Marked: A Vampire Blood Courtesans Romance (13 page)

“I remember.”

“The tuition part was a lie.”

His hand stilled against my head.

“My roommate is Tessa Rose. She’s my best friend, in fact. Has been my entire life.”

“I don’t know that name,” he said, his voice thick.

I hated admitting that I’d lied to him. Hated that I’d been forced to resort to that in the first place. Now was the time to make everything right again. “Tessa was a courtesan before me. She needed money and instead of coming to me, she found her way to Madam da Silva. From my understanding, things were going rather well, until…”

“Until they no longer were.”

I nodded. “The madam blacklisted her, and as a consequence, Tessa landed herself in some serious trouble.”

Ethen sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. “To whom is she indebted?”

“What? You knew?” I whispered.

“No, but you can’t imagine how often I’ve heard this story. Courtesans who no longer wish to follow the madam’s rules and branch out on their own, only to find themselves rooted in a society they don’t understand. So, who is she indebted to?”

“Alexei,” I grumbled.

Understanding dawned on Ethen’s face. “I see.”

“Apparently she owes him a lot of money, and if she fails to cough it up, he intends to turn her. He sent men after her to remind her of the deadline. The first time was two nights before the gala. Tessa was visited by a vamp named Calix. I returned home, and—”

Ethen’s eyes flew wide. “That was you?”

“What was me?”

“I heard talk of Calix’s injuries. Rumor had it he’d been stabbed by a human.” He shot me a bewildered glance. “That was you?”

I nodded, equally mortified and proud that he’d heard of my supposed triumph.

“Then that vamp in the alley…you two were never acquainted before tonight?”

“I didn’t even know his name,” I said.

Relief smoothed over his face.

“Tessa phoned me tonight,” I added, “and claimed she was being followed.”

“And so you went to her. Changed clothes to confuse his senses, thereby luring the vamp to you and endangering
your
life!” He shoved to his feet and stalked across the room. “Do you understand the severity of your actions? My God…”

For as long as I could remember, sarcasm had always been my default setting, and my response rolled off my tongue without thought. “My throat was almost torn out. Pretty sure I got it.”

“You could have been killed!”

I blinked, startled by the level of emotion in his words. “I’m well aware of that.”

He shook his head. “This is lunacy. The two of you haven’t any idea what you’re involved in.”

“Ethen—”

“Meeting with vampires in abandoned alleyways…” He growled. “What if he’d killed you? I would have stumbled across your body—”

“Ethen!”

He turned, eyes ablaze with unnatural light. “What?”

“You’re dwelling on something that didn’t even happen.”

A guttural curse snapped through the room. “The wound on your throat suggests otherwise.”

Point to the vampire. Confused, I pushed to my feet and stepped toward him. He seemed not to care that I’d lied about my intentions, but rather the danger I’d put myself in. I had to know, so I drew in a steadying breath and faced him down. “Why do you even care?”

For the first time, I’d rendered him speechless. He blinked at me, his mouth gaping as though my question offended him. “Are you serious?”

Uh, maybe? Was this a trick question?

With a dark growl, he closed the distance between us and pulled me into his chest, his touch surprisingly gentle. Then he stared down at me with such indecision warring in his gaze.

Truth be told, I was as lost as he seemed to be. This was all new territory for me. “Ethen?”

“Allow me to show you why I care…” he murmured.

His fingers brushed the hair back from my face before he dipped down and claimed my mouth in a tender kiss that robbed me of breath. His lips were cool to the touch, but not cold, never cold. It was hardly our first kiss, but there was something about the way he held me, as though I was his world, that left me shaken.

“Amelia,” he whispered against my mouth.

I sank into him, lost to the depths of his eyes.

“I wasn’t sure how to tell you how I felt, or how to express myself properly. I attended the gala with the sole purpose of donating to charity. The courtesans had never held any interest for me.” He paused and cupped my cheeks. “Then I saw you.”

