“So she…this mistress of yours…she showedcompassion? That’s unusual in a vamp,” I murmured.
Corbin shot me a look. “Compassion hadnothing to do with it—it was more her twisted sense of humor thatmade her spare my Janet.” He shook his head. “She even allowed meto visit her regularly, though most of our kind force theirfledglings to abandon their old life at once.”
“I don’t get it,” I said. “So she let yourwife live and allowed you to visit her on a regular basis. How wasthat funny?”
“Don’t you see?” Corbin turned to face me, abitter expression on his face. “She knew I would be unable toresist making love to Janet—the fuck-lust is always strongest whenone is first born to darkness. She wanted to watch me kill her—to“fuck and suck” her to death as you so nicely put it.”
I put a hand to my mouth. “Oh, no…”
“You don’t have to look at me that way. Mylove for Janet was strong—stronger even than a newborn vampire’slust.” He sighed. “It took immense self-control but I was actuallyable to make love to her without hurting or killing her.”
I shook my head. “But…how?”
“By gorging myself on blood before I came toher mainly.” Corbin looked grim. “I drained many a man dry that Imight not spill a single drop of my beloved’s blood.” He raised aneyebrow at me. “Oh yes, my darling, I am a murderer many,many times over—though I killed my victims for love, I stillkilled them. But I’m afraid the statute of limitations on my crimeshas long run out.”
“There is no statute of limitations onmurder,” I whispered through numb lips.
He gave me a sardonic smile. “Even whenthose wronged have been dust in the ground for four centuries? Ithink you’d have a hard time convicting me now.”
“Maybe…” I shook my head, trying not tothink of all the people he’d killed. “So if you went to all that,uh, trouble and you were able to be with her, why isn’t Janet stillhere with you now? Why didn’t you bond her to you or turn her intoa vampire?”
“My maker forbid me to do either.” He staredmoodily into the dying embers of the fire. “She thought it was onlya matter of time until my control snapped and I killed Janet.”
“But you didn’t, did you?” I saidsoftly.
Corbin shook his head. “My control held. Butthen something unexpected happened—Janet got pregnant.”
“What?” I frowned. “But that’s impossible. Avampire and a human can’t conceive, even if the vamp could keepfrom killing his human partner. They’re like…two differentspecies.”
“That should be true but in our case…”Corbin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I believe it waspossible only because I was so newly turned. There was still enoughthat was human in me to make conceiving a child possible. And so,since I couldn’t keep my hands off her, Janet conceived.”
“What happened?” I asked. I was trying toimagine a human/vampire hybrid but I was drawing a blank. Such athing had never even been considered before—it should have beencompletely impossible.
Corbin turned back to the glowing embers inthe fireplace. “The birth was a difficult one. And the blood…” Heshook his head. “There was so much blood…too much of it for me tohelp. Even though I had gorged and gorged again before her timecame, I still couldn’t let myself get too close. And the baby…thebaby was born dead.”
“Oh, Corbin…” I put a hand on his arm,wanting to comfort him. Despite the fact that four centuries hadpassed since the events he was relating, I could still see the painin his eyes, still hear the agony in his voice as he told what hadhappened.
“No, don’t pity me—it was a blessing.” Hegot up abruptly and started pacing in front of the bed. “The childwas…a monster. A deformed little creature with blind eyes and razorsharp fangs—she could never have fed it. It would have chewed herto pieces.”
“But…she must have been so…so…” I couldn’tthink of the words to describe what Janet must have felt. The agonyshe must have endured.
I’d had a miscarriage once in grad school,back when I was with Todd, the guy I thought was the one. Thepregnancy had been an accident in the first place and I hadn’t feltready to have kids but still…I had wept inconsolably over the smalllost life. It had ultimately driven my fiancé and me apart—it wasTaylor who got me through that dark time, which was one reason wewere so close.
I had only been two months along when I lostthe baby but it was still an awful experience. I couldn’t imaginegoing to term and then losing it in such a traumatic way.
“Poor Janet,” I said, my voice choked.
“She was devastated,” Corbin said flatly.“Utterly distraught. Seeing the thing that was supposed to be ourson…I think it broke something inside her.”
“Oh, Corbin,” I whispered again. I wanted totake him in my arms and hug him but he was still pacing and hedidn’t look like he wanted to be hugged.
“Don’t worry—her pain did not last long. Thebirth killed her.” He shook his head. “Didn’t I tell you thatthough I loved her enough to be gentle, she died anyway? My makercalled it ‘delicious irony.’ How she laughed!”
“What a bitch!” I said indignantly.
“Yes, well…” He shook his head. “It’s a pityshe’s not around to hear you call her that.”
“You mean she’s not around Tampa or notaround period?” I asked.
“She is dead.” Corbin stopped pacing for amoment and looked at me. “I killed her. I won’t tell you how Imanaged it or how long it took—let us just say that a large part ofmy second life has been entirely devoted to vengeance.”
“I don’t blame you for that,” I said. “Iwould have wanted to kill her too. But what did you do when she wasfinally gone? How did you end up here?”
He shrugged. “I wandered the world for awhile, consumed with guilt and regret. It was not only my maker whokilled Janet—I did my part as well. If I had been able to stay awayfrom her, she
