Midnight Enchantment by Nancy Gideon

Author:Nancy Gideon [Gideon, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, General, Historical, Love Stories, Vampires, Occult & Supernatural, New Orleans (La.)
ISBN: 9781893896048
Google: lBnjPAAACAAJ
Amazon: 1893896048
Publisher: ImaJinn Books
Published: 1999-11-30T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Laure awoke to a pounding head and a nauseous sense of disorientation. For a moment, she thought it was her usual morning malaise, until she saw Gerard basked in mellow candlelight. Everything flooded back with a jolt.

She was on the parlor chaise beneath the light drape of a bed robe. The stickiness of her attacker’s blood had been washed away. Gerard, too, had bathed and changed into a bulky shirt of some soft fabric that hung to the middle of his thighs. Beneath it he wore snug black tights that hugged the elegant strength of his legs. The outfit made him look like a poetic troubadour. He was watching her with a cautious degree of concern.

“We need to talk.”

She began to shiver at his tremendous understatement. “What did you do with … with those men you killed?”

“A tragic event. A falling out of thieves. ‘Tis what can happen when one follows that wide road of the damned. I should know, eh?” His smile was thin and not up to his usual mockery. “Now, satisfy my curiosity. You knew what I was and now you’ve seen what I can do. The question is, what exactly are you?”

When she didn’t reply, he began to pace. His stride wasn’t the elegant, almost effortless glide he usually effected but rather a light, agitated step, as if he were walking on broken glass.

“Come now, I know sorcery when I see it,” he goaded, his tone harsher now, his attitude more aggressive. He watched her through eyes that glittered, sharp and dangerous. “This is what you were talking about earlier when I, in my innate stupidity, overlooked the obvious. Of course, you would be accepting of a creature such as myself. You and your kind deal with demons all the time.”

“No.”

He paused at her soft objection. “No? I believed they burned your kin at the stake in my day for making such associations.”

“I am your wife.”

“Ha! Now I understand why a bloodsucking night walker was the best your brother could find for you. What a bargain I’ve made. I must admit my admiration for Percy is soaring. Pairing the damned with a demon conjurer, what a marvelous match. I am surprised you have not turned me into a toad by now.”

“I have little control over what powers I have.”

“A sorcery apprentice, eh? Is this something you go to a university to learn? Enlighten me. Really, I want to know. I insist.”

She could sense his anger, his fear and distrust. He exuded waves of it as palpably as a storm-scented breeze. He who had only recently sprung the terrible truth of what he was upon her now shied from learning of her past. Should she tell him the truth or keep him in doubt for her own advantage? Knowing how fear ofttimes backfired to deadly results, she decided it best to speak candidly about secrets unknown outside her circle.

“My mother’s family were slave holders on St. Dominique. It is from there that their Catholic beliefs mingled with those of the African Yoruba.

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