Tempest of Vengeance (29 page)

It dawned on me that both he and Dev thought
that I hadn’t gotten them anything, and they were trying to
reassure me. I was more than content to let them think that, for
now.

* * * *

Christmas breakfast was delightful. Devlin
had gotten a potion the night before from Titus, so he joined Lash,
Venus, and I in eating some pancakes, eggs, toast, bacon, hash
browns, ham and sausage. It was true he only had one helping, and
Lash had two, but at the speed Lash ate, Devlin wasn’t made to feel
he rushed any, even though as usual he had only five minutes to
finish eating. Serena was absent, visiting Theoron at his request
to spend Christmas morning with him at his home. I wondered about
Nick but said nothing, as it certainly wasn’t my business. I was
feeling odd enough not having T or Elle here for breakfast. But it
made sense that Elle was with her father, and that I’d see her
later on. As for T, he was almost a full adult now. He had his own
life to lead, and one day, he’d have his own family.

I felt really old and unnecessary, thinking
about all that. But then Devlin hugged me, and I looked over at
Lash talking with Venus, and decided it was okay. I had people who
loved me, and people to love, and that was what Christmas morning
was truly about anyway.

Our breakfast was largely undisturbed, save
by Terian, who came by to drop off a gift basket from both Titus
and Leri, and some wine from he and Sundown. I offered him some
breakfast, which he was glad to accept. Apparently, Serena was
discussing her faith with Jenny and T this morning, and he was glad
to be absent from that, though Sundown was there listening.

“It’s hard enough just moving around today,”
Terian said with a groan.

“But Chr...my G...um, He wasn’t even actually
born on this day—” I began.

“Doesn’t matter, it matters that so many
believe he was born today,” Terian said, scarfing down ham and
bacon and sausage in large quantities, so much so Lash was eyeing
him with an irritated look. “It’s a huge outpouring of belief, and
it makes me feel weak.”

“Why is that, exactly?” Lash hissed, his tone
interested. “I have heard that alluded to by Titus, that it is not
the religion itself, but the faith behind it that causes you
pain?”

“I’m not telling you anything,” Terian said,
giving him a dark appraising look. “You might use it against me
someday.”

Lash shot him a look of bared teeth, and then
he got that Terian was joking with him. Lash seemed not to know
what to do when he realized that, so he grinned. “I probably
would,” he said finally, and laughed. “Keep your secrets,
Tears.”

We all went quiet, hearing Lash use his
nickname. Lash seemed ill at ease the moment all of us focused on
him, and I quickly covered for him, asking Terian if he had gotten
the basket we sent.

“Yes, and thanks,” he said, eating the last
of his pancakes. “It got devoured last night, when we were sitting,
and talking...”

He trailed off, and now it was me ill at
ease, thinking of the friends I’d made over the past few years all
sitting there without me, and not missing me at all. But this time
Dev covered for me.

“Titus got my present as well?” he
purred.

Terian blushed, and nodded. “He said to thank
you. He needed...them.”

Devlin nodded, but that had put a pall on the
conversation. Because I was guessing what Devlin had sent to Titus.
Dead bodies as presents? Eww
.

Terian hugged Venus and I good-bye, nodded to
Dev and Lash, and a moment later, he was gone.

“Shall we open presents?” Devlin said with a
grin, and Venus ran for the living room with a shout.

“I guess that’s a ‘yes,’” Lash said,
chuckling.

I loaded the dishwasher, and put the pans in
the sink to soak. Then I went in to join them.

The presents took an hour to finish, in spite
of there being a pile of them. But Venus made short work of the
wrapping, taking about .5 seconds to rip it off on average. Devlin
took a lot of pictures with his phone, and it was true, most of the
presents were for Venus. Books, movies, dolls, clothes, toys, and
shoes. But she was polite, and thanks were given, after a while at
least.

Devlin had gotten me several gifts: a silvery
velvet robe, and also a new black velvet robe for lounging, and a
huge basket of chocolate, and also a pair of bear head earrings not
unlike the ones Danial had gotten me with his symbol. Like those,
these bears had red eyes, not green.

I felt self-conscious, but I took out Lash’s
earrings he had given me, and put Devlin’s on. He nodded in
appreciation.

