Tall, Dark & Fangsome ib-5

by Мишель Роуэн

  Sure, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to stop him. When he drank blood he lost that part of himself that helped him stay in control. Sort of like me losing my gold chain. He’d promised to work on this little problem of his, but as with an alcoholic, it was probably best to stay away from the drug of choice.

  Blood was Thierry’s drug. Which, as a vampire, was not exactly convenient.

  After a minute or two, he pulled his mouth away from my skin and looked at me, his eyes as black as death itself. I forced myself to stand up and he followed. He trailed his hands around to my back, and he pressed me against the wall with the weight of his body.

  “I don’t think your boyfriend would appreciate this.” His voice was low and sexy and very much not like the normal bloodless Thierry.

  “You’re probably right,” I managed, my body tingling everywhere he touched me.

  “And yet you’re not pushing me away.” One of his hands moved downward again to explore my body in a very non-first-date sort of way. I bit my bottom lip as a hot line of desire raced through me.

  Black-eyed Thierry had a tendency to be way more aggressive than regular-eyed Thierry.

  And while part of me feared this, another part really… well… liked it. A lot.

  I know. I had issues.

  He stroked the hair off my neck and pulled my shirt off my left shoulder. He did the same thing with my bra strap, and then he caressed the now-exposed skin there.

  “You were right. Your blood has healed me, but I want more,” he growled, and I felt the brush of his fangs on my throat. “I need more.”

  “You need more of my blood?”

  He licked along the curve of my ear as he whispered, “I want to sink into you, Sarah. I want to taste you so deeply…”

  “Is that your best pick-up line? Because it’s totally working.”

  I tensed at the sudden pain as his needle-sharp fangs pierced my skin. But, instead of pushing him away, I wrapped my arms around him and let him drink. I wanted him to have my blood. I wanted him to be okay.

  After a minute, he pulled away from me. His expression was tight and haunted. His chest moved with labored breathing. “I can’t do this. I can’t take too much.” He pushed back from me until there was a good six feet separating us. “I’m surprised at you. Why didn’t you stop me?”

  “I didn’t want to.”

  “Even with your recent interest in Gideon, I was under the impression that you were more loyal to the one you proclaim to love.”

  I held a hand to my neck. He was able to stop all by himself. That was major progress! “I am loyal.”

  “It doesn’t seem like it to me.” There was a hard edge of anger to his words now.

  I eyed him. “I guess you don’t know me very well at all, do you?”

  “All I know is that you let me touch you, that you let me taste you, with no protests. I don’t think that’s very loyal behavior.”

  “No, it definitely isn’t.” I began to unbutton my blouse and took a small thrill at the shocked look he gave me. “Actually, neither is this.”

  “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Seducing you.”

  He took another step back from me as I approached. “You’ve given me enough of your powerful blood to heal my wound and I thank you for that. But this isn’t right.”

  “Because you’re the Red Devil, a vampire of mystery and intrigue?”

  “Because you’re in love with another. Or is that no longer the case?”

  I let my blouse fall to the ground. I wore a really nice black lace push-up bra underneath.

  It had a little pink bow in the front that I knew probably wouldn’t make it through the first wash. I never sorted my delicates. It was a lazy habit and it tended to cost me loads in new lingerie.

  Not that my laundry habits were even remotely important at the moment. I’m just saying.

  “I love you,” I said evenly.

  His eyes widened and I watched them slowly change from the black of a hungry vampire back to his cool, gray gaze. “No, Sarah—”

  I walked directly toward him and kissed him, feeling how tense he still was. His cold mask shifted a little against my face.

  With a low groan, he pushed me back from him. “Why would you say something like this to me?”

  “Because it’s true. I love you.” I crossed my arms. “I’m breaking it off with Thierry to be with you. I love you, Red Devil. You can bite me any time. Thierry and I are through, he just can’t get it through his thick head.”

  He stared at me for what felt like a very long time, studying my face and body language.

  Suddenly, a clear realization came over his expression. It was amusing enough to almost salvage the entire messed-up day for me. Almost.

  “You know, don’t you?” he asked slowly.

  I smiled at him. “That the Red Devil and Thierry de Bennicoeur are one and the same? Of course I know. Duh.”

  Chapter 12

  You can take the mask off any time now.” I finally flicked on the light and the living room became painfully bright.

  He looked stricken. “How did you know?”

  “I just knew.” I put a hand on my hip. “Also, that’s not exactly the greatest disguise in the world. It’s just a mask. I mean, how has no one else ever figured it out? Veronique doesn’t even know.”

  He shook his head, still holding that expression of shock in his eyes. “Nobody has known.”

  “Not even Barry?’

  “Not even Barry.”

  I shrugged. “I guess I’m just special. It’s like Superman when Lois Lane never figured it out—his disguise was a pair of glasses, for Pete’s sake. Ditto Wonder Woman. I mean, maybe Batman had a reason, since his costume was a bit more involved, but still, a jaw line is a jaw line and I could tell—”

  “When did you know?”

