“Ask him about Cole.”
I frowned, recognizing the voice as one I’d not heard from in months, the voice of the demon inside me, the voice of the darkness. Shivering, I glanced up at Luc’s scar. Mistaking my trembling as nerves, Luc’s grip tightened further. A smug look was plastered on his face.
I don’t even know what to ask. Ask about Cole, what? I couldn’t believe I was talking back to the voice. It wasn’t real, right?
“Just fucking ask,” it sniped.
Okay, that was definitely real. Swallowing, I wracked my brain for what it was that I was supposed to ask. I couldn’t think of anything.
Until I did.
Suddenly, I just knew what it was I’d been supposed to ask.
“So if it wasn’t Juliet you were fucking, then it must have been Cole, right?”
Chapter 20
Scarlett
The darkness inside me practically purred with approval, filling me with a sense of satisfaction, as though I wasn’t such a colossal idiot after all. I wanted to bristle at the idea that the darkness thought I was one step removed from an amoeba, but I had no time. Heart pounding, mouth tasting like cotton, I knew I was close to the truth.
I’d only hoped to catch him off guard, to throw him off a little, the way he’d thrown me. Two things happened at once. His entire body went rigid, and my hand finally latched onto the chain.
Memories punched through me with the force of a tsunami. The chain was definitely an antique, one he’d worn through several lifetimes. I was drowning in images, riffling rapidly through them like a computer cataloguing coding, knowing I wouldn’t have much time left, when suddenly...
“He’s never going to just hand you the fucking crown. When are you gonna finally get that through your thick skull?” Juliet snarled, dressed in the same Victorian gown I’d seen her in the night I’d killed her. Her blond hair hung long and low down her back as she twirled on her black-heeled boots, daintily holding a snifter of blood as she waved it about to punctuate her words. Her fingers were curved, her nails looking like claws as she stared furiously back at him.
Luc stepped forward, holding out his hand. “You don’t know that. I’m close, Jules. Just give me more—”
She scoffed. “More time! That what you’re gonna ask for? You know we can’t. He’ll find out. He’ll learn. He always does. Tonight’s the night. Tonight, we kill him. Tonight, we—”
I was suddenly and violently yanked out of the memories as I was shoved viciously backward, causing my heel to catch on the train of my gown. My ankle gave out, and I crashed to the floor with a startled yelp of surprise.
Luc had yanked off his mask. His coldly beautiful face stared down at me with antipathy, loathing, and even a little bit of wide-eyed panic. What little color he’d had was bleached out, and he was scraping his fingers over his alabaster smooth jaw.
He didn’t turn his eyes from me as he said in a low, angry tone, “Take her to Cole. Now!”
Then he twisted on his heel and ran, so fast that he became nothing but a blur. Hands immediately reached down for me, lifting me up. A startled group of dancers glanced over at us, curiosity burning in their eyes.
“Mercer,” I snapped, glancing around, no longer trying to remain calm and composed.
Fuck me, this was bad. This was so bad.
Not only had I stolen Luc’s memories, but he knew what I could do. He was running to his master, no doubt to let him know I was an empath, but that had been the only way, the only way for me to learn anything, and what I had was a hell of a lot more than I’d expected.
“Your dog’s been leashed,” a female in black said angrily.
I trembled, hands curling and flexing, but I still had the dress, still had that ace up my sleeve. I prodded at the well of darkness inside me but found nothing there, as though I’d been abandoned.
Cold, scared to death, but also knowing I had to remain calm, I held my chin high and allowed them to guide me through the doors. The walk toward wherever they were taking me was a labyrinth of hall after hall.
I’d never been in a castle before and might have enjoyed it if I didn’t currently feel as though I was being led toward the gallows.
I wasn’t even sure what the hell I had seen, wasn’t sure I could believe it. Juliet and Luc had been plotting to destroy Cole. Did he know?
