The King's Vampire

by Brenda Stinnett

  “Courage, my son,” Charlemagne said, rising into the air. He aimed his own powerful, jewel-encrusted sword in Elizabeth’s direction, causing flames to fly at her.

  Bands of energy surrounded her. She dashed to Darius’s side. “Christ have mercy.” She raised her arms and flames of red and orange energy jolted from her fingertips.

  Darius stared in amazement. This was his own love by his side, and their love and faith together made them more powerful than any demon could ever be. “Our Father,” Darius said, wrapping one arm around her waist as he lopped off Julian’s other wing with his sword arm.

  “Who art in heaven,” she returned. Looking up at him, her eyes reflected back all the love and faith he felt for her.

  “Hallowed be thy name,” they both shouted in unison. Together, they flung thunderbolts of raw energy toward Julian’s throat. He exploded into a cloud of black dust, screaming out his defeat and disbelief while disintegrating into putrefying dust.

  Darius raised an arm covering both himself and Elizabeth with his cloak so they wouldn’t breathe in the corruption. Once the ash fell to the ground, he shook the cape away from their faces. “Are you all right, darling?”

  “I’m fine. But listen, do you hear?”

  The church bells rang out across the city.

  “I hear them. It’s Christmas morning.”

  “Today is my last chance to regain my soul.”

  He kissed the top of her tousled head. “I know my darling. Are you ready to go and see how the wolves are fairing?”

  Every part of her body ached from the confrontation with Julian, but she already felt her body mending. “Yes, of course. Are we going to try and carry in the stone to seal the abyss?”

  “Let’s do it,” he said. Together, they leaned over, and this time, they lifted the enormous flat stone together, carrying it back to the remains of St. Paul’s church.

  The wolves had been edging the demons closer and closer to the hole of the abyss. To Darius, the demons seemed slightly confused and less powerful than before, as though sensing their leader had been destroyed. They stumbled around with no sense of direction.

  Darius and Elizabeth broke through the circle of wolves, and together, they imploded three more demons with jolts of lightning bolts.

  Twelve demons remained, and they must have realized they were losing the battle. They shoved and clawed over one another in their desperate bid to escape, scrambling back through the hole of the abyss. Wasting no further time, Darius and Elizabeth rushed over to the abyss and dropped the huge stone down over the hole. The chasm pulled together slowly and the moss disappeared back into the abyss. The rotting stench vanished, and the sounds of agonized wailing stopped.

  They looked down at the stone. Darius whispered, “Resurgam.”

  “What?” Elizabeth said.

  “It says resurgam. That’s Latin, and its meaning is ‘I shall rise.’”

  “Do you think it means the demons will rise again?”

  Darius drew her near. “I think it means it will take powerful forces to reopen the abyss. I believe it means that St. Paul’s Cathedral is meant to rise again, more beautiful than ever.”

  “I believe you’re right,” she said, slipping her hand in his.

  Amelia and the other immortal vampires crowded around Elizabeth and Darius. Amelia said, “The demons are gone, Elizabeth.”

  Elizabeth took her friend in her arms and hugged her. “That means you should be getting out of London before more witch finders can be brought in.”

  “I know,” Amelia answered, her aquamarine eyes sparkling. “Come, Godfrey, my fine brave warrior, we must be off.”

  “Aye, Your Ladyship, it’s off to Southampton, we are.” Godfrey’s narrow, ferret face lit up and he bowed.

  Lance transformed into his human form. He snatched a dusty cloth from the ground where workers had left it. He tied it carelessly around his waist, allowing a view of his fur-pelted chest, which still heaved from his exertions.

  Darius held out his hand. “Thank you for your help, my friend. We couldn’t have destroyed the demons and sealed the abyss without your pack’s help.”

  “It was the right thing to do. And now I must go. Is it true that Your Grace, Amelia, is going to lead the vampire caravan to Southampton, and then on to the Carpathian Mountains?”

  Darius arched an eyebrow. “Yes, she’s about to be on her way now. And what pray, is your interest in the Duchess?”

