He fisted her hair and wrenched her head back, stinging her scalp. “Let’s get all thoughts of your precious Nikolai out of the picture, shall we?”
On a vicious growl, he descended and sank his fangs deep into the base of her neck. Sienna hitched in a terrifying breath and clenched her fists in the covers as searing pain shot down her spine.
“Ah!” she cried out, clawing to get away.
He moaned and sucked hard, drawing her blood so fast, the pain intensified. Then his elixir went to work.
Raw, cold, paralyzing fear flooded her veins. The kind tinged with darkness that left her hollow and hopeless, wishing for anything to fill the void. Even death.
He ground against her with his pelvis, pressing her into the mattress, moaning as he sucked with fierce intensity, seemingly aroused by his own brutality. Tears spilled down her cheeks, the sharp pain and rabid fear ripping through her body and soul. He jerked away and lifted off her with a cackle, releasing his grip in her hair.
“Fuck!” He flipped her body by the waist. She rolled like a lifeless doll onto her back, unable to move at all.
Straddling above her on his knees, her blood trickling down his chin, Volkov licked out with his tongue, his eyes dilated full black, only a rim of silvery-blue shining with unnatural luster. The blood madness.
Shaking his head, he said, “Good thing you came, Boris. Because I want to suck every fucking drop from her.” He pulled off her ripped gown. Her arms slipped out of the sleeves with ease then fell back at her sides, too numb to defend herself. He tossed the garment on the floor, leaving her in the ragged chemise. “Bloody hell, you taste good.” He fell back on top of her and pressed his mouth to hers, smearing her own blood onto her lips and sweeping in with his tongue, the salty tang of him making her nauseous. He pulled back, nicking her lip with a fang. Like a lover.
“Go ahead and scream.” He bent and pricked her neck lightly, then suctioned for a moment before lifting over her, bracing with his arms straight. “You can’t, can you? They never can once I’ve gotten my fangs into them.” He combed a hand through her hair, fanning it out alongside her head before meeting her gaze, the darkness there showing her what a monster truly looked like. “I may be forbidden to suck you dry. The queen has plans for you, you see. But I’ll come close, little red.” He let his hand roam down her throat to her breast where he squeezed none too gently. She remained impassively frozen—able to feel every sensation yet could move nothing. “And in these next few hours, you’ll learn a new master.”
He descended, piercing the flesh just above her breast which he’d plumped with a tight squeeze, shooting spine-numbing pain through her back. She closed her eyes, a tear slipping out the side and into her hair as she repeated over and over again the mantra that would keep her whole, if she survived.
Nikolai, Nikolai, Nikolai…
A spark lit inside her chest when she thought of him—fierce and strong—the small flame swirling in a circle as her fear burned into anger, building into a tempest of rage.
“So good,” he said on a moan as he lifted up onto all fours and stared down at her. He chuckled. “What? It doesn’t feel good? No worries. I’ll make it feel good before it’s all over. Once I’m full of your blood, we’ll move on to your body.” He trailed his tongue along his blood-reddened lips. “Fuck, if you don’t taste like heaven. No wonder the former lieutenant was guarding you so well. Keeping you all to himself.” He trailed a finger down her throat to the hollow between her collarbones then down between her breasts as if exploring his lover. But she wasn’t his lover. He chuckled. “You know what’s funny? I have the lieutenant’s old job over all the royal Legionnaires. And here I am, enjoying his woman.”
The swirling flame in her chest blossomed, sending tendrils throughout her body, reaching through her arms and legs. At first, Sienna thought it an effect of his poisonous elixir, but this internal flame didn’t constrict her with fear. Rather the opposite. It felt like a whisper on the wind in Silvane Forest, fanning the wildfire with her growing fury.
“The lieutenant is a traitor, darling. Just like you. Roaming the country to find sad little peasants to join your sad little cause.”
His hand roamed down over her ribcage, sliding lower.
“There is only one penalty for traitors to the Varis Crown. And that is death. But the queen has grander plans for you. She must make an example of you for all the people to see.”
