Shades of Wicked

by Jeaniene Frost

  “Your turn,” Lyndsay said, slamming her shot glass down.

  I picked mine up, careful not to make my movements too precise. This liquor was affecting me, but not nearly as much as it would have if I were a normal vampire. I even took a deep breath before swallowing, as if trying to summon up the fortitude. Then I poured the contents into my mouth, held it there for a moment as if fighting not to spit it out, and finally swallowed.

  More applause broke out. Lyndsay grabbed her head as if the noise was agony. Then she spewed a stream of red vomit right into the swirling vouchers she’d tried so hard to win. She kept heaving, her body apparently trying to expel most of the Red Dragon she’d consumed. At once, attendants snatched the vouchers out of the air and began shaking the splatter off of them.

  “Winner,” Shayla announced, pointing at me. The rest of the room roared their disappointment or their victory, depending on how they’d placed their bets. “And the name of our victor is . . . ?”

  “Ian’s Little Poppet,” I declared, shooting him an arch look. As if winning this contest hadn’t been enough to get tongues wagging, now there was no chance Dagon wouldn’t figure out that Ian had been here tonight.

  Ian’s lips curled as he came back over to my chair. “Think it’s time to take Ian’s Little Poppet to bed so she can truly celebrate her victory,” he said, to a round of ribald applause this time. He picked me up, ignoring my protest that I could walk, and nodded at the moderator. “If you’ll cash us out?”

  Shayla flicked her fingers. At once, the vouchers above the table compacted themselves into a squarish shape and then rushed over to her side. Then she indicated the velvet curtain that cordoned off the room beyond this one. “Follow me.”

  Ian carried me into the room, the vouchers between us and Shayla. Once we were inside, it was so dark I couldn’t have seen anything if not for my vampire vision. Still, the effects of all my imbibing must have been catching up with me. I could barely make out the low couches and wide pillows that made up most of the furniture. Shayla led us past that to a door that was made of thick wood instead of more velvet hangings. It led to a small, enclosed area with three more doors. Shayla chose the one on the right and the brightness of the light that spilled out made me close my eyes and wince.

  I might not be puking or passed-out drunk like my former competitors, but I was nowhere near sober. That light hurt. So did my head. Also, either this room was rotating or my brain was doing its own spins. Maybe it hadn’t been a bad idea for Ian to carry me, even though I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done that. Still, his arms felt strong and secure and his body was warm and solid and he smelled really, really good . . .

  “Stop that,” Ian said, lightly tugging my hair. Only then did I realize I’d ripped his collar open to nuzzle his neck.

  Instead of being embarrassed, I found myself giggling. “Sorry. Want to eat you,” I said with complete sincerity.

  “Of course you do. Everybody does,” he replied while his grip on my hair held me away from his throat. “But not here. Shayla, if we could hurry this along?”

  “Certainly,” she said. A light seemed to go off in my aching head. That’s right, I had something very important to do.

  “Want more Red Dragon,” I told her, miming drinking another shot in case she didn’t understand. “Now.”

  Ian sighed. “Ignore her. She’s had more than enough.”

  “Haven’t,” I said firmly, elbowing him. Why was he trying to stop me? Didn’t he know what I was doing? Oh, right, he didn’t because I hadn’t told him. Whatever.

  “Red Dragon,” I repeated. “To go,” I added, giving Ian another hard elbow when he opened his mouth to argue. “Uncut.”

  Shayla had been regarding me with boredom until that last word. “Uncut?” she drew out, her eyes narrowing.

  I nodded, ignoring how Ian stiffened. “Easier to take.” Then I gestured at the vouchers floating between us and her. “All of that for a whole uncut bottle.”

  “I don’t think—” Ian began.

  “Tonight,” I stressed, marshalling my reeling senses as I watched her eyes flick from me to the compacted bundle of vouchers. “Please,” I added to Ian, hoping he understood the subtext. Once more, I needed him to trust me, even if that went against everything he was and everything appearances showed.

  He shifted until he was only holding me with one arm. Then he let go of my hair to give Shayla a resigned look. “Give it to her. There’ll be no living with her otherwise.”

