High Stakes (Codex Blair Book 6)

by Izzy Shows

  He didn’t know how much it meant to me that he was willing to be there for me when I needed him.

  How had I gotten so lucky?

  Thirty Six

  I turned in front of the mirror in my bathroom, examining my reflection. The day had passed without much happening, although my stomach had been twisted up in knots the entire day.

  Now, I was dressed in a simple black tank top and jeans. On my back, the dragon scale shaped tattoo stood out against my skin. It was my most important focus--it protected me from sneak attacks, bullets, anything I could think of. I’d taken the weight of my door being blasted off its hinges with this tattoo.

  I wouldn’t be alive today if I didn’t have it, and if I hadn’t had it touched up when the ink and the power began to fade from too much use.

  My fingers itched to retrieve my weapons. I felt naked without them, but I needed to make sure I looked sufficiently beaten. Dudley had told me to make myself as unassuming as possible, but I’d refused to enter the situation without my battle gear.

  He could humiliate me all he wanted, but I wasn’t going to leave myself unprotected if the tide turned against me.

  It was too dangerous. It was bad enough that I wouldn’t have Weylyn with me.

  “I will be with you.”

  I stiffened, turning to face the doorway where Weylyn had appeared. I’d been so lost in thought that I hadn’t heard him approach, which was a really big deal considering we were mentally linked to one another.

  “You can’t come, Weylyn. We’ve been over this.”

  “We have spoken of the fact that I cannot endure the humiliation with you, no matter how much I need to protect you. But it was never agreed that I would leave you unprotected. I will be outside the domain of the vampires, just a few bounds away should you have need of me.”

  I looked down at the floor to hide the expression that took over my face. I was embarrassed by how much it affected me, having people willing to risk their lives for me.

  “All right. I guess I can’t argue with that.”

  In truth, I didn’t want to argue with it. I wanted Weylyn by my side whenever possible. I hated the thought of being without him. Having him nearby in case the evening went to shit meant I wasn’t entirely screwed.

  I could breathe a little easier.

  “Well, no time left to waste. Let’s get out of here.”

  We went to the living room, where I buckled my thigh harness on and stepped into my boots, then slid my wands in at either side.

  Hell, no, I wasn’t going into this unprotected. I’d learned my lesson with the Utakar--there was never a situation where I was truly safe, no matter how much I thought so.

  Especially after I’d been attacked in front of my own door. Yeah, screw that. I wasn’t going to risk things going to hell all around me again.

  We left the house together, Weylyn hopping into the back seat of my car, and took off for Dudley’s mansion.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Anxious. Like I want to find the nearest bucket and puke my guts out. I don’t think this is going to go well, but I don’t see any way around it, you know? It’s not like we have a surplus of options waiting to be picked through.”

  “This is true. But you have taken every precaution that you can. You have Fred’s crystal and Diego’s coin in your pocket. You have me, and I will be waiting just outside. If it becomes necessary, Fred will call for Emily and Raven. We will all be here for you if you have need of us.”

  “I don’t think it’ll be that difficult. Probably if things get bad, I’ll only need you.”

  “That would be a perfect scenario, although I have my doubts.”

  “In truth, it would probably take too long for everyone to get there, but I understand your point.”

  He huffed at me as if I’d offended him by disproving his theory, but I knew he wasn’t actually upset.

  The rest of the drive passed in silence, and I pulled into the driveway of Dudley’s mansion without consequence. There weren’t any other cars there, but that didn’t indicate whether or not anyone was here. Dudley’s cars would be around back, and I figured most of the vampires didn’t drive.

  They were rather old-fashioned in their habits.

  I got out of the car and opened the back door to get my staff out. “You should go ahead and hide yourself before you get out of the car,” I said, speaking in hushed tones.

  He vanished before my eyes.

  I really wished I had as much control over my powers as Weylyn did. The wolf was freaking scary sometimes in the things he could do, as I was learning.

  I felt something brush against my leg, and I realized that it must be Weylyn getting out of the car.

  “I am out. I will go to the kitchen door you spoke of earlier and wait for you to call for me.”

  “All right. Hopefully, I won’t, but... Yeah, all right.”

  I shut the door and adjusted my grip on the staff. Its weight was reassuring in my hands. I didn’t know when I’d gotten so attached to it--I’d never actually used it in a fight--but it was a comfort to me now. I knew if things got ugly, this staff had enough power that it would take care of me.

  You don’t make things like this staff, created with magic I couldn’t remember using, without it being able to take care of some big, bad things.

  I walked into the mansion, not waiting for the butler to usher me in. The house wasn’t owned by a human, which meant I could enter without having to worry about leaving my magic at the door.

  The butler looked like he was about to have a fit when he saw me walk in.

  “You cannot enter the house uninvited!”

  “Uh, I think that’s exactly what I just did. What are you going to do about it? Go get Dudley.” I couldn’t resist snapping at him. I needed to get the last bits of my rough nature out while I still could.

  It was going to be a hell of a time letting Dudley walk all over me, but I knew I’d get out of it intact.

  As long as everything went well.

