Love Me to Death (Underveil)

by Marissa Clarke

  Again. He had a point. She turned her attention to her food.

  “We have shifters in our leadership and all jobs in the Underveil, though most pursue careers that best suit their skills or animal nature, sticking with their flock, pack, or herd by choice. They are not oppressed or excluded, unlike in your world where females of your species were not even allowed to vote until the current century. Recall how hard it is, even in your own country in modern times, for different races to accept one another. And that is only skin color or mild differences in features within a single species. Imagine how hard it is to integrate different species. We’ve done well.” He set his wineglass down. “Adjust your thinking, Elena Arcos.”

  The delicious fish turned to tasteless mush in her mouth.

  “As for the brutality that occurred here today. Empath vampires are dangerous, not only to the Underveil, but to humans in particular. They react off emotions rather than logic. This castle functions like a prison psychiatric unit in the human world. They are kept away from civilization and receive treatment in the hopes they can go out in the world and live normal, productive lives. Those who can’t are destroyed in order to save the innocent. You did not cause their destruction, Elena. They met the end they were destined for. It just wasn’t on today’s schedule, and it put the shifters at unnecessary risk. It turned out fine. Lesson learned.”

  Elena set her fork down. His words made sense, but her heart still ached to think she’d been culpable in any way.

  “We are not barbaric or any more bigoted than the human race. Sadly, as you saw today, we are more violent, as necessitated by nature itself. We deal with long, sometimes overly long lifespans, which alters our outlook as well.”

  Yeah. Stefan had said almost the same thing.

  “The Time Folder is wise. And far more neutral than most. He will keep you safe.”

  “What about you?” Elena recalled how he looked all covered in blood and feared he was a representative of the darker, more violent side of the Underveil.

  The door at the far end of the hall burst open, and Elena jumped to her feet. Claude stumbled in, looking around frantically. “Where are they?”

  He was in his slayer uniform still, but clean-shaven with his hair slicked back from his face, making his gold eyes even more prominent.

  The vampire nodded to the man standing near the door at the other end of the room, and he exited. “Please sit down and join us, Claude.”

  He remained just inside the room. “No…no. I was told they were here. I…”

  “Daddy!” a little boy shrieked as he sprinted through the door where the man had disappeared. He jumped up into his father’s tight embrace, no fear whatsoever of not being caught. “Come see Mommy and Sasha. We have a huuuuuuge room with the biggest bed I’ve ever seen. Mommy says we can all stay there together.”

  Claude approached the head of the table. “I don’t even know what to say. I never thought I’d see any of them again. Thank you.”

  “Go be with your family. Thanks aren’t necessary. Just be ready to fight for Nikolai Itzov when the time comes.”

  He set his son down. “Absolutely.” The little boy tugged him by the hand furiously toward the door. “How? How did you know where to find them? You can’t read Slayer’s minds.”

  “I was captive at that fortress for quite a while. You have several friends among the shifter guards. They worry about your family. You must be a good man to warrant such concern. Go.”

  Claude, eyes bright with unshed tears, allowed his son to lead him from the room.

  Completely surprised, Elena returned to her seat. “Your important task was to get his family?”

  “An elite force had already been dispatched to execute them all. ‘Big, Bad Vlad’ couldn’t let that happen.”

  She smiled at the name she’d called him in her rant. “What is your name, really?”

  “Oddly, my real name is Vladimir Dalca. Please call me Vlad.”

  “You’re shitting me.”

  “No, if I ever did such a thing as shitting someone, that is not what I’m doing right now.”

  It was hard to believe such an act of kindness after the horrors she’d seen. He hadn’t even told Claude what he was doing. Maybe he was right and she needed to judge this world differently. But now that he’d returned, it was time to get back to business. “I need to go get Nik.”

  “I know.”

  “I don’t have a plan. I don’t think I’m strong or smart enough to do it without help.”

  “You are highly intelligent, Elena Arcos. You simply are not familiar enough with our world to navigate it successfully yet.” He sat back in his chair considering her. “You have mentioned that you see visions of the future. What is the catalyst? Sex or blood?”

