by Lucy Lyons
Rachel stayed behind when the others left and Colette was close behind her. Her face was tight and even paler than usual; if that was possible. It was Colette who examined my hand, blowing cool air across the raw, bloody skin as the pain made me vomit bile.
“Colette. You’ve only just been released. Do not make me put you back before you’ve had a chance to feed.” She cringed and her eyes went to the floor.
“Her hand is so hot it hurts my skin. I was just trying to cool it.” I glanced down at her, kneeling so she was smaller than me, my hand cupped in hers as in supplication.
“I’m okay. It just hurts so, so much.” Colette glanced up at me, then at Nicholas.
“I can heal her,” Colette said softly. Her face was paler than I’d seen; so translucent I could clearly see the veins below her skin.
“No, Colette. You may not.” The master’s voice was stern but not angry. She backed away from me and Rachel put her to work; righting the furniture and making the evidence of violence disappear before my eyes. I wished they could do the same with my hand, which had started trembling uncontrollably once Colette let go of it.
“Leave us!” Nicholas’ bark startled all three of us equally and even as I cringed away from him, I saw Colette and Rachel draw back towards each other. “Stop cringing like beaten dogs and leave us please,” he added with a glance toward me. He held out his hand and I placed my good one in it, so he could help me to my feet.
“Are you angry with me?” I asked, my voice shaky and small.
“Not nearly as angry as I am with myself,” he admitted. “You should have come down to supper with me.”
“I wasn’t hungry,” I argued lamely.
“Yes, I know.”
“He was… is, my foster brother.” I paused and cleared my throat, then looked Nicholas in the eye. “His parents took me in when a vampire murdered my parents. I was only three when it happened.”
“I’m sorry to hear of your loss.”
“A vampire tore their throats out and bled them dry while I sat in my crib, watching. Loss is not really an adequate word,” I corrected. The combination of fear, anger, and pain had my system flooded with adrenaline.
“. I understand your fear of us.” He replied. “Your brother saved Colette. I should have asked him sooner who hurt him. Colette’s thoughts can be difficult to interpret.”
“Some people are monsters and so are some vampires. I’m learning. I’ve always wondered why the vampire didn’t kill me too.” I confessed.
“You are special. You have laughable control over your psychic ability; but your raw power is enough that you broke through a shield built to be strong enough to keep me out, and sensed your brother.” He helped me up onto the bed and laid me back against the pillows, placing another one under my hand so it was elevated, palm up. “Perhaps you were able to make the vampire leave.”
“Could I do it again?” My voice was clipped, and he looked at me sharply.
“I could train you to, yes.” He sighed. “But first, I have to heal this. It could get infected and I need you healthy and whole.” Something in his voice made me nervous and I tried to pull my hand back, but his hand shot out; lightning fast and gripped me tight by the wrist.
“Please,” I whimpered. He released my hand and leaned over me, his hand on my stomach.
“I’m not going to damage you, but this might sting.” His hand slid up my bare stomach and over my breast and I gasped as pleasure surged through me, so different from what I had just experienced. I didn’t have time to register embarrassment before his leg went between mine and he pinned me at my hip. He pressed down so I couldn’t wriggle out from under him. His hand moved past my chest to my throat and chin; pushing my face away from him and baring my carotid artery.
“Oh God. Please, please don’t,” I whimpered and shook, the trembling intensifying as I felt his breath on my ear.
“I won’t take enough to harm you, I simply need to feed before I can heal you. I promise. Everything I take I will return to you.” His lips brushed my jaw and moved down to my neck and I fought the urge to pull him tighter to me. I felt torn between the pleasure of his closeness and the understanding that I was completely at the mercy of a creature that could take my life as easily as a thought.
There was a prick of fangs at my throat and his aura was so enthralling that all I desired was to give him everything he wanted. He chuckled and I crimsoned, realizing he was in my head again. His laugh was enough to bring me back to myself a little, but the pain in my hand still made concentrating on a psychic shield too difficult.
Hit bit down and I understood what David had been trying to explain. Pleasure rushed through me to places that I had never been touched. My hand clutched at him, holding him to me even as I begged him to stop. He moaned into my shoulder and licked over the place where he’d bitten me.
“I sealed the wound. No need to worry about bleeding,” he explained as he pushed up off me and I felt my throat for punctures. I could feel the two pinpricks, but my hand came away clean of anything but some saliva. He rolled up his sleeve past the wrist and sliced his skin open with one fingernail. I balked and pushed away; the euphoria of his bite replaced by revulsion.
“You can’t expect me to…”
“Drink. It will heal your hand. I told you I would return what was yours.” I gagged and shook my head. “You enjoyed it when I took it, I felt your body respond to me, even if I hadn’t heard your thoughts. Taking it from me will produce a similar rush. That’s how we get repeat donors,” he whispered. He lifted me and held me with my back against him. “Please let me heal you.” He lifted the narrow red stripe to my mouth and I flicked my tongue over it to gauge my gag reflex.
