Blood and Destiny (18 page)

“I think you’re right.”

I licked my lips with a tongue that felt thick. How much had I had to drink? I didn’t remember getting a fresh glass after Yasmine left, but I could have. Walking to the bar, I moved to set my nearly empty glass on the polished wood. The glass caught the lip of the bar and fell, spinning end

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over end to the floor, spraying a golden shower of champagne in its wake. I watched it happen as if it were slow motion.

The crystal clarity of the drops slashing on the floor drove home the truth. Drugged.

Strong arms wrapped around me and I heard Luke laughing with the bartender as if through water.

“Easy, sweetheart. I told you to ease off the bubbly.”

“You’ll see her home, Mr. Stanton?” the bartender asked.

“Gladly, but she’ll not thank me in the morning.”

They both laughed as if it was uproariously funny. I saw things in flashes after that. Luke carried me out of the restaurant and into his car. There were snatches of familiar neon as he drove through the city. But it was the darkness with the occasional street lamp that made me fight against the impairment of the drugs.

Turning my head, I watched his face illuminated by the dashboard lights. His teeth were clenched in a way that had to be painful. Expanding my focus, I saw his knuckles white on the steering wheel. He must have sensed the movement because his gaze slashed from the road to me and back again.

“You’re awake.” His voice showed the same strain his body was broadcasting. I tried to talk, but speech was still beyond me. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Under different circumstances, I can take no for an answer.”

Panic welled up and I fought to change forms, but the lioness was as caged as the rest of me. He gripped the wheel tighter.

“I like you. I wish I didn’t. It’s either you or Scott and that’s not even a choice. My brother may be an idiot, but he’s still my brother. I stepped down from Rex ascension for him. You don’t even like me.”

The only argument he got to that one was the drone of road noise. It was hard to believe he hadn’t wanted to be a king. That disbelief helped fuel my determination to hold on to my wits instead of letting the haze roll over me. Keeping my eyes open and focused took an effort, but I managed. It seemed easier than it had when he put me in the car. If I could engineer an escape, I wanted to have an idea how to get home without relying on blind instinct. The effort paid off as the car sped around a bend and the one place I didn’t want to be loomed large.

The Cosmopolitan Hotel. Luke was going to deliver me to the enemy.

The sense of betrayal was sharp. It wasn’t for me, really. Kale and Yasmine trusted him and that betrayal was unconscionable. Then I realized what was going to be worse for Yasmine—losing me.

Sisters in every way but blood. Our friendship had been the only thing we each had been able to rely on through our childhoods. At least she had Kale to get her through it. It made me feel better.

He pulled the car up to the back and slipped it into park. Out of the darkness, a vampire appeared as if conjured. Luke hissed, but his words were soft and meant not to be overheard.

“Close your eyes. We’re going up the servants entrance and it will cause less notice if you’re pretending to be passed out.”

I did it, but only because my limbs felt heavy and listless. I began to feel my face and it took less

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effort to manage my head, which was an improvement. I waited until we were inside to peek.

Everywhere I could see, vampires loitered. In reality, there couldn’t have been more than twenty, but added to the security teams I knew patrolled and it amounted to a small army.

Luke’s chin tucked my head back against his chest. It reminded me that I wasn’t supposed to let anyone know I was cognizant. Obediently, I closed my eyes and forced myself to remain limp and passive in his arms. By the time we made it to the elevator, I was concentrating everything I had on moving a toe in my shoe. There. My toes moved. I wasn’t imagining things. Whatever he had given me was starting to process through my system and wear off.

When the elevator doors opened, Luke stepped out. The scent of jasmine and something else I couldn’t recognize washed over me. We were greeted by a very cultured, vaguely familiar voice.

“Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in. I was beginning to give up on you, my lion friend.”

I opened my eyes to look at the face I couldn’t remember. The resemblance to Marcus had stuck in my mind, but the reality of seeing it in the flesh shocked me to the core.

