Page 32

Viggo was quick to recover from his slip of surprise, and he put on a strong front for my benefit. "May I touch you?" he asked.

I quickly nodded, and he started removing the black suture thread with the medical instruments on the table next to him.

"When I was younger," Viggo whispered, "I was out in the fields with my brother and sister at our country estate just outside of Vichy. We were attacked by a garoul," he said. "My brother told us to run, to get away while he distracted the beast. I was not stupid and neither was the garoul; my sister and I were the apparent targets. According to the report, the garoul knocked my brother down and went after us. We had gotten within hearing distance of Father and our uncles who had just returned from hunting. We fought, but it was not enough..." his words trailed off.

This is a strangely familiar story for some reason.

Damn, déjà vu again.

"The garoul was not alone, and went after my sister first even though I threw myself between them," he whispered. "I ended up taking a claw swipe to the chest for my effort. The wounds looked much worse than yours and were deeper, nearly to my heart. The healing pool we had was barely enough, even with the most powerful Healer in our world feverishly trying to close the wounds... I mention it because, like your scars, they were not badges I wanted to see every time I looked in the mirror. I am here and the scars are no more."

"But the memory remains," I whispered.

"Yes," Viggo agreed as he continued to remove my sutures. "The memories will always be there; you do not need scars to have their reminders. These scars will always be with you on the inside, soul deep, and no mud or any amount of thaumaturgy will remove or can take those from you."

I gasped when he started rubbing the freezing salve on the open wounds running the length of my back. "Sorry," he said, slightly amused.

"A little warning next time," I complained.

"My apologies. Permission to rub the salve into your wounds?" he asked, his accent thick.

I nodded. "I didn't know you had a brother and sister."

Viggo's fingers froze in place, so I looked over my shoulder at him.

Viggo was staring at me with wide eyes, a look of disbelief and shock on his face.

I didn't understand his expression. "What?" I asked.

"You truly do not know what I am speaking of, do you?" he asked, tears flooding his eyes.

I shrugged then winched. "Slevin wasn't able to find out if you had siblings or not, it was redacted in the files he can sneak access to, and proved to be very useless. I only knew you came from Stockholm because the Headmaster told me. Slevin, for once, was unable to find any viable or useful information on you."

Viggo offered a smile that quickly fell. "My brother is serving as a Vampyre delegate for a division of the Imperial Court. We do not talk."

I couldn't imagine not talking to Zane; he is my best friend!

Wait...

"What about your sister?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

In the pit of my stomach, I knew.

Viggo watched what he was doing intently. "You already know."

That's what I thought.

"Use your words, speak them aloud," I said since that was what he told me to do when we were in the library and I didn't want to talk about it.

Softly Viggo sighed, his warm breath washing across my skin. "The garoul was faster than Father and Mother. Zoé did not die quickly. I have told myself she died painlessly, though I know she did not. Zoé died the most painful way possible, the garoul made sure of it. I failed to protect her, and Jean-Luc never let me forget that my failure cost his baby sister her life."

"I'm sorry."

"Do not be," he whispered. "I mourn the loss of my big sister every day. She was so beautiful and strong, so caring and compassionate that it was hard to believe she and Jean-Luc were related. Eventually, I will make my peace with the loss of her life, though that is not now. There is still much I must do to find closure before that happens."

I struggled to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat. "Did they kill the werewolf that attacked the two of you?" I asked.

That would have given him closure, wouldn't it?

Viggo shook his head. "You know they did not, but since you are making me use my words, they were unable to catch the garoul," he said, his tone made it more than evident that I should have known this for some reason. "I injured him greatly; I took his left eye and half of his left ear and gave him three permanent tears into his flesh on that side that will never heal," he said with such venomous disdain that it made me shy away from him some.

It was terrifying when he got that look on his face...

And it was kind of sexy.

"For a child, you were very deadly, weren't you?" I teased, trying to bring him back from the dark place I inadvertently took him to.

"As a child? Well, yes, I had to be," Viggo said, no mirth in him. "My family is seemingly cursed because Devilry followed wherever we went, and heartache and loss were a constant companion. I needed to be able to protect those I love, and losing my sister was proof that I was not strong enough..." his words trailed off.

I looked over my shoulder, and without being able to stop myself, I wiped away the tear that rolled down his cheek with my thumb, cupping his cheek.

"Merci," he whispered.

"It is not thankworthy," I assured him. "Use your words... You can talk to me, about anything."

Viggo pulled my hand from his cheek then brought it to his mouth and tenderly kissed the top of it, causing me to blush. "I know. It has been some time since I spoke of this... Never will I forget those silver fangs that ripped my big sister's throat out, or the smirk that pulled at the corners of his maw as he watched me try to heal what I could no longer sense. Atonement drives me, amongst other things, and the many scars I carry in my heart and soul will constantly bleed as a reminder of what I still must do and why."

That didn't make me feel any better about my scars, and it broke my heart that Viggo had experienced such loss at such a young age.

"This one might hurt a little," Viggo warned, moving to my neck.

I nodded, looking away from him.

"Regrettably, it will hurt immensely," he corrected.

I nodded my understanding. "Thank you for not lying to me," I said, bracing myself for it.

Carefully Viggo pulled my hair away from my neck and inspected the fang marks.

They weren't as deep as the claw marks, but fangs have toxins in them so they scar far worse, even if these weren't presenting as a textbook upír bite.

The feeling of Viggo's calloused-roughened fingers caressing the length of my neck as he carefully massaged the frigid salve on my skin sent chills racing down my spine and caused my heart to race and breathing to hitch.

The sensation was so intense that I had to close my eyes to keep them from rolling back in my head.

"This is going to heat up in a moment or two because of the neurotoxin," he warned.

I nodded once stiffly, jaw set, eyes clenched shut, heart racing.

My strange behavior could be interpreted as a reaction to the painful situation, but that wasn't the reason at all.

Viggo's proximity, his hands on my bare skin, me naked with only a towel clenched to my chest to cover my breasts, his lips so close to my skin that I can nearly feel them with each breath he exhaled, his tenderness, the fact that he opened up to me about something painful from his past...

All of those things are what caused the strange and unusual reactions in me.

And I didn't know what to do!

For the first time in my life, I was at a total loss as to what to do next, and something told me that I needed to get away because this wasn't normal or safe.

However, the reprieve I was looking for came in the form of hellish searing heat that consumed my neck and raced down my spine and through my blood.

My eyes shot open and I choked back the sob of pain that accompanied the heat. My hands knotted in the towel I was struggling to hold up so I didn't completely expose myself to the vampire with me.

"That is normal," Viggo promised. "It shall pass soon." His large hands wrapped over mine and he reassuringly squeezed them, keeping me from ripping my towel in half, helping to keep my towel up.

Suddenly I was aware of more than the excruciating burning in my neck, and I nearly passed out from it, but it wasn't the heat that was causing my lightheadedness.

Instead, it was from the amazing sensation created when Viggo blew on my neck, and my lashes fluttered, and I forgot how to breathe altogether.