His Captive Mortal A Vampire Romance - Renee Rose Page 0,37

of his sculpted torso. “You’re beautiful,” I murmur.

He looks tired, his face still drawn as if in pain. His cock has relaxed slightly, but still remains engorged.

“Would ice help?”

He gives a bitter laugh. “Don’t fuss over me. Just keep to your studies, little mortal. I believe in you.”

My eyes smart again. I’ve got to release this spell.

I concentrate until a tiny bubble of soft pink light forms in my palm. I send it floating toward him.

He smiles, watching it gently glide toward him. “What is that?”

I shrug. “I don’t know,” I lie.

It’s love. It poured out of my heart and into my fingers as I formed it for him.

“Is it for me? It’s beautiful.” He ducks his head to dodge it and touches it with his finger, only to yank his finger away quickly as if burned. “I can’t have it. Can you tone it down a little?”

I cock my head to the side, looking from him to the ball. I focus on the ball and imagine its light dimmer, its color lighter and softer, so it’s almost translucent, like the bubble a child blows through a plastic ring.

Charlie watches with a tired smile. His fingers stretch towards my creation, fascinated. He cups the ball and ushers it into his chest, where it melts into his heart.

Does he know?

He holds his hand over his heart for a long moment. His eyes are too dark for me to read.

“Thank you,” he murmurs at last, as if touched beyond words.

I shiver, a sense of déjà vu running through me.

Charlie

Telling Aurelia the secret I’ve kept to myself for over one hundred years eases some terrible fissure within me, but it also makes the pain resurface. As if I’ve encapsulated the wound with a protective coating and now that I’ve shared it, I feel the original pain full force.

The pink bubble my little fairy sent seems to go right to the source of my pain, deep within my unbeating heart. It moves me that she would give her gift so freely, without any coercion or bargain, without any promise of return. It’s been so long since I’ve trusted anyone. Maybe not since Anka, and that had been a mistake.

“Why did you scream when I dematerialized?” I ask, staring up at the ceiling.

“I hate when you disappear every time you feel emotionally challenged.” She snuggles against me, throwing one leg over mine.

I snake an arm behind her and hold her against my side. “I do not.”

“Yes, you do. Anytime things get too difficult to handle, you’re gone. It’s your way of not dealing with the present situation.”

“Who are you, Dr. Phil?”

She snorts.

“Where do you go, anyway?” She runs her hand across my chest.

“Downtown, usually. Where I first met you. I like to prowl the streets or hang out at Eclipse.”

She rises up to her elbow. “Eclipse? You have to be kidding me.”

“What?”

“I always knew there was something different about that place.”

My laugh barks out of me before I can stop it. “Because you’re magic.”

“Can you go anywhere in the world?”

“Anywhere I have already been.”

“Do you ever go back to England?”

“No.”

“What about France?”

“What about it?”

“Have you been there?”

“Yes.” My heart picks up pace, tripping in my chest. It’s as if she’s drawn to my secret, knowing all the questions to ask. But perhaps it’s important for her to know the details in order to reverse it. I inhale on a count of eight and release it. “I lived in Paris a long, long time ago. I had a lover there. Her name was Anka.”

Aurelia stills, as if knowing the story holds importance.

“Anka was a witch, magic like you, only a different, darker energy. She was my lover in the true sense of the word—I worshipped her. She had me wrapped around her finger, and I did anything and everything she asked of me.”

“You did evil things for her,” Aurelia murmurs.

My gaze jerks to her face. How does she know? Aurelia stares into space without focus, as if her gold flecked eyes are viewing the invisible.

“Yes,” I whisper. Images of the body I drained flood my vision. Clearing my throat, I speak in a normal voice. “I did anything and everything she asked of me. I killed her enemies, I changed people’s minds, I set the stage for her success. She used her gift of sight, and she had a powerful understanding of manipulating energy, like you. Anyone she cursed ended in ruin. She became the wealthiest and most famous madame in all of Paris. And it