Shadow Boxing Read online

  “Don’t touch her!” Tarin growled at him, looking at Shaye for the first time since he’d entered into the kitchen.

  Shaye threw up his hands. “Sorry.” He uttered, utterly not sorry at all.

  “Give me a condom.” Tarin directed at him as he slowed his pace down, while Shaye searched his being for a condom. Tarin half pulled out and held himself still within me as he snatched the condom packet out of Shaye’s hand.

  “You’re welcome.” Shaye muttered sarcastically. “Both of you.” He said turning and walking to the fridge as Tarin pulled out of me completely and I began to lower my legs.

  “Uh-uh.” Tarin smoothed the condom onto his cock and indicated I should lift my legs back up in the air where they had been. “You can wrap those legs around me.” He husked lining up to slowly thrust back into me again. “Because it is the only place they are going.” And we picked up our pace again as Shaye apparently found something to drink behind me.

  We both ignored him and focused again on each other and the driving forces that kept winding us up together, again and again. I began to think we were made for each other, specifically, because how had no one else ever made me feel this wanton madness before that was just bursting to sweep me over each time Tarin was inside me?

  I could tell Tarin was trying to keep himself in control, that he needed to be with me, like this, more and more. That was why the change in him, the softness in his personality, and approach with me. He was hooked on me as much as I was on him.

  I panted as my orgasm crested with the speed picking up of his hips banging into me. The stool rattled and I tilted dangerously off balance. “I got you.” Tarin said between breaths as he picked me up and lifted me completely onto his cock and I wrapped my legs around him, locking my ankles around his back. We both cried out at the change of angle and the depth of pleasure it brought us.

  Tarin moved me to the bench top and again we picked up our pace, returning to a fucking frenzy that was guaranteed to make me come first and foremost while Tarin took longer to complete his orgasm. I put one hand to his face and cupped it before pulling myself onto his full length again and going in for a kiss on his open mouth.

  “I want you too.” I uttered heatedly against his mouth, “All of you” causing him to loose control as his jerked, coming hard in me. My mouth burying any sound from his mouth as I sucked it down in a desperate kiss of long held need.

  We bid farewell to Shaye and Tarin picked me up and carried me in his arms into a spare guest room, were we decided to retire for the evening. Pulling back the covers, I dropped the bathrobe and slid under the covers and watched as Tarin, joined me, and pulled me in close to him again. The feel of his skin against mine was what I though pure contentment must be like.

  I was such a sucker, enjoying every moment of him, and craving the little touches of our bodies against one another, of chaste kisses more than anything else. We fell asleep wrapped around one another.

  Tarin with an arm, a leg and some blonde tidal wave of hair over me. I found myself going to sleep, smiling with how lucky I felt, how wanted I knew I was and how contented I was to be where I was, with the man I loved.

  Loved. That was the thought that let me drift to sleep. But it wasn’t the one that woke me.

  9

  I awoke startled, jerking awake against Tarin’s body. But if he was startled by my violent awakening, he didn’t show it, or say anything about it. I realized, too late, why that was as I looked over my shoulder at him, he was already awake and sitting half upright, one arm still draped heavily over me, glaring down the bed at the figure who stood at the end of it.

  “Put these on.” Shaye’s vampire fuck buddy said throwing clothes at us.

  “Tarin,” I muttered softly.

  “Glare me to death will you? Vampire, look up ways to actually kill me.” She threw jeans at Tarin’s head. Tarin caught the material before it got near his face. “Now get dressed and let’s go!” She walked to the door and waited for us to get out of the bed, glancing out the doorway every few seconds.

  “Tarin,” I hissed at him softly.

  “Seems we’re being summoned. It’s all rather civilized Katelyn.” Tarin replied clearly angered by the intruding vampire woman in the bedroom.

  “Tarin,” I snapped in a loud whisper. “You could take her, why the fuck are we doing what she wants?” I asked sliding my own jeans on over my legs.

