Killer's Gambit

by Hermione Stark

  As if in slow motion Finch saw Marielle’s face contorting in a snarl, her fangs emerging from her mouth. To fast fo Finch to stop her. She threw her body at Diana, her mouth arcing towards Diana’s neck. And then Marielle was screeching, her body on the ground, and clutching her side in shock. And there was a sword in Diana’s hand. A long thin black sword with a wicked gleam.

  Finch was horrified, sure something awful would happen now, but neither of the vampires moved. They were staring at the sword. Finch had not seen Diana carrying it earlier. He had no idea where it had come from. But clearly Diana had just stabbed Marielle with it, and Marielle looked aghast.

  Diana looked as stunned by what had just happened as Marielle and Rodrigge. She was looking at the sword in her hand as if she couldn’t believe that she had used it. But she swiftly seemed to come to terms with the dangers of the current situation, because when Marielle pushed herself up from the ground to come towards Diana again, Diana extended the sword until its tip sank into Marielle’s chest. Marielle flinched back, hissing in pain. Her eyes had widened, and she was watching the sword warily.

  Finch realized that he was looking at both the vampire’s in the eye, but fortunately for him neither vampire seemed aware of his presence, let alone being interested in mesmerizing him. Rodrigge was clearly furious about what had just happened, but he was also watching the sword warily. He took several steps back from it, and yanked his wife away from Diana.

  “Marielle!” he said coldly. “Apologize to our guest at once!”

  “I will not!” Marielle hissed.

  Rodrigge demanded for her to leave the room and she did so angrily. Rodrigge said stiffly to Diana, his face cold and hard and ugly, “My wife was not herself. We do not treat our guests in such a manner. However, you made a mistake coming into this house with a sword. You made a mistake thinking you could come here at the behest of my murdering brother. You will leave here at once!”

  He glowered at the sword but Finch noticed that he made no move to come any closer to it. Finch had never heard of a sword that could affect a vampire like that. Its merest touch had made Marielle’s skin sizzle, the pain enough to frighten her off. Finch had never seen a vampire look as fearfully at a thing as Rodrigge was looking at Diana’s sword.

  This had not escaped Diana’s notice. “I don’t think so,” she said glibly. “I’m not done with this family yet, and since you and your wife are going to clearly be so unhelpful, I think I’d much rather speak to your parents. Perhaps they care about the innocence of their poor imprisoned son!”

  Rodrigge hissed in anger, his face becoming ugly and bestial for the briefest of moments before transforming back into its smooth human visage. “There is nothing you can do to help my brother, girl. You will get out of this house or I will have you thrown out!”

  But Diana merely pointed her sword at him and gave him a cheerily smile. “Where are your parents? I’ll find out, shall I?”

  Using her pointed sword to keep Rodrigge at bay, she said to me, “Come along!” I swiftly followed her out of the room.

  Chapter 10

  AUDRIETT

  Audriett Ronin had become aware of the stranger in her home the moment the stranger stepped in. The stranger’s presence snapped into her awareness from nowhere, like a shift in her world. The same way her world had shifted when she had been pregnant with her precious boy Steffane.

  Audriett had known Steffane would be a dhampir before he was born. How else could she explain the sudden heightened alertness of her senses in impossible ways? Rodrigge in her womb had done nothing but drain her, but Steffane had given her a strength that she had never possessed before. And she had used it to bring him forth into the world.

  She had feared her father’s response when she’d told him about the dhampir to come, but Gaius had shown a fierce joy. A dhampir! Such strength to bring his brood power and glory. Gaius had left Otherworld and it’s customs behind, he had said. He would build his strength here on Earth in new ways. And he would make any who sought to harm his precious dhampir son suffer.

  For the gift of such a son, such a jewel, Gaius had rewarded Audriett with nothing less than marriage, making her his daughter-wife, an honor she had fiercely longed for. And immediately after her boy had been born, Gaius had raised her to the status of full-vampire, changing her in a moment of ecstasy and agony that had been matched only by the birth of Steffane.

  Poor precious Steffane whose many gifts and strengths had made him willful and wild and delightful. How could they have known then that he would break their hearts’ pride?

  Despite the stranger in her home, the stranger whose presence was so meaningful and full of foreboding that Audriett had felt his or her presence immediately, Audriett remained by her father-husband’s side for a few moments longer.

  Gauis was as still as death, his form dominating the beautiful open sarcophagus that she had had made especially to fit his proportions. Not that vampires usually rested in caskets, but she had grown tired of reaching across the large bed to stroke his hair as he lay in his slumber, and it had seemed ridiculous to place such a great man in a narrow bed merely for the convenience of easing her ability to reach and tend to him. The sarcophagus was perfect for such purposes, giving her easy access while cradling his precious form aloft as if he was a king.

  As she ran her cold fingers through his coarse hair she noted how he had aged these past six years in a way that vampires did not age. His formerly glorious dark hair was peppered with silver and his face was lined. He looked like an aging human in his fifties. Still handsome though. How could he not be?

