Dark Rapture

by Hauf, Michele

  “But—”

  “We left him in the garage for a few minutes while Gary was calling an ambulance, and by the time we went back out, he was gone.”

  “And you think Francesco’s got him? But I don’t understand. I thought Francesco was after you. How did he get involved with Vince?”

  “I have no idea, ma cherie. But I’m sure that he knows about the connection between Vince and the two of us. I fear he may be using Vince as a pawn in order to seek his revenge on me.”

  “But that’s not fair. Vince has done nothing to him. Sebastian, we’ve got to help him. If Vince is a vampire like you say, and he has to drink the blood of another to become real, then we’ve got to get to him before Francesco does. There’s no telling what he’ll do to Vince.”

  “Scarlet, I know, settle down. I will do everything I can to help him, I promise you. But there isn’t a thing we can do until we discover where Francesco is staying. And right now I’m more worried about you. You’ve been through an ordeal. I think you should lie down and rest.”

  “No, I can’t. That is, I feel rested.” She did feel rested. Must be the vampire blood.

  Scarlet sighed, remembering what she had just been through. “Sebastian, you can’t imagine how good it is to hear you speaking to me in English. My French has never gotten such a workout. Oh! Do you know that I ran into Francesco back in time?”

  “Now that you mention it, I do recall Francesco being upset over your disappearance. He was quite taken with you.”

  “Do you think he still remembers me?”

  Sebastian pulled the loosened pins from her hair, watching the dark curls tumble to her shoulders. He smoothed them beneath his fingertips. “I don’t know, cherie. I didn’t. That is, I never wanted to believe.”

  “Why didn’t you know it was me, Sebastian? I know it’s been a long time for you, but I still look the same.”

  “But you don’t, my love.” He pulled his finger across her cheek and showed her the white powder that came off her skin. “Someday I’ll explain the events that happened to me after you left. I thought you were a witch. I thought you were an angel. But most of all, I tried to deny the love that I felt for you over the years and bury your image from my memories. I loved you so much and didn’t want to believe you could just disappear, leave me alone to suffer, when I knew that you loved me too. And then a part of me believed that you had tricked me, used me to gain my soul for the devil. But I know better now, don’t I?”

  He kissed her pounding jugular gently. “Do you love me, Scarlet?”

  “I do. But I had to go all the way back to the eighteenth century to realize it.” She sobbed against his shoulder, rubbing the smooth skin where just minutes ago the branch had cut through. “Oh God, I do love you. And I don’t ever want to lose you.”

  “Don’t worry, my love. I will never leave you.” His sweet French-accented whispers comforted her as he spoke. “I know that you are the woman who transformed me into a vampire. And I am glad you made that choice. I promise myself to you forever, Scarlet.”

  Sniffing away the tears, she gazed into his shimmering eyes. “Through eternity?”

  “Yes, my love.”

  The fear of almost losing him was calmed by his kiss, and nothing mattered anymore. She melted into him, surrendering to his love.

  “Where’s Gary?” he whispered.

  Between fervent kisses, Scarlet managed a few words. “He’s downstairs closing the windows, why?”

  “I need to make love to you, right now. I want to be inside of you and know that you are mine.”

  “Yes, I want that too.” She turned and knelt before him, lifting her hair so he could unlace the back of her dress. Hot kisses covered her back, as slowly her flesh was revealed to Sebastian’s mouth.

  Breathless, she stood and shimmied out of the massive dress, tossing it to a muddy pile in front of the sink, then she unlaced the corset and it fell to the floor. She sat on Sebastian’s knees.

  “This is kind of strange, you know.”

  Sebastian slid down to the floor and kicked off his muddy boots, sending them flying onto her dress in a splatter of sludge. “Why do you say that?”

  His fingers teased her nipples alert.

  Scarlet let out a gasp. “Well, we just made love hours ago in Paris.”

  Pausing to think that one through, Sebastian smiled. “For you it may seem like hours, cherie. But for me it has been centuries.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Francesco paced before the window.