  “Blood.”

  “Well, that’s a relief in more ways than one.”

  That made no sense at all.

  He took her hand. Surprisingly, his was not cold like a corpse, just cooler than she was. He chuckled. “I do metabolize. My heart beats and pumps blood, albeit much more slowly than a human’s. The movies are all fictional.” He patted her hand.

  “Now what?”

  “Well, now you need a vision. I’m relieved it’s blood induced because although you are highly appealing, you are bound to another, and he’d kill me if he survives were we to have…an encounter, regardless of my intentions.”

  “Yeah, besides, you’re old enough to be my great-great-grandfather.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “No. Nikolai is old enough to be your great-great-grandfather. I’m off the chart. And you are lucky to have a blood catalyst. Nothing kills the mood better than a doomsday vision.”

  Now it was her turn to laugh. “So who do I bite? Let’s get this done.”

  He nodded to the woman at the end of the table, and she approached. Elena looked into her warm, calm, brown eyes. No fear at all. “So, I got power from Nik, Ricardo, and Fee. What will I get now?”

  “Only enough energy to teleport and hopefully a vision of what to do when you arrive.”

  She stood, and the woman smiled, tipping her neck. It should have felt awkward or wrong, but it didn’t. She just detached herself emotionally and bit down. The woman was silent. Her blood almost tasteless. When Elena pulled away, there was no wild buzz of power like she’d had before, only a warm hum. She closed her eyes and waited for the vision. Nothing at first, then only two brief images: She was biting Vlad. And then she was studying a picture of the area where Nik was being held. Her eyes shot open and met his.

  “I was afraid of this. Uzana as much as warned me—something about sharing Kool-Aid and not making you wacko.”

  Clearly, he’d read her mind as she saw the visions. “You know Aunt Uza?”

  “Everyone knows Uza.”

  “What did she mean?”

  He placed his napkin on the table. “With all power comes great risk. In my case, you might pick up some of my gifts—or curses. In order to pick up any of my talents, you already have to have them present to some degree. I hear other’s thoughts. That won’t transfer because you do not hold that power at all. What I’m afraid will transfer is my ability to see the past.”

  “Why is that a problem? We all have memories of the past.”

  “Which is exactly why I think it would transfer. Elena, I don’t just see the past, I see it with absolute clarity and from everyone’s perspective. It makes events entirely different than originally perceived. It could drive the strongest person mad.”

  This situation was crazy enough. She really didn’t need a dose of mad. “What’s with the paper in my vision?”

  “That’s my other gift. I can teleport to a place I’ve seen, rather than only places I’ve been. It is extremely rare. I only know of one other who could do it.”

  “My father.”

  “Yes.”

  She remembered how compassionate her father had been. How he seemed to know exactly what she was feeling without her having to tell him
. He just seemed to know when she’d had a bad day, or when something made her happy. Putting that with what Lilian had said, she was getting a clearer picture of the man she thought she knew, but really didn’t. Not even a little bit. “My father was the empath vampire who used to run this place,”

  “He was. His ability to feel others’ emotions made him a powerful leader.”

  She stood. “I have to bite you, Vlad. I need to go to Nik as soon as possible, and I can’t do it without your ability to teleport to places based on pictures.”

  “I know.”

  Heart hammering, she approached his chair. “Do you need to be restrained like Ricardo?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “No. I am much older and have far greater control than Ricardo Juarez.”

  “So you do this a lot?”

  “I have never let another take my immortal blood before, Elena.” He took her face in his hands. “I am not kidding when I tell you this is dangerous. I am hopeful the effect will be temporary, but seeing the past with absolute clarity is not a gift. You will not like it. Please be sure this is correct.”

  She closed her eyes, and the image of her biting him came up again. He was in the chair where he sat now, hands wrapped around the seat under him. Eyes closed, face relaxed. “Yeah, I’m absolutely certain. Will I see your memories?”

  “Possibly, but only while you are drinking. After the physical connection is broken, they should all be your own. I hope they are more pleasant than mine.”

