by Lora Edwards
Victoria hurried down the stairs, pausing at the sound of voices.
“Fish girl, I swear being pregnant has made you more emotional than I thought possible.”
“Oh stop, Ovidia. Not all of us can have the emotions of a cuttlefish.”
“A cuttlefish? That is your comeback?”
Victoria grinned as she made it to the bottom of the staircase and moved into the parlor, finding her friends, their husbands, and their children all gathered there.
Delphine turned as Victoria walked into the room and gave her a big grin.
“Victoria! Just in time.” Delphine ran up to her friend and gave her a big hug. “I know you haven’t been gone that long, but I’ve missed you.”
Ovidia rolled her eyes as she walked up next to Delphine. “Don’t be getting misty-eyed again, fish girl. It has only been a few days.”
Delphine glared at Ovidia before turning back to Victoria.
“How are you? Armand filled us in on the opera night. You must have been terrified.”
“Terrified and ashamed. I should have been able to fight her pull.”
“That is why I am here. We’ll have you fighting like a champ in no time, and you’ll be a natural with your vampiric reflexes.” Ovidia smiled at Victoria, and she felt some of the weight on her shoulders slip off. After Armand had said her friends were coming, she’d been most worried about Ovidia’s reaction to what had happened with the countess. Her friend was a strong Valkyrie warrior, and her opinion mattered.
There was no recrimination in her eyes, no sense of judgment, just clear blue with a hint of compassion and determination.
“Thank you, Vid. I look forward to it.”
Delphine coughed. “I wouldn’t—every bone in your body will hurt. Vid is a hard taskmaster.”
“Yes, but look at you fight now,” Ovidia said with satisfaction. “I took this sweet little mermaid and made her into what a Siren should be.”
Delphine rolled her eyes again. “Whatever you need to believe, Vid.” She patted Ovidia’s shoulder in a condescending manner and wandered back to stand with her husband.
Ovidia sighed. “Seriously, I can’t get a rise out of anyone these days, what with them being happily married with babies on the way.”
Victoria laughed. “That is one thing you won’t have to worry about with me. Harass away.”
“Thank Odin I have one soul sister in this breeding bunch,” Ovidia said, a hint of a laugh in her voice.
Victoria looked over to where Teagan was trying to corral her twins. The babies had started crawling, doing everything at an accelerated rate due to their witch and dragon genes.
“Hello there, Victoria. Drake, take that out of your mouth.” Teagan looked at her friend with a tired smile.
“These two keeping you on your toes,” Victoria asked as she swept Drake and his sister, Seraphina, into her arms for a hug.
She was suddenly assaulted with images from both of the twins as they showed her what they had been doing since she left. It mostly consisted of terrorizing their parents and nanny.
They both gave her a hug and then squirmed to get down.
“Armand has set up a playroom for the kids. Do you want me to show you where it is,” she asked. Both Teagan and Delphine nodded.
“You get them settled and then change. Your first lesson begins in an hour,” Ovidia told her briskly before she and Erik went to get settled in their room.
“Teagan, Bran wasn’t able to get away,” Victoria asked, noticing that he was absent.
“He’ll be here later. He is busy with institute business. He’s still getting to know all the ins and outs.”
Victoria nodded and led them down the hall to a large open room stuffed to the brim with toys and books.
“We may have gone a bit overboard, but we wanted the children to have fun. I have spelled all the toys to be fireproof, just in case.”
“Thank you, Victoria. That is very thoughtful of you,” Teagan said.
“Delphine, there is also a special surprise for Esme.”
The girl’s ears perked up. “Surprise? Me?” Her chubby little hands clapped and her eyes lit up.
Flynn chuckled. “That’s my girl. She always loves a surprise.”
Esme giggled and pointed to Delphine’s slightly rounded stomach. “Baby,” she said proudly as she looked at Victoria.
“I know there is a baby in there, a brother or sister for you.”
Esme giggled. “Baby.”
Victoria walked to the other side of the room and opened a door. Immediately the sound of the ocean could be heard. Esme cried out and wiggled down from Flynn’s grasp. She ran across the floor as fast as her chubby legs could carry her until her feet were buried in the warm sand.
The little girl sighed as she looked out at the water. “Home,” she said, looking back at the adults.
Teagan set the twins down on the sand next to their friend. Esme looked at one then the other and pointed. “Home,” she said again. The babies nodded and crawled back into the playroom toward the toys.
Esme frowned then toddled after them. Victoria shut the door and giggled. They were really adorable.
“Victoria, Armand was under the impression that you needed help harnessing your magic,” Teagan asked as they watched the babies play.
“Yes. I know a few spells I taught myself, but not much more. It is a power I inherited from the countess when she made me, and it is not something I know how to use other than the few simple spells I have learned. It was something the countess did not want me to know.”
Teagan nodded. “Let’s start tomorrow morning with your first lesson. The children’s nanny will be here tomorrow so she can keep an eye on them while I help you with your magic.”
“That sounds perfect. Thank you all for putting your lives on hold to come here and help me. It means so much.”
