“Cool with me.” She ducked her head into the car. “You’re staying here.” Without waiting for the bodyguard’s answer, she motioned to her driver. “Pop the trunk? I want to get a few bags out.” Fi rubbed her hands together. “I can show you a few of the things I think you’ll really dig on the way over.”
By the time they got to Seven, Chrysabelle wasn’t sure Fi had left anything in the Paradise City boutiques. She liked most of it more than she thought she would, even sliding a soft beige duster on over her white top and pants.
“This too.” Fi held out a simple gold link chain. “Trust me. It helps break up all that white.”
Chrysabelle obliged, although she was starting to feel overdressed, considering she had her body armor on underneath everything else. Jerem parked the car at the employee entrance and came around to let them out. Chrysabelle glanced at Fi. “Stay close. You know how Seven can be.”
Fi nodded and followed her to the door. This was the only entrance she used these days. Fighting the crowd up front just wasn’t worth it. Chrysabelle punched in the code Dominic had given her, and then they went inside. A few corridors in and the club’s music permeated the walls. When they reached the door into the club, Chrysabelle gave Fi another reminder. “Any trouble, go ghost.”
Fi nodded. “I know, but I’m the pride leader’s wife now. That alone should give me some protection.”
“Or cause more trouble.” Chrysabelle pushed through the door and the heavy beat washed through her, syncopating with her pulse. The place was packed with fringe and varcolai alike. Since Doc had lifted the restriction on pride members working at and patronizing Seven, Dominic’s business had definitely benefited. A young female varcolai in half form, leopard by the spots decorating the expanses of skin visible beneath her tiny black top and boy shorts, danced on a platform nearby, her tail swishing as her hips gyrated.
Fi’s brows shot up.
Chrysabelle shook her head. Now was not the time or place to comment. “Let’s find Mortalis.” She reached back, grabbed Fi’s hand, and started pulling her through the press. Fringe turned as she went by, nostrils flaring as her blood scent announced what she was. Her free hand went to one of the daggers on her waist. If her sacres didn’t draw so much attention, she would have worn them, but she also didn’t want to cause Dominic any trouble. Besides that, if any of the fringe touched her, they’d get a shock once they came in contact with her body armor.
Fi squeezed Chrysabelle’s hand and tugged, causing Chrysabelle to stop. “What is it?”
Fi’s eyes were fixed on something farther into the crowd. Chrysabelle dodged a tall fae and found what Fi was staring at. Katsumi, coming toward them.
She released Fi’s hand. “It’s okay, nothing to worry about.”
Katsumi glided to a stop before them and the crowd opened up a little. “Good evening, Chrysabelle. How is your brother?”
“He’s fine, thank you.” Chrysabelle couldn’t help but wonder what new game Katsumi was playing at. She might have helped bring Damian home, but that was where their relationship ended.
“If he wants a job, we could certainly use a comar with his experience here.”
So that was it. “I don’t think he’s looking for work.” Especially since their mother had left them with a wealth of assets.
“Well, let him know I asked for him, will you?” Katsumi’s smile never faltered as her gaze went to Fi. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Chrysabelle spoke up. “This is Fiona. She’s Doc’s wife.”
Katsumi’s head went back a little as she studied Fi. “Ah, yes, Maddoc. From outcast to pride leader.” She arched a brow. “How interesting life is.” She pointed a finger at Fi. “You are also Malkolm’s ghost, yes?”
“Yes,” Fi answered, her whole body rigid with either fear or anger. Chrysabelle couldn’t tell.
Katsumi made a shallow bow. “Tell him we miss him next time you see him.”
“I’ll get right on that,” Fi muttered.
Chrysabelle cleared her throat. “Is Mortalis on the floor or in his office? He’s expecting me.”
“I believe he’s in Dominic’s office.” Katsumi waved a hand to attract a passing server. “Run to Dominic’s office and let Mortalis know that Chrysabelle is here to see him.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The server took off.
“I know where his office is,” Chrysabelle said. “Fiona and I will wait there.”
