Squaring her shoulders, she went back into the living room and sat down on the sofa beside him.
His nostrils flared. He opened his eyes. Eyes that glowed with the lust for blood. "Go."
The word sounded as if it had been torn from his throat. "Go. Now."
"Take what you need, Antonio. But please don't hurt me."
He shook his head. "I cannot promise that. Not now. Please, Victoria, sweeting, go while you can."
"I'm not leaving you."
His hands clenched at his sides. "This is madness. You do not know what you are saying."
She thought so, too, but she couldn't leave him, couldn't bear to see him suffering.
Battista closed his eyes again. He didn't trust himself to drink from her, not now, when his thirst was nearly out of control, when he was weak with pain. The burns from the silver throbbed relentlessly. They would not heal overnight. Without blood, they would not heal at all. Though it had been years since he had killed anyone, he knew that, should he hunt tonight, the poor unsuspecting mortal who crossed his path would not live to see the dawn of another day. When he drank tonight, he would take it all.
He opened his eyes, noting for the first time the silver crucifix on a chain around Victoria
's throat. Perhaps there was a way to take what he needed without taking a life.
" Victoria, you cannot give me all I need."
"Why not?"
"Because I would have to take it all."
She stared at him, her eyes widening as his meaning sank in.
"But I want to take a little, enough to dull the pain."
"But you said that wouldn't be enough."
"If I can take some from you, I can take the rest from someone else." He would probably need to drink from at least two, perhaps three, but if he was in control, no one would die. "Do you understand?"
She nodded, her eyes shining with trust. He only hoped he could live up to it, that he would not spend the rest of his existence regretting his weakness.
"Hold on to your crucifix." He slipped his arm around her shoulders. "If you begin to feel light-headed, press it against my face."
"But… "
"It will make me stop."
"All right." She clutched the cross tightly in her hand.
"You are a very brave woman," he murmured as he lowered his head. "I can think of no other who would bare her throat to me at a time like this, when there is no one here to help you."
Vicki closed her eyes. She didn't feel very brave. Her hand tightened around the crucifix as she felt his breath on her neck, the sharp sting of his fangs, the mind-blowing pleasure as he drank from her. It always astonished her, the pure delight, the sense of blissful contentment…
Pleasure turned to fear as she felt suddenly dizzy. "Antonio? Antonio, stop!"
For a moment, she was afraid he was beyond hearing, beyond stopping. She lifted her hand, the cross bared on her palm. "Antonio, stop, please!" He was already hurting. She didn't want to cause him more pain.
With a low groan, he drew away.
For a moment, she saw him as he truly was, his eyes red, his fangs lowered. And then he was her Antonio again, his eyes dark with concern. " Victoria?"
"I'm all right. Are you?"
"Better now." Drawing her closer, he brushed a kiss across her lips. "I must go out for a while." He stroked her cheek, his eyes filled with such tenderness it made her heart ache. "Do not wait up for me," he said, and he was gone.
"Yeah, right," she muttered. "Like I'm gonna get any sleep until you get home." She sat there a moment, thinking that she must be getting used to being bitten, since she hadn't passed out this time. She was, however, famished.
But food could wait. She went through the house, turning on all the lights and making sure all the doors and windows were locked. She wished she had some of Mrs. Heath's garlic to spread around. Suddenly, the old lady's quirks all made sense. Well, if Mrs.
Heath could outsmart Falco and live to be ninety, so could she!
In the kitchen, she fixed a huge ham and cheese sandwich and poured a big glass of milk. She added an apple, a banana, and a few cookies to the plate and carried everything upstairs to the back parlor. Sitting in Antonio's chair, she turned on the TV
and flipped through the channels, settling on an old comedy starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day. No dark dramas tonight! No sci-fi movies about aliens. Tonight she needed laughter.
But she couldn't concentrate on the movie. Where was Antonio? Where had he gone to look for prey? How long did it take him to feed? Would he come back to the castle tonight? Did he rest here during the day? And most troubling of all, where was Falco?
They had escaped him this time, but what about next time? Would they ever be free of him? Did he take his rest in that old shed? If so, she needed Tom Duncan's help. She would call Bobbie Sue tomorrow.
The end credits were running on the TV when Antonio returned. One minute she was alone in the room and the next he was there, beside her.
Sometime between the time he'd left the castle and his return, he had changed into a pair of black jeans and a black T-shirt. The burns at his throat, wrists, and ankles were still visible, still painful looking, though the burn on his cheek was nearly gone.
"Are you feeling better?" she asked.
He nodded.
She gestured at the burn mark on his neck. "Does it still hurt?"
"Like the very devil."
"Well, that's not surprising, since the devil did it."
Antonio looked at her, sadness reflected in his eyes. "We are the same, he and I."
"No!"
"We are both vampires, sweeting. Both killers who prey on others to survive."
"No! I refuse to accept that. You are nothing like him! Nothing, do you hear me?"
"Perhaps not now, but— "
"No buts. People make mistakes, but they can change. You've changed. You're not like him anymore and I won't have you saying you are! Do you hear me, Antonio Battista?"
He laughed softly. "What a warrior you would have made. You would not have stayed behind while your man went out to fight. No, you would have taken up a sword and ridden beside him."
"I don't know how to ride."
He laughed again. "Ah, Victoria, what will I do when you are gone?"
"I'm not going anywhere," she said, but in the back of her mind she heard his voice telling her that, when it was safe, he would leave her so she could return to her old life.
Well, he could think that for now if it made him feel better, but he was stuck with her whether he liked it or not. Life with Antonio. He made her feel wonderful, beautiful, and more desirable than any other woman on the planet… life with a vampire… What would it be like to never see him during the day, to eat all her meals alone, to sleep alone, to age while he did not? And what about children?