The Scientific Method: A Vampire Queen Novel (Vampire Queen Series Book 10) (19 page)

Debra was staring at the Texas overlord, but when Brian glanced toward her, she ducked her head, tapping on her tablet again. He suppressed his frustration. She'd been nigh inaccessible to him this evening, and he wasn't sure why she was so determined to focus on nothing but the work, not allowing her thoughts to stray left or right from it.

He'd have tried a deeper probe of her mind, but they were on a timetable. The visiting vampires from Butch's territory had passed outside the study several times throughout the early evening, but they hadn't stepped in to speak to him. Butch had explained he'd told them Brian was doing important research, and they weren't to be interrupted.

"Otherwise we'd never finish before dinner." The overlord winked. "I've taken pains to invite three of my more interesting and less stuffy territory vampires, so it should be more relaxed than a Council event. My chef is also better."

Brian chuckled politely at that, half his mind caught up in the data Butch had provided them and how it meshed with the ongoing studies. Despite Butch's relationship with his servant being far more casual than the norm for an overlord, it appeared to have no negative impact on his effectiveness. Clearly comfortable with leadership and command, the man reeked alpha and Dominance in the same breath.

The two traits weren't always interchangeable. Brian knew he himself was undeniably a Dominant, but not necessarily an alpha. As a researcher, he was more concerned about the pursuit of knowledge, and had no difficulty deferring to Lyssa and the Council for other matters, though he could aggressively assert his viewpoint when necessary.

Mule-headed was what Lord Uthe called it, last time you argued a point with him
.

He'd opened the conscious level of his mind to Debra to trade data points. She was obviously pleased enough with that connection to allow for some humor, but he still felt that tight reserve inside her. It hadn't pleased
him
that she'd been gone when he woke, but she couldn't be in two places at once, and their work was important to her, too. He couldn't be an ass, adding to her stress by making her to stay with him while she had tasks pending. Even if he had noticed the nightmares disappeared when he went to sleep with her next to him.

Lab assistant, Butch had called her. The overlords and Region Masters they met often referred to her that way. Even the Council members. At the Savannah facility, they had second marked, actual lab assistants, techs who did vital support work. But there was a distinct difference in education and status between a lab assistant and Debra. She operated the entire research facility in Savannah during daylight hours, doing analysis, review and making testing decisions, just as he did during the night.

She was his partner, a researcher on an equal level with himself. God knows, he wouldn't have been able to tolerate anyone working with him who wasn't able to keep up, and she did more than that. She had areas where she surpassed him, seeing things intuitively that he came to by logic. It made them a very good team. Just as Butch said, right?

"With respect, my lord," he spoke abruptly. "I have to correct you. Debra is my servant, but she isn't my lab assistant. She holds two doctorates and quite frankly has areas where she can kick my brain's ass."

Butch glanced his way, the shrewd gray eyes studying him. He gave a nod, his lips twisting. "My opinion of you just went up a few notches, Lord Brian."

As for Debra, she'd come to a complete standstill. Brian suspected only his servant's normal tightly wound state was keeping her jaw from dropping. Since she was standing between Butch's knees, taking his vitals, listening to his heart and lungs, Butch picked up the stethoscope and tapped lightly, making her start. "
Doctor
Debra, then. My apologies, doctor."

Brian suppressed his irritation as Debra recovered enough to give the overlord a gently admonishing look, but there was a faint smile on her face, her cheeks flushed. Butch had re-settled his hands on her hips. Women responded to that personality type, didn't they? Handsome, charismatic and intensely attentive, a male like Butch could make a woman feel like the center of the universe, even a vampire's servant.

Dix returned then, reporting on some sundry ranch issue to Butch. It gave Brian some breathing room from his inexplicable jealousy to pay closer attention to what was happening. Though he might be having difficulty picking up anything from Debra's mind, Butch's attempts to get her to smile and relax seemed more purposeful than flirtatious, even more noticeable when Dix behaved in a similar manner toward her. He also noticed Dix watching Debra closely, with concern.

