Текст книги "Bloodbreeders: Lies Beneath London"
Автор книги: Robin Renee Ray
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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 18 страниц)
“All that matters now is that you are back here, safe with us.” My people gathered closer to the bed, reaching out and touching Martin, showing we all understood. Some saying they would have done the same. Others admitted that they could not have endured as much. ***
Our plan was to send Bernard back, keeping Inara’s beloved son as our trump card in case she choose to tell her sister anything that Bernard went back and told her. We would make it clear to him that Alex would end up worse than Martin…if not dead…if he didn’t do exactly what we said. While the others went to prepare Bernard for his coach ride home, I told Martin about the night I ran away with Rebecca and the reason that I did. I told him about Johnny, but before he could console me, I added that I found Johnny on my return visit to Cuba, when my four little ones and I took it down…alive and now one of us. The horror in his eyes said what everyone felt when they saw the little four year old breeder, but he was my brother and would remain in his small shell until we could find an answer as how to save him from an eternity in that form, without putting him into the final state of rest. That was not an option open for discussion.
“What do you know about this doctor’s assistant or the man that did the same work like the one known as ‘the doctor’, Martin? If he can reanimate the dead and create those things, do you think he knows a way to help, Johnny?”
“He is a sick and evil man, Renee. I have seen his work and it has nothing to do with saving our kind,” Martin answered with more sorrow in his eyes than I cared to see.
“We found his notes back at his place in the states. There were things on there where the main doctor was working on going into the sun. And he was alive when we went out the night after we hung him on a cross to see if his work had done any good. He was whole and alive. Of course, he burst into ash shortly after.”
“He was a fool to think such things, and you must not fall into the belief that little Johnny can be saved from this life any more than we can. You will lose your mind trying to find a cure for what we have become.”
“He’s just a little boy, Martin. A little boy that I brought over.”
“At no fault of your own,” he recoiled as the high pitched screams of Bernard echoed down the hall.
“I better go see what’s going on. I think they just gave him the news that Alex would be staying,” I opened my eyes wide, then smiled down at Martin, who tried to laugh. “I’ll be back soon.”
I left Martin, and as soon as the door was closed I ran down the hall as fast as I could and up the stairs. I wanted to see what was going on, and I wanted to know if they had told Alex that we knew about his little secret, because if they hadn’t, I was going to. I stepped through the open door to find Bernard crawling over the back of the mattress, trying to get away from the reaching hand of Cates. “I won’t leave Alex, I won’t!” he yelled, dropping down onto the floor as if he could hide. Cates kicked the mattress and Bernard screamed when his broken leg slammed into the wall.
“Leave him alone. You’re hurting him,” Alex cried out from the other side of the room.
I walked up to Jacob and whispered, asking if they had mentioned anything about Alex being Inara’s son, and he shook his head just enough to tell me no.
“Will your mother not be pleased to have one of you back, Alex? Isn’t that the little secret you were keeping from me?” I asked as I made my way painfully slow in his direction, my statement even silenced Bernard. “Thought we didn’t know about that, didn’t ya?”
“I…I,” he stuttered.
“I, what? I told you that I could smell your lies, but what I failed to mention was the fact that I see all, I know all, and your failure to tell me everything has now split you and your brother apart.”
“I was afraid. Please, leave him alone. Take me to your dungeon,” he begged as crimson streaks ran down his face.
I turned around and looked at Jacob, who shrugged with a slight smile on his face. I twitched my lip to keep from smiling and turned back around. “He’s the weak one, Alex.”
“I will tell you anything, please.”
“You had your chance,” I spun around, swinging my hair into Alex’s body. “Take him out of here.” I stormed out of the room and made my way to the top of the stairs as fast as I could to keep the prisoners from hearing my laughter.
I straightened, acting like I was fixing my gown, which was one solid piece of white cloth. Cates appeared, backing out while dragging Bernard by the back of his shirt, with him kicking his legs, splint and all. Jacob came out and closed the door to the howls of Alex’s cries, smiling from ear to ear. He walked up beside Cates, where Bernard couldn’t see him. I bent down and got right in Bernard’s face. “If you don’t shut that mouth of yours, I will pull your tongue out myself.” He looked at me with eyes the size of teacup saucers, and closed his mouth. Cates lifted him with his one hand and carried him down the staircase, dangling like a ragdoll, from the grip he had on the back of Bernard’s shirt.
