Cake (41 page)

The Lord Emperor.

Okay, wasn’t expecting that. “Exclusively?”

Yes.

“
You’re going to have a wait a bit,” I said, faintly.

You are weak. You need to eat. I can wait.

Happy with her response, I shifted my vision and found the Blood mark I wanted in the room. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other, I slowly made it across the vast vista of the living room without help, though Claudius was hovering to catch me just in case I fell.

Reaching my destination I opened the Blood mark, and then pressed the intercom. “Chesterton?”

The butler’s cultured voice came over the system quickly. “Master Xavier? I am glad that you are well!”

At the excited pitch he used, I realized I had a bitch of a headache to go with my hunger. “Can you send up three blood packs?” I asked, wincing.

“
I can warm them for you, sir.”

“
I’ll take them cold and…thank you for all the care and attention you and the staff have given me these past few days,” I said humbly.

“
We live to serve.”

Once the dumbwaiter arrived, I took the bags out and sat on the piano bench that Claudius had vacated, sticking one of the bags onto my fangs and looking at him expectantly. He sighed and came to sit beside me, and as I supped, he began explaining how to keep Marcus out of my head.

Claudius finally stood and walked away, leaving the room again, and I knew without having to be told that he was pissed with Marcus because his beloved son hadn’t revealed that it was the result of
his
mind grab that had seen me staying in a coma-like state for the past three days.

I felt a warm nose nudging at my wrist, and looking down I saw a big, solid red head looking back up at me from under the baby grand. “Nightshade?”

You have had enough now, Lord Emperor. And I’m hungry.

“
How do we do this?” I asked her. “Do you bite me?”

Never, my Lord Emperor. Open your wrist, and I will lick what blood I need. Once my hunger is satisfied, then I will heal you.

“
Heal me?”

Nightshade’s big yellow eyes blinked.

He left a hole in your soul, and a scar on your mind. They are festering. Do you want to be poisoned?

“
I have a soul?” I was surprised at learning that. Pleasantly so. I don’t know why, but I’d always thought me being a vampire would be like in the old horror movies…I’d be a soulless monster. It was good to know I wasn’t.

My fangs descended and I bit my wrist, letting the blood flow easily. Then, dropping to my knees, I held out my palm, and the great cat came forward, that rough black tongue of hers scraping across the bleeding cut.

I looked at the crimson cat as she fed. She was beautiful and strong. Her long tail came around and brushed against my neck. It tickled me, so I laughed. It felt good to finally laugh, and I sensed a burning at the back of my eyes, not that of a flame, but of unshed tears. It seemed almost as if an eternity had passed to me, since something felt good enough to cause me to submit to laughter.

Nightshade gave my wrist one last lick and then hunkered down on the floor with a contented sigh. I held a hand over the cut and lifted my arm up to stop the bleeding. A simple but basic first aid rule.

Heal it, my Lord Emperor.

I looked over at her knowing golden eyes.

It won’t give you cat breath, I promise.

Her purr was her laugh, and she laughed now as I ran my own small pink tongue over my cut wrist until the bleeding turned sluggish and then stopped altogether. A few more licks and my skin looked like it had never been cut open.

“
I have a soul?” I asked her, my fingers caressing one of her soft ears.

Every one born mortal has a soul. Yours is bright and shiny, but you have a black nick, and that nick is not yours. The longer you keep your soul, the more wear it gets. Mortals’ souls are still new when they die. Immortals, and Bloods like yourself, their souls get worn and soiled and sometimes so injured that it dies. You will know when you meet a Blood whose soul has died. I can heal you, Lord Emperor. I can take that black mark away. I can heal that scar in your mind. I can even heal the pain sitting in your heart.

The thick, fluffy tail brushed at my neck and cheek teasingly.

“
Just heal my soul and my mind, Nightshade. I’ve worked hard to feel the heartache. What do I have to do?”

Everything you just learned from Claudius, release it, so I can walk with you freely.

“
Will I forget everything?”

Do you want to?

“
No,” I admitted. “I don’t need this agony he caused, but I don’t want to forget what he did either. He made me a promise, and he broke it. And he shattered me in the process.”

But we can rebuild you. We can make you stronger
.

I broke out laughing again. She had sounded like some corny television show I used to watch. “Isn’t this supposed to be serious business?”

Who says we are not being serious? This is healing too, my little master. This is something that you have been sadly lacking. Once, when you were mortal, you laughed all the time. That is what drew people to you—your bright, shiny, happy soul. That laughter has been missing for a while. Right now, though it’s not so bright, it still shines. It’s protected, like a candle in a hurricane shade, but the happiness is almost gone.

