Blood Rose (26 page)

“Swift.” He had reached the same conclusion. “I’ll rip him apart.” His gut clenched. The most logical reason Serena had not left a note? She did not want to be found.

“He might not mean to harm her.” Althea placed her hand on his arm, and he jerked in surprise.

“He means to turn her,” Jonathon barked, losing his grip on his temper again. “He means to make her undead!”

“Which she is meant to be,” Althea pointed out, with a calm voice that reminded him of Serena’s muted governess tones. He knew he’d insulted Althea, a vampiress herself.

“I found his lodgings tonight, but I didn’t wait for him,” he admitted. “Goddamn me for that stupid moment of weakness.”

“Not weakness, Sommersby. Mercy. Love.”

Jonathon forced a smile to his lips as Althea patted his arm. Like Ashcroft, his father had never accepted the idea of good vampires. His father had warned the Society about tolerance for a superior being.
We allow them to prosper, they will enslave us,
his father had warned.

But both Ashcroft and his father were killing not to protect or to save, but out of fear.

“I will have my husband and Bastien go with you—”

“No, it’s too dangerous for them.” Jonathon patted Althea’s hand in turn, then left her to stand at the window, at the lightening night sky. “I can guess where Swift’s taken her but I fear I’m already too late.” He hung his head. “If she becomes vampire, I’ve lost her.

“No,” Althea said, gently. “You will never lose her.”

It is not wrong, or bad, or impossible to love two men. I want you to understand that.

Serena remembered Althea’s words once again as her tongue swirled over Drake’s warm, tangy skin. As she licked his wounded wrist. Driven by a primal, powerful need, she ran her tongue along his wound, tasting his rich, hot, coppery blood. She didn’t love the taste of blood, but once she took it in her mouth, she couldn’t stop taking more. Tears pricked—she wanted to stop, but she couldn’t pull away.

What was it like to be vampire? To want blood so much it was beyond control? To revel in the fierce moans of the victim as she drank?

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Less blood flowed. Her tongue no longer slipped into the tear in his flesh; it skimmed over smooth tissue.

Thank you for healing me,
Drake whispered in her thoughts.

She felt a burst of excitement, a sense of power, but also fear.
I don’t think it was I. I think it
was you.

It’s almost dawn.

Starting guiltily, Serena saw weariness in Drake’s silvery-green eyes. She had to fight a yawn, too, as exhaustion stole over her. She’d been awake all night. But Drake would succumb to the daysleep, and that would give her a chance to escape…

When they’d been making love, she’d trusted Drake, but now she felt a sense of panic, a need to get away. To be alone, to think…

He hadn’t asked her for her blood. Only given his. Why?

Drake held out his hand.
Sleep with me, Serena, love.

The gravelly invitation had spoken to her heart. She heard the aching honesty in it. She felt so tired now. Drake’s bare chest and his powerful arms looked so welcoming. He moved to the bed and fell back onto it, his arms spread open as though waiting to embrace her.

She had to make him believe she planned to sleep with him, so she went to his arms. She closed her eyes, trying to fight the contentment, the sense of belonging she felt as he held her. She had to keep to her plan and leave.

To go where? Back to Althea, so she could tell her only friend that she was a vampire’s child?

Back to the Royal Society, who were planning to cut her up for scientific study?

Or
did
she stay with Drake, who intended to turn her into the undead—because that was her destiny?

She had nowhere to go. Nowhere to consider her home. The thought weakened her, left her heart like ice, but she tried to fight the paralyzing pain. For her entire life, she’d never felt she had a home, never felt she’d belonged. She had always been unwanted, but she had endured.

Serena closed her eyes and mimicked the slow, steady breathing of sleep…

After a long time, Drake sat up; the bed groaned softly with his movement. Serena shut her eyes tight and struggled to keep her chest moving evenly. Was he watching? The bed creaked again, more loudly. He’d left it.

Why was he awake? With her lids open a crack, she watched him cross the room, his white-blond hair and naked skin lit by the dim glow of the low fire. He seemed weak—he stumbled.

