Dark Awakenings (Danse Macabre Book 2)

by Christina Quinn

  The theater was old. Built in the early eighteen hundreds and barely improved since, the Harker Theatre predated even Crimson Hill. It might have been the oldest structure in Florence, and to a degree it showed. The wall paper peeled and the paint around the trim chipped. Everything was dark as well, the color pallet was almost suffocatingly gloomy. Still, staring down the hall I could easily envision dozens of ballerinas in those wispy, gossamer, romantic tutus shuffling towards the stage. It was like the building was a living, breathing creature itself and its personality was fixed in the era of its completion. The only things modern about the place where the lights, everything else seemed like someone had taken great care to maintain the building as it was. It had the same feel to it that the staircase at the Paris Opera House had, something about this building almost made it feel like it was alive.

  “I bet you can practically see the history of this place unfolding before those amber eyes.” An unknown voice purred to me. That tone was smoother than satin and softer than silk, that voice slipped over my body coaxing a soft shiver. I expected a vampire to be standing behind me when I turned around, that voice was a lure. Turning, however, I was still shocked by the man who stood behind me. He was tall, but not as tall as Aleksi, with denim blue eyes, dark hair that brushed his collar and a profile that would have made the Greeks weep. Aleksi’s more attractive, this guy looks like if you touched him you’d discovered he was made out of plastic or had MATTEL stamped on the small of his back. Miss Manners was right—as always—there was something unnerving about how perfectly beautiful he was. You’re staring, say something!

  “Not really, no. But it feels alive almost, like the entire building is breathing…waiting.” My response brought a small smile to those sumptuous lips, but that smile stopped short of his eyes. I’m not sure many people would have caught on to it, but I did—fake smiles were my forte. I must have been staring too hard because when the doors opened I jumped and turned around. The hall was empty now, the prospective dancers had all gone leaving Leslie, Colette, this strange vampire and myself. When Aleksi entered with Garrett, and Evan he wasted no time in inserting himself between this overly perfect vampire and myself.

  “Dorian Gray, I didn’t expect to see you all the way out here. Weren’t you exiled from Florence?” Aleksi’s voice was tight, the tone seemed joking but at the same time it held a thread of a threat.

  “No, lovely Aleksi, you and I both know it was far from exile. I came here to wish you and your servant good luck. Don’t tell me you hate me now too? Estella was extraordinarily guarded when I met her yesterday.”

  “Dorian, we don’t hate you. We just know you far better than everyone else does.”

  “I’ll say. You’re the only man capable of making me cum without direct stimulation.” Wow. My face flushed and my eyes fluttered to the floor. “Oh, look at that blush. Girls these days rarely blush anymore. I find it hard to believe that you could have an innocent for a servant. I could teach her some things you know, if you sent her to me for a few days I would return her much improved.” There was his genuine smile, broad and happy, those deep blue eyes seemed to glow with delight. “We could both teach her, mold her to our liking—she would be an improvement over Colette. I adore her, of course, but sex with her was always so boring. But now that the cat’s out of the bag I suppose it adds a little something—I had to pretend you two were twins to get through it the first time. It wasn’t you of course, but with her… and her insistence upon such mundane practices.” He sucked his teeth, I was surprised that Aleksi let him finish.

  “Autumn’s mine.” The words were echoed by a primal, possessive little growl. “And if I find you’ve touched her at any point in time, I will cut off your favorite body part and make certain it doesn’t regenerate.”

  “Age has made you and Estella painfully boring.” This new vampire sulked as Aleksi started laughing at the accusation.

  “Far from it… you should go see Coppelia while you’re in town. I know it’s your favorite ballet.”

  “I was going to. But you’re not Franz, and as much as Du Nuit surpasses all other companies, I would rather see a human dance if it’s not you. There’s something about that human frailty which puts it all in perspective.”

  “We have a werewolf now, and a human.”

  “Mmm, poor little lamb.” Dorian chuckled darkly and tilted his head to the side as he eyes snapped to Leslie for a moment. Oddly enough he didn’t look for long, it was like he lost interest within seconds… and his eyes returned to me. “You never introduced me to your servant, Aleksi. That is rather rude of you.”

