“I don’t understand. You’ve got to tell me what the hell’s going on.”
When she didn’t respond and averted her eyes from him, he placed his palms onto the mattress and slid up to a sitting position. Putting both hands on her shoulders he shook her and forced her to look at him.
“They will find out what I’ve done,” she whispered. “They will find me and make me cross over.” Crumbling in his arms, her body quaked with emotion and she folded over against him. Viktor held her close, murmuring to her and brushing the silky hair away from her face.
“I love your hair. The scent, the feel of it. Sometimes I want to use it to tie myself to you so that we might never be apart.”
She began to sob, choking on her emotion and holding him as if letting him go would be the death of her. He kissed her cheeks, using his lips to wipe away the tears. His hold on her softened, cradling instead of crushing as he lifted her just an inch or so off the bed, then placed her back upon the mattress like he was handling a china doll.
“You are the most ravishing thing I have ever seen, Aoi.” He spoke against the creamy skin of her shoulder so that the breath of his words caressed her. “Not the most ravishing woman, but the absolute most exquisite thing my eyes have ever fallen upon. I may not have you for an eternity. But I will have you, all of you, now.”
After some slow and tender lovemaking in the early morning hours, both Viktor and Joya found sleep together. Around noon he roused when she wiggled her way out of his embrace, slinking to the end of the bed and dressing quietly before slipping out of their bedroom.
Viktor’s body told him he needed more sleep, but his mind urged him to get up and do something productive. His new seedlings likely needed attention. The previous night’s altercation at the party was still spinning in his mind. The resurfacing of his memories about Aoi weren’t merely coincidence. Black and evil things always reminded him of their short relationship and he was sure there was something dark about what he’d accidentally discovered.
As he laid there contemplating things, he heard the door open again, even though Joya tried to be quiet about it. With a grunt he rolled over to look at her. She was peeking inside as if debating whether to come fully into the room. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a knot, but little wisps fell against her shoulders.
“You are awake.” She smiled big and rushed to the bed, plopping down beside him. “You have a visitor and he was quite insistent about speaking with you.”
“Hmm… You do not know who it is?”
She shook her head, brushing a tendril behind her ear then placing her hand upon his. “He is a young man, dark. He seems unhappy, especially when Hamilton made him turn over his dagger before he allowed him inside.”
Viktor sat up quickly, shaking his fingers through his hair. “He has a knife? I may know who he is then.”
“Is there trouble? What should I do?” There was worry in her voice. Never once in their relationship had they ever had “trouble” in their home. Still, Joya knew his story, knew about Aoi. There was worry in her eyes and he knew she was sensing something wrong in him right now. He kissed her forehead.
“Cherie, don’t worry. Give me a moment to dress and I will be right down to greet our visitor.”
Dressed in clean clothes, Viktor hurried down the stairs to the first floor and met Hamilton at the foot of the stairs. He glanced at the door to the formal living area when he heard Joya’s laugh.
“Will there be trouble, sir?” Hamilton asked, bringing his attention back to his servant.
“What makes you ask?”
Hamilton was an older fellow of about seventy or so. Tall and so thin that the bones in his cheeks and jaw jutted under the skin and gave him a skeletal look. He always thought there was more to the man than he knew about, but Hamilton was an excellent employee. The man did his job, didn’t ask questions he shouldn’t and Viktor trusted him implicitly.
“It is just an instinct, sir. I have an uneasy feeling about the young man.”
Viktor chuckled, “I understand you disarmed him. Thank you, Hamilton. Stay close, just in case. I’m sure madam has requested refreshments?”
“Madam carried in the pastries from last evening.”
His wife was an impeccable hostess. Viktor took a deep breath and entered the room to see the dhampir sitting on a settee across from Joya, who was perched upon an ottoman in the center of the room. She liked to sit in just that spot whenever they had guests. It allowed her to not only be the center of attention, but also to keep watch if any of their callers needed anything.
