by Debra Dunbar
Over three quarters of their Balaj. Nothing before had ever decimated them like this. Nothing.
“I delivered the packet of information to the Templar,” Aaron told him. “After I send the girls home, is there anything else you need from me?”
The Renfield had been on duty all day. As tired as Aaron must be, Dario didn’t want to send him home yet. “Can you stay? Take one of the bedrooms upstairs. Order anything you want on delivery.”
Aaron blinked in surprise. “Why? I mean, thank you, but unless that’s an order I’d rather go to my own house.”
Was the Renfield nervous? Could Dario trust him? “It’s an order. I need to make sure you’re safe, Aaron. After last night, I think this is the best place for you. At least for the next few nights.”
“Sure. I’ll just…make a few changes. I can stay.”
“Good.” And with that Dario left, driving as fast as he could to Leonora’s.
Once there he quickly dismissed her Renfields and joined Madeline and Balen inside.
“Where is the Mistress?” Balen demanded. He was pacing the floor, fangs in clear view.
“She’s not in her room, or in her secondary spot,” Madeline added. “Do you think they got her?”
“No.” He knew where Leonora was, but as much as he trusted these two, it wasn’t his secret to share. “She was bitten by an infected vampire and has confined herself until she’s sure she’s safe.” He lied. “How’s Rosa?”
Rosa was the key here, the only other vampire to have been bitten by an infected member of their Balaj and not be killed. Her fate would tell him what Leonora’s would most likely be.
Balen’s shoulders slumped. “Not good. She’s got it too, but I can’t tell if she got it from drinking an infected human or Pierre’s bite.”
Dario hoped the former, otherwise Leonora was doomed. He’d soon find out once he saw her, but in the meantime he knew his Mistress would desperately need a blood donor, and right now these two were the only ones he trusted to provide one. Both were intensely loyal to Leonora, had been with her and Albin since Paris. They would never have turned traitor.
“I need blood, and I know the Mistress will need it too. Can you both go out and bring back two humans each?”
Balen and Madeline exchanged a knowing look. “The usual?” Balen asked.
He shook his head. “No. Random pickups, not on any of the lists. And two of them need to be expendable. If they go missing, I don’t want anyone looking for them.”
Aria would hate this. Any sympathy she had toward the Balaj, any feelings she might have for him would vanish if she knew. He’d told her over and over again that they were monsters, that he was a monster, but this would bring the point brutally home. It would be the final nail in his coffin, but he couldn’t let Leonora starve, not after all she’d done for him and the Balaj over the centuries.
Once Madeline and Balen had left and Dario was sure he had the house entirely to himself, he made his way down to Leonora’s safe room. He’d come back last night after getting Erica settled into his home and changed the door code on the room, just in case Leonora awoke crazed and headed out to provide her own meal. It put him within minutes of meeting his death at dawn, but he’d made it home and into the space between the walls just in time.
Leonora was sitting on her bed, stark naked as he opened the door. She was gorgeous with her thick black hair past her waist, her perfect creamy skin, her dramatic dark eyes, and her Rubenesque figure. The only thing marring her beauty was the stump where her right arm should have been.
“Where’s Erica,” she demanded before he’d stepped a foot into the room. “Is she safe? I’ll rip that Templar’s head off with my bare hands if my beloved has so much as a scratch on her.”
She’d do a whole lot more if she learned that Aria had rolled her naked body down four flights of stairs. “Erica is fine. She’s safe at my house right now. Do you know what happened last night?”
It was a good sign that Leonora’s first words were for her blood-slave. Maybe she wasn’t infected.
“I’m starved. Can we talk after I’ve had a few? As in five or six? I feel like I could drain this entire city and it wouldn’t be enough.”
She did have an arm to regrow. Maybe she wasn’t infected. “Balen is bringing some. We have a traitor. Someone has been spreading the infection through the list donors, and I’m afraid to use any of them.”
Leonora leaned back against the pillows. “You think I’m infected. That’s why you locked me in here. And don’t try denying it. Only you, Madeline, and Erica know about this place, and neither of them would ever change the door code on me.”
“You were bitten. Aria and Erica walked in on a vampire gnawing on your amputated arm. Rosa has the infection, and I was worried you would too.”
She sighed, running a hand through her tangled hair. “Rosa may have gotten it from a donor. Although by that logic, I may have too. I’ve been feeding heavily to avoid any mistakes with Erica. And I know you have as well. Any of us could be infected.”
True. “What happened?”
She laughed. “I want to ask you the same thing, but I’ll go first. The feast was in full swing. We were ready to bring in the prime donors. I picked one I thought Erica and I might enjoy later and went to escort her upstairs, so she’d be unsullied until after the party. When I opened the door Henri was there with two humans.”
Two? Aria had said she’d only found one under the bed, but perhaps the other had been stuffed further back.
“You know how I am about anyone using my bedroom,” Leonora continued. “He was all over my bed, some naked human under him. There was another human standing by the door waiting his turn. I ran to grab Henri and yank him out of my room, and that’s it. Nothing else until coming awake tonight, naked, missing an arm, with the door code changed on my panic room.”
