The next evening, Aldric found himself engaged in a task that he’d never imagined doing: shaving Vivian’s lady’s companion. It was quite a different experience than shaving his own face, and he had to pause and draw the blade away every time it seemed Madame Renarde was about to cough.

Just as he was scraping the stubble from her neck, Renarde opened her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered through cracked lips. For once, her eyes looked clear and shone with recognition.

“It is nothing,” he said, and rinsed the shaving razor in a bowl of warm water. “I would have done it sooner, but you were thrashing from your fever and I did not wish to cut you.”

“Afraid it would make you hungry?” Renarde’s chuckle dissolved into a bout of coughing.

Aldric shook his head. “My control is far better than that. Besides, we prefer to feed on the strong, not the sickly. Speaking of, how are you feeling?”

“Much better.” Renarde struggled to sit up and Aldric shifted her pillows behind her back. “The past few days and nights were a bit of a blur to me.” She looked down and touched the sleeves of her bed gown. “I vaguely remember you undressing me. I hope the sight did not injure your sensibilities.”

“My sensibilities are rather sturdy, I should think.” Aldric chuckled at the memory of the awkward process. “Though I must say that the corset was quite a trial. It was no wonder you had trouble breathing.”

Renarde studied him as if searching for a hint of censure or disgust. “While I am grateful for your tender care, I cannot help but wonder if it will last, once you’ve gotten what you want from me.”

Aldric brought the blade to her other cheek and carefully resumed shaving Madame Renarde. “I will have every bit of information you can give me regarding Vivian’s captor. But if you are concerned that I will do away with you after you’ve told me all you know, you can dismiss that worry. There are ways around our laws, and I am not in the business of killing those who help me or my loved ones.”

“But... I failed to protect your niece.” Pained remorse radiated from her eyes.

Aldric snorted in dismissal. “You came up against a cunning rogue vampire with powers far superior to your own. There was nothing you could do. Cast away such foolish self-recrimination. It will not help in seeing Vivian returned to us.” He reached for the snifter of brandy he’d had Jeffries bring in earlier. “Would you care for a glass?”

Renarde’s taut features relaxed as she nodded. “I cannot tell you where he is holding her. I was unconscious when he took us there, and blindfolded when he returned me. All I know is that he has a well-furnished cave by the sea.”

“And this country is an island. There are countless caves along the coasts. I doubt he is as far as Cornwall or Kent, but a vampire can range far and fast,” Aldric said bitterly as he poured their glasses. “Still, I suppose I can learn which areas are no-man’s-lands and track him from there.”

Madame Renarde shook her head and accepted her glass. “I know it is not my place, being a servant, but I would advise you to pay the ransom so that Vivian may be returned as soon as possible.”

Her grave tone gave him pause. “Do you think she’s truly in danger?

Renarde nodded. “I do, but not in the way you think.”

Aldric suddenly suspected he’d missed an impending threat. “What do you mean?”

“My profession depends on the ability to closely observe things, such as the way two people interact with each other.” Renarde’s intense eyes implored him to listen. “I’ve seen the way Rhys looks at Vivian, but that was of little concern as I also observed his efforts at restraint.”

“Well I most certainly see it as a concern!” Aldric tossed back a hearty swallow of brandy, even knowing it would give him a devil of a bellyache later. “Especially now that he has been alone with my niece for the past two nights and days. You yourself said she is in danger.”

“Yes, but from her own heart and desires.” Madame Renarde sipped her brandy with more delicacy than he had. “I also observed the way she looks at him. How she smiled when they conversed and the sparks between them when they practiced fencing.”

Aldric blinked in disbelief. “He is fencing with her?”

“Yes. He sparred with me as well. Something to bide the time, I suppose. However, with them, it was like a dance. Both share a deep passion for swordplay.” Madame Renarde sighed and took another drink. “They also read together. They’re utterly captivated with a serial story in the papers and discuss it as if they are trying to decipher the chapter of Revelations.” Renarde sighed and took a deeper drink. “The point I am trying to make is that Rhys did not act the villain with us. He has been very kind. Furthermore, while I was treated as an honored guest, he treated Vivian as if they were the best of friends, something she’s never experienced from a man in her entire life. And from what I’ve learned about her life before I came along, she’d been very lonely and never had a friend until I came into her father’s employment.”

