Switch (The Forever Series, Book 7) (29 page)

“So it was me. I turned him into a raving lunatic.” I didn’t
want to cry but the tears spill silently over and I brush them away roughly.

He drags me over to him, muttering consolation in Italian to
me as he has done so many times in the past. “No, Aefre. Don’t blame yourself.
He was already leaning that way.”

“And I pushed him over the edge.” I snuffle into his
ridiculously expensive t-shirt but he doesn’t seem to notice. “Tell me,” I say,
sitting up. “I want to know what he was like when you met him. You must have
seen something in him to turn him. Something good, to love him.”

“I did see something. I saw myself,” he says. “And that,
Aefre, is not a good thing.”

“I need more than that.”

He sighs and rubs his hand over his eyes, “Why are you doing
this to yourself?”

“Because I am self-destructive. You know that,” I say with a
tearful smile.

“All too well,” he mutters. “We met Lance during battle.
When Rome defeated the Gauls in 350 BC. He was an incredible warrior. His skill
and ruthlessness almost matched my own. It made me notice him. I watched him.
He fought to the bitter end and should have been taken prisoner to be a slave,
but he demanded to be killed, saying he would rather die than be slave to the
Romans. He had piqued my interest and I took him instead, offered him
everything I could give him and he accepted. After a while.” He smiles at the
memory and I see for the first time that he did really love him, once. I don’t
dare breathe, wanting him to continue, needing to know. “I showed him what a
life he could lead if he was one of us. I showed him everything he could have
and he took it. He was so like me. I could see it plain as day. He was a
perfect gentleman, a gracious host, the life of every party, everybody’s
friend. Every man wanted to be him and every woman wanted to be with him. The
three of us became thick as thieves. We did everything together. We roamed the
Continent, taking what we wanted, when we wanted it. Behind closed doors, I saw
his cruel streak with the women he took. He was so careful though, never let it
slip over into his life. I showed him…” he breaks off with a look of sorrow at
me, but I nod encouragingly for him to continue. “He watched me with the women I
took.” His voice cracks. “He wanted to know what it was like to cause so much
damage. I showed him. I showed him how powerful he was and everything he could
do. Introduced him to the women who sold themselves for the pleasure of people
like us. He became everything I wanted him to be. I wanted him to be just like
me so that I wasn’t alone, so that I could justify my actions because I wasn’t
the only one who liked to cause pain. He became addicted to it. The feeling of
power it gave him. But still he controlled it, only unleashing his monster at
night, in his bed-chamber. By day he was still the man that everyone wanted to
be. After I met you and brought you back to live with me, I tossed him out. And
Sebastian and all the others.” He shifts his eyes away from me, not wanting to
name the names of his other charges that I don’t yet know about and not wanting
me to ask. “That was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. It made him resent
you. He became fixated on you. Wanted to know why I had chosen you over him. He
needed to know why I wouldn’t share you as I had with all the others. I cut him
off as coldly as I would a stranger, after over a thousand years of being
inseparable. But I didn’t want him anywhere near you. Or any of them. I wanted
to keep you all to myself and in the end it was the cause of what happened to
you. I am sure that Eloise didn’t have to try very hard to convince him to take
you.” He stops and looks at me, coming back to the present as he remembers what
Vivienne told us. “So yes, he was a perfectly normal, if a little cruel, member
of society for the times, that
I
ended up breaking. Me, Aefre, not you.
Please don’t ever think it was you.”

“But I didn’t love him and that is what drove him over the
edge. That he couldn’t make me love him.”

“He wouldn’t have taken you had I not given him cause to be
jealous and out for revenge.”

“But…”

“No, Aefre. We can go around in circles about this until the
end of time. I will not allow you to take any responsibility for his actions.”
He wraps his arms around me tightly and I cling to him.

“I love you,” I mumble.

“I love you too,” he strokes my hair, but he is still being
distant with me.

“Please stop rejecting me.”

“I am not rejecting you,” he says with a sigh.

“Then make love to me. I need you. I need to be with you.”

“I can’t. Not yet,” he pushes me away.

“That is rejection,” I say.