“Of course, Victoria. That’s what friends are for,” Delphine said, and Teagan nodded in agreement.
“Speaking of friends, I better go get ready for my training session with Ovidia. You don’t want to keep a Valkyrie waiting.”
Chapter 25
Victoria walked into the ballroom and didn’t recognize the space. She had seen it during her initial tour of the house with Armand and he had said he rarely used the room, but it looked as if Ovidia had put it to good use. There were thick mats covering every inch of the floor, and they felt springy as she walked across them.
Ovidia stood in the center, hands on her hips. “Right on time—I like that.” She gave Victoria that fierce grin she had come to love and appreciate. “How much do you know about fighting techniques?”
“I was a maid in a castle, followed by a prisoner and ending with being a lady’s maid in the 1800s,” Victoria said dryly.
“All right then. So, nothing. That is perfect—we don’t have to unlearn any bad habits. Are you ready to get sweaty?”
Victoria smiled. Vampires didn’t sweat much as the high metabolism that helped them heal so quickly did not allow for such a function.
Victoria was ready to die the true death, either that or kill Ovidia. She wondered as she lay panting on the mat hours later if Valkyries were subject to the thrall or if they were immune. Most supernaturals were immune, but you never knew. It might have been worth a try to make the pain stop. Victoria was immortal and she was strong due to her vampiric powers, but her body was soft due to her lifestyle. Every muscle in her body ached, and she could barely move. She knew it wouldn’t last as the muscle tears would heal quickly and she wouldn’t feel what the others did in the morning, but right then, she was hurting.
She opened her eyes and saw that fierce grin she was beginning to hate hovering over her. “Ahhh, is the poor vampire tired? Are you ready to give up?” The upside-down Ovidia bounced from one foot to the other in Victoria’s vision, causing her to close her eyes or risk losing the little bit she had in her stomach.
“All right, Vid, I think she has had enough for one day,” Er
ik said from the door. Victoria thought she might be in love with the man, and if she could have just gotten up off that mat, she would have told him so.
She heard the fierce protest from Ovidia and the calm reason of Erik before a new face appeared above her. “You look like an angel,” Victoria said to him as he held out a hand to help her up. “I pledge my undying and eternal love to you,” she said as he pulled her to her feet.
Erik chuckled. “Don’t let her hear you—she has a bit of a temper and a jealous side.”
“I did hear that, and stay away from my man, vampire, or I will wipe the floor with you—again.”
Victoria moved her head an inch and saw Ovidia standing there with a genuine smile on her face.
“In my current state, it wouldn’t take much.” She smiled weakly at her friend.
“For someone who has never had any training before, you did remarkably well. I am going to have some serious bruises, and that is saying something. Good job. Same time, same place tomorrow. Make sure you get some nourishment so you heal well.”
Victoria groaned and nodded as she let go of Erik and limped to the door. The prospect of taking another beating like that the next day was not a fun one, but she knew Ovidia pushed her hard and gave no quarter to help her. She knew when she came up against the countess again, she would need all the skills she could muster.
Victoria smiled a little as she limped down the hallway. It felt good to learn to protect herself, to feel as if she would be able to defend herself and not need someone else’s help in doing so.
“Victoria, what happened? Have you been attacked?” Armand raced down the hallway and was on her in a second, running his hands over body, looking to see where she was hurt.
As pleasant as that was, she couldn’t let him be worried. “Training with Ovidia.”
“Oh.” He gave her a look of compassion. “She is a hard taskmaster, our Ovidia.”
“So I am finding out.”
“I was coming to see if you wanted to take a walk in the vineyard with me later, but from the looks of you, I’m not sure that is a good idea.”
“It will be perfect. I will feed and this will heal.”
“I have good news on that front—I had a few willing donors brought in from London.”
Victoria nodded. They would be experienced donors and it would be more transactional than her last encounter. She hadn’t the energy or the patience to cajole her food that day.
“Fresh from the source will help me heal faster, thank you.”
Armand nodded, placing a soft kiss on her lips. “The vineyard around eight?”
She nodded then continued to limp down the hall toward her room. The meal couldn’t come fast enough.
Chapter 26
She looked beautiful standing in the moonlight. He imagined she looked beautiful in any light, but it was not just her beauty that drew him to her. It was her determination, her kindness—which was somewhat rare in vampires—and ability to survive. He was very sure she was the one he wanted to spend all of his eternity with until the time when they either decided or the world decided for them that it was time to walk into the final death.
He knew she was not there yet; with all that had been going on, how could she be? He could wait. He was patient; he had lived centuries and centuries, as had she. If there was one thing he had learned from his long life, it was how to be patient.
She turned and saw him, the light from the moon bathing her face. It lit up each and every time she saw him, and that gave him hope.
“Hello, beautiful and fair lady. What brings you to this moonlit vineyard at this late hour? I have heard vampires roam these vines.” He winked at her and she giggled.
