Chapter 27
TOBIAS
“Have you ever touched a woman before?” Maria asked, her eyes alight with enjoyment as Tobias fumbled with the silk of her dress. “Actually, no need to answer that. I think it’s pretty obvious in your hesitance.”
Tobias’ hands hadn’t stopped shaking since he’d woken up that day. As he positioned his hands aside Maria’s hips, while classical music swelled around them, the shaking was worse than ever.
“Of course I have.” Tobias forced out a laugh, hoping to break through the obvious tension between them. He was waltzing as if he were on eggshells, and Maria seemed to be enjoying every moment of making him squirm.
She hummed thoughtfully. “Makes sense, given that I’d put you down to being around five hundred years old. It would get boring sticking with one gender for all that time, right?”
He felt every ounce of colour drain from his face.
Tobias had known this was coming, and still that knowledge hadn’t softened the blow.
This very moment had filled his thoughts during every second he’d been lying awake the night before.
After he’d found the stake in the chest – a chest personally packed by Maria – he was aware she knew his secret.
And now it was clear that she was enjoying toying with him, holding it over his head.
What he couldn’t figure out was the outcome she was after in this game of cat and mouse.
“What do you want from me?” Tobias whispered, looking out towards the door he had seen Vladimir half drag, half march Alexander out of.
“That’s a loaded question.”
The room blurred as Maria spun them around, leading the dance. In truth, she was in control of everything about this interaction, and all Tobias could do was fall head-first into it.
“As you can imagine, I’ve got so many questions for you.
For the sake of saving your skin, I would suggest that whatever comes out of your mouth is the truth.
It’ll be easier that way.” Maria leaned in, her perfume overwhelming him, as she brought her painted lips to his ear.
“Yes, I know what you are. Cheeky little deer – or should I say vampire?”
If it wasn’t for Maria leading the dance, Tobias would have ceased moving entirely.
“Careful, before your loose lips get us in trouble,” Tobias snapped, feeling his canines start to lengthen.
“It won’t be me in trouble. I have to say, Tobias, what you did with that deer outside Rothburn was rather poetic. It took me a minute to put it together, but when I did, it was brilliant. I’m a lover of the dramatic, and that little performance was award-worthy.”
Tobias’ nails dug through the red silk of her dress, digging into her flesh and making her hiss. “Get to the point.”
Tobias was panicking. His entire body was burning with anxiety, his breath coming short and sharp. “Spit whatever you want to say out.”
“You, Tobias Osian, whose family perished hundreds of years ago, silencing your family name forever, are the same vampire terrorising Oxford city. How is that for spitting it out?”
Tobias smothered a hysterical giggle at being called out so directly. He was balancing on the edge of a knife, knowing that he no longer had any good options.
“Actually, you’re wrong,” Tobias replied, chin raised high. “Not all the attacks can be blamed on me. I’ve never killed anyone.”
“That you know of,” Maria said, all of her teasing humour gone. “We went to investigate the mortals who had been sent to the hospital. They all died – or so we thought. When we went to check the morgue, we found it empty. We believe they turned into made vampires.”
The revelation stopped Tobias in his tracks. “No,” he breathed.
He was just as bad as Vladimir. He thought that he’d been saving lives, not ending them.
He thought that these mortals he’d drained in his quest for vengeance wouldn’t die, that they wouldn’t turn into the kind of monster that he was – he was so sure he’d been better than Vladimir Damianos.
He’d been so sure that he’d left them with enough of their own life that they’d heal and continue on as mortals.
Turned out, he was just as evil. He felt paralyzed by the shock and the growing horror. He turned to leave, to run away, but Maria grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back towards her and starting the dance again.
“Don’t draw attention. Let me do the talking while you get it together.
Regardless of your intentions with those humans, you did it all to get close to one Alexander Damianos.
It wasn’t hard to work that out once I found your name on the application lists for each of the positions.
You see, I’m not blinded by love like my brother. ”
Tobias swallowed hard. “Does he know?”
“Knowing and believing are two different things. When I told him my suspicions, he brushed me off. He couldn’t fathom that you’d have a role in this as more than a potential victim.”
Tobias’ eyes flew open wide, the creeping red of bloodlust fighting its way into his vision. “You. Told. Him.”
