Kiss of the Rose (29 page)

Terror gripped him. He threw his head back and it banged on solid rock. He didn’t have fangs; he wasn’t one of them! With elaborate slowness he uncurled his tongue and licked along the line of his teeth, shuddered when he met his extended incisors. This was not real. It couldn’t be. Dear God, the Vampire must have…

He opened his eyes. Where was the Vampire and where was Rosalind? He couldn’t sense her in his mind at all. Panic rose in his chest and threatened to suffocate him. He tried to remain calm as his vision turned red. He must focus on the image of Rosalind, loving him, sharing herself with him…

Fear stirred and he choked it down. Was Rosalind still alive? He tried again to get a sense of her, almost whimpered with relief when he felt her again. She wasn’t dead. Thank God for that, at least. He tried to move away from the rock, but something held him fast.

What would happen when the Vampire released him? Christopher groaned silently. He would take blood from the first human he saw. He swallowed hard, aware that the thought excited him beyond measure. What if that human was Rosalind or Rhys? Was that the Vampire’s plan, that he should drain them dry in his frenzied lust for blood?

He groaned and slammed his head back against the wall again, enjoyed the pain that shot through him. He was still unable to tell if he was trapped in his own mind or was in the real world. He sensed movement in the tunnel and tried to focus. Was the Vampire coming back or was it something even worse? Did he even want to be rescued now? He inhaled the scent of human blood and his whole body trembled. He fixed his gaze on the approaching figure, his thoughts in utter and complete turmoil, and began to pray.

Rosalind approached Christopher as cautiously as she had approached Elias. His eyes were open, but she could not tell if he was aware of her presence.

“Christopher?”

“Go away, Rosalind.” He licked his lips and turned his face away from her.

Her heart twisted at the desolation in his voice. He sounded as if he was in pain. Did he know? Did he already hate her? She gathered herself to explain.

“Christopher, I need you to listen to me.” He didn’t answer, just licked his lips and swallowed convulsively, his whole body shaking.

Rosalind took a step closer and he recoiled. “Don’t touch me,” he hissed. “I am no longer safe, and I will hurt you if she lets me free.”

“You’ll not hurt me.”

He groaned.“Can’t you see what she has done to me? What she’s made me?”

She gently put her hand to his cheek. “I see only you, Christopher.”

He stiffened and slowly met her gaze. “And what do you see?”

“You, trapped by the Vampire’s magic. What else is there?”

“I don’t believe you,” he said, struggling against whatever was pinning him to the wall. “I know what I feel!”

“I promise you,” Rosalind said. She stroked his cheek, then his shoulder, trying to calm him. “She made you dream of what you fear the most. It is not real. You are not a Vampire.”

“But I feel it inside, trying to rip its way out of me!”

She took his jaw in her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes. “You are not a Vampire.”

He let out a groan. “Then tell me where we are, and what is happening.”

Rosalind took a deep breath.“The Vampire wants me to kill the king.”

“But she knows you will refuse.”

“Yes, but she’s threatening to kill you all if I do not do her bidding. I tried to use the power of the stone circle against her, but I think I failed and she brought us all here.” Her voice faltered. “I’m not even sure if this is real. It feels like a nightmarish game.”

“A game?” He tried to focus on her, his eyes narrowing at her obvious unease. “We are part of a game?”

Rosalind wrapped her arms around herself. “She wants me to save one of you. I fear I am still trapped in her wiles, and all I can do is play out the game and hope that…” Her voice faltered and she could only stare at him.

“What?”

“That I will choose wisely.” She choked back a small sob as Christopher’s eyes widened and he looked over her shoulder. Rhys was stumbling down the tunnel, his expression haunted. “I have chosen Rhys.”

The hope in Christopher’s eyes turned to dust and his face became a mask. “Of course you have. Now leave me be.”

“It’s not what you think.” Rosalind began to speak faster, her voice rising as Christopher seemed to waver and dissolve in front of her eyes. She realized it was her own tears distorting his image. “Let me explain…”

But Christopher was no longer looking at her, and Rhys was making her turn away from her lover, making her abandon him in the maze.

