Laws of the Blood 4: Deceptions: Deceptions

by Sizemore, Susan

  Olympias nodded. “Trying to. Can’t put as much attention into it as I’d like, though.”

  “Is this the vampire that saved you?” Grace asked Falconer. “Is she one of the good guys? Do you trust her?” It was Donald who answered, signing to Grace. “One telepathic dip into your head and you trust her? Don, you’re easy.”

  “You’re all going to have to trust me for now,” Olympias told them. She wasn’t speaking to anyone but Falconer when she said, “I want your help.”

  Chapter 15

  BAD IDEA. DEFINITELY a bad idea, Sara thought as she and Andrew raced across a baseball field with the Hunters on their heels.

  He was the one doing the racing, holding her in his arms. She didn’t know if her weight slowed him down; she did know that looking over his shoulder gave her far too good a view of the slathering creatures, which wasn’t a reassuring sight. There were too many fangs, claws, and animal eyes glowing in the bright moonlight. The companions racing in the rear to keep up with the monsters added to the size of the pack. Every nest in the area must have turned up for this party.

  Andrew was right in that finding the vampires hadn’t been hard. Getting their attention had been easy. Reasoning with them wasn’t likely. Andrew had shielded her behind him when they approached. The gathered nests had turned to stare. Shadows swirled around them, with magic rising like sparks into the shifting darkness. There was the reek of blood on the wind. There was stillness like death.

  Then someone with a mouth full of fangs shouted, “Sacrifice!”

  Sara saw the faintest glint of silver spark off a silver blade. Then the Hunters rushed toward them. Andrew slung her over his shoulder and ran.

  “Why this rebellion?” she asked the night, trying for reason rather than giving in to the urge to scream like a banshee. “What do they want?”

  “Us,” Andrew answered. He wasn’t even breathing hard.

  “Me?” she questioned. She was mortal. Maybe they’d recognized her as Olympias’s slave and wanted to slice and dice her because of that association. “Then put me down,” she begged her lover. “Save yourself!”

  “Us,” he repeated. “Can’t you feel them calling? They’ve got their claws in my mind.”

  “They want you to join them? Then—”

  “I wish.”

  Oh, dear. They wanted him? There had been a silver knife. “Only Enforcers carry silver blades.”

  “I know.”

  “But Olympias isn’t—”

  Andrew was tackled from behind before she had a chance to finish. He flung Sara as far as he could away from him as he fell. She hit the ground hard on one shoulder and rolled and rolled, coming to rest on her stomach, covered in dew, her knees and hands scraped by grass burns. It was a minor pain, and she had no time for it. Sara jumped to her feet, but there was nowhere to run. The pack was already spread out in a circle around them.

  “Game’s over,” she heard a man’s voice cut through the sudden bays of triumph.

  Sara spun toward the voice and found Andrew. He stood in the center of the circle. A trio of vampires stood before him, with one of the companions hovering nearby. Sara recognized the mortal.

  “Bentencourt.”

  She wasn’t sure if she’d spoken, or aimed a jab of hatred at the man when she recognized him, but Roger Bentencourt looked her way and waved his fingers at her in supercilious greeting. Rose’s companion radiated smug confidence Sara would have found infuriating if she didn’t have more to worry about at the moment. Her beloved was in trouble, and she wanted nothing more than to run to him and throw her body between him and those who threatened him. This, of course, would be a stupid, useless maneuver, and Sara kept still and silent, trying to think of something useful she could do to help.

  She watched as Andrew looked at each of the vampires in turn, while he lifted his hand slowly and cautiously to push hair back out of his face. “What can I do for you?” he asked, seemingly quite calm.

  Sara was surprised when the trio of vampires let him get up, and was very frightened at the way they surrounded him. They were smiling too much, too triumphantly. Everything about them was sharp and glittering. It wasn’t just the claws and fangs. Everything about the monsters cut; their smiles were edged like broken glass; their gazes stabbed. Their hunger was palpable, a sick perverted craving they’d turned on one of their own kind. Sara knew it was so, but didn’t understand it. Why had the pack chased them down? No, not them, the Hunt had been for Andrew. For now no one noticed her existence but Bentencourt. They wanted Andrew. Vampires did not Hunt vampires. She knew this for a fact—it was the Law. Maybe it wasn’t exactly a Law—the Law was that vampires didn’t kill vampires. Enforcers stepped in and did very permanent things to vampires that tried to kill each other. They couldn’t want to kill Andrew, Sara reasoned, trying to reassure herself.

