by Tara Sampson
“Alright,” he said sounding wistful. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
Leo closed the door behind him and locked it so that his bride would be kept safe. He didn’t know what he would do if something happened to her now. He had waited too long for her and now that she was with him, he would hold on to her by any means necessary—even if that meant locking her up.
Ric followed in behind his master with his hands folded behind his back. The walk down that large hall was quiet with the exception of their rhythmic footsteps along the tiled floor.
“Ric,” Leo stopped suddenly and turned around to face his servant. “I need you to rustle me up some food for this afternoon. I need to feed and I can’t leave my lady alone at the moment. She is far too fragile.”
Ric wrinkled his nose in disgust and spoke the words aloud before he thought about the repercussions, “So you went through with it? You’re actually converting her into a creature of the night like us?”
Leo lifted a brow at his minion. Ric’s family had served the Risso’s for centuries. In their world, there was a definitive hierarchy of who was at the top and who was at the bottom of the ladder. Although, Ric’s family was in the lower tier, Leo had always made an effort to try and treat Ric with a certain amount of respect that many of his social stature never even see.
“Do you have a problem with my Shelby?” Leo asked dangerously cool while glaring down at Ric and taking an imposing step forward. His eyes narrowed at the shorter man as he waited expectantly for an answer. If it was the wrong one, Leo wouldn’t hesitate in correcting the situation any which way he saw fit.
Ric stepped backwards and met the cold hard feel of the wall against his back. There was nowhere else to go. Trying to cover up his angst over his master’s newest obsession, he frantically shook his head back and forth.
“No, sir. No. Not a problem at all.”
He tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace showing nothing but lip and teeth.
Leo studied him for a minute.
Maybe I’ve been too easy on him in the past, he pondered. Maybe I need to do something a little more viral to remind him just where his place is.
“Leonardo, darling, there you are,” the all too familiar voice called out from down the hall. “What in the blazes name took you so long? I’ve been waiting downstairs for quite a while now and no one has even come to offer me any refreshments.”
Leo turned his head and looked down the hall at his mother who was fast approaching them. He pasted a smile on his face as the elegant woman that raised him all those years ago came forward.
“Mother, it’s good to see you,” he stated and went to meet her.
He embraced her in an ill-formed hug that felt both rigid and odd after holding on to his desert flower through most of the night.
Stepping back, he held on to her hands and gave her a once over. She looked as beautiful as ever. For going on one hundred and eighty years of age, she looked as exquisite as she had on her twenty-first birthday.
“I was just on my way down,” he told her before glancing over at his servant. “I was resting when Ric came to tell me that you’d arrived.”
Isabella Risso slid a cursory glance in Ric’s direction before turning back to her son with a welcoming smile.
“It’s been far too long, my son.” Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to each of his cheeks in the same manner that she had when he was but a little boy, barely towering up to her waist.
Leo hooked his arm with hers and started them back down the hall.
“Indeed it has, Mother. Let me show you to your room so that you can begin to settle in and maybe we can catch up later in the evening.”
Isabella stopped and pulled Leo to a halt with her.
“What about now?” she asked sounding rather put out like a whiny child. “I really wanted to talk to you, darling.” Reaching up she patted his cheek affectionately. “You do look so much like your father. He was a handsome man and you my son are just as handsome.”
Leo covered her hand on his cheek while he remembered his father. His father was a lively character, but he was too soft when it came to the ways of human treatment and their kind. In the end, that had been his ultimate downfall. He was far too trusting and when he made the mistake of trusting the wrong human, it had cost him dearly—his life.
Brushing the memories aside, Leo peeked down at his mother.
“I look forward to talking with you too, Mother but your visit was sudden and I have a few things to attend to. It may be a couple of days before I can free up some decent quality time.”
And then I can introduce you to my life partner, my heart and now, my soul, he thought with the same feeling of euphoria that he tended to experience at the mere mention of Shelby’s name.
Isabella stuck her lips out in a studious pout.
“Well…I suppose this was kind of sudden. I understand that you have things to deal with, darling. You are, in fact, a Risso and a very important man in our society which brings me to my next bit of news.” She smiled up at him and started to walk in the direction they had been heading in. “There will be another visitor coming in tomorrow night. Surely you have a room to spare for a dear friend of mine, don’t you?”
Isabella stared straight ahead with her chin up in the air and her shoulders thrown back so that her posture was as regal as any high-society queen.
This time, it was Leo that stopped and pulled his mother to a halt.
“Who’s coming, Mother?”
He was no fool and he was highly suspicious of his mother and her motives. She glanced over to her son and tugged on his arm to continue walking again.
“It’s just a friend, nothing more.”
Leo led her down the stairs and through another hall that led to his guest quarters. He stewed over who this friend could be.
Just a friend; my ass! What are you really up to mother dearest?
Leo’s temper was short, especially right now because he was feeling bereft without his partner close by. After an interminable silence between the two, he asked once again. This time, his tone was a bit more demanding.
