Along Came a Spider (26 page)

But I didn’t have time to dwell on the quiet shuffling in the shadows. Vlad’s breath reeked of death when he shoved his face close to mine. “Do you know what it’s like to never have a voice, Beatrice?” He didn’t wait for my response before he barreled on. “I was portrayed as a monster in my story. I never was given a voice to tell my side of the tale. I was portrayed as a villain, a fiend!” His expression twisted with bitterness and disgust. “But who does Stoker let speak? That simpering idiot Harker. Harker! That changed when I came over. The ones who loved me made it so. I was transformed into a man—not just a monster.”

Whoa. Dude was way gone. . . .

“Have you ever loved completely?” he asked, his voice taking on a haunting sorrow at the sudden shift in topic. “To want so desperately to be seen for who and what you truly are, only to be misunderstood?”

“Yes,” I said, thinking of Nicky and his anger over my revelation about Juliet. To him, I had become a monster who had sullied the saintly image of his wife. “Yes, I know what it’s like.”

Something changed in Vlad’s expression then—it was twisted with sorrow and desperation. “Come to me, Beatrice,” he pleaded, repeating the phrase he’d been calling out to me. “You are the one I need. Come to me.”

It was disconcerting to see a man known for his power and prowess reduced to such a pathetic, despondent specimen, but I was feeling a little short on sympathy considering the hell he’d been putting everyone through. “I’m not doing shit for you until you leave Red and the baby alone.”

He roared with rage and shoved me away. “You cannot deny me!” he fumed. “You have tasted the blood; it courses through your veins even now. Tell me, Beatrice, how did Nicky Blue’s blood taste on your tongue when you bit him? How did it make you feel? Did you come for him, little one? How many times?”

I blinked at the surreal Hannibal Lecter moment we seemed to be having. If he so much as hinted at Chianti and fava beans, I was outta there. “How did you know about that?” I asked, my voice hoarse from the fear that was choking me.

He chuckled, a dark, grating sound that made me shudder, and was on me again in an instant. “You are mine, Beatrice. I have tasted you. And you have tasted me. We are one.”

I shook my head. “Bullshit.”

He ran a finger down the length of my jugular, his fetid lips close to my ear. “Come to me, Beatrice. Free me from this prison of darkness, and I will keep the spiders at bay. They will never plague you again.”

Shit. He knew about the spiders, too?

“You know what it’s like to be in a prison of darkness,” he continued. “How long did they lock you away in that room after you saw the spider and lost your little innocent mind?”

I began to tremble as he spoke, the memories of that horrible time all too real. The closeness of the cellar, the terror that made my heart beat so frantically in my breast. My heart began to thunder again now as the fear flooded my veins.

“How long did your father listen to your screams, Beatrice?” Dracula whispered. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my face away. “How long did you claw at the walls of your dark prison, desperate to escape the madness?”

Sweat trickled down my back, making me shudder. “Piss off,” I spat, sick of playing games with this bloodsucking sociopath. I ducked out of his hold and backed away. “You think throwing my past in my face is going to make me come to you? You’ve been tormenting one of the only people who ever gave a damn about you—and putting her unborn child in jeopardy! And you dare to ask for my help? Fuck you! You want me, you’re going to have to come and get me, you candy-ass leech.”

He charged then, his long white fangs glistening with saliva and poised to strike. With a gasp of horror, I broke the connection, stumbling back and tripping over a chair, overturning it in my haste to get away.

Red’s eyes were wide as she peered down at me on the floor. “What the hell just happened?”

Good question.

I was trembling so violently, I had a difficult time pushing myself to my feet. “I think I might’ve talked Vlad into leaving you alone.”

She narrowed her eyes at me, no doubt wondering what I was leaving out. “Yeah?”

I forced a smile and nodded. “I think he’s probably going to be moving on.”

She gave me a knowing look. “Just like that.”

