Immortals After Dark 05 - Dark Needs at Nights Edge

happiness, which both mystified and attracted him. Over his long life, that state had continually eluded him. But she had a theory why: “People think happiness will simply fall into their laps. You have to aspire to it. And sometimes you have to seize it when it’s kicking and screaming.”
    Néomi had been murdered, possessed no body, and was still seizing all the pleasure she could. Conrad respected that.
    Now she danced as if she knew by instinct precisely how to attract him alone. How to be irresistible to him. So why try to resist? Why struggle against his attraction?
    Because even if she returned his feelings, he would only end up disappointing her.
    He was improving here, but he wasn’t right in the mind by any means, still suffering from occasional rages and grueling nightmares. How would he do once freed into the real world? Would he be able to keep from drinking his foes when he was addicted to harvesting their power?
    For centuries his adversaries had been determined to discover anything he cared for. But then, that was an unspoken rule in the Lore. Immortals could be blasé about death after living so long—the best bargaining chip was revenge against family or loved ones. Yet for all those years he’d had no liabilities.
    Conrad had acquired his first. Was running headlong to her.
    He shook his head. No, his enemies couldn’t hurt Néomi, could never abduct or wound her. Maybe that was part of the reason he’d found such an unusual feeling of ease with her—because he knew he couldn’t harm her either. Even when he got free, he wouldn’t be able to accidentally injure her if he lost control.
    But how to get free? Not one of his brothers had returned since that day he tried to convince them of Néomi’s existence—the day they’d left for Mount Oblak, the Forbearer Castle.
    Conrad knew that meant one of two things had happened.
    Kristoff had possibly discovered that they were keeping Conrad alive. The second law of the Forbearer order? Kill the Fallen without measure. Just by keeping Conrad alive, they’d been committing treason. Kristoff had likely imprisoned them at Mount Oblak, vowing to free them as soon as they gave up Conrad’s location.
    Which they would never do. For all their faults, they were as loyal as men came.
    The other possibility? They’d fallen in battle. And Conrad didn’t know how he felt about that. Over the last week, he’d become keenly aware that if not for his brothers, he would never have known Néomi.
    Now that he was somewhat more rational, able to quell the worst of his rage, the thought of losing all three of them left him unaccountably troubled.
    Revealing details of his past to her had forced his mind back to better times. He’d recalled how Nikolai had bailed him out of scrape after scrape. He’d thought back to the day the four brothers had made the fateful decision to take control of their country’s defense: No one else is getting the job done. Conrad remembered being proud because not one of them had hesitated.
    If his brothers lived, he would not be able to destroy them as planned. He didn’t want to have anything to do with them, but he couldn’t kill them... .
    “Don’t you want to try the whiskey?” she asked, pausing her dance.
    “What? Yes.” He’d planned to let it breathe a minute for every year of its age. But she looked so expectant. He supposed more than half an hour would be sufficient, and the taste would only grow increasingly complex with time. He poured a dram, swirling it in the tumbler, letting it coat the glass.
    He took his first sip, just preventing his eyes from sliding closed in pleasure. “My God, that’s what it should always be like.” The taste was bracing yet smooth, the elements distinct but complementary.
    “Is it better than what you usually drink?”
    “Other whiskey or blood?” he asked.
    “Either one.”
    “It shames other whiskey—and it’s better than the blood I’ve been drinking.”
    Conrad instinctively knew that it wouldn’t compare to hers.
    “Bien,” she said, resuming her steps.
    As his gaze followed her, he wondered what would it be like to pierce her pale skin with his fangs. If she were a flesh and blood woman, what would it be like to cup her breasts as he sucked her neck?
    He had never touched a woman’s breasts. He often tried to imagine what Néomi’s would feel like from what he’d seen of them. They’d be soft against his rough palms, giving to his grasp... .
    He’d