Escaping Solitude Page 3

  Edmund moves quickly. He’s a flash of black fabric before everything stops, and I realize he’s pinned someone, face-first, against the wall. He, in fact, holds that someone’s arm at an unnatural angle, and that someone winces in pain. It takes a moment for me to recognize Felipe, my old friend.

  “I’ve heard I have a lush ass,” Edmund hisses, “but grabbing is just rude.”

  Felipe looks the same as always, his dark hair tied at the back of his neck. The shadows beneath his cheekbones are practically ghoulish, but his eyes shine in the dim light. I see a flash of teeth when he laughs. “My, my, Andrew, you’ve bagged a strong one. However do you manage him in bed?”

  “He manages,” Edmund says.

  “Let go of me, child.”

  “Promise to behave?”

  Felipe presses away from the wall and spins using every bit of his vampire strength. Edmund falls back against my chest, and I catch him just as Felipe bares his fangs. “Do not forget the monsters with which you play.”

  In the face of one such monster, Edmund’s heart rate doesn’t even jump. He leans close to Felipe and whispers, “Don’t touch what isn’t yours.”

  Felipe licks his bottom lip, fangs still out for show.

  Pride courses through me, because not only is my sailor strong, but he’s also brave. I love the way he laughs in the face of destruction.

  “Gentlemen.” Michelle’s crystal clear voice cuts the quiet. Felipe, always her pet, turns at the sound, and there she stands, long, white hair piled on top of her head. Her gown is pale lavender. “Edmund.” Her face brightens when she says his name. She holds her hand out, and he steps forward to take it. “It’s so good to see you.” She means it. I can see it in the way her eyes crinkle. “You look wonderful.”

  He bends and kisses her hand. “Nothing compared to you. You put all the flowers of the world to shame.”

  She smiles, as does Felipe. The way he watches Edmund—as though torn between feelings of homicide and sex—I want to kick him. He’ll never touch my boy. Never.

  “And Andrew.” She beckons me closer, so I go. She kisses me on the cheek. “When have you last fed? You look exhausted. Scared of another exile?”

  Edmund ignores the veiled threat. “Damn it, when did you last feed?”

  “I…” No part of me wants to explain that the only blood I can now stomach is Edmund’s. “I’m still getting used to being back.”

  Felipe chuckles. “Goodness. He is a changed man, Michelle.”

  She hums. “He is indeed.” Her eyes dart to Edmund as if she can read my thoughts. “Let’s join the party, shall we?” She extends her arm to Felipe, and he jumps to take it, leading her back toward the foyer and the grand staircase.

  “What a cock-up.” He nods toward their retreating backs. “Who the hell was that?”

  “Felipe. He is Michelle’s occasional lover and devotee, although he’d never turn down something like you.”

  “Oh, good, I’ve been here five minutes, and I already made someone hate me. That might be a record.”

  I shake my head. “He doesn’t hate you. He wants to fuck you.”

  “Not happening.” He lifts his arm. “Shall we?”

  Instead of taking his arm, I crowd him against the wall and swallow any further questions with an openmouthed kiss. He welcomes my tongue into his mouth and moans while grabbing at my lapels. “I adore you,” I say. “Felipe’s face when you crushed him into that wall was invaluable.”

  He smiles but glances away. “He felt…stronger than you.”

  “Yes. Well.”

  “You need to eat, don’t you?”

  I kiss his forehead. “Later.” With my hand on the back of his neck, I guide him to the staircase. He ducks and smiles under my attentions.

  Together, we climb. I continue guiding him down the candlelit hall. The music is louder up here, as are the voices, the laughter. When we step into the double doorway that leads to the grand ballroom, Edmund’s eyes widen.

  “Fuck me,” he mutters.

  “Once we get home, yes,” I say.

  He rolls his eyes but only wastes his gaze on me for a moment, because attractive vampires and humans in varying states of undress are everywhere. I doubt even experienced Edmund has ever seen a ballroom like this, decorated with couches and overflowing beds. Servants rush around with trays of champagne, oysters, and absinthe. I give my sailor a little shove inside, and he grabs two champagne flutes from a passing tray before handing one to me.

