by Cora Zane
Claudette was hot on her heels. “You are living an illusion, can’t you see that? Who do you think will hurt in the long run? It was the same with Marguerite. Have you not learned your lesson? You can’t change the status quo by putting on a red dress.”
Claudette tried to take Gisele’s hands in hers, but Gisele shook her off.
“You are not my maman!”
Claudette looked stricken. Without a doubt, the words had cut her deeply. When she spoke, her voice was low and tremulous. “That doesn’t change the fact that this is not what your maman would have wanted for you.”
“Who the hell are you to know what she would have wanted for me?” Her voice hitched. “I know she didn’t want nor expect me to be a servant to anyone.”
“That’s true. It’s why she left. She chose that path for herself. You can’t have it both ways, Gisele.” Eleni had never seen Claudette look so fierce. Her eyes were over-bright. “Julian won’t tolerate it.”
“Julian loves me!” Gisele thumped her chest for emphasis. “He confides in me. If not for her, I would be his lover.”
The fine hairs prickled on the back of Eleni’s neck.
Again, Claudette shook her head. “We aren’t meant to be with the vampires in such a way. You know this. You were raised knowing this, Gisele. Such a fantasy goes against everything we stand for. It’s dangerous—”
“You’re afraid of them,” Gisele accused angrily. “Just like maman was afraid.” Her mouth trembled. “She was beautiful and dedicated. She could have been so much more than a servant.”
“Childish daydreams,” Claudette burst out. “Your mother knew her place. She never would have attempted what you are doing—playing a fool’s game. But what else could I expect? You are a foolish girl—you have always been foolish.”
Gisele struck her, a sharp slap that rang out, echoing through the cavernous garden. Utter silence followed it. The fountain gurgled, a quiet rushing noise that seemed to amplify the tension in the room. Eleni’s heart galloped. She watched in disbelief, riveted, both hands over her mouth.
Claudette reeled, her mouth agape. A heavy hand came up and pressed itself to her reddened cheek. Her breathing had gone ragged as she stared into Gisele’s face, which had whitened perceptibly.
Finally, Gisele turned on her heel and strode from the room. Claudette stood watching her until the click-clack of Gisele’s high heels grew distant and faded. Several heartbeats later, Claudette followed her out of the room.
Eleni remained in her hiding spot behind the leaves, processing this startling new threat, afraid to move, afraid to stay in case someone returned to the solarium. Gisele’s dislike of her had taken on an ominous new meaning, especially where Julian was concerned, and she didn’t know what to do about it.
Claudette was right about one thing. While Julian had fostered Gisele, he would never consider making her an Acolyte, much less a bloodmate. It was taboo, especially in aristocratic circles, and Julian was too much of a traditionalist to break that unspoken code, even if he did claim that he didn’t care what the council thought of his actions.
Still, it worried her that Gisele thought otherwise. The girl had already threatened her once. When she was sure no one was coming back to the garden, Eleni went to the end table and picked up her teacup and saucer. The tea was cold in the cup and had over-steeped, but she didn’t want to risk carrying leave it behind, or carrying it back to the kitchen. Instead, she poured it out into one of the plant troughs and left the garden, careful to avoid running into anyone on the way up to her room.
* * * * *
The following Wednesday, after making love to Julian in the shower, Eleni had wrapped herself in a towel and sprawled out on Julian’s bed while he faced the closet mirror and dressed in a black trousers and a crisp white shirt. Contented and languorous, she stretched out on her side, admiring him, until she realized he was putting on a tie. It was then he told her he had to go to Bergerac to discuss business with his primary accountant, and would be gone for most, if not all, of the night. Henri was to drive him, and he would likely be back sometime near dawn, but on the event he had to get a hotel there, he would call her before he slept.
Feeling deflated, and anxious about staying in the house without him, Eleni stuck with him like a shadow until at last Henri arrived around eight o’clock. At the front door, Julian kissed her goodbye, promising to bring her back a trinket from one of the shops. She had fixed a smile to her face, even though she didn’t feel it, even though she could care less about gifts, or trinkets. If he didn’t make it back before dawn, it would be the first time she had slept alone since her arrival at the house. She had no idea what she’d do without him around.
Some two hours later, after the car had pulled out of the drive, she was still feeling let down. The chateau was a nowhere place without Julian—too large, too impersonal.
She took her laptop computer down to the small parlor, and checked the news, the stock market, and was curled up on the couch writing an email to Anya when she heard a light rap on the facing of the open doorway. She looked up, and over the rim of her glasses, saw Claudette in the doorway, concern in her dark eyes.
“Claudette?”
“Mademoiselle.” The housekeeper stepped into the room, and presented a tall, pale gentleman with reddish brown hair. “Liev Sidorov from the Vampire Council is here to see you.”
Eleni sat up and shut the lid of her laptop. When her eyes landed on the man coming in through the door, her heart leapt with sudden wary fear. For an instant, her lungs seized and her brain froze. It can’t be. He wouldn’t come here. The thought whirled in her head, tormented in those few seconds before he stepped forward out of the shadows and she got a good look at him.
