Blood Courtesan Hooked, page 3
I looked up at him and nodded. “Okay. What do you suggest we do?”
“First, you come home with me.”
CHAPTER THREE
When he said “home,” I thought he meant back in Utqiaġvik. I imagined he had a little house like mine somewhere, up on stilts and mostly impervious to the ice, snow and shifting permafrost.
But when he told me to climb onto his back—shifting into the great black wolf once more—and headed in the opposite direction, I wondered where “home” could possibly be. There was ninety-five thousand miles of tundra in that direction but no civilization that I knew of. The only thing north of here was the North Pole and I had a feeling we weren’t going to be visiting Santa Claus.
I don’t know how long we traveled. A half hour, maybe an hour. Time blurred in the darkness, the tundra a vast, endless expanse around us, stretching in all directions. He ran hard and fast, tireless, without hesitation—he knew exactly where he was going. I buried my face in the scruff of his neck to block the wind and clung to his fur, the giant animal carrying not only my weight but the weight of my pack and gear, too.
When he stopped, and I slid off, he was panting from exertion like any dog might, his tongue lolling. Then he shook himself, changing quickly back into a man in a parka, a transformation I found both incredible and unsettling. The man flashed me a smile before reaching past me and pulling at something in the snow. I turned to see him opening a round metal door, painted white to be invisible on the frozen ground. I could see that much in the dimness.
“Ladies first.”
“Are you crazy?” I looked down into the black hole, shivering and backing slowly away. “I’m not going down there… with you…”
The vampire sighed. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“So you keep saying.”
“You’ve come this far,” he reminded me. I reached into the pocket of my parka and pulled out a flashlight. My gaze followed the beam of light to the hole and I saw the top of a ladder. “It’s warm down there. I have food. Water. It’s very comfortable.”
“What would a vampire need with any of those things?” I scoffed. “Food? Water? Warmth? Comfort?”
“This place was intended for the living… not the…”
“Dead?”
“Undead.” He shrugged. “I can stand out here all day, but night will come, and you need protection from the dropping temperatures.”
“I can pitch my tent.” I hugged myself, trying to keep my teeth from chattering. “I’ll be f-fi-fine…”
“Do you really want me to force you?” The vampire tossed his hood back and his eyes pinned me to the spot, gold-rimmed and glowing, even in the dimness. I knew very well he could, if he wanted to. The thought made me shiver even more. “I will, if I have to.”
“Okay, fine.” The thought of Ulrich forcing me got me moving. I went past him toward the open door. He took my flashlight and shined the light on the ladder, giving me a hand as I negotiated it, my pack and gear still on my back.
I made my way slowly down into the darkness, feeling like Alice in Wonderland—only I was climbing down instead of falling—down, down, down. The rungs on the ladder seemed endless. Above me, I heard a great clang and then the sound of a bolt being drawn. I gasped, looking up, but it was all blackness. The vampire had stowed the flashlight. After all, he could see just fine.
“Are you there?” I heard the tremble in my voice.
Then he was there, somehow, beside me, putting an arm around my waist and guiding me down the ladder as if it wasn’t a ladder at all. My feet no longer touched the rungs and the sensation was terrifying. It felt as if I was free-falling into nothing and I fought the urge to scream. I couldn’t help myself. I clung to him.
“Almost there.” His voice was low, right next to my ear.
Then we were on solid ground again. I moved away from the vampire in the blackness, waves of cold coming off the ground. He didn’t feel it, but I did. Still, it was warmer down here than it had been on the tundra.
The vampire flicked the flashlight on again, illuminating a tunnel in front of us, seemingly carved out of the stone. It was wide enough for us to travel down it side by side, but I let him lead the way. I felt better when I knew where he was, and I could see where he was going.
“What is this place?” I wondered aloud, gasping when we came to the end of the tunnel and, like magic, there was suddenly light, yet there were no fixtures that I could see. The walls, ceilings and floor were made of some sort of old, very dark wood, the ceiling high and vaulted. There were several chairs and sofas for sitting, very antique by the look of them. Underneath it all, I heard a gentle humming sound, like machinery buried deep in the earth.
