A Vampire's Rise (13 page)

Felipe snatched the paper back. “Well, that was easy.”

Having just signed over my entire estate, I tried to keep focused and tell myself that such things were unimportant.

“I’m afraid the news isn’t good.” Felipe seemingly paused for effect and then said, “Any act of treason is punishable by death.”

“But I signed—”

“Everything you own over to me.”

The air was stifling and a wave of nausea hit me hard.

“Out,” he ordered the guards, and then waited until we were alone. “I want the dancer.”

“What?”

“I take that as a no.”

“Senator—”

“Salvador’s alliance with you seals his fate.”

“But you’re friends with his father.”

Felipe glared. “Meddling in my affairs has consequences.” His fingers tapped against his leg in that familiar frenetic rhythm.

Stunned, I searched for words. “Wait . . . listen . . .”

Felipe opened the door and with a thin smile, he turned and shrugged. “Your widow will become my whore.”

He was gone before I could get to him.

* * * *

The guards dragged me across the foyer close behind Felipe, past the startled gazes of servants, to the edge of a courtyard where a large crowd had gathered.

I panicked.

There in the center, Salvador was in man-to-man combat with three soldiers and judging by his wounds and blood stained clothes, they’d been sparring for some time. Steal blades clanged. A whiff of sweat and blood carried. My legs almost gave way.

“Hold back,” Felipe ordered his men.

These were seasoned swordsmen, well-fed and rested. Salvador had no advantage and his balance was affected. I grappled with the guards to get free, but they tightened their grip. Salvador caught the scuffle and peered up and staggered. With a sweaty palm, he struggled to grasp the weapon’s hilt.

“This is not the way a gentleman defends his honor,” I shouted at Felipe.

“He has no honor,” Felipe said.

“Let me fight with him.”

“And ruin the entertainment value?” Felipe nodded to a six-year-old boy who watched from nearby.

Ricardo, the child with my brother’s name and my sister’s eyes, ran to Felipe, clutching a small sword fashioned just for him.

Having lived with Salvador for the majority of his early years, I wondered how Ricardo would react. Salvador had adopted him, caring for him as his own. The child didn’t understand and, wielding his sword, he stabbed at an invisible opponent.

“Ricardo.” Felipe signaled to the boy. “Should your uncle fight?”

“Say yes,” I pleaded.

Ricardo frowned.

Felipe laughed and turned to his soldiers. “Continue.”

They beleaguered Salvador, thrusting their swords at him. One man closed in, while the other two stalked him from behind.

“Don’t make the boy watch this.” I stumbled.

A guard punched my stomach, winding me.

Salvador caught one of his attackers and struck his arm. Blood poured from the man’s wound and his opponents forged ahead, inflicting viscous strikes. Salvador’s sword fell. They strode around him, closing in like animals.

Felipe’s grin didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ve outmaneuvered you both.”

“Spare him.”

“Your life for his?”

“Yes.”

“How noble.”

Salvador brought his hand to his chest in a gesture of affection for me.

“Salvador, raise your sword,” I shouted.

His stare glazed over as a rapier sliced into his back, and he sunk to his knees, burying his face in the dirt.

With a nod from Felipe, his men let me go and I sprinted into the center of the courtyard, skidded on my knees, and pulled Salvador into my arms. Blood poured from his wounds. I pressed against them, trying to cease the flow. Several of his fingernails were gone. They’d tortured him first.

“Alicia?” Salvador rasped.

“She’s safe.”

“I told him nothing,” Salvador whispered.

I glared at Felipe, full of hate.

A scarlet line trickled from Salvador’s mouth and onto his chin, his breathing labored.

My vision blurred with tears. “I’ve always loved you.”

Salvador forced a smile and then his head fell against my chest, his eyelids half-closed.

I rocked him into death.

Salvador was ripped from me and the soldiers pulled his body to the edge of the courtyard. A sword landed near my feet.

Everything felt surreal.

Standing now, my shirt soaked with sweat and Salvador’s blood, I judged my assailants carefully. If I took out one man at a time, I could live through this.

Taking the first attacker by surprise, my weapon slashed his thigh and he collapsed, badly wounded. Turning awkwardly, facing the man behind me, I defended his lunge, clashing metal against metal. A thrust and I had the other one down. One man remained.

Two more soldiers stepped into the courtyard. A dreadful wave of futility caused my throat to constrict.

A perfect life awaited me, but I’d thrown it away. Annabelle would be left vulnerable and my boys threatened.

Felipe smiled.

I was attacked from every angle. A blade cut into my side, knocking me off-balance, and I landed heavily. Dust sprayed up and was kicked into my eyes. Through gritty vision, my assailants gathered. I sprang to my feet and leaped back, ensuring distance between us. I hurled forward, swiftly striking another man who swayed to my right. The tip of my weapon sliced his forearm. A sharp stab tore into my lower back and another thrust into my right shoulder. Acute pain radiated. Another fierce strike to the back of my head threw me forward. Face down, taking small gasps, ignoring the torment of each breath, I tried to hold on. Desperate to save my sister and get back to my family, I fought unconsciousness.

And lost.

* * * *

Bound to a large pillar positioned at the edge of the courtyard, I was unable to move. Sweat stung my eyes. My limbs were numb. A few torches provided some light, but not enough. The sword I’d used lay a few feet away and beside it stood Ricardo. He waved his own in the air.

“I didn’t want you to miss this, Velde.” Felipe’s fingernails dug into my jaw and he raised my chin. “The handling of fine weaponry runs in the family. Your nephew shows great swordsmanship.” He motioned to Ricardo. “Provide your uncle with a demonstration.”

