Dark Needs (Tales of Dystopian Decadence Book 1) (9 page)

“Because…” Did I dare admit what I felt? What I thought? Make the foolish mistake of hoping our contract could ever be more than a social and sexual one? “Because it wasn’t you,” I finally whispered.

I felt his body tense behind me, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he rose to his feet, drawing me with him. We stepped out of the bathtub and I waited on the plush mat as he toweled me off from head to toe. The bathroom was my favorite retreat – it was cozier than the rest of the house and it seemed to be the one place I could forgot about politics and plotting. Icharus wrapped a dark red towel around me and another around his waist. The black tile floor felt smooth and cool beneath my feet as I followed him to the door. He turned to me when we reached the bed.

“Adette,” he said, reaching up to cup my face between his hands. “I will never share you again. I did it once – just once – partially to put on a show for one of the Regime’s powerful lackeys, but mostly to let you know I mean every word I say to you. I will not let you take the blame for what we must do and, yes, we must do it, because without the DeVille family financing them, the Regime will begin to crumble. Ours is not the only money they rely upon, but when those who sympathize with the Constitutionals see that they have lost one of their main supporters, that may encourage others to fight back. We could start a real revolution, Adette.”

A shiver ran through me from head to toe and I tried to retreat from him, but he lowered his hands to my shoulders and pulled me closer. “This is an important task and you have to know my heart is in the right place. You
have
to.”

He sounded some emphatic, my heart skipped a beat. In that moment, I was so close to telling him how much I wanted him, how my feelings toward him were softening, opening.

Instead, I swallowed and nodded. “I understand. I won’t let you down.”

His forehead creased. “You could never let me down,” he said. “No matter what happens, Adette, we are in this together.”

Chapter 10

It seemed odd to go outside just for the sake of walking, but that is what Icharus brought me to do the next day. “You’ve never gone hiking?” He looked at me, his eyebrows arched in disbelief.

“Well, it’s not exactly something we do down in L.A.” I laced my black boots on my feet and straightened to clip my dark hair back off my face and shoulders. “You know what it’s like in the city. It can be dangerous out there.”

“Still, with all the privileges the school affords you, you never took trips elsewhere?”

“It’s not an elite primary school.” I rose to my feet and rolled my eyes at him. “St. Eden’s has one purpose, and that’s to teach us how to please men, usually while flat on our backs. There’s no time to hike hillside trails when you need to memorize the gossip columns, learn how to give head, or understand the nuances behind the gifts a man gives you.”

Icharus’s brow furrowed as he watched me. “That sounds so….”

“Repressive? It is.” I smoothed my pants over my legs and made sure my button-down shirt was tucked in. “Imagine your value only being in your ability to catch, please, and keep a man. Being a courtesan is basically putting a price on our pussy. Of course, we can be shopkeepers or seamstresses, but it still involves being subservient to the Regime, no matter what. That last time a woman held a position of power in government was before the president was overthrown by his own military.”

Icharus reached out to take my hand and bring it to his lips. “You deserve better than that,” he said.

“All of us deserve better than that,” I answered, “but the people who need to recognize that just don’t care about anything, except their own power.”

When Icharus reached up to caress my face, I couldn’t help but cover his hand with mine, to hold it in place, to lean into his touch. “I care about something else,” he said. Our lips met in an exquisite kiss – slow and deep and hungry. It was the first time we’d shared a kiss without moving to the bed after it. Though I hesitated to analyze it, I already knew.

It was a kiss of beginnings.

“Come with me and I will show you something special,” he whispered.

~****~

The walk was worth it. When we reached the reservoir, I stood and looked around in awe. From here, I could see the remnants of what had once been the “Hollywood” sign, the few standing letters charred along their edges. During the war so long ago, Regime forces targeted iconic monuments across America. The destruction hadn’t demoralized the Americans, but rallied them in defense of their country for a brief time. Ultimately, the Regime triumphed and we were left with the government under which all of us now lived in fear.

I gazed across the water at the sign and tried to imagine how it looked before the Regime got to it. There were no pictures of such sites as they once were. The Regime had gone so far as to burn all of the books they deemed “dangerous” to their rule. History as official government schools taught it gave names and dates, but everything was skewed in the Regime’s favor.

