The Shadow Zone 2: Winning Madeline (6 page)

Finally she was left alone, and in the silence, with nothing to do but stare out the window at the magnificent view until the sun began to set, fear began to gnaw at her. Where was Maddox? Was he hidden because the sun was up? Did they need humans to guard them?

There were other humans here. The gentleman who brought the food, her. Ivy…

That reminded her of Ivy and her father. Maddox had explained they’d been brought here for their safety just as she had, that Ivy’s father would work for his friend. Had that been true? He’d promised they’d be safe. He’d promised not to hurt her.

Deciding that perhaps seeing Ivy and Gerald, verifying that, would make her feel better, she resolved to see if she could leave the room. Her heart quickened at the thought. No one had told her
not
to leave the room. Still, there was the chance that by leaving the room, she’d be in danger.

Well, she’d just have to take that risk.

Madeline was almost surprised the door wasn’t locked. She pushed down the handle and it opened silently.

The corridor beyond was open and light. With wide eyes, Madeline took in her surroundings. Maddox’s friend lived in a palace. The floor gleamed. The corridor was lined with tall elegant pillars that were laced together by an intricate fencing. Beyond them was a great open space.

The sound of voices reached her then, one of them
his
voice. Her heart thundered in her chest but she was brave enough that she silently edged closer to the nearest pillar to get a closer look. When her back was pressed against it, she dared a peek in the direction of the voices.

Madeline had to look down to see that they were in an elegant room below that held an enormous shining table with dozens of chairs surrounding it and beautiful paintings on the walls all around.

Maddox stood below, dressed completely in black again today, with his arms folded across his chest and a displeased look on his face. Seated at the head of the table was another man with dark hair and swarthy skin looking unhappy too. He wore a white shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest and was glancing back and forth between Maddox and a woman who had her back to Madeline. All she could see of that woman was her long, flame red hair and her curvy figure encased in black pants and a snug white blouse.

“What did you tell him
exactly
?” Maddox demanded.

“Truth is best,” the other man said simply, in a Spanish accent. “So I stuck to that as much as I could. I told the council’s messenger that the Lycans’ attempt to obtain the human recruiter was intercepted.”

“And?” Maddox pressed.

“I told them, unfortunately, the chain of events set in place led to the human recruiter’s demise…”

The woman snorted. It wasn’t a friendly sound.

“Like they’ll believe that,” she said flatly.

“You have a point,” Maddox shot back. “If a dog could figure it out…”

“Asshole.” Julia shot him an angry look.

“Julia.” The dark-haired man held up a hand in her direction. “Please?”

“What about Madeline?” Maddox’s tone was anxious now. “Did you say anything about her?”

The reference to her had Madeline’s heart racing.

The dark-haired man’s voice was calm. “No. There was no need to mention her. Or the girl and her father. The Lycans used them to draw the recruiter out. The council doesn’t need to be concerned with all the mechanics of their plan.”

The woman turned to completely face Maddox now and Madeline couldn’t deny that she was stunningly beautiful. She frowned at Maddox at the moment, clearly not a friend of his.

“I saw the little human girl outside with her father. Why are they here? And who is Madeline?”

Chapter Six

The angry tone of the woman’s voice didn’t imply jealousy at all and for whatever stupid reason, Madeline felt a tiny measure of relief at that. And the woman had seen her friends. That was a good sign.

But Madeline strained to hear the answer that didn’t immediately come. She knew what he’d told her. What did he really want with the three of them? With her personally? Would his answer to them be different?

“Madeline,” Maddox said finally, “is none of your business.”

“Julia --” The dark-haired man attempted to break in.

“Are you going to feed on her, you leech? Is that it? A plaything you can fuck and feed on to amuse yourself for a while?”

Maddox growled at her, a startling sound that reverberated through the huge space and had Madeline gasping in fear.

“Julia, it’s not like that.” The dark-haired man tried to calm her down. “I’ll explain later.”

“Sick bastard,” she spat back at Maddox.

Maddox was still growling. Julia was glaring back at him. The dark-haired Spaniard put a hand over his face in frustration.

He looked up and ignored the standoff between the other two. “The bottom line is that the council is not happy the recruiter is dead even though the Lycans didn’t succeed in getting him.”

“I don’t give a damn if the council is happy or not,” Maddox snapped.

“Perhaps you should.” The Spaniard stood, meeting his gaze. “If they were to learn of our new residents immediately, and a full-blown inquiry would bring them here for that reason, it would raise more questions. Yes?”

Maddox didn’t respond but the angry expression on his face eased.

“We’ll let some time go by. I don’t want to create more trouble with the Elders. As you know, they aren’t exactly happy that Julia is here, are they?”