The tiny hit of his power on my tongue felt like I’d licked an electrical socket; if doing such a thing could make you high and aroused. I latched onto him and drew my tongue over him; using it to pry into the wound he’d made and then sinking my teeth into the flesh around it to push more blood out to my waiting mouth. I felt him grow aroused; pressing into my rear. For one heart-stopping moment I realized where the exchange could lead. Then I was alone. His wrist was gone from my mouth and when I glanced around, I saw the door pull shut, followed by a familiar click of the lock.
My head was light; the deep colors of the room were brighter to me. Even from across the room I could feel the fire’s glow, as though I sat on the hearth.
I curled up on my side and held my burned hand out in front of me. I rode out the after-glow of my first blood exchange and tried to ignore the lonely ache deep inside me; not for David, or for home, but for the strange creature who had taken me against my will and held me captive. It was a sickness to want to know him; not just about his kind; the man who had fought his own brother to protect me. I ‘d heard pain in his voice as he begged me to let him heal me. Those weren’t the actions of a monster.
The darkest feeling in me was the war between everything I had known before and my fascination with the emerald-eyed stranger whose tainted blood still coated my tongue with metallic sweetness and ran through my veins like fire.
Chapter 12
There was sunlight on my face when I awoke. It was so bright against my eyelids that I was afraid to open them so I lay very still and listened for anything that could tell me where I was. Still air and the musky smell of old stone and the passage of centuries surrounded me. I gathered my bravery enough to crack one eyelid. I was in the fortress or castle, after all, but not in my room. I forced myself to unwind the bandage from my hand while I was still partially hidden by my bedding, as though it would also protect me from whatever I would find.
I drew in a shaky breath as the bandage fell away to reveal almost unblemished skin. Only the barest marking of the burn remained. It was weeks— maybe months— healed. I didn’t know if that was from the vampire blood or if I had been held even longer while I was unconscious. Either way, I wasn’t about to be killed and that thought gave me the bravery to poke my head out complet
ely and look around.
So much light surrounded me I could almost convince myself that I hadn’t been kidnapped at all. I had fallen, bumped my head, and woken up here and in my inured state conjured dreams that combined my history and life with the Venatores. Then I looked again and my heart sank into the pit of my stomach. The windows were high up and while sunlight had fallen on my face, I could see the gears and pulleys that would drop a metal cover over them, shutting any trace of light out.
Along the walls were bright, well-preserved tapestries. They hung all around the room and told, in the most graphic pictures, a story of violence and death: a story where vampires hunted peasants and aristocrats alike and bathed in the blood of their victims. Such grisly displays made my stomach heave. Still, I had to get off the island of comfort that I hid in and the door was only a few steps away.
I slipped out of the bed and my feet landed silently without even a whisper as my bare soles hit the stone floor. The stone itself wasn’t cold to the touch and belatedly I realized I didn’t feel cold at all, even though I was naked. It was as though the air had warmed itself to the temperature of my skin. Or, I thought with a shudder, my skin had cooled to the temperature of the air. I felt my wrist and was relieved to find a strong, steady pulse there.
I wrapped myself in a coverlet from the end of the bed for modesty’s sake, and slunk to the door. I reached out with my ability to feel for signs of anyone on the other side of the door. I felt no presence, but received something like a sonar image of a stone corridor that turned a corner not far from the door. I inhaled sharply; pleased with how much my skill had grown and how much clearer the image was than any I’d gotten before.
Of course; the door was locked from the outside and I kicked it angrily, stubbing my toe hard. My eyes teared up and I pressed my back to the wall, biting off a curse. I held my breath and listened. When no sound came from the other side, I released the breath I’d been holding and continued to inspect my surroundings.
I dropped the blanket and wandered around the room, touching furniture, books, anything within reach; reveling in the sensation of the different textures under my skin. I looked down at my hands. My hands and arms were still mine but like I was wearing a new skin for the very first time. I found the only truly familiar thing in the room when I sat in a high-backed chair and drew my knees up to my chest, heels resting on my bare buttocks.
I happened to glance next to my seat and all by itself, lying on the table as though it was left for me; was the leather packet that contained Dominique’s spells. In the light of day, they were far easier to read, and I retied the leather thong and lifted it into my lap. Underneath it was a small piece of parchment, folded in half. I opened it and read the note.
Lady Caroline,
It grieves me to have to use such an impersonal method to give you such a deeply personal piece of news. However, if my business detains me, you cannot wait until night has fallen to learn what I am about to speak of.