I’d never seen a vampire with an aged face. He didn’t look old, but his swarthy complexion showed lines from spending time in the sun despite the lack of a suntan. It was an older, more mature version of Marcus’s face. He smiled at me with Marcus’s smile and it froze the urge to scream deep in my throat.

“I told you I would bring her no matter what the cost,” Luke said with a bitter tone.

“Ah, yes. So you did. Forgive me for my doubt. Most honorable men try to cheat after being backed into a corner with obligations they would rather not meet.”

Honorable? I let it slide as I desperately tried to move my limbs. Any movement would have mustered enough hope that I’d be able to make a break for it, but to no avail. My toes were all I had mastery of.

Without rising to the bait, Luke carefully set me down on the leather love seat in the suite. The ancient vampire closed the distance in a gliding walk so reminiscent of his son that I closed my eyes against it. Luke’s words made me glad I had.

“My brother’s marker. I’ve done what you asked of me. The debt is paid.”

“Not yet, my good lion. Not yet.”

His voice was closer than it should have been. My eyes jerked open to find him hovering over me.

His hand snaked forward. I was helpless to stop it. Because I saw the hand, I tensed enough that it hurt when he grabbed my chin to stretch my neck. It was only a precursor to the pain as he struck to feed. The angle ensured it would be as painful as possible.

He sank to his knees as he fed. When he finally pulled away, I was seeing spots. The way he looked at me with my blood staining his face made the darkness descending a welcome relief.

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Consciousness came in stages. Someone was wiping my face with a cool, damp cloth, but it wasn’t making me feel any better. My mouth was painfully dry, and the sharp metallic scent of blood filling my nostrils did nothing to combat the threatening nausea. The smell wasn’t strong enough to block out the sweet perfume. I forced my eyes open and faced Betsy Vincent.

She wasn’t happy, but she didn’t look harmed. Meeting my gaze, she stepped back and waited. I pushed myself up to sit on the bed despite the light-headedness that washed over me. Shocked to find myself naked except for handcuffs, I did my best to orient myself. From what I could see, it appeared to be a basic bedroom.

While nudity didn’t generally bother me, it made me feel vulnerable. I hoped the dress I’d worn to the rehearsal dinner was hidden around here somewhere. It had been a gift from Yasmine when I had gotten my detective license and represented happier times. It was why I had chosen to wear it tonight.

I didn’t worry about the shackles until I got a good look at them. Standard steel, I could have handled, but these were made of sterner stuff. I had a momentary hope that the chain was weak, but Betsy squashed it in a gleeful tone.

“Titanium. Alexander wanted to make sure you stayed where he put you. He chose your wrists so you wouldn’t be able to slip them even if you shifted.”

I jerked the chain and there was no give once the slack was gone. The chain disappeared under the bed, but it seemed that my host was too thorough to leave it anchored with something I could break with any ease. A sharp pain in my neck reminded me why I was naked on the bed to begin with.

I ran my fingers over the puncture wounds and found them neater than I expected. Nausea washed over me again, but I fought it back. Either the drugs were still wearing off or he’d taken too much blood. Or a combination of both. The room spun and I closed my eyes against it.

“What time is it?” God, was that my voice? It was rough and wheezy. I needed water and something with sugar in it.

“Not too late. The cocktail Alexander gave your lion metabolizes relatively quickly. It’s why he left me here to sit with you. I normally have better things to do with my time than babysit strays. You have some intrinsic value, though. That counts for something.”

Looking around the room, I spotted a water pitcher on a tray by the door. Seeing it made my mouth hurt. I licked my lips and debated the wisdom of asking, but need got the better of my suspicion.

“May I have some water, please?”

I watched her glide across the floor. Yes, she definitely had better treatment at the hands of our host. When she turned back to me, my gaze sought and found the scars on her neck. Alexander had been taking care of her fragile physiology unless he had fed from more intimate places.

