My Wicked Vampire

by Nina Bangs

  Cinn turned to see Dacian for the first time. She didn’t smile, but pleasure flooded her eyes before the worry returned.

  That momentary expression warmed him, no matter how much he tried to deny it. He started to put a comforting hand on her shoulder but stopped before he made physical contact. Because of what he was, vampire, his reactions were stronger than a human’s. He wanted her. She didn’t need to see him showing fang as a demonstration of his affection.

  “Sparkle told me about Vince.” He still didn’t feel right telling her that Vince had chosen to speak to him rather than her. “Any clues to who took him or where he is?”

  She shook her head. “I think he’s still alive, though. But I need to get to him in time. Almost everyone’s been really helpful.” Cinn aimed a pointed stare at Holgarth.

  Holgarth ignored her in favor of watching his last victim. The guy carried a staff that looked too big for him. He almost tripped and fell as he stepped off the dais.

  “Gracefulness and agility are both parts of a wizard’s mystique, Clarence. And I’d advise that you find a smaller staff.” Holgarth’s expression said that only wizards such as himself deserved a big staff.

  Completely cowed, Clarence nodded and then raised the staff as he launched into a chant. Dacian had his doubts about this whole thing. There were too many people around. Anything could happen when an inexperienced wizard got going.

  “You know, Holgarth, things could get out of control fast. Maybe you should take a few precautions so that—”

  Holgarth turned and hit him with an imperious glare. “Don’t tell me how to conduct my business, vampire. And you are certainly not the one to speak of control.” He offered his trademark sniff of contempt.

  Dacian could learn to hate this guy. But he was right. Every time Dacian lost control, he also lost a little of his self-confidence. The one mystery was why he could resist Stephan’s demand that he return to him but not the rage. Until he solved the whole puzzle, he couldn’t stay around people long. Around people like Cinn.

  He stopped thinking about his own problems as Clarence’s chant reached a shrill conclusion. Suddenly, everyone in the great hall disappeared except for Holgarth, Clarence, and him. But Dacian didn’t care about the other people. “Where the hell is Cinn?” Before he could stop himself, he grabbed Clarence by the back of his scrawny neck, lifted him into the air, and shook him.

  Holgarth coughed. “Umm, perhaps they haven’t quite left the hall yet.” There was something strange about the wizard’s voice.

  Still holding Clarence suspended, Dacian looked around. Nothing. He looked down. Nothing. He looked up. Oh, hell.

  Bats, lots of bats, clung to the ceiling or darted frantically in every direction.

  “Not very creative, Clarence.” Holgarth didn’t seem overly concerned. “Perhaps if you’d turned them into colorful balloons I might have deemed you more worthy. It’s always more difficult to turn the living into inert matter. Here, let me demonstrate.”

  Dacian didn’t know about that. He figured he could change a wizard into inert matter without working up a sweat. He dropped Clarence, who immediately scuttled out of reach, and bore down on Holgarth. The wizard hadn’t allowed for his vampire speed, and had barely begun his chant when Dacian reached him. Dacian clasped the old man’s shoulder and squeezed, just enough to remind Holgarth what he could do in a matter of seconds. Then he leaned close to the wizard.

  “You’re the high muckety-muck wizard. Change them back.”

  “Perhaps if you stop trying to crush my shoulder I might actually be able to do that. I don’t function well while in pain.”

  Dacian shoved closed the door in his mind that demanded lots of violence and released Holgarth. But before Holgarth could do anything other than rub his shoulder, Clarence spoke up.

  “I can fix it, I can fix it.” Picking up the staff he’d dropped, he launched into a frantic chant that even to Dacian’s ears didn’t sound right.

  With a horrified, “Stop, for God’s sake stop!” Holgarth launched himself at the fledgling wizard.

  Dacian didn’t have a clue why Holgarth was so upset, but from the sound of Holgarth’s voice he knew he’d better stop Clarence. He put his speed to good use. Dacian took Clarence in a flying tackle that effectively ended his chant.

