Bloodcraft (10 page)

“No, and I’ve left Aliya three messages like a super-stalker over the past week,” she said. “All joking aside, I think I scared them. They were afraid. I could sense it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they said no.”

“They’re going to call. Now come over here and I’ll make you feel better,” he said, placing his newspaper on the side table as if deciding that she needed some cheering up. He lounged back in his chair, uncrossing his legs and watching her with heavy-lidded eyes. He waited and then repeated himself. “Victoria, I said come here.”

“I’m not in the mood, Christian,” she replied, distracted by the mouthful of cold coffee she’d just sipped. In the next instant, the breath flew out of her as she felt her body lifted in strong arms and moving with inhuman speed toward the living room. Sighing at his high-handedness, she looped her arms around his shoulders as he sat down in a comfortable armchair. It had taken all of half a second to move across the entire house. She could teleport with magic, but his vampire speed was still impressive.

“Now, isn’t that better?” he said. “I’d like to whisk you far away from here, but you’d probably flay me alive if I took you away from the phone.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “You know this means a lot to me.”

“I do, but have patience. There’s no way they will say no. The power you wield is far too enticing to weigh against any risk, you’ll see. Their intentions may be well meant, but people still covet what they don’t have or don’t understand. Your magic is something that they can’t afford
not
to take in.”

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”

“That’s not what I meant. It’s in their best interest to keep you close as their ally. In case you haven’t noticed, the relations between our worlds are, at best, tenuous.”

“Are they? I hadn’t noticed,” Victoria said, a delicious shiver running through her at the feel of his hands kneading the length of her spine. She lowered her mouth to the hollow at his collarbone and inhaled his spicy cologne. “But you may be right. I think we may need some vampire-witch bonding, you know, to foster proper liaisons.”

“Is that so?”

Christian’s pulse leapt beneath her lips as his entire body went perfectly still. She smiled. “Yes. Are you going to do something about it? Or are you just going to sit there and try not to breathe for the rest of the morning?”

Christian let out the breath he’d been holding and chuckled, bending his head to her cheek. He grazed the skin there and moved to nibble gently on her earlobe. Victoria’s body jumped in silent, reflexive response as all
her
breath left her body in a soft burst.

“Now who’s not breathing?” he whispered back.

“Maybe we can both forget about breathing for a while,” she said as his lips covered her own. At first, the kiss was gentle. But as she twisted her body on top of his, arching towards him, it became more insistent, more demanding. He drew her lower lip into his mouth, and Victoria sighed against him, dissolving into his embrace. Desire detonated between them like an atomic explosion. They were both flirting with disaster. But Victoria couldn’t stop him, not when she wanted it as badly as he did. Sleeping in separate rooms was torture enough.

“I cannot get enough of you,” he whispered, his voice husky. Drawing away from her mouth, Christian trailed kisses down her jaw, across the delicate bones of her neck, above the deep V of her camisole. Her breath hitched as his lips traced the edges of the lace. Every part of her thrummed with sensation. Christian’s free hand slid up her rib cage as he nudged the silk material aside. Victoria’s neck arched backward, her body held in place only by the brace of his palm at her back. His fingers turned icy against her skin and Christian froze, a muscle pulsing wildly in his clenched jaw at the bared expanse of her throat.

The silver in his eyes shifted into something feral and she moved backward, acutely aware of the rigidity of his body as she did so. His nostrils flared responsively, animalistic and primal. She could see the tips of his incisors pressing beyond their edges. It wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge. Deep down, a part of her wanted to. It wanted to take the risk—to give in to the pulsing demands of her all too human body. But of course, that would be stupid.

“I wish we were normal,” she whispered.

Christian made a noise caught between a laugh and a growl and nipped at her earlobe. “At times like this, being supernatural is supremely overrated.” He stood, taking her with him, his lips grazing her cheek. “I’ll be in the forest.”

She sighed. “I’ll be in the shower.”

