Release, book 3 of The Angler series (14 page)

Catarina paced outside the kitchen. Lines wrinkled her forehead in concentration. She spun on us. “Don’t you think Rurik should have a say in this?”

Tane sco
wled. “When have you ever cared what Rurik wants?” The accusation hung in the air like a guillotine.

I grimaced and set a warning hand on Tane’s arm. Catarina was our ally. She risked her safety
by housing us and did so because she still cared for Rurik. The least I could do was keep Tane from maiming her. “Let me speak to her.”

She blocked his way. “Don’t let him be alone with Rurik. Not until we discuss this like rational people.”

Tane lifted her by the shoulders and set her aside. “You forget yourself, Catarina. I’ll forgive your behavior for now but don’t push me any further.”

“You will wait, right?”
I wanted to trust him with all my heart but I wouldn’t put it past him to do this behind our backs. I mean, if Tane truly wanted my trust, he’d act trustworthy, which he didn’t always do. He could be a jerk that way.

He sent me a scorching look.

Catarina moved to stand next to me and watched Tane’s ascent to the second floor. When he was out of sight she grabbed my hand and dragged me to the closest love seat in the receiving area. The tiles felt cold under my bare feet and sent chills up my legs. There were different sitting areas in this room as if groups of people gathered here often. Since our arrival I hadn’t seen any other vampires. Tane had that effect on nests, especially when he dropped in uninvited.

She wrung her hands. “There’s another way to save Rurik that Tane hasn’t mentioned.”

We sat facing each other. “What do you mean?” Would he keep secrets from me? Of course he would; it was second nature to him. I caught myself reaching out mentally to him but stopped. There’d only be a void.

“A vampire is always linked to his maker. There’s something in the b
lood that produces the effect.” Vampire blood could create miracles. No wonder they hid themselves from public notice. I couldn’t imagine what would happen to them if humans found out their blood healed all diseases and could stop aging. Visions of chained vampires with tubes running from their veins bloomed.

I shook them from my mind in horror. With
the wrong king in place, this image could become a reality. Good thing the nation had Tane to secure them. “Tane already explained this to me.” I raised my eyebrow. See, he could be trusted.

“I can barely sense
my link to Rurik. Once Tane turns him completely Nosferatu, it will break. Then there will be no chance to turn him back.”

I sat straig
hter. “What do you mean?” Five years ago if you’d told me I could be brought back from the brink of death by a drop of vampire blood, I would have said that it was impossible. Rule books didn’t exist in life. Everything could be possible with the right circumstances.

“
I’ve heard rumors of how to reverse the change.”

I tried to take a deep breath but my lungs didn’t want to work. “How?” My question came out as barely a whisper.

“Kill the maker before it’s complete.”

Closing my eyes, I fought off the crushing disappointment.
“I’m Tane’s blood slave. If I kill him then I die as well.” Catarina knew this. Why would she bother me with such a desperate idea?

“This is a fragile time for Rurik.
” She gave me a small smile. “You do love him?”

“With all my heart.” Whatever Rurik’s excuses for our resemblance
, it didn’t matter. He’d chosen to spend his life with
me
. “And I’d sacrifice myself if there was a guarantee it would work, but I’m not killing the king on a
rumor
, Catarina.” Did she truly think I was that stupid? If it worked,
if
, and Rurik lived, he’d have Catarina to console his loss. What a bitch. Next time Tane wanted to flex his royal muscles on her, I wouldn’t stand in his way. I rose from the love seat and headed toward the staircase.

She hur
ried to her feet and with her vampire speed she blocked my path. “Wait. What if I told you there was a way we could do this without your death.”

I gave her my coldest
expression while inside I boiled. Tane hadn’t mentioned any of this over the last few days. How could I believe a word she says?

“You
wouldn’t die if I made you vampire.” She seemed out of breath. Not for lack of air but from fear. She glanced over her shoulder at the staircase where Tane had gone. Her words came out quick, tumbling one after the other. “If you’re vampire, my link will save you and we could save Rurik together.” Either she was the best actress I’d ever met or I was desperate enough to believe in anything that might save Rurik.

