Bete Noire (13 page)

Tristan looked around the Frenchmen to Ash with a brow raised in shocked question. She swallowed hard when their eyes met and she held his gaze, hoping he didn’t say anything to get them killed.

“Desmond and I had a slight...” Tristan nodded his head to the side and said, “
Disagreement
before I left Japan. I had to bitch slap that fucking jerk before I could leave.”

Ash let out a sigh of relief when the older vampire straightened, smiling.

“I see.” He turned away, swaying those narrow hips, making his long braid wag behind him like a tail. “And here you are. Alive and well. Very impressive, for a half-breed abomination.”

He offered his hand to Ash
again and then glanced back. “You will not need that in here.” He motioned with a nod towards the gun in Tristan’s hand. “I have already told my scions they are not permitted dine upon either of you. Mind you, this is only as much of a favor as I can promise Yukihime. However, if your blood is to be spilt, than it will be of my doing, know that.”

Tristan frowned at the ancient vampire, knowing exactly what he saying without spelling it out. Audric just needed a tiny excuse and then he’d kill Tristan, no regrets.
He fingered the cool metal. “Yeah, thanks.”

Audric gave a soft humph and turned his gaze
to Ash, giving a whimsical sort of shrug. “Uruwashi, always so jittery.”

Julien, nearly forgotten, pushed past Tristan, making him flinch. As
he stood in the hall watching the others walk away, he wondered just what in the hell he’d gotten himself into. Sadly, he knew the answer: a big pile of
oh shit, someone’s going to die tonight
. If Tristan had his way, it’d be Lucien.
If
he got his way for once.

They were escorted into a large chamber lit only by a few strategically placed torches high up on the drab stone walls. There was a closed door of planked oak to the left, imagines of wolves burned into the wood. The light that showed under the door and leaked through the slats said there was a more substantial source of illumination than torches in there.

An enormous fire burned in a hearth the size of a VW Bug across from the entrance, ornate metal sconces in the shape of
wolves’ heads flanking each side. Exotic animal skins spotted across the room like pale islands amidst the cold gray stone. Two pristine white sofas bordered the opposing walls, framing the fireplace. Tristan wondered how they managed to keep those so clean in a house full of vampires. Maybe they had a whole room full of back-up sofas to replace when things got wet and wild. Then again, what stains were to be had when their blood simply dissolved into nothing?

“Cleanliness is close to godliness.” Audric stopped halfway across the room with Ash on his arm and smirked over his shoulder to Tristan. “Isn’t that the old saying?”

Tristan stopped just inside the room, sliding to the side to put a wall at his back, crossing his arms over his chest and slipping his hand inside his jacket to touch his gun. “You’d know.”

Ash’s attention snapped around to him and she gave him a look begging him to behave himself. Though, they both knew that was nearly impossible. It’s what she liked
most about him, his freedom.

“Please, Ash,” Master Audric said as he showed her towards a sofa, “make yourself comfortable.”

Tristan scowled, realizing the vampire purposefully excluded him. This was his hunt, but as it was, he had nothing to bargain with. He was still only human and this was vampire territory, something he knew little to nothing about. Dammit, Ash was right. They were totally unprepared for this hunt. He might as well have gone chasing after Lucien with a torch and pitchfork and wearing a big ass sign that said “eat me”. 

There was a
dark haired woman wearing a short red dress draped on the sofa across from Audric. She looked up when the others entered the room and smiled coyly, but didn’t bother to stand, instead dropping her cheek back to the sofa arm. She was feigning boredom, but had her eyes fixed on Ash as she sat down next to the Master of the House. Something flashed in those brown eyes, it might have been jealousy. The boy vampire, Julien, skipped in past the others and plopped down on the bearskin rug in front of the hearth. He rolled over onto his stomach, rested elbows on the floor, putting his chin into his hands and kicked bare feet up in the air.

Tristan rolled his eyes, wondering what the child vampire was up to. That was when he noticed the others in the room. One was just a pale arm draped over the edge of the sofa touching the leg of the woman still staring at Ash with hate in her eyes. The other was a man almost hidden by the sofa, sitting on the floor and staring at the fire as if he didn’t give a shit about anything. 

Tristan could see it in Ash’s face, the tightness in her jaw, around her eyes, she didn’t want to be sitting, but she had to. It was her job as the guest vampire in another Master’s home to do anything asked of her. She really did loathe vampire law. Next to her Master Audric wedged into the corner to face the others, arms across the back so that his open shirt exposed all of his glow-in-the-dark flesh. He was posing. Question was, for whom.

