Velvet Shadows (The Crimson Court #2)

Chapter 30

RAFE

The address Benjamin gave Nate leads to a ramshackle tavern in one of Bath’s back alleys, the kind of place where the floorboards groan beneath your feet and the air hums with the stench of stale ale and vomit.

I wrinkle my nose as we step inside, my hand resting on the hilt of my sword that I’ve strapped around my waist for good measure.

“You look ridiculous,” Nate says. “Who brings a sword to a tavern?”

“Vampires who feel like they’re walking into a trap,” I mutter back, scanning the dimly lit room. A few haggard looking patrons huddle over their drinks, studiously avoiding eye contact.

They might not know we’re vampires, but they sense the threat.

Nate shakes his head. “Benjamin wouldn’t dare.”

I grunt, unconvinced.

The rage I feel towards Benjamin still simmers in my veins; a seething, roiling thing that demands blood. But I would be a fool to not listen to what he has to say. Particularly if what Nate said about the gutterfangs is true and the Court are playing us all for damned fools.

There’ll be time for him to die when we face each other tomorrow.

Nate weaves his way through the dismal crowd to a door to the left of the bar. A pock-faced gutterfang stands outside it. He eyes us up, glancing at my sword, but lets us pass.

Beyond the doorway is a cramped room lit only by a few guttering candles. A dozen or so vampires are gathered around a table, their faces cast in shadow. I see Benjamin immediately, tall and dark, along with Caroline Vossler and her siblings. But it’s the others that give me pause. There are gaunt, hollow-eyed vampires pressed between nobles — lords and ladies who pledged to the Vosslers last night. And others, too. There, in the shadows, pressed against the wall, is Enzo.

“What is this?” I demand, looking directly at him. I do not move as Nate pushes his way into the room and towards one of the chairs clearly reserved for us at the table.

Benjamin stands. “A gathering of those who seek the truth.”

I turn on him. “The only truth I see is a murdering traitor and?—”

One of Caroline’s brothers rises to his feet, fangs flared. “Watch your tongue, Blackwood. We are all equals here.”

“Then put your fangs away, rodent, and we might have a civilised conversation.”

He backs down and Nate gestures to the empty chair next to him, but I stay still, crossing my arms over my chest. I will not be able to draw my sword if I am sat elbow-to-elbow with Vosslers.

I keep staring at Enzo, waiting for him to say something, but he looks away as Benjamin speaks. Is he here to report back to his sister?

“We have asked my cousins to join us tonight because I believe they can be trusted.”

There’s a murmur of disagreement around the room.

“Your cousin tried to have your head last night,” one of the Vosslers says. “And comes in here armed to the hilt. You expect us to trust that he has honourable intentions?”

“Rafe has every reason to want me dead. I killed his pledge at Nighthaven.”

“You didn’t just kill her, you tore her to shreds,” I snarl.

“I don’t deny it. I was wild with grief — furious with the injustice of losing Gregor.” Benjamin looks around the room. “I should have died that night, but Rafe spared me.”

“Only if you didn’t show your face again.” I lurch forward, but the wall of gutterfangs pushes me back.

“Cousin.” Benjamin meets my eye. “I have no reason to lie or deceive you. I am not like my siblings. But you need to know what is happening. You all do.” He looks at Caroline who gives him a short, sharp nod. “The Court, the very institution meant to govern and protect our kind, has turned against us. The hunters that stalk our streets, that slaughter our kin without mercy… the Court is behind it all.”

I think of Nikolai Azarov and his plot against Nate; of Gregor dead in our ballroom.

“When my cousin, Lady Juliette died, things were found in her personal effects. Nate?” He looks over to my brother.

Nate nods, standing up. “Juliette had expressed concerns in correspondence about the luna child — a human born under a blood moon. Her pledge, Charles Wentworth has been given to House Azarov. We were able to use the connection with him to seek more information. He found ledgers with dates and names of all those born underneath the blood moon. It seems they are being killed.”

“Why?” A gutterfang near the back calls out. “What does a blood moon matter to humans?”

“If such a human is single-sired, they pose a risk. They would become powerful,” Nate says.

“That’s why they want us dead.” Another voice. A murmur rolls around the room.

“They have no possible way of keeping track of vampires who are single-sired,” Benjamin says.

“So it is easier to stamp us out.” A female.

A gutterfang near the table turns towards Nate. There is a flicker of recognition in his eyes. They know each other. “The Court has ignored our pleas for aid in London. They turn a blind eye as our nests are decimated, our brothers and sisters reduced to ash. They are doing nothing. And now we understand why. They want us gone.”

“Because they don’t care about you,” I retort. “That’s hardly news. But this whole scheme…”

“If it were just apathy, I would be inclined to agree with you, Lord Raphael,” Caroline says. “But it is more than that. The hunters move with impunity, as if someone high above is shielding them from consequences.”

“They are confident because the rodents are no match for them,” I say.

“Do you really believe that, cousin?” Benjamin stares at me.

I bite my lip and look away. When it was Nate and I discussing theories, even sending Enzo on missions to get answers from his sister, it was a different thing. Now, it is bigger and more explosive than I could have imagined.

“What of the death of your brother?” I ask Caroline. “What has that got to do with luna children?”

“Nothing,” Caroline says. “Gregor’s death was a warning from the Court. They knew our House was on the rise and it was a clear message — keep pushing and we will destroy you.”

“So what, the Court have been employing hunters?” I look around the room.