It was hard to believe anyone could overthrow our previous form of government, but once the military rose up under a charismatic leader who preached nationalistic ideals and instilled fear…

“It’s still beautiful,” I said, lifting my chin and looking over the long, green pine needles of the tree swaying in the breeze beside me. Trees surrounded the body of water, but didn’t obscure the views beyond. The water was clear and reflected the blue sky overhead.

“The story about the nuclear fallout is true.” Icharus knelt and pointed at the water. “But when it started to finally blow away, the Regime decided to use the coverage to their advantage. That’s when DeVille Enterprises created their machines, to keep L.A. in the dark. This is the one place anywhere near the city that has managed to remain pristine and untouched.”

I nodded toward the Hollywood sign. “Not really. They still managed to get to that.”

“I know, but the reservoir and the area around it – no one thought to destroy it. No one thinks something as simple as a hiking trail can be dangerous, but it is.”

“How so?” I watched Icharus straighten and pace along the water’s edge.

“Because this is a reminder of where we came from – this…” He indicated the hills and mountains on the horizon. “This was here before man and it will be here long after. The Regime can’t take it away, no matter what. They can cultivate a lavish charade above their fake smog machines and force everyone below us to scramble to survive, believing no one will ever see through them. But those who know and those who care will do something, and they will risk everything because they know all of this is greater than one man’s ambitions. This was once America, land of the free, and there are plenty of places to remind us of that.”

Icharus spread his arms wide and I tried not to laugh. His speech wasn’t particularly eloquent, but I understood his point. “Freedom,” I said, “because there are far more places to soar than we ever dreamed possible.” Approaching him, I took one of his arms and linked his elbow with mine. “They took away our history books, but they didn’t take away who we are or what brought us here.”

With a chuckle, he looked down at me. “I can never find the right words, but you do it well.” His shoulders lifted with a heavy sigh. “And I sure as hell won’t be another one of the Regime’s pawns.”

“I still don’t understand how you could be raised with all your privilege, but want to fight against it.”

“Don’t you?” Icharus sank down into the tall grass at the shoreline and I did the same, sitting cross-legged on the ground next to him. “Even as the daughter of the most celebrated courtesan in Los Angeles, you suffered Regime oppression firsthand. Your mother was one of the people who remembered what it was like to live in a world that was free and she tried to teach you about it. She showed you there was a different way – a better way. My mother…” He bowed his head and I saw tension grip his body.

“You don’t have to tell me. I just wondered,” I said, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder.

“No, I have to tell you.” He let out a long, shaky breath. “My mother was the same. She remembered our world as it once was and she hated everything my father stood for. Unfortunately, she married him hoping she could change him, but she couldn’t. She had a baby, hoping that would change him, but it didn’t.”

A soft breeze rustled the golden grasses along the water and I waited patiently as Icharus composed himself, gathered his thoughts, and found the strength to continue.

“For years she taught me the truth from contraband books she had managed to save from destruction. Even my father didn’t know about them – or so she thought. She tried so hard to be careful, but one day when I was fourteen, my father stormed into the library with the Regime’s own leader, Commander Korroziya. Before my mother could defend herself, my father shot her right in front of me. There was no imprisonment or trial – just instant death.”

As much as I didn’t want to make excuses, especially for DeVille, I said, “Perhaps he did it because his own life was in danger. Maybe it was a show of strength in front of Commander Korroziya. Maybe –” I felt a twinge of foolishness at the wildly optimistic thought that came to mind “he did it to protect you.”

“No.” Icharus compressed his lips as he shook his head. He raised his arm to rub it across his eyes, as if wiping away the tears could somehow also scrub away the awful memory of what he had seen at such a young age. “No, it was the commander who saved my life.”

“What?”

“My father turned the gun on me next, but Commander Korroziya told him not to do it. Then he walked up to me and told me he believed in mercy; that my mother had broken the law for teaching me the truth, but that I had done nothing wrong. He asked me to remember the kindness of the Regime and told me if I worked hard under my father, I would redeem myself. So here you see me now – such an exemplary citizen of the Regime, thanks to the commander’s mercy and my father’s kindness in removing me from the influence of a traitor like my mother.”