  They did other things to each other, though, didn’t they? Perfectly lawful, but perfectly awful things.

  Why Andrew?

  “No,” she whispered. “Please.” Where was Olympias? Surely the Enforcer wouldn’t let—

  “She’d hardly be interested in helping you,” Bentencourt said, suddenly by Sara’s side. She’d been so intent on watching Andrew, she hadn’t noticed the companion come up beside her. He took her by the arm, his grip painfully tight. “She’s never been interested in helping anyone but herself. Believe me, I know.”

  “How would you know?” Sara demanded, seething with anger for Olympias’s sake.

  He laughed quietly. “Still loyal to your mistress?” He gestured toward Andrew. “How can that be? Congratulations,” he added. “I see you achieved what you wanted.” Of course Bentencourt recognized that she was a companion, one automatically knew one’s peers within the strigoi community.

  “Not loyal to my mistress, but to my friend,” Sara said, realizing the truth as she spoke it. It was a good truth, but this was no time to explore it, or figure out how to convince Olympias of the advantages of this change in their relationship. This was the time to be concentrating on getting out of this mess.

  “Hmmm,” Bentencourt responded to Sara’s declaration and moved away to linger on the edge of the group surrounding Andrew.

  Sara thought about the risks for a moment, then followed Bentencourt to stand silently in his shadow. She might be closer to the danger, but it gave her a better view of Andrew.

  Andrew held his hands at his side, his body language as unthreatening as possible. “Hello, Rose,” he said. Sara followed his gaze as he glanced down. She gasped when she saw Rose Shilling’s clawed hand wrapped around the hilt of a long silver dagger.

  “I’m going to give you peace,” Rose answered.

  “I think there’s been a mistake.”

  Andrew took a step backward, but the others followed. The other vampires moved to surround the group in a loose circle, staying out of the way, but able to cut off any attempt at escape.

  “You want to die,” Rose said to Andrew.

  “We appreciate your sacrifice,” Sidney Douglas spoke up.

  Andrew’s gaze flicked to the male nest leader. “Hi, Sid. Still practicing the black arts?”

  “I gave up practicing blood magic,” Douglas answered, giving Andrew a triumphant smile. Triumph and cruel anticipation wafted off him like psychic perfume. “Since I got it right a long time ago.”

  “You’re going to kill me,” Andrew said, with a slight nod. He looked back at Rose. “What has this nutcase talked you into, sweetheart?”

  “You want to die,” Rose said.

  “No I don’t.”

  “I need to become a Nighthawk,” she finished, not seeming to have heard Andrew.

  “Let’s get on with the sacrifice,” Angela said impatiently. She glanced at the brightly moonlit sky. “We haven’t got all night. We’ve still got mortals to kill too.”

  “I wanted to die,” Andrew said carefully. He raised his voice so every vampire in the group could hear him. “I do not wish to die.”

/>   “You did,” Bentencourt spoke up. “You petitioned the Enforcer of the City to take your life. Rose is our Enforcer.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Andrew said to Bentencourt. “Rose can’t be an Enforcer.”

  “I will be,” Rose said.

  Rose Shilling’s tone chilled Sara. The nest leader sounded hypnotized. She was totally focused, but not in control of the situation. Dark magic had gotten hold of her, Sara surmised. The combination of the thrills of chase, capture, and kill had worked a spell on her. Rose Shilling was barely in control of the monster inside her. If Rose didn’t concentrate hard on the idea of killing Andrew, she would let loose and kill everything in her path.

  The other vampires were just as intent on what they wanted. What did they want? Why were Gerry and the other mortal dead? Why a Hunt? Who needed—? Sara scanned the faces of the vampires and found a new set of fangs sprouted in the mouth of a woman so covered in blood Sara had trouble recognizing her. “Cassandra,” she finally whispered. Could the nests have Hunted without permission simply to help Douglas’s companion make the transition? No, they weren’t that altruistic. This was full-blown rebellion against the Enforcer of the City. A plot to replace the vampire queen with a figurehead. Surely, Rose didn’t think she was capable of—

  “You can’t replace Olympias,” Sara spoke up. “Not just by eating Andrew. It’s not that simple.”

