The ceremony starts with the parents, or parent in this case, and godparent carrying the baby over a bridge above running water, and our property had one such place that was close by. Then, a holy man or woman, which in this case was Castilla, who was apparently a holy woman in Spain, says some pretty words before placing three things over the baby’s wrapped body.
A wooden cross.
A silver rattle.
An amulet filled with the blood of their parents.
After that, the parents promise to instruct their child in the vampiric laws and customs, and then their Order promises the same. The godparent promises to care for the child like their own in the event its parents are no longer there.
I couldn’t help but wonder, as I held my daughter in my arms, who my godparent had been at my ceremony. Had I even had a ceremony? I certainly didn’t have the blood amulet, or the cross and silver rattle, because all three are supposed to be in the child’s room as it grows up. Maybe I hadn’t been christened. What did that mean though? Am I not… sanctioned? Am I even allowed to be their leader if I’m not christened? Othello would probably know if I had been. Maybe. It could be an orphan thing. Maybe orphans weren’t christened, and it was fine because they didn’t have parents to raise them. I still felt sad, like there was an elite club I’d never been a member of.
After all the pomp and circumstance, the parents would speak the baby’s name out loud for the first time, forever welcoming their baby to the world.
Katherine. My daughter’s name was Katherine. Kitty for short. We were a family with nicknames.
Kitty woke up mid-ceremony and wailed aloud in surprise. Olivier grabbed the ceremony objects so I could hold Kitty to my shoulder. I pat her back and she stopped crying. Some of the crowd cooed and made baby noises of appreciation for her cuteness, while the others stared at her like at any moment she was going to jump on them and drain them dry. To the naked eye, all they saw was the first baby they’d seen in fifteen years, and she was pretty damn cute if I do say so myself, except this adorbs baby would probably bite them if she got hungry.
The only person not cooing at or freaking out over Kitty was standing away from the crowd, giving us a very mournful look that had a puppy-esque feel to it. Damn it, Knight. I’m sure you have better things to do than look pathetic. He was adorable when he looked pathetic, and I wanted to hate him for it, but I couldn’t.
With my mind wandering in a million directions, I stared at the werewolf for too long, and he took it as encouragement to walk over. Not everyone had come to the ceremony, so Arthur had stayed behind to watch over the other members of the Council, wisely putting distance between us, but I wished he’d been there because the closer Knight came, the more my body shook, the more I felt like I couldn’t take a breath. Olivier was in charge of my safety with Arthur not there, and she stepped in front of me when Knight got within spitting distance, so close I could smell the scent of his hair, feel every exhale of his lungs.
Did my hair look okay? Fuck. Shut up, brain.
“Back it up, partner,” Olivier ordered, flicking her finger in the opposite direction. I couldn’t look him in the face, and I knew my cheeks were flushed bright scarlet. I focused on the plaid pattern of his shirt, the one he’d worn in my delusions, trying desperately to control my rapidly beating heart.
“I just want to talk to her,” he told Olivier. His voice sent a line of tingles up my spine, and a responding shot of guilt turned my stomach over so hard I thought I might throw up.
Olivier stepped closer to him and flicked her hands out to extend her claws. “She doesn’t want to talk to you, mutt.”
Her words made me bristle with anger, and I wanted to defend him, but he probably didn’t want me to. He didn’t say anything either, he just stood there with that puppy face of his, staring at me. Taking a few steps and falling into his sturdy, warm arms would’ve been the greatest pleasure in the world, but I didn’t deserve that anymore.
“Olivier, back,” I ordered with authority, and she stepped away from him, relaxing her battle stance but still pinning him down with her glare. Finally, I met Knight’s deep brown eyes, and my inner turmoil rose to insurmountable heights at the sight of them. Even as I felt like my lungs were devoid of air, it was nice to see his face. Like a painting you hang on the wall and admire, but never touch.
