Page 138 of Vampire's Choice
“I think it’s your servant who should receive the punishment,” Merc commented. “He doesn’t act like a servant. I expect you have to put him in his place fairly often. Is that how he got the scars?”
Ruth expected her stunned look matched Kaela’s, though the overlord exercised the same credible effort to bring it under control.
“Unless I don’t have the right to make my own requests for our mutual enjoyment, as your vampire guests do,” Merc added. “He is yours to command. Isn’t he?”
Kaela’s face was smooth as glass. “Yes. He is.”
Garron stepped forward. “Stop fucking with her head,” he said. “Or I will cut your goddamn wings off. Even if I can’t see them.”
Ruth was speechless. Merc held the other man’s gaze for a long moment, then shifted his attention to Kaela, who kept that brittle glass expression.
If you don’t tell me what’s going on, Ruth said, I may help him.
Give it a moment to play out.
“Vampires only detect sexual desire,” Merc said conversationally. “Not the shape of it. For an incubus, desire is a detailed language, specific to our prey.”
“That must give your meals a great deal of variety,” Kaela said coolly. Garron had resumed his place behind her. His anger hadn’t abated, but he seemed to be following his Mistress’s direction again.
“Dismiss the other two,” Merc said. “The sexual desire in this room is sufficient to serve us. Agreed?”
Since she had no idea what the hell was happening, Ruth chose a neutral poker face. Garron and Kaela were sharing a silent moment, a conversation Ruth would have given a lot to hear, but they were both accomplished at masking the tone of that discussion.
Merc reached out a hand and laid it on hers, tapping her fingers, giving them idle strokes. A cue to wait. To be patient. Not one of her award-winning traits, but his sidelong glance gave it the punch she needed. Making it an order.
Garron at last moved. He freed the two servants, helping them to their feet, but kept the blindfold and ear protection in place. The servers assisted them from the room, since they were understandably wobbly.
They returned with dessert. Tiny cheesecakes drizzled with chocolate, caramel, fruit and nuts. Kaela explained they were made locally, and discussed culinary offerings in the Monterey area. Though she behaved as if nothing untoward had happened, Ruth noted a broken glass look in the overlord’s eyes.
After the servers left, Garron moved to the doors. He locked the deadbolt and punched a code into a keypad. Ruth was aware of a low-level buzzing. Some kind of forcefield outside the door, adding to the security of the entry?
Also a noise buffer. No one knows what’s going on in this room until it is deactivated.
Should we get ready to fight our way out of here?
No. Everything is fine. Merc’s eyes followed Garron back to his spot behind Kaela.
Kaela nudged the plate toward Ruth. “Have the one with nuts and chocolate. It’s excellent.”
Ruth transferred it to her dessert plate, another gold-rimmed piece, a saucer with thin scalloped edges. “I expect you had to learn as a child what a made vampire learns as an adult,” the overlord noted. “How to handle something delicately, so it won’t break from a normal vampire touch.”
“My mother didn’t let us touch glass until we were in our teens, for just that reason.”
Merc took a cheesecake bite with a pineapple caramel drizzle. It was topped with a dark cherry. As her angel incubus put it in his mouth, the flavor spread across her own tongue, giving her a start. She hadn’t known he could do that.
Merc still had Ruth’s hand. He stroked her wrist, the individual fingers, as he watched her experience the taste. Then his focus moved back toward Kaela.
Crap. He was about to start doing…whatever he was doing…again.
“It’s an interesting challenge, having a human servant who’s a Dominant. But you’re stronger than him. Faster. He can’t top you. Unless you want that.”
Garron laid a hand on Kaela’s shoulder. She was staring into space, as if her mind was churning with so many thoughts, she couldn’t be present in the room.
“My lord.” Garron’s voice was dry ice cold. “I’ll ask one more time, with respect, that you stop with the games.”
Merc dipped his head at Kaela. “You first.”
Kaela’s head tilted left, then down. She reached up and stroked her servant’s fingers. When her gaze lifted to meet Ruth’s, with relief, Ruth saw she was fully present. Fully herself again, even if there seemed to be a different quality to that.