Page 30 of Fated In Blood (Nocturne Vampire Clan #1)

30

EVANGELINE

I burst through the front doors of Crimson House with enough force to shatter the leaded glass sidelight, looked both ways down the empty hall, then headed in the direction Blake had gone after he’d dumped me off here that first day.

“Riordan.” My scream echoed away into nothing. “ Riordan . Where the fuck are you? ”

This was bullshit.

I’d told myself a hundred—no, a thousand—times on the way here this was bullshit. I should be heading to Tyrell’s to get my sister. This was my perfect opportunity to get Angel and hightail it out of this fucked-up town, with it’s fucked up problems, since Laurent was busy playing God in Valentine’s basement.

Nobody here meant anything to me.

Nothing .

Blake was an asshole, and Riordan intended to use me for his own revenge when my agenda—my sister—was the only thing that mattered. I rolled my eyes. Yet, here I was, storming down a dark hallway that smelled like moldy underwear, searching for someone I didn’t trust so he could save someone I didn’t even like.

But I liked Tyrell and Collum even less.

“What’s wrong?” I whirled to face Riordan, who somehow appeared right behind me, the sneaky bastard.

He was in his usual pressed shirt and silk tie—red and gold today—the hem of his perfectly pleated dress pants brushing the tops of his polished wingtips.

“Tyrell’s killing Blake.” I sucked in a definitely unladylike gulp of air. “Actually, Collum’s killing Blake, while Tyrell and Vincent watch. At Valentine’s,” I added as yet another ripple of pain shuddered through me, again, from my abdomen.

Sharp, like I—like Blake—was being gutted with a knife.

“Start at the beginning and stick to the important bits.” There was a tense, vicious edge to his voice.

“Collum’s killing Blake under Tyrell’s orders. He said it’s punishment for me fighting Collum in the first place, as his…spawn. Said I attacked Collum with no provocation, which is complete bullshit, by the way. Oh, and your time is up and Collum’s going to take over as king.”

I slanted him a look while I braced for the next onslaught of pain. “Sounds like the king gig’s a shit job anyway. Maybe you should let him have it.”

“So that old bastard’s finally making his move. I wonder what took him so fucking long.”

“Also, and this is just an observation on my part, getting rid of Collum would go a long way to solving a lot of your problems.”

“We tried that once and it didn’t work out.” Riordan grabbed my arm. “Anything else?”

“Should there be more?” The next wave of pain incapacitated me enough he had to drag me back the way I came. “I mean, isn’t that enough?”

“There’s always more with Tyrell.” He stopped. “Wait, how did you get away? It’s not like Laurent to miss an opportunity to torture someone, and you’re quite the prize, Silver.”

“I was invisible,” I said, somewhat defensively. “Blake put some kind of a shield around us before we went downstairs at Valentine’s, but somehow, they saw him and not me. Then he ordered me to come warn you.”

“And now you’re feeling his pain through that connection?” I nodded before I doubled over again, and he caught me by the arm so I didn’t face plant. “How bad?”

“Really, really bad,” I gasped. “I know you fuckers are hard to kill, but this has been going on for thirty minutes, at least.”

“We are hard to kill, Blake more than most. Wait. You walked here ?”

“On my own two feet. How else was I supposed to get here? I can’t fly like you and I don’t have a fucking phone. According to Blake, vampires aren’t allowed to call an Uber.”

“ Fuck .” Riordan lost whatever was left of his usual cool. “Hang on, this won’t be pleasant.”

Not pleasant was the understatement of the century, as I gagged on my own bile outside of Darkmore Castle, which was honestly the last place I thought we’d end up.

“Why the fuck are we here? Blake is at Valentine’s, remember?”

“Because Valentine’s is too public. Once Tyrell comes back here, we can settle this without human casualties.”

“Okay. That’s…smart,” I admitted.

“Whether you trust my motives or not, Silver, I’m trying to keep everyone alive right now.”

Since we’d left my stomach back at Crimson House and I could barely function, Riordan half dragged me up the steps, lifting his hand as we approached the top. Too caught up in my misery, I could barely comprehend what I saw next.

Honestly, for someone who had been invisible not that long ago, seeing a blue ball of magic shoot from someone’s hand and shatter twenty-foot-high doors into slivers of pale wood shouldn’t have been a stretch, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around wielding that much power so effortlessly.

“ Tyrell ,” Riordan roared, dragging me through the fractured doorway into the last place I ever wanted to be—the gilt-encrusted, palm-lined foyer of Darkmore Castle. Or was this the place I wanted to be?

