Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
“The car is here,” Gavriel said. He looked so beautiful.
Of course he did. He was an angel of death.
But in a tuxedo, he also looked like a carefully prepared package for anyone who had a fetish for angels.
I didn’t like it. His wings were white like fallen snow, to match the collar tips of his tuxedo.
What happened to the black death daggers?
It’s as though he were trying to look accessible.
He studied me solemnly as I stood across the hall from him, wearing the first ball gown. It was silver, which wasn’t close to my usual black, but Stripes hadn’t had a plethora of options. It was the simplest gown I’d brought, with a flaring skirt, but not a suffocating amount of bows and swags.
“I have a brooch for you to wear,” he said, pulling a box out of his inside pocket.
“Another tracking device?” The small hairpin felt very obtrusive in my hair. I’d never worn ornaments in my hair before, even when I’d been human.
“A protective amulet. It should also help you focus and control your instincts.”
“What instincts are those? If you don’t want me to drink your blood, you shouldn’t look so delicious.” I licked my lips. I’d drunk a blood bag before getting dressed, but my mouth was still drier than I liked. And he was more appetizing than he should be.
He raised a brow before he shook his head slightly. “The Vampire King is supposed to be able to take the minds of others, leaving them easily controlled by their baser instincts. I’m sure Herald would be appalled if you tried to seduce him.”
I laughed. Herald had been sent by the Vampire King to seduce me long ago.
I’d smelled his intentions, and because he was less corrupt than most vampires, I warned him that Tralcon didn’t allow anyone else to touch me.
He would personally devour anyone who did, which was extremely messy.
The demon never touched me either, as outlined in the rules of our contract.
If he ever had, I’d have killed him, but I had to find another master first. In my very long life as a vampire, I’d never been seduced, or seduced anyone, and I certainly wouldn’t start with Herald.
This angel tempted me more than any other creature I’d met, but I’d spent a century honing my appreciation for loneliness.
Still, he was right to be on guard against the Vampire King.
“Harold would be delighted,” I said while he opened the box and undid the clasp of the large, oval ruby.
“Until I objected most violently. May I?”
I blinked at him and then nodded as he approached me with the brooch. He was going to pin it on me. How gentlemanly. It would be like a corsage for our first dance date.
He took his time, carefully pinning it in place while his fingers slid against my skin in a way that made my senses leap, suddenly aware of every lock of his dark hair, the way it was smoothed back from his face, the way his attention was fastened on his hands, touching the skin between my clavicles.
The dress wasn’t particularly low, but it wouldn’t have mattered where he’d touched me.
It was lightning and hot chocolate, melting sweet and strong.
I was officially not averse to his touch. How frightening.
Once he finished, he stepped back and offered his arm.
I carefully put my arm on his, aware of his strength and sweetness beneath a layer of fabric that I could peel back so easily.
“Remember, Lady Ruby. Death is mine, not yours. Hm?” He gave me a polite smile that I returned stiffly. That touch still burned my skin, even though it had been the backs of his fingers while he pinned something to my dress. Imagine if he touched me to actually touch me. No, don’t. Absolutely not.
The drive was a blur, our pretty silver car matching my dress. I didn’t ask him where he got it, but I mentally added it to the rest of the tally of expenses. I shouldn’t have had him pay for the dress.
“You’re thinking very loudly,” he murmured, one hand on the steering wheel, the other relaxed on his knee. If I were the sort of person who held hands, I could take it in mine and cling to it like I’d clung to David.
David.
I crossed my arms and looked out the window.
Loving David had destroyed my life. Literally.
I’d made the deal with Tralcon to save him, even though in the end David chose someone else.
I’d still loved him, even after his betrayal.
When I was turned, Tralcon gave me David as my first intended victim.
He’d been with another woman. It was the ultimate betrayal after I sacrificed my soul for his life, but in spite of the pain, both of being a desperate freshly turned vampire, and of seeing the one I’d sold my soul to save, loving someone else, I hadn’t killed him. Instead, I’d run.
In my contract with the demon, I’d given him my service for the rest of David’s life, not mine.
