Nightshade

by Michelle Rowen

  My skin crawled from where he’d touched me.

  “Disgust?” he said. “Is that what I see in your eyes, Jillian? But you don’t even know me.”

  “I know enough.”

  “For you to so willingly risk your life in order to kill me, you must feel that you have a strong sense of who I am. What did they promise you? Riches? Prestige? Did they really think I’d be so stupid as to not know what they planned?”

  “You knew because of Anderson, right?” I said.

  “I knew before I even contacted Anderson. And now he’s dead and won’t be able to make any more of the formula. Your scarred, vampire-hunting bodyguard saw to that, didn’t he?”

  Vampire-hunting bodyguard. Matthias had no idea that Declan was his half-vampire son. What would he say if he found out?

  “Where is he?” I demanded. “Declan. Karen told me he was dead.”

  “He is dead.” He cocked his head at the pain that flooded my expression. “You cared for him, did you?”

  I couldn’t speak for a moment. Grief at having his death confirmed had taken my voice. I desperately struggled not to cry. Not here. Not now.

  “I’m sorry for your loss.” Matthias moved as if to touch me again.

  “Don’t touch me, you heartless bastard.”

  He tsked his tongue. “Again, Jillian, you presume to know me when we’ve only just met. But your caution is not unwise. I don’t take kindly to assassination attempts—not by my own subjects or humans who think they know it all, even if their attempts are carried out by attractive women.”

  “I’d say you should probably get used to it.”

  A flash of anger went through his gaze. “I’ve ruled here for nearly three decades and faced many difficulties. My own people even conspire to destroy me, but it’s nothing new. You, however, are a first.” He reached forward to twist a piece of my black hair around his finger. “So much taxpayer money wasted by this little government program. Sad, really. As you can see, I am able to resist your particular charms.”

  “Not without effort.”

  “No. You’re right. Had I not already known about you, I may not have been able to resist.” He hissed out a labored breath. “But here we are, finally getting to the bottom of this little mystery you’ve presented for me.”

  Confusion pushed past my fear and grief. “How did you know about me? Anderson was killed before I even became a real part of this.”

  “I have eyes and ears on most of what Dr. Monica Gray and her team have up their sleeves. Not everything, unfortunately, but enough. I was alerted to your situation. The testing. Your pain from being exposed to the Nightshade. And finally, your flight from Silver Ridge last night.”

  “Who told you?” I asked breathlessly. I didn’t really expect him to tell me.

  His lips twisted. “Someone who is more on my side of this battle than Carson or Monica would ever suspect. Someone even you trusted enough to confide in. His reports have been given to me on a near daily basis.”

  “Noah,” I breathed. The blood rushed out of my head so quickly that I nearly passed out right then and there.

  Noah was Matthias’s inside man? How could it be? He’d seemed so genuine. So nice. Someone I could trust. He’d even told me about Matthias and the threat to human life.

  Lying scumbag.

  That little bastard was the reason Declan was dead. The reason I was going to be joining him after Matthias had finished playing with me like a cat with a poisoned mouse.

  “Just kill me.” My voice broke on the words.

  “Is that what you want?” Matthias’s gaze moved down the front of me, then he grabbed my left wrist so he could study the scar from my failed suicide attempt. “Noah made one request for his information—he had me promise I wouldn’t kill you, that you were an innocent pawn in this war. However, first I’ll see how my experiment goes and then I will decide what to do with you.”

  “What experiment?”

  “Despite what I’ve been told, I’m having difficulties believing such a formula could exist. The claims of its potency could have been exaggerated. Noah could be lying to me, for all I know.”

  Karen had reentered the room with someone else. A man with dark hair and pale gray eyes.

  “You wanted to see me?” he asked.

  “Yes, Colin. Please, come here and meet Jillian.”

  Colin approached. When he got closer, his expression changed. “Matthias, what on earth? Her scent. Who is she?”

  “A gift. For you. I know it’s been some time since you last fed.”

  Colin exhaled shakily and his eyes darkened. “She’s extraordinary.”

  “You may taste her to see if she’s to your liking.”

  I looked at him panicked. “Wait ... no ...”

  “Thank you, Your Majesty.” He’d closed the distance between us in a heartbeat and was close enough that I could feel his cool breath on my throat.

  I’d backed away from him until I hit the edge of Matthias’s desk, and tried to fight. But like it had been with Tobias, it was in vain. He captured my wrists effortlessly in his.

  “You don’t know what you’re doing,” I managed. “You can’t bite me.”

  “Look at me,” Colin said. My wide eyes snapped to his and I found I couldn’t look away.

  Then, suddenly, it was as if I was no longer afraid of anything. My body relaxed. My panic slid away, leaving a strange and warm sense of peace behind when before there had only been cold fear.

  “It’s kind of you to make it easier on her,” Matthias said.

  “I don’t want her to fear me.”

  “Fear is a tool.”

  “Not one I want to use. Not for a creature such as her.”

  It looked like it was love at first smell for Colin the vampire. I almost felt bad for him. But whatever he’d done to me had made it impossible for me to speak. I couldn’t warn him of what would happen if he drank my blood.

