Текст книги "The Cold Kiss of Death"
Автор книги: Сьюзан Маклеод
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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 23 страниц)
Chapter Seventeen
Leicester Square was an assault on the ears and eyes: voices high-pitched with excitement, the slap of shoes on the pavement, the background rumble of late-night traffic and bursts of music from the bars, bright lights reflecting myriad colours in the wind-ripped puddles, damp air chill against my skin. The evening tourists and party-going crowds parted around us as water flows around a boulder in a rushing stream, not even registering we were there—Malik’s mind-tricks at work. He closed his eyes, lifted his chin and sniffed the air, checking for vamps.
I’d left my jacket back at HOPE and now I shivered in the cold October wind that rustled through the trees in the central garden. As I stuck my hands in my jean pockets I told myself it was the wind causing my jitters, not the prospect of going in to play games with a nightclub full of suckers. Still, at least I’d be out of reach of the dryads, or any other fae; no fae would be reckless enough to enter a vamp club without some sort of guarantee of safety—and mine was the silent vamp standing next to me. I took a steadying breath and scoped out our destination.
The Blue Heart had started life as a multi-screen cinema before the vamps turned it into the hot-spot for meeting the fanged A-list celebs. Two-foot high silver letters stood over the entrance, with the ‘A’ in ‘HEART’ replaced by the club’s blood symbol: a large heart in blue neon that pulsed like it was alive. A huge screen mounted above the letters (a new addition since my last visit) was showing a close-up of Bobby’s face set in his trademark Mr October expression, all smoky eyes and sulky, sexy lip-quirk. Meet Mr October on All Hallows’ Eve in the Starlight Lounge scrolled in blood-red script across his face, followed by sold out. The screen switched to a dozen grinning Bella Lugosi lookalikes in full evening attire under a slowly spinning mirrored ball—Fangs for the Memory presents: The count’s Hallowe’en ball ~ tickets still available.
‘Doesn’t look like the ballroom dancing crowd are too keen,’ I said, looking back at Malik.
He was staring at the entrance. There was a stillness about him, almost as if he wasn’t there, as if he didn’t exist.
‘Earth to Malik,’ I waved a hand in front of his face.
The slight line between his brows deepened. ‘Genevieve, we should go in now.’
‘What?’ My pulse skittered into my throat. ‘No, just wait a minute; I thought you wanted me to change into Rosa.’
‘There are private rooms inside the club.’ Malik caught the back of my elbow and started guiding me towards the entrance.
I tugged my arm from his. ‘Hold up. I’m going to need clothes too—the shirt’s okay, but’—I tapped my thighs—‘these jeans are way too small for Rosa.’
‘There are any number of costumes inside for you to choose from, Genevieve.’
Costumes? He had to be kidding, didn’t he? I shoved the thought away. ‘There’s the goblins too,’ I said. ‘Remember they can sense past the Glamour. Do you really want to advertise the fact you’re bringing me, a sidhe, into the main vamp club?’
‘I cannot fool the goblins’ minds, but I can mask their small reactions to you.’ He gave me a considering look. ‘Do you not want to do this, Genevieve?’
‘What?’ I frowned. ‘I told you I would.’
‘You are delaying us.’
‘No, I’m trying to be practicable ...’ My mind froze as he lifted his hand and traced a gentle line down my cheek, then tipped my chin up.
‘I may not like this guise of yours ...’ He reached out and wrapped my blonde ponytail loosely round his hand. The magic reacted to his touch, raising goosebumps over my skin. ‘... but it will make it easier for me to cloud others’ thoughts. They will not know you are sidhe. Besides, it is better that Rosa does not make her appearance too soon,’ he said softly, then lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me. His lips were cool, a coolness that invaded my mouth, muted the small throbbing pain of his earlier bite and slipped down my throat like numbing ice water on a parched summer’s day. He raised his head and smiled at me.
I smiled happily back at him, wanting to kiss him again, to taste him again.
He took my hand and laced his chill fingers with mine. ‘Come, we will do this together, Genevieve.’
