Resurrection (9 page)

Ged shook his head, determined not to get caught up in this charade. As he held out the quilt to her he made a quick foray into her mind to search for evidence of deliberate deceit. He found none. On the face of it at least, this odd little female actually believed herself to be his wife.

Ged decided to play for time. "We can talk later. For now, you need to get out of those wet clothes and wrap yourself in this. Can you manage or do you need me to help?"

She gnawed on her lower lip, a mannerism he remembered had always irked him. It had made it appear as though she feared him, and never failed to leave him feeling like a clod.

Christ, but this fucking witch was good.

"Might you summon a maidservant, if you please?"

Ged let out an exasperated sigh. "No, I might not. There are no maidservants here, just you and me." His response was perhaps less sympathetic than the occasion called for. Despite his irritation at her presence here he regretted his sharp tone the instant it was out, especially as the wench drew away from him, her brow furrowing.

"I see. Then if you could just—"

"Oh, for fuck's sake..." Ged reached for her and with two deft tugs untied the loops securing her flimsy robe. He slid the fabric over her shoulders and the woman made no attempt to resist his efforts as he removed it from her. He grasped the hem of her linen shift and pulled that up. "Lift up your arms, Jane," he instructed.

She did so, obedient as a lamb. As he pulled the garment from her chilled body Ged realised he had used her name without thinking, and that she had answered to it. Then he caught sight of her naked body, and he forgot to breathe.

Jesus! Fucking holy hell
!
A bolt of pure lust shot straight to his cock. He was hard in seconds, but that was not the worst of it. With advancing age, Ged had mastered many of the skills required by a vampire who preferred to hide in plain sight. He usually managed to control his fangs with no bother at all, but not in unguarded moments such as this. His upper lip curled back as his razor-like canines shot from his jaw, and it was all he could manage not to snarl.

The diminutive female on his couch watched in horror as his features altered. She opened her mouth, he supposed to scream though no sound emerged. Instead, she collapsed into a dead faint.

Shit
.
Ged's reflexes were as sharp as the next vampire so he managed to catch her before she rolled onto the floor. He arranged her safely on the sofa and pulled the duvet over her, tucking in the edges with care. At least now she was safely covered and he could concentrate on getting his own physical responses back under control.

For long moments Ged stood over the still from. The little witch’s breathing was steady, her colour better and improving with every minute that passed and she was out of the cold. There was a reasonable chance he might not require that ambulance after all. He was relieved, and not just out of concern for the unknown female's health. His instincts told him he should keep this woman's presence here a secret, at least until it was clear who and what she was and exactly what he might be dealing with.

*****

"You're a witch, right?"

Ged levelled the bald statement at the woman the moment she showed signs of coming around. She opened her eyes slowly, then just peered at him, shivering.

He continued, his tone cold and unyielding. "You know what I am, and I'm sure you know what I'm capable of. I'd have no qualms about hurting you if I needed to. You really don't want to aggravate me."

"My lord—"

"Cut that out. It won't work. You look like her. And you sound like her too. You're good, I'll grant you that. But we both know this..." he gestured at her face, her hair, her slender body which looked so much like that of his dead wife, "... all of this is some sort of magic. Your little tricks are impressive but if you think I'm going to pay you to go away you're wrong. It'd be a lot easier to just wring your neck."

"You... you want me to leave, my lord?" Her features took on a look he could only describe as tragic. Another quick delve into her head revealed what appeared to be genuine shock and grief.

"I do. Of course I do. There's nothing for you here."

"But, where should I go? I am your wife."

"We both know you're not my wife. Jane's been dead for centuries."

"Are you mad?" Her voice was low, barely a whisper.

"Yeah, I'm fucking mad. Furious in fact." He leaned over her and deliberately softened his tone. "You have five seconds, little witch, that's all, before things start to go very badly for you and your bloody masquerade."

She tilted her chin up at him, some shreds of defiance emerging. "You may not harm me. My family—"

"Had better show up right now and take you off my hands, otherwise..." He curled back his lip to reveal the emerging fangs. "Lying little witches tend to get bitten. Unless you'd prefer a whipping?"

Even as he said the words he knew which it would be. He could sink his teeth into her slender neck and drain her dry. That would no doubt be very pleasant, at least for him, but it wouldn't advance his cause much more than that. A dead witch couldn't tell him anything, and Ged was seriously curious now about this beautiful impostor who had invaded his peaceful retreat.

He moved fast, with vampire speed. Ged leaned over her and plucked her, quilt and all, from the sofa. With her in his arms he teleported direct to his upper floor, and into the room so recently vacated by Suzette. The spanking bench remained where he'd left it, in the middle of his playroom.

Ged lowered the witch’s feet to the floor, then stepped away from her.

"Give me the quilt," he commanded.

She shook her head, clutching it to her chin. She glanced from side to side, startled as she took in her new surroundings.

"Give. Me. The. Quilt." He held her gaze, repeating the command in a tone which would invariably send a sub to her knees. This time it had the desired effect and the wench slid it from around her shoulders and passed it to him.

She stood before him, nude, but no longer shivering. Ged's cock leapt to attention and his jaws ached as his fangs forced their way back through his gums. He made no attempt to conceal either reaction from her.

"Bend over the bench." He pointed to the apparatus, the top padded for greater comfort. Leather straps were attached to each leg. As she gaped at him in dawning horror, Ged raised his right hand and a black rattan cane materialised in his grip.

The witch backed away, shaking her head. "How did you do that? We were in another place, and—" She turned and made a dash for the door, which stood open.

Ged slammed it shut with just a thought. From his position across the room he locked it as she wrestled with the handle.