She almost cried out in relief when she realized the man wasn’t who she thought he was, but the likeness was remarkably similar. In fact, he looked so much like Zander Rubio, her ex-Biter, she felt instantly threatened by his presence.
He came toward her with an easy stride, and introduced himself in heavily accented English. The words seem to soar right over her head, but after the initial shock had worn off, she saw it was merely the angle of his jaw and his coloring that made this vampire look so much like her ex-lover. This Liev Sidorov made a passable imposter, but he would never compare with Zander’s exquisite handsomeness. His nose was too pointed and too narrow, his forehead too high.
Still, his appearance was enough to rattle her. Eleni stood up to offer him a chilly greeting, and in exchange, he offered her the tiniest of bows.
“I apologize for dropping in on you unannounced, Miss Audridov,” he said, his accent crisp and distinctly Russian. Eleni fixed on his fangs when he spoke, then flicked a glance over to Claudette, who stood waiting. She had no intention of speaking to him unless she was alone.
“My Biter isn’t home. Should I have my housekeeper call him for you?”
“Ah, no, no… There’s no need.” He glanced briefly over his shoulder at Claudette. “It isn’t my intention to take up much of your time. May we talk in private?”
Eleni hesitated, but decided at last she would. “Thank you, Claudette. Could you close the door on your way out, please?”
“Should I bring anything, madam? Wine, perhaps?”
“That won’t be necessary,” she said without consulting her ‘guest’. Eleni had a feeling Julian wouldn’t have been thrilled to know she was entertaining a vampire without his supervision, but she very well couldn’t send him away without hearing what he had to say, first. She could ill afford to rile the council. There were enough grievances against her already. That did not mean she intended to make Mr. Sidorov feel comfortable enough to stay longer than was absolutely necessary.
Claudette nodded sharply, glancing one last time at the vampire before backing out of the room. The door closed softly behind her, and only then did Eleni turn her attention to the councilman, who she regarded with a mixture of confusion and contempt.
“May I sit down?” he a
sked, gesturing to a seat. Eleni permitted it with a turn of her hand, and while he settled himself into Julian’s chair, she sat down in her own chair and addressed him in Russian in case anyone tried to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“I’m surprised to see a member of the council so soon,” she said, roiling in her dislike of him. “I wasn’t told I’d receive house visits, and I know I’m not up for review until May. The way I was told, I’d have to travel with my Biter to Paris to face the review board there.”
“I know this probably seems like an unwelcome intrusion on your new life. However, I must confess that’s not why I’m here—to judge you in any way.” Even as he said it, something hidden danced in his eyes, which were a shade of hazel brown so light they were almost the exact same shade as his auburn hair. “I think you know there are at least a few Elders who would like to see your name stricken from the Book of Acolytes.”
Eleni tensed. “Are you threatening me?” She didn’t try to hide the sharpness of her voice.
Immediately, the glimmer of sly amusement vanished. He sat straighter, his mouth drawn down at the corners. “I’m offering you a deal, a chance to clear your name with the council, and move on with your life. Isn’t that what you want?”
Chill warning scraped through her. “My brother-in-law is well connected. I highly doubt you could offer me anything he couldn’t arrange with the council himself.”
“Ah, but that’s not true. It’s politics, you understand. You are from a very distinguished line. Think about that. Whatever affects you, also affects you sister—who I hear is a charming vampiress now that she has turned.”
He pulled out a thin sheaf of bundled pages from the inside pocket of his jacket, and unfolded them.
“Rubio sent you?” The question came out tense and bitter. She already knew the answer. “He must be desperate if he sent you all the way to France to hound me.”
“The council was harsh with him, as they were with you.”
“So you’re some kind of representative?” By the look of him, a relative was probably more like it.
“If you agree and sign this, Rubio is willing to take responsibility for your condition before the council, and he’ll pay you a settlement to satisfy the damage done to your family name. In return, you must exonerate him, of course. Sign a letter of forgiveness that will be sent to Vidam Grigori for his approval. By signing this statement, you tell the court you forgive Rubio of his part in your illness. The council will have no choice but to honor the agreement.”
His proposal galled her. Rubio had put her through absolute hell and now he wanted her to sign papers so he could have a lighter sentence levered against him. She knew the conditions of his punishment had been weighed against him based on the years of abuse he’d put her through. “You both must be out of your mind.”
The vampire looked momentarily taken aback. His lips thinned. “I assure you, much thought has been put into this.”
She scoffed. “Oh, I don’t doubt that.”
“Zander’s lawyers have worked tirelessly to find a loophole.
Just like that, his expression hardened into an unreadable mask. “It would save you both going through an appeal that the council has neither the time nor the inclination to deal with.”
“I think you should leave.” She stood up and walked to the door. “You tell Rubio I plan to report this offer to the council. If he approaches me again, I’ll have Julian call him out. Do you hear me?”
Slowly, the vampire stood up. Eleni watched him drop the sheaf of papers gently onto the coffee table before making his way around the furniture to leave.
When he reached the doorway, he stopped in front of her, and stared into her eyes. Eleni swallowed hard. She was tall, but Liev Sidorov towered over her by almost a full foot. Without saying a word, he reached into his coat pocket and extracted a business card. He handed it to her.
