Masquerade (Vampires Realm Romance Series Book 10)

by Heaton, F E

  Another Watchman. He both looked and behaved like a guard, remaining very near to Lord Hyperion and occasionally pausing to study the vampires around them whilst resting one hand on the grip of his sword. This one was stronger than the others she had seen around the ballroom. A Watchman of rank?

  Lord Timur beckoned her and she moved on instinct, only afterwards realising that he had recognised her. Had Tynan and Timur ensured that both her and Vivek’s attire was sufficiently different that they would be able to recognise them or had she done something to give herself away?

  When she reached the group, steeling herself against the overwhelming presence of Lord Hyperion, she bowed her head in greeting to her lord.

  “Bring us blood.”

  Sophis blinked in response to that. She was close to mentioning that her role here wasn’t one of a servant but Deshal gave her a look that broadcasted desire and she fled without looking back. If getting her lord a glass of blood would keep her away from Deshal’s lecherous stare for a few seconds and steal any chance he had of asking her to dance then she would lower herself to the task. The young vampire male serving the glasses of blood gave her a strange look when she picked up one of the fine silver trays, placed several flutes onto it and lifted it, holding it balanced on one hand. She smiled, considered making up a reasonable excuse, and then just left without a word, heading back through the crowd. A waiter with an empty tray met her as she neared the group and took hers from her.

  She looked around to see that everyone in the group had full flutes again and that her trip had been pointless, and swiped a glass from the tray before the waiter could make off with them. Still, at least she had escaped Deshal. He was gone now, and so was the guard who had been speaking with Lord Hyperion.

  “I am afraid my man had a prior engagement that he was eager to keep.” Lord Hyperion grinned at her, revealing slightly extended canines. Amusement shimmered in his striking purple eyes. “I cannot keep young Commander Winter away from his work these days.”

  Sophis had the feeling that there was supposed to be a joke somewhere in that statement but she didn’t understand it, and none of the other lords and ladies seemed to either.

  “Are you staying this time?” Lord Hyperion said with a wicked edge to the smile curving his lips.

  “Yes, my lord.” Sophis bowed and halfway through turned it into a curtsey. She had been close to pressing her hand to her chest as a guard would and that would have been disastrous. She held her glass of blood in her right hand and probably would have tipped it down herself in her haste to respond correctly to the fact that Lord Hyperion, the most powerful vampire in existence, was talking to her as though they were equals.

  She swallowed at that and tingles raced along her nerves, settling in her fingers and chest. Panic. She drew a deep breath and held it together. Only Timur knew that she was a guard. Everyone else here probably thought she was a young high-ranked vampire of the Venia bloodline.

  The dancers changed again and Lady Prophecy and Lord Venturi Tenebrae left the group to join them. Sophis couldn’t fail to feel the trace of anger that laced the air around Lord Valentine and tried not to look at him, afraid that he might unleash it on her if she did. Whatever people said about them, it seemed the lord of Aurorea wasn’t as comfortable as everyone thought he was about his mate’s feelings for another male.

  Lord Timur droned on about politics and the business with werewolves to Lady Rosea of the Nocens bloodline, and Lord Valentine continued to glare at the dancers.

  “He is always like this. He is bound and powerless against the beauty and charm of his love,” Lord Hyperion said in a casual tone, the smile on his face remaining even when Lord Valentine growled threateningly. “If it bothers you, Valentine, I suggest you do something about it. Perhaps our dear child of darkness would do better to dance in another man’s arms. Mine, for instance. How would that suit you?”

  Valentine growled again and his irises melted from green to lapis lazuli, the colour of the Aurorea bloodline. Sophis flinched away from him, fearing he would go through with the threat. She didn’t want to have to intervene in a scuffle between two powerful lords.

  “She is returning. School your expression, my young apprentice, or she will see that you are madder than hell with your rival rather than just sense it.” Hyperion flashed a playful wink her way. Did he enjoy taunting men to the edge of despair?

