She responded with a smile, but cautioned herself not to get romantically involved with him. “It mustn’t happen again,” she said, forcing a frown onto her face, which caused his smile to die an immediate death.
“Why not?”
“You are the Lord Mayor of the Vampires, and I hope to become human again. It wouldn’t be suitable for us to become romantically attached to one another under these conditions. I’m grateful for our past friendship, and I hope we’ll be able to continue that friendship.”
“Are we just friends to one another?"
She felt a stab in her heart at the way the corners of his mouth drooped when he spoke, and the way the light disappeared from his eyes. She forced herself to look away.
The powerful attraction linking them had to be ignored in order to focus on what truly mattered—and that was to regain her soul—no matter what price. She had to stay strong or else face an eternity without a soul, and this was something she couldn’t accept. When she’d allowed him to drink her blood, she’d created a bond between them she hadn’t intended to form.
Darius changed the subject. “There’s an important meeting of the vampires at the George and Dragon at midnight.”
“I’ll be there.” A veil of tears blurred her vision and she could barely see the features on his sculpted face for a brief moment. And then he left her.
Chapter 2
Elizabeth sat slouched in the back of the pub between the duke and duchess, still wearing her mask, hoping to go unnoticed. An important meeting for the vampires, a hush had descended upon the crowd, disturbed only by one persistent cough echoing throughout the great hall.
Darius’s face came into sharp focus, and everyone else in the room faded to insignificance. Her heart thrummed at the memory of his last passionate kiss. She blotted the memory from her mind, forcing herself to focus on the meeting, knowing he was a dangerous distraction.
A long, lean vampire stood up. His skull-white face and large black eyes glittered in the lamplight when he spoke. “Lord Mayor, you requested we vampires not feed on humans so there wouldn’t be an attack on our own kind.”
“True,” Darius said. “Our survival depends upon not drawing undue attention to ourselves among humans.”
“We have faithfully followed your request for the past five years, but the psychic vampires are killing humans and the evidence always points back to us. How long are we expected to deprive ourselves of human blood, only to be accused of killing them anyway?” He glanced around at the other vampires. “It won’t be long until the humans bring in the vampire hunters to track us down.”
Another vampire stood, but this time it was a slight male with a pointed snout and narrow sunken eyes, reminding Elizabeth of the river rats darting along the wharves.
“Your Lordship, it’s too dangerous for us to suck the blood off another vampire because we might die if our blood’s drained off before we have a chance to feed again.”
The first vampire spoke again. “Godfrey’s right. It’s been ten years since the Great Plague and there are still scarce enough cats and dogs for anyone to drain. I don’t know about the rest, but I don’t fancy hunting down conies to eat.” There was a murmur of agreement among the crowd.
Darius sat on a raised dais and lifted one long white hand for silence. The noise died instantly. Elizabeth admired his tall dramatic form with wide, square shoulders, rippling torso, his narrow tapering waist leading down to lean hips and magnificent legs, which were now crossed at the knee. He looked at her with his burning gray eyes and he raised his eyebrows as though asking a silent question. Bewildered by his expression, she dropped her mask and cocked her head, waiting to hear what he had to say.
“I know the psychic vampires threaten our community. Our goal has always been to survive through the centuries, whereas, they have a goal far more lethal to humans. They want nothing less than to suck the souls of humans into the abyss of the damned.”
“Why should we care what happens to humans?” the small vampire asked. “Once they find us, they’re always in a great rush to burn us or stake us or decapitate us. We lost many of our own in the Great Fire that took place, but do you think any human cared about that?”
“Godfrey speaks truly when he says we’ve lost much of our population.” Darius looked long and hard at each vampire. “We are now only thirty vampires strong in London. That’s why I issued the order to stop killing humans, so we wouldn’t become their target. It has been a successful plan until the psychic vampire demons became involved.”
