After a perfunctory sip, Darlene also set her cup down. “Does it matter what’s in it?” Her attempt to distract them all with a comforting daily ritual had failed miserably.
“Well, yes!” she heard herself reply with unrestrained passion. “I mean, isn’t it possible that… that whatever the vial contains is good? Maybe in the future we all won’t have to die because humanity will have advanced enough spiritually to bridge the divide between life and death. Maybe vampires are like the first… the first seeds of this new empowered state of being!”
Jonathan and Darlene exchanged a glance.
“Stop looking at each other like that! It makes me sick! How am I supposed to deal with the image of you two sleeping together? Oh, I know, it’s when you were your father, Colby Eckart, but still, really, it’s just too much! And this can’t be much fun for you either, Darlene. It's like a bloody Greek tragedy! You watched your lover die, and then nine months later gave birth to him? Your feelings went from amorous to maternal just like that? Aren’t you ever tempted to, you know? Aren’t you jealous of me?”
Careful not to look at Jonathan, Darlene stood. “I have work to do,” she said mildly, and left the room, moving a little more quickly than she normally did but otherwise looking characteristically unruffled.
Jonathan continued to gaze silently up at her.
She stepped away from the fire and from him, drawn to the shadows on the other side of the spacious room. The curtains were closed to keep out the cold and she could hear the gentle, normally soothing sound of a steady rain drumming on the roof. She couldn't seem to control the feelings hissing inside her like the fire when a few stray drops of water made it down the chimney. Water from the sky, from heaven, like her lover’s cool wisdom which, at the moment, was powerless to put out the desires burning inside her. Or was it just one desire? She hoped he would call her back to his side, say something, and was disappointed when he didn’t. Yet it wasn't surprising; he knew she would only snap at him again.
I love you, Audrey, but right now I’m definitely not enjoying your company.
She didn’t even think, much less say, then leave. She needed him. She trusted him. She loved him.
The drawing room door opened again.
“Audrey?”
“Aapti!”
They met halfway and hugged as though they hadn’t seen each other in years. Even so, Audrey sensed her friend was holding back somewhat; that she didn’t feel completely comfortable during the embrace, which lasted longer than usual only because she was fighting her own hesitation.
Audrey said eagerly. “Let’s go up to my room!”
Jonathan said, “No, you will both stay here, please.”
Aapti started. From where she stood she could see only the back of the chair in which he sat facing the fire. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize-”
“That’s Jonathan Eckart, you know, Colby’s son. Remember you called my cell and left me a message telling me you’d heard he’d come home from Afghanistan? Well, he had. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
Jonathan had already risen. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said, holding out his hand.
After a second's hesitation, Aapti took it. “Likewise. Welcome back.”
Audrey raptly contemplated her beautiful friend, who must have left home before it began raining because she wasn’t wearing a hat. Partially frozen drops of water glistened in her hair (which she had neglected to braid today) and it fell like a black silk cape over her shoulders and half way down her back, matching her gloves and boots while offering a striking contrast to her red wool coat. “Here, Aapti, dear, let me unbutton it for you…”
“I can’t stay long.” She took a step back, her over sized faux-gold purse hanging from one arm as with both hands she kept her coat fully closed. “Hasan drove into the village for something but he’ll be back soon. He doesn’t want me going out alone anymore.”
“That’s understandable,” Jonathan said amiably. “And it’s probably a good idea, for the time being.”
Aapti stared at him a moment, and then looked at Audrey. Shining with curiosity and yet also darkened by anxiety, her large brown eyes were lovelier than ever. Her lashes were so black she didn’t need eyeliner but she never left home without applying a satiny coat of some bright color to her full lips.
A kiss means much more in her culture than it does here in Britain, Audrey thought. I wonder what it would be like to kiss her. I’ve never kissed a woman before. It might be nice. Mm, yes, I think it would be very nice…
“It’s okay.” Jonathan reached out and lightly touched Aapti's arm for a reassuring moment. “You’re safe now.”
