by Imogene Nix
“Everyone reacts in his or her own way to the change. Now, there is a set of clothing for you behind the screen. I will wait outside.”
The petulance melted away, replaced by a warmer, more balanced emotion. “Cressida? Thank you.”
This time she did turn back, her face a picture of surprise. “What? Why thank me? I’m the object of your doom.”
He smiled. “Or the object of my salvation.”
She shook her head and retreated from the room. The blanket that covered him fell away as he stood. He was woozy. Hungry.
The sides of his mouth ached. Each of these things he accepted as part of his new life—the things Kharisma had warned him of in his room.
With a shrug, Daniel made his way to the dressing screen. It was so feminine, and for a moment he wondered if it was Cressida’s own. The clothes lay just beyond.
On a hanger he saw one of his black tailored suits and a snowy white shirt. Below sat his favorite wing-tipped shoes of black leather and on a small stand he spied underwear. He tugged on the pants and shirt, ignoring the suit jacket. The slide of the material over his body made him moan as unfamiliar sensations crowded his mind.
“That too, in time, will pass. Now, come to me.”
Without conscious thought, he followed her demand.
* * * *
Her body tingled in a most unfamiliar way and muscles long unused ached as she made her way slowly to her office. Better to keep this official, she reminded herself.
It was difficult to maintain that icy barrier when memories of what they’d done kept rising to the surface. He’d been an accomplished lover, something she’d never before experienced.
It was a revelation.
Etienne had been kind and considerate but he’d never made her burn. Not like Daniel. She wanted to shy away from the comparison but it hovered there in the forefront of her mind.
Cressida ran a shaking hand through her blonde hair where it lay like a cloud against her skin. She needed to rein in her emotions, had to react as she always had.
She lowered herself to her desk and the urge to cry rose. “You can’t be like this, Cressida. Get control of yourself, otherwise we’re all doomed.” The weakness that seemed to have assailed her lately angered and infuriated her, yet she struggled to keep her thoughts and libido in check.
An image of Caridad on the opposite wall made her straighten as if she’d been slapped in the face. Her mind lightly sought Daniel and she smiled. He was dressing. She had a minute or two to find her inner balance. Seek it she did, breathing deeply and reminding herself of those she was to protect. It was enough to allow Cressida to reinforce her defenses.
The computer buzzed and she checked her emails, grimacing at the number that downloaded containing the subject header Attack by Creedar. Until now, it had been at least a week since his last attack. She’d known this brittle peace couldn’t last long, as she tapped her long fingernail on the desk. Cressida settled back in her chair, needing to focus on the problems that had surfaced.
A knock on the door echoed and she gave the command to enter. She watched as Daniel stepped into the room. There was a new grace in the way he moved—flowed, her mind corrected. It was as if he’d been born for this moment, and she swallowed.
His face, finely chiseled before now, seemed stronger and more angular, and his eyes glowed with a health and vitality.
“Cressida?”
She indicated with a languid hand that he should take a seat opposite her.
“I will do the formalities first, then we can get down to business.”
A half smile emerged. “I thought we’d done that already.”
Oh God help me! That smile and the smoky way he spoke… She had to grip her desk, her fingers finding purchase as they gouged the grain, otherwise she’d have leaped the table and set upon him. She’d allowed herself once! And now she’d tasted heaven, she feared it would never be enough.
“I… Yes, well.” She cleared her throat and a rumble grew in his chest. “I know Celina and Javed have spoken to you, however, I need your oath before we go any further.”
He stopped, his gaze watchful. “And if I don’t?”
“If you don’t I cannot…” She stumbled, as if the words she had to say struck at her. Pain filled her features, more telling than any other action. “I cannot allow you to…to continue.”
“This hurts you.” His soft words were no balm. They clawed deeper, beneath the surface pain to where she tried to hide the truth.
She had to be honest. Brutally so. It was their way. And hers. “It does. Any who cannot make their oath…” She stopped because the words she was about to say tortured her. “It hurts me to say these words to you. Please, Daniel.”
“Cressida, I would never hurt you. Surely you know this now?” He strode around the desk, the wooden structure that she’d used as a shield forgotten as he squatted. He raised his arm, then rested the palm of his hand against her cheek. “I would do anything for you, Cressida. All you have to do is ask.”
“Then I must formally ask you to declare your oaths to Javed as your Master, to me as your Council member and to Caridad as Overlord.” The magic swirled through the air, capturing them both in its grip. His face glowed, and she knew he too felt it.
He gave a small nod as if he’d come to some conclusion. “I will pledge myself to my house and my Master, to you as Council member and to Caridad as our Overlord.”
In his eyes she caught a flash of deep emotion. He opened his mouth to speak again and she couldn’t have stopped her action. She laid a finger against his lips and for a second gloried in the feel of him against that small bit of flesh.
“Can you and will you uphold our hierarchy, our way of life and our commitment to the common goal of a peaceful existence? Will you give your future service to those who would guide and protect you? Will you give your life for your brother and sister vampires, and for the protection of the nest you are assigned to?”
