The much anticipated next Night 16 page admonitions to stop or Shrapnel’s
mocking laugh.
There. No louder than a whisper, far
more fleeting than a glimpse, but
something was there, dammit! I
concentrated until all my being was
focused on the stone beneath my hand, and
then I saw it. Gloriously gruesome images
of a charbroiled vampire thudding to the
floor where I touched, his mouth open in a
final, silent scream.
I rose, only now noticing that Vlad knelt
next to me, giving me a look of
exasperation as he drew my hand away.
“Leila, enough—”
Whatever he saw on my face made him
stop speaking. Very slowly, he let me go.
Then he rose while the oddest mixture of
pride and irritation peppered my
emotions.
“Good news is, you get out of torture,” I
told Shrapnel. “Bad news is, I’m going
after your girlfriend, and now her spell
doesn’t matter because I’m already dead.”
Chapter 39
Iwanted to start trying to link to
Cynthiana immediately, but Vlad said
dawn was almost here. I took his word for
it since I had no idea what time it was.
Besides, Cynthiana didn’t know the tables
had turned. Now she was the one who’d
be relentlessly stalked, and once the sun
set tonight, the hunt was on.
We left the lower level and headed for
the secured room on the fourth floor. I’d
been right that most new vampires were
housed underground near the dungeon, but
Vlad had the equivalent of a presidential
suite for vampires he wanted to show
special favor to. Yet as soon as we were
back on the main level of the house, a
plethora of noises assaulted me.
The clamor of footsteps above and
below. Numerous metallic clangs in the
kitchen as pots and pans were used to
make breakfast. Voices from people or
electronic devices, and underneath it all,
the rhythmic throb of multiple heartbeats.
My stomach clenched and little daggers
poked me in the lip. Almost there, I
thought in relief as we passed the indoor
garden and headed toward the grand
staircase. All I had to do was keep from
going blood berserk for a few more
minutes.
“Leila, thank God!”
My sister’s voice made me groan out
loud. Gretchen ran down the stairs,
looking both relieved and mad.
“His goons said you were too injured
for us to see you, which is a lie since you
look fine—”
Another sound escaped my throat that
made her stop in mid-sentence. “Did you
just growl at me?” she asked in disbelief.
Vlad glanced at me and then his hands
closed around my arms. “Stay back,” he
told Gretchen sternly.
Too late. Pain ripped through me,
flipping a switch in my brain that made me
incapable of seeing the little sister I
loved. Instead, I only saw the cure for my
agony inside a flesh package that was easy
to tear.
The next few moments were a blur of
struggling followed by relief as that
impossibly delicious nectar slid down my
throat, extinguishing the burn that made
fire seem blissful by comparison. After I
swallowed every drop, I became aware of
a scream consisting of the same panicked
question.
“What is wrong with her, what is wrong
with her, WHAT IS WRONG WITH
HER?”
“Nothing.”
Vlad’s voice. Hearing it cleared away
the lingering insanity, as did feeling his
calmness through the fractured layers of
my emotions. He was behind me, his arms
unbreakable bands that kept me from
hurting her or anyone else. I sagged in
relief against him, the mindless haze
finally leaving my vision.
Gretchen stood as if frozen on the
bottom step of the staircase, eyes wide
and expression so stricken I worried that
she might faint.
“It’s okay,” I said. My voice was
hoarser, but at least it wasn’t that
animalistic growl anymore.
“It’s okay?” she repeated. “How is it
okay when you just tried to kill me?”
I had no response to that. Gretchen sat
down suddenly, as if she’d been yanked,
and then she buried her head in her hands.
“I get it now. He had to change you
because you were too far gone to heal.
That’s why they wouldn’t let us see you.”
Unlike her previous screech, her voice
was now almost a whisper. Pangs of a
different kind made my insides twist. I
hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell her
this was something I intended to do in the
future. Now she found out when I tried to
eat her.
“I understand if . . . if you can’t deal
with this,” I began.
Her head snapped up, blue gaze bright.
“You don’t get it. You saved me, but I
couldn’t save you.” Her voice broke and
tears spilled from her eyes. “I’m so
sorry.”
Tears welled in my own gaze. She’d
soldiered on through our mother’s death,
my nightmarish abilities, my suicide
attempt, and my leaving when I thought
cutting ties with my family was the kindest
thing I could do. She had her own flaws,
but I should’ve known not even this would
prove too much for her.
“Don’t. Without you dragging me away
from the car before it exploded, I really
would’ve died.”
At that, Vlad let me go. “You pulled
Leila out of the vehicle?”
