Prologue 17 страница

didn’t want to see me, he wouldn’t have

come.

“I have a solution that will work for

both of us, ” I said.

A brow arched. I glanced pointedly at

the guard.

“You want to do this here? ”

Vlad’s mouth tightened, but he swept

past me and started up the stairs. I

followed him to the enclosed hallway that

was the main corridor for the basement.

There, he stopped and faced me.

“What? ”

Still abrupt, but his tone was less curt. I

closed the distance between us and started

brushing the ash off his clothes. He tensed,

yet made no attempt to stop me.

“From your mood, you haven’t gotten

Cynthiana’s location from Shrapnel yet, ” I

noted casually. “He’s tough, plus she may

have bewitched him so he can’t tell you

where she is.”

His gaze followed every move I made,

yet he held himself completely still. “That

also occurred to me.”

“Of course it did.” I ran my fingers

through his hair to brush the residue from

it. “You’ve been doing this a lot longer

than me.”

His smile was so cold it could’ve

turned steam into dry ice. “If flattery is

your solution, don’t bother. You’re not

using her knife to link to her. I’ve already

disposed of it.”

I continued dusting the gray film from

him. “That’s fine.”

His gaze narrowed at my easy

compliance. “You’re not touching

Shrapnel to link to her, either.”

“Don’t want to, ” I said breezily. “I can

do without psychically reliving your

interrogation techniques, thanks.”

At that, he grabbed my hands and pulled

me closer. “Stop lying, Leila. You haven’t

given up and we both know it.”

His face was mere inches away, stubble

darker from ash and lips thinned into a

hard line. I stared up at him, unbowed by

the fierceness in his gaze.

“All Shrapnel has to do is hold out a

few days until Cynthiana realizes he’s

been caught and she bolts. He knows it

and you know it. But she lived here, so her

old room must be filled with essencelaced

objects I can’t possibly kill myself

with. If you really want to go overboard

ensuring I stay safe, chain me up before I

try using one of those to link to her.”

At that, both his brows rose. “Chain

you? ”

I flashed him an impish smile. “Come

on, I’m sure you’ve fantasized about it.”

“More and more each day.”

Muttered in a sinister tone, but the wall

around him cracked and I felt a flash of his

emotions. He was still angry, yes.

Frustrated, too. Yet under that was a hint

of appreciation. If anyone could

understand my single-minded

determination to take down an enemy, it

was Vlad.

Then he let out a harsh sigh. “That

occurred to me as well, but in her room,

you might see things I don’t want you to

see.”

Blind rage shot through me at the

thought of psychically experiencing Vlad

making love to another woman. I’d never

known I was the jealous type, but clearly I

had some issues. Then I forced those

feelings back, replacing them with the

coldest, darkest part of me.

“If so, I’ll have to get over it by

watching you kill her later.”

He stared at me in a penetrating way

that measured my words against pieces of

me only he could see. I stared back. If he

thought I didn’t mean what I said, he was

wrong.

At last, he inclined his head, the barest

smile ghosting across his lips. “As it

happens, I do have some chain.”

Chapter 42

I looked around Cynthiana’s old bedroom

with cynical curiosity. So this was where

the witch used to stay.

Like all of the rooms in Vlad’s house, it

was opulent. It also had an obvious

feminine theme with the lilac and cream

decor, lace draperies, dainty crystal

fixtures, and a balcony that overlooked the

exterior garden. Dried flowers shot

through with web-thin gold strands

adorned the fireplace mantel, scenting the

room with a pleasant, natural fragrance. I

was beyond glad I didn’t smell Vlad’s

scent, bless his diligent cleaning staff.

“How long ago did you two break up? ”

My voice was casual, belying the inner

battle within me. Spiteful Leila was

gleeful that Vlad kept Cynthiana two full

floors below him on the same wing that all

his guests stayed at. Practical Leila was

deciding which fixture to touch for a

sufficient essence impression.

“A few years ago.”

I gave him a jaded look. “Pretending

she doesn’t matter enough to remember?

Then why did you keep her bedroom

exactly the way she had it when she lived

here? ”

He folded his arms, the silver chains

he’d draped over his shoulder rattling

with the motion.

“If she still mattered to me, I wouldn’t

have married you. This room remained

unused because you were my next lover

and you slept with me.”

I glanced away, my gaze drawn to the

bed. Gossamer material wrapped around

the bedposts before pooling at the floor in

elegant heaps. What would I see if I

touched that bed? Cynthiana had over

three hundred years of experience on me.

Maybe I’d see Vlad looking happier with

her than he did with me.

