Night Train Part 8

Elaine set her empty mug on the glass table top and stood. A sound like falling leaves hissed in her ears, nearly overwhelming the thump of her hammering heart. "Then by all means let us gain you that privacy immediately." Rafael strode to the wall and tugged on a long dangling ribbon. He turned back and frowned. "Have you eaten?" Aramus shook his head. "There wasn't time." Elaine snorted.Well, there goes that vampire myth. Apparently vampires eat normal food. Aramus must be seriously hungry. She doubted he'd stopped to eat even a continental breakfast of tea and toast. She felt her stomach roil. She was hungry, but she wasn't sure she could eat a bite. Heat flushed through her entire body. She had to open her mouth to breathe past it. The rushing sound in her ears escalated to a windstorm.

Rafael nodded. "I will notify the kitchen."

Aramus rolled his eyes. "I can order dinner..."

Rafael's gaze flicked to Elaine. "You have more important tasks to attend to, such as acquiring privacy

and..." He grinned. "You must also notify the dressers that you have a guest in need of a costume for this evening's masquerade."

"Your masquerade!" Aramus groaned. "It slipped my mind entirely."

A liveried young man pushed the bronze doors open.

As Elaine listened, their voices began to fade under the loud windstorm in her head, then as she watched, Aramus's face seem to be going away, as though down a long tunnel. She didn't quite notice when her knees buckled. One minute she was swaying on her feet and the next, the nice warm carpet was under her back and she was staring at a blue sky and clouds painted on a ceiling very far away.

Someone was speaking to her. She could barely hear them through the loud rushing wind in her ears. "What?" Elaine opened her eyes. She didn't remember closing them. The room passed by her eyes in a blur. Someone was carrying her in their arms. It smelled like Aramus. Her cheek was against his gray sweater.God, he smells good... Someone's fingers pressed in the hollow under her jaw. She was pretty sure it was Aramus.

"Her pulse is strong." It sounded like Aramus.

"Too strong." That sounded like Rafael somewhere past Aramus's shoulder. "I can hear her heart beating."

Her heart gave a hard lurch.

Rafael's voice softened. "It's getting stronger."

"She's reacting to your presence."

"She's reacting to both of us. You forget your own strength. She needs to be bled."

"It's too soon..."

"Rather than too late. Bleed her, you don't have much time."

Cool shadows fell around them.

"I will leave you in here. Ask her now."

Aramus's arms tightened around her. "Now?"

"Now. I expect an answer when I return with the Aquinas."

Elaine felt the world shift then become still. She opened her eyes, and again she didn't remember closing them. She looked up at Aramus. She was sprawled across his lap in a small room that was dark and thankfully cool. Her long hair spilled over his supporting arm, nearly to the floor. She was pretty sure they were on some kind of sofa, but she was having problems focusing on details. The one thing she was perfectly aware of was that Rafael was not in here with them. The pressure in her chest loosened.

Aramus stared down at her, his eyes black and inhuman, his brows drawn together. "Elaine, can you hear me?"

"Aramus?" Her tongue was as thick and dry as leather in her mouth. Her whole body was hot as a furnace. "Thirsty."

He smiled briefly. "You'll have plenty to drink in a moment." He levered her up against his shoulder. "Elaine, I need to ask you a question."

She smiled tiredly. "Sure."

Aramus tilted her chin to peer into her eyes. "Elaine, would you like to be a vampire?"

Elaine frowned. She could not have heard that right. "What?"

Aramus's mouth tightened. "I need to bleed you, to ease your heart." He pressed his palm over her pounding heart. "If I drink deeply enough to ease you while you remain my thrall, it will take time for the soul to heal, and your creativity to return."

A fist squeezed tight around her already slamming heart. Without her art, she was nothing...nothing. "No..." She struggled pushing at him tiredly. "Notmy art."

Aramus held her easily. "Elaine, be calm, I will not take more than you can recover from, but if you are vampire, you won't lose it at all. It will not be quite the same, but you will not lose what you have."

"I won't?" Elaine stilled. "Wait, what do you mean by, not quite the same?"

Aramus sighed. "To make you vampire, I take part of your soul and you take part of mine. This...changes things, within."

Elaine latched onto the one important aspect of what he said. "I won't lose my art?"

"No, your gift will be safe." Aramus smiled briefly. "In fact, you will have a part of my art, as I will have a part of yours."

"And, Dimitri can't feed on me if I'm a vampire?"

"Yes, he or any other vampire can." Aramus gaze turned to ice. "Your art will be safe, but your blood will carry other properties that will be just as alluring. You will be far more difficult to hunt, but you will also be the least among us."

"Oh..." Elaine let that tumble around in her head. "Then..." She licked her lips. "Either way, I'm still at the bottom of the food chain?"

"I am afraid so." Aramus smiled briefly. "It is a different...taking, from a vampire. The soul of a vampire is not the same. It does not give, or enthrall so easily. Taking from a vampire does not destroy them as it does an artist."

Elaine frowned. "If I am a vampire, will Ihave to drink blood?" Aramus held her gaze. "You must drink the souls of others to remain alive." "Oh..." She shook her head. "But I don't want to take anybody else's soul." "Nor do I." Aramus rolled his eyes and his smile soured. "A sip or two from a talented artist will maintain us for quite a while. The greater the artist, the less we need to take and the less harm we cause to them. As a very young vampire, weeks may pass before you need to take more than a single sip. However, as you gain in age, the need becomes greater." He brushed his hand across her hot brow. "Rafael is very old; he does not feed on humans at all. He cannot without consuming them completely."

