Cin Craven - Wages of Sin Part 23

I s.h.i.+vered, and not in excitement.

"You've had one of The Righteous in your bed," she purred, "I can feel the change in you. Not the blonde woman, I think. Was it Devlin or his Archangel? Perhaps both? It matters naught. I will teach you to love the touch of a woman. You have no idea the pleasures I can bring you."

"What about Yasmeen?" I asked, stalling, avoiding having to tell her that I certainly had no intention of ever coming willingly to her bed.

"What about Yasmeen?" she asked, confused.

"I thought you planned to get her back."

"And so I do."

"Won't she be jealous?"

Kali laughed, a sound of pure delight. "Oh, my dear, Yasmeen will enjoy you also."

d.a.m.n. This night just kept getting scarier and scarier.

Apparently Kali couldn't travel for a week with less than two large trunks. Then again, maybe one of them was Sebastian's. Kali was ordering the porters about as they secured the trunks to the top of the coach. I could hear her snapping at one of the young men to be careful. I felt like a poor relation with my one small valise but I handed it to one of the porters and climbed into the coach.

"Listen quickly," I whispered to Thomas and Amelia. "I'll get you out of this, I swear it, but you need to be strong. This will not be pleasant or easy. I have to act as though I'm on her side and I cannot help you if you do something foolish. The best thing you can do is be quiet and do not draw attention to yourselves. Do you understand me?"

They nodded and Amelia sobbed, "My babies?"

"They're safe with Mrs. Mac by now. Don't worry about them."

Weeping, she buried her head in Thomas's shoulder and he looked at me, his chocolate brown hair as disheveled as his wife's, his pale blue eyes filled with worry.

"We'll do as you say, I promise," he vowed. "Thank you for seeing to the children."

I nodded to the door. "She is a demon and a killer, never forget it."

"And you?" Thomas said softly. "What are you?"

I saw Kali moving toward the door and knew my time was up. Reclining in the seat I let my cloak fall open to reveal my breeches and propped one booted foot on the seat next to him. Kali climbed into the coach and the porter shut the door.

"I am a vampire," I replied. "I am no longer the girl you knew."

Kali smiled smugly at Thomas and he lowered his eyes, not meeting her gaze. I turned my head to look out the window.

Yes, I was no longer the girl he'd known and I never would be again. I'd given myself to Michael, for one night and for all eternity.

Hopefully I'd live long enough to be held in his arms once more, to feel his hard body above me, inside me, to gaze into that unearthly beautiful face once again. The thought was all that sustained me through the next few hours.

Chapter Thirty-Four

We made it only as far as Chiswick the first night. It was still full dark as the coach pulled into the inn yard but I could feel dawn approaching as I never had before, as if some instinct deep inside me was screaming at me to find shelter. I watched through the window as Sebastian jumped down from the box, tossed a coin to the sleepy lad coming out of the inn and moved to open the coach door with a flourish. Kali leaned forward and looked Thomas in the eye.

"Behave yourselves in there. If you cry out or make a scene I will simply slaughter every soul in that inn. Their lives do not matter to me. Do they matter to you?"

Amelia looked out the window at the young boy and gripped Thomas's hand. Thomas nodded and we exited the coach.

"Philip, come," Kali called to her driver and we all trooped into the inn.

The innkeeper, one Mr. Hughes, was a round, jolly-looking man. He smiled and nodded as we walked through the door, his gaze resting on Kali in appreciation. I didn't blame him; she was a beautiful woman, if you didn't mind the fact that she was an insane killer. Kali requested one large room.

"Two rooms," I said. "And a cot."

She narrowed her eyes at me. I shrugged and whispered, "I'm tired and I am not going to lie awake all day worrying about what the two of you may try to do to me if I fall asleep. I'll take the two of them," I said nodding to my cousins, "and you and Sebastian can have the other room."

She gave an irritated sigh and requested two rooms. We all followed her up the stairs like peasants trailing in the wake of a queen.

Mr. Hughes stopped in front of the first room. Opening the door, he motioned to me. I walked in to find a s.p.a.cious room with two beds, a wardrobe, a wash stand and a comfortable chair by the fireplace.

"No need for a cot," he said. "This ought to do nicely, eh?"

"Very nicely. Thank you, Mr. Hughes," I replied.

He let Kali and Sebastian into their room and then asked if we'd like some breakfast sent up.

"No," Kali answered.

"Yes," I said. "The three of us would very much like some."

Hughes glanced at Kali as if seeking her permission and she smiled icily and inclined her head. He took himself off, humming as he went. I motioned Thomas and Amelia into the room as Kali crossed the hall from the doorway of her own room.

"They have to eat," I said simply.

"Why?" she asked, as if she really didn't understand the purpose of feeding them.

"What do you mean 'why'? They're human, Kali. They have to have something to eat and drink."

"Perhaps," she said, looking into the room where Thomas and Amelia huddled together on one of the beds. "And you? Will you be in here drinking while Sebastian and I sleep?"

I snorted. "Of course not. They can't be touched, you know that."

She eyes snapped to mine. "What do you mean?"

"I thought you knew," I said, my eyes wide in mock surprise. "They must be pure for the sacrifice. We cannot feed from them or they're useless to us."

She gritted her teeth; I could almost hear the grinding. "Fine, keep your pet humans. Philip will stand guard outside the door today.

