In the world of vampires, it seemed red meant no pain, yellow meant a little pain, and green meant no limits, full speed ahead.
And she didn’t miss the fact that she was the only person in the room holding a red sign.
To her left was a bison shifter built like a mountain, arms thick as fence posts. Then a moose shifter with solemn, dark eyes and long lashes. Several bears, then a silent lion with a military bearing. And just past him, Toby the deer shifter.
On Emmy’s right were the lightest-weight animals, with Felix sandwiched between her and Rhea. How odd was it that the three friends were together? The end of the line meets the beginning of the line. Not an ouroboros, just a simple circle, joining at the ends.
And all three levels between them, so three different colored signs.
Emmy considered how they were lined up, thinking it would’ve been smart to have the predators together and the prey together, except some animals are both — snakes eatsmaller mammals but are also eaten by predatory birds, for instance.
So in the end, she’d have probably sorted them this way as well, by weight first, then color coded by pain level, with a sign showing the specific animal flavor.
Still, it felt ridiculous, like she was on a retail shelf display. A product being shown as an asset to be sold. Or an available flavor to choose from on the buffet.
She heard sounds outside the door, then the outer door opened, and the inner door. With both open at once, cold air flowed in, and then the scent of the vampires hit her senses.
None were attempting to appear human, so they all glided rather than walked. Some stepped closer to her and sniffed, others stood and stared at her a handful of seconds before moving on. Several made more than one trip around, others made one circuit and then descended to the underground.
None had luggage. Everything had been sent ahead for them. A few had a small bag over their shoulder, which told her they hadn’t brought a daywalker companion, since any humans or shifters on the flight would be brought on later SUV trips, and they’d bring the carry-ons.
And nearly everyone paid more attention to her than the others despite her red sign. Some smiled faintly. Some licked their lips.
Eventually, only a dozen vampires remained, circling and making notes either on their phone or an old-style paper notepad.
Two vampires stood in front of her and looked up her per-hour fee, agreeing to hire her for an hour and split the cost.
On the one hand, she was happy for the extra money, but on the other, she wasn’t certain how she felt about just being something they could rent. A thing on the menu. The buffet imagery hit her again, and she looked to her right to see three vampires standing in front of Felix, making bets on how many ejaculatory orgasms he’d have before he dried up and release became yet another painful ordeal — and how many hours they’d have to rent him to be certain they had enough time to get him there and then make him keep having the kind of orgasms that would make him cry.
When the last vampire finally took the stairwell down nearly forty minutes later, the flock made their way to their rooms to take the extra layers off, and then to the theatre to be transformed for the first ball of the season — Dante’s Hell.
No costumes for this one — they’d all be nude from the start. Some wore a robe or oversized shirt to climb the stairs, but Emmy didn’t bother with clothes and went up naked.
The theater floor was set up with stations that made it look like a demented salon. Spence was at the door, and he told her which station to go to. Two people waited, one sitting on the salon chair, the other sitting on a low table. They both stood when she stopped in front of them, and her nose told her the woman was one of the larger bears, and the man a wolf.
“If you’re Emmy, then have a seat,” the man told her. “I’m J.B. and this is Delilah. She’ll get started dyeing your feet while I do your hair, which is just lovely.”
The theatre was a little warmer, so she wasn’t cold, but her skin still pebbled at the first brush of dye. The sensation, of course, but also the awareness of what this was building up to — being on display, part of the scenery, and then being used, fucked, and fed from.
The anticipation threaded through her like heat lightning before a storm, and she breathed through it to calm herself while Delilah moved up from the soles of her feet to work on the top.
“I’m assuming the belly-button piercing is kept open with silver in the ring?” Delilah asked.
“Yeah. I can rub the dye in around it, so you don’t burn yourself,” Emmy told her, since Delilah brushed it on but then used her fingers here and there to smudge it just right.
“No, I’ll be fine with the brush. Do you have to remove it to have sex with shifters and vampires?”
“Most vampires just fuck me from behind, rather than admit they don’t want to get too close to it. Some of the stronger ones do it from the front just to prove a point. When I’m not being paid for sex, I’m the sadist, so the little masochists have to put up with it. I’m careful with the ones most susceptible, but since most prey isn’t bothered by it, my most frequent sexual partner is fine.”
She watched in the mirror as J.B. French braided her hair around her face, weaving horns into it above her temples. By the time he’d curled the back, keeping it long and loose butaway from her face, it was time for her to move to the table, flat on her back with her legs in stirrups so Delilah could do her inner thighs, and then shave her pubes before painting her pussy lips.
Fuck, but her body didn’t understand it wasn’t time to get all expectant and horny yet and her cunt pulsed like it was being summoned — and the press of fingers after the tease of the brush wasn’t helping.
J.B. had someone else in the salon chair now, so it was just her and Delilah, who dyed her front all the way up to her boobs, and then had her stand and bend over the table so she could paint her butt and back. Eventually, she was seated in a chair again, where a human who’d been flown up just for the night to do makeup worked on her upper chest, neck, and face with a red and orange base to match her body, and then tons of eyeliner, lipstick, and deep red contour.
And when they finished, Emmy didn’t recognize herself in the mirror.
She was pretty happy about the small white ONE temporary tattoo on her forehead, though. She turned and saw the second one on the top outside edge of her left ass cheek, so the vampires could see it from both sides. It was comforting, knowing she wore a sign that said, “Fuck me but don’t hurt me.”
