My blood runs cold. “No?”
He nods towards the sycamore trees. “There was a fellow in the bushes there. He ran away when he saw me. And Gideon?”
“Yes?”
“He left this behind.” Auguste opens his hand, revealing the butchered body of a songbird. The head is nowhere to be seen. “And he had a dagger in his hand.”
23
Arabella
Gideon:Paul Badica has been reminded that the contract he signed when he and his new wife purchased their Sanctus property forbids him from talking about past interactions with members. And when I say “reminded”, I mean, “reminded with Alaric’s testicle-severing sword”. I am eagerly awaiting your presence this evening. I have a surprise for you.
Winnie:Celeste, Mina, Maisie and I will be there tonight. We’re so excited to see Sanctus up close! (And Mina is excited to do a bit of snooping.)
Celeste:What’s better for Thralls after they’ve had a vampire nibbling on their neck – whiskey chocolate ganache or coconut praline?
IFINISH APPLYING MY LIPSTICKand study my reflection in the mirror. I want to look positivelyfearsometonight when I deliver the bad news to Gideon.
Normally, the idea of spending an entire evening in the company of vampires would turn my stomach – especially with Paul Badica and his new wife in attendance – but I cannot miss this opportunity to letGideon know I’m his only hope to save Sanctus and lord it over him all night long.
Besides, Mina’s right – this will be the best opportunity to get the gossip on the Sanctus community and their Thralls, if there are any staff members acting suspiciously, as well as the issues Gideon is having with the Conclave.
I’ve chosen an emerald green dress in a beautiful, cascading velvet. If I must be in nature, then I am going to be the most beautiful flower in the garden tonight.
As I pass through the living room, I glance up at my painting. Tonight, the woman appears smug, haughty, her neck extended to show off her jewels. It’s some of Claude’s finest work. Several times over the last century, I have been tempted to sell the painting. It certainly would have made my life easier during that terrible period when I slept on the streets and hunted in the dark like a shadow. But I refuse to let a man – even one of the world’s most renowned artists – provide for me when I can do it myself.
I touch my bare neck.
Even though it’s been one hundred and fifty years since I wore them last, I miss those jewels.
I miss the certainty of wearing them, the knowledge that their magic made me invincible – that for once, no man could ruin what I’d built.
Until a man did.
I circle my neck with my hands.
After I rebuilt my fortune post-WWII as an intermediary, allowing Upyr to turn their old antiques and stores of gold into modern cash, I visited a jeweller in Italy and had them make me a replica of the Antirhodos Collar. Of course, I have no photographs of the piece, but I had this painting, the Toulouse-Lautrec poster and a couple of portraits from Édouard Manet and his circle.
The jeweller toiled for weeks on the piece, making sure each detail was perfect. When he presented me with the finished product, he wept. He said it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever made.
It was beautiful, but it wasn’tmynecklace. It was missing something. No heart. No soul.
No magic.
I sold it the next week in Vienna and used the money to buy myself passage to America. They don’t have courts, which meant I could live and work in peace. Until… my past caught up to me once more. An old client made a menace of himself, and I had to become a shadow again. That’s how I found myself in the tiny, vampire-free village of Argleton.
I thought I could be safe here, but then Gideon Blake showed up.
And he wants tosurpriseme.
As if his very existence isn’t the worst kind of surprise.
I return to my room and fish around in my jewellery box, locating a gold necklace dripping with emeralds. I fasten it around my neck. The metal feels cool and heavy against my skin. It’s not the same, but it will do.
I grab my purse and exit my home, keying in the code to lock the doors. I wander through the winding woodland path, past the completed houses sitting back from the road, half-hidden in the trees. Windows reflect the starry night sky.
I follow the sound of voices and music into the Midnight Garden, which occupies an area between the executive homes and a block of smaller two-bedroom townhouses. It looks like every vampire in Sanctus is here, plus a few invited human guests. I grab a glass of blood from a tray held out by a human member of the Sanctus staff. I notice the distinct bruises on her neck.
