Blood Eternal (34 page)
Elizabeth couldn’t breathe. She stumbled backward, to her feet, away from the vampire and his human lover. As the vampire slowly rose and the girl collapsed into his arms, Elizabeth turned on her heels and ran.
Words rang in her ears, silent and mocking, the words she’d said so often to Saloman, flung back at her now with a vengeance.
Who are you to choose? It isn’t up to you.
She’d nearly killed someone else’s Saloman.
Chapter Sixteen
D
espite the fact that it was almost three in the morn ing, Mihaela opened the door only seconds after Elizabeth rang. She wore the shorts and top she often slept in, and her dark eyes were huge with concern.
espite the fact that it was almost three in the morn ing, Mihaela opened the door only seconds after Elizabeth rang. She wore the shorts and top she often slept in, and her dark eyes were huge with concern.
“Elizabeth! What is it?” she demanded, opening the door wide in clear invitation.
Elizabeth stepped in. “I’m sorry. It’s ridiculously late. I just thought you should know. I thought
somebody
should know.”
somebody
should know.”
“Oh, shit. What has he done? Elizabeth, has he hurt you?” Mihaela closed the door, leaning her back on it as she stared at Elizabeth, fearful expressions chasing across her face almost as clearly as words.
Elizabeth gave a shaky smile. “No.”
Yes, he has. He has hurt me, and he didn’t even mean to. Was Mihaela right all along, that this can never work?
“This has nothing to do with Saloman. I just came across something really weird. It scared the hell out of me.”
Yes, he has. He has hurt me, and he didn’t even mean to. Was Mihaela right all along, that this can never work?
“This has nothing to do with Saloman. I just came across something really weird. It scared the hell out of me.”
Mihaela pushed herself off the door and padded across the hall to her kitchen. “I’ll get coffee.”
Elizabeth followed on suddenly weary legs, and while Mihaela worked, she told her what she’d seen near the nightclub, the vampire and his girlfriend.
“Is this important, Mihaela?” she finished. “Have you ever come across this sort of thing before? Vampires having relationships with humans?”
“Vampires have always had relationships with humans,” Mihaela said, pushing a mug of milky coffee toward her. “Usually master-slave relationships.” She frowned, picking up her cup and walking toward the living room. “What is different here is the openness and public acknowledgment of both parties.” Both she and Elizabeth seemed to be ignoring the similarities to her own case. Elizabeth was fine with that.
“So this girl begged you to spare her boyfriend’s life,” Mihaela mused, curling herself onto one side of the sofa. She cast a penetrating glance at Elizabeth. “Did you?”
“Spare him? Of course I did!” Elizabeth kicked off her shoes and sat on the other side of the sofa, drawing one knee up under her chin.
Mihaela’s frown deepened. “No ‘of course’ about it. You should have killed him at the outset. The sob stories of slaves should never distract you from your duty.”
Elizabeth said, “That’s just it; I don’t think she
was
a slave. She was too obviously terrified of what I could do to him. I don’t believe he hurt her or had any plan to kill her. I think they were in a genuine relationship.”
was
a slave. She was too obviously terrified of what I could do to him. I don’t believe he hurt her or had any plan to kill her. I think they were in a genuine relationship.”
Mihaela looked at her. “Could you be mistaken?” she asked. Elizabeth heard the unspoken addition.
Are you projecting your own case onto the unknown girl’s and simply getting it wrong?
Are you projecting your own case onto the unknown girl’s and simply getting it wrong?
Elizabeth sipped her coffee. “I don’t believe I am,” she said evenly. “I wouldn’t have brought this to you tonight if I thought that was possible. I would have killed the vampire and told you tomorrow.”
Mihaela watched her for a few moments before she looked away, absently drinking. “Is it important?” she repeated. “I don’t know. It depends whether it’s a one-off or not.”
It was never a one-off. At the very least there was herself and Saloman.
Is there?
Is there?
Abruptly, Mihaela was speaking again, distracting her from the despair threatening to rise up and consume her. “I’ll tell you another weird thing. We’ve been looking for new patterns in vampire attacks, trying to locate Luk—there’s a whole commune of them out there, after all, and they all have to be feeding. We couldn’t trace them, of course. But we
did
find two recent reports from victims of vampire bites who remember it happening.”
did
find two recent reports from victims of vampire bites who remember it happening.”
