by Debra Dunbar
I felt a completely unwelcome stab of disappointment and envy. I didn’t want Simon, but there was an unmistakable allure about the Master, a promise of ecstasy radiating from him. Dario had turned on the thrall once when we were in Middleburg, and I’d found it all too easy to fall under the spell. Now I was feeling the same for a vampire I was pretty sure I despised.
Erica was in deep, lost to the Master vampire’s spell. Her lips parted, and the tip of her tongue darted out to touch her lower lip. Crap. Crap. I was supposed to keep her safe, and I was pretty sure that included not letting her be ravished by a rival vampire. Leonora had said there would be war, but would there? Erica must have appeared unmarked, the last feeding from her no doubt months ago. She was fair game, and given the look on her face, she was unlikely to say no.
“Beautiful. Who would leave you alone here at the edge of the room? Who would so neglect such a treasure?”
A part of me yearned, wanting him to call me beautiful, wanting him to think I was a treasure.
No, no I didn’t. I tried to reach out and take Erica’s arm, but she shifted, taking a step toward Simon. “I’m Leonora’s,” she whispered.
“And you are neglected.” He looked at her neck, then back into her eyes. “You must have a name. You are more than just ‘Leonora’s’”.
“Erica.”
Snap out of it. I shook my head, then went to pinch my wrist and touched my Templar tattoo. It burned against my fingers and suddenly the enchantment fell away.
“And Erica is off limits,” I told Simon. “Touch her and I’ll be forced to get out my sword.”
The edge of Simon’s mouth twitched, as if he were trying not to smile. Was he laughing at me? Didn’t he realize I was serious?
“Are you? Off limits? You’re not marked as a blood-slave. Clearly no one has fed from you in the past few months. How sad for you to be so neglected. If you’re willing, I would love to walk with you in the garden.”
Oh no. I knew very well what was going on in the garden, and it was just slightly more X-rated than what was going on here.
“Not happening.” To heck with subtlety. This time I forcibly took Erica’s arm and half dragged her from the room, grateful that she was a tiny thing and didn’t fight back. I heard a laugh as we reached the door and turned back to see Simon grin as he gave me a quick salute. Then before I could turn away he grabbed a nearby human and bit down on the woman’s wrist, the whole time his eyes fixed on mine.
I turned away, feeling very unsettled and if I was completely honest, more than a bit turned on. I’d spent months fantasizing about Dario biting me with that very look in his eyes, fantasizing about Dario taking my blood as he was having sex with me. I’ll admit that the sex-and-blood atmosphere at the party was almost more than I could bear.
I pulled Erica into the little library room, only to yank her right back out once I saw what was going on in there. Was there nowhere in this house that didn’t have half-naked people and vampires in it? Looking around, I took Erica to the one room I doubted the vampires would visit—the kitchen.
Sure enough, the kitchen was empty. I spun the woman around, holding her by both arms and giving her a little shake. “What are you doing? You just told me you love Leonora. You know what he’s trying to do, and yet you’re ready to go into the garden with him? Which, in case you didn’t realize, is a euphemism for have sex and let him bite you.”
Erica took a deep breath, a somewhat silly smile on her face. “I shouldn’t have had the whisky. Honestly I figured I’d have more willpower than that. The powerful ones are hard to resist, and once you’ve experienced the feeling of being bitten…well, it’s something you’ll never forget. The physical craving fades, but the memory is always with you.”
“The memory of Leonora,” I insisted. “Do you seriously think it would be the same, be just as good with that…that creep?”
Her smile faded. “No. I mean, physically it probably would be aside from the anatomical differences. But emotionally it wouldn’t.”
“No, it wouldn’t. You’re just a thing to him, a means to an end. Your only value, besides as food and quick sex, is to stick it to Leonora where it would hurt her the most.”
Erica nodded, pulling free from my hands to rub her face. “She’d be devastated. She’d kill me, then she’d go after Simon, but she’d be rash and in her anger she’d make mistakes. He’d kill her.”
