Unknown (27 page)

“I have called you all here because it has been brought to my attention that some of you did not think I should be given the title of Princess. That I am weak, and only have my territory and privileges because I was fucking our beloved Dracula. That it was only the threat of him that made my people obey.” Elizabeth’s voice seemed to echo from everywhere but her lips never moved. “As you know now, I am far from weak.” Her voice hissed. “Bring her in!” She yelled, her lips finally moving. Another set of doors were opened, and Kendra was brought in by a group of those white masked vampires, gagged with a bit made of silver and wrapped in silver chains.

It was like I was having an out of body experience, or watching a movie. I didn’t know how to react. I glanced up at Aleksi, who was staring forward with eyes keened in delight a slight smirk on his lips.

“I don’t like spies,
” Elizabeta continued. “Yes, Gregory. Vlad is still asleep. Yes, Gregory, your plan worked and your progeny is with child. Congratulations. But, she didn’t disclose she was already bound to you and your house. In fact,
when asked she claimed the opposite, which Aleksi discovered before turning her. Which is something you promised her if she delivered a healthy little boy of House Dracul, right?” She paused and nodded to the vampires dressed in black wearing full Venetian masks who lifted Kendra into the metal coffin. She was
screaming, but those screams were muffled by the bit between her lips. “You broke some of council’s cardinal rules in your little endeavor. We have been thinking long and hard about what your punishment should be. Some screamed for execution, which… I—having that merciful heart you so derided me for six months ago—talked them out of.” The masked vampires set on Gregory and dragged him to the center of the room. One had a pair of pliers that gleamed in his hands. “You see, with the addition of me to council, our punishments will be more merciful— and infinitely more creative.”

Gregory struggled while ten masked vampires held him down. Two forced his mouth open as the one with the pliers approached; and after rooting around in his mouth for a few moments pulled out a sharp white fang. Blood erupted from Gregory’s mouth accompanying a shrill scream. I shut my eyes as they went in for the other fang. When his screams died down I opened my eyes and glanced up at Aleksi. His face was utterly stoic. Again the blank masked vampires fished another body from the crowd, this time it was Gregory’s servant. I remembered her name was Margot. She was slight and of olive complexion with warm brown hair like Kendra’s. Her dark eyes were wide with panic as they bent her over the side of the coffin Kendra was in and the glint of a knife caught my eye.

“
No,” I whispered, my brows furrowing. I wasn’t alone, many of the other humans clung to their vampires and turned their faces way. Aleksi covered my eyes with his hand and stroked my hair as I covered my ears.

I was in a warm muffled cocoon of darkness, and I could still hear the panicked sobs and cries. Then the scream turned into a gurgle and then… nothingness. I would always remember that scream. It sobered me and cut through the intoxication and blood loss like the knife had through Margot’s throat. He kept covering my eyes even as I heard cheering and clapping. The coppery sweet scent of blood was thick on the air now, but I couldn’t see anything. I kept my mind preoccupied, as Miss Manners turned up for the first time in hours.
This is why you should have stayed away from Vampires.

It seemed like hours had passed by the time Aleksi lowered his hand from my eyes. The coffin and the middle of the room were covered in blood. Gregory was sobbing on the floor and that masked group was closing the lid of the casket that contained Kendra, who was also coated in that bright red blood.
This is what happens when you get tangled up with Vampires, Autumn. Don’t you dare look away!
I didn’t. Tears slipped down my cheeks as I watched my friend’s face disappear from sight, covered by that heavy metal lid.

“You can have your progeny back in six months.” Elizabeta added coldly as she stepped through the blood and over Gregory’s sobbing form on her way out of the room.

Once those doors clicked shut, the room erupted into noise. My eyes scanned the room Tristan and Colette were holding Leslie who stared at the coffin with empty eyes as the locks were closed and it was dragged out of the room. Her gaze crossed to mine and she shrugged with a little half smirk, my lips parted in shock. How could she be so cold?

Swallowing, I wiped my eyes and glanced at Aleksi nervously. His hands started rubbing my shoulders. The touch was comforting, but it didn’t stop the sobs.

