The Wicked (16 page)

“Took you long enough!” she blasted.

Kyden arched a brow. “Come again?”

“Nexi, I am so sorry for that.” Thalia hugged me. “I didn’t think you were going to refuse me. I thought you would do that without hesitation. You are a Guardian. It’s what you do.” Then, she leaned back and nodded to Kyden. “This one should have stepped in sooner. It is a rule in the vampire court to destroy anyone who refuses a Mistress. They are stupid rules.” She backed away and lowered her arms from around my shoulders. “For a very scared moment, I thought I was going to have to destroy you.”

“Huh?” My surprise made my words a gasp.

“Wasn’t that awful, Hayes?” Thalia said to him.

Hayes nodded. “Very. You fool,” he shot at Kyden. “You should have stepped in the moment Thalia mentioned it. She is yours. What a despicable display of honor.”

Kyden growled.

I interjected. “He was probably as shocked as I was. The whole thing was a little overwhelming. It just took him a minute is all. He stood by me. He always would,” I defended him.

Kyden gave me a wink at that. “I did not know where you were going with it, Thalia. I was waiting to see if you had a plan.”

“Oh, you smart hunky pants you.” Thalia slapped his arm.

I gave my head a shake trying to get a handle on this. “Why did you want me to kill them in the first place?”

Thalia looked mildly embarrassed. “Because I didn’t want to.”

“You cannot be serious?” I snapped out. “A Mistress vampire with a conscience.”

Kyden burst out laughing. “I thought I’d seen it all. Thalia, it has been a pleasure once again. We will contact you with our plans.” Then, he grabbed my hand. “Time to go.”

We returned to the Otherworld in no time, not only, to get far away from the whole ridiculous escape but to fill in the Council on what we learned here.

Now back in the Council’s Hall, standing before them and also Haven, Finn, Ryker and Keir, Kyden went through the night quickly, leaving nothing out.

Finally, after a long silence, Zia said, “Sounds as if you had an interesting evening,”

“Interesting doesn’t even cut it,” I responded. “Can you believe such a thing? A Mistress vampire too soft to do her own killings.”

Zia laughed. “Thalia is definitely one of a kind.”

Zade asked, “From what you tell us the other vampires were unknown to their summit?”

“That’s right,” Kyden responded. “There were only a few known to them and obviously those ones have been dealt with.”

On the trip home, we had a small discussion on the matter and Kyden adamantly said that my worries were not to be bothered about. It was a justified killing to him, and his thought of the situation remained steady that the vampires did in fact deserve the fate they received. My guilt lessened after that.

“I wonder if I will recognize any of them,” Zade said. “Zia, show me them?”

I interjected. “I got this.”

Zia’s brows rose. “You’ve got this?”

“It seems my ability is settling into place nicely.” I approached Zade, placed my hand on his cold arm, and when the energy built within me, I drew my mind back to the baseball diamond. When I had their faces in mind, I released those images to him.

Seconds later, his eyes cleared back to the present. “Looks as if we finally have another one of you, Zia.”

Zia came to my side and cupped my cheek. “Each night, you astound me further. I am very proud.”

I smiled big. It felt great to finally hear praise instead of being hauled over the coals.

Zade’s voice brought me back from my inner praise. “I did recognize some of the others. The one female.” His face turned molten. “Was a lover of mine not long ago.”

“She ain’t a lover no more,” I commented.

“This is true,” Zade glowered. “I have to wonder what took place. She was such a darling. Very young and full of zest.”

Not wanting him to dive into that topic I quickly moved on. “Who are they?”

“They are vampires from the Pacific Northwest—California to be exact.”

“California?” I repeated. “A bit far from home.”

Zade nodded in agreement. “Mistress Ellery will be quite displeased. She…” he hesitated, “is not like our Thalia. There is nothing soft about her. Betrayals are met with grave consequences.”

“What could be more grave than death?” I had to wonder.

Zade gave a soft smile. “I do not wish to share with you her methods of dealing with such matter as these. I will only say it is not in any way pleasant.”

I gulped deeply.

“What’s your plan?” Finn asked.

“I’m in on this plan,” Haven added quickly.

I gave her a little nudge. “Of course you are. We’d never leave you behind.”

Finn gave me a little scowl, which clearly stated he had other ideas.

Zade said, “I suppose the only choice we have is to go to Mistress Ellery. I believe it best we come with you.”

“Thank heavens for that,” I stated, matter of fact. “I’m really sick of dealing with powerful vampires.” Zade gave me a knowing look. “I have a feeling this is only the beginning.”

My only response to that was a little scowl myself.

Kyden took my hand. “It is almost sunrise and Nexi is exhausted. We will not be meeting with the Mistress until tomorrow night.” He started to pull me away. “I am taking her home.”

“Until then.” Zade gave me a little wink.

Gross!

Haven gave me a quick kiss. “Nitey nite. Don’t let the vampires bite.”

“Not funny.”

She giggled.

