Ahead of them was a set of double doors ahead, wide open. Michelle placed her finger to her lips. They found Dante in one of the guest rooms, located on the top of the main stairs. There was a giant king-size four-poster bed, en suite, and lavish furnishings, such as gold-laced bedside tables, antique leaded-glass lamps and a huge walk-in cedar wardrobe.
Alex turned slowly, taking it all in. She felt as if she was stepping inside a piece of history.
“It’s the biggest guest room they have,” Dante explained. “It’s rather unfurnished compared to when I was here last. Come to think of it, there are usually at least five guards on the main door rather just one. I think the family must be having financial difficulties of some kind,” he finished, sounding quite pleased. “I’m sure you will be comfortable for one night?”
“You’re not staying?” Alex asked.
“I’ll be close. I’ll find myself a room just down the hall.”
“Bullshit!” Michelle said loudly, putting her hand on his chest. “You are staying right here. There is no way I am staying here without you. I want to survive the night.”
Alex vigorously nodded her agreement.
Michelle removed her jumper and tossed it onto a chair. “I bags first shower. I seriously need it.”
Michelle took a towel from the linen closet in the hallway and headed to the bathroom.
Dante removed his jacket and shirt, and Alex saw for the first time the full evidence of his fight with Lauren.
“Oh my god…” Alex reached out to the wounds, stopping just short of touching them. Gashes adorned his back and shoulders, puffed by bruising and welts, and splattering remains of dried blood. “Are you sure you’re ok?”
“If I have survived this long, I’ll heal,” said Dante, more than a hint of strain in his voice.
“Some of them are still bleeding. Can I do anything?”
“They’ll be gone after sunrise,” Dante assured her.
“Yeah, well until then… Hang on.”
Alex moved to a dresser drawer. “Aha!” She pulled out a large ceramic bowl. “Be right back.”
Alex entered the bathroom and filled the bowl with hot water. She grabbed a washcloth from the linen closet and returned to Dante. “Now this will sting, so don’t get all vampy.”
Dante gave a small chuckle. “I’ll try to behave myself.”
Alex delicately squeezed water from the cloth down his back, and being as gentle as she could, cleared away the dried blood.
“I want to ask you something,” Alex said.
Dante turned his head to look at her, expectant.
“Why didn’t you kill Lauren?”
“Are you disappointed I didn’t?”
“I— I just want to know your reason.”
“Very well. But why?”
Alex shifted herself so she was side on, facing him, holding the cloth on his shoulder. “Given everything that’s happened, I don’t know how I feel about it to be honest. I want to hear it from you to help me make up my mind.”
Dante gave an impressed nod as Alex resumed her work with the cloth, slowly running it over his shoulders and arms. The longer Dante spoke, the darker the water in the bowl became.
“I know she has done terrible things, to you especially. I honestly did think about it, but I remembered something Dougie once told me. ‘Anyone can take a life, but to save a life is true power, a true gift.’ Lauren was heartbroken and overwhelmed by the sensations of being a new vampire, just as I feared. It is not easy being a newborn anything with no one to guide you. I would have preferred to be her mentor, to help her. Her punishment will be knowing what she has done and what she has lost. This is greater than any pain I could inflict upon her. Above all else, when I looked at her, I saw your friend buried deep inside her somewhere—the one that sent you away from Ryan’s to protect you.”
Alex didn’t respond. She looked to the ground for a few seconds and then slowly placed her head on Dante’s wet shoulder. He lowered his cheek onto her forehead as the shower turned off.
“My turn, I guess,” Alex said, as Michelle emerged covered in a huge fluffy bath sheet.
“Did you guys have a good talk?” Michelle asked, drying her hair. Alex nodded and disappeared into the bathroom.
“I think so,” answered Dante. “I hope she understands, but she doesn’t belong here, neither of you do.”
“Come on,” Michelle smiled at him, trying her best to find humour in whatever she could. “You now get to share a bed with both of us. I know you’ve thought about it, you greedy thing.”
“Sharing, not so much. Making it shake is another thing.”
Michelle placed her hands on Dante’s chest and pushed him to his back. She raised a leg over his body and straddled his hips. “She did the back and sides, I’ll do the fringe,” she smiled, using the cloth from the bowl and running it along Dante’s chest. “She is pretty sexy,” Michelle said, squeezing more dark red into the bowl. “You never know, it could be on the cards one day.”
“I can’t read minds, but I am fairly sure Alex isn’t into that.”
Michelle shrugged. “I think she has had her inhibitions caged for quite a while. Besides, she is madly in love with you,” Michelle said, leaning over him, using the corner of the cloth to clean Dante’s cheeks and jaw, leaving soft kisses where the cloth touched.
“No she’s not,” Dante said, sounding serious but not disappointed.
“Oh come on,” Michelle laughed. “All the flirting and
