Catherine (Echoes of Ossiria #1) (5 page)

In the end, they
had a dress being custom altered, shoes, a new lingerie wardrobe for Catherine
(and wasn’t
that
embarrassing), and a formal clutch to match the
dress.
 
It was a relief when they finally
stopped for dinner.

“I’m surprised a
girl like you didn’t try to slip away today,” Alicia said as she peppered her
salad.

Catherine paused,
then put the bite on her fork in her mouth.
 
“I thought about it.”

“So, why didn’t you?”

“I don’t know. I
do miss my old life. My freedom. The idea of being in
Tallis’s
clutches scares me witless… But it was fun today out with you. I certainly
couldn’t have afforded this over in California.
I don’t know… This whole situation is so weird…”

“Well, if I were
you, I’d play against William’s hatred for
Tallis
. We
don’t normally house girls against their will, you know. They come willingly
and leave when they please.”
 
Alicia
fixed her with a look.
 
“You could curry
his favor…”

“What, be
his
slave, instead?”

“
No
…convince him to let you go.
Duh
.”

“Why are you
telling me this?” Catherine asked suspiciously.

“I’ll side with
any
female over a man any day. I’d let you go right now, except I don’t think
you’re done learning from us, yet.”

“Learning what?”

“That’s for you to
figure out.”

****

Bags and boxes
were carried in by the servants in Alicia’s wake.
 
“Bloody hell, Alicia, did you buy out all of
sodding London
in one day?”

“A new wardrobe
can hardly be built in a day, William, though we did come close.”

“Where
is
Catherine, anyway? You didn’t lose her…”

“
No
, I
didn’t lose her! I told her to wait outside to make her entrance once the boys
finish carrying everything in.”

“Alicia… How’d she
do?”

She paused on the
stairs.
 
“They swallowed it hook, line,
and sinker. She’s a natural.”

Catherine came
through the front door as Alicia disappeared upstairs.
 
William turned toward the sound of her
footsteps.
 
“Hi,” she said shyly,
wiggling her fingers to wave.

Her hair was in
glossy waves instead of a French braid, and she wore snug jeans with a violet
scoopneck sweater instead of the usual baggy attire.
 
A knee-length black wool coat topped the
ensemble.
 
It was the first time she
really felt like an adult.

“Cat got your
tongue?” Catherine asked.
 
When he didn’t
reply, she ducked her head and headed for the stairs.
 
“I’ll just…” she muttered.

He grabbed her
arm.
 
“No. Don’t. I mean, you don’t have
to run off. You look lovely.”

“You’re not just
saying that?” she asked.
 
“Alicia’s taste
is a lot more overt than mine—”

“
Catherine
.
I mean it. You can even put on a bloody fashion show, if you like.”

She blushed.
 
“I believe you. Thanks.”

He let go of her
arm and guided her into the parlor to sit.
 
“You enjoyed being out today? Alicia can be a bit much in large doses.”

Catherine
nodded.
 
“It was nice once I figured out
the salon wasn’t going to do something scary. And she’s a pretty good shopping
buddy despite running me around until my feet fell off. London’s a beautiful city. I’m glad I’ve seen
it at least once.”

“Good, good… And
you got a dress?”

“Yes. It’s being
tailored. We actually agreed on it, if you can believe it,” she said,
chuckling.
 

“It
must
be
special, then. Have you eaten?”
 
They’d
missed dinner with the others.

“Yes, we stopped
at a restaurant before heading back. I was pleasantly surprised, since I’d
heard English food…lacked.”

“Mocking my
heritage now, are we?”

“Depends on if
that offends you,” she teased back.

“And if it
did?”
 

“Then, I’d
apologize, or take my punishment like a good girl, depending on your
preference.”
 

Thinking on
Alicia’s advice, Catherine realized she no longer feared William.
 
She wasn’t sure when it happened, but she
felt confident enough to show she was more than a meek woman-child.
 

The ball was now
in his court.

William’s eyes
widened in surprise, then narrowed in scrutiny.
 
“You don’t fear me anymore, do you?”

“Should I?” she
said mildly.

“Always,” he
purred.
 
“I’m still a vampire.”

“True, but if you
were going to eat me, you already would have,” she countered.
 
“You’re not like
Tallis
.”

“Maybe not, but
you read the book.”
 
He waited for her
nod.
 
“I’m a bad man.”

“But miles apart
from
him
.”

“Romanticizing my
exploits, love?”

She shook her
head.
 
“No, but none of us are defined by
one action. We’re the sum of all our decisions. I do want to know…”

“Yes?”
 

“Why suddenly go
under the radar?”

“Why do you want
to know that?” he snapped.
 

“I…I only want to
understand.”
 
Her voice was soft,
timid.
 
“I kinda like you, when you’re
not yelling at me.”
 
She dropped her gaze
to her hands in her lap.
 
“I’m sorry for
being too nosy.”

“Catherine…maybe
another time. Turn in early. You’ve had a long day.”

“Of course.
Goodnight, William.”

She finally had a
night to herself without needing to study until she fell asleep in the book,
and she couldn’t fall asleep.
 
Her mind
kept going over the day, what Alicia said, and her conversation with
William.
 

And the fact that
Tallis
was two and a half weeks away.
 

She could run
away, but she had very little money.
 
Without some kind of protection,
Tallis
would
probably find her again.
 
If she
befriended William, then she had a potential ally, but was he
befriend-able?
 
Being amicable during her
lessons didn’t mean he cared for her.

And William was
smart.
 
He’d probably guess the reason
she was trying to get chummy and call her bluff on it.
 
