by J. R. Ward
He walked across the room, staying as far away from her as possible and not looking at her. His stride was lithe and graceful as an animal’s, his shoulders rolling as his legs carried him over the stone floor. The power in him was . . . frightening. And erotic. And sad.
He was like a gorgeous beast in a zoo.
He sat down where she had lain and reached out to the silver tray of food. Lifting the lid off the plate, he set it aside on the table and she smelled a wonderful blend of rosemary and lemon. He unrolled a linen napkin, took out a heavy silver fork, and sampled the lamb, the rice, and the green beans. Then he wiped his mouth with the damask folds, cleaned the fork off, and put the lid back on.
He rested his hands on his knees, keeping his head down. His hair was gorgeous, so thick and shiny, spilling over his shoulders, the curling ends brushing against the velvet duvet and his thighs. Actually, the locks were of two colors, a wine red and a black so dense it was close to blue.
She’d never seen that color combination before. At least not as it naturally grew out of someone’s head. And she was damn sure his mother from hell wasn’t sending a beautician down here every month to give him a foil job.
“We will wait,” he said. “And you shall see the food is not tampered with.”
She stared at him. Even though he was huge, he was so still and contained and modest, she wasn’t scared of him. Of course, the logical part of her brain reminded her that she should be terrified. But then she thought of the way he’d subdued her without hurting her the first time she’d woken up. And the fact that he seemed frightened of her.
Except then she glanced at the chain and told herself to back up the brain train. That thing was on there for a reason.
“What is your name?” she asked.
His brows flicked down.
God, the light falling on his face turned it into something positively ethereal. And yet the thrusts of bone were all male, hard and uncompromising.
“Tell me.”
“I don’t have one,” he said.
“What do you mean you don’t have a name? What do people call you?”
“Fletcher does not call me anything. Mother used to call me Son. So I suppose that is my name. Son.”
“Son.”
His palms rubbed up and down on his thighs, the red silk of his robe moving with them.
“How long have you been down here?”
“What year is it?” When she told him, he said, “Fifty-six years.”
She stopped breathing. “You’re fifty-six?”
“No. I was brought down here when I was twelve.”
“Dear Lord . . .” Okay, clearly they had different life expectancies. “Why were you put in this cell?”
“My nature began to assert itself. Mother said it was safer for everyone this way.”
“You’ve been down here for all this time?” He must be going insane, she thought. She couldn’t imagine being by herself for decades. No wonder he couldn’t meet her eyes. He wasn’t used to interacting with anyone. “Down here alone?”
“I have my books. And my illustrations. I am not alone. Besides, I am safe from the sun here.”
Claire’s voice hardened as she remembered nice, little old Miss Leeds drugging her and throwing her down in this cell with him.
“How often does she bring you women?”
“Once a year.”
“What, as some kind of birthday present?”
“It is as long as I can go without my hunger becoming too strong. If I wait, I become . . . difficult to handle.” His voice was impossibly small. Ashamed.
Claire could feel herself getting viciously angry, the flush blooming up the skin of her throat. Man, Miss Leeds had not been matchmaking with a kind heart as she’d talked about her son up in her bedroom. The woman had seen Claire as food and her son as an animal.
“When was the last time you saw your mother?”
“The day she put me down here.”
God, to be twelve and imprisoned and left . . .
“Will you eat now?” he asked. “You can see I am unharmed.”
Her stomach growled. “How long have I been here?”
“For dinner, only. So not long. There will be two breakfasts, one lunch, and one more dinner and then you will be free.”
She glanced around and saw there were no clocks. So he’d adapted by telling time through meals. Jesus . . . Christ.
“Will you show me your eyes?” she asked, taking a step toward him. “Please.”
He stood up, a towering force draped in red silk. “I will leave you to eat.”
He walked by her, his head turned away, the chain dragging over the floor. When he got to the desk, he turned the chair around so it faced away from her and sat down. Picking up an artist’s pencil, his hand paused over a piece of thick white paper. A moment later, the lead began stroking across the page. The sound it made was as soft as a child’s breath.
Claire stared at him and made up her mind. Then she glanced over her shoulder at the food. She had to eat. If she was going to get them both out of here, she was going to need her strength.
3
Claire finished everything that was on the tray, and as she ate, the silence in the room was oddly unstrained considering the situation.
After she put her napkin down, she shifted her legs up onto the bed and leaned back against the pillows, tired, though not in a drugged way. As she glanced at the tray, she had an absurd thought that she couldn’t remember when she’d last let herself actually finish a meal. She always dieted, leaving herself a little hungry. It helped keep up her aggression level, made her sharp, focused.
Now, she felt a little fuzzy. And . . . was she yawning?
“I won’t remember this?” she asked his back.
His head shook, that mane of hair waving, nearly brushing the floor. The red and black combination was stunning.
“Why not?”
“I will take the memories from you before you leave.”
“How?”
He shrugged. “I know not. I just . . . find them among your thoughts and bury them.”
