Chapter 29 #2
Movement caught Tobias’ attention over Vladimir’s shoulder. Maria stepped into view, slinking into a halo of firelight like the cat who’d gotten the cream. She joined her father, running a hand over his shoulder, painted nails tickling his skin. “Oh, Father. Look at this! How thrilling.”
“I did tell you that tonight’s ball would be exciting.” Vladimir laid a soft kiss on his daughter’s cheek. All the while, Tobias refused to look anywhere but at Maria.
Was this her doing? Had she betrayed him, tricked him, lied to him? He couldn’t blame her.
“You,” Tobias hissed, “are just like him.”
He could only hope that she would still do her part to save Alexander.
“No, Tobias. I’m worse.” Her lips turned upwards into a wicked grin, eyes practically glowing with her enjoyment. “I’m a Damianos. It’s what we do. Except my dearest brother. He didn’t pick up that family gene, did he, Father?”
Vladimir looked triumphant. “No, Maria, he did not.”
“Alexander’s currently tearing up Rothburn searching for his little toy.” Her gaze shot towards Tobias for a moment. “This needs to be finished before he finds us.”
“That idiot child,” Vladimir groaned. “I’ll deal with him after I’m done.
For now, I think we’ve drawn this out longer than it needs to be.
This one isn’t deserving of our time, or any ceremony.
Maria, see that our guests are taken back up to the ball to enjoy the final few hours of the evening.
Dawn is almost upon us. A new day. I will be up shortly. ”
The crowd dispersed without need for another word. Only Maria was hesitant to leave. She turned to Vladimir. “But, Father, I want to do it. Let me prove to you that I know how to have fun just as you can. That I’m not like my brother in the least.”
Tobias squirmed and twisted as much as he could, but there was no budging. No fighting. He wished the darkness would take him again, so he didn’t experience what was to follow. “Please. Don’t. Maria–”
Maria snatched the stake from her father, jolted towards Tobias, and planted the tip right above his heart.
Her gaze was unwavering. Her lip curling over teeth.
Tobias felt his skin part, allowing for a droplet of blood to run down the stake and over Maria’s bejewelled fingers.
“Unlike my father, I actually prefer for my victims not to grovel.”
Pride radiated from Vladimir’s eyes as he watched his daughter inflict pain. Tobias was a fly caught in their web, through his own volition. His obsession for revenge had brought him here, and it was all for nothing.
In the distance, a vicious roar shattered Rothburn. Maria didn’t look away from Tobias, but Vladimir’s expression darkened. Alexander was searching for Tobias, which meant he hadn’t given up on him. He might forgive Tobias yet.
That alone gave Tobias the will to fight his death sentence.
“Fine, Maria,” Vladimir called out as another desperate shout echoed around the chamber. “I will deal with my unruly heir, while you finish this one off. But promise me you won’t go easy. Promise me, my darling girl, that you will make me proud.”
“I live to please,” Maria said.
Vladimir planted a kiss to her cheek, smearing Tobias’ own blood on her face. “Such a good child. I should have made you the heir all along. Maybe I will yet.”
Vladimir caught Tobias’ line of sight for a final time. “Goodbye, Tobias Osian.” Then he turned his back, covered in Tobias’ blood, and left the chamber.
Maria was silent until the confident footsteps of her father faded. Never, not even for a second, did she lower the stake. She kept it gripped beneath Tobias’ chin, preventing him from so much as swallowing. “Alexander will think you’re dead.”
The truth of that pained Tobias more than any word etched into his skin or stake stabbed into his body. “I trusted you.”
“Good,” Maria said. “As I’ve already told you, Tobias, you’re a smart man. Which is a rare commodity.”
She lowered the stake, stepped back, and let it drop to the floor.
“What… are you doing?”
“Saving your arse,” Maria said, her face wincing as she looked to the blood in her hands. “Fucking gross. I may need to drink this shit to survive but touching it really is disgusting.”
Tobias couldn’t make sense of what was happening. Reality was shifting so quickly that he felt as though his head was spinning on his neck. “I don’t understand.”
“Oh, don’t make me regret my earlier compliment, Tobias.
I’m getting you out of Rothburn. Father will tell Alexander you’re dead.
By the time Alexander gets down here, you will be long gone and the body left to hang will be one of my uncles.
