House of Comarré Omnibus, page 119
part #0.50 of House of Comarré Series
Screw Heaven and her twelve-hundred-dollar shoes. Fi sniffed. Those should be her twelve-hundred-dollar shoes. That should be her in that penthouse with Doc. Not some dead man’s wife. She huffed out a breath. Pride law was stupid.
Maybe she should go down and let Velimai know she was here. Velimai was a good listener, and she might have some ideas about what to do with the whole Heaven/Doc situation. Beyond letting Doc do some groveling, because hell yeah, she’d earned some groveling.
Fi stood and peered over the edge of the railing, but from here she couldn’t see enough of the house to figure out what Velimai was up to. She inhaled, sniffing for the scent of something cooking, but apparently dinner was over. Too bad. Fi could eat. And unlike the freighter’s kitchen, Chrysabelle’s was always stocked and her fridge was always full. And not just with blood.
Fi shuddered at the thought as she made her way into the house and downstairs. If she lived to be a thousand, she’d never get how anyone, vampire or otherwise, could stand the taste of the stuff. She shuffled across the yard, wondering if she was setting off the pressure plate sensors installed beneath the sod. She’d arrived in her ghostly form and hadn’t touched anything until she was well inside the house.
As if in answer, the security lights flipped on, almost blinding her. She shielded her eyes with her hand and hustled to the front door. She pounded on it a few times with her fist. “Hey, Vel, it’s me, Fi.”
A few seconds later, the wysper opened the door. She took a quick look at Fi; then her eyes roamed the property behind her. You alone? she signed.
“Yep, just me.” She shrugged. “Did I trip the alarm?”
Yes. Velimai tipped her head. Doc’s looking for you.
“I know. He just wasn’t looking hard enough. I’ve been in your guesthouse.”
Velimai moved out of the way so Fi could come in. Ready to make up?
“Maybe. Mostly tired of hiding. And hungry.”
Velimai laughed, a soft wheezing sound. You always could eat.
Fi entered and headed toward the kitchen. “Hey, I like food. Is that such a bad thing?”
Not when it’s my cooking. I was just about to get some dinner. It’ll be good to have company. Velimai shut the door and walked with her. Besides that, I’m actually getting a little worried they haven’t returned yet.
“Why?”
About to reach for the fridge handle, Velimai paused to sign, Because of the curfew. She opened the door and began taking out leftovers.
Fi got plates down and began to set the table. “What curfew?”
Velimai closed the fridge. Haven’t you heard? The mayor held a press conference. No othernaturals out from sundown to sunup.
“What? That’s crazy. Othernaturals have rights, too.”
Not as many as we used to. Wait, I’ll put the TV on and you can see for yourself. Velimai walked into the living room and picked up the remote, tapping the touch screen. The holovision flared to life, projecting its image into the room, but no sound. Velimai tapped the screen a few more times, changing the channel until she hit the local news station.
A female reporter was standing in the town square. A crowd had gathered and other camera crews were milling about.
“What’s going on?” Fi tried to see past the reporter, but the camera lights didn’t extend enough into the darkness to show detail. “Turn it up.”
Velimai tapped the screen again until they could hear the reporter’s voice.
… the crowd behind me is only going to get larger as the night wears on, I’m sure. Especially with this new development.” The reporter fiddled with an earpiece. “Apparently, the varcolai who broke the curfew is being released due to a second othernatural taking his place. Can we zoom in on the action?”
“They caught someone already? Are they serious?” Fi shook her head. This was going to rile people up big-time.
The camera moved off the reporter to focus on the center of the square. Lights, electric lights, had been set up on tripods and aimed toward the area. The sudden brightness caused the camera image to flare; then the scene became clearer as the balance adjusted.
Between two posts set into the ground, a man was chained at his wrists and ankles. A very familiar man.
Fi fell to her knees, her hands at her mouth. “Oh no. Please no.” A sob caught in her throat. She swallowed it down. “That’s Doc.” She stared blindly for a few seconds more, no longer hearing what the reporter was saying. “I have to go to him.” She pushed to her feet, her stomach churning.
