Page 93 of Cloak of the Vampire
His face darkened, his hands falling from my face to my thighs as he unwrapped my legs from around his waist and set them back on the floor. “Why did you approach me, then?” he asked flatly, but his eyes couldn’t quite hide his anger.
Why the fuck was he angry? And more importantly—“I just wanted to talk,” I said, and humiliatingly, my voice broke. I looked away from him as I hugged myself. “Am I not allowed that courtesy anymore?”
I could see his hands fisting. “What is there to talk about?” he grated out. “It’s the same fucking loop every time, Henderson. You won’t tell me anything about yourself, and I don’t have the answers you want.”
That stung so much that I had to lean on the closed door, my entire body shaking. “That’s why you only want sex from me?” I asked, feeling my heart dropping in my chest at the sinking, horrifying realization. “Is that all I’m worth to you?”
He didn’t reply, and I didn’t need to look at his face to know I was spot on.
I turned around and would’ve opened the door had Ragnor not put his hand on it, forcing it to remain closed while his front was pasted to my back. “That’s what we agreed on,” he said, his tone strange as his free arm wrapped around my waist. “That’s all we’re supposed to be for each other.”
I was through talking to him. “Let me go,my Lord.”
“I don’t know if it can change,” he said, tightening his hug. “I don’t know ifIcan change.”
Pain sliced my insides. “Then there’s nothing left to talk about—”
“But I want to, Aileen,” he said, and the sound of my name on his lips, not my surname, made my breath stick in my throat.
Neither of us spoke for long moments after that. I was still trying to process what he’d just said, what he’d confessed. The pain was still there, but now something else made my insides grow hot. Not anger. Not desperation or frustration.
Hope.
Slowly, I turned around just enough to lock my gaze with his, and as calmly as I could, I said, “Then prove it to me. Buy me in the Auction. Keep me by your side and use me to figure out everything you want.”
I didn’t wait for a response. I slipped out of his hold, flung open the door, and let myself out; the sound of my drumming heart was all I could hear as I let myself be swallowed by the crowd.
CHAPTER 36
The auditorium seemed larger than ever before now that all the seats weren’t empty. From where I was sitting between Tansy and a woman from another League, I took in the sight of the crowded audience, trying to detect where Ragnor and his goons were sitting, but it was too dark for me to do so.
When everyone was seated and claps echoed around the auditorium, I stopped my search and turned to look at the stage. With how dark and big the entire auditorium was, the stage seemed too bright and too tiny. Thinking that soon I would be up there, painting God knows what, made my insides crawl.
A man climbed onto the stage. He was brown skinned and tall with large dark eyes, heavy makeup, and a fancy bright-pink suit. “Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Auction!” he said into his mic, smiling as everyone clapped again. “I’m Kaylon, and I’ll be your host for tonight!”
After another round of applause, Kaylon said, “Now, before we start with the heavy stuff, let’s start this party off with some music!” He grinned widely. “Please welcome onstage Rayne League’s amazingly Gifted newcomer, Cassidy Jones!”
I stilled as I watched Cassidy walking onstage, holding a mic. Once Kaylon left, the lights turned off, leaving only a beam showcasing Cassidy in all her glory.
Then the background music played, and Cassidy started to sing.
Goose bumps covered my skin as she sang a beautiful song I didn’t know. Hearing her angelic, soothing voice was so familiar that I felt like I’d come home, if only for the next few minutes.
Without Fourcorns,that stupidly bad band of hers from before, Cassidy’s voice was more beautiful than ever. It felt as though the melody wrapped itself around me, cocooning me like a hot duvet on a cold winter’s night. Every note she hit was so lovely that it was like someone caressing my hair before I went to sleep. The vibrations of her voice synchronized with my heart, causing its fast, stressful thumping to slow down into an even, calm tempo.
Cassidy’s singing was like a ray of sunshine in the middle of a dark forest. Like feeling truly awake after a good night’s sleep. Like finding a rose in the middle of the desert.
When the song came to an end, I felt as though Cassidy had cast a spell on me. Every bit of anxiety I felt disappeared as though it never existed. The hysteria looming in the back of my mind, just waiting to take me under, was gone. Just like magic.
Was that Cassidy’s Gift?
A lull spread in the auditorium even after Cassidy got off the stage. But then Kaylon said, “Give a round of applause to Cassidy Jones!” It seemed to snap everyone’s attention, and roars and whistles filled the room with utter enthusiasm. The audience loved her.
I loved her at that moment too. If only for the peace of mind she’d brought me when I so needed it, Gift or no Gift.
“And now, without further ado,” Kaylon said once everyone calmed down, “I present to you the hosting Lord, Ragnor Rayne, to start with the Blessing!”
Everyone clapped again, some even whistled, as Ragnor climbed up to the stage, his tall, imposing figure seemingly taking over the entire stage.