Godfrey stood up. “Now they are involved, aye? I don’t see a point to leaving the humans alone if we’re blamed for unexplained murders. Remember what the vampire hunters done to the vampires in Eastern Europe? In some places, they’re about extinct, they are.”
“We have no vampire hunters in England, but only witch finders,” Darius said.
“They’re just as bad, aren’t they?” Godfrey said.
Darius frowned at Godfrey. “Thanks to the help of the Duke and Duchess of Denham, we have access to some very important information within King Charles’s court.”
He nodded in the direction of a tall vampire with sleek black hair, and his lady, a blonde woman who sat calmly in a green taffeta gown, her hair pulled up high on her head with a dozen ringlets framing her pale face. The woman bowed her head, while her husband gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, his elegant body held resolute and straight.
The silence within the pub, thick as London fog, hung in the air. Darius briefly acknowledged Elizabeth sitting between them before he continued. “We have reliable information that George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, has been attacked by psychic vampire demons. He’s now one of them and works for those belonging to the abyss.”
“What’s this about an abyss?” the tall, thin vampire cried out.
“The abyss is the portal of hell for demons. Elizabeth found a nest of them at the ruins of St. Paul’s, discovering the chasm at the same time.”
“If the psychic demons have a portal to hell, then we shouldn’t be messing with them, should we?” Godfrey said.
“If Master Godfrey will allow me to continue,” Darius said, glaring in the direction of the ferret-faced vampire, who bobbed his head like an angry chicken. “It has been brought to my attention the psychic vampire demons are planning an attack on King Charles. If the leader of England becomes a soulless devil, he’ll lead the country that’s already poised to become the greatest empire in the entire world straight into destruction. The fact our community will be decimated will be the least of our troubles.”
“What’s it to us if King Charles becomes a psychic vampire demon? I’ve already heard from the humans his parliament is already sucking the lifeblood out of them anyway.”
The other vampires laughed but Darius slammed his hand down on the oak table. “Those who are damned forever have never been allowed to rule the world, not now, not ever. I don’t intend to allow that to happen as long as I exist.”
“Will they take the king’s soul when he’s asleep or when he’s dead?” Ferret-face yelled out.
“Or will he become an immortal vampire or a psychic vampire demon?” the tall vampire shouted.
The group of vampires converged, and their babbling voices all demanded answers on how the psychic vampires planned to attack the king, until no one was bothering to listen to anyone else. The noise level of the hall reached such a pitch Darius couldn’t have answered them if he’d tried.
Darius rose from the dais and strode over to the rough-hewn oak table where Elizabeth sat squeezed between the Duke and Duchess of Denham. He grasped her hand and led her to the front of the room, while she quirked an eyebrow at him. Every vampire’s sharp, burning eyes fixated on her, causing her heart to thump so loudly, she feared they’d hear it.
His deep, sonorous voice rang out, while facing the group with Elizabeth by his side. “We need to consider all of the possibilities in order to prevent this reprehensible act to happen to
King Charles. A plan of action must take place immediately.”
“What’s she got to do with any of it?” Godfrey raised a finger, pointing at Elizabeth, his thin lips drawn into a sneer. “She’s the one what thinks she’s better than the rest of us. Being a vampire is too unholy for the likes of her, I’ve heard.”
Darius’s voice hardened. “I don’t think it’s for you to speculate on what Elizabeth might, or might not feel. Our focus is greater than that of our own petty disagreements. We must convince the king his soul is in danger and his life depends on our protection.”
Thoroughly sick of the skinny man’s hostility and Darius’s attempt at speaking for her, Elizabeth had no intention of standing like a ninny and letting the entire vampire community judge her. “Will you get to the point, Lord Mayor,” she said. “We don’t have much time until dawn, and if you spend all this time dithering about, we’re all likely to be burned to a crisp by the early morning’s sun. Then there will be no defense at all against the psychic vampires.”
