“Don’t ask about anything other than what kind of blood you should consume.”
“Got it. Pop in and ask the one question and then skedaddle.” I would have added, “Easy peasy lemon squeezy,” but I thought that might be overkill. I waited for him to leave the room, but when he gave me a carry-on motion with his hand, I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes. I said the magic word “Teia” out loud and then bam, I was no longer breathing in the sexy scent that Stephan always eluded, but instead I got a whiff of grease.
First thing I noticed was the gigantic margarita blender in the middle of the restaurant, and my pops sitting at a nearby table. Who would of thought Pops was a Jimmy Buffet fan?
I hugged him because it seemed the natural thing to do. I liked the man, even if he always seemed to be sporting a weird Hawaiian shirt. This one was pale blue with giant marlins all over it. Hideous, but my cute romper made up for his lack of fashion. Our family tree wasn’t totally failing.
“Hey, Pops.”
He pulled my chair out for me. “I assume your vamp knows you’re here this time?”
I nodded. “And I can only stay for a couple of minutes, so I have to ask you my questions quickly.”
He stroked his silvery beard, and in a Southern accent that was endearing, even if it was fake, he said, “Shoot.”
“Is it possible that I need vampire blood to become a stronger vampire?”
He thought for a second. “Tandi, keep in mind that you have to balance all three. Your fae side, once at full potential, might be too much for your body to handle. There is a balance that you must find if you want to survive, but yes, occasionally drinking the blood of a vampire will make you stronger, but more importantly, draining some of the ghoul blood you are carrying is more imperative at this point. Once every week or so should do the trick. The ghoul blood is also limiting your fae abilities.”
“My blood is poisonous, though.”
“Is it?” He gave me a small smile. “Regardless, I’m saying that you should release a little blood once a week.
What. The. Heck. I only had a small window of opportunity here, and he was wasting it with his riddles. “Okay. Moving on. My friend recently died and—”
Pops interrupted me. “I know, and I am very sorry for your loss. Over the years, I’ve had to watch most everyone I love perish, and I know from experience that any loss leaves a void, but I cannot tell you who killed your friend.”
“Why the heck not?”
“Let’s just say I share a mutual friend with your vampire, and she has asked that I not indulge in sharing about that.”
Ariana. I was really starting to hate this woman. “Yeah, because it will set me off on a different path and yadda, yadda, yadda. So, about this key... same thing?”
He smiled. “Afraid so.”
“My allotted two minutes is up, so I have to go, but I’ll check back in with you soon.”
“Please do. Your charm works, but I assume your vamp wants to know that for himself.”
I’d decided to not argue with him about the whole your vamp thing, but one day we were going to have a lengthy discussion where I laid it out for him plain and simple. I got up from the round table and gave him one more hug. His beard lightly scratched my cheek.
“See you soon, Pops.”
Before I could say the word to take me back to the hotel, he said, “Oh, and Tandi, tell your vamp I said the sooner he drains a good portion of your ghoul blood, the better chance you have of surviving the next forty-eight hours. Ghouls are lazy creatures unless they have incentive, and you need some vampire strength for what is to come.” He winked at me. “When Ariana foresaw you coming to me, she did agree I could tell you that much.”
Stephan was pacing when I returned. “I thought I told you two minutes it’s been ten.” I rolled my eyes because I had a feeling he was exaggerating. “And where is the watch I gave you?”
“Apparently, I don’t get to keep anything that I go in there with including your watch and my clothes.” Shaking my wrist, I said, “The bracelet excluded, of course. Thank goodness I took off my other jewelry.”
“They just dissolve?”
“Yeah, I mean, I’m sure there is some lengthy scientific explanation as to what happens, but honestly I don’t care about the means just the end. And the end result is I lost my favorite kitten pajamas, but in return I got this kick-ass romper from last month’s Vogue issue. I must not have been gone too long because you haven’t gone off the deep end like ol’ Jack from The Shining, so that’s a plus.”
