His Ruthless Bite | Historical Paranormal Romance: Vampires (Scandals With Bite Book 4) (9 page)

The urgency on his second’s face could not be ignored. Still, Gavin couldn’t suppress a weary sigh. “What is it?”

“He said a band of rogues has been observed roaming about all of Kent. And that they appear oddly organized for rogues. Thus far, they haven’t made any sort of move to invade or harm any occupied lands, but all who have seen them wish to discern their motives,” Benson said, eyes grave with concern.

Rogues in a group?
That was all he needed. Rogues were much more difficult to capture when there was more than one. Thankfully rogue bands rarely lasted long, because though there was strength in numbers, grouping together also made them easier to find and their hunting more difficult.

“Do you have descriptions for any of them?” Gavin demanded.

Cecil nodded. “Three were seen by Maidstone’s second only a sennight past. One was said to be portly, with mud brown hair, another has yellow hair. And the one presumed to be the leader, was said to be lean, with a mane of dark red locks, so that will make him easiest to spot.

Gavin paused at the last. That wasn’t the most common shade of hair, however it wasn’t all that rare either with vampires. Red hair darkened when denied sunlight, after all. The darker the shade, the older the vampire. He wondered…

Benson voiced his thought. “Do you think that could be Justus?”

Gavin thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No. Aside from the fact that he knows I’d have to kill him if he entered these lands again, he made it very clear that he never wished to lay eyes on me again, after what happened with that girl.”

Justus
. Gavin’s gut tightened at the name. The vampire was once his second in command and closest friend. All of that vanished in an instant when the he’d disobeyed a direct order and then done the unthinkable.

Benson nodded, though his frown remained dubious. “If you say so, my lord.”

“Keep your eyes and ears open at any rate,” he instructed them before continuing on it way.

As he continued his walk to Elena’s, thoughts of his former friend haunted his memory. If only there was something else he could have done. Alas, Justus’s hazardous actions merited a death sentence. Exiling his former second had already caused Gavin to lose face as it was. Some now thought him weak, though most understood that he could not bear to slay his closest friend.

When he reached the door of Elena’s cottage, the hurt in Justus’s eyes flashed in his mind, like a recurring nightmare.

“Have we done something to cause offense, my lord?” Elena’s voice pierced his consciousness.

“Not at all,” he said quickly. “I merely had some old business on my mind. How is Lenore?”

The vampire gave him an arch look. “Completely recovered, albeit somewhat nervous. She’s never been courted before. Poor thing hasn’t had much of any life’s pleasures.”

“Well, I shall have to do what I can to rectify that.” He followed Elena into the sitting room and, blissfully, the memories and guilt fled as soon as he beheld Lenore.

The youngling rose at the sight of him. “My lord,” she said so quickly that he was unable to discern whether she was happy or wary at his presence.

Dressed in a gown of pale blue velvet with navy trim, Lenore looked too delicious for words. All signs of last night’s illness had vanished as she curtsied for him. Her complexion was creamy with a slight blush that either meant she’d fed, or that she was somewhat pleased to see him. He hoped it was the latter.

He took her hand and brushed her gloved knuckles with his lips. Bare skin would have been more preferable, but her deepened blush was more than worthwhile. “You look very becoming, Miss Graves.”

“Thank you.” She sat back down on the settee. “What exactly does one do when a gentleman calls?”

“If we were human and proper, I suppose we’d sit and talk while our chaperone watches us like a falcon.” He grinned at Elena’s snort of laughter. “However, since we are not, we shall do something even more diverting.” He held out his hand. “Come, I’d like to show you something. You may want to fetch a cloak and better boots.”

Elena darted him a curious glance as Lenore rose to comply.

“I’d like her to see some of her new land,” he said without elaborating further.

The vampire pouted, though her green eyes glittered with merriment. “You never gave me a tour.”

“I didn’t need to.” Gavin laughed. “You undertook your own exploring before I had the opportunity to offer.”

Elena’s laughter echoed his own. “That is true.”

Lenore emerged, wearing smart black walking boots and a dove gray woolen cloak. Thicker cream kid leather gloves covered her hands to ward off the still-chilly night air. He offered his arm and was gratified when she took it with no hesitation. However, he still felt a slight tremble in her grip. Would he ever be able to dispel her fear of him… or any man?

Leading her to the rear door, he turned back to Elena. “Meet us at the gathering place in two hours.” If only they had more time.

The moment he and Lenore stepped outside, he asked her, “Do you know how to
run
?”

She looked up at him, lips curving slightly with confusion. “Run?”

“As a vampire runs, with inhuman speed,” he clarified as they walked the path of the rear garden.

“Once, and only for my life.” She looked down and shivered.

When she’d escaped the rogues who’d assaulted her. Rochester cursed himself for bringing shadows of pain to her eyes. But he was resolved to do everything in his power to help her banish that poison darkness and not let it rule every aspect of her life.

“You’ve never attempted to do so for enjoyment?” He studied her, unable to comprehend what it was like to not indulge in that simple pleasure.

She shook her head. “For one, it feels a little odd to run like that. For another, there was little room to do so in my part of London. I did not want to risk a mortal seeing me.”

Gavin accepted that logic and crossed his arms. “Well, there is no time better than the present.”

She looked doubtfully at the high stone wall.

He chuckled. “You can leap that easily.” To demonstrate, he vaulted to the top. His shoulders shook with mirth as she fiddled with her skirts. “Come on now. At least reach the top. And if you make it all the way over, I shall catch you.”

Eyes wide with trepidation, Lenore took several steps back and ran towards the wall— faster than a human— but still slower than she was capable of— and leaped. Just as he’d anticipated, she cleared the wall by several feet.