  I see Michelle and Felipe up ahead, waiting for us, so I tug Edmund’s arm to get him moving. A woman in nothing but feathers pauses long enough to give him the once-over, and he spins to watch her retreating back.

  “Have you ever slept with a woman?” I ask, surprised I’ve never asked before.

  “Several,” he says, finishing his first glass of wine and already reaching for another.

  “Really?”

  “I assume that means you haven’t.” Two young men rutting against each other distract him.

  “No. I’ve never slept with a woman.”

  He laughs at me before wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “So I have done something you haven’t!”

  I sling my arm around his waist and speak with my lips against his forehead. “I’m fairly positive you’ve done several things I haven’t, you madman.”

  We catch up to Felipe and Michelle who recline on a grand, red couch against the back wall. Michelle pets the empty space at her side. “Edmund, you will sit beside me.”

  He does as told, although he eyes me first. I grudgingly sit next to Felipe.

  “What do you think of New Orleans?” Michelle asks.

  His bright eyes take in the high ceiling, painted black, and the brightly lit chandelier. “It’s beautiful and, uh, perfect. For a man like me.”

  Felipe shouts, “What kind of man are you exactly?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  Felipe puts his hand to his chest as though scandalized and whispers to me, “He is a bit of an ass.”

  “You didn’t exactly make a winning first impression.”

  Felipe shrugs and tugs at his lace cuffs.

  “Do you like our soiree? Perhaps you and Andrew would enjoy a bed of your own, hmm?” Michelle puts her hand on his forearm. “I would love to see more of your skin.”

  He quickly looks at me, and I just barely shake my head.

  “No. Thank you,” he says.

  She runs her fingers through the side of his hair. “Shy?”

  He chuckles. “They remind me a bit of cannibals, the way they devour each other.”

  Michelle hums. “Perhaps, but no one ends up dead in the morning.”

  “Not anymore,” Felipe mutters.

  “How old are you, Edmund?”

  I sit up a bit straighter at her question, because through all the madness that has kept us alive, I still never thought to ask.

  He leans forward to snatch another glass from a passing tray—pale green absinthe, this time. “Does it matter?”

  “You’re a puzzle, you see. You look very young, but I don’t think you are. You are worldly. Experienced.” She touches his cheek. “Hmm?”

  “I’m twenty-eight,” he says.

  I cuss. “You are not.” Jesus, I’d once guessed him no more than twenty. He seems so damn young when he laughs.

  Ignoring the others, he stands, crosses to me, and straddles my lap. My hands immediately reach beneath his jacket and run up the back of that red, silk waistcoat. He presses his nose against mine. “Have I lost my allure since I’m so very old?”

  I laugh against his mouth. His warm breath smells of black licorice. “No. Just surprised is all.” I kiss him and taste the Green Fairy on his tongue.

  “Are you sure you two do not want a bed of your own?” Felipe asks. I glance at him, and he’s licking his lips while staring at Edmund’s mouth.

  Edmund slides to my side, eyes back on the party. We both ignore Felipe’s question.

/>   I don’t know if my sailor has noticed, but blood play has begun. Vampires have started to feed, in the midst of fucking. Blood drips down chins and onto dark sheets. I’ve never explained this to my darling—that blood and sex are often intertwined within the bounds of my immortal culture. The only time I’ve fed from Edmund, actually, was when he forced it upon me, and there was nothing sexual about it. It was kill or be killed, back on our island of exile, and the addition of his sweet blood made me strong enough to protect him from man-eating monsters.

  I watch, rapt, as a male vampire with long, black hair breaks the skin of a pale, redheaded wisp of a boy and drinks deeply.

  Edmund grabs my chin so hard it hurts and forces me to look at him. Dark eyebrows drawn together over stormy eyes, he glares at me. I’ve never seen him angry before—but what provoked the fire in his gaze?

