Blood Rhapsody

by Nancy Morse

  “You wanted him to live,” he said. “To be free of his frail body and dwindling spirit, free to play his instrument again. I kept my part of the bargain and gave that to you. Have you considered the depth of pain your father would have felt had I carried your dead body into the house? Do you think an eternity of music would have mattered to him then?”

  She shook her head angrily. “What you say is true, but I do not believe you did this to me for his sake, or for mine. You did it for yourself.”

  “Yes!” His bellow echoed throughout the house, shaking the walls and the floor beneath their feet and startling her. “Yes,” he repeated, his tone softening. “I did it for myself. Because I could not bear to go through eternity without you.”

  Pru turned away from the dark and cruel look in his eyes, biting her knuckles and stifling a moan. There was an aching in her soul. But then, the worst possible thought came to her. Did she even have a soul?

  Nicolae was at her back, close enough for her to feel his warm breath caressing the nape of her neck.

  “Prudence, we can make this work for us. From now on, we will never be apart.”

  “Oh Nicolae,” she cried, shaking her head, “don’t you see? There is no us.”

  Her heightened perceptions detected the dull ache in his heart. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “What do you think your life will be like without me?”

  Despite his penchant for cruelty, she knew the taunt was only meant to mask his true feelings. She turned then to look at him. There was such distressed confusion in his eyes that for a moment she was sorry she’d been the one to inflict more pain to an already over-pained life.

  “You don’t understand,” he said, his eyes beseeching hers.

  “No, Nicolae, it’s you who doesn’t understand. When I leave here, you shall never see me again.”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but the words came out a rusty whisper. “You cannot mean it.” There was an expression of inexplicable pain twisting his handsome features, and his green eyes were dull, as if a light had been extinguished behind them.

  Tears stung Pru’s eyes. But who were the tears for? Him? Herself? She knew not. Another unanswered question bound to plague her for all time.

  He turned away to stare rigidly into space. “I have waited centuries for you. It was ordained long before you and I were even born that we should be together.” He laughed contemptuously. “I believe it down to the depths of the soul you think you see in me.”

  “I was wrong. You have no soul. And now, neither do I. Of everything you have taken from me, my virtue, my mortality, my happiness, that is the one thing I will never forgive you for taking.”

  “The soul is an overrated thing,” he scoffed. “If it exists at all.”

  “It is the thing that made me human,” she wailed.

  “And your heart?” he taunted. “Did that not make you human? You still have one. I didn’t rip it from your body, although I am beginning to regret not having done so.”

  “The heart pumps blood through the body,” she said, dismissing his gibe. “No more than that. But the soul…” She searched for a way to put into words the extent of what he had taken from her. “The soul is the essence of a person. It is where the good resides, the kindness, the humanity. It is the principle of life and feeling and thought. It is what guides us through our lives.”

  “Then you should be glad to be no longer burdened with one,” he said flatly.

  She stiffened, holding his gaze for a long moment, before declaring, “We will never be together.”

  He rushed up to her, the candlelight reflecting the anguish on his face. “Why, Prudence? Why did you give yourself to me tonight as you never have before? I thought it was to be the beginning of something wonderful for us.”

  “I don’t know why,” she said, turning away, unable to bear the look in his eyes. “Perhaps it was because it was the end of something. My way of bidding you farewell.”

  His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Or perhaps it was because you know that only with me can you experience such wild abandon.”

  “So what if that’s true? It does not mean I want to go through eternity with you. There is more to life than the joys of the flesh.”

  A surge of resentment sharpened his tone. “You little fool. Don’t you know you will never be able get away from me?”

  In a weary voice, Pru implored, “Nicolae, be reasonable. You can have any woman you want. I cannot be that important to you.”

  “But you are,” he said, sounding petulant and dangerous.

  “Why? Because I thought I saw something in you that you yourself claim does not exist? No, Nicolae, you cannot use your words to sway me, nor your charm, nor your beauty, nor all your powers. You have made me into a vampire like yourself. With that curse comes the power to resist you, and resist you I shall, with every fiber of my being and every ounce of strength I possess.”

  “I will never let you go.”

  Pru tensed. Something in his voice made her turn around to look at him. By the light of the flickering candles his height seemed to grow nearly to reach the ceiling, throwing a tall, eerie shadow across the wall. His lips were curled back in a snarl, revealing the deadly white fangs. Before her loomed a supernatural force, something akin to a beast of the forest, something that could not be controlled, a dark, ancient threat with the power to rip her head from her body. Suddenly, she remembered the tale he had told of his making that terrible night in Transylvania, and how the Prince of Walachia had been beheaded by the Turks, ending his bloodthirsty reign of terror. Hadn’t he said that decapitation was one way to destroy a vampire? As was piercing the heart.

  She ought to have been afraid, and would have been, but for one thing. His eyes. His beautiful, mesmerizing eyes. Despite the hideousness of his visage, there was in his eyes a softness, a vulnerability, an aching need that transcended all else and made him seem, for a fleeting moment at least, almost human.