This playful side of him was one he rarely showed the world. He was the leader of the institute and a vampire. He was strong and brooding and at times dangerous and mysterious, but he also had this mischievous side of him. If he’d had a different life and children, it would have been in his destiny. That side would have played with them and told them stories, roughhoused. He could still occasionally do all of that as some of his closest friends had children and he indulged them, but there with Victoria he felt he could be completely himself.
“Well, good sir, I have heard tell of such creatures, and I am lucky such a strong and handsome man has come to keep me safe from such monsters.”
The twinkle in her eye almost undid him, almost had him spilling his feelings to her. He reined it in, though; it was too early. Instead he smiled and took her hand.
“I have heard they are not all bad. Some desire only a long walk in a moonlit vineyard with a pretty woman.”
He tugged her toward the rows of vines his family had first planted so many centuries ago.
“How are you feeling,” he asked. She no longer walked with the stiff-legged gait he had seen that afternoon, her natural grace present once more.
“I feel pretty good. Your donors are perfect, professional and unassuming. Fresh from the vein was the right way to go. It cured all my ails in a few minutes. It does give me a large amount of sympathy for those who don’t heal quite as fast as we do.”
“Delphine and Teagan were both cursing Ovidia for a few days after each training session, I can assure you of that.”
Victoria giggled a bit. “I can only imagine. She really works a body hard, but it is appreciated, as in the end it could allow me to finally get my revenge on the countess.”
“Is that what you want, Victoria? Revenge?”
“Yes.” The vehemence in her own voice surprised her. “I want her to pay for what she has done, what she has taken, not just from me but from the victims. The things I was forced to do under her reign were terrible. The things she did…I cannot even describe them, they were so awful. She deserves to pay for what she has done, and if that is revenge then yes, that is what I want.”
Armand looked at her profile, her mouth in a grim line. She deserved the vengeance she sought. He enjoyed seeing this fierce side of her, the side that was brought out by what she was. He agreed that the countess deserved to rot for what she had done.
“Do you want to give her the true death,” Armand asked softly as they walked hand in hand through the dark, still night with the moon as their only guide. It was a night for sharing secrets. It felt as if there was only the two of them in the world as they plotted revenge and possibly death.
Victoria was silent for a long moment, searching her mind and her heart for the answer, he supposed.
“There is a part of me that wants to say yes, the part that is in all of us that longs for death and destruction. It is part of who we are as nosferatu. As much as I would like to say yes and to be the one who gives the blow, there is part of me that is still, as much of our kind would say with disgust, human. Unless my life was in danger and it was a decision between her true death and mine, I don’t know if I would be able to administer it. I also want her to suffer, Armand, and giving her the true death seems in some way to be another escape hatch for her, allowing her to meet the devil.” Victoria laughed, but there was no humor in it. “They would enjoy each other, the countess and the dark angel. Better to lock her up and make her suffer, deprive her of her heinous entertainments, allow her only bagged blood and what she needs to survive—that in my mind is much crueler than the true death.” Victoria stopped and looked into his eyes, searching them for answers. “What you must think of me now, wanting her to suffer.”
Armand felt his heart hammer as he fell another level deeper in love with her. “Oh chérie, I don’t begrudge you your vengeance. You and I were born to another, harder time when justice was meted out and there was nothing of the law and the courts as there is today. It doesn’t change my opinion of you either way if you want to give her the true death or lock her away. All I want is for you to find peace, however that needs to happen.”
Victoria reached up and placed a hand on his cheek, softly pressing her lips to his before laying her head on his chest.
Armand had found
his peace; it was there in the embrace of this woman. They stood just as they were for a long time. Armand would have been content to stand there for eternity if that were what she wanted.
Eventually she lifted her head and took his hand as they wound their way back through the vines. He felt she had taken another step toward him, had bared her soul and shown him a part of herself that was secret and forbidden. When he had not balked, he had seen the look in her eyes, a look that gave him hope that she, too, would want to spend the rest of their long lives together.
A passionate embrace later, they parted for their different rooms. He knew she was not ready to take that next step with her physical body, and he respected that. He would be ready when she was. For the time being, he would keep her safe, and he would wait. When this was all over, he would let her know his true feelings.
Chapter 27
Victoria wiped sweat from her brow and looked over at the calm and serene Teagan where she sat sipping tea. “How do you make this look so easy,” Victoria asked as she again tried to perform the spell her friend had tasked her with. She had believed this part of the training would be easy, had thought she would struggle most with the physical portion with Ovidia, but the magic was proving harder than she’d expected.
“First of all, you are trying too hard. Let it come naturally, Victoria. Second, you are not a born witch but one that was created when you were turned, so your magic is foreign to your body, not a natural part of you. It is like learning any new skill—it takes time.”
“I don’t have time. Every moment I sit here learning things is another moment the countess has to hurt someone else.”
Teagan sipped from her tea and motioned for Victoria to try again. “Just imagine a bubble of protection surrounding you. It is impenetrable, and nothing can get through it.”
Victoria reached deep within herself and found the small flame that was her magic. As Teagan said, it did not flare brightly as it would in a born witch, but if that little flame was nurtured and she practiced, she could use her magic just as if she had been born with it.
