the landing. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw every head turned to watch her. A silent expectation. An intoxicating assurance.
She blew Nicolai a kiss and padded down the dimly lit hallway.
Each door was closed. All the chambers were occupied. She paused at one, bending her ear at the door to listen for the sounds of pleasuring. Only music and that was very faint. She rapped on the door and called out. “Time.”
Her deed bemused her. How did she know to act on such an impulse, except that perhaps her clairvoyance demanded it? A rustling behind the door confirmed she had been correct. Another client would soon be entering the room.
Scarlet went to the end of the hall. Her room was there. She reached out, turning the glass doorknob and stepped into her boudoir.
The possessions were familiar. A bureau heaped with ornamental jewellery, scarves, and lacy white shawls. Draped over the chair was her beaded gown. Next to it knee high satin boots. Hanging over the bed’s edge was a corset, thin white stockings, a garter belt and loose crotchless panties. Black roses hung from the bedposts and a garland of ivy adorned the headboard, a cloaked bat carved into the wood, one drop of painted blood hung from its fang.
Her sex twitched. Arousal invaded her every movement.
She slipped from her clothes and dressed. Her whole body was covered in satin, lace, and silk—all white. A long string of beads wound tightly round her neck. Her hair was covered with a fringed cap, gloves went to her elbows, rings on every finger, and earrings dangled to her shoulder. The corset pushed up her breasts, exposing her nipples, yet her midriff was covered. So too were her legs, thighs and hips, except the laced slit in the panties to give easy access.
Scarlet found her lipstick, running it tenderly over her top lip and then the bottom, a stark contrast to the white veiling her body. She spread the slit in her panties and painted those lips as well. She laughed. “Nicolai, dress me as your favourite doll and I will be your harlot forever.”
Forever.
She crawled over the bed, tensed her lithe body, and fell onto the cushions. She spread her legs to watch the door.
“Are you ready?”
She answered inside her head, where the question emanated. “Yes.”
A shadow flitted, not from the door but the balcony. Long curtains twitched in the breeze. A flash of white light bathed the night sky but no thunder rumbled.
Scarlet stretched her gloved arms over her head, gripping the latticed headboard. She arched, pushing her exposed nipples up. She spread her legs as far as humanly possible. The shadow crawled over the bottom of the bed. Hot breath was instantly on her sex. A finger was thrust into the silken wet while he savagely gnawed her painted lips, his face buried in her groin. She felt the smooth edge of teeth. The pinch of pain was sudden but dulled quickly, surrendering to what was the hot, wet luxury of his mouth. He suckled. The stockings pulled, the garter strained and she arched higher, twitching into the relentlessly vicious mouth.
Her arousal thickened. She reached her gloved fingers to touch his head, feel his hair, loosened, feathering her thighs. He moaned fiercely when she made contact. The vibrations reverberated into her clit. Heat upon heat gushed through her. Her body felt drenched, from the inside out, so fierce was the storm that broke.
“Scarlet,” he muttered. “My Scarlet wife has returned.”
Through the drunken haze that was her dulled senses she opened her arms to him.
“And you will never leave me.” Lace-veined eyes peered up at her as his tongue trailed a crooked path over the braided front of her corset. He bit one nipple then the other. Lips curled back, revealing his porcelain fangs. Fear couldn’t strike at her. Sexual vehemence was far too severe. She pushed one breast to him, a sacrifice, an offering to his unearthly craving.
He snatched at the strings of beads she wore, yanking them. The tiny orbs