My heart breaking at the sound of the tears in his voice, I rose up to my knees and wrapped my arms around him. “Icharus,” I whispered, “I am so sorry for what they did to you.”

“Not as sorry as they will be for it,” he answered, wrapping his arms around me. “We have to do this together, stand strong against them and show them everything is about to change.”

“We’re just two people…”

He looked up at me, his dark eyes still shining with tears. “We’re just two people who can make a difference,” he said.

Chapter 11

“Are you ready?”

I turned and winked at Icharus. “What does it look like?”

He laughed. “It looks like you’re still in your underthings.”

“Then I’m not ready.” I turned back to the mirror and continued brushing my hair. The weeks had passed far too quickly for our liking, but here it was – the night we had both been preparing for. Even though I was the one who had to do the deed, I seemed more calm than Icharus as I told him, “We’ve got over an hour before the embassy ball. Try to relax.”

“I can’t relax. I’m too tense. Even after the other parties we’ve attended this month, I don’t feel ready for tonight.” He came up behind me and pressed his hands down on my shoulders. The light, clean scent of his cologne filled my senses and I leaned into his touch. “Do you know what would relieve my tension?” he whispered.

“Probably many things.” I couldn’t stop the low moan that drifted from my throat. It surprised me that during the past few weeks, I’d learned to love being in his presence. From his surprises to his voice to his touch, there wasn’t anything he could do that I didn’t like. I was no longer unsure of our alliance. He was no longer my enemy. In fact, I had never felt more secure in anything in my entire life. Not even when my mother had been alive.

Icharus was now everything to me.

His hands moved down the front of my body to the corset, then brushed over my breasts. “This needs to come off,” he growled. “In fact, everything needs to come off.”

As he unsnapped each of the buttons at the front of my corset, I said, “It’s a good thing I don’t need help getting dressed in this. Back in the old days, they used to lace these things tight and it took another person to do it. Can you imagine?”

“If this had laces, I would just cut this off you. These buttons are far worse.” His glare was full of concentration as he ran his finger down the front, working his way through each button.

I laughed despite his grumbling and rose as the corset fell away from my body. He pulled me against him and rolled the silky white panties down my thighs. “These have to go, too. I need to do something to you or I’m going to explode.”

Batting my eyelashes, I grasped the lapels of his jacket in my hands and said, “I have a feeling that’s a double entendre.”

“It isn’t. I need to fuck you or I’m going to spend the whole night on edge.” He pushed me toward the bed and said, “Get up there and kneel for me.”

Without a word of protest, I did as he commanded. After living in his home and spending each and every night with him, not to mention attending parties on his arm, I knew Icharus’s moods much better. If he said he wanted something, then he wanted it immediately. The headmistress told me one day over tea that we didn’t need words to strengthen our union. Icharus and I certainly enjoyed everything the other had to offer. But it was the words – the intimate details of our lives that we had shared and the empathy we had for each other – that truly bonded us together. I had refrained from telling the headmistress any details about what our “union” entailed, but I had a feeling she already knew it had leapt beyond business to pleasure, and perhaps something more.

I watched as he rummaged through the bedside table drawer and withdrew the pair of handcuffs, as well as a few other implements. Icharus walked around the bed and grasped my wrists, pulling them behind me. I arched my back to make it easier for him, and heard the snap of the handcuffs, then felt him tighten them until they bit into the flesh right above my hands. It was just painful enough to remind me the cuffs were there, but not so tight as to cut off my circulation.

I took a long, deep breath. “The sadist is in,” I murmured when he crossed back in front of me. This was not a side of him I saw often – the side that wanted something hard and fast, with very little play. It was always titillating when he brought pain into our scenes.

“If that’s what it takes to make me relax, yes.”  He picked something else up off the bedside table and held it out to me. “We’ll see just how much of a masochist you are.”

