“Blood?” I lifted an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Not so surprising in a house full of vamps, though.”
I turned the bracelet over and inspected the charms and then the clasp, flicking it open to reveal a small bit of dried blood under the curl of the fastening hooks on the underside. They looked about the same distance apart as the scratches I’d seen on Yoshiko’s arm.
“What are you doing down here?” Murphy asked, stepping out of his office behind me. I jumped and spun around, red flooding my vision again.
“I just had a question…for the tech team.” I closed my hand around Polly’s bracelet, trying to hide it from him.
Murphy’s nostrils flared, and then he snatched my wrist as his pupils dilated. “Why do I smell Yoshiko’s blood on you?”
I swallowed, unable to come up with a satisfactory answer that wasn’t a lie. I couldn’t let him know what I’d just learned. He’d slaughter the girl before we had a chance to question her.
“Murphy—” I pleaded as he took hold of my fingers and pried them open.
“Is that…?” He stared down at the bracelet in my palm, his fangs pushing out his upper lip. “Does that belong to the duke’s new pet?” he asked, voice raw with quiet rage.
“No.”
“But the crowns…” He fingered one of the dangling charms. Tears wet the corners of his eyes, and then he snatched up the bracelet and threw it to the floor, stomping his heel down on the delicate piece. “I’ll kill her for this,” he rasped before tearing off down the hall.
“Murphy, it’s not hers!”
He turned and disappeared around the corner, heading up the stairs to the foyer. I chased after him. Several of the guards from the control room had heard the exchange and were close on my heels, but we were too far behind.
“Stop him!” I yelled up the stairwell, hoping the guards watching Dante’s office doors would hear.
Shouts echoed through the foyer as I topped the stairs, and I found one of the guards slumped against a bench near the front entrance. The other clutched his shoulder, standing in the open doorway of the duke’s office.
“What is the meaning of this?” Dante shouted over the man’s shoulder, outraged that he was being prevented from leaving the safety of the room.
“Apologies, Your Grace,” the guard blocking him said before unclipping the radio on his hip and pressing the call button. “We have a situation. All free guards, report to the south wing.”
I rushed past him while he was distracted, narrowly missing the arm he threw out to stop me.
“Jenna!” Dante called from his office. “What is it?”
“Murphy! He’s after Audrey,” I shouted over my shoulder, picking up speed as I rounded the corner. I would have a harder time dodging Lane and the other guard on the south stairs.
Unless they abandon their posts to pursue Murphy, I thought upon seeing the empty stairwell.
“Murphy!” Lane shouted from farther up the hall. I spotted his partner, standing in Audrey’s doorway, gaping helplessly after his boss. I pushed past him before he could think to stop me.
Inside the room, Lane had Murphy pinned in a half-Nelson over Audrey’s bed. The girls cowered against the far wall, squealing in terror every time Murphy struggled to break free. The new donor-in-waiting stood in front of them, his legs spread and arms raised, ready to take the vamp on should Murphy get loose.
“She’s the duke’s future scion! What’s wrong with you?” Levi growled. His eyes glowed yellow, and I saw the tips of his fingernails begin to curl.
He’d only just arrived at the manor, only just met the future baroness, but he was ready to faceoff with a vampire twice his size who was clearly out of his mind. All to protect Audrey and Polly.
Levi was a keeper. I mentally patted myself on the back for that one, even as I edged around the room to get to the girls. They both reached for me as I neared them, huddled together on the floor.
“Jenna!” Audrey rasped. “Thank God.”
I pulled away from her and went for Polly, taking the girl’s arms and dragging her up onto her feet.
“You can’t be trusted near her,” I said as she groped for Audrey, sensing my fury. “I’m taking you to the duke, right away.”
Polly sucked in a shuddering breath. Her legs wobbled, and she slumped against me as she burst into tears. “It was an accident! I’m so sorry,” she wailed.
“You?” Murphy snarled from the bed, struggling against Lane. Several more guards filed into the room and piled on top of him. “You’re dead. Do you hear me? I’ll drain you dry!” he shouted above their commands to calm down.