He watched her as he spoke. “I will and I do.”
A frisson of electricity sparked around them. Magic had been imbued in every word and every undertaking given. The bands that had tightened around her chest loosened their grip. “Then I would welcome you to our world, Daniel.”
He leaned in. She didn’t know how he moved, but he did, the whisper of his breath brushing over her face. “Thank you.” He kissed her.
They were butterfly soft, the touches that melted her. He wound his arms around her waist and she let him draw her closer. “This is all I’ve ever wanted, Cressida. You.”
His thoughts drugged her, filling her senses in a way words never could. The vortex of emotions crashed over her as she twined her fingers in his hair.
“How can you want me? I’m a monster!”
The cry came from her soul, and she tugged away. “I never wanted you to see…”
“Ah, Cressida!” He pulled her close again. “I know. I understood that once I saw the dream. I could tell what you thought and felt. But it doesn’t change anything for me.”
The door crashed open, then a gasp, feminine and rather pleased, shattered the tableau. “Well, this is awkward. Just…just let me know when you’re done.”
Cressida laughed at Samra’s dry words. It was a quaver of noise that erupted from her lips and chest, making her double over.
“Well, it was pretty funny.” She raised her head as the paroxysm ended and she saw the smile on Daniel’s face.
“Now, I think it’s time we got a few things straight. I want you. I’ve always wanted you and I know you want me. So don’t push me away, Cressida.” The intention in his words laid to waste any last illusions she had that he was unaware of her hunger.
The tension was back and she gazed at his face. On impulse, she reached out and grabbed his hand. “I don’t want you to go anywhere. Stay here. In this nest.”
“Then that’s good, because I wasn’t planning on leaving.” His face relaxed and she suddenly realized he’d been worried she
would send him away.
It was sobering.
She could hurt him so easily, if what she was reading was correct. “Don’t ever let go,” she whispered. Then he dipped his face again for a last quick, soul-searing kiss.
Chapter Six
She dropped the receiver into the cradle. “Dammit, how could he strike again? How could we not know?” Her head ached and she rested it against the wall for a moment.
“Where?” Samra stalked closer. Cressida had been making plans with Samra when the call had come through and was thankful for the soothing touches of her second in her mind.
“New Orleans. One of the oldest American houses. They had four-hundred-and-eighty-two nestlings. They killed all the warriors.” She stared blindly at the wainscoting.
The sound of feet slapping on tiles made her turn and there was Daniel, in the doorway. “What? What’s happened?”
“There’s been another attack,” Samra answered and Cressida turned blindly, needing his support.
“He killed all the nestlings over thirty and any under fifteen. Everyone. They said the carnage was unbelievable. The rest are gone. No one can understand where they could be hidden.” Cressida had to bite her lip as a spasm of pain flashed through her. Her connection to the senior Councilors from other regions fed back into her mind.
Immanissimum ac foedissimum monstrum.
Cressida laughed. The pungent phrase denoting Creedar as a gross and putrid monster seemed appropriate.
“Oh, Samra, where would I be without you?” The laughter died as she looked over to Daniel. “He staked the Master outside, where the sun would find him. He was found at dawn screaming and burning alive…”
No one asked if he’d survived. They all knew that he couldn’t have. Once the ultraviolet rays of the sun had touched him he’d have suffered a reaction to the toxicity that built up quickly in their cells. Death took mere minutes to come, but it would have been excruciatingly painful.
“Where is Caridad?”
Daniel’s words left her flinching. He touched her shoulder and she reached up, holding him close. “She’s on her way. She said she’d found something that might help. The witches are coming too.”
“I will summon Celina, Hope, Javed and Xavier, then.” Samra left the room, though it was clear she understood how much Cressida ached at the knowledge that Daniel had asked after Caridad first.
“You should sit, Cressida.” He tried to push her back to the seat but the build-up of pressure seemed like too much. She tugged away from him, batting at his hand.
“Don’t handle me, Daniel. You forget, you are a neophyte only.” Her cold words shocked him as much as her. She could see it in the way the color bled away, leaving him pale, his skin close to translucent in the feeble and false light.
Without a word, Daniel blinked. He stepped back. His deep bow reeked of hurt.
The air was ripe with anger and frustration. Most of it on her side, she sourly concluded.
“Forgive me, Councilor. I thought I was also your lover.” He kept his voice neutral but she could see the flare of his nostrils.
“Dammit, why can’t I…?” Flinging her hands in the air didn’t help but for a moment she was at a loss to know how to continue. Every conversation with him went awry, it seemed. She growled low in her throat.
“I will leave you to your plans, then.” He started backing away and with quick steps she caught his hands.
“No. Stop.”
He did, but there was a tension in his shoulders—the way he held himself so still twisted the cord of frustration that lodged itself in her chest. Cressida wanted to scream.
“I need your help. I…I need you.” Her words erupted in a tight snarl.
“Then of course, I am at your service.” The old-fashioned phrase left her scowling with confusion. The anger loosened just a little, or at least enough so she could breathe.