Horror twisted Aldric’s gut as he grasped her meaning. “You think she is falling in love with him?”

“I do,” Renarde said levelly. “There is a tangible spark between them. There is something else you must know. Rhys was the highwayman who robbed us on our way to your estate. The reason he did not steal her necklace was because he stole a kiss instead. She’s fancied him since that night, but now that they’ve had time to become acquainted, I’m afraid her fancy has developed to something more than girlish infatuation.”

“Good God!” Aldric nearly choked on his brandy. Renarde’s tale was worsening every moment. “He was the highwayman?”

When Vivian had told him about their carriage being robbed that first night, he’d reported the theft to the constable, who had told him that there’d been other robberies, but assured him that his officers were closing in on the thief. Aldric hadn’t thought much of Vivian’s robbery since very little had been stolen and Vivian herself hadn’t been particularly alarmed.

Because the whoreson wooed her with a kiss, he raged inwardly.

The incident had been forgotten in the wake of her being abducted and Aldric had been an utter fool not to make the connection. And Vivian had been infatuated with the thief. Madame Renarde was right. His niece was in far worse danger than he’d previously contemplated. If Vivian fell in love with a rogue vampire, she would be tempted to allow him to Change her. “You do not believe he will Change her into a vampire?” he asked.

Renarde shook her head emphatically and sneezed. “From the way he described his life as a rogue vampire, I would say no. He cares for her too much to subject her to a possible death sentence.”

“That is a measure of relief at least.” But what if Vivian convinced him to go through with it? During the short time she’d spent under his roof, Aldric had discovered that she could be very charming. Which of course, led him to another concern, one that he’d already had before he’d learned of Vivian’s feeling towards her captor. He struggled for a delicate way of phrasing his worry. “You think they will act upon their mutual attraction, don’t you?”

“If they haven’t already.” Madame Renarde’s lips thinned into a grim line. “Which is why you should abandon your pride and pay the ransom. Many women form deep emotional attachments to men after they’ve been intimate. The longer you delay, the more attached Vivian will become. Rhys as well. A most untenable situation for the both of them.”

“You sound as if you’re sympathetic to Rhys as well,” Aldric noted with disapproval.

Madame Renarde shrugged. “I am a human with a human’s sense of compassion and empathy. I have not had the benefit of centuries of feeding on the blood of innocents to harden my heart.”

“I do not believe I deserve such talk. After all, my heart is why you remain alive.” Aldric softened his tone even as he writhed with frustration. “But I do not wish to quarrel. Removing my niece from this rogue vampire’s clutches is my utmost concern.” His hands tightened on his empty glass until it cracked. “Why does Rhys want money from me anyway? If he was already making a career as a highwayman, why make the fatal mistake of abducting a Lord Vampire’s niece for a pithy two hundred pounds?”

“Such a sum may be pithy to you, but not to others. That is ten times my yearly allowance.” Madame Renarde eyed him with scorn of the likes Aldric had never been subjected to. “But it can be salvation for others. My understanding is that Rhys wishes to give the money to his mortal relations so that they may pay off a mortgage. Much like Robin Hood.”

“Blast it, no wonder Vivian has romanticized him,” Aldric growled.

Then the companion’s words sank in. Aldric held a few mortgages in Blackpool, but only one that was going to be foreclosed in a week. He had been on the right path to begin with. If he’d only probed further...

His lips curved in a bitter smirk as the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place. “Very well, Madame. I will heed your advice and pay off the scoundrel.”

“Thank God,” Renarde murmured, and quaffed the last of her drink. “I pray that Vivian is safely returned and undamaged from this ordeal. Will you Change her into a vampire when we have her back?”

Aldric’s triumph at coming to a decision deflated as the other dilemma was once more thrust upon him. “I will deal with that matter when she is back under my care. As for you...” He gathered his powers and fixed her with his gaze. “You will forget that the highwayman is a vampire. You will forget that I am a vampire.”

