The Vampire's Fake Fiancée (Nocturne Falls Book 5) (31 page)

“That’s the last thing you should have. You’re enough of a menace to this world at night.”

She bared her fangs and growled at him. “Tell me the secret. This is your last chance.”

He stared at her for a long moment, then slowly shook his head. He’d promised her father he would protect her, but the woman in front of him was a stranger. “I am loath to break a promise, but no.”

“Then you leave me no choice.” Her knuckles paled as her grip on the blade tightened.

The office door swung open. “Sebastian, I’m ready to—”

Tessa stopped dead in her tracks. Her face went from confusion to panic in a quarter second. “Get away from him.”

Evangeline laughed. “Or what? You’ll fine me for overdue books?” She leaned on the dagger, causing a sharp pain to pierce Sebastian’s body as she looked up at him. “Maybe I’ll torture your little librarian first. I bet that would loosen your tongue.”

Fear filled Tessa eyes. “What do you want, Evangeline?”

“She wants the secret to my very special SPF.” Sebastian shook his head. “But we’re not telling her.”

Evangeline’s eyes flared bright. “The librarian knows more than she told me?” Her gaze turned calculating as she twisted toward Tessa. “And here I thought we were becoming friends.”

Damn it. He’d slipped. “She doesn’t know enough to help you.”

“Too late, husband dear.” Evangeline focused on Tessa. “Feel free to tell me if you’d like to save Sebastian’s life. Otherwise, I’m going to turn him to ash right in front of you. Sorry to do that on your wedding day, but the choice is yours.” Then Evangeline turned back to Sebastian. “Let’s see if your
fiancée
really loves you, shall we?”

Tessa’s panicked expression morphed into the war mask of a fierce warrior goddess. She went steely-eyed and her body tensed like a wild cat ready to pounce. The valkyrie in all her glory. “Don’t. You. Dare.”

Evangeline tossed her head back. “You don’t scare me, librarian.”

“Then you’re a lot dumber than you look.” The sweet hiss of metal sang out as Tessa did something Sebastian was sure he’d never witness.

The valkyrie drew her sword.

In a moment of brilliant clarity, Tessa understood that her vow to never again draw her sword had been made with the impetuousness of youth. Clearly there was a time and place and
this
was it.

The protection of the worthy.

Kettlingr
hummed in her hand, happy to be unsheathed after so long. But the blade’s joy did nothing to quell Tessa’s building anger. Her ire at Evangeline’s bold stupidity narrowed Tessa’s focus down to the vampiress.

And the man she loved.

She leveled her sword at Evangeline, sighting down the metal length until Evangeline’s heart was at the end. One quick thrust and it would all be over, even at this distance. “Put the dagger down, step away from Sebastian and I will let you live.”

Evangeline glanced over at Tessa, and for the first time, a small crack appeared in her confidence. She looked twice at the sword before speaking. “You’ll let me live? Very cute. Put your little toy down and I won’t run this blade through him.”

Tessa laughed. The blade, sharp enough to divide a human hair into three parts, was a yard long and as wide as her fist. While its familiar weight felt like no more than a butter knife in her hand, it was no toy. “You’re a lot dumber than you look.”

Evangeline rolled her eyes. “I’m not the dumb one here. You have to actually know how to use a weapon like that for it to be effective.”

The rage that tripped along Tessa’s skin sank deeper to coil in her belly. It sent a wave of cold lucidity through her that cleared her head and laid out several paths of action before her. This was not the rage of her youth, the temper she’d fear for so long. This was something measured and powerful and worth giving room to.

Tessa examined her options and chose the path that ended peaceably. The others could be returned to later if need be. The peaceable path required a distraction. Tessa sent a little prayer to Freya that her lessons from battle camp had not been completely forgotten.

Letting memory take over, she started with what had once been a daily warm up.

She raised the sword two-handed and began to swing it in a figure-eight around her body, spinning it in one full circle around her hands on each side. It was a showy, elaborate movement that displayed the sword for the weapon that it was.
Kettlingr
purred through the air, a sound Tessa had forgotten. She laughed at the pleasure of hearing it again, reminded by the gentle thrumming vibrato of why she’d named her sword the way she had.

Kettlingr
meant kitten, after all.

Evangeline was appropriately wide-eyed at the exhibition, while Sebastian beamed with what seemed to be a mix of pride and arousal, but not so much of either that he missed the opening Tessa was providing.

Evangeline was distracted.

He shot his arm up and around Evangeline’s, twisting her arm and the dagger away from him and throwing her against the mantel. Blood spread down his crisp white tuxedo shirt.

Evangeline howled in anger and slid away from him, grabbing another weapon off the wall as she went. She brandished the short sword at both of them. “I will kill whoever comes at me first.”

Tessa brought
Kettlingr
down to bear on Evangeline as she spoke to Sebastian. “Are you all right?”

“The shirt’s in worse shape than I am. Bloody hell, you’re a gorgeous sight to see.”

“Now is not the time to flirt.” She smiled, but kept her eyes on Evangeline despite wanting to kiss him and tell him how relieved she was that he wasn’t hurt. “Better get Greaves to call an ambulance. Or a coroner. This could go either way.”

“For you, maybe,” Evangeline spat.

Sebastian shook his head. “I don’t know where Greaves is.”

“He’s dead, or will be soon,” Evangeline snarled. “Just like you’ll be if I don’t get that secret.”