  “Thank you for your input,” Bentencourt said. “But we already have the details worked out.”

  “We?” Sara asked him.

  “I have the details worked out,” he admitted to her. “You and I both know who the brains in this town are.” He put his hand on her shoulder and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Let’s rule the world together, my dear. If you survive your lover’s death, that is,” he added. He actually sounded regretful.

  Live without Andrew? That would not be possible. “Get your hands off me,” she told the companion.

  Bentencourt was amused by Sara’s outrage. “As you wish,” he answered. “For now.” He didn’t have time to properly taunt her now, however. Time to get this sacrifice on the road. He went up to Douglas. “The ritual implements are prepared,” he politely told the sorcerer. “The sacrifice is here. It will be hard on Rose to wait any longer.”

  “You can wait an eternity,” Andrew said. “I’m not volunteering for any sacrifice. Besides, Sid, you need to be an Enforcer to make one. I don’t think you have the fangs for it.”

  Douglas snarled, his features transformed into a Hunting mask. “These long enough for you?”

  “Calm down, Douglas,” Angela said. “He’s trying to distract us.”

  “It’s not Lawful to kill me if I don’t agree,” Andrew said, concentrating on getting through to Rose. “I’ve broken no Law. I’ve changed my mind about suicide. You’re an ethical person. You don’t want to do this.”

  “I—have to.” Rose looked around, seeking him.

  Bentencourt stepped up to her instantly. “You must do this,” he urged.

  “But Andrew doesn’t want to—”

  “He has broken the Law,” Bentencourt hurried on. He pointed toward Sara. “See that girl? Feel what she is? Andrew took her.”

  Rose and the others glanced toward Sara. “A new companion,” Rose said. “Proof that Andrew wants to live. We can’t—”

  “We can,” Douglas insisted.

  “We’ve gone too far not to,” Angela added.

  “The girl—Andrew’s companion—belongs to Olympias. She’s Olympias’s slave,” Bentencourt told them. “I’ve told you about her,” he said to Rose. “She’s the Gifted one Olympias took as a slave. Andrew took her from Olympias.”

  Douglas laughed. “Good for him.”

  “It was still against the Law,” Bentencourt went on, concentrating all his persuasive power on Rose. “He is not the innocent he claims to be. He took something without any right to it. This is not how you taught him to behave in your house. What he did is an offense to you as well as it is to the Law.”

  Rose listened and slowly nodded. “Andrew,” she said, turning back to the victim. “You have broken the Law.”

  “Possibly,” Andrew answered. “But not necessarily a killing offense. I plan on taking up the matter with Olympias. You cannot judge me.”

  “We have judged you,” Douglas declared.

  Andrew turned slowly all the way around. “Yes. I see where I might be at a disadvan—Good Goddess!” He pointed behind the trio of nest leaders as he shouted.

  None of the nest leaders reacted. “Oh, please—” Douglas began.

  Only to be interrupted by the shout of “Ghosts!” from one of the younger vampires.

  Sara whirled around just as someone else screamed. She saw an amorphous shape, faint, like fog. Then, as she turned, she saw another, and another. Three—things—hovered in the air on the edges of the vampire gathering. Three things that watched.

  “Ghosts!” the panicked shout rose again.

  Sara thought she felt eyes on her, but she was already so terrified she didn’t trust any hint of the unusual to be something sinister. It might just be fog and moonlight. She was surrounded by vampires for goodness’s sake! It was easy to imagine ghosts thrown into the mix as well.

  The vampires took a different attitude. Maybe they could see more into the psychic realm than she could. Fear raced through them like wildfire. One of the male vampires broke and ran, disappearing into the darkness.

  Bentencourt started shouting, “Calm down, calm down. There’s a logical explanation!” But none of the milling younger vampires listened to a companion.

  Gavivi came running up to Angela. “What is it?” she asked. “The souls of those you killed?”

