“Because I’m still waiting on these documents to come through. Not that she needs to know there’s an issue. Just tell her we’re about five minutes behind you. Let the others know, too, will you?”
“Absolutely. See you there.” Greaves left.
Sebastian turned on the office lights, went to his desk and fired up his laptop. The wall of antique weaponry flanking the fireplace gleamed softly in the overheads. He poured himself a whiskey while the computer came to life. There were some things his grandmother wasn’t entirely wrong about. A drink could, on occasion, make things easier to bear.
And the fact that this marriage to Tessa was just about pleasing Evangeline was definitely one of those things.
He took his drink back to his desk and sat, opening his email. “Finally.”
But the email from his solicitor had no attachments, just a note.
My apologies for not having the documents to you yet. We’re having a terrible blizzard and the Internet is spotty. I’m sending this from my phone. As soon as I can get the office computer up and running, I’ll have them emailed to you.
Damn it. He needed those dissolution papers. Without them for Evangeline to sign, this was all for naught. He picked up his whiskey and walked to the window. The sun was well set, leaving the sky burnished in purple and gold. As January evenings in Georgia went, it wasn’t a bad one at all.
Even if he was still waiting on the most important documents of his life.
He sipped his whiskey and stared out, trying to think about something else. Tessa was the only thing that filled his head and the unsettled feeling that followed was completely his own doing. If Tessa didn’t want to show him the sword, that was her right. One hundred percent. Was he disappointed? Yes, but her refusal to share that with him wasn’t something that should make him feel poorly toward her.
He was being childish and he knew it.
He’d just thought…she’d want to let him in to the secret side of herself. She’d shared the story of her scar with him. But the sword was different, wasn’t it? More than just a memory, it was a constant reminder of what had happened. A part of her past from which she would never be free. Of all people, he understood a burden of that magnitude.
Another sip of whisky brought further clarity. Truth was, she had no reason to feel differently about divulging something so personal with him. They’d known each other what? Three days?
No, he was being ridiculous. The woman was marrying him, for crying out loud. He owed her an apology. And he’d give it to her, along with a hearty kiss and a lengthy reminder about how beautiful she was and how grateful he felt for all she’d done for him.
To act otherwise would only bolster the general consensus that he was a grumpy, ill-tempered recluse.
The office door closed behind him. Tessa.
He turned, a smile at the ready. “I owe you an apology, my darling—”
Evangeline glared at him. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Neither are you.” His smile thinned to nothing as he looked past her. “Where’s Greaves?”
She strode forward. “Having some car trouble.”
“Why aren’t you at the church?”
Her glare morphed into a toothy grin. “I forgot something.” She sashayed toward him, hips swaying in the little black dress she was wearing beneath what he hoped was a fake fur. Solid black was an interesting choice for a wedding.
Every alarm bell in his head rang. “What did you forget?”
Her fingers coasted down his lapel. “You look very handsome, Sebby. You always did wear clothes better than the average man. I’ll give you that.”
It would be the first thing she’d given him. But her attention wasn’t something he was the slightest bit interested in. He stepped out of her reach and went to lean on the fireplace mantel. There was something comforting in being flanked by weapons while being confronted by this particular woman. “You didn’t answer the question.”
She came toward him again, her finger tapping her bottom lip. “What question was that?”
Oh, she could try a man’s patience. “What did you forget?”
She stopped directly in front of him, her heels putting her just shy of eye-level. “So many things. Like how obtuse you are when it comes to the obvious.”
He frowned at her. “What?”
She laughed. “Actually, I hadn’t forgotten that at all. I’ve been counting on it.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?”
She planted her hands on the mantel behind him and leaned in. She smelled of sandalwood and musk. “I’m talking about the real reason I’m here. The reason I got you to let me into your house, the reason I got you to let me stay here.”
“I know why you’re here. You want me back. Why that is, I have no idea. Life too hard alone, Evangeline?”
