The Rest Falls Away (31 page)

“Well, I hope you don't just hie off again without telling someone. First, it's not safe—there are many miscreants lurking about, waiting for an opportunity to rob an unsuspecting straggler…and second, you are a marchioness now and not only have a position to uphold, but you are very valuable and worth quite a bit of money to someone nefarious—and much more to me. I want you to be safe.”

“Of course, Phillip. I won't do such a thing again.” And she meant it. Next time she'd plan better.

They snuggled together, during the rest of the way home, as newlyweds were wont to do. Victoria plotting how she would slip the
salvi
to Phillip, and Phillip thinking about how he was going to slip something into Victoria.

It was a quarter past midnight when Victoria rapped lightly on Max's coach.

The door swung open and she climbed in without help. To her surprise Max, who lounged in the corner of one seat, didn't say anything about her tardiness.

Instead, he knocked on the ceiling for Briyani to go, and the carriage started off.

Victoria sat silently across from him, trying not to think about how she'd betrayed her husband.

She'd added the
salvi,
which Max had assured her was tasteless and odorless, to Phillip's glass of scotch, then brought it to him after they made love.

Curling up in the large feather bed next to him, Victoria pretended to fall asleep whilst waiting for the drug to take effect.

“Did you use the
salvi?”
Max's question snapped her back to the present…but not away from the guilt.

“Yes. I had no other choice to ensure his safety, did I?”

He looked at her. “You did have a choice, Victoria…and you know I believe you made the wrong one.”

Anger boiled inside her, topping off the simmering of guilt. “And you know your opinion means little to me.”

“A fact which wounds me ever so deeply.”

“Do you know what I think?”

Max inclined his head, and in the low light she could see one eyebrow lift. “I'm certain you're about to tell me.”

She continued. “I think you're jealous. Purely, simply jealous, and that's why you have nothing nice to say.”

“Jealous?”

“Yes, jealous of what I have with Phillip. What you don't have and never will because you are so cold and cruel.” The words tumbled out, almost as if she didn't know what she was saying—but she did know, and she knew she wanted to wound him, just as he'd wounded her by rubbing salt in her already tender heart. Her guilty, tender heart.

It frightened her, the way she felt—the strength of the emotions roiling inside her—because…she feared, deep inside, that perhaps Max was right after all.

Perhaps she'd made a mistake.

Max sat like stone for the remainder of the carriage ride to Vauxhall Gardens.

When they arrived, he gave instructions to his driver, paid the four shillings for himself and Victoria to enter the gardens, and, with the barest of glances at her, started along the winding pathway.

Lamps of orange, blue, yellow, and red hung throughout the gardens, casting brightly colored circles on the stone path and the booths that offered ham slices, biscuits, and punch. Although she'd never been in the gardens before, she knew there were hidden alcoves and mysterious grottoes throughout the park—the perfect places for an assignation, or for a vampire attack. People strolled about—couples, clusters of young people with their chaperones, and groups of young men looking for adventure. The fireworks display had finished thirty minutes earlier, and the patrons were beginning to head back to their carriages.

It wasn't far into the gardens before Victoria's neck iced over. Definitely at least ten vampires in the vicinity, she guessed. She had dressed in trousers and a man's shirt tonight, needing the freedom of movement.

Max led the way, and just about the time Victoria thought her neck must surely be white with frost, they came upon a group of four undead toying with a cluster of young men.

Perhaps both Victoria and Max had an equal amount of temper to vent, for the battle was brief and fairly onesided…all four vampires were staked barely before their intended victims could run for safety.

Since only a few fangs had been bared, and the seven young men were quite in their cups, Max didn't feel they needed to be hypnotized out of their memories. Instead he urged Victoria to follow him down a darker path.

As they rounded the corner of a tall, thick bush, three vampires leaped out at them. One of them was carrying a knife, and before she could react Victoria felt a hot, sharp pain down her left arm.

With a cry of fury she raised her right arm and plunged the stake into his chest. She heard two soft pops as Max dispatched the others, and she turned to continue along the path without another word.

