Bonedust

sides, leaving red welts in their wake.
    Gabe forced himself to breath, to remain calm despite the panic screaming in his head, screaming for release. This couldn’t happen. Urban was going to protect him. Urban was there. Oh, Goddess… “Did you hurt him?” he bit out, straining against the shackles. He bounced back onto the red silk sheets and twisted. “You better not’ve laid a fucking hand on him—” His head snapped back as Jeremie slapped him.
    “You have no right to talk to me in that tone,” Jeremie replied coldly. “I’ve given you everything a slave could want—a warm place to stay, fine clothes, good food.”
    “I’m still a fucking slave ! At the end of the day, you bind me and fuck me like I’m some sort of sex toy!” His skin prickled with heat and he thrashed on the bed, kicking out with a leg. Jeremie caught it and pinned it to the bed, claws sinking in. Gabriel refused to wince. He would not sit here and become a vampire. He would die first.
    “At the end of the day, I still bought you. You’re mine. You will be mine forever.” Emotion flickered in garnet eyes as he stroked his hands feather light down Gabe’s abdomen. “And you can’t do a thing about it.”
    “I may not be able to stake you, master, but I can sure as hell stake myself.”
    “I won’t give you the option!”
    “What, are you going to keep me shackled to a fucking bed?”
    “If that’s what it takes. Gabriel. Gabe… Listen to the voice of reason. You’re mine. Just accept it. You will never find anything better than me.”
    Gabe couldn’t help the derisive snort that burst free. “I’ve had better than you. He was more than better than you…”
    Fury lit the vamp’s eyes. “I’ll kill him. I’ll hunt him down and shear off his scales with a hot blade. I’ll make him beg for me to kill him.” He smirked, cold and heartless. “And it will be you who does the finishing blow. Because he’ll be in too much pain. Because you’re a pussy and won’t be able to see your lover suffer.” He hissed the word between his fangs, then pulled a long, sterling blade from the bedside table. “You’re mine, Gabe. You’re mine and you’ll always be mine.”
    Fire lit across his chest as the vampire began to carve into his flesh with the knife. He bit back a cry, but he’d had worse—pain he could endure. It was the sick satisfaction on Jeremie’s face that he couldn’t stand to see. Pressing his eyes shut, he ground his teeth together as Jeremie began to explain the process that he would put him through. The process to Change him to a vampire, to an immortal.
    He raised the blade to his hand, finished with Gabriel’s chest, and readied to nick a vein so that he could force-feed Gabriel his blood. Gabriel spit at the man. Jeremie snarled and yanked his head to the side, hard.
    And then Gabriel couldn’t believe his eyes.
    The door swung open and Urban burst through, a stake in his grip and a fire burning in his eyes, a hatred gleaming so wickedly that it sent goose bumps down Gabe’s arms. No! He couldn’t be here! Couldn’t watch this. He opened his mouth, Urban’s name at the tip of his tongue as Jeremie reached and grabbed Urban’s arm, slamming it and the stake against the wall. There was a sickening crack of bone and Urban buckled with a cry.
    “Nice try, snake. But you’re just in time…”
    Gabriel began to scream, his words unintelligible as he strained at his bonds. Please, Halcion! But the goddess didn’t hear his pleas. Jeremie hauled Urban up to greet him. He pinned him against the wall, a smirk on his face.
    “It’s a shame. You are a pretty thing…” Jeremie gave a half shrug, then wrapped his hand in Urban’s hair and yanked his head back. His throat glimmered with scales, but Jeremis’ fangs were already sunken deep, blood billowing out around them. Gabriel shrieked until his voice was hoarse, his heart thundering and aching and it felt like murder.
    Jeremie pulled away. “Oh, delicious. Maybe I won’t be able to stop.” He smirked coldly. “Keep screaming—it’s a nice serenade to my meal.” He continued to feed and Gabriel bit back his cries, tears bursting unbidden.
    “Please. Let him go.” Urban’s knees buckled, the man sliding slowly to the ground. Being drained dry. Gabriel struggled. “Jeremie! Please, let him be! He didn’t do anything to deserve this! You want me, remember? Come here you fucking bastard!” he shrieked, shaking and helpless as he