  “The third time I saw you. Or, rather, saw the Red Devil.”

  He tentatively reached up and slowly removed the mask. His handsome face was pale behind it. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I was waiting for you to come clean and tell me.” I raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been waiting for a while.”

  “I thought… when you let me touch you thinking I was another man that our time apart had added problems to our relationship.”

  “No more problems than we already had.” I crossed my arms. “Like the wife who won’t give you an annulment? That’s a problem. Like the fact that we can’t see each other in public or let anyone know we’re still together? Another problem.”

  “Like Gideon Chase’s interest in you?” he added.

  “Definitely a problem. A big one.” The reminder of the hunter sent a chill down my spine, especially after what had happened in the alley. “But the fact that I like you with or without the mask? That’s not a problem.”

  “I must have lost more blood than I thought. You had me completely fooled.”

  “I’m obviously a brilliant actress.”

  “Of course.” He cleared his throat. “Does anyone else know?”

  I shook my head. “Just me. And I have no idea how Veronique couldn’t have clued in. By the way, I’m supposed to set you and her up together. She wants to be lovers.”

  “When Veronique couldn’t see past my mask I assumed that my disguise was good enough and didn’t give it another thought. She had known me for hundreds of years before she met the Red Devil. She should have known.”

  “But she didn’t.”

  “No.” His gaze moved over my features. “But you did.”

  “By the way, I’m fairly furious with you and I have about a billion more questions, so if you wouldn’t mind—”

  He kissed me and it took me by surprise, but not in a bad way. I wrapped my arms around him as the kiss deepened.

  “I’ve missed you very much,” he murmured then. “I’ve wanted to see you but I’ve been fearful for your safety. I’ve wanted to touch you but I couldn’t.”

 
I smiled against his lips. “Well, you’re here now. And my blouse is currently on the floor. I think that’s probably a good sign that even though I’m still mad at you right now, touching is allowed.”

  He leaned back and placed his hands on either side of my face. “This will work out. All of this. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

  “Promises, promises.”

  “It’s a promise and a vow.” His lips brushed mine again.

  I unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it away so I could inspect his chest. I ran my fingers over the now rapidly healing wound. Only a small pink mark remained from where the knife had made contact. I kissed it before looking up at him again.

  “See?” I said. “All better.”

  “Your blood is as powerful as Gideon claims it is.” His expression shadowed. “It worries me deeply.”

  I felt another chill as I remembered the look in Gideon’s eyes as I turned against him. He’d looked angry and disappointed with me—not a good combination.

  I pressed my index finger against his lips. “Let’s think about that later, okay?”

  “Why? Did you have other subjects for us to address at the moment?”

  I nodded this time. “Actually, I do.”

  He didn’t protest this time when I kissed him, no more talking about Gideon, or my curse, or anything like that. He was alive. He was okay. He knew I knew who he was and he knew how much I loved him.

  But just to make sure, I led him to my microscopic bedroom and showed him. Twice.

  Um. Make that three times.

  He told me again how much he loved me as his mouth and body took me to the edge and back… however, he very politely kept his fangs to himself.

  I didn’t care if he was old enough to have had the chance to see Romeo and Juliet performed on stage for the first time sitting next to Shakespeare himself, the man I loved had the stamina of a thirty-year-old.

  Afterward, he held me in his arms and I explored his chest: muscled but lean, with a familiar old three-inch scar from where he’d been injured as a human. So faint that it was hard to see if you weren’t looking for it. I traced it with the tip of my finger.

  “Now, no more secrets,” I said. “Tell me about the Red Devil. Let’s start with the main points.”

  He threaded his fingers through my hair and pulled me closer to him. “I wasn’t the original

  Red Devil. It was Marcellus, Veronique’s lover from before I even met her. The night

  Marcellus died I learned his secret, and he entrusted me to destroy his papers, his identity.

  But I knew that the Red Devil couldn’t die. I wanted to continue with the same name and try to… try to—”

  “Help others,” I finished for him.

  “That was the original plan.”

  “Does Veronique know this about Marcellus?” I’d heard enough about the guy from her before. She claimed he was her one true love. All her multitude of lovers since had paled in comparison to this Valentino vamp.

  “I don’t think so. At least, she never gave any indication.”

  “It’s all very Zorro. Very solitary Musketeer.”

  “If you say so.”

  “And you funded this all yourself? Without telling anyone?”

  “No one has known.” He swallowed. “Until now. Obviously I’m very rusty after being out of commission for so long.”

  “I think I still would have known.”

  He looked at me incredulously. “I still cannot believe it.”

  “Believe it. Why did you stop? You haven’t done the mask thing for a hundred years, right?”

  His jaw tensed. “It was after what happened with Elizabeth.”

  I remembered the name. Elizabeth was Thierry’s friend’s wife who wanted to have an affair with Thierry a century ago, but it didn’t turn out the way she’d planned. When she used her own blood to try to seduce him, it backfired—due to his blood addiction—and he nearly drained her. She ran from the bloodthirsty Thierry into a pack of hunters who killed her without a second thought. Thierry felt it was his fault, and the guilt had stayed with him all of these years.

