“I’ve told you I’ll make good on my promises. I’ve had several of your siblings cursed. They’ll age and die within the year.”
“You cursed them?” she inquired with an arched brow as she turned to Vlad.
His chuckle was chilling and his actions were an abomination. With a blast of magic that set the pile of books on the floor aflame, he struck Juliet in the face with his fist. Her body flew across the room and she landed in a heap on the floor. Every instinct I had was to kill him, but I knew Jean Paul would not fare well if he was revealed. I cursed myself for not knowing if Jean Paul retained his power when he took on someone else’s body.
“What is wrong with you?” Vlad bellowed and gut kicked her. “I had to give up hundreds of millions of dollars and part of my power to make that deal with the Angels. If I could have cursed them myself, don’t you think I would have?”
Juliet spit blood out of her mouth and several teeth as she crawled to her feet.
“You stupid fuck,” she hissed. “I never told you to give up anything.”
“Well that’s new,” he said in a deadly quiet voice that made my stomach roil.
Was the jig up? Did he suspect Jean Paul wasn’t Juliet? That would definitely end badly. However, the most alarming part was that an Angel had placed the curses.
I was fairly sure I felt fury emanating from Roberto, but thankfully Vlad was too focused on Juliet to notice.
“What’s new?” she demanded as she wiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand.
“You told me to give up my immortal life if necessary,” he said slowly pronouncing each word with care. “Everything I’ve done I’ve done for you, my love.”
And I thought Roberto was a sick fuck…
Juliet shrugged and smiled. It was frightening. She was missing teeth and bleeding from her mouth and nose. Her blonde hair was matted with blood and the front of her dress was torn.
“I’m surprised you’re not fighting back,” he said as he approached her and gently dabbed at the blood running from her lip.
“I’m tired,” she replied stonily and slapped his hand away. “Anyway, if Raquel is here why don’t you just kill her?”
“You know why.” Vlad abruptly turned away and began to pace.
“Remind me,” she prompted in a shrewish tone. “Tell me again about Raquel.”
“I will just to watch you squirm, but I will beat you for your insolence later, Juliet,” he said with a smile.
“This isn’t a beating?” she hissed as she smeared her blood on her hand and pushed it at his face.
“No, it’s not. You should know that by now, my sweet. As to your sister, she’s mine. She’s denied me too long and I’ve grown weary of waiting. I gave you a chance to destroy her and you failed… so I get to have her.”
“Raquel hates you,” Juliet informed him with an ugly laugh. “She’ll never have you. You’ll be lucky if I mate with you.”
“You’ll be lucky if you survive to mate with me,” he informed her with a depraved wink. “However, if you can behave long enough for me to ruin the rest of your family, you will be mine.”
“Just ruin? Tell me again all the promises you’ve failed to keep so far. I want to be sure you remember.”
“You’re becoming tiresome,” he said shaking his head. “I shall spell it out this one last time for you since you seem to be daft this evening. You have asked me to prove my devotion to you by killing your family. I find the idea appealing since they’re worthless and have held power for far too long. It’s time for a change. However, I lust after Raquel and I want her for a toy. You may have a toy of your own choosing. How many fucking times do I have to explain this to you?” he roared as he backhanded her again.
Clearly Jean Paul aka Juliet had had enough. Kicking Vlad’s feet out from under him, Juliet straddled him and brought her elbow down on his nose with force and fury. The crunch was sickeningly satisfying. Although Vlad’s death would have been more welcome.
“There’s my girl,” Vlad choked out in triumph as he took her by the neck and squeezed. “I wasn’t sure she was still in there. Now will you calm down or do I need to help you along? Because it would give me great pleasure to beat you into unconsciousness.”
“I’ll behave,” Juliet gagged out and grasped at his hands. “But you can’t have Raquel as a toy. If you want me, you will leave her alone.”
Vlad observed her coldly and then a vicious smile spread slowly across his lips. It was macabre as his nose was still gushing blood from Juliette’s hit. “Fine, you win.”
“I win what?” Juliet asked watching him warily as she got up and backed away.
“Raquel is here at the Summit. You will kill her and I shall watch. If you won’t let me have her, I’ll at least get the pleasure of watching you destroy her.”
“She’s strong,” Juliet hissed.
“Not at night she’s not,” Vlad shot back with a chuckle. “You’ll kill her in her death sleep.”
“That’s cowardly,” Juliet spat.
“Since when have you grown a conscience, my darling? My plan is sensible and we’re far more likely to get away with it.”
“What about my father and Pam?” Juliet inquired as she mopped away the rest of the blood on her face with a pristine white pillow from a chair.
We were going to get a Hell of a bill from the Angels.
“No worries,” Vlad said silkily. “Several of the Old Guard are prepared to burn them to ash tonight.”
“That’s lovely.” Juliet’s laugh was laced with sarcasm.
