Vampire Dreams Revamped (A Sons of Navarus Prequel) Read online

  VAMPIRE DREAMS REVAMPED

  (A Sons of Navarus Prequel)

  GABRIELLE BISSET

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2012 Gabrielle Bisset

  Cover Design: Talina Perkins

  Discover other titles by Gabrielle Bisset at Gabrielle Bisset: A Writer’s Blog

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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  A vampire for hundreds of years, Brandon Ridley is surrounded by others of his kind who enjoy their world to the fullest. Orgies, debauchery, and sensual delights leave him empty, though. What he wants is that one woman who will share his life.

  Homeless and without any family, Arden Stephens must live on the streets of mid 19th century London, never a safe place for a young woman. One night, as she is running for her life from an attacker, she is rescued by Brandon and offered a place in his home as his maid. Brandon is enchanted by Arden from the moment they meet and yearns to make her one of his kind.

  Nightly, he visits her in her sleep, preparing her for the night he will finally make her his own. For Arden, the wanton dreams she has about her handsome employer seduce her and each day when she wakes up, she finds herself more drawn to him. But love and desire aren't enough for Brandon to sire her. He must first obtain the approval of his own sire, an ancient vampire named Vasilije who has thwarted his chance for happiness before.

  But if Brandon can convince him, he may finally find the love he's been without for centuries.

  Chapter One

  London, 1850

  Brandon Ridley stood on the front steps of his sire's eighteenth century home waiting for the butler to answer. He shuffled his weight back and forth, impatient to get this evening done and over with. Since the night Vasilije had sired him, he'd been one of the few of his vampires to be required to stay nearby, basically at his beck and call at all times. Vasilije called it being one of his favorites. He called it burdensome on the best of nights.

  As the door opened, an elderly gentleman with a full head of steel grey hair peered around it and smiled. "Mr. Ridley, sir, it's a pleasure to see you. The master is expecting you."

  Walking past him, Brandon smiled in return. "Thank you, Stanton. How are you this evening?"

  He noted the weary look on his face and wondered what Vasilije's poor butler had been put through that night. A strait-laced Victorian man, he was for sure an odd fit with the most hedonistic pleasure seeker Brandon had ever encountered.

  "I am fine, sir. The master is in his parlor with his guests. May I take your coat?"

  Shaking his head, Brandon patted the man on the shoulder. "No, I don't plan on staying, Stanton. But thank you all the same."

  "As you wish, sir."

  The sweet smell of incense and opium hung in the air, and Brandon had to steady himself against the wood paneled wall outside the parlor as the heady fragrance hit him. It was going to be one of those nights.

  One step into the room confirmed this. The sounds of some exotic melody floated softly through the air from an instrument foreign to Brandon, mixing with the smoke and erotic smell of sex that permeated the parlor. On the red velvet sofa near the fireplace, his sire sat as if he held court with half a dozen naked women and men surrounding him. As he spoke, they hung on every word. Brandon didn't recognize any of them and studied each to determine whether they were vampire or human.

  Or something else. One never knew at Vasilije's.

  "Brandon! Come! Sit next to me."

  All six heads turned to see who had so easily supplanted them, and Brandon saw by the looks on their faces that they were disappointed. Dressed in his usual proper attire, he looked more like a solicitor than a reveler at the night's debauchery. As he took his place on the sofa next to Vasilije, they were dismissed with the mere wave of a hand and walked away sulking to find their own enjoyment.

  "We started without you," Vasilije said with a grin as he caressed his tongue over the razor sharp tips of his fangs.

  "That's quite all right. Did I miss anything?"

  His sire arched one eyebrow and leveled a penetrating stare at him. "You'd miss everything if it weren't for me, Brandon. You'd stay in that dreary house of yours with those dreary servants and drink your port. You're a vampire, not some boring widower waiting to die. Why don't you act like it?"

  "Why do you keep me around if you find me so boring? You have other favorites."

  Vasilije looked over Brandon's shoulder and smiled broadly. "I do. Here's one now."

  Turning, Brandon saw Delilah, another of his sire's favorites. Stunning, with long pale blond hair and a body that Brandon was sure must drive most men to complete distraction, Delilah was as vicious as Vasilije was decadent. And she hated him as much as he did her.

  "Brandon, I see you're wearing your coat. Leaving so soon? Too bad."

  Behind him, Brandon heard Vasilije's deep chuckle. Delilah was nothing if not consistent. From the moment Vasilije had sired her, she'd been jealous that he had others he preferred, even over her. If she thought she could get away with it, she would have staked all of Vasilije's favorites long ago.

  "Delilah. So nice to see you again."

  She sashayed past him and sat on Vasilije's lap. In some ways, she could look so innocent, like she did now as she twirled the ends of his jet black hair around her dainty fingertip. But just beneath the almost childlike surface was a nasty woman.

  "Vasilije, why did you want me here tonight?" he asked as he avoided Delilah's cold stare.

  "It's time you fed. I haven't seen you in weeks. And I feel like it's my duty as your sire to ensure you leave that house of yours every so often."

