Scorned (8 page)

A shrunken vampire head? Really?

I reached out and touched one of those
little white spots and jumped when it nicked my finger. I pulled
away and stared at the spot of blood.

I felt a change in the air when Roman came
back and I turned. “Is that a shrunken head?” I asked.

Roman strode slowly towards me, his nose
tipped up slightly as if scenting the air, and nodded. “Twas a
friend of mine.” His voice was soft and his accent so thick I
almost couldn’t understand him.

“Oh,” I squeaked as he stepped up so close
to me that I should have been able to hear his heartbeat. “I’m
sorry.”

Roman took my hand and held it up so the dim
candlelight shone on the little spot of blood. He looked down at it
then blinked lazily up at me. “LeKrista, you’ve hurt yourself.”

I nodded. My heart pounded in my ears and a
lump formed in my throat that I couldn’t swallow around. Roman
lifted my finger to his lips, waving it under his nose as if it was
a glass of wine, and I didn’t fight him. As suddenly as he’d taken
my hand, he dropped it and I pressed my finger to my leg.

“Shall we begin?” Roman asked and he smiled
again, bigger this time and with not even the slightest hint of
fangs.

“Begin?”

A lovely woman with alabaster skin and pale
blue eyes came into the room from the hall and I took her in with
wide eyes. She wore the most lovely red chiffon gown that clung to
her shoulders by thin jeweled straps and dipped way below what for
me would have been a comfortable cleavage line. The gown was
cinched just below the bust line and spilled from there in a
flowing A-line design that swirled around her feet when she walked.
Gauzy little appliqué's gave the dress a feathery look, and I half
expected her to sprout wings and fly across the room to me.

Her hair spilled over her shoulders in
silken auburn waves that contrasted against her fair skin, and
deepened the color of her eyes. There was a soft smile playing in
those eyes, but I noticed it was more from humor than actual
pleasure at meeting me. In her hands she carried a long, black
velvet box.

She walked past Roman without a glance,
though he watched her closely and I sensed tension between them. As
she approached me, I could see that Roman was a little
apprehensive.

“LeKrista, I would love to introduce to you,
my Adelina. It means ‘noble’ and ‘small winged one’.”

Adelina dipped into a graceful curtsy.

“
Ati putea prezenta ei cu colier, Adelina
mea.”
Roman spoke softly to her, but there was still a bite to
his words.

I wasn’t sure what language he spoke or what
he said, but Adelina did. She approached me as if she did not walk,
but floated across the floor. When she was close enough that our
toes should have touched, she dipped into that curtsey once more
and offered the little jewelry box to me with her head down, eyes
carefully averted from mine.

Geez. What’s with all the theatrics?

I took the box from her, but hesitated.

“You may open it,” Roman urged, and I
did.

Inside was a simple gold cross that hung
from a delicate chain. I tried not to gasp at the gift, though,
truth be told I wasn’t used to accepting jewelry from people I’d
only known a week. It brought back a memory of a time when Pierce
bought me jewelry and I refused it.

“LeKrista, I am sensing sorrow in you. Do
you not like the gift?”

Adelina looked up at Roman shocked then
turned her gaze to me as if to say, “For what reason would you
possibly refuse such a lovely gift?”

I shook my head emphatically. “It’s not the
gift,” I assured hurriedly. “It’s not the necklace. I just... It
brought back a memory that’s hard for me to think about is all.” I
looked down at the little gold necklace in the box and smiled. “No,
this is lovely. Thank you.” There was no way I could refuse the
necklace and not offend Roman or “his Adelina”, so I accepted it
graciously, if a little nervous. What was I going to tell
Pierce?

“
Ajutor ei.”

It was a command that sent Adelina into
action. She took the gift from my hands, box and all, and moved
around behind me to fasten it.

“I have presented you with this gift,
LeKrista Scott, as protection against the vampire that would kill
you.”

And then I understood and remembered the
significance of the cross to the vampire. I looked up as Adelina
dangled the little gold cross around my neck, and found that
Roman’s eyes were averted, turned to the side and slightly
down.

