Bloodborn (42 page)

Mathilda laughed. ‘Yer doin’ just fine with that all by yer lonesome.’

As the argument continued, Ulrika edged back towards Holmann. ‘Take the monster’s head and go,’ she whispered. ‘Before they remember you are here.’

Holmann looked at the Strigoi’s head, which was bleeding into the carpet where Ulrika had dropped it, but still he hesitated.

‘Will you come to harm for letting me go?’ he asked.

She smirked and pressed his arm. ‘My safety is not your concern.’

He smiled wryly at that, then frowned again, his eyes troubled. ‘I–’

The door to the front hall opened, cutting off his words, and Frau Otilia stepped in, looking flushed, but otherwise as neat and prim as she always had. ‘Your pardon, mistresses,’ she said, curtseying.

Hermione’s argument with Gabriella and Mathilda trailed off as they noticed her.

Hermione’s eyes went wide. ‘You dare to show your face again, traitor? I shall have your head for what you have done!’

Gabriella started towards her, claws extending. ‘Your plot failed, wretch. We have destroyed the doom you wished upon us.’

‘Oh, but you have not,’ she said, then curtseyed again and smiled at Hermione. ‘Captain Meinhart Schenk to see you, mistress.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

THE TESTING OF A VOW

Mathilda yelped like a dog and bolted out the smashed-in garden doors at Otilia’s words, but the others seemed too stunned to react. They only stared as the housekeeper stepped to the side and bowed the tall, broad figure of the witch hunter captain and six of his dour lieutenants into the room. The templars strode in booted and spurred, long coats flaring, and hands on the hilts of their long swords as they glared around.

Beside Ulrika, Templar Holmann grunted with what sounded like dismay, and she heard Famke and Hermione growling, but before the Lahmians could betray themselves, Gabriella strode forwards and spread her arms in welcome.

‘Captain Schenk!’ she cried. ‘I’m so glad you’ve come!’

The witch hunter stopped foursquare in the centre of the room and gave her a level look. ‘Are you now?’ he asked dryly. ‘So you are looking forward to your arrest?’

Gabriella put a hand to her breast and looked surprised. ‘Arrest me? I don’t understand. Are you not here to save us from the horrible fiends that attacked us?’

‘Don’t talk nonsense,’ said Schenk. ‘
You
are the fiends.’

Gabriella’s eyes widened. ‘Captain, what strange misapprehension are you under? Look around you! We have been the victims of a terrible attack!’

Schenk glared at her scornfully. ‘You shall be victims of Sigmar’s justice soon enough, seducer. You–’ He paused as he saw Holmann standing beside Ulrika. ‘Templar Holmann? What are you doing here?’ he asked sharply.

Holmann looked to Ulrika, his jaw working, and she was afraid that he was going to betray her then and there, but after an endless second, he stepped aside to reveal the Strigoi’s head on the carpet behind him.

‘I… I came to slay the vampire, captain,’ he said.

Schenk stared at the huge, ugly head, making the sign of the hammer on his chest. ‘Sigmar’s golden beard, what foul beast is this?’

‘Have you not been listening, captain?’ asked Gabriella, stepping forwards. ‘We have been besieged here. This vampire and its hideous servants broke in and tried to kill us!’

‘And why would a vampire kill other vampires?’ asked Schenk.

Gabriella stared at him, then looked around at Hermione, Famke and Ulrika. ‘You still believe us vampires? I thought we cleared up all that silliness before.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘To think so many innocent women died because you were amusing yourselves invading ladies’ parlours and questioning their virtue when you should have been out in the streets hunting for that!’

‘Innocent women!’ sneered Schenk. ‘Lady, you will have to do better than that to cozen me! I saw the corpses of the others with my own eyes – beautiful highborn ladies like yourself, hiding their monstrous nature with honeyed words and witchy wiles, just as you do.’ He glared around at them all. ‘You are a foul sisterhood of fiends, seducing others to a fate worse than death, and you shall burn for it!’ He turned to his men. ‘Arrest them!’

Gabriella stepped forwards, hands outstretched in supplication. ‘Captain, please! Listen! You don’t understand! Those women were good servants of Sigmar and the Empire until that monster attacked them! It was he that made them as you saw them! And it was he that killed them when they refused, even in their corrupted state, to go against their nature and be his brides!’

Schenk stopped and stared at Gabriella, and Ulrika did too. From the moment they had walked in the door, she’d thought it inevitable that they would have to kill Schenk and his men, but somehow, impossibly, the countess seemed to have found an explanation that might appease the witch hunters and save their places in society – that is, she had if Schenk believed her. Her admiration for the countess rose even higher. Never had she seen so quick and clever a speaker.

Captain Schenk waved back his men, then stood before Gabriella, his hands on his hips. ‘What is this you say? How do you know this? If I remember correctly, you arrived in Nuln only a few days ago. And
you
…’ He turned to point at Hermione. ‘You said you hardly knew the other women at all.’

‘I do not
know
, captain,’ Gabriella said. ‘Not for certain, for I never met the other ladies who were the beast’s victims, but I can infer from what it said to us when it attacked us. It said it wanted us for its brides. It said it wanted a queen.’ She raised her chin. ‘And if you do not believe that we repelled its advances to the best of our abilities, look upon our dead.’ She indicated Rodrik’s corpse, limp and white upon the chaise, and then those of the other gentlemen sprawled across the floor. ‘My champion, Lady Hermione’s guards, all killed while defending us. And still they were not enough.’ She turned to Holmann. ‘Were it not for the intervention of this brave young templar, you would indeed have found a house of vampire women here, for it would have infected us all. Instead, he saved us, and perhaps all the women of Nuln. We are forever in his debt.’

