The Companion by Susan Squires

Author:Susan Squires [Squires, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency, Erotica, Historical, Romance, Fiction
ISBN: 9781429909112
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2005-05-03T07:00:00+00:00

Ian’s eyes cleared as the memories drained away. The girl was speaking earnestly.

“Are you well?” she was asking.

He shook his head as if that could dispel the memory of that night when he had discovered what lived in Kivala and lost his humanity into the bargain. How long had he been staring at his hands, immobile? He cleared his throat before he dared to speak.

“As well as I can be these days.”

Her eyes were round with concern. Concern? He did not deserve the concern of a virtuous woman. “Is the one you saw at Kivala so horrible?” she asked matter-of-factly.

“Horrible enough. It was also the night I became what I am today.”

“Ahh. Was Asharti the one who waited? You said it was her blood that poisoned you.”

“No. She wanted his blood. Apparently he is the ancestor of her kind. His ancient blood is very powerful. She thought his blood would make her invincible.”

“To what purpose?”

“She wants to rule men. My guess is that she has plans for that corner of the world.”

The girl pressed her lips together. “That would be bad.”

He roused himself and rubbed the bridge of his nose as if to wipe away memories. “But we will be in England. She cannot reach that far. And neither can the One Who Waits at Kivala.”

She was about to ask another question but apparently thought better of it. “Well, back to our original intent then. That is all the scroll tells us about the Old Ones. It moves on to talk about the monuments. What have we learned?” She glanced back at the scroll. “There is a ‘blood companion,’ whatever that means. It sounds like more than a disease. We see that they are very old. There is some power of compulsion that goes with the reddening of the eyes. And this reference to being ‘invisible bats.’ ” She looked up. “Did you ever become a bat?”

“No.” He made his voice as repressive as possible. But she would not be repressed.

“Well then, we must concentrate on what we do know. Tell me what happens when your eyes go red. Can you do it at will, or does it just come on you?”

He yielded to her matter-of-fact approach. “I suppose it comes on me.”

“When?”

“When . . . I have the hunger and there is an opportunity to . . . feed.”

“Could you call it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did Asharti call it at will?”

He nodded. He did not trust himself to speak.

“Try it,” she urged. “Try to make your eyes go red.”

“No!” he exclaimed, his brows drawing together. “Are you mad?”

She cocked her head, exasperated. “It is an experiment. You said you wanted to know more about your condition. How else will we find out?”

He got up and paced the room, automatically compensating for the roll of the ship and bending under the beams of the low ceiling. “What if I unleash something I can’t control?”

“How can you learn to control it if you don’t try?” She lifted her chin in challenge.

He whirled away and took another turn, hands clasped behind his back.

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