Isabel and the Werewolf Beast (Vampire Tales #1)

16. Dante

Chapter sixteen

Dante

T he door to the castle opened. Isabel frowned at the bloody rug on the ground in front of the door, but she said nothing. We walked inside together. Isabel’s body turned translucent.

“I don’t like how you keep doing that. You should wait outside.”

“You’ll need my help with Nemisis.”

“Nemesis?”

“No, Nemisis.”

“What’s the difference?”

“For someone who reads a lot…” She shook her head. “One is a raven. The other is an enemy.”

“So you have a raven enemy?”

“No.” She rolled her eyes. “What the hell happened to my castle?”

I glanced at where she was staring at the broken vase on the floor in tiny pieces of blue and white porcelain.

“Sorry about that. When the plants in the maze hurt you, I carried you back here, but you turned into a damn ghost.”

“Which doesn’t explain the broken Ming vase.” She folded her arms over her chest and glared at me.

“I was a little angry I couldn’t help you.”

“Oh,” she whispered, the heat and anger disappearing from her voice.

“The rage took over for a moment.” I pointed at the vase. “I didn’t mean to break things, it just kind of happened without conscious thought, but then I figured out how to get you back outside, so I could tend to your wounds.”

“Yes, you dragged a rare Turkish rug outside into the dirt after letting me bleed all over it. Thank you.”

I rolled my shoulders. The rage was building in me again. Why did Isabel infuriate me so much? Make my emotions so volatile that I couldn’t control them.

“I could have left you there to die.” I pointed at the floor. To the spot I’d watched her bleed endlessly and been helpless to help her inside the castle.

“Maybe my death will end this damn curse.”

“Don’t think like that. There are many books I haven’t read yet. One of them might have the answer.”

“I doubt my books will have the answers we seek,” she said still scowling.

I growled, the sound rumbling from my chest and from my throat.

Why were we back to fighting? I’d thought we were on our way to becoming friends .

She marched up the staircase. I followed on her heels. If there was a killer raven in her bedroom, then I’d stop it. She stomped, and even though she glided in her incorporeal form, I saw the way her limbs moved in anger, along the hallway until she paused at a closed door.

“Nemisis used to be my pet, so don’t hurt her.”

I blew out a long breath. There went my plan to pluck the feathered fiend. Is that why she was so upset now she was back in the castle? She was worried about her pet. I wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be all right, but she’d pass right through me in the castle. I’d have to save the hugs for in the castle grounds.

“A pet. So you do love something.”

What would it take to make her love me? Where had that thought come from? Love wasn’t an emotion I was familiar with. I’d never had love once in my life. I yearned to appreciate what the emotion was like. Was it like the way I read in books? All-encompassing? Consuming and exciting?

“I love a lot of things,” she said. “You ruined a couple of them.”

I chuckled. I’d known she’d be mad at me for breaking her precious items.

“Don’t ruin my pet.”

She pointed her dainty finger at my furred chest and I hungered to press her hand against me. To have her run those fingers over my body.

I cleared my throat and asked, “How do you suppose I should stop a killer raven without killing it?”

“If I knew that, I would have done it already.”

“Is it like the plants in the maze? Will it poison me?”

“No. Raven’s aren’t poisonous. Yews are.”

“You planted a poisonous hedge on purpose?”

She never ceased to amaze me with her knowledge. Her beauty was one thing, but her mind was another. The complete package of everything I’d ever desired in my life.

“Of course.”

“What about the octopus?”

“I rescued him from captivity. He didn’t want to leave me. Hence the pond. He’s just stronger than normal with the curse.”

“And a killer now too?”

“I suppose yes. Although I haven’t seen him kill anything. It’s not his fault. It’s the curse affecting him.”

I rubbed my chin. She was right, this curse was affecting everything inside the castle and grounds. Whoever placed the curse had a lot to answer for. “So the bird? How is he different?”

“She isn’t. She’s a bird, but she attacks my face whenever I go inside. Her beak is sharp and so are her claws.”

I tapped my finger against my lips. “When she attacks you, how bad is it?”

