by Мишель Роуэн
“Yes I am. Well, trying to, anyhow.”
He stared into my eyes for a moment. “Even though you must hate me for how we left things earlier, you would risk your life to help me?”
“I don’t hate you.”
“You should.”
“I don’t. Now shut up, okay? I have no idea where Janie went and I have to figure out how to get these handcuffs off you fast.”
“Oh,” Janie said from stage right. “You would use this.”
I glanced over at her. She held up a tiny silver key that shone under the spotlight. She grinned.
I got a sinking feeling. Which, considering my stomach had already dropped through the floor, was difficult but not impossible. This was a setup—and not just Janie’s doing. I hadn’t known why, or who,
but now I had a pretty good idea.
“You’re working for Gideon Chase, aren’t you?” I said.
“He would pay really good. The man has bucks.” She smirked at me. “But it’s not him. My real boss wanted me to get you here.” She looked around the stage. “I feel like singing something fromSpamalot . Is that wrong?”
I felt so tense I thought I might shatter. “So what now?”
“Before or after my encore?”
“This isn’t funny, Janie.”
Her eyes narrowed and her smile dropped away. “Oh, I know that. Believe me, I’d rather have you all to myself, but the boss has other plans. And he does pay well. Not as well as Gideon would, but still.
Not too shabby.”
“And what boss would that be?”
“That would be me.”
I turned at the sound of a familiar voice. Nicolai stepped out from the wings and onto the stage.
My stomach fell yet another three feet. “I thought you were gone.”
He shrugged. “I changed my mind.”
“Nicolai . . . what are you doing?” My voice sounded strangled as he came further into the light. I realized his eyes weren’t normal. They were darkening, slowly bleeding to black. Shivers ran down my arms.
“Stay the hell away from her,” Thierry snarled behind his back.
Nicolai raised an eyebrow at me and turned. “Thierry, my old friend. Given your current position, I don’t think you should be telling anyone what to do.”
I was very confused. “Nicolai . . . what’s wrong? What’s going on here?”
“What’s wrong?” He laughed. “Where do I even begin?”
“What about Gideon?” I managed. “I thought he was in town. Or was that a lie, too?” I glanced at Janie,
who now held a wooden stake in her hand.
“Oops.” She grinned. “Is my nose getting longer?”
I watched as Nicolai ran the tip of his tongue along his sharper-than-normal fangs, studying me as if I were prey. Not a good feeling, to put it mildly. What was wrong with him? What was he up to?
“I must admit, Sarah, that when I arrived in town my intentions were honorable. My plan was to assassinate Gideon Chase when he made a move on you. It would have been my greatest achievement.”
“Assassinate him?” I repeated as my eyes widened. “You didn’t say anything about assassinating him. I thought you just wanted to capture him.”
He shook his head. “And hide him away from the world? Perhaps reason with him and let him go? So young and stupid, you are. I truly am surprised that Thierry would give you any attention whatsoever.
When I arrived, I expected great things from the Slayer of Slayers. I put so much hope into it. You have been the ultimate disappointment.” He looked over at Thierry. “Granted, she is young and attractive, but what else is there? Don’t tell me you truly care what happens to this girl.”
Thierry’s expression darkened and he strained against his bindings. “Touch her and you will die a horrific death.”
With a look from Nicolai, Janie moved to stand behind Thierry, running the tip of the wooden stake along the edge of his black shirt.
“I’d put a sock in it if I were you,” Janie advised. “Nicolai isn’t in a very good mood. Frankly, neither am I. Nicolai, I thought you said that if I got them here, you’d handle Thierry and I could have bitch face over there.”
Bitch face? That’s the best she could come up with? If I hadn’t been scared out of my wits, I’d have been seriously insulted.
He gave her a cold smile. “My plans have changed.”
“Oh, and when did that happen?” Her jaw clenched.
“Some time ago.” Nicolai turned to survey me again. I instinctively took a step backward. The look in his black eyes was predatory. What was his problem with me? What had I done to piss him off so much?