She watched Darius frown, looking shocked and disapproving by her irreverence toward him in front of the crowd. He cleared his throat and said, “The only way to convince the king he’s in danger is to use his weakness, his ultimate folly, which has always been a woman. So it is a woman who must convince him of his grave danger.”
The Duke of Denham rose once more. “If you will permit me, Lord Mayor, perhaps I can explain more clearly, since my wife and I have a position of some importance at court, if you’ll pardon my saying so.”
“So what’s your plan, gov’ner?” Godfrey asked.
The Duke of Denham ignored him. “The beautiful Elizabeth looks strikingly like King Charles’s favorite mistress, Barbara Palmer, the Countess of Castlemaine, only she’s younger and more beautiful than the countess.”
“What are you suggesting, Your Grace?” Elizabeth gave him a sharp look.
He turned and bowed toward Elizabeth. “Once we present you at Whitehall, and you’re permitted access to the royal apartments, we feel certain a woman with your appeal, tact, and intelligence will quickly gain the king’s confidence.”
All too familiar with the king’s reputation with women, Elizabeth looked from the Duke of Denham to Darius. “You plan to fob me off as the king’s mistress?” A sense of betrayal washed over her, and unable to face Darius, she glanced down into her lap, blinking her eyes rapidly. How could she have thought he actually cared for her?
“I know there’s no one more likely to gain his confidence and persuade him to do whatever is necessary to save his life, indeed, his very soul. You have the strength of character to present the facts in a manner Charles can accept. I realize it still remains the king’s will, and his right to save himself and the kingdom is up to him. The choice must be the king’s to act upon, as he deems fit. Yet it will be your decision on how to persuade him of the danger. I trust you, Elizabeth. Let the challenge begin, if you dare.”
She knew Darius was baiting and daring her in front of all the vampires, and she glared at him before answering. Still, his expression pleaded for understanding. Then she looked out at the other vampires, and saw some leering and giving her malicious glances.
Angered even more by their attitudes, she raised her head high. “I accept the challenge, Your Lordship, and I promise to protect the king against the psychic vampires to the best of my abilities.”
“Why doesn’t she just persuade the king to become a vampire for us? Wouldn’t that stop the psychic vampire demons from causing us more trouble?”
“That’s a good point you’re making, Godfrey, but I don’t think England could tolerate the Stuart rule forever,” Darius said. “Rulers of the world must be part of the living in order to understand the needs of humans. The vampires’ goal concerns survival and not increasing our population to unmanageable proportions, nor do we wish to have a hand in controlling human affairs.”
The lean vampire with his black hair swept over his boney brow spoke again. “We’ll keep the truce for now, but we’ll not wait forever.” His mouth tensed. “If we keep getting blamed for what the vampire demons do, then the humans shall be left at our mercy.”
“Your point is well taken, Ashley,” Darius said. “Our goal is to contain the psychic vampires, so they are unable to harm immortal vampires or humans. We ask for your patience in order to achieve our goal. I promise we won’t fail.”
Godfrey spoke up. “Don’t take too long about it, Lord Mayor.” He bowed and sat down.
A hush enveloped the room, and all the other vampires dispersed quickly. Elizabeth and Darius were left standing in the center of the great hall. His eyes gleamed down on her. “Thank you for your courage, Elizabeth.”
Her head spinning with all the words that had been spoken, she wondered again if she’d misread Darius, perhaps what she’d considered his special regard for her was something else—something more sinister. Perhaps that passionate kiss she’d shared with him a short time ago hadn’t meant the same to him. It could have been another step in a plot to lower her defenses. Maybe making her the king’s mistress had been his plan all along, after all, vampires were masters of deception. She dared not voice her suspicions. She merely nodded and smiled, hoping to convince him she trusted him implicitly.
