I tilt my head up to look at him. “What do I have to do?”
“Once Mrs. Fable takes the baby away, put on your best clothes, and descend to greet our guests. They’ll be arriving in a few moments. We have to entertain them and show them to their rooms. Some will sleep while others will roam around the house.” His hands cup my face. “Be the perfect host. Can you do that?”
“I can do that.”
Richard kisses me long and tenderly.
My hands tremble when I place them over his. “Don’t kiss me like you’re saying goodbye. This isn’t goodbye.”
He hugs me and speaks close to my ear. “If things go wrong, you run to the panic room and stay there. Call Margaret and wait for backup. Don’t open the door to anyone. Not even one of us. We all know the code if we need to enter, and we’ll not press it if it’s a trap.”
“What about Susy?”
“Take her with you if you care that much about her. You’re my top priority. She’ll be informed of what’s going on. The hunter likes her and wants her safe. Protecting her was the main reason why he opted to stay and help us.”
I frown. “Wasn’t he using her to get to us?”
“Apparently, he fell for her while trying to win her over. I told you he was bewitched by her.”
“I don’t think she likes him very much.”
“Their problem, not ours.”
I step back and look at him. “I forgot to tell him that his employees are looking for him. They will call the police if he doesn’t call them back.”
“The police are the last thing I want knocking at our gates. I’ll tell Dominic. Get the baby ready. Mrs. Fable will help you.”
I kiss him one last time before he leaves.
Nine
Once Mrs. Fable took my little treasure to safety, I descend into the kitchen. Walking the corridors, Dominic’s questions reach my ears.
“I thought I was saving you if I did this.”
“Did what? Kill my family?” Susana asks.
“Aren’t you here against your will? Don’t they force you to feed them?”
“Of course not. Em saved me, and she takes care of me like no other master did before.”
“That’s the problem. You still consider the vampire your mistress.”
“We are lovers!”
“Y-you are w-what?”
“Lovers. Do you want me to spell it out for you?”
Dominic’s voice shrieks. “You like women?”
“I’m bi,” she informs him.
“So what was that thing that happened between us last night? Were you just fucking me to check my tattoos? How do you even know this tattoo?”
I open the door and enter the kitchen as Dominic fumbles in his seat. Susana is calm, drinking tea and eating cookies.
I sit on the chair next to Susy and grab her hand. “Dominic, have you called your employees? They are looking for you.”
If eyes could kill, Dominic’s eyes on our hands would turn me into a burning ember. “Your knight said nothing about Susana being one of your pets.”
“Have you called them or not?” I rephrase the question.
“I’ve called them. All is fine. No worries.” He points at our hands. “Now, how much do you want to set her free?”
I laugh at his offer. “Do you think you can afford her?”
“You brainwashed her into thinking that she’s part of your family. I have no idea how those guys fell into your trap and see you as their queen. You’re not even that great looking.”
“Thanks!”
“Can’t you just snap your fingers and break the spell you put on her? Has she been drinking your blood? Are you planning to turn her?”
“You ask a lot of questions,” I tell him.
“Fine. Tell me your price to buy her freedom,” Dominic grumbles. “I have some money.”
“From killing other vampires?” Susana asks.
“Yes, but the cupcake stores are a franchise, and they make me good money.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Really? Isn’t that just a cover-up?”
He shrugs. “I like to bake, and I’m good at it. What can I tell you?” His eyes go back to Susana. “I enjoyed baking with you yesterday. It was fun. Didn’t you have fun with me? Was it all a show?”
Susana sneers at him. “I should be the one asking you that, don’t you think?”
“The oven being broken was a scheme to find a way to be invited to the mansion.” After the confession, he exhales. “You’ve been coming to my shop for months now. I’ve been offering you free cupcakes every time. I try to make you smile, and I flirt with you.” He pauses before adding, “You’re so pretty, but you never smile. Shouldn’t you smile if you love your mistress so much?”
“My new vampire family is the only thing that makes me smile. Sammy makes me smile too. You were going to invade a house and kill us all—even the baby. I know your kind. You’re ruthless and don’t care about anyone but you.”
“My task wasn’t to kill anyone,” he mutters. Pointing at me, he clarifies, “I just had to kidnap her once everyone was busy with the attack.”
I frown. “Me! Why me?”
“I’m not in the business of killing anyone,” Dominic says, ignoring my question. “I was paid to observe and wait for instructions. I rescue people, I don’t kill them. Even if they are vampires. Not anymore.”
Fisting her hands, Susana stands up. “I don’t care.” Tears stream down her cheeks. “I really don’t care. Because of your house, my family was killed. Your hunter family stole my coven’s secret and leaked the information to the vampires. Because of you, my family is dead. My parents, my sisters, my baby brother.” She gulps to control her anger. “I hope that the one who’s paying you finds out you opened your mouth and kills you.”
Storming out of the kitchen, the witch slams the door and leaves a perplexed Dominic behind.
He looks at me, waving his hands in distress. “It wasn’t me. How long ago was that? I left because of the violence and death. You need to believe me.”
