Viktor was distracting Sybil. That had to be it, because why look at her with such longing and go with that bitch? Nobody would pay attention to a dogcatcher and a werewolf. Sybil had made sure of that. They were below her or her nest’s standards.
Chris’ lips spread into a vicious grin. His eyes flashed amber. “Let the hunt begin.”
She strolled as best she could in the heels Chris had provided. “Next time you buy some shoes, try to be more practical.”
He eyed the slit that ran down the side of her gown, which gave her some room to move. “I think they’re sexy.”
“Don’t make me smack you in public.”
“Then you’d be forced to marry me, because only my mate would be allowed to live after such a transgression.” He turned his wolfish gaze on her.
“Did Betty smack you?”
He growled. “Repeatedly.”
“And you still have no common sense.” She scanned the crowd. “You know what Jade looks like?” Jade Ellington, dhampir tattoo artist, sounded like someone who would stand out in a crowd.
“No, but I would know her scent.” His sharp smile turned sheepish. “The tattoo parlor still had some of her stuff in storage. Apparently, she left town so quickly she never returned for it. I bought the box. Her scent is still on her needle gun.”
“Even after all these years?”
“Packing it in the box helped. The smell was faint, but…” He shrugged. “I am an alpha.”
And he had the ego to go with his acute sense of smell. They combed through the guests quickly. “Are you getting anything?” Who knew how long Viktor and Sybil’s dance would last. She and Chris had to work fast.
The werewolf shook his head.
She eyed the sweeping staircase and rejected the idea of climbing to the second floor. Everyone would spot them since it was central to the room. “Come on. Let’s look for a back way.” She jerked her head toward where one of the servants exited. Sybil didn’t strike her as someone who would let the help use the same public hallways.
They crossed a dining room to the kitchen then to a narrow hallway that followed the back wall of the mansion. It ended at a wooden stairwell. “Ha! And I knew watching TV would come in handy one day.”
“Why do you think Jade is upstairs?” Chris asked.
“I don’t. I think the bedrooms are. With your nose, we’ll locate her room and hopefully the book.” She doubted that Jade would keep it in the nest library for anyone to use.
Chris scowled, taking the lead and making sure she stayed behind him. “I want her, not the damn book.”
“Stick to the plan. We destroy the book.” Her feet were cramping so bad she could barely think straight. She kicked off her heels and followed close behind Chris, trying to move as silently as the alpha. The stairs groaned under her weight and she frowned at how quietly Chris managed when he was twice her size.
The second-floor hall looked like the servant quarters. They treaded passed quickly until Chris stopped so fast she walked straight into his solid back.
She rubbed her nose. “What is it?”
“I smell her.” He bent to one knee, sniffing the bare, unpolished wood floor.
“Here?” She glanced at the yellowed plastered walls and ancient cracked doors. Something didn’t feel right. Why was Jade in the servant quarters?
Chris moved them back to a doorway they had just passed. “Her smell is strongest here.” He tried the knob. “Locked.” That wasn’t surprising, considering what Jade had in her possession. Chris used force until metallic parts of the knob and lock cracked. The door swung inward.
Together they peered inside the room.
Light glared from a bare bulb that hung from the ceiling. A young woman dressed in a threadbare T-shirt and torn jeans sat on the metal cot, reading a worn paperback novel. She rose to her bare feet, skeletal thin with bruises lining her arms and face. “Who are you?”
Chris jumped to his feet so fast he almost slammed into Trixie’s head. Win for vampire reflexes kicking in. “Jade Ellington.” The alpha tossed Trixie a smug look over his shoulder. “I’m Chris Jenkins, alpha of Riverbend Wolf Pack.”
“I’m Trixie from New Port.” She waved her hand over Chris’ broad shoulders. “Why are you locked inside this room?”
This wasn’t going according to plan. They had a starved-looking dhampir, no magic book, and Jade didn’t look like a criminal mastermind.
Jade clutched the novel to her chest and took a step closer to Chris. “Are you here to rescue me?” Hope in her voice, a cry of desperation.