  Shayla gave the vouchers another glance. I strained my senses to their inebriated limit. A haze flickered around her, invisible to everyone else. When it turned green, I had my answer. Then she smiled coolly and that haze vanished.

  “Very well, but tonight is impossible. I would need time to put together such a specialized order.”

  “Bollocks,” I said cheerily, using one of Ian’s terms for calling bullshit. “You’ve got it here. Drinks were fresher and tasted stronger later in the game.”

  They must have run out of their original stock of Red Dragon since they hadn’t been prepared for a mass drinking event. To keep supplying the contest, they’d had to make more on the spot, but there must not have been enough human blood on hand to dilute the mixture the same way.

  “Do you consider yourself a connoisseur?” Shayla asked with false pleasantness.

  I hiccupped and it wasn’t even fake. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “I grow bored,” Ian said tersely. I was about to protest until I saw that he was looking at Shayla, not me. “Aside from switching out the potency—which is damn near cheating—she’s consumed enough Red Dragon to know the difference between fresh brew and old stock. Give her what she wants, or we’ll take our winnings elsewhere and find someone who can.”

  Shayla drew herself up indignantly. “We are the sole supplier in the state.”

  Ian snorted. “Second time this week I’ve heard that.”

  “Then that other person lied,” Shayla began furiously.

  “Getting bored, too,” I interrupted, sagging in Ian’s arms.

  Ian settled me more comfortably against him. “I know, luv, we’re leaving. Shayla, this offer is going once, going twice . . .”

  “Sold,” she said, glancing at the vouchers again before looking back at us. “Wait here.”

  “Need to go outside,” I said, running my hand down my front as if the thin material of my blue dress was stifling. “Too hot. Need air. Starting to feel . . . sick.”

  Ian gave me a jaded look. “You’re going to paint the walls red in the next five minutes, aren’t you?”

  I burped and visibly swallowed what came up. “Maybe.”

  “Yes, go outside.” Shayla yanked the door open. “We’ll bring the bottle to the weather center’s observation deck.”

  I made sure to grab Shayla and give her a sloppy hug before Ian hauled me back. “Thanks!”

  “My pleasure,” she said in her most obvious lie yet. “See you soon.”

  Ian carried me out of the many rooms of the castle, getting backslaps from some of the people he passed. I didn’t know what the hell they were congratulating him for. I was the one who’d won the contest. Once outside, I took in a grateful breath of cold air as Ian carried me to the end of the bridge. I hadn’t been faking about feeling hot and sick. Everything I’d consumed felt like it was hitting me all at once.

  As soon as Ian set foot on the ground, the castle and the stone bridge disappeared. Ian walked a little ways away and then set me down near the rocky base of Belvedere castle. Then he waited to see if my legs could hold me before he stepped back.

  “I know you aren’t truly intending to consume more Red Dragon, so what are you intending with this latest ruse?”

  I met his turquoise gaze and gave him a lopsided smile. “Going to paint the walls red, just like you said.”

  Chapter 18

  Ian’s gaze hardened until it resembled pale blue-green diamonds. “So the spell isn’t making you
obey my command?”

  “Spell works,” I said, hiking up my dress as I started to climb the rocky ledge around Belvedere Castle. “Not acting as a Guardian. About to break a lotta laws instead.”

  He vaulted up after me with one leap, reminding me that I could fly, too. How had I forgotten that? I must be much drunker than I realized. “How so?” he demanded.

  “F’eeing a p’isner.” Okay, I slurred that too much. I tried again. “Freeing a prisoner. The Red Dragon source. You should help. With your demon brands, could be you held as source one day if you”—loud hiccup—“survive Dagon.”

  He stared in shock, then hauled me close. “What did you say?”

  “Who’s drunk, you ’r me?” I asked, exasperated. “Don’t you know what your blood is now that Dagon’s brands are on you? Eh, maybe you don’t. Not like vampires drink themselves when they’re hungry—”

  “Stop.” If his grip on me was any tighter, my bones would crack. But from the wildness in his gaze, he was holding himself back. “You’re saying you know the other effect of demon brands?”

