Entwined With the Dark (23 page)

"The pieces?" I asked hoping to at least have them as a souvenir. Michel had that sword commissioned for me, it was a special gift.

I'll get you another,
came his startlingly loud reply in my mind.

You're close,
I whispered back.

Leaving the airport now, ma douce. Hold tight
.

I let a breath of air out at his words. Matthias was already answering my earlier question.

"She took them with her, she's probably had them mounted on her wall."

"Or placed them under her pillow to better be close to Michel," Marcus offered, some of his normal humour returning at last.

"Hope it stabs her in the neck when she rolls over in her sleep, then," Sergei said opening up the door to the impatiently waiting vampire outside.

"If it doesn't, I'll find a way to do the deed eventually," I said with a charming smile for the Civil War guide encouraging us to hurry up. The chuckles of my vampires followed me down the hall.

Once again the Council was all in attendance, bar Michel, as we entered the room. Gregor's eyes roamed over my body, taking in the bruises and unhealed scratches on my face and neck. His stance became rigid, concern evident in his stare. I ran my gaze over the members, searching for my traitorous kindred. He was seated between the Ambrosia - an old and powerful vampire, one who seemed to have a soft spot for me - and the Nemesis - a nasty vampire who didn't share the Ambrosia's point of view.

Avery looked wretched. Clearly in a fair amount of pain, but he had fed since I left him, because not a mark marred his perfectly unblemished skin. His appearance immaculate, his hair coiffed to within an inch of its life, his goatee beard just right. Amber and ochre eyes met mine and hatred filtered through the weak connection of our joining. I purposely forced my own hatred back down that tenuous line.

"Enough!" The Champion broke our staring match and the hatred I had been thrusting toward Avery dissipated in the air with just a wave of her hand. "We have much to discuss." She stood and walked down onto the floor before the Council and turned in a swish of that layered blue. "The joining cannot be repaired, but the Nosferatin believes it could be reversed." I noticed the Ambrosia shift subtly in his seat, his eyes though were focused blankly at the far wall. The Champion missed it, her attention now on me, and the other Council members equally unconcerned with the eldest of their group.

I forced my gaze to wander and then slowly returned to the woman before me. Her eyes washed over my outfit, disapproval in her gaze. A smile twitched the edges of my lips and I rolled my shoulders slightly to feel the weight of my stakes.

Do not push me, Hunter,
she announced crisply in my mind. I blanked my face out and stood still.

"We will allow her 48 hours to retrieve the
Ljósálfar
Prince and return here with him to perform the reversal act," she said regally, not expecting an ounce of opposition at all.

Avery didn't pick up on that though. "And how does she intend to catch this Imp?"

The Champion glared at him briefly and then turned that steely gaze on me. "Good question. Why don't you run through your plans for capture, I believe it would be best if we approved them first."

Where are you?
I called Michel in my mind, but didn't get a reply. The Champion stiffened at my mental question and I bit back a curse at myself, having forgotten in my panic that she could hear every thought inside my head.

What to say? I couldn't confess to having an alliance with Aliath, I blocked that thought behind rigorous shields. I had no idea what Gigi was doing but mentioning her was dangerous in its own right. A Nothus would be hunted without mercy and terminated on sight. That thought too was placed behind my mental walls. I shut down that side of my mind, unashamedly using my Light to achieve an impenetrable fortress around them, and watched as the Champion became angrier and angrier before me, when her attempts to delve further in my mind elicited nothing in return.

"I have my ways, which I would prefer to keep to myself," I said in an effort to distract her. Before she had a chance to interrupt, I went on. "Not all of my resources are of this world." A truth - Aliath was not of this world - but not entirely how I had meant it. "My Goddess has given me access to certain tools that can aid me, but forbidden me to disclose what those tools are." Also not far from the truth. At least as far as Gigi was concerned. Nut had placed the Nothus's welfare firmly in my hands. Making it clear that her secret was essential and if I failed I'd have to answer to Her. That's why I had sacrificed having Samson with me - something I wanted desperately - in order for him to watch over the girl.