  Lance gave them a look of animal cunning. “The Carpathian Mountains are a long way off. Granted, the Duchess is a brave and powerful vampire, but perhaps she might appreciate a vanguard of shape-shifters to protect their caravan.”

  Amelia gave a laugh that sounded like the rippling of a spring brook. “Do you wish to travel with us, you shape-shifting rogue?”

  Lance’s amber eyes glowed. “Yes, Your Grace, I’d like to offer the protection of my pack.”

  “Why how can I say no?” she said in response.

  Godfrey muttered under his breath, “Damned shape-shifters.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes glittered with excitement. She held out her small hand to Lance. “Thank you for everything. We owe you much. I’m sure Amelia will be grateful for your efforts on behalf of the vampires.”

  Amelia and Elizabeth faced one another. Amelia grasped Elizabeth in her arms. “Good-bye again, my beloved friend, please don’t forget me.”

  “How could I?” she said, kissing Amelia on both cheeks. “Be safe.”

  Lance brought Elizabeth’s hand to his lips, and then he gave a start when he looked directly into her face.

  On seeing his startled look, Darius gave a brief shake of his head, and Lance nodded. “Perhaps our paths will cross again one day, my noble lord and lady. Don’t worry. I’ll keep the duchess safe.” He gave a whistle, and his pack loped behind him, leaving the church’s ruins.

  Once they’d left, Elizabeth said, “Darius, we nearly forgot poor Charles.” She ran over to the gel-like cell where the king had been trapped all this time. She lifted a hand, allowing sparks to fly from her fingers in order to break apart the cell. “I just love doing that,” she said with a smile, “but I’m not certain why it’s possible.”

  “My beloved demon slayer,” Darius said, kissing her fingertips. “Charlemagne must have given you the power.”

  Her eyes glowed. “Do you really think so?”

  “Ods-fish,” Charles said, stepping out of his prison. “Please take me to my Nelly’s house on Pall Mall. I’ve had enough of demons and vampires. Present company excluded, of course.” In spite of everything, he managed an elegant bow in Elizabeth’s direction.

  Only too eager to adhere to the king’s wishes, they left St. Paul’s.

  Chapter 38

  The carriage carried them back to Nelly’s house. Charles insisted Elizabeth and Darius come inside. Elizabeth noticed a pale streak of sunlight reflecting on the Thames. She started to squirm. Surely, Darius would remember she needed to get indoors before the sun rose in the eastern sky.

  “Come, you must both tell Nelly all that’s happened. She’ll think I’ve gone insane if I try to tell her even half the story.”

  They followed the king up the steps of the red-brick house belonging to his mistress. When they entered the antechamber, Nell squealed with delight at the sight of Charles. She ran up and threw herself into his arms, knocking his hat off in the process. “Where have you been, Charles? I’ve missed you dreadfully.”

  “Ods fish, love, but I’ve been quite tied up.”

  Nelly led them through the tapestry-covered antechamber, and into the parlor where the windows overlooked the street, while another set of windows looked out onto the gardens. A picture of a naked Nelly, posing as a mischievous cupid, hung over the enormous marble fireplace. She motioned for them to sit. Charles sat in the gold gilt chair raised up higher than the others.

  “Nelly, would you be a dear and go get us refreshments?”

  “I’ll just ring for the mai
d, Your Majesty.”

  “No, please go yourself, my darling. Darius can help. You might take your time about it.”

  Darius stood, and with a bow in Charles’s direction, he followed Nelly out the door. But Elizabeth saw him give one last anxious glance at her before he left. She felt nervous. Early morning light filtered in through the diamond-paned windows, and she worried what the effects might be on her. So far, she felt fine, but how long might that last?

  Charles gestured for her to come closer. She knelt down at his feet and looked up at him. He cupped her face in his hands as though holding a delicate flower. “You were the king’s most treasured vampire. You know that, don’t you?”

  She supposed by the way the king spoke, she was no longer in his favor. She fought back her old sense of rejection. “You’re too kind, Your Majesty, but what about Buckingham? Will he harm you?”

