“But, Dragon, why was Lucifer so focused on Kismet? Was that your doing, too?”
Devereux’s trying to keep Dracul talking. Brilliant man. Dracul loves to brag. But I’m not sure what we’re buying time for.
As expected, Dracul didn’t disappoint. “Oh yes! I expanded Lucifer’s memory of his wife who looked like your mate so he would become more obsessed with her. It was a marvelous coincidence. He’d found the good doctor’s photo in an advertisement for her new vampire counseling practice and was already stalking her. That incredible opportunity fell right into my lap.” He licked my neck where Lucifer had fed. “The addled fool kept forgetting he knew where your woman could be found. Instead, he attacked anyone who vaguely resembled her. He left scores of dead therapists—and humans he mistakenly thought were therapists—across the country.” He laughed, exerting more pressure on my lungs with each guffaw. “Of course, I also had assignments for him, like killing the reporter and the vampires holding Olivia’s mate, just to confuse everyone. And sometimes Lucifer would find his beloved, only to switch to another personality and forget why he wanted her. What an entertaining few months it’s been!”
Oh my God! My mind spun. It was Dracul all along! No wonder Lucifer’s powers appeared extra-supernatural and he seemed to be everywhere. My heart pounded and my stomach muscles contracted. I feared I would lose control of my bladder. And I knew with certainty that Dracul really did intend to kill me.
“Well, as enjoyable as this evening has been, I really need to finish up and move to another location. I fear this one has been compromised. Say good-bye to your playmate, Devereux. You should have cooperated.”
Without further pause, he struck, sinking his fangs into my neck with such fury that I screamed, pushing against him until he gathered my hands into one of his and held me fast. His other hand was fisted in my hair, holding my head off the ground for his dining pleasure. His sucking hurt, as if he took great enjoyment in giving me as much pain as possible. I began to feel light-headed, my vision clouding as I saw Devereux struggling to break free of the iron grips of his captors. He bellowed words in his strange language.
As Dracul drank, my eyes became heavy and my bones dissolved. I’d almost drifted away when the sound of feet pounding up the stairs startled me, and I jerked back to consciousness.
With a grunt, Dracul lifted his face from my neck, blood dripping from his chin. His red eyes blazed. “What the hell?” He unceremoniously dropped my head onto the floor with a thud and leaped to his feet.
I was able to turn my head just enough to see what all the stomping and screaming was about. If I hadn’t recognized Alan’s white T-shirt and his unintentionally spiky hair, I’d have thought I was hallucinating. I gathered all that remained of my energy and managed to use my body weight to flip myself onto my side. The wound on my neck throbbed.
“No!” Dracul howled, his voice sounding more like the demon in The Exorcist.
A herd of vampires clambered up the stairs and fanned out into the room. They jumped on Dracul’s servants, which freed Devereux to lunge for Dracul.
“What took so long?” Devereux yelled at Alan. “I read in your mind that you were going for help. Didn’t my security receive the command I sent?”
“No,” Alan said, bobbing and weaving to stay out of the way of the hissing and flailing vampires as he pulled me out of the center of the room and back to the corner where Michael was bouncing in his chair, still trying to free himself. Alan propped me up against the wall. I could feel the blood dripping down my chest from the wounds in my neck. “I guess it was part of the magical protection deal: no vampires could pop in and no mental messages could go out. I was going to use my cell, but it was dead, so I had to run from house to house until I could find someone I could badger and convince to let me use their phone. I finally got through to the Crypt and told security to come. They had to enter through the front door. The rest is history.”
Dracul slashed what looked like claws across Devereux’s face. “You have gained nothing bringing them here. None of you will get out alive.”
I figured that was a true statement if you didn’t count Alan and me, and maybe Michael, since the rest were already dead anyway. The jury was still out on the survival chances for us humans.
As Alan, Michael, and I watched, yet more vampires stormed into the room and within minutes, Devereux’s forces had Dracul’s restrained. They waited in a circle around the two master vampires who continued to slash, bite, and jab at each other.
