Gardella Vampires - Rises The Night Part 21

His fingers slipped and played where she ached and burned, making her sigh and s.h.i.+ft and leaving her wanting the rest. She felt the brush of his hair over her cheek as he kissed her neck, his breath rough in her ears.

Victoria wanted to reach for him, but her arms were still trapped behind her. "Sebastian..." she began to say, but the rest was lost when he covered her mouth with his, closing off everything but her soft moan as his hands moved up and under her gown to touch her vis bulla. She felt them brush over it, tug gently on the silver cross. Then his hands spread over her belly, under her s.h.i.+ft and stays, and lifted her hips so that her piled-up skirts rode higher.

Sebastian moved away, releasing her mouth with a low, delicious pop that made it clear he would have kissed her all night.

With one last look up at her, as if to confirm this next move, he gave a gentle sigh and fitted himself into her with one smooth slide.

Oh. Victoria closed her eyes as her heart thrummed and the lovely feeling of being joined with a man settled over her. A pleasure tear trickled down into her hair, and she drew in a deep breath and just felt.

She realized he wasn't moving; they were joined there in the rumbling carriage, his hands positioned next to her shoulders, one knee bent next to her thigh on the bench. When she opened her eyes, it was to see him looking down at her with a grin.

"I always knew our first time would be in a carriage," he told her. And drew a deep, shaky breath. Then exhaled. Closed his eyes.

And still he didn't move.She s.h.i.+fted under him because her hands were trapped. "Sebastian."

"What's the hurry, ma chere?" He bent to kiss her again, fondling her lips with his, tasting them as they rocked gently against each other with the carriage rhythm. It was enough of a movement, that incessant jolting, that Victoria felt every bit of her attention focused there where he'd slid in, and where her nipples brushed against the s.h.i.+rt he hadn't bothered to remove. Her gown bunched between them, spilling over the bench, and his legs were warm against hers.

He moved forward and she tasted the skin of his neck, faintly salty, and felt the hard pumping of the pulse in his throat. The throb between them ached and burned, and she felt the way they slid together ever so slightly, and the long-lost familiar coil that would begin to unwind deep inside her. That great need dug at her, incessant, until all she could think of, focus on, was him inside her and not moving.

Sebastian rested his cheek on her forehead and at last s.h.i.+fted. Slowly, drawing each stroke in and out with deliberation, he pressed down and in and up, his hands moving in the cus.h.i.+oned seat next to her shoulders, tangling in her hair, fingers crus.h.i.+ng into her skin. Their breathing matched, rushed and urgent, capped with sighs and soft groans.

Victoria moved too, felt the tension that had sat dormant as it built inside her, and it wasn't long before she shuddered beneath him, more tears sliding from her closed eyes, then felt him bow into her one last time, and the pause as he came inside her.

"Ah, Victoria," he murmured next to her ear, his voice low and barely audible over the carriage rumble, "I am so glad you changed your mind."

"About what?" She could barely form the words.

"About making me wait a very long time for this."

"You gave me little choice," she said, her lips brus.h.i.+ng against the beginning of stubble on his jaw. "You were quite convincing.

And Sebastian... my wrists are hurting."

"Of course." He pulled out, sat back, and tucked himself back into his breeches, leaving her without the pleasure of seeing his chest or any other part of his body. Then he helped her extricate herself from the pelisse and tuck her b.r.e.a.s.t.s back into the dress.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, lounging back in his seat.

"How long until we arrive to wherever we are going? Or was it truly a ploy to get me into this carriage?"

He smiled with great insouciance. "It was indeed a ploy. I wanted desperately to get you into this carriage. But we can still eat, can we not?"

The basket had been tucked under one of the bench seats, and Victoria helped him to pull it out, her long hair sliding down to get in the way as she bent forward.

"What a pleasure to see your hair unbound like that," he commented as they hefted the basket next to him on the seat. "I've been wanting to see it that way since the first night we met at the Silver Chalice."

"It gets in the way," Victoria told him. "I have considered cutting it, but I cannot bear to."

"Thank heaven for vanity!" he said, opening a bottle of wine. "Will you look to see if there is any cheese in there?"

While she rummaged in the basket, he poured a gla.s.s for her, and when she handed him the cheese and bread, he gave her the wine and they settled back to eat.Her body still thrummed, and there were still a lot of questions to be asked and mysteries to be solved. Such as what he looked like underneath all those clothes.

And who Beauregard was.

As she sipped her wine and nibbled on a piece of bread, Victoria felt lazy and sleepy and content. It wasn't until her cup was half-empty that she realized it was an unnatural lazy, sleepy, content feeling.

She bolted upright and the carriage pitched. She grabbed at the wall next to her.

"May I take that, ma chere, before you spill it?" Sebastian was quick to relieve her of the winegla.s.s.

"Salvi," she accused. Her tongue was thick; but she forced herself to say it again. "You put salvi in... this. You... lie..." The words were hard to get out; her eyes were drooping.

"I did not lie when I said it was a ploy to get you in here," he told her. "I am sorry it had to be done this way... but you would not have come otherwise. You are, after all, a Venator, and used to doing things your way." She thought... Was there a bit of mockery in his voice?