She snorted. “You are impossibly smart and yet, somehow one of the most clueless men I know.”
In a flash of light and the hiss of metal, she grabbed one of the daggers from the wall behind him and pressed its point to his heart, the speed of her movements blurred by her vampire quickness. “I don’t want you back, you boring fool. I want the secret to why you can daywalk. I’ve been trying to find it since I got here.”
That explained so much. He’d found some books disturbed in the library, but had assumed Tessa had done that. As if a librarian wouldn’t reshelve books when she was done with them. He really was a fool. Add to that the scratches on his office door lock and the copies of the newspaper stories that Tessa had found and Evangeline’s scheme was clear.
She wasn’t trying to get him back. She’d seen those pictures of him in the paper, pictures taken during the day, and realized he and probably his entire family were unharmed by the sun. Now she was trying to figure out how so she could do it too. “I’m not telling you a bloody thing.”
“I already know it’s some kind of magic. Your little librarian told me that much. So where is it? Give it to me and I’ll leave you alone.”
“I highly doubt that.”
She pressed the dagger harder until the point pierced his shirt. “I will end you, Sebastian.”
“You think threatening my life is going to make a difference? I’ve had no life to speak of thanks to the years I’ve wasted on you. And this is my reward? Threats from you? I’ve had enough.”
“Oh please. The years you’ve wasted on me? As if you could have, what, spent them wining and dining women? Enjoying the world and all it has to offer? You’re a sad creature, Sebastian. You’re a vampire and yet you act like a church mouse, tucked away here in your cathedral, existing on crumbs.”
The fact that she’d called him a mouse when he’d done the same thing to Tessa wasn’t lost on him. He laughed, a loud, boisterous sound that bellowed through the room.
She jabbed the dagger in deeper. Pain radiated through him as blood trickled down his chest. “What’s so funny?”
He stared at her, the woman he’d once adored and had determined that he would care for the rest of his life. If she slipped that dagger any farther, the latter might come true as his life would end right here. Although he’d stopped caring for her about five minutes into their meeting at the Black Rose three days ago.
Now she might actually kill him.
The time for secrets was gone. “You know your father offered to let me out of our marriage contract. On his deathbed, he told me there would be no hard feelings and that if I married you, you would make life miserable. He tried to warn me off, confessing that the creature you’d become was his fault. That he’d spoiled you into an uncontrollable brat. But I was too lovesick to accept that was true.”
“I don’t believe you.” Her eyes blazed silver.
“Would you like me to show you the original documents in which he left me a generous sum to take care of you? They’re rather fragile after all these years, but I’m sure you’ll recognize your father’s signature.”
Her lip curled back, exposing her f
angs. Angry tears lined her lower lids. Perhaps he’d finally hit a nerve with her. “You’re lying.”
“Why should I lie about such a thing? That money has been an albatross around my neck, just one more link in the thousand-pound chain that keeps me bound to you. Why do you think I never abandoned you after you left me? Or that I paid every bill you sent my way and refilled every bank account you drained? Because I still loved you?” He laughed bitterly, the truth lifting the cloud that hovered over his life for so long. “All of it was because I promised your father. And I’ll promise you now that all of this is as true as the blade you’re about to run through my heart.”
“Lies,” she whispered.
“You’ve told me I’m about to die. What more perfect time for confession is there?”
She swallowed hard and blinked away the tears, regaining her composure. “I don’t care about the past, whatever it is. I want the power to walk in the sun.”
“That’s the last thing you should have. You’re enough of a menace to this world at night.”
She bared her fangs and growled at him. “Tell me the secret. This is your last chance.”
He stared at her for a long moment, then slowly shook his head. He’d promised her father he would protect her, but the woman in front of him was a stranger. “I am loath to break a promise, but no.”
“Then you leave me no choice.” Her knuckles paled as her grip on the blade tightened.
