‘Are all vampires this creepy?’
“Don’t worry, mademoiselle,” he said through his grinning fangs. They shined through the faint moonlight piercing through the tall balcony door’s sheer curtains, glimmering off the gold-rimmed teacups. “I’m not the one you need to worry about.” He flashed a glance in Rodrick’s direction. “Besides, I’ve already fed.”
‘Yeah, arsehole. On me!’
Rodrick stiffened at his words, throwing Alexei an equally irritated look and giving him even more amusement. He finished pouring some tea and placed the cups on a large tray. I took the steaming tea from his hands and tried not to let my discomfort show when his thumb accidentally grazed mine. There was enough tension in the room already.
Alexei must have noticed because he stifled a small laugh. “I didn’t know you liked your women scarred, Rodrick.”
“Don’t be so coarse, Alexei. We’re here to help you. Perhaps we can benefit from each other.”
“Should I be more worried about this?” I asked, pointing to my neck and the two large holes that already healed over from Alexei’s fangs piercing through my skin.
“It doesn’t work that way,” Rodrick answered. “Becoming a vampire is much more complex than simply getting bitten. Regardless of what Hollywood films portray.”
“I take it this particular friend of yours is an acquired taste.”
He made a face at me, letting me know that he didn’t appreciate my attitude. I made a face right back to let him know I couldn’t care less. His friend drove his fangs into my neck and now I was being forced to sit down for tea with him.
“Why did you wait so long to come, Rodrick?” Alexei asked, his thick Russian accent curling around each word with harsh judgment. “Having fun with your new Blackatter, were you?”
I gulped down a sip of the steaming tea. His eyes were undressing me as I sat in front of him. I wanted to reach my foot over to crush his toes with the heel of my boot. I restrained myself.
“I didn’t know there was a need until recently,” Rodrick replied as if he didn’t even notice Alexei’s rude assumption.
“Do you mean to tell me that the vixra don’t keep you informed like they used to? Did you do something wrong?” He sipped from the blood bag, waiting for an answer as Rodrick took his time to consider his words carefully. I was left wondering if their friendship was rather uneasy.
“Ellinor gave me the more finite details about Operation Shift, if that’s what you’re asking. Adeline informed me Margaux was missing. And Riley here started having visions in her sleep about what might have happened to her. Over time, I believe I’ve been able to put the pieces together.”
Alexei licked his lips. I wasn’t sure if it was because he dribbled some blood from his bag or if he anticipated a different answer.
“So we can speak freely around her,” Alexei added.
“Very freely. Especially since I’m sure she’ll be keen on learning your part in Operation Shift.”
“I only know what Margaux told me,” Alexei dropped the empty contents of the blood bag on the table. “It wasn’t just about the Eastern Vontex acquiring Blackatters. It was about breaking the curse over them. The vixra keep most Blackatters close so they can monitor them and prevent them from being turned over to the Dolch Erbe.”
“Like a form of protection?” I asked.
“An inconvenient one,” Alexi asked. “The Blackatters were created as a special and rare breed within the lycan species. It doesn’t suit their abilities to be couped up in Budapest with the vixra. The vixra would rather they be spread out across Europe to help the lycan population. That’s when they sent a Vontex in training here to live with Margaux and me. He was trying to form a safe house for other Blackatters while searching for information on the curse. It was supposed to be the first of many across the continent.”
“A safe house?” I asked.
“Yes. He was well-acquainted with the city and said it would be a good place for Blackatters to live while Margaux and I tried finding what we needed to break the curse. She was the luxra. I was the vampire. And he was the lycan. Adeline Prescott offered to be our vixra if we found the svethulka. All we needed was a kruxa. We nearly had everything to break the curse before Dirk disappeared overnight. And now my Margaux is gone too.”
I nearly choked on my tea. As it was I spilled the hot liquid all over my chest and nearly yelped from the hot water hitting my skin through my blouse. “Dirk?” I choked. “Dirk Blackburn?”
