Chapter One

Nico stood naked in the absolute darkness of the Shade, the vampire dimension parallel to the mortal world. There were no stars, there was no wildlife, only complete blackness and the thump of his own heartbeat in his neck.

He stood among the rubble of a once-proud vampire Court, a keep with high stone walls and a throne room that, based on the crumbling bits under his bare feet, had been reduced to nothing more than piles of rubble.

He’d trapped himself here playing with power he didn’t understand. His occasional one-night-stand, Dimitri turned out to be a vampire—tall, white hair, tan skin, red eyes, fangs—really the fangs should have clued him in. And when Dimitri honed in on Nico as his final meal at the height of a blood frenzy, Nico had somehow turned the attack into power.

Nico had become Dimitri’s Sire, saved them both from dying horrible bloody deaths, and plunged himself right into the heart of a world he didn’t understand.

A world of darkness and violence, where respect was earned through power, and might was the ultimate right.

Dimitri had stepped from Nico’s apartment to here, the Shade, claiming Nico couldn’t follow him. And Nico shouldn’t have been able to.

But being the human Sire of a vampire let him twist some of the rules.

The Shade was a dangerous place. Predators—worse even than vampires—prowled in the darkness. Nico was a Sire, but he had no power of his own, no way to defend himself when a rival vampire came sniffing around.

Sebastian stood only a few feet in front of Nico. Nico couldn’t see him in the darkness, but the moment Sebastian had sunk his fangs into Nico’s neck and unknowingly tied himself to Nico’s fledgling Court, he’d revealed himself. Nico could feel Sebastian’s power coursing through his heart and flowing through his body. Nico could reach out—and did—touching his blind fingers unerringly to Sebastian’s chest, spreading them over a tight pectoral. A nipple. A bar piercing.

Nico wasn’t in the habit of wandering around dangerous places while naked, but he had something of a biting fetish. A minor interest in blood. Just the smallest kink, he’d thought. Until Dimitri had sucked him dry in more than one way and Nico could only beg for more.

He’d turned Sebastian’s attack into power, hooking this new vampire to his very soul. Forever.

“This isn’t possible,” Sebastian whispered, his chest rising under Nico’s fingers. “You’re human.”

Nico smiled, wondering if Sebastian could see it. Vampires had extra senses, he was sure. “Tell me you don’t want more power and I’ll release you,” Nico bluffed. He knew a vampire would do anything for power. And he wasn’t sure he could release the bond tied like a knot around his heart even if he wanted it.

Sebastian twitched forward, his voice breathy, “No!” His hand slid over Nico’s. Nico felt sharp claws brush his knuckles. “Don’t cut me off, please. I won’t survive the frenzy.” He went suddenly to one knee, placing Nico’s hand on the top of his head.

Nico ran his fingers through hair just long enough to grip. Shorter on the sides. Ears with a bit of a point on the top.

He’d meant to tease Sebastian with the promise of power, but he’d forgotten the reason he was in this situation in the first place: an attack on Dimitri’s Court—the same one Nico stood barefoot among now—had killed his Sire and severed the bond between them. Without the Sire’s unlife-giving bond, the entire Court had plunged into blood frenzy and consumed themselves like rabid animals.

Only Dimitri had survived.

Sebastian wouldn’t.

Nico suddenly held this man’s entire afterlife in his hands. He had the power to compel Sebastian through the bond, but what more leverage did he need other than this? The ability to starve any of his vampires through will alone. At any time.

From anywhere in the mortal realm or the Shade.

Nico hooked his fingers under Sebastian’s chin and lifted, drawing him back to his feet and up hard against Nico’s naked body. Bare skin against skin. “I don’t want to release you, Sebastian,” Nico whispered so the vampire had to lean closer. “You belong to me and I keep what belongs to me. Understand?”

“Yes, Sire.” Sebastian’s hands slid up Nico’s hips and waist, his claws carefully held back.

Nico leaned himself into Sebastian’s taller body. “I am human, it’s true. I don’t have your strength or speed. I don’t know the vampire traditions.” Nico pulled Sebastian’s head down by the back of his neck. “But I can raise power and I will use it to strengthen my Court.”

Nico tipped his head to the side, pulled Sebastian’s head down until his closed lips brushed the skin above his jugular. He felt Sebastian’s breath wash down his back in a rush. Surprise, need, desire, control all echoed up through the bond tied around Nico’s heart.

“Bite me, Sebastian.”

Nico tried not to put any compulsion into the order. He was still learning how to close off the bond enough to prevent his own thoughts and desires from taking over like they had with Dimitri.

