At the conclusion of her tale, the room fell silent. His intense gaze stayed on her face, and she met his with a steady one of her own. She refused to be the first to look away, and if that was rude or improper, and it probably was, tough shit. Again, the mantra played in her head: show no fear.
He seemed not to take offense. Instead, his gaze moved first. With a slight shift, he turned his sharp eyes on Ivy. “And you?”
While he might have looked away first, she wasn’t going to give up yet. Riah jumped in to cover for Ivy. “Your highness, this is Lady Ivy Hernandez, my dear friend from Spain. She, unfortunately, does not speak your language, but I am happy to translate for you.”
His eyes narrowed and he looked from Riah to Ivy and back again. “What are you doing here? Why have you come to my Wallachia?”
Question one, easy. “We come to spend time with a friend and to enjoy your beautiful country. We have heard many wonderful things about Wallachia and you as well, Prince Dracula.”
Standing behind Dracula was another man, shorter and with straight black hair. He’d been silently watching the exchange and now leaned forward to whisper into Dracula’s ear. His eyes stayed on her face the whole time.
“Who is this friend you come to stay with?”
“Lura Tappe.”
Dracula nodded with a knowing look on his face. Then he glanced behind at the man wearing an indolent smile. “Your advice is well taken, Stephen.”
Riah hoped that wasn’t the Stephen she thought it might be. That man could spell big trouble for them.
With a wave of his hand, four men stepped out of the shadows and directly behind Riah and Ivy. They were so close she could smell the odor of unwashed body and smoke. It was so strong it made her want to whirl around and toss them outside. She kept her eyes on Dracula.
“You lie,” Dracula said in the same calm even voice. “Take them below.”
Riah stomach dropped. When she and Rodolphe had come to this land so many years ago, she’d seen the rooms below.
And they scared the shit out of her.
*
Lura couldn’t help it. Hot tears pricked at the back of her eyes until she could contain them no longer. She started to cry as Nicoletta told her what had happened to her at the hands of Vlad Dracula. The thought of how powerless she’d been made Lura want to run back and kick the crap out of the guy. No woman, no one period, should be put in that position. It wasn’t right on so many levels.
It was hard for a woman of her culture and background to understand how different things were for a woman in the fifteenth century. The rights Lura took for granted didn’t exist here. If the Prince wanted her, he had her. That plain. That simple. God, how she hated it.
The worst part was how Nicoletta would never be able to escape Dracula. She now carried his child, and no matter how far they ran, he would always be with her. She hated him even more for that.
Truthfully, it made her all the more determined to get back to the stones on Snagov Island. If she accomplished nothing else, she had to get Nicoletta through the opening and into her time. Only there could she shelter and protect her. In this place, her medical skills were limited at best. Back home, she could give her the best of everything, and if she couldn’t, she sure knew the folks who could.
The child? She wanted to hate it because it was his. But she couldn’t. That his or her father was Vlad the Impaler didn’t make the child any less of an innocent, and Nicoletta would always be the mother. That by itself made this baby very special in her heart. The child was not responsible for the sins of the father. He alone would be accountable for those on the day he stood before the pearly gates.
Nicoletta put her arms around Lura and held her tight. “Do not cry for me. I am here. I am alive.”
Once again her thoughts turned to Vic, and guilt washed over her. She’d spent so much time feeling sorry for herself because she’d been such a bitch to him. Here Nicoletta was grateful simply to be alive after every horrible thing that had happened to her. To say it was humbling was putting it mildly. She needed to suck it up and put on her big-girl panties.
With the back of her hand, she wiped away her tears. “Sorry. I just feel so bad for what he did to you.”
Nicoletta kissed her cheek. “I was lucky. He was pleased with me. In his chambers with no prying eyes or braggart men full of wine, he did not harm me, only took what he wanted and then let me go.”
She shivered at the thought. “I’m still sorry. You never should have been put in that situation.”
