Ravenous Virtue Release Week - Excerpt 4

“My fucking hands?”  Vendeen grinned, his look utterly cruel.  The next moment a finger pressed, going inside Raven.  He pushed in and out.  “What about my fucking finger?”

Raven tried to twist away to no avail.  Vendeen curled his finger inside her as he stroked, rubbing against the bundle of nerves at the front of her sheath.  She choked on her own spit as brutal arousal flared bright.  She gushed honey on her tormentor’s hand.

Vendeen’s eyebrows lifted.  “You are very aroused,” he said softly.  He added a second finger.  

To Raven’s mortification, her sex clamped eagerly around the driving fingers.  She groaned at the sensation of not just being filled, but the heady friction Vendeen applied to her hot spot.  She couldn’t stop the groan that fled her lips.

The judge’s voice was so subtle, it almost seemed to be coming from inside her head.  “Do you enjoy being dominated, Raven?”

Her mind grabbed onto the memory of how Daagiis, disguised as Todd, had been so very strong with her.  How he’d been forceful and how good it had made her feel to be with someone so demanding. 

 

Her voice sounded suspiciously like a whimper.  “Yes.  This is not fair, damn you.”

“I believe we’ve covered how unfair life truly is, my pet.  Take your top off.”

At last her fingers unlocked, but only to do his bidding.  At his next command, Raven finished removing her pants.  Then she stood before Vendeen and Daagiis completely nude.  At least Vendeen had stopped finger fucking her so she could take her clothes off.

Both men looked her over with obvious appreciation.  Raven felt moisture sliding down her inner thighs at their eager stares.  Damn it, this couldn’t be happening!

Vendeen sighed.  “You are quite lovely.  I am going to enjoy you very much.”

His hands moved to touch her again, testing the weight of her breasts, tugging on her nipples until she gasped from the ache.  Somehow though, the pain shivered down to her sex and became pleasure along the way.  

Stop responding to him!  I cannot be wanting this!

Vendeen massaged her breasts, testing their softness in his big, warm hands.  “I am not a tender lover, Raven.  I am quite rough, as Daagiis can attest to.  But then again, so is he.  We need someone who responds to strong use.”

A blast of heat kindled in her belly at his words.  Her pussy gushed in reaction.  Raven’s mind recoiled in mortification at her body’s responses to him and the idea of his being harsh with her.   What was wrong with her?

She gritted her teeth as Vendeen rolled her nipples between fingers and thumbs, setting off a thunderclap of sheer want through her shaking body.  Her voice grated as she said, “I do not want this.”

Vendeen lifted an eyebrow.  One hand released her breast to dive into the folds of her pussy, making her arch and cry out as a jolt of pleasure resounded through her.  He withdrew his fingers to show Daagiis how soaked they were.  He stuck them in his mouth and sucked the moisture from them with the air of a gourmand.

“Tell me then, why are you so wet?” he asked.

“Because I want it.”  Raven gasped in horror to hear herself say it.  No, that couldn’t be true, could it?  Just because her body was responding to the stimulation didn’t mean she really wanted to fuck Vendeen – did it?

Vendeen’s lopsided grin was back and more evil than before.  “Do not fret, my lovely little Raven.  We will most certainly give it to you.  Go to the bed.”

Raven’s legs turned her around and marched her right up to the side of the bed.  At Vendeen’s command, she spun around and faced him and Daagiis.  She couldn’t help but cringe as the pair stood over her.

Her heart thundering madly, she choked, “Both of you?”

Vendeen played with her breasts once more.  “I share all with Daagiis.  He is mine.  As much as he wishes it was the other way around, that is the truth of it.”

Daagiis gave him a narrowed glare.  “Some day it will be you under my lash once more.  You will kneel at my feet and call me master.”

Vendeen answered the challenge with a cold stare.  “Perhaps.  For now I own you, and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it.”

The men stared at each other.  Raven sensed a struggle of wills happening.  She wondered if it was possible to turn Daagiis against Vendeen enough to allow her to escape this sentence of servitude.

Vendeen’s tone was unfeeling as he asked the other man, “Do you wish to have this out now, or shall we enjoy the lovely protector you acquired for me?”

For a moment, Daagiis’ features twisted.  Raven saw frustration, anger, and agony mixing in his expression.  For all that, there was no sign of hatred.  In fact, Daagiis looked at Vendeen with a kind of desperation that made her think of – love?  Was that what put the tortured feeling in his golden eyes?

