His expression was grim and filled with annoyance as he confirmed what I already knew. “He’s here.”
Chapter Five
(Sam)
“Who’s here?” asked Jared. I didn’t realise he’d followed me.
“Sam’s Sire.” Sebastian sighed as he looked at me. “He appealed against your leave of his hold on the grounds that your request to be free of him was not made in person. Antonio had him brought here some twenty minutes or so ago, hoping to have this over with once and for all. We suspected that he would not let you go easily. He has requested an audience with you, and that Antonio be present as he seems to be confident that you will return with him and wants Antonio to witness your decision to leave here.”
“Where is he?” My voice dripped with agitation.
“With Antonio in one of his parlour rooms.”
“Why would he think you’d go with him?” asked Jared.
I puffed. “Victor’s a master at manipulation.”
“He will not be allowed to threaten you,” Sebastian assured me. “You can refuse to see him if you wish, but I suspect that he will only press the matter until you agree to see him.”
I nodded in agreement and inhaled deeply. “Alright, take me to the bugger.”
“I’m coming.” Jared’s tone left no room for negotiation.
As much as moral support was nice, I didn’t want Jared there. I didn’t want him to see the weak person that Victor had the power to reduce me to. “No.”
“Why?”
“If a bloke walks in there with me it’ll piss him right off. He never liked other blokes round me, it got him paranoid. He’ll think me and you are together and he’ll be even more difficult.”
Jared shrugged. “That’s a good thing. If he loses it, Antonio’s got an excuse to throw him out, no conversations necessary.”
“He has a point,” said Sebastian.
Before I could speak, Jared added, “I’m Antonio’s Heir and you’re my co-worker -”
“Co-worker?” I asked with a smile.
“Yeah, co-worker. I’ve a right to be there, and I’m going with you – end of discussion.”
“If I can’t even get you off my back how in the hell am I going to stand up against Victor?” I grumbled.
Jared grabbed my lower arm gently. “Look, all you have to do is go in there and tell him you don’t want to go back to him.”
Sounded easy enough. But it wasn’t. “Victor’s power...He can gauge and alter your emotions.”
“Alter your emotions?”
“In other words, if he wants you to feel something or want something it can be very hard to resist it. I’ve had plenty of practice, and I reckon I can block him better than most. But not for long. It has this crushing effect on you until you feel like your head will explode.”
“He’ll try to make you want him.”
I nodded. “Won’t this be fun.”
“So then we need to get you in and out the room as quick as possible.”
Jared had made it sound so simple. Maybe it could be. Maybe I was fretting for nothing. It hadn’t been long since I’d left Victor and already I felt like a different person. For the first time since becoming a vampire I’d experienced freedom, friendship, passion, and the feel of having a life of my own with my own job, my own home, my own money, my own belongings. Just the very idea of Victor wanting to make me lose all that was enough to make me inflate with resentment.
“Let’s get this over with.”
With each step I made nearer to the parlour that cold draft within me got chillier. Victor was well and truly pissed, I sensed. Vampires always had close emotional links to their Sires whether they wanted them or not. Being a mixture of both eager to get it over with and tempted to procrastinate, I had that dreamy feeling of walking on the spot but not actually getting anywhere. Determined to be strong or else I’d never resist Victor’s influence, I squashed the sense of panic and focused on the graceful, elegant, leisurely stroll of Sebastian as he led Jared and I to the parlour.
He’s already trying to reach your emotions, isn’t he? said Jared as Sebastian opened the parlour room door. I can feel the weight of his power in the air.
My head’s pounding already.
I’ll get you out quick, I promise.
This parlour was much the same as the one Antonio had taken me to that time he had offered me the job, except that there was no piano in here. Antonio was sitting on a beige sofa with Luther beside him and his guards on either side.
Startling me, both Nero and Achilles dashed over to me protectively. The snarls they hurled at the very unwanted visitor were silent. Victor was stood between the two sofas in a smart black trouser suit and stared at me as if we were the only people in the room. Several emotions flashed in his squinty gray eyes. Relief. Pleasure. Desire. Betrayal. Fury.
Instantly I had the feeling of being hit hard with a heavy object, but it wasn’t an object. It was pressure. A pressurizing sense of guilt.
“Sam,” he drawled, his thin lips forming a warm smile. “You don’t know how much I’ve missed you, luv.” He had a way of being able to always sound friendly, polite, reasonable and compassionate. His eyes scanned my appearance. He didn’t look too happy about the tight clothing. The clenching and unclenching of his fists was expected. “Looking well.”
I didn’t speak. I was afraid of what I’d say. One part of me had an instinct to yell a string of profanities at him and tell him to go jump up his own arse. But another part of me wanted to run to him and beg him to forgive me for leaving him and ask him to take me home – thanks to the weight of the guilt that he was throwing at me. The more I tried to fight it the more my head hurt.
Knowing that the closer I physically was to him the easier it would be for him to rule my emotional state, I stopped about five feet away from him. Jared halted beside me. It seemed that it was only then that Victor noticed him. I watched as Victor read Jared’s emotions. A smile appeared, which surprised me.
“Aren’t you going to come and give your old hubby a hug?” he asked me.
The strength and sharpness in my voice surprised me. “You’re not my husband.”
“There’s no need to lie.”
But I wasn’t lying. And Victor knew that. Just like he knew that I hated being called something that I wasn’t, especially a liar. “I know what you’re trying to do,” I told him. “Trying to piss me off so my composure will crack and you can control my emotions easier.” I shook my head. “It won’t work.”