by Dane, Lauren
“Holy shit. Her maker was Flavius.” She pushed away to pace, letting the sound of her steps soothe as she worked through the information. Flavius had been one of Theo’s compatriots for a thousand years until they’d had a falling-out and had settled in different sectors of Europe to avoid a battle that might tear the Vampires apart.
Eventually they’d come across one another again just two centuries before when Flavius had cut down one of Theo’s children. Another ancient. Theo had hunted him down to deliver a death sentence himself. Leaving the pieces of Flavius in the sun afterward.
So, Victoriana would have a hard-on for Theo because he killed her daddy.
Rowan turned back to face Clive, who looked very handsome in the moonlight, and she suddenly kicked herself for telling him she wasn’t gonna bang him in the snow.
Back to business. “And her cravat-wearing buddy?”
“Just what is wrong with a cravat? I’ll have you know—”
She rolled her eyes. “Really? This is going to turn into some butthurt, impassioned defense of the cravat? Focus, Clive. I’m sure back in the Dark Ages when you wore one it was stunning and appropriate and not douchey in any way. Now, can we get back to the subject, please?”
“Butthurt?”
“Google it later. So? Who is her little sidekick?”
Rowan knew he wanted to sniff and be all stiff and British, but he also knew she expected it and was amused by it so he restrained himself. “He’s older, but not as powerful.”
“So are they fuckbuddies or what? Clearly they have an agenda because they’re coming right at Theo like it’s wise or even healthy.” But since it was a Joint Tribunal situation, he couldn’t just go drawing and quartering anyone for kicks like he could on any other day. Which wasn’t to say his reaction to their breaking his rules wasn’t painful and bloody. Or that he wouldn’t simply save his drawing and quartering for the day after the Joint Tribunal ended.
Flavius had a thing about humans being cattle, so she’d been right about Victoriana being of the humans-are-meatbags school of thought. Boring as fuck, but not unusual in old Vampire.
Theo wasn’t a humanitarian. But he was nothing if not a pragmatist. He didn’t refrain from slaughtering human beings because he was good and kind. He just realized it was better and safer for them all and protected their existence if they didn’t do that sort of thing. Plus, they willingly gave blood anyway, so what was the point?
“They’re a couple, yes. As for having an agenda? Don’t we all, darling Hunter?” He took three steps and pulled her close, his mouth to her ear. “Their agenda means you need to be extra alert. Victoriana is dangerous, Rowan. Do not underestimate her.”
“I don’t plan to.” She kissed his neck, thanking him. She also made a mental note to buy him a dozen or so cravats. She had no idea where to get one, but the internet was amazing that way.
“Shall we continue our walk?” He turned her carefully and she wrapped her arm around his, her breath misting around her.
“Dinner will be in an hour or so. I need to get ready and listen to Valerie pretend she’s important instead of being diverted to a meeting that didn’t mean shit.”
“You knew that when she attempted to goad you earlier, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. That’s why I have this job and she doesn’t. That and a better fashion sense and the brains not to eye-fuck the Scion when he’s standing with her superior in every way.”
Clive couldn’t stop his smile when she sniffed her annoyance. The other woman had barely registered on his radar, but it did please him that Rowan cared enough to get a little worked up over him. “You are, of course. So why let her get to you?”
“It was rude. Paramour? Whatever. I wasn’t agitated because I was worried about you accepting her clumsy offer. She’d run crying once you flashed fang her way.”
“Instead of ordering me to my knees and between her thighs like some women would.” He raised a brow and scented her blush.
“A girl should know what she wants and demand it when necessary.”
“It’s a good thing we agree on such things.”
“It really is.”
They paused when he moved to enter through one of the drawing rooms. He figured if he could get back upstairs they’d have a few minutes before they had to get ready. He wanted her so much his incisors lengthened a bit before he got himself back under control. He stepped very close and she looked up at him, a hint of a smile on a mouth he wanted all over his skin.
“Scion, you’re thinking something really dirty, aren’t you?”
“How can you tell?”
“You get this light in your eyes, and the left side of your mouth tips up just a tiny bit and I want to lick it.”
“You know what it does to me when you declare your wish to lick any part of my body.” He caressed her hip, dipping down to kiss her quickly, and that’s when he caught movement at the doorway and pulled back. Alice stood there, looking apologetic, but that she didn’t leave meant it was something important and business related. Damn it.
Rowan saw Alice, as well, and squeezed his hand before stepping away. “I have a quick errand. I’ll see you at the dinner.” She lowered her voice. “Maybe afterward, if you don’t annoy me to the point that I want to stake you, I’ll order you to your knees. Once we have the door locked, that is.”
He leaned in and kissed her slow. “Maybe I’ll do the ordering this time. A man should know what he wants and demand it when necessary.”
“We can wrestle for it.”
“I do hope so.” He kissed her quickly one last time before she left the room.
He watched her duck through the kitchen. She’d be embarrassed that he knew she was going in to say hello to the staff. Embarrassed to know he saw the softer side of her, the side that wanted to reconnect with the people who’d shown her kindnesses in a world filled with The First’s brutality.