The answer to those questions came soon enough, when I was suddenly shoved roughly from behind into a darkened sitting room. The place was old, and the carpet smelled musty. Books that appeared to be well over a hundred years old lined the dark, stained bookshelves inset within the walls. Sitting chairs rested before a large fireplace glowing with orange flame.
Sitting in a gold-and-red wingback chair, his legs crossed, was the dark-haired vampire I’d seen in the picture. His hands were steepled, his chin resting on his fingers, and he was looking hard at me even as Luc was whispering something into his ear.
Luc’s hand on Cole’s shoulder, the way he held on, fingers splayed and possessive, told me whatever had happened between Juliet and Luc, he’d obviously chosen a side, and it’d not been hers.
Ruffling out the wrinkles from my gown, I ignored the ten or so bodies lined up behind me, keeping my eyes firmly on Cole’s alone.
His face was younger than I’d expected, maybe because in the photo he’d been so serious looking. I had thought he must have died in his thirties, but now I was leaning more toward mid-twenties. Though his features were youthful, his gaze was long and penetrating, the eyes of someone who’d seen several lifetimes of memories.
That aura of power, which I’d felt even through the picture when I’d looked at Cole, was ten times more powerful in his presence. We vampires are strong, but that’s nothing compared to the energy that surrounds a master vampire.
If I could compare it to anything, it felt almost exactly like being around a true Alpha shifter. I knew without even having to see it for myself that if they wanted to, they could rip my throat out and feast on my bones before I even had a chance to blink.
However, I knew even less about master vampires than I did Alphas. I knew that being in Cole’s presence felt electrifying and dangerous, that all the fine hairs on my body were standing on edge, that even my bones felt soft and achy inside me, and that some inner wiring in my brain wanted desperately to hear him speak, wanted desperately to fall at his knees in worship.
I bit the inside of my cheek. I was a freed vampire, so I had no protection against the thrall of another Master. Then... that dark well of alien life inside me slinked and slithered, curling through my body like phantom fingers, and it was all I could do not to tremble with relief at its return.
I felt stronger when the darkness was with me. I’d already tipped my hand about being an empath. I would do nothing more with the darkness unless I absolutely had to.
I stood still, not able to make out any of what Luc was whispering. The crucifix on my chest suddenly felt like an anvil, crushing down on me. I wanted to grasp it, wanted its warmth to steady me as it had on the limo ride over, but it was my ace, and Mercer would have told me to give them nothing.
Just the thought of Merc made my knees feel weak. Where the fuck was he? He was okay, though. He had to be. I’d know it if something was wrong. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I did.
Finally, Luc stopped talking and straightened, staring slightly over my shoulder even as his fingers idly toyed with the soft curls of Cole’s hair at the nape of his neck. That smugness he’d worn back in the dance hall was gone, replaced by a steely air of determination.
“Come, vampire. Sit.” Cole flicked his fingers toward the powder-blue divan across from where he sat. His voice was a velvet purr, like dark chocolate, decadent and dangerously addictive.
My stomach quivered. I flicked a glance over my shoulder at the guards still standing silent behind me. Ready to do whatever bidding their Master desired, they would be on me at just a flickering gesture from him. I started walking.
I sa
t once I reached the divan, crossed my legs, and made a point to fluff out the train of my gown, fingers lightly rubbing over the glittering poisoned gems.
Cole wasted no time. “You killed my Juliet.”
“She was out of control with bloodlust. She’d already killed several humans—guards and tourists. Her life was all but forfeit at that point.” I shrugged, voice blessedly steady. “I would say I did her a mercy.”
His elegant, long fingers rubbed steadily against his jaw. “Would you?”
Cole’s gaze was unswerving and demanding. He was testing me—of that I had no doubt. I also was beginning to suspect that maybe nothing was as black-and-white as I’d first imagined.
They had Mercer, but Mercer was an alpha and could take care of himself. So why the show? Why separate us this way?
Again, I shrugged. That darkness inside me calmed me in a way I’d not expected it to. Before that night, the darkness had always seemed like something to fear, but right then, I felt... I didn’t even know how to describe it.