  He was right. It had been weeks since he'd fed from another vampire, and the lack of the blood of his own kind was beginning to take its toll. The fact that the opium nearby was having an effect on him already told him he better feed soon.

  Eyeing Delilah's attempts to distract Vasilije with her hand between his legs, Brandon stood to leave. He could go another night. "I can come back another time. You look engaged."

  "Not in the least. Delilah, go find something else to amuse yourself with until I'm ready." Vasilije roughly pushed her hand away from his crotch and tipped her over onto the sofa. "But don't make me come look for you, understand?"

  Just as the earlier half-dozen disappointed souls had moped away after being dismissed, Delilah left in a huff, but not without first shooting Brandon a nasty look. As Vasilije watched her leave, he chuckled again. "She's quite a spitfire, isn't she?"

  "She's a bitch, Vasilije. Plain and simple. You can sugar coat it all you like, but she's a bitch. And she'd stake me in a heartbeat if she thought you'd let her."

  Turning back to face Brandon, Vasilije held out his wrist as an offering. "She knows better. I've never staked any of my vampires before, but I'd make an exception for her if she even touched you."

  Brandon drew his fangs into his mouth and took hold of his sire's arm. Slowly, he sunk his teeth into the tender skin of his wrist and through the vein until the blood of the one who'd made him began to seep into his mouth. Even though he needed this to keep him connected to their world, he knew this was more for Vasilije than for him. For whatever reason, his sire preferred him above all others and this w
as never more true than when he was giving him blood. What had been an everyday occurrence for years was now often only a monthly event, but the pleasure it brought him was still as evident as the first time he'd given Brandon blood. He saw the look of pure satisfaction on Vasilije's face that he wore whenever he fed him, a look that had a touch of pride to it also. He enjoyed him, and although Brandon wasn't sure why, he accepted his sire's care, no matter how intrusive it became.

  His relationship with his sire was an odd one, but Brandon preferred to think of Vasilije as an older brother more than a creator. He could be cruel and vicious, sometimes even bordering on sadistic, but he knew no other vampire whose sire protected them more fiercely than Vasilije did him. They were as different as night and day, yet even after more than two hundred years, Brandon was still able to find something in him that he respected and even loved. He had given him this life, and for that alone, he should be thankful.

  What he hadn't given him was the chance to sire in a very long time. In that, he ruled Brandon's life with an iron hand. While his other favorites, even Delilah, had been given free reign to sire as long as Vasilije approved of the intended human, Brandon had been refused time and again for years. The result was that he was alone, as he had been for ages, while Vasilije and the rest of his vampires sired as often as he chose.

  When he finished, Brandon thanked Vasilije as he had every time he fed from him and moved to leave. Just thinking about how lonely his life was made him want to get away from the selfishness of those around him, none of whom were ever alone, it seemed.

  Vasilije's hand clamped down on Brandon's forearm. "No, I want you to stay. You never have any fun, and tonight I will make sure you will."

  Brandon had heard a command like this from his sire before and knew there was no chance of escaping what he had planned. There were worse things than a night of debauchery, he told himself. At any rate, this couldn't be worse than another night alone.

  Vasilije led the way up the stairs to a room on the second floor. Intended as a sitting room, it served an entirely different purpose this night. As he opened the door, he whispered, "I have some old friends here tonight. If you see something that you'd like, just say the word and it's yours, Brandon."

  What he saw was an orgy or something close to it. Against the walls were men whose faces he couldn't make out in the dim candlelight and an assortment of women around them. Some of the bodies were half-clothed, while others were completely naked. Brandon strained to recognize any of them from the doorway, but stepping into the room he saw a familiar face to his left.

  Vasilije's friend Terek, who Brandon had met a few times over the years, sat naked with five women positioned around him. Four massaged fragrant oil into his limbs, with a fifth in charge of oiling his torso. On an average night he appeared foreign, with his olive skin and green eyes that resembled dazzling emeralds, but as Brandon watched him now, he seemed like a Persian king surrounded by dutiful slaves who lived to serve only him.

  "Terek brought his women with him?" he asked Vasilije, who watched with a satisfied grin.

  "No, he doesn't expose them to this kind of behavior. They're his, not a show for the rest of us."

  Brandon stared for a minute more and watched for any sign of fangs. He saw none. "They're all human?"

  "Of course. But if he wants to sire them, they'll be added to the thousands he already has," Vasilije said matter-of-factly.

  The meaning of the statement wasn't lost on Brandon. Unlike him, Terek merely had to desire a human to be his and it was so. To have that kind of power must be incredible, Brandon thought to himself as he watched the women rub the softly scented oil into every inch of Terek's body. As a vampire turned in the mid-fourteenth century by a Muslim trader, Terek had spent a good portion of his life far away from the English world. Everything about him, from his looks to the way he carried himself to his hard, muscular body told of the exotic and powerful he'd encountered in his travels.

  Terek opened his eyes and noticed Brandon and Vasilije watching the erotic scene as it played out in front of them. A part of Brandon felt ashamed, as if he'd intruded on something private, but Terek's face remained placid as he sat there naked and fawned over.

  "Brandon's here to join us, Terek," Vasilije said with more than a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "I told him if he sees anything he wants, it's his."