“Leila.”

I glanced back almost guiltily. That’s

when I became aware that my fangs had

come out and I’d been grinding my teeth

so hard, I’d ripped open my bottom lip.

“Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with

me, ” I muttered, sucking my lip so I didn’t

drip blood on the thick white carpet.

“Don’t apologize.”

No censure colored his expression, and

the emotions that slid over mine had the

soothing caress of satin. “All vampires

are overly possessive when it comes to

what’s ours.”

I could blame my seething jealousy on

vampirism? Done!

Then Vlad began to bind my wrists with

multiple lengths of chain. With how strong

he was, I doubted this was necessary even

if Cynthiana had managed to add a

vampiric form of hara-kiri to her linking

booby trap, but if it made him feel

better...

“Going to save some of that for later? ” I

joked.

The look he gave me made me forget

how unpleasant the silver felt against my

wrists.

“When I tie you up, I’ll use silk, and I’ll

leave your hands free because I love to

feel them on my skin.”

Not if. When. Despite the erotic

promise, being chained up while in his

ex’s bedroom should’ve cooled my

response. Instead, I felt all the desire Vlad

usually elicited in me along with a

visceral urge to assert my claim on him in

the very place that someone else had

dared touch him.

Overly possessive? Yeah, I had it bad.

“If you leave my hands free, ” I asked in

a throaty voice, “what’s the point of tying

me up? ”

His wicked smile affected me as much

as the heat that swept over my emotions,

lashing me with thousands of invisible,

sensual whips. Then he leaned in, the soft

sandpaper of his jaw grazing my cheek.

“Why tell you when I can show you? ”

I closed my eyes, taking in a breath to

smell the rich spiciness of his scent. Now

I knew how I wanted to spend the rest of

the evening, but first things first.

He drew back, continuing to drape

chains around me until they went all the

way up to my elbows. If I still had

circulation, my hands would have been

numb. Then he threaded more silver

through them to secure my bound arms to

my body with more loops of chain. Now

all I could do from the waist up was

wiggle my fingers and bite.

Satisfied, he dropped the remaining

chains onto the floor and went over to the

bed. I tensed, but all he retrieved was a

lamp from the night table.

“Gently, ” he warned as he held it out to

me. Did he think I’d never touched

something fancy before? I grasped the

smooth crystal base with my right fingers

—and it shattered like I’d smashed it with

a crowbar.

“What the hell? ” I exclaimed.

He gave me a sardonic glance as he

brushed the shards from my hand. “You’re

not used to your new strength. Until you

are, treat everything as though it’s more

fragile than eggshells, and whatever you

do, don’t touch a human.”

I looked at the glittering shards with a

wince. Now I had another reason for not

giving my sister a hug good-bye later.

“Were those dried flowers on the

mantel hers? ” I asked, seeking something

that wouldn’t cost a lot if I broke it.

“She picked them, yes, ” Vlad replied,

pulling a chunk out of the arrangement

without care for how that spoiled it.

I told myself it wasn’t petty to enjoy

seeing something of Cynthiana’s ruined.

She’d killed me, after all.

I stroked the flowers when Vlad held

them out. Most of them disintegrated on

contact, telling me I was still using too

much strength, but something flared in the

remaining batch.

There you are, I thought with dark

satisfaction, and then everything around

me changed.

I walked through the meadow, adding

flowers to the growing pile in my basket.

Vlad’s staff would be happy to add to the

garden outside my room, but I was

careful not to have all the spell’s

ingredients in one place. Just in case

someone recognized the significance of

these particular flowers.

The beautiful spring day did nothing

to improve my foul mood. It had only

been six months since the last spell, yet

Vlad was already acting distant again. I

yanked out a handful of lilacs, damaging

them in my frustration. Any other man

would be madly, irrevocably in love with

me, but after seven spells, I could barely

keep Vlad from leaving me.

The problem, of course, was the same

reason why he was such a valuable

protector. His power. It was why I’d

worked so hard to gain his attention in

the first place, and also why he was

practically immune to my spells. I didn’t

dare use stronger magic on him. He

might dismiss all the flowers as feminine

fancy, but he’d notice ingredients for

darker magic. What the Law Guardians

would do to me would be nothing

compared to his wrath if he found out I’d

been using spells on him.

I grabbed another handful of lilacs,

refusing to dwell on the repercussions of

being caught. That wouldn’t happen as

long as I was careful, and besides, I had

no choice. Most vampires had Masters to

protect them. Others had enough

strength to protect themselves. The rest

of us—Masterless with only average

power—were left to fend for ourselves.

