Stefan (Lost Nights Series Book 1) (8 page)

Chapter 5

Stefan held me close in his arms, tucked tightly against his body, as we flew above the world. I wrapped my hands in his shirt while burying my head in his neck. The air whipping past was cool, but it helped. It sucked my breath away and cooled my temper. I needed to be clear headed. I didn’t know what I was in for, but I knew that I needed to think clearly if I was going to get out of this mess alive.
Dear God, was that even an option anymore?

Neither of us spoke. There were a hundred things I wanted to ask him, but I couldn’t decide what might be the most important. Was there a way to save my skin? But if I could save myself, would it put Stefan in danger? I didn’t want to hurt Stefan. Hell, this was a mess.

It was several minutes later before we landed on an island in the middle of the Lagoon away from the core of Venice. Woods rose up along a gravel path. Lights peeked through the trees on the far side of the island, but what had my attention was the massive stone building rising up not far from us. Lit torches were on either side of the large doors guarded by a pair of muscular men who looked as if they spent all their free time at the gym.

Stefan set me on my feet, but didn’t move forward. I looked up at him to find him glaring at the building. This was our destination, but it certainly didn’t look like a happy place.

As we stood there, one of the guards turned and opened a door. A tall, dark haired man in jeans and a button-down shirt stepped out of the building and walked briskly down the stairs toward us. His pale skin glowed in the moonlight and there was something all too fluid in his movement, reminding me of Stefan. He was a vampire.

Stefan’s hand clamped down on my elbow and he roughly pulled me behind him.

“I don’t mean you any trouble, Stefan,” the man said, holding up his hands as he stopped just a few feet away from us.

“What do you want?”

“I was sent for her,” he said, jerking his chin toward me as I peeked around Stefan at the man. He winked at me, and I swear I thought I heard Stefan growl. Did people actually growl? Of course, as soon as I had the thought, I tucked it away. Stefan wasn’t human. He was a freaking vampire and the sooner I remembered that the better off I was going to be.

The other man looked from me to Stefan, his expression calculating before he carefuly said, “You can’t take her in.” The other vampire shoved his hands into his pockets, looking completely relaxed as if he didn’t have a care in the world, but there was a shrewdness to his eyes that made me think his demeanor was only a facade. “Two fledglings have been brought before the coven tonight for entertainment. That could work in her favor.”

“I don’t think much is going to help,” Stefan muttered softly, but he loosened his tight hold on my arm. “Does your presence mean that she supports me?”

“No.”

With that cold word, I felt Stefan flinch, his hand tightening almost painfully on my arm as if he was preparing to fight or flee. I didn’t know who the “she” they were talking about was, but I was getting the impression that she held some serious power in Stefan’s world.

“But she thought you might trust me,” the stranger continued. “Keep you from digging yourself an even deeper grave. Or maybe I should say, I deeper grave for her.”

A chill ran down my spine and I shivered, but I was willing to accept any help I could get at this point. Stefan grunted softly and the tension eased from his shoulders. “Prepare her. She doesn’t understand our world.” He then turned around to face me so I could see the lines of worry cutting into his face. Gently, he cupped my cheeks with both of his hands and tried to smile, but it never reached his eyes. “Do you trust me?”

“I... I don’t know,” I stammered, trying not to be drawn in by the fear in his gaze. “You didn’t trust me.”

“I know and I was wrong. Things will happen tonight. I will be different than you have known me. I need you to trust me; trust that I am trying to do what is best for you.”

I closed my eyes for a second, soaking in his touch. Exhaustion burned through every inch of my trembling frame. The only fuel left in me was adrenaline and fear. I wanted to go somewhere safe and sleep for a day, maybe even a week. After that, maybe I could deal with all this, but that wasn’t an option. So for now, I was willing to trust Stefan. This was his world, not mine.

“I trust you,” I whispered.

