“Are you sure I can’t bring them to you?”
“No, miss.” Essie’s face softened. “Master Gideon wants you to stay here until he can introduce you to everyone properly. And the house is so big, you’d probably get lost.”
“Everyone? How many people live here?”
“Gideon will tell you what you need to know.” The housekeeper gave her a quick grin. “Now, I must be off. Wouldn’t do to keep the masters waiting.” With a banging of the cart on the door frame, Essie left, closing the door behind her.
Smiling to herself, she finally stood for the first time since the accident. It was a glorious feeling. Putting her arms over her head, she reached for the stars, letting her head fall back. The feeling of her muscles stretching, moving, responding to her brought out a soft moan. There was a time when she didn’t think she would use them again.
“Is that action really so pleasurable?”
#
She gasped, spinning, only then realizing there was someone else was in the room.
On the other side of the bed, tucked away in the shadows, sat a man. One that looked every inch the movie villain, all dark and menacing. Face hidden by shadow, all she could see was one long leg crossed over another and a hand on the arm of the chair.
“Who…” she trailed off as he rose, walking around the bed.
“My name is Sebastian. And you are Eve.” He stood behind the chair at the table that held her dinner. Silently, he pulled it back and indicated that she was to sit. Hesitantly, she did so and held her breath as he slid her close. He sat in the chair across from her before speaking again. “I pulled you from the river.”
“You’re the one that saved me.” Her breath escaped in a soft exhale. If it was him, then why did she feel waves of anger? Waves of rage. Directed at her?
“Alex and myself. I can’t claim sole credit.” He leaned back in the chair, watching her. “By all means, please, eat. You need your energy. Complications from drowning can still occur days later.” His lips twisted. “I can’t have you dying on me, now can I?”
“Thank you,” she said softly. Though that was nowhere near enough to express her gratitude.
Eyes the color of dark chocolate never left her face. Dark brown hair fell over his forehead. Olive skin covered a bone structure that made her fingers ache to sculpt. If only she could sculpt. Why was she looking at him like he was dinner? Why wasn’t he speaking? Why did he hate her?
“You don’t have to thank me. I’m sure anyone would have done the same.” His voice was rich and deep.
She blinked a couple of times before dropping her eyes. She never looked at anyone like that. Well, sober anyways. Jesus, Eve, insta-lust much? She tried to focus on the food in front of her, but she just wanted to stare at the angry man.
“I wish there was some way to repay you, but I don’t have much money and…” She trailed off again. Did he know that he was making her uneasy? The curling warmth in her belly aside, his stare was making the hairs on her arms stand at attention.
“What are you?” Sebastian asked, taking her by surprise.
“What am I? As in what do I do for a living?” She looked back up, unsure as to what he meant.
Why did she have to be so beautiful? She looked at him with so much confusion swimming in her green eyes. After the glowing they did a few nights back, he would have been willing to wager on them being blue.
“Sure, we’ll start there. What do you do for a living?”
Even her little frown was adorable. She seemed so honest in her mannerisms. But she had to be lying. Had to be.
Her tongue touched the corner of her lips and he had to forcibly restrain his voice. While trying to smell a lie, he got a hint of desire from her. A desire that called to him. But while he didn’t ignore the feeling that led to her binding him, he could ignore this. He had to. She was going to die, sooner than later.
“I work at the library in town.”
She was a librarian? That was what she chose to come up with? Couldn’t she invent something a bit more glamorous? “Which town?”
Her frown was back. “What do you mean? This town.”
“Well, Eve, let’s pretend this is a test. A test to see if you have brain damage from the drowning.” There was a slightest prick of shame at her flinch, but he squelched it. “Where are you?”
“Greenfield.”
Sebastian had never heard of it. “What state?”
“Iowa.”
“You’re in Montana.”
Her fork stopped halfway to her open lips. Lips that looked like they would feel a whole lot different if he were to touch them now.
