She reached out and felt the door. “There is no handle.”
“Magic,” he explained. “It requires an incantation—”
But before the words could leave his lips, the door suddenly glowed red. He pulled Vivi backward as it shot open.
“I thought I should come and fetch you, my dear.” Wearing a smirk, Nikolai stood there in the doorway, flanked on each side by giants—men at least seven feet tall, dressed in rough brown tunics. Nikolai smiled at Sarah. “My delightful granddaughter. How splendid. Come, Vivienne, you are safe now. If you do as you are told, no harm will befall you.” He waved the giants forward. “Subdue the vampire. He is close to his transformation. We can take no chances. Take my granddaughter from him.”
Sarah screamed and Heath moved back, but with Sarah on his shoulders, he couldn’t fight. The beast plucked Sarah from his shoulders.
Vivienne leaped forward, but Nikolai raised his hand and she crumpled to the ground. “I—I can’t move,” she cried.
Heath drove his boot into the crotch of the man holding him—no rules when he was fighting for his life—and then plunged his fingers into one of the beast’s eyes. It howled but didn’t let go.
A surge of light shot from where Nikolai stood. It hit Heath’s chest, hot as fire. Heath tried to lunge for his sire, but his legs wobbled. And he fell.
The giants propelled her, with her hands chained, through Nikolai’s lair: the abandoned brothel. Most of the rooms were dusty and tattered, but the one ahead of her, his private study,
was opulent and lavish. Men in flowing pants and turbans flanked the doors. They held massive, curved blades. And Nikolai lounged in a huge chair behind a gilt-encrusted desk.
In the carriage, she had tried to speak to her father. She had told him they needed him to protect them from the vampire council. He had promised they would be safe, but then he had commanded her to hold her tongue and speak no more about it. Instead he’d talked to Sarah, happily and politely, as though they were attending a garden party. But when they reached the brothel, Sarah had been dragged away from her and locked in a pretty bedchamber with bars on the windows and no escape.
Her father was every bit as arrogant as any English peer who had ever pursued her. Vivienne had to remember that. She must
use
it.
Nikolai snapped his fingers, and more men in turbans carried a litter into the room from a second door. Heath lay upon it.
Vivienne tried to rush forward. But the guards pulled her back.
“What have you done to Heath?”
He lifted a supercilious brow. “Nothing that cannot be undone.” He muttered some words, conjured a ball of swirling light on the palm of his hand, then sent it spiraling at Heath’s chest.
Heath’s body curled up as the light hit. His eyes flickered open.
Nikolai smiled at her. “Vivienne, you know what you must do. It is your job to seduce Lord Blackmoor.”
“No.” It came out as a croak. Then she lifted her chin, and shouted, “No!”
Red blazed in her father’s eyes. Every instinct told her to cringe. To cower, like her mother used to do. But she straightened and stood as tall as she could. She gazed at Heath, who
was covered in wounds from his battle with the bats. He swayed on his feet, and one of the giants gripped him by the shoulder.
“Let him go,” she cried to Nikolai. Even though she knew Heath would hate her if she got her wish and he was freed.
“So sorry to disappoint you, my delightful daughter, but I cannot.”
She realized Nikolai did not want her to seduce Raine. What had happened to Heath’s brother? But before she could ask, one of the turbaned men approached Nikolai. The man made an unintelligible sound, then bowed deeply from his waist.
Nikolai smiled. “Indeed. Open the door and allow him entry.”
She whirled around as the servant did his master’s bidding. A black hulking … thing filled the doorway. The creature ducked its head and waddled slowly into the room. It stood at the same height as the giants, but an enormous pair of wings jutted from its shoulders. The feathered wings wrapped around its body, the tips touching at the front.
The demon opened its wings. Against its chest, it held a small, squirming man. Vivienne’s heart gave a lurch. It had only been two days ago that this little gnome of a vampire had given her tea, and hope, when he’d told her Heath could break the curse.
The beast released its grip and Guidon tumbled to the ground with a high-pitched squeal of surprise. Vivienne tried to move forward, but one of the giants grabbed her shoulder and held her. It was obvious from the way Guidon cowered that he had not betrayed Dimitri willingly. His wrinkled face was pasty white.
She had to speak to Guidon. She had to make him tell her how Heath could break the curse.
