Chapter Nineteen
Nikolai sat in the corner booth closest to the bar, the raucous noise of men enjoying their ale after a hard day’s work growing louder. He stared at the barkeep, a young man who’d told him that Reginald wasn’t in yet. So Nikolai waited. But a warning was rattling his bones. The evening rush was building, and this kid behind the bar couldn’t manage this many customers on his own. Reginald would know that.
Enough. He didn’t like it. He slipped out of the booth and skirted through the crowd for the door, ignoring any sideways looks from the workers. Vampires weren’t welcome in most places, but even less so in Dale’s Peak. It had always been more hostile toward his kind. The main reason he needed Sienna for the recruiting. She had a way with people. She could convince a starving man to give up his last crust of bread with a few words and a smile.
Back out into the blustery night, he pulled his collar up. Not so much to block out the cold, but to hide his face. Something wasn’t right, and he didn’t want too many locals getting a good look at him. The street was busy, for there was more than one tavern open along this strip. He skirted along the buildings, avoiding the street lanterns posted every four buildings. Dale’s Peak was a thriving town, a place of sophistication and modernity, bustling with people.
Nikolai could hardly imagine Sienna growing up in such a place. No wonder she left. She didn’t belong in this busy, overpopulated city, hosting parties and doing a husband’s bidding. The very idea smacked him hard as a sacrilege against her nature. Sienna belonged in the woods where she could gather her herbs and plants, brew her healing potions and salves, and live amongst the animals she loved so well.
He smiled at his own idiocy. Never more had he understood how much she truly belonged in Silvane Forest until he was walking the streets of her native home of Dale’s Peak.
“Pardon me,” he said after bumping into a gentleman in an evening coat, stepping up to a posh restaurant with his lady on his arm.
He moved on, again with Sienna on his mind. Truth be told, she never left his mind. In the few moments they’d been separated on this journey, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. She’d become so much to him, he could hardly function. The simple act of accidentally bumping into the man he’d just passed was a sign he was distracted. He was a man of precision and efficiency. But Sienna had thrown him off his game.
He moved swiftly, eager to get back to her. With the cover of night, humans wouldn’t even detect his movement. They’d think his passing only a chilly wind in the night air. He stopped on the doorstep of the Winchester Boarding House. Once inside, his senses prickled, gooseflesh raising on his skin. He could not hear Ms. Winchester in the kitchen. The candle that was burning on the desktop was now snuffed out. No lanterns were lit at the front foyer. It was not so late that no one should be moving in the house.
Quietly and quickly, he strode down the hall and through the parlor, stopping just before the parlor door. He detected several heartbeats in this part of the house when he should only detect one. They were strong and steady. Above the rest was a sound he knew well, the swift thump-thump like a lark’s wings, the very distinct sound of Sienna’s heartbeat when she was afraid. Then the sickly rich smell of blood poured into his nostrils. Lots of blood.
No matter if there were two men or ten in that room, he’d kill them all. He’d done it before. It was nothing new for him to be outnumbered and come out the victor. Rage lit like flames through his veins, urging him to act now. Lightning-swift, he barreled down the hall, noting Ms. Winchester’s body on the floor in a puddle of crimson a split second before he leaped over her body into the bedroom.
He’d barely registered the vampires in the room when a stinging burn hit his face and body like a brick wall, bringing him to his knees on the instant. Two brawny vampires held a net of gold over him. He’d literally run straight into the trap, never considering they’d have a weapon that humans had used against vampires in long years past. He gripped the netting to try and push it off his face, only to feel the powerful burn cutting into his hands and fingers. He barely registered the muffled cry of Sienna before he fell on his side, the net searing his left cheek where it stretched taut across his cheekbone. Within seconds, the two vampires with gloved hands had cinched him inside like a hunted animal.
A man laughed. Nikolai peered through the netting up at Volkov, standing next to Sienna, bound and gagged in a chair.
“We were getting worried, lieutenant,” said Volkov, trailing his fingers through Sienna’s hair. “Oh wait. But you’re not a lieutenant anymore, are you? You’re a traitor. And you know what happens to them, don’t you?”