Nicoletta shrugged, her expression somber. “It is the way of our world. The Prince takes what he wants and we must give what we have.”
She squeezed Nicoletta’s hand. “I tell you what. Let’s you and I get back on the road. When we get to my place, I’ll introduce you to a world where people like the Prince go to jail for doing what he did to you.”
Nicoletta shook her head and a small laugh escaped her lips. “Imagine…the Prince in jail. This I would like to see.”
Lura got up and peered out the cave entrance. Outside, the forest was calm, an occasional plop of melting snow falling from the branches of the trees. The men who’d been behind them were gone. No sounds of horses’ hooves, no gruff voices talking of willing wenches and dinners of roasted deer.
She turned and nodded at Nicoletta. “I think we’re all right. Let’s get going. The sooner we get to Snagov Island, the sooner we get home.” Clean clothes, a hot meal, and a nice comfy bed all sounded like heaven. Hopefully these horses were nice and fast.
They led them back outside and remounted. Alongside Nicoletta she leaned across and kissed her hard on the lips. “We will get through this and I will help you with the baby. It’s going to be a new life for you, I promise.”
Nicoletta smiled and returned the kiss with one of her own. “You have a good heart, Lura Tappe. Your family must be very proud of the woman you are.”
That remark made her thoughts turn grim once more. Her family was proud of her, and that compounded the guilt she already felt. What were any of them going to think of her once they learned the truth? Would they still love her when they understood how she’d turned her back on the love Vic offered so freely? Would they still love her when they learned she was in love with another woman?
Screw it. It was time to stop worrying about all that crap. All of it was in another world. Here the important thing was Nicoletta. Vic, of all people, would understand that and even urge her to take extra care with the expectant mother. That was the kind of man he was. She might have turned her back on his love, but she would honor his memory in any way she could. Taking care of Nicoletta would do just that.
“Come on,” she told Nicoletta. “We’re burning daylight.” She laughed at the expression on her face. “Sorry. Another of those things we say where I come from.”
Nicoletta was shaking her head. “You come from a most strange place.”
“Yeah, I suppose I do.”
She nudged her horse and it began an easy trot through the forest. With any luck they’d make the village of Snagov before nightfall and be on the island long before the moon rose.
Chapter Twenty-two
The dungeon was as bad as she remembered and probably smelled even worse. But that wasn’t what worried Riah. After all, locking up two vampires wasn’t the end of the world. Between her and Ivy, they’d get themselves out of this house of horrors. They were strong, skilled, and preternatural.
What she was concerned about was Adriana and Colin. Both human, one injured, and one a tiny woman. Mostly she worried about Adriana. Yes, she was a sorceress and had powers. Still, she didn’t quite have control of those powers yet. They were relatively new to her and, with no mentor to teach her how to use them, a bit of a wild card. Someday she’d be incredible, but it just wasn’t that day yet.
With no grasp of the language, both Adriana and Colin were also operating without a clue. In this place, it was not only dangerous; it was potentially fatal. She wante
d to kick down the door, get out of this rancid, claustrophobic cell, and find her woman. The impediment at the moment was the iron door. She could kick the crap out of wood—iron, not so much. Even a vampire could shatter a foot on something like that. There had to be another way and she would find it.
She didn’t trust Dracula as far she could throw him, and Stephen Báthory flat-out made her nervous. He might not be his bloodthirsty relative Elizabeth, but that didn’t make him any less dangerous. After all, he was the one who was whispering in Dracula’s ear right before the bastard tossed them into the dank regions of the castle. She’d kill to know exactly what he’d said to land them here.
Leaning a shoulder against one damp wall, Ivy asked, “So what’s the plan, oh wise one?”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re a wise-ass?”
Ivy laughed softly. “Every day. But seriously, how are we going to get out of this shit hole?”