I picked a particularly creepy one. His body is currently slumped in one of the adjacent chambers.
They will find a corpse so ruined, no one will be able to tell who’s hanging here.
Not to mention there is enough of your spilled blood here that I can smother my uncle’s scent long enough for them all to believe it. ”
Maria got to work unhooking Tobias. She wrapped her arms around his waist, lifted him up with her brute strength, and then helped him to the ground.
As she worked to untie his bound wrists, Tobias was in a daze.
The blood loss, the fear, the way his mind had just given up only to find a new chance laid before him.
All of those things made it possible for only a single word to come out of his mouth.
“Why?”
Maria didn’t reply until he was completely unbound.
She could do little for the wounds he suffered from, not until he could feed.
“Because I love my brother, and he loves you, even if he won’t admit it.
I’ve known him for hundreds of years – he’s an open book to me.
He deserves this. And my hope to get him far away from my father is still in play.
In fact, if both Vladimir and Alexander believe you are dead, this will make things a lot easier. ”
Tobias shook his head, his body shivering from the rush of adrenaline. If it wasn’t for Maria holding him up, he would’ve dropped to his knees. “I still don’t understand.”
“If he thinks you’re gone, there’s nothing left for him at Rothburn. He’ll leave, and you can find him once he’s far enough away. You’ll keep him from Vladimir, and I’ll find you when I can.”
Tobias slumped against her shoulder and was grateful for the warmth radiating from her body.
He was so cold – too cold. He needed somewhere to recuperate so that he could rest and recover from the blood loss.
There must have still been splinters of the ash-wood stake in the wound, because it wasn’t closing the way it normally would have.
His vision blackened around the edges as Maria threw a coat over his naked body and leaned him against the wall while she strung up a bloody mess of a corpse in his place.
“I’ve got you.” She came back to retrieve him, half carrying him up the stone steps and down a dark corridor.
When they emerged into the night, she tugged on his arm and they broke into a run, her carrying him along and him half stumbling.
They wove through courtyards surrounded by rose gardens into a shaded walkway.
His vision swam. Tobias heard the ball in full swing, the music muffled by thick stone walls.
Finally, by some miracle, they made it to the outer wall, where Maria finally allowed them to slow to a walk.
“They shouldn’t be able to see us from the house, now.” She rubbed a comforting hand between his shoulder blades. “You’ve done so well, Tobias.”
Tobias tried to ignore the way that twigs and nettles were cutting up his bare feet – which wasn’t hard, considering that the throbbing in his shoulder was easily eclipsing any other pain that he felt.
“Keep going. This way.” Maria guided him out of the woods and onto the side of the drive they’d come down just days before, the grass soft and manicured under his feet.
“No one is going to be coming or leaving for quite some time. I have a car parked down the road. I’m going to give you an address, and you can get to one of my homes further into the country so that you can clean up and have a rest. I’ll send Alexander the same way. You can leave this evening.”
“Thank you,” Tobias managed, his throat raw from screaming. “For everything. But—”
“No buts.”
“Alexander,” Tobias forced out. “I don’t want to leave him.”
It was only when they were halfway down the drive that Tobias’ heart caught up with his mind. Tobias mustered what little strength he had left, lifted his chin, and faced Maria down. “I won’t leave without him.”
It would destroy Alexander to believe that Tobias had died. He knew that. He could only imagine how he would feel if it was the other way around. If Tobias discovered Alexander was murdered, what would he do? Would he simply leave and run away?
No. Not if his family had killed the man he loved. He’d want vengeance, the same way that Tobias had wanted vengeance for his family. Tobias would cleanse Rothburn of every person there to bring death to the person who’d killed Alexander.
And that would mean accepting that he would die, too.
Tobias’ eyes widened as the realisation set in. “Maria.”
It was as if she worked it out in that moment. Tobias saw the exact moment her life flashed before her eyes. “Fuck. You’re right. Change of plans,” she said, turning sharply back towards the stretching grounds of the estate.
Tobias realised just how far they’d made it. They were so close to escape.
Panic thundered in his chest. Every inch of him was radiating agony. But he pushed it all down, focusing on the one thing that urged him to step forward. If Alexander found revenge, it would not only destroy Vladimir.
Every single Damianos vampire would perish.
Alexander would follow his father, sister, and family in death.