Bound by Night

by Amanda Ashley

  A million nervous butterflies took wing in Elena’s stomach as she followed Andrei down the hall toward the Council meeting room. When they reached the door, Elena grabbed his hand. “Are you sure he wants me here?”

  “Very sure,” Andrei said, and opened the door.

  Elena’s gaze swept the chamber in a single glance. Drake, dressed all in black, sat in Rodin’s chair on the dais. Liliana, also dressed in black, sat on his right. Katiya, looking young and lovely in pale blue, sat on his left. The Council members were seated.

  Drake rose when he saw her. “Please, come in.”

  Taking a deep breath, Elena entered the chamber at Andrei’s side.

  Liliana rose. “What is this outrage?” she demanded, her voice as cold and brittle as arctic ice.

  “Liliana, sit down,” Drake said, his voice equally cold. “She is here at my request.”

  Liliana glared daggers at her son, but she did as he said.

  Impressive, Elena thought.

  “As you all know,” Drake said, “Rodin has been destroyed. As the new Master of the Carpathian Coven, I have decided there are changes that need to be made.”

  He cast a warning glance at Liliana, who had started to rise. Fury radiated from her eyes but she remained silent and seated.

  “Katiya,” Drake said. “Come forward.”

  Rising, she stood beside him. She looked cool and unruffled, her face serene, making Elena think that Katiya was well aware of whatever change Drake was about to make. Aware and in agreement.

  “As Master of the Coven, I hereby renounce my marriage vows to Katiya Belova. How say you, Katiya? Yea or nay?”

  “Yea, my lord.”

  “So let it be recorded,” Drake said. “So let it be done.”

  “So let it be recorded,” the Council members said. “Done and done.”

  Leaving the dais, Katiya took a seat in the back of the room.

  “Elena Knightsbridge, come forward.”

  Heart pounding, she moved toward the foot of the dais.

  Drake smiled at her. “Come, stand beside me.”

  “No!” Liliana’s voice echoed through the room like rolling thunder.

  “Be still!” Drake shot a quelling glance at his mother. “If you interfere again, I will have you removed.” He held out his hand to Elena. “Come.”

  Praying that her legs wouldn’t fail her, Elena took Drake’s hand and stepped up on the dais.

  Drake faced the Council. “Rodin Sherrad annulled my marriage to Elena Knightsbridge. As Master of the Coven, I hereby revoke that annulment. From this time forward, Elena Knightsbridge will be my wife. All who wish to shelter here will accord her the respect to which she is entitled as my consort. So let it be recorded. So let it be done.”

  “So let it be recorded,” intoned the Council members. “Done and done.”

  Taking Elena in his arms, Drake kissed her lightly. “I love you,” he said quietly. “Please take your place.”

  Fully aware of Liliana’s fulminating gaze, Elena took the chair vacated by Katiya.

  “Andrei Lazarescu,” Drake said, “come forward. As Master of the Coven, I now unite Andrei Lazarescu and Katiya Belova as husband and wife by my hand. Andrei, how say you? Yea or nay?”

  “Yea, my lord.”

  “Katiya, how say you? Yea or nay?”

  “Yea, my lord.”

  “So let it be recorded,” Drake said, smiling. “So let it be done.”

  “So let it be recorded,” the Council members said. “Done and done.”

  Hand in hand, Andrei and Katiya left the room, smiling.

  “Liam Tarasova, come forward.”

  The vampire who strode toward the dais was of medium height with short, dark brown hair and heavy-lidded brown eyes.

  “Liam Tarasova, as Master of the Carpathian Coven, I appoint you as the thirteenth member of the Council. Do you accept the responsibility this task entails, and do you now swear to uphold our laws? Yea or nay?”

  “Yea, my lord.”

  “So let it be recorded,” Drake said solemnly. “So let it be done.”

  “So let it be recorded,” the Council members said. “Done and done.”

