Desire by Blood

by Schroeder, Melissa

  "You were not totally honest."

  Honest? He was one to talk.

  She snorted. "I think not saying I was working as a reporter is a little bit less of a fib than you not telling me I was marrying into a family of vampires."

  "I—"

  She didn’t want to hear any more excuses from him. "No. I am done with this conversation. Really, Nico, if you think a woman would put up with your temper, your mood swings and secretiveness because of your money, you are not as smart as I thought you were."

  "What do you mean?"

  How could she get it through his thick head? "Your personality makes it very hard to like you, let alone love you. Nicodemus Blackburn, you do not have enough money to make me pretend to like you. You are bossy and you often irritate me so much that it takes everything I have not to throw something at you." She marched toward the door. "Even if you had as much gold as Midas, it wouldn’t be enough to make me pretend to like you."

  She walked out the door, slamming it hard enough that the figurines on the back wall shelves jumped. She heard them jangle against each other.

  Cordelia ignored the looks the staff gave her as she walked away from the room. The nerve of the man. She stomped up the stairs. Was the man blind? For over a month now, she had been enthralled by him, and he questioned why she was married to him?

  It had started as a marriage of convenience, but she was in love with the stupid man.

  She burst into her room, happy that the maid was not there. She shut the door and walked over to her bed. She was so tired. Nights out until the wee hours of the morning had her body aching for a good rest.

  Now she had nothing to do. She was exhausted from their time out in the ton the last few nights, but sleeping all day was not something she liked to do. From an early age, she had worked in some way or other. She was testy and overemotional because she needed something to do.

  Her mother-in-law had offered to help Cordelia find her birth father. He might not want to know her, or he might have moved on, but she needed to know where she came from. With a sigh, she decided to take Adelaide up on the offer and set out to find her father.

  * * * *

  What in the world had come over the woman? Nico was still staring at the door several moments later. The emotional outburst was so unlike her. Or what he knew of her. He knew her family life had been horrific from the little tidbits she had told him. Being called the “Scottish bastard” growing up was far from the ideal environment for a girl to be in. Now, though, he wasn’t too sure that she had told him that much. She had allowed him a peek into what had formed her into the woman she was today, but he had no idea what else lay behind the shield.

  A writer. Of course it made sense. She would never take payment to be someone’s paramour, and she would never put herself on the marriage mart. The first, because she had too much backbone, and the second, because she knew her background. Normally, she would have never married someone like him.

  Not that he was a prize. He shook his head. They needed time together. He had kept her in the dark for the most part about his world. He did not need her to know about binding.

  Someday she would probably figure it out. Binding was the ultimate in mating, where you bound your life forces together for eternity. When Nico lost his brother, it had been because Demetrius had lost his mate. They had been bound the night of their wedding. It had been his brother’s death sentence.

  He shook away the thoughts and realized it was getting late in the day. He hadn’t heard from Saint or the other men working the stews today. As if summoned by his thoughts, the door opened without a knock. Of course it was Saint.

  “This plan isn’t bloody working.”

  Nico blinked. Saint was abrupt most of the time, but this was beyond his usual behavior. “Indeed?”

  “We need to find Neal.”

  Nico sighed. “Yes, but a man who is dead…how can you find him?”

  Before Saint could answer, Cordelia came marching back in, irritation still rolling off her in waves. She opened her mouth to yell at him, but she noticed Saint pouring himself a brandy.

  “Lord…er—Saint. I did not know you had arrived.” She gave Nico a nasty look.

  “I only just arrived, Lady Cordelia.”

  The monster of a man who rarely displayed any kind of manners smiled at Cordelia.

  Nico frowned at her. “We were working on the case.”

  She ignored his admonition. “I am looking for your mother.”

  “I believe she and my father should be here for dinner.”

  “Fine.”

  She looked at Saint. “It is nice to see you. Please join us for dinner.”

  He nodded, still smiling until she left. Saint grinned at him.

  “Ouch, cousin, you have a woman there you better be careful of.”

  “You did me no good. What is all that smiling anyway?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to kick himself. He sounded jealous, and he wasn’t. Not really.

  “I have learned to be very careful of a mated Carrier. They can be…dangerous.”

  “You do not act like that around others.”

  “She will have the sight.”

  Saint said it with enough conviction that Nico paused.

  “How do you know?”

  “We know each other. We can sense the gift in someone else. It is just going to get worse now that she is breeding.”

  “You can sense it? What a bunch of…wait, what did you say?”

  He shrugged and took a healthy drink of his brandy. “She’s breeding.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Positive. There is a reason she is so…unsettled I guess is the best word. Her emotions are going to get the better of her.”

  “Did you take a blow to the head? She cannot be breeding. We have only been married a month.”

  “That means nothing, Nico. You know that a Carrier is very fertile right after the first feeding.” Saint studied him. “This is good news.”

  “It makes her an even larger target.” Learning that his mate was carrying one of their offspring should have made him happy, but with Neal on the loose, he only felt fear.