  It reminded me of a time when I’d had to play a similar part, with Malphas. When we were around the incubus Jakub and his sister, and then all the demons at that hedonistic party, I’d had to be a perfect little subservient pet to him so no one would think I was anything special.

  Since I’d mucked up going unnoticed back in Aidan’s basement when he’d first called down Mal, I’d been determined to pull it off that time.

  Just as I was determined to make it work this time. It wouldn’t be anywhere near as fun as it had been with Malphas--we’d opened our minds to one another, and he’d been able to reassure me that the things he’d said were just lies.

  A sharp pain went through my gut as I thought about that night. I guessed they hadn’t been lies, after all.

  At the end of the day, he hadn’t thought much of me and had been willing to get rid of me. He’d been so cold and callous, uncaring that I might die, and then when he’d removed the mark...

  Gods above, it had hurt so much. A perfect contrast to the way it had felt when he gave me the mark--practically orgasmic.

  It was fitting.

  I shook my head to clear the thoughts from my mind. I didn’t need to be thinking about any of that right now. It was just unnecessary clutter. I needed to let go of it all. I’d been so focused on the mission that I’d been unable to think about any of this, and I needed to get back to that.

  The mission was too important for me to dick around mooning over a Fallen Angel who didn’t give a fuck about me.

  Dudley descended the staircase rather than having me come up to meet him. He was dressed rather smartly in an old-fashioned tuxedo. A leash and collar hung from one of his hands, and when I saw them, a sense of dread rushed down my spine.

  Was I really going to let this vampire collar me?

  Gods, what was I thinking?

  You’re thinking you’ll do anything to keep your people safe. You can do this, Blair. You can take care of this.

  I rol
led my shoulders back, lifting my chin automatically to face down the threat. Then I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to do any of that. I was supposed to be a good subservient girl who would allow this vampire to knock her around and do as he pleased.

  Almost as he pleased. I drew the line at him feeding from me.

  That had been a fun conversation. Dudley had thought that his feeding on me would really sell the whole thing, but no way was I going to allow that to happen. I’d beat the shit out of him in front of all his vampires if he tried.

  “Hello, Ms. Sheach,” he said as he approached. “Are you prepared?”

  “As I’ll ever be,” I replied.

  “Lift your hair, please.”

  I growled, then did as I was instructed.

  “And cease that nonsense. You know it’s unacceptable.”

  I did. I’d have the control I so dearly craved. I wouldn’t allow my temper to get the best of me this time. This time, I wasn’t going to ruin the plan.

  Dudley stepped close to me, latched the collar around my neck and gave a sharp tug to the leash.

  I stumbled forward, grunting at the sudden pain that shot through my neck.

  Oh, yeah, this was going to be tough.

  I swallowed my pride and let the anger drain out of me, focusing myself so I could do this.

  Could I do this? Part of me didn’t think so. Part of me thought it was a horrible idea and I was going to blow it in front of all the vampires.

  But I couldn’t allow that part to win.

  “And here we go. Please do try to remember to play your part. It all hinges on you,” he said.

  Without waiting for me to respond--he seemed to already be in a bossy state of mind--he led me deeper into the mansion. After some twists and turns, we entered a ballroom at last.

  It was fucking packed with vampires. You could barely move through the room without running into them. I thought this might be the entire vampire population in London--the room was certainly big enough--but I dismissed that idea after a moment.

  There was no way that this was all the vampires in London. They prowled the streets too frequently for this to be it.

  Still, it was terrifying. My gut clenched in response to the threat, and it wasn’t difficult to allow my fear to surface to my face.

  My control wasn’t good enough to keep it down automatically. Not yet.

  Yeah, I was afraid. I clutched my staff tightly, though with the way Dudley was dragging me around, it kept thudding against the floor.

  It was the only thing that was going to keep me safe. I had my stakes and my wands, but I’d have to waste time reaching for them.

  Thank the Gods I’d spent some time training to fight with it. I was going to need that training. I was certain of that.

  “Blair! Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. Don’t come in. I’m a little overwhelmed by the number of vampires who are here, but you don’t need to come in. Everything’s under control.”

  Weylyn sent me a feeling of apprehension, and I knew he wanted to bolt through the house and come to my side.

  I wanted that too, but it wasn’t going to happen.

  The vampires quieted as Dudley paraded me around the room. They watched me with uneasy eyes as he walked up to one or two at a time, speaking to them as if I weren’t there.

  They didn’t seem to know what to do with me, and I could sympathize with that. I didn’t know what to do with me, so how could they be expected to?

  Sweat was breaking out on my brow. I nibbled at my lip, trying to keep my cool. But wasn’t that the point, that I not keep my cool? I was supposed to be well and truly cowed by Dudley.

  Put on the show!

  “Oh, the Hunter?” Dudley looked over his shoulder at me. “She was getting a little big for her britches, you might say. I thought it best that we remind her whom she works for.”

  There was a jovial note in his voice, as if he was actually enjoying this. I wanted to punch his teeth out.

  I didn’t have the opportunity, though, because he backhanded me a moment later.

  It took me a second to react, but I had a hand to my face and a pretty realistic whimper ready for him as soon as I’d absorbed what had happened and tamped down my initial urge to jump on him.

