Blood Mate (17 page)

“Only the evil
of enslaving me to you forever.”

“It was your
choice.”

“Made under
duress. Made out of pity.”

His hands gripped
the steering wheel so hard she was surprised it didn’t come off the
car. For one morbid moment she fantasized about crashing and dying.
But of course it couldn’t happen. She would rise like a bloody
zombie out of the ashes, her body re-knitting itself in a freakish
display of incorruptibility. “You
did
pass the curse on. Now
we both have it in a diluted form.”

“I know.”

She was surprised
he didn’t argue, that he didn’t try to defend himself or make any
of it right. He didn’t try to twist her mind in rationalizations.
Nicole watched the trees pass by, wishing everything in the world
except her could get stuck in slow motion so she could run again and
always stay one step ahead. All she ever thought about now was
running. She’d longed for August to come rescue her, but now that
he was here… the reality of him wasn’t safe like the fantasy. The
reality of him turned her back into a cheating whore, if only inside
the screaming walls of her own mind.

“What are you
thinking of, my love?”

“Don’t call me
that.”

“Answer me.”

“How could
Dominic have done this? I thought he was on my side. I thought it was
me and him against the world. How could he turn on me like that? How
could he not believe me?”

Did she imagine
the small smile that curved the vampire’s mouth? The satisfaction
that he had her now?

“A human cannot
override thrall. It simply can’t be done. The brain won’t allow
it. He never could have believed you. Of course you were never
getting out without me. I am the only one who can fully understand.
I’m the only one you can depend on, and you run from me.”

Nicole scrubbed
the tears from her eyes. He wasn’t going to make her feel ashamed
for trying to take her life back.

“I don’t care
what you say. Dominic is my soul mate.” She rubbed her bare wrist.
Her husband had her bracelet, and with it he’d taken the last shred
of a physical object that would allow her to hold onto his love.
Through all her time in August’s cellar, through all of Dominic’s
enthralled neglect, that bracelet had been an amulet that held the
seed of his love inside it. As long as she had it, she somehow still
had Dominic, but now that love was free… escaped and dissipated
into the wild air, diluted to the point of vanishing.

“If that’s
true, if he’s truly your soul mate, you’ve made a very foolish
choice giving yourself to me.”

As if she needed
reminding. If only she could have resisted the tantalizing offer of
being back in Dominic’s arms. If only she could have starved to
death or let August lose control and kill her. She’d be free on the
other side, separated from her husband for a while until the hands of
time pushed him back into her waiting arms again in the spirit world.
Now she would have him for a little while, only to be separated from
him later forever. That is… if August allowed her to see him again.

Nicole’s Lexus
was parked in the driveway when they reached her house.

“I don’t want
to see him right now, take me home,” she said.

August got out of
the Bugatti, walked around to her side, and opened the door.

“I’m still mad
at him.”

“I don’t care.
Don’t test my patience right now, Nicolette. You have no idea how
difficult it is to keep my anger in check after your latest stunt.”

So fighting for
one’s freedom was a stunt now?

He waited for
another few minutes before Nicole took his hand and allowed him to
pull her out of the car and lead her to the front door.

A confused Dominic
answered. “Who…? What…?”

August shoved his
way into the house. “Nicolette?” he said, turning back to Nicole.

She stood stupidly
in the door, a million questions whirring through her mind… chief
among them…
Why are we here? Why is August here?

“Nicole, I
thought you were… who is this man?”

Her face grew hot.
This is the man—no—monster I’ve been fucking behind your
back. So sorry,
dear.
She stepped the rest of the way
inside.

“I’m August.
I’m the vampire your beloved attempted to warn you about. You
wanted him to know, right, Nicolette?”

August bared his
fangs, and her husband took a step back. Anyone would be caught off
guard by the revelation of vampires, especially so up close and
personal, but something about the action infuriated her. Shouldn’t
he instinctively move to protect her from the threat?

