Masquerade (Vampires Realm Romance Series Book 10) (34 page)

Sophis’s hand slipping into his drew Vivek’s attention back to her. She frowned at him and he smiled. He was sure that he looked like a mess but his injuries were only minor thanks to Hyperion’s blood flowing through his body. His healing abilities had never worked as quickly as they were now, knitting the smaller wounds back together in a matter of seconds. She didn’t have to worry about him. He touched her face and a cut on her cheek that streaked down to her jaw, leaned in and licked it for her. Her eyes remained closed as he drew back and then slowly opened and fixed on his.

He tugged on her hand, intending to lead her over to Tynan, Marise and Jascha, but she slipped free of his grasp. He frowned when she picked up the sword she had discarded, walked over to Aleksis’s body, and glared down at it.

Sophis roared and decapitated it with one swift strike of her sword.

She dropped the weapon again and looked across at him, the darkness in her eyes slowly lightening.

“Now it’s over.”

Vivek held his hand out to her and she came to him and slipped her hand into his again. It was small in his but her grip was strong. He smiled, pulled her into his arms and kissed her, relief flowing through him. Her lips grazed his, tender and soft, conveying her relief to him. He wrapped his arms around her and she broke away and settled her head against his chest, holding him tightly. The cuts on his chest and back stung but he didn’t say anything, didn’t care about the pain when Sophis was holding him and was safe in his arms.

The vampire hunters wouldn’t come back. They had lost many tonight in their attempt to weaken the seven pure bloodlines. While they had managed to take the lives of many vampires and werewolves, they had lost more of their own kin in the end. The only thing they had successfully achieved was throwing the Venia bloodline into turmoil, but even that wouldn’t last and wouldn’t weaken them. Lorna’s betrayal would weigh heavily on his family for years to come but they would slowly regain their strength and standing within the bloodlines. Her cooperation with the hunters still confused him. Had she honestly believed that Aleksis would have allowed her to take command of the bloodline? The hunter wanted all vampires dead and was likely to have turned his sword on her after killing Lord Timur. Had she promised to help him in return? The bloodline would have mutinied against her if she had tried to force them to assist vampire hunters in their fight against the other six bloodlines.

Vivek looked around the grounds and then down at Sophis. They had survived the fight and had finally had their vengeance.

Aleksis and Izabella were dead and wouldn’t be coming back.

It was finally over.

He held Sophis closer and she looked up at him. She smiled, tiptoed and kissed him again, the affection in it speaking of her love for him. So much had changed these past few days. He had finally realised his feelings for Sophis, had found the courage to face them and ask for her forgiveness, and she had found it in her heart to love him, and together they had put their past to rest.

Someone patted him on the shoulder.

Sophis drew away from him, her pale eyes fixing on the person behind him and then dropping to his chest in a way that would have clearly told him who had tapped him if he hadn’t already sensed it for himself.

Vivek turned slowly to face Lord Hyperion and Commander Winter. Both men were a mess of cuts and, somewhere during the fight, Winter had lost his helmet and his cloak.

“There is a rather irritated fellow over there who has been trying to get your attention,” Hyperion said with a broad grin that flashed slightly extended canines and flooded his purple gaze with amusement.

Vivek followed his finger as he pointed and found Tynan at the other end of it, his former commander’s face a picture of darkness.

Vivek tugged Sophis along with him towards Tynan. Behind him, Lord Hyperion’s voice rang clearly through the evening air.

“You must have miscounted or you are cheating. There is no way that you killed more hunters than I did,” Hyperion snarled.

“As you wish, my lord,” Commander Winter said with a touch of amusement in his Russian accented voice. “I did not beat you by a mere nineteen.”

“I demand a rematch. The next time there is a battle, I will humiliate you, young Commander Winter.”

“Yes, my lord,” he said and the note of amusement was still there. “I shall look forward to it.”

Vivek smiled. It seemed that Lord Hyperion didn’t like to lose at anything, not even a simple game against his commander. When Vivek reached Tynan, he released Sophis’s hand and she fell into line beside him. They both pressed their hands to their chests at the same time, saluting Tynan.

