“Do you miss home?” I asked, a longing filling me for my family.
“I miss the people,” he said and I nodded my agreement. “Not so much the place.”
He tugged me closer, dropping his head by my ear. “Do the males treat you okay? I worry about the girls here...”
“We're all in the same boat,” I answered. “You're in as much trouble as us.”
“I suppose...” His eyes filled with some knowledge that I felt I was unaware of.
“Do you know something?” I whispered.
He nodded but before he could answer, hands dragged me away from him. I glanced up, finding Erik there glaring icily at Frank.
“May I cut in?” he snarled before shoving Frank roughly toward Paige.
I gazed after him, desperate to learn what he'd been about to tell me. Erik grabbed my hands, placing them both around his neck unlike the way I'd been dancing before. He tugged me flush against him and started to move in a slow circle. I managed to keep up and was thankful I didn't make an idiot of myself, despite how hot I was getting from his proximity.
“That was rude,” I remarked.
“I don't give a shit,” Erik growled.
I stamped on his foot with purpose. “Oops,” I said innocently and his mouth hooked up at one corner.
“How clumsy of you,” he muttered. “I suppose you can’t teach grace.”
I ignored him, spotting Miles twirling Brianna in the corner of my eye. He looked much more pleasant than Erik; a constant smile was hung on his face. I was kind of looking forward to tomorrow where I wouldn't have to pretend to seduce Fabian or be stuck with Erik’s confounding moods.
“There's a lot to be said for a girl who can dance,” Erik said, his eyes whipping to Paige.
“I must have skipped all those dance lessons back in the Realm,” I said dryly, trying not to grow annoyed at Erik's obvious interest in her.
Erik tightened his hold on me, pulling me into his chest. His mouth dropped to my ear and flames roared at the base of my spine.
“If you'd like a private lesson in my room later, you only need to ask, Rebel.”
I tried to push away from him, but he held on tight. What was he playing at? Was he mocking me? If he was, I couldn't unravel his words enough to see the joke.
“I don't think dancing is my thing, but if you'd like to teach me how to drive a blade into a vampire's heart, that would be appreciated.”
He chuckled darkly. “That can be arranged.”
My brows arched at his tone. “Can it?” I asked hopefully.
“Of course, because it wouldn't matter if you were the finest swords-woman in the country, you still wouldn't be able to get a knife in my chest.”
“At least let me try,” I urged with a grin as dark as his own.
“Perhaps I will.” He spun me away from him with one hand then yanked me back against his body, making me stumble. He was so strong, I couldn't do anything but follow his lead.
I spotted Fabian moving closer, having released Clarice from their dance.
Erik muttered quickly in my ear. “Come to my room at midnight, Rebel. It's down the hall from yours, the one with the red door.” He released me and I gazed at him with wild, baffled thoughts as Fabian snared my hand.
He glowered at his brother and tension tangled with the air. “I suppose you heard about Chancellor Torin and the other murders in the city?” Fabian inquired.
“Indeed. What a loss to the world Torin will be,” Erik remarked coolly.
“Yes, it is quite the blow. One of my finest Chancellors has been reduced to dust. Do ensure your Chancellors watch their backs, Erik. There is clearly a madman at large so we must be vigilant.”
“Thank you for the warning,” Erik said with an icy smile. “I have already been made aware after the brutal murder of my guard, Faulkner.”
“Faulkner?” Fabian frowned. “How terrible.”
“Quite,” Erik bit out.
Fabian tugged me away and my heart stuttered as he led me straight out of the dining room into the low-lit corridor.
“At last, I have you alone.” Fabian grinned, releasing my hand but stalking closer.
I backed up, unable to help myself as I eyed his hungry expression.
My spine hit the nearest wall and Fabian took hold of my chin. “I think I've earned that kiss now.”
God, I did not want to kiss him. An angry creature had reared its head inside me and it didn't want Fabian anywhere near it.
“I, um, I'm not ready, Count Fabian,” I said in an innocent tone.