  Perhaps he would appreciate her better now. She had always feared that she’d looked older than him, having been changed in her late-twenties and looking older than that. Gaius had changed her far later than a sanguith should be changed, delaying due to his desire for her to give him blood-kin children. And for so many long years she had tried, suffering miscarriage after miscarriage, each one draining her strength and beauty. She had only brought him two surviving children, one a sickly sanguith Rodrigge, but the other a magnificent dhampir! It had been worth it. Those had been glorious days. Now, compared to Gaius’s aged appearance, Audriett appeared a veritable maiden. They would look good together. The day he rose would be glorious and terrible. She trembled at the thought.

  Her fingers curled against his scalp and she wondered if he could feel her touch, if he could feel pain. She allowed her nails to grow long and clawed, the tips sinking into his flesh. Gaius’s eyelids fluttered as if he was aware of her. He began to mutter restlessly.

  “Rest, my love,” she murmured in a soothing voice.

  She went to the chest at the foot of the bed. Inside was stone lockbox, an item crafted in the old magic of the Realm that would open only to her touch. From it she extracted a small syringe and a vial of cloudy liquid. Filling the syringe, she took it to Gaius and pressed the tip of the needle into his wrist, against a vein that ran blue within his cold flesh. His skin sizzled as the silver needle sank into it. This needle itself was a rarity. Its length was inscribed with tiny sigils that human eyes would barely have been able to see. Such a thin needle would otherwise never have penetrated a vampire’s skin.

  She plunged the cloudy liquid into his vein. Moments later Gaius calmed, his body relaxing and his eyelids ceasing their fluttering, which had so alarmed her. It was not time for him to wake. Not yet.

  “Rest, my love,” she murmured again, and planted a kiss on his forehead.

  Exiting the vault room with its thick stone walls, she sealed its massive stone entrance with a special spell that permitted entry only to her and would harm any other who tried to force it open. Then she went to greet the dangerous stranger.

  Chapter 11

  DIANA

  I held the sword pointed towards an angry Rodrigue to keep him away from us, and I yanked Finch behind me as I walked backwards towards the door. Rodrigge kept his distance, his eyes never leaving the sword. I wasn’t surpris
ed. The sword was freaking me out almost as much as it was freaking him out.

  Where the hell had it come from? It had a long and narrow black blade and its hilt was slim and perfectly formed for my grip. It felt just the right weight, and it seemed to vibrate fiercely against the palm of my hand. One second I had been seeing Marielle coming at me like she wanted to rip my neck open and my navelstone had vibrated fiercely and painfully, just like it had the night that Theo had worked his spell, and then Marielle had reached me and run straight into the sword which had appeared from nowhere into my hand. The way she had screeched had been almost comical. I had been too relieved to be alive to fully appreciate it.

  Sneaky Marielle, who looked like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, so innocent and sweet for a vampire. I could not believe she had tried to kill me. I had not even seen it coming. What a good act she had put on for me at the club. So civilized, she had been, even going so far as to offer to help me find Zezi. I felt a like a fool, and no doubt Finch thought I was one too.

  Since Rodrigge and Marielle were proving so unhelpful, it was time to find Steffane’s parents. They might have cared for Steffane more than Rodrigge did. They might be able to point me in the direction of who else had wanted Leonie dead.

  We backed out of the door, and Finch gave a strangled cry of dismay from behind me. He had almost bumped into a woman. For a brief moment I thought it might be Marielle. But it wasn’t. This woman looked older than the other two vampires, in her mid-thirties maybe, but was likely much older. Like Marielle, she had short hair, but hers was blond and sleek and straight, framing a haughty face.

  She rearranged it into an expression of polite enquiry, with one bronzed eyebrow raised. She wore a high-necked floor-length navy gown with square shoulders that made her look like a duchess. While I was gripping my sword like it was my shield, her hands were clasped in front of her in a relaxed manner that made me feel like she had all of the power, and I had none. She wasn’t even trying to mesmerize me. The scathing look she gave me was all that was needed to make me immediately point my sword downwards.

  Rodrigge rushed out of the room behind us.

  She gave him an icy look. “Really, Rodrigge? That is quite enough!”

  If he could have blushed I’m sure he would have. “But mother—” he protested.

  She held up her hand to cut him off, and proceeded to pay him no further attention.

  “Come with me,” she said mildly to me and Finch, but her words were a command.

  She swept off down the corridor, and Finch and I had no choice but to follow. The passageways we walked angled further downwards, giving the impression we were going deep into the bowels of this subterranean place. To my surprise we emerged in a large, brightly lit garden. The place was a delight, full of gorgeous roses and other flowers in a multitude of hues, and lush grass underfoot. Hummingbirds were flying around. Hummingbirds! And there were even trees here. An idyllic swinging bench was arranged beneath one of them. The cavern that housed it all was huge. A small flock of servants were busily tending the foliage and setting up round tables in a cleared area of lawn. It looked preparations for a tea party.