Closing my eyes, I relaxed until each breath I took was a little smoother, a little calmer. “Walk where you need to, Nightshade,” I said trustingly. “I won’t stop you.”

I could feel her feline touch tracing through my mind and everywhere she went there was a sense of peace left behind, and my body turned to mush. I ended up propped against her chest, my head resting limply on her furry red shoulder.

Claudius came back into the room, and seeing us, he halted, unsure of what to do. He approached and reached for me, intending to pull me to him, but a low warning growl came out of Nightshade’s throat, and he let me be.

You don’t need this heartache to stay, my Lord Emperor.

“
It’s mine,” I insisted.

Then we are done.

The fur on her red tail tickled my lips for a moment as it came up and brushed against my mouth before flicking back and smacking me in the head. Damn, that hurt! I put a hand up and rubbed at my sore skull.

Don’t ever drop your guard again. That was bad. If he hadn’t forced you into a coma, you would have died.

“
What? Who
forced
me into a coma, and why?”

Marcus. I can’t tell you why he did it, unless I walk through his mind to find out. But someone as strong as him will never have his guard lowered…not at all.

“
Xavier, the car is ready downstairs,” Claudius interrupted. “I called Frederick, and he said that if you wanted to reschedule he would understand. I told him that you seemed quite determined to be there today.”

I thanked Nightshade and hugged her before climbing to my feet, getting a slight head rush in the process. Claudius grabbed one arm to keep me from toppling over, and Nightshade pressed against my knee, bracing me steadily between them.

“
I think I need some more blood,” I said ruefully.

“
If you are still set on going, then Frederick asked me to tell you to wear the last outfit you had on,” Claudius said, watching me carefully.

I nodded, and on slightly shaky legs, I headed back to my closet where everything that had been purchased that day had been retrieved from the ambushed limousine.

The clothing was still in the original boxes and tissue paper, and I dug in, looking for the gold shirt and leather coat, stripping off the top I was wearing once I’d found them and ripping loose my hair from the tight braid it had been bound in. Not that I’d ever been involved in a photo shoot before, but didn’t they have a hairdresser or something like that on the set?

I had just grabbed a pair of black leather pants and unzipped the jeans I had on when I heard a big sigh.

Nightshade lay at the door, her front paws crossed over in front of her and her head resting there on them. Her great golden eyes were staring at me.

Don’t mind me. I’ve seen naked vampires before
.

“
So have I. But that doesn’t mean I want to be looked at. Avert thine eyes, Nightshade. I’m running late.” I watched and waited until she closed her eyes, letting out another big sigh.

Jeez, the things you’ve done, who would think that you would be such a prude as regards showing a little flesh.

I tossed off the jeans and pulled on the leather pants before putting the silk shirt on. I started doing all the buttons up and then stopped, remembering how Frederick had done it. So I unbuttoned them again, leaving just the crucial one holding the edges together. Then I sat down to pull on my socks and runners.

I don’t think so.

Nightshade took my running shoe from right out of my hand.

I looked inside your mind, remember. This is an upscale exclusive photo shoot. Dress shoes and trouser socks. Oh, and nice shirt, by the way. It picks up the highlights in your hair.

“
Aren’t you just a kitten? How would you know about such stuff?”

I am older than you think, my Lord Emperor. When my physical form dies, I just wait until another Hellcat is ready to be born, and I come back to serve. I have never had to serve an Emperor before. You are not what I expected.

“
Is that good or bad?” I couldn’t help asking.

I thought that the Lord Emperor…

“
Would know his ass from a hole in the ground? I’m seven days old, and I’ve only been awake for four of them. But I got fang control at least. Don’t take that away from me,” I protested, forcing my feet into a pair of dress shoes and standing up, posing. “How’s this?”

You clean up good, kid. It’s no wonder you don’t know anything, looking like you do. That’s why you’ve probably been on your back or bent over a table most of the time.

My teeth snapped together, biting back a retort when that red tail of hers swiped at my jaw.

That is actually a compliment, by the way.

I closed my eyes and counted to ten, and then repeated it, slower.

Your grandfather is getting antsy. I think we better go.

“
You’re coming with me?”

Wherever you go, my Lord Emperor, I go. I shall be the first to enter the room. I will kill for you. I will die for you. You are my reason for being.

I think my eyes must have bugged out of my head.

I know that your mind was under trauma when you performed our bonding ceremony, and so I have been gentle with you. But you have to start getting strong again now, to understand what being a Hellcat’s companion is.

I received another cat tail swipe to the back of the head.

You’re not alone anymore, Xavier. Now, get moving.

Clattering down the stairs, I met Claudius at the bottom. He was perfectly polished as usual in a dove grey suit, cream dress shirt and forest green tie. Standing beside him in my outfit, I looked like a high-priced gigolo.