How? I wondered, shaking my head. Impossible!
How had this place come to be?
“Home.” The vampire turned, suddenly pushing the hood of my parka back and pulling off my head covering to gaze at me.
I pushed my hair out of my face with gloved hands, looking back at him. He was quite solemn, and I cringed, waiting for him to comment. Vampires could walk among people and blend in if they wanted to—but I couldn’t. My white-blonde hair and red eyes were a dead giveaway to my condition. I’d worn contacts for a while, trying to blend in, and had even dyed my hair—red, like my sister’s—but once I’d moved to Alaska, I hadn’t bothered. Everyone in Utqiaġvik knew I was an albino.
The vampire studied me so long, I couldn’t stand it anymore and moved to pull my hood back up, but he stopped me.
“Moon flower,” he murmured, rubbing an escaping strand of my hair between his finger and thumb.
“Excuse me?”
“Have you ever seen it?” he asked softly. “Ipomoea. She only blooms at night. Pale, white beauty. Thrives in the moonlight.”
“No…” I swallowed hard, wondering if it had been a mistake to trust him. He had that hungry look in his eyes again, the one that made me feel warm and cold at the same time, as his gaze swept over me.
Then the vampire frowned, looking down at the dark stain on the fabric of my snow pants.
“I need to dress your wound.”
I’d almost forgotten about the wolf attack.
Shivering, I let him lead me through a door into another room, this one clearly a bedroom with a black, wrought-iron canopy bed up on a raised pedestal, the curtains and bedclothes made of thick, black velvet. Again, the room was illuminated the moment we entered it, the soft light coming from somewhere behind the wooden slats, recessed somehow. The room behind us went dark at the same time.
The vampire sat me down beside the bed in a high, black, wing-backed chair. I shrugged my pack to the floor, my shoulders aching, keeping my boots away from the velvet-covered footstool. The snow was melting off them. I studied the room as he went into yet another one that lit up the moment he entered. A bathroom? For a vampire? This place clearly hadn’t been built with only the undead in mind.
“Take off your gear,” he called, rummaging through a drawer.
I stood again, shrugging off my parka. Then I pulled off my boots, wiggling my toes in my three pairs of wool socks. They were still a little cold but slowly starting to come back to life. It was surprisingly warm down here. Finally, I slid down my snow pants, wincing. The wolf bite hurt more now that I’d been reminded of it—and the numb of the cold was wearing off. My snow pants had torn where the alpha had attacked and there was more blood than I had expected drying on the material.
“There must be another way in,” I mused to myself, looking at the enormous bed.
“No.” The vampire gave me a small, fangless smile as he returned, carrying first-aid supplies.
“Then how?” I wondered aloud. “This giant bed…?”
“This was all carved out and then sealed in.” He shrugged off his own parka, tossing it aside as he sank gracefully down to the stool in front of me. For such an imposing figure, it was rather shocking to find his movements so fluid. A man that big, you’d expect to bumble around like a giant in a dollhouse.
It made me wonder what he was like—before he became a vampire. He wore just a well-cut pair of trousers—nothing thermal against the cold—and a white button-down shirt. His hands were smooth and cool as he moved my hair aside to look at my neck and I noticed he was wearing a pair of silver cufflinks shaped like wolves.
“Why?” I winced in pain when his fingertips brushed the wound on my thigh. The fabric of my pants was torn. “What were you sealing out?”
“Vampires.” He smiled again when I gave him an incredulous look. “We did not all ask for this life, you know. Will you remove your pants, please?”
I glanced down, seeing that blood had seeped into the material of my dark gray sweats. Underneath that was a pair of yoga pants and, beneath that, a creamy silk thermal pair of pants. The latter kept me incredibly warm out there.
“I can do it,” I told him, holding my hand out for the first-aid supplies.