A very,
very
cold shower, she amended, admiring the violently bunched muscles beneath his shirt as he moved away. He was all lean leashed strength. She had no idea how sexual hunger translated into blood hunger, but somehow it did. The two seemed to be inextricably linked. Every time they made out, he invariably started to change when things got too hot and heavy, which seemed to be happening more often than not. She’d had more cold showers than she could count in the last month.

By the time Christian returned, the afternoon sun was already descending into the skyline, dropping long fragmented shadows into the gardens. He’d been gone a long time, but had checked in to let Victoria know that he had been over to the Council headquarters to meet with David, one of the Elders. Apparently Enhard had named Christian as his sole heir and there were some papers that he needed to sign because of it. His face was tight as he walked into the lounge room.

“Are you okay?” Victoria asked, looking up from where she was reading with Leto curled on her lap.

“I see you found him,” he noted with a glance toward the sleeping feline.

Victoria nodded, her gaze sliding back to Christian. His face looked strained and worried. “What’s the matter?”

He raked a tired hand through his hair, tension emanating from every part of him. His eyes met hers. “Four vampires have been murdered.”

“Murdered?” Every cell in her body froze.

Christian nodded, his lips thinning. “They’re convening the Council first thing tomorrow morning, an emergency meeting. One of the vampires killed was an overlord, the head of a House. Two others were old and powerful, and the last was a female.”

Victoria was horrified. “I don’t understand. How? Why?”

“I don’t know, but what makes it strange is that they were all killed at exactly the same time.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that it was an attack. A carefully planned and well-orchestrated attack,” he replied. “There were no signs of a struggle, none at all. The strange thing is that there were servants in other parts of the house and none of them heard a sound. But the bodies were charred to blackened bones in the space of an hour.”

“Do you think this has to do with what’s happening between the vampires and the Witch Clans?” she asked. “Or is it because I’m here?”

Christian’s rejoinder was tired as he absently rubbed the tense muscles in his neck. “I don’t think so. It seems too abstract to be connected.”

Something troubled Victoria. Something he’d said about the bodies being charred and blackened. “Christian, when vampires die … don’t you disappear? I mean, disintegrate to ashes?” she asked.

“Not always. The older we are, yes, certainly. But in this case, they were discovered in the same condition as if they’d been attacked by flash fire,” he said, pausing, trying to find the right words to explain. “But it was so precise that there was no blood, no broken bones, nothing out of place, and no damage to the space around them. Their bodies were shriveled and bone-dry as if they had been demolished from inside.” He glanced up as she gasped aloud. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this.”

“If it turns out to be connected to me or the Witch Clans, then yes, you should,” she reminded him. “So what are the Council members saying?”

Christian conceded her point with a grim nod and continued. “There are three theories at this point. One is an attack from another House, other vampires. But it’s not likely. There’d be other marks. The second is an attack from the warlocks trying to assert their position.” Christian kept his expression shuttered as if the last thing he had to say was by far the worst. He cleared his throat. “The third, which is looking to be more and more of a strong possibility, is that the clans have mobilized.”

“What are you saying? That the
witches
murdered the vampires?” she asked, unable to keep the sarcasm from threading into her tone.

Christian shrugged, his face giving away nothing. “Why is that so hard to believe? We’ve committed untold wrongs against them. Take Lucian, for example, in his conquest of Le Sang Noir. He has stopped at nothing to get what he wants. They demanded his head for his crimes and we refused to give in. Or, worse, let’s consider the fact that perhaps someone has found out about us—someone important who wants to make an example of us
.”

The blood drained from her body as she digested what he was saying. “But that’s insane. Why would anyone murder random vampires because of you and me? We aren’t hurting anyone, and hardly anybody knows that I’m here. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Because of
who
you are, Victoria,” he said simply. “And because of who I am, too. We are visible now, and the truth is many people do know, witches and vampires alike—Aliya, the Belles Fontaines teachers, Lucian, Lena, the Council. What exists between us is not accepted, and there are many people who will take it to extremes to keep us apart.” He stared at her, his eyes intense. “I don’t have to remind you of what happened with Gabriel.” Having made his point, Victoria nodded. She remembered Gabriel’s response all too well. He’d been furious that she’d chosen to be with a vampire, saying that she had debased herself and disgraced her lineage. His rage had been obscene. She shivered at the memory.