A wistful smile crossed my face.

“You asked me that first night why I’d bid on your contract.”

“And you said you didn’t like the way the others watched me.”

A grin tugged his lips. “I managed to refrain from ripping out Luke’s spine, but only barely.”

“Wait. You saw me before Luke?”

“I saw you the moment you walked out into the ballroom. So nervous, so pure. There you were, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from you. At that moment, I knew.”

“Knew what?”

“That I no longer wanted to be alone.”

My heart melted. But with the happiness came the guilt. He knew the story, or at least, the parts relevant to Tessa, but he didn’t know everything. And I
wanted
to tell him everything. That I was the daughter of a slayer, that my family would rather hunt him down than permit us to be together no matter how much I wanted it to be otherwise. But I couldn’t muster the words. Fear that he’d hate me for who I was kept me silent.

A knock on the door interrupted us. Together, we turned and watched as Mr. Bishop entered while Ms. Doyle lingered in the hallway. “Mr. Rune. A moment of your time, please.”

“Now?” Ethen rumbled.

Mr. Bishop dipped his head, then gestured to the corridor.

Ethen turned back to me and brushed a kiss across my brow.

Grateful for the distraction, I gave his hand a squeeze, then crossed toward the picture window and gazed down at the street. Time to gather my thoughts and put together my explanation. What surprised me most was how much I wanted to be with Ethen. He was unlike anyone I’d ever met, vampire or otherwise. I wasn’t sure what I wanted from him yet, but I knew that my heart leapt when he looked at me, that my body sang when he touched me, and that I never wanted that to end.

How odd the turn someone’s life could take, from avoiding vampires to falling for one.

I froze, my fingers gripping the window pane.
Falling for Ethen
? Was it possible? And in such a short time? I’d heard talk of love at first sight, but that wasn’t what this was. It was something that had begun after we’d met. After I’d broken down the barriers he’d built up.

The door clicked shut, and I turned with an elated smile. Then Ethen lifted a hand. Something shimmered in his grasp, something long, silver, and bloodied. My heart plummeted to my feet, my chest tight as understanding dawned.

“How about you explain this,” he snarled, his words dark with restrained violence.

Holy crickets.

Chapter 14

“Ethen…”

His fingers curled around the hilt until his knuckles turned white. “What is this?” Stalking across the room, he slammed my dagger onto the table and faced me. “Well?”

“Where did you get that?” I knew. Mr. Bishop had returned to the alley, likely to clean up and dispose of the vampire Ethen had killed. And amongst the rubble, he’d found my dagger, discarded by my attacker after he’d plucked it from his side.

A low growl rose in the room. “What the fuck is this, Winter?”

I winced. “Let me explain—”

“By all means. Tell me how you came to be in possession of this weapon.”

At a loss, I watched as he stormed to the other end of the room. I longed to go to him, to swear to him that it wasn’t mine, but I refused to lie. Not anymore. He deserved better than that.

“You’re a slayer.” He barked out a disbelieving laugh.

I shook my head. “No, I’m not.”

He glanced over his shoulder, eyes blazing. “Only slayers carry a weapon like that. Don’t pretend otherwise.”

“I’m not.” I clenched my fists. “Ethen, I’m not a slayer, I swear it.”

“Then explain
that
!”

Indecision warred within me. I wanted to tell him everything, but fear rose hard and fast in the back of my throat. If I told him about my family, would he hate me? My family hunted and killed his kind. What if he decided I was no longer worth the trouble? No longer worth
him
?

He tensed, his shoulders tight as he turned back toward the fireplace. “You brought that weapon into my house. How did I not know? And what was your plan? Stab me in my sleep?”

“If it were, you wouldn’t be standing here now.” I recoiled the moment the words left my lips.

He hissed. “And you claim you’re not a slayer.”

“Ethen, you have to believe me. I’m not a slayer. I was given that blade for protection.”

