“And what was that message?” Essie held my gaze and I shivered. While she couldn’t charm me—witches couldn’t be charmed by a vampire’s hypnotic gaze—her very stature demanded respect and attention.
“The Arcānus Nocturni woke up Dracula. They’ve sent him after me and he’s here on the island, now.”
Essie let out a hiss. This was the first time I had ever seen true fear in her eyes. Oh, I had seen her cunning, and wary, and I had witnessed her nervousness around a member of the Arcānus Nocturni, but I had never seen Essie Vanderbilt truly afraid.
“Dracuul? They woke up Dracula? The fools.”
“What I don’t understand, though, is since he’s after me and he’s been on the island for a while, why hasn’t he tried to kill me already? If he’s as powerful as I think, why hasn’t he attacked yet?” I had been toying with the question since Fata first told us, but it only fully formed in my mind within the past hour.
Essie hesitated. She glanced at Aegis, who gave her a nod.
“Why do you think Dracula has survived so long, when so many people have hunted for him? He’s one of the oldest vampires, and he’s made so many enemies over the years that you would think someone would have managed to take him down by now. He’s the most famous vampire in the world. So answer me this, how do you think he’s survived?”
I was smart enough to realize that she was offering me an answer with her question. She was also giving me the chance to figure it out for myself. At times, Essie liked to play teacher.
I thought about it for a moment, mulling over the possibilities in my mind. I had long been a fan of the Evil Overlords List, a fun little list I had found on the Internet about how to be an effective evil overlord. The basic concept came down to: Don’t give your enemies a chance. At first opportunity, take them down. But was that always the right choice?
“I assume that the Arcānus Nocturni gave him as much information on me as they have, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he knows everything he wants to know. He could be studying me. It would make sense. Study your enemy, find out all you can about them before you go in. Especially when they’re living with another ancient vampire, one who may not be as old as yourself, but who could still be extremely dangerous?”
Essie smiled. “You do not disappoint me, Maddy. Yes, Dracula has always taken his time. Stoker’s book was on point, and more of a biography than most people realize. He had a friend whom Jonathan Harker is modeled after. Dracula is crafty and cunning, and he plans ahead. Dracula’s also been asleep for at least a hundred years, so he’s going to want to know what kind of world he’s dealing with. And my guess is that he’s not at full strength yet.” Here, she paused.
“You might as well tell her, or I will,” Aegis said.
“I thought you might have already done so.”
“I would have, except I just found out about this on the way over.” Aegis leaned back in his chair. “Essie, I know you don’t care for me because I refused to join your nest. I have nothing against you, and I hope you won’t hold anything against me. But you should know, anything that might affect Maddy’s health or safety is my concern. I’ll give her any secret, any information that I need to in order to ensure her safety. And that’s just something you have to accept.”
Essie’s eyes narrowed. After a moment, she gave a little shrug as though she didn’t care. I had a feeling that wasn’t her true feeling, but she didn’t want to press it.
“I can understand why you would do so. At least Maddy seems to have a discreet tongue.” She turned back to me. “When a vampire has been asleep for a very long time—figure fifty or sixty years, or more—they tend to be weak when they awake. Their strength returns a little with each kill, or feeding if you like. It can take up to two weeks to a month before they reach full power again, depending on how long they slept and how weak they were when they went to sleep.”
I frowned. “Don’t all vampires wake every sunset? I thought you wake when the sun disappears, and sleep when it rises. Except, of course, for the Arcānus Nocturni.”
Essie held up one hand. “One moment,” she said, rising and moving to the door. She peeked outside to make sure no one was around, then quietly closed it and locked it and returned to the table.
“What I am about to tell you is information you’d best keep to yourself. I realized that Aegis could have told you, but since I am here now and party to this, it means that I could be in grave danger should anyone find out that I’ve opened my mouth on the subject.”
She leaned across the table and took my hand, turning it over so that it was palm up. I tried not to pull away from her. With her other hand, she motioned toward my leg.