After my sire was murdered, lovers gave

me the protection other vampires took

for granted. When that wasn’t enough,

magic made up the difference. The day I

became a vampire, I swore no matter the

cost, I’d never be helpless again. I had

my fill of that as a Scottish peasant

living under English rule. I brushed off

those memories to give a critical look at

my basket’s contents. Perhaps more

mallow would make the spell last

longer...

When I morphed back into my own

mindset, I stared at the crumbled bits of

dried flowers in my hand, torn between

rage and incredulousness.

“Do you know what these are? ”

He shrugged. “Lilacs, poppies,

amaranth—”

“Ingredients for a spell, ” I cut him off.

“Lilacs to prompt love, red poppy for true

love, mallow for being overwhelmed with

love, blue poppy for the unattainable made

possible, amaranth for undying love...

see where she was going with this? ”

“I never loved her.”

His voice vibrated with forcefulness. I

smiled grimly.

“Yes, and it ticked her off that you were

too strong for her spell to fully work. Still,

you stayed with her for the better part of

three decades so her efforts weren’t a

total bust.” Vlad opened his mouth and...

nothing. I’d never seen him speechless

before, but finding out your free will had

been messed with would be upsetting for

anyone. Finding it out when you had his

level of arrogance would be stunning.

“See if you can find her” was what he

bit out. I wouldn’t want to be Cynthiana

for all the money in the world right now.

I stroked the dried flowers again. The

memory of her picking them was fainter

now, allowing me to push past it to focus

on her essence trail.

There. Like a fishing line with her

swimming at the end of it. I concentrated,

but every time I pulled on that line, I came

back with nothing. I kept trying, an internal

clock pitilessly noting the passage of time

as I continued to fail to reach the other

side. Ten minutes. Twenty. Thirty. Forty.

“Leila, stop.”

Vlad brushed the floral bits out of my

hands. Frustrated, I watched as they

scattered to the ground.

“I don’t know why I can’t see her. I

used to glimpse her before my health went

haywire. Now, I don’t even get that.”

“You’ve been a vampire exactly one

day, ” Vlad said as he began to unwind my

chains. “Every cell in your body has been

drastically altered. It’s remarkable you’re

able to use any of your abilities this

soon.”

“Remarkable. That and four quarters

will get me a dollar.”

I had reason for my glumness. Even if

Vlad’s people didn’t breathe a word about

Shrapnel to outsiders, any day now,

Cynthiana would figure out something was

wrong and go into hiding. When she did, it

could be years before she resurfaced

again. Sure, Shrapnel would eventually

break, if Cynthiana hadn’t bewitched him

into never revealing her location, but

she’d be long gone by then. I might have

all the time in the world to hunt her now,

but my family didn’t. I couldn’t expect

them to stay in hiding for years until we

caught her, yet if they didn’t, they were

walking targets.

It might already be too late. Cynthiana

would be expecting new word from

Shrapnel already...

“I know how we can get her, ” I said,

struck by inspiration. “Send Sandra into

town to leave another message, this one

telling Cynthiana where and when

Shrapnel wants to meet her.”

Vlad unwound the final chain from me.

“She’s not foolish enough to fall for such a

trick.”

“Foolish? Maybe not. Arrogant? You

betcha, ” I countered. “This woman cast

spells on you under your own roof,

knowing all the while that you’d kill her if

you found out. That’s so arrogant it’s like

she had two boulders in a sack for balls.”

His lips thinned at the reminder of how

she’d manipulated his willpower. I

continued on as if I hadn’t noticed.

“No wonder she hates my guts. You

said vampires were psycho possessive. In

a few months, you offered me more than

you offered her after three decades under

her magical influence, yet I left because it

wasn’t good enough. She probably had

Adrian making that bomb even before

Shrapnel gave her my location.”

More whitening of his mouth, and then

suddenly, he smiled.

“I know why you’re goading me, but

you will not get me to act rashly out of

injured pride.”

“You wouldn’t, ” I said, holding his

gaze. “But she would. Since news of our

marriage must’ve reached her by now, I

bet she’s hit a whole new red zone of

woman-scorned rage.”

Vlad stared at me. “Perhaps, ” he said at

last.

I couldn’t help but glance at the bed

again. In fairness, I shouldn’t point fingers

at Cynthiana for crossing into insane

jealousy territory. The thought of the

hours, days—hell, years! —Vlad had spent

entwined with her in that bed upset me far

past normal “vampire possessiveness.” In

fact, my urge to manifest an electrical

whip and start lashing the bed into pieces

was so strong, my hand began to spark.

