I pulled my sleeve down, covering the bracelet, somehow unwilling for him to see it. I wondered if he'd noticed, but he was looking around the room with curiosity in his eyes. I waved back the guards Lucas had chosen who had crowded into the room behind him, and they stepped outside and closed the door on us. A devouring silence seemed to swallow us up, leaving the empty space ringing between us.
“Well I'm honoured,” I said once I'd recovered from the shock. “You've only been out for a few seconds and here you are.” I tried for a pleasant smile but my face felt too tense.
He chuckled, looking at me, his gaze leisurely and as arrogant as ever. “Is it not natural for me to want to spend time with my ... Master? My creator?”
I turned away and walked to the desk, leaning against it to hide the book open on my desk. The last thing I needed was him reading about how he had founded one of the biggest and most powerful families in the world.
“I never said I created you,” I replied. There was little point in denying it. Powerful or not he would know I was ridiculously young compared to him. Not even twenty yet. It was strange to acknowledge that when I felt so very old. I was old. Older even than he was.
He walked around me, and I forced myself to hold his eyes. I wondered what he saw. Did he still desire me as much as he always had? Did he long to touch me as badly as I wanted him to. I pulled my thoughts to halt but not before I'd seen the smile tug at his mouth. He knew. Knew how much I wanted him.
He walked closer. Too close. “So how is it that you are my Master and not my creator? Where is my Master? Did you destroy him ... or her and take their place?” His words were mild, but I could hear the threat in them, the challenge that asked if I thought he could be quelled as easily.
I was on dangerous ground here, and I looked back at him, silent, picking my words with care. “You are due to attend prayers shortly. Perhaps you'll find the answers to your questions there,” I said, my voice even.
His eyebrows hit his hairline.
“Prayers?” he repeated, clearly dumbfounded. He stared at me for a moment and then roared with laughter. I looked back at him, not sharing his amusement and his laughter subsided as he realised I wasn't joking.
“What kind of family is this that still prays together to the gods?” The words were spoken with a sneer of derision, and I frowned. There had been no communal prayers for the family it was true. I didn't know if there ever had been, but Corvus had his own private space, an altar of sorts where he had offered to his gods.
“Why does that seem so strange to you?” I asked. “You said you remember nothing. How do you know if this is unusual?”
He paused, and I could see he was considering. “That is true,” he admitted. “I don't know but ... I feel it.” He frowned. “This is something new.” The words were said with certainty, and I felt a shiver of unease.
I crossed my arms, watching with amusement as he mirrored my stance. I wondered if he knew he'd done it. “Nonetheless, you will attend and you will offer a blood sacrifice.”
Now I'd really shocked him. I could feel the tension singing through him before he shut it away, his face impassive.
“Sacrifice to who?” he demanded.
“To Hekatê and ... Circe.”
He snorted. “Witches.” The word was spoken with disgust. “I should have known you'd choose the sorceress goddesses.” He turned away from me and made a show of looking at the bookshelves. I prayed there was nothing there titled Albinus Family Tree or I was sunk. He knew his first name, I couldn't know how long before he remembered the second if he hadn't already. I prayed he didn't make the connection with many of the crow symbols that were to be found around the Château. “And why should I give my precious blood to these goddesses?” he demanded. “Why them? After all,” he added, turning back to me, “I don't know when I'll be fed again. You seem reluctant to keep me in good health.” He smirked, and I remembered his hands all over the blonde and my temper rocketed.
Flames burst at my wrists, and I clenched my fists, enjoying the look of alarm on his face. “Because if you don't my mother and I will consider it a great insult,” I said, failing to keep the fury from my voice.
He frowned, not understanding the comment. “What has your mother ...?” He paused, and I saw the idea sink in. “Hekatê and ... Circe, the enchantress,” he repeated, his voice quiet, his eyes on mine. Wary. Considering.
“Pleased to meet you,” I replied. It was my turn to smirk.
He stood staring at me.
“There's a temple outside, with a statue. You can go and stare at that if you like,” I snapped.