  “Come.” Michelle stands. “I think it’s time Edmund saw the library.”

  The library? Why…? Oh. But I haven’t—

  “A library in this place?” He stands, anger gone, and even folds Michelle’s arm over his. “Show me.”

  Her entire face lights up at the sight of his enthusiasm as she guides him away from the orgy and toward the dim hallway off the back of the ballroom. I am quick to follow, although Felipe does not join us. He actually joins the black-haired beauty and his young human instead.

  Michelle explains as we walk, “I’ve been compiling the history of our people for centuries. Every bit of vampire knowledge is stored here.”

  “Best hope there’s never a house fire.”

  She pets his arm, and Edmund glances back at me as if to check I still follow.

  A rather large vampire—even by my standards—hovers beside the library’s double doors. When he sees Michelle, I hear the metal clink of keys as he turns and begins the process of unlocking several deadbolts.

  “We keep it locked when we have parties. The last thing I need is some wayward drunk disturbing my collection.”

  The doors swing open, and the room glows clean and white as candles dance behind glass lanterns. Staring at the two-story library, stacks and stacks of ancient texts and scrolls, Edmund looks as though, this time, he’s walked into an orgy of centaurs and unicorns.

  I smack him on the back. “Breathe.”

  He sucks air into his lungs.

  Michelle touches my elbow. “Is he all right?”

  I chuckle. “Edmund is a lover of knowledge.”

  As if to demonstrate, my sailor takes several steps forward and begins poking at bookshelves. “It would take years to even begin to catalog all the information you have stored here.” He runs his fingers down book spines and even leans forward to sniff a few. He laughs like he’s smelled something particularly sweet, even though his nose is probably filled with dust. “Andrew, I’m sorry. I’m leaving you for a library.”

  I watch my love virtually dance across the room, forward and back, left and right, investigating here and there.

  Michelle’s lavender gown hisses as she crosses the floor. “It’s yours, Edmund. Here, you can learn the history of our people and find the evidence you seek. Andrew says that if anyone can find a long-lost Elder, it would be you.”

  He pauses. “What?”

  Michelle moves ever closer. She pushes a few dark curls behind his ear. “You’ll find your Elder and become like one of us. Won’t you?”

  His eyes flit up to me, and oh, there it is again: anger.

  Chapter Four

  WE MAKE A quick exit, and after a silent carriage ride, we’re back at our hotel. Edmund stomps inside our room and removes his jacket a bit more forcefully than I would deem necessary, but—

  “How could you not have told me?” he shouts.

  “I planned to, but I wanted to give us time to relax. Enjoy.” I gesture to the room around us as if the fancy trappings make up for my omission.

  He puts his hands on his hips and turns toward the window. “That next adventure you mentioned; this is it. You want me to find an Elder.”

  I set my hat down and remove my own coat, but I don’t step any nearer. “I thought you would want immortality. Imagine all you could do with that much time, all you could discover. I thought—”

  “It’s not that, Andrew.” He rubs his forehead. “Of course, I want immortality. I just wish you would have asked.” He turns around, but I still don’t approach him. I let Edmund take a few steps toward me instead, and although I can see he’s not angry anymore, something does still bother my love.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He closes his eyes and sighs. “Ask me.”

  Ask him? I try to read some meaning on his face as he nears me and adjusts my waistcoat just a bit. He runs his palms down the material and won’t meet my gaze. Face soft but lips pressed together, this must be another new expression. It takes me but a moment to realize this is Edmund vulnerable, which is when I further realize what he means by “Ask me.”

  I wince at my own idiocy and take one of his hands in mine. “Edmund Baines… I don’t know your middle name.”

  “William.”

  “It suits you,” I whisper.

  His cheeks glow red.

  “Edmund William Baines, will you spend eternity with me?”

  He smiles. “Yes, you utter fool of a man.”

  I grab his ass, pressing us together. “I didn’t know you were a romantic.”

  “I’m not. Usually.” He leans his head back when I start kissing his neck. “But I guess I’ve never been in love before.”

  I speak against his skin. “Me neither.”