"He doesn't feed on humans?" "No. Rafael is a maestro of the violin. He would starve before destroying another artist." He shook his head. "I've seen him do so." Then who...?Elaine looked up at Aramus's beautiful profile. If Rafael didn't drink from humans, there was only one option left. "The party...Rafael needs to feed."

"Yes." Aramus smiled tightly. "This is why Dimitri did not wish to come. If he appears at the door, he is offering his blood to Rafael." Dimitri definitely hadn't wanted to come. "But if he doesn't come..." Elaine's breath caught. "What about Tony?" "Oh, Dimitri will come, and he will bring the boy. His pride will compel him." Aramus smiled coldly.

"And Rafael will claim his due, you may be sure." "And that's it? Rafael has a taste from everybody and then everybody goes home?" Aramus sighed. "Yes and no. From among his guests, Rafael chooses a vampire to become his lover.

During that time, they enjoy unlimited wealth and an enormous amount of influence - but they are completely subject to his will, his thrall. When he is ready to release them, he throws another party."

Elaine bit her lip. "Aren't you worried he'll pick you?"

"Elaine." Aramus caught her chin and focused tightly on her. "Pay attention to what is important! Dimitri will be very, very angry when he arrives. You will be in great danger. You will need protection even after he leaves. As my thrall, I can keep you safe for only as long as you remain my thrall..."

Elaine shivered. "And feeding on my art."

"Yes, but if you are vampire your art remains yours, and you will be under Rafael's protection as well as mine."

"Rafael's too?"

"Rafael is willing to partner me in making you vampire." "I'm going to have two sires?" Aramus smiled wryly. "What child does not benefit from two parents?" Elaine snorted. "Very funny."Very scary actually. For all that Rafael looked so sweet, he frightened the living hell out of her. Her heart was still pounding in her chest.

"Having two sires is best." Aramus sighed. "A new fledgling cannot be parted from their sire, as the sire

carries the fledgling's soul. To be physically separated too young, is to kill them. By having two sires, you will always have one available when the other must be elsewhere." "Oh..." Elaine shifted restlessly. "Do I have to be a thrall...?"A sex-slave."Or a vampire? I can't just be myself?"

Aramus gave her a small, sad smile. "Dimitri would see you drained of your talents and possibly your life before the year ended." "But I don't live in Europe..." Aramus shook his head. "It does not matter where you live. Dimitri has the resources to follow you wherever you go." He gazed at her with wide dark eyes. "And he has all the time that you do not, to wait."

Elaine folded her hands under her arms. "Then I don't have a lot of choice, do I?"

"Nor do I, Elaine." Aramus stroked her brow. "This is as difficult for me as it is for you. You will mean a great deal of responsibility."

"Oh, come on!" Elaine scowled. "I'm not a child."

"But you will be." Aramus smiled tiredly. "A new vampire is very child-like in a lot of ways, and they require just as much guidance and protection as any mortal child." "Are vampires immortal?" "No, we can be killed, like anyone else, though it is far more difficult to do so." "You just stay young forever?" "We stay young as long as we feed well." "Oh..." Elaine stared into the shadows. It was a lot to think about. "Elaine." Aramus tilted her chin to lock his gaze on hers. "Would you like to be a vampire?" "You mean I have to decide right now?" The door behind the sofa opened. Elaine's breath caught and her pulse pounded in her ears. Rafael was in the room.

"Now would be an excellent time to decide." Rafael moved around them and set a tray with a large metal pitcher and a plain tumbler on a small table at the far end of the sofa. He turned and locked gazes with Elaine. "Dimitri is on his way, and my contacts say the boy with him does not look at all well."

Aramus lifted his head. "If we do this now, we will miss your masquerade."

Rafael smiled. "Only the beginning."

Elaine jerked upright. She simply could not sit still and prone with Rafael so close. Her head ached and

her heart slammed painfully in her chest with the movement.

Rafael dropped to one knee at the side of the sofa. "Aramus, a decision?"

He was too close. He was too big against her heart, too loud in her head, too scary altogether... Elaine

tried to scramble away.

Aramus trapped her in his lap. "Elaine."

"Let go!" Elaine's fist cocked back for a vicious punch and focused on her target, Aramus's throat.

"Stop!" Aramus's voice cracked like thunder.

Elaine froze.

Aramus's lip curled baring long teeth that appeared out of nowhere. "Put it down."

Elaine vibrated with a terror that was almost closer to fury, but set her fist down in her lap.

Rafael snorted and a smile tilted his perfect mouth. "Are yousure you took her?"

"Four times." A rolling liquid growl rumbled from Aramus's chest. "The Aquinas."

Rafael stepped back and poured what looked like ordinary water from the pitcher into the glass. "Full glass?"

"Yes." Aramus's inhumanly black and furious eyes locked tight on hers. "Vampire or not? Choose, Elaine."

Elaine's mind went completely blank. She couldn't think past the blood pounding in her veins.

Rafael held the glass out to Aramus. "She may be too frightened to think straight." Amusement colored his entire expression.

Aramus's eyes narrowed at Elaine. He bared the full length of his teeth at her, and shouted. "Predator or prey!Choose !"