Kiss of the Rose (24 page)

Rhys’s fighting stance seemed to crumble and he put his dagger away. “How can I kill you, when it would destroy her?”

“Please!” Rosalind cried.“We are supposed to be trying to work together! Can we not put this behind us?”

Christopher looked over at her. “It’s all right, Rosalind. Rhys and I know our duty. Neither of us wants to cause you pain.”

“He’s correct,” Rhys said. “I’ll keep my thoughts to myself until we’ve caught this Vampire.” His cold gaze returned to Christopher. “But there will be a reckoning between us.”

Christopher bowed.“I’m sure there will, but until then, Lady Rosalind needs both of us, don’t you think?”

His mild tone made Rosalind feel ashamed. “I’m sorry I’ve been difficult. I will do my best to concentrate on the matter in hand.”

“Thank you,” Christopher said simply. “That is all I ask. And you, Rhys?”

“I have already offered to do my part.”

“Then we are all in agreement,” Christopher stated. “Shall we meet back here at midnight?”

Rosalind and Rhys nodded, and Rhys turned toward the door. It was only after he had left that Rosalind realized he hadn’t looked her in the eye once. That hurt more than she could possibly have imagined.

Christopher held out his hand. “I should escort you back to the queen. She will be wondering what has become of you.”

She laid her hand on his black velvet sleeve, felt the roughness of silver thread beneath her fingers, and traced the spirals. It was now obvious that the path she had chosen meant that Rhys would no longer be quite so willing to shield her from all harm. She couldn’t ask him to, not after what had happened with Christopher. She glanced up at her companion’s dark features. Christopher wanted to defend her as well, but she had to stand alone.

A gust of wind shook through her and she shivered. If Elias was right, they were all at the mercy of the prophecy and its foretelling of death. All she could do was hope to God that they saved the king, and remained alive themselves.

Rosalind checked that her silver-tipped dagger was in its sheath and that her sword was tightly strapped to her side. She felt more anxious than usual, as if time was running out for them to catch and destroy the Vampire they sought.

She glanced up at Rhys, who was studying the terrain, his narrowed hazel gaze intent on the comings and goings outside the king’s apartments. Christopher was also quiet, blending into the shadows in his usual black garb. A sudden resolve shook through her. They had to succeed soon. She couldn’t stand it.

“Sir Christopher?”

“Aye?” He did not look at her, his blue gaze seemingly intent on something in the distance.

“Can you sense the Vampire yet?”

“I am trying.” He closed his eyes and a shudder ran through him. “She is stirring, looking for blood, seeking to create mayhem.”

“Can you share her thoughts with me?”

“I don’t know.” He frowned into the darkness. “I’ll try.”

Rosalind opened her senses, and felt the shock of the Vampire’s black thoughts trying to seep into her mind. Determinedly, she contained the evil and turned back to Christopher. “I’ll send you my sense of her as well. Perhaps together we can find her.”

He nodded, and she felt their minds blend with a shocking compatibility that she had never expected to experience. It was as if they were two parts of one reunited whole. Was this how it had been before the Vampires and Druids separated all those centuries ago? Had each side taken something magical and vital from the other? Her fear of the Vampire resurfaced and she struggled to maintain the connection. Only
Vampires
mind-mated, not Druids.What was she doing? She could not understand how they were able to communicate in this way, and she wasn’t sure she liked it at all.

They spoke together. “She’s near the queen’s chapel.”

Rhys was already moving as they spoke, and Rosalind headed after him, dagger at the ready. The chapel was unlocked, but the vestibule was empty. Christopher pointed to the flagstones.

“She’s underneath us again. How can that be?”

“This palace was built on top of several other old buildings. There are many secret passageways that connect the different wings.” Rhys took out a key and opened the smaller arched door that led down to the crypt. “It’s unlikely that she has a resting place in the Christian crypt, but she might in one of the other tunnels.”

Rhys locked the door behind him and then knelt on the floor and upended a huge flagstone to reveal another set of spiral stairs.

“If the Vampire is indeed one of the queen’s ladies, she must have to attend to the queen on a regular basis. Would she still have a coffin to sleep in, or would she be missed?” Christopher asked.

