Page 27 of Saved by the Vampire Goddess (Dark Wine Vampires #1)

Chapter twenty-seven

Valroy

Imperial Suburbs of New Rome—A short time later

M y sister stands in the doorway of Maliff’s home looking dumbfounded, despite our earlier phone call. “You’re really alive? You really came?”

I rush inside, Evelina trailing me, and once the door closes behind us, I wrap Tina in a big bear hug. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“How did you— Where have you— Valroy, I thought you were dead …” Her voice cracks and a sob squeaks out.

“I’m sorry.” I hug her tightly, and her tears wet my cheek. “I couldn’t find a way back inside the dome until now.”

When I release Tina, my gaze lands on her arm. The Imperator has seared her perfect skin with the emperor’s brand, marring her arm forever. The wound is the size of an old-fashioned half-dollar, and healing into a vicious scar.

Anger flares through my chest. “How dare they mark you?”

Evelina grabs my shoulder and steps beside me. “What’re you talking about?”

“Who’re you?” Tina asks.

“I’m Evelina Odegard, the woman who saved your brother after Ernie Klienet kicked him out of New Rome.”

Tina’s eyes grow wide. “You did?”

“I took him to my dome, where we’re gonna take you.”

“But I can’t go anywhere. They’ll kill me if I try to run away from Dominus Maliff. That’s what this means.” Tina twists at the waist to present the brand in Evelina’s direction and points.

Evelina’s eyes turn solid black. “Let me get this straight. They branded you?”

“It’s a warning to anyone who might shelter me.”

“How old are you?”

“Uh, sixteen. Didn’t he tell you?”

“No, he did not.” Evelina spins on her heel and glares at me. “Your people can just brand an underage girl and sell her into marriage? How can you let something like this happen?”

“Me? If I were here, I’d have done everything I could to stop it.”

“Yeah, because it’s your sister. What about all the other women who’ve been treated like this? Why’d you do nothing for them?”

I don’t feel like rehashing the argument we had a few nights ago. “Can we discuss this later?” The bags under Tina’s eyes, the shabby dress she wears, the blisters and rough skin on her hands, the lack of luster in her chestnut hair… “What has Maliff done to you?”

Tina turns to me. “Not as much as he wanted.” A look of fury crosses her face. “I made sure of that.”

“Did ya now?” Evelina says, a grin growing.

Tina stands up tall. “On our wedding night, I attacked him when he came into my room. With the stool he’d gifted me to reach the top shelf of the closet. I think I broke his nose.”

Evelina laughs. “You go, girl!”

I can only stare.

“He told everyone he’d tripped. Then he told me that I could either be a wife or a servant in his house.” Tina waves a hand at herself. “I chose servant. The staff taught me to clean and help the cook.”

“And he’s fine with that?” Evelina asks.

“No. But Maliff thinks I’ll miss the privilege of being a domina soon and is waiting for me to be ‘civilized’ and ‘reasonable’ about his trying for an heir. I’ve made sure to be neither when he’s present. But the emperor has demanded our presence at the celebration tonight, and Maliff had the other servants pack my bags and lay out a fancy dress for me to change into. If we’re staying at the palace, I don’t know what he’ll try when we’re alone.”

I wrap an arm around Tina’s shoulders and walk with her from the grand foyer into Maliff’s receiving room. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore. We’ll take you to Evelina’s dome. You’ll be safe there. The emperor can’t reach you, and Maliff can’t find you. The other dome is rich beyond compare. You’ll love it, I promise.”

“We need to move this along,” Evelina says from behind us.

“Right.” I didn’t think I could feel any angrier after hearing what’s been done to Tina. Then I see my parents’ belongings on display in Maliff’s receiving room, and it adds insult to injury. My belongings. The Caribbean picture book, the small ceramic figurines my mother cherished, the paintings my father preserved. Even my gladius hangs in the place of honor on one wall. I served the emperor while carrying my short sword. I’ve won competition duels with it. How dare he claim my reputation as his own?

Focus .

I brace my hands on Tina’s shoulders. She’s what’s important, not physical possessions from my old life. “We can’t tarry. Pack a small bag of whatever mementos you want to take with us. Don’t worry about clothing, as we have plenty for you at the new dome, and—”

Sounds of the front door opening reach my ears.

Evelina whooshes to the archway leading to the foyer. Maliff, she mouths.

Before I can react, the asshole himself struts in and pushes past her, dismissing her as he would any other Roman woman. His eyes narrow to slits when he sees me. “How did you get back here? The emperor told me they threw you in the reclamation bin and shoved it outside the dome.”

“They did, but I survived. And I’m here for my sister, you verpa .”

Maliff narrows his eyes at me and lifts his wobbly chin. “She is my wife now. She is no longer yours to claim. Come, Tina, bid your brother goodbye.”

