It was Raven.
CHAPTER EIGHT
My old protégée’s dark skin contrasted with her yellow pantsuit beautifully, her hair free in a halo about her head. She stood preternaturally still as she considered us.
I leaned into Ambrose as another peal of thunder boomed overhead, hopefully loud enough to obscure my words from her sensitive hearing. “Get the others to the coach. Now.”
Ambrose frowned at me. “What? No. I’m not—”
“Don’t argue with me, Ambrose. Please.”
He must have heard something in my tone that compelled him to obey. He sent one last look at Raven before moving to stand with Cecelia, speaking to her in a hushed tone.
I stepped forward to meet Raven.
“Raven, it’s good to see you.”
“I was in the neighborhood,” she said with a chuckle, indicating the old dilapidated road. She squinted at me and leaned forward, eyes roving my body before concentrating on my face. She sniffed loudly, her smile growing ever wider. “My. I didn’t believe what I’d heard, but it’s true, isn’t it? You’re human now.”
I winced. “I know. It’s … rather strange for me too.” I glanced back to ensure my friends were making their way to the bridge. This wasn’t a conversation I could afford anyone overhearing. “You received my letter then?”
“Letter?” Raven cocked her head curiously. “I received no letter.”
I blinked. “I sent it to the inn we agreed upon should anything befall us.”
Raven shrugged. “I’ve been busy.”
My eyes narrowed, an unease drawing my stomach taut. “I don’t understand. Then why are you here? How did you find me?”
She let out a whistle as she circled me. “The incomparable Count Lucian Cross, brought low. How unfortunate. And you turned to me, in your hour of need?”
I bristled at her arrogant tone. She never dared speak to me this way when I was a vampire. “Of course. You can turn me back into a vampire, and we can rebuild what the humans stole from us.” It was my backup plan, myonlyplan, in the event that I couldn’t meet Vrykolakas’s demands. I would simply go through the process of becoming a vampire all over again. I might not be gifted the extra power that I’d negotiated with Vrykolakas, but I’d rather be what I was than leave immortality behind forever. Of course, this would have the added benefit of not having to jump through hoops for Vrykolakas either. I would sidestep his games and prove to him on my own terms that I really was a superior child of the night.
I licked my lips. “I would be in your debt, Raven.”
She smiled slowly, catlike. “We would be partners.”
I hesitated, but nodded. “Of course.”
“And you will finish teaching me the art of transformation without delay. It’s the mist that I’m having trouble with.”
“If that’s what you wish.” Truth be told, I had put off her training in that department. Not for any good reason, either. She hadn’t been a natural, and it had seemed a tedious affair. I’d heard of some vampires learning the art in a fortnight, those with innate talents like some singers and dancers. But it was rare to pick it up quickly. It had taken me decades, and Raven had seemed on the same track, although she had made great strides in recent weeks.
Raven moved so quickly that I couldn’t follow her movements, and she was suddenly at my ear, breath tickling my hair. “Oh, Lucian. I think you’ll come to regret the day you gave me the means to escape that mob. And to come crawling to me, of all people, begging favors.” She clucked her tongue as she pushed my face aside and ran a finger from my ear to my neck, pausing where my pulse throbbed. I could practically feel the hunger radiating from her.
“This is what you want, right Lucian?” she murmured.
I closed my eyes as I felt her lips on my neck. Thiswaswhat I wanted. But then, why did this feel like a death? And not just the death of my mortal self, but of … me? I felt my hand begin to shake and willed it to stop. My heart was hammering, and my breath came quick at the anticipation of what was to come.
I winced at the twin pain of her teeth puncturing my skin.
“Ugh!”
My eyes shot open as Raven recoiled, a hand to her mouth. She glared at me as I tried to understand what had happened.
“Your blood is …” Raven spit onto the ground at her feet. “It’s contaminated. Like it’s rancid.”
I frowned. But it made perfect sense, of course. Vrykolakas was not going to let me regain my immortality so easily. If I didn’t earn it, he would make certain that I couldn’t cheat.
