Crimson Vengeance

by Sheri Lewis Wohl

  Ivy put a hand on her shoulder. “Riah, you don’t owe us anything. Besides, whatever it is, we’ll understand.”

  Her stomach rolled as she took a deep breath. “I doubt it.”

  Both Adriana and Ivy were incredible women. They were smart, dedicated, and understanding. What she was about to tell them would stretch even the most understanding of people. She’d tell them the whole ugly truth. It was time to stop hiding.

  “Don’t sell us short,” Adriana said as she knelt next to Riah and took one of her hands. “We’re all in this together.”

  For the first time in many, many years, tears formed in Riah’s eyes. She took a deep breath and plunged forward. “My name isn’t Riah Preston.”

  *

  At the base of the steps, Colin paused. Time was running out and it wasn’t a good idea to spend any of it here. Yet he didn’t seem able to walk away. He ran a hand through his hair, then started to climb past the statues and toward the huge carved doors. Our Lady of Lourdes was carved into the granite over the entrance.

  He could use the Lady’s wisdom tonight. If little Bernadette Soubiroux could go searching for firewood and encounter the Blessed Virgin Mary back in 1858, why couldn’t he when searching for enlightenment?

  In the far back and close to the exit, he slid into a pew. For a minute he simply sat there with his hands folded. Though he felt peaceful, nothing else filled him.

  Colin sighed and lowered the kneeling board. On his knees, he rested his head on his hands. “Give me something, God,” he whispered. “Show me the way.”

  Footsteps fell lightly in the quiet. Colin raised his head. A priest walked his way, tall and smiling, his sandy hair cut short and close to his head. The man wasn’t much older than Colin.

  “Welcome.” He extended his hand. “I’m Father Jason. Is there something I can help you with?”

  Colin shook the offered hand. “I don’t think so, but thank you.”

  Father Jason studied him closely, and the scrutiny made Colin want to squirm.

  “You’re a hunter,” Father Jason said as he sat in the pew next to Colin.

  The surprise brought Colin up from the kneeling board. “Excuse me?”

  “A hunter,” he said patiently, as if talking to a small child.

  “You know?” Colin sank slowly to the pew again.

  His blue eyes were earnest. “I could lie and say I’m all-knowing, except I’m not. I’m a simple parish priest. The truth is, Monsignor called me earlier and told me to expect you.”

  “How?”

  “I said I’m not all-knowing. I didn’t say Monsignor wasn’t.”

  Colin leaned back and shook his head. “Impossible.” Yet it wasn’t. Monsignor possessed the most uncanny ability to understand what people needed even before they knew it themselves. He’d been proving that to Colin for a great many years. Today was no exception.

  Father Jason laid a hand on Colin’s arm. “He said you’re having a crisis of faith.”

  Colin shook his head slowly. “Not exactly. Faith isn’t the problem right now.”

  “No?”

  “No. It’s everything else.”

  “I have time,” Father Jason told him.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t.”

  Colin stood and started to move out of the pew. It might be nice to talk to the man, but he was tempting fate as it was by stopping. Destiny was out there, and until she was taken down, no one was safe. He had to go. His personal struggles would have to wait for another day.

  Father Jason’s voice followed him as he walked back toward the doors. “Recall the words of Psalms 85:10-11. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.”

  At the door Colin stopped and looked back to the priest who stood at the end of the pew, his hands folded. It was as if the man could read his mind. He met the priest’s eyes, nodded, and left.

  All the way to the morgue, those words rang in his mind. If only things could be easy. He’d been in numerous battles and not one had filled him with such chaos. Tonight, it was all about taking Destiny down. If he concentrated on that one goal, everything else would work out…he hoped.

  The gate was unattended when he arrived at the PSB, and any other time he would find it suspicious. Nothing was ordinary at the moment, not even security. He drove through and parked his car.