The loophole Tralcon was counting on, why he’d paid to have me turned into a vampire, is that if I was the one who ended my love, I’d belong to Tralcon forever.
Happily, I’d managed to not kill the one I loved so stupidly.
The demon hadn’t been counting on that. Most love turned to hate easily enough, but not mine.
It should have. Sometimes even now I wanted to hate David for being alive when I was undead.
At least he’d been alive ten years ago when I ended the demon.
It had taken decades for me to stop loving him, even as an undead vampire. Loving an angel was even more dangerous. I had experience to know that I’d do anything for love. I really was that stupid.
“Louder and louder all the time,” he murmured.
I turned to look at him. “Thank you for the brooch. I don’t want to be under anyone else’s control.”
“You’re welcome. Is that what worries you?”
“I’ve never worked with a partner. I’m concerned that you might be hurt.”
“Ah. The delicate angel must be protected from the hungry hordes.”
“Actually me. I feel that you allow me into your space too readily. In fact, you close the distance between us when you should be keeping it resolutely. I’m a vampire. I don’t always make the best choices, or I’d have been safely dead for years.”
He gave me a sharp glance before refocusing on the narrow road that curved beneath a line of trees.
Only flickers of moonlight showed the lines of his face, but vampires can see fairly well in the dark.
“I apologize if I’ve been making you uncomfortable.
I’ve actually been pushing your boundaries to see how you react before we go out in the field, so I can know what to expect. ”
“You’ve been trying to push me?” I snarled at him.
His slight smile was amused, like his scent. “Of course. You may never have been on a team before, but I have. Many times. It’s essential to know what to expect from each other, at least as far as is possible.”
“I see.” So him being close was only him seeing what my reaction would be, testing me. I hated being tested to see how far I could be pushed before I’d break. Tralcon loved to push me to the edge and then see how long he could keep me there, how mad I could become.
“I meant to reassure you, but you’re angry,” he murmured.
“It’s normal for vampires to be angry. Don’t think too much about it.”
He shook his head slightly and was quiet for the rest of the drive through haunted woods until we reached the portcullis and the drawbridge with surrounding moat.
“It’s positively medieval,” Gavriel murmured.
“No. Tralcon said that it was only a replica, not very true to the original. The Vampire King is a romantic, looking for a new Dark Age, but he’s also forward-thinking. He likes technology more than most.”
“You say the demon’s name so casually.”
“Thank you. It’s taken me over a decade to do so. I did look forward to him staying dead.”
“This mission must be so disappointing to you.”
“Disappointing? To discover that the demon I served for a century is back? That word is not large enough to contain my feelings, Lord Hartshorn.”
“I apologize, Lady Blood.” He didn’t say anything else.
I hated being called Lady Blood by the perfect angel, but it was appropriate.
I’d bathed in blood for years. Now I only smelled of stale blood, but I was still the murderer.
I’d killed Lady Anastasia so easily, without the slightest flicker of hesitation.
I couldn’t do that again. He was right about that.
We drove beneath the portcullis and into the large park with the winding drive that led to the front steps.
Valets waited to take our cars where they’d be parked in the underground parking lot.
They used to be crypts, but the Vampire King was progressive.
I’d spent a lot of time in the crypts beneath the castle the other times I was here.
It was nice and quiet. Peaceful. A place I could be free while Tralcon was busy with intrigue.
Gavriel got out and came around to open my door.
I waited because I’d seen people do that before when they were on dates.
He offered me his arm, and I took it, walking up the steps next to my prince charming, wearing a dress fit for a princess.
I tried to be graceful, understated, so I looked like I fit in, but once we were inside the doors, at the top of the steps, a hush fell over the room as everyone looked at me.
“The Blood is here? After she killed Lady Anastasia in public so brutally? What is the king thinking?” The whisper wasn’t loud, but it gave me a target to smile at.
The woman looked away and edged back into the crowd, so I had to break eye contact. It was enough that everyone knew who I was and what I’d done. The general murmurs as well as the music resuming made it impossible to pick out individual conversations.
“Will it be difficult to talk to the Vampire King?” Gavriel asked.