Double Image

by Jaye Roycraft

  Dallas didn’t really mind the subtle interruption. Juliana had refused to discuss their days spent together in New South Wales as Sabra and Dalys. The conversation had turned to her life following her transformation, and while Dallas was interested to know what Juliana had been doing during their time apart, it was nothing that Drago couldn’t hear as well.

  “You may as well come in, Drago,” said Dallas. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. Drago’s lost-in-thought pose could mean only one thing—that Drago wasn’t done with him yet. “What about Tia?”

  Drago joined them in the parlor, making himself comfortable in a Chippendale armchair. “Mademoiselle awaits you on the patio. It seems she does not care overly much for my company.”

  Dallas couldn’t help grinning, and he saw that Juliana, too, could not stop a small smile at Drago’s expense. “But first I take it you have more business with me,” said Dallas.

  “Ah, yes. To business. I’ve been keeping an eye on you from afar for quite a while, but felt the time was near at hand to personally observe your actions. The arrival in Mississippi of St. James and Flynne merely expedited matters. They needed to be watched, and you needed to be evaluated. It worked out perfectly. Of course, I would have preferred that a vampire not meet la Belle Mort in the process, but c’est la vie. Sometimes these things are unavoidable.”

  Dallas stared at Drago, all traces of humor gone. “You mean this was all . . . some kind of test?”

  Drago rubbed the curved mahogany of an armrest with one hand, the ruffles on his cuff nearly reaching the tips of his fingers. “If you like. It gave me the perfect opportunity to observe your skills in dealing with others of our kind and to judge your abilities in resolving conflict. And, of course, to see how you handle pressure.”

  “You bastard!” Dallas turned toward Juliana. “And you were in on all this?”

  “I arrived here a couple days after Drago did. He needed help in both watching all the parties involved and in assessing your skills. We need good enforcers, Dal.”

  “I have no desire to be an enforcer.”

  Drago interrupted in a soft voice. “Don’t unleash your anger on Juliana. She’s only here because I asked her to come. Vent your hostility on me if you must, but know that I haven’t lied to you, Allgate. And I didn’t engineer St. James coming here. That was entirely his idea. I merely took advantage of the opportunity.”

  “I told you before, Drago. I have no wish to travel endlessly or to pry into the affairs of others.”

  Drago sighed. “Cherie, haven’t you been selling him on the benefits of being a council member?”

  Dallas answered for Juliana. “We had other things to talk about.”

  “Ah, bien sur, of course. I cannot force you into being an enforcer, Allgate. I just want you to consider it as an option for the future. Your travel, unlike mine, would not be endless. Since you are not a day vampire, like Juliana, you would be a local enforcer. She does not normally travel overseas. I had to make special arrangements to bring her here. And it is not ‘prying’ that we do. We settle disputes and try to avert conflict. It is to the preservation of our kind that we direct our efforts. It is something that can give purpose to an existence that, with time, becomes too unresponsive to the world around it.”

  “I am hardly ‘unresponsive’ to the world around me.”

  “No, you aren’t. But you can’t continue your life here in Natchez much longer. You’ve been here . . . what? Twenty-five years already. All I ask is that you think about it. We will talk again in the future.”

  A future visit from Drago. Now that was something to look forward to. “I’ll think about it.”

  “Good. In spite of the unhappy outcome with Flynne and St. James, you handled yourself well this week, mon ami. You exhibited a cool head and great strength, resorting to violence only in self-defense of yourself or your people. But most of all you showed a moral strength in defending your beliefs even under extreme pressure. Your only mistake was in not seeing the job done thoroughly in Rodney. That carelessness can be overlooked in one as young as yourself. Do think about it.”

  “I make no promises, Drago.”

  Drago sighed and rose from the chair. “No, I feared you wouldn’t. Juliana and I will bid you farewell. Oh, and regarding mademoiselle Martell, I leave it to you to make sure she is no danger to us. How you do that is up to you. Just don’t disappoint me, Allgate.” He held out a hand toward Juliana. “Come, cherie. Our business is concluded.”

