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Chapter 24

The door closed behind us, and I don&039;t think anybody closed it, not with hands anyway Safe or not, these little displays of poere getting on my nerves

The air in the room was utterly still, stale It smelled musty, dry, with an undertaste of mildew You knew even with your eyes closed that these roo time There was an open archway to the left that led into a smaller room I could see a bed, complete with bedspread and pillows, so covered in dust it looked grey A vanity sat in one corner with itsthe empty roo room The wooden floor was dust-coated The hem of Ivy&039;s dress trailed in the thick dust as she ht showed under that door Golden and thicker than electricity I was betting on more candles

The door opened before Ivy reached it A rich wave of light spilled out, brighter than it should have been because we&039;d been in the dark so long A ht He was short, slender, with a face too young to be handsome, more pretty He was so newly dead that his skin still held the tan he&039;d picked up at the beach, or lake, or so to be dead He had to be eighteen, anything younger and it was illegal, but he still looked delicate and half-finished Jailbait forever

"I&039;uely embarrassed Maybe it was the clothes He was dressed in a pale grey tux corey strip down the outside leg of the pants His gloves hite and matched what could be seen of his shirt His vest was a silky grey His bow tie and cummerbund were a red thatto the prom

Twothe rooht The roo room and had probably been the kitchen once upon a time But unlike the front roo

A Persian carpet was spread across the floor The colors were so bright it looked like stained glass Wall hangings covered the two longest walls On one wall a unicorn fled fro was a battle scene so diures had vanished into the cloth Bright silken drapes covered the far end of the roo with heavy cords A door opened to the left of the drapes

Ivy sat the candle she&039;d been holding in an empty sconce on the candelabra She moved in front of Jean-Claude She had to tilt her head up to look hi the edge of his jacket "I thought they&039;d lied That nobody could be that beautiful" She fingered thedown Jean-Claude moved her hand when she reached the last button before the shirt disappeared into his pants

Ivy see her hands and forearms on his chest Her ood as you look? They said you did But you&039;re sooo pretty Nobody could be that good a lay"

Jean-Claude laid his fingers on either side of her face, cradling her jawline He smiled at her

Her red lips curved into a sainst his body

Jean-Claude kept his light touch on her face as if she wasn&039;t leaning full out against hi fro below the earth She slid slowly down to stand flat-footed in front of him Her face was blank and empty in the cradle of his hands

Bruce the vampire jerked her back by one arht her She looked around bewildered, as if she expected to be elsewhere

Jean-Claude wasn&039;t s ti time"

Ivy stood half-collapsed in Bruce&039;s arms Her face was harsh with fear She pushed away froed at the red dress as if to settle it into place The fear was htness remained around the eyes

"How did you do that?"

"Centuries of practice, little one"

Anger made her eyes dark "You aren&039;t supposed to be able to capture another vaaze"

"You aren&039;t?" he asked, his voice lilting with ah at me"

I had some sympathy for her frustration Jean-Claude can be such a pain in the ass when he wants to be

"You were told to lead us somewhere, children; do so"

Ivy stood in front of hier spilled into her eyes, and the brown irises bled onto the whites of her eyes until she looked blind Her power breathed through the roo the tiny hairs on er had been run just above the Old habits

"No, Anita, that is not necessary," Jean-Claude said "This little one cannot hurt s, but unless she wishes to die on this lovely carpet she had best remember who and what I am"

"I ah the house, echoing in the room until the air was so thick with echoes that it was like breathing his words

When the sound died, I was shaking Ivy had pulled herself together She still looked angry, but her eyes had bled back to normal

Bruce had laid a hand on her shoulder, as if he wasn&039;t sure she would listen to reason She shook off his hand and racefully towards the open door

"We are to take you downstairs Others await you there"

Jean-Claude gave a low theatrical bow, never taking his eyes from her "After you, entleman, never behind"

She sain "Then your human lady can walk beside me"

"I don&039;t think so," I said

She turned innocent brown eyes to me "Are you not a lady, then?" She stalked towardsus someone who is not a lady, Jean-Claude?"

I heard hih "Anita is a lady Walk beside her, ma petite, but carefully"

"What does it matter what these assholes think of me?"

"If you are not a lady, then you are a whore You do not want to knoould happen to a human whore within these walls" He seemed tired as he said it, as if he&039;d been there, done that, and hadn&039;t had a good ti dose of brown eyes I aze and smiled

She frowned "You are huaze, not like that"

"Surprise, surprise," I said

"Shall we go?" Jean-Claude said

Ivy frowned again, but she stepped into that open door, and down a step or two, one hand on her dress to keep the he her feet She turned and looked back at ?"

