Blood Bond

by Alicia Ryan

  Her blood had also shown him a world of marvels. A world of which he doubted he could ever grow bored. Her world. The future.

  Even Roxanna herself was a marvel, he thought. Their mating was everything he’d begun to imagine it could be—pleasure and pain. That she wanted both—needed both—was a gift he daren’t overlook. Perhaps it meant she could accept him—for all that he was. They could be equals. He would never have to hide his true nature or see pain or distrust or disappointment in her eyes. She’d loved his bite in addition to loving his blood. One or both would bring her back to him.

  He was almost sure of it.

  Chapter Eight

  “Good morning.”

  Darren’s voice rumbled over her as she opened her eyes. She expected to see sunlight, but heavy curtains were drawn across the room’s one window, and she opened her eyes wider as she remembered why. She’d spent the night with a vampire.

  “Is it safe for you to be up here during the day?” she asked. The room wasn’t sunlit, but it wasn’t completely dark either.

  “I’m safe enough out of direct sunlight,” he explained.

  She curled in closer to him, expecting to feel his skin, but the fabric of his shirt rubbed against her back. She rolled over.

  His hair was still rumpled, and she wanted to run her hands through it, to reassure herself he was real. Since when have you come to believe he’s real? A voice in her head asked.

  Since last night was beyond my wildest dreams.

  “Are you alright?” His voice sounded wary. “I don’t know if I should ask if I hurt you.”

  “You did. That’s what I came here for.”

  He frowned. “Why do you like things that hurt you?”

  She shrugged. “I’m just a little crazy, I guess. I enjoy it; it helps me think, helps me focus. I’ve done it for so long it just feels like part of who I am now. It’s become pleasurable.”

  He smiled back at her. “That’s...unusual.”

  She laughed. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

  “You’re right. I guess I’m hardly a good judge of what is usual. But I want to know about you.”

  “I’m just a regular chick, maybe a little wacky at times, but otherwise pretty ordinary.”

  He laughed out loud at that. “You are anything but ordinary. If you were, you wouldn’t be here.”

  “No—if you were ordinary, I wouldn’t be here.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Touché.”

  “Speaking of unusual—just how old are you anyway?”

  “I was born in 1640.”

  She did the math. “So, one hundred and seventy-five?”

  “I guess that would be right.”

  “You don’t keep track?”

  “Not much point, really. Nothing different to look forward to.”

  “That’s depressing.”

  “It can be, yes.”

  “So were you always an Earl?”

  He laughed. “No, not at all. My father was a vicar. We lived in a village in northern England. He sent me to school to study religion, but I fell off the wagon and went into law instead.”

  “You were a lawyer?” She couldn’t keep the shock from her voice.

  “That surprises you?”

  “You just don’t seem the lawyerly type somehow.”

  “I was pretty good at it. Never ambitious, though. I was still a junior solicitor when my humanity ran out, so to speak. I was generally much more interested in playing cards than in pursuing lucrative cases.”

  “So gambling led to your downfall.”

  He nodded.

  “And then what? What’d you do for the next hundred years?”

  He sighed. “Not much I’m proud of. I stayed with Pietro for twenty years or so, terrorizing cities on the Portuguese coast. After a while, I just couldn’t stomach him any longer. I couldn’t believe I was doomed to be such a devil. Even without my soul it didn’t feel right.

  “When I left him, I wandered around Europe for years—still killing, but not...well, not like Pietro. After that, I eventually returned to England and began trying to reform myself. To find...something redeemable.”

  Roxanna lay back down and stared at the ceiling. “Oh, my God,” she said, trying to hold in her laughter. “You have little angels up there!”

  She turned to Darren and saw him smile.

  “They came with the house. It didn’t feel right to paint over them. I figured they might be a good reminder.”

  “To be good?”

  “Something like that. Andrew made his appearance about the same time I got the house, so having a soul around gave me a little hope that all was not lost.”

  He looked up, still smiling. “Plus, I think they’re pretty.”

  Roxanna laughed again. “Some vampire you are. I suspect you’re more redeemable than you know.”

  Her smile fell as a horrifying thought hit her. “Jesus, Darren, what time is it?” She sat bolt upright. “I wasn’t planning to stay the night.”

  “Don’t worry. Padworth expects as much, and it’s not that late.”

  “But Phillip will be waiting for me. We’re supposed to practice this morning.”

  “Tell Branham to rot in hell and mind his own business.”

  She snickered. “I kind of already did.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s excellent.”

  “But when he sees me try to sneak back in wearing that black dress, he’s going to hit the ceiling.”

  Darren ran one hand along her shoulder and a finger down her back. “I’m sorry I can’t come with you.”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s alright. I can handle Phillip.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t call him that.”

  She turned and grinned at him. “I think he wishes the same thing.”

  Darren’s dark brows shot up into elegant arches. “You’re just tweaking him?”

  “Well, he gave his permission in a fit of temper, and I suspect he’d like to take it back, but, no, I just can’t get used to calling people by their last names. It’s weird.”

  “I want so much to see the world you know, Roxanna. I could see it, you know, when I drank from you. You come from a world of marvels.”