At first, Renarde frowned at him in puzzlement, but then her eyes glazed just like those of the mortals he fed upon. “Forget...” she echoed.

“Yes.” Aldric focused his will on her mind. “Only remember that you and Vivian were taken by a highwayman. Remember that you are concerned that Vivian is infatuated with him. When she returns, your duty will be to convince her to put that cad out of her mind.”

“Yes,” Madame Renarde’s eyelids drooped. “The cad.”

Aldric released his hold on her mind and tried to fight back worry. The longer a human spent in a vampire’s company, and the more they knew of the secrets of his kind, the more difficult it was to banish their memories.

Renarde blinked and rubbed her head. “I apologize. I must have dozed off. What were we speaking about?”

Aldric’s shoulders relaxed slightly. So far, this was the usual reaction. “I’ve agreed to pay the ransom as you’ve advised.”

“Splendid.” Madame Renarde yawned. “I cannot wait until my dear Vivian is home. Poor, sweet girl. I vow to do everything I can to help her forget about the highwayman who abducted her. Such a dreadful affair.”

“Indeed.” Aldric bit back a satisfied smile at her lack of mention of vampires. One problem appeared to be solved. “Now you should take your tonic and rest so that you may be of help to Vivian when I bring her home.”

“Oui. I am terribly exhausted.” When Aldric took the bottle of tonic from the bedside table, she favored him with a weak smile. “I am sorry to have been so much trouble to you. Doubtless you’ve never had to play nursemaid in your life.”

“You are correct in that assumption.” Aldric grinned as he held the medicine spoon to her lips. “But I regard it as a new experience. Something an old curmudgeon like me could benefit from time to time.”

Renarde chuckled as she fell back against the pillows. “Pish-tosh. You are still a young man. Perhaps instead of finding a husband for Vivian, we should seek a match for you.”

“I am a confirmed bachelor, I’m afraid.” Some Lord Vampires took female vampires as wives, either out of love, or simply an arrangement to keep Society from pestering them. Aldric preferred to avoid that sort of complication. “Now get some rest and I shall look in on you tomorrow evening.”

“Promise me you will not treat Vivian too harshly if she has been seduced by Rhys,” Madame Renarde said sleepily.

“I promise.” Aldric extinguished the lamps and left the room.

His mental exertions on banishing Renarde’s memories had drained him. He needed to feed again. After ordering his valet to fetch his coat, Aldric went out to the seedier part of the village.

A woman’s scream boiled his already heated blood and he bolted down the alley to find a man with a barmaid pinned against the wall, a bucket of slops overturned on the cracked stone cobbles. For a moment, he envisioned the besieged maid to be Vivian, and a red haze of rage distorted his vision.

With a roar, he seized the assailant by the scruff of the neck and yanked him off the barmaid. The woman squeaked in terror at Aldric’s blazing eyes and fled back to the safety of the tavern.

Aldric slammed the man against the grimy brick wall and tore into his throat in a fury. Hot blood gushed in Aldric’s mouth and he drank deeper than he had in decades, glutting himself on the last dregs of a wastrel’s life.

When the body went limp in his grip, Aldric hefted the corpse over his shoulder and wove through the alleys until he reached the wharfs. Technically, it was illegal to kill a human, except in cases of self-preservation, but if a killing was not discovered or proven, the Elders tended to look away.

Still, shame flooded Aldric. While he felt no remorse for killing a man who would force himself on a woman, his loss of control revolted him to the core.

The idea of Vivian being deflowered by a rogue vampire infuriated him more than he’d thought. But Madame Renarde’s words about Vivian falling in love with one alarmed him even more. The companion had urged him to hurry before it was too late, but there were two more nights before the ransom was due. If the situation was as ominous as Renarde perceived before she left Rhys’s lair, surely things had escalated further now that Vivian no longer had a chaperone. In fact, Aldric had the sinking feeling that the die had been cast.

Many centuries ago, in the glow of his mortal youth, Aldric had fallen under the potent, cruel spell of love. It was not a malady easy to recover from.