Finding Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 1) (20 page)

“He’s my husband,” corrected Evie with a smile.

Anna looked down and saw a massive ring on Evie’s left hand. “Oh! Husband!” Anna turned to the intimidating man she had just insulted. He grinned back at her. She put on a fake smile. “Great!”

~~~~~

The mansion ended up being larger than Anna had initially realized. She could actually fit over twenty of her apartment in this massive place, and that wasn’t including the basement, which Evie notably left out of the tour.

It was nice to talk to her friend. As much as Aleksander scared her, Evie had nothing but nice things to say about him. It had been exactly like she had said that first night in the woods: love at first sight.

Since then, she’d traveled all around the world with him. She would go into detail about the adventures they had in Europe, Asia, Africa, and other places Anna had only dreamed of going.

Anna filled Evie in on her life with Abigail and the many dogs she’d grown up with. She also went into the crazy city culture and academic life. She told Evie about all of the books she’d fallen in love with while studying literature and her struggles to get students to love them too.

Because it was still light out, none of the guards were able to go to the car and get Anna’s extra clothes, so she borrowed some sweatpants and a shirt from Evie. After getting the new clothes and taking a nice warm shower, she felt a lot better than she had when she’d gotten up.

A lot of vampires were staying at the mansion. She’d only met a fraction of them because of the size of the place. At any given time, there were at least twenty guards, and usually twenty more guests in the house.

Though it didn’t look like any castle she’d ever seen in pictures, it was commonly referred to as the palace. Anna guessed that if the king lived there, that could make it a palace. Lord knew it was big enough to qualify.

A palace her friend was now queen of. That was something to get used to. Evie said it wasn’t as intimidating as it sounded. There had been no queen for almost a century, so when she and Aleksander first found each other, there hadn’t been much to do.

As the years went on, she took on more and more responsibilities. However, in the vampire culture, age was power, and she held relatively none if measured on that scale.

As much as Aleksander could order the other vampires to obey her, it would still take time for her to gain queenly respect.

Later that evening, they sat in a ridiculously formal dining room while Anna ate a small meal when the news she’d been dreading reached her. They found Nicolas and were bringing him in.

Anna ran to the front of the palace to watch for them. Aleksander assured her they wouldn’t kill him, but she knew Nicolas would put up a fight. For them to bring him in alive, he would’ve had to have taken a beating.

When she finally saw him, he was worse than she thought. He had silver chains locked around his body to restrain him, and his head was covered by a black bag.

She started to walk to him, but Evie reached a hand out to stop her. She tried to pull out of the grip, but Evie was much stronger than her now.

The overpowering scent of burning flesh reached her nose, and Anna tried not to think about how much the silver was hurting him. “What are they doing? Why are there so many of them?”

“He is old and powerful,” cautioned Evie. “Anything we put on him, he would be able to break out of. For our own safety, we have to make sure he’s restrained.”

“How about the bag over his head? Is that also for your safety? What are you trying to keep him from seeing?” she accused.

“It’s to keep him from seeing where he could strike out at one of the guards. I assure you this isn’t fun for us either.”

“Us?” asked Anna.

“Aleksander and I.”

Anna supposed fifteen years together would upgrade them to being an “us.” Anna kept thinking back to Nicolas telling her about being turned over to guards all those decades ago. How much they enjoyed beating him.

Anna bet that there would be some guards or guests who would like nothing better than to have ten minutes alone with a helpless Nicolas. No matter what he’d done to her, he
had
ordered her to get to the car last night. He could’ve gotten to the car easily by himself and been out of here before ever having to hide in those woods again. He could’ve saved himself, but he tried to save her instead. She just couldn’t abandon him.

Anna turned to Evie. “I need a good book and you need to take me to the basement.”

When the silver chains were finally unlocked from around his burned and bloodied body, Nicolas was too sore to put up much of a fight. He still struggled, but it was to give the guards handling him a hard time.

His hands were quickly put into manacles on either side of him. The metal didn’t burn immediately, but when he pulled, the fabric separating his skin from the silver stretched, and the burning came back to him. He was positioned so that he sat on the floor with his arms chained to his sides.

The footsteps grew fainter as the men who locked him up retreated, but he knew at least one guard was still in the room with him. His hood was pulled off him. He looked up at the man who stood over him. “Fredrick,” he rasped out.

When Nicolas had still been in power, Fredrick and he had been close. He’d been one of Nicolas’s most trusted men.

Fredrick knelt next to him. “Hello, old friend.”

Nicolas didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything to say.

Fredrick continued, “I understand you don’t want to talk. I wanted you to know that Aleksander hasn’t planned what he’s doing with you yet. He’s reasonable. Don’t give him any more reason to kill you.”

Nicolas stared straight at the bars in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fredrick stand. He watched him leave and lock the cell door behind him as he walked out of Nicolas’s vision.

He sat alone with his own thoughts. By now, he hoped Annabelle would be in the States, or at least getting close. If he could actually manage his way out of this situation, he would meet her back in the city.

He’d eluded the guards all night and found a cave that he knew well from his time in power here and then his time hiding in the woods. He’d even left a bit before sunset. He had no idea how he’d been found so quickly. It was as though the guards had already known where he would be.

He was curious as to why he wasn’t killed right away. Fredrick said Aleksander didn’t plan to kill him, but he didn’t believe that for a second. He might have told his men that, but it was a lie. Aleksander was looking for a good time to kill him. It would appear to be self-defense, and he would come out looking good in front of all of his people.

There would be no more living blood relatives left to try to take the throne. It would be Aleksander’s free and clear and would be passed on to the child of his new bride.