Through bleary eyes, I focused in on the child’s sword and my chest muscles tightened, forcing air from my lungs. It was impossible to struggle.

“Straight through the heart, boy.” Felipe stepped aside. “Swift and sure.”

Ricardo hurtled toward me.

Stupefied, I watched the silver tip penetrate my stomach and continue on through, searing, blinding agony as the point struck my spine.

Somewhere far off, I heard the sound of cheers.

“I shall have words with your teachers, boy.” Felipe’s voice was distant. “Their lessons in anatomy are lacking.”

I prized open my eyes to see my blood gushing and staining the earth at my feet. Terrible numbness . . .

Bound again in the mausoleum, a small, abandoned boy lay waste. I laughed with Annabelle. Heard Eduardo and Jacob but couldn’t see them.

I craved one more embrace with them.

An Andalusian cantered past.

Dizziness. Blindness. Deafness. Drifting close to fatality, its spiraling momentum caught up, dragging me into nothingness.

Chapter 21

QUIETNESS LOOMED IN the deserted courtyard.

My tongue cleaved to the roof of my mouth. I’d lost all sense of time. The scent of sweat mixed with blood permeated the air, and something else too, something intoxicating.

“Do you choose life?” It was a woman’s voice, like a soft purr.

She exuded that familiar fragrance, stirring remnants of a long ago desire.

“You’re not real.” I sighed. At least I thought I did.

Sunaria stood close and she was unchanged, flawless.

I struggled to breathe.

“I offer you a life beyond this one. Say yes and I’ll bring you over.”

“I’m dying.”

“I can bring you back.”

A gnawing pain shot through me. I cried out.

“What do you choose?” she asked.

“Don’t leave . . .”

“What do you want?”

“Life.”

She nuzzled in and I welcomed her softness, her comforting, a sharp sting at my neck and the feel of her kissing me there.

Too weak to flinch, I strained against my bindings. “I can’t breathe.”

She pulled away. “It will feel worse,” she whispered, “before it feels better.”

I tried desperately to break free. Had to find my way out of here—and find my way home.

The tickling sensation of her nuzzling in again and lapping there made me wince.

Her wrist pressed firmly against my mouth, which opened wider to receive the warm taste of the finest claret. Even though I knew my actions were depraved, an unspeakable act, the arousing sweetness was too thirst quenching to refuse. My dry tongue licked and suckled. I hoped this could save me, whatever this was.

A boy again, full of excitement, climbing out my bedroom window. Near the far wall on the other side of the arena stood Roelle and Aaron, only this time I observed them with a man’s insight. Felipe’s rough hands nudged me into the bullring.

I choked on a sob.

Despite their covered faces, I knew it was them and recognized the cudgel that Felipe raised into the air.

It was a dying man’s realization, or something else, something shown to me by her, a mystical revelation of what had truly happened that night. My suffering dissipated and, with the wafting of her perfume, my torment crept shamefully away, like a nightmare that had done its worst.

“I have you now.” Sunaria’s words lingered. “You’re safe.”

Transfiguring, I gazed skyward, as a pulsing surged along my arms and down through my thighs and calves, eliciting a thrilling vibration, a quickening of mind, body, and soul.

A sensuous imagining . . .

Sunaria astride me, a fantasy so real, guiding my imagination, luring me, and holding my gaze. Dark locks spilling over naked shoulders. My hands found her small waist, controlling the rhythm. Yearning for her, my body drenched in a wet heat.

“Not really happening.”

In all this time, I’d not once looked at another woman. Annabelle was my one true love who’d freed me from myself, the wife who waited for me even now.

Her chilling whisper, “Surrender.”

I desired nothing more than to hold onto this feeling, then realized that my restraints remained and my hands were still bound behind me and secured to the post, restricting me from moving.

Rocking together, sharing these visions, exquisite pleasure carried us along. Sunaria mastered me, dominating every nuance.

Spellbound, I exhaled for what felt like the first time. Sighing, she guided me on.

Solace.

“Avoid daylight.” Sunaria’s voice came seemingly distant.

Shuddering, I passed through Death’s dark veil.

* * * *

Night.

I awoke to find myself slumped against the post in a deserted courtyard, untied.

No sign of Sunaria.

Had she even been here?

My clothes were blood soaked. I poked around my abdomen, searching for wounds that weren’t there. No pain. No scars. Just blood.

At my feet, a monstrous vision of a dead soldier, his skin pale and leathery, his mouth open in a silent scream. I looked away, all the while removing the knife from his belt. My vision was sharp, lines more defined, and despite the dark, colors vibrant.

No time for madness.

A lump caught in my throat. Salvador’s body lay at the end of the courtyard. A strange memory of Ricardo’s sword tearing into me, it had seemed so real. I traced my tongue along the crimson smudges on my fingertips and headed into the house.

Searching Felipe’s desk, I found the warrant that transferred my estate into his name. I held it over a candle and it flared brightly, and then disintegrated. A flame caught my thumb and I sucked on the burn, trying to cool it. When I reexamined my hand, there was no redness and no blister.

I approached the painting of Belshazzar’s feast. With a rip, the canvass tore out of its frame. Taking a moment, I studied the rich strokes of Belshazzar’s golden coat. The portrait’s meaning: the writing was on the wall, obscurely highlighting the fact I should have known Felipe’s cruelty would find me again.

Felipe had lied about everything. I’d exposed not only myself to danger but also my family.

I returned to the courtyard and hooked the canvas onto a nail that protruded from the top of the pillar where I’d been tied, piercing it in the center.