“You requested us, my lord?” Vivek held the smile back, sensing that Tynan would toss him in the cells if he dared to mock him in his plight. Tynan had never wanted the role of lord but it was his now whether he liked it or not.

“You both fought valiantly to protect your bloodline and those of these lords and ladies,” Tynan said and Vivek looked beyond him to the gathered high-ranking vampires.

All of the lords and ladies other than Timur had survived and the medics were tending to them. Lady Prophecy was sitting in the middle of the ruined entrance hall, resting her head against Lord Valentine’s chest, and Lord Venturi remained nearby, speaking to the Tenebrae Law Keeper and the six watchmen who had guarded them. Lincoln was tending to Lady Lilith, licking the cuts on her arms and hands. Lady Rosea was talking to her Chosen Son, standing close to Lilith and Lincoln, and smiled as Lord Hyperion and Commander Winter joined them.

“I have some... business... to attend to so I will not be able to carry out the task that I would normally be responsible for in the aftermath of a battle. Since you have both proven yourself worthy of more responsibility, and since you don’t seem to be able to contain your smirk in my presence, I have decided that I will inflict the first of my tedious tasks on you.” Tynan smiled grimly.

Vivek had the horrible feeling that it would be the first of many but he wouldn’t complain, no matter how irritating they were or how tedious, because no amount of bad could erase how good that moment with Sophis in the maze had been. He would do it all again in a heartbeat, regardless of the punishment that awaited him afterwards. Tynan slapped a hand down on both his and Sophis’s shoulders.

“You two are in charge of the clean up.”

Vivek looked out over the extensive lawn of the mansion grounds at all the bodies and all the damage.

It was going to be a long night.

V
ivek had never felt so tired. Even with the help of every guard, servant and werewolf who were fit enough for service, it still took until long past midnight to dispose of all the bodies, collect all the weapons, and hose down the grass. The hose had been Sophis’s idea. The scent of so much blood had been driving her crazy with a need to feed and she had said that she’d had to do something or she was going to end up biting him again. That had been more than a little appealing to him, but disobeying the orders of their lord was different from temporarily forgetting those of their commander.

He looked back at the house. Several guards had set to work covering the wrecked wall of the entrance hall with thick black sheets of tarpaulin. In the low light of the moon, it looked as though there was a hole right through the mansion. Lights warmed the windows of most of the first floor and the ground floor.

One of the Watchmen who had come out to help clean up had mentioned that the ladies and lords had asked for the orchestra to be set up again in the ballroom. Vivek couldn’t believe that they still wanted to continue the masquerade. The hunters were gone, those who had escaped numbering less than a handful, and even they wouldn’t survive the night. The Law Keepers had taken some of the Watchmen and werewolves into the city to track them down and question them, which Vivek knew meant they would kill them and bring back their corpses for questioning when they turned.

A large male werewolf tossed the last of the hunters’ bodies onto the pyre and grunted before walking away. Vivek took it to mean that he was done and heading back to the mansion for new orders. Regardless of how some of the lords and ladies felt about their furry friends, Vivek still wasn’t convinced that allowing them the same standing and rights as vampires was a good idea.

“I think we’re done.” Sophis wiped the back of her hand across her face, smudging the blood there.

Vivek took her hand, linked their fingers, and led her back to the house, his steps weary. The whole house seemed to be in a sombre mood as they entered through a flap in the tarpaulin. Servants were clearing the rubble and glass away and washing down the walls and the staircase. The orchestra had set up in the ballroom, but no one else was in there.

Lady Prophecy rounded the top of the mahogany staircase, her black gown suiting the atmosphere in the mansion. The darkness of it made her skin look like moonlight, so pale and delicate.

“You are not well enough,” Lord Valentine’s voice boomed around the entrance hall and she paused one step down on the staircase and looked over her shoulder. The tall dark haired man appeared behind her, his expression one of exasperation, and sighed as he touched her cheek. Her skin was paler than his. “Are you really insisting on this?”