  "All you have to do is say the word, and any of these women can be yours. I'm happy to share, Brandon," Terek said in a relaxed voice that betrayed no possessiveness at all.

  A dark haired woman began to slide her hands up and down his cock, and even Brandon had to admire what Terek had going for him. Larger than any other man in the room, he was impressive. The woman thought so too, it seemed, because after only a few seconds of rubbing oil on his shaft, she climbed on top of him and slid down his cock with a moan that went straight to Brandon's balls.

  As she began to ride him, Terek peeked around her shoulder and smiled. "You might like this one, Brandon."

  Vasilije seemed to enjoy the sight of Terek and the beautiful brunette, but motioning with his head, he said, "Let's keep going. There's someone else you know here."

  Passing by three more men he'd never met, Brandon saw sights common to Vasilije's parties. One man fucked a woman in the ass while the other two enjoyed another of his sire's favorites, Elizabeth. Quiet and far sweeter than Delilah, Elizabeth was Vasilije's equal in hedonism. Brandon had seen her take on more than two men at parties before, but each time he saw her she retained a charming, almost innocent look to her that never ceased to amaze him. As he walked by, she lifted her head from sucking one of the men's cocks and smiled as if to say hello.

  "What about Elizabeth?" Vasilije asked. "I've tried to have you taste her delights for years. You wouldn't regret it, dear Brandon. Trust me."

  As delightful as he was sure sex would be with her, Brandon silently begged off with a slow shake of his head. Vasilije would have to save that matchmaking for another time.

  "Now here's someone I know you'll remember."

  Brandon looked down on the floor to see a vampire named Thane with a woman in his arms as she fed from his neck. Far more his kind than Terek or Elizabeth, Thane had been made vampire in Tudor England. Less than a hundred years older than both Vasilije and Brandon, he had a youthful sense to him that carried an innocence rarely seen in vampires. He bore the outward appearance of a Victorian, proper and upright, as Brandon did, but there was something in his brown eyes that appeared hopeful and kind, and never had Brandon seen him anything but pleasant and jovial.

  Silently, Thane flashed him a look of recognition as the woman he'd just fed climbed onto his lap to fuck him. Innocence gave way to lust and as he walked away, Brandon saw even a vampire he considered to be much like himself had chosen to enjoy himself. Since Vasilije had decided he would too, maybe it was best to just give in.

  Stopping at an empty space on the floor, Vasilije pointed down toward three pillows. "Relax and have a good time, Brandon. I have just what you need."

  Brandon sat without a word, sure that any resistance would be futile. At least, he could be sure that whomever Vasilije offered him would be beautiful and willing. As he waited for him to return, he watched those around him enjoy themselves as he rarely did. Their ability to indulge in pleasures like this impressed him. He wasn't a prude, by any means. He loved sex as much as any of his kind, and while he hadn't fucked as many women as Vasilije, he wasn't living like a monk. He just wanted what vampires like Vasilije didn't seem to care about.

  He wanted one woman who loved him and who he could love in return.

  But to tell his sire that would be a waste of breath. Vasilije saw pleasures of the flesh as one of the prime benefits of being a vampire, and resigning himself to one woman never seemed to interest him in the least. Brandon had broached the subject of his settling down with a single woman once, but all he'd gotten in return was a look of disgust and an answer snapped back at him. "When I tire of the
life I have now, I'll be quite happy to settle down with one woman. Until then, I fuck as often as I choose because I can. You should too instead of spending all your time thinking about monogamy, for Christ's sake."

  The moans and whimpers from those around him as they took pleasure in one another filled his ears, exciting him. It had been a while since he'd been with a woman, and even if he did prefer the idea of one woman to spend the rest of his life with, it couldn't hurt to enjoy himself for one night. In the dim light, he slid out of his coat and undressed in time for Vasilije to return with what he believed he needed.

  As he watched his sire approach him, he couldn't deny his choice. The woman on his arm was stunning, no doubt. Blonde with blue eyes that made her look like a china doll, she would have been someone he would have chosen for himself, except for the fact that she was naked and at one of Vasilije's orgies. Putting that aside, she was exactly as Vasilije had promised—just what he needed.

  "Brandon, this is Violet."

  Holding out his hand, he took hold of hers as Vasilije let her go and left them. Brandon pulled her gently down onto the floor next to him and studied her face. Her skin was pale, but she wasn't a vampire. A tiny lick of anger nipped at his heart at the thought that Vasilije had brought him a human instead of a vampire knowing he'd never let him turn her, no matter how much he enjoyed her.

  "Hello, Brandon. It's so nice to meet you."

  When she spoke, he heard her fear and wondered if she was as jaded as all the other willing participants at the party. It hadn't occurred to him that as she stood there naked staring down at him that she wasn't there of her own free will.

  "Violet, don't be frightened. We can just sit here if you'd like."

  To be honest, after sitting in the middle of a room full of vampires fucking, he wanted much more than to merely sit with her, but the fear he was sure was present in her voice made him want to take care of her. Vasilije would be disappointed, to be sure, but he'd get over it.