Kat Redding 03 - Blessed by a Demon's Mark

by E. S. Moore

  I took a quick glance around the room. I’d seen most of the patrons here before, but I didn’t know their names. People didn’t come to The Bloody Stake to socialize. You could sit down and talk, sure, but to give someone your name was just asking them to track you down and eat you later.

  Mikael Engelbrecht sat at his usual table. He was talking to someone, which wasn’t too surprising. He was a snitch who did his business from the same booth every night. I’m not even sure he ever moved. I don’t even think I’ve ever seen him get up to go to the bathroom.

  Usually when I came in, he was fingers deep in some young thing, and I mean that literally more often than not. It was pretty disgusting, yet no one else seemed to care. Mikael had his own sort of charm, albeit a greasy, slimeball sort.

  Tonight he wasn’t with one of his girls, which meant he was working. I was sure the girls were somewhere nearby, waiting for him to be done so they could cozy up next to him again.

  I went to the bar to wait for Mikael to finish his business. If I wanted to learn anything about who was hunting me, Mikael would know. Aside from the wolves at the Luna Cult and Ethan, no one but Mikael knew who I really was.

  Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Adrian Davis, the Luna Cult defector and all-around pain in the ass, did. He was the only one I didn’t trust not to talk. But he had kept my identity a secret before when it would have benefited him to give me up, so there was still a possibility he had yet to blab.

  Bart had a beer ready for me before I even sat down at the bar. He held it back while he looked me up and down. I let him, not wanting to cause any problems. Bart was one of those guys you didn’t reprimand or refuse if you wanted to come back to his establishment. He did things his own way, and I didn’t begrudge him for it.

  “I didn’t expect to see you again,” he said, low enough so that I was the only one who could hear. He set the beer down and pushed it toward me.

  I gave him a smile and took a sip from the bottle. It felt good going down. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed just coming to the bar and sitting.

  “I missed this place.”

  Bart didn’t return the smile. In fact, his usual glower deepened. “Can’t say I missed you.” He glanced over my shoulder as if someone was there, but when I turned to look, no one appeared to be paying us any mind.

  When I turned back around, Bart was standing at the far end of the bar, pointedly not looking my way.

  I grumbled to myself and continued nursing my beer. At least he hadn’t thrown me out. I’d caused enough trouble in his bar in my time. It had never been quite enough that it would earn me a shotgun blast to the head, which was Bart’s usual way of dealing with trouble, but I’d been asked to leave more than once. It was only a matter of time before he told me not to come back.

  Still, it bothered me that he’d dismissed me like I no longer mattered. Bart and I were never really friends, but we had that sort of relationship that spoke of mutual respect. He might not know who I was, but he knew what I was, and he never once held it against me.

  I checked on Mikael a few times as I drank. He was still talking to the man, a slimy smile spread across his face. He hadn’t noticed me yet or he would have motioned for me to wait. I was sure he would want to talk to me after I’d been gone for such a long time.

  My eyes passed over the guy he was talking to, not really taking him in. I couldn’t even hear a murmur from his booth. They had to be talking in near whispers for me not to hear even the slightest grumble.

  I shook my head and returned to my beer. It was none of my business anyway. If Mikael caught me looking and thought I was trying to eavesdrop, there was no telling what he would do. He took pride in keeping things between just him and his clients. He would never sell anyone out as long as they were lining his palms with green.

  I wondered if he’d kept my secrets safe over the last few months. He could easily have decided I was dead and started sharing what he knew to those willing to pay. I just had to hope he had more faith in me than that.

  I finished my beer and tapped the bottle against the bar to get Bart’s attention. He frowned my way, seemingly irritated at having to serve me, but he retrieved a fresh bottle. He set it down in front of me and scooped up the empty in one quick motion. Before I could say anything, he was back across the bar, pretending he didn’t know me.

  I just about threw the bottle at him. He could be unhappy about me coming around, fine, but I wished he wouldn’t make it so clear to anyone who bothered to notice.

  I was so busy sulking, I never noticed the man Mikael had been talking to had gotten up and left. I was glowering down at my beer when a hand gripped me by the arm and someone whispered harshly in my ear.

  “What are you doing here?”

  I immediately grabbed for the hand holding me, but caught empty air. I flew off the stool and spun around, hand going to my waist. Drawing my weapons in The Bloody Stake would get me killed almost as fast as I could unsheathe the knife, but instincts had taken over.

  Mikael stood a good three feet away, staring at me. The entire bar fell silent, anticipating a fight. I think most of the patrons came to the bar in the hopes of seeing someone lose their head.

  “What the hell?” I said, easing my hands away from my knives. I glanced back at the bar to see my beer spilling out on the countertop. I must have knocked the bottle over when I’d jumped up. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

  Mikael frowned and looked around. Everyone shied away from his gaze and went back to what they were doing as if they were afraid to have him acknowledge them. Maybe they were. Mikael might have dirt on every single person in the room, and most people wouldn’t want their indiscretions to get passed around.

  “Let us sit,” he said, turning his back to me. He returned to his booth and sat down, looking far more concerned than I’d ever seen him.

