The Vampire’s Priceless Treasure

by Painter, Kristen

  Sleep tugged at her, trying to take over. She lay down and let it.

  Her slumber lasted until the chirping of her phone woke her. Groggy, but functioning as best she could, she grabbed the phone to see what was so urgent.

  A text message from the Fox. Are you making progress?

  That woke her up a little more. She sat up in bed, yawning and stretching. The prickle of the sun on her skin was gone. Twilight was well upon them. She could feel it just like she’d felt the rising sun.

  She stared at the message, trying to decide how to provide an answer that was positive but didn’t give too much hope. After all, she and Greyson didn’t even know what country they were headed to. She typed a single word.

  Some.

  Then she went to the windows and pulled the curtains back, but held on to them as she leaned against the window frame and looked outside. She hoped that answer was enough for the Fox, because she wasn’t eager to say more. Sure, they’d made some progress, but they were at a crossroads now.

  Spain or Portugal? It wasn’t that big of a deal, the countries were right next to each other, but a wrong choice was still going to delay finding the treasure. And sleep hadn’t helped to make that decision. Nor did they have any idea what to do when they got to the next location.

  With a sigh, she wondered if Greyson was up. Maybe he’d had an epiphany in a dream. She turned away from the window, but the curtain came with her. The little gemstone ring had snagged on the fabric.

  She carefully freed the curtain, then ran her fingertip over the band’s surface to see if a prong had bent. Antique jewelry needed extra care, and she probably shouldn’t be wearing the thing. The prongs felt fine, but she took the ring off and decided to loop it onto the ribbon holding the locket and keep it around her neck instead. If only she knew what significance it might hold toward finding the next clue.

  She turned on the bedside lamp and studied the ring under the bright light. Nothing about it had changed. She looked at the stones. Such a random assortment. Coral, amethyst, another coral, then a deep orangey-brown stone that she thought was some kind of garnet or possibly topaz, followed by an opal, then finally what she’d thought was emerald, but under the bright light, she noticed that the green wasn’t right. The last stone had to be tourmaline.

  It wasn’t a combination of stones she would have put together, but they had to mean something.

  Were they birthstones? If so, did they represent people? Six stones, six children? There had been only five Romanov children. Unless this was some kind of clue that there had been a sixth.

  No. That was too much of a rabbit hole. Too much information for one ring and a drawing of a bull.

  So, what, then? Maybe they were still birthstones, but the months they represented meant something. She looked up. There was a small desk in the bedroom. She dug through the drawers until she found a pad of paper and a pencil.

  Then she went to work. Her knowledge of gems wasn’t so extensive that she knew every birthstone, but she had the internet for that.

  Coral wasn’t a traditional or even modern birthstone, so at best all she could find was that it was an alternate for October.

  That alone made her rethink the birthstone idea. It was too much of a stretch. If this ring meant anything, it had to be something easier to figure out.

  Something that a person of any era might grasp.

  But how easy could it be if she was racking her brain and coming up with nothing?

  A knock on the open bedroom door brought her head up.

  Greyson stood there. “I was going to ask how you slept, but you look busy. Anything I can help with?”

  She held the ring up. “Just trying to figure this thing out. If it means anything at all.”

  He stayed near the door. “It must. Why else would it have been under the pedestal?”

  “That’s what I think, too.” She let out a groan of frustration. “There are too many possibilities. I keep going down rabbit holes that lead nowhere.”

  “When I’m in a situation like that, I write down all my random thoughts to get them out of my head and make space for new ones.”

  She held up the pad of paper and pencil. “I was going to write down the month that each gem represents as a birthstone—”

  “Good idea.” He walked toward the bed, but stopped a few feet away.

  “Except that coral, which is in the band twice, has never really been used as a birthstone.” She gestured to the end of the bed. “Sit. Two brains are better than one.”

  He did as she asked, bending one leg in front of him so he could sit facing her. “Then birthstones are out.”

  “I think so.”

  He held out his hand. “May I?”

  She offered him the ring. “Sure.

  He shook his head. “The paper and pencil.”

  “Oh. Yeah, of course.” She gave those to him. “What are you thinking?”

  “You know a lot about gems, right?”

  “A decent bit.”

  “Well, you know more than I do. So let’s go down the list of what’s in the ring and see what we can come up with for each stone.”

  “Okay.”

  “What gems are there? Tell them to me in order.”

  She held the band between her two fingers. “Coral, amethyst, coral, garnet—I think, but I’m not sure what kind exactly and it could be topaz—then opal, and tourmaline.”

  He wrote as she spoke, then looked at the list, eyes full of intense concentration. Then he shifted his gaze to her and frowned. “I really thought this would help.”

  “Here.” She held the ring out to him. “You have a look at it.”

  He put the pad down to take the ring, then turned it in his fingers, holding it up to the light and peering at it with great intent. “What’s the little symbol inside the band? Looks like a fly.”

  She groaned. “I was so focused on the gems, I didn’t even look inside the band. Let me see.”

  He handed the ring to her. She leaned back on the bed to look at the band under the light again. “Definitely looks like a fly, but not quite.”

