Dark Awakenings (Danse Macabre Book 2)

by Christina Quinn

  An hour later found us in the private room at Le fleur, Leslie was blushing the moment Tristan came through the door with Aleksi. Leslie and I had stopped at a drugstore on the way and bought one of those pink mylar balloons that said ‘It's A Girl’. We had hid it under the table. The moment they both closed the door she pulled out the balloon letting it float to the ceiling. Tristan stared at it for a moment and then his smile spread ear to ear. Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible for anyone to smile that wide nor have their face literally light up, but his did.

  “Really?” Tristan asked as he nervously smoothed his black jacket. Leslie nodded sharing his wide happy smile. “Really?” He repeated.

  “Yes.”

  “It worked?”

  “Yes.”

  “I…” He didn’t finish. Instead, he darted forward and gathered Leslie up in his arms and swung her around with her legs dangling. I looked up at Aleksi and grinned.

  Aleksi always looked good. But something about the way the light from the dangling icicle chandelier hit him made him look amazing. Just looking at him made my throat dry and all of my cares and thoughts melt away. Those electric eyes trailed the balloon before he slipped into the seat beside me planting a quick kiss on my cheek. Aleksi was dressed down, and next to the three of us looked out of place in his leather jacket, fingerless gloves and tight black jeans.

  “I was thinking about you during rehearsal,” He whispered to me before he kissed my cheek again.

  “Oh?”

  “Mhm. I think the trip will be good for us. And I do mean just us.” He pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me.

  “I’m going to be a Dad!” Tristan yelled finally setting Leslie back down on the ground.

  “Congratulations!” I beamed at them. Tristan’s reaction tickled me in all the right places.

  “I assume we’re going to be the god parents.” Aleksi snickered out.

  “Of course. Who the hell else? Do you think I’d trust anything to Colette? Serge? No.” Tristan sat down beside Leslie and draped his arm around her shoulders. Aleksi closed his hands over my waist and pressed his face against my neck. He’s envisioning the moment you tell him you’re pregnant. My brows furrowed at Miss Manners’ oddly positive assessment. Sliding my fingers over his I made Aleksi’s breath catch and a little sigh escape his lips.

  “Oh, there’s always Evan and Garrett if you don’t want to do it, Aleksi.” Leslie smirked as the waiter came in and gave us our menus.

  “I give them one more year,” Aleksi snorted. I could actually feel the smug smile that tugged the lovely corners of his mouth. I couldn’t see it but I could just feel that arrogance rolling off of him in waves.

  “A year? Why? They seem completely smitten with one another,” Leslie asked as she sipped her mineral water.

  “The cracks are starting to show. Both of them are frustrated. The reality is they need someone between them to balance them out. The only problem is they have bad luck choosing their third. Evan wants Autumn, and Garrett wants Nikolai. With Autumn off limits and Nikolai not interested in men they’re fucked. It might even be sooner, but my inner romantic wants to give them a year.”

  “You? There isn’t a romantic bone in your body, Aleksi.” Leslie scoffed shaking her head. “I take that back, you have a romantic face. But other than your face… nothing.” She stuck her tongue out at him and a little unhappy noise rumbled Aleksi’s throat.

  “No, he’s capable of romance, Poppet,” Tristan chided her before placing a quick kiss on her jaw.

  “Oh? Then why haven’t he fucked Autumn since they found her?” Oh god no, the Leslie Inquisition. She narrowed her eyes at Aleksi. I opened my mouth to say that I told her it in confidence, but I closed it without a word. It was Leslie, I knew there was no point in trying to yell at her over it. Instead, I sheepishly stared at that white linen table cloth.

  “I don’t know. It could have something to do with the fact that she was held hostage for a month and weighs all of two pounds when wet right now. And then there’s the night terrors, so no. No, I haven’t fucked Autumn. Do you have any idea how mentally trying being held against your will like that is?” Aleksi twitched his head to the side. Leslie opened her mouth and closed it. “No, you wouldn’t because your entire fucking life is all rainbows, sparkles, Pointe shoes and happy fucking unicorns dancing in moonbeams.”