Pressing my lips together, I dragged my stare from hers and gazed at the floor. The price was too high.
“No.” I shook my head. Which suggestion I denied the most, I wasn’t sure. “I never want to be a vampire. Rurik’s best chance is to become a full Nosferatu.”

“But he’d be different. Don’t let Tane convince you otherwise.”

“He hasn’t. He’s been honest about the whole thing.” Or so I hoped. I didn’t think Tane would lead me wrong. “Rurik will be…different, but at least all three of us will be alive and together.” Why hadn’t Tane mentioned this to me before?

“On the run from the Nosferatu? Death would b
e a mercy once they catch you.”

My mouth went dry. “I know.” Catarina didn’t need to paint me a picture. My imagination was vivid enough. “It’s worth the risk.”

She stumbled away as if I’d physically hit her. Covering her face with her hands, she sobbed. “You’ve both stolen him. I won’t even have the link anymore.” She ran from the room. That could have gone smoother.

Did she really expect me to be on board with killing Tane or becoming a vampire? If I’d wanted to cross
over I would have already done it. I loved my humanity with a side order of sunshine. Being a blood slave, I had the best of both worlds minus the hard-to-kill part.

I hurried to Tane’s room
, not sure what I’d find. What if Rurik acted more crazed? I paused in the hallway outside the door. I’d rather seek out Catarina’s company than watch him gnaw his arm. It was a coward’s thought. If Tane was going to complete the process, I wanted to be at his side. He never wanted to change Rurik and this would hurt him. Without hesitation, I stormed into the room and halted just after the threshold.

Rurik sat on the edge of the bed
, washing his face with a wet cloth. He handed it to Tane and gave me a weak smile. The sanity in his eyes speared me to the spot. He was back. “Hi.”

I took a step toward him
, but he held his hand up to stop me. He remembered the last few nights? Bad enough he’d tried to kill me numerous times but to recall it seemed so unfair. Rurik fought for human rights among his people and ushered in a new philosophy of caring for one’s blood donors. He deserved better than transforming into homicidal maniac.

“My willpower is not
as strong as you think. I still have the urge to drain you.” His gaze soaked me in. “You look beautiful in that dress and…” He squinted. “You changed your hair.”

Tears flooded my eyes. I couldn’t stop the outpour any more than I could have stopped a tsunami. Instead, I hid my face under my hands.

“Don’t just watch, you arse. Go take
care of her,” Rurik snapped at Tane.

A moment later, Tane pulled my hands from my face and hugged me against his
solid chest. I didn’t move. I wanted to vanish. It would be easier to lose a crazed Rurik, thinking he’d be at peace if we had to kill him, than to see him appear sane once more. Control of my breathing slipped through my fingers like grains of sand.

Tane’s big hands stroked my ba
ck, but in stiff motions. “It’s not working.” He glanced at Rurik with an exasperated expression.

“You can fuck for seven hours straight in Sultan Zumire’s harem, but you can’t comfort one human girl?” Rurik rolled his eyes.

I pushed from Tane’s arms. “Seven hours? Didn’t you chafe?” I gave Rurik a watery grin and wiped my face with Tane’s shirt.

Rurik winked. “That’s my girl.”
He’d said that on purpose. Even from across the room, unable to touch me, he could make me smile through my tears.

My shoulders trembled as I took a deep cleansing breath. “So, what’s next?” I smoothed nonexistent wrinkles from my dress and avoided looking at Rurik.
Three days had gone by since our night on the yacht, but it seemed like weeks. I missed the way he flirted with Tane or teased me, the brush of his fingertips on the back of my neck as he passed me on some errand as if unable to not touch me, and his easy smile.