“Nonsense, you were the one who kissed me first.” He crushed me to the wall and I felt more like a prisoner than a royal Courtier.
I pushed against his chest, but it was useless.
Play along, Montana. You have to do this.
Shutting my eyes, I gave into the inevitable as Fabian's lips captured mine. His tongue invaded my mouth and I fought the urge to bite it. His hands roamed up my sides and I stiffened, desperate to make him stop.
His hips pressed into mine as he finally released me from the kiss. “Come to my room,” he begged, taking my hand.
“No,” I squeaked, pulling back and quickly recomposing myself. “I think we should wait,” I said, more firmly.
“We don't need to wait.” His mouth dropped to my neck and I wanted to rip his lips off.
“Fabian,” I demanded, pushing his shoulders.
“Come on, trouble.” He dragged me forward and fire spewed inside me.
My hand flew through the air and smashed into his cheek.
Fabian gawped at me, unable to believe what I’d done. My heart roared with flames and for a moment, I didn’t care what the consequences were. I was not going to be forced into this animal's bed.
Fabian’s lips pulled up into a hungry smile. “You’re playing games again.”
“She doesn’t want you. Get the hint, asshole,” Erik's voice sliced the air to ribbons.
Fabian threw him a dark look and I took the moment to rub my stinging palm. “Fuck off, Erik. This is none of your business.”
I spotted Paige giving me a wild-eyed look from beside Erik. “Leave her alone,” she insisted and my heart swelled at her siding with me.
Fabian's eyes whipped to her. “I know it's hard seeing me with another Courtier, Paige, but this is how the ritual works.”
The arrogance of these jerks was unreal.
I took the opportunity to slip out of his arms and half-jog toward the staircase. I didn’t look back as I stormed upstairs.
I barely took a breath until I entered my room, leaning against the door and holding my chest. My heart pounded an unsteady rhythm beneath my fingers.
How was I going to go through with this? If I picked Fabian at the ceremony, he wouldn't take no for an answer when it came to his bed.
I shut my eyes, hating this whole ritual, this game I'd been wrapped up in.
The clock on the wall told me it was nearly ten. Two hours until Erik wanted me to go to him. I shuddered.
I'm not going. I'm staying here until I'm forced out of this room again.
With that, I tore off my dress and pulled on the silken pajamas tucked under my pillow.
Midnight came and went, but sleep wouldn't find me. I sat in bed with nothing to do and only anxious thoughts for company.
At one in the morning, the door quietly opened and I shut my eyes, pretending to be asleep.
Leave me alone, Erik.
I couldn't hear him moving through the room, but I was certain he was. My skin prickled as he slid back my covers and I continued to keep up the pretence of sleep.
Something warm brushed my arm and my eyes flew open. Nightmare.
“Say hello to your friends in hell, slayer,” said a cruel voice I didn’t recognise.
My eyes locked with a female vampire, her expression as cold as winter.
Terror consumed me as I went to cry out, but she slammed a palm down on my mouth. “The royals will find you gutted in y
our bed with a slayer's blade in your hand and they will praise my name for assisting them.” She jumped atop me and straddled my hips.
Fear scored a path through my chest.
I eyed Nightmare as it pressed against my wrist, a voice filling my head. Fight or die.
The vampire took a short knife from her hip, lifting it up, ready to drive it into my heart.
“No,” I begged against her hand, flailing beneath her. My fingers brushed Nightmare and I snatched it, my arm lifting of its own accord.
She beamed at me, seeming to revel in my weakness. “I don’t know what all the fuss is about with you.”
Nightmare flared with heat and I stabbed at her as hard as I could, awkwardly jamming it into her side.
She screeched in rage, jerking backwards, giving me half a second to act. I lunged upright, raising Nightmare but the vampire snatched my collar and threw me hard across the room. I hit the window shutters with an almighty crack before slamming into the floor.
