Three vampires spilled out, fangs extended, eyes red, ready for battle. There were more, crowded in the doorway behind them.
When they saw Beauregard, however, they froze.
Victoria looked back to see Beauregard smiling at the new arrivals. It wasn't a pleasant smile; it gave her, one who'd seen altogether too many vampire expressions, an uneasy feeling in her middle.
"We have detained the ones who attacked you and killed Nedas this night," he announced, stepping forward with a commanding air. "As your new leader, I shall impose retribution. Immediately."
It was a familiar scene in some ways, when Sebastian brought Victoria out onto the opera stage where only a short time ago the greatest of evil sources had burned and sizzled. Ironic how it had metamorphosed from the scene of a bright, loud performance only days earlier, complete with the swell of music and the clear vibration of song, to a blackened shell, with half of the floor destroyed, and the seats filled not with patrons, but with immortal undead, waiting and watching for their own performance.
She had given up deciding whether she should be angry with Sebastian, or resigned to his actions and thus angry with herself. Hadn't she always known he wasn't to be trusted, even when she made love with him? And now here they were, with no longer any question about where he stood and what was important to him.
Squarely opposite her.
And Max… where did Max stand in all of this? He'd destroyed the obelisk, but had forced her to give the sword up to Beauregard—and Sebastian. Of course, they were outnumbered and would never have been able to fight their way through the group of vampires. But it still made her uneasy.
Beauregard was seated in the center of the stage in a large chair that Victoria recognized as having come from the props area. He looked regal and powerful, with his eyes glowing and upper fangs pressing gently into the flesh below his lower lip.
"What does he want me for?" Victoria asked in a low voice, looking at Beauregard from where she stood in the wings with Sebastian.
"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out, Victoria," he replied with his customary drawl. "Beauregard and Nedas have long been rivals for leadership over the vampires. My grandfather couldn't be more pleased that not only has Akvan's Obelisk been destroyed, but that you've rid him of Nedas."
"Then he should be shouting for joy and releasing us instead of planning 'retribution.'"
"Of course. And the moment he chose not to execute two Venators, who are the mortal enemies of his followers, how long do you think he would be in control of the Tutela and the vampires? Regardless of the favors done him today, he is not about to relinquish the power he's been seeking simply by sparing the lives of two Venators. Now, come with me and be quiet. Just stand there and look pretty; fortunately, my grandfather has a penchant for beautiful women."
"It appears you have made quite an indelible impression on my grandson," Beauregard told her as Sebastian brought her forth to his side. "You made an excellent choice," he added to his grandson. "I can see now wherefore comes your attraction to the woman. She is quite comely."
"I ask that you spare her life for the sole reason that she pleases me," Sebastian said with a short bow. "She has been disarmed and no longer wears the symbol of the Venators. She is little threat."
Victoria had to fight to keep her face blank. She might be little threat now, but as soon as she returned to the Consilium she would be wearing a new vis bulla, and would be back on the streets.
Assuming Sebastian could charm his grandfather as effectively as he'd charmed her.
"I can see that. It would be simple to preserve that beauty for all eternity, Sebastian. She could be your concubine forever, just as she is today." Beauregard's eyes glinted with a hint of the same flirtation that his grandson often used, but in this case it made Victoria's stomach lurch. "And it would be my great pleasure to do so."
"No, thank you, Grandfather. But I do ask that you spare her."
"I will spare her, only because you have asked, Sebastian. But on this occasion only. If there so be a chance that we meet again, under different circumstances, I cannot make the same promise." He cast his ruby gaze over Victoria, and she felt the full force of his power, the tug of his thrall, and the faint, brief curiosity of what it would be like to allow his fangs to sink into her neck.
He smiled wider when he recognized her response, then turned to Sebastian. "Are you quite certain? Well, then, I shall turn my attention to the other. Bring him forth."
Victoria swallowed, her throat dry and tight.
Max.
She had an awful, spiraling feeling about what was in store for him. Particularly since Sebastian had made his feelings toward Max absolutely clear.
Which was more than she could say for herself.
She stopped, pulling on Sebastian's arm. "What about Max?"
"I cannot—will not—save him too," he told her, pulling her after him.
"Your grandfather will kill him. But why? After he made me give up the sword to you, I thought—"
"No, Maximilian shares no love for Beauregard any more than he does for me. He was merely protecting you when he made you give me the sword. Even together you couldn't have won a fight with Beauregard, and now that he knows that I have ensured your safety, he'll accept his own sentence. Now hurry, before my grandfather changes his mind."
Sebastian was directing her quickly off the stage when suddenly something whooshed past them, hurtling from above and landing with a loud, heavy thud on the stage, just between them and Beauregard.
Victoria jumped back and looked up to see glowing red eyes on the very same catwalk she'd been on hours earlier; someone had done exactly as she had—released another of the heavy backdrops and sent it hurtling to the floor.
Everything disintegrated into mayhem. Vampires swarmed everywhere, new arrivals—or perhaps older ones, who had been lurking in the shadows of the auditorium—attacking Beauregard's men.
"Victoria, come!" Sebastian was clearly shocked and alarmed, and for the second time tonight she found herself being pulled away from the stage, which had suddenly turned into a battleground.
She saw Max as Sebastian tugged her away.
He was standing at one end of the stage, weaponless, defending himself from a single vampire as others fought around him. It would be moments before he was subdued or outnumbered.
Victoria stopped, automatically looking around for something to use as a weapon, and Max looked over at her. Their eyes met across the melee and she read the message there: the same one he'd been giving her since she'd seen him at Regalado's.