  “Because you want to end this right?” Tarin muttered glancing at the vampire blonde and placing a kiss on my forehead “And so do I, for us.” He held my face in his hands and looked into my eyes as he spoke.

  It should have reassured me. Made me feel safe and secure that the man I loved, had my back and wanted us to be able to be together without fear of kidnapping or run-ins. Instead, what the look he gave me did, was set off a little red flag internal warning system within me.

  The blonde vampire woman looked back at us both, satisfied we were dressed enough she jerked her head.

  “Let’s go!”

  It seemed to me like there was an urgency to her getting us out of the room and I wasn’t sure I believed what Tarin said. I just didn’t see why he would comply with a vampire. That was the problem, given how much he’d made it clear to me he hated them. So I stayed still when he took two steps forward. He turned to look back at me and the vampire blonde bared her fangs unhappily at me.

  “Don’t make me come and get you.”

  “Katelyn?”

  “Why the hell would you do anything a vampire asked of you?” I asked him suspiciously. “You, vampire, they two do not mix. Remember?”

  “Katelyn, I just told you, we can end this.” Tarin said exasperated with me.

  “But you don’t know that.” I said back at him. “She was fucking your brother a few hours ago, other than that, how do you know she is related to anything that has happened to either of us? So why would you willingly go anywhere with an unknown vampire as opposed to just any vampire, anyway?” Tarin straightened up and I watched him tense slightly as he took in a deep breath. Was he in coo-hoots with this fanged bitch?

  A sense of dread began to fill me. How could I let him do this to me, again? Dupe me so convincingly. Did I lack all manner of brain power when I was around Tarin? I took a step back as he stepped towards me and held up a hand. “Do not lie to me demon.” The vampire chuckled at our domestic and we both looked over at her.

  “Don’t blame the shadow demon,” She smiled viciously at me. “They can’t help it, it’s who they are.”

  “Ignore her, it’s not who you are Tarin. You’ve shown me who you are, so think very carefully before you answer me.” I instructed as the vampire woman looked on bored.

  “Who cares!” She said while Tarin and I stared at each other. “The clock is ticking and there is no time for whatever you think you have with him. Now, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this my way. Please, tell me you want my way, because I am twitching to damage you.” The vampire said towards us and I couldn’t tell if she meant me or Tarin. He still hadn’t broken eye contact with me. Nor answered me.

  “Oh we are going to do this the hard way, one way or another.” I muttered waiting for Tarin to speak. “You don’t get to use me without paying a price Tarin. All my clients know that. Money upfront, sex second and anything else is extra and there’s an additional charge for that.”

  “What the fuck are you going on about?” the blonde woman said trying to interject into our Mexican stand off. “Hello? Vampire here, just said I’m going to tear you apart with my fangs.”

  “Doesn’t really phase me,” I replied back at her, whilst looking at Tarin. “Already died once in the last two weeks, been shot at and survived a unicorn wanting to assassinate me, so you’re so fucking down the scale of what to worry about love, that you’re not much more than a fucking insect to me right now.” I yelled turning on her. “So you want a fight, then come at me!”

  “Katelyn, don’t,” But Tarin didn’t get to finis
h the sentence as the vampire bitch flew at me. I mean, she flew, like blink and she was coming at me through the air, fangs bared and nails like talons extended, ready to shred me to fine little pieces of human paper. I’m pretty sure I looked terrified, because I felt terrified when I saw her blonde feral-ness flying towards me. I was in fact so terrified, I froze on the spot.

  She was almost upon me when Tarin side tackled her, leaping into her path and knocking her down to the ground with him. He was straddling her, and had his hands on either side of her head when I heard the crack as he twisted her head sharply to one side and the vampire stopped moving.

  Tarin got up off of her instantly and panting, walked over to me. “Come on, she’s not going to stay that way for long.”

  “What, dead?”

  “Vampire remember? Already dead, technically. All I did was paralyze her, temporarily.” Tarin explained grabbing my hand as we exited the bedroom quickly and hot footed it down the corridor. Stopping long enough to look inside Tarin’s bedroom doorway and see that Shaye Armadel was laying face down in his bed, in a very deep sleep.