Kyden glanced down at me as we cleared the door. “Come Álainn. Let’s dig deeper into this new ability of yours, hmm?”

Yum!

Hours later, I found myself standing smack dab in the Hollywood Hills. Not much of a surprise when lavish mansions, landscaped to the hilt surrounded us. Mistress Ellery’s home was no exception—this place was fit for Oprah.

“Mistress Ellery is…well…she can be.” Zia searched for words.

“A bitch?” I helped her out.

She smiled. “That is an accurate description.”

The group that joined us tonight was Talon, Zia, Keir, Ryker, Haven, Finn and of course Kyden and I.

When we drew up close to the door, it flung open and a timeless vampire stepped out. She was made for a 50’s movie screen. Her hair was straight except the slight wave that cradled her face, her eyes dark, but soft, and her light makeup gave her the air of a debutante.

Clearly, this was Mistress Ellery since Zade and Talon were bowing to her, and the quick pleasantries her and Zia shared. Ellery didn’t look like a bitch—she looked exquisite.

“Why are you here?” she snapped after the formalities.

Nope, she was a bitch.

Her gaze scanned the crowd. When it landed on me, her eyes widened a little. “You—come forth.”

I glanced around, then pointed to my chest. “Me?”

She snorted thoroughly annoyed. “Yes, you. Does it look like I am looking at anyone else?”

I furrowed my brows a little trying to keep in mind that I should play nice. Kyden gave me a little nudge, issuing the same warning. I relaxed my face immediately and approached her.

When I stopped in front of her, she gave me a full once over with a sneer on her face that wasn’t pleasant.

“You look nothing special,” she grumbled.

“Excuse me?” I managed, attempting to remain calm.

She met my gaze and looked at me as if I was a piece of garbage dirtying her front lawn. “All this talk of you and you are so plain.”

That was it. I glared at her, prepared to give her a piece of my mind.

Zia did a little
ahem
.

I adamantly ignored her. “Well, you don’t look so special yourself. Maybe a beautiful actress at one point, but now that we’re no longer living in the 50’s, you look outdated.”

Gasps plus quiet chuckles were heard behind me.

Ellery examined me a moment then gave a soft smile. “I will talk with you—you only.” She glanced at the others, dismissing them off her doorstep with a wave of her hand.

“Am I in deep shit here?”
I thought to Zia.

“I am unsure. She seems to enjoy your mouth. We need to work on that, Nexi.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said aloud.

Ellery looked at me curiously.

“It’s nothing—just talking to myself.”

She inclined her head, motioned for me to step inside.

Just as I walked away, Kyden brushed up beside me. “I will wait here for you.”

“You will not,” Ellery spat. “You will get off my property.”

Kyden stepped forward, no misunderstanding in his stance. “She is mine, Mistress Ellery. I will wait here for her. I am entrusting that you will keep her safe in your home, but it is my right to wait for her and I
will
do so.”

“Fine,” Ellery responded, annoyed. “You Guardians, possessiveness never changes. You can wait here for her. As for you others.” She glanced between them. “Get off.”

I laughed a little as I stepped into her home. Who knew someone could speak to the Council in such a way and actually get away with it. I never would have believed it.

Ellery led me through her house and into a library. It was old—much older than the house was. I wasn’t about to ask how it got here. Books lined the walls all the way up to the ten-foot ceilings with a rolling ladder idling in the middle. Two red chaises sat in the center of the room. Ellery ran her hand over one, indicating for me to sit. “This library comes with me wherever I live,” she answered my unasked question.

“It is beautiful.”

“It is reminiscence of old times.” She sat in front of me, leaned over into a box, and took out a long cigarette, offering me one.

I shook my head.

“Tell me then,” she asked, before she lit her smoke. “Why have you and your have entourage come here?”

Straight to business this vampire was. “We have some news for you and I don’t really know how to put it…” I stumbled a little, nervous she was going to go all vampy on me.

“You wish to discuss the vampires that have betrayed me?” she said concisely.

“You know?” My shock blasted through my words.

She nodded, taking a long draw on her cigarette, then exhaled the smoke into a perfect line. “Yes, I learned of this not long ago.”

“Well good,” I exhaled. “That saves that conversation.”

“What is you wish me to do about it?”

“I have no idea. What do you want to do about it?”

She laughed a little—it sounded sweet. I wasn’t fooled.

“I assume you are here to have my help in some manner. I am just laying the cards out on the table so we don’t have to piss around the bush.”

Her directness left me a little taken back. This conversation wasn’t happening at all how I had planned. I thought for a moment then said, “Basically, it’s like this. Your vampires killed our friend. That in itself would make us hunt them down and kill them. But it seems they have an evil witch with them too. We can only assume they are up to something. So, we need your help to find them.”

“Now we are getting somewhere. You wish for me to help you destroy them, or is it your wish for me to tell you their location?”

I shrugged. “Either of the two would be helpful.”

“What would you give for this help?”

“Give you? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Isn’t it your duty to help us? They are
your
vampires.”

