Evermore, an Arotas Novella (The Arotas Series) (8 page)

William
plunges his hands deep into his pockets. “Maybe that’s
your problem,” he mutters.

“Excuse
me?” Gabriel sits forward.

William
sighs, no doubt sure he’s about to be given a lecture. “I
said maybe that’s your problem.”

“Yeah,
no, I heard that part,” Gabriel says, slowing rising to his
feet. “I’d like to know what you meant by it.”

“Oh.”
William shrugs. “I just meant that maybe you shouldn’t be
looking but instead focus on drawing them out. You know, stop hiding
behind these walls and show whoever this is that you’re not
afraid of them.”

“You
mean like meet them on the battlefield with a war cry?” Nicolae
snickers.

“No.”
Sadie detangles herself from his side and rises, a small grin
spreading along her pale lips. “I think he might be on to
something. Maybe what we need to do is go out, a night on the town.
I, for one, could use some human interaction.”

“Sadie,
I’m not really sure that’s such a good idea—”
Roseline begins, but Gabriel motions for her stop.

“Let
Sadie finish.” He gives Roseline a soft look that takes the
sting out of his interruption. She plants her hands on her hips and
waits.

Sadie
glances around the room before she continues. Her eyes seem brighter
than normal in the dim room. “I think it would do all of us
some good to get out and wind down. I think it is safe to assume we
are being watched, so if we leave the castle with only a minimal
guard, then maybe we can lure them into attacking. If we go to
Brasov, we are only a few miles away. At the first sign of attack, we
can be back here in a couple of minutes. It’s brilliant!”

Roseline
can feel herself frowning. Sadie’s plan has merit, at least as
far as the idea of drawing out their enemy, but she is less than
enthused by the idea of waltzing into a human town or leaving the
castle minimally manned. Too many things could go wrong, which means
they most likely will.

“The
shops will be closed by now,” Nicolae muses, glancing toward
the window. Night has fallen heavily over the horizon. “What
exactly do you expect us to do at this time of night? Just cruise the
streets? I’m pretty sure a group of hunters and immortals will
cause quite a scene.”

Sadie’s
smile broadens. “I want to go clubbing.”

“No.
No way!” Nicolae announces. “If you think I’m going
to let you go into a club where guys can paw over you, you’re
wrong.”

Roseline
cringes as Sadie slowly turns to glare at her Nicolae. “I’ll
hold her back to give you a head start,” Gabriel mutters to
Nicolae, raising his hands in surrender when she glares at him over
her boyfriend’s shoulder. “Never mind. You’re on
your own.”

“Let’s
do it!” Everyone turns stare at William, shocked by his
enthusiastic approval of the idea. “Oh, come on. What better
place to try to blend in than a loud, dark room filled with drunk
humans? It’s the perfect cover?”

Roseline
has no doubt that it will be the exact opposite of perfect, but even
she has to admit the idea of escaping the castle for a few hours is
tempting. Even if only to break through the tension that has been
weighing so heavily on everyone.

To
Gabriel’s obvious surprise, she rises and loops her arm through
Sadie’s. “All right. I’m game, but there are going
to be some ground rules.”

Nicolae
looks to Gabriel, who instantly shakes his head. Roseline smirks,
knowing he is smart enough to realize when he is outgunned. “Fine,
but I don’t have anything to wear,” Nicolae grumbles.

Roseline
grins. “Leave that to me.”

Peeking
down the stairwell, Roseline looks at the guys assembled at the
bottom of the steps. Each looks handsome in dark vests, cut high
along the shoulder to feature their well-defined arms, and black
leather pants. The dim light gleams off Gabriel’s mussed blond
hair and a warmth begins to swell in her chest.

“Are
you sure this suits me?”

She
turns to find Sadie tugging on the top of a pair of thigh-high boots
with three-inch heels. Her skirt is short, making her fishnet-covered
legs look a mile long. Her emerald halter fits snugly and leaves
little to the imagination. Her wild green hair has been fluffed and
tipped with wax to give her a pixy style that really makes her eyes
pop. Roseline can only imagine how the strobe lights will look
against her ensemble.

“You
look smashing.” Roseline grins, adjusting her own outfit.

Skin-hugging
leather pants tuck into calf-high black boots with a heel high enough
to easily twist an ankle. Her waist tapers perfectly with the boning
in her black-and-white corset. A row of silver buckles runs the
length of the front while a black laced back allows her skin to
breath.

She
clears her throat and loops her arm through Sadie’s. “Are
you ready for us?” she calls down to the guys below.

“We’ve
been ready for over an hour.” William’s grumble is easily
heard.

Roseline
pats Sadie’s arm and leads her forward into the light.
Gabriel’s eyes go wide with surprise. Nicolae’s mouth
gapes open so far that Roseline wouldn’t be surprise if he
suffers from lockjaw.

William
takes a step back, looking utterly dumbfounded as he stares at his
sister. “Right. I think I’ve changed my mind. Anyone up
for a game of poker instead?”

Sadie
puts a little extra sway in her step and Roseline has to fight to
keep from laughing as William pales noticeably. “I have a
feeling we are going to regret this,” Nicolae mutters, leaning
close to Gabriel.

“Speak
for yourself.” He grins and steps forward to take Roseline in
his arms the instant she hits the bottom floor. “I plan to
thoroughly enjoy this outfit tonight.”

Holding
out her hand, Sadie allows Nicolae to slowly spin her. She turns on
her heel, giving him the full view. “You like?”

