Sebastian looked sharply at his companion. Hell. She’d been expecting them.
Instead of appearing taken aback, Pesaro lifted his chin, looking down at the vampire queen with an air of arrogance. “That’s precisely why I’ve come.”
“And here I thought it was because you missed me, my dear, mortal Maximilian.” Lilith rose smoothly, sending a renewed swell of roses wafting through the air. Sebastian thought he might choke.
In an instant, she’d moved in front of Pesaro, her silky forest green skirts dragging across the floor in a short train. The vampire queen stood as tall as Max, taller than Sebastian himself. She reached for Pesaro, the sleeve of her gown sliding back to reveal the pale, blue-veined flesh of an impossibly thin arm. Looking at the unfortunate man, trying to capture him with her enthralling gaze, she curled her skeletal hand around the back of his neck, fingers sifting through the dark hair that brushed his collar.
How could he abide those hands on him? Had she enthralled him so easily with her gaze?
Sebastian watched sharply, his heart pounding harder, and exchanged a glance with Michalas. They had agreed-or, rather, been informed-that Max would handle Lilith. But now…
Pesaro continued to stand still, without even the hitch of a breath, despite the brush of bone-white flesh against his much darker skin. Sebastian watched in horrified fascination as her hand trailed down around the collar of his open shirt and along the length of his arm to grasp his wrist. She touched him as if he was her possession, as if she knew every ridge of every muscle in his body, every hair on his head.
It wasn’t until this moment, watching the sordid pantomime in front of him, that Sebastian fully understood the sacrifice Pesaro had made in coming here.
And in leaving Victoria behind. Safe.
Damn. Grudging respect for Max Pesaro was not one of Sebastian’s favorite emotions.
He could see that Lilith had her long fingers closed around Max’s wrist, and then her fangs came out as she reached for his jaw with her other hand, pressing her body intimately up against his.
“You cannot know how pleased I am that you’ve returned to me,” Lilith said, reaching up to touch Max’s cheek with a sharp nail.
That was when he moved. Suddenly, sharply, efficiently.
One moment Lilith had him in her grasp, seemingly overpowered, ready to sink her fangs into his corded neck… and the next, Max had her caught neatly by the wrists. He bared his teeth in a humorless smile and then shoved her away from him. “I think not.”
Sebastian braced himself for a furious onslaught from Lilith and the four vampires he’d spotted, lurking deep in the shadows and behind the draped wall hangings.
But to his surprise, Lilith caught her balance, remaining on her feet, and instead of fury blackening her face, he saw delight. Pure, unadulterated delight… followed by a bit of confusion.
“You’ve returned,” she said in wonder. “You’ve returned as a Venator, my dear Maximilian.” She smiled, and the bald lust in her expression made Sebastian’s belly tighten unpleasantly. “I thought it was impossible, but… here you are.”
“Obviously your taint in my blood could not withstand divine will,” Pesaro replied.
Lilith pursed her lips into a little moue that Sebastian might have found intriguing if it weren’t on her. “I shan’t complain, Maximilian. To have you back in such magnificent form… I must admit, I was a bit bored with the mere man you’d become.”
“Anything to destroy your hold on me.”
“That is what makes you endlessly fascinating to me, my pet. In all my centuries of nonliving, it’s you who’ve intrigued me to no end.”
“Now that we’ve established your… er… fascination, if I might be so bold as to use the word… perhaps we might get on to business,” Pesaro said. “We’ve come because we need the two Rings of Jubai. As you know, the Midiverse Portal has cracked or somehow been breached, and the only way to close it is with Tached’s Orb.”
“Of course. But you need all five rings to reach inside the enchanted pool,” Lilith replied thoughtfully. “I fixed that truly well, did I not? Unfortunately, three of the rings are lost, which has precluded me from doing the same.”
Pesaro didn’t speak, and it was only the breath of a moment before the vampire was looking up at him in surprise. “And you have the other three? In your possession?”
“We need only the two rings. It will benefit your race as well as man.”
“And you think that we should join forces, Maximilian? Mortal and undead? To save the world from those nasty demons?” With a crafty, sidelong look, Lilith turned. Her movement was an energetic swish, molding her skirts to the boyish curves of her emaciated body.
Sebastian had a sudden mental image of how that body would appear naked, and he swallowed hard. He hoped to God Pesaro had never been faced with such a travesty. But, he realized, it was an unlikely hope. Dear God.
