The Red Lily (Vampire Blood)

by Juliette Cross

  When the innkeeper caught sight of Sienna, she startled and stepped a little away from Nikolai, a somewhat guilty look on her face.

  “There you are, my lady. Please come and have a warm cup of tea.”

  She upended the teacup that was facedown across from Nikolai and poured a steaming cup as Sienna made her way to them. He rose from his seat and watched her. She thought she was accustomed to the way Nikolai tracked her movements by now, but the heat in his gaze as he followed her from the door to his table nearly buckled her knees.

  She sat across from him, her eyes on the tea. He took his seat again.

  “I will bring a few refreshments in a moment,” said the innkeeper with a smile before leaving them alone, for there was no one else in the parlor.

  Sienna unfolded the napkin in her lap, self-conscious at the way Nikolai was staring.

  “Thank you for the dress,” she said before adding more quietly, “and the other garments.”

  She didn’t miss the flare of heat in his gaze, nor did she look away, holding him a moment in electric silence before finally clearing her throat and brushing a hand over her skirt. “It is unique. I’ve never seen its like.”

  “Precisely why it suits you.”

  “It is quite vibrant, though,” she barreled ahead, unable to respond to his compliment.

  “You belong in red,” he said with finality.

  She brushed a hand over one sleeve, admiring the hue. She couldn’t help but point out the one flaw to his choice of dress. “But there is one problem with such a dress. It will draw too much attention, don’t you think?”

  He scoffed, which finally drew her eyes up off the table to him.

  “Sweetheart, you couldn’t be inconspicuous if you tried.”

  “What does that mean?” She thought herself rather good at blending in.

  His sea-blue gaze roved her face and bodice, his eyes reflecting a state of utter contentment at the moment. “You are by far the most stunning creature I have ever laid eyes on. And I have been alive quite some time in order to make such an observation.”

  She froze, never expecting such words from him. He continued.

  “Do you know why people address you as ‘my lady’ even though your attire isn’t always the top fashion a lady should wear?”

  She shook her head. He leaned forward, forearms crossed on the table. “Because you could be wearing a rag, and you could not hide the beauty beneath. Noble and pure.”

  “There are plenty of pretty peasant girls. Look at Arabelle. I could be—”

  “None of them hold a candle to you,” he said abruptly. “Your alabaster skin glows and looks so soft, it begs to be touched. Your auburn hair, even coiffed in a simple braid, is fine as silk. Your carriage when you walk, when you sit so still as you are now, denotes a genteel lady of the highest ranking. And your eyes”—he shook his head, a smile quirking one side of his mouth—“you could slay many a man with one come-hither look.”

  Catching her breath after such a speech, she said, “I would never tempt a man unwittingly.”

  “Sweetheart, you could tempt the devil to his death if you so chose. I thought you would do so to me last night.”

  Her teacup froze halfway to her lips. “I’d rather not talk of last night,” she whispered, sipping her tea.

  “Why not? Was it that distasteful?”

  She cleared her throat. “No. It isn’t that.”

  “Having regrets feeding a monster such as me, I suppose.”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then what is it?”

  Tucking her hands in her lap and glancing to be sure the innkeeper wasn’t within earshot, she said in a low voice, “It wasn’t proper for a lady to…lose control as I did.”

  “Proper or not, last night was perfect, in my humble opinion. Well, almost.”

  His rain-soaked hair was beginning to dry, a lock of blond falling forward over one eye. The smoldering look he fixed upon her and the intimacy of the parlor beckoned her to be bold. She knew that saying the words she held on the tip of her tongue would be equivalent to laying down a gauntlet before a man who thrived on challenges. But she did so anyway, banishing her grandmother’s many warnings to the far corner of her mind. “Tell me how it was perfect.”

  His pupils dilated on the request. His mouth opened to speak, but he paused, giving her a glimpse of sharpened canines. Lord help her, but arousal coiled low in her belly. As if he sensed it, his pupils dilated further, till there was more black than blue in his ardent gaze. A predatory sharpness warned her he was ready to swallow her whole. Sienna often forgot she was dealing with a man who was not a man. A palpable energy filled the small space between them, a heady mixture of seduction and danger drawing her to him.