“Who is coming tomorrow, Mother?”
Isabella sighed, “You’re just like your father; impatient as a three year old child. If you must know, it’s Tatiana Liaberdi.”
They stopped at a door that was ornately decorated with eighteenth century wood work.
“Tatiana,” Leo repeated the name.
That was definitely a blast from the past. It had been over fifty years since he had last seen his father’s best friend’s daughter. And that was when he still resided in Europe.
“Yes, Tatiana. I promised Frederico that I would be her ward while she visited the United States for a few months. I am here, so she will be here too.” Turning so that she faced her son, Isabella placed a delicate looking hand over her chest. “Surely that isn’t a problem Leonardo? Frederico is such a dear friend of the family’s and you don’t have a life partner either. I really didn’t think that it would be that big of a deal.”
Leo closed his eyes to bite back the words that he really wanted to say. He didn’t want anybody here right now. Not while his desert flower was in such a delicate state. Not his mother and most definitely not another single femme vampire.
Opening up his dark eyes, Leo sighed.
“It’ll be fine, Mother. Now,” Leo began and opened the door that was in front of them, waving her in, “we’ll talk more, but later.”
Isabella walked in the room and surveyed it thoroughly. She seemed pleased with the accommodations and he was thankful for the lack of her usual nitpicking.
“Later then,” she replied looking back at her son. Shooing Leo out of the room, she told him, “Run along now and do what you must. When Tatiana arrives I fully expect you to have freed up some time to help show her around.”
Leo stopped at the door, opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. He figured that he probably looked a bit like a goldfish gasping for ai
r as he got ready to voice his protest but thought better of it.
“Fine,” he settled courteously. Turning on his heels, he shut the door and leaned up against the wall. He covered his face with his hands. “What are you up to, Mother?” He groaned and stood there for a moment, attempting to get himself back in check. One moment led to another and before he knew it, Leo began to feel the rising tension from his bride-to-be. She was waking up way too soon.
Startled by the development, Leo waved his hand over his body transforming himself into a misty cloud so that he could transport himself quickly back to his bedroom.
Reappearing in his true form, Leo stood at the edge of the bed and peered worriedly at Shelby. She was sitting up, touching her fangs with a blank look on her face.
“My sweet, don’t,” he told her going around to the side of the bed and pulling her hands away from her mouth. “You might hurt yourself.”
He brought her hands up to his mouth so that he could kiss each one of her fingers, taking care to make sure that she had not accidentally pricked one of them.
“What did you do to me?” Shelby asked quietly and looked up at Leo with a grief-stricken look written all over her face.
Leo was perplexed by her emotions. Sliding closer to her so that their thighs were touching, he cocked his head to the side and replied, “What do you mean, my sweet?”
Shelby scooted back, away from the man that had seemingly changed her. She didn’t understand it and she wanted no part of it.
“What did you do to me?” she repeated the question a little louder this time and stared into the midnight-black orbs of the man who so obviously was not a real man at all.
Leo blinked and then blinked again. This made no sense to him. She was in the middle of a conversion and she should be sleeping. Holding out his hand to her, Leo softened his face and lowered his voice.
“Come here, my sweet. Come back and rest. You need more rest and we can talk later.”
Shelby jumped back off the bed and almost lost her footing when she tried to stand. Leo was there in an instant to catch her. He held her up easily while she smacked out at his hold.
“What did you turn me into you freak? I’m a monster!” she yelled, getting more frantic by the second. “I’m not normal! You made me a goddamned monster!”
Tears were streaming down her face as she pounded her fists against the steel chest of the man that continued to hold her.
“You changed me!” she continued to rant as her fangs glistened in the candlelight, making Leo ache for her pain. He didn’t understand what was wrong with her.
“Sweetheart, please. I don’t understand what’s wrong. Please stop,” he begged. “You’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t stop this nonsense.”
Shelby stopped and glanced up disbelievingly at the dark stranger.
“What do you mean I don’t understand?”
She pointed at her fangs that Leo had thought was a picture of pure perfection. He remembered vividly the highly erotic sensation as those sharpened pearly whites sank deeply into his flesh earlier in the evening and Shelby drank in his very essence. He provided for her and there she was, in his arms as lively as a firecracker and she belonged to only him.
“Your beautiful,” he answered her sincerely.
Her eyes widened as she shook her head from side to side.
“This is not normal!” she screamed, flattening both of her hands against his chest.
“Sweetie,” Leo tried again, using his calm and rational tone, “you were never normal. From the first day that I saw your broken body and drained my life into you, you changed. You became one with me and only me.” Leo wrapped his arms around Shelby a little tighter and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re like me Shelby—a vampire—a creature of the night. You’re my dark angel.”
Shelby couldn’t comprehend what this man was telling her.
It was crazy.
It was nuts.
She was going insane.
“No, No, No!” she repeated the word and tried to pull away from his arms. “I’m dreaming again. I always dream. This is just another bad dream,” she stated with conviction.
