A Vampire's Claim (28 page)

“You son of a bitch,” Dev swore. He plunged forward, the hell with the weapons trained on him. Three who had circled to the rear jumped him, bearing him to the ground with liberal fists. At least one gun butt rapped him so smartly he saw stars. He ended up with his back against the stone wall, held by the rough hands of the three stockmen, the other three with their weapons trained on him. It was a gratifying number, if he was in the mood to be flattered.

Stop, Dev. Wait.
Her voice was sharp and urgent enough to get through. She and Charles were still in the same position, staring at each other as Charles apparently waited for his men to get the situation under control.

“Yield, my lady?” he asked. His breath came up short, telling Dev that vampires could exert themselves, and his lady had done a damn good job of that. However, Ruskin’s deadly gaze was still fastened on hers, his grip on the sword sure and steady. He could take her head with little effort. The stillness of his eyes suggested he wanted her to defy him, give him the chance. “You may voice your objections to the Council about my mastery of this territory, but you cannot find fault in my fencing skills.”

She stared up at him, ignoring the blood trickling down her throat. “You were lucky tonight, but I will say your skills have improved since last we crossed swords.”

“So you will swear loyalty to me?” He let the tip drift down, follow the curve of one breast. “Give me your blood?”

She tilted her head, an indifferent look. “Not likely, Lord Charles. As a full-blood vampire, I’m not required to do that.”

“Even”—he pressed the tip of the blade against her—“if I insist? There is no Council here right now, Lady Daniela. Protesting after the fact is just whinging, as we both well know.”

“With my lineage, I’m far more useful to you alive, if you can win my affections.” She glanced down at the blade. “Stop being a bore, Charles. You won the fencing match. Take your bragging rights and help me up.”

Dev watched, his heart in his throat. Though he suspected she didn’t know, any more than anyone else, if he’d choose to kill her, she showed no fear.

Charles sighed. “You’re being stubborn. It’s a small thing. I could exact a far higher price for your infraction, and you know it.”

“It’s not a small thing at all. Which is why you want it so badly.”

“Your breeding is a matter of circumstance,” he sneered, his lip curling back. “Something your back alley thief of a mother stole from Fate and gave to you as if it came from the Queen’s blood herself.”

“Well, my mother would have been capable of stealing the Queen’s jewels right from her head. Why not her blood as well?”

The cool frustration in Charles’s eyes died away, replaced by a tight smile that Dev found more chilling. Swinging his boot off her and twitching the saber aside in a harrowing move, he nevertheless offered her a hand up.

When she rose, he retained his hold, his fingers pressing down as his expression darkened dangerously again. “I doubt your affections are even winnable, Lady D. So enough of your coquettishness. I know it for a sham, and won’t tolerate it.”

A muscle in her jaw flexed as his grip increased, but she shrugged. “A woman uses her assets to survive in this world, Lord Charles. If it offers no advantage with you, I’m happy to discard it. I find it rather tedious myself.” Nodding to the table and chairs set up nearby with another bottle of brandy, she said, “If you’ll let go of my hand, we can have that drink now and discuss your terms.”

Come stand behind me, Dev.

Giving Charles’s men a hard look, Dev shouldered past them and moved to the side porch. When he mounted the step and came up beside her, he went ahead and poured the brandy for her. At her nod, he did so for Lord Charles while Aapti quietly watched.

The male vamp’s eyes narrowed, apparently displeased by his unwillingness to offer the courtesy until Danny had bid him do so.

“I miss England,” the vampire commented. “Where the servants are servants. Not ill-mannered stockmen or Irish whores, trained like monkeys to make beds and curtsy.”

“England was too damp for me. Too closed in.” Danny sat back with her brandy. As Dev realized she’d grown paler, he noticed the swelling in two fingers on the hand she rested gingerly on her thigh. The bastard had broken them.

Don’t worry, bushman.
Her calm voice smoothly cut through his rage.
They’ ll heal within an hour, good as new. Let him
flaunt his testosterone. He was probably scared to death I’d offer a rematch.

Dev took the wall behind her, though his gut was churning. He’d never longed for a sunrise more.