  He leaned even closer, not a hint of a smile. “Feeling your body beneath me was the closest to heaven that I shall ever come.” He spoke not in a whisper but on an intimate level, his voice rolling like the caress of dark velvet. “Your skin, your mouth, your body, your sweet, sweet moans, and your blood…I want them all. I want quite a bit more, actually. So you best prepare yourself, my lady. Since I’m already damned, I aim to have all of you. I want to see that look of ecstasy on your face over and over again when I’m buried deep inside you and you’re screaming my name.”

  “Here we are!” said the innkeeper, bustling in from the kitchen.

  Sienna couldn’t even move, shaken to the core, her focus completely on Nikolai as he sat back, wiping the most sensual, dark look she’d ever seen from his face to turn an amiable expression up to the innkeeper who set a double-tiered tray of sandwiches and pastries on the table.

  “I hope this will be to your liking. We will have a heartier meal prepared tonight.”

  “This is wonderful, Ms. Ascot,” he said, unfolding his napkin and placing it in his lap like a proper gentleman. Right after he’d just said the most ungentlemanly speech she’d ever heard. “Thank you.”

  Sienna shook herself from her stupor and managed a tight smile. “Yes.” She smoothed her napkin in her lap. “Thank you.”

  “Well, then. Let me know if I can get you anything else, Mr. and Mrs. Woods.” The innkeeper left them alone once more.

  Sienna coughed softly to hide her surprise at the name he’d given and fiddled with the napkin in her lap. She tried to gather her wits, but it was like catching the wisps of a dandelion scattered to the wind.

  Nikolai took a bite-sized pastry with a dollop of cream from the tray and popped it into his mouth. How he could appear so casual after such a declaration, she had no idea. Her mind, and if she confessed truly, her body were still reeling. Changing the subject was the only option to move forward.

  “She knows you’re a vampire. You don’t need to pretend you’re not by eating.”

  His tilted smile heated the coiling warmth in her belly. “Yes, she knows I’m a vampire. But I’d put her at ease by pretending to not be the monster I am. You, on the other hand, know otherwise.”

  “I don’t believe you are a monster.”

  His smile slipped. “You should be more wary, sweetheart.”

  “I am. But I know you.” Her voice softened. “I trust you.”

  “Mm, but you don’t really know me. You just think you do.”

  “And this from a man who has announced he plans to seduce me,” she said flippantly. “You’re not doing much to gain my favor.”

  He laughed, holding her gaze. “No seduction will be needed,” he said with staggering confidence. “You are already mine, sweet Sienna. The moment my lips touched your skin, you were mine.”

  “I haven’t consented to such a thing.”

  He leaned back in his chair, body cocked at an angle, his sexy-as-sin half smile in place. “You will.”

  “I believe you’re a bit too assured, lieutenant.” Good thing he hadn’t been witness to her escapades in the bath or the naughty thoughts of him that had spurred her on.

  “Not at all. Just honest.” He tipped his teacup in her direct
ion with a wink and gulped the rest down. “I have something more for you.”

  He pulled from within his pocket a pair of well-made white leather gloves, lined for warmth.

  She took them in hand and trailed her fingers over the fine stitching, softer than silk. “You needn’t buy me these. I had mittens I could’ve worn.”

  “Those fingerless things I saw you wear on the first day?” He shook his head. “No, sweetheart. After watching you shiver till your lips turned blue and your teeth nearly rattled out of your head from the cold, I’d say you definitely need them. It’ll be snowing soon.”

  She said nothing more, sliding one hand inside the sleek glove, smiling at his thoughtfulness. The care he took to get her dry and warm, well clothed, and fed, all of the small kindnesses he gave her since their arrival lured her even closer to him. He had tended to her needs as a good guardian would since their departure from her cottage. But he doted on her now like…well, like a lover. Or perhaps it was payment for what he thought was due.