  Dallas stood. “One minute, Drago. I’d like to say goodbye to her first, if you don’t mind.”

  Drago smiled and bowed. “Au revoir, mon ami. Until we meet again.” With that, he was gone.

  Dallas turned to Juliana and held out a hand to her. She took it, her slender hand small in his, and he pulled her to her feet. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but her dark eyes warned that she didn’t want to hear most of it. “Thank you for what you did for me. I won’t forget it.”

  “No. It is not our way to forget . . . anything . . . is it? Our memories are always as fresh as the day we live them, aren’t they?”

  Dallas supposed it was as close to acknowledging what they had shared in the past as she would ever come. “Yes, they are. I wish you well.” He pulled her forward and embraced her gently, stroking the hair that was little more tamed than she was. He pressed a light kiss to her temple and released her.

  She answered with a touch of her hand to his face. “I can’t change what happened two hundred years ago. I don’t ask forgiveness for what I did, but maybe what I did tonight can atone a little for what I did to you.”

  “I don’t blame you for this existence, Sabra. I never did. I still hold on to what I have with everything I’ve got.”

  She smiled. “Yes, you do. And you have a second chance, Dal. Make the most of it,” she whispered, then, like Drago, was gone.

  Sixteen

  TIA FLOATED IN and out of sleep until something woke her. Her eyes fluttered open, and a shadow fell across her. A man stood silhouetted in the doorway, and for an instant she thought Drago had returned, but the man’s build was different, and she quickly realized it was Dallas.

  She wanted nothing more than to have him hold her and reassure her that everything was all right, but there was still too much of the unknown between them, and she waited on the chair. He said nothing, his face a black mask of shadow.

  “Are they gone?” was all she could think to ask.

  Dallas didn’t move. “They’re gone.”

  “For good?”

  There was a brief pause. “I don’t know if I’ll see Juliana again. I fear Drago will be another story.”

  “Will Drago keep checking on me?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He paused again, then stepped onto the veranda. “The house stinks. It needs a good airing. No better time to leave. Come. Gillie has all your things packed.” He held out his hand to her.

  She ignored his outstretched hand and remained on the chaise, the realization that her fears were all too true paralyzing her. “Leave?”

  “You have nothing more to worry about. St. James is gone, and Drago is done with you. It’s me he wants now—for the Brotherhood. If he comes back, it’ll be to argue his case until I capitulate. But Juliana was right. To you he’s given life. He won’t go back on that.”

  Was he reading her fear and misinterpreting its cause? “I wasn’t afraid of leaving.”

  “Good. I’ll drive you to a hotel. Tomorrow I’ll have Mac take you to Jackson. You can catch your flight from there.”

  She somehow found her feet. If they were going to argue, she wanted to be able to face him. “That’s not what I meant. I wasn’t afraid of St. James. Or Drago, for that matter.”

  He dropped his hand. “Then you should be afraid of me.” The lo
w voice was very soft.

  What was he talking about? He had just saved her life. “Dallas . . . ”

  “Gillie’s not here to be your guardian angel, Juliana’s not here to be a chaperone, and Drago’s not here to keep me on a leash. The farther away from me you are, the better off you’ll be. Wasn’t that the conclusion you yourself came to just two days ago?”

  So that was it. How could she argue? She had been the one to leave him. He hadn’t left her. Would he listen to anything she had to say now? “Dallas, we have so much to talk about. I haven’t even thanked you for what you did for me tonight.” She wanted nothing more than to have him hold her, but the rift between them was suddenly wider than it had been five minutes ago.

  “So all you want is to talk? I’ll make a deal with you. Come with me to a hotel, and you can talk all you want.”