  The moment Lady Prophecy neared them with Lord Venturi tailing her, Lord Valentine stalked forwards. The intense anger Lord Valentine broadcasted silenced the room, sending the orchestra screeching to a halt. A gap instantly opened around the three of them as he closed in on Lady Prophecy, the crowd moving backwards to a safer distance. Sophis joined them, her instincts driving her and senses blaring in alarm.

  Lord Valentine snarled and snatched Lady Prophecy’s wrist, gripping it tightly and turning his glare on her. Fear shone in the young redhead’s eyes but she didn’t look away from her mate. She was either very brave or very foolish to hold his gaze and not relent. He growled, his vivid blue eyes darkening as he exposed his sharp canines. She lowered her eyes then, dipping her head at the same time.

  Valentine’s fierce gaze shifted to Lord Venturi. He roared at the Tenebrae vampire, the sound shattering the thick silence, and then snarled, baring his fangs. Venturi’s eyes flickered to black, the colour of the Tenebrae bloodline, a split-second before he dropped his gaze to the floor and bowed his head, turning submissive. Valentine dragged Prophecy with him as he approached Venturi, rage rolling off him in sickening waves, and Sophis tensed when he raised his left hand, his claws sharp and ready to strike. She leapt back when he swiftly brought his hand down, stopping barely a hair’s breadth from Venturi’s throat, and found herself pressing into a cool hard body. Valentine snarled, dragged Prophecy towards the dance floor and left Venturi standing with his head still lowered in shame but his throat intact. Strong hands came to rest on Sophis’s shoulders and she jumped again when the man behind her spoke.

  “Now now, ladies and lords, the show as they say is over. Let us commence dancing again and forget that Lord Valentine Aurorea lost his temper, lest he be driven to re-enact that bloody rampage his forebear once enjoyed at such a masquerade.” Lord Hyperion’s words breathed so close to her ear that she shivered with each one had the desired effect on the attendees.

  Everyone was acting as though nothing had happened before even a second had passed. The crowd murmured with conversation, no doubt about the outburst, the orchestra played a fast waltz that sounded Eastern European to her, full of rising violins and beautiful woodwind instruments, and the dancers spun in perfectly choreographed circles on the floor, led by a smiling Caelestis lady and her scowling partner.

  Sophis had read about the masquerade massacre. Over half of the guests had been slaughtered by a previous lord of the Aurorea bloodline when a fight had broken out between his family and the Caelestis. The two bloodlines shared Prague as their home city but it wasn’t out of choice. They constantly fought over it, both believing that the other didn’t deserve to reside in their city. It was only when Lord Aurorea and Lady Caelestis, both vampires who had been named for their bloodlines, had fallen in love and mated that a time of peace had descended over the bloodlines. When those two rulers had died, the peace between the families had begun to dissolve. Now they had a new mated pair to lead them in a time of peace, but there were still outbreaks of fighting between the two bloodlines.

  There were also rumours that Lord Valentine had butchered several high-ranking vampires who had dared to oppose him, bringing his bloodline to order. Sophis could easily believe that he might fight Lord Venturi and any of the Tenebrae guards, including the Law Keeper, if he felt his position as Lady Prophecy’s true mate was challenged.

  “Did he scare you, my little miss?”

  Sophis nodded dumbly. Although, he hadn’t scared her half as much as finding Lord Hyperion behind her. How fast had he moved? She had seen vampires move quickly, had fal
len victim to it in more than one fight with Vivek, but Hyperion had moved like lightning.

  He slid his hands down her bare upper arms and she trembled.

  “Perhaps you would do best to remain at my side where it is safe. I am sure I could provide adequate entertainment for you and would make a worthy appearance in your diary. Something about the balcony and moonlight, and a stolen kiss?” Before his lips could touch her throat, Sophis whirled out of his arms and came to face him. He smiled, charming to the last, and placed his fingers under her chin. She trembled, afraid she might have offended him. He could kill her with little more than a flick of his wrist, swiping his claws across her throat. She would bleed to death before she could heal. “You truly are beautiful, but I have a feeling you are destined to bloom for another. We are both waiting for our love to reawaken us.”

