The Thorndyke Trilogy 2: Dancing at Midnight (17 page)

He kissed the rim of her ear, very gently. “Did you think I couldn’t read what he’d done to you?”

The soft words made the hairs on her body stand on end. “I— He didn’t do anything. One kiss. Two.”

“Not that, although I owe him something for that. Did he tell you what he thought I was?”

Right to the point. So she’d get right to the point too. “He said you’re a vampire.”

He chuckled. “I thought you didn’t believe in those?”

“I don’t,” she said, too fast. Her breath was quickening, her breasts heaving with the effort to keep control of herself. The closer he got, the more she became convinced Trent was telling the truth.

Nathan would bite her now. He’d probably done it before. Trent said they put the victims in a trance before they bit and removed all evidence of what they’d done after. Tension tightened her muscles.

His teeth grazed her neck in what might have been a lover’s caress, except she knew better. Then his lips touched her, sealed, and he sucked very gently. But he released her after one more soft kiss. “I don’t want to mark you before your debut. Did you really believe him? I’m no more a vampire than you.”

“He talked to me about Stu. Said what a good man he’d employed. That’s all.” Desperation made her voice rise in pitch. She had to get it down again, behave normally. Or as normally as she could manage.

“Uh-huh.” He lifted his head, and she tried not to breathe out in relief. He paused before he said, “Sweetheart, I might have to hurt you a little.”

“You’ve bitten me before?” This time she tried to make her words comical, but the light tone failed when she trembled.

Gently he turned her in his arms so she was facing him. “I’m not a vampire.” He gazed at her, his eyes sincere. “You can enter my thoughts. Do it. I can lie to your face, I can lie with my body, but I can’t do it when you’re deep in my head. I’ll open everything to you if you do the same.”

“W-what?”

He clicked his tongue. “Never mind. I was trying— I’d better show you.”

Warmth suffused her head, but not the heat of a headache. Instead it was a comforting, sweet heat, so seductive she swayed toward him.

He held her firmly so he could look her in the eyes. “Do you feel that?”

She licked her lips. “Yes.”

“Go into it.”

She glanced down. Trent said Nathan would try to hypnotize her. That was how vampires prevented their victims from remembering. Eye contact could be dangerous. “I don’t know.”

“Do you fear me? You should, sweetheart. I need to read you, and to do that I need to get right into your head. I’m not as skillful as some, but I’ve been around a while, and I’ve learned a trick or two.” The heat increased but not uncomfortably.

Then a sharp needle-like pain agonizingly pierced her brain. She cried out. He held her firmly, but the pain stopped like a flash of lightning, gone as soon as it appeared. Then another. “You’re stabbing me!”

“I’m not as well prepared as I might be. Hurting you is killing me.” He sounded breathless, as if he’d just completed a sprint. “Once more, sweetness.”

The pain flared again, and this time lasted a little longer. At least, she thought so, but it was hard to judge since she would be writhing in agony if he wasn’t holding her steady. Jagged shards of emotions cut her from the inside, the little cuts slicing into the barriers she’d built so painstakingly. She cried out, voicing the pain. His face contorted, but he didn’t relent. She felt him inside her head, skimming past her secrets, searching for something, and then he was gone. She felt it, knew it was him. Open and vulnerable, she could do nothing but let him do what he wanted. Tears rolled down her cheeks, scalding her skin, but she didn’t try to wipe them away.

Sweeping her up into his arms, he took her into the bedroom. She was too limp to resist, too numbed by what had just happened to her.

He laid her on the bed, as if she’d break. Perhaps she’d shatter into a million fragments. Then he sat next to her and took her hand, a development that startled her enough to make her stir.

This was Nathan. The man who’d made love to her with tender passion and savage force, all with her eager compliance. The man who was doing everything to help her, who had shown her nothing but generosity. How could she ever have doubted him? What had gotten into her? Something had broken, or released, and she felt herself again.

“What did you do?”

“I broke the thrall. De’Ath hypnotized you. He’d laid a small trap, which I defused. That’s why it hurt so much. It’s hard to describe it, except that it’s a bit like a mental bomb.” His mouth flattened. “I’ve defused too many of those in my time. Would you like anything? Painkillers or water?”