Gretchen tensed at his curt tune. “After
she cut my seat belt off, yeah. She was in
bad shape and I was afraid moving her
would make it worse, but it was gonna
blow.”
“You did great,” I told her, thinking,
Ease up! before remembering he could no
longer hear it.
“Hold her,” Vlad stated, nodding at me.
“What?” I gasped.
That was all I got out before two guards
I hadn’t noticed seized me, giving me
faintly apologetic looks as they held me
immobile between them.
“It’s for your sister’s protection,” Vlad
stated, striding over to Gretchen. She
looked like she wanted to run but she
didn’t move when he loomed above her.
“Hold out your hand,” he told her in that
same crisp tone.
Haltingly, she did. Vlad grasped it and
then pulled out a knife, his grip tightening
when she tried to yank away.
“Vlad,” I said, drawing his name out in
warning.
He didn’t glance at me. Instead, he
drew that blade across his hand, coating
my sister’s palm with his blood.
“Drink,” he told her, “and be known as
one of my people.”
Gretchen gave the blood on her hand a
distasteful look. Then she glanced back up
at Vlad.
“Aren’t I already as your sister-inlaw?”
His smile was coldly pleasant. “Not in
the vampire world.”
She looked at me next. “What’s the
catch?”
I remembered when I’d asked Vlad a
similar question before an equally
irrevocable situation.
“If you do this and then betray him in
the future, he’ll kill you,” I summarized
bluntly.
Instead of being intimidated, she
snorted. “Like he wouldn’t do that now if I
betrayed him. On the upside, if I do this
and then someone messes with me, he’ll
have to answer to Vlad, right?”
Emerald glinted in his gaze. “That’s
exactly right.”
She looked at her hand and then
clapped it over her mouth as if thinking
about it longer would make her lose her
nerve.
“Yuck,” she said as she licked the red
smears clean.
I closed my eyes. Gretchen wasn’t a
child and she’d made this decision of her
own free will. That didn’t stop me from
worrying that she’d taken one more step
away from the human world. Not to
mention Dad is going to lose it when he
finds out.
“Wow, that’s like liquid speed,” she
muttered. Then she stared in amazement as
her scrapes, scabs, and bruises began to
disappear as though wiped away by an
invisible eraser.
“What is going on here?”
My father’s furious tone cut the air like
a machete. I cringed at how I must look,
blood soaked and restrained by two burly
guards, and that surge of emotion made my
fangs pop out.
Which, of course, was the wrong
reaction.
“No,” my father whispered as he stared
at me, horror pinching his features. Then
he began to descend the stairs as fast as
his permanently stiff leg would allow.
“What have you done to her?” he
thundered at Vlad.
Vlad shot my father a scalding look as
he came over and then swept me into his
arms, the guards bowing as they backed
away.
“If you say any more of the thoughts in
your head, I’ll take away your ability to
speak for a week.”
My father’s jaw dropped. I squirmed in
Vlad’s arms. This was not how I’d
imagined breaking the news to my dad,
either.
“Put me down, I’m not feeling bitey
anymore.”
“It’s dawn,” he replied, still glaring at
my father.
“Okay, so I’ll be tired, but that doesn’t
mean—”
My mouth stopped working. Then so
did every muscle in my body. Before my
father’s next heartbeat, I was completely
unconscious.
Chapter 40
Icame awake so suddenly that it startled
me. One second, I was dead to the world,
the next, I was on my feet and hungry as
hell, my gaze darting around in search of
food.
“There,” Vlad said, pointing to the open
slot in the wall.
I fell on the bag it contained, tearing
into it like the shark from Jaws. When I
was done, blood dripped from my face,
hands, and chest. I only became aware that
I’d started licking myself when Vlad’s
low laugh broke my hunger-induced
trance.
“I must admit, this gives me ideas.”
Embarrassment rose, giving me the
strength to stop cleaning my hands like
some deranged cat. Vlad sat on the
mattress, back braced against the wall and
legs casually splayed. He’d changed since
I last saw him, and though his deep purple
shirt was spotless, as were his ebony
pants, with one whiff, I knew where he’d
been before coming here.
“You went back to the dungeon.”
His smile held more than a hint of
grimness. “Perhaps I’ll have it sprayed
with Febreze after all.”
I ran my hand through my hair after one
final lick. “We agreed I’d look for
Cynthiana the other way.”
“With you asleep, I had some time to
kill.”
His voice was light, but an undercurrent
of tempered irritation brushed my
emotions. I sighed.
“I know you’re not used to explaining
yourself, but that’s marriage. I’m not used
to waking up with an uncontrollable
hunger, so we’re both going through an
adjustment phase.”
