Dedicated to

My eyes fluttered open as soon as they closed, but barely. They were no more than slits as I watched Duke lower me to the floor, his expression grim.

"I warned you," he croaked. "I didn't want to--"

Out of nowhere, a blur knocked him back between mine and Jo's beds, straddling him with a snarl.

"What the fuck have you done?" Aiden's voice shook with rage. "Huh? Answer me, you traitorous bastard!"

Aiden was hitting Duke. I couldn't see much besides his back--and the rise of his fist before it fell to collide with Duke--but I could hear the connection. The painfully loud smack of flesh striking flesh. The nauseating snap of bones breaking.

"Stop," my throat hurt. I couldn't stop coughing. "Aiden, please."

It was no use. My voice was so small from being choked that I may as well have been a gnat buzzing around.

I tried to reach out for something to throw at Aiden to get his attention, and snagged one of Jo's sneakers. With the whisper of a grunt, I chucked the shoe and got Aiden right in the butt cheek.

"Damnit, ow." He stopped to glance at me over his shoulder. "What?"

I swallowed, nearly crying out from how painful it was. "Not his fault," I paused, coughing yet again. "Influenced..."

Aiden froze, his turquoise eyes bulging. "What? That's impossible."

He looked down at Duke, who groaned, made a spitting noise, then coughed.

"Shit," Aiden scratched at his head. "Shit, Duke. Who did this?"

The question must have been rhetorical, because instead of waiting for an answer, Aiden got to his feet. "I have to fetch Lucius and Gabriel."

Fear widened my gaze, and I made myself speak. "Don't... leave."

How could he even think of leaving me alone with Duke after what just happened?

"I don't have a choice." Aiden squatted down to help me into a sitting position. "I can't carry both of you around the school; not without exposing what we are. And thanks to Gabriel's stupid electronics ban, I have no way to reach him."

We glanced over at Duke as he struggled to sit up, and I gasped.

Aiden had really done a number on him in a tremendously short amount of time.

His right eye was swollen shut, bloody from a small gash in his eyebrow. His left cheek was blaring red with a huge lump beginning to form along his jawline. Various spots on his handsome face were starting to bruise, including a particularly painful looking place on his forehead.

"He hasn't fed since he fed from you." Aiden mumbled, sounding crestfallen. "So it will be a while before he heals. You should be safe until I get back."

I cocked an eyebrow at him, mouthing, "should?"

He gave me the slightest of smirks, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Will. You will be safe. But, if you want an advantage..."

He took his hand off me to hold it palm side up. "...I can give you some of my blood."

Before I could protest, he bit into his own flesh until blood dripped down his chin. "Hurry before the wound closes."

I thought of Dean Lachlan giving me his blood the night before, what it had done to me. I had never felt so alive. So aroused. So strong.

But like a drug, vampire blood had it's pitfalls. It weakened my resolve, made me a slave to my urges, drove me to lose my virginity to Nero.

Yet in spite of all the negatives, I still wanted it.

"Come on, Audrey, you need this." Aiden held his hand out to me. "At least take a sip to heal your neck."

It was then, as my mouth watered and my throat went dry, that I realized I didn't merely want vampire blood. I craved it.

With a frantic heart and trembling hands, I took his proffered hand and drank.

~~~

Thankfully, I was able to control myself while drinking from Aiden. But now that he was gone, I could feel the Lust trying to overwhelm me.

"You're in control, Audrey." I repeated the mantra Aiden had said while feeding me. "You are in control."

I was pacing the room, trying to shake off the frenetic wave of energy racing through my body. I wanted to feed again, to fuck, to revel in primal satisfaction. And seeing Duke's bloody face wasn't doing my condition any favors.

"No, I can't." He suddenly mumbled, turning his head. "Please, do not make me--"

He groaned, his back arching off mine and Jo's end table. His teeth were gnashed, fangs elongated, his good eye screwed shut.

"Duke!" I ran to him and knelt between his legs. "Duke, talk to me. What's wrong?"

He turned his head from left to right, a blood-tinged tear escaping his eye. "They want me to feed from you to the point of near death, then they want me to bring you to the cave."

Duke abruptly slammed his fists to the floor, making me jump. "I don't want to, Audrey." He sobbed. "I do not want to harm you, but I can't... they're too strong."

"Shh, it's okay." I climbed up to straddle his lap and held his face in my hands. "Look--look at me, Duke. It's going to be okay."

I probably would have been safer holding a live bomb. It honestly was the smarter of the two scenarios, considering Duke nearly choked me to death moments earlier. But I wasn't afraid.

I couldn't afford to be. Not when Duke was suffering because of me.

"I can't," he shook his head vehemently. "If I see you, even just a glimpse, I'll--"

"You won't," I cut him off gently, running my fingers through his hair. "Take a deep breath, and look at me."

He obeyed, inhaling a shaky breath before easing an eye open.

"As your queen I hereby free you of the shackles on your mind." I said without realizing it. "You are now free of Influence. Your body and soul are your own again."

Where the everloving fuck did that come from?

Like a camera lens snapping a photo, Duke's eye flickered, and then his pupil dilated. He began gasping for air, frantically calling my name. "Audrey? Audrey! Gods, are you alright?"

He took my face in his hands, searching me for signs of distress.

"I'm sorry." He rasped, kissing the cheek he'd slapped earlier. "I'm so sorry."

Urgently, his lips moved from my cheek to my temple and back down again while he mumbled his apologies.

My heart was thundering in my chest, matching the throb pulsing between my legs. "Um, Duke."

I was panting, struggling to think. "Aiden gave me some of his blood, and I'm not really myself at the moment... ahhh."

He was kissing down my neck when one his fangs nipped at my flesh. I shivered in delight, and rubbed against him.

Groaning, he placed his hands at the small of my back, his fingers resting at the top of my ass, and hauled me closer.

His erection was lined up perfectly with my sex, his face inches away from my breasts. He pulled away a little to look up at me, licking his lips.

"You are wrong,"

I tilted my head to the side, confused.

"About my body and soul belonging to me." He elaborated softly, tucking a stray hair behind my ear. "Those things are not mine. They are yours. I am yours. That is, if you will have me."

Abruptly, his gaze turned down, as if in shame.

Moved by his words and his demeanor, I lifted his chin up toward my neck.

"Audrey," his grip on my ass tightened, his breathing came out rushed. "What are you--?"

"Please don't blame yourself for what you did." I was staring at the ceiling, body aching with need. "None of this would have happened if it wasn't for me. So please, let me make it up to you."

One of his hands slid up my back to cup the nape of my neck. Our chests were rising and falling in sync, arousal quickening our breathing.

Are you certain? He thought at me. If I should lose myself to the Lust you could die.

Instead of speaking, I leaned back to drag off my oversized t-shirt. I wasn't wearing a bra, which earned me an appreciative growl from Duke.

"Feed from me, Duke." I brushed his temple with my fingertips. "Please, let me help you."

He swallowed hard, glancing from my face to my throat.

Finally, he leaned in.

"My queen," he sighed. "Thank you."

And with that, his fangs sank gingerly into my neck.