“She flies around squawking and pecks my face. How bad do you think it is?”

“But you make it out in one piece.”

And from what I’d read vampires had amazing healing abilities. Bird pecks might hurt but she’d heal from them. It wouldn’t be like the poison maze.

“What are you getting at?”

“I don’t want to suggest this, but what if you’re the decoy to distract her, I run in and grab the clothes then we run out together?”

I didn’t want her pecked by her pet again, but it was a good plan. Even the thought of one tiny wound on her made my beastly urges try to claw their way to the surface.

“Can she follow you out of the room?”

“I’m not sure. The door always shuts for me.”

“This castle is so weird. ”

“Don’t talk about my castle like that. I love this place.”

“It’s a building, Isabel,” I said, an amused smile tugging at my lips. This woman loved it so much. So much that I hungered to know what her love was like.

The castle walls vibrated as though an earthquake rumbled through the earth. I placed my hand on the doorframe and the other around Isabel’s waist, but my hand passed through her. She stood near my side as though she fit perfectly into my werewolf form.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Just a building throwing a tantrum,” she said, stepping away from my side and smoothing back her hair.

“I have to ask. Was it like this before the curse?”

“No.” She laughed.

“The curse changed the castle too?”

“Yes, but at least that’s not trying to kill me.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. The castle turned her into a ghost every time she walked inside. In my eyes that was the building trying to kill her, but I didn’t dare say anything else about the castle. Who knew what would happen?

“All right. I’ll open the door. You rush in and distract the bird. I’ll grab your clothes. Wait. Where are they?”

“Run to the left and you’ll find the wardrobe. Grab anything you can in five seconds then leave.”

“Five seconds?”

“Yes. Bird beaks hurt.”

“Can’t be any worse than the labyrinth.”

“You’ll see.” Her lips firmed into a tight line.

I grasped the doorknob. “Ready?”

“Go.”

I turned the knob and opened the door. Isabel ran inside. A bird squawked and then a black shadow swooped across the doorway chasing her down as Isabel ducked to the right side of the room. I dashed inside to the left, located the wardrobe with ease, flung open the doors grabbed two handfuls of coat hangers then turned to leave. The raven was in my face pecking my forehead without me even seeing it come. I lifted one arm and swung the dresses around waving the bird away from my face, I ducked my head and rushed to the door. The bird swooped the top of my head, pecking at my skull like it was trying to get to my brain. I flung a handful of clothes over the top of the bird. The dresses dragged the raven to the floor. The lump of material stirred creepily. Isabel rushed out of the door so I chased after her and slammed the door shut.

“Ow,” I said, touching a hand to the back of my head which had endured the pecking.

“I told you she pecks hard.”

“You didn’t mention her beak is like a drill trying to get to my brain.”

She laughed so hard she had to clutch her stomach.

“Sorry about the clothes.”

“It’s okay, she’ll get out from under them soon.”

“I meant sorry I left half of them in the room.”

“Oh,” she said. “I guess it’s time to try the next part of your plan.

“What’s that?”

“To see if once you take them outside, I can change clothes.”

“Right.” I swallowed the sudden desire leaping to my body at the thought of her undressing.

Isabel naked. My body surged with sudden longing. If I didn’t get out of this castle soon, then I feared I’d chase her once again in an animal-induced lustful state that overrode rational thought.

“Let’s get outside then.”

We walked back down the stairs. I took them two at a time. The lustful need was building every second I was inside the castle with her. I wanted to be inside her. Isabel paused in the hallway. She walked toward the ballroom doors. The ones she said I shouldn’t go in.

“Isabel.”

Her face swung my way. A dazed expression shifted over her face, as though she’d forgotten what she was doing.

“Come outside with me.”

She blinked slowly. Her body did a weird little shiver and her image lightened even more.

“Now,” I barked the order at her.

Her spine snapped straight. Her shoulders rolled back. She glared at me. Then she strode past me as though I was the dirt beneath her shoes.

This Isabel didn’t scare me. The disappearing one did.