Darkness In The Flames by Sahara Kelly Page B

from St. Chesswell and a man with disturbing eyes.
    Katherine sighed and moved from the bed, swaying a little as a slight dizziness swept over her. Not surprising given the time she’d spent recuperating. It wasn’t like her to malinger lazily in her boudoir.
    She stroked her neck idly and straightened her shoulders. Perhaps there was something she could use as a robe to cover the froth of insubstantial lace. If she was going adventuring she needed to be covered.
    Her eye fell on a thick blanket. That would do for the time being. And it was warm, offering snug protection from the damp chill she’d probably find outside her room. She reached for it and froze.
    Slowly, she turned her hand to the light. The hand that had touched her neck.
    There was something glistening on the palm—something red and shiny. She stared closely, unable to accept what she was seeing.
    Katherine blinked in horror. It was blood. Her blood.
    It was coming from her neck where her dream man had bitten her.
    It was no dream …
     
     
     

Chapter Nine
     
    “You’ve fed .”
    Sidney stared at Adrian, amazed at the energy blazing from his eyes, the flush of heat coloring his cheek and the lithe stride with which he paced the floor.
    “Of course not. I just woke up.” Adrian dismissed his father’s statement with a shake of his head.
    “There’s no ‘ of course not ’ about it. Look at yourself.” Sidney reached out and grasped the other man’s hand, turning it upwards and showing Adrian the pinkness that characterized his normally white skin.
    Adrian wrenched his hand free. “I have not fed, Father. I would not do such a thing. I merely dreamed…” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I dreamed a dream the likes of which stunned me.”
    Sidney shook his head. “A dream like that, to produce such physical symptoms? I’m not sure, Adrian…”
    Adrian drifted to the window and stared into the darkness. The clouds were lifting, scudding out to sea, clearing the way for the full moon to rise within the hour, and he was clearly silhouetted against the brightening of the night sky.
    “It’s her isn’t it?” Sidney leaned back in his chair. “Our guest.”
    Adrian didn’t acknowledge the question for a few moments, then he sighed. “Yes. It’s her.”
    Sidney nodded. “Tell me?”
    A snort sounded from the window. “A gentleman really shouldn’t discuss those kinds of dreams. Not even with his father.”
    “Ahh.” Sidney pursed his lips. “Then let me ask this. How real did it seem to you?”
    The broad shoulders tensed beneath the well-cut jacket as Adrian’s body moved uncomfortably. “Too real.”
    “Was Thérèse there?”
    The question seemed to stop Adrian in his tracks, and he turned to Sidney, an arrested expression on his face. “No. No, she wasn’t. It was all Kat. Nothing but Kat.”
    “And you both—er—participated?”
    “Yes.” The answer was bitten off hastily.
    “Look, Adrian, I’m not asking from some prurient desire to probe your intimate activities. Every experience you have, every dream, every hunger, could be important. Could provide the clue to finding the answer we both seek.” Sidney leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, staring at his son.
    Adrian sighed. “I know, Father. Believe me, I know. It’s just that this particular…dream, vision--whatever it was--shook me. There’s something about her…”
    “What? What is it about her that’s different? Let’s start there…”
    Adrian closed his eyes in thought for a moment, obviously trying to find an answer to the question.
    Sidney watched him. How dear this lad had become to him and how important. Sidney knew his every mood, his every expression. There was a fundamental goodness within his heart that Adrian clearly doubted. The conflict of what he was and what he felt he should be tore at him regularly, Sidney knew.
    How could he be a demon of darkness and yet not wish to hurt or kill? Why had he been so afflicted when all