  “Red Dragon. In your veins. Making you a source,” I confirmed. “C’mon, you must know. Your friend was a demon-branded shape-shifter—”

  “What friend?” he asked instantly.

  “Herrrr.” Was the ground tilting, or was I swaying? “S’pose it could’ve been a he,” I amended. “Couldn’t tell. He or she had shape-shifted to look like Cat’s little girl at the execution—”

  “Lucifer’s bloody bones!” Ian shouted, shaking me until my head felt like it would fall off. “You knew the council had been tricked? You knew they didn’t really murder my friend’s child? This whole time, you knew?”

  “You knew she was alive, too?” Somehow, that struck me as funny. “Heh, I thought I had to pretend she was dead to protect her, and here you were pretending she was dead for the same reason. I’d laugh if I didn’t think it might come out as vomit.”

  “That’s why you insisted Cat be given the executioner’s sword!” Even though he was no longer shaking me, it still felt like my brain was sloshing around inside my skull. “Thought you only did that as a gesture of remorse, but if the executioner had tasted a drop of her blood, he’d have known he’d just beheaded a shape-shifter and not Cat’s little girl! You made him give up the sword so he’d never get that chance. All this time, in different ways, you’ve been protecting her!”

  “We should probably stop talking about this,” I said, staring at the ground. See? It wasn’t heaving. It was just my imagination.

  “Stop?” Ian repeated. “Veritas, look at me.”

  I refused, so he tilted my head up and forced me to meet his gaze. “It’s Ian’s Little Poppet now, remember?” I said snippily.

  His eyes were blazing with green. “Oh, it is indeed, and more than you realize.”

  I stared at him, a different sort of dizziness overtaking me. The intensity in his gaze invited me to fall into it as if I were a human under his thrall. Oddly, the thought didn’t rankle me. Instead, I found myself fantasizing about surrendering to him. Another wave of dizziness hit me and I swayed. He had me in his arms at once. I found myself smiling. He’d caught me before I fell. And I’d let him. When was the last time I’d trusted anyone to do that?

  Then, I felt a set of pings, like sensors going off inside me, and turned toward the weather station at Belvedere’s Castle. “Shayla’s going there,” I mumbled, pointing.

  He cast a doubtful look in that direction. “She hasn’t left the castle. I’ve been keeping an eye on the bridge.”

  “Under us,” I said, pointing at the ground.

  “A tunnel?” He looked intrigued. “Why do you think that?”

  “Put a tracking spell on her when I hugged her.” Even drunk, I sounded smug. “Knew she’d go right to her source to fill that bottle. Her aura turned green. She wanted that money.”

  A gleam appeared in his eyes. “You don’t say?”

  I didn’t like feeling as if I’d let another important secret slip. Damned Red Dragon. Why did people willingly drink that stuff? Made you talk too much. And made you tired, gods, so tired. I could sleep on this rock, if I didn’t have to kill a bunch of people first. Eh, I’d deal with what I said to Ian later. Right now, had to free the captive.

  I pushed at him. “Gotta rescue the prisoner—”

  “No, you need to sit down before you fall down,” Ian interrupted. “Stay here. I’ll sort this myself.”

  Outrage had me sputtering. “I can kill ’em all!”

  “Of course.” Was he stifling a laugh? “You’re beauty, you’re grace, you’ll shoot them in the face.”

  I smiled. “That’s pretty.”

  “So are you, my lethal one, but you still need to stay here. Shayla might send one of her attendants to check on us. If we’re both gone, it will look suspicious.”

  That made sense, but . . . “You could get hurt.”

  He laughed. “You’re a sweet drunk, aren’t you?”

  “Not sweet,” I said, glaring. “Unkillable.”

  “Indeed?” he drawled. “Should’ve plied you with liquor instead of wasting two commands on you, but to your point, these brands make me almost unkillable, too.”

  I poked him where I could feel the hard lines of the weapon in his coat. “That demon bone in your eyes can kill you.”

  He gave me a jaunty smile. “Yes, but when people see a vampire, they reach for silver, not demon bone . . .”

  “What?” I demanded when his voice trailed off. His smile faded, too, and when he crouched down—when had he lowered me onto the ground? I didn’t remember that—he looked serious.