Eleni reluctantly slipped it from his fingers. She looked down at it, and saw his name embossed in black letters. The number and address was to a suite in Paris.
“It’s hardly an olive branch, but I hope you’ll put aside your anger and consider what is being offered to you. You know already the council is biased against you. The stigma of Biter’s Addiction isn’t something that goes away with time. If it isn’t stricken from the record purposely, it will haunt your bloodline for generations. You don’t want that. I know you don’t, or you wouldn’t be in France. Rubio wants to be free, so much so he’s willing to brush off his wounded pride to offer freedom to his enemy in order to attain it. Agree to this. Sign the papers, and the past will go away for both of you.”
“Goodbye, Liev Sidorov.” Her voice wavered with barely restrained anger.
His eyes gleamed, sly and brimming with dislike. “If even one of your probationary reviews goes wrong, you could find yourself cast out of vampire society. Neither Julian nor Dominic will be able to help you, then. Where will you go? How will you live?”
She was smart enough to recognize his veiled threat. Her pulse quickened, but she held it in check. It would be dangerous to show weakness. Without a doubt, he would report just such a finding back to Rubio, and she knew her ex-Biter wouldn’t hesitate to exploit her fears.
Their eyes locked in silent challenge. At last, Eleni broke the silence, switching seamlessly from the vampire’s native Russian to English. “Should I call Claudette to show you out?”
“That won’t be necessary.” He bid her brusque goodnight and left.
Eleni stood in the doorway for several minutes, her nerves jangling, her breathing harsh and jagged. Her eyes lingered on the contract he’d left on Julian’s coffee table as though it held a dangerous life of its own.
The vampire’s footfalls rang down the hallway, fading, growing distant. Her heart cried with relief when she heard the front door open and close as he let himself out. Turning, she padded quickly through the house to the foyer. Standing at one of the slender windows along either side of the front door, she watched the vampire get into a shiny black car with darkly tinted windows. A moment later, the lights came on, and the car crunched over the white rock as it pulled out of the driveway.
“Is everything all right, Mademoiselle?”
Eleni looked over her shoulder at Claudette. The woman stood in the doorway to the kitchen with her hands clenched together in her apron. Her face was lined with worry.
Uncertain, she took a deep breath and shook her head. “I hope, but… I don’t know.”
Chapter Thirteen
Around 9:00 PM the following night, Julian and Henri returned from their business trip to Bergerac. Upstairs in her room, Eleni had just gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed in jeans and a black blouse when she heard the car pulled up in the driveway. Her hair wrapped in a towel, she went to the window. Henri had parked Julian’s black sedan directly in front of the house, and while Eleni watched, absently rubbing her hair with the towel, one of the doors opened, and Julian climbed out of the car and stretched.
Excitement burst through her, joy and relief. Glad he was home, she couldn’t wait to talk to him, to hold him. She dropped the curtain, and the towel, and left her room, padding barefoot through the house to greet her Biter.
She met him in the entryway as he was shuffling in through the front door carrying department store shopping bags. He looked disheveled, but incredibly sexy.
“I’m glad you’re home!” Eleni said as she darted forward and hugged Julian. He returned her embrace, crinkling shopping bags. Laughter rumbled in his chest.
“Is it safe to believe you missed me?” His eyes gleamed with happiness as he eyed her wet hair and kissed her on the tip of the nose. “This one is for you,” he told her, and handed her a striped shopping bag, which was fairly heavy. He also had a bag for Claudette and Gisele.
“So, what’s this?” Eleni asked and started to poke through the bag, but Julian stilled her with an amused chuckle.
“You might want to save that until we go to my office
.”
She blinked at him. “Oh?”
“You should trust me on this.”
Her brows lifted at the wicked smile on his face. Now she was more curious than ever, but before she could ask what he’d been up to, Henri entered the house behind him, looking withered and exhausted. “I’ll be happy to sleep in my own bed again,” he grumbled, and an amused look crossed Julian’s face.
Claudette peeked out of the kitchen. “Ah, so there you are. It was a good trip?”
“We made it out alive,” Henri said tiredly on his way across the foyer to her. “You have coffee made, no? Help an old man, will you, Claudie?”
Her mouth drew into a perfect moue. “I suppose I could do that.”
Claudette turned to go back into the kitchen with Henri, but Julian caught the housekeeper before she could slip away and gave her a small gift bag. The woman’s face lit up as she peeked into the bag, rustling the tissue. “My favorite chocolate,” she said with hearty appreciation. She came over and gave Julian a hearty kiss on both cheeks.
There was no sign of Gisele. Julian said nothing about her absence, merely guided Eleni back to his office. While he stripped off his wrist watch and cuff links and tossed them onto his desk, Eleni told him about the vampire that had come by the house.
“What was his name?” Julian flipped through the contract she’d left on his desk while she struggled to remember.
“He left a card. It’s there on your desk,” she told him. “The name was something…Sidorov. A fairly common name, I think. I had a ballet teacher with the same surname once. She had no relationship to any vampires, of course, but’s how I remember it. Anyway, I’d recognize him if I saw him again.”