He has orders to rip the arms off of anyone who tries to leave this room, understand?"

I nodded.

"Good. Rest well, High Priestess. Tonight we feed and then we must travel. I am anxious to see this Stonehenge of yours."

"Rest well," I replied and walked into the room, closing the door behind me and leaning against it with a sigh of relief.

"Dulcie, let us go," Amelia pleaded.

I shook my head and crossed to close the blessedly heavy drapes over the room's one window. Scooting the other bed into the farthest corner of the room I replied, "The coachman is one of her creatures. She meant it when she said that he'd rip the arms off of anyone who tries to leave this room."

"But there are three of us and only one of him," Thomas argued.

"I've fought them before," I said, setting the Book of Shadows on the chair and throwing my cloak over it. I removed the knife from my boot, laying it across the top of my cloak. "You can hack them to pieces and they just keep coming."

Amelia stared at me in horror. "Dulcie, dear G.o.d, what have you been doing up there at Ravenworth?"

I slowly managed to remove my boots and stretched out on the bed. "It's a very long story," I sighed. "If there's any way I can get you two away from her before we get to Stonehenge I'll do it but if we try and fail she'll kill us all. It's better to bide our time and wait."

"Dulcie, what did you mean when you said you were a vampire?" Amelia asked.

"The walking dead is what she meant," Thomas grunted. "The Devil has stolen her soul and now she's nothing more than the walking dead."

"That," I propped myself up on one elbow and pointed to the closed door, "is the walking dead. I am something much more. And he wasn't the Devil and he didn't steal my soul. He's a good man and he and his friends will come for us. Until then, I'm the only thing standing between the two of you and a very horrible death so I think I deserve a little respect."

"Of course," Thomas said, looking ashamed. "I apologize, Dulcie, truly. But what are we to do?"

I explained the plan to them. We would go to Stonehenge. Kali would think that I was performing her spell but in reality I would work the binding spell against her. I had to get another look at the paper she had with the instructions for her spell, compare it to the binding spell and figure out a way to mesh the two so that she wouldn't notice anything was amiss until it was too late. At the moment, though, I was too exhausted to think about it. A knock sounded at the bedroom door and I rose to answer it.

Philip stood aside, eyes staring blankly ahead, as the boy from the inn yard stepped inside with my valise. A pretty young maid appeared behind him with a heavy tray of food and drink. She set the tray on the table in front of the fireplace, bobbed a curtsy and left. The boy set my valise on the end of the bed. I fished a coin from my reticule.

"The others I'm with," I said, "they'll sleep until dusk. Make yourself scare by then, understand?" He looked at me with more wisdom in his eyes than any young boy should have. "Aye, miss. The swell in the other room, he's one of them type of dandies, eh?"

I had no idea what he was talking about but I smiled indulgently and nodded. When he was gone and the door closed firmly behind him, Philip standing like a statue at his post, I turned to Thomas.

"What did he mean?" I asked.

Thomas blushed and looked down at his eggs. "You really don't want to know," he muttered. "He'll stay well away from them, though, trust me."

I shrugged and slipped into my bed. "Eat well, wash up, do whatever you wish, only under no circ.u.mstances are you to open those drapes or set foot outside that door. Use the day to rest," I advised. "It'll be a long night."

Chapter Thirty-Five

Kali breezed into the room at sunset. I'd just finished helping Amelia with her hair and was putting the comb back in my valise.

Kali's gaze swept the chamber, satisfied that we were all where she'd left us.

"I thought you might like to come next door. I've ordered up something to eat," she said with a wicked laugh.

"I thought I'd go out," I replied.

"And I would like you to stay in," she snapped.

"I meant no offense," I said, as humbly as I could manage. "This is all very new to me and I prefer to feed in private. For now."

She crossed the room in a blur of movement, grabbing my hair and twisting it in her fist.

"You always have such a ready answer, a logical reason to defy me at every turn. It grows tedious."

She released me with a small shove and I held my hands out, palms up. "I'm not trying to deceive you in any way. It's just my personal preference."

"One would think you would have a care for my personal preference," she snapped. "Go feed, but take Sebastian with you. I've gone to a lot of trouble to acquire you, I'd hate for any misfortune to befall you."

That was ridiculous. What harm could possibly come to me? She wanted her lap dog to watch over me, nothing more.

"I didn't dine with Sebastian when I was alive and I have no intention of starting now."

"You will do as I say!" she shouted, her fury rolling off of her in waves, making my teeth hurt with the power of it. "I am the master here, little girl, not you."

"Fine," I said. "Tell him I'm ready."

Sebastian appeared in the doorway, an easy smile on his lips. He'd probably been eavesdropping.

"Take her out to eat," Kali ordered.

Sebastian bowed, every inch the gentleman, and offered his arm. I cringed but accepted the gesture. I had pushed Kali far enough for one night; I would play along. Besides, if I took Sebastian out to hunt then no one would die at this inn tonight. I hoped.

The high street was still full of people and I let Sebastian steer me toward the taverns at the far end.

"So tell me, Sebastian, what did you sell your soul for?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Kali. What did she offer you that was worth your life?"

"You don't think I did it simply for eternal youth?" he teased.

"Somehow I doubt it," I muttered. "I get to live, to be her High Priestess. I did it for power and freedom and, yes, I'm woman enough to admit that eternal youth was a rather attractive prospect. What did you do it for?"

"England," he said simply.