Alucard gasped and so did I. I felt a second pair of hands against my back. Vincent pressed against me from behind and I reached back, placing my hand on his thigh. This was where I wanted to be and I let my eyes convey that message to Alucard. Vincent kissed the back of my neck, moving with me to the beat of the music with his hands on my hips. Alucard lowered his head toward my breasts and I tossed back my head to allow him access. He pressed a soft kiss just above my cleavage before pulling back to look at me.
“Would you like a drop of my blood?” he whispered.
I knew Vincent could hear him too and was surprised when he just kept dancing.
“Are you trying to trick me?” I asked.
“It wouldn’t be enough to turn you. I promise.”
“Then why?”
Alucard laughed and as usual it made me shiver. I felt the response echo in Vincent as he wrapped his arms around me.
“Have you never heard?” Alucard asked. “Vampire blood in small amounts is a powerful aphrodisiac.”
He was offering me an aphrodisiac and there they were, pressing against me from both sides. What was going on? What game was he playing at?
“Why are you here Alucard? You’ve had your dance, now answer me.”
Alucard retrieved his coat and glasses and the three of us turned to leave the room. It was packed with people trying to get a look at what we were doing. Apparently our dance was very entertaining. I walked out first, ignoring the crowd and both of the vampires followed me.
I took them into the kitchen and closed the door. At this point it would have been too obvious if I took them to my bedroom. Besides, we were alone here.
I sat on one of the stools at the island bar and Vincent took a seat at the breakfast table. Alucard propped against the counter, right in front of the basket of cookies the witch had given me. Maybe I should have eaten those this afternoon.
“Something very important has come to my attention,” he said. “One of the council members who opposed the recent decision is still stewing over it.”
“What do you mean opposed?” I asked. “I thought everyone was in agreement?”
“Majority rules,” Alucard explained. “But not everyone was in favor. There is one member who isn’t prepared to let the matter rest.”
“Malkye,” Vincent said. He spoke the name with contempt.
“Yes. He claims that you shared your story willingly with a human and says that you have both become a liability.”
“What does that mean exactly?” I asked.
Alucard took a step toward me and I slipped off of the stool in order to be closer to him. He placed his hand on my shoulder. Although there was a lot of emotion in his expression, I couldn’t tell for certain what he was feeling. Vampires are much harder than people to read, but I knew he was feeling something.
“It means he is planning to kill you.”
I gasped and Vincent rose suddenly to his feet.
“You can’t be serious?! That fucking idiot. I’ll crush him! I don’t give a fuck who he is!”
Alucard smiled and flashed his fangs in the process. “I know you would. It’s a wonder you aren’t already on the council. But Malkye knows this too. You are a powerful master and so he is assembling a team to handle the situation. Naturally, he wouldn’t come himself.”
“Why are you telling us this?” I asked. “I appreciate the warning, but what are we supposed to do and isn’t it against the rules for you to interfere?”
“If you agree to be mine, then it would not be interference,” he said softly. “I would only be protecting what is mine.”
“So you’ve come for my decision then? A week early?!”
“Not like this,” Vincent said. It was the first time I had heard him speak against Alucard and we both turned in his direction. Apparently it was the first time he had ever spoken against Alucard. “She’s already been twisted and turned over this. You cannot force her into a decision over this thing with Malkye. She’s got one more week. She deserves that time.”
“I haven’t eaten my cookies yet,” I insisted. They both gave me a strange look and I explained as quickly as possible about what the witch had said.
Alucard remembered me mentioning her and said, “You might want to eat them now, because this will not wait.”
“You mean you will not wait,” Vincent said.
Alucard rounded on him and all the lights flickered. “I mean this will not wait and neither will I. Malkye plans to act tonight and we should do the same. Do you want to live forever or do you both want to die? The choice is yours.”
“There is no choice,” I said softly. I stepped between them and placed my palm over Alucard’s chest, directly above his heart. It wasn’t beating. “You won’t kill me. You’re not capable of it.” I had to believe that.
The lights returned to normal and the fire went out of his eyes as he looked down at me.
“No, but someone else will carry out the order. The council has decided and you have agreed. You must honor your agreement, Jewel.”
“What are we going to do?” I asked.
“I’m going to find Malkye and kill him first,” Vincent said.
He wasn’t going anywhere without me and they both knew it. Alucard looked at me for another moment before speaking.
“If I go with you as your protector and only act in your defense, then it will not be considered warring against a fellow member of the council. But you must ask for my protection.”
I reached up and caressed his face. “Will you protect me?” I turned toward Vincent and said, “Both of you?”
“Yes,” they answered together.
I told Brea that an emergency had come up. It was the truth, but I couldn’t explain everything, there wasn’t time. She said if anyone asked she would make apologies for me. But chances were that with a crowd that big they wouldn’t notice for a while. Vincent and I went upstairs to change clothes and hurried out the back door with Alucard. I wolfed down two cookies on our way out the door, just in case. Vincent and I were both dressed in solid black in an attempt to blend into the night. We hurried around the side of the house to the garage and in a matter of minutes we were on our way back into town. Alucard had taken a cab to the house, so we took my car. He drove.