I lifted my head, taking a shallow inhale, and my new and improved vampire senses picked up everything I’d never have smelled as a human.

Beneath the pungent sting of explosives, I caught my sister’s scent.

Angel was somewhere in this house, though I shuddered when I imagined her upstairs in Laurent Tyrell’s chambers. She couldn’t have chosen this life. There was no way she’d turn her back on everything Mom had sacrificed to end up as arm candy for someone as morally bankrupt as this fucker.

Riordan stalked deeper into the castle, dragging me with him. “Stop with your games and come here and face me. I’m the one you really want.”

“Whatever you do, keep your mouth shut and guard your thoughts so he…” His eyes narrowed and, with a curse, a wave of suffocating cold cascaded over me, like I was encased in a sheet of ice. “Now he can’t read your mind, but still, don’t say a fucking word.”

Tyrell appeared out of nowhere, Bosch still practically glued to his side. I really needed to learn how to do this spooky vampire shit they all took for granted. I braced for some kind of reckoning, since he’d made me the scapegoat in this, but the old ghoul ignored me completely.

Which was somehow worse.

“Riordan. Finally, I have your attention. All it took was spilling a few drops of blood.” Tyrell’s expression soured as he eyed his ruined front doors, then he reached up and tapped his finger to his chin, pale eyes narrowing. “We had an agreement, as I recall.”

“One I’ve adhered to, since day one. Call off your fucking dog, give me Blake, and we’ll hash out whatever you’re pissed about.”

“The solution isn’t that simple. Marten was given a choice, and he chose to turn the girl. Then he allowed her to run amok, attack Collum in a blood frenzy, and nearly drain him dry in a public place in front of humans. Four violations of our laws, where the penalty is death. I fail to see how I’m outside my rights on this, Riordan.”

Oh, this lying sack of…

Riordan’s hand closed around my arm with enough force to leave bruises. “Nice try, but Valentine’s been running vamp-human fights for the past two hundred years. Our secret’s been out for a couple centuries, Laurent. What do you want?”

“What I’ve always wanted. Compliance . You and Marten want to continue to exist in your safe, little bubble? Stay the fuck out of my affairs. I lost two shipments of blood slaves this past week alone. Three, the week before that. Your do-gooder interference stops now.”

“We know it’s you, Graves. Don’t bother denying it.” I got my first good look at Bosch. His face healed perfectly, not so much as a mark left from the burns. There was no scar on his neck, but he never took his eyes off me, pupils black as the depths of hell.

“And I suppose you have proof of my supposed involvement?” Riordan lifted an eyebrow, and his careless stance had even me convinced he didn’t have anything to do with Tyrell’s unfortunate business failures. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not your only enemy, Laurent. Perhaps you should look closer to home.”

“People in House Tyrell are loyal,” he said stiffly.

“Your people are a bunch of power-hungry savages. My intel reported House Arcanis has been making inquiries about your slave trafficking concerns since last year.” Riordan’s face didn’t change, his inflection remained steady, and yet there was something that struck me as off.

He was lying to Tyrell, and he was doing it very, very well.

Admiration shivered through me as he pasted a withering smile on Tyrell.

“Perhaps you should clean your own house before accusing me.” His one-shouldered shrug was executed perfectly enough to send Tyrell’s rage spiraling out of control. “Lord Villar Arcanis isn’t one to pass up an opportunity, and my spies report he’s reinforcing his wards every six hours these days. Almost like he has something to hide.”

Tyrell’s low snarl of rage sent cold, dark power rippling through me, and I sagged against Riordan, only his bracing grip keeping me upright. “There is still the matter of the girl. Feeding in public, unrestrained hunger, the list goes on. You should have left her with me. Valaine could have used a new plaything, and Collum…”

For the first time, the full weight of Tyrell’s gaze fell on me.

That pale glare devoured me from the inside out, squeezing my brain like a seedless grape. I couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe, clawing at my throat with my free hand while Riordan watched impassively. The fucking asshole.

Finally, the onslaught stopped, Tyrell hissing softly in frustration.

“As you can see, she is under my protection.” Riordan’s calm ease was an annoying contrast to my enraged indignation. Accusations were being tossed around. Accusations I couldn’t refute. When you didn’t have much in this world, your reputation was an important commodity, and Tyrell was shitting all over mine.