When I could barely stand it, Kitty fussed in my arms. It took little effort to comfort her, but Knight had reacted to her cry and come close enough to touch me. Before I could stop myself, I recoiled away from him and Olivier took her place between us with her claws out again.
The despondent look on his face ripped a hole into me so deeply, if I hadn’t already been broken inside, the despair would’ve burst me into a thousand pieces that no one, not even Arthur, could put back together.
“Let’s go,” I mumbled to Olivier, and we left Knight standing beside the babbling river.
A week passed, and I was still rattled at having Knight nearby. He spent most of his time at the reservation, but found any and every opportunity to come to the castle. He’d be gone soon, I had to keep reminding myself. He’d leave, and then I could continue my life. My empty, lonely life where the only drop of sunshine was my tiny Kitty. I’d never be happy, not really, but at least I’d have her.
Arthur was now all business, truly as if nothing had happened between us, so much so I had to remind myself it had actually happened, and I hadn’t imagined it. And if I wasn’t mistaken, he was only spending as much time with me as he had to, maybe because every time we were alone I longed to be in his arms, just to feel safe for only a moment.
There was also the work. I had plenty of that to keep me company as my heart was in constant pain. Arthur entered the room not five minutes after I’d come in, carrying another stack of papers, this one thankfully much thinner than usual. I tried to ignore my reaction to him, this was business as usual. No funny stuff. Silent, he set the stack in front of me and automatically glanced over to where Kitty slept in her bassinet by my desk.
“More legal things?” I asked him, flipping over the first page and inspecting it. My eyes lifted as well to peek out at him from the paper. His face was blank, as it had been for days. Damn him.
He moved easily into business talk, like nothing had been going through his mind during the silence, but I noted he was avoiding looking at my face. “The legal department is working on terms of the alliance. This is the first draft. We’ll present it at the next summit.” Next. Meaning there’d be more after that one. Negotiating was so much fun. “This one will be at the reservation.”
I couldn’t help raising my eyebrows at him even though he wasn’t looking at me. “That sounds risky. What will the security be like?”
“I’ll be there to protect the delegate. The werewolf has also volunteered.” That must’ve been a hard sell with Arthur, but it did make me pause. There would be only one reason why Knight would volunteer to protect a delegate.
“Whom did they choose?” I asked cautiously, very certain of the answer.
“Page 5,” he said with a gesture to the papers, his eyes still cast down. I flipped to the proper page and scanned it to find my name amongst all the legal jargon.
“They do realize I just had a baby, right? Literally last week. Me. Baby. Had.”
He shrugged apathetically in the typical Arthur fashion, and god, I wanted to slap him so hard. “You’re the only one who can make sure this happens. And even if I don’t believe that this is the best course of action–” He finally looked up at me and I glared at him, still contemplating that slap. “–it’s still a viable solution if executed properly.”
God, I can’t believe I let him eat my pussy.
“Assuming I don’t wind up as Lycan breakfast,” I muttered, my mood decidedly ruined.
“The werewolf won’t let that happen,” Arthur said, and I raised my eyebrows in disbelief.
“I’m surprised you’re suddenly trusting a werewolf enough to say something lik
e that, no matter what he means to me.”
“I don’t trust anyone,” he stated plainly, making my heart sink. “I’m merely stating that he, like you, clearly values this alliance. It won’t happen if you’re dead.” He had a point, but fuck, he was so cold sometimes. “Plus, he’s still carrying around a torch for you, no matter what you think. That helps too. Only regarding your safety, mind you.”
My eyes bugged out of my skull and I stood up so fast Arthur almost flinched. “Oh my god, we’re not a thing. You are banned from discussing my love life, Arthur, since I hardly believe you can be impartial given the fact that you made out with me right over there.” I pointed to the couch, daring Arthur to pretend he was still apathetic, but he was a giant disappointment with a quick twitch of his lips being the only indication he’d heard me. My stare at him quickly became a blinking contest, and I was firm in being the winner, to the point my eyes were stinging when he dropped his eyes and looked away.