“Where are we going?” I asked. “We don’t even know where this Malkye is and you’re not allowed to tell us. Only you know the location of all the council members, right?”
“That’s right,” Alucard said. “But, if I lead you into a room where there is a mirror, that might take you to his location …”
“That isn’t considered cheating?”
He shrugged. “Not exactly. It may or may not lead to Malkye’s fortress.”
“Fortress? Are you kidding me?”
“No. He’s been building a fortress in Romania.”
I laughed. “Romania? Please don’t tell me we’re going to meet him at the Borgo Pass or some god-forsaken place in the Carpathian Mountains.”
“You’re not far off.”
“Shit.” I ran a hand through my hair before securing it back into a ponytail. My up-do from before just wasn’t appropriate for what we were going to do. “Hey, didn’t you just tell us where he is?”
“No. Romania is a big place. You won’t know where he is until you arrive.”
Well, that made sense.
Chapter Twenty Three
We arrived shortly at an old house on the outskirts of town. Alucard took the key from his pocket and led us inside. The place was sparsely furnished. He moved quickly down the hallway and I had trouble keeping up with his long legs. In the back bedroom was a large mirror and I assumed this was how he had traveled tonight since he didn’t mention a flight.
“This will take us to London,” he said. He took Vincent and I both by the hand. I guess we needed to be holding onto him for it to work. Before either of us could respond Alucard stepped through the mirror and took us with him.
We were standing in a room lit only
by a few candles. Alucard opened the door and motioned for us to follow. As soon as I stepped into the hallway I recognized the place. We were in the building on Fleet Street where the council meeting had been held. He took us upstairs to the large mirror he and I had traveled through after the meeting.
“Isn’t there a shorter way?” I asked.
“No. We’re almost there.”
In a matter of minutes we were standing in Alucard’s bedroom. Having them both there so close to the big bed did things to me I cannot describe. He had left a fire burning and incense was lit in a small burner over the mantle. The fire, the smell of incense and the presence of the two sexiest men I’d ever known made one hell of a combination. It was like heaven and I had to leave it to chase some idiot named Malkye in Romania. Fuck him, whoever he was.
“I left immediately when I learned of his plans,” Alucard said, gesturing toward the fire and the incense. Obviously he hadn’t taken the time to do anything except get dressed and leave.
“So, what now?” I asked.
“This mirror can take you anywhere,” he said. “Unlike the others, you don’t have to touch me to travel through this one. It will go wherever I tell it to go. If I leave the room and you both happen to step through it, then I cannot stop you. But I didn’t tell you where to go.”
“Clever,” Vincent said. “But what about you?”
“I’ll follow shortly.” He removed his coat and wrapped it around me. “I want you to wear this.”
“Oh, yeah. It’s going to be a lot colder where we’re going, isn’t it?”
He smiled. “Yes. But that isn’t the only reason I’d like you to wear it.”
“Are you sure this isn’t going to get you killed too?” I asked.
“If I am there as your protector and only hurt those who try to hurt you, that’s not the same thing as attacking another council member,” he assured me.
“But what if Malkye attacks me?”
“You leave Malkye to me,” Vincent said. “Just keep everyone else away from her.”
I would have stayed at home if they insisted, but I would much rather be with them. We did discuss me staying behind while we changed clothes, but they didn’t think that was a good idea. Alucard insisted that wherever I was I would be vulnerable, so I might as well be with them. He was going because he said Vincent would need his help. And where Vincent went, I went. So that was that. We were all going to Romania.
Alucard buttoned up the coat and rolled up the long sleeves. It swallowed me whole and dragged the floor behind me. I felt like a child wearing his clothes. He pressed a kiss to my forehead and whispered, “It will keep you safe.”
He turned to the mirror then and I moved to stand beside Vincent. Alucard waved his hands in front of the mirror, giving the impression of a magician about to perform a trick. The tattoos on his palms began to glow and a distant countryside appeared before us. The countryside rushed before our eyes, like a camera panning very quickly over a landscape. Then suddenly, we were looking into a bedroom in what looked like an old shack.
Alucard stepped back from the mirror and walked out into the hallway. He couldn’t even tell us this was where to go, but he could leave the doorway open.
“I guess this is it,” I said.
Vincent took my hand and moved toward the mirror. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
We walked through the mirror and into the bedroom we had been looking at. It felt just like walking through a doorway into another room. Simple as that. I wondered how the mirrors worked, but now was not the time to ask questions about our method of travel.
Vincent walked over to the window and took a look outside.
“I think I know where we are,” he said.
He moved through the small house toward the front door and I followed him. I pulled Alucard’s coat closer around my throat to fight off the chill. If I had to guess I’d say it was around forty degrees outside. The air was dry, making it a crisp sort of cool. It was nothing like what we got back home. Even when it got cold in Savannah, there was more moisture in the air.
“Stay here for a minute,” Vincent said. “I’m going to look around.”
