I hung limp in his arms. It was all the strategy I could employ. I did wonder what was wrong with me. My throat burned and my body felt lifeless. Not even when he used his knife to rip away first my dress then my petticoats did I protest or lift a hand to stop him.
“Where’s your spirit? Your fire?” He buried his nose next to my jugular and inhaled. “By God! You smell like you’ve been spelled!” He threw me away from him. “Andre! Get her out of my sight! Toss her on a bed and cover her. I must send a man to Red Mary. If she has done this, she will be the next to lose her head.”
I couldn’t even raise my head to protest when this man named Andre picked me up and threw me on a bed. I was covered with a pile of furs and left to die. I opened my eyes and looked around. They’d left me alone. The door into the next room was open and I heard Devlin raving. He was ordering a man out into the blizzard again. The man didn’t want to go. There was shouting, a clang that I recognized—swords meeting—then the strong smell of blood spilled. The next sound I heard was the heavy thud of the outside door shutting accompanied by a blast of cold air. So he’d killed one of his own men to make a point and now another was on his way to Red Mary’s hut.
I closed my eyes. Had the witch done this to me? Had she paid back Devlin’s attack on Alyse by making me undesirable? I could only thank her. Would this soon wear off? Then where would I be? I’d need my strength if I were to plan an escape, or attempt to kill the madman. I heard a woman scream and realized I wasn’t the only blood donor Devlin had at hand. Poor thing. I prayed he would keep her alive to slake his thirst a while. That would give me time.
“Gloriana.” The voice whispered in my mind. It wasn’t Jeremiah, though it had a low tone. No, this was similar to Alyse’s voice when she’d answered the door at Gertrude’s cottage. It was the sound of the Devil speaking.
“Who are you?” I didn’t dare say a thing out loud but spoke in my mind.
“You know who I am. That vampire killed Alyse. I had plans for her. Now you will serve me. At least long enough to see him dead.”
“Red Mary?”
“Of course. Don’t waste my time, girl. You are already feeling better, are you not?”
I ran my hands down my body, then swallowed. Yes, I couldn’t believe it, but I was fine. Even warm because of the pile of furs on top of me and the blaze in the nearby fireplace.
“There are warm clothes in the wardrobe. Pull them on. He won’t hear you. He is making that girl serve him. He will take a long while. I put a potion in her blood and he won’t be able to hear anything but the beat of her heart until he has drained her dry.”
“Please don’t have him kill another. Spare her.” I quietly climbed out of bed and opened the cabinet. Warm dresses, petticoats and even stockings and boots were there. I pulled them on. A cloak lined with fur topped it off. It still would be almost impossible to travel in the blizzard.
“What kind of vampire are you? She is a mere mortal. Let him have her. He will fall asleep after he’s sated. Then you can kill him. Otherwise you will have to climb out of yon window and take your chances in the snow.”
“He has men here. Many of them. You think they will let me go if I kill their master? Or will you spell all of them and make my way clear?” I didn’t like trusting a witch, especially one I couldn’t see. “He is furious with you for making me ill. He has a man on his way to you now.”
“That man will never make it. But your Jeremiah is working his way to you even now. Are you so weak that you will lie back down and wait for him?” Her voice was a hiss of disapproval.
“No, I want to end Devlin and this vendetta once and for all.” I looked around for a weapon. Of course they hadn’t put me in a room with one. If only I had my knife! Firewood was stacked beside the hearth where a fire blazed. One piece of wood was sturdy with a sharp end. Would it do to kill Devlin? Could I drive it through his black heart?
“I will give you the strength.” She sounded gleeful when I picked up the piece and stripped away branches and dead leaves.
“I will not owe you for this. I will not have truck with black magic.”
“I know that. I do this for Alyse. She did not know it but her mother was my sister.” That evil voice actually shook. “I will get my vengeance and you will be my right arm. When the time comes, you may count on my help with no debt to be paid for it.”
