Release, book 3 of The Angler series (12 page)

Catarina
broke away from our staring match. She seemed just as shaken as I was by our similar appearances. Short, pretty, and blonde apparently was what Rurik preferred. The blood-sucking asshole.

When we
’d met, had our similarities occurred to him? Was I a replacement for his maker? And the jerk sitting in front of me hadn’t mentioned a thing. Tane must have known. He was a lot of things, but dumb wasn’t one of them. Nausea rolled in my stomach. Our love was a sham. I’d been a Catarina-shaped sex toy.

“Rurik,” s
he gasped and raced toward the sofa, where the scum lay unconscious. Kneeling on the hard floor, she ran her hands over his balding head. “What have you done to him, you monster?”

I jerked at the verbal insult tossed at Tane
, half expecting him to break her knees. He’d promised not to kill her, but that didn’t include maiming.

Tane rolled his eyes and sighed instead of ripping her head off. Good for him. I, on the other hand, was disappointed by the lack of violence.
Her hands roved over Rurik’s body with a possessive nature. “He’s going through a metamorphosis.”

She hesitated in her frantic petting. “Into what?”

“As one of my kind.”

She tossed him a daggered look. “Why bring him to me?” My, what a sharp tongue Catarina had. It reminded me of someone else. Not once in the four years together had Rurik mentioned her by name or that his maker was a girl
who looked just like me. He’d allowed me to assume she was male. I wanted to curl into a ball and rock in the corner.

Tane turned his soulless gaze upon me as if reading my thoughts. He’d known Catarina. Maybe our resemblance
had caused Tane’s initial dislike for me. I had thought my relationship with Rurik had been the only source. Now I saw a second one. He must have had a Nosferatu version of a stroke when Rurik had arrived to Dragos’s party with me on his arm.

“Rurik’s transformation isn’t intentional. My clan wishes him dead. He needs a safe place to finish the process and his makers to help heal him.”

Her eyes went wide. “Heal? One doesn’t normally need healing after changing. Is it different among your kind?” It was then I noted her expression of innocent curiosity was a ploy. Intelligence sparkled deep in the depth of that gaze.

“That isn’t any of your concern. What Rurik is goin
g through is unconventional. He should be developing a bond with me, yet hasn’t and I can sense your link still exists. I think it’s tearing his mind apart. If we work together, we may recover his sanity.”

“Of course
. Anything to help.” Catarina tucked a pillow under Rurik’s head and brushed her fingertips over his forehead. Why hadn’t I thought to do that? Lack of food and rest did not a smart brain make. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen him. Even without his hair, he’s still so handsome.” A wistful tone touched her words.  “Is there anything else you wish, your majesty?” She straightened Rurik’s clothes and kissed his forehead until she finally turned to face us.

Tane didn’t answer. He’d been watching her fus
s over Rurik.

What she saw in his face made her pale even more. “Forgive my manners.” She curtsied again but didn’t rise. “Rurik has always had a way of drawing my full attention. Apparently, he doesn’t need to be conscious to have power over me.
He has a special place in my heart.” 

“As he does in mine.
” He blessed me by turning his regal stare in my direction. “Catarina, this is Connie Bence. My blood slave and…our lover.”

I saw my death flash in Catarina’s eyes and I stepped closer to Tane. Way to paint a bull’s eye on my back. “He seems to have a certain taste in women, apparently.”

Her strained expression softened. “Yes, I guess he needed some kind of substitution after I turned him out.” She produced a lace fan that matched her outdated attire and fluttered it by her face.

I fingered my stake
, still in my waistband.

“Did you not tell me we needed her alive?”
Tane’s voice purred inside my head. I could sense his pleasure at my violent urges. The gentle lover of yesterday was gone. He always did prefer me riled to meek.

I released the stake and gave Catarina a forced smile. “I heard he left of his own accord.” That didn’t give me much comfort, but I’d be damned if she got the last word.

Hayden approached his mistress. “Their rooms have been prepared.” He stood behind her so she didn’t see the wink the old rascal directed my way.

“Very well.” She frowned and focused on Hayden. “
Send for someone to carry Rurik to my quarters. I can care for him better myself.”