“So . . . ” I tried to breathe normally. This wasn’t as bad as I thought. No. Keep telling myself that and maybe everything would be okay. Nicolai was one of the good guys. He’d given me his blood after
Thierry bit me. He was the leader of the Ring, for Pete’s sake. “I’m thinking we have some issues we need to hash out. Why don’t we all go for a coffee somewhere and chat? There’s no reason we can’t all be friends.”
Yeah. Didn’t sound terribly convincing to me, either. But it was worth a shot.
A cruel smile twisted his lips. “Passably attractive. Not terribly bright. Slightly endearing in her naive attempts at humor.” He turned to Thierry. “I still don’t understand. But so be it. You want to know when
I changed the plans, Janie?”
She shrugged. “Actually, I’d rather just get this over with.”
“It was when I arrived at the nightclub the other night. To find Sarah unconscious and bleeding. I knew at once what had happened. That Thierry had nearly drained her and left her for dead.”
I saw Thierry visibly flinch at his words.
“I also knew right then that the rumors about the Slayer of Slayers were false, for this wouldn’t have happened to one with an ounce of strength or common sense,” Nicolai continued, “and it was as if the last hundred years had never passed. It was as if I was seeing my Elizabeth , dead in front of me.
Murdered by someone I trusted. Someone I considered to be my friend. My first thought was to help.
And I revived her. Didn’t I?”
I nodded. “You did. And I appreciate it. But why are you—”
He waved me off. “I should have felt good about my sacrifice. I was the better man. I wanted to help save her. But as she drank from me, as she was revived, my feelings began to change. I saw the bite marks fresh on her neck. They were the bite marks that Elizabeth would have worn. And all became clear to me once again, after so, so very long. All I wanted to do was to finish what Thierry began. To finish you, Sarah, and find some closure to my own tragedy.” His eyes narrowed at me. “Perhaps then I would have learned what he sees in you. Do you taste sweeter than the rest?” He took a step closer to me.
“Nicolai—” Thierry’s voice was edged with violence.
He turned to Thierry. “I told her that Gideon Chase wanted to kill the Slayer of Slayers. That he also wanted to kill you. She was willing to put herself at risk in order to ensure your future safety. Isn’t that foolish of her?”
I didn’t look at Thierry, but he was silent.
Nicolai sighed. “However, he is not here. His plans changed, as mine have. So now there is only us.”
“What does that mean?” I said, my voice now shaky.
“Revenge,” he said simply. “It is finally time for me to seek my revenge. I have tried to put it behind me.
But seeing Thierry after so long. Seeing you with Thierry, with your eyes filled with romantic stars.
Realizing that he cares for you. That he would care what happensto you. It was well worth the wait. He murdered the woman I loved more than anything else.” He looked around the theater. “That’s why I wanted to come here. After Janie told me of your little adventure yesterday, I knew this was the perfect place. My Elizabeth was an actress. Thousands saw her perform in her short life. I gave her immortality and she should have s
hone onstage for millennia. But that was cut short when she was murdered.” He turned to stare daggers into Thierry. “Do you have anything to say to that?”
Thierry looked down, his chest heaving. Then he raised his gaze. “Do what you wish to me. I deserve it.
But Sarah . . . let her go. As one whom you once considered your friend, I beg you.”
Nicolai regarded him for a moment. “You beg me.” He started to laugh. “Oh, this is too, too wonderful.
He begs me to spare her life.”
Obviously, Nicolai was the only one who seemed to get this side-splittingly not-funny joke.
“Thierry de Bennicoeur begs me to spare the life of the woman he loves. Don’t you see? This makes what I’m about to do so much sweeter. For I never had the chance to beg for the life of Elizabeth , did
I?”
Silence fell on the stage as his laughter ceased.
“Nicolai,” I said after a moment. “I don’t know you very well, but I know that you aren’t a bad guy. Listen to me. Listen to reason for a second, would you?”