She nodded.

“Then at least take my arm for support.” He moved past her and held his left one out to her. She looped hers around it and slowly descended the stairs, her steps careful.

Lord Valentine was wearing all black too, and so were the rest of the high-ranked vampires as they came out from the reception rooms around him.

Tynan came up from the basement, his black ball attire hugging his broad frame.

“Are you really going to go ahead with the masquerade?” Sophis said and then added, “My lord.”

Tynan smiled but it looked weary to Vivek. “No. Not the masquerade.”

Lady Prophecy reached the bottom of the staircase and held up her hand. “The dance will be for all to attend, no matter your rank or species. We hold it in remembrance of those who gave their lives in our fight against the hunters and to show that we will not allow them to interfere with our lives and that we will never fear them. We shall wear no masks, we shall not hide our faces, and we shall not bow to the laws tonight. We are all vampires and werewolves, and our strength is not in numbers as it is with the hunters, but in working as one to protect our species. Let us embrace that and honour the fallen by vowing that from this night forth we will live as one and will fight as one.”

Was this what the lords and ladies had been discussing during the hours since the fight had ended? No one had ever tried to unite the seven pure bloodlines before, let alone tried to unite vampires and werewolves. It would be a hard fight to bring the families into line and erase the hatred that had been bred into them and it would be years if not decades before the bloodlines no longer warred with each other. Could they really manage it?

Vivek looked at the gathered lords and ladies, at the determination and resolve on their faces, and realised that with the rising danger of the enhanced hunters, such a desperate move might just save them all. It was time to unite against a common enemy.

With the seven pure bloodlines of Europe acting together, and with the assistance of the werewolves, the hunters wouldn’t stand a chance.

They would wipe Europe clean of the foul aberrations and restore harmony to their world.

Vivek pressed his right hand to his chest in unison with Sophis and bowed his head as Lady Prophecy walked past him, her hand on Lord Valentine’s arm, and led the way into the ballroom. Servants dashed down into the basement, their excited chatter clearing the gloom from the air, no doubt intending to find their best dresses and make themselves up for the ball. Guards followed them and others headed upwards to their rooms on the second floor. Aides brought in by the other bloodlines disappeared from the balcony at the top of the staircase, all of them clearly intending to dress and come down to the dance.

He kept hold of Sophis’s hand as she went to head for the stairs, stopping her. She looked back with a frown and he turned and led her out of the mansion again and walked to his left with her, heading along the front and then around to the rear of the elegant palatial building. Her frown lifted when she saw the maze and her eyes met his.

“I want to keep you all to myself this time,” he whispered and brushed his thumb across her cheek, clearing away a dark streak of blood.

Neither of them were dressed for a ball but he didn’t care. She was beautiful just as she was. It didn’t stop her from slipping her hand free when they neared the fountain at the head of the manicured garden around the maze. She bent over the pool of the fountain and washed her face and neck, drying it on the sleeve of her ruined black jacket. She tugged the band out of her long dark hair, twisted the lengths around and tied it in a loose knot at the back of her head.

Her frown was back when she looked across at him and he sighed, went to the fountain, and scrubbed the blood off his face. He ran his hands into his hair, preening the unruly dark lengths back, and Sophis stepped up to him. She tiptoed, pressed a kiss to his cheek, and then teased him by starting to slip her hand into his and snatching it away before he could grasp it.

She smiled, turned and ran along the gravel towards the maze. Vivek pursued her, not in the mood for games tonight. He wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her everything that was on his mind, wanted to bathe in her beauty and the knowledge that she was safe and unharmed, and that the fight was over.

He chased her through the twisting yew corridors of the maze and caught her when they reached the centre, turning her and pulling her into his arms. She settled against him and then smiled when he took hold of her left hand with his right and slid his left arm around her waist. The orchestra played a slow waltz in the distance and Vivek turned with her, leading her around the open area at the middle of the maze. Sophis smiled up at him the whole time, her dark eyes beguiling and the moon turning her skin white.