  “Dorian, this is Autumn Darling my servant. There, you’re now introduced.”

  “What a fitting name, she looks just like this Gypsy girl I kept for a time before our migration. I think we played with her together… Yes, I believe we did. May I taste her?”

  “No,” Aleksi snapped, I pressed my forehead to Aleksi’s arm and some of the tension bled from his shoulders. A fumbling brunette burst forth from the far doors holding a tablet.

  “Mr. Gray, you have a ten thirty with Tristan D’arcy at Dire.” The woman called to him. She was pale and slight but clearly human, and the sound of her voice made Dorian roll his eyes. Leslie tilted her head to the side at the mention of Tristan’s name.

  “Of course, Sabrina. I’ll be right there.” He called before trailing his fingers back through his hair. “No rest for the wicked. Good luck to both of you on Mara. However, don’t expect her to play nice just because you fucked her. Especially since you are clearly in love with this exceptionally enchanting creature.”

  “How long are you in town?”

  “At least a week. I have to meet with Elizabeta about some investments. She’s setting up a trust for little Margot. Have you seen her lately?”

  “Elizabeta?”

  “No, your child. She has your fox eyes. Those slanted almond shaped eyes that look ever scrutinizing. I expected more of Gregory’s blood to come through, but that little girl is all you… minus the coloring.”

  “As always, it was a pleasure, Dorian. We’ll catch up later in the week, I have a plane to catch and you have a meeting.” Without skipping a beat Aleksi placed his hand at the small of my back and started leading me out of that living, breathing hallway. I turned and waved at my friends, Leslie, Evan and Colette waved back and Garrett, as always, blew me a kiss.

  Two and a half hours later we were in LA at a television studio in the green room waiting to be told when to go out on the tastefully appointed stage. The idea of live television freaked me out. That’s because you know you’re going to fuck it up. I swallowed with Miss Manner’s accurate assessment, smoothing my bright red sheath dress. Aleksi was clearly distracted, I could practically feel his nervousness as we sat side by side on the tasteful white leather couch. He had said very little to me since we left the theater, he hadn’t even told me what he thought of my audition. A man in a headset entered and told us to stand by for our entrance. Aleksi just nodded and stood, holding his hand out to me. I let him help me stand and we walked together out of the room and down the hall to the edge of the set.

  “Just be yourself, this will be over before you know it.” Aleksi offered me a warm smile and pressed a kiss to my forehead. Music started and we were waved on to the set by that man in the headset. We entered holding hands as the studio audience applauded and the bright lights beamed down on us temporarily blinding me as Aleksi lead me to my seat, and kissed my lips quickly before taking his seat on the black version of the white couch in the green room. The applause seemed to never stop.

  “Oh, my god! Just oh my god, Aleksi!” A nearby raven haired female called as she ran her fingers through long dark curls. She was pretty, her skin was milk pale and her make up dark dramatic colors that made her green eyes flash behind her long mascara coated lashes. She was perfectly dressed, whoever was in charge of wardrobe knew the right cut and color of blouse to evoke both intimidation as well as an air of trendin
ess. “Welcome back to the second hour of Midnight with Mara.” The hostess continued. “And I think I speak for us all when I say, oh my god its Aleksi.” The studio erupted again. “I just wanted to start by saying… I always thought you weren’t dead. Not a lot of humans know how this works, so I’ll explain it. When a vampire is injured, or poisoned, the body enters a coma like state called Torpor to fix the damage. After a few months in Torpor a sire will guess essentially whether or not the vampire will come out of Torpor in the next one hundred years. If they think they won’t, they declare the vampire as dead. Let me be the first to say, Aleksi, I’m glad Elizabeta was wrong.” I almost furrowed my brows, and then I remembered it wasn’t common knowledge that Vlad sired Aleksi.

  “Thank you, Mara. It’s good to be amongst the living again.” Aleksi practically beamed at her as he turned on his charm in full force.