A bomb of over-my-dead-body went off in my head. I tried to deny her and stay quiet at the same time so only garbled noise came out of my lips. Torn between what I wanted and what was best for Rurik, I just stood there with my mouth open, a silent scream on the tip of my tongue. She might be able to help him. Whatever the price, it would be worth it.

Tane climbed to his feet, pulling me under his arm. Waves of calm flooded my mind and tried to wash away the homicidal images of her flesh under my nails as I ripped her face off.
“Creative.”

I didn’t want her touching him. She’d try to steal him away from us. Glancing at Tane, I focused inward. That last part wasn’t my thought. To know he shared my angst eased my anxiety just a bit so I wouldn’t jump her prime ass and yank out her perfect tresses.

“Rabbit.” Tane laughed, a genuine expression of surprise on his face.

“Shut up.” 
Shrugging off his arm, I didn’t give a crap about respecting him in public anymore. As Rurik’s maker, did that make Catarina my mother-in-law? She’d be family then. I could bitch as I liked. “He’s not well in the head.” I tapped my noggin. “Keep your paws to yourself because if he wakes, he might bite them off, and we need you alive.” With a twist of my hips, I made sure she saw the stake. “For now.”

Her eyes narrowed. The weight of her age pressed on me. A vampire didn’t survive th
is many years by being weak. On the outside, she acted the lady, but that glare told me I’d be on her menu as soon as she could figure out how to do it without being blamed.

“Even asleep
, Rurik has women fighting over him.” Tane slipped his hand into mine and gave it a sharp, painful squeeze. “Forgive my human. She’s quite possessive.”

I tugged my hand
, but short of cutting it off, I wasn’t getting free.

Catarina snapped her fan closed and
meandered closer to Tane. “Both? Such a greedy pet. Would she really react the same if you came to my bed?”

I grew very still. She was agitating me on purpose
, and I’d given her enough fodder to play with. Gritting my teeth, I kept quiet.

“What would be left of my soul after a day in bed with you?” Tane gestured for Hayden to lead the way.

“You have a soul?” We echoed each other.

I cringed
, and she fanned hurricane force winds.

Laughing quietly, Tane pulled me away. He pressed his finger against my lips when I opened my mouth. Fine. I wouldn’t dare sp
eak. She might echo me again. I could only take so much horror.

Two vampire males strolled into the room. They both
bowed to Tane then moved to carry Rurik upstairs.

Before anyone could object, I followed. Bad enough we’d be separated
.  With him in Catarina’s bed unconscious, I had to know exactly where that room would be. I couldn’t imagine him sleeping with her willingly, but what if he woke and mistook her for me? I shivered
. “Are you sure he won’t wake?”

“Positive
, or I wouldn’t have agreed.”
Tane escorted Catarina behind me. We were like one happy parade, bringing my lover to his ex’s bed.

“Great
, she can paw him all she wants.”
I crossed my arms under my breasts.

“Nothing she hasn’t pawed before.”

I slammed my mental shield closed, cut
ting contact with Tane. Maybe he
should
sleep with Catarina after all and give me the excuse to castrate him.

We climbed two flights of stairs to the third floor. The whole level was dedicated to her bedroom with a huge wooden bed heavy enough to sink the Titanic. Thick brocade curtains covered all the windows.

The vampires set Rurik on the bed and left without comment, as if dragging unconscious males to her bed was routine.

I planted myself at the foot of the bed. “There seem to be plenty of sofas. I don’t see why I can’t sleep here.”

“Please do.” Catarina circled behind me. “Where are my manners? Would you like to feed, your majesty? Your human doesn’t seem to be an agreeable mood.”

“She rarely is.” Tane leaned in the doorway. “I appreciate the offer.”

“Hey, no drinking from unknown sources.” Something moved in the corner of my eye. Did I just see Rurik’s finger twitch? “You remember what happened last time you fed from someone else’s donor?” I meant the drug that rendered most vampires powerless and the Nosferatu weak. Tane used to have a penchant for wayward young men. It landed him as a pincushion
twice.
“I’ll feed you. Hold your horses.”