On the outside, I pulled my shit together and even managed a stronger smile. Inside
, pieces of my heart and mind fell apart and I scrambled to figure out how to fit them back together. Something immense brushed along my mind. It made me feel like the size of a minnow next to a whale. By the sheer power I recognized Tane as he rebuilt my mental shield and stabilized my breakdown by lending me support. Was this what he’d done for Rurik to return this semblance of sanity?

I touched my fingertips to Tane’s.
“I thought you were trying to hide.”

“I am, but I need you who
le more.” And just like that, his massive mental presence vanished. He hugged me again. “I’d fight an army of my brothers before letting you fall, Connie.”  Tane may not understand what it was to be human anymore but he cared for me in his Nosferatu way that no human man ever could.

“I’ll be fine.” He needed to focus on Rurik. If things failed and Rurik fell into madness, forcing us to do the unthinkable, then Tane could waste his time putting me back together again.  I crossed my arms. “How the fuck do you make yourself disappear like that?”

Tane chuckled. “I suck it all in and contain myself. That’s the best way I can explain it. For ages I have always allowed my presence and strength to be known. My mental disappearance has left a vacuum that the vampire nation will soon sense.”

Rurik ran his hand over his head. “I still have some hair left?” He then explored his po
inted ears. “Why do our ears have to grow like this?”

“It’s to mark us apart.” Tane left my side with a warning look to stay put. “Our clan shoul
d never be mistaken for human. Could you imagine the devastation we’d cause if we moved among people as the others do or bred so easily?” Tane kneeled in front of Rurik. “There’s a reason we keep our numbers so small.”

“T
o keep the carnage to a minimum.”

“No.” Tane shook his head. “To make it easier for the others in ou
r clan to hunt us down if one were to go mad. The mental abilities we inherit are vast, and you haven’t scratched the surface yet.”

“The other will never accept me.”

“Not unless you kill one of them on your own and have the support to take his place.”

“Much like you did with Dragos.”

“Sort of.” Tane assisted Rurik to stand and held him in his arms.

Rurik sighed. “You can’t hide forever
. Everything you’ve worked for will fall apart.” He frowned and his shoulders drooped. “All this trouble for me.”

“You are worth every second of it.” My words came out louder than I’d meant.

Both of them stared at me.

I cleared my throat. “Let’s do this before I fall to pieces again.”

Rurik blew me a kiss. “How will you ever deal with two Nosferatu lovers?”

My eyebrows shot up. “I want firsthand experience of this so
-called stamina to start with.”

Tane snorted and rolled his eyes.

I had to keep the conversation light. My hold on stability would slip otherwise, and I was
not
going to be the blubbering girlfriend again. Rurik shouldn’t have to comfort me during
his
crisis.

Rurik ran his hand over the back of Tane’s neck. “I understand what’s wrong with me now. Such a simple mistake we could have avoided.”

Tane stared at him, his cheek ticking as if fighting emotion.

Ice
-blue eyes met black. “Is there nothing else we can do?”

“No.”

I clasped my hands to my mouth. Why? I didn’t know. Not to scream? Or cry? Either way, I kept silent.

“Connie, it was never my desire to hurt you. I just have no control.”

I nodded, too afraid to speak.

Rurik pul
led Tane closer, lips parting.

“Once you start to drink f
rom me, don’t stop.” Tane leaned his head to the side, exposing his carotid. “I can’t remember the last time I was bitten.”

Rurik looked puzzled. “How will I know when it’s enough?”

“You will.”

I glimpsed Rurik’s
fangs before he buried them into Tane’s neck.

Tane set Rur
ik on the bed.

I hurried to his side. “Is it normal for him to pass out so fast?”
He had barely taken a swallow.

“Yes,
and he’ll stay like this until the process is done. We’ll see who awakens in this body. The person we love or a monster.” He held out his hand. “Give me the stake you’re carrying.”

It took me a moment to fish it from between my breasts
. I clutched it to my chest. “Don’t use it unless I’m here.”

He pried it from my fingers. “Under no circumstances will you watch me kill him. I won’t let that memory eat away at what you feel for me.”

