by L. J. Red
Neal went still. The raging heat she had felt from him disappeared. Like a door snapping closed. His eyes were dark. Angry? Good, she stoked her own anger in return. He’d probably never had to deal with rejection, looking like he did. It would be character building for him.
“Then why are you here?” he growled, not letting up, not giving her any space. She clung to the embers of her anger as his voice rolled through her.
“I’m here to do my job,” she snapped. “I was just finished, actually,” she said, sliding along the banister to try to escape from the cage of his arms. “So, um, I’ll just be going then.”
He rumbled a warning and May froze. “Going where?” he said.
“Um, back to my quarters?” May said, her nerves turning the statement into a question.
“I don’t think so,” Neal said, staring down at her.
“Is there something else you need me to do here?” she asked. Half of her imagined him saying, yes, May, strip for me. She swallowed. The rest of her beat that thought down with a hammer and sat on it. No, she wasn’t going to offer herself to him. She didn’t care how good it might feel or how much her body wanted it. She’d had enough of being taken advantage of by men.
“You’re staying here,” Neal said finally, stepping back and giving her some room.
She took a deep breath. It felt like the first breath she had taken in an age, but all it did was bring the rich scent of him into her lungs and fire up her desire again. It took a moment for the meaning of his words to permeate the fog of lust. Stay here? “But I have quarters with the other vassals—”
“No,” Neal said, “you will be staying here where I can keep an eye on you.”
Anger flashed through May again. Keep an eye on her? Like she was some kind of child? Like she didn’t know how to do her own job? Because that was a load of crap, but before she could argue with him, he’d turned and strode away from her, towards the door.
“I can’t stay here,” she cried out, “I have—”
“You’ll do as I say,” Neal snarled. “You’re assigned to work for the Shadows, no?” he asked, his Scottish brogue thick.
“I’m…” May trailed into silence. He was right. Technically he was her boss.
“Good,” he said, “You’re sleeping here tonight.” And before she could reply he stalked out of the cabin, slamming the door behind him.
May sagged against the banister. He hadn’t even stayed to hear her reply. It was like he couldn’t bear to be in the room with her for one second longer. Why on earth would he want her sleeping here when he hated her so much? And worse than that, how the hell was she going to control her body’s desire for him when they were sleeping in the same damn cabin?
Chapter 4
Neal stormed out of the cabin, barely paying any attention to where he was going, his mind still on the tiny human woman he had left in his cabin. That had been the last place he expected to find her. He hadn’t been at all prepared to find her in his space. All his vampire territorial instincts had stormed through him at the sight of her. It had felt so right for her to be there. He hadn’t expected that. He’d wanted to bury his hands in her soft brown hair, wanted to drown himself in her sweet scent. The sound of her voice, enrapturing, a strange pull deep his chest that he couldn’t explain.
The icy wind whistled past, but the cold barely touched him. The fire raging within him was all-consuming. Deep within him, his heart beat for the first time in centuries. He feared what it might mean, that years and years of cold, icy veins could suddenly heat, that hot blood was pumping within him again.
Neal’s treacherous feet had led him in a circle. He was facing the cabin once more. No, he wouldn’t go back there. Not to a woman who didn’t want him, who wouldn’t even meet his eyes, her disgust evident in the tense lines of her body. She’d made her lack of interest pretty damn clear, and Neal was not the kind of vampire to ignore a clear refusal. It didn’t matter that his body yearned for her. It was a mistake. A trick of his mind. It had to be. He had already loved a human and lost her. He wasn’t capable of love anymore. Any softness within his heart had long been frozen away.
A vampire ran across his path, his eyes wide. “Shadow, come quick.” Neal, glad for the distraction, followed the vampire to where a couple of vampires were attacking each other, their hands like claws.