“Forget your people,” Julia threw in. “You don’t think the Lycans are going to let this go, do you? You took away their shot at the cult recruiter. They’ll hunt you down. This is not the end of it.”

Vincent. Vincent wouldn’t let it go. What if he came here, was able to take Maddox and his friends out? He would kill her too. If Maddox had told her the truth, Vincent had used her as bait to get the recruiter, whoever he was. If she had been expendable then, she certainly would be now. “She’s right, Maddox.”

“I’ve thought of that. And I’m sorry.” Maddox was looking at Julia now. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you at risk.”

Surprise lit up the woman’s eyes at that. The other man’s expression was one of surprise as well.

Vincent was after Julia as well? How bad was Vincent then? And what did they mean by “the human recruiter?”

“We have company,” Julia said and when Madeline dared another glance, she found the red-haired woman staring in her direction.

Maddox caught sight of her next, his eyes calm and blue when they glanced up at her. And in the next second he vanished, reappearing at her side. Madeline had no time to scream as he pressed a cool finger to her lips.

“It’s okay,” Maddox said in a calm voice. “Don’t be afraid. Come and meet my friends.”

Meet his friends? Even as he took her arm with great care and began leading her in the direction of the stairs, her heart still fluttered in her chest.

“How… how did you get here … so quickly?”

Maddox smiled gently. “Sorry. I forget you… We can move quickly, my kind.”

He walked slowly, matching his pace to hers.

“Your heart is thundering. Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she lied.

She felt so small walking down the stairs with the elegant tall man at her side. Wearing just a thin blue robe made her feel vulnerable and she pulled it more tightly about her in response. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the Spaniard rose from his chair and smiled at her. Like Maddox, he was beautiful. His black eyes showed her warmth and his smile was devastatingly handsome.

He extended a hand to her, and like Maddox at times, his skin was unnaturally cool.

“I am Rick. Welcome to my home, Madeline.”

Warmth flooded her face at the way her hand shook. Rick seemed to sense her unease and placed his other hand over hers.

“Don’t be afraid. No one will harm you here.”

Turning, he held out an arm in the direction of the beautiful woman with red hair.

“This is Julia.” The other woman’s green eyes widened when her gaze fell on Madeline. After a moment, she extended a hand and Madeline jerked in surprise at its warmth. Then she noticed the smell.

“You’re Lycan?” Madeline asked, trying to keep her tone polite.

The expression on Julia’s beautiful face turned defensive for a second and then eased as they let their hands drop.

“Yes, I am.” Julia said simply. “Sounds like you’ve known a few.”

“I have.”

Julia almost smiled. “Don’t judge us all by that lot.”

“I wouldn’t.” Madeline meant it. “I guess not all of us… are so great.”

Julia’s expression seemed one of approval.

“Was there something you needed?” Maddox’s eyes were clouded with concern.

She swallowed hard. Then she decided to stick with the truth.

“I was hoping to see Ivy and her father.” Her voice dropped off to a whisper. “Familiar faces, I guess.”

“Of course,” Maddox said, looking almost relieved. “We’ll go see them right away. If you’ll excuse us…”

Rick and Julia nodded as Maddox again took her by the arm and guided her in another direction.

With each step she felt her anxiety ease. No one was angry that she’d been caught listening in on their conversation. No one minded her being here. His friend had welcomed her to his home and assured her that no harm would come to her. Even the woman who didn’t seem to like Maddox was kind to her.

And if she saw that Gerald and Ivy were okay and just as Maddox said? Well, it was a step in the direction of establishing trust between Maddox and herself.

Glancing up, she found him smiling at her. When was the last time someone had looked at her with… caring? Encouragement? It had her heart squeezing in her chest.

* * *

“Mrs. Kilmer tells me it won’t take her long to create some things for you to wear. She’s an excellent seamstress.” Maddox thought he’d start a conversation with Madeline when he returned to the room. It wasn’t easy. His mind was on anything but her clothes right now. “I hope you’ll enjoy having some nicer garments.”

Madeline sat on the edge of the bed, a gold-trimmed plate of dark grapes resting on her lap. Wariness lingered in her violet eyes, but he sensed a lot less tension in her tonight. It gave him hope. Perhaps one day she’d come to trust him.

Just one look at her sleek little body had him staring at her, hard. Though he loved her wearing his robe the night before, the blue robe was sleek and revealed her shape. Her breasts were full and beautiful, the curve of her hip and thigh a temptation.

She only nodded in response to his words. And what was she going to say really? That she expected new clothes when she was accustomed to wearing rags? He knew she was beyond her element right now. Nervous as a young man courting his lady love, his mind scrambled to come up with something else to talk about. It was ridiculous. Yet he couldn’t do a damned thing about it.

