Crave (45 page)

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Authors: Karen E. Taylor

BOOK: Crave
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Chapter 28
“H
ow many, Jules?” Vivienne asked as we went back into the private area.
“Full house, Miss Courbet. All eight rooms are occupied.”
“And how are they?”
Jules smiled. “The same crop as always. Room Five is a bigger tipper than most. And Room Seven seems to have changed his mind.”
“Ah, poor little lamb. He should have thought longer before allowing himself to be led to the slaughter.”
I stiffened at the word. “No, Deirdre, I did not mean it that way. There is no harm here. No one dies. No one even gets hurt. They wish to give their blood, they want the danger and the excitement and they pay well for it. And we take so very little. Isn't that right, Jules?”
“Oui,
Miss Courbet.” He laughed, and I caught the glimpse of growing canines.
“Another one, Vivienne?” I said. “My, my, you really have been busy, haven't you?”
She stuck her tongue out at me. “Don't be such a pig, Deirdre. There is Claude for the Cadre and Jules for the club. Do not ever think me so much a fool to live the life I do without protection.”
I nodded. “I see. And now what?”
She laughed. “And now we play. Loosen up a bit, sister. It's only life.”
The whole thing was more than surreal. Eight dungeon rooms with eight men, blindfolded and chained to the walls, in various modes of dress and undress. The doors were open, and as we walked down the hall and peered inside, Vivienne made suggestive comments about each. When they heard her voice, they stood up a bit straighter and smiled. “It is apparently an honor to be chosen,” she whispered to me. “I do not understand it, but I do not complain. And neither do they.”
“All right, Vivienne. You've convinced me. My life has certainly been dreary enough for all of us recently; for tonight, I will try to play.”
She deposited a long kiss on my lips. “Your problems will still be there tomorrow and you will face them then. And, I have no doubt, conquer them, as you conquer everything. Forget Mitch, forget Lily and just be yourself tonight.”
Once I relaxed and cleared my mind of tomorrow's journey, I realized that Vivienne was right. There was no harm in the situation, and its very ridiculousness lightened my spirits.
“It is rather like a smorgasbord, isn't it?” I said with a laugh as we inspected each man closely.
“Just so,” said Vivienne, “and so very difficult to choose.” She hesitated outside Room Seven. “This one, I think . . .” she began, and the man trembled visibly. She winked at me and put her finger to her lips, silently walking up to his side, laying her hand gently on his chest. He jumped and bit his bottom lip. “This one, I think, can go now.” The man relaxed, then flinched when she touched her tongue to his neck and ran her hand along the lower part of his face. “Words to the wise,
mon chou.
One must not offer what one does not wish to part with.”
“Yes, Mistress,” he said, his voice cracking slightly on the words. “I'll remember. Thank you.”
She slapped him lightly on the face with both of her hands and giggled. “Jules,” she called, “let this one go. He is unworthy of our attentions.”
We walked back out into the hallway.
“And now, sweet sister, we must choose.”
I shrugged. They all seemed the same to me. “Pick one for me, Vivienne.”
“You take all the fun out of it, Deirdre. But if you insist.” She closed her eyes and spun around, pointing her arm, stopping eventually at Room Three. “Dinner is served, Madame Greer.”
She gave me a little push into the room and shut the door behind me.
“Hello?” The man chained to the wall craned his head forward a bit, attempting to see beyond the blindfold. “Vivienne?” He was wearing a suit and tie, but the tie had been loosened and his neck was exposed.
“No, I am not Vivienne.” I walked toward him, feeling incredibly stupid and awkward.
“Then you are the one with the red hair. I am pleased to meet you. And serve you.”
“Why?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why? Why would you allow this? Chained like a prisoner, blindfolded, waiting for someone to choose you and take your blood?”
He seemed confused. “It's just a game, isn't it? They told me it wouldn't hurt.”
I laughed. “And what if they lied?”
“But they wouldn't lie. This place would have to close down.”
“Ah. And so here you are. And here I am. Now, what do we do? I could unchain you and take off your blindfold and we could talk. Or I could drink your blood.” He gave a sharp intake of breath at that. “I am very hungry,” I confessed, moving closer to him and breathing the words into his neck. “I am also very angry, not at you, of course, but you are here. And those that I am angry with are not. What is your name?”
“Um, they told me there would be no names.”
I reached up and grasped his throat. “I asked your name, human. Do not make me angrier.”
“Kevin,” he blurted out. His fear was intoxicating and I felt my hunger grow. The Cat purred deep within me. “I like this game,” it said. “Let us play some more.”
“So what is it going to be, Kevin?” I took my hand from his throat and ran my nails down his neck and chest. “Talk? Or blood?”
“I paid extra for the vampire scene, didn't I?”
“I suppose you did. And I promise you I will not disappoint you.” I stood there silently for a minute, scenting his flesh and his sweat and his blood. Then I laid my hands on the wall on either side of him, holding him firmly in place with my body. “Turn your head,” I said to him, and he did so with no questions. I could feel him tremble next to me; his hands opened and closed uselessly in their shackles; he swallowed hard and gave a small smile.
“When?” he asked, trying to move his head.
I grasped his chin and pushed the side of his head to the wall. “Now.”
He jumped when the tips of my fangs grazed his neck, gasped as my teeth penetrated his skin. We both moaned as his blood began to flow. I drew on him slowly, savoring him, enjoying the stolen warmth that rushed through my body. Every mouthful was ecstasy, the shared experience more intensely sensual than any act of sex or love. Each successive sip tasted better than the last, urging me to take it all, drink it all, swallow it all. Drain him dry.
“No.” I pulled my mouth away from him and stepped back, wiping my bloody lips on my hand.
Kevin groaned and moved his hands feebly. “Are you done?”
I laughed. “Yes, thank you. I am finished. Was it worth what you paid?”
The mouth under the blindfold smiled. “Yeah. Oh, yeah.” He was silent for a while, still smiling. “Thank you. It was incredible. Like someone was dragging my soul through a velvet tunnel. I felt like I could die and not care. How'd you do that?”
I reached up and patted his cheek. “Trade secret, Kevin. I can't tell you. I'm sorry.”
“What do I do now?”
“Oh, I expect Jules will be along soon to release you. Perhaps he will even bring you a drink.”
I opened the door and walked out into the hallway. All of the rooms but one were empty now. I chuckled as I walked past Room Five hearing deep laughter and higher-pitched giggling from behind the closed door. Trust Vivienne to keep the big spenders happy.
Jules met me at the door to the club. “Everything satisfactory, Miss Griffin?”
“Fine, Jules, thank you. Take him a drink, please, I suspect he is quite thirsty.”
He nodded. “But of course. For the rest of the night he can drink as much as he likes for free. It's part of the package.”
I shook my head. None of this made any sense to me at all. Not for the first time, I wished I was back in the cabin in Maine. But the cabin lay in ashes, along with the shreds of my relationship with Mitch, and no amount of wishing could make life different. I sighed. “Tell Sam and Vivienne that I needed to take a walk. I will see them later back at headquarters.”
“As you wish.”
 