  “True. I think we need to formulate a new plan. This one is not working and after a month of Mades leaving behind a trail of Carriers raped and murdered, the Borns are getting very restless. There is talk of segregation again.”

  Too many Mades were important in their society and had earned the place, Malik being the most important.

  "I will call on Gray. Hurst is ready to make his way about in society now, so we might need to reintroduce him. It might help."

  Saint nodded.

  "Have you told her of this? That there is a threat to her and you?"

  Nico shook his head. "She knows some, but I don’t want to horrify her with every detail. She knows to be careful, especially after her brother tried to have her abducted.”

  Saint shook his head. "You will never learn, Nico. She knows. Or she will. Then, there will be hell to pay."

  "What do I tell her? There is a man who killed my sister-in-law because he wanted my brother to suffer a long and tortured death? And now this same man is after her and wants to kill her to punish me?"

  "And kill you."

  He said nothing. How could he admit to Cordelia all the danger he’d brought into her life?

  "You have not bonded with her. Nico, what on earth are you thinking?"

  "That I do not want to leave her vulnerable. If we are bonded, her life is more at risk."

  Saint studied him for a long time then shook his head. "That is not what you fear, but I am not in the mood to argue. I believe I will get notes around to Gray and Hurst, and then we can have our meeting tonight. I am ready for my own bed and the Highlands out my window."

  He left Nico alone to his thoughts. Just what was Neal up to? The man was a viper, one ready to infect anyone with his venom. Making an army of Mades would be a plan Neal would love. It was perverted, and it wou
ld send fear racing along the upper classes of Mades.

  But, why was he waiting? Was it to drive them crazy, to pretend that it wasn't him? After one hundred years he had surfaced, but what was the reason? Why did he wait?

  With a sigh, Nico sat down at his desk and started to work on the books. If he was going to have a meeting tonight, he would have to deal with the Blackburn business first.

  * * * *

  The man known as Neal Pearson to most, but to his mother as Michael, watched the rain patter against the window of his townhouse and thought about his next move. It had been three months since he had put his plan into action. The Mades were terrorizing everyone, and Nico Blackburn had no idea who he was.

  “What is your next move?” his partner asked. He hated the man, hated that blasted Scottish accent that reminded him of his youth. But he had no choice.

  “I am not sure at the moment. We need the leaders of the Alliance here.”

  “There is talk of a meeting in a few weeks. They want to remove the Blackburns from the quad council.”

  He smiled. “How amusing. The one man who sees what is going on and they want to get rid of him.”

  “And once the council finally comes to London. The plan?”

  He hadn’t told him much. The Scottish laird was helpful at the moment, but soon he would have to take a stake to the bastard. Neal knew the only reason he was there was to try and take over the council.

  “Then we move the Mades in. With their allegiance to me, I will be able to overthrow those old men on the quad.”

  “And then we will have our seats.”

  He said nothing.

  “Pearson?”

  “Yes, we will have our seats.”

  But in truth, he wanted nothing to do with the Alliance. The only plan he had was to destroy their council and watch Nico Blackburn suffer for what he had done.

  It would be the sweetest of victories.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Dinner had been uneventful, much to Cordelia’s surprise. She had expected Gray and Saint to attend. The men had become permanent fixtures in their house the last few weeks, as well as Lady Elizabeth, who had moved in with them as planned. But when she found herself face to face with Hurst, she could not hide her dismay. He looked changed. His eyes were now green and he was thinner. She was embarrassed that she hesitated before taking his hand. His looks were not the only thing different. His manner was more measured, quiet, and reserved.

  Now, two hours later, she found herself seated in her mother-in-law’s parlor. Lady Elizabeth had gone to bed after dinner and the men had left them to huddle together and make their plans.

  "I hate that they will not include us, too," Adelaide said.

  Cordelia glanced at her. She could tell by the way Adelaide pursed her lips that she was irritated. She did not realize until that moment that her mother-in-law understood they were being left out of the discussions.

  "I know. They seem to think we are too stupid to know what is going on."

  "It isn't that, dear.”

  “Indeed?”

  She shook her head. “That is part of the problem. They do not want us involved because they think we will be in danger. All men want to protect, but vampires, they are worse. Much worse. And now that this threat is growing, they will become unbearable."

  “But there are things we could help with. Men are not infallible.”

  “Yes, but they do not know that.”

  Cordelia shared a smile with her. “That is true. Still, there are always rumors swirling about. Things we could find out for them.”

  “Is that how you became a writer? Looking for the rumors?”

  She shrugged. “Nothing I said wasn’t true.”

  “I am not faulting you for surviving. A lesser woman would have done something easier. For example, being a courtesan.”

  “I do not think that would be easier than being a reporter.”

  “Oh, but dear, it is. You don’t really have to work at that, as long as you have the right partner. And if you will forgive me for being a little insensitive, but with your mother’s reputation, there would be a great many gentlemen in London who would be happy to take you up on any offer. No, instead, you wanted to forge your own way. I have to admire that.”