“That’s something the school never explored much,” I said and looked down at the nipple clamps as he affixed them to my breasts. Over time, I had also become less shy about watching his actions and returning his heated gaze when he was buried deep inside me. He tightened the clamps until I gasped, and then tightened them a bit more. “Oh,” I groaned, looking down at the small cogs around each of my nipples. The pressure forced my soft pink tips into hard, pouting buds that were sensitive to the touch. When Icharus lowered his face to my breasts, I held my breath in anticipation. He darted his tongue over one nipple, then the other. With each contact, my chest heaved toward him and a quiver shot through me.

Straightening and giving the chain a tug, Icharus grinned. “Does it hurt when I do that?” he asked. When I nodded, he said, “Good.  I wouldn’t mind putting you on display like this, in front of the right people. Of course, they wouldn’t get to touch you. Nobody gets to touch you but me.”

At his words, I felt a trickle of fluid run down my inner thigh. Icharus turned away to pick something else up and looked back at me with a mischievous smirk on his face. He knew what those words did to me…

“I’m going to have you begging soon,” he said.

“For what,” I asked in a breathy voice.

“More pain, more pleasure, and definitely a release.” He held up a long, thick vibrating wand and touched it to first one nipple, then the other. I felt my whole body shudder in response as pain and pleasure shot through me. The constant pressure on my nipples only intensified the sensations and I arched into the vibrator.

With deliberate slowness, Icharus ran the length of the wand along my abdomen and down to my legs, not even touching my crotch. For long, torturous minutes, he glided the vibrator up and down my inner thighs while avoiding my glistening pussy. He alternated this with tweaks to the chain connecting my painfully constricted nipples, and hard, steady bites on my shoulders and neck. I shuddered against him, especially when my breasts brushed against his suit. My tight nipples radiated throbbing agony throughout my entire body, while transmitting bliss as well.

He finally drifted the wand over my dripping cunt, lightly at first, and I moaned in frustration. With two fingers, he parted my lips, and gently pressed the tip to my clit. “Oh gods!” I cried, my hips thrusting toward him. The cruel smirk continued to curve the edges of his mouth as he played with me, teasing and bringing me to the edge, then drawing out my agony with licks to my tender nipples.

“Please,” I gasped as my hips worked back and forth, my body seeking relief from the intimate torment he was inflicting upon it.

“Please what?” he asked, pressing the full length of the wand against my wet pussy.

I gyrated and ground my hips against it, desperate to orgasm, only to have him pull it away once more. “Please fuck me!” I cried out in desperation. Of course, I knew Icharus. He wouldn’t do that. Not just yet. He would take his time and let the desire burn long and slow, before alleviating it.

Icharus bit at my shoulder and reached one hand up to pinch one of my imprisoned nipples, while keeping the vibrator pressed against my clit. I gasped and rode the device in response, until my entire body trembled with the orgasm that I had begged for, the release shattering through me.

Even before my panting and quivering subsided, he reached behind me to unlock the cuffs and shoved me onto my back. Before I could catch my breath, his tongue licked at my sensitive clit. “No, no, no,” I gasped, wriggling away from him. He gripped my thighs and continued the oral assault, first drilling his tongue into my needy hole, followed by long, hard suckling on my clit. He was merciless, eating my pussy as if he would never get enough, until I came again, my pelvis rocking me against his mouth.

Once again, he did not give me time to recover. My body still tingled with ecstatic sensation as Icharus drove himself between my legs, his rigid erection filling me in a single thrust. Already limp with pleasure, I could only take the hard cock driving into me, the pinprick of pain emanating from my sore nipples, the teeth clamped down on my throat like those of a rutting animal… I could only lie there as he took me fiercely, and cry out as another orgasm made my entire body quake with ecstasy.

Icharus shuddered as well and his entire body relaxed atop me. “That,” he muttered against my neck after a few heartbeats, “was just what I needed.”

~****~

The embassy ball was wall-to-wall madness and glamor, a sight most of the people of Los Angeles would never see other than in the black and white of newsprint. What I saw, of course, were the marble floors and glittering white walls of the embassy ballroom, with a full orchestra at one end playing for the couples dancing on the floor just below the stage. The partygoers waltzed in time with the strains of the music, and I closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying the familiar sound of Vivaldi’s
Spring
. Like language, classical music was something I adored. Then again, music was a language all its own, and I allowed my thoughts to drift with the lyrical notes.