  Sophis opened her mouth to ask what he meant by that but he was gone again. A gust of cold wind blew in through the French doors near the stairs to the balcony, snaking through the vampires that clustered between her and them, and she frowned through them to the night beyond. Lord Hyperion stood there on the patio, his back to her and his hands on the stone balustrade that edged it.

  He was wrong. She wasn’t waiting for her love. She had only just decided to find someone to fill that position and was certain that it wouldn’t happen any time soon, and certainly not at the ball.

  Although, allowing the madness of the masquerade to sweep her along did have a certain appeal. The air was full of romance after all.

  With a long sigh, Sophis wrapped her arms about herself and turned away from the doors. The dancers didn’t provide much distraction from her tempting thoughts. Lady Prophecy and Lord Valentine seemed to have made up and were staring into each other’s eyes, and Lady Lilith of the Vehemens bloodline was dancing with her mate, Lincoln. The dark haired man was holding her so close to him, tucked up in his arms, that Sophis couldn’t miss how possessive he felt about the woman he loved. The sense that she was prying returned but this time she didn’t look away. There was so much love between the two couples. She longed for someone to hold her like that, and look at her with such devotion and desire, and she wasn’t alone in her feelings. There were many female vampires gathered around the dance floor, all sharing a common look of hope and yearning. Did she look like that? Like some sappy, sentimental, heartsick girl?

  Since becoming a vampire, she had been alone.

  Sophis reminded herself that she was here to guard not to pine after love or dream of a different life. She managed to look at only a fifth of the crowd, searching for trouble, before her gaze drifted back to the dancers and her thoughts returned to love. She had never experienced that emotion in her time as a human. Her sire had told her that she had said that to him before he had turned her and that she had wanted a better life, one with purpose. He had granted her wish, but she was still alone.

  A man with dark hair and fiery orange eyes bumped her as he passed, heading for Lady Rosea. His eyes marked him as a Nocens too and not a very polite one judging by the fact he didn’t apologise and was dragging a brunette dressed in dark blue satin behind him. The woman glanced at her as they passed, a distant cold look in her green eyes. When the man stopped and touched her cheek, she turned her face away, her lip curling in disgust. His expression darkened.

  “Behave yourself,” he growled and the woman flinched and bit her lip, her eyes screwing shut.

  Sophis frowned. The woman’s reaction wasn’t because of the man’s words or the threat in his growl. He was holding her upper arm tightly enough that her flesh was white around the points where his fingers pressed in, bruising her. She stumbled when he shoved her aside and dropped her chin, standing meekly at the perimeter of the group.

  Obediently.

  Sophis willed the woman to look at her but she remained with her eyes downcast. She looked over to find the man who had been with her was now speaking to Lady Rosea, his fiery eyes flashing with anger. The woman in the deep blue dress rubbed her arm, smoothing away the red crescent moons that marked where the man had been gripping her with his claws.

  “You,” someone said close to her elbow and Sophis looked around to find the man was addressing her. “You stand around far too much for a beautiful woman. You will dance with me.”

  Sophis wanted to call him an arrogant presumptuous bastard but her lord was standing only two metres behind the man and waved her on. Lady Rosea and Lord Venturi were watching her too. She couldn’t refuse and it didn’t seem as though he was giving her a choice anyway because he took her arm and was leading her onto the dance floor before another bar of music had passed.

  As if the Devil wasn’t tormenting her enough tonight, the orchestra sounded the opening of a slow waltz.

  She looked up at her partner and found him staring at her breasts.

  This was going to be a long dance.

  Sophis prayed to the Devil that he send someone to save her. She didn’t care who did the rescuing.

  Lord Hyperion would do fine.

  Even Deshal was preferable to this cruel pervert.

  Her chest tightened with hope.

  If Vivek had chosen this moment to dance, and she ended up in his arms when they switched partners, she might not be able to stop herself from responding in a way that would probably terrify him.