I will keep my promise of returning your own foster brother to your people. However, I cannot promise that violence will not follow back to us. You were taken with war in mind and though I know you wished to leave with him; it is something that I cannot allow. You will understand more as night falls, but you are likely already feeling the effects of the blood exchange between us. When the sun goes down you’ll feel it more, and you will need to be with us to avoid the dangers thereof.
I must thank you. In finding David, you unwittingly uncovered my brother’s ambitions, which have increased these last decades while he was leading the coven. I was not aware of my brother’s ability to block me from his mind and once I pulled the thread that you uncovered ; his plan to replace me as Master of the City was exposed. I do not know the breadth of his betrayal. For this reason, you have been moved to my own quarters for your safety.
As intriguing to me as you are, I would not have wished for this to be the reason you stay with us and I hope that you understand no deception was intended when I healed you. I thought only of healing your injury, which was most severe.
Most Sincerely Yours,
Lord Nicholas De Elbrecht
I read the note again, then stood and examined my body. My hand, if possible, looked even more healed than it had minutes before. I shuddered; cold despite the absolute lack of a chill on my skin. If this was what vampire blood did to me in the warm light of day, how much more did I have to look forward to when night fell? Determined to rise to the challenge, I tried to clear my mind. There were no clothes in sight for me and I hoped that meant someone was coming for me. As if my thoughts were being read I heard the metal on metal grind of the pulley system above my head and the metal covers clattered into place, sinking the room, and me, into darkness.
My eyes adjusted fast and I could tell the depths of shadow apart; so when the door opened, I could see the difference between the dark inside the room and the heavier dark of the hall outside. Nicholas entered the room and I covered myself as best I could with my limbs, watching him. When he realized I was out of bed, his face turned and I could tell from the flash of his eyes that he had found me. He picked up the fallen coverlet and swung it over me, letting me tuck it in around myself.
“You will have help to dress soon,” he said curtly.
“I only want Rachel to help me,” I replied. He dipped his head in agreement.
“Thank you,” I replied.
“You can see me.”
“A little,” I admitted. “You’re a less dark shadow on black, but I can see you.”
“Are you angry?” His voice was devoid of emotion, but there was regret in his words.
“I was in so much pain, I couldn’t have told you no if I wanted to.
“As soon as the others had him, all there was, was blinding pain,” he reminded me
“You felt my pain?” His form paced; until with a curse, he bent toward the fireplace and a flame leaped from the logs.
“Yes, I could feel, or, rather hear your pain, screaming in my head.” I nodded, and glanced toward the fire. “How did you do that?”
“That, well, that was just natural gas and an ignitor, you could’ve started it anytime you wanted.” He looked away from me and cleared his throat, while I sat back, feeling like an idiot.
“So, not vampire magic?” I said drily. He turned to face me, and the air whooshed out of my chest. His face, ruggedly handsome even in its usual brooding expression, was made irresistible by his smile. I closed my mouth and tried to hide the blush that I felt climbing my spine to spread over my chest and shoulders to my face. I dropped my eyes and went still as his shadow fell over me.
When I looked up from under my eyelids, he was over me, his face as close as he had been the night before. The memory of his touch made my heart speed up and I licked my lips; trying desperately to think of something to say, that would make him stop staring into my eyes with that hunger.
“You are such an old soul, for one so tender in years,” he whispered softly. My body trembled from the brush of his breath over what little skin was exposed and I wished I’d covered even more of myself with the blanket.
His lips brushed my forehead and I turned my face up to him as his lips came down again, brushing my lips once, twice, and then again with a deeper kiss, until I pricked my tongue on a fang and the swift pain brought me back to myself.
“You were in my head!” I gasped, ineffectually shoving against his chest. He stepped back from me, anger plain on his face for a split second, before it smoothed out to its usual unreadable calm.
“Whatever gives you peace from your hypocrisy, my lady,” he said coolly. I knew that he hadn’t done any more than I wanted him to and bit my lip to stop talking. I changed the subject before I was forced to face my own desire for not just that kiss, but more; so much more I didn’t understand what it was I wanted. He spun on one heel and strode toward the door.
“Wait,” I called out, my voice cracking with emotion, “Please don’t go. Not like this.” He
turned his head toward me.
“Then how should I go?”
“Please stay with me. How long have I been here? I have been alone in the dark for years, it seems. I thought you wanted to talk to me.” He slowly turned his body to face me.
“Perhaps I should find someone else to speak with me. A Venatores hunter is not an appropriate choice in a consigliore or liaison with the outside world.”
I raised an eyebrow at his words.
“It would seem to me that there is no one better to advise you on the world than someone who lives on both sides of the veil between humanity and the creatures of the night” I countered, tucking my cover under my arms and pushing it in at my sides so it looked like a dress. “I still want to go home. But, you and Rachel, and even Colette, in her half-crazed way, have taken care of me and tried to keep me safe. Let me do what you had me here for.”
