From Fear to Eternity: An Immortality Bites Mystery (14 page)

“Sarah . . .”

“You won’t bite me again.” I looked into his eyes. “I know you won’t.”

“You’re betting your life on this.”

“I know.”

He let go of me and took a step back. His entire body began to shake. “Run.”

This was a very good sign, but I was going to hold back my victory dance for now. “No way. I’m not running anymore.”

He let out a harsh groan. “You are so incredibly frustrating!”

“I’m not running.” I said it again, firmer. “Look at me, Thierry.”

He was breathing hard, but he raised his gaze to mine. It was still black, but now it didn’t hold the coldness that I’d seen before. There was pain and struggle.

He was fighting the spell.

“This isn’t easy,” he gritted out.

“I didn’t say it would be.”

He fell to his knees and grasped his head in his hands. I took a step closer and he glared up at me. “Stay back.”

I faltered, still clutching the stake. Then I threw it away from me. It clattered and clanged to the ground ten feet away.

Thierry let out another groan. “Why are you doing this? Are you completely out of your mind?”

“Possibly.” But I’d never felt more sure about anything in my life. “You won’t hurt me.”

“I bit you earlier in the library.”

“I’m not counting that one. The spell took you by surprise then.”

He still glared. “You are a fool when it comes to me.”

“Oh, absolutely. No question about it.”

He went silent for a few tense minutes, crouched on the ground, his body shaking from head to foot. Then, finally, he slowly pushed himself up to his feet. When he looked at me, I was relieved to see that his eyes had begun to shift back to their normal pale gray shade.

However, the fierce glare was still there.

“I’m extremely angry with you,” he informed me.

I couldn’t hold back my smile. “I can deal with that.”

“Damn it, Sarah. You shouldn’t have risked your safety like that.”

“You’re feeling . . . ?”

“I believe you were right about the strength of the spell—it was not cast by a strong witch. But believe me, Sarah, you were most certainly in danger. There was a dark hunger inside me that needed to be sated.” His glare intensified. “This is not a statement that should be greeted with a smile that wide.”

It was true, I was definitely smiling. “I can’t help it.”

He hissed out a breath. “Why do you put up with me?”

“Obviously, I’m completely out of my mind.” I closed the distance between us, took his face between my hands, and kissed him. He pulled me closer to him.

“I adore you,” he whispered. “Do you know that?”

“I know. But thank you for the confirmation.” Now I couldn’t stop grinning even if I tried. “Now let’s go find your ex-wife and get the hell out of here.”

He had no argument with that. Inwardly celebrating our victory over Thierry’s thirst monster, I took his arm, and we headed back to the tavern. It wasn’t too far, only a couple minutes’ walk, and I could see it in the distance on the right of the cobblestone street.

But I saw something else, too, lying in the middle of the street between us and the tavern.

A body.

My throat tightened. “Crap. Who is that?”

“I don’t know.”

As we got closer to the body, I realized with a sick, sinking feeling that it was someone I recognized.

It seemed that Frederic Dark had found a passageway to Vampireland like the rest of us had. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be making the return trip.

The enchanted dagger he’d won in the auction was sticking straight out of his
chest.

T
hierry crouched down next to Frederic’s body and felt his throat. “I can’t find a pulse.”

Fred was dead.

Which didn’t make sense. Vampires older than a century disintegrated when they were killed, and I’d gotten the impression Frederic was at least that old. “Why’s his body still intact?”

“It’s rather unusual.” Thierry continued to inspect the body. There was a bloody wound on his forearm. “This is likely where he attempted to block the dagger.”

A shadow fell on us and the very next moment a man-sized object hurtled through the air, knocking Thierry to the ground.

The man-sized object was Marcellus.

“Stay down!” Marcellus snarled. “I will not let you harm these fair ladies, you beastly man!”

Veronique pulled me to my feet and shielded me with her body. “You will not hurt anyone else tonight. Sarah is hereby under my protection!”

