The Blood That Bonds (22 page)

She visited him again on a cold night in
October, as he wandered through cobblestone alleys, searching for
prey, seething. Cats in the background, wailing at the night. The
occasional shout, the noise of breaking glass. Drunks stumbled
through the alleys around him, but they were men. Theroen did not
feed on men unless desperate. He found their scent
disagreeable.

The presence overwhelmed Theroen, his step
faltered, and he came to a stop. It was like before; the sense of
being watched, so specific, as if he could pinpoint the source.
Theroen turned, looked up. Lisette sat on a small stone bridge that
arched over the alley. She was dressed in a black velvet gown. He
could see the white silk of her underclothes.

“
Madame.” Theroen’s breath
had vanished. His heart pounded, staccato in his chest.

“
Hello, my good Mr. Anders.
How are you this fine night?”

“
The better for seeing you,
milady.” Theroen had regained his composure. He did not want
another display of helplessness.

“
You’re seeing a bit too
much of me at the moment, if the blood in your cheeks is any
indication,” she laughed, and in one easy movement dropped to the
pavement, standing in front of him. Her eyes caught the moonlight
like bits of jade.

“
You seek to fluster me,
lady,” he said.

“
I seek nothing at all,
Theroen, except to be in your presence. You are not like most of
the others. You burn with goodness. It … warms me.”

Theroen felt anger. How could this woman see
in him anything of value? He sought to shock her. “Lady, this night
I watched as a woman writhed naked in a pool of her own blood, too
caught up in sinful ecstasy even to notice.”

Lisette raised an eyebrow, smiled, her
expression amused. She touched his arm, and Theroen felt the warmth
of the touch through his jacket. His anger, his fear, melted. He
felt again a throb of desire for the creature standing before
him.

“
You could at least have
invited me along.”

Theroen felt his jaw drop, astonished at
this suggestion. He tried to stop it from doing so, but could not.
Lisette laughed. “Would you like to walk with me, Theroen?”

Theroen was not at all sure he had a choice,
but it wouldn’t have mattered. He took her arm, and they proceeded
out of the alley, into the late evening crowds. Lisette chattered
at his side, seemingly happy to be out and on the arm of a young
man.

“
It’s a lovely evening,
don’t you think? So many beautiful ladies. So many debonair
gentlemen.” She paused, as if waiting for
acknowledgement.

“
And yet, what are they to
us, lady? They are cattle.”

“
That is your master
speaking.” Lisette glanced up at him. “Or your father, perhaps. I
am not yet sure that one such as yourself might ever have a
master.”

“
Abraham commands
me.”

“
You defy him. You maintain
your own dwellings. You do not join in his politics. His black
magic. His evil.”

“
Milady, I do not
understand how you differentiate his evil from my own.”

“
Your evil is a
fabrication, brought about by too many years taking the word of
priests as the only truth. You have been trained to see yourself as
evil, even as a mortal. When you become a hunter of mortals, can
that be anything but worse?

“
Is the tiger evil,
Theroen? The shark that swims in the oceans? They take mortal life
as a force of nature. They take mortal life as it suits them. Their
souls are clean.”

“
My church … would have me
believe those creatures have no soul, lady.”

“
Your church would also
have you believe that a man and a priest tempted into making
advances upon his student also has no soul, would it not? Or at
least, no soul worthy of salvation.”

Theroen grimaced. “That it would.”

“
You see the world, the
church, Abraham and Father Leopold in black and white, Theroen.
There are so very many shades you do not see. You have been trained
to look past them. Did Leopold not do good in his life?”

Theroen considered this. After some time, he
nodded. The man had, indeed, performed more good deeds than Theroen
could possibly count.

“
Is that good invalidated
by his carnal desires?”

“
Yes. No, I … Madam, I do
not know.”

“
You may call me Lisette,
Theroen.”

“
We’ve only just met
…”

Lisette laughed again, held more tightly to
his arm, looked at him with her green eyes. “My young priest, I
have been watching you for two years.”