  “What happened was horrific though, it’s every vampire’s worst nightmare. You were attacked in your hotel room in Moscow, right?”

  Aleksi nodded. “Yes, I didn’t see it coming. I had started seeing someone new a handful of nights before and we had gone back to my hotel room. The last thing I remember was her kissing me. I wasn’t in a very good place. I had just left Charlotte after discovering she was cheating on me, and Autumn had just started seeing Nikolai Zelenko. So I wasn’t as vigilant as usual, but who is with a rebound?” A dark chuckle bubbled from his lips and Mara nodded. I had never thought about how it happened. I was too caught up in the fact that he was sick to contemplate the how. There was no woman in the room, was it the bald man with the neck tattoo that he dated? Are you really that dense? Seriously? Everyone has a type, we know he’s been with Tristan and Dorian, so the bald beef cake doesn’t exactly fit in with that. I’m thinking our Aleksi got a hooker. For a moment my face read shock before I schooled it back into a small thoughtful smile. I was the master of the fake smile.

  “Speaking of Charlotte, I read the Danseur’s Slave—as I’m sure most of my audience has—and there are some aspects of it that are…somewhat troubling. I asked you here because I wanted to get to the truth. After reading the book I was a little shocked to find out that you were bringing Autumn with you. The way Ms. Keller describes her I would have never expected you to willingly be in the same room with her.”

  “That’s the difference between fact and fiction though. Autumn is and always will be my heart and soul. She never stalked me, she never yelled expletives at Charlotte and I as described in the book.”

  “Autumn, why do you think Charlotte chose to vilify you?” Mara smiled at me, I glanced at the camera for a moment and took a deep breath. You’re going to stutter and sound like an utter moron on National Television.

  “I... I don’t know. I really don’t. Before the book came out, I had met her a handful of times and she had never been anything but cordial and polite. I was shocked when I found out about the book. And then once I found out that she outed me, I felt utterly violated.”

  “Wait, she outed you?” Mara inquired, a looked of mild disgust sweeping over her perfectly painted features.

  “Yes. I’m an academic, not a ballerina. Aleksi and I didn’t keep our relationship private, but he was mindful of my career aspirations. There’s still a stigma attached to being associated with vampires outside of the arts. We pretend we’re an enlightened society that accepts Vampires and Werewolves, but if you’re a human who has a regular job, and lives a regular life you’ll find that’s not entirely the case. If it gets out that you’re dating one or married to one; you risk losing your job, your friends and your family. I had a discussion with one of the professors at WSU about it, and he all but said my only job options once I finish my dissertation, no matter how wonderful it is, will be teaching vampire lit.” Brava. No stuttering at all.

  “And you two are back together?” Clearly your situation goes over her head.

  “I left Autumn last year because I was worried about what being associated with me so directly would do. Now that’s no longer an impediment so we’re together again. It was a very… organic transition.” He squeezed my hand and flashed me a perfect, charming smile.

  “I want to read this selection from the novel, because I want to get your reaction to it. This whole ordeal so far has been very one sided. I think that it’s important that we hear your explanation of events. ‘It was like a twisted fairy tale, the prince had lured the princess to the dungeon. Here I was naked and exposed as he showed various things to me and explained what each one did. ‘This is a cane’ he said, taking a bamboo rod from a rack. I struggled a little, but I was still bound to the cross, my wrists and ankles held me against my will, leaving me completely at his mercy. Then without warning he brought the cane down hard across my thighs, I screamed. It hurt, it just plain hurt. And as I cried and screamed he tossed the cane to the side and shoved his cock into me, fucking me roughly like an animal while I begged for him to stop.’” Mara closed the book and set it down in her lap. I couldn’t keep the shock from my face, that didn’t read like Aleksi even in the slightest. It didn’t even sound like Aleksi with others, I had watched him top someone who was a more experienced sub. It almost sounded like what he made me do to Nikolai, but Nikolai never asked me to stop.

  “Well, sorry to disappoint, but I’ve never done that or anything like it to anyone.” Aleksi chuckled nervously sounding astonishingly like Nikolai. “It actually sounds a lot like what she told me her first experience with a dominant was like. I think his name was…Walter something, he was actually arrested for rape last year.”

