Always the Vampire (43 page)

“Guess again.”

Quick as a striking snake, I raked my nails down his cheeks, then slapped my hands on the welling blood and squeezed his head harder.

“The blood that made the Void will unmake it, but not before it destroys you. Lia,” I called, “say the spell.”

“Don’t waste your time, fair Lia,” Legrand yelled.

“Do it. Oh, and Normand, if you’re hanging around, you’re welcome to join me.”

Legrand smirked, then his cold eyes widened as he stared over my shoulder. He twisted away, but Normand’s apparition tripped Legrand. He stumbled, and I recaptured him in a flash of fang.

With Normand at his back, I clamped Legrand’s head in my hands once more and captured his gaze. I hadn’t believed that one vampire could enthrall another one, but I gave Legrand my idea of the death glare and he froze. Then, with a push of power willing the Void to invade a new body, I exhaled in a long, slow breath. Black fog spewed from my mouth in shiny ribbons that wound around Legrand’s head. His eyes widened first in disbelief and then in horror as the ribbons twisted around his neck and shoulders. His body stiffened and spasmed with seizures, but I held fast and exhaled the Void again and again until the vampire’s white skin began to blacken and shrivel and turn rubbery in my hands.

Normand’s ghost misted away as high, horrible shrieks came from what had been Legrand’s mouth, and his legs buckled. I held on, rode him to the ground, and flung my consciousness to every infected vampire that might yet carry a molecule of the Void. I felt the blackness flow from Ray and Tower and all the rest, even from vampires whose names I didn’t know, but whose energy I touched. I drew every last vestige of the evil Legrand had helped to make and sent it into his decomposing body.

I felt no remorse, no compassion as I watched the writhing figure, and for a heartbeat that worried me. Then Triton stood at my right shoulder, the amulets in his open hands. Our gazes locked in complete accord.

I took the disk, and together we knelt to banish what was left of Legrand and the Void.

 

 

“Third invocation for healing,” Cosmil said as Triton and I knelt over Saber minutes later.

High damn time,
I thought without filtering who heard me. Since Triton patted my hand, I guessed he did hear, but his sympathetic expression told me he understood.

Saber lay still as a corpse, but his color had improved, and both his body and face appeared less shrunken. That had to be a good sign, right?

“Ready?” Cosmil asked softly.

We gently placed the amulets as Cosmil directed, first over Saber’s heart, and then over his ribs to treat his lungs. The brilliant light cast an aura around his head and torso, smaller pinpoints dancing along his arms and legs in rope beams, just like the ones that had encircled the ailing palm tree. Where the Void chain links had pierced Saber’s skin, the twinkles of light absorbed into his skin.

I don’t know if Saber’s vampire or werewolf blood boosted the amulet healing, but he regained consciousness far faster than I’d dared hope.

“Cesca?” he asked, struggling to sit.

Tears suddenly streamed down my cheeks, and it was all I could do not to hug the stuffing out of him. “Be still, honey,” I said instead. “You’re in rough shape.”

“I missed the fight?”

“Not the one for your life,” Triton said. “Damn, you are one tough SOB. I’m glad I didn’t have to battle you for Cesca.”

Saber’s lips quirked. “So is somebody going to tell me what happened?”

Bells didn’t chime on Maggie’s wedding day, but they might as well have.

The perfect fall day was mild and cloudless. Every delivery and setup I’d scheduled was made precisely on time. Neil’s parents arrived at high noon. Maggie, Sherry, and I were dressed and ready for the photographer at four thirty. I wore a Victorian-style dress of rich burgundy, and Sherry wore the same dress in a deep rose color.

Best of all, Saber and I were alive and well. Okay, in my case, underdead, but we were healthy and together.

And—ta-da!—even my hair cooperated. With a little help from a smoother Maggie had found, I flatironed my hair until it was straight enough to be manageable but just wavy enough to have bounce.

The other guests attending the ceremony showed up promptly, and so did Neil’s harpist. She played so beautifully, I got teary as a radiant Maggie joined Neil at the podium in the parlor.

With the reception winding down, candles in white Victorian-birdcage lanterns on the tables bathed the backyard in romance, and the light of the nearly full moon added to the ambiance. The toasts and speeches had been given, and the cake had been cut. Neil had engaged a string quartet to play classical music during the first forty-five minutes of the reception and had swept Maggie to the floor for their first dance as a married couple. They’d had the traditional exchange of dances with their parents, too, before a second band took over. This band played more popular music, especially from the years Neil and Maggie had been dating.

The bride and groom circulated among their guests, and Neil even shook hands with Jo-Jo. A while later, I caught Maggie’s high sign that it was nearly time to toss the garter and bouquet. I mouthed “fifteen minutes.” She nodded.

Saber tapped me on the shoulder, and my breath caught as I turned to him. He looked so handsome in his tux, so sinfully hot. I sent yet another silent prayer of thanks that he’d not only survived, but was also completely healed.

“Hey,” he whispered in my ear, “we have visitors.”

I raised a brow, and he jerked his head toward my tiki bar. Among the guests near the secondary beverage station, there stood Lia and Cosmil, Triton and Lynn. All four wore clothing dressy enough to blend into the crowd—the guys in dark slacks and white button-up shirts, Lynn in a sundress, and Lia in a linen pants suit—but they hung back, off at the corner of my cottage.

