Cat wrapped her arms around her handbag tightly and scanned the platform. Of the few people around, most didn't seem to be looking at her at all. An old couple stared intently at the board announcing the next train. A man in a business suit was tapping away at his phone. Further up, there was a man in tattered jeans and an old, faded canvas jacket, who rummaged around in one of the two large plastic bags he'd been carrying earlier.
All of them were way too busy to be paying attention to Cat.
And yet...
A gust of wind blew across the platform, adding to the eerie atmosphere. It'll be an approaching train, Cat tried to reassure herself. Her hands went numb in the cold so she pushed them deeper into her pockets.
After an unseasonably warm October, winter had finally come.
Or perhaps it wasn't the weather that made her feel cold. A chill slowly crawled down her back, causing her to turn around and scan the other side of the platform again. Nothing. Nobody.
She closed her eyes and slowly counted down from ten—an old relaxation trick her mom had taught her when she was little and still afraid of the dark.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the lights of the approaching train. Finally. She'd be safe in there, and it would take her straight home.
Cat raced at the nearest door and sat down in one of the many empty seats. The train was quiet as well, but brightly lit and a lot less scary than the station had been. There was a surveillance camera on the ceiling, aimed squarely at Cat, reassuring her further. If anyone tried anything, they'd be caught on film.
She folded her arms and kept her eyes fixed on the platform. Only those few people who had been waiting earlier made it into the train. Nobody looked out of place or dangerous in any way.
The doors closed, allowing her to breathe another sigh of relief. She'd made it. The train pulled away, slowly at first, then speeding up through the dark.
Cat rested her hand on her chest and felt her heartbeat slow down back to normal again. She slumped against the back rest of her seat and closed her eyes.
Alexander smiled at her, and she smiled back.
When Cat came back to her senses, she was no longer on the train. The street she found herself on didn't look familiar.
This wasn't her neighborhood. Had she been sleepwalking? To make matters worse, it had begun to drizzle; her hair was already damp.
She had no clue where she was going, and yet her feet kept moving of their own accord.
House upon house passed her by, each one grander and more luxurious than the last.
Finally, she stood in front of a large ornamental gate and it hit her.
She was on Kensington Palace Gardens.
This was Alexander's villa!
She wanted to turn around and run, but something gave her pause. All those dreams she'd had of Alexander were hard to ignore. The closer she got to the gate, the safer she felt somehow. At the same time, the feeling of unease she'd felt at the metro station earlier was creeping up to her again. Something dangerous lurked in the darkness behind her, she was sure of it. She shivered as the damp crept through her coat.
Where her instincts had told her to run from this place on Halloween, today they were screaming the opposite. Go in. He'll protect you.
It made no sense. Why would he want anything to do with her, after the way she left things that night?
The gates opened of their own accord, and she stepped inside. It didn't matter that the more rational voice in her head insisted she had no business here. That he wouldn't want to see her anyway. That he was probably in there with the woman who had accompanied him to Sotheby's. Pangs of jealousy tore at her heart.
Yet her heart insisted she had to proceed.
She turned around one last time as the gates shut slowly behind her. There was something there, across the road. Two eyes, glowing red, staring right back at her. Her heart skipped a few beats and she swallowed, hard.
Cat clutched her handbag tightly with both hands and ran up the driveway toward the house. The gravel shifted and crunched under her feet, making it near impossible to maintain her balance on her heels. She stumbled and almost fell as she reached the front steps.
One of the two large wooden doors opened and a familiar silhouette appeared in front of her.
"Catherine!" Alexander called out.
Within the blink of an eye, he stood in front of her, at the bottom of the steps. How had he moved so quickly?
"Catherine. You came," he spoke again.
Cat didn't know how to respond. She blinked a few times, almost expecting him to vanish right before her eyes. Maybe she'd fallen asleep on the train, and this was all a crazy dream?
"Someone is following me," Cat mumbled, taking a shaky step forward. Her knees trembled, and almost straightaway, so did the rest of her.
"I'll protect you," he said as he reached out for her arm, steadying her.
Somehow, she believed him.
This was crazy and completely impossible. She took a step and promptly lost her balance again. He caught her. At once, she felt weightless; they didn't walk up the steps together, they floated. All she could focus on was his hand on her arm, burning through her damp clothes and setting her heart alight.
Dream or not, if she assumed that everything she'd learned was true, and he was a vampire, did it really matter? This right here, it felt right. She'd be a lot safer inside the house with him, than with whatever was out there watching her.
As soon as they crossed the threshold into his house, she froze. There it was, the painting that had started everything and almost ended it too.
She'd been captivated by it before she'd even met the man himself.
The door shut behind them with a loud click and the outside world seemed to no longer matter.
"You'll have questions." Alexander turned to face her. His expression was soft, almost gentle, even if the flicker in his eyes suggested something more. Was it passion that she saw? Her body's reaction to him was obvious; the elevated heart rate, butterflies in her stomach, all of it hit her like a freight train, and threatened to throw her off balance again.