Nicolas wondered how many women had to die for Aleksander to turn a mortal. Nicolas had heard countless stories of failed transitions. He felt bad for the woman who had to live with a husband who would take those chances with her life.

Soon he heard someone approach and something metal scrape across the floor. A couple more strange noises, and then it was quieter. Just the gentle scraping of paper against paper. Then another. Was it pages of a book turning?

He concentrated harder, and what he heard was even more surprising. A heartbeat. A
human
heartbeat. A mortal sat right outside his cell. “Annabelle?” he called out. There was no answer.

He sniffed the air, and sure enough, he caught her scent. “Annabelle, what the fuck are you doing here?”

He was comforted by the fact that she was safe, but why the hell was she still here when he’d ordered her to go? Why didn’t she run when he told her to? Then it hit him. The only reason she wouldn’t run was if she could resist his compulsion. Which meant she knew what he had tried to do with her mind. She was definitely pissed.

How had she resisted? She’d had a lot of blood on her, but he’d assumed it was all her own. Obviously it wasn’t all human blood. Damn it! He’d only been trying to keep her alive, couldn’t she understand that?

She wasn’t responding to him, so he rested his head against the brick wall behind him and let his body heal itself. Every minute or so, he would hear another page of the book turn. He closed his eyes and focused on the sound, imagining how Annabelle would look sitting there in the middle of a dungeon, reading a book.

Because time was flowing strangely for him, he wasn’t sure how long had passed when he couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer. “Annabelle, just come here and let me see you.” What he wouldn’t give to see with his own eyes that she was safe.

He was about to call out again when he heard other footsteps come down the stairs toward them.

He tensed up but couldn’t see who it was. The footsteps stopped when they approached Annabelle. “Hello there,” came a horrifying familiar voice tinged with an upper-crust British accent. Marcus was with Annabelle. He was known to have a sadistic streak with mortals and vampires alike. If he said so much as one more word to Annabelle, Nicolas would personally rip out his heart.

Marcus signed his own death warrant when he continued, “I heard there was a human running around. I just didn’t expect to find you here. If you would excuse me, I have some private matters to discuss with the prisoner.”

Nicolas fought the urge to try to rip the chains out of the walls.

Annabelle said, “I’m sorry, but you’re not excused.”

“Beg your pardon,” said a shocked Marcus.

“Well, you asked me to excuse you so you could be alone with Nicolas to ‘discuss’ private matters with him. I’m apologizing because I’m not leaving you alone with him, nor am I going to let you talk to him, so maybe you should head on back upstairs.”

Nicolas didn’t know whether to be proud of her or furious at her obvious poking of a very dangerous vampire.

Marcus wasn’t one to be told what to do by a mortal. He continued. “We haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Marcus Grey, member of the High Council.”

“You’re right. My name is Annabelle Roberts. I’m best friend to your queen and under the personal protection of Aleksander. If what you have to talk to Nicolas about is so important, I’m sure Aleksander would be more than happy to make time for you to talk to him privately.

“As a High Council member, I’m sure he would listen to you. That is, unless this private matter is too private for your king, but I doubt that. A matter too private for the king just sounds suspicious.” She lowered her voice to a whisper on the last word.

Nicolas growled as he heard Marcus move closer to her and say, “You’ll be sorry for this later.” With that, he stormed up the stairs. He always was one for dramatic exits.

When he was gone, Nicolas called to Annabelle again. “Are you insane? That man is going to kill you!”

“I’m not the one sitting in a cell right now. If you’re going to worry, you should think about yourself.”

This time he did pull at the chains. The tension on the metal caused the silver to touch and burn his skin. “At least I can fight for myself!” he screamed through the pain.

She turned another page in her book, and he growled his frustration once again. “Are you here to torture me? I’m sorry you’re so upset. I was only trying to keep you safe.” He hoped that with a calmer voice he could reason with her.

“Just like you tying me to a bed was for my protection?” she shot back.

He considered himself lucky she’d started to converse with him.

“I needed my rest to protect you,” he reminded her. Surely she could realize he didn’t want to hurt her.

“Well, your protecting me seems an awful lot like you just being an ass,” she said.

He tried to think of something else to say to her when he heard another set of footsteps come down the stairs. He prayed it wasn’t Marcus returning so soon.

His prayers changed when he heard a much different voice speak to Annabelle. “I need him alone,” was all he said to her.

The voice wasn’t one he immediately recognized, but it did sound familiar. The deep tone made Nicolas think a big man was speaking. Once again, his fear for Annabelle’s safety kicked in.

She obviously felt no such fear, because she responded to the order with a curt, “No.”

There was a pause before the other man said, “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I’m not sure if people are having trouble hearing me tonight or what, but from what I know, vampires are supposed to have really good hearing. I said no. If you want to see him, you have to talk to Aleksander. Until that happens, the answer is still going to be no.”

Nicolas waited for the sounds of this man attacking Annabelle, but they never came. Instead, he heard footsteps retreat. He let out a relieved breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“How many enemies do you intend to make tonight?” he asked her.

“That depends on how many pissed off vampires try to pay you a visit.”

She had a point, he conceded. They probably had both come down to see him for the same reason. To prove how far he’d fallen from power. Now chained up in the palace that used to be his own.

Realization slowly dawned on him. He told Annabelle what had happened to him the last time he’d been captured. She wasn’t here to torture him. She was keeping him safe. “Are you here to protect me?”

She scoffed at his question. “Now that’s ridiculous. Of course I’m not here to protect you. I’m simply here to read my book. Did you know how noisy vampires are? This is the only quiet place in the whole palace.”

His mouth actually formed a smile. “Silly me,” he said. “I forgot about the great reading that can get done in a dungeon.”

He heard her turn another page, but she didn’t say any more to him. He was all right with that now that he knew why she was here. His little human protector. Who knew that he’d ever be so happy to have one?