“You’d be surprised how impartial I can be,” he said so quietly I almost didn’t hear it, and I signed the papers quickly so he would leave in the awkward silence that followed.
Slumping down into my chair, I leaned back and took a deep measured breath. I had several problems to deal with. The alliance, the turned, my ex-boyfriend, my ex-whatever Arthur was, a newborn baby, James (the guy who tortured me) was in my house, absent baby daddy, but it only seemed fair to add something new to the mix. I didn’t have a companion anymore, and especially with the double loss of blood with Kitty drinking from me, I was in dire need of one. For the moment, I was drinking bagged blood, like old times. It wouldn’t last, and I would need a solution soon.
I glanced over at Kitty and there was a timid knock at the door. After being given permission to enter, Sara walked in.
3. Conspiring with hell
The Sara that stood before me was different. She wasn’t sporting that edge of eccentric I’d come to love. Her makeup had always been either subdued or over the top, and now she had smoky eyes and deep rouged lips. Her clothes were fashionable and attractive, no more haphazard robes or kitten patterned pants. Her smile was also different when it was directed at me, as if she knew exactly how bad I felt towards her. I quite expected her to have a grudge against me, which would’ve been perfectly acceptable given the circumstances.
“I don’t hate you,” she opened, still in the doorway. Was she trying to spare my feelings?
I swallowed and focused on one of the various paintings on the wall. Some rich dude with a foxhound and a codpiece over his gross medieval dick. “You should,” I said back. “I betrayed everything I believe in when I mistreated you.” My eyes fell to the dark green carpet around her shoes. “I’ve been lashing out at anyone who dared misuse a human because I dishonored you. And I didn’t even bother feeling bad about it, even after I was gone. I was too caught up in my own crap to remember, oh hey, that human that was nice to you? You made her a slave.” I wiped a trembling hand over my cheeks. “Shit. I’m no better than James.”
She laughed at me. Loudly, in a very ironic fashion. “You? As bad as that manipulative egotistical fuck head?” She snorted several times behind her hand.
“Isn’t he your boyfriend?” I pointed out, not that I cared about hurting her boyfriend’s feelings.
She snorted again. “He’s still a manipulative egotistical fuck head. Me dating him won’t change that.”
“You and him, that’s kind of…” I wiggled my hand around and she put her hands on her hips, smiling reproachfully.
“You’re dating a werewolf. Knowing vampires as I do, they find that miles more repulsive than human and vampire relations.”
“We’re not dating,” I told her quickly, but she appeared only mildly surprised, as if she was further on in my story than I was and didn’t realize I hadn’t caught up to her yet. “You came here for something?” I asked before she could be the third person to lecture me about Knight before lunch. The first one being myself.
“I just wanted to make sure we were okay, and James is ready at any time to continue talking about the book you have. I know you’re busy with other things, so don’t feel rushed. We have rooms, we’ll stay as long as we need to.”
Of course, James’s status meant he could live here if he wanted to, especially since he wasn’t blood bingeing anymore. I shuddered to think of how it would be if he decided to stay. Seeing his face every day, this time in my home, his crystal grey eyes would haunt me everywhere I went. Even worse, Drake had the same eyes as his father, so I’d be doubly haunted.
“I promise we’re not staying,” Sara said softly. She was suddenly close enough to put her hand on my arm. “James understands you’re still dealing with the trauma, and believe me, he wishes he could take it all back.”
Looking down, I tried with everything I had to not relive the horror I’d suffered at James’s hands, and I was shaking with the effort. “It won’t make it go away,” I told her.
“No,” she agreed. “But you’re stronger now. You have Kitty to protect. There’s nothing that makes a woman stronger than being a mom.”
I was used to the illusion of a sleepless infant, wailing at all hours of the day and night, constant spit-ups and refusal to be comforted. In the few short weeks of her life, Kitty only cried if I pulled away before she was finished drinking my blood. Anything else was a quick howl until I noticed her distress of a wet diaper or wanting to be held.
