VQ 02 - The Mark of the Vampire Queen

by The Mark of the Vampire Queen (v2. 0) (mobi)

  Jacob now understood the reason for the pause on the radio. Carnal had expected Lyssa to answer and intended to speak to her directly. At the sound of Jacob’s voice, the vampire had quickly changed tactics and made his servant respond, not deigning of course to speak to the hired help. Which meant Carnal had not been certain Jacob would make it as her servant. Well, he knew now. “Hold on one moment and I’ll see if my lady is taking visitors.” It was just before sunset. In another half hour it would be twilight. She might or might not be up. His lady was not necessarily a…Morning person was not the right term, but early evening just didn’t have the same ring.

  My lady? It was as easy as picturing her in his mind and thinking the words, but it still amazed him how clearly she came through, as if standing right beside him. The second mark had given him a hint of that clarity, but it was nothing in comparison to the third.

  Yes.

  He waited, knowing she would simply look into his mind and pick up the situation like a snapshot. The pause drew out. He wondered if she’d forgotten as well. Of course, sometimes she relied on Jacob to remind her of her schedule, and he’d been woefully off his game since Gideon’s visit.

  I’ll look forward to punishing you for that.

  He rolled his eyes, even as he felt his groin tighten at the sultry implication of her words. At this rate, that particular appendage of his was going to fall off.

  His sense of humor didn’t last long, however. Despite the teasing comment, she still hadn’t given him an answer.

  “Shall I send him away, my lady?” he ventured at last, though he knew he might get snapped at for interrupting her thoughts. Knowing how long a vampire could deliberate without it being considered rudeness, Carnal might even now be enjoying a sip from his servant, or mixing her blood with a cup of wine in his vehicle, anticipating at least a fifteen-minute wait. With someone of Lyssa’s standing, it could be longer, though nothing about Carnal suggested he was the patient sort. In fact, Jacob had sensed from him that resentful undercurrent often emanating from the type of person who thought they were entitled to a corner office, even though they’d quit high school and barely put the time of day into their current low-end employment, thinking it beneath them. Power. Carnal wanted more power. He thought he could handle it better than anyone else, which made him a danger to those who actually did have more power, like his Mistress. Who might underestimate him, assuming if he didn’t have the energy to prove and earn his worth, he would lack the energy or cleverness to steal the title from someone else.

  Do not fret, Jacob. I never underestimate Carnal. Or anyone, for that matter. Show him to the main hallway.

  There are no chairs there.

  He will not be staying long. But we must observe the ritual courtesy and share a drink. He prefers brandy. I wish my current wine.

  Yes, my lady. When he waited long enough to be satisfied no further communication was forthcoming, he clicked the radio again.

  “Please proceed to the main door.”

  Before he disengaged the driveway gate, he sprang onto one of the retaining walls, gaining a view through the screening of the crepe myrtle branches. The car was a Jaguar sedan with darkened windows of course, probably specially treated to filter out the UV rays. When the gate closed and the security field reengaged, Jacob dropped off the wall and headed for the front drive. He wasn’t exactly a credit to his lady in his current dark jeans and Harvard sweatshirt, but it would have to do. He wasn’t going to let this one out of his sight to primp.

  Oh, Jacob?

  Yes, my lady?

  You’ll need to lock Bran and his siblings in the garden shed. Bran is not fond of Carnal.

  As he reached the curve of the driveway, his step quickened, as much from his lady’s words as from the sound of Bran’s thunderous, furious barking. Lyssa’s mild comment was an understatement. As the rest of the pack milled restlessly, the dog was circling the car. No, not just circling it. Lunging up to slam his paws on the passenger window like human fists and snarling, saliva flecking the glass as he attempted to scrabble in and get at the occupant behind it. It at least told Jacob where Carnal was in the car. The girl was apparently driving.

  “Bran. Bran!” When Jacob caught the dog’s collar and hauled him off, he had to do a quick circle to keep the dog from turning on him. He snapped at him in Gaelic and Bran went to a sullen growl, showing his teeth, his eyes fierce, his concentration on the car unbroken. Jacob managed to lead him off, but the dog resisted every step, trying to get loose. The farther they got from the car, the more fiercely Bran struggled, until Jacob was strangling him. He paused, contemplating the dog’s desperate need to protect. My lady…

  Bran. Obey.