~~~~~

Anna tried to keep her eyes open as she read her book. It was hard to stay awake after sitting in one spot for so long. Granted, the chair she was in wasn’t too comfortable, but it was better than nothing.

No one else had come down to see Nicolas since the last man had left. She was surprised either of them had listened to her, but apparently dropping Aleksander’s name was a very effective way of threatening a vampire.

She wasn’t sure what she thought about this vampire king yet. She didn’t know what he planned for her or Nicolas, and she had a feeling that if she didn’t like it, she would have little hope of stopping him.

Nicolas hadn’t said anything for a while, and she was very tempted to sneak a peek at him around the corner of the brick wall she was leaning against. She wanted to know how badly he’d been hurt. Make sure he didn’t need any blood.

She didn’t smell anything burning, so she didn’t think he was being held down with silver chains.

She didn’t want to care about what happened to him. She wished she could spend the day upstairs, surrounded by all the decadence the palace had to offer, but no. Here she was, sitting in a cold, damp basement with only a vampire with very questionable morals to keep her company.

After a couple of minutes, she shut her book as quietly as possible. She slowly got up from her chair—her sore muscles protested the movements after sitting still for so long—and glanced around the corner to get a better look at Nicolas.

He looked pretty good for a man chained to a wall. He had a few minor scrapes and bruises on his face and visible parts of his arms, but nothing life threatening. However, he’d been sitting down, doing nothing for hours. Who knew how much he healed in that time?

He looked up at her and their eyes met. She almost jumped back but managed to control her jitters. She had a much harder time thinking straight when she looked at him. It was easier when a brick wall separated them.

“Hi, Annabelle,” he said softly.

She gave his bound body another once-over and sighed. “What am I supposed to do with you, Nicolas?”

He grinned at her but didn’t answer her question. “Why are you here?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Most of it was just curiosity about Evie and my father. Partly, I wanted to spite you for trying to make me turn back.”

“It was stupid and dangerous. How the hell did you end up under Aleksander’s protection anyway?”

Anna smiled. “You’re not going to believe this. He didn’t kill her. He married her!”

Nicolas’s jaw did drop a little. “Really? All this time you thought he murdered her, she was actually the new queen?”

“It’s crazy. I know a vampire queen. I also just found out I’ve been spending a lot of time with a vampire prince.” She looked at him as if to gauge his reaction.

His face didn’t react, but she thought she saw his muscles tighten up a bit. “What else have you learned about me?”

“I learned Aleksander isn’t bent on taking over the human population and your Kirill was a bit insane toward the end of his reign. Were you planning on telling me any of this before we saw Aleksander?”

“We never had a partnership based on trust, and you know that. There were things you kept from me, too, so don’t play the offended innocent.”

His words were true. She hadn’t trusted him enough with all her secrets. Maybe if she told him the whole story about Evie meeting Aleksander at the diner, he could’ve known she was the queen. On the other hand, he could’ve used that information against Aleksander. Anna just didn’t know.

“So am I an enemy of yours now?” she asked.

He seemed surprised. “Why would you ever be an enemy of mine?”