“What are you going to do to me?” Bernard asked, clamping his hand over his mouth at the sudden jerk of my head, looking so comical that I couldn’t control myself any longer and I burst out laughing, which made him think I was even madder than he first had thought.
“We are going to show you what we are going to do to, not you, but Alex…if you fail us in any way,” Jacob said, once we reached Martin’s door.
“Give me a moment,” I ordered, opening the door just enough to slip inside.
I rushed to Martin’s side and told him that we were bringing Bernard in to scare the living crap out of him before we sent him back to his mistress, and that I needed him to look his worst. He looked up at me like I truly was mad and asked how much more did he need to do to look worse than he already did. “Moan, roll your head from side to side. Think of something, because I want him to think we’re going to pay his mistress back by doing the same thing to Alex that was done to you,” I explained, getting a reassuring pat on my hand that he knew what I was talking about and that I could let them in.
“Would you mind if I remove the cover? The damage on your lower half will have more of an impact than him just seeing your feet and face.”
“I am sure that all have seen my most private of places, so yes, you may remove my cover,” he smiled, looking better every time I looked at him.
“Okay,” I leaned down and moved the cover, afterwards lightly kissing his lips. “Now act like your dying.”
I went back to the door and opened it slowly for emphasis. The first thing that Bernard tried to do was back up, moving both legs against the floor, while reaching up and gripping Cates’ hand as Cates lifted him up and carried him into the room. The sight of Martin being at this house was something he hadn’t expected at all and the visual display of his tremendous wounds let him know first-hand that we knew what was happening to our maker. “I didn’t know, I swear,” he lied, out of pure desperation.
“Hello Bernard, funny seeing you here. Last time I saw you, you were happily running a blade down my back,” Martin cringing as he pushed himself up in a higher sitting position.
I spun around fast with my arm already coming up and backhanded Bernard across the face, knocking him out of Cates’ hand and into the door frame. He collapsed to the ground. Blood flew from his mouth as he cried out and spit two teeth into the palm of his hand. He bent forward, bringing up the only knee he could, and held his face. When he finally looked up and saw me glaring, he was ready to go back, leaving Alex at our mercy. Cates reached down and Bernard’s hands shot up, thinking he was blocking another blow, when he was once again lifted off the floor, and none to gently. Tammy’s eyes were dead set on him, and even I could read his death in them. He kept his eyes to the floor as Martin spoke.
“You say nothing, about anything, except what you are told. If you choose to do otherwise, I will have my guard do to your precious lover what your true mistress has done to me. Bernard has a secret of his own don’t you, Bernard?”
“If she finds out she’ll kill me.”
“What of Alex, Bernard? What would he think if he were to find out about you and the High Mistress?” Martin asked, displaying a lower tone when he said the last.
“He would hate me,” he whimpered. “She promised she would allow us safety by the throne when she rid London of her sister.” He glanced up, saw Martin’s privates then looked right back at the floor.
“You thought me dead in a few nights time. Why else would you freely agree to lay hands to Angelica, while others lay hands to me?” Martin asked, then called out my name sternly as he saw my hand coming up a second time. “There will be plenty of time for that if he fails us.”
“How can I stand here and listen to this and not beat this piece of shit?”
“Then leave,” he replied, shocking me with his tone but keeping me in control at the same time. I nodded and he continued.
I looked over at Tammy, who looked back at me and we had a perfect understanding. No matter what happened at that gala, Bernard and Alex would die. Bernard would taste my blade for enjoying what he did to my maker and then, and only then, would I step aside and give Tammy the rest to avenge the two women that were put to death at their hands; not counting the countless others before them. Martin told Bernard that his dirty little secret about sleeping with and willingly accepting Angelica’s offer to help kill her sister would be safe if he went back and told Inara that Martin was already safe in his own domain and that Alex would not be harmed if she helped us at Angelica’s the night of the gala. In return, other than just having her beloved son returned, she would take the position of ‘High Mistress’ and we would be on our way. It was a lie of course, but it was the lie that would get us in and close enough to take out the three seats of power and hopefully not have to fight the entire ballroom of breeders.