  Vince lay on his side, keeping Francesco in view while he tried to piece everything together. It was unclear to him what had happened after seeing the blood oozing from Francesco’s neck, but the soreness on his neck, and the vitality that danced inside, proved that something had happened. But this talk of vampirism? Francesco was mad. His talk of transforming him, how he’d always been one—it was insane.

  “You’ve always been a vampire. The blood hunger has haunted you for years in the form of your dreadful headaches. Normally it emerges during an inborn vampire's puberty. Listen to me. You must learn from me now.”

  “No, it’s not true!” Vince tucked his head down and rolled up on his knees, his hair trailing across the bloody sheets.

  But he knew. Somewhere in his conscience he was able to admit that Francesco spoke the truth. He was a vampire.

  And now, as Francesco paced the floor between the bed and the shattered window, Vince’s thoughts ran rampant. “You must go out and feed” Francesco had said. “You must learn to sustain your life.”

  I must have died and now this miserable ruined castle is my hell.

  Vince cringed and blocked his eyes from Francesco with a shaking hand. He tried to push away from the sticky blood but it was spread across the entire bed.

  “What have I gotten myself into?” he whispered, as he watched Francesco spring to the window ledge, where he crouched and surveyed the ground below. It didn’t appear as if he would jump, though Vince prayed for the strength to run over and push him. Yet even though he was sore and his muscles ached he felt a strange sense of invigoration. A churning inside. His mind began to rerun the things Francesco had told him after he’d woken from the bizarre sleep.

  He had said that he was his master. “You will depend on me for eternal life. Mortal blood will keep you alive, but we are bonded now. Your soul has fled and mine now inhabits your body, where it will form a new and stronger soul.”

  “The sun will rise soon.” Francesco appeared bedside, straight and tall, a demon in a new maroon silk shirt and fitted black suede pants. He had taken to Vince’s style of dressing. “You will have a chance to learn your new skills tonight. Until then you must come with me.”

  At the mesmerizing voice, the notion to argue fled. Instead, Vince let Francesco help him to his feet, and he stretched out his muscles. He picked at the buttons until Francesco finally saw his lack of coordination and helped remove it.

  Leaving his bloody shirt in a heap on the floor, Vince padded barefoot behind Francesco as they entered the dark tunnel again. It took all of his concentration to walk. His equilibrium faltered and the darkness served to further hamper his instincts. He paused, his hand pressing to the cold stone wall. “Where are we going?”

  “Take my hand and follow me, Vincent, I won’t lead you astray. From now on I shall be your provider. You can trust in me for everything that you need.”

  Vince muttered weakly, “Cool,” and let his hand be taken by his master.

  Stepping down the stone steps, he walked as if on burning coals, though the floor was icy cold. Finally, a door squeaked open before them and the flicker of a blazing torch lured Vince into a golden light. The sight before him froze him in place and even Francesco’s insistent tugs couldn’t move him from his post by the door.

  “Oh, no way, man. No!” His heart pounded and he could feel the adrenaline course through his body.

  Francesco turned and stood nose to nose with him, blocking his view o
f the two shiny black coffins that sat in each corner of the stone room.

  Staring into Francesco’s piercing blue eyes, Vince shuddered and his defenses slackened. But with a glance over the man’s shoulder, he resumed his denials.

  “You’re not going to get me in one of those things. Vampire or not, I won’t do it.”

  Francesco raised a brow, appearing to consider Vince’s pleas. His straight black brows and the goatee under his lower lip gave him a devilish appearance.

  “Fine,” he said curtly, and craned his head up.

  Vince followed his gaze to the round window that was carved in the ceiling twenty feet above his head. It was about a foot inches across and sported four iron bars crisscrossed to keep the birds out.

  “Then you shall burn and crumble to cinders with the first rays of morning light.” Francesco nonchalantly strolled to his coffin, opening it to reveal black quilted satin.

  “You’re lying,” Vince said uncertainly. His fear rose when Francesco merely nodded and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Suit yourself.”