Gavin jumped down quickly, admiring the sight of fluttering petticoats and teasing glimpses of her bare legs beneath her skirts before holding out his arms and catching her. Lenore was light as goose down in his arms, yet warmer and more potent than he could have imagined.

For a moment, he simply held her, feeling her chest rise and fall against his and the heat of her rapid breaths against his neck. She fit against him perfectly, he realized, like a missing stone in an arch.

Suddenly, she stiffened, breaking the spell. He gently set her back on her feet, gratified by the sparkle of triumph in her large dark eyes. “I did it!”

“Yes, you did.” He couldn’t hide his pleasure in her joy. “Now we run.”

She looked up at him, less afraid this time. “Where?”

He grinned down at her, eager to make her smile again. “Take my hand.” As her small, warm fingers entwined with his, a pang of tenderness tugged at his chest. “Since I am far older and more powerful than you, I am faster than you. Therefore, you must keep hold of me so I may match your pace. Are you ready?”

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Yes.”

“See that tree with the split top?” At her nod, he continued. “We will stop there.” He squeezed her hand tightly before saying, “Now!”

At first, it took utmost effort not to fly to the tree in a blink of an eye, but as her tiny fingers gripped his, he found himself not only guiding her pace, but molding to hers, as if they were one force cutting through the night like a single blade. The wind whipped across their faces and their feet barely touched the ground. Gavin glanced over at Lenore to see her hair pulling free from its pins to brush across her cheeks and fly behind her like a banner. He’d never seen anything so enchanting.

Together, their hands struck the bark of the tree so hard that pine needles rained down around them. Bright flags of color stained Lenore’s rounded cheeks, visible even in the meager moonlight. Rochester closed his eyes in ecstasy as the most unrestrained, joyous laugh he’d ever heard trickled from Lenore’s lush lips.

“That was… incredible, my lord,” she breathed, eyes still shining with unabashed joy.

“Gavin, please.” It took every vestige of his will not to bend down and claim her lips in a devouring kiss. “I am glad you think so. I’ll teach you to be a proper vampire yet.”

“Such running does not feel so very proper,” she replied, an awestruck smile still playing across her lips.

Staring down at her mesmerizing mouth, he admitted, “Very little of what I will teach you is.”

***

Lenore’s heart thudded in her ears from their run. She’d never before experienced something so invigorating. It felt like flying! Blanche had told her they could move more swiftly than humans, but she’d never imagined this level of preternatural swiftness. True, she’d used this ability to flee from her imprisonment last year, but she’d been too terrified to enjoy it… or even recall the experience. Now she wished she could run this way everywhere.

Rochester continued to smile down at her. Something in his enigmatic black eyes made her belly turn over. Fighting the unsettling sensation, she turned away. “What did you want to show me, my lord… ah, Gavin?”

“One of our most ancient landmarks… the other you shall see later.” He pointed and the clouds parted as if on command. A shaft of moonlight shone down on a massive and ancient cathedral.

Lenore peered up in awe at the massive stone structure wrought with medieval turrets, rounded arches, and crenellated parapets.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed. She’d only been in a cathedral once, one of the few places the poor were allowed to venture. This one may be smaller, yet it was all the more noble, nestled in a lush valley and surrounded by nature instead of jammed between numerous other structures like the ones in London.

“It’s a ruin… again.” His lips curled in a mocking smile. “Half the roof is rotted away.” He seized her hand, and just in time, Lenore caught herself from flinching. “Would you like to see inside?”

“Oh, yes.” There was something tantalizing, almost sinful about entering such an ancient, holy place. She’d once read a book that stated that vampires could not enter a house of God, but after she’d accepted the fact that Blanche was dead, she’d tested the myth by walking into a small church by the wharf, and only received a scolding from a sleepy parson.

As they passed through the west door, beneath a tympanum of what looked more like a scene from Greek mythology than anything Christian, Rochester said, “We can only explore a few areas, lest we risk startling the few remaining clergy who make their home here.”

Once inside, Lenore felt as if she truly were a little mouse as she looked up at the high pillars supporting impossibly high stone vaulted ceilings. “I thought you said the roof was rotted.”

“It is, in the quire and south transept. In fact, the wall leans as well. They tried to repair it a century ago, but they seem to only have worsened the problem.” He frowned with blatant disapproval.

He led her through the nave and the east transept, pointing out which sections had been rebuilt over the centuries, as well as the countless carvings and stain glass windows, and when each had been gifted or commissioned.

“You seem very familiar with this place,” Lenore said.

“Yes, I was raised here. As a third son, I was to be trained to be a bishop.”

He said the words so matter-of-factly that it took a moment to absorb their meaning. Lenore looked up at him sharply. “
You
were to be a man of the cloth?” She couldn’t fathom such a thing.

His rich laughter echoed through the north transept. “Yes. Shocking, is it not? But I assure you, I was much more devout back then.”

She giggled a moment, unable to picture this man, who was as handsome as the devil himself, being a humble and chaste servant of the Lord.
Humble, chaste, servant of God…
these words were the antithesis of the man who stood before her. He was arrogant, commanding, and from what she’d heard about him,
not
chaste. And oh, so wicked. Once more, a shiver coursed up her spine.

“You don’t believe me?” He placed his hand over his chest, feigning a wounded look. “Well, perhaps I have a scrap of faith lingering in my black heart.” He looked around the cathedral and smiled. “How would you like to have our wedding here?”

“If it please you, my lord,” she breathed, overwhelmed at the thought of being married in this grand place with such a rich history.

“Although it is right that you should want to please me, I do like to please you as well. What say you, truly?” He looked down at her with such sincere concern that her breath fled her lungs.