“This particular Silverwood belongs to Blake, and you must be pretty fucking desperate to make up some bullshit charges to get to us through her.” His hand tightened again, and I sucked in a gasp of pain. “Try harder next time.”

Like hell I belonged to anyone , something these neanderthal fuckers would learn the second we got away from Tyrell and his piercing gaze that gobbled my soul up from the inside out.

But… why would he tell Tyrell that Blake turned me?

Unless this was part of some bigger strategy.

Tyrell looked down his very long nose at me. “She doesn’t have my mate’s looks, but Collum has talked about nothing but her since he returned from Valentine’s a bloody mess. A rematch might be in order between the two.”

He turned to Riordan. “Would you care to choose the date? I know you’re busy.”

When hell freezes over , I thought as loudly as I could, and I swore Riordan’s lips twitched.

But Riordan wouldn’t be sidetracked. “Speaking of that treacherous bastard, Collum is banished from Nocturne territory. Also part of our agreement. If he’s back, then our deal is off.”

“He brings with him a very interesting proposition.” Tyrell looked like the cat who’d gotten all the cream. “Malachi Draven is in the states and looking for an established clan to ally with. I’m meeting with him in two days’ time.”

“Malachi Draven”—Riordan enunciated the name like it was made out of dogshit—“is reckless and unhinged. A danger to everyone around him. There’s a reason he belongs to no clan.”

Riordan’s demeanor had entirely changed, his hand banded around my arm beginning to shake. That news rocked him, something a delighted Tyrell didn’t miss.

“Malachi, like you, is one of my progeny. This castle is his home, if he so chooses. The prodigal son, returning home at last. I believe he is the same age as Blake, is he not? And Collum?”

“Yes,” Riordan said stiffly. “They were all born within thirty years of one another.”

What about Blake ? I thought loudly to Riordan. Why are we wasting time on fucking semantics and birthdays when he’s being tortured to death?

Although… I hadn’t felt an onslaught of fresh pain in a few minutes.

Oh God, was Blake dead?

“You are angry about more than the girl.” Clearly, Riordan was rattled. Distress strained his voice, his expression, the frantic way his eyes kept darting toward the exit. Whoever this Malachi was, he must be even worse than Collum.

Riordan’s fingers stopped digging into my arm. “But what’s done is done. Killing Blake won’t change the past and you’ll make an enemy out of me. And you don’t want me for your enemy, Laurent.”

“Are we allies, then? The two of us, constantly working to undermine the other?” Once more, Tyrell tapped his finger with its too long nail on his chin. “As you so succinctly pointed out, this is about far more than the girl. She’s barely consequential. Much like Cassmira. A pretty little pawn, but meaningless in the scheme of things.”

Riordan went from panic to fury so fast white-hot magic poured off him and out onto the floor in a shower of brilliantly bright sparks. Heat radiated off his big body as he marshaled himself, corded forearm flexing where he held me.

“A pawn I’ll be keeping, given the surname she bears. Now hand over Blake in the next five seconds and I won’t burn this place down around you.”

“I was finished with him, anyway.” Tyrell clicked his fingers together and something dropped onto the floor.

A pile that looked like a bloodied heap of leather and rags, but also suspiciously like the clothes Blake had been wearing earlier, when I’d last seen him. Then the bloody pile moved, a hand twitching, so broken I hadn’t even recognized it. On reflex, I stepped forward to help him, but Riordan yanked me back.

Collum appeared a second later, blood splattered across his face. “My arm was on the verge of giving out.” His grin—minus one fang—sharpened when he spotted me. “ Slayer . You still smell delicious.”

“You still smell like a rotting carcass,” I said, ignoring Riordan’s glare.

“You’ll get your chance at her, Collum, but this round is over.” When Tyrell’s cold, appraising eyes glanced off Blake’s ruined form and landed back on me, I only knew one thing.

I was going to shove a stake into this old bastard’s shriveled-up heart.

I didn’t know when, but he was dying.

The tops of his yellowed fangs showed when Laurent smiled, his leering grin as wide as the yawning hole in my chest as I stared down at Blake, searching for some sign he was alive.

The place in my chest that had burned so brightly earlier was empty and cold, as if someone had carved my heart right out of me.

“I was Made by Caine himself, child.” Tyrell’s soft voice was full of menace.

“I have seen the fall of a hundred empires, watched the rise of a thousand kingdoms. You are the latest in a blur of quickly forgotten faces stretching back to the beginning of our kind. You’re not memorable enough to kill anyone, least of all me.”