  “I know this is just an extremely intense dream,” Vince muttered as he closed his eyes, trying to make sense of what had happened to him. “I’m going to wake up in my own bed and not remember any of this.”

  “You mustn’t think it dreadful, Vincent. It may seem like a nightmare, but you will adjust. You’ll see, it won’t be so bad. But for now, you must protect yourself from the morning sun.”

  With a hand Francesco motioned toward the other coffin, while the other casually stroked the material inside his own.

  Thoughts of running, of getting far from this hell, reeled through Vince’s head. If only he could navigate the dark hallway, he would have tried. But he wasn’t sure that Francesco was lying. If he was telling the truth about him being a vampire he’d burn in the sun; that much he knew from all the movies he had seen.

  He weighed the two hideous options while Francesco waited. Burned alive, or sleeping in a coffin.

  “Doesn’t look like I have much of a choice. How will I know when it’s dark? When will I know to come out?”

  “I’ll wake you if you don’t automatically wake at dusk, Vincent.”

  The man was playing this thing to the hilt.

  Pulling his hands over his cheeks and down his neck, Vince approached the coffin. It had the same finish as the grand piano in the recording studio, except that he enjoyed the piano. This thing, he didn’t want to touch.

  “I can understand your misgivings, Vincent. A bizarre thing has happened to you. You must think me a madman, a lunatic. But you’ll see, when the blood hunger comes, you’ll know what I’ve been telling you is the truth.”

  Francesco sighed and brushed his hair back, yawning. “Do as I do, Vincent, I know what I speak of.”

  With that, Francesco stepped into his coffin and lay back, shutting the lid as he did.

  Now Vince was alone with the flickering torch fire. He looked up to the window. Shuddering, he touched the glossy coffin and ran his fingers along the raised rim, trying to concentrate on the smooth lines of a piano and the beautiful music that he could create with it.

  Closing his eyes, he lifted the lid and let his hand drop inside. Opening one eye, he roamed it over the red satin. He pressed his finger into the cool material, sinking it up to his first knuckle. It did seem comfortable.

  He chewed his bottom lip and turned his back on the horrendous thing, placing both hands behind him on the edge. With one last glance to the lightening sky, he pushed up and landed on the thick padding, and sat, dangling his bare feet over the dirty stone floor.

  “Oh, hell,” he sighed and slid his feet to the end of the coffin. He lay back, pressing his toes up into the padding on the upper lid.

  “Not so bad, I guess,” he muttered, testing the weight of the lid by letting it spring up and down against his fist.

  He yawned feeling the exhaustion creep up on him. He’d been through so much in the last few hours. “Gary would shit if he could see this.”

  Wiggling his body across the slippery satin, Vince relaxed. After what he’d been through it was inevitable. He sighed. “Some kind of incredible nightmare.”

  Hoping it was just that, he pulled the lid down and closed his eyes to the suffocating darkness, knowing that if he played along with the nightmare, in the morning he would wake in his own bed.

  ***

  “So what’s going to happen to Vince?” Scarlet lay on her side, watching Sebastian dress. They had made love on Vince’s bed.

  He shook out the dried mud from his shirt, and used the toe of his boot to gather the crumbles into a neat pile. “I have to assume he’s with Francesco now. I can’t imagine where else he might have gone in the condition he was in last night. Let’s hope that wherever he is, he’s all right.”

  It didn’t seem to Scarlet that being taken captive by a vengeful vampire was a situation in which one would be ‘all right.’ Especially if the other vampire had evil plans.

  “Do you think Francesco has turned him into a vampire?”

  Combing through his hair with his fingers, Sebastian pulled the last of the caked mud from his collar and flipped it to the floor. Then he paused, staring quietly at the curtains billowing in the breeze. “Yes, I know he has.”

  “You do?”

  “Of course, just as Francesco knew about you, Scarlet. I know now that the park incident was carefully planned by him. I’ve told you before that vampires can sense our own kind. And while I’m not able to pinpoint their exact location, I can certainly feel that there is another one now.”