I felt it was guiding me, not me it, as though it was telling me what to say, how to speak, how to act. Cole cocked his head, mouth tight but not with anger. As if he himself wasn’t quite sure what to make of my calm façade.
“The human courts would not have been granted her a quick death,” I said. “Not after the brutality she showed.”
“Hmm.” He lifted his thick, dark brows. “You were once a lawman, I hear?”
His cultured voice, coupled with a face that was slowly growing on me, made me feel strangely captivated. The longer I was in his presence, the more I seemed to like him, which was odd because I wasn’t generally a trusting person.
I was sure a lot of that was thrall, but something about Cole was open and honest, which I’d not felt with Luc. Thus, I found myself responding easily to him.
“In many ways, I still am. I just work for the Clan McCarrick and not the humans.”
A slow curl of his lips caused my pulse to flutter. Cole was magnetic, no other word for it.
“A vampire who willingly lives with shifters—rather strange bedfellows, no?”
I grinned back. “You wouldn’t be the first to say so.”
“Freed by that dog I have chained in my dungeon.” His words were soft, kindly sounding even, but my nostrils flared even as my hands curled into the fabric of my gown.
“Mercer’s not a dog. He’s my friend. And yes, he saw the attack and came to my aid.”
“Did he?” His two index fingers tapped together slowly.
I lifted an eyebrow, not liking the tone of that question, so I tried to switch course. “You seem to know an awful lot about me.”
White teeth flashed back at me. Still blunt and very human looking, Cole wasn’t posturing or threatening directly, but I sensed only a spark would set him into action. “I make it a point to know everything about everything when it comes to any vampire within my territory.”
I smirked. “Your territory? I’m sure Clarence would beg to differ.”
“From what I hear, he won’t be a problem much longer.” His blue eyes sparkled.
How the fuck did he know that? Fire bloomed in my chest, anger beat at my skull, and it was all I could do to keep my ass firmly planted on the seat.
“Ah, the pretty girl wonders how I know this.” Cole’s full lips curved.
My nostrils flared. From the corner of my eye, I caught Luc smirking again.
“And how do you know this?” I demanded with an angry rumble. The only thing I could think was he had an inside man, someone in the pack he’d bought off.
Fucking great. Like we needed more shit to deal with. I would’ve said the informant could only have been someone in the wolf pack, but Clarence’s sentence had been handed down perhaps two or three days before. Time had passed in a blur, and I could barely remember at that point, but the rumors were spreading like wildfire through Silver Creek.
The traitor could have been one of thousands.
“How dare you!” Luc snarled, leaning over his master’s shoulder with a white-knuckled grip on the side of Cole’s neck.
Cole held up two fingers, instantly silencing his lackey. The way Luc’s lips suddenly slammed into a razor-thin line was like magick. His eyes burned with hell flame as he stared haughtily back at me, though.
“Back to the dog,” Cole said, completely ignoring my question. “What could have possibly possessed you to bring him here tonight? How could you begin to imagine that it would be okay?”
Biting down on my front teeth, I counted to three in my head before I trusted myself to speak.
“You said a plus one, you did not state who, and as you well know, I live with the shifters. Mercer is my friend.”
His eyes were cold, raking. “Friend? Or more?”
I snorted. Fuck that if he thought I was just gonna answer like some complete asshole. When I got really angry, I didn’t cry. I laughed—probably one of the most inappropriate responses, but... I chortled, which instantly thinned Cole’s eyes and tightened his mouth with obvious displeasure.
“You laugh, and yet it is you with your back against the wall. Why shouldn’t I kill you, Ms. Smith? After all, you killed my cousin. Fair is fair, no?” He might as well have been asking me what the temperature was like outside. That’s how disinterested he seemed.
“Are you sure about that?”
Tiny frown lines tightened his broad forehead. “About which part?”
“About my back being up against the wall?”