Riah tried to take herself back in time and recall how things were done in the day. A long-remembered hierarchy formed in her mind. Not far from them, she was certain a guard stood sentry. All they had to do was figure out what would grab his attention. Down here, he wasn’t going to be the best or the brightest. A plus.
Dull and uneducated as he might be, these men were different from those of the world they lived in now. On the other hand, she decided they weren’t different in one very fundamental way. That could very definitely work in their favor.
She told Ivy her idea and her smile was mischievous. “Gotta love men,” Ivy said as she lay down on the stone floor as close as she could get to the iron fence that served as the cell door. “They sure as shit don’t change much in five hundred years.”
Riah knelt beside her with one hand on the stone floor beside her head and the other as close as she could get it to the bottom of the gate. “Let’s hope not and hope this works. If that man outside takes the bait, we have a slim chance of getting out of here without a bloodbath and, hopefully, without drawing attention.”
Ivy winked at her. “Oh, sister, I can make this sound real good. He’ll come looking all right. What guy do you know will pass up a chance to watch a little girl-on-girl action?”
Shaking her head, Riah smiled too. “So predictable.”
“Yeah, ain’t it beautiful? There are at least some constants in this crazy world. Now come on, lay some sugar on me.” She pursed her lips with a broad smile.
“You sound amazingly like Adriana.”
“That’s what I’m going for. Figure it’s more believable if you feel like you’re making out with your sweetie. I mean, I’m hot and all. What I’m not is Adriana.”
“You’re so thoughtful.”
“Why yes, I am. Now come on, show me what you got. Let’s make it look real good for our audience.”
And they did. With moans and sighs, they sent a seductive message to the man in the hall. At first Riah didn’t think their plan was working and was just about to tell Ivy they should give it up, when a pair of boots came into her peripheral vision. At first the boots paused, and she thought for a moment he was going to turn around and leave. All he needed to do was come a little closer.
“Turn it up a little,” she whispered into Ivy’s ear. “We’ve almost hooked our fish.”
She did and, as Riah hoped, instead of retreating, the boots inched nearer to the cell door. Oh, he came closer all right. He wanted to see firsthand the lovemaking of the two elegant women Vlad Dracula had thrown into the dungeon. The chance to see any two women making love was lure enough, but two noblewomen? As they hoped, he wasn’t going to pass that up.
As the toes of his boots nearly touched the gate, Riah whipped her hand between the bars of the cell door and grasped his ankle, pulling it hard. He lost his footing, and his head smacked against the far wall with a loud crunch. Her plan had worked. The blow stunned him, and since the space they were in was so small, he crumpled to the dirty floor, his ankle still in Riah’s grasp. She yanked him forward until she had his head in her hands. Then she snapped his neck. As the stakes rose, her reluctance to alter this world faded. Things were just going to have to shake out as they would.
On the belt at his waist, a single key hung from a leather cord. It was exactly what they needed and what she’d hoped she’d find on him. A moment later, they were free. Stepping over the body, she and Ivy moved on silent feet into the passageway. At least the uncomfortable hard leather shoes they were forced to wear were good for one thing, silence.
It was dusky in the dungeon and the odor rank. The air hung heavy with the scent of feces, urine, and death. Whatever and whoever hadn’t died already was creeping ever closer. She wondered if Dracula planned the same fate for the unfortunate men and women who crouched in fetid corners. No way did she intend to hang around long enough to find out. This place was as horrible as she remembered. Maybe even worse, considering last time she wasn’t an actual guest.
Self-preservation was kicking in, and as much as it might hurt Ivy, Riah thought their best course of action was to get back to the stones. Plainly, this world was too dangerous for them right now. They’d gotten lucky this time. If they stayed much longer, their luck was bound to run out.
It was more than just the volatility of Dracula. They’d come through those rocks at an incredibly dangerous time. Wallachia was going to be awash in blood, and not just those whose lives were drained away on the point of Dracula’s spikes. His blood was going to spill as well, and she didn’t intend to be anywhere close by when that happened. She planned to be in her own home in Spokane, Washington, some half a millennia in the future.
