The sound of his voice poured through her like honey.
“Viktor, I have to talk to you,” she said, trying to shake the onslaught of lust. It wouldn’t do her any good to fall back into his arms before she found out the truth.
He nodded, his fierce blue eyes narrowed.
“I have to ask you something,” she said.
Suddenly the room felt too small and his body too big. Her thoughts were scrambling, and she wanted to do anything but confront him.
But of course, she wasn’t really supposed to confront him. That would be dangerous.
She was supposed to use her wits to back him into a corner so she could figure it out without having to embarrass or endanger herself by saying it.
The plan had seemed so sensible when it occurred to her. Now she wasn’t sure.
“What do you want to ask me?” Viktor asked.
“Did you know that there’s a secret corridor from the catacombs that leads straight into my room?” she heard herself say.
She watched his face.
His eyes widened and he scanned the room, but his gaze did not linger on the bookcase. Though maybe he was too clever to give himself away so easily.
“You moved your bed,” he noticed.
“You used that secret entrance,” she said, pointedly not answering the question. “You were in my room while I was sleeping.”
“Drucilla, I wasn’t,” he said sadly.
“Someone was,” she said.
“You aren’t going to sleep in here anymore,” he said. “It’s not safe.”
“The hotel is full,” she said. “Someone booked three rooms.”
“I’ll un-book one of them,” he offered.
“You snuck into my room while I was sleeping,” she said. “And you won’t even admit it. You betrayed my trust, and I want to know what you want with me.”
“It wasn’t me,” he said quietly.
“Yes, it was,” she said.
“Why would you think it was me?” he asked.
“Who else would want to sneak in here?”
“It… it couldn’t have been me,” he murmured, looking out the window into the moonlit night.
She let his words hang in the air.
“Because you can’t go out in daylight?” she heard herself ask at last.
Dru, you weren’t supposed to confront him…
“I care for you, Drucilla,” he said, turning back to her. His expression was tortured. “I want to protect you.”
“You sent your things ahead,” she said softly. “Ancient trunks so heavy they could be filled with anything, like dirt to sleep in.”
He turned away from her again.
“You never eat. I never see you in daylight,” she went on. “You covered up all your mirrors and windows.”
“What are you saying, Drucilla?” he said pleadingly. “Think about what you’re saying.”
“You said that the person who came into my room in the daytime couldn’t have been you,” she said. “Why is that?”
“Because I only want to protect you.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
“You already know,” he said quietly.
“Tell me anyway.”
He walked to the window, resting one hand against the frame so that his body was silhouetted by the moon outside.
Moonlight kissed his chiseled jaw, leaving her weak in the knees. In spite of her trepidation about what she was waiting to hear, Dru couldn’t help admiring his inhuman beauty. She was helpless in its wake.
“It was a long time ago,” he said at last, his voice rough. “I was on my way home from the shops. A man cornered me in an alleyway. I thought he wanted to rob me.”
Dru held her breath.
“Instead he slammed me into a brick wall and bit down on my neck, tearing my flesh and feeding on my blood as if he would never stop,” he went on. “When he finally let go of me, I collapsed into the dirt of the alley knowing I was dying. But instead of leaving me to find my peace he said, ‘You’re a pretty one,’ and pressed his wrist to my lips, making me taste his essence.”
He turned back to her.
The floor seemed to drop out from under her.
She’d been the one to suggest it, but it couldn’t really be true.
Could it?
“The hunger washed over me like poison,” he went on. “It is a pain that cannot be assuaged.”
Dru was frozen in place, terrified.
She had suspected and made her case, all the while convinced in the reasonable part of her mind that she had to be wrong.
“I lost everything,” he went on. “My family, my career. I isolated myself. I raved and fought against the darkness.”
His face was drawn in agony now. And though she knew what he was, it was impossible not to feel his pain. It pulsed in the air between them, like another soul in the room.
“I fight my hunger, every day,” he told her. “I feed on lesser creatures,” he said softly. “I avoid human blood and human company.”
“The fox,” she breathed. “The rabbits.”
“It’s horrible, I know,” he said sadly. “But when I kill those animals, I can stave off the need for human blood.”
“Stave it off?” she echoed.
“I cannot survive forever without it,” he said, looking down as if ashamed. “But I can go long enough that I need it only once a year or so. And there are civilized ways to find it.”
Blood banks. He must rob blood banks. She’d read a pretty good horror story about some vampires doing that kind of thing.
“This is why I’ve been alone for so long,” he said quietly.
“You’re trying to do the right thing,” she said.
“I have endeavored to live this second life without harming others,” he said. “When I couldn’t avoid company, I have tried to behave with discretion.”
Dru’s heart threatened to beat out of her chest.
“But my heart is drawn to yours, Drucilla,” he said. “I cannot bring myself to stay away, even though I know I should.”
She pictured his arms around her, his mouth on her.
“This is why you didn’t want me to touch you,” she realized out loud.
“It was the first time any other hunger has obliterated my senses,” he told her. “I was afraid of losing control.”
She nodded slowly.
“You put together what I am, Drucilla,” he went on. “And I am glad, because I want you to know the truth. You should be frightened of me. I’m a monster.”
She opened her mouth and closed it again.
“I am a monster, but I will never hurt you,” he told her.
She gazed into his beautiful eyes.
“And I was not in your room,” he said. “Do you believe me?”
She found herself nodding slowly.
Against all odds, she did believe him.
“Then please also believe me when I tell you that I had nothing to do with that man’s death,” he went on. “Someone here killed him, and that person is still on the loose. A murderer is among us, and now you tell me that someone has been in your room.”
He paused and bit his lip, emotions battling on his face.