She pulled the duvet over her legs. She had a feeling that if she pressed him for more details, he would have none to give—as if he didn’t understand himself or his nature all that well. Interesting. Miss Leeds was human as far as Claire could tell. So clearly the father had been . . .
Shit, was she actually taking this seriously?
Claire put her hand up to her neck and felt the faded bite mark. Yes . . . yes, she was. And though her brain cramped at the idea that vampires existed, she had irrefutable proof, didn’t she.
Fletcher came to mind. He was something different, too, wasn’t he. She didn’t know what, but that odd strength coupled with his obvious age . . . Not right.
Silence stretched out, the minutes fluid, passing through the room, draining into infinity. Had an hour passed? Or half of one? Or three?
Strangely, she loved the sound of his pencil’s soft strokes over the paper.
“What are you working on?” she asked.
He paused. “Why did you want to see my eyes?”
“Why wouldn’t I? It will complete the picture of you.”
He put the pencil down. As his hand came up to push his hair off his shoulder, it was shaking. “I need to . . . come to you, now.”
The candles began to extinguish one by one.
Fear had her heart going like a bat out of hell. Fear and . . . oh, God, please let that rush not be partially about anticipation.
“Wait!” She sat up. “How do you know you won’t . . . take too much?”
“I can sense your blood pressure and I am very careful. I couldn’t bear to hurt you.” He stood from the desk. More candles were extinguished.
“Please, not the whole darkness,” she said when only the one on the bedside table was left. “I can’t handle it.”
“It will be better that way—”
“No! God, no . . . it really won’t. You don�
�t know what it feels like on my end. The darkness terrifies me.”
“Then we shall do this in the light.”
As he came to the bed, she heard the chains first; then his shadow emerged out of the blackness.
“Perhaps you would stand?” he said. “So I may do it from behind again? That way you wouldn’t have to see me. It shall take a little longer this time.”
Claire exhaled, her body heating, her blood running hot. She wanted to tease out the whys of her dangerous lack of self-preservation, but what did they matter? She was where she was. “I think . . . I think I want to see you.”
He hesitated. “Are you sure? Because once I begin, it is difficult to stop in the middle. . . .”
God, they sounded like two solicitous Victorians talking about sex.
“I need to see.”
He took a deep breath, as if he were nervous and girding himself to get through the anxiety. “Perhaps you would sit on the edge of the bed then? That way I may kneel before you.”
Claire shifted so her legs were dangling off the mattress. He lowered a little, bending at the knees, then shook his head.
“No,” he murmured. “I shall have to sit beside you.”
He sat with his back to the candle, so his face was in darkness. “May I ask you to turn toward me?”
She changed her position and looked up. The light of the flame formed a halo around his head and she wished she could see his face. Craved the beauty in him.
“Michael,” she whispered. “You should have been named Michael. After the archangel.”
His hand came up and moved her hair back. Then it planted into the mattress as he leaned into her.
“I like that name,” he said softly.
She felt his lips against her throat first, a light caress of skin brushing skin. Then his mouth drew back and she knew it was parting, revealing fangs. The bite happened quickly and decisively and she jumped, much more aware this time. The pain was greater, but so was the sweetness that followed.
Claire moaned as heat swept through her body and the pull of his sucking started, his mouth finding a rhythm. She wasn’t exactly sure when she touched him. It just happened. Her palms went up to his shoulders.
He was the one who jerked now and as he pulled back, the light hit part of his face. He was breathing hard, his lips parted, the tips of his fangs just barely showing. He was hungry, but shocked.
She ran her hands down his arms. The muscles were thick and cut.
“I can’t stop,” he said in a distorted voice.
“I just . . . want to touch you.”
“I can’t stop.”
“I know. And I want to touch you.”
“Why?”
“I want to feel you.” She couldn’t believe it, but she tilted her head to the side, exposing her throat. “Take what you need. And I’ll do the same.”
This time he lunged at her, clamping a hand on the opposite side of her throat and biting her with power. Her body surged, her breasts making contact with the hard wall of his chest, his scent roaring. Gripping his heavy upper arms, she fell backward onto the pillows and he came with her.
Michael’s body was now solidly on hers, the weight of him pushing her down on the mattress. He was blocking out the candlelight so she couldn’t see anything clearly, though the glow behind him grounded her against infinity. Somehow it was okay, although for a dangerous reason: The darkness made the sensations of him at her neck all the more vivid, from the wet cup of his warm mouth to the tugging draw of his swallows to the sexual current between them.
God help her, she liked what he was doing to her.
Claire searched out and found his hair. With a groan of satisfaction, she tangled her hands in the silken thickness, balling up huge chunks of it, feeling her way to his scalp.
As he froze, she fell still and felt the trembling that went through him. She waited to see if he would continue and he did. When the drinking started up again, the room began to spin, but she didn’t care. She had him to hold on to.