  Holgarth stood over them, breathing hard and looking pale. He waved his hand in a vague shooing motion toward Clarence. “Begone. Perhaps in a few hundred years you’ll have your power under control, but right now you’re what the common people would call a loose cannon.”

  Clarence didn’t take Holgarth’s criticism well. His expression turned ugly, all of his naive-young-wizard persona gone. “You’re not a master wizard, old man. You don’t have the guts to handle power the way it should be handled. You let stupid scruples get in the way of greatness. I won’t make that mistake. I’ll be a hundred times more powerful than you.” With that pronouncement, he once again retrieved his fallen staff and left the great hall.

  Dacian didn’t have time to worry about the guy’s bruised ego. The bats were growing more agitated. It was almost dark outside. All it would take was one person throwing open the huge doors leading to the castle courtyard to release them. After that, who knew where they’d go? “Do it now, wizard.”

  Holgarth didn’t know that his long life hung by a very thin thread.

  He cast Dacian a dark glance. Maybe he did.

  Instead of answering, Holgarth flung his arms into the air and shouted a few words in a language Dacian didn’t recognize.

  And suddenly everything was back the way it had been. Castle employees continued doing what they’d been doing before their foray into the bat world, completely oblivious. Amazing. But most amazing of all was that Cinn was once again at his side.

  No amount of warning shouts from his mind could stop him. He pulled her to him and kissed her. Not a relieved peck on the cheek. This was a deep exploration of her soft lips along with everything hot and sweet that went with them. For a moment she stood frozen, not reacting to the assault on her mouth. Then she opened to him and he took full advantage. Who knew where it would’ve gone if not for Holgarth?

  “This is hardly an appropriate spectacle for the employees to witness.” He was in full sarcastic mode. “And even though I’m sure you find it pleasurable, it will in no way help to locate Ms. Airmid’s missing plant.”

  Yeah, Dacian could definitely hate Holgarth.

  Reluctantly, he released Cinn. She had a glazed look in her eyes, but that wasn’t all he saw in her eyes. Heat. And something unnamed, which excited his vampire senses way too much. He forced himself to think of totally gross things to keep his cock and his fangs in check. Imagining Holgarth naked did the trick.

  “What happened?” Cinn had finally found her voice.

  Holgarth brushed a piece of lint from his robe. “The last master-wizard failure turned you into a bat. And then he compounded the horror by almost losing you completely.”

  Dacian narrowed his gaze. “Explain the losing-her-completely part.”

  Holgarth was in his element. “If we hadn’t stopped him…”

  Dacian seemed to remember only one of them stopping him.

  “He would’ve finished his garbled spell and every bat in our proverbial belfry would’ve become nothing, their molecules separating and mixing with all the other molecules in the universe. Even I, with my immense power, could never have pulled them back to their original bodies.”

  Dacian knew his emotions mirrored Cinn’s expression. He wanted to hunt Clarence down and rip out his useless throat. He clamped down on his need to kill, but it was tough.

  “I hope Clarence doesn’t try something like that again.” Holgarth looked really concerned. “I’m sure what happened was an honest mistake made by someone who could never take my place.” Everything always came back to Holgarth’s superiority.

  “I do have to thank you, though, vampire. I’m getting old, and I’m not as quick as I used to be. Your
instant reaction was immensely helpful.”

  Dacian was amazed Holgarth had deigned to even recognize his part in the whole thing.

  “Now that the last tryout is done, can you help search for Vince?” Cinn might have been a little shaken, but she hadn’t taken her eye off her ultimate goal.

  Holgarth’s sigh was long and dramatic. “I suppose if I must.” He glanced at Dacian in what was supposed to be a male-bonding moment. “Women tend to be too emotional over things that really aren’t that important.”

  Dacian could almost feel Cinn’s steam build up. Any minute it would come shooting out of her ears.

  “Women also have great intuition.” She turned and started to walk away. “They know a pointy-headed jerk when they see one.”

  Dacian followed her as she flung open the great hall door and stomped out into the courtyard. A quick glance skyward assured him that he was safe from the sun.

