Masquerade (Vampires Realm Romance Series Book 10) (24 page)

Did the pain of another’s touch extend to the male in the claim too? Lincoln had looked hurt even though the Law Keeper had barely grazed his arm, and Lilith’s reaction had felt territorial to Sophis.

Commander Winter straightened and her attention returned to Lord Hyperion, waiting to see what he would say about the attack. Everyone settled and gave him their full attention too.

His purple eyes met hers and he raised an eyebrow as they fell to her clothing. She tugged the hem of her black uniform jacket down and smoothed it over her thighs. Clearly a lack of mask and wearing completely different attire wasn’t enough to fool a three thousand year old vampire.

A smile played on his lips and then he looked around at his fellow lords and ladies.

“It seems the hunters have grown bold but not foolish.” He casually raised a crystal goblet of blood to his lips, sipped it and lowered it again, letting it dangle from his hand at his side. “There is not a single doubt in my mind. They had the audacity to test us tonight.”

“Then what are we to do about it?” Lady Lilith looked up at her mate and Lincoln smiled down at her and swept the strands of her blonde hair from her face.

“All will be well. The vampire hunters are not strong enough to hurt us, as you well know. This is just some ridiculous attempt to frighten us but we shall not falter. You know they cannot match our abilities.” His smile widened and it seemed to go some way to relieving Lilith because she nodded.

“I know.” She took hold of his hand. “But I can worry, can’t I?”

He nodded, raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “I can allow that.”

“They were easy to defeat at least,” Lady Rosea said, her voice thick with a Hungarian accent.

“Easy?” Lord Valentine snarled and leaned forwards. “Easy because Prophecy drove them back. I did not see you out there fighting, nor any of your men.”

Prophecy placed her hand on Valentine’s arm and caressed it, running her hand softly back and forth over the green material of his jacket, and he looked over his shoulder at her. When their gazes met, he eased back into the red velvet couch and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand.

“Excuse my mate’s outburst. I’m afraid I tried his temper tonight and he isn’t happy that I had to use my powers to protect everyone.” Prophecy smiled but it seemed forced. The edge of fatigue hadn’t left her expression or her voice. It was there in each Czech accented word she spoke. “We must know what happened if we’re going to protect ourselves again. Did anyone see how the hunters were able to enter so easily?”

Commander Tynan nodded, his voice rough and dark. “I saw that the main gates were open. Before attending the ball tonight, I had checked that all gates were locked and secure. Somehow, the hunters were able to get the gate open.”

A murmur ran through the gathered vampires and everyone exchanged nervous glances, as though whoever had allowed the hunters into the grounds was in the room with them. Was it possible that one of the high-ranking vampires had broken the locks and allowed vampire hunters into the grounds? Her kind despised the hunters. It seemed ridiculous that anyone would want to help them, especially when they had been killing vampires from all bloodlines.

Everyone’s attention turned to Lady Nocens and Lady Lilith.

“Dare!” Lincoln snarled and stepped in front of his mate. He growled and exposed his sharpened canines, his eyes burning red with fury that swamped the room and turned Sophis’s stomach. She held her ground but it was hard to ignore her instinct to run away from the danger he presented. “Lilith was with me on the dance floor. She had not left my side all night, and she has no ties to the hunters. She has helped you all by risking herself to gain data on the enhancements these fiends have undergone. Do not forget that.”

Several of the weaker Chosen Sons and Chosen Daughters looked away.

“I find it more suspicious that no one in the Nocens family was present.”

Everyone looked at the group of Law Keepers, singling out the one who had spoken. The Tenebrae. The darkness in his voice had matched his aura, instantly silencing everyone in the room. He stared at Lady Nocens as though she was a common vampire, no shred of respect in his expression.

“I presume you have vampires outside of your bloodline who can vouch for the position of every one of your men and yourself during the attack?”

“Balthazar, that will not be necessary.” Marise stepped forwards and touched his arm. “We are all on edge after the attack but there is no need to start suspecting it was someone within the bloodlines who assisted the hunters. Let us be reasonable.”

The man named Balthazar stared at her, his eyes black as midnight, and expression glacial. The whole room held its breath and then visibly relaxed when he finally nodded.

