‘Have I ever lied to you?’ He smiled at her.
‘Not that I found out!’ she replied.
‘Maris!’ Russell growled. He followed her, but only as far as the edge of the stage.
In less than a heartbeat, Alec rose and threw his captors off. ‘I could have done that sooner, but I wanted to show you I didn’t come here to fight but to ask you to be my mate.’
‘Shit!’ It came from Sam’s cage.
Alec took Maris by the waist, and in front of everyone, kissed her.
All I could do was stare and hope this was all a nightmare. Terens had said Alec wasn’t interested in Maris, so what was going on? Only a few hours ago he had kissed me the same way, and stupidly, I had responded. Was this the same man who charmed me last night at the Ritual? Had it all been a lie? I stared at him in shock.
‘Let me prove it to you.’ He took her hand and they alighted the stage. ‘Go ahead, Maris, take a bite but just a sip, no more. The taste of First Blood is incomparable.’ He finally looked at me, his eyes cold.
I gasped then blurted, ‘You’re my guardian… meant to protect me. Was it all a lie?’ I strained at the manacles that held me and struggled to hold back the tears that threatened to break loose.
‘I am protecting you. Depends on how you look at it!’
My mind went numb and my stomach bunched into knots. The fear I’d been trying to control roared through me at the horror of Alec’s betrayal. It was worse than Russell’s, for Alec was my father’s man. He had betrayed not only me, but Luc and all his men—his supposed friends.
‘Alec, this isn’t you,’ Terens called out. ‘What the hell are you playing at?’
‘You’ll soon find out,’ Alec replied.
‘You lying piece of trash!’ That moment I hated him and wished with all my heart to be home with Matt, safe and secure, in the warm comfort of his arms. I didn’t realise how badly I ached for it, until the warm saltiness of my tears landed on my lips. I couldn’t bear to look at him, so I closed my eyes, dropped my head and let the tears fall.
‘What about the rest of us?’ someone called out.
‘Maris and Russell first,’ Alec’s voice replied. ‘That’s all the girl will be able to handle tonight. We don’t want to kill her. Tomorrow night, another two can feed.’
I heard murmurs and then another voice called out, ‘As long as you stick to your word!’
His word! I almost wanted to laugh, but the pain I felt at his deception stopped me. I looked up as I heard him say, ‘The wrist only, Maris. Neck’s mine, remember? And gently,’ he added as an afterthought. ‘Russell, you take the other wrist.’ He said it so cold-bloodedly, I would never have believed it of him. Was I that bad a judge of men?
Sam swore and cried out. ‘Alec, you can’t!’
Alec ignored him and with his arm around Maris’s waist, he led her to me.
‘I’ll wait for Maris to finish,’ Russell said and stood back.
‘I’ll tell you what it’s like, Russ.’ Maris licked her lips, then crouched over me and slid her fangs along the length of my arm.
I panicked and no matter how much I hated Alec just then, I turned to him in desperation. ‘Don’t do this, Alec! Don’t let her, please!’
Terens and Sam shouted and swore to kill Alec as soon as they got the chance.
He looked impassively on as Maris bit down hard. I screamed. Her fangs were like two large nails being driven into me. There was no numbing vampire saliva, just the agonising pain. The more I struggled, the harder she bit down, seeming to rip my arm apart in her frenzy, sucking my blood with such ferocity I believed she would kill me.
Alec swore loudly, pulled her off me and yelled out, ‘Luc, now!’ The door burst open and with a loud roar, Luc, Jean and Antonius, each with a sword in their hand, rushed in as Alec tore the metal from my wrists and if he hadn’t caught me, I would have slumped to the floor.
‘Bastard!’ With what remaining strength I had, I slapped his face. ‘Get away from me!’ and I tried pushing him off.
In a blur, Luc was at our side. He was breathing hard and looking daggers at Alec. ‘I could kill you for this! Why did you risk her life?’
Ignoring him, my protests and the commotion around us, Alec pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around my punctured, bleeding arm and said, ‘I’m sorry I had to put you through that. It was the only way to convince them.’