  “Could he turn Vince against us?” Scarlet strode into Vince’s closet and looked for some clothes. A t-shirt and some black stretch jeans should fit, until she got home. She pulled the t-shirt on.

  “Scarlet, don’t ask me what’s going to happen.” Sebastian helped as she fumbled with the string ties in the waistline of Vince’s pants. He pulled gently and tied them. “I wish I knew. But one thing is certain.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I have to take extreme measures to be sure Francesco does not get his hands on you.”

  She watched as Sebastian made up the bed as though his last words were nothing unusual. “You can protect me. Can’t you?”

  “I do have a plan. One that will keep you safe, and hopefully, lead Francesco away from here, never to return again.” He tilted his head toward the door. “Let’s go home and get some rest. We’ve both had an incredible night.”

  “But what’s your plan? I want to know what’s going to happen.” Scarlet took his hand.

  “I’ll let you know soon enough.”

  They stepped down the red, carpeted stairs, finding Gary half asleep on the couch, two beer cans crumpled on the floor. Another was in his hand and Scarlet raced to catch it before it slipped from his fingers.

  “I almost forgot about the dress,” she whispered as Gary stirred and shook his head. “I want to keep it. I’ll be right back.”

  “Good idea,” Sebastian said. “There are a lot of precious memories in that dress.”

  “Thought you guys would never come down,” Gary mumbled with a beer-thickened tongue. The stubble above his lip had darkened and the bruise under his eye had swollen, making it nearly impossible to open his left eye.

  “We had a little catching up to do.” Sebastian said. “Sorry about your eye. You should probably put something on that.” He rubbed his hands together as Gary winced and felt his swollen face. “Look, I know you probably want to spend a little time with your sister, but I’m taking her home with me. I don’t think she should stay here.”

  Gary made a disapproving guttural noise. “Why? Do you think that other vampire is going to come looking for her here?”

  “Possibly. I can’t take that chance. In fact, I’m going to find a place to hide her as soon as possible.”

  “And how long is she going to have to hide?”

  “Not long, Gary, I promise. Just until Francesco has gone
. And I have a plan regarding his departure.”

  “What about Vince?”

  Sebastian could tell from the dull tone of Gary’s voice that this was too much. He wished that it hadn’t come to this. If there had been any way of keeping Francesco from this place, he would have done it. “Gary, I’m sure that Francesco has transformed him by now. And if Vince should contact you, be careful. He’s a vampire now, and there’s no telling what he’s like. Francesco could be putting any number of lies in his mind. Let me know if he does come back or call.”

  Gary pushed his fingers through his curls. “Man, everybody I know is a fuckin’ vampire. Even my sister. And I have you to thank for this, Sebastian.”

  “Now what’s he done?” Scarlet skipped down the steps, the white dress rustling in her arms.

  Offering to take it, Sebastian examined the mud stains.

  “Nothing,” Gary mumbled, standing shakily. “Sebastian just filled me in on another of his brilliant plans. Always the one with an idea. Can’t wait for the day when you come over without a thought on your mind, Sebastian.”

  “Gary," Scarlet admonished.”

  “I’m sorry.” He pulled his hand down his face. “How do you feel, Scarlet? I mean . . . are you okay? Really okay?”

  Taking his hand and pressing it to her chest, Scarlet said, “I’m fine, Gary. I’m not so different now. But I am sorry for how things have inadvertently affected you.”

  He hugged her. “I’ll be okay as long as I know you are.”

  “It’ll be over soon.” Looking over her brother’s shoulder, Scarlet sought reassurance from Sebastian. “Right?”

  “Yes, it will be. But we should be going. It’s nearly dawn, and I hate being out in the morning sun. It’s so hard on the eyes. Gary I’ll be in touch with you.”

  “Yeah. Give me a hug before you go, sis.”

  Lingering in each other’s arms, the siblings squeezed each other then Scarlet kissed him. “I love you, Gary. Soon everything will be back to normal. As normal as things can be. I’ll be okay, I have Sebastian to protect me.”