Nausea roiled in Vivienne’s stomach. Dear heaven, not Julian …
“No,” Sarah screamed, but Heath swept her up again. Vivienne almost lost her balance as he grabbed her wrist and dragged her out the door.
Behind them, they heard Julian’s howl of pain.
She had never seen Heath so angry. His boots slammed into the door again and again, until he tore a hole through a two-inch slab of solid oak. Splinters flew everywhere.
She understood his fury, but it scared her. It made her feel small inside.
It brought out every moment she had lived in fear, when she’d thought a man might kill her drunken mother and then turn on her. Instinct told her to back away, but this was Heath, and he needed her to break through to him. “Stop it!” she shouted. “You don’t need to do that.”
He spun around. Silver flashed in his eyes as he looked from Sarah to her. “You are correct,” he said softly. And he opened the door.
She gripped Sarah’s arm tightly and helped her daughter walk. Sarah’s face was sheet white. Tears poured down Sarah’s cheeks, but she made no sound, not even a sob. She stared blankly ahead. It was as though she was in a trance.
Vivienne’s heart felt like a cube of ice: small, cold, easily crushed. She had no idea what to do. Did she really want to try to snap through Sarah’s shock? Or was this blank state protecting her from the horror she’d just seen? Would Sarah ever survive losing Julian almost right in front of her eyes?
A dark passage stretched before them, and when Sarah wouldn’t take another step, Heath swept her up into his arms. “Here, little one. I’ll take you.”
Vivi, I’m sorry. I killed the leader of the bats, but it didn’t stop them. And if I hadn’t wasted time on that, I could have saved Julian.
You tried, Heath. And you saved my daughter. I will admire you for eternity for that.
Heath had been wrong when he’d told her a demon like he did not dare to love, Vivienne thought. He might be a vampire, cursed to be a demon, but he was capable of a love that stunned her with its depth and strength.
She had to hold on to Heath’s bloodstained shirt to find her way through the inky-black passage. The door he had broken through had been a second one in the dark tunnel. The first had been in the basement of Dimitri’s house, and was a barrier of four-inch-thick iron. Heath had bolted that thick, heavy door behind them. The oak door had been locked, and admittedly they’d had no other way through it.
“You—you don’t have to go to my father.” The words came out breathlessly. Ahead Vivienne could see nothing, but she could tell the cobblestone floor of the tunnel was sloping down. They were descending.
Into the bowels of hell
, she thought, her heart sick.
He walked faster. “I have to ensure you two are safe.”
“I will make sure my father doesn’t hurt you—” She broke off, breathing hard.
“I’m not afraid of him. I want to confront him. I want you and Sarah to be safe, and free, and to be able to live without fear.” He slowed his long strides so she could catch up to him. “I’m not afraid of your father, Vivi. I’m afraid of myself. Your life and Sarah’s life depend on me. And I’ve failed at that before.”
“You haven’t failed. You saved both of us tonight! Heath, you have to accept how good and strong and noble you are.”
But she knew it was for those very reasons he could not
leave the guilt and pain of his wife and daughter’s deaths behind.
Suddenly Heath stopped walking. He put Sarah down, then stepped back from her and Vivienne. He clapped his hand to his head and let out a fierce grunt of pain.
Vivienne rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his chest. “What’s happening? What’s wrong?”
He pushed her away and dropped to his knees. The skin of his face rippled and his body flexed and jerked beneath his clothes. “Are you shape shifting?” she cried.
He shook his head. Then with a howl of sheer agony that made her spine go rigid, he whipped his head back. His fangs shot out. His features seemed to turn to liquid and move around on his face.
“This is what happened before,” he gasped. “When Nikolai gave me a taste of what his curse meant, what I would become. I’m transforming into a demon.”
20
V
ivienne stared in horror as Heath’s jaw twisted sharply to the right and then left with such vigorous force, she heard the
crack
. His forehead swelled and receded and she had to clap her hand to her mouth to hold in the scream. The large, solid muscles of his arms, which bulged against his linen shirt, rippled and undulated like live snakes.
He bore it all with his teeth clenched. “Hell, it’s happening,” he rasped through his tight mouth.