“Why am I in Montana?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
She put the fork back down. “I had left work. The library closed at nine. I was driving home. A car hit me. How could I be in Montana?”
He took a deliberate breath. Her scent never changed. She wasn’t lying.
She looked around quickly. All her things. Her purse, wallet, phone, everything was in her car. “I would show you, but I can’t. Everything I had on me is in the car.” She could feel the blood leave her face. “My car.” Images of the wreck hit her. Flash of light. Her belongings flying around as she flipped. The water. So much water.
“Eve.” There were hands on her, warm hands. “Eve. You’re alive.”
Alive. Because of this man. A man who felt like he hated her. She opened eyes she didn’t know she closed. He was kneeling in front of her and his hands gripped her shoulders.
“You saved me.” She reached for him, needing simple human contact to help bring her back from the river.
At the first touch of fingertips on his cheek, he jerked his head back. Having forgotten, for just a moment, that he was furious, the feel of her fingers on his face brought it roaring back to life. “Sorry, you don’t get to touch me again.” He returned to his seat.
“Again?” she asked, still dazed by the images in her head. How could she have touched him the first time? She just met the guy. Sort of.
“Yes.” This word was clipped as he took another breath. Nothing there. Just a human and her confusion. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. He was going to find her lying, at the very least. But she wasn’t. He was over eight hundred years old and she trapped him. She had to be a witch. Or something worse. “Show me your hands,” he said.
“My hands?” Had she ever been more confused? Why would he want to see them? She searched his eyes and found nothing that should worry her, but the fury from before was back, stronger than ever, beating at her. His lips twisted on what should have been a stunning face. It was stunning, but the rage twisted it, making him look sinister.
“I don’t like repeating myself.” He learned forward, waiting for her to obey him.
To hell with him. She didn’t take orders from anyone. Especially from someone who had no right to be angry with her. “And I don’t like being ordered around.” She sat back in her chair, his emotions slipping inside her, mixing with her own. So much hatred, so much fury.
“Eve, show me your hands”
His voice was softer now but the feeling from him intensified. Why did he hate her so much?
“Why should I do anything thing you want?” Eve asked, her own anger flaring, his pouring fuel on the flames. She shouldn’t be mad. He saved her. But she would be damned if he would bully her, bark orders at her. She hadn’t done anything wrong. “Why do you hate me? You could have left me. I would be dead, and you wouldn’t be sitting there, glaring daggers at me. If you are so aggravated by the sight of me, why don’t you just fuck off and leave me alone!”
Her eyes widened at the sight of his clenched jaw, narrowed eyes. What had she done?
“Because of what you did, I can’t rip you to pieces. But rest assured, there are other ways to destroy you.” His nostrils flared and he swallowed. Fear. So much fear. The scent like a shot of adrenaline, straight to the heart.
Eve rose slowly from her chair, li
mbs trembling in her rage, his rage. She was going to burn from the intensity. “I don’t think you understand what dead means. I died. As in non-living. Zombies don’t exist! When a person ‘dies’, they are not capable of harming anyone. So, if you don’t mind, get your head out of T.V. land and tell me what my fucking corpse did to you!”
His rage filled the room, filled her body and soul. She couldn’t escape it.
“Forget talking. I’ll show you.” Sebastian grinned and it felt truly evil. Fine.
Before she could wrap her head around the fact that he was suddenly standing in front of her without her seeing him move, her arm was caught in his hand. His other hand gripped the knife that she had been using to eat. She opened her mouth to scream as he pulled the blade over her skin. Shock locked her throat. Why was she not bleeding? Did he flip it? Was this a joke to him?
He was sick, twisted.
She met his eyes and before she could think about anything, much less consequences, she brought her free hand across his cheek with a startling crack. “How dare you, you sick freak.” She trembled in her rage. “Let go of me!”