Catarina had angled to the other side of the bed and quirked an eyebrow. “She’s feisty.”

Rurik’s hand moved to his stomach. All eyes in the room riveted on him.

“Tane?”  I backpedaled from the bed. I loved Rurik
, but I loved living too.

My Nosferatu warrior concentrated on
Rurik. Tane rubbed his temples. “He’s resisting me.”

Catarina dropped her Lady’s mask and grew serious, crawling onto the bed
like she wasn’t wearing an expensive gown. “How is that possible?”

I sc
ooted closer to the door. Shit, if Rurik woke, I’d be his first stop. I wanted Tane between us.

Rurik’s eyes fluttered open.

Catarina caressed his face. “Sweetheart.” She leaned in close.

“Careful. He’s not been himself. Can you sense anything through your bond?” Tane’s forehead creased with effort. “I can’t put him under.”

“I can barely sense him at all.” Panic rose in Catarina’s voice. “Where has he gone? There is only hunger.”

Rurik’s eyes suddenly shifted to Catarina. “Connie?” He sprang.  Neither Tane nor I
had a chance to react since Rurik moved so quickly. He and Catarina rolled off the bed before we reached them.

Tane beat me there
, and I had time to watch him tear Rurik from Catarina’s throat.

Thick
, dark blood oozed from her wounds. Not the red of humans but something of a burgundy hue that turned my stomach. Ragged edges of his bite knitted back together.

Rurik struggled in Tan
e’s grasp. The muscles of his neck strained until I came into his view. He went quiet.

“Rurik?” I hated the tremor in my v
oice.

He closed his eyes and turned into Tan
e’s arms. “Is that her ghost come to haunt me?” He spoke broken words as if someone had grated his vocal cords.

“No, you mistook Catar
ina for Connie.” Tane held Rurik tight against him. I felt no jealousy at this. If anything, it made me feel safe. Tane our protector, and Rurik our lover, and me their human clown. We fit.

Catarina climbed to her feet, the perfect coif of her hair a thing of the past. Her curls fell in a wild mess like mine used to.

Of their own accord, my fingers found their way to my short hair. With a jerk, I pulled them away. It would grow back if I lived long enough. I offered Catarina a steadying hand. I’d been in her shoes not long ago and understood the wild look in her eyes.

She squeezed my hand in a bone
-crunching fist. Not in a malicious way, but in a moment of forgetting her strength. She loosened it at my grimace. Her throat appeared normal. Unfortunately, the wounds on her ego would take longer to heal.

I wasn’t ready to braid friendship bracelets with her
, but she’d taken the attack meant for me and she obviously still loved Rurik. I couldn’t hold good taste against her.

Tane gathered Rurik closer against his chest. The motion reminded me they hadn’t been alone since before Monte Carlo.
For all we knew this might be Rurik’s last night. I’d had him to myself on the yacht and though we might not have said our goodbyes, we had expressed our mutual love.

Whatever he’d done to me over the last few days
, it wasn’t truly him but this transformation. I held no grudge. Only regret that I couldn’t save him and that in some unintentional way I’d been the cause of his suffering.

I sniffed and blinked my tears away.
“You should take him to your room. It’s almost dawn. You have the best chance of containing him until the sun rises.”

Tane dragged his ga
ze from Rurik and met my burning one. “Where will you stay?”

“I plan on raiding the kitchen.” I stuck my
hands deep in my pockets and left the bedroom. Stuffing my face would help distract me long enough to get over the agony growing inside of me. The end to this adventure was growing near and it wouldn’t be a happy one. I always bragged about my inner strength but when the push came to shove would this mythical might really exist? Doubt crawled around inside my head. When Laurent died I crumbled.

Hay
den followed in my footsteps and remained quiet until we reached the main floor. “This way, my lady. I will also send someone to prepare another room for you while you eat.”

“Call me Connie. I’m nobody’s lady.” The words came out easy enough. I half expected to choke on them
, since my throat ached as if I’d swallowed razor blades.

Grief and I were old fr
iends. For a few wonderful years we’d forgotten each other. Amazing how easily we returned to old habits. Like an old sweater, it fell upon my shoulders and I would once more bear its weight.

