Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
At the conclusion of the interview, Andrei rose from his chair. “I did not anticipate your enthusiasm, and I planned a feast for this evening. If you are in a hurry to complete your filming, I can postpone it.”
Spencer’s stomach growled. “I could eat.”
Rebecca scrunched her face. “By feast, I hope you mean food for your guests and not your guests as food.”
Amusement danced in Andrei’s eyes. “I’m sure Lilith has already sampled one of you.” He looked at Spencer, and everyone followed his gaze.
Spencer swallowed hard. What could he say? It was true, but that didn’t mean his friends should be on the menu.
Andrei chuckled. “As host, it’s only fair if I…”
Spencer eyed him warily, trying to discern if the old vampire was serious, and Lilith moved to his side.
“Whoa, man.” Alan raised his hands. “Nobody’s fangs are getting anywhere near my neck.”
“Any vein will do.” Andrei smirked.
Spencer’s feathers ruffled beneath his skin, and Lilith patted his shoulder reassuringly. “That’s enough, Andrei.” She looked at Alan. “Do you see what I mean about his jokes not being funny?”
Alan let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah.”
Andrei smiled, showing fang. “Of course I mean a feast for my guests. It has been ages since the cook has prepared food for the formal dining room, and she is quite excited to exercise her skills.”
“And we aren’t on the menu?” Rebecca asked.
Andrei swept his gaze down her body before meeting her eyes. “Not unless you want to be, iubi.”
She blushed and cleared her throat. “Iubi?”
“It’s Romanian for darling.”
“Andrei, you are impossible.” Lilith gestured toward the dining room. “I assure you all that no vampire here will drink from you. You are perfectly safe.”
He grinned at Rebecca. “Indeed, you are, my friends. Come. Let us feast.”
Spencer walked by Lilith’s side into the biggest dining room he’d ever seen. Seriously, the place was as big as his entire apartment, and a long mahogany table stretched down the center. Eighteen chairs lined the massive hunk of wood, with place settings for five at the far end.
Andrei took a seat at the head of the table, and Lilith sat next to Spencer, with Alan and Rebecca across from them. Two servants scurried in to fill their glasses with red wine, though Andrei and Lilith’s “wine” looked more like blood.
Another set of servants brought plates covered with silver domes, and they set them in front of everyone, including the vampires.
Rebecca cocked her head. “You eat food? I thought you only drank blood.”
“I enjoy a rare steak every now and then,” Lilith said.
“You’re all predator shifters, so I trust none of you are vegetarians,” Andrei said, and the servants removed the domes, revealing massive sides of beef and piles of potatoes.
Spencer’s mouth watered until he glanced at Lilith’s plate.
Her meat was so rare, it looked raw, and as she cut into it, blood oozed onto her plate.
His abdomen clenched, and he expected his stomach to roil.
But as she parted her red lips and brought the fork to her mouth, his own blood rushed to his groin.
Strange. The sight of blood had never nauseated him, but it also had never turned him on. Then again, he’d never been head over tail feathers for a vampire before either.
Lilith swallowed the steak and rested her hand on his thigh, breaking the mini trance he’d succumbed to. He glanced at his friends, who were chowing down on their meals, and he picked up his fork.
The meat was medium rare, savory, and so tender it practically melted on his tongue. The potatoes tasted of cream and black pepper, and before he knew it, he was scraping the final forkful from his plate.
Alan wiped his mouth with a napkin and dropped it onto the table. “That was an amazing meal, Andrei. Thanks.”
“Delicious,” Rebecca added.
“Best meal I’ve had in a long time,” Spencer said.
Lilith tightened her grip on his thigh. “Perhaps we should turn in for the night and get a fresh start tomorrow.”
Spencer placed his hand on hers and squeezed. He couldn’t wait to get her alone.
“Are you kidding?” Alan said as the servants cleared their plates. “It’s only nine o’clock, and my adrenaline is peaking. Let’s uncover the corpse tonight, and then you love birds can have all the alone time you want.” He rose to his feet.
“I wouldn’t mind doing the hard part now.” Rebecca stood next to Alan. “Then we can relax tomorrow. Maybe Andrei can give us a tour of the castle?”
“It would be my pleasure.” Andrei stood and gestured toward the foyer.
Spencer let out a slow breath. When Alan got this excited, he wouldn't take no for an answer. If he wanted any peace on this excursion, it was best to give in and get it over with. “All right. Let’s do it.”
They gathered their gear and headed toward the back of the castle.