Alexei’s brow furrowed. “Yes. He went out one night and never returned. Margaux spent weeks searching for him.”
I slumped in my chair. The last thing I wanted was to explain everything all over again. The way Dirk’s death was faked, how he kidnapped me, and worse yet, that he was the one to kidnap Margaux and force her to succumb to the Dolch Erbe.
“Alexei,” Rodrick saved me from having to speak. “How long ago did Margaux disappear?”
Something changed in Alexei’s demeanor. I had only met the man a few minutes ago and he introduced himself by throwing me down a flight of stairs and biting my neck. He wasn’t able to sit still. The thought of Margaux disappearing immediately sent him into distress. He tossed away the blood bag from the table and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Three weeks ago,” he answered. “I told Adeline. She says she’s investigating it but I don’t think any vixra is too keen on keeping a vampire informed. It’s not on her list of priorities.”
“Well, it’s on mine,” Rodrick insisted. “I know how important she was to you. That’s one of the reasons why we’re here.”
Alexei leaned in, eager to hear anything Rodrick had to say if it gave him more answers.
“I have to warn you, Alexei. It’s not pleasant.” Rodrick set down his teacup and gave Alexei his full attention.
I could feel the atmosphere in the room thicken as Alexei waited for the answer.
“Margaux was kidnapped by the new leader of the Dolch Erbe,” Rodrick said. “We have reason to believe she’s alive but not in the form we would prefer.”
“Form?” Alexei repeated. “What form? What do you mean?”
“One of the Northern Vontex investigating the Dolch Erbe has a theory that the original founders of the grand master’s inner circle have discovered a way to transfer their consciousness into newly acquired recruits to the Dolch Erbe. We have reason to believe Margaux was tortured into submission and then her body was possessed by a luxra witchling from the grand master’s original inner circle.”
Alexei scooted his chair out from under him and paced around the kitchen. He ran his hands through his hair, trying to digest Rodrick’s words. “All this time I thought she was dead.”
“We don’t know if her consciousness survived the process,” Rodrick said. “There’s no way of knowing if it’s recoverable unless we find her. And the Dolch Erbe’s new leader.”
“Who is their new leader?” Alexei demanded, setting his hand back on the chair and squeezing it so hard the wood threatened to break under his hand. I suddenly wondered if Margaux’s apartment was actually invaded by intruders. Did Alexei do the damage himself? The more the thought sat in my mind the more it seemed plausible. His eyes were wild, dangerous, and I didn’t doubt he was capable of just about anything in that moment.
‘Please don’t tell him! Please, please, please!’
Rodrick took a deep breath and I knew he was going to do it. I shut my eyes as the words slipped from his mouth.
“Dirk Blackburn.”
‘Okay. The damage is done. Now if you don’t mind, please don’t tell him he’s my brother.’
Alexei shook his head. “No, that’s not possible.”
“You said yourself he disappeared one night. Neither you nor Margaux considered the possibility?”
“A deaf teenager with a childish crush on Margaux? You can’t possibly be serious! I gave him one glare and he never looked me in the eye again. He wouldn’t have the nerve! Or the strength! I’
ve never even seen such a reserved Blackatter much less a deaf one.”
If there was one thing I don’t tolerate, it’s anyone talking down to or about my brother because of his disability. Even if Dirk and I weren’t currently on the best of terms.
I slammed both hands on the table and stood up to meet Alexei’s harsh gaze. He might be a vampire, but I was the one with magic flowing through my veins. I cast him aside once. I could do so again.
“Listen, you sociopathic wanker!” I hollered. “Dirk had far more grit than a man who had to be turned into a vampire to develop any sort of muscle behind his crude mouth!”
“Says a little girl who had to be bitten by a lycan to even know she had muscles?” Alexei snarled. “I became a vampire over a century ago. I fought in two world wars, infiltrated the KGB, and helped defeat Communism in my own country before your father managed to convince your mother to spread her legs.”