Audric motioned to the empty space next to the woman across from him. “Please, monsieur Uruwashi, you may join us.” His words were kind, but the look in his eyes said, “For now.” Audric didn’t like Tristan one bit and it had nothing to do with the brash American’s personality.

Tristan’s attention darted between the others. Julien was the only one who smiled, and the only one besides the two Masters who knew what the Uruwashi were. Even with no apparent threat, Tristan couldn’t help but touch the gun under his arm, and he wished that he’d left the jacket in the car. It was in the way.

“I prefer to stand, thank you,” he said, sounding a little snippy.

Audric laughed softly. “Have it your way.” Eyes settling on Ash sitting at his hip, he smiled in a way that made Tristan’s skin crawl. “Tell me, lovely Ash of Earth, why are you here?”

She held back a grimace, forced herself to not squirm in her seat. He knew exactly why she’d come to him. Already annoyed over the bullshit, Tristan opened
his mouth to answer, not very nicely, when Ash interrupted. “Yukihime gives word that you may have knowledge on the last of the Fire House, Lucien. As you are well aware, fire users must be closely monitored.”
Closely
monitored
, was code for
kill them all
.

Audric’s smile sobered, his expression going cold. “Oui.” He paused for a long time, the silence of the room overwhelming.

“It is my understanding,” he said thoughtfully, “that Lucien was allowed to live after your former Master killed his.”

Ash confidently answered, “That was the folly of others weaker than I. I cannot answer to their actions. I am here to dispatch Lucien now and that is what will happen.”

“Weaker?” Audric lifted his chin. “Malik truly is dead? Such rumors were not idle gossip?”

Tristan tensed. Word of Malik’s death made it this far? Then again, Yuki probably told him everything. She seemed like a blabbermouth. He just wondered if she left out the part of him being only part Uruwashi and the fact that he only killed naughty vampire
s.

Ash looked proud when she said, “He most certainly is. Malik of Earth has returned to such.”

“By your hand?” The Master fixed his eyes with hers. He was probing her mind for images of the man’s death. As weak as she was right then, she was powerless to stop the Master from violating her. All he had to do was ask nicely and she would have gladly shown him. As it was, the man’s arrogance pushed her to fight back and block what she could.

“No.”

“No?” he repeated with a high lilt, head tilted in wonderment.

Ash stood with a stiffness that Tristan recognized as anger and he straightened as she marched up to him, unsure what he did wrong now. But when she took position next to him and slipped her fingers with his, he relaxed. She lifted their joined hands as if she were offering him to the ancient vampire. “We killed Malik of Earth, my Master and maker, together.”

The fingers on Tristan’s right hand twitched. She’d purposefully took his left so that his dominate hand was free to use the gun. The tension in the room was enough to crush his head and he ached to pull his weapon if only to feel it heavy in his hand. He was becoming too dependent on the thing, but for good reason. By the look in the Master of the House’s eyes, he needed to be.

Audric’s attention narrowed
on the pair even as he frowned. “In old vampire law, even conspiring to harm one’s Master was an offense worthy of losing one’s head.” He paused, letting the silence hang for a moment. “But in these ungodly times it has come to pass as a rite of passage, something to be proud of. It disgusts me, you younglings…” He made an offended noise before settling back with a sigh. “Tell me of Lucien’s crimes.”

Ash took in a breath. “Numerous. Overlooking his past, his most recent include mass murder.”

Audric harrumphed. “And why should the deaths of a few primates concern me?”

Tristan’s brow twitched. It took everything in him not to blurt out something inappropriate.

“No,” Ash said sharply. “Not just humans… vampires too. More than three dozen of the fledglings Yukihime had given refuge to.”

To this Audric visibly bristled. Tristan made a rude noise under his breath. Figured, the guy didn’t give a shit about humans being killed. But change to the tune to others of his kind, a race of murder
ers, well then it was a big fucking deal. Audric’s silver eyes darted to him, brow tightening in annoyance. 

Audric motioned to the woman and she gasped, realizing her Master was looking at her. She stumbled to her feet, nearly tripping over herself as she grabbed something from the far side of the sofa off the floor and took it to Audric. He dropped the packet of newspapers into his lap as the woman darted back to her place, trying to act invisible again.

