Crimson Vengeance (22 page)

Adriana gasped and her hand tightened on Riah’s arm. “No.”

“Yes,” Colin said.

“I’d be surprised if I wasn’t part of your records on Rodolphe,”

she said to Colin, though she looked up to meet Adriana’s startled gaze. It was difficult to look into Adriana’s eyes and bare her soul.

It was equally difficult not to. Adriana deserved to know the truth, even as ugly as it was. The woman Adriana professed to love didn’t really exist, and it was only fair to give her the straight facts.

Riah covered Adriana’s hand with hers. “I was everything the legends make a vampire out to be. Bloodthirsty, cruel, and relentless.

I was the monster my brother intended me to become and Rodolphe molded me into.”

“Your brother?” Colin blinked, a shocked expression on his face.She raised an eyebrow. It didn’t surprise her to know they’d managed to uncover everything about her history, including her blood relationship to Henry
VIII
. Despite her biological father’s attempt to keep the truth of her parentage a secret, even back then, rumors persisted long after his death. It would have surprised her a great deal if they knew of the connection her brother had with Rodolphe. She very much doubted anyone still alive knew how her brother was involved with her transition from life to undeath.

“Your research missed that little tidbit, didn’t it?” she asked.

Colin gave her a curt nod, a slight frown on his lips. “I’d have to say yes, since I’m really not sure what you’re telling us. What did Henry have to do with you and Rodolphe?”

Riah explained. “My older brother, who sat on the throne after the death of our father in 1509, discovered the whole dirty secret of my birth not long before my fateful carriage ride. Let it suffice to say, he wasn’t pleased. Not only did he not want yet another sister, he also didn’t want to have to deal with the ramifications if the unsavory secret of my birth was known. I think big brother was quite worried my adoptive father intended to send me back to the royal family if he couldn’t secure a proper husband for me. Brother dear wasn’t about to allow that to happen. Henry, I was to find out much later, possessed secrets of his own, including a friend who just happened to be a handsome vampire.”

“Rodolphe?” Ivy asked.

Riah continued, keeping her voice calm. “I was set up, and Meriel, the true innocent in all of it, was caught in the crossfire. It didn’t quite go down like Henry planned either. I was the one who was supposed to die, not Meriel. Rodolphe’s agreement with Henry was to kill me and keep Meriel as his prize. Of course, I only learned of these things much later. The night I was turned, I still had no idea I was the daughter of a dead king and sister to the reigning king.

Shortly afterward, I discovered the truth of my birth and that I was, in fact, a princess. Even then, it was a long time until I learned all of the truth. Until Rodolphe shared the details of his deal with my brother, I believed I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Oh, Riah, how terrible for you.” Adriana put her arms around Riah and hugged her tight.

The comfort Adriana offered was irrelevant at the moment. Her emotions were still wrapped around the betrayals so prevalent in her life. Riah didn’t really like to think about those days. Not about what she lost, not about what she learned about her real identity, and certainly not about what she ultimately became. She blamed Henry for setting it all into motion, even if she couldn’t blame him for all she became afterward.

She could fault Rodolphe for leading her down the awful path if it weren’t for the fact she went willingly. Even more, she’d followed him joyfully. At least in the early years. The discovery of immortality and the power it provided was beyond exhilarating. The feelings it invoked were indescribable.

Rodolphe didn’t force her to embrace the darkness; he simply encouraged her. It was freedom like she’d never experienced before.

Certainly there were limitations and she learned to be very careful.

Still, it was so much more than her role as a young, rich woman ever could have given her. Intoxicating. She took his gift of darkness and didn’t look back for a very long time.

Riah made her own choices back then, and she had to live with the consequences of her actions even now. She had little to be proud of in those days. All she was left with once she moved beyond the dark life was the will to make amends. She wanted to set her karmic scale back into balance.

But, no matter how many years passed or how far she ran, Riah couldn’t escape her past. The scales would always be tipped, and not in her favor. The truth stood in front of her now in the form of a vampire hunter.

From the very first day of her rebirth, shadows hovered on her trail just beyond her line of sight. She could never quite make them out, but she always knew they were there and would one day catch up.