  Her voice was sharp enough that it reverberated in Jacob’s eardrum with a painful vibration. Bran subsided to a lower growl and allowed himself to be led off, even though his posture made it clear he was unhappy about the situation. Jacob wasn’t too happy about it, either. The other dogs followed them to the garden shed. When he got them locked in, Bran stood at the dusty window staring at him, panting in distress. Jacob found it hard to turn his back on the animal.

  When he returned to the car, he nodded, made the all-clear gesture. The door opened and Carnal stepped out, his expression irritated. “A servant who cannot control a simple mongrel doesn’t seem much of a boon to my lady Lyssa.”

  Bran’s bloodline was far purer than anything Carnal could ever hope to have, but Jacob curbed the barb. Not so much for diplomacy, but because he’d also known a lot of mixed-breed dogs with far more integrity and value than the piece of garbage fouling Lyssa’s driveway with his presence.

  “I didn’t see you jumping out of the car to take him on, and last time I checked, you’re an all-powerful vampire.” Jacob locked gazes with the vamp, just as he’d done the night they’d first met, even when his Mistress had ordered him to lower his eyes. He’d earned her wrath for the defiance, but he hadn’t regretted it, particularly later when he’d found out what Carnal had done to Lyssa. Carnal’s lips drew back. “You haven’t learned manners yet. I shall speak to your Mistress about that.”

  Jacob ignored him, circled to the other side of the car and opened the driver’s side door, finding he had to do so gently, for Carnal’s servant had a death grip on the handle.

  “It’s okay; I put them up,” he said reassuringly. When the girl looked up into his face, he bit back an oath, suddenly remembering Gideon’s warning. She wasn’t even eighteen years old. Perhaps barely past fifteen. Nevertheless, he offered her a hand out of the car, making it clear he had manners aplenty for those deserving of it. “Melinda, stop being a sniveling coward and come here.” She withdrew her hand from Jacob’s and went around the back of the car to walk obediently behind Carnal as Jacob led them to the door.

  Seven girls…young women he seduces, then traps…sixteenyear-old runaway…

  She was a beautiful creature with pale white-gold hair, green eyes and a body far too lush and tempting for a minor, all full breasts and curvy hips. Long legs. Wearing a pair of tight hip-hugger leatherlike pants and a snug silken shirt under which she wore no bra, she exuded sexual provocation, a heady mixture with her obvious innocence. A temptation to a man with a conscience, an open invitation to one without one.

  That night at the mall, Carnal had referred to his “new” servant, which told Jacob she was just as young as she appeared. He was agreeing with Bran’s assessment more and more, and feeling uncomfortable to boot with the inability to do anything for the girl.

  If it wasn’t her, it would be another. The Council set an age minimum of twelve on human servants, and even that was a struggle. There was a curious deadness to his lady’s comment, injected into the boiling cauldron of his thoughts. Bring them to the hallway, Jacob. I will deal with this and then we can be rid of them.

  He could think of more effective methods to be rid of at least one of them. However, keeping what he hoped was an impassive expression, he opened the door, gestured. Carnal
strode past him with barely a glance. Melinda followed, her throat working nervously, lips pursed together as she attempted to saunter in a way Jacob was sure Carnal had taught her, trying to emulate the sexual confidence of a much older woman.

  “My lady will meet with you in her main hall.” He indicated the direction.

  Carnal flicked a look at him. “Fine. I know the way. You can go back to your duties.”

  You wish, you prick. “My lady has requested my attendance.” Not exactly true, but she’d indicated he should make sure brandy and wine were there, after all.

  Carnal’s eyes glittered, his lip curling. With a jerk he turned on his heel, headed for the hall. Apparently he wanted to make it clear he didn’t care for being shepherded in like a supplicant, instead of being met by Lyssa herself as an honored guest would have been. Lyssa’s visitor had an inflated sense of his own importance. Lyssa had never encouraged it, Jacob was sure, so he knew it must have come from Rex. It was possible Thomas hadn’t known all that had transpired to make Carnal so much more significant after Thomas’s exile. During Jacob’s training, Thomas had only mentioned in passing the tall, dark-haired vampire who strode ahead with such hostility emanating from him.