“Someone must have seen what happened,” Marise said, her voice soft and diplomatic, not at all like Sophis had expected a Law Keeper to sound. They were supposed to be direct and emotionless. Balthazar and the Vehemens didn’t seem impressed by Marise’s tone. Both men looked as though they would have ordered everyone to confess.

“We will have to question you all in regards to tonight’s events and all other guests too, as well as the Venia guards and the werewolves. I presume this is acceptable?” The Vehemens cast his gaze around them all. As though they would dare object. Any objection would be taken as a confirmation that someone within that family had been involved.

“You snarl and growl so well, young man. What do you expect us to do? We are all resigned to a long day of torture at your dull hands. There is no need to sharpen your claws, or some of us may be inclined to bite back.” Lord Hyperion’s lazy tone conveyed how unimpressed he was by the Vehemens’ display.

The Vehemens Law Keeper growled. “May I remind you that this is a serious matter and not one to be taken lightly. We are all aware that you find a perverse sense of amusement in times of danger but I will not stand for it tonight. The safety of the bloodlines is nothing to joke about.”

The Nocens Law Keeper glanced between the Vehemens and Lord Hyperion, her eyes bright with concern. She reached out and laid her hand on her fellow Law Keeper’s arm but it did nothing to stop him from taking a step forwards to counter Lord Hyperion as he rose from his red armchair.

“Brave words. I commend you for them,” Lord Hyperion drawled with a wide smile that revealed the points of his fangs. “It is a grave matter indeed, and I assure you, my young man, that I am taking it very seriously. Can you account for your whereabouts prior to the attack?”

Hyperion’s gaze slid to the Nocens female who still clutched the fair haired male’s arm. The man looked as though he wasn’t sure how to respond and then swallowed, stepped back and lowered his head. The Nocens female held Hyperion’s gaze for a few seconds, steady and unfaltering, and then turned her attention to her fellow Law Keeper.

Hyperion’s smile widened. “Now that we shall not have to suffer any more posturing from men of little consequence, shall we get down to business? I do not believe that the gate was opened and no one witnessed how it happened. Were any of you in the grounds at the time?”

His eyes drifted to Sophis. She looked away, unwilling to confess that she had been in case someone asked her why she was out there and not inside at the ball.

She glanced down at Lorna where the blonde woman sat on the couch in front of her and frowned when she saw that she was staring at Deshal beside her, as though waiting for him to speak. Did Deshal know something?

“I was in the grounds,” Sophis said, unable to hold her tongue while Hyperion was staring at her. “I know that Commander Winter was also there, and that Lord Hyperion had left the ball too. I do not know where either man was at the time of the attack.”

“Well said.” Hyperion smiled across the room at her. “I was in the grounds speaking with my commander. When we caught the scent of human blood in the air and heard the fight, I headed inside to check on my kin and Commander Winter gathered the Watchmen and joined the battle with the hunters.”

He was lying. Sophis held his gaze, trying to stop herself from looking at the young blonde werewolf. The woman had been with Commander Winter. Sophis hadn’t seen Hyperion with him, but he might have joined them after she had run into the maze, playing a stupid game of tag with a man she didn’t even know.

“What about the werewolves?” Lord Timur said and Dmitri growled. “It is so like a dog to bear his fangs at the slightest thing.”

“The werewolves were fighting with us.”

Everyone stared at Lorna. She cleared her throat, hesitated, and then stood. Sophis’s eyes widened when she saw the tears in her blue satin gown and the cuts and bruises that covered her.

“I was also out in the grounds and I wasn’t the only one there.” Lorna glanced down at Deshal and then looked across the room to Vivek. “I killed the man I had seen Captain Vivek carrying into the mansion the other night.”

V
ivek moved forwards, crossing the golden room and coming to stand behind the couch where Prophecy, Valentine and Venturi sat. “The dead hunter?”

Lorna nodded and Tynan signalled one of the elite guards that were protecting the doors. A tall sandy haired man strode forwards and saluted him.