I walked the city streets until it was close to dawn searching for what I had lost. It was a futile endeavor; what I had lost seemed unrecoverable. Mitch had gone and I was alone. I had a daughter, true, but she had been instrumental in taking from me what I most valued. Perhaps it was fitting. I had left her for dead. Poor little one, never having a chance for a normal life. My daughter, blood of my blood, closer blood and dearer than any lover I had ever had. Had I but known, I'd have sacrificed everything to have her with me.
But I had not known and I had left her, chasing down love and blood for so many years, finally finding all I had ever wanted in Mitch. And now? Now I had lost everything. I had neither of them. She hated me. And he had destroyed my love by his leaving. It mattered little that he might have left believing her to be me. I condemned him for the same reasons I condemned myself. He should have known.
I sat on the steps outside his old apartment for some time, hoping for a miracle. Hoping that all I had been through was nothing but a bad dream. And that he would come out of the door and smile at me, his eyes glowing with love and promise. I closed my eyes and pretended that all of that was true. That Mitch was only a flight of stairs away. That he would come and call me inside to bed.
Then this would be a perfect world. One in which the Cat's instincts had not been aroused. One in which I didn't have to fear the killing of one I loved. Or fear his killing me.
I sighed and opened my eyes. It was not a perfect world, nor would it ever be.
But there is an easy solution,
I thought.
I can sit here until dawn.
I closed my eyes again, and this time imagined the lovely heat of the sun's rays caressing my upturned face. After all the long, cold and dark years, I yearned for the sunshine almost as much as I feared it. Perhaps it was time.
And it would not hurt for too long,
I thought,
and, oh, the warmth would be heaven.
“Miss Griffin?”
I opened my eyes not to the sun, but to Claude's wide face. He looked distressed and anxious.
I snapped at him. “Damn it, Claude, call me Deirdre. Unlike the rest of the Cadre leeches, I do not require your worship or deference.”
“Miss Courbet sent me out to find you,” he said, glancing uneasily at the late night sky. “It is close to dawn and we should be getting back. Our flight to New Orleans leaves a little after sunset tonight.”
“Did Vivienne fear I came out here to greet the sun?”
Claude hung his head and shrugged. “I don't know what she fears, Deirdre. She doesn't confide in me that much. I was just told to find you and bring you back.”
“And if I do not wish to be brought back?”
He laughed nervously. “Please don't make that an option, Deirdre. I can't afford to fail.”
“Very well, then. I do not need your failure on my shoulders with everything else. And I suppose we should go at that. There is nothing here that matters anymore.” I got up from the steps without looking back.
There would be no miracles for me, I knew. Just endless lonely nights falling on top of each other. “And someday,” I whispered, “I will greet the sun.”
Claude shivered at that. But had no words in response. He took my hand and tucked it into his arm, and proceeded to escort me back to Cadre headquarters.
“How old are you, Claude?”
“Thirty-five.”
“Ah,” I said, “that is younger than I'd thought.”
“I look older, I think, because of my size.”
“And you have been with us for six months?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“And tell me, Claude, do you like it? Is the life of a vampire everything you ever wanted?”
He paused and looked down at me with a puzzled expression. “You know, I don't really know. And no one's ever asked me that before. A lot of the life is wonderful, the heightened senses, the power and the strength. I was always a night person—I used to play piano in a blues band in New Orleans—so I would wake with sunset and sleep with the dawn. That much, at least, is the same.”
“And the blood does not bother you?”
He blushed. “No, the taking of blood is wonderful. Much better than anything I've ever experienced.”
“And so you do like being what you are?”
He puffed his lips out. “Yeah, now that you mention it, I guess I do.” He smiled. “And Vivienne is great; she's patient and gracious. And generous. She bought me my share of the Westwood. A birthday present, she said. And I like the work. And you?”

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