I blinked at my reflection in the black wraparound glasses of the small Monitor goblin perched behind one of the Blue Heart’s ticket booths. His dyed blue hair stuck up in a spiral from his head like a unicorn’s horn. ‘There you go, miss,’ he said cheerfully as he grasped my fingers and stamped the back of my hand with a blue heart the size of a pound coin. ‘All ready to party.’
I blinked again. Now I stood with Malik in an empty circle of floor in the middle of the foyer. I looked around with detached interest. It was Saturday night, and the place was heaving. Humans stood in long queues at the semi-circular payment booths, waiting for their own entry stamps, and others waited with bulging baskets at the checkout point in the bat—and pumpkin-decorated gift shop. Yet more gathered at the Blue Artery Bar, where a dark red sludge-like smoothie swirling with toxic orange—enticingly labelled Carotid Cocktail + Scary Shot—appeared to be the hot-ticket item. And opposite the cloakroom was another new addition: a booth where a shorter line of humans waited for Mr Nash, specialist in dental caps and implants ~ Fangs for the night, or for Eternity ~ Hallowe’en exclusives now available. Even those who’d paid still had to queue. They snaked between blue velvet ropes, chattering excitedly while they waited to go through the double doors into the club’s interior. As I peered through the crowd, I could see more humans having their photos taken with either a bare-chested, fang-flashing vampire hunk or a hissing, diaphanously clad Bride of Dracula.
The fang-fans had to be haemorrhaging money straight into the vamps’ bloated bank accounts at this rate. The expense of their new Gold-Plated Coffin campaign was certainly paying them back big-time, and not just in blood.
Malik shifted beside me, reminding me how I’d got in here—or rather, reminding me that I didn’t actually knowhow I’d got in here. I glared down at our laced fingers and jerked my hand from his. ‘Will you stop siccing me with your mind-melds,’ I whispered through gritted teeth. ‘I told you, it bugs the hell out of me. And what was that thing about Rosa not appearing yet?’
‘Later, Genevieve.’ He sounded tired as he looked about him, searching for something, or someone. ‘Time is not on our side if we are to achieve both this and deal with your police problem tonight.’
I frowned at him. His face was pale, and the blue veins under his jaw were darker and more pronounced. ‘What’s the matter with you? You look worse then you did five minutes ago.’
‘The humans,’ he murmured as an odd, almost panicked expression flickered briefly across his face, ‘they are more difficult to ignore than I expected.’
Uneasy, I narrowed my eyes. ‘I know you’re hungry but you were fine cooped up in the taxi with me.’
‘That is not the same, Genevieve.’ His eyes darkened. ‘You are not food, not as these—’
‘Malik al-Khan,’ a woman called, her voice sounding right by my ear, ‘where is she, Malik? You told me you would produce her tonight. The audience is gathered and they will require some explanation if they are to wait for their entertainment.’
‘She?’ I asked, narrowing my eyes suspiciously at him. ‘Which “she” is she talking about?’
‘ Genevieve, please take hold of my hand,’ Malik ordered urgently in my mind. ‘ Now,’ he insisted. ‘ Flesh to flesh will make it easier to trick her. You are not who she means.’
I hesitated, then placed my hand in his outstretched one, his fingers closed over mine in a cold, painful grip, and an icy chill slipped through my veins until it lodged itself like a jagged lump of ice at the base of my throat. I swallowed past the pain and mentally sighed. Figured! As he turned us to face whoever, he pulled me closer to his side, my arm bent up behind my back, our joined hands hidden as if he’d captured me in an embrace—or intended dislocating my shoulder.
A dainty blonde vampire in a twenties-style dress strode towards us, hiding her lower face behind a black lace fan, the jet beads swinging on her dress clicking loudly as she moved. Elizabetta, head of the Golden Blade blood family. Some of the humans, with puzzled, even frightened expressions on their faces, were almost jumping over each other to get out of her way. Others stood and gaped in awe. What the hell was she doing to them?
‘ They will see her as Medusa, or maybe a glorious winged angel, or even leading a tiger,’ Malik said. ‘ Those are her favourites. Elizabetta does not care for humans, but she is an ally, and is willing to assist me this night.’