English manners be damned. I let my magic tear through my palms only to discover I was a second too late. Rodrick punched Alexei square in his jaw. Only it wasn’t an ordinary punch. He let his magic rip through his knuckles and give him more power than Alexei could easily dodge.
Alexei tumbled down to the floor and spat blood all over Margaux’s white kitchen tile. Then in a rather disgusting act of defiance, he took his hand and snapped his jaw back into place with one loud crack of his bones. I watched it heal in a matter of seconds. He was left on the ground holding himself up on one hand, far too embarrassed to look either of us in the eyes and too proud to admit he was in the wrong.
“I lost the only woman I’ve loved in nearly fifty years and this is how you treat me?” Alexei grimaced after he finally regained enough pride to look up at Rodrick.
“You will not speak to her that way again, Alexei. Do you understand?”
Alexei pushed his shoulders back with his chin held high. “Your protective of her. The curse is working its magic, I see. That’s the real reason why you’re here. Not because you’re concerned about me or Margaux. You want the curse broken so you won’t be tempted by her. What’s the matter, Rodrick? Don’t you remember how to conquer a woman for pleasure and not for breeding? Am I to believe you haven’t the experience with all those young thots walking about your academy?”
Rodrick didn’t speak. Perhaps he was too taken aback by Alexei’s boldness. Or maybe he was trying to figure out a good defense. Regardless, I only knew one card to play. And it was one I didn’t want to use.
‘Desperate times call for desperate measures. We can’t let this whole trip end up being pointless.’
“We’re here because Dirk Blackburn is my brother,” I said, molding my hands into fists should he react in a way that I didn’t like. “He’s the new grandmaster of the Dolch Erbe. He kidnapped me and gave me this scar on my face. And he tortured the woman you claim to love until she betrayed her own. I watched him lead a ritual as he tried creating his former inner circle. I saw the brand of the Dolch Erbe marking his body. And I witnessed the power he wields. If you have the slightest hope of ever getting Margaux back, you must help us finish her work. We have to gather what we need to break the curse. It’s the only way we can weaken the Dolch Erbe.”
Alexei was stunned into silence.
“If we break the curse and create safe houses for Blackatters across Europe like Dirk intended, we will stand a better chance of defeating them,” Rodrick chimed in. “They are strong because Blackatters have no choice but to remain in hiding and isolated among the vixra in Hungary. Help us fix that, Alexei. And we will do everything possible to get Margaux back.”
Alexei shook his head. “You know as well as I do that the vixra council won’t let her live if she’s joined the Dolch Erbe.”
“If we can prove that those who join are doing so against their will, we might not have great opposition in seeking leniency. The vixra are strict but they aren’t illogical. They’ll give us a fair hearing if we can prove Margaux isn’t in her right mind. Or if her mind isn’t even residing in her body at all. Now can we please find something more productive to do rather than tearing apart Margaux’s flat? I’m sure she won’t appreciate it. She takes great pride in her home. You know that more than anyone.”
Alexei gathered himself up. “I’ll have you know that it wasn’t for no reason.”
‘So it was him after all.’
“Then what was it for?” Rodrick asked. “Because I’m pretty sure Margaux went to great lengths to find some of those original Regency paintings.”
“Who do you think stole them for her?”
“What was it for, Alexei?”
“She said she found it.”
“Found what?”
“The svethulka,” Alexei said as though it was obvious. “She said she hid it in a safe place. Not a single apartment in Paris is guarded heavier with magic than chez Margaux Carville. I searched everywhere I could think of.”
I wasn’t sure if I should speak up. When I saw Margaux at the ritual site she was holding the wand from my vision. The same wand Dirk used to torture her. If Dirk was the one who kidnapped her, he made sure he took the wand with him.
I squinted my eyes as red light flashed through the room. I raised my hand to see my magic piercing through my palm.
Rodrick opened his mouth for what I assumed would be a lecture on controlling my magic. Only a second later his magic was stirring in his palm as well.
Alexei’s hands went up before him defensively. “I told you the truth. Keep your woman under control! Don’t you Englishmen know how to keep a woman in line?”