When she shook her head in response, she discovered the pain had completely gone. In its stead a lightness prevailed, as if something heavy had left her, like the aftermath of a thunderstorm.

He was stroking his thumb over her palm in an absent gesture but watching her closely. “Do you feel any different?”

Yes, she did feel different, but she couldn’t describe how. She gazed at this man she’d suspected of God knew what a few moments ago and felt none of that deep suspicion. “Have you hypnotized me instead?” She cleared her throat, choking back the tears that clogged it.

“No. He did. Trent De’Ath did. Can you remember what happened when you went into the club?”

Clearly. “I went in and talked to Stu, and then Trent came up to me and we sat down to have a drink.”

“What did you drink?” he asked sharply.

“Beer. From the bottle.” She paused, thinking back. “Trent bought me another, a different brand.”

“Fuck.” Nathan ran his hand through his hair, pushing it into spikes. “He gave you something to make you more susceptible.”

She had no concrete reason to believe Nathan, but it made sense. Complete, sickening sense. Yes, the second beer was a different brand. Why would Trent do that, except to ensure that whatever he gave her tasted different so she wouldn’t know if he slipped something in there? He’d handed her the drink himself.

“Why did he want to do that?”

Nathan closed his eyes. “Because of what I am and what he is.”

She sat up, ignoring the way the world swam around her. The dizziness was much less this time. “What did he give me?”

Nathan shrugged. “How do I know? I’m not a pharmacist, though if you’re worried, we can find out. Something to make you susceptible, maybe a tranquillizer. He sat close to you and maintained eye contact?”

Gloomily, she nodded.

“Do you remember what he asked you to do?”

Trent had repeated one request a number of times. “To watch you and come back and tell him what you were doing. And to humor you.” She shuddered.

“Does humoring me mean this?” Gently, he stroked her cheek, then cupped it and leaned forward. His kiss was soft and reverential.

“Something like that.” How could he make her smile at a time like this? Yes, Trent had meant sex. Would anyone who cared about her ask her to do that for him?

At last her brain started working again. Everything Trent had done was wrong. He’d instructed her to do unethical things that made her uncomfortable, using the war against vampires as an excuse. Surely if vampires were real and the enemies of humankind, they’d have heard more than legends before this? “He told me to sleep with you, to lie to you, and to report to him. He wanted me to do anything I could to get to you.”

“What did he want to know?” Up to then Nathan had remained silent, watching her carefully, waiting for her to work things out for herself.

“He wants to know what you do, how you behave. When you bite me and how much blood you take. Do you?”

“Take blood? No. I told you, I’m not a vampire. Do you believe me?”

“Yes.” If he wanted to bite her, surely he’d keep her around longer after they fucked. Or try to seduce her, to get her to become his blood slave. No, that was Trent talking again.

His face relaxed into a smile. “Good. I’m glad.” He watched her, speculation in his eyes. “I think you should sleep now. And if you were wondering, on your own. Rest, and we’ll talk in the morning.”

Too much had happened for her to resist him. He left her alone then. After a quick shower, she put on T-shirt and fresh panties and climbed into bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

* * * *

Kristen awoke to the scent of fresh coffee and the simple happiness of a new day. She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, then threw back the covers and went to the bathroom to freshen up, returning to the bed when she had finished.

It felt odd to be alone in this big bed. Just as she had decided to go and find Nathan, a soft tap came on the door. Smiling, she bade him come in, and he did, bearing the blessed beverage. He put the white mug on the bedside table and sat on the bed. When he reached for her hands, she gave them to him gladly.

“Better?” he asked.

“Much.”

He took a deep breath, his eyes anxious. “I need to tell you something. It might be a shock, but I want you to know. Can you listen with an open mind?”

Her mind running through increasingly unlikely scenarios, she nodded.

“I’m a shape-shifter.”

It took her a moment to catch up with what he was saying. Then she laughed.

“I can show you proof.”

“What kind of shape-shifter?” Fuck. If vampires existed, why not people who take more than one form? Weren’t vampires supposed to turn into bats from time to time? Or was that another legend? Kristen hated not knowing, absolutely detested it.

