The Vampires' Birthright (11 page)

“What kind of things does he say?” I tried to seem as coy as possible while my heart began to race.

“I think you know,” he said, after casting a more wary glance toward the five vampires entrusted to watch over me. I didn’t have to follow his eyes to know they all were attempting to listen in on us, as they continued to watch our interaction.

“I honestly can’t say if I do know or not. He’s always so hard to figure—”

“He loves you!” Mercel trembled in anger and his voice was a harsh whisper. I wondered if this was because his master suffered so, or was it more the fact Mercel hated being placed in this position as a delivery boy with so many immortals eyeing him hungrily without Racco nearby to offer protection. “He doesn’t care that you bear another’s child! You can sneak away with us—”

“Bartender, perhaps you wouldn’t mind adding a small smidgen of alcohol to my Type O tonight?”

Gustav appeared next to me, and Mercel clammed up. He nodded emphatically to Gustav and bowed away as he sought to open another bottle of wine, only this one was a chardonnay.

“You look ravishing tonight, Txema!” Gustav said, while Mercel poured a small amount of wine into a thimble-sized container.

“It’s good to see you, too, Gustav.” I forced a smile while praying there would be no ill will against Mercel. He was merely an unwitting messenger for Racco. I needed to come up with an effective distraction quick. “Thank you so much for putting this event together tonight. It means the world to me!”

He now eyed me as curiously as Mercel had a short while earlier. Only in this case, my instincts told me I didn’t need to know
any
secret this lord of immortals carried with him. At least he wasn’t wearing the garish papal outfits he favored in France, or anything like the golden robe he wore when he addressed this same crowd shortly after our arrival at the palace in November. Dressed in the sort of tuxedo and cape that Kazikli preferred, and sans any cap at all, I was surprised to see that he looked much younger that I expected him to, sporting light brown hair pulled back in a long ponytail I never knew existed. Only his porcelain white skin gave him away as an extremely old vampire. His cheeks were flushed slightly pink, a sign I had come to recognize as the vampire was well fed and calm. At least Mercel was safe… for now.

“You are quite welcome!” Gustav’s eyes deepened in their bluish gold swirl. I took that as a good sign, and silently prayed I was right. “It’s the least we could do since we are all aware that this hasn’t been an easy transition for you, and our original destination would have been no worse than
le Chateau de Douleur
. Perhaps it will help you forget the
unpleasantness
from earlier today. Hmmm?”

My heart fell into my stomach. I started to wonder if this was all far less planned out than it seemed. Was this a bribe to get me to forget what I had seen? I knew in my heart the image of the two young children screaming in terror after what happened to their mother would stay with me in lurid detail for as long as I walked the earth. I was once again reminded that despite how well I was treated, for most of this particular vampire nation, I was neither more―nor less―than a means of survival. But, hoping my thoughts were as much a jumbled morass for Gustav to navigate through as they were my companions, I continued to be agreeable.

“Yes, I believe it will help,” I said. He looked away briefly, allowing Mercel to pour the thimble-sized cup into his half-full goblet of blood. When he looked back at me, I sought to close the deal… to place an airtight seal on an expert thought misdirection while somewhere deeper in my mind I was seriously debating Mercel’s offer of escape. “I look forward to a more permanent home deeper in the Himalayas, like what Huangtian Dadi mentioned last month. Do we know yet when that will happen?”

He was either impressed with my answer’s astuteness, or my convoluted sidetrack to distract him from attempting to peer deeper inside my psyche. Either possibility added up to the same thing: a big stinky pile of bullshit.

“You’ll know the answer to that question soon enough, I assure you, Txema. Enjoy the evening, and don’t worry so much about a future beyond your reach.”

He paused to look at Mercel again, who had not looked up. Gustav let out a slight snicker and then was gone. His speed of movement is beyond a blur, which I found strangely comforting. The others always left a trace, which my eyes would try to follow in vain.
That’s
irritating.

“We’ll talk later,” I whispered to Mercel. He nodded ever so slightly.

Carrying a plate loaded with food, I moved back toward the others, hoping to find a place to sit and eat. At the moment, they were all having a great time dancing and twirling in the air to an old Irish folksong played by two fiddlers and another playing what looked like a silver flute. The music was beautiful, although I looked for smoke to rise from the flute player’s hands, which it never did.

Another vampire stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I recognized him as one of the more lecherous voyeurs who continuously ‘touched’ himself during my Relance du Sang, daring to come the closest to where he could get the clearest view of the action while my equally naked cousin, Chanson, hung on to my neck with her fangs. Fortunately, I blacked out before I saw what became of this vamp perv’s self-pleasuring.

But, I never forgot the disdain he eyed me with then, which seemed even worse in his pompous leer now.

“So, what have we here?” he hissed, as he drew ever closer, the smell of partially digested blood on his breath and his French accent slurred as if he were drunk. Like most of the hostile looks I’d received that night, his eyes were drawn to my birthmark. I could almost feel his lurid fantasies that involved feasting violently upon my exposed neck. “Because of you, everything we had enjoyed went to hell back in our homeland, and now you have angered our hosts because you didn’t like what happened to some breeder slut blood-sack?”