  I brushed down my coat where he had touched me. I was surprised he’d reacted so fast. A normal Pureblood would never have been able to pull away in time, yet Mikael had managed to avoid my grasp and flutter back a few steps before I could fully turn around. The weaselly man was a lot more agile than I’d ever given him credit for.

  I made my way over to the booth and slid in across from the Swede. He was fidgeting, which wasn’t like him. Usually Mikael was completely composed, ready to deal. He always seemed to be in complete control of the situation, and yet, somehow, I’d thrown him off his game.

  I didn’t like that at all.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “Everyone is treating me like I have the plague, and I want it to stop.”

  “Close enough,” he said. “I really wish you wouldn’t have come here, my sweet.” He looked around the room, scanning as if he was worried someone would see us together.

  “I really wish people would stop saying stuff like that.” I took a deep breath. “What’s going on?”

  His eyebrows rose and he stared at me like I must have gone completely batshit. “Don’t you know? How could you not know?”

  “Know what?”

  He ran a hand through his hair. It came away greasy and he absentmindedly wiped it on his shirt. He grumbled something Swedish before switching back to English.

  “You are a wanted woman,” he said, leaning forward. “If anyone knew I was talking to you, it would be my head.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that. “Hasn’t it always been that way?”

  His frown deepened. “Of course, but it is much worse now.”

  “Is this about whoever is looking for me?”

  He cocked his head to the side. “So then you know?”

  “Not enough.”

  “Obviously, or you wouldn’t be here.” He sighed. “You should have stayed dead.”

  I ground my teeth. “I wasn’t dead.”

  “Then in hiding.”

  “I wasn’t hiding either.”

  Mikael huffed and shook his head. “Whatever you want to call it, it was better that you were gone. You can’t fight
this. Maybe you should go away again, my sweet. It would be better for everyone.”

  “Just tell me what’s going on so I can fix it.” I really didn’t like where this conversation was going.

  He looked like he was going to say something rude but changed his mind at the last second. He took a deep breath and puffed it out, making his lips flap. He gave me a quick smile, letting some of the old Mikael show through.

  “All debts are paid, okay?” he said, assuming a businesslike manner. “You owe me nothing anymore.”

  “Okay,” I said, my heart plummeting. Did this mean he was cutting ties with me? Without Mikael’s information, I would have been dead years ago. And if he thought he was going to sell what he knew about me the moment I walked out the door . . .

  “No,” he said. “I am not planning on telling anyone about you. It would not be good for me if some of the powers-that-be knew I had been feeding you information. Enough suspect already.”

  I grunted.

  “But I don’t want you coming back here. At least not until this blows over, if it ever does. I have a feeling you will be dead before you are clear of this.”

  “How about we stop all of this talk about me dying, okay?” I said, growing more and more agitated. “Just tell me who’s after me and what I can do about it. I’m tired of everyone telling me I need to go hide away somewhere.”

  He closed his eyes and remained quiet for so long, I was starting to think he might have gone to sleep. Finally, Mikael opened his eyes and stared directly at me. It felt like he was dissecting me, bit by bit, churning through my every memory, my every thought.

  I couldn’t help it; I looked away.

  “Her name is Countess Baset,” he said. “She was once the head of a Royal House, but something happened and she fell down the ranks. I don’t know what caused her fall and I don’t care. Baset is still a Major House, an extremely dangerous one. No one messes with her and survives.”

  The name was familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I’d known all the names of the Major and Royal Houses before, but things often change, new powers come into play, and they all had started to meld together in my head.

  But to have once been a Royal House and to have fallen without being destroyed was a major accomplishment. Normally, a House that high up would need to be destroyed before they’d ever settle at becoming something less than they once were.

  “You must be aware of the danger,” Mikael said. “She is not to be trifled with, yes?” He looked at me pleadingly. “You must leave, must not come back. Countess Baset will kill you, and everyone you have ever had contact with will suffer.”

  “Why is she after me?” I asked, firmly. I was not going to run away. I’d run enough already.

  Mikael stared at me long and hard. The music blaring over the speakers drowned out the other conversations around us. No one was paying us any mind and I was really starting to wonder if it was natural. You’d figure someone would be curious once in a while. Even I hadn’t paid much attention to the guy Mikael had been talking to earlier. Hell, I couldn’t even remember what he looked like.

  “Listen to me, Lady Death.” Mikael spoke slowly, as if he was desperate for me to understand exactly what he was saying. “You cannot win this.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “No!” he said, slamming his fist onto the table. “Listen to what I say. You will not survive if you stay here. Baset is no longer what she once was.” He said it like I should know who or what she had been, other than a Royal. “The meaning of her name no longer applies. You must not stay.”

  “Tell me why she’s after me and I’ll decide whether or not I should run away like everyone keeps telling me to.” There was a bitterness in my voice that surprised even me. This whole thing was really starting to get to me.

  Mikael sighed. He leaned back and looked around the room as if checking to make sure no one was listening. I followed his gaze to see that not a single eye had turned our way despite the raised voices.