I’d missed the last part of her speech. “She’d kill you for cheating? Is that a rule? Why does no one tell me these things?”
“I’d be sullied. There’s an honor thing involved, plus she’d be hurt that I let another feed from me, especially when she tries so hard not to. I wouldn’t blame her.”
Well I would. Sweet Jesus, what had I gotten myself into?
“You’ve made your obligatory appearance. Where can we go and hide where I can bar the door and stand at the ready with sword drawn for the next ten hours?”
She shook her head. “I especially need to be there now. He tried to thrall me, to get me to invite him to bite me and more. If I run away and hide, he’ll just seek me out. I’m safer in there.”
I was a bit insulted that she thought she was safer in a room full of feasting vampires than in a locked room with a Templar standing guard over her. I guess she figured the vampires in Leonora’s Balaj would stand up for her. I wasn’t sure they would. The Balaj was close to fractured with some supporting Leonora, and others wanting Dario to make a move. Plus, they were all busy, occupied with their various activities. They’d let their hunger off the leash, and I doubted they’d rein it in to come to the defense of some human their Mistress was captivated with. I suddenly realized how wise it was for Leonora to hire me for this task. She couldn’t be by Erica’s side all night, and no one else could be trusted to protect her.
“Okay, back in we go.”
Before we could leave the screen door flew open with a bang and a disheveled, bloodied human woman stumbled in, sobbing and clutching her arm. She’d been bitten all over her neck and arms. She pulled her hand away and I saw that there was a chunk of flesh missing from her biceps. I stared open-mouthed. It had been an orgy of food and sex, but from what I’d seen, that was it. None of the donors had been brutally attacked like this woman had.
I grabbed a towel off the counter and pressed it to her wound. “What happened? Who did this?”
And where was Dario? Wasn’t he supposed to ensure this kind of thing didn’t happen. My emotions teetered between fear that something had happened to him, and anger that maybe he’d let his hunger off the leash too, turning into the monster he’d always assured me he was. Maybe he didn’t care that this woman had been bitten all over.
“I don’t know his name.” She swayed and I pushed her down into a chair. “He fed like normal and everything was amazing, then he went crazy and tore a piece out of my arm. I tried to get away, but you know how strong they are. He kept biting me and biting me.”
“But you got away.” I eyed Erica who was hugging herself and staring at the woman in horror. Should we call 9-1-1? This woman needed medical attention, but Dario would kill me if I brought the authorities to Leonora’s house, especially in light of what was going on in the party room.
What was I thinking? Screw what he thought. This woman was missing a piece of her arm, and bleeding through the kitchen towel. I grabbed my phone out of my pants pocket, pulling my sword from my sheath with the other hand. It made dialing difficult, but I had a feeling I’d need to use the weapon soon.
“I only got away because a vampire grabbed me away from the crazy one. They’re fighting. And I wasn’t the only one attacked. It’s never been like this before. They’ve never hurt us, or killed us. Oh, God. They’re killing us.”
I shoved the phone at Erica and took a step toward the garden before stopping. I needed to guard Erica. I couldn’t leave her here, and I could hardly drag her into the garden where a battle raged. But if this woman was right and humans were being killed…?
Was Dario the only one protecting them? One against how many vampires?”
I needed to find Leonora. She could guard Erica, and that would leave me free to help Dario. I snatched the phone back from Erica and shoved it in my pocket.
“Is an ambulance on the way?” I asked her. She nodded, covering her mouth with a hand and swallowing a few times.
“Stay here. Keep pressure on that. Help is coming,” I told the injured woman. Then for the second time that night, I grabbed Erica’s hand and half-dragged her from the room.
I should have stayed in the kitchen. A vampire ran past me, nearly knocking me over. He snarled, fangs bloody and sharp, then vanished toward the back of the house. There were two vampires fighting near the front door, and it was clear this was a fight to the death. I stepped forward and my foot hit something.
