by K.A. Tucker
21. Making Plans
“It’s been two weeks!” Mortimer growled.
“It’s not her fault, Mortimer,” Sofie snapped in response.
Mortimer didn’t seem to hear her. “What have you found out? And why are you trussed up like a packhorse?”
“Do you think you could untie me before the interrogation begins?” I asked, not even attempting to hide my irritation. Could I still get to the Merth in time to protect myself?
Within seconds, I was unbound. I wiggled away from the straps and sat up, only to have Mortimer swoop in to loom over me. I automatically shrunk back. My chance was gone.
I glanced over in time to see Sofie reaching into an opened mountain bag. “No!” I lunged forward to grab her hand.
She pulled out a cord of Merth.
Mortimer gasped in horror. “Why would you bring that stuff back here?”
I barely heard him, still in shock over Sofie’s immunity. “It doesn’t work on you?”
“Stings,” she said, cringing. “But no. Because I’m a sorceress.” She dangled the cord from her fingers, examining it closely. “Here, Mortimer. Let’s see if it’s as strong as our stuff.”
Our stuff?
“If you come near me with that, I’ll tear your heart out,” he growled, taking two large strides backward.
I heard a loud, exasperated sigh inside my head. Here, try it on me, Max said, ambling toward Sofie.
“Max is offering guinea pig services,” I said, adding, “There’s Merth here?”
“Not until now,” Viggo called out, entering the room. “We spend over two hundred years ridding the world of it, and look … you show up with two giant bagfuls!”
“Take it off him immediately afterward, though. Please,” I said as Sofie moved toward Max. I didn’t want Max going through any more pain than necessary.
“Of course, of course,” Sofie murmured. “Thank goodness you’re not a coward, Max,” she added, her eyes flicking to Mortimer, her tone thick with implication. Viggo howled with laughter at Sofie’s snip as Mortimer glared venomously at the red–haired vampire–witch.
She placed the cord on Max’s back. His giant black body wavered slightly, then slumped to the floor. He mumbled incoherently in my head. As promised, Sofie immediately pulled the cord off Max.
Yes, it’s the same, Max confirmed.
I relayed the message.
“Why would you bring this back, Evangeline?” Viggo asked me suspiciously, stepping forward to examine the bags.
“To bind you.” The catty response flew out without warning.
Viggo grinned. “Cute.”
“Did you know about this?” Mortimer asked Sofie, one eyebrow raised.
“How would I know? I was here!” she spat. “But I can use it. Smart thinking, Evangeline.”
Viggo swept his hand across the open bag, allowing the tip of his finger to graze a strand. He swayed as if suddenly lightheaded. “This wretched stuff …”
“Leonardo, lock these bags in the vault,” Mortimer instructed.
“I’m going to take a few strands for some testing,” Sofie announced, reaching for the bag.
“So you can trap me when I’m distracted? Not a chance, witch,” Mortimer snapped.
“You fool!” she snapped back, unleashing a torrent of anger. “Have you given any thought, even for a second, to what will happen when one of these vampires—who haven’t been exposed to human blood for seven hundred years—shows up under this roof? They could kill Evangeline, they could wipe out your staff, they could break free of this building and start a New York City massacre. I appreciate that you’ve waited a hundred and twenty years to see Veronique, but show some common sense, you idiot.”
Mortimer rolled his eyes. “Oh, stop being so dramatic. All of those possibilities are highly unlikely.”
“It’s not worth risking! You don’t know what can happen, who these vampires are. These kinds of spells are known to have unforeseen outcomes, some of them disastrous. I shouldn’t have to explain that to you …” her voice drifted.
My back hit something hard. I turned, saw the headboard, and realized I had been slowly inching backward, trying to get away from the approaching brawl. I was now cowering, knees drawn up, within a mound of pillows.
“Children, children,” Viggo said softly. “Let’s play nicely, now.”
“He started it,” Sofie muttered indignantly.
