HAPTER 16
“How could I be so foolish?” Will groaned as he ran across the room and headed for the stairs. “He wasn’t lusting after her body to spite me; he was lusting after her death!”
There was only one way that Will could possibly help Irene right now, and that would be to feed her some of his own blood as well. His own essence needed to be the strongest foreign agent in her system, or Irene was sure to die.
The trouble was, the entire upstairs was a labyrinth. Long halls, short halls, and doors everywhere. Even attempting to follow Irene’s scent was proving fruitless thanks to all the perfumes in the air. More than one door he opened led into a bedroom, where couples and triples and quadruples seemed to be paired.
“Will Knight, I must ask you to stop disturbing my guests and calm down,” said Vittorio from somewhere behind him.
Will rounded on him. “I know what you did, Vi!” he shouted angrily. “I won’t let her die!”
Vittorio laughed. “Surely not,” he scoffed. “The infusion was not a lethal dose, only enough to change her mind.”
“You can’t know that,” said Will as he burst past him, heading for the next door. “If you have harmed her, I swear--”
“Swear what, Will? That you’ll kill me?” he sneered. “Wasn’t that what you wanted to do anyway?”
Will stopped short and glared. “No more than you wish to kill me,” he said icily.
Standing taller, Vittorio laughed. “Your death as well as hers? Now, wouldn’t that be the perfect ending to this unfortunate fairy tale?”
“Are you threatening me, Vittorio?” asked Will. “Because right now, I’d be completely justified in taking you out.”
“Oh, you think so?” he chuckled. “Over a little upstart who didn’t even realize her own heritage? I hardly think so.”
“How do you know about that?”
“Because I make it my business to know everything,” he snickered. “Your doctor only thinks that her files are safe. But really, nothing is safe from me. I am a complete and total genius, you see. I have my ways. Just as soon as you told me of her pregnancy, I didn’t return to the ball right away. I did a little homework instead. Now, wasn’t that delightfully clever of me?”
The two continued to face off in the middle of the hallway, each glaring at the other. Will felt his fangs sliding into place. His breathing quickened, coming in short little gasps as he contemplated his current prey.
“Will, a word of advice?” Vittorio hissed. “Don’t let your body write checks that your mind is currently not able to cash. To survive this encounter and rescue the girl, it’s not instinct you want; it is strategy. If your adrenaline was not pumping so hard through your veins, I’m sure you would know that. You’ve let emotions cloud your senses, and that’s going to get you killed.”
“I don’t need advice from you, Vittorio,” Will growled. “You think everything in this world is yours to take, and everyone owes their existence to you. Just because you’ve been out battling demons and taking their treasure for the past ten years doesn’t make you better than me. There’s nothing wrong with staying home and working in hospitality.”
“It’s made you weak, old friend,” he scoffed. “When we were both in the vampire army, side by side, fighting for what was right, you were strong. You were a man. But now? You have grown weak. You never should have left your father’s side. Never should have let my sire send you home like a dog with his tail between his legs, while I remained. Now, you are a coward, and I am a god!”
“You’re stalling,” Will observed, moving cautiously forward. The two began circling each other.
“I have no reason to stall,” he scoffed. “I can take you down, right here and right now.”
Vittorio’s fangs slid down too. Each man became more hunched over, looking for openings, assessing one another, continuing only to circle.
“This is your big chance, Vittorio,” Will goaded him. “Why have you not attacked me? Perhaps this is as dead as you want me to be?”
Vittorio raked at him with one clawed hand, and Will easily dodged. Then, he landed a punch in the other vampire’s side.
“You’re meant to be using those as weapons, not a half-ass fan.”
Vittorio growled, swiping at him again, and, again, Will dodged away, faster than lightning.
“I would love to make this last, Vi, but you know how it is,” Will said, punching the side of his head. “Time is precious when your one true love is in danger. Perhaps we could save the inevitable death match for some other time?”
“You are mocking me,” he growled fiercely. “You are always mocking me!”