Polly’s wailing turned into a shriek, and it was all I could do to hold her upright.
“What’s this about?” Audrey snatched my arm and gaped up at me, her desperate eyes more pathetic than I could bear. “Can I come with you? Please?”
“Fine.” I hated how callous I sounded, but I was unable to muster up a more sympathetic tone while holding the one responsible for ending Yoshiko’s life. “We need to go. Now.”
* * * * *
Dante’s office could be a scary place. I remembered my first visit, the nerves that had made every breath feel like razors in my lungs. And I hadn’t even been in trouble. I could only imagine how someone as weak-willed and wretched as Polly must feel.
I stood behind Dante’s desk, leaning against the wall with my arms folded over my chest, while the duke spoke with Audrey out in the foyer. I could understand why he wouldn’t want her to see this side of him just yet, why he wouldn’t want to alarm her with the uglier truths about House Lilith.
Polly shook uncontrollably, her sobs echoing inside the cup of her hands. I forced myself not to comfort her, remembering Scarlett’s gift for conjuring sympathy. Her hasty apology was all the admission of guilt I needed—and everyone in Audrey’s room had heard it. A seasoned spy, the girl was not.
Though…I couldn’t quite believe that she was a coldhearted killer either. She’d been heavily supervised at Darkly Hall for the past eight years alongside Audrey and Kate.
One of the double doors opened, and Dante entered the office. He’d taken longer than I’d expected, but the broken bracelet in his hand explained why. He crossed the room and handed it to me with a humbled frown.
“Forgive my doubt, Your Grace,” he said softly, his hand lingering on mine.
I looked down at the mangled chain and cracked charms, pausing on one of the tiny coffins. It had been split open by Murphy’s heel, revealing broken bits of plastic and wires.
“My harem manager’s blood was found on your bracelet, Ms. Hughes,” Dante said, taking a seat behind his desk. “Would you care to explain?”
“I’m so sorry.” Polly’s voice trembled. She’d repeated the apology a dozen times since I’d dragged her from Audrey’s room. “It was an accident. I didn’t mean to—”
“Didn’t mean to what?” I snapped. “What exactly were you trying to do when you pushed her down the stairs?”
“She…she wouldn’t give my bracelet back.” Polly sniffled. “All I wanted was my bracelet.”
“The bracelet you have been recording private conversations on around the manor, Ms. Hughes?” Dante clicked his tongue and folded his hands over the desk. “How uncivilized of you. What do you suppose Madam Madeira at Darkly Hall will have to say about your behavior?”
“I…I don’t…I didn’t…” Polly stammered, clearly distressed by how much we’d discovered.
“Who gave you the bracelet?” I asked, dangling it in front of her. Polly’s eyes widened when she noticed the exposed charm.
“No. No! You have to fix it.” She reached for the bracelet, but I held it out of her reach. “They’ll kill her! They’ll kill Audrey just like they killed that girl from Bathory House.”
“Who?” Dante demanded. His face was hard, and a noticeable bulge on either side of his mouth told me that he was running out of patience. “Who?” he repeated, louder.
“I don’t know their names,” Polly sobbed. “They just killed that girl in front of me and then gave me the bracelet. They told me to call Blood Vice to come get us.”
“What else did they tell you?” I asked, shaking the bracelet at her. “We’re not stupid. There’s no transmitter on this. How did they expect to retrieve it from you?”
“One of them is going to be at the All Hallows’ Eve ball.” Polly dragged her hands down her face. “I’m supposed to give him the bracelet then. He said he’d leave Audrey alone after. But he said I had to put the bracelet in places around the house where it was most likely to record something worthwhile.”
“Does this mean that you got a better look at your captors than was initially noted in the Blood Vice report?” Dante asked, struggling to speak around his extended fangs.
Polly sniffled. “If I did, can you stop them? Before they hurt Audrey?”
Dante looked up at me, a clear question in his eyes. This changed everything. I nodded slowly, understanding the advantage we now had. An opportunity like this wouldn’t be dropped in our laps again anytime soon.