‘ You heard me?’ I glanced at him as I thought the question.
‘ If you think directly at me,’ his voice shivered through me, ‘ then joined like this, yes, I can hear you.’
Okay, so at least that was something on the positive side.
Malik squeezed my hand in reply as the dainty vampire halted in front of him. She was small, a few inches under five foot, and she’d been young, maybe sixteen or seventeen, when she’d accepted the Gift, but the disdainful expression in her odd colourless eyes was centuries old, and the power rolling off her made my Glamoured ponytail bristle like a scalded cat. I shook my head to rid myself of the irritating feeling.
‘Where is she, Malik?’ she demanded, her voice reverberating like an overloud bass speaker through my chest. I flinched, then clenched my free hand to stop from rubbing there. Damn vamp, using her mesmaon me ... I tried to block her out, but the lump of ice in my throat wouldn’t let me. Then I realised her mesmawasn’t just directed at me; the humans nearby were rubbing their chests, some were even clutching their heads.
‘ She really doesn’t like humans, does she?’ I muttered to him in my mind. ‘ I mean, I heard she was against all this celebrity stuff, but does she want to go back to living in the dark ages or something?’
‘ Try and keep your expression as an adoring human, please, Genevieve, it will make things easier.’ Malik’s hand tightened warningly on mine as he said, ‘Rosa will be here soon. Elizabetta.’
Ahh. So old Liz was looking for Rosa. Somehow I didn’t think it was to have a girly chat.
‘I hope she will.’ Elizabetta snapped her fan shut. ‘I am doing this only as a favour to you. If it was my choice, I’d be the first to sink my fangs in her throat, depraved bitch that she is. Why you want to prolong her existence when she is the cause of so many problems is beyond me.’
Yep, no girly chats for Rosa. I pasted on a smile, only it felt more like a goblin’s warning grin.
‘Rosa has always been troubled, Elizabetta,’ Malik answered her calmly. ‘I am sure it was not her intention to cause you any inconvenience.’
‘Pah! She has no care for anyone other than herself. She has hunted in all our territories without permission, and she has stolen choice morsels away from our tables. It is not often that fae blood, even diluted with human, comes our way. The bounty should be utilised wisely, not kept for one’s own gratification then disposed off.’
‘ You have been busy rescuing your faelings, haven’t you, Genevieve.’
‘ Damn right I have!’ Then I wondered how he knew.
Elizabetta’s next words put that thought from my mind. ‘And then this appropriation of the sidhe in secret.’ She threw her arms out in disgust, the beads on her dress clacking as they swung. ‘Did Rosa think that no one would discover it, that she would be able to stand against the Autarch? We do not need him to turn his attention to us.’
‘Rosa will have no dealings with the Autarch, nor will anyone else in London, once you have witnessed her offer of fealty to me, Elizabetta.’ His fingers squeezed mine again. ‘I will await Rosa’s arrival upstairs, and I will have someone inform you when we are ready.’
He inclined his head, then turned to me, gesturing towards the double doors leading to the interior of the club. ‘We will go now.’
‘Wait!’ she commanded, the word digging into me like a hook. ‘What is that?’ She pointed a lace-gloved finger accusingly at me.
‘ My apologies, Genevieve,’ Malik’s voice came wearily in my head as he turned back to her. ‘It is nothing, Elizabetta.’ He gave an elegant shrug. ‘I found myself in need of some sustenance.’
Sustenance? Nice! Still, at least he’d said he was sorry in advance.
‘Do you not require your usual tithe?’
‘Of course, the human is but an appetiser.’
‘She’s not to your usual taste, Malik.’ She stared at my tabloid breasts, curling her mouth in a sneer. ‘A tad obvious.’
‘Her body is strong.’ His words were distant. ‘Her blood is healthy and she is willing, which is all that matters in a snack.’
Huh! I was a snack now?