Nikolai stepped forward. His robes swirled around his long legs, and he moved until his feet were almost treading upon the
librarian’s gnarled fingers. Nikolai waved his hand and Guidon was lifted into the air and set down on his feet.
“It was very disobedient of you to try to escape the bargain you made, Guidon. You traded your knowledge for your life. I will need you to control the demon. This time I suggest you obey.”
Guidon let out a whimpering sound. He met Vivi’s eyes pleadingly.
But Nikolai’s cold, triumphant voice wrapped around her. “If you do not do as I ask, Vivienne, I will kill Heath. Right now. Right here.”
She swallowed hard. “I can’t do it. I can’t make love to him again. You can do anything to me you wish, but don’t hurt Heath.”
“You will change your mind, my dear. But it would help if your lover was a little more … awake on his feet.” He sent another ball of light at Heath, and this one sucked into Heath’s mouth and his hands.
Suddenly Heath came to life. He fought against the giant holding him.
“Now, Vivienne, do as I ask. Or you will suffer greatly.”
“No,” Heath roared. “You don’t need to hurt her. Find another woman. I’ll make love to her twice in a row, if you bloody well want. Let Vivi and Sarah go.”
“Unfortunately for you, Blackmoor, I require Vivienne to unleash the curse. It is the only way I can ensure you will have the power I need you to have. Vivienne has a great deal of strength and power. And the five men she seduced have added to her power. Those men all gave her strength from their unique skills. One was a fighter. Another a fierce lover. One had a quick wit and the courage to take chances in gambling. The other two had great physical strength. And you were the adventurer. You have all made her strong.”
“I have no power,” she shouted.
Her father’s perfectly sculpted face contorted in a sneer. “Do you think I would waste my seed to create something weak? Your power hums inside you. It glows within, like a sun. Over the years, the passion you have taken has stoked that power, like coal fed into flame. But that power has been carefully protected. I had to ensure that, so it could not be detected by other beings—other demons, or the vampires. I made you both to work together. You hold the power that will give him so much strength he could destroy the world. Blackmoor is the only man who can unleash the power hidden within you.”
Made for each other.
“That’s impossible. I was only made into a vampire a few years ago,” Heath said. “Long after Vivi was born.”
And Vivienne understood. Her father had planned this since her birth. Perhaps before. “I was created for one reason only, wasn’t I? To bring about the end of the world.”
Nikolai nodded. “I had to wait to find the right male for the task.”
She faced her father, confronting a vampire she knew could kill her. “You created Sarah’s mysterious illness to force me to go to Mrs. Holt and pay her price for the medicine. Sarah was never really sick. It was something
you
did to her. Even though she is your
grandchild
.”
She almost felt frost emanate from Nikolai’s black, bottomless eyes. “And she did not die, did she? You, my obedient daughter, did as you were told.”
“You ensured Heath found and rescued me, didn’t you? Somehow you pushed us together, forced us to fall in love.”
Nikolai’s thick, deep red lips curved. “You are a foolish romantic, child. I only needed you to fornicate with Blackmoor. Which you did. You were like your mother; I could see her infinite need for love when I first stalked her. She was still quite beautiful then.”
“You stalked her?” Fear and revulsion echoed in her voice. “What do you mean?”
“I watched. Followed. I felt the light within her. Your mother, Rose, was different than other women I saw. Unique. I had thought about impregnating a woman of a higher class. But not one I saw contained that beautiful golden glow. Such compassion Rose had. When I saw her tend to a boy who had cut his foot badly, despite the bruises she wore from some man’s fists, I knew she would be perfect. With her I could create a woman who would be the ultimate temptress.”
“And that was me?” His words slipped deep inside her soul. Her mother’s beautiful golden glow. “That’s what happened to her, that’s what made her lose hope and become desperate. You … you extinguished that glow, didn’t you?”
“I used it to make you, my dear. You took all of Rose’s goodness and beauty, combining them with my power and strength. But your birth sucked the soul out of your mother and left her weak. It was why she soaked herself in gin.”
Dear God, she had been the one to destroy her mother. Her very existence had done it.
“Stop, Vivi.”
The deep, controlled, soothing voice belonged to Heath. “He’s trying to bludgeon your heart and soul. He is trying to convince you to do what he asks. Don’t listen to him. You didn’t steal your mother’s life force. If anything, you kept it alive. I believe that. I’m certain of it.”