Suddenly August
and Dominic were in competition… pro/con lists in her brain. This
one did this, but that one did that. August had taken her out of the
hospital. Dominic hadn’t believed her.

Dominic had taken
a step back. A step. Back. But August had set this nightmare in
motion, so how was any of this Dominic’s fault?

She closed her
eyes to block it all out. Why the fuck couldn’t they both leave her
alone? Suddenly she wanted to be in a dark, quiet room. She wanted to
be the only sentient being left on the planet, to have no one else to
answer to, nothing to worry about but her own basic existence. Surely
without other people, life would somehow be simpler.

When she managed
to open her eyes again, the two men were in a staring contest.
Dominic’s expression still held doubt. He was already trying to
erase the vision of fangs from his consciousness. Maybe remnants of
the vampire’s thrall still clung to the corners of his mind.

Fangs weren’t
real enough for him. It had to be something else, something that
would imprint upon his brain forever, something he could never deny.
She spied a paring knife through the kitchen doorway. It lay on a
counter beside an apple Dominic must have been about to peel. She
went to the other room to get it before anyone could stop her and
returned to find the male stares still locked together as if she
didn’t exist at all.

She cried out as
the blade slid against her palm. The smell drew August, but it was
the cry of pain that grabbed her husband’s attention.

The wound sealed
itself as Dominic watched with disbelief.

“I told you I
could prove it. I told you I wasn’t crazy.”

“Put the knife
down and come here.” August’s voice was deadly serious, so
serious she was afraid to disobey him.

“Please, let’s
just go home.” She couldn’t bring herself to meet Dominic’s
eyes when she said it. It was a choice, wasn’t it? It wasn’t the
one she wanted. She wanted to erase the vampire and go back to the
days when everything was right, when the sheets smelled like a meadow
and the sun was bright and the birds chattered away outside the
window, when Dominic’s dimple made the world turn and his light
teasing lit her up inside, when it was all so simple and beautiful.

August pulled her
into his arms. She tried to escape, but his fangs were already in her
throat. If there was ever a time she wanted it to hurt again, it was
now. Dominic would see the bliss on her face as the vampire drank.

To her husband’s
credit, he tried to intervene, but August batted him away.

“Nicole!”

Let the earth
swallow me.
The thought came over and over in her mind. Like a
mantra, a chant, a spell. If she were more than merely human now,
wasn’t there a chance it could work? Couldn’t the foundations of
her house simply crumble and some slithering evil from the depths of
the earth reach up and take her away from both of them?

August lifted his
head, casually licking the place on her neck where he’d bitten to
get the last drops of blood that spilled. His hand rubbed soothing
circles on her lower back, and she had to fight with herself not to
straddle his leg and dry hump him. All she could think of was his
hand, rubbing those soothing circles in a more intimate place between
her legs, of coming for him like his good little bitch.

“She’s fine,”
August said. “I’m not hurting her. Did she not tell you about us?
When you are dead and gone she will be mine, forever. She’s already
mine. But I’ll let you borrow her if you like. You are welcome to
enjoy her… charms, as long as you play nice with me.”

Nicole knew she
should be offended, hurt he’d speak of her like she was some whore
being pimped to the highest bidder, but the effect of his bite was
still strong, his power humming in her veins… vibrating. The link
between them made her need to be bitten as strong as his need to
bite. A sort of mutually assured self-destruction.

Everything stopped
humming at one whispered word from the vampire. “Strip.”

“August, no…
I… what?” The blood rushed to her face.

Let the earth
swallow me. Let the earth swallow me. Let the earth swallow me.

But instead of
some tentacled beast rising out of the ground to consume her,
August’s fingertips played on the edges of her collarbone, his
voice fucking her as he spoke, causing her body to arch ever closer
each time he said her name.

“Nicolette… ”

She couldn’t
stop the urge to turn toward Dominic, afraid to see the disgust but
unable to avoid confronting it.

“You let her go
this instant.” Her husband shook with rage.