“That’s a good question.” Rhys lit the small lantern concealed on a ledge beneath the stone.“I suspect she is old enough that she doesn’t need to sleep every day.”

“But even the most powerful Vampires need the restorative powers of the earth and the darkness at some point,” Rosalind said.

Christopher glanced at her. “Which makes them easier for you to kill, yes?”

Rosalind met his gaze. “We are not murdering them in cold blood. They are already dead, Sir Christopher. They have no souls.”

He turned abruptly away from her and refocused his attention on Rhys. Rosalind bit her lip. Christopher was still protective of the Vampires, and she hadn’t yet managed to convince him otherwise. In truth, she was unlikely to convince him of anything ever again. The thought of not seeing him made her spirits plummet and he looked back at her.

“Are you all right, my lady?”

His sensitivity to her merest thought was annoying, but at least it saved her from having to reply. She grabbed the tinderbox and shoved it into the leather pouch hanging at her waist. The passageways were subject to mysterious drafts and she had no intention of ending up stranded in the dark.

“Are we all ready?” Rhys asked.“Perhaps you should lead the way, Sir Christopher, seeing as you have the best connection with the Vampire.” He placed himself firmly behind Sir Christopher, leaving Rosalind to bring up the rear.

The tunnels were complex and winding. Rosalind had memorized the route to the chamber she and Rhys trained in, but after that she was at Christopher’s mercy. He seemed to know exactly where they were headed, his steps unerring. She allowed her mind to follow along with his, felt an ominous cloud of bloodlust and evil stir and take shape in his thoughts.

She found herself licking her lips, mimicking the Vampire, and immediately shuddered. Was Christopher doing the same, were his thoughts turning to feeding and inflicting pain? And did those dark thoughts excite him? They stirred something deep inside her, which she struggled to fight off. Behind the Vampire’s compulsion, she could sense Christopher’s confusion and his determination weakening. His defenses weren’t strong. What if they couldn’t prevent him from being taken over by that pulsing need to kill? Imagining what he could do if he turned on them in this confined space, Rosalind concentrated even harder on sending him her defenses.

Christopher suddenly stopped and looked to his left. A small chamber was haphazardly stacked with cheap wooden coffins, some of them open, overturned, or destroyed. Rhys pointed, his eyebrows raised, but Christopher shook his head. Even Rosalind knew that the Vampire they sought would never rest in such a paltry box.They continued onward more slowly, the beat of the Vampire’s excitement like a drum in Rosalind’s head. She kept the link with Christopher, felt him struggle to bear the weight of such malevolence.

Rosalind caught the scent of blackcurrants and looked up to catch the slither of movement just before the black-clad Vampire came down on top of her. She had no time to warn the others, and barely a second to leap to the side to avoid being crushed. It was a woman, but young, the ends of her long black hair whipping across Rosalind’s face and momentarily blinding her.

With a flick of her wrist, Rosalind managed to break the Vampire’s intended hold and elbowed her in the face, felt the sharp edge of fangs scrape against her skin. The Vampire squealed as Rosalind brought her dagger up between them and stabbed her in the chest. She slid to the floor, her nails scraping down Rosalind’s hose, ripping the fabric as she fell.

Rosalind looked to her right, and saw that Christopher was just about to dispatch his opponent with a competent thrust of his sword. Rhys was farther down the passageway, struggling with two of the creatures. She could see other Vampires emerging from the chamber they had passed, obviously alerted by the threat.

She ran back to aid Rhys, Christopher at her heels, and together they helped him dispose of his attackers. Like enraged bees guarding their plundered hive, other Vampires continued to spill from the chamber. There was no way back to their original entry point, so the three of them ran farther into the maze of passageways.

Rosalind tried to mark the places they turned, but it was hard to concentrate with the Vampires right behind them. Her ragged breathing bounced off the walls and then Rhys’s salvaged lamp went out. For a stark moment she drew in breath to scream. Someone grabbed her arm, and pushed her forward through a yawning black opening, then drew her to one side. They sank down to the floor, their backs to the wall. Rosalind struggled to breathe normally in the thick, all-encompassing darkness.

