‘And you were never curious to see me in the flesh, so to speak?’ I flashed him a grin.
From the slow upturn of his mouth and the sudden blaze in his eyes, I didn’t need to mind read to know what was going on in there. ‘I can’t get enough of seeing you in the flesh.’
I rolled my eyes, though secretly, his words excited me. ‘That’s not what I meant, and you know it.’
He chuckled. Moving his hand from my waist to my belly, he gently rubbed it in small rhythmic circles. ‘Not long now and you’ll be showing.’
‘Another few weeks.’
His expression sobered. I placed my hand over his and felt a slight tremble. Was he thinking of his first child, the one who’d died in childbirth more than a hundred years ago? I gazed into his eyes and a collage of images flooded my mind. Through Alec’s eyes, I saw a smiling young woman in an old-fashioned, high-collared dress, hands caressing her swollen belly, the anxious yet excited expression as she went into labour ... and a dead woman lying on a blood-and-sweat-soaked bed, a lifeless baby by her side.
A deep weight of despair descended. Overwhelming grief coursed through me, and I gulped down the bitter lump that had risen in my throat.
It’s what he had felt that terrible day: a miserable helplessness that all his years of medical training could not save the lives of those he loved.
It was what he feared now.
I caught his face in my hands. ‘That’s not going to happen to me. I’m an Ingenii; we don’t die in childbirth. You and I are going to have a beautiful child that’ll end this curse and we’re going to live happily ever after. Do you hear me, Alec Munro?’
I was reassuring myself as much as Alec. Fiery determination seized me. I grasped the chain holding the blood vial Luc had given me and dangled it before his face. ‘If anything does go wrong—which I don’t believe it will—you are to use this on me and the baby. There’s enough for us both.’
Alec’s eyes moistened and he swallowed hard. ‘The blood vial bestows immortality, my darling. It cannot be used on an infant ... they’d remain a babe forever.’
My mouth dried. Immortality froze one in time. I had but to look at Alec to know that. The thought of my baby never growing up, forever an infant chilled my bones.
His hand closed over mine holding the vial. ‘Hide it back beneath your dress, and let’s hope you’ll never have to use it.’
‘I might if I become human after the curse is lifted. I promised Luc ... so we can always be together, since you’ve decided to remain vampire.’
Alec enveloped me in his arms, a deep sigh escaping his lips. ‘How could I take the other option if it means leaving you and our babe? Tell me, Laura?’
I shook my head. ‘It’s not fair. Once the blood vials run out, you’ll be stuck in the night, never again to see the day.’ I thumped his chest with my fist. ‘It’s not bloody fair!’
‘I’m reconciled to it. As long as I have you, all’s good.’
‘I love you,’ I whispered.
Alec’s lips crashed down on mine with a fierceness that shook me, excited and exhilarated me, setting every nerve ending on fire. He was my world, my compass, my true north, and in his arms, I was home. If that meant an eternity in the night, then I’d gladly embrace my destiny to be with the man I loved.
For those few blissful moments, I shut the world, and all its concerns, out.
Live for the moment, Laura. Tomorrow has its own troubles.
Who knew what the next day would bring.
Chapter 14 - In Dei Manus
(In The Hands Of God)
LAURA
‘I promised there’d be no secrets between us, so now it’s my turn to show you everything.’ With me still seated on his lap, Alec spun around to face the desk.
‘Like what?’
He angled the laptop, so I could see a 3D map of the chateau. Highlighted were a series of hidden passageways that connected every room in the place, including our suite. Each of them had a name, depending on where they led. Ours was labelled “L’Eglise” —the church.
I pointed to it. ‘Escape route in case of disgruntled Brethren?’
‘Them, plus vampire hunters, murderous revolutionaries, Nazis, tax agents ... all the nasties.’
I wasn’t sure whether to take the last one on that list seriously until I saw his lips twitch.
‘Funny guy!’
His mouth split into a grin, and he flicked the screen onto another image, this time showing the subterranean caves and series of labyrinthine passages below the chateau. One of which I had already become acquainted with, that led from behind the Alabaster Throne down to the bloodvault.