Now a different kind of smile curled his
lips. “Yours will only last a week. Mine,
a lifetime.”
I laughed dryly. “If you wanted a wife
who never questioned your actions, you
shouldn’t have married me.”
Something else teased my emotions,
sliding through them like swaths of
sensual fire. A richer, warmer scent filled
the room, reminding me of simmering
spices and wood smoke.
“Agreed. But I wanted you more than
subservience.”
His voice was throatier, tightening
things low within me. I swallowed, hunger
of a different sort making my fangs
lengthen. He looked so polished in his
tailored clothes, so relaxed leaning
against the wall, yet his emotions told a
different story. I might be the one bloody
and disheveled, but I wasn’t the real feral
creature in the room.
And I wouldn’t have him any other way.
Then I shook my head to clear the
explicit thoughts starting to crowd it. I had
a murderous vampire to hunt plus a
traumatized father to calm down. My
dance card didn’t have room for hours of
sex and Vlad didn’t do quickies.
“I need to shower,” I said, and it
sounded breathless even though I didn’t
breathe anymore.
His smile turned dangerously carnal.
“Afterward.”
“Vlad, really, there’s so much we need
to do—”
“Remember when you said you
wouldn’t accept ranking a constant second
to others?” he interrupted in a silky voice.
“Neither will I.”
He was beside me in a blink, pressing
an inner button in that retractable drawer.
Another blood bag popped out as if it
were a vending machine. Before I could
speak, Vlad crushed it against his chest,
covering himself in crimson rivulets.
Need rose with such ferocity that it
annihilated my conscience. I wasn’t
embarrassed by how I flung myself at him.
Didn’t care that he tore my clothes off as
savagely as I ripped away his in my quest
for every last drop, and I really didn’t
mind when he backed me into the wall and
yanked my legs around his waist. Then
there was nothing except the taste of blood
on his skin and the exquisite roughness of
his body plunging into mine, over and
over, until the ecstasy searing through me
made me forget about my hunger.
It was a quarter after ten when I emerged
fully clothed from the bathroom. Vlad was
already redressed and waiting since I’d
made him shower elsewhere. Otherwise,
it would have been even later, which he
had no qualms about. Shrapnel wasn’t
going anywhere, Cynthiana didn’t yet
know she’d been discovered, and our
honeymoon had been ruined enough, he’d
stated.
“Before I get started with Shrapnel, I
need to see my dad,” I told Vlad. “He’s
pretty freaked out. Can you stay close in
case I get slammed with the bloodthirsties
again?”
Vlad had been drinking wine, but at
that, he set it down.
“Many humans who know about
vampires have difficulty accepting a loved
one’s transformation. It can cause feelings
of fear, alienation, and helplessness. For
someone used to being in control, like
your father, those feelings are often
magnified.”
His carefully worded statements made
me uneasy. Normally, Vlad was blunt to
the point of brusqueness. Something was
up. “No sugarcoating. What happened?”
“He doesn’t want to see you right now
and he’s insisting on leaving with
Gretchen,” he replied with his usual
directness. “I do have other houses where
they’d be safe, but I refused to let him go
unless you agreed to it.”
I now had superhuman strength, but I sat
as though my knees had turned to jelly.
“Gretchen doesn’t want to see me,
either?” Maybe I’d misread her demeanor
before . . .
“No, your sister was vehement about
staying here, which only made your father
more determined to take her with him.”
Then Vlad gave me a jaded look. “He
doesn’t realize it, but he’s trying to regain
control where there is none. He still loves
you. If he didn’t, his reaction to you
becoming a vampire wouldn’t be so
emotional.”
I said nothing, thinking how strange life
was. When I was a child, my father’s job
moved us from place to place without
regard for how upsetting those upheavals
were. Now it was my circumstances that
kept uprooting him from the life he’d built.
Karma’s a bitch, Cat had said, yet I didn’t
want my dad to receive any comeuppance.
I wanted him to be happy, and be safe.
“Let him go, but wait until tomorrow
morning. I want a chance to talk to
Gretchen first.”
My voice was soft yet steady. I knew
what it was like to need to leave, if only
to prove to yourself that you could. As for
Gretchen, it was better that she go with
him. With my ravenous new hunger, I
couldn’t trust myself to be around her.
Besides, things were about to get more
dangerous around here, not less.
Then I rose, giving Vlad a crooked
smile.
“Now, let’s see if I can find that crazy
bitch you used to date.”