  No. Not hostility. Meanness. Violence. Everything that compelled his brother to hunt vampires practically vibrated off Carnal. A barely restrained bloodlust, a low trigger point. Jacob knew the only thing that stopped Carnal from attacking him was the fact he was here for other reasons, and Jacob was under Lady Lyssa’s protection. Vampires like Carnal were usually the easiest to kill, relatively speaking, because of their absolute conviction of their own superiority. It made them careless, easy to set up. Get him, Gideon. Almost as soon as he had the thought, he withdrew it. He didn’t want his brother near Carnal without him to watch his back. Never underestimate Carnal…His lady’s advice echoed in his mind. Melinda moved quietly behind him, but she glanced at Jacob several times. Giving him a shy smile, she pushed her hair over her shoulder, the move of a high school girl attracting a boy’s attention. Her smile faltered as he drew closer, keeping pace with her, his size and obvious maturity apparently a little intimidating to her. Even so, she surprised him when she slid her hand into the crook of his elbow, her fingers tracing a light pattern on his biceps. He had to suppress the urge to remove her touch. Perhaps the kindness he’d shown her at the car was the first she’d experienced at someone’s hands for a while. He didn’t want to imagine the type of groups Carnal ran with. He certainly didn’t want his head assaulted with such images that included Melinda. The fingers that held on to his arm had nails embellished with tiny flower stickers. He felt sick. “You’ll come to no harm in my lady’s house.” They’d reached the main hall, so he gave her hand a light pat before he extricated himself, not unkindly, to go to the wine rack and uncork Lyssa’s favorite to breathe. He lifted the brandy snifter from the side bar. “My lord? A drink for you and your servant?”

  “She requires nothing.” Carnal watched his servant with a gleam in his dark eyes. Oddly, Melinda had followed Jacob and now stood as close as possible without hampering his elbow while Carnal stood across the hallway. She reached out again, her fingertips whispering against the side of Jacob’s body, along the line of his hip. “Except perhaps you. She’s an erotic little creature. She’ll fuck any man if he stands still long enough. Very malleable. She can pretend to be even younger. Suck on your cock as if she’s a babe with a thumb in her mouth.”

  Jacob set the brandy snifter down harder on the side bar than he’d intended. Melinda jumped, her fingers trembling, even as she struggled to maintain a come-hither expression. Trying to feign what could not be feigned. She managed only to look frightened when Jacob sent her a quelling look. However, she held her stance. Probably because she knew there was a greater threat to her in the room than Jacob’s annoyance.

  He had no idea what the hell was going on here. If Carnal thought he could get his child servant to distract him enough to leave him alone with his Mistress, the ploy was pitiful, transparent. And revolting.

  “I’ll pour my own brandy,” Carnal said abruptly.

  That was fine by Jacob, for he had no desire to wait on the creature. He moved away from the bar. Melinda thankfully stayed, waiting for her Master.

  “She seems young to have such advanced appetites.” Jacob paced off several feet and crossed his arms, keeping Carnal under close scrutiny as he examined the brandy choices.

  Carnal cast Jacob a disparaging glance. “A teenager’s sex drive is far closer to a vampire’s appetite than an adult’s. I can fuck a woman in her thirties to death in no time. While the innocence of the young is often tedious, it can also be very…intriguing. Teaching them about unnatural desires.” He lifted a bottle, uncorked and opened it to sniff. “Their hormones are too strong to allow their morality or narrow upbringing to hold out against the craving for long. Melinda is special in those areas. You’ve not lived until you’ve watched her tears fall in delicious shame as she’s writhing, her legs spread, her body on the brink of an orgasm I’ll make her wait hours to have.” He was just going to have to kill him. It was as simple a thing as knowing that the dogs would need dinner in an hour. Kill visiting vampire, dispose of body—preferably by burning—then feed the dogs. Jacob stepped forward.

