Deadlocked (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 3) (18 page)

Isaac looked at Nash pointedly. “The human servant was
killed in an accident and the vampire went mad afterwards.”

I stared across the room at the Undertaker wondering why
anyone would allow themselves to be bound like that. I suppose some people
would do anything for immortality, or near to it. I looked again at his
sallow, wrinkled skin and decrepit body, his spine curved with old age. A
shiver of revulsion washed over me. Be careful what you wish for.

I scanned the group again and then turned to Nash. “I
don’t see that little psycho Juan Carlo.”

Nash frowned and looked over at the group again, his mouth
tightening in a thin line. “I had eyes on him back at the Riverview.
Hopefully they’ll be able to track him. They’re wearing your amulets.” He ran
a hand through his hair. “If he tries anything, we’ll catch him this time.”

The Mariposa’s party drew near and I returned to stand at
Salvador’s side.

“
Buenas noches
, Salvador.” The Mariposa stopped in
front of Salvador. He took her hand, bending over it, but I noticed his lips
never touched her skin.

“And to you Catalina,” Salvador replied, “You are looking
very…festive.” He turned so I could see the gleam in his eye. I bit my lip to
keep from laughing.

The Mariposa turned her gaze on me. I nodded, but refrained
from curtseying. She turned back to Salvador, noticeably ignoring the rest of
our party. “Shall we get on with it?”

“Certainly,” Salvador held out an arm indicating the very
long table at the centre of the room. “Would you care for some refreshment
before we begin?”

“No. We refreshed ourselves back at our accommodations.”

“
Cranky old bitch, isn’t she?
” Nash’s voice
rang in my head. I coughed, trying to cover my surprised laugh. I threw him a
look over my shoulder.

There were place cards at every seat at the table and
servers began approaching the large group, showing individuals to their places.
I was disappointed to find out I was seated pretty much in the middle of the
long table sandwiched between Bartolo and Diego. It was a relief to see Max sitting
across from me. At least I had one familiar face nearby. Salvador held court
at one end of the table, the Mariposa at the other. Eleanor and Nash were placed
immediately to Salvador’s right, on the side opposite of where I was sitting.
I looked down at the Mariposa’s end of the table; Deirdre had been assigned a
place on her left, again on the side opposite from where I was sitting. I
could see her, but she was too far away to speak with, at least not without
yelling overtop of everyone.

There was a commotion and I looked back down the table
towards Salvador. Charlie, the werewolf alpha, was standing red-faced, his
posture rigid and defensive. He seemed to be having a standoff with someone. I
looked again, spotting Benecio, condescension blazoned on his face.

“…I refuse to break bread with this, this abomination,”
Charlie was saying.

“Then leave,” Benecio replied with a look of disdain. “You
shouldn’t be here at a table of your betters in any case.” He sneered at Charlie.
“Go back to your kennel, cur.”

“Why you, blood-sucking –”

Charlie’s voice cut off. He looked in shock at Benecio and then
slowly fell to his knees.

“That’s right you filthy mutt, down on your knees before
your masters.” Benecio stood over Charlie, snarling down at him. Charlie
visibly struggled trying to stand up.

Nash and Eleanor jumped to their feet. Several of the
werewolves around the room took a step towards the table, but Nash shook his
head.

Benecio noticed the attention he had garnered and he seemed
to stand a little taller, his chin held at a haughty angle. “That’s right.
All you mangy curs, none of you should be here at the same table as
La
Mariposa de la Muerte
,” he said, giving the Mariposa her full title. “You
should all bow down to her.”

There was another commotion as werewolves around the room
began to fall to their knees. Some visibly struggled against the compulsion,
but eventually they all fell. Finally, the only two werewolves remaining on
their feet were Nash and Eleanor. Even James, the other alpha, eventually
succumbed, although he struggled for much longer than most.

Nash’s knuckles were white where he gripped the back of the
chair in front of him. I could feel an echo of the pain he felt, fighting off
the compulsion. I looked at Eleanor. She also visibly strained against the
force of Benecio’s command.

“Fall down and grovel, mutt.” Benecio turned his full gaze
on Nash. He groaned, his one knee beginning to bend.

“Stop,” I said quietly, but the sound of my voice seemed to
echo through the room. Nash immediately straightened, throwing me a quick look
of gratitude. The werewolves around the room began to recover, picking
themselves up off the floor.