As his fingers caressed Aapti’s hair, Audrey felt the tip of an invisible tongue flick directly against her clitoris. The pleasurable sensation was so unexpected and acute it was all she could do to keep herself from gasping. Time seemed to stop and fast-forward in the same heartbeat as an entire scenario unfolded before her as vividly as if it was actually happening—Jonathan politely pulling off Aapti’s coat before abruptly wrapping one arm around her throat and pinning her wrists behind her, leaving Audrey free to fondle the other woman's full and heavy breasts as she planted her mouth against another pair of equally soft lips, which parted helplessly beneath the masculine thrust of her tongue…
Jonathan abruptly grabbed a fistful of her hair and whispered in her ear, “Control yourself!” before running a hand down her back and smiling as though he had merely said something caressingly intimate.
Aapti spoke uncertainly, “I should go…”
“You can’t leave until Hasan gets here,” Audrey reminded her, refusing to look at her keeper. “I still think we should go up to my room and talk about-”
“And I still think,” Jonathan gripped one of her hands and pulled her down onto the loveseat beside him, “you should both stay right here. Sit down please, Aapti.”
She obeyed him at once, choosing the chair nearest to Audrey, but her quizzical gaze remained divided between them. Setting her purse on her lap, she wrapped her arms around it and perched on the edge of the cushion with her head tilted slightly to one side as if she was already listening for the sound of a car horn out in the drive.
“The answer to your question, Aapti,” Jonathan spoke in his usual quiet but compelling voice, “is no, you weren’t dreaming. Audrey did visit you where you were, as did the man responsible for abducting you.”
“I knew it!” Aapti closed her eyes for a long moment, and when she opened them again her tense back relaxed somewhat. “You were there, Audrey, and you told me it wasn’t a dream. And that totally gorgeous man... you called him your husband. Who was he? Where were we? What happened?”
Audrey looked at Jonathan. “Would you mind terribly explaining it to her? I don’t feel too… coherent right now.” She resented the fact, and yet was glad of it, that he obviously had no intention of letting go of her hand.
“That gorgeous man is a vampire,” he stated bluntly. “Falkon has been alive for centuries and, in a former incarnation, Audrey was his wife. He wants her back, and he used you to get to her. You were probably drugged and, not very politely, hypnotically shoved outside your physical body into a place beyond time and space as we normally experience it. But don’t worry, it won’t happen again. Falkon promised Audrey he wouldn’t hurt you and vampires always keep whatever promises they make to the few people they think they love.”
“Audrey?!” Aapti's voice was an octave higher than normal. “Is he serious?!”
“Oh yes. In fact, Stuart is in his study right now meeting with another vampire, my long-lost mother!”
Jonathan murmured, “That’s enough” and squeezed her hand, painfully.
“Vampires?” As if it contained everything she believed possible and they were trying to steal it from her, Aapti’s arms tightened around her purse, which also had the effect of shielding her womb and her baby’s ears. “Did you both actually say vampires?”
Audrey smiled
. She was rather enjoying her friend’s shock. It tasted good, bittersweet and slightly intoxicating. Emotions, she realized abruptly, were a vampire’s wet bar. Who needed anything so crude as alcohol when you could imbibe people’s most potent feelings, easily roused by the mere mention of your kind… “Ouch!” she exclaimed when Jonathan squeezed her hand again and nearly crushed all the bones in her fingers. Yet even pain was mysteriously exquisite, delectable in its intensity…
He sighed, “Yes, we said vampires.” He had never sighed before and she liked it. It made him seem vulnerable, deliciously so. Until he glanced at her, then she winced as his eyes seemed to burn her, at which point a terrible possibility occurred to her.
“Aapti,” she said urgently, “did Falkon give you anything to drink?”
Her friend shook her head. “I don’t remember anything except that… dream, and then waking up in the dark not knowing where I was with some man ordering me to get out and-”
“We know the rest,” Jonathan interrupted her. “Thank you. No need to dwell on it. What’s happening here is no longer your concern. All you should think about right now is your baby and your husband. Whether you choose to tell Hasan is entirely up to you, but I would advise against it. Understand?”