“Yes,” Vlad agreed, oblivious to her cynicism. “Fires are such tragedies. Now shall we go and kill your sister? The night is wasting away.”
There were many reasons I wanted to rip Vlad apart with my bare hands, but he just signed his death warrant with this one. He would never lay a finger on Raquel. I’d die first.
“Where is she staying?” Juliet asked as she pulled wildly at her hair.
“I would assume at her palace outside Paris,” he surmised. “If we can’t find her, I know a few Angels that will be happy to help.”
“Silly me, I thought the Angels were angelic,” Juliet quipped dryly.
“Everyone has a price.”
I hesitated to open my mind to the thoughts in the room as it pulled on my energy and focus, but I needed to check in with Jean Paul. As I reached out to Jean Paul, I was halted by the turbulence blasting through Roberto’s head. The chaotic images that assaulted my brain belonged to the Angel. His fury consumed his thoughts. They were mostly a tornado of color and ire. Faces of Angels flashed through his mind at warp speed. I was aware that he was trying to identify the celestial traitor. His outrage at the thought an Angel had placed the curses ate viciously him. I was fairly sure that, although he might be physically present, Roberto wasn’t mentally here in the room with me anymore. I debated if Jean Paul, in his beaten down state, and I could take Vlad down without Roberto’s help. I gave us 50/50 odds.
Ripping my mind from Roberto’s, I mentally floated to Jean Paul but was stopped again, I was halted by someone’s thoughts that should definitely not be in this room. I ground my fangs together and zoned in on my mate. If I’d had my way, she wouldn’t be in this country. She would be safely thousands of miles away and heavily guarded, waiting for me to return to her. Alas, that wasn’t what fate had intended. Raquel was a powerful force of nature and deadly in her own right. I should have known she wouldn’t leave—backing away wasn’t in her nature.
God damn it, what in the Hell was she thinking? And if she was here, where were Ethan, Astrid, the King and Pam?
In my cloaked state, I moved swiftly across the room and found her. Even invisible I could feel her. I took her in my arms and headed for the door. She was leaving. I was unsure how much she’d heard, but I refused to let her near Vlad.
I reached out to Ethan to speak to him telepathically. If he were close enough, he would hear me as our Prince was gifted with communicating wit
h his people.
“Ethan are you here?” I asked.
“Yes, damn it. Where in the Hell are you?” he answered tightly.
“With Vlad and Juliet,” I reported.
“What the fuck?” he shouted. “She escaped?”
“No. Hell no,” I assured him quickly as I rerouted and pulled Raquel away from the door as Vlad and Juliet were headed right toward our cloaked bodies. “It’s Jean Paul. He morphed and took her form.”
“Again, what the fuck?” Ethan shot back. “Never mind, you can enlighten me on that one later. Is Raquel with you?”
“Yes, she is,” I replied tersely wanting to throttle my mate for disobeying.
“We found Leila, Alexander and Nathan. They’ve been cursed and they’re in bad shape. Gareth took them back to the Cressida House in Kentucky. They’ll be safe there,” Ethan confirmed.
“Good. Vlad and Juliet are involved, but the curses were placed by an Angel.”
“This is certainly a WTF kind of day,” Ethan growled.
“Agree. Find your father and Pam. Old Guard are going to try to burn them to ash tonight,” I instructed.
“You have Vlad?” he demanded.
“I will shortly,” I ground out. “That fucker is mine.”
“Good luck.”
“I don’t need luck,” I told him. “It’s far past his time.”
As Vlad and Juliet exited the room, Roberto, Raquel and I took back our corporeal forms. I shot Raquel the evil eye, but she only grinned and winked. She would be the fucking death of me.
“The Vampyre is yours. I heard his confession and I’ll back you up with the Council. Alive would be better than dead, but I don’t care what you do to him. If you have no choice, kill the bastard,” Roberto stated coldly. “I have some Angels to interrogate. And Heathcliff, although I’m loathe to admit this, I owe you a very large favor for the information I’ve gleaned tonight.”
On that cryptic note, he vanished in a flash of bright golden light. I had no doubt he would find what he was looking for, I just hoped he would share the information when he discovered it. We might possibly need it to save Gareth and the others. The name of the Angel who placed the curses was exactly what I would use my favor on.
“How long were you in here?” I asked Raquel as I checked my watch for how much of the night was left.
“The entire time,” she admitted.
“You can’t cover your scent.”
“Says who?” she countered.
“Ummm… me?”
“Correct,” she replied with a smirk. “You assumed I couldn’t and never asked me if I could.”
“Color me stupid,” I muttered.
“Nope,” Raquel disagreed. “Color you overprotective. Sooner rather than later, you’ll have to accept that I can take care of myself—been doing it for about five hundred years.” She paused and gently laid her hand on my face. “I love you and your sexy ass, but I will put said ass in a sling if you treat me like a helpless female. You are mated to a Master Vampyre,” she added with an arched brow and a giggle.