Sebastian’s lips parted. His teeth slid along Nico’s skin with just a tickle of pressure.

Nico’s body tightened. He let his eyes fall closed, he couldn’t see anything anyway, as he focused on the sensation. The anticipation made everything sharp as crystal. His body responded as easily as ever. Arousal curled up in his belly and Nico pressed his rising erection against Sebastian’s hip.

His breath caught.

Sebastian struck. His fangs sank like needles into Nico’s neck and pierced his vein. Blood welled, then sprang like a fountain under pressure. As if Nico hadn’t been bit repeatedly in the last several hours—more than enough to kill a normal human.

Nico’s muscles went a little limp. Sebastian caught him, cradled his head, and held him close. Nico moaned with pleasure. The pierce of the fangs, the press of Sebastian’s tongue, the working muscles as he swallowed. Nico could die happy under a vampire’s fangs.

He nearly had under Dimitri’s.

But it only took a second or two for something else to grow. Golden power unfurled in Nico’s chest. It spun in circles around Nico’s heart, looking for a way out, building up into a wave. When Nico loosened the knot around his heart, power flooded into the bond he held with both Dimitri and Sebastian. He could feel them both through the connection—Sebastian here in his arms, Dimitri at a distance.

Both of them drank the power and yearned for more.

Sebastian’s bite hardened on Nico’s throat. He clutched Nico tighter. Their bodies shifted against each other: Nico’s hard and ready, Sebastian’s just starting to rise. Nico slipped his hand between them and grasped Sebastian’s thickening cock, loving the way every swallow of blood had an answering pulse of arousal in his palm.

Nico could cum just from this. He could lose himself in Sebastian’s bite, riding that wave as it built in his belly until climax overtook him.

And if Sebastian didn’t stop drinking, Nico could cum again. And again.

And again.

He’d fallen into that trap with Dimitri, when they hadn’t yet figured out Nico was a Sire. They’d both been drunk on the power and the pleasure for hours.

Nico didn’t want to loose himself like that here in the Shade.

There were dangers here he couldn’t defend against.

Nico slid his fingers up Sebastian’s neck and gripped the longer hair on top. Not to pull him away, but to get his attention.

“I can raise power from your bite,” he said, and sent another wave of that golden glow down the bond.

Sebastian growled against his throat.

Nico tightened his hand on Sebastian’s cock and said, “I also raise power from being fucked.”

Sebastian’s body stiffened against Nico’s. His cock throbbed in Nico’s palm and by the alertness in his muscles, Nico knew Sebastian was making new plans.

Nico whispered, “Take me somewhere safe, Sebastian. Fuck me until I cum. And until then, you can have all the power I raise.”

Something new billowed against Nico’s skin. Cool, like the night itself wrapping around him. As if the darkness had come alive and could make contact. And with a lurch like falling backward, Sebastian stepped through the Shade to the mortal realm.

He yanked his teeth free and spun Nico around. He shoved him face-down on a bed, the comforter cool on Nico’s hot skin. Sebastian’s claws traced down Nico’s spine and he pressed Nico’s feet as wide apart as they would go so he could grip Nico’s ass and expose everything. Nico shuddered. His cock was trapped against the edge of the bed, pointing downward so Sebastian could see everything. Nico’s hole. His tight balls. His throbbing shaft. The first drip of precum that hung on the head.

Then Sebastian’s breath tickled over Nico’s exposed hole, warm and soft. He was kneeling behind Nico, leaning forward. So close.

Nico moaned. “Fuck me, Sebastian.”

Sebastian’s voice held a smile. “As my Sire commands.”

His tongue licked a stripe up Nico’s taint.

Nico squirmed. He didn’t get far. Sebastian tightened his grip until his claws pinched into Nico’s hot skin. He stiffened his tongue into a point and probed at Nico’s hole. He licked around the ring and teased with little pokes until Nico panted and leaned back into his claws just to get a little more. Nico’s cock pulsed with every small breach.

He panted on the bed and clutched the comforter just for something to hold onto. He felt like he was falling, only Sebastian’s claws and tongue to catch him.

When Sebastian finally pressed his lips to Nico’s crack and slid his tongue deep inside, Nico trembled in his hands.

And he learned that a tongue that deep counted as fucking, because when Sebastian slid his tongue out and back in with agonizing patience, a golden glow of power unfolded in Nico’s chest.

“Oh, god,” Nico moaned. He rocked back on Sebastian’s tongue, seeking more. More friction. More stretch. More power blooming in his chest like a cluster of sunlit flowers. His legs shook until Sebastian’s grip tightened. Until his claws bit and drew blood.