“As I said, it would benefit both of us.”
“And so you expect that I might simply give you the rings, and allow you to rush out and save the world?”
“It would save you from losing more of your followers-at least to the demons. After all,” Pesaro added with a lift of his chin, “we dispatched quite a few of them in Prague only last week. Your numbers are growing fewer.”
Lilith paced, her gown swirling, her gaze continuing to return to Max, and then skittering quickly over to Sebastian and Michalas. The very touch of her attention on Sebastian sent a disgusting chill over his body, and he wondered again how Max had become so inured to her.
“And what of Illa Gardella?”
Pesaro remained silent.
Sebastian felt Lilith’s rising frustration, and he glanced at Max. Max had made it clear to him and Michalas that they were to allow things to unfold as they would without interfering.
Lilith walked toward Pesaro again, reaching for his arm. This time, she seemed prepared for him to react, and he moved easily to block her reach. They faced each other for a moment, ironically, like lovers whose embrace had been thwarted, and then Lilith stepped back.
“I’ll give you the rings… but I want something in exchange.”
“The safety of your race will be your prize. We’ll take the risks, fight the battle. You need do nothing but watch.”
Lilith laughed, a low, knowing one. “Very nice try, Maximilian. You know what I want.”
A beat of silence. Sebastian felt tension lift in the room.
“And if I refuse?” Max said quietly.
“Then you must find another way to free the orb from the enchanted pool. And while you search, and that fairy-headed angel studies book after book, writ after writ… and while you try new ways to breach the glass of that pool… more and more demons will slip free… and well, now, Maximilian, we both know what would happen then. Your lovely Illa Gardella will fight and fight, but the demons will simply keep coming until she dies. Oh, yes, and many others of your race will perish as well. We cannot forget that.”
Sebastian couldn’t remember ever feeling such loathing, such deep disgust. She was playing them, of course. He looked around the room again, in vain, for something that could be used as a weapon against her. Nothing but the cross around his neck-which would hold Lilith off for perhaps a minute or two– and two small vials of holy water inside the hem of his trousers.
Damn Pesaro and his blasted leadership and negotiation. They weren’t going to get what they wanted, and the three of them had little means to fight against Lilith and her guards. Even if somehow they succeeded, then they’d have to actually find the rings.
Not the best odds.
“So what will it be, Maximilian my pet?”
“Yet another impossible choice you offer me.”
“Come now, my dear. It won’t be so terrible.”
“I do believe it would, in fact.”
Lilith laughed. “Again, how you delight me. That lovely mix of pleasure and pain, arrogance and sensuality. How I’ve missed it.” Then she sobered, that cunning look slanting her eyes again. “And if you refuse, and you leave here… Of course, I’ll let you leave, my dear. I find the hunt a good part of the fun, you know. And now that I know you’re truly worth hunting again…”
She turned and paced back to her chaise, settling on it once again like a princess who was about to receive a great gift. “If you leave without the means to close the portal, you know what awaits the world. Your race. You won’t be able to beat them back, of course. And… don’t forget your Illa Gardella. She’d be in the very middle of it all, wouldn’t she?”
“You’d part with the rings, then.”
“You know I would. As you say, it would be to my benefit. In several ways. You, my pet, for eternity… in exchange for the rings.”
Pesaro nodded then, a sharp acquiescence, and it was at that moment that Sebastian realized this had been his plan all along. He’d known he’d never leave, but that he’d need to bargain himself for the two rings.
Sebastian opened his mouth to protest, but Max seemed to know, and he turned to silence him.
“As you wish,” said Lilith with distorted kindness. “One moment while I retrieve them for you.” She stood with another dramatic sweep of silk and beckoned to a pair of guards, standing in the dark corner. She then moved over to what appeared to be a plain stone wall. But she spoke in an ancient tongue and moved her hand over it. A small door appeared, through which she stepped.
Moments later, she returned, closing the door, which again melded so well into the designs on the wall that Sebastian wasn’t certain he’d be able to find it again, even though he’d just seen it open. They would never have found the rings themselves.
But now that they had them, surely Pesaro intended for them to fight their way out?
As Lilith approached Sebastian, offering the two copper rings, he saw the pair of Guardian vampires move toward Pesaro. As Sebastian took the rings from Lilith, he heard the dull clank of metal. Turning, he saw the heavy bands as they were fastened about Max’s wrists.