“I understand.” I crept to the door. I recognized the grunting of a man enjoying sexual favors. Hah! The girl under him was not giving favors. Or enjoying his rutting. She was pale but not yet done for. She had closed her eyes to endure his abuse. He had a hand twisted in her long dark hair. I could see his fang marks at her neck and bruises on her breasts as he sat up and slapped her. He was not naked, thank the gods, but had merely pulled down his hose.
“Show some life, wench. I could have been fucking yon chair for all the pleasure you’ve given me.” He jerked her head to him and pressed his fangs to her neck again.
“This is it, Gloriana. He won’t hear you or smell you if you come behind him. My hand will guide your hand. We will end him.” Red Mary did seem to direct my feet toward Devlin. I was close to him, my wood poised, when the door crashed open.
14
Devlin moved just as I put all my strength into jabbing my piece of wood into his back. It hit him, but missed his heart. I heard Red Mary wail her frustration before I let go and backed away from the enraged vampire. Devlin reached behind him, jerked it out, then tossed it away like a rude annoyance. He focused on the open door where cold swept into the room.
I didn’t need to look to know who had arrived. The scent of him and his own fury told me everything I needed to know.
“Gloriana, move out of harm’s way. This is my fight.” Jeremiah gripped his sword. He was covered with snow and ice but had never looked so wonderful to me. How he had managed to find us was a miracle I didn’t try to understand. I just ran to the door of the bedchamber to give him room to fight. I didn’t want to risk being used as a shield by Devlin. The monster had kicked the poor mortal girl under him aside like she was a worthless bother and pulled up his hose.
“Pick up your sword.” Jeremiah was inside now, eager for a fight. He nodded toward a broadsword which lay on a bench near the hearth.
“And if I don’t?” Devlin smiled. “Will you lop off my head, Campbell?”
“I have been itching to do that for a century or more, you one-eyed son of Satan.” Jeremiah sprang forward. Of course Devlin had been toying with him. He was next to his weapon in an instant. The horrendous clang as the two swords met made me grasp the door frame. How could men stand this? The swords themselves weighed almost more than I could lift! And to swing them even though they held them with both hands, then continue to parry and hit? I saw the force of the hits shake their arms and push them back and forth on the rough wood floor.
I realized the poor dazed mortal girl crawled toward me. I knelt and grabbed her arm, dragging her to the safety of the room behind me. I bundled her in one of the furs from the bed and pushed her next to the fireplace.
“You are safe for now. We will not hurt you.” I left her on the floor, turning back to see Valdez standing next to the outer door which he had shut to keep out the cold. Now he drew his own sword.
“How are you?” He shouted it but I could barely hear him over the noise from the fight going on between us.
“I’ll live. There are more of Devlin’s men in the kitchen.” I pointed in that direction and wondered why none of them had come to the vampire’s aid. I could only be grateful they had not, since surely they could hear the noisy clash of swords and the furniture smashing when it got in the way between the two men.
Valdez nodded then edged behind Jeremiah’s back. My lover was totally focused on Devlin. The other man swung and scored a hit on Jeremiah’s shoulder, slicing it open. I stuffed a fist into my mouth to keep from crying out. I could not let my presence pull my lover’s attention away from the fight. Jeremiah staggered but came b
ack with a fast lunge and slashed Devlin’s thigh. Oh, the scent of the blood! I despised myself because, yes, my fangs were down. The evil man was right, we were beasts.
I did not dare believe that Jeremiah could lose this fight. When he’d met Devlin before, he’d managed to win. Surely taking Devlin’s eye counted as such. And Jeremiah had been weak from blood loss. This time he’d recently been poisoned but he looked vital now, in good form as he wielded that heavy sword with confidence.
Shouts came from the kitchen. What had Valdez found there? Devlin had been a harsh master that I doubted inspired loyalty. Surely his men would not willingly die for him. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of his soldiers hadn’t already taken a chance with the blizzard. They could have left by the back door rather than face the small army Jeremiah must have brought with him.
The fight in front of me was slowing. Both men had bloody wounds and they weren’t lifting their swords as high as they had when they’d started. I prayed Jeremiah had the advantage in strength and training. But they seemed well-matched as they kept fighting.
