“—a sucker,” he crowed, wrapping me in his arms and rolling across the floor with me until I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. “I can’t believe you fell for that. This leg is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I get all the sympathy points from hot chicks.”
After shoving Boaz off me, I stood and straightened my top. Amelie hiked it back up my shoulder and smoothed down my hair so I would look halfway presentable. Though Boaz stuck out his hand for help up, we both ignored him. Jerk.
After walking Amelie out, I stood on the porch and touched on the wards. Holding steady, thank the goddess, but weak, too weak to be any real protection. I had to knuckle down and get them repaired for both our sakes. The next time Volkov… I exhaled a shuddering breath. No. There wouldn’t be a next time. I would see to that. Whatever it took, I was going to figure out a way to keep us both safe.
Since Mr. Hacohen was nowhere to be seen, I assumed he had retreated to the air-conditioned comfort of the car to await me. I was taking the steps down when warm fingers encircled my wrist from behind. Panic seeped in before my brain could throw on the brakes, and I snapped my arm up, breaking the hold.
Startled to find me standing a yard away from him, Boaz wrinkled his brow. “What?”
“I can’t deal with surprises.” I inched back to his side and looped my arm through his instead. “Not yet.”
“Let me know your limits.” His eyes softened. “For once, I won’t push them. I swear.”
“Thanks.” I leaned my head against his shoulder. “You’re not half bad half the time.”
He led me down the drive. “And the other half?”
“You’re a holy terror, exactly as Amelie described.”
The driver greeted me with a nod as he opened the door to reveal Mr. Hacohen on his phone. I wobbled back a step as my vision tunneled on the yawning blackness of the interior. The car was the same model as the service Volkov used. A Lincoln Continental. Not even the deep crimson paint job, which screamed High Society, could keep my heart from rabbiting.
“I can’t do this.” I broke from Boaz and stumbled back. “I’ll get Jolene and meet you there.”
“You can’t go out alone right now.” Boaz kept his hands to himself but inched closer. “Let me drive you.”
I focused on my breathing until normal sight and sounds returned. “Okay.”
“Wilhelmina is in your garage. Hope you don’t mind. I needed somewhere to stash her when I left, and I figured she could use the time to bond with her little sister, Jolene.”
Ignoring the fact that he seemed to believe my garage was our garage, I had to stop him right there. “You named your new bike Wilhelmina?”
Smiling so wide he displayed every tooth in his head, he wiggled his eyebrows.
“Oh, Boaz. No.” I groaned when I got the joke. “You did not name your bike that so you could ask girls to hop on your Willie.”
His rolling chuckle only confirmed my suspicion.
“Perv.”
He winked down at me. “Never claimed to be otherwise.”
Nineteen
Passing on the ride was one thing, but Mr. Hacohen meant to ensure I didn’t give the same treatment to the Grande Dame’s summons. The car tailed us straight to city hall, and we left the crimson sedan idling at the curb as we entered the darkened building and rode the elevator down to the Lyceum. Boaz trailed after me through the long, dark hallway leading to the Grande Dame’s office where my courage abandoned me.
I held my knuckles poised above the wood for so long that Boaz crowded me, his arms a cage I didn’t want to fight, and knocked for me.
“Say the word,” he promised, “and I’ll take you home.”
“The sooner I do this, the sooner she leaves me alone. I want to help find who did this to me.” Any vampire with the age and power to unite multiple clans was not going to let this go, let me go, not when the abduction had felt so personal. “This won’t be fun, but it’s necessary.”
The door opened, and the Grande Dame rushed forward. “Grier, I was so worried.” She shocked me by gathering me against her in a delicate hug. Her slight build left me feeling like I was holding a spun-sugar sculpture. Her air of fragility was camouflage, my head knew that, but my heart… Once again, the similarities between her and Maud formed a hard lump in my throat. I could almost pretend the arms enfolding me were hers. Almost. “I thought we’d lost you.”
