by Jenny Frame
For all they knew, one of Victorija’s vampires could be down there, playing the part of a human and plotting right under their noses. Alexis had initially placed guards everywhere, determined the humans would see nothing they shouldn’t, but both Bhal and Byron had said it made this seemingly normal private London home look even odder to have guards on every doorway.
Now there were just two on the entrance hall, but her security cameras were everywhere. No one was going to cause a security issue on her watch.
Something else caught Alexis’s attention—the clatter of heels on the marble hallway floor. Katie had appeared from one of the downstairs rooms and walked across the floor towards one of the humans.
She hadn’t spoken with Katie properly for a long time, unless it was to do with the house or Amelia and Byron, but that didn’t mean Alexis hadn’t taken notice of her. Alexis always noticed Katie, but she would never allow Katie to see that.
Her eyes caressed Katie, wearing a tight black skirt and white blouse. Alexis studied her so much that she knew every curve, every inch of Katie. Alexis asked herself time and time again why this one petite human captured her attention so much.
She had been surrounded by beautiful women most of her long life, she’d even been on the verge of marriage to one, but none had kept her attention like Katie Brekman. Katie wasn’t glamourous—she was the girl next door with that simple, natural beauty that few possessed.
Alexis watched Katie talking to one of the painters. They were looking at paint colours, and Katie was laughing at what the painter said. She sometimes wished she had that kind of easy-going humour that would allow her to speak to Katie like that, but then her stoic personality was the one thing that protected her from getting hurt.
Then something changed. The male painter boxed Katie in against the wall and was entirely too close. Fortunately, Alexis’s enhanced hearing was able to listen in on their conversation.
“No, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Let’s just keep this professional now,” Katie said.
The painter didn’t seem to take no for an answer. “Just one drink, come on.”
Alexis could feel rage building in the very pit of her stomach.
He leaned his face closer and put his hand on Katie’s hip. Seconds before Alexis was about to explode in anger, Katie ducked out of the painter’s arms and moved away.
“Excuse me, I have to deal with something in the kitchens.”
After Katie made a hasty retreat, Alexis watched the painter laugh with his fellow workmen and make a sexual gesture towards Katie as she walked away. Alexis leapt into action. She jumped over the banister and landed on the floor as if the height had been only a step. The painter looked at her in shock.
“How did you—”
He looked terrified, just as Alexis wanted. “Let’s have a little chat.”
* * *
Katie walked down into the large Debrek kitchen. It was full of staff getting food prepared for lunch. A voice behind her said, “Cuppa tea, Katie?”
Katie turned around and smiled when she saw the Debrek executive chef coming out of her office.
“No, thanks. I can’t stay long. I’m just trying to take a breather, Dane.”
“What happened?”
Dane was a recent addition to the staff. Amelia had recruited her and revamped the kitchen. Everyone was enjoying the new meals she and her staff prepared. Dane had short shaved hair with a blue flop of hair on top. She was part human, part shifter and had come recommended by Slaine.
“Just an idiot guy trying it on,” Katie said.
Dane crossed her arms. “Do you want me to go and have a quiet word?”
Katie smiled. “Don’t worry—I can handle the likes of him. I’m just letting him cool off. In fact I should probably get back up there—thanks for the sanctuary.”
“Anytime. See you at lunch,” Dane said.
Katie walked back up the stairs. Hopefully painter Dave had control of himself by now. She was only putting up with him because he and his team did such good work. Amelia had scoured London looking for the best painter and decorator. Dave was the best, so despite his hot hands everywhere, she had to calm things down and get him concentrated on work.
She opened the door that led from the kitchen staircase to the entrance hall and saw Dave and his crew hastily gathering up their stuff. A smug-looking Alexis was standing there, arms folded, watching Dave run out the door.
What had she done? “Alexis? What’s going on? Where are the painter and his team going?”
“You don’t have to worry. They will not be back.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I saw what he did. I made it pretty clear to him what would befall him if he didn’t leave.”
“You scared him off?” Katie said angrily. “I was handling it, Alexis.”
“It didn’t look like it from where I was standing.”
“What, so you were keeping your eyes on me? Watching me?”
Alexis never answered her.
“Amelia and I searched everywhere for him. He’s the best, and now the refurb will be held up even longer.”
Alexis’s facial expression turned from smug to angry. “You shouldn’t put up with any sexual harassment for the sake of keeping a good painter.”
Katie felt hot fury burning inside her. Alexis was infuriatingly right. She shouldn’t have to take that behaviour no matter how good he was. Still, it was her decision to make.
“You should have minded your own business,” Katie said.
Alexis folded her arms. “This is the thanks I get for protecting you? Okay, the next time I see you being sexually harassed, I’ll just walk away.”
“I wish you would. You don’t need to protect me from anything, Duca. Just mind your own bloody business in future.” Katie poked an accusing finger into Alexis’s chest. “Oh, and you can explain to the Principessa why her decorator walked off the job.”
She turned and marched up the stairs trying to control her anger. Katie wasn’t a disagreeable and angry person, but Alexis always manged to bring out her inner fury.
Bloody idiot.
