“She’s good at it, isn’t she?” asked the soft, accented voice beside her.
Startled out of her daze, Rose spun toward Elise. She blushed as she realized that Elise was watching her with a smile, her face propped against her hand, her soft, blonde curls hanging over her arm. “What? Who?” she sputtered.
“The person you’re staring at,” Elise said, raising an eyebrow. “Kara.”
Rose’s blush deepened. “Oh. I…I wasn’t staring,” she stammered.
“Aw, you blush. How cute,” Elise laughed. “No wonder she likes you.”
Rose’s face managed to turn an even darker shade of red. At this point, Rose was fairly certain that her ears were already on fire and that her cheeks would spontaneously combust at any moment. “I wasn’t staring,” she insisted.
“Mm-hmm,” Elise murmured, amusement dancing in her blue-gray eyes. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Like I said, she is good at what she does.”
“What she does?” Rose repeated bewilderedly.
Elise lifted her wine glass to her mouth, her lips curving. “Seduction.”
“Oh,” Rose said. As if they had a will of their own, her eyes shifted toward the dance floor again, immediately finding Kara among the sea of vampires, dancing with yet another woman. “Aren’t all vampires seductive?”
“Sure,” Elise said, setting down her half-empty glass. “To a human, any vampire is seductive. Even you…with your adorable blushing and stammering.”
Almost on cue, Rose blushed again. “I find that hard to believe.”
Elise giggled. “But Kara,” she sighed. “Even for a vampire, she’s hard to resist. I don’t know how she does it. Everything about her just…seduces you.”
“Does it bother you?” Rose asked. “To see her with so many women?”
Elise shrugged as she took another sip of her wine. “Why would it?”
Rose frowned. “Well, because you’re her…girlfriend or something.”
Elise giggled so hard that her wine spilled from the corners of her lips. She set the glass on the table and dabbed at her bloodstained lips with a napkin. “Girlfriend?” she laughed incredulously. “I’m not in a relationship with her!”
“But I saw you,” Rose sputtered, her face reddening again, “kissing her.”
“Yes, kissing,” Elise said, recovering from her sudden outburst of laughter. “We kiss. We make love.” She shrugged. “But we’re not together.”
Rose frowned at that. “I don’t understand the difference.”
“Kara doesn’t do relationships,” Elise explained, lifting her eyebrows.
“Ohhh,” Rose said, drawing out the word. “Is that…because of Alana?”
Elise regarded her curiously. “I don’t know. Kara doesn’t talk much about Alana. But I suppose it would make sense. A lot happened between them.”
“Yeah,” Rose said, her throat tightening as she thought about all of the pain that Alana had caused Erik and Kara over the years. She glanced hesitantly at Elise. “Can I ask you something? I hope this isn’t too insensitive of a question to ask, but…I was just wondering if you could tell me what happened between Kara and Lafi. Why did they hate each other so much? Was it because of you?”
“Oh, no,” she laughed. “Kara’s not the jealous sort. Lafi was, but he had other lovers, too. I refused to let him keep me from being with who I wanted.” She shrugged and sipped her wine. “No, Kara hated Lafi because of Alana.”
Rose nodded. She’d suspected as much. “Why? What happened?”
Elise set her glass down and exhaled slowly. “I only know what Kara told me, but… Well, did you know that Alana was a slave when she was human?”
A dizzying wave of shock washed over Rose. “A slave?” she repeated.
“Yeah,” Elise sighed, fiddling with the stem of her glass. “Alana was a Saxon, and apparently, the Vikings raided Saxon villages often. And when they would raid a village, they would pillage and plunder, kill, rape, and…take slaves.”
Rose nodded. “Slave trade,” she sighed, grimacing. “That’s one of those facts that people like to skim over when they’re romanticizing the Vikings.”
“They didn’t all participate in slave trade. Kara’s village, for instance, was a little more honorable,” Elise paused, smiling. “Well, honorable for pirating thieves, I mean.” Her smile faded. “But Lafi’s men… Well, they did it all.”