  She shrugged. “It’s not so different. I live in a shitty apartment. I sing at a club. Things have worked out to be remarkably similar.”

  “Don’t say such things. Your voice moves me, and your world is filled with wonders. I’d love to see them all with you.”

  “Just the two of us?” she asked. “Biting our way around the wonders of the world? At night?”

  “Don’t make it sound like that.”

  “Why not? I’m here because you offer a brand of pain I can’t get anywhere else. You’re here because for some reason you like the taste of me better than anyone else. This isn’t one of the world’s great love affairs.”

  He looked hurt, and she immediately wanted the words back. Aside from bringing her here in the first place, he’d done her no injury she hadn’t begged him for.

  “Don’t sell us short, Roxanna,” he pleaded. “You don’t know what we can be.”

  She crawled off the bed and ran her hands through her hair before pulling on the dress she’d arrived in. Maybe it was the thought of Phillip’s reaction that was making her such a shrew. She didn’t want to hurt Darren.

  He hadn’t moved from where he lay stretched out on the bed, and she wanted to go to him but didn’t. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just a little overwhelmed, I think. You’re a bit much to accept all at one go.”

  He grinned. “So I’ve been told.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Men. You’re all the same. Even when you’re vampires.”

  That got him moving. He swung his feet to the floor and came around the bed to stand before her. “Roxanna, I’m not like other men. I can’t help that, but I can give you things they can’t. Please don’t forget it.”

  She found her smile. “I can hardly forget last night, Darren. I’v
e never...well, it was incredible.”

  His grin returned. “Really? Does that mean you’ll come back?”

  She laughed. “I expect you’ll have to bar the door or send me to some other time if you want to get rid of me.”

  He grabbed her, not roughly, by the upper arms. “I don’t ever want to be rid of you.”

  “I’ve never shared the pain thing with anyone. No one else knows. Anyone who’s seen the scars thinks they’re from a car accident.”

  Darren pulled her into his arms. “You can share anything with me. I want you to share everything. You’re a part of me now, just as I am literally a part of you. That’s what sharing blood is.”

  Their parting kiss was tender, wondrous, and Roxanna marveled all the way back to the club how the man who was a beast could be so gentle.

  ***

  There was no sneaking past Phillip to get to her room. She’d instructed Darren’s driver to drop her off at the back entrance, but Phillip was standing at the storeroom door talking to Jack when she arrived. They both gaped at her.

  She looked at Phillip. “I’ll just run change, and we can get started.”

  She saw the muscle in his jaw flex as he clenched his teeth—to keep from saying something terrible, she guessed. His damning silence followed her all the way down the hall. She didn’t know why she cared what he thought. It wasn’t like she was the quivering virgin he seemed to want her to be.

  “Would it be so bad for her to be Highmore’s mistress?” she heard Jack ask. “She could do a lot worse. And for a girl with no other prospects than working here...well, I’m not surprised she stayed with him. Hell, I’m surprised she came back.”

  “Maybe he kicked her out. Maybe a long-term arrangement wasn’t what he had in mind. Maybe it wasn’t what either of them had in mind.”

  Jack laughed. “You have seen her, haven’t you? She cleans up nice. Would you kick her out?”

  She ran for her room knowing she didn’t want to hear Phillip’s answer. In a few moments, she’d washed and changed, and Phillip followed her upstairs and took his seat at the piano.

  “Enjoy yourself?” he asked.

  She didn’t like his tone, and she took her spot on the other side of the instrument, for once glad of the distance it put between them. “As a matter of fact, yes. It was a lovely gathering.”

  Phillip snorted. “I’m sure.”

  “Eight gentlemen, plus Lord Highmore, and they all treated me with the utmost courtesy. It was a charming evening.” She left out the little episode with Lord Cranston or whatever his name was.

  Phillip shook his head. “What do you want to start with?”

  She smiled. “Let’s do something fun.”

  She sang, and Phillip followed grudgingly along for several hours.

  At lunch, they decided to call it quits, and Phillip stood up and looked at her over the piano. “You know, this is all going to go wrong at some point.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He gestured up and down her body, though she was respectably clad at the moment. “This. You. You shouldn’t be doing this. I’ve seen the way the men here look at you. You’re like a glittering jewel they’ve just seen for the first time, but it won’t always be that way. Soon enough, you’ll be just another...performer...just another loose woman plying herself on a stage.”

  Roxanna shrugged. “You might be right. I hope I won’t be here that long.” She gave him a hard look. “Then again, perhaps you don’t give me enough credit.”

  He shook his head. “No, I do.” His voice softened. “Your voice is amazing. And maybe you’re right. It would be hard to lose respect for that.” Then he smiled. “For the last two nights, even some of the most jaded men in this place have had starry looks in their eyes. I worry it will make some of them want you all the more.”

  “And we’re back to that being a bad thing how, exactly?”

  Phillip sighed. “It’s not a bad thing when you’re on stage, but you don’t live on stage. You’re just a woman. You’re vulnerable.”

  “Just a woman. Nice. And you’re just a pain in the ass. Besides, you seem to think I’m an unqualified slut, so what do you care who decides they want to make a play for me? What makes you think I’d mind?”