We broke apart, and she shooed me toward the only open seat while she circled the burled monstrosity she called a desk and sank into her chair.
Following her example, I straightened my back and folded my hands in my lap. “I understand I have you and Boaz to thank for my rescue.”
A smile parted her ruby lips. “What is family for?”
Thankfully, she didn’t wait for an answer.
“I’m certain you’ve surmised the reason for my summons. Let’s begin, shall we?” Using a manicured nail, the Grande Dame flipped on a recording device and got down to business. “We interviewed your friend, Ms. Amelie Pritchard, when she reported you missing. She told us Heritor Danill Volkov arrived under the guise of friendship and tricked you into stepping outside the wards set on your home. He then used his lure to incapacitate you. His men subdued Ms. Pritchard while he forced you into his vehicle. Once the men released her, you were gone.”
Fury simmering in my veins, I fixed Boaz with a glare. “Did they hurt Amelie?”
“A few bruises, but she earned those fighting to escape. She wasn’t hurt otherwise.”
Relief left me slumped in my chair. “She didn’t tell me.”
“There was no reason to make you feel worse than you already do.”
The Grande Dame cleared her throat, demanding our attention. “What we must determine now is who the conspirators are so that we can round them up and put them someplace where they can’t hurt you again. I’m sure you understand where I mean.”
Atramentous. She had just sentenced these vampires, admittedly bad ones, to life in prison.
I wanted to vomit.
“The vampires in residence didn’t match the name on the deed,” she continued. “It’s not unheard of. Some clans use the names of human relations to prevent the mortal authorities from looking too closely at property records. What can you tell us about your captors?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “Volkov was there. I saw him a few times that I remember, but the maid hinted he was there more often. He was brought in to use his lure when I fought back or…” my fingers curled into my palms, “…when I had panic attacks.”
Boaz clamped his hand on my shoulder in quiet support, and I relaxed enough to rediscover my voice.
“The maid, Lena, was the only person who spoke to me.” I shied away from the remembered echo of her death screams. “She was kind to me, in her way, but she followed orders to the letter. There were guards, but I didn’t catch their names, and they all dressed the same. I had no idea they belonged to different clans. They worked as a unit and seemed familiar with each other.”
“What about your accommodations?” She leaned forward. “Where did they keep you?”
“I woke in a little girl’s room. It was all pink, and there were dolls and children’s books on the shelves.” I fingered my collar, remembering the frilly pajamas that matched the decor. “I’m not sure how long I was there or how many times Volkov put me under before I woke the last time.”
There was more. Snippets of conversations itched at my brain, things I ought to remember, but scratching my head only tangled my helmet hair.
“What happened then?” she prompted me.
“I tried the door and the window. They were both locked. It reminded me of…” Years of confinement. Latches on all the doors. Bars on all the windows. Endless, hopeless days grinding my will to dust. “I couldn’t breathe. I’m not sure if I fainted before Volkov got to me that time. I can’t remember. I was in a different suite when I woke. This one had French doors leading out onto a patio in a smal
l, walled-in garden. They left the doors open day and night to keep me calm.”
One of her perfect eyebrows arched. “They weren’t concerned about escape?”
“They drugged me,” I said flatly.
Ignoring my tone, she pressed onward. “How do you know?”
“You don’t forget the feeling.” Her expectant look forced the symptoms out of me. “Weakness, poor balance, confusion, drowsiness, memory loss.” The polite veneer I’d worked so hard to hide behind crumbled a bit. “I assume you drew blood to run a tox screen the night I was recovered.” She didn’t contradict me. They would have wanted to be certain I hadn’t been hexed or otherwise damaged. “It was the same drug they use in the prisons, wasn’t it?”
The absence of withdrawal symptoms told me they had flushed my system after they examined me.
“We suspected the vampires had contacts within Atramentous,” Boaz answered for her. “The only people who knew you resuscitated the human were in that prison yard when it happened. The inmates’ communications are screened, and they’re often too sedated to comprehend what’s written to them, let alone return the message. That leaves the guards.”