I nodded again, my smile feeling a little grotesque. “Here,” I said, slipping the bracelet of Lavender’s hair from my wrist and sliding it onto Red’s. “Take this, just in case I’m wrong. Lavender gave it to me for protection, but I think you need it more than I do.” When Red looked like she was about to protest, I bent and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Just take it. Don’t make me kick your ass.”

She grunted. “As if.”

Chapter Nineteen

Lavender wasn’t thrilled about my handing over the enchanted bracelet to Red until I told her what had transpired while I was communing with Dracula somewhere in the miasma of Red and her baby’s thoughts.

“Let Seth and me take you home,” she said.

I shook my head. “No, that’s okay. I’ll just take a cab to Nicky’s.”

She and Seth exchanged a glance at the mention of Nicky’s name. “Trish—”

“I’ll be fine,” I told her, exhaustion suddenly making my limbs as heavy as concrete. “I’m sure Nicky will be back soon.”

“Well, at least let me make you another bracelet before you go,” Lavender huffed, clearly not pleased with my stubbornness.

“Thanks, Lav,” I said, surprised by how tired I sounded, “but I need to find out where Dracula is. And if getting into his head—and letting him into mine—is the way to go about it, I’m just going to have to take that risk.”

Lavender cast a pleading look at Seth, but instead of trying to talk me out of going, he just took me by the shoulders and bent down a little so he could look directly into my face. “Call us if you need anything,” he ordered. “No matter what, no matter when. We’re going to hang out here a little longer so Lav can keep an eye on Red.”

I nodded. “Keep an eye on Nate, too,” I said. “He’s in a pretty volatile state right now after what I’ve told him.”

Yeah, it had been loads of fun for all of us to have to play one big round of truth or dare with Red. The rules of the little game were crystal clear: We could either tell her the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, or dare to lie to her again and risk a serious ass-kicking by one righteously pissed off, hormonal, pregnant Tale.

We went with truth.

None of us had much of a warm and fuzzy feeling after that, but at least I felt like I’d done what I could to deflect Vlad’s wrath away from Red and focus it wholly on me.

Fuck. Me.

The cabbie who drove me back to Nicky’s refused to drop me at the doorstep, apparently having heard that the house belonged to a man of Business. So the asshole dumped me at the gates and left me to trudge up the long driveway to the front door. Thank God I hadn’t bothered locking the door when I’d left. I figured Lavender’s spell would keep out anyone who had a dark purpose for being there.

Sasha greeted me at the door as if she owned the place, purring loudly as she wound around my ankles. But before I could scoop her up for a little comfort cuddle, she took off like a shot and disappeared down the hall.

With a sigh, I went upstairs, desperate for a little sleep, and found myself hoping that my dreams would be the same old nightmares—at least I knew when I woke up from those I wasn’t going to be attacked by something waiting in the shadows.

To my surprise, I wound up in Nicky’s bedroom instead of the guest room down the hall. I was so tired and so lost in my foggy thoughts, I wasn’t even sure how I got there. But once I stepped across the threshold, my desire to have Nicky there with me hit me so hard, I could hardly breathe. I’d always prided myself on my strength and independence, but—damn it!—I wanted him with me, holding me and pressing his sultry kisses to my skin. I wanted to hear his voice telling me that everything would be all right. And I wanted to hear that he loved me, that we had a future together.

I swiped angrily at the tears stinging my eyes. Shit!

Exhaustion completely taking over now, I lay down on his bed and kicked off my shoes, then pulled the down comforter over me, inhaling deeply and letting Nicky’s masculine scent envelope my senses.

A knot in the center of my chest tightened as I pictured the look on his face just before he’d stormed out. I wished I could take him in my arms, soothe away the pain he was experiencing at finding out the truth about his beloved wife, but I knew it was something he’d have to work out on his own. There was nothing I could do but wait and hope that he didn’t let his fury and heartbreak over Juliet’s actions affect how he felt about me.