“I won’t hurt you,” he assured me softly for the umpteenth time. “I only want to help.”
I sighed, standing and sliding my sweats down my legs. “Fine.”
Slowly, I peeled off my layers, tossing my sweats and yoga pants aside. The last layer was my silk thermal underwear and I gasped when they stuck to my skin, the blood there dried. The wolf’s teeth had only punctured my inner thigh.
When I sat back down in the chair and leaned back, now only wearing a pair of panties on the bottom—along with three layers on top, including a hoodie, a turtleneck and a creamy silk thermal long-sleeved shirt.
“Moon flower,” he murmured again, watching as I leaned back in the chair.
When I put my foot up on his thigh, to give him better access to the bite, I heard his sharp intake of breath. I looked up, seeing his eyes had gone almost completely black. I felt myself starting to tremble like a rabbit, paralyzed at the sight of a predator, as he stared at the puncture wound on my thigh.
“Maybe this was a bad idea,” I whispered, mostly to myself.
“I told you, I abstain,” he said gruffly.
I held completely still as he cleaned and dressed the wound. I studied the room and wondered at this strange, underground lair outfitted more for humans than vampires. This vampire wasn’t like any of the others I’d ever encountered, and I found myself more curious about him than I wanted to be. I told myself to focus on the important thing—helping Lily. This vampire had seen her in Paris and he claimed he had the means to get me there. But what were his real motives?
“Your hair… your skin… is that why you choose to live here?” the vampire asked quietly, drawing my attention back to him again.
I nodded. “Land of the midnight sun.”
“You came up here to hide yourself away.”
“Look who’s talking.” I snorted, and one side of the vampire’s mouth quirked into an almost-smile.
“Kindred spirits, you and I.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Done,” he announced, standing up to take the first-aid kit back to the bathroom. He gathered up our parkas along with my clothes and boots and took those, too.
In profile, he didn’t seem quite as large and intimidating. Those broad shoulders and his towering height were mitigated from this distance and angle. I watched him put the first-aid kit away and wash his hands. When he came out, he didn’t look at me.
“Here, go put this on.” He opened an armoire, pulling a shirt off a hanger—clearly one of his—and handed it to me, not meeting my eyes. “I imagine you’re hungry?”
“You have food?” I stood, blinking in surprise. “Why?”
“Go change.” He nodded toward the bathroom, crossing two meaty arms over his broad chest. “I’ll get you something besides dried jerky to eat.”
I had to admit, something besides freeze-dried food sounded good. Just thinking about it made my stomach rumble. I stood, and the vampire moved out of my way, heading out of the room. I wanted to call after him—but I had no idea what to say. I didn’t even know his name!
“Hey!”
He stopped, his big frame filling the doorway, and glanced back at me.
“You know my name. What’s yours?”
“Ulrich,” he said. “Ulrich von Helgrim.”
My stomach revolted, even though I hadn’t eaten since very early that morning.
I ran to the bathroom, barely making it before I retched.
I was still on my knees, shaking all over, when Ulrich moved in behind me, holding my hair away from my face.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Are you all right?”
“No,” I whispered, leaning back and wiping at the tears in my eyes. He loomed over me, and it only then that I saw the resemblance. “I assume Alaric von Helgrim is some relation?”
He nodded, offering me his hand. I took it, wary, and he helped me up. But my knees didn’t want to hold me, so Ulrich supported me as he took me back into his bedroom and sat me in the chair where he’d dressed my wound.
“Who are you?” I asked him, for the umpteenth time, demanding a real answer this time.
“Alaric is my brother.” He sat across from me again on the stool.
“Is he coming here?” I looked around, still trembling. I couldn’t help it. “Is this some sort of trap?”
I’d walked right into it. I could have kicked myself for my own stupidity. Living in Alaska had made me wary of wolves and polar bears, but generally, humans were quite kind to each other out here. We had to stick together.