I entered the kitchen on Hayden’s heels. Clean and sparse
, the small space felt open in comparison to dark, heavy wood of the house. Sitting on the stool by the counter, I picked a banana from a bowl and peeled it. The unmarred white flesh reminded me how easily a person’s soul could be bruised and damaged forever.

My life as I’d known it was gone. I’d be on the run if Rurik survived, punished if the
Nosferatu captured me, or dead if they killed Tane.

How
long before someone in this household betrayed our location to the Nosferatu? Did everyone know that we were fugitives? We’d shown up at their doorstep with an ill Rurik. Tane hadn’t mentioned the Nos wanting Rurik dead when staff had been around.

I bit into the banana as Hayden moved around the kitchen
; chewing slowly, I considered the older man. He now moved with confident grace. The shuffling when we were first arrived was gone.

He set the pan on the gas stove and tossed some shrimp in it, stirring briskly. “It’s so nice to see the mistress this happy again. None of her other boys make her smile like Rurik does.”
 

I hesitated in taking ano
ther bite. “You know him?” Rurik had said he hadn’t seen his maker in a long time. I took that to mean centuries. Hayden didn’t look that old. Unless… “Hayden, are you a blood slave?”

“Of course, my—Connie.” He gave me an apologetic smile.
“Forgive me. I was raised in a more formal time.”

I eyed him carefully. The last blood slave I
’d befriended had almost killed me in her insanity. “I was under the impression we didn’t age.”

“We don’t. I served
the mistress well into my old age. As I grew frailer, she decided to grant me a long life as her blood slave.”

Too bad she hadn’t considered making this offer
to him sooner. Then again, Catarina had a butler for eternity. People did say good help was hard to find.

“When was the last time you saw Rurik?” Guilt pulled at my heart strings. He
was suffering, and I sat here doubting his loyalty. But could anyone really blame me?

“Oh…” He added the shrimp to so
me pasta and tossed it. “Turn of the century? During the big war.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.
At least, Rurik had told me the truth about the last time he’d been with Catarina in Rome.

He set the plate in front of me. “You’re jealous.” A small smile tugged at his lips.

A lie came to my tongue but I swallowed it, along with my pride. “Of course I am. We look so much alike I can’t help feel like a replacement for
her.
” I stared at my untouched plate.

Hayden pushed it closer to me. “Eat. You’ll need your strength. I fear things will only get tougher for you.”

I took a reluctant mouthful and nodded to my fellow blood slave. “This is good.”

He bowed, producing t
wo wine glasses and a bottle of red from under the counter. “It’s a good year.”

“I don’t drink alcohol
.”

He shrugged and poured me a glass anyway. “You look like you need it.”

I concentrated on my plate so my gaze wouldn’t wander to the wine. Allowing reflex to take over, I fed my starved body.  “What do you mean, things will get tougher?” Weary with worry, I couldn’t imagine much worse.

“Things are always tougher when we choose this type of life, Connie. Trust an old man when I say being a blood slave is not for the faint of heart.” He sipped his wine. “Most of us go mad in some way.”

“So I’ve heard.” I swallowed a mouthful, forcing it past the lump growing in my throat. “Are you crazy?”

He laughed. “To a certain extent. If I remain inside the house, I am happy but when I am sent out I have difficulty with
the new world. Automobiles, planes, computers, cell phones…” He shuddered. “Being bound to a Nosferatu can’t be any easier.”

“Is anything easy with them?” I se
t my fork down, happy that a quarter of my plate was empty.

“I don’t know. Master Tane is
the only one I’ve ever met. His kind tend to keep to themselves.”

“You’re not missing anything but fear mixed with a touch
of terror and horror.” I pushed my glass of wine toward Hayden. “Just some water, please.” Both my vampires would be proud. It never grew easier to say
no.

I had stared my own death straight in the eye and spit in his face. Each time
, he had bypassed me like I wasn’t worthy of his attention. Instead, he’d stolen someone important from my life. First my family, then my husband. Now this.