  She stood over him and studied the vein pulsing in his neck just below the skin, and her fangs elongated with a sharp twinge deep in her jaw. Vlad showed none of the anxiety or tension Ricardo had, only calm resignation.

  “The comparative study does not help. Leave the research scientist behind, Miss Arcos. Bite me.”

  And he smelled different than Ricardo, too. Like the outdoors after a rain. Natural and fresh.

  “Hum, please,” he said, barely above a whisper.

  She struck up with the “Hokey Pokey,” her father’s favorite when he’d danced in the living room with her, and Vlad laughed.

  His blood was cool and thick. The power hit her like a body slam, and she pulled back with a gasp.

  “And you were worried about me,” he said with a smirk. “That wasn’t enough. Go all in, Elena. You have to save the world.”

  “Will it hurt the baby?”

  He actually looked offended. “Absolutely not.”

  Knowing what to expect this time, she braced herself for the power rush. What she wasn’t prepared for were Vlad’s memories. She saw him with her father laughing, then smiling as he willingly went with the Slayers to the dungeon. He’d allowed himself to be captured on purpose because Uza told him he would need to save her. Then she saw the horrible slaughter in the fortress as he fought his way from the dungeon preceding his arrival at the barn, and then the scene in the great hall after the vampires had gone wild. Blood was everywhere and so were broken bodies. She shuddered, and a tear slid down her cheek. She kept on, hoping to get another glimpse of her father, but none came, only Vlad’s voice telling her to stop. Strong, cool hands shook her shoulders, and reluctantly, she opened her jaw, releasing him.

  He steadied her, and after a moment, she opened her eyes to find him staring into her own as if searching for something. “Now sit,” he said. “Then focus on the future. Do not think about what you saw.”

  Dizzy and body buzzing, she collapsed into the chair next to him, but found it almost impossible to concentrate as the vampire’s memories jumbled together with hers.

  He leaned closer and whispered in her ear. “You must only look to the future until you fulfill your destiny as the Uniter.”

  Just as he’d predicted, his memories faded, and her own moved to the forefront.

  “Leave the past behind,” he said. “We all need you to succeed. If not, we all die. Including Nikolai Itzov and your unborn child.”

  And with that, images of the future flooded her head like a fast motion slide show. Her eyes flew open, and she grinned. “I need Claude. And then, I need someone to get a message to Fee the Alchemist. Oh, and please return the key I gave you in the dungeon. I believe it’s in your back right pants pocket.”

  He leaned back with an amused smile. “Anything else?”

  “Yeah, do you have a superhero cape around here anywhere, because I’m feeling badass.”

  “Save the badass for Nikolai Itzov, please.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Nikolai fought hard to remain optimistic. Elena would come for him. It had only been hours since Fydor was telling Commander Mihai to keep on the lookout for her. It was crucial to remain patient and positive. Some things were hard to brush aside, though, like what the hell was Aleksi up to swearing revenge against Elena? It had to be a ploy. Nikolai knew in his heart she’d never side with his uncle. Just like he knew Elena hadn’t betrayed him back at her house. She was just doing what she had to do. They all were.

  The shifter was snoring like, well, a bear again. At least it kept Nikolai from falling asleep. He wanted to stay awake for when Elena came. How odd that the weak little human he spared in that store and took prisoner was the very person he now relied upon to free him from captivity. But she was different now. They both were. And he loved her. That was what had been his biggest incentive since his capture: a future with Elena Arcos. During the beatings, when the pain was at its worst, he had eased his mind by imagining what their children could have looked like had he and Elena been compatible species and able to reproduce. Strong, black-haired, gold eyed, sometimes. Other times, he’d see them with her coloration. Gold curls and purple eyes. Maybe even blue, like when she was a human. Yes. Blue. He’d like that.

  His stomach rumbled. Being immortal, he couldn’t starve to death, but that didn’t keep him from suffering hunger and thirst. And he was weakened considerably. Hopefully, she’d come soon, before he could no longer walk on his own.

