"One woman is enough for you?"
"Definitely." He smiled at her, and his eyes had returned to their warm golden brown color.
"Tell me more."
His smile faded. "I inherited my father's personal papers. Things that he didn't want included in his memoirs. Imagine a twelve-year-old boy reading about his father's struggle with the pox and his search for a cure."
"Eeuw." Lara wrinkled her nose.
"Exactly. Now you know why I don't like to speak of it. My father was in Paris when an attempt was made on the French king's life, and he met the man responsible for saving the king. There were some rumors about Jean-Luc Echarpe. Rumors that he had super strength and was invincible. My father asked him what his secret was, hoping to find a cure for his syphilis, but Jean-Luc refused him."
"This Jean-Luc was a vampire?" Lara asked.
"Yes. My father didn't give up. He suspected Jean-Luc knew a way to defeat old age and disease. Eventually, my father's investigations led him to Transylvania. He took a job nearby at the Castle Dux in Bohemia. That's where he seduced my mother. I never knew her, but I heard she died years later in an insane asylum."
"Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry."
"So was I.I feared my mother had died from syphilis, given to her by my father. And I feared I could have it, too. I was determined not to pass it on, so I decided to become a monk. My uncle persuaded me to go the University of Padua first. Then, when I was twenty-four, something terrible happened."
Lara sat up. "You were attacked?"
He smiled. "I fell in love."
She swatted his arm. "That's not terrible."
"It is if you think you have a disease that could kill. I wanted to keep Beatrice safe, so I used my father's notes to try to find a cure. A year later, my travels took me to Transylvania. I was riding toward a small village as the sun set. Three beautiful women appeared on the road."
"And they were vampires?" Lara asked.
Jack nodded. "I introduced myself, and when they heard the name Casanova, they jumped me. The next thing I knew I was in an old castle with the women biting me. I tried to fight back, but... they were very strong, and I grew weaker as they drained every drop of blood from my veins."
"That must have been terrifying."
"I woke up in a dungeon with a horrific hunger." He grimaced. "I wanted blood. I didn't know what had happened to me. I didn't realize I could simply teleport away. They encouraged me to bite their wrists. I did, but there was always a price for survival. They thought I would be a skilled lover like my father. You can imagine their disappointment to find out I barely knew the basics."
Lara winced. She had been right. Jack didn't realize he was a wonderful lover.
"After a few months, they threw me out in disgust. Said I would never live up to the Casanova name." Jack sighed. "I've never used the name since then."
"Well, they were idiots. If you were any better in bed, I would have had a heart attack."
He smiled. "They would have thought our lovemaking too tame. No swinging upside down from a chandelier or dangling over the parapet of a castle tower."
Lara laughed. "You've got to be kidding." When Jack shook his head, she gasped. "They really did that stuff?"
"Yes. They attacked a circus after I left, and they were much happier with a trapeze artist."
Lara snorted.
"I nearly died again, trying to make my way across Europe to Paris. I found Jean-Luc there, and he taught me how to be a vampire. Then finally, I went back to Venezia, hoping that Beatrice could still love me."
"What happened?"
Jack sighed. "She had died a month earlier during an outbreak of typhoid fever. I have always feared that she died believing I abandoned her."
"Oh Jack." Lara touched his cheek. "I'm sure she still loved you. How could she not love you?"
He took her hand and kissed the palm. "I have always been unlucky in amore till now. Over the years, I fell in love twice more, but the women rejected me when I told them what I was. I was afraid you would reject me, too."
"I love you too much to lose you. And it's about time you found happiness." She frowned at his blond hair. "But I have to tell you I'm not crazy about the new hairstyle."
"I had to change my appearance." He pulled her close, so he could whisper. "Too many Malcontents know about Giacomo di Venezia."
"Malcontents?"
"That's what we call the bad vampires who enjoy killing. They call themselves the True Ones, since they believe they're following the true nature of the vampire-hunting and killing. They were cruel, violent mortals, and becoming vampires has only magnified their brutality."
"So you and your friends are fighting them?"
"Yes. I've investigated so many of them over the years that I know how to act like one. I came here with my new look, speaking Czech, and calling myself Henrik Sokolov."
"Which is your real name," she whispered.
"Yes. I pretended to be an old friend of Jedrek Janow, who died last December, so he can't confirm it. I dropped some other names, and I knew so much, like the location of this place, that Apollo bought it."
"Thank goodness." She raked her hand through his short blond hair. "You took a big risk."
"The others are close by. They would have charged in if I'd put out a psychic message for help. Robby wanted to attack tonight, but I wanted to make sure you were all right first. And I wanted whatever information you could tell me."
"Of course." Lara explained the routines and how many maidens there were, how many guards, and how many vampires. "There was a guest vampire last night called Zeus. We never saw him. A maiden was chosen for him, and this morning she had no memory of him. But she was covered with bruises."
Jack shook his head, frowning.
"When I first arrived, the Chosen One was Brittney Beckford. The next morning, she was gone, and I'm afraid-"
"She's dead," Jack said quietly. "Her body was found."
"Oh no. That poor girl."
"The wolves found her body in the woods."
Lara winced. "I saw the wolves. They scared the hell out of me."
"They won't harm you. And they told me where to find you. They've agreed to help us tomorrow night."
"Whoa." Lara lifted a hand. "They... talk?"
"They're werewolves. Shape shifters."
She gasped. "No way."
"The delivery man who left the Cracker Jack is a werewolf. Works for Mackay S & I, just like me."
She shook her head. "This is getting too weird."
"We're worried that the minute we attack, the guards may be under orders to attack the women."
"What?"
"If the compound comes under attack, Apollo may have the guards programmed to kill all the witnesses."
Lara shivered. "God, I hope not."
"We hope not, too. We need you to help keep the other girls safe. Can you do that?"
"Yes." She would find some reason to get them all into the kitchen. They would have a supply of knives there.
"One more thing." Jack took her hand. "It will look very suspicious if you're here in the morning without my mark on you."
"Your... mark?"
He nodded. "On your neck. I'm sorry, but it will have to be done."
She swallowed hard. "You want to bite me."
CHAPTER 25
"Is it going to hurt?" Lara asked.
"It could." Jack stroked her hair. "Some vampires, like the Malcontents, enjoy causing their victims pain and terror. But if a vampire takes the time and effort, he can make it very pleasurable."
"I vote for the second option."
His mouth curled up. "Are you sure? I was still undecided, myself."
She swatted his arm.
With a grin, he pushed her down and leaned over her.
She gave him a wry look. "You want to be on top again?"
"It's easier for biting." He frowned, considering. "I guess I could bite you from behind."
"Or you could hang upside down from the canopy."
He chuckled. "I knew I shouldn't have told you that story."
Lara gave him a weak smile. She was joking around in a sad attempt to delay the inevitable. Surely it wouldn't hurt too badly. Jack had said he could make it pleasurable. "Are you going to... feed from me?"