“I’ve no objection to you reclaiming your station,” Charles commented, reaching back to take Aapti’s hand. As he drew her forward, she set her hands to his shoulders and began to massage them. “But since the taking of a vampire’s life must be justified to the Vampire Council by the Region Master, I will set the price to vouch for your actions.”

“Neither my blood nor my body is on the table. I’ve no concerns about making my case before the Council if you try to force either of those upon me.”

“Lady D, I’m beginning to suspect you
want
me to kill you, merely to cause me trouble with the Council.”

“It would be a nice memory to take to my grave.” She saluted him with her brandy. “You know how protective the Council is of born vampires.”

“Regardless of how undeserving you are, or your lack of true bloodline.” He took a swallow of his own drink, his gaze lingering on her fingers, as if enjoying the look of his work and wishing he could lean across and do more. “As far as your body, I couldn’t care less about that. I can command a common whore anytime. Unlike Ian, I won’t cater to the pretension that you or your mother are anything but that.”

When Danny merely smiled, he let out a nasty chuckle. “You’re a hard one to rattle, I give you that.” He leaned forward, the glass dangling in his hand. Aapti paused. “I can make you pay the price with flogging or branding. You cannot know how much I’d enjoy binding you to stocks in your own yard, having your shirt torn from your body and whipping that pale flesh until it bled.”

“Foreplay,” she commented. “I thought you just said sex with me held no interest for you.”

He bared his fangs. “The other thing I can demand is the sacrifice of a servant.”

Putting down the brandy glass, Danny locked gazes with him. “I’ve already told you, he is not my servant. I’ll take the branding or flogging.”

The hell you will.

Hush, Dev.

“You misunderstand,
Lady
D.” Ruskin cut across Dev’s next mental retort. “Outside of blood price or sex, the choice is mine. I wasn’t offering you an option.”

“To take his life, you
will
have to take mine.”

Danny didn’t move from her chair, but what emanated from her then made Dev feel as if she’d risen to her feet. He wasn’t alone in detecting it, as the handful of Charles’s men still loitering nearby came to attention at the tone of her voice.

“Rather fond of him, aren’t you?” Ruskin’s voice had a serrated edge.

“This man saved my life. I owe him a debt of honor. As an aristocrat, I expect you to understand that.” With him digesting the back-handed compliment, Danny’s gaze flicked over Aapti’s kneading hands. “She performs many services for you that make her indispensable. And she
is
your full servant. He’s the closest thing approaching one I’ve had to date. I don’t wish to carelessly throw away his life.” She glanced over her shoulder, sweeping Dev from head to toe, and lingering on choice spots in between that almost made him blush. “Not when I’m still evaluating his worth.”

Lord Charles studied her for a long moment. “Lady Danny, I think you should have been born male.”

“Women can enjoy their carnality as much as men. Particularly if they have no care for the expectations of others.”

“Which was why you left your mother when she needed you most.”

She leaned back again, that half smile still playing on her lips. “A compliment. You see me as a worthy opponent again. You’ve gone from crude accusations back to subtle barbs. If you’re going to take up where my mother left off, blaming me for the things that were her fault alone, I will
not
make a regular habit of inviting you to dinner.”

“Enough of this,” Ruskin said softly at last. “You submit to my station brand, planted on your right cheek, burned into the flesh with my blood, so it will be a permanent scar you carry.” He shifted. “Or you give me a game of fox and hounds, with your man as the fox. Three days in the Outback. If he makes it back to the fence line by dusk on the third day, or dies, the score is even.”

“Done,” Dev said.

A muscle twitched in Danny’s jaw, but she didn’t acknowledge him. “My employee obviously does not speak for me. I do not agree to the terms.”

Moving around the arm of the chair, Dev dropped to one knee, met her eye to eye. Maybe a true servant to a vampire would bow his head, but they all knew he wasn’t that, no matter Ruskin’s barbed comments. “Let me have the honor of paying this debt for you, my lady. I will not fail you. Obviously.” An ironic smile twisted his lips. “Because dead or alive, I serve the purpose.”

“Done, then,” Ruskin said.

