After feeling nothing for so long, it was odd to feel unsettled, uncertain. Serving a vampire who lived inside a mountain with a big Scot who was entirely unpredictable in his behavior was like finding herself on Mars. That quick hand squeeze in the Rover came back to her, and she had an unprecedented urge to take his hand again, as she had taken Adam’s when they first came to the InhServ program together. She’d been the one to drive them toward the goal, but at that momentous transition, Adam had made her feel protected, his hand sure and strong on hers.
When Niall gestured her forward, she squashed the moment of weakness, squaring her shoulders. She was taught to be prepared for anything. She was about to meet her new Master, and no matter how temporary that was, she would serve him as if she would do so for the rest of her life. Which, in this case, was likely true.
Evan was supposed to give her two marks. Would he do it tonight or wait?
It was not her place to wonder such things. As she stepped into the cabin, she found that it wasn’t dark and gloomy as she expected. Things were clean and smelled like the mountains and forest. Though it was small, there appeared to be several rooms. A main sitting area with a kitchen. A bedroom was visible through an open door. Stepping into the hallway, she saw the open door to the back bedroom, a bathroom piding it from the other bedroom. The beds had handmade quilts in fall colors and pillows with earth-tone cases. Dried wildflowers and a few mountain prints provided comforting touches to the décor. As she turned back toward the main room, she saw the knotty pine log walls were a pale golden color that added light to what was coming in through the windows. A bookcase had a mountain scene carved in the molding piece overlapping the top shelf. A wooden black bear stood next to the shelf, black eyes steady upon her.
“Stay still a moment, lass.” Closing the door, Niall moved to do the same to the windows. In addition to curtains, they had interior shutters. Once he closed both, it put the cabin in darkness, shutting out the midday sun. As a third mark, she could see in the dark, but with the blocker she was blinded, explaining Niall’s order. A match was struck, the sulfur hitting her nostrils before he lit a lantern on the kitchen table, filling the room with shadows. “He does a lot o’ black-and-white photography, prefers to develop it rather than relying on digital media. That’s what he’s doing now, so we cannae let any light down. It’s better for him as well.”
Moving the oval braided rug on the kitchen floor, Niall revealed the door to the cellar. When he lifted it, his forearm was bathed in a reddish light coming up from the room below. She also sensed the presence of her new Master. At least that was one thing the blocker had not taken away from her—a servant’s ability to detect a vampire nearby.
Setting the injection case on the table, she followed Niall’s direction to go down the ladder ahead of him. She couldn’t see much more than red light and shadows, but as she started to descend, a pair of hands touched her legs. A shiver ran from that contact point up her thighs. She remembered those long, strong fingers far better than she’d expected. Though Debra had confirmed the two males had been there, that they weren’t a dream, she didn’t know if the painting, the way those hands had made her feel, had been true, or something she’d enhanced, an oasis constructed by her mind to survive Stephen’s punishing invasion. She had that answer now.
Those hands slid from her calves to her thighs with easy intimacy, because of course she was his to touch, right? His hands had a different strength than Niall’s, but were no less reassuring as they brushed over her hips, closed on her waist, ensuring she made it safely to the floor. Understanding the peculiarities of Randoms, she’d managed their kindnesses accordingly. But she had no clue how to take such a gesture from a vampire. It seemed very . . . human. Evan was a made vampire, but then so was Stephen, and many of his acquaintances. None of them would have assisted a servant in such a way.
Turning away from the ladder, she faced her new Master. She was five four, so she estimated his height at six feet when she did a quick glance upward. Evan didn’t have Niall’s height or breadth—she didn’t imagine many men did—but his shoulders were broad, despite a rangy body type, lean and knotted. He had the decided features of a handsome Jewish man—straight slash cheekbones, his mouth a firm, thin line, his straight nose the piding marker for wide-spaced eyes that were gray and deep-set, with dark fine brows to complement the straight fall of hair over them. She suspected the charisma he emanated had been there before he was turned, but the vampire blood only enhanced it.
She was wrong. She had seen his face at some point, because she remembered his eyes. How long had they stayed at her bedside? The painting, the touch of Niall’s hands on her face . . . it had seemed to go on a long time. Hell’s minions had been howling at the door, but they’d been unable to get through while Evan and Niall were there.
“Just as impossibly beautiful as I expected,” Evan murmured. Without permission, her body swayed toward his, recalling that voice. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Though a little dizzy. Niall didn’t feed you.”
“No, he did, Master. My apologies. I . . .” It wasn’t dizziness, not that kind. They’d been real. It made the memory something far more significant to her, and she wasn’t sure how to process that. She was so outside her normal milieu, it made their reality almost more fantastic than when she thought them a hallucination.
He touched a loose lock of her hair. The dark red color, with shimmers of gold throughout, had always drawn attention. She had to fight the urge to turn into that touch. InhServs could show pleasure when the time was appropriate, but this didn’t feel like that time. He’d think her a fool. “Was your trip a pleasant experience?” he asked. “I expect the opportunity to put Niall back on his heels was the best part.”
She blinked. “Yes . . . I mean, the trip was fine, Master.”
Evan chuckled. Brushing her cheek with his fingertips, he kept his other hand on her waist, but it didn’t feel like a casual touch. He was learning her, and she was vibrating beneath the attention. The flicker in those heavy-lidded eyes showed his awareness of it, but she kept her gaze on his throat. A servant didn’t meet a vampire’s gaze unless she had permission. Even if the vampire had gray eyes that reminded her of that still, floating place after the nightmares had receded.