Laws of the Blood 4: Deceptions: Deceptions (31 page)

“You’re going to kill me,” Andrew said, with a slight nod. He looked back at Rose. “What has this nutcase talked you into, sweetheart?”

“You want to die,” Rose said.

“No I don’t.”

“I need to become a Nighthawk,” she finished, not seeming to have heard Andrew.

“Let’s get on with the sacrifice,” Angela said impatiently. She glanced at the brightly moonlit sky. “We haven’t got all night. We’ve still got mortals to kill too.”

“I wanted to die,” Andrew said carefully. He raised his voice so every vampire in the group could hear him. “I do not wish to die.”

“You did,” Bentencourt spoke up. “You petitioned the Enforcer of the City to take your life. Rose is our Enforcer.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Andrew said to Bentencourt. “Rose can’t be an Enforcer.”

“I will be,” Rose said.

Rose Shilling’s tone chilled Sara. The nest leader sounded hypnotized. She was totally focused, but not in control of the situation. Dark magic had gotten hold of her, Sara surmised. The combination of the thrills of chase, capture, and kill had worked a spell on her. Rose Shilling was barely in control of the monster inside her. If Rose didn’t concentrate hard on the idea of killing Andrew, she would let loose and kill everything in her path.

The other vampires were just as intent on what they
wanted. What did they want? Why were Gerry and the other mortal dead? Why a Hunt? Who needed—? Sara scanned the faces of the vampires and found a new set of fangs sprouted in the mouth of a woman so covered in blood Sara had trouble recognizing her. “Cassandra,” she finally whispered. Could the nests have Hunted without permission simply to help Douglas’s companion make the transition? No, they weren’t that altruistic. This was full-blown rebellion against the Enforcer of the City. A plot to replace the vampire queen with a figurehead. Surely, Rose didn’t think she was capable of—

“You can’t replace Olympias,” Sara spoke up. “Not just by eating Andrew. It’s not that simple.”

“Thank you for your input,” Bentencourt said. “But we already have the details worked out.”

“We?” Sara asked him.

“I have the details worked out,” he admitted to her. “You and I both know who the brains in this town are.” He put his hand on her shoulder and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Let’s rule the world together, my dear. If you survive your lover’s death, that is,” he added. He actually sounded regretful.

Live without Andrew? That would not be possible. “Get your hands off me,” she told the companion.

Bentencourt was amused by Sara’s outrage. “As you wish,” he answered. “For now.” He didn’t have time to properly taunt her now, however. Time to get this sacrifice on the road. He went up to Douglas. “The ritual implements are prepared,” he politely told the sorcerer. “The sacrifice is here. It will be hard on Rose to wait any longer.”

“You can wait an eternity,” Andrew said. “I’m not volunteering for any sacrifice. Besides, Sid, you need to be an Enforcer to make one. I don’t think you have the fangs for it.”

Douglas snarled, his features transformed into a Hunting mask. “These long enough for you?”

“Calm down, Douglas,” Angela said. “He’s trying to distract us.”

“It’s not Lawful to kill me if I don’t agree,” Andrew said, concentrating on getting through to Rose. “I’ve broken no Law. I’ve changed my mind about suicide. You’re an ethical person. You don’t want to do this.”

“I—have to.” Rose looked around, seeking him.

Bentencourt stepped up to her instantly. “You must do this,” he urged.

“But Andrew doesn’t want to—”

“He has broken the Law,” Bentencourt hurried on. He pointed toward Sara. “See that girl? Feel what she is? Andrew took her.”

Rose and the others glanced toward Sara. “A new companion,” Rose said. “Proof that Andrew wants to live. We can’t—”

“We can,” Douglas insisted.

“We’ve gone too far not to,” Angela added.

“The girl—Andrew’s companion—belongs to Olympias. She’s Olympias’s slave,” Bentencourt told them. “I’ve told you about her,” he said to Rose. “She’s the Gifted one Olympias took as a slave. Andrew took her from Olympias.”

Douglas laughed. “Good for him.”

