“He asked you to attend.” Alfonzo held up the card and re-read it, as if it would give up more information from that method alone. “Why?”
“I see it as a command. I do not see a question mark, or anything of the sort.”
“No. He could have kidnapped you, Maxine. He could have robbed you from your bed, and that would be the end of it.” Alfonzo placed the note down on the tablecloth. “This is a request. He wants to see if you will walk in there willingly. Why?”
“I honestly do not know.” And it wasn’t a lie. Yes, she had left out Vlad’s strange flirtatious behavior with her—and the kiss—but she did not know why the man who considered himself a veritable god on Earth had not simply snatched her up. “I suppose we are left to decide what we will do about the matter.”
“Do you wish to attend?”
“I do not wish to die. If I go into that place, I am walking into the jaws of a lion. But I find myself already within the easy reach of its teeth. It is only by the benefit that the beast has not bitten down that I am still alive. I suppose I am curious as to why, same as you.”
“Then you will agree to go?”
“If it benefits you three in your endeavor, yes. I fear I am following your lead in this regard. I have no experience hunting vampires.”
“When it comes to Dracula, I fear we are all novices.” Alfonzo rubbed his hand back over his short hair, scratching at his scalp. The poor bastard was exhausted. “I doubt the invitation extends to us. Nor would they let us in as we are. As you can imagine, we didn’t exactly pack suits.”
Maxine chuckled. “And I do not own men’s clothing. Although,” she looked over to Bella, “I have a few gowns that might fit you. It is expected for someone in my profession to dress the part of a Lady Spiritualist. I hope you don’t mind wearing black.”
Bella looked more than a little excited. “I have never attended a ball before.”
Eddie was clearly displeased. Worry flared in him like a flame so suddenly she felt it easily from across the room. His young love burned like the sun in the sky. “This is a bad idea. Sending them both into the viper’s nest. Who knows who’ll be there? How many he’ll bring?”
Bella shot the young man a withering look. “I can handle myself.”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant—”
“I’ll watch the perimeter. Eddie, you’ll be nearby to provide cover. When he shows himself, Bella will give us a signal, and we will storm the building. Miss Parker…do I need to tell you how dangerous this will be?”
“That I will likely not live to see tomorrow? I understand. I’ll either die by vampire or potentially by being caught in the crossfire. But this must be done. He must be stopped. I have met him only the once, and I know he is as you say he is—a danger to all the lives in this city. Mine is but one. He will spend thousands if left unchecked.” She drank the remainder of her whiskey in one go and put the glass down.
Eddie snickered, impressed. “Damn.”
She smiled back at the boy. “The Roma taught me well.”
“Clearly.” Eddie was still chuckling. “I think I like you, ma’am.”
Maxine winced at that. “Please don’t call me ma’am. Or Miss. Just call me Maxine.”
“Oh. Right. Sorry ma’—I mean, Maxine.” He coughed and went back to his food and his drink. “I still think this is a bad plan, by the way.”
“It’s a terrible plan, you’re right,” Alfonzo confirmed. “But it’s the only one we have. Bella, you’ll go in with Miss Parker. Eddie and I will remain outside and wait until the moment is right.”
“And you three will go back to the hostel, gather whatever it is that you own, and for the love of all that is holy, bathe and get some sleep.” Maxine couldn’t help but smile, despite the grim situation. “Your hostel smells like puke and fish, and I fear it’s rubbed off on all of you. If we are all to die tonight, best not already smell like a corpse when we do it.”
The three of them laughed, and she joined them. It was gallows humor. She had always had a deep streak of darkness that tainted her by benefit of who she was. It made her difficult to be around. But the three hunters seemed to share in her plight or saw it for what it was. Either way, she was glad it did not disturb them like it had so many others.
Maxine was never one to have friends. Either due to her personal oddities, her uncanny knowledge of what others were feeling at all times, or her inability to touch or be touched, her friendships were always stilted and brief. But she had hope it might be different with these three. She knew they had seen far worse things than her in their day.
