But I didn’t need to. Quick as lightning, Veronica slung her knife across the room and into his chest. The four of us watched as he died and wisped away in surprise.
Chapter Fifteen
We were alive. Well, some of us were more alive than others.
I visually scaled Veronica’s body quickly to make sure she was unharmed. Her wench costume was in tatters, and she was splattered with blood, but none of it was hers.
We faced the two in chains. I knew Veronica couldn’t help me. In fact, she backed away, a look of sickness now on her face.
“I’m going to have to shoot those chains off,” I said to Natassa.
“Release him first!”
I regarded my client curiously. He was young, at least he’d been young when he’d turned. But he also gave the impression of being an extremely wise vampire. I shook my head. Maybe I was finally going crazy.
“Now! Please!” Natassa begged as her eyes caught his with a passion I’d never before seen in my life.
I positioned myself between the two of them. Natassa moved as far away as her chains would allow. Veronica was crouched in the corner now, still looking nauseous, but her intense gaze never left me. I took aim and fired, and he dropped limply to the ground.
I tried not to cut him any more than I had to, removing the spiked wire off from his wrists. Veronica rose now, and as she approached him, I tossed away the silver.
I was both surprised and repulsed as Veronica offered this vampire her wrist and he bit into it. She was nourishing him. I tried not to look. I felt a combination of revulsion and a bit of erotica. The slight pain she felt mixed with his hunger. I forced my concentration toward freeing Natassa.
She had more chains and it took longer. The guy drank only enough to regain some strength and he and Veronica watched as I meticulously removed the silver barbed wire that was digging into Natassa’s body. It must have been excruciatingly painful, but she didn’t utter a sound as I worked. Finally, there was only the iron mask. Iron and silver.
The mask was locked at the base of her neck. My client, her lover, I assumed, came close enough to take her hand. She held on tight as I drew out my lock picks once again. It probably didn’t take too long but it seemed an eternity.
Suddenly...click. The moment had come. I slipped off the lock and the silver welding snapped apart. I sat back for a moment. We were all on the floor. It should be Natassa who took off her mask. She looked at us for the last time, fearlessly, through the metal that covered her face.
She raised her hands to the back of her head and slowly removed the mask. I thought her hair would be tangled and she would look ghastly. But we all gasped as she showed her face for the first time in God only knew how long.
The mask fell to the floor with a clank. She looked down at it only for a moment, kicked it away, dismissing it. She didn’t look at us, not even at the man holding her hand. Eyes closed, she ran her delicate fingers through deep auburn hair. Slowly, luxuriously, she let it fall gracefully about her shoulders. Then she put her hands to her face: her eyes, deep-set cheeks, nose, lips, and finally to the black scar across her right temple. Somehow, the dark mark enhanced her ageless beauty.
She opened her eyes to us and smiled a little. My client could contain himself no longer. He pulled her close, they embraced. He was crying now. It was she who comforted him.
“Guillaume, my love,” she said softly.
I looked away. Waited for the private moment to pass. Natassa let go of Guillaume and faced us for the first time. She was incredibly beautiful, despite the nasty scar.
“Thank you,” she said to me.
I waved a hand. “Piece of cake.” Veronica smiled.
“I knew you could do it,” Guillaume said.
I frowned at him. “You’re my client.”
“Yes.”
I considered belting him a good one. He knew more than he’d let on when he hired me. He’d almost gotten me killed.
“I’m sorry,” he said simply. “I needed help.”
“Would have been a lot easier had I known what I was getting into.”
“But you might not have taken the case.”
I considered this. “Perhaps not.”
“We will compensate you for the...difficulties,” Natassa declared. I tried again to place her accent.
I sighed. It didn’t really matter. I had done my job. “We might want to get out of here.”
Natassa put her hand on mine. “Wait.” She closed those striking eyes again, and I felt a ripple run through me at her touch.
“I have a gift for you.”
What could she possibly give to me?
“Relief. Freedom. You’d like this?”
Another mind reader. “It depends.”
Veronica nudged me. “Take the gift.”
Chapter Sixteen
Natassa motioned for me to follow her.
She didn’t turn back as we left the room. She carried herself like a queen, a force to be reckoned with. We ascended the stairs. As we approached the ground floor, she tensed. In a flash, she drew herself up, showing a fierceness I wouldn’t have believed possible in one so beautiful. Her eyes darkened. In one motion she swept me behind her and, covering her hand with her sleeve, drew my knife out of my belt.
Not a second later, another vampire rounded the corner, baring his teeth. He came at Natassa full speed. She never wavered. She raised a hand and took a deep breath. She blew, and a gust of audible wind hit him, slowing his pace. The vampire’s mouth opened in surprise as he was forced to a stop. Natassa quickly flew to him and drove the knife straight into his heart. I watched as yet another vampire met his death and vanished into the night, and the knife dropped to the floor.
She was still now, listening, probing the area. I was frozen in disbelief. I’d just witnessed a woman, a vampire, who should have been incredibly weak from being chained in silver, kill like the warrior she obviously was.
Her gaze fell upon me and her face softened as she lowered her guard. “You have no reason to fear me, Spinoza.”
I nodded.
“This place is empty now. Come.”
We made our way to the stables. As we neared him, the huge black horse recognized her. He reared up in joy and rushed to the front of his stall. Natassa glanced at the lock separating them and it clicked open. The gate opened and she strode in. She reached her arms around his massive neck. He nuzzled her ever so gently.
I didn’t know what this was all about, but I hoped the gift wasn’t the horse. I knew Veronica and Guillaume were outside preparing a trailer for him, but I didn’t know his destination.