It definitely didn’t look like a brothel when the driver reached the main courtyard and dropped us outside. It was a huge stone mansion, with ivy sweeping the walls.
Hans took my hand in his to help me from my seat. He didn’t need to knock at the huge wooden entrance to the manor as the cab pulled away, as a butler was already there to bid us entry.
“This is Katherine,” Hans said. “She’ll be new to the establishment, firmly accompanied by me.”
“Of course, Mr Weyer,” the butler replied. “Please, do inform me if you need any assistance. Welcome to St Louis, Katherine. Very pleased to meet you.”
“And you,” I said, then spotted the clotted wounds on his neck above his shirt collar.
So, the butler was a blood player too.
“Only occasionally,” Hans said as we walked away. “Devon is one of the least addicted players here, which is a good job, considering he’s the one who manages entry.”
“He’s still an addict, though?”
I looked up at the huge sweep of a hallway around us, with open staircases ascending on both sides. There were huge, sparkling chandeliers and a plush, deep-red rug over the mosaic floor tiles. It felt like we’d stepped back in time.
Hans answered my question about the butler.
“I’ve never known anyone not become a player once they’ve received a decent bite. People are generally addicted as soon as they feel the force of the fangs. Devon was one of them.”
I remembered the intense feeling of pleasure from my own experience. It gave me a fresh round of tingles, right where they fluttered the most. I knew my thighs were already clammy under my dress.
Hans read my body as well as my mind.
“I can’t wait to feel how desperate your pussy is,” he said and one fang glinted when he smirked. My pussy clenched for him. Talk about needy. “But first, let’s get started on the formalities. Let me introduce you to some of my acquaintances. I’m sure you’ll be very pleased to meet them.”
Best be quick or I’ll be coming on the spot in front of them, I thought.
Very funny, his thought came back.
He led me into a huge drawing room off to the side of the hallway. The far walls were lined with bookshelves filled with leather bound books, and clusters of antique chairs graced the room. I’d pictured a scene from a movie where a club full of vampires were dancing around together covered in blood, but instead there were just a few small groups of people.
They turned to face us and Hans greeted them with a raised hand before leading me over to the nearest group.
It took me aback when he introduced me to the first of the figures. A beautiful guy with long dark hair, dressed in a tux with a ruffled white shirt. He shook Hans’ hand firmly, and their smiles for each other were warm and genuine.
“Katherine, this is Edwin,” Hans told me. “Edwin, this is Katherine.”
Edwin, the aristocrat who’d made Hans a vampire?
I don’t know why I was so surprised that he looked like a man in his late twenties, tops. I’d expected him to be a grand old Lord in his seventies or something.
Again.Expect the unexpected.
Edwin took my hand and kissed my knuckles and I swear my whole body fluttered and my heels lifted from the floor. I couldn’t stop the sigh that left my open mouth when he let go.
The man was… powerful. Hot and powerful. I could imagine Hans kissing him. Fucking him.
“Lovely to meet you, Katherine,” Edwin said, “and yes. I’ve known Hans for a long, long time. I’m very honoured to have enabled his transition.”
Could he read my mind, too? Could I read his, if I tried?
“I’m forever in your debt,” Hans said, then introduced me to a woman to the side of Edwin.
She was a stunning creature in a dazzling white dress, who looked to be in her fifties, with her hair up in a bun highlighted by a sapphire hair clip.
“Lady Jane,” Hans said. “Lovely to see you.”