He just carried on staring at me, and I started to feel a little unnerved as I had no idea what he was thinking. Suddenly he took a step and then paused as though unsure of himself. Whatever had stopped him, he got over and walked until he was standing in front of me. I couldn't tell if his hesitant approach was from fear or reverence or even disgust. His hand reached out and a fingertip touched my cheek, trailed down, following the line of my jaw, moving down my neck to hover over the place where my pulse leapt under the skin. The place where his teeth would sink into my flesh if I let him. I felt like my blood was moving towards him, throbbing and gathering in that heated pulse beneath my flesh.
“You are somewhat warmer than marble,” he murmured. “And I doubt a statue would blush quite so beautifully,” he added, an audible growl to his voice.
I swallowed. His eyes had bled to black, his fangs quite clearly visible. I knew he could hear my heart beating too fast, panicking like a rabbit in a trap, but there was little I could do about it.
He moved back suddenly and then the door opened, Kai bursting in with a smile which faltered as the tense atmosphere he'd interrupted became apparent. The flames disappearing from my wrists, I almost yelled at him for not knocking, but perhaps it had been for the best.
“Hello, Kai,” Corvus said, his previous demeanour vanished and his smile genuine.
I felt a burst of jealousy that he should be so at ease with Kai when there was such strain between us. It wasn't fair.
Kai, looked anxiously from Corvus to me, and I felt ashamed of myself. Kai wasn't having much more luck than me at the moment. I couldn't begrudge him Corvus' friendship.
“Hey, Kai,” I said, trying to force my expression into something less uptight. “Why don't you give Corvus the tour of the Château, introduce him to everyone.”
“OK, Jéhenne.” He nodded and then looked up at Corvus, a little shy suddenly. “Do you want to come?”
Corvus glanced at me and then nodded. “Yes.”
Kai smiled, and I was relieved to see him look a bit happier than before.
“Don't forget to go to prayers,” I said softly.
Kai nodded and grinned at me as he left and Corvus hesitated for a moment before following. He paused in the doorway and turned back to look at me, but I couldn't read his expression at all.
I went to close the door, watching as they walked down the hallway with the guards following close behind. I wished I could hear what they were talking about. I closed the door and bit my lip as an idea formed in my head. It wasn't the sort of thing I'd normally consider as it amounted to nothing more than spying, but I was getting desperate; and I needed every advantage I had.
I went and settled myself in the chair behind the desk and closed my eyes.
Lucas had chosen the guards well, Decimus in particular. He was a big man, not especially tall but very well built. He'd been a gladiator in ancient Rome, undefeated for many years until his final fight which he still insisted had been rigged, and he'd been drugged so he'd lose. Either way his Master had admired his skills and decided to turn him rather than lose all that ability. In fact Decimus was as old as Corvus, but not just age made a powerful vampire. He simply wasn't very bright. He was loyal, though, and Corvus had taken him in when his own Master had been killed. I focused on Decimus and felt the slightest jolt of shock as I spoke in his mind. Vampires were used to communicating this way, but it unnerved me slightly, so I rarely did it with anyone but Lucas unless I was addressing the family as a whole. It would come as a surprise to him to hear my voice in his head alone.
“Decimus, I need your help.”
“Anything, Master.”
I smiled at the reverence in his voice. I'd not done what I had for any other reason than that I loved Corvus and needed him back, but there were many whose gratitude for what I'd done bordered on adulation. It was both comforting and disturbing at the same time.
“I want to see what you see. I need to get to know Corvus again but he fears me, distrusts me. He's not at ease and won't speak freely with me. I want to spend time with him when he's not on his guard. Will you let me?”
I could feel his surprise. A Master would not normally request, they would simply do as they wished, but I didn't want to use him without his permission. It was wrong.
“I am your servant, Master. Use me as you will, it is my honour to serve you.” The deep voice rumbled through my mind and his reply made me faintly nauseous, but I took it in the spirit it was meant and thanked him before I looked out through his eyes.