  Much as she wanted to talk, she balked at the idea of being coerced out of the house. She had had enough of being forced to go where she didn’t want to go the past couple of days. “No. No more hotels. I’ve spent the last two days in a hotel, and it wasn’t very pleasant. Can’t we just sit in the garden?”

  He sighed and nodded. “I’m sure it was the company and not the hotel itself you found so disagreeable. But I can’t blame you for not enjoying two days in Drago’s presence. I can barely stand him for ten minutes.” He held out his hand to her again. This time she took it, and the warmth and strength of his grip only tormented her further, teasing her with promises she feared would never be kept.

  They walked to the stone bench at the edge of the flower garden and sat down. She let go of his hand and took a deep breath of the sultry night air. “Thank you for what you did for me tonight. You gambled with your own life to save mine. I wanted to thank Juliana, too. I’m sure she didn’t do it for me, but I still would have liked to thank her.”

  “Juliana did what she had to do. As did I.”

  “And why did you do it, Dallas?”

  “Did you believe I wouldn’t? Did you really think I’d take your life?” he asked softly.

  She looked down at her hands. She wanted to say “no,” but she couldn’t deny the fear that had sent her running from Natchez. Though the fear seemed in abeyance now, if she was going to be honest, she should at least admit her doubts. “I don’t know. You’d saved my life earlier, and yet . . . ”

  “Yet you feared me. You ran, and you only came back because Drago brought you back.”

  It was the precise truth, and she couldn’t say otherwise. “I was afraid. When I learned what you did to Veilina . . . and then, later that night, I had a strange dream. What Gillie calls a ‘presentment.’ I was afraid it was a premonition that I was either going to die, or become like you.”

  He leaned forward, his forearms resting on his thighs, his long hair sliding forward to curtain his face. “My point exactly. I know only too well what I am. Listen to me, Tia. There’s a beast within me. A beast that can rage out of control. With both Christian and Veilina that beast took over. Revenge and betrayal. And the reason the beast took over was because I let myself get too emotionally involved with humans. That’s why you’re leaving as soon as possible.”

  She looked at him, but he continued to stare at the ground. “Leave? I told you—I don’t want to leave now.” Did he truly not want her? Perhaps he was looking forward to being an enforcer to spend more time with Juliana.

  He sat up and turned to her, sweeping the hair from his eyes, but his features were unreadable in the darkness. “Didn’t you hear anything I just said? What do you want, Tia?”

  She wanted him. Didn’t everyone have a dark side? But she had seen his humanity as well, and there was more of that in this man than in many people she had met in her life. Yes, she wanted him, but she couldn’t tell him so. Not yet. Not until she found out what he wanted. “Dallas, I’m trying to be truthful with you. Please be the same with me. Why do you want me to leave? Is it Juliana? You still love her, don’t you.” It was no question in Tia’s mind.

  A frown creased his brow. “Juliana?” He shifted his glance to the flowers. “No. I loved her when I was human and she was Sabra Sage. We can no longer have that. She knows it as well as I do. Two vampires cannot share that kind of love, Tia. The energy of life has to be present in at least one of the parties for the kind of desire you’re talking about to exist. All Juliana and I can have now are respect, understanding, and perhaps, someday, friendship. And, of course, the memories. Those never fade. But love? No.”

  The sorrow in Dallas’ soft voice tore at Tia’s already shredded emotions. “Then why do you want me to leave?”

  “Because it’s too dangerous for you to stay. St. James reminded me that I’m no different from him. I’m a creature whose brutal nature would only end up hurting you, one way or another.”

  “You’re not the same as St. James. He wanted to hurt me. You don’t.”

  “But I would, nevertheless. He wanted me to admit to him that he and I were no different. I wouldn’t. But he was right. It’s my nature to take and use, just as it is his.”

  “Dallas, look at me, please.” She waited until he turned and gazed at her with eyes that gleamed. “He isn’t right. I know he isn’t.”