A body. A human body, pale gray skin streaked with blood. Huge bite marks marred the man’s cheeks and one of his ears was missing. I heard Erica gagging behind me and I tightened my grip on her hand as I edged around the body, careful not to draw the attention of the fighting vampires. At the first open doorway, I pulled Erica into the party room, and into chaos. Bodies were sprawled across the floor, both vampire and human. Others fought with a speed and ferocity that amazed me. I saw a few of the humans huddled under tables and behind sofas, holding each other tight as they trembled and tried to make themselves as small and unnoticed as possible.
Then it hit me. This wasn’t the Philadelphia vampires battling the Baltimore ones. The vampires fighting were all Leonora’s. Simon and his eight were nowhere to be seen. Were they in the garden? Had they snuck out? In the back of my mind was the knowledge that the plague demon was responsible. Guziel was usually sent to decimate armies, to assist in the conquering of foes. Leonora’s vampires were the target here, and from the way things were going, Simon would have an easy time taking over Baltimore.
What to do with Erica? Leonora was nowhere to be seen. Nowhere in the house was safe, especially since I’d seen dead humans here and in the hall. I’d need to go through the garden to get into the back alley to my car, but I couldn’t take Erica out the front door either—not with two vampires ripping each other to shreds right in front of the exit.
I couldn’t let Simon grab her, or let one of these vampires drain her and eat her flesh. I remembered what Dario had said about the infected vampires in lock-up. They were crazed with hunger. A vampire feeling that way wouldn’t hesitate to attack Erica, Mistress’s blood-slave or not.
That locked room was starting to sound like a good idea. If only I could manage to get the other humans to safety too, but they were at the other end of the room under chairs and tables. “Come on,” I commanded, taking Erica into the hallway and up the huge staircase. I held the woman with one hand, the other hand brandishing my sword at any vampire I met on the way up. Thankfully the two I came across were just as scared and panicked as Erica, jumping away from my sword and racing down the stairs away from us.
Taking a more cautious approach once I reached the landing, I edged forward slowly until I made it to Leonora’s bedroom. She’d given me the tour months ago, showing me the suite with the giant four-poster bed. I figured it would be the safest place for Erica and me to make our stand and wait it out until daylight.
I didn’t figure it would be occupied. Pushing the door open with my toe I saw a naked figure on the bed tangled in a heap of covers, black hair spilling across pale flesh. On top crouched a vampire, gnawing on an arm.
Erica screamed, pulling free from my hand. The vampire looked up and snarled, leaping off the bed like a pouncing tiger. He was across the room before I could take a breath. Luckily I had my sword drawn and ready, and I’d been training my whole life for this. Instinct took over and I swung. The vampire might have been insane with an infected blood-lust, but he still had some sense of self-preservation. He jumped back and Trusty caught the edge of his shoulder, slicing in a diagonal across to his hip. The wound oozed black, smoke curling from the edges of skin. Any other vampire would have run for it, diving out one of the windows to safety, but this one hesitated.
It was a second too long. I’d been indecisive when it came to killing Dark Iron—a deed that still haunted me. I didn’t pause this time, ramming my sword through the vampire’s abdomen then twisting upward to where I knew his heart would be.
He screamed, an ear-piercing shriek, then fell to the floor, his skin quickly smoldering and turning to a mixture of putrid flesh and charred ash. That done, I spun about, my heart pounding as I realized that Erica had probably run down the stairs and smack into the middle of the fighting.
She hadn’t. Instead she stood a few feet behind me, staring into the room with wide eyes.
“Get in here,” I told her, kicking the dead vampire into the hall.
“No! On the bed…I can’t.” Erica babbled.
I realized she meant the body and went over, remembering the two humans in the alley that Marcus had killed. It wouldn’t be a pretty sight—one I really didn’t want Erica to see. I wasn’t sure if it would be better for me to drag the drained, gnawed-on woman out into the hall with the dead vampire, or just roll her up in the sheets until dawn. She looked a bit heavy to drag across the floor, so I opted for the latter choice, leaning over to grab the edge of the comforter. That’s when I saw her face. It wasn’t a dead blood donor, it was Leonora.