"Sebastian..." She put as much accusation in her voice as she could muster.

"You will be more comfortable if you come here." He helped her settle next to him, her head propped in the corner opposite him, her knees drawn up on the bench, her feet pus.h.i.+ng into his leg.

"Why?"

"Unfortunately, you were becoming a problem for the Tutela's plans, and I was asked to remove you."

"You... liar... You... b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"Such language! But it is only temporary, my dear. I promise no harm will come to you. You will be safer outside of Rome until after the second."

"Who is Beau... re... gard...?" Her eyes were closed. Sleep dragged her away.

He said something; perhaps he answered her question. She thought she heard it, but then she remembered no more.

Chapter 21.

In Which Monsieur Vioget Makes an Unflattering Comparison to Our Heroine

When Victoria came back to herself, the first thing she noticed was that the nape of her neck was cold.

Then, that she couldn't move her arms. Or her legs.

She slitted her eyes open in an effort to pretend she was still unconscious, but it obviously didn't work.

"Ah... our lovely Venator has returned to us." Sebastian's voice was very near, and so Victoria opened her eyes all the way Previous Top Nextand managed a sleepy glare.

He was sitting in a chair next to where she was lying on a narrow bed or sofa; she wasn't quite certain. She was certain that her wrists and ankles were bound, however, and that she was going to kill Sebastian.

A quick dart of eyes around the small room told her they were in some kind of residence: Curtains covered the windows, rugs protected the floor, a table with a wax candle on it sat next to Sebastian's elbow. Nice and homey.

Somewhere there were vampires, though. Not in the room, that she could tell; but somewhere nearby.

"I'm going to kill you," she said behind her teeth.

"Why do you think I took the precaution of confining you?"

"Did you say Beauregard is your grandfather?"

"Well, more precisely, he is my great-great-great-great... some vast number of generations back... grandfather." Sebastian smiled benevolently, as though he'd just announced his relations.h.i.+p to the king. He'd left his jacket off and sat in his s.h.i.+rtsleeves and breeches with a gla.s.s of wine next to him on the table.

"He's a vampire."

Sebastian bowed his head in acknowledgment.

"A vampire whose name obviously carries a great amount of weight and influence."

"So you heard me through the fog of their thrall? I wasn't certain what you remembered."

"I heard it all, including the part where you claimed that I belonged to you, like some piece of horseflesh. I had no idea you meant to spirit me off like a primitive and take advantage of me."

He looked at her then with tiger eyes that gleamed warning. "Might I remind you, Victoria, that I did not take anything you did not freely give."

She forced away the blush of fury and mortification and turned the conversation. "Who ordered you to take me away?"

"I was not ordered to do anything. I was asked quite reluctantly, and I readily agreed, knowing that it was to my benefit as well as your own, since it would keep your pretty skin from being caught in the crossfire and myself from being forced to take sides.

And, might I clarify, I did so without requiring any compensation. Do you not think that heroic of me?"

"Heroic? Or self-serving? After all, it appears you took great advantage of the situation and got your compensation after all."

"Now, Victoria, you must admit that our lovely intimacies were a long time coming, and in truth, were merely an unexpected benefit of my task. Truly, my only intent was to see you safely out of the way while things progressed the way they will."

"What do you think I am, a helpless female? I am a Venator! I didn't need to be spirited away, you b.l.o.o.d.y fool! I needed to be there!" She pulled at the ropes around her wrists, causing whatever she was tied to to creak softly. When she saw the interested gleam in his eyes at the reminder of her helplessness, she quickly started up her inquiries again. "Who asked you to take me away? Beauregard?"

He appeared to be enjoying the situation quite immensely, which made Victoria all the more determined to wipe that sardonic grin from his beautiful mouth. "You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" He laughed. "You really don't know? It was Max, of course. Max, who would never have asked such a thing of me if he'd had any other choice-which, of course, he did not. Poor sot."Victoria stopped. Yes. It made sense. Max had told her to leave Rome, had known she would not listen-which, of course, she wouldn't have-and had taken matters into his own hands.

"Why is there such enmity between you and Max?" she asked.

Sebastian shook his head. "That is not something I wish to discuss with you at this time. But feel free to ask any other questions you might have. Perhaps you will hit upon another topic of interest. We do have some time to kill. Unless you would like to indulge in some other pleasant activities."

"You truly are addled if you think I will ever let you touch me again."

"Now you are beginning to sound like those heroines in Mrs. Radcliffe's novels, not Venatorial at all. Is this what happens when the best has been gotten of you? It's a wonder you made it as far as you have if you fall into those cliched protestations."

"Why don't you untie me and we'll see how much of a Gothic heroine I am."

"And allow the Venator her full strength?" he replied in mock horror. "I think not. Although..." He moved and was suddenly sitting next to her, his hip touching the side of her waist. "I don't know why I shouldn't take further advantage of the situation; for, as you've pointed out, once you've been set free, I'm not liable to get within a few yards of your lovely person. Which I would find to be quite distressing."

