Chapter 12 Maeve
Maeve
“I’ll send a guard,” the Ancient said, and the new interest with which he looked at me seared my skin.
It was like I was something valuable now, and I didn’t like it. Before, I was pretty sure I’d just been the human attached to Ciara. My existence almost didn’t matter. But now that I was the human attached to Francois, I apparently mattered a lot more.
Almost before he’d finished speaking, one of their creepy vampire guards emerged from the shadows. They were like blocks of stone. Eerily silent blocks of stone.
Their grip was immovable, too, even though I tried to shake off the one who grabbed me as he clamped his fingers around my wrist.
“Back to where she came from,” Ruse ordered.
“What? No… But…” Francois spluttered his disagreement. “You said… You promised me…”
“Ahh.” Ruse shook his head like he was sorry about something. “We had a deal, Francois. I believe you also promised me?”
“I haven’t finished looking.” Francois began tossing books from the shelves, and I flinched as they landed on the floor, silently offering my apologies to the leather as it smacked against the wooden boards.
“There’s always tomorrow,” Ruse said. It was as though he was placating a child—and maybe he was. I had no idea as to the age difference between the two vampires. How old were the Ancients, anyway? I made a mental note to ask Ciara.
I didn’t fight too hard as the guard led me across the room. There was no sense in earning myself bruises, and I’d at least eaten today.
“I’ll see you soon.” Francois looked at me as I passed him, the anguish in his eyes obvious.
For some reason, there was an answering pain in my chest, but perhaps that was just because I saw my freedom disappearing into one of the giant shadows lurking in this house. I swallowed against the sense of loss.
That part made sense, at least. I’d tasted freedom today, with Francois.
And I’d tasted…temptation? It was something else I didn’t want to explore too closely because surely it was more like professional curiosity.
I’d learned today. And now I was going backwards. They were taking me back as a prisoner.
I walked with the guard back down to the level below ground and the damp, musty smell filled my nose. It wasn’t unpleasant. It reminded me of growing things and life, which was ironic when it was paired with the metallic smell of blood that lingered in the small room.
The guard shoved me inside and Ciara looked up. Her eyes were still the dull red color.
“You okay?” She spoke first.
I nodded and waited for the door to close behind me, signaling that the guard had gone. I had so much to say and so many more questions to ask. But I could start slow. “I spent today in the library with Francois.”
Before I could say another word, Ciara was right in front of me, and she grazed her fingertips over my neck, ran her hands down my arms. “Did he hurt you? Did anyone bite you? Did Francois hurt you?”
“What?” I stepped back and laughed. “No. No way. He… I… Why would you ask th—”
I stopped talking as she clamped me against her in a hug and I couldn’t breathe anymore. I patted her back to let her know and she relaxed and loosened her hold.
“Sorry. It’s just…” She lowered her voice. “It’s Francois. He might be one of the worst ones here.”
“Really?” I ignored the doubt in voice. After all I’d only spent one afternoon with him. Why would I know him better than Ciara? But something inside me didn’t believe in the Francois she described.
I might have ignored the doubt in my voice, but she picked up on it.
“I’m serious. He’s a crazed vampire who kills every virgin female in his path.
” She gave me another once-over then a hard stare.
“You really are lucky you weren’t bitten, you know.
” She still didn’t seem convinced that I hadn’t been.
I tugged at the neckline of my T-shirt showing her both sides of my neck. “See?”
“Hmm.” She frowned. “Just stay away from him in the future, then. Keep yourself safe. You’ve been lucky.”
“What did you mean?” I walked toward the cot. The mattress was still grimy and covered in stains.
“That he’s dangerous?” She sat in her usual position. Back against the wall, eyes on the door.
“No.” Not that. He hadn’t felt dangerous at all.
Well, maybe a little. But good danger, like if I let myself go, I could get burned in the best of ways.
I could feel alive. I could dance in the fire and emerge stronger for it.
I’d never felt that kind of suppressed potential.
“What did you mean, he’s crazed?” He’d seemed distracted sometimes, but entirely lucid and not like he couldn’t control himself.
“He didn’t seem any different from the others…
” I stopped as I rethought that. He was a lot different than the others.
“Or, well. He told me some stuff, anyway.” I glanced away.