"I'm not sure I want to know the answers," Cat mumbled.
She glanced down at her shoes, which were scuffed and coated in streaks of mud. Her one good pair of heels.
Cat met his gaze again and his dark eyes lit up. He didn't scare her anymore. Something about him invited her to proceed. Just like on that first night, before everything had gone wrong. Her mind went blank except for one thought: how good it had felt to kiss him.
She tiptoed and let her desires take over. Before she knew it, his arms were wrapped around her, and his lips had locked with hers. It was familiar, like they'd done this so many times before; of course in a way they had, in her dreams. Soft lips, begging for affection, their tongues twirling and darting around one another in an endless game of cat and mouse.
Cat felt feverish, overcome with sensations. This one kiss seemed to unleash all the tension and yearning she'd felt for weeks.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, in between kisses.
He didn't stop or respond. How was it that he still wanted her, when he surrounded himself with women such as the one who had accompanied him to the auction?
The more she drank in his essence, the less important her questions seemed. The only thing that mattered was that she was here, with him. And that he wanted her back.
Cat stumbled backward, her knees buckling underneath her. Their lips disconnected, though his muscular arms still cradled her. For a moment, she had trouble identifying her surroundings, then her eyes settled on the hunting scene on the wall next to them.
"That painting." Cat nodded at the canvas.
"That's me. Yes," Alexander confirmed, like he'd read her mind.
A sense of déjà vu came over Cat. He'd had his arms around her when she asked him this in her dream. She recalled what came next: a dance and a bite to the neck. Had it really been a dream, or a bizarre vision of the future? Her heart started
to race again, but she felt more excited than scared this time.
"You are a..." She paused, unable to say the word out loud. Vampire.
It still seemed so crazy, so impossible. Everything was going so well; despite everything, he really seemed to be into her. She wasn't ready to slip up and make a fool of herself.
Alexander smiled and brushed a wet lock of hair out of her face. "Let's get you cleaned up. You must be freezing."
He was right; in all the excitement she'd forgotten just how sorry a state she was in. Cat nodded and slipped her arm into his. Halfway up the stairs, something changed. A fresh dose of dread came over her, causing her chest to constrict and heart to pound even harder. She stopped and scanned the hall, then paused when she saw a man staring up at her. His eyes shone deep red. Danger.
"There's someone there," she whispered.
Alexander paused as well. "That's just Michael. He won't harm you."
Cat frowned and bit her lip. Her instincts were trying to tell her otherwise, and yet she was inclined to believe Alexander's reassurances. He would protect her, no matter what.
"You're safe, I promise," he said.
Downstairs, there was no sign of the other man anymore, and instantly, her fear subsided.
Chapter Thirteen
Alexander could hardly believe it. After he'd returned to Sotheby's and found no sign of her, he'd come home defeated. And now, it was Catherine who had come to him.
She'd kissed him with a need that seemed to match, if not surpass his own.
Only now, her eyes were wide and fearful again. He wanted so badly to reassure her, to convince her that she had nothing to fear from him.
Was that the truth, though? As he found himself so close to her, with her scent overwhelming his senses once more, could he honestly say that she wasn't in danger?
The temptation was stronger than the last time. Every fiber in his body seemed to scream at him to go for her throat, as well as her lips.
He realized it had been days since he'd last fed; all his energy these days had gone into trying to track her down.
"You're safe," he heard himself say.
It felt like a hollow promise, even if he really wanted to believe it himself. The way Michael had looked at her from the bottom of the stairs had suggested he too had fallen under the spell of the Blood Bride. Even if his loyalty to Alexander prevented him from acting on it, and Alexander somehow managed to suppress his own urges, they still had the Council to deal with. No doubt it was one of theirs who had followed Cat here in the first place.
He glanced at her as they continued up the steps and through the hallway, a journey they'd made together before. Their destination was the same too: the master suite. Once again, his eloquence was failing him; he wasn't sure how to talk to her, especially while she looked so vulnerable.
"I know this is a lot to take in," Alexander said finally.
She didn't respond, just looked up at him, and he was overcome with desire. He ached to kiss her, hold her, and comfort her.
But despite their earlier affections, it would be selfish of him to give in. This wasn't the time. Catherine was shivering visibly now. Humans were sensitive creatures, susceptible to all sorts of dangers. The last thing he wanted was for her to catch a cold on top of everything.
"The en-suite is through there." Alexander pointed at a door leading off from the other side of the bedroom. "You'll find a robe there if you want it."
He turned and walked back out of the room to give her some privacy.
"Don't go," Catherine whispered behind him. "Please."
He stopped. For her sake as well as his own, he should probably leave. But he couldn't deny her request either.
So he did as asked, closed the door behind him, and sat down on a chair in the corner with his hands folded. Within moments, he heard the sound of the shower inside the en-suite. He tried not to imagine her in there, warm water rushing down her curves, caressing her and soothing her.
There was no way of knowing how much time they had together before Lucille would inevitably interrupt. Michael would protect them, but he was their only ally against who knew how many Council loyalists? He could only hope that the safeguards this house offered would keep them out long enough.
