Authors: Erika Trevathan
“So you are the Brooke that has the vampire world shuddering with fear and vying for your death?” There was a hint of sarcasm tainting her words. I wasn’t quite sure if she was making fun of me or being serious.
I raised my eyebrows in disbelief and cleared my throat before saying, “Um, excuse me? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I am hardly feared and I certainly don’t have people vying for my death. At least, I hope not.”
She laughed out loud, showing gleaming white teeth and an equally melodic laugh.
“I never said people were vying for your death. I said vampires. And as far as being renowned, that has certainly been the case for the last couple of weeks, when it was reported that you were to be bonded with one of our most powerful and ancient vampires. “You don’t think the Regency would let that go unnoticed do you?”
I swallowed nervously. “So is that who has abducted me. The regency? All I remember is a tall man with jet black hair.”
She moved forward and sat on the edge of the bed. “Ahh, you must mean Lucien. He was charged with getting you here. You made it a lot easier by wondering out by yourself. Didn’t Alex warn you about that?” She raised an eyebrow and continued on without waiting for an answer. “Regardless, we have you here now and here you’ll stay until Alex arrives and we decide what to do about the two of you.”
My heart sped up and I felt a quick passing of relief. “Alex is coming?”
She smiled but it held little warmth. “He should be here within a couple of days. We left him little choice by bringing you to our coven. He’ll be chomping at the bit to be near you again.”
Oh, our bond
! I already felt an ache deep in my soul at our separation. I still felt the heavy warmth of the ruby ring on my finger so I knew it was what was helping me to not be a complete sop right now. He, on the other hand, had no ring filled with my blood to make our parting less painful. Yes, he would come here pronto.
Well played Regency, well played.
“So who are you?” I asked glancing at her obviously designer dress and pricey jewelry.
“I’m Katina, a member of the Regency. I have been entrusted with your
care
, you could say. Over the next few days you will attend the members of the Regency and they’ll judge your potential to become what could possibly be a vastly powerful vampire. Once they’ve decided your fate, it will be carried out promptly.”
I was confused. “What exactly will be carried out?”
“Well, if you are deemed up to par, then Alex will be given freedom to complete the bonding process, with a few stipulations, of course. And if it is decided you will not do, then you will be put to death.” She said this matter of factly, as if my death was of little importance to her at all. It probably wasn’t.
I remained silent as the weight of what might happen in the next few days held me paralyzed. Eyes wide and my hair tumbling around my face, I stared at Katina, lost as to what to say or do.
Katina stood up and waved an arm to the large armoire against the wall. “There’s clothing for you in there and all the other necessities are in the bathroom. My eyes followed hers to a massive bathroom off to the side of the room. I could see a crystal chandelier and enormous tub from where I sat. This was not what I considered prisoner treatment, but I would gladly take it compared to the alternative.
Katina turned to leave and stopped just as she was getting ready to go out the door. “And Brooke, do not go wandering around the castle. It’s full of vampires who would not pass up the opportunity to sink there teeth into a pretty human. Even with the scent of Alex’s bond in your blood, some may become so blood hungry that they disregard it and take there chances on getting sick after drinking from you. I suggest you wait for me to take you down when the time comes.” The door clicked into place behind her and I fell back against the bed, staring at the ceiling and feeling Alex’s absence greatly.
Suddenly it occurred to me that I could communicate with Alex mentally. I closed my eyes and with all my focus tried to form a mental connection as we had done before. After several minutes of this, I realized that I wasn’t getting anywhere. It was like there was some kind of block and our minds couldn’t reach each other.
Probably some kind of vampire magic.
I guess I was on my own until Alex arrived to get me out of this place.
With nothing better to do, I took a long bath and took my time curling my hair and putting on makeup, I made my way over to the huge armoire Katina had told me to dress from. At least, if I was walking into a nest of vampires, I would look my best, I reasoned. I opened it up to find an assortment of very expensive designer clothing all in my size. I grabbed a drape-y off the shoulder beige sweater and winter white trouser leg pants. I located a pair of matching heels and stacked on some gold bangles and earrings. I assumed it was cold wherever I was, because all of the clothing in the armoire looked like it was meant for cold weather. With nothing left to do and nowhere I could go yet, I walked over to one of the huge windows and pulled a thick velvet, gold drape out of the way. What I saw made me suck in my breath in awe. Outside was a literal winter wonderland. Thick white snow blanketed the ground and covered the tall pines off in the distance. Huge mountains peaked far away and the sky was a slate gray.
Wow, where was I, Iceland?
I guess that would make sense considering that it would be a perfect location for cold blooded, sun avoiding vampires.
And impossible for me to escape from
. I had just sat down on the window seat when the door again swung open. This time Katina stood there with the horribly evil looking man who had abducted me, Lucas. He was piercing me with a hungry gaze and Katina glanced at him with something that looked like annoyance.
“Brooke, you can come with us. We are to have drinks with the rest of the members of the Regency.” I raised my eyebrows at this, wondering exactly what kind of drinks she was referring to. As far as I knew, I was the only one in this castle or whatever it was, that didn’t drink blood. I silently thanked God for the thick mane of golden brown hair covering my neck and tumbling down my back. I didn’t know how much good the coverage would do me, but it made me feel better anyway. I stepped out into the hallway with Katina at my side and Lucien following closely behind. I could feel his eyes boring into me.