Lash had also gotten me a few other small
gifts. A gift certificate for Amazon.com, a gift certificate for
Penzy’s spices, and a pair of well made, top-of-the-line work
gloves. I was touched, that he knew me well enough to know I needed
work gloves. I’d never gotten them as a gift before, not even from
my parents. I had not a single pair to my name here at Hayden, as
all the spare pairs that I’d stockpiled at my house were ashes.

I gave him a smile and said thanks, and tried
hard not to make it seem as though this gift was nothing other than
a small tool I was grateful for. But as I opened them, and looked
up at Lash, he caught the look in my eyes, and I saw it reflected
in his eyes, before he changed, his eyes going flat. I thanked him
quickly, and moved onto the next present, putting the gloves
aside.

He’s right to hide, and you’d better do
the same
. I didn’t want Dev getting jealous on this morning of
all mornings. It was enough for both of us that his gift had
touched me deeply. I’d have time to thank him privately later on in
the evening.

I gave Devlin his own copy of
Sweeny
Todd
, a six-month subscription to a flower bouquet of the month
club, and his own handmade robe of silver lamé, with a silver-gray
velvet collar and sash. He seemed to like it, telling me he would
wear the robe for me later. I presented Lash with a bottle of
Ardbeg 1974, which he almost salivated over. But according to the
experts on the Internet, it was the best scotch to be had on the
market today. It had taken a large chunk of my savings to procure
it, but hell, what was money for, if not for things like this?

Soon, all the presents were opened, and Venus
was happily coloring on the floor in a new book, with new crayons,
dressed in a fairy costume I’d made for her. Lash, Devlin, and I
were curled together on the couch watching
Sweeny Todd
, when
we heard the phone ring. Lash answered it, but when he called to
Devlin to pick up, I knew by his voice that something was very
wrong.

I got to an extension in time to hear
Samuel’s panicked voice. “Devlin, Harriet seems to be succumbing to
the vampire virus,” he said brokenly. “Her body’s turning colder
every day, and she seems to be unable to eat solid food, or
anything but blood!”

“How much of your blood did you give her?”
Devlin said loudly. “Too much and she’ll turn and lose the
babies!”

“I gave her only a small amount, as you
instructed, and when her teeth began to get sharp, I stopped. But
she’s had only a few drops in December! And I’ve taken none of her
blood! What is wrong with her? She wouldn’t wake up for me this
morning, and when she did, she acted drugged!”

I felt the blood drain from my face. I was
glad I couldn’t see Devlin. Harriet was losing her resistance to
the virus, and Samuel’s blood was too potent now for her system to
resist. But she’d gotten dependent on vampire blood to live, from
what Titus had done to her with my blood, and she needed more of
the virus in her body. It had to be that! She had my symptoms, the
ones I’d had when I’d needed more of the virus!

“Your blood is too strong for her,” Devlin
said finally. “I’m half your age, Samuel. You are turning her! You
need a vampire who is not as strong to give her their blood.
Because like Sar, she needs vampire blood now to live. You don’t
give it to her soon and she’ll die!”

“I thought of that first! Michael has given
her a little of his blood this morning, as a favor to me,” Samuel
said angrily. “He is younger than you, but it didn’t work! She
reacted as if she’d had my blood, and her teeth began to get sharp
at once!”

Harriet most likely needed more of my
resistant blood, and another transformative spell from Titus. But
how to get it to her? What if it killed her, in her condition? What
if it killed her children?

I sank heavily into the nearest chair,
because it was all a moot point. My blood was mortal now, not the
way it had been when Titus had used it for the spell last time. I
couldn’t save her, even if I found a way to get my blood to her.
She was going to die for sure.

“Let me talk to Titus,” Devlin said quietly.
“I assume you have consulted Cyrus?”

“Yes, and he said he had no experience with
this, that there was nothing he could do that might not kill her! I
fired him on the spot in my anger, and he’s already left my
estate!”

“I’ll call you back,” Devlin said quickly.
“Five minutes. Keep her awake, Samuel! Even if you have to hurt
her, do it! She loses consciousness now, she may never wake
up.”

“I’ll do it,” Samuel stated, and I heard a
click, as he and Devlin hung up.

