In the Company of Vampires(30)

“Just when you think your heart can’t break any more,” I said wryly, the pain that lanced through me at her words now a familiar sensation.

“Oh, Fran, no! I did not mean that!” She took my hands, her fingers tight on me, tight enough that I winced at the glass tester bottle I still held as it dug into my palm. “That Naomi, she is not the one for Benedikt. He could not have replaced you with her in his affections. He could not!”

It sounded like she was trying to convince herself of that more than me.

“It doesn’t really matter anymore,” I said, and would have bared my soul to her, but at that moment, the tattered remains of my heart clumped together just in order to fling itself around inside my chest. Imogen turned and swore under her breath as she looked with me to where a couple was strolling past the booth. My fingernails dug through my gloves into my palms. Naomi, catching sight of us, pulled Ben to a stop, and with deliberately slow motions reached up to first brush back a bit of hair off his forehead, then stroked her hand down his chest, wiggling her hips into his as she gazed up at him. “Benedikt, would you like something from the little witch’s booth? You don’t need a love potion, but perhaps something else? She looks like she could use the money.”

Ben’s eyes were black as midnight as he looked over the top of Naomi’s head to me. I forced my face to adopt a placid, unruffled expression that I prayed conveyed no interest whatsoever in the fact that Naomi practically had her hands down his pants right there in front of everyone. He shook his head.

“What’s that?” Naomi cooed. “You don’t want anything you see? Nothing whatsoever?”

“Oh!” Imogen said, outraged by the show Naomi was putting on. “Benedikt, I insist that you stop this! You don’t know what you’re doing!”

Ben’s jaw flexed. He shook his head again.

Naomi laughed and tossed back her hair before she put both hands on his butt and licked his chin. “On the contrary, he knows exactly what he’s doing. Darling, you are sure there’s nothing the witch has to offer that you want?”

“No,” he answered, the word piercing me like an arrow. “There’s nothing there I want.”

“I thought not,” Naomi said with a smile at him as she stroked his chest.

“That . . . that . . . oh! I’m not going to stand for this!” Imogen said, starting forward, her hands fisted.

“Why bother?” I said loud enough that my voice carried over the drone of the people packed in the main aisle. I held Ben’s gaze, proud that I could speak without so much as a tremor in my voice. I was angry now, both at myself and at him. While I had been the one who had broken things off, I had never flaunted myself with another man in front of Ben. I’d never told him how much I was looking forward to dating other men. I’d never allowed another man to fondle me in front of him.

No, Inner Fran said bluntly. You just let the man believe you didn’t want him.

I closed my eyes for a moment against the guilt that swamped me, fighting it and the pain until I could speak. “Don’t bother, Imogen. People have the right to make their own choices. Ben has made his.”

Imogen spun around to stare openmouthed at me. “You’re not going to tell Benedikt what you think of this?”

“I believe I made myself quite clear the last time we spoke.” I kept my eyes on Ben despite the pain of it all. It was a suitable penance. “I hope he knows that I’m . . .” I couldn’t say the word. I just couldn’t. My fingernails dug even further into my palms. “. . . happy he’s found someone.”

Naomi turned a self-satisfied smirk on me as she rubbed her butt against Ben’s hip. “How very sweet. Come, lover. You can help me with the piercings tonight.”

By the stars that lit up the night, I was going to keep my expression from showing Ben just how devastated I was or I was going to die trying. As Naomi walked past, pulling Ben by his arm, my fingers tightened until the vial of happiness broke, sending hot little spikes of pain into my flesh.

“Son of a basket weaver,” I swore, opening my hand to find blood seeping through the gloves. Ben, almost beyond the booth, froze for a moment and glanced back at me, but Naomi jerked his arm, and with one last unreadable look, he followed.

“Did you cut yourself?” Imogen exclaimed, hurrying over to pick tiny little fragments of glass from my hand.

I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. The oddest emotions were swirling around inside of me—fury and pain in a tight little core, all coated with happiness from the introduction of the potion into my bloodstream. “Yes, I did. Isn’t it glorious? Look! I’m bleeding all over the place! Ben has broken my heart, left me for another woman, and destroyed my entire life. It’s all so wonderful, I could dance!”