Wait, Velimai signed frantically. They’re releasing him.
“What?” Fi turned. Sure enough, a group of cops, dressed in heavy-duty SWAT gear, were unlocking the manacles on his wrists. Doc kept his head down, but Fi would have known him anywhere. “How did he let himself get caught? The pride is going to go crazy.”
Transfixed, Velimai just shook her head.
Fi went back to watching. They were leading Doc away now. Where to, she had no idea. “They better be releasing him and not just putting him in a cell somewhere.” Velimai nodded. Fi wished she wasn’t having the thoughts she was having, but the truth was, as much as she wanted Doc free, she didn’t want him going back to Heaven.
She rubbed her eyes. They had to get this worked out. She sat on the couch and leaned her head onto her hands. There had to be a solution. She couldn’t just walk away from him. Or could she? The ache in her heart and her soul at the very idea said there was no way. Not now, not after all they’d—
A slapping sound lifted her head. Fi looked up. Velimai was smacking the couch’s arm. She stopped and pointed at the TV.
Fi glanced at the screen. Doc was gone. The SWAT team was shackling his substitute into place. A new panic filled her as the camera zoomed in on the man’s face. “Oh no. That can’t be. Why would he do that?”
The man lifted his head as if he wanted to be seen.
The man was Mal.
Lord Syler and his Elder, Edwin, arrived first at Tatiana’s. Lord Grigor and Svetla were the last. “The last to arrive,” Tatiana spat out. “Can you believe that? They did it deliberately to show their contempt for me.” She growled from her spot on the raised dressing platform as the servants under Kosmina’s watch scurried around with the finishing touches.
Octavian gently nodded. “They are petty fools, but don’t let them upset you. At least they’re all here now and in record time. I’d say word of Lilith has spread. And wait until you tell them what we’ve discovered about our angel.”
Resplendent in the same unrelieved black they’d all chosen, Daci nodded. “Octavian’s right. There’s so much more to concentrate on than their pettiness. Idiots. They have no idea how passé they are about to become.”
Only a few weeks ago, their words would have made Tatiana snap, but now she had to admit they were right. She lifted her chin. “I suppose watching their faces when I tell them about Lilith’s special ability will make it all worthwhile.” The nobility would be rocked to its core with jealousy. “For that, I cannot wait.”
“Nor I.” Octavian gave her a wink and went back to his valet for his dinner jacket. “But we must welcome them all, Svetla and Grigor included, with the same good grace. Or at least appear to.”
Stepping off the platform, she frowned as a servant brushed a bit of lint off the side of her gown. “I know what needs to be done. We can’t let them think anything else is afoot.” In the gold-backed cheval mirror, she glanced at him and Daci, catching his gaze upon her as it almost always was.
She turned her head to admire herself. “What do you think? I don’t normally wear my hair up.”
“Beautiful, Tatiana.” Daci nodded. “You look every inch the Dominus.”
“She’s right, you do. The most stunning Dominus.” Octavian took her hand, then extended his arm to Daci. “Shall we? I think our guests have waited long enough.”
Tatiana held back a little. “You’ve taken the potion against Grigor’s and Svetla’s probing?”
He squeezed her hand. “Done.”
“Excellent.” Not that she was convinced it would work. She walked with him to Lilith’s crib, where he let her hand slide from his. The baby had been dressed in a white lace gown with a matching cap on her head. Tatiana picked her up, cradling her against her own sleek black silk. She kissed Lilith’s tiny nose, then nodded at Octavian. “You and Daci go first. I’ll follow with Lilith.”
“As you wish.” He snapped his fingers, Daci still on his arm. “Kosmina, we’re ready.”
Kosmina went ahead of them down the hall to the dining room. “The staff has prepared a full tasting of twelve different bloods for this evening, animal and kine. I hope my lady finds it to her liking.”
Tatiana couldn’t take her eyes off Lilith’s sleepy face. “I’m sure it will be fine.”
