Catch

Chapter Six

Naked, I knelt in a deep marble tub filled with a few inches of bloody water. Rurik had cut the last strap from my dress and we’d left the scraps on the bathroom floor. His skin had taken a waxy hue.

He refilled a large plastic cup from the tap and poured it over the lash wounds on my back again.

I hissed at the sting. “You need to feed.”

“That’s usually my line.” He refilled the cup. Since the injuries weren’t healing he wanted them clean. The effort to block some of my pain painted his face. “Maybe if you take some of my heart’s blood you’d mend.”

“No!” Twisting at the hip, I glared at him. I didn’t have a clue what he was offering but I wouldn’t take anything more until he fed. “Gwen?” I called her name. She’d parked her ass in a chair in the bedroom connected to this bathroom.

“You hollered?” She poked her head around the door and grimaced. “That’s nasty.

We should get her a doctor.”

Worry filled Rurik’s eyes as he glanced from me to Gwen. “Is one available?”

“Master Tane keeps one on retainer for the mortals.”

I’d recognized Gwen wasn’t vampire—her word choice, saying mortals instead of humans, set off a little alarm in my head. Over the past few years I’d learned to not ignore it.

“Send for one.”

Gwen nodded and began to leave the room.

“Wait. Take Rurik with you and get him…” What? Someone to eat? “Uh, nourishment.”

“I’m fine.”

“You won’t do her any good if your powers wane.” Gwen signaled for him to lift me out of the tub. “Come on, now. Place her on the bed. We have plenty of volunteers to drink from. Unless you want me to send one in here?”

We both answered. “No.” Watching Rurik take sustenance from someone else would be as pleasant as a root canal.

Gwen chuckled. “Let’s go.” She left.

Using the edge of the tub, I stood. My legs wobbled, but he steadied me. One slow motion at a time, I stepped out of the black, shiny tub. A small family could have bathed in it.

“I wish I could block more of the pain.” He assisted me to the bed and lifted me onto it. Even uninjured, I’d need a stepladder to get on it.

I bit my lip and grimaced as a sharp ache shot across my abused flesh from the sudden movement.

“Sorry.” He looked ready to chew nails. “I hate this.”

“Call the doctor then feed. Come back to me refreshed.” I lay prone on the thick, chocolate brown bedding. What happened to yesterday? We played in the gardens and enjoyed life, carefree…happy. Today a new chapter in our life opened, a terrible one, which starred Tane. “I’m going to need you.” Those words would have killed me to say a year ago, yet I’d grown. He’d helped me understand the difference between standing alone and standing together. With him at my side, I could weather anything. Even this.

I watched the door close and sighed. Nobody wanted me to look at my back. It hurt too much to twist and examine it in the mirror, however with a handheld one I’d at least get a glimpse. One sat on the vanity. I edged off the bed and waddled over. The small, silver mirror felt heavy in my hand. I turned and faced away from the larger mirror. With a little aim, I finally witnessed the carnage.

They did put me through a meat grinder. Did I have any skin left? The doctor would need to work a miracle to sew me back together. There’d be one huge scar once he was done. No more of those backless dresses Rurik loved, and no more bathing suits. A lump swelled in my throat as I fought back the tears.

Was I vain? Sure. My looks helped me through some rough parts in my life. I didn’t rely solely on them, still they helped. Would Rurik have been attracted to me in Budapest if I had looked different?

The door opened and a Nosferatu vampire stepped into the bedroom.

I dropped the handheld mirror. It tumbled to floor and shattered, just like my life. I tried to cover my nakedness with my hands. To say the least, my efforts didn’t accomplish much.

Tane entered with two others of his clan and glanced at the broken shards on the floor. “Don’t move. You’ll cut your feet.” He turned to his entourage. “Leave us.”

They left without comment except the one who entered first did smirk in my direction before following his commrades.

In silence, Tane and I stared at each other. I tried to cross my arms over my breasts, but my sliced arm wouldn’t cooperate. It was hard to look confident without clothes.

“Where’s Rurik?” He sauntered toward me.

