“Shit, shit, shit,” she cursed over and over, scrambling awkwardly to get to her feet again.
The grass under her hands, rear, and feet was slippery and wet, uncomfortably soaking through the material of her skirt as she kicked off her shoes and brought herself to stand. Samantha’s eyes were wide and she still appeared to be recovering from the shock of their interruption as Raina hurried over to her.
“Quick, come with me!” Raina said, taking her by the hand and pulling her to her feet.
“What … wait, hang on!”
“No time! Get inside!” Raina cried, practically dragging her over to the opened back door that Sophie was holding open. “Where’s my sword?”
Sophie already had the sheathed weapon with her, and she handed it off to Raina before leading the rush back indoors. Thomas was standing in the kitchen with a confused, alert, but not yet panicked look upon his face as he glanced around the kitchen in search of something. He suddenly saw the block of cutlery, lunged for it, and yanked out a large butcher knife, holding it up as he turned to Raina with a nod to say that he was ready.
“You, watch the front door,” she said to him, then turned to Sophie, who was also reaching for a knife from the same block. “You, watch the back. Sam, you hide in the closet, and I’ll…”
“It’s Dominic!” Samantha cried. “Everyone, relax! It’s just my brother!”
Everyone froze and looked to Samantha, who was hopping about on one foot to remove her other shoe after having lost her first one in the initial rush. She wasn’t tugging her wrist away from Raina’s grasp, but she was holding steadfastly to her position on the tiled floor.
“It’s okay. I know the sound of his car. He was due to come home soon, anyway,” Sam reassured them with a softer voice, though her eyes were still wide with lingering fright. Raina let go of her wrist and she chuckled softly as she looked to her. “It’s okay. I appreciate it, but really … it’s just my brother.”
Everyone seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief in unison. Sophie poked the knife back in that she had already drawn out halfway from the block. Thomas switched his grip upon the butcher knife he held, jokingly pretended to stab an invisible attacker a couple of times as he made a wild face, and then he returned the knife to the block as well. Raina looked down and saw that her left foot was smeared with a bit of mud and little bits of cut grass were sticking wetly to her legs and skirt. Of course, now her skin was glowing brightly from her rush of adrenaline.
“Great,” she grumbled, “now I look like I just crawled out of a grave.”
“Here, let me help you with that,” Sophie offered, taking Raina by the hand and beginning to direct her to the hallway and, presumably, the master bedroom.
Raina reluctantly released Samantha’s hand, giving her a concerned look. Samantha tried to reassure her with a relaxed smile, but Raina dug in the heels of her bare feet a bit and slowed Sophie’s lead for just a moment.
“Stay with her, okay?” she told Thomas. “Keep a weapon handy, just in case.”
She saw him nod in acknowledgement just before he was out of sight as she rounded the corner into the hallway. The carpet was very pleasantly soft under her bare feet, and it felt much newer than it surely was, having been extremely well cared-for like everything else in the Schwarz home. Raina worried about tracking bits of grass or smearing mud upon that lovely carpet, but there simply wasn’t time for such concerns at the moment.
Sophie grabbed Raina’s suitcase, threw it upon the king-sized bed and opened it to help her find something. Raina politely intervened, however, before Sophie could manage to start digging through her belongings. The airport security personnel had thoroughly jumbled her things about into a wrinkled, wadded-up mess, and she somehow felt odd about allowing Sophie (or anyone else) to paw through her things. She didn’t have anything quite as embarrassing in her suitcase as Sophie, herself, had brought along. Still … underwear was a sacred thing.
She opted for something similarly casual to what she was already wearing, simply a different and slightly longer plain black skirt. The one she was wearing really wasn’t that bad at all, and it wasn’t even smeared with mud. She just didn’t want to go introducing herself to Samantha’s surviving family in a filthy state, nor did she enjoy wearing damp clothes. She shed her stockings and Sophie immediately began to wash them in the marble-surfaced bathroom sink while Raina slipped out of her skirt. Sophie’s eyes were taking in the sight of her with undisguised interest as she looked at Raina’s reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror over the sink.
Ignoring Sophie’s stare, Raina said, “Thank you for that out there, by the way.”
“I’m sorry?” Sophie seemed to be snapping out of a daydream.
“For staying on your toes and keeping watch,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Oh … oh, it’s nothing. Just doing as you asked.”
She appeared to be forcing herself not to look at Raina, now, as she directed her stare awkwardly down to the sink basin. Her eyes soon drifted up again, though, and more than once as Raina was stepping into the clean skirt and zipping up the back. Even from where she stood, several feet away, she could very clearly sense Sophie’s desire. It was much stronger now than she recalled having felt in the past, but it seemed odd given the situation. Sophie had seen her in far less, and in a far more intimate situation than this, and yet her reaction wasn’t nearly as obvious. It was the first time she had sensed this from someone else while also knowing immediately what was causing it.
“When’s the last time you fed?” Raina asked her.
Sophie turned off the water faucet and gave her an odd look in the mirror. “We just ate not too long ago.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m talking about blood,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you feed since we left … or even before we left. I can tell you’re running a little bit on edge right now.”