“We need to arrange for a clean-up crew to head to New Orleans. There were some nestlings that weren’t home. There were a few children, including the Yeux Secondes’ youngest daughter, who was attending some kind of overnight gathering. Some older members were attending a play and those who worked nights outside the actual house. They were spared, but their needs now will be urgent.” It was difficult to think straight when she had to deal with her own jumbled emotions, but she managed.
“How many?” His gaze bored into her.
“Survivors, you mean? Twelve, maybe fourteen.” She grabbed a pad from her desk and thrust it into his hands. “These are the details that we have so far. The number at the bottom of the page is a direct number to the most senior vampire relations officer in New Orleans. Get on the phone and see how we can help. Not only our nest, but—”
Daniel dropped the pad to the desk and tugged her close. “Do you realize what you just said?”
Cressida heard his sharp inhalation and wondered what she’d done now. It bewildered her, and she tasted his emotions. The anger had dissipated, leaving another, more unfamiliar emotion behind. “What? What did I say?”
“Our nest. Yours and mine.” His kissed her gently, a soothing balm to her aching soul.
“Daniel, I can’t…”
“I know. Someday soon, when things are settled, we’ll work out what is between us. Until then, my promise to you is that I will be by your side. Whenever you need me, I’ll be there, and I’ll never turn you away.”
He rested his forehead against hers, and the intimate gesture left her without the words to express herself adequately.
“Now you do your job and I’ll see to this.” He slid away from her. She mourned the loss of his physical support, and dropped into the chair. “I’ll get on this and see what I can organize between our nests.”
“Fine. I’ll also send for blood wine. I daresay we’re going to need it before the night is through.”
* * * *
Cressida slumped backward, her eyes closed as she considered the Daniel situation. She needed something, some kind of closure, then maybe she could turn her mind to Creedar. The thing that rode her, though, was that this was never the way she’d worked before. She’d always been focused. For the first time she wondered if there wasn’t more to the situation than she could see or understand. “In such a short time he’s become important to me.”
She’d fought against it and heavens knew she’d tried to avoid this kind of entanglement with anyone. So why didn’t it work?
“Because he’s committed to you and you need him. He completes you, I think.”
Samra’s thoughts floated into her mind.
Now, trying to see it objectively, she had to agree, but for all she considered, there didn’t seem to be an answer. Not yet.
“I need to work.” Her muttered words filled the air, but nothing stopped the whirling of her brain.
For an instant she inhaled, hoping a cleansing breath would calm her rapid pulse, then with a tremendous effort she realigned her thinking and looked at the computer screen.
The blinking window told her there was a video waiting, the timestamp informing her it had been sent while they’d slept. While she’d been wrapped in Daniel’s arms.
She opened the message and the video started automatically.
The room was dark, but she could make out doors, and people standing against the metal walls. “Councilor? If you get this, you have to see. You need to know. Someone from within must be sharing information, because otherwise they wouldn’t know about our reinforced safe rooms!” The man, Yeux Secondes of the New Orleans nest that had been attacked, was clearly afraid. “No one here knew, except my family and of course the Master and his second.” The terrified man glanced over his shoulder to where several huddled against the wall, the whites of their eyes glinting in the darkness.
“This room was built to hide slaves and over the years, generations of my family have reinforced the rooms. But we never told anyone about the hidey holes.”
The man’s movements were jerky as he rubbed at his eyes, horr
or making them wide and wild.
Cressida punched the button on her phone, her eyes never leaving the screen. “Samra, come to my office, now.”
“We’re under attack.” The white-faced man panted as thuds and screams rose in the background. The video was grainy but it was clear he despaired. “My Master’s daughter is at camp. We sent her, knowing that the situation was precarious. One of our seers warned us… If I don’t get out of here, please attend to her safety, Cressida, I beseech you.”
A tremendous bang sounded and Creedar’s vampires pounced. “Save her!” The screen went black as vicious creatures lunged.
Cressida’s heart raced like a freight train. Samra arrived at her doorway. “What?”
“We’ve been sent a video.”
The sound of it left her nauseated. The terror refreshed memories she’d hoped were forever behind her. Recollections of massacres she’d come upon rose. The scent they always left behind had affected her badly. It wasn’t a relief though, to be spared it this time. The stench of spilled blood wasn’t something that could be overcome in a mere millennium, she thought.
Maybe it was because of her unwilling change… For an instant her hand rose to her flat belly before she acknowledged her actions. Her hand dropped away as she noted Samra’s shocked glance in her direction.
Without a word, Samra strode over and took up position behind Cressida’s seat. “Show me.”
Cressida ran the video again. This time she could be more detached about it. She sought to pick out particular people and actions. But none of this made sense.
“Filius canis.” Samra’s oath almost raised a smile from Cressida.
“My thoughts entirely.” Cressida raised her hand and wiped it over her brow. “We need to get this to Caridad quickly.” It was the sudden intake of breath that had her turning in her seat. “Well then…that’s… It’s a good thing she’ll be here later tonight.”