He turned to me and cocked his head. “I am nothing if not a reasonable man.”
“Thierry didn’t kill Elizabeth .”
His expression darkened to match his haunted, and as I realized now, insane eyes. “He did.”
I shook my head and tried to keep my voice steady and panic-free. “He may have bitten her—which
I’m not trying to justify—but when she ran, she was attacked by hunters.They’re the ones who killed her.They’re the ones to blame.”
He stared at me for a long moment.
“And why did she run?” he asked softly. “What did my Elizabeth run from?”
My mouth went dry.
“Me,” Thierry said. “She ran from me.”
Nicolai nodded. “So you see, my dear Sarah, that is all the proof I require.” He turned to Thierry again.
“So you do accept the punishment that has taken me a century to deliver?”
Thierry didn’t look at me. “Release Sarah first.”
Nicolai smiled. “But Thierry, my old friend, Sarah is part of your punishment.”
Thierry’s eyes widened and he struggled with his bindings as Janie stood like a statue behind him. “Sarah
. . . run!”
But I didn’t have a chance. With a speed I’d never witnessed from either human or vampire, Nicolai had closed the distance between us and was behind me, an arm around my neck that I grabbed, searching my brain for a suitable self-defense tactic. I came up blank.
“Yes,” Nicolai hissed into my ear. “Before I kill you, Thierry, I will drain the woman you love. So the last thing you see will be the life slipping from her eyes, knowing there was nothing you could do to save her.” He moved his face down my neck where the faint bite marks from the other night still remained. He pulled the collar of my shirt down to expose more skin.
“Hey,” Janie said. “Is that the necklace I’ve been looking for? Around your vampire neck? What the hell?”
I ignored her, as a sick realization hit me. “Nicolai . . . are you . . . are you the one responsible for the recent vampire attacks in the city? The murders? I hoped it wasn’t true. That a vampire . . . that a vampire wouldn’t—”
“Wouldn’t kill?” I felt him smile against my ear. “Wouldn’t hurt another soul? That they were innocent creatures unjustly accused of centuries of monstrous crimes? That hunters are completely and totally wrong in what they do? After what happened to you the other night I would have thought that your naive opinion of your kind would have changed. And perhaps that your doubts would be with Thierry. But they weren’t, were they? Not for one moment.”
I managed to shake my head at that. “Thierry wouldn’t do something like that.”
He inhaled and pushed the hair off my neck. “Loyal to the end. Just like my Elizabeth .”
I struggled, but the guy was just as strong as he looked. He held my head in such a way that I couldn’t even bite him. “Just an FYI, Nic, your Elizabeth was a bit of a tramp. She tried to seduce Thierry. Real loyal. I guess absence made the heart go yonder, didn’t it?”
“Shut up.” His words were accompanied by the tightening of his arm around my neck. I choked against the intense pressure.
“It is true,” Thierry said, his eyes glittering like diamonds under the stage’s spotlight. “And I was not the first.”
“Liars.”
Janie shifted the stake to her other hand and pressed it against Thierry’s neck to stop him from saying anything else, but her attention was on me and Nicolai.
“Is it true?” she asked. “Are you responsible for the murders?”
I felt his lips against my neck and I shuddered. “A man has his appetites. And sometimes they can’t be denied. Isn’t that right, Thierry?”
She frowned. “So, is that a yes?”
He snorted. “Oh, Janie. Always so inquisitive. That’s what I like about you. Yes. I take what I want when I want it and have done so since I was a fledgling. Hunters, other vampires, humans. I do not care whose blood I enjoy. I am bound by no human rules. If more vampires thought as I did, we would have no need to fear the hunters. They would fear us. Remember that, Thierry, for the moments you have yet to live. That only the strong survive.”
“Nicolai . . . no!” Thierry shouted.
I felt a searing pain as Nicolai sank his fangs into my neck. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. I should have fought harder against him. I should have learned more self-defense. I shouldn’t follow my heart instead of my head. It only led me into trouble.