“How do you propose you’ll use this Merth to solve the possibilities you’ve described, Sofie?” Viggo calmly asked, taking on his usual role of mediator between those two. “Is there yet another trick up your sleeve we’re unaware of?”
“I need to link the power of it to this building, to form a barrier. To keep them within these walls,” she answered in a more conciliatory voice. “It should be a fairly easy spell.”
“Them? How many do you think are coming over, anyway?”
Three pairs of brilliantly colored vampire eyes turned to me. “Four,” I said from my hiding place, adding under my breath, “I hope.”
“Didn’t there used to be five?” Mortimer asked, his eyes narrowing.
“Yes, but she’s no longer an issue,” I answered flatly, hoping to avoid any more questions about the event in which I’d been an accomplice. It likely wouldn’t shine a positive light on Caden and the others, in Viggo and Mortimer’s eyes, anyway.
Luckily, he turned his attention back to Sofie. “And how do you suppose we get out for food? Of course, you can get out; it doesn’t hold you back … Are you trying to weaken us?”
“Don’t think I don’t know about that blood bank in the cellar. That could tide you over for years, if necessary,” she shot back at him.
“And how will any of this protect the humans? They’ll still be within these walls when the vampires get here,” Mortimer asked smugly, thinking he had found a weakness in Sofie’s plan.
“I’m working on a way to mask their blood, a talisman of sorts that they can wear. I should have it ready shortly,” she answered with twice the smugness.
I breathed a sigh of relief. So she had thought of it. I would be protected. Caden wouldn’t have to worry about hurting me. I couldn’t wait to tell him.
“You had better not be tampering with Veronique’s necklace …” he growled apprehensively.
“Why on earth would I do something so dangerous?”
I felt like I was watching a ping pong match, my head bobbing back and forth as the two of them squared off against each other, Mortimer lobbying challenges and Sofie successfully launching back counterarguments.
Viggo spoke as if passing a ruling. “Okay then, it’s settled. It looks like Sofie has it all figured out and I’m sure she has no intention of harming either of us, Mortimer. After all, Veronique would not be happy about that.”
“Yes. However, I’m wondering where the witch’s allegiances now lie,” Mortimer grumbled with disdain.
Viggo ignored him. “Leonardo, if you would be so kind as to take both of these bags—minus whatever Sofie needs—to the vault.”
Sofie grabbed an armful of Merth, wincing from the shock it produced, and threw a daring smirk at Mortimer, taunting him to come near her. Mortimer snarled in response but didn’t make a move.
Leo grabbed hold of the straps and began dragging the bags out of the room. I wanted to chase after him, help him in some way. But I had a feeling I wouldn’t be allowed out without further interrogation. I was right.
“Now that that’s settled, have you been to the city to look for this portal?” Viggo calmly asked me.
“Not exactly.”
“So where did you search during that time?” Mortimer pressed, taking a few steps toward me.
Max released a low, threatening rumble and all four dogs shifted to form a protective circle around the bed.
“Oh, shut up!” Mortimer snapped but he heeded their warning, sidling back.
“Patience, Mortimer,” Viggo chastised, patting his shoulder gently. He turned back to look at me, th
ose piercing blue eyes dissecting me.
What could I say? No, I didn’t go out. Sofie told me not to. But you don’t know that, do you? Yes, she’s deceiving you … Instead, I bound a vampire with that stuff you hate, Mortimer, and then I rolled around in the sack for hours.
Viggo cleared his throat, a sign that I was learning meant he was deeply irritated. If he could read my mood, I wondered what he was getting right now?
There wasn’t much I could tell them. Bishop did send the animals out in a half–ass attempt to search the vast jungle and Rachel did recruit some Council members … An idea struck me. I took a deep breath. “There are ten vampires searching the capital city and a small army of adept scouts searching the mountainside. By the time I get back, they will have reported back on whether anything of interest has been found. I figured that was a much safer, faster way to the truth,” I said, taking full credit for the wild goose chase Rachel had sent those Council vampires on. “I think we’re getting close,” I added for embellishment.