  The first things he wanted to do when he got out of here were eat, shower, and sleep. If he got out of here. No. He could not let negativity cloud his reasoning. Slayers were trained to focus and have positive visualizations. When negativity was allowed in, resolve would be weakened, like his uncle’s.

  The sorry bastard. At least he’d lost interest in using him as a living piñata since Borya left. Most of his wounds had healed, though some food and rest would speed the remaining injuries along. Willing his body to heal itself, he shut his eyes in attempt to relax, using the meditation techniques his mother had taught him as a boy.

  A faint buzzing and a grunt roused him from his meditation. He opened his eyes to find Elena with her hands on either side of the guard’s face struggling to keep him in her grasp as she channeled power as effectively as a Time Folder. A couple of times, it looked like the big bear shifter would break away from her, but ultimately, she kept contact long enough to win the battle.

  “Fancy meeting you here,” she said, abandoning the unconscious hulk of a guard and sauntering toward him in a skimpy leather halter and skintight leather pants like something out of a fantasy. “You come here often?”

  “First time. You?”

  She pulled a key out of her cleavage and inserted it into the cuff at his left wrist, pressing against him in the process, causing his body to roar to life. He may have been starved and in pain, but his body knew his fated mate. She pulled back slightly as the cuff fell away.

  “First and last, I hope. Not a big fan of the ambiance.” His limp arm dropped below shoulder height for the first time in days, and painful tingles shot from shoulder to index finger. She unlocked the cuff on his right arm, then his ankles, and stepped back, checking him out from head to toe. “Mr. Itzov, if you don’t mind, I think it best we take this party elsewhere.”

  Shouting erupted outside the chamber.

  She shot a look at the door. “I suggest you hang on to me right now, because I’m about to give you the ride of your life. Pun intended.”

&
nbsp; “Pun appreciated,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “Get us the hell out of here.”

  Nikolai had never thought reconfiguring after teleporting felt good, but this time, he reveled in it because when he solidified, Elena was in his arms.

  “Welcome to Castle Poenari, King Nikolai,” a familiar voice said from behind them, right as he was about to rip Elena’s clothes off—well, right as he was about to try to rip her clothes off as best he could with no feeling in his hands. Maybe the interruption was a good thing.

  “Vladimir Dalca. To what do I owe the honor?” The vampire had been tight with his father and was Elena’s father’s right hand man. He’d been at the fortress many times. But this was the first time Nikolai had been inside Castle Poenari.

  “To your lovely mate. She insisted on saving you, and being generous, I allowed it.”

  A door across the room flew open. “A message came for you, Miss Elena.” The last person Nikolai expected to see in Vlad’s castle was Claude Ungur. But lo and behold, there he was in Slayer uniform, no less, looking better than he had in years.

  She pulled away to retrieve the scrap of paper. After scanning it quickly, she grinned. “Excellent. Everything is working perfectly so far.”

  “Yes, everything,” Nikolai said, realizing his bad innuendo had failed because his hands really weren’t working right. He shook them, and the tips of his fingers stung. Looking down, he realized what a horrible state he was in. He’d been beaten to the point of human death repeatedly and his body, and surely his head and face, were coated in layers of dried blood. He must have looked and smelled like death. “Is it possible to for me to get a shower and a change of clothes?”

  “And food and rest so you can heal before we have to go back to the fortress? Yes,” Elena said. “Come with me.”

  The room was sparse, the only feature being a bed with green curtains and yellow ties. Sleep. How long had it been? Days. He’d lost track of how many.

  A steaming tub of water was waiting for him in the bathroom. As he brushed his teeth, he mused that he’d gone from hell to heaven in just a matter of minutes. And he was safe here. Fydor would never think to look for him here. No one hated vampires more than Nikolai; his uncle had seen to that. Even if he did think to find him here, he’d never penetrate this castle. Colonies of Vlad’s reformed empath vamps were scattered all over the mountain. No one had ever successfully reached the castle alive that he didn’t bring here himself. Which brought up a whole host of questions…