“Isn’t it nice to let someone else take control for a while?” I whisper, kissing the skin just above his nipple.
He smiles down at me. It’s not his usual angry sneer or even his condescending smirk. It’s a genuine, honest-to-god smile, one alive with happiness and post-orgasmic bliss.
“Violet?” He kisses the shell of my ear. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”
My throat closes as emotions wash over me. They’re both intense and refreshing, like a wave of ocean water on a blistering hot day.
“I think I’m falling in love with you too,” I whisper. I think I’m falling in love with all of these men. It’s terrifying and beautiful—a scythe glinting in the moonlight.
I can feel his cock hardening beneath me, spurring on my own arousal.
“Can I give up control some more?” he pants into my ear, his hips already jerking. I reach down to grab his hard length, giving it a stroke. Reaching behind us, I grab a new condom and slide it over his impressive girth.
“Always,” I vow, straddling his waist and lining his cock up with my entrance. I place my hands on his chest and stare into his dark eyes. “In here, with me, I’m in charge. I’m the queen. Do you understand that?” When he doesn’t immediately answer, I pinch his nipples.
“Yes, mistress,” he breathes.
“Then let’s forget the world for another few hours, shall we?”
CHAPTER 26
VIOLET
The sky is a dreary shade of grey, stagnant storm clouds hanging sluggishly over our heads. Fitting, I suppose, for the first round of the Roaring. After all, it isn’t just a competition. It’s an execution.
I wrap my arms around my waist as I stand alongside the other couple hundred competitors. Normally, I’d be amazed at all of the monsters in one location. Everyone from the original Wolfman to the Mummy from the Egyptian tombs to Cheryl’s dad, the Loch Ness Monster. They’re all chomping at the chance to taste blood.
Hopefully not my blood. Call me a hypocrite, but I rather like my blood in my body, thank you very much. Ain’t nothing sexier than a vampire full of blood.
Pro tip—don’t ruin the sexy.
The Academy has decreed we all wear the approved skin-tight red shirts and black shorts. Conformity at its finest. At least the guys look hot in their too-short shorts. I’m pretty sure I can even see some dick if I look hard enough—cough, when I get on my hands and knees and stare up their shorts, cough. Honestly, at this point, I only feel comfortable peeping on Vin. After what we did last night…
My cheeks warm as I chance a glance at my hunter, standing farther down the line beside his father, mother, and sister. He warned me he’ll have to play a part until they leave campus, and I can’t begrudge him for wanting to protect me. I would do the same thing if Dracula was here.
Which he isn’t.
This is the first Roaring in over two hundred years that he chose not to attend. Is he really that afraid to talk to me? The familiar tendrils of hurt unfurl in my chest like a splotch of ink being dropped in water. I honestly can’t say why it hurts so much, only that it does. A lot.
Because every little monster wants to be hugged by her daddy and told that everything’s okay. That we’re both the scariest monsters in the universe and that we’re not.
“You okay?” Frankie whispers from the left side of me. Jack is on the right, with Mason directly beside him. I don’t see Cal and Barret, only because they were escorted straight from detention to the Roaring and could be anywhere in the line.
“Peachy,” I reply, already fixing my gaze on Dimitri stepping up to the raised podium.
“Welcome.” There’s no microphone, but his voice is easily able to carry. Silence descends as every monster in the vicinity, including the ones in the observation stands, gives him their undivided attention. “As headmaster of Prodigium Academy, it is my sacred duty to run the yearly games,” he begins, sweeping his icy blue gaze across the assembled monsters. His eyes stop on me and stay there. “For the first round, each of you will enter the portal.”
As he speaks, a vertical pool of light appears in the center of the clearing. It seems to swirl like thousands of stars are residing in its depths. I’m momentarily thunderstruck as I stare at the portal, my tongue turning to cotton.
“Inside, you will find yourself in an arena created by our very own game makers.” He nods towards the two men who recruited me. Yet, despite the icicles in their hair and on their faces, they appear warm in comparison to Dimitri Gray. “The rules are simple. You must survive for twenty-four hours. There are traps and creatures beyond your comprehension, all of which have been created by our very own Dr. Frankenstein.”
Frankie tenses beside me, face going pale, as we turn to stare at the waving man standing a little bit apart from the crowd. He has pale red hair brushed away from a gaunt, sickly-looking face. His dark eyes gleam with violence and excitement, a combination that makes chills erupt on the back of my neck.
“And as always,” Dimitri swivels his gaze back to me, eyes both reproachful and cautionary, “murder is allowed. This is a competition. Only the best of the best monsters are allowed to win. If you can’t survive against your fellow competitors, then you don’t deserve to be here at all.”
Oh, fuck me.
In the monster world, the punishment for killing a fellow monster is immediate death. But in the games? It’s a free-for-all.
And you can bet your sweet ass every monster will go after Dracula’s daughter.
As you see, I’m fucked, but not in a good way. More in a “stick your cock in my anus without any lube” sort of way.
“Once you’re in the arena, there will be a ten second countdown. When the timer gets to