Masque of the Vampire (Amaranthine Book 8)

by Joleene Naylor

  “The humans are asleep, and there are more than a hundred vampires running around. It could be anyone.”

  “So you don’t think…?”

  He drew her closer. “I think it’s unlikely.” He paused to study her. “You don’t need to feel so disappointed, as if you wanted a direct pipeline to him.”

  “It’s not that. I thought I finally had some kind of progress, that I could do something no one else could.”

  “There are lots of things you can do that no one else can, and if you’d get over your phobia of Sarah sleeping next door, I’d show you some of them.” He nipped her neck playfully and made a low growl of desire.

  “And reward you for doubting me,” she teased.

  “Don’t look at it as a reward for me, but one for you. You did read her mind after a fashion. Though you shouldn’t immerse yourself like that.”

  “I think Kai said something like that the first time I did it.” She cocked her head to one side. “You said you were going to reward me?”

  He straddled her and playfully pinned her arms over her head. “You deserve an immense reward.” He leaned down and teased her neck with the tip of his tongue. Goosebumps raced down her spine and she caught her breath.

  She felt his amusement as he moved to trace the delicate shell of her ear. She gasped and his amusement increased.

  “I don’t know why you think it’s funny.”

  He moved his kisses to her arm and worked up toward her wrist. “What you take for amusement at your reactions is really enjoyment.” He pressed his lips to her palm, then ran his tongue over her knuckles. “And you have wonderful reactions to enjoy.”

  “Do I?” Normally she’d have been embarrassed but she was distracted by the warm press of his body and the heat of his mouth as he started back down her arm. His fangs scraped the tender skin of her inner elbow and she tensed in anticipation, waiting for him to bite.

  “You’re in a hurry,” he teased.

  He released her arms and worked his way to her chin, leaving a trail of searing kisses that made her want more. She writhed beneath him, urging him on, but he continued at his slow snail pace. When he lifted his weight to strip her pajama shirt, she took the opportunity and flipped him onto his back.

  He gave a noise of surprise as she pinned him, straddling his stomach, his arms held at his sides.

  She grinned at his wide eyes. “This is me enjoying your reaction.”

  “I’d complain, but it’s hard with a beautiful woman lying on your chest.”

  She ignored the double entendre, and shifted to press her lips to his. He wrapped his arms around her. One hand fisted in her long hair, the other rested on the curve of her back. He pulled her against him, as if he could compress them into one being with sheer will.

  She moved her hands over his strong shoulders, then traced the shape of his arms as far as she could reach. It wasn’t enough. She wanted more of him, wanted to feel more, touch more.

  She broke the kiss and moved to his pale naked chest. When she shifted lower to trace his belly button, she felt the press of his erection against her leg. Her stomach clenched and she unconsciously licked her lips. A quiet ache started in her lower body and began to spread upwards. Her skin tingled and her mouth watered with the thought of biting him, tasting him, drinking him, owning him.

  She didn’t wait for his reaction, just bit into his chest. His back arched at the sudden onslaught, then relaxed as the initial pain faded. His hot blood flowed into her mouth, spicy, salty, delicious. She gulped the liquid down her throat and reached for him in her mind. She felt him like a bead of golden light, on the edge of her senses, throbbing in time to his pounding heart.

  The light engulfed her. She spun through ghostly images, the impressions of sound, a thousand emotions. She pushed aside the sadness and grasped onto the pleasure, the desire, the need. She held it close until it was a part of her. Her need. Her desire.

  She was aware of Jorick pulling her arm to his mouth. The tickle of his breath sent shivers racing over her. Then he bit. The golden light exploded in a rainfall of ecstasy that made her cry out. With the motion, her half of the connection disappeared, and she rushed to regain it.

  Her fangs pierced his flesh and his blood pooled in her mouth again. Though she reached for the core of golden light, she could feel him steering her toward a crimson colored world of euphoria. The pull of desire was too great. She let go and followed. A thousand and one sensations crashed around her at once. He was in her and outside of her. Around her. Part of her. And she was part of him, as inseparable as his heartbeat.

