Page 15 of The Doctor and the Devil
“Are you so bored and righteous that you must assume the guilt for things which you do not control? I am flattered by your self-flagellation for my sins, Mina—it shows you still care.” He chuckled.
I couldn’t be sure if he was teasing to get a rise out of me or if it was because he didn’t want to tell me. Twenty years ago, back at the very beginning, I would have taken the bait—blushing and stammering and protesting that I didn’t care for him.I don’t care about you, I would have said.You’re nothing more than a scientific curiosity to me and a patient of my father. You aren’t even human.
How cold I’d been then.
And you’re so much warmer now,came the sarcastic answering thought. And yet, I wouldn’t admit to him that I still cared.
“The blood plague leeches across the continent because of your family’s curse,” I said coolly. “Your father tasked my father with finding the solution. He failed…wefailed. So yes, as much as it is your fault that the plague escaped the confines of your ancestral home, it is equally my family’s fault that it has not been stopped.My fault, Rafael. Every vampire and every death can be laid at my feet because of what my father and I could not do. Tell me whose blood it was.”
I folded my arms across my chest, waiting for him to answer me. Our eyes locked across the bed in a stalemate of iron wills. A lesser person would see Rafael’s stoic expression as halcyon as a marble bust, but I recognized the subtle changes that I’d long ago memorized. The dilation of his pupils, the slight flare of a nostril, the barest twitch of his lips…frustration.Exasperation. Annoyance. Hunger.
“Two men,” he finally said. “Shall I tell you about their deaths, sweet Mina, so that you can comfort yourself while you pray for our forgiveness?”
Two men.
“Oh no,” I whispered, realization dawning. I should have expected this outcome.What a fool I’d been!“Not Pascal and Hubert?”
Rafael’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly, and he sat back on the bed.
“You knew them?” he asked, somewhat accusatory. “You knew these men were the ones watching you, salivating over you and your body…slaves of the Order.” His last words came out with remarkable venom.
It offended me that he thought I was so clumsy and weak as to not notice two such stooges haunting my clinic and my apartment for weeks.
“Of course I knew them,” I bit back. “Not only do I have eyes of my own, but I’m the only doctor around for this world of monsters you created. Every vampire who came in through my clinic told me the clods were skulking around, reeking of sweat and drink and the Order’s dusty robes.”
I swallowed my satisfaction when I caught a glint of sheepishness in Rafael’s eyes. It was not enough to keep my anger at bay.
“You don’t know what you’ve done,” I muttered.
“I saved your life,” he said sharply. “Thoseclodskidnapped you, drugged you with a truly inappropriate amount of laudanum, and had every intention of delivering you to the Order for questioning.”
That caught my attention. “Questioning?”
“For witchcraft,” he said, leveling me with an intense gaze. “Because they would use you to get to me.”
“You lie! That cannot be true,” I argued. “I’ve been an ally for the Order. Yes, I knew they wanted to watch me to see if you’d come around, but they wouldn’t…”
“Wouldn’t they?” Rafael snapped as he surged to his feet. “How much do you know about the Order, Mina? How much have your friends Charlotte and Daphne told you? How much dotheyknow? It wasn’t too long ago that the Order was aiding the church in its hunt for witches. They’re still bribing, murdering, exploiting, punishing, and torturing people.”
I stared at him quizzically. “And what has your family been doing for eons?”
The specter of rage flitted across his face but was gone quickly.
“That was a long time ago,” he gritted out.
“Yes, well, it was long ago that the Order hunted witches,” I replied, getting out of bed to pace the room in agitation. “What do you care about the Order when you can easily hide from them—outrun them—outmatch them in every way? And why did you come here if you knew they would hunt you? Is it for sport? Is it because you’re bored with your life in Wallachia and your treasure trove of women and your damn castle? Is it because you’re punishing me by spreading the blood plague—infecting everyone in the country that I’ve come to love and call my home?”
I flung each question at him like a weapon, becoming angrier by the second. He stood by the fireplace, arm braced above the mantle, staring into the flames but tensing with every barb I hurled. Other than that, he did not react.
“Damn it, Rafael, why did you really kill Pascal and Hubert?”
Finally, his composure cracked, and he moved to me in a blur of brilliant supernatural speed. He grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me harshly against the wall next to the bed. His grip was firm, but not tight enough to be painful. A startled gasp parted my lips, and his dark gaze snagged on the movement. His eyes turned solid black with pupils of red, like rubies set in onyx pools.
“Because,” he growled. “They came for you. They dared to lay their hands on you. They hurt you to get to me. I should have made them suffer, Mina. God, I wanted to. I wanted to invade their minds and spear them with a thousand unique agonies until they begged me for the release of death. I should have broken a bone for every impure thought they had about you. I should have ripped out an organ for every vile word they said against you. I could have given them so much pain, Mina—you’ll never know how much.”
Horror—and shamefully, excitement—rendered me speechless. A tear slipped down my cheek, catching on the glass of my spectacle. I released a silent, shaky breath, then opened my mouth hesitantly, unsure of what to say.
“I killed them because they came for you, Mina,” Rafael repeated, his demonic eyes never straying from my lips as he bent to kiss me. “And you aremine.”