I asked Jean-Claude, "How careful do I need to be?"

Larry and Jason came to stand beside me

"Defend yourself if they offer violence first But do not shed the first blood, or strike the first blow Defend, but do not attack, ht, unless you h"

I scowled at him "I don&039;t like this"

He smiled "I know, but bear with us, ma petite Remember the human you wish to save, and control that wonderful temper of yours"

"Well, hu for me on the steps She looked like an i," I said I did not run to catch up with the waiting vaaze made my skin itch I stopped at the head of the stairs and peered doard Cool, daainst my face The smell was thick, enclosed, and mildewed You knew there would be no s, and so the walls A basement I hated basements

I took a deep breath of the fetid air and walked down the steps They were the widest stairs I&039;d ever seen in a basement The wood felt new and raw, like they hadn&039;t taken tih room for the two of us to share a step I didn&039;t want to share a step Maybe she wasn&039;t a threat to Jean-Claude, but I had no illusions about what she could do to rown yet, but the poas there bubbling under the surface, crawling along o down

Ivy smiled She could sether Coether"

I didn&039;t want to be that close to her If she tried to juet a weapon out in tiht not It irritated me that I wasn&039;t supposed to shoeapon first And scaredfirst and asking questions later Doing it the other way around was no way to stay alive

"Is Jean-Claude&039;s huainst the darkness beyond, sreat black pit behind her

But she couldn&039;t sense vampire marks, or she&039;d have knoasn&039;t his servant She wasn&039;t as hot as she thought she was I hoped

I ignored the outstretched hand, but walked down those two steps My shoulder brushed her bare skin, and it felt like wor down the steps into the dark beyond, left hand in a death grip on the railing I heard her high heels clattering down the steps to catch up withfro us, but didn&039;t look behind to check We were playing chicken tonight It was one of ether like horses pulling a carriage,her dress I kept up a pace thateffortlessly impossible, unless she could levitate She couldn&039;t

She grabbed ht aro for a gun Because I earing wrist sheaths, I couldn&039;t even go for a knife I stood there nearly face to face with an angry vampire and couldn&039;t reach a weapon All that could savemy life to Ivy&039;s beneficence see my skin Heat flowed down her body I could feel her hand, hot, even through the leather jacket I didn&039;t try to pull away; things that can bench-press Toyotas don&039;t let go Her touch didn&039;t burn, because it wasn&039;t that kind of heat, but it was hard to convince my body that it wouldn&039;t hurt eventually Years of warnings, don&039;t touch, it&039;s hot Heat flared alongnext to a fire If she hadn&039;t been doing it unintentionally, it would have been impressive Hell, it was still impressive Give her a few centuries and she&039;d be scary as hell, as if she wasn&039;t already

I could still ht That was going to do ood when she ripped my throat out

"If you hurt her, Ivy, our truce is over" Jean-Claude glided down the steps to stand just above us "You do not want the truce to be over, Ivy" He ran his fingertip along the edge of her jaw

I felt the jolt of power juo My arone to sleep I couldn&039;t have held a gun I wanted to ask what the hell he&039;d done, but didn&039;t As long as I got the use of ue about it later

Bruce pushed between us, hovering over Ivy like a worried boyfriend Watching his face, I realized that was accurate I was betting she&039;d brought him over

Ivy pushed hi backwards down the stairs, lost in the thicker darkness Everything see on her just fine I could barely feel ertips

Heat rushed overwind, and swept outward into the dark Torches flared to life in sconces along the walls with a whoosh and a shower of sparks A large kerosene lalass chi naked on the wick

"Serephina will make you clean up your mess," Jean-Claude said He made it sound like she&039;d spilled her milk

Ivy walked down the rest of the steps in a hip-swinging glide "Serephina will not care Broken glass and flame have so many uses" I didn&039;t like the way she phrased that

The base It was like being in a great dark box Chains hung from the walls, soled fro like obscene decorations There were devices placed throughout the roonized some of the at bondage paraphernalia You were pretty sure what the point was, but not hoorked There were always ure out what to do with, and nothing ever seemed to come with instructions

There was a drain in the floor, and a thin trickle of water ran down it But I was betting that the drain wasn&039;t there just for water

Larry moved down the steps to stand beside me "Are those what I think they are?"