He gripped the hem of her chemise where it had hiked to her knee and jerked it up to her waist. He rose up on his knees, gazing his fill.
“But until dawn, you are mine. My only restrictions are I cannot kill you. And so I won’t.” He lowered again to all fours and walked lower down her body, holding her gaze. “But I will slake my thirst.” He lifted her leg with a hand at the crook of her knee, then grazed his nose down her inner thigh, inhaling deep. “Oh yes,” he said on a groan. “I need a bit more of this honey-blood.”
Sienna cringed and closed her eyes, her mind awash with the friendly flames licking inside her body. He clenched a hold on her leg and bit into the fleshy part of her inner thigh with a reverberating growl, sucking deep. His slurping moans rolled into one another.
Sienna pushed outward the fire burning in her gut, letting her rage reverberate through her body, rushing through her blood. Volkov suddenly gagged and pulled away, choking on her blood, which dribbled from his mouth. He screamed and rolled onto the bed.
“Volkov! What happened?” Boris was at his side, pulling him up by the shoulders.
“It burns!” Volkov cried out, gripping and clawing at his throat. “It burns…water.”
Boris let him go and poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the table, but Volkov crumbled to the floor in agony. Another vampire jerked the door open and scanned the room to find Volkov on the floor.
“Help me!” commanded Boris. “Let’s get him to his room.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know.” They each took one side and lifted him to his feet. “He just started screaming that it burns.”
As they dragged him from the room, Volkov jerked his head in her direction with a wicked glare. “You bitch. What did you do to me?” His voice sounded hoarse and dry.
“You wanted to swallow my fire,” she said, still immobile on the bed. “And so you have.”
“You’ll pay, witch.”
They pulled him into the corridor and slammed the door shut, bolting it locked from the outside. Sienna stared at the arched ceiling. The flames within dimmed. She ached from his bites and the toxic elixir he’d poured inside of her. Her body was weak from his poison and his pain, but her spirit was strong.
She didn’t know or understand where the flames came from, though their heat felt like the bright sun shining through the black oaks of her forest. Her entire body tingled with the hint of magic.
“Thank you,” she whispered though she wasn’t sure to whom.
As the minutes ticked by into hours, she repeated the mantra to strengthen her spirit for the punishment—whatever it might be—which would come at dawn.
Nikolai, Nikolai, Nikolai…
Chapter Twenty-One
The one thing Nikolai didn’t account for was vampires using gold against vampires. It was the weapon the humans in the Black Lily had amassed to fight their immortal enemy. Why it shocked him that the queen would create her own weapons using the one element that weakened vampires should be no surprise.
He couldn’t think what might be happening to Sienna at this very moment. The horror would send him over the edge into madness if he let it take hold. Right now, he needed to figure a way free. But nothing would come to him. He’d been tossed in the back of this carriage, built like the slave-carts they’d seen in Kellswater but fortified with iron walls, not wood, from top to bottom.
He was still wrapped in the gold netting on the floor, the wagon rocking along at a steady pace. He’d managed to push the net away from his face to keep it from burning his sk
in though both hands bore crisscross hatching burn marks. He’d tried to find a weak link in the chain, but it was no use. They’d prepared for him, knowing his strength. And they were taking no chances, keeping him in the gold net till they reached the Glass Tower.
Sienna appeared in his mind—bound, gagged, and helpless. He yanked on the netting and pushed with his legs, only managing to burn his exposed hands and face again. He bellowed a fierce, harrowing yell.
He heard three hissing sounds on the wind and three thunks, then the wagon jolted to a stop. Confused that no one spoke a word, for he could still hear clearly even in this box of iron, he watched the door as footsteps approached. A jangling of the chain holding the door locked, then it flew open. For a moment, he couldn’t make out the figure standing there with the first gray light of dawn throwing the person into shadow.
“Well, now, vampire. Seems we came along at just the right time.”
Nikolai’s pulse leapt with joy. He sat up to get a better look. “Deb? Is that you?”
“Aye. Roscoe! Help us here.”