But her arm burned, and when she touched it, she found the jacket sleeve was damp. The only good thing about the wound was the scent of blood would attract any other vampires, making it much easier for her and Max to finish their job and get back to the carriage.

And for Victoria to get back into bed with her husband, who slept peacefully and dreamlessly, thanks to his unscrupulous wife.

Anger with herself helped propel her striking arm during the other two short-lived incidents. She and Max were efficient and silent as they finished off the cluster of vampires that had dared to invade Vauxhall Gardens on a night that they patrolled.

On the way back to Max's carriage, Victoria held her wounded arm, which throbbed and stung, radiating pain up into her shoulder. She walked behind Max, who didn't bother to shorten his long strides in deference to her shorter ones.

It wasn't until they got in the carriage, each in their own corners, that he saw her holding her arm. He rapped on the ceiling, and as the carriage jolted into motion he said, “What's wrong with your arm?”

Before she could reply, he sniffed the air, then reached across and pulled her hand away. “You're bloody bleeding through your coat!”

“It worked quite well to attract the vampires. We finished up rather more quickly than I'd thought we would.”

“Take off your coat. You're bleeding all over yourself, and probably on my seat as well.”

Victoria glared at him, but she did shrug out of her jacket. It hurt like blazes when she tugged the tight sleeve over her arm, and when she bent her elbow to pull the other side off. The white sleeve of her shirt was dark with blood from shoulder to past her elbow. Max took one look in the low light and swore. “Bloody hell, Victoria, why didn't you say something? How did that happen?”

“One of those three who jumped from the trees had a knife, and he caught me by surprise.”

Max was cursing under his breath as he rummaged in a small drawer under his seat. He sat back up holding a mass of white cloth, a small jar, and a knife.

With brief, angry movements, he sliced the clean blade down her shirtsleeve, cutting the fabric from her shoulder to her wrist and pulling it away to bare her arm. “Hold still.” He sopped at the blood with some of the cloth and, holding it tightly, told her, “Keep this here for a minute. It's starting to slow.”

She held the cloth there while he opened the small jar. The smell of rosemary and something else she couldn't identify filled the carriage, and when Max pulled the cloth away, she allowed her free hand to fall into her lap.

“Hold this,” he said, slamming the jar into her open palm. He scooped roughly into the jar and slapped some of the cool, thick salve all along the cut, then wrapped white strips of cloth none too gently around her arm. Victoria felt her fingers begin to tingle as the blood was cut off, but she said nothing.

At last, when they were nearly back to St. Heath's Row, Max stuffed the unused cloth and the jar back into the drawer and settled into his seat. “You'd better start thinking of a good story, Victoria, because you're going to have a bloody time of it trying to explain
that
to your husband.”

+ 22 +

Incident at Bridge and Stokes

Phillip found his wife
already sitting down to breakfast when he came downstairs the morning after their visit to the theater. He felt muzzy-headed and sluggish, though he had slept later than usual after a satisfactory bout of love-making.

“Good morning, my dear,” he said, breathing in the scent of crisp bacon and coddled eggs. They were alone in the dining room, so he bent to press a kiss to her bare neck and said quietly, “I was greatly disappointed to find my bed bereft of you. Why so early to rise?”

“I woke early and did not wish to disturb you,” she replied. But the dark circles under her eyes told a different story.

“I must have slept like a stone not to hear you get up,” he commented, filling his plate, wondering why her expression seemed so guarded. “I cannot recall even moving after resting my head on the pillow; indeed, I believe I woke in the exact same position in which I lay down. That is quite unusual for me. It must be your fault.” He said it lightly, with a teasing smile, but Victoria did not seem to find it amusing.

She took a sip of tea and appeared to have difficulty swallowing a small bite of toast. Phillip shook his head. He still felt cloudy-minded. Perhaps his little joke hadn't been as funny as he'd thought.

“Are you cold?” he asked, trying another tack. “I'm rather warm, but you're wearing a pelisse.”

