“Of course.”
“Good, I suppose we will see you of an evening time.”
She cast a sly grin at William as she took my arm, wrapping it into hers, the other resting on it as we walked to the door. “Far too short was our time together but it was wonderful. Until next time.”
With another hug and a soft kiss on my cheek, my mother was gone. It was emotionally draining as I stood and stared at the open door, hoping that she might change her mind and come back. But she couldn't, her time in the keep was always ticking away. William wrapped me into his arms, waiting for the wall to crack. I was still a little shocked I suppose. Slowly and quietly we made our way back to the quarters, Nick and Marty were sitting at the coffee table playing cards. They looked up at us, curious to why I must have looked a treat, red and puffy eyes from crying too much. William was subdued and quiet which was always a worry. But not today, today he was being respectful.
“Hey Mary, you want us to deal you in?”
I stared at the cards, they were playing poker again. It had become our pastime of late, to kill the hours of boredom while we were trapped within the house or the keep. William was never fussed on playing it and always opted to read instead. But as the words slipped through Marty's lips, the soft strains of my former name jolted me back into reality. It was then that I finally broke down, wiping the tears as I walked into the bedroom.
“Her real name is Eliria and she has just met her mother.” William's voice echoed through the rooms as I laid on the bed. His voice became more and more distant as I slowly slipped into sleep, finding a deep and deserved rest.
Chapter Fifty
Words couldn't describe the kind of drain on my body yesterday had. William hadn't ventured out of the quarters, instead he send Marty and Nick to tend to my needs and I guess his too. I didn't have the energy to deal with the emotions regarding what might be brought in for him to feed from. He was being rather obliging with it according to Marty. She said he was going to feed in full view of her and Nick in the lounge room and the doors to the bedroom would open so that I could hear everything that was going on. His efforts to keep me settled were certainly award winning, he was doing his damnedest not to cause me any more grief. Or at least, according to Marty he was. I wasn't in a sulky mood, nor sad or angry. I was just drained, what little zest for life I had was gone, replaced with a lethargic soul that wanted to lay on the bed and stare at the wall. It was bad, more than I actually thought. When Marty offered to help me into the bathroom, I wondered what was wrong with me.
“Time for a shower, will you be okay?”
Wearily I nodded and started to disrobe behind the high half wall for the shower, tossing my clothes onto the floor. I didn't realise it, but Marty was picking up after me and she had found the leather cuffs that I had forgotten about. She glanced at me with a smirk and tucked them into her pocket, dumping my clothes into the wash basket.
“Did your mother give them to you?” She whispered.
I nodded, wondering if she was going to tell William.
“I had a pair too.” She grinned. “When my claim was settled I got rid of them. I won't tell him so long as you don't use them for evil.”
“Just sneaking around and what-not?”
She chuckled and nodded. I turned on the taps so that the water flowed down my back as I leaned on the half wall, resting my head on my arms.
“Why am I so tired?”
“You've had a lot to cope with in the past few days. Maybe you should take a couple more to rest completely. Enjoy him fussing over you like a mother hen.”
Marty leaned on the vanity, resting her hands on the edge as she looked at the tiles. Casually she looked up, clearly over thinking something. She looked up with concern, it was probably more about the lack of eating on my part than whatever it was that was going through her mind.
“Did William tell you that the fae army has retreated?”
I shook my head, a little sad at the thought that my mother was leaving.
“The gate has been opened and the army has gone through, well most of them did. Your mother and a few men were seen moving away from the gate.”
“Do you know where she was going?”
She shook her head. “It's not uncommon for the fae to come and go as they please, there are some that actually like this world.”
The door creaked open, William poking his head through.
“Your dinner has arrived, hurry before it goes cold.”
I dried and dressed quickly, Marty had selected a dress for me that was summery and pretty. The skirt of the dress fell to the knees, the scoop of the neck sat midway over my sternum. It was a soft fuchsia colour that was plain and simple. I opted to go without shoes after all, I was only going to the lounge room.