  Cassandra dropped to the ground and rolled up in a tight ball; the freshly made vampire was completely overwhelmed.

  Rose and Douglas turned to each other.

  Andrew took the opportunity to wrap shadows around himself and slip away from the crowd. Sara, totally aware of her lover, quietly followed. It helped their exit when one of the ghosts moved forward, causing one of the younger vampires to scream.

  Olympias always found it particularly satisfying to hear a vampire scream. It was a sound to whet the appetite and make the old bloodlust sing in her veins. She had Falconer and his kids to thank for the diversion, meaning she owed them and she’d have to find a way besides killing them to get them out of her hair. Right now, she moved toward the center of the crowd. She studied the situation while she waited for a little chaos to set in from the ghostly manifestations. She knew how freaked she’d been when she’d first encountered the Walkers in the park. That had only been residue of their astral projections, this was the real thing. The psychic resonance Walking set off was disturbing under normal circumstances. Olympias smiled at the effect it had on vampires keyed up for the Hunt. Amid the screaming, shouting, and milling, she saw that Andrew and Sara recognized a diversion when they were in the middle of one and were quietly trying to make their escape. She admired their taking the incentive, but Olympias hoped Sara and her lover didn’t think she’d arranged this for them.

  Andrew tried hiding them within a circle of shadow, but Olympias followed them, moved swiftly to intercept them before they made it to the woods. “Don’t go anywhere,” she whispered in Andrew’s ear as she passed them by. She didn’t glance back to see if they obeyed as she moved away.

  Olympias swerved around a baby vampire girl in a fetal position on the ground. The girl reeked of Gerry Hansell’s blood. “Not pretty,” Olympias murmured. “Not pretty at all.”

  Olympias switched her attention to the real danger in this tableau. The sight of the trio of nest leaders in the center of the field wasn’t a pretty one, either. The energy that had been draining from all the life and death in the park was drawn toward the male nest leader, Sid the Sorcerer. He was full of power now, bloated on possibility.

  Andrew wasn’t on the run from her was he? Well, well, well . . .

 
Looked like Sidney Douglas had some dark, deep magic planned for this evening. The baby vampire was of Sidney’s blood. Why wasn’t he running to aid the suffering bloodchild he’d just made? Instead, he had his hand on Rose’s arm, talking to her low and fast. Angela stared wildly around. She wanted to run, but stank of the fear of failure more. Rose looked more like a zombie than a vampire. A companion had his hand on her other arm, and he was talking to her as well.

  What was the matter with these people? And what was that in Rose’s hand?

  “Let’s have a look at that.” Olympias appeared in front of Rose and snatched the silver dagger away before anyone noticed she was there.

  A second later, Angela screamed.

  Olympias supposed she could have asked questions and stabbed later, but Sidney Douglas stepped back, lifted his arms in a ritual gesture and began an incantation. A wave of dizziness hit her even as she struck. The soft point of the silver dagger would not have pierced the vampire’s chest on its own. It was the force with which she struck that buried the long blade in the sorcerer’s heart. That didn’t kill him, but it turned the incantation into a scream. Olympias’s dizziness disappeared when the words stopped. Closing her hand around the heat of Douglas’s beating heart was a thoroughly satisfying sensation. Ripping it out would have been easier had she fully transformed to her Hunter’s Mask and used her fangs to dig out the vampire’s heart. This way was a bit slower, but equally effective, especially since it was more painful for Sidney.

  “No one tries to pull that magic crap on me,” she told the dying vampire.

  Watching his face as he died was equally pleasant. She made sure she held his heart up in the moonlight, so he could get a good look at it while his eyes glazed over. Olympias felt the new-made fledgling die moments after her maker. The young one was unable to take the trauma of losing the connection with her bloodsire so soon after making the change. Seeing the ghosts must have already weakened her fragile hold on sanity.

  No loss there, Olympias thought. She would have executed the girl anyway, for killing Gerry. The fledgling was hardly to blame for having killed the one her maker gave her, but Olympias would have taken revenge for her slave’s death. Justice, she told herself as she turned to the two other nest leaders. Gerry had not deserved to die. Nor had the other mortal the nests hunted down.