“I don’t deserve your pity,” she told Adriana as she gazed into her eyes. “I was a monster and now it’s time to pay for all the grief and heartache I caused so many innocent people.”

Adriana’s fingers stroked her cheek, her touch warm against Riah’s cool flesh. Her heart fluttered in a way it hadn’t in five hundred years, and tears welled in her eyes again. She willed them not to fall. If ever there was a time to be strong, it was now. Besides, she didn’t deserve pity…not even her own.

Except it wasn’t fair and, for once, she didn’t feel like being strong. She never thought she’d be able to love another woman, yet out of the blue, it’d happened again. The bitter truth was Riah loved Adriana with all her heart, and now she’d lose once more.

For such a long time now, she’d done her best to do the right thing. It was a gigantic mountain to climb yet, sometimes, she actually felt as though she made progress. Something good came out of the long years of work.

Now, none of it mattered any longer. Outside a storm raged, invisible to all but the chosen few who could see beyond the veil of the natural world and into the preternatural realm. Even in this room, surrounded by people who could understand, it was difficult to find the words to warn them. What would become of her didn’t matter any longer. Her die had been cast long ago. These people, however, mattered—even the hunter.

Before she could say anything else, the door swung slowly open. Though the hinges were oiled, the swish of the doors sweeping across the tiled floor made them all turn. There were a fair number of people she’d expect to walk through the doors this time of night, but the one who did came as a complete surprise.

Riah forgot all about her own guilt and self-pity. The storm had just arrived and, in response, she muttered two words. “Oh, shit.”

Ivy recognized the man who stepped through the open door even though he was white as paste and moving with awkward, shuffling steps like he was old and very ill. He was neither. The young security guard who’d walked her to her car a couple of times pushed open the door and headed for Riah.

The last time Ivy saw the guy, he was tall and vibrant with tanned skin and intelligent eyes. Though he was a fair bit younger than Ivy, she’d thought he was kinda hot. Little of his previous appearance remained as he slid dirty boots across the floor, leaving dark streaks on the tile as he moved. His gaze never wavered from Riah’s face, his eyes dark and empty. Ivy had the feeling he was unaware that others were even in the room. His expression gave her the creeps.

Colin was the first to shake off the shock. While the rest of them stood motionless and staring, he moved like wildfire. Ivy was surprised by his quick, agile movements. Sure, he was dynamic in bed, but he was naked in bed and not hampered by clothes, boots, and a long jacket. Fully dressed, he still moved with the impressive fluidity and speed of the native mountain lions that roamed the hills around Spokane.

From beneath his coat, Colin drew a sword.
“Hijo de puta,”

Ivy murmured.

Swear to God, the man just pulled from inside the folds of his leather coat a full-out gleaming length of steel with razor edges and a fancy hilt. Ivy couldn’t figure out where he’d had the thing hidden.

Even more perplexing was why she didn’t notice it before. Sure, his coat was long and flowing—a look pretty hot, by the way—but wouldn’t she have noticed a sword?

He held the lethal-looking weapon high, gripped with both hands, his legs parted, and his eyes focused on the young man’s ghostly face. A warrior’s stance, and it struck her suddenly that this was a war. Not the
normal
kind of conflict learned about in history class. Quite the contrary, this was a battle with no rules and no clear-cut idea of exactly who the enemy was. All wars sucked, but this one sucked even worse.

Riah sprang from the chair. Similar to Colin, she moved like a cat, silently and predatory. From beneath the folds of her black leather coat, she also pulled a gleaming sword.
“多Qué diablos?”

Ivy exclaimed.

Was she the only one who didn’t have medieval weapons stuffed in her outerwear? She cut a glance Adriana’s way, relieved to see she wasn’t pulling weapons out of her clothes. The most lethal thing Ivy had on her person at the moment was a set of car keys.

Nothing like showing up at a sword fight with…well, nothing.