“Your dagger, if you will. I am going to require a blood oath that you keep this silent and to yourself. No telling Delia, no telling Cassandra or anyone else. Will you abide by the pact?”
“If Aegis would tell me without forcing me to make that pact, should I give you my oath? It doesn’t really make sense now, does it?”
Essie squeezed my hand hard enough to hurt. “Oh, Aegis would tell you what I am about to, but I have information that even he does not. Remember, I run in a circle that Aegis has never entered. The nobility of the vampire nation doesn’t let in the riffraff.” With those words, she glanced at Aegis.
If her insult bothered him, he chose to ignore it.
“Do you think I should?” I glanced at him. “Whatever you say, I’ll trust you.”
Aegis gave Essie a sarcastic smile. “Oh, I’m sure she has the dirt on other people within the nobility. All the royals are corrupt that way. Go ahead.” There was a gleam in his eyes that told me he was up to something.
I turned back to Essie and nodded. “Very well, I’ll seal it with my blood. But you don’t get to drink it. No, you get to prick your own finger and blend it with mine. And not on my cut directly. I don’t want any of your blood absorbing into me. We squeeze out at a few drops into a bowl and when they mingle, then my promise mingles with yours. We can seal on a handshake if you like, but those are my terms.”
Essie looked disappointed, but she agreed. I pulled out my dagger and pricked my finger with it. The blade was extremely sharp, and all it took was a little flick and the cut was done.
Essie grimaced as she held out a finger and I realized how much she trusted me at this point. Here I was, holding a silver dagger in her parlor, without any guards around, and she was trusting me not to stab her in the heart. Feeling like I had just forged another inroad, I made certain to keep the cut on her finger light and quick. She let out a hiss as the silver touched her skin and smoked, but it was over and done within a matter of a few seconds.
We squeezed drops of our blood into a trinket dish on her table. Ironically, it was in the shape of a heart. And then, after wiping my hand with a towel, I offered her a handshake and she took it.
“I swear on my blood, I will not reveal to anyone what you tell me here about Dracula.”
“And I swear to give you the information that I know.” Her expression was a mixture of mingled relief and fear.
“All right, dish it out.”
Essie’s eyes glimmered. I had the feeling she was enjoying this, in a perverse way.
“Very few people know this. I only found out through a…shall we say…clandestine friendship. Dracula takes far longer than other ancient vampires to heal. He may be one of the Arcānus Nocturni, but before he went into hibernation, he was wounded, severely. His heart was nicked by silver, though not pierced through. The wound wasn’t enough to shatter him into dust, but it was enough to permanently scar him.”
“Can he walk in the sunlight?”
“Yes, but if he doesn’t feed on a regular basis, he quickly loses strength. And here’s something that not even the Arcānus Nocturni know. Don’t ask me how I found out, because I will not tell you. I have my ways.”
Aegis and I shared a look. Essie was one hell of a detective.
“Dr
acula has developed a disease that affects a very small percentage of vampires. Think of it as an autoimmune disorder. Dracula is allergic to witches’ blood. He knows he can’t kill you. He doesn’t dare feed on you—or any other witch. That alone would kill him. So he must find another way if he’s going to kill you. And that’s why he’s being extremely cautious. He must know about your past. And given you aren’t just a vampire hunter, but a witch, you loom as a larger threat in his mind than you would to most vampires.”
“You say the Arcānus Nocturni doesn’t know about this illness?”
“You think they’d send him out after you if they did? I’m not even sure if they know about the close call he had. And he can’t afford for them to know about his weaknesses. They’d quietly stake him as a liability.”
I nodded. “So they think they’ve sicced an ancient terror on me, but in reality, he’s vulnerable.”
“Vulnerable, yes, but don’t underestimate how crafty he is.”