The Champion surveyed me for several stretched moments, then finally announced, "So be it." I forced myself not to react. Before she had taken a step away from me, the doors to the Council chambers smashed open and Michel glided in.

He was cloaked in his fury. If I was beauty personified in a rage, he was God-like. My eyes were all for him, but I heard the delicate, appreciative gasp from the Champion beside me. Michel bowed toward her; a short, perfunctory tip of his head, a brief fist of his hand across his chest. Enough of a motion to show respect, but also brief enough to show his anger. He was mad.

The Champion's cool fingers wrapped around my wrist in a vice-like grasp, digging into the still unhealed welts there, but searching for my pulse.

He still excites you
, she whispered in my mind, once she located the rapid beat beneath my skin.
After all this time and everything you have suffered because of him, he still excites you.

Damn straight
, I thought back, tugging my hand from her clutches and walking towards the man who held my heart and soul.

His dark hair was about his shoulders and face like a cape. His eyes flashed magenta at me, his vampire-within equally enraged by what had happened today. His presence in the room was larger than life. And then I noticed the Light around him. One I had never seen him display before. It was magnificent.
He
was magnificent.

And all present knew it too.

"Emissary," the Champion purred behind me as Michel took hold of my hand. "How nice of you to join us."

Michel smiled at me reassuringly, then turned a mask of cool outrage at the leader of the Nosferatu.

"It appears I have missed all the action," he said in a deceptively seductive voice. "Perhaps you would like to fill me in?"

I had expected fireworks. A dazzling display of
Sanguis Vitam
, lights and sounds accompanying his rage. At the very least, I had expected a roar of unmitigated fury. The anger rolling off him right now was unimaginable, yet he stood before them all in complete control and with a sense of utter regal poise.

It hadn't been any of the things I had expected. It was enough to just be here, to let them all present feel his anger and rage. It was enough, because I could see the effect it had on all of the Council. Including the Champion.

They stood before him in complete awe.

I don't know where he had got this inner strength from. I had always known how powerful he could be, but this was more than physical strength. More than a simple
Sanguis Vitam
show of prowess. This ran much deeper than that and a part of me wondered, if the Light I had seen before was accountable for some of this new allure. This new formidable control.

The Ambrosia looked on with undisguised pride. The Champion with feminine approval. The rest of the Council oscillated between hiding from his sight and staring openly. It was obvious Michel was angry, filled with blinding rage, yet
somehow
he controlled it.

She is my mate
, he said softly in his mind. I wasn't sure if he was directing his thoughts at me or the Champion - or in fact everyone - but I had heard the words he continued to voice in his head, over and over again as though it was a mantra.

The Champion had heard them too, but chose to ignore them. And, I guess, that was why he hadn't said them aloud. He was reminding her of my position; the mate of a Council member can not be harmed by one of their own. But he was allowing her the grace to not have to reply.

It was enough that he thought it and that she had heard. And it was astounding that she didn't fly off the handle in response to the overt challenge he had laid. The Champion had been acting irrationally - unhinged Gregor had said - yet with Michel here, a sense of calm stole over her. As though his presence alone allowed her some form of control.

He wasn't doing anything in particular. There was no S
anguis Vitam
in the air. But in some fashion she relied on him, gained strength and sanity from his presence, yet she continued to alienate him with her pursuit of my power. Her blinding desire to have access to my Light. If only she realised how easy it would be to win Michel over, if she treated me with a little due respect.

"Your mate has agreed to locate the Imp Prince and thereby have the joining reversed," the Champion said sweetly, as though Michel's angry entry was par for the course. "Once we have this unfortunate joining sorted, the portals shall be closed."

Avery shot to his feet in outrage, his Council chair toppling over in his haste. The loud bang of the heavy object meeting the marble floor resonated throughout the room.

"Sit down, Avery," the Champion commanded with little patience. "Your time in the light has come to an end."

I felt his boiling anger, mixed in with his utter shock and despair. Then quickly his emotions changed, to a bitter feeling of malcontent. I felt it all as though he and I shared a Bond, it was so strong that it travelled down the weak joining connection we had and slammed right into my chest. I stifled a gasp at the sensations, Michel squeezing my hand to offer support.

