‘Yes, but not to me, as you witnessed at the Ritual.’
They glanced at each other and nodded. That had me worried. Since I was the only one who could safely feed from Laura, were they to kill me, Luc would assume the mantle of Princeps once again and implement his plan. The stored Ingenii blood would be given to the men, and he would instigate a massacre – civil war on a scale our kind has never witnessed before. It was a fearful scenario, and these fools were on the verge of it.
‘Rasputin was right–’ one of his companions said before Stockton cut him off.
‘Shut it!’ he called over his shoulder.
I laughed. ‘That’s the story, is it? Neither of them wants to take the Pledge, and since they’re too cowardly to confront me they send a sucker like you, instead.’
He snarled, and the stench of his adrenalin drifted about him in a cloud. My body tensed. ‘He’s mine!’ he called to the others then came at me.
His attack was rapid, but no surprise. I let him grapple me; let him think he could possibly bring me down; allow his self-confidence to be his weakness; his danger. His sneer soon turned to a grimace when he realised his attempt to overpower me was not succeeding. He was only looking foolish in front of his companions.
‘Time to end this,’ I said and threw him off. Crouching, I readied for his next assault.
He took to the ceiling and hung there looking down at me, twisting his head at an unnatural angle as his body moved into a better position to attack.
It gave me an idea.
I leapt over to the nearest biker, yanked him off his seat and threw him at Stockton, who sprang out of the way as the man crashed into the ceiling and fell back down at my feet. I snapped his neck before the others could react. He would be out for at least twenty minutes before his bones reknit.
The rest of Stockton’s gang leapt off their bikes and scattered.
‘You don’t play fair, princeps!’ One of them called from behind the safety of a concrete pillar.
‘I didn’t agree to play fair.’
‘Don’t interfere!’ Stockton cried, as en masse, they regrouped and moved toward me.
‘Alec, we’re on our way. How many are there?’ Luc’s voice sounded in my ears. I whipped my head around. The momentary distraction allowed Stockton to jump down, hook his arm around my throat, and kick my legs out from under me. He held me down, his fangs lowered and glistening.
‘Alec!’ Luc’s voice sounded again, but I had no time to answer.
‘I don’t fight fair, either,’ Stockton growled in my ear. His glove-clad right hand held a sharpened wooden stake, pointed at my heart.
I wasn’t expecting that.
‘Bloody hell.’ One of his men said, ‘he is going to use it!’
I tensed my neck and tucked my chin onto my chest, lessening his stranglehold. Using both hands, I grabbed hold of the arm brandishing the stake and snapped it at the elbow.
Stockton howled, releasing his grip. It gave me the chance to manoeuvre my hip and flip him onto his back. The wooden stake flew from his hand and slid beneath my car. I grabbed his neck, but was pulled back and held down on the ground by all five members of his gang members.
One of the men backhanded me as I tried to throw them off, while the smaller of the two women dived beneath my car and retrieved the sharpened stake.
‘Hurry up! I can’t hold him much longer,’ the backhander yelled, as I strained against them.
‘We can’t kill him! Are you crazy?’ It was the same man who swore earlier on seeing the stake in Stockton’s hands.
‘Shut up and do it, or you’ll be joining him,’ said his companion.
‘No. Leave him. He’s mine!’ Stockton’s right arm hung limply by his side as he rose and began pulling them off me.
‘What are you doing?’ the other woman cried. ‘He was about to kill you.’
‘If I wanted you dead, Stockton, it would’ve happened by now.’ I saw my advantage and slammed together the two remaining rogues who still held my arms and threw them to the other side of the car park. They landed with a heavy thud against the concrete walls, sending clouds of dust and masonry over the few cars unfortunate enough to be parked nearby.
I became aware of Luc. He wasn’t far away, and with him were Cal and Karl.
Stockton’s gang sensed the same. ‘Lucien’s coming. I’m outta here,’ one of the women exclaimed.
‘I’m with you,’ the other said.
They straddled their motorbikes and sped for the entrance the same instant the lights from Luc’s BMW came into view. They split up and roared past him, out into the street.
Stockton and I faced each other.