Luc sniffed, clearly not believing my threat. Cole, however, leaned forward, planting his elbows on his black-trousered knees, and if I wasn’t mistaken, a sudden sparkle danced through his darkening eyes, as if he was enjoying my moxy, which was nuts, but hell, I was running with it.
“Take off your mask, Ms. Smith.”
“And if I don’t?” I lifted an eyebrow.
He shrugged, all smooth graces and politeness as the fire crackled. “Indulge me.”
Cutting my eyes toward Luc for only a second, I yanked the mask off, causing threads of hair to slide over my cheeks, which I hastily brushed back with a haughty stare.
His gaze was bold, raking, and hard, and fuck, I hated to admit it, but wherever it landed, my skin shivered, as if not just his eyes were on me, but his fingers, thousands of electrically charged fingers making my flesh burst with prickles of heat. My nipples beaded up, and when his full lips curved up, my pulse pounded like a rocket.
Holy hell, the thrall was strong with that one... Mercer would have laughed at my veiled Star Wars reference. I clamped down on the immediate thread of panic that tried hard to worm its way through me at the thought of him.
“I can hear your heart beat. What an odd sensation, fully blooded and yet... so very human.” Cole wet his lips, his voice pitched high with what sounded an awful lot like desire.
Luc stiffened behind him.
I wasn’t gonna tell him shifter blood was pumping through me. I was sure he knew. Suddenly, I was scared—for Mercer, for James, even for Emerson and all the other douchebags I called family. What if the vampires didn’t know that shifter blood was so potent for us? What if—
“Many years ago, the shifters existed only to service us. I do miss that vintage.” He licked suddenly pointed canine teeth. “I am rather surprised that they would allow it, considering the treaty we struck in 1895.”
I lifted an eyebrow, a little surprised to realize just how old Cole really was. I suddenly felt young and simple, as though I stood no chance in hell of actually making it out of there alive, but I’d faced bigger, better, faster, and stronger. The crucifix on my chest warmed, and I didn’t know if that was Boo or... something else, but I clung to that bit of warmth like a lifeline. I squared my shoulders, refusing to let him see my doubt.
“Though you are of the line Et Prochrae. I am not terribly surprised. You were always the fairest amongst us.” Cole’s velvety words tripped off his tongue with the ease of someone who often handed out me
aningless compliments.
However, I liked to think I was a good judge of character, and the way Cole was eyeing my breasts, the vampire was clearly liking what he was seeing.
Luc’s jaw seemed chiseled from stone. Home fries obviously wasn’t good at sharing, which made me wonder just how far he’d go to keep what was his. Like say... murder?
The darkness within me suddenly seemed to radiate through my skull like a winking neon sign offering food and beer in the middle of a wasteland after years of walking alone, blind and starving. A thrill of fear and even pleasure rushed through my limbs. I blinked, a little freaked out and a whole lot confused. Had those emotions been my own, or—
That thrill rushed me again, powerful and cresting, like a wave rolling over my flesh and breaking me out in a cold chill.
“Keep going,” she said.
I swallowed hard, glancing quickly over at Cole and Luc, my heart threatening to rip out of my chest under their hard, curious glances. They couldn’t possibly know what I’d heard, but they were aware something had just happened to me.
Taking a steadying breath, I decided I had nothing better to do than to follow that little kernel of thought. I really had no other leads and not much else to fall back on.
“So what’s your plan for me, Cole?” I gave him a tight grin, allowing him to see my sharpened fangs.
“Bored of my company already, love?” he drawled.
I surreptitiously flicked a glance over at Luc. The knuckles of his right hand had blanched though he’d not squeezed down on Cole’s shoulder. The amount of restraint he was exerting was evident and heady, for I had my answer.
Suddenly, everything made so much damn sense I felt dumb for not having figured it out sooner.
I shrugged. “Well, if I’m going to die, I’d just as soon do it sooner rather than later. Never was much for procrastination.” I shuddered prettily.
Me and You and a Ghost Named Boo (Southern Vampire Detective Book 2) Page 24