Cake (24 page)

His eyes opened, and he attempted to focus on me. “I am sorry, Xavier. I…” His voice dried up in his throat, but I didn’t need to hear him speak. His actions had spoken louder than any words ever could. He had taken a spike to the heart for me.

I reached up and traced his perfect lips with a bloody finger. “Shh, Pretty,” I said, running my hand down his jaw line to his neck caressingly before ripping his shirt open to reveal the wound he had gotten for keeping his promise to protect me.

It had healed quickly. I guess that was a benefit of being an Ancient Vampire. Gifts are stronger and quicker. I lifted my wounded hand up. It was whole again, but badly discolored, bruised. I flexed my palm and wriggled my fingers. Everything worked, and I used my fingertips to run the length of Marcus’s sternum, trailing over the small indentation where the spike had been driven through.

For me. You did this, for me.

I leaned forward and lapped at his drying blood. The taste was the same mix of apples and vanilla that I could smell. Our blood had intertwined on his skin, and I greedily licked him clean.

Good lord, he tasted like apples; Sweet, juicy apples. My fangs, which had retracted when I’d smacked down off the stairs like a Slinky, now came back down as I ran my nose along his skin. He was weak. I could smell it on him. My poor Pretty, he needed blood, and I had to force myself away from him, holding him at arm’s length because I wanted to fang him hard and drink from him.

“
Lord Xavier…”

Armanita spoke nervously from behind me. Without turning around, I coldly issued an order at her. “Feed him. He has a concussion. You were the one to hurt him, now you can heal him.”

“
My Lord, I am wounded myself,” she protested, moving away a little. I didn’t need to look at her to know exactly where she was. I could smell her.

My lips curled up into a snarl as I dismissed her objection. “I don’t care. You injured Marcus. He needs more blood and I can’t give it to him, so you will. Or, I will make you. I saw you flinch up there when my Flame came on.” I turned my head now and let her see the blue flame that was burning in my eyes. “I don’t know what I can do yet, but you do, don’t you, Councilor? You know what I might be capable of.”

Armanita took another involuntarily step backwards. “My Lord…”

“
I
could
learn a lot from you, but I don’t need to. I can simply stumble along by myself,” I said matter-of-factly. Then my voice became set and hard. “Feed Marcus willingly, or I will take what he needs from you and feed him myself., and as I’ll need to replenish my blood in order to do that, you certainly won’t survive.”

She blanched but stepped forward and knelt before us, pulling back her hair and offering up her neck to Marcus. He looked down at her and shook his head before turning to look at me, reaching out a shaky hand and laying it upon my shoulder. He couldn’t speak because of the binding I had put on him, but he implored me with his expressive brown eyes. I wasn’t about to be swayed, not even by him.

“
Get on your knees before you fall over, Pretty. I wouldn’t be able to catch you right now. Take what you need from her, or I will. I don’t care if she is a Council member. She hurt you.” I reached up and pulled his chin toward me, my eyes beseeching his. “I know we don’t know each other as well as we could, but you’ve walked through here.” I tapped my temple. “You know I’ll follow through with my threat.”

Armanita caught at Marcus’s hand and held it. “I am sorry you were injured. That was not my intent. Please, he’s right, take what you need from me,” she insisted earnestly.

Marcus gave me a look I couldn’t decipher and then lowered himself to his knees. He let his fingers trace Armanita’s neck before he leaned forward and bit her.

As I watched him drink a spear of something akin to jealousy ripped through my heart. How could I be jealous? Should I even be jealous? This vampire raped me, kept me naked and cold for a year…had taken a spike to the heart to keep me safe.

My wings opened wide, fully extending as I continued to watch him. I was protective of him. But what was I, two days old? How could I protect him? Why would I
want
to protect him? Yet still my wings moved forward, as if to encircle him in an embrace.

“
Master Marcus, Master Claudius is here!”

My head jerked up at hearing the sound of the new voice in the room with us. It was Chesterton. I could tell by the British accent he’d used. Now, seeing him for the first time, I took a good look at him.

He was a tall, thin man, and his coffee brown hair was short and well peppered with white. His blue eyes were widened with shock as he stared at the three of us. He’d probably never thought he would ever see Marcus eating at a councilor’s neck, much less witness a poor lost little Sex standing there all bloody and winged.

Then the scent of his fear hit me, and the smell of it was like a beacon calling to me. My feathers trembled with anticipation, sounding like a pile of leaves rustling in the wind. My fangs dropped to their full extension, and I snapped my mouth wide open to keep from cutting my lip as I took a step towards him.

Marcus caught at my wrist and began shaking his head vigorously. Armanita fell back onto her butt, her hand springing up to her neck as Marcus released her.

“…
no…” Marcus’s voice was barely a low croak. I took another step towards Chesterton, and Marcus’s hand tightened on my wrist, pulling at me. “No.” His voice had gotten stronger, and his hold on me had gotten stronger too. It felt like he was grinding my wrist bones into dust.

The main doors were suddenly pushed open, and Claudius entered, hauling in two other people by the scruff of their necks. He took in the scene before him, and then shouldered the frozen Chesterton out of my way, breaking whatever connection I had made with him.

“
What the hell is going on here?” he demanded.

