The Maestro's Apprentice (15 page)

“Yes, sir,” Autumn said.

“I guess I’ll have something too,” Adam said.

“You?” Biali asked Maria.

She shook her head and looked down. “I feel kind of sick as it is.”

Biali studied her for a moment, then took down a glass and filled it from a bottle of water on the desk. Then he took it to her. “It’ll be all right. Nothing’s happening to you in my place. I’m in control here. Not Claudio.”

She nodded and smiled at him, accepting the water. Autumn watched her but she didn’t make eye contact. Biali soon brought Autumn a strong-smelling, fizzy drink.

“Hope you like bourbon,” he said. “It’s pretty much all I have.”

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Autumn smiled gratefully. “Thanks,” she said, and discovered it smelled much stronger than it tasted, but it made the butterflies in her stomach stop fluttering quite so much. Nervousness made her drink quickly, so she was nearly finished with it by the time there was a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Biali called.

A large bald vampire in a suit stuck his head in the door. “A Claudio du Fresne here to see you, sir.”

“Send him in.”

Biali set his drink on a coaster at the corner of his desk and faced the door. Autumn looked up and had to hold her drink with both hands to keep it from shaking. Maria pressed near her. Adam crossed his arms over his chest.

Claudio stepped quickly into the room with his lips pressed tight. He wore all black—

black slacks with a thin, shiny belt; a black button-down shirt, open at the collar; black wingtips. Even one of his silver rings had a black stone.

Autumn swallowed. She had not really thought about Claudio since leaving, except to worry he might find them and take them back to his country estate in Georgia. The penalty for running away was a severe whipping, even more severe than the whippings he usually gave. She was startled to find herself thinking he was still the most beautiful man she had ever seen, with his deep, black eyes, large nose and heavy jaw. Except for a few stray, uncontrollable curls at his jaw that came from a somewhat layered cut, he kept his dark hair shoulder-length and straight, allowing it to curl under at the ends. Since he had been in his mid-forties when he was turned, a touch of gray showed at his temples.

She cringed under his gaze.

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When Claudio’s eyes fell on Adam, Adam uncrossed his arms and squared his shoulders. Biali, the shortest man in the room, placed himself between Claudio and the others and took his hand, smiling. “Claudio, old friend. How
are
you?”

Claudio gave Biali a stiff smile. “Suffering the pain of the betrayed, as you may imagine,” he replied, returning his gaze to Adam. His French accent, still pretty thick even after all his decades in the U.S., made Autumn study his features more closely. She wondered if leaving had been such a good idea. Had they really betrayed the man who had rescued each of them from their respective hells?

Adam looked down briefly and shifted on his feet.

“What are you going to do, Claudio?” Biali asked soothingly.

Claudio looked at him, lowered his eyelids slowly in an expression that sent shivers up Autumn’s spine, and smiled more warmly. “I want to speak with them, to determine if this is what they want. To let them know it is not too late to return.”

He looked at Adam, who sighed and shook his head. “We talked about this before. I don’t want to return. I don’t want to live the way you live.”

Claudio moved slowly around Biali and went to stand in front of Adam, who was a couple of inches taller. “You will have to keep slaves,” he said. “There is no other way.”

“Don’t call them that.”

“Feeders, then. You will have to catch them, and you will have to discipline them.”

“I just don’t see it that way.”

Claudio turned toward Autumn and Maria. “Do you truly want to leave?”

“What would happen if we came back?” Autumn asked. Maria elbowed her.

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“You know what would happen, my dear. I make no apologies for punishing my…feeders. But don’t base your decision only on fear.”

“I’m not going back,” Maria said. “I want to live without vampires.”

Claudio worked his jaw. “I see. And you, Autumn?”

“I don’t know…” she said quietly, wiping a tear from her eye. “I’m…confused.”

Claudio softened his expression and moved toward her. Biali put his arm around Claudio’s shoulders and stopped him. “Why don’t we give her some time to think about it?” he said.

“But of course,” Claudio answered. “It is simply that my family is very important to me. I don’t like to leave them out here in the world like strays.”

