Incubus Dreams - Laurell K. Hamilton [158]
He shrugged. “Whatever you say, lover.”
I started to correct him, but Byron used pet names, mostly the same pet names, for everybody. If I took it too personally, it would be impossible to have a conversation with him. I was tired tonight. I let it go.
“Why doesn’t he want me to touch Nathaniel?”
Byron looked at me like I was being slow. “Because, luv, if Jean-Claude’s kiss is suddenly more, then maybe yours will be, too. The servant rises in power with his master.” He looked at everything in his hands, then shook his head, looked impatient and dumped it all back into the box. “Hand me things when I ask for them,” he said to Nathaniel.
Nathaniel nodded, but he was looking at me. I found myself staring into those lavender eyes.
Byron snapped his fingers in the air between our faces. It made us both jump. “The two of you are so not touching right now. Dangerous is what it would be. Now take off your jacket.”
I did what he asked, and it hurt to get the sleeve off, but it wasn’t until I saw my wrist that I gasped, and Nathaniel said, “Oh, shit.”
Most vampire bites are neat, almost dainty things. This wasn’t. It was as if, even once his fangs sank home he’d used his other teeth to bite down, so that it looked more like an animal bite. A big, angry animal bite. Blood was seeping out of the two deepest fang marks, seeping in a nice steady line. The moment I saw it, I was dizzy, and it hurt like hell. Why does it always hurt so much more when you see the blood?
“You are lucky you’re still standing,” Byron said. He hooked a chair with one naked foot, and said, “Sit.”
I sat. Because truthfully, I was a little shaken. It was a bad enough wound that I should have noticed it sooner. Really noticed it. A fraction of an inch better, or worse, or just deeper, and I could have bled nearly to death before I noticed it.
“Why didn’t I notice sooner?”
“I’ve seen bespelled humans bleed to death from tiny wounds, a smile on their face all the way to the end, duckie.” He ripped open the sterile gauze pads. “Put this on it, and press hard. You’ve lost enough blood for one night, let’s see if we can save the rest.” When he was serious, the nicknames vanished. He’d only been in town a few weeks, and already I knew that when the duckies, luvs, and crumpets disappeared, things were bad.
“What can I do to help?” Nathaniel asked.
“Find more gauze pads. That’s the only pack in here, and she’s going to need more.”
Nathaniel put the first aid kit on a chair that he moved close to Byron, then he went for the door. Apparently he knew where they kept the extra gauze. “How bad do you guys get cut up here?”
“Usually scratches,” he said, “though you’d be surprised the number of women that try to bite.”
I looked at him.
He grinned. “Now, duckie, why would I lie?”
One second I was looking at Byron and thinking nothing really. My wrist hurt, and I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it sooner, and then suddenly I was wondering if he was naked under the robe, and I was hoping he was.
I closed my eyes and tried to shield. Tried to nail anything and everything I had between me and Jean-Claude, but his voice came through. “I am sorry, ma petite, so sorry, but Primo is still fighting me, and I have not fed enough. I cannot feed and control him, but you can feed for me. You can give me what I need, ma petite. Please, please, do not deny me. If I lose control of Primo now, he will slaughter these women. He will see himself humiliated by them. Please, ma petite, hear me, and know that I speak only truth. Help me!” He cut contact abruptly, and I got a glimpse of Primo’s rage stabbing at the lust that Jean-Claude had fed him. It was as if Primo were a human besotted, but still fighting, fighting to break free.
“Damn you, Jean-Claude,” I whispered.
Byron touched my arm. “Don’t faint on me.”
I opened my eyes, and his gray ones were so close to mine. He was so close. I don’t know what showed in my eyes, but he let go of me like I’d burned him. His eyes were a little wide, and his voice was breathy when he said, “I don’t like the look in