  “I was shot last year, genius! Or did you forget that I almost died!” Leslie yelled, picking up a roll from the table and throwing it at Aleksi’s head. He caught the offending pastry and set it on the table in front of us.

  “That isn’t the same. Your ordeal was over in a minutes. A gunshot is…”—He snapped his fingers—“And then a hospital visit and recovery. What she went through she’ll carry with her for the rest of her life. It won’t be some cute little scar she’ll look at from time to time that reminds her of her mortality. What she went through will loom over her for the rest of her life. She will never completely recover. Trust me. I still haven’t recovered from what I went through and it was only six days and almost two hundred fucking years ago.” He was tense at my back, and as he spoke I realized he was right.

  I looked up at Aleksi, and the movement caught his eye. All of the anger bled from his face when he looked down at me and he wrapped his arms tighter around me.

  “Oh, they’re back to sending me invitations to the grand prix.” Tristan interjected. The Grand Prix was a dance competition held every year. The biggest dance companies in the world sent representatives to offer contracts and scholarships to the winners.

  “Really? Are you sending someone?” Aleksi seemed skeptical.

  “We don’t need new dancers at the moment, but… it wouldn’t hurt to give out a few scholarships. It’s not like we can’t afford it.”

  “Fatherhood effecting you already?” Aleksi laughed out, leaning his head against my shoulder.

  “Maybe.” Tristan grinned. “We can’t all be as heartless as you.”

  “I’m so hurt.” Aleksi retorted flatly.

  “Can’t we all j-just calm down?” My words made Aleksi sigh and rub my side. “Shouldn’t we be happy? Celebrating?” They’re worried about how it’s going to go at the wedding.

  “Tristan is happy, that’s all that matters.” Leslie practically sang.

  “I’m always calm,” Aleksi asserted letting me go. I moved to sit back in my chair and the waiter returned. We ordered and the night continued afterward the way I had initially expected it to. However, under the current of joy and playful banter over Leslie’s pregnancy was a certain tension that made me uneasy.

  19

  BLISS?

  THERE WAS A PALACE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE in the Romanian countryside. After the sixteen hour flight and four hour drive it sprung up on the horizon like some glorious glittering gem. In reality it didn’t actually glitter or shine and from the outside it seemed more like a massive fortress of stone. It wasn’t as large as Crimson Hill or Versailles but it was still fairly large. Trailing behind our black limousine was a line of others. Apparently every important vampire had been invited. Every Patriarch and Matriarch, every Prince and Princess and Master, as well as every Council Member. Every important vampire across the entire world had been given an invitation. Judging by the line of that preceded our arrival, I couldn’t imagine there being any space at all. Because there’s no such thing as a basement right? My lips twisted and I glanced at Aleksi who was staring blankly out of the window. Nikolai however was the opposite, his lips were parted as he practically gapped at the large looming stone building we quickly approached.

  “Colette and Evan are performing tonight, in Elizabeta’s honor. I’m not going, if I you want to go have Nikolai accompany you,” Aleksi spoke, turning his attention to me.

  “I don’t think I will. W-why aren’t you?” My words were met with a supremely unamused look. Oh, you know why. He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t the best opportunity to get Vlad to peacefully step down.
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  “Tomorrow is the rehearsal dinner. We’re meeting Estella and the others after,” Aleksi continued almost completely ignoring my question. “Also, you’re to be completely nude in underground levels. Vlad was adamant about all of the old rules applying.”

  “O-oh.” My lips pursed. “But not during the wedding?”

  “No, not during the wedding. But during the reception…and the rehearsal dinner. You won’t be seated but kneeling on a cushion like before and our rooms are in the lower levels. You’ll be expected to be nude there as well, but there will be a robe for you in my color.”

  “So I’ll be n-naked the entire time?”