“Thank the heavens you lost those hideous pajamas. Now, if we could discuss more important things other than your love of movies.”
“Whoa, dude, chill. I love movies with insane people. It boosts my self-confidence.” I was interested in seeing how much I could push his buttons before he lost it. For no other purpose than to gauge his willpower. If I were a betting woman, I would say within the next minute, he was going to blow.
Jaw clenched as if he wanted to throttle me, he said, “Tandi! I need you to focus. Now.”
Yep, less than a minute. I so needed to go to the casino.
“Since you asked oh-so-politely, Pops said that you are correct in assuming that vampire blood, instead of human or animal, will give me bursts of strength, but what I really need is to drain some of my contaminated blood in order to help my fae side along with my vampire side.”
Lost in thought, he resumed pacing. “Interesting.”
“When I think of having my blood drawn from my body, I can think of a lot of words, but I can assure you that ‘interesting’ didn’t make the list.” I took my long hair down from a ponytail and started finger combing the mess. “Oh, and he couldn’t give me any info on who was behind the death of Greta or where the key is.”
That got him to stop pacing. “I told you to go and ask one question and come right back.”
“Yeah, well, apparently I didn’t have my listening ears on.”
He was pinching the bridge of his nose as if he was in pain. “If you wouldn’t mind, let’s go into the bathroom before I cut one of your veins. I don’t want to get blood all over the carpet. That would be hard to explain to the housekeeper.”
I wanted to pitch a fit and tell him that he was out of his ever-loving mind. There would be no bloodletting going on today, but that would be me just stopping the inevitable. This might be my only chance to become more powerful. Whether it was my fae or vampire part that would shine through, I wasn’t sure, but if I were going to be camping with the enemy for the next day or so, I would take what I could get.
After nodding, I went to the bathroom and held my arm over the sink. I didn’t want a drop of blood to get on my romper. If Pops knew how much I loved clothes, he wouldn’t have had to ask me twice to come back and visit him.
“Okay. I’m ready. Just don’t get any on you.”
He stood beside me holding a small knife. “It wouldn’t kill me unless I ingested it.”
“Let the bloodletting commence,” I said.
His light brown eyes met mine. “It’ll hurt just for a second.”
After a sharp sting, I closed my eyes. I was getting dizzy and didn’t think viewing my blood running down the drain would help the nauseated feeling I had. I was a sorry excuse for a vampire, but really there was no need for a visual. He re-opened the vein multiple times due to my fast healing. Several minutes had passed before he announced we were done. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would be in a fancy hotel bathroom letting a hot man drain some of my blood, I would have told them to lay off the moonshine. Stephan picked me up in his arms, and my head rolled onto his shoulder as he cooed something to me. I had a hard time believing that this was my life. Oh, how the mighty had fallen.
“Little one, I’m going to lay you here on the bed. Rest for a minute.”
A burst of energy went through me, making me sit straight up. My arms outstretched and I smiled. “I feel amazing.”
Stephan threw a cou
ple of bags of blood towards the bed, and without opening my eyes, I caught both. “You need to refuel before daylight hits.”
“I thought I needed vampire blood?”
“It would be better, but I can’t give you any so human it is.”
“Not that I’m asking you to open a vein for me, but I am curious as to why you can’t?”
“It’s complicated.” His mood had changed, and he became less easy going and more stoic, but since I was ravenous, I didn’t give a fig. After my belly was full, I snuggled under the covers getting more tired as I felt the sun starting to rise.
“Stephan, this has been the best birthday ever, even if I did keep rolling the bowling ball into everyone’s lane but ours. Thank you.”
I was too tired to be shocked when he crawled on top of the covers and lay behind me. I had never been this close to a man in my life, and instead of being excited, I just wanted to sleep.
“I’m glad you had a good birthday. You deserve it.” He threw his arm over me and pulled me up against his chest, and I went to sleep with a smile on my face. Best. Birthday. Ever.
