Nick eyed the priest, who had taken out another cross and was nailing it in place. "Amen."
As they walked away from the village's main street, a tall, dark woman came out of a doorway and stood in front of them.
Nick smelled flowers and stepped up to her. "Call the priest; I think I found one."
"Qui êtes-vous?" She peered. "Gabriel Seran? C'est toi?"
"Marcella Evareaux. Oui, c'est moi." He caught the gorgeous woman as she flung herself at him and embraced her with the joy of a long-lost lover reunited.
An outrageously large spike of jealousy kept Nick nailed to the sidelines, quietly watching. The two chatted in a strange dialect of French she'd never heard before, so she made out only bits and pieces of the conversation. Her resentment built and then ebbed as she saw tears in the female vampire's eyes. She seemed completely rattled yet genuinely delighted to see Gabriel.
"This is my companion, Nicola Jefferson." Gabriel was introducing her to Marcella. "She brought me out of France, and again rescued me in London."
"Mademoiselle." The woman actually curtsied to Nick. "You have done us a great service by saving Gabriel. The Kyn are deeply in your debt." Marcella turned to Gabriel. "You have come at a difficult time. I assume that Croft told you that Lucan liberated the Durands, and that your sister was killed in America?"
It was time for Nick to get lost.
"I'm going to take a ride around the farms," she told Gabriel. Over both their protests, she added, "I can't follow your French when you talk that fast, and I'd like to get the lay of the land. You and Marcella can catch up while I'm gone." She could also follow this feeling in her gut, which had been growing bigger and stronger ever since they'd come to the village.
"We can speak in English." Gabriel looked torn. "You will come back?"
Nick nodded; no way was she going through trying to dump him again. But while Gabriel was occupied, she could track whatever was setting off her internal radar. "Try not to get detained, captured, questioned, or crucified while I'm gone."
Phillipe and John dragged Richard's body through the hidden passage and into the now-deserted part of the castle where Richard had been keeping John Keller locked up. "You found these passages on your own?"
"Alexandra hinted at them." John checked Richard's neck. "I can't feel a pulse."
"It does not mean he is dead. When Kyn suffer serious injuries, our hearts stop beating for a time." Phillipe lifted Richard into a wide armoire and nestled him in behind the hanging gowns, arranging the long skirts over him so that he wouldn't be seen. "You should stay here."
John shook his head. "I overheard the guards talking in the corridor. Lady Elizabeth had Alexandra and Cyprien thrown into the dungeon."
"She will be busy taking control of the humans," Phillipe said. "That will give us time to do the same with the guards."
"Won't they be loyal to her?"
The seneschal offered a grim smile. "Not after I tell them she has been slowly poisoning their king."
Alexandra hit the stone floor, rolled, and landed in a pile of moldy, rotting straw. Most of the dim light from the torches outside disappeared as the heavy door slammed shut and someone bolted it from the outside.
"Welcome to the dungeon." She spit out a piece of straw and struggled to her feet, rubbing her hip. It didn't feel broken, which only made her more pissed off. "I swear, Phil had better bust me out of here soon or I'll…" She stopped as she sniffed the air.
"Do you wish to leave me so soon?"
That was it. She'd finally lost her mind. Or… "Who's there?"
A soft blanket of roses rolled around her, weaving with the bright lavender that answered it. Alex didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She started to do a little of both.
"I imagined this so many times," Michael Cyprien said as he knelt down before her. "Every hour, every minute at times. Never once did I think it would happen in such a place." He took her grimy hand and pressed it to his lips. "I have missed you, my lady."
"Michael." She couldn't get past his name. "Michael."
He started to stand at the same moment her knees gave out. They came together, two souls filling the broken, empty spaces forced between them.
"Oh, God." Alex kissed every inch of his beloved face, drinking in the taste and smell and feel of him until she thought she really would go mad. She began babbling like a lunatic. "I missed you. I love you. Why did you take so long to get here? I missed you."
A face blocked out of the small shaft of light coming from the cell window, and a man laughed.
"Save it for the mistress," the guard shouted. "She likes a good show."
Alex stiffened. "An audience. Terrific."
Michael held her close as he gave the door a murderous look before his expression softened. "Elizabeth has taken control of the castle. Richard has vanished, but he may be dead or dying."