The Champion had made an enemy tonight. Avery had always been mine and Michel's, but now his rage was also directed at her. If she noticed, she didn't show it, but her guards quietly stepped further into the room.

"There are more pressing matters to discuss, Champion," Michel said, effectively supporting her dismissal of Avery. The Interrogator's fists clenched at his side, but he turned to his recently up-righted chair and sat down. I felt the weight of his stare on me and I readily admit I avoided looking back.

"Yes, and what could that be, that is more important than the closure of the portals?" she asked
arching a brow.

"We have heard the
Ljósálfar
have become restless, the war is not going well."

"That is not of our concern, Emissary," she countered and returned to her seat, placing herself several inches above us.

"Unfortunately, I must be the bearer of bad news, Champion," Michel went on as though he wasn't about to incur her wrath at our involvement in causing war for the
Iunctio
. I had no idea how he was going to get out of this one, but he seemed relaxed and totally in command of the room.

"Go on," she said quietly, jiggling her foot as it crossed her knee.

"They seek Lucinda's power also," he said holding her steely gaze. "She has refused to join them and spurned their Prince."

The Champion sat forward in her chair. "And?" she said ominously. I held my breath.

"They have become enraged and have declared war."

"On whom?" the Champion said, but it was obvious she had already come to the right conclusion.

"On the
Iunctio
whom Lucinda openly supports," Michel replied steadily.

Nobody said a word for several seconds and then voices rose in panic and alarm. Angry words at Michel for bringing this upon the ancient Nosferatu. Upset words about potential loss of life, blood about to spilled and the renewed hunger for my powers to close the portals completely.

"We have no choice, but to aid the Nosferatin in reversing this joining. The portals must be closed!" That from the Scribe, a vampire who had helped me out in the past.

"We should rid ourselves of this association immediately, save as many Nosferatu as we can," the Nemesis shouted over several others.

"It was never a good idea to entertain such power. Nut has always cast us aside," the Diviner lamented, but no one paid him any attention at all.

"Hand her over to them, then find a different way to close the portals!"

"Call to arms all Masters of the City, prepare for imminent attack!"

"Help her!"

"No, don't help her!"

Then finally when the noise had reached untenable levels, the Champion called, "Enough!" Her voice had barely risen, but her power flooded the room and silence reigned.

"I have delivered my verdict," she said looking for all the world a little bored. "The
Sanguis Vitam Cupitor
shall find the Imp Prince to reverse the joining. A suitable replacement kindred with sufficient powers shall be found, for her to join with. Thereby returning her power to the
Iunctio
. And once we have the
Ljósálfar
Prince, we use him to bargain a ceasefire from the Fey."

"And in the meantime?" the Keeper said, the only one of the Council who appeared able to still talk. "What if they attack, we need to be prepared.

"You are right," the Champion said warmly, her obvious like of the striped haired vampire evident in her gaze and soft tone. "We start gathering our forces."

"We could find an ally in the
Dökkálfa
." I don't know why I said it and I was momentarily surprised to have found my voice. But the words came out before I could stop them, Michel's slight alarm evident by his brief tightening of his hand in mine.

The Champion turned slowly to look at me, it was like being in the sights of a hungry cobra. She cocked her head and pursed her lips. Then murmured softly, "Who said you could talk?"

I swallowed past a dry throat and then had to cough discreetly to avoid it closing altogether. "I merely thought it could be an option. That's all." Ah crap, Aliath, why the hell do I do what you ask?

The Champion continued to watch me as though I was some interesting if not unusual science experiment gone wrong. "I see," she said, but I wasn't sure if she did. The
Dökkálfa
could be a helpful ally, but it would be an alliance that would only happen when snowflakes fell in hell.

Her attention left me, and not long afterwards, my ability to stand unaided. I don't think she had
done anything specifically, other than scare the bejeebers out of me, but my body had quite clearly had enough. Michel's arm wrapped around my waist surreptitiously and he took all of my weight against his side.