“Very good.” But Katsumi didn’t move. Her eyes narrowed. “There’s something… different about you. Your scent seems stronger.”
“I’m wearing my body armor. I’m sure the silver is affecting my scent.” And not the fact that she was pregnant.
“No.” Katsumi shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it…”
“You’re probably just used to smelling the fakes that work here.” Fi grabbed Chrysabelle’s hand and started moving. “Nice to meet you. Bye.”
Katsumi might have growled, but Chrysabelle wasn’t sure since Fi kept pulling her away. She redirected them toward Mortalis’s office. “Thanks, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the silver of my body armor, and wearing that in here isn’t a big deal. Unless someone touches it.”
“You really think that’s what she was picking up on?” Fi glanced knowingly at Chrysabelle’s stomach.
“Even if it was, she can’t figure anything out by scent alone.” She slowed Fi down. “Here. This is his office.” She tried the handle but it was locked. “We’ll have to wait.” They stood with their backs to the door, watching the crowd. Mortalis appeared a few minutes later. At his approach, the few lingering fringe disappeared.
“Good evening.” He nodded at Fi. “I didn’t expect to see you, too. Nyssa’s been asking about you.”
Fi pushed part of her bob behind one ear. “I’ve been swamped and it sucks, but I promise to get in touch with her soon. Tell her I said hi and I’m sorry.”
“Will do.” He unlocked the office door, pushed it open, then waited for them to go in before entering and locking the door behind him. “Small quarters, but at least it’s private.” He went behind the narrow desk while they took the two chairs.
“Keep an eye on Katsumi,” Fi said. “I think she picked up on Chrysabelle’s condition.”
Mortalis looked shocked for about a half second, and then his face went blank again. “What do you mean?”
“Fi knows,” Chrysabelle told him. “She figured it out when I threw up in the middle of teaching her how to fight.”
Fi laughed. “Yeah, that was kind of hard to ignore.”
His expression softened as he spoke to Chrysabelle. “How are you doing? Are you… sick a lot?”
“It comes and goes. Right now I seem to be okay, but no telling how long that will last.” She forced herself not to touch her stomach. “Do you think Katsumi would be able to tell?”
“By scent? No, but let me listen.” He went quiet for a bit. “I can’t hear a second heartbeat. I think the body armor is blocking it. That may change as the baby grows.” He leaned back in his chair. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll speak to her, see if she suspects anything.” He tapped his long fingers on the arm of the chair. “That’s not why you’re here, though. What can I do for you?”
“Mal.” Chrysabelle adjusted the chain around her neck, trying not to feel like she was being strangled. “I can’t give up on him. Or us. There’s too much at stake. I need to know if there’s anything I can do to get the raptor fae to release his emotions. Anything that will restore Mal’s feelings for me.”
Mortalis stilled, but his eyes held great sadness. “What’s done is done. Undoing it is… there’s no way—”
“There’s always a way,” Fi interjected. “What would you do if the raptor had taken Nyssa’s feelings for you?”
Mortalis swallowed. “What you’re asking is beyond my scope. It’s so impossible there’s no point in discussing it.”
Chrysabelle’s mood darkened. “Deep fae business, then. How about
you humor me and discuss it anyway? Especially since you played a part in this.”
His mouth thinned into a hard line. “It is deep fae business, so deep that telling you won’t do anything but frustrate you, because I can’t give you anything you can use.”
Fi slapped his desk. The noise was like a gunshot in the small space. “Let her be the judge of that.”
Mortalis propped his elbow on the desk and leaned into his hand, his six fingers cradling his forehead. “Killing a raptor releases every emotion they’ve ever taken, good and bad.”
“How is that deep fae business?” Killing the raptor seemed easy. Well, not easy, but she’d killed Nothos. How different could it be?
With a sigh, Mortalis stared at her. “Because Amery and I brought him out of the Claustrum to meet with you. The Claustrum is on the fae plane, a place you can only access with the help of a fae.”
“You or Amery can take me then.”
“Absolutely not. Humans aren’t allowed on the fae plane. Getting one into the Claustrum?” Mortalis snorted. “That’s never happened and never will.”