  Inside he followed the low murmur of voices and slowly pushed open the doors to the autopsy suite. Riah, Adriana, and Ivy stood talking. He glanced briefly at Riah and Adriana, his gaze coming to rest on Ivy. She didn’t look at him.

  He forced his attention away from Ivy to concentrate on what Riah was saying and was shocked. The last thing he expected to hear coming from her mouth was the truth.

  Colin stepped farther into the room until he propped himself against a cabinet with his arms crossed over his chest. “Catherine Tudor,” he said, his deep voice echoing in the large room.

  *

  At the sound of Colin’s voice, Riah snapped her head up. “How did you know?” She honestly believed the truth of her true identity had died hundreds of years ago.

  “I wasn’t sure. Not until this morning.”

  “Your superiors with their archives and their vault full of secrets?” Even though she believed her identity was lost to the ages, at the same time she didn’t underestimate the resources of his church.

  It was Colin’s turn to nod. “We’ve known for a good many years of your existence, we just couldn’t find you. You’ve done a very good job of hiding in plain sight.”

  “It’s been my dirty secret for nearly five hundred years and, frankly, I’m tired of it. My whole life, both as a mortal and as a vampire, has been nothing but lies. I don’t want to lie or hide any longer.”

  Adriana stroked Riah’s head. “I don’t believe that. Maybe your name is a lie, but your heart isn’t. I’ve never met anyone as honest as you.”

  Riah wiped tears away with the back of her hand. “Just another deception, Adriana. Sad but true. It started from the moment I was born. My father, my birth father—King Henry VII—didn’t want me. The queen was gravely ill and there I was, a puny little girl. I was exactly what he didn’t want, especially if the queen was to die. If I’d been a boy, things would have been much different.”

  “I’m no history genius,” Ivy said, her forehead creased in concentration. “But I don’t remember Henry VIII having a baby sister.”

  Riah nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s because I supposedly died at birth. If you go back into the history records, my father sent a message to his people about the sad passing of his infant daughter. It was all very formal and very much false.”

  “So how…” Adriana tilted her head and studied Riah.

  “Father used me as ante in a card game. A fine Lord, one of my father’s trusted confidants, won the hand and a baby girl. His Lady desired a child and couldn’t have one of her own, so voila, I was bundled up and smuggled out of the castle to be raised as the daughter of the Lord and Lady.”

  “That’s fucked up,” Adriana said as she stroked Riah’s arm.

  Riah barely felt the touch of her lover’s hand as she began to speak slowly. “It was all fine until I turned seventeen and Mother died. Once she was gone, my adoptive father was less than interested in his daughter. He’d cared enough for his wife to provide her with a child, but he cared nothing for me. He’d keep up appearances only because of his agreement with King Henry. If not for what happened the night Rodolphe turned me, I’d have been married off to some old geezer and out of his hair for good. Either way, it worked out for Father because I was gone. My so-called death didn’t send him into mourning.”

  “What happened?” Colin’s question was soft, without the hard edge she expected.

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Honestly, she didn’t want to remember. For five centuries, she’d embraced a self-imposed amnesia
, though the ploy didn’t work well and too often the memories assaulted her anyway. Not once had she ever told another living soul what happened to her or to Meriel.

  Times change. People change, and it was past time for her to change. She began to talk. “Meriel, that is Lady Meriel Danson, my best friend…my lover, and I were in the back of the carriage. We were on our way home from a ball held at the country home of Lord Clifford Savard. It had been a glorious party, and both Meriel and I were very popular. You must understand, we were at the most desirable age and at the height of our beauty. I remember dancing and laughing, and leaving the party happy. We’d made love in the carriage and then I fell asleep. I awoke when the driver brought the horses to a stop, and after that everything happened in a blur.”

  “You were attacked.” Colin wasn’t asking a question this time.

  Riah nodded. “Rodolphe.” His name tasted bitter on her tongue.

  “I know of him,” Colin said thoughtfully. “Destroyed sometime around the time of the American Revolution. Not a nice man either before or after he was turned. Cut quite a bloody path through Europe.”

