Eternal Seduction (Darkness Within #1)

Truthfully, attacking her hadn’t even crossed Logan’s mind, but since Trinity brought it up, she leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, hands folded. “Then I guess it’s a damn good thing I’m still human right now, huh?”

Trinity smiled, her black eyes twinkling in the dim lighting. “Nice way to skirt the rules. Playing the technicalities is one of my favorites, too. But attacking me isn’t going to get you anywhere except hurt. I like you, which is exactly why I’m sitting here right now, but if you lunge across that table I’m going to kick your skinny ass around this room until you can’t do anything but listen.”

Logan ground her teeth together. “If there’s one thing I’ve done without fail since this whole situation began, it’s listen. Don’t treat me like a child. I don’t care how old you are. At no point in history, ancient or other, has anyone liked being treated as though they’re stupid. I’m no different.”

“Then I’ll give it to you straight. If you ingest Kerestyan’s blood, which is exactly what you have to do to become his Servio, you’ll never know if what you feel for him is real. The second his blood passes your lips he can control you. Your emotions, your actions, even your mind. Is that what you want?”

She fisted her hands as anger coursed through her, but then inhaled a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “This really doesn’t have anything to do with Kerestyan. Am I a little disappointed he’s not the one sitting here? Yes. But this has more to do with being told how I feel and what is or isn’t good or right for me.” She stared straight into Trinity’s perpetual bedroom eyes, hoping it would help drive the intensity behind her words. “I’ll be your Servio, but I will not be your puppet.”

She laughed. “You have a lot of nerve.”

Logan shook her head and settled back in the chair. Was she speaking in another language? “It doesn’t take nerve. It takes understanding yourself and what you’re faced with. I appreciate your willingness to take me on, especially if Kerestyan can’t. At least I know you a little bit. But if this is going to work, you need to know I’m not going to dance for you. I’ll help you during the day. I’ll do the things you ask. But outside of matters directly relating to serving you, I refuse to be told how I feel or what’s good for me. I may have fallen into a world I don’t completely understand, but I still know who I am.”

Trinity’s red lips parted in a beaming smile. “You’re such a cold bitch. Is it wrong that makes me like you even more?”

Logan cast a glance over Trinity’s tight leather pants and matching corset before considering her perfectly colored face and midnight hair, pulled into a tight ponytail high on her head.

She looked like the Dominatrix responsible for starving Vouclade.

Logan smiled at the thought. “You’re not exactly warm and fuzzy.”

“I think that’s why we’ll get along. Look, I won’t tell you how you should or shouldn’t feel, but in return you need to understand as soon as my blood runs through your body, as bad as it sounds – you belong to me. I’m responsible for everything you do and say, and while I don’t like exerting emotional or mental control over my Servios, I’ll do it if I have to.”

Logan did her best to say calm. She really didn’t like the thought of anyone being able to control her emotions, let alone her thoughts. “How do I know you aren’t going to make me feel things I don’t? You seem to be pretty chummy with Kerestyan. How do I know I won’t find myself in love with him because you ‘controlled’ me into it?”

With the way Trinity’s body stiffened, it was obvious Logan had crossed a line she didn’t know existed. Trinity sat up and jammed her finger into the arm of the chair. “First of all, I wouldn’t force anyone to love someone against their will. Love isn’t a weapon. My Father is as cold and calculating as a vampire gets, and even he doesn’t use love as a tool, which is exactly why he’s forbidden Kerestyan from being your Master. There are emotions and thoughts that are fair game to be manipulated, and ones that aren’t. Love is one that should never be touched. Don’t you ever question if what you feel around Kerestyan is my doing. Ever!”

When Trinity’s bottom lip quivered just before she stood up and stalked off towards the window opening, Logan stood up, not really sure what to do.

She turned and stared at the spot on the wall where the door had been. Vouclade wasn’t this moody. Stefan didn’t seem to have enough emotion for more than two moods. Hell, even Alfred appeared to be in control of himself.

She moved to stand next to Trinity. But when Trinity just continued to stare out the window, Logan followed her line of sight down to an image she never would’ve expected. Odin lay on a blanket of lush grass with a big blue book propped open in front of him, next to a little girl who couldn’t have been more than five. She twisted a tiny finger into her curly brown hair and laughed as he pointed to something on the page.

Logan was almost positive her mind was playing tricks on her this time. She blinked twice before she even thought about asking, “Is he reading a book to—”

“She’s a ghost,” Trinity interjected, her voice quiet and distant. “The Gianni’s, another powerful family of vampires, live across the street. You might’ve seen their mansion from the sidewalk, but chances are it was hidden from your human eyes. In any event, the power of their blood grants them the ability to traffic with ghosts from the Light and Dark realms. I know my Dad explained a little about the Light realm to you,” she motioned to the odd couple, “but Emily’s from the Dark realm. You can call it Purgatory, Hell, or whatever you want, but there aren’t flames or imps. It’s a shadow of the living world, where you can see everything but you can’t touch anything. Only tortured souls go there, the ones who are too angry, violent or confused to reincarnate.

“Emily was murdered in a rather violent fashion back in the 1800’s, somewhere on the Gianni’s property. I don’t know all the specifics, but I do know she believes she’s still very much alive. She comes over at least twice a week and Odin reads to her. He does it without fail, every single time she asks. And in return…she loves him in a way that’s unfathomable to me. I’ve tried so many times, but I don’t understand it. I’ve watched them for hours, and every single time I marvel at them.

“The reason I’m telling you all this, since I’m starting to sense your confusion, is because I would never do anything to disrupt what you’re seeing right now. Much like I would never manipulate your feelings for Kerestyan. Love that’s real and freely given rarely finds vampires, Logan, let alone Ancients.”

She shot Trinity a sideways glare. “I am not in love with Kerestyan. I’ve only known him for three days, most of which I wasn’t even awake.”

Trinity leaned back against the edge of the window and crossed her arms over her chest. “I didn’t say you love Kerestyan.”

Logan rubbed a hand down her face. She hated playing word games. “Kerestyan doesn’t love me either. He doesn’t know me any better than I know him.”

“He may not love you yet, but he’s more than on his way.” She broke out in an ear to ear grin. “You get to him somehow. I’ve never seen him so out of sorts.” She balled up her fist and shook it playfully. “K’s usually stone faced and stoic, a harsh and demanding vampire Lord. But when your skinny ass walks into the room…I don’t think you realize what kind of affect you have on him.”

Logan squeezed her eyes closed tight then opened them and stared hard at Trinity. “You know what, why don’t we stick to talking about what I’m going to be doing for you? Kerestyan is more than capable of telling me how he feels. And in the interest of honesty, I’m really not comfortable talking about my relationship with him, or lack thereof, with you…or anyone else for that matter.”

An unsettling smile spread across her mouth. “Fine, I suppose now is as good a time as any to let you know I’ll be basing you back in New York City. You’ll be staying in the castle for a few weeks while I train you on the basics, then I’ll send you back to meet up with one of my Servios who already lives in New York. You’ll be working together on controlling my interests there. How do you feel about that?”

Logan shrugged. “Staying in New York is fine with me. I’m obviously comfortable there. I know the place inside and out and could probably walk it with my eyes closed. What kind of interests do you have?”

Trinity made her way back to her chair. “I control a few high end prostitution rings, influence some minor drug trafficking and own a few fetish and bondage clubs. Will being in that type of environment be a problem for you?”

Logan sat up on the window ledge, enjoying the sensation of the fresh, warm breeze blowing against her back. “I’d prefer not to be around the drugs for a while. I got the sense from Stefan he’d put me on his wall if I so much as looked at heroin again.”