Newly fallen snow crunched under my boots—thank God I’d had shoes on—as I ran. Even as I sprinted away from the inn I knew that it was only a matter of time before someone caught up to me—my footprints in the snow guaranteed that. If I wanted to shake these vampires, I was going to have to use my glamour.
The snow around me brightened as the inn’s back door opened. I threw a glance over my shoulder and saw the vampire who’d exited his car moments before now gaze over the landscape. His eyes moved across the dark terrain until they landed on me. And then he smiled.
That was all the encouragement I needed to figure out a contingency plan. Andre, I needed to talk to Andre. I slipped my hands into my pockets and exhaled when I felt the bulge of my cellphone. Pulling it out, I speed dialed him.
He answered on the first ring. “Soul—”
“Vampire,” I gasped out as I ran, “one’s here, at the hotel. I don’t know what he—”
A dark body slammed into me, and my phone went flying out of my hand. All at once my fear channeled itself into action. I rolled as I fell, landing on top of my assailant, my side pressed into his chest.
“Gabrielle!” I could hear Andre’s tinny voice shout from my cellphone.
I yanked back my arm as far as I could and elbowed him in the nose. Something crunched, and he howled in pain. Just as I went to push myself to my feet, his arms latched around me, locking me to him and pinning my arms down at my sides.
I wiggled and my attacker grunted. I couldn’t get my arms free, and if I couldn’t get my arms free, I couldn’t hold my own.
My skin began to shimmer and the siren surfaced. “Let me go,” I said, my voice lilting.
Immediately my assailant’s grip relaxed, and I pushed away from him. He got up, confused but still determined to take me.
“Don’t touch me,” I said. “Get back in your car and leave me. Forget this ever happened.”
He turned his back to me, and with jerky movements he walked towards his car.
I sauntered over to my phone, calming my breathing, before I picked up my phone. I wiped the snow off on my shirt and put it to my ear. “The situation has been dealt with,” I said, going for a light, casual tone. I didn’t really pull it off.
“Gabrielle, are you okay?” Panic laced Andre’s voice. I leaned against a tree, my body weak now that the adrenaline had left my system.
“I think so,” I said, placing a hand to my heart as if the action could slow my pulse down. At the back of my mind one thought screamed for attention: why did the devil warn me? What interests did he have in my safety? Or had he known he’d provoke that entire situation by telling me?
Andre’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Did he hurt you? Because if he did, trial be damned, I will rip him apart one limb at a time,” he growled.
Yikes. For the millionth time I was grateful that I was Andre’s soulmate and not someone else. Because he was a scary-ass dude when he wanted to be.
“Andre, I’m fi—”
For a split second a sharp pain flared at the back of my head, and I pitched forward.
And then the world went dark.
Someone jostled me awake. I blinked my eyes open slowly as I was yanked out of a car. I stumbled as a wave of vertigo hit me and fell to the ground. The cold chill of snow bit into my cheek, and I went to cry out when I realized I couldn’t.
Someone had duct taped my mouth shut. Bastards.
“Get up,” a feminine voice ordered me.
I turned my head to look at who was speaking, but my eyes wouldn’t focus.
“I think you hit her too hard, Vicca,” a masculine voice said. The cold bite of his voice let me know that he didn’t particularly care for my wellbeing; he was just stating a fact.
I made a noise at the back of my throat and rolled to my back. As soon as I did so, I regretted it. All of my weight pressed on my hands and arms, which had been bound behind me. I tugged against the restraints, but at the moment I was too weak to break through them, and my captors had done a thorough job of tying me up.
“I’m not a fucking errand boy,” Vicca said. “If the other Elders wanted her to be treated gently, then they should’ve sent someone else to do this.”
I shakily pushed myself to my feet, and then started to list to the left. What had they done to me?
A hand wrapped around my upper arm, and Vicca came into my line of sight. She was beautiful the way queens were—heavy lids, high eyebrows, a gracefully sloped nose, and understated lips that were, at the moment, curled into a snarl. Like my very presence upset her.
She yanked my arm roughly and dragged me forward with her. “You’re being forcefully detained for repeatedly ignoring court summons,” she informed me as she pulled me towards a paved stairway. The man who had chased after me now shadowed my other side. “And this evening you’ll be expected to give your testimony for the events that occurred on the night of our king’s birthday gala.”
Oh man, so this was the coven’s justice system? Andre really wasn’t kidding about their cruelty.
I began to shiver in my damp clothes as we approached a gothic style building. I felt energy thrum along my skin, and I drew in a relieved breath. Andre was somewhere nearby.
The skin at the back of my head prickled as my head injury stitched itself back together. Now that I flared my nostrils I could smell the tangy scent of blood caught in my tangled hair.
Almost as if he read my thoughts, the male vampire leaned towards me and breathed in my scent. His eyes fluttered and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips, as though the smell of it was ecstasy.
Okay, vampires were officially sickos. Andre and me excepted, of course.
The vampire’s eyelids lifted and his smile widened, revealing his fangs. “You’re lucky you’re Andre’s plaything,” he said, “or else we’d be sipping that delicious blood of yours,” he said.