Which was no more. I shuddered at the memory.
That passageway appeared on screen as blocked, as was the emergency escape route that had once led to the family chapel.
Also no more.
‘It’s been updated,’ Alec said.
I nodded, took a deep breath and focused on the other tunnels and where they led, in order to bury the sad scenes that skirted the edge of my memory. ‘This place is honeycombed with tunnels.’
‘And I want you familiar with each one.’
‘So I don’t set off any more booby traps?’ I raised an eyebrow and jabbed him in the side while trying to suppress a chuckle. He knew what I meant.
‘Something like that.’ He chucked me under the chin and then leaned down to open the bottom drawer of his desk. ‘Look here.
I leaned down, too, to get a better view.
See this little lever?’
‘Uh huh.’
He pulled it toward him. One of the bookcases near the back of the room slowly and silently, swung open to reveal a dark passageway. ‘When we get back to our suite, I’ll show you where to find the lever that leads to our escape route.’
‘Why wasn’t I shown all this before?’
Alec leaned back in the chair, ran his hands through his hair and interlaced them at the back of his neck. His eyes lost their amusing glint. ‘With everything that’s happened lately ... I’ve been remiss. I apologise.’
Hidden behind those words were: he’d been desperately working on replicating the Ingenii antigen, keeping tabs on the lamia, running the estate and being there for me when my world crumbled. Would I have even cared if he’d had shown me all this two, three months ago? Probably not. The time wouldn’t have been right. He could’ve said that, but he didn’t.
I cupped his face in my hands. ‘You’ve nothing to apologise for. I don’t think I would’ve handled it.’
‘You were grieving, darling.’
‘Mm hmm.’ My eyes welled up. Whether my heart was still in pain, or the result of my pregnancy, I couldn’t tell, but I preferred to blame my fragile emotional state on the latter. ‘Damn hormones!’
Alec’s mouth turned up at the corners. He cradled me to him, his cool lips brushing my brow. ‘Want to go exploring? I know how much you like that.’
‘Do you have the time? If not, it can always wait.’ I didn’t want him neglecting other important work on account of me.
Our serpent rings flared.
‘Never think like that, Laura. You are the most important thing in my life.’
My heart melted, and we gazed at each other for what seemed like ages until our mouths meshed in a kiss that sent coloured lights exploding behind my closed eyelids.
‘Or we can stay here and make love on the desk,’ he murmured against my mouth.
‘Tempting.’
He lifted me onto the desk and spread my thighs. My pulse went into overdrive, and with my blood pounding in my ears, I only just heard the banging on the door.
‘Alec?’ It was Sam.
We both froze.
‘Yeah, what is it?’ Alec called out.
‘You better come out here. There’s been a killing.’
Those few words doused the fire between us. With a heavy sigh, Alec lifted me down from the desk and flicked the lever, closing the tunnel entrance before striding
to the door.
Sam stood there with the local police chief, Morrel, and Adeline who I’d last seen at the village library. She was clutching Morrel’s arm, and tears smeared her face.
‘Adeline, what’s wrong?’ I asked.
Her chin wobbled, and although her lips moved, no sound came out.
This was serious.
‘Milady.’ Morrel dipped his head in greeting. ‘More sad news, I’m afraid,’
Cap under his arm, Morrel saluted Alec. ‘Milord, Pere Hubert has been found dead in the church. Throat slashed. Madame Dalpuget found him.’
My blood chilled, my hand flying to my mouth as I stared incredulously at Morrel. ‘Oh no! Who’d want to kill him?’
A split second later, Adeline recovered. ‘I only dropped by on my way home to check on something in the church archives, and ... and I tripped over him. It was dark, you see. “Oh! Pere Hubert, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there,” I said. There he was, lying on the ground. I thought he was in prayer, but at this time of night, I ask you, and with all the lights off?’ Eyes wild, she continued. ‘But he’s a priest, so I suppose they do that sort of thing ... on the ground ... late at night ... like a penitent with arms out wide ... except he didn’t answer me, which was so unusual. So I bent down, and ... and ... He was so cold.’ Adeline buried her head in Morrel’s arm.