  “You don’t frighten me,” Pru said. “And you aren’t going to destroy me.”

  The sound of her voice broke the terrible tension in the room. The towering shape diminished, the fangs receded, and handsome Nicolae stood before her once again. “No,” he said, “I’m not going to destroy you. But I am going to have you. Whenever I want. Wherever I want. However I want. And nothing you can do can stop me.”

  He sauntered back to the mantle where he had left his glass, picked it up and downed the sherry without ceremony. With his back to her, he said flatly and irrevocably, “You are mine. Now and forever.”

  “You underestimate me if you think that.”

  He turned around to find her standing there, the fire poker in her hand. He smiled a crooked little smile and was about to say something when she lunged at him with a cry.

  His eyes went wide as the poker struck its mark. He let out a howl of pain and shock that reverberated throughout the house. For several seconds nothing happened. And then, a warm trickle of crimson blood began to seep into the fabric of his shirt over his heart, spreading wider and wider like rings upon water.

  He staggered toward her, but she leaped out of the way and watched in wild-eyed terror as he stumbled about, his hand clutching his breast, the blood pouring over and through his pale fingers, catching the glint of the candles like sherry. Into her nostrils came the smell of fear, not hers, but his. She stood rooted to her spot, unable to move, watching him thrash about the room, knocking over tables and chairs. The crystal decanter crashed to the floor, shattering into a thousand shards and sending the costly Oloroso splattering over the carpet.

  “Prudence!”

  The cry of her name jolted her into movement. She ran to the door. Looking back, she saw him crumble to his knees and then fall forward. His head was tilted to one side, toward the door. Those green eyes were looking at her, beseeching her. One pale hand lifted off the floor, palm up, reaching out to her. His eyes clouded and his breath came scarce.

  “Prudence.” This time his voice w
as but a pale whisper.

  With shaking hands, she reached for the doorknob and threw open the door. The night air slapped her in the face and the fog swallowed her as she raced down the steps.

  The long, mournful howl of a wolf resounded through the night, bouncing off the worn timbers of the shops, echoing down the cobbled streets and through the mud-soaked alleys. Pru stopped and looked back, her heart weeping.

  It all came crashing down on her, the reality of it, the finality of it. She would never gaze into those beautiful green eyes again, nor feel the touch of his hand against her skin, nor hear the fierce splendor of his music. For the first time, the terrible consequence of what she had done registered upon her brain.

  And then she heard it, a voice, the faintest of whispers, yet sounding like a deafening roar to her ears.

  “Now and forever.”

  Horror seized her. With a cry, she began to run, faster, faster, so fast that her heart threatened to explode in her chest. Away from the house in Hanover Square, away from the blood, from the haunting beauty of his face, from that voice, and toward the only thing that was left…eternity.

  ***

  If you enjoyed Book I of the Soul Searchers Series, here’s a glimpse of what’s coming.

  Book II – TAINTED LOVE – As Pru struggles with her transformation from mortal to immortal, her life becomes more chaotic, taking an emotional toll on her and reuniting her with Nicolae who she left for dead more than 70 years ago. Set against the backdrop of old New Orleans and the black magic of a powerful Voodoo queen, Pru joins forces with Nicolae to search for Lienore, the ancient witch who can restore their lost souls.

  Book III – DARK SONATA – As Pru becomes more ensconced in her life as a vampire, she doesn’t give a damn about the rules and joyfully breaks them at every opportunity. Life is a constant battle between resisting her weakness for the wrong mortal men and her desire to be loved. Although she has rejected him, Nicolae is unwilling to give her up and must watch as she falls in and out of love with other men, hoping against hope that she will one day choose him to spend eternity with. The search for their lost souls takes them to the far corners of the world and in and out of each other’s arms.

  Book IV – LOVE NEVER ENDING – Self-reliant to a fault, Pru nevertheless longs for the true love that can calm her troubled heart. Using her wits to stay ahead of those who would destroy her, she wields her powers with elegance and ferocity, stalking those who commit dastardly crimes while kicking up her heels as a chorus girl in the Ziegfeld Follies. When several chorus girls are brutally murdered, Pru recognizes the calling card of the killer and turns to Nicolae for help. Can he put his feelings for her aside to prevent another murder? And when the witch Lienore is finally within their grasp, can they trick her into chanting the words that will reclaim their lost souls?

  www.nancymorse.com

  These titles are available as Kindle editions:

  SEA MISTRESS – historical romance

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VB8FHY

  THIS TENDER PRIZE – historical romance

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V55LNG

  WHERE THE WILD WIND BLOWS – historical romance

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Z1COXG

  RACE AGAINST LOVE – contemporary romance

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058OE2NY

  ECHOES – contemporary romance

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058TUU3K

  FIREHAWK – historical romance

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005C17QKM

  SILVER LADY – historical romance

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005RO8DIA

  Coming Soon:

  BELOVED BETRAYER – historical romance

  ***

  Excerpt from SILVER LADY

  “If you wanted a stroll in the moonlight, why didn’t you say so?”