It was only a question of whether they all lived long enough.
Bella still looked over the moon with glee. Even the looming promise of death didn’t seem to quell her enthusiasm. “I get to wear a gown.” She laughed. “How exciting!”
“Is everything ready, Walter?”
“Yes, my Lord.” He bowed his head to Dracula. This whole plan was dangerous, foolhardy, and exposed them all to needless risk. It was for those exact reasons that Walter knew he could not dissuade his Master.
“Good.”
“Do you think she will come? She must understand it is suicide.”
“She will come. She will bring the hunters in tow, and she will believe that is why I have asked her to attend.” His Master flicked the backs of the cufflink he was pinning into his sleeve, locking it into place before moving on to the other. “Miss Parker does not realize it is for her sake that this is done.”
“And what are Zadok and I to do with the hunters?”
“Kill them and attempt not to die in the process. Bring Mordecai. He does so much love to dress up and play amongst the mortals.” Dracula smiled, thin and cruel. “He might find someone to entertain himself, and you may need him if things go awry.”
“Surely if you are there, we will not need the assistance.”
“I may be distracted, Walter. If all goes well, I will be busy with other matters.”
Walter could not help himself. He sighed.
Dracula chuckled, and crimson eyes met his in the mirror. “Someday you will understand. Someday you will be as old as I and know it is these moments that matter most above all. Not the trivial hunters who stalk my shadow.” He pinned the other cufflink in place and reached for the red ascot on the dresser. His Master was dressed in his finest clothing and looked every inch the royalty that he was. “They are common. They are fleeting. She may not be.”
“I promise that if that day should come, I will look to you and say, ‘You were right.’” Walter smirked. “I fear it will be long in coming.”
“And therein lies the secret you have yet you learn, even at your age. Nothing is long in coming for any of us. All of time stretches before us. You see the span as an endless road. I see it as the tick of the clock. Once you understand the enormity of what you will experience, you will understand why I do such ill-advised and seemingly irrational things.”
Walter bowed his head again. He didn’t understand yet; in that, Dracula was quite right. He dreaded the day that he might.
“Take solace, dear Walter. Tonight will be exciting, if nothing else.”
“That does not make me feel any better in the slightest.”
Dracula chuckled and turned to him. He placed a hand on Walter’s shoulder. They were nearly the same height, even though the elder vampire was far broader and filled the room in a very different way than he. Walter suspected he would always feel like a child in Dracula’s presence.
“These hunters will pose you no threat. Now, go. Fetch the others. Ensure they are ready. Ensure Zadok is sober, most of all. And pull Mordecai out of whomever he is buried inside and insist he wear pants to this affair.”
Walter grunted. “It is not only because of the presence of the hunters that I loathe the idea of this night.”
Dracula grinned and patted him on the shoulder before turning back to the mirror to finish dressing. “I have faith in you, dear Walter.”
/> “I wish I shared your sentiment.” He bowed at the waist and turned to do as he was told. He did not know which of the vagabonds he dreaded speaking with more, Zadok or the incubus. They were each irritating in their own right.
The scales weighed out about equal.
Letting his body dissolve into a swarm of bats, he resigned himself for what was to come. He could only pray to the gods above and below that tonight ended as smoothly as it could.
Oddly enough, he found himself sympathetic toward Miss Parker. Death had come to claim her, and not in any way she could have possibly guessed.
“You look beautiful.” Maxine smiled at Bella’s reflection in the mirror. The young woman really did look stunning in the deep sapphire-colored taffeta gown she had chosen. It was the lightest-colored dress Maxine owned.
The public did not wish for a spiritualist to wear rose, after all.
The young woman had squawked and yelped as Maxine had tightened her corset. She hadn’t ever worn one before, at least not the right way. She was still shifting uncomfortably in the steel bones. Maxine hadn’t even done it up as far as it could go. She figured Bella would need to breathe if—when—there was a fight.