‘I hope you’re not planning on draining her.’ Her nostrils flared in disdain. ‘Because if so, you should know that the facilities here are not the best for disposal. It would cause difficulties for me.’ She gave him an assessing look. ‘Difficulties I might not be able to keep from the human authorities.’
‘My plans are not your concern.’
‘Of course they are! Now the Earl is gone, I am head of London’s High Table.’
‘That decision is not finalised until after tomorrow’s gathering, Elizabetta.’
‘Pah! There is no one who can stand in my way. Hearts and Diamonds have none strong enough and while Declan’s personal power may be on a par with mine, his Shamrocks are too small in numbers to overcome my Blades. Tomorrow or today makes no odds.’ She gave a superior smile, showcasing longer-than-normal needle-sharp fangs. ‘So it is now within my jurisdiction to deny you your blood-tithe, Malik. In fact, should I decide that you have succumbed to the curse of your abomination of a bloodline, I am within my rights to demand your death.’
‘ That doesn’t sound good,’ I murmured in my head.
He stilled, a line of concern creasing between his eyes. ‘Do not pursue this course, Elizabetta.’
‘In all the centuries I have known you, Malik, you have never picked up a snack.’ She flicked open the fan with a flourish. ‘So this one must be of some importance to you.’ Her pink tongue slipped out and licked her fangs. ‘I’m curious as to what that is.’
‘ She knows who I am!’
‘ No, she does not; she would not be talking if she did—she would be trying to tear my head off to get at you.’
‘ Good to know she’s a friend then. I’d hate to meet one of your enemies.’
‘ Ally, not friend. Elizabetta needed my support to ratify her elevation tomorrow; now, for some reason, she feels she does not.’
‘I am here surrounded by humans, and have yet to kill one.’ Malik waved a dismissive arm. ‘I have evidently not fallen to the curse as you can see, Elizabetta.’
‘But you are wrong, I cannot see.’ Her odd pupils contracted to nothing, leaving her colourless eyes even more nondescript. ‘I think you should show me that you can control your curse.’ She touched a finger to her lips in parody as if a thought had just struck her. ‘Take your snack now.’
‘This is not the place, Elizabetta.’ He spoke calmly, but his hand crushed mine. Pain burned in my fingers, then it was gone, frozen by the ice. ‘There are too many humans.’
‘Pah! I could strike her head off and the humans would see nothing other than what I want them to.’ She waved the fan across her face and in an instant a haggard old woman stood in her place. The watching crowd clapped in appreciation. I blinked. Which was the illusion? The girl or the hag? I tried to lookand nearly choked on the ice in my throat.
‘Or do you doubt my power?’ Her wrinkled face creased up in an arch smile.
‘It is not your power I doubt, Elizabetta,’ Malik’s voice was hard like steel, ‘but your fealty to the Autarch. It will not go well if you cross him.’
‘I think it is your fealty that is in question, Malik. I’m not the one who is trying to steal a sidhe from under his nose.’ She laughed, a tinkling sound like breaking glass. ‘Oh, you didn’t think any of us truly believed that Rosa had made a blood-bond with the sidhe without your knowledge did you?’ She peered over the edge of her fan, her eyes dull with the clouds of age, the lids drooping with wrinkles. ‘It is a nice manipulation of our laws, but then you always were clever. You want the sidhe, but your oath to the Autarch forbids you taking her. But how convenient that Rosa, the only one of your blood to survive the curse, should be the one to tempt her, and how convenient that Rosa then turns feral and is to be put down or corralled—allowing you to force her to eat from your hand again, and hold all her property under your sway.’
‘Your perception does me no favours, Elizabetta.’
‘Bite her now.’ She snapped the fan shut then jabbed it towards me. Malik stepped back, jerking me away.
I frowned, puzzled at his action. ‘ What was that for?’
‘If I have truly embraced my curse’—Malik indicated the attentive but oblivious audience—‘you would have me start a bloodbath. Even you cannot wish for that.’