Leo took a finger and lifted her face so that she was forced to look up at him. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears as she stared, panicked, back at him.
“I assure you, my sweet, that this isn’t a dream. This is very real. You are a vampire now. Like me.”
Shelby stared up into the face of the stranger whom she had always thought was her knight in shining armor. His face was carved perfectly and his body was toned to the sheer hardness of the world’s finest marble. There was no denying that the man was sexy as sin.
But he’s a vampire, she thought to herself. A vampire!
Shelby blinked once, twice, and then a third time before she went boneless in Leo’s arms.
This is too much, way too much for an ordinary or in my case now, not-so-ordinary girl to handle.
Giving in, she let the darkness claim her once more.
Chapter 7
Leo lifted Shelby into his arms. She succumbed to the darkness once again and it confounded him to no end as to why she had woken up in the first place. During a conversion, a newly-made vampire would typically sleep through most of the seventy-two hour process with the exception of the required feedings.
So why did she wake in the first place?
Leo tucked his little bride-to-be back in the bed and sat down beside her. Taking his hand, he lightly caressed her cheek and reveled in the simple softness of her skin underneath his fingertips. It was such a small pleasure; one that he would have never given a second thought to in the past but one that he yearned for in the present.
The beautiful blond had changed Leo. She changed him in ways that he had never thought of before. He had always thought it frivolous and silly when his siblings found their life partners and then, there was the way they always seemed to look into each other’s eyes. It was as if the other had hung the stars and moon up for the other. He used to think it nonsense; a devil’s trickery. But now...now he got it. Having Shelby in his bed had changed his entire perspective on life. What used to be important, no longer was. Shelby was his life now. She was the one soul that his heart beat for and there wasn’t much that he wouldn’t do to make his partner blissfully happy.
Bending over her sleeping form, Leo gently pressed a kiss on Shelby’s forehead and caught the heavenly scent of her blood calling out to him. It was such an earthy rich scent that Leo suddenly had to force himself to stand up and back away from her.
He had yet to feed and her enticing scent was so strong that if he lingered, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from taking what he wanted; and that wouldn’t be good. Feeding from his sweet Shelby right now would be detrimental to her and the conversion. She was still too weak and there was no way that he could chance taking too much from her.
Not when she was so close to finally being his.
But the scent was so irresistible. It was tempting him, calling to him and his fangs elongated at the prospect of just taking a small sip from her vein.
One sip, his inner beast taunted, just one small sip, to wet the pallet.
Swallowing hard past the fire that was now burning in the back of his throat, he blew out a deep breath. Leo knew he needed to get out of that room. He needed to distance himself from his dark angel before he uncontrollably did something that he would come to regret later.
His control was hanging by a thin thread and for a moment, his lack of restraint caught him off-guard. He had always been one of strict composure and perfect countenance.
What’s wrong with me now?
The lithe little blond lying in his bed had somehow broken through those carefully composed walls and quickly shattered all of his reasoning with her presence. He had no control when it came to her and that scared the living hell out of him.
With a wave of his hand, Leo dissolved into the shadows of the darkness and went in search f
or his servant. Ric had to have corralled him some food by now. At least he better have if he knew what was good for him. Leo was not a man of patience, especially the way his hunger was currently riding him so damn hard.
“Ric,” Leo called out when he reappeared in his true form down in the foyer of his home. He cocked his head to the side and listened for an answer. He was met with silence. Leo then quickly made his way from one room to the next in search of the one man who was supposed to be at his beck and call.
Not finding him when he needed him the most was starting to really piss him off.
“Ric…where in the hell are you?” he called out much louder this time, irritation flooding his voice.
“You called?” Ric asked coming up from behind him.
Leo turned around and stared down at Ric.
“Yes, several times in fact. Where have you been?” he asked impatiently.
Ric stepped forward but was careful to keep his gaze averted.
“I’ve been in the basement, sir. Is there something that you need?”
Eyeing Ric, Leo released a breath and closed his eyes. Yeah, he needed something alright. He needed his woman in every way imaginable—both casual and intimate.
But alas, it was too soon.
Opening up his black eyes, Leo pinned his gaze on Ric and in a cool tone, he asked, “Did you get me a feeder?”
“Of course,” he replied swiftly. “That was why I was in the basement.”
Ric lifted his head up to Leo and watched him through cautionary eyes. He sensed that his master was on edge and that wasn’t like him. Leo had always been the epitome of impenetrable demeanor. But right now, he was nothing like his usual self.
His eyes were continually darting this way and that. The constant disappearances to his room where he sat vigil over a repulsive human of all things, was disturbing. Humans were the bottom links of the food chain. They were only good for one thing and one thing only—sustenance for their kind. They were the almighty rulers of the night and yet Leo had made plans to marry one. He was already bringing her over to the other side and to top it off, Leo expected him to bow down at her every wish and command.
