Every word, every single word he said was killing me.
Lucien had lied. He’d not only broken promises, he’d flat out lied.
From the beginning. The very beginning.
He’d played with me like a toy.
Like his pet.
He’d played with me.
The tears kept coming.
“You are nothing, Leah,” he whispered, his eyes boring into me. “A plaything now and always a parasite. But in the end, in the course of a vampire’s life, a few years spent enjoying a morsel, we release you and in no time at all, we don’t remember how you taste, what you look like, even your name.”
More tears. That was all I had to give to what he was saying to me so that was all he got.
But he loved each salty drop.
“And now you understand your place, do you have any questions?” he asked.
“Is Edwina all right?” I asked in return and his eyes shifted behind me. Nestor must have made some nonverbal reply because they shifted back and he nodded.
I nodded back.
“That’s all you wish to know?” he prompted when I said no more.
“I think you’ve been thorough,” I whispered and heard Nestor’s chuckle from behind my back but I didn’t turn.
I kept my eyes on Etienne.
“I’m pleased you think so,” Etienne muttered, grinning his sadistic grin at me. “Now, we will be leaving.”
I blinked.
Was he high?
Break into the Mighty Lucien’s house and then just leave?
One could say I was thrilled beyond belief they were going but Lucien was going to lose his mind!
He must have read my face for he carried on.
“You can tell him what you wish. We’re prepared for his response.”
Oh shit. That didn’t sound good either.
“Yes, Leah, we are prepared. You can tell my son that too,” Etienne whispered menacingly.
I swallowed again.
He kept going.
“And tell your aunts, your cousin, your friends to enjoy their lives as they are to their fullest. The days when a concubine could provide us nourishment for a spell then suck from us for the rest of their days are numbered. Do you understand me?”
Oh yes. I understood him. Totally.
He didn’t like mortals. But he really didn’t like concubines.
Boy, I understood him all right.
I nodded.
“Good girl,” he murmured patronizingly and bile slid up my throat.
He studied me. I stood still and let him, just happy that I’d quit crying.
“You know,” he whispered thoughtfully, “it’s almost sad, you mortals handing your hearts to vampires. It has been a long time since I’ve seen that look on a mortal’s face after she learned of a vampire’s true nature.” He cocked his head to the side, his lips twitched and he finished, “Thank you, delicious Leah, for giving that back to me.”
And I knew it then. He’d played with many women, scores of them, maybe hundreds of them. All of them just like his son had played me.
God, I hated him.
Hated him.
More than I hated his son and that was saying something.
He jerked up his chin, my body swayed and my hair flew back when they all sped by me.
I stood solid and staring at nothing then it hit me.
Edwina.
I turned on my foot and ran to the dining room. I halted on a skid in the door when I saw her duct taped to a chair, more tape on her mouth, tears sliding down her cheeks, terror stamped on her features.
I shook myself out of my horror and dashed to her.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Edwina,” I whispered. “In the movies they do this fast. I’m going to do it fast. Get it over with. Please, forgive me.”
Then I tore the tape off her mouth. She cried out in pain and the sound cut through me.
“I’ll get these off,” I muttered, shaking the piece of tape away from my fingers and going to work on the tape at her wrists. “Are you okay?”
“I’m… no,” she answered shakily.
No. Of course not. She wouldn’t be.
“I’ll just… I’ll…” I stopped talking and my hands stopped moving.
You are nothing, Leah… a plaything… we don’t remember how you taste, what you look like, even your name.
My eyes moved to Edwina’s wet ones.
She read mine immediately.
“Leah, I heard him. Every word,” she whispered.
Do not fool yourself into thinking my son cares about you. He wants you to believe this, of course, it is the way with a taming. But it is not real.
“Leah, listen to me. Don’t believe what he says,” Edwina urged, her voice insistent.
That is what you are, Leah. A diversion. An enjoyable one, a succulent one, but simply a diversion.
“Those vampires with him, they are few,” Edwina kept whispering urgently. “Everyone knows of Etienne, no one respects him. Katrina was only here because she’s angry. A week, a month, she’ll rethink and she’ll retreat. Nestor, Marcello, they have been enemies to Lucien for years. Jealous of his fame, his abilities, his fortune. They have allied with Etienne for no other reasons then to make Lucien suffer. Don’t believe what he says, Leah. Not a word of it.”
I didn’t hear anything she said.
I heard Lucien telling me, It will still be beautiful.
I told him he had my love and he didn’t return it. Still, he thought he could talk me into continuing to service him by convincing me the emptiness he could give me was f**king beautiful.
He had the love of his life. It sucked she was tortured and killed but at least he had her.
I didn’t have anything.
Nothing.
Everything had been taken from me.
Everything I had, everything I owned, everything I was.
Taken by Lucien.
I focused on Edwina’s face.
“Please, someday, understand what I’m going to do now and forgive me,” I whispered.
Then I straightened away from her and ran out of the dining room on my high-heeled, kickass wedges.
“No!” she cried. “Leah! No! Don’t listen to him. Unbind me! We must call Lucien immediately!”
I ran to the phones first. Each one I grabbed and ripped free from the wall. Each one I ran to the pool and threw it in. Then I ran to the key hooks by the backdoor, grabbed Edwina’s keys, went to her purse, snatched out her cell and I took those to the pool too and threw them in.
I didn’t have much time.
I had to hurry.
I ran upstairs and found the two suitcases I brought with me stored in the hall closet. I dragged them to the wardrobe. Quickly but carefully I packed. Not the things Lucien bought for me (except my undies and nighties since I’d thrown all my old ones away seeing as the ones Lucien gave me were much nicer). Makeup. Shampoo. Lotion. Jewelry. Everything that was mine that I could see.