“Check the cells,” Tynan said and the man nodded, turned on his heel and left the room. Tynan’s expression turned pensive. “I thought I saw the elite guard I had assigned to protect the cell enter the ballroom shortly before the fight broke out. I have not seen him since. It was possible he had come to tell me that the dead hunter had awoken.”

“You were keeping a dead hunter here?” Marise scowled at Tynan and he shot a glare back at her.

“It was Venia business and nothing to do with the Law Keepers. We had not anticipated that he would turn before the ball had ended. I mentioned in my briefing that there were a high number of hunters in the city and that we suspected there might be an attack, and that we had a possible source of information.” Tynan looked at each Law Keeper in turn, holding their gazes in a challenge. Tynan was strong but he was young, and couldn’t compare to the Law Keepers’ power. It was brave of him to stand up to them but Sophis knew why he did it. He was in charge of the security of their bloodline and led the guard, and he wanted the Law Keepers to remember that. They had no jurisdiction when it came to matters related to the security of the individual bloodlines unless that family chose to involve them.

Marise bowed her head.

The elite guard returned and whispered something to Tynan. Tynan looked across at Vivek.

“It would seem the hunter had turned and then escaped by killing the remaining guard outside his cell and stealing his uniform.”

Vivek stared at him, shock written plainly across his face as well as on his signature. “Nikolaus is dead?”

Tynan nodded. Sophis leaned forwards, wanting to tell Vivek that she was sorry and that she knew he was very close to his lieutenant, but she couldn’t find her voice when so many were watching. He turned his face away from everyone and then straightened, his expression impassive and cold.

“It would have been easy for the hunter to blend with the other vampires once he had escaped. Is it possible that he was a decoy and sacrificed himself to gain access to the mansion and then let his fellow hunters in once he turned?” Lady Lilith looked around at everyone, her gaze lighting on each of their faces. Lincoln touched her shoulder.

“It is possible. Most humans forget their previous life on becoming a vampire but you did not. Perhaps all enhanced hunters can recall things as you did because you had already been living with our genes in yours.”

“It is possible that Aleksis knew he was followed and that he sent the man out so we might hunt and kill him. With so many vampire hunters in the area and the ball close, it was obvious we would take a dead one back with us for questioning,” Sophis said and Tynan and others murmured in agreement with her.

Lady Lilith just stared at her. “Aleksis is here in the city?”

“He was not here tonight,” Vivek whispered and then lifted his chin. “I searched the fight for both him and Izabella. They were not here. None of the four we saw that night were.”

“The vampire hunters were weak and low in number,” Commander Winter spoke, his English softly accented with a Russian note. “It was a test of our strength, as my lord said.”

Another murmur of agreement ran around the room.

“Did the bastard hunter open the gate?” Vivek said in a voice dark with grief and Sophis’s heart went out to him. She moved a step forwards and he glanced at her and then looked away, staring at Lorna.

“I do not think so,” she said with a glance at Deshal. The man frowned at her, his grey eyes dark but edged with confusion. “Deshal had wandered away from the ball and my lord wished to speak with him, so I went out into the grounds in search of him. I found the hunter then. He was heading towards the gate and the patrols there, but I saw that the gate was already open. He could not have opened it. If he had, he would not have remained in the grounds. I am sure of that. I fought him and killed him as other hunters began to enter and attack us.”

Lorna bit her lip, her fair eyebrows furrowing, and wrapped one arm around herself. She swallowed several times and tears lined her dark blue eyes.

“I tried to stop them but I was not strong enough,” she whispered and her voice cracked and she cleared her throat again. She collapsed onto the couch beside Deshal, leaned over and buried her head into her knees.

“And where were you whilst all this was happening?” Lord Timur turned to Deshal and so did the entire room. There wasn’t a scratch on their Chosen Son. Deshal remained silent and the sense of anger flowing from Timur grew stronger.

Deshal looked straight at his lord and bowed his head. “I had wanted some air and decided to walk the grounds. Commander Tynan had mentioned that if I desired to be useful during the masquerade that I could help out with the security for the mansion grounds. I went to see if I could be of assistance but they did not want any help, so I decided to walk to the lake before returning to the ball. I often walk the lakeshore at night, especially when the moon is full.”