  “You know,” he said, “Catherine gave me a pair of cufflinks once. Each one had two square red garnets set into it. She said the garnets were to represent my initials. GG.”

  Kora let out a little gasp and sat up. “That’s it.”

  “What’s it?”

  “The gems are letters. The word is our clue.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “This isn’t a fly on the band, it’s a bee. A honeybee. Napoleon used the honeybee as a symbol of his reign, and he loved acrostic jewelry. The gems are letters. That has to be it.”

  Greyson grabbed the pad of paper. “C-A-C-G-O-T? That’s not a word. Neither is C-A-C-T-O-T if it’s a topaz.”

  “Then we have a letter wrong. Hang on. It’s the garnet, I know it is. Give me a second.” She picked up her phone and ran a search on garnet color names. She scrolled through a list. “It’s hessonite. It has to be. The color is right. What would that spell if the G was an H?”

  “Cachot.” He looked at her. “The French word for dungeon. A bullfighting school wouldn’t have a dungeon, but a castle would.”

  “You’re absolutely right.” The sheer excitement of arriving at the answer made her want to kiss him again. Somehow, she refrained. “We’re going to Spain. Thank you for figuring that out.”

  “Me?” He laughed. “That was all you.”

  She grinned. And kissed him anyway.

  Greyson’s practical sense screamed at him to pull away. But that noise was quickly silenced as his desire won out. He leaned into Kora’s unexpected kiss, reveling in her happiness and the satisfaction of having worked as a team to figure the clue out.

  But the incomparable pleasure of her mouth on his was what kept him connected to her. Kept him wanting more. Why had he thought this was a bad idea?

  Because of her father. And the million dollars he’d promised.

  But Greyson
had never agreed to the deal. And he realized now that he never would. He couldn’t. Lucien had been good to him. And Greyson considered the man a friend. But Kora was becoming something so much more. Something worth the risk of angering Lucien.

  At least he thought they could become so much more. He wanted the chance to explore that. As crazy as it sounded.

  Lucien would have nothing to worry about when it came to Kora’s safety, though. He had to know that. Greyson would die for her, if need be. That desire to protect her was the same reason he wasn’t telling her about the Brotherhood just yet. She would worry. And worry could make a person careless.

  She pulled back from the kiss, laughing a little. “Thanks for not turning away.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  She shrugged. “You’ve been a little cold since we got on the plane in Nocturne Falls. Well, not cold, exactly. But cool, I guess. Like you wanted distance from me. But maybe that was my imagination.”

  So she’d noticed.

  He didn’t want to tell her about the conversation with her father, and when he didn’t immediately offer an explanation, she sat back like he’d just proven something to her.

  “It wasn’t my imagination.”

  Greyson sighed a little. “I was trying to treat this like any other job I might do. I didn’t want my feelings to cloud my judgment. Or interfere with how I might react.”

  She nodded, but didn’t look completely satisfied with that answer. “You think caring about me might make you less effective as a protector?”

  “No, not that. But it might make me more…lenient. I might accept a bad decision I wouldn’t otherwise.”

  Her eyes tapered down. “And of course, my father gave you specific instructions about how this was all supposed to go, right?”

  Greyson wasn’t about to go down that road. He shrugged. “Your father just wants you safe. Any father would want that.”

  “I suppose.” But her expression said she wasn’t quite buying his answer. “Shouldn’t you let the pilot know our game plan?”

  “I should, yes. Then I’m going to shower.” He got up. “I can be ready to go in fifteen minutes. You?”

  “Same.”

  “Good.” He went toward the door, then stopped. “If you want a change of clothing, I’m sure Catherine’s things would fit you. Although they’re probably all too out of date to suit you.”

  Her smile was easy and kind. “That’s a generous offer, but I can wait until I’m on the plane.”

  He nodded and left. He’d never brought another woman to this apartment. Never considered it. This was too much of a shrine to Catherine. Of his life with her. Too much a reminder of the past. And what might have been.

  He went back to his bedroom. Even staring out the windows here reminded him of those days. What would Catherine think of her city today?

  Would they even still be here?

  He thought they would. Catherine had loved Paris more than any other place in the world. And he’d loved her more than any other woman.

  But her affection for him hadn’t been quite the same. She’d often treated him…not unkindly…but more like a child. Which, he supposed, she had a right to do, seeing as how she’d sired him.

  That hadn’t kept him from falling madly in love with her. He knew that was why her death had struck such a blow. She hadn’t been just his sire. He’d thought she was his future. He’d planned his life around her.

  Then, just like that, she was gone at the hands of a necromancer.

  He shook his head. This city made him sentimental. He didn’t like that. Not when there was work to be done. He pulled his phone out and texted the pilot with their plans, then he got into a very hot shower and did his best to scrub away the past.

  They were on the plane an hour later, sitting next to each other in the excessive comfort of the Ellinghams’ jet and making plans for when they arrived in Spain.

  “We’ll go right to the castle,” Kora said.

  “Which means we’ll have to enter it illegally.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t think that can be helped. I can’t go during daylight hours, and really, do we want to be searching for our next clue while there are tourists milling about?”

