Night Train Part 6

Aramus flashed a smile. "Good instincts."

The crowd parted around a tall slender man impeccably dressed in a long pale gray coat and charcoal

slacks. His hair was neatly trimmed and silvery. His eyes were hidden behind dark glasses but his face seemed carved from white marble. He stopped by Anthony and his expression turned frigid as he gazed at Aramus. "You..."

Aramus's fingers tightened over Elaine's hand. "Dimitri."

The pedestrians parted and flowed around the two vampires rather than between, as though sensing the two predators in their midst. Dimitri nodded. "Is that my student?"

"No." Aramus smiled.

Dimitri glanced at Anthony.

Anthony flinched and nodded. He tucked his hands under his arms and refused to look at Elaine.

Dimitri raised his chin. "Elaine..."

Aramus smiled but his voice came out in a growl. "I will thank you not to address my thrall."

"You've taken her?" Dimitri's jaw visibly tightened.

Aramus's smile turned frigidly cold. "In every way possible."

Elaine could not hold back the heat that flooded her cheeks. She looked away.

"Does she know?"

"Yes." Aramus smile bled away. "She knows why you want her."

Dimitri folded his arms across his chest. "I am an instructor, as are you."

"Oh yes, we can both see quite clearly how you instruct your students." Aramus nodded at Anthony.

"Can he still draw?"

Dimitri's lip curled. "He didn't have much to begin with. It's not as if he is a true loss."

Tony stared hard at the ground, his face white and his shoulders hunched.

Elaine stared at Tony's gray sunken face and felt her heart break. Tony was an artist, just not a portrait

artist. Or rather, he had been. Even from this far away she could tell something vital was missing from

him. Aramus released a soft breath. "If you will excuse us, we are leaving." He turned away. Dimitri took a step toward them. "Aramus, I want her." Aramus's head came up and he glared at Dimitri. "To destroy her talent as well?" Dimitri scowled. "Do not pretend that you do not feed on her talent, Aramus. You are no better than I." Aramus's arm trembled under Elaine's hand. "I do not consume." Dimitri smiled. "Nor do you keep." Aramus stiffened and his hand became a fist. Dimitri tilted his head thoughtfully. "Tell me, have you ever made a fledgling?" Aramus's fingers tightened on Elaine's arm. "I can..."

"Oh I know you can, but have you?" Dimitri's smile broadened. "There is only one way to keep her out of my eventual grasp. The same way you escaped mine."

"This conversation is over." Aramus turned Elaine away.

Dimitri's voice snarled out behind them. "If you take her, you know what happens to the boy."

Aramus stopped, but did not look back. "He is your thrall."

Elaine looked sharply up at Aramus then back at Anthony. "Aramus, what's going on?"

Aramus looked down at the walk. "He is implying that he will bleed the boy's soul dry tonight."

Elaine choked. "Drain his soul? And then what? Will he let him go?"

"He will let him go, but..." Aramus sighed. "The body cannot live without a soul. He will die within a day."

"Die?" Elaine looked back at Anthony. "We can't let that happen..."

Aramus turned to look at her. "The boy is already dying."

Elaine gasped as her heart tried to stop in her chest. "What?"

Aramus covered her cold fingers with his warm palm. "Too much of his soul has already been consumed. Even if we took him with us right now, he would be dead in less than a month."

Elaine blinked back sudden tears. Vibrant and alive Tony...dying? "There is no way to save him?"

Dimitri laughed. "Oh come now, Aramus, you could save the boy."

Elaine looked back at Anthony. "Aramus?"

Aramus refused to look back at Dimitri.

Dimitri pulled off his sunglasses and wiped them with a handkerchief. His eyes were a hard stone gray.

"If you leave the girl, I will let you take him. Make him your fledgling and he lives."

Elaine frowned. "Is he saying that you should make Tony into a vampire?"

Aramus stared at the ground. "Yes."

"Save the boy. Give me the girl." Dimitri's voice was soft as a whisper yet crystal clear.

Aramus's jaw clenched. "Mine." His voice was so soft, Elaine barely heard him. Aramus turned to face the other vampire. "Since you want the boy saved Dimitri, Rafael still owes me a favor."

Dimitri froze. "You would not..."

"Consider it done." Aramus smiled coldly. "I will tell him to expect your car, an hour after sunset."

Dimitri threw his hand out. "This does not concern Rafael!"

Aramus stared steadily at the other vampire. "For me, he would make it a concern, and we both know how he feels about your destructive appetites."

Dimitri's hands balled into fists. "You will pay for this!" He stabbed a finger toward Elaine. "She will pay!"

Aramus's entire body tensed. His lips curled back in a snarl. "You would dare?"

Dimitri snarled right back. "Sooner or later, you will release her, and I will be there to collect!" He turned on his heel and stalked away. "Anthony, come!" The sea of people closed around him.

Anthony stared open-mouthed at Aramus, then turned and darted into the crowd after Dimitri.

"Well, that was nasty..."

"Aptly put." Aramus lifted his hand and gestured to the porter still sitting by their cart. "It is a long drive to Rafael's...house. It is best that we begin immediately." He led her briskly across the busy drive toward the tree-lined car park on the opposite side.

Elaine looked up at the pale vampire she walked beside. "You are taking me to see Rafael?"