“I’m not asking you to get permission.”
He leaned forward. “I don’t think you understand. Doing something like that without permission would be to forfeit my life. Or Amery’s.”
“If you get found out. So we won’t get found out.”
He shook his head. “There’s no way you won’t get found out. You kill that raptor after the years he’s been in the Claustrum feeding on all the hate and anger and rage in that place and those emotions will flood back to the rest of the inmates and turn that place into a maelstrom of destruction. It won’t go unnoticed.” He stood and walked the few paces to the back wall. “Plus, you’re talking about the fae plane. Humans don’t do well there. You’d be lucky to get out alive.”
“It’s a chance I’m willing to take.”
He turned. “You’re risking two lives. Yours and your child’s.”
Chrysabelle’s emotions betrayed her again. She blinked at the liquid welling up in her eyes. “What about Mal’s life? If not for Dominic sending him drugged blood, he’d be trying to kill me. Or he’d be killing whatever humans were unlucky enough to cross his path. If that hasn’t happened already.” She wiped at her eyes. “If I can’t save Mal, I’m going to have to…” Her throat closed. “Kill him,” she whispered.
Mortalis didn’t answer, telling her that was exactly what she’d have to do. Fi put her hand over Chrysabelle’s, but she pulled away, unable to bear the contact. She couldn’t even stand to look at Fi or Mortalis in that moment. The silence pressed so heavy she bent under it. “I need to go home.”
“Chrysabelle.” Mortalis’s voice held a note of apology, but not acquiescence.
She held up her hand. “I understand your reasons for not helping. I do. Doesn’t mean I agree with them.” She stood. “You know I would do anything for you.”
“Anything?” He raised one brow. “Then protect yourself and your child. Stay away from the raptor.”
“Anything but that.” She turned to leave, so disappointed in Mortalis that bitterness coated her tongue. “Let’s go, Fi.”
The ghost girl got up to join her, giving the fae an evil look.
“Listen…” He sighed. “Even if I could help, it puts too much at stake—”
“Message received the first time.” She moved toward the door.
“Chrysabelle, wait. What I’m trying to say is… you need someone who doesn’t care about consequences. Someone willing to break fae law. Or someone above it.”
She stopped, Fi at her elbow. “And that’s not you?”
He shook his head. “No. But—”
“Your brother. Augustine.”
He snorted. “He won’t help you. He could, but he won’t. If it means risking his hide, he’ll wish you well as he walks away. Especially if he thought I was behind your asking him.”
“Then who?”
“There is a fae who’s in your debt. Khell. The one you made Guardian. He has all the access you need.”
“And you think he’ll do it?”
“I have no idea. But it’s worth asking.”
She nodded and gave him a half smile, the bitterness in her mouth sweetening a little. “Thank you.”
He scratched one horn. “You may not thank me after you go through with this. Just… be careful, okay? The Claustrum is no place for a non-fae.” He laughed sadly. “It’s no place for those who are.”
Chapter Fourteen
Tatiana gazed across the office at Daciana. They sat looking at one another, neither of them saying anything since Lilith and the Castus had vanished. The smell of brimstone still lingered, clouding her mind as much as what she’d seen. Her child. But not. Somehow she had to make the best of this.
“Unbelievable,” Daci finally mumbled.
Tatiana nodded, staring blankly into the room but still seeing the vision of Lilith in her head. “They’ve given her the power that should have been mine. Turned her into…”
“A monster,” Daci finished.
Tatiana’s gaze snapped onto Daciana. “Not a monster.” No matter what her child had become, she was not a monster. “A new kind of vampire. A race above the nobility. I always said she was a vampire princess. Now she’s become the vampire queen.”
Daci recoiled. “Aren’t you afraid of her?”
Yes. But so were the Castus, and unlike them, she wasn’t about to show her fear. “She’s still the child I held in my arms, isn’t she? The baby I rocked to sleep? I’m the only mother that child has known. Why should I fear her?” Tatiana stood and walked to the helioglazed windows. The sun would be up in less than an hour.