  All Cinn’s bravado seemed to desert her once she was away from Holgarth. She raked her fingers through her hair before turning to him. “I’ve searched all afternoon. Where can he be?” She flung her hands into the air. “I don’t even know where to look. I’ve hit everywhere I could think of in the castle. Sparkle made an excuse to go into all of the guest rooms, but he wasn’t in any of them.”

  Help. Cold. Box. Dacian struggled with his decision. If he told her now that Vince had spoken to him, she’d be pissed off that he hadn’t told her sooner. Besides, she’d feel hurt that her plant hadn’t spoken to her first. The alternative was continuing to keep his mouth shut. But to optimize their chances of finding Vince, everyone had to know his last message. Someone else might be able to figure out where he was from those words.

  Cinn was standing staring up at the darkening sky, her hair lifting in the light breeze. She’d come out without her coat, and even though it wasn’t freezing in Galveston, it was cold enough. She’d clasped her arms around herself, but she was still shivering.

  Without analyzing the right or wrong of it, Dacian made his decision. “Let’s go down to my room and talk about it.”

  She looked puzzled. “What’s to talk about?” But she let him guide her back into the castle.

  Once in his room, she glanced around. “No windows. Doesn’t this place give you claustrophobia?”

  He laughed. And if it was a little bitter, so be it. “You have no idea what claustrophobic feels like.”

  Her interest in finding out shone in her eyes, but now wasn’t the time to talk about him. “Vince sent me a message after he was taken.”

  That bombshell sat between them for a full five seconds before exploding.

  “A message? What do you mean? Why didn’t you tell me? What did he say?” With each question, her anger level rose.

  Dacian held up his hands. “If you’ll be quiet, I’ll tell you what I know.”

  Her silence sizzled with impatience and fury.

  “The first time I met Vince, I talked to him. You heard me. When we were on our way out of the greenhouse, he answered me.” He tapped his head. “Up here. He only said two words, but it was an answer.”

  Cinn couldn’t contain herself. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  He exhaled deeply. “Exactly because of the expression I see in your eyes now. He should’ve spoken to you, not me. I didn’t want you to feel bad, so I decided to keep it to myself. It didn’t really mean anything. He didn’t say anything important.” He shrugged. “Probably just felt more at ease talking to a male first. Someone like him.” That sounded lame even to Dacian.

  “Like him?” Her expression said she was trying to decide what class of plants Dacian belonged in. Most likely something in the turnip family.

  “I figured he’d eventually talk with you, too. By that time I’d be gone, and you’d never have to know he spoke with me first.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “You’d be gone. Are you planning on leaving soon?”

  Oh, shit. He searched for an explanation that would appease her. “Who knows? But you won’t be here long. Sparkle said you only planned to stay two weeks.”

  Cinn looked uncertain and then nodded. “I’m ticked at you for not telling me this before, but my anger isn’t important now. What did Vince say after he was kidnapped?”

  Dacian didn’t know if it was healthy to assign terms like “kidnapped” to a plant. But then he thought about Vince’s words and decided that yes, the plant was a sentient being. No way around it.

  “His vocabulary’s limited, but he said three words: help, cold, and box. That’s it. I don’t have a clue what it means.”

  “Help shows that he wasn’t taken by anyone he considered a friend. Cold could mean he’s in a fridge or freezer or somewhere outside. Box must mean that he’s not sitting out in a field somewhere. Vince doesn’t have many experiences to draw from, so any container with a lid would be a box to him.” She seemed to have forgotten to be mad at him as she tried to figure out Vince’s message.

  Dacian stood. “Okay, we start by checking out fridges and freezers.”

  Cinn was glad to be doing something instead of sitting around talking. Action kept her from feeling just a little betrayed because Vince had chosen to say his first words to someone else. Action also kept thoughts of Dacian at a minimum. Right now she was floating across the emotional pool that was her response to him and that kiss. But given time to think and analyze, she could find herself sinking into deep water.

  When they pushed into the hustle and bustle of dinner preparation in the castle restaurant, the chef was not a happy man.