I sat on the lounge picking through the meal that had been provided, it was surprising but they actually did have human food here. For the feeders of course. The food was off the charts in terms of quality and quantity. I was full from the salad starter they had sent up, by the time I got to the steak main, I was ready to burst. We also had company. William was still in his 'fussing over Mary' stage, and trying to keep me settled and resting rather than wandering around the keep. So the guests that this master didn't entertain in his precious quarters, he was now entertaining. Maybe that was a tad over the top, entertaining could be taken a multitude of ways. He was being sociable, not just to the girl but to Marty and Nick as well. And of course because Nick and Marty were feeding here as well, they had their feeders. So now, we are up to three female feeders who seem far too drunk, three vampires who are probably getting drunk from the drunk feeders and one little half cast that is so emotionally wrung out that she is on the verge of snapping. Mostly because the three feeders only have eyes for one vampire, almost ignoring the other two. I waited patiently until I knew that he had finished his feed and said nothing as the minutes ticked over. Feeding was done but were the girls leaving? No.
Tension was rising in me, all the emotions of the past twenty-four hours were swelling into a tight ball of anger. I stared at him, waiting for him to realise what he should be doing, what I expected of him. The girl hadn't moved away, staying far too close. What do I expect of a vampire that live feeds? Feed, end feed, send the feeder packing. What was I getting? A giggling girl that was twirling her hair as she leaned on her side, trying to get his attention. I don't think the cleavage could be pushed any further out. Marty's feeder had managed to settle herself on the other side of William, pretending that she was still here for Marty but it was obvious she wasn't. As my heart hammered so hard in my chest, I could feel the burning rage in me, the hatred for this moment.
Calmly I stood and walked to the giggling girl and grabbed her, dragging her out of the room by her hair. She had shrieked and screamed at me the entire way, as did everyone else but I ignored them all. When she was on the other side of the door, I turned back to the other two, holding it open for them. Meekly they scurried out, staring at me. I could hear their hearts beating faster than mine, frightened and unsure of me.
“Do not come here ever again, do not come near him ever again. If I catch you even looking at him, I will rip your eyes out. Understand?”
They whimpered their nods and fled into the dark. I closed the door and turned to William who was furious, his face filled with blistering rage.
“How dare you.”
I slapped him hard, staring at him with a scowl. His hand rubbed the side of his jaw, looking at me warily.
“How dare you! You know my rules and instead you sit there and let them fawn all over you, in front of me no less. You are a liar and if you so much as touch another woman, we are through. Is that clear enough for you William?”
He nodded, wordlessly holding the jaw that was clearly still ringing with pain.
“You drool over these women, letting them linger for far too long after the feed making me wonder if you are expecting things to go further, that you are waiting for me to suggest it.
Which for the record, is never going to happen. I will not share, end of subject.”
His eyes widened with an unknown emotion as his hand slipped from his cheek. It was pink from where I slapped him and worse yet, I had accidentally scratched him. There was the faintest of red lines across his cheek. It didn't seep blood, it was just a visual reminder of my heated anger.
“You know I have had a difficult couple of days, did it not occur to you that this might just be a little upsetting to me? When you sat there and stared at the woman's breasts, did you not remember your girlfriend sitting on the lounge opposite you? She was in my place, I thought that you wanted me by your side always but the minute a bit of cleavage is shoved in your face, you forget about me. Do you know what I think when I see you staring at them like that? That this is not sufficient for you, that I don't meet your needs because I don't have big breasts. You truly are the master of cruelty William, well done.”
I stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind me.
“You know….”
I gasped loudly to his voice, turning to see him leaning on the wall near the door. His arms were folded as looked up from the floor, his heated gaze dragging over me. This wasn't going to end well, in fact I think it might just end in a way that I wouldn't think appropriate for this moment. You are wrong, fight and make up my mind whispered to me.
“You are crazy hot when you are forceful like that. A man could get used to it, all these strange emotions.”