Of course, who the hell knew how he felt about me? He hadn’t put it into words. There was no question that he was attracted to me, that he cared about me, but did it go beyond that? He was leaving soon and had tried to deny the attraction between us because he didn’t want me to be hurt when he left. But that only told me he wasn’t a total asshole—not that he was in love with me.

I tossed and turned for a few minutes, trying to get comfortable on Nicky’s bed and not having much luck. After an hour of sleeplessness, I finally realized that no matter how I shifted positions, I wasn’t going to be able to sleep without Nicky there. With a huff, I threw off the comforter and sat on the edge of the bed, letting my legs dangle over the side. I put my hand to the back of my neck and rubbed at the knot of tension there, then rolled my head a few times.

“To hell with it,” I muttered. “Might as well go watch some—”

A sudden pressure around my ankle cut off my words with a gasp.

Oh, Jesus.

My gaze snapped down and I cried out in terror when I saw the hand encircling my leg. I tried to pull my leg loose, but the grasp was relentless, the bony fingers digging into my skin through my jeans. I drove my other foot down the inside of my calf over and over again, trying to pry the fingers off, but they dug in, holding fast.

“Oh, God!” I whimpered, frantically searching the darkness for something I could use as a weapon and continuing to pull against the hold on my leg. I glanced at the bedside table and leaned forward, jerking open the little drawer and rummaging through it in desperate haste. My hand had just closed around the familiar heft of the grip of a gun, when I pitched forward and face-planted on the carpet.

To my horror, I started sliding backward, the unseen assailant dragging me under the bed. I screamed and twisted onto my back, using my other leg to brace against the bed to keep me from sliding under even further. From the shadows came a low growl, and the pull on my leg increased, the joints in my leg straining to the point of pain. I gritted my teeth, straining with all my might, knowing if that thing pulled me under I was doomed. I had to stay out here where I at least had a fighting chance. With trembling hands I aimed the gun and squeezed the trigger. But I heard just a click in response.

Shit! Safety.

I flipped the safety off and fired into the darkness. The sharp crack of the gun split the air. I heard the bullet strike something, but I couldn’t tell if the savage growl I heard in response was from the creature being hit or just becoming righteously pissed. Unfortunately, it jerked harder and I felt something pop in my hip as a fierce pain shot through me, bringing me toward the edge of blackness. Screaming now in rage, I unloaded the rounds, firing rapidly into the shadows under the bed, hoping like hell that one of the bullets hit home.

But as I fired, the creature merely grabbed my calf with its other hand and began to pull its way up my leg, hand over hand, that blood-chilling growl growing in volume. I was out of ammo, kicking and fighting, but I could tell I was losing ground. I tried to scoot back, using my elbows, but it was now at my knee, my thigh. . . .

Those horrible claws dug into my waist and jerked me sideways and into the claustrophobic darkness beneath the bed. And there in the blackness I saw a face, its features distorted and monstrous. Red eyes blazed like hellfire as it glared at me. And when its mouth curved into a hideous smile, its white fangs grew longer even as I watched.

“Jesus, no,” I whimpered.

Dracula laughed as he edged up my body, his hands rough as they skimmed up my belly and found my breasts. “Come to me, Beatrice,” he growled. “Come to me now. . . .”

I awoke with a start, bolting upright. Instinctively, my hand flew up to my neck to search for the evidence of Dracula’s assault upon me, but I found nothing there. I sagged in relief and dropped back against Nicky’s pillows.

It had been a dream. Just a dream. A horrible, terrifying dream, but nothing more.

Thank God.

I rubbed the inside of my wrist against my forehead, not surprised to find my hairline drenched in sweat. My clothes clung to me and I began to shiver in spite of the thick down comforter that still covered me. With a deep breath, I threw off the covers and then bolted from the bed, taking several quick steps away from it before pausing to look back and make sure nothing waited to grab me and drag me under again.