Catch

Chapter Thirteen

Rurik kissed my forehead then stepped away. “Tane needs to address everyone at the party and I want you at his side, the image of solidarity between both of us.” He turned as if to leave.

“Where are you going?” Panic fluttered in my chest.

“To watch.” He winked and strolled to the party.

Gwen cleared her throat. “Come, Belatia. Archios must be worried about you.”

“Oh Connie, he never got you a drink. We’ll send one when we find a servant.” She spun around and flounced to the mansion, Gwen in tow.

I glanced at the Master of all vampires. The smooth skin on his bald head gleamed with the moonlight, and a gold earring in his right pointed ear sparkled. I flicked it, trying to control the urge to rip it from his ear. “This from your pirating days as well?” Thief who tried to sneak out to the secluded gardens and seduce my boyfriend.

He rubbed his earlobe. “No.” The color of his white button down shirt made him appear paler.

Then something occurred to me as I checked out my own outfit. We matched. Rurik must have arranged it since he chose my dress while I showered the jungle off. Lovely.

We stared at each other. What did I say to someone I caught flirting with my boyfriend? I never had to compete with a man and found it very threatening.

“The party should be ready for us.” He strolled through the vegetation. Even though dressed as a modern man, he seemed at home and more relaxed outside. The extensive grounds and elaborate gardens made more sense as I watched him walk ahead of me.

He ran his open palm over the broad leaves of the plants lining the path. As we approached the party, he plucked a large red flower and set it in my hair. “It brings more color to your cheeks.” He brushed some of my curls from my bare shoulders. “I’m summoning Luckard’s accomplices to sentence them for their betrayal. Can you stand next to me without incident?”

“Rurik asked me to.”

“I’m aware what Rurik wants,” he whispered. “But I need to believe you can do this without a ruckus. Can you bear their presence?” His intense dark gaze bore into mine and my heart took wing.

“What are you going to do?” My voice cracked and I cleared my throat. Funny how his kind gestures made me more nervous than his anger.

“Remind my people who I am and what I represent.” He offered his forearm like an old-fashioned British gentleman.

For all our sakes, I took a deep shaky breath, untied the knot in my gut and placed my hand on his wrist. “I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

He gave me a rare smile. “That’s my girl.”

Inside, with all the curtains tied back and the seats with cushions pushed to the walls, the room grew. Everyone gathered around a dais set in the center. No throne sat upon the bare stage, it remained empty until we climbed the steps and faced the crowd.

The hum of conversation quieted.

I stayed a step behind Tane. Sweat trickled down my back and I could sense the beads form on my forehead. All those eyes watching me made the knot in my stomach tighten again. I should have asked Rurik to do his Jedi-mind-trick so I’d remain calm.

He’d done it before, when Dragos forced me to dance with him at a party. However, that experience didn’t end in gunfire. My throat became as arid as a desert. I hoped the past wouldn’t repeat itself.

Tane scanned the room and the silence lay heavy. “I have ruled with a kinder hand than my predecessor, but treachery and deceit have taken root in my home.” His voice carried in the tall room with quiet strength. “Disobedience and betrayal will not be tolerated.” He gestured with two fingers at the guards by the main entrance as if calling them forward.

They opened the doors. Eight guards dragged the two vampires, who’d helped Luckard torture both me and Tane, by chains wrapped around their arms and torso—Blondie the ass, who wanted to add rape to my torment, and Al, his dark somber companion.

Anger boiled in my gut. They chased me through the streets of Rio, hurt me and tore my life apart. These insignificant toads discarded me, wounded and bleeding to death, in a room with Eric’s decaying body as if I didn’t matter.

Tears burned behind my eyes and my chest constricted, however I’d scoop out my own eyeballs before shedding a drop in front of these soulless bastards. I plastered an expression of discontent on my face and held onto it for dear life.

Dropped at Tane’s feet, they knelt with their heads bowed as if too weak to hold them high. No apparent injuries showed, but vampires healed fast. Hurt them enough times without allowing them to feed and they lost strength.

Without thought, running on instinct and fury, I approached Blondie and kicked him in the face with my open-toed heel.

A collective gasp from the crowd shocked me out of my angry trance. I spun to face Tane, expecting his wrath for breaking my promise. Instead he grinned.

The betrayer hissed and snapped his jaws at my ankles. The guards didn’t tolerate his actions and fell upon him.

Tane ignored everyone except me for a moment longer. He stretched out his right hand to the side without looking and a Nosferatu placed the handle of a great broad sword in his palm. Without effort, he drew the weapon from its scabbard so the tip pointed at the ceiling and raised the hilt even to his chest.

The sword looked familiar. I stepped closer and peered at the intricate design next to Tane’s fingers. Blood red rubies formed the shape of a pyramid. I recalled Rurik kneeling on the wood floor slick with his blood, this sword pierced through his chest. The sword my lover killed Dragos with.

“I’d let you have the honor, my bloodthirsty companion, although I doubt you can lift it.”

A few chuckles came from his people.

My cheeks burned. Not from the laughs, but that Tane knew my desires.

He nodded to the side, telling me to get out of his way, then confronted his traitors.

Placing the point of the sword between them, he glared. “I’ll offer a merciful death if you tell me where I can find Luckard.”