“Silence!” Nikolai shouted. The winged demon drove one of its pointed wingtips into Heath’s chest.
Vivienne flinched in horror. “Stop,” she pleaded. “Dear God, stop.”
“Enough.” Nikolai gave a careless wave of his hand.
Blood welled from the wound as the sharp point withdrew. Slowly a trail of blood rolled down Heath’s muscles.
Heath did not even flinch. Instead he took advantage of his freedom to attack Nikolai. But the vampire hit Heath with a flash of light, one that sent him reeling to the floor.
Vivienne rushed to Heath’s side. She ripped off a strip of her linen shirt and pressed it to the bleeding wound. Heath lay on the floor, his eyes closed, unconscious. Above her, she felt Nikolai staring at her—the way she would be aware of a bug crawling over her skin.
“Why don’t you kiss him, Vivienne? Kiss the man you love.”
She hesitated. Auburn lashes lay along Heath’s cheeks. His mouth was slack, full, soft, and tempting. She yearned to kiss Heath. But she didn’t trust Nikolai. And she hated him. He had made her afraid to even give the simplest show of affection, in case it took Heath closer to the transformation.
Instead, she kept pressure on the wound. This was a lifesaving touch, surely this wouldn’t hurt him. She looked at Heath, at the man she did love, but spoke to the man she despised. “What is going to happen when he becomes a demon? If you want me to do your bidding, you had better tell me.”
“My intentions are very simple. I will control a being that will grow to a height of two hundred feet. A creature that could tear St. Paul’s from its foundations with his teeth.”
Surely that couldn’t be the truth. She turned, and recoiled at the glowing delight in Nikolai’s eyes.
“Ah, Vivienne, a beat of his wings could drive a wave of sea-water high enough to engulf a town. He would be able to eat dozens of mortals in the space of moments. As a demon, he will be unstoppable. Indestructible.”
“But why would you do this to innocent people?”
“What does any man who lives for centuries want? To continue to achieve power. I have decided I will not destroy the world. I will let my demon play; terrify the stupid mortals for a
while. Then I will stop Heath from continuing his devastation. What king will defy me when I can have him destroyed with a snap of my fingers?”
He waved his hands. His lackeys darted forward and dragged her from Heath. She struggled but could not break free. Two of the servants dropped him on the litter, which made blood spill from the wound again. They hastened away with him.
“Where are you taking him?”
“To his cell. You will soon be taken to yours.”
“You cannot do this to Heath. You cannot force him to kill like that.”
“He has already killed.”
“You mean—as a vampire.”
“And before that, when he carelessly murdered his pretty wife and fragile little daughter.”
“That was an
accident
.”
“Nonetheless, he took Ariadne from me.”
Ariadne?
She didn’t understand. “You knew his wife. You …?” How could a vampire living in the Carpathians have known Ariadne?
Nikolai stalked to the wall. A tasseled cord was there. He pulled on it, and drapes parted. A portrait, not a window, was on the wall behind the thick crimson curtains.
A blond woman stared down from the canvas. With her pale white-blond hair, her large blue eyes, her peaches-and-cream complexion, the woman glowed like an angel. “That was Blackmoor’s wife. The woman whom he drove to her death, because she loved him and he didn’t give a damn about her.”
Vivienne stared into the large blue eyes of the young woman. Lady Blackmoor looked very much like Vivienne’s mother, when Rose had been young, the way Vivienne remembered her, before the harshness of life had battered her.
The softening of Nikolai’s eyes, the pain in his tight mouth, was unmistakable. “You loved her. But how could you have known her?”
“Yes,” he barked. “I loved her. Adored her. She was the sun I could never have. She was the heaven I could never touch. I resisted my yearning to turn her. I wanted to have her with me for eternity, but I did not allow myself to do that to her. Yet Blackmoor carelessly threw her life away.”
“But you lived in the Carpathians.”
“I came to England one hundred years ago, Vivienne. After your mother’s death, a friend of hers from the slums put a curse upon me, the stupid witch. If I were ever to fall in love with a mortal woman and pursue her, I would die if I did not return to my home country. So I had to leave Ariadne, and I chose not to take her with me. But I could watch her. And I saw him destroy her.”