"Alejandro was alive when the Aztec empire was just a dream." He whispered it against my skin. "He was there to greet the Spaniards and watch the Aztecs fall. He has survived when others have died or gone mad." His tongue flicked out, hot and wet.
"Stop it." I pushed against him. His heart beat against my hands. I pushed my hands upward to his throat. The big pulse in his throat fluttered against my skin. I placed a thumb over the smoothness of one of his eyelids. "Move it or lose it," I said. My voice was breathy with panic, and something worse... desire.
The feel of his body against me, under my hands, his lips touching me--some hidden part of me wanted it. Wanted him. So I lusted after the Master; so what? Nothing new. His eyeball trembled under my thumb, and I wondered if I could do it. Could I blank out one of those midnight-blue orbs? Could I blind him?
His lips moved against my skin. Teeth brushed my skin, the hard brush of fangs rubbed against my throat. And the answer was, suddenly, yes. I tensed to press inward, and he was gone like a dream, or a nightmare.
He stood in front of me, looking down, his eyes all dark, no white showing. His lips had drawn back from his teeth to expose glistening fangs. His skin was marble-white and seemed to glow from inside, and still he was beautiful.
"Alejandro has given you the first mark, ma petite. We share you. I do not know how, but we do. Two more marks and you are mine. Three more and you are his. Would it not be better to be mine?"
He knelt in front of me again, but was careful not to touch me. "You desire me as a woman desires a man. Is that not better than some stranger taking you by force?"
"You didn't ask my permission for the first two marks. They weren't by choice."
"I am asking permission now. Let me share with you the third mark."
"No."
"You would rather serve Alejandro?"
"I'm not going to serve anyone," I said.
"This is a war, Anita. You cannot be neutral."
"Why not?"
He stood up and paced a tight circle. "Don't you understand? The killings are a challenge to my authority, and his marking you is another challenge. He will take you from me if he can."
"I don't belong to you, or to him."
"What I have tried to get you to believe, to accept, he will shove down your throat."
"So I'm in the middle of an undead turf war because of your marks."
He blinked, opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, "Yes."
I stood up. "Thanks a lot." I walked past him. "If you have any more info on Alejandro, send me a letter."
"This will not go away just because you wish it to."
I stopped in front of the curtain. "Hell, I knew that. I've wished hard enough for you to leave me alone."
"You would miss me if I were not here."
"Don't flatter yourself."
"And do not lie to yourself, ma petite. I would give you a partnership. He will give you slavery."
"If you really believed this partnership crap, you wouldn't have forced the first two marks on me. You would have asked. For all I know, the third mark can't be given without my cooperation." I stared at him. "That's it, isn't it? You need my help or something for the third mark. It's different from the first two. You son of a bitch."
"The third mark without your... help would be like rape to making love. You would hate me for all eternity if I took you by force."
I turned my back on him and grabbed the curtain. "You got that right."
"Alejandro will not care if you hate him. He wants only to hurt me. He will not ask your permission. He will simply take you."
"I can take care of myself."