“Can we call a truce?” Devlin asked it after a blow sent him crashing against a wall. “I will disappear and you need never see me again.” The cloth he’d kept tied over his missing eye had come off and we could see the ruined side of his face and the ugly scar where his eye should have been.
“You truly are mad if you think I would allow you to leave here alive after what you did to my woman.” Jeremiah snarled and, with a mighty swing, opened a wound across Devlin’s stomach. The man fell down, his sword flying out of his hand and across the room, near me. I kicked it away, out of Devlin’s reach. Jeremiah picked up the makeshift stake I had tried to use.
“Vampires have to do what they can to survive. You understand that, brother.” Devlin held his hand to the bleeding gash in his stomach. He had just fed and I could see the wound already closing and healing remarkably fast.
“I am not your brother. I have done many things to survive, but none as low as what you have done. You torture, rape and kill mortals for your own pleasure. You take new vampires when they are weak and haven’t yet learned how to defend themselves. You treat training them like a blood sport, enjoying yourself by breaking their spirit, as if it is a game to see how long they can last under your cruel tutelage.” Jeremiah stood poised over Devlin. He gripped that wood firmly. Devlin couldn’t take his eyes off of it.
“I do them a favor!” Devlin gestured toward me. “You know only the strong survive in our world. Do you think you do right by your woman when you treat her like a coddled princess?” He made a lunge for his dagger, which must have been tucked in his boot. That was his final move.
Jeremiah struck Devlin with that stake, right in his heart.
I knew, seeing the force behind that blow that I never could have managed it. Devlin’s look of shock was replaced by a blank stare as death took him.
“Look away, Gloriana. You don’t need to see this.” Jeremiah stepped between me and the vampire on the floor.
“Yes, I do. You were right. He killed because he enjoyed it, Jeremiah. I know you are not that kind of man. You ended him because it was the right thing to do.” I stared into my lover’s eyes. “Thank you.”
Jeremiah wasn’t proud of what he’d done. But he wasn’t sorry either. Just resigned.
“He is in hell now and cannot harm another.” He walked over to pull out the makeshift stake and there was a burst of smell that could only be described as pure evil. What had once been a handsome man in his prime was suddenly ancient, centuries old, and shriveling before our eyes. I did turn away then, the sight sickening. Was this what would become of me if one day someone staked me? Would my true age appear and a foul smell follow, disgusting all who witnessed it? I swallowed, my gorge rising. The room swirled around me.
“Steady.” Strong arms pulled me close. Jeremiah soothed me with a gentle hand stroking my back until I finally looked up at him. “He will never bother you again.”
“I know that. I also know that I can’t stay here a moment longer.” I couldn’t look at that place on the floor where the remains of what had been Devlin lay like a stain. But I didn’t need to see it to feel and smell him. It was in my clothes, my hair, my lungs.
“What do you wish to do?” Jeremiah’s concern almost broke my calm.
I barely held onto it. I had not taken a decent breath since that stake had met its mark. I needed air, even if it was frigid. “I expect the weather outside is still horrible but I want to leave now.”
“Whatever you wish.” He turned at footsteps from the kitchen.
“There were just two men left in the house. One of them was loyal to Devlin. I took care of him. The other rode away on his horse and I let him go.” Valdez glanced at the floor. “Well done, Campbell. Shall I clear this out?”
“Don’t bother. Gloriana wants to leave now. She has bad memories of this place and of this man.” Jeremiah looked over my shoulder. “Who is the woman?”
“She was a captured blood slave Devlin used horribly this night. She is not fit to travel and needs time to recover. Mayhap we could leave a man here with her. Then he could ask where she wants to go and take her there. Return her to her village if she has one nearby or give her coin and find a safe place for her. I have not tried to talk to her.” I looked back and realized the girl had fallen asleep on the floor in front of the fire. “She should be allowed to sleep for now. Do you have a trustworthy man who can follow those orders? Clean up the, um, mess and stay with her?” I was having trouble ordering my thoughts but Jeremiah seemed to understand what I meant.