* * *
Byron was sitting at her old oak desk, a cigar smoking in the ashtray beside her, going through a box of papers. The Debrek solicitors in Venice had forwarded all of the Grand Duchess’s papers. Most were legal and banking documents, but one plain envelope caught her eye.
She took her silver letter opener and sliced the white paper open. What she found was a handwritten letter from Lucia. It began: If you are reading this letter, then I have passed to the other side…
There was a knock at the door. “Come,” Byron said. She was pleasantly surprised when Amelia walked in. “Mia cara, why are you knocking?”
“You might be having a meeting or something. I don’t want to intrude.”
“You could never intrude.” Byron held out her hand to beckon Amelia over.
Amelia kissed her, then leaned over Byron’s shoulder. “Are those your great-great-grandmother’s things?”
“Yes, all her papers. I found this letter addressed to me. Take a look,” Byron said.
Amelia took the letter and scanned it.
Losing Lucia was still raw for Byron. Lucia had been the matriarch and the life force of the Debrek clan, not to mention how much she was loved.
Amelia stopped reading suddenly and said, “She wants you to bring Victorija back over to the light before she destroys herself?”
Byron shook her head. That part of the letter had stopped her in her tracks. “How can she ask it of me? Why would she ask it of me? Victorija has just ripped my great-great-grandmother’s heart from her body. I want to kill her, not help her.”
Amelia sighed still reading over the letter. “She seems to think there’s still good in her. Lucia says that she failed Victorija as a child. That she should have stepped in and taken Victorija away from Gilbert.”
“She’s a bloodthirsty killer, Amelia. Her upbringing c
an’t be blamed for all her wrong deeds,” Byron said.
Amelia took her eyes away from the letter and got a faraway look in her eye. “It was strange. That day we all met in the castle in Scotland, I got the feeling Lucia knew when she walked out to meet Victorija that day that she would die. Like it was part of her destiny.”
“Hmm.” Byron knew she was right. It had felt like that. “It still doesn’t make her worthy of a chance to redeem herself,” Byron said as she pulled Amelia down onto her lap.
“I will say one thing.” Amelia placed her arms around Byron’s neck. “The first time I met Victorija, when she faked the accident to get close to me, she talked about pain and said she knew every shade of it, and I felt that was true, despite all the other lies she told.”
Byron sighed. “I always felt that if I had been unlucky enough to be brought up by Gilbert, I’d be exactly like Victorija.”
Amelia kissed her on the lips. “I don’t think so. You’re the most noble person I’ve ever known.”
Byron tapped the letter with her fingers. “I suppose I have to follow her wishes, but how I’ll do that, I don’t know. First things first, I have to find her. Since she ran after killing Lucia, Victorija has gone to ground. I’ll need to put some people on the case.”
“That’s a start. Then if you find her, you can decide what happens next,” Amelia said.
“I’ll call Alexis to come and see me. She can put the feelers out for information.”
Byron quickly dialled Alexis’s number and asked her to come to her office.
“I meant to ask—have you found anybody who can help unlock my past?” Amelia asked.
Before she died, Lucia informed her that she had witch heritage, and it became apparent that the parents she grew up with had adopted her. Amelia had exhibited some magical powers, and she was determined to learn how to control them and to find out about her real family.
“I’ve asked my lawyers to make some enquiries, and Bhal has quietly put out the word asking for any information. Don’t worry, we’ll find out about your past.”
“I need to know,” Amelia said.
Byron took her hand and kissed it. “I know, and you will. Give me time. Anyway, on to more cheerful matters. It’s your big night.”
A huge smile grew on Amelia’s face. Since leaving college she had worked in her uncle’s tailors on Savile Row, honing her craft, but when the premises next door to her uncle’s shop became available, she spotted a chance to make her dream come true.
Amelia had always most enjoyed tailoring for women, and as more women were turning to dapper suits and ties, she saw an opportunity to fulfil her dream and open a tailoring shop just for them.
Byron had handled the sale, and after outfitting the shop and recruiting staff, the opening night was here. The press, fashion designers, celebrities, and businesspeople likely to be customers were invited.
“Yes, I can’t wait.” Amelia leaned in to kiss Byron, but Byron stopped her.
She whispered, “Alexis is here.”
Amelia got up from Byron’s lap and joked, “What would we do without your super hearing?”
Byron smiled and winked. She had gained more strength than she could have ever imagined by being blood bonded to Amelia. Her very presence gave her strength and made her feel invincible. But she supposed that was only natural since Amelia was the Debrek life force, since Lucia died. She gave them strength and the ability to have children.
There was a knock at the door. “Come,” Byron called out.
“Do you want some privacy?” Amelia asked.
“No, I have no secrets from you, mia cara.”
Alexis came through the door and bowed her head briefly to them both. “Principe, Principessa, you called?”
“Yes, Duca.” Byron knew better than to offer Alexis a seat. Alexis was always on duty, always on alert. “I’ve been going through the Grand Duchess’s things, and I found this letter addressed to me. Read it,” Byron said.
Alexis scanned the letter quickly. Her eyed narrowed, and then she looked up and said, “You’re not seriously considering this?”
