Kiss of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm Book 2) (25 page)

“This wasn’t a trial,” Everett informed me, doing his best to ignore Ilona. “A trial could have been much worse.” Lowering his voice he looked directly into my eyes. “This was the best deal I could get you. Please, just take it and know that you are actually getting off easy.” His eyes flicked in Ilona’s direction. “You have no idea what you’re up against.”

Twelve years! My brain felt like it was going to explode. What kind of crazy legal system did vampires have when I could be locked in a coffin for twelve years on some bogus testimony from some wack-job vampiress? By the time they shipped me off to reform school I would practically be thirty.

“You can’t do this,” I said to Everett, tears rolling down my cheeks. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The door banged open. “You can’t do this!” Dorian Vanderlind said, barging into the conference room, brushing off two guards who were trying to prevent his entry. His clothes were so burnt that they were practically falling off his body. His beautiful blond hair was singed to the roots in patches. He looked like he’d been through hell, but none of that mattered to me. He was there. My heart was hammering wildly in my chest.

“You can’t condemn my progeny without hearing my testimony first,” he said, striding into the room, tall and proud, despite his appearance. “And I have evidence that will clear Haley completely.”

Chapter 28

Dorian

The lazy groundskeeper leaving out the shovel turned out to be my saving grace. The tool had been left right next to fresh sod covering a new grave. With my skin literally lighting my clothing on fire, I grabbed the shovel and started digging for my life. Fortunately for me the earth hadn’t been packed down firmly yet and I was able to make good progress, even though every second I was exposed to the sun’s rays was agony.

When my hair caught on fire, I almost gave up. It was only the thought of Haley that kept me from turning into a pile of ashes that the groundskeepers would blame on kids starting a bonfire. I couldn’t stand the thought of Haley believing that I had abandoned her again. And I knew that without me there to defend her against Ilona’s crazy accusations, she would probably meet a horrible fate of her own. That alone gave me the strength to keep digging.

I huddled in the grave all day, my body struggling to heal. I’d been exposed to the sun’s deadly rays for too long to heal instantly. I prayed that the groundskeeper who had left behind the shovel didn’t suddenly turn industrious and try to figure out why someone had been burrowing in the final resting place of the newly deceased. I was so weak that if anyone had tried to uncover me, I would have immediately perished.

At some point I lost consciousness. My body just shut down and so did my brain. The sun had left the sky by the time I woke up again. I hadn’t meant to stay buried past sunset, but my battered body had other plans. As soon as I realized that night had fallen I scrambled from the grave, hoping no mortals were around to witness my actions. That would have probably given some poor new widower the fright of his life.

My appearance was alarming, to say the least. My clothes were covered in soil and hung off me like tattered rags. Great patches of my hair had been burned away and the new growth was only just stubble. I didn’t care about any of that. I was alive and, if I was lucky, I still had a chance to save my love.

Launching into the air, I headed for the warehouse. The door on the roof was still bolted shut and no one would answer it, even though I beat my fists bloody. I took to the air, circling the building, determined to find some point of ingress. All the windows had been blocked up with bricks or boarded over. But I had a bit of luck at the loading docks. Blood was being delivered and I took the opportunity to let myself in. I had to assume a few of the mortals noticed a smoking vampire with burnt clothes and ragged hair rushing past, but none of them said a thing. They probably found it best to just make their delivery and leave the premises as quickly as possible.

Inside the building I began charging down hallways and climbing stairs three at a time. The lower level was mostly empty spaces that used to house whatever was delivered there. The floors were covered in grime and the walls were dingy. I assumed this was just a disguise for any humans who gained access to the building. After climbing a few flights of stairs everything changed. The floors were polished to a gleam and the walls had a crisp coat of paint. I dashed by dozens of empty offices filled with office supplies, modern furniture and blocked out windows.

“Hey!” someone shouted. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

I glanced over my shoulder to see a guard dressed in a black uniform. I knew I had two choices. I could either run — which I was sure would cause him to pursue me — or I could brazen it out. I’ve never been a fan of fleeing a fight, so I spun around to face him.

“Of course I’m supposed to be here,” I countered with a tone that conveyed I was his superior. I knew I looked like death warmed over, but it was all about the right attitude. “I am Dorian Vanderlind and I’ve been summoned here to testify on behalf of my progeny, Haley Scott. You need to take me to her, immediately.”

The guard curled his upper lip. “Yeah, but Ms. Firenze…”

I cut him off with, “Ms. Ilona Firenze is a close friend of mine. A very close friend. She was the one who insisted that I be here.” The guard didn’t look convinced so I had to take a gamble. Leaning forward, I looked him in the eye and said, “You could check with her first, if you feel like that is the right thing to do.”

The guard stood up a little taller, even though his posture was already ramrod straight. “She said no one should be admitted into the building.”

I digested the fact that he was taking his orders from Ilona, rather than the Bishops. Looking him dead in the eye, I said, “That order does not apply to me.”

The guard led me up another flight of stairs and down a hallway. We passed several more offices full of furniture and office supplies, but with no occupants. Where was everyone? I had to wonder. Another guard was slouching in the hallway. He stood up straight when he saw us approaching.

“What did you bring him here for?” the second guard asked. He looked familiar. I thought maybe he was one of the men who had been sent to accost my scion. “They’re just wrapping up the deposition.”

“Ilona wants him here,” was my guy’s response.