  She might just kiss him for saving her.

  Sophis found it impossible to make polite conversation with a man she had just witnessed hurting a woman. She kept her responses to polite nods and smiles for fear of asking him if injuring a female satisfied him on some sick level or whether he was a vicious son of a bitch because his position within his bloodline afforded him that little luxury.

  It hadn’t taken her very long to realise that he was the Chosen Son of the Nocens bloodline. Offending him would probably buy her a one way ticket out of the guard and she was in little doubt that he would strike her for it too.

  So she kept her mouth shut and bit back her desire to give him a piece of her mind.

  The woman he had hurt didn’t seem very bothered that he was now dancing with someone else. Sophis caught glimpses of her as they twirled on the dance floor, and the woman was always looking elsewhere, towards another man in fact. Sophis singled out the man in question whilst trying to maintain a suitable distance between her and the pervert gripping her waist and hand as though she was prime steak and he was a starving man. The masked man seemed quite handsome but he wasn’t looking at the woman. His eyes were on the man dancing with Sophis. Did the woman know him? He reeked of guard to Sophis.

  “Is there a reason you are spending more time looking at my commander than at me?” the man leading her around the dance floor said and Sophis plastered her best innocent look on her face when she turned her gaze on him.

  He smiled, revealing fangs, and his fiery irises shone under the candlelight. He seemed quite intent on letting everyone know his bloodline. Was it a show of power? Or a sign that he cared little about the laws? The ball was a time when vampires of different bloodlines were free to interact with each other but most chose to keep their bloodline concealed from those they danced with and spoke to.

  “Do I not satisfy you as a partner?” he murmured and leaned in closer, his gaze falling to her cleavage again. “I could satisfy you in many ways.”

  Disgust rolled through her and forced her to respond. “I did not come here to dance, only to observe.”

  She had to bite her lip again to stop herself from mentioning that she was also a guard. No one was supposed to know and she couldn’t trust anyone here. Any one of them might be involved in a plot against one of the bloodlines or her lord and family.

  The man pulled her closer, holding her tight against him, and he was far too much stronger than she was for her to push him away. She felt uncomfortable in his arms and wanted to break away, to escape the dance floor. It wasn’t because he was a different bloodline to her. It was the way he behaved, how he thought he could rule her and command her and sh
e would do as he pleased.

  She loathed that in a man.

  Relief bloomed sweet inside her when the music signalled a change in partners and she twirled free of his grasp this time and into the path of another man.

  Her eyes widened when she found ice-blue ones meeting hers.

  CHAPTER 10

  Vivek nursed his flute of blood. It had gone cold thirty minutes ago, around the same time that he had finally managed to locate Sophis. She had disappeared after he had first set eyes on her and he had lost her in the crowd. When he had found her again, she had been with Lord Hyperion’s group, held tight in the Validus vampire’s arms as though he was protecting her from the temper of Lord Valentine. Vivek had taken a step forward, intent on tearing her away from Lord Hyperion, before he had got the better of himself. Hyperion could kill him with a single blow and Sophis was unlikely to thank him for his heroics.

  Sophis had escaped the powerful vampire’s grasp shortly after that and the man had said something to her that had changed her expression of anger to one that held a note of sorrow or loneliness. She had stood there alone for a few seconds before turning to watch the dancers with an edge of longing. Did she want to dance too?

  She was dancing now, although she didn’t seem to like her partner. Vivek was close enough to the edge of the dance floor that he recognised the man as the Chosen Son of the Nocens bloodline, a vampire of considerable age and power. Sophis was alluring as she spoke to the man, saying things that Vivek couldn’t hear, and he wanted to dance with her too, wanted to cut in and claim her as his partner.

  She looked so beautiful and elegant, turning on the dance floor, the long train of her scarlet dress caught up in one hand, revealing enough of her white stockings to make him ache to know how the soft fabric would feel under his fingers. The candlelight played on her hair, highlighting each curl pinned and tumbling from the back of her head with shimmering gold threads.