I watched Hayd
en drink my glass of wine. Alcohol could numb my pain. It always had if I drank enough and sleep would be hard to come by tonight. I grabbed the bottle. “Sorry, changing my mind about drinking.” I didn’t wait for Hayden’s answer and vacated the kitchen. I really needed something to take the edge off. My insides were in shards and each thought cut. I just—just wanted oblivion for a few hours where the world wouldn’t seem to be coming apart at any moment. Was that too much to ask?

He followed, directing
me to a small bedroom on the second floor. “If you need anything, pull the cord by the bed. A servant will attend you.”

“Where will you be?” I set the bottle on the side table and stared at it.

“Asleep. Dawn is approaching, and my mistress requires me at night.”

“How many humans guard us during the day?”
This type of question usually was Kam’s responsibility but without him here to act as guard, then I guess that duty fell onto my shoulders. Sure my boys could fight but the sun weakened Tane and knocked Rurik unconscious. 

“Seven. They are all well trained and loyal to Lady Catarina.”

“And where are Master Tane and Rurik?”

“Across the hall.” He gave me a low bow and exited my bedroom.

I fingered the bottle. Should I? What if things went south and they needed me? I was the only one in the household that Tane and Rurik could trust. I could also go out in the sun if they required it. What did it say about me if I placed my petty need to escape above their need to survive? If I started drinking, would it be easier to say yes the next time it was offered? I set the bottle on the bedside table and stepped away. Conquering my addiction was the hardest thing I’d ever done and something that gave me pride. Fear drove me to take the bottle from Hayden. I was selfish and weak. Characteristics I didn’t care for.

Da
wn would arrive soon and knock Rurik out. Tane could remain awake, but that was a power a vampire obtained due to age, not being Nosferatu. He’d kept Rurik asleep all night and that might have tapped into his strength. I reached out mentally to him to test his exhaustion level and let him know I could feed him now.

My heart raced
. Nothing, I couldn’t sense him anywhere. I stretched my puny abilities to their limits yet couldn’t find him. Oh shit. I chewed my bottom lip. If Tane were in trouble, he would have called for me, right? Wrong. When Luckard had kidnapped him in Rio years ago, Tane had shielded me from his pain and didn’t call for me. He had wanted to protect my mind from the devastating effects of such torture.

Without hesitation, I raced from
my room and crossed the hall. Hand raised to knock, I hesitated when I heard Tane moan on the other side of the bedroom door. It didn’t sound like the kind of noise made from torture either. I pressed my ear to the wood. Heavy breathing and the creak of bed springs…

Retreating
, I stared at the door as if trying to see through to the other side. My imagination stripped them of clothes and covered their flesh in sweat. Oh dear, a flash of desire burned my insides. I’d seen my men together before. How couldn’t I in a three-way relationship? Each time surprised me in how visceral my reaction grew to seeing them touch…and kiss.

I took a deep breath and let
it out slowly. Sex between couples differed. Rurik enjoyed things physically passionate and rough. Tane liked things slow and torturous. I brought the emotion to our recipe. Watching Rurik and Tane together sent shivers down my spine. Two masters of sexual pleasure trying to make the other lose control.

Part of me wanted to crack the door open and spy.
Yeah…

I swallowed with a parched throat. The other part remembered how Tane
had somehow made himself disappear. He wanted privacy. If I entered the room, Rurik’s blood lust would focus on me. That would be bad. Rurik’s future seemed the bleakest of us three. Who knew if Tane and Catarina could return his sanity? This might be the last opportunity when Tane could say good-bye. I wouldn’t deny him. I sucked at good-byes anyway.

When I
’d first discovered Tane’s feelings for Rurik, I wanted to shove a light grenade where the sun never shone and pull the pin. Jealousy spawned from lack of self-confidence. Rurik hadn’t given me any cause to distrust him and every reason to feel secure. Rurik loved us equally. What threw me for a loop was my growing affection for Tane. Animal attraction had become friendship and developed into something much more.

I went back to my bedroom, grabbed a pillow and blanket
, then curled in front of their door. With Kam gone, someone had to play security guard for the king. If one of Catarina’s humans wanted access to their room, they’d have to step on me. I didn’t have the skills to stop them but I’d be a heck of an alarm clock, giving Tane enough time to react.