Morrel touched her hand, which appeared to soothe her. ‘Calm now, Madame.’ He returned his attention to Alec. ‘I wouldn’t normally bother you with what seems like a straight-forward homicide, but something about it bothers me. If you were to examine the body, milord, there’d be no need to inform the coroner in Avignon.’ He raised his eyebrows.
In other words, were it a Brethren killing, it was best kept in the family, so to speak. No need to include the outside world.
Alec nodded. ‘Of course. Has Bouchard been informed?’
Morrel shook his head. ‘I thought it best not to until I’d spoken to you first. He’d only fret.’
‘I agree. Let him sleep, for now.’
‘Couldn’t be one of the staff. Doesn’t make sense.’ Sam’s brow furrowed, and he jerked his head toward Alec’s hand. ‘Ward ring would’ve warned you.’
Alec lifted his hand and looked at his serpent ring. ‘Normal. Unless they found a way to circumvent it ... which I doubt. Only one way to find out. Whoever it is will have left their scent.’
‘Exactly.’ Morrel donned his cap and extricated Adeline’s hands from his arm. ‘No need for you to see it all again, Madame. Perhaps you could stay here with Milady Laura.’
My hackles rose. What did he mean stay here with me? Why did men always assume the women stay behind? Was it some kind of protective instinct, or did they simply see us as the weaker sex and therefore a burden? Okay, physically weaker, I’d concede to that, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t look out for ourselves. I hadn’t learnt to use a sword and dagger for nothing.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to debate the issue.
‘Is the body still there?’ Alec asked.
‘Oui. I left two of my men on guard. They know to touch nothing until you’ve seen it, milord.’
‘Sam, go with them back to the church. I’ll meet you there.’
‘We’ll meet you there,’ I corrected him. ‘My senses are just as good as yours and Sam’s, and amongst the three of us we can work out what’s going on. I’m sure Kari wouldn’t mind looking after Adeline.’
‘Laura, I don’t think—’ Alec began.
‘I’ve seen dead bodies before. Two burned, beheaded dead things only a few months ago. Remember? And I know how to use my dagger, which, by the way, I can quickly smear with my blood if need be.’ Before he could counter that, I added, ‘Don’t leave me out of things. And being with you, I don’t need Kari as a bodyguard right now, do I?’
Alec released a long drawn-out breath and gazed at me tight-lipped.
Sam smiled. ‘Good luck arguing with Luc’s offspring.’
Not a second later, and Kari’s pixie face appeared behind Adeline, grimacing, her mouth forming the word, ‘No!’
‘No slight to you, milady, but I would prefer to go home.’ Adeline’s ashen, teary face cut at my heart. She’d had a rough night, one that would affect her for a long time.
I gave Kari my most imploring face. ‘Kari, would you mind seeing Adeline safely home? She’s had a terrible shock.’
‘Oh, I suppose.’ She sniffed and draped an arm around Adeline’s shoulders as she led her away. ‘Don’t worry, Addy. I’ll stay with you all night, so you won’t be alone.’
In spite of her protestations, Kari had a sweet heart.
‘We’ll take the tunnel. If it was one of the staff, that’s the route they would’ve taken. Their scent will be easy to detect,’ Alec said.
‘Okay, fine. We’ll meet you there.’ With Morrel in tow, Sam turned and left.
I closed the door as Alec strode over to a tall narrow cabinet near his desk. Inside was an array of swords, axes and daggers. He chose one and strapped it to his side. ‘Go get your coat, Laura.’
It took me a few minutes to fetch my coat, hat and gloves. By the time I got back, Alec had already opened the hidden passageway behind the bookcase. An icy blast from the dark tunnel hit my face, pinching my cheeks.
‘Let’s go.’ Alec grasped my hand, dropped a quick kiss on my lips and led the way into the tunnel.
