The three slept for most of the rest of the trip, only waking long enough to take a walk or move. Jaia wasn't keen on feeding again, feeling sluggish from the amount he had already consumed and reluctantly going out to run to try and burn off some energy.
The day and night had passed and they had all needed a break, moving around stiffly and Etani doing her best to stretch.
She had found a tree and was contemplating how best to climb it when Kai joined her.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, watching as she extended her arms as high as they would go, but it wasn't enough to reach the branches. Stymied, she looked at him.
"Well enough," she said, much of her buzz diminished but not enough to make her hostile yet.
It was almost time for Jaia to need to dose her again but he was being difficult when he already felt so full.
"Good, and the thing?" When she looked confused, he motioned to her stomach and her brows lifted.
"The 'thing' is called a foetus, Kai. A baby, and it's fine," she said, turning away from his look of disgust and apprehension.
"What do you suppose will happen once you have given birth? Do you think Epharis will let you keep it?"
She went still, freezing in her contemplation of the tree bark and the possibility of climbing it that way.
"You know he will take it and leave you behind, alone and childless."
His words cut through her even though she tried to ignore him.
"He will leave you, take that child and teach it to be like him. A man who drugs his wife into loving him."
"Shut up, Kai..." she hissed, her eyes filling with tears but with her back to him, he couldn't see.
"A man who will hit her if she doesn't obey, who enjoys torturing other creatures. A man who would probably beat and torture your child!" he was shouting now and she shook her head, moving away from him.
He grabbed her arm, keeping her from escaping and turned her to face him.
"You know it's true. That thing is all he wants, you are merely the vessel in which it is being carried."
His grip was painfully tight and she pushed him back, the first tear falling down her cheek and making him pause.
She didn't say anything, only turning and running from him into the field.
He stayed behind, they both knew she was too weak to outrun them now.
Sinking into a cross legged sit, she stared down at the ground and watched a little red beetle with black spots crawling along a stem of grass. Her hands were on the top curve of her belly, the only part she could really reach.
"Don't worry, I won't let him take you," she whispered to the little life inside her, hating herself for being so weak.
After an hour or so, Jaia found her still sitting there, coming to sit beside her and looking much refreshed.
"He told me what he said, I'm sorry Etani," he said gently, dropping his arms when his first attempt to embrace her was rejected. "You had to know this was a possibility."
Extending her hand, she leant forward to allow the little bug to crawl onto her, moving on little black legs along her finger.
"Knowing something and being told it while being kidnapped are two different things," she said softly and he looked at her.
She was quite lucid but she was weak and that meant she was at least relatively harmless.
The bug tickled as it crawled along her forearm and she leant sideways, training a blade of grass in the path of the bug and lifting it away. The bug seemed confused at first, then went on its merry way down the blade of grass before suddenly bursting into flight and fluttering away.
Watching it, she tucked her arms around herself, exhausted and cold.
"Let's go back to the carriage, we'll be there in a few hours," he said, not touching her but it was clear he wanted to.
"Where are we going?" she asked, doubting he would tell her.
"Our old home, it's long abandoned now but it would be a good place to hide out while we get things in order."
"Are you going to turn me?" she asked, not looking at him.
"No Etani, I need your blood. But…" he trailed off and she knew what he was going to say. He intended to make her into his blood doll, forever craving his attention and bite for eternity.
"What did Kai mean when you said you weren't a rapist?" she asked, watching as the grass moved in waves as a gentle breeze picked up.
"The process normally takes a few months, but the process can… be sped up… through sex," he looked uncomfortable while she nodded slightly.
"So you're going for the slow method," she said, unable to fault their logic.
"Kai doesn't want to admit it, but the other way is a lot less dangerous, it's logical."
"Logical rape," she said, laughing softly.
His frown made her blink, not understanding.
"It wouldn't be rape if you had fed first," he said slowly and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"It would make you like Epharis, drugging me into desiring you."
Much to her dismay, that didn't seem to bother him all that much just then.
Pushing himself to his feet as the sky began to lighten, she reluctantly accepted his hand and stood, following them back to the carriage and climbing inside.
If nothing else, she was safe until nightfall.
***
The day passed in a haze of boredom and her own feverish withdrawals, but they were making her wait. Getting angsty, she pouted in the corner, watching them as they talked quietly.
She had become more wary of them by the hour, her hostility growing but she knew they would make their move when they were ready.
They had been forced to stop after a horse threw a shoe and by the time the man had gone to the village with the horse and returned, it was just going on nightfall again and they decided to get out and walk.
