Microsoft Word - The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance.doc (75 page)

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lived. They would chain humans here until they were ready to feed; though once they’d killed those responsible for murdering  his wife and children, Liam partook as seldom as he could, and  found no joy in it, no taste, no life.

James hissed and checked the fasteners on the manacle

around Liam’s thick left wrist. Lars checked the other. Steve and

Thor checked his leg chains, which bit into Liam’s heavy motorcycle boots.

Liam could still smell the blood on the chains. The metal was rusted and weak, and it wouldn’t hold him long. Andrew surely knew that.

The four vampires moved away, signalling to Andrew that  Liam was secured. With fangs fully bared, Andrew stepped  Forwards and grabbed a handful of Liam’s plain black T-shirt and ripped it off his body. Liam didn’t move; he stared hard into the ruby-red eyes of his sire. He knew the thick sear across his chest was visible for all to see. It was three inches wide, purple and white. Scars dealt in human life didn’t heal after one rose from the grave.

“Seneca village,” Andrew said in a murderous tone as he  pointed to Liam’s scar. “It was the first village where free men  of colour owned homes. Germans lived with them and some  Irish. Irish like Liam Cadogan and his wife and three children.  From the Olde Country but three  months  and already living the  American dream of home ownership. Not so,  Liam?
 
Creid in  ádh na nĖireannach
.”

“Believe in the luck of the Irish,” Liz said. She had been  there then, with two others who had since turned to dust, staked  by humans.

“His wife and children died that night. Do you remember,

Liam, how they screamed? Moira, your lovely Irish lass.

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Seamus, the little boy, still swaddled. And Liam would have died, from that stripe across his chest, except that Liz and I came to him.”

Liz tapped her head against Claire’s and smiled prettily.

“I asked him if he wanted vengeance. I asked him if he  would become their enemy. If he would spend eternity feeding  on them, for feeding off the likes of him.”

He whirled on the nest, baring his fangs at them. All the vampires drew back, their eyes glowing from the  shadows like magical rubies.

All except for Liz, who took a step forwards dragging Claire with her. The temperature changed; the tension ratcheted up.  Something was going to happen.

“Liam said yes,” Andrew told the group. His eyes blazed

like hellfire. “
He. Said. Yes
. Swore to me  ”–

“Times have changed,” Liam said evenly, hoping to divert  Andrew’s attention while he tried to find a way out of this  debacle. Claire looked glassy-eyed as if shock had overtaken  her.

“But
 
they
 
have not changed,” Andrew retorted. “Humans  have not. They’re the same as they ever were. Greedy, barbaric  and duplicitous.”

Andrew was 600 years old. He had seen many wars, ethnic cleansings, ritual killings  –  cruelty and narrow-mindedness raised to a high art. He, like Liam and Liz,  together with the growing Wellington Nest, had watched both World Wars,  Vietnam and the Middle East. Humans
 
were
 
far more violent

than vampires could ever be. Worse, they fed off each other. A

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vampire who attacked another vampire wouldn’t live to see

another night.

Andrew spread wide his arms. “You all know this place as  Central Park. We’ve hunted here many a night. But when Liam came into this life, it was Seneca Village, a little outpost in a swamp no one else wanted. Just a few huts, a store and three

churches. They people here weren’t hurting anyone. They were

free at last, just like the speech.”

Andrew’s gaunt, porcelain face grew hard.

“But the rich swells of New York wanted a city park. So

they razed it and killed Liam’s people.”

Gleaming scarlet  eyes ticked towards Liam, studying the

purple-white scar across his chest  –  his death wound.

“Now the humans
 
say
 
they want our help   ”–   Andrew

continued.

“The humans in the House of the Phoenix,” Liam cut in.

Claire’s house. Her people. Her family.

Andrew snorted. “The House of the Phoenix is an illegal renegade organization, created by a man who’s been declared an outlaw,” Andrew scoffed. “Jean-Marc de Devereaux. A magic user. Such wielders of magical power call themselves the  Gifted.”