  Carnal turned away, missing the menacing gesture, though from Melinda’s indrawn breath, Jacob knew she didn’t. The brief flare of hope in her eyes, quickly extinguished, nearly choked him. “Lyss—Lady Lyssa.” Carnal stumbled over the greeting, though Jacob suspected he clearly remembered she’d rescinded her husband’s permission for Carnal to call her familiarly. “I thought I heard you come in. Though of course you’re such a delicate, quiet creature you’ve probably been standing there for quite a while, listening to me educate your young servant on our ways.”

  Jacob turned. His lady stood at the end of the hall, framed by the ten-foot-high, arched, stained glass window there. St. Francis of Assisi raised his hands to offer food to over a hundred differently colored birds hovering in the sky around him. Bursts of sunlight in rose and gold glass outlined them and haloed her. While it was now dark, she had outside lights positioned to allow enjoyment of the stained glass even during the night. Wearing black slacks with a slim belt and gold blouse, her hair up, she looked tailored, self-contained. Even from here, though, Jacob could feel the latent energy pulsing around her. Restless. Dangerous.

  An elegant diamond bracelet draped the thin bones of her wrist. Diamond studs adorned her double-pierced ears. A vampire had to pierce her body each time she chose to wear post jewelry, since once the posts were removed, the openings healed completely. Lyssa removed her earrings every morning. Female vanity had always been a remarkable thing to him, but his lady’s devotion to it had brought him to a new level of admiration.

  When she inclined her head to their visitor, it was a cold gesture. Jacob couldn’t hear any thoughts from her. All her shields were tightly locked down, but his intuition sensed those currents of energy circling in the air of the room like the closeness of an impending thunderstorm.

  Carnal had moved toward her. Vampire rules of courtesy required a distance of ten feet unless the higher-ranking vampire invited the other vampire within that personal space boundary. Jacob noted that Carnal stopped at the proper distance and then took one additional step, as if he were mocking the rule. Or her.

  Lyssa did not remove her attention from his face. “What is your business in my territory?”

  “As you know from our meeting at the mall, I am only passing through, my lady. A trip to the Midwest. Your husband was kind enough to acquaint me with many of the western territory overlords. I’ve been doing some fortunate trading of talent and resources over the past year.”

  She studied him in silence. The quiet of the hall began to have a weight to it that pressed in on Jacob, made him itch for a weapon. Carnal cocked his head. “While I am merely observing the ritual courtesies you demanded, I was hoping I might interest you in sharing d
inner with me.”

  “I am otherwise engaged.”

  Carnal’s back was to Jacob, so he saw the slight lift of the shoulder. When the vampire moved back to the side bar, his countenance was accepting, cordial. “Since you have no immediate need of my company, then, allow me to pour your wine and we’ll complete the formality.” He glanced at the bottle. “Your preferred vintage has changed. When Rex lived, you preferred muscatel. Port. This is barely more than grape juice.”

  “It’s made with an exotic flower, only available in one place in Asia.” As far as Jacob could tell, the only part of Lyssa’s face moving was her lips, an eerie effect. “The blooms must be cut at the end of the spring season. Exactly one hundred bottles have been made in the three-hundred-year life of the tree. It grows in the memorial garden of a great teacher, Yang- Sun. I studied with him. He taught me much about patience. Inner silence. Balance.”

  Carnal paused. Jacob shifted so he could see the angle of focus between the two of them. As she reached the last sentence, Lyssa’s pronunciation had become more exact. On the last word he saw the tips of her fangs. Her eyes glowed in the dim recesses of that end of the hall. While Jacob’s section was modestly lit, she’d apparently purposely put herself in shadows.

  “There is one pure note of silence within ourselves,” she continued. “So powerful that if we stepped inside it, we could blink our eyes and save the world from evil. Or destroy it utterly, like the soul of an unnatural creature never meant to exist. Watch it shatter and blow away as dust. Forgotten. Insignificant. Never to be remembered except with a child’s mocking laughter.”

  Melinda had crept to Jacob’s side again. He couldn’t blame her for seeking comfort. The mood in the hall was deadly, and almost all of it was coming from his lady now. The young girl’s fingers touched his hand at his side, linked with his fingers. Her breast was pressing against his arm, her hip bone against his buttock. Her breath was sweet and soft on his shoulder.