She sucked her thumb as she slept in her crib, the epitome of a sleeping angel. I loved her and wanted to stay by her side all day every day, but I was hungry from feeding her again. Grabbing the baby monitor, I switched both units on and closed her door behind me.
Olivier sat on the couch in my living room reading a book. With me working during the day, it was her job to protect Kitty. Everyone was still wary around her, and Olivier was the only one I trusted with my daughter’s safety. I left her on the couch and went downstairs.
After grabbing a bag of blood from the kitchen, I made my way to my office. Marie sat at her desk writing on a notepad, but she stood up when I walked into the hallway.
“Lisbeth, you have a visitor. I showed them into your office,” she told me. I scowled at her, busting a small hole in the bag with my finger and putting a straw into it to put against my lips. I took a long, gross sip. God, I needed a companion, and soon.
“Marie, you’re not supposed to let people into my office if I’m not present. Arthur made the security protocols very clear about that.”
“Well,” she said, biting her lip. “He’s there too. He brought the visitor.”
I marched into my office expecting an intervention, or something involving Knight. The last thing I expected was Arthur leaning against my desk and James standing next to him playing with my dagger letter opener. They both straightened up and looked like guilty children under the pointed edge of my scowl. I shut the door on Marie and locked it.
“Arthur,” I said as calmly as I could, feeling both wrath at Arthur doing whatever he wanted and anxiety at being this close to James.
“Yes,” Arthur responded, feeling no guilt whatsoever for this.
“Why is James here? In my office. Playing with my fucking letter opener.” James set the knife down carefully when he noticed my scowl directed at him.
“I want him out of this castle,” Arthur explained with enough frost to re-freeze the polar ice caps.
“No offense taken,” James offered happily.
Arthur curled his lip, gritting his teeth as he retorted, “All the offense.” James made an ‘okay’ motion with his hands. “I don’t want him here any longer. He’s a blood binger.”
“Former,” James quipped, because he clearly didn’t value his life.
I thought Arthur’s tendons would pop from the fist he was making where James couldn’t see. “I only allowed him here because you asked me to overlook his crimes,” he ground out. “I request you finish your business with him and allow me to remove him from the house.”
“Again, not offended.” James smiled at me in a way that reminded me of my previous encounters with him. I felt my spine start crawling and my stomach churned against my will. “Lovely to see you again, Lisbeth. You’re looking well. Sticking to the black and white color scheme still, I see. I quite preferred you in purple, if you do recall.”
Before my feelings of revulsion could escalate further, the smallest sound came from the baby monitor in my hand, and I remembered what Sara said about my daughter giving me strength.
Raising my head, I looked at James with a deadpan look. “James, stick it up your ass. This isn’t a party, and I’m not your subordinate anymore. I am the highest-ranking vampire in this Order, and you will be respectful.” He raised his eyebrows but stayed silent. “And as for you, Arthur. You will cease to make decisions for me immediately. I know James is awful, but I will choose when to speak to someone.”
“I hate to interject,” James slid in. I doubted that. “I’m sure Arthur would be more than happy to oblige you if hating me were his only motive in this meeting.”
“Pardon?”
He glanced in Arthur’s direction and Arthur wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Tell her.” Arthur worked his jaw for a few seconds, James seeing that as an opportunity to take over. “You see, my liege, you might be the highest-ranking vampire in our Order, but you are not the oldest.” Oh fuck me backwards. “You assumed power when Othello was taken simply because I was not here, and should anything happen to you while I am at the Order…” He flipped his hand out towards me with a smile, and I had a sudden urge to put his face to a cheese grater.
“You would take over the Order,” I finished, grinding my teeth. Arthur met my eyes finally, trying to silently tell me just how much he absolutely did not want to take orders from James. Not that I blamed him. “Could you take my place, James? If you demanded it?”
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 36