“Good afternoon.” Viktor spoke, drawing their attention. He was a tall man with a broad chest; even before the change he had taken great care to stay fit. Standing now in the doorway he was an imposing figure, glaring down at the young man. In his peripheral he saw Joya rise and come stand beside him.
The dark young man didn’t look exactly as he had the night before when he was dressed in a pressed shirt and blazer for the party. Today he wore jeans a t-shirt and a black leather jacket. Viktor wondered why Hamilton hadn’t taken his jacket, but upon closer examination he figured the fellow wouldn’t have parted with it. The clothes looked like they were part of him.
“What were you doing at that party?” The visitor demanded, rising from his seat and standing with his legs apart.
Viktor laughed, but not in humor. He did it to throw the young man off balance. The dhampir’s expression didn’t change, but that was when it occurred to Viktor that he was already off balance. His nervousness was evident in the way one of his hands twitched over and over. After a moment Viktor realized it was his knife-hand; the man was missing his dagger.
“I was there to make a purchase.” Viktor said on impulse. “My wife and I like to enjoy a bit of sport you know.”
Joya sucked in a breath and he immediately regretted the ploy. He cared for his wife and had no intention of demeaning her or her sexual activities. She tensed against his side and he caressed her shoulder to ease her.
“You’re lying, old man. I already nabbed the broker and he went through his records. You weren’t one of the buyers. Try again.”
“Why don’t you try again, dhampir. What are you about?”
The man held his fierce gaze a moment, then dropped his eyes, raked his hand through his hair and murmured an expletive. He looked back up and fixed his jaw a moment before speaking again. “You’re not a centuries old vampire named Francois are you?”
“No, I’m not. But I knew him.”
“I knew she was wrong.” The dhampir muttered, looking sheepish as he sat back on his rear end with a plop.
“Would you be so kind as to tell me your name?” Viktor asked slowly, taking Joya’s hand and tugging her along to sit beside him and across from the young man.
The man hesitated, chewing his tongue a moment. “Name’s Nicholas. Nicholas Craig. You can call me Nicky.”
“Craig? You aren’t related to Darlene Craig?”
Nicky sniffed, looked away a second then brought his eyes back to Viktor’s. “My mother.”
And that was when the floor rose up, threatening to suck Viktor into a hole. He felt Joya clenching his hand, but all he could remember was Aoi.
~oOo~
Viktor’s head lay against Aoi’s chest, just above her breast. Both of them were spent from lovemaking, but although it was daytime and he felt the urge to sleep, he needed to get answers to his questions.
“I don’t remember, Aoi. I don’t’ remember how I got this way or how you came to be with me.”
She stiffened and inhaled a breath. He maneuvered so that he could look up into her face, still gorgeous even when frowning. “I wiped your memory. The change can be a horrible thing, my handsome. I didn’t want you to suffer that.”
“It doesn’t matter. I need to know. I need to understand.”
Her eyes glistened with emotion and she looked up at the ceiling, a wrinkle of worry increasing at a spot between her eyebrows. “You were
different, Viktor. You are different.”
His frustration bubbled to the surface and he surged up to a sitting position, glaring down at her with demanding eyes. “You’ve said that before. What does that mean?”
“She was just a human, my handsome. You were just a human before he changed you. I shouldn’t have cared, but when I saw you… I did. He wanted you to feed from her. I think he wanted you to suck her dry, but I watched you fight. You struggled against the dark thing that overcomes so many vampires. You wouldn’t kill her. You wouldn’t abuse her. Darlene Craig was a fortunate woman that night.”
“Darlene Craig? I don’t remember.” He was no longer just frustrated with Aoi. He was exasperated with his stolen memories, with the tremor of recollection that tweaked his mind but wouldn’t let him recall the event completely.
“She was your first feeding. Francois brought her to you after he changed you.”
“Oh my god, Aoi. Are you telling me Francois did this to me? He made me this?”
