Kat Redding 03 - Blessed by a Demon's Mark

by E. S. Moore

  Of course, my gun hadn’t been nearly as quiet. I stepped inside and kicked the door closed behind me as I drew my sword.

  A clamor arose deeper in the mansion and I headed toward the sound. If Baset really did have Jonathan somewhere, I figured that would be where most of her minions would be.

  A wolf still in the process of shifting came around a corner toward me. I shot him in the head without breaking stride. His body slid a few feet on the hard floor and I stepped over him as his blood began to seep into the wood.

  Shouts rose and I smiled grimly. It had been a long time since I’d fought like this. I’d forgotten how good it felt to take out some of the bad guys, though I really didn’t enjoy the killing as much as I used to.

  I was passing by a stairwell when someone came out of a hidden door at my side. I didn’t have time to turn before he was on me. I tried to swing my sword in a vain attempt to cut my attacker, but he was too close. He spun around me, huge arms wrapping around my body, trapping my gun arm close to my side.

  But my sword arm was still free.

  I swung as another attacker came out of the hidden room. The vampire’s grin never left his face, even as his head hit the floor. His body following a few seconds later.

  I tried to wrench free of my captor, but he was far too strong. No matter how hard I fought, he always managed to keep his softer parts out of my reach. I just couldn’t get an angle on him to strike him with my blade.

  Another vampire came out of the room. He walked slowly and stayed well out of the reach of my sword. He glanced at his fallen comrades with disdain before turning his eyes to me.

  The guy holding me loosened his grip for a heartbeat and I tried to take advantage. I snapped my head back and felt the satisfying crunch of his nose breaking against the back of my head. I tried to push free, but he managed to catch me in his bear hug again, this time trapping both my arms.

  “Lady Death, I presume,” the vampire said. He was wearing a black robe. In fact, everyone I’d seen had been wearing them. “Countess Baset has so wanted to make your acquaintance. She will be thrilled you have come so quickly.” He stepped closer to me. Hot, rancid breath spilled over my face when he spoke again. “This way.”

  He turned and walked back through the hidden door. The big guy holding me kept a firm grip as he led me through the doorway. Another stairwell led up into the mansion. I just barely caught a glimpse of the robed man as he vanished upstairs.

  As soon as he was gone, I dug my feet into the hardwood and refused to move. The guy holding me might be strong, but I was a vampire. I was strong too.

  He grunted when we suddenly stopped. I prepared to make my move, when my captor suddenly let go of me. I started to spin, but just as I turned, he grabbed me by the wrists and twisted.

  Agonizing pain flared up my arms, down into my hands. My grip loosened on both weapons and they clattered to the floor.

  I didn’t even have a chance to bend to retrieve them. The big man scooped both weapons up the instant he let me go. Before I could even think to reach for one of my knives, he had my gun aimed at my head.

  “Go,” he said, blood running down his face from where I’d broken his nose. He held my sword gingerly in his other hand, as if afraid to touch it too much. His grip on the gun was far more secure.

  I shrugged, feigning indifference. What else could I do? He had the better of me. It’s what I’d expected to happen going into a Major House like I had.

  I turned and headed for the stairs, knowing chances were good I’d never come back down them again.

  15

  I was led down a long, dark hall, into a room at the far end. The lights inside were dim, almost distracting. There was just enough light to illuminate the black-robed figures standing along the walls, heads bowed as if in prayer. Their hands were hidden within their robes so that not a hint of skin showed.

  The guy with the bad breath was standing in the middle of the room. He’d lifted the hood of his robe and his head was bowed like everyone else’s. From where he stood, I could only assume he was more important than the others in the room.

  Jonathan was sitting in a chair beside the robed vamp. His head came up the moment we entered, and I gasped when I saw his face. The glamour he usually kept up to hide the damage to his skull was gone. His eyes were swollen nearly shut; his face bruised an almost uniform purple. Three fingers on his left hand were bent at an odd angle. There were no ropes or chains binding him, yet he remained seated as if too weak to fight.