Mihaela shifted position. “In fact, in the last six months there’ve been
several
reports of nonlethal bitings. Statistically, there shouldn’t be any at all in that time. Vampires who don’t kill—that is, the ones that are avoiding trouble in the shape of us—mesmerize their victims so they don’t tell and start up a hue and cry. Some of them have stopped bothering. It’s almost as if . . .”
several
reports of nonlethal bitings. Statistically, there shouldn’t be any at all in that time. Vampires who don’t kill—that is, the ones that are avoiding trouble in the shape of us—mesmerize their victims so they don’t tell and start up a hue and cry. Some of them have stopped bothering. It’s almost as if . . .”
“As if what?” Elizabeth prompted.
Mihaela met her gaze. “As if the vampires had stopped hiding.”
Elizabeth drew in her breath. She reached out and set her mug down on the coffee table. Mihaela had put her own growing realization into words. “I think you’re right, and I think it’s happening all over. Before I left the UK, there was a case of a vampire openly feeding in some village down in Cornwall. And remember John, my injured soldier? I got an e-mail from him saying he’d encountered another vampire, this time in Glasgow’s city center. She spoke to him because she was intrigued by his telepathic powers, but she made no attempt to kill him, or even to feed from him. And now he wants to know more. He
needs
to know more. And he’s precisely the sort of determined young man who’ll manage it.”
needs
to know more. And he’s precisely the sort of determined young man who’ll manage it.”
Mihaela’s free hand tugged at her hair. “It’s Saloman. He’s changing their behavior, and they’re revealing themselves. Put that together with all the stuff we couldn’t cover up in Turkey, and this could be disastrous for all of us. I really don’t want to have to clear up the carnage once this secret is out in the open.” She gulped her coffee. “If it
can
be cleared up.”
can
be cleared up.”
Thoughtfully, Elizabeth reached for her mug once more and took a few sips before she said, “Like I said before, I think we need a strategy for dealing with this revelation.”
“I spoke to the others. And to Lazar.”
“What did they say?”
Mihaela gave a lopsided smile. “Konrad thinks Luk’s behind the changes, because Luk rather than Saloman would benefit from the upheaval of a vampire war. Lazar grunted. Which may mean he’s thinking about it or that he believes we’re insane. I’ll take this stuff to him in the morning.”
“Thanks.”
Mihaela glanced at the clock on her bookcase. “Want the spare room?”
Elizabeth’s free hand flew to her throat and pinched. Stupidly, although staying with Mihaela was a natural and sensible thing to do, it seemed a monumental decision. Because she’d quarreled with Saloman, and she was too confused even to work out whether she wanted to make up. She’d gotten over far larger hurdles in this relationship, and yet . . .
“Elizabeth.” Leaning over the space between them, Mihaela squeezed her shoulder. “What’s the matter? You think he’ll mind if you’re not there?”
“I’m not even sure he’ll notice.” He was probably teaching some other recalcitrant underling to follow his rules. She closed her eyes, appalled by the meanness of her own thoughts. “He’ll know I’m safe,” she added in the interest of honesty.
Mihaela shrugged. “I doubt he’s paying much attention to that either,” she said dryly. “He’s obviously happy enough for you to be wandering about the city on your own at this time of night, even after Luk tried to kill you.”
“That’s not fair.” It came out as a whisper. “I left him, stomped off. He knew I didn’t want him to follow me.”
“Why?”
Elizabeth smiled unhappily. “Why? Why any of this? He’s manipulative, Mihaela; I’ve always known that. I just don’t want my strings pulled by his cruelty or benevolence—”
“Cruelty?” Mihaela interrupted, her fingers digging suddenly harder into Elizabeth’s shoulder. “What has he done to you?”
“Oh, nothing. Nothing like that. He just showed me things, unnecessary things, to remind me of
human
cruelty. I’m not an idiot. I don’t
need
reminding.”
human
cruelty. I’m not an idiot. I don’t
need
reminding.”
Mihaela’s hand fell away. “No,” she agreed. “You’re right. That was unnecessary. I’m not surprised you don’t want to go back to him.”
