“Shhh, I know, darling. Everything will be fine. I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself. I know that must’ve been very difficult for you.”
“How?” The pain in my hand had dulled to a throb under the ice-cold flow of water and my mind tried to comprehend just exactly how much she knew about my history.
“How what?”
“How do you know that was difficult? Did Erick say something?”
“No, he would never betray your confidence, but the Oracle spoke of your suffering.”
“The Oracle? Arlea? The woman I’m supposed to meet with today? How does she know anything about me?”
“She is the Oracle. She sees for the Sisters and those who protect them. And you have been on a path to us for quite some time.”
The bell above the door in the dining room rang, then the building shuddered as the door slammed closed. I caught Rose’s gaze and she smiled.
“Erick’s back.”
Relief washed over me and my tense muscles relaxed. Before I could turn he was next to me, breathing over my shoulder, and whispering apologies in my ear as he nibbled on the bottom of the lobe.
Rose released my hand and stepped back to the sink to wash her hands. “Do I need to speak to Javier?”
“No,” Erick growled. “Everything is fine.”
“Very good.” Rose moved toward the prep counter, slipped on a pair of plastic gloves, and joined two other women rolling out dough.
“What happened to your hand?”
“She thought she’d stab Javier,” Raven piped up, returning from Rose’s office. She held up the bright red box. “Found the kit. We’ll get you all fixed up.”
“No,” Erick growled again. Raven backed away without another word, taking the box with her. He raised his wrist to his mouth and bit down. A trickle of dark red blood ran across his skin. He moved his wrist toward my mouth.
I raised my hands and blocked. “What are you doing?”
“Just a little of my blood will heal you quickly. I don’t want you walking around with a gash like that. It will attract—”
“The other Protectors?” As far as I knew, vampires were the only species of Other that drank blood.
“Yes. And I do not care to fight again today.”
“Did he hurt you?”
A smile broke the stern features of his face. “No, kjaere. I am perfectly well. I will let you check for wounds later.”
“Oh, really?” I snorted. Sure he would. Like either of us needed a reason to be naked with each other.
“Please, Bailey.” He pushed his wrist closer again. “Just a little will completely heal you.”
I relented, dropping my hands to my side. He pressed his wrist to my mouth and closed my mouth over the small puncture wounds he’d made. His blood was cool and metallic. Not pleasant in the least. I swallowed three times before my stomach turned and I pushed his arm away.
He nodded toward the sink and I watched in amazement as the gash in my hand disappeared in front of my eyes. The water rinsed the last trace of blood from my palm, leaving my skin completely clean. I pulled it from the water. There was no trace of the cut. No scar. Nothing.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The double doors of the Castle loomed ahead—tall and menacing. Dark iron twisted into the outline of a dragon on each. The doors were easily twice my height, probably making them close to twelve feet tall. The curved handles were fashioned from wrought iron as well, and were thicker around than my wrist.
Erick knocked and a few seconds passed before both doors swung open. A giant of a man barred the opening and it took a moment for me to recognize him as Miles. His body was bare from the waist up, displaying abs and a cut chest that would make any man envious. Except maybe Erick.
Heat rushed to my face and I knew my cheeks must be as red as the roses in the Castle gardens we’d passed. From the waist down, he wore black leather pants, tight enough to detail the lines of muscle in his thighs and the bulge in his crotch. My throat went dry. Crap.
“G-good morning.” I sounded like I’d swallowed a toad. My mind refused to quit daydreaming about how beautiful the men of this town were.
To my horror, both men chuckled loudly. Miles stepped back and Erick’s hand at my back slipped lower. His fingers pinched my ass before urging me through the open door.
He knew. Of course he knew! I was flushed and aroused, the damn man could smell it. Could Miles tell, too?
I tried to take a step back, but trying to move against Erick’s hand was futile. He guided me forward, leaning down to my ear and whispering how beautiful I looked and how delicious I smelled. My knees went weak and my body responded by soaking my panties yet again.