  “He’s breathing, so he’s fine, she probably just drugged him.” I wasn’t worried about Tarin’s cavalier attitude for brushing off anything that may have happened to his brother, because there was still something wrong with the picture before us.

  I looked a little further into the room and then back at Tarin. “Where’s the other one?”

  “The other,”

  “The brunette he was eating out.” Tarin and I then both looked around us. “She might be working with the vampire.”

  “Well if she is, and the vampire is the muscle, wouldn’t that make her the,”

  “Get away driver.” I finished for him. I tried to recall if I’d seen a car parked out on the street beside Tarin’s mansion earlier on when we’d arrived. But I couldn’t recall, because I’d be too emotionally put out to do more than focus on feelings I didn’t understand.

  I looked Tarin in the eyes. “So this is where we can change the game, right here, right now. We can do this, you and I, together. But you have to be honest with me Tarin.”

  Tarin snorted. “You still don’t trust me! What the hell do I have to do to get it through your head Katelyn.”

  “Let me read you.” I replied solemnly and waited for any obvious tell sign from his expression to show. His face became blank and the mask Tarin wore for aloof, detachment, came firmly into place. I knew what that meant, but I waited to hear it from him anyway. This was the old Tarin I knew, the one I’d first met.

  “No.”

  I dropped my hand out of his. “Well that’s a deal breaker for me.”

  “A deal breaker?” Tarin repeated haughtily, before grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me after him.

  “Tarin!”

  “Katelyn, you cannot break deals with a shadow demon who has bound you in service to him!” Tarin yelled dragging me back down the corridor, towards the spare bedrooms.

  “What? What have you done to me?” I kept trying to unwrap his fingers from my wrist without any luck. What did he mean he’d bound me in service to him? Why was he doing this? I tried to dig my feet into the floorboards but all I did was slide along them, Tarin was by far stronger than I was when I wasn’t able to use my truth-sayer Asha’s abilities.

  He kept dragging me into one of the other bedrooms and closed the door behind him as he kept a tight grip, a somewhat painful one around my wrist. “Stop struggling.” He ground out against me as I tried ramming myself against him and pulling back violently, to absolutely no avail.

  “Let me go!” I screamed at him uselessly as I banged against his chest with my free arm. “Let me go!”

  “Katelyn,” Tarin said loudly as he grabbed my free, and violent arm and yanked it down beside my side.

  “Ugh!”

  “If I let you go, you have to promise to be calm so we can talk this out.”

  “Calm! Calm?” I yelled at him trying to twist and move my body to do something to get out of his hold on me. “You want me to be fucking calm when you’re not being honest and open with me and giving me no reason to fucking trust you! You’re a fucking demon who plays games because he likes seduction and deception! Calm! I’ll give you fucking calm!” I screamed at him, working myself up.

  “Okay, so be it.” Tarin replied slightly calmer than me as he let me go but pushed me backwards away from him so I staggered back a few steps, just enough for him to get a head start on leaving the room and closing and locking the door behind me, as I charged at it.

  “Fuck you!” I screamed hitting the door with my hands repeatedly. “Fuck you! Fuck you Tarin, you hear me? Fuck you!”

  “Katelyn, when you’ve calmed down, we’ll talk.” I heard Tarin say through the wooden door paneling back at me.

  “Let me the fuck out of here, you mother fucker!” I screeched turning my back on the door and leaning heavily against it and breathing heavily. Another fine situation I’d gotten myself into all because of Tarin Armadel. Sighing heavily and feeling like I was on the verge of tears, I slid down the door and put my head against my knees.

  It must have been around 15 minutes later when I heard Tarin’s voice again through the door.

  “Katelyn?”

  “Fuck you!” I yelled back at him and listened as his footsteps walked away from the room he’d locked me in. I got up off the ground and pushed away from the door. I didn’t want to be anywhere near him.