“I don’t know. She seemed very different. Even the ancient one seemed afraid of her.” Daci shuddered.
Tatiana wrapped her hand in the raw silk drapes and leaned against the window frame. “He did, didn’t he?” There was little point in denying what Daci had seen for herself. Then a thought occurred to her. “Do you know why that is? Because the ancients know Lilith’s loyalties lie elsewhere. She called me mother. Recognized me instantly even though they tried to take her away from me.”
Daci twisted, throwing her arm over the back of the leather settee to see Tatiana better. Some of the trepidation left her eyes. “She did. You think the ancients fear they’ll lose Lilith to you?” She stood, visibly excited. “All that power. Yours to command.” She rolled her lips in and a stifled squeal barely escaped. “We must call her back. You must talk to her, suss her out.”
Tatiana glanced out the window again. A hint of purple colored the horizon. “I agree. Daysleep will be upon us soon. I would like to know where I stand before another day passes. For all we know, Lilith could be waiting for me to rescue her from the ancients.”
“For you to bring her home again.” Daci’s hand went to her mouth. “We must help her!”
Tatiana pushed away from the window and directed Daci toward the door. “Lock it. I don’t want to be interrupted.”
She looked crestfallen. “Are you dismissing me?”
“No. You were here the first time and Lilith didn’t object. You helped care for her as a baby; she must know that.”
“Good.” With a smile, Daci ran to the door and locked it, then leaned her back against it. “Ready.”
Tatiana took her place in the middle of the room and opened herself to the possibility of a new future. A new, more powerful future. “Lilith, my child, if you hear me, come to me. Grace me with your presence.”
A snap of electricity charged the air, lifting the small hairs on Tatiana’s nape, and the shadows pulled together in the center of the room. Lilith stepped out of them. Or they became her. The change happened so quickly it was hard to tell.
“You called, Mother?”
Tatiana smiled and began carefully. If the ancients were listening, she didn’t want them thinking she was trying to take Lilith back just yet. “Yes, I did. Thank you for coming. I thought we might sit and
talk. Get acquainted now that you are grown. I’ve missed so much.” The sadness in her heart over that was genuine. She’d lost years because of the Castus, a gap that felt unforgivable.
Lilith cocked her head to one side. “And that makes you unhappy? Why?”
Tatiana walked to the settee and sat. “Because you went from being a baby in my arms to a beautiful young woman and I wasn’t a part of that. Watching you grow up was taken away from me.”
“And you wanted to be a part of that?” Lilith seemed confused by the idea. “Why?”
“Because I love you, Lilith.” Truthfully, Tatiana loved the child Lilith had been. This adult woman seemed like a very different creature, but that was to be expected. “I had hoped we would rule the vampire nation together, as mother and daughter. That we would be an unstoppable force.”
“Love?” Lilith sat close enough for Tatiana to see the map of delicate blue veins beneath her translucent skin. “I don’t understand love.”
Daci snorted and came closer. “Love is not something the ancients know much of.”
Lilith watched her. “You also knew me as a child?”
“Yes.” Daci nodded and sat across from them on the matching couch. “You don’t remember me?”
Lilith stared at her. “Perhaps.”
Tatiana tried to help her remember. “Daci used to take care of you sometimes.”
Lilith frowned. “There was another, a male…”
“Yes, Octavian,” Daci said. “He’s gone now.”
“He was a traitor,” Tatiana spat.
Lilith turned sharply. “A traitor?”
“He tried to give you to our enemies.” Tatiana’s fingers dug into the leather. “He was the reason you were taken from me.”
Lilith seemed instantly curious. “What happened to him?”
Daci shook her head. “He killed himself so he wouldn’t have to face your mother’s wrath.”
Lilith’s eyes brightened. “Explain.”
Daci laughed softly. “Most vampires are smart enough to fear your mother. She is a great and powerful vampire. That’s why the ancients gave you to her to raise. If Octavian hadn’t killed himself, your mother would have done it for him. Without hesitation.”
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