  “Your records are accurate,” she told him. “Rodolphe was a cruel man in life and merciless in undeath. But he was beautiful and persuasive. He made you want to be with him. I was just as susceptible to his charms as any other woman or vampire, and I wasn’t into men, if you get my drift. Do they mention me at his side?” Riah asked quietly.

  Adriana gasped and her hand tightened on Riah’s arm. “No.”

  “Yes,” Colin said.

  “I’d be surprised if I wasn’t part of your records on Rodolphe,” she said to Colin, though she looked up to meet Adriana’s startled gaze. It was difficult to look into Adriana’s eyes and bare her soul. It was equally difficult not to. Adriana deserved to know the truth, even as ugly as it was. The woman Adriana professed to love didn’t really exist, and it was only fair to give her the straight facts.

  Riah covered Adriana’s hand with hers. “I was everything the legends make a vampire out to be. Bloodthirsty, cruel, and relentless. I was the monster my brother intended me to become and Rodolphe molded me into.”

  “Your brother?” Colin blinked, a shocked expression on his face.

  She raised an eyebrow. It didn’t surprise her to know they’d managed to uncover everything about her history, including her blood relationship to Henry VIII. Despite her biological father’s attempt to keep the truth of her parentage a secret, even back then, rumors persisted long after his death. It would have surprised her a great deal if they knew of the connection her brother had with Rodolphe. She very much doubted anyone still alive knew how her brother was involved with her transition from life to undeath.

  “Your research missed that little tidbit, didn’t it?” she asked.

  Colin gave her a curt nod, a slight frown on his lips. “I’d have to say yes, since I’m really not sure what you’re telling us. What did Henry have to do with you and Rodolphe?”

  Riah explained. “My older brother, who sat on the throne after the death of our father in 1509, discovered the whole dirty secret of my birth not long before my fateful carriage ride. Let it suffice to say, he wasn’t pleased. Not only did he not want yet another sister, he also didn’t want to have to deal with the ramifications if the unsavory secret of my birth was known. I think big brother was quite worried my adoptive father intended to send me back to the royal family if he couldn’t secure a proper husband for me. Brother dear wasn’t about to allow that to happen. Henry, I was to find out much later, possessed secrets of his own, including a friend who just happened to be a handsome vampire.”

  “Rodolphe?” Ivy asked.

  Riah continued, keeping her voice calm. “I was set up, and Meriel, the true innocent in all of it, was caught in the crossfire. It didn’t quite go down like Henry planned either. I was the one who was supposed to die, not Meriel. Rodolphe’s agreement with Henry was to kill me and keep Meriel as his prize. Of course, I only learned of these things much later. The night I was turned, I still had no idea I was the daughter of a dead king and sister to the reigning king. Shortly afterward, I discovered the truth of my birth and that I was, in fact, a princess. Even then, it was a long time until I learned all of the truth. Until Rodolphe shared the details of his deal with my brother, I believed I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Oh, Riah, how terrible for you.” Adriana put her arms around Riah and hugged her tight.

  The comfort Adriana offered was irrelevant at the moment. Her emotions were still wrapped around the betrayals so prevalent in her life. Riah didn’t really like to think about those days. Not about what she lost, not about what she learned about her real identity, and certainly not about what she ultimately became. She blamed Henry for setting it all into motion, even if she couldn’t blame him for all she became afterward.

  She could fault Rodolphe for leading her down the awful path if it weren’t for the fact she went willingly. Even more, she’d followed him joyfully. At least in the early years. The discovery of immortality and the power it provided was beyond exhilarating. The feelings it invoked were indescribable.

  Rodolphe didn’t force her to embrace the darkness; he simply encouraged her. It was freedom like she’d never experienced before. Certainly there were limitations and she learned to be very careful. Still, it was so much more than her role as a young, rich woman ever could have given her. Intoxicating. She took his gift of darkness and didn’t look back for a very long time.