“That’s not necessary,” I told her. “But thank you. I do appreciate it.”

She frowned at me. “Whatever do you mean? He is driven by his dangerous thirst!”

Despite everything, I was actually touched by the fact that she seemed to care enough to intervene. “Actually, he managed to break that spell. He’s fine.”

Thierry nodded from beneath Marcellus’s tight hold on him.

“I would not go as far as to say I’m fine, but I’m certainly better than I was.” He glanced up at Marcellus. “You would be well advised to release me now.”

Marcellus scowled down at him. “How do I know these are not lies?”

“They’re not,” I said. “Spell is broken. He’s back to his regular level of bloodthirstiness, so probably like a three out of ten.”

“Six at the moment,” Thierry said.

“Six out of ten?” I grimaced. “That’s not great.”

“It’s much better than a ten, believe me.”

Marcellus finally, reluctantly, released Thierry and stood up, offering his hand to help Thierry stand.

Thierry stood on his own without help, brushed off his suit, and walked a slow circle around Marcellus. “It’s uncanny, Veronique. He looks just as I remember him.”

Marcellus regarded both of them with confusion. “Of course I do. How else would I look?”

“It doesn’t matter, darling,” Veronique said, but there was a thread of sadness in her voice. “Thierry is cured of his dreadful problem. Quite a miracle, I must say. Most problems such as this are not solved so easily.”

“It wasn’t exactly easy,” I said.

“Actually, Sarah, it was, all things considered.” Thierry appeared to contemplate this for a moment. “But let’s hope that the problem has, in fact, resolved itself. Sebastien tried to ruin me and he very nearly
succeeded. If he learns he’s failed, we don’t know what else he might have planned. It would be best if we kept this between us so he doesn’t know I’ve fought against the spell and won.”

Veronique nodded. “I agree. But at least we know all is well.”

“I wouldn’t say
all
is well.” I glanced down at Frederic.

“Yes, this is a problem.” Veronique looked down at the body. “Who did this?”

Good question. “Well, it wasn’t us,” I said.

Veronique eyed it with surprise. “That is the Amaranthian Dagger he acquired during the auction.”

“Yeah. Sebastien said it could help a mortal lengthen his life if he drank blood using the dagger and it could help a vampire become totally immortal.” I grimaced. “Wild guess, but I think that legend is wrong.”

“Such a weapon kills as surely as any wooden stake,” Marcellus said. “This man is dead.”

Thanks for the confirmation, Marcellus.

Thierry studied Frederic’s body, which was partially lit by a nearby flickering lamp. “His body should no longer be intact. Perhaps that is another side effect this particular dagger has when used to slay a vampire.”

I looked down at Frederic. “He must have found a passageway like we did—maybe even the same one as Veronique and me. He could have been the one who killed Jacob, not Anna.”

Veronique’s expression grew thoughtful. “That could be.”

“So you don’t think it was me anymore?” Thierry said wryly.

“I am sorry, my darling. But what was I to think? You were not yourself.”

“You could have given me the benefit of the doubt.”

She smiled. “Next time I shall do just that. Thank you for the suggestion.”

Marcellus gazed at her with adoration. “Veronique only acted as she could. She is a forgiving woman.” He gestured toward me. “Especially when it comes to forgiving your indiscretions with this fledgling.”

Thierry sighed with weary patience. “Sarah and I are married.”

Marcellus looked shocked. “Sir, you are admitting to bigamy!”

“No. Veronique and I had our marriage dissolved and . . . why am I explaining this? You’re not really Marcellus.”

He stomped his foot. “I most certainly am Marcellus!”

I tried to tune their voices out so I could focus on Frederic for a moment—from the wound on his arm to the dagger sticking out of his chest.

Who had done this to him?

One suspect in particular seemed to keep coming up again and again.