There was a stirring throughout the nest. Most of them had never heard of the Gifted. Liam had told only a few what he had learned.

“The gifted are even worse than normal humans  –  what
 
they
 
called ‘Ungifted’ humans  –  like Liam’s lover. This woman’s  people have crept into  the castle courtyard like a pack of serfs,

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seeking the great lord’s protection.” Andrew raised his chin and

stared coldly at Claire.

“Back in those days, I was a knight in service of such a lord.  We used serfs as cannon fodder. Then, when our enemy tried  to  starve us out, we slaughtered all those extra hungry mouths.”

Claire narrowed her eyes. “Not everyone would have done

such a thing,” she said.

All vampiric eyes gazed first at her, and then at Andrew,

who guffawed.

“I see the attraction, Liam,” he said. “She’s got hot blood.”  He mockingly swept a bow in her direction. “And her naivety is  touching, given how cynical we’ve all become.”

“Other vampires have already joined the House of the  Phoenix.” Claire’s voice quavered, but she did not falter. “All of  us are treated equally, whether we are  Gifted, Ungifted or  Supernatural.”

“That won’t last long.” Andrew’s voice was icy. “My dear

girl, you are so very expendable.”

Without warning, he darted forwards, grabbed Claire’s hair and jerked her head backwards exposing her neck. Liam jerked on his restraints as Andrew and Liz bared their fangs, hissing in anticipation.

Liam got ready to spring.

“What I think is missing is the bloodlust,” Andrew mused,  inspecting Claire’s neck as if it were a ripe pear. “Liam never  really wanted what we have. He is not a lover of the night, a  connoisseur of blood, a hunter. Like us.”

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He lowered his fangs towards Claire’s neck, and now Liam hissed. Andrew didn’t break her skin; he jerked up his head and nodded at Liz.

“Chain her beside him.” He moved aside and folded his

arms over his black sweater.

Liam watched as Liz yanked Claire forwards and threw her against the wall.
 
Click, click, click, click
 
and Claire was pinioned. Liam could hear her heart racing even faster. He could smell her fear.

“Liam,” she breathed.

“You have to love the night now Liam,” Andrew glided  towards Claire as if he couldn’t stand to be away from her; as if  she were irresistible. Liz watched with narrowed eyes and bared  fangs.

“You have to be a hunter or you’re no good to anyone, not  even your lass here.” Andrew’s smile was panther-like, and  Claire pushed hard against the wet, mouldy brick. “The peaceful  times are over. This war is like no other.”

“Which is why we need allies,” Liam argued, his instincts  urging him to strike. But he knew that if he attacked his sire  –  or  any other member of the nest  –  his and Claire’s lives would be  forfeit.

“Allies, not users,” Andrew retorted, as he left Claire and  faced the nest. “I’m your sire,” he reminded them. “I’ve lived  longer than any of you, including Liz. I know what we’re facing.  And I know we can never, ever depend on humans for anything  but treachery.”

He looked over his shoulder at Liam. “You buried your

common sense at Seneca Village, Liam Cadogan.”

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“Times have changed, Andrew,” he said again.

“You repeat a feeble argument,” Andrew’s gaze lingered on

his lieutenant. “We had a good run, you and I. I’ll miss you.”

“You don’t have to do this,” Liam said, though he had no

idea what ‘this’ was.

“We’ll leave you now,” Andrew announced. “Once we’ve  left the tunnels, some humans I’ve hired will spread crosses and  communion wafers across each of the exits. You won’t be able  to leave, Liam. You’ll be stuck here with her.”

Andrew held up a finger. “If you  send her out alone, we’ll

be waiting. And if you Change her, I’ll stake her myself.”