Christian sighed as he correctly interpreted her expression. “People aren’t as open as you’d expect in the supernatural world. Here, there are worse bigots than in the human world, and they are vicious and deadly.” Christian walked forward and cradled her face in his hands. “This is fine for as long as we are here and protected within these walls, but what if I am away and you are alone?”

“I can take care of myself,” she said. “They can’t hurt me.”

“Oh, chérie, but they can, through me.” He held her shoulders, staring into her eyes. He lowered his voice to a near whisper. “Would you die for me?” Victoria’s stomach sank as she realized where he was going. He brushed a thumb over her cheek. “You don’t even have to answer that. I can see it, right here, written all over your face. The thing is what if someone—anyone—uses me to get to you? Can you be strong for who
you
are? And forget me—us—if you have to?”

“Why are you saying this?”

“Because it’s the reality, Tori. War is brewing and there won’t be anything we can do to stop it once it starts.”

“War?” she said dully.

“A truce can only hold us in check for so long. Given any chance, either side will grasp the opportunity to dominate the other. These murders are the proof they need.”

“Who? The Council?”

“Yes.”

Victoria knew that getting upset wouldn’t help the cause. Christian’s worry could only mean one thing—the Council
already
believed that the Witch Clans were at fault and were considering retaliation. And given what Lena and Lucian already knew about her, the Council would use Christian without qualm to secure her loyalty and the power of Le Sang Noir. Or vice versa.

She understood his fear, but there’d be no question—she’d choose him in a heartbeat over all others, even her own kind. There was no way to explain the depth of what she felt for him, the connection between them. He’d stood by her when she’d been alone, stood
up
to her when no one else could. He had believed in her when she hadn’t been able to believe in herself. No, Christian had nothing to worry about.

“Tell me what the Council said,” she said as he poured a glass of cognac. His fingers clenched around the stem of the glass as he considered her request. He wanted to protect her, she knew. But hiding the truth from her was a worse alternative. “Please, Christian. I can handle it, I promise.”

He scrubbed his free hand through his hair and drained the contents of his glass. “David believes it was an attack coordinated in secret by the Witch Clans. The evidence is too clear. There is no way another vampire could have killed four vampires without leaving some indication of a struggle.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Same for a human attack. There would be other identifying marks. That leaves only one viable alternative—a magical attack. Only a spell could have caused such a precise result.”

“What about the warlocks?” Victoria asked, her throat dry. “You said that they’ve been lurking around. Could they have done it?”

Christian nodded. “I asked the same question. David agreed that it was a possibility, though a slim one. They simply wouldn’t risk a war with the Witch Clans. Tori—” He paused, staring at her as if he had more to say.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know how I feel about you spending so much time at the school when we don’t know who’s behind the attacks. I know you can protect yourself, but if anything happens while you’re there, I won’t be able to enter the campus without an escort. And if something were to happen, they’d view me as the enemy.
I
couldn’t protect you.”

Despite the panic slinking around in the pit of her stomach, Victoria took a deep, calming breath. His fear for her safety was evident and if things didn’t get resolved, she knew it would only get worse. She thought through the facts he had presented. “You don’t need to be worried about protecting me. You know more than anyone that I am more than capable of taking care of myself. But I’m certain there’s a logical explanation, so let’s not be rash or hasty to accuse the Witch Clans or to stop me from enrolling at Belles Fontaines.” She was proud that her voice didn’t waver once, but Christian didn’t look convinced at her reasoning.

“At least here you are safe.”

“Here I am trapped,” she blurted out and then felt instant regret at the stricken look on his face. “I didn’t mean it the way it came out. I need to learn about my abilities and I can only do that at their school.”