Benecio gaped in surprise. “No!” He looked wildly around
until he found me. “You cannot do this!”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “I can and I have. Your powers
no longer work here. In fact, I think you will find that you no longer have
your power over werewolves at all.” I gave my words an extra push, putting the
force of my will behind them.

Benecio cursed out a string of Spanish and stepped towards
me. One of the werewolf enforcers stepped in front of him. “Get out of my
way!” he commanded. The werewolf smiled and stood his ground. Frustrated and
angered all over again at the loss of his powers, Benecio grabbed the werewolf
and tossed him aside. “This cannot be! Madre,” he said, taking another step
towards me and looking across the table at the Mariposa, “she must be stopped.”
His voice was almost begging.

The Mariposa looked at Benecio with disgust. “You are
worthless to me now, Bene. Leave before you embarrass me further.” She gave a
little flick of her hand, dismissing him.

“
Pinche puta! Te mataré!
” Benecio screamed, lunging
at me. I wasn’t exactly sure what he said, but I imagine it wasn’t meant for polite company.
I heard Nash’s warning cry in my head as I moved to defend myself, but Isaac
was suddenly there in front of me. He grabbed Benecio, tossing him away from
the table across the room, much like Benecio had done to the werewolf. With
vampire speed, Isaac traversed the distance, but Hilde was a step ahead of him.
In a blur of motion, she punched her fist into Benecio’s chest with a sickening
crack, her arm sinking into his chest cavity past the wrist. There was a
stomach-turning slurping sound and then she pulled out her hand, Benecio’s
bloody heart clutched firmly in her grasp. She tossed it to the floor with a
look of disgust and then bent down to wipe her bloodied hand off on Benecio’s
clothes.

“Well, then,” Salvador’s voice was droll, “shall we eat?”

Of course, it wasn’t exactly as easy as that. Besides the
fact that no one, except maybe the vampires, probably still had their appetite,
the two werewolves that had arrived under Benecio’s control were suddenly free
from compulsion and looking distressed and disoriented. The young woman fell
to her knees, hugging the wolf and sobbing uncontrollably.

It was finally decided that Charlie would take them to the
pack doctor to see if they required any medical care. Throughout the entire
discussion, the Mariposa sat unconcerned, not caring about the fate of her own
people.

Luckily, several of the werewolves spoke Spanish, so
interpreting was not a problem. Charlie approached them cautiously, his alpha
status helping to calm the woman, who was clearly a subordinate. He spoke to
them softly, one of the other werewolves translating quietly beside him in
case they didn’t understand English.

Charlie pulled in frustration at the collar around the young
woman’s throat, but it was locked. Who knew where the key would be, if there
even was one. I went over, stopping a few feet away until Charlie nodded his
head at me.

“I think I might be able to help,” I said quietly, pointing
at the collar. “I’ll have to touch it though.”

Charlie leaned towards the woman and spoke quietly to her.
I didn’t catch what she said but after a moment, she nodded. Charlie waved me
closer. I knelt down beside her, keeping my shoulders relaxed and my face
turned slightly away so as not to make eye contact and challenge her. The wolf
beside her sniffed the air, scenting me. He huffed out a breath and relaxed
visibly, nudging me with his head. I guess I smelled like wolf.

I placed my hand on the collar around the wolf’s neck and
whispered a little opening charm. The lock opened with a soft ‘click’ and I
pulled the collar off, dropping it to the floor. Across the room I heard a
disgusted ‘tsk’ and I looked over to see Deirdre rolling her eyes. Ignoring
her, I turned to the woman and did the same with her collar.

“Thanks, Harry,” Charlie said, giving my arm a squeeze.

“Take care of them, Charlie,” I replied, placing my hand on
his and squeezing it back.

I returned to the table, all eyes on me. Nash gave me a
comforting smile. “
Well done, minx.
” His voice was like a balm to my
frazzled nerves.

“Well, that cost me an alliance with the werewolves. I hope
you are worth it, girl.” The Mariposa eyed me critically.

“Excuse me?” I looked at her in confusion.

“An alliance that is coerced is no alliance,” Salvador
admonished, staring pointedly down the table at the Mariposa.

“Let’s get on with it,” she muttered, waving her hand
imperiously.

Salvador raised an eyebrow and then seemed to decide against
commenting further. He nodded to the rest of the table and we took our seats.

***

I’m sure the meal was delicious. It seemed to go on
forever, course after course, but truthfully, I can’t remember a thing that I
ate.