Ugh, he completely gives me the creeps.
I really hoped the rest of the vampires here were less like Lucien and more like Alex and Katina, even. She was not overflowing with warmth, but I sensed some good in her and so far she had been pretty nice. We walked down a long hallway and came to a landing that led to a huge spiraling staircase. Sparkling crystal chandeliers hung overhead. At the bottom of the staircase we immediately turned into a large room with Victorian era furniture and wall length floor to ceiling mahogany bookcases filled with books. Any other time I would have been dying to browse through it’s shelves, but in this situation I hardly gave it a thought. My attention was captured by the room filled with elegantly dressed vampires. Every pair of eyes was on me as I entered the room. One thing that stood out to me was that even though their complexions ranged in color, they all had a slight underlay of iridescent paleness to their skin. Now that I thought about it, all of the vampires I had met so far had the same quality to their skin; it just seemed more prominent with them grouped together as they were now. One man stepped away from the others and glided toward me with a seemingly genuine smile. He was very charismatic, but his blue eyes were keenly sharp. I sensed that this man was not to be trifled with. Self preservation was kicking in and I knew that if I wanted any chance at coming out of this whole situation alive, I would do well to get on this vampire’s good side.
He approached me and slid his cool hand into mine, gently bringing it up to his lips in a regal way. His eyes held something that belayed fondness and familiarity, and it had me curious. He was tall, broad shouldered with black hair and his complexion was tanned, yet with that unique underlying paleness. He appeared to be in his mid forties, though I had no idea how old he really was. Judging by the cool confidence and obvious reverence the others seemed to look at him with, I would say he was ancient. When he spoke, his voice held the same accent as Katina’s and he was all warm politeness. Against my better judgment I wanted to trust him. Something told me that would be a lethal mistake.
“So very nice to meet you, Brooke. I am Demitrie and this castle is my home. I’ve been told you‘re situation is quite remarkable. You are hoping to become one of us soon?”
I thought carefully for an answer that would please him. I knew my life very well may depend on it. After a few seconds I answered. “I do. I wasn’t sure at first, but now, I have never been so sure of anything in my life.”
He gazed at me thoughtfully and deeply, making me wonder if he could read my thoughts. I would have to be very careful while I was here, just in case. But there was something else in his appraisal that had me wondering what exactly he was looking for. And as uncomfortable as I was with the fact he had the power to decide my future, for some reason, I wanted to like him. Maybe it was part of his vampire pull.
“Good to know, good to know”, he murmured, and I hoped he was referring to my comment on our dedication to the Regency, and not my thoughts on saying what he wanted to hear.
CHAPTER 12
The next hour went surprisingly well. After giving a fairly detailed description of how Alex and I came to find out about our bond and then carrying on fairly mundane conversation about seemingly nothing of importance with various vampires in the gathering, the little get together broke up and Katina led me back to my room. With the exception of Lucien and some blonde ethereal looking vampire who kept sliding me withering glances, I would say meeting the Regency hadn’t been nearly as terrifying as I had expected. I was especially relieved to find out that I wasn’t what was on the drink menu for the meeting.
I couldn’t help but question Katina on the way back. “What exactly was the point of that? Surely they can’t plan on judging me based on the few questions they asked me?
She seemed to consider this before saying, “I think it will have more to do with the connection that exists between you and Alex than anything they may have asked you in there. They’re waiting to see just how powerful it will yield you two, I think, and decide if you will be a threat to them if turned.”
I was surprised that she was telling me anything at all, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. For some reason she seemed to be on our side and I was glad she was the one they had appointed to watch over me. It definitely could be worse. I could have Lucien following me around everywhere. Just the thought of him made me want to lose the lunch I had forced down earlier.
Once I was deposited back in my room I slipped on a midnight blue nightgown that I found in the drawers below the armoire. It was incredibly soft and fell halfway down my thigh with lacy spaghetti straps holding it up. It showed a little more cleavage than I was wanting to show here, but I figured since I would just be in my room and then going to bed, it wouldn’t be a big deal. I turned on the flat screen television on the wall in front of the bed, but turned it back off after I realized I didn’t understand a word of the language they were speaking. This had my thoughts drifting to where I was and how much longer it would be before I would see Alex. There was a distinct ache in my veins that I instinctively knew could only be soothed by his presence. As soon as we could get out of here I was going to beg him to hurry and turn me in hopes it would quench this never ending desire to be as close to him as I could get. Somehow I had my doubts it would ever go away.
After staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours, I finally decided I would see if I could find something to snack on. I had been too nervous to eat much earlier and I found I was all but starving now. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep with my stomach growling the whole night. I eased the door open and peeked out into the hallway. I walked barefoot softly down the glistening wood hallway in hopes I would come across Katina’s room. I figured she would send for something or at least escort me down to the kitchen. After glancing into the empty rooms on the hallway I ventured around the corner to the staircase and looked down into the vacant foyer below. When I heard and saw no sign of anyone, I glanced down at my nightgown and decided that I should be able to slip into the kitchen without running across anyone. I wasn’t sure where everyone was, but it was eerily silent causing my every move to echo through the castle.
Maybe they were all out catching their dinner
.