“Gwen is showing him where to feed.” I retreated, but the step jammed a small spike of mirror into my foot. A yelp escaped me.

Tane held me close in his arms before I could blink. “I told you not to move.” He stood in the center of the broken pieces. “You’re so infuriating.” With a swift scoop of his arms, he picked me up and carried me to the bed. “Let’s get you healed.”

I rolled onto my side and glared at him. His dark eyes reflected no emotion, yet anger radiated from his body like heat. He wore a pair of black sweatpants and nothing else, not a mark on his skin where the steel bars had pierced him. Broad, muscled shoulders bulged with tension as they met a well-defined chest. His waist didn’t taper to his hips like Rurik’s though. He had a bulkier build. Where Rurik reminded me of a panther, Tane made me think tiger—big, strong, and dangerous.

I pulled a corner of the blanket and covered my front, but it left my backside exposed.

He snatched my foot and yanked out the shard of mirror from the sole. “Like you don’t have enough holes in your hide.” The bed sank as he crawled onto it. “Give me your arm.”

“Why?”

His eyes narrowed and a muscle in his jaw ticked as he clenched his jaw. Rage must be storming inside of him. Betrayed and imprisoned by one of his kind. The anger wasn’t at me, nevertheless I was the focus. Tane ruled all the vampires in the world, which made him the strongest. Not the best idea to piss him off.

I gave him my injured arm, the one Luckard cut with a blade to test our blood ties.

“Squeeze my hand.”

I tried to wrap my fingers around his, but even with Rurik dampening my pain they wouldn’t move much.

“Luckard cut the tendons.” His eyes met mine. “It hurt when he did it.”

“No shit.” I withdrew my hand. He’d felt the slice of the blade too. “Can we just get this over with?”

One corner of his thin mouth lifted. “I wish it could be that easy. If I let you feed, the injuries will close up and heal quickly. With this amount of damage, there will be a lot of scarring if done incorrectly. You might lose the use of your hand.”

I wanted to be whole again and realized at what lengths I’d go to be healed properly.

“Do you know how to do it right?”

He rolled his eyes.

“Of course you do, the mighty Tane’s been a vampire since the time of dinosaurs.” I exaggerated, but knew I was close. What’s a few thousand years?

His chuckle caught me by surprise. I couldn’t remember if I ever heard him laugh before tonight. It made him more human. He licked his lips. “T-Rex, my favorite.” The small amount of humor in his eyes changed his face. It went from intimidating to warm in seconds. He lay next to me and took my arm again. “I’ll have to lick the wound.

Something in the Nosferatu saliva helps with the healing. The stronger the vampire, the better the results.”

My heart took off at a gallop as I watched him bring my injury to his mouth. His tongue slid inside, however he never broke eye contact with me. Drawn into his gaze, my vision tunneled and only the dark pits of his eyes existed. I shuddered as he took a long slow stroke.

Tell me if it hurts. His voice sounded in my thoughts. It broke whatever trance I’d allowed myself to fall into.

“Don’t do that.”

He stopped and quirked an eyebrow. “The tendons may not reconnect.”

“No, continue with the healing, but stay out of my head.”

“Your shields are down. I took it as invitation.” He licked again.

“Rurik is shielding me from the pain.”

And he’s able to eat with all that discomfort?

Bastard. “What do you mean?”

By shielding you, he accepts pain onto himself. He glanced at me while he took another deep swipe. He didn’t tell you?

“No and get out of my mind.” I growled out those last words. Rurik took my pain.

This explained the waxy appearance of his skin and his grumpy behavior. “Can any vampire do that or are we bound as well?”

He sat and released my arm. “You’re not bound?”

“I don’t feel his pain like I felt yours.”

He rubbed his chin. “I don’t know. He loves you, I’ve no doubt, and that binds people in other inexplicable ways. We both entered your blood stream at the same time.

Mine came first, but you refused to take much and then drank deep from Rurik. The power in my blood must have overcome his, yet you didn’t feel the call to be close to me.

Our bonded humans generally want to be near.” With a shrug he turned to me. “We’ll have to explore it more. Lie flat on your stomach.”