“It was still against the Law,” Bentencourt went on, concentrating all his persuasive power on Rose. “He is not the innocent he claims to be. He took something without any right to it. This is not how you taught him to behave in your house. What he did is an offense to you as well as it is to the Law.”

Rose listened and slowly nodded. “Andrew,” she said, turning back to the victim. “You have broken the Law.”

“Possibly,” Andrew answered. “But not necessarily a killing offense. I plan on taking up the matter with Olympias. You cannot judge me.”

“We have judged you,” Douglas declared.

Andrew turned slowly all the way around. “Yes. I see where I might be at a disadvan—Good Goddess!” He
pointed behind the trio of nest leaders as he shouted.

None of the nest leaders reacted. “Oh, please—” Douglas began.

Only to be interrupted by the shout of “Ghosts!” from one of the younger vampires.

Sara whirled around just as someone else screamed. She saw an amorphous shape, faint, like fog. Then, as she turned, she saw another, and another. Three—things—hovered in the air on the edges of the vampire gathering. Three things that
watched.

“Ghosts!” the panicked shout rose again.

Sara thought she felt eyes on her, but she was already so terrified she didn’t trust any hint of the unusual to be something sinister. It might just be fog and moonlight. She was surrounded by vampires for goodness’s sake! It was easy to imagine ghosts thrown into the mix as well.

The vampires took a different attitude. Maybe they could see more into the psychic realm than she could. Fear raced through them like wildfire. One of the male vampires broke and ran, disappearing into the darkness.

Bentencourt started shouting, “Calm down, calm down. There’s a logical explanation!” But none of the milling younger vampires listened to a companion.

Gavivi came running up to Angela. “What is it?” she asked. “The souls of those you killed?”

Cassandra dropped to the ground and rolled up in a tight ball; the freshly made vampire was completely overwhelmed.

Rose and Douglas turned to each other.

Andrew took the opportunity to wrap shadows around himself and slip away from the crowd. Sara, totally aware of her lover, quietly followed. It helped their exit when one of the ghosts moved forward, causing one of the younger vampires to scream.

Olympias always found it particularly satisfying to hear a vampire scream. It was a sound to whet the appetite and make the old bloodlust sing in her veins. She had
Falconer and his kids to thank for the diversion, meaning she owed them and she’d have to find a way besides killing them to get them out of her hair. Right now, she moved toward the center of the crowd. She studied the situation while she waited for a little chaos to set in from the ghostly manifestations. She knew how freaked she’d been when she’d first encountered the Walkers in the park. That had only been residue of their astral projections, this was the real thing. The psychic resonance Walking set off was disturbing under normal circumstances. Olympias smiled at the effect it had on vampires keyed up for the Hunt. Amid the screaming, shouting, and milling, she saw that Andrew and Sara recognized a diversion when they were in the middle of one and were quietly trying to make their escape. She admired their taking the incentive, but Olympias hoped Sara and her lover didn’t think she’d arranged this for them.

Andrew tried hiding them within a circle of shadow, but Olympias followed them, moved swiftly to intercept them before they made it to the woods. “Don’t go anywhere,” she whispered in Andrew’s ear as she passed them by. She didn’t glance back to see if they obeyed as she moved away.

Olympias swerved around a baby vampire girl in a fetal position on the ground. The girl reeked of Gerry Hansell’s blood. “Not pretty,” Olympias murmured. “Not pretty at all.”

Olympias switched her attention to the real danger in this tableau. The sight of the trio of nest leaders in the center of the field wasn’t a pretty one, either. The energy that had been draining from all the life and death in the park was drawn toward the male nest leader, Sid the Sorcerer. He was full of power now, bloated on possibility.

Andrew wasn’t on the run from her was he? Well, well, well . . .

Looked like Sidney Douglas had some dark, deep magic planned for this evening. The baby vampire was of Sidney’s blood. Why wasn’t he running to aid the
suffering bloodchild he’d just made? Instead, he had his hand on Rose’s arm, talking to her low and fast. Angela stared wildly around. She wanted to run, but stank of the fear of failure more. Rose looked more like a zombie than a vampire. A companion had his hand on her other arm, and he was talking to her as well.