  “Don’t trouble yourself about him, my dear. I’ve dealt with devils enough in my court. He’s just one more.” He pulled her up until she was sitting next to him on his chair.

  She felt the heat of his body through her clothes. She felt a wave of sympathy for this passionate man who loved life so much he might be burning it up quicker than he imagined. “What will you do now, Charles?”

  “I’m going to spend as much time as I can at Winchester with my Nelly. My French mistress, Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, is much more interested in running the palace than I. She can probably do a better job than I anyway, even though she looks to the French interests more than I care for.”

  “And your faith, Sire, how is your faith?”

  He pulled something out from beneath his shirt, and Elizabeth saw it was a silver rosary he wore around his neck. “God is now my greatest strength, but unfortunately, women are still my greatest weakness. May God please have mercy on my soul.”

  “I’m sure he will, Sire.” She swallowed past the lump forming in her throat, but her voice still cracked. “It’s too late for me though. I have no soul and never shall.”

  Charles kissed her on both cheeks, gently, as though she were a child. “There’s no magic to an immortal soul. But your great love will save you.”

  Love—did she have so much love? Elizabeth wondered when she kissed Charles on the forehead before slipping from his arms.

  Nell’s merry laughter rang out before she entered the room, with Darius following close behind, carrying a silver tea tray. “So I said to the angry mob, have a care good people, and be civil, for I am the Protestant whore, not the Catholic one.” Her laughter sounded like the rushing of a pure, clean brook. Darius joined in with his own laughter.

  Charles looked at her playfully. “Now Nelly, don’t be telling any of your disreputable stories.”

  She set her tray down on a Venetian gold-leafed table, and Darius followed suit. She had wine, cheeses, cold meats, and bread on one tray. The other one was loaded down with bowls of tea, goblets of wine, and a decanter of brandy. “Pull up your chairs,” she said. “Pray no ceremony here, right, Charles?”

  “No ceremony, my darling, especially not after what we’ve all been through this past night.”

  Elizabeth walked away from the table laden with food and drink. It was embarrassing to display her inability to eat or drink in front of the king and his mistress. Ordinarily, she was in a position to pretend she was eating. In such an intimate group, that would prove impossible.

  It was amazing the bloodlust hadn’t come upon her yet, because she hadn’t fed for the last two days. Yet, there was a peculiar gnawing in her stomach. It felt vaguely unsettling, and yet familiar.

  Darius patted the seat beside him. “Come, sit.”

  She glowered at him. It wasn’t like him to be insensitive to her vampire shortcomings. “No, I’m fine.”

  “Come join us, Elizabeth,” Charles said.

  Unable to refuse the king, she came and slowly sat down beside Darius. He raised a wine goblet to her mouth and she pressed her lips closed. She felt an odd heat in her cheeks and throat. How dare he humiliate her in front of the king and his mistress? After all they’d been through together, how could he be so thoughtless about something so simple?

  “Drink, darling, I know you’ll love it.”

  Parting her lips briefly in an effort to speak, a few drops of the ruby red liquid trickled down her throat. Its robust flavor exploded in her mouth, bringing tears to her eyes. She cupped the goblet between her hands and drank deeply, while the aroma of cherries and apricots made her dizzy. It tasted like honey running down her throat.

  Forgetting good manners, Elizabeth then grabbed a piece of bread, its flaky crust breaking apart in her eager hands. Unable to stop herself, she stuffed it into her mouth, the buttery sweetness melting in her mouth. When she caught the others looking at her, they all seemed to delight at the relish she took while devouring the food.

  “What’s happening to me?” She turned to Darius and shook him by the arm.

  “Go and look in the mirror.” He spoke gently.

  Elizabeth sprang from her seat, stumbling as she rushed to the Venetian mirror hanging on the wall. Two gold cherubs, carved on either side of the mirror, seemed to smirk at her when she stared at her reflection. She leaned over, splashing cold water on her face from the china basin sitting on the table beneath the mirror. She looked at her reflection.