My mind still reeling with the evening’s events, I was stuck
between the Mariposa’s two ‘sons’. I quickly found out it was like sitting
between a foul-mouthed, horny teenager and, by comparison, an altar boy.

Bartolo was the horny teenager. Actually, he was worse than
a horny teenager. He was a misogynistic womanizing, sleaze bag who
thought he was a stud. And I’m not exaggerating.

Diego was the complete opposite. A proper gentleman, he
left you wondering how he could possibly be related to the rest of his family. He
was like the white sheep in a family of black ones. Of course, they weren’t
really related. None of them were.

I found out from Diego that being a ‘child of the kiss’, as
both he and Bartolo were, meant that they had been raised as young children by
the Mariposa until adulthood when they were given the Eternal Kiss and made
into vampires. I had a hard time picturing the Mariposa raising anything, let
alone a child, but Diego assured me that he'd had an excellent nanny.

“So were you two raised together then? Like brothers?” I
couldn’t fathom the two men coming out of the same upbringing.

Bartolo barked out a laugh. “Brothers? No! Not even close.
While Diego was being weaned from the tit, I was already fucking pussies.”

I blinked at his profanity. The guy was a complete pig.
Across the table, Max choked on his soup. I caught his eye and gave him a long
suffering look.

Diego shook his head, clearly embarrassed by the crassness
of his brother’s reply. “I am much younger than Bartolo,” he said. “Over a
century younger.”

“Wow, talk about an age gap between kids.” I smiled
half-heartedly at him.

“
Sí
, dear old
Madre
, I guess she thought she
needed an, how do you say, heir and a spare.” Bartolo laughed at his own joke
and slurped his soup. When the server leaned in to refill his glass, he goosed
her, earning a little squeal and a scowl from her.

“
Madre
? Mother? Didn’t Benecio call her that as
well? Was he your – ”

“No,” Diego replied, cutting me off. “
Madre
is a
term of respect that all the Mariposa’s people call her. She is mother to us
all.” As he spoke, his mouth quirked up as if he was having trouble keeping a
straight face.

“Speaking of mothers,” Bartolo said, gulping at his wine and slamming
the goblet down on the table, “might I say you are even hotter than yours? And
she is a fine piece of ass.” He leered at me.

“Excuse me?” I gaped at him.

“Your mother, she’s hot. So are you.” He repeated using
shorter sentences like he thought I was an idiot or something.

“Yes, I heard you the first time. I just really don’t think –”

“That’s okay
niña
, you don’t need to think, just sit
there looking pretty.” He laughed again. “Better yet, I have something you
can sit on.” He waggled his eyebrows at me, his hand falling to his crotch.

Across the table, Max sputtered. “Now see here –”

I shook my head at him and he stopped, clearly outraged on
my behalf.

“Come now,” Bartolo chortled, “I jest, I jest.” He dipped
his head, leaning in towards me. I involuntarily backed away. “Maybe
the three of us could...you know.” He made a rude gesture with his hands.
“And I could do a side-by-side comparison of the two of you.”

“You need to stop talking right now.” I looked at him in
disgust.

Bartolo laughed, unconcerned over my discomfort. He opened
his mouth to say something more and then a shocked look came over him. His
hands flew up to his throat. He opened and closed his mouth as if trying to
speak and nothing came out.

I smiled at him smugly. He banged on the table, his mouth
moving a mile a minute.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” I put a hand to my ear
and cocked my head towards him.

“
Harry
?” I could feel Nash’s concern.

“
It’s okay. I’m fine. Just dealing with some trash
.”
I looked down the table at him and smiled.

Bartolo continued to flap his lips but nothing came out.

“
Dios mío
!” Diego’s face was full of mirth. “That is
incredible. Do you think you can leave him like that?”

At Diego’s words, Bartolo became incensed, pounding on the
table even more vigorously. He was beginning to attract attention. With an
exaggerated sigh, I replied, “No, probably not. If he promises to not talk to
me the rest of the evening and behave like a gentleman though, I’ll release
him.”

Bartolo stopped banging and nodded his head.

“Fine, you can speak.”

“
Dios mío!
” Bartolo rattled off a bunch of Spanish.
I have a strong suspicion it was less than gentlemanly.

“Uh, uh, uh,” I said, looking at him pointedly. He snapped
his mouth shut, shifting his body to turn his back to me slightly.