I tried to grab it back. “I have a right to say goodbye.”

Twisting to face me, he easily kept the stake out of my reach. “What do you think we just did?”

“I couldn’t touch him.” I stomped my foot. That was the worst goodbye in the history of goodbyes.

“Well, you can now.” He step
ped aside and waved toward the bed with his back turned to me. “You’d never forgive me, Connie, if you watched. Don’t fight me on this.”

I sat on the edge of the bed and traced Rurik’s strong jawline. “You act like he hasn’t a chance.”

“I can’t afford hope.” The haggard lines of Tane’s face finally drew my attention. His sunken eyes shielded the torment boiling underneath. He was preparing to kill someone he loved. Tane was the rock of our relationship. He solved our problems and shielded us from those who would hurt us. He gripped the wooden stake tight, ready to selflessly do battle with heartache alone.

I kissed Rurik, his soft lips unmoving under
mine and cold as a corpse. If Tane couldn’t afford hope then I had to do it for both our sakes. Without it, fate wouldn’t see us fit to be granted a miracle. Rising to my feet, I faced Tane. “Call Kam. Let him do it if we haven’t any other choice.” I set my hands on his. “Please,” I whispered.

He eased his grip on the stake until it slipped into mine. “Either way, if he lives or dies, it will destroy me.” Blinking, he searched the room as if seeing it for the first time. “How did I get caught in such a corner?” Rubbing his head, he stared inward. “I can’t think of any way to escape this fate.”

I set the stake on the side table. “What are you talking about?”

He tilted his head so his black gaze engulfed mine
. “If I’m forced to kill him, part of me will break and I will not be fit to rule. If he lives, my clan will force me from the throne. Either way, I’ve lost the crown I’d fought so hard to gain and I have no successor. This will plunge us into war. Something the human race can’t afford.”

The last vampire war had sent us back into the dark ages. Plagues had
run rampant, decimating vampire blood sources as part of their strategic efforts to win. All this before modern weapons were invented. What if some power-crazed Nosferatu got his hands on a nuclear warhead?

“Hey.”
I grabbed Tane’s shoulder and shook him. “You’ll stay in power because you
have
to. At least until you’ve trained a successor.” I took his face within my hands and spoke with as much confidence as I could muster. “You are not alone.” I wasn’t Rurik with his political connections or diplomatic manners, but we’d handle this. “One fucking problem at a time, okay?”

He nodded.

“How long before Rurik wakes?”

He shrug
ged. “He’d already stared the change. My blood should finish the process, so five minutes to a couple of days?”

“Ugh, for the love of ever getting any sleep.” I paced the room.

“It’s not an exact science.” He chuckled softly and shook his head. “I’m not sure if there is any science to it.” He stepped in my path. “Go lay down, even if you can’t sleep. Once he wakes, I can’t promise rest.”

I watched him with a sinking stomach. “What about you?”

“I’ll stay here and inform you if he stirs.” He tapped his fingertip against my temple.

“I thought you were hiding?”

“It will be a small ping.” He gave me small push toward the door.

Nodding, I retreated from the room to mine across the hall. My clothes were neatly folded on the bed. Quickly, I cha
nged out of the dress and lay it on the bed. I’d never been very good at waiting.

The thick curtains covering the window caught my notice. I peeked behind them. Lamp light glimmered on the canal below. A boat passed by filled with young couples. They laughed at something the driver said.

I watched them until they vanished from my window view. The closest thing I’d had to a group of friends had been Colby’s slayer team. Sad, I know. It would have been nice to have someone about now. I always ended up alone. Maybe I should stop fighting fate and accept that happily ever afters were for other people. Not everyone deserved one. I believed in ying and yang. For every person who found a happy place, there was another who didn’t. My lonely existence could mean someone else had it good. It was my only consolation.

