“Countless. More still that have been lost to the ages.” Warin touched her hair, pushing it away from her pretty face. “Do you wish to see them, Thea?”
“Oh, yes!” She seemed to realize what he was truly asking then, and bit her lip. Her teeth made small indents into the soft flesh. Warin found it impossible to look away. “I mean… I…”
“I can show you the world, Thea, if that is what you wish. I can show you wonders that will make this bridge look like nothing but a child’s stick figurine.” He spoke urgently, willing her to understand that he could give her so much more than what he had taken from her. “I can introduce you to kings and queens—I will make you a queen, if you so desire.”
She looked at him, a frown drawing her eyebrows in. “You speak as if it is so easy to bend the world to your will.”
“It is.” There was no point in lying—not to her. Even if his world scared her, he wouldn’t hide the truth from her. Couldn’t. “You have seen what I can do. You have seen my strength. Whatever you wish, I will give to you. If you follow me willingly.”
He half expected her to screech at him, and call him a monster now that he had reminded her what he was capable of. But she only shook her head and looked back at the bridge. “What are the wonders of the world, and the people in it, if they are forced to surrender to my whims? You speak of strength, power, but it sounds so… lonely.”
He stared at her in silence as London’s inhabitants went about their nighttime errands. The last merchants were shouting from the nearby market, hawking their wares before they would return to their homes.
“I prefer solitude,” he said, though he didn’t know why. She hadn’t asked.
Thea smiled, a soft curve to her lips he hadn’t seen before. “No, you don’t. You might be a creature of the night, but you crave companionship as much as any human. Why else travel with your brother? Why capture me?”
“You are different,” he said, an irritated growl to his voice that made her flinch. He hadn’t meant to scare her, but her words unsettled him. He was nothing like the humans surrounding them in this overcrowded city, and nothing at all like the people whose blood he feasted on when the beast in his chest demanded sustenance. “Aleric is different.”
“Can… can we go look at the market?” she asked, not challenging him, but not agreeing, either. When he went to wrap his arm around her midriff, she tensed, and he hated himself for having broken the small moment’s truce between them. For a few minutes, they had been equal. Not master and captive. Vampire and human.
He brought her to the market that, even though the busiest time had long since past, still bustled with people and merchants.
Thea looked at it all with those emerald eyes wide open in awe, smelled spices from faraway lands and gasped at the beauty of jewelry, woodcarvings and tapestries alike. When she admired a comb adorned with shimmering pearls longer than the other trinkets, he purchased it for her with some of the robbers’ coins and was rewarded with a shy smile in gratitude.
Aleric was right when he’d insisted they needed to come here. Thea was not human. But she was also not… not human. She smelled human, she felt human… she bled like a human. He had to learn more about her, if for no other reason than it would tell him how to best care for her.
And for how many years she would be with him before she aged and died.
A shudder rippled through him and straight to his marrow at the mere thought. Thea looked up at him, likely having felt him shiver, and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and touching her cheek.
Soft. Smooth. Warm. He relished the contact with her skin until she pulled away with a jerk, as if startled she’d let him touch her. The deep blush spreading from her chest up her neck to cover her pretty face made his fangs ache.
She felt it too. He knew she felt that painful tug of longing behind the ribs too, had known since she let him care for her after her run-in with the robbers. She hadn’t said it, of course—she didn’t trust him enough for that—but he saw it in her eyes. That confused, pained, deep yearning.
And Warin had sworn to himself he wouldn’t taste her before she invited him. Not her blood, nor the sweet heat between her thighs. As much as he ached for her, the thought of forcing her was too sickening. So, he would have to gain her trust, little by little, until finally, one day… she would give herself to him. Willingly.
* * *
The Night Lord of London spent his nights holding court deep in the catacombs of the most pompous church the city had to offer. If the parish knew what damned creatures haunted their sacred place during the night, they would likely burn it to the ground.
It wasn’t an unusual setup for a vampire Lord—the splendor foisted upon a god’s house, paired with the bitter irony that the most unholy creatures defiled these pitiful humans’ sacred halls, was too tempting to resist.
It was never difficult to find an Ancient’s residence. They allowed their power to light up the night like a beacon, letting every vampire in their territory know that these lands were ruled by someone far more powerful than the human king on his gilded throne.
The Ancient ruling the night in these parts was no different. Warin felt his presence grate against his own power, challenging the beast within. He suppressed it with a force of will as they descended into the bowels of the church. Even he was no match for an Ancient—especially not one this strong.
He held Thea tighter, reassuring her as much as himself with their shared closeness. The pathways were narrow, stone flooring turning to dirt, and soon he had to release his hold on her so she could move behind him. Aleric took up the rear, his unusual quietude betraying his unease as well.
“You wish to see the Lord?” a sultry voice asked. A tall, beautiful woman stepped out from the shadows as they rounded a corner. She was wearing a deep red, silken dress, and jewels sparkled from around her neck and wrists. “State your name and your purpose, young ones.”
Warin resisted the urge to growl at her haughty tone. She was older than them—he would estimate four hundred years or so—but he had not been called a youngling for two centuries. “Warin and Aleric Waldlitch. We have come to ask your Lord for advice.”
“Advice?” A small, joyless smile touched her lips. “Mayhap the Lord will be in the mood to part with some wisdom tonight. It has been a while since outlanders came to our town with the promise of intrigue.” She tipped her head to look at Thea over his shoulder. “And you bring a present. How very thoughtful. Does she do anything? Sing? Dance?”