  He was part of Matthias’s experiment. And he was going to die.

  19

  WHEN COLIN’S FANGS PIERCED MY SKIN, IT DIDN’T bring the pain I’d experienced from Tobias’s bite. This was different—almost pleasurable.

  Again the paralyzing component of a vampire’s bite immobilized me so I couldn’t fight against him. My fear still beat its wings inside me like a trapped hummingbird, but it was far enough away that I could choose to ignore it if I wished and instead wrap myself in this nice, warm feeling.

  “You taste divine,” Colin whispered, his hands at my waist, pulling me against him. While he wasn’t as grabby as Tobias had been, I felt his unmistakable arousal against me.

  Blood and sex. More proof that vampires were unable to feed without getting turned on.

  My head felt cloudy. I couldn’t keep a thought for long. It was disturbing how good this felt, knowing exactly what he was doing to me. A dark longing filled me for a man I’d never even met before—a monster with sharp teeth and a hunger for my blood. He was making me feel this way. It was as if he’d hypnotized me to not be afraid even though his teeth were in my neck.

  Suddenly, Colin gasped against my throat and pulled back from me as if the taste of my blood had turned from ambrosia to acid.

  “What—?”

  “My apologies, Colin,” Matthias said. “But I’d heard you were one who’d been conspiring against me. Consider this your punishment for that.”

  Colin staggered back and screamed and the flames I’d seen before with Tobias poured out of his mouth. He looked terrified and confused, his gray eyes wide as the inferno engulfed him and his body burst into a cloud of fiery ash.

  The spell was broken and I was no longer under his influence. I held a trembling hand to my mouth and another to my neck where he’d bitten me.

  Matthias stared down at the ground, his jaw tight. There was a black patch burned into his expensive rug where Colin had stood a moment ago. Ashes fell to the ground like snow. His eyes flicked to me and widened a fraction.

  He now had h
is proof that what I carried in my veins could kill him.

  “Your blood is death.” His voice was barely audible.

  “Matthias—” Karen sounded upset. “It’s true. It’s all true. We need to kill her now so she can’t hurt you.”

  Davis stepped forward. “Keeping her alive even a moment longer is too dangerous.”

  “No, not yet. Take her from here. I need to think.” He glared at Karen. “And put the knife away. She remains unharmed until I decide how to deal with this.”

  “But Matthias—”

  “Do as I say or you’ll be joining Colin in his grave.”

  Frankly, I didn’t really think there was enough of Colin left to bury, but I chose not to add to the discussion. Davis grabbed me hard enough to bruise and pushed me out of the room. Karen followed soundlessly behind us.

  Once we’d gotten back to the room I’d woken up in, Davis roughly pushed me inside and I almost went over on my ankle.

  “This is wrong,” I told them. “You’re both human. You can’t let him do this. You have to help me get out of here.”

  “Shut up.” Karen went to backhand me again, but I saw it coming this time and grabbed her arm, digging my fingernails in as hard as I could.

  “Don’t hit me again, you bitch,” I snarled at her. The adrenaline coursing through my body was giving me a bit of extra courage and strength. I was tired of being abused.

  “You should know, your lover didn’t die right away,” she said evenly. “He suffered for nearly twelve hours calling for you, but you never came to him. It was pathetic.”

  Hot tears streaked down my cheeks.

  “We need to kill her,” Davis said.

  “Matthias said no,” she hissed. “And his word stands.”

  He glared at her. “For now.”

  Karen gave me a withering, almost pitying glare before she wrenched her arm out of my grip and left the room, slamming the door behind her and Davis.

  I didn’t even have to check it to know it was locked. It was a given.

  I checked it anyway.

  Then I screamed and threw things. I had lots of energy to burn off before I let myself feel anything but rage and grief.

  THE IRONY WAS THAT THIS PRISON OF A ROOM WAS A near-mirror image of where I’d been kept in Carson’s house. Different furnishings, of course, but it was the same size, equivalent to a standard hotel room with an attached bathroom.

  No one brought me food. There was water to drink in the bathroom, at least. After I’d worked up a sweat with a tantrum that only served to exhaust me, I took a quick shower. Under the spray of hot water I let myself cry as if masking this act from the universe would make any damned difference.

  Declan was dead.

  Noah had been an informant for Matthias.

  If I got another chance, I would kill Matthias. And I wouldn’t feel as sorry as I did for Colin. He’d had no warning of what would happen to him. Not even a hint that biting me might be bad for his health, let alone his very life.

  I shouldn’t feel any sympathy for a vampire. Especially one who hadn’t hesitated in sinking his fangs into me.

  However, he had taken my fear and pain into consideration. That confused me deeply. Why would he have bothered?

  I wasn’t sure how long it was before someone came for me. Maybe six hours. There were no clocks in my room nor any windows to see if it was dark or light outside.

  All I could do was wait. And think.

  My thoughts were mostly with Declan as I remembered my time with him. From trying to escape from an emotionless assassin I hated to seducing the man I’d grown to care deeply for.