“Look again, Eve. See why you didn’t bleed. See what your ‘corpse’ did to me,” his voice was barely above a whisper. Dangerous. Chills ran along her skin as his fingers tightened around her wrist, squeezing her, hurting her.
This time, she followed his softly spoken orders. She looked back at her unblemished skin. But then the most curious thing happened. A warm wet trail of red crept along her wrist. Right where he held her arm. He did cut her. Had to have, but why didn’t it hurt? Blood dripped from his knuckles. How? With her still stinging hand, she traced the red line. Letting go of her before she touched him, he turned his arm, exposing the gash that ran the width of his forearm.
“What… I don’t… How?” Her anger vanished back into confusion.
Pulling his arm back, he slumped down back into the chair, looking as spent as she felt. “Eve.” He sounded empty, as if his anger had burnt everything inside him, leaving him hollow. “Show me your hands.”
Silently, she held them out, palms up. They were completely normal. He held out his and matched her with palms up. The hand on the cut arm had a scar on the palm. A scar that resembled a set of deliberately drawn lines.
“Were you burnt?” Couldn’t have been, she was in the water. There would have been no heat, not fire. She couldn’t be any more bewildered. “Branded? What happened to you?” What did this have to do with her?
Hesitantly, she reached out to touch it and much to her amazement, he let her. But she forgot about that as soon as her fingertips brushed the mark. Heat flared on her hand and sucking in a quick breath, she flipped it over. His mark was no longer the color of dried blood. No. Now it glowed with the same brilliant blue as the mark on her hand.
“That is what you did.” Sebastian leaned his head back, staring at the matching marks through hooded eyes.
“I don’t know what this is,” she whispered, watching as the light dimmed before dying out. “What… What is it? How did the knife cut you instead of me? How could I do this?” Whatever it was looked a helluva lot like magic and magic didn’t exist.
Eve dropped onto her chair. “Am I dreaming?” She frowned. “That’s it. It must be a dream. Or dead. Maybe this is the afterlife.” Eve looked up at Sebastian's deep breath. “Your arm. We need to get you bandaged up. This may be a dream, but it’s mine and I don’t want you bleeding to death in my head.” She jumped to her feet. “Do you have a first aid kit?” She laughed, slightly hysterical. “I can just make one up, can’t I? They say you can do all sorts of things while lucid dreaming.” She crossed in front of Sebastian and he reached out and took her arm. Not the hand. Never the hand. She laughed again.
“It’s fine. I’m healed,” he said, showing her the faint white line that took the place of a bloody mess.
He believed her. Damn him, he believed her. She had no idea what happened. And thanks to his pushing and prodding, she now bordered on hysteria. Her eyes widened as the line faded perfect skin.
“Not possible. Not possible. People don’t do that.” Her panicked green eyes flew up to his. “People don’t do that.”
Sebastian cursed at his mistake. Thinking to calm her, to show her he was fine, he made it worse, shoving her across that border. She shook her head, taking a step back, yanking on her arm, pulling on it, trying in vain to break his grip.
“No, not a dream. A nightmare. Yes. A nightmare.”
Well, he was nothing if not that. With a small sigh, he pulled her closer to him. There was one thing he could do. Softly, he stroked her cheek before saying “Sleep, Eve.”
She collapsed into his arms.
CHAPTER TWO
“What happened to ‘her life will become a living hell’?” Gideon asked.
Being honest with himself, he was glad Sebastian had controlled his rage. There was something about her that called to him. The ‘him’ that was slightly more human than Sebastian, if only by a bit. But as glad as he was that Sebastian didn’t hurt her, he was curious as to why. Yesterday’s Sebastian was a man of his word. If he said he was going to dance in one’s entrails, he danced. This was a different man.
“She’s clueless,” the older vampire all but growled. Someone was playing a dangerous game while using the woman as a pawn. And while he ate people to survive, he tried to avoid killing innocents. It didn’t always work, but damn him, he tried.