Enzo is the one to speak. “As you all well know, my sister serves on the Court. I care deeply for her, but she is not the creature she once was. I have approached her — as discreetly as I am able — to find out what she knew of the plot against Lord Nathaniel. We have learned it was set in motion by Nikolai Azarov, but we cannot understand why. Bianca was no help in that regard. But she made it clear she has connections with hunters — ways of having vampires killed without getting her own hands dirty. A perk of serving on the Crimson Court, apparently.”

I give Enzo a brief nod. He has been a good friend. I was a fool to doubt him. But how will he keep pushing for justice when it is his own sister he faces?

“If all of this is true, what are we expected to do about it?” I shove gutterfangs and nobles out of my way until I am at the table. “We can hardly stake them all in their sleep, although believe me, I have thought about it of late.”

“We need proof,” Benjamin says. “The Court is not acting in the interests of our kind, but only for themselves. And we need to demonstrate that to the rest of the noble families so they can be stopped. So a new regime can take its place.”

I look at Benjamin and laugh. “Now this is where we reach a stumbling block, cousin. You seem to have confused me with someone who wants things to change. I have a life I enjoy. Why would I want that to be swept away? I became a vampire to live more comfortably, not to be plunged back into poverty. I want justice for my sister and to make sure my brother survives the Season, but beyond that…” I shrug. “I am not here to become part of the resistance.”

“We want equity, Lord Raphael,” Caroline says. “Balance. There is a way to get it so there are not some vampires living in palaces and others living on the streets. And human children are being slaughtered, too. Surely even you can see that isn’t right?”

I laugh bitterly. “We are all standing around here pretending we have a moral compass. It is ridiculous.” I turn towards the door.

“Brother.” Nate’s voice stops me as I reach for the handle. “We cannot get justice for Juliette if we bury our heads in the sand. Please.”

“Help us find proof,” Benjamin urges, his voice loud behind me. “The Tournament provides the perfect cover. With the nobility distracted by the games, we can investigate unimpeded.”

“How are we supposed to investigate when we are due to face each other in the first round, cousin?” I spit.

“It cannot be us to do it. We will need help.”

“Sera is going to House Azarov tomorrow when the first trial begins to look for more evidence. Wentworth has been useful, but Sera understands matters more deeply. She will find the answers we need.” Nate holds my gaze. “Elizabeth thinks well on her feet. I should like her to go with her.”

“I am not losing another pledge because of some fucking scheme by my cousins?—”

“Rafe.” Nate’s brow furrows. I can see the war he is fighting — how much they can be trusted; how much he should tell them. “Nikolai coordinated the hunter’s attack on me. If we have proof of that, and the luna children, it might be enough to convince the nobility that we need a new regime. And then Juliette didn’t die for nothing.”

I hold his gaze. “I do not trust Wentworth, but Miss Sterling and Miss Fairfax are loyal to us. They are not permitted to attend the Tournament for their own safety, so they will not be missed.” I grind my teeth. “They should go together.”

Nate nods. “Thank you, brother. They are intelligent young women. If there is something to be found, they will discover it.”

“The glamour will give us protection to ensure they do not betray us, too,” Caroline says.

There is a murmur of agreement around the room.

“That is decided, then.” Benjamin’s shoulders sag with relief. “Thank you, cousins. You will not regret it.”

I meet his gaze, seeing the sincerity etched into every line of his face. The anger in my chest loosens, just a fraction.

“I will speak with Miss Fairfax and get her up to speed,” I say gruffly. “But mark my words, if this is some sort of trick, if any harm comes to her…” I let the threat hang in the air, unspoken.

“I understand.” Benjamin nods solemnly. “There is one more thing.”

Nate is already up and out of his seat, ready to push past the gutterfangs and assortment of nobles and out into the night, but he pauses.

“When we face each other in the first round, it is imperative that we look as if we hate each other, Rafe — that we truly have a score to settle.”

“I am sure I can manage that, cousin.”

“It is also crucial that I win.”

I near launch for Benjamin again, but Nate’s hand flies to my chest, holding me back.

“I am not being humiliated by you when?—”

“It will be an honest fight. But for House Vossler to gain respect and integrity, I have to win for them. Your loyalties are no longer to House Blackwood, Rafe. Can’t you see?”

I stare at him, wishing I could just rip his head from his shoulders and be done with it; the rage boiling over in my chest. “We do not even know what trial we will face?—”

“Whatever it is, cousin. Please. I must win.”

I flash my fangs at Benjamin with a hiss, then storm out into the shadows, Nate on my tail. If I am to lose, I will not give him the satisfaction of hearing me agree to it.

“Do you believe the depths of it?” I ask Nate as we fly back to the house. “That the Court is behind so many of the troubles our kind has faced?”

“Yes. And I think if there is a chance to uncover it, then we owe it to Juliette to do so.”

I nod. I think of Lizzie, of the scars she bears from Ambrose’s cruelty; of the gutterfangs, hunted and slaughtered. And I think of Benjamin, the cousin I still despise, but who is now a potential ally in a fight that could unravel my whole way of life. Our entire society.

“You did not tell them of the bond tonight.”

“They need to earn such trust,” Nate grunts, then slows and turns to me. “Elizabeth will be safe with Sera. She has a deeper motive for looking in the archives and abilities that will mean she can protect them both.”

“Has Miss Sterling been secretly training in hand-to-hand combat when we haven’t been looking?”

Nate’s expression doesn’t soften. “Sera is part witch, brother. And she was born under a blood moon. Her name is in that ledger.”