Page 7 of Master Botosoni

Catina’s eyes go wide with dismay, the gold flints swirl in different directions and shock, fear of the unknown, and the reality of her new world. I gather the dishes and head to the door. Her voice is so soft that I have to strain to hear her words. “You can’t just keep me here.”

Chapter 6

Catina

The master vampire’s eyes don’t waver from me, the heat of their intensity burning into my skin and sending a tingling heat right to my center. He doesn’t say a word before turning away from me, leaving the room, and closing the door.

I must have heard him wrong…

He did say I’m not going anywhere. I’m not dreaming it. My eyes take in the long burgundy drapes hanging on the wall, no doubt hiding an expanse of windows that would let in light if opened during the daytime. He can’t just keep me here, locked in this room, away from the outside world, yet that’s exactly what he’s done.

I suck in a deep breath. Under his protection. It’s not like he’s going to hurt me after bringing me in from the cold, after feeding me. But still, the clicking sound of the door on the other side causes my chest to tighten in fear, as the darkness of his world swirls in my mind. No matter how much I will it away, the visions come again.

The dark, snarling shadows churn in the recesses of my thoughts, mingling with the magical powers of witches who cast their curses into the night, flying through the sky with no brooms to speak of in sight, just long black skirts that hang as they make their way through the night.

The faces and all the images are so vague, muted in the background of my mind. It’s hard to discern anything helpful at all. I focus, honing all of my energy, concentrating like Gramma taught me all those years ago. Calling to the spirits, beckoning them to join in my quest for the truth, and then centering my thoughts onto the stones.

The images explode in brilliant color—a fight, dueling swords, gnashing teeth and blood, bright crimson red blood, pooling everywhere, splashed along the walls and floors, and bodies, of the living and the dead all speaking to me at once, warning, threatening, and beckoning me close.

The blood races through my veins. The explicit vision chills me with the knowledge that a battle the likes I’ve never seen, have only read about in history and lore, in all likelihood, is on its way to my door. There’s no way that something so vivid and real has no meaning at all or should be taken lightly because the powers that be do not send messages like that for no reason.

The rogue vampires and shifters are coming, closer and closer all the time, and no amount of wishing it weren’t so will change the course of their assault. I try to slow my breathing, inhaling deeply, in and then out, letting my body calm. I try to put the pieces together, but nothing I’ve ever been taught, seen, or have ever heard about the vampires, the shifters, or rogues, explains how or why I’ve found myself involved in the middle of their war.

I slide down into the luxurious bed, pulling the silky feeling comforter up to my ears while cradling the extra pillow on the bed as though the act alone will protect me from the rogues and shifters that roam the land, looking for power they do not currently possess.

Botosoni will protect me. The master vampire who causes my body to heat and heart to race with desire that I’ve never known, while at the same time sending a chill of apprehension snaking down the length of my spine. So many unknowns about him and the vampires, but I have no doubt that I will learn more than I like, because for some reason, destiny has pulled me to his side whether I understand the reasons yet or not.

He won’t hurt me. If he were going to do that, it would be done. No, he brought me to his home, fed me, and will protect me. He said as much. But who will protect him or me from my father or my brothers when they learn that I’ve not only gone home with a strange man, a vampire no less, but allowed myself to be cleaned and put in one of his beds? My face heats with the memory not moments ago of him feeding me with his fingers. That, I can simply never explain.

Sweet, heated energy seeps into every cell of my body, causing a dull ache between my legs. A space untouched by any boy or man, and most certainly not ravaged by a vampire. But that doesn’t stop my mind from wandering or my legs from shifting under the covers to stave the desire building in the center as I think about the broody Botosoni.

There’s no way I can be attracted to a master vampire. Just the thought of it alone brings the unwelcome image of the wrath that it will bring from my family. Proud people who will be shamed having to explain it to other members of the travelers, especially in the middle of trying to find someone to wed their spinster of a daughter who no one seems to want.