‘How in the world did the most powerful luxra in France fall for this misogynistic prick?’
“It’s not her,” Rodrick said. “Witchling magic sometimes comes out without warning. Especially for kruxa.”
“That doesn’t look like any kruxa magic I’ve ever seen,” Alexei shrieked.
Rodrick looked out the window and cast his arm over me, warning me to back up as I relentlessly tried to contain the magic pouring from my palm. It was beginning to scale up the length of my arm when he looked back at me.
“Magic will sometimes warn witchlings when danger is near,” Rodrick explained. “It has its own way of protecting itself.”
“You’re saying we’re in danger?” I scowled at Alexei. The man already tried hurting me once. Given his attitude toward me, I didn’t doubt for a second that he would do so again.
“Don’t look at me,” he said. “I can’t take two Blackatters at once.”
“You can’t even take one,” I snapped. “I nearly had you before Rodrick told me to unshift.”
“Alexei, what happened to the rest of Margaux’s coven?” Rodrick interrupted our quarrel.
Alexei shrugged his shoulders. “They didn’t share much with me. Damn luxra witchlings never trust vampires. Except for Margaux.”
‘Then she needs her head examined.’
“But they remained in Paris?” Rodrick asked.
“Yes, some of them. They’ve been searching for Margaux everywhere they can think of.”
“Does the area have a charm over it for protection?”
“Only the one Margaux put up in case strangers came through.”
Rodrick’s eyes instantly shot in my direction. Was it me? Company was coming. And my magic wanted me to know it wasn’t friendly.
“No, not her,” Alexei scoffed. “Your little toy isn’t a threat. Margaux wouldn’t have a charm spell ward away a random lycan unless they were hunting in her territory.”
“I didn’t trigger it,” I said softly. My heart hammered in my chest. I could hear it in my ears. “Dirk did. He must have felt it when Alexei attacked me. He knew my life was in danger and he knows where I am. Just like I knew where he was when he was torturing Margaux.”
Rodrick’s eyes darted back to the window as he ushered me out of the kitchen and away from anywhere someone could see. “We have to get you out of here.”
The last thing I saw before Rodrick pushed me d
own to the ground and I barely caught myself with my hands was a blinding blaze of blue light shooting through one of the hallway windows and shattering shards of glass in every direction.
I unintentionally triggered the spell protecting Margaux’s home. And not because I entered it. Because Dirk was coming to find me.
I wasn’t even worried about him hurting me. He couldn’t. Our lives were linked. But he would definitely hurt Rodrick. And that I could not allow.
14
The only time I witnessed luxra magic was when one of Dirk’s minions cast a spell to link our lives. My second time wasn’t any less terrifying. Balls of bright blue light fired off like missiles launching inside Margaux’s flat, shattering anything and everything that hadn’t already been destroyed.
Rodrick summoned his crowning magic and created a shield around the two of us. Not that it would help. If we didn’t get out of there we wouldn’t last long. And we couldn’t open a vixra tunnel without a clearing of some kind. We were trapped.
His heavy hands gripped the top of my trench coat and led me down the hall as we darted from side to side, dodging the magic balls of light hurling into the hall and cracking open the walls.
“Get to the roof,” he cried as he let me go. Thank goodness too. His magic was burning me from outside my trench coat.
“What? I’m not going up there without you!”
“Riley, do as I say!”
I wasn’t sure if it was the shock of the crown molding on the ceiling crumbling to pieces at my feet or Rodrick using my first name but I darted up the final set of stairs to the top floor of Margaux’s attic space.
“Alexei, get her up there!” Rodrick cried.
Before I could even take another breath, I was up the stairs and in the train wreck of Margaux’s attic filled with books that had fallen from the countless shelves.
‘This must be Margaux’s study. The one for non-magical purposes.’
My textbooks didn’t lie about one thing. Vampires were incredibly fast. I suddenly understood how Alexei was able to take me by surprise. He let go of my back and stepped away from me.
Resist Page 14