“Are you going to lick my back?” A lead ball dropped into my gut.

“Do you want scars?” he snapped. “You’re not the only one who’s had to suffer. I’ve had a few harrowing days as well, and now having to deal with your insolence just tops it.”

I swallowed and lay prone. He had a point, but it went against my nature to be kind to him. Luckard spent one night hurting me, yet he had tortured Tane for longer.

“This will hurt, even with Rurik’s help, so I’m going to take over the shielding.”

I didn’t sense anything different except what aches I had disappeared.

He straddled my body without touching me. I could see his hand by my shoulder and sense his cool breath on my back. Goose flesh formed on my arms. The first initial contact of his tongue made me shiver.

He trailed the tip of it in slow, circular motions and moved up from my lower back.

Rurik is right. You do taste fruity.

“He told you that? When?” I lifted my head to glance over my shoulder.

Relax. He pressed my head to the pillow. We’ve always written letters to each other.

Did you think after Budapest things would change? We’ve always been friends.

“He never mentioned any letters to me.”

Do you tell him everything you do?

I thought of my meeting with Colby. Lies begot lies. Maybe we only fooled ourselves for the last eighteen months. Yet we were happy. “Why did you force a bind on me? You could have rescued Rurik and let him do it.”

No, I couldn’t, and I don’t need to explain myself to you.

I snorted. “Do you think I’m going to transform into a human slave?”

Not overnight. He moved to a deeper wound under my shoulder blade and pressed his knee to the side of my hip.

“Not ever.”

You’ve stopped complaining about my telepathy. The laps of his tongue grew bolder.

I got the impression of what a lollipop felt like. He moaned as he got closer to my neck. It wasn’t a sexual thing, Tane liked men.

His arrogance rubbed me the wrong way. It always did. I knew he helped me, but couldn’t stop the flash memory of Tane as a human from jumping out. Dragos shared it with me while he tried to tear my soul apart with grief. Tane kneeled before Dragos as if he were a god.

My demon jerked behind me. “How do you have that memory?”

“Dragos shared it as he tried to convert me to worship him. Are you done yet?”

“Yes.” He rolled off to lie next to me.

I turned my head on the pillow to see him better. His mouth was painted ruby with my blood. He licked at it as if savoring the flavor. “You never answered my question.”

He glanced at me.

“Why bind us? You hate me.”

“Hate is too strong a word. I find you annoying. But for me to rescue Rurik I had to kill Dragos. I couldn’t do it. I loved him too much. It’s why I asked for Rurik’s help.” He gazed up at the ceiling. “He had already given up Budapest to follow you before we captured him at the house. Once he found out how I used you to weaken Dragos, I doubted he’d ever speak with me again.”

“So you wanted to make sure you had a link to him after things settled. Me.”

He smiled. “Have you been having any odd cravings?”

My breath caught in my throat. “Yes.”

“Blood?”

“Not any blood. Just Rurik’s…” I fiddled with the sheet. “And maybe yours.” I remembered how it smelled.

“You’ve been needing more and more of Rurik’s blood?”

“It’s like a hunger I can’t stop.” My words were barely audible.

“He must have had suspicions that something was wrong. Why else bring you here?

Most bonded humans don’t need to consume more than once a year, but if left unattended they can go strange.”

“You mean crazy. If I feed from you will I get better?”

“We’ll find out.” He reached up to his neck. The nail on his index finger was purposely pointed and he used it to cut his skin. A thin trail of blood trickled down. The hunger I spoke of soared.

My mouth watered and I crawled over to him.

He tucked his hands behind his head and allowed me to drink.

I couldn’t angle my mouth to make a good seal to his skin from where I lay so I climbed on top of his chest. My body finally got what it had been craving, the blood of my vampire master. How did I let things get so wrong?

My back tingled and itched. I clasped his shoulder with the injured hand that wouldn’t function earlier and pulled myself against his broad body.

The door creaked open and I twisted to see Rurik step through.

“What the hell is going on?”

Tane shoved me off and slipped off the bed to stand next to it. “I’m healing her.”