Danse Macabre   ::   Гамильтон Лорел

I froze, afraid to breathe, afraid to speak, afraid most of all to move. I'd gone from finding Auggie handsome, arrogant, and beginning not to like him, to wanting to be naked with him. Even for the ardeur it was an abrupt switch.

I wanted to ask him what had he done to me, but was afraid to move that much, and even more afraid to draw his attention to me. Afraid of what he would do, no, not true: terrified of what I would do.

I stayed frozen in his arms. Perfectly still, only my pulse moving. If I could simply not move, I could hold on. I'd won the fight. Auggie was offering himself up as food; that made me the winner. Vampire rules: food loses. All I had to do was hold on until Jean-Claude came. I could do that. He was close. I could feel him coming down the stairs. Minutes, minutes away from help. But fighting the ardeur by not acting only works if the other person involved wants it to work. It needs two people trying to fight it. Auggie didn't want to fight it. He wanted to lose.

His eyes closed, and his head fell back, almost as if the sex had already started. His voice was hoarse as he said, «I had almost forgotten how it feels to be consumed by passion.» He lowered his face so he could meet my gaze. «I try to forget the touch of it, Anita. I almost succeed in convincing myself it wasn't real, that nothing ever felt so amazing, then she sends me a dream.»

I knew who she was, because when any of Belle's line said her , or she , of course, you knew who she was. Belle Morte. It was always Belle Morte. Their dark mistress, the creator of them all.

«Did you hear me, Anita? Did you hear me?» His arms moved so that he was gripping my upper arms, our bodies still pressed too close together. There was room to try to fight, to try for a weapon, but it was too late for that. If I went for a weapon, I wasn't certain I could make my hands grab a gun, or a blade. My hands ached for the touch of his skin. I wasn't trustworthy. I wanted to scream in my mind for Jean-Claude, but with the ardeur this strong, I wasn't sure if it could spread that way.

Auggie shook me. «Did you hear me, Anita?»

I felt movement, caught a glimpse of black at the sides. If anyone touched us the ardeur would spread to them. Bad, very bad. «Stay back,» I whispered, «tell them.»

Micah said, «Don't touch either of them. It spreads by touch.»

«You touch her and I'll shoot you, Graham.» This from Claudia.

«Look at me, Anita,» Auggie said. «Me.»

I swallowed my pulse, and moved, very slowly, to look at him.