“Lafi was a Viking, too?” Rose asked.
Elise nodded. “He was from a different village than Kara. They’d never met before Alana introduced them. But yes, he was a Viking, and when Alana was young, his men raided her village, killed her family, and took her as a slave.”
Rose felt her stomach lurch with sympathy. “Oh my goodness.”
“It gets worse,” Elise said, wincing. “From what I understand, Alana was extraordinarily beautiful, even when she was human, and well…like I said, some Viking men raped the women they captured.” She swallowed. “Apparently, Lafi and his men did terrible, terrible things to Alana. She was barely a teenager.”
All of the blood drained from Rose’s face. She suddenly felt queasy.
Elise continued, “And her life never got any better either. She became the slave of a cruel, horrible man who abused her and treated her like an animal.”
Rose’s fingers dug into her legs, scratching against the roughness of her blue jeans. The realization of what happened to Alana—the monstrous things that had created the monster—made Rose sick. “No wonder Alana hates this world so much,” she breathed, her chest tight. “Look at what it’s done to her.”
Elise glanced at Rose. “Are you all right? You look pale.”
Rose swallowed. “I don’t want to sound too judgmental,” she began hesitantly, “but…why would you stay with Lafi after you knew what he did?”
Elise shrugged her thin, delicate shoulders. “I didn’t like what he did, but it didn’t really affect me, you know? It was over a thousand years before I was born. Lafi was an asshole, but he never hurt me. After I became a vampire, I was so lost and confused, but then, I met Lafi, and he helped me. I never liked Lafi, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t like being with him.” She looked over at Rose and laughed, “I can tell by the look on your face that you don’t agree.”
“I’m sorry,” Rose sighed. “I just don’t understand.”
Elise lifted her wine glass to her lips again, the red liquid swirling around the bottom of the glass. She sipped the blood-spiked wine, the edges of her lips twitching upward as she noticed Rose watching her. “Would you like a drink?” she murmured over the top of her glass. “I will order you one, if you want.”
“Oh. Uh…no, thanks,” Rose sputtered.
“Are you sure?” Elise asked. “I noticed that you keep looking at mine.”
Rose blushed. “Sorry. It’s just…I can smell the blood.”
Elise smiled enticingly. “Of course you can. You can taste it, too.”
“I’m all right, really,” Rose said, her blush deepening. “I just fed.”
“Hmm,” Elise murmured thoughtfully. “And you’re already hungry?”
“What? No. I’m fine,” Rose lied, her words pouring out in a rush.
“You look hungry,” Elise said. “How long have you been a vampire?”
Rose felt heat rush to her face. She wanted to ask what Elise meant when she said that Rose looked hungry, but she decided against it, in order to spare herself any more embarrassment. “Not long,” Rose said. “Just a few weeks.”
“Ah,” Elise said, her lips curving into a knowing smile. “That explains why you look so uncomfortable here. You still have that human innocence.”
“Human innocence?” Rose repeated bewilderedly.
“Right. Innocence isn’t really the right word, is it?” Elise mused. “Humans are violent and sexual creatures, just as we are. They’re just…repressed.”
Rose’s gaze darted around the room, her cheeks flushing as she noticed the sexual nature of the interactio
ns. There were vampires dancing, feeding, kissing, and…well, Rose was almost positive that there were a few doing much, much more…right in the middle of the room. She returned her gaze to Elise. “I’m just not used to seeing so much,” Rose paused, waving her hand around as she tried to think of the appropriate word to use, “P.D.A., for lack of a better word.”
“Exactly. Humans are so reserved, so ashamed of their natural selves,” Elise said. She leaned toward Rose, her soft breasts and stomach pressing against Rose’s side. “But you’re a creature of darkness now. You should act like one.”
Rose swallowed. “But don’t you think that darkness is…a bad thing?”
“Oh, no, no,” Elise said. “That’s just what humans want you to think. Darkness is freeing. It is soft and embracing. It’s almost magical. Light is harsh and abrasive. It highlights your differences and so-called flaws. It judges you and burns you. Darkness is the place where all are free to be who they truly are.”
