Death's Mistress

CHAPTER 37

I watched as red lightning started to flicker across Christine’s palms and to coil up her arms. I didn’t think she liked being talked about as if she wasn’t in the room. I didn’t think she liked being given orders, either. She kept glancing at Anthony, and the hunger on her face was startling.

Anthony didn’t notice, having let his head droop down to his mutilated chest. I couldn’t tell if that was deliberate—to hide the fact that his neck had healed—or if he was merely too tired to hold it up anymore. But looking at the way his skin was starting to shrink up against the bones, I was voting for the latter.

Anthony had to get out of here and back to his family, and he had to do it now. But no way was he managing that on his own. I glanced at Louis- Cesare to see if he got it, and found him staring intently back at me.

“Dorina?”

I almost jumped out of my skin when the word echoed softly through my brain. “What?” I thought back instinctively, and felt a surge of profound relief that I knew wasn’t mine. I didn’t feel relieved. I felt creeped the hell out.“How long have you been able to—”

“Can you do it?” he asked silently, cutting me off in my own head.

“Can I do what?”

He looked pointedly at Anthony. “I will not leave you here with her.”

“You left me with her last night!”

“It was almost dawn, and I thought she had the power of a child then. You cannot hold her.”

No, I thought bitterly, I didn’t suppose so. I’d been getting my ass handed to me by vampires all day, and after seeing her with Anthony, I doubted this would be any different. But I also couldn’t drag an almost-deadweight through the landslide, across a debris- filled room and up a lengthy tunnel. And then fog the minds of the people on the other side when I was through.

I thought that at him as hard as I could, and saw him wince. It had probably had the force of a shout behind it, but I didn’t have centuries of practice at this. The only other times we’d had any kind of mental link, I’d been too distracted to worry about it.

I was plenty worried now, but other things took precedence. Like what I’d die of first, if Anthony went—the fire of his energy storm or being crushed to death as the tunnel collapsed. It wasn’t a palatable choice.

“If Anthony dies, I’m dead anyway. And he’ll die if he stays here. Get him out!” I sent.

“If she hurts you—”

“She won’t. I’m her good vamp-killing buddy, remember? Just hurry back.”

He sent me a slurry of emotions, intentionally or not, that had my eyes widening. “Do. Not. Die.”

Yeah, well, that was the plan.

“Christine!” My voice caused her to start slightly. “You’re draining Anthony. And if he dies, we do, too. Remember?”

She stared at me, dark eyes bright, for a long moment. And then she slowly nodded. “I can’t die yet,” she agreed. “I’m not done.”

It was amazing how three small words could cause gooseflesh to break out all over my body. “Not done?”

“You asked why I killed Elyas. This is why,” she said, obscurely.

“Because he was an evil vampire?”

“Well, of course,” she agreed, pushing back a stray lock of hair. The heel of her hand brushed her cheek, leaving a red streak behind, like badly placed rouge. “But I could have killed him at any time for that.”

“So why now? To avoid Alejandro’s executioner?” I knew before she answered that that wasn’t right. Whoever Alejandro sent would have had a rude awakening.

“No. It was the rune.”

“The rune.”

“Yes. I knew Elyas had it.” She frowned. “Or I thought he did. I didn’t know about the necklace, you see, when I killed the fey. I checked his pockets, but I never thought to look there. And then I felt Elyas nearby and had to flee before I could look anymore. I couldn’t let him see me. I couldn’t be discovered. It was too soon. But then I saw him coming out with the necklace in his hand, and I realized my mistake.”

“How did you know about the rune? You weren’t at the auction.”

I wanted to know, but I also wanted to keep her attention on me. Louis-Cesare had circled around behind her while we’d been talking.

“Elyas could talk of nothing else. All day he was on the telephone to Lord Cheung, all but begging him for it. He was afraid that once Louis-Cesare left the European Senate, he would no longer be able to retain his seat without help. I overheard enough to realize what it was, and what it could do.”

“So that’s why you picked up the carrier in the office.”

She nodded. “I’d searched it when I killed Elyas. I’d remembered about the knives, not to touch them directly. But I’d thought the necklace wouldn’t show fingerprints because of all the ridges. I’d forgotten about clairvoyants.” She looked annoyed.