“Dragon.”

“I thought—” She waved a hand. “Never mind. Prove it. I’ve heard far too much legend and speculation recently. I won’t believe anything I can’t see or hear or touch.”

He got to his feet, the bed adjusting to the loss of his weight, bouncing her a little. She touched the bed to steady herself and watched as he stripped off his T-shirt. At the sight of his ripped body, defined six pack, powerful biceps and pecs, a strong urge took her to tell him to stop and just join her. He made her feel better just by being here.

“I can still read the outer part of your mind,” he murmured. “After what you’ve been through, that isn’t the way you should be feeling.”

She grinned. “Just the thing to make me feel better, I’d say.” She felt fresh as a daisy and ready to rock.

Slipping back to the bantering, casual way they had with each other was easy. Crossing the next level of intimacy, if he ever allowed that, wouldn’t be. But now she wanted it. Heat slid through her as she admired his toned form.

“You won’t want me in a minute.” Lifting his hand, he extended it, fingers apart, and then claws shot out, extensions to his fingernails.

She’d seen that effect before in the movies. “So you’re some kind of superhero?”

“No. Far from it.” A grimace flattened his mouth before he bent to remove his jeans so he was clad only in his tight white boxers. His erection was clearly outlined beneath the pristine fabric.

Kristen wet her lips. “You’ve got to do better than that.”

He peeled the boxers off, and she wanted to tell him to stop, when scales shimmered over his skin.

Chapter Nine

Claws extended from his fingers, like a character in a movie. Scales spread over his skin. They gleamed blue with a green sheen, beautiful and ethereal. His face was still unchanged, but his feet had altered completely, gaining a gnarled appearance.

He completed the rest of the transformation quickly, his nose growing longer, the shape of his face morphing into a huge lizard’s. It was just as well this was a large room.

That explained the scratches she’d noticed on the wooden floor, the ones she’d put down to furniture being moved around. But no, his claws were razor-sharp, and when he moved, they marked the glossy surface.

“My housekeeper won’t like it.”

Although he’d spoken to Kristen that way before, this time it came as a profound shock. Kristen clutched the sheet underneath her.

“It’s why we have telepathy. My vocal chords aren’t developed enough for conversation in this form, but I’m as sentient as I am as a man. Why aren’t you screaming and running?”

She answered the same way, as if it came naturally to her.
“I’ve always loved dragons. When I was a kid I collected books with dragons in them. I have jewelry with dragons on them. It’s a dream come true to see one in the flesh.”
And it was. Where kids had dolls and teddies, she’d had dragons. Her collection, what remained of it, was at home with her mother, adorning the shelves in her room. She’d only brought a very few pieces with her to Chicago.

And she was the lover of a real-life dragon?

“You’d better believe it.”

She had to believe it.
“You’re not hypnotizing me, are you?”

A low, seductive chuckle sounded in her head.
“Not one bit. What you see is what you get.”

She got this? Her own dragon?
“And Trent wants to destroy this?”

With a shake and a shimmy like a stripper ridding herself of a garment, Nathan transformed once more back to the man. Her attention went to his groin. His cock was flaccid, but as her glance skimmed past it, it twitched and began to harden.

“Darling, every time you look at me, you do that. Man or dragon.” He touched his cock, adjusted it as it rose, but he didn’t linger. “I was worried you’d run screaming, but I had to show you my other form.”

“Trent did a number on me, didn’t he?”

“As soon as I touched your mind, I knew what it was. Your thought patterns were wrong. It’s hard to describe, but it wasn’t right. Then I knew he’d fucked with your mind.”

A fraught pause like a string snapping between them ensued, and she stared at him, eyes wide. “Did you think he’d fucked me?”

“It crossed my mind.” He met her gaze openly.

“If he had, would you have thrown me out?”

“Hell, no!”

His reaction was so strong she felt it through their tenuous link. His repulsion of her suggestion almost a physical thing, any tension between them immediately shattered in the face of it. “What do you think I am? If he’d done that, he was to blame, not you. You said he kissed you.”