She and Chris exchanged confused looks. The alpha crossed the room in one long stride. He gripped Jade’s chin in his hand and examined her frail face. “Who’s been using you as a punching bag?” His fury was surprising, considering he had wanted revenge on the dhampir himself.
She jerked her chin loose. “Sybil lets them beat me when I fail. She calls it incentive.” She looked from Chris to Trixie and back again. “You’re not here to help.”
“Yes, we are.” Trixie grabbed her hand. “Come on. We don’t have much time.” No matter what Jade had done to Betty, she did not deserve torture. There was something else going on that they didn’t understand, and the only way they could get answers was by helping Jade.
Chris didn’t hesitate and took the lead. He was a bossy wolf but a protective one. He scanned the hall. “It’s clear.”
“Wait.” Jade fell to her knees and searched under her bed. She pulled out a thick, black leather-bound book. “I can’t leave without this.”
It had to be the book they wanted. Trixie didn’t know how to confirm it though.
Chris glanced back. “Is that the book you used at the tattoo parlor? The magic one?” Apparently, he knew.
Jade’s eyes went wide. “How did you know that?”
“Long story.” Trixie pushed the alpha to move.
“My mother is this way.” Jane went the opposite direction. “We have to rescue her too.”
Chris threw his hands in the air. “What the fuck is going on?”
Trixie chewed on her bottom lip and followed Jade. There was no other choice but to keep pushing forward. She wasn’t leaving anyone behind.
Sybil sat on a stone bench, facing the gardens. “I have always wanted to see my flowers in the morning light.”
“They have cameras for that. You can watch them in safety.” He crossed his arms as he leaned against the doorframe. Noting Trixie and Chris had vanished from the party. He could only hope the alpha kept her safe and that they took this opportunity to search for the dhampir’s magic book.
“It’s not the same. I want to enjoy the warmth on my skin.”
“You would get very warm if you tried it.” Sybil was trying to hint at something, but he was in no mood to play games.
“Viktor.” She patted the bench next to her. “Join me.”
“I am fine where I am. What did you want to show me, Sybil?”
“Power.” She leaned forward. “Real power. Something that could turn the tide for our kind forever.”
“The news, the people the humans claim spontaneously combusted, that was you’re doing.” His arms tightened across his body and he gave her a fake smile. “What have you been up to?” Since they had entered the nest, he had been uneasy. He had come knowing it was a trap, but Sybil was acting too civil.
“I have discovered a way to walk in sunlight.”
He blinked, not sure he had heard correctly.
Her smile turned shy but she did not have a shy bone in her body. “Well almost. Those spontaneous combustions were failed attempts, but we are so close.”
“How is that possible?” He slowly approached her, his feet heavy with wonder. Sunlight was every vampire’s regret at some point in their lives.
“The dhampir I spoke of…”
He didn’t hear her other words as the puzzle pieces fell into place. Sybil was using black magic to alter the vampires of the nest. She was using the dhampir to do her d
irty work.
“… extensive testing, we’re close to developing a foolproof spell. Viktor, are you listening to me?”
He stared out over the gardens. “How extensive were your tests?” There were too many young vampires in the mansion and none that he recognized.
“I don’t know what that has to do with anything.”
Deepening his tone. “How many of your nest have you killed with these tests?”
She pressed her lips together and turned her back on him. “Their sacrifice was for the good of vampire kind.”
“Did they volunteer?” Even if she said yes, he could not bring himself to believe her.
She refused to answer.
“I did not think so.” He stood, looming over Sybil. “I am relieving you of your rule of this nest. You are obviously too unstable to be left unsupervised.” He flexed his fingers, resisting the urge to fist his hands.
The scent of blood was in the air. Close. He shook his head. There were humans in the other room allowing some of the vampires to feed. When had he last fed? Chuck had brought them blood at the pack house. Had he not drank?
Sybil gave him a knowing smile. “I don’t think taking my rule away will be quite so easy.”