“Sentinels work the prisons.” I connected the dots. “That means there are necromancers involved too.”
“Only a necromancer would understand that your progeny rose…different,” the Grande Dame agreed. “Someone realized the value of the information and sold it to the highest bidder. The Elite has hunted down each of the guards on duty that night and interrogated them. Two have failed to report to work since your release, but we hope to have them in custody by the end of the week.”
Too much time had passed for it to make any difference. The information would be in circulation now.
“Now,” she said, leaning forward, “explain to us how you escaped.”
Slowly, tugging the details from crannies in my warped memory, I outlined my plan, starting with the bunny I’d spotted in the pink room, touching on Dr. Heath’s cryptic insistence I tour the front gardens, and ending with the night I got the news the master was to return and made my move.
“It’s a pity you couldn’t have waited one more night.” Her lips pursed. “We could have ended all this.”
“Lena was preparing me for my presentation to the master, and to the clan.” The sting in my palm told me I’d drawn blood, and I didn’t care a whit. “Another maid found an engagement ring in Volkov’s room and gossiped with Lena about how he planned to solidify our union once the master returned. Forgive me for not waiting around until I was blood sworn to Volkov before attempting an escape neither he nor his clan would have allowed once we married.”
“Ah. I had wondered,” she murmured. “This master vampire offered your hand to the Volkov clan to get them to defect the Undead Coalition.”
“They defected?” I croaked. “The entire clan?”
Leaving the Coalition meant walking away from the Society’s protection and going rogue. History was a favorite subject of mine, and I was witnessing it now. No clan with such ancient bloodlines, and the wealth to support their continuance, had ever made such a drastic choice.
Who was this master that he commanded such absolute loyalty?
“This leaves us with the problem of how best to protect you.” The recording ended with an audible click. The rest must be off the record, not a comforting thought. “The Society was sympathetic to your plight, this time, but I can only tap communal resources so many times before our members start demanding answers I can’t give them without exposing you. They’ll start whispering I’m abusing my power or using my position for personal gain.”
Those few sentences tied my hands. The only thing more dangerous than Clarice Lawson as Grande Dame was Clarice Lawson fighting and clawing to stay atop her pedestal. I had no doubt if she went down, she would take me tumbling with her.
“The flip side of the coin is I can’t use Lawson resources without drawing as much, if not more, attention to you. The Society will expect me, as your closest living relative, to help you get back on your feet. This recent attack ought to extend that window, but soon there will come a time when others notice my efforts to protect you and wonder if that sudden interest after years of estrangement isn’t linked to the highly unusual nature of your pardon.”
All the buildup, the slathering on of guilt, the vague threats, led to one conclusion. “I assume you have a solution in mind.”
“Of course, dear girl.” She pressed a button on her desk, and the door to her right swung open. The somber man who entered positioned himself at her right shoulder. “You understand that, given your current circumstances, I must insist on a few precautions to protect my investment.”
This was Volkov all over again. The Grande Dame was backing me into a corner, and this time I might not be able to fight my way out.
“Linus will continue your necromantic education until such time he deems you proficient. Lessons will begin tomorrow evening.” Pride shone in her eyes when she glanced at the newcomer, the most genuine expression she’d worn tonight. “Do keep me informed of her progress, darling.”
Linus examined the room’s crown molding with a critical eye, his body language screaming he would rather be anywhere other than here. “Yes, Mother.”
Boaz clenched his fingers where they rested on my shoulders in response to the tension thrumming in the air.
The years had honed Linus Andreas Lawson III into a blade, and it was becoming clear that his mother wielded her heir, the Lawson scion, with expert precision.
Gone were his chubby cheeks and black-rimmed glasses. His freckles had paled, but they still splashed across his face in russet flecks. The watery blue eyes he used to weigh the world through before snubbing reality in favor of burying his nose in a fantasy novel had darkened, sharpened. Contacts? Either way, the contrast was eerie.