Stefan pressed a kiss to my forehead. I opened my eyes, and he was simply gone as if he’d never been there. My shoulders slumped and I stared at the building, my dread growing in my chest.

“I can’t read your mind,” the other vampire said in surprise, drawing my attention back to him.

Rubbing my sore and burning eyes, I sighed. My shoulders slumped and some warning voice in my head screamed that I should be scared to be left alone with some unknown vampire, but I just couldn’t find the energy. That and Stefan wouldn’t actually leave with a vampire who would hurt me, right? “Yeah, neither can Stefan. I’m beginning to think that vampires can’t read my mind. I can’t say that I’m sorry about that.”

“You might change your mind about that after tonight.”

We stared at each other in silence for several seconds as if weighing the other’s attributes and appearance. I don’t know what the vampire finally came away with, but he gave me a reassuring smile in the end and I hoped that he hadn’t decided that I’d make a really yummy snack. I wasn’t feeling particularly yummy and I didn’t think I could stand to lose another pint of blood. Stefan hadn’t fed from me in several days, but I was too damn tired. Losing anything was just going to leave me curled up in an unconscious ball.

“I’m Knox,” the vampire said at last.

“Erin. Erin Prescott.” I started forward with my hand extended toward vampire.

His smile turned into a wide, amused grin as he actually stepped back, keeping his hands in his pockets. The skin around his dark brown eyes crinkled with suppressed laughter. “You really don’t know anything about us, do you?” he murmured.

I stopped, awkwardly dropping my hand to my side. “I’m guessing that Stefan hasn’t been overly forthcoming with me.”

Knox gave a little snort. “If you knew Stefan like we did, you’d understand why we’re surprised you exist at all.”

“What do you mean by that?” I snapped.

His smile dimmed and the expression in his eyes became more sympathetic. “It means that tonight is going to be a very long, very bad night for you.”

“Yeah, I kind of gathered that already. It’s just that no one has bothered to tell me exactly in what way. What are we doing here? And why the hell has someone decided to fucking frame me for murder?” My voice rose with each question to the point where I was about to stomp my feet and throw a temper tantrum that would have made three-year-old me proud.

“I’ll see what I can do,” the vampire said calmly, though his smile had disappeared and he was looking more than little thoughtful. I wasn’t sure I liked thoughtful on a vampire. It left me feeling like he was plotting something, which couldn’t be good. He gave a little shake of his head and motion toward the side of the large, foreboding building before us. “Let’s find you something else to wear that doesn’t scream guilty.”

I looked down at the ugly bright orange prison suit I was still in. In the darkness, I was sure I resembled a bright traffic cone. I didn’t know who I was going before this evening, but prison chic was not going to be the preferred style.

“That’d be great,” I murmured, stumbling along behind my new companion.

Knox escorted me around the building to a hidden side entrance that almost immediately led to a steep set of stairs that plunged deep under the earth. A chill ran through me at the thought of being shown where the vampires spent the daylight hours. This couldn’t be good. They had to fiercely guard this location. If I was being guided through here, I was sure that escaping this place wasn’t going to be an easy thing.

Along the way, we passed a couple dozen vampires and humans. The vampires were easy to pick out in low light by their pale skin and liquid movements. It was like they were all boneless figures that flowed across the room on the wind. They watched me closely as we passed through opulently decorated hallways and rooms. I wished I could have admired the rich tapestries and ornate furniture, but my attention was always drawn to their stares. They looked at me with hunger and malice. I couldn’t decide if I was on the dinner menu or if they hated me because I was invading their space.

“Why does everyone look at me as if I either kicked their puppy or like I’m the main course at dinner tonight?” I whispered to Knox when we passed through what looked to be an empty hallway. Sharp, harsh laughter broke out behind me and I twisted around to find vampires laughing down in the room we had just left.

“Our hearing is quite good,” Knox said with a benevolent smile. “But I will try to explain more once we’re settled behind closed doors.”