“How did you learn to kill vampires that way? It isn’t common knowledge.”

“I have had to learn many new methods in order to hunt.” She looked frustrated. “Louis-Cesare was so careful; it was almost impossible for me to do anything. And Alejandro wasn’t much better. He watched me all the time, afraid that I would run away. It was easier when I went to Elyas. He never noticed me.”

Neither had anyone else, I thought grimly.

“Why wait until the party to kill Elyas?” I asked. “You could have killed him at any time.”

“But if I did it before the party, only the family would have been home,” she said reasonably. “There had to be other suspects, or everyone would have started to look at me.”

“So you waited until the apartment was filled with people, and you could get Elyas alone.”

“Yes. I didn’t mean for Louis-Cesare to be blamed. I knew he had an appointment for that night; I had heard Elyas telling the doorman about it. But it was for earlier that evening. I waited to kill him until I thought the master would have come and gone.”

“But Louis-Cesare was delayed.” She nodded. “Is that why you killed Lutkin? To throw suspicion off Louis-Cesare?”

“No, the mage was at Elyas’s party. I saw them talking together. It might have meant nothing; Elyas liked the races and Lutkin was a champion. But I thought there was a chance that a powerful mage could have stolen it.”

I spared a thought for poor Lutkin, who had died because Christine thought there was an outside chance he had the stone. He’d probably never even seen it.

“But Lutkin was killed in daylight.”

“I have been a daywalker for two centuries.”

Daywalker was the old term for anything above a third-level master, because they were the only ones who could stand direct sunlight for any length of time. It looked like Anthony had known what he was talking about.

“How did you get in? The consul’s security is pretty tight.”

“They let me in. Louis-Cesare’s name was still on the guest list, and I am his servant.” She shrugged.

“So that left Geminus.”

“Yes. I was sure he had the stone. He was at the nightclub that night. I saw him when I was leaving, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. And Geminus was at the party. But he didn’t have it, either.”

“That’s why you used the wax-covered knife on him.” I had wondered. There were more efficient ways to kill people.

“I wanted to be able to search him before he died and the reaction set in. And then Anthony came, and so of course I had to kill him, too. I didn’t mean to use a wax blade on him, but that was the one I grabbed first.”

I made a mental note to tell Anthony: maybe the Fates didn’t hate him as much as he thought.

“You killed him because he could have named you as the guilty party.”

“Yes. I tied him and stabbed him and left, but when I didn’t hear a second death rumble, I knew something had gone wrong.”

“Clever.”

“I can be clever.” She glanced behind her, where the guys had disappeared through the fall. “I know they are leaving. It is all right. Anthony needed to go. I might have made a mistake with him here, and I can’t afford that. Not tonight.”

“What’s special about tonight?”

“But haven’t you realized? That is why it doesn’t matter if they stay or go. Tonight is when I kill them. Tonight is when I kill all of them.”

“Kill who?” I asked slowly.

Christine didn’t answer. Her gaze had fallen to her watch, and her eyes widened. “I didn’t know it was so late! I must go.”

I caught her arm as she whirled and headed down the corridor, away from the landslide. I didn’t so much as slow her down; it was more like I got towed along for the ride. “Wait! You haven’t told me why you wanted the rune. It isn’t as if you need the protection.”

“Oh, but I do. That is why I came here tonight. One last chance…” Her voice faded, but then came back stronger, more resolute. “But then, perhaps this is God’s way of telling me that it is enough. That once this is done, I will have redeemed myself at last.”

“Once what is done?”

“I prayed so long for a miracle, and there was nothing. For years I thought that God had abandoned me, now that I was tainted. Unclean.” She looked down at her blood-streaked clothes, her nose wrinkling in distaste. “But then He sent you to me, and all became clear.”

“I made things clear?” I asked, panting in an effort to keep up.

“It has been your life’s work, removing their stain from humanity. But there are too few of you. Too few dhampirs and so very many of them. And they reproduce at will, constantly making more and more. You need help.”

“And you are going to help me?”

“I’m going to do more than that. After tonight, the vampire world will be in chaos, families feeding on one another as they once did, master against master, line against line. They will destroy themselves, and those who are left will be annihilated in the war. And you will be able to sit back and watch it all happen. I only wish I could be with you.”

