Colleen Gleason - [Gardella Vampires 05] by As Shadows Fade

Author:As Shadows Fade [Fade, As Shadows]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-12-24T00:07:35.409000+00:00

“Victoria!”

Sebastian was there suddenly, and Victoria turned in surprise.

Before she could react, he pulled her from the vampire, jerking her up and away from where she’d crouched. The heat still simmered in her veins as she caught herself from falling. She steadied her staggered breath, dragged in air from between her lips.

“What are you doing?” he demanded over Antonín’s cry of annoyance.

She glanced briefly at the vampire. She’d known exactly what she was doing, but she wasn’t about to explain it to Sebastian.

“Isn’t it enough that you had to bring him here? And now you do this? What are you trying to do?”

“Sebastian,” she began, the last remnants of the vampire’s thrall slipping off her like a silken shroud. His fingers dug into her arms, and she pulled away with such force that she bumped into the table. The pages he’d been reading fluttered onto the floor, but before she could bend to retrieve them, he caught her shoulders.

Not so roughly this time, he closed his fingers over her. “Is it that you didn’t trust me?” he asked. “Or that you didn’t trust yourself?”

Then she understood. They would have been alone in the chamber with Max gone; Sebastian thought she’d brought Antonín as a chaperone of sorts. “It’s neither, Sebastian. You know that.”

She stooped, pulling away from his grip, and picked up the papers from the floor. “What have you been reading all this time?” But when she saw the ornate R on the bottom of one page, she didn’t need him to tell her. She recognized Rosamunde’s sign. “Do you find them fascinating?”

But Sebastian had turned away. Victoria set the manuscript on the table, and as she took a step toward him, she heard a choking, snorting noise from the corner. A glance told her that the salvi had worked, and Antonín was snoring with alacrity.

“It’s hard enough,” Sebastian said, looking out the window that framed Týn Church, “to be here. In Praha, with you. Both of you. Stay away from Antonín. Don’t tease him. You don’t know you don’t know what you looked like, Victoria. Just now. Your eyes half closed, your face like that ”

She swallowed. Her throat constricted roughly, audible in the quiet moment. She had had a purpose; she would have let Antonín feed from her, just a bit. She had a reason.

But she didn’t have to explain it to Sebastian.

“I told you that I wouldn’t be a gentleman about it ,” he said, still looking out the window. “And so if you brought Antonín here because of that, I suppose I cannot blame you.”

Victoria couldn’t hold back an angry snort. “Sebastian, the day I use a vampire as a shield from my own desires is the day I’m finished as a Venator.”

“Your own desires?”

“There’s no arguing the fact that we’ve been together, that there is attraction and affection between us. I wasn’t pretending. But I’ve no intention of acting on it again.”

“I told you I wouldn’t be a gentleman about it,” he said again, in a steadier voice.

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