At first there was little to see. Kai chattered as he showed Corvus around, though I could tell it was forced, not his usual unrestrained effervescence, and Corvus walked beside him. I wondered if he could tell Kai wasn't himself. He was watching him carefully, but he said little, occasionally stopping to look at something which had caught his interest.
Everyone looked up as a flurry of wings was heard and a raucous squawk and Nerva flew towards Corvus, landing on his shoulder and shrieking with delight. Corvus held his hand up, and Nerva hopped onto it, rubbing his head ecstatically against Corvus' fingers as his other hand came up to stroke him.
“He's yours,” Kai said with a grin and Corvus nodded, frowning as though he was trying to remember.
“The white crow,” he said, softly, ruffling Nerva's feathers as he closed his eyes in bliss. “Corvus ... Albinus, The White Crow.”
“You?” Kai asked. “You are The White Crow?”
Corvus nodded.
Kai smiled and pointed at Nerva. “He's called ...”
“No!” Corvus stopped Kai, his face one of intense concentration. He stared at Nerva and then cursed and Nerva leapt in surprise. “Shhh,” Corvus said, by way of apology, stroking the tatty feathers on his chest. “I didn't mean to startle you.” He looked at Kai. “It is very ... frustrating,” he said with a wry smile at the understatement.
“You don't remember anything?” Kai asked.
Corvus shrugged. “Nothing of use.” He hesitated. “Scattered images. I see myself holding a sword.”
“You were a warrior?”
“Yes.” He frowned again rubbing his head with his hand, and Kai stepped forward, touching his hand to Corvus' arm.
“Don't try so hard, it will come. You are safe, people care for you here, they love you.”
I could see the shock in Corvus' eyes, though Decimus had drawn back a little to give them the illusion of privacy. Not that Corvus would think it. If it wasn't for the spells I'd set around the rooms for privacy he could have been standing in the village and still have listened in on Corvus' conversation if he wanted to.
“Is true,” Kai insisted. “You are greatly loved.”
“Who?” he demanded, and I thought I detected a desperate note in his voice.
“Everyone,” Kai said with a smile. “Even the crow, see how he hurt himself for missing you.”
Corvus looked back at Nerva and touched his hand to the bald patch where Nerva had pulled out the feathers on his chest in misery. Nerva bobbed up and down and cawed happily and Corvus laughed. “Well, it's good to see you too,” he said with a smile.
I felt tears gathering in my eyes and forced my emotions back before Decimus stood sobbing for no apparent reason. I doubted he'd thank me for ruining his hard man image.
Corvus looked up at the guards stationed around the room and then back to Kai. “I have to say I'm not feeling any great outpouring of love and affection yet.”
Kai nodded and stepped closer. “You not a fool, Corvus. They are afraid of you, afraid you are not the same.”
Corvus stared back at him, his expression cool. “I'm not.”
“How do you know?” Kai asked, his voice soft. “If you don't remember.”
Corvus hesitated and looked reluctant to speak but the sympathy in Kai's expression seemed to reassure him. “No one would feel that way for me.” The words were bleak and so raw that I was unable to stop the wave of emotion that hit Decimus, and he gasped.
I knew I'd be forever grateful to Kai in that moment as he threw his arms around Corvus and hugged him, taking him so much by surprise that Decimus' little slip wasn't noticed.
“Not true!” Kai said, his voice fierce and Corvus laughed despite himself, hugging Kai in return for a moment before letting him go again.
“You'd love anyone who smiled at you.” Corvus chuckled. “You have too much heart. You'll get hurt you know.”
Kai's smile subsided and Corvus frowned, stepping forward.
“What happened?”
I watched as Kai shrugged, blinking back tears. He shook his head, obviously unable to speak without crying. “Who?” Corvus demanded, the tone of his voice sending a shiver of fear down my back. He grasped Kai by the shoulders, one hand beneath his chin, forcing him to look up at him. “Tell me who?” He held the young pixie in his power and Kai had no choice but to reply.
“Rodney,” he said.