This time, the vampire lunged forward at full speed, intent on taking a bite. Will side-stepped him, knocking him down as he surged past.
“Fine, no more mocking,” he grumbled even as he raked his claws across Vittorio’s throat. Dark blood began to seep out, and Vittorio grasped at it, glaring up at Will with sheer hate in his eyes.
“Peste!” he gurgled angrily.
“Until next time,” said Will, bowing to him with a flourish before he once again headed for the unexplored door.
Irene was lying on the bed with her hair artfully arranged on the pillows. She looked like Sleeping Beauty waiting for her princely kiss. Will stepped over and sat on the edge of the bed, then bit his wrist. He set the bleeding appendage against his lover’s lips.
“When you wake up, Irene, not if,” he whispered into her ear, “you’re going to have one hell of a splitting headache.”
*****
Will managed to get Irene out of the colonial dress and out the window, knowing full well there was no time to attempt to reach the front door. Vittorio was probably still in the hallway and unable to shout, but servants probably came through there all the time, especially since someone would be returning soon to check on Irene.
She was dead weight, but Will wasn’t about to leave her behind. Calling on every ounce of energy he had, he managed to sprout a pair of bat’s wings, using them to fly with her to the other side of the fence that surrounded Vittorio’s home. Regaining his human form, he quickly carried her back to the van.
Of course, the thing refused to start. If he didn’t get it moving, they were sitting ducks. Taking himself down to the point of hunger, he exerted his power once more. The engine started, and he backed up and turned around. The air became thick with winged beasts as he floored the accelerator and took them down the steep, winding road.
When Irene suddenly began to scream, Will was very relieved. She hadn’t died quite yet, at least. He pulled over and ran to the back of the van, grabbing some rope that was in the hidden compartment and running to the front again. To keep her from thrashing, Will tied Irene up like a sacrifice and set her in the back seat, hoping her bonds would hold until he managed to get her home.
As he got in to drive again, three vampires alit on the road.
“Dammit,” he growled. “This is going to be a really, really long night for me!”
He floored it, running them down. One of them, a bigger guy, left a huge dent in the hood. Too many more like him, and this vehicle was sure to be compromised. He needed to find them a place to hide.
Ditching the van along the side of the road, Will picked up Irene and hoisted her over his shoulders, breaking into a frantic run. They dug in deep and kept going down. Eventually, he found a cave by falling through a hole. He had no delusions that this alone would make them safe, since he needed to mask their scent or it would not take long before they were found.
Irene’s screams weren’t helping anything either and needed to be dealt with first. When he pinioned her to the floor, she looked at him just long enough for him to catch her eyes with his, making her unable to look away.
“Listen! Listen to me, Irene! Please!” he hissed. “I know you’re hurting, baby, but if you don’t stop screaming, a whole lot of really bad people are going to find us. We’ve got to be quiet and dig in. They won’t keep looking for us during the day. Understand me?”
“Y-yes!” she gasped, sucking in a long, deep breath. “Wh-what’s wrong with me?”
“Vittorio has given you his blood,” Will explained. “He slipped it into that drink he brought you. And I have no idea just how much you drank. You’re lucky you’re even functioning at all, and I don’t know how long you will be.”
“Why don’t you untie me?” she whispered hopefully.
“I can’t, unfortunately,” he explained. “Right now, there’s no way of knowing what reaction you’ll be having. If I untie you and you turn against me, I don’t want to fight with you. Don’t worry; enough of my blood will set you right again. But I’ve used it all up on getting us out of there.”
“Great,” said Irene, shaking her head. “This is totally insane.”
“It’s going to be okay,” said Will firmly as he picked Irene up again. “We just need to find a good hiding place and wait for daybreak.”
“But we can’t go out in the sun either.”
“We can go out long enough to get back to the van,” said Will. “Hopefully, none of them will think of disabling it, and we’ll be able to get away. Otherwise, we’ll be trekking through the forest, unfortunately.”
“How do you think I’m going to do that?” she complained.
“Don’t worry, pet. I’ll think of a way.”