“While I don’t agree with killing a vampire simply for being born of the wrong House, I do not agree with Lucien’s rampant killing. He has been far too brash and in too many newspapers for my liking…” He fell into thought for a moment, a finger tapping the foreign newspapers in his lap. “While you will not find him here, I do know where he currently resides.” Shifting the newspaper bundle aside, he stood in a fluid, catlike movement and stalked slowly to the pair, eyes cold and dangerous as they fixed on Ash. “However, two problems keep me from giving this information freely.”

Tristan
and Ash both tensed. Should have known things wouldn’t be so easy, not when a vampire was involved.

Audric took another step. “One, I owe my lost friend and dear ally, Guinevere, for past indiscretions. However, I can look past that indignity knowing Lucien has been gravely misbehaving. It is problem number two that would put more shame on my conscious if—I will not give up another of my kind…” Audric’s silver eyes went to Tristan, death and anger a palatable emotion in them. “To his kind.”

“Now, you look here, pal,” Tristan started, unable to contain himself.

Long saber-toothed fangs flashed yellow in the reflected light of the torches
when Audric screamed, “I was not speaking to you!” and flung a hand out in front of him as if he were sweeping a bug away from his face.

A gust of air, sharp and hot, bit into Tristan’s left cheek. He gasped, taking a step back and touched fingers to his cheek, coming away with blood. His mouth opened in shock as he realized the Master vampire just cut him without even touching him.

Master of Air indeed.

Tristan pulled his gun and was lifting
it towards the man who’d just cut him when an ice-cold steel grip encircled his wrist. He jerked against the hold, ready for a fight before he realized who it was.

“Ash? What—” he started to ask but she lowered his hand to her face, shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. Tristan’s mouth was suddenly dry, unable to find the words he wanted to speak.

She took the gun from him and held his hand out in front of them as she walked them to Audric. She lifted his hand to the startled vampire as if in offering. “Master Audric… do you smell that? You know exactly what this blood speaks of, do you not?”

T
he Master let out a soft breath and rolled his eyes up from Tristan’s hand. “I do,” he whispered, brows high. “Death.”

“Oui,” she answered and continued in French. “This man here is the one the pythia speak of. He is the harbinger of death.”

“You mean destruction,” Master Audric answered in a hushed voice, eyes fixed again on the red streaking Tristan’s tanned flesh.

“Oui,” she said sharply so that Audric looked at her again. “He is a good man and not to be taken lightly. He is the only one capable of killing a fire user. He only ever kills to protect his kind. A just and righteous
cause.”

Audric’s nose scrunched up in disgust. “His kind? You mean the Uruwashi.” His accent grew thicker with his mother tongue the more aggravated he got.

“No. Mortals, humanity.”

“Humans. Mere shadows of
creatures greater than them.”

Ash’s brows rose high. “Humans existed before the shinwa, before the dragons and mermaids, before the pythia and earth magic. They may be weaker than us, but they are still the keepers of lands we call home. We owe them our respect.”

Audric’s chuckle turned into a full laugh. But he wasn’t mocking her as so much impressed with her philosophy. “Malik often complained of your way of thinking. I don’t see why, I find it refreshing.”

Feeling victory on the horizon, Ash pressed on, speaking in soft but clearly pronounced French.
“Whatever this man is, he will be the savior of our kind. Of all shinwa, and humanity. That deserves him a level of respect.”

“Ah… yes. This one isn’t exactly Uruwashi, is he?”

Ash’s jaw hardened. He knew more than was good for Tristan.

Audric laughed, tossing back his head in a melodramatic display, making Tristan flinch. “You truly are refreshing, Asta of Earth. I’m glad we met. But I will not give up Lucien, I will pull the reins on him myself and choose whether to keep him or kill him.”

Ash smirked darkly, not bothering to hide her contempt as she lifted Tristan’s hand to her face. He gasped when she stuck her tongue out and pressed the tip to his palm where the blood had pooled. She made sure the Master vampire was paying attention, eyes fixed with his, as she slowly dragged her tongue up the length of Tristan’s finger until finally closing her lips around it.

Tristan couldn’t help but moan as she sucked his finger in, letting her lips slip down to the base between her fangs. That little gesture alone was more arousing than anything
Ash’d ever done with him and that was including the night’s events.

It was dangerous, putting herself in such a compromising position. All she had to do was allow herself to knick that fragile appendage and then her saliva would mix with his blood and he would die. Whether he survived his first death was up to
karma.