“Of course.” Jeremiah strode to the door and called for someone.
“Gloriana, are you all right?” Valdez looked into my eyes. “I failed you. If you wish to replace me, I will understand.”
“I don’t know how you could have done more, Valdez. You got me safely out of the church and away from the fire. You were spelled so you could not shift.” I sighed and walked back into the bedchamber. “Alyse told me. She and Red Mary managed to take control of your powers. You couldn’t help me because of the witches.”
“I threw you out of the kirk into Alyse’s arms. I realized that as soon as we saw the footprints in the snow and smelled the air there. I knew her scent right away.” He ran his hands through his hair. “She did a grievous injury to Gertrude. The witch will recover but her kindness to Alyse was repaid with betrayal.”
“Alyse told me as much.” I shook my head. Poor Gertrude had placed her faith in her own good magic and it had not served her well. I kept my back to the horror in the other room.
“Tell me, Valdez, was everyone else all right? Was anyone hurt in the fire? How are Maggie and Fergus? Did we ruin their wedding?” How could Maggie ever forgive me?
“They are fine. Once everyone calmed down, the fire was put out and the celebration went on as planned. Maggie looked for you, of course, but Jeremiah told everyone that the king had summoned him to Edinburgh right away. No one dared dispute that. He let it be known that you had hurried back to the castle to pack. Maggie was disappointed but news that Jeremiah had gifted them with a house in the village provided a good distraction. You can imagine the happy couple’s excitement about that.”
“Thank God! I would not hurt Maggie’s feelings for anything.”
“Don’t give them another thought. Campbell and I went quietly mad getting away from the wedding party as quickly as possible so we could follow your trail. Naturally Campbell was furious that all the guards posted had let Devlin and his men slip through their fingers.”
“Alyse told me the guards had been spelled as well.”
“You can imagine how we felt when we saw what Devlin had done to Alyse. It was more proof that you were in dire peril.” Valdez fingered his sword. “The young witch certainly paid for her part in the plot. I hate witches, I told you that, but to lose her head for this…”
“It is another reason why I am glad Devlin is dead. She had done h
is bidding and yet he killed her.” I still couldn’t look into that outer room. “I know it’s a hardship, asking all of you to leave right away. Can the horses make the trip? Will it be too much for them or for the men?”
“We will manage and so will the horses. The weather has abated, almost by magic. It stopped snowing suddenly an hour ago and we made good time. Once we were on your trail, Jeremiah remembered this house. He suspected it was where Devlin might have been heading by the path he took. Your man has a keen sense of smell when it comes to you and to Devlin. He tracked you through a blizzard, Gloriana. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I think I could track him as well. We are bound together.” I leaned against the bed when I felt a wave of dizziness that almost took me to my knees. “You arrived just in time.”
“Thank God the bastard turned his attention to another woman before he used you as his victim.” Valdez glanced at the poor woman still huddled in furs in front of the fire. She moaned in her sleep but never opened her eyes. “I have to wonder why.”
“Red Mary helped with that.” I knew this sounded foolish. I still couldn’t quite believe it. “She spelled me, Valdez. Made me ill as if with a plague so Devlin wouldn’t touch me.”
“Why would she do such a thing? She is the one who made sure the man captured you.” Valdez looked me over. “Sit, Gloriana. The plague, you say. Are you recovered?”
“Nearly so. I know Red Mary helped Devlin. But that was before he took Alyse’s head. The witch called Alyse family. She hated Devlin for killing her niece. That broke their agreement and she decided he could not have me.”
“Interesting. Who knew a witch had finer feelings?” Valdez turned when we heard the outer door open and close again. “Here comes Jeremiah. Are you sure you wish to go now? It is not an easy ride over narrow mountain trails and you are far from well.”
“I can’t stay here with Devlin’s stench. If I am ill, it is from breathing this air.” I held my cloak around me. “I need to get back before dawn so I can apologize to Maggie and Fergus. No matter what you say, I fear we ruined their wedding.”
Real Vampires: A Highland Christmas (The Real Vampires series Book 14) Page 17