  When the loss of him became too painful, I tried to think of my life before any of this had happened. Visiting with my sister and nieces. Trying to find my way in the city. The years had disappeared since college. Every day felt similar after I started working full time. I lived for my vacations. The years I’d been on the depression meds after my parents died were a blur. No excitement, or very little. No passion.

  All I knew was the moment I became interested in living again, my life was in danger of ending. It was a good example of use it or lose it.

  I was losing it. Any hope I’d had vanished little by little, every hour I was trapped here.

  So I focused on my only goal now: Matthias’s death.

  I clung to it—the only thing that could still give my life meaning. Maybe this was fate. Maybe I was meant to be injected with Nightshade. I was meant to come here, because I might be able to stop Matthias.

  My sister, my friends—they’d never have to know what I’d done. They’d never have to know there was even a threat.

  And that would be a good thing.

  The resolve that came from this line of thinking helped calm me. The tight black knot of panic and fear in my chest remained, but I was able to think around it.

  When they came for me I knew this much—it was time to act.

  Karen, without saying a word to me, directed the two men with her to take me down the hall again to Matthias’s chambers. They roughly pushed me inside and left me there, closing the door behind them. I looked around frantically, testing the door after a moment. It was, of course, locked.

  Was I alone? Why would they bring me here again? I thought they were going to kill me.

  It was okay. I’d wait for Matthias to return. I could make him bite me, even if it was the last thing I did. Or I could cut myself and jam my bloody fingers in his mouth, forcing him to drink my blood.

  The gory image actually helped give me strength.

  Then I heard it. A moan. Female.

  I warily followed the sound until I reached a room without a door, only an archway. On a large bed was Matthias and a blond woman. She was completely naked and facing me with her eyes closed. He wore pants, but his chest was bare. He kneeled behind her, one hand fanned against her bare stomach to hold her in place, the other squeezing her right breast.

  His mouth was on her neck and I could see a trickle of blood slide down to her collarbone. She didn’t move, paralyzed by his bite, but the look of ecstasy on her face told me everything I needed to know. She was a very willing victim.

  I must have gasped because Matthias pulled away from her, his gaze moving to me and locking there. After a moment, the woman collapsed to the bed, panting.

  Matthias grinned at my shock and disgust and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Jillian, what a surprise.”

  He wasn’t surprised. He would have known I was coming. Karen wouldn’t dare make a move without his prior knowledge and consent.

  He’d wanted me to see this.

  “It’s unfortunate, though,” he said, studying me.

  “What is?”

  “I decided to feed now, thinking it would diminish your effect on me. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Your blood calls to me.” He finally tore his gaze from mine and swatted the blond on her bare ass. “Get out.”

  She didn’t hesitate or argue. She rolled off the bed and, not making any move to cover herself, picked up her clothes off the floor and walked out of the room.

  “The door’s locked,” I said.

  “She has a key. She’ll let herself out.”

  “That’s convenient.”

  He smiled. “It is.”

  What was this? He’d sent his dinner away and now we were alone. I pushed back against the dread that this scenario caused.

  He might not know it yet, but he was going to sink his fangs into me in the next ten minutes.

  “You look absolutely terrified, Jillian,” he said, smoothly getting up from the bed. He walked toward me and I staggered back a step. His smile widened as he moved past me, headed instead for a table holding a bottle of wine as well as grapes, strawberries, and a selection of cheeses. He uncorked the wine and poured two glasses.

  “Here.” He handed me one glass. I made no immediate move to take it. “It’s a very good vintage, I promise.”

  “I’m not thirsty.”

&
nbsp; “Are you hungry?”

  “No.”

  “I find that hard to believe. It’s been a long time since you were brought here.” His eyes narrowed. “Take the wine, Jillian.”

  The man was intimidating without even raising his voice. His tone held restrained violence and dark strength. He was playing with me again. I didn’t like that.

  However, if I wasn’t even borderline pleasant, he wouldn’t fall for my trap and bite me. I had to be nice. That meant I had to play along. For now.

  I took the wine and sipped from it, then ate two strawberries and a piece of cheese. The food slid down to my empty stomach unpleasantly.

  “See? That’s much better.” Matthias took his own glass and held it to his lips, taking a slow sip of the burgundy liquid. “Have some more.”

  I had another piece of cheese and he watched me carefully—the little mouse caught in his trap.

  “You want to ask me questions about what I am, don’t you?” he asked. “I can tell you’re a curious woman and this is all new to you. Please, ask me anything you wish.”

  “Are you going to kill me?” It was the first question that came to mind, not surprisingly.

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “You let Colin die without a second thought.” I pulled my hair over my right shoulder and raked my fingers through it nervously. From the pained look on his face, it seemed as if the motion caused a waft of my scent to hit him like a two-by-four.

  Good. He could continue to think I was afraid he was going to kill me. Well, I was. Fear was the natural instinct for a situation like this. But it paled in comparison with my end goal.

  His grip tightened on his wineglass as he appeared to struggle with keeping his composure. His eyes shifted to black before returning to their spooky light shade.

  “Colin was one of my most trusted advisors until I recently learned that he was betraying me. Working behind my back to help overthrow me.”

  “Then I guess the bastard deserved it.”