Schenk swung his heavy head to look at Holmann as Gabriella curtseyed to him. ‘Templar, is this true?’ he growled. ‘Did you save these women from becoming vampires?’

Ulrika’s jaw clenched as Holmann hesitated. This was the moment of truth – or untruth. He had not had to lie yet. Would he do so now and honour his vow to her, or would his vow to his god and his order take precedence? She shot him a pleading look. He did not look at her.

‘I… I shot the beast, captain,’ he said. ‘And it was my sword that slew it.’

Ulrika had to fight to hide a smile. Well done, Herr Holmann, she thought. Neither a lie nor the whole truth.

‘And the women?’ Schenk pressed.

‘I saw no evidence that they are anything other than what they appear,’ said Holmann.

And he has the makings of a lawyer, thought Ulrika.

‘But, but you denounced them before!’ sputtered Schenk. He pointed at Ulrika. ‘You called that one vampire in my presence!’

Ulrika’s stomach dropped. She had forgotten about that. Holmann and Schenk had seen them in the yard of the Wolf’s Head. The ruse was going to collapse. They would have to fight after all.

Holmann swallowed. ‘At the time… I thought she was, for I saw her fight with a strength and agility that I could not credit a natural woman possessing.’ He grimaced, and Ulrika thought he was close to tears. ‘But she has proved herself no fiend. She is the daughter of a boyar, a noble warrior who twice saved my life from this monster’s minions, and who fought by my side against it.’

‘Are you beglamoured, boy?’ barked Schenk. ‘We saw them together. You pointed her out! You said you had seen her fangs!’

‘When was this?’ broke in Gabriella quickly. ‘I do not recall meeting Templar Holmann before this night.’

Schenk turned on her. ‘Ha! Do you lie now? You were at that hellish brothel, the Wolf’s Head, in the Faulestadt. You ran us down in your coach!’

Gabriella drew herself up disdainfully. ‘A brothel? South of the river? Ridiculous! No lady of quality or upright character would go to such a place.’

‘You make my point for me,’ said Schenk dryly. ‘But there’s no use denying it, countess. I saw you. My men saw you.’

‘Truly?’ said Gabriella, haughty. ‘Or do you dislike me so much that you saw only what you wished to see?’ She reached up and smoothed her mussed coiffeur. ‘Tell me, then. How did I wear my hair? And Ulrika, did she wear her wig, or was she showing her blonde locks as now?’

Schenk snorted. ‘Do not seek to trick me, countess. You wore a veil and your ward had her cloak over her head against the daylight. Proof of your vampirism, if any other was needed.’

Gabriella stopped dead and stared at him in apparent disbelief. ‘You saw a woman with a veil over her face, and another woman hiding beneath a cloak and you decided they were Ulrika and I? Really, captain, perhaps it is you who is beglamoured.’ She turned to Schenk’s men, holding out an imperious hand. ‘Did any of you see these women’s faces? Any of you?’ She looked to Holmann when they stayed silent. ‘Templar?’

Holmann shook his head, looking befuddled. ‘In truth I did not, m’lady. Not clearly.’

‘But the woman told us you would be there!’ said Schenk, his face red and flustered.

‘What woman?’ demanded Gabriella. ‘Who gave you this lie?’

‘The same as brought us here!’ said Schenk, turning back towards the door to the front hall. ‘Frau Krohner, Lady Hermione’s housekeeper.’

Everyone turned with him, but Otilia was not there. It appeared she had slipped away sometime during the proceedings. Captain Schenk paused, confused.

Gabriella smiled to herself. ‘Captain, I would not believe the word of that woman. I know not what madness possessed her, but I believe that she was in league with the fiend from the beginning. I believe it was her that led the thing to the women it killed, for she certainly led it here tonight.’

‘What?’ said Schenk. ‘You have proof of this?’

‘Her absence would seem proof enough,’ said Gabriella. ‘But there is indeed more.’ She turned to Hermione. ‘Cousin, have you the note we found?’

Hermione blinked, for a moment confused, then remembered. ‘Yes!’ she said. ‘I have it.’

She reached into her sleeve and drew out the note, then handed it to Schenk. ‘You will find that it is written in Otilia’s hand,’ she said.

‘We found it upon one of the monster’s minions,’ added Gabriella as Schenk unfolded it.

“No word of G,” murmured Schenk, reading aloud. “At your order, H has been convinced to retreat to MH. M has been summoned too. Map enclosed.” He looked up, his brow clouded, then looked from Gabriella to Hermione. ‘G for Countess Gabriella. H for Lady Hermione. Who is M?’

Ulrika tensed, shooting a nervous look at Gabriella. What lie could she tell to cover that? If she mentioned Mathilda, it would link them to the Wolf’s Head and all would collapse again. But if she made up a name, Schenk would be able to check it and find it false.

‘I know not,’ said Gabriella smoothly. ‘But is your first name not Meinhart, captain?’

Schenk’s mouth fell open. His men looked at each other – the first human reaction Ulrika had seen from them.

‘But – but why would she summon us if she conspired with the fiend?’ Schenk asked, as much to himself as to the others.

Gabriella shrugged. ‘A trap?’ she asked. ‘Perhaps she thought it would slay you after it murdered us. Or that you would arrest us if it failed.’

Schenk crumpled the note in his hand, then turned away with a curse and chewed his lip.

‘She cannot have got far, captain,’ said Gabriella, speaking to his back. ‘Catch her and you will know all.’

Schenk turned back to her, glaring. ‘You are right,’ he said. ‘And I will compare her story with yours in minute detail. Sigmar shall have his reckoning!’ he spun for the door, his long coat flaring, and beckoned for his men. ‘Come. To the horses. Holmann, you too, and bring that head.’

His men started after him, and Holmann turned to Ulrika and gave her a sad look of farewell, but before Schenk had reached the hall, Gabriella stepped after him.