“You know, earlier I heard him and Anna arguing,” I said. “They might seem like a matched set, but I think they were having marital difficulties. They said some pretty nasty things to each other.”

“All marriages have their stresses,” Veronique said dismissively.

Very true. Some more stressful than others. “Yeah, but she used to be a vampire hunter. If she decided
she’d made a mistake by marrying Frederic, by living a life as a vampire Purist under his thumb for all these years, maybe she wanted to end things between them by going back to her roots.”

Veronique’s heels clicked against the cobblestones as she drew closer. “You believe she murdered him?”

I’d say it was a good bet, actually. “We already suspected her of Jacob’s murder, right? She mentioned how thirsty she was.”

“This is true.” Veronique crossed her arms and paced back and forth. “Very true. We don’t have any idea what kind of a woman Anna Dark really is, do we? We have only a few tidbits about her that certainly do not paint the most attractive portrait.”

Anna could have killed Jacob, then taken the passageway here with Frederic and offed him, figuring that she’d leave his body in a place that wouldn’t really exist if it wasn’t for the temporarily contained magic from the amulet. Sounded very neat and tidy—and, well,
contained
.

I considered this for a moment. “Maybe she was surprised that his body didn’t turn to goo.”

“I’m sure she was.”

“Who is this Anna you speak of?” Marcellus asked. “She sounds like a true villainess who must be defeated.”

“Don’t worry about it, Marcellus. We have it under control.” Which was a lie, but I didn’t see how he could help. It wasn’t as if he could return to the mansion with us. I turned toward Thierry. “We should take his body back with us. We can’t leave him here.”

“Agreed,” he said.

“We should probably begin by putting this dagger somewhere safe so it doesn’t end up in someone else.”
Veronique leaned over and pulled the dagger from Frederic’s chest.

In seconds, Frederic’s body disintegrated right before our eyes on the cobblestone road.

“Oh dear.” Veronique stepped back quickly before her expensive shoes could get soiled by his remains. “That is rather unfortunate.”

To put it mildly. I would never get used to seeing that. One moment a solid body, the next moment a black puddle.

Still, it made me wonder why Anna hadn’t done exactly what Veronique just did.

“Why would she leave the dagger behind?” I murmured aloud. “She could have sold it for big bucks and gotten rid of his body at the same time.”

“It’s possible she was in a hurry to get away,” Thierry replied. “Perhaps she saw us approaching.”

I suppose that made sense. But maybe Anna simply didn’t care about the dagger for any reason other than using it to kill her husband.

“It’s likely she’s already gone.” Veronique handed the dagger to Thierry with distaste.

Thierry drew a handkerchief from his inner jacket pocket, wrapped the blade in it, and tucked it into his jacket.

“Be careful with that,” I told him.

“Trust me, I will be very careful.”

“We must apprehend Anna Dark so she will answer for her crimes,” Veronique announced.

“That is my Veronique,” Marcellus said, nodding proudly. “A champion of vampire justice, of right, of glory. So beautiful and so brave. All women should aspire to be like her.”

“Oh, my darling. You always knew me better than
anyone else.” She embraced him and kissed him deeply.

I exchanged a look with Thierry, who looked perplexed by their public display of affection.

“This reminds me a great deal of how it was in the past whenever they were together,” he said.

“It’s kind of adorable.”

“Not the word I would use.”

No, there were plenty of other words for it, but “adorable” worked for me. Seeing Veronique so infatuated was a major revelation. “Let her enjoy him while he’s still here.”

Marcellus took a step back from Veronique, frowning at me. “What do you mean, while I’m still here? Where would I be going?”

Veronique slid her arm around his waist. “Pay no attention to Sarah, my darling. She’s not much of a romantic.”

“I will always be by your side,” he told her. “Today and always. I swear this is true.”

Her face shadowed with such raw pain that my heart ached for her.

Although, for the record, I
am
a romantic.