“Fine,” he snapped. “I will just kill you and be done with the whole fiasco.” He tired of Riverbend and all its politicking. It was why he’d chosen to never settle here. Too much strife fed into bloodlust and that was the last thing he needed.
She tutted, wagging her finger at him. “Not so fast.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Trixie followed Jade. The dhampir seemed to know where she was going. Sure footed, she led them farther from her bedroom and down a narrow hall to what appeared like a closet until inside they found a hidden spiral staircase that led to the basement.
“Not another dungeon,” Trixie mumbled to no one in particular.
Chris maneuvered past her and Jade. He stared at the dark hole below. “Why is your mother being kept down there? I thought you were both members of this nest. Family.”
Jade tried to move past the alpha with no success. “We were until Sybil discovered what this book can do.” She pushed Chris to descend the stairs and he surprisingly complied. “And vampires don’t do family. I wish I’d never found the fucking thing.”
The stairs ended in a dark room similar to Eoin’s dungeon. “Déjà vu,” whispered Trixie. If she recalled properly, that hadn’t ended so well.
“Which cell is your mom in?” Chris moved a few inches ahead sniffing the air.
“I’m not sure.”
The alpha gave a surprised growl.
“The only thing I know is she’s down here. It’s not like they gave me visiting rights. They always brought her to me.” Jade leaned against Trixie as if exhausted.
“You knew you were doing black magic? Harming people?” Trixie pointed at the leather-bound tome in her arm.
“Not at the time,” Jade hissed back. “It’s only when things started to happen and I grew sick that they realized the book was magical and had bonded to me. I didn’t even know I had magic in my blood. When I refused to do as Sybil ordered, she imprisoned my mother and forced me to work on spells.”
That explained why Jade had vanished suddenly from her job.
“Wait, what kind of spells?” That didn’t sound good, even to an amateur like her. Evil leader plus black magic spells equaled disaster in movies.
The pop of the gun went off, the sound familiar. It wasn’t gun powder fueled, but air triggered. A tranquilizer rifle, like the one in her animal control truck. She glanced at Chris.
He pulled a dart out of his shoulder. “What the—”
Another shot.
He jerked and slapped his ass. His knees buckled. “Run,” he managed with a slurred voice.
Trixie hurried to his side and caught his falling heavy body. She groaned under his weight, even with her vampire strength. No way could she carry him alone. She twisted to ask Jade for help, but she was already running up the stairs like a frightened gazelle.
Two vampires appeared behind Chris. One grabbed Trixie by the arm. The other dragged Chris into an empty cell then locked the barred door behind him.
“You know who I am?” She tugged free of her captor’s hold.
He smirked. “The dogcatcher who arrived with Viktor.”
“Yes.” She nodded, her bubble popped. “That’s Master Viktor to you.”
“Did you catch the other girl?” Her captor shouted up the stairwell.
“Got her.” Someone shouted from above.
Crap, they’d caught Jade as well. Weren’t they the best rescuers ever? Wait until she told Viktor about all this. Prisoners and black magic and all this time they thought Jade had been the mastermind of all evil.
Her guard guided Trixie away from the dungeon back up the secret stairwell into a small room next to Jade’s. A tattoo table was the centerpiece with manacles at each corner. “I thought we were going to see Sybil?” And hopefully Viktor.
“We already have our orders.” The guard turned toward her. “Take off the gown.”
Her every breath jagged, she clutched her neckline. “Excuse me?” Eyes darting around the room, she tried to find an escape, a distraction, anything.
“Take off the gown or I’ll tear it off.” He gave her a soft smile. “It’s not what you think. Now undress and lie on the table.”
Another guard walked in. This one even bigger. “Need help?”
“No, she’s going to cooperate. Right sweetheart?” He nodded for her to start.
Heart in throat, she blinked back tears. She would not give them the satisfaction of seeing her fear. She knew predators like these guys. Seen them on the streets in her neighborhood. They lived off terror. The zipper on the dress was difficult to reach. She’d do what they asked and wait patiently to strike.