“As do you.” Bella smiled at her in the glass. Maxine was pinning up Bella’s long blonde hair into curls and a fashionable bun. The black silk gloves she wore made it more difficult, but they were a necessity. She couldn’t chance an accidental brush against the young girl.
“No, I look sad.” Maxine slipped a jeweled pin into Bella’s hair. She looked like a princess with her blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Maxine always looked like a vision of death. Her pale skin stood out sharply against her dark hair, and with the jet-black silk dress she wore, she was better suited to be standing by someone’s grave, not at a gala.
“Are you?”
“I feel the emotions of all those around me. Loss, grief, and anger greatly outnumber happiness in the human race. So, I suppose I do.” She placed another pin into Bella’s hair.
“Is that why you live here alone? With no servants? I can’t imagine being around others all the time is comforting. It must be very, uh, loud. I’m not sure if that is the right word for it.”
“It’s a perfect word for it. And you’re right.” It was rare that someone understood. “How old are you, Bella?”
“Nineteen.”
Only four years separated them, yet she felt as though it were forty. Maxine had always been too old for her body—she had seen too much, felt too much. It aged her soul, even if her flesh had not yet followed suit. She expected she would go gray before she turned thirty. “I saw glimpses of what led to this life, but nothing concrete enough to form a full story. What happened that drove you to hunt vampires, Bella?”
“My family was murdered by a pack of ghouls when I was very young. It left me an orphan. But Alfonzo found me a few years later and, hearing the story of my survival, offered to take me in. He trained me. He is like a father to me.”
“How did you survive?”
Bella held out her hand, and Maxine gasped as several of the objects on the vanity—a comb, a brush, a palette of eyeshadow—rose from the wood surface. The brush flew to Bella’s palm, and she grasped it as the others drifted down and settled where they had been a moment prior.
Turning her palm up, she opened her fingers, and the brush lifted to hover over her open hand and began to twirl slowly. “I have my methods.” Bella smiled.
“Well, now I know why you are not disturbed by who and what I am.” Maxine reached out and poked the brush where it hung in midair. It jostled a little but seemed quite intent on doing as Bella commanded.
“Not in the slightest.” The hairbrush fell back into Bella’s hand, and she placed it on the vanity once more. She was smiling, as if proud of the chance to show off. “What of your path to this point? You offered up your home to us, and even your things, should you die. Do you have no family?”
“None. I was driven out by my mother at a young age. My father, who was damaged by the war both mentally and physically, killed himself not long before I was born. I have no siblings.”
“For someone who can hear the emotions of all those around them…you live a lonely life.” Bella frowned. “I am sorry.”
“It is as you have said, very loud otherwise. It is more peaceful this way.” Maxine smiled sadly and put the last pin into Bella’s hair. “I am accustomed to it. Don’t pity me. I have more than most could wish for.” She walked over to her dresser and picked up a crimson silk choker from the stand, trimmed in black lace. Tying it around her throat, she picked up the ruby and silk brooch from where it sat on the dresser. She returned to the mirror to pin it to the center of the choker, careful to thread the pin through the first layer of fabric and not the second so that it did not touch her skin. It was jewelry meant for a man, but on her collar, it looked like a memento.
Something gifted to her by a lover, perhaps, as if to remember him by. Her cheeks threatened to warm at the notion, and she pushed the thought away before it betrayed her.
“What are you doing?” Bella asked.
She touched the ruby. Even through her gloves, it whispered to her. Wearing it was a statement. It was the lamp of a lighthouse, calling the enemy fleet to shore. It was a show she knew would not go unnoticed. “If I am to be the bait tonight, I rather think I should look the part.” She would march into the jaws of death and stare him in the eyes. She would die with her head held high. “Don’t you?”
7
Maxine was not certain who this “Vicomte Arthur Price” was who was hosting this event, but there were a few things she could discern the moment she walked through his door. He was incredibly rich. And he greatly enjoyed flaunting it. To call the gala lavish would be to insult the ostentatiousness of the whole ordeal.
