Chapter 4 #3
Things changed when the Count brought Shane back from Canada.
I’d been surprised by the new addition to the Count’s household.
Balthazar Rossi was such a private person that I didn’t expect to see anyone else living with us.
It was really nice, though. I hadn’t been asked to care for Shane, but I’d done it anyway.
He’d been emaciated and clearly tortured, and his quiet anger had called to me.
I got it. I understood. There was no point in raging about what had happened because there was no turning back the clock. It was what it was.
Bite marks had covered his skin just as they had mine months earlier.
His healed better than mine, though. That’s when I realised he wasn’t human.
Wounds like that left scars; they were just less obvious on someone with supernatural healing.
His species didn’t matter to me, I couldn’t let another person suffer alone.
It took a while to build up my confidence enough to talk to him, even though I’d taken him food several times a day and been the one to fetch his laundry and deposit clean clothes in his room.
Eventually, though, I built up enough courage to talk to him.
From there, I’d gotten to know him as well as he would allow, though I saw the ghosts that haunted his eyes when he thought I wasn’t looking.
Then again, those same phantoms haunted my thoughts if I let them, too.
Maybe that was why I felt such kinship with him; I saw my own past reflected in his eyes.
I hadn’t asked what had happened, just as he didn’t ask me.
It didn’t matter. What mattered was that we were both fighting our demons and coming out on the other side. We were survivors.
The Count left us both alone in the castle over the next few months. I hadn’t asked where he went or what he did. I wasn’t brave enough, but I guessed he was running his clubs and doing whatever someone as powerful as him did on a daily basis.
It had surprised me how much I missed his brooding presence, though the Count’s absence gave Shane and me time to grow closer.
Before his first trip, the Count told me to stay with Shane and had even given me a phone, with instructions to ring him if Shane’s behaviour changed.
I’d only worked in the club every other weekend after that, though Balthazar continued to pay my wages as if I was there the three nights a week we’d agreed on.
Shane hadn’t been physically able to go far, and when he’d slept, I’d used the time to explore the castle in more detail, especially the old parts.
Of course, I’d been stupid to believe I was clever enough to get into the Count’s private room.
I shook my head. What had I been thinking?
That there would just be a handy little button to press, and open sesame?
The guy was powerful, rich, and ancient, for goodness’ sake.
Not only that, he had a small army protecting his home and his back at all times.
Of course, the security in his home would be state-of-the-art.
From my position sitting on the hearth, I warily lifted my head and peered up at the small glass square situated under the mantelpiece.
It was a fingerprint identifier, but the little device fixed to the side of it was like nothing I’d ever seen before.
A tiny needle gleamed when I shifted my head.
The Count’s blood was the key. Clever. I’d missed that little bit of info when I’d watched him from across the room, hidden by the oak bookshelves.
It took hours before I heard a car approach; dawn had broken, my behind was numb, and my fingernails were almost non-existent, not to mention bleeding and throbbing excruciatingly.
I’d gone through so many emotions as I waited to discover my punishment that I was exhausted.
Would he give me to the guards who hadn’t taken their eyes off me?
Would he let them drain me dry? Rape me?
Or physically hurt me? Nikolai would. He’d do all of it and more, so long as he got to watch.
Or he’d fuck one of his minions while his eyes stayed on me.
Sometimes it was one of them on their knees for him, instead of me.
Male or female, it didn’t matter to Nicolai.
Like with most vamps, the gender of their sexual partners wasn’t important.
No matter the physical dynamics, his face always wore that same look of triumph and satisfaction as I was hurt.
Power was what got him off, not just sex.
He disgusted me. Would the Count do that?
Did he like to watch? I doubted there was any sexual experience he hadn’t had in his long life.
But powerful men always enjoyed flaunting their dominance.
He was probably no different. I swallowed the bitterness of vomit, my heart pounding as my thoughts churned.
His prisoners at the club certainly wouldn’t think so.
Through the open door of the library, voices resonated, but the Count didn’t enter the room for another two hours.