The window didn’t budge as I tried to open it. I wanted to feel the fresh air on my face just to prove the world outside really still existed and this wasn’t some nightmare I couldn’t wake from
. I shoved away from the stuck window and strode out of my room, down the stairs to the main floor. Other vampires sat in the sitting area. The first I’d seen since arriving last night. They tossed me curious looks. Maybe they were oblivious that their king was a floor above them, but no one stopped me. Catarina wasn’t among her nest.

Hayden appeared at the front door. “May I be of assistance?”

“No, I need some fresh air.”

“May I suggest the gardens on
the roof?” He gestured back the way I came.

I stared at the walls. It was a gilded cage of Catarina’s making.
I wanted a reminder of freedom, of being a woman in the world of humans. “I want to walk.” I reached for the door.

Hayden let me pass but set his hand on my arm. “It’s dangerous. Maybe you should take someone with you.” He aime
d his stare at the vampires on the sofas.

“The point of my walk is to get away from vampires. If you wanted t
o come, I’d reconsider.” Being alone and pretty hadn’t inspired much fatherly reaction from older men when I’d been young. I’d been prey, but my grandma had taught me to how to fight dirty when cornered. Those lessons had saved my ass countless times. Hayden didn’t set off my pervert alarms. We were both blood slaves and at the mercy of our vampires. Luck had given me a kind master. How had Hayden faired?

He shook his head. “I have duties to attend. Will your master mind your absence?”

“
My master is otherwise occupied. I won’t be long, Hayden. I’ve never been to Venice before. Let me watch the boats for a few minutes.”

He gave me an uneasy nod.

Leaving the old house with its gas lamps and lack of plumbing, I strolled along the canal. The warm wind blew the scent of salt water from the nearby sea. Cobblestone lined the edges of the canal so I could stroll from Catarina’s neighborhood to a more-traveled street.

Everyone either walked or boated. A gondola floated by
, and the gondolier sang in a loud voice to the tourists.

I slowed to watch
, a little green with envy. Odd how the world still turned when it seemed like my life fell apart. I promised myself hope, but the burden of it weighed too much.

Maybe I should plan for our getaway. Where would we
go from here once Rurik awoke? We couldn’t hide in Venice forever. The Alps were rural in some parts. We could live off the land; me and my city skills would do so well in such an environment.

I slouched on a vacant bench and stared across the water. We could sail. Tane had more money than God. If we could obtain cash the
n we could stay on the move until a storm sank us and my vampires could watch me drown or better, eaten by sharks. We didn’t have a whole lot of options. I could understand Tane’s worries now. I’d been so focused on Rurik surviving, I hadn’t gazed beyond the horizon of present problems and into our future.

It sucked monkey balls.

Someone heavy landed next to me, making the bench creak.

I glanced and grinned at the familiar handsome male. “Shouldn’t you be doing shifter things?”

Kam frowned. “Shouldn’t you be indoors with your master keeping an eye on you?”

I sighed. “Did he send you?”

“Yes, he’s hopping mad. He can’t watch Rurik and hunt you down at the same time. I’d appreciate it if you’d cooperate and keep a low profile until we get the worst predators on the planet off our asses.”

“I just walked a block. I don’t even look like myself, especially in the dark.
Hey, how’d you get here so fast? I thought you were supposed to be chilling in the tourist section.”

“
You’re not the only one who can’t follow orders. Master Tane likes his space but he forgets my pack has sworn to protect him. I was close by.” He set his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close enough to whisper. “They’re in the city.”

Every muscle in my body, including the ones controlling my pinky toes, went ri
gid.

“Shhh…” Kam stroked my hair. “I’ve only spotted one Nosferatu’s scent. Bet he won’t be t
raveling alone though. He must be combing the city.”

“Does Tane know?” I wru
ng my hands together and tried to search the shadows without looking obvious.

“Not yet. I caught the scent while following yours
, so they’re close. You should tell Master Tane through your link.”

I grew very still, sinking against Kam. My scent trail had crossed the Nosferatu’s and I hadn’t gone far from the house. I didn’t believe
in coincidence. “I can’t contact him."