Part 31 (2/2)

It wasn't long before Jason tired and fell asleep on the bed. She pulled the top cover loose and tucked him in. She herself was tired, but didn't feel as if she could sleep. She went out onto the balcony and settled into a cus.h.i.+oned wicker settee. The night air was cool but the balcony was heated with outdoor lanterns and a servant brought her a wrap, which she draped across her legs. She was wondering about Ryan when she heard a knock at the door.

She started to get up but the servant stepped forward, politely shaking her head. She indicated that Susan was not to move and then she went to answer the door. Susan heard soft murmurs, and then Victor entered, crossing the room to the balcony. He pushed open the sliding screen door.

”May I join you?”

Susan started to stand but Victor shook his head. ”No, please, sit down.” The servant brought another wicker chair that Victor set across from Susan and then settled into, crossing one long leg over the other.

Susan stared at the man, again struck by his incredible beauty. It was perhaps only her past continued exposure to Ryan's magnetism that made Susan immune to Victor's charms.

Victor smiled and Susan revised her opinion. Well, perhaps not completely immune.

”I wanted to thank you for caring for my daughter. Ryan is an excellent judge of character. I'm certain her choice of you as a companion will prove as insightful as ever.”

Susan s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably. She did not want to start liking this man.

Victor sensed her discomfort immediately. ”You seem troubled, dear doctor,” he said knowingly.

Susan did not quite know how to broach the subject. ”Well, I'm certainly not pa.s.sing judgment on you, but your relations.h.i.+p with Ryan does seem a little...”

She faded away, unwilling to finish the sentence. Victor had no qualms about finis.h.i.+ng it for her.

”Incestuous?”

Susan nodded, trying to be as casual as he was. ”Yes, I think that was the word I was looking for.”

Victor removed a cigar from his inner pocket. He lit it expertly, taking a long pull on it then blowing the smoke away from Susan. He watched the wisps linger in the air for a moment, then spoke thoughtfully.

”You know, Dr. Ryerson, my birthday is closer to that of Christ's than it is to yours.” He turned from the smoke to her. ”All ties have blurred for me. Mother, father, brother, sister, they are all the same to me. Even gender has very little meaning for me, anymore. I would have the exact same relations.h.i.+p with Ryan were she my son.”

This admission did not make Susan feel any better. Victor took another long pull on the cigar, then blew the smoke out, watching it curl upward in the light from the lanterns. He turned to Susan. ”You must remember, Dr. Ryerson, that I am not human, nor is Ryan. Human taboos against incest serve a very real purpose, but they serve no purpose amongst our Kind. For me to blindly follow a cultural more which is inapplicable would be foolish.” Victor watched the smoke curl upward. ”Not to mention the fact it would have kept me from creating the greatest of our Kind to ever walk this earth.”

Susan stared at him. ”So is Ryan the greatest of your Kind?”

Victor shook his head. ”Not yet. But she will be one day.”

Susan had a sudden and strange insight. ”This does not cause you concern.”

It was not a question, but Victor answered it anyway. ”Of course not, dear doctor.”

Susan was beginning to understand things about Victor that even Ryan did not. He seemed aware of her sudden prescience and gazed at her through the smoke, contemplating.

Susan stared at him her suspicions growing. ”You knew she would try to kill you.”

Victor shrugged, the nonchalant gesture so reminiscent of Ryan that Susan for a moment had to remember whom she was speaking to. ”Of course. Ryan is the most efficient predator I have ever known.” There was not the slightest bit of condemnation in the statement. The words were spoken casually and if anything, with a trace of pride. Victor took another long drag on the cigar, then watched the smoke curl upward. ”I did not know, however, that she would be so creative in her attempt, nor did I know it would take me nearly two centuries to recover.”

Victor c.o.c.ked his head to one side as if listening to something far off in the distance. He changed the subject. ”Your son seems to be sleeping soundly. If you yourself are not tired, you are free to move about the grounds. I would ask you not to leave because I have a gift for you.”

Victor seemed restless, although Susan could not put her finger on exactly what gave that impression. Outwardly, he was as calm and elegant as ever. Susan put a voice to her suspicions.

”Where's Ryan?”

Victor was not the least bit fooled by the casualness of her inquisition. ”She's with Marilyn,” he said calmly.

Susan watched his expressionless face, choosing her words carefully. ”That does not please you.”

Victor chose his words just as carefully. ”It does not displease me. It is something that must be done.”

Victor stood abruptly, extending his hand for Susan's. Susan raised her arm and he grasped her hand, kissing it. He bowed. ”Thank you for your time.”

Susan watched the dark-haired man leave the room, noting that he and Ryan even stalked the same.

Ryan was stalking about the room, covering the full length of the suite. Marilyn watched the youngster's agitation from her vantagepoint on the sofa. She had always enjoyed watching the girl, and was especially enjoying it now. Ryan was attempting to conceal her anxiety by moving about the room, but her activity betrayed more than it concealed.

Abigail also watched the girl, albeit more surrept.i.tiously than Marilyn. Her fingers were busy with the blanket she was knitting, but her eyes followed Victor's child about the room.

Ryan stopped to pick up a bra.s.s letter opener, absently fingering the object, and Abigail was reminded of a similar scene many centuries before. Ryan replaced the object and resumed her pacing. Abigail smiled. It was a similar scene, but Ryan was no longer a Young One. She was still intoxicatingly vulnerable, but now it was the vulnerability of a trapped wild animal.

Abigail glanced up at the doorway, c.o.c.king her head to one side. Victor would not come to rescue her from Marilyn this time.

Ryan moved to the fireplace, but she could not feel the heat from the flames because her own skin was so hot. She was startled by a cool hand on the back of her neck, brus.h.i.+ng her hair away.

”Come and sit with me awhile,” Marilyn whispered into her ear.

The words were half-invitation, half-command. Ryan turned and Marilyn was already re-seated on the sofa, as if she had never left. Ryan walked past Abigail and sat down stiffly on the sofa. Marilyn reached over and intertwined a strand of Ryan's hair around her finger.

”Do you remember,” she began conversationally, ”how the three of us sat like this years ago?”

Abigail smiled. She remembered.

Ryan frowned. She remembered as well.

Marilyn continued. ”That was when you were but an infant, long before the Americas, long before you became so angry at Victor.”

Ryan did not want to think back, but the Memories always kept the past so well in focus. She felt her anger at Victor momentarily flare.

Abigail was watching the girl shrewdly. ”I remember, Marilyn, that this *infant' nearly seduced you while you were attempting to seduce her.”

Marilyn's eyes narrowed as she glanced at Abigail. ”If I remember,” she said icily, ”you were the one who was entranced, unwilling and incapable of stopping me even though you were supposed to be *baby-sitting'.”

”Unwilling,” Abigail corrected, carrying a st.i.tch, ”but not incapable.”

Marilyn shrugged, as if it were no matter. She turned her attention back to Ryan, who was starting to relax against her will. Marilyn had always had this affect on her.

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