I froze for a second, half expecting the Mistress to open her eyes and rip me a new one for hovering over her naked body like some creepy voyeur, but the vampire remained still, thick blood oozing from where her arm had once been.
Erica raced over and pushed me aside, sitting on the edge of the bed and, smoothing a hand through the vampire’s hair. “Leonora, Leonora,” Erica cried.
What was wrong with her? A missing arm shouldn’t have taken down a vampire, and it was clear that both her head was still attached and her non-beating heart still resided in her chest. Leonora was tangled in the sheets and comforter, hair and blood covering her face and neck, but beyond that and the amputated arm, she was unharmed. I was still getting the static feel of vampire from her. Was she sedated? Knocked out? Under some weird spell?
“She’s still alive,” I assured Erica, trying to sooth the sobbing woman. “She’ll regrow the arm. She’ll heal.” I wasn’t certain of that. Anything that could knock a vampire out, might also kill them. And I knew nothing about the mechanics of this illness. It had been a vampire gnawing on Leonora’s arm. All the infected I’d been aware of to date had contracted it from a human donor. Could it be transferred vampire to vampire by a bite?
“We need to get her out into the hall and lock the door,” I told Erica, well aware that if Leonora regained consciousness, starving and ready to drain the pair of us, I’d need to kill her. I was pretty sure both the Balaj and Erica would have a problem with that. It would be better to roll her out of the room and let fate take its course.
“No! She’s not waking up. She’ll be vulnerable to attack. They’ll kill her.” She narrowed her eyes. “Or is that what you want? Dario can use the fight as an excuse to assassinate her and take over the Balaj. It would be so easy with her naked and unconscious in the hallway, wouldn’t it?”
Oh, for Pete’s sake. “Dario doesn’t want to be the Master. I don’t want him to be the Master, either. I want her out of this room so if she regains consciousness and is out of her mind with hunger we won’t be two handy snacks for her to feast on.”
Erica’s chin went up, her hand still stroking Leonora’s hair. “She would never do that to me. Never.”
“You admitted yourself that eventually you both would go deeper into a blood relationship, and she’d take your life. It’s what happens, so yes, she would do that to you. She’d hate herself for it, but she’d do it. This infection puts the hunger into overdrive. She won’t be able to help herself. I’ve seen two humans who died at the fangs of an infected vampire. I don’t want that to happen to you—or me.”
Her hand shook a
nd she looked down at Leonora’s face. “That’s spread from donor to vampire. She’s not infected. Something knocked her out, and one of the sick vampires came in and took advantage of that. She’s not infected.”
I could tell there was no reasoning with her, so I set my sword nearby and went over to help her get Leonora positioned better on the bed. Between the pair of us we managed to get the vampire untangled from the sheets and rolled face-up. Erica threw herself on top of the Leonora, resting her head on the vampire’s generous bosom and stroking her blood-streaked skin. I left them and did something I should have had the intelligence to do the moment we entered the room—I closed and locked the door. Then I began to remove the contents of my pockets. The amulet I hung from the doorknob. The three charms I yanked from the bracelet, placing one on each of the three window sills. Then I grabbed my keychain crucifix in one hand and my sword in the other, sat cross-legged on the floor where I could defend an attack from either the door or from the bed. If Leonora came to, I wouldn’t be able to save Erica, but she’d made her choice, and nothing I could do would get her to leave the vampire’s side.
Chapter 22
The sounds of crashing and screaming eventually died away. I spared a quick glance at my watch, realizing that we only had a few hours until dawn.
“We’ve got to get her to her daytime resting place,” Erica said. I’d not heard a sound from her in hours, but wasn’t surprised to see her still on the bed, Leonora’s head now cradled in her lap.
“We’re not leaving here until dawn,” I told her. “She told me once she likes to rest the day in here. She must have some kind of light proof shades on the windows.”
Erica nodded. “She does, but I can’t let her sleep here. It’s not safe. I don’t know who among her Renfields is left alive, if any of the Balaj is left alive. She’s too exposed, and I can’t protect her. I know her secured resting place. Only two other people do. We need to move her there.”
