Page 89 of Vampire's Choice
“But you said it was a dream. Not a prophetic vision that can impact our races. So it could be a glimpse of a possible future that has no particular significance beyond Clara’s interest in and friendship with me.”
“Correct,” Marcellus said. “But I have learned, with Clara, small matters can figure into bigger ones. She would not have shared it with me otherwise.”
“It’s a vision, not a manual,” Yvette said.
“It doesn’t matter. The bigger stuff doesn’t matter.” Adan shook his head. “There’s only one thing that does.”
Dropping to a knee in front of Ruth, he met her gaze. Those dark eyes, the set mouth. The strength and resilience. The beauty. His twin, who’d done her best to hold up her parents when Fate had thrown him outside their reach. Even as that uncertainty had torn her up inside. Under those circumstances, the twin bond became a shredder, planted inside the internal organs and turned on high.
His hand was on hers, holding tight. “If he agreed to be your third mark, if that would work, for whatever your relationship is, is that something you want? Do you want him? Yeah, you’re scrawny compared to most vampires,” he added, “but you’re a shining light. You have the right to love, to live. That’s what’s important in the cosmic scheme of things. That helps the fabric of the universe in ways you can’t imagine. I promise. It’s not just romantic bullshit.”
“Scrawny,” she said at length. But her eyes were full of the same emotions he was feeling.
He smiled. “Scrawny as an underfed chicken.”
“You’re a dickhead.”
“Yeah. But all that said, if you do want him, and he gives you the chance to live a freer, longer and happier life, then that’s what you can count on me supporting. Because I need you to be in this world, Ruth.”
His voice faltered, surprising him as much as her. “I nearly killed you before you could be born, beloved twin,” he murmured. “One half of my soul. I wouldn’t be whole without you.”
She disengaged her hands immediately, leaning forward to put them on his face. It was in moments like this she almost looked older than him, that concern and love so much like their mother’s. “Mum and Da think you don’t know.”
“They don’t know you know, either.”
A half chuckle answered him. “Sounds like we need to have a family discussion.”
She put her forehead against his, and he felt her love pour into him. It was as he’d said. She’d do anything needed to serve and care for those she loved. Including being the warrior he knew she was. No matter how often her ass got kicked. It didn’t matter that the gods hadn’t been smart enough to give her the physical strength to match her force of will; that wasn’t going to slow her down.
Her example, being willing to fight when the odds were so against her, could inspire those of them who did have the power to put it in the service of the right thing. He needed to tell her that sometime.
A pointedly cleared throat, and Adan drew back, rising to stand at Ruth’s side. “Apologies, my lady, my lord,” he said.
“No apology needed,” Yvette’s expression looked just a tad softer than usual. At least for a blink, then the miracle was gone. “It appears we’ve reached the point we need to reach. We just need to know her answer. Do you want him, Ruth?”
“Yes,” Ruth said. “But we haven’t known one another that long.”
“I’ve seen third markings happen within several days of a vampire and human’s first encounter, and last for three hundred years without incident.”
“I’ve also heard about the ones that are huge mistakes,” Ruth returned. “The vampire kills the servant, rather than risk the embarrassment of asking for a chemical separation. I don’t see that as an issue for us, but the mortality link is. If the vampire dies, the third marked servant dies. I don’t want to…it’s not likely I’ll be the vampire that breaks our race’s records on longevity.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself,” Adan said, pushing down the pang her matter-of-factness gave him. “You’re mean as a mad snake and twice as determined.”
Marcellus shook his head. “His angel blood will override the mortality bond. You can rest easy on that.”
“All right.” Ruth sent Adan a faint smile for his snake comment. “But if the marking works the way it normally does, will his angel or demon side have a dangerous reaction to what I could do to him?”
At Marcellus’s curious look, Yvette explained. “The third mark is a soul binding that permits the vampire to take over the servant’s soul. Nowhere to hide any feeling or thought, even the ones out of conscious reach of the human himself. If the vampire so desires, she can use that access to break that human’s mind and spirit.”
“Even if it’s not likely that I’d have the ability to break his mind and spirit,” Ruth said, “there’s the question of how his soul will react to that kind of invasion. Could it unleash the side of him that left a trail of bodies when he was younger? Or what happened when the hallucinogen was released from the Trad? Unlike most vampires with their servants, I won’t be able to control or contain that kind of reaction.”
“You have spent a lifetime learning not to rely on brute strength to accomplish things,” Marcellus said. “And I believe serving and protecting you will be more effective than any punitive bindings that could be put upon him. But your point is well noted. I will check with the Thrones and Memory Keepers in Zebul, our sixth heaven, to be sure, before we proceed.”
He paused. “Earlier today, Merc and I had a discussion. I told him I believe it is his angel side that now forms his core. Except under extreme circumstances that would tax most of us, it will continue to do so.”
His gaze met Ruth’s. “In short, he will hold the upper hand with you in the ways that matter.”
Had Marcellus intended the provocative message resting in that statement? While it sent prickles of anticipation through her, she did her best to conceal them. Adan noticed, though, shooting her a sidelong look that made her want to poke him in the side.