“That’s an interesting way of looking at it,” Rose admitted.
Elise gestured around the room. “We have nothing to hide here.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Rose noticed Kara casually navigating through the crowd of vampires, slowly making her way toward the door. Rose jumped up. “Uh, hey,” she said to Elise. “I’m sorry to leave so quickly, but I…”
Elise waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about me. Go get her.”
Rose frowned at the beautiful, blonde vampire. “Huh?”
“Kara,” Elise said with a smile. “You want to follow her, right? Go.”
Rose blushed. “I just want to ask her a question,” she said defensively.
“If you say so,” Elise laughed. Her smile faded after a moment, and she suddenly became very serious. “Hey, if you need anything, let me know, okay?”
Rose blinked in surprise. “Oh. Umm…okay. Thank you.”
Elise smiled as she noticed the surprise in Rose’s expression. “It’s not common to meet someone who expresses sympathy for a person they don’t even know. I think I would like to have a friend like you. So, if I can help you, I will.”
Rose smiled. “I appreciate that. It was really nice to meet you, Elise.”
“It was nice to meet you, too, cutie,” Elise said.
Heat rushed to Rose’s cheeks. “Uh…see you later,” she stammered.
She quickly darted away from the table and made her way toward the door. It occurred to her as she opened the door and stepped out into the narrow hallway that she should’ve told Kallias that she was leaving, but she knew that she would never catch up with Kara if she stopped to talk to him. So, she continued walking down the hallway in what she hoped was the right direction.
10
Trust
After traveling down three different hallways, Rose had begun to worry that she’d gotten herself lost. She smelled vampires all around her—more vampires than she could even count—and she didn’t know Kara’s scent well enough to know if any of those vampires were her. But Rose was almost positive that she could hear the heavy thudding of Kara’s boots somewhere up ahead of her, and occasionally, when she’d turn a corner, she’d smell the faintest hint of violets in the air—a soft, appealing scent that she’d come to associate with Kara.
As soon as Rose turned the next corner, she collided with something tall and hard. The scent of cologne and metal filled her senses as the thing—or person, she now realized—caught her against him, his hands gripping her roughly.
“There you are,” he growled. “I knew you’d come this way eventually.”
Rose froze as she recognized that strange, deep accent. She looked up at the tall, dark man who was currently glowering at her. His curly, black hair hung over his face, obscuring the hatred that burned in his black eyes, but she could see the hatred in every other part of his expression—his curled lip, his bared fangs, his flared nostrils. She pushed back on his chest, extracting herself from his arms. “Oh, hi again. Did you get bored with abusing your girlfriend?”
Osiris growled lowly, “You attacked me. I know it was you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rose lied, stepping back.
He followed her. “I know something about you that the others don’t.”
“Oh. You heard about my secret collection of comic books, didn’t you?” Rose said, snapping her fingers. “Dang. I was really hoping to keep that a secret.”
He took another step toward her. “You might as well stop lying.”
Rose continued to walk backward as he pursued her. “Okay. You caught me,” she sighed. “It’s not really a secret. Everyone knows about that collection.”
“There is no one here to protect you this time,” Osiris snarled.
“Are you sure about that?” asked that familiar, lilting voice.
Osiris froze. “Damn it,” he growled under his breath.
Rose glanced past him, her eyebrows lifting in surprise as she noticed Kara, behind Osiris, leaning against the wall with her shoulder pressed against it.
Osiris apparently decided to risk his luck…because he took another step toward Rose. In a rapid blur of movement that Rose could barely follow even with her sensitive eyesight, Kara raced past Osiris and stopped directly in front of him, putting herself between him and Rose. Osiris stopped abruptly as the tip of Kara’s dagger pressed against his chest. The dagger was so sharp that it sliced into his expensive suit jacket with the slightest touch. His dark, furious gaze darted from Kara to the dagger. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Back off,” Kara demanded, pressing her dagger into his skin.