I’m not sure if I even blinked, staring at this soulless idiot while my lower lip quivered, hurt and seriously pissed. I didn’t know what to say to him, which seemed to anger him more. Where Gustav’s face had been flush with contentment, this vampire’s face turned pink with rage.

In a split second, his hand came toward me, fingers splayed wide, fingernails like daggers aimed at my throat. I’m sure his intent was to remove my head completely from my shoulders. I couldn’t move, but as it turned out, I didn’t have to. Garvan came out of nowhere and removed me from harm’s way, taking my goblet of fake wine in his hand without spilling more than a few drops. My dinner, however, went everywhere.

A blur of motion preceded a howl of pain that overpowered the music. The letch fell to his knees. A pool of blood seeped out from under him as he screamed. Another vampire stood beside him, one foot on the kneeling vampire’s calf, holding him down. At first thought, I assumed it was either Franz or Armando, but they had formed up near me, watching for other aggressors from the onlookers who started to gather.

A thin gleam of light caught my eye, reflecting from a blade pressed up against the attacker’s throat. Even at this distance, it looked impossibly sharp, and cut into the cur’s throat a good quarter inch to keep him off balance. He was on his knees because the sad-looking man in the tuxedo had severed both of his hamstrings. Kazikli?

He held a cane-blade in one hand, the sheath in the other, and smiled wanly at me. He seemed to regret having to use brute force on the attacker, but the resolve in his eyes, and the swiftness and martial skill of his actions left no doubt he was prepared and skilled enough to use it when necessary. A thin wisp of smoke from where the blade was embedded in the attacker’s throat gave away some special property of the blade against vampires. I wondered at the past circumstances which necessitated such a thing.

“I will let you up, and then you will leave… you will leave this palace, and you will leave this kingdom, and you will never come back. You are exiled. If you return, you will find your head lying next to your body, and the last thing you’ll ever experience is the horror of watching your entire essence disintegrate into a ball of flames. Am I clear?”

Kazikli pushed the blade deeper when no response came. That’s all it took to get the other vampire to acknowledge the warning, and he did so with an emphatic nod while a pained whine escaped his throat.

“Very good. Make sure I never see you again, and that means at any time or in any place, exile. Otherwise, you will die, and before that, you will suffer horribly!”

Kazikli emphasized this last part with a menacing hiss in his voice. He lifted the vampire to his feet and hurled him to Franz and Armando. They seized his arms and whisked him off, to shove him outside. As they approached the door, Gustav appeared before them, and the vampire cowered in further fear.

I wondered if the undead could get intoxicated on something like blood, since no way in hell would a sane and sober member of Gustav’s ensemble act inappropriately in his presence. The chance of ostracism or death would be too great. The four of them left together, and the doors closed behind them, shutting the affair off to those remaining in the room.

You might think that after such an unpleasant experience the night was ruined. I know I did… but within a minute of this asshole leaving, the party was back in full force. The music and celebration among the rest of the vampires seemed even more fervent with joy than it previously had been—as if they wanted to make certain nothing else happened to disrupt this Christmas Eve party.

Even the mess made when my food went flying into the air had been cleaned up, and Garvan soon walked me to a small table where he and I could sit and visit. Mercel brought another serving of roast and vegetables, and an even bigger helping of raspberry chocolate cheesecake.

“Sorry for the unpleasantness,” said Garvan. “Like I told you before, they don’t all hate you. Most of them are deeply concerned about what happens to you and your baby to be, Txema. But don’t ever venture outside alone again—at any time day or night. I hope you understand that from here on out it will be far too dangerous, and with so much to lose. Others will be waiting for you to slip up.”

“And then what?”

I hated coming across so flippantly, but the adrenaline was dumping out of my system and my blood sugar had dropped to where my extremities were going numb. I had exactly zero fucks left to give. I didn’t wait for an answer, and dug into my food ravenously. It tasted fantastic, and I resented the fact my body wouldn’t let me savor this moment. I’m sure I looked like an animal in my gorgeous gown, only one step away from eating with my hands instead of the delicate cutlery Mercel had provided.

Garvan smirked sadly and shrugged.

“I won’t be able to protect you. None of us will be able to do a damned thing… I’ll be left to cry tears of blood whenever I think of you.
Every
day. Until eventually sorrow turns to anger and then rage as the last of our kind becomes extinct, and the unchallenged reign of Ralu begins.”

’m sure most folks would assume after such a statement that the night would’ve become a complete bust for me. It almost did. Luckily, Garvan lightened up after sharing the biggest glimpse into his soul that I’d seen up until then. The very things he feared as a vampire are not that different from those of us still human. All of my entourage likely feared the same things, and it would not surprise me if Gustav himself has similar misgivings. Not to mention that he did still have a soul, which was sort of surprising. I was getting very cynical and it kind of hurt my feelings to have this realization about myself.