I recoiled from him, my shoulder brushing against Vicca’s side. Without letting me go, she shoved me away from her and straight into Psycho Vamp.
His ran a rough hand down my face, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep it together. “I can smell the siren in your blood. Did you know it calls to us? Begs us to come closer?”
Ew, ew, ew.
“You bite her, and even I won’t be able to save you from Andre,” Vicca warned him.
He glowered at her. “I know that. I wasn’t going to.”
Vicca looked unconvinced, which made me really, really nervous.
It’s going to be okay, I chanted to myself, mostly so that my pulse stayed calm. These beings could literally smell fear, and I didn’t doubt they’d exploit that weakness if they could.
The male vampire drew away from me to open the door for Vicca, and she dragged me in after her. Just as the three of us stepped inside, Vicca’s body went rigid. Behind me, my other captor stiffened.
I was the last to see what had startled the two vampires I was with, but I was now coherent enough to recognize the pulse of energy. Once my gaze met his, I smiled beneath the duct tape.
Waiting for us, arms crossed, was Andre.
Chapter 16
Andre dropped his arms and stalked towards us, all sinuous, rolling movement. The muscle in his cheek clenched and unclenched.
Under normal circumstances Andre would’ve been at my side in an instant, but this Andre … he was calculating. Guarded. None of his subjects knew we were soulmates, and if these old, hardened vampires were to be conned, Andre had to act entitled but not enamored.
Andre came to a stop in front of the three of us, and his eyes flicked between my two captors. “You both better have amazing explanations for why you kidnapped a fellow vampire, tied her up, and …” His nostrils flared, and I saw his entire body tense. He smelled my blood.
Andre’s ja
w worked, and for a moment I wasn’t sure whether our little charade was up—because I swear he looked murderous. But he didn’t lose control.
He calmly glanced between Vicca and the other vampire. “You drew blood,” he stated, his voice pitched low.
My muscles tensed at his tone. Andre was one wrong comment away from snapping.
“She glamoured me,” the male vampire said.
“I know what she did Fredrick; I was on the phone with her.”
“Then you know—”
“That it’s against the law?” The lines on Andre’s face deepened with his anger. Oh Freddy had just poked a sleeping beast, and now it was awake.
Fredrick nodded uncertainly. Faster than a human eye could follow, Andre slammed the vampire against the wall and held him there by his throat. “Don’t you fucking tell me what is against the law. I am the law.”
Fredrick choked out a nonsensical reply.
“What’s that?” Andre asked, squeezing his throat so hard that his windpipe must be collapsing.
My breath caught at Andre’s brutality. He was so good to me that I forgot that he was also a ruthless leader.
“Did I hear you mention the Politia?” he asked. Andre squeezed Fredrick’s neck until the vampire nodded.
“Then you should know that the only reason you are not dead is because your prisoner prevented the Politia from dissolving our truce, you ungrateful fool.”
When Andre’s grip loosened, I assumed he was done. I assumed wrong.
So did Fredrick.
As soon as relief flooded Fredrick’s features, Andre threw him clear across the room. I cringed at the sound his body made—the meaty slap of skin when it met resistance, the sickening crack of splitting skin and breaking bones, the smell—the horrible smell—of blood. Stolen blood.
Vicca’s hold on my arm slackened, though she didn’t run. Either she didn’t fear Andre’s wrath, or she knew she couldn’t escape it. I snuck a glance at her. Other than a small smile, her expression was unreadable.
Andre moved to where Fredrick lay crumpled. “And as for glamour, it is sanctioned when used in self-defense. Trust me when I say that I know it was in self-defense. I know the sound of fear when I hear it. But perhaps I am wrong. You could always remind me.”
Andre pulled his foot back, and I cried out at the same time Fredrick whimpered. Well, I tried to anyway. My voice came out sounding more like a dying mummy.
Andre hesitated, glancing over his shoulder at me. Something in his eyes flashed. Guilt? Remorse? Whatever it was, it passed by too quickly, and then he was the vicious vampire king once more.
His leg, still poised to strike Fredrick, lowered as his gaze passed from me to Vicca. “Let her go,” he commanded Vicca. The warmth I was so used to seeing in Andre’s eyes had seeped away, leaving them cold and unfeeling. He was in control of himself once more, but at the cost of his emotions.
I tried not to shudder at the sight of him playing the undead, inhumane overlord. It was a horrible reminder that my soulmate was not a good person. At least, not always.
I felt Vicca’s grip tighten and her nails bite into my skin—like she was considering defying him for a moment—but then she pulled her hand away.
“Why do you care about her so much?” she asked accusingly.
Andre looked down his nose at her, and his gaze bore into hers. “I do not owe you an explanation,” he said, “and I will not be asked to defend myself.” His voice took on a lethal edge. “You, however, owe me an explanation, smuggling Gabrielle here like a common thief,” he growled.
For the first time since I’d laid eyes on her, Vicca lost her superiority. She looked chastised and, judging by the flash of her eyes, vulnerable.