“The duchess is going to fetch her sketchpad,” Dante told Polly. “And when she returns, you will tell her exactly what your captors looked like.”
“And you’ll keep Audrey safe?” Polly asked, a hopeful pitch in her voice.
“As if you are truly concerned for her safety,” Dante scoffed. “You intended to provide our enemies with intel on the innerworkings of this house—of Audrey’s house. Did you really think that would contribute to her wellbeing?”
“The future baroness’s safety is not in question.” I stared at Polly, wondering if she had any sense of self-preservation or if her only concern was for her mistress. “But if it were”—I added, using the bait for encouragement— “you would do well to follow the duke’s precise instructions.”
“I will,” Polly rasped. “I swear, I will. I’ll make this right.”
“You can’t make what happened to Yoshiko right,” I said, tossing the bracelet in Polly’s face. “She figured you out, and you killed her for it. I’m sure Murphy wishes we’d do the same to you in return.”
Polly gulped softly and then looked down at the mangled bracelet in her hands. “I didn’t mean to. It really was an accident.”
“But betraying us was not,” Dante said. His tone had shifted. He was still angry, but I could tell he believed her—at least about Yoshiko. “Help us end this threat, and I will see to it that you are given a merciful end.”
My heart stuttered at the thought of executing the girl. I was angry, too. Furious even. But were we really going to kill her? Was that the right thing to do? Would Murphy really demand such a thing once he had a chance to calm down?
Polly glanced up at us, her lashes thick with tears. “Tell me what to do.”
Chapter Eighteen
A week’s worth of plotting and scheming was not nearly enough—especially considering how long it took to get Murphy and Ursula on the same page with Dante and me—but a week was all the time we had to prepare before the queen’s All Hallows’ Eve ball.
The sketches I’d rendered with Polly’s cooperation hadn’t turned up anything useful, but after she’d detailed how strong the man in charge had been, and how pale his eyes were, it was clear that we had a half-sired suspect on our hands. I wondered if Kassandra deprived him intentionally for motivation. If he was going to be at the ball, he was probably a member of her harem.
Since the donors were not mentioned by name on the guest list, Dante easily swapped ours out with wolves from the guard. Levi was among them, determined to keep Audrey safe. She and Polly were the only humans in our party when we exited the jet in Denver Wednesday night, dressed in all the finery Ursula had coordinated for us.
One of the girls in the duke’s harem who worked with jewelry repaired Polly’s bracelet the best that she could. From a distance, it looked good as new. The charms dangled from her wrist in plain sight. The recording bits had even been repaired to keep up appearances, though the memory chip had been replaced with a new one that Dante had the tech team load with the score from The Nutcracker, the last ballet Kassandra had performed as a human—one that she’d badly botched.
Nerves chewed at my stomach, but I forced a smile at Audrey as we crossed the airport parking lot, prompting her to work on her own expression. We didn’t have the advantage of a theater background like Kassandra. The ol’ smile-and-nod routine would have to do.
Dante squeezed my hand. “This is it,” he whispered, brushing a kiss on my cheek. Then we parted ways and loaded into the vehicles House McCoy had loaned us.
Ursula, Murphy, Mandy, and I rode in silence to the queen’s estate. The quiet stilled my mind. This was the calm before the storm. A thoughtful meditation to prelude a party no one would soon forget.
* * * * *
The ball had already begun by the time we arrived, though we were still earlier than the prince and Kassandra.
“Her Highness, the Princess, and Her Grace, the Duchess Tempus of House Lilith,” the doorman announced as he welcomed us inside the foyer of the queen’s mansion.
A few dozen faces turned to watch us make our entrance. Ursula gave them a smug smile and touched my back as she leaned into me, bringing her lips closer to my ear than necessary.
“These heathens are all asking themselves if we’re lovers right now,” she whispered, wrapping her fingers around the cap of my shoulder. “Which is probably less scandalous than the idea of you bedding the duke.”
“I already told you that I’m not sleeping with Dante,” I whispered through my teeth as I smiled at the gawking crowd.
