Taken By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #7.25)(18)

He rolled to one side, carefully cradling the tiny, unconscious woman in his arms as he scanned the area around them.

Bloody hell.

Juliet must have created a portal to rescue the both of them from certain death, but at what cost?

The stench filling the air warned him that they were still dangerously near the docks, but thankfully there was no scent of the Jinn. Nor any other predators besides those who owed their loyalty to him.

Sensing one of his servants hurrying in their direction, Victor grimly rose to his feet, holding Juliet against his chest. An unfamiliar torment twisted his dead heart as he noted her unnatural pallor and the pain that tightened her features even in her deep state of slumber.

She had come perilously close to draining herself beyond the point of no return.

Too damnably close.

“Johan,” he called softly, knowing the young vampire would hear him despite being several blocks away. “Find a carriage.”

“Yes, master.”

There was a short delay, then the sound of horseshoes striking against cobblestones broke the thick silence. Victor watched the elegant black carriage turn the corner and come to a halt in front of him.

Leaping from the driver’s bench, the massive vampire was forced to calm the nervous horse before moving to offer Victor a deep bow.

“Master.” Although attired in rough wool clothing with his blond hair pulled into a simple braid, there was no masking the brewing danger that shrouded Johan. He was a warrior poised to kill. Straightening, the younger vampire narrowed his gaze as he took in Victor’s slowly healing wounds and the unconscious female draped across his arms. “You must feed, my lord. Shall I find a host?”

“Later.” Victor easily dismissed his need for blood. At the moment his only thought was to get Juliet to the safety of his lair. “Return us to my estate.”

“At once.”

With a blur of motion, Johan pulled open the carriage door, waiting for Victor to settle on the leather cushion before slamming the door shut and returning to his seat atop the carriage. Then with a mental command he had the horse racing through the narrow streets with a reckless indifference to the occasional vehicles or even pedestrians that crossed their path.

Within a half hour they were wheeling up the long drive to his isolated mansion. As they pulled up to the wide veranda, Victor did not wait for the carriage to come to a halt, simply opening the door and leaping onto the flagstone courtyard. With the same impatience, he charged up the stairs, fully prepared for a uniformed servant to tug open the wide double doors.

“Uriel,” he called, crossing the marble foyer and heading toward the private rooms at the back of the mansion.

With commendable speed the angelic vampire appeared at Victor’s side, his brows arching as he caught sight of Juliet in his arms.

“Do you wish me to call for a human healer?”

Pausing before the door at the end of the corridor, Victor released a trickle of power to open the heavy locks. No one, not even his servants, was allowed in his personal lair without his permission.

“Not yet.”

He glanced down at Juliet, a frustrated fury racing through him at the tumble of fiery curls that were in such contrast to her ashen face and the bruises already visible beneath her closed eyes. She looked like a crushed flower, he painfully acknowledged before viciously pushing the thought away.

No. She was merely exhausted. He would accept nothing else.

“You have food prepared?” he growled.

“Yes, the”—Uriel stumbled over the unfamiliar word. It had been several centuries since the vampire had eaten solid food—“chef was most uncooperative, complaining at being taken from his bed and then insisting the markets were closed and he could not discover the necessary ingredients to prepare a meal.”

“I assume you managed to convince him to comply with your request?”

“Certainly. He promised a seven-course meal would be awaiting your approval.”

“Ensure he keeps it warm until Juliet recovers.”

Uriel gave a dip of the head. “The guests have been removed from the property and the upper chambers have been prepared for the female.”

Victor’s arms tightened. “The female will remain with me.”

A rare shock rippled over Uriel’s face. “But…”

“You have something to say, Uriel?”

“It will soon be dawn.”

“I am well aware of the time.”

Uriel’s gaze shifted to the woman in his arms. “Then you are taking the woman to your lair? Your private lair?”

Victor’s lips twisted; he did not entirely blame his young servant. He had never, in all his countless years, allowed a female to enter his lair.

“Your swift grasp of the situation is what I have always admired most about you, Uriel,” he said dryly, stepping into the small, conspicuously plain room. “Be certain we are not disturbed.”

Expecting his command to be obeyed, Victor slammed shut the door and crossed the floor to pull the lever hidden behind a particularly ugly oil portrait. Silently the paneling slid aside to reveal stone steps that led to the deep chambers beneath.

Passing through several more heavy doors, Victor at last reached his private resting place, crossing the barren room to lay Juliet on his bed.

On the point of covering her with a thick fur blanket to ward off the chill of being so deeply underground, Victor slowly froze, dumbfounded by the sensations that were quietly settling in the center of his heart. Sensations that he had barely noticed in his frantic haste to get Juliet to safety.