I looked up at him, totally confused as he ripped the ropes from my legs and cradled me to him. Hooded vampires raced past us and scattered in all directions as Luc’s men, with the now-freed Sam and Terens, went after them.
Nearby, Maris writhed on the ground and screamed. She clawed at her throat, her face contorted in agony. Blood—my blood—dribbled from her mouth. She appeared to burst into flames and shrivel up in front of us. The pungent smell of burning flesh filled my nostrils and I choked. The flames leapt higher and left nothing but a stinking, smouldering, twisted and charred heap. In less than a minute, even that disintegrated into a pile of black ash.
‘Mon Dieu! You knew! How?’ Luc turned disbelieving eyes onto Alec.
‘Not now! I must get Laura to the hospital. She’s lost a lot of blood. That creature tried to drain her. I thought I could prevent—’ He stopped and gave me a regretful look.
I couldn’t focus well and my eyes began to dim. ‘You could have told me—in my mind.’
‘I thought of doing that, but you had to look convinced as well.’
It had all been an act! ‘You should get an award for that performance. I hated you.’ My voice was weak and my heart was confused all over again.
‘You still might.’ He picked me up, neatly leapt off the stage and carried me out of the building.
‘Did my blood do that to her?’ I asked.
‘Seems that way. How do you feel?’
‘How do you think I feel!’
‘Symptoms, Laura. I need symptoms.’
I understood what he meant. ‘Sick. My arm’s throbbing; want to pass out.’
Luc appeared beside us. ‘We’ll take my car. Get in the back seat with Laura. I’ll drive.’
We sped through the dark, near empty streets. I closed my eyes and buried my face in Alec’s shoulder, trying to not to admit how wonderful that felt. Even though I was nauseous and my whole arm felt as if on fire, the rest of me glowed knowing that everything he’d said to Maris had been a lie.
‘Say the alphabet backwards, Laura. Concentrate, c’mon stay with me.’
I tried. ‘Z…y, x…um, w…’ I’d reached the letter P when the car stopped. Alec carried me into emergency. I recognised the disinfectant smell I so disliked.
An unknown female voice called. ‘Dr Munro?’
‘Carol, four units of O negative—the one with my name on it—and I.V. fluid. Hook it up. Now!’ he barked.
Who was Carol? Was she the night-duty nurse? Her feet padded off into the distance. I heard the chink of curtains being pulled back, felt myself being lowered onto something cold and soft, probably one of those horrid hospital beds with wheels.
‘Laura, open your eyes. I need to see them,’ Alec said.
‘Do I have to?’ I was getting weaker.
‘Yes, you do.’ I opened them to see a half-smile, which didn’t disguise the worried look on his face.
Luc was quickly by my bedside. He took hold of my other hand. ‘I parked in your spot,’ he said to Alec.
Alec acknowledged that with a quick nod as he untied the handkerchief and examined my wound. The nurse came back in carrying a folded white piece of cloth. She removed my blouse and Alec stuck me with yet another sharp and pointy object. As if I hadn’t had enough of that tonight. This one had a plastic tube attached to it.
‘Laura, I’m inserting an intravenous drip as well as blood. Your haemoglobin count is far too low, honey.’
He cupped my face in his hand and gently angled my head to his side of my bed. ‘Look at me, Laura. Can you understand what I’m saying? Nod
if you do.’
I did.
‘Good.’
Another nurse rushed in with a plastic bag filled with red fluid. Alec attached it to the tube and hooked it on a pole next to my bed. The rich, scarlet liquid slid down the tube and into my arm.
‘I’ll give you an injection to ease the pain,’ he said.
I groaned, ‘Not more sharp and pointy objects.’
He chuckled.
I closed my eyes and felt the wonderful drug snake through my system… felt the world fade… away.
Chapter 28
Night Watch
ALEC
It was after midnight as Luc and I settled into separate chairs on either side of Laura’s bed in the emergency ward. Once her condition stabilised I planned to move her to one of the suites on the next floor. But for now I thought it best to keep her here, under close observation. It was going to be a long night.
I watched her as she slept. It had been touch and go there for a while and I knew I’d taken an enormous risk with her life. But it had paid off. Maris was dead, yet she had still managed to nearly kill her.