  I took a step toward him but stopped when the vamp beside him raised his hand. I wasn’t sure if it was a warning or a request, but I stopped anyway. Jonathan’s head dropped as if he couldn’t hold it up any longer.

  “What have you done to him?” I asked. My fingers twitched. I wanted to grab my knives from their hidden sheaths and bury them in the vamp’s throat. I knew he was at least partly responsible for Jonathan’s torture.

  But I didn’t move. I knew if I did something stupid, like attacking one of the people in the room, Jonathan would die. I’d probably be quick to follow.

  The vamp shook his head and didn’t speak. No one moved or spoke. I wasn’t sure if the big guy behind me had lifted his hood or even if he still had my gun pointed at me. I refused to turn and look, knowing it would do me no good either way.

  There had to be thirty people in the room. The robes they wore were thick enough that I couldn’t tell if they were male or female, wolf, vamp, or Pureblood. There were variants in height and weight, but that was the only difference I could make out between one person and the next.

  A shadow moved in the far back corner of the room, drawing my eye. Another black-robed figure stepped forward, moving slowly, almost jerkingly.

  And then she spoke. “Ah, Lady Death.”

  I shuddered at the sound of her voice. It was like someone had taken sandpaper to the woman’s vocal cords and then pulled them as taut as they would go.

  “Countess Baset, I assume.” I tried to see into her hood, but she kept her head so low I couldn’t make anything out. She moved to stand beside Jonathan’s chair. She rested a gloved hand on his shoulder and he flinched away as if she’d pinched him.

  That couldn’t be good.

  “I have searched for you for a long time,” Baset said. “You proved to be quite elusive.”

  “I was on vacation.”

  Baset laughed. It was worse than listening to Ethan’s demon’s laugh. At least I knew he’d never been human before. No one alive should ever sound like that.

  “But you’re here now.”

  “I am.” I tried to stand defiant in the face of the vampires, but my eyes kept going to Jonathan where he trembled in his chair. It made me sick to see him like that. “You can let him go now. He has no part in this.”

  “He brought you here, didn’t he?” She touched his face and his head jerked to the side so fast it was a surprise he didn’t break his neck.

  “I came because I heard you were looking for me. He just happened to get himself caught before I knew where to find you.”

  Baset chuckled. “Is he your lover?” she asked. She turned her head just enough so she could look at me. The dim light cast shadows over her face, making it appear a black mask.

  “No.” My voice caught and I coughed to clear my throat.

  “But you want him to be. I can tell. I can smell your desire, can see it in your eyes when you look at him.”

  I sucked in an angry breath but held back a retort. No sense pissing off the vampire Countess while standing there mostly unarmed.

  Countess Baset walked slowly around the chair in that strange, awkward gait of hers. “Sometimes a person comes into your life and they sort of stick. They invade your thoughts, impact your actions, and the next thing you know, they’re as much a part of you as your own body.”

  I swallowed a lump in my throat. I didn’t like how the conversation was going at all, especially with Jonathan sitting helpless in front of me.

&nbs
p; “Let’s get this over with,” I said, my voice tight.

  Baset went on as if I hadn’t spoken, a trait all vampires seemed to share. “And then one day, they are gone. Someone comes along and snuffs them out, leaving you wondering how you’ll ever fill the hole they left behind.” She stopped just behind Jonathan and looked down at him.

  Jonathan shied away from her. He looked beaten down so much, I wondered if he’d ever recover.

  “Don’t hurt him,” I growled.

  “Whether I hurt him or not will be entirely up to you,” she said. She lifted a hand and trailed a finger down Jonathan’s cheek. “If you wish to keep him, all I ask is that you listen to my offer . . . and accept it, of course.”