His face contorted with grins and frowns, a mess of confusion. William moved off the wall, slowly stalking me across the room. Like the sheep that I was, I was being herded into the position and place where he wanted me.
“No one has ever survived striking me.” He whispered dangerously. “But you, you lucky thing. All you have to do is smile at me and all is forgotten.”
My face crinkled at what might have been construed as a smile but it was far from it. The terrible attempt a smile wasn't anything like a sneer, it was almost an involuntary movement that was poorly timed. He chuckled as he continued to herd me away from the bathroom door, moving backwards. Soon I would hit the wall and then I would be trapped.
“What kind of a smile is that my love?”
He took a deep breath in, sucking in the smell of the room. “Fear, what do you fear Eliria?”
“Mary.”
William shook his head, a playful smile crossing his lips for a brief moment. “Eliria.” He whispered his taunt. “You cannot escape me now.”
His movement was fast, a blur that pushed me against the wall and kissed me hard. Both of his hands laced into mine, pressing me hard to the wall at the side of my head, ensuring I wasn't going anywhere. I mewled within his demanding kiss, his body pressed against mine. This was ending exactly how I thought it would, it was wrong but who was I to refuse something so good?
Chapter Fifty-one
I bolted upright with a gasp, the haunting dream had reawakened a forgotten memory. William had been asleep on my chest, when I turned back to him he was laying back on the bed looking at me with concern.
“Bad dream?”
“A memory, I had forgotten something about the men in the van, something that might be really important.”
William sat up, the sheet pooling between us as he lifted it higher. The concern deepened with his frown, his words soft and calming as he drew closer. “What do you remember?”
“Red eyes, one of them flashed red with anger.”
I continued to search my memory about the moment, remembering his eyes. The look on William's face was enough to tell me it was more important than I could have ever figured.
“It was really odd, I was teasing the blonde guy about pronouncing his name and he snapped at me with the correct pronunciation and his eyes flashed red.”
“Lycans.” William muttered. “The flash of red is the precursor to changing into the beast, then the eyes are full and black.”
“The older guy told him that I was goading him and to fall back in line, was he calming him down?”
William nodded with a deep sigh, falling back to the bed and dragging me with him. I settled into his arms feeling completely sated from earlier on, we had taken our anger out on each other in a way that I had never thought possible. It wasn't what I would want for a lifetime of love but for the odd occasion, frantic and angry sex was alright. I grinned thinking it was more than alright.
“We will need to discuss this tonight, the elders are meeting again. They are most curious as to how you are now that you have met your mother. I had to stop them from coming here to see you, I don't think they believed me that you were so tired that you fell asleep as soon as you hit the bed.”
My mouth twitched with a terrible attempt at a smile, not that it was anything worth smiling about. Meeting my mother had been a drain on me, this place was a drain. There was too much temptation in this place and as much as William has promised to obey my requests, I feared that he may forget. You know the old saying, old habits die hard. We would find a balance in this, somewhere in the future we would find a middle ground that would meet both of our needs. This place wasn't helping, we had to get out of here and into normal life.
“Now would be an ideal time to discuss your attitude towards him.” William grumbled as he pulled me tighter to his body.
He ignored me as I tightened, thinking that I had escaped this conversation, now I was faced with the lecture of the century. I narrowed my eyes as I laid on his chest, pressing my lips into a long thin line as I thought about discussing him. This wasn't going to be all about me, I had to have some kind of equality in this. Then something struck me, if I had to suffer discussing a subject I thoroughly hated, then so would William.
“Fine.” I hissed as I sat up. “But we will also be discussing Eliandra.”
I pulled the sheet over my naked body, almost hoping it could shield me from his darkening gaze. He stared as he scowled at me, I held strong against his anger and he huffed, throwing his hands up in annoyance.
“Fine.”
“Good, you go first.”