  “What?” I repeated, but from the jolt thrumming through my veins, I knew. I’d let slip too many clues and he’d figured it out. If not all of it, enough of it. Maybe I’d always known he would piece it together. That’s why I didn’t stop him when he lifted my hand and brought it to his lips. A courtly gesture, but there was nothing chivalrous in his gaze. It burned with the intensity of a predator making a kill.

  His warm lips touched my skin. Then his fangs slowly pierced my flesh. The bite was shallow. Just enough to draw twin pearls of blood that stood out like rubies against the golden topaz of my skin. Then his long, slow lick erased them and I felt him shudder as he swallowed.

  I closed my eyes. Now you know I’m not only a vampire. Oh, it’s been so long since I shared this secret with anyone . . .

  My eyes snapped open when that internal ping went off again. Shayla must be crossing beneath me once more. Since she was going in the opposite direction, she must have completed her task. We needed to move.

  “Whatever you want to say, it can wait,” I said, suddenly feeling a lot more sober. “Have to storm the castle.”

  He glanced where the bridge was despite it still being hidden from our view. “Best wait until later, where there are fewer people to stop us.”

  “Not that castle.” I pointed over his shoulder. “Belvedere.”

  “You should’ve stayed back,” Ian muttered for the second time. “I’ve done this before, and let me assure you, Red Dragon sources are guarded more securely than Fort Knox. Besides, you’re so drunk, you can barely walk.”

  “Can still fight,” I told him. It would’ve sounded more badass if I hadn’t ended my boast with a loud burp, but oh well. “Quit complaining and let’s do this.”

  Then I jumped up and kicked the boulder in front of me with both feet. The tunnel was behind it; I could feel it. But while the boulder smashed as if hit by a wrecking ball, it didn’t break through the magic-infused shell around the tunnel.

  An alarm began to blare, and it wasn’t just the painful ringing in my head after that exertion. Ian pushed me back before I could react. Then he swiftly executed a series of hand movements. The shell in front of us shattered beneath his spell, revealing the tunnel behind it.

  “Niiiice.” He really was superb with tactile magic.

  He threw a grin at me as he ran inside the tun
nel. “You should see what else I can do with my hands.”

  I left that alone and stumbled after him, cursing when my legs wouldn’t move in smooth, coordinated strides like his.

  “Don’t bother,” he said, whirling around to stop me in mid-stagger. “We need someone to stay here and stop anyone who comes down the other end of that tunnel. You can still do magic?”

  “’Course,” I said, affronted.

  “Then you stay.”

  I wanted to argue, but we did need to prevent getting boxed in. Plus, my body might not be cooperating, but my magic would still work. Hopefully. I nodded and sat down right where I’d been standing. “Go on. Yell if you need help.”

  “I won’t,” he said and disappeared down the next bend.

  Almost at once, I heard what sounded like explosions, then the sharp sound of screams. The tunnel shuddered as the screams abruptly cut off and a rolling cloud of dust filled the air. Another quickly silenced round of screams rang out, then another blast that made the walls tremble. Finally, a shockwave of magic rolled down the tunnel. It diminished with distance, but when it reached me, it was still strong enough to sting.

  What kind of supernatural firepower had Ian walked into? “Ian!” I yelled, staggering to my feet. “I’m coming!”

  “Stay there!” I heard him shout, and was shocked at how maniacally cheerful he sounded. “I’ve got this!”

  Ian had done all that? I had to admit, I wanted to see the specifics for myself. But then I heard running footsteps coming from the other end of the tunnel and remembered what I was supposed to be doing. Right, the blocking spell.

  I started formulating it, frustrated when something that should have come easily now felt as if it took all of my concentration. Damn that Red Dragon! It was kicking my ass worse than any opponent had in recent memory. When the group of guards came into view, the blocking spell still wasn’t ready.

  If I were acting in my official capacity, I would identify myself as a Law Guardian, arrest them, then take them before the council for holding someone hostage in order to produce an illegal substance. But Ian’s spell-sealed command meant I could do none of that. In my intoxicated state, I wasn’t even sorry.