Alice had indeed been looking for him to let him know there was a personnel issue backing Las Vegas but it had been handled efficiently. While she had his attention, she got his approval on a few things before she hurried off to take care of it all for him.
He strolled through a formal living room of some type, pausing to look over some of the art there as he thought about the negotiations to come. The presence of Victoriana and Marcilius meant their so-called Blood Front would be pushing for a place at the table.
He’d given Rowan more than enough information to work with without telling her about the Blood Front. The Front and their anti-human activity had been more active of late, but he’d been surprised to hear Victoriana’s name and of her presence at the Joint Tribunal. He knew his Hunter. Like a dog with a bone, she’d dig and dig and never let go until she knew all she needed.
Though he knew firsthand just how strong and bloodthirsty Rowan was, Victoriana was the sort of Vampire the Nation had been working to disenfranchise for the last century. The “Vampires first” branch of the Nation was a threat. A threat to them all and the financial success and relative peace they enjoyed.
In the end, he had to trust Rowan’s skill and her instincts. If Victoriana stepped one bit out of line, Rowan would strike. It would be best for them all if that happened. But he’d never seen her at a Tribunal like this. He looked forward to watching her work. Looked forward, too, to the back-and-forth they’d most certainly have; the heat of their antagonism was part of their chemistry. Her quick wit and viciousness turned him on. She was more like a Vampire than most Vampires he knew. But the goddess she carried, the essential Rowan of her, the wounded bird she was and tried so hard to hide, it all made her utterly delicious.
He was greedy for her. Wanted to swoop in and shower her with presents, spoil her, flatter her and squire her to all his favorite places in the world. It took all his self-control not to do it. All his self-con
trol to force himself to go slow. He knew she needed to wade into this thing between them. He understood the complications of it.
It was complicated. She was the living incarnation of the boogeyman to Vampires. For a Scion to be in a relationship with the Hunter was twisted and odd, and he’d been carefully acclimating his people to the reality of it for the last few months.
He wasn’t giving her up, so they’d all have to get used to it. And they were. Mostly. Slowly. Some of his people had even come to grudgingly respect her.
“Why, hello there, Clive.”
His smile faded as he turned slowly to face the one Vampire he’d hoped like hell wouldn’t be there. “Collette, I didn’t know you’d be here.”
She moved to him, clearly expecting a kiss to her neck, so he gave it to her.
“I’m here with Victoriana’s cadre.”
Of course. He’d been stupid not to have thought of that. He’d first met her a century before when he’d been part of the European cadre himself, a rising star in the Nation’s politics.
She was still beautiful, pale blond hair pulled back in a chic knot at the back of her neck, big sky-blue eyes she quite often used to lure humans in for a feeding. That she was a Vampire and hadn’t seen the sun in two hundred years wasn’t the reason her skin was porcelain and unmarred by even a single freckle. She’d been a pampered daughter of a very rich man in her human youth.
She wore a stylish suit of the finest material. Her makeup was perfection, her nails manicured and the bag she carried probably cost more than most people made in a month.
All of those things had drawn him to her, but now they left him unmoved.
“We really must spend some time together while we’re here. I’ve missed you. We have so very much to catch up on.”
Unless he was mistaken, and he didn’t think he was, since he’d known Collette quite intimately for nearly three decades, her invitation meant—as Rowan called it—naked time.
The only emotion he felt about that was slight alarm over Rowan’s reaction that warred with amusement at what his Hunter would have to say about a female like Collette.
He shook his head. “I’m sure we’ll see plenty of each other over the next several days. But you should know I’m with someone.”
The smirk on a mouth he’d once spent a very good deal of time on fell away. Then she reassembled herself and tried for sultry. “Ah, so it’s true then. You know I’m open to more than one person. The more the merrier. We’ve shared a human’s blood, and their body a time or two. You can bring her if you like. Is she a Vampire groupie then?”
He took a step back, brushing away some invisible lint from the lapel of his coat. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“The Hunter. There’s a rumor that you and the Hunter, his little bastard child, are playing house. I figure growing up here probably bent her in delightful ways.”
Rage swept through him. “Are you mad to speak like that? Here, of all places?” Sweet Christ, if The First got wind of any of the things she’d just said, he’d part her with her spine within moments.
She waved it away. “Things need changing. We don’t need to be told what to do by humans of any sort, especially lapdogs.”
“I want no part of this. If you were smart, you’d think again before you push this agenda of yours forward. She’s no lapdog. She’s not weak and she understands us better than you can imagine. And you’d best watch your tongue before you lose it.”
“I’m free to speak my mind!”
He shook his head. “This isn’t a democracy, Collette. Don’t forget that.” He stalked past her to the door, turning back as he went into the hallway beyond.
Before he could say anything, she spoke instead. “You should reconsider. There’s room for you on our side of the table. Step into the new future. Don’t let your passing fancy for this human derail you.”
He snorted. “I wish no part of your new future, Collette.” He preferred being alive. And he sure as hell had no plans to be part of anything that insulted Rowan or angered The First. “I hope you reconsider this path you’re on before it’s too late.”
