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Sam sighed. He should have been going home walking on air as a man in love, but now he felt deflated and uneasy. He wanted Janos to feel the same. He didn’t want him to hate him. He buttoned his coat and slipped out of the door. Descending the stairs, he eased the heavy main door open, peeping around it at the lightening sky before he committed himself to stepping out. It wasn’t too bad. The morning was getting late, but the sky was still purple, no winter sun visible. Sam hurried into the biting air with the brim of his hat pulled low and the collar of his coat turned up. It was too cold to walk so he hired a cab near the Basilica and directed the driver to cross the bridge to Castle Hill.
He made it back home to the little courtyard some time later and when he got there he saw a young, ragged boy loitering outside his door. He carried a letter in his hand. “For you, sir,” he said.
Sam thanked him and gave him a coin as a reward and the boy scampered away. Sam unlocked the door to his apartment and went inside. He hung his jacket up by the door and went into the drawing room. There he took the gold letter opener from his writing bureau and broke the wax seal on the envelope. He pulled out one single sheet of paper.
Come as soon as you get this.
Istvan.
Chapter Ten
Sam was shown into Istvan’s drawing room that evening to find it empty. He sat nervously on the couch and waited. He was sure he knew why Istvan wanted to see him. Clearly the older vampire had gotten wind of the terrible debacle at the club the previous night and wanted to tear a strip off Sam for it. He glanced around the room, noting pictures of Stephen on the walls but none, of course, of Istvan. The vampire would never show up on film. He thought about their relationship and understood now the terrible draw that vampires had for humans. More than bloodlust, more than sexual lust. When the emotion was real, it was more than anything at all. He understood why Istvan hadn’t yet killed Stephen and why he protected the human with his life. Sam was feeling that way about Janos. He had plenty of desire to drink his blood and have sex with him, but he had no desire to kill him. He wondered if this feeling would change and if, next time he saw Janos, he might be so overcome by the bloodlust that he might be in danger of drinking the human dry.
He hoped not.
He had woken up still miraculously nourished and not very hungry, although if Istvan offered him a small snack now before dinner, he wouldn’t say no. Had the human blood sustained him all this time? Was it possible? Now he came to think about it, he had also felt remarkably good and still full the day he had woken up after feeding on Janos for the first time too. He made a mental note to ask Istvan about it later. If he still had his head attached by the time the Hungarian vampire had finished with him.
He looked up as Istvan strode in with Stephen following behind him. Then he noticed the other vampires were there—Nikolaus and Severin who Sam had thought were in Vienna—and Bela, and he groaned inwardly. He reallywasin trouble.
Stephen looked anxious. The vampires just looked cold and sullen.Shit.
Istvan sat down on the chaise longue opposite and the other vampires spread out around him in chairs, making him feel like a trapped animal. Only Stephen seemed to feel sorry for him and he sat down next to Sam. He put his hand on Sam’s knee and smiled gently at him. Stephen was altogether too gentle for all this, that was his trouble. He should never have got mixed up with the vampires.
“So,” Istvan said, his face stony. “Have you anything to tell me?”
Sam licked his lips and glanced at Bela. As far as he was concerned it was the older vampire’s fault for taking him to the club in the first place.
“Are you talking about last night?” Sam asked, feigning innocence even though he knew it was pointless.
Istvan slammed his hand down on the table, rattling the cup and teapot on the tray that had been already laid out for Stephen. “Don’t treat me like an idiot, Sam! I’m older and wiser than you willeverbe and I know everything as soon as it happens. What the fuck were you doing last night?”
Sam swallowed. Stephen squeezed his knee again. “It’s okay,” his friend said. “Just tell him.”
“I was at the club,” Sam said. He looked at Bela. “Blame him, he introduced me to it.”
“Really, grow up and take responsibility for your own actions,” Bela said scornfully. He was not so much the affable vampire anymore and Sam saw clearly that he was only out for number one and only ever had been.
“I’ve already torn Bela a new arsehole,” Istvan said, “and told him that a new vampire like yourself should not be taken to such places. Too much temptation and not enough willpower on your part to stop you getting in trouble.”
“Hey, I have plenty of willpower!” Sam said, thinking of how he hadn’t killed Janos when he could have done.
“Shut up!” Istvan’s voice was like a whip. “You were reckless and foolish and you’ve brought danger to us all.”
“You haven’t even heard my side yet,” Sam said sullenly.
“Then tell me.”
“Two vampires were attacking a human, trying to rape him. I stepped in and the pair of them fought me, nearly killed me. Janos—the human—staked them both and as this was happening, some sort of panic swept through the place.” Sam shuddered with memory. “The violence was contagious. People started fighting, killing each other. I don’t know how it happened. We fled. He saved my life as I saved his.”
Istvan regarded him. “And you spent the night in his bed to reward him.”
Sam flushed. “It would have been rude not to.” He didn’t dare smirk.
“How many times have I told you what danger humans are to us?” Istvan asked.
Sam glanced at Stephen. “I don’t know how you dare, you hypocrite.”
“I dare because I don’t want to see you make the same mistakes I did. I want you to have a healthy and long life,” Istvan said, his face blanching a shade paler.