One of the men Nikolai met at the rally in Lobdell appeared, reached in, and hauled him to the edge, the gold netting still searing his skin. He and Deb went to work and found the lock tying the netting together.
“There were keys on that big one,” said Deb. “Fetch them.”
Roscoe disappeared.
“Where’s Lady Sienna?” asked Deb, peering into the back of the cart.
“In Dale’s Peak. Queen Morgrid’s Legionnaires have her captive. I need to get there before—” He froze, ice racing through his blood at the sound of the morning lark chirping sweetly in the boughs above them. “Please get me out quickly. They plan to hand her over at dawn to some lord in the city. I must get to her.”
“Hurry, Roscoe!”
He bounded back with two other men who looked familiar from Lobdell’s gathering. “Here they are,” he said out of breath, tossing the keys to Deb.
She tried one, and it didn’t fit. She went on to the next.
“How did you find me? How did you know I was imprisoned?”
She scoffed. “We didn’t. The night of the rally, there were reports of Legionnaires in the town attacking someone on the street. We didn’t find them. Most of the recruits went on to report to Hiddleston, but I and a few others decided to stay behind and find the Legionnaires scouting our territory and attacking our people.”
“That was me and Sienna they attacked in Lobdell. We fled to safety, but she wanted to rally for recruits one more time at Dale’s Peak.”
“And they trapped you there,” she stated not as a question, figuring the rest out for herself.
“Yes.”
She tried the fifth key, which snicked in the lock and turned with two clicks. The lock fell open. She and Roscoe removed the netting, releasing Nikolai for the first time since he’d been captured and bound in the widow’s house.
“Thank the stars,” he murmured and leapt to his feet, sweeping the area with his senses. No one else was in the near vicinity. He noticed the vampire guards in charge of getting him to the Glass Tower were crumpled on the ground with arrows sticking out of their chests.
“Gold-tipped?” he asked.
“Aye. Though we weren’t sure when it would come, we’ve been preparing for this war for a long time.”
The snow was thinner here. They’d traveled far in little time. The Legionnaires didn’t need to take back roads and trails as he and Sienna had done, allowing the Legionnaires to move more quickly.
“Thank you.” His voice cracked as he pulled a surprised Deb into a rough embrace.
“Aye. No need.” She pushed away with a slap on his shoulder. “Now, go get your girl.”
With a tight nod, he aimed north and ran.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Miranda finished wiping Sienna’s last bite mark on her thigh with a wet rag. Sienna sucked in a hiss but still could hardly move on her own. Miranda dipped the rag in the water swirling red with Sienna’s blood, then set the bowl aside.
“Let me help you sit up,” she said, her pitying gaze flicking to Sienna then away as she pulled her into a sitting position on the edge of the bed.
Sienna’s ankle chain rattled as she settled her bare feet on the floor. The aftereffects of Volkov’s elixir left her somber, and the loss of blood left her fragile. Her body and spirit sagged under the weight of his attack and the unknown that was yet to come.
“Do you know what their plans are for me?” whispered Sienna, her voice broken.
“No, my lady,” said the maid, walking over to retrieve the thin white slip she’d brought in with her. “Come. Stand if you can.”
Miranda hauled her up gently to a standing position.
Sienna’s knees threatened to buckle, but she kept herself steady.
Miranda removed the torn and bloodied chemise from Sienna’s body, then slipped on the sleeveless, gauzy nightgown which dropped to her calves. It fitted snug at the torso, somewhat more substantial than a shift, but not by much. Her arms were bare, and the bodice scooped low on her back and breasts, tied with a white satin bow at the center of her bosom.
“What happened to Volkov?” she asked.
The maid’s lips pressed into a thin line. She feared betraying her master.
“Did he die?” Sienna asked, hoping the fire she’d given him would do him in.
Miranda shook her head. “No. But he is very sick.”
The lock on the door sounded. Miranda hopped away and stood next to Sienna with her head bowed. In stepped a parade of Legionnaires in arms who lined the far wall followed by well-dressed gentlemen with their winter coats and top hats still on their heads. They brought with them the winter chill. Then Sienna’s gaze landed on the tallest of them at the center, wearing a white silk vest and silver cuff links that twinkled in the dim torchlight.