Another bark of laughter. “You expect me to believe that? That isn’t something you can acquire just anywhere. Those types of weapons pass down through families…” He whirled around, his expression hard. “Your family. You said your father loathed my kind. My God, you’re the daughter of a slayer.”

I dropped my gaze to the carpet. There was no point in talking. Nothing I could say would fix this.

“Look at me,” he snarled. “Is anything you told me true? Or was this all some ploy to get close enough to kill me?”

“Ethen, please!” My head snapped up, tears welling in my eyes. “My God! If I’d meant to kill you, why would I have slept with you?”

“To lower my guard,” he returned. “And the madam has no idea, which is why you begged me not to tell her anything. I don’t know you at all,” he concluded.

A sob escaped my throat. “You
do
know me. Everything I’ve told you is the truth!”

His lip curled. “Except for who you really are.”

“No. That was true too. All of it. I’m a music major at U of C, and I became a courtesan to save the life of my best friend, I told you about my mother, the garden—”

“But
not
that you’re the daughter of a slayer! Not that you’re on a hunt!”

“I’m not! I brought it for protection, that’s all. But Alexei means to turn Tessa, and I
will
stop him, by any means necessary.”

“Including infiltrating my house and lying to me.”

“Damn it, would you listen to me? It isn't like that!”

He lifted a hand to silence me. “Not another word.”

I lifted my chin. “Do you honestly think if I didn’t care for you that I’d still be standing here, pleading for you to listen to me? I might have lied about my reason for becoming a courtesan, but everything else was the truth. And yes, I kept it a secret that I am the daughter of the slayer, but I did that to protect my family. I did that to protect myself! I was scared—”

“Enough!” he bellowed, his voice rattling the walls. “I don’t want to hear any more of your lies. I thought I could trust you.” He shook his head and strode toward the door, sending Ms. Doyle and Mr. Bishop into a scurry. Ethen paused and glanced down at the dagger, then back at me. “It would seem I don’t know you at all.”

My own temper burst through, but before I could utter another word in my defense, Ethen was gone.

***

Hot tears, born of anger and despair, spilled over my cheeks. My head was still reeling, from both the attack in the alley and my fight with Ethen. It was bad luck that he’d found out the truth right before I’d intended to tell him myself. And didn’t that just chap my ass? All of this might have been avoided had I been open and honest with him from the beginning.

Hindsight was a bitch.

Sniffling back more tears, I reached under my bed for my overnight bag and dragged it out.

“You’re leaving?” a soft voice rose behind me.

I turned to find Ms. Doyle hovering in the doorway. Great, another witness to my misery. “You were there. You heard everything. Seems best I go.”

“I disagree,” she murmured.

“And what do you suggest? Force my presence on him? I know when I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

“Winter, dear, he’s upset. Give him some time to collect his thoughts. Once he’s back, you two can work this out.”

I paused. “He left?”

“He went for a drive. I assume to calm down and think things through.”

I shook my head. There wasn’t anything to think about. I’d betrayed him. Exactly like Alexei had predicted.

“Winter—”

“Why do you care?” I asked for the second time that night.

“Are you truly so blind?”

I shot her another glance over my shoulder. “Guess so.”

She smoothed her hands down her uniform and stepped into the room. “He truly cares for you.”

“He has a funny way of showing it,” I grunted.

“Don’t be petty. It isn’t as though he’s the only one in the wrong here.”

I shot her a narrowed glance. “That’s the thing, isn’t it, Ms. Doyle? He isn’t wrong at all. I’m the one that screwed everything up. I should have told him who I was from the very start.”

“We all have our secrets.” Ms. Doyle lowered her hand onto my shoulder. “I’ve been employed by Mr. Rune for three decades, and not once in all those years did I ever see him the way he is with you. If you go, you’ll break something within him.”

I shrugged off her hand and stuffed the last of my few clothes into the bag. “It doesn’t matter. None of it does. As much as I want to hang around and wait for Ethen, I can’t. Without this contract, Tessa is in danger.”