The look of palpable fear in Sienna’s eyes gutted him, for it wasn’t for herself she seemed to fear, but for him.
“Volkov,” he growled, even as smoke rose from the burns on the exposed skin of his hands, neck, and face, the hiss and smell of his burning flesh rising. “If you let me go now, I will spare your life.”
“Let you go?” he laughed.
The other four vampires laughed with him, one of them the brutish, bald one he’d fought in Lobdell. Boris. Nikolai determined then and there that he’d kill them all, rip their heads right from their bodies.
“I don’t think so, traitor.”
“I will gut you like the fucking pig you are if you touch her.”
“Big words for a man on his way to the royal dungeons. It will be difficult for you to gut me when you’re in a bloodless sleep.”
Sienna whimpered, her teary gaze on Nikolai. Volkov’s fingers stopped lightly petting Sienna, then he clenched a fist in her hair and jerked backward, forcing her to look up at him. She made not a sound. Volkov stared down at her, his words like ice through Nikolai’s veins. “Oh, I plan on doing more than that.” He stroked a finger down her exposed neck to the hollow between her collarbones. “She’s so juicy, Nikolai. No wonder you kept her well hidden.”
“I will fucking kill you,” Nikolai grated low and deep, his inner beast lashing to get out. He struggled in the netting. The brutish one kicked Nikolai in the face so hard his vision hazed. Sienna’s muffled scream wrenched his stomach into a knot. One of the other vampires pressed the toe of his boot on Nikolai’s head, keeping him immobile, cheek to the floor.
“How the fuck did you find us?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he laughed. “You’ll know soon enough. As soon as you get back to the Glass Tower.”
Nikolai didn’t have a second to consider what that meant before he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. The steady, long strides of two men echoed down the hall before they entered. From his sideways posture on the floor, Nikolai could see Sienna’s expression shift from fear to surprise to anger.
“You’ve made a bit of a mess, Volkov,” said the man standing just behind Nikolai where he couldn’t see him, the distinct tone of arrogance and wealth lingering in his voice. The tight netting restrained him in a way he could no longer move, besides the fact the bastard behind him still had his foot on his head.
“We’ll clean it up, Lord Barker,” Volkov assured him, obviously referring to the dead widow’s body in the hallway, his hand still in Sienna’s hair. “Is she the one you spoke of?”
The man out of Nikolai’s sight kept silent for a long minute. Sienna stared at the man Nikolai couldn’t see, her posture straight even as she trembled, her eyes blazing with fury.
“Yes. That is her.”
“Good,” said Volkov, finally releasing her hair and clapping his hands together. “Very well, then. You know your job. I suggest you get what you need done and be ready for dawn.”
“Why so soon?”
“Because the queen commands it. And trust me. She will reward you handsomely for your loyalty to the crown.”
A slight pause. “Very well. I’ll report to your quarters at dawn to retrieve her.”
The man and his partner, whoever they were, left the room, their footsteps dying quickly away.
“You three take care of him.” Volkov lifted his chin toward Nikolai. “And take care of the old woman’s body.” He leaned over and hefted Sienna out of the chair, tossing her over his shoulder like a sack of flour. “Boris and I will take care of her. I’m hungry.”
“Volkov!” screamed Nikolai in a desperate rage.
Volkov stared down, grinning, his canines extending long and sharp. “Farewell, lieutenant,” he said mockingly. “Enjoy your bloodless sleep.” He clamped an arm around the back of Sienna’s thighs, holding her tight, then lifted her red cape over the crook of his free arm. “I plan to enjoy my prize after the effort you put me through.”
He flashed away in a blur, his haunting laugh searing up Nikolai’s spine like a trail of molten fire. Volkov had the blood madness, and he had his sweet Sienna in his clutches. The fear of losing her, of the pain and harm that a monster like that could inflict upon her, ripped a harrowing yell from his throat.
“Shut up, filthy traitor,” said the vampire who’d finally taken his foot off his head.
His boot was the last thing Nikolai saw.