Serena heard the click of a lock, saw he’d passed through a narrow door, a different one than the one they’d entered.

Serena lay motionless. A clock ticked somewhere in the room. A log popped in the grate. She heard the creak of hinges, the thud of another door closing. Only then did she feel safe enough to slide off the bed.

Creeping quietly through shadow, she found her shift and corset. Her toes bumped the thick fabric of her gown. Groping, she touched the trim of her pelisse. Ignoring her corset, she pulled her thin shift over her head, then wiggled into her gown. She managed two buttons at the top of her neck, and her pelisse covered the rest. She didn’t bother with stockings and crossed barefoot across the room, slippers in her hand.

Was it foolish to look where Drake had gone? Carefully she opened the narrow door, so slowly it didn’t make a sound. It opened to complete darkness. She strained to see and caught a glimpse of something dark that gleamed. The fittings on a coffin’s lid.

Drake was in
there
.

Heart pattering in her throat, Serena pulled the door closed and darted to the door that led out to the other rooms—that would get her out of Drake’s house. Her slippers coasted quietly over the Blood Rose ©Sharon Page 2007 Email: [email protected] 109

carpet. When she reached the door to the bedchamber’s sitting room, she turned the doorknob as silently as she could.

Locked.

Damn and blast!

She withdrew her silver cross and chain from her pelisse pocket. Her cross wasn’t only a cross, after all. She flicked open the hinged lid and slid out the slender lock pick Mr. de Wynter had given her.

What are you doing, sweetheart?
Drake’s seductive baritone sang through her mind.

Serena’s hand jerked the cross so hard she broke the chain. The edges of the silver dug into her gripping fingers as she turned to face Drake and met his amused silvery-green eyes. She did not know what he would do to her. He was no longer the man who had captured her heart.

Trust me, little lark.
He held out his hands.

She couldn’t. She wasn’t ready—

Starlight exploded in the room, a glimmering column of it that swirled around Drake, engulfing him as he cried out in surprise.

What was happening?
Never mind
, screamed a logical voice in her head,
unlock the door!

In her shock, she’d dropped the lock pick, and she had to step closer to Drake to get it. Within the sparkling lights, his body glowed like pure gold, and he seemed transfixed—like a statue. She bent, and her fingers touched the metal pick when the lights vanished. Horrified, she saw Drake’s eyes.

The silvery gleam was gone and they looked like deep, dark pits. Before her eyes, his face distorted—his jaw lurched wide, his fangs lengthened.

She jumped back in horror.

The bedchamber door flew open behind her and she spun around. Black shapes swooped inside, transforming the instant they crossed the threshold, and she faced Leonardo and the new vampires who served Lukos—the vampires who were now his loyal disciples.

A howl exploded from behind her, a sound like a soul being taken to hell. Drake! She turned back to him, dizzy on her feet. He hovered in the air, arms and legs wrenched back and pinned against the wall. His head was twisted back, throat exposed. His eyes were huge and still that horrible, soulless black.

Lukos! It must be Lukos who controlled Drake.

The window—if she could reach the draped window—

Leonardo launched across the room toward her. His lips, white and bloodless, curled back from long fangs.

Holy water! She had it in her pocket, but one vial used now would gain her nothing. She didn’t even know if it would work.

She turned and ran, but Leonardo’s hand snaked out and grabbed her wrist, yanking her back.

She spun and kicked, but he swirled her so her back was to him and he wrenched her arms behind her.

An animal roar erupted from Drake, but Leonardo’s grip tightened. He jerked her around to face the door.

Heart in her throat, Serena knew who would walk in.

She expected a horrific demon with horns, inhuman face, unearthly white skin, and vicious fangs. A hand slid around the door—a large hand in black leather gloves. Then he filled the doorway, massive and dark.

Lukos.

For the first time, Serena saw the vampire who wanted her. Black hair streaked with white was drawn back into a queue. A cape draped over his flawless gentleman’s dress clothes. His face was Blood Rose ©Sharon Page 2007 Email: [email protected] 110

that of a fallen angel. Eyes of silver that seemed to swirl with blue and violet mists. Sharp cheekbones, a harsh chin, long aristocratic nose.

