Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising (17 page)

“What’s holding him at the moment?” Serenity’s voice was full of curiosity.

Prophecy smiled and looked at the intricate threads of red that were lacing hers and Valentine’s fingers together.

“Magic,” she said, looking at Serenity. Her friend’s expression changed to one of awe. “It will last a few hours more but if it doesn’t … then get Venturi or one of the guards to give him the drug and then get someone to find me. I’ll take Venturi down to see his men and go through the formalities, and then I’ll go out to hunt. I won’t be more than an hour.”

“I can handle it, so stop worrying,” Serenity said in a gentle tone.

“I know you can. It’s not that I’m worried about. I’m losing him a little more with each passing minute and I’m starting to lose hope at the same rate.” Standing up, Prophecy paused for a second to look at Valentine and then grabbed her coat and walked to the door. She stopped when she reached it but didn’t look back. “Take care of him.”

“I will,” Serenity said.

Prophecy opened the door and walked out into the hallway. She didn’t stop to check if Venturi was going to follow her. He would. She was the reason he was standing guard. The other three were for Valentine.

“You are pale,” Venturi said and the gentleness of his voice made her eyes fill with tears.

She felt so weak around him. When she was alone or with Serenity, she had to be strong. Around Venturi, she felt as though she could let go of it all and give in to her feelings, and he’d be strong for her.

“I’m fine … maybe tired and a little drained.” She tried to sound bright so he wouldn’t worry and say things that would give her reason to surrender the fight and let him comfort her like she so badly wanted him to. “I hear we have new guests.”

“We do,” he said and she could feel his eyes boring into the side of her face. She resisted looking at him.

“I hear you’ve not even been to see them.”

He was quiet for a moment and then said, “I make no apologies for my actions.”

She looked across at him, letting him see the tears in her eyes and how much she wished she could let him hold her and comfort her. “I see no reason why you should.”

Facing front again, she didn’t dare look at him until they reached the room where Serenity had placed his men. She paused outside the closed door and untied her hair. Pulling it back into a neater ponytail, she smoothed out her appearance and took a deep breath. She was about to open the door when Venturi stopped her. He brushed his fingers lightly across her cheeks just below her eyes and smiled at her.

“They do not have a right to see those tears,” he said in a quiet voice and she knew what he’d meant—they were tears that only close companions or lovers should see—people like him, not people like their families. Her eyes followed the motion of his fingers as he rubbed them together, wiping her tears into his skin.

“Not many do,” she said.

He had a right to see them. In part, they were about him, not just about Valentine. This time it was her turn to stop him when he went to move.

“Venturi … I’m afraid I can’t save him, that I don’t know how. If I lose him … I lose everything. The magic … it’s hard to explain … it reacts to him. It feeds off my feelings for him.”

“I know. I have seen it at work.”

“Then you know that I’m weak without—”

“You are never weak.” He cut her off. “Even when you are without him, I have never met anyone as strong as you. In Venice and Oxford … you were as strong as the woman I saw after Valentine’s return.”

She smiled shakily. “What I really wanted to say was … this is all so confusing. Knowing that you were there if I needed you, that you were just … outside that door today … meant a lot to me.”

Before she had a chance to lose her nerve, she wrapped her arms about his waist and pressed her cheek into his chest. When he placed his arms around her shoulders, she allowed herself a few seconds in which to take in all the comfort she could and then released him.

She didn’t turn away immediately and neither did he. He looked at her with eyes that clearly expressed how much what she’d done had meant to him in return. The second he blinked, she opened the door and walked into the room.

The Tenebrae stood immediately and turned to face her and Venturi. They straightened up with their hands plastered flat against their sides and their eyes fixing on the wall behind her. Was it her or Venturi that had got this reaction from them? When she’d fought the Tenebrae at their castle in Romania, they had seemed like a well-regimented army. Maybe this was just their way.

“Lady Prophecy,” Venturi said and swept his arm out towards the gathered people in front of her. “These are my elite commanders.”