Ithought we’d go back to the dungeon and
I’d pick up Cynthiana’s essence trail from
touching Shrapnel, but Vlad led me to the
Weapons Room instead. There, he handed
me a silver dagger with a Celtic design in
its filigreed hilt.
“Hers,” he stated.
It took me a second to remember why it
looked familiar. Then I let out a short
laugh.
“It sure was. I touched this when I was
going through your other weapons. Shortly
after glimpsing the woman connected to it,
I started hemorrhaging to death.”
Just as Cynthiana’s linking spell
intended, though she hadn’t counted on
Vlad being there to revive me. Or on
Maximus doing the same the other time
linking to her caused lethal damage. Now
my own inhuman state was all I needed to
protect me.
Karma’s a bitch sounded just fine for
these circumstances.
I pulled my right glove off and touched
the pretty weapon. To my surprise, my
first instinct was to jerk away. The metal
made my skin itch in a way that reminded
me of when I’d fallen into a poison ivy
patch as a child.
“That feels . . . wrong. Is that from the
silver?”
His amusement curled through my
emotions. “You’ll get used to it. All
vampires do.”
I tried to ignore how irritated the metal
made my skin feel and focused on the
essence it contained. After a few minutes
of concentrating, colorless images took
over.
We reached my door, but when Vlad
started to leave after bidding me good
night, I caught his sleeve.
“Wait.” Then I drew the knife from the
folds of my coat and extended it to him
hilt first.
“For you,” I murmured.
He took it, his mouth curling into a
half smile.
“What’s this? An early Christmas
present?”
“Do I need occasion to give you a
gift?” I asked lightly.
He flipped the blade before catching
it. “Perfectly balanced. Thank you,
Cynthiana. It’s lovely.”
Then he leaned over, his warm lips
brushing mine. When he started to pull
away, I held on.
“Don’t go,” I whispered against his
mouth.
He drew back with a frown. “One of
my people is missing. I won’t wait until
morning to search for him.”
“I’m sorry, of course not, dearie,” I
said, knowing better than to point out
that he could send someone else.
He put the knife away in his coat.
“Good night, Cynthiana.”
“Good night, Vlad.”
I watched him go, masking my
frustration with a smile in case he
glanced back. He didn’t. He never did,
and his visits had become more
infrequent. I hadn’t lived three hundred
years without knowing what that meant.
He was growing tired of me.
My smile turned brittle. I’d been too
long without the protection I deserved
and I wasn’t about to lose my place by
the side of such a powerful vampire.
Risky or not, it was time to employ more
persuasive means to keep Vlad with me.
If I was careful, he’d never know the
cause for his newfound affection.
My link to the memory dissolved and I
returned to reality to find I clutched the
knife so hard, it had cut my hand. Then I
stared at Vlad, a suspicion growing.
“Did Cynthiana move in with you
shortly after she gave you this?”
His brow arched. “I believe so, why?”
“Just wondering. Did you know she
was into magic?”
A shrug. “I knew she dabbled, but
magic is against vampire law so a more
serious pursuit wasn’t worth the risk to
her.”
“Or she was more involved than she let
on.” What if it wasn’t coincidence that
Cynthiana moved in with him shortly after
she decided to use more “persuasive”
means to keep him from dumping her? If
so, then we weren’t dealing with an
amateur who dabbled in the occasional
spell, but a full-blown witch who might be
more dangerous than either Vlad or I
realized.
Chapter 41
Ilooked at the knife with more wariness
than before. As a vampire, another heart
attack or spontaneous hemorrhaging would
hurt, but they wouldn’t be fatal. Still, if
she was a powerful witch in disguise,
there was the chance that Cynthiana had
rigged her spell to do something lethal to
vampires, too.
“Keep an eye on what I do with the
knife, okay?”
When I looked up, Vlad’s eyes had
narrowed. He inhaled and then smiled so
pleasantly I should’ve taken it as a
warning.
“Why?”
“If your ex turns out to be more Wicked
Witch of the West than we realized,
there’s a chance that her spell might make
me try to stab myself, heh heh, in the
heart.”
My little laugh to indicate how remote I
thought this possibility was didn’t work.
His whole face began to darken, though
that charming smile never slipped.
“You might be the cruelest person I’ve
ever met,” he said in a conversational
tone.
“What?” I gasped.
“My first wife killed herself. Took me
centuries to get over it and love again, yet
you weren’t going to mention that you
might be compelled to slay yourself in
front of me.”
His casual tone vanished, replaced by
one of pure rage. That was nothing
compared to the fury that flooded my
emotions, abrupt as a dam bursting and so
forceful I took a step backward.
“Vlad, I—”
“Don’t. Speak.”