“Steady now, little deer – he knows only the surface level of information, and doesn’t suspect you.
Tragic as it is, love blinds. My brother is so deep into you he didn’t even clock when you resisted his compulsion.
I suppose we now have the answer as to whether compulsion works on vampires made by the Damianos clan, in addition to those born into it, and the answer is no.
He didn’t notice. I did. And soon our father will. ”
“So what are you going to do?” Tobias’ throat was so dry that he had a hard time swallowing. “If he already doesn’t believe you, why would he believe you now?”
Maria bit her lip. “I’m going to make my own desperate plea for your help.”
Tobias’ fury ebbed ever so slightly. “What could I possibly do to help you?”
“Oh, come on, Tobias. You’re a smart man. Not only have you lasted all these years by yourself, without a clan, you also are likely one of the very few made vampires who have been in control long enough to lead a somewhat normal life.”
“If this is some dramatic attempt to use me, control me, turn me against Alexander, then know I’d rather die.” Tobias had never spoken truer words, and from her expression, Maria knew it.
He wasn’t going to turn on Alexander. Tobias bared his teeth, unable to hide the piercing fangs slipping from his gums. “Get to the point.”
Maria’s painted lip curled, her hair swaying across her delicate shoulders. “You’re not the only one to love Alexander. Which is why I know you’ve changed your mind.”
Maria continued guiding them around the dance floor, her footsteps increasing in speed as the music built to its impending crescendo.
“The stake I found was a dead giveaway. I mean, who carves the name of the person they wish to murder into the murder weapon itself? Seems less like poetic justice and more like self-indulgent graffiti if you ask me.”
“Who else knows about it?”
“Just me.” Maria pulled Tobias close, ensuring no one would hear the whisper that followed.
“Listen, this conversation would be going a lot differently if I believed you were still going to use that stake to kill him, trust me. But you won’t do that, knowing Alexander will be a pile of ash if you do.
But what if I told you there is another path that could remove Vladimir Damianos from power? Would you take it?”
“Another… path?”
“One that doesn’t see the rest of us dead, yes.”
Maria’s breath tickled the fine hairs across his ear. He felt a shiver build inside of him, like a hunger he thought he’d sated. It rose up, reaching out of every pore, until his entire body buzzed. “Should it surprise me that Vladimir’s own daughter wishes to see him overthrown?” he asked.
“No, it shouldn’t. And before you get excited, I don’t plan on telling Alexander either. He can come to terms with your dirty secret when we’re safely on the other side of my coup. But until then, we’ll use that to our advantage. Which leads us nicely into what I need you for.”
“You’re not using me against Alexander.”
Maria’s grip tightened, her expression pinched as the fury of Tobias’ words settled over her. “Are you not going to let me finish before you disregard what I have to say? It might just save Alexander’s life while getting you your revenge all the same.”
Those six words stopped Tobias. No others had the power to silence him, besides those. “Anything,” Tobias gasped. “I’d do anything…”
“I thought so. You know, as well as I do, just how monstrous my father is. He makes the devil himself look like Father Christmas. Right in this moment, do you know why Alexander has gone off with him?”
Tobias swallowed hard and shook his head. “Family business?”
“Not family business, Tobias. This is between Vladimir and Alexander. My father drinks from Alexander all the time. They absolutely loathe each other, and he does it to continually check whether Alexander is still loyal. The enmity is why Alexander ran away from Rothburn as soon as he could, why he’s spent as much of his life as possible testing how long Vladimir’s leash is.
” She paused, blinking up at him. “What I’m going to say next must stay between us.
I would ask if I have your word, but I know I do, considering we now both hold each other’s secrets. ”
Maria raised her mouth to Tobias’ ear as though she was going to lick it or take a bite.
When she spoke, it was softer and rushed.
“Vladimir is unwell. Sick. My suspicion is that he’s drunk from Alexander so much that his body has come to rely on the younger, stronger blood.
I believe, if Vladimir is separated from Alexander for long enough, the sickness will take over.
It won’t kill him, but old texts suggest vampires can fall into an endless sleep. And I’m hoping that happens to him.”
A rushing sound filled Tobias’ head – everything became muffled, the sounds of the music, the dancing couples, the high-pitched trills of laughter. Tobias stopped moving, too. He froze on the spot, his body so rigid that even Maria couldn’t move him.