  “You’re assuming they let tourists into the dungeon.”

  “Hmm.” She gave that some thought. “Did we check to see that this place has a dungeon, or are we just assuming that because it’s a castle?”

  He refrained from letting loose the curse that was sitting on his tongue. “Good point.” He pulled up the castle’s website on his phone. Read a little. Then sighed. “The castle had a dungeon, but it hasn’t been open to the public in fifty years. No one is sure where the entrance is anymore, since it was bricked off so long ago.”

  She frowned. “I guess that’s good and bad.”

  “How is it good?”

  “No one’s been down there in a while, so the clue we’re searching for should be untouched.”

  “Okay, I agree that’s good. But getting into the dungeon isn’t going to be easy. I’m really hoping we can manage it without attracting a lot of attention. It might mean taking out a portion of a wall.”

  “So? You did that in the sewer without any problem.”

  “But that was old mortar, weak with damp. A bricked-up access to a dungeon inside a castle? That’s not going to be the same thing at all.”

  “We’ll figure it out when we get there.”

  “I imagine we will.” He hoped they’d get to figure it out alone, but he had to wonder if the shifter he’d met on the steps would return. After that warning, Greyson believed the Brotherhood were serious. Whatever lay at the end of this treasure hunt, someone wanted it to stay hidden.

  The silence remained between them for a while. Kora was typing away on her phone, but he couldn’t see the screen and had no idea what she was doing.

  Then his phone vibrated with an incoming message. He checked the screen. Lucien.

  You haven’t checked in. Is everything okay?

  Before answering, Greyson turned his phone away so Kora wouldn’t see the screen. Yes. Sleeping, then traveling again.

  Where to?

  Nowhere dangerous. All is well.

  I’m paying you to answer me.

  That would be true if I’d agreed to your offer. Which I didn’t. Greyson knew then that he had to tell Lucien the truth. I care about Kora. She’s not a client to me. Or a job. She’s a friend. I will absolutely get her home safe.

  By whose standards?

  Mine. He hesitated, then with a reckless smile on his face, added, So there might be kissing.

  I’m going to assume that’s a joke.

  You can assume what you want, but I’m dead serious. Greyson laughed to himself. “No pun intended.”

  Kora looked up. “What?”

  “Nothing. Just texting with a friend.” He put his phone away. Nothing Lucien could say was going to change his mind. A million dollars would be amazing. But not as amazing as a chance at a future he’d never expected. “I’m going up to the cockpit for a minute. Do you need anything?”

  “No, I’m good.” Then she unexpectedly put her hand on his arm. “Thanks for all this. I don’t think I could have gotten this far without you.”

  “I think you would have. Might have taken you longer, but you would have managed.”

  “I appreciate your confidence in me. I’m not sure I agree, though.”

  He smiled at her. “Kora, you don’t give yourself enough credit. Even when you were…not the responsible adult you are now, you were still a very capable woman.”

  “Capable of getting myself into trouble.”

  He chuckled. “True. But even in those situations, your intelligence and resourcefulness were evident.”

  Her smile was bright and instant. “Thank you. That might be one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me. Makes me really sorry for all the trouble I caused you. I’m especially sorry about Rome.”

  “We both ma
de it out alive. That’s what matters.” He picked up her hand and brushed his mouth across her knuckles. “We’re going to make it out alive this time, too. And when we get back to Nocturne Falls, maybe we could try an actual date. Just to see if we’re any good at that.”

  Her lips parted. “Are you asking me out?”

  “I am.”

  She bit her bottom lip, fangs tantalizingly on display. “My father is not going to like that.”

  Greyson planted a real kiss on her knuckles. “I can deal with that if you can.”

  She faltered for a moment. “I only just made things right with him. I’m not sure I want to upset him. But I would love to go on a date with you.”

  He stood, releasing her hand reluctantly. “You don’t have to decide now. You can tell me when we get home. There’s a lot of ground left to travel until we set foot in Georgia again.”

  She grabbed his hand and pulled him down toward her, planting her mouth on his in a hard, fast kiss that felt like a very definitive answer.

  She let him go and grinned. “I don’t need to wait. I might have done a lot of growing up lately, but my decision-making skills haven’t changed. I know what I want.”

  “All right, then.” A little buzzed from her kiss, he pointed toward the cockpit. “I’ll just go see if we’re still on time to land.”

  “You do that.” She went back to her phone.

  He walked the rest of the way to the cockpit with a grin on his face that felt permanent. He and Kora were going to go on a date.

  Lucien was going to hate that, no questions asked.

  But Greyson wasn’t sure when he’d been happier.

  Not in a million years would Kora ever have imagined that she’d feel so giddy about going on a date with a man, especially one she’d essentially considered her nemesis until just a few days ago.

  Now she was pretty jazzed about spending time with him in a romantic way. And kissing him some more.

  Crazy how life could do a complete one-eighty without you ever seeing it coming.

  Still smiling with the kind of deep satisfaction Waffles often displayed after destroying his favorite catnip mouse, Kora sent Hattie a quick text. Hey there. How are you? Thinking about you. Love you.