  His eyes got wide. “Roxanna, I’m trying to help. Perhaps you’re right. It seems I too often imagine good in people that isn’t there.”

  “Ouch.” She sighed. “Look, Phillip, this situation is what it is. There isn’t one damn thing I can do about it for the moment. And Padworth has some incentive to protect his investment. I don’t see how I could be in much danger here.” She put a hand on her hip. “And since I don’t have anyone to escort me anywhere, I’m not in much danger from the outside world, am I?”

  “Why can’t Highmore escort you? Or is he done with you?”

  She hesitated. “He has rather firm commitments during the day.”

  “I see.”

  “You look upset, but I don’t get it. Surely, if people know I’m with Darren, I’m less likely to get the kind of...what’s the word...uncouth proposals you’re imagining.”

  “Yes, perhaps that’s true.”

  “If you really wanted to help me...” She let her voice trail off as she felt her nerve falter.

  His brows shot up. “What?”

  “You’d be my friend. I haven’t got a friend in the world at the moment.”

  He closed his eyes, and Roxanna felt a pain in her chest.

  “I think we both know that’s not possible.”

  “Right. Because I’m a filthy whore.”

  He put his hand over his eyes and rubbed his temples. “Christ. I didn’t say that.”

  Lord Cranston’s words echoed in her ears. “A whore who sings or a singer who whores. Which do you think it is?”

  His brow furrowed as he dropped his hand. “What?”

  “You’re right. Some people do see me that way. I got told so just last night. Somehow I didn’t put you in the same league.”

  Phillip flopped back down on the piano stool and hung his head, breaking their gaze. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. Then he looked up at her again. “I just...well, what kind of woman are you?”

  She wanted to be angry, but his tone was so pleading, so sincerely puzzled, she took some time to try to come up with an answer.

  “Not the usual kind,” she answered finally. “I won’t fit neatly into any of your boxes. So I suppose the easiest route is just to keep calling me a loose woman and leave it at that.”

  He nodded. “I know.”

  He looked like a kicked puppy, and Roxanna couldn’t help but wonder how he’d gotten her to feel sorry for him in this conversation.

  “It’s just...” He dropped his head again. “I don’t want that to be you. When you sing...it’s like you lay your soul bare out there.”

  “And you find my soul somehow wanting?”

  “God, no. It’s glorious.”

  Now it was her turn to be puzzled. “Glorious?”

  “Yes. You seem to have this whole world inside you that’s like nothing I’ve ever seen or imagined. You’re full of fire and fun and...passion.”

  He’d started to blush, and Roxanna couldn’t help but smile. Poor Phillip.

  She crossed the stage, came around behind the piano and sat down on the stool beside him, facing the opposite direction so she could look him in the eye. “You know, I like you. I don’t know why, but I do.”

  He gave a wry smile. “I don’t know why, either. I haven’t given you any reason.”

  “Yeah, you’re kind of an ass.” She said it with a smile and was relieved when he smiled back.

  “I believe you’ve mentioned that.”

  She put her hand around his bicep and gave him a playful shake. “Well, for now you’re my pain in the ass, and I’ve decided to like you all the same.”

  He looked down to where her hand rested on his arm. “I’m glad.”

  “But I’m guessing a tour of the city is still ou
t of the question?” She removed her hand.

  Phillip’s smile disappeared, and his eyes took on that hurt look again. “I’m sorry. I don’t...no...I mean...” He gave up speaking to shake his head and sigh. “I think maybe I need some time,” he said finally, not looking at her.

  “You’re so cute.”

  “What?” The look he turned on her was horrified, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

  “You know—you’re all sweet and innocent and...” She almost said “virginal”, but stopped herself in time. “And with that blond hair and those blue eyes—you’re like an angel set down here among us filthy masses.”

  He shook his head. “No, you’re wrong. Your voice...you’re the only angel here, Miss Collins.”

  She let out a breath and stood up. “Damn it. Call me Roxanna.”

  His cheeks flamed again.

  “Oh, you’re too much,” she said. “Go home. I’ll see you tonight.”

  “Yes...yes, I think that’s best.”

  He slid off the end of the stool and was out the sitting room door before she could take another breath.

  Then she heard Jack laugh.

  He stood leaning against the door jamb where the sitting room met the bar, looking handsome but tired.

  “And here I was worried you’d frighten him off,” he said.

  She smiled. “I think that’s still a distinct possibility, but what are you doing here at this hour? Shouldn’t you be off?”

  “I have to close the books for the previous week on Monday nights, so I’m usually here later on Tuesdays. I hang around until I can get a free lunch out of Myrtle, and then I’m off for a few hours before the night shift again.”

  “That sucks.”

  He laughed. “You do have rather a way with words.”

  “Oh. Sorry. I suppose that is not exactly proper if you stop to think about it.” She tried to change the subject. “Just how much of my conversation with Phillip did you stand there listening to?”

  “I’m no eavesdropper. I came with a message from Padworth. He wants you to keep any...uh, relationship...with Lord Highmore discreet. He thinks you need to be perceived as unattached. That it will be better for business.”