The other vampires stirred uneasily, glancing at each other, at their sire. Rail-thin Sanguine who had once been a Goth, tried to catch his eye. He was one of Liam’s followers, believing that they needed the strength of the House of the Phoenix behind the nest. Liam didn’t acknowledge him. If he did, Sanguine would suffer, too.

“You just said you would never harm another vampire,”  Claire said. Liam’s nestmates gaped at her temerity. Maybe she  wanted to die now and get it over with.

“Times have changed,” Andrew said, not to her, but to  Liam. “But the longest a vampire has ever lasted without  feeding is a week.”

He reached out his hand for Liz. She curled possessively around him and glared at Claire. Liam saw the hatred there; he had spurned Liz a hundred times and taken a despised human as a lover instead. And Andrew liked her; perhaps wanted her.

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“You’ll find your bloodlust, Liam. I have no doubt of that,”

Andrew continued.

“The House of the Phoenix will come after you,” Claire

said, struggling in her chains.

Andrew cocked his head; then he sauntered up to her and pressed the length of his body against hers. It was sexual and dominant, and Liam set his jaw, forcing himself not to react. He couldn’t win this round.

“I can hurt you badly without killing you, you know,” he  said slowly, as he rocked his pelvis against her. “I can maim  you. Disfigure you. I can make you beg to die.”

“
There’s
 
something to brag about,” she shot back. Her voice  shook. She took a breath and clamped shut her mouth; Liam was  afraid she was going to spit at Andrew. What would he do then?  Slash her throat? Gouge out her eyes?

Instead, Andrew cupped her breast. She gave a little cry,

blinking her eyes. Then he released her with a sneer.

“Have a good feed, Liam, and let the old dream go. When

next we meet, you’ll finally, truly, be one of us.”

Seething, Liam watched as Andrew took Liz’s hand  and walked back into the darkness. In ones and twos, the others followed. Sanguine was last.

“
I’ll go to them for help
,” he mouthed.

Liam made no expression.

And then they were alone.

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The torches flared but stayed lit as he broke free from the wall with a couple of sharp pulls and kicks. Chunks of brick clattered to the floor, into a pool of standing water. Then he unpeeled the manacles and let them fall too. A rat squeaked and scurried away.

“Andrew restrained me for dramatic effect,” he announced.

“Or to humiliate me,”

“I didn’t think they’d hold you,” Claire replied, looking

down at her own chains.

He slipped a finger between her wrist and handcuff and bent it outwards as if it were made of butter. Making short work of her bonds, he reached for her and she sank into his arms. Her damp, pliant body moulded  against his and he smelled the spice of her blood. She was warm as only the living are, and the pulse in her neck beat wildly.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured against his chest. “You told me  never to come to you. That it wouldn’t be safe. But I got a note.  It  said you needed to meet me under the Gothic Bridge. And  they were waiting.”

“A note,” he said. “Who gave it to you?”

“A vampire in our safe house named Giselle. She joined us

six months ago.”

He was alarmed. There had been no one in the Wellington  Nest  named Giselle. Andrew had gone outside to recruit someone new. He wondered if Liz knew about her. Although both Liz and Andrew took lovers, their loyalty was to each other.

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“Giselle has to be a plant. Andrew’s infiltrated the House of  the Phoenix.” He pulled her away gently. “How can your Gifted  leaders not know?”

“Maybe they do know,” she said hopefully. “Maybe I’ve

been followed, and they’re going to attack.”

“Wouldn’t Andrew know that? He would be bringing the

fight to the nest,” Liam ventured. “Why?”

Before she could answer, he began to pace.

“If he’s allied himself with someone else, someone stronger,  who could  take out the House of Phoenix, who would
 
want
 
to  take out Phoenix . . .” He froze. “Jesus, Joseph and Mary,” he  murmured, alarms detonating  like bombs. “The forces of  darkness? The House of the Blood? He shut his eyes, sickened  on behalf of his nestmates, and unable to believe that Andrew  would do such a thing. Vampires were Supernaturals, but they  weren’t evil.