  Her fingers traced the reflection before tracing the planes of her own face, her fingertips pressing lightly across her cheekbones, now rose-colored rather than deathly white. “Is this the face that pushed demons back into the abyss? Is this the face that helped save the king of England? Is this the face that has been given back her soul?” She watched her own tears fall unheeded.

  She hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud until Darius came up behind her, gazing at her reflection while he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Yes, yes, and yes. And this is the face of the one I love most on the whole earth.” He brushed away her tears with his fingertips.

  Slowly, she turned and faced him, her arms stretching upward across his back. His face came downward to her, while his mouth covered hers. Elizabeth pressed ever harder against his powerful chest, and she felt the thrumming of his heartbeat.

  The king gave a laugh that seemed to bring them both back to their senses. He took Elizabeth and Darius by the hand. “It looks like I’ve lost my beloved immortal vampire to someone else.”

  “Our immortality lives in our ability to love and be loved, your Majesty,” Elizabeth said. “I promise you’ll be immortal one day.”

  Her last image of the king was of him standing next to Nell with his arm wrapped around her shoulder, both smiling and waving, and that is the image she hoped to always keep of him.

  Once she climbed into the carriage with Darius, she asked, “Can we take the long way back to the inn? It’s been so very long since I’ve seen the daylight.” They drove down Cheapside, and Elizabeth stuck her head out the carriage window to see the Merchant Taylor’s Livery Company and the Royal Exchange where the apothecaries and shopkeepers sold their wares in the great stone building.

  As they rode along, she looked out at the houses along Cheapside, some five stories high, all ornately decorated. She drank in the sight of brick houses with contrasting shades of red, gray, and honey-colored brick. Their rough texture caused her to ache to touch their surfaces. The sunlight brought objects to life in a way that the night never could.

  Since it was still uncommonly mild weather for the end of December, a weak sunlight filtered through the city, making the sky as delicately blue as a painted porcelain plate. The balcony Christopher Wren had built in the tower overlooking Cheapside gleamed. His balcony made her envision the way kings and queens had watched the jousts in the former grandstand days of times gone past. She could even picture Queen Elizabeth, her namesake, handing her glove to a favored courtier.

  Elizabeth absorbed it all, drinking it in until she could bear no more. Daylight put life in too sharp relief, those color contrasts, tho
se sharp angles, and shades of light were too brilliant for her to face. At least nightfall hid the lines and contrasts, making beauty somehow softer, easier to take in all at once. Exhausted and breathless, she whispered, “Please take me home, Darius.”

  He gave her a puzzled look, but he complied, and they rode home in a teeming silence. Elizabeth had tucked herself back inside the carriage, and now she felt the full force of Darius’s passion for her burning deep within his eyes.

  She placed her cheek against his and wrapped her arms around his neck. “No matter what happens I am yours always and forever.”

  “As I am yours,” he said. When they reached the Boar’s Head Inn, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to his bedchamber, even though those people inside the inn stared in wonderment when they passed through. Tenderly, he placed her down upon the satin coverlet of his bed.

  He seemed to want to possess every part of her body. The palms of his hands grazed her breasts and she felt her nipples bead in excitement. His mouth came down upon one breast, and then the other, nipping and suckling softly, and she thought she might faint from sheer pleasure.

  “Even though I’m now a demon slayer, I’m powerless before you. I would never force you to do anything you don’t wish to do.” He raised her up in his strong arms and pulled her on top of him.

  “What would you have me do?” she asked, in a small voice she hardly recognized. He was giving her complete control over his body, and the idea was both terrifying and thrilling.

  Seeming to read her mind, he smiled softly. “We need go only as far as you want. It’s up to you, Elizabeth, do what you will with me.”

  The only sound in the room was that of their ragged breathing, and the steady ticking clock on the mantle. Slowly, so slowly, she ran her tongue across his nipples, and then her tongue raced down his broad chest until she reached his throbbing, male hardness, touching the shaft with her tongue. It grew stronger and stiffer when her tongue ran up the fullness of his organ. He tasted salty and musky.