“No,” Danny said sharply. She kept her gaze on Dev’s face. “It’s not done until I agree to it. You do not owe me this.”
I just
murdered Chiyoko to settle a vengeance debt. I don’t deserve your sacrifice.

My will is my own, my lady, remember? I don’t know why I continue to live when there is so little for me to live for, but
remarkably, every day, with the rising and setting of the sun, something presents itself. This is today’s task.

Native spiritualist bullshit. Don’t throw your aboriginal blood at me.

You have no problem drinking it.

He heard an alarming sound, almost as if she’d ground her teeth. “Speak out of turn again, and I’ll rip your throat out to get at it,”

she said.

But she turned back to Ruskin, who had a smug look on his face. “Done, then,” she spat. “But I will not thank you for depriving me of the man I’ve brought here to run my station, Lord Charles.”

“You should have thought about that before you killed my overlord, pretentious fop that he was.”

Giving Ruskin a reserved look, she rose, shifted her gaze to Devlin. “If tonight is the last night I will have the joy of you, bushman, then you will come to me in my rooms. After you ensure that the stock and household are properly settled for the evening. The household staff will determine Lord Charles has what he needs.”

“You are calling it an early night, my lady,” Ruskin drawled. “I thought you might want to see my hounds. I’ve got them penned in the barn. I’m sure your man wishes to see what he’s up against. The finest noses in Australia. Tireless in their tracking, utterly focused.”

A muscle flexed in her jaw. “I’ve no wish to see your pets.”

“I’d like to see them. Always good to meet the competition.” Dev glanced at his lady, noting the tight lips. Yeah, she was roiling mad at him. Might be best all the way around to let her cool down. “I can get everything settled, Lady D. It won’t take much time.

This mob seems competent.”

Danny’s expression was unreadable again, but she dwelled on his face a long time, in a way he found unsettling, as if she was weighing a lot more than this moment, or even Lord Charles’s request. Finally, she inclined her head.

Don’t give him the satisfaction of reacting when you see them, Dev. His
hounds
are not dogs. They’re children.

13

W
HEN Dev reached the top of the stairs of the quiet household, he paused. Leaned against the wall to take the first steadying breath he’d taken in a while. The hallway seemed a lot longer than it had earlier, when he’d been here to wash up. Below, he could hear the house staff finishing up in the kitchen.

While there was work done during the day by the stockmen, the household staff often slept during daylight hours, knowing that they worked hardest in the night hours. Up until her death, Danny’s mother and Ian had been here about half the time, but Ian had been here full-time since, probably to ensure the property wasn’t claimed by Danny in his absence. Well, that was no longer a problem.

Dev had a hunch if she’d had the upper hand, there’d be two bodies burning out there at dawn’s light.

Christ, he wasn’t used to a woman acting so much like a man. That said, no way in hell would he ever call Lady Daniela unfeminine.

It just was all a little bit outside his milieu, he wasn’t ashamed to admit. Tina had been spirited, but when it came down to it, he was the man of the house, and if he said it was going to be this way, she respected him. Though she might goad him with a teasing little smile later when it didn’t work out how he expected.

He’d seen enough of Lord Charles to pick up on why Danny considered him a monster, though. The clincher had been what he’d kept in the barn. Thank God she’d warned him.

He’d brought them in cages loaded into the Rovers. There were fifteen of them in all, a sizable mob, and they ranged in age from six to twelve years old, squatting up against one another in the limited space of the cages. He supposed the ages were irrelevant, because they could easily be much older, every one of them being a vampire.

But not like the vampires he’d seen so far. Well dressed, cultured, with an acceptable veneer of civility, no matter how bloody thin.

The mixture of white, Asian and aboriginal children had permanent scars on their lips from the elongated fangs that apparently couldn’t retract like the adults’. They were filthy, naked, and started shrieking and calling out in unintelligible noises when Dev entered with Lord Charles and several of his men.

“I don’t want you to think I’m inhumane,” Ruskin commented. “At home, they each have their own cage, as well as a large enclosure.”

He put out a hand. One of the men reached into a meat safe and came out with a fistful of raw meat, dripping with blood. The children went into a frenzy, crashing against the bars.