“Right, yes,” I said as the memory flooded back. I’d warned him our mark might be trying to trap us. “I remember.”
“I was a landowner as a human, born to wealth. I’d lost my parents early, sadly, and at first had a hard time shouldering the responsibility. I nearly lost my fortune to gambling and mismanagement. It wasn’t until I was twenty-one, an age much further into manhood at that time than it is now, that I had everything turned around. My vast estate was once again prosperous, and I was living the life meant for me. It was then I opened my eyes to taking a wife and producing an heir. There were many I could choose from who would solidify my holdings and birth strong, plump babies.”
“Wow,” I muttered.
“But for all the prudent choices, there was one of lesser status, a bad match, who had always caught my eye. A man’s undoing is always a woman, is it not?” His smile was sad and directed downward, at his snifter. “She was as bright as the sun. As beautiful as a blooming spring flower. Her wit and charisma drew me in from the moment I met her.”
He paused, and swirled the brown liquid around his glass. Candlelight glittered off the surface.
“I did not love her, but I was not far from it. I needed only a push. But even still, I would’ve done anything for her. As wrong as the match was, she was my beloved. Many remember their first sexual experience. Me, I remember her, even now. Her rosy lips, plump and supple. Her laugh, so hearty and rich despite her delicate features. The demure way she would look up at me through her lashes.” He took a sip of his cognac, his eyes faraway. “I was eager to call her my wife. Promised to bathe her in jewels. Elevate her status. Little did I know that she was on a mission. I embodied sin, in her eyes. I did not worship every Sunday, sometimes choosing business matters instead. I did not bow my head when grace was said. Small things. More importantly, various relics she found around my castle suggested to her that I was a vampire. It was a somewhat predominant fear at the time, and if the pain wasn’t still so acute, I would find that humorous, since it is what I became.” His smile turned brittle. “I did not know of her fears at the time. I did not know she was a religious fanatic who imagined me akin to the devil. I let her lure me to a lovers’ rendezvous, ignoring how poorly her behavior fit with her religion. I was blinded by her beauty. By her charm. Like a fool.”
Silence rained down between us as he stared at nothing, lost to the memories.
After some time, he took a breath, and it was only then I’d realized he hadn’t been breathing. That I hadn’t been, either.
“She’d arranged for me to meet her at a carriage for an afternoon in the countryside. I arrived early, but there was no sign of her. At first I assumed she was on her way, or that she’d gotten caught trying to sneak out alone, but I was set upon by a gang of men. I was tall for the time, broad. Strong. I defended myself as best I could, but there were too many. Near the end, one of them attempted to drive a stake through my heart. It was a paltry attempt, much too high and shallow, but the damages from the beating would’ve ended me. The blood loss alone might have killed me.
“As I lay there, bleeding, I heard the carriage finally approach. Her sweet voice rang out. I thought I was saved.” He gave a sardonic laugh. “She’d hired the miscreants. Paid them as they left. She assumed me dead—and she was happy about it. It was only then that I realized my grave error. And also…that she did not care for me. Worse, she loathed me. How blind I’d been. I blame that on youth, of course. If only blame made it any less painful.”
“But you didn’t die,” I said softly.
“No. I lay there, waiting for death to take me under. To stop the pain. That was when Vlad happened upon me.”
I sat forward. “Vlad made you?”
“Yes. He wasn’t even fully middle tier at the time, but he had a cunning insight, even then. He recognized what he saw, lying there in the mud. He carried me to his quarters below ground and kept me alive until he could turn me. I reclaimed my fortune.”
“And what about the girl?”
Darius’s face turned away. “I could not kill her. I could not. It wasn’t in me.”
“I’m sensing a pattern. Except the part where I sic a gang of people on you.”
Oh wait, I was thinking of doing that with Callie and Dizzy if he didn’t bugger off.
My gulp interrupted the silence.
Like a soft breeze, I barely heard his next words. “I didn’t feel a fraction for her what I feel for you. That should not be possible in my status of immortality.”
“It was a long time ago. I’m sure the memory has faded.”
“If there is one thing that hasn’t faded, it is the memory of that betraying witch.”
“Yikes. I stand corrected. Sore subject, clearly.”
“Yes. I haven’t spoken of it to anyone but Vlad, and that was directly after he’d changed me.”
“Dizzy said something about someone accusing you of being a vampire and trying to ram a stake through your heart.”
“Yes. What he spoke of was a misunderstanding. A friend of mine had drunk too much. Desmond has no idea of the true story. Of the depth of the pain that first betrayal has caused me.”
“Yeah, I don’t think Dizzy was talking about a girl.”
“It is always about a girl.” His sad smile made another appearance. “Our folly always has to do with a girl in one way or another.”
“That’s because men are dependent and can’t do anything on their own. You think you run the world, and then you get sick and everything stops while you mope and whine. Let this be your warning. Quit stalking me. Nothing good can possibly come of it.” I sobered for a moment. “I’m actually serious. Nothing good can come from hanging around me. I plan on killing every demon I see. If that’s going to piss off your daddy, you better walk away now.”
His expression darkened.
It was probably the daddy comment.
“Would you knowingly trap me to kill me, Reagan?” he asked, his eyes delving into mine.
I shook my head and shrugged at the same time, all the possible scenarios of how that might play out running through my head. “Maybe. I don’t know. If I need to get clear of you and can’t, sure. I might have to kill you. Like I said, you’ve been warned.”
Unbelievably, a smile graced his lips. “There, you see?”
I felt my eyebrows crawling up my forehead. “No…?”
“You are genuine. You are a fighter. A survivor. You would not play nice to my face and then stab me in the back. You are much too honest.”
“I really don’t think you should hang your hat on that conclusion.”
“There is something special about you, Reagan. Something…otherworldly.”
“Underworldly, you mean.”