But Ulrich wasn’t human. He was a vampire. And while I’d never met Ulrich before, his brother, Alaric, had kept me and my sister as blood slaves, once upon a time.
And Alaric still has Lily.
That thought broke my heart like nothing else could have.
“No, Poppy, you’ve got the wrong idea.” Ulrich’s brow knitted, and he reached for my hand. I tried to pull it away, but he held it, determined. “I haven’t seen my brother in many, many years. We are… estranged.”
“Estranged.” I echoed his word, frowning.
“He hurt you?” Ulrich tilted his head, searching my face with those gold-rimmed eyes. “And he still has your sister?”
Damn that mind-reading ability.
I closed my mind to him like slamming a door. It had been years since I’d had to protect my thoughts from vampires, but it was like riding a bike. I got right back on and started pedaling. I didn’t want Ulrich to start digging and find out just what role Alaric had played in my past. Thankfully, those were memories I’d buried deep.
“He’s… evil.” It was the only word that felt strong enough to describe a vampire like Alaric.
“Yes.” Ulrich nodded. His hand swallowed mine as he squeezed. “He is. And powerful.”
I nodded, feeling my lower lip trembling, even though I tried to stop it. The thought of facing Alaric again made my stomach clench and roil and I closed my eyes against it.
“You will need my help, Poppy.” Ulrich’s words were true, even if I wanted to deny them. Pitting human against vampire was comparable to human vs. semi-truck. It was a losing proposition. If I was going to find Poppy and get her away from Alaric, I would need a vampire’s help.
“Why do you want to help me?” I studied him as I opened my eyes, wishing I had some of that mind-reading ability.
His mouth tightened. “I have my reasons.”
“You… don’t like your brother?” I guessed.
“I loathe him.” The vampire’s eyes grew so dark they were almost all pupil, with just that strange gold rim around the iris.
“You want to kill him.” Another guess. But I knew I was right, even if I didn’t have the ability to read his mind.
The smile that ghosted Ulrich’s face was brief but terrifying. “It’s the only thing I would leave this place to do.”
I nodded, looking down at my hand in his, mine warm, his cool. I knew the hand that held mine was capable of ripping a human being in half. Of decapitating another vampire with one blow. I didn’t possess nearly that kind of strength. And I was going to need it, where I was headed.
Where are you headed, Poppy? What are you going to do?
But I knew. There was nothing else to do. I didn’t have a choice. Lily was out there, and she needed me. She’d called out to me, for the first time in years. And my worst fear had been realized.
She was still with him, still his prisoner.
His blood slave.
I had to save her.
I’m so sorry, Lily. It should have been me.
“You got a deal, Ulrich von Helgrim.” I squeezed his hand to keep the tremble from mine, turning it sideways in an official, businesslike handshake. “We’ll find my sister—and your brother.”
“You will save her,” he said, pressing his other hand over mine, reassuring me, clearly knowing it was something I wanted very much.
“And you will end him.” I met his dark eyes, seeing in them just how much he wanted that.
What I didn’t tell him was just how much I wanted that, too.
CHAPTER FOUR
After Ulrich left to rustle up some food for me, I dug through my bag for some clean clothes. I hadn’t brought a lot, but I did have an extra pair of yoga pants. Then I went into the bathroom to change, putting on the yoga pants and the vampire’s shirt. It hung to my knees. I left one pair of socks on.
Then I searched for a hairbrush and found one in a drawer. I did my best to brush out all the tangles. My stomach was really growling now, and I headed out of the bathroom, following my nose through the living area, where there was a set of double doors. The lights went on whenever I entered a room and went off when I left it.
Bacon!
I pushed the double doors open, finding Ulrich cooking at a stove. He’d set the table with one plate.
“You’re not a vegetarian, are you?” He glanced over as I slid into a chair.
“Big time carnivore,” I admitted. I was practically drooling. “That smells amazing.”
“Sorry, I don’t have anything fresh,” he apologized, holding his hand out for my plate. I gave it to him, watching him pile it with food.
