by Shirl Anders
Beth dreamt about Trinity. When she woke, nearly all she could think about was him, his blood, then him again … until she wanted to pound the bed covers in teary frustration.
"Beth?"
She turned her head against the pillow and saw Adam quietly entering the room. "Say that he is here!" she exclaimed. "Come to see me."
"Who, Beth?" Adam asked, walking to the side of her bed.
"Lord Trinity," she explained in a strident whisper.
"Oh no, Beth, of course that Trinity Blacknall, whose title I learned is Marquis Montrose, is not here." Adam raised his hand to her temple. "You look feverish."
She tried to rise and Adam's bandaged hand moved quickly to her shoulder to press her back. "I must see him." She continued to press upward.
"I know you're in pain, sweetheart," Adam began.
"No, no," she said. "No pain at all." She tried to rise again.
"You must stay still." Adam's tone was firm as he pressed back against her wish to rise. "Doctor Latham spoke of no fever," he muttered.
"When was the doctor here?" Beth asked, wondering where Lord Trinity might be. Surely, he would return to see her. Wouldn't he? He had to.
"Within the hour, Beth. Don't you remember?" Adam asked with concern. "He bandaged my finger and came right in to see you for a good twenty strokes."
Beth's eyes filled with tears as she looked up at Adam. "He did?" she barely whispered. How could she not remember it?
"It's all right," Adam soothed. "You've been through so much, too much. It's no wonder some things seem vague."
"I need to see him," she whimpered, and her gaze rose to Adam's eyes, pleading with him.
Adam's returning gaze looked furrowed with worry as he hushed her, saying, "You need sleep, sweetheart. Just get some more sleep."
Beth trusted her brother above anyone and for him she struggled against the intense fascination she felt to see Trinity again. "All right, Adam." She gave in and she felt him lean forward to hear her as she closed her eyes with tears drying on her cheeks.
Still, as soon as the door clicked shut behind Adam, Beth opened her eyes again. She moved to sit in the bed, leaning back against the pillows as she pressed her hands together in her lap. Someone had put her dressing gown on and pulled her hair back into a braid. Yet, the last she remembered was lying in bed, naked beneath the covers, while only one of Trinity's firm hands held her down.
Was it infatuation? Was that the strange feeling she had to see him again? She'd never been in love. She'd thought herself slightly attracted to Lord Bellingham once, yet nothing close to the feelings churning inside her now. She was nearly embarrassed she could be so overturned.
"He is handsome," she muttered, twisting her fingers together. "And dangerous."
Thinking of Trinity made her body ache in places she'd never known could ache with such temptation. But he knew. Lord Trinity knew about where women ached with desire. He'd been attracted to her. She felt it, or confused, she wondered if she'd seen it, when she'd … Oh lord, when she …
"Drank his blood," she hissed. She shivered with goose bumps flooding her skin and her fingers grasped the bed linens on either side of her. She realized she knew from swallowing his blood, she knew … "He's a …" She gulped. "He's a vampire."
Beth's squeezed her eyes shut. Since she'd tasted Trinity's blood, she had impressions of things: craving the taste of blood, living in coldness, and unrelenting power. She knew through the effects of his blood, flowing through her, that he'd had a violent past. One that troubled him deeply and which drove him now. She knew he loved his brothers with feelings that were overpowering.
"He fights the greatest temptations with ironclad willpower every second of every day," she whispered, her fingers curling and uncurling in tension.
Trinity was not really a man. He was a lethal copy that looked like the perfect reflection of a man, but he fed on human blood to stay alive.
"And last night he saved my life," she said seriously as she moved to get out of bed. She knew, if she could see her back, she'd find the wound was healed and the stitches were already gone. "Because of Trinity's blood."
She walked across the room to the drapes covering the glass-paned doors that led out onto a vast, stone courtyard at the back of the mansion. She pulled the heavy draping aside enough to see the sunlight. It was still daylight out and she was glad because she had some intuition that nightfall would make her craving for Trinity's blood worsen.
She'd drunk the blood of a vampire … and now she was changed. It was unnerving and terrifying. Yet, even as it frightened her, she wanted to show as much strength of will as Trinity showed every minute of his life. He'd told her the way.