“I should warn you.” Andrei stopped at the door as Spencer and his team stepped onto the portico. “Real vampires are also buried in the cemetery as well. Be respectful when unearthing the grave.”
“But they’re staked, so they’re dead, right?” Spencer adjusted his gear bag on his shoulder.
Andrei cast Lilith a sideways glance and spread his hands as if to say, “Obviously.” At least, that was how Spencer took it.
He still wasn’t sure what to make of this guy, but at least he didn’t feel the churn of jealousy about their past relationship anymore.
Not now that he knew how Lilith felt about him.
He still had a hard time wrapping his mind around how a woman of power and notoriety like Lilith—a woman who could have any man she wanted—had chosen a man like him.
His owl had no trouble believing it, of course.
He was determined to make Lilith his mate, and Spencer knew better than to ignore his owl’s instincts.
The last time he ignored his bird was five years ago.
It had been days since he’d hunted, and his owl was starving, but he ignored his avian instinct to hunt and spent the night with his human girlfriend instead.
His owl had taken over in his sleep, shifted right there in the bed, and devoured her pet ferret. Whoops.
On the plus side, his girlfriend had slept through the entire ordeal, and he’d convinced her the animal had escaped through an open window. He’d learned his lesson, though. His owl wanted Lilith, and he would do his damnedest to figure out a way to make it happen.
A nagging little voice in the back of his mind tried to remind him how he’d let a powerful woman destroy him before, but he squelched it. Lilith was different. She was his fated mate; she would never hurt him.
“Through the garden and take a left before the maze,” Andrei said. “The cemetery lies half a mile to the east.”
“You won’t be joining us?” Lilith asked.
“I would rather have my fangs pulled than watch an undead brother be unearthed.”
“Thanks again for letting us do this.” Spencer shook Andrei’s hand before wrapping an arm around Lilith’s waist. “Let’s get this footage down before the sun comes up.”
He took the lead, with Lilith by his side, and the four of them ventured into the garden. Moonlight cast a silvery glow over the topiaries, and Percival cawed from somewhere in the distance, bringing a smile to Spencer’s lips.
“Have you heard how Esther is doing?” he asked.
“She seems to be making a full recovery, thanks to you.”
“I’m glad I could help. When we get back, I’d love to meet her.”
Lilith grinned. “She will be thrilled to meet you. This is where we make a left.” She pointed ahead to the topiary maze. A wall of neatly trimmed hedges towering seven feet high blocked their path, and a six-foot arch cut into the bush provided entrance into the labyrinth.
“Do you think Andrei would let us go in the maze tomorrow?” Rebecca ran her hand over the wall. “I’ve always wanted to conquer one of these.”
Spencer shook his head. “No, thank you. I’ve seen The Shining. No way I’m getting lost in that thing.”
“Pfft.” Rebecca waved a hand dismissively. “You can’t get lost. You can fly out.”
They hung a left and headed toward the cemetery.
“I’m down,” Alan said. “We can shoot some footage inside.”
“Feel free to ask him.” Lilith clutched Spencer’s bicep. “We nocturnals will be spending the day in bed…I mean, indoors.”
Spencer’s stomach tightened. In bed, in the shower, bent over the bathroom counter. He didn’t care where they were as long as Lilith was naked and in his arms.
“Not all day.” Alan wagged a finger at them. “We have to go into town to interview the believers. This adventure is coming together fantastically. Andrei is great on camera. You are too, Lilith. Want to help me dig?”
She held up the shovel she carried. “What do you think I brought this for?”
The crew chatted on the half-mile trek to the graveyard, Lilith fitting in with his friends as if she’d been part of the team all along.
They stopped when their destination came into view, and Spencer set up his camera, hoisting it onto his shoulder to film their arrival.
Rebecca set down her bag and prepared her camera, while Alan held a shovel and gestured for Lilith to join him in front of the lenses.
“We’ve arrived at Lupu Cemetery,” Alan said, “on the private property of Andrei Lupu, the fourth. He’s given us special permission to unearth a grave so the world can see the strange burial rituals practiced hundreds of years ago, up until this day.”
Spencer followed as he and Lilith walked toward the entrance.
A four-foot wrought-iron fence enclosed the small cemetery, and the gate hung askew on its hinges.
It creaked in horror movie fashion when Alan opened it, and Spencer’s pulse raced.
Rebecca panned her camera across the graves, the dilapidated headstones sinking into the earth at odd angles, exactly the way one would imagine in a haunted graveyard.
Viewers would be on the edges of their seats as they watched this episode.