The room was eerily quiet, so much so that I began to think I’d been too confident in my cleverness.
“That’s great news, Evangeline!” Sofie exclaimed, genuinely happy. “And it keeps you out of harm’s way.”
“Yes … that is rather intelligent,” Mortimer mumbled, adding, “thank you.”
I stared wide–eyed at him. Those words were the last ones I expected to come from him, the grump. And they sounded genuine.
Mortimer looked at me thoughtfully. “We will owe you, won’t we? Though I’m not sure how we could ever repay you.”
By leaving me and my friends alone? By never asking me to do anything again? By letting us live our lives in peace while you sit quietly in your palace? Or …”Money,” I blurted, another idea popping into my head. Caden was right; I was brimming with ideas.
An extremely rare expression of surprise flashed across the vampire’s face. He hadn’t expected an answer to his rhetorical question, but he was obviously intrigued. “Do tell?”
“This should be interesting,” Viggo mused, a smug grin on his face.
“Well, it’s Caden, Fiona, Bishop, and Amelie,” I began, stammering, suddenly uncomfortable. “They’ll have nothing—no home, no money, no clothes.”
“Well, of course they can stay here until they’ve settled in,” Viggo offered smoothly.
Settled in. So that’s what Viggo calls sucking the life out of people and robbing them of their possessions. “Well, that’s just it,” I said aloud. “They’re not planning on adapting the usual way. They won’t be killing humans.”
Viggo and Mortimer bellowed out laughter. “They said that, did they?” Mortimer murmured, a knowing smirk on his face. “And you believed them, of course.”
I bristled. “Yes, they did. And yes, I do.”
“Okay, go on, Evangeline.” Viggo waved his hand, still chuckling softly.
“Anyway … considering they’re doing you a favor … I was hoping you could—I don’t know, set up a trust fund for them or something. So they’ll have some money to help them start out.” So we don’t have to live with you two goblins.
The roar of laughter that erupted from Mortimer shook the glass in the balcony doors. “So they’re okay with blood money as long as they don’t do the actual killing.”
I shrugged, realizing my logic was flawed.
A curious expression stretched across Mortimer’s face, then he smiled strangely. “Okay. How much do you think they will need?”
“I don’t know … maybe …” I began fidgeting. I had never asked for money before. It felt awkward. But it wasn’t for me. How much would they need, anyway? I guess enough for a condo somewhere, and a car, and some clothes. I did some quick mental calculations. Five hundred thousand. That should be enough to start out. It would be a small condo, cozy for the five of us, but … I couldn’t believe I was about to ask someone for five hundred thousand dollars!
Viggo spoke up before I had a chance. “Does ten million sound about right?” he offered, his face displaying nothing but complete seriousness.
I began choking violently, sure that I had swallowed my tongue as I sucked in a mouthful of air.
“Twenty. For each of them,” Sofie piped up. She had remained quiet up until now. “So that’s four of them and Evangeline. One hundred million, in an account that I will set up. Only Evangeline will have access to it. It needs to be done by this afternoon.”
A small strangled sound escaped my mouth.
Viggo raised an eyebrow at Sofie, but said nothing.
“That’s an awful lot of money. I’m not sure we can gather that much today.” Mortimer looked as if he were about to explode.
“Oh, please,” Sofie scoffed, rolling her eyes as she called his bluff. “That’s nothing more than a library fine for billionaires like you, but it will give Evangeline and her friends a healthy start.”
A hundred million. A hundred million dollars and twenty of that would be mine. I grasped the back of the headboard to steady myself before I keeled right off the side of the bed.
“Is this necessary?” I heard Viggo ask Sofie through gritted teeth.
“They need to be taken care of or they won’t help us when they get here,” Sofie said with the conviction of a priest asked if he believed in God.
“This is extortion,” Mortimer growled.