Sebastian cursed. “If you’ve hurt him—”

“Where is he, Evangeline?” Tessa liked the rook a lot. Her anger went up a notch but the blinding temper that she’d been so worried about for so long still had yet to rear its head. “If we can get to him in time to save his life, I’ll go a little easier on you.”

Evangeline lifted her weapon. “We’ve both got swords. I remember how this played out last time, so if you think I’m worried, I’m not.” She made a coy face. “You should know I took it easy on you when we were fencing. I definitely could have won if I’d wanted to. My current lover has been teaching me.”

Tessa stared her down, gaze steady and filled with the confidence of her training. “And you should know I let you hit me so Sebastian could see what you’re truly capable of. Last chance to tell us where Greaves is.”

Sebastian’s phone rang. He fished it out of his tux pocket. “Ellingham.” He went silent for a long moment. “I see. Thank you. I’ll be there shortly. Actually, you should probably come here as soon as you’re able.”

He hung up and tucked his phone away, his gaze steely with anger. “Sheriff Merrow found Greaves in the Rolls on the side of the road on the way into town. He’d been hit on the head and the sheriff thinks possibly injected with some kind of paralytic. He’s being transported to the hospital now.”

Tessa sucked in a breath. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He’d better be.” His hands balled into fists. “Either way, Evangeline’s going to pay for this.”

Tessa thrust her sword out a little straighter. “She’s not going anywhere.”

He nodded. “Keep it that way. I’m calling my brothers.”

Evangeline’s eyes were feral, fear expanding her pupils like the light in the room was betraying her. “Let me go. I’ll forget about the daywalking. And I’ll sign the paperwork. Whatever you want. I swear I won’t go to the council.”

Sebastian barked out a laugh. “Oh, you’re going to the council. But this time the charges are going to be against you.”

She snarled. “You can’t do this to me. I’ll tell them you’re cheating on me with her.”

He ignored her to speak into his phone. “Hugh. Gather everyone and get to my house immediately. I’ll explain when you get here.”

Tessa recognized the crazed look in Evangeline’s eyes. The woman sensed the end was near. She was getting desperate. Tessa took a few steps closer and slid sideways, eliminating a possible escape route. “Don’t even think about running, Evangeline. I can and will hurt you if need be.”

“You can’t stop me. I’m a vampire. No one can stop me.” Evangeline’s laugh was shaky and wild. Then she charged forward, sword held out in front of her, flailing wildly with no perceptible skill in her efforts.

Without a twinge of the uncontrollable temper she’d feared for so long, Tessa reacted from the place within her that had never stopped being a valkyrie. Maybe she’d grown out of that rage. Or maybe it was because Evangeline wasn’t an opponent to be feared, but rather pitied. She was mad with power and ambition and spoiled from a life of indulgence.

Or maybe it was because this time, Tessa was fighting for something—someone—that mattered.

Tessa flipped
Kettlingr
up and around, reversing her grip on the hilt so she could lead with the pommel instead of the blade. She danced out of the path of Evangeline’s sword, coming around with
Kettlingr
high, and drove the pommel against Evangeline’s temple.

The sword connected with a dull thud and Evangeline dropped to the ground like a rag doll, her borrowed weapon clattering to the hardwood beside her.

If Evangeline had had a pulse to check, Tessa would have put her fingers to the woman’s throat. Instead, she dropped
Kettlingr
to her side and glanced at Sebastian. “She’s not dead. I swear.”

He nodded. “Well, actually, she is dead, being a vampire and all, but if you’d done enough damage to end her existence, she would have turned to ash.”

“Good to know.”

“I’m surprised you managed to lay her out, frankly. Not that you’re not capable, because clearly you are, just that it can be done. Vampires tend to be pretty high on the tough scale.”

“
Kettlingr
packs a wallop.” She lifted her sword up a bit, admiring the blade. It really was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship.

“Apparently.” He stared at Evangeline’s prone form. “How long do you think that wallop will last?”

“At best she’ll be out an hour or so.”

“Good. Long enough for her to be taken into custody. The sheriff should be here soon.”

“And your brothers are on their way?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to go to the hospital then? Check on Greaves? I can wait here and keep an eye on her.” She didn’t want to be separated from him, but her needs were unimportant at the moment, although she very much wanted to know that the rook was all right.

“We’ll both go as soon as this is taken care of.” He went to her, closing the gap between them. “You drew your sword for me. Thank you. I know that wasn’t easy for you.”

She managed a small smile. “Easier than I thought it would be, actually.”

“It seemed to me that you contained your temper very well.”

She shook her head slowly. “There wasn’t much to contain. I was very angry, but it never took over. Instead it seemed to direct me. All these years, I’ve feared the return of those emotions. I thought that there was a part of me that was uncontrollable. Now, I don’t know if that was ever true. Maybe everything I was afraid of was just…youth.”

“Perhaps it was.”

She stared down at
Kettlingr
. “I feel pretty foolish.”

He caressed her cheek with the backs of his fingers, his touch light and sweet. “I spent my life watching over the woman who just tried to kill me, wishing for many of those years that I had been enough of whatever she needed to keep her at my side. If you’re a fool, so am I. I guess we’re perfect for each other.”

She laughed. “Maybe.” Then she lifted her sword. “This is
Kettlingr
.”

He smiled. “It’s as beautiful as its owner. May I hold it?”

“Only with my hands on it.”

He nodded. “Whatever your conditions, I’m happy to oblige.”

“They’re not my conditions. They’re part of the magical protection built into the sword. Watch. Hold out your hands and keep them flat.”