I felt my pockets for my phone before I remembered that I’d only brought my keys along with me to the ballroom.
My eyes dropped to his chest, where the rain had molded his black shirt to his skin. All that is holy, no wonder the guy was damned. Having that nice of a body should be a sin.
“So I came out here to make sure everything was alright.”
I tore my eyes away from his sculpted pecs. “For your information, not answering the phone does not indicate that I’m in mortal danger.”
That muscle in Andre’s jaw jumped. “You’re not serious Gabrielle, are you?” His voice took on that deceptively calm note. “By your own admission you were with the devil just moments ago.”
I folded my arms. “So? I don’t need some man to save me.”
His eyes were intense. “I’m not just some man. I’m your soulmate. And I will do whatever I think is necessary if your life is in danger.”
“Will you stop trying to protect me?” I said.
He stalked away from me and leaned his hands against his car, bowing his head. For the next minute the only sound was whatever fancy breathing technique he was using to rein in his emotions.
Finally, I heard him sigh. “I’m not very good at relationships.” Well, that makes two of us. He fisted one of his hands and lightly pounded his car with it. “It kills me to see what I’m doing: I’m so scared of losing you again that I’m sabotaging the situation.”
Andre pushed away from the car. He looked like he’d already lost whatever he held most dear to him.
I exhaled. “I appreciate the explanation,” I said. And I did. The guy had seven hundred years to become the bossy, controlling man he was today, and no one had taken the time to tell him to shove it. Not to mention that I could be a bit prickly at times. “And I’ll forgive you on two conditions.”
He must have been feeling pretty bad because he didn’t even try to argue. He waited.
“One,” I said, “you feed me some dinner. And two, tell me all you know about the devil.”
***
We sat across from each other at an Italian restaurant in Douglas, a city on the opposite end of the Isle of Man. The dim lighting made Andre look the part of mysterious stranger. He sipped on a glass of wine while I enjoyed my fettuccini alfredo.
“Can you really drink that?” I asked, nodding to the glass in his hand.
He set it down, his fingers moving the stem of the glass in small circles. “Yes, but I don’t digest it.”
“Huh.” I twirled pasta around my fork. In the background classical music played quietly.
“You wanted to know about the devil,” he said. “May I ask why the sudden interest?”
I put my fork down and considered my dinner. “The interest isn’t sudden. I told you before, this guy has stalked me my whole life. I just never knew he was the devil until that night at Bishopcourt.”
I gave Andre a long look. “You’ve met him, haven’t you? I read about it right after I arrived here. You were the first vampire created, and he turned you.”
Andre let go of his wine glass to rest his forearms on the table. “Listen Gabrielle. I believe knowledge is power, but when it comes to discussing evil, knowing more makes you more vulnerable.”
I remembered at the séance the medium telling Leanne something similar.
He continued. “I will tell you what you want to know, but I need you to promise me to be careful with this knowledge.”
Being ignorant had gotten me nowhere—the man in the suit was still after me. The least I could do was learn and protect myself. “I promise.”
Andre stared at the wine in front of him, his eyes becoming distant. “As awful as that textbook of yours is, the story is true. My father sold his soul to save my life.” The skin around his eyes pinched. This was the first time he’d ever mentioned his human life to me, and it looked like it took great effort to relive his life. “The devil tricked him, and he tricked me. He saved my life by making me immortal. It’s a tactic he’s used before.”
He looked to me. “I’m not the oldest vampire out there, just the oldest surviving one.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“From the research I and others have done, the devil appears to have made others before me immortal. These lineages grow and eventually die off—probably when someone kills the original vampire.”
A shiver coursed through me.
He took my hand, his face pleading. “Two things you need to know about the devil. The first is that he’s always deceptive. He’s the master of twisting language and intention so that he gets what he wants. And he doesn’t lie like a human might.
“That leads me to my second point. The devil doesn’t see things in terms of weeks or years or even centuries. Nor does one lost soul matter to him in and of itself. Every trick he pulls, every visit he makes is all part of a larger strategy.”
“And what’s that strategy?”
Andre’s lips thinned. “Power.”
Chapter 11
I pushed away my meal.