Theroen’s mind looked back over the things
he had done, or made mortals do for him, in the past few years. He
tried to push these thoughts away. Lisette’s lips brushed his ear.
“Why fight? Accept. Understand. My dear, you’re a very creative
vampire! You’ve exposed many young ladies to the true pleasures of
the flesh … something this horribly repressed society might never
have allowed them. More amazing, you’ve done it without knowing
those pleasures yourself. Is it so wrong that you’ve shown them
these things?”

“
I did it out of
hate.”

“
Hate for them?”

“
No, not for
them.”

“
Then for whom?”

“
For myself. For what I am,
what I allowed myself to become.”

“
There is no reason to hate
yourself, Theroen. You must understand that.”

Theroen shook his head, bewildered. “Lady –
Lisette – everything you say flies in the face of what I have known
my entire life.”

“
Are you listening to
me?”

“
Yes.”

“
And do you
understand?”

“
I am trying.”

Lisette shrugged. “Then all is well. Rome
was not built in a day.”

“
That may be true. I …
where are we going?”

They had moved away from the crowded
streets, toward a part of the city that lay mostly in darkness.
Lisette guided him along the cobblestone pathways, unerring, sure
of her destination.

“
My home,
naturally.”

“
Why?”

A small smile, nothing more.

* * *

They were greeted at the door by a young
girl, maybe sixteen, pale with honey-colored hair and large grey
eyes. A small, upturned nose, pink bow lips. Not a vampire. Theroen
raised his eyebrows at this, but Lisette simply smiled her little
smile, and nodded to the girl.

“
Naomi.”

“
Welcome home, mistress.
Welcome, good sir.” The girl stepped aside, and Lisette led Theroen
into a small, comfortably furnished room. A fire burned in a marble
hearth on one end. Small couches were arranged in a semicircle on
the other. Through a door to his left, Theroen saw a doorway
leading to a dining room. To his right, a hall, leading most likely
to bedrooms.

“
This is Theroen. Theroen,
Naomi. She is my companion.”

“
You keep a human
companion?” Theroen asked. He was trying hard not to look at the
girl, trying not to sense the blood in her veins.

“
I do. It is not unusual
for Ashayt vampires to spend their time with humans, or even to
live with them. Naomi tends the house, and in exchange I drink from
her, on occasion.”

Naomi, standing in the corner, said nothing,
only smiled. Her eyes were on the floor. Theroen glanced at her,
then back at Lisette. “You can do that?”

“
Certainly. Human beings
heal, Theroen. Have you never cut yourself?”

Theroen shrugged. It had never occurred to
him. He turned and addressed Naomi directly. “You … enjoy
this?”

“
I live to serve my
mistress.” Naomi’s tone was questioning. She seemed surprised that
Theroen found this unusual.

“
Liar.” There was mischief
in Lisette’s voice. She touched Theroen’s arm, gaining his
attention. “She lives for the pleasure.”

“
To serve my mistress … and
for the pleasure,” Naomi admitted after a moment, a light blush
touching her cheeks.

“
Naomi has never given
blood to a man, Theroen. Would you like to drink from
her?”

Theroen considered this. “I’m afraid I might
kill her. I have never left prey alive.”

Naomi’s eyes widened. Lisette laughed. “You
will do no such thing. Naomi is not your prey. She is my attendant.
Or perhaps my soubrette. Sit down, Theroen.”

She beckoned to the couch. Theroen sat,
feeling confused and out of place. Lisette, to his right, motioned
for Naomi, and the girl sat down to his left. He could hear her
heartbeat, quicker than normal.

“
You’re frightened of
me.”

“
No, milord.”

“
No lies, Naomi.” Lisette’s
voice was soft. Naomi blushed again.

“
A bit,
perhaps.”

“
He’ll not kill you, Naomi.
You have my promise. Theroen is
Eresh-Chen
He is perfectly capable of
restraining himself. This is not so different from giving me the
blood, though you may find it … more immediately
gratifying.”