“Is Viktor occupied?” Her original guard asked the bigger one.
“Sybil is doing her sales pitch.”
“Think he’ll buy it?”
“If it works? Sure.” The guard glanced in Trixie’s direction as she lay on the table in her bra and underwear. “If this one flames out like the others, then we’re all dead.”
Flames out? Had he said flames out? What deal were they talking about? She knew Viktor. He wouldn’t accept anything from Sybil. Shit.
“On your stomach, sweet thing. Bring in the girl.”
She did as told and her original captor locked the manacles around her limbs. “What are those for?” she asked.
“So, you don’t try anything stupid and force me to hurt you.”
The door opened and Jade was pushed inside. Her gaze was so wide the whites showed all around her irises. “No, not her.” She retreated.
“Jade, we’ve been through this before. Every time you say no your mama gets a bone broken.” The guard crossed his arms. “Do I go break her legs again?”
Jade shuffled across the room, book in hand. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to Trixie.
“Now, if you do the tattoo right this time, Pinky will get to live.” He sounded so chipper Trixie wanted to spit.
He’d said tattoo. She glanced over her shoulder. Jade was preparing inks and her needle gun. Trixie broke out in a cold sweat. Jade was going to ink her with black magic. “What is the spell going to do to me?”
Jade met her pleading stare. “Makes you resistant to sunlight.” She grimaced. “If it works.”
Lowering her voice to a whisper. “It hasn’t worked yet?”
Jade shook her head.
Trixie turned her face away, her attention back on the guards. “Is this where I make a deal? Because I’m ready.” Viktor had said he had heard vampires agonizing screams as they burned under the sun. She didn’t want to burn. Sybil had to find another toy to fight over and Trixie needed to buy herself some time to figure out an escape.
The guard shook his head. “Time for deals is passed. If your sire rejects Sybil’s offer, then you’re the backup p
lan.”
She squirmed and tugged her restraints. As backup plans went, this one sucked. The nest was placing all the bets on her survival. They had to be desperate to think they could coerce Viktor. If she flamed out, he would kill every single one of them—her heart broke—and he probably wouldn’t stop there.
“Don’t do this, Jade. If Viktor loses his shit, he’ll kill most of Riverbend before they take him down.” Hell, he needed a dragon to stop him. The city only had a wolf alpha and he was out cold in Sybil’s dungeon.
Jade stroked Trixie’s hair before sliding the long strands over her shoulder. “They will keep hurting my mother until I do this.” She pressed her hand in the middle of Trixie’s back. “Hold still. One line out of place and the spell will not work. Trust me, Trixie.”
Viktor searched the party quickly for either alpha or future lover. How long had Sybil kept him outside talking? Bargaining?
“Enough.” He cut his hand across the air. “The magic is unstable, Sybil. No one knows what ill effects it will have on us with time.”
She sighed. “Then we take our time studying it. Any way you want. All I ask is for your patience and support.”
He paced the patio. It would be a lie if he said he was not tempted. To walk in the sun. To be human-like with vampire immortality. The fountain of youth complete. But everything had a price in time. What would theirs be? “If vampires could be day walkers, would not all humans want to turn? Then who would feed us?”
“Humankind can be turned into cattle.” Her matter of fact comment.
He shuddered. Why could Sybil not see this for what it was? The possible end of the world. Their kind had evolved such weaknesses because they had such strength in other areas. There had to be a balance and Sybil was trying to break it. “I did not travel to Riverbend to negotiate. Hand over the book.”
“So, you can take the power for yourself? I think not. Do you take me for a fool?” At those words, soldiers slid out of the darkness surrounding them.
No, he would never think of her as foolish. Sybil had risen in the ranks because her wits were sharp and her heart ruthless. He used to admire such traits. But her bed was cold and her affection colder. He found his soul draining empty around Sybil and she fed his darkness. In those days, he’d had so little control over his bloodlust.
Not His Vampire: Vampire Romance (Not This Series Book 3) Page 20