Somehow Henri had managed to incapacitate the Mistress of his Balaj, undress her and get her on the bed, and rip her arm off, all without her waking.
“What did the two humans look like? I’m assuming the girl you’d picked out for later ran for it.”
“I assume so too. The girl on the bed was completely Henri’s type—pale, redhead, freckles, skinny thing with no boobs to speak of. I mean, Erica is the exception for me in the boob department, but this girl was flat as a board.”
Dario restrained himself from rolling his eyes. “And the man? That’s not typical of Henri. He likes men, but he doesn’t usually indulge in threesomes, or have the next in line watch.”
“No, he doesn’t. And this human wasn’t his type either. He was older, and he had clothes on. All the feast humans were to be in leather, but this guy had clothing and a coat—like a duster, and a big necklace. I didn’t really pay much attention to him, I was too angry about Henri using my bedroom.”
Sorcery. If there was a mage who’d summoned a plague demon to attack them, then the same mage could easily craft an amulet to knock Leonora out.
Now it was his turn. “All hell broke loose. I don’t know when everything happened in the house, but right after everyone started choosing their second meal, things went wrong in the garden. At least ten vampires began draining their humans, trying to eat their flesh. A few humans managed to get away, but I was nearly overwhelmed. Soon ten became fifty and half of the attendees from our Balaj were crazed with hunger. It was worse than before. Aria and Erica were holed up in your room. Aria killed Henri and stood guard until everything was clear, then she and Erica got you down to the safe room here.”
“And dumped me naked on the floor,” she complained. Then her eyes narrowed. “Wait. How did they get me down here? Does your Templar have a levitation spell or something? I’m too big for Erica to carry, and I know I’m too big for her.”
“No idea,” Dario lied. “I came back later and the house was filled with bodies—human and vampire. The Renfields cleaned it up as best as they could today, but you’re going to have to do some deep cleaning.”
/> She shrugged. “Hopefully some of those bodies were Simon and his crew.”
“No.” He let that sink in. “They left as soon as the fighting started. None of them were infected. They’re to blame for this. They have a mage who summoned a plague demon and somehow managed to bring illness upon our family. They’re trying to wipe us out.”
“A mage who, no doubt, knows how to make a charm that renders a vampire unconscious.” Leonora sprang to her feet. “I’ve got work to do. I need to gather the remaining members of our family and make our stand. But first I need to feed. I’m starving. Is Balen back here yet with my humans?”
“I will rally our family and make a stand in your name,” he told her. “I can’t have you losing control in the middle of a battle.”
In front of the others, is what he meant to say. Seeing their Mistress like that would destroy whatever was left of their Balaj. It would be easier to say she’d quarantined herself, that he was acting on her orders.
“They’ll think I’m a coward. They’ll think I’m hiding from Simon.”
It was Leonora’s greatest fear. She hated when her guards whisked her to safety, hated when the family circled around to protect her. She wanted to fight, to be on the front lines. She’d once been in his position, and he knew how much she longed to be again.
“They won’t. They know you’re their last line of defense, their Mistress. They know you’d die for them. And they will respect you for abiding by the rules you put in place.”
She sat back down in a huff. “Fine. But before you lock me in here, bring me some clothes and at least two humans. Make sure they’re ones I can feast from until they’re dry.”
He bowed, his heart sinking as he thought once more of what Aria would do if she knew. “Of course. I’ll bring them right down.”
Chapter 27
I was sitting in my car sipping coffee, parked outside of Leonora’s house like a cheap private eye spying on a straying husband. The sky was lit up with orange and gold, the last rays of sun squeezing between the houses and painting the lawns with stripes of gold. I didn’t go in. I watched.
There were three Renfields milling about the house, two inside that I could see through the windows and one doing yard work that really didn’t need done. Their eyes were sharp, and I was sure they were armed. Bullets might not kill a vampire, but they’d slow one down, and during an attack, any time bought was valuable.
There was a black Hyundai that had circled the block a few times, but I didn’t see it parked anywhere nearby now. I’d contemplated calling the tag in to Tremelay, but I wasn’t sure what I’d say. “I’m expecting a group of vampires to attack another group of vampires, and this car is suspicious?”
The last rays of sunshine faded from the sky. Lights went on inside houses. I watched cars pull into neighboring driveways, people in business attire lugging briefcases up to their front doors. The smell of roasting chicken wafted through the air. The Renfields all left, but from the stray shadow inside the house, I knew someone was there.
Two vampires left. One was Madeline, and the other was Balen. I hadn’t seen them enter. Maybe they stayed there? Maybe they lived with Leonora?
I sent a quick text to Dario and waited, seeing the two vampires return with four…prostitutes. I was sure they were prostitutes from their scanty clothing, knee-high boots, and big hair. I waited. And watched. Two of the prostitutes left in a taxi that pulled to the curb, both looking happy and satisfied. Where were the other two? Some vampire sure was taking his time.
My phone beeped.
Eight vampires inside Leonora’s including me. She seems fine, but is confining herself until tomorrow night just to be sure.
It was Dario. I felt relief wash over me that he’d made it through the day, that he’d woken uninfected.
