The Vampire King (16 page)

Philip Diego had joined the vampire court in 1451, a fellow countryman of the land of DaVinci, though much, much younger than Roman. The king asked him to join when he discovered that Diego possessed the ability to summon a being from anywhere on the planet to where he was at any given time. Transportation of one’s self was difficult enough. To be able to cast the spell on an unwitting individual was not only rare, it was valuable. Of course, Diego had to know where the person
was
in order for the spell to be successful. That was the one downside.

Lizbeth Knight was a voice of reason and intuition among court members. She was a beautiful woman, inside and out, and one of her two special powers reflected as much. She had been born on a blue moon five hundred years ago, and so once a blue moon, she chose a certain mortal to become the recipient of her “gift.” This mortal, she fed from. As she did so, that mortal’s inner beauty took residence on the outside, in effect making them just as lovely on the surface as they were deep down.

The fact that this gift brought Lizbeth such joy touched Roman’s heart, and he cared very deeply for the woman. They were as close to brother and sister as two people without blood siblings could become. They treated one another like siblings as well. In fact, true to a sister’s form, for the last several centuries, she’d been on him constantly about his lack of a meaningful love life…. She would probably have a blast with the news once she heard about Evie.

Lizbeth was a close confidante. However, it was Lizbeth’s
other
power which had granted her a seat at the court’s table.

Roses and orchids were Lizbeth’s favorite flowers. Her favorite animals were sea turtles. But it was
every
flower and
every
fauna that she possessed a psychic link to. Lizbeth was the world’s first and true druid, able to communicate and even control, up to a certain point, the aspects of non-human, mortal life. She’d set a swarm of bees on Roman once in a fit of pique. Fortunately for him, his magic was not weak either.

Quinn Adams had been a court member for a decade short of three centuries. The Irish man’s unique Offspring ability allowed him to “merge” with another person, mortal or immortal, in order to combine, not only their bodies, but their abilities. The person he joined with had to be willing to merge, or the attempt would fail, but when it did work and the combination included another Offspring, the results were impressive, to say the least. The power had also saved Quinn’s life at one point. The town he’d grown up in found him out, turned on him, and were dead set on exposing him to the daylight. However, a mortal woman who had fallen in love with him allowed him to merge with her. In doing so, he successfully “hid” inside of her until the mob dispersed and he was able to escape into the night.

David Cade was Roman’s oldest and dearest friend and had been a member of the vampire court since its inception. David’s ability was perhaps the most modest of them all, and undoubtedly the most useful. He possessed the ability to temporarily lend his power to another. In any given battle, Cade could focus his inherent magic onto Roman, or another member of the vampire court, so that their own powers were magnified or doubled.

At the moment, however, despite all of these people and their combined talents, Roman felt like the butt of a joke. He’d sensed the wrongness rising, he’d had his doubts, and he’d ignored his intuition – and David’s – and he’d failed to apprehend Charles Ward when he’d had the chance.

And Roman, it smells like black magic in here.
Lalura had known as well.

Ward’s absence from the meeting was as good as a confession. It was bad news on more than one level.

Ward was a murderer who had broken Roman’s long-standing edict and destroyed an innocent mortal. What was worse was that the mortal woman had very closely physically resembled Evelynne Farrow.

Worst of all, however, was that Charles Alexander Ward was a formidable adversary with an impressive amount of power of his own. It was the reason he sat on the vampire court. Roman had never trusted Ward. There was something about the man that rubbed Roman the wrong way. However, he knew that if he didn’t ask Ward to join the court, Ward would become suspicious. He was certainly powerful enough to have earned the position.

There were only two living, breathing individuals that Roman knew of who possessed the special power Ward utilized, and Ward was still much more practiced in the art. It was another clue to the darkness about Charles that Roman had until now more or less ignored. Ward was an astral master, capable of pulling a person through to the astral plane as soon as they were asleep and dreaming.

It had to be done through touch, however, which was why Roman had left David with Lalura and Evie. Once pulled into that other plane, nothing could pull an individual back out again but another astral traveler.

Years ago, when Roman first considered this ability, he did what he felt was the intelligent thing to do and invited Ward to join the court. There was the added bonus that while Ward was seated at Roman’s table, the king could keep a close eye on him.

However… little good it had done. And now Charles Ward was on the run and very, very dangerous.

It made horrible, perfect sense. When Roman had killed Malachi Wraythe’s daughter, a barely noticeable change had come over Charles, and Roman’s suspicions about Ward’s alignment on the magic front had spiked. He’d heard rumor in the past that Ward and Wraythe were not strangers to one another. And in fact, Roman began to wonder whether they might be friends.

Because of this, he made certain that Ward was nowhere around when Wraythe and the werewolf community went head to head over the Curse Breaker and her mate. A battle between the Hunters, Wraythe and his men, and the werewolves and their allied witches had ensued. In the end, and with a bit of unseen help from Roman, Wraythe was killed.

The unsettled aura around Charles Ward had grown stronger after that.

Now Roman had a feeling he knew why. The former Warlock King Malachi Wraythe and Charles Ward had indeed been close. Charles somehow knew about Roman’s otherwise secret involvement in Wraythe’s death. And now Charles was out for revenge. And because he’d somehow found out that Roman cared for her, he was no doubt planning on using Evie to get it.

All of this had taken very little time for Roman to muse over, and now that everyone had gotten comfortable in their seats, Roman took a deep breath.