The office door swung open. “Sebastian, I’m ready to—”
Tessa stopped dead in her tracks. Her face went from confusion to panic in a quarter second. “Get away from him.”
Evangeline laughed. “Or what? You’ll fine me for overdue books?” She leaned on the dagger, causing a sharp pain to pierce Sebastian’s body as she looked up at him. “Maybe I’ll torture your little librarian first. I bet that would loosen your tongue.”
Fear filled Tessa eyes. “What do you want, Evangeline?”
“She wants the secret to my very special SPF.” Sebastian shook his head. “But we’re not telling her.”
Evangeline’s eyes flared bright. “The librarian knows more than she told me?” Her gaze turned calculating as she twisted toward Tessa. “And here I thought we were becoming friends.”
Damn it. He’d slipped. “She doesn’t know enough to help you.”
“Too late, husband dear.” Evangeline focused on Tessa. “Feel free to tell me if you’d like to save Sebastian’s life. Otherwise, I’m going to turn him to ash right in front of you. Sorry to do that on your wedding day, but the choice is yours.” Then Evangeline turned back to Sebastian. “Let’s see if your fiancée really loves you, shall we?”
Tessa’s panicked expression morphed into the war mask of a fierce warrior goddess. She went steely-eyed and her body tensed like a wild cat ready to pounce. The valkyrie in all her glory. “Don’t. You. Dare.”
Evangeline tossed her head back. “You don’t scare me, librarian.”
“Then you’re a lot dumber than you look.” The sweet hiss of metal sang out as Tessa did something Sebastian was sure he’d never witness.
The valkyrie drew her sword.
In a moment of brilliant clarity, Tessa understood that her vow to never again draw her sword had been made with the impetuousness of youth. Clearly there was a time and place and this was it.
The protection of the worthy.
Kettlingr hummed in her hand, happy to be unsheathed after so long. But the blade’s joy did nothing to quell Tessa’s building anger. Her ire at Evangeline’s bold stupidity narrowed Tessa’s focus down to the vampiress.
And the man she loved.
She leveled her sword at Evangeline, sighting down the metal length until Evangeline’s heart was at the end. One quick thrust and it would all be over, even at this distance. “Put the dagger down, step away from Sebastian and I will let you live.”
Evangeline glanced over at Tessa, and for the first time, a small crack appeared in her confidence. She looked twice at the sword before speaking. “You’ll let me live? Very cute. Put your little toy down and I won’t run this blade through him.”
Tessa laughed. The blade, sharp enough to divide a human hair into three parts, was a yard long and as wide as her fist. While its familiar weight felt like no more than a butter knife in her hand, it was no toy. “You’re a lot dumber than you look.”
Evangeline rolled her eyes. “I’m not the dumb one here. You have to actually know how to use a weapon like that for it to be effective.”
The rage that tripped along Tessa’s skin sank deeper to coil in her belly. It sent a wave of cold lucidity through her that cleared her head and laid out several paths of action before her. This was not the rage of her youth, the temper she’d fear for so long. This was something measured and powerful and worth giving room to.
Tessa examined her options and chose the path that ended peaceably. The others could be returned to later if need be. The peaceable path required a distraction. Tessa sent a little prayer to Freya that her lessons from battle camp had not been completely forgotten.
Letting memory take over, she started with what had once been a daily warm up.
She raised the sword two-handed and began to swing it in a figure-eight around her body, spinning it in one full circle around her hands on each side. It was a showy, elaborate movement that displayed the sword for the weapon that it was. Kettlingr purred through the air, a sound Tessa had forgotten. She laughed at the pleasure of hearing it again, reminded by the gentle thrumming vibrato of why she’d named her sword the way she had.
Kettlingr meant kitten, after all.
Evangeline was appropriately wide-eyed at the exhibition, while Sebastian beamed with what seemed to be a mix of pride and arousal, but not so much of either that he missed the opening Tessa was providing.