“You have changed, Dragon. When Mina was alive you did not have such rigid ideas about humans. If she had not died—”
Dracul lunged at Devereux again, as he had the first time Mina’s name was mentioned. “I told you not to say her name. She did not die. I killed the ungrateful bitch. I offered her immortality, to live forever, with me. I would have given her everything. But she turned me down—rejected me—for a miserable human male. I could not allow her to cast me aside.”
“So that is why you want to exterminate humans? Because of your love for Mina?”
Dracul screamed and pressed his hands to the sides of his head.
He was truly mad.
“I did not love the whore.”
“You lie, Dragon. I was there. I know better.”
The two powerful vampires were so evenly matched, I didn’t see how Devereux could overcome Dracul and end this nightmare.
Then I remembered the unexpected arrival of Lucifer’s Nettie and wondered if I might be able to summon another ghost. What good was it to have my weird abilities if they couldn’t help in an emergency? If I could summon her, maybe Dracul would be distracted, and Devereux would have the edge he needed to win. Of course, I didn’t know what I was going to do about the fact that Dracul probably wouldn’t be able to see her.
I repeated, over and over in my mind, Mina Harker, come to me. Mina Harker, come to me. …
A form shimmered in front of me: a woman with brown hair pulled back in a bun wearing a floor-length black dress with a full skirt and a high neckline. She stared at me with wide green eyes as if she didn’t know what to make of her arrival.
Shit! It worked!
“Are you Mina Harker?” Just like all the times I’d used the Ouija board, I never knew for sure who would show up.
“Yes. Where am I?” Her voice quivered.
“Who are you talking to?” Alan asked.
Now that I had her here, I didn’t know what to say to her. Dracul had killed her, after all, and now I was asking her to try to attract his attention again. I doubted if she’d be receptive to the idea. But I had to convince her to help. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have summoned you if it hadn’t been an emergency.” I braced myself for a negative reaction. “Dracul is here.”
Instead of the fearful or angry outburst I expected, she lit up with joy. “Where is he?”
I pointed behind her.
She turned and ran to him, saying his name.
Dracul paused for a second in battle, just long enough to give Devereux the opportunity to slam in a head-cracking kick. “Who called my name?”
Damn. Could he hear her? That was more than I’d hoped for.
“Mina?” I wheezed and crumpled farther down the wall. Taking as deep a breath as I could, I struggled to sit up straighter, trying to retain the little bit of strength I still had. “Can you let him see you?”
“Yes.”
She stepped between the two fighters, and Dracul’s eyes went wide. “Mina!”
In that moment, Devereux reached through the apparition, knifed his fingers into Dracul’s chest, and pulled out his heart, which he crushed in his hand. Then he reached over, twisted off the famous vampire’s head, and threw it against the wall, where it exploded, sending blood and brain matter oozing onto the floor. The rest of the Prince of Darkness’s body crumbled into bone and ash.
Everything went deathly still. In the silence that followed, I saw Dracul’s wispy soul form take shape as Mina grasped his h
and. She paused and turned to me long enough to smile before they disappeared.
Suddenly Devereux was there. He knelt down next to me, leaned over, and laved the painful place on my neck to stop the bleeding. “You need blood, but you will be all right. I will take you home now. It is all over.”
He lifted me into his arms. My head flopped against his shoulder, my neck muscles no longer reporting for duty.
“Transport Alan and Olivia to the Crypt,” Devereux said to a couple of the waiting vampires, and they untied Olivia, lifted her from the bed, then carried her out of the bordello bedroom. Alan followed them.
“Free him.” Devereux pointed to Michael, and another vampire hurried over and tore away the tape.
Michael jumped up from the chair, ripped the tape off his mouth, and fell at Devereux’s feet. “Oh my God—what a horrible experience! Master—please take me with you. Don’t leave me here!”