And then it all came to him. He was in New Orleans on business, meeting with a foundation interested in financing his research. He was passing through his hotel, late and barely aware of his surroundings when he bumped into Francois. They were college chums and he remembered how surprised he was to find his old friend so unchanged despite the years since they’d last seen one another.
“We had drinks that evening,” Viktor muttered, his eyes glazing over with a far way look. “I got drunk. Very drunk.”
“You were likely also taken by the reverie. I do not know why he wanted to make you as himself, my handsome. Most vampires enter the change voluntarily. It is their nature to seek the darkness. You were different.”
He was tired of hearing her say that phrase. Before he could stop himself, he told her so and she flinched as if he struck her.
Viktor swung his legs over the side of the bed and planted his feet apart on the cold floor. He dropped his face into his hands and leaned against his elbows, torn. “I remember the pain. I thought I was dying. I thought I had been poisoned and I told him so. He laughed. He told me to toughen up, that it wasn’t as bad as all of that and that the world his gift would open up to me was worth it. I didn’t understand. I couldn’t fathom what he was talking about.”
Aoi knelt behind him and leaned against his back, touching his neck, her fingers caressing in smooth motions. “I watched you. I was overhead and had other duties, but I saw you struggling with the change. I’ve seen it so many times.” Her voice became husky with emotion. “He left you there alone. I wanted to descend, to go to you but I could not. I had other orders.”
He nodded, raking his fingers through his hair over and over. “I remember her now. She was pretty, with blonde hair, but I thought it wasn’t natural. I knew she was probably a waitress by the name tag she wore. Darlene Craig. When he came back he dumped her there on the bed, awake but her eyes unseeing.”
“Yes, I saw it all. He hypnotized her to get here there. You didn’t react as he wanted. He taunted you about her blood. Your eyes… oh, your beautiful eyes were so horrified, so broken. But the need to feed overwhelmed you. You finally took from her.”
“I couldn’t resist it. I craved the blood in a way that consumed me. And when she responded, when she pressed herself against me… Oh, god….”
Aoi wrapped her arms fully around him and squeezed, enveloping him in her sweet scent, her warm touch. “It isn’t your fault, my handsome. The bite is as an aphrodisiac. It is to your credit that you didn’t drink her to death. Instead, you made love to her.”
“Love?” He growled, wrenching away from her, and walking to the far wall like a cornered animal. “She wasn’t even fully aware. I raped her and he watched. Francois watched me do it, encouraged me to take more and more from her.” Then his eyes widened and flashed with accusation. “You! You watched too. You were there.”
She raised her chin, defiance set in her lovely features. When she spoke it was with a vitriol he’d never heard from her before. “I make no apologies for that night, Viktor.”
He flinched when she said his given name for the first time. The revelations were changing everything for the both of them. He felt the end coming near and it tore at his heart. He wondered when he had fallen in love with her.
Her beautiful, long legs were curled up under her and she brushed her hand along her outer thigh before pulling the blanket up to her chin to cover herself. “You may condemn me for my actions, but what I did saved you. And what I saw in you that night is the reason I chose to do so.”
“What did you see?” He murmured low, though his words were thick with emotion.
She smiled sadly and dropped the cover, crawling to the edge of the bed and reaching her hand out to him. He took a step forward, then after a moment another until he was standing before her. She rose up on her knees to place her hands on his shoulders and look into his eyes. “Your actions with that girl were not violent, were not vicious or cruel. I have seen those actions. I have seen a vampire rip away their host’s throat in the act of feeding. I have seen them ravage and pillage a body before sucking every drop of blood from it. You made a choice to defy the blackness of your change. And because of that Darlene Craig left this room with not a scratch on her.”
Viktor considered her words, tried to accept the things she said. Still the knowledge of his actions that night burned like acid, searing a hole in his being. The nastiness in Francois’s voice as he urged him to do unthinkable things to Darlene Craig screamed in his head.