  “Yes,” Aleksi answered me with that typical shortness. Something about that simple word made me press my knees tightly together as I felt that warmth spread from the apex of my body. It was funny how that one little word could make me melt. It wasn’t the word so much as the way he said it. The thought clearly pleased him greatly, a little smile snuck across his lips and didn’t fade. “You’re blushing.” He purred after glancing to me. My eyes fell to the carpet of the limo as my teeth sunk into my bottom lip.

  “D-does this mean you’ll… you’ll…” I trailed off and blushed. I couldn’t bring myself to say it for some reason. It’s too late to turn back now. Just say it ‘Does this mean you’ll fuck me?’ You’ve shared a bed with two men at once. It’s a little late to play the shy and innocent card.

  “Say it.” Aleksi commanded, his voice drawing my eyes to those sensuous lip. Suddenly my lips and mouth felt dry and with a swallow I gathered the courage to say those words.

  “D-does—” Nikolai coughed drawing my attention and making me flush dark red. I had forgotten about him. Here he was an arm’s length away and Aleksi made me forget all about him with a few simple words. My blush deepened and I let my hazel gaze sweep over Nikolai who was no longer focused out of the window but rather staring directly at me. My fingers nervously fanned through my hair and I let out a trembling breath. The hours of travel had taken their toll and my curls were falling into loose waves I was self-conscious about my appearance sitting across from two perfect Adonises. My fingers smoothed over my black suede skirt, and I tugged up my knee high boots. My eyes went to my reflection in the glass and I smoothed my lip line corralling the bright red cream into place. I looked passable in my eyes, and as a rarity, Miss Manners was silent as I straightened my coat tying the belt a little tighter. I seemed to always be cold now.

  The limo stopped, the driver got out and opened the door. The three of us filed out into the brisk winter chill. My body shivered violently at the nip of the wind against my knees and exposed flesh. There seemed to be no escape from the cold, not even when we entered the palace. The moment we were through the door Aleksi took my coat and I felt exposed in so many ways. There were vampires milling around and the moment my pulse hit the open I could feel the attention shift to me. My fingers toyed with the buttons at the wrist of my blouse, the little pearls were freezing between my fingertips. Everyone appeared to pause what they were doing to look at us. The silence that enshrouded the corridor was uneasy and the clacking of my heels on the ornate black granite and gold floor just seemed deafening as we made our way to the elevator. Aleksi’s hand closed around mine and my body relaxed against his as the doors opened.

  Inside the elevator had eighteen buttons, I couldn’t help furrowing my brows as I contemplated how big the mansion really was. On the surface it seemed moderately large, but with the addition of eighteen floors below and two above it seemed massive. However, it would have to be to house so many vampires. Aleksi hit the button for the seventh floor and the elevator whisked us below ground.

  The differences between above and below ground were stark. Above ground everything had that old world opulence, big windows, high ceilings with frescos and all of the gilded pomp and circumstance one would expect in a house of someone considered a head of state hundreds of years ago. Below, however, was much different. Everything was modern and bright. The corridor we walked down was dark with chic industrial looking gray burnished metal panels and a dark floor with lights that ran above and below. There was something about the hallway that made it feel like it went on forever. The only adornment on the walls were room numbers that appeared every so often. The doors themselves were flush with the wall giving the illusion of them being hidden. We walked for a while and turned a corner before Aleksi took a card out of his wallet and stuck it in what looked to be a slot in the wall. The door beeped, clicked and opened inward revealing a massive living that was all black and white with that bright shade of red as an accent color.

  In the middle of the room a large black glass coffee table dominated, in the center of it was a small rectangular vase full of red and white roses. The walls were stiflingly dark, and the furniture that surrounded that black glass table was boxy and white leather. Two large couches full of red and white pillows lit from above by those tiny little circular lights recessed in a black drop ceiling that looked to be large panels of polished stained wood. Beside the table was one of those open fire places where the flue was just an overhanging wall which was white. Midway up the wall was a large television. It seemed very much in line with Aleksi’s tastes.