With only a few faltering steps, I stood speechless in the center of a round room. Three grand staircases spiraled up to a second floor, each appearing to lead into a different hallway. The floors were black marble and the walls were made of multi-colored dark stone. White and gold-colored, crushed velvet drapes hung across several openings on the ground floor. There were more than enough chandeliers and wall sconces to keep the huge place well-lighted, even pleasant. Seeing it from the outside, I’d been afraid that without windows, the Castle would be like walking into a cave.
“It’s beautiful.” The awe in my voice must have pleased Miles.
His face split into a welcoming grin. “Thank you. The Sisters complain it’s too dark, but we try to brighten it as much as we can during the day. Though, I rather prefer it dark.”
“Why?”
He leaned down, his face inches from mine. The irises of his eyes elongated and changed colors, from a dark amber to a bright orange gold. I took a step back and leaned against Erick’s chest, my heart pounding so loud in my ears I couldn’t hear anything else.
“My dragon can see better in the dark.”
“Miles!” Erick’s growl vibrated through my back, reassuring me of his presence and protection. Though, I didn’t truly believe Miles would hurt me.
The other man straightened to his full height and scoffed. “Scaring little humans is fun. I don’t get to do it nearly often enough anymore.” He gestured to the opening to our left. “Straight through the courtyard. Arlea is in the garden.”
“Thanks,” Erick said as he looped his arm through mine and led me away from the smiling dragon of a man. He’d scared me on purpose. Hot or not, I found myself wishing it’d been his brother Eli at the door. Equally built and sexy, Eli had exhibited more compassion toward me in the few times we’d seen each other than his brother. I wasn’t even sure Miles knew the definition of consideration, much less compassion.
Erick pushed back the drapes and we continued down a hallway brightened by chandeliers that sparkled like diamonds. We reached a set of glass French doors that opened into a stunning garden courtyard. Flagstone paths twisted and turned between lush foliage and flowers, leading to various gazebos and sitting areas.
Several women waved and passed us on their way out of the garden. They were beautiful, and all were wearing loose, flowing dresses like the one I wore from Calliope’s shop. But theirs were all white with a shimmering silver sheen, almost like the fabric was woven with fine silver strands. The two women who passed us were probably in their early twenties, but then I caught sight of several elderly women across the courtyard pruning a purple flowering bush.
“The Sisters … they age?”
“Yes, the Sisters are human, sort of, but for their gift of sight.” He gently pressed me toward the center of the garden. He stopped at the steps of a large, white gazebo. “Oracle, I’ve brought Bailey to meet you.”
“Took you long enough,” an elderly woman quipped.
Erick chuckled. “Nothing ever goes fast enough for you, Sister.”
“When you’re my age, people need to hurry a little. I might not be around if they dawdle.”
I turned to face the woman’s voice and paused. She was ancient. Her skin was wrinkled and sagged on her face. The bones beneath her paper-thin skin
were high and she had an elegant nose. She’d been gorgeous in her day, no doubt, but her advanced years had left her bent and worn. Her long, silvery-gray hair fell over her shoulders like a waterfall. She wore a loose, white robe with bell-shaped sleeves over her silver dress.
“Not quite what you expected, eh?” Her brown eyes flashed and she smiled, waving me to come nearer. “A hundred and two will do a number on a gal.”
I shook my head in disbelief. I’d never met anyone who’d lived past seventy, much less a hundred. Healthcare was almost nonexistent for most of the U.S. population. Medicine was for the wealthy. No one else could afford it.
“Fae dust does wonders for your health, among other things.” She gave me a telltale wink and motioned toward the empty chair next to hers. “Please come sit with me, child. I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you.”
I took a few steps and stopped when I no longer felt Erick’s form behind me. Looking over my shoulder, he shook his head.
“I don’t bite, Viking, at least not anymore.”
Her statement confused and surprised me, but had a completely different effect on Erick.
