been raised in, I avoided the nearly invisible staff, heading directly to the study where I knew I would find my eldest cousin.

Lucian Blackwell was a creature of habit, and today, like most days, he could be found seated behind the massive oak desk that took up the center of his study. The study, including the imposing furniture, had been our grandfather’s and his father’s before him. Now, it was Lucian’s.

“I see you got my message,” he said, not bothering to look up from the documents that held his attention. I could only assume they were for one of the family’s many legitimate businesses. Our proudest family legacy involved less of a paper trail.

“I did. I take it the police have nothing so far?” I asked, helping myself to a glass of his forty-year-old Macallan single malt.

While the petty affairs of local criminals were so far below the Blackwells as to be comical, it was still necessary for us to keep a close eye on the less-than-savory elements in our town. How would it look if we allowed just any asshole with a gun to kill in our town, at our school? Victor would never let Lucian hear the end of it.

When Lucian informed me that somehow, over the last year, four different young women had disappeared, and it had slipped beneath our radar, part of me was irritated to say the least. The other part of me savored such a colossal fuckup occurring under my cousin’s leadership.

“The Shady Harbor police couldn’t find shit if it was coming out of their asses,” Lucian grumbled before finally sitting up to look at me.

I had settled myself into one of the leather wingback chairs that faced his desk, and I nodded at him to continue.

“The first girl to go missing was a scholarship student at the university, just after final exams—a Sandra O’Connor. The police figured she must have gotten caught up in something on her way home from school. Not their jurisdiction, not their problem. The next two were locals, so they assumed that the girls simply ran away, ditched the small-town life, or something like that.

“Last month though, Glory Van Holt, the granddaughter of one of our preferred clients, returned to campus before the start of term. Her sorority had some sort of fundraiser or something. At a party the day before classes started, she disappeared seemingly into thin air and hasn’t been heard from since.”

“And we’re certain she didn’t just decide to take off on her own?” I asked.

Lucian snorted. “Townies and scholarship students might be able to run off on their own, but not a society brat like her. The Van Holt girl wouldn’t know how to wipe her own ass without her parents’ money. Not to mention that she would be running away from the $10 million trust her grandparents set up for her to come into when she turns twenty-one.”

Lucian was right. Having met the girl a handful of times at various events, I highly doubted the insipid debutante could pull off a vanishing act on her own.

“The police reports have yet to hit the general public, or we’d be seeing something about it in the news,” I considered, rhythmically tapping my fingers along the arm of the chair. “Although, I imagine that with the students returning to campus, her sorority sisters will have started talking about her disappearance, and word will spread soon enough. It makes one wonder why the police are sitting on it?”

Lucian grunted in agreement.

“What have the twins heard?”

“Not much, exactly what you would expect . . .” he said flatly. “No one saw anything out of the ordinary the night the Van Holt girl disappeared. Openly, her friends are worried about her and hope she returns safely soon. Behind closed doors, they’re still talking about what a bitch she was, but there are rumors circulating about the other missing girls and whether the disappearances are connected. Apparently, one of the townie’s brothers is at Hollow Oak on a sports scholarship, football I believe, and he’s calling bullshit on her running away.”

“And there are no other connections between these girls, besides the fact that they all resided around here?” I reiterated.

“None that the police have identified,” he replied, a familiar scowl on his face.

“Of course not,” I murmured, half to myself, “that would make our jobs too easy.”

“Indeed.” His dark eyes shuttered, hiding the violence I knew he carried within him. All Blackwell men did.

“Then I suppose we have work to do,” I said, watching as Lucian went to fix his own drink.

“I’ve tasked the twins with discovering what they can from the student body. I’ll need you to do what you do best with the faculty and alumni,” he commanded. “Everest will be in charge of working his way through the town for information. I’d like to clean this up quickly.”

He observed the glass of amber liquid in his hand carefully before turning his gaze back to me and raising his glass in a toast. “To blood and power,” he said, dipping his head. Our family motto.

“To blood and power,” I echoed.

Chapter six

Luz

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