Chapter Twenty One
It was strange watching Sydney hook up the coach, since we found him on a sail boat, but he did it like he had been doing it all of his life. He and Cates dressed in the nastiest rags they could find with hoods that draped over their faces, trying their best to look like normals, which apparently meant smelling like the horse that drew the coach. Derek and Jacob rode inside with Bernard, both had their weapons drawn and ready in case Inara’s people attacked them. Fala stayed back to protect the “women” who said nothing when it was brought up, thinking it might not be a bad idea to have someone that could rip the limbs off of just about anything watching our backs.
They drove straight there, dumped Bernard out at the front gate, and drove away to his cries for help. Garvin watched and, with the aid of the lights of several torches, saw Bernard running to the gates entrance, falling, and then being lifted off the ground and taken in. Once they arrived back at the estate, we started looking for things to wear and, for once, the search was one of pure joy without the never ending chaos that we had at the end of the so called rainbow. Martin told us about the trunks full of costumes in the attic, and the boys went up and brought them down to the family room, having to set some out in the hall, due to the lack of room.
There was one chest that stood out from the rest because it reminded me of the one my mother kept her personal belongings in. It once held the very dress that she and my father buried me in thinking I was dead and to them I truly was. She had it for her own death and had made it herself, just as her mother had made hers and I would have one day made my own had things been different. I walked up to it going down on my knees, smoothing my hand over the top, exposing the beauty of the dark wood under the thick layer of dust. The carvings were far different than that of my mothers; far more detailed and with the smallest of intricate art work. Vines and flowers graced the trim; larger leaves like rose petals lay spread out on the top with tiny clusters of flowers in each of the corners. The panels were equally as impressive, with swirls making no particular pattern.
When I opened it I had truly thought that I had stepped back in time to when my mother showed me her wedding dress for the first time when I was nine. It was the first thing you saw when you opened the chest. I reached in and lifted the similar dress out by the shoulders and stood up. It was breathtaking. I held it up against me and spun around. The flow at the bottom was wide and much longer in the back than it was in the front; the arms were billowy on the shoulders and slim down to the back of the hands, and completely covered in tiny pearls. The neck line was cut low on the chest and there was more lace than there was silky white material.
“I believe that is the wrong attire for the gala,” Jacob said, scaring me so bad that I almost dropped the dress…almost.
“I was just looking at it.” I put it back with my embarrassment showing all over my face.
“It is a thing worn by those joining in your culture, correct? As husband and wife?”
“Yeah,” I smiled with rosy cheeks. “My ring, Jacob?”
I darted down the hall past him and into Martin’s room. He was nude when we carried him back and my only hope was that he had hidden it somewhere in the house before he left out into the tunnels. He opened his eyes and tried to sit up. “No, please. I just have a question,” I said hurriedly, making my way to the side of the bed so he wouldn’t keep moving around. “Martin, I know I have no right asking you this, because of the way I treated you, but…my ring?”
“I am so sorry, my love,” he said, taking my hand and kissing the finger that it once sat on. “It was in the pocket of my vest that I was wearing the night that I left.”
“I should have never taken it off.”
“I will get you another one,” he said, as I laid my head down on his chest.
“I don’t want another one. I want my ring back.”
“I am afraid it is lost, my love.”
“I love the way you say that,” I smiled up at him, kissing the bruised skin on the center of his chest. “The sound of your voice is so different from mine.”
“I am French and you are an American. Your accent is as beautiful to my ears as mine is to yours. But, I must say that I do not understand some of the things that you say.”
“You mean what Jacob calls my slang?”
“I believe that is what one would call it,” he chuckled. “Ouch! You always make me laugh.”
“Laughter is healing and you are looking much better.”
“I feel better, and with your group and the way that you are together, I should be healed in just a matter of days.”
“I better get back to the others. I have to find my gown for this party thing,” I stood, bowing at the waist and he choked on his own burst of laughter.
“Are you alright, did you hurt yourself?” I asked, sitting back down on the bed and holding his shoulder as he leaned to the side to cough.
“You must promise me not to do that at the gala,” he half coughed, half laughed.