“Oh, I’m … I’m fine, really. Just a little tired. I didn’t sleep very well last night,” Sophie tried to explain dismissively as she wrung out the stockings. She smiled. “There were an awful lot of distractions last night and this morning, of course.”
Raina straightened her blouse a bit and checked her appearance in the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. “You mean to tell me that after this long, and after letting me feed from you, you’re not feeling any … you know … urges?”
“Like what?” she replied after a bit of hesitation.
She turned around to face Sophie directly with her hands upon her hips. “Don’t be coy. I know what you’re feeling. You’re getting pretty close to the edge of bloodlust.”
“I am?” She blinked at Raina with a surprised look for a moment. “But … I feel fine.”
“Do me a favor,” Raina said as she approached, standing face-to-face with her, “and just be perfectly straight and serious with me on this. I’m not going to ask you this to be funny or to flirt with you. This is a serious question, okay?”
She was clearly baffled, but she nodded anyway as she replied, “Okay.”
“Are you horny right now?”
Sophie’s eyes twinkled a bit and she seemed utterly stunned as she stammered, “Is this … are you … I mean … are we going to…?”
“Damn it, Sophie, I’m serious. Just answer the question, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Are you, or aren’t you?”
“Oh, absolutely, your grace!” she answered readily. “Ever since we left London, I’ve been feeling this terrible need … and even before that, really. Really, I can’t stop thinking about it, and … well, it just keeps getting worse, I’m afraid.” Sophie moved close and placed her hands upon Raina’s waist. “Seeing you a moment ago out there … well, I really hated to intrude. I would have loved to have watched.” Her eyelids grew heavy as she moved her face closer. “May I kiss you?”
“No.” Raina pushed her away firmly and held her at arms’ length. “No, you may not.”
&nb
sp; Sophie’s face went from amorous to saddened and desperate as she grabbed Raina’s wrists gently. “Please? Just once? It’s only a kiss.”
“You’re on the edge of bloodlust, Sophie. Even if you really do mean that you only want a kiss, you won’t stop there. I know exactly what it’s like,” Raina explained. “Didn’t you see me last night? Didn’t you think what I was doing was a little strange? I’m never like that. I’m not someone that just does it with people on a whim.”
“You wanted Thomas, though. It’s okay. Everyone knew it. We all saw how you both looked at each other…”
“Yeah, and I saw the way you looked at him, too. In fact, I saw the way you were touching him last night, as well,” she added.
“I was drunk.”
“So?”
“You’re not sore about that, are you? We didn’t do anything, I swear,” she insisted, holding up her hands innocently.
“And why not?” Raina demanded.
She hesitated. Just barely, they both could hear the sound of the front door of the house closing, and the muffled sound of conversation that included a different man’s voice, very deep and bold in tone – presumably Dominic.
“Well … I already told you why, didn’t I?” Sophie offered.
“Maybe you did. Refresh my memory.”
“He says … he says that I’m too young,” she confessed, looking away. “I know that’s not it, but … that’s what he said. That’s what everyone says, really.”
Raina gaped at her. “What do you mean ‘everyone?’ Who else?”
“Thomas, Duchess Serenity, her consorts, Svetlana … everyone! I don’t know why everyone is treating me like I’m a bloody child!” Sophie explained, looking and sounding genuinely hurt. “I don’t know why people have to keep using that as an excuse. Why can’t someone just be honest with me? Why can’t someone just come right out and say it’s because I’m ugly?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Sophie. You’re not ugly.”
“Then why does everyone keep using my age as an excuse?”
“Not everyone,” Raina insisted gently. “I know you’ve been with someone in the House of Fallamhain at some point. Right?”
She shrugged. “Thomas and I did it once, but … even he started to use that excuse, too.”
“What about … Ethan?”
“Ethan was gay, actually. He didn’t fancy girls. Well … except for Auntie O, and I think he only did it with her so he wouldn’t look gay. And I think he had a bit of a crush on Thomas, too.” Sophie looked away and let out a sigh. “I wish people would just be honest and say what it is they don’t like about me.”
She felt a pang of guilt for that, as one of the reasons that Raina had declined Sophie’s advances was because she simply felt that Sophie acted too immaturely, that she didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of being with someone almost a full generation younger than herself. She had assumed at the time, however, that Sophie had never been one to be left wanting for close company, as she really was a beautiful, kind, and sweet girl. Raina would have never guessed that her own excuse for not wanting to be with Sophie was a perception shared by others – apparently including nearly everyone in the House of Fallamhain. Unless, of course, it was more than just a matter of personal perception…
“Sophie?” Raina let her hands fall to her sides and tilted her head slightly. “Exactly how old are you?”
Sophie began to meet Raina’s gaze but abruptly decided against it, continuing to look aside as she replied, “Twenty-one.”
Raina narrowed her eyes at her. “Sophie?”
“Yes?”
“Look at me.” Reluctantly, Sophie complied. “You’re lying. I can feel it.”
There was fear in Sophie’s eyes now. “But … I’m not!”
