There wasn't a single visit for the remainder of the night. Unable to sleep, I spent the entirety of it sitting against the headboard, plotting. My plan was flawed and terribly risky, but it was all I could come up with and it would have to do. I only worried that Lauvet was too smart to be taken down in such a manner.
The start of sunshine was on the horizon as the doorknob twisted and the door creaked open. It was Killian Rhodes. He flashed a smile and dragged his hand through his silver locks. "Good morning, Vera.
There was nothing good about it. Despite the situation, I was tired, annoyed, and very hungry. Starvation was a cruel tactic deserving of death.
"Have you considered my offer?"
"Yes," I said, a bitter edge to my voice. "I have a counter proposal."
"Oh?" Killian approached as confident as could be and sat on the bed beside me. "Let's hear it."
"I'll give you your prize," I said, thinking about what I was really about to give him. Somehow, I found the courage to meet his crimson stare. "But I have conditions."
The flash of intrigue was impossible to miss. Hook, line, and sinker. Killian's lips curled upward. "Name them."
"You don't kill me."
"I never intended to. What else?"
"Lauvet. Kill her and bring me her head. Then we're square."
"So bloodthirsty." Killian chuckled, rubbing his hands together. For a long moment, he remained quiet. In contemplation, probably. Then he nodded. "I suppose I can speed up her death. Fine. You have a deal."
He approached the bed, pinky extended and lips curled upward. "Make it official."
Technically, nothing I had said would compromise me. Hopefully. With a deep breath, I curled my pinky around his. Magic twisted from our fingertips and settled around our wrists with a tingly warmth. Then it was gone.
"There we are," Killian said, his smile growing. "I'll be back in a moment."
Body shaking with excitement, I waited until the door was shut before I rolled out of bed. He bought it! Now for the trap.
The first step, was the decoy. I positioned a pillow on the bed and slid my dress off, uncaring of modesty—not that anyone was around. Setting the dress atop the pillow, I yanked the covers over it to make it look like I was wrapped in the blanket. Good enough.
Step two? The trap. Tip-toeing across the room, I turned the creepy sword display so that it would be most lethal when my trap was triggered. Considering the display had swords pointing in all directions, it was pretty lethal no matter what. Done.
The third step was probably the worst. I approached the dresser and yanked it open, stealing one of the shirts inside. I pulled it over my head and then tugged my arms through the sleeves. At the least, I was dressed.
My hands curled into fists and I said a little prayer. This was going to be painful. I slammed the thumb side of my hands on the thick, wood surface of the dresser. I barely managed to contain the scream. The tears, though, fell freely. Sniffling, I slid my mangled hands from the shackles and clipped them open to be resized.
The trap was ready. All I had to do was wait. I hurried behind the door, into the shadow of a tall plant, and crouched. With any luck, Killian would lumber into the room like an idiot and I'd be good to go. Hopefully.
The wait was awful. A moment was a gross underestimation. I wasn't sure how much time had passed before the door flew open and almost smacked me in the face and swung back to the intruder. Thank the Goddess for the plant.
"You little wretch!" a painfully feminine voice screeched into the space as the door slammed shut. "Get up. I'm going to make you wish you were dead!"
Oh, no. That was very bad news.
Lauvet limped forward, claw marks torn through her silky robes and her back wet with blood. Killian might have failed his end of our bargain, but he'd at least done enough to give me an opportunity. Lauvet started toward the bed.
The moment she stepped in line with my trap, I leaped to my feet and cast Push. The spell left my fingertips just as Lauvet's head swiveled. Her lips curled in a gruesome smile. That wasn't good. In one flick of her wrist, my spell flung into the wall and my body flew toward her. She faced me fully as her hand caught me around the throat with ease.
"You silly little fool. Did you really think Killian, of all people, could take me down?"
Sputtering for breath, I clasped one of the open cuffs on her wrists and forced them shut with an awkward, one-handed grip.
"What?" The loss of magic to her hand was enough to startle her into letting me go. The moment I hit the floor, though, she swung her other hand forward and swatted me away like an insect.