Vlad glanced at my hand and then at my

face. Before I could say anything, the bed

burst into flames.

My mouth opened in disbelief. In the

few moments I took to close it, the

wooden frame had buckled from the

extreme heat and nothing was left of the

blankets, pillows, and mattress except a

smoldering black heap. Instead of that

delicate floral fragrance, the room now

stank of burnt foam and smoke.

The violently tender emotions sweeping

mine told me why he’d done it, and it had

nothing to do with his anger toward

Cynthiana. He simply wanted to destroy

something that hurt me.

I said nothing. Neither did he. Words

were unnecessary now.

Chapter 43

I woke with the same suddenness as on

the past five days, going from unconscious

to on my feet in less time than it took to

say, “Good evening.” The only difference

was that tonight, my first thoughts weren’t

of hunger.

“Did she buy it? ” I asked at once.

Vlad had been standing by the open slot

in the wall. In response, he held out the

blood bag I hadn’t leapt upon.

I ignored it despite my fangs popping

out and my stomach clenching as though it

were a fist opening and closing. Four days

ago, Sandra left a message for Cynthiana

telling her where Shrapnel wanted to

meet. The next day, the bookstore owner,

also mesmerized into betraying Vlad,

drove seventy miles away to make a call

that wouldn’t be routed through the cell

tower Vlad owned. Today, while I was

asleep, Sandra went back to the bookstore

to see if The Odyssey contained

Cynthiana’s RSVP.

“Did she? ” I repeated.

“Yes and no.”

He stroked his jaw in a seemingly

absent way, yet he only did that when he

was in deep contemplation.

“She agreed to meet him tomorrow at

seven, but changed the location to the

Bucharest Metro.”

I’d never taken the main Romanian

subway for obvious reasons, but it wasn’t

hard to figure out the problem.

“She picked rush hour in a busy public

place.”

We’d chosen a warehouse in a sparsely

populated town. Easy to surround, fewer

bystanders to worry about. Cynthiana

must’ve figured that out, too. Looked like

Vlad and I were both right about her. She

might be arrogant enough to come, but she

wasn’t stupid enough to do it without

adding protections. “It presents several

difficulties, starting with being impossible

to secure.” He gave me a brief, sardonic

smile. “Many members of the Romanian

government are in my line, yet I can’t

order the entire Metro shut down. Even

Mencheres couldn’t freeze tens of

thousands of commuters and dozens of

trains to catch her.”

“And if the Metro is suddenly filled

with vampires, she’ll get suspicious and

bolt.” I sighed. “Is tracing the bookstore

owner’s call the next move? ”

Vlad continued to stroke his jaw.

“Already done. It went to a burner phone

that led to nowhere. That leaves the

Metro.”

“Did she even say which station? ”

He snorted. “No, but it’s obvious.”

I let that alone. “Vlad, if she catches

sight of you, she’ll run. In fact, after living

with you for three decades, I bet she

knows most of the vampires in your line

and your allies, so a glimpse of one of

them would make her a rabbit, too.”

He didn’t dispute any of the above.

“After tomorrow, she’ll realize Shrapnel

has been compromised. I’ll put a large

bounty out on her, but catching her will

take time. Difficult or not, the Metro is

still my best chance.”

“Yes, ” I said steadily, “it is, but you’re

forgetting something important.”

A brow arched. “And that is? ”

“Me.”

“Not this again, ” he muttered.

“I’m the obvious choice. She doesn’t

know what I look or smell like, so I could

be standing right next to her and she

wouldn’t feel the slightest bit threatened.”

“Why should she? She’s three hundred

years older than you.”

His tone was scathing, but I wasn’t

going to let him sidetrack me taking it

personally.

“When we met, you insisted that I learn

how to use my electrical abilities to fight,

and you were right. They ended up saving

my life when I took down vampires a lot

older than me. But more than that, you

keep saying ‘I’ when this isn’t only about

you. Cynthiana killed my friends at the

carnival. She had me kidnapped. Then it

was her spell that stole my mortality from

me before I was ready to give it up. If I

was the type of person who’d let all of

that slide, you wouldn’t love me because

that sure as hell isn’t who you are.”

His stare could’ve bent a laser from its

intensity.

“You expect me to forgo my vengeance

in favor of yours? ”

“No, ” I said, adding with an inward

smile, “they call you Vlad the Impaler, not

Vlad the Emasculated. All I want is to go

into the Metro and find her. Then I’ll

either flush her out or tail her and give you

her location. Either way, you’ll be the one

to bag and tag her, but she’ll know—and

so will I—that I helped take her down.”