“You can’t even look at me when I wear it?”
I asked.

Roman shook his head. “Tuck it into your
shirt.”

I did and Roman’s eyes came up, just like
that.

Another woman entered the room, this one,
though pale was not as fair as Adelina. Her hair fell in golden
waves around her shoulders and the straps of a dress identical to
the other woman’s.

“Calliope, my dear.” Roman pulled this woman
into a loose hug and kissed her on the forehead.

“Why do I suddenly feel severely
underdressed?” I muttered to myself, tugging at the pajamas I’d
worn all day.

Roman turned to me with that beautiful,
ancient smile of his and said, “Adelina and Calliope are here to
fix that.”

“What?” It slipped out before I could catch
it and I knew I sounded disbelieving and slightly horrified. I
hadn’t showered in longer than I wanted to think about and I knew I
smelled funky.

“They will take you upstairs to one of the
bedrooms and you may clean up however you see fit.”

Ugh, the mind reading again!

I followed the women from the room in my
pajamas and my new necklace.

“I promise they will take the utmost care
with you. Won’t you, ladies?”

The women nodded, and it seemed more like
they’d been forced into this arrangement. It didn’t make me feel
very good about the situation, but what made it worse was I knew
the moment Roman shut off his emotions. I felt it like a door in my
head had clicked shut, and I knew something was changing between
us. Something was getting stronger and I didn’t know why or how I
felt about it.

They led me up the stairs and down a
creaking hall to a bedroom door. Calliope rapped lightly on the
door twice, listened for a few seconds with her ear pressed to it,
then pushed her way in. The two women floated across the floor
without making a single sound. I sounded like a herd of elephants
all on my own. It was embarrassing. They gathered towels, bath
soaps and shampoos in case I wanted them and none of it looked like
it came from Wal-Mart. While they did this, I had a look around and
somehow wasn’t surprised.

There were three queen-size, four-poster
beds all made up the same way. Red and gold tulle draped each one
from post to post, blowing whenever there was any kind of breeze.
They were made with silken red comforters embroidered with gold
trimmings and beads and anything else they could find that
glittered in the faintest light. And the top half of each bed was
buried in pillows. Pillows, pillows, and more pillows.

A crystal chandelier hung from the middle of
the ceiling. Tiny crystal cups with gold embossed edges held
candles, all lit and burning, casting their tiny lights across the
room. When I looked down, I noticed that my bare feet sank into the
thick, blood-red carpet.

A dark closet stood open on one side of the
room and I made a guess that it was filled with more lovely red
gowns. There was a fireplace between the closet and another door.
This one was closed.

“He wishes for you to shower and change into
something more suitable.”

The dainty voice pulled me from my
inspection of the room and I looked up at the sound of the
flawless, beautifully accented English. It was Adelina addressing
me. I was so caught off guard that, once again, I let my stupid
mouth speak before I had a chance to reign in my tongue.

“You speak English,” I told her, as if she
didn’t already know. The smile she offered was small, but it held
none of the disdain that I had felt with her earlier.

“Yes, I do.”

I frowned. “Then why doesn’t he speak
English to you?”

“He wishes to keep my native tongue
alive.”

I nodded. “Oh. What is your native
tongue.”

A light came on in her eyes. “Romanian,” she
told me.

I nodded. “And you?”

“I am Greek,” Calliope smiled.

“Yeah, you look like you would be Greek.” I
took a deep breath and let it out. “So, I’m supposed to take a
shower now I guess, right? I don’t have to go outside for that...I
hope?”

Calliope chuckled at me. Adelina just
smiled. “No,” was all she said and swept her arm across the room to
a door hidden between two of the beds.

I nearly dropped to the floor when I walked
in. There were six shower stalls, three claw foot bathtubs, three
toilets, and a hot tub big enough for ten. In the middle of the
room was a fountain like you find in a garden. Six sinks decorated
one wall, but the appliances weren’t the impressive part.
Everything, the toilets, the tubs, the sinks, even the floor and
the fountain shimmered a golden hue in the faint candlelight. I
walked over to touch one of the sinks, the floor cool against my
bare feet. It was cool and smooth and soft like real gold. I pulled
my hand back quickly and spun around to look at my two escorts with
questioning eyes. They nodded.

