Hupotasso (Vampire Bachelor Games #2)

70

70

“And why on earth would I give them to you?” Spider drawls as I stand silhouetted in his doorway, the moon bright behind me, his foyer lights barely shedding anything but a gloomy yellow haze.

I’ve come with just two human servants. I want Spider to think I have every confidence in him complying with my demand and don’t need backup to ensure it.

I shrug in answer to his question and pretend nonchalance. I need Isabel and her parents’ bodies if I’m to negotiate the release of my mother and find out where Angie is. I’m playing a deadly game with people known to be duplicitous, and I can’t leave anything to chance.

“The Queen’s asked me to transport the bodies of these Free Men to court. She and The Families wish to display them. Somewhere garish, I imagine.”

“And why would she ask you to take them when they’re freely on display here on my gouch hooks for any royal to visit and peruse?”

“Because I’m currently out of favour with the queen, in case you haven’t noticed, and I’ve been sent on an errand like a schoolboy to visit the castle of the cunt who killed my mother. She has a twisted sense of justice, our monarch. A queen I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of, if I were you, by keeping something from her that she wants. It might raise suspicion you have some kind of affinity with your trophies.”

He bursts out laughing.

“You and I both know your efforts to link me with The Free Men have all been in vain. Take them. They were a gift for her anyway. I’m surprised she didn’t ask for them sooner. The fact that she sent you to collect something so worthless rather than asking me to arrange transportation only indicates her lack of respect for you. Take them, you whoreson, and may their rot and your debasement stink your nostrils for days to come.”

I sneer and signal to my servants to take the bodies from the hooks. The black rubber body bags, once zipped, should prevent the smell from escaping. As I wait and supervise, Sophie descends the staircase and I narrow my eyes at her figure. There’s no doubt about it, she’s pregnant.

“Ah, yes,” Spider grins. “My wife and I are expecting again. It must be a great burden for you to bear to know you can’t father children while I, a true noble deserving of great titles, can impregnate a bitch at the drop of a hat.”

I try not to show my shock. If I’m right that baby is mine, and Sophie is now in great danger. Vampires can’t have DNA tests, we’ve been so interbred over the millennia that all our blood seems identical, only the mothers can be identified. But when Sophie gives birth, which looks to be very soon, the child’s heritage will be obvious. No child of mine will have white hair — quite the opposite. When I get my mother back, and my bride, I’m going to have to figure out a way to rescue Spider’s wife, as promised.

I switch my attention to the count. I’d dearly like to ask him how it was that my father killed his mother, but I know any indication that I lack knowledge will be a sign of weakness. I have to wait and hope that Mother can shed light on this claim. Any information that might give me an edge on my enemy is something I’m itching to get hold of. What I’m not looking forward to is explaining to Sophie that I no longer wish to marry her and raise our child as my heir, or explaining to my wife that I have an illegitimate child. I don’t want to see her eyes when I tell her that while I treated her like shit for close to a year I’d impregnated the woman I told her I was going to replace her with. I recall how shocked she was to find my mistresses still in the North Wing. How she’d raged at Sophie. Infidelity was something she’d always said she wouldn’t tolerate.

‘How will she ever forgive me for the depth of my cruelty?’

I shake my head.

“I believe you’re mistaken,” I reply through clenched teeth. “My wife and I are also expecting a child.”

I see Sophie stiffen at the news and steadfastly keep my expression neutral.

“We’ll see,” Spider snorts, “or maybe we won’t. Where exactly is your wife, Falcon?”

I grit my teeth and turn to leave, his laughter following me into the night air. Someone at my castle is definitely leaking information, and I intend to find out who. But for now I’ve secured Isabel and her parents through a ruse, and I have a rendezvous with The Free Men to make before word gets back to the queen.

Hopefully by tomorrow my mother will be safe and well and back in my castle, and the queen will be duly mollified by her return to forgive my unauthorised use of her authority.

And hopefully too, I’ll find out where my wife is being kept.

My fangs run out in anticipation of my meeting with these Free Men .