“No, I am not obligated to help you. I could call the vampires to me and destroy them, but there may be a little problem with that.”

My brows rose. “What problem would that be?”

“I have already destroyed their makers.”

I sighed heavily. “That does pose a problem. Can I ask why you did that?”

“Are you questioning the way I do things?” Her rage flowed out at me and it felt raw.

“No.” I gulped. “I just wonder why you’d kill them before you called the others. It is not meant in disrespect, just more of a curiosity.”

She calmed, the glow in her eyes settled. I was glad for that.

“To be perfectly honest,” she said, showing not hint of anger. “I was not aware of all the circumstances that surrounded this incident. I was told by my regime that ten of our makers had lost control of their fledglings and had not heard from them.”

“So you keep tabs on them?”

She nodded, apparently amused at my lack of knowledge if the smile on her face had anything to say about. “Yes. I run things in the Pacific Northwest in a very strict manner. Our vampires must check in monthly. When some of ours had not made contact, we immediately dealt with the matter. It had not come to my attention that a Guardian was killed until after.”

“Shit! Well that complicates things.”

“I suppose it does. I return to my question to you. What would you give for information in finding the whereabouts of the vampires in question?”

“You know where they are?”

“I do,” she said smoothly.

Confusion raked me. “What is it you want?”

She stood and began pacing the room. “I am old. One of the oldest vampires in ruling at the present time. Life for us tends to get bland, boring, I should say.” She took a glance back at me. “It is hard to find new things to lift us. Remind us of all the reasons we enjoy this vampire life.”

I stared at her baffled, no idea where she was going with this. “Okay and where do I come in?”

“I will get to that.” She smiled, then, she continued wandering around the room running her hands along the books. “I have heard of you, you know.”

“You have?”

“I heard of your dealing with Lazarus, which you handled pleasantly well. Kudos to you.”

“It was a team effort, trust me.”

“I have also heard of your visit with Thalia, which gave many of us a story to find amusement in.” She chuckled. “A Guardian who will not kill.” She shook her head at that.

Then, suddenly she was right before me. “I also heard of your smell.” She inhaled deep and met my gaze with wild eyes.

My blood ran cold. “Are you suggesting…?” I couldn’t even say the words.

She stood and began walking around the room again. “As I said, new and interesting things are very rare to us. When you just so happened to arrive on my doorstep, an interesting proposition presented itself.”

I glared at her. “You have got to be out of you fucking mind if you think for one second that I am going to let you drink from me.”

“This is the deal I offer you.” She returned to her seat. “You need information. I want what you have. The decision is yours.”

“I—you—” I stammered. “Are you seriously telling me that the only way you will give up their location is if I let you taste me?”

She nodded, firm and unwavering.

I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. This was the only way for us to discover the current location of Trefan’s killers. We not only wanted revenge against them, but who knew how many more Guardians’ lives they would take if we didn’t stop them. “Before I can even think of this I have questions.”

She waved for me to continue.

“Will it hurt?” I asked.

“No. It will be erotic.”

“Erotic how? And you won’t be doing anything sexual to me, will you?”

Her eyes gleamed. “Do you want me to?”

“No,” I said sharply.

“Then no.” The light in her eyes dimmed.

“How much will you…take from me?”

“Not much. It will be enough to sate me.”

“Will I feel any different after? I mean there are no lasting effects or anything?”

She snorted a sound that implied I was dense. “You think I will turn you?”

“I have no idea,” I snapped.

“You need to further your knowledge. Your stupidity does not look well on you.”

“If you start playing bitch, I’m outta here.”

She waved her hand dismissingly. “I will be nice.”

I sighed deeply. “Okay, it won’t hurt. You will just take a little, and I won’t be any different. Right?”

She nodded. Her eyes began to glow and she stood.

I quickly raised my hand. “I haven’t said yes yet.”

She sighed, taking her seat again. “What else is it you want to know?”

“I don’t know. I’m stalling…geesh.”

She laughed loudly. “Your attitude is exactly as I thought it would be. All that I’ve heard about you is very true. You are pleasant to have around.”

“Yeah right.” I guffawed. “Pleasant to eat you, my dear.”

She laughed harder.

For a moment, I considered screaming bloody murder out of this place. What the hell was I thinking even considering this?

Ellery sat quietly—amusement lit her eyes as she read my thoughts.

This was the only way. Without her help, we’d be at square one. In resignation, I met her gaze and stood. “Alright, where do you want to do this?”

Suddenly, she was right in front of me. Her hands wrapped around my face as she angled my head to the side. Her tongue slid the length of my neck. What the hell was she searching for? Immortals don’t have heartbeats, it’s not like she was searching for my pulse. Just then, a vein bulged in my neck. It was as if her saliva called for my vein to appear to her. Nerves were almost making me faint. When her fangs grazed my neck, a thought instantly occurred to me. “Stop,” I screamed.

With vampire speed, she leaned back. “What?” she growled.