But Alicia suggested it was possible…

Two hours later,
Catherine was no closer to falling asleep.
 
“Screw it.”
 
She got out of bed,
donned a robe, and went down to the kitchen to make some warm milk.

William stomped
straight to the liquor cabinet.

“Hey…your head is
brown?” Catherine asked, sounding surprised.
 
His natural blond was now a dark-medium brunet.

He skidded to a
stop.
 
“What are you doin’ up?”

She held up a
mug.
 
“Warm milk. I couldn’t get to
sleep. Bad night?”

“Went out for a
drive.”
 
He walked to the liquor cabinet,
took out a key, and unlocked it.

In that?
 
He wore a leather coat over a tight tee and
even tighter jeans.
 
“Wearing cologne?”
she said.

“What’s it to
you?”

“Nothing. What’s
with the hair?”

“I don’t go out
blond in public anymore.”

Another sore
subject.
 
“Merely curious since I’m awake
and sitting here.”

“Curiosity killed
the cat, love.”
 
He selected Glenlivet
and drank straight from the bottle.

“Good thing I’m
not a cat,” she said, stirring her milk.

He straddled a
chair across from her as she sipped from the mug.
 
“The
kitten
,
then. Still applies.”

“If I were to
guess, you planned to blow off some steam.”

“And now?”

“Still looking
to…hence the bottle,” she said

He took another
healthy swig.
 
“Hm.”
 
Narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing her.
 

She blinked
innocently over her cup.
 

“It’s almost
Halloween, you know…” he said next.

“Is it?”
 
The subject change was sudden.

He nodded
once.
 
“It’s when we’re going to the
theatre.”

Her eyes
widened.
 
“The end of October is next
week
?”

“Miss Meticulous
doesn’t know what day it is?” he teased.

“I have… I-I do,
it’s just… I lost track of the
date
, okay? Happens when your world’s
turned upside down.”
 
Nearly
November…good God…the semester was almost over.
 
College felt so long ago now.
 
Homesickness turned the milk in her stomach.
 
Damn
Tallis
!
 
“I should be cramming for midterms, then
pigging out on pizza with my roommate. God, she’s gotta be so worried by now…”

“You were chummy?”

She nodded.
 
“Fast friends. We arrived to move in to the
dorm on the same day, then kept bumping into each other after that. Bonded over
a love of Chaucer, among other things.”
 
She smiled, remembering.
 
“That
was in August. Feels longer.”
 
She took
another sip from the mug.

“So what would you
rather be doing now?”

“Carrying on with
what I was. My goal was to get my teaching degree eventually. Did you go to
college when you were human?”

“You think I
might’ve?”

“Yep. I know
Alicia well enough now to see what about all this isn’t her. Gives you away as
being an educated man back in the day.”

Another swig from
the bottle brought it down to half empty.
 
“I was, in another lifetime. Right in London. Wasn’t a bad time, all things
considered.”

“How so?”

“Wasn’t fond of my
classmates, but I was otherwise at home. Went the full course and everything.
Came home after, blah, blah, blah…”

“So how old did
that make you when you became a vampire?”

“Twenty-eight.
Twenty-seven. It was September. I think. Cool enough for ladies to wear shawls
at night. I was leaving another dreadful party. She freed me, my salvation…
I’ll always thank her for that.”
 
He
finished the bottle and gave it an odd look, then shrugged and got up to fetch
another.
 
Grabbed a glass, too, this
time.

“You needed saving
back then?”

“In a matter of
speakin’.”
 
He pulled the chair out next
to her and sat, pouring a full glass from the new bottle of JD.
 
“Misunderstood, I was, except by my family.
My sire saw to the heart of me, what I yearned for. We had over a hundred happy
years together, until...”

“How did that
whole thing happen? You never say her name.”
 
Catherine only knew of it from the book—Sylvania.

He refilled the
glass.
 
“
Tallis
doesn’t love, you know,” changing the topic.
 
“Feels it’s beneath him, a human thing.
There’s a kind of affection he has for his clan, but there’s nothin’ soft about
it. He came into town more wicked than ever. When ‘e sets ‘is mind to a
plan…well, it’s twisted and sadistic as hell, but it’s genius, too…and if you
ever tell ‘
im
I said that, I’ll cut out your tongue
and make you eat it.”

Catherine crossed
her heart.
 
“I promise. So, she leaves
town…and you’re…?”

“Healing. A
vampire will heal from just about anything, short of cutting off our heads, but
it still takes time, and blood.”

“What happened to
you?”

“Barely escaped an
explosion in London.”

“That must have
been hard,” she said.
 
“Did you ever see
her again?”

“Briefly.”
 
He nodded, swallowing more whiskey.
 
“It was well and truly…over.”

“I’m sorry.”

He sniffed.
 
“’S alright. We had longer than most, right?”

There was
Catherine’s “in”.
 
She placed her hand on
his.
 
“That eats you up, huh?”

He nodded
morosely.
 
Abandoned the glass and went
straight for the bottle.

“I don’t know how
a woman could forsake such obvious devotion,” she said, shaking her head.
 
He looked up, eyes glistening and
vulnerable.
 
“Most any of us would kill
to be the center of a guy’s world for centuries.”

“You’re just
sayin’ that,” he mumbled.

“I’m not! You seem
to be the perfect catch for a
vampiress
wanting to be
loved. Have you tried getting out there…since?”

“Not exactly how
it works. There’s no speed-dating night for demons.”
 

She rolled her
eyes.
 
“But there are clubs, aren’t
there? For booze and a hook-up. It’s the 21
^st
Century.”

“Until a hunter
shows up to be the ultimate killjoy,” he said, pouting.