"I am hungry," she announced surprising everyone. "I must feed now. You all know what to do." And then she glided from the room, the Keeper in her wake.

I wasn't sure how I had escaped a second round of punishment. I had no idea why we had been given a reprieve. And the fact that I didn't have a clue how to capture Lutin and force him to reverse the joining - if in fact he could do it at all - was sitting like a lead weight in the bottom of my gut. Michel continued to hold me silently, until all but a few guards remained with us in the room, then he turned me towards his chest, wrapping his other arm around the back of my neck. His hand moving to cup my head and tip my face up to his.

"Do you have a death wish,
ma douce
?" he asked quietly, magenta flashing in his eyes. One of our vampires snorted in agreement behind us, but I couldn't shift my gaze from the man before me to see who it had been. I shook my head and wet my lips, the urge to bridge the gap and claim his mouth with mine too great.

He had nearly died. I had nearly died. Goddess, that was sounding too familiar.

His lips curved at the edges and he leaned his forehead against mine. "Are you all right?" he asked, his voice catching unapologetically at the end.

"I still don't think I can stand," I answered honestly.

"Then we'll stay here for a while longer. You need to make it to my chambers unaided."

"Your chambers?" I asked despite the sudden desire to sleep. There wasn't time for sleep, I had 48 hours to procure an Imp Prince and magic up a solution to the problems we were currently about to drown amongst.

"Yes, my chambers," he replied smiling tightly at my thoughts. "As a Council member I have a rather well appointed apartment here in the
Palais
. You should have been housed there." The last was said with a smattering of his earlier anger.

I leaned my head forward and rested it against his chest, too tired to keep looking up at him. He moved us to a Council chair and pulled me onto his lap, his hands running over my body tenderly, as though reassuring himself that I was still all in one piece. The
Iunctio
guards were still inside the room, but the fierce looks and stances they were seeing in my guards had made them retreat, at least to the doors. Still, we weren't exactly in a position to converse freely. We were definitely being watched.

After a few more minutes of strained silence, none of us prepared to discuss what was weighing heavily on our minds, I decided I'd try to walk unaided. I ached, from head to toe, and Michel thrummed with unbridled
Sanguis Vitam
beside me, not hiding it at all. His anger was still so palpable, but his underlying worry for my wellbeing is what broke my heart. He was cursing himself inwardly, blaming my injuries on his inability to get to me in time. He had felt ineffectual, impotent in his rage. It was not something Michel Durand was used to at all.

I squeezed his hand reassuringly as we slowly made our way down the wide
Palais
halls. Several long and painful minutes later we arrived at a nondescript apartment door. No name on the outside, just a number, but once Michel opened the door and led us inside, the difference between the luxury rooms we had been provided on our arrival and his comfortable and appealing apartment were astounding. Michel was evident in every corner. Still so beautifully appointed, but pictures of me were everywhere.

I stood stunned at the familiarity of the décor, the welcoming feeling of the room - something I had never thought possible when inside the
Iunctio's Palais
walls. And in utter surprise at the number of photos he had of me, dotted here and there. Before I had a chance to comment, Michel lifted me off the floor and crushed me to his chest. His lips found mine in a hungry kiss and he carried me from the large lounge room, down a hall to the bedroom, without a word of warning to his guards.

As soon as we crossed the threshold of his room, he kicked the door closed and gently lay me down on the bed. The entire movement had been carried out while still kissing me. He climbed on the bed beside me, pain and concern in equal measure on his face. Then he started to undress me.

"Michel," I said, gasping through the aches he awoke with his gentle movements. I was too injured to contemplate making love.

"I need to see you are OK,
ma douce
," he said in a strained voice. "I
need
to make sure."

I understood then, what he was doing, and didn't fight his careful removal of my clothes. This was not just the vampire-within, but also the man. Reassuring himself, but I was aware, also putting himself through unnecessary pain. He groaned when he saw the bruises, he cursed aloud when he found each unhealed cut and welt. Tears fell freely down his cheeks by the time he had finished his appraisal. And then he abruptly got off the bed and disappeared.