“You and I both know that it’s only a matter of time.”
“Focus, Your Highness.” I turned and batted my lashes at her, loosing a small giggle as if she’d said something amusing. “At least for the next hour. Then, you can go back to being your majestic, eccentric self.”
Her smile faltered, but she quickly pasted it back on. “Give it time, sweetheart. No one lives through this much and comes out whole in the end.”
I didn’t have a reply for that, but I didn’t need one. Lord McCoy greeted the princess. I split off from her to move deeper into the ballroom, searching every face I encountered for a freckle under the right eye, a pronounced cupid’s bow, an angular chin.
I spotted Murphy in one of the side halls, his eyes crawling over the guests there. Mandy would be doing the same in the passages that led to the guest rooms and harem quarters. Just in case Kassandra had sent her minion to scope out the party ahead of her. In case he had somehow slipped in on the coattails of an accomplice that we were unaware of.
Once Murphy and the other guards who had come in behind us cleared the queen’s mansion, they’d fetch Dante and the Darkly girls to set the snare. It was a careful plan, but there was always room for error. We had to be vigilant.
On my second pass through the ballroom, I bumped into Blair Hanson from my training unit at the bat cave.
“Your Grace,” she said, inclining her head respectfully.
“Agent Hanson. Looking good.” I nodded at her golden era dress, complete with feather boa and gloves.
“Says the vamp wearing a custom Vionnet.” The laugh she followed the comment with was good-natured if a little envious. “I’ve been begging my sire for a Novak original,” she confessed, her gloved hand held to the side of her mouth. “Maybe this Midwinter if I’m a good girl.”
“If we make it this year, I’ll look for you,” I said, excusing myself as Kai Natani entered the foyer.
I wove through the crowd, but it had grown thicker as more guests arrived, and the task wasn’t as easy as it had been before. I lost sight of the BATC instructor and found myself in the middle of the ballroom, spinning in a wide circle until my frustration gave way to panic.
Something sharp opened within me, a sensation I hadn’t felt for some time—one I didn’t expect to feel ever again.
Maybe lifeblood
bonds faded over time—but not that much time had passed. And Roman and I had shared a lot of blood. I knew the second he walked through the door, and every hair on my body rose. My heart trembled, praying for a merciful end.
His icy blues had already found me before I turned around. When our gazes clashed, I couldn’t breathe. He stood in the mouth of the foyer, so perfectly still that I wondered if he were real. His white hair was cut shorter than I remembered, in a military cut, but he still wore a tux better than 007.
Our intense stare across the room was interrupted when Vanessa appeared behind him. Her gown was a sophisticated, goth masterpiece, all black leather and tulle. She moved like a swan, her stoic gaze scanning the crowd. I turned away before she noticed me and headed for the nearest hallway. I didn’t realize until I’d reached the mouth of it that it was the one leading to the art gallery where Roman and I had first caved to our lifeblood bond.
Not wanting to brave the ballroom again, I slipped deeper into the hall, moving toward the alcove that featured the vampire bust with the ruby fangs. It was an incredible sculpture—though, maybe not quite as incredible as I planned on pretending it was until I worked up the nerve to risk a run-in with Vanessa.
Now was not the time to hide out. I needed to be in the ballroom when Kassandra arrived.
I paced in front of the bust, folding and unfolding my arms, unable to stand still in my panic. Laughter bubbled and echoed down the hallway as the guests packed in tighter, some lingering in the arched opening to the ballroom. I moved farther down the hall, stopping just shy of the gallery door.
Go in, Roman’s voice whispered in the back of my mind.
He hadn’t opened the bond or spoke to me through it for so long that I had to wonder if I had imagined it. But then his very real hands wrapped around my waist. He pushed open the gallery door and pulled me in after him.
Before I could say a word, his mouth covered mine, his lips forcing mine open as he crushed me against the same wall we’d defiled a year ago. My blood boiled at his touch, his rough hands roaming my back above the corset that was suddenly too tight. I couldn’t breathe.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Blood Vice Book 6) Page 13