“Francois?” He said the name in askance and he could see that Aoi understood.
“You remember he left with her?” He jerked his head up and down and she took a deep breath. “He intended to take from her and to kill her. I will not pretend I was being benevolent towards her. She’s just a human after all. But you, you were… well, I would not let him have you, my handsome. A sire has control of their child and eventually he would have made you what he was. I had no choice if I was to save you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he will never come for you. You are free of him and can find your way without his influence. You are a new creation, my handsome: a vampire who will not be controlled by the darkness. That is my gift to you.”
He closed his eyes and dropped his forehead to Aoi’s. She pulled him close and lured him down to the bed with her, dropping kisses along his neck and shoulder as they sank.
Nicholas Craig sat in stony silence as Viktor related the things he remembered about Francois Demaine and Darlene Craig. It wasn’t until he was finished giving the details that he realized Joya was stroking the back of his head, seeking to offer him comfort.
“So Francois is dead. I don’t know how she dispatched him. Never cared to ask honestly.”
“Son of a bitch…” the kid growled, his hands fisting into the cushions of the settee, “It’s you. You were the one.”
Viktor was disoriented. He didn’t like remembering those days, always tried to keep the pain of it at bay anytime it surfaced. When it did he did his best to exorcise the memories quickly so that he could get on with his life. Now they were lingering, eating at him and making him off balance.
“What do you mean, young man. Viktor is what one?” Joya asked, placing her other hand on Viktor’s arm, sensing somehow that he needed more contact.
“You’re the one. I never did understand how a centuries old vampire could impregnate a human. But it wasn’t the ‘nasty Frenchman’ Darlene remembered. It was you.”
“Ah!” Joya exclaimed, standing up, still touching him. “You are his son? Yes, yes, I see the resemblance. You have his eyes. Such striking eyes.”
“Son?” Viktor muttered, eyes flicking from Nicholas to Joya and back. “What are you talking about?”
“How old are you, Nicholas?” She pressed the dhampir.
“Twenty-eight.”
“You’re my son?” Viktor thundered, rising up to his feet. Nicky, the only one sitting at that poi
nt, stood as well, facing the older vampire with fierce eyes.
“It damn sure seems that way.” Then his face broke and he looked confused. “But it doesn’t make sense. Mere Owa said my father was a powerful vampire. You’re not old enough.”
~oOo~
Viktor started awake when Aoi lurched up in his arms, clutching her chest and gasping for air. He clasped her face, forcing her eyes to his. “Darling, what is it? What’s wrong?”
She shook her head, her fingers crawling up her chest to hold her throat. No sound, no air moved past her windpipe. Her face was blotchy red, then began to turn blue. All he could do was to hold her and beg her to breathe. Then her eyes rolled back in her head, her hands fell away from her neck and her body fell limp in his arms.
“Aoi, Aoi, Aoi… ” he continued the mantra, rocking her back and forth.
“She is not dead.” A deep voice came from behind him and he whirled around, still clutching his lover close to him. There was a glowing passageway in the center of the room. The arch was gold and a man stood just beyond, staring at them.
“What’s wrong with her?” Viktor demanded.
The man inside the doorway was stocky and massively built. His biceps and triceps bulged so that his arms stuck out on either side of his body in an awkward way. He probably had red hair judging by his pale eyebrows, but his skull was shaved clean. “The Women sent me to retrieve her. She has ignored their calls. It is time.”
“Time for what? What the hell is going on?”
The man cocked his head to the side as if listening to some sound that Viktor couldn’t hear. “We do not have much time.”
“I want to speak to her. Will she wake up?”
The frighteningly big man’s face softened to look like that of a child. He dropped his eyes to the ground and took a deep breath. “She will awaken soon. I can give you five minutes. Ten at the outside,” he offered, then flicked his hand in an upturn out in front of him. The glowing door shrank until it disappeared altogether.
The Bend-Bite-Shift Box Set Page 54