Fire erupted from his hands, climbing
up his arms to his shoulders before
haloing his whole body with an orange
glow. I would’ve thought he was trying to
intimidate me, except from the maelstrom
of his emotions, he couldn’t stop it.
“I’ve tried to let you do what you feel
you must because I respect your bravery,
but you push me too far.” Another flare of
fire. “Attempt one more time to willfully
endanger your life, and I swear I will
imprison you.”
Before I could voice my outrage at that
ultimatum, he vanished, leaving nothing
behind except the smell of smoke.
“Hey, kid.”
I glanced up to see Marty in the
doorway of the stone cell. I hadn’t even
noticed it opening. I’d shut myself in here
because I didn’t want to hurt anyone if
another hunger attack struck, plus it had
the plasma bag delivery system. Drowning
my frustrations with blood sounded
disgusting in theory. In practice, it was as
effective as liquor and ice cream
combined.
“Maximus was right when he warned
me about Vlad,” I said glumly. “Did you
overhear him threaten to imprison me?”
A pitying look crossed Marty’s face,
which was my answer.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I
went on, patting the spot next to me in
invitation. “I love Vlad, but sometimes he
is so archaic. Can you imagine how he’d
react if I told him he wasn’t allowed to
risk his life for his people anymore?”
“He wouldn’t listen,” Marty said,
sitting by me on the bed.
“Right. So how is that different from me
assuming some risk in order to hunt down
the bitch that nearly killed me three times
and succeeded on the fourth attempt?”
“He’s a chauvinist?” Marty offered.
“Exactly.” Then I glanced over, seeing
the wryness stamped on his features.
“What?”
“You’re the only one surprised by this,
kid. You married a borderline psychotic
who conquered the brutal circumstances
he grew up in by being even more brutal.
Add turning into a vampire and centuries
of undead power struggles, and you have
the crazy cruel bastard you fell in love
with.”
He patted my knee in a companionable
way. “Did you really think someone like
that would let his wife fight his enemies
for him? They call him Vlad the Impaler,
not Vlad the Emasculated.”
I let out a scoff. “I’m not trying to fight
his enemies for him.”
“In his eyes you are, and worse, you’re
ready to die to do it.” Another pat. “Like
you already did once, baby vamp.”
I leaned against him, angling my head
so it rested on his shoulder. “What am I
supposed to do? Let him dictate my every
move because he’s the medieval version
of old-fashioned? I didn’t sign on for
that.”
He chuckled dryly. “No, you signed on
for something harder. Marriage.”
“Smartass,” I said, but my voice lacked
rancor.
Deep down, I knew he was right.
Marrying a dragon meant dealing with the
times he breathed fire, but I wasn’t giving
up. I was in this for the long haul, so it
was time to quit brooding over how rough
the road was and brace for the bumps
while keeping my foot on the gas.
I kissed Marty on the cheek. “Thanks.”
He grunted. “For what? I told you not to
get involved with him and I haven’t
changed my mind that it was a bad idea.”
“Thanks for being a good friend.”
Then I stood, filled with renewed
determination. Vlad might be a crazy cruel
bastard, but he was my crazy cruel bastard
and we were going to work this out.
“Since you were eavesdropping, did
you catch where he went? Oh, wait, never
mind. I already know.”
Idescended the narrow staircase,
wrinkling my nose as the smell got more
pungent. Piss off a modern guy and he’d
likely go to a local bar. Piss off a vampire
with an impalement habit and an in-house
dungeon, and it was a no-brainer where
he’d go.
“Hi,” I said to the guard who eyed me
cautiously as I approached. “Please tell
Vlad I’d like to speak with him.”
The guard bowed, looking relieved that
I didn’t try to barge past him, I guessed.
Then he pinched something in his collar
and spoke into it in Romanian. Ah, the
wonders of technology. I’d need a fullbody
rubber suit to wear a wire without
frying it.
My new super senses meant I heard the
reply the guard got, but as it was also in
Romanian, I didn’t understand it.
“Please wait here,” he finally said in
accented English.
I said nothing, wondering if that meant
Vlad was coming, or I was waiting to be
escorted out by someone else.
About ten minutes later, Vlad appeared.
A fine layer of ash darkened his clothes,
skin, and hair, which was cause for
comment since it was impossible for him
to catch fire. The added swarthiness to his
appearance made him look even more
dangerous, as if his expression wasn’t
already foreboding enough.
“What?”
One word meant to send me on my way
with its curtness, and he’d done that
lockdown thing where I couldn’t feel any
of his emotions. I straightened my
shoulders and planted my feet. If he really
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