Chapter Fifteen
As soon as the sun fell, we were on the road headed to the queen’s residence, and I was feeling better than ever. Well, that was until Stephan spoke.
“Tandi, I have a feeling I know who sent those rogue vampires and why. I’m going to trust you with this information, but you have to promise me that you won’t act until the time is right. Can you do that?”
Yes. Maybe. No. “Sure.”
“I can tell when you’re lying. Give me your promise, or I will continue to leave you in the dark.”
After weighing my options, I said, “I promise that I will wait until the time is right before staking whoever was behind Greta’s death.”
“I think the vampires were after you because word had traveled that I was getting you a cuff. Usually, vampires live centuries before their sire gives them one. It’s to ensure that something so priceless isn’t wasted on weak vampires that won’t last a year in their new conditions.”
I pointed to my forehead. “Do you know why I’m squinting? Because you’re not making sense. Try to break it down for me.”
“Akeldama has always been a very jealous ruler. She must have caught wind of me acquiring your cuff, and assumed that there were tender feelings on my part to get a newly turned vampire something so invaluable.”
My blood boiled. My friend died because I was gifted with a cuff. I would kill the Queen. “So she wanted me dead. But I didn’t die. Greta did because of her jealousy.”
“Don’t make me regret telling you this. We will get her, but you have to be patient.”
I felt tears rolling down my face. “Promise me that she will pay for this.”
“I swear it to you.” He reached over the console and held my hand the rest of the way to my number one enemy’s territory.
The first person to greet us was Dakin, with a charming smile for me and pure resentment for Stephan.
“Welcome, Gem.” Dakin’s smile dropped from his handsome face as he greeted the man beside me. “Stephan, wish I could say the same.”
There was a history there, one that I wanted to delve into, but not while under the scrutiny of Akeldama. That woman was ostentatious. I took a great amount of pleasure that her mansion was ugly with its dark gray stonework, massive pillars, and upper balconies strategically placed along the front side. Her mansion didn’t resemble any of the plantation style homes in South Georgia due to its almost gothic exterior, and since it was almost the size of a hotel, it was just plain tacky.
“I can assure you I want to be here as much as you want me to be here. Show us to our rooms like a good little servant, so we can freshen up before the big event,” Stephan said.
“You really pushed it to the last second, didn’t you? I thought you were going to defy her order and not show up. Not that it wouldn’t have been entertaining as to what she would have done to you, but I didn’t want Gem here to be tortured as well, just because of her unfortunate association with you.”
Ugh. I had enough of this egotistical crap. “But we are here,” I said. “And you are right about us cutting it close, so we need to stop flapping our jaws and get this show on the road. I’m assuming that we have rooms?” At his nod, I added, “Great. Mind showing them to us, so we can get changed for the big event?”
Stephan chuckled. “Blunt as always.”
Dakin offered me his arm. “Forgive me, my lady. Right this way.”
We followed him up five damn flights of stairs… with luggage. Wasn’t I supposed to have some sort of super strength? I was too busy hating my life to be weirded out by the architecture of the house.
“Why would anyone have this many steps in their home and no elevator?” I asked Dakin on the last landing.
“Oh, there is an elevator in the south wing of the house, but this way you get to admire the many paintings and tapestries that most museums would kill for.”
The. Hell. He. Says. I didn’t notice one work of art because I was too busy saying my ABC’s backward to try and keep my mind off the pain in my thighs. The purebred vampires didn’t seem to be having any issues. Good for them. Dakin pointed out another piece of art to me. I mentally congratulated myself for not rolling my eyes. If I wanted to see paintings, I would go to a gallery, not climb five levels of hell. Now that I knew that ghouls were known for their laziness, I could blame my hate for anything athletic to my genetic make-up. It wasn’t my fault I was reborn this way.
We finally came to a heavy wooden door that looked like it was made for a giant.
“This is your room, Gem, and Stephan, you will be in your old bedroom. The one on the east side down the corridor, the last one on the left.”