“Yes, I am a bit chilled,” Victoria replied. But her cheeks were pink, and if he was not mistaken, there was the slightest sheen on her forehead.

“Are you not feeling well?” he asked.

“No, in fact, I am not feeling quite the thing.”

A thought struck him, a wonderful thought. But it was too early…it had been only two weeks. But he spoke anyway. “Perhaps…is it possible you might be carrying my heir? I know it has been only a few weeks. .. .”

Victoria looked up from her breakfast at him, her face pale and her dark green-flecked eyes wide, shocked. “N-no…I think it is too soon, Phillip.”

He smiled. “Then we shall have to work harder at it.”

“I am not feeling well,” Victoria said, standing abruptly. “I believe I shall lie down for a bit. Are you off to your club today?”

“I have some business to attend to…but if you are not feeling well, Victoria, I will stay nearby.”

“No. No, Phillip, I will be fine. I just need some rest. I did not sleep as well as you did last night.”

He watched her hurry from the room, and noticed something very odd: When she brushed through the doorway, she bumped her left arm on the edge. The way she grabbed at it and gasped told him it was more than a minor pain due to clumsiness. Something else was wrong.

 

+ + +

Dear heavens! A baby! Phillip wanted a baby!

Victoria collapsed on the bed in her private chamber, forgetting and falling on her left side and then rolling over when pain burned down her arm.

She couldn't have a baby. She couldn't keep drugging her husband every night she had to sneak out and patrol… She couldn't keep “forgetting” items and sending him back for them. She couldn't continue to make up ridiculous stories about bleeding noses to explain blood on her skirt. She couldn't keep taking out her
vis bulla
every time they made love.

How was she going to do this?

She could tell him the truth…but if she did that, he would simply follow her. Put himself in danger again.

Or worse…he would think she was mad.

The door opened and Victoria bolted upright, but it wasn't Phillip.

“Now, my lady, whatever is the matter?” It was Verbena. Her orange hair tufting with every movement, she sailed over to the bed and sat next to her mistress. “Is it your arm paining you again?”

“No, since you cleaned it up last night it has hardly hurt me at all, except when I bumped against the door. It's the marquess.”

Verbena nodded. “Aye, yes, I see that. And I see that you must take your
vis bulla
out at night. He don't understand, and ye can't tell him. What did ye do to him to make him sleep so well? Franks said as how he could barely stir him this mornin'.”

Victoria shook her head. It was her knowledge to bear and no one else's. “It is better if I do not speak of it. But the marquess wants an heir.”

“Of course he does. But you cannot be fighting vampires if you are carrying a babe! You will have to make certain this does not happen.”

“I cannot deny him!”

“Why would you want to do that? There are other ways to prevent a baby from coming, my lady. Your aunt will know how Venators prevent babies.” Verbena nodded her head sagely. “And I know some tricks myself, my lady. If your aunt cannot help you, I will.”

Victoria nodded, feeling a bit relieved, but at the same time as though she were sinking ever more deeply into a quagmire of lies and deceit.

Perhaps Aunt Eustacia would have some words of wisdom.

To Victoria's relief, the ever-present Max was not at Aunt Eustacia's home when she called later that morning. Kritanu served them a light nuncheon, then disappeared discreetly when it became obvious Victoria wasn't there to practice her
kalaripayattu.

“How is your arm?” Aunt Eustacia asked.

Apparently Max had been there.

“It is fine.”

“It will heal quickly. Max's salve is miraculous, and you carry the protection of the
vis bulla.
”

Victoria ate a bite of cheese, wondering how to tell her aunt she didn't think she could go on. That she needed to change something about being a Venator.

“Aunt Eustacia, I need your advice. I don't know what to do.”

“It's much more difficult than you believed it would be, isn't it,
cam?”

“Phillip wants an heir, and I cannot give him
salvi
every night!”

Her aunt nodded, her black hair gleaming like the night. “It's a very difficult situation you're in, Victoria. As for the baby…well, that's easily preventable. I'm surprised you didn't ask about that sooner.”