I slammed across the ground, breaking something in my arm in the process, and landed on my stomach. Ignoring the pain, I shoved my hand forward and cast Push.
Lauvet swung back, her shriek of outrage cutting itself short as a sword pierced her through the chest and blood sprayed from her mouth. As her other hand worked its way to her chest, feeling the blade, I shot forward and clapped the other bracelet around her wrist. A cough filled the air as she looked upon me with a burning, red stare of hatred.
Maybe it was because she couldn't, but neither of us spoke as the life left her eyes and her body fell limp. Slightly stunned, I stared a moment longer. It was over. The woman who caused me so much pain and suffering ended in one final, violent moment. It didn't feel satisfying at all. It felt cheap, somehow, but I certainly didn't regret it.
Licking my lips, and feeling slightly dehydrated, I stumbled back from the corpse to the door. It was time to get the hell out of this place. With a bit of work, I managed to finagle the door open. The hallway was lit well, and the guards to my room were on the floor. Dead, of course. I stepped over them and paused a moment, uncertain of what lied ahead.
Of the spells I knew, one came to mind. I bounced on my toes and cast Sense. I didn't feel much in the way of life. There were a bunch of distant tugs, and only one nearby. I was almost certain, somehow, that the closer one was Lucien. Great. Following the lone tug down a stairwell and into another hallway, I peered in through the open doors until I came to one that was shut and locked from the outside.
Found it? Spinning the lock was a challenge, but once it clicked it creaked open with ease. Inside was a terrible looking torture room. It smelled awful. Killian's crippled body lied on the ground beside the door, a terrible cut crossing his torso. He was still alive, though.
Crimson eyes met mine, tight with pain. "Our deal—"
"You failed."
Laughter bellowed free before a groan took its place. His eyes, I was sure, twinkled with pride. "You would have made . . . the best vampire. We . . . will meet again, and you will see. I was right."
"You're dying, you know. I'm surprised Lauvet didn't finish you off."
"She did try," Killian said, gesturing weakly to his half-healed torso, "but she knew a losing battle."'
Unconvinced, I glanced to the table where Lucien lay unconscious. His limbs were stretched to the corners and his shirt was torn open. There was a lot of blood, too. His head fell to the side, facing me, and his eyes looked cloudy. He was very out of it. Probably from torture.
Careful not to make any noise, I shut the door and glanced at Killian in the dim light. He was unmoving, and very quiet. Probably dead, by now. Content, I moved to Lucien's side and gently took his shoulder.
"Lucien?"
"Vera," Lucien whispered back in a breathy moan.
Given the fact that he wasn't very lucid, I didn't bother answering. I climbed onto the rack and set to work on freeing the left shackle, groaning every time a burst of pain shot through my hands. "I'm getting you out. Hang on."
The shackle fell off with a satisfying thump and I threw a leg over him so that I straddled his lap. When the second shackle was gone, I took his arm and tried to drag him up so he could sit. That wasn't going to happen, though. The man weighed a ton.
"Lucien," I hissed, dropping his arm.
He didn't answer.
Goddess, this was bad. Those wounds were deep and plenty. My best bet, I thought, sliding my hand across his bloody abdomen, was blood magic. I'd done it before, so I could do it again. There wasn't another choice. Not really sure how to do this, I placed both hands upon his torso and willed his wounds to close. At first, it didn't feel like much. But then, as it went on, I thought I might pass out as the wounds began to seal.
A shuddered breath filled my ears as Lucien sat up, looking dazedly from his torso to me. "Enough. Allow me."
My shoulders rose and fell with my heavy breathing as I sat back.
His hands glowed to that soft, green color and the wounds began to seal. "How did you get here? What of Lauvet and Killian?"
"They're dead."
An unreadable expression flashed in Lucien's stare despite his groggy state. Once the wounds were healed, he pressed a hand to my cheek and brushed his thumb across it. "You killed them?"
"Sort of?" I grabbed his hand, torn from my desire to lean into it and my desire to escape. "I'll tell you later. We should get out of here."
