Chapter 11

11

GAbrIEL

T ime had become something that happened to other people. My bedroom—no, the bedroom, it wasn't mine—had heavy velvet drapes pulled shut to keep the outside world away. Even the faintest sliver of sky would've given me something to track the time with, but my father—or, more likely, whoever he'd ordered to do the preparations—had been thorough. The room was so sealed-off and timeless, I might as well be anywhere in any time.

In my dazed, fitful state, I imagined the room was in a submarine, maybe on a spaceship. That I was adrift somewhere dark and huge that didn't care whether I lived or died.

Damien had been right about my father's plan. No humans had entered the room since Damien left, and I'd dozed a little, unable to relax enough to actually rest. Every sound from the hallway snapped me into high alert, and I tried to brace myself for the fresh new horrors. But nobody came, and I was left there, immobile, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

I would have killed for a shower.

And I didn't mean that as a figure of speech.

A few times, I managed to drift off enough to dream—or maybe they were hallucinations. Either way, the images my mind threw at me were hot, slick, wet things. They were full of blood-slippery flesh beneath my mouth, a warm body pressed close against me, and undulating movements. More than once I snapped out of the dreams with my cock hard and insistent against my thigh, which made me feel like even more of a monster than the blood drinking.

When I was younger—much, much younger—I was a very different man. I was raised with the innate knowledge that I was powerful twice-over: not just a vampire, a superior being, but royalty, created to rule over the best of the best. After my transformation, when the blood-hunger had first hit me, I had…

Well.

It was a generous lie to say I had lost control. In truth, I'd known exactly what I was doing. Back then, hunting was easy. You didn't even have to go to the effort of making someone disappear, you could just leave them with the other corpses. The Byzantine empire was crumbling before our eyes, and the Normans were sweeping through Europe. Even in the glittering, jewel-like cities I had always preferred, death was sudden and cheap.

I'd thrown my money around, buying the finest of everything, furnishing my tables with meals I wouldn't eat just for the joy of looking at them, then left the food to rot while starving people begged for scraps in the streets. I'd fucked my way through half the courts on the continent and killed casually. Throughout it all, I drank my fill.

There had been no great revelation that made me change my ways. No momentous turning point. I had simply grown up. As the world changed, so did I. I grew tired of constant travel, and if I wanted to stay in place I'd have to stop picking quite so many fights. I still moved around, but I would stay in an area for a decade or more before leaving. I learned from those around me, vampire or otherwise. Over time, my habits had changed, and my tastes had grown simpler, until one day, I looked back on what I used be and felt revolted with myself.

The younger Gabriel had once drunkenly joined in with a band of mercenaries for a few weeks before growing bored. The older Gabriel had once stuck around a court for seventy years to watch the monks in a monastery complete a huge, glittering, illuminated manuscript, just for the joy of being adjacent to excellence.

In the submarine-spaceship-bedroom that wasn't mine, I fought to keep hold of myself. I wanted to be the man who had looked down at that finished book in reverence and sought out the abbot's permission before reaching out to turn the gilded, jewel-bright pages. I didn't want to be the version of myself who had swung a borrowed sword without caring who it hit.

The weight of the portal stone helped. It was barely noticeable on my chest, but whenever I found myself slipping, I focused on it. I wished, absurdly, that my heart still beat, so at least some part of me could reach closer to Evangeline's token.

In grand vaulted courts, I had seen ladies give knights gifts before tourneys—petal-thin pieces of silk that fluttered in the wind as they were tied onto well-maintained armor. In wooden halls thick with smoke and the smell of people, I had seen lords give their favored thanes rings as reminders of who and what they were fighting for. In banner-strewn town squares on festival days I had seen people carving apart the best food they would get to eat all year so they could slip the perfect morsel onto their loved one's plate.

I inhaled deeply, letting my shirt pull taut and press the stone against my chest.

I was hungry.

How long had it been since I was fed? Years. I thought of the feasts I'd left to rot on golden plates. If my father led another into the room for me to drink from, would he still have to force my mouth open? Or would I devour their life blood willingly?

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply again, feeling the cool weight of the stone against my skin.

An odd sound came from the hallway, and I flinched. Some new victim of my father's? A new way for him to torment me? It was hard to picture the soft thwumph I'd heard being from something torturous. If anything, it sounded like someone shaking out a thick down blanket.

Footsteps approached the door, quiet but rushed. Too loud to be a vampire. The humans my father sent in walked slowly and heavily, plodding like sleepwalkers. I opened my eyes and frowned at the ceiling. This was different. Good different or bad different?

Then the door opened, and I knew. Even over the stench of old blood, I could pick out the delicate scent of old paper and jasmine.

"You came," I murmured, my voice rusty from disuse. I had the distant feeling that if I was more with it, I would be upset, concerned. Evangeline should be safe, somewhere far away from here. I was pathetically relieved that she wasn't.

"Of course I came," Evangeline said, rushing over to the bed. I wanted to cry just from hearing her voice. She brushed my matted hair back from my face with gentle, shaking hands, her eyes flicking over me worriedly. "Somebody's gotta rescue you."

Evangeline was a smart woman. The room smelled like an abattoir, and I was caked with blood that had hit my face and trickled down to dry on my body. I could see in her eyes that she had already put two and two together. She looked grimly furious, as if she wanted to go find my father right now and tear him apart with her bare hands.

"I'm sorry it took me so long," she whispered. "I came as soon as I could, I promise."

"I know," I told her earnestly. "I know. You're here now. That's what matters."