Laughter rumbled from behind me. I turned back. Erick leaned against the opening of the gazebo frame. “You always were a sassy wench, Arlea.” He caught my gaze and flashed me a reassuring smile, dimples showing in both his cheeks. “You have but to desire my presence, kjaere, and I will be at your side.” He bowed and turned to leave. His long strides ate up the stone walk and soon he disappeared, leaving me alone with the ancient seer.
“Come, child. There is much to say and I don’t stay awake as long as I used to.”
I moved to the large, cushioned chair opposite Arlea. Tucking my legs beneath my body, I sighed. What could she possibly have to say to me? And why did I kept getting hints that my arrival in Sanctuary was expected?
Her brown eyes sparkled with a fire that surprised me. For one so old, she spoke and acted decades younger. That dust must really be something.
“You and Erick make a good match. I’m glad he found you and not one of the other Protectors.”
“Were they looking? I thought our meeting was chance.”
“Oh it was. Even when he found you, the Viking had no idea who you were.”
Who I was? I scrunched my face. She wasn’t making sense. They were looking, but not really? He didn’t know who I was? “You aren’t making sense.”
“You have been on a path to find Sanctuary since you were born. I had a vision of you twenty-six years ago. Since then, I’ve seen you in my dreams many times over the years. I never knew your name or where you were, but I knew you were meant for us. Can I ask your full name?”
“Bailey Ross. Meant for you how? This town is full of Others. I’m human.”
“What is your true name, the one your parents passed down. Ross isn’t right.”
“D’Roth,” I answered slowly. How could she have known Ross wasn’t my real name?
“Ah, the D’Roth family goes back centuries. Your ancestors were not human. You come from a family line steeped in the old magick. The bloodline is diluted enough that you don’t have powers any longer, but your soul spoke to me when you entered this world. Your sacrifice will put the House of Lamidae one step closer to freedom.”
Sacrifice? Nothing about a sacrifice sounded pleasant. I shivered and silently wished for Erick to return, hoping he had been telling the truth about returning to me with only a thought. Just then, a whir of air stirred my hair and he appeared at my side, kneeling next to my chair.
“What is wrong?”
“Nothing,” Arlea snapped at him. Her demeanor changed from friendly, old woman to angry shrew in a matter of seconds. “She’s scared.”
“Sister Arlea, there is no need for cruelty. Bailey has had more than her fair share of it in her short life.”
“I know exactly what her life was. It is in the past. She is the next piece of the star of Shamesh. She will be Sanctuary’s fifth Protector. There is no time for tiptoeing around the topic. Xerxes grows bolder each year. She is irreplaceable.”
A Protector? I couldn’t be. I’d have to … die.
“You can’t expect her to just give up her life on command. The other Protectors were already vampires when we were called. She deserves to live. To have a family. Children. New vampires are not created on a whim. Even yours.” Erick’s fury sent a chill through my body.
“Tread carefully, Viking. I know you care for her, but you do serve me.”
“I protect the House, Oracle. But, I am not a slave to your whims.”
The old woman’s voice sharpened, becoming colder than a steel blade. “It is her destiny. I do not choose this for her, Erick. I only see it, but she cannot escape it, no matter what you do.”
They were both angry, but it was more than just me they were arguing about. I didn’t care, though. Their voices were drowned out in the sea of my raging thoughts. What the hell? She thought I was supposed to be a Protector … like Erick? She thought I’d willingly become a vampire? That I didn’t have a choice. How could I not have a choice? What had she seen?
I didn’t have a lot to lose. I had no human family or friends. Nothing truly tied me to my old life except pain and fear. But dying and becoming a night-walking, bloodsucking, immortal that was hated by most of the human race hadn’t really been in my plans, either.
Besides, what kind of person tells a stranger their destiny is to die and become an immortal warrior for some out-of-the-way West Texas town no one’s ever heard of. And to fight for what? These carefree women who lived in the lap of luxury behind the walls of a massive castle having dreams of the future? What were they so afraid of?