Stepping down, the man was hitching up the horse and when he noticed that the seats were back in place, he frowned.
"We will walk the remainder of the way, thank you for your service," Kai said, offering him a handful more coins.
The man beamed, jumping up onto his carriage and trundling away in the direction they had come.
It was a good hour before they reached the place. It was enormous, a square building with hundreds of windows and a large square front door that was flung wide.
Walking inside, the inside was spotless, not the dusty and mouldy thing she expected.
The hallway was tiled in black and white, the walls a creamy peach colour. Straight ahead of them was a sweeping staircase with an archway on either side. Along the hall was another two doors on each wall, leading to large dining and sitting rooms.
"The bedrooms are upstairs, kitchen is through the left arch, dining through the right. Upstairs is five rooms and two bathrooms."
Her eyes lit up at the word 'bathrooms' and she immediately headed that way, followed closely by Jaia, who was given very pointed instructions to stay out after he tried to follow her in.
She ran the bath as hot as it would go and sank in, the heat only barely touching the coldness of her flesh and by the time she got out, the water had begun to cool.
Dressing in a robe, smelling of lavender, she looked at Jaia who was dozing on a little bench.
"Over there," he said, pointing to a door and she headed for it.
Her room was small, cosy and coloured dark green and silver. She rather liked it.
The clothes that had been set out for her weren't her taste but she had nothing else and so she dressed, Jaia coming in only after she had finished and had combed out her hair.
"It's only for a short while," he said, coming up behind her. She was surprised that at least one legend wasn't true, she could see him perfectly fine in the mirror.
"Yes, I know," she said gently and saw that his eyes were lingering on her throat.
Shivering at the heaviness of his gaze, she moved away from him only to stop as he caught her arm, turning her back to him and drawing her close.
His body felt hot and she melted into it, catching herself suddenly and moving back.
"Your resistance to my blood is growing stronger," he said gently, following her even as she moved away and finally lowering her onto the bed.
"Perhaps that means you should stop," she said gently, squirming to get away from him, but he curled his fingers around her calf and pulling her back. He settled himself on his knees between hers, a small smile on his lips making her stomach twist. The man was too attractive for his own good.
"Perhaps that means we aren't moving fast enough," he countered
"We could come to an agreement, you don't have to turn me into a slave," she said and he paused, looking down at her in surprise.
"An agreement?" he asked curiously.
"A deal. We could make a deal."
"What sort of deal?" he asked, eyes narrowing.
"I feed you whenever you need it, you don't turn me or make me into any sort of blood toy or puppet," she bargained, unsure if he would go for it.
Jaia twitched slightly and then shook his head, his hands sliding up along her thigh.
"Just be good, relax and we can live happily forever," he said and when she shook her head, he let out a low sigh.
"Jaia just listen! I can arrange it so you are both allowed back into Ayathian, there will be no blame. Please, just stop..." he was listening, she knew he was but her panic was working like magic and she forced herself to calm down.
"I'll be yours, any time you need it. Any time, day or night, I'll come to you without complaint. Kai will be pardoned and safe, you will be safe," she was pleading with him now, knowing it had to work now or it would never work.
He paused, his hand going still and his eyes wary.
"Go on..." he murmured, making it clear she was on borrowed time.
"Kai and you both safe, no blame and no repercussions. Me whenever you desire it, not a word out of Epharis."
He frowned, thinking.
"Any time I want? Any way I want?" he asked and she nodded, only guessing at what he meant.
"And I want a favour out of you," he said. "One owed favour."
Fear zinged through her, a primal need to rage against him, something feral and wild like a bird trapped but she nodded and he grinned.
"Deal?" she asked.
"Etani, you can be so difficult," he gripped a fistful of her hair and yanked her head to the side, jarring her neck as he sank his teeth almost viciously into her throat. Her hands flung up to try and throw him off her, but then froze, sinking back to the bed as the deal between them dictated she would not resist.
With one hand occupied, he kept her head turned with his jaw, his free hand going down to her inner thigh and scraping his nails across the delicate skin.
She gasped, trying her best to stay calm in the fear of what he might do to her, what their deal actually meant but then his moved from her thigh and up to her hand, using her nails to slash across his wrist.
She couldn't move enough to turn away, pinned under him with her head trapped in place.
Left unable to escape, his blood dribbled into her mouth and she reflexively swallowed to keep from choking.
That familiar flood of desire hit her system and she shuddered under him, the weight of him making her insides quiver.
Releasing her face, his fingers gripped the skirt of her dress and pulled it up, exposing that she had not been provided with undergarments. His growl of pleasure made her heart pound and she surrendered to her fate