She didn’t say that to Ivy. First, she’d enlist Colin’s help. Ivy was far more inclined to listen to good sense from the man she loved, even though the two of them had been friends for a long time. Colin had a way with Ivy no one had ever had before, and Riah was pretty sure she was going to need his help to get Ivy through those rocks without her cousin.
They were good hunters, and since they’d come together as the Spiritus Group, they’d done a great deal of good. Their silent work had saved untold number of lives. Even given how well they all worked together, at times they simply couldn’t win the fight. This was one of those times. They’d all lose if they stayed here.
Riah didn’t plan to lose.
*
“I must stop.” Nicoletta reined in her horse and slid quickly from its back. She did not have time to think and hit the ground hard. Her ankle twisted as she landed, and a sharp pain shot up her leg.
Crumpling to the earth, she let out a strangled cry only a moment before she began to retch. For many, many days now, this had been her life. One moment she was fine, and the next, a horrible twisting in her gut. It was as if some evil thing was trying to tear her apart.
She knew what the elders would say. Her body was telling her of its displeasure. She carried the child of Vlad Dracula in her womb, and now it ruled her body. If it was to be, this would pass. If it was not to be, if the child was somehow wrong, her body would continue to twist in pain and sickness until one day, the child would be no more. She prayed the old women were right and the child would not be.
Fate so far had not been that kind to her. She had witnessed other women doubled over with sickness day after day, only to birth a healthy boy or girl child. She hated to think she would be such a woman and knew deep in her heart it would be so. This child was not going to leave her. But what would she do on the day it came?
She did not want to be different, wanted to be like the other girls she had grown to womanhood with. They married, had children, loved, and laughed. They held their babies in their arms, and their faces showed tenderness and love. How would she hold this child to her breast and gaze down on it with love when it was his?
Worst of all, she was going to be alone. Soon, Lura would leave her. Without Alexandru, she would have no one. She could not go back to the castle. Not with the Prince still in power. This was her one and only chance to escape.
Te
ars pricked at her eyes as the hot, putrid scent of her sickness rose on the air. With nothing left to expel, she rose unsteadily on her feet. Her empty stomach clenched, but it was the fire in her ankle that caused the tears to spill down her face. She was a strong woman. Always had been. Except right now she wanted to scream and cry like a small child. It was not fair. How much did God expect her to endure?
Lura’s hand was on her arm, the feel of it reassuring. “Are you any better?” She helped her to a large rock where she sank gratefully to sit. With the weight off her ankle, the pain pushed back to a hot throb.
“I am sorry,” she said through her tears. “You should leave me and be on your way. I only hold you back.”
Lura took her face between her hands, her thumbs wiping away her tears. “Don’t you dare apologize to me. You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. None of this is your fault. If I could go back there and kick that man’s ass, I would do it in a heartbeat. And I am not, repeat, AM NOT leaving you anywhere.”
Her passionate words warmed Nicoletta’s heart. If only they could have come together differently. If only Lura was from her world, it might all turn out well. As it was, there was no hope for them, and that truth made her sad.
“You sound like a warrior when you talk so.”
Lura gave her a crooked smile. “In a way I am a warrior. I became a doctor because I hated disease, injury, and those events that hurt people to their soul. I wanted to fight what damaged people. To help fix them and guide them to a place of hope.”
“You are a treasure.”
This time she laughed. “I don’t know about being a treasure. I’d sure be a tarnished one if I was, but I do know how to fight. This is going to be all right, Nicoletta, I promise. I’m here now and I will take care of you.”
Yes, she was here in this moment. One thing Nicoletta had learned the hard way was that moments do not last. Sometimes that was a very good thing, especially when it involved the Prince. Other times, it was like a sword to the chest. Deep, lancing pain. Exactly what she was going to feel the moment Lura went away from her.
Vermilion Justice Page 19