They all bowed, most of them not looking directly at her, but in the eyes of the ones who did, she could see that they knew it was her who had killed their previous lord. If her family had been scared of her power when she’d taken over the role of master, then Venturi’s commanders looked petrified. She smiled when she remembered Venturi saying that people had a right to be frightened of her.

“It’s nice to meet you and I’m truly sorry it couldn’t be under better circumstances.” She met some of their gazes when they straightened up. A few of them frowned, in particular a blonde haired young looking woman on the right of the group. Prophecy got the feeling that it wasn’t the “circumstances” she’d mentioned that was making the woman look that way.

Prophecy gave a look to Venturi that asked for help because her voice felt suddenly tight and she didn’t think she could speak about what had happened to Valentine without it upsetting her.

He stepped towards her with a concerned look in his eyes and placed his hand against her shoulder, his fingers stroking it reassuringly.

“Lord Valentine Aurorea has had a spell cast on him by the witch we must destroy. Lady Prophecy is working to save him. Has anything happened at the castle? We must be on our guard against this witch.” He addressed his family and it was so strange to see him in command for once. She’d never witnessed him like this, acting as the lord of his bloodline.

“The castle is safe, my lord. We have left a contingent there that is strong enough to defend it should anything happen.” A man stepped forwards and bowed.

Venturi nodded in evident satisfaction.

“Did you encounter any trouble during your journey?” he said.

The people in front of Prophecy were listening attentively while the man reported but she didn’t need to hear the details. Her eyes wandered over their faces while they all looked at Venturi. All except one. The woman at the edge of the group was staring at her.

No, not at her. She was staring at Venturi’s hand were it was resting on her shoulder.

Prophecy looked up at him and he moved his eyes to meet hers. She looked across at the woman and caught the frown that the Tenebrae tried to hide with a forced smile. Prophecy swallowed when Venturi’s hand slid a little lower so it was touching her shoulder blade and the star on her skin there itched and prickled.

She didn’t hear the words he said when she looked at him. She stared into his eyes, trying to figure out what was happening or had been happening between him and the female Tenebrae. He turned back to face the group and so did she. There were three other women in the group and none of them seemed interested in him in the way the other one did.

When he stopped talking, she caught hold of his hand and he looked at her.

“A word, please?” she said and gave a bow to the occupants of the room.

He nodded and followed her. She led him back out into the hall and far enough down it that they were out of earshot. Releasing his hand, she flexed her fingers, trying to ease the magical build up she could feel in them. It was strange that he’d affected her magic. So far it had only reacted to Valentine.

“I don’t appreciate being stared at,” she said and watched his face closely.

“I shall see to it she’s punished.” He glanced up the corridor towards the door.

She smiled at the way he’d known exactly who she was talking about. “I never said it was a girl staring at me. I might have been referring to all your commanders.”

He frowned at her.

She frowned back. “Who is she? And why do I get the feeling that she doesn’t like me?”

He cleared his throat, hesitated awkwardly for a few seconds and then put his arm out and leaned against the wall. She smiled at his attempt to look casual.

“She’s my child.” His voice quavered a little.

“Oh … I’m starting to think that siring someone of the opposite sex is a bad idea. Feelings seem to develop. I’ve watched it for years with Serenity and her love for Arkalus, and now I witness it in a young female Tenebrae and you.”

“I do not love her,” he said with a laugh and then gave her an odd look that made her frown harder.

“What?” she said.

He smiled with just one side of his mouth. The corner of it tugged into a look she didn’t like and she felt as though she was being scrutinised as his eyes bore into hers.

“You sound jealous.”

“Venturi … this really isn’t the time for this.”

His smile faded and he frowned, as though he’d forgotten the man lying sick in her bed.

“I apologise. It is in poor taste to tease you when the one you love is so ill.”

She could still see the smile in his eyes. It spoke of triumph. Not only had she taken the comfort he’d been silently offering her, but she’d shown a hint of jealousy about his relationship with the woman in the other room.

“I have to hunt,” she said flatly and started to walk away.

“Prophecy.” He didn’t have to catch her arm in order to stop her. She stopped dead and looked back at him. He ran his fingers through his dirty blond hair, tousling the long lengths of it and making some of them fall down the sides of his face. “I am sorry. Forgive me?”