  “You see only what you want to see. If you had vampiric senses, you would see what I truly am—what I truly look like, feel like—and believe me, you would not like the scent of the Undead.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my senses. I know exactly what I’m looking at.” She wanted to hit him. “Damn you, Dallas. All right. I’ll make a counteroffer to your deal. Let me stay here tonight. Make love to me. Tomorrow, if you still want me to leave, I’ll leave.”

  His eyes flashed at her in the moonlight. “No. It’s too dangerous.”

  “You made love to me before.”

  “And I almost killed you. You had no idea how close I came to taking your blood.”

  “But you didn’t. I’m willing to risk it.”

  He threw his head back, almost as if he were appealing to the night. “You are the stubbornest, most bullheaded female I’ve ever met.” He dropped his head and brought his face very close to hers. He stared directly into her eyes, and if the dancing sparkles of light she saw reflected were any indication, his pupils were vibrating with an inhuman speed. “I could just compel you, you know.”

  She stared back. “You can try.”

  For a long moment, neither of them moved nor spoke. She didn’t drop her eyes or look away, but met his gaze with as much faith and fervor as she could muster. Surprisingly, though, he unleashed no menacing, compelling stare, just the look of glittering beauty that failed to mask his desire.

  After a moment he leaned back and cocked his head to one side. “Very well, Tia. One night. With one condition. You spend it in my lair. You will understand, at last, what I am, if you understand nothing else this night.”

  “Your lair? Don’t tell me you’re going to make love to me in a coffin.” She laughed, but the sound quickly died.

  For the first time since he had stepped onto the veranda, a smile of wicked delight lit Dallas Allgate’s solemn face.

  Seventeen

  HE DIDN’T THINK of it as conceding.

  Dallas had no real desire to lose her, so her begging to stay was nothing short of victory. Still, the conversation had bothered him. The danger he had spoken of was all too real.

  He first led her through the French doors to the kitchen. “If you wish anything to eat or drink, help yourself. Grab what you like and bring it with you. There’s no room service where we’re going.”

  She opened the refrigerator and took out some bottled water. “This is fine.”

  He raised a brow at her choice. “Tia, Tia. Here. Allow me.” He circuited the room, gathering a bottle of wine, a crystal goblet, and a bowl of diced fresh fruit that Gillie had prepared the day bef
ore.

  It was her turn to cock a brow at him. “I was seduced the very first time you laid eyes on me, Dallas. The wine and fruit . . . ” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “They’re not necessary.”

  He smiled. “Indulge a creature to whom image is everything, will you? Besides, I think you need some glamour in your life. As you have said, it has been too imbued with the harsh realities.”

  When she didn’t argue further, he ushered her to his first-floor bedroom adjacent to the library. He handed her the fruit so he could flip on the light, then turned to her. “No one has ever been inside the room I am about to show you except Gillie, and even he doesn’t have a key. There are several staircases to the general cellar. This one leads directly to my sleeping quarters. I had this house built in 1828 to my specific design. Fortunately during that era, secret staircases, hidden rooms, and listening posts were common enough additions to large houses. This is your last chance to leave, Tia.”

  He gave her credit for not looking overly nervous. “No. I’m staying.”

  “As you wish.” Could it be that she really did want him, even knowing full well what he was? He thought the mark of blood to be the most powerful bond between vampire and mortal, but she had overcome that in leaving him. Could the bond that kept her here now really be more solid than that of the mark?

  He turned to a paneled wall, and with a speed so swift he knew she wouldn’t be able to see or duplicate his actions, he pressed the release for the hidden door. A section of the wall smoothly and silently skated to the side along an invisible track, revealing a narrow staircase. “Follow me, then.”

  He descended the stairs, pausing at the bottom to rapidly unlock the next door. It swung inward noiselessly. He stood in the doorway and beckoned her. “Come, Tia.”

  She alighted from the final step and paused beside him. “No lights?”