My breath was knocked from my lungs. Splinters of wood showered down around me from the broken shutter.
I gazed up at my attacker and horror seized my heart as she approached.
I’m going to die.
Nightmare was still in my hand, burning like the heat of the sun. Stand and fight. End this creature of darkness.
Strength filled me as I rose to my feet and the vampire came at me again, wielding her blade. She was tall and terrifying to behold, her icy eyes promising my death. I had no chance against her, but Nightmare seemed to have other ideas.
The vampire flew at me in a blur of movement and Nightmare guided my hand. I rammed the knife upwards as the vampire's blade stroked my neck.
A look of horror crossed her eyes as she realised Nightmare was buried deep between her ribs. With a choked cry, her face crumbled and her entire body turned to ash at my feet. Her knife hit the floor with a heavy thunk and the sound echoed through my head for an eternity.
I killed her. I killed a vampire.
I trembled from head to foot, a line of blood trickling down my neck from where her blade had cut me.
I gazed down at the dark robes of the vampire which were covered in the debris of her crumbled body. My forearm flared with pain and I spotted a small, red mark growing there in the shape of a blade.
Something swelled inside my chest. Triumph and strength. Nightmare seemed to praise my name, singing our victory.
“Rebel!?” Erik's voice carried from the hallway. I gazed at the blade in my hand and reality hit home. How the hell was I going to explain this?
Hide me. The voice flared in my mind and something inside told me to obey.
I had less than a second to act as I tossed Nightmare under the bed and slumped to the floor beside the pile of ash, pretending to have fainted.
The door hit the wall as it opened and Erik heaved me into his arms a moment later, laying me on the bed.
“Montana wake up,” he begged, running his finger over the cut on my neck. It hit me that this was the first time he'd called me by my name.
I blinked awake, fear rolling through me at how he was about to react.
“What happened?” he demanded, glancing at the remains of the vampire and the broken shards of wood from the window shutter.
I shook my head, not knowing how I was ever going to explain myself. But I had to get one thing straight at least.
“She attacked me,” I breathed. “She chased me over there and I think she...impaled herself on the broken wood.”
Shit, did that even sound plausible?
Erik's eyes flooded with confusion. “She attacked you?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “I was sleeping. She came in and...” I shook my head again, my body starting to tremble once more.
Erik moved to the vampire's robes, sifting through them as if looking for something. Giving up, he turned back to me and I suddenly realised he was shirtless.
Scars marred his arms and a crescent-shaped one was stamped on his midriff. I dragged my eyes up from his muscular body, finding his expression furious. “Who the fuck would do this?” he snarled, raking a hand through his hair.
“I don't know,” I whispered, dropping a hand to my forearm and covering the mark there. “Would Fabian-?” I started but he cut me off abruptly.
“No, why would he?” Erik snarled. “He doesn’t know anything.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, having no other suggestions.
What would Erik think if he knew I'd killed that vampire? And with a slayer's blade no less.
“Stay here,” he muttered and I nodded as he sped from the room. A key turned in the door and I was for once thankful about being locked in.
Moments later, Erik returned with a strange hand-held machine with a hole at one end. He turned it on and it made a loud whirring sound. Erik moved to the vampire's ashy remains, sucking them up with the object.
I gazed at him in alarm as he worked. When the dust was gone, he gathered the vampire’s robes into a linen bag from my closet. Turning to me with his jaw ticking, he said, “Don't speak about this with anyone. I'll deal with it.”
I nodded firmly then pointed to the object in his hand. “What is that?”
He glanced down at it. “A hoover.” He cleared his throat, heading to the door. “I'll be back soon.”
He exited and I hugged my knees. My heart drummed against my ribcage, refusing to slow. I’d killed a vampire. Something I’d dreamed about doing my entire life.
I ran my thumb over the mark on my arm, sensing it was important somehow. I didn't want Erik to see it, I was sure that was a bad idea. Heading to my closet, I grabbed out a sweater, tugging it on to hide the mark.