  “Well, bugger.” He takes a step away from me, which is precisely what I do not want. When I move to crowd him against the nearest wall, he holds his hand up to stop me. He begins to unbutton first his waistcoat and then his shirt. He is pale, lovely skin and lean muscle. He is a strong heartbeat I can hear…and blood.

  “Are you teasing me?” I ask.

  “No. I don’t want to get blood on my new clothes. Hell to wash out. I actually had to throw away one of my favorite shirts after a particularly brutal bar fight on the Amalfi Coast.”

  “Edmund?”

  He drapes his white shirt and red waistcoat over a nearby chair. “At the soiree, I saw the way you watched other vampires feed.” He rubs his nose against the side of my jaw.

  I rest my hands on his hips. “It made you angry.”

  “I don’t think that’s the word.” The touch of his tongue on my ear makes me gasp. “Jealous? Definitely. I, too, watched that delicate young thing being bitten—the way it connected him to that black-haired beast. I could see the hunger painted on your face, but that hunger wasn’t pointed at me, so I didn’t like it. You need to feed.” He kisses me. “So feed.”

  “Edmund—”

  “Do you want me to beg?” He rubs his hard length against my thigh. “You love when I beg.”

  I trace the scar on his back with my fingertips until my hands dip low enough to push beneath the fabric of his trousers. “I can’t believe I ever thought you innocent.”

  He chuckles. “Never make that mistake again.”

  “No.”

  He presses our noses together. “Will you?”

  I breathe his breath before leaning forward and stealing his lips. By the time we left the island, his mouth was chapped with too much sun and not enough water. Now, his mouth is again plush and soft like rose petals between my fingers. Again, I remember his many contradictions: this creature who has killed men with his bare hands yet has a mouth sweeter than clover honey. Felipe underestimated him immediately. He saw a gentle, pretty thing to be conquered, but it’s Edmund who does the conquering. I am certainly his slave.

  He walks backward to the bed, tugging me along with him. The dark creature purrs within me. Edmund gave it permission to taste, but I’m the one who must set it free.

  We tumble onto the mattress. Edmund seems as starved as me, the way he licks into my mouth and nibbles my lips. He makes the soft groans I adore,
hand pawing gently at the front of my pants.

  “Please, Andrew.” He rolls his hips up to meet mine, and my arms almost go out from under me.

  I eye a spot low enough on his neck to be covered by his collar. I tell the dark creature to not take too much and set my fangs free. Edmund doesn’t notice, eyes closed and head thrown back as I thumb his nipples.

  Then, I bite.

  He makes a sound as though he’s just emerged from water. He moans a little as his fingers dig into my spine.

  Me, I’m floating. Despite the earlier noises from outside—horses, shouts, and an opera singer on the corner—I now only hear Edmund’s breath. I only smell Edmund, taste Edmund. It’s how it was on our island, back when his heady scent used to distract me from the threat of cannibals. I’m utterly distracted now.

  I remove my teeth from his neck and lick the wound before diving in again.

  “Fuck,” he says. I do know he likes a little pain with his pleasure, so I bite down harder. He gasps, pants, and rides the ache. My sailor does love the deadly.

  The dark creature sated, I lean back, still looming over him. Sweat glues his hair to his forehead, so I run my palm over his skin, pushing it back. I kiss his cheeks, his nose, his closed eyelids. “Are you all right?”

  His eyelashes flutter. “Mm-hmm.”

  “My love?”

  “Next time we do that, I want you inside me too.”

  I don’t even have the breath to agree.

  When he sits up, a drop of blood runs down his collarbone and over his chest. He stands long enough to remove his trousers and white drawers before tumbling back into bed. “Take off your clothes,” he commands—albeit weakly.

  “We don’t need to—”

  “I need to, you ass.” He reaches his arms above his head and points his toes in a full body stretch that’s more pornographic than anything I’ve yet seen tonight. I’m out of my clothes in a rush of immortal flesh. He smiles. “Pin me down. I want to feel how strong you are.”