"Yeah, they&039;re torture devices" I forcedwas co to harm us," he said

"I think it&039;s supposed to scare us"

"It&039;s working," he said

I didn&039;t like the decor un if I had to

A door that I hadn&039;t even seen opened to the left A secret panel A vah the door He had to bend nearly double to h the door frame He unfolded, iht and asting no power on looking pretty His skin was the color of old parch to the bones of his face like a thin fil his skull His eyes were sunken and dull in his head, the dead blue of fish eyes His sickly hands were long and bony with i from the sleeves of his black coat

He stalked into the roo behind him like a cloak He was dressed entirely in black; only his skin and the short cut white hair on his head betrayed hih the black roo on their own

I shook e When I looked back, he see his powers to ," I said

"Yes,in his voice that made me turn and look at him His face was its usual lovely mask-but in his eyes, for just a second, I saw fear

"What&039;s going on, Jean-Claude?"

"The rules have not changed Do not draeapon Do not strike the first blow They cannot harm us unless we break these rules"

"Why are you suddenly scared?"

"That is not Serephina," he said His voice was very bland when he said it

"What&039;s that supposed to hed The sound reverberated through the roo and outwardly joyous But I could taste it on the back of ue, and it was bitter "It means, ma petite, that I am a fool"

Chapter 25

Jean-Claude&039;s laughter faded away in bits and pieces, like the sound was clinging to the walls "Where is Serephina?" he asked

Ivy and Bruce walked out of the roo, but it had to be better than this How many torture rooms could a house this size have? Don&039;t answer that

The tall vampire looked at us with his dead-fish eyes There was no pull, nothing; it was like looking into the eyes of a corpse

His voice, when it ca It was rich and deep, resonant, but not with vaer I watched it come out of the thin, lipless mouth and it still looked like a parlor trick, like the mouth should move out of sync with the words, but they didn&039;t

"You h me before she will see you"

"You surprise uess ere going down Pity "You are ?"

"When you have seen her, you will understand Now co, and I want to see you all naked and bleeding before dawn"

"Who is this guy?" I asked I could use ht as well smart off

Jean-Claude stopped on the last step Jason moved up, one step behind him Larry and I stayed a little behind that I don&039;t think either of us was too eager to go down

The vampire turned his dead eyes on me "I am Janos"

"Dandy, but the rules say you can&039;t bleed us, or anything else Or did I ?"

"You miss very little, ma petite," Jean-Claude said

"You will not be harainst your will," Janos said "You must all consent for any harm to befall you"

"Then we&039;re safe," I said

He s like paper I half-expected bone to break through, but it didn&039;t The smile was nicely hideous

"We shall see"

Jean-Claude took that last step, and moved farther into the room Jason followed, and after a moment&039;s hesitation so did I Larry followed me like a trooper

"This room is your idea, Janos," Jean-Claude said

"I do nothing without my master&039;s consent"

"She cannot be your h"

"Yet, here I am, Jean-Claude Here I am"

Jean-Claude walked around the dark wood of the rack, trailing a pale hand over it "Serephina was never s, but not sadistic" Jean-Claude came to stand in front of Janos "I think you arehorse She is known as es come her way When she dies, you will find another puppet

"I promise you, Jean-Claude, she isa faithful servant" He looked around the roo well-stocked shelves

"What do you plan for us in this room of yours?"

"But wait a few moments, my impatient boy, and all will be revealed"

It was odd to have soer cousin that Janos had watched grow up Had Janos known him when he was a little vampire? Freshly dead?

A wowoed her She had let her legs collapse, trying to use the does when you try to take it to the vet But she only had two legs and a va theht blonde hair that barely touched the tops of her shoulders Her eyes were large and blue, and the ht as sood time Bruce had very wide eyes He was afraid of Janos Hard not to be, I guess

The girl stared wordlessly at Janos for a second, then screa dog The girl whi at the floor, fresh tears trailing down her cheeks

There was only Janos and the two youngsters in the roo we could take the in the next girl She walked in, eyes glittering with anger, back very straight, hands in fists at her sides She was short, a little heavy, but not quite fat, as if a good burst of groould take care of the weight Her hair was a nondescript brown, glasses framed small brown eyes, freckles dusted her face The personality that radiated from that face was not nondescript I liked her instantly

"Oh, Lisa," she said, "get up" She sounded eirl, Lisa, just cried harder

The two va They were both tall, around six feet, dressed in black leather, one with her long yellow hair in a braid down her back, the other with black hair falling free around her face Their bare aruards from some bad spy movie

The power that radiated froh the room like a current of water, thick and cool When the line of power poured over my body it took my breath away The power crawled into asped behind asping for the same reason I was No new monsters behind us, just the power of the t va a halfway house for all vampires over five hundred years?" I asked

Everyone turned towards me The two female vamps smiled, most unpleasantly They looked at me like I was a piece of candy and they wondered what sort of center I had Soft and gooey, or hard with a nut in the middle? I&039;d had men undressto picture what I&039;d look like withto add?" Janos asked

"You can&039;t just drag a couple of underage girls in here and expect us to do nothing"

"On the contrary, Anita, we expect you to doof that "What&039;s that supposed towoirls?"