  “One last matter of business,” Drake said. “I have never approved of keeping humans as sheep. It is my intention to offer them their freedom.”

  This announcement elicited a gasp from everyone in the room, including Elena.

  Liliana stood, her whole body quivering with outrage. “You have no right—”

  “I have every right,” Drake retorted sharply, “given to me by your own hand. Sit down.”

  Liliana glared at him, her eyes burning bright red, and then she vanished from the chamber.

  “I intend to give the sheep their freedom if they so wish it,” Drake said again. “If they choose to stay, they will no longer be prisoners. They will be allowed the run of the first three floors of the Fortress. They may stay or go at their pleasure, but those who decide to leave will have all memory of this place and what happened to them here erased from their minds. Further, I revoke the decree making it unlawful for humans and vampires to marry.”

  This announcement was met with gasps of surprise as well as exclamations of disbelief from those present.

  “So let it be recorded,” Drake said solemnly. “So let it be done.”

  There were whispered murmurs from the members of the Council before they gave their unanimous approval.

  “I declare this convocation closed until further notice.”

  As one, the Council members filed out of the chamber, followed by Liam, until only Drake and Elena remained.

  He stood there a moment, his head bowed, before he reached for her. “So, wife, what say you?”

  “I don’t know what to say. Your mother . . .”

  “Reacted exactly as I expected,” he said.

  “I don’t know which upset her more, your decision to free the sheep, your decision to give Katiya to Andrei, or your declaration that our annulment was stricken.”

  “She will accept my decisions or not. If she refuses to abide by my laws, she will be banished.”

  “You’d make your own mother leave here when you know how much she loves it?”

  “My first loyalty is to the Coven. If I cannot enforce my laws, if I cannot command obedience and respect from my own mother, then I do not deserve to be Master of the Coven.” He ran his fingertips over her lips. “No more talk of vampire business tonight.”

  Before Elena could respond, they were in the living room of Drake’s apartment. There were dozens of red roses in a sparkling crystal vase on the coffee table. Soft music played in the background, candlelight illuminated the room with a pale golden glow.

  “Are you hungry, wife?” he asked.

  “Famished,” she murmured.

  “What are you in the mood for?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  He quirked an eyebrow at her. “How about something tall, dark, and dangerous?”

  “Perhaps,” she said, frowning. “Of course, almost every man in the Fortress seems to be tall, dark, and dangerous.”

  Drake growled at her in mock anger. “Careful, wife.”

  “Yes, my lord.” She slipped her hands under his shirt, then splayed her fingers across his chest. “Is this careful enough?”

  He nipped the lobe of her ear. “I warn you, you are playing with fire.”

  “Will you show me the flames?”

  “Just look into my eyes.”

  Sweeping her into his arms, he carried her into the bedroom. There were more roses in here, as well as a pair of candles on the bedside table, along with a bottle of red wine and two cut-crystal goblets. Red rose petals were scattered over the bed.

  Elena looked up at him, a question in her eyes.

  “I hoped we would end up here sometime tonight,” he said, grinning.

  “Well,” she purred, “here we are.”

  “And here we will stay,” he said, lowering her onto the mattress,
“at least for a few more days.”

  “Then what?”

  “Let us not talk of that now.”

  He wished away his clothes and her own. Pulling her into his warm embrace, he kissed her. At the first touch of his mouth on hers, she forgot everything but her need for this man above all else.

  She ran her hands over the broad expanse of his chest, along his arms, dragged her fingertips across his belly, loving the way he responded to her touch, the way his muscles bunched and flexed beneath her questing fingertips as she trailed her hand lower, lower. He groaned deep in his throat as he stretched out on his side, then aligned her body with his, so that they were pressed intimately together from shoulder to thigh, their legs entwined.

  Her breath caught in her throat as he began a slow, sweet exploration of her body, his hands trailing fire, his tongue a flame as it dueled with hers.