He was silent for a long while. Then he

said, “You’ve never even seen her face.”

Not a Hell, no! I began to feel a tingle

of anticipation.

“Don’t worry. I’ve seen enough to spot

her.”

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been

surrounded by so many people. Maybe it

was American snootiness that made me

assume a Romanian subway wouldn’t be

much busier than some of the larger

carnivals I’d worked; maybe it was being

underground that made everything feel

more crowded. Whatever the reason, as I

crossed the fourteen platforms of the Gara

de Nord, I actually had to fight back a

sense of claustrophobia.

At least I didn’t have to worry about

electrocuting any of the commuters that

brushed past me on their way to or from

one of the Metro’s many trains.

Underneath my business casual pants and

blazer was a full body wetsuit, the rubber

thicker because it was normally used for

icy water dives. A silk scarf hid where the

suit rose to the base of my neck, while

theater-thick makeup covered my scar.

Aside from the annoying squeaking

noises it made when I walked, the wetsuit

could be a new wardrobe staple. I hadn’t

been able to pass through a crowd without

worrying about electrocuting people since

I was fourteen. If it wouldn’t have

attracted undue attention, I might have

hugged a stranger just because I could.

Of course, there was another issue that

being so close to thousands of people

brought up. My hunger. Everywhere

around me, countless veins bulged with

the tantalizing nectar I now craved like a

drug. Under normal circumstances, I’d be

slowly introduced into limited-contact

settings with humans to make sure I had

enough control to handle it. Going into an

underground Metro at rush hour was akin

to jumping in the deep end to sink or

swim. More than once, my fangs popped

out and I had to hastily put a drink to my

face to hide it. Good thing Vlad had

suggested getting a cup of coffee as a

prop.

The unpleasant smell of my

surroundings helped curb my hunger,

actually. With the bustle of people and the

different sections of tunnels came all types

of odors. Certain parts of the Metro were

only a few shades more aromatic than

Vlad’s dungeon. My first trip by a public

bathroom almost made me throw up.

A screeching noise preceded a train on

the M1 line coming to a halt. I sipped my

coffee and watched the throngs of people

load and unload, paying special attention

to the women. No thick walnut-colored

hair or telltale skin a shade too creamy,

plus the only vibes I felt came from the

electricity running through the tracks. I

glanced at my watch. Six fifty-nine p.m.

Time to check the next set of tracks at the

Basarab stop.

Yes, Vlad had a Metro station named

after him. No wonder he said it was

obvious where Cynthiana would expect to

meet Shrapnel. The M1 side of the tracks

was done in bland shades of white and

gray, but the M4 side had orange walls,

black granite floors, and yellow neon

lights. Somehow, I thought the boldercolored

section was where I’d find

Cynthiana. If its vividness reminded me of

Vlad, it would probably remind her, too.

We had an appreciation for him in

common, after all.

Another ear-splitting screech

announced a train coming into the M4

station. I leaned against one of the wide

columns, my hair falling over part of my

face as I studied the commuters. Could

that brunette be her? Nope, she had a fresh

pimple, something no vampire could get.

Maybe the woman in the ball cap... no,

not with that deliciously throbbing vein in

her neck from how she hurried off the

track.

I muttered a curse as my fangs sprang

out again. Now I knew how teenage boys

with unwanted erections felt. I pretended

to take a long sip from my coffee as I

silently willed them back into my gums,

and then I felt it—an aura of power,

invisible yet potent, like a cloud of

perfume, and coming right toward me.

I kept the coffee cup in front of my face

as I sought the source. Not there, not there

... there. Oh yes, I’d know that thick,

walnut-colored hair anywhere, not to

mention her gliding grace made her stand

out like a ballerina amidst a stampede of

bulls.

With my gloved hand, I pinched the

wire my scarf concealed and whispered

two words into the microphone.

“She’s here.”

Then I stared, finally getting a full look

at the woman who’d wreaked so much

havoc in my life. Taken piece by piece,

her face was full of flaws. Her mouth was

too wide, nose a trace too long, and

cheekbones so high they looked

artificially enhanced. Put together, though,

she was beautiful in a way you’d find hard

to forget because it wasn’t “pretty”

beauty, but the bold, striking kind that

made it difficult to look away.

And that’s why I recognized her even

though our previous meeting had only

lasted seconds. No wonder Cynthiana had

used a spell that not only made it

impossible to get a fix on her location, but

also blocked me from seeing her face.

That spell hadn’t just prevented us from