“Let her calm down.” I reach for Susana’s cup of tea and take a sip. “You should go to your shop and take care of business. Don’t you have a lot of orders to deliver?”
“Richard won’t let me leave the property. He’s afraid that I’ll double-cross you.”
“That makes sense.”
He squints at me. “How did you end up being a vampire queen to those three? From what I gathered, you were human just a year ago. How did you convince them to make you their queen?”
I lean closer with a smirk. “I give great blowjobs.”
Dominic rolls his eyes. “I thought for a moment that you’d say something interesting and you tell me something like that. You have a dirty mouth.”
“Susana likes my mouth.”
He inhales sharply and leans back in his seat. “Low move.”
Folding my arms over the table, I explain to him. “Susana is free to go whenever she wants. She’s not my pet or my prisoner. I saved her from one of the many who broke her. She was sold as a child to a nasty vampire king who did all sorts of atrocities to her.” I stop to assess his sad expression. “She’s been healing for the past year and learning to trust people. Go easy on her.”
He rubs his hands against his pants. “I just have a question?”
“Yes?”
He purses his lips before asking, “Yesterday, did you know who I was when you called to meet me at my shop? Was that a plan to kidnap and torture me for information?”
I snicker. “No. You were just unlucky. She recognized your tattoo when you were banging her in the kitchen. By the way, I’m still unsure how that happened since she didn’t seem interested in you. I had to force her to go for coffee with us.” I arch an eyebrow. “What did you tell her for her to be all over you?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing. I entered the kitchen, and I told her: this is my kitchen. She looked at me and asked: do you want to have sex?”
I burst l
aughing. “And you just said yes?”
“Do you know how many times I’ve fantasized about kissing her? You must know since you also fuck her. She’s crazy sexy with her big eyes, pouty mouth, and long hair. Her breasts fit perfectly in my hands and her…”
I get up and throw the rest of the tea against his face.
“Why did you do that?” He grabs a napkin and cleans his face.
“It seems you need to cool down.”
“That was still hot!” he complains.
“Her bedroom is on the first floor, the fifth door on the right. Just kneel and implore for her to listen to your side of the story. But remember that she’s family. She only leaves if she wants. If she doesn’t want to, you better think if you want to stay with us or disappear from town for good. I don’t care if you are helping us or not. Your baking days in this town are over.”
“Fuck, you’re scary when you talk and look at me like that.”
I smirk. “You should take a bath and change into something less…normal.” I look him up and down. “We have guests arriving shortly. I don’t want them to see you like that. You seem to be as tall and broad-shouldered as Simon. His clothes will fit you.” I walk to the door and wave for him to follow me. “Come on. Maybe Susana will fall for your charm if you look presentable in a renaissance suit.”
Dominic gets up from his seat and follows me without opening his mouth.
Ten
Richard is as gorgeous as he’s smart. Discovering the name on the bank account didn’t help, but tracking down the other payments improved our chances of neutralizing the enemy.
I cross my legs as I look at Richard sitting at his desk. “We’re sure that Cole is dead. I killed him.”
He pinches his lips. “When we arrived at Cole’s hideout, the house was empty, and there were no traces of Cole or the dead bodies. If it weren’t for you and Susana telling your version of the events, we would have no clue about what happened there that night.”
“I slashed his throat. He bled to death,” I assure him. “We went over this a thousand times already. Cole is gone.”
“He might be gone, but there’s still someone using his name to cover their tracks.”
“So, we agree on that, right?”
Richard nods. Inhaling deeply, he informs, “Our security team has all the photos of the mercenaries that were paid to crash our party. Dominic has given us all the intel he had. We know they want to create a distraction so they can kidnap you. Well, Dominic and his staff were supposed to do that, but we don’t know if there isn’t a backup plan in case Dominic failed.”
I look at my black nails with golden stripes. “Do you have any idea why they want me alive?”
“I can only assume that Cole turned you and woke up Victoria’s memories for a particular reason. It had nothing to do with nostalgia or love.”
I nod. “Cole wasn’t in love with Victoria. They had fun, but it wasn’t love.”
“Cole quickly moved on once Victoria was killed. He was always curious about my progress in finding your reincarnation, though. I thought he was genuinely interested in bringing Victoria back.”
“I may have Victoria’s memories in me, but I’m not Victoria. At least, not the version you want.”
“Em.” He places his hands on the desk and gets up. “We’ve talked about this. You’re my mistress now. Even if you don’t want to acknowledge that you might have been her in the past.”
I lean forward, tilting my head to look at him. “You love me. The new me. Don’t you?”
“Of course. You know, I do.” He clenches his jaw before adding, “I want you safe. Knowing that someone is targeting you…” He sits back and groans. “I have no idea why they are targeting you.” Resting his right elbow on the desk, he rests his closed hand on his cheek with his index finger pointing upwards. “Do you think you could access your memories and figure out the reason why they want you?”