  Clearing her throat, she said, “You don’t have to give me anything for last night, you know. I offered my blood freely.”

  With a glance out the window, his mood shifted from jovial to the dark mask he so often wore. “You think the dress and gloves are payment, I presume.”

  She shrugged one shoulder. “What else?”

  With a shake of his head, he drummed his fingers on the table, seeming about to snap a retort. Instead, he stood on a sigh.

  “The sun has finally come out. Shall we take a walk through the town?” He offered his arm politely, but Sienna noted the shift in the atmosphere. From sultry to glacial in a heartbeat.

  This man was an enigma. One moment he was making wicked promises and showering her in gifts with wit and charm, and the next he was all brooding scowls and clipped words. She couldn’t riddle out his abrupt change of mood, but it had happened in a blink. It was certainly her fault in something she said. He kept his posture stiff and his mind a million miles away. Though she was afraid to admit it even to herself, she yearned for him to come back.

  Chapter Ten

  Sienna stood on a wooden bench that Deb had placed at the center of the meeting room, the smell of hay and pigs pungent in the air. Nikolai kept to the right wall where he could see people coming in and keep a watch on every person in the room. It was a smaller crowd than the one in Hiddleston. Little more than twenty. But every man and woman who signed on was a valuable asset to the Black Lily.

  The lot of them were working peasants—farmers and small merchants. And standing above them with the torchlight casting a pale glow upon her fair face was the goddess herself. Beneath the folds of her cloak, he could see the crimson gown he’d bought her, her delectable curves on display. She occupied every living, breathing thought he had. For that matter, she’d found her way into his dreams as well. He had to finally admit it. She’d ensnared him, body and soul. He’d even spoken of his secret sin, which he’d told no one before but Marius.

  He was a monster. One who’d fallen too far before, succumbing to the beast that lived within, and who’d tasted the sweet pleasure and painful regret of gorging his appetite till his host breathed her last. He knew what horrors he and his kind were capable of. Perhaps that was why he’d felt a sense of relief when Marius asked him to abandon his post at the Glass Tower and join him in their fight. His dedication as lieutenant had been first and foremost to protect the people from the likes of him and to pay penance for what he’d done so many years ago as a lost and lusty youth. He’d been a restless soul his whole life.

  And now, Sienna. She made him imagine dreams that had never once drifted into his consciousness. Quiet nights, a warm bed, a devoted lover. More.

  But he knew she was too good for him. It wasn’t her roots in the gentry that made her so, but her pure and innocent heart, her willingness to sacrifice all for others. He felt the abject misery radiating from her when they left Silvane Forest. And yet, she did it anyway. Even now, as she stood before the crowd, her green eyes a bit wider, her pulse tripping a little faster, she waited with her head held high to do her duty for the Black Lily. A cause she needn’t have left the comfort of her cottage in the woods to join. And yet, she did.

  “Oy! Shut it!” Deb’s sharp voice rang out. The murmuring ceased at once. “Ye all know why you’re here. The Lady o’ the Wood is here to set it to ye. Do what you will.”

  The Lady of the Wood. Yes, that was the proper name for her. He gave Deb a polite nod for her correction in Sienna’s title as she stepped to the side and let Sienna take the reins.

  Sienna roved the crowd, seemingly to look into the eyes of every one of them. She’d done the same in Hiddleston, and her charm had done its magic. There was something in her that made one want to listen. There was a fire inside her that made one want to reach out and touch, even if it burned. Nikolai would readily be consumed in the flames of Sienna. Anything to get closer to the woman.

  Before she spoke, her chin notched up and her gaze narrowed. Her confidence—especially when he sensed her trepidation from where he stood in the back—staggered him.

  “I bring you good tidings and bad, my friends. A gift and a warning.”

  She let those words settle in. Nothing but the soft shuffling of cows and the rooting of pigs overhead could be heard. She clasped her hands in front of her and went on.

