“Just keep an eye on the battery, and you’ll be fine.” His leman turned her head slightly, still unwilling to look directly at him. Yet his position—perched upon a settee in the suite’s sitting room, watching as she tapped at the ‘laptop’ on a coffee table set at their knees—seemed to ameliorate some of her fear. “How old are you really, anyway? Can I ask?”
It just does what you tell it, she said, as if such a servant were not a marvel unthinkable for most of mortal history.Where on earth are we right now?Casual questions, peppering her lesson. He let her draw out details, enjoying the game.How did you follow me? What is that invisible-seal thing?
“Very old, I think, even before the fire.” He examined the text upon the screen; letters had been streamlined and spelling strangely altered, but thankfully his literacy had not been wholly impaired even by the madness. Now he better understood the appeal of the bright flat faces.Electronic, wireless, streaming, data—wonderful concepts, words new-coined or repurposed, vast new sweeps of possibility. He had missed a great deal as he wandered, raving, in a backwater. “You may ask what you like, my leman. Always.”
“So you just… wandered around hunting people?”
“I avoided notice, fed when necessary, punished trespassers in my territory. The fledgling you dispatched, for example—I was already tracking him.” Difficult to keep his tone even, neutral, for a leman was never to suffer combat. It was incredible, unthinkable, a violation of the natural order. She could have been rendered not merely ill-nourished and nervous but outright damaged by a fledgling drunk upon her scent or—more likely—by simple mischance, unwanted mortal attention.
Or, worse, claimed by another as he roamed witless.
“He was a nasty piece of work. Killed whole families, and there was one victim in…” His leman shuddered, and closed the laptop with care. Then she rose, unfolding with sweet grace. “Never mind. Oh, hey, my bag.”
She had glanced at the canvas pouch as soon as he shepherded her into the sitting room, of course, but refrained from mentioning it. Now she hurried to the overstuffed blue-and-cream striped chair, scooped the satchel up with sweet grace, and turned to face him with a bright, wary approximation of a smile.
“It’s getting kind of late,” she continued. “I’ve got to find a place to sleep. So, you can take that shimmer-stuff off the door and I’ll be on my way.”
For a moment he thought he had misheard. Then, a sumptuous urge to smile swallowed him; she was entirely captivating. “There is an hour or two yet before dawn.” The temptation to carry her into the bedroom, spending that fragment of time in most enjoyable fashion, was pronounced.
“I know, but I’m busy, I’ve got places to be.” She settled the bag against her hip; its strap, diagonal across her chest, pulled the soft cotton shirt taut over her breasts. “I’m not doing any more bounties, you don’t have to worry about that. Just let me walk out the door and you’ll never see me again.”
Did she truly think he would let her go, or was she deliberately misunderstanding? “You are leman.Myleman. When dawn comes, you will sleep inside these seals.” There the matter lay, in all its starkness.
“Look, I’m real glad you’re better now, honest, and I’m sorry about trying to blow you up.” Quiet earnestness, tearstreaked face luminous, her slim form tense. “But you have to admit it was fair, considering what you… what you did.”
Fairness, the argument of prey. “You will sleephere.” He flickered upright, disliking the flash of fear in her so-expressive eyes, the way her mouth tightened, the nervous sidling step of retreat. “Tomorrow night we will go wherever you choose, and I will provide all you require or wish for.”
“You can’t just keep me here.” Her gaze darted for the door opposite the bedroom, and he could not repress a hard, delighted grin.
“I can, and I will, my darling. Go ahead, attempt escape.” He glided toward her, step by soundless step. “See what happens.”
“Why are youdoingthis?” A forlorn little cry. His leman retreated, herded toward the bedroom; if she broke and ran, the thrall—sleeping sated, yet ever ready to be roused—might be provoked.
“T’ survive. Cain’t do otherwise.”And to stay in your company some short while longer. A ghost of the accent she disliked so much crept in, despite his care; he caught it, could have bitten his own tongue with near-frustration. “I suggest acquiescence, but resist if you like. It all ends in the same place.” The thrall roused sleepily inside him, prickling-hot.
In the end she did not run, merely backed slowly into the bedroom… and slammed the door. He halted outside, listening intently. Scraping, a whispered curse as she dragged the one spindly chair, propping it under the knob as if she thought it would keep him at bay. Further stealthy sounds as she roamed the small space, yet she was too wise to approach the sealsorthe heavily curtained window.
A pity, that. But he could wait.
He had nothing but time, now.
CHAPTER 13
Pacing in a hotelbedroom until the usual, hateful lethargy of sunrise hit was awful. Even worse was waking up without a stitch on, tucked into the rumpled bed—how in the hell hadthathappened, she might not want to know—and being stared at by an ancient, wildly oversexed creature wearing only a black waffleweave thermal shirt.
The chair she’d used to brace the door was set at the bedside, and furthermore inhabited by said vampire.
Bright blue eyes, mouth tilted in a half-smile, the powerful old bloodsucker regarded her calmly; Simone swallowed an undignified squeak, jolting half-upright and clutching the covers to her chest.
Elbows braced on his bare knees, sleeves pushed up, his hair a gleaming-dark shock without the imprint of a hat, he looked a lot different than the skinny guy appearing out of thin air in her RV. Healthier, certainly—no longer so gaunt, his shoulders filled out and his cheeks high-planed instead of hollow. More than that, though, he lookedawake, and terribly intent.
Completely, utterly focused. She’d never been stared at like this. Had he been watching hersleep, for God’s sake? “What are you doing?”
At least her voice didn’t break on the last word. But it wasdamnclose.
“Enjoying the view.” His gaze dropped, leisurely, appreciative almost to the point of ogling. “You must have been lovely even as a mortal. No doubt many pursued you, men and women both.”
Her cheeks scorched as she made sure the blankets were pulled high; now she knew beyond doubt a vampire could blush. “Not so much,” she muttered.Just another middle-aged divorcée, really.
