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Giordan hardly made it around the corner before his belly rebelled

By God, he hadn&039;t even fed on her, but it didn&039;t see to the unfamiliar and fierce show of violence and hatred he&039;d just lived As he sagged against a brick wall, e his stomach, he prayed that Narcise wouldn&039;t see or hear hi with the force of it all, he swiped the back of a hand over hisout from more than simply the evacuation of the contents of his stomach, aware that Narcise hadn&039;t finished off the bite on the side of his neck so that it still oozed a bit of blood, Giordan found hi when he first saw Narcise leaving He&039;d been briefly at Rubey&039;s private residence earlier, where he&039;d been keeping his own rooms for the last few months She&039;d told him the news from Woodmore about Scotland, and Giordan was on his way to meet her at the pleasure house when he spied Narcise He had no choice but to follow her

"Giordan, bless the Virgin, what has happened?" Rubey said when she ca into the private chairls out As the current favorite of the mistress, and soon to be investor, he had that power "Are you ill?" she asked

Even here, in this place, he could scent Narciseand the very aroma made his insides unsteady "Not anymore"

Rubey ca to the warm, damp skin She tsked when she yanked at his shirt collar to reveal the bite to ardenia-sweet and floral, without being too cloying

He closed his eyes at her touch, trying to subdue the sharp, sudden yearning for so he&039;d once had

He&039;d betrayed his own heart and soul by fairly attacking Narcise He&039;d wanted to hurt her-ords and deed-even as he desired her Craved her

How shameful and ironic that he&039;d resorted to such a frenzy He would have sunk his fangs into her, taken and seized what she&039;d offeredbut soned

The destructiveness had cohts, but frowhat had happened tonight?

"What&039;s gone on, Giordan? Will you not tell irls and clients, sat next to hi hi to tell," he said, suddenly wondering why he&039;d coone back to his rooms and sent for Kritanu

It was the elderly Indianto him after that pivotal, sunny day in the alley when his Mark had burned Drishni, one of the vintages at Chateau Riche, had done her best to help hi every time he fedbut it wasn&039;t until Giordan spoke with Kritanu that he&039;d begun to understand how he&039;d changed

His body weakened and abused, he&039;d spiraled so far down into darkness and despair, violence and devastationhopelessnessKritanu had told hihten bit of that powerful serenity and peace had found its way past the darkness of the Devil

"And you&039;re after lying to e your mind" Rubey offered him her wrist as she eased herself back onto the bed next to hi up on the other elbow "I can also see that you&039;re in need of me in another way"

Giordan sed and hesitatedbut she was right His body felt so battered and torh it wasn&039;t what he craved, it hat he needed And so he took her ars in to drink

Back when he was still recovering from the event in the alley, it was only by accident that Giordan had discovered he could still feedif he were careful This after three weeks of violently expelling the contents of his stoain sustenance He could keep nothing down-and the lifeblood he ingested spewed forth with debilitating force, leaving his belly sore and his throat andanything related to violence

But at last, the tiny, dark Drishni came to him and offered herself And when he felt the rush of her lifeblood in his mouth, pure and clean and sweet, Giordan nearly wept at the reliefbecause he knew He knew she was the answer It wasn&039;t until later that he learned why: because she ate only vegetation, nuts and grains

She ate nothing that had been acquired through death or violence-and it was that addiction to death and violence that his body was fighting, now that the white light of peace had found hiuish of the afterht The saht that had flashed into hissun in the alley "Choose"

Now, as Rubey&039;s warain how thankful he was that she could help hient and pragreat deal easier if he could have loved her

He drank without greed, easily disan reflexively during the process Although her breathing shifted, and he felt her body begin to respond to hiht normally do It was as if she realized he couldn&039;t

"Corvindale is here," she said after a short ti that the color had seeped back into his cheeks "He has news"

Giordan withdrew immediately and looked at her in surprise "Why did you not tellthe last bit

"I could see you were in no good mood for it You ile flower," he snapped, sitting up

Rubey offered her arm for him to finish off and patted his cheek with the opposite hand "If you could have seen yourself, Giordan, s" She ended the little pat with a tender caress over his jaw

He frowned, but attended to her wound with his lips and tongue She tremored a bit beneath his mouth now, and her eyes sank half-closed He could scent the heightened ave a little shiver in response

"By the Virgin, if you weren&039;t ruined for any other, I&039;d be tossingfor you, Giordan, rich and handsome and kind as you are," she said, her voice dusky and filled with the Irish "But you are ruined," she said, sitting up and sliding her legs off the bed "And so I&039;ll tell you the bad part That Corvindale&039;s news is about Narcise"

"Where have you been?" Chas de

He&039;d been frantic, looking for her first throughout the pleasure house, and then trying to find her by searching the streets nearby, interviewing servants and pedestrians to see if they&039;d noticed her No one had, and he&039;d begun to be certain that soed to take her from beneath his very nose

Narcise leveled a calm stare at hi in her eyes, so different

"You went for a ithout telling anyone where you were going? Did you not think Ihad happened to you?"

