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Nikolaus stopped and turned to look at him. “I should probably go back,” he said. His voice was low. His body language was contradictory because he gazed into Severin’s eyes while not making a move to leave.
“A few more minutes,” Severin cajoled softly. He lifted a hand and brushed the backs of his fingers down Nikolaus’s perfect cheek. His skin was cool and like silk.
The human flinched. “You shouldn’t do that.” His breathing quickened, his pupils dilated.
“Why not?”
“It’s inappropriate.”
“For who? We’re alone. And I get the feeling you want to be touched.”
Nikolaus bit his lip. “You’re wrong.”
“I don’t think so.”
Nikolaus turned away. Severin grasped his arm and pulled him back. He felt the instant flood of adrenaline into the human’s blood, something else that was poisonous to vampires but would usually be present in most victims. Nikolaus lashed out. He slapped Severin hard across the face.
“Get off me!”
Severin’s reaction was automatic to the threat. His fangs snapped out and he snarled, shoving Nikolaus against the nearest tree, pushing his head back to bare his creamy throat.
Nikolaus cried out. He struggled fiercely, alight with terror as he witnessed the transformation in Severin. Severin’s lips settled against his neck. He tasted Nikolaus’s skin, breathed in the intoxicating scent of his blood, and pressed his pelvis to the human’s, grinding his erection against Nikolaus.
Nikolaus gasped. His hips bucked and in that moment Severin felt it. Nikolaus was hard. Severin thrust a hand between his legs, gripped Nikolaus’s cock through his velvet breeches.
Nikolaus groaned. He panted hard. “Please don’t,” he said even as Severin opened his mouth wide and pressed the points of his fangs against his delicious skin. He shuddered under Severin’s hand. “Please, I beg you.”
Severin’s mouth hovered. He dripped saliva onto Nikolaus’s throat. Something about Nikolaus’s vulnerability touched him. He wanted Severin, that was clear, but he didn’t want the wicked side of him, only the man who could please him.
Nikolaus trembled in his arms. His body was limp, surrendered. He clutched at Severin’s wrist and pulled it away from his crotch. Severin licked at his neck and felt both tides of lust retreating. He stepped away.
Nikolaus slid to the ground. He pulled his knees up and cradled them with his arms, scrunched up in a ball as though to protect himself from Severin. Tears streaked his face.
Severin looked at what he had done. If he had been human, he had no doubt Nikolaus would have dropped his breeches and bent over for him that night. They could have engaged in the sweetest, hottest copulation in the fruit orchard and gone their separate ways with fond memories. Instead, Severin had had to bring the beast to the proceedings and now Nikolaus was disgusted, afraid and appalled. He despised himself. He backed away, out of the gate and hurried down the path as fast as he could.
Back in the ballroom he saw Nikolaus’s lady, Anna, looking for him and turned his face away. He caught a hansom cab, alighted at the gates to the Stadtpark, and hurried inside, where he took the first human who crossed his path. A young man who clutched at Severin’s coat and groaned sweetly as he died.
Chapter Six
Bavaria, Germany, 1895
Severin stared up at the empty mirror and chased away his lingering regret. That wasn’t the first time he had met with Nikolaus, but every time had left him miserable and stewing in his own darkness. He seethed at Emil once again. This was the curse visited upon him. He barely recognised that man who had spared Nikolaus’s life that time and subsequent times. Why had he done it? Why not just take Nikolaus regardless of his protests? Nikolaus had clearly bewitched him, turned him soft, and put him at risk. Severin wasn’t that man anymore. He was as he should have been—hard, cold, and committed to staying alive. At least, that was what he told himself. The reality was different. He ached for Nikolaus in every sinew of his being. What he had lost ten years ago seemed like it had happened only yesterday. And now he had the chance to taste what he had never had. He had let Nikolaus go once; he wouldn’t let him go again. He fell into unsettled slumber as the sun rose, making plans in his sleep.
Severin came back slowly to consciousness as the sun slid into a fiery grave. Memories of Nikolaus lingered at the forefront of his mind. That second meeting in Vienna.
Vienna, Austria, 1885
Severin had gone out of his mind for a full week reliving those stolen moments in the fruit orchard. He had been insatiable, plundering his way through a whole host of male victims in search of just one who would move him the way Nikolaus had.
What he couldn’t get out of his mind was that look on Nikolaus’s face. The disgust, the horror and the fear when he saw Severin’s true colours. Severin could never hope to win a man like Nikolaus as long as he lived. Never had in five hundred years and never would. All he could hope for was rough, transient copulations with men taken by force or seduced by his allure. Severin didn’t feel very seductive. It was all an illusion, the vampire magic that made humans fall at his feet.
He loathed himself when he thought back to Nikolaus’s reaction to him and the more he castigated himself, the more he became determined to seek Nikolaus out, to speak with him, ask his forgiveness, and assure him he wasn’t a monster. He refused to see the plan as laughable even though it was.
He loitered in the most fashionable of places every night for a week, hiding in the shadows and scrutinising the face of every young man that passed. He despaired of ever seeing Nikolaus again and knew he would mourn him the rest of his immortal life if he didn’t.
Then a stroke of good luck befell him. Waiting at the Vienna Court Opera one night, he saw Nikolaus and Anna arrive for a performance ofThe Marriage of Figaro. He hid in the shadows watching, then hurried to buy a ticket from an unscrupulous street vendor who sold it at a vastly inflated price.
He entered the lobby to see Nikolaus, in formal tuxedo, and Anna, in white silk, disappearing up the steps. He followed, hiding behind a gaggle of society ladies and watched Nikolaus and Anna go into a private box. Severin waited outside. He could go in if he wanted; Anna would hardly pose a threat to him, but he preferred no witnesses. If Nikolaus’s lady was to cause a scene, a crowded building full of potential killers was not Severin’s safest place to be. Reluctantly, he went down to the dress circle and found his seat. He craned his neck and searched all the private boxes until he located two familiar figures. He kept his eye on them throughout the performance.