Business as usual. "We're up to our ears, then."He nodded and stroked his hand over her curls. "It is my fault. I might have planned this rescue somewhat better than I did."
"We'll find a way out. We always do." She couldn't get close enough to him. She wanted to rip off the stupid clothes keeping her skin from touching his. "My head's not exactly on straight yet. I know what I'd like to do to you, but not with that guard or Lady Liz watching. Still, I need to…" She didn't know what she needed.
He yanked at the collar of his shirt, baring his throat.
"That?" Even with her fangs fully extended and aching for him, to feed directly from his body seemed as intimate as fucking him. Then there was her need. "What if I drink too much?"
"You won't." He cradled the back of her head with his hand and urged her forward. "Take me, Alexandra."
She kissed the smooth skin first, choosing the place where his blood pulsed strongest. Her mouth opened as his fingers entwined with hers. Her fangs slid into him, deep and sure, as if she had taken him like this a thousand times, and then his lifeblood flowed into her, hot and sweet and silky. The world became a river of warm, honeyed rose petals.
Michael's voice reached through the pleasure, adding to it, changing it. "Come back to me, mon amour."
Somehow Alex wrenched her mouth from him, panting, shuddering as she ripped open the front of her shirt. She didn't have to urge him to her; his mouth found the inside of her breast, one of his favorite spots to kiss and nuzzle when they made love. When she felt his teeth, she arched up against his mouth, making him penetrate her as deeply as she had taken him. He sucked at her with a soft, dreamy sigh, and then lifted his head and looked into her wet eyes.
"I love you, Alexandra."
Chapter 19
Korvel intercepted a human female coming toward Dundellan on a rather noisy motorcycle. She stopped when he held up one hand and shut off the bike.
"You are trespassing." He walked up to her and nearly stumbled when he picked up the scent of evergreen from her skin.
"Watch your step." She took off the black helmet she was wearing, revealing a very young face and a headful of blond curls. "You're a vampire, right?"
"No." Korvel reached out to touch her, but she glided out of range.
"No, I don't think so." She glanced at the castle. "I need to talk to the vampire who lives in there. Is that you?" When he said nothing, she sighed. "Okay, can you get me in to see him?"
"There are no such things as vampires." He took another swipe at her, trying to make the skin contact he needed to use his talent. Once he had her panting after him, he'd find out how she had gotten Gabriel Seran's scent all over her.
"Forget it; I'll just go up and knock." She pushed the bike off the road and left it under a tree.
Frustrated by his inability to touch her, Korvel caught up with her and blocked her path. "I won't hurt you, miss." He looked into her eyes and shed more scent, but it seemed to have no effect on her.
"You're very cute, but I don't screw complete strangers. Most of the time." She sidestepped him. "So you can turn off the charm."
"You cannot go inside the castle," he told her.
"Trouble in Camelot?" She heard his men shouting and tilted her head. "Thanks for the heads-up. Now can I go in and talk to the high lord?"
She had to be a tresora. "I am sorry; I do not mean to frighten you." He breathed in the deep, faintly sweet scent clinging to her. "Who do you serve?"
The girl lifted her chin. "I don't serve anyone, but if it counts, I'm sleeping with Gabriel Seran."
Korvel could hardly think straight. "He truly is alive?"
"He truly is." She smiled. "Do you know him?"
"He was—is—a great friend to my master."
"Gabriel's down in the village, talking to some supermodel vampire." She sounded oddly resigned. "Now can I go in there? There's something in this place I really need to find."
Nick thought the big blond vampire was about to have a nervous breakdown, he was so agitated. The scent rolling off him made her feel as if she were locked in a French bakery.
"What's your name?" she asked as she looked up over the edge of the ditch and watched for men on horseback.
"Korvel."
"I'm Nick."
The patrol of four huge-looking armed soldiers passed, and as soon as they had ridden out of sight, the vampire grabbed her hand. "They'll be back in two minutes. We must hurry."
Nick ran with him across to the side entry, pausing here and there to take refuge behind a tree trunk. Korvel opened the door with an impressive show of one-armed Kyn strength, almost wrenching it off its three bolts as they ducked inside.
The interior of this castle, Nick discovered, was particularly cold. It was also as silent as a church. She imagined the place where they were standing had once been a kitchen.