“It wouldn’t be my first choice, but it’s my great-great-grandmother’s dying wish.”
Alexis shook her head vigorously. “Have you forgotten what that vampire has done? She turned me, she killed some of our staff twice, and the Dreds murdered the woman I loved.”
“I understand, but we’re talking about finding her and talking things out, not forgiveness. Victorija will carry that guilt around until her last breath. In the meantime I want you to put out feelers, send out a recon team to find her.”
Byron had never seen Alexis angry before. She felt Amelia put her hand on her shoulder in support.
“This is a mistake. You can’t do this,” Alexis said.
Byron leaned forward in her seat. She understood Alexis’s objections, but she had to obey her orders. She said firmly, “Do as I have asked, Duca. I won’t ask again.”
Byron could see Alexis’s jaw flexing as she most likely was trying to not lose her temper.
“Yes, Principe,” Alexis said. “Excuse me then. I will give out the orders.”
Then she stormed out the office door.
Amelia looked at Byron and raised an eyebrow. “That went well.”
* * *
Alexis was shaking with anger and a need for blood. How could the Principe ask this of her? She stopped dead outside the room where her Anna had her throat ripped out, so many years ago.
She stood and closed her eyes. When she tried to picture her Anna in her mind, her face was blurred, and then Katie’s face floated across her mind, and she could see every feature clearly.
Alexis’s hunger for blood soared, so she got out her phone and requested a human staff member on the blood rota app.
She hurried down to the basement and cleared the security lock on the blood room door. When she walked in, she found Katie unbuttoning the first few buttons on her blouse to feed a waiting male vampire.
The scene before her felt like a dagger to her chest. Katie looked up with surprise. She clearly wasn’t expecting Alexis to be here. The male vampire, called Tobias, acknowledged her with a nod. “Duca.”
“Tobias.” She then turned her attention to Katie. “You’re not supposed to be on the blood rota.”
“I had the rota changed. I don’t want to be treated differently.”
Alexis took a step closer and said, “You are different.”
“Why am I different? You tell me why, Duca?” Katie said angrily.
Tobias asked, “Shall I just go, Duca?”
Katie said firmly, “You stay where you are, Toby.”
Katie said again, “Why am I different?”
In her head Alexis knew clearly why she didn’t want Katie on the rota—because she didn’t want to see or even contemplate another vampire feeding on her—but she couldn’t admit that out loud. So she said, “Katie, you are the head housekeeper of the Debrek household, a high position that means you should not be on the blood rota.”
Katie sighed. “Rubbish. I shouldn’t be treated any differently. The pact that the human members of the household have with the Debreks is that we offer our blood, and in return we get extremely well paid and looked after. I am no different.”
The door opened again, and Alexis’s human blood servant came in. “If that’s what you want, Katie. Then have at it. I don’t care,” Alexis said.
James was the human who had answered Alexis’s quest for blood. He got in position and unbuttoned his shirt. Alexis noticed that Katie hadn’t taken her eyes from her. Tobias moved Katie’s blouse from her neck, and Alexis was enraged watching him even touch her.
She could stop this right now, but then she would have to explain why, and she could never admit her feelings for Katie. It was hard to even say that to herself, far less outside.
Tobias’s teeth entered Katie’s neck and she gasped. Alexis followed suit and felt James’s blood flow over her tongue.
Katie’s heart pounded and her mind went back to when Alexis first fed on her. She’d wanted Alexis that day, she would have given her anything. And now with every suck that Tobias took, in her mind, it was Alexis.
She was so turned on and everything inside her wanted to scream how much she wanted Alexis, that she couldn’t stop her arm from rising, reaching out to make contact with Alexis.
Stop it. She doesn’t want you.
Then, remarkably, Alexis raised her hand to meet hers, but then at the last moment closed her eyes, pulled away from her blood servant, and wiped the blood from her mouth.
“Thank you for your service,” Alexis said to her blood servant and rushed out of the blood room again.
It was like cold water had been tipped on Katie. She was frustrated, angry, and annoyed.
Why couldn’t she just be honest?
Chapter Four
Byron snagged a glass of champagne from one of the servers. Amelia was up on a small platform giving a speech for the crowd gathered at the opening of her new tailoring shop. Models dressed in suits designed by Amelia stood on either side of the stage.
Her uncle’s shop next door was called Grenville and Thrang, and so to keep the tradition, Amelia simply called this shop Grenville, Thrang, and Debrek—For Women.
There was an excellent crowd out for the opening. Byron was pleased that their friends and a great number of acquaintances from the paranormal community had turned out tonight to support the opening of Amelia’s new venture.
Byron was so proud of Amelia. This was her baby, and she, with Daisy by her side, put her heart and soul into it. Jaunty, her uncle, had helped as much as he could too. Byron had done everything she could discreetly, but she didn’t want to be seen using her influence. Still, she made sure every fashion journalist worth their salt was there, as well as the LGBTQ media and social media influencers. Her sister Sera was entertaining one of those influencers at the moment with her smiles and chit-chat. Honestly, her sister found a woman to charm every place they went.