* * *
Although dark, I could see as clearly as day. Still, the automatic lights installed along the tunnel walls lit up as we approached. For a split second, I couldn’t move, remembering all that had happened in these very passageways. I broke out in sweat, and my breathe caught in my throat, as unbidden images arose in my mind and threatened to drag me down into a pit of inconsolable sorrow.
Alec stopped. ‘You don’t need to do this, darling.’
It’d been three months since I’d last been down here, and at the time, we’d barely escaped with our lives when the bloodvault had been destroyed ... and my mother had been murdered.
The memory came crashing back, and my stomach hollowed out.
No, I didn’t need to do this, but I had to. I couldn’t let the sad memories cripple me and keep me from entering places I needed to access. Yes, I’d tragically lost those I loved, but these tunnels weren’t to blame. They were for our protection. They were good.
Deep breathe, Laura. I squeezed his hand. ‘I must. I can’t’ —I gritted my teeth— ‘won’t let bad memories rule me.’
He gave a brief nod.
Fighting nausea all the way, I gripped his hand and concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other.
Part of the way led down through the maze of limestone caves beneath the chateau. Slowly my roiling stomach calmed, as, once again, I was entranced by the beauty of these caverns. We stopped at a sheer stone wall. Alec pushed aside a great slab of rock, revealing another tunnel that sloped gently upwards. Amazing! It was so well camouflaged; there was nothing to indicate the tunnel entrance was here.
‘Do you count steps or something to know where each entrance is?’
‘No. Much easier than that. Let me show you.’ He guided me by my elbow, and we backed up a few steps. ‘Look at the wall, and follow the line of blue crystals. Tell me what you see.’
Focusing my gaze on where Alec indicated, a distinct shape became visible where before I’d seen nothing. I gasped. ‘It’s a serpent.’
‘The entrance to each tunnel begins at the serpent’s tail.’
‘How clever!’ I scanned the cavern walls looking for the distinctive blue crystals, which now seemed to jump out at me. ‘There’s one over there ... and there,’ —I pointed— ‘and there. How could I have missed it?’
‘Because you weren’t looking.’
It was that simple. ‘What about the door?’
‘The rock slides to the side.’ Alec demonstrated by sliding it closed. ‘See here, where the rock juts out from the wall? Grab and slide.’
I d
id so. The ease with which the massive rock face slid open surprised me. As we entered, the automatic lights came on, and the door slid shut behind us.
Every so often, Alec stopped to take a deep breath—and so did I. Had my sense of smell developed along with my sight and hearing? An amazing plethora of scents crowded my nostrils, from the stink of the dank moss covering the tunnel walls, the sharp odour of formic acid from various insects, such as black ants, to the pure scent of spring water somewhere further ahead.
But nothing distinctly Brethren—not that I knew enough of the staff to distinguish their scents, anyway.
‘Anything?’ I asked Alec.
He shook his head. ‘You?’
‘Lots, but nothing unusual.’
The tunnel came to a dead end. Alec reached up and pushed on a section of the roof. A small square, roughly the width of a man’s body, lifted, revealing a manhole. He hoisted himself up through it and looked around before pulling me up after him.
‘We’re in the crypt. Those lead up into the church.’ He pointed at six stone steps, their centres dipping from the wear of thousands of footsteps over time. ‘And those,’ —he pointed to another three steps ending at a closed door— ‘lead up into the spire.’‘
‘Can you sense anything here?’
Again, he shook his head. ‘No.’
That was positive. I was glad to see he kept his sword sheathed when we climbed the steps. The gilded stars painted on the church’s vaulted ceiling winked down at us as we reached the top.
‘Smell that? Lamia!’ Alec’s eyes narrowed as he surveyed the area, his hand tightening around mine.
I tensed. ‘It’s faint, but I can smell it.’ It was small consolation that I’d been right all along.
Quiet breathing and the thud of two separate heartbeats reached my ears—the policemen. They snapped to attention when they spied Alec and me. At their feet, partially covered by a sheet, lay the body of Pere Hubert.
I sucked in a breath as another ache ripped my heart. What had that poor old man done to deserve being killed?
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