Blondie spat a bloody glob at my feet.

To my horror I jumped.

He licked at his split lip as he glanced at his partner. “We don’t trust you to keep your word.”

Tane lowered his sword and pointed it a Blondie’s throat. “Take this piece of rotten flesh to the mountaintop. Crucify him in the same manner they did me then let him watch the sunrise. Gwen, post some of your brethren as guards.”

“No.” Blondie struggled against the chains, but a guard placed his foot in the middle of his back.

Kneeling, Tane came eye to eye with him. “You’re old enough to not flash fry. The sunlight will have to work its way through your flesh.”

He swallowed, panic evident in his eyes. “I don’t know where he is.”

The guards grabbed his shoulders and dragged him outside. His wails could still be heard as Tane turned his attention to Al, the darker traitor. The tip of the sword pressed against his jugular. A trickle of black blood oozed along his tan skin.

“What about you my friend? You’re much older than your companion. When was the last time you saw the sun? Two, three centuries ago?”

“Well over four, Master.” Al hung his head; his shoulders slumped. “I don’t know Luckard’s whereabouts either, but I do know someone else is helping him. You have more traitors than us.” He heaved a sob. “I should never have listened to him.”

Tane touched his hair. “No, you shouldn’t have.” He lifted the huge sword with one hand then swung it in an arc to behead Al.

The sword’s sharp edge slid through his flesh. Only the sound of his head thumping to the floor broke the silence in the room. A small spray of blood splattered the guards, yet they didn’t react to the mess. Al’s head rolled toward me and stopped against my shoe.

Tane wiped the sword on the body and returned it to his Nosferatu brother.

Determined not to vomit, I pressed my hands to my mouth. Oh, please God, don’t let me puke in front of all these people. Not an ounce of remorse for this jerk touched my heart. I doubted he ever regretted any of the pain he’d caused.

I stared at the dead face and it blinked. All the air left my lungs as the room spun. He wasn’t dead yet. I retreated and stumbled on the steps in my hurry to escape the horror show. Somehow I descended them without breaking my neck then tripped over a bystander’s foot. A strong set of hands grabbed my elbows. I glanced over my shoulder to thank my rescuer.

Rurik’s concerned gaze met mine.

“H-he—it blinked.” I pointed at the head still on the dais.

Tane descended the steps as the crowd dispersed. His staff cleaned the mess he’d left behind and the curtains fell from their secured positions.

“I think she’s had enough for tonight.” Rurik placed my hand in Tane’s.

“Very well. Follow me, Rabbit.” Wrapping a solid arm around my waist, he pulled me close and guided us through the crowd.

Once in the corridor I whispered. “He’s not dead, is he? His eyes moved.” With my fingers fanned out, I gestured to my own blinking eyes.

“It won’t be long before he dies. He’s young enough that his head can’t exist without the body for long. Maybe I should have sent you away.”

“I’m not upset about watching you kill him.” I tried to yank out of his grasp, yet I might as well have been bound in steel chains. “Knowing he was still aware as he looked up my legs freaks me out.”

Tane chuckled. “At least he had a nice view.”

My mouth slammed shut. He liked my legs? My ears must have misunderstood and I had to remind myself that he was bisexual. Yet, one moment he flirted with my boyfriend, the next with me. What wicked game did my personal demon play? I twisted to see Rurik’s expression, except he was nowhere to be seen. “Where did he go?”

“Rurik? He’ll stay until the party ends then report afterwards. Gathering information is his specialty.”

Hugging myself tight, I tried to ignore the warm touch of Tane’s hand on my hip.

“Being an informant? Looked more like flirting to me.”

“He’s good at that too.” We made a left. Guards marched ahead and behind us. They didn’t wear uniforms, but all moved with a deadly grace. Stopping at my room, one of them opened the door and checked inside.

The mansion struck me as immense all of a sudden. Too many corridors, staircases and rooms—it made me feel trivial like a pet rabbit. I looked at our guards. Maybe I could ask one of them to stay?

Gwen wasn’t among them. She escorted Blondie. A shiver ran down my spine. After an evening of betrayal and death, I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts.

The image of Tane touching Rurik still bothered me as well. Maybe he wiped something off my sweetheart’s face. Like what? Food? Possibly blood, but Rurik had already fed, unless he partook from every floozy throwing themselves at him tonight. I ground my teeth. I was going to drive myself nuts.

“Are you going to stand here all night?”

“How long do you think Rurik will be?”

Tane allowed his gaze to wander down my body then back up. “The rest of the night.

There’s only a few hours until dawn and he’ll need to speak with me before then. What did you have in mind?”

“Can I hang in your apartment?” This request cost me a piece of my soul.

Tane’s brow shot up. “From what?” The utter shock on his face confused me for a moment.

“I don’t mean literally.” I needed to watch my language. Rurik understood my slang, obviously Tane didn’t. “Can I stay with you until Rurik returns?” I hadn’t been alone since my night with Luckard. Like it or not, I was a chicken. A coward.

“Oh.” He shook his head and gave a soft chuckle. “That’s a terrible expression to use after being part of an execution. Come along then, but I don’t have anything to occupy you.”

“Neither do I.” Boredom trumped fear.