He was muttering under his breath, all sorts of words that he thought I couldn't hear as he sat up and adjusted the pillows so he could lean against the headboard. The sheet pooled around his waist, leaving the mouth-watering view on show.
“It is common for vampires to seek the assistance of witches for spells and chants. My father sought out a witch for protections over our home to ensure that we would not be seen by the humans, to ensure that the lycans could not enter our property. It is a standard chant, one that is offered with little cost. The witch arrived at our house and he had an apprentice with him, Eliandra. From the moment she stepped onto our property, my father and I knew that she was trouble. She was all sweet and innocent for the witch, pretending to be the perfect apprentice but the poor soul could not see her true nature. You've seen Eliandra, you can understand how a man can become bewitched with her beauty. Well this witch was, he thought she was perfect. The protections were put in place and the two departed. He never saw the looks she was giving me, he never saw the intent in her eyes. But I had and so had my father, we had discussed it in great length that night, agreeing that it was not a wise idea to entertain thoughts of her hanging around. We both knew that she was already turning dark. Two days later she turned up again and my father sent her away, telling her that under the apprenticeship rules, she was not allowed to stray from her teachings. That held her back for two years, but she was always around, always watching. We could all see she was becoming obsessive and my father sought out the master witch who told him that he was a fool to think that Eliandra would fraternise with a vampire. Obsessions are dangerous.”
His eyes flashed with warning, almost telling me to be careful of any that I may have. “We know little of what truly happened but from the limited accounts of those in the area, they had seen the witch go to Eliandra's house. They said that out of nowhere, the place erupted in flames and Eliandra came running o
ut of the place yelling that he had tried to kill her. It went to trial of course, the master witch had died in the fire and it is a normal process to learn the facts and make a decision on what happened. Eliandra was scrutinised heavily, more so after my father's testimony stating that she was obsessed with me. I was only twenty at the time.” He smiled wickedly.
“And under the rules of their court, I was not allowed to testify because I was deemed a minor. He told them of her turning up again, how her eyes had lingered over me far too much. After all, I might have been eighteen when we first met Eliandra but to a witch, it is considered the age of a child and they all disapproved of her obsession. My father spoke of his visit with the master witch, informing him of this unhealthy obsession and that the witch told him that he was a fool. The court agreed with my father, he was not a fool and the master witch had his own obsession with Eliandra. They agreed that he had gone to see her, far too angry for his own good and a fight had obviously ensued. Whilst there might have been no witnesses, they concluded that based on her obsession with me, she would have refused the master witch which would have enraged him further. They deemed any actions on her part were self-defence and dismissed the charges against her. However, they could not ignore her obsession with a minor and handed down a swift and harsh punishment. They couldn't send her to jail because she had not actually touched me however they could ensure that she kept her distance. The striking distance for any spell is at the most one mile for a master witch, for a new witch like Eliandra it would be substantially less. However they were not prepared to take the risk so they set the distance at one mile, she was not to come near me, my family, any of our members or our house.”
“But she was in your house.” I frowned.
He nodded a little remorseful. I moved up the bed to settle against the headboard beside him, avidly listening to this horrid tale.
“The order was set in the name of my father, when he died it was no longer in effect. I had applied to keep it going in my name but she had led such an exemplary life they saw no reason to warrant it. I was refused and worse yet, she found out that I had applied for it. One day she turned up, playing all innocent and telling me that she wanted to forget the past, no hard feelings. Stupidly I believed her, maybe it was because I no longer had my father's stern advice, maybe I wanted to believe that she had truly changed for the better. My first mistake was that I believed her, my second was that I let her into the house. She whispered words into the air that I could barely hear but the result was that I was compliant towards her, giving her what she really wanted… me. My saving grace was Nick, he had been in the study which I wasn't aware of. He has moments of being light on his feet, he can sneak around places and you won't ever hear him. Well he was there and he heard her, he heard her cackles and words of how things were going to change now that I was under her influence.”
Deadly Beasts (The Curse of the Rose Book 1) Page 33