The moment lasted barely a second before Daagiis turned his gaze on Raven.  Her stomach executed a slow roll as the heat in his stare sought to sear her.  A smile crept over his face.  “Having already had a taste of this exquisite creature, I am definitely on the side of making love, not war.”

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Ravenous Virtue Release Week - Excerpt 3

She was alive.

“Holy shit, I’m still here.”  Her voice came out in a hissing croak.  Raven recalled screaming so loud and hard that her voice had nearly given out.  But surely that had been some horrific nightmare?  No one could have survived the shots she remembered taking.

Douglas smiled.  “You mean, among the living?  Yes, you are, though I almost didn’t get you here in time.”  

Raven’s mind worked slowly, as if it was made of moving parts that had been gummed up with sludge.  She was alive, but she shouldn’t be.  Douglas was here, but he didn’t look quite right.  What the fuck was he wearing?  His usual suit and tie were absent, replaced by some bizarre outfit.  It had long sleeves.  More fabric hung from his wrists, and it took Raven a moment to figure out gloves were attached to the end of the sleeves, though Douglas didn’t have them over his hands.  The material looked black as oil, but there were flashes of iridescence too.  The thing was form-fitting, showing off what she could see of Douglas’ deliciously muscled body to advantage.  It was the most bizarre thing she’d ever seen a grown man wear.

Another thing bothered her.  Where were Todd and Kimi?  Raven had no doubt the injuries she’d suffered had to have been horrific.  Surely her boyfriend and bestie should be here too, right?

Slow, measured steps drawing close alerted Raven that someone else was in the room, interrupting her perusal of Douglas Bringer of the General Accounting Office.  So maybe her friends were there after all.  She tried to raise her head to greet whoever had waited at her bedside but couldn’t.  Raven had to content herself with rolling her eyes about.  A glance around herself revealed she lay in a bed in a very white, antiseptic room.  Before she could note anything else about her surroundings, a man stepped into view.  It was most definitely not Todd.

This stranger’s almost metallic-bronze face looked Asian with dark, upturned eyes and high cheekbones.  His lips were incredibly sensual, and Raven had a momentary fantasy of sucking on the lower one.  In contrast to his Oriental bone structure, he had long, sleek, golden blond hair that lay over his shoulders.  His body was massive, well over six feet tall.  The flowing red robe he wore belted at the waist, while full-sleeved, did nothing to disguise the fact that he was well-muscled.  What Raven and Kimi would call an ‘uber-man’.  Yet he moved as fluidly graceful as a man possessing a much leaner physique would.

He wasn’t anyone Raven had expected.  He sure as hell didn’t look like any doctor she had ever seen.  What doctor wore robes?  What was the deal with his metal-sheened skin?

As she gaped, the man moved to the side opposite Douglas and stared down at her.  Raven suddenly noticed that he seemed to have no irises, or that they were as black as his pupils.  Was that even possible?

The man said nothing, just looked at her.  Something in his demeanor made Raven feel small and helpless.  She’d thought of Douglas as having an aura of danger, and he was not alone.  This stranger was like a tiger lying in the grass, not hungry enough yet to take its prey down but marking it for future reference just the same.

He scared the shit out of Raven.

To hide the sudden surge of panic, she snapped at him, “Who are you?”

One thin eyebrow lifted at her question.  Otherwise his expression didn’t change, but Raven sensed amusement coming from him.

Douglas answered for him.  “Raven, this is Supreme Judge Vendeen.  He’s in charge here.”

Vendeen nodded once at her.  “Hello, Raven.  I am glad to have you on board.”

“On board?”  Even as the question left her lips, it occurred to her the title Douglas had given the other man.  Supreme Judge?  Not Supreme Court Judge, or more accurately, Justice.  Besides, the Supreme Court didn’t presently have any sitting blond justices on it anyway.  Certainly not Asian ones with metallic skin.  And Douglas hadn’t called him a superior court judge, which would make some sense.

This man’s voice was the one she’d thought sounded familiar, the one she’d heard when she first woke.  But she knew she’d never seen this Vendeen before.  He wasn’t exactly a man one would forget.

The judge folded his arms over his chest and leveled his inscrutable stare at Douglas.  “Show her.”