I walked into the kitchen. Lash hugged me
gently, but didn’t say anything. Two minutes later Devlin came down
the stairs, dressed, Titus in tow.

“Devlin, it probably won’t work,” Titus was
saying. “She’s got to be five months pregnant by now, and any kind
of transformative spell will hurt the babies.”

“What about just some of Sar’s blood, mixed
with yours?” Devlin said, leaning on the table, and looking down
pensively. “Wouldn’t that help her resistance, at least a
little?”

“She’ll probably die anyway,” Titus said
irritably. “I told you this would come back to bite us in the
ass.”

“It served its purpose at the time,” Devlin
said with a growl. “Truthfully, I never expected your spell to work
as well as it did, to change her enough so she could remain
pregnant this long.”

“I’m good at what I do,” Titus said, pride in
his deep bass voice. “You know I’m one of the best. That’s why you
hired me in the first place.”

“Well, then figure out something to try!”
Devlin said, slamming his hand on the table. “You have another
three minutes!”

Lash cleared his throat, and we all looked at
him. “We don’t need to save her,” he hissed softly, his eyes flat.
“We need to save the babies. That is what Samuel truly cares about,
not Harriet.”

I felt a chill, and moved my eyes to the
floor. Devlin and Titus didn’t move.

“If Harriet dies and the babies with her,
Sar’s going to be in danger again. They’ll want her. And it’ll get
out eventually that she can still have children—”

Titus gave me a look of shock, but Lash’s
eyes were on Dev, and he kept going.

“—
but if we can save the children in
Harriet, Samuel and Perseus will be busy enough with them to leave
Sar alone. Zane isn’t important enough to matter, not since Robert
got killed.”

Robert had worked for Zane? No wonder he’d
seemed to have lost so much standing at the party. It would be like
Danial losing Theo, or Devlin losing Lash.

“Samuel took some of his territory over, near
Egypt, and Zane might even be deposed soon, if he doesn’t hire
another gunslinger. So that leaves only Michael as a problem, and
I’ll bet if we agreed to give him some of Sar’s blood, enough to
give him his own dhamphir with another female, and told him what to
do, he’d leave her alone, too.”

“But you are talking about killing women,
Lash,” I said in a strangled voice. “Using them, and then killing
them. Their bodies won’t be able to take it, as Harriet’s can’t!
They’ll turn!”

“To save you,” Lash said, meeting my eyes,
his tone unhappy. “I don’t like it either, Sar. But I’d do it, to
save you. And it would only be Harriet, and maybe one other woman.
And turning is not the same as dying. Harriet would probably not be
discarded, if she turned, if Samuel’s baby lived.”

“But what if that’s not enough?” I broke in,
furious suddenly. “What if Michael wants more than one? God knows,
one doesn’t seem to be enough for any man I’ve had a child
for!”

Devlin narrowed his eyes, but Lash just
looked at me and nodded. “Point taken,” he said. “That’s my only
suggestion. And we are out of time.”

“I’ve got nothing,” Devlin muttered.
“Titus?”

“I’ll give you a potion to give her, like
last time,” Titus said, rubbing his hand on his eyes. “Give me a
few minutes. And Sar, I’ll need a little of your blood.”

“It is back to being summer, almost,” Devlin
said. “It should work.”

“I won’t guarantee it will save either the
woman or the child,” Titus rumbled. “It may kill her instead, but I
have no other ideas either. And she’ll turn for sure if we do
nothing, and then the children inside her will wither and die.”

“Sar, get dressed,” Devlin said quickly.
“You’ll need to watch Venus while we’re gone, and Lash, you’ll need
to come with me, as soon as the potion’s made.”

“What? Where?” I said. “Where are you
going?”

“England, of course,” Devlin said with a roll
of his eyes. “To Samuel’s country estate.”

* * * *

An hour later, Lash returned with Devlin and
Titus. They slammed in through the front door, and the three of
them went directly into the kitchen, and opened a dusty bottle,
splitting it three ways into large pint mugs. It went without
saying that if Titus was imbibing, it was blood, not wine. I knew
when I saw that whatever had happened couldn’t be good. I pulled up
a chair at the table, and sat down, keeping an eye on Venus in the
dining room who was still going to town with her new coloring
books.