"Rafael is having a house party and I am an invited guest." Aramus nodded to porter, gestured toward a sleek black car, and tossed him a set of car keys.

The porter caught the keys, opened the car's trunk, lifted the cases, and began stowing the luggage in the trunk.

Elaine stared at the car. It was a freaking Jaguar.

"I intended to invite you to come with me." Aramus looked down at the cobble-stoned drive. "I was not willing to relinquish your...company."

He was not willing to relinquish her company.Elaine's heart gave a silly little leap. It almost sounded, romantic. She tried to squash the warmth flooding her heart, but she simply couldn't.

"Once I knew that Dimitri was involved, it was my intent to have you remain under Rafael's protection while I made arrangements to send you home."

Home?Elaine tripped on the pavement. She had to go home sometime. And then it would be over. Europe, the vampire - everything. Over. She looked up at Aramus. "And now?"

The porter tossed the keys back to Aramus.

Aramus caught the keys in a smooth gesture and leaned down to unlock the passenger door. "And now, as before, we must still deal with Dimitri."

Elaine buckled her seatbelt. "Aramus, you own a Jaguar?"

Aramus smiled as he fastened his seatbelt. "I do, but this one belongs to Rafael." He turned the key and the sleek black vehicle purred to life. "He left this one for my convenience." He turned in his seat and backed the car from its parking space. Aramus turned the car into traffic and glanced at Elaine. "Hold on, traffic in Prague can be hazardous."

Elaine grabbed the door handle. "Hazardous?"

The sleek Jaguar raced through the narrow, winding and ill-paved streets dodging other vehicles at breathtaking speed. There wasn't a street light or street sign that wasn't ignored by every vehicle on the road. In a matter of minutes the black car blazed out of the aged city and onto a narrow, high-banked, snow-dusted, farmland road.

The winter countryside was picturesque. And after about twenty minutes of fallow fields, leafless woods and steel gray skies, Elaine found it incredibly dull. A yawn came out of nowhere.

Aramus chuckled. "Lie down and sleep. You will likely have a long night ahead of you."

Elaine grinned at Aramus. "Another long night, like last night?"Full of screaming orgasms?

"Of course." Aramus smiled broadly. "I intend to avail myself of your company." His smile thinned and his voice softened. "For as long as you remain in my company."

Elaine found her own smile fading as she set the Jaguar's soft leather seat back. Sooner or later, this Gothic romance adventure was going to end. She curled her hands into her chest and stared at the vampire's spectacular profile. Once he sent her back to the states it was highly doubtful that she would ever see him again. She took a deep breath, smelling the leather of the seat under her, and the warmth that was Aramus. A sharp stab of pain arrowed through her heart.

Aramus lifted his hand from the steering wheel and his fingers drifted lightly through her hair.

Elaine pressed a kiss to his fingertips and closed her eyes. The adventure wasn't over yet. She would worry about it when the time came. In the meantime, she would enjoy what time she had.

"Elaine."

Elaine came out of a deep and dreamless sleep with a moaning and bone-popping stretch across the

leather seat. Soft classical music played on the Jaguar's stereo. She smiled at the vampire. "Are we there yet?" Aramus rolled his eyes and grinned. "Nearly. And you have my permission to do that again." "Do what?" She grabbed the lever on the side of the seat to set her chair back upright. Aramus shook his head and changed gears. "Never mind." The open countryside had turned to a pale and glowing late afternoon. Snow fell in thick fluffy clumps.

Elaine jerked fully upright. "Oh...it's snowing!" "You like snow?" "I love snow!" Elaine curled her knee under her to get a better look out the passenger window.

Everything was coated with a softly glowing blanket of pristine white. "It doesn't snow near enough in the Carolinas." Her breath fogged the glass. She smeared the fog away and spotted a building as they came up a rise. A big building... No, a huge building... Tall gray stone walls rose and rose for several stories, stretching across the road. A crenellated stone bridge appeared at the bottom of the hill spanning a deep dry moat and leading into a monstrous gateway. Huge floodlights spilled up and across the gateway and the guards.

Elaine faced the windshield and inhaled. "Aramus, are we going to that castle?" "Yes. Rafael's palazzo is within the walls." "Palazzo...?" She looked over at the vampire. "Rafael has apalace ?" Aramus gave her a small shrug. "He calls it such, but it is more of a Roman villa." Elaine sat back in her seat. "A Roman villa, inside a castle?" Aramus smiled. "Rafael says it reminds him of home." The sleek Jaguar stopped at the end of the bridge between a pair of well-lit gatehouses posted on either side of the castle's yawning gateway.

Aramus buzzed both the driver side and the passenger side windows down. He turned to Elaine. "Give the guard your hand." He stuck his hand out the window. A dark uniformed guard wearing thick winter gear and carrying a semi-automatic rifle, waited outside Elaine's window. His eyes were black and over large. A vampire... Elaine stuck out her hand. Snow struck her palm and melted.

The guard bowed over her wrist, sniffed and nodded at Elaine. He lifted his head, and barked out something to the other guard.

Aramus changed gears and the car began to move forward.

Elaine jerked her arm in and rubbed her chilled hand against her thigh. It was freaking cold out there. Okay that was weird. "He didn't want my ID?"

The windows buzzed upward and closed.

Aramus smiled tightly. "Your blood is your identification."

"My blood?"

Aramus nodded. "Your identity as my thrall is written in your scent."