Evangeline was distracted.
He shot his arm up and around Evangeline’s, twisting her arm and the dagger away from him and throwing her against the mantel. Blood spread down his crisp white tuxedo shirt.
Evangeline howled in anger and slid away from him, grabbing another weapon off the wall as she went. She brandished the short sword at both of them. “I will kill whoever comes at me first.”
Tessa brought Kettlingr down to bear on Evangeline as she spoke to Sebastian. “Are you all right?”
“The shirt’s in worse shape than I am. Bloody hell, you’re a gorgeous sight to see.”
“Now is not the time to flirt.” She smiled, but kept her eyes on Evangeline despite wanting to kiss him and tell him how relieved she was that he wasn’t hurt. “Better get Greaves to call an ambulance. Or a coroner. This could go either way.”
“For you, maybe,” Evangeline spat.
Sebastian shook his head. “I don’t know where Greaves is.”
“He’s dead, or will be soon,” Evangeline snarled. “Just like you’ll be if I don’t get that secret.”
Sebastian cursed. “If you’ve hurt him—”
“Where is he, Evangeline?” Tessa liked the rook a lot. Her anger went up a notch but the blinding temper that she’d been so worried about for so long still had yet to rear its head. “If we can get to him in time to save his life, I’ll go a little easier on you.”
Evangeline lifted her weapon. “We’ve both got swords. I remember how this played out last time, so if you think I’m worried, I’m not.” She made a coy face. “You should know I took it easy on you when we were fencing. I definitely could have won if I’d wanted to. My current lover has been teaching me.”
Tessa stared her down, gaze steady and filled with the confidence of her training. “And you should know I let you hit me so Sebastian could see what you’re truly capable of. Last chance to tell us where Greaves is.”
Sebastian’s phone rang. He fished it out of his tux pocket. “Ellingham.” He went silent for a long moment. “I see. Thank you. I’ll be there shortly. Actually, you should probably come here as soon as you’re able.”
He hung up a
nd tucked his phone away, his gaze steely with anger. “Sheriff Merrow found Greaves in the Rolls on the side of the road on the way into town. He’d been hit on the head and the sheriff thinks possibly injected with some kind of paralytic. He’s being transported to the hospital now.”
Tessa sucked in a breath. “Is he going to be okay?”
“He’d better be.” His hands balled into fists. “Either way, Evangeline’s going to pay for this.”
Tessa thrust her sword out a little straighter. “She’s not going anywhere.”
He nodded. “Keep it that way. I’m calling my brothers.”
Evangeline’s eyes were feral, fear expanding her pupils like the light in the room was betraying her. “Let me go. I’ll forget about the daywalking. And I’ll sign the paperwork. Whatever you want. I swear I won’t go to the council.”
Sebastian barked out a laugh. “Oh, you’re going to the council. But this time the charges are going to be against you.”
She snarled. “You can’t do this to me. I’ll tell them you’re cheating on me with her.”
He ignored her to speak into his phone. “Hugh. Gather everyone and get to my house immediately. I’ll explain when you get here.”
Tessa recognized the crazed look in Evangeline’s eyes. The woman sensed the end was near. She was getting desperate. Tessa took a few steps closer and slid sideways, eliminating a possible escape route. “Don’t even think about running, Evangeline. I can and will hurt you if need be.”
“You can’t stop me. I’m a vampire. No one can stop me.” Evangeline’s laugh was shaky and wild. Then she charged forward, sword held out in front of her, flailing wildly with no perceptible skill in her efforts.
Without a twinge of the uncontrollable temper she’d feared for so long, Tessa reacted from the place within her that had never stopped being a valkyrie. Maybe she’d grown out of that rage. Or maybe it was because Evangeline wasn’t an opponent to be feared, but rather pitied. She was mad with power and ambition and spoiled from a life of indulgence.
The Vampire's Fake Fiancée (Nocturne Falls Book 5) Page 21