Rhys’s grip loosened, and Rosalind cried out as she was thrown upward toward a tunnel of light. She emerged into the stone circle again, crying and shaking. The Vampire was nowhere to be seen. Rosalind fell to the ground and beat her fists on the dirt.

“I chose, damn you. Now do your worst!” she screamed into the emptiness before collapsing onto the stone altar again. Soft laughter filled her ears and she looked up once more into the Vampire’s shadowed features.

“You have surprised me, Vampire slayer. I thought you would choose my kin. I thought you would sacrifice everything for love.”

Rosalind couldn’t speak as she struggled to understand the sudden change in her surroundings. Had she been anywhere, except her mind and her own worst nightmares? She was back on the altar with the Vampire. The three men were still tied to the upright stones. Even as her mind wrestled with the trick played on her, her body refused to accept it; it continued to shudder with grief at what her choice might mean.

The Vampire scowled down at Rosalind. “The Druid circle has drained my powers tonight, but you will kill the king for me, Vampire slayer.”

The Vampire disappeared so quickly that Rosalind gasped. She fought to catch her breath before slowly sinking to her knees. She wanted to retch. She wanted to crawl into bed and never get out again.

“God, what in Hades happened?” Rhys whispered as he opened his eyes. “Are we still alive?”

Rosalind searched his face for any memory of exactly what had transpired. “The Vampire outwitted us.”

Rhys cursed and rubbed his face. “I don’t remember anything except being slammed against this rock.”

“She trapped you in your worst nightmares, and made me share them with you.”

Rhys shuddered and muttered a prayer in Welsh. “Are you all right,
cariad
?”

“I’ll recover soon enough.” Rosalind tried not to let her voice shake as she got down from the altar. Elias was stirring too, his eyes unfocused, his mouth an uncertain line. Logic said that if Elias was unharmed, Christopher would be too, but Rosalind couldn’t look; she was too afraid.

She walked over to Elias and waited until he focused his gaze on her. “Are you all right, Elias?”

“No thanks to you.” He glared at her and pretended to brush the dust from his clothing. “I told you this was a mistake. She could’ve killed us all.”

Rosalind sighed and put her dagger away. It seemed he had no idea that she’d abandoned him to the Vampire either, or she was sure he would’ve mentioned it. “You’re right. I misjudged both her power and her purpose.”

He turned away from her and disappeared without another word. Rosalind didn’t blame him. She’d let them all down this night, had shown how weak she really was, and how overinflated her opinion of her own powers was.

Elias was gone, Rhys was patrolling the stone circle, looking for his weapon, but Christopher still stood against the upright stone. She forced herself to cross the space between them, aware that he was watching her. There was no welcome in his face, no hint of the love and concern she’d unconsciously expected.

“Are you all right, Christopher?”

He continued to stare at her. “Why do you ask?”

Rosalind made a helpless gesture that encompassed the whole stone circle. “Because I put you all in danger.”

He leaned his head back against the stone as if he was exhausted and briefly closed his eyes. “Aye, you did.”

Fear clenched in her chest. She couldn’t sense him in her head anymore, but it wasn’t due to the Vampire’s tricks; he was deliberately blocking her. “Are you angry with me?”

“You do not think I have the right?”

She bit her lip. “It depends on what you remember.”

“Obviously more than Elias and Rhys.” A muscle twitched in his jaw.“We have a special bond between us, do you not remember?”

“You saw what happened?”

“Aye.” He pushed himself away from the stone and towered over her, his blue eyes dark, his expression remote. “You chose Rhys’s life over mine.”

Rosalind grabbed his sleeve. “I had no choice. If you will just let me explain— ”

He removed her hand from his arm.“There’s nothing to explain.You chose well. Rhys will always be with you, won’t he? You chose your future.”

He tried to step around her, but she blocked his path. “No, that’s not how it was. I— ”

Christopher pressed three of his fingers over her lips. “I understand. You made your choice, and by God, now you have to live with it. Let me be.” He shoved past her and stalked out of the circle.

Rhys appeared at Rosalind’s elbow, his dagger and Christopher’s in his hand. He stared after Christopher’s departing figure. “What did you say to the Druid slayer to make him storm out of here as if the hounds of hell were after him?”