Neal growled. He had no patience for posturing fledglings today. Using the shadows around him to conceal himself, he sped across the ground, tearing the two vampires apart and flinging them across the snow. “Enough!” he yelled. “Have your fights on your own time. Not here.” The vampires scrambled to their feet, glanced at each other, then him, then without a word, disappeared into the night.
Neal stood watching them go. He suspected there would be a great deal more fights yet to come. Part of it would be displays of power by the vampires without Bloodlines, they’d be trying to catch the eyes of the elites. But some of it would be Bloodline vamps jockeying for position within their own Bloodlines. Settling old scores, or starting new ones. He, Talon, and Rune, as well as the vampire guards they’d brought with them, would have their hands full keeping the fights from spilling over into outright feuds. Their own vampire guards wouldn’t be so foolish as to make trouble. Or they’d better not. Or else he’d leave them here in the cold and they could walk back to Chicago.
Then there were the vassals to think of. He caught sight of a small group of them disappearing into the cabins set aside for them.
He narrowed his eyes. There was no way he was letting May stay with them. She was staying in his cabin, well within his territory. He stopped. Not May. The human woman. He wished he had never overheard Dana mentioning her name. The fact that he had felt his heart beat stutter in shock when Dana told him she was sending May with the other vassals meant nothing. The fact that he had already lost hours in the Sanctuary, standing in the shadows watching her, also meant nothing. He only wanted her in his territory because she was vassal to the Shadows. That was all. She was familiar. He didn’t want any outsider coming in, fouling up his territory. And anyway, she was Dana’s friend. Yes, that was it, he thought with relief. He didn’t want any harm to come to her. It would upset Dana, and since Dana was mated to the leader of his Bloodline, upsetting Dana would be a stupid fucking thing to do.
Neal stopped by the main building, where the Conclave would take place. The night was dark, but the lodge was brightly lit, and the light from the windows caught the snowflakes as they fell softly to the ground.
It was peaceful despite the sounds of people walking about and the cars still arriving in the parking lot behind.
It reminded him of Scotland, his childhood as a human. The snow and the darkness. Such distant memories. Nothing like his life as a vampire that had taken him across Europe to the warm shores of Italy. Close on their heels came darker memories. The danger and deception of the Italian court. The hunters dogging his steps. Pain, blades flashing. Weak, so weak, then fire, smoke, choking thick. Chasing through the flames, screaming her name.
He tore himself free from the memories. He needed to be focused. Needed to be thinking about the here and now. Not about the past.
The humans here were just vassals, not hunters. Enough. He was letting paranoia get the better of him.
He heard the crunch of snow underfoot, and he turned to see Talon and Rune approaching. Talon had stepped deliberately loudly. The Shadows’ assassin usually made no noise at all when he moved. Talon must have felt some echo of Neal’s emotions through the Bloodline bond. Neal forced his emotions down into his boots and stamped on them for good measure. He was empty. Nothing but the ice and cold. As he should be.
“Anything out of place?” Neal asked
“No,” Talon replied, flicking his long braid over his shoulder, “everything seems fine, but it’s hard to know among so many strangers.” He frowned as he noticed two vampires squaring off. “I see why they don’t do these Conclaves more often. They are a clusterfuck.” Talon bent
, scooped a handful of snow, compacted it in his hands, and then flung it at the two vampires. “Knock it off,” he snapped at them when they turned to look. Their twin expressions of rage faded at the sight of the three Shadows standing together.
Talon rolled his eyes. “If I wanted to get into a fight with another vampire, there’d be none of this fucking posturing. Go straight for the throat, that’s my motto.” He grinned, fangs flashing, his eyes wide and cold. Neal controlled a twinge of unease. He hoped the day never came that Talon was set against one of his Bloodline in a fight. While Lucian could use his power as their leader to control Talon—an almost unbreakable strength through the Bloodline bond—Neal had no such power. He searched for a way to turn the conversation and bank the cold fire burning in Talon’s eyes.
“I want regular perimeter checks,” he said. “Not just an eye out for vampire fights. Before we left, Lucian told me some of the northern territories have had trouble from HUNT.”