Each of them looked well enough. In fact, Lynn’s expression was downright giddy. Still, I couldn’t help a twinge of worry as Saber and I worked our way across the yard through the milling guests. The memories were just too fresh.

When Saber could stand more or less on his own last night, Cosmil and Lia had transported us through the Veil to the shack and to Cosmil’s sacred circle. I didn’t remember the details of my own treatment, and I suspected an anesthesia spell accounted for that. I did recall my part in treating first Saber, then Triton, just to be certain every last smidgen of the Void was eradicated from their bodies. Both physically and metaphysically.

After the healings were completed, Cosmil had done his wizardly wellness scan before he transported us through the Veil again, back to our trucks at the parking garage. From there, Triton had raced to pick up Lynn at the beach house. I’d driven Saber to his home where we’d collapsed in his bed, quietly holding each other until sleep finally came.

I didn’t know for certain what had happened to Legrand’s ring, but I hoped Cosmil had locked the sucker up tight until he could return it to the COA.

“Is everything okay?” I asked when we reached the foursome.

“Everything is wonderful,” Lynn said as she threw her arms around me, then withdrew, still grinning hard enough to strain her cheek muscles. “I know you all didn’t trust me at first, but if things hadn’t happened as they did, I’d never know about my mermaid family.”

I blinked. “You’re a mermaid descendant?”

Triton put an arm around Lynn’s shoulder. “Lia got the scoop from the merfolk on the Council just today.”

“That’s right,” Lynn bubbled. “I guess I shouldn’t be so excited because the whole story involves inbreeding and a gene mutation in the royal mer line, but between having met Triton and getting this news, I feel like I really belong.”

“Your mer relatives kept the human adoption from going through, didn’t they?” Saber said.

“They did,” Cosmil confirmed.

Now my grin was as wide as Lynn’s. “This is wonderful, Lynn. Will you meet your other family soon?”

She nodded. “I think so, but there are a lot of details to work out. Lia’s helping with those, but for now, I just wanted to thank you both.”

Lynn embraced me again and gave Saber a shy hug, too. Then she took Triton’s arm to drift toward the bar. They did make a striking couple, but I had to wonder if the two dolphin shifters would produce more dolphin shifters, merfolk, or plain humans. I shook my head. Time would tell.

Cosmil cleared his throat, and I gazed expectantly at him and Lia.

“What’s up?”

Lia straightened and smiled. “Francesca, Princess of the House of Normand, the Council of Ancients formally invites you to become our new vampire representative.”

“They what?” Saber and I blurted together, then exchanged a shocked glance.

“Without Legrand,” Cosmil explained, “vampires of various camps are jockeying for the empty position, but each vampire has his or her own agenda.”

Lia nodded. “The Council believes you will be a strong yet impartial presence. Just what we need as we regroup.”

I shook my head. “Tell the COA thanks but no thanks. Suggest Ken or David. Heck, suggest Jo-Jo,” I added, waving my hand at his lean form on the dance platform.

Lia took a long look at the comic soon-to-be actor but shook her head. “The members will not accept anyone but you.”

“Then tell them to suspend the position until they find another vampire,” I said firmly.

“You won’t consider filling the seat?”

I twined my fingers in Saber’s and smiled up at him. “Nope, Saber and I are due for some downtime.”

“Perhaps you will think on it,” Cosmil said, “but we will leave you now, Francesca. Your friend Maggie wants your attention.”

I turned to see Maggie wave at me as she and Neil approached the microphone on the bandstand. Damn, we were going to miss the tosses if we didn’t hustle.

With a few words each, Maggie and Neil thanked their guests for taking the time to share in their wedding celebration and invited the bachelors to come forward. Saber and a few others gamely gathered on the dance floor, and good-natured hoots and whistles filled the air as Maggie lifted the hem of her wedding dress so Neil could remove one of the two garters she wore.

Ham that he could be, Neil bowed to Maggie before he waved the garter for all to see. Then he slingshot the bit of lace and ribbon dead center at Saber’s chest. DennyK made a dive for it, but Saber snatched the garter, his hand moving in a blur.

I blinked. My stinker sweetie had used his enhanced speed to nab the prize, had he?

The single women gathered next for a shot at catching the bouquet, and not one of them hung back like the guys had. Nope, these females elbowed for space like they were shopping at the last sale before Christmas. Maggie waved the nosegay specially made for this tradition, turned, and let it fly over her shoulder. I used a little vampire leap and caught the bouquet two handed.

The women melted away, and the bandleader announced the last song.

Saber sauntered toward me, twirling the garter on his finger. The blue garter that seemed weighted with something gold and sparkly.

“You know what tradition says about catching the garter and the bouquet, don’t you?”

I swallowed at the intense heat in his eyes. “That the catchees will be the next to marry?”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s just a whimsical piece of folklore.”

“Unless the parties involved want it to be something more.”

He took me in his arms then, and the pulse in my throat beat so fast, I felt dizzy. He lowered his head, his lips hovering over mine.

“Princesca. Still want to take that island vacation with me?”

I brightened. “Sure. When do you want to leave?”

“As soon as you answer a question.”

“W-what is it?”

He dangled the garter before my face, the garter that was slipknotted through a diamond ring.

“Will you take the trip with this on your finger?”

LA VIDA VAMPIRE
LAST VAMPIRE STANDING
ALWAYS THE VAMPIRE