‘Count the days, princeps,’ he said, as he backed away.
I reached out to grab him, when a sharp pain exploded at the back of my head, and I fell to the ground. Voices all around me ... couldn’t respond.
‘Alec!’ Luc’s voice cut through the haze.
He helped me sit up. I touched my hand to the back of my head, and it came away with blood. It’d been a long time since I’d seen it – nineteen eighteen, in fact. The year I’d been shot. Luc saved my life that day by transforming me.
I rubbed my bloodied hand down the side of my jeans while the cut on my scalp healed, leaving neither scar nor lump as a reminder. Being a vampire had some advantages. I rose and looked around. One decapitated vampire lay at my feet, the body twitching, hands grasping for its missing head. Luc stood next to it. Blood dripped from the sword in his hand.
‘This meant for you?’ he asked, as he brandished the sharpened white-oak stake in his other hand. The female vampire, who’d retrieved it from beneath my car, must have dropped it when she fled. He’d covered the shaft with a handkerchief – even a splinter was fatal to our kind.
‘Who else? What hit me?’
‘This.’ He kicked a dented bike helmet. ‘I assume it belonged to him,’ he said and plunged the wooden stake into the corpse. Within seconds it had turned to porcelain then disintegrated into fine crystalline dust, leaving behind only his clothes.
‘You didn’t get Stockton?’
He shook his head. There was no need for him to say that he could have given chase if I hadn’t gone down. My fault. If I hadn’t allowed myself to become so focused on Stockton, I would have sensed someone behind me. ‘There were two women,’ I said.
‘Saw them. We’ll pick them up after we’ve dealt with this lot,’ he inclined his head toward the two remaining figures. They were on their knees, the tip of Cal’s sword poised at the throat of one, while Karl held the other from behind, the edge of his blade across the man’s windpipe.
They looked at Luc and myself, differing levels of fear distorting their faces. Their expressions and the strong scent that emanated from each gave them away. What they had done this night deserved no less than the death penalty. And they knew it.
Both were juveniles, transformed in the last few decades, perhaps. Their eyes gleamed with eagerness and a certain wildness that the ancient ones no longer possessed. The greater a vampire’s age, the deeper their eyes reflected the experience – and often sadness – of untold lifetimes.
‘They’re not talking,’ Cal said as I approached.
‘They had plenty to say before,’ I replied. The one Cal held had bravely backhanded me as his companions pinned me down – a shaven-head vampire with a “Bite Me” tattoo on the left side of his neck. ‘Give me a reason to spare your life,’ I said.
He looked up and glared at me. ‘You’re a doctor. You’re not supposed to kill.’
‘That applies only to humans. You don’t qualify. Try again.’
‘You want us to beg when you’re going to kill us anyway?’ his companion said.
‘Not necessarily what’s going to happen,’ I replied. ‘I don’t like destroying any of my Brethren, unless I’m given no choice.’
‘You tried to kill the princeps,’ Luc said. ‘You know the penalty for that.’
‘Then do it and stop
fucking with us,’ the tattooed one growled.
‘Speak for yourself,’ the other one retorted. ‘I only got sucked into this because of you.’ He looked up at me. ‘Stockton said we were only going to rough you up a bit, give you a message. I didn’t think he was seriously going to use that.’ With a nod of his head he indicated the bloodied wooden stake in Luc’s hand.
‘Too bad for you,’ Luc said.
‘Look, I don’t know what’s up between you and him but I didn’t want the princeps killed, I swear.’ His gaze ranged desperately between Luc and myself.
‘He’s telling the truth,’ I said. I’d heard his voice urge the others not to kill me.
‘I am. I swear it.’ Sweat beaded on his upper lip.
‘Would you be willing to take the Pledge?’ I asked.
‘You won’t kill me?’
‘I’m giving you a choice.’
‘Hell yeah, I’ll take it. Here and now if you want.’ His eagerness must have disgusted his companion, for the man spat in his face.
Cal slapped the side of his sword against the man’s cheek. ‘Oi! Enough with the spitting.’
‘Your name’s Greg, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah.’