Stephan all but growled. “Afraid not. I’ll be taking the one next to Tandi.”
“Sorry, old friend, but I was instructed to give you the one next to Akeldama’s.”
“I’ll handle Akeldama.”
“As you wish.” Dakin turned to me and bowed his head. “If you should need anything, please let me know, for I am at your service.”
Stephan followed me into my room and immediately started to check it out. I wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for, but he seemed to be satisfied when he came up empty-handed.
“There are spies that we can’t see all over this estate. Only state what you wish others to hear.” Without notice, his voice entered my mind. “Tell absolutely no one that you carry fae or ghoul blood. It could mean your death. And try to stay away from Akeldama. As soon as the wedding is over, we leave with or without answers. I will come back here later to find the key, and find a way to get Akeldama to take off her crown long enough to avenge Greta’s death when I know that you won’t be collateral damage.”
My fingers massaged my temples, and I whispered, “I hate it when you do that. And just for the record, I do not like something that is so invasive, so keep that mumbo-jumbo to a minimum.”
“Just remember that this ‘mumbo jumbo’ is something that most vampires can’t do. Something that I have kept hidden from most, so keep a lid on that as well.”
“Sure,” I whispered. “As long as you quit doing it.”
He eliminated the space between us in one stride and grabbed my upper arms, pulling me to him. “I need you to know how serious this is. You are on Akeldama’s radar. Keep your head down and do nothing. I can fight her but not here. Let’s not worry about anything other than surviving. Understand?”
He didn’t want me asking about the key or Greta’s murder. That I understood. Didn’t mean if the opportunity should fall into my lap, I wouldn’t seize it but I heard him. However, there was something that I didn’t understand.
“Why am I on her radar?” I whispered.
He briefly laid his forehead on mine, something that he was prone to do, and I had to admit I was getting used to it. It made me feel like we were… connected. “You just are. Please, Tandi, don’t fight me on this one. I
wanted to use the last two months to prepare you but now…”
“Okay. I get it.” At least he wasn’t doing that mental thing anymore. That made my skin crawl.
At my agreement, he let me go and gave me a sexy smile that made me let out a little sigh and dang if he didn’t hear that. In high school when you had a small crush on a guy, you could fake it and act all nonchalant, but that was when I had been dealing with humans. Dang vamps.
“I’ll be next door if you should need me.”
I put my luggage on the bed and nodded. This was me being nonchalant. Just because Stephan was the sexiest man I had ever laid eyes upon, it didn’t give me the right to fall for him. Well, maybe it did. After hearing the door shut, I sat on my bed, taking in my surroundings. The stonework continued on the inside of the bedroom, which was in hues of blue and gold. There was no canopy, thank goodness, but the room still screamed old world.
All of a sudden, I felt like someone was knocking on my soul. I used to not believe in cosmic awareness, but that was when I didn’t believe in supernaturals, either. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the clown from It was real. I shuddered at the thought. I loathed freaking clowns.
Closing my eyes, I took in several deep breaths, and that was when I heard the sobs. Someone was crying, and she was begging for help. I had to find her. I felt the tug again. One minute I was on my bed wondering if what I packed for the wedding was fancy enough, and the next I was standing in front of a girl that was in a white beaded gown crying on the cold stones of the floor. We were currently in what looked to be a tower. There was no furniture, and she was the most pitiful thing I’d ever seen.
“Um…”
She jerked up from her crouch and hissed. Even with the smeared mascara, she was stunningly beautiful. Long, auburn hair down fell to her waist, and slightly tilted green eyes shone bright against her porcelain skin.
“Who are you?” she snarled.
“I’m Tandi. And you are?”
She gave a breathless laugh. “Oh, like you don’t know. And how did you get up here?”
“Obviously, I wouldn’t have asked who you are if I already knew. That kind of seems redundant and honest to God, I have no clue how I got up here in the…”
The Vampire Queen Page 11