“Lord Barker.”
Her formerly betrothed had not changed very much. The wrinkles around his mouth had deepened and the cruelty in his eyes was sharper. But other than that, he was the same man she had left behind for a solitary life outside society so many years ago.
“Lady Sienna.” He dipped his head in a slight bow as if they were meeting at a ball or in a parlor. His gaze roved over her body down to her bare feet then back up again, stopping at the bite mark on her breast before he met her eyes. “I am here on official business for the town of Dale’s Peak. As the senior lord of the town, I am acting on behalf of the bailiff to bring you forward for crimes committed.”
Sienna huffed out a small laugh. “And what crimes have I committed, seeing as I haven’t been in Dale’s Peak for over five years now?”
He puffed up his chest and sauntered closer. “Witchcraft.”
“Witchcraft? You must be joking.”
“I am not.” He pulled from under his coat a scroll of parchment tied with a black ribbon. “Bentley.”
A scrawny man in gentleman’s attire stepped forward, took the scroll, opened it, and read aloud. While he did so, Lord Barker walked a slow circle around Sienna.
“The province of Dale’s Peak does hereby accuse and convict Lady Sienna, formerly of Worley House, of practicing witchcraft abroad. From her home in Silvane Forest, which is dubbed a residence solely for paranormal creatures, she has practiced numerous nefarious spells upon the locals of Sylus. Many of her spells ended in mutilation and bloody death for her victims which have been found within the bordering forest of her home, Larkin Wood.”
“Lies,” said Sienna. They were trying to pin the victims of sanguine furorem on her.
Lord Barker touched her right shoulder. She flinched away. Then he circled back around as Bentley returned to finish reading the decree. “Upon witnessed accounts corroborated by the good people of Sylus, Lady Sienna is hereby sentenced to death by order of Queen Morgrid of the Glass Tower.”
Bentley finished by flourishing the scroll toward Sienna so that she could see the queen’s signature and the crown’s seal in a scrip
ted V. He then marched back behind Lord Barker who edged toward her in an intimate way.
Lord Barker fingered the silk bow above her cleavage and said, “You could’ve avoided all of this had you simply married me when you had the chance. Even now, I could still save you.” His dark eyes flicked to hers, his forefinger trailing a line along her breast just above the cut of the fabric. “I would not marry you now. You’re too soiled for that. But perhaps if you were my mistress, I could keep you alive. Protect you.”
“And who would protect me from you?” she asked with a sneer. Sienna batted his hand away and injected as much venom as she could into her voice. “I would rather burn at the stake than lie with a cruel, loathsome man like you.”
His mouth slanted into a brutal smile. “Then so you shall.” He took a large step back and pronounced, “Escort Lady Sienna to the carriage.”
“Pardon, sir,” said Miranda, dipping a curtsy with concern on her brow. “But it’s cold. Please, sir. She can’t go out in nothing but that.”
Lord Baker paused and glanced around the room. “Fetch that red cloak. Scarlet fits the witch well. She won’t be cold for long anyway.”
He stormed out, the gentlemen following in his wake. Two vampires gripped her arm while a third unshackled her ankle. Miranda popped over and draped the cloak around her shoulders, clasping it at the neck, then lifted the hood over her.
“I’m sorry,” whispered the girl.
Sienna smiled at the poor maid who felt pity for her when she was the one who was a prisoner of this vampire mansion, used repeatedly as a bleeder and a slave.
“Thank you, Miranda. Good-bye.”
The Legionnaires jerked on her arms and ushered her roughly into the hallway and down a dark corridor. It opened up into a foyer with a crystal chandelier casting prisms on the walls by dawn’s light seeping through the window. They shoved her out the door into the bitter cold, her feet scraping on the stone as she stumbled. Two black carriages awaited them at the foot of the steps. The Legionnaires pushed her in the second one. Lord Barker and his men loaded in the first.
The Red Lily (Vampire Blood) Page 20