"Please, allow me to leave. I shall go from here as you wished. Just let me go. Please, my lord, do not hurt me." She turned to face him her expression frantic now.

Ged narrowed his eyes, calculating. Why did this witch not simply undo his work? Teleporting was simple enough, she must have encountered it before yet she seemed genuinely bewildered by what he had done. Any witch worth her salt would just port out of here, not waste her time grappling with a locked door. Similarly, closing and locking the door was beginners' telekinetics. Even the most ineffectual novice could do that, let alone a witch able to craft an emulation spell as powerful as the one he suspected was at work here. But his visitor appeared to have no idea. She could have been free in moments, yet she remained transfixed and at his mercy, pleading for her life.

He took a step toward her. She let out a keening cry and slid down the door to curl into a ball. She was shaking, sobbing, and a brief dip into her head told him the rest. She was utterly terrified and fully expecting to die.

And, she was human. He knew it, he was convinced of that fact though he couldn't say why. But that did put a whole new complexion on matters.

"Holy fuck." Ged moved in fast to wrap the quilt back around her and lift her in his arms again. "You're safe. I won't hurt you, you have my word."

She was limp, not even struggling. Too scared to fight, he guessed. Ged closed his eyes intending to port straight into his guest room, but thought better of it and carried the girl there instead. He laid her on the bed then stood back to reassess his options.

A human! Christ, he might have killed her if he'd done as he originally planned. Witches were every bit as resilient as vampire females, he wouldn't have gone easy on her and he had fully intended to cane the truth out of the lying little wench. But now – where did he go from here?

"Get some sleep, " he commanded, unable to come up with anything else right at that moment. He backed away, closing the door softly as he left.

*****

"Are you hungry?"

The woman had been asleep for two hours, but was starting to show signs of waking up. As her eyelids fluttered upwards, Ged was careful to maintain a discreet distance. He didn't want her panicking again if he could help it, though on reflection, the expression of sheer terror she sent his way as soon as she caught sight of him was no real improvement on her earlier state. The colour so recently restored to her cheeks drained away as she pulled the quilt around her like a shield. As far as Ged could recall, no vampire had ever been effectively repelled by a few square feet of duckdown but he saw no merit in mentioning that.

"When did you last eat?" He worked to modulate his tone, hoping the mundane nature of his request would go some way to reassuring his unexpected guest that he meant her no harm. Well, he thought he didn't, though in fairness, he was probably almost as bewildered as she was.

There was no answer from the woman. She simply tightened her death grip on the duvet and shrank as far back from him as possible.

Ged considered his fridge, empty but for a few bottles of Stella Artois lager and a month's supply of A rhesus negative. Neither seemed appropriate.

"Pizza," he announced. He was sure there was a takeaway menu somewhere around. It had been shoved through his letterbox soon after he took up residence and although he hadn't been able to imagine ever wishing to sample their deep pan Hawaiian he decided to hang onto it in case of just this sort of eventuality. Well, perhaps not exactly this.

He turned on his heel and left her there on the bed while he went back downstairs. He did it the hard way, having decided to give teleporting a miss for a while, just until he was clear what he was dealing with here. Ged rummaged around in the stack of miscellaneous junk he tended to keep in a kitchen drawer and soon found the leaflet. He sprinted back upstairs.

"Margherita?" That was the plain cheese and tomato one, right? That would probably do.

From the uncomprehending expression on her face he surmised the woman knew even less about pizza than he did, but it was probably the best he could produce on the spur of the moment. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed the number of the takeaway.

Her eyes never left his as he placed the order and reeled off the address. The food would be with them in thirty minutes, and meanwhile he thought he probably did have the makings of some black coffee which might help. He turned away from her intending to fix her a drink, and that was when she made her move.

The instant his attention was elsewhere she shot off the bed and made a dash for the door. Unluckily for her, she had no notion of her bearings and ended up in the en suite, the duvet trailing uselessly behind her.

Somehow Ged managed to keep his fangs retracted as he pursued her, picking up the quilt as he went. His cock was another matter, however, and he knew she could hardly miss the swelling hardness in his jeans as he wrapped the duvet around her again and steered her out of the correct door onto the landing.

"Let's go downstairs. Can you manage?"

She nodded.

"All the same, I'll go first in case you trip." Ged headed down the stairs, taking it slow as she shuffled awkwardly in his wake. He led her back into the kitchen and pointed to the sofa. "Sit there and keep warm."

She didn't move.

"I won't hurt you. I promise."

She didn't look especially confident about that, but seemed unwilling to risk further defiance. She sidled around and passed him to curl up in the corner of the settee.

"Who are you?" The small voice reached him as he fiddled with his electric kettle.

Ged turned to face her again, decoding to try another tack with his questions. "You said you knew me. As I carried you up here from the lake."

"I thought I did. I do, but... What was that, earlier? I saw... I saw... That room, the bench. You were going to beat me."

"I know what you saw, and what I threatened to do to you. I frightened you. I'm sorry. That was unwarranted, and it won't happen again." He hoped.

"Gerard, what has happened to you? You are—different."

And the rest.

Ged was in trouble and he knew it. Whoever this weird little thing turned out to be—and the more he thought about it the more ridiculous seemed the prospect of this woman being some sort of reincarnation of his dead wife—she had seen his fangs and his playroom. She could at the very least bring the authorities down here to check him out. His powers of mind control were probably sufficient to convince the police that there was nothing to see here, but Ged hated drawing attention. Someone would make a record, he'd be logged somewhere, registered in some database, and that spelled potential disaster. At the very least it would cost him hours of work as he would have to hack into systems to erase himself from the files. He could do without that.