“It’s all real?”

They nodded as if they’d been here before,
answering this same question. I shook my head in wonder. I just
couldn’t believe it.

“He says to please take your time. Do not
come out before you are ready.”

Adelina and Calliope put their bath products
on the floor of a shower and left me alone to revel in the beauty
of this room. There was a sitting area just in front of the showers
so you could wait in comfort for an open shower, though I doubted
anyone did much waiting in here.

I wasn’t surprised to find that the sofa and
chairs and the lovely rug upon which they sat were all woven with
gold thread. I ran my hand across the back of the sofa, certain it
would feel rough and unwelcoming, but I couldn’t have been more
wrong. The cushion felt like velvet and I found myself wanting to
sink into it and fall asleep.

It was in that moment that I realized how
tired I was and how badly I wanted a shower. I opened the third
stall and gasped. I don’t know why I was still surprised, but the
vastness of it wasn’t expected. They looked small from the outside,
and they were narrow, but they were deep, also. There were four
shower heads in the stall, and I couldn’t help but think,
Orgy
anyone?

A bench made of black marble shot through
with gold streaks sat at the end and matched the floor. I turned on
the water, not by a knob on the inside, but from the outside. There
was a digital thermostat by which to adjust the temperature. I set
it for something that sounded good and undressed quickly.

All four shower heads pumped out steaming
water, and I had to adjust the pressure so I wouldn’t harm my
tender skin. It felt amazing and some of the tension and fear
leftover from my accident melted away. I let the water soak my
hair, run down my body and soothe me. When I finally lathered up to
bathe, I was afraid I’d been in too long. It didn’t matter. I got
myself clean and scrubbed my hair.

By the time I stepped out of the shower
wrapped in a thick, luxurious black towel I felt brand new. I
chanced a look at myself in the wall to wall mirror as I passed,
opening the towel to see what kind of damage had been done. There
was still some faint bruising across my ribs, like I’d landed on
something long and hard and the finger gouges on my neck were
healed over. My face, well, it still looked like a train wreck, but
it was getting better. I turned away from the depressing sight and
took my clothes into the bedroom where my new entourage waited.

“Better?” Adelina asked. She sat perched on
the edge of one of the nearest beds with Calliope at her feet. They
were both still dressed in their gowns, but the way they sat said
they’d been doing this formal thing a long time.

“Much,” I answered with a smile.

“Good. Come. We must get you dressed and do
something with your hair.”

They led me across to the closet. There were
innumerable formals down one whole side, then regular dresses,
slacks, and blouses. Beneath the clothes were dresser drawers that
stretched across the floor from wall to wall. In the center of the
room was a dais from floor to ceiling filled with every kind of
shoe you could imagine. A woman’s dream.

Adelina went to the formal rack and wasted
no time in pulling down a lovely red gown.

“Put this on. Calliope will help you.”

I nodded and resisted the urge to salute and
say “Yes, ma’am!”

Adelina left the room, leaving me standing
in a towel with Calliope holding the dress for me to slip into.

“Don’t look, okay?” I asked, self-conscious
about being naked in front of a woman I didn’t know.

Calliope smiled sweetly, shook her head, and
covered her eyes with her hand. I had to laugh.

“Thank you.” I dropped the towel and stepped
into the dress, trusting the older woman not to look until I was
completely covered. “Um...what do I do about underwear?” I
asked.

“I can give you some,” she said as she
zipped the back of the dress, “or you can go without. It’s your
choice.”

I thought about that for a moment. “Will
anyone know that I’m going without?”

“He will probably know it.”

That sent a wave of panic through me that
made my cheeks flare with embarrassment. Of course he would.

“Well then, I guess I’m going to need some
panties.”

Calliope nodded and crossed the room to
fetch a matching red thong. “This will work?”