  The world exploded in scarlet fireworks. She rained down with the glittering shower and at last lay on his chest, gasping, her body spent.

  Jorick released her arm and stroked her hair. “That was an unanticipated reaction.”

  She leaned up to see him grinning. “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing.” He pulled her down for a salty kiss, and she tried not to think about the blood on his lips. Her blood.

  He let her go and met her eyes. “I enjoyed your take charge attitude.”

  She felt her cheeks flame and looked away, but he caught her chin and forced her gaze back. “Wanting your mate is nothing to be embarrassed about.”

  “It makes me feel like…like a glutton.” She didn’t meet his eyes as the words tripped out. “I already gulp…” she couldn’t use the word blood, “...my meals, and when I smell people I want to bite them. Then with you, all I could think about was drinking your…” she trailed off.

  “Those are different things, little one, though they’re all desires. Your meal and even the humans are a desire for sustenance. Just as a child initially shoves handfuls of food into their mouth, so you gulp it down. But like a child, you’ll eventually gain control, and the need to latch onto every food source will diminish. As for the other, I hope you never stop wanting me.”

  “I’d like to have a little more control,” she muttered.

  “I hope you don’t. You have no idea how flattering it is.”

  She poked him in the ribs. “Flattering? Seriously?”

  He broke into a wide grin. “Of course. How desirable must I be if you can’t control yourself?”

  “You manage to control yourself with me.”

  With a laugh he rolled her onto her back and pressed his face close to hers. “If you believe that, I’ve done a good job of fooling you.”

  Her reply was drowned in a kiss.

  Katelina drifted to sleep in Jorick’s arms, but woke suddenly. There was the memory of a voice, though she didn’t know what it had said, or who it belonged to. Her eyes jerked to the door. Silence. As she started to relax, a soft sound came, like a shuffle. She threw back the blankets and catapulted over Jorick. She jerked the door open, but there was only Sarah, staring down the corridor. Their eyes met and they nodded, then Katelina returned to her bed and Jorick’s curious questions.

  “I thought she was crazy, too,” Katelina whispered. “But this is the second time I’ve heard someone. Maybe she’s right. Maybe the stalker is real.”

  Jorick asked the same question she had: Why would anyone stalk Sarah?

  “Maybe if we find out who, we can find out why.”

  Jorick scoffed.

  That evening, she followed him down to breakfast. They passed Roger and Jamie in the corridor. Katelina needed to talk to them without Jorick, but she couldn’t think of a way get free until they reached the dining room. Sarah was noticeably absent, so she murmured an excuse to look for her and hurried away before Jorick could comment.

  Back in the hall, Jamie nodded as the blurry eyed guard reeled off his report. Katelina studied Roger, making a mental list of his symptoms. His skin was paler than usual and his eyes were sunk in. A blister on his hand showed he’d wandered into sunlight. Since he did the day rounds, maybe he’d seen or heard something.

  He saluted Jamie and started away before she pounced. “Roger, isn’t it?”

  He turned bloo
dshot eyes on her. “Wow. You know my name. Should I be flattered?”

  She looked to where Jamie stopped to talk to someone else. She didn’t have time for Roger’s sarcasm. “You’re awake all afternoon. Is anyone up with you?”

  “Are you implying I’m not doing my stupid job? Because I am, even though it’s useless. It isn’t like this place is remotely sun proof, and the only way I can safely get from floor to floor are the stairs in the walls, but I’m doing it. Up and down and—”

  “Stairs in the walls?”

  He looked at her like she was stupid. “You know, the passages hidden in the—” He broke off and snickered. “You don’t know and you’re accusing me of not doing my job.”

  Katelina bit back a growl. “I’m not accusing you. I just want to know if anyone else was awake today.”

  “Besides the servants? Cornelius has the morning shift, but otherwise no, no there wasn’t. If that’s all you wanted then I’m going to bed.”