The vampire's voice filled my head again. Say hello to your friends in hell, slayer.
Did she really think I was a slayer? How could that be possible?
My thoughts turned to General Wolfe. Surely he had to be behind this, it was too much of a coincidence that he’d clearly been accusing me of that exact same thing.
I dropped onto the bed and could feel Nightmare's presence in the room like another heart beating in my chest.
Erik finally returned and I prayed he wouldn't be able to sense the blade in the way I could.
Locking the door, he turned to me with an anxious look. “What did she say to you?” he growled, his rage evident.
“Nothing,” I lied.
His jaw was locked tight as he marched into the bathroom, returning with a damp washcloth. He dropped down onto the bed, reaching out to my neck.
“Here,” he said surprisingly softly and I relaxed at his tone. He wasn't angry with me despite the fact that one of his kind had died in my room. That had to be a good sign.
He gently wiped the blood from my neck, frowning all the while. I couldn’t even feel the pain, the adrenaline in my veins was still keeping it at bay.
“I'm sorry this happened,” he murmured, tucking his legs up onto the bed. “I'll get to the bottom of this, I assure you. Someone in my household has betrayed us. No one else would be able to gain access to the castle. If only I'd seen the vampire's face...do you remember what she looked like?”
“She had dark hair and was tall with light blue eyes,” I said, trying to remember anything else about her.
He nodded stiffly, that information obviously not enlightening him. “Was she an Elite?”
I thought about it and shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“Alright...I'll stay with you tonight,” Erik announced.
My throat tightened but I nodded, not wanting to be left here after the attack. My eyes dropped to his naked chest and I cursed myself for the way my body reacted to the sight.
“If you'd come to my room like I'd asked, this wouldn't have happened.” Erik cocked a brow, dropping the washcloth beside him.
“I didn't want to be manipulated anymore,” I revealed, feeling strong after what I'd just managed to do.
Erik's face contorted. “I wasn't trying to manipulate
you.”
My filter unleashed everything I’d been holding back. “That's all you've been doing since I met you, Erik. And I'm tired of it already and I'm scared of what will happen when I choose Fabian at the ceremony. I don't want to be his wife, I don't want to – to-” I couldn't say the words.
Erik's brows drew together. “I know...”
I shoved his solid chest. “You don't know. You have no idea what this is like. You're whoring me out to your brother and I can't stand it and all I want from you is to help my family. And you're going to make me do the unspeakable to earn that priv-”
He pressed a hand to my mouth to halt me. “I know,” he reiterated, his eyes boring into mine. “I didn't expect things to get this...complicated.”
I leant away from his cool palm, my throat growing dry. “It's not complicated for you. You can dangle my father's freedom over my head and you know I'll do anything to help him. What's complicated about that?”
His Adam's apple rose and fell, but he didn't answer.
Despite his cold skin, heat seemed to radiate from his body. My eyes travelled over the faint scars on his torso, the marks silvery and pale.
He turned away and I caught his arm. “What aren't you saying?”
He sighed heavily. “I've become slightly, minisculely...attached to you, Rebel.”
I released a small, empty laugh. “How kind of you to care so little about me.”
“I am a royal Count and I do not take wives or bed unwilling humans. I am at least eighty-percent of a better man than my brother so have some faith in me that I won't allow him to hurt you.”
“I don't have faith in you. How can I? This is all your doing!”
I shoved him again and he caught my arm, tugging me closer so our mouths were barely an inch apart. “I'm covering up a vampire's death in your quarters, Rebel. Is that not enough for you to trust me?”
“I'll never trust a bloodsucker.” The words were my dad's. Rule number one in this world: never trust a bloodsucker, baby girl.
“Then we're at a stalemate.” He stood, releasing me violently and moving to the chair before dropping into it. “Sleep,” he commanded and I glowered at him for a few long seconds before lowering down onto the bed and tugging the covers up to my chin.
Age of Vampires- The Complete Series Page 31