  “But you admit to being into that fetish?”

  “Yes, I admit that I am a dominant and I have had submissives in the past and Charlotte was one of my submissives. But I would never treat anyone like that, especially not for someone’s first time. All it takes is a quick google search to find out why I would find such an act abhorrent.” His lips twisted to a little frown and he squeezed my hand. “I get no enjoyment out of it if the person doesn’t want me there.”

  “Is Autumn your submissive?”

  “No.” I answered before he did, smiling with my half lie. “Beyond that, I’d like to not talk about my sex life if at all possible.”

  “I can respect that, but I’m not so sure my next guest will. Please welcome Charlotte Keller, author of the New York Times Bestseller, The Danseur’s Slave.” Oh, she’s a bestselling author now. I could practically feel my eye twitch as I grabbed Aleksi’s hand back. You’re on Live Television, you can’t attack the girl. My smile spread, reaching epic proportions. I was smiling the crazy, prom queen, serial killer smile. The dreaded Stepford Wife meets Donna Reed smile that I hadn’t had cause to smile in a year and some months parted my lips, flashing my pearly whites. Aleksi squeezed my hand back. When Charlotte came out, he didn’t rise to greet her… but I did. I stood and gave her a hug, and for a moment I think fear read on her face, and part of me—a large part of me—was delighted. “Welcome Charlotte.”

  “It’s great to be here, Mara. I love, love, love your show!” Charlotte practically squealed, her pale form draped in a billowy, nude toned, mini dress.

  “We’ll see how much you love, love, love it after this.” Mara practically cackled. “We’ve caught you in a lie. So I’m curious as to why you choose to publish this work of fiction as a memoire?” Mara leaned forward and smiled but that smile was as fake and as forced as mine. “I honestly don’t see how Autumn could embrace you after what you’ve done to her.”

  “I…I… I didn’t lie, it’s all true.” Charlotte stammered.

  “If it’s all true, why did Autumn and Aleksi come together?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “This doesn’t match your narrative.” Mara gestured at Aleksi and me. He held my hand, tracing his thumb over the back of my hand. “Did you think that no one would say anything because he was dead? You made some serious allegations in this book. I think what most people want to know is why did you lie?”

  Charlotte seem
ed so small in the chair suddenly, my eyes focused in on the teal colored stones at her throat. The necklace, to me, read nothing short of collar. She had a Master now, those jewels around her throat were the same exact shade of blue green she wore when I saw her last at Crimson Hill.

  “I didn’t lie, I told the truth.” Charlotte raised her chin as if gaining courage from something. “He did everything I wrote about and more.”

  “Would you care to explain why they’re together? Both Nikolai Zelenko and Colette Deveraux refuted your claims of Autumn being given away when Aleksi grew tired of her. Both said Aleksi left her because he was afraid of their relationship impacting her career and that the separation was amicable. We actually have a picture of them at Leslie D’Arcy’s wedding sitting at the same table.” Mara turned and looked at the small screen behind her that held the logo of the show, it blinked and was suddenly a picture of Aleksi at the table with Evan and me. “And then we have this taken that same night.” The monitor flashed again and a picture of Aleksi helping me out of the cab at the hotel replaced the prior image. “Was it jealousy that prompted you to write?”

  “I…I…” Miss Manners practically cackled with glee at Charlotte’s squirming. I, however, was almost disturbed by it. I had been there, unable to articulate what to say as I battled with that inner voice in my head telling me one thing while I tried to speak my mind. Here, it was clear that Charlotte was battling the truth. It’s not like you ever won, and here she won’t speak the truth. She loves her lie, she needs her lie—it makes her important. The deranged smile slipped from my lips to be replaced with a small frown. I pitied her. Oh my god, really? Are you that weak! This again? This is Kendra all over again, someone’s ruined your life and you get squeamish instead of rejoicing at their verbal evisceration. I sighed and looked at Aleksi’s hand in mine, tuning out the rest of the inquisition.