  “It was then I knew that the Red Devil caused more harm than good. That perhaps it was safer to stay hidden than charge headfirst into danger.”

  “Not safer for you, safer for others, you mean.”

  He wouldn’t meet my gaze anymore. “That’s right.”

  I studied his tense, haunted expression. “What’s the problem?”

  He shook his head. “No problem. I don’t usually share so much.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “There are so many things that I regret in my life.”

  I touched his face and made him look at me. “Which totally answers the question of why you’re always so serious.”

  He finally met my eyes directly. “Actually, I was serious even as a human.”

  “Figures.”

  I kissed him again before he pulled back to look down at me. He stroked the hair off my forehead.

  “I keep waiting for you to be so disgusted by my past that you really, truly want to leave me. And your spending a great deal of time with Gideon while keeping it from me has done nothing to ease my mind.”

  I sighed. “Damn. I never knew master vampires could be so needy.”

  His lips twitched with amusement. “I’m not needy.”

  “So needy. And jealous. And possessive. But just for the record, I’m not giving Gideon anything other than my time.”

  “You kissed him.”

  “It was nothing. Seriously.” I cleared my throat. “So what would you like me to do about

  Veronique wanting to become the Red Devil’s lover? Seriously. She’s so into the guy that a little drool messed up her Chanel lip gloss when she was talking about him. It was kind of sad.”

  “Are you trying to change the subject?”

  “Yes, I am. Now, Veronique and the Red Devil. Your thoughts?”

  He raised a dark eyebrow. “I’m afraid having an affair with my estranged wife is not something that interests me.”

  “Come on, now. The woman is beautiful. She’s powerful and savvy and you guys have a lot of history together.”

  “This is all very true.”

  I cringed. If Thierry and Veronique were Internet dating, they’d definitely be matched up together. Me? I’d be put with the guy who still lived with his parents and enjoyed an unhealthy relationship with video games.

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  He sighed. “You’re serious about this?”

  “No. Forget it. I really don’t want to know.”

  He shook his head. “You asked and I’ll answer. Why wouldn’t I embrace the chance to be with Veronique again? Being that she’s so—as you believe—perfect?”

  “Did I say that?”

  “Numerous times.”

  “Okay, then why? Why would you put up with everything we’ve been through?

  Everything we’re probably going to go through, when the simple, perfect choice has been right in front of you all along?”

  “Why would you choose to be with me when you’re obviously better matched with

  Quinn?” he countered.

  I blinked at that. “Well, I’m not in love with him, for one thing. Also, Quinn’s engaged to a really scary blond chick now. I probably wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole even if

  I wanted to.”

  His expression darkened significantly. “Except for kissing him in public earlier today. And admittedly kissing Gideon as well and not wanting it to be a topic of conversation between us.”

  I swallowed hard. “Gideon showed what kind of person he was tonight when he slit two hunters’ throats and nearly killed you.”

  Thierry sat up, swung his legs over the side of my bed, and proceeded to get dressed without another word.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “In twenty-four hours you’re supposed to sire Gideon. Now that I know that your
blood is as powerful as he believes it to be, I’m very worried what this will mean.”

  “So I sire him and he leaves us alone. That was the original plan, wasn’t it?”

  He shook his head, his brow deeply creased with worry. “You don’t know what the implications could be when someone like him is given the power and strength equivalent of a master vampire.”

  He was right, of course. I let out a shaky breath. “I know, this is bad. I’m sorry.”

  “Please don’t apologize.” He slid into his black jacket. “And if you really want to know how I could possibly choose you over such a perfect woman as Veronique—just know that such perfection is highly overrated.”

  He slid his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled something out. Something small that sat easily in his palm. “Know that I carry this with me every day with the hope that I’ll earn the right to be able to give it to you again.”

  It was a ring studded with diamonds around its circumference. An eternity band. He’d given it to me a couple of weeks ago and I’d given it back to him when I’d been forced to break things off with him. While it wasn’t an engagement ring—hard to be engaged to somebody who was already married—it symbolized Thierry’s wanting to have me in his life.

  My heart swelled to the size of a hot-air balloon. “Can I have it back now?”

  He closed his hand and shook his head. “I’m going to hold on to it for safekeeping.”

  “You carry that with you everywhere?”

  He nodded.

  A smile began to spread across my face. “You are such a romantic.”

  I gathered the sheets around me and kneeled on the side of the bed. He sat down on the edge and touched my face, stroking the hair out of my eyes and tucking it behind my ears.

  “I love that you saw through my disguises to who I truly am.” His voice was thick.

  “Bad disguise. Really flimsy.” I smiled as he brushed his mouth against mine. “But I love you anyhow.”

  He raised an amused eyebrow. “Now, I must go. Before tomorrow night I have to figure out how best to deal with Gideon without jeopardizing the safety of anyone.”