We continued to walk a short distance before reaching a large room with an enormous canopy bed. The black sheets were rumpled as if someone had just gotten up for the night. Two small suitcases were open on the floor. The occupants had dropped in for only a short stay. Knox shut the door behind me and immediately went over to the suitcase that held a woman’s clothes. He shuffled through it, pulling out a couple tops. He then paused and looked at me as if measuring me before returning to the suitcase.

“It looks as if you are a bit larger than my mistress,” he murmured as he straightened with clothes strewn over his arms. “But I think this skirt will still fit you.”

“Sorry,” I muttered, looking away from him. I hadn’t really considered myself overweight. Well, sure, I could stand to lose a few pounds, but I didn’t ever stress about it. Stefan had never complained over my figure.

“No,” Knox sharply said, drawing my eyes back to his face. “It was not a criticism. The vampire these clothes belong to is old and it is very likely she was malnourished by today’s standards when she was turned. She cannot change her size even if she wished it.”

His kind reassurance made me smile. Knox was different from Stefan in that he seemed far more at ease with humans. It made me wonder if he had had a human sister who’d been too concerned with her weight. Or maybe an old girlfriend. Standing so close to him, I took a moment to marvel at his handsome face. He had a nice, angular jaw and dark eyes that all combined to make him too sexy to be real, but he wasn’t Stefan. He smiled too easily, laughed too easily, seemed all around to at ease with the world so that I wasn’t quite sure what to believe. Maybe he wasn’t real.

“Whose clothes are these?” I asked, shoving those wandering thoughts away.

“The vampire to whom I have sworn allegiance,” he said cryptically. “You’ll meet her soon enough. Now go into the bathroom and change. Unless you’d rather change in here with me?”

Giving the vampire a quelling glare, I turned on heel and walked into the bathroom. I stopped just over the threshold and turned back to Knox in confusion. “Why do vampires have bathrooms?”

“1. We like to bath regularly,” he said, ticking off each point on his fingers. “2. We regularly have living guests who do have need to use the facilities. And 3. Don’t refer to us as vampires. We prefer the term nightwalkers.” Leaning against a low bureau, he looked quite serious on the last point. I’d heard Stefan use the term as well, but he’d never asked that I refrain from calling him a vampire.

A part of me wanted to tell him where he could shove his preferred term, but I bit my tongue. I was cranky and he was trying to help. If the vampires didn’t want to be called vampires, I could do that. They probably viewed it as a derogatory slang word. I certainly didn’t get any warm and fuzzy feelings over it.

I started to shut the bathroom door and stopped, leaving it open a crack so I could talk to Knox as I got changed. While I was sure that he could hear me through the door, I wasn’t so confident that I could hear his answers.

“You sure your… mistress isn’t going to mind me borrowing her clothes?” I called out as I looked over the skirt and blouse. While the black skirt fell to my ankles, it was slit on both sides up to the thigh. The blouse was dark red silk that buttoned up the front. However, the first button was extremely low, leaving the shirt open to the tops of my breasts. Neither was what I’d call conservative. They also both felt as if they cost more than I made in a month.

“Considering the alternative?”

I stepped out of the scratchy prison garb and was ready to burn the stuff, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to end up back in it when the night was over. “True, but I’m not sure I can afford to replace this if something happens to them.”

“Don’t worry about it. She said it’s fine.”

I stopped in the act of pulling up the skirt and stared at my reflection as I turned over his words. “You asked her already?”

“In a manner,” he said evasively. I could almost hear the laughter in his voice as if he were enjoying my mounting frustration.

I sighed and finished getting dressed. “I know it’s stupid to ask, but can you at least tell me what’s going on?”

“That’s my job,” he said firmly, the last of the teasing leaving his voice. “What has Stefan told you?”

“Not much,” I muttered.

Pausing in front of the mirror once I had the clothes on, I inspected myself for signs of trauma. Other than some dark circles under my eyes, I didn’t look any different. And that was frightening.