Viggo turned his gaze toward me. “Is this true, Evangeline? They won’t help us unless they have a hundred million dollars in an account?” There was that obscene number again.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, remembering that icy cold warning he had delivered previously. Don’t ever deceive me. “Yes. They said they wouldn’t help you.” That part was true, but it had nothing to do with the money. Hopefully my fear would mask any telltale emotions I may be emitting.
The screech of bending metal shot through the room as Mortimer’s white–knuckled grip distorted the bedpost. “How stupid are you? They’re lying to you! Whatever they’ve told you, whatever they’ve done, it’s all lies, you stupid little girl!”
“No, they’re not …” I stammered, his words dislodging a deeply buried fear that had been brewing but hidden inside me. I jumped off the bed and ran out of the room, Max on my heels.
It was my first time in the atrium since finding out that the grand marble statue encased an even grander secret. I stood there now, gawking at it, envisioning the dark–haired sleeping beauty entombed within. The atrium’s tranquil, inviting atmosphere had altered for me with this knowledge, replaced by a disquieting eeriness, as if unseen eyes were peering out at me.
“I hear her voice sometimes in the dead of night, whispering to me.”
I turned to see Mortimer standing beside me, his attention fixated on the marble face. I hadn’t heard him approach. A glimmer of what could be adoration revealed itself in his eyes before they glazed over with their typical ice. I wasn’t sure how to respond to Mortimer’s admission so I kept quiet, turning my attention back to the statue.
Max stood quietly on my other side, unconcerned by his previous master’s presence. That told me Mortimer wasn’t likely there to harm me. Not physically, anyway.
“Viggo had this atrium built as a replica of a villa he and Veronique visited. It was one of her favorite places. She adored the flowers and the balconies. So he decided it should be the first thing she sees when she’s released.”
“Makes sense,” I murmured. Mortimer was acting uncharacteristically nice.
“It’s not fair, what has happened to you, what we’ve asked of you. I realize that,” he continued, still not looking at me.
Is he trying to apologize?
“But sometimes, when someone means everything to you—when the only reason you’re alive is to see their face again—you’ll accept all consequences that go along with that chance. Even if it means someone else will suffer.”
Not a good apology, I concluded bitterly. “Well, as long as you’re comfortable with me being cursed.”
; Mortimer smirked. “Maybe you’ll understand one day.”
I decided what I wanted to say. “How can you be so selfish? How can you look someone in the eye, knowing what you’re doing to them?”
He turned to gaze at me with that blank, emotionless stare of his. “You don’t. You don’t let yourself see them. You don’t let yourself feel anything for them. You look right through them. Understand?” He turned away again, his face stone.
Is that what he’s doing now? Looking through me? It suddenly dawned on me that Mortimer may have a thick, impenetrable mask of his own, that he was hiding behind an illusion as Viggo had before. Only for Mortimer, it was a mask of necessary disconnect. There was a different Mortimer underneath it. Who he was—that was a mystery. But it was likely the man Veronique had fallen madly in love with.
“No. I don’t understand,” I replied. “But maybe it’s because I’m human. We can’t be so single–minded and callous.”
Mortimer barked laughter. “You’d be surprised how single–minded and callous a human can be. Nine hundred years is an awfully long time to witness human nature, Evangeline. I’ve seen some things that would haunt your dreams every night for decades.” He paused. “It’s also a long time to witness what vampires are capable of—the deceit, the treachery, the games. Remember when you believed we were drugging you and dropping you in Central Park to amuse ourselves?” he asked.
I nodded, smiling wistfully. It felt like years ago. How much easier life might be if that had been true.
“If there was need to do that, we would have. Just as, if there was a need to pretend to love someone, any vampire would.”
There he was, implying what I dreaded: that everything was staged. That the caresses, the kisses, the whispers of “I love you” were all an act to acquire my complete trust.
“Your money will be in an account by the end of today.” With that, he was off, leaving me in a quiet atrium, wallowing in misery.
He couldn’t be right. But if he was … that was my breaking point. I’d welcome death with open arms.