At least until he pulled back quickly and left her on the bed. Retreating into the dark corner, with his chains to mark his movement, he all but disappeared on her.
Claire sat up. When she felt wetness between her breasts, she looked down. Blood was running down her chest and getting absorbed by the white robe. She barked out a curse and scrambled to cover the puncture marks he’d made.
Instantly, Michael was in front of her, peeling her hands back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t finish it properly. Wait, no, don’t fight me. I need to finish it. Let me finish it so I can stop the bleeding.”
He captured her hands in one of his, moved her hair back, and put his mouth on her throat. His tongue came out and stroked over her skin. And stroked again. And again.
It wasn’t long before she’d forgotten all about bleeding to death.
Michael let go of her hands and cradled her in his arms. With abandonment, she let her head fall back as he lapped at her and nuzzled her.
He slowed. Then stopped. “You should sleep now,” he whispered.
“I’m not tired.” Which was a lie.
She felt herself get repositioned against the pillow, the curtain of his hair falling forward as he made her comfortable.
When he would have pulled away, she took his hands. “Your eyes. You’re going to show me. If you’re going to do what you just did to me for the next two days, you owe me this.”
After a long moment, he pushed his hair back and lifted his lids slowly. His irises were brilliant blue and bright as neon; in fact, they glowed. And around their outer edge, there was a black line. His lashes were thick and long.
His stare was hypnotic. Otherworldly. Extraordinary . . . just like the rest of him.
His head lowered. “Sleep. I shall probably come to you before breakfast.”
“What about you? Do you sleep?”
“Yes.” When she glanced at the other side of the bed, he murmured, “Not here tonight. Worry not.”
“Then where?”
“Worry not.”
He left suddenly, disappearing into the darkness. Left alone in the candlelight, she felt as though she were floating on the vast bed, at sea in what was both a luscious dream and a horrid nightmare.
4
Claire woke up when she heard the shower go on. Pushing herself off the pillows, she put her feet to the floor and decided to do some exploring while Michael was busy. Picking up the candle, she walked in the direction of the desk. Or at least where she thought the damn thing was.
Her shin found it first, banging into a stout leg. With a curse, she bent over and rubbed at what was no doubt going to be a hell of a bruise. Damn candles. Moving more carefully, she felt around for the chair he had sat in and lowered the mostly useless light at what he’d been working on.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered.
It was a portrait of her. A stunningly deft and frankly sensual portrait of her staring straight out of the page.
Except he never looked at her. How did he know—
“Step away from that, please,” Michael said from the bathroom.
“It’s beautiful.” She leaned farther over the table, taking in a wealth of different drawings, all of which looked very modern in execution. Which surprised her. “They’re all beautiful.”
There were forests and flowers that were distorted. Vistas of the Leedses’ house and grounds that were surreal. Depictions of the rooms inside the mansion that were all a little off, but still visually arresting. That he was a modernist was a shock, given how formally he spoke and his old-fashioned manners—
With a chill, she looked back at the drawing of her. It was a classic portrait. With classic realism.
His other work wasn’t a style, was it. The depictions were skewed because he hadn’t seen what he was drawing in over fifty years. It was all from a memory that hadn’t been refreshed for decades.
She picked up the portrait. It was lovingly executed, carefully rendered. A tribute to
her.
“I wish you wouldn’t look at any of that,” he said, right into her ear.
She gasped and wheeled around. As her heart settled, she thought, damn, he smelled good. “Why don’t you want me to see it?”
“It’s private.”
There was a pause as something occurred to her. “Did you draw the other women?”
“You should go back to bed.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
That was a relief. For reasons she didn’t enjoy. “Why not?”
“They did not . . . please my eye.”
Without thinking, she asked, “Were you with any of them? Did you have sex with them?”
He’d left the shower on and the raining water on marble filled the silence.
“Tell me.”
“No.”
“You said you won’t have sex with me. Is it because you aren’t . . . able to be with humans?”
“It is a matter of honor.”
“So vampires . . . have sex? I mean, you can, right?” Okay, why was she going down this road? Shut up, Claire—
“I am capable of arousal. And I can . . . take myself to conclusion.”
She had to close her eyes as she pictured him on the bed gloriously naked, his hair let loose all around him. She saw one of those long lean hands wrapped around himself, stroking up and down his shaft until he arched off the mattress and—
She heard him inhale sharply and he said, “Why does that entice you?”
Jesus, his senses were acute. And how could it not?
Although it wasn’t as if he needed to know the ins and outs of her arousal. “Have you ever been with a woman?”
His lowered head went back and forth. “Most of them have been terrified of me and rightfully so. They have shrunk back from me. Especially as I . . . fed from them.”
She tried to imagine what it would be like to only have contact with people who thought you were horrific. No wonder he was so self-contained and ashamed.
“Those who didn’t find me . . . repugnant,” he said, “those who got used to my presence, who would not have denied me . . . I found that I lacked the will. I did not find them comely.”