“Why?” Vivienne gasped. “I didn’t make love to you again. We didn’t do it twice.” Sarah was whimpering in fear, but she couldn’t go to Sarah and comfort her. She had to race to Heath. She tumbled to her knees in front of him. Mud soaked into her skirts, but she ignored the damp and the terrifying darkness. She caressed his face and felt his cheekbones pulse beneath her hand.
“No.” He pulled back, tore away from her. “Don’t touch me. It’s too dangerous.”
“This is my fault. My—my father said that making love to
me
started
the curse,” she whispered. “We made it begin to work, even though you didn’t make love to me again.”
He doubled over, and his spine bulged beneath his skin, stretching it as though the bones would rip through. “I fell in love with you. With everything you’ve done with me. That was enough.”
His words speared her.
“No. No, you cannot be in love with me, Heath. I won’t allow it.” Not if it was going to destroy him. She had to stop this. Guidon had told her Heath had to fight the terms of the curse. But how did they do it?
A shadow moved beside her and Vivienne gasped in shock, turning swiftly. But it was Sarah. Her face was white and stricken, and she laid her hand upon Heath’s undulating back. “Mother, we must do something.”
“I know.” But what? Yet her daughter’s strength humbled her. Sarah had just lost the man she loved, but she’d found the courage to break out of the shock, to come to Heath, to try to save him. Both Vivienne and Heath had to be as strong.
He had to fight the curse. But he believed he should be punished. He believed he should be cursed.
She put her hands on Heath’s shoulders. Beneath her palms, muscle and bone moved and popped. It sickened her, but she kept her hands there. “Fight it, Heath. We both love you. We will not let you go. We are your family now.”
She heard Sarah gasp. Saw a tear roll down her daughter’s cheek. “Yes,” Sarah whispered. “We are your family. You saved me, and you saved my mother. I will love you always.”
Heath’s face contorted into a grimace of sheer agony. “God no,” he growled. “I am not going to let this happen.” Then softly, so Vivienne could barely hear, he murmured, “You need me—I won’t fail you.”
The undulations of his spine ceased, his muscles stopped
pulsing beneath his skin. His face was no longer twisting and distorting. His clothes were torn, the seams ripped by the powerful motions of his body, but it appeared to be over. He bowed his head and sucked in sharp breaths.
Vivienne cupped his jaw, tilted his head up so she could see. He reached up and clasped her wrists. “It’s stopped,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “Thank you, Vivi.” He turned to Sarah, and gave her a smile. “Thank you, Sarah. You have no idea how much it means to me to have won your love.”
“I don’t care about who my father was,” Sarah declared. “I want you to be a part of our family, Lord Blackmoor.” Then tears began to flow down Sarah’s face again.
Heath cradled Sarah close, held her and whispered, “I love you,” until Sarah’s sobs stopped. Shakily, he stood. And he held both Vivi’s hand and Sarah’s and lifted them to their feet, too. “I am honored. Humbled. I promise I will never fail either of you.”
He tucked Sarah’s arm in his, and he began to move into the foreboding dark of the passage. But Vivienne couldn’t move. “Are you certain you are all right?”
His mouth cranked down. “You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said firmly. “I am afraid
for
you.” Had they truly stopped his transformation? Did it mean the curse was broken? Had it been enough to tell him they loved him? He had promised not to fail them. She feared he didn’t yet believe their love was unconditional. Or perhaps he was afraid of unconditional love, because he’d had it before. Perhaps their very offer of love was a torment for him.
“Come, Vivi.” She could not see him in the dark, but there was no ignoring the deep authority in his command—and the note of fear beneath it. “We have to move.”
She knew they did. She had to rush onward and throw herself into the power of her father, a man she feared and hated.
Heath had hoisted Sarah onto his back, the way a man would carry a small child. He held out his hand to Vivienne. She hurried to his side and raced along with him.
Somehow, she had to make Heath see he didn’t deserve to be cursed.
Heath knew the secret passage well. Designed as an escape route from the council or from slayers, it sloped downward, then branched in three directions. Two tunnels were false paths, dead ends that led to booby traps. He knew the route they had to take. And as he plunged forward, he knew it was his responsibility to plan beyond this desperate race for safety.