“Has he canceled the contract?”

I leveled her with an impatient glare. Even if there was, it no longer felt right. Like I was using him for the money, which I
was
. And that didn’t sit right with me anymore.

“What’ll you do now?”

“Rally the troops, I suppose. I refuse to let Alexei win.”

“Your family, you mean?”

I cut her a sideways glance. “Yes. My family will protect Tessa. They love her almost as much as me.”

“You can’t guard her forever.”

“Not forever.” I stared down at the dagger on my bedspread. “Just long enough.”

“Long enough for what?”

I shook my head, then grabbed the weapon and stuffed it into my bag. I was done talking, done standing around, done doing things Tessa’s way. I was just done. This was how it should have been from the start.

Tossing the bag over my shoulder, I started down the hall. “Thanks for everything, Ms. Doyle. You’ve been great.”

“I really don’t think you should go, dear. It’s dark out, and you don’t have a ride. At least allow me to call you a cab. If something happened to you, Ethen…”

Wouldn’t care
… The unpleasant thought whisked through my mind before I could stop it. I shook my head, then slipped out of the house and into the garden. The gate was wide open, likely Ethen’s way of telling me to get the hell out. I reached for the nearest flower but paused before my fingers met the petals. This garden meant
nothing
to me. Clinging to these flowers wouldn’t help me move on.

Shrugging my pack higher, I turned back to Ms. Doyle. “It’s time. I should have gone to my father from the very start. It would have saved Ethen and me both a lot of heartache. Anything would be better than this.”

The thought brought a fresh wave of tears. Having never met him would have truly sucked, but I would do anything to end this soul-crushing pain.

A shadow darted in front of me. A clawed hand latched onto my arm, and Alexei’s face took shape in the darkness, his teeth flashing under the dim streetlight. “Be careful what you wish for, little girl.”

I sucked in a deep breath, about to scream, when he struck. His fist took me straight across the jaw. I spilled to the ground and shook my head in an attempt to stave off unconsciousness.

“Winter!”

“Be patient, old woman. You’re next,” Alexei growled.

“Run, Ms. Doyle!” I cried out.

Eyes alight with murder, Alexei fisted my shirt and shoved me against the concrete. “Think you can kill one of mine?” he hissed, his putrid breath fanning my face. “All I wanted was what I was owed. But you…” He shivered with rage. “You had to get involved and screw everything up.”

My gaze shot to my bag.
If I could only reach it
…

Alexei snatched my pack out of reach and tore it open. His eyes grew wide the moment he caught sight of my dagger. “Well, well, what have we here? I knew there was more to you… A slayer. How keen.” He tossed the bag aside, my dagger clutched in his hand. “I’ve always wondered how it would feel to kill one of you.”

I knew the moment he planned to use it, saw the flash of savage intent flicker in his gaze. With a cruel grin, he drove the blade down through my middle, plunging it into my stomach like warm butter. An explosion of pain ripped through me. I shrieked and grasped at the dagger, clutching it between my sticky fingers, the steel wet with blood.

My
blood.

Distantly, I heard movement. A choked gasp, a scream, and then silence.
Ms. Doyle
.

The pain wrung tears from my eyes, but I hadn’t the strength to knuckle them away. I needed to move, to reach her in time, to save her before Ethen lost someone he actually cared about. But my body refused to obey. How could it when I was pinned to the cement by my precious blade?

“A life for a life,” Alexei snarled. “You stole one of mine from me. This is your payment. But don’t worry, little one. When you wake, the world will be an entirely different place. Now, drink.”

Something hot, wet, and bitter splashed into my mouth as darkness crept over me. I instinctively swallowed to keep from choking. Alexei kneeled over me, his voice drowning in the murky water I floated upon. The pain had lessened, but I knew what that meant. I only hoped Ethen realized how much I cared for him and how much I’d enjoyed our time together. How sad he would never hear the words.

The devil had come, and with him, oblivion.