I couldn’t get out of this one. And there was nobody left to help me. To helpus .
Suddenly Nicolai’s body jerked and I yelped as he pulled his fangs out of my neck. I staggered back from him a few feet. He looked down at himself, then pulled a dart out of his shoulder and looked up at
Janie.
She had the garlic dart gun in hand. “Sorry, Nicolai. But you just weren’t playing fair.”
“What do you care?” he snapped at her. “You hate her. She killed your brother.”
She flinched. “I’m beginning to learn that there are no easy answers in life. To anything, I’m afraid. And I guess I’m not too happy that I’ve been working for a serial killer. Just couldn’t let that slide. Not even for a little revenge.”
“Morals? For a mercenary?”
“Well, she also has my necklace.” She shrugged, and then frowned at him. “Uh, shouldn’t you be unconscious by now?”
He nodded. “It is good that I trust no one. Including you. I took an antidote for the darts before arriving here.”
“Well,shit .”
I looked across the floor as I clamped my hand against my neck. Things were a bit blurry. I didn’t know how much blood he’d taken. Couldn’t be much. It hadn’t been that long. But I’d felt better, that was for sure.
A small silver key sparkled about six feet away from me. The key to Thierry’s handcuffs. Janie must have dropped it.
I looked at Thierry. His face was filled with concern for me. He followed my line of sight to the key. He shook his head and mouthed “run” to me.
“Bad girl, Janie. I’m very disappointed. You came highly recommended.”
“What can I say?”
“Nothing at all.” He flew at her, grabbing her as he had me, and bit her neck. She screamed with surprise and pain, clawing frantically against him. But he had her at a disadvantage. He’d done this before. It was obvious. She didn’t have a chance.
I could grab the key. I could free Thierry and we could both get the hell out of there before he finished with her and started looking for dessert.
But that wasn’t going to happen.
I pulled my hand away from my neck and crawled across the stage as quickly as I could, and grabbed the gun to point it and pull the trigger.
Nicolai jerked again and pulled away from Janie. He looked down at the dart I’d just shot into his other shoulder before he pulled it out a
nd threw it away from him.
“Really?” he said incredulously. “Didn’t you hear about the antidote? Truly, I have never witnessed such stupidity from a woman.”
I stood on shaky legs and threw the dart gun away from me. It clattered to the ground. “Okay, jerk.
First off, I’m not that stupid. Got it?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Because,” I continued, “I wasn’t trying to knock you out. I was simply trying to distract you. Who’s stupid now, asshole?”
He turned just as Janie sank her wooden stake into his chest and stepped back, holding a hand to her wounded neck. He looked at her with surprise.
“Now I do realize that this probably means I’m not going to be paid for this job, too,” she said. “But I’m okay with that if you are.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but the rest of his body was too busy turning into a puddle of goo to let him.
“Gross.” I stepped away from his remains. Luckily, I wasn’t wearing my new good shoes. I wanted to feel bad about what had to happen, but I found that I simply couldn’t. Nicolai was dead and all I felt was relief.
Janie stared at what was left of Nicolai for a moment, clearly shaken by what had just occurred, then she turned away.
“Where are you going?” I asked. “Don’t you want the necklace?”
She turned back to look at the gold chain hanging around my neck. “To tell you the truth, I’m a little sick of following orders. I’m going to tell my boss I didn’t get it. Whatever happens, happens.”
“What is it, anyhow?” The metal felt cold against my skin as I thought about how it might have helped transform Barkley back into his human form. “What does it do?”
“No idea. I just retrieve them, I don’t write the instruction manuals.”
I tucked it back under my shirt. “You didn’t let me thank you for saving my life.”
She shrugged. “I guess we’re even. That doesn’t mean we have to hug, does it?”
I shook my head.
“Look,” she said. “I’m not okay with what happened to my brother. I get that he was different than I remember. I know in the end that he was a bad guy. But still. It hurts. So we’renot friends.”
“I know that.”