“That’s not what she told me.”

“Gentlemen, why don’t we just speak to Ms. Firenze and we can iron this out together,” I said, slipping between them and continuing down the hall at a rapid pace, but without actually running.

“Wait up,” the second guard called after me. And then, when I increased my speed, he shouted to his friend, “Grab him!”

I went thundering down the hall with the guards on my heels. I still had no idea where they were keeping Haley, but I could make a guess. Near the end of the hall was a set of double doors. That seemed like a good indication of a conference room, which was where I assumed they would be deposing my scion. If I was wrong, then I didn’t like the prospects of what would happen to Haley with Ilona pulling the strings. Nor myself, for that matter.

One of the guards grabbed the shoulder of my jacket just as I was reaching for one of the door knobs. Fortunately for me, my clothing was so charred that instead of detaining me, the guard only ended up tearing off my sleeve.

As I suspected, it was a conference room filled with the undead, all sitting around a large oval table. Haley was standing, addressing Everett Bishop, who was seated at the head of the table. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. I didn’t know what this small faction of the Bishops had decided, but I could tell from Haley’s demeanor that it wasn’t anything good.

“You can’t do this!” I practically shouted as I burst into the room. “You can’t condemn my progeny without hearing my testimony.” I caught sight of Ilona glowering at me from across the table. She shouldn’t have been there, but it didn’t surprise me to see her. “I have evidence that will clear Haley completely,” I said, even though I realized that I no longer had my satchel and my laptop. I must have left it in the grave or lost it when I was fleeing the sun.

“Dorian!” Haley said, almost choking on my name.

“You’re too late,” Ilona snarled. “If you cared at all about the fate of your progeny then you should have been here last night.”

“I was here last night,” I fired right back at her. “But somebody arranged it so that my entrance would be barred from this building.”

Ilona looked away. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

This made me laugh. “Yes, you do. And I’m guessing so do half the vampires here.” I glared around the table and at least five of the undead could not meet my eye.

“They want to lock me in a coffin,” Haley said, wiping angrily at the tears on her cheeks. I so wanted to kiss them away. “For twelve years,” she added. “And then they want to send me to some kind of vampire reform school. And I haven’t even done anything.” She sniffed. “Or at least not anything so bad as to justify a coffin.”

I couldn’t stand it any longer. I strode over to her and took Haley in my arms. Her tears came back in force and she sobbed against my neck, salty drops of water rolling down my chest where my shirt had been torn away. “It’s going to be alright,” I whispered in her hair. “Just hold on for a few more minutes while I get this all cleared up and then we’ll go to Cleveland. I promise.”

“Okay.” She sniffed a couple of times and then lifted her head. “I didn’t think you were coming,” she admitted.

I wrapped her even tighter in my arms. “Of course I was coming. I will always come for you. I just had a few unexpected challenges to get here.”

“Isn’t this charming,” I heard a female say, but it wasn’t Ilona. Scanning the room I saw the judgmental eyebrows of Irene Bishop and felt my gut clench.

“Irene,” I said, giving her the warmest smile I could muster. “I apologize for not greeting you earlier. I didn’t see you there.”

The vampiress pursed her lips and gave a little sniff. “It’s okay, Dorian. I can see that you only have eyes for one person right now.” She nodded toward Haley. “I only hope it lasts.” Making eye contact with another vampiress across the table she added, “The world would be a safer place for the rest of us ladies.”

I felt Haley stiffen a little in my arms. “Are there any members of the undead who you haven’t dated?” she whispered in my ear.

“A few,” I told her. “None of the men, if that helps.”  And then with a wink I added, “So far.” Haley tried to pull away from me, but I wouldn’t let her go. “Haley, I can’t change my past,” I told her, pressing her firmly against my chest. “But I can promise you that things will be different now that we’re together.” And then I kissed her. Not a lengthy, passionate kiss like at the end of a romantic movie, but it was a kiss to convey everything I felt about her and our future life together.

Chapter 29

Haley

Dorian’s kiss meant everything to me. I knew from all my reading that most men never changed. But there were outliers. There were a few guys who turned things around because they fell in love. And Dorian’s kiss told me he could be one of those men.

I ran my fingers over the exposed flesh on his chest. His skin was pink and shiny, like when you peel away a scab. His hair was very short in patches and long in others. It gave him kind of an eighties rocker look. He’d obviously been through hell to get to me and share whatever evidence he had that he thought would save my hide.

There was so much I wanted to say to him. But not in front of a room filled with people who would obviously rather condemn me for crimes I hadn’t committed than deal with Ilona Firenze. “Please just explain to them that I’m innocent so we can get out of here,” I said in a low voice. “I want to get out of here. I want to see the world with you. I can’t wait for us to finally be together.”

“But you won’t be together,” Ilona insisted. She’d apparently been watching our interaction with great interest. “Not for at least twelve years while your darling little fledgling rots in a coffin.” She was obviously speaking to Dorian. “And at least one more after that to make sure your progeny learns a few manners.”

“Jesus, Ilona. What is your damage?” I couldn’t help but exclaim. If Dorian hadn’t been holding me I think I would have taken a swing at her.

“Yes, we’ve already made our decision,” Everett said, holding both hands in the air to try to keep the peace, “but I think it’s only fair that we hear the new information Dorian has brought with him.” He gave my maker an expectant look.