  She clutched his shoulders when he rose over her, lifted her hips, eager to receive him, to feel the welcome weight of his body covering hers as two became one, joined flesh to flesh, and heart to heart.

  Chapter 30

  Elena spent the next day much as she had spent the previous one—reading, watching movies, listening to music, thumbing through the daily papers, thinking how strange it was that people lived their lives never knowing that vampires dwelled in their midst. Time and again, she glanced at her watch, willing the hours and minutes to pass more quickly.

  Drake appeared in the living room shortly after she finished dinner. Taking her in his arms, he kissed her. “How was your day?”

  “Lonely, without you.”

  “You must know I would spend my days with you if I could.”

  “I know.”

  “For now, I have business to attend to. Do you wish to accompany me?”

  “Of course!”

  “Come along, then,” he said, and taking her by the hand, he led her into the dining hall.

  Elena was surprised to see the sheep assembled there. Tables had been added to accommodate several couples with babies and young children. She had never seen children in the Fortress.

  The tension in the hall practically crackled when Drake walked through the door. Glancing at the faces of the sheep, Elena noticed that they all wore the same wary expression, like patients awaiting bad news.

  Drake’s gaze swept the room, and the tension in the hall grew thicker.

  “As you know,” he said without preamble, “there has been a change in leadership. I am now the Master of the Coven and as such, I have instituted several changes, most of which do not concern you. There is, however, one change that will affect you all.”

  Elena watched the sheep. Some stirred restlessly, as if sensing danger. Several of the couples held tighter to their children, their expressions fearful. Northa and Marta looked at Elena. She smiled, hoping to reassure them.

  “I realize you have been born here,” Drake went on, “and that you have known no other life but this one. I am now offering you a choice. You may stay here, if you wish, or you may leave.”

  The sheep stared at Drake and then at each other.

  “I am sure you have questions,” he said. “Feel free to ask them.”

  And still the sheep stared at him as if he were speaking a foreign language.

  “I am offering you your freedom,” Drake said.

  Finally, one of the men spoke up. He was young, perhaps nineteen. A little girl with pigtails sat on his lap. “Where would we go? Who would take care of us?”

  “Who would feed us?” asked another man.

  “We don’t know anything of the outside world,” Marta said. “Who is going to teach us what we need to know?”

  “If you wish to leave, we will teach you how to survive in the outside world,” Drake said. “If you wish to stay, you will no longer be prisoners. You will be permitted access to the first three floors of the Fortress and to go outside when you wish. But you will not be permitted to pass beyond a certain point.”

  “Then aren’t we still prisoners?” one of the men asked.

  “It is for our protection,” Drake said. “And yours. If you wish to leave, you may do so at any time, but we must know first.”

  “Will you still feed off us?” Northa asked.

  “Yes, in exchange for feeding and housing you, but you will no longer be compelled to go with anyone you dislike. Nor will you be punished for refusing. Think about what I have said. You do not need to make any decisions tonight. Until decisions have been made, you will continue to stay in your rooms. That is all.”

  “Do you think any of them will stay?” Elena asked when they returned to Drake’s apartment.

  “Who can say? What would you do?”

  Sitting on the sofa, she kicked off her shoes. “I don’t know. If I’d never lived anywhere else, never had the freedom to do as I pleased”—she shook her head—“I think I’d be afraid to leave, even though I think I’d want to.”

  “You were brave enough to run away from your uncle.”

  “That was different. I wasn’t a prisoner in his house. And I wasn’t going outside for the first time.”

  Drake nodded as he took the seat beside her.

  “What do you think they’ll do?” Elena asked. “And if they all leave . . . ?” She wasn’t quite sure how to phrase the next question, but Drake knew what she meant.

  “I think the single men and some of the women will go. I know several of the females have strong feelings for some of my brothers. I think they will stay. Perhaps the couples, as well. As for what we would do if they all left . . .” He shrugged. “Every Coven has a Fortress like this one, but not all of them provide nourishment for those who live within its walls.”