I’d only met him once, soon after he became one of the Brethren. Every newly created blood drinker had to be presented to the Elders. That way we could keep tabs on the vampire population in the city, and tell them when it was time to move on.
‘Well, Greg, looks like you won’t be dying today,’ Luc said and signalled Karl to lower his sword.
The man sighed in relief, wiped the spittle from his face and sank down onto his haunches. ‘Thank you, thank you.’
I looked at the other one. ‘I’m offering you the same choice. Otherwise, my friend,’ I indicated Cal, ‘will be happy to dispatch you right here.’
Cal flashed him a grin and ran his blade from one end of the man’s throat to the other without nicking the skin.
The man gritted his teeth as he glanced at the pile of black clothing that used to be his friend. His chest rose and fell rapidly as his eyes darted between the remains of his companion and me.
‘I don’t have all night,’ I said.
‘Okay, okay, I’ll take the damn Pledge. But tell me, why do you care for humans so much?’
Since he was still on his knees, I crouched down till we were eye to eye. ‘Without humanity we wouldn’t exist. If I allowed every vampire in this city to kill in order to feed, within one generation – thirty-five years to be exact – there would be no humans left. I’m surprised your superior intellect hasn’t worked that out.’
He had no answer.
I rose and nodded to Luc who told Cal and Karl to take them back to the house. ‘Hold them in the cages in the cellar until midnight when they can take the Pledge with the others.’
As far as I was aware, the only two cages capable of holding a vampire had been destroyed in the last rebellion. They had been made of titanium.
Cal rendered the men unconscious by snapping their necks, and then Karl helped him haul their limp bodies into the boot of Luc’s car. It was safer to transport them this way in case they changed their minds. They’d be out for at least fifteen to twenty minutes.
‘I assume it’s the same two cages Maris and Russell used?’ I asked Luc as Cal slammed the boot closed.
‘The same,’ he replied. ‘Marcus salvaged them. Said they were too good; might come in handy. He was right.’
‘What about the stake on the inside?’ A long wooden spike had been attached to one of the titanium bars from the inside, like some form of medieval torture device. Anyone held captive within could have been impaled easily.
‘Removed it.’
‘Good.’ I looked around and realised I had a slight problem. There were three shiny, black motorbikes blocking the entrance to two of my neighbours’ parking spots. They had to be removed. ‘Help me with these will you?’
Together, Luc and I moved the bikes to a far, unused section of the car park then covered them with a tarpaulin I kept in the boot of my car.
‘Karl was right. Timur and Rasputin are behind this rebellion,’ I said as I strode over to collect the head and clothes of the dead vampire. ‘And they know about Laura’s blood. I’d say it’s common knowledge now.’
He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. ‘Merde!’
‘It makes the Pledging even more imperative.’
‘Especially as Stockton got away. He’ll warn those two rats, Timur and Rasputin.’ He picked up the stake again, located the dead vampire’s head and plunged the wood into the soft flesh. The skin immediately reacted with the cellulose and began to crystallise before disintegrating into dust. He dispersed it with his foot over the ground.
The car park now appeared back to normal. No one would have guessed a battle had taken place here. Satisfied, we strolled back to the car. Cal and Karl were waiting.
Karl lit up another cigarette. ‘That partially makes up for my ruined evening.’
Cal chuckled and slapped him on the back. ‘Tell me about this party you’re going to. Just masks, huh? I like the sound of it.’ They climbed into the backseat.
‘Luc, I’m expecting trouble at the Pledging tonight,’ I said, as we drove out. ‘If the prefects know about Laura’s bloodline – as I believe they do – we could face a revolt.’ I swivelled and looked at him. ‘What happened to me, just then, was the prelude.’
He gazed straight ahead, seemingly deep in thought. ‘Perhaps ... but no one knows about your –’ He stopped, glanced at me, then with a jerk of his head indicated Karl in the backseat. Luc was about to mention my bloodline.