His mouth twisted into a snarl. “You can’t kill me. It’s against Aaron’s rules,” he said. “You can only kill me if I pose a threat to the Tomb of Blood.”
“Didn’t anyone tell you?” Kara asked. “I never play by the rules.”
“If you kill me, Aaron will kill you. That’s how it works,” Osiris warned.
Kara shrugged one shoulder. “Aaron would never kill me. He needs me. Besides, as of tonight, Rose is a member of the Tomb of Blood, just like you and me, and I heard you threaten her. Technically, you already broke the rules,” she said. She leaned in close and whispered, “And maybe later, after I kill you, when I’m explaining it to Aaron, I’ll just replace the word threatened with attacked. You know he will believe me.” A cocky smirk curved at her lips. “Problem solved.”
His jaw tightened. He held up his hands, pure hatred burning in his black eyes. He took one large step backward and then, reluctantly, took another.
Kara smiled and lowered her dagger. “That’s better.”
As soon as Kara turned around to face Rose, Osiris narrowed his eyes at Rose and growled, “You’re lucky your girlfriend is here to protect you…”
Kara froze, lifting her eyebrows as she waited for him to finish.
“Fucking dyke,” he sneered under his breath.
Kara rolled her eyes and spun toward him, catching him off guard as she pressed dagger against him again…but in a very different spot this time. A strangled, gasping sound escaped his lips as she pushed the incredibly sharp dagger firmly against the crotch of his pants. “Apologize to her,” she demanded.
His eyes widened. “You cannot be serious.”
Kara leaned forward and carefully applied pressure to the dagger, causing it to slice into the fabric of his pants. “Apologize to her…before it slips.”
Osiris swallowed. “You’re crazy,” he breathed.
Kara smiled. “I know.”
His jaw tightened. He didn’t dare move a muscle. “You can’t do this.”
“I can, actually,” Kara corrected, still wearing that cocky smirk. “Don’t worry. It won’t kill you. It might hurt like hell, but you’ll heal.” She tilted her head to the side, chuckling, as she mused, “I wonder if it would grow back.”
His nostrils flared. “I apologize,” he growled between clenched teeth.
Kara applied pressure to
the blade, causing Osiris to make a strange, choked, squeaky noise. “Say, ‘I apologize, Rose,’ and look at her when you say it.”
Osiris growled murderously at Kara, but then, left with no other choice, he looked at Rose, his black eyes full of loathing, and snarled, “I apologize, Rose.”
Kara stepped back and flashed a smug smirk at him. She playfully tossed the dagger in the air and then caught it, just as she had done in the cemetery. “I better put this up,” she said, sliding it into her belt, “before I have an accident.”
His lip curled with disgust as he glared down at Kara. He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but then, thinking better of it, he spun around and walked away, his dress shoes clacking against the marble floor.
Kara turned toward Rose. The smirk faded from her lips as she stepped toward Rose. “Are you all right?” she asked, her hands skimming Rose’s arms.
Rose blinked, stunned by the concern in Kara’s tone. “Yeah. Of course,” she said as she desperately tried to ignore how nice Kara’s hands felt against her skin. She laughed nervously, “I was never really in danger, you know.”
Kara dropped her hands, the concern disappearing from her expression as quickly as it had appeared. “I know,” she agreed. “He’s a coward. I doubt he would have killed you. But I couldn’t just stand by while he treated you like that.”
“I don’t remember that being part of the oath,” Rose commented.
Kara shrugged. “I know how to deal with assholes like him.”
“By castrating them,” Rose said dryly, “apparently.”
Kara’s lips quirked up in amusement. “If that’s what it takes.”
“There are some people who might call that an overreaction,” Rose said.
“Hmm,” Kara mused. “In that case, I guess it’s a good thing that I don’t care what people think, right?” She winked at Rose, and then, she started walking in the same direction she’d been walking before Rose ran into Osiris. When Rose didn’t follow her, she stopped and spun around. “Well? Are you coming? Or have you decided to stop following me, now that you’ve been caught?”
The Tomb of Blood Page 26