  The urge to just say the hell with it and draw my knives was so strong, I found my hands inching toward my belt. I might have drawn if Jonathan hadn’t groaned in his seat. The sight of him like that had me near tears.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “Countess Telia was more to me than just a bed warmer,” Baset said. “She had a strength about her that made me feel alive.” She paced to the side, never straying far from where Jonathan sat. “And that is important to me. Life is precious, especially because it is so easily taken away.”

  I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer. “It’s funny listening to a vampire talk about life being precious. I thought you enjoyed killing.”

  Baset laughed. “If you lived what I have lived, you would feel the same.” She took a deep, raspy breath. “I loved Telia for what she did for me . . . and what she did to me.” I could hear the hunger in her voice. “If I asked her to kill, she killed, no questions asked. She was good at it.”

  “Not good enough,” I said.

  “Clearly.”

  Jonathan shifted in his chair, tried to move farther away from Baset, but there was nowhere for him to go unless he wanted to flop onto the floor. He was terrified of the vampire. I’d never seen him that way before.

  “I’m going to give you a choi—” A sudden bout of coughing brought Baset up short. It sounded like she was hacking up more than just a lung. I hoped she would just keel over and die right then and there, and save me the trouble of having to finish her off myself.

  Her cough eased and she leaned on the chair for support. I could feel the tension in the room. I don’t think even her minions knew whether or not she would survive the outburst.

  “Keep that up and I might not have to kill you after all,” I said, unable to hide my satisfaction.

  Baset jerked upright. She strode toward me, bringing with her the foulest smell I’d ever had the displeasure of breathing. It was like all the bodies in the world had been left out to rot. I took an involuntary step back and brought my hand up to my nose. I gagged and the smell of rot filled my mouth.

  “Can you smell it?” she hissed. “I cannot escape it. It’s always there, following me wherever I go. When death takes you, it is inevitable.”

  With deliberate slowness, Baset reached up and pulled back her hood.

  The smell was bad enough. Putting it with the face was almost too much.

  Baset’s eyes were filmed-over white. Her skin hung from her face in sagging clumps, as did her hair; what was left of it anyway. Her eyes were sunken deep into her skull; her cheekbones protruded through the skin. Her lips were shriveled where they didn’t have holes in them. Her teeth lay exposed, yellowed and rotten.

  It was the face of a corpse left out too long. I didn’t need her to take off her robe to know the rest of her body was just as decayed.

  I took another step back, wanting only to put distance between us. I felt like throwing up. I tried to say something but only gagged as more of her stench filled my mouth. I could taste the rot on her. The air was heavy with it.

  How I hadn’t smelled it the moment I’d walked in, I’ll never know. Maybe the scent was somehow limited, a curse of her condition. The horrible stench receded as Baset raised her hood and stepped back. I choked in fresh air and fell to my knees. My legs just wouldn’t hold me upright any longer.

  “I was beautiful once,” she said. “But it didn’t matter when my heart was destroyed. The prettiest face cannot stand against the hunger for power.” She choked out a laugh. “But my killers didn’t know of my skills. They didn’t know I’d protected myself against something as inevitable as death.”

  She walked over to the vamp standing beside Jonathan and ran a hand down his chest. “Henri taught me so much. He brought me back from the dead, and as a reward he has leave to taste of my flesh.”

  I fought back revulsion as she leaned forward and kissed Henri on the mouth. I could hear the slurping sounds from across the room.

  “You can’t raise the dead,” I managed. I forced myself to my feet, refusing to confront the vampires on my knees.

  Baset stepped back from Henri. He licked his lips and made sure I could see that he was chewing on something.

  “Necromancy can be accomplished by those with the power. I am living proof that Henri has that power.” She paused and gave a dramatic sigh. “But it isn’t perfect. The rot still claims the body. This body serves as a vessel, nothing more. I can only keep up with the decay so much. Each year it claims a little more of me, despite my best efforts to keep it at bay.”

  I considered saying something smartass, but held back. I didn’t want her coming back over again. “Why don’t you raise Telia, then?” I asked.