Damn it, why was he watching another vampire-servant pairing to figure out what was going on with his own? He was done skulking around the edges. No matter if it skewed the data or delayed dinner, he dove beneath that wall around her thoughts. He was going to find out what was going on, direct from the source.

It didn't take long for the effort to bear fruit. Butch had risen from the chair since the data collection done, and was shrugging into his shirt. Dix told Debra he'd see her at dinner, giving her hand a squeeze.

Her mind pinged like a submarine target.

Dinner. She was dreading dinner. And not the dread that came with enduring a social nicety. This was like she anticipated facing a firing squad.

Brian's brow furrowed as quiet descended on the library and she moved over to her laptop to finish her own computations. For a woman who didn't expect him to be in her mind, she kept things strapped down at a surprisingly cavernous level of her consciousness. But he'd just pointed it out to Butch, hadn't he? This wasn't an average woman's brain. Her brain was a tool she exercised and honed incessantly. She could likely manipulate data in her mind, classify and file it as securely as she could on a laptop.

He could push past all that, but she'd panicked when he'd gone there the other night, under far more sensual circumstances. She was already feeling very unsettled. He didn't want to add to it if he could figure it out through patience and deductive reasoning.

As the day had progressed, she had gotten quieter, less likely to respond to Butch's laughter. Once, when she needed to go to her room to retrieve a hardcopy file, Dix had hopped up and told her to tell him where it was. "That way you don't have to interrupt what you're doing," he'd said easily.

In hindsight, Brian realized he'd made the offer a little too quickly. But as a result, Debra had remained in the room with them throughout the day, never leaving except for the occasional bathroom break, which was just outside this room, in view of the door.

She regularly served at Council dinners. At the few where he'd also been present, he'd been incredibly pleased by her responsiveness. It was a credit to him as her Master and, beyond that, it intensely aroused him, feeling his servant act under his command. Up until recently, he'd always told himself it was evidence she'd positively adjusted to the realities of vampire life. But had he ever really delved into those subconscious layers where she was obviously hiding her true self, to see if emotionally she accepted the things a submissive like her responded to physically?

He knew she liked it very much when he was present at those events. Her eyes would latch onto him, mind reaching for him, ensuring her Master's pleasure. He hadn't seen it as a vital way for her to deal with the scenario. Endure it and find pleasure at the same time.

He frowned, prowling around her mind. She was focusing on her work, pushing her dread away, though he noticed the twitch of her fingers on the counter, the taut line of her shoulders. She was wearing her lab coat, as she always did when they were conducting official examinations, but beneath her slim body was clad in a waist-nipping skirt and cotton knit shirt that molded her curves. She'd change into something else for dinner, something a little more formal. Seeing the flash of it in her head, he was more than pleased with her choice.

She'd brought an amber-colored shimmery short dress, one of his favorites on her, enhancing her doe-brown eyes, the multiple shades of gold in her hair. His beautiful wild creature, something that looked like she belonged to the forest and in the shade of green trees. Even more pleasing was what she usually wore beneath it, thong panties and a matching bra whose cups were so low her generous breasts would spill out of them with little more than a shallow breath.

He just wasn't sure he cared to see the effect it would have on the other vampires present.

So you'd have her wear flannel?
He couldn't afford to get possessive like this. He didn't have the rank to keep his servant exclusive. Truth, it had never occurred to him as a possibility. From the time he'd had a blood nanny, his parents had taught him a servant was a toy that must be shared, unless he achieved a rank where he could be more discriminating. A servant could only be kept completely to oneself if no vampire was higher in rank. There was only one position in the vampire world that qualified, and he didn't imagine himself taking Lyssa's place anytime soon.

His mind rejected the thought of Debra as a toy, though he knew the term simply clarified the example. He was being overly emotional. He returned to the matter at hand — figuring out the source of her fear in a way that didn't exacerbate it. "So, are you looking forward to dinner?"

"Yes, my lord."