Karl didn’t know, and although I believed he could be trusted, it was too great a gamble. All the Brethren knew that Antonius, Luc and I were the only ones capable of siring children. It ensured there were Dantonville descendants for as long as the curse was in effect. I was determined Laura and I would not be a repeat of Luc and Judith, who were forced to place their child in hiding. If the Brethren suspected we were lovers, and that she was expecting our child, then so be it. As far as they knew, my blood was Antonine, and if Laura’s blood was poisonous – for being half-vampire – then our child’s would be the same. And by the time they realised the child was human, hopefully, it would be too late.
As soon as we arrived back at the house, I left the others, and following the sound of Laura’s voice, raced up to the ballroom, eager to hold her in my arms. We had less than an hour and a half till the Pledging ceremony – enough time to imprint my scent on her. Never before had I been more determined to keep what was mine.
Chapter 9 - Karelia
LAURA
The mirrored doors were wide open, revealing polished crystal chandeliers, their delicate drops catching the light and bouncing it off the mirrored walls. Magical. Even the wooden floors seemed gleamed with new vigour. I could see the intricate parquetry arrangement, which before had been hidden beneath nearly a century of dust and grime. Metal-framed chairs with plush, red velvet backs and seats had been set up in rows of ten.
‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ Judy exclaimed. ‘The professional cleaners Luc hired scrubbed, carted rubbish away and helped set up the chairs. They’ve done a great job.’
‘I’ll say!’
I glanced around for the platform where Jean-Philippe used to have his makeshift studio. It was gone. All evidence of his presence erased – the drawings and sketches, the easel, the wall of photographs. Did Luc really have them all burned?
In its place stood a richly decorated dais, draped with purple velvet held in place with gold-coloured ribbons. Seven high-backed chairs, resembling thrones, were positioned in the centre. Their deep-purple backs and seats matched the drapery.
I didn’t need to guess that the elders, including Luc, Alec and myself would greet the prefects there.
From behind one of the gathered drapes, a small, pale hand appeared and tied a gold ribbon around it. ‘That should do it,’ an unknown voice an
nounced. A diminutive creature with short silver-blonde hair and sparkling lavender eyes emerged from her hiding place and stood, side-on, facing her handiwork, hands on hips, her eyes laughing.
She looked at me, and her pixie face lit up with enthusiasm. Pale brows arched, her face had an open, transparent look.
She looked stunning, in a Tinkerbell kind of way. I angled my head to see if she were hiding any gossamer wings, yet her eyes were a dead giveaway. This creature was, indeed, a vampire.
‘Laura, dear,’ my mother’s voice roused me. ‘I’d like you to meet Karelia.’
The pixie came toward me with hand outstretched. ‘Just Kari,’ she said. As she came close, I realised she wasn’t much smaller than me – no more than an inch or two, but her slim, waif–like physique made her appear tiny, fae.
‘Hi, I’m Laura.’ I returned the warm handshake. There was something about Kari that touched me in the nicest way. I instinctively knew she could be trusted, and we would be friends.
‘Kari and I have known each other a long time,’ Judy said. ‘She was at the Ritual, but you were too preoccupied to notice everyone there, dear.’
Understatement! Having to stand before several hundred vampires, recite some ancient Latin liturgy, then have Alec suck blood from my neck in front of them all was certainly reason enough to have overlooked a vampire or two.
‘Oops, sorry.’ I looked at her apologetically.
‘Heck, if I had to undergo something like that, I probably would have freaked out. You were great.’
‘Thanks.’ I grinned.
‘Judy tells me you need to choose something to wear for tonight’s big do.’
‘Um, yeah. I suppose. Honestly, I haven’t given it a thought. Too many things have been happening.’
Judy sighed and ran her hand across her brow.
‘You’re tired, Mother. Come and sit down.’ The moment I said it, I darted a glance at Kari. Damn! I’d slipped up and called Judy, “mother.”
Kari didn’t look surprised at all.
‘It’s all right, dear. Kari knows. I told her everything, and it’s such a relief.’ Judy eased herself into one of the red chairs. Kari and I pulled one each from the nearest row and sat down facing her. She grasped my hand. ‘There’s no point in hiding it any more, and I’m glad,’ she said fiercely. ‘You’re my child, Laura, and I want everyone to know.’
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