  10

  Mad, didn’t even begin to cover what I was feeling. I stood up and looked around the room and wondered what I should do. For fucksake he was supposed to love me! Not lock me up in a bedroom and conspire with his own enemy. What the hell was going on?

  The room he’d thrown me into looked neat. Clean and like any of the other spare guest rooms I’d seen, with one difference. This bedroom was on the eastern side of the eastern side of the house and it had a window. Walking over to it, and looking out, I felt hopelessness creep in.

  Any grand plans I was thinking of devising for escaping through it were cut short. The drop to the ground would break my ankles and since I didn’t know what was going on with the god like being Asha inside of me, I wasn’t sure I could relay on her to stop my ankles from breaking if I jumped.

  Sighing I plonked myself down on the king size bed in the room and put my head in my hands. What was I going to do?

  Tarin was Tarin and there was no changing his demon nature. Except, well, he seemed like a changed man from the man I’d initially met and gotten to know. But clearly there were still issues, for fuck-sakes he tried to kill me on our first date. Now, after two weeks of apparent, dating, he’d resorted to ganging up with his enemy to kidnap me and drag me off to some fucking vampire’s lair for god knows what reason.

  Except, that couldn’t be true could it? I was still in Tarin’s house, in Tarin’s company and I still wanted to believe him, I still wanted to be with him, in a very sexual sense. Shit what was wrong with me?

  “There’s nothing wrong with me. It’s what he’s done to me.” I grumbled out loud to the spare room. “Oh.” I looked up and a thought hit me hard. Maybe Tarin had done something to me after all.

  He had said to Arlow and again to me, just before in the hallway that he’d bound me in service to him, hadn’t he? What exactly did that mean?

  Was that why all this was happening to me, why vampires and unicorns were trying to grab me and kill me, why my truth-sayer abilities had now apparently fled me when I needed them the most?

  Had I used them up was that it? Could I even use them up if I housed another being, a god inside of me? It was all rather confusing.

  “Siphon. Siphoning. Peyton. She said I was siphoning off of Tarin. What if that’s a side affect from this binding and what if the other side of that side effect is his addiction comes on twice as strong as it would’ve otherwise come on because of me being a truth –sayer as opposed to any other type of paranormal being. Oh shit.”

  I wan
ted to speak to Peyton to find out if this is what her pervious snide comment had meant. But in order to do that I had to ask and face Tarin again and that just kept getting harder and harder to do. I was beginning to not like it, a lot.

  A brief knock at the door interrupted my thoughts and Tarin’s voice again calling out to me. I bit my lip from telling him to go fuck himself. As pissed off as I was with Tarin I was more in need of answers than anger, so I remained silent. Causing Tarin to unlock the door and open it, sticking his head around the door’s edge cautiously. He had a look on his face that seemed to suggest I might be armed and ready to throw something at him. Damn, if I’d only thought of that earlier.

  Tarin opened the door wider and stood just inside the room. “Katelyn,”

  I remained stony silent and glaring back at him. If he wanted us to talk then he would have to damn well work at starting it.

  “I want to apologize for how I treated you in throwing you in here.”

  “Is that all?” I snapped unable to help myself.

  Tarin puts his hands behind his back and remains calm and very controlled before me. “No that is not all. I was rather hoping you’d become a bit more civilized and were willing to be open to hearing me out, if not talking to me completely. But I can see you’re still unhappy about our current situation.”

  “And what exactly is our current situation Tarin?” I threw back at him allowing him to get a true sense of my hostility towards him.

  Tarin sighed and scratched his forehead. “Our current situation is you wish to break a contract with a Shadow Demon and that has consequences if you do. Consequences I’d rather not happen to you. So I’m attempting to keep you safe. I was hoping to talk some sort of reason into you from breaking our deal. But I can see that’s not going to happen now.”

  “What?” I was lucky my voice made it out of my throat because my voice sounded hoarse to my own ears. “What is going on here? What exactly have you done to me Tarin?”