“What do you mean?” Ciara climbed to her feet and joined me on the cot. “What has he been telling you? Anything we can—” She lowered her voice. “Use?”
I shook my head. “Maybe not. I don’t know.”
“What sort of things did the two of you talk about then? By reputation, he isn’t exactly socialized these days.” She leaned against the wall and curled her legs underneath her.
“He talked about his father a little. And we looked for a book. And…” This part felt like the most important, but it was also the information I wanted to part with least. I wanted to keep the information to myself, like it was special if I just kept it safe and hidden.
But I needed to trust Ciara. She had such faith we could be rescued. “And he called me his mate.”
Ciara gasped. And so much echoed in that sound—shock, curiosity, horror.
“He did? No. Absolutely not.” She tilted her chin, defiance in each line of her face.
“No.” She repeated the word with vehemence.
“No. This is what he does. He hasn’t changed at all.
You can’t. You can’t believe it. After all these years, Francois Ricard, the crazed prince, the ruthless royal…
He thinks he’s going to get his happy ending.
After so much fucking destruction in his wake.
” She shook her head slowly, the motion part sadness, part disgust.
“What do you mean?” I hadn’t expected such an extreme reaction. I wasn’t entirely sure what I had expected. Maybe for Ciara to explain more of what Francois hadn’t gotten around to.
“I bet there’s a lot more he hasn’t said.” There was something in her tone that couldn’t be argued with, but I didn’t want to argue. I wanted to know whatever it was she thought I was missing.
“I’m sure there’s a lot I don’t know,” I agreed. “I mean, some of this is new to me.” Even after believing in vampires for years, it was very different than suddenly having all of the answers I’d sought right at my fingertips.
She raised an eyebrow. “Honestly, Maeve. There’s a lot you couldn’t even have dreamed of.”
“Like what?” My words came out as more of a challenge than I’d intended, and she sighed before looking upward as if for some divine guidance.
“Where do I start?” She moved and stretched a little.
“Francois has killed many, many women. Out of all the local vampires, it seems like he’s the only one who has actively hunted for his mate, but I thought he’d know by now that these things can’t be forced.
I have no idea what he’s doing with you, except… ”
“Except what?” I didn’t mean to be pushy, but really? It was hard to wait for someone to unravel a whole story when it was as important as this one.
She rubbed her face and sighed again. “You know how the Ancient referred to you as a virgin earlier?”
“Yes.” I tried not to be embarrassed, because really, I wasn’t, but it still wasn’t generally public information.
“That’s the key,” Ciara said. “The most sought-after vampire mates are virgins in two ways.”
“Two ways?” If my voice came out squeaky, it wasn’t on purpose. Just how many in the hell ways did vampires like to take people?
She chuckled. “Never had sex, never been bitten.” Then she waved a hand. “The never been bitten part is negotiable. The mate instinct doesn’t always discriminate. One of the vampire mates I know was a thrall before she mated. But I digress.”
My head spun a little. That was a lot of information packed into one short block of speech. “It’s preferable?”
That was a stupid question, really. But being female was a glorious contradiction these days.
Virginity was equally lauded and shamed.
Society seemed to value purity while shaming inexperience.
And I certainly landed on the inexperienced side of the fence.
I was just awkward and weird enough to not be massively attractive to most men.
And the guys I had met were also bloggers, but more the tinfoil hat-wearing variety, even deeper into conspiracy theories than I was, and that had never felt like the direction I wanted to go. Especially not if they thought the government was watching.
“It’s just a thing. Lore, I guess. You know what, I’ve never thought to question it. I suppose it’s weird, but all of the recent mates were virgins, from what I know. I was, anyway.”
“Really?” She had no reason to lie to me, but there didn’t seem to be a reason why someone so attractive would have been left on the shelf, so to speak. Was there a shelf these days? Did society still go with that myth? I nodded. Yeah. There was still a fucking shelf.
I was sitting front and center on that shelf.
Only…my heartrate increased…not anymore. Someone finally wanted me.
Said he wanted me.
Only he was a vampire and…that complicated things, right?
“Yeah. I had a very hard time in my pack. I was human, they were wolf shifters. They were strong, I was weak. They were bullies, I was the sister of the alpha.” She grinned, but it was weak. “It was complicated.”
“Not anymore, though?” Her life seemed only positive now—except for the whole prisoner thing.