Chapter 2

Trinity

I lowered my head and followed the three women to the bathroom and let them put me in the bathtub. They tended my wounds and washed my body like she was some precious princess. Meanwhile, I had to force myself to breathe through my rising panic as I tried to figure out if I could escape this place in one piece. They put me into a dress that was more fabric than I would have ever chosen but wasn’t tight or uncomfortable. I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror.

The gown was trimmed with a metallic color somewhere in between gold and copper. I thought of red gold for a moment, something out of an old mythology book. The dress flattered my figure, but it wasn’t something I would ever wear outside of a renaissance festival.

I looked like I belonged in a painting from the Middle Ages. When I was dressed, and they’d fixed my hair the way they wanted, they led me out of the room and down the hall. I tried to breathe, taking in every inch of the building and trying to plot my way out.

The banners hung from the rafters, trimmed with gold.

When I reached the banquet hall, I was struck by how opulent it looked. The chandelier gleamed with the firelight hanging above the room. Through the windows, blood-red light streamed in. The long table was dressed for the banquet, but there were no plates or glasses. Instead, there was just one large tablecloth over something laid across the table. There were a few figures beneath the cloth laid across the table. At the distance, I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but I tried not to think about it any further.

My heart was racing even as I got lost in all the luxury for a moment. I had once dreamed about being invited to a fancy party like this, wearing some dress more expensive than a car and knowing that all eyes were on me, but I had never wanted it to be like this.

Fear filled me. How was I supposed to get out of this? Could I get out of this? It was like something out of a horror movie.

My stomach churned. There didn’t seem to be any other people there except the people dressed in simple black and white. The servants, I guessed, glided around arranging and adjusting things, but no one looked up at the table. They all had thin faces and fangs that glinted when they smiled at me in passing before carrying on.

I shuddered, thinking of the man on top of me and hoping that I was wrong about the answer that was screaming from the back of my mind about who all these people were.

Or rather, what these people were.

I hoped I was wrong, but the fear continued to mount in me the more I looked around. I wanted to escape or walk forward, to pretend that I was all right, but I couldn’t move. I really hoped that this was all just a bad dream. My head ached, but I pushed it away. What was I doing here?

Would I ever make it home?

“Miss.” I clenched my jaw as one of the women who had bathed me came up beside me. “Your seat is this way.”

I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to go with this woman, but I allowed the woman to take me by the arm and guide me to the seat that was in the center of the table. I felt sick as the man seemed to appear in the seat beside the one that she indicated would be mine. His seat looked more like a throne carved of black stone and inlaid with rubies. My seat was cast in the same red gold that trimmed my dress. He was dressed in an old-style suit trimmed in the metallic red-gold that my dress was trimmed in.

Thrones had to mean royalty, right? At least nobility. This man was someone of importance not just in this castle but in this world.

That meant he had enemies too. Would they be willing to help me escape? Would they be able to help me?

He lounged on his throne and looked up at me with a soft, almost tender smile. His burning red eyes looked at me as if I were the world. His eyes were filled with hunger and interest. I blushed as I reached his side. Now that he wasn’t hooded and looming over me, I took in his face. He was handsome. He was more handsome than any man I had ever encountered, but he was also a murderer and a kidnapper. What else did he plan to do to me?

Was this all just a lead-up to when he would finish what he’d been starting up in the room? The thought made me even more nauseous. I hadn’t even managed to sleep with my current boyfriend when he’d kidnapped me.

“You’re lovely tonight.” His voice was warm and welcoming. “I am glad that the dress still fits you. I promise you won’t have to wear it too often. I know how much you prefer your comforts.”

I couldn’t breathe. I still didn’t know why he knew my name, but I didn’t speak as a servant pulled out my chair and ushered me into it. What did that mean that I wouldn’t have to wear it often? What comforts?

He took my hand, twining our fingers together as if we had done this often. His thumb rubbed small circles on the back of my hand. Surprisingly, his hand was warm, almost burning. There was color beneath his skin. If it weren’t for his eyes, I would have believed he was human.

He couldn’t be what I thought he was. They were cold, like long-dead bodies and stone.

Just some other sort of monster, I guess.

The thought brought me no comfort as I realized that everything I knew about monsters of the night had never been proven.

“You were always so tense,” he said fondly. “Relax, my love. It will only be us eating at this table tonight… The servants will be gone soon. Indulge me in having you back at my side this way?”

Who the hell was he talking about? I didn’t speak and didn’t pull away though I wanted to. So long as he was calm, he wasn’t killing anyone, including me. The servants hurried around, casting glances up at me occasionally.

They said it was dinner, but no one had brought a single tray up to the table. I hadn’t smelled food at all.

“I can’t wait to show you what I’ve done with those sitting rooms you hated so much. I know you never managed to finish, but I think you will be pleased….” His eyes brightened the longer he talked. Smiling widely, revealing his gleaming white teeth. He, oddly, didn’t have fangs, but there was no way that his glowing red and amber eyes were human.

“And the garden, of course. I have made sure they kept it pristine for your return. Do you remember… all the delightful things we got up to in the garden?” He licked his lips as he rose from his seat. He stood and walked behind her, trailing his fingers over her bare shoulders. “How lovely it was to get your gown off with you beneath me….”

I went still as he leaned close, thrusting his nose against my neck and taking a deep breath. There was something cold drifting over my shoulder. I felt something sliding over my neck, then my ear, and I shuddered as I realized that it was his mouth.

His cold mouth was on my skin, licking and nibbling gently as he talked about having me naked in the garden under the blood-red moon. The image was striking and horrifying. His fingers drifted over my bare skin, wrapped around me and squeezing my sides meaningfully.

“You’re being so sweet tonight,” he said, his voice husky. “Usually, you would have swatted my hands away… Have you missed me so much?”

He was insane. He had to be. I had never met him before in my life, yet he was gliding his hands all over me, taking a firm hold of my breast like some horny teenager and licking my neck as if I would get in the mood.

I felt sick. The drag of his teeth sent a shiver of fear through me, but he squeezed my breast, pressing a nipple between his fingers, and I moaned at the spike of pleasure that went through me. The shame that followed made my blood go cold.

“It seems so,” he said with a low groan. “Let us eat, then have our desert.”

He withdrew his hands and his lips before leaning over and lifting the long tablecloth in front of me.

My blood ran cold as the naked body of a living, breathing woman was revealed.