  “You will remove yourselves from my kitchen. Immediately.” He wasn’t a tall man, but he imbued his words with all the authority of an emperor.

  “We just need to take a quick look in your fridge and freezers.” Cinn fought to keep her tone calm and reasonable. Going ballistic wouldn’t get her what she wanted.

  “Absolutely not. No one enters my kitchen and disturbs dinner preparations.” He planted himself firmly in front of them. “I told Sparkle that I’d allow you to pass through the kitchen to get to your greenhouse, but that’s all.”

  Cinn had opened her mouth to launch a verbal blast that would blow his chef’s hat right off his self-important head, when Dacian put his finger over her lips.

  The shock of his touch kept her quiet for just a moment.

  Dacian caught the chef’s gaze and held it. “Tell me your name.”

  The man blinked and then stared into Dacian’s eyes. “Chef Phil.”

  Dacian’s smile was warm and encouraging. “We think you have some tainted food in your kitchen, Chef Phil. We’re going to check the fridges and freezer.”

  Chef Phil nodded, still never looking away from Dacian’s eyes.

  “Good. You’ll stand right here to make sure no one interrupts us.”

  “I’ll stand right here.”

  As Cinn slipped past the chef, she stared at Dacian. “You said you couldn’t glamour people.”

  “I lied.”

  “What else have you lied about?”

  Dacian shrugged and then pulled open the door to the walk-in freezer. “Think of it as a continuing road of discovery.” He waved her away from the door. “Don’t come in. It’s too cold. The cold won’t bother me.”

  “I’m coming in.” Left unsaid, but she was sure he understood, was the fact that she didn’t trust him.

  His expression said he was okay with that.

  A short time later, they were on their way out of the kitchen. No Vince. Dacian stopped in front of the chef. “You’ll only remember that you willingly gave us permission to look around your kitchen because of reports of contaminated food. We found nothing wrong. You’re relieved.”

  “Relieved.” He nodded.

  Once outside the restaurant, they stopped to discuss their next move.

  Dacian injected the voice of reason. “Before we go running off in another direction, we need to tell Sparkle and Ganymede what Vince said. With their powers, they may have skills to help fin
d Vince that we don’t.”

  Cinn felt stupid for not thinking about that sooner. “Where do you think Sparkle is? I don’t have her cell number.”

  “I don’t need her number.”

  He looked grim as he grew still, that scary quiet that screamed, “Hey, not human here.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Tapping into her thoughts.”

  “You didn’t say you could do that.”

  “Everything’s on a need-to-know basis, sweetheart.”

  Sweetheart? Who’d given him permission to call her sweetheart? That was a word she didn’t use lightly. She’d never call him sweetheart unless she meant it. And he’d be long in the fang before she threw anything that loving his way.

  She kept quiet for the short time it evidently took him to fill Sparkle in on the latest news. When he looked as though he was finished, she continued her train of thought. “So I assume you don’t really need a phone at all.”

  “I use a cell all the time. A human mind is an easy-enter, but getting into a nonhuman mind is hard work. It drains my power. And a vampire with no power is a dead vampire. Permanently dead.”

  “What’s happened? Everyone’s running around. I’ve been out all afternoon. Did I miss something?“

  Asima’s voice in her head drew Cinn’s gaze down. The blue-point Siamese gazed up at her with those spectacular blue eyes. If you could get past her annoyance factor, she was really a beautiful animal.

  “Thank you for the compliment, but I’m only borrowing a cat’s form. As I should, since I’m the messenger of the goddess of all cats. And I have no idea why you’d think I was annoying.“

  Okay, this had to stop right now. “Get out of my head, cat. No one gave you permission to root around in my thoughts.” She cast Dacian a meaningful glare so he’d realize this was aimed at him, too.

  Asima managed to put a puzzled expression on her cat face. “Why would I need permission? You wouldn’t even know I was there if I didn’t tell you.“ She paused to think things through. “Although over time you’ll learn to feel the light brush of my mind against yours. It’s very subtle though, because I’m so powerful.“