Control, indeed. An illusion mere mortals dared not trust while in the presence of Pink, Pandora, and especially Perfidia; a concept that took on deadly meanings while dealing with the undead. I could only ascend behind her, sensing her revelations would leave me scarred and smarting long after I left this powerful house. I wondered if Billy would even have me, after the way I'd brought him here under false pretenses, and then watched helplessly as the Three P's caught him in their thrall.
Perfidia topped the stairs, which would bring us into the back corner of the pantry on the main floor. She reached for the doorknob-a formality for those of us who couldn't spirit ourselves through the polished panel of wood-but the door flew open with the force of a hurricane. There stood Pandora, looking lush and alluring in her fitted gown of black lace, yet her expression bespoke a warning I knew better than to ignore.
"I'll take over from here," she stated quietly. Although we were inside the house, her lace skirt shifted with the wind of her displeasure.
"I don't think so," Perfidia retorted, standing taller and sleeker in the face of this unexpected opposition. "We have always agreed that when Andrea found a man, we would transform him into a lover like no other, and I'm taking my turn."
"You're taking revenge," Pandora countered, "and in your unrested, unfed state, that becomes dangerous fare. Revenge is a dish best eaten cold."
The straw-blonde temptress tossed her head as though to step into the kitchen. "Andrea needs to know who her-"
"Andrea needs to know nothing but the love of a man who adores her."
The black-haired beauty gripped Perfidia's forearms, while all around us the air filled with little whirlwinds of an approaching storm. Pandora's raven hair rose around her face in coils like snakes, ready to strike whomever challenged her authority. In all my years, I'd never seen this witchy woman pull rank on her companions, but as the oldest and most powerful force among them, she demanded the compliance of her two sisters with a wicked strength that set them in their place.
I swallowed hard. If Perfidia's intentions had invoked Pandora's wrath on such a grand scale, then surely the secrets about to be revealed were the sort I could do without knowing. I had enough troubles, just trying to keep Billy out of the Magistrate's way until I could prove he hadn't killed Lucy. The currents of Pandora's personal whirlwind made me think Miss Legg's murder was an insignificant matter indeed, compared to whatever her paler partner wanted me to know.
"Go back to bed, Perfidia. Don't make me tell you twice."
The scorned blonde pivoted in place to flash her fangs at us-and then vaporized, like the effervescence of the champagne she resembled. The hissssss of her disappearance left no doubt in my mind that she'd be back, however, and that she'd take matters into her own unhallowed hands at a time when she could do me the most harm. I had never trusted or even liked Perfidia the way I'd taken to the other two ladies. I got that goose-bumpy feeling of being buried alive-lost beyond the reaches of even Pandora-as the atmosphere surrounding us settled down again.
"I'm sorry you two had to witness that," the lace-clad lady before us murmured. "At times like this, my powers bring me only sadness and regret."
Billy shifted beside me, as though he wondered if Pandora had nasty plans for him, as well. "So you really are…vampires?"
"Oh yes, Billy, make no mistake about who you're beholden to," she replied, her smile more toothy than usual. "And because you've discovered who we are, Perfidia's hackles are up. She's trying to protect us, to be sure-we haven't survived all these centuries by flaunting ourselves foolishly, you see."
Pandora stepped back to allow us entry, her expression waxing pensive. "Our omniscience weighs heavily upon us at times," she reflected. "Perfidia's past is perhaps more…pertinent to your situation than mine or Pink's, but that doesn't mean I'll let her ruin your future on a whim. With a flick of my little finger I can make the whole orphanage disappear, along with the children and the memories of those who abandoned them here. It will be as though we never existed, out here beyond Redemption."
What a mind-boggling concept! "And what will happen to you-to us-really?" I asked, reaching for the comfort of Billy's hand.
Pandora shrugged, causing her ample breasts to almost overflow the low, lacy bodice of her black gown. "We'll take up in a new place, with a new purpose. After a century or two, any town-and any reason to be there-can lose its charm."
Her obsidian gaze enveloped Billy's bare body as she said this, while one thin strap of her gown drifted coyly down her pale arm. With her raven hair falling about her shoulders, mussed and lovely, and her lips of devil red lifting into a bow-shaped smile, Pandora allowed her allure to settle over us. Such a temptress she was! Her lush breasts bulged slightly with her every breath as she pondered her options.
"Billy, my sweet," she murmured, widening her eyes to swallow him whole with her subtle power, "you are about to become the lover every female on earth secretly craves-a partner whose sole mission is to please his woman again and again. Miss Pink proved your prowess with that big dick, but I'll teach you to drive Andrea wild without it!"
With a puckish wink, she made Billy's member shrivel and cling to his body as though it feared being seen.
"What the-? How am I supposed to-?" Tripplehorn scooped his pitiful pecker into his palm to protect it, or perhaps to resuscitate it. "I don't know how you expect me to-"
"Ah, you see the crux of it now," the vampire crooned, and she turned to lead us through the back of the house. "It's never occurred to you, I know, but most women are expected to oblige their men under very similar circumstances-being taken when they're not the least bit interested, or before they've been properly aroused. Never forget this, Billy: every woman wants to be seduced. And there's no such thing as too much foreplay."
An impatient snort escaped him as we approached the back stairs. "So how am I supposed to seduce Andrea, when you've tied my cock in a knot?"
"See there? So focused on your own organ-your own needs-that you have no concept of ours." Pandora turned to us again, at the foot of the steps leading to the second-floor bedrooms. Her black lace gown slithered down her sleek form, rendering her as naked as we were yet oh, so much more irresistible! "Most men can only fantasize about fucking two beautiful women at once, so pay attention! You're about to live your wildest dreams!"
Before another heartbeat went by, she dipped her head and extended her tongue. My breath escaped me as the rough, pink tip of it shocked my nipple into jutting out for more-a ripe, aching berry to be plucked by those pearly incisors. While I was no stranger to female flirtation, I felt myself slipping into Pandora's thrall as surely as Billy already had. I moaned with need, falling against the wall to allow the vamp her way while Tripplehorn's hungry eyes feasted on us. My heart was pounding with the possibility that she might feed upon me, sipping slowly through each tiny puncture. Yet this thought only made me want her more.
Pandora smiled, letting her fingertips drift along the sensitive skin at my sides. I laughed with nervous need, thrusting my breasts into her face as my fingers found the warm scalp beneath her midnight hair. "Please-I-"
"See there?" the vampire challenged our observer. "Not a cock in sight, and Andrea's so wet and ready she'll explode with the slightest touch. If you're a good student-if you think you're deserving-I'll let you do the honors."