“No it isn’t. I just keep picturing you with Sebastian and
I’m sorry but I can’t get it out of my head,” he blurts out.

“Well maybe you should have thought about that before you
came up with the notion that it would be a good idea!” I yell at him, getting
my mad on now. The rain is lashing against the windows as I climb out of bed,
almost as if it is trying to reach me.

“I know,” he says behind me. “I was only thinking about Sebastian.
I wanted to ease his suffering.”

I glare out of the windows at the weather, arms crossed and
buck naked. I am freezing and I shiver. This is getting bizarre. Vampires don’t
feel the temperature.

He drapes my robe over my shoulders and turns me to face
him. “Forgive me. I know I am being an overly sensitive idiot.”

“Yes, you are. The best way to get the picture out of your
head is to create a new one.”

“I don’t know. It’s a pretty vivid picture. You aren’t the
quietest Vampire in the castle,” he says with a wry smile.

I blush furiously as his insinuation hits me and I look
down, mortified that he heard me. “I’m sorry,” I mumble under my breath,
feeling the need to apologize for some reason.

“Don’t apologize. I know he is exceptionally talented, as are
you. It only makes sense that you would enjoy each other.”

My blush deepens even more if that is possible at his words,
said so matter-of-factly. It makes me wonder how he can be so cavalier about it
and yet so hurt at the same time.

“I know you have given him everything he wanted,” he
whispers to me.

That makes me look up. “You’ve spoken to him?” I ask
sharply.

He hesitates, probably from my tone, but then says, “No. But
I know that you have. It makes me happy that he is happy. Even if it is at the
same time difficult for me.”

“He told me about his wife,” I say suddenly, wanting him to
know that I know.

He steps back, his arms still around me. He peers down at me
in surprise and asks, “Which one?”

Which one? How many has he had? “Err, I don’t know. The one
who betrayed him,” I say, now feeling foolish for bringing it up. Clearly, I
don’t know the half of it.

“Which one?” he asks me again.

“There was more than one?” I ask, shocked and outraged on
his behalf.

“Unfortunately, yes. Several, in fact. He was a complete
romantic at heart and he was determined that there was someone out there he
could trust.”

“Oh. Uh, he said it was over two thousand seven hundred
years ago so I am going to assume the first one then?” Why would he tell me
about her and not the others, I wonder to myself. I will have to ask him at
some point.

He nods. “Ah yes,
Isebella
,” he says her name in
disgust. “His first charge. It was a disaster. They were happy for over fifty
years and then she just got greedy and betrayed him. Tried to sell him to the
highest bidder. The clean-up was…messy,” he says distastefully.

Messy? I think what he means is many. Many Vampires killed
to protect his secret. Shit. I really don’t know the half of it. I’m not sure
that I want to know.

“Well, rest assured his secret is safe with me,” I say.

“I know,” he says. “You are a good woman, Aefre. He is lucky
to have you as a friend.” He places just a bit too much emphasis on the word
“friend,” almost as a warning to me to never take it further than that. Again I
hope that Drake, King of the Dark Fae, never shows his face round here or I am
going to have some
explaining to do.

“Now, why don’t you take a nice long bath and get ready. I
am unable to take you out as we aren’t supposed to be here, but I can still
create a wonderful date for you right here,” he says, brushing my hair back
from my face.

“Ooo,” I say. “A date. I am impressed, sir,” I tease him
affectionately and he gazes happily at me.

“Yes, I hear you are quite fond of those.” He takes my hand
and leads me to the bathroom. “In fact, I have it on good authority that it is
an excellent way to get you where I want you.”

“And where would that be?” I ask seductively.

“Completely at my mercy,” he says with his gorgeous smile
that makes my heart thump.

“Humph,” I say as I bend over to fill the massive tub. “You
had better pay up, D’Arcangelo. A girl could get a complex if you withhold much
longer. I will take you by force if necessary.”

He laughs and says, “Oh I’ll pay up, my sweet. You have
nothing to worry about. Although, I do quite like the sound of you taking me by
force, I may have to play hard to get.” He takes my hand and helps me into the
tub that is now filling up nicely with lavender-scented bubbles.