They slowed as they approached the dining room. Kosmina swung wide the doors into the space and announced them. “Your hosts, Dominus Tatiana; her consort Lord Octavian; and Elder of the House of Tepes, Lady Daciana.” After a short bow, she quickly walked to the side of the grand buffet and stood at attention with the other servants in attendance.
Octavian and Daciana entered and stood behind their chairs, one on either side of the head of the table, where Tatiana would sit.
She strolled in and watched, delighted, as the gathered nobility craned to get a glimpse of the child in her arms. Only Syler and Edwin stood. Did the others think she wouldn’t notice the slight? She bit back the words souring her tongue and tried to maintain the grace Octavian had stressed. “Lords and ladies, may I present my daughter, the vampire princess, Lilith.”
“Get up, you fools,” Octavian snapped, warming her dead heart. Grace, it appeared, had its time and place.
Chairs scraped the floor as they were shoved back. All stood. All but Grigor. He lounged in his chair, eyes heavy lidded in certain boredom. “This child is a vampire princess?” His nostrils flared. “Who says?”
Svetla sank back into her chair and made a show of studying one of the crystal tasting goblets laid out before her.
Tatiana’s body trembled with rage. “I say it. And the ancient ones say it.” She held Lilith up, her hands firmly on the child’s torso. As if sensing her mother’s emotion, Lilith whimpered. “Look at her. She is the first of her kind. Born vampire.”
Murmured words of disbelief and doubtful noises echoed off the wood-paneled walls. “There’s no such thing. Poppycock. Well, I never…”
“You fools,” Daci shouted.
Lilith began to cry in earnest. Tatiana cradled her child in her arms. “There, there, my darling.” With her first wail, her tiny fangs were visible.
Lord Zephrim fell back into his seat, his mouth gaping at the irrefutable proof. “The child has fangs.”
“As do we all. I don’t see how this proves anything,” Grigor said. “Any of us could sire an infant. There’s no proof this child was born vampire any more than one of us.”
Lord Syler shook his head. “Would you challenge the ancient ones? Their word on this is enough for me and my house.”
Lord Zephrim nodded. “I agree. Their word is enough.”
Lord Timotheius cleared his throat. “So it’s true, then. This is quite an amazing occurrence.”
Tatiana hugged Lilith to her, bouncing her gently to soothe her crying. “I’d say it’s more than just an amazing occurrence. It’s the start of a new era. With my daughter, a new race of vampires has begun.”
Kosmina hurried to Tatiana’s side. “Shall I take her, my lady? She sounds hungry.”
“Yes. See that she’s fed.” She handed Lilith off. Octavian pulled a chair out for her and she took her place at the head of the table; then he helped Daci into her seat before taking his own. The rest of the Dominus and their Elders sat.
“This new race,” Zephrim began. “How is it different from our own nobility, other than she was born vampire and we are sired? She is still just a vampire. No disrespect intended.”
“No disrespect? Really?” Tatiana turned to Octavian, savoring the last moment of their shared knowledge. “Just a vampire,” she mocked.
Octavian sipped his wine. “She is anything but.”
“Hear, hear,” Daci said, lifting a glass and drinking to her own toast.
“And why is that?” Grigor waved his hand as if trying to hurry her along. “You must share whatever it is you think is so special about this child.”
Tatiana straightened to look down her nose at the Dominus seated at her dinner table, pride rippling through her. “My child has powers no other noble vampire has.” She paused, savoring their eager anticipation. “Lilith is a daywalker.”
“You did bravely today,” Yahla cooed against Creek’s skin.
“Did I?” He couldn’t remember much since last night. “What exactly did I do?” He moved away from her, trying to clear his head.
“Just what I asked of you.”
She looped her arm through his, but he got off the bed, walked over to the small flat screen, and turned off the news. That and the small flashes of memories fading in and out were the only way he’d figured out what had happened.
The mayor had put a curfew in place and he was somehow a part of it. He’d gone to her house, been in her office, but beyond that… there wasn’t much. A flash of Chrysabelle. The ever-present urging of Yahla. Mal taking Doc’s place. Or had he gotten that part from the news? Not that he’d be watching any more of it. Being with Yahla made it tough to concentrate on anything but her. “Why is it so hard for me to remember?”
