Aura seemed a little taken aback by my weak greeting, but her hand went up, thrusting uncomfortably at mine.
“Nice to meet you?”
I could feel the chill rolling off the two bloodsuckers bookending me, so I shook her hand with vigor.
“Um, thank you for having me. I’ve read every one of your books, I think I’ve readA Bad Ideaat least-” I broke off, embarrassed, but it was apparently just the right thing to say, because Aura beamed and James seemed to relax behind me. Just slightly.
“I always feel vaguely foolish for just mumbling, ‘thank you?’” the author said, “but, you know, thank you.”
There was the smallest spark of something in me to hear how pleasantly awkward this rich, famous woman was, so I smiled back with a little more warmth. And then the heavy hand of James landed on my shoulder. “Let’s go inside.” As the other two turned to lead the way, he leaned closer. “Remember what I’ve said. Be a good girl. You don’t want to disappoint me in front of my friends, do you?”
I bit back a snarl. “No. No, I don’t.”
Chapter 14: The Illustrated Woman
In which Meghan struggles to act like visiting another vampire lair with her undead captor is perfectly normal. Or else.
Meghan…
Following Aura down the hall, I rubbed one wrist and then the other. “This is a really nice place,” I said. It was actually an effort to remember how normal people spoke to each other. Nothing about my entrapment with James was normal.
“Thanks, but this is Steve’s place,” Aura opened a door, leading into a spacious guest room with a river rock fireplace and a curved log bed. Eyeing the rustic bed piled with quilts, I smothered a hysterical little giggle, trying to picture James, the GQ vampire who wore nothing but his expensive suits nestling down in this lumberjack paradise. She walked over to the window, pulling aside the heavy blackout curtains. “There’s a beautiful view of the lake from here,” she said, “the sun - not that we get much here - turns the surface of the water this silvery shade, it’s amazing.”
Shifting from foot to foot, I smiled and nodded. Did Aura not know what her boyfriend was? Did she not know her gigantic lumberjack-supermodel-looking guy was a bloodsucker?
Clearing my throat, I offered, “Uh, James says you two are both night owls?”
“Oh, yeah,” Aura chuckled, “I just got into the habit of working at night before I met Steve, so our schedules matched up perfectly.”
“How long have you been here?” I asked, “I work - uh, I used to work at James’ office and he never discussed you, but I know you’d moved from Seattle.”
Aura looked out at the moon, illuminated over the lake below. “Just a few months. At first, I thought Steve was the biggest asshole.” A shocked giggle came from me, and she chuckled, too. “But, he…” fiddling with the blackout curtains, she continued, “Steve saved me. There was- anyway, he’s saved my life. In more ways than one. So, I’m dragging myself out of my comfort zone and telling you all my personal stuff to trick you into opening up….” I offered up a painfully uncomfortable smile, remembering James’ implied threat. “Meghan, I just want you to know,” Aura continued, “that Steve and I will keep you safe. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I know you’re in the right place.”
Nodding my head, I tried to keep up my smile. She invited me - a complete stranger - into her home. But it felt horrible, like I was keeping things from her. Because she didn’t know what James was. As she smiled and left me alone, I realized I was blinking back tears. What? Why was I … Meghan. She called me Meghan. The first person to call me by name since James kidnapped me all those months ago.
Helping Aura make dinner, I looked out at the deck, where James and Steve were speaking in low, urgent tones. If his vamp daddy was as nuts as he thought, and he was running with a crazy bloodsucking bitch who’s been terrorizing mankind since before the French Revolution, then I was genuinely terrified. For myself, certainly. But a part of me was deeply worried for James. Trying to ignore that irritating part of my brain, I seated myself and grinned malevolently at the two bloodsuckers faking enthusiasm for human food when Aura cheerfully spoke up.
“Dig, in, you two! Meghan and I are halfway through our dinner already.”
When James said a fairly abrupt “goodnight!” to our hosts, I pretended I didn’t see them smother their amusement. I was barely inside the door of our room when my dress was suddenly off and I was flying onto the bed with a little yelp.
“I’m leaving soon,” he said, stripping off the suit that he was still wearing in the middle of the goddamn mountains. He watched a little smile flicker across my face and raised one perfect brow. “Yes, my sweet doll?”
I waved my hand vaguely, trying to sit up. “Your undead buddy is coated in plaid and you’re still in your Gucci suit. I guess rustic isn’t in your wardrobe, huh?”
Pulling off his sapphire silk tie and winding it between his hands, James grinned, using a dark tone that made me clamp my thighs together. “Mouthy little thing, aren’t you? You’ll pay for that.”
And I did, hands tied to that twisted log headboard and trying to grit my teeth against the moans the heartless son of a bitch was trying to drag out of me as he feasted from my wet, swollen center.
It was when my shaking fingers traced along James' rib cage and chest that I read what I already suspected.
"What?" he asked, his voice surprisingly calm.
"You know her. Laurent. I know you remembered that. That bitch-" my voice was suddenly venomous and I could barely contain my rage, "-thatbitchused you to draw victims into her country mansion. The place you called an aristocratic charnel house." My hand slid over his protruding hipbone. "That- that bloodsucking cunt had Volkov starve you. You'd fight others, tear them apart and it was considered highly entertaining for her little fucking clique. She'd have sex with you on top of dead bodies, lick the blood off of you."
His body was like stone, but James put my hand back on his chest. "Go on."
"The police or the army or something? They found out about her little concentration camp for humans and raided the place. You just barely escaped. She was furious you left her. She's been looking for you ever since, she and Volkov. She's hurt and angry you got away from her. She'shurt?"I hissed, "Your ex-girlfriend is a piece of work, James."