“Play hard to get and you will be playing by yourself,” I say
as I lean back and relax.

“Well, that is just no fun.” he mock pouts. “Am I going to
have to be a wanton man-slut and ravage you before the entrées?”

“You wouldn’t hear me complaining. I quite like the idea of
you being a wanton man-slut. It’s a pity that we can’t go out. The thought of
you taking me in a crowded restaurant thrills me.”

His eyes go darker with lust. “Mm, I have to say it thrills
me too. It reminds me of the time I just had to have you, and fucked you during
a very dull performance of ‘Cats’ in London a few decades ago.”

“Gave a whole new meaning to private box seats,” I say with
a wicked glint. “I know that the old farts in the box next to us were
watching.”

“Of course they were, we gave a better performance than what
was being displayed on the stage,” he says arrogantly, fully confident in his
sexual abilities.

“I am now highly aroused, my love. If you aren’t careful, I
am going to pull you into this bathtub and have my wicked way with you.”

“I do love that I can arouse you with just thoughts,” he
says as he leans back against the basins, out of my reach, but showing a clear
sign of his own arousal. “I think that maybe one day, very soon, we are going
to have to revisit the West End for an encore.”

“Now you are just being mean,” I say as he leers deliciously
at me. “Putting thoughts like that into my head is a dangerous game if you have
no intention of seeing to my needs.” I brush my hands lightly over my nipples
and his eyes zero straight in on them now peeping out of the bubbles. I lightly
trace my finger down in between my breasts and under the surface of the water
as his eyes follow the path. They have darkened even more and are now almost
black with his desire, but still he makes no move to touch me. If he is
determined to make me wait for him, then I will just take matters into my own
hands. Literally.

I close my eyes as I insert my finger into myself, my breath
hitching slightly and I hear his own breathing get heavier as he watches me. I
start to rub my clit in slow circles, causing the full bathtub to slosh water
all over the floor. He ignores it as his eyes narrow, my own opening slightly
to watch him.

“Ah,” I cry out softly as I can feel the tingling start and
I speed up, coaxing my orgasm to burst and I shudder and arch my back, pushing
my bubble-covered breasts out of the water. The last of the rush leaves me and
I sigh and relax again, taking my finger and sucking it seductively. I widen my
eyes innocently at him, now highly turned on, but stubborn enough not to do
anything about it. He breathes in slowly as I say, “One of these days, my love,
you will learn that if you insist on turning me on and then leaving me
unfulfilled, I will find a way to satisfy myself.”

“One of these days, my love,” he repeats, “you will learn
that everything I do has a reason. Watching you pleasure yourself is one of
life’s greatest gifts. I enjoy it almost as much as when I do it to you. And I
really enjoy it when you think you have the upper hand, but you are merely
acting on the course that I have set.” His self-satisfied, smug smile is in
place and I want to slap it off his face. The jerk. I stick my middle finger up
at him and he lets out a loud guffaw, which causes me to add the other one, to
his thorough enjoyment.

“You can’t win that game with me, my sweet. I know you too
well, remember?”

“You shouldn’t be so boastful about being a master
manipulator,” I say loftily. “It is not an attractive quality,” I add, which
only serves to increase his laughter.

“Which isn’t? Being a master manipulator or being boastful?”
he asks in between snickers.

“Both,” I snap at him. “If you aren’t careful, I will be the
one withholding later.”

That shuts him up long enough to glare at me. “You wouldn’t
dare,” he says. “You want me too much. You have no willpower.”

“Confident, aren’t you?” I say, flicking water at him. “Are
you suggesting that you do have willpower? That you can resist me?”

“Of course,” he says with a shrug.

“Oh, I see. So if I were to leave right now, you wouldn’t
follow me?”

“Oh I would follow you and drag you back, as this is
my
time. What I do with it, and you, is entirely up to me.”

“Entirely up to you? Bold words,” I say, enjoying this game
as much as he is. “I suppose we shan’t be doing the ritual then later. What a
pity,” I say it innocently and look away, making a show of washing myself and
feigning nonchalance.