Sebastian’s tongue plunged deeper suddenly, probed Nico’s prostate with a hard point, stuck there against the nub and massaged it.

Nico’s ass clenched. He jerked as too much sensation shivered up his legs. His cock kicked, still trapped against the edge of the bed. Nico squirmed all over again, trying to escape, leaning back for more, seeking friction on his cock all at once.

He was so close.

Golden power overflowed into his heart, pumping down the bond to Sebastian and Dimitri as fast as it rose. Every prod of Sebastian’s tongue on his prostate sent another wave of it crashing. Nico arched backward, up off the bed. “Sebastian!”

There was no relief. Sebastian could feel how close Nico rode the edge and he expertly pushed Nico right to the cliff without tumbling them over. He milked Nico’s body for power.

Nico’s cock leaked freely. Precum seeped from the tip and dripped down to the floor. His shaft was slick with it. It ran like a faucet and Nico wondered if he could be milked completely dry without ever cumming.

He felt Sebastian’s pleasurable snarl against his ass at the idea.

Tortured with pleasure until Sebastian was drunk on power.

Nico tried to crawl up the bed. He got one knee up on the mattress, but it only gave Sebastian more access to his hole.

The vampire pinned him in place, stabbing at Nico’s prostate. His fangs slid up against Nico’s skin, on either side of his hole, the face of them pressed hard in Nico’s soft ass.

Nico lost his breath at the idea of Sebastian biting him there.

Sebastian must have caught the edge of it, because he hissed suddenly and retreated. His angle changed, and with abrupt urgency he plunged his thick cock into Nico’s wet and ready hole. He pressed in, slid all the way until his hips hit Nico’s ass. His weight leaned heavily on Nico’s hips so he was pressed into the mattress with nowhere to go.

“Gonna make you raise so much power I grow another set of fangs,” Sebastian groaned. “Gonna fuck you blind with power.” His voice wavered, full of arousal and already swamped with power.

“I’m gonna cum, Sebastian—“

“Not yet!”

“Please!” Nico’s body clenched against the peak.

Sebastian fucked him hard. Skin slapped. Nico’s rising power became a flood that he pushed down the bond as fast as he could. His cock was trapped, throbbing and he couldn’t reach it, but it didn’t matter. Sebastian’s shaft drove him right over the edge.

Climax hit them both like a tidalwave. Power crashed into Nico. His body seized. His balls squeezed and he came, splashing against the hardwood floor with a cry.

Sebastian filled him with cum. He shoved his cock in so it squeezed down Nico’s thighs and filled again when he leaned back.

“More,” Sebastian snarled, his voice like an animal. His cock never softened. He fucked right through his climax and dug his claws into Nico’s hips for better leverage.

It occurred to Nico, in the fading rush, that he was not the only one who might be affected by the addiction to more power like Dimitri warned.

But it was hard to think with his head full of golden energy. His body rocked with Sebastian’s thrusts, every plunge generating a new wave of power in his chest. He panted for breath, scrambling for a moment of clarity so he could think.

“Release me,” he demanded.

Sebastian snarled but otherwise didn’t answer. His body moved but there was no connection between them all of a sudden. Nico was just a hole that produced power as long as Sebastian filled it.

Nico lunged suddenly away. He only broke Sebastian’s hold with the surprise of it—and even then, not for long. Sebastian snagged Nico’s ankle and yanked him back to the edge. Nico flipped onto his back, tried to kick at Sebastian’s grip—but he stalled at the sight Sebastian made.

Nico realized he hadn’t actually seen Sebastian until now. The Shade had been too dark.

His skin was so pale it was almost translucent. His lips seemed extra red twisted into a growl and his fangs gleamed the same semi translucent white. His hair was blond. Or it had been. After so long without sunlight it looked more bronze.

But his eyes.

Dimitri’s eyes had been bright red with a black pupil. Intelligent. Predatory. Nico had mistaken them for contacts when they first met.

Sebastian’s eyes glowed gold from edge to edge. There was no iris or pupil. There was no white.

Only power.

And Nico realized Sebastian had lost himself in the power far more completely than Dimitri ever did.

“More,” Sebastian snarled. “Give me MORE!”

Sebastian yanked Nico by the ankle and leaned forward. His red cock was still stiff between his legs while Nico’s had gone soft on his hip. This wasn’t fun anymore.

Nico did a sit-up with Sebastian’s grip as leverage. He shoved his own arm into Sebastian’s mouth, intending to block him and get clear of the bed.