We had sped here, running every red light. Taking her to the closest public hospital wasn’t an option—there would be too many questions. Laura’s blood carried the Ingenii mutation shared only by Luc and myself and I always kept a unit of my own blood in storage for experimental purposes. Tonight it saved her life.
‘I should ring Judy.’ Luc’s hushed voice broke in.
‘Mmmm, she needs to know. Tell her Laura’s sleeping peacefully now. If she can wait till the morning it’d be better.’ I leaned over and stroked Laura’s cheek and forehead. Her temperature was up a bit. Only to be expected.
I stood and changed the blood bag and checked the IV fluid line just as Carol did her rounds.
‘Shall I bring you some coffee?’ she asked.
I smiled a grateful thanks and she walked out with the emptied bag of blood as well. Within minutes she was back with a steaming cup of espresso.
‘Carol, remind me to give you a raise.’
‘You already have—that’s why I’m still here,’ she laughed softly.
‘You’re irreplaceable! Oh and one more favour. Go to my office, please and bring me the spare mobile I keep on the desk.’
‘Certainly.’ She glanced at the bed where Laura lay sleeping, smiled at me, and left.
Since the previous mobile had met with a rather violent end, and I couldn’t be without one, the extra I had been given by the phone company would do till I could arrange for a replacement. When Carol came back, I spent some time redirecting my calls while listening to Laura’s steady heartbeat. Soon the anaesthetic would wear off and she’d be sleeping on her own.
‘Judy’s on her way,’ Luc said. ‘I had to let her know what happened.’
He had his head bowed over his knees, hands clasped tensely in front of him. Then quite unexpectedly, he began to laugh; his whole body shook with the intensity of it.
‘What has gotten into you?’ I asked.
It took a while for him to stop. ‘Her blood is poison to our kind! If we’d known that when she was born, there would have been no need to hide her. No one would have dared touch her. The heartache I put Judy and myself through, all for nothing! Laura’s blood was her protection.’ He buried his head in his hands.
‘You weren’t to know. None of us knew. There’s no precedent for what Laura is.’
He lifted his head and looked at me. ‘She could have been safe at home with us. The men would have guarded her day and night as they have these last fifty years.’ His voice broke. ‘You have any idea how many times I wanted to go to John and Eilene and ask for my daughter back?’
‘Luc, listen to me. Even if the Brethren had known about her; known that her blood was fatal to them, you think that would have stopped them? They may have attempted to kill her instead. What if tonight’s kidnapping occurred when she was a child? She wouldn’t be alive now. Think about that.’
‘I want to believe you’re right,’ he whispered.
‘I’m sure of it. As long as no one knew of her existence, she was safe. Your sacrifice was worth it.’
His gaze bored into mine. ‘How long have you known?’
‘Since this morning. I’d been running a few tests and the results were texted to me.’
‘You took a hell of a risk with her life.’
‘I’m sorry, Luc, but I had to. And I was right.’
He let out a deep breath and sat back in his chair. ‘How is it possible? No other Ingenii had poisonous blood.’
‘It’s the rare combination of Ingenii and vampire, and not just any vampire, but one from the Antonii line—from your father Marcus. Because you were born a vampire, your blood is unlike any other. And that is just as unprecedented as what Laura is and the reason why her blood didn’t kill me during the Ritual. You changed me, therefore your blood runs in my veins providing me with the immunity I need to remain as her guardian. Maris, on the other hand, was changed by Sam, who is not an Antonii.’
He nodded. ‘That’s probably why Marcus, you and I can father children while my men can’t. The transformation made them as sterile as the rest of our kind, but the witch’s curse ensured we had descendants,’ he said bitterly.
‘Speaking of which—’ I glanced at Laura ‘—does she know you’re Lucius Antonius, Marcus’s son?’
He shook his head. ‘She has enough to deal with already. It’ll have to wait.’
‘Don’t keep it too long.’
Hurried footsteps came from the reception area. Judith. Luc rose and pulled the curtain aside.
‘How is she, Luc?’ They embraced before going to Laura’s side.
