Woodmore turned on her, his face dark and angry. “This is not your concern, Angelica. Get back.” He turned back to Voss. “What is it with my sisters pleading for your miserable life?”
Very aware of the point being made into his breastbone, Voss merely looked up at his opponent. Boldly. Waiting. He tried to force his lips into the familiar smirk, but couldn’t manage more than a twitch. Yet the feel of wood driving into his skin was hardly more than an annoyance in comparison to the pulsing of his Mark, and the terrible weakness from the hyssop.
It would be a relief when Woodmore shoved it through.
“Chas,” Angelica said, pulling at his arm. “Leave him be. He saved me from Moldavi.”
“With…the help of your…clever smoke explosions,” Voss said, trying not to sound too breathless and weak. He failed miserably. Glancing at Angelica, he managed to add, “That was how…your brother…nearly killed me once before. Took me…by surprise.”
Woodmore responded to Angelica as if Voss hadn’t spoken. “He might have saved you from Moldavi, but it appears no one saved you fromhim.”
“Chas, no. Please. He did nothing.” Her voice sounded calm and steady, but her eyes were filled with fear.
Voss could do little but lie recumbent and try to ignore the bloodscent from Angelica that still lingered in the air. The essence was long gone from his tongue, and his fangs had slid back into place. Even his raging erection had eased. But the Mark still writhed and burned white agony through him.
“You cannot callthisnothing,” Woodmore snapped, gesturing to her bloodied lip and the sagging neckline of her robe. “This is a world you do not understand, and a man who is no longer a man…He hasn’t a conscience, Angelica. None of them do. They live only for themselves, for their moment of pleasure. They do nothing buttake.”
“And yet you love one of them yourself. You’re one to talk,” she responded.
Woodmore blanched as if slapped, then acknowledgment flared in his eyes. “You don’t understand. And I’m not about to let you?—”
“It’s too late, Chas. I—I love him,” Angelica said. Her voice was still calm, but sad.
“Then all the more reason for me to rid you of him,” Chas said. And pushed the point harder. It had gone through flesh and muscle. Blood pooled enough that it ran down the side of Voss’s torso onto the bedding. One sharp thrust and it would go through his sternum and into the heart.
“Do it,” Voss managed to say.
Their eyes met, his and Woodmore’s. He dared not look at Angelica. He just wanted the torture to end.
And he could never really haveher.Not without fear in her eyes. Not without having to battle the pain and agony and the devil on his back. Not without hyssop and his betrayal and her blood between them.
Suddenly he remembered the blond woman. The voice in his head.Are you yet ready?
Another excruciating wave sliced through him, and his fingers and toes curled against it.Just end it. I’m letting her go. I haven’t taken her. Isn’t that enough?
“Chas,” whispered Angelica. “I willneverforgive you. Please…take me away. Let’s go. Leave him here. Please.” Shegestured to the sun blazing through the thin curtains. “He can’t follow us.”
“You’ll never see him again,” Woodmore said, lifting the stake a bit, turning to look at her. It was the first time his voice and expression had softened since he entered the room. “I won’t allow it. Get any thought of it out of your head.”
Angelica didn’t look at Voss. “It’s gone. Please. Take me home.”
Woodmore turned back to Voss one last time. “I’m doing it for her, not for you.”
“If you were doing it for me,” Voss managed with every bit of strength he had, “you’d finish it.”
“Damn you to hell, Voss,” Woodmore said, taking Angelica by the arm and starting toward the splintered doorway.
Already done, Woodmore. Already done.
16
THE ORDEAL
Voss didn’t know how long he lay on the bloodstained, Angelica-scented bed after they left. Hazy, dimmed beams of sunlight still streamed through the windows. A gentle breeze ruffled the curtains.
Damned Parisian summer day.
At least Moldavi wouldn’t be out, searching for them. Woodmore and Angelica would be safe.
