Dominik
As always, my guards are spread out around the gallery. The knowledge Damek has decided to continue to meddle in my affairs is not welcome at all, and I was on the cusp of telling Lucy we would not attend tonight’s opening when I saw her in that dress.
With her by my side, I feel all the eyes on my consort and rightly so. She is the most beautiful creature in the room, and it is a room filled with the great and good of monster society here in Budapest. It should be. I spent enough money both on the refurbishment and on this gala.
“Király!”
I turn to see Nandór Mészáros, head of the dragon mafia from Miskolc, heading in my direction.
The scaly hothead is the last creature I want to deal with tonight, but he’s been mooting some sort of alliance for a while, and I can’t avoid him any longer.
“Mészáros.” I dip my head briefly, but he reaches out and grasps my hand in his burning hot one.
“Impressive party,” he says, snatching a platter of canapés from a passing waitress. “All your doing, I presume?”
“This is my consort, Lucy,” I say motioning to Lucy with some reluctance because the fact he hasn’t paid her any attention hasn’t set my fangs aching, but now, of course, they are. “She is from England and has little Hungarian.”
Nandór licks his clawed fingers and holds his hand out to Lucy.
“Pleased to meet you, Lucy,” he says in perfect English which is as much a surprise to me as to Lucy, I expect. “I am Nandór Mészáros, head of the Tüzvihar clan.”
He shifts out his wings, smacking a couple of passing vampires in the process. They hiss at him, and I see that he’s just about to flame.
“Nandór.” I get the feral creature’s attention. “Some of my progeny have mentioned you wish to discuss some business?”
“That’s right.” He finishes up the canapés and slaps the empty tray back in the hands of a waiter. “I am only in town for a few days. We should talk,” he says.
“I agree.” I spot Attila across the room, and he seems agitated. “But later. Contact my office, and they can arrange it.”
Nandór shrugs his huge shoulders, his wings going up too as another tray of food passes him by and he hurries after it.
Thankfully, no one else approaches as I steer Lucy through the crowd to where Attila is waiting.
“Boss, we have a problem,” he says. “He has been spotted.”
“What’s going on?” Lucy asks me.
“It’s Damek,” I say quietly. “It seems he has not stuck to our agreement as he should have.”
“Will wonders never cease,” she says with a downturn of her mouth. “A vampire who can’t keep his word.”
“My apologies, mistress,” Attila says as we reach him. “I didn’t want to interrupt your evening.”
I growl at my second in command, and he sensibly keeps his eyes averted from Lucy.
“Is my consort in danger?”
“He has been seen in Szentendre, but I have not had word he has travelled any further into the city,” Attila says.
“I thought you said he’d gone to…Eger, to terrorize the population there.” Lucy sighs. “You should have just let me go stake him.” She huffs.
Attila flinches.
“Sorry,” she says to him. “I didn’t mean to bring up a difficult subject.”
I snarl at my second, making him back off. “Go and find out exactly what’s happening,” I say. “Report back to me.”
“Here?” Attila asks, looking at the crowd.
I lift my lip. I’d much rather be in my nest, where I know every nook and cranny, than out in the open, but there’s no choice.
“Here,” I say, taking Lucy’s hand. “But as soon as you know anything, we need to leave. The last thing I want is Damek putting in an appearance.”
“Why?” she asks me, a picture of innocence.
“Because I told the rest of the monster mafia I’d dealt with the rogue vampire in our midst.”
“But you didn’t.”
“He is my brother.” I feel the muscle jumping in my jaw which it hasn’t for years, decades even. “My options were limited as to how I could manage him.”
Attila makes himself scarce, and I lead Lucy through to one of the quieter galleries. At least here I can see all the exits.
Lucy says nothing, only moves between the cases within the room, looking at the artefacts. I tap my toe on the ground, wishing for the information only Attila can get and needing this evening to be over.
Despite how beautiful my consort looks and the admiring glances she has been receiving, this is not a place I want to linger. Damek must have a reason for breaking our pact so swiftly, and until I know what it is, I want Lucy safe.
Not that I’m going to risk telling her. I doubt my stakey little female is going to accept she needs shielding from Damek and his progeny.
Lucy has been stood next to a display case for some time, and as I can see the reception is still filling up, I make my way over to her, wrapping my arm around her waist.
“Something caught your eye, galambom?”
“What is this?” She is gazing into the case at a bejeweled cross, the sight of which sends chills through me.
“It is exactly what you think it is,” I respond.
Lucy looks at me. “Not the cross, vampire. I know those are mere irritants. I mean the item next to it.”
I turn my gaze to the gold ankh adjacent to the cross. It is enameled in the style of the Egyptian kings, but it is not Egyptian. What radiates from it is something different, something from beyond the veil. It is much, much older than mankind.
“I’m not sure.”
“I need it,” she says. “I don’t know why, but I do.”
She lifts up her skirt and delves underneath, pulling out a small pouch and emptying out a set of lock picks.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to take it.”
I am impressed with her criminality, although I expect it’s something she was taught long ago. In no time, the case is open, and she’s reaching for the ankh.
“Wait.” I grab hold of her wrist. “Let me.”
I reach down past her and gently lift the ankh. My cold flesh ensures no heat is registered within the cabinet to set off the alarms.
“You’ve done this before.” She grins at me, her cheeks slightly flushed.
“I can assure you, I have never needed to steal anything before. I’ve always had the funds to buy it,” I respond, swiftly closing the case and handing her the ankh which she secretes under her dress along with the lock picking equipment.
Something I’m going to have to discuss with her later…
“What?” she asks as she straightens up and one of the gallery guides walks into the room.
Lucy sashays past me, her skirts swishing.
“Do you always go equipped?” I ask, feeling my pants tighten, and in this evening wear, it’s going to be one hundred percent noticeable.
“I said I couldn’t get a stake in this dress. I never said I couldn’t get anything else,” she replies as she reaches the doorway through into the main reception.
Her eyes twinkle in the dim lights, a smile plays over her red lips, and my mark stands out on her neck like a sign to everyone.
Lucy is beautiful, deadly to vampires, and she is mine.