  Katelina let him stomp off and looked back to Jamie, her mind churning with the implications of a hidden staircase. The Executioner gave a polite laugh, then broke free of his cornered conversation. She hurried after him, and caught him before he reached the dining room.

  “I have a question. You checked the guests in, right? How many wind walkers are there?”

  Jamie studied her carefully. “I don’t know. Why?”

  “You could look it up, couldn’t you?”

  His suspicion appeared to double. “I could. But why would I?”

  Before she could think of a sane way to phrase her answer, she felt the spark of mind reading. Her first reaction was annoyance, but in the end maybe that was easier.

  He sighed. “I see. There’s a new troupe arriving that I need to check in, but if I have time I might do it.”

  With his non-committal answer, she wasn’t sure whether to thank him or not.

  They split up in the dining room and she made her way to Jorick, who was locked in conversation with a pretty contortionist. Katelina glared and he offered her a wink as he extracted himself from her eager conversation.

  “No luck with Sarah?” His voice held a note of amusement.

  “Very funny. What? You’re punishing me by talking to her?”

  Surprise blossomed in his eyes. “Punish-what?” Comprehension dawned. “No, little one. You aren’t a child and I don’t need to punish you with jealousy. Though it’s slightly worrisome you lied to me to talk to Jamie.”

  “Because it’s easier than listening to your ridicule.”

  He quirked an eyebrow. “You honestly think I ridicule you?”

  “Not me, but my concerns.”

  He sighed. “I’m not ridiculing, or belittling, I’m just…”

  “Dismissing?”

  He made a frustrated noise. “I don’t mean to come off that way. It’s been a long time since I needed to consider someone’s worries when I don’t share them.”

  “Since Velnya?”

  “No. I never took her concerns seriously, either.”

  Katelina thought of the letters he’d saved, written to Velnya while he was away working for Malick. They were full of reassurances that, despite her misgivings, she had nothing to fear.

  “I didn’t think she did,” Jorick said softly. “I only wanted to stop her from worrying needlessly, from being unhappy.” He caught Katelina’s hands. “I came from a life of worry; worry about food, shelter, clothing, health. I may not remember the details, but I remember that, and immortality has done little to remove the worries, only made them bigger. There’s blood, sunlight, a thousand political factions, violence, death. It’s all there, all crowding the edges, gnawing away at joy. That’s not what I want for you. All I’m trying to do is protect the one I love from unhappiness.”

  “You can’t protect people from unhappiness, Jorick. You told me last night that reality was death and I needed to face it, but so is unhappiness. And that’s something you need to face.”

  “What’s wrong with wanting to spare you from it?”

  She tried to keep her tone diplomatic. “It’s not wrong, just…impractical. Your intentions may be good, but your dismissal doesn’t reassure. It only makes people feel like you’re laughing at their concerns.”

  “I’m not laughing at you. I’ve never laughed at you or your concerns. I’m sorry if you thought I have.” He squeezed her hands. “If this matters to you, I’ll try to take it seriously, all right?”

  “Try?”

  “Katelina—”

  “All right. I suppose it’s a start. You have to overcome five hundred years of being an unsupervised ass.” Her grin turned serious. “But really, all I want is for you to take me seriously instead of treating me like a child.”

  “I don’t mean to treat you like a child. I just don’t want to watch you worry over phantoms.”

  Phantoms. The word struck a chord and she remembered what she’d forgotten. “What if they’re a phantom?” she asked excitedly.

  Jorick frowned and she explained, “The person in the hall. What if we can’t see them, not because they aren’t there, but because they’re invisible?”

  “If that was the case, you wouldn’t sense them at all.”

  “Unless they relaxed for a minute?”

  “Maybe.”

  “We should have Jamie add phantoms to the list.” She looked for the Executioner, but he was already gone.

  “What will you do with a list? Follow them around?”

  She explained the idea of watching them for symptoms of sleep deprivation and late rising. He nodded and said, “Older vampires can get by on less sleep. Not to mention they may have powers that developed after their registration. Still, a list can’t hurt. I’ll speak to Jamie and tell him to add the phantoms to it.”