“What? Do what, Martin?”
“Bow. You looked like a female version of Jacob, or perhaps, Cates. Women curtsy. You bend both knees with one behind the other.”
“I know how to curtsy,” I said, giggling just a bit. “I just forgot that I was a girl, momentarily.”
“You will be the death of me. Go before you cause me to laugh my stitches open.” He grabbed my hand as I started to get up again. “But not before you give me one more kiss to last until you return.”
I gave him another kiss; only this one was much longer than a simple kiss on the forehead. I pressed my lips to his and he held me there for a long moment. I could taste his blood when I licked my lips, saw a little seeping from the split on his bottom lip and I couldn’t control my next move. I leaned back over and licked the blood off in a slow, lingering swipe, then closed my mouth over his. He groaned in pain, bending at his waist.
“Did I hurt you? I don’t know why I did that.”
“There was no pain in what you just did. On the contrary, it felt so good it caused me pain elsewhere.”
I stood up after a few seconds of silent thinking and almost tripped on his bedside table. It was far too obvious to hide the fact that I had already looked down at his lower half. “I have to go. I am so sorry,” I apologized, backing toward the door, watching him smile, knowing I had just embarrassed the hell out of myself because we both knew what had happened to his private area and I just made it worse. I opened the door as I backed up, trying to act like everything was just fine, and whacked my head on the side of the door as I turned my head to leave. I could hear him laughing and choking as I made my way with a fast pace back down the hall. ***
“Why are you so red?” Derek remarked, as soon as I walked into the family room.
“Why on earth are you wearing that on your head?” I asked in reply changing the subject, and with good reason, because he had a white wig on that had curls all over it.
“They said we all had to wear them.”
“This trunk is full of them, even though your hair is long enough to create the same style,” Tanda said, squatted down in front of it.
“So, does that mean I don’t have to wear one then?”
“Hell yeah you have to wear one,” Derek answered for her. “If I have to, everyone is going to put one on.”
“I must agree with young Derek, Renee,” Cates said, flipping one of the white wigs onto his head.
“Yep, I have to say the same thing, girl,” Sydney added, putting one that looked just like theirs on his head.
Jacob, Fala, and Garvin followed suit and the whole room broke out in one of the loudest, longest laughing outbreaks that we had had so far. Tammy had to excuse herself, leaving the room holding her stomach. I think everyone in the room was coated with red faces from tears that came from laughing so hard, but it was one of the best times that we had had since this whole ordeal had started. The best part of the whole night was watching everyone try on the fancy clothing. Derek was the worst of all, griping about every single thing and causing more laughter than anyone in the room. He was the first to step back in from the hall wearing the knee high fancy green pants with white tights and slim black shoes that barely covered his toes.
“Where is the top?” Tanda asked, getting up and going over to him as he pulled up on the tights that were apparently bigger than the pants.
“I was having too much trouble with all those buttons. I don’t even know if I have these things on right, and they are killing my business,” Derek explained, reaching down and trying to adjust himself.
“Well you most certainly cannot do that in front of those where we are going,” Tanda said, slapping his hand.
“I know just how he feels,” Sydney complained, coming in behind Derek in an outfit much like his, only blue. “I think my toe just broke through. Do we really have to wear the leg things?”
“It was the style of the dignitaries in the days of old, and yes, you have to wear them,” Tanda scolded him, taking control of inspecting the fit, as much as she did passing out the clothing. “I’ll find you another pair.” Then she began re-buttoning his shirt.
“I’ll let you deal with these two and go try on my dress,” I said, grabbing the gown she laid out for me and the silly wig that was much bigger than the one the boys had to wear, and quite frankly, I had no idea how I was going to keep it on my head.
I nearly dropped the things in my hands when Tammy and Cates came out of their room when I was going down the hall to mine. Cates wasn’t able to find any clothes that fit, so he had no choice but to go as Tammy’s eunuch slave. I twisted my mouth at the tight black tights and matching vest that only fit his upper chest. Had the legs been billowy, he would have looked like Isa’s servant. Cates had no shoes on and his hair was pulled back with a long black ribbon. “I’ll put his face paint on before we go to the gala,” Tammy winked as we passed. She looked amazing in her hoop skirt that brushed the wall as they walked down the hall. Her large breasts were pushed up so high, that I think the only thing that kept them from spilling out was the extremely tight way the dress fit around the bottom of them. The dress was gold in color with black lace around the waist and over the mounds of her breasts. I turned to look back at them and saw a large, black bow at her back that draped all the way to the bottom of the gown. Cates didn’t turn his head as I walked by, but I did see his arm leave Tammy’s to pull at the intruding material at his backside.