By that time, I was a mess. I was hungry, thirsty, and needed to pee.
Badly. I was convinced I’d either be taken back to Nikolai or punished like other people who angered the Count by being strapped to a pole and auctioned off as a sex slave at his club.
When the Count entered the room, I was a mess.
Sweat stained my clothes, and I shook so hard I had to clamp my hands under my armpits to stop them shaking.
His beautiful eyes landed on me, and I felt a surge of energy flow from him into the room.
My skin tingled just like it always did when he was near.
“Thank you, Vito, you may all leave.”
Vito nodded once and left without so much as another glance in my direction.
I didn’t look at the Count; there was no point.
I’d accepted that my punishment would be severe.
I shrank back as he walked towards an old winged armchair that was only three feet from me.
Warily, I watched as he lowered himself into the chair and contemplated me.
But my fear was forgotten the moment I noticed the dark shadows under his eyes and the dullness of his long black hair.
The changes in his appearance were subtle enough that I didn’t think anyone else would notice.
I did, because I’d studied him intently from the day he’d become my knight in shining armour.
He was the sexiest, most magnificent man, I mean, male, that I’d ever seen.
His darkness, the menace that surrounded him, even his reserved manner, only made him more alluring and mysterious to me.
Even after everything that had happened to me, I found that air of danger exhilarating.
Butterflies fluttered in my belly whenever I saw him, and I’d had to work hard to keep heat from flushing my cheeks.
I wasn’t so naive that I didn’t realise there might be a tremendous amount of hero worship on my side.
He’d gotten me out of that hellhole, away from Nikolai and his ‘friends’, but Balthazar Rossi wasn’t a kind soul either, at least not from what I’d heard or seen.
Then again, he’d done nothing to hurt or subjugate me.
Except, right then, my cheeks weren’t flushing with excitement or nerves.
All I felt was shame. I’d abused his trust. It wasn’t even as if I could explain my need to see that tapestry again.
I bit my top lip and straightened my spine before I met his glittering gaze.
“I’m sorry.” I rushed the words out before he could speak.
He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I daresay you are, little one.” His eyes narrowed and were utterly cold. “Or are you just sorry that you got caught?”
I gulped. This was the stone-cold killer that the rest of the world knew.
Fear skittered down my spine, my heart racing.
He’d hear it. But I couldn’t do anything about that.
I had no idea how to handle this icy, reserved behaviour.
Nikolai had always yelled at me when he was angry; even if I hadn’t been the cause of his fury, I’d paid.
Dearly. Usually, with broken bones, followed by rough sex as he or his friends fed off me.
Cigar burns were another favourite, one of many other punishments my former vampire master had enjoyed inflicting.
I’d hoped I’d never again have to go to that empty place in my head that protected my mind even as my body was wrecked.
I swallowed hard. Would I be able to endure whatever Balthazar was going to do? Perhaps I’d find a way to leave when this was over—if I was still alive. If I could still function, I’d run, go to America, or even Australia, and get away from all the cruel males, of any species, I’d faced in my life…
“What are you doing?” His voice was dark and ominously quiet.
I kept my head down and finished getting on my knees, my gaze fixed to the floor and my hands lying lightly across my thighs, palms up. “I’m waiting for my punishment—Sir.”
Silence descended. All I could hear was my own frantic heartbeat and breathing.
He didn’t move. Not sure what to do, I peeked at him.
Nikolai had never waited; he’d always been free with his fists and his body.
If he wanted something from me, he took it, quickly and viciously. Waiting was a hundred times worse.
The Count’s face was dark, his eyes a deep red, though his position in the chair had not altered. He looked relaxed, but I wasn’t fooled. I’d seen him like this before, with his enemies. He was a predator, and in the blink of an eye, before you knew it, you were dead.
“I know you were in here a few weeks ago when I opened this room. What is it that you think is in there, Sorcha? Are you working for Nikolai, hm? Was his whole plan to get me to give a shit about you and bring you into my home so that you could spy for him? Is that it?”