“Oh, Mihaela, it’s not as simple as that. I know why he did it. He’s afraid—” She bit the words back. Not just because of the skeptical curl to Mihaela’s lip, but because baring her heart would bare Saloman’s confidences too.
“And yet you can’t forgive him.”
Elizabeth closed her eyes. “Not yet,” she whispered.
Mihaela set down her mug carefully. “You don’t have to,” she pointed out. “Not if it isn’t right.”
Elizabeth opened her eyes. “I know.”
Mihaela stood up, her eyes shrewd even through the concern. “It isn’t so much the cruelty, or even the implied manipulation that hurts, is it? It’s the fact that he’s treating you like everyone else.”
Elizabeth looked away. “You know what I hate about you, Mihaela? You’re too bloody perceptive. Can I call a taxi?”
There was a pause, then: “Sure.”
While Elizabeth made the call, Mihaela took the empty mugs back into the kitchen. The taxi summoned, Elizabeth followed her. “Sorry for waking you up and hitting you with all this. I know it could have waited till morning.”
“Sometimes you have to talk. What you need is a good dose of normality.”
Elizabeth smiled. “If only to remind me why I need to be taken away from it?”
“Exactly. Come for dinner tomorrow night. By yourself,” she added, presumably just in case Elizabeth got the wrong idea and brought Saloman. “And whatever happens today, we won’t talk about any of this stuff.”
“Bet we will,” Elizabeth said, and Mihaela smiled, clearly taking that as she was meant to: as an acceptance.
In the morning, after a bare three hours’ sleep, Elizabeth found another e-mail from John Ramsay. He’d hooked up with Rudy and Cyn, thanks to her reference, and seemed to have joined the little private army they were forming in New York. Though it was all part of his necessary quest for learning, which Elizabeth thoroughly approved of, she wasn’t sure about this latest venture of the unofficial hunters. Paramilitary organizations made her uneasy, and Cyn didn’t talk to her enough for her to get the gist of what she was up to. The American, she thought, was the opposite of herself; Cyn needed to think more and do less.
Rushing as she was, Elizabeth merely dashed off a quick reply. “Hope you find out what you need to. Take care—there’s still a bit of a leadership dispute in America. Avoid confrontation with the vampire Travis, who’s strong and wily but won’t kill you without provocation.” Her fingers paused on the keys. Telling John, Rudy, or Cyn to use her name to save their lives from Travis stank suddenly and unbearably of playing God again, of choosing who was to live and who was allowed to die. Saloman might be comfortable in that role, but she sure as hell wasn’t. She’d told John the score. She’d have to trust in his common sense and Travis’s semireformation.
She typed hastily, “Things a bit wild here in Budapest. Expecting a major attack, so may not be online for a bit. Best to Rudy and Cyn. Elizabeth.” Then she shut the computer lid with a snap, threw on the rest of her clothes, grabbed her bag and her phone, and made her way downstairs.
She’d come straight up to her own rooms last night. Pausing only for an instant outside Saloman’s drawing room door, she’d reached for the handle with trembling fingers, but she’d felt no trace of him. She’d let her hand fall back to her side and walked on to the staircase. One of the others had been in the house—Dmitriu or Maximilian; she couldn’t tell which. But it was interesting that she could sense the presence and know it was unthreatening.
And yet, after that night’s discovery, could she trust her instincts?
Storming away from Saloman had not been a mature way to deal with his behavior. If anything she’d just reinforced his view that she was some kind of ignorant child to be shown the error of her ways. Now, as she crossed the landing in front of his rooms, the longing to see him clawed at her. She needed to be with him, to tell him what she’d seen after she left him, what she’d so nearly done. She needed to carry on quarreling with him, or make up, or
something
.
something
.
She paused, staring at the doors to the drawing room. He was in there now. She couldn’t hear him moving, but she sensed him, as he would sense her. He could come out at any time and discover her, and she realized suddenly that she didn’t want the matter taken out of her hands. She wanted to be in control.
Decisively, she took a step toward the door, just as the phone in her hand beeped. She glanced down at it and saw a text message from Mihaela. There was a meeting with Lazar at eight thirty sharp and she should be there.
A rushed two-minute conversation with Saloman was not enough. Elizabeth dropped the phone in her bag and ran downstairs before she changed her mind.
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