  That familiar mocking drawl made Danny cringe. She lifted her head from the ground and looked up at him. He stood silhouetted against the darkness, feet braced apart, thumbs hooked in his gunbelt, eyes blazing down at her. With a defeated sigh, she got to her feet.

  “Why can’t you just let me go?” she whined.

  “I can’t do that. You’re my ace in the hole. Which reminds me, you got me away from a good hand of poker to come after you. And look at you. You’re a mess.” He reached for her hand. “We’re going back in there, Danny, and I want you to behave yourself.”

  As they neared the saloon and were about to turn into the back alley, he said, “Don’t ever try to run away from me again.”

  “Run away?” a voice echoed from the shadows. “Well now, whoth that runnin’ away?”

  “It’s nothing,” Alex said to the man who staggered toward them. “Go back to your whiskey, old timer.”

  “Young fella, don’t you worry ‘bout a thing. No, thuh, I won’t tell a thoul.” He smiled at them with a mouth of missing teeth. “No, thuree, why iffen you two wanna go runnin’ off to git hitched, then no thur, I ain’t gonna tell a thoul, not old Willard Thpree.” He slapped his thigh and cackled. “Hey, I know. Oh boy, ain’t thith gonna be thomthin’.” Without warning, he let out a holler that made the hairs at the back of Alex’s neck stand on end.

  “Hey, Judge,” he yelled into the crowded saloon, forgetting his promise as easily as he’d made it. “Judge, you got yourthelf thom customerth who wanna get hitched. Come on over.”

  Alex cursed under his breath and turned quickly to Danny. “No tricks now,” he warned through gritted teeth.

  Unity pushed her way through the others who crowded around outside. “Honey,” she said to Danny, “I gotta hand it to you. I always said the lady who lands this handsome devil has to be something special.”

  “Oh, but there’s been a mistake,” Danny began, but Alex’s fingers dug into her waist, staunching the rest of her objection. She looked at him disbelievingly. Surely he wasn’t going to go through with this charade?

  While Judge Decker led the others into the saloon, Unity leaned close to Alex and whispered, “I got me a gut feeling this ain’t something you two planned on doing. Not tonight leastways. But for your sake you’d better go through with it. Those people in there are getting ready for a wedding, and if they don’t get one, there’s bound to be trouble.”

  Alex looked into the crowded saloon, then at Danny whose complexion was as white as cow’s milk. He kept his arm around her waist to keep her steady on her feet. “Unity, is there anyone here tonight I should know about? A backroom game of poker is one thing, but a crowded saloon—”

  “Don’t think so, but I’ll keep my eyes open.” Turning away, she called to the man behind the bar. “Sam, set up a round for everyone.” As she suspected, they all moved to the bar to claim their free shot of whiskey.

  Alex led Danny into the hallway and placed her with her back against the wall. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said, “and I want you to know I didn’t plan any of this. I never figured myself for the marrying kind.” Her hard, accusing stare made him uncomfortable. “Well, you can see the kind of life I live. How could I expect any woman to—“

  “Is that supposed to be a proposal?” she cut in with an angry whisper. “Because if it is, I do not accept. I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth. And furthermore, I’ve never heard a proposal like that in my life, and you can be sure I’ve heard many.”

  “What the hell do you want me to do, get down on my knees and beg you to marry me?” His own outrage was evident in the crimson flush all over his face.

  “The only time I want to see you on your knees, Alex Coulter, is when the law finally catches up with you and you have to beg for your life.”

  Almost instantly she regretted her harsh words when she saw the stab of pain in his eyes. But it disappeared quickly behind a callous look when he sneered, “That’ll be the day.” He reached for her roughly and yanked her into the saloon.

  In her state of numbed confusion, Danny tried to focus her attention on Judge Decker, noting the tiny moi
sture-laden beads of sweat dripping off his stubbly chin onto the front of his shirt, and the jacket he wore that looked like it might have fit him once but now hung loosely about the shoulders, one sleeve longer than the other, the collar frayed and stained yellow.

  Alex fidgeted nervously, his eyes darting across the nameless faces, searching for a sign of recognition from one of them. He found Danny’s hand and grasped it tightly in his, while his other hand brushed lightly over the gun in his holster, just in case. It was a damned fool spot to be in, just what he didn’t need. If his name rang a familiar bell to just one person, there’d be a lot of trouble. Any one of them could be a bounty hunter or a U.S. marshal or just some fool kid hoping to make a name for himself.

  The ceremony was a mockery. Danny saw the judge’s lips moving but she barely heard his words. “By the power vested in me by the Territory of Colorado, I pronounce you man and wife.”