The Vampire's Curse, A Paranormal Romance (Undead in Brown County #2) (12 page)

Uneasily, I lowered myself into the richly upholstered chair across from her. Her eyes made me shiver. She settled back into her chair and tilted her head as she looked at me. My heart was fluttering madly in my chest. Suddenly, I felt the need to run away.

“
Let me introduce myself. I am Theodora.” There was regality in that voice. It was impossible to deny that this woman was quite powerful. Just the quiet dignity of the way she sat was enough to prove that point. She held herself as a queen might.

“
It’s nice to meet you.” I replied, still not able to look her in the face. Fear was still rising inside me.

“
You are afraid.” She said lightly. “There’s no reason for that, my dear. I have no intention of doing you any harm.”

“
Are you a vampire?”

She nodded and smiled a little sadly, “Yes, I am. But probably not the kind you might expect.”

“
There are different kinds of vampires?” This was news to me.

Waving a pale hand, she shook her head, “We’ll not delve into those matters at this point. Let us discuss your current role.”

I considered her statement and the situation as a whole. I was in an unfamiliar place with a very dangerous stranger who had just admitted to being a vampire. Anger ignited inside me like a bright fire.

“
Let’s just cut through the bullshit, okay?” I demanded.

Her expression went from benevolence to pure shock in an instant. Her ebony eyes widened, and her lips opened.

I leaned towards her, “I don’t know what you want from me. But you haven’t given me any indication of who you really are, and I’m getting tired of being the last one to know what the hell is going on with all this vampire crap.”

After a brief silence, I heard her chuckle in delight. She tipped her head back and rolled her eyes towards the ceiling, “My heavens! You certainly have some spirit, don’t you?”

Mollified a little, I turned away and crossed my arms. At least she hadn’t attacked me.

“
Oh, Sarah. You are a balm to my bitter old soul.” She rested her arms on the table and regarded me with a friendly grin. “We are going to get along perfectly well. Let me begin by telling you exactly who I am and why I’ve requested to see you.”

I watched her with suspicion as she began, but as she began to tell me her real story I found myself leaning forward, eager to hear more and feeling a fragile connection beginning to form between us. She told me of her childhood, growing up as the daughter of an actress. When I began to ask a question, she would shake her head. I wanted to know where and when. How old was she? When had she been turned?

She explained that she’d turned to prostitution when she was very young and then had become a performer. Men were easy to manipulate, in her opinion. A woman only had to appeal to their most basic physical demands to be granted access to immense power. With a faint sigh, she recalled how she met the man who would eventually become her husband.

“
He was too handsome for his own good. Justin was from a very powerful family and used to having his own way. He was given exactly what he wanted. Until he met me.”

She smiled brilliantly, thinking back to those golden days of courtship. I could detect the love she had for him, the dedication that grew as the years went by. It was written on her face like ink on a page, bold and unashamed.

“
Now, let us discuss Michael.”

Inwardly, I hesitated. I needed to know more before I divulged anything about the vampire in my custody.

“
Theodora…” I began slowly.

“
No! My goodness, child. Don’t call me that. We are going to be friends, so you may call me Teddy.”

I smiled back at her, “Teddy.”

Suddenly, it was as if a shadow had fallen over her. Her perfectly arched eyebrows drew together over her black eyes, and she became very still. Her gaze was not focused on me, but something far away and beyond my understanding. Whatever it was, it held her immobile for a few moments. Then she looked directly at me.

“
You must go.” She said quickly.

I stood, feeling frustrated and alarmed, “Why?”

“
You were followed.” She rose quickly from her seat and approached me with worry firmly fixed on her pale face, “We cannot be found here together. The Council was not to know that I was meeting you tonight.”

“
I thought you were with the Council!”

“
I am a part of it. But there are those who would destroy me for interfering.” She grasped my arm gently and moved me towards the door. “Do not go home right away. They will be expecting that.”

“
Who? Other members of the Council?”

She shook her head firmly, “There’s no time to explain it to you now. Now listen to me. There is a pub one block east of here called Fanny’s. Go in there and wait for twenty minutes or so. That should be enough time for me to lead them away from here.”

“
Teddy, why am I in danger? What have I done?” I asked, desperation rising hot and fast inside my chest.

“
It’s not what you’ve done.” She opened the door and looked both ways down the hall before turning back to me. Her face was hard and her black eyes glittered with fear.

“
They want to punish you for what you are
going
to do.”

Chapter 14 –
Michael

Images began playing in my mind. At first, they were hazy and confusing. Sarah entering a room by herself, sitting down at a table. I had been reading one of the computer manuals that Victoria had sent me, trying to get through the last few chapters of instruction on how to set up a private discussion forum. It would prove to be both a curse and a blessing in the months that followed.

The wind was not as cold as it had been. On top of the largest gatestone, I tested the air with my enhanced sense of smell. Sadie was nearby, moving through the trees to the north of the meadow following the scent of a rabbit. I turned my gaze from the words on the page to the trees where her scent was wafting from. Concentrating, I narrowed my focus and searched for her golden fur. There she was, sniffing at the ground and moving along at an excited pace.

“
You’ll never catch that rabbit.” I said loudly, grinning at her.

Her head shot up, and she stared at me curiously with her warm brown eyes. There was a fragile truce between the two of us since I’d revealed myself to Sarah. There was much more to Sadie than just the friendly, goofy Golden Retriever exterior that humans might see. It hadn’t been pure coincidence that the young dog had wandered onto the property four years earlier.

“
Jones.”

“
What?”