“As are you,” I told her. “A Master Vampyre with macho caveman bullshit tendencies.”
“I happen to like those tendencies in the bedroom, but not when you treat me as a lesser in our real life,” she replied softly.
“That’s truly not my intention,” I argued.
Fuck. Was it?
No.
I knew how powerful my mate was. It was part of why I loved her.
Shit, shit, shit. She was right.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “It was my inner alpha-hole talking. I will try. I will also fuck up. Bear with me.”
“I accept your apology and I will bear with you till the end of time, Heathcliff. Always.”
Taking her beautiful face in my hands I touched my lips to hers. “We should go,” I whispered.
“Yep, we need to beat them to the Paris palace so I can pretend I’m dead,” Raquel said as she placed her hand in mine.
“Since you were privy to that Hellish scene, do you have a plan in mind?” I asked trying very hard to not be autocratic. Damn it, this was going to be hard.
“Yep. Kill Vlad,” she vowed.
“Works for me,” I said as I pulled her close and raised her eyes to mine. “You’ll be careful?”
“Of course I will. I have everything to live for,” she replied. She wrapped her arms around me and we disappeared in a cloud of peach and gold glitter.
Smiling, I shook my head and laughed as we were hurtled through space and time.
She was correct. We both had everything to live for and today was not my day to die.
Chapter 23
The air in the room was thick with malice and the scent of fresh blood. We were in the great room of Raquel’s home and unfortunately we weren’t alone. I’d taken the lead in the transport and went to the area I was most familiar with… bad move. I should have chosen the bedroom, but as I had never been in there that was an impossibility.
“Well this is certainly interesting,” Vlad said with a barely bridled fury as he attempted to veil his shock. He shoved Juliet away roughly and took a few measured steps forward. “Isn’t it way past your bedtime, Raquel?”
Not exactly the welcome we were expecting.
They stood about twenty feet from where we’d landed. Juliet’s eyes were huge and she sported a few more bloody bruises than when we’d last seen her only about twenty minutes ago. Thankfully, Vlad looked a little worse for the wear as well. That was one sick relationship and I was furious that Jean Paul had to pretend to be Juliet and bear the brunt of the psycho’s violence.
“How did you break the curse?” he demanded. His sparking hands clenched and unclenched at his sides even though his voice stayed eerily calm.
“How did you know about it?” I shot back, stepping in front of Raquel.
Old habits were not dying at the moment. Raquel smacked my back and took her rightful place next to me.
“My bad,” I muttered.
“I should say so,” she replied with an eye roll.
Vlad’s insolent stare was jarring as he took us in and a hideous smile spread across his thin lips. “I wasn’t talking to you, guard. But since you asked so politely, my Juliet told me. However, it appears she left out the important fact that the curse is old news.”
He turned on Juliet with flaming hands and hit her so hard she crumpled to the floor. Raquel’s angry hiss filled the room and Vlad laughed.
“Get up. No time like the present to kill your sister. Do it quickly,” he directed Juliet tonelessly, growing bored with the game.
“That Juliet won’t harm me,” Raquel told him as her hair began to fly about her head and her power began to fill the room.
“She most certainly will,” Vlad spat the words contemptuously as he grabbed Juliet by the arm and pulled her to her feet. “She despises you and likes to keep me happy. You see, I’ve decided if I can’t have you then no one can. Juliet shall end you while I take care of your guard.”
“Good luck,” I threatened softly.
“I missed that,” Vlad lied with a chuckle and a disgusted shake of his head. “Bet you’re regretting that favor to your Prince now, aren’t you?”
“Actually, it’s wasn’t a favor at all.” I shrugged and took Raquel’s hand in mine as Vlad’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You see as a newly mated Vampyre, I refuse to be away from my mate.”
“I’m sorry,” he ground out as his fangs descended and he took a few more steps forward. “I’m certain I must have misunderstood.”
“Well you can’t misunderstand this,” I retorted as I pushed Raquel back and landed a serious punch to his throat. It should have collapsed his esophagus, but his power and age made regular incapacitating blows difficult.
Vlad grunted and gagged, but recovered in seconds. He retaliated swiftly with a crushing blow to the side of my head. He may be older and more powerful, but I was fighting for something I loved—all he had was hate.
I staggered back and waited for him to make the next move.
“Hello boys,” Raquel interrupted in a shout, taking both Vlad and I by surprise. Her skin glowed iridescent and her voice dripped false sweetness. “Before we get into it—which I’m sure will be delightful—I wasn’t quite done insulting Dracula.”
“Do. Not. Call. Me. That,” Vlad bellowed. His entire body began to sparkle ominously.
“Whoops,” Raquel apologized with a giggle. “You’re old age must be catching up with you. I said… that Juliet won’t kill me.”
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