“Shhh,
” He hushed out to me. “That will never be you, ever.” He knelt down and pulled me into his arms, letting me cry against his chest. He chanted reassuring words to me, that he would never let something like that happen to me.

It wasn’t the fear of the possibility of it being me that caused the tears to fall. No, it was way more selfish than that. I was crying because I had wanted her to suffer. For months, I had wished one of my oldest friend’s ill, and my wish came true. Kendra suffered for fucking with my life, just like I wanted. Did my being The Seer have something to do with it? Did I somehow cause this? My answer came with a cold chill down my spine, and a hissed word.

“
Yes
.” Echoed through my mind and I could almost feel Vlad’s frigid breath on my neck. I whipped around and found no one there. Aleksi brought my gaze up to his eyes with a caress of his fingers against my jaw.

“Let’s go lay down. I’ll have them bring something up in a few hours
,” He whispered softly. His voice held an edge of sadness to it as he helped me stand, and lead me out of the room. Careful to keep himself between my gaze and the gore.

The hangover came on like Gang Busters.
My head was pounding, and my whole body felt like I had been run over by a truck. But I was wrapped in the soft, comforting warmth of a down comforter and sinking into the thickest most comfortable mattress in the world. It was like laying on a cloud, and that sinking, sucking softness made up for the pounding in my head completely. And who was lying beside me didn’t exactly make things worse.

Aleksi laid beside me naked with one hand on my shoulder and one leg wrapped possessively around me. Those thick black lashes of his blinked open revealing those all too blue eyes and I panicked. A door opened and I lifted my head up to find Colette wandering around the room barefoot in a pale, powder pink, satin nightgown.

“Don’t
mind me, I’ll be out in a jiff,” she lilted out in that tiny sing-song voice. Aleksi twisted around and made a small, unhappy sound.

“Really, Colette?”

“Oh, my beautiful Brother. Calm down. It’s like I’m not even here
; I am the wind!”

“You’re too loud to be the wind.” He rolled his eyes.

A few questions crossed my mind while I listened to the two of them argue like siblings. One, where was I. Two, why was I naked in bed with Aleksi. I turned my attention back to Aleksi and pulled the sheet up to my neck which was sore. I traced my fingers up my throat to find the two small neat little scabs. I had no clue how I ended up in the bed beside him. The last memory I had was Colette bringing me glass after glass of champagne during the Gala for the Ballet while Aleksi pressed himself against a tanned, toned blonde goddess. I was so confused. My brows furrowed and Aleksi’s furrowed in return.

“You don’t remember any of last night do you?” He asked softly.

“Shit
,” Colette hissed with a grimace.

“Colette!” Aleksi yelled at her before throwing a pillow in her general direction. “Actually…” He grew silent. “I’ll go… and Colette can tell you about last night. Right?” She
nodded and did a little fouette.

He grabbed a pair of pants off of the floor and pulled them on quickly before he slipped out of the room. Colette paused and then picked up the pillow with a heavy sigh.

“Congratulations, you and Aleksi are together at last. Like it shou
ld have been from the beginning,” She chirped out with a grin as she sat on the corner of the massive and amazing bed. I sat up and found my thighs oddly damp. I lifted the sheet and found the sheets under my hips and my thigh wet with what I knew to be semen. Why was there… I felt the color drain from my face. Why? Why didn’t he use protection! Why did I let him not use protection? I gripped the sheet to my chest and looked around with wide eyes.

“He…” I trailed off and she leaned over and took a deep breath.

“Multiple times by the smell of it, lucky girl. But don’t worry, he’s a vampire. You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning in the middle of December during a snow storm in a Brazil, than turning up pregnant. Unless of course you’ve been helped along by the brilliance of modern science…” She trailed off
, pursed her small pink lips, and picked at the comforter for a few moments. “Which brings me to the not so good… somewhat good news. Kendra is pregnant with Aleksi’s child… maybe.”
So much for the snow-storm in Brazil, huh? And in which fucked up universe is that good news?

“Oh…” I trailed off, smoothing the sheet over my legs; it stuck to the fluids on my inner thigh, an ever-present reminder of Aleksi.

