“It’s never happened before?”
“No. Not like that, anyhow. And I’m thinking rather strongly that it won’t be happening again.”
He paused and studied me for a moment, his face hard and expressionless. “So you didn’t know about his . . . little problem.”
“Oh, the fact that he turns into a blood-crazed Nosferatu when he gets a taste of the red stuff? Yeah, doesn’t everybody?”
Nicolai’s lips thinned. “Sarcasm is well known to be the lowest form of humor.”
I shrugged, which was actually a bit of an effort. “But I’m so good at it.”
He studied me for a moment. “Did he tell you that we were once good friends?”
I could use another glass of that champagne. Too bad it was currently coating the mosaic-tiled floor.
“The subject didn’t come up.”
“One hundred years ago, give or take a decade, Thierry was one of the elders of the Ring. In fact, he founded it.”
I tried not to show I cared, but any information about Thierry perked my ears up like Barkley’s.
“Really? The Ring? No, he definitely didn’t mention that.”
He nodded. “He and Veronique had gone their separate ways by then. He was interested in finding a way of stopping the hunters, who had made life for a vampire so unbearable in large parts of Europe that he’d come to North America. He searched for those who were interested in making a change. I was one that he recruited.”
“Where was this?”
“In the States. California. After a while he had six vampires who had formed the Ring. So called because there was a vampire elder on each continent who would in turn solicit interested parties in their areas.
These are the same elders that Gideon Chase’s family has been systematically slaughtering for decades.”
His expression hardened for a moment. “I was a newlywed at the time. I married the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. An actress.” His fingers twisted the long gold chain around his neck. “To this day I wear her locket.”
“Where is she now?”
He took the locket in his hand and squeezed. “She is dead. She’s been gone for nearly a century, and I miss her as much today as when I first lost her.”
His face held great pain and my heart twisted. “I’m sorry.”
He opened the locket and showed me a small black and white photo of an elegant-looking blond woman. “Her name was Elizabeth.”
“She was very beautiful.”
He gazed at the picture. “Yes, she was. I should never have left her alone that week. I felt that something was amiss. That something was going to go wrong. And it did. And I’ll regret what happened for the rest of my life.”
“What . . . what happened?”
He tucked the necklace under his shirt and met my gaze. “Thierry killed her.”
I gasped. “What?”
His face contorted and it looked as if he was about to cry, but he held it together. “I know it was an accident that he regrets. I know it. But in my heart I’ve never been able to forgive him. I haven’t seen him since it happened. I’ve avoided him. He has avoided me. Until last night.”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t believe it. He wouldn’t do something like that. It’s not possible.”
He rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth. “It is possible. My wife was very beautiful. Thierry was alone. She was kind to him and he became obsessed with her. Then . . . ” He broke off for a moment and I saw his gaze lower to my wounded neck. “One night when I was away he bit her as he just did you. Old vampires like Thierry should not drink blood anymore. Any vampire over five hundred years old has no need for it; their bodies have evolved to such a level that they are capable of living without it. When they do taste it, it’s like a drug that turns them feral and wild. Like animals who have no choice but to feed until their prey is dead.”
I touched my neck again, but said nothing.
Nicolai continued. “I don’t believe Thierry meant to drain my Elizabeth. If I thought him capable of such an act, I never would have left. But it was an accident. When I returned, she had been dead for a week.
It is the greatest regret of my life.”
I never would have believed what Nicolai said. Not if I hadn’t just witnessed a blood-crazed Thierry for myself. If Nicolai hadn’t been around to revive me, would I have died? Thierry would have been responsible for killing me. The thought sent a chill through my body.
“What did he say to you when you got back?” I asked.
“Nothing at all. He resigned from the Ring and simply left. My hate has subsided over all the years, but seeing him again affected me more than I ever would have believed. And to think that after all this time,
he has finally found someone who cares about him as my Elizabeth cared for me.” His expression tensed.
“I must admit it bothered me that he should be allowed that luxury.”
Was this one of the reasons why Thierry was the way he was? So guarded? So restrained? Unable to share himself fully with another person? Because of this ton of guilt he carried around for killing a friend’s wife a hundred years ago?
For what happened to him if he had a taste of blood?
No. I couldn’t think about this now.
“We were talking about Gideon and your plan,” I said before I paused for a moment. “I still want to help if I can.”
He shook his head gravely. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
“You said that there are people ready to grab him when he comes for me, right? That this would make a big difference to vampires—help them stop being hunted a bit. If I have a chance to do something to make that happen, then I can’t exactly turn my back on that.”
“I don’t know, Sarah.”
“This reputation of mine won’t last much longer. The truth will eventually get out. Gideon and the other hunters will see that I’m nothing special. So it’s now or never. Plus, if doing this will take the price off
Thierry’s head, then I have to do it.”
“You’re in love with him.” It wasn’t a question. “Even after what he just did to you. Even after what I just told you.”
I swallowed hard and didn’t answer directly. “He can’t know I’m doing this. He can’t know about
Gideon. Just grab him when you get the chance and then we can all try to live happily ever after.”