Chapter Twenty-Eight
Vladimir
The decision is made to leave me behind. I am not at all pleased about it, of course, but there is nothing I can do. I cannot go outside while the sun is up. I cannot demand that Grant remain behind with me while his cousin is missing.
I am also more than old enough to have a handle on my emotions, so I tell Asher that I will join them should they still be searching once it is dark, and that I will ring should Rachel return home in the meantime.
Grant kisses me before he leaves. It mollifies some of the unjustifiable hurt.
Once they are gone, I pace. I am not the one to be left behind, not usually, and when I must be, Jeremiah and Maurice are in the exact same boat.
It is easy to ignore our limitations when there are so many of us.
Vampires have always outnumbered other species in the Hunt, even accounting for Rook and Saide.
They had the same limitation, after all. Looking back, I believe their tolerance to the sun is somewhat better than mine, but not by much.
I am careful not to wander over to the window.
My eyes still sting, and perhaps it would have been better to take the chance and attempt to convince Grant to heal me.
No matter what, we will not be parted. I must make sure he understands that.
I must make him understand, also, that the bond we currently share is far more than I ever could have imagined.
Vampires do not bond like wolves, and I expected that one day I might find a partner in the same way I would have when human, only we would have had so much more time to spend together.
The floor is quiet but not silent. The other residents have retreated to their flats, and the crowd below is beginning to disperse with no visits here, so whatever pull Margot has with the police department has worked, at least in this case.
I move the chair Grant fixed back to its place at the small table in one corner of the living room, then straighten up the sofa and other areas we have disturbed.
That done, I pace again. I am not bored. I am restless. And I cannot call Maurice because he needs to rest before he comes here.
I pull my phone from my pocket. I could call Jeremiah, though he is unlikely to remain on the line simply to entertain me or soothe my worries. Moreau maybe, but it was made clear we were not to disturb him once he left London, and I have broken that once this week already.
A floorboard creaks outside and I put my phone back into my pocket. It is likely just someone from one of the other flats, but I walk over to the door all the same and peek out through the peephole.
I see no one, but that does not mean no one is there. Perhaps they are on a different floor. Perhaps they have already made their way downstairs. Perhaps—
“Oh, I had hoped to find you all here.”
I whirl around, blessing flaring, but Eirian is already standing there, leaning back against the bookcase. As I watch, she reaches out and tugs the bags we have used to cover the broken window from the frame, and light falls across her, golden and warm.
I bite back a hiss and drop my gaze. I will not be harmed in my body unless I step into the light, but of course, it can affect my eyes when I look at it. If it is reflected at me, too—I take a few steps to the left, and Eirian laughs.
“Don’t worry, little vampire. I’m not here to kill you.”
“No?”
“I really thought more of you would be here, but this works out better for me anyway.” She shrugs and stands up straighter, and it is only then that I notice the shadows gathering in one corner of the room. “It is you I came to speak with.”
“What do we have to speak about?”
“Your power. Your turn.” When I hiss, she shakes her head. “You misunderstand. I don’t want him. Too headstrong. He’s been under your care for far too long, and the trouble it would take to break him in for a new mistress is more than I care to deal with.”
“My power? You tried that.”
“Giving the vampires my blessing? Of course I did. They were all too weak. Too old. But it didn’t work with the young vampire, either. And then I worked out the missing link.”
“Missing link?”
“You.”
I frown. She isn’t quite right—at least, as far as we’ve concluded—but she is closer than she was before. She must also be out of young vampires by now.
“Grant’s abilities have nothing to do with me.”
“Of course they do.” Eirian’s lips curve up and she snaps her fingers. The puca that has been lurking in the corner shifts back into her human glamour, and of course she has hold of Rachel by the shoulders because there is nothing else that would make sense right now.
She glares at me, too. She likely knows the other puca killed by Grant and Quinn. Even should I do as Eirian wishes, I will not survive this encounter.
“You’re going to turn her,” Eirian says, and Rachel’s eyes flare wide. They have gagged her and tied her hands at the wrists in front of her body.
“I will not.”
Eirian frowns. Did she expect me to immediately agree? There was never a chance of that. “You will turn her, or your other turn will die.”
“You do not have him.” She cannot. Grant would have found a way to let me know, used the bond to let me know.
“I do not,” Eirian agrees. “But he is about to walk into a trap with two vampires. He might be able to withstand the sun, but he is still young and untrained, no?”
Young, perhaps. Untrained? Not entirely.
Of course, I feel the grasp of fear that always accompanies any thought of Grant in danger, but it is easily brushed aside by the practical: Grant is with Asher and Quinn.
The three of them can fight two vampires with fae blessings—especially if Eirian has filled them to the brim the way she did with Harold.
“Do you want to know what happened to the other one?” I ask.
“The other one?”
“The vampire you gave your blessing to.”
Eirian glances at the broken window and huffs. “I do not have to ask, do I? He was weak, just like the rest.”
“And Jakob?”
“Was always going to die.” She walks over to the sofa and sits, crossing one leg over the other.
The puca’s eyes follow her every movement, but they snap back to me when I shift my weight, and her grip tightens on Rachel’s upper arms. “He thought ruling with me meant ruling above me. As though a human would ever truly wear the crown.”
“He is a vampire.”
“And vampires were once human. You were, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“So there is no difference for us. He is beneath us. Beneath me. He thought he might push me aside once we were on our thrones, as though the court would follow him should he somehow manage that.”
“The queen isn’t dead yet.” I need to buy time. Once it goes dark, I will have more ability to fight, if only because I will not have to worry about burning up should I step in the wrong place. The shadows are growing longer, but I am not certain I will be able to stall for long enough.
“Not yet,” Eirian agrees. “Which is why I have other avenues to explore should this experiment fail. My worry is not the princes. The rest of the court… They are either planning their takeover here or their takeover there.”
“Why here?”
She tilts her head to one side, frowning as though she does not understand the question. “What?”
“Why would you want to be here? You just said humans are beneath you.”
“Which makes them easy to rule.” Eirian stretches her arms over the back of the sofa and eyes Rachel for a moment. “Makes for cute pets, too. It has been a long time since two queens ruled. I think we need a change.”
“I am not going to turn her.”
“Oh, you will,” Eirian says. “Or I will kill her and I will toss you into the sun.”