“I want every Offspring on the look-out,” he began, his voice soft, his tone serious and low. The sound was ominous and beautiful; he’d always had the ability to take control of a room with his spoken words. “Charles Alexander Ward has broken my laws and destroyed an innocent human life.”

He allowed this information to set in, his gaze combing the room as he did so. No one seemed surprised. The women looked down at the table, the men looked at one another, and all of them took deep breaths before their gazes once more returned to him.

“He will not be alone, he will be on the offensive, and,” Roman paused, made certain that everyone present would understand the weight of what he was about to say next, and continued. “He has his sights set on Evelynne.”

Roman met her gaze. “She is more than that,” he told them all softly. “Evelynne Farrow is to have the protection of every vampire in my kingdom.”

The members of his court digested the edict and nodded their assent. “Granted,” they said, one after another.

“I’ll see that it’s done,” Saxon assured him.

Lizbeth caught his eye. Her expression was a mixture of things that all made Roman uncomfortable. She looked inquisitive and hopeful. She also looked as though she wanted to crow. “You will have our full support of course,” she said softly, her green eyes twinkling. “But might I ask, your majesty, what it is about this young woman that makes her both the target of Ward’s aggression and the recipient of your protection?”

He should have known she would put him on the spot. She waited in silence, already well aware of what he was going to say.

“Evie is Ward’s target because I care for her,” he told them frankly. “And she is has my protection… and my love,” he continued, his voice dropping to an intimate near-whisper, “because she is my queen.”

Chapter Fifteen

Roman sat still in the silence that stretched past his announcement. The air in the room was thick with un-voiced questions and a myriad of unexpressed emotions. He didn’t bother to read their minds; he almost never did unless it was necessary, but he could imagine what was going through their heads.

Roman was not a celibate man by any means, but Lizbeth was right about his more meaningful relationships. There had only been the one.

Thinking on it now, Roman realized how vastly different infatuation felt than love.

Love?

His ancient heart slammed against his rib cage. He’d just admitted it aloud to his entire court. He hadn’t felt this way about Ophelia. At the time, he would have sworn up and down and left and right that she was the one for him, even that he loved her.

But he’d never called her his queen. He’d never even told her he was a vampire, much less the vampire
king
.

But with Evie, here he was, prepared to send an entire vampire nation out after the man who threatened her. He had never loved Ophelia, and what Evie meant to him went beyond words.

Lalura had told him about her vision. Thirteen kings on a chess board – and thirteen queens. The witch felt that Evie was the first of many to come. The first queen.

His
queen.

Roman met five gazes one by one and held them steady. So many questions…. And it was nothing compared to what he would no doubt be up against when he presented the vision to the other twelve kings at one of
their
meetings.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could mutter a sound, he stopped. The air had shifted. It actually felt as if the lights in the room became brighter to him. He caught the faintest scent of cherry blossoms, and at once, he was pushing out his chair and standing.

“Court is adjourned,” he said swiftly as he made his way to the door. The silence remained behind him, and he ignored it. He made it out of the room and into the hall just as David materialized in front of him.

“She’s awake,” Roman said before David could speak. David’s brow raised, and the corner of his mouth twitched, but he simply nodded his assent. “Accompany me,” Roman said as he cast up his transportation magic and the hall around him began to warp away.

He and David reappeared moments later in the hall outside of the master bedroom in the safe house. The sensation of Evie’s distress hit him like a tidal wave. He strode through the door and into the room, preparing himself for whatever he might encounter, but the only other presences he sensed were Jaxon’s and Lalura’s.

Evie’s distress was internal.

Lalura looked up at him as he entered. Evie was sitting in front of her on the bed with her eyes closed, breathing deeply. A split second passed, in which he automatically attempted to brush her mind for the information he needed before he remembered that it wouldn’t work with her. Evie’s eyes flew open.

They were glowing.

They looked like honey-colored suns in the lovely frame of her face, stark and beautiful and all too telling. She was indeed something more than human, and if he hadn’t already decided on that, this would have clinched it.

“She’s a seer,” Lalura told him. “Among other things, I believe, but this is the first of her abilities to rear its head.”

Roman looked over at Lalura and waited for her to go on. But before she could, Evie inhaled quickly and said, “Roman, I know who killed that girl.”

Roman turned back to her. “You saw him.”

Evie nodded. “I saw the whole thing.” Her face was so pale, and there were dark circles beneath her beautiful eyes. Her sleep had been troubled in a truly terrible way.

Roman swore internally. So much for trying not to scare her. Yes, he did know that the girl’s murder had something to do with the similarity in their appearances.

Wait
. Roman made his way to the bed and peered down at Evie with eyes he knew were beginning to heat up. “What do you mean he was
with
you at the coffee shop?”

“He was watching her from across the store, Roman,” Lalura said, her tone reprimanding. “It wasn’t like they were on a date, so cool your jets.”

Roman blinked, both taken aback and ashamed that Lalura was on the money. Roman
had
been jealous.

Again, he swore on the inside. He needed to be more careful; Evie was capable of bringing out his monster with the slightest provocation.

The fact that Charles Ward had been in the same room with Evie, much less that he had been
watching
her, wasn’t doing much to ease his temper. He’d gotten closer than Roman had thought. If he’d managed to do that, then what else was he capable of doing under Roman’s radar?

“My Liege, might I bring you and the lady some tea? Chamomile?” Jaxon suggested from behind them.

Evie immediately straightened in the bed and raised her hand as if she were a child in a classroom. “Okay, I'm sorry,” she said, “but what the hell is the deal with him calling you his liege all the time?”