  “I know the people of Lobdell have suffered at the hands of the Varis monarchy. That death has touched many lives here. Unnecessary and horrific death.” Not a sound but the guttering of torches. “The gift is the Black Lily. Whether you join her ranks or not, she will fight on. She will demand justice from the Glass Tower for those in chains of oppression. She will break the yoke placed upon the backs of the peasantry and bring freedom where now there is too much work for the poor and little prosperity of your own.”

  Those in the crowd shuffled, nodding in agreement. Just as Harrison had called out in defiance at the Hiddleston rally, another broad-shouldered farmer spoke out above the rest.

  “So you want us to die for the Black Lily and this hopeless cause? No one can defeat the army of the Glass Tower.”

  Sienna didn’t miss a beat. “The only one calling you to die is the queen herself.” Silence ensued. “She is the one spreading this plague of blood madness throughout the land. She is the one building her own army to keep you bound in chains. She is the one who guarantees death or an enslaved life…which is even worse, if truth be told.” She paused to scan the gathering. Squaring her shoulders, she went on. “The Black Lily offers you a chance at liberty, a chance to fight for the life you deserve and the life your children and grandchildren deserve. A life where you do not have to fear the night, but a world where you may walk upright and proud in the light of day. You may think our numbers small, but you are wrong. We grow by the day and our fighters are being trained by the former lieutenant of the Royal Legionnaires himself.”

  She nodded to Nikolai in the back with an appraising smile. His heart leapt at such a look from her. Eyes swiveled to him.

  “Our leader Arabelle sends me news of their progress. Under the lieutenant’s guidance, we have an upper hand against the enemy. His skill and devotion to us may be the very thing that saves us all.”

  Someone began to speak, but she raised her hand with a sharpness that matched the fierce intensity shining bright in her eyes.

  “I know what you would ask,” she said. “Why would a vampire fight for us?”

  Nods and murmurs of agreement buzzed through the small crowd.

  “Because they are not evil incarnate as some of you may believe. I know the old tales. I’ve heard them, too. My grandmother once told me there is darkness and danger in fairytales, when one cannot tell the difference from what is real and what is not.” Her heaving bosom and her fisted hands at her side spoke of the passion welling inside of her. “I am here to tell you I have witnessed the selfless and heroic acts of both Prince Marius and Lieutenant Nikolai. They abandoned their life of
luxury and power with the crown to help us. The very least we can do is join the ranks of the Black Lily and play our part.”

  Her gaze found him. His muscles locked. She had no idea the effect her words had on him. Or that look of deep admiration she shined so willingly upon him. He didn’t deserve it, and yet, he savored the beauty of the moment, hiding away her perfection for the distant future when this quest was over and they parted. The vision of her standing there would warm him on many cold nights to come.

  A burly, bald man called out, “I’m not a fighter. But if you need a blacksmith, I will lend a hand.”

  Sienna’s smile brightened the dimly lit room. “Thank you, sir. A forger of weapons and arms is as needed as any soldier.” She nodded to him appreciatively. “I will say this and be done. You are right that there is risk in loss of life if you join the army of the Black Lily. But it is assured that you will continue to lead a life of fear and enslavement should you do nothing. The Glass Tower grows in power, and her demand for more blood increases by the day. The royal army must be fed. And we all know, they will not be eating the slaughtered calf or roasted pig to satisfy their appetites. The choice is yours, my friends. Should you be brave enough, report to the Bull’s Head in Hiddleston and sit at the booth painted with a black mark upon the table. Someone will find you and give you instructions from there. Good night.”

  She stepped down but was surrounded at once with a barrage of questions. The others shuffled toward the ladder leading up to the ground floor. Nikolai shoved off the wall to keep a closer eye on Sienna. She spoke to each of them with steady ease, washing away their fears and rallying them behind the cause with reassuring words and a kind smile. One by one, they disappeared from the gathering until only the blacksmith and Deb remained.

  Nikolai moved closer, arms crossed.

  “Yes, your family may join you as well,” said Sienna, placing a gentle hand on the blacksmith’s arm. “We welcome them. Just meet at the Bull’s Head as I’ve said before. A contact will reach out when he knows it is safe.”