“Hunt?” Rune asked, tilting his eyebrows, the scar across his brow twisting up.
Talon rolled his eyes. “Modern-day vampire hunters. They call themselves selves the Human-Undead Neutralization Team, but it’s obvious they just wanted the acronym to spell HUNT.”
“I want you on high alert,” he said looking at both them seriously.
“But we are in the middle of nowhere,” Rune said. “Who could find us here?”
“I don’t trust the Bloodlines,” Neal said thinking of the mess that Bloodline Radiance had caused in Chicago
“You think Roman might try something?” Talon asked.
Neal nodded. “Roman or one of his minions. That fucking spider never gets caught in his own webs. Either way, we are here to protect the Conclave and to make sure our Bloodline’s concerns are heard. It’s up to the Circle Elders to decide whether Roman was to blame for Kai’s murders and the corruption in Chicago.”
Talon’s eyes flashed when Neal mentioned Kai, and Neal knew he too was thinking how close Lucian had come to being murdered by the so-called Monster of Chicago.
“We’ll keep watch,” Talon promised.
Neal dismissed them soon after to do a final sweep of the perimeter. He was desperate to return to his cabin, so instead, he made himself to take the long way around the hunting lodge. It didn’t matter how right it felt to see her in his territory. He had his duty to the Shadows. Checking the perimeter for the… fifth time… was more important. He would not let Lucian down by allowing himself to be distracted by May, no matter what strange feelings she drew up from within him.
It wasn’t like Lucian and Dana, he said to himself. She wasn’t his soulmate. There was no way that he could ever have such a thing. He’d lost his chance long ago. His mind was drawn back again to Italy. The thick scent of roses cloying his nose. The woman who would have been his soulmate was long dead. All that mattered was his duty to his Bloodline. He looked deep inside himself for the bright web of his Bloodline. He felt Lucian and Dana far to the south, Jacob along with them, their bond spread thin by distance, and close to him, Talon and Rune, hard and bright.
The lights within him flickered for a moment, another, fainter, twisted pulse appearing, horribly familiar. Neal stilled, focusing deep within himself. He had felt this many times over the years, a failed pulse, a half bond. He had always dismissed it as an odd echo from one of his brothers, but for the first time, it seemed closer, clearer, shining with an ugly, tainted light. It flared once more, then faded away in a curl of smoke and shadow. For a moment he smelled roses.
Neal opened his eyes. Memories. His memories haunting him, that was all. It was the humans all around him, stirring up memories he had long since tried to destroy. And May especially. He felt her, sensed her in his cabin still. The light of her presence within his mind was so clean and pure after that ugly twisting flare, that he found himself reaching for it instinctively, wanting to soak in the nearness of her. Not thinking what it might mean that he could feel her within him. He realized what he was doing and stumbled back, kicking up snow, shoving her light away from him and dragging himself out of the Bloodline bond into the real world.
That was impossible. He stared towards the cabin, his breath harsh in his lungs. He couldn’t feel May’s presence within him. He couldn’t. He had no soulmate.
Chapter 5
May spent longer than she’d admit in Neal’s cabin. At first, just getting her balance back and then afraid to leave in case Neal was lingering outside. Eventually, she decided she was being an idiot. Anyway, she had work to do and she swiftly exited the cabin, braving the cold and walking quickly back towards the main building.
The main room, with its two big windows, was lit up, and there were vampires within, mingling and greeting each other. The rest of the rooms were dark. The real business of the Conclave wouldn’t get underway until tomorrow night when everyone had had a chance to settle. May left the light thrown by the main room and stepped through the dark. Rounding the corner, she was glad to see the back of the building was also lit up bright and busy. Vassals crowded the narrow doorway and called across the parking lot to each other.
May pushed her way through a clump of people carrying heavy boxes. She pressed herself against the wall to squeeze past, and a welcome wave of heated air washed over her as she got inside.