“I wish you were real,” she whispered. “But this is not to be. You were lost to me a very long time ago, but know that no other man has ever claimed the place in my heart that you held—that you will continue to hold forever.”

I was starting to choke up. She really loved him. I wished he was real, too, so Veronique could get her happy ending after all these years.

“Veronique, what is going on?” Marcellus said.

“It’s too much to explain. You might not understand anyway.”

“No, I mean . . . what is going on with the street?”

I glanced over my shoulder to follow his line of sight and saw that he was right to be concerned.

A fog had begun to roll in.

Not just any fog.

Whatever it touched blurred and then vanished from sight.

Veronique inhaled sharply. “
Mon dieu
. I knew this would happen.”

A chill raced down my spine. “What’s happening?”

Her expression was bleak and fearful. “The magic contained here must be draining away. I will assume it’s not enough to sustain this place any longer, especially since we’ve gone so far off the original storyline.”

I grabbed Thierry’s arm. “I think that’s our cue to leave. Like, now.”

His gaze moved from the fog to lock with mine. “An excellent plan.”

“Back to the tavern. I sure hope that passageway is still there.”

As the fog drew closer, the four of us began running away from Frederic’s remains and toward the tavern in the distance. It was good to see that Veronique was as adept at running in high heels as I was.

Practice made perfect.

One big problem when we got there, though: Stefan’s two henchmen blocked the entrance.

“Veronique. You’ve returned,” one said.

“Step aside,” she hissed.

“We cannot do that. We must hold you until Stefan returns.”

“Stefan’s dead,” I informed them. At their aghast looks, I shrugged. “I guess he won’t be getting that sequel after all.”

Maybe it sounded heartless, but Stefan was fictional.
And
he tried to kill me.

Those were two big strikes against him.

“No!” the other hunter wailed, shaking his fist at the sky. “Not Stefan! He was the best of all of us.”

Veronique winced and exchanged a glance with me. “The book’s production schedule was rushed, but I do wish I’d had time to fix a few things in copyedits.”

“Overly dramatic vampire hunters?”

“Perhaps I could have pulled back just a tad.”

Marcellus grabbed one hunter and Thierry grabbed the other, shoving them out into the street. They stood there stunned, then began moving back to the tavern entrance just as the fog reached them and wrapped them up in its misty fingers. They disappeared from sight.

I frantically turned toward the busy tavern and scanned it. “Where’s the passageway? Damn it. It was right there!”

Where the opening had been earlier was now only a solid wall.

The fog drew closer and closer.

I clutched Thierry’s arm.

“There’s another one over there,” he said.

I looked where he indicated toward a crowd of people who magically faded from sight. One by one,
all the tavern patrons disappeared so only the room now remained visible.

And I saw it. Another passageway, smaller than the previous ones.

“We must move,” Thierry commanded. “Now.”

We ran across the room, which began to feel less solid, the floor more mushy and slippery, like pudding. I nearly lost my footing, but Thierry kept hold of my arm to steady me.

“I feel it . . . ” I managed.

“Magic?”

I nodded.

“I feel it, too,” he said.

“I feel nothing, but I will trust you both.” Veronique’s voice held both panic and deep regret. “Farewell, Marcellus, my love! I will never forget you!”

Once we made it to the opening, I slipped through without another thought. Thierry was right behind me, and Veronique was on his heels.

The fog reached the passageway just as we did and tendrils of mist wrapped around my ankles, tugging, slowing my progress before they finally, thankfully, drew back.

It was dark in there, but I kept moving, slowing down just a little to put my hands out in front of me. We finally came to a wall, and I felt around until I found the shape of a door and a cold brass knob.

I held my breath and turned it, then pushed forward.

The door opened into a room, which I staggered into, heaving a great sigh of relief.

“We made it!” I threw myself into Thierry’s arms as he came through the doorway. “We’re okay!”

He squeezed me tight, then glanced at Veronique as she emerged from the passageway.