Her response was automatic, but what happened in her mind was anything but. A maelstrom of thoughts and worries erupted with one face in the center of it. Lord Graham.

Another handful of images popped up around that center, and they had him coming to a full stop, his work forgotten. Any reservations about bonding himself too closely to her emotions vanished and he opened himself fully to the throbbing press of her fears, her dread. Fury filled him.

Over the past few days, he'd finally absorbed just how much Debra did for him. She not only cared for his needs as a vampire, which were demanding enough on their own, but she worked with him as well, a punishing schedule that had worked her to the bone. Past a third mark's endurance, until he noticed she wasn't getting any sleep.

She sure as hell hadn't planned to tell him.

Yes, he didn't have the rank to prohibit other vampires from enjoying the sensual pleasures his servant could offer, short of actual sex with her. Yet vampires who consented to other vampires taking liberties with their servants would at least stay in the servant's mind, even if just to enjoy voyeuristic pleasure. They didn't abandon their servant, mentally as well as physically, to face another vampire's requirements alone.

Debra's surprise when he'd issued the mild threat to Lord Butch about disembowelment underscored how rarely he demonstrated any possessiveness toward her at all. Many vampires did, which told others that those liberties, when taken, should be respectful of the vampire master or mistress. That there were consequences for stepping over the lines.

Unfortunately, he'd sent the exact opposite message. Then again, he'd never realized she'd faced such things. But that was because he didn't spend time in her mind. God in heaven, what kind of horrible bastard was he?

His lips tightened. The kind that would seize that cruel edge to use it for good purpose. For once.

He closed her laptop in mid-stream, though he allowed her time to remove her fingers from the keyboard first. Startled, she looked up at his face, which he knew was thundercloud dark.

"What else has Lord Graham made you do?"

Color stained her cheeks. That and the tremor that ran through her, her gaze dropping to the floor, were all the trademarks of a woman who felt shame. It only increased his wrath with himself.

"I'm sorry, my lord. I didn't want —"

"That's quite clear," he snapped. With effort, he reined himself back. "You owe me no apologies, Debra. Absolutely none."

Confusion gripped her. She was struggling for words, a question.

"You will tell me the things he has done," he said evenly. He'd seen snippets only. Probably more than enough to fill in the blanks, but he was going to be thorough. Unless it distressed her too much.

"I can't, my lord. Please don't make me say them."

He captured her chin in gentle fingers, met her eyes. "Show me then."

She did, staccato flashes as if she was trying to press the Play button but hit stop after each frame so she didn't have to see the animation. His blood boiled at what she revealed. No there hadn't been sex, but that hardly mattered, did it? Rape wasn't about sex.

His father would scoff at that. Brian could almost hear him, an obscene narrative to accompany what Debra was showing him. "A servant can't be raped. She's performed the same acts at public dinners, with other servants. Serving our pleasures is required of her."

It wasn't the same. There was a tremendous gap between those events, where her submissive nature allowed her to feel pleasure even if she had mental inhibitions — especially if he made the effort to make sure his ass was there to command her as her Master — and what Lord Graham had forced upon her.

He was still holding her chin, and he slid his grip briefly over her throat, gave it a light squeeze. "Debra."

"It's fine, my lord," she said hastily. "It's simply what a servant must do. I can handle it. It's fine. No need to trouble yourself. Will you be there tonight? I know there are things Butch gave us that you wish to review..."

She was trying her best to phrase it as a casual inquiry, but Brian saw the truth of it in her head, in her tremor beneath his touch. She wanted him there. Needed him there.

She'd never asked him for anything, not since the night she'd asked if he loved her. Every fiber of her was begging him to be there tonight, to help her through this. And what speared his heart was seeing how it shamed her to have to ask, to depend on him to care for her.

That answered his earlier question — yes, he was definitely a bastard. But he could change that.

It had been his experience that change didn't come about from external factors, only internal motivations. But Debra was his third mark, and that mark went both ways. She could delve down to the level of his soul, fill him to the brim, if he allowed it. Or even if he'd done his best to prevent it.