It was obvious what they had to do. He'd seen the ritual performed once before, many years ago. Alexander rested his head in his hands.
Catherine's sense of reality was already shattered. Although his own initiation into this world had taken place several hundred years ago, he could clearly remember how frazzled he'd been. This wasn't an easy truth to be faced with.
The click of the bathroom door snapped him out of his thoughts. There she stood in the doorway, wearing his black robe. Clouds of steam billowed around her, carrying the scents of a summer meadow in full bloom into the room with it.
A radiant image of womanhood, her expression was calmer now. Perhaps she was coming to terms with where she'd ended up? He didn't know what to say, how to broach the subject.
"There is something about you," Catherine started.
Alexander's ears perked up. That meant she had felt it too, the inexplicable connection they shared.
"I've dreamed a lot about you," she spoke, as though she could read his mind. This very image, in fact, of Catherine fresh out of the shower, had visited him in his sleep before.
"Yes." Alexander got up and approached her while maintaining eye contact. The sweet smell of her blood was even more intense now that she had warmed up. How easy it would be to hypnotize her, to make her bend to his will right now. And how hollow a victory it would be.
"And you make me feel safe," she continued.
"I want you to feel safe." He meant it, and yet it felt like a lie.
Catherine raised her hand. "I'm not done yet."
Alexander paused.
"But at the same time, there's something in this house that makes me feel otherwise. Maybe your man, Michael." Catherine shuddered as she spoke his name. "Maybe something else." She frowned, like she was surprised at her own words.
Alexander took another step in her direction. This was his opening, his chance to explain the entire wretched situation to her. If she ran again, at least it would be after she had all the facts. "There is something you need to know."
Catherine averted her gaze and wrapped her arms around herself tightly.
"You're not like other women."
Her eyes snapped back up at his again and she raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not saying this to flatter you, I'm stating a fact. Perhaps you've noticed it before." Alexander ran his hand through his hair as he tried to find the right words to continue.
"Our kind—” He paused and rested his gaze on her lips.
"Vampires," she whispered.
He nodded. It was good to hear her say it finally.
"You'll know the stories. The immortality, the drinking of blood. But we're not murderers." He started pacing around the room as he spoke.
"No?"
He shook his head. "It's against the law. We feed just enough to sustain ourselves, but we're not allowed to harm humans. Not that I personally would ever want to even if it were allowed. We're not monsters. Most of us aren't, anyway." He was rambling. This wasn't good. He paused for a moment to see how she was taking all the information so far.
"Then why do I keep feeling like I've got death hanging over my head?" Catherine said.
"Because you do. You're different, as I said."
She walked up to the bed and sat down in the center of it. Then she looked back up at him.
"Your blood is special. Any vampire who gets close to you falls under your spell. That's why you're being stalked." He stopped and looked down at her.
"So there are vampires after me for my blood?" Her eyes widened again, and her bottom lip trembled slightly.
So fragile, so beautiful. How could she not know the power she wielded?
"Unfortunately, in your particular case, the laws mean next to nothing. T
hey'll drink every last drop of it, no matter the consequences."
"Except you. You don't want to... kill me?" she whispered.
Alexander shook his head.
"And that's why I feel safe with you, but not any of the others?" she asked.
Alexander ran his hand over his chin. Her conclusion was logical. He started pacing back and forth again.
"It's only a matter of time before they find you here. Whoever was out there was probably tracking you on their behalf." It hurt to admit it, but it was the truth and she deserved to know. "I'll do everything I can to keep you safe. But we are outnumbered."
"I trust you." She looked up at him, and he found himself lost in the depths of her green eyes and froze.
It was bittersweet, hearing her say those three little words. He was unworthy. Throughout their interactions, he'd been teetering on the edge of control. Even as they kissed, he was only a hair's breadth away from satisfying his intense thirst. The slightest misstep, and his dark side would destroy everything they had.
"Why?" he asked finally.
She blinked a few times and frowned. "I can't explain. It's what's in my heart."
"Maybe it's a sign," Alexander mumbled.
"What?" she asked.
He shook his head. All of this was highly illogical. Their connection, as well as the fact that he could resist her—at least for now. He might as well throw all logic out the window and follow his heart too. There was only one way out; he had to take a chance. A leap of faith.
So he walked up to her until he was only a step away from the bed. Then he fell down onto one knee and reached out for her right hand. A surge of electricity seemed to pass from her hand into his, so intense was the sensation of touching her again.
"I know this makes no sense, but I must ask. Knowing everything you do now, and considering what your heart is telling you... Would you walk the earth with me, companions in life and death, now and forever?"
"Are you... Is this a proposal?" she stammered and drew her hand back a little, though not far enough to break their connection.
Of course she was taken aback. They hardly knew each other beyond what their instincts were trying to tell them. In these modern times, they didn't make commitments anymore until much later on in relationships. He had let his old fashioned ideas get out of control and jumped the gun.
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