He was beautiful.

His eyes glowed in the blue light that poured into the room. He leaned on a walking stick, and she met his gaze, refusing to show the fear that coursed through her. Her palms were soaked; her underarms smelled of her own desperate sweat. At her side, Leonardo bowed, and the other vampires followed with the same gesture of genuflection.

Lukos waved his hand, and magically the door slammed closed behind him. He threw a slow smile to Drake, who writhed against the invisible power holding him. “You have betrayed me, thrall, and you will be punished.”

Serena had to struggle to force her head to turn away from Lukos—it was as though he controlled her muscles, as though he could will her to obey.

No. She had to fight this. Her fingers felt numb, her shoulders felt as though they’d snap apart, and she had to stop fighting against Leonardo’s hold.

Look upon your lover for the last time.

Serena’s head jerked to the side by its own volition—no, by Lukos’s control. She shivered in emptiness the instant she snapped her horrified gaze to Drake. He gave a valiant struggle against the power holding him but slumped, exhausted, still pinned against the wall.

No—spare him!
She willed the thought to Lukos, even as her skin crawled at the thought of speaking so intimately with a demon.

He needs to be punished.

Drake’s head snapped back hard, over and over, pounding against the wall. Blood smeared the wallpaper and dripped down onto Drake’s shoulders.

No—stop!
She screamed it in her thoughts.
I will do anything you want if you spare him.

How noble you are, my dearest Serena.

Lukos’s voice echoed through her mind, rich and captivating. Gritting her teeth, Serena willed herself not to respond. She felt a warmth wrap around her heart—it was as though by imagining a shield over her heart and her soul, she could create one.

You think I am beautiful, do you not?
Lukos asked.

“What are you!” She cried it aloud. She felt stronger. She felt in control of herself.

Doesn’t hell possess the most beautiful amongst us? The fallen angels?

“You are not a fallen angel. You are merely a vampire. A carcass without a soul.”

Brave words, Serena, for you are not yet vampire. I knew your mother. She is as old as
recorded time, as powerful as a deity. I wanted her but could not possess her—but with you, I can
rule the earth as it was intended. Between heaven and Hades is the paradise of the vampire—we
will rule here. I will be the one to command the wind, the seas, the sun. And you will rule at my
side.

“I most certainly will not rule at your side!” She forced calm into her voice, though her thoughts whirled. It was madness. Her mother had been a mortal, not a vampire—hadn’t she? Her father had been the vampire—surely her mother had been an innocent?

Lukos laughed, and in the twist of his features, she saw the cold cruelty in the eyes.
You will
spawn a race, Serena. You will rule the world.

“Never.”

Not even to save your lover, Swift? You can have him as your thrall, if you wish. But you must
serve me.

She heard his command to his disciples.
Take her to the bed.

Drake’s howls of rage echoed in her ears as Leonardo began to drag her to the enormous bed.

Tears stung at her eyes—stupid tears.

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The holy water. It was her only hope. Serena prayed that Lukos did not want to bother with undressing her—

If she could get her hand free, she could throw the water at Lukos.

The next howl almost split her eardrums. An unearthly shriek of pain and fury that echoed so loud in the room it left her deafened.

Drake? She twisted in Leonardo’s arms to see Drake drop to the floor. Lukos’s power no longer held him.

Leonardo jerked her back, then his scream exploded beside her ear. He released her, and she stumbled forward, grabbing the bedpost to stop her fall. A cry of surprise wrenched from Serena’s throat as Leonardo’s body crashed to the floor beside her. A crossbow bolt protruded from his back.

Her hand sank into her pocket, fingers closing around the smooth glass of the vial as she saw Lukos. The demon slowly rose from the floor, his hand on the arrow that stuck out through his chest. A perfect shot, through his heart, but he was still alive.

Impossible.

Lukos roared and reared up onto his haunches. He held his hands out in front of him, palms flat. A stream of fiery white light seemed to shoot from his hands toward the door.

Where Jonathon stood, jamming another arrow into his weapon.