I smirk. “Is she your wife in truth?”

Maliff cuts a betrayed look at Tina. “Whatever she said is untrue, I assure you.”

“Oh, so she didn’t overpower you with a footstool on your wedding night?”

Shame flashes across Maliff’s face before it contorts in anger, and he grabs for Tina. “You good-for-nothing little bitch! How dare you tell your lies! I should have—”

“And now you’re a dead man.” I whoosh over to him before he can get a grip on Tina and sink my fangs into his turkey-skinned neck. I don’t care if I mesmerize him first—I’m strong enough to hold him in place without it.

“Don’t kill me,” he screams. “I’ll give you whatever your want. Anything.” His voice fades out as I drink him down.

“Stop.” Evelina grips my collar. “You’ll get blood on your dress shirt.”

“I’ll be careful,” I mumble, my fangs still in his neck.

“Oh fer sure. You can’t drain him.” She tugs on my arm. “Let go.”

I momentarily take my lips away and growl. “Why?”

“If you drain him, they’ll know vampires got in here and did it,” she whispers in my ear. “They’ll stop trading with us. Everyone out there will starve to death. The Lux can’t supply enough mortal blood for all the vampires who survived the Collapse. Kill him, and you kill everyone else on my team. Including you and me.”

Futuo .

I release him and back away, disgusted by the mewling asshole.

Evelina steps closer, blocking Tina’s view, and, using her knife, pokes her thumb and lets the blood dribble over the bite. Maliff’s skin crusts over.

I can sense Evelina’s annoyance with me. There’s only one way to correct my error. I move her aside, look into Maliff’s eyes and say, “Forget the bite—”

But Maliff sways precariously on his feet, breaking eye contact before I can say more.

“Why do I feel so…?” He blinks and reaches for his sword, pulling it from the scabbard fastened to his belt. “You! Get out of my house.”

“Gladly.” I step between him and Tina. “But I’m taking my sister with me.”

Maliff sneers. “When the emperor catches you again, heretic, I’ll ask him to execute your useless sister, too, so I may be free to find a domina who knows her duty.”

Did the cunnus just threaten my sister’s life? After all he’s put her through?

Rage rises so quickly that I bounce on the balls of my feet, ricochet up, grab the sheath from the wall, and, with a whisper of metal riding leather, pull out the gladius and knock his sword out of the way.

“You’ll never make it to the world of the dead.” I point my gladius’s sharply forged tip at Maliff’s heart before he takes his next breath. “When you arrive at Charon’s dock penniless, he’ll curse you to wander the shores of the Styx forever.”

With those last words, I thrust the weapon into him. There’s a crunch as his breastbone gives way, followed by the firm resistance of slicing through meat, until I reach the spine behind his shriveled heart and sever his backbone.

When I extract the blade, he falls over like a rag doll, and I wipe my blade clean on his pants. “There. No one will know vampires did it.”

“Vampires?” Tina’s voice quivers.

Futuo . I planned on telling her after we returned to the ark.

“Tina—” I drop my sword and turn to look at my sister, but she’s frozen in place and fear fills her eyes. “Everything is all right, sister. I promise. I’m still the same brother you knew.”

She glances at Maliff, where he’s bleeding out on the couch, then back at me. “You bit him. You’re both…vampires?”

“Yes, but you’ll be safe with us, Tina. I swear it.” My words feel like a lie, because it takes all my willpower not to drop to the floor and lap up the blood pooling around Maliff. Instead, I ease my way to where Tina stands frozen. I’m afraid to touch her and make it worse. “I’m sorry you had to see that. Before the Imperator exiled me, I demanded the right to duel Maliff. If the law had been followed, I would have killed him then and prevented all this. You know that.”

Tina continues to stare at me as she shivers. Is she going into shock?

Evelina grabs a blanket from the couch and wraps it around Tina’s shoulders. “Well, no choice now. Your sister is coming with us. If she doesn’t, they’ll think she’s involved and execute her.”

Tina searches my gaze once more, then nods. “Okay. But I’m not leaving without Titus.”

Titus. My best friend. Who was meant to… “Why aren’t you married to Titus? It’s his name I put on the contract.” Evelina huffs and points at her watch before Tina can open her mouth to respond, so I change course. “You can tell me later. We have to go. There’s something we must do before we return to our new home.”

My sister gets a steely look in her eye. “Not without Titus.”

Aw, double futuo .

“I can go to Titus’s house,” Tina continues in a rush. “You can meet me there after…whatever else it is you must do. We can all go then. Together.”

“We don’t have time for this.” Evelina grasps Tina’s arm and pivots her around. “Tina, look at me—”

Something about mesmerizing my sister makes me uncomfortable, even if I understand it’ll be the faster path. “No.” My voice is firm. “Let Tina speak. She’s been through enough.”