He had a family again. The truth: he was not ready for a family. He could not give either Vivi or Sarah what they truly needed. They had declared their love to a man who had no choice but to destroy himself. All he had done was force them to open their hearts; now they would know heartbreak.
Sarah was so light seated up on his shoulders with her heels bumping against his chest. She’d wrapped her arms around his neck. She trusted him and cared about him. Two things he had thrown away a decade ago, when he’d lost Meredith. Sarah did not know about his past. But Vivi did. How could she say that she loved him, knowing what he had done?
He could destroy Nikolai, which would protect Vivienne from whatever evil plan his sire had concocted. But how did he protect her from the council? How did he give Vivienne what she truly deserved—real freedom?
“There must be another way.”
Vivi’s soft voice beside him jerked him from his thoughts. “Another way? No, love, this is the only way out. There are three branches to this tunnel; we’ll reach the fork soon. But trust me, I know which way to go.”
“No, I meant, is there any other way we can hide without going to Nikolai? This is absolute madness. I do not have to do
what Dimitri says. I do not have to let anyone dictate to me.” In the dark, he saw her brow arch. “Except perhaps you, because I trust you.”
“Dimitri’s plan is to put you under the protection of a vampire who is more powerful than any man on the council. He knows your father won’t hurt you. Dimitri is trying to buy us time, time for me to devise some way to rescue the two of you.”
“And it should not be wholly your responsibility, Heath. I am not going to stand by like a ninny and wait to be rescued. Could we not just run and keep running? We could leave England.”
“The vampires of the council can fly around the world if they wish.” A rank odor rose from the ground and his boots squished in mud. Vivi’s slippers made an answering
squelsh
. She wrinkled her nose and gasped, “Ew,” making him chuckle. Hades, he adored her.
They had reached the lowest section of the tunnel, where it branched into three more tunnels. Heath clasped Vivienne’s hand to lead her forward into the pitch darkness.
He could detect the faint sound of hammering behind them. It had to be the demons, trying to bludgeon their way through the special iron door that secured the tunnels. He prayed—if a vampire could—it didn’t mean all the vampires in the house had been destroyed.
Vivi followed him, plunging into the tunnel without question. If he needed any more proof of how much faith she’d given him, he had it.
“If the council could not get into Dimitri’s house before,” she whispered, “how were they able to do so tonight?”
“Dimitri’s defenses are based on ancient magic spells. Someone must have betrayed Dimitri; they must have told the council which spells he uses.”
Could it have been Julian?
she asked in his thoughts.
I don’t believe it was. Julian gave up his life for Sarah. He truly loved her.
Vivi gave a soft sob. “What about Guidon? Would he know ancient spells?”
“It’s possible. And if it was Guidon, it’s my fault.”
“It can’t be.”
“Guidon returned to London from the Carpathians. No one but Dimitri knew he had done so, or knew about his bookstore. I led the council right to him.”
“Or I did. But why would Dimitri leave Guidon without protection?” Vivi asked.
“I don’t know.” But he agreed with her. Why didn’t Dimitri protect Guidon, and thus protect his home?
“J—Julian,” Sarah began, above him, but her voice choked on a small sob.
“Sarah, it’s all right. Shh. You don’t have to talk about it,” he soothed.
“I do not need to be soothed and silenced.” Suddenly the girl sounded very fierce. “It is hard for me to say his name, but I
can
do it. Julian told me there are vampire queens. They are the most powerful beings of all. He told me the vampire council was created because male vampires could not stand being ruled by these strong females. Wouldn’t the queens help us?”
“The queens rarely help other female demons,” Heath said gently. “They are generally ruled by jealousy. I was afraid they would want to destroy Vivienne; she’s too lovely.”
The vampire queens had once kept the ancient vampires—like Dimitri and Nikolai—as consorts. But like most men given infinite wealth, power, and handsome looks, they proved to be unfaithful. They had betrayed the queens. And so the queens hated them, but they couldn’t destroy the strong, ancient male vampires. With Nikolai as his sire, the queens wouldn’t want to help him.
They started to trudge uphill toward the exit. It emerged close to the Thames on Dimitri’s grounds. Heath pulled Vivi to a stop. In the pitch dark, she couldn’t see the iron door just two feet in front of her. “We’re at the end of the tunnel.”