The second girl just glared at hi at the floor

"Tell her your ages," Janos said

Neither of theirl cry out

"Eighteen I&039; heap, and the vao of her so she could do it

One of the fee, now" Her voice was like quiet thunder, a warning of the coirl&039;s eyes widened behind her glasses "I&039; out frohteen, but an unwilling hue," I said

"Would you play policeman here, Anita?" Janos asked He sounded amused

"I won&039;t just stand here and watch you hurt theh opinion of yourself, Anita Confident I like that Always so s fold and cry and snivel, but the brave ones, they almost de out one white spider-hand "Do you want me to hurt you?"

I re not to use weapons, but fuck it, I was going for the Browning

Jean-Claude was just suddenly there, holding Janos&039;s wrist Janos seemed impressed Truthfully, so was I I hadn&039;t seen him move, and apparently neither had Janos A nifty trick, that

I let h I was pretty sure that drawing it would ht&039;s exercise was not to make me feel better, it was to stay alive

"No harm to any of us; that was the promise," Jean-Claude said

Janos drew his wrist froly, as if he enjoyed it "Once Serephina&039;s proiven, she keeps it"

"Then why are the young women here?"

"Those two"--he motioned to Larry and ers?" He sounded surprised, but not unhappy about it

"Sadly, yes," Jean-Claude said

"And if they join the fray, you will come in to protect her?" Janos asked

"If I must"

Janos smiled, and I could hear his skin creak with the strain of holding in his bones "Splendid"

I saw a treh Jean-Claude&039;s back, as if he had been caught off guard I was just plain confused

"The two young woly into our house They knee were, and agreed to help us entertain guests"

I glanced at the second girl "Is that true?"

One of her vah "We caly, but we didn&039;t know" The vairl&039;s face crumbled in pain but she made no sound

"They cae of consent," Janos said

"So what happens now?" I asked

"Ivy, chain that one over there" He pointed as he said it to some fur-lined manacles to the left of the door Ivy and Bruce picked up the girl, pulled her to her feet, and led her stu the room, please"

I stepped next to Jean-Claude and whispered, though I kneithin reason they&039;d hear, "I don&039;t like this"

"Nor I,the truce?"

"Not unless they offer harm to us directly, no"

"What happens if I break the truce?"

"They will try to kill us, most likely"

There were five vampires in the room, three of them older than Jean-Claude We would die Daled, pulling at her arms as the vampires chained her to the wall She screa she&039;d have bloodied her wrists

A woman stepped into the room from the side door She was tall, taller than Jean-Claude Her skin was the color of coffee with two crea cornrows to her waist She was dressed in a black, patent leather body suit It left very little to the iination She strode hard on her heels, a very human walk But she wasn&039;t human

"Kissa," Jean-Claude said "You are still with Serephina" He sounded surprised

"Not all of us have your luck" Her voice was thick like honey There was a smell like spices in the air, and I wasn&039;t sure if it was her perfuh-boned face was eh I wondered what she&039;d look like if she weren&039;t clouding my mind Because surely no hu to Kissa like a touchable cloud

"I am sorry you are here, Kissa"

She smiled "Don&039;t pity me, Jean-Claude Serephina has promised you to me, before Janos breaks that beautiful body of yours"

Six vampires, four of the in our favor

"Chain the other girl there" Janos ht of the door

The girl shook her head "No way" She just refused to go, and she struggled better than the blonde She threw her body on the ground and used every inch of it, not to fight, just not to go

Two vah to make my teeth hurt, and they had to pick her up from both ends and carry her to the wall She&039;d finally started to screae-filled sound after another The dark-haired vamp pinned her to the wall, and the other one chained her

"I can&039;t just watch this," Larry said He was standing very close to me; maybe he didn&039;t know the vampires would hear his whispers

It didn&039;t really et ourselves killed; ht as well take as many of them with us as we could