As Shadows Fade (The Gardella Vampire Chronicles 5)

She turned and paced back to her chaise, settling on it once again like a princess who was about to receive a great gift. “If you leave without the means to close the portal, you know what awaits the world. Your race. You won’t be able to beat them back, of course. And… don’t forget your Illa Gardella. She’d be in the very middle of it all, wouldn’t she?”

“You’d part with the rings, then.”

“You know I would. As you say, it would be to my benefit. In several ways. You, my pet, for eternity… in exchange for the rings.”

Pesaro nodded then, a sharp acquiescence, and it was at that moment that Sebastian realized this had been his plan all along. He’d known he’d never leave, but that he’d need to bargain himself for the two rings.

Sebastian opened his mouth to protest, but Max seemed to know, and he turned to silence him.

“As you wish,” said Lilith with distorted kindness. “One moment while I retrieve them for you.” She stood with another dramatic sweep of silk and beckoned to a pair of guards, standing in the dark corner. She then moved over to what appeared to be a plain stone wall. But she spoke in an ancient tongue and moved her hand over it. A small door appeared, through which she stepped.

Moments later, she returned, closing the door, which again melded so well into the designs on the wall that Sebastian wasn’t certain he’d be able to find it again, even though he’d just seen it open. They would never have found the rings themselves.

But now that they had them, surely Pesaro intended for them to fight their way out?

As Lilith approached Sebastian, offering the two copper rings, he saw the pair of Guardian vampires move toward Pesaro. As Sebastian took the rings from Lilith, he heard the dull clank of metal. Turning, he saw the heavy bands as they were fastened about Max’s wrists.

He realized belatedly that there was no way to fight out of the room. They were outnumbered by four Guardians, plus Lilith. They had no weapons, nothing to use for them. And if they tried and failed, the rings would stay… and so would they. Either as corpses or guests of the vampire queen.

Neither of which appealed to Sebastian.

As if reading his mind, Pesaro looked at him as the two Guardians pulled him by the chains. “Take the rings. Go. Close the portal. There is no other way.”

Seventeen

In Which Sebastian Exercises Unusual Prudence

Victoria couldn’t breathe.

“Where’s Max?” she asked again. She tried to keep her voice calm. She was sure she succeeded. It was a simple question. It should have a simple answer. He’s coming. He’s just around the bend. He’ll be along in a moment.

Sebastian took her arm, turning her to face him, away from the road on which he and Michalas had just ridden in. “Victoria,” he said, his voice sharp, “he obtained the rings for us. We have the last two rings. He stayed.” He spoke clearly, slowly, and she wondered vaguely how many times she’d already asked, and how many times he’d replied.

He stayed.

Victoria closed her eyes and crossed her arms tightly across her churning belly. No. Nononononooo.

“We have the rings,” Michalas said in a gentler voice. “Lilith gave them up.”

But she kept Max .

“We-I-have to go after him,” she said, her head suddenly clearing. The cobwebs slipped off; the nausea filtered away. Confidence settled over her, and purpose.

This she could do. This was her duty, her task, her calling. She’d come face-to-face with Lilith before. Max must know she’d come after him. He’d planned it this way.

Though her fingers trembled, she drew herself up regally and looked at each of the men in turn. “Michalas, you know the way to her lair now. You can lead me there, and I’ll find a way in.” She turned to Sebastian, who’d opened his mouth to argue. “I know we have the five rings. You and Brim can go and retrieve the orb while I free Max.”

“We have guests,” Sebastian said, his thick blond hair riffled by a breeze. He’d not stopped looking at her, a mixture of pity and understanding in his gaze. “Lilith sent some of her own to assist.”

Victoria turned and saw three heavily cloaked figures standing in the shadow of the small inn where she and Brim had rested. That explained the chill at the back of her neck, the sensation she’d barely acknowledged when she realized Max was not with Michalas and Sebastian. Every other thought had fallen away when she realized he wasn’t there.

Now she accepted the presence of vampires, well covered to protect themselves from the lowering sun.

“They’re to return the rings to her when we’ve finished with them,” Sebastian told her.

A sizzle of relief tickled her. “And Lilith will release Max then? She’s holding him only as a hostage?”

He shook his head. “That wasn’t part of the arrangement.”

Her stomach pitched again. “Then it will be as I said. Michalas and I will go to free Max, and you’ll go to the enchanted pool.”

Sebastian drew in his breath to speak, but Victoria turned away and approached the vampires. They stood in a tight cluster, careful not to allow any part of their flesh to be exposed to the sun. Under their heavy black hoods, two of them looked at her with red-violet eyes, and the third with ruby-pink irises. She saw the gleam of a sword falling from the invisible hand of one of the purple-eyed ones. Two Imperials and a Guardian.

Victoria felt a little chill up her spine. “I am Victoria Gardella,” she told them.

“We know who you are,” replied the tallest of the three, who happened to be a female Imperial. The sword she held, the Imperial weapon of choice, shifted menacingly against the side of her cloak. “I am called Mercy because I show none. Lilith sends a message to you.”

Victoria inclined her head to accept the message.

“We three are to take you to the enchanted pool, and then to lead you to the Midiverse Portal. We’re to return unharmed immediately after with the rings. If we don’t return within a week’s time, Maximilian will suffer.”

“She’ll release him when you return?”

The Imperial laughed. “No… Lilith merely promises not to torture him before she turns him undead.”

“Simply being in her presence is torture,” Victoria said, forcing the words from her dry mouth. “That is no guarantee. Nothing to keep me from turning you to dust at this moment.”

The Imperial shrugged, her sword brushing against the cloak of her companion. “So be it. If we three do not return with the rings in a week’s time, you can be assured that she’ll keep her word.”