He stepped away from where Fredrick lay moaning and approached her. “Vicca, Vicca, Vicca,” he said, making her name sound like a reprimand. For the moment I was totally forgotten, though I got the sense that Andre was perfectly attuned to my presence. “What is an Elder like you doing fetching a witness?”
An Elder? That was the second time I’d heard that word this evening. I scoured my brain for its meaning, and then I remembered. The term referred to the vampires Andre himself had sired. My eyes shot to Vicca once more, and a hot, foreign emotion coursed through me. Jealousy.
I pushed the petty emotion down, though it wasn’t one to be easily ignored. Who cared if my soulmate screwed this chick an eon ago, and then changed her so that she could be his special friend forever and ever?
I felt my fangs drop and the siren pulse angrily just beneath my skin. Okay, I was a liar on top of everything else. I wanted to rip this woman to shreds. And then Andre, because I was an equal opportunist like that.
Andre’s eyes flicked to mine, and I belatedly realized that he could smell the change in my mood. I wish I could telepathically send him my immense displeasure.
“She’s not just a witness,” Vicca hissed, oblivious to my primal urge to wipe her from the face of the earth. “She is the only living witness to what happened. One who has avoided our summons for months. We need her testimony before we can sentence you.”
My attention snapped to what Vicca was saying. Testimony? Sentencing? This was bad. What I’d seen the night of Andre’s birthday … it wouldn’t help his case. Not only had Andre gone psycho, he’d killed in my name. Me, the girl who was destined to lead some awful vampire genocide. I’d end up dead, and who knew what horrible fate would befall Andre.
“She was unconscious when it happened,” Andre lied, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I now had my cover story.
Andre walked over to me, his eyes softening. My own probably held a strange cocktail of panic, anger, and fear. “Now,” he said, “I am going to remove Gabrielle’s bindings and take her in myself. You’d do well to leave this room before I decide to punish you the same way I did Fredrick.”
She didn’t need more encouragement. In an instant she was gone.
“You too,” Andre said, his gaze never leaving mine.
I could hear joints popping and an agonized groan as Fredrick pushed himself up.
“We will be in the courtroom in a few minutes,” Andre said. “Warn the rest of the coven that if anyone so much as considers checking in on us, they will regret it. I am not in a good mood.”
Fredrick made some meek noise and bowed—bowed—to Andre’s back before scurrying out of the room.
Once we were alone, Andre ripped the duct tape from my lips.
“Fuck,” I gasped out from the pain. I glared at Andre. “Did you have to rip it off so—”
He silenced me with a kiss. Only now that we were alone did he finally drop the façade. I felt the way his hands trembled as they caressed my cheeks. His lips brushed against mine in an apology.
He broke off the kiss and leaned his head against mine. “I am so sorry. So, so sorry.” He swept the hair off my face and held my jaw in his hands before his gaze drifted to my bound arms. One second he stared at them, and in the next he was ripping them off.
As soon as the tape was removed, Andre came back around to face me. “We don’t have much time. This is what you need to know: When I entered Bishopcourt the night of my birthday gala, you were fleeing Theodore, who was trying to kill you.”
I nodded. That was so far the truth. “Why was he trying to kill me?” I asked, keeping my voice hushed in case any vampires were trying to eavesdrop.
“He thought you were unnatural—an abomination.”
I swallowed. Hearing Andre say those words hurt, even though I knew it was just the cover story.
Sensing my mood, Andre tipped my chin up and gave me a lingering kiss. When he spoke again, he was all business. “Theodore raised the gun, I tackled you, and when you went down you cracked your head against the stairs, which knocked you out until I picked you up.”
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“So I remember nothing of what you did to Theodore or your motives,” I said.
“Correct. Stick to that story, or else,” Andre said, his expression dark.
“Or else what?”
“Or else they’ll try to make you an accessory to murder. If that happens, you’ll be convicted and sentenced to the highest punishment.”
Death. But not just death. That was not only what waited for me. Damnation and an unholy reunion with the devil. My breath stilled even as my heart galloped.
Andre placed a hand on my chest, as though that action might slow down my racing heart. “I never wanted this to happen,” he said hoarsely.
I forced myself to breathe and pushed down my terror. “I’ll stick to the story.”
“Good,” he said, “because I don’t think I could survive the alternative.”
Our gazes met, held, and then like magnets we came together, our bodies flush. Our lips met and our breath mingled. Only here, wrapped in Andre’s arms did I feel like all was right in the world. It was a beautiful illusion, but I wrapped the fantasy around me and reveled in it.
An image of Vicca entered my mind, and the illusion shattered. I pushed Andre away roughly. “You and Vicca … ?”
Andre’s brows pulled together. “What is it, Gabrielle?”
But I couldn’t finish my train of thought because even though I was jealous and hurt, I was embarrassed that I felt this way at all.
I saw the moment Andre put it together. His eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened. “Are you … jealous of her?” Andre’s lips twitched as he spoke the last word, and when I narrowed my eyes at him, his mouth drew up into an amused smile.
“You’re happy?” I asked, disbelief coating my words.
He gave a small bark of laughter and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s about time I’m not the only one in this relationship to get jealous.”