“Did you enjoy your visit with your friends?”

A small smile formed on her lips. It would have stopped his heart had he been mortal.

“I did. Thank you.”

The visit had been wonderful for him as well. Watching her play with the child, hearing her laughter. He didn’t even feel threatened by the child’s father, knowing he’d been a rare client of hers. He didn’t sense anything between the man and his Madeline now. The man’s fear of him did come through clearly, however.

Madeline had been happy to see them and that he could do every single day. And would, he decided. He’d just feel better once they didn’t have the Elders and their old friend Vincent to worry about any longer. “You’re welcome. We can see them any time,” he said easily.

“No, I meant thank you for their situation. Ivy looked so…”

On the way to being well fed? Clean? Adorable in the small dress Mrs. Kilmer had insisted on making before anything else? “Rick treats his servants well, Madeline,” Maddox assured her.

“They are
his
servants now?”

It was a clever question. Maddox thought carefully before he spoke. “I’m sure Rick would have no problem with my taking them when we leave this place. But I think much would depend on what’s best for them at the time. A man with a small daughter. Perhaps they should have some say in where they go.”

Her brow knitted. “But they are servants,” she pointed out.

“I didn’t dispute that.”

“Servants don’t have choices.”

Maddox smiled. “Here they do.”

“And with you?” she asked in a lower voice.

“I don’t think of you as my servant, Madeline.” No, he thought of her as so much more. If only he could tell her…

“I’m your…”

“Employee?” he offered.
Lover? Dream? Mistress of my frozen heart
?

“Since that is the case, may I ask you something?” She was speaking so carefully, it tore at him just how precarious she thought her situation was.

“Anything,” he promised, daring to move closer and sit on the edge of the bed with her.

“You weren’t angry that I wandered out?”

“No.”

“I can… leave this room whenever I like?”

“Yes. I just ask that you stay close to the manor. Stay where you can be seen. For your safety.”

“Your friend said I wouldn’t be harmed…”

“And he meant that,” Maddox assured her, not sure where she was headed with her line of conversation.

“I’ve seen servants here who are… human. Like me.”

Maddox fought a smile. Madeline wasn’t stupid. “He does have servants here who are human. The rest are vampires. But they live together relatively well. Though I won’t lie to you, there is a social hierarchy. The vampire servants clearly run the house.”

Madeline nodded, seeming to consider this. “The vampires are stronger,” she said after a moment.

“Yes.”

“How is it that humans and vampires can get along here?”

Okay, now he thought he knew where she was heading but he wanted to clarify. “In what regard?” he asked.

“Humans are food for vampires. Right?”

He loved her way of simplifying it. Now, how to explain it? “The vampire servants aren’t allowed to feed on their human counterparts here. Rick won’t allow that. That would lead to your next question, an obvious one -- how are the vampires fed then? How are all of us -- Rick and myself included -- fed? Isn’t that what you want to know?”

Madeline nodded, managing to look guilty.

Tipping her chin up with a finger, he stared down into her eyes. “Why wouldn’t you wonder that? It’s a good question.”

When she said nothing, he continued. “For a time, we did hunt humans. We aimed for the dregs mostly, the ones who committed crimes against each other. We hunted human monsters. But our council realized, as we all did, that the human numbers have been dropping at an alarming rate for the last half century. They decided we had to find another way to feed. Their solution was cloning.”

Madeline’s eyes rounded in fear.

“Technically, that’s still the law of the land, though…”

“What?” She was brave, wanting to know more. He’d give her that.

“There have been problems with the cloned blood. It’s been causing strange effects in some of our kind over time.” He wouldn’t go into detail about that. “Some of us pretend to go along. Rick recently came up with another way that we can have human blood, real human blood as was intended by whatever evil force created us, and not destroy the source of our existence.”

“W-what way?”

“Just like the castles and villages of a time… more familiar to Rick and I, he is the noble lord so to speak and there is a village of people who work his land and depend on his protection.”

Now her expression was clouded by confusion. He had to remember that he didn’t know what education, if any, she had. “On the other side of this manor, is a village of humans like you. They live on and work the land that Rick owns,” he explained.

“Work the land?”

Maddox nodded. “They grow crops of food that humans eat. They produce wheat and barley, vegetables. They grow fruits, raise livestock for meats and milk. They are farmers. They work the land to provide food for everyone -- the humans -- and in return, they are allowed to live there and prosper. Rick provides anything they need.”

“How does that feed the vampires?”

Clever girl. “There is one other requirement of the humans in the village. In exchange for their support, their protection, they provide blood for us.”

“How…” Worry darkened her lovely face. “Do you pick someone or…”