Evelina glares at me, but steps away from Tina to come stand by my side.

Tina averts her gaze and hugs the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “I won’t leave without Titus. He tried to enforce the marriage contract, and when he kept insisting, they flogged him. They…they made me watch. It took him weeks to heal. I don’t know what they’ll do to him with Maliff dead if I go missing.”

My stomach drops. That explains some things. The only floggings I’ve witnessed before were plebeians. Farmers assigned to the agricultural zone who stole food for their families or got caught eating fruit as they picked it. It never occurred to me before how hungry a man must be to risk a flogging for a taste of food.

“Once Titus could move again, he started coming here to check on me.” Tina fists her hands. “Maliff hated it and got the emperor to fine him each time. He kept coming anyway. It was a scandal.”

“Why?” I ask, unclear on why Titus would pay such a steep price.

Her eyes fill with tears. “With you gone, he said it fell to him to, um, watch out for me how a brother would. He wanted Maliff to know I wasn’t alone. He wouldn’t abandon me.”

Honor. Titus has honor. “I’m glad to hear he tried to protect you, Tina, and I will find a way to thank him.” I pause, trying to be gentle. “But his protecting you doesn’t mean he feels the same way you do about him.”

“I know.” Tina glances at me, then Evelina. “But if we don’t take him with us, they’ll think he killed Maliff after all the trouble he caused, and they’ll execute him. I’m not leaving without him.”

I’ve never seen my sister as unshakeable as she is now. It’s like she’s aged years. She also has a point—Titus’s life may be in danger if we leave him behind.

I turn to Evelina.

She furrows her brow. “Ingvar’s gonna throw a hissy fit.”

“We can deal with him later.”

“How much of a detour—”

“Titus’s house is within walking distance from here. He did the honorable thing, trying to aid my sister to his own detriment. We should do the honorable thing for him as well.”

There’s a stretch of silence where both Tina and I look at Evelina.

Then her face twists into a grimace. “Christ on a crutch, fine! But you only have five minutes before we leave this house.”

That gets us moving. Tina makes a quick pile of stuff from the living room to bring. Not much, just a few items.

I open my backpack and dump everything on the floor. I won’t need the dirty pants and shirt that I wore during our hike to the hotel. Tina can use this backpack for her stuff. Then I add the Caribbean photo book, but skip the Hummels. They’ll just get broken in transit.

“I’m putting a heavy jacket in here for you,” I tell Tina as I remove the jacket from the suitcase on wheels. “You’ll need it outside the dome. Understand? Don’t abandon it.”

“I won’t.”

Evelina glances at her watch and twirls a finger in the air.

I’m not leaving without my sword, so I take off my tailcoat and slip the gladius holster over my hips and under my three-button waistcoat. The tail of my tux is solid, not split, and long enough to cover the short sword. The leather belt makes a slight bulge under the vest, but it can’t be helped.

Evelina’s eyes go wide. “Just one rootin’-tootin’ minute. You’re not wearing that. What if they search you?”

“The guards never search royalty, and if they do, they’ll expect a former imperial officer to wear his gladius.”

She eyes me like I’m lying.

So maybe I’m stretching the truth a little. I disagreed from the start with the plan to go into the palace unarmed.

I gesture at Tina. “Come on, get going. Grab your jewels and whatever is essential, and we’ll be off.”

Moments later, my sister comes running down the stairs, her prized belongings in her arms. She stuffs them in, and I zip up the backpack, then we’re off.

“Wait,” Evelina says at the door, gripping Tina’s arm. “You need to wear this.” She slips a bracelet onto my sister’s wrist.

Tina admires the jewelry, but I’m suspicious. “What is it?”

“Tracking device.”

I nod, then pull the door shut behind us. “Thanks, that’s a good idea.”

As we walk down the street, I carry the backpack for Tina, but she’ll have to take it the rest of the way to Titus’s house.

At the cross street where we part, she hugs me, and I plant a kiss on her forehead.

Evelina then hugs her. “You poor thing. I’m so sorry, but we gotta get going.”

Her show of affection and empathy toward my sister surprises the Hades out of me. I pat Tina’s shoulder. “We’ll see you at Titus’s house in about four hours. If something happens, if we don’t show up, blame all this on me. Tell Titus to blame it on me and tell him to say I’ve turned creeper, if they don’t believe him. I’ll make sure they have proof somehow.”

“But Valroy—”

“No buts. I’m the one who killed Maliff, not you. You had nothing to do with it. Titus didn’t either. Just tell the truth, and you’ll be fine.”

“But you’ll come for me?”

“Never doubt it. I love you, kiddo. I won’t let anything else bad happen—I promise.”