I took the glass she offered me and drank gratefully, ignoring the initial pain as the liquid washed over the parched surface of my mouth. When I finished, I held the glass out to her and did my best to smile.

“Thank you. You do realize that he’s going to use you and throw you away too, right? It’s what he does.”

It wasn’t the smooth speech I had prepared, but there was no guarantee I’d have another chance

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to talk to her. She had the freedom to walk away from me.

“You don’t know him. He’s going to make me like him by bringing me across. I’m going to be young, beautiful and powerful forever.”

She said it with a smile. She honestly believed it. I hated Hollywood and their glamorization of the vampire culture. Myth and misinformation had brought more than one mortal to harm and Betsy Vincent was right on track.

“What happened to your lover, Betsy? Do you know where Todd went? What did Alexander tell you about his protégé?”

“He’s been sent to the next city to find an appropriate house. Alexander knows Marcus isn’t going to want us to stay here very long. A master doesn’t share his territory willingly.”

She sounded confident and a little too fervent. Oh, how I wanted to set her straight, but I was the one naked and shackled to the bed. Instead, I struggled to think around the problem, to take advantage of the opportunity talking to Betsy presented.

“So, you were going to skip town without even a farewell to your husband? He’s looking for you, but you know that. He’s worried. Dr. Vincent needs to know you’re okay. If you want a divorce, I’m sure you two can come to an understanding.”

“You want to talk about a man who plans to throw me away? My husband? After all the years I worked to see him comfortable with his practice, it’s over. I knew when the doctor gave us the news and Matthew didn’t even blink. Why? Because we decided to wait for children until he had time to spend with them. Until his practice could operate without him overseeing every single detail.

That was his argument every time I brought it up until one day he said he was ready. But it was too late. Too late for me, at any rate. When I mentioned adoption, Matthew said he wanted a biological child. So I consulted a surrogacy agency. But that wasn’t good enough either.”

With every sentence, her anger and pain mounted. By the end, her eyes were full of tears and the pain had cracked her suave exterior. With her defenses down, I struck with the truth I knew, since I couldn’t argue about the way her marriage had fallen apart.

“Todd is dead, Betsy. Alexander raped his mind and left Marcus to pick up the pieces. Marcus gave him the choice of starting his life over or meeting a peaceful end. He didn’t choose amnesty.”

The first tears fell as she sat hard in the chair in the corner. “Dead?”

“I’m sorry. Alexander is in the habit of wringing what he can use out of people and letting them fall where they may. Don’t be one of his discards.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the reason her husband had tossed her away was the same one that enticed the vampire to keep her until her beauty waned. I pushed my advantage.

“Betsy, let me go. You can walk out of here with me. You can go back to your life. Dr. Vincent is ready to forgive you and see where things can go from here.”

It was the wrong move. Maybe it was the forgive comment or maybe it was the fact I was trying to get her to reverse her course while there was still time. Whatever the reason, she stood and her mask slid back into place.

“All the way to the judge, you mean. Thank you, but no. He needs to suffer. It’s seven years before he can declare me legally dead. That’s seven years he has to wait for that precious heir. He

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won’t settle for a bastard. If there’s any justice, he’ll be too old to get the job done or enjoy it if he does.”

She turned on her heels and stalked out of the room, leaving me alone with the water pitcher in sight but well out of reach. Lying back down, I stared at the ceiling and wondered how long it would take for someone to realize that I’d not gone home with the lion. More importantly, would Marcus come after me if he thought I had? Was his love that strong?

The thought made something shift inside me. Hot tears leaked from the corners of my eyes and flowed into my hair. I never cried. It had always been seen as a sign of weakness in the orphanage so I’d been taught early to avoid it. Angrily, I forced myself to remember the lessons learned at the hands of bigger, harder children.

The anger boiled inside me to the point I fought off the change. I would have given over to it if I thought I had the strength to do more than lie on the bed like an exhausted kitten.