“That’s understandable, man. I don’t blame you. But they’re not exactly children.”

“No,” Claudio said. “Of course not.” He turned back to Adam. “How will you make money?”

“When we first met, you told me I could be a god with my playing. If that’s true, I ought to be able to scratch out some kind of living.”

Claudio nodded. “Making something with music is difficult. When I came to this country I had my family’s fortune, and it was still difficult to create a world to live in.”

“I’ll manage,” Adam said, rubbing his face.

“I knew this day would come,” Claudio said. “But you should not run away. Let me help you. I know many people, many vampires, who will welcome you. I do not wish you rob you of your freedom.”

Adam nodded. “Thank you. Maybe we should talk,” he said with a shrug. “Man to man.”

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Seeing Claudio’s gentler, more charming side made Autumn homesick. Everything she had been telling herself these past few months, everything Maria had told her, seemed like a dream. She felt sick, and wondered if it was anxiety or her body responding to Claudio’s nearness. She had belonged to him mind, body and soul. He had made love to her, fed from her, taken care of her, as well as frightened her and punished her. And now, after thinking of him as a monster who would rip away her freedom and enslave her once more, she wanted to rush over and fling herself into his arms.

She had to escape and think for a while.

“Excuse me,” she muttered and headed for the door. Claudio turned as she neared him. She was afraid he would touch her. If he touched her, she didn’t stand a chance.

When he looked at her, she stopped in her tracks and gazed up at him, lips open and eyes wide.

“I’ve missed you,” he said. “My shy little flower.”

Autumn swallowed. “Maestro,” she said quietly.

He dropped his lids and smiled. When he reached to touch her face, she ducked out of the way and fled to the door. Then she turned around. “I’m going for a walk,” she said. “I

– I have to think. I’ll be back for breakfast.”

Maria took a few steps forward, but Autumn put up her hand. “I need to be alone for a while,” she said, then went out the door and pushed past the large, surprised-looking vampire standing guard. She jogged down the hall, just in case anyone decided to follow her.

Autumn walked without thinking where she was going. The important thing, she thought, was just to keep moving. She tried to push the sick feeling down and out of her 135

stomach, caused from being torn between freedom and family. She wondered if she had really wanted to leave, or if she had simply been letting Maria make her decisions for her.

Yet, if she went back with Claudio, she would get the whipping of her life. She also knew he was right, and that she shouldn’t let that fear make up her mind. At the moment, though, she just wanted some peace from the thoughts that threatened to pull her in eight directions at once.

It wasn’t long before she found herself outside. The brochure had mentioned several areas to walk, beyond the parking lot—gardens, wooded paths and even a meadow for horseback riding. She thought some time in a garden would be ideal and followed the cobbled path from the house toward the lots. The path snaked around the outside of the concrete and veered into a wooded area.

She felt better already, even though it was chilly out. She decided to warm up by walking fast.

A few people loaded belongings into vehicles as she walked past. She wondered if any of them were the vampires themselves, or if they made the feeders do all the work, as Claudio had. The thought brought tears to her eyes. “Damn,” she muttered.

On the other side of a sparse growth of trees was a green area crisscrossed with the same cobbled path she had been following. In the distance there was a fountain, much larger than the one in the courtyard she had seen the other night. She wondered how cold the water was and wandered absently in that direction. Beyond that, a couple walked hand in hand.

The water was very cold, but she enjoyed feeling it on her hand in the brisk air. It seemed dangerous somehow. For someone who had been Claudio’s “shy little flower,”

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she thought, she had certainly made a lot of decisions in her life based on following danger around, as opposed to avoiding it.

Letting Claudio take her had been a good example. Yet that had put an end to much of her exploration, as life with Claudio had consisted mainly of doing chores around his estate and being available for him and the other vampires who had lived there. Of course, it had been exciting at first, but life had eventually settled into a routine, broken only by the occasional outing with Claudio or one of the others. Of course, the whole “family,” as Claudio enjoyed calling his group of vampires and feeders, would attend the vampires’

chamber performances. It had not turned out to be the sort of dangerous life she had imagined it would be. Or else she had simply grown accustomed to it.

