Shades of Sepia by Anne Barwell

Author:Anne Barwell [Barwell, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Chapter 9

SIMON GLANCED at his watch again. It didn’t take that long to travel the distance between the Knuckle Bone and the castle. Where the hell were they?

He stopped his pacing, picked up his glass, and drained it.

His mouth still felt dry. Hunger rose in him that no amount of blood would quench. Although he hadn’t drunk human blood in years, he still felt he needed some kind of fix when he was on edge. He stared at the empty glass, reminding himself he drank animal blood because he had no choice if he wanted to survive. So why reach for it now, hoping it would steady him?

God damn it!

What the hell was Ben going to say when he found out about the addiction?

It couldn’t be any worse than his reaction when he’d discovered Simon was a vampire.

“I meant what I said when I told you I loved you.”

Ben had said he was coming back. He wouldn’t lie about that. Lucas was with him and would keep him safe.

Simon sat down on one of the couches and put his head in his hands. Ben had only seen a fraction of Simon’s life when they’d kissed. What would happen when he saw the rest? Was it fair to expect him to have to do that?

The front door of the castle opened. The minute creak was loud to Simon’s ears. He froze, listening. Lucas was talking in a low whisper. Ben sounded nervous—his heart was thumping.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, Ben’s heavier than Lucas’s, who could move almost silently when he wanted to. Simon ran a hand through his hair; he was shaking. Reliving some of the nightmares of his past he’d tried so hard to forget hadn’t done much for his state of mind either. That was one thing he hadn’t expected—seeing what Ben had seen. Perhaps that was one of the other differences when a vampire soul bonded with a human? Instead of seeing their life, you got your own back in glorious Technicolor.

It didn’t follow the rules he knew. Two vampires soul bonded when at least one of them was contagious, and he wasn’t, although he had been when he’d first noticed Ben. Perhaps that was enough to trigger it? Ben, being human, wouldn’t be able to mark him, but the emotional connection and physical drive were unmistakably what he’d heard would happen.

Simon stood and took a step toward the door, then a step back. He wanted this, wanted Ben so badly, but was it right to bring him permanently into this world?

He was already a part of it. After what Ben had seen, he wouldn’t be able to go back now. It didn’t work that way. Knowing the truth, even if you remained human, left its own scars. Simon had known a few who’d been able to walk away seemingly unscathed, but they hadn’t already had the insight Ben had received through the soul bond.

The knock on his door was quiet, tentative. “Simon?” Ben called. There was a reserved quality to his voice Simon hadn’t heard before.

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