When I opened my eyes again, I sipped my champagne and focused on the people around us, paying particular attention when Icharus introduced me to them. I knew he needed me to make as good an impression as ever, even if he intended to send me out of the country once the gruesome deed was done. The dark purple lace of my strapless evening gown stood out in the sea of black and white. Few ladies chose to wear color, but Icharus wanted me to stand out. I was not just representative of a DeVille coup. I was bait.

“So, son, I see you brought your prize to our little party.”

At the sound of Mr. DeVille’s voice, I pulled my silken wrap tighter around my arms. Both Icharus and I turned to face his father.

“Welcome to our soiree, Miss Johnstone.” The older man took my hand and I had no choice but to accept his cold touch, while quelling the shudder that threatened to run through me.

“It’s nice to see you again, Mr. DeVille,” I said, keeping my handshake loose. It took some effort not to simply turn and walk away or, worse yet, perform the deadly deed here and now. But I pasted a coy smile on my face and forced myself to remember my training, if not my manners. “You look even more dashing than your son,” I lied and let my forefinger trail over his palm when I reclaimed my hand from his.

“Of course I do,” he answered, his tone smug. “And you should really call me Aeron. There’s no need for us to be so formal with one another, especially tonight.”

I let my gaze rake his body and tried to look pleased by what I saw. “He has large shoes to fill,” I said when I returned my eyes to his. After that, I decided I had exhausted my ability to flatter him. If I had to step up my game to tempt him into a liaison, I was going to need at least a few drinks in me to make the façade more convincing.

As Icharus turned to shake hands with another guest, Mr. DeVille sidled up to me and murmured, “In many ways,” in my ear, before turning to pluck a glass of champagne off a tray as a server walked by. “If you care to find out more, you could meet me in the billiard room in five minutes.”

Well, he certainly had made it easy. Icharus was right, not that I was learning something I hadn’t known before – his father was a vile man. I kept my gaze focused on a point across the room and raised my own glass to my lips for a sip before replying in an undertone, “I’ll see what I can do, Aeron.”

Once he walked away, I caught Icharus’s eyes and gave him a nod. He turned and continued speaking to the woman next to him, sending her into peals of laughter. After another moment, I edged out of sight, and then threaded my way through the crowd until I was in the hall. A casual stroll along it showed the billiard room to my right, and I walked in and studied one of the paintings on the wall.

After a few tense moments passed, I heard the door close and latch behind me.

I turned around and said, “So, Mr. DeVille, I’m surprised by you. I thought I didn’t live up to your lofty expectations. You’ve made that perfectly clear every time we’ve met in public.”

“Yes, but now we are in private, Miss Johnstone, and I have a feeling you can give me exactly what I need.” He crossed the room and gripped my upper arms, his long fingers digging into them so hard, I was sure he would leave bruises.

So much for playing the brazen seductress. He wasn’t interested in my consent. He was only interested in violating what belonged to his son and to his former mistress.
Twisted fuck, indeed.

“That is,” he continued, “if that school hasn’t trained all the fight out of you.”

“Oh, trust me, it hasn’t,” I said through gritted teeth. “Perhaps I can interest you in a drink first? There’s nothing like a brandy to release inhibitions.”

“I’ve yet to meet a woman who isn’t averse to at least something I demand, no matter what she drinks.” His fingers tightened on my flesh and I tried to push aside my rage. I just had to string him along a little more. He sneered down at me and hissed, “I usually just take what I want. I find drinking only serves to make whores like you more acquiescent, and that’s no fun.”

“Really, Mr. DeVille!” I cried, struggling in his grip. “I did not expect this when you proposed a… a meeting!”

“Didn’t you? What did you think you would do – seduce me and then enjoy yourself, before going back to the party? That would be no fun for me.” He spun me around and shoved me against the billiard table. I barely managed to catch myself, my arms splayed to either side on the wooden rails. Mr. DeVille gripped the back of my neck to hold me in place, his hand clamping down so hard I coughed for breath. I heard clothing rustle behind me as he said, “Do feel free to fight back. No one will hear you or care once they realize what’s going on.”