Dance with the Devil

Chapter Thirteen

   “I am not your betrothed,” the vampire continued on heatedly, “I may not be human true, but I am not the monster that he is.”

   But he did, that and so much more.

   Not only did he know of the act itself but how it had affected me, once again causing his anger to fade as I paled at his mention of Luke. My outstretched arm finally sagged, my pistol no longer aimed at the vampire’s heart but the floorboards under my feet. And slowly as if not to startle me he reached for my hand, taking advantage of my staggered state to disarm me again. I didn’t fight him even though he easily could have turned it on me, because I knew he wouldn’t. And this time he did not tuck my weapon in his coat like my knives, instead he carefully placed it on the hall table beside us.

   “Is he still there?” I asked as he moved to me again, my gaze fixed on that door as he reached to brush his knuckles along my jaw.

   I knew I shouldn’t let him touch me, not in such an intimate way, but his comfort seemed to be what I needed just then.

   “No,” he said quietly, I could feel his eyes roaming over my face, gauging my reaction to my words, “though he knew it was doing wrong by you to do so, he had never intended to get caught. He has gone looking for you to try and win you back…or another to take his frustration out upon as it were.”

   I closed my eyes, my head resting on the wall behind me now leaving the vampire’s hand to fall to my shoulder, “I don’t understand,” I thought aloud, “why did he not ask me, why…” I trailed off and took a deep breath to tamp down the hurt once again.

   His warm touch slid along my skin, his palm resting against my neck as his thumb rubbed against my jaw in sympathy, “because he assumed as most do that a virgin would be the undeniable temptation for one of us. That when presented with such we would be unable to deny our hunger and thus put us in a compromising position.”

   “No, Luke loved me. He didn’t keep me as a virgin to tempt you. I was not just a means to an end to him, I was his betrothed.”

   “Again child,” he sighed, “you know as well as I that isn’t true.”

   “No,” I gritted out, my hand reaching up to pull his from my face in anger as I refused to concede to the obvious.

   Which the vampire was quick to point out, “Then why is it you speak of your relationship in the past tense, you say was, not is.”

   It wasn’t a question. Because he knew the answer, knew it as much as I did.

   “He was correct in one thing though,” he continued on softly, “Your innocence has indeed drawn me to you as he had hoped, but not because I wish to rob you of your virtue, but because I admire you for it.”

   I opened my eyes and looked to him in disbelief, all my anger melting away at the sincerity of his words, my hand falling once again to my side.

   He spoke the truth.

   And though I very much wanted to say that Luke thought the same of me that would have been a lie, evident by Luke’s own actions. He did not think twice to use a woman for his needs, use her and then cast her away once he was sated. I watched him do just that, watched as he fondled that poor woman’s self as if she was merely goods to be bought after he had satisfied himself inside her. He did not see the shame in her face that I had, see the regret she had over being used by such a man. He treated her as he did everything in this world, as if it was his for the taking.

   A means to an end.

   Just like that woman.

   Just like me.