  “It’s simple,” he said. He licked his lips and swallowed, hands shaking on the table in front of him. “You killed her lover.”

  7

  I absorbed that for a few seconds, not quite sure what to make of it. I’ve killed lots of vampires. It’s hard to say who had been Countess Baset’s lover, though I didn’t recall killing anyone so high up in the vampire ranks. I was pretty sure an ex-Royal wouldn’t be sleeping with anyone too far beneath her in the ranks. It just wouldn’t be proper.

  “Who?” I finally asked, stumped. The closest name I could come up with was Count Tremaine, and it was highly unlikely he’d been her lover. I’d seen nothing that would indicate he had any affiliations with anyone outside his own House, especially since his own had been so recently crippled.

  Mikael smiled. It wasn’t pleasant. “I’d think you would know,” he said. “Countess Telia created such a problem for you before, it would seem you should remember her.”

  “I didn’t kill her.”

  “No one knows that but a handful of people, yes?”

  He had me there. “But I thought you said it was Countess Baset’s lover I’d killed. Or am I missing something here?”

  Mikael laughed. “No, you are not missing a thing.” He sobered quickly. “But your sense if you think you can do anything about this problem.” He folded his hands on the table in front of him. “Telia was Baset’s lover, had been for years until the rumors of her death by your hand started.”

  I frowned. I had no problem with Baset’s choice in bed partners, but something else was bothering me. “I thought Telia broke off from another House?”

  “She did.”

  “Baset’s?”

  Mikael nodded.

  “If she broke off from Baset, then why would the other vamp care whether or not she was dead?” I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around it. “Were they still together despite the defection?”

  “In a way,” Mikael said. “Telia broke off because she wanted power of her own. Baset loved her, so she let her go in the hopes she would rise through the ranks and they could form an alliance. Both would have been able to obtain Royal status, or at least that was Telia’s hope. I don’t know the details of the split or how they planned to accomplish their goals, but they did have a plan.”

  I guess it made sense in a way. I’d wondered before why Telia’s old House hadn’t come after her when she split. I guess if the defector was someone you loved, it would be hard to let go.

  But I still didn’t like it. While I might have been planning on it, I never killed Countess Telia; my brother did. Only Mikael, Adrian, Ethan, and the Luna Cult knew that for sure. I really should have done more to clear my name.

  Then again, why would I? I was Lady Death. I killed vampires and werewolves all the time. I’d never apologized for it before. In fact, Telia’s death had only added to my infamy.

  And then there was the fact that a Major House was actively looking for me, scaring the hell out of everyone I knew. There was no way that could be good. Sure, the major players had kept an eye out for me before, but Jonathan had said they liked having me around. I kept the lesser Houses in line so the big ones didn’t have to.

  “Thanks for the info,” I said, rising. “I’ll pay you when I have some cash on me.”

  Mikael shook his head. “No, this information is free. It might be the last you are alive to receive.”

  And on that happy note, I left.

  Bart never looked my way as I made my way to the door, but I could tell by how his shoulders relaxed that he was happy I was leaving. A few patrons glanced my way, but as far as I could tell, no one would come chasing after me the moment I was down the road. I’d left The Bloody Stake often enough with someone following me out the door. I didn’t care to repeat the experience.

  I was a mess of emotions on the ride back home. I had to take it slow. Snow was starting to drift into the road and the wind was picking up. I really needed to get some sort of cold-weather vehicle for days like this
.

  I had half a mind just to say, “Fuck it,” and drive straight to Delai. If I didn’t need to talk to Ethan’s demon so bad, I might have. I was tired of all the bullshit that went with being me. It seemed like someone was trying to kill me every night, even if I wasn’t trying to kill them. That was something I hadn’t had to worry about at Levi’s house.

  I ground my teeth and sped up. Maybe Delai wasn’t such a good thing for me. It was making me soft. I wasn’t someone who sat around, watching the television or reading quietly in my room while people were dying a few miles away. That just wasn’t me.

  I killed people. I kept the vampires and werewolves from taking complete control of my little slice of the world. They held a large portion of it, sure, but at least I kept the worst of them at bay. The day still belonged to the Purebloods. I planned on keeping it that way.

  I made it all the way home but had to stop and walk the motorcycle up the driveway. I was so intent on watching my step so I didn’t trip over a rock or fallen branch obscured by the snow, I almost bumped into the black car parked at the top of the drive.

  “Son of a bitch,” I growled. I pressed the button to raise the garage door, walked my Honda inside, and waited until the door was closed again before heading for the house.

  Of all the things I wanted to deal with, Jonathan Alucard wasn’t one of them.

  I threw open the side door and stormed inside, knowing he would be waiting for me. I wasn’t disappointed.

  “Kat.” He was standing just inside the dining room, facing the kitchen as I came in. His glamour was up, hiding the missing portion of his skull, a chunk I had hacked off back when he was a member of House Valentino. I’d thought I’d killed him, but here he was, years later, standing in my house like we were friends.

  Ethan and Jeremy were standing behind him, each looking nervous. I didn’t blame them.

  “Not now,” I said. I tried to walk past him, but he moved to stand in my way.