I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing out, and hurried into my and Martin’s room to change. “Back to cause me more pain?” he smiled, bringing back the color to my cheeks that I had temporarily forgotten about. I explained to him what was going on and then went in the bathroom to change. My dress was pale burgundy trimmed in black lace like Tammy’s, down to the bow in the back. My problem wasn’t the tights, but getting the dress buttoned up in the back. The short sleeves, that weren’t much to call sleeves, kept falling off my shoulders as I worked to get the hooks fastened. I must have been cursing louder than I thought because Martin called out to me.
“I’m fine, I just can’t get this stupid thing hooked,” I called back.
“Come in here, so I can see,” he called back to me, causing me to roll my eyes.
“Fine,” I grabbed up the huge bottom and pushed my way past the door.
“You look breathtaking.”
“My hair is everywhere and I don’t even have the dress on good yet,” I stopped to look over at him.
“It is the way your hair falls over the dress that makes you look so beautiful. May I be so bold as to say that I would have you no other way in the gown. Come, let me see if I can help.”
“No, I better get Tammy or someone to help me, Martin. I don’t want you to hurt yourself again,” I replied, not able to make eye contact.
“Come,” he patted the side of the bed. “Hooking the back will not cause me pain, taking the gown off of you might.”
“You just had to say that didn’t you?”
“I could not help myself, now come,” he repeated, smiling so wide I could see the white shine of his fangs.
“How do you feel?” I asked, sitting down with my back to him. “You look better every time I come in the room.”
“We heal fast,” he said, running his fingers across my back, causing me to close my eyes. “Would you mind pulling your hair to the side?”
“Oh sure,” I said catching my breath, reaching up and baring my back by pulling my hair to the side.
“And your feet?” I was saying anything to keep my mind off of the feel of his hands grazing the flesh on my back as he hooked the dress.
“I fear it will be some time before I am able to use them again. But the rest should be fine before you need to put this gown on again,” he replied, with his voice so soft the impact made me swallow loudly. “There, now stand and let me see how you look.”
I took in a deep breath and let it out as I got to my feet. I threw my hair back as I turned around and frowned as he shook his head. “What? Should I find another one?” He just smiled and shook his head. “Well, say something. Does it fit right?” I asked, looking down at myself. I glanced to my right seeing myself in the mirror and began trying to unhook the back. “I’ll find another one. It’s too tight anyway.”
“You will wear that one. I have never seen you look so exquisite.”
“Are you sure? You don’t think it’s too tight across my chest?”
“I do not mean to embarrass you, but you need take your hand and reach in and pull your breasts up, or if you would like, I can do it for you?” he lifted one side of his mouth and reached out with one hand.
“I think I can handle that,” I replied, turning my back to him and reached in until I had them situated correctly, then turned back around for his approval.
“Perfection.”
The way he said that one word made me look back in the mirror. My breasts were small but stood mounded over the top curve of the neck line, reminding me of the dress that Yvette had put me in the night she fooled me into thinking I was her special guest, only to find out that I was being placed on the auction block to be sold to the highest bidder.
“Why such a long look on your face, my love?” he asked, holding his hand out to me. I walked over and sat down on the bed, trying not to remember, but the thought kept flooding my mind with the horror that happened.
“I wish you could read my mind, than I wouldn’t have to ever talk about what happened in Cuba,” I replied unable to look at him.
“You never have to talk about anything that you wish not to,” he said, lifting my chin. “We have all of eternity, time enough for the worst of all memories to fade.”
“You have to understand that I could and will die fighting to stop this, Martin.”
“Will you not come to my home in France after you and your people have dealt with London?”
“How can I? The elders have these assassins after us and until we stop them, your home or no other home will be safe.”
