Blood Lust

CHAPTER TWO


The next time Isaac opened his eyes, the fire in the large hearth had burned down to a bank of brightly glowing embers. Between the impact of the cold and a state of mind he suspected bordered on shock, his recall of the earlier events resided amid a dreamy, surreal haze. He kept still, sweeping his surroundings with his gaze and taking stock of himself.

Aside from having his outer garments, equipment, boots and socks removed, it didn’t seem his person had experienced any tampering. Tall, deep red pillar candles burned in holders in various places. Big, heavily-made antiques with a distinctly masculine aura furnished the room. Dark colors appeared to dominate.

As his gaze moved around it snagged abruptly upon his frightening neighbor seated in a big chair, sprawled in an arrogant manner that made Isaac think of a king on a throne. At his booted feet sat one of those huge dog-wolves.

“Holy shit!” Isaac got to his feet, backing away as the animal watched him, lips drawn back from its long white teeth. The effect of it having one icy blue eye and one pale yellow made the picture more terrifying.

“You have a front row seat at what you’ve watched from afar.” His abductor/host reached to rub one of the creature’s ears and it at once ceased growling, relaxed its posture and whined like a lap dog. “Is this where I’m supposed to convince you what you witnessed was a dream or misinterpretation?”

Shaking from his most recent scare, Isaac pointed at the beast. “What the hell is that doing in here?”

“Sukah has an old injury that pains her when it’s very cold. I offer her the warmth of my hearth,” he replied in that black velvet and leather voice. He tilted his head slightly, regarding Isaac with disconcerting intensity. Those oddly burgundy eyes seemed lit from within, glowing much like the banked coals of the fireplace. “Just as I did for you.”

Without any idea what the guy intended, Isaac felt certain that given the circumstances of their meeting, he could assume the worst. “I’m a well-known writer. People expect to hear from me,” he said. “I’m on deadline with my editor and she’s a ball breaker.”

“Then, you had best fulfill your literary obligation. Your things are inside the front door.” Something in his voice sent a chill through Isaac, and between one heartbeat and the next he stood in front of him. “Hurry home. Curiosity has gotten you into enough trouble for one night.”

“Who are you?” He backed through the open door into the hall.

“Who do you want me to be,” he asked softly, disturbing gaze lowering. Isaac realized with surprise, to look at his mouth. Unable to help himself, his glanced at the other man’s wide lips. He gave a low, rumbling purr deep in his wide chest. “My name’s Seth Vincent.”

He grew conscious of the way the man smelled: prime male, hints of leather, winter forest and expensive musk. “I always thought if the Devil came to Earth he’d call himself Seth.” The confession emerged unbidden.

Everything about the man sharpened, his keen attention becoming a palpable thing in the air. “Do you want me to be the Devil? Offering sin?”

Isaac turned and bolted making several faulty navigations before locating the front door. He stuffing his socks in his pockets, yanked on his coat and gloves, gathered his things and stepped out into the frigid, windy night. He fumbled getting on his snow shoes, and the trek to his place passed at the double-quick. He left the shoes on the porch and kind of fell inside.

He hadn’t locked the door before, but he did now. His lungs couldn’t get enough air and his heart beat hard enough to break his ribs. Too rattled to care about seeing to things properly, he stripped down to his boxers and went upstairs.

The digital clock by his bed told him he had less than two hours before sunrise. Soon as the morning aged to a respectable hour, he’d call Sheriff Cary and …

What? If he didn’t know himself what he’d actually seen, how could he tell someone else?

Isaac showered, dressed, poured a glass of soda and carried it with him to sit down at his computer. Placing the glass on a cork coaster he kept on his desk, he put his hand on the mouse. Soon as it moved, it brought his computer from hibernation. He opened his WIP document, currently labeled with the working title ‘Jagged Patch of Shadow’. His editor, Marilyn, would doubtless insist on a change. She had on all eleven of his novels.

He read the last bit of copy, consulted his notes and chapter outlines and started.

It felt like spinning gold from straw. After whatever the hell happened that night, a detective with a split personality doing a Jekyll and Hyde and hunting himself seemed very tame.

“Do you want me to be the Devil? Offering sin?”

Picturing Seth’s face, the high, intelligent forehead, straight inky brows over those bright eyes, savagely high, stark cheekbones and slightly squared jaw, Isaac inhaled shakily. Best of all, Seth’s mouth. Wide, full-lipped and sculpted. It could give anyone carnal thoughts.

Although Isaac’s experience with same gender sexual activity consisted of a single tequila- and porn-inspired make-out session with his college roommate’s brother, he didn’t consider it wrong or out of the question. Just something he hadn’t done. But, sex with some joker who ran with wild dogs, doing crazy shit in the aftermath of an early blizzard? Maybe not the best idea.

It proved an act of will to make his daily quota of two thousand words. Soon as he reached that mark, he stopped, saved and exited the document.

He still had to feed and groom his horse, Poppy, do a few stable chores and decide what to have for lunch.

“What the hell am I thinking?”

He sat in the bay window, his favored observation point. Seth knew he’d fallen under observation, why bother with further covert tactics? Isaac waited as the darkness deepened, scanning the area. As if conjured from this air, the object of his vigil appeared in the field beyond the yard of his house. Isaac lifted the night vision binoculars and watched as the pack came bounding from the edge of the timberline. They greeted him like pets, all eager and animated, vying for attention. Seth indulged them and it caused a funny flutter low in Isaac’s gut. If the animals’ reaction served as indication, the man knew how to give pleasure.

Then, he turned his head, looking directly at Isaac. He blinked as his field of vision suddenly no longer contained a man. Sweeping the area yielded nothing. Then, rapping sounded on the door.

“Shit,” he hissed under his breath. Laying the binoculars aside, he walked to the front entrance, considering possible outs before manning up, sliding back the bolt and opening the portal.

Seth stood there, big and beautiful in the way of untamed things. “We should talk about what happened.”

Flushing under such directness, Isaac said, “Man, I don’t even know what happened. Everything happened so fast.”

“Might we have this conversation inside?”