AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Those sketches…it rekindled the pure desire in me to paint just for the sake of painting. Like reconnecting with something I lost. It all came flooding back, and for a few, short minutes, it didn’t matter what the little voices said.” I gave a rueful laugh. “Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
A short silence fell, and it seemed as if Ambri were turning something over in his mind. “No,” he said, finally. “You’re not crazy. And you weren’t dreaming. You never were.”
I leaned back in my chair. “What do you mean?”
“This part you might find difficult to believe, but you must have the truth if my proposal is to work. To keep you from sliding back intothe inevitable.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “What’s the truth?”
His blue-green gaze pierced me. “I am as you say I am. A creature of the underworld. A demon.”
“Oh, really? A demon?” I started to laugh, but it died swiftly at the expression on his face. “I was right. You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”
“Think to thedreams, Cole Matheson. Do you really believe you were asleep?”
Not remotely,came the immediate answer, but I rejected it. Of course, I did. What was the alternative? That he was telling the truth?
“This is…no. Impossible. I don’t believe you.”
Ambri sniffed. “What youbelievehas no bearing on reality.” He sat back and crossed his leg, one ankle resting on one knee. “Your primary commission will be to paint my portrait—my human portrait. You shall render a likeness of me that is befitting a member of the peerage. I presume that will take some time—full body, highly detailed and such?”
I nodded faintly.
“In between that undertaking, I’ll let you paint me in my true form, as often as you like. Those renderings you may sell at will. I suspect they’ll fetch you a tidy sum.”
“Your true form…”
“Yes, Cole. The form in which I first revealed myself to you.” Ambri stood up and moved to the window. “The form I have taken since my untimely death in the spring of 1786.”
As he spoke, his blue-green eyes darkened, blackened, until they were onyx orbs. Feathered wings pushed through the fabric of his suit and unfurled.
This isn’t happening…
“I chose this existence when humankind rejected me,” he said, anger coloring his words. “After the betrayal of every human who was meant to care for me—my parents, my uncle, my lover… They ruined me, abandoned me,murderedme. But now…now, I am magnificent.” He faced me, his eyes now the blackest pits in bloodless white skin, his feathered wingtips brushing the walls. “Now, I cannot be ignored.”
I stared. Reality and my dreams were melting into each other, combining and intertwining, and insisting that they were not separate entities but one in the same.
“No human is meant to witness me in my glory,” Ambri continued. “But I will give it to you, Cole Matheson. I’ll give you all of myself so that you may sell me to the world and make your name. Your fortune.”
I swallowed hard; it took me three attempts to find my voice. “This is…real?”
“Indeed,” Ambri said, and in the next instant, he was a beautiful man again, standing at the window. “Few humans have encountered our kind in the flesh, and most haven’t kept their sanity long after. But you will be different. Beloved. Celebrated for your artistic ingenuity.An undisputed master. And I’ll have the portrait that was denied me in my life.” He cocked his head. “Do we have a deal?”
Earlier, on the bridge, I’d been hollowed out. Drained. My self-preservation had been a pendulum swinging back and forth all night, but I wasn’t ready for…whatever this was. A Faustian bargain. Or a complete dive into madness.
I pushed myself out of the chair on shaking legs and backed toward the door, never taking my eyes off of him. I hardly dared to blink. “N-no deal.”
Ambri clasped his hands behind his back.
“I see you, Cole. Perhaps when no one else does. The fear is bright in your eyes but so is a spark of life. Your artistry. Your wild curiosity. I inspire you. I can taste it. I can feel its heat. You ache for me…”
“No.”I stumbled for the door, fumbled at the knob. “No, I…I can’t.”
He smiled, unperturbed. “You know where I am if you change your mind.”
“I won’t.”
“You will, Cole Matheson. You’ll come back to take what you want from me. You’re a human, after all.” His confident smirk slipped. “That’s what they do.”