My lips purse with irritation. It’s not like I want any one of those men whom act like boys either. They’re always keeping the females from marrying the person they want. Arranged marriages, is what they call it. An arranged life sentence with someone you doesn’t love you is what I call it. It’s not their fault that’s not the life I want. Or that I’ve spent so much time in town among others I watch who have good relationships and especially that chemical spark. The lovers who come into the coffee shop with each other, hand in hand, sometimes lip to lip as they wait for a coffee. That’s what I want…

I let out a long breath, troubled with the thought of never having that, and try to veer my naughty thoughts away from the virile vampire who I bet is more than capable of making the ache between my legs disappear. But he has far better things to deal with than the likes of a passing crush by a woman probably half his age, who he’s been saddled with taking care of until he gets the information that he needs.

My mind swirls with that knowledge. Information, that’s what he wants. My heart begins to calm as I think about it all. Maybe Botosoni will let me go. I can appeal to the decent side of him that brought a wayward waif to his home and fed her instead of leaving her on the floor of the café as many others would have done. He has to have a heart even if rumored as a beast with none.

If he lets me go, then my father and brothers don’t need to know that I was even here. It’s not like they’ll be back for at least a month, if not longer. Maybe Pappa will have found one of the suitors he’s looking for, one who isn’t ashamed to take a spinster twenty-one-year-old as their bride, as long as I am preserved. As long as my innocence is in place and they and they alone get the privilege of taking my virginity.

I swallow through the thickness in the back of my throat. A pawn, sold to the man who makes the best deal with my father, allowing him to provide for the rest of his family and save face, spinning the story as one of saving me for just the right suitor. But none of that is possible, if he or anyone else learns where I am, or if my looseness gets back to my family or their friends.

My mind races with the dilemma this causes. It would never be accepted. I give my head a good shake as though to rid myself of desire for the monstrous beast. I am not attracted to the vampire, so no reason for my father and brothers to be upset. Except that I’m lying in his bed with a wet center after he fed me. I should be mortally ashamed, but yet, I’m not at all.

I close my eyes, willing the dark eyes of the handsome beast out of my thoughts, leaning into the crisp clean luxury of the pillow, and willing my mind to rest. Even with all the turmoil of the night, my body gives over to the pull of exhaustion. That and so little to eat for too very long. The darkness finally draws me under, cloaking me in the safety of luxury and a promise of a handsome beast who makes my chest beat with speed and my center weep with desire.

His deep, gravelly voice whispers in my air. You’re under my protection now. I toss one way and then another in a restless sleep. The dark eyes, circled with a periphery of red, hold me captive as they heat my skin. He pulls the cover back in my dreams, baring my nude and trembling body to his gaze. “Tell me what you want, Catina.”

My body is hot with desire, reeling with overwhelming feelings that I’ve never known before. I know one truth, and it’s that I want the master vampire to do anything that he wants; whatever it is that he has to offer, I will say yes. “All you have to give,” I tell him through the haze of my dream, because I already know that he is the only one who can stop the dull ache of desire.

The opening of my door and clicking sound over the marble floors pulls me from my dream. It takes effort to shake the fantasy and open my still heavy eyes. Clara comes to the bedside and smiles down at me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Master Botosoni had me order some clothes, and they just arrived from a boutique in town. I hope you’ll like them.”

The kindly woman gestures to the chair next to the bed. “You’ll find everything you need here, and I’ll put these toiletries in the bathroom. I checked on you a few times. You’ve been sleeping for hours. I was beginning to worry about you. Do you feel any better now?”

I glance around the room, looking for a clock, but the room is absent of anything that would give me any clue as to the time of day or night. As if sensing my puzzlement over time, she pushes a small remote-control button, and the drapes slide across the expanse of window allowing a perfect view of the darkest of nights and the fullest of moons.

“Why don’t you shower, get dressed and come downstairs for a while? Master Botosoni wants to make sure you don’t go too long without more to eat and drink. Besides, the others are interested in meeting the woman who can see the rogues, the shifters and understands the history of the stones.”

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