I shrug. “My guess is as good as yours. It’s not like I can access everything at once, either. I have many memories, but nothing seems worthy enough to want to kidnap me and use me for whatever plan the guy behind the attack has.”
“It must have something to do with Margaret. You’re not an important Vampire Queen in this life. Our family is small.” He leans back and looks upward. “The number of mercenaries isn’t enough to deal with so many vampires inside our home. I get that they are here to provide a distraction but not at the expense of their own lives. There must be something that we are overlooking.”
“The party starts in three hours. Many of our guests have arrived and are entertained or in their quarters, getting dressed.” I rub my thumb on my neck and push it against my ear. “I’m tense. We should cancel the party. It’s too dangerous.”
He stands up and circles the desk. Reaching behind, his hands massage my shoulders and neck. “You look gorgeous.”
“I’m glad you like my new dress.”
His hand slides down my spine. “The burgundy color suits you as much as red and black. I had big plans to show you around and dance with you while we drank and talked with our guests.”
“I know. But you’ll be occupied.”
“Simon will stay in the party. Dominic will be keeping an eye on you.”
“The only one he’ll be keeping an eye on is Susana.”
“As long as he can be useful to us. I promised that I wouldn’t kill him, but I can’t care less about what happens to him if his own attack him.”
I glance back. “Have you investigated him? Is he a hunter or just a mercenary who saves victims from dangerous situations?”
“His information seems to be checking out. He’s known in our circles for saving humans and not killing us for sport. People pay him to rescue their daughters or loved ones from vampire families. He comes up with plans to remove the subjects or to trade them for money. Then, he delivers the subjects to detoxication centers where they are deprived of vampire blood for several months until they are ready to go back to their families. I don’t know all the details, but he seems to have left the life of hunting behind.”
“Do you think he can be useful to us?”
“I’m missing something. I know it,” he mutters to himself.
Frowning, I place my hands over his. “What do you mean?”
“I’m still not sure how they were planning to subdue so many of us. We have important guests. Many are strong vampires who can snap a guy’s neck in the blink of an eye. A few armed guys with guns wouldn’t last long before they were all killed. Dominic wouldn’t be fast enough to take you with him without us noticing. Unless we were…dead or injured.” He turns around and paces to the door. He asks, “When did the blood arrive?”
I turn on my chair to look at him. “What blood?”
He faces me. “The blood we ordered for the party.”
“Yesterday, with the rest of the beverages.”
He rubs his forehead and pinches the bridge of his nose. “A party would be the perfect opportunity to poison us. Not just us but all our important guests.”
“Do you think the blood is poisoned?” I get up. “We always order from the same supplier.”
“Yes, but we don’t order so much blood every month. Vampires will be the only ones drinking blood, while the other guests will drink wine, champagne, and eat food.” He looks at me and offers me his hand. “We need to open the blood bags and test it. Not only the blood but also the food and the other drinks.”
I rush to his side, and we move through the corridors at the speed of light.
I walk through the salon with a glass of champagne in hand and Simon’s arm around my waist. Everybody seems to be having fun. Meanwhile, I hide my anxiety with a smile and small talk as I chat with my guests and wow them with Victoria’s memories of them. They need to believe that I’m her. I make no ceremonies about manipulating their feelings to accept me as a vampire queen if that means that my knights are kept safe.
Antoine has left to another location while Ri
chard is outside with our security team, scouting the perimeters and keeping a close watch on our catering team and other helpers. All the mercenaries have been identified, but they weren’t arrested. Instead, we have a surprise for them and for our guests. My enemy hoped this was going to be a bloody Halloween party. I’m in the mood to indulge him and send him a clear message.
Susana enters the salon with Dominic following close behind her. She looks annoyed with his presence, and he looks too cheerful for someone who’s double-crossing his employer. My eyes roam down his figure. Simon’s clothes look great on him and make him blend in with the rest of us. Susana is a fool if she decides to turn down a few more fun nights with that gorgeous man.
I drink champagne as I look at Susana wearing the dress I gave her. She looks stunning in the black batwing hooded long dress. The chiffon made bat wings are stitched to the side of the dress. The center panel is made of black taffeta fabric with red floral brocade, adding romance to the design. The lace-up details on both the front and back allow to custom adjust the dress to her small frame while the boning within the bodice enhances her cleavage. My witch is stunning, and I’m sure she’ll make a lot of males turn their heads to look at her.
“Is everything all right?” Simon asks.
I smile and drink champagne. “I was checking out Susana. She looks beautiful.”
“You look beautiful too. I love that you dressed like a queen for this party. Last year, you looked gorgeous, but you didn’t light up the room with your presence.”
“I had no idea you noticed me last year. I thought you were too busy entertaining my friend per Richard’s request.”
His lips brush against my neck. “Sally is a pretty girl, but it was just a task to perform while Richard tested you to see if you were the one.”
“Yes. I still can’t explain why I chose the dress and the necklace that belonged to Victoria. Still, it doesn’t mean that I’m her. It was just a freak coincidence.”
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 191