I gestured towards Sadie, who had begun to stare pointedly in our direction. My recently arisen, redheaded companion looked at the dog briefly from his lounging position on the second Gatestone then went back to reading a copy of Twilight that Victoria had included with the computer books as a jest.

Aiden Jones had been a captain in the English Navy back in the middle of the 18
^th
century. He had been turned by a particularly malevolent female vampire while crossing the English Channel to France in 1783. Her name was Amanda Winston, and she was one of the most vicious vampires I’d ever encountered.

I’d found Jones washed up on the rocky shore north of Calais, almost completely drained of blood and half dead from lying out in the sun for three days. Curious about him and his circumstances, I gave him some of my blood and moved him in to a guest bedroom at my country home on the outskirts of the city of Calais.

As it turned out, he was an interesting fellow. For an Englishman, he was a rather large specimen. He stood nearly seven feet tall, had the muscles of a gladiator and the demeanor of a demon when provoked. He had the red hair and drinking capacity of an Irishman, though he adamantly claimed to be English born.

Our friendship was based on common interests. He was enamored with French impressionist art and loose women. We’d spent three years as captain and first mate aboard a pirate ship in the Caribbean, during which we became exceedingly wealthy. When I grew bored with the sailing, I went back to Paris. We met up again in New York in 1908. He stuck with Victoria and me through many tremulous years, and due to the fact that he’d witnessed me turning Alex, he was deemed a coconspirator in my crime. Therefore, we both ended up trapped within the containment field.

I heard Jones groan and slap his hand against the surface of the stone.

“
What a bloody fabrication!” He exclaimed.

I chuckled, “Which chapter are you reading?”

“
Edward just showed that dim-witted wench how he looks in the sunlight.”

“
Ah, yes. He doesn’t project a very masculine image, does he?”

“
Masculine, my arse! He’s bent as a nine-pound note!” Jones tossed the book to the ground below the Gatestone, leaped down upon it with a sneer, and proceeded to piss upon it.

I shook my head. It wouldn’t do any good to try to placate the man. He had his Irish up.

A darkness began to settle over my mood rather suddenly. Incoming images flashed across my consciousness like a swarm of bees towards a hive. Flashes of Sarah’s sweet face, an unfamiliar building in a city, and a very familiar female vampire.

Theodora. I rose from my position on the rock and tried to concentrate. I sensed danger. Surprise. Then an image of Katie emerged from somewhere. She was wearing a provocative red dress and stumbling into a low-lit tavern, a cell phone grasped in one hand. She moved across the room towards two people who were arguing near the restrooms. She slid a hand up the arm of the man, her red fingernails entwined in his blond hair like snakes as she looked at the other woman.

Sarah. Rage launched me upward into the sky. When I hit the ceiling, a snarl ripped from my throat. I couldn’t go to her. It escalated the anger churning inside me, the realization that I was powerless to help. Alex could kill both of them with a flick of his fingers. I’d felt the power he was capable of. There had to be a way to get some kind of help to Sarah.

Drifting back to the ground, I saw Jones had gone completely still. The copy of Twilight lay forgotten in the dirt. Wrenching the cell phone from my pocket with a curse, I wondered yet again how far I could stretch the containment field wall.

Victoria picked up on the first ring.

“
Michael.”

“
Where are you?”

“
Carmel. I’m driving back from Chicago.” She’d heard the tremor in my tone, “What’s happened?”

“
Did Meekah say anything at all about Sarah being downtown?” I asked, already on the road that led to town, followed closely by Jones.

“
No, she said nothing like that. Are you sure she’s there? Do you know why?” I heard the engine rev in the background and the squealing of tires.

“
She didn’t say anything about it at all. But I’ve seen something. I’m fairly certain she’s run into Alex.”

“
Shit.”

“
Exactly.”

I watched Jones try to punch through the invisible bubble that was keeping us from moving further down the road. There was an iridescent spark of power where his fist connected, but he wasn’t able to stretch it. He threw a string of curses into the still night air and rubbed his hand as if in pain. Looking around, I realized we were in the exact spot that Sarah had stood several nights ago when I kissed her for the first time.

Imagining Alex with his hands on her was tortuous in the extreme. If I didn’t get some kind of help, there was a good possibility that he would not only get his hands on her again, but also possibly turn her into one of us. Sarah, a vampire. There was no way I could allow him to go that far. I was willing to do anything to stop it from happening.

“
Vic, I want you to call Isaiah’s people and set up a meeting. Tell them I’m ready to deal.”

She went quiet for so long, I thought we’d lost the connection. Finally, she sighed.

“
Oh, Michael. I don’t think this is a good idea.”

It was a rare thing for Vic to try to dissuade me from a decision. Her trust in my judgment had always seemed infinite, giving me the kind of courage I needed in times of trouble. When things were uncertain, when our lives were at stake, I knew I could count on her to back me up. No matter what.

“
Listen to me, Victoria. I have to find a way to stop Alex. Isaiah has the power to do that.”

“
What are you going to offer them?”

Hesitation gripped me. What Isaiah really wanted was my ultimate surrender and bloody demise. Could I give myself up in exchange for securing the safety of Sarah and her sister? It was a frightening path, and there was no guarantee that Isaiah would keep his word. There was even a possibility that he didn’t have the power to take on Alex.

“
I’ve got to try, Vic.”

“
You want them to come to the farm?”

“
Yes. Jones is finally awake. He can help if we need it.”

She took a shallow breath, and I knew I’d hit a nerve. Victoria and I had never been lovers. But she had fallen very much in love with the Captain. Jones had always been a little resistant towards her emotional attachment. I’d suspected that he probably felt the same way towards her, but he was far too appreciative of her friendship to upset the balance of things.