Escaping Mortality by Sara Dobie Bauer

Author:Sara Dobie Bauer [Bauer, Sara Dobie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: established couples, lgbt, bisexual, polyamorous, vampires, British nobility, gay, NineStar Press
ISBN: 9781949909913
Publisher: NineStar Press
Published: 2019-01-28T08:00:00+00:00

IT’S HOURS BEFORE he comes back. Everyone else has already gone to bed, and I stand in one of Heavenhill’s sixty-four windows and stare into the black. In the reflection, our room is simple and cozy behind me. There’s a large bed and a number of blankets to protect against Britain’s damp cold. There are heavy pieces of furniture and golden candelabras. A servant brought a warm water basin earlier. I rinsed my face but did not further prepare for bed. I wait for Edmund.

I don’t turn when the bedroom door opens, but I smell whiskey.

“You’re still awake,” he says.

“Where have you been?”

He stumbles into the room and closes the door. “The village.”

“Why?”

I hear him wrestling with his coat. “Needed to get away.”

Now, I turn to face him. His hair is windblown, his eyes unfocused. “You’re drunk.”

“A bit.” He sits on the edge of the bed and tugs at his shoes.

When I step forward to help, I also smell blood and freeze. “You fed.”

“Just a friendly nibble.” He frowns. “Am I supposed to ask your permission first?”

“Don’t be an ass.”

He chuckles. “I get tired of it, you know—you treating me as your precious little pup.”

“I do no such thing.”

He laughs now. “God, you don’t even see it, do you? You treat me like a child when you’re not balls deep.” His shoes fall loudly to the floor.

“Well, when you behave like one…”

He shakily unbuttons his waistcoat. “I did fine without you.”

“Yes, because you ran away from your problems, as you did tonight. Your mother screamed when they put her to bed.”

“Fuck off.”

“She called for you.”

He pauses in his movement. “Why would she? I’m dead.”

I step forward and point at him. “Go ahead, feel bad for yourself. But you are the man of this house now. Start acting like it.”

“I thought you might prefer the position.” He sneers. “Seeing as how you own me.”

I turn away. “I won’t talk to you in this state.”

“No?” I hear him move, and despite his inebriation, he easily grabs my arm and spins me around. “You love that I won’t fuck anyone else. You love having me all to yourself, controlling me. You always have. Everyone always has. Why is that? What is it about me that begs for claiming?”

“Edmund—”

“Is it your own insecurity? You spent centuries alone until me. Why?” He latches onto the front of my shirt. “Was I an easy target? A weak, pretty thing on that bloody island. If I had run from you, would you have let me?”

I open my mouth to speak, but something…something is shifting within me. Something bad.

“You would have taken advantage, like so many others.” He moves so close, spit hits my face. “You are just like them, the cowards who shoved me over couches and took and took. You are not special. You were merely stronger than them. That’s why you have me—because I couldn’t get away.”

The dark creature, silent for so long, purrs. And I will never let you leave. If you tried to run, I would chase you to the ends of the earth.

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