A black suit molded to his body, all six feet and change of it. Dark auburn hair brushed his wide shoulders, a carefree style that contradicted the stick I knew to be clenched firmly between his butt cheeks. Full lips tilted down at their corners, shielding his perfect smile, a masterpiece of orthodontics, and his square jaw flexed until I wondered how many retainers he’d gnawed through since the days when his dental appliance used to spend weekends in Maud’s guest bathroom next to mine.
Linus wore a perfect mask of boredom, but his eyes gave away his turmoil, gleaming with bitter emotion I was unable to decipher. I sucked in a shocked breath as wisps of black shadow fanned his pupils, sending a million thoughts tripping through my head.
Son of a biscuit. Linus had bonded with a wraith. There was no other excuse for the darkness in him.
A tendril of curious magic caressed me from shoulder to fingertip, drawing my gaze to his, and it was as though that roiling blackness in him had recognized me and reached out its spectral fingers. Jerking back to attention when Linus turned his head, I replayed the Grande Dame’s words. “Lessons?”
“Yes. Lessons.” She rose in a fluid motion. “Wide gaps were left in your education. Linus will tutor you until you’re up to speed.” She straightened his tie. “He’s quite brilliant, you’ll find. Takes after Maud in so many ways.”
Linus watched his mother fuss without blinking, and I flashed back to a dozen half-forgotten memories of the young boy he had been standing with the same stiff back while she cooed over him. He must have worked up an immunity to her hovering by now, much the same as the Pritchards had with their mother.
“Are you packed?” She flattened her palms against his lapels. “Is there anything else you need?”
“Arnaud loaded my bags into the car earlier.” He caught her by the wrists and took a half-step back. “Anything I’ve forgotten can be couriered over later. I’ll be across town, Mother, not across the world.”
Boaz smothered a laugh and coughed Momma’s boy into his fist, but I didn’t find any of this funny.
“Bags?” I glanced between mother and son. “What bags?”
“Linus wil
l be staying with you,” she announced. “He can take up residence in his old room. I assume it’s as he left it?”
“No.” I pushed to my feet, grateful I could stand without wobbling. “He’s not welcome in my home.”
Linus wore a masterful poker face, but the wraith had tipped his hand, and I recognized him right back.
“You’re hardly in any position to argue.” She faced me and anchored one hand on her hip. “Linus will stay with you at your home, or you will stay with us at mine.”
Abandoning Woolly wasn’t going to happen.
“He broke into my house,” I snarled. “He hurt her. And he stole my parakeet.”
A thin line formed between the Grande Dame’s perfect eyebrows. “I fail to see your point.”
Boaz tightened his grip on my shoulder, anchoring me before I committed murder for real.
“I would never hurt Woolly.” Linus linked his hands behind his back. “The sigil I used was one Maud taught me herself. The house was incapacitated, yes, but there was no permanent damage done.”
“You released a wraith in my house.” I laughed maniacally. “That hurt her, and it could have hurt me.”
The snarl Boaz released from over my shoulder would have intimidated a lesser man, but Linus ignored him.
“The wraith was under my control,” he explained slowly, like I should be anything other than terrified to find myself on the wrong side of one. “You were never in any danger.” He leaned down and bussed his mother’s cheek. “I’ll call when I’m settled.”
“Be careful,” she said softly. “This won’t end with Volkov.”
“I can take care of myself.” Linus dismissed her concern with practiced ease then crossed to me. “More than that, I can teach you to defend yourself. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
More than anything. Just not enough to kiss his feet for offering. I had already been kicked in the teeth while I was down plenty, thank you very much.
“Trust me when I say I want to be your guest as much as you want to host me. The harder you work, the sooner I can return to my home and my life, and the sooner you can transition into the next phase of yours.” He offered his hand. “Do we have a deal?”
How to Save an Undead Life (The Beginner's Guide to Necromancy Book 1) Page 21