So Dracula was allergic to witches’ blood. It wasn’t exactly as though we could use it as a weapon, and I didn’t envision myself offering up my throat trying to entice him into feeding off me just so he would die. But I was thinking linearly. There had to be an answer here.
“Is he just allergic to drinking my blood? To ingesting it?”
Essie’s expression darkened. “In for a penny… No, you see, there’s the rub. If you get enough of your blood on his flesh, it will burn him. Remember, I only know this because I did some extremely in-depth research at one time, and I know vampires who aren’t very happy with the Arcānus Nocturni. This isn’t something vampires would make public knowledge, even among their own kind. We aren’t always the most trustworthy bunch.”
As I mulled over the thought, Essie returned to the door and unlocked it, opened it, and called for tea. I looked at Aegis, but he shook his head and held his finger to his lips. I wasn’t sure what he was planning, but I had the feeling that he had just managed to pull the wool over Essie’s eyes. And I wanted to know how.
Chapter 13
“SO, WAS THAT information worth your oath of secrecy?” Essie just had to get the last word in.
I nodded, still saying nothing. I was trying to process everything that I had learned. After a moment, I asked, “Two questions. First, how did he sleep for so long if he needs to feed regularly?”
“Good question,” Essie said. “I’m impressed. When a vampire lowers himself into stasis, that need fades as well, until they wake again. All vampires will be weak when they first wake after hibernation, but with Dracula, the need for blood will be extremely strong.”
“You have an exceptionally good source of information, it seems,” Aegis said.
“You had better believe it.” Essie snorted. “You know my past, I’m sure. Philippe had an interesting stash of information and when I staked him, I stole every document I could find. He was responsible for turning me. He was damned well going to fork over the information I needed to survive in the vampire nation. If it took staking him to procure what I needed, so be it.”
I grinned. Essie could be downright scary, but she was also good for a laugh at times. “Fair enough. Second question: do you have any idea of where Dracula is? Or where he might hang out? He can walk in the daylight, but will anybody recognize him? Would he dare to go out in public in the daytime?”
“I sincerely doubt that Dracula is going to be walking around the streets of downtown Bedlam, or going to Chicken Chicken. As to where he might be hiding, there are so many niches and nooks on this island. Caves, abandoned houses, even deep in the forest. He could be anywhere, Maddy. But you can be sure that he’s watching you, so he’s probably not far from your house. Especially if he drank from Ralph’s brother. And if Ralph’s brother turns, he’s going to be an amazingly tough vampire. A vampiric satyr? Sired by Dracula himself? Consider that a very dangerous combination. I’m afraid if George does turn, you’re going to have to employ your old talents. Unless Ralph has the balls to do it.”
Could Ralph actually kill his brother? Even if George did turn into a vampire, I wasn’t sure that Ralph had the courage or heart to dust him. Which meant if Jordan thought that George was dying, we were going to have to keep Ralph away from him. And that would be a problem, given the funeral rites among satyrs.
“I’m afraid you’re right. Do you mind if I give Jordan a call? I want to ask him what George’s condition is.”
“Be my guest.”
Just then, Ruby brought in a tray with the tea on it, and scones, and delicate watercress sandwiches. Aegis flashed me a sideways smile, not letting Essie see him. The British delicacies seemed totally out of place, especially now that she had redecorated into the New England cottage by the sea decor. I punched in Jordan’s number, stepping aside to talk in private.
Jordan answered on the second ring. “Maddy, are you all right?”
I was getting tired of him asking that every time I called, but given the reasons I called, I couldn’t blame him. “I’m fine. I was wondering how George is doing.”
“He’s in crisis mode right now. Ralph is with him right now. I think I might be able to stabilize him, but George was so low on blood that it’s amazing he was even walking around. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was a satyr, he would have been dead. And, I think, turned. We were able to get enough information out of him to confirm that he drank the vampire’s blood.”
My heart began to pound. I let out a sharp breath. “If it looks like he’s going to die, get Ralph out of the room. And call me immediately. There are aspects to this case that make it absolutely necessary that we do not allow him to turn.”
