Moonlight Among Monsters Box Set (Werewolf Shifter Romance)

Chapter 6

6

I hurried down the hall, not knowing how exactly to get back to my room but with the determination of one desperate for a mental break. After a half hour I finally recognized one of the halls and soon found the apartment I shared with Leilah. I slipped inside and shut the door behind me where I set my back against the entrance.

“Wow,” I breathed as I tried to arrange all my fractured memories into a coherent timeline.

The party. The balcony. The strange serpent creature. That horrible wound. And finally, Eric’s saving me.

I looked down at my stomach. The turtleneck hid what I wanted to know. I’d have to see him again to return the shirt.

I grabbed the hem in both hands and pulled up the turtleneck a little at a time. My pulse quickened as I prepared for some bandages.

What I got was skin, and not the torn flesh kind. I gaped at the clean skin that covered my stomach. My shaking hand brushed over the flesh. It was as smooth as the day I was born, minus the usual childhood victories and defeats in the battle with life and with wearing a two-piece bathing suit on a rock-infested beach.

“What the hell?” I murmured to myself as I tapped the skin with my fingers. The flesh bounced as it had always done.

How pathetic.

I dropped the shirt and whipped my head this way and that. The deep, resonating and irritated male voice had come from somewhere close by me, but I didn’t see anyone.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and pushed off from the door. “H-hello?” The only reply was silence. “Is anybody there?” Again, I neither saw nor heard anything.

As unlikely as that male voice could be, still I tiptoed over to Leilah’s bedroom door. A quick peek inside told me the coffin was secure. Even as I made my inspection, I realized that maybe the voice hadn’t come from the apartment. Maybe somebody else was awake.

I peeked my head out of the apartment and looked up and down the hall. There was nothing. The voice had drifted away like a ghost.

I wrapped my arms around myself and glared at the wall opposite the door. “Did you really have to compare it to that?”

“Miss Adi.”

I yelped and spun to the right to find the bemused Basileus standing a few feet away from me. He inclined his head to me. “My sincerest apologies. I did not mean to startle you.”

I clutched my chest over my heart and took in a few deep breaths. “It’s no problem. I was just-um,” I swept my eyes over the area but found no one else in the hall. “I was just looking for someone.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Really? Would that someone perhaps be Mr. Haldor?”

I dropped my hand to my side and smiled. “No, it was… it was someone else.” At least, I thought it was. Basileus studied me with those piercing red eyes, and I squirmed underneath his penetrating gaze. “So, um, what are you doing awake this early?”

He swept his arm over the hall. “I thought to take a stroll before my hosting duties require me to flit about like a bat in the night.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “I thought vampires couldn’t do that. You know, transform into things.”

“Unfortunately, that is true,” Basileus agreed as he offered me a smile and his arm. “Would you care to join me? I would enjoy the company of a beautiful woman.”

I snorted and looped my arm through his slim, cold limb. “I’m sure you’ve said that to all your victims.”

Basileus chuckled as he guided me down the hall. “That merely shows I have good tastes, but where are my manners? I have yet to ask how you are feeling after your fainting spell.”

I frowned up at him. “My fainting spell?”

Basileus nodded. “Yes. Mr. Haldor informed me that you witnessed him fending off a creature in the gardens and fainted at the sight of the blood.”

“I DID WHAT?!”

I planted my feet firmly on the floor and spun around to face my surprised host. “I did not faint! I was attacked and-”

A chuckle rang throughout the hall. So, the kitten has a temper.

I froze. That voice again. The soft, deep intonations seemingly floated out of the walls far down the passage, though the sound soon drifted away into the ether.

Basileus lifted an eyebrow. “Is something the matter?”

The mysterious voice had siphoned away my anger. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I looked up at my host. “Are there… there aren’t any ghost guests on this trip, are there?”

He chuckled. “I have enough of my own without inviting others, but why do you ask?”

I strained to hear the voice, but there was nothing. “Never mind. I guess it’s the wind.” A very unconvincing answer, even to myself.

Basileus gestured down the hall. “You appear to be rather pale, Miss Adi. Perhaps a hearty meal will return some of your strength and color.”

I ran a hand through my hair and nodded. “Y-yeah, that might help.”

He tightened his grip on my arm and smiled at me. “Then allow me to lead you to the dining hall.”

We meandered through the maze of corridors and rooms, and soon arrived at the luxurious dining hall. A row of windows on our left framed a pair of French doors, and to our right was the wood paneled walls that decorated the rest of the villa. A long table stretched from end to end, and the places were only just being set. Basileus took up his seat at the head and placed me in the chair of honor to his right.

Basileus clapped his hands and a servant appeared through an adjoining door behind me. They hurried over and bowed their head. He used a hand to gesture to me. “A thick slice of meat for my guest, and a glass of wine.”

I shook my head. “I don’t really drink.”

He smiled at me as the servant hurried off to fulfill his order. “Then humor me and let this be one of the few occasions, for the wine will put some life into your pale cheeks.”

I reached up and rubbed my hand against my cheek. A rueful smile slipped onto my lips. “I look that bad, huh?”

He shook his head. “All things considered, you look beautiful, especially as you must keep up with my more nocturnal guests.”

I snorted. “So, are all your parties this wild or am I just lucky?”

He leaned back as his eyes twinkled with remembrances past. “The party has hardly begun, but there have been times where my guests have run amok. One of your previous employers, Madam Strega, once stripped naked and took a swim in the bay. She was nearly washed away by the tide, and only through the valiant though unwilling efforts of my servants was she rescued.”

I recalled that particular employer and shuddered. “She wasn’t exactly a looker when she had clothes on.”

He chuckled. “That was the prevailing opinion among my servants, as well.”

I bit my lip as a thought struck me. “So, um, you know a lot about your guests, don’t you?”

“As much as any host has a right to be.”

“What can you tell me about Eric?”

Basileus lifted an eyebrow. “That is a very deep topic. Why do you wish to learn about him?”

I shrugged. “Well, he kind of saved my life last night after I… well, after I fainted.” I spoke those lines through slightly clenched teeth. “So, I’m just kind of curious about him.”

At that moment the servant returned carrying a tray. A steaming plate of meat and a bottle with a glass sat atop the platter, and he placed them in front of me before disappearing.

Basileus used one lithe hand to gesture at the food and drink. “Please, eat first and we will discuss your questions.”

Challenge accepted. I dug into the food and found that my appetite was more ravenous than I had realized. In a few quiet minutes, where the only sound was the c***k of utensils on plate, I had finished my meal. I set my utensils on my empty platter and pushed it away before smiling up at my bemused host. “Now you can tell me about Eric.”

Basileus stood and gestured to the French doors that led outside onto the veranda. “Let’s take another stroll, and we will see if I am able to answer your questions.”