  “Good luck. He’s taking it as seriously as you.”

  “I told you I’d try, Katelina, but I can’t if you won’t let me.”

  “Fine. He’s taking it as seriously as you used to.”

  “That’s better.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to spend my morning in the dining room.”

  Katelina found Sarah in the entryway, lit by flickering candlelight, holding both an empty glass and a conversation with Des.

  “My friend isn’t much of a mind reader, either.”

  Katelina made a noise in her throat and Sarah looked up. “Speak of the devil, there she is.”

  Des’ friendly expression turned into a scowl. “You’re with them? I thought you were part of Andrei’s coven.”

  “Hello, Des,” Jorick said with amusement.

  Sarah frowned and narrowed her eyes at her dark companion, as if she was reading his mind. The longer she stared, the narrower her eyes got.

  “I won’t keep you,” he said coldly, and stalked away.

  Katelina dragged Sarah into the nearest empty room. “Why were you talking to him? He’s an asshole who thinks Jorick and I are traitors.”

  Sarah pulled away. “No, he thought you were, but now he knows you’re not.”

  “Then why is he still being a jerk?”

  “Because he’s a man and can’t admit he’s wrong.” Sarah shrugged. “He isn’t that bad, Kate. We had fun in the pool yesterday and—”

  “So what? You’re trying to date him?”

  Jorick laid a hand to her shoulder. “Enough, little one. Who she chooses to spend her time with is her business. You wanted to tell her something?”

  Katelina remembered the phantom and the secret staircase. Sarah’s interest was piqued, and they followed Jorick to a salon. A massive portrait opened to reveal a dark passage and a set of wooden stairs.

  “This wall is hollow from the basement to the top floor,” Jorick explained. “There is a corridor that runs inside, with stairs that go all the way up.” He led them farther down the narrow hall and stopped at a nearly invisible door. “There are a few rooms that have direct access to it. Andrei’s, for instance, on the second floor
. This one leads into the kitchens.” Jorick pushed it open a couple of inches. Katelina peered through to see the chaos of servants washing glasses and refilling pitchers.

  They made their way through the passages and wound up to the fourth floor where a door opened into a corridor not far from their rooms.

  “That’s it!” Sarah cried. “This is why I can’t catch them!”

  “Maybe,” Jorick said. “Though I wouldn’t call the mystery solved.”

  “Since when did you believe us, anyway?” Sarah asked.

  Katelina moved between them. “He’s trying to be more supportive.”

  Sarah didn’t look convinced.

  Though they didn’t have the list, Katelina and Sarah kept an eye out for anyone who looked suspicious or sleepy. They were seated in a large room, watching a trio of jugglers, when a Nordic vampire and what looked like a fourteen year old girl took seats behind them.

  “About time, Rangvald,” someone commented. Katelina looked over her shoulder to see a dark, irritated vampire.

  “Sorry, Hopper,” Rangvald replied without remorse. “We slept in.”

  “Again? That’s been almost every day this week.”

  Katelina bit back a gasp and met Sarah’s eyes. Could it be?

  Hopper went on. “I’d ask what you and Petta are doing, but…”

  “Probably the same thing the other late risers are doing,” Rangvald replied with a tell-tale snicker.

  His comment made Katelina cringe and left her disappointed. Others. As in more than the two of them. Still, she could feel the age of the pair, and with age came power, so they were worth keeping an eye on.

  The show ended. Katelina and Sarah exited to see Sorino and Kai in a corridor. The thin vampire was locked in conversation with Andrei. Annabelle stood at her mate’s elbow. Though her mask hid her face, her posture spoke of boredom.

  “—interested to know who’s guarding his collection, if anyone,” Sorino said.

  Andrei shrugged elegantly. “Legally, it belongs to his coven.”

  “Legally, yes,” Sorino emphasized the word. “However, I don’t believe many remain. Most were killed in the attack on The Guild.”