Evangeline pressed a hand to my cheek, and I leaned into the touch until her trembling stopped. I closed my eyes and nearly panicked when I felt her move away, but she stayed close. She pressed her hands to the cuffs chaining me to the headboard and murmured a few words. I couldn't see what she was doing, but her warm fingertips traced patterns on the delicate skin of my inner wrists. I shivered. The metal warmed like it had been left in the sun and fell away, dropping down onto the bed with muffled clinks.

As soon as I was free, I tried to get to my feet, but a wave of dizziness hit me, and I fell back onto the bed. Evangeline was right there next to me on the blood-crusted bed, more beautiful than anything I'd ever seen. She threw her arms around me, and I hugged her tightly, as though she might evaporate if I let go. She was warm and alive in my arms. I buried my face in her neck and shuddered out a dry sob. Her hand was on the back of my neck, holding me close, giving me permission to take comfort in her.

"I missed you," I told her hoarsely. The hand on the back of my neck tightened a touch.

"I missed you, too," she said. I could feel her voice reverberating through her frame. "Can you walk? We need to get out of here."

I broke the embrace reluctantly. I was still sitting on the edge of the bed, with Evangeline standing between my knees. Her thumb brushed over the short hairs at the base of my scalp. I couldn't bring myself to let her go completely, so I settled my hands on her waist.

"I can try," I told her. "I'm sure I'll find my footing once I get used to being vertical again. How are you planning on getting out? I can help you navigate this place."

Evangeline smiled down at me. "Oh, don't worry. I've got this." She tugged me to my feet. "C'mon. It helps to get a walking start."

Holding hands, we stepped forward. I was slow, woozy with blood, hunger, and relief. Evangeline squeezed my hand. There was that sound of flicked blanket again, and a rollercoaster jolt in the pit of my stomach. Abruptly, we were somewhere else entirely. It was still part of the citadel. Based on the scent, I thought it was the werewolf section. It was in the office area, and dozens of shocked faces looked up at us from cubicles scattered around the room. We were still walking with the same momentum, and Evangeline bumped into a stubbly man carrying a sheaf of paper. His printouts went flying, and he gaped at us, mouth opening and closing.

"Oops," Evangeline said. "Still working out the kinks. Sorry!"

"Very sorry," I added. The part of my brain that had been structured entirely by tutors took over for a moment, since I was too surprised to actually think.

Another shaken blanket sound. We were in the middle of a shopping mall. On one side of us, a tired-looking human teen held out a tray of samples speared on toothpicks, and on the other, a man was trying to get his toddlers to stop biting each other. Neither of them noticed us. Evangeline looked up at me, sheepish.

"Sorry. One more time," she said.

Again, that sound and that tingling drop in my stomach. Immediately, we were blasted with cool water. It pummeled down on us from above. We were standing in it, as well, submerged up to our waists. I stopped walking, as did Evangeline. It was bright, and for a moment there was nothing in the world but the two of us and the waterfall pouring down onto us. I tilted my head up, letting the water crash down onto me. I wasn't sure which one of us started laughing first, but we were swept up in it together, laughing like lunatics in the spray.

I scrubbed the blood from my hands and face, let the water pour into my mouth and swallowed it down eagerly. It was crystal clear and tasted slightly mineral. Evangeline helped to wipe away the smears of blood from my face, her eyes bright.

Together, we stepped out from underneath the waterfall. We were in the woods. Now that the water wasn't bombarding my senses, I could hear birdsong around us and the rustling of leaves in the wind. We were still laughing breathless little chuckles as we waded to the edge of the river. Evangeline's hand was warm and sure in mine.

We climbed up onto the riverbank, which was covered with thick, springy moss. When I looked at Evangeline, the laughter died in my throat.

We were both drenched, but she made it look ethereal. The tendrils of hair that had escaped her braid were plastered to her face in wild curves, only emphasizing the flawlessness of her skin and the wide, lovely set of her eyes. Her white T-shirt clung to her, completely see-through from the water, and the light-blue bralette underneath hadn't fared much better. I could see the hardened peaks of her nipples through the scant layers. A droplet of water traced its way down her neck to her heaving chest.

"Evangeline," I said hoarsely.

That broke the spell. We crashed into each other. Her lips parted beneath mine, and I licked into her mouth. She shivered against me, and we clung to each other, suddenly frantic with need. Evangeline made urgent, hungry noises into my mouth. We stumbled blindly until her back hit one of the tall trees, which was fantastic, because I wasn't sure how long I could keep myself upright unaided. Her chest arched against mine, and I worked a hand between us, cupping one of her breasts and rubbing at her hard nipple. I could feel her heartbeat. She groaned and canted a leg up over my hip, pulling me closer.

"Heyyy, it's the pretty people again!" said a silvery voice from the river behind us.

Evangeline and I froze. We stared at each other for a split second, then I thunked my head against her shoulder. I didn't have to look at the water to know what I would see: the glamorous, lithe form of one of the fair folk, probably dressed in something sparkly, diaphanous, or both.

"Fucking river fairies," I muttered.

"Hi, Cardamom," Evangeline said. Her voice shook with suppressed laughter. "This isn't your usual waterfall."

"I have a time-share, darling. A time-share. Please, make yourselves at home. Come into the water, won't you? Have a bite to eat." Cardamom's voice had taken on a playfully sinister note. They were setting a trap, and we knew it, and they knew we knew it. Fae loved that sort of thing, but I found it tiresome at the best of times.

"We were actually just leaving," Evangeline said.

"Are you sure? I so rarely get guests…"

"We're sure," I said firmly.