‘Either you bite her now and prove to me you haven’t, or I will kill you both myself and declare your deaths a necessary precaution to protect the humans. There will be no witnesses to say otherwise than mine. Think: where will your precious sidhe be then? Unclaimed property, at the mercy of any vamp who finds her. They are all eager, and stupid enough to try their chances, believing that her sidhe blood will increase their power, believing it will protect them. Then there would be a culling while they fought over her. She cannot even turn to the human authorities, not now they want her for murder. And no doubt her fellow fae will be only too pleased to be rid of her after the nuisance she has caused them.’ Her long fangs extended walrus-like over her bottom lip. She tapped the fan against them and the noise was oddly more like metal than plastic. ‘Is that what you want, for the sidhe to be used up by the fight? And then the winner gets to claim the patronage of the Autarch by offering him her blood. After all, from what I know of him, he is unlikely to care if the sidhe is not in the peak of health—in truth, he will probably appreciate her being broken in.’
‘ Okay,so not going to happen if I have my way,’ I muttered. ‘ And also, we’re wasting time while she’s gabbing. Can’t you just zap her or something?’
‘ She is the head of Golden Blade blood, Genevieve. Look sideways at her fan and our audience and see past the illusion.’
I turned my head away, looking towards the entrance and a group of men strolling into the foyer, then checked Elizabetta out in my peripheral vision. Instead of a fan, she was hefting a bronze-coloured broadsword as if it were a feather. The point was inches away from our faces. I took a step back before I could stop myself and she laughed, her face morphing back to the young girl’s. The audience applauded again, but now I could see interspersed between the delighted humans were stony-faced vampires, all of them carrying some sort of sword or knife.
‘ She’s got us surrounded!’ I glared at her.
‘ Of course. Elizabetta never goes anywhere without her personal guard.’
Elizabetta regarded me with spite-filled eyes. ‘Oh, she is a special one, isn’t she? One of your little human friendsmaybe, else why would you let her see? But then, you always were sentimental about your pets, Malik.’ Her expression turned sly and snide. ‘Better not let Rosa sink her fangs into this one, not like she did the last.’
‘Be careful, Elizabetta,’ Malik growled low in his throat, ‘that I do not declare youferal and rescind your Gift instead.’
‘But of course you won’t, Malik, since I am not feral, and it would go against your own code of honour. You see, there are advantages to being less than moral.’ She sliced the sword to the side in an easy motion, narrowly missing a couple of wide-eyed tourists. ‘Bite her,’ she snapped, her canines extending almost to her chin.
Vampires and their fucking games! ‘ Look, just bite me and get this over with,’ I thought at Malik.
‘ No—she will use it as an excuse to attack.’
‘ And if you don’t bite me, she’ll use that as her other excuse,’ I snapped. ‘ It’s one of those fucking win-win things for her, and I for one don’t fancy being skewered on that monster sword of hers.’
‘ She is trying to provoke me, Genevieve, it is nothing ...’
I stopped listening to him as the bizarre sight of a child skipping through the foyer caught my attention. She ran up to the group of men I’d seen strolling in through the entrance, breezing through them as if they weren’t there, then turned and smiled at me. Cosette, my ghost. Then she disappeared and I was left staring at the men as they surveyed the crowd. One of them was watching us, curiosity flickering over his face. My memory caught up and meshed with something Elizabetta had said.
‘Thanks, Cosette,’ I murmured, then smiled at Elizabetta. ‘ Okay, bitch, here’s your missing witnesses.’
‘Hey, Declan,’ I shouted, and stuck my arm in the air, waving madly, ‘over here, you big Irish totty. Hey, and bring your pals with you!’
Try slicing our heads off now, and see where it gets you.
‘What is she doing?’ Elizabetta’s face twisted in anger as Declan turned and made for us. Her sword snapped back into her black lace fan.
‘She is acknowledging a friend.’ Malik’s voice was calm, but in my head I heard his question.
‘ Declan is the one who’s been supplying me the inside info on all Liz’s disappearing faelings. We’ve agreed a bargain between us.’