"There is no one here who can harm us now that I am free. Come here." Lucien spread his arms, gesturing me in.
For whatever reason, I didn't even care that he was covered in blood. I flung my arms around his neck, tears bubbling free, and pressed my face to his shoulder. The weight of his arms around my back came as a welcomed warmth I didn't know I needed, and it felt, for a moment, that everything would be okay.
"You have brought great honor to my name," Lucien whispered, his breath hot in my ear. "You are stronger than me in many ways. I am lucky to call you mine."
The shackles on his ankles rattled as he slid from the rack and lowered me to the edge of it. "Stay here. You need not see what comes next."
Staying out of the way was safer, and considering how light-headed I was, I didn't want to go with him anyway. Hands lying in my lap and feet dangling, I offered a mute nod as he broke his shackles. When he left the room, he shut the door behind himself.
What came next was terror and carnage. Every shout, yell, and blood-curdling scream that echoed through the halls was his doing. It came as both a comfort and shock to know he was a one-man army.
But then the door creaked open.
Turning half-way, I frowned at an unknown woman. We stared each other down before she bared her fangs and came at me in a flying leap.
Uh-oh. Dropping to the floor, I crawled beneath the rack. It was disgusting and slippery, but I was more disturbed by the angry vampire.
Her nails hooked into my flesh as she grabbed my only-recently healed ankle and tugged.
With a pained shriek, I turned to face her and cast Stun. A sheen of magic fell over her and she remained perfectly still. Thank you, Rhett. I yanked my foot free and continued through until I was clear of the rack. Limping into the hallway, I slammed the door shut, twisted the locks as well as I could, and stepped away from it.
For a moment, all was quiet on the other side. The doorknob twisted twice and the door jerked. I thought it would end there, but then a fist slammed into the door and left a sizeable dent.
Oh, Goddess, no. I flattened myself to the ground moments before a wave of air rushed overhead. The door crashed somewhere beyond me.
"Come here, you little brat!"
I was too tired to run when a jet of blood danced past me and cut the stranger down.
Sitting up, I swiveled my head to my savior.
"My butterfly." It was Kieran, dressed in black, leather armor that looked appropriate for a battlefield. She crouched before me, her long hair sweeping down her front. "Your eyes make the prettiest shade of red."
"Where's Lucien?"
"Cleaning house. A good thing he asked me to check on you, though."
"How'd you find us?"
"Lauvet thought she was clever, but she was rather short-sighted. It did not take long to figure out where she was holed up. Once they made their move, I was cleared to come in for the kill. My apologies for taking as long as I did. I underestimated the strength of their wards."
The self-satisfied smile on her face unnerved me. Weighing my understanding of the elder Lacroix, from everything I heard from Lucien, I was left with one terrible thought. A thought I didn't want to think. Yet, I had to know.
"Did you plan this?"
Kieran's dark gaze sharpened upon me, her smile falling.
"You orchestrated all of it, didn't you? This was your plan."
"If you must know, you were never part of it." Kieran hummed and stroked her chin. "The plan never involved my son marrying. You threw a wrench in my plans, but it worked for the best. The council was all too eager for me to save an innocent witch."
"Did Lucien know what Lauvet was trying to do?"
"Are you asking if my son knew that she was trying to marry him to a student?"
Ashamed, I nodded.
"Of course. My son is no fool."
My heart skipped a beat, and then it ached. I took a slow, steadying breath to wish the angry heat in my ears away. "Then why do it?"
"You would have to ask him yourself, my butterfly, but I am starting to understand why he did not allow you to simply—ah, my son." Kieran stood, stepping clear of the way.
"It is finished. I am taking Vera."
"Yes, I suspect you two have much to discuss. Farewell, my butterfly."
As Lucien crouched beside me, I lifted my stare up his blood-soaked figure until I found his eyes. They flashed with something akin to irritation. Like he knew that I knew. I couldn't find it in me to fuss as he raised me into his arms and took me away from that horrid place.
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