“Why can’t you?”

She shot me a puzzled look. “Because I’ll be dead. The rune was my last chance to survive what lies ahead. But I am beginning to see that perhaps I was not meant to survive it. Now that the work is done, I can shed this horrible skin, these baseless cravings….”

“If you tell me a little more about what you plan to do, maybe I can help,” I offered as bricklined nineteenth-century work blurred into modern concrete.

“You have already helped. You gave me the key.”

Christine ducked into a side tunnel and I scurried to keep up. “You’d think I’d remember something like that.”

“For a long time, I could not understand why God had allowed this to happen, why I of all people should be chosen for this fate,” she told me. “But over many years, it slowly became clear: in order to destroy them, I had to be one of them. Only one who knew them intimately could devise a way to bring them down.”

“You’ve been planning this for a while.”

“Something like this,” she agreed. “But I was missing a key element. Killing one or two vampires, here and there, does nothing. Killing masters is better, for then an entire line is weakened. And killing senators is truly useful, for it undermines the political structure and starts the process toward anarchy. But one or two senators will not do. They are merely replaced. To truly destroy their society, I needed a way to kill a great many leaders, all at once, from a great many Senates. But it seemed hopeless. When were they ever together?”

“For the Challenge,” I said, starting to feel a little cold.

“I realized the opportunity the Challenge presented at once, but I did not know how to capitalize on it. I should have known that God would not let me come so far and fail to provide.”

“He provided the rune?”

“No, Dory.” She laughed. “He provided you. The task seemed impossible, but you showed me the way.”

The darkness up ahead fractured, pierced by a dozen tiny shafts of light. It turned out to be a manhole cover, with a ladder leading up. I grabbed her sleeve with both hands. “How did I do that, exactly?”

Her head tilted. “But don’t you see? If we had not gone through the park that night, I would never have thought about using the portal.”

“What portal?”

“The one in the East Coast headquarters. I had been trying to think of a way to smuggle a bomb into the Challenge, but I knew it would be impossible. The wards would detect it immediately and detonate it inside a force field. It would all be for nothing.”

“But then you met me,” I said, feeling sick.

“And you showed me that I didn’t have to get a bomb into headquarters. One was already there, in the form of their portal.” She reached into a pocket in her skirt and came out with a small gray ball. I recognized the remains of my explosive putty.

“That’s why you insisted on coming home with me,” I said dully. “You wanted to take it from my bag.”

“I am sorry for that,” she said, apparently sincere. “I would have asked, but I did not think you would trust me with it. I am a vampire, after all.”

“But you could have taken it at Elyas’s,” I said, desperately trying to stall. I couldn’t catch Christine on the open streets, and headquarters was too close. By the time I made a call, she’d already be there. “You were alone with my duffel in the office while I talked to Mircea.”

“No, Raymond was there. He would have seen. But in the confusion after the fey attacked, it was easy.”

Yeah, easy. Like walking into the East Coast headquarters would be easy. Christine wasn’t a dirty dhampir or a wanted criminal. She probably wouldn’t even be challenged. And a mass of explosive like that in a large active portal—

She was right: she was clever.

There was a cascade of images in front of my eyes, and this time, they were my own. Radu in his ridiculous dressing gown; my mother, glimpsed through Mircea’s eyes, the scene suffused with a love I had never believed existed; Louis-Cesare, head thrown back in passion, fingers gripping my arms like he never wanted to let go.

And Christine, off to destroy all of it.

There was only one solution left, and it meant I was about to disappoint Louis- Cesare. But there was no other choice. If I let her leave, it was over.

I pulled a gun out of my coat; Christine didn’t even notice. She was halfway up the ladder, reaching for the manhole cover, happy and confident in her newfound purpose. And still carrying the putty in her right hand.

I didn’t even try to take cover; there was no point. If the blast didn’t kill me, Christine’s death energy would. Or the tunnel would collapse and crush me. Any way I looked at it, I wasn’t getting out of here. But at least this was something I could do. For once, I didn’t need to be stronger or faster or have better weapons in order to compete. I just had to pull a trigger.

So I did.