Колин Глисон - When Twilight Burns

At last his hand touched something warm and human again… and then hair. He pulled, felt her come up against him. She wasn’t moving, she wasn’t breathing. He pulled, keeping her face from the water, dragging her to the side, onto the bank where Pesaro and Brim were clambering down the rocky edge.

Light danced behind him as he turned her onto her stomach, her face to the side. Blood everywhere, her face bruised and cut, her hair a mat of curls, her body cold and white. “No, Victoria, dammit,” he breathed.

He felt the others come up behind him, down from the rocky wall, carrying torches. He kissed her cold face, brushed the hair from her eyes, willing himself not to think of Giulia… not to think of losing yet again.

Not to Bemis Goodwin. By God , not to the likes of Bemis Goodwin.

He struck her hard between the shoulder blades, and gave her a desperate shake.

Victoria coughed, and Sebastian rolled her to the side. Water spewed forth and she coughed more, her body wracked and shaking. Someone-Brim-handed down a dry coat and he wrapped it around her. The golden light encircled them, illuminating her face, the bruises, the three slices down her cheek, the myriad of other, smaller ones.

Her closed eyes were shadowed but at last fluttered, opening. Sebastian breathed easier… She opened them, looked up at him. She looked at him, and he smiled, feeling the tug to one side of his mouth.

And then her gaze moved on, beyond, her eyes falling somewhere behind him. Her lips moved.

Sebastian recognized the look. Read the word, the simple name on her lips. Saw the expression on her face. It was his hand she clutched, her cold fingers gripping tightly. But the look was not meant for him.

He’d suspected… for far too long. Perhaps he’d always known, and that was part of the reason for the animosity, the discord, the enmity. He’d hoped, simply hoped he was wrong.

Hope drained away, leaving him empty.

He’d lost.

Wayren embraced Victoria, sending the warmth of something like maternal comfort washing over her… then pulled away to look into her eyes. Searching. “Yes, indeed,” she said, relief in her voice. “It’s gone.”

Victoria looked at her. “You could see it?”

The woman nodded. “A shadow… perhaps not so different than what you saw in the eyes of the daytime vampires. I admit, it’s more obvious now that it’s no longer there.”

It was late that night after they returned from Victoria’s near drowning in the sewers. Aunt Eustacia’s parlor was crowded with an unusual bulk of Venators: Brim, who was by far the most massive, Michalas, Sebastian, Max… and also Kritanu, who, despite the loss of his hand and the number of vampire bites, still seemed almost more complete than the latter two. He sat in the chair that had been Eustacia’s, near the piecrust table, silent and watchful.

Victoria looked at Michalas and Brim, then turned her attention to Sebastian. He watched her steadily, as though gulping in the sight of her. She wanted to flush. “It took you long enough to arrive,” she said, humor in her voice, trying to sound light… when inside she was a turmoil. She ached; her body ached and burned and still oozed blood. She’d easily be dead if she weren’t a Venator. “I’d begun to wonder if something had happened.”

“You knew we were coming,” he replied. “It was your plan, and it worked flawlessly… except that that blasted carriage of Barth’s broke a wheel and delayed us.”

Brim laughed. “Sebastian was fit to kill the man, as if it was his fault that the wheel broke.”

“The way he drives, it likely was,” said Max from the corner. “It nearly cost us everything.” His bitterness settled in the air.

There was a charged silence, and then Victoria spoke. “But it did not,” she said smoothly. “Not only did we ruin Lilith’s plan to assassinate the king, but I’m certain she’s not foolish enough to stay here in London any longer. Nor did she get the Ring of Jubai, which, thanks to Sebastian, Wayren can now add to the collection at the Consilium.”

The others nodded.

“And so the Queen of England is a daytime vampire,” Brim said, disbelief in his voice. “How has no one realized this?”

“She’s been taking the elixir since she turned, I venture to say, which can’t have been very long ago. So she’s dying,” added Victoria simply. “I doubt she’ll last another week or two.” She shrugged. “We could find a way to help her along, I’m certain… but I see no point in doing so. Why should we take the chance of being involved?” She frowned grimly. “I had a bad enough experience with the Bow Street Runners and Newgate that I wish to remain anonymous for awhile.”

“And Gwendolyn. How long had she been undead?” asked Michalas.

Victoria suddenly felt impatient with the questions. She wanted everyone to leave… she needed time alone. So much had happened, so much had changed. She could hardly keep from looking at Max, gauging every scratch and scar and bruise on his face. And the rough bites on his neck… the ones that wouldn’t heal nearly as quickly as hers. But at least they were merely bites from Lilith, and nothing more.

And he, for his part, brooded in the corner, saying little. Sending her black looks that certainly did not bespeak affection. He was furious with her. Dark and angry… in a way he’d not been before.

It made her question what she’d seen in his eyes in Lilith’s lair. Had she imagined it?

And Sebastian… Victoria felt her stomach squeeze. He’d become aloof. Still cocksure and engaging, but… aloof. Since he’d pulled her from the water and rescued her from Bemis Goodwin, something had changed.

Affection surged in her… and apprehension. She had to talk with him. Her eyes fell to her scarred hands and she let Sebastian answer Michalas’s question with his own conjecture.

“It’s not certain how long she’d been undead, but she couldn’t have had the elixir for very long, of course. She must have begun taking it as soon as her brother returned from Italy-with the queen, and the serum.”

He seemed to need to speak, whereas Max did nothing but glower from the corner. Victoria could feel his impatience, his need to get away.

“I have the suspicion,” Sebastian continued, “and perhaps we’ll never know for certain, that Gwendolyn was already part of the Tutela when Victoria and I were at her house party with John Polidori. She must have been planning something for a long time-and then she had to wait until we returned from Italy.”

“But she sent her brother after you,” said Max.

Michalas nodded, his eyes light with humor. “It was all the women, wasn’t it? Lilith, Caroline, Sara, Gwen… all stymied by our Victoria.”

“You’re weary,” Wayren said, standing suddenly. Perhaps she sensed the undercurrents, perhaps she merely understood that Victoria was, indeed, exhausted. Heart-sick, worried, weary… yet hopeful. Ridiculously hopeful. “We can discuss this at another time.”

No one argued with Wayren; Max was the first one out the door. He limped, moving a bit gingerly, but still graceful. And he was gone.

Sebastian stayed when Victoria closed her fingers around his wrist.

The door shut and they were alone.

He said nothing, just looked at her.

“I… Sebastian,” she began, but he raised a four-fingered hand… whether he used that one purposely or not, she didn’t know. It would be just like him to, as he put it, play up his heroism. She smiled. She did love him.

“No, don’t. Please.” He gave her a crooked smile, one that still had the power to send a tingle to her belly… just not the right tingle. “My pride cannot handle it.”