Douglas bit his lip.  Had Raven ever seen him look so uncertain?  “She’s only just awakened.  I’m not sure—”  

Vendeen interrupted, his powerful voice clearly saying there was to be no discussion.  “It’s the quickest way to explain.”

Douglas grimaced and then jerked a nod.  He gave Raven a tight smile.  “Don’t be scared, okay?  This is going to be weird.”

She looked at him.  As if things weren’t weird already?  Where was Superintendent Jackson?  Where were Kimi and Todd?  Surely someone who knew and cared about her should be here with her, not the auditor from General Accounting or this bizarre ‘judge’.

Douglas took a deep breath.  The air shimmered around him, like desert heat off blacktop.  Then he changed right before her eyes.

His chameleon hair turned as blond as Vendeen’s.  His golden eyes shaded to brown.  His features sharpened, taking him from the chiseled perfection of Douglas Bringer to that of a thinner, finer-featured man.

Raven couldn’t even summon a gasp.  She stared, trying to decipher what her eyesight was telling her.

Before she could gather her senses to react, Douglas changed again.  His features became rounder and even more delicate.  His eyes turned blue, and his hair lengthened to past his shoulders.  His body curved out until Raven was looking at a woman.  A woman that had been Douglas Bringer.

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Ravenous Virtue Release Week: Excerpt 2

“Raven!  Raven, answer me!”

She didn’t want to, not when going back meant returning to that awful heat and pain.  Yet the voice was like a fishhook snagging her and bringing her mercilessly back to the surface.

The pain did come back, crushing and agonizing.  Raven could barely breathe for the brutality of it.  Even worse was that man-shaped silhouette blocking out the sun once more.  He was still there, still ready to make her hurt more, blasting her into little bits until the gentle void returned.

“Raven.  Can you hear me?”

It wasn’t some homicidal drunk with a gun.  It was Douglas Bringer, he of the chameleon hair and golden eyes.

Raven could feel the coppery-tasting froth spilling from her mouth as she spoke.  “You’ll have to fill in my sheet for me.  From eleven-fifteen to the present, I was shooting and dying.”

Her voice was little more than a wheeze.  Douglas seemed to hear her anyway.  “Do you want to live?”

Raven wished she had the strength to punch him for asking such a stupid question, especially when there was obviously no hope.  What was he doing out here anyway?

Pissed off and unable to do anything about it – which pissed her off even more – Raven sighed, “Gonna make it worth my while?  Do I get a swimming pool and maid service?  You idiot, shut up and let me die in peace.”

“Listen to me, Raven.  Do you want to live?  It means being indentured to another man, a man who needs your protection.”  Douglas grimaced.  “Even when your contract is up, you’ll still belong to him.  There’s no getting around that, I’m afraid.”

Raven couldn’t make head or tails of what the man was blathering about.  Damn it, she just wanted to close her eyes.  Now that she’d had a glimpse of the void beyond and the delicious lack of pain that went with it, dying didn’t scare her at all.  

Tiredly, she mumbled, “Which of us is having an end of life hallucination?”

“You’re almost out of time.  Do you want to live?”

The bastard is insistent, I’ll give him that, Raven thought.  Then she felt warm drops falling on her face.  She blinked up at Douglas, noting how his expression screwed into such terrible tragedy.  Was he crying over her?

His tears helped Raven feel something besides the pain and anger that she’d gotten herself killed so stupidly.  Douglas was only trying to make her feel better as she checked out of this world, trying to ease her suffering by distracting her with nonsense.  

Give the guy a break.  I can play along so maybe he won’t remember how helpless he feels at this moment, the way I would feel if our roles were reversed.

 She dredged up a smile, doing her best to ignore how torturous every little breath and each hesitant heartbeat had become.  “Are we going to your space station?  Where real justice prevails?”

“That’s the place.  Just say the word, and we’ll go.”  He returned the smile, blinking out tears as he did so.

Things were turning gray, taking her back.  This time, Douglas wouldn’t be able to pull her out.   Raven sighed.  “Sure Scotty.  Beam me up and let’s kick the universe’s ass.”

“That will do.”  

Douglas gathered her in his arms.  As he stood and lifted her up, Raven had an instant when she saw his eyes change.  They went from gold to every hue of the rainbow, one color melting into the next, spreading to the whites of his eyes in moving swirls of color.  

Wow, dying is weird.  And pretty, she thought as the world around her turned silvery gray.  Then all went dark again, sending Raven back into the long, cold tunnel where nothing hurt.

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