Audrey noted that he was staring intently into her friend’s eyes and jealousy burned inside her for a few painful seconds before subsiding, just like a solar flare. He was so hot. And so was Aapti! Why were they all just sitting around talking? It was a waste of time, a waste of life. It was vital they seize the moment and milk it for all it was worth, right now, before it was too late!
“Yes, I understand,” Suddenly, Aapti didn't sound as though she had ever been confused by anything in her life. “I don't need to know anymore about what’s going on here. I won’t mention what you've told me to anyone because it only makes me nervous and that’s not good for my baby. I’m going now.” She rose.
Audrey had no choice but to stand as Jonathan pulled her up with him, remarking, “I believe that’s your husband now” at the sound of car horn outside.
Aapti stepped toward her as if to kiss her goodbye, but at the last moment turned away. “I’ll call you tomorrow, Audrey.” She left the room as quickly as she could without actually running.
“Well,” she frowned, “that was most unsatisfactory. And, really, you’re almost as bad as Falkon. You planted those thoughts in her head and forced her to obey you!”
“Audrey, please don’t make me gag you.”
“Ah, but you can’t gag my thoughts!” Facing him, she ran her hands up his chest. “Or can you? Block them, I mean?”
“Of course I can.” He slipped his arms around her waist. “So, you’ve never kissed a woman before. Once we’ve dealt with Falkon, I’ll be happy to indulge your curiosity in that regard.”
“I’ll bet. But you should know better than to tease me when I’m feeling like I can't control myself. Aapti looked so delicious to me it was totally distracting. Everything is so beautiful, I mean, more so than usual. Colors are richer and brighter, but that’s not it either.” She gazed up at his face, entranced by its symmetry, its concentrated stillness, so much like a statue’s and yet nothing like an inanimate object at all. “I can feel the life in everything, especially in people. Right now you’re practically glowing with life!”
“‘God sleeps in the minerals, awakens in plants, walks in the animals, and thinks in man’.”
“I like that.”
“Ancient Sanskrit proverb.”
“How long have you been alive, Jonathan? On earth, not just in your current body.”
“A long time. Civilization is much older than historians believe.”
“Daddy would be very interested to hear that. I’m sorry, Jonathan.”
He pressed her closer. “What for?”
“I’m not sure, but I get the feeling I seriously regressed as Afanasiia. Before that particularly disastrous incarnation, I think I was a better, much more enlightened person. I feel like I’ve forgotten so much and that I’m still depressingly weak and foolish. How long have we known each other?”
“We were born together.”
“What-” She stopped herself. She knew in her heart what he meant. She remembered what he had said earlier It would be like hating my own soul. He was telling her they were soul mates, and she seriously suspected he wasn’t merely being romantic. If there was one thing Jonathan Eckart wasn’t, it was maudlin. She bent her head and rested her forehead against his chest, ashamed beyond measure. “I’m sorry for lagging so far behind you,” she murmured. “My half of our soul is limping along, lifetime after lifetime, while you-”
“I’m here with you in this lifetime,” he tilted her face up toward his again, “to help you catch up.”
“Kiss me, please. I promise I won’t bite.”
“Not now.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Wilona is leaving. Wait a minute, then go to your father. He’ll need you.”
“Oh God, is he all right?”
“I'm sure he’s fine.” He grabbed her arm. “I said wait. I don’t want you running into your lovely mother.”
She heard a loud thud just behind her. “Oh my God, Whispers, you nearly gave me a heart attack, you silly kitty.” Jonathan released her and she stroked her cat as he stood by the door listening. She moved toward him slowly, casting suspicious glances around the room. Wilona might find her way in somehow, perhaps in the form of a raindrop diving down the chimney. But the fire would immediately extinguish her… unless in that instant she transformed from one element into another and became a flame flaring up and up until it was as tall as a woman with bright red hair…
“Well?” Standing behind him she rested her hands on his shoulders. “Is the coast clear yet?”