  She shouldn’t be surprised, but she was. Not by her mother-in-law’s blunt comments or that she had understood Cordelia so well. But she was a deeply private person.

  She pushed her irritation aside. "I did want to ask your help in something."

  "Anything," she said, smiling.

  "You offered to help to find out who my father is."

  "That is an excellent idea. There wouldn't have been many Scottish noblemen around then, or any other time. Your mother did not go to Scotland, did she?"

  Cordelia shook her head. "I doubt it. I did not know her, but then, she was one for society. I doubt she would have gone to Scotland in the middle of winter, either."

  Her mother-in-law nodded. "Of course. That makes sense. I will have to ask around. That was a busy time for us."

  "Oh?" Cordelia asked coyly. She was not trying to pry, but Nico had done little to reveal his past to her. And his explosion this afternoon highlighted that. He claimed to know little of her, but she knew less of him, and he had been alive a lot longer than she had.

  "Yes. Demetrius had just married Magdalen and we were so busy."

  "Demetrius, that was Nico’s brother? Older brother?"

  "Older. He was older than Nico by about fifty years. I had difficulty giving birth again after Demetrius."

  Cordelia nodded. "They were killed?"

  Pain moved over Adelaide's expression, and Cordelia hated asking her. She did not want to cause any discomfort to the woman who had accepted her so readily.

  She opened her mouth to change the subject, but Adelaide stopped her.

  "Yes. They were. They were bonded as most spouses are, and she was killed. That caused Demetrius to die, but it was slow as he felt her life force drained from her."

  The idea of knowing your wife was dying, feeling every pain she had as she died, was horrific. Cordelia blinked against tears.

  Then she caught on to a term she had not heard. "Bonded?"

  From the expression on her mother-in-law's face, she had just realized she said something wrong.

  "Yes. After a time, you are bonded."

  "After a time? Is there no ritual?"

  She sighed. "Yes. The Made must offer his blood. Then, your life forces are together for eternity and into the afterlife."

  Cordelia let the information sink in. Nico had not bonded with her. It made sense because they were not a love match. True, she highly suspected that she was in love with the man. She would not have lost her temper that afternoon if she wasn't. He had not told her, though. He probably didn’t want to explain why he had not bonded with her.

  “Cordelia, it is a very serious matter. No Born does it lightly.”

  “You do not have to make excuses for your son. I know we are not a love match. What I hate is being in the dark about your world. He rarely tells me anything. What little I find out is snippets. I have no problem with not being bonded.” She blew out a breath. “That’s a lie. It bothers me a little. What I hate is feeling as if I am a stranger. I have spent too much of my life like that.”

  “I will help you.”

  She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “I would appreciate it. I just want to make sure I can find my place.”

  “We will start tomorrow on finding out who your father is. Your sister should have some kind of idea.”

  Cordelia sighed again, now feeling as if she could sleep a thousand years. She really hated dealing with Diana. She had stayed in London, which was very uncommon for her sister.

  “Yes. I guess I could invite her for tea tomorrow.”

  Adelaide nodded. “That sounds wonderful. I think you better go to bed. You do not look well.”

  “Thank you. I think I will.”

  She
hesitated.

  “Go on, Cordelia. I will tell Nico.”

  Cordelia walked down the hall to her suite. Each step she took made her even more tired. By the time she was in her room, Cordelia felt ready to drop. With great effort, she undressed and then donned her nightdress.

  Slipping into bed, she pushed away all thoughts of her new life and drifted off to sleep.

  * * * *

  “We are going to have to start patrolling more,” Gray said, his voice ominous.

  Nico nodded but his mind was on his wife. If Saint were to be believed, he was about to be a father. Every time he had a stray thought, it was about her or the baby they would share together.

  "Nico, are you paying attention?" his father asked.

  Of course he wasn't. Again. He had been married just over a month, and he didn't seem able to tear his thoughts away from the woman.

  "I think we need to call on the Alliance for this,” Nico said. “We need younger vampires out on the streets. If we don't have them, we can't protect women."

  "And we need to stop the number of Mades he is producing," Gray added.

  "I doubt it is just him," Saint said. "More than likely he has one or more people helping him."

  "Why? He is a pariah in our society. Who would help him?" Gray asked.

  "There is always unrest, those who would rather not want the Alliance to have control of things. There are also a number of Mades he could manipulate. That might be why we are finding the blood drained of the men," Saint said.

  Nico nodded. There was a slight knock at the door, then his mother came in. Everyone rose around the table, but she waved them back down.

  "No, dear, I came by to tell you Cordelia is not going out tonight. She is too tired and really needs a good rest."

  "Of course," he said.

  "I take it you are going out tonight?" His mother looked like she knew the answer.

  He was, but now he didn't want to. It might be best to stay in and rest himself. Next to his wife.

  "I think I might stay in." Yes. That sounded like a much better plan.