I stood from my chair and stared down at the small woman still arguing with Erick. Maybe I’d taken too quickly to this town. Something felt wrong about this whole conversation. “You have the wrong person, ma’am. Sanctuary is nice and all, but sooner or later I will have to leave. I never stay anywhere for long.”
Arlea turned her bright, brown eyes to me and laid a hand on my arm. A cold tingle shot across my skin, making me shudder like the air around me was freezing cold instead of tropically warm. Erick said she was human, but the glint of something else in her eyes made me question it. “I’ve dreamed your face since you were born, child. This is your fate, whether you choose to accept it or not. It’s not something from which you can run.”
Maybe, maybe not, but it didn’t mean I had to lay back and just take it either. I yanked my arm away from her vise-like fingers and fled the gazebo.
She had no right to ask for what she did. At least Erick had stood up for me. But would that be enough if the whole town sided with Arlea? She was a respected elder. I wasn’t stupid. I knew her words carried weight. Even Rose, the all-powerful Sentinel, had pushed for me to meet and hear out the seer. Or Oracle. Whatever they called her. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to just let them turn me into a vampire.
But, just because Erick didn’t want to follow Arlea’s orders didn’t mean one of the other Protectors wouldn’t step up and do the deed. I’d been beaten and tortured to within an inch of my life and I survived. This old woman was not going to get the better of me with her “it’s your destiny” crap.
The stone path before me split into a Y and I followed it to the left. I was long past lost. All the arched doorways along the outer edges of the garden looked the same. I picked one and slipped inside.
The room was barely lit and the thudding bass of music I’d never heard before reverberated from the walls and ceiling—so loud the very air in the room seemed to pulse.
There were quite a few people in the room. Some dressed as Sisters in long, flowing silver dresses, some naked as the day they were born. I averted my eyes when one of the Sisters walked past with a mountain of a man following close behind her, naked but for the wide, black, leather collar around his neck. She gave me a sultry wink and walked to the corner of the room.
Now that my eyes adjusted to the low light,
I could make out furniture along the walls. A crowd was gathering to one side and the telltale snap of a whip made the bile in my stomach rise to my mouth. But the burning in my throat was nothing compared to the phantom pain racing across my skin every time the whip found its target. Each stripe on my body came alive, burning as if it were fresh.
My breathing grew ragged and I dropped to my knees. The cold stone seared like ice on my palms. I could see my terrified reflection in the polished finish.
I thought I had more control, but that sound brought everything crashing down, threatening to suffocate me in my memories. Erick’s cool hands were on my shoulders seconds later. He really could feel when I needed him.
I sucked in a breath and tried to speak, but managed no more than a choked cough. All I wanted was to get away. I wanted to be free of this pain. Of the memories that haunted me. But it would never happen. My scars would always be there. Even if Erick thought they were beautiful … they were still reminders of what he had done to me. For now, I just needed to get away from the sound of that bullwhip slicing through the air.
Several unfamiliar voices asked if I was all right. I couldn’t answer. Erick’s arms surrounded me and lifted me from the floor. Air rushed past us. He was moving so fast. The darkness of the Castle disappeared. We were outside again. Then we weren’t.
When he finally came to a stop, I sighed. We were in his bedroom. He lowered me gently onto silky sheets of the large bed we’d been sharing since I arrived. The familiar peppermint scent soothed my raw nerves and I reached for one of the many pillows against the headboard, pulling it close to my chest and burying my face in it.
“I’ll be right back, I’m going to get you a drink.”
I nodded my head and mumbled an okay through the pillow.
A few seconds later his fingers stroked my upper arm. “Sit up and drink this.”
I did as he asked and shoved the pillow behind my back before turning to face his gorgeous, blue eyes. He placed the highball glass in my hand. I touched it to my lips and the fumes from the alcohol hit my eyes with a blast. Seconds later the liquid fire scorched a path down my esophagus, but at least it burned away the acrid taste of bile. Nothing like a good scotch to wipe a slate clean.
My Viking Vampire Page 14