“I’m not sure.” He opened the door.
Grabbing his shirt, she followed him out of the room.
Suddenly, a deafening rumble of thunder tumbled directly over the roof from one end of the house to another as a jagged bolt of blue-white lightning struck the floor in the center of the hall.
Her brain seemed to cower in her skull as she cried out. One second Jonathan was right in front of her and the next her hands, which had been anxiously clutching his shirt, were empty, clawing thin air. The four crystal chandeliers suspended from the ceiling were trembling, filling the open space with a lovely, high-pitched tinkling sound. Their electric bulbs flickered wildly, casting an insubstantial net of shadows across the walls and floor, which failed to trap the black wolf she suddenly saw running away from her toward a woman in a long white dress standing at the foot of the staircase.
Even as Wilona turned to run, the wolf pounced and brought her down.
Audrey hit an invisible wall that stopped her dead and prevented her from moving any closer to the nightmare unfolding before her. Rain drummed on the roof with such force part of her worried it might not be strong enough to withstand the assault. She found herself questioning the structural integrity of the house along with her sanity. Wilona had collapsed onto all fours across the bottom steps, clinging to one with her knees resting on the other, as the wolf mounted her from behind. Audrey thought she heard her mother cry out but it must have been her imagination because the storm deafened her to any other sounds. She wanted to scream herself but all she could do was watch as the wolf's deadly jaws latched on to the back of her mother’s neck as its hind quarters reared up and thrust.
“Don’t worry, Audrey.” She heard Falkon’s voice more clearly than her thoughts. “Wilona willingly volunteered to provide this distraction. She is, I suspect, thoroughly enjoying herself.”
“Oh my God, I can’t believe it! Is he really fucking her?”
“When he shifts into animal form, his baser instincts take over, naturally. Or did you really believe he was perfect?”
She saw Falkon’s pale hand reaching toward her and, swift as a crustacean retreating into its shell, closing around the scarab amulet resting against her chest.
“N
o!” she cried feeling the sharp burn of the gold chain slicing into the back of her neck as he ripped it off. “Give it back!”
“I think not.”
He vanished and, in the same instant, the storm ended. It hadn't been rain drumming on the roof, it had been power, power beyond her comprehension and, apparently, power far more elegant than the one wielded by her shape-shifter boyfriend! Yet when she looked back toward the staircase the wolf was gone and it was Jonathan she saw bending over Wilona’s crumpled body as he gathered her up in his arms.
Stuart walked out of his study.
“Daddy!” The invisible barrier had disappeared with Falkon and she was able to run to him. “Are you all right?”
“I'm fine,” he replied absently, his attention riveted on Jonathan and the body in his arms.
Darlene was there suddenly. “Should we put her in her old room, sir?”
“Yes, Darlene, thank you.”
“Mother is staying with us?”
“Falkon no longer wants her,” he said grimly, “and she has nowhere else to go.”
“He took the scarab amulet from me. I couldn’t stop him!”
“Come into my study, dear.”
She glanced back at Jonathan—walking up the staircase with Wilona draped limply over his arms—then obeyed her father.
Chapter Nineteen
Audrey was sitting across from Stuart—in the chair Falkon had occupied when he paid them a more conventional visit—and they were silently avoiding each others eyes when Jonathan joined them.
I can't believe you fucked my mother. She shot him a look filled with disgust and contempt. Right in front of me.
“What?” He sounded genuinely surprised; he even paused in the process of sitting down. “What do you believe you saw, Audrey?”
“You know what I saw.” She was beyond anger. She was so disappointed in him it was like being outside in forty-below-zero weather—she felt completely numb, incapable of caring about anything anymore.
“No, I don’t know. Please tell me.”
“You actually expect me to describe what... what you did in front of my father? You’re sick!”
Eternal Blood - Books 1-3 Wolf Shield, Sword of the Blood, Vampire Bride Page 20