Before she could worry about her lack of weaponry, she shifted her attention back to Riah, who moved so quickly, she was a blur even in the brightly lit room. In a flash, Riah stood before the pasty-faced man whose name tag read Andrew. What she saw was less than reassuring. In the years since Riah’s secret had been revealed to her, she’d watched as Riah took the heads of vampire victims in order to spare them from an existence of not-quite-life and not-quite-death. In each case, those victims had been flat on their backs and, more often than not, on a stainless-steel table just like the one in front of her now. She’d never seen one rise.

Until now.

“Who made you?” Riah demanded of the security guard in the wrinkled, filthy uniform.

By the look of him, she’d have said he’d spent an entire week sleeping in his clothes. She knew better. Twenty-four hours ago, this same guard stood in the door of the facility, watching her get into her car. His clothes had been clean, his eyes alive, and his soul intact.

Tonight, he smiled and Ivy shivered at the sight of his pointed canines, glistening damply red. His eyes were empty, as if the person he once was no longer existed inside his youthful body.

“You know,” he murmured. “Our friend.”

“I’ve no friends like that,” she spat back.

Riah’s battle stance never changed and her eyes were hard.

“I think you’re wrong.” Andrew laughed.

The sound was brittle and ugly. It sent goose bumps racing up Ivy’s arms and she took a step back. Another step and she was behind Colin, who still stood on alert with his sword at the ready.

It made her feel just a little safer to be behind his strong back while he held a sharp weapon in strike position. She stuck her hand in her pocket, curling her fingers around the car keys.

“Who?” Riah’s voice rose to a near-scream and the sword in her hands trembled. Ivy wasn’t sure if it was from fury or fright.

“Meriel.” Andrew drew the name out in a long, wistful breath.

Then he licked his lips and his dead eyes narrowed. They were black slits in his pasty-white face. A thin thread of red dripped from the corner of his mouth.

The name hung in the air only seconds before Riah’s sword flashed. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as the dark head tumbled through the air before falling to the floor with a wet thump.

Stifling a gasp, Ivy turned away. The sight of the young man’s head turning over and over through the air was something she wished she could erase from her vision. His eyes were open, a hint of a smile curving around the bloody fangs. Drops of crimson blood sprayed everywhere, landing on the walls, the floor, and the stainless-steel table. Colin lowered his sword to his side and used his free arm to pull Ivy close to him. He felt strong and real while everything around her seemed dreamlike.

He kissed the top of her head. “Maybe it would be better if you left,” he said gently against her hair.

She trembled, though his words made her straighten up. For a moment she was tempted to flee. It’d be easy to run and hide, to pretend none of this was real. Except it was, and even if she ran away, it wouldn’t change a thing. Vampires would still exist and one of them had killed Jorge.

Ivy looked into Colin’s face and was warmed by what she saw in his eyes. It gave her strength. “No,” she said as she squeezed his hand. “I’m staying.”

“He’s probably right,” Riah added. “In fact, I think both you and Adriana should get out of here now.”

She turned her gaze from Colin’s face to Riah’s. “We can help you.”

It was important to stay and to help. It was more than simply avenging Jorge’s death. Among other things, Ivy didn’t want to leave Colin. If she did, she might never see him again.

Riah’s gaze was hard as she met Ivy’s eyes. This woman she’d never seen before both scared her and made her more determined not to leave.

“Colin was right before. A.J. is just the first. There’ll be more and they’ll be more powerful and more dangerous,” Riah said.

Colin had tossed out to them earlier the idea that Destiny had crossed the country creating an army as she went. He didn’t know why, only that the number of victims found didn’t equal the number of those missing. The simple math pointed to the potential of a cadre of young vampires. Earlier when Colin floated his theory, Ivy thought it was out there. Way out there. Now—not so much.

Of course, if he was right, and an army was on its way, it didn’t make sense for either her or Adriana to leave. Once again, simple math meant four fighters were bound to be more useful than only two, even if those two were very, very experienced. Oh, and don’t forget, one of the two just happened to be a vampire. Still, it didn’t change the numbers, and in Ivy’s mind, right now, numbers ruled.

Mathematics always won the day.

“I’m not leaving.” Ivy tightened her grip on Colin’s arm.