  “Isn’t that right?” His eyes gleamed at me. Sadistic bastard.

  That was when the whispers started.

  “The Hunter is tamed.”

  “He managed it.”

  “Yes, he did, but...”

  And then there was a vampire on top of me. My throat squeezed for a moment as Dudley fought to maintain control of the leash before it was ripped from his hands.

  My staff clattered to the floor.

  “Nothing’s stopping us now, boys!”

  Thirty Seven

  With a roar, I slammed my head into the vampire’s. That didn’t do much, but it did put a jolt of fear and surprise on his face.

  Fuck this. Fuck this show. I wasn’t going to put up with it a minute longer, because it wasn’t working--as the snarls and the sounds of flesh striking flesh told me.

  “Vis!” I slammed my super-powered fist into the vampire’s face, sending him flying off me.

  I grabbed my staff and leapt to my feet, surveying the room.

  Pure chaos had descended on the group of vampires. They were fighting one another, and Dudley was in the thick of things, his fangs flashing as he took down one vampire after another.

  I suppressed a shudder. Yeah, OK, so the guy was damn scary in action. I hadn’t been expecting that.

  “Weylyn! Get here now!”

  “Diego, Fred, if you’re listening, hold off on the reinforcements for the moment. I’ll let you know if I need you.” I spoke aloud so the devices in my pocket would pick up my voice, and hopefully it would be enough to keep them from running in after me.

  I thought my odds were pretty good. There was a decent number of vampires who were loyal to Dudley, and with Weylyn joining the fray, things were going to take a positive turn.

  I didn’t have long to think about that, though, because five vampires began to circle me, hissing and baring their fangs.

  Spinning my staff with one hand and positioning it behind me at an angle, I crouched into a fighting stance.

  “Come and get it, boys. I’m fucking ready.”

  But I didn’t wait for them to attack. I aimed the staff and fired, with a word tearing from my lips that I didn’t recognize.

  A bolt of pure energy shot from the staff, slamming into the vampire I’d aimed at and sending him flying to the floor. He screamed in horror as the energy crackled all over him, frying him and stopping that pesky heart of his from beating.

  The other vampires looked from their fallen comrade to me with wary eyes.

  Oh, hell, yeah, my staff fucking rocked. I’d never tested it in actual combat before, but it was bloody awesome. I was going to make sure I had this thing with me no matter where I went.

  It didn’t take long for the vampires to decide that it didn’t matter what I had in my hand; I needed to be taken out if they were going to have any hope of getting their rebellion off the ground.

  They came at me at once.

  I spun the staff and slammed it into the gut of a vampire while I shouted more words I didn’t recognize. A stream of ice flowed from the staff into the vampire opposite the one I’d gutted. He was sent flying backwards, and then I was spinning the staff again, firing off the same spell.

  Then a roar filled the room, one so mighty that I swear the walls shook. The vampires froze in place for a moment, a horrible tableau of violence, as Weylyn charged into the room.

  He was in his magnificent wolf form, his fangs bared for all to see, and he wasted no time clamping his giant jaws around the first vampire he came into contact with.

  I let a cry of joy rip from my throat, and then I fell back into the fight. The vampires were similarly jolted out of their paralysis.

  Weylyn fought to get to my side,
and once he was there, we kept our backs to one another.

  It felt eerily like the time I’d fought with Emily at Tyburn Tree, keeping our backs pressed tightly together as we moved in circles through the crowd of undead.

  I was once again fighting creatures that were no longer alive, although it wasn’t quite the same. And Weylyn and I couldn’t actually press our backs together; we just made sure there wasn’t enough room for a vampire to get to the other’s back.

  Two vampires flung themselves onto Weylyn’s back, and his cry of pain as they sank their teeth into his fur alerted me to the danger. They’d come from the side.

  I spun my staff and slammed it into both of their heads at the same time.

  I wasted no time. I was going to get this shit done.

  “Sieg!” The word felt familiar and strange at the same time, and I thought maybe I’d used it at Tyburn Tree, but I couldn’t hold on to the word long enough to remember. The power flowed through me all the same, into the staff, and it left a pleasant sensation in its wake.

  Giant icicles shot out of the staff and slammed into the throats of the vampires, nailing them to the floor. I rushed to them, pulling a stake from my holster. I slammed it into the heart of one vampire, then extracted the heart from the other in a single smooth move.

  I had this! I actually had this!

  Things were going well.

  Or at least they were until a vampire wrapped his hands around my throat, lifted me off the dead vampire, and swung me high into the air.

  He was a massive beast of a man, his arms easily as wide as my head, and I would’ve been stunned by that alone if it hadn’t been for the fact that he was choking all the breath from my body.

  My staff fell to the floor as my fingers twitched from lack of oxygen.

  I’ve got to breathe. Oh, Gods, I’ve got to breathe!

  He slammed his head against mine, sending stars bursting into my field of vision. I couldn’t breathe, and now I couldn’t see, and I couldn’t hear...

  The first sound that broke into my mind was Weylyn’s cry of pain. I’d been snatched away from protecting him, which meant that his back was bare to anyone who wanted to attack.