Sebastian bit him instead and hugged him closer.

Power swirled. Sebastian drank it down like Nico’s blood. Enough power, finally, that Nico felt the exact moment when Sebastian grew a second set of fangs.

They formed in his lower jaw and like a fresh pair of needles, they grew right into Nico’s skin and drew blood.

Nico gasped with unexpected pain. He gripped Sebastian’s hair with his free hand but had no hope of tearing him off. “Stop, Sebastian! You’re done!”

Sebastian just moaned, completely unresponsive.

Nico had to send a command he couldn’t ignore. He reached inside himself and opened the bond tied around his heart as wide as it would go. Power flooded through, but so did Nico’s orders. A compulsion.

Stop touching me.

Sebastian cried out as he obeyed. His arms unwound. He lifted his teeth from Nico’s flesh. He stepped back, away from the bed, which let Nico see that his cock was still hard and ready.

Stay there, Nico commanded.

Sebastian’s breath heaved and his eyes glowed gold. Nico was still full of power and he already knew the consequences of keeping it locked up inside. But feeding it to Sebastian was clearly out of the question. Who knew what more power would do to him. What if it wiped him out and he never recovered?

No, Nico had to figure out how to send the power to Dimitri alone. The bond in his heart didn’t feel like two ties, only one. But maybe he hadn’t looked at it close enough.

Nico stepped back onto the center of the bed and dropped onto his knees. He sat back on his ankles, put his hands on his thighs, and closed his eyes to focus.

His body quivered with lingering sex. Sebastian’s claw marks stung. His thighs were slick.

He had to focus.

Nico took a deep breath and tried to remember Dimitri’s advice about meditation. He looked inside himself, feeling the shape of the bond around his heart. They manifested as an actual tangle of knots in his mind’s eye. At first he couldn’t see anything but the tangle. He pushed a little power down the bond—tried to ignore Sebastian’s gasp of pleasure—to make sense of how it worked, but the whole thing lit up like a lightbulb. Too bright to see.

He had to dim things down. He tried to tighten the open connection, narrow it like a pipe. The knotwork dimmed. And as Nico pulsed trickles of power through it, he could see where the ties split into two and flew off toward his vampires. One toward Sebastian, the other, more distantly, toward Dimitri.

He closed the channel to Sebastian, squeezed it down until the power couldn’t fit. Until his direct thoughts wouldn’t fit, either. Only his emotions.

Then he opened Dimitri’s connection and dumped the golden flood down to him in a steady, continuous stream.

Nico opened his eyes. Holding one bond closed and the other open was a lot like rubbing his belly and patting his head. It was weird, but only through unfamiliarity. He’d get the hang of it.

Sebastian stood at the edge of the bed, his condition unchanged. Golden eyes fixed on Nico. Breath hard. Body ready.

“Does my power make you hard, Sebastian?” Nico asked.

Sebastian let out a breath. “Yes, Sire.”

“Do you think you can come without being touched? With my power alone?” Nico saved that idea for later, when he wasn’t trying to talk a vampire off the edge.

Sebastian swayed. He aborted a movement to touch himself. His cock leaked precum. “Yes, Sire.”

“Do you want to come, Sebastian?”

“Yes, please…. Please.”

Anything for more power. Nico stared hard at the unthinking thing Sebastian had become and seared the image into his brain. He was responsible for this. He needed to prevent it from happening again.

“You don’t get to climax.” Nico said.

Sebastian’s eyes flew open wide. He tried to glare. His awareness was starting to clarify, bringing confusion with it. The light in his eyes dimmed.

“You lost control of yourself,” Nico explained. “I said you could have power until I came, but when I came you tried to keep taking power.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened. The glow snuffed out all at once and Nico saw Sebastian actually had very pale red eyes. They were beautiful.

Sebastian bowed his head and when nothing prevented him from doing so, went down before Nico on one knee. His cock bobbed at the motion but he expertly ignored it. “Sire, my power is yours to consume.”

That was interesting to know. Nico let Sebastian stay kneeling for only a heartbeat. “Your power is yours to keep. I won’t punish you by causing weakness. You’re simply not allowed to come today. Understand?”

“Yes, Sire.”

“Good. Stand.” Most of the power Nico had generated drained out of him toward Dimitri. The last dregs of it he diverted to Sebastian who’s eyes flew up to meet his. Nico smirked. “I said you couldn’t come. I reserve the right to test you.”

Sebastian’s eyes glittered with the challenge. “Yes, sire.”

“Now,” Nico said, sliding off the bed. “Where the hell did you bring us?”