Do you have a donor for tonight? I texted back. It had been on my mind all day, that he might have fed from an infected human, that his meal tonight might be carrying the disease that would mean his death.
I’ll be fine.
I assumed that meant no. How many humans had died last night? How many of their donors had been used up on Leonora’s foolish feast? Dario had once told me that they lived a famine existence, barely taking enough blood to survive so they’d have reserves in case of an attack. Now they had no reserves, and would be facing their foes weakened, hungry, with most of their number either dead or out of commission with this infection. It was all Leonora’s fault. I glanced at the doorway of the big Victorian and wished I’d shoved her down those stairs a little bit harder. Maybe dropped my sword and accidently had it stab her in the chest.
So what’s the plan tonight? I texted. He’d been so busy escorting me home and getting Erica settled in with dawn fast approaching that I never got the game plan.
Stay in your car. Be there in 5. Told everyone else to hold back. We’re prepping for an attack.
I pulled Trusty from the scabbard on the passenger seat and held the sword on my lap, stroking the pommel as I waited. Nothing. It was this calm before the storm that was the worst. Hopefully there would be no storm.
I jumped when Dario knocked on my window. Getting out of the car, I resisted the urge to fall into his arms. He led the way into the house, past the vampires in the hall who nodded to him. He was authoritative, in command as if it were his birthright to lead this Balaj. Power and confidence radiated from him. I might be biased, but at that moment, I wouldn’t have hesitated to follow him into battle. Why had he let Leonora rule for so long when this ran through his blood, when so many of his family would fall in step to his lead?
“Is Leonora infected?”
“We’ll see come tomorrow night. Right now only you, I, Madeline, and Erica know where she is. She’ll wait this quarantine out down there. I changed the lock on the door just in case.”
“She’ll die. She hasn’t fed.” Not that I really cared, I was just pointing out the obvious.
What was that guilty look that shadowed his eyes before his expression turned into that hard, unemotional mask?
“She can go a night and be okay. Her arm might not regenerate as quickly, but she’ll be fine. There were many years when we had to make do with less.”
“What are you going to do with Erica if Leonora’s infected?” I whispered. “What happens to the Balaj?”
His jaw tensed. “We’ll ensure Erica is provided for, just as we’ve done for Shelly and the other blood-slaves. As for the Balaj, I’m temporarily in charge. If she’s infected, then she dies. I’ve got vampires locked away that are a danger to us all. Leonora doesn’t want preferential treatment. My concern right now is preventing the spread of this infection to what’s left of our family, and protecting our territory.”
“I’m in,” I told him, adjusting my grip on my sword.
He sighed. “I know you are. But there are issues in Baltimore more critical than our fight with Simon. There’s a plague demon whose presence threatens our food supply, and evidently our own family. Then there’s your demon mark.” He reached out a hand to touch the upper part of my side. “I’ve lost my soul. I can’t bear for you to lose yours.”
There were more important things in this world than my soul. “How are the other infected vampires? I’ve narrowed it down to five living vampires who had access to the lists, the schedule, and the donors each night. Bertram, Opal, Madeline, Lawrence, and Zoe.”
“Not Madeline,” he shot back. “She’s been with the Balaj longer than I have. She’s absolutely loyal to Leonora, and there’s nothing Simon could offer her that would make her betray us.”
I wasn’t willing to rule out the woman, but I respected Dario’s opinion of her. “I’m doubting Opal. She’s young, and from the time I spent with her I don’t see her as the type to turn against her family.”
“No. She could have been killed or outcast had it not been for me intervening with Leonora. She might not be the Mistress’s biggest fan, but she’d never betray me.”
“That leaves Bertram, La
wrence, and Zoe.” I checked the names off on my fingers.
Dario shook his head. “Lawrence is a possibility. He’s had difficulty in following the Balaj rules, and I didn’t see him at the party. It’s not like him to miss a feast. He helped drive the second wave of donors over, but never joined in, and I didn’t see him among the dead.”
“He could be hiding. You said some were afraid after the massacre last night,” I suggested.
“Lawrence, Bertram, and Zoe. And quite possibly a Renfield.”
I nodded. “My thinking exactly. Can you pull together the name of every Renfield who had access to the donor lists and schedule?”
“Most Renfields only coordinate for their own vampires. There’s a rotation for who organizes the general population ones.”
“Does yours?” I asked, my heart thumping with fear.
“Not tonight,” he assured me. “I declined the donors he’d scheduled and provided for myself.”
No doubt one of the prostitutes was for him. Where were the other two? Had they gone out the back?
“If Leonora’s infected, I’ll need to take care of it.” His expression shuttered once more. “I’ll need to take care of all the infected that we’ve contained too. I don’t have time tonight. I hate to prolong their misery, but I need to make sure Simon doesn’t get a toehold in our territory.”
I felt sick at his words, knowing as well as he did that Simon had pretty much won this war. But there was some good news I could deliver. “There may be hope for a cure. Wolfram says that he can cure this ailment if the magical component is severed.”
He jerked his head around to stare intently at me. “Wolfram. The guy who beat the snot out of you at the tourney?”