Rosalind shook her head. She couldn’t tell Rhys what she’d done; she’d only hurt him too if she tried to ex-plain her desperate logic. Rhys slung a comforting arm across her shoulders, and walked with her toward where they had left the horses.

“Don’t worry,
cariad
. We’ll catch the Vampire next time.”

His comforting words almost made Rosalind cry, but she was beyond tears. Christopher’s rejection hurt so profoundly she felt as if she were bleeding inside. And Rhys couldn’t help with that. She had only her own fear and inadequacy to blame.

Rosalind scrubbed at her tired eyes. She knew how vulnerable Christopher was, how his family had convinced him he was never good enough. And what had she done? Shown him that he wasn’t good enough for her either.What a fool she was! She was a failure both as a lover and as a Vampire slayer. How in the name of all the saints was she going to make it right with him? She already missed his presence in her mind.

She stared out into the midnight blue sky and caught the soft, welcoming whinny of her horse on the night breeze. She had to talk to Christopher. She had to prevail upon his sense of duty to continue their fight against the Vampire. For if he was forced to be with her, eventually, surely, if God was indeed merciful and just, she would get the chance to explain what she had done.

Chapter 21

“S
ir Christopher…” Through the locked bedchamber door, Christopher heard Rhys sigh.“You cannot avoid me forever. I have your dagger. Don’t you want it back?”

Christopher contemplated the small window and his ability to fit through it. He was not in the mood to speak to Rhys. He’d slept badly, dreaming over and over of becoming a Vampire, and had woken up sweating and cursing… and missing Rosalind so much, it hurt to breathe.

At least it wasn’t she standing outside his door. He wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to see her again.

She had abandoned him, left him there at the mercy of the Vampire, and expected him to understand. Oh, he understood. He just didn’t have the stomach to listen to her excuses.The truth was simple: he was not enough for her, would never be enough for her…

“Sir Christopher?” Rhys rattled the door again.

With an irritated grunt, Christopher sat up and went to the door to let Rhys in. The Welshman looked his usual calm, competent self. In the stream of sunshine pouring through the window, his auburn hair shone like a fox pelt. He held out the dagger to Christopher.

“I had the smithy put a new edge on it.The silver was tarnished by the Vampire’s powers.”

“Thank you.” Christopher restored the dagger to its usual place and sat back on his bed. He looked up at Rhys, who had made no move to leave. “Is there something else I can do for you?”

Rhys leaned back against the closed door. “Perhaps you can explain why Rosalind is moping around like a wench who has lost her reason to live.”

Christopher shrugged.“Because she put us all in danger with her latest plan to capture the Vampire? That would seem the most obvious reason.”

“We all agreed to her plan. I seem to remember that you were particularly keen.”

“Because I want this whole damned mission to end,” Christopher replied. “Don’t you?”

“In some ways, yes, because I don’t like being at court, but in other ways? I find myself at a loss for how to deal with my lady.”

Christopher forced a smile. “I’m sure you’ll master her one day.”

“But I don’t want to master her.” Rhys scowled at Christopher. “It would be as thoughtless and cruel as crushing the dreams of a child.”

“Better that dreams are crushed early, Rhys. You can’t have her thinking she can twist you around her thumb.” And what in God’s name was he doing giving advice to Rhys about Rosalind? He had no idea who or what she was anymore, or what she wanted.

Rhys half smiled. “The truth is— she knows I’m as weak as water where she is concerned.”

“And what does that have to do with me?” Christopher stood up and pretended to look for his jerkin. “I have hardly managed to endear myself to her recently.”

“Oh, but you have.”

Christopher met the other man’s gaze.“Not anymore. She has made her choice, and you have already promised me you will take care of her.”

Rhys frowned and advanced toward him. “What choice did she make?”

Inwardly, Christopher groaned as he pulled on his leather jerkin. “She wants you.”

“When did she tell you that?”

Christopher glared at Rhys. “Why does it matter?” He focused his attention on buttoning his doublet.“And why are you still here?”

Rhys grabbed him by his shirt and shoved him against the wall, his forearm braced against Christopher’s throat. “I do not appreciate your levity or your disrespect for my lady.”