“You are. I could sense a lie in someone like Duchess Serenity. What makes you think I can’t sense when you’re trying to feed me a lie, too?” Raina pressed. “Besides, your body language is enough to make it obvious.”
Sophie’s fear deepend as she asked, “Can you promise me that you won’t get mad?”
“I’m only going to get mad if you don’t tell me,” she replied immediately. Still, the Commoner hesitated. “Don’t make me play the bitch card on you, Sophie. I don’t want to be like that with you. Just tell me.”
“But … I made a promise! Duvessa made me swear I’d never tell!” she protested.
Perhaps it was the almost childish tone of her voice or her choice of words that struck Raina. Maybe it was the degree of her reluctance to confess what should have been a simple fact. Or it was also possible that the fear she sensed from Sophie was the most convincing detail. Whatever the case, Raina was inclined to believe, as everyone else apparently did, that the cute, petite blonde was not at all the twenty-something that she and Olivia had been pretending that she was.
Raina moved closer to Sophie again, and not at all in a seductive or intimate way. She was deliberately trying to intimidate the truth out of her with her mere presence. There was no need to draw a sword or bare her fangs to impress her will upon Sophie. She didn’t need to be taller, nor did she have to touch her or even raise her voice. Of course, it probably helped that she had made an example out of Duchess Serenity not long ago, as far as her tolerance for dishonesty was concerned. Sophie had been there and witnessed Serenity’s near-death experience at Raina’s hands. Surely, that had made an impression upon her. Raina didn’t want to rule by terrorizing her companions and associates, but she was beginning to respect the fact that fear was a powerful and sometimes necessary tool in her role as Grand Duchess.
And so, Sophie confessed her age. That, alone, was something of a bombshell for Raina. And what made that bombshell of a confession into something of the thermonuclear variety were the additional admissions she made in a near-whisper, as though the very ghost of Duvessa might appear at any moment to strike her down. Her tale was brief, graphic, and disturbing.
“Sophie … my God,” Raina breathed with wide eyes as she looked away.
“Please,” Sophie begged in a whisper with silent tears streaming down her cheeks, “please, don’t tell. Please don’t let anyone know. I swore to Duvessa I would never tell, and…”
“Duvessa is dead,” she reminded her softly. “She can’t do anything to you now.”
“But … she made me swear on my life that I’d never tell. And if anyone knows that I’ve told you … and if anyone knows about what I did…”
“Sophie,” Raina said, gently taking the young Commoner’s face in her hands to meet her eyes squarely, “I’m glad that you told me. You should never have been asked to keep something like that a secret. What was done to you was bad enough, but for anyone to expect you to keep something like that a secret … that’s just horrible.”
Sophie looked at her with misty eyes. “But … you’re not going to tell, are you? I mean … we can keep this between the two of us … right?”
Raina stepped away, rubbing her temples. The stress headache that had begun earlier and then faded had returned once again in full force. Any other time, she would have either flown into a rage and stormed out of there to act upon what she’d heard, or she would have simply broken down and clung to Sophie, sharing her tears. However, the past few days had brought so many shocking revelations and so many sights of horror that she had finally reached the limit of her sane capacity for fresh emotional traumas. Aside from her headache, she was completely numb.
It wasn’t that Raina didn’t care – far from it, really – but she simply could not bring herself to react with anything but shock. In a way, she hoped that this numbness was only temporary. She wanted to react, really. Something like that warranted a sympathetic response. What she had heard from the likes of Sophie should have made her a blubbering, sobbing mess of tears … or, barring that, it should have made her want to seek someone out immediately, thrust her sword into their heart, and shred their jugular with her fangs. Maybe, in time, she would be able to do either or both of
those things, or perhaps she would react in some other way. But for now, she simply had nothing left. Just as when Svetlana had made her own confession to her, it had taken Raina some time to decompress and to finally let go. She could only hope that Sophie would understand.
“You think less of me now,” Sophie said sadly, “don’t you?”
“I don’t know what to say. I really don’t, Sophie,” Raina finally told her. “This is heavy stuff. I’ve got a thousand things going through my head right now, so I can’t even begin to tell you how I really feel about this.”
“You’re not going to, um … do anything … are you?” Sophie asked worriedly. “I’ll understand if you do, but…”
“It would be worse for me to let this go than it would be for me to act upon it.” She turned toward her with a heavy sigh. “But right now … I just need some time to think. I don’t know what else to say. I can’t do anything about it right now, even if I did know what I was going to do. I just … I just need time to think, that’s all. I can’t honestly say anything beyond that.”
“So, you’ll keep this between us, then … won’t you? Nobody else needs to know, right?” Sophie asked hopefully.
Raina looked at her for a moment before closing her eyes and nodding. “For now, yes, I think that would be best.”
“For now?”
“Yes, for now, until I decide what I’m going to do about this,” she confirmed, “and whether or not I want to get the IVC involved.”
Sophie blinked at her with those pretty blue-green eyes of hers as she wiped away her tears, leaving messy smears. She cleared her throat and finally replied, “I would feel better if … if it was just you and me.”
The Darkest Colors- Exsanguinations Page 49