I briefly wondered if Malik was surprised that Declan, head of the Red Shamrock Blood family, would bargain to rescue faelings lured into Sucker Town by the fang-gangs. Not that Iknew why Declan had; oh, I had an inkling that it was because he wasn’t strong enough to keep them for himself, so he’d decided to do the dog-in-the-manger thing—of course, Malik wouldn’t have any trouble working that one out. No, the real mystery for me was why Declan had never asked for anything much in return for the info he provided—other than the actual rescues.
‘ Does he know you walk in Rosa’s skin?’ Malik asked.
‘ No.’ I said.
‘Malik al-Khan, Elizabetta. I’ll be wishing a good evenin’ to you both,’ Declan grinned, flashing fangs; his brief burst of mesmamade me feel like all the joys of the world had come to visit—that was his speciality. Nearby humans broke out into enthusiastic, happy laughter and his grin widened, but his eyes were sharp with interest. To either side of him were two more vampires, his brothers. They looked overwhelmingly alike, in their tight black leather jeans and collarless white linen shirts, with fine gold hoops through their earlobes, not to mention the clichéd tall, dark and handsome Irish good looks. It was no wonder the Blue Heart’s steady stream of customers had stopped to gape and stare.
Declan turned to me, blue eyes warming with male appreciation as he raked his gaze over me. ‘Ah, me darlin’, and how could I be forgettin’ you, when beauty such as yours is not often seen?’
‘Debby.’ I waggled my fingers at him. ‘Debby-with-a-y.’ I heaved a sigh, expanding my generous assets, watching as his smiling face took on a slightly glazed look. Gotta love any male that appreciates your looks enough to lose his sensible head.
‘Declan.’ Malik inclined his head so slightly that the movement was barely noticeable. ‘I see you have your brothers with you. Seamus, and Patrick.’ His chin moved down a millimetre as he acknowledged them both. ‘Is the Tir na n’Ogclosed tonight?’
The Tir na n’Ogwas Declan’s Irish bar. The brothers might not be as well known in the redtop gossip pages as the current crop of newly minted vamp celebs, but they’d been around a lot longer—three hundred years longer—and they had their own fang-fan base. A brief, curious question as to whether they were jealous of the new kids on the blood-block popped in my mind.
‘Of course it’ll not be closed.’ Declan blinked, then gave a satisfied smile. ‘Fiona, me darlin’ companion, is watchin’ over me business, just as she should be. The three of us’ll be here for your shenanigans with Rosa.’ His smile turned cheerful. ‘And I’ll be hopin’ they’ll be entertaining.’
Elizabetta snapped open her fan. ‘The arrangement was not for you to be here in person, Declan, just for you to provide a witness of your blood.’
‘But of course I’m needin’ to be here on such a momentous occasion, Eliza.’ He turned his smile on her. ‘Now that the Earl is gone, I’ll not be trustin’ any other’s decision on any concerns but me own—especially when it comes to dealing with Rosa, the nasty wee bitch.’
Surprise winged into me. Declan didn’t like Rosa either? It was beginning to look like nobody did. Was this why Malik hadn’t wanted me to change earlier? Still, more important, our ‘witnesses’ were standing there grinning, so ... time to make our exit.
‘Well, all this gum-flapping is fun, but to be honest, it’s just holding us up.’ I hugged Malik’s arm and gave him an inane, adoring look. ‘Malik here has promised to take me somewhere special after the business bit of the night is done with. So we’ll just toddle off and catch you all later.’ I waggled my fingers at them all. ‘C’mon, lover boy, let’s go.’ ‘ Now!’ I shouted inside his head, and pulled at his arm. ‘This way,’ I muttered, heading for the front doors. ‘I don’t know what you ever did to upset her, but it doesn’t seem like a good idea to stick around—’
The world around me went hazy, stuttering horizontally as if bands of interference were scrolling up and down in front of my eyes. The background hum of excited chatter cut out. And I realised Malik was taking us both into his shadows, hiding us from sight and smell and hearing, if not from touch, so we could make our escape. Relief sung through me, then as the nothingness that surrounded us crept into my mind, I stumbled and started falling, Malik’s hand my only anchor ... ... and I blinked as my own startled blonde reflection stared back at me from a foxed silver mirror.
