I nodded in response. The man was right-I probably would have told him off for interfering with my responsibilities.
“Oh. I still need to leave to be proclaimed Titania, they’ll be waiting for me,” I pointed out.
“This is true. When you’re finished with that, will you come back?” Gently he stroked the back of my hand, his gaze imploring.
“No. I can’t operate as Titania in a no-faerie zone.”
“I own other buildings, you can live anywhere you want. A house in the suburbs, a condo on the lakefront, wherever suits you most.”
“You can’t buy my loyalty, Harrison. Look, I was seriously considering working with you, but now I don’t know. I won’t be pushed around like one of your minions. I need to go back to my room.” My head hurt, and I needed space.
“All right.” He reluctantly nodded. “Let’s go then.”
Walking around the bar, he took my arm and escorted me to the elevator. The ride up was short and silent. When we finally reached the door to my suite there was an awkward pause-I could tell Zach was considering kissing me good night as he’d become accustomed to doing. Instead, he looked at me with a terrible sadness in those striking green eyes, then opened the door for me. Without a word I walked into my room, and listened as the door shut behind me and the lock clicked into place.
Deciding on a drink, I headed immediately to the bar and poured a tumbler full of Irish cream-some people drink it by the shot, I prefer it by the glass, with a few ice cubes for elegant presentation. I took a long gulp and closed my eyes, trying to sort through the mess of thoughts flying through my head. Did Zach honestly expect me to come back to him? Even more frightening, was there a possibility I would? No, surely not. No, you’ll just go home to your tiny apartment and live the rest of your wretched life with only a series of housecats for companions.
But I didn’t have to live alone, I had a soul mate, one who’d been envisioning a happily ever after in our future until the faeries scared him away from it. Lex was out there somewhere, waiting for me, and from what he’d said in the last dream it sounded as though he’d decided to become Oberon. Once Zach let me go, I’d be free to run into Lex’s arms and ride off into the sunset. All I had to do was be patient. Maybe Harrison’s spell would wear off eventually…
I heard the door open and the sound of approaching footsteps behind me. Without opening my eyes I sighed wearily. “I so do not want to continue this conversation.”
Before I could turn around my head was slammed forward, colliding hard with the top of the bar. An instant migraine exploded behind my forehead and then I was dragged backwards by my hair.
“I’ll make this quick then,” Lovely Laura growled at me. The room spun and tilted crazily around me, and as I struggled to stand the vampire grabbed for my throat. Her pale eyes almost glowed with hatred and her sharp nails dug into my skin. Terrified, I tried to break her grip, but she was too fast. Drawing her hand back, she tore deep slashes into my throat, producing a huge spray of blood. I grabbed at the wounds, hoping to hold together what was left, then Laura struck me hard and I sailed backwards. I’d have a spectacular black eye from it if I lived.
As I hit the floor with a bone-jarring thud, I thrust my shields out with all the control I could manage. The energy sparked, fizzled, and then faded as Laura kicked me in the stomach, and the breath rushed out of me in a guttural whoosh. I struggled to steady myself and try again, but everything was too scattered and hazy in my mind to attempt any magic, even something as simple as my shields.
“I don’t know what he sees in you.” Jamming the pointed toe of her high-heeled shoe beneath my chin, she turned my head from side to side. “You’re homely, overweight, badly dressed. Ungrateful. Unworthy. Dorian should have drowned you at birth like a mongrel pup.” Moving her foot, she stabbed my stomach with the sharp heel of her shoe, puncturing who knows what internal organs in the process.
“Fuck you,” was the only stinging retort I managed. It was much too difficult to talk and I knew that was a bad sign. The wounds refused to heal, resisting my weak attempt to close them. Warm, slick blood gushed over my hands-I didn’t have long left, and Laura was going to waste the last moments of my life with some bitchy speech.
“And you are crass as well,” she added with another stomp. “What a fool, to think you able to lead. You’re too weak for greatness. He’ll be much better off without you.”
The vampire stomped on me again and I fought the urge to giggle madly at the image of Lovely Laura and her “killer” heels. Ugh, death by bad pun, how cliché. Closing my eyes, I waited for the end, but to my surprise I heard a startled shout from the direction of the door. I dragged my eyes open again to see a Harrison-shaped blur streak toward her, grab her and throw her against the nearest wall with a resounding crack of broken drywall.
“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted.
“I’m altering your plan.”
“Why, you think you can take her place?”
“She won’t have you,” Laura hissed in reply. “I won’t let her.”
Gee, hell really doth have no fury like a woman scorned. My eyes fluttered shut because I no longer had the strength to keep them open. I would’ve found the exchange much more interesting if I hadn’t been bleeding out.
“Get out! Now!”
“No. I made you. I know what’s best for you. She’s too much like her mother, she won’t be corrupted. That girl will never obey you. It’s best to get rid of her now and make a clean break.” Laura made me sound like some sort of untrainable puppy that needed to be put down, and I really wanted to light her on fire. Repeatedly. Instead I just gurgled piteously from the pain.
Next I heard a slap followed by an outraged gasp. “How dare you interfere,” Harrison growled.
“Someone has to-you don’t have even a fraction of my experience. I’m looking out for your best interests.”
“No, you’re looking out for your best interests.”
“I made you,” she repeated, her voice raising a screeching octave.
“But you can’t control me.”
For a brief moment I thought I caught a whiff of burning flesh through the stench of blood, but I couldn’t be sure if it was my own imagination picturing Lovely Laura wreathed in flames. The smell was followed by a few gasping noises that sounded like they came from a female source. Good for Zach, I hope he snapped her skinny, pale neck.
Footsteps, a door slammed, and then Harrison hovered over me. He looked like hell-he had wounds that mirrored mine, but less severe. Zach murmured reassuringly, and though the words were beginning to sound fuzzy and incoherent I could hear ten shades of worry in his voice. He drew my hands away from my throat and started to heal the slashes with a wave of tingling, stinging magic. Unfortunately the pain didn’t subside one bit, and the relentless press of unconsciousness crowded my thoughts. As my mind began to drift, I realized Zach was right-I really could sense his emotions. Staticky and faint, like being able to hear a distant radio station when the conditions were just right. Despite the angry words he’d exchanged with Laura I knew he was afraid, deeply terribly afraid.
“Catherine, look at me,” he ordered, and I struggled to meet his gaze. Zach looked grim as he stared down at me, and I knew that couldn’t be good. “I need you to drink.” I frowned, confused, and watched in pained silence as he unbuttoned the cuff of his sleeve and rolled it up. The vampire raised his wrist to his mouth and bit through the skin. He moved to hold his wound against my lips and I tried to turn away. “Catherine, you have to drink, you’ll die if you don’t. The blood won’t turn you, it won’t hurt you, it will just help me heal you.”