“Come.” Devereux tugged Michael to his feet and drew him close. I must have shut my eyes because the next thing I knew, we were in Devereux’s private rooms under the Crypt.
Chapter 23
Whispered voices and shadowy figures greeted me when I cracked an eye.
“She is still very pale,” a male voice said. “We may need to resort to our regular procedures if she does not awaken soon.”
“Should we prepare the blood?” said a woman.
“Wait! Her heart is beating more strongly.” Devereux leaned down and kissed my forehead, his soft hair trailing across my arm. “She is awake.”
As I opened both eyes and they adjusted to the dim light, I recognized a few of the vampires surrounding me. In addition to Devereux, Zephyr, Valentino, and Anne Boleyn studied me with solemn faces. Devereux’s assistant Luna stood off to the side, checking her wristwatch. Behind the vampires I knew were several others I’d never seen before.
Since they were all there, it had to be dark still, so I must not have been unconscious for long.
“How do you feel, my love?”
I tried to speak, but all that came out was a croaking sound. My lips and throat were so dry, I couldn’t form words.
Devereux poured water from a nearby pitcher into a glass, slid his hand under my back, and raised my head high enough to be able to drink. The water tasted wonderful, as if I’d gone without it for a long time.
I cleared my throat. “Better now.”
Relaxing back onto the pillows, I looked down at myself, expecting to see the bloody remains of the clothes I’d been wearing, but they were gone. Instead, I was wearing a sheer white gown. I did a double-take, looking up at the vampires and then down at my body clearly visible through the transparent fabric.
Ack! Bride of Dracula!
Oh my God! What the hell happened while I was out?
“Devereux, can I have a blanket, please?”
He looked at me, a confused expression on his face. “But you are sweating—are you sure you wish to be even warmer?”
“Er, yes.” I looked at the faces peering down at me. “Definitely.”
Nola, one of Devereux’s devotees I’d met around Halloween, brought a satin duvet and spread it over me.
“Thank you, Nola.”
She curtsied and stepped away.
Anne Boleyn sat on the edge of the bed. “We thought we’d lost you. Your heart stopped beating more than once. But you came back.”
“What do you mean? I thought Devereux said I needed blood, but I’d be okay.”
“You did need blood—human blood,” she said, “but we were afraid to give it to you.”
Vampires afraid of blood? What an odd statement. “I don’t understand. Why?”
“Do you remember what I told you about Michael and why he became stuck in between being human and vampire?” Devereux asked. “How he drank vampire blood, then had human transfusions?”
“Yes.” A very bad feeling washed over me.
Zephyr leaned in. “We could not determine whether or not the same thing would happen to you. Even though the assembled elders sought visions, the results were unclear.”
“So we decided to use magic alone to see if your body could heal itself,” Anne said.
Valentino gave a wicked, fangless grin. “Luckily, we were eventually able to locate a spell Zephyr created a century ago for a similar situation. And it worked, which I’m especially pleased about. Not only because you’re recovering, but because—had you died—Devereux probably would have lost his mind.”
“Well, we will never know.” Devereux brushed his lips over mine. “I am glad you clung so stubbornly to life. It is true,” he whispered, “I would have been lost without you.”
“But we did give you a little more of the elders’ blood,” Anne said, “just to make up for the amount Lucifer and Dracul sucked from your body, so you will continue to have the brain protection you discussed with Zephyr.”
“I need to tell you what happened with Lucifer and Dracul …”
“We already know,” Devereux said gently. “Zephyr read your mind and saw how the events unfolded from your point of view. We know about Nettie and Mina.”
“Yes, sister! You really kicked some ghost-summoning ass and saved the day!” Anne said, and punched her fist up into the air.
It was good they thought they knew what had happened. I hoped someone would explain it to me.
“You were also having bad dreams after being so close to Lucifer’s foul body,” Devereux said, “so Zephyr muted those memories. They should not trouble you as much now.”
Even hearing those words caused my stomach to cramp.
They were making it sound like they’d held a long vigil, which made me nervous, so I figured I’d just ask and get it over with. “So how long have I been here?”