She watched the water for a long time, trying not to think about Claudio. Part of her wanted to rush back into Freddie Biali’s office, throw herself at Claudio’s feet and beg him to forgive her for running away. Part of her was prepared to take any punishment he deemed necessary to teach her a lesson. But she knew if she did, she would sit in safety and mourn all of the unknown things that could have been if she had only kept going. In the play of the clear water in the fountain, Autumn saw that her path lay ahead, not behind.

The hand over her mouth took her by surprise. Too startled to scream, she flailed in her captor’s grip, but was on her back before she could make contact with fists or nails.

She saw Francois’s burning blue eyes above her, then the flash of his fangs before he forced her head to the side and pierced her flesh, holding her still and drinking until she had lost the will to fight.

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Chapter Fourteen

Barely aware of what was happening to her, Autumn knew something was very wrong. Francois was taking her somewhere. She tried to hold her eyes open, but indeterminate colors swam in front of her eyes.

Eventually, she was deposited roughly on a seat of some kind. A door slammed. She tried to make out what her senses were telling her but she faded out of consciousness, and had to remember all over again that she was somewhere with Francois when she came to seconds later. Another door slammed. A motor started and the thing she lay on began to vibrate. She had barely enough time to register the fact that she was in a vehicle before she passed out.

* * * *

Autumn tried to open her eyes, but they were too heavy. Someone was talking to her, squeezing her face painfully. “Wake up, you little bitch,” a man’s voice said. There were traces of a French accent mixed in with the West Coast that she now realized must have been carefully cultivated. She opened her eyes to see Francois’s angry face above her.

He was straddling her as she sprawled on the back seat of a van. Seeing him caused her to feel his weight. She looked around. The van was long and windowless.

Kidnap van,
she thought. Then she saw Josh, standing a few feet away with a handheld video recorder pointed at her. “What are you doing?” she asked.

François grabbed her face again and made her look at him. She tried to push his hands away but couldn’t find her own at first, then realized they were tied above her head and fastened to a bar bolted to the side of the van. Panicking, she thrashed around under him, 138

trying to get her legs free so she could kick. He slid down to sit on her thighs, then ripped open her jeans, tearing the buttonhole and tearing denim from zipper, then forced them down and popped her hard on the bare hip. The pain jolted her from her stupor. She cried out.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” he said, revealing the tips of his fangs as he forced the jeans off her. When she kicked him, he went over to one of the van’s bucket seats, picked up a leather strap and began whipping her with it.

“Stop!” she begged. “Please stop!” She panted and stared at him with wide eyes.

He paused and stared down at her, flaring his nostrils and flexing his jaw. Autumn felt herself becoming aroused, in spite of the circumstances.

Francois smiled. “I knew one of Claudio’s would respond to this,” he said and held up the strap. “His taste hasn’t changed much in two hundred years.”

“Claudio?” she asked. The whole thing was so confusing. “I’m not with Claudio anymore. Who
are
you?”

He tossed the implement aside and began unbuttoning his slacks. “Then why is he coming for you? Are you a runaway?”

The question made her heart pound even more. “I thought you were gay,” she said quietly, staring at the bulge in his pants.

Francois laughed and rubbed the slick head of his erection against her opening, making her gasp unwillingly. “This isn’t about sex, honey. It’s about revenge, and revenge makes me horny. There are things that happen with us grownups that you won’t understand. Claudio took something from me a long time ago. So now I’m going to take something from him.”

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With that, he pushed it inside of her, pumped her a few times and turned to Josh.

“Bring it closer,” he said.

Josh did as he was told. Autumn looked up, and found him glaring at her while pointing the lens at his master.

“Hello, Claude-Michel. It’s been a long time, lover. I see you’re still picking cute, innocent-looking little flowers.” He gave Autumn another couple of hard pumps. “I wonder how much this one can take, hmm? Let’s find out together, yes?”