“You are so brave. Had I had your strength this may have been different many years ago.”
“There is something you could do for me, something more important than my own life.”
“I would walk the sun for you, Renee. You need but ask, and I will bow at your feet,” he replied, picking up my hand and kissing the back, then bringing the palm to his cheek. “I will even fight at you side.”
“I want you to take Johnny and Shyanna back to France with you until this is all over with…”
“But…”
“Please, hear me out. I will come to you after we put the elders down, Martin. We can live as a family. We can raise Johnny as our own and deal with his age when it happens. I need you to do this for me.” I leaned down on his chest, looking him right in the eyes. “Your legs may never heal the way you need them to, to fight, and I won’t see you go through this again, ever. I need to know my family is safe so I can do what I do best.”
“And if you never come?” he asked, running his hand through my hair. “Then what shall I do?”
“Take care of those that you know I love. Only then, knowing that they’re taken care of by the man that I love, will I be at peace,” I whispered, kissing his lips softly.
“There is no changing your mind, is there?”
“No.”
“Then My Lady will have her wish.”
I reached up and smoothed my hand over the side of his face thanking him with all the love that I could with my eyes. Just knowing that my baby brother would be out of harm’s way was all that I could ever hope for, no matter what my future held. I knew that Martin would take care of him and Shyanna in the event that I didn’t return. It was something that would set my dark soul at ease and leave my mind where it needed to be when it came to fighting the highest of the breeders and the hardest battle that we would face when the time came. Martin knew Cornelle’s people and said that I had used good judgment when I left our other three with them. He said they would fight to the death to keep them safe, which made me take that piece of worry from the back of my mind, and replace it with the task that we would soon face.
I left Martin to rest and joined the others, who all stopped what they were doing when I stepped in the doorway of the family room. I waited for them to burst out in laughter, but no one did. Jacob stood in his knee high pants and ruffled shirt that was unbuttoned with the jacket loosely open, and walked up to me bowed at the waist, took my hand, kissed the back, and then spun me around. “Lady Earlene,” he said, bending at the waist again, still holding my hand as we stepped further into the room. “I give you, Your Mistress.”
“Oh, stop it,” I laughed, pushing him away.
“I would have never believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes,” Cates said, reclined in one of the high-back chairs that were closest to the fireplace.
“I could say the same about you, ya know,” I replied, getting a brow raised in response.
“I think you look lovely, Renee,” Tanda said, getting up from the couch she shared with Derek, walking behind me and began braiding my hair. “I want to see what you look like with the wig on.”
“Yeah, she made all us of put them on, and inspected us like cattle.” Garvin grinned, pulling at his blue jacket.
“If I have to stay behind the least I can do is help dress you, brother,” Tanda replied, handing me the end of my braid. “Hold this while I put it on your head, we can wrap it up under the wig when we pin it in place.”
She pulled the stiff thing down to my ears, and I pushed it back up, getting a slap on the hand for my efforts. I let her fiddle with the wig and fix the bow at the back of the dress, but when she went to adjust the front where my breasts were, I had had enough. I thanked her for helping, then walked in the center of the room and then turning in a circle. I started to bow at the waist, then quickly turned it into a curtsy, and the wig fell to the floor. “I sure hope that doesn’t happen at this shindig. If it does, we may be in a bit of trouble,” I laughed, picking it up.
“Trust me, Tanda will have so many pins in it that you may not be able to get the thing back off,” Derek mocked as he scratched at his head.
“Had you left yours alone, I wouldn’t have had to pin yours on,” she snapped, smiling back at me.
“Now, what do we do if the assassins show up at this gala thing?” I asked, trying to sit down in the small chair that was in front of the roll top desk at the right side of the room, getting the hoop bottom right in my face. “Why didn’t this happen when I sat down on the bed?”
“Because you must have sat to the side, which is the way one sits in a gown like this, not sloppily flat down on ones backside,” Tanda said, trying to adjust my legs.
“What on earth are you doing, Tanda?”
“I am trying to show you how to be a proper lady.”
“For such a small thing, you sure are bossy.”
“See, I told you,” Derek said, pulling the wig off of his head, taking some of his own hair with it. “I think you’re letting the whole dress-up thing go to your head just a little too much.”
