When he leaned closer, I could smell his breath, an incongruous peppermint scent covering the tang of copper underneath.
Shit, that’s my blood I’m smelling,I thought, holding back a shudder.
“You might be thinking, sweet doll, that you could try to talk to the flight attendant, maybe the pilot. Tell them the sad story of your captivity,” James said, hands absently smoothing the throw over my lap. “You’re wearing a dress that’s worth more than your little apartment downtown.” Fingering the necklace he’d put on me, he chuckled. “Expensive jewelry, well-cared for. So you can see you don’t meet the average profile of someone who needs rescuing.” I moved my legs restlessly and his hands turned to concrete, holding my thighs tightly.
“I don’t tell you this because of my flight crew. They’d just smile at you and report to me immediately. I’m telling you because if we do happen to run across anyone else and you try to get help, I will kill them.” I stilled instantly, and his hands resumed their soothing motion. “I will tear them to pieces right in front of you. Are we clear?”
“That sounds like you’re taking a page out of Dad’s playbook, James.” I immediately regretted this statement, even though for fuck’s sake, the hypocrisy was so outrageous that I could practicallysmellit.
His mouth was next to my ear and he nipped at the lobe sharply before whispering, “I can promise you that no matter how much you hate being with me, you can’t imagine what my Sire would do to you.”
Not trusting my voice, I simply nodded.
“Good,” placing a kiss on my slack lips, James smiled. “Good girl. Why don’t you relax - these seats recline to a bed if you want to take a nap.”
Still wrapped in the luxurious red cashmere blanket, I watched him walk over to speak to the flight attendant. He smiled down at her and I think I could hear her ovaries explode from here. I’ve seen him as a bloodsucker for so long that it’s startling to see his charming side again, the face he wore at the agency. After a short conversation that involved much eyelash fluttering on her part, he turned, seating himself next to me and opening his laptop.
“Sheila will be bringing you a drink and something to eat, I noticed you didn’t finish breakfast at the house.”
Still remembering his casual threat to tear people apart, I swallowed, queasy and certainly not in the mood to snack.
Seriously, again?I thought sourly,What did James have against nature? I was out of the jet and into a BMW SUV with heavily tinted windows before I could even get a gulp of the new air. He didn’t bother to tell me where he was taking me, of course, but the flight was short, less than an hour, and watching out the window showed me the jet was following the Pacific coastline.
Oregon, then, I deduced.Now where?
As he turned the SUV in the direction of a steep mountain range near the airport, he finally spoke.
“You’re right that it’s no longer safe for you in Seattle,” his eyes were still on the road, but with that statement, James certainly had my attention. “I have to make sure you’re safe while I’m looking for Volkov.”
A warm feeling spread through my chest; he was actually worried about me? The feeling was crushed abruptly. “I can’t risk Volkov using you against me.” Even knowing it would cost me, I opened my mouth to snarl something insulting, but James continued. “Gisane Laurent, if Volkov is involved with her, this is much, much worse.”
Shifting in my seat to look at him, I asked “Who is she?”
“I remembered her after Miles said her name. She is the truth behind the stories about Elizabeth Báthory, the-”
“The Blood Countess?” I gasped, “That shit is real? Bathing in her victim’s blood?”
“She was a devotee of Laurent’s,” he said. “She learned everything she knew from the monster. Laurent took advantage of her massive wealth and had hundreds of victims taken for her by Báthory’s guards. He told her that if she bathed in the blood of her victims, she would retain her youth and beauty.”
I looked out the window for a moment, concentrating on the deep green of the forest to keep from gagging. “So, the legends were true.”
“Not really,” James shrugged, “Laurent must have fed her small amounts of his own, undead blood. It would have made her younger and more beautiful, at least for a short amount of time.” He ran a finger over his full lips. “I didn’t think the monster was real until he said her name.”
Leaning forward, I turned up the heat. I wasn’t sure it would help the chills sinking through my skin but it was better than nothing. I realized that James had met the lunatic bloodsucker during the blank period in his memory I’d had yet to read on his skin.
After driving high enough up in the mountain that my ears were popping, he pulled the SUV over. I could hear the faint pings from the engine in the silence between us, but I wasn’t going to be the one to break it. He idly stroked my thigh.
“You’ll be staying with a close friend of mine, and my star client.” His fingers tightened, just a fraction. Enough for me to pay decisive attention. “You might think, once you get comfortable, that you might share our rel-” James paused for a moment, and I blinked. I’d never seen him hesitate before.
“That you might share our arrangement. It wouldn’t bother Steve, he knows everything. But Aura is still fragile. She only knows that you’re in danger and you’re here for a safe place. If you try to tell her anything different. If you try to leave….”
“I won’t.” I remembered the stories about Aura. The stalker. How he nearly drove her insane and then almost killed her. “She’s been through enough. I would never make her life harder.” When I turned to look at him, he seemed, what, surprised, maybe?
“Good girl,” he said finally, starting the car again.
“Welcome, Meghan!”
I forced a smile at Aura. She was hurrying up the stone path to us, beaming at me and James, who was towering over me as usual. I recognized her immediately from the picture on her book cover, but she was much prettier in real life. And the man following Aura was - good lord he was like the Paul fucking Bunyan of vampires. I knew right awaywhathe was. After weeks of living with James, of course, I know when I see a bloodsucker. I knew down to a cellular level when I was in the presence of one of the monsters.