  The moment one of the servants saw Audriett approaching, he hurried over to the side of the cavern to flick a switch. The lights dimmed to the level of a gently glowing dusk. The flock of servants quietly melted away, exiting by various tunnels behind the trees.

  Audriett led us down a path bordered with gorgeous purple and lilac flowers that I had never seen before, probably from Otherworld, and into a private copse of trees. At its center was a little round table set with a white tablecloth. She took a seat, and invited me and Finch to do the same.

  “I am Audriett Ronin,” she finally said. “Wife of Gaius Ronin. How can I help you?”

  I was about to explain why I was here when a servant arrived with a tea-set on a large tray. Audriett did not acknowledge the servant, but at least she did not attack the poor man. He proceeded to pour a fruity dark pink tea for us. I was glad it was not red. He even poured a cup for Audriett, which surprised me.

  “You like tea?” I asked, before I could stop myself.

  She waited for the servant to leave before she deigned to respond. She took a sip and placed her cup back in its saucer before saying, “I enjoyed it when I was a sanguith. The flavor is too delicate for me now, but I can tolerate it.”

  She addressed her response entirely to me, completely ignoring French. He seemed happy with this arrangement, and tried his best not to make a sound at all while he sniffed his tea cautiously and then discreetly put his cup back down.

  “Will your husband be joining us?” I asked Audriett.

  Keeping my sword in my right hand, I lifted my teacup with my left. It smelled alright to me and there was nothing in the background psychic music of this whole place to alarm me. I decided to trust it and take a sip, and happily did not drop dead. The tea was yummy.

  Audriett’s eyes flicked towards where my sword was beneath the table. She did not seem to enjoy having it there. As she should be. The sword was hungry. Its desire was radiating up into my arm. It had absorbed Marielle’s blood and liked it. It wanted more.

  I clutched the hilt for dear life, half out of fear that it might leap up and attack Audriett of its own will, and half out of fear that it might disappear as suddenly as it had appeared. I had assumed the Ronins, being friends of the mayor, would not dare to harm someone who worked for the Agency. Now I was in this place I realized how naive that was. They could easily have buried my body somewhere in this vast place and no one would ever be any the wiser. Poor Finch and I would have kept each other company under the ground for eternity, unless they had decided he’d make a tasty sheep.

  “My husband is in seclusion and does not wish to be disturbed,” she said.

  Well at least that meant I had only one vampire to deal with. One vampire and one sword. I’d no clue what help Finch he’d be offering me, meek as he was. We were lucky Audriett seemed in a reasonable mood. And maybe she’d be more likely to give up some useful information in the absence of her master. .

  “It’s a lovely garden you have here,,” I said. “But kind of weird that it’s all underground in a cavern with no sunlight.”

  “You can’t miss that which you’ve never had,” Audriett said. She looked around the garden as if trying to see it with new eyes. “I grew up here. My father built this garden for me to play in.”

  It was weird to think of her as a sickly little sanguith girl playing in this garden, never being allowed outside, never seeing the sunshine. “Was it difficult being a sanguith? I’ve never met one before.”

  She raised her chin. “Not for me. I was a strong sanguith. I had to be to bear my husband two living children.”

  I didn’t ask her whether it was weird that her husband was also her father. “Were you ever allowed out?” I asked curiously.

  She gestured around her. “I had all I could ever want here. And I was far too precious to be risked out in the open; my father’s only blood-kin child. Gaius protected me fiercely.” She looked proud of this.

  I wanted to ask her more about being a sanguith. As a living creature, had she found it disgusting to have to drink blood to stay alive? Had she ever seen the sun? What had it been like to have a human mother and vampire father, and had she loved one more than the other? But my questions would no doubt make her impatient, and it about time I got on with the business at hand.

  She seemed to think so too, because she said abruptly, “Pleasant as this is, why are you here?”

  I didn’t think she really meant pleasant. I was sure she was only tolerating me because I was from the Agency and she thought the best way to be rid of me was to discuss whatever I’d come here for.

  “Your son Steffane sent me.”

  Her only reaction was to take another sip of tea. I explained my meeting with Steffane and his insistence that he was innocent of the murder of Leonie. I missed out the part about the Devil Claw Killer. She di
d not need to know about that, and I didn’t want her to know this was my only reason for helping Steffane. I couldn’t trust what she might do with that news.

  Audriett was quiet and still as she listened to my tale. “Steffane,” she murmured, almost longingly when I had finished. “How was he?”

  “Er... He was okay.” It was probably best not to mention him being tied to that torture device of a chair. “Do you not visit him?”

  A darkness seemed to come into her already dark eyes. “No,” she said shortly.

  I sensed that she would like to, but she was not allowed. Who was stopping her? Her husband? But clearly this topic was off limits.

  “Do you think he’s innocent?” I asked.

  She contemplated this for a long moment, and then said, “Steffane was never innocent of anything.”