They walked outside together where the street now appeared sodden and desolate from the previous rainfall. Clopping of the horses’ hooves on the cobblestones ceased when the shiny black carriage halted. The coachman sat on his high seat and the footman leapt down from his position and opened the door, helping them both inside. The two sleek horses, black as the carriage, started off. Elizabeth pressed her face against the rain-swept window, her heart pounding in fear and anger building up until it spilled out.
She turned to face him. “Well?” she cried out.
“What do you want me to say?” He brushed back a lock of dark, damp hair that had fallen across his forehead. “I wouldn’t have asked this favor of you if I didn’t think you were capable of handling the situation.”
“You might have told me what you were planning before you announced it to all the vampires. I felt like a fool in there.”
He stroked the side of her face. “You’re the bravest woman I know. If anyone can persuade the king of his danger, it’s you.”
“What makes you think I can convince the king of England that he’s in danger from psychic vampire demons? Either he’ll think me mad, or he’ll destroy me for being a vampire. I don’t like either one of those options, Darius.”
“You traveled all the way from Prague to London alone when you became a vampire, even though knowing nothing of the vampire’s ways and vampire hunters were searching everywhere for you.”
Her mind rushed back to those first horrible days when she became a vampire. It had been after the fire that had destroyed her entire family. Right after the catastrophe, her husband had made her a vampire. It had been a nightmare that haunted her still. A pain knotted in her chest at the memory, so she forced down all thoughts of the past.
She drew away from him in the carriage. “My journey wasn’t one of courage, rather of ignorance, and perhaps a bit of luck. After my husband was made a vampire, he then made me one, too, but he forced himself upon me. He made me drink his blood. I had no choice, so I ran away. You were the first vampire to ever help me.” Elizabeth lowered her eyes, unable to face the glowing embers in his eyes. “The survival skills I knew at the time were those from the folklore.”
“Folklore isn’t always wrong. Vampires prefer to move alone in the world. Our group here in London has learned the hard way it’s best to cling together for protection.”
“They trust no one but you. You’ve been a vampire for a long time.”
His face became heavy, and his muscles seemed to tighten. “It was my own arrogance that made me a vampire. I thought I had no need of a soul, and immortality was my dream. I imagined I could do much in the world, if I had several lifetimes.”
“Haven’t you done a great d
eal?”
Instead of answering, he said, “Dawn comes quickly. We must get back to the inn.”
Thinking again of what he’d said, anger made her turn on him once more. “But the king, Darius, what in heaven’s name made you think I might charm a king?” The only answer she received was a volley of rain on the carriage windows, while the horses rushed back toward the Boar’s Head Inn. She didn’t even know how to speak to a king, so how could she possibly charm one?
Darius pressed her hand to his lips. “You are a woman who could charm the sun and stars from the sky.”
She had no words to respond.
Chapter 3
Darius dashed back to his apartment once he saw Elizabeth safely to her own room. He dared not stay in her company when she was so furious with him, especially when he wanted nothing more than to draw her to him, and drink of her lips, and of her body, believing it would quench his desire for her far more than the taste of her blood.
Why now, of all times, did he have such a powerful desire for her? He’d been her friend for nearly one hundred years, and now, something had ripped apart the barriers. He shouldn’t have drunk of her blood, but he’d panicked at the thought she might soon recapture her soul and leave him. He’d believed that if they drank one another’s blood, they’d be bound together forever.
The scent of her, the taste of her, the touch of her, now consumed his senses, sending him reeling into a web of unbridled, raging desire. If only he could drag her into his arms and feel the silky smoothness of her sweet body next to his now and forever.
He pulled the heavy, black curtains around his bed, leaving him in suffocating darkness, hoping to obliterate his lust in the darkness. On the backs of his eyelids, visions of red eyes and snarling white teeth of wolves surrounding him bore down on him, their fangs coming closer, so close he smelled the pungent scent of their shaggy bodies while they strained toward him, sinewy limbs and sharp fangs pulling forward in an attempt to rip him apart.
The King's Vampire Page 3