"Be stronger than your urges, maiden."
He expected no less of himself, and oh, how she wanted him to respect her. She looked out into the sunlight wondering if she would ever see him again. She thought not. He was a man not to be interested in the trite involvements of society where young girls dressed up to go to balls, trying to find husbands. His pursuits were about serious business, not the silliness she moved through of gossip, aspirations, and parties.
"Maiden, you want my blood, not me," she expelled the words Trinity had thrown at her.
He was right. Could she separate the two? Yesterday she'd been a carefree, silly girl, and today she'd woken to growing new understandings of life that more than surpassed the entire previous years of her life. Beyond her imagination. "But I'm still alive," she said fiercely, and she wasn't going to squander the gift of life she'd been given.
Adam came to visit her again later that afternoon. His handsome face looked very grim when he entered the room. She'd wanted to retire to her own rooms, but she didn't want anyone discovering she was healed … so quickly. Therefore, she sat in bed, because she was plagued by tiredness.
"Adam, what is it?" she asked without any preamble that others who weren't brothers and sisters might employ.
"Lady Ariel returned your letter unopened." He lifted the letter to her gaze as he moved to sit on the bed beside her.
Beth frowned, looking up at him with worry. She didn't reach for the letter he held toward her, as if she touched it would make its return real. "That isn't good, is it?" she confided softly.
She'd taken the task of writing a note to Ariel to call her to her side so they might sort through the events of last evening, and frankly, so she could do some inventive lying. She at least thought Ariel might wish to know about the health of her friend.
"No." Adam admitted to it not being a very good sign, and he set the letter on the bedside table. "What did you say in it?" he questioned, then he added, "Had she come this morning, I dare say your condition would have sent her packing in fear," he paused. "But you look much recovered now."
Besides the gnawing desire to taste Trinity's blood again, she was rather well, considering the ordeal she'd been through. She reached for and clasped Adam's hand so their hands sat together on the bed beside them. "Thank you so much." Tears gathered as she squeezed his hand and she willed them not to fall.
"I'm just glad I was there," he replied gruffly.
"I feel much better physically." She knew Adam would take up her meaning. She was undecided how much to share with him. However, her views on her brother hadn't changed after last night. In fact, certain aspects had become stronger. She wanted Adam to be able to go to the university unhindered, and everything that had happened was not moving him in that direction.
"I will not question you now, so close in your recovery, about what happened to you last night, Beth, but I expect us to speak about it as soon as you are able."
Beth played demure in front of him on the subject and she felt a stab of guilt. Nevertheless, if she explained everything that happened to her last night from her viewpoint, she'd only succeed in miring him deeper into her troubles.
"I don't remember most of it," she responded quickly to him, watching him raise his eyebrows in disbelief. "Just that we couldn't find Ariel, and I went out
into the gardens to look for her."
"You don't remember Lord Trinity Montrose, one of Duke Blacknall's brothers?" Adam asked tightly.
Beth quickly lowered her gaze. She despised lying to Adam. "I've heard of Duke Blacknall and his brothers, of course."
"But last night …"
"I feel weak," Beth interjected over his words, bringing a hand to her temple.
"Deuce," Adam swore, and she imagined he was chastising himself for pushing her. "Beth, lay down and get some rest," he said, rising from the bed. "I will get Spindle to bring you some soup to try for dinner."
"Thank you, Adam." She tried to appear weaker than she was as she scooted to lie down.
Adam stood looking down on her for a long moment. He said, "I only want you safe and happy."
He looked so troubled as he turned and left the room, it broke her heart. She wished the same thing for him: wanting him safe. The only avenue left for her was the one she'd concluded last night. She needed to write to finishing schools that very evening for a position and have them posted in the morning. She personally knew several dames of society who sat on the boards of well-named schools she could speak to in person.
Yet it would take her very far away from Trinity.
The thought leaped into her mind with an instant feeling of dread. She raised the heel of her palm to her temple, rubbing. "Go away!" she exclaimed to the thoughts. She rubbed more forcibly. "Leave me be!" She wouldn't think of him. She wouldn't. Surely, the attraction of having tasted his essence would fade eventually.
God, she prayed so.
Chapter Twelve