Lucius
THE VIDEO ENDS and I rewind it. This time I play it on silent. Whether she's facing the camera, staking or beheading, her expression never changes. She's so young. So determined.
It's one thing to hear her admit she came to kill me.
It's another to see it.
She worked at this. Trained. Everything we've shared and she hasn't told me who sent her. I could torture it out of her, but it will break the fragile trust we have.
"I thought you should know," Theophilus says, stupidly reminding me he's here, witnessing this private humiliation.
I whirl on him. "Did you deliver this?"
He backs up, palms up. "No…"
"Did you have anything to do with this?"
"No! I just happened to be here. That's the she wolf you bought at auction, right?'
"Yes." I grip the edge of my desk so hard something cracks. "This video. Did it come with anything else?"
"Just the jump drive."
"Show me the box."
Theophilus hastens to fetch it. "We had it checked out when we first thought it was a bomb."
No return label, just the club's address scrawled on a white notecard taped to the front. I rip the tape away with a sharp nail. Peel off the label and there it is, the note. On screen his voice was garbled, but when I read the slanted script Xavier's voice plays in my head.
Quite the warrior, isn't she?
She was mine all along.
Selene
I BARELY REGISTER when the guard resumes his place at my side. Xavier must have paid him off. Lucius' security isn't as tight as he thinks it is. I should tell him... after I decide whether or not to kill him.
A frantic giggle bubbles in my chest. I press my free hand to my mouth. My right is tucked half under the fancy skirt of my dress, hiding the stake Xavier gave me.
What the hell am I going to do?
A vampire appears at my booth. Slim and dressed in a black suit like a secret agent, he beckons to me.
"I'm taking you back to the mansion. The King's orders."
"Where is he?"
"He doesn't want to see you," the vampire says. "I'm Theophilus. Trust me, you don't want to cross him right now."
I exit the booth on shaky legs and follow my guide out of the club. He shuts me in the limo. The divider's up so I pull out the stake and stare at it all the way to Lucius' home.
Who do I trust? Who's telling the truth? Do I listen to my head or my heart?
Selene
THE HOUSE IS QUIET, empty. I creep through the halls, not glancing into the rooms. There's a cold smell coming from the master bedroom. I follow the scent trail, my skin prickling.
I enter the room I tore apart searching, the one where I got trapped in the false tunnel under the fireplace. The fireplace is the same, but the king bed is gone folded up into the wall like a Murphy bed. In the spot where the bed used to be is a stone staircase leading down into darkness. The cold scent wafts up from the crypt.
This is Lucius' lair. He left it open for me. For I second, I'm dizzy. Does this mean Xavier found him?
Left hand out for balance, I descend. The walls and floor are solid stone, cold on my bare feet. My skin tingles as I cross the threshold, a buzzing feeling not unlike an electric current. The sensation rises to the point of pain; I hold my breath and fight through it, my steps slow like I'm wading through water. All at once, the spell lifts and I can breathe again. Vampire's as old as Lucius have more than the usual defenses.
The air changes. I scent, rather than see, a great room in front of me. A light comes on, triggered by my motion. It cuts the gloom enough for me to look left and right, half expecting a giant boulder to roll out of a booby trap, like something out of Tomb Raider or Indiana Jones. Nothing happens, but I hurry on, my feet slapping against the stone.
His large form stands on a raised platform. A long stone rectangle, about hip high and ten feet long, is the only piece of furniture.
His dark hair falls across his brow. "Pet. You're here."
"The door was open. This is your lair," I say stupidly. Surprise makes me Captain Obvious. "It's... big."
He looks around as if seeing it for the first time. "I've never had anyone here before. I suppose if I had planned ahead, I could've decorated."
"With what? Medieval furniture? Torture devices?" I try to joke.
"Yes, well. No one expects the Spanish inquisition."
I want to laugh, but he sounds so tired. He moves, putting the giant stone rectangle between us. Grateful for the barrier, I walk forward, stopping on the edge of the raised platform.
"Why did you let me in here?" My voice echoes in the empty space.
"Why did you come?"
I pull my right hand out from behind my back and show him the stake.
"Ah yes." He runs a thoughtful hand over the stone slab. It's the size and shape of a coffin. That's where he sleeps, in a sarcophagus. Another layer of protection. Even if I broke into his lair, I might not be able to open the coffin without help.
"I've been waiting for this moment," he tells me and pauses, eyebrows raised like he's waiting for me to deliver my part of the script.
"I was sent to kill you."
"I know."
I step onto the dais, and walk around the sarcophagus. I'm close enough to stake him, which means he's close enough to reach out and snap my neck.
"I didn't live this long by letting my guard down," Lucius continues. "As soon as I saw Xavier, I knew something was going on."
I jerk back. "You knew Xavier?"
"Yes. He was Georgianna's maker."
Georgianna the vampire he loved. The one I look like. "He ordered her to kill you. You killed her when she betrayed you."
"History repeats itself."