She didn’t know what to say to him or even why he was sorry. Was it the way he could so easily forget Valentine’s plight, or was it the woman in the other room he was apologising for? Or maybe it was something else. Was he sorry about them, about the fact that there wasn’t a relationship between them like he wanted?

She shook her head in confusion and then turned away from him.

“I’ll be back in an hour,” she said without any trace of emotion and walked down the hall. Leaving him in such a cold manner was beginning to become a habit with her. Whenever he made her feel any affection for him, or brought her feelings to her attention, she ran away.

Her eyes closed when she heard the impact of his fist against the wall and the growl of frustration he gave.

A tear slid down her cheek but she dashed it away.

What did he want from her? She loved Valentine, and while she did, it was wrong to act on any feelings she had for Venturi, regardless of what they were.

Ignoring Tiberius’ offer to go out hunting with her, she dismissed him with a wave of her hand and slipped her jacket on while she walked along the gravel path towards the gates.

She didn’t want company right now.

It was only a short walk to the nearest cemetery. She could find something to kill there.

If any trouble arose, she could handle herself.

Prophecy stalked the woman through the graveyard. The woman was moving fast, but there was still a lot of ground for her to cover before she reached the gates at the other end. Prophecy slipped from tomb to tomb, using the tall trees dotted around the cemetery grounds as cover while she tracked the woman’s progress.

She looked at her feet and the mist that swirled around them. The air was damp tonight and the season still hadn’t reached the point where it brought warm nights. The cool air wrapped itself around her, almost as comforting as the blanket of the night and the wide open space around her. It felt good to be out of the mansion. She didn’t want it feeling like a prison again but that’s what was happening. Being outside and hunting made that feeling go away and she knew that when she returned after her feed that she’d be happier to see her home.

Serenity was right. Getting some fresh air was improving her outlook.

She’d thought up three ways of getting into the book that she hadn’t tried yet. She just hoped that the magic attached to the blood she’d fed it had worn off so when she got angry and threw it across the room again, it didn’t hurt her.

Her eyes widened when she saw the woman had almost made it through the cemetery. Pushing her thoughts away, she focused her senses on her prey and slid into her vampire guise. She licked her teeth and sprinted silently through the grounds so she was waiting by the gate when the woman reached it.

Standing in the shadows, she watched the woman approaching. The mist and the crescent moon in the sky combined to drain all colour from the world, bathing it in shades of grey that had the tiniest hint of blue. The cemetery looked like a scene from the black and white horror movies she used to watch in her room with Serenity. She grinned. For the woman, this night was about to become that horror movie.

When the woman reached her, she slid out of the shadows and into her path. The woman jumped and pressed her hand against her chest, muttering something in Czech and smiling at her.

Prophecy grinned back, flashing her teeth.

The smile fell from the woman’s face and she turned so fast that she almost lost her footing. She ran, throwing glances over her shoulder. Prophecy watched her run a few metres and then started after her. She sprinted so she overtook the woman and then waited patiently for her to run into her arms.

The woman was so busy looking behind her that she did exactly that.

Prophecy sunk her teeth deep into her victim’s neck before she had a chance to come to her senses, and dragged her off the path and into the shadows. She kept her senses as focused on the world around her as possible as the sweetness of the woman’s blood filled her, warming her body and sedating her. She closed her eyes and put her hand over her victim’s mouth when her body tensed and jerked, silencing her before she had a chance to scream.

Ignoring all of the stray drops that were running down the woman’s front and soaking into her top, Prophecy drank deep, desperate for fresh blood and unable to keep her focus. It switched to the woman. She could feel her panic, could smell the delicious scent of fear on her while she desperately struggled to get free. Soon she’d tire and the fun would be over, but Prophecy didn’t mind. There were plenty more girls where this one came from. If she waited a few minutes, another one would be by and she could feed again. She gave one last pull on the woman’s blood when she heard her heart stop and then dropped the body unceremoniously to the ground. The mist seemed to eat her. It shrouded the body, leaving no sign of it amongst the headstones.