I covered a laugh with a cough and turned back to Diego.
“So, if you don’t mind me saying so, you are, uh, quite different than your
brother.”

“Thank you for noticing,” Diego grinned. He gave a little
shrug. “We were raised in different centuries, under different circumstances.
I’m not excusing him though; I think he would have been a pig no matter what
century he was born.”

We continued to talk over each dinner course. Diego was a
much better companion than Bartolo. We steered clear of vampire politics,
instead sticking to less prickly topics like world events and geography. Max even
joined in the conversation occasionally so I was able to get to know him a
little better as well. He gave me hope for the coven and the Conclave. He
seemed to be just the person to bring them into the twenty-first century.

The most interesting thing I learned was that Diego never
wanted to become a vampire. He was supposed to be allowed the choice once he
reached adulthood, but the Mariposa took the choice away from him when he was
mortally injured during the Spanish Civil War.

“Whoa, you fought for Franco?”

Diego shrugged. “I fought for the restoration of the
Spanish monarchy.” He went on to describe Franco’s thirty-six year regime and
how it eventually resulted in King Juan Carlos I becoming his successor thus
reviving the monarchy. I vaguely remembered much of what he said from history
class. It sure made it more interesting to hear it from someone who had lived
it.

As they were clearing the last course away and getting ready
to serve the dessert, Diego leaned back in his chair and looked at me
intently.

“I must say, it’s a shame really, Harry. We would have made
a good team.”

I looked at him confused. “What –”

“It’s time,” the Mariposa intoned from her place at the end
of the table, ending the possibility of further conversation. “It’s time to
end this charade, Salvador.”

“I’m afraid you will have to enlighten me, Catalina,”
Salvador replied, his expression one of feigned innocence.

“I have come to collect on your debt. I have come to
collect my future daughter-in-law.”

I looked around the table, wondering who she was talking
about and what debt she was referring to. You can’t blame me for being hopeful
that for once someone else’s life was about to go sideways, can you? It was a
little hard to ignore the fact that all eyes were on me though, so my attempt
at ignorant bliss didn’t last long.

“What? I’m sorry. Did you just say you came to collect
me?” I looked at her in disbelief and then turned my gaze to Salvador. His
eyes met mine and he did one of his infuriating little shrugs.

“You are mine. You were promised to me.” The Mariposa
sounded almost smug. Just who did that bitch think she was? I wasn’t a piece
of furniture you could stop by and collect. No one owned me.

“I’m afraid you are mistaken. I certainly do not belong to
you, nor will I ever.” I shot a quick look at Nash. I could feel his
protective impulses throbbing through our link. He wanted to jump over the
table and gather me safely behind him. Ironically, his own proclamation of “
You
are
mine,” echoed through our link.

“Surely you jest, Catalina. You cannot think to collect on
a promise made over three centuries ago.” Salvador gave her an amused look.

“A compact was made. Are you saying you do not stand by
your word?” She smiled at Salvador like the cat that caught the canary.

“Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on
since I seem to be in the middle of it?” I refrained from speaking the word
‘again’ out loud, but I was thinking it.

Salvador laughed, At first I thought it was at me, but then
he spoke as if I hadn’t said anything. “A few words in what I seem to remember
was a hashish infused moment at an orgy in Marseille can hardly be called a
compact.” Salvador waved off the thought with a flip of his hand. “Not to
mention the fact that the likelihood of either of us having a child was
ludicrous.”

“And yet, there she is,” Deirdre laughed, pointing a
perfectly manicured finger at me. She looked so damn pleased with herself I
wanted to wipe the smug smile from her face.

“Yes,
mother
,” I said with a look of distaste. “Here
I am.” I arched an eyebrow at her. “I’ve been hoping to have a private chat
with you but the opportunity just hasn’t presented itself. Since it all seems
to be coming out in the open, why don’t you share your part in all of this?” I
looked at her through narrowed eyes. There was more to my existence than just
an accidental pregnancy. “Tell us everything, Deirdre. Speak the truth.” I
gave her a push with my power and then smiled in satisfaction at the shocked
look on her face as the compulsion kicked in.

“I was tired of being a nobody, living in my mother’s
shadow, no real magic of my own to speak of - a failure.” Deirdre’s eyes grew
wide and she gaped, not believing she had just spoken that particular truth out
loud.

“Yeah, yeah, cut to the chase. We don’t need your life
history.” I waved her on. “Just get to the part where you planned my
conception.”