  “Oh.” She shuddered to think of the unsuspecting people who were helpless prey to the hunger of the vampires. “Have you spoken to your mother lately?”

  “No. She has left the Fortress.”

  “Where did she go?”

  “I have no idea. I only heard of her departure late last night.”

  Feeling suddenly queasy, Elena bit down on her lower lip. Drake was supposed to be his mother’s favorite son. But what if that were no longer true? Drake had destroyed Vardin. He had annulled his marriage to Katiya, resumed his marriage to a woman his mother did not approve of. And now he was bringing change to the Fortress.

  Elena shivered. She recalled all too clearly the outrage in Liliana’s eyes the night before when Drake had assumed command of the Fortress—the fury in her voice, the way she had vanished from the Council chamber in a fit of anger.

  People made jokes about their in-laws all the time, Elena thought, but there was nothing funny about an angry mother-in-law, not when she was also a powerful vampire.

  As it turned out, Drake was right. The four breeding pairs, who had five children between them ranging in age from three months to fourteen years, decided to stay, as did most of the single women. All but one of the men opted to leave.

  Those who had chosen to leave were schooled in how to survive in the outside world. Drake was elusive when Elena asked who was teaching them, but when she pressed harder, he told her that the vampires waited until the sheep were sleeping, then spoke to their minds, giving them the information they needed to live in the outside world.

  “It is quicker and more effective than trying to teach them while they are awake,” he explained. “But most of the sheep are bright and learn quickly, since my sire selected only the best and the brightest for breeding. They made better companions.”

  Breeding, Elena thought. With Drake as her husband, there was no chance of having children of her own. The thought made her stomach churn. Hurrying into the bathroom, she leaned over the commode.

  Drake followed her into the bathroom. “Are you ill?”

  “I must be catching the flu.” She rinsed her mouth, washed and dried her face. “I’ll be all right.”

  Surprisingly, it only took a little over three weeks to prepare the sheep who had decided to leave the Fortress. Stefan a
nd Liam were in charge of transporting them to various small towns in the area. Once they arrived at their destinations, the vampires erased all memories of their life at the Fortress and all memory of the vampires from their minds.

  Elena was pleased with the changes Drake had made in the Fortress. It was far less lonely for her now that the sheep—she had to stop calling them that!—could move freely about the first three floors of the castle.

  For the first time since she had been there, people walked the corridors during the day. The dining hall was no longer silent. The laughter of children echoed off the walls. Elena spent the daylight hours with Northa, Elnora, Marta, and some of the other women. Elnora was very much in love with Dallin, and since Drake had abolished the law forbidding vampires and humans to marry, she had high hopes that Dallin would propose. Marta held the same hopes for Cullin. Northa had elected to stay because she enjoyed the sensual pleasure of the vampire’s bite, and because she was afraid to leave the only home she had ever known.

  “There’s no reason to leave now,” Northa said one afternoon. “Since we’re free to come and go as we please, and to go outside. . . .” She spread her arms wide. “Living here now is like being a princess in a castle.”

  “I just wish my prince would ask me to marry him,” Elnora said with a sigh.

  “Maybe you should ask him,” Northa said with a wink and a smile.

  “Maybe I will!”

  “Elena, you’re married to a vampire,” Marta said. “Is it wonderful?”

  “Drake is wonderful,” she replied, smiling, and then she thought of Vardin. “But I don’t know if all vampires make wonderful husbands.”

  Returning to their apartment, Elena curled up on the sofa and picked up a magazine. She thumbed through a few pages, but she kept thinking about what Marta had said. Would she have felt the same about Drake in the beginning if she had known what he was? Would she have had the courage to take the time to get to know him? Or would her fear of what he was have kept her from trusting him?

  She wanted to think she would have loved him the same no matter what, and yet there were times, when she let herself think about the future, that she wished he was human, that they could share a meal, bask in the sun, return to Wolfram. Have a child.