She pulled off her coat and left it with the others on hooks. Dana had taken her out especially to buy winter gear, and May wasn’t sure if it was for her safety or a practical joke that ended with her being given a neon green puffy coat. Still, it was warm, and that was what mattered.
Groups of vassals were standing around chatting—a lot of them seemed to know each other, bright exclamations of greetings and hugs were going on around her. Clearly, the Conclave was a chance for vassals who served different Bloodlines to meet up and exchange news and gossip.
She wished she had been working for the vampires for longer so that she too could have friends here. In the mass of people, she couldn’t find any of the Chicago vassals that had come with her. She figured they were probably still running around seeing to the last-minute desires of their vampires. Well. Neal had made it pretty clear there was only one thing he wanted from her, and she wasn’t going to give him that. She firmed her spine and kept walking.
She saw storerooms, cleaning closets, an empty room with tables in the corner that she thought would work as a canteen, and, following a delicious smell, eventually, the kitchen where a young woman with short spiky red hair was stirring a big pot on the stove.
There was a man with lank, greasy hair looking over her shoulder with a sneer on his face. May didn’t recognize him.
“But do vampires even eat?” he was saying.
May stepped forwards with a frown on her face. How on earth could a vassal not know that vampires ate food? She understood ignorance from an outsider, but vassals lived with vampires.
“Of course they eat,” the young woman stirring the pot said, “if they want to that is,” she added. “Of course, some of them like to stick to the old O-Neg.”
“I just don’t see what the point is,” the man said, and May noticed there were a couple of other vassals standing around near him who were nodding in agreement. “Why eat, why make us cook food if they can just drink blood. I mean, why do they even need us?”
May strode forward, taking note of the vassals who were standing around listening to the man, and the others who were getting on quietly with their work.
“Haven’t you ever heard of laundry?” May said, the man’s attention snapping to her. “Vampires wear clothes too, in case you hadn’t noticed, or what about literally any of the jobs that require going outside, to a store, to an office, or to a bank? Vampires tend to cause more than a bit of a stir when they go out among humans, and some of them prefer to remain isolated as much as possible,” she said.
“That basically makes you servants,” the man said with a sneer.
May frowned at him in confusion. “It makes us servants,” she said, stre
ssing the word, “since you’re clearly a vassal too.” She put her hands on her hips, “and what’s your problem with servants? I suppose you look down on janitors and cleaners as well? How about cooks, carers and secretaries? Everyone who does any kind of work that helps make other people’s lives easier?” She was really angry now, how dare he belittle her work and the work of thousands of people like her. “How about you stop running off at the mouth, and actually help the people who are trying to get some work done.” She looked him straight in the eye, even though it required her to tilt up her head. “This place hasn’t been open for weeks and it’s covered in dust. Why don’t you get one of those vacuum cleaners from the other room, take it upstairs and get cleaning?” She pointed to the door.
Despite him being a full head taller than her, he was the one who broke first, glancing away and walking slowly towards the door. “You two can go help him,” she said, pointing out two of the others who had just been standing around, and then she rounded on the other ones with her lips pressed in a line. They quickly turned away and at least started pretending to work. She huffed. Freeloaders.
“Thanks,” the spike-haired woman said from beside her, “he was really starting to piss me off.” She shook her head. “I don’t know which Bloodline hired him, but they clearly aren’t teaching them shit.”
May laughed, “I’m May,” she said, offering her hand.
“Ivy,” the woman said with a big smile that lit up her face.
“Can I help?” May asked, peering at the pot.
“Sure, said Ivy and she pointed to a pile of potatoes sitting next to the stove. “I realized in the rush to get everyone settled in, no one thought about cooking up some dinner, at least, for those of us who, like, need to eat regularly,” she said, leaning in to whisper. “I know what I said to that vassal, but to be honest I can’t imagine any of the vampires being okay with just a plain leek and potato soup.”