“I had to stop,” she heard Christopher whisper. “I can’t keep the Vampire out of my mind when I’m trying to fight and run. I don’t want her to know where we are.”

“I’ll help you.” Rosalind took some deep breaths and concentrated on sending her energy into Christopher. She helped him rebuild his defenses, brick by painful brick. Eventually, she felt him relax.

“I think she’s gone to ground again. Thank you.”

She was painfully conscious of his warmth along her left side, the sigh of his harsh breath on her earlobe. “Where is Rhys?”

He stiffened. “I thought he came in here ahead of us.”

“Rhys?” Rosalind whispered. “Are you here?”

There was no reply, and Rosalind swallowed hard. “Do you think he went further into the tunnels?”

Christopher cursed. “He was ahead of us, so he must have.”

Rosalind half struggled to her feet. “We should go after him.”

“He’s probably found a way out by now. If we go chasing after him, we risk rousing the Vampires again. Our best plan is to wait here until it gets lighter and retrace our steps to the chapel.”

Rosalind subsided onto the hard floor. “But Rhys— ”

“Is an extremely talented Vampire slayer. He’ll be fine.”

“I suppose you’re right. But I know he would come looking for me if I was lost.”

“Of course he would. He’s a gentleman.”

“Are you saying that a woman wouldn’t bother?” She tried to scramble to her feet, elbowing him in the ribs in the process. “I should go after him.”

“Rosalind.” He yanked her back down. “You are staying with me, and that is the end of it. I’ve already left you in danger once; I’m not going to do it again.”

She eased away from him, and immediately regretted the loss of his warmth and the security of his touch. “I was quite safe at Beltaine.”

“You were not.” There was an edge to his soft reply that echoed off the stone walls of the chamber.

“I woke up in my own bed; what could be safer than that?”

“Courtesy of Elias Warner. God knows what that man might have done to you while you slept.”

“Elias has always been… pleasant to me.”

“Of course he has, he wants you.”

“He wants me to fulfill the prophecy, and I’m still not sure if I understand exactly what that entails.”

Christopher sighed and his leather jerkin creaked as he settled himself back against the wall. “I don’t think Elias wants us to understand anything. He enjoys watching us stumble around in the dark.”

“Then he will enjoy hearing about this.” Rosalind wished Christopher hadn’t mentioned the darkness. She listened intently, but there were no sounds of movement coming down the tunnels. “I think we caught our Vampire by surprise. I don’t think she was ready for us to find her so quickly. That’s why she sent the other Vampires against us.”

“You could be right. Perhaps we should think up a way to combine our abilities, trap her somewhere, and finish her off.”

“That would be nice. Then we could leave the court.” She sighed, the sound loud in the small chamber.

“You want to go home?”

She turned to view his faint profile. “Don’t you?”

“You have an annoying habit of avoiding my questions by asking your own.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t really have a home. I was sent away to school or I lived as a guest with one or another relative.”

“Your parents didn’t leave you any property?”

“There is a house in Aragon.” He paused for a long moment before continuing. “But it holds too many un-happy memories.”

“Is that where your mother died?”

“You could say that.”

“What do you mean?”

He stood up and walked toward the opening of the chamber.“Do you think we should start to make our way back to the chapel or should we wait a little longer?”

Rosalind got up too and followed him. She put her hand on his arm and felt his muscles flex as if readying for battle. “I thought you said we should wait. If you don’t want to answer my question, you just have to say so.”

He turned to face her. “I’ll answer you. I’d rather tell you myself than wait for Elias to blurt it out.” He removed her hand from his arm. “While my mother was giving birth to me, she was taken by a Vampire, and turned. No one knew how this would affect her child.As you might imagine, I was the subject of much speculation and distrust.”

Rosalind brought her hand to her mouth. “While she was giving birth? That is tragic.”

“She did not think it so. She had arranged it with her Vampire lover. It was a deliberate attempt to deprive my father of his son as well as his wife. Unfortunately, my father arrived and tried to save me. They killed him and disappeared, leaving his body sprawled over mine. I was handed over to his reluctant family to rear.”

Rosalind reached out and stroked his cheek.“How terrible. And you feared you would become a Vampire?”