The vampire’s
expression was mild. “No.
You
let her go. You weren’t
strong enough to keep her. Your weakness caused this.”

Dominic looked
from August to Nicole.

“Don’t listen
to him. He’ll twist anything,” Nicole said.

August strode to
her husband and grabbed him by the lapels of his collar. For one
sickening moment she thought she was about to watch Dominic die, but
instead, August looked into the man’s eyes and said, “It’s time
for you to remember how poorly you treated your wife, how you pushed
her into my arms.”

The vampire
pressed the memories of the months of neglect into Dominic’s mind.
It was like a physical thing forcing its way through flesh and bone
straight into his brain.

“Stop it!”
Nicole shouted. But it was too late. Dominic had already seen.

“You see?
Nicolette’s mind is strong. Your mind is weak. I had to break her
down piece by piece to possess her, but now she’s mine. It’s
survival of the fittest; nature isn’t personal. If it’s any
consolation, I think she still loves you, though I can’t begin to
imagine how you appeal to her. Now sit.” August pointed at an
overstuffed chair, and Dominic dropped into it, unable to resist the
order.

“August, please,
let’s go home. I’ll let him go, just don’t do this, please.”

The vampire’s
eyes glowed when his head snapped around to her. “He let them lock
you up. I can’t forgive him for that. You were scared and alone.”

August returned to
her side; the smell of him was like a drug. Vampire pheromones danced
around her nose. He might not be able to control her in the way he
could control others, but the bond made him too hard to resist.

He embraced her,
his mouth skimming over the edge of her ear. Then he whispered words
that threw cold water over her arousal. “I’ll let you choose.
Which do you think would upset your husband less: watching you give
yourself to me and enjoying it, or watching me just take you?” He’d
completely lost it, his anger edging out any pretense of civility.

“I thought you
said you’d forgive me. I thought you said you’d show me mercy.”

August pulled back
to look at her. Madness danced in his eyes. “And what do you
imagine mercy is to a vampire? There are things I could do to you
more horrible than your worst nightmare. The fact that I’m not
doing them should be interpreted as mercy. I can erase his memory
once it’s done. But if you put up a fuss, he’s going to have to
remember today for the rest of his life. Think about it.”

“I hate you. I
wish you’d left me in that fucking hospital. I can’t believe I
ever wanted you to rescue me, even for two seconds. At least there I
was spared your presence and constant manipulations.”

“What did you
say?” The darkness cleared from his face, replaced by shock and
some un-nameable softness, as if he couldn’t imagine and could
barely dare to hope that for some small fraction of a moment, he had
been the one she’d cried out for. Not Dominic.

“I wanted you to
take me out of there.”

The mask of anger
fell back into place. “No, I was the only one who could save you. I
was the only one strong enough. You wanted me because it was
convenient. If your husband could have pulled his head out of his ass
for two seconds, you would have chosen him. You’ll always choose
him. Now, strip.” He bit out the last word with so much venom she
took a step back, the same involuntary step she’d held against
Dominic minutes before.

***

August pushed away
the pity. Nicolette’s tears were meant to manipulate him. He would
make her see who she belonged to. He would force her to see the truth
with such finality she would never run from him again, because she
would know there was nowhere to go.

It had been a
mistake to allow her to be with her husband. He should have whisked
her to the other side of the planet already. Let her pine after
Dominic for a few years or decades. None of it mattered. August had
given up the hope of having her heart. So if this was how she wanted
to play with him, so be it.

She gave one last
pleading look, but the wall was up.

He shook his head.
“You know what your choices are. Give yourself to me in front of
him. Satisfy my anger, and he can forget about it as soon as it’s
over. If I have to throw you down and take what should be offered up
freely, I’ll leave tonight emblazoned on his mind until the reaper
comes for him.”

He just needed to
lose himself inside her for a few minutes, needed to take the edge
off his rage, needed to gloat that he’d won… even if it wasn’t
the truth. Even if it could never be true.