“Damn you, and your excuses,” she said, the darkness of anger closing in on the edges of her vision. She’d actually begun to trust him, to believe in him. To let him close. “Damn you, and your grandfather too, Sebastian Vioget. ” She turned to Beauregard. “And you nearly killed Zavier—merely to turn my attention away, so you could send your grandson to do your dirty work. ”
Beauregard smiled at her. “By the devil, you’re quick, my dear. Quick to understand, quick to judge, quick to blame. And quite appetizing when you’re angry. ”
She raised her stake, flying across the room at him, no longer willing to restrain herself.
“Victoria, no!” Sebastian leaped between them, and her stake slammed into his shoulder. It was much more difficult driving it into mortal flesh than a vampire’s heart; she felt the unpleasant give as it pierced skin and muscle. “Don’t do it,” he said, gasping in surprise, his fingers closing over her arm to propel her away. “He wants—”
“Get away,” she said. He grunted as she pulled out the stake. Blood colored its tip and seeped quickly through his shirt, an unfamiliar sight. There wasn’t supposed to be blood.
But she couldn’t let that stop her now. She pushed at Sebastian with all of her strength, sending him stumbling backward as he reached again for her.
“Victoria, don’t,” he said again, coming toward her, the bloodstain blossoming on his shirt. “He wants to fight you. He wants to come between us. ”
She turned to look at him, empty and angry and determined. “Either get out of my sight or you’ll go with him. I’m through with your games and lies. ”
She turned back to Beauregard, who was watching them with a half smile and a glint in his gaze. “Do you really want him gone?” he asked.
“What I want is you dead. ”
“But you forget, I am already dead these last six hundred years. ” He lifted his hand in a nonchalant gesture, his eyes turning pink. “Begone, Sebastian. ”
“No. ” He moved like a large cat. He carried no weapon, nothing but himself, and stood solidly between them.
Victoria looked at him, scanning his pale face, the determined look in his eyes, the dark patch spreading beneath his left collarbone, seeing that his breathing was faster than it should be. Still handsome as sin, still appealing, still able to tug at her because of all they’d shared. Thank God he wasn’t a vampire with the strength of the thrall behind him too. “You stole from us. You betrayed us, Sebastian. I don’t…want…to…see…you. ”
Beauregard had moved away toward the wall behind his desk as Victoria and Sebastian faced each other. She heard a faint, low sound in the distance.
“You’ve chosen, Sebastian,” she told him. “You made your final choice when you did this—sneaking in while we worried over Zavier, while Max was—” She stopped herself. “It was your choice. Now get out of my way so I can finish this. ”
The large door burst open and four massive vampires—three men and a woman—surged in. Victoria spun to face them, her heart knocking suddenly harder and faster. The stake was in her hand, but it would be a tough battle. She crouched, ready.
Sebastian had turned too, also taking a defensive stance, but he kept talking to her. “Victoria, the armban—”
His words gasped away as the first of the undead slammed a fist into his gut, and a second came from the other side and threw him to the floor as he spun to defend himself. Instinctively Victoria raised her stake, but a strong hand grasped it from behind, holding her wrist aloft, sliding an arm around her waist, and squeezing her so that her breath was caught. She struggled, kicking backward, watching Sebastian rise to his feet, only to be knocked back down by a boot to the jaw. On a normal man the blow would have cracked the bone. Another vampire dragged him back to his feet, and Sebastian managed a well-placed punch, but he had no weapon with which to stop them.
“You said you wanted him out of the way,” Beauregard said in her ear.
Victoria slammed her head back and felt it crash into Beauregard’s nose, at the same time trying to twist away from his strong grip. But he held on tightly and slipped his other hand around the front of her throat, pulling her back against him.
The hand tightened, cutting off her air, sending her struggling in his arms, stomping her foot down, slamming back with her free hand to jab her elbow into him, kicking, trying to breathe….
And then suddenly she was released with such force that she stumbled against a chair; then her hand clashed onto the keys of the harpsichord. She turned in time to see the door close, leaving the room silent but for the last echoes of discordant notes.
Silent, but not empty.
Her neck was cold; her fingers were trembling. “After all he’s done for you?” she said in a shaking voice that she abhorred.
Beauregard, who bent to pick up the paper she’d dropped, placed it on the table and looked at her. “Is it not what you expected from me? No loyalty? Manipulation? Where do you think Sebastian learned it?”
“You wouldn’t kill him. He’s worth too much to you. ”
Beauregard looked horrified. “Kill him? Of course not. I merely assisted him in complying with your wishes. You should be grateful, for now we can converse without his interference. Now, shall we get to business? You were going to kill me. Or attempt to. ” He looked pointedly at the stake that had fallen from her hand and rolled across the floor. “But I think that will have to wait. You have something of mine. ”
“And you have something of mine. ” She would play his game for the moment. Until she had the chance to cut the bastard’s head off.
“It was only one pag
e,” he said, lifting the paper from the desk. “And you mustn’t blame Sebastian. The man would do anything for me—loyalty is his great flaw, much as I’ve tried to teach him otherwise. But I’m all he has, and he just cannot abide the thought of me burning in the fires of Hell for all eternity. ” Beauregard gave a genteel shudder. “It’s not a particularly pleasant thought to me either. And so when at last the door to Palombara’s laboratory was reopened, I was understandably interested in obtaining not only my missing armband, but also this particular page. ”