“Perhaps when I am with you, I am all that fills your thoughts.” She slid off the bed and came to him, pressing herself into him and drawing patterns on his chest with her fingers. “I do not enjoy this place you call home. It is not suitable for you any longer.”
His body was too focused on her touch to remember what he’d been talking about. “It might be a dump, but that’s kind of the point. No one would think anyone living here would have anything worth messing with. Besides, the KM aren’t about to fund a new place unless this one is compromised.”
“The KM are not your—”
He shook his head, making a small place in his brain where he could think. “I know you don’t like them. I’m not crazy about them either, but I work for them. You killing Argent doesn’t change that.”
She blinked rapidly. “I said I will free you.”
He kissed her forehead. “And I don’t doubt you. But until then, I have to do the job they got me out of prison to do, or they’ll put me back there. And that ain’t happening.”
“I would not allow that.” She opened her mouth to say more, but a knocking on the downstairs door interrupted her. He slipped his jeans on, then headed downstairs, crossbow over his shoulder. “Stay here. Don’t make any noise.”
He padded across the space, the concrete floor cool under his bare feet. If he had to guess who his caller was, he’d say Argent’s replacement. The KM wouldn’t leave him untethered for too long. Bringing the crossbow down, he unlocked the heavy-duty door and slid it back a few inches.
Spiky black hair and wraparound sunglasses greeted him. The woman standing there, dressed in black leather from head to toe, didn’t even glance at the crossbow aimed at her heart. Or at least not that he could tell from the dark sunglasses that were… screwed into her temples. Screwed? Really? And why the shades at all? It had been dark for over two hours.
She nodded at him. “Creek.”
He held the bow where it was. “You have me at a disadvantage. You are?”
“Sector Chief Annika.” She spoke with a slight accent. European maybe. “I’m filling in for Argent.”
Creek dropped the bow to his hip. So they didn’t know Argent was dead. “Filling in?”
“Yes.” She held her arm out, palm up, and pulled her jacket sleeve up. A small brand—the Greek letter Ω—he’d come to recognize as identifying KM higher-ups, marked the inside of her wrist. “Are you going to let me in?”
“Sure.” No answer on why Argent needed filling in for, then. More need to know that he didn’t need to know. He slid the door back.
Without waiting for it to be opened all the way, she pushed past and came inside. “When’s the last time you saw your sector chief?”
“Couple of days ago. Last time he was here.”
She nodded, studying the interior of the old machine shop. She glanced briefly at the sleeping loft. “He hasn’t checked in since then. Any idea where he might have been headed when he left you?”
Creek kept a little distance between them. Better that way, at least until he figured out what she was exactly. The screwed on sunglasses didn’t exactly inspire warm fuzzies. “I only get told what I need to know, and with Argent, that isn’t much.”
Annika almost matched him in height, and from the muscle filling out her leathers, she could probably hold her own against a man his size. She faced him again. “I don’t run my people that way. I’ll tell you what I can, when I can.”
If that was true, she was already a better boss than Argent. “So I belong to you now?”
“You report to me until you’re told otherwise.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She walked around his V-Rod, not as captivated as Argent had been, but plainly interested in the shiny bits. Another dragon-shifter maybe? Creek used the distraction to sneak a look at the sleeping loft. No sign of Yahla. Maybe she’d have less issue with him working for a woman. He would not let her kill another KM agent.
“Bring me up to speed.” Annika trailed her fingers over the bike’s seat. The back of her leathers was oddly pleated, the same way Argent’s suit had been to accommodate his wings. Another check on the dragon side of things. “Where are you with getting the comarré to retrieve the vampire child?”
“Not as far along as I’m sure you’d like. She’s not interested in going to Corvinestri right now. I can’t blame her. Getting the kid means facing off with Tatiana. I don’t know if the comarré is ready for that. She’s been through a lot and—”
Annika’s head came up. “What she’s been through is not as important as removing that child from the clutches of the ancients.”