“Enough
to want to take you up to our room and not come out for a couple of
days,” he says, nuzzling into her neck.

“Really?
I’m standing right here, guys. I did
not
need
to hear that,” William grumbles. He tugs at the neckline of his
vest, easily distracted. “What is with these clothes? I feel
like I can’t breathe in them.”

Nicolae
casts a knowing glance at Roseline. She smirks at the memory of
giving a similar set of clothes to him just before they went to
Torrent
in
search of Fane. “Roseline has a thing for leather.”

“It’s
not a thing,” she counters, grabbing Gabriel’s arm to
steer him toward the door. “It’s a way of life.”

The
streets of Brasov are alive tonight, filled with drunken pub goers
and mouthy teens who cling to dark glass bottles within crumbled
paper bags. People loiter along the sidewalks. Some are couples
window shopping arm in arm while others dip into well-lit cafes for a
late-night snack.

To
say she is uncomfortable with being in the heart of a human town is
an understatement, but to know that this is Brasov makes her doubly
uneasy. Although the town has changed and the people have come and
gone, this place still holds too many memories for her.

The
black church stands resolutely ahead of her, lit brilliantly against
the night sky. Wide beams of light shine upon its stone walls,
highlighting the beautiful stained glass windows. The original church
didn’t have fancy windows or stone exterior. It was wooden and
much smaller. That is until her wedding night when Vladimir razed it
to the ground.

Expelling
a small shudder, Roseline turns a corner and happily puts her
memories behind her. “You okay?” Gabriel asks.

“Yeah.
It’s just… weird. I usually avoid coming here, for
obvious reasons.”

Considering
that her late husband gave birth to the vampire myths that have
plagued Transylvania and modern-day Romania for hundreds of years,
she is always leery of being seen. Most people have chosen not to
believe in the myths, writing them off as just a tourist ploy. Others
accept them all too readily but are sadly misled as to the true
nature of the myths. And still others have an odd fascination with
what they would deem to be the occult, mingling blood drinking with
the horror of pagan rituals and gruesome sacrifices. These are the
people who worry her the most.

They
flock to Romania each year in hopes of stumbling across a real-life
vampire in a darkened back alley. More than one tourist has found
just what they were looking for. At least that was the case when
Lucien was still alive. He did so enjoy targeting tourists as his
source of entertainment. Since his death, the crime rate in Brasov
has improved drastically.

Behind
her she can still hear William grumbling about the tight fit of his
clothes. Having been predominantly a T-shirt and jeans sort of guy,
she can understand why his new outfit might be a bit…
constricting.

To
his dismay, Claudia chose to remain behind. Roseline has a sneaking
suspicion this decision has less to do with her aversion to spending
time in a human city, but more about wanting to be on hand in case
something should go wrong tonight. Before they left, the group made
sure to make a show of their exit. They shouted loudly to each other,
laughed and reveled in the night ahead before peeling out of the
castle grounds in Roseline’s sleek blacked-out Range Rover. If
they really are being watched, there will be little doubt that they
plan to be gone for the entire evening.

With
Gabriel at the wheel, they arrived in Brasov in no time. He appears
to have gained a bit of a lead foot since becoming immortal. Roseline
has yet to decide if this stems from his lack of fear regarding death
or the simple fact that his reflexes have improved so much.

Nicolae
and Sadie walk side by side, their heads dipped close as they remark
about small details of the street. Roseline is reminded that this was
home to Nicolae as a boy. He should know the ins and outs of this
city. Sadie, having never actually spent any time here, seems rather
taken with the old-world charm when seen up close.

“People
are staring,” Gabriel muses and naturally draws Roseline closer
into his side. She casts a guarded glance toward a couple standing on
the opposite side of the road. They appear to be in their
mid-thirties. Probably out having a nice dinner and a movie while the
babysitter stays home with the kids. Roseline notes the small mustard
stain on the hem of the woman’s blouse and the small wrinkled
patch beside it that gives evidence to a small hand clutched there
recently.

Their
gaze is not unkind, nor it is filled with fear. “They’re
probably wondering where our parents are.” She laughs and tugs
him on.

“Do
you think anyone will recognize you tonight?” She can hear the
note of concern in his voice over the clacking of her heels against
the uneven cobblestone path.

Even
with her hair piled high on her head, falling in ringlets about her
face, she still feels hot and clammy.
Perhaps
leather wasn’t the best choice after all
,
she muses.

“No,”
she replies, refocusing her thoughts as they round another corner and
disappear into shadows. Glancing overhead, Roseline realizes the
lamplight has been shattered. Hard to tell if it was an act of
vandalism or not. “Not in the club at least.”

But
even as the words cross her lips she knows that she will always be
wary. Three hundred years of fear and accusations are hard to forget.

Roseline
has always wondered how the owners of
Pandemic
chose
the nightclub’s name. Were they thinking of some sort of plague
or widespread fear at the time? Seems an odd choice, yet none of the
club goers seem to pay the neon sign hanging over the door any mind
as they pay their entrance fee and join the writhing masses within.

The
line winds down the block and around the corner, but one whispered
request from Roseline, partnered with a heavy dose of hormones, gives
the bouncer just enough incentive to allow them to jump straight to
the head of the line. Gabriel smirks as she giggles and retracts her
hand from the bouncer’s arm. He sways, slightly dazed, as she
walks past him to rejoin the group. “Show off,” he growls
in her ear, pulling her close.