“She may be acting.” Gideon leaned back in his chair. He knew better. Didn’t he already try to interrogate her? But sometimes it was fun playing the devil’s advocate.
“No. She’s not.”
“Are you certain? This is your life we are talking about.”
“Which is why she isn’t going anywhere.” Sebastian ran his hand through his hair.
“Well, it’s been awhile since we have held a prisoner here. I suppose I could ask Essie to dust the shackles.” Gideon hid his smile behind his hand.
Sebastian shook his head. Why did that thought bother him? “No, she’s done nothing to deserve that.”
“Then what do you propose?”
That was the problem. He didn’t know. He couldn’t be honest with her. A tiny bit of supernatural and she damn near lost her mind. Granted, she had been through something traumatic and he hadn’t exactly been gentle.
Gentle.
No, he was a brute, pushing and prodding at her while she was vulnerable. But what else was he supposed to do?
“I need to know who did this. And while it damn sure wasn’t her, she’s the only link,” Sebastian said. “When do the others get back?”
“Micah should be back tonight with Alex. Gabe’s going to be away a while longer. And who knows about Fallon.”
“I want to introduce her to them after I let them know they can’t touch her. I’m not going to die because one of my friends thinks she’s a snack.”
“Again, do you think that’s… wise? The others should be able to control themselves, but Fallon…” Gideon trailed of. Fallon wasn’t the most stable in the best of times and sometimes, he questioned his decision to bring him into their home.
“I’ll watch out for him.” Sebastian stood. “Damn me, why did I have to save her.”
“Because you were bored.”
#
The next time Eve woke, she carefully looked around the room. Wouldn’t do to have someone else pop in on her. But no, that was a dream, right? Had to be a dream. People didn’t do what he did. Couldn’t do what he did. She sat up and swung her legs off the bed. Moving quickly, she took her things and bolted for the bathroom. After taking care of necessities, she dressed in her own clothing and felt a little bit steadier.
Leave. She had to get out of that house. If she wasn’t going to wake up, then she had to get away from the man that wanted to hurt her. Did hurt her. Bruises circled her wrist where his fingers dug into her.
Her coat was hanging on a hook beside the door. Shrugging into it, she frowned at th
e ripped cloth. Oh well, worry about that later. Grabbing the knob, she twisted, pulled, and ran face first into a body. A surprised shout broke from her as hands grabbed her arms, keeping her on her feet.
Don’t be him. Please don’t be him. Be the other.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
This voice was new and she looked up. Bright blue eyes looked down at her and she sagged in the hands holding her.
“I…You… You didn’t,” she finally got out.
The face in front of her smiled. “Liar” The word was soft and almost playful. “Were you going somewhere?”
“I need to go home.”
“Well, I wouldn’t recommend trying that. At least not yet.” His head tilted. “But I can show you around if you’d like.”
That was infinitely better than being sent back to her room. She could get a layout of the place and sneak out later.
“Fine,” she said, stepping away from the guy in front of her. She held out her hand. “I’m Eve.”
The smile on his face twisted into a grin. “I know who you are. I gave you chest compressions. I’m Alex.” He looked down at her hand. “I wish I could, Red, but I saw what it did to Sebastian.”
“This is just a dream,” she said.
“No. It isn’t.” He threw his arm around her shoulders and led her away from the door. “This is very much real life.”
“Prove it,” she said.
“Well, I would pinch you, but Sebastian would feel it.” He laughed, sounding very much like he wouldn’t mind that at all. “So, I can’t. Not really. It’s just something that you will have to come to accept. And as the days pass, you will. There is a whole different world out there that you humans know nothing about.” He waved his hand around. “This is the sleeping wing, so to speak. All the bedrooms are located here.”
“Humans? Just what exactly are you?” she asked.
She wasn’t ready for that answer. He knew that. Even if she did think it was a dream. “I’m… other.”
“What does that mean?”
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