Chapter 50 #2
On the other side of the table, the beast tore the knife from its shoulder.
This was his chance.
Will ran.
Blind with fear, he forgot the way to the kitchen and the only other exit. Too late, he realized he had reached a corner of the grand townhouse he had never explored. An unremarkable door opened, and he stumbled into the darkness beyond.
In his panic, he didn’t notice the familiar scent, but he knew he had reached a dead end.
He took another step, perhaps two, when a lantern suddenly flared to life.
Another followed. Soon, the glow of a handful of lamps illuminated the room.
Will wanted to cry. The darkness might still have hidden him.
But what stopped him, drawing him for one moment out of the spiral of fear, was the sight before him.
A library.
Brown shelves, intricately carved, rose across two floors.
Tall pointed windows looked out over the city, sleet rattling against them.
Before a large fireplace stood a bed in the middle of the room, blankets and pillows piled chaotically across it.
Clothing racks stood between some of the shelves, crowded with gowns.
Dresses covered the floor as well, carelessly discarded or draped over chairs.
So this was where Elodie slept.
She had built herself a kingdom inside the library.
How had Will missed it? He had studied the plans for so long, and nothing had suggested its existence.
Yet everything about it was unmistakably her.
It hurt to think that he might meet his end beside her red ball gown, watched by the pearl eyes of her costume, its hooks carelessly caught in the carvings of the bookshelves.
In the mirror of the dressing table, Will saw his own face—and the black corridor behind him.
Damnation. He could not die here. Elodie needed him.
He searched for a weapon, anything, even a letter opener or nail file, when the darkness in the corridor moved, and the monster sprang through the doorway. The weight collided with Will and threw him to the floor. His head struck the boards hard.
Above him, the beast roared. Will tried to crawl away on all fours, anywhere, only away, but an enormous paw pinned him to the floor, its weight crushing the air from his lungs. A strangled cry escaped him. He had to call his magic—no matter how deeply the Albatross had betrayed him.
He felt the heat of the body above him, heard its breath rasping in his ears. Adrenaline burned through his blood.
“Please,” Will managed through clenched teeth. Some madness inside him still believed Eric was hiding somewhere beneath all of this.
But there was no bargaining with this monster anymore. The paw tore the shirt from his body, only to press its claws into the naked skin of his back. Nails dug into his flesh.
Will searched for his magic, for the taste of salt upon a cold northern wind, somewhere inside his chest.
“Eric,” he gasped. “Eric, please.”
Only a wild growl answered, and the monster lowered itself over him. Hot thighs pressed against his, damp breath sweeping across his skin. The second paw caught in his hair.
The pain in his scalp vanished beneath what came next as teeth sank into Will’s shoulder. The long fangs pierced deeply, but the rest bit into his skin as well, searching for blood. A tongue swept over the wound, and then Will felt the pull.
The suction—the tingling—reached all the way into his belly. A whimper escaped Will, and his magic died beneath the venom. Helplessly, he braced his hands against the floor and forced his neck to relax, letting his head follow the pull on his hair until his throat lay exposed to the lupine vampire.
Bitter tears burned in his eyes. Elodie’s room blurred before him, and he saw the fire in the hearth flare to life.
What a wondrous person she was. Here, inside her refuge, she allowed the wonder of her magic to roam freely.
A little wind chime of cut glass stars danced in an unfelt breeze where it hung from the canopy.
Its delicate chiming sounded impossibly innocent beside the wet sounds of the monster drinking.
Perhaps it was right to die here, drained by the man whose lips he had wanted against his own since the moment they met. Surrounded by Elodie’s magic, which had awakened so much inside him. A strange peace settled over Will, and he realized the pain had eased.
The claw in his hair loosened and slid instead along his cheek.
But the drinking did not stop. Claws still moved over his skin; only the monster’s posture changed.
The beast sat back on its haunches and pulled Will with him, settling him into its lap.
With every pull at Will’s throat, a satisfied growl vibrated through the monster.
Its tongue licked over the wound, no longer digging into Will’s flesh but almost caressing him.
The touch burned, though nowhere near as badly as it had at first.
A tiny spark of hope, stronger than any magic, took root inside him.
“Eric,” Will breathed.
Carefully, he placed his hand over the paw holding his torso.
“Will,” the monster growled against his throat.
Almost delirious, Will sobbed.
His blood had worked. The Albatross’s promise had worked again and lifted the madness from Eric’s mind. At least Will hoped so, because Eric had not stopped drinking from him. And seated like this in his lap, Will became acutely aware of the creature’s anatomy beneath him.
“Damnation, you taste divine,” Eric murmured and sucked again at the bite. “Your blood is like the nectar of stars.”
Every word vibrated through Will’s body. He felt Eric’s bare chest against his back and the depth of every breath.
“Are you back?”
Instead of answering, Eric bit him again.
The claw at his cheek moved to his throat, forcing him to lean farther back against Eric’s chest and opening himself. Will sat half entangled on his lap, and for the first time, although they should have been nearly the same height, he felt small.
He was at the mercy of shifting muscles and pointed claws that pressed into his skin as though it were nothing more than a thin veil over his blood.
But their breathing found the same rhythm.
Will breathed in with Eric and out with him, feeling the air move across the droplets running down his chest. His heartbeat slowed.
Whether it was the venom or simply the certainty of being held by the man he had longed for all these months, he could not say.
A sudden stab of pain startled him when Eric bit deeper, until his teeth scraped across Will’s collarbone. The movement forced him closer to his captor, and Eric growled.
“Will, stay still.”
But Will would not remain still while a monster—even if that monster was his friend—drained the life from his veins. Carefully, he freed one arm and the next second drove his elbow into the shoulder where the knife had struck.