As Maxine walked into his opening parlor, she looked up at the ice sculpture that dominated the lobby. It was a beautiful thing of carefully carved roses and other greenery. Bella gaped at quite literally everything she saw. More than once, Maxine had to take her by the elbow and pull her along.
“Why does anyone need a house this big?” Bella whispered, gaping at the soaring paintings and columns swathed in swirls of crimson fabric.
Crimson. The Count’s color. It was very much on purpose, she knew.
Maxine grinned mischievously. “Because other parts of its owner are likely very small.”
Bella had to cover her mouth to keep from howling in laughter. They giggled like schoolgirls, and the young woman swatted her arm as if to scold her for her commentary.
“Ah! And you must be Madam Parker.” A voice broke into their amusement. Maxine turned, and found a thin, tall, blond man wearing a black brocade suit with lace cuffs that belonged to a fashion that was either just leaving or just coming in. No one else in the room wore them. “The second guest of honor this evening.”
“Excuse me?” She fought back the dread that washed over her and bade her run out the door whence she had come.
“The man we honor tonight has instructed me to welcome you to my home, along with your lovely friend, and tell you to enjoy the festivities. He will be along shortly and apologizes for the delay.” The man bowed with a flourish. “I am the Vicomte Arthur Price. It is a deep pleasure to meet you.” When he rose, he extended his hand to take hers.
She hated being touched, even through her gloves. Especially by a man such as him. But she swallowed down her dismay and placed her hand in his. He felt like a snake in the grass to her, and she tried not to grimace. “A pleasure, as well. How have you come to meet our mutual acquaintance, I wonder?”
He bowed again to kiss the back of her knuckles. “Straight to business. A pragmatic woman. I like it.” His gray eyes flickered with something fiendish. There was danger in him; she could feel it. She pulled her hand away from his when he held it for a moment too long. “He needed introductions to the good society here in our troubled city and sought me out to provide such a thing. Once I realized he co
uld save us from all the dangers that stalk the night, I didn’t hesitate to grant him everything he wished.”
“Rumor has it he is the cause of the danger, not the salvation from it.”
“Sometimes one must suffer the disease to become immune to it.” He smiled sweetly. “But come, come, no more talk of this…unpleasantness.” He waved over a servant and plucked two glasses of red wine from the tray and handed one to her and the other to Bella. “Have a drink. Then have several more. This night is about celebration, not death.”
“We shall see. I do not think the two are mutually exclusive to our friend.”
Arthur laughed. “A sharp tack you are, hm? I see why our honored visitor likes you so.” He looked to Bella. “And who are you, my ravishing dear?”
“Bella Corallo. Charmed.” It was clear that Bella thought of Arthur as anything but charming. Maxine didn’t fight the smile. The girl was bright-eyed, but clearly not a fool.
Arthur took her hand and kissed the back of it, as well. “Your dance card will be full tonight, I’m sure of it. Save a spot for me, if you would.” He took a step back. “But! I must go. So many guests to attend to, as you can imagine. Please, make yourselves at home. Enjoy yourselves, my darling ladies. You are both set to have quite the night.” Arthur winked at Maxine as he walked away.
Something about the man felt…off. Very off. She couldn’t put her finger on why, but he sent a crawling and creeping kind of dread through her. She wondered if the man weren’t entirely human. “Stay away from him,” she warned Bella.
“Not a problem.” She sipped her wine and stared into it. “Do you think it’s poisoned?”
“No. That would be too easy.” She sipped her own. “But he is dangerous. I’m not sure how or why as of yet. But there is something unnatural about him.”
“Ah. And here I thought he was simply a pervert.” Bella smiled. “Good to know he is also a monster. I didn’t need two excuses to feed him his own fist, but now I have them. It is quite useful to have an empath around.”
Heart of Dracula Page 7