  Riah made her own choices back then, and she had to live with the consequences of her actions even now. She had little to be proud of in those days. All she was left with once she moved beyond the dark life was the will to make amends. She wanted to set her karmic scale back into balance.

  But, no matter how many years passed or how far she ran, Riah couldn’t escape her past. The scales would always be tipped, and not in her favor. The truth stood in front of her now in the form of a vampire hunter.

  From the very first day of her rebirth, shadows hovered on her trail just beyond her line of sight. She could never quite make them out, but she always knew they were there and would one day catch up.

  “I don’t deserve your pity,” she told Adriana as she gazed into her eyes. “I was a monster and now it’s time to pay for all the grief and heartache I caused so many innocent people.”

  Adriana’s fingers stroked her cheek, her touch warm against Riah’s cool flesh. Her heart fluttered in a way it hadn’t in five hundred years, and tears welled in her eyes again. She willed them not to fall. If ever there was a time to be strong, it was now. Besides, she didn’t deserve pity…not even her own.

  Except it wasn’t fair and, for once, she didn’t feel like being strong. She never thought she’d be able to love another woman, yet out of the blue, it’d happened again. The bitter truth was Riah loved Adriana with all her heart, and now she’d lose once more.

  For such a long time now, she’d done her best to do the right thing. It was a gigantic mountain to climb yet, sometimes, she actually felt as though she made progress. Something good came out of the long years of work.

  Now, none of it mattered any longer. Outside a storm raged, invisible to all but the chosen few who could see beyond the veil of the natural world and into the preternatural realm. Even in this room, surrounded by people who could understand, it was difficult to find the words to warn them. What would become of her didn’t matter any longer. Her die had been cast long ago. These people, however, mattered—even the hunter.

  Before she could say anything else, the door swung slowly open. Though the hinges were oiled, the swish of the doors sweeping across the tiled floor made them all turn. There were a fair number of people she’d expect to walk through the doors this time of night, but the one who did came as a complete surprise.

  Riah forgot all about her own guilt and self-pity. The storm had just arrived and, in response, she muttered two words. “Oh, shit.”

  Chap
ter Eighteen

  Ivy recognized the man who stepped through the open door even though he was white as paste and moving with awkward, shuffling steps like he was old and very ill. He was neither. The young security guard who’d walked her to her car a couple of times pushed open the door and headed for Riah.

  The last time Ivy saw the guy, he was tall and vibrant with tanned skin and intelligent eyes. Though he was a fair bit younger than Ivy, she’d thought he was kinda hot. Little of his previous appearance remained as he slid dirty boots across the floor, leaving dark streaks on the tile as he moved. His gaze never wavered from Riah’s face, his eyes dark and empty. Ivy had the feeling he was unaware that others were even in the room. His expression gave her the creeps.

  Colin was the first to shake off the shock. While the rest of them stood motionless and staring, he moved like wildfire. Ivy was surprised by his quick, agile movements. Sure, he was dynamic in bed, but he was naked in bed and not hampered by clothes, boots, and a long jacket. Fully dressed, he still moved with the impressive fluidity and speed of the native mountain lions that roamed the hills around Spokane.

  From beneath his coat, Colin drew a sword. “Hijo de puta,” Ivy murmured.

  Swear to God, the man just pulled from inside the folds of his leather coat a full-out gleaming length of steel with razor edges and a fancy hilt. Ivy couldn’t figure out where he’d had the thing hidden. Even more perplexing was why she didn’t notice it before. Sure, his coat was long and flowing—a look pretty hot, by the way—but wouldn’t she have noticed a sword?

  He held the lethal-looking weapon high, gripped with both hands, his legs parted, and his eyes focused on the young man’s ghostly face. A warrior’s stance, and it struck her suddenly that this was a war. Not the normal kind of conflict learned about in history class. Quite the contrary, this was a battle with no rules and no clear-cut idea of exactly who the enemy was. All wars sucked, but this one sucked even worse.