He curled his fingers firmly around her jaw to hold her head in position and bent forward. She expected a rough, controlling kiss, but was surprised when it turned out to be soft and gentle: the ant.i.thesis of the forcible way he confined her. She told herself she kissed him back just to lull him into complacency. When, after a moment, she tried to bite his lip, he pulled back, laughing, and released her face. "There's my fighter."

He trailed a finger along her chin, over her neck, and down through the little dip at the base of her throat to the swell of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, leaving a trail of gooseflesh in his wake. "Very tempting, you are, my dear; so much so that I've risked more than I should have since we met. But, then, I am not the first Vioget to allow a woman to influence my better judgment. The men in my family do have their weaknesses."

Sebastian had not moved from his place next to her side, and the warmth of his legs next to her body was becoming unbearable. He'd s.h.i.+fted and was leaning over her, propped up on a palm on the other side of her arm, his cravatless s.h.i.+rt brus.h.i.+ng her gown.

She didn't give him the satisfaction of asking the obvious question; just glared and tried not to think about how near he was.

She refused to notice the way the pulse beat calmly in his throat, and the way the shallow opening of his s.h.i.+rt exposed just a bit of the golden hair that grew on his chest. And how one of his fingers played gently with the curls near her ear, sending uncomfortable p.r.i.c.kles along her neck.

Instead, she focused her attention on the fact that he'd tricked her again. Certainly he claimed it was to keep her safe... but he was the grandson of a powerful vampire. She couldn't trust him, even if he was a delicious lover. Their lovemaking had merely been a way for him to catch her off guard and abscond with her somewhere to keep her safe.

Her! A Venator!

"My great-great-grandfather was deceived into his current predicament by a lovely, conniving female vampire centuries ago.

And my father was mauled and killed by a lascivious one. She happened to be the first of the only two vampires I ever killed."

"You claim you are no member of the Tutela."

"I am not a member of the Tutela, Victoria, although there may seem to be similarities between us. The Tutela is interested in protecting vampires as well as attaining their immortality. They wish to see the vampire rise in power and are fascinated by their lives. I have no desire to become an immortal, nor to see mortals destroyed. The price is too high, and I find little to recommend their lifestyle. If one can call it that."

"But if the vampires have taken two members of your family from you... I don't understand how you can ally yourself with them in any fas.h.i.+on."

"My grandfather wasn't taken from me. To me, he is who he is and has always been, and I love him. If he were killed by someone like you, he would be d.a.m.ned for all eternity." He sat upright, looking down at her with an unfamiliar expression.

"d.a.m.ned for eternity, Victoria, with no chance of reconciliation. Do you understand what that means?" She'd never seen him so flat and humorless. "Every vampire was once a person, someone's beloved mother, daughter, father, or son, Victoria. As you have cause to know. Sending one to his death is tantamount to pa.s.sing judgment."

"The vampire is d.a.m.ned only if he has chosen to feed on a mortal; if he has not done so then he can be saved from that eternal h.e.l.l. And Venators are called to pa.s.s such judgment as part of their calling," Victoria told him fiercely, trying not to think about the man she could have killed back in the streets of St. Giles, when she had pa.s.sed judgment she'd not been called to do. "We are given that gift and meant to use it to eradicate the evil in this world." She had tried and condemned a mortal being, and she hated that she'd done so.

"And I would refuse that burden of pa.s.sing judgment. All vampires are not wholly evil, Victoria, as I well know. If they were the arbitrarily bloodthirsty cretins you believe them to be, I would not be here right now. My grandfather would have turned me or mauled me long ago."

"But once a mortal is turned to a vampire, he ceases to be the person we once knew. He becomes a monster, a demon, driven only by his need. I have never met a vampire who hasn't been set on taking from another. I've seen the carnage they leave, the way they mangle and tear and destroy men and women. They are d.a.m.ned for a reason, Sebastian, d.a.m.ned because they take promiscuously, and without need, because they must drain the life of others in order to exist. Knowing that I could prevent it from happening, that I am called to protect mortals, I could never abstain from doing so. I cannot see how you can forgive that evil, even in your own grandfather."

"And that," he said lightly, standing, moving away from her both physically and emotionally, "is what about you attracts me so, to my great regret. Your conviction, your bravery, your sacrifice. Your strength. How, even when presented with an argument, you are not easily swayed. Let me ask you something, Victoria. If my grandfather, Beauregard, walked in this room, and I gave you a stake, would you kill him here in front of me?"

She looked at him, her heart thumping along harshly, audible in the sudden silence. Sebastian was not an evil person; she knew that. He might be an opportunist, he might walk a tightrope and play two sides, but she could not believe he wished evil on anyone. Even her.

Especially her.

"Knowing that with one plunge of the stake, you would send him-or any being-to an eternity of h.e.l.l?" Sebastian stood over her.

Knowing what she knew, would she? Would she pa.s.s that judgment on the man-no, the immortal, the vampire-whom Sebastian knew and loved?

How could he love a vampire?

"I don't know." Her voice was a whisper; it was the best she could do. "If he... I don't know, Sebastian."