"What can happen to me in London? I&039;m a Dracule, and use a sword better than any man I&039;ve ever met," she replied, still calm and unemotional "No one can harer"

"What if Cezar were here? What if he&039;d sent histhat he sounded al as his bossy sister Maia

Narcise-God in heaven, how could anyone be so utterly breathtaking?-fixed hi in a long, single braid over her shoulder He knew that it would still be s like a blue-black waterfall, when the plait was undone His heart thuht share later, when he did just that

Her cheeks were flushed a bit oas dirty and damp The filthy, worn toe of a slipper peeped froe of dirt-andblood?-on it On her lips, too As if she&039;d been cut

"What did Sonia tell you?" she asked

Rubey Damn and blast Chas sat in a chair next to the sofa on which Narcise was sitting He&039;d known he had to tell herhe just hadn&039;t been ready to so soon He&039;d needed time to think about it all

And as he sat here now, looking at her, he knew things were about to change

"When you gave her the button froain "You told ain he sensed that there was so perhapsdark and unsettled lurked in her eyes As if she were in soreat pain

Had he done that to her?

He bowed his head, then looked straight at her "She did see soI didn&039;t want to tell you, Narcise I didn&039;t knohat it meant, and I didn&039;t kno you&039;d feel Or react"

"What did she see?" Her voice was tight and angry

"She always sees what it is that the person fears the most And what she sahen she held Cezar&039;s button was you, Narcise"

"Me?" Narcise&039;s eyes had turned from flat and furious to shocked and wide "She saw me?"

Chas nodded Sonia had described the vision as Narcise, who out fro the bottom of her chin and part of one cheek Was the fact that her face was partially hidden soful?

"How can that be? What does that mean?" Narcise said, but even as she spoke, he watched her face change into one of contemplation and considerationwhich was just what he&039;d feared

It would be just like his beautiful, brave Narcise to rush off to Paris and use herself to get back in to see Cezar He&039;d intended to get her settled safely soo back to France himself and put an end to Cezar Moldavi

And then he&039;d coether

For, now that Chas had gotten the news about Die, even o, while he and Narcise were still traveling back froreat ordeal to save Maia&039;s lifeand now he, too, had miraculously broken Lucifer&039;s hold on him Whether it was because he&039;d finally learned how to do it through his studies, or for some other reason, Chas wasn&039;t certain But the truth was, Diain-his Mark frory, austere earl had actually been seen to be s

Just then, the door flew open to e into any chaht I heard you return Di with you immediately, Chas Voss is here as well"

He rose, at once concerned and relieved by the interruption

"With your perlanced at her and was rewarded with a cool look that told him she wasn&039;t finished with her pique Ah, well, wo At least his sisters alere He gave a proper bow and followed Rubey fro was certain Chas wasn&039;t going to tell Narcise-or anyone, especially Rubey-what else Sonia had seenwhen he gave her a handkerchief belonging to Giordan Cale

According to Sonia, Cale&039;s greatest fear was Narcise Dead

Narcise stared after them as the door closed, suddenly furious and bereft at the same time

The moment Rubey rushed in, she&039;d smelled him: smart, masculine, familiar Giordan On her

Her throat seized up, tight and scratchy, and she&039;d hardly heard the ensuing conversation, for her entire body ier Narcise&039;s vision darkened with shadowy, red edges By Fate, Giordan must have fairly run to have made his way back here to Rubey first, and without Narcise seeing hione directly fro Narcise, devouring her, filling his hands with herto Rubey The whoreh her, and for the first time in weeks, her Mark eased into painlessness Narcise closed her eyes and fed it, suber

And then, just as quickly as it had co Pain

I loved you

Had he really? She scoffed to herself, tried to push away the ht and on that horrible day when he&039;d co of Cezar

The starkness in his eyes had been the saht: deep and coan to pace the chamber, propelled by fear and hurt If he&039;d loved her, hy, had he done what he&039;d done? How could he?

How could he have iined she&039;d accept him after he&039;d betrayed her? Any betrayal would have killed her, after what she&039;d experiencedbut for it to be with a ht she&039;d forget that?

Was it just his Draculean nature? To seek pleasure wherever it was offered? To focus on self, and only self?

Of course it was