He reached the stairs toward his rooms when he finally noticed Recht standing in the shadows of the hallway he’d just emerged from. The other Vampire tipped his chin, and a chill went down Clive’s spine. He had no doubt The First’s guard had heard their exchange and would deliver the news to his boss.
He also had no doubt Recht had allowed himself to be seen or Clive wouldn’t have. Which doubled his resolve to inform The First of the situation immediately.
Clive knew he’d also have to tell Rowan about Collette. She wasn’t really the jealous type. She was self-assured in so many ways. He appreciated the trust she put in him because he simply wasn’t interested in anyone else. Not now that he had Rowan. But this was different on several levels. He knew that. He knew it because he was the jealous type.
Collette had made a move on not only his physical intentions, but his political aspirations. She’d attempted to sway him not only from Rowan’s side, but into a place that would make him an enemy. He had no doubt Rowan would take that as the threat it was intended to be.
With a sigh, he headed not toward his rooms, but toward The First’s.
* * *
Rowan cruised through the massive kitchen with the woodburning ovens and copper pots and pans handing from racks. Bread cooled on counters as heavenly smelling things bubbled on the stove and baked in the ovens.
Dina Horst was, like Rowan had been, a human born and bred to serve the Nation. The kitchen manager, she’d seen plenty of people come and go over the years, but she’d gone out of her way to spoil Rowan in whatever ways she could. They’d never spoken of the things Rowan endured. No one would have questioned Theo anyway. But those lemon shortbread cookies, an extra helping of this or that, spending the morning in the kitchen helping roll out dough so Dina could mother her some, these were the bright spots of Rowan’s childhood.
While she had told no one she was leaving, she had left a note for Dina, hidden well, but in a place she knew would be found at some point, apologizing for leaving and thanking Dina for her kindnesses.
Kitchen staff bustled all around as Rowan strolled through the space and tried to wall back the flash flood of memory.
“Oh! Rowan!” Charles, one of Enzo’s uncles, saw her and dried his hands as he moved to her and pulled her into a hug. “What a sight you are!”
She hugged him back, truly pleased at seeing him. Pleased more still that he’d reacted this way instead of being angry she’d left the way she had.
“A good one?”
He set her back and looked her over. “Yes. A very good one. You’re looking well. We were all so worried when The First told us about what happened to you in Las Vegas. He said you’d nearly died.”
“I’m too cranky to let myself get killed by a junkie Vampire, Charles. I would have survived without Theo’s help. But it would have taken me a lot longer to recover.”
“Then we should be very glad indeed he was there.”
Rowan looked to her left where Dina had approached. She smiled and Dina snorted, and pulled her into an embrace that brought her childhood racing through her. Tears threatened and she held them back though it was a very close thing.
Dina saw it and smiled. “Hush. You’re here and he helped you, which was good for you both.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t come through earlier. I had some shortbread when I took tea with him earlier. He said you’d made them for me. They were magnificent as usual.”
Dina beamed. “Of course they were. But I’m glad you liked them. I’ll send you home with some too. I’m making your favorite tonight, by the way. Roasted chicken. There’ll be asparagus from the gardens. Pear tarts too. Some sole with almonds. Potato galettes. Some wanted hoity-toity food
none would have eaten. But The First told me to make what you’d like best.”
Rowan didn’t know what to do with that. So she pretended it wasn’t a big deal.
“I’m going to gain fifteen pounds while I’m here. I can see that now.”
“Good. You can stand it. I’ll be sure to send up a good breakfast for when you wake up too. Crepes stuffed with ham and wild mushrooms.”
“Yum. I’ll eat it down here if you don’t mind. I have meetings with my people all during the daylight and they’re in another wing so I’ll come down and eat before I start my day.”
That had been the exact right thing to say. Dina’s smile widened, as did several others all around.
“What would you like me to send in to the meetings during the day then?”
She gave Dina some menu ideas, remembering Celesse had an allergy to citrus of some kinds. She accepted more hugs and after more thanks and a whispered, “Thank you for your note” from Dina, she headed out and toward her rooms to get ready.
Celesse was walking through the large front entry at the same time. “Rowan. I’m glad you arrived safely. The snow has gotten worse.”
It seemed that a great deal of her life had been populated by complicated relationships and Celesse was no different. Celesse had been her first trainer when she’d arrived at the Motherhouse in Paris. She’d taught Rowan a great deal. There was no denying how much she owed the woman standing before her.
At the same time, she’d rendered Rowan into a thing, a weapon against the Vampires instead of a person. It was the wrong thing and had nearly driven Rowan from the Hunter Corporation in despair. Susan had saved her, had treated her like the confused young woman she was. Had been a mother figure to her in addition to teaching Rowan the fine arts of killing and Hunter politics.
Rowan had left Paris and settled in London. Her power had shifted from Celesse’s base to Susan’s and there’d been residual bitterness. Celesse supported Rowan, but she made Rowan work harder for it than most would have. It had earned Rowan’s grudging respect, but there would always be some awkwardness between them.