  “The room on the left not full of toys is yours, Nikolai.” Aleksi spoke without looking up at him as he walked over to the kitchen area and opened the fridge, retrieving one of the canisters of blood and a glass. He glanced up at me, “Are you alright? You look freezing.”

  “I’m alright.” I smiled at him and he snatched my coat off of the counter where he had laid it. Before I could protest he was draping the heavy red wool over my shoulders.

  “You’re a horrible liar, Autumn Darling.” He kissed my cheek and returned to the counter and that canister of blood. I rubbed my neck where he usually fed from me. There wasn’t so much as a scar it had been so long since he fed from me. I missed that feeling of closeness, and the sensation of his teeth sinking into my flesh.

  “When are things going to go back to normal?” I asked pulling the coat tighter around me.

  “Are you ready for things to go back to the way they were? I’ve been through something similar. I know it takes time to heal mentally more than anything. They told me you were chained up for a few weeks and then cuffed to a bed for the rest of the time. You haven’t really spoken about it, and I don’t want to push you.”

  “Do you want me to talk about it?” I furrowed my brows, and he sighed out a little frustrated noise. He didn’t answer me until he had drained a glass of blood. When he had finished and his teeth were pink, he set the canister in something that looked like a wine fridge but I could feel the heat coming off of it when he opened the door.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I…” I shook my head.

  “Autumn.” He chided me with a sigh. “If you’re not ready to talk about it, that’s fine. I’m not going to push you. I’ve had a similar experience so at least I know not to attempt to try and fix you. I know there’s no fixing it. I’m patient enough, and I love you. So when you’re ready… I’ll be here.”

  “So you won’t… until I can talk about it?”

  “If you can’t talk about it, you’re not going to want me to tie you up. You’ll freak out and I don’t want to feel you flinch from me. If you’d like to be vanilla for a while, I’ll be gentle with you. But you haven’t touched me and you’re hesitating. What’s the saying… the ball is in your court.” He smirked.

  “Why didn’t you come get me?” The question brought tears to my eyes. It had been a few weeks and I hadn’t been able to ask it until now. He wet his lips and walked over to me, and wrapped his arms around me.

  “It wasn’t for lack of trying. I tried. I found Wyatt not two hours after you went missing. Colette and I tortured him for days and he gave us nothing before he died his final death. Vlad refused to help me, I went before him and bared my throat begging for forgiveness and assistance. He rejected me. Then I found out w
here Gregory was, he moved by the time I got there. I found nothing but a handful of Sun Cross humans and none of them were any help. Nikolai went to the police day one about it, but we didn’t hear from them until the second week. They told me about the others, how the Sun Cross had been abducting people since the day of the big attack. I never stopped looking for you, but the Sun Cross is a wall, and to them I’m… the anti-Christ. None of them would tell me anything. The police found you because a photography student at the university was testing out a new lens and snapped a picture at random. The guy saw something funny in the photo, zoomed in on it, and that something funny turned out to be someone covered in blood, screaming in agony. He turned the photo over to police and the next day they went in. I tried but I failed you. I don’t know why they took you, and that bothers me. But I know why Vlad was there…” He trailed off and held me tighter. “Vlad didn’t break the Sun Cross before… he culled it. My whole life I’ve realized that there are always two sides to everything. The public face and the private face. Publicly Vlad opposes the Sun Cross… privately he’s sympathetic to them.”

  “Maybe Vlad had them take me to punish you?”

  “No. Vlad didn’t know they had you until a handful of days before the police found you. I don’t think Vlad knew what they were doing either. I thought they took you to get back at me, but that wouldn’t explain why they dosed you with Vaxilphan.”

  “Maybe they were looking for the Seer?”

  “No, I don’t think they were. Wyatt would have told them. I think they were looking for a mortal who could break vampiric ties like you can. Only Vlad outside of Nikolai, you and myself know you can do that. It’s a very rare talent. I’m going to ask Byron about it at some point while we’re here. If anyone would know it would be him or Estella.”