“Oh, indeedy-do. Gregory
overreached by pumping his mortal progeny full of pharmaceuticals of the fertility variety. Kendra knew everything from the beginning, she was groomed by Gregory for the sole purpose of getting knocked up with Aleksi’s love child. He was an idiot, he thought that once Aleksi was out of the way he’d have the means to recreate Father… which is really stupid if you think about it. So they were both punished for it. They broke a lot of our laws, a lot, a lot of them. You can’t enter another vampire’s territory under false pretenses if you are connected to another higher ranking vampire. That was the biggest one they broke. Kendra being in Florence was execution worthy for the both of them. So last night, after everyone was good and drunk… Mother took care of it.”

I gasped as it came back to me in pieces; the garden of sex, Kendra being locked in a coffin, Gregory being de-fanged and Aleksi…so much Aleksi. I shifted my hips as the ache started to really set in—it was like I was bruised on the inside.

“Are you okay? You look a little pale.” She tilted her head to the side and leaned closer to me. I shook my head and closed my eyes for a moment, remembering Aleksi holding me close and the warmth fading from his body as the night progressed.

“I…
remember some things.” I pursed my lips and opened my eyes. “I’ll be fine, no need to fuss over me.”

“Oh, Autumn, I want to fuss over you. I know how it feels to wake up after a night of drunk Aleksi, it goes one of two ways. Horrific bruises—he likes to bite everything and I do mean everything. Or, he fucks you so hard you think your hips might end up in traction.” She giggled a little. “At least you don’t have to dance like that, celebrate a small victory.”

“I don’t know…I mean. He was with…that werewolf girl earlier and then.” I gestured.

“Tristan talked sense into
him because he was a complete and utter idiot. Like he is from time to time. And he was miserable without you.”

“Miserable?” I tilted my head to the side.

“He is self-destructive, he always has
been. But it got worse apparently when you started ignoring him. I was with you in England so I only heard second-hand accounts, but those second-hand accounts lead me to believe you made him borderline suicidal. And not in the, I’m going to go sit in the middle of a park and watch the sun come up kind of way. But the I’m going to get aggressive and douchey kind of way. He practically threw Kendra into a wall during rehearsal. He picked fights and got in people’s faces… fucked werewolves… self-destructive.” Her small delicate lips twitched into a smile. “He loves you Autumn. Loves you like Elizabeta likes to hurt people and like I love my family. Now… get your naked ass out of my bed, and go give Aleksi a big hug.” She stuck her tongue out at me, bent over and snatched up the bright red satin robe. I yawned and she tossed the vermillion satin over my head with a giggle. Seconds later a door closed and she was gone.

I wrapped the cool satin around me and pulled my hair behind my ears. The mask was gone too. For a few moments I looked around for it, but I couldn’t find it. Then again, I didn’t know how I ended up Colette’s room. I rolled out of bed and the first step was agony, it felt like everything inside of me moved. It was like my organs were carry-on bags in the overhead compartments on an airplane, and they had shifted during the journey that was sex with Aleksi. The pain was brief, a few seconds of discomfort after the initial shock, and I could move again without wincing. I shuffled out of the room with a stiff gait. I wanted to shower and change, reapply my makeup and make sense of the wavy mess that was my hair.

I closed the door behind me and looked around. Shockingly enough, Aleksi was standing outside of the door holding a small bottle of orange juice and a packet of medicine that he held out to me without a word.

“Thank you
,” I mumbled graciously as I rubbed my throbbing temples, the hangover wasn’t the worst I had, but it was still pretty bad.

“No need to thank me, this is a
two-way street you know,” He said as we started walking down the hall. “You can’t feed me if you’re bloodless.” He flashed me a quick smirk and I pulled the satin robe tighter about me quickly taking the aspirin. “And I don’t want to you in pain… not unless I’m the direct intentional cause of it.”

We went back to his room and showered together, he treated me like I was something fragile and precious. While under the water, he would randomly pull me into his arms or smooth my hair out of my face, simple precious little details that disarmed me completely. While we were in the shower, the door opened and closed quickly. When we got out there was a large Nordstrom’s bag sitting next to the door.