I waited for him on the small porch while he took off through the nearby woods at inhuman speed. It looked like we were in the middle of a valley. No other homes were visible from where we were located. Mist clung to the tops of the trees almost like a blanket and a full moon hung above us, casting its light over the countryside like a golden lantern. Mist and clouds obscured the moon from time to time, but when it was visible, the landscape was almost as clear as day. Though I’m sure Vincent didn’t have any trouble seeing, the moonlight made things easier for me.
I could see Vincent coming back toward me and heard a soft shushing sound in the distance. I recognized that soft pitter-patter. It was rain. I was going to freeze to death.
“I think we’re in Borsec,” Vincent said as he stepped up onto the porch. “If we’re not, then I’m not far off. I’ve heard rumors of Malkye’s fortress too. If he’s building something like that around here, it has to be over there.” He pointed behind us. “At the foot of the mountains.”
“How do we get there?”
“We fly.” He walked back inside the house and started stripping off his shirt. “I’m not going to ruin another perfectly good shirt.” He kicked off his shoes. “Or designer shoes.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t even think to bring a weapon,” I said. “This is ridiculous. I shouldn’t be here. I’m not a warrior.”
Vincent took a step closer and just his nearness distracted me from my fear. I ran a hand over his bare chest and that made me feel even better.
“Nothing will happen to you,” he said softly. “If we had left you at home you might have been killed. Someone could already be on their way to hurt you. All Alucard knows is that Malkye is assembling a force of some kind here. Most likely that is to take care of me. But if I were planning an attack, I’d go for the human first. Not that I would ever do such a thing. It makes sense. If you had already become my servant then your death would either weaken me significantly or kill me too. If you were back home, worrying for your safety would distract me. But here I can protect you.”
That made me feel a lot better. “But I still don’t have a weapon. No holy water or wooden stakes or anything.”
As soon as I spoke the coat seemed heavier and I readjusted its weight on my shoulders.
Vincent smiled. “I think Alucard’s coat is a weapon. Check your pockets.”
I opened the coat and found two small phials of what looked like water, three wooden stakes, some rosary and a dagger with a dragon’s head as the hilt.
“Holy shit. How does he do that?”
“I have no idea. But you aren’t unarmed anymore. We’ve got to get moving.”
That meant he was ready to transform. I admit I was eager to watch the process a second time. In an instant his skin became so pale that he seemed to glow from within. His eyes became that magical solid black that reflected the night sky once more. He opened his mouth and his fangs extended to twice their usual length. Claws grew from his fingertips as well as from his feet. He leaned forward, then back. As he stretched his arms wide, magnificent bat wings extended from his back. He reminded me of the gargoyle-like creature tattooed across Alucard’s back, except way hotter.
His transformation was complete and that meant it was time for us to go. Once again it had taken him less than a minute and I stood watching him in awe. His skin was so pale it looked completely white. He glowed once more like a perfect marble statue. His black hair and goatee stood out in sharp contrast just like before. And just like before it turned me on in a way I cannot describe.
“It’s time to go,” he said.
Vincent walked out into the rain and I followed him. He turned back and reached for me.
“Are you sure this doesn’t frighten you?”
The rain poured over his shoulders and down his chest, followi
ng the dark hair that ran down his abs in a fine line. He looked more and more like a wet dream and less like a nightmare. Once again it was like being hypnotized, but I knew he wasn’t using any of his powers on me. He was waiting for me to take his hand so that we could get on with what we had to do. But I wanted to touch him one more time, just in case I never got the chance again. I reached out and touched one of his wings. What looked like pale white leather felt softer than my own skin.
“I have never been afraid of you,” I said.
The rain came down harder, but still it wasn’t quite a hard rain. Dark hair clung to his face and neck and I ran my hands over his torso. His dark eyes sparkled and I watched as his tongue darted out to lick his lips.
“Maybe I should try the wings sometime in the bedroom?” he teased.
“Maybe. Let’s get this over with.”
“You will be safe,” he assured me again.
I sure hoped so. And where the hell was Alucard? We had been there about fifteen minutes and he still hadn’t followed. My hair was getting wet, but as Vincent wrapped his arms around me I noticed the rain wasn’t penetrating Alucard’s coat.
“Ready?” Vincent asked.
I reached inside the coat and took out the dagger. “Ready.”
We lifted into the air with one flap of his wings. At first I fought the urge to scream, but then I started to like it. I knew I was safe in Vincent’s arms. It wasn’t like being on an airplane at all. As much as I hated to fly, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed flying with Vincent. We would have to do this again sometime. That is if we didn’t get killed. We flew in an odd up and down sort of motion, dipping slightly before he flapped his wings, bringing us up higher once more. It was like a very gentle roller coaster.
The hills and valleys below us moved by quickly. They were dotted with small cottages and farms. Chances were they wouldn’t be staring up at the sky on a rainy night like this. For our sakes, I hoped so. Seeing something like Vincent flying by, they’d probably assume I was a helpless victim.
The mountains were magnificent. The moonlight gave the mist which lingered around them an eerie sort of glow. And there nestled against the foot of the mountains was what looked like a fortress under construction. Vincent brought us down in the woods just beside it.
Diary of an Incubus Page 19
