Titus stepped a few paces forward and looked up to the moon, as he murmured, “You do not know of this?”
Trinity shook his head, watching Titus’ striking gaze return to him. “Your Sire never taught you?” he questioned again.
“No,” Trinity expelled with more loathing than he wanted to reveal.
“That is a grave grievance for such perfect knowledge,” Titus said lowly. His gaze swept Trinity from head to toe as if judging. “You live by vows?” Titus asked. Trinity nodded as Titus continued to ask, “Vows you’ve freely chosen to, shall we say, uplift your humanity?”
Trinity nodded again, curtly. “We do, and we try to enforce other vampires to live by certain vows.”
Titus glanced over at the others. “This is good. Our brethren were destroyed, hunted into ash in the old countries across the sea, because they could never learn to deprive themselves and temper their lusts.”
“You are from the old countries as you call it? Across the sea?” Church asked as he held the lady cradled in his arms. She seemed in a faint against him.
“I am.”
“The questions I could have for you!” Baptiste blurted.
“I can see you all are young and eager to learn,” Titus said. “Perhaps we will become better acquainted. For now I will just tell you …” He bowed to Trinity. “That you have found a human woman capable of mating with you. It is not as rare as one would think. Once you are blood bonded, she will never age, along with you, and you will forever hear her call of need. Here,” Titus pointed to his temple. He turned sideways, retreating slightly. “The rest I will leave as enticement so that we have something to trade each other in the future, you and I.”
Trinity held out his hand. Titus looked at it curiously, and then, slowly, his hand rose, until they clasped hands. “I will expect you to come through the front door next time.”
Titus returned his firm handshake, then released his grip. From one second to the next, Titus was there, and then he was gone in a whirlwind of what looked like thick, black smoke.
Trinity felt the shock of the unexpected apparition strike through him as he held against any outward reaction. He heard Beth gasp, and Baptiste exclaimed, “Bloody hell, did you see that!”
They watched the black cloud whirl and coalesce in a swirling configuration leaping toward the moon, and then it darted away toward the north.
“I’m glad he seems on our side,” Church muttered behind Trinity, making Trinity turn back to the group. Then Church added, “Anyone know who this is?” They all looked at the lady starting to revive in Church’s arms.
“She’s Lady Elsbeth, the dowager Duchess of Hawthorn,” Beth supplied.
“She’s too young to be widowed and a dowager,” Church blurted, as Trinity watched him looking down into the lady’s blinking gaze behind her spectacles.
“W-What in the world is happening?” Lady Elsbeth Hawthorn stuttered.
Trinity strode to Beth’s side, as he uttered, “You’d best fix that quickly, Church.”
Church seemed caught in a trance of his own, standing immobile looking down at the woman beginning to struggle in his arms. “W-Who are you?” she demanded of Church.
Baptiste announced to the group, “I’d best get back to Miss Irene, if all is well.” He started away at a regular pace before adding, “I can feel she’s very upset.” Suddenly, he stalled, looking back at them and his gaze bore down on Trinity. “Didn’t Lord Titus just say one can inwardly
hear
their mate?”
“Damnation,” Church cursed. “She won’t mesmerize. I’ve tried it several times.”
Beth let out a small laugh and exclaimed, “And we know you cannot hypnotize your mate.”
Trinity’s eyes widened as he looked at his brothers. Beth clasped his hand and he pulled her to him as she smiled at him with loving amusement. He felt the certainty in her thoughts that surely it seemed his brothers were heading toward romantic entanglements.
He grasped her waist and turned her several times as though they danced a slow dance, until they stood off alone in the moonlight. His brothers could handle their dilemmas because he had something more important to do.
“Trinity,” Beth laughed, as they danced an impromptu waltz.
He bowed. “My lovely wife.” Then he drew her against him. “My lovely mate,” he said with such clarity, and then his lips slanted over Beth’s welcoming mouth.
When he allowed her lips free, she gasped, “I do love you, Trinity.”
He bent, sweeping her up into his arms, catching her by surprise as she gasped his name.
He began to stride away from the ball. “I love you too, Beth, and I intend to show you how much. Now.”
He would find a back way to their bedchambers even if he had to display unnatural strength and scale an outside balcony to do so.
The End.