“Seven days,” Anne said, and I finally noticed she was wearing an “I’m the Queen” T-shirt and jeans, which somehow just didn’t fit for the former wife of Henry VIII.
My brain ground to a halt. “Seven days? Wait a minute. We went over to Dracul’s house on Saturday night. Are you saying that a week has passed since then?” I tried to spring up into a sitting position but Devereux pushed against my shoulders, forcing me down onto the bed again. “I had clients scheduled—and my groups—oh no!”
Anne smiled smugly. “You will be happy to hear that I took care of everything.”
Uh-oh. Anne Boleyn taking care of everything? That could be a disaster. “What exactly did you take care of?” I had visions of my non-vampire clients lying drained in the waiting room.
“That was very good. You are such a creative worrier,” Zephyr said.
“I went to your home, found your appointment book, and called all your clients.” Anne polished her fingernails on her T-shirt. “I told them I was your answering service, and you’d come down with a very bad case of the flu. I said you would call to reschedule as soon as you were able. I canceled your entire week’s clients. And, brilliant actress that I am, I mimicked your voice and changed the messages on your phones to tell callers you were unavailable due to illness. I feel like such a professional!” She grinned and took a bow. “You may thank me now.”
Under any other circumstances, I’d have been concerned about the confidentiality issues raised by having someone other than me contact my clients, but I doubted Anne knew anyone who cared about a human psychologist’s client list or such humdrum mortal activities.
“I do appreciate it, Anne. Thank you. I’m glad I still have the weekend to recuperate.”
“All right!” Anne stood and clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “I think we can leave Kismet in Devereux’s capable hands now.” She grinned at me. “If you know what I mean.”
Suddenly, the room was empty except for Devereux and me.
He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine in a sensual, lingering kiss. I looped my arms around his neck and pulled him close, taking the kiss deeper. He eased his tongue into my mouth and I opened for him, giving as good as I got. Breathing in his delicious aroma
and enjoying the brush of his soft hair on my skin helped my rejuvenation more than anything the elders had done.
Much too soon he broke the kiss, his expression serious. “Not knowing how to assure your survival devastated me. I do not remember ever feeling more afraid in my long life.”
I pulled him in for another quick kiss. “I’m glad you figured it out without turning me into a half-thing like Michael. What would you have done if I hadn’t regained consciousness?”
He sat up and shifted his eyes away. “That is not important. All that matters now is that you did return, and you will recover.”
I peeled the blanket off and slowly rose to a sitting position.
Devereux lifted his hands to push me back down, and I grabbed hold of them before they reached my shoulders. I didn’t want to lie down anymore. I wanted to confront his evasive statement.
“No! I want to sit up and talk about this. I know enough to recognize when someone is lying to me.”
“I am not lying.”
“Yes, you are. You’re lying by evasion. Apparently we need to have another discussion about the level of truth-telling between us. Let me ask you again: what would you have done if I hadn’t awakened?”
He finally met my eyes, the blue-green of his simply lovely rather than entrancing. “If there was no way to bring back your humanity, and to avoid turning you into a half-creature, I would have given you my blood and performed the transformation ritual to change you into a vampire.” He watched for my reaction.
I thought silently for a few seconds. “I see.” I couldn’t say his admission surprised me, because it was actually the most logical course of action. Literally dead or undead. I didn’t know how to feel about either choice. “Thank you for telling me.”
“That is all you have to say? You are not angry? Horrified?” He pressed his palm to my forehead, then against my neck. “Perhaps you are still feverish. I will call one of the healers back—”
“No.” I took his hand again. “I’m fine. I didn’t have a reaction because I really don’t know what I think. Would I really rather be totally dead than be a vampire? After treating so many undead clients, I know there’s nothing black and white about the issue. Each vampire is different, and there are no easy answers. At this point, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to die.”
Blood Therapy (Kismet Knight, Ph.D., Vampire Psychologist) Page 34