“
Feed Xavier now,” Armanita pleaded from the floor.

Claudius understood, and he let go of the two men he held. One was dressed in a business suit, and the other, who he pushed toward me, looked like a cab driver. “Do not take enough to kill him. That is why I have brought you two to feed on,” he said.

It should have bothered me. I mean, I should have been wracked with guilt or self-loathing as Claudius came and held the cabbie’s face between his hands and blanked the man’s mind so that he just stood there, staring at me trustingly as I bit him. He tasted of dark exotic places and warm summer nights. Of something sweet. As I drank from him, I reached up and stroked his hair, letting my thumb run against his temple as I breathed in his unique scent…as I stole years of his life.

“
Enough, Xavier.”

I didn’t let go fast enough for Claudius, and he shoved at my forehead, making me back off the cabbie’s neck. I willed my fangs even and licked at the man’s wounds. He had made no sound as I’d feasted on him, and after enduring Marcus for the past year, I knew damn well that the bite hurt like hell. Claudius had to have done something to keep the snack pack calm, but I was too lost in my own blood lust to really care.

The bleeding at my back had slowed, but it still burned and pulsed hot. My vision clicked up to that final notch of clarity, and I turned my attention to the blond haired man in the three piece suit.

Come here.

He walked woodenly towards me. Claudius stared, before pulling the cabbie out of the way. I let the man walk right up to me and was then amazed as he pressed his forehead into my neck, his arms coming up around me, under my wings.

What the hell is this?

“
He sees you as an angel,” Claudius stated simply.

“
Take what you need from me.” I blinked at the suited man as he whispered to me. “I am
honored
to be chosen.”

Marcus came up behind me. “Drink, Xavier. You are not fully healed yet. Weakness pours off you in waves. I actually ache to feel that from you.”

I needed no further urging, and leaning forward, I licked at the offered neck just once before sinking my fangs straight in. The man’s blood was so warm. It was like a river of hot chocolate on my taste buds. Marcus brought a hand up and rubbed at my neck, stroking me like he would a cat. I could feel my wings shimmer with each touch.

“
Too much, and you’ll Flame up,” Marcus warned, his lips tickling my ear. That stopped my drinking. I pulled my head back, leaving little rivulets of blood trailing from my bite marks. The blond man gasped as he was freed, blinking slowly as he burrowed his forehead into the crook of my shoulder.

“
May he drink from you too?” I asked him gently.

“
What is he to you, Red Angel?” The man’s eyes were glazed, but his question cut right to the heart of the matter.

“
He is my protector and the holder of my heart.”

Marcus stopped stroking me, and I felt him come around to my side. Laying a hand on his chest, I stepped free of the suited man, pulling at Marcus until he was pressed with his back set against me.

“
You made me a promise, and you kept it, Pretty,” I said to him. Then I turned to the blond. “May he drink?” I asked again.

“
It would be another great
honor
for me,” he replied.

I gestured at Marcus, and he looked back at me for a moment and then leaned down from his massive height to bite the willing man. My extended wings wrapped around both of them like a big hug, and I relaxed as I laid my head on Marcus’s back and let my arms snake around his chest. There were blue flames dancing on my skin, and I could see each of them as plain as day. I felt…better, as if I were being healed.

I sensed I was being stared at, and I opened my eyes to find Claudius regarding me with a slightly stunned expression on his face. “Thank you, Grandfather,” I said.

“
Xavier…I…”

“
I’m trying to forgive you. Just accept it,” I interjected.

Armanita, who was still kneeling on the floor, had been quiet up to now. I liked the silence from her. But it didn’t last.

“
Lord Emperor…”

There it was again. She called me that. Claudius called me that. Lord Emperor
.
What the hell did that mean?

I blinked, and the dancing blue flames faded from me, taking with it whatever it was that had stopped the sheer, soul-stealing agony I had been in. My wings pulled back from the embrace they were closed in and attempted to refold themselves back into their resting position. Their movement drove a spike of agony up my spine and into my brain. I tightened my hold on Marcus and accidentally impaled my fangs into his back. He broke off from drinking and gasped, and I willed my teeth back, fighting to keep my legs under me.

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” I quickly said, apologizing.

Although the crystal vision was gone, and the blue flame was out, which meant I was healed, I was also still very weak, and despite me trying to retain my balance, my legs gave out. Luckily, Marcus turned and caught me under my arms before I slammed into the concrete.

“
Oh, my Little One, what has happened to you?” he said musingly.

“
I got wings…”

“
I can see that.” He brought a hand up across the back of my neck, being extra careful not to touch my wings, and he nestled my face in the crook of his neck.

“
And they fucking hurt,” I informed him, just standing there in his hold, trying not to move. Everything felt fine as long as I didn’t move, or breathe, or think.

“
Chesterton!” Claudius gestured over to the, what was he, a butler? And the tall man came forward from the side hall to hear what Claudius had to say. “I’ve implanted a suggestion in the minds of both the feeders. Please take them back to the cab now. It’s at Howard and 3rd.”

“
Of course, Master Claudius.”

I turned towards him as he passed by, my head still resting on Marcus’s chest. “Chesterton, I’m sorry I wanted to eat you,” I called.