What was the matter with these people? And what was that in Rose’s hand?

“Let’s have a look at that.” Olympias appeared in front of Rose and snatched the silver dagger away before anyone noticed she was there.

A second later, Angela screamed.

Olympias supposed she could have asked questions and stabbed later, but Sidney Douglas stepped back, lifted his arms in a ritual gesture and began an incantation. A wave of dizziness hit her even as she struck. The soft point of the silver dagger would not have pierced the vampire’s chest on its own. It was the force with which she struck that buried the long blade in the sorcerer’s heart. That didn’t kill him, but it turned the incantation into a scream. Olympias’s dizziness disappeared when the words stopped. Closing her hand around the heat of Douglas’s beating heart was a thoroughly satisfying sensation. Ripping it out would have been easier had she fully transformed to her Hunter’s Mask and used her fangs to dig out the vampire’s heart. This way was a bit slower, but equally effective, especially since it was more painful for Sidney.

“No one tries to pull that magic crap on me,” she told the dying vampire.

Watching his face as he died was equally pleasant. She made sure she held his heart up in the moonlight, so he could get a good look at it while his eyes glazed over. Olympias felt the new-made fledgling die moments after her maker. The young one was unable to take the trauma of losing the connection with her bloodsire so soon after making the change. Seeing the ghosts must have already weakened her fragile hold on sanity.

No loss there
, Olympias thought. She would have executed the girl anyway, for killing Gerry. The fledgling was hardly to blame for having killed the one her maker gave her, but Olympias would have taken revenge for her slave’s death. Justice, she told herself as she turned to the two other nest leaders. Gerry had not deserved to die. Nor had the other mortal the nests hunted down.

Olympias took a moment to assess the situation around her. The ghosts were fading. If Mike was smart he was escorting his people home. More than likely he was making his way toward the vampire riot to have a look for himself. Bitch had left her post guarding the Walkers by this time and came trotting up to Olympias’s side. Olympias tossed the vampire’s heart on the ground. Bitch sniffed it, and the bodies, but took no other interest in the fresh meat.

Olympias wiped blood off her hands and the dagger on her shirt. She examined the blade and ran a thumb over the huge ruby set in the hilt. “Run and you are dead,” she advised the quivering Angela. Then she held the still blood-smeared weapon up in front of Rose. “My son sent me this dagger from India. I gave it to Orpheus. It ought to be in a museum. What the hell are you doing with it?”

It wasn’t Rose who answered, but her companion, who laughed. “Your son?” The words were bitter and angry. He looked like he wanted to laugh again, but pressed his lips tightly together instead. He was a balding, plain man, yet there was something familiar about him. He was also frighteningly Gifted. A great deal of power flashed from him momentarily, then he tried to hide it.

Bentencourt hadn’t been able to stop the outburst and couldn’t regret it even though he knew it was dangerous to confront the Enforcer with his troops in such disarray. He needed to regroup, get out of here.

Bentencourt could not let passion rule him, but the sight of the skinny whore nearly drove him mad. With hatred, and with lust, he had to admit. She’d always
affected Philip that way. She hadn’t changed. She’d always been as beautiful as a fine blade, and as dangerous. Philip always craved that beauty and danger.
I am not Philip,
he sternly reminded himself.
I am Philip reborn. She defeated Philip, she will not defeat me.
He looked around and had to pragmatically accept that he may have lost a battle here, but he could not let this be the whole war.

As long as Rose lived he would be all right, he would find another chance, even if it took decades. As long as he had his chance at eternity he would eventually win. All he could do right now was stand by as the nest leaders confronted the most wicked woman who had ever lived and hunt for an opportunity to help Rose. Besides, he loved her, he was her companion. He concentrated on that love to cover his combined hate and lust for the witch who’d been wed to Philip.

“Who killed the other mortal?”

Both Rose and Angela reacted with surprise to Olympias’s question.