‘She’s going to be all right, my love.’
Judith took in the number of needles in Laura’s arms, the IV fluid, the units of blood and her face paled. She let her shoulder bag drop to the ground and rushed to her daughter’s side. ‘Laura, Laura! My dear one,’ she whispered, sat in Luc’s vacated chair and took Laura’s good hand in both of hers.
Luc perched on the edge of the bed and together they kept vigil by their daughter’s bedside.
‘I’m curious to know why you avoided seeing her as a child?’ Luc unexpectedly asked. ‘Jake enjoyed carrying her around, Cal made silly faces to entertain her at dinner and Jean spoke to her in French. She blew raspberries at him!’ They both smiled.
I recalled that time. Each week Eilene would bring Laura to Judith’s house. There she would spend the day with her real parents and “uncles”. This continued until she reached school age. After that, Luc and the others kept their distance. Only “Auntie” Judith attended her birthday parties.
As Laura grew to adulthood, the memory of them would have faded. They figured it was safer she didn’t know her true parentage and Luc was extremely careful that none of our kind ever suspected whose child she really was. I tended to avoid those gatherings.
I looked from Laura from them. ‘After all this time you’re asking me now? You both know how I feel about the Dantonvilles and I’m not going to apologise, Judith.’
She shook her head. ‘It’s all right, Alec, I understand. My father was not a good man.’
What an understatement. ‘I didn’t want to become attached to a little girl who was the granddaughter of my enemy.’
‘Oh Alec. I’m so sorry. We should have known,’ Judith said. She reached across the bed and squeezed my hand in a heartfelt gesture. ‘But she’s my daughter too, and we’re not enemies.’
I smiled. ‘No, we’re not.’
There was silence again for a while. Laura’s breathing was steady. Every now and then she stirred in her sleep and murmured something incoherent.
‘I’m moving her to one of the private suites,’ I said to them. ‘She doesn’t need to be in emergency any more.’
I went to the duty desk and arranged for Laura’s transfer to a vacant suite. Two of the nursing staff accompanied me. We removed the needles from her arm then wheel
ed her from the emergency room and into the elevator. The others followed. There was enough anaesthetic left in her system to prevent her waking as I lifted her from the gurney and onto the bed.
Luc did his best to persuade Judith to go home and get some sleep. She looked physically and emotionally drained from the last few days and it was taking its toll. Her hands shook as she tucked the blankets around Laura. Luc took her elbow to steady her as she stumbled around the bed.
‘Judy, Laura won’t wake for many hours yet.’
She looked at him, torn between exhaustion and a mother’s reluctance to leave her injured child.
‘If there is any change at all, I’ll ring you straight away. In the morning you’ll be refreshed and ready to see her. Please,’ he begged her.
She sighed. ‘All right, at least I know you’re here with her.’ After a last longing look at Laura, Judith left the room. Luc said he would escort her down to her car.
After ensuring Laura was comfortable, and with a small jug of water by her bedside, I left the room and closed the door behind me. Laura was safe. The danger was over and I was sure Sam and Terens were taking their revenge. As I stood there, leaning against the door, I tuned my senses to hear how things were progressing in the theatre. Antonius and Kwome were there—the executions had begun.
I tuned back out rather than listen to the rebels begging for their lives and instead thought back over events of the last two days, and something became glaringly clear. As far as the Brethren had been aware, Judith’s only child had died in infancy. Now, for the first time in over eighteen hundred years, there appeared to be no heir. All the rebels had to do was wait. What’s fifty years to our kind? They attend the Ritual, expecting to hear the Elders declare there is no successor then, lo and behold, I walk in with Laura. No wonder the number of shocked and hostile faces. Why didn’t I make the connection at the time?
My pager beeped. I was wanted at the reception desk. I checked my watch. It was four in the morning. The only people working at this hour were medical personnel—like me—shift workers, drug dealers and the police. I had a feeling it was the latter.
I took the fire escape stairs down to Reception. My hunch had been right. Two plain-clothes detectives awaited me. They exuded the air of confidence and cynical expression common to police. I’d noticed the same thing with Matthew Sommers.
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