  Baset stopped moving and I thought maybe I’d gone too far in bringing up her dead lover. When she spoke, she sounded angry. “Her head was removed. No amount of necromancy can return a soul without a head. If she had been shot in the head, then perhaps . . .” She let the thought trail off.

  I immediately thought of Thomas. Could he be brought back? Was there a way to keep him from rotting like Countess Baset? I could have him, could fix him.

  I angrily pushed the thought away. I could never do that to him. It was too cruel. I wouldn’t even want to bring back an enemy this way.

  “But all of this is beside the point,” Baset said, waving a hand. “My condition worsens, but I am far from dead. I will continue on for many years, centuries even. Perhaps by then, I will find a way to repair the damage done and slow the rot consuming me.”

  I swallowed. I really didn’t want to think of her rotting any more than I had to. “Then what do you want from me?” It was clear she didn’t want me dead like I’d originally thought.

  “You,” Baset said. “I want you to replace my dear Telia, take her place at my side.”

  The thought of touching Baset in any way, sexual or not, made me gag. I coughed to try to cover it and almost threw up instead. Bile filled my mouth and I swallowed it back with some difficulty.

  Baset laughed bitterly. “I will give you a choice. You will not have to fill both of Telia’s roles, only one. I will find someone else to fill the other.”

  Jonathan’s head lifted and he looked at me with an intensity that couldn’t be ignored. I glanced at him, wincing at the bruises that covered his face. He shook his head almost imperceptibly.

  “I would accept you into my bed if you chose to fill that role,” Baset said, drawing my attention back to her. “Telia enjoyed tasting me. I believe she liked the taste of dead flesh, much like many of my House do. Perhaps you would enjoy the same.”

  I tried really hard not to gag.

  “But if that is too distressing for you, then all I require of you is to take on the role as my assassin.”

  “No.” I didn’t even think about it. “I won’t kill for you.”

  “Then let me see what is under your coat. Your face is pleasing enough to look at, but I would like to know your body more.”

  The man behind me took a step forward as if to grab me. I quickly stepped aside, really not wanting anyone from Baset’s House touching me.

  “No way. I’m not getting naked for you either.”

  “You really have no choice.” Baset waved a hand and Henri produced a knife from somewhere i
n his robes. He looked at me for a long moment before going to work.

  Jonathan screamed as the knife bit into his flesh. Henri stood so I could get a good view of what he was doing. He made a sawing motion as he worked at Jonathan’s ear, taking his time as if he wanted to savor the werewolf’s pain.

  “Stop!” I shouted. I nearly rushed forward and tackled Henri, though I knew I’d never get anywhere close before someone shot me. I couldn’t stand to see Jonathan hurting because of me.

  Baset waved her hand again and Henri stepped back. Jonathan’s ear was still attached, but barely. It was looking decidedly ragged where it hung.

  “I’ll do it,” I said. Tears burned my eyes and I couldn’t keep them from falling. Jonathan’s head hung to his chest. Blood ran down his neck and fell to the floor. I couldn’t stand to see him like that, not because of me.

  “Do what?”

  I took a deep, shuddering breath and closed my eyes to the horrors I’d witnessed. I should have been more careful, should have brought Nathan with me. I doubted it would have made much of a difference, but then maybe we could have fought harder, killed a few more vamps and wolves before being taken.

  We could have gone down fighting.

  But I hadn’t called him. My only choices were to watch Jonathan die, and then most likely die myself, or do whatever Baset wanted. She was right; I really had no choice.

  I opened my eyes and stared directly into Baset’s hooded face.

  “Who do you want me to kill?”

  16

  Henri started moving forward the moment the words were out of my mouth. I jerked back from his outstretched hand, thinking he was reaching for me, but all he held was a folded piece of paper. I took it from him and glanced down at the name and address written in a neat hand. I didn’t recognize the name, but I knew where the address would lead me.

  “He is your target,” Baset croaked. She seemed to slump within herself, as if our conversation had worn her out. “I’m sure you can figure out where to find him on your own.”