Karen Chance - Death's Mistress

Anthony didn’t notice, having let his head droop down to his mutilated chest. I couldn’t tell if that was deliberate—to hide the fact that his neck had healed—or if he was merely too tired to hold it up anymore. But looking at the way his skin was starting to shrink up against the bones, I was voting for the latter.

Anthony had to get out of here and back to his family, and he had to do it now. But no way was he managing that on his own. I glanced at Louis- Cesare to see if he got it, and found him staring intently back at me.

“Dorina?”

I almost jumped out of my skin when the word echoed softly through my brain. “What?” I thought back instinctively, and felt a surge of profound relief that I knew wasn’t mine. I didn’t feel relieved. I felt creeped the hell out.“How long have you been able to—”

“Can you do it?” he asked silently, cutting me off in my own head.

“Can I do what?”

He looked pointedly at Anthony. “I will not leave you here with her.”

“You left me with her last night!”

“It was almost dawn, and I thought she had the power of a child then. You cannot hold her.”

No, I thought bitterly, I didn’t suppose so. I’d been getting my ass handed to me by vampires all day, and after seeing her with Anthony, I doubted this would be any different. But I also couldn’t drag an almost-deadweight through the landslide, across a debris- filled room and up a lengthy tunnel. And then fog the minds of the people on the other side when I was through.

I thought that at him as hard as I could, and saw him wince. It had probably had the force of a shout behind it, but I didn’t have centuries of practice at this. The only other times we’d had any kind of mental link, I’d been too distracted to worry about it.

I was plenty worried now, but other things took precedence. Like what I’d die of first, if Anthony went—the fire of his energy storm or being crushed to death as the tunnel collapsed. It wasn’t a palatable choice.

“If Anthony dies, I’m dead anyway. And he’ll die if he stays here. Get him out!” I sent.

“If she hurts you—”

“She won’t. I’m her good vamp-killing buddy, remember? Just hurry back.”

He sent me a slurry of emotions, intentionally or not, that had my eyes widening. “Do. Not. Die.”

Yeah, well, that was the plan.

“Christine!” My voice caused her to start slightly. “You’re draining Anthony. And if he dies, we do, too. Remember?”

She stared at me, dark eyes bright, for a long moment. And then she slowly nodded. “I can’t die yet,” she agreed. “I’m not done.”

It was amazing how three small words could cause gooseflesh to break out all over my body. “Not done?”

“You asked why I killed Elyas. This is why,” she said, obscurely.

“Because he was an evil vampire?”

“Well, of course,” she agreed, pushing back a stray lock of hair. The heel of her hand brushed her cheek, leaving a red streak behind, like badly placed rouge. “But I could have killed him at any time for that.”

“So why now? To avoid Alejandro’s executioner?” I knew before she answered that that wasn’t right. Whoever Alejandro sent would have had a rude awakening.

“No. It was the rune.”

“The rune.”

“Yes. I knew Elyas had it.” She frowned. “Or I thought he did. I didn’t know about the necklace, you see, when I killed the fey. I checked his pockets, but I never thought to look there. And then I felt Elyas nearby and had to flee before I could look anymore. I couldn’t let him see me. I couldn’t be discovered. It was too soon. But then I saw him coming out with the necklace in his hand, and I realized my mistake.”

“How did you know about the rune? You weren’t at the auction.”

I wanted to know, but I also wanted to keep her attention on me. Louis-Cesare had circled around behind her while we’d been talking.

“Elyas could talk of nothing else. All day he was on the telephone to Lord Cheung, all but begging him for it. He was afraid that once Louis-Cesare left the European Senate, he would no longer be able to retain his seat without help. I overheard enough to realize what it was, and what it could do.”

“So that’s why you picked up the carrier in the office.”

She nodded. “I’d searched it when I killed Elyas. I’d remembered about the knives, not to touch them directly. But I’d thought the necklace wouldn’t show fingerprints because of all the ridges. I’d forgotten about clairvoyants.” She looked annoyed.

“How did you learn to kill vampires that way? It isn’t common knowledge.”

“I have had to learn many new methods in order to hunt.” She looked frustrated. “Louis-Cesare was so careful; it was almost impossible for me to do anything. And Alejandro wasn’t much better. He watched me all the time, afraid that I would run away. It was easier when I went to Elyas. He never noticed me.”

Neither had anyone else, I thought grimly.

“Why wait until the party to kill Elyas?” I asked. “You could have killed him at any time.”

“But if I did it before the party, only the family would have been home,” she said reasonably. “There had to be other suspects, or everyone would have started to look at me.”

“So you waited until the apartment was filled with people, and you could get Elyas alone.”

“Yes. I didn’t mean for Louis-Cesare to be blamed. I knew he had an appointment for that night; I had heard Elyas telling the doorman about it. But it was for earlier that evening. I waited to kill him until I thought the master would have come and gone.”

“But Louis-Cesare was delayed.” She nodded. “Is that why you killed Lutkin? To throw suspicion off Louis-Cesare?”

“No, the mage was at Elyas’s party. I saw them talking together. It might have meant nothing; Elyas liked the races and Lutkin was a champion. But I thought there was a chance that a powerful mage could have stolen it.”

I spared a thought for poor Lutkin, who had died because Christine thought there was an outside chance he had the stone. He’d probably never even seen it.

“But Lutkin was killed in daylight.”

“I have been a daywalker for two centuries.”

Daywalker was the old term for anything above a third-level master, because they were the only ones who could stand direct sunlight for any length of time. It looked like Anthony had known what he was talking about.

“How did you get in? The consul’s security is pretty tight.”

“They let me in. Louis-Cesare’s name was still on the guest list, and I am his servant.” She shrugged.

“So that left Geminus.”

“Yes. I was sure he had the stone. He was at the nightclub that night. I saw him when I was leaving, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. And Geminus was at the party. But he didn’t have it, either.”

“That’s why you used the wax-covered knife on him.” I had wondered. There were more efficient ways to kill people.

“I wanted to be able to search him before he died and the reaction set in. And then Anthony came, and so of course I had to kill him, too. I didn’t mean to use a wax blade on him, but that was the one I grabbed first.”

I made a mental note to tell Anthony: maybe the Fates didn’t hate him as much as he thought.

“You killed him because he could have named you as the guilty party.”

“Yes. I tied him and stabbed him and left, but when I didn’t hear a second death rumble, I knew something had gone wrong.”

“Clever.”

“I can be clever.” She glanced behind her, where the guys had disappeared through the fall. “I know they are leaving. It is all right. Anthony needed to go. I might have made a mistake with him here, and I can’t afford that. Not tonight.”