“Let’s get this over with.”
With each step I made nearer to the parlour that cold draft within me got chillier. Victor was well and truly pissed, I sensed. Vampires always had close emotional links to their Sires whether they wanted them or not. Being a mixture of both eager to get it over with and tempted to procrastinate, I had that dreamy feeling of walking on the spot but not actually getting anywhere. Determined to be strong or else I’d never resist Victor’s influence, I squashed the sense of panic and focused on the graceful, elegant, leisurely stroll of Sebastian as he led Jared and I to the parlour.
He’s already trying to reach your emotions, isn’t he? said Jared as Sebastian opened the parlour room door. I can feel the weight of his power in the air.
My head’s pounding already.
I’ll get you out quick, I promise.
This parlour was much the same as the one Antonio had taken me to that time he had offered me the job, except that there was no piano in here. Antonio was sitting on a beige sofa with Luther beside him and his guards on either side.
Startling me, both Nero and Achilles dashed over to me protectively. The snarls they hurled at the very unwanted visitor were silent. Victor was stood between the two sofas in a smart black trouser suit and stared at me as if we were the only people in the room. Several emotions flashed in his squinty gray eyes. Relief. Pleasure. Desire. Betrayal. Fury.
Instantly I had the feeling of being hit hard with a heavy object, but it wasn’t an object. It was pressure. A pressurizing sense of guilt.
“Sam,” he drawled, his thin lips forming a warm smile. “You don’t know how much I’ve missed you, luv.” He had a way of being able to always sound friendly, polite, reasonable and compassionate. His eyes scanned my appearance. He didn’t look too happy about the tight clothing. The clenching and unclenching of his fists was expected. “Looking well.”
I didn’t speak. I was afraid of what I’d say. One part of me had an instinct to yell a string of profanities at him and tell him to go jump up his own arse. But another part of me wanted to run to him and beg him to forgive me for leaving him and ask him to take me home – thanks to the weight of the guilt that he was throwing at me. The more I tried to fight it the more my head hurt.
Knowing that the closer I physically was to him the easier it would be for him to rule my emotional state, I stopped about five feet away from him. Jared halted beside me. It seemed that it was only then that Victor noticed him. I watched as Victor read Jared’s emotions. A smile appeared, which surprised me.
“Aren’t you going to come and give your old hubby a hug?” he asked me.
The strength and sharpness in my voice surprised me. “You’re not my husband.”
“There’s no need to lie.”
But I wasn’t lying. And Victor knew that. Just like he knew that I hated being called something that I wasn’t, especially a liar. “I know what you’re trying to do,” I told him. “Trying to piss me off so my composure will crack and you can control my emotions easier.” I shook my head. “It won’t work.”
Suddenly the force of the guilt was overwhelming, and there was a new emotion too: self-loathing. I had the sensation of being stuck in a pit with emotions that weren’t my own clinging to me and trying to devour me.
“You agreed not to manipulate her emotions,” warned Antonio.
“And I’m not.” Victor was utterly unaffected by Antonio’s air of authority, I realised. That was probably a lot to do with the fact that he was a fruitcake. “You must have noticed by now that my Sam can be temperamental. One minute she’s furious, the next minute she’s calm, and then all of a sudden she develops a sense of humour.”
As usual, he was coming across as reasonable and fair while making me out to be the pain in the backside. Planting the seed of suspicion was a specialty of his. Plus, he knew that falsely accusing me of doing things or being things was likely to crack me.
“She did a runner because she was angry with me, not because she doesn’t love me or want to be with me. Isn’t that right, Sam, luv?”
God I wanted to smack him. I wanted to scream out to Antonio that Victor was a lying, manipulative twat and not to listen to a word he said. Victor knew this. But I didn’t do those things, because I knew that the more energy I spent trying to defend myself the weaker I would be to his power. “What is it you want?”
Victor’s smile disappeared but his friendly, caring tone remained. “I just want you to come home, luv. What else would I want?”
“No.” The word was no more than a whisper. It had hurt to get out, especially since a part of me hated myself for saying something so awful. Self-loathing.
Good girl. I could almost feel Jared’s pride.
“No?” giggled Victor. He took a few steps toward me.
Simultaneously another emotion came crashing down on me. Desire. It stirred low in my stomach. My thighs instantly clenched and I had to swallow back a moan.
“Don’t be daft, luv. Come to me.” He opened his arms and I almost did go.
What’s he trying to make you feel now?
He wants me to want him.
A second later Victor’s head whipped to face Jared and I felt a million times lighter as the saddle of emotions slipped away from me. I could only guess that Jared must have sent a telepathic thought to Victor that he really didn’t like.
I spoke quickly, “You’ve come to hear it from me so here it is: I’m not going back with you, Victor. I’m asking you to free me from your hold.”
Victor snickered. “I bet you’re very pleased with yourself, aren’t you; getting picked for the legion tryouts and then getting hired by Antonio as a Commander. You just remember that I’m the one who made you and I’m the one who taught you how to use your gift -”
“Taught isn’t the word I’d use,” I spat.
“- and every single strength you have you owe to me. You wouldn’t be where you are now if it weren’t for me.”
I smiled. “Then you only have yourself to blame for Antonio offering me a position then, don’t you?”
His snarl was loud and feral, making Nero and Achilles bark.
“Victor, will you release me from your hold?”
“Never,” he growled. No surprise there. “You’re mine.”
I turned my attention to the Latino-looking bloke on the sofa. “Antonio, you’ve witnessed me say I don’t want to leave with him, will you grant me release from his hold?”
Victor pivoted on the spot and bore his teeth at Antonio. “She’s mine.” The guards were beside their Grand High Master in less than a second.
Antonio, completely unfazed by Victor’s behaviour, said calmly, “Samantha Parker, I release you from your Sire’s hold with immediate effect.”
No one else felt it but me. That surge of black, bottomless hatred, that seething need to cause pain. It was coursing through Victor, I could sense it. Then there was a snap within him, I felt that too. Antonio’s guards were quick and would have easily apprehended Victor before he reached Antonio, but I didn’t think about that when I saw him ready to pounce. All I thought about was defending Antonio.