“
Are there differences?”
Theroen asked Lisette.

She curled her hand around his, leaned her
head in close. Theroen could feel the push of her breasts against
his arm. “Are there differences in the pleasures men give women,
and those that women give each other, Theroen?”

“
I would not know,
milady.”

“
Lisette.”

“
Lisette, I know
not.”

“
Ah, that is unfortunate,
and we will change it soon enough, my young priest. Drink. There is
no reason to get Naomi so excited for nothing.”

Theroen looked at the girl. Naomi breathed
deeply, returning his gaze with eyes that betrayed both nervousness
and a small, burning desire. She arched her head to the side, and
Theroen could see the beat of her heart below the flesh of her neck
and felt himself consumed by a sudden, tremendous need. He leaned
his head in close, kissed the spot, felt her heat below his lips.
Naomi sighed.

Theroen felt Lisette’s grip on his hand
change, moving it to Naomi’s breast. He cradled it, moved his thumb
across it, felt her erect nipple below the fabric of her gown.
Naomi gasped, moved her head, put her lips on Theroen’s, wrapped
her arms around him.

For the first time in his existence, Theroen
Anders let himself kiss a woman in passion. He felt her warmth
against him, beating heart, shared breath, fire in the touch of her
lips. Her tongue, small and insistent, pressed, turned the kiss
warm and damp. He responded instinctively, biting down slightly.
Naomi winced a moment, then kissed harder, and Theroen tasted her
blood, hot in his mouth.

Lisette’s hand guided his. Naomi’s legs lay
slightly apart, and Theroen slid her skirts up. He found bare skin
underneath, ran a finger along one smooth thigh. Naomi adjusted her
position, mouth still locked to Theroen’s, opened herself to him.
Theroen felt the brush of hair at his fingertips, and then only
heat, and wet. Naomi made a noise in her throat, pushed her hips
forward, continued their kiss. Lisette’s lips were at his ear,
whispering for him to drink. Drink. Take her blood and give her
release.

Theroen moved his mouth from Naomi’s,
licking traces of blood from her lips, and placed it against her
neck.

“
Drink.” Lisette. A
whisper.

“
Drink.” Naomi. A
plea.

Theroen bit down, as gently as he could, and
pressed his hand against the smooth, warm, wet flesh at his
fingertips. Naomi’s reaction was instantaneous, violent, enough so
that Theroen wondered for a moment if perhaps he had hurt her much
more than his bite should have. She cried out, thrust her hips
forward into his touch, over and over. Her hands made claws against
his back.

Theroen drank, making an effort to resist
the trance that wanted to blanket him, that would make him unable
to stop until the girl’s heart gave its final beat. He succeeded,
drank only a few swallows, and detached himself from the girl,
gasping.

Naomi laid back in a semi-swoon, hand at her
neck, breathing ragged, eyes far away. Lisette reached across
Theroen and adjusted the girl’s skirts. Her touch seemed to
register with Naomi, who looked around, groggy but aware.

“
Good?” Lisette’s voice
held the air almost of an indulgent parent. Naomi nodded, trying to
catch her breath. Lisette turned to Theroen, took his hand in both
of hers.

“
Good?”

Theroen shook his head, not in denial but in
an attempt to clear it, licking blood from his lips. He stared out
at the fire. “Everything previous seems distant and uninteresting,”
he said at last. Lisette laughed her musical laugh, kissing his
fingertips.

“
Then all is very well,
indeed! Are you tired, Naomi?”

“
Tired, yes, mistress. But
… if master Theroen is not finished, I … would not object to
indulging him further.”

Lisette laughed again, clapping her hands,
delighted. “Ah, my dear, asking for seconds so soon? Theroen will
think you of low character!”

Theroen glanced around at this and smiled
slightly. “I assure you, he thinks no such thing.”

“
It matters not. Naomi
knows her character very well indeed. She is also much more tired
than she is letting on. There is no time for further entertainment
tonight.”