“Because he’s a satyr, right?”
I paused, trying to remember if Jordan had overheard us talking about Dracula. I didn’t want to ask him, in case he hadn’t. “Right. Please, keep the knowledge that he was bitten to yourself for now. It’s vital we don’t stir up panic on the island.”
“All right. If George makes it through the night, I think he’ll survive. But it’s going to be touch and go. Keep your phone turned on.”
“Will do.” I disconnected.
“How is George doing?” Aegis had picked up one of the watercress sandwiches and was eating it. He politely shook his head when Essie offered him another.
“Not good. Jordan says that if he survives the night, he’ll be all right, but the chances of that aren’t spectacular. And George was forced to drink from Dracula. So if he dies, we’ll have a vampiric satyr on our hands. I suppose we should get home.”
“Yeah, we have a lot to do.”
I turned to Essie. “Thanks, Essie. I’ll keep my word. If you think of anything that can help us find out where Dracula’s hiding, call me. I’ll keep my phone on all night.” I paused, then said, “Why are you helping us? Dracula is one of your kind. I know why Aegis is helping me—but he lives a different lifestyle than you.”
Essie gave me a frozen smile. “Because the thought of the Arcānus Nocturni taking over this world scares me spitless. I like my title, and I like my place in the vampire nation. I don’t want anything or anybody upsetting the apple cart. I have my eye on a higher prize, and I’ll do whatever I must to get there.”
It occurred to me as we left that it was a good thing Essie was on our side. Well, as much she could ever be.
JORDAN DIDN’T CALL during the night, and the first thing I did when I woke up was to contact him. “Did George survive the night?”
“I can’t believe it, but he did. I think he’ll be okay. Which means if he survives for sixty days, the disease will vacate his blood and he won’t be in danger of turning when he dies.”
Although I was relieved to hear the news, it occurred to me that we didn’t know if that particular rule played through for the members of the Arcānus Nocturni. Could their blood be more potent? Could the disease stay in the body longer? It was something I needed to ask Aegis, but I wasn’t going to be able to until he woke up.
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“I’ll stop by Ralph’s this morning and talk to him. Do what you can to keep George alive, because you do not want to meet the vampire who tried to sire him.”
“Will do. Thanks for calling, Maddy.”
I turned around to see Bubba and Luna waiting for me. I hadn’t had much time the past few days to pay attention to them, given all the crap that had been going on, so I sat back on the bed and patted the comforter.
“Come on up, you two.” As they leapt on the bed, both of them purring loudly, I felt a stab of guilt. “I’m afraid I haven’t been a very good mom, have I?” I leaned back against the pillows as Bubba crawled on my chest and Luna snuggled by my arm. With one hand I petted Bubba, and with the other I pulled Luna toward me in the crook of my elbow.
“Bubba, I have a problem. I’m not asking you for anything, and I’m not wishing anything, but I need to talk.”
He blinked at me with those deep beautiful eyes. The cowlick on the top of his head poked up as usual, giving him a slightly silly look. I scratched him behind the ears, then under the chin.
“M-row?” He blinked at me.
“I’m okay, but no, everything isn’t all right. Fata scares the hell out of me, and Dracula’s after me. I’m not sure which of them scares me most.”
Bubba rubbed his head under my chin and then sprawled out on my chest, his feet and tail stretching down my thigh. He was huge, fifteen pounds. And he was so fluffy that he looked almost twice that size. I gave myself ten minutes of just petting them before forcing myself to get up and take a shower.
Dressing, I pulled on a long tiered skirt, hunter green with burnished leaves embroidered all around the hem. Choosing a wine-colored V-neck sweater and a pair of knee-high leather boots with stacked heels, I finished dressing, put on my makeup, and then remembered to look for Aegis’s note. I almost always checked when I woke up, but I had slept so deeply that I wasn’t fully clearheaded yet.