Isabel and the Werewolf Beast (Vampire Tales #1)

21. Dante

Chapter twenty-one

Dante

A sher let out a low whistle. “Do you think we can do that?”

“Do you want me to chop your head off so we can see?” I raised my eyes, glaring at my brother with all the loathing I had for him for taking Isabel away from me.

“Whoa. I understand you’re angry, but do you want to kill me?”

I turned my attention back to Isabel. What should I do with her body while I hunted Silas? She needed to be somewhere safe. I guess now the curse had lifted, the castle wouldn’t turn her into a ghost. Her bedroom had a killer pet raven. She’d be a good watchguard over her body. Should I roll her up on the rug in case she turned into a ghost again?

“Dante?”

“What? No. Sorry, I was trying to figure out what to do with Isabel’s body while we get her head.” I rubbed a hand over my mouth. “I can’t believe I said that.”

“Does she have a coffin you can put her in?”

“A coffin?” I spluttered.

“Isn’t that what they sleep in?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. It was always night during the curse, and we were always awake.”

“Didn’t you get tired? It’s been months since I left you here.”

“Months?” I leaped to my feet. “So much time, yet we never slept or ate. The curse must have placed us in some sort of time bubble.”

“Silas is one powerful warlock. Everywhere I asked after him the people acted so afraid, but they were more afraid of me when I shifted into a monster.”

“We’re not monsters.”

“Werewolf. Same thing.”

“Have you met a monster?”

“No.”

“Then you don’t comprehend if we’re the same. During the curse, there was a monster in the pond.”

“A monster in the pond. Come on,” Asher scoffed, kicking his foot on the ground at the same time.

“He was an octopus before the curse. Silas’s curse warped things in here, but that’s changed now. I hope it has. He removed it, didn’t he?”

“Yes. We made a binding blood deal. He’d remove the curse if I fetched him her head. What would he want with her head?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out as soon as I place Isabel’s body in her bedroom then we go hunting. ”

I slid one arm under her shoulders and the other under her lower back and rolled her body toward me as I stood. The fact she had no head made my eyes wet with tears as I tried not to look at her neck. It made me sick seeing her like this. Tending to her while she’d been recovering from the poison had been a worry, but this stressed me beyond what my pounding head could take.

“Open the door for me.”

Asher walked to the front door and opened it. I stepped over the threshold half expecting Isabel to turn into a ghost again. She didn’t. Instead, the sound of music emanated from the ballroom. Voices too. Were there people inside? Vampires? Ones who’d kill us if they saw us. Isabel had warned me about the ballroom. How it would be my death, but I couldn’t leave her outside. Vulnerable. Alone. At least in her bedroom, she’d have a beloved pet by her side while I couldn’t be there.

“Asher,” I whispered. “Run to the forest now. As quietly as you can.”

“Dante,” he whispered back. “Come with me.”

I lifted Isabel higher and tighter to my chest. “I’ll be right behind you after I take her upstairs.”

Asher’s gaze lifted to the staircase and his eyes widened.

I placed a finger over my lips and then pointed behind him and mouthed the word now. He scowled but turned and raced across the grass. I made my way toward the staircase, placing my feet slowly, one at a time so as not to make a sound. I recognized the way up the stairs to Isabel’s bedroom, and once I approached the landing, I hastened my steps. Clasping the doorknob, I said a silent plea that Nemisis wouldn’t squawk the moment I opened the door. I rushed inside and closed the door behind me. The raven sat on the windowsill and watched me with its beady eyes .

“Hey Nemisis,” I whispered. “Isabel will be fine. I’ll make sure of it.”

I placed her on the bed, then thought better and covered her with a blanket. Her form molded to the blanket and the fact her head was missing was obvious still. My stomach churned. The door burst open behind me. Before I reacted, hands wrapped around my neck hauled me off my feet from behind and dangled me in the air.

“Werewolf,” a deep masculine voice spat the word. “How dare you come into a vampire’s home?”

I dug my fingers into his hands but he wouldn’t let go.

“I should rip your heart out and feast on your blood, but this isn’t my home so Isabel can have the honor of killing you.” He dropped me to my feet. “Isabel?” He glanced at her then reached out and dragged my face to his. “What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do it,” I rasped out through my sore throat.

The vampire curled his top lip revealing his sharp fangs. It should be one of these ‘life before your eyes’ moments but all I thought about was how I’d get out of here and get Isabel’s head back.

“Lies,” he said.

“Why would I lie? Why would I carry her body up here?”

His gaze flicked around the room. “Where is her head?”

“Silas took it.”

“Silas?” He sneered.

“He cursed Isabel first.”

“Werewolf. I don’t believe you.”

“Believe me so I can get her head back and fix her.”

His head tilted to the side. “You want to help a vampire? The ones who hunt and kill your kind?”

“I understand nothing about that, and I don’t care. All I care about is Isabel. ”

He shoved me to the floor. “Stay down or I’ll kill you. How could you care for her? You don’t know her. She would tell me if she befriended a werewolf.”

“I know her. We’ve been stuck together in the curse for months. I don’t know how long she was stuck in it before I came along. I don’t know who you are.”

He flicked back his long hair and stared at Isabel’s body under the blanket for a long time before he said, “I’m Lucian, her maker.”

“She told me about you.” I lifted the necklace that was dangling around my neck where Isabel’s fingers had clipped the clasp closed. “You gave her this moonstone when you first turned her to help her with her emotions.”

His glare snapped to the necklace. “You stole that.”

“I didn’t. She gave it to me. I can show you the jewelry box outside. Why would I steal the jewelry box and come back up here?”

“Nothing is making sense. Least of all you. I will place you in the basement for now while I investigate these lies you say are true.”

“Lucian,” I pleaded. “Let me go so I can find Silas and her head.”

“If what you say is true, I will. Follow me to the basement or I’ll incapacitate you and drag you down the stairs. Your choice.”

“If I run?”

“You won’t get far. I’m old and fast. Plus there is a ballroom full of vampires downstairs that would love to kill a werewolf on sight. Most are not as willing to talk as I am.”

“Okay,” I said, my shoulders slumping in the face of this defeat, but I’d do anything to help Isabel. “I’ll go to the basement.”

Lucian clicked his fingers and Nemisis flew from the windowsill and landed on his arm.

“Watch your mistress,” he told the bird .

The raven flew from his arm and landed on the solid, dark timber bedhead.

Lucian walked to the door and turned a key in the lock. He placed the key in his breast pocket and stepped over to the dressing table. He lifted a bottle and placed it back. Opened a drawer and shut it again. What was he looking for? He lifted a hairbrush, and glanced at Isabel, his face turning into a twisted grimace of anguish. Lucian cared for Isabel. Was it a matter of him turning her that made him care or was there more between them? He opened the drawer and placed the hairbrush inside, shoving it toward the back as far as he could go. A click echoed in the quiet room and behind the dressing table, a panel in the wall opened an inch.

He pointed at the wall. I scrambled to my feet and rammed the wall inside. A dark hallway lay inside. No lights shone, but we both had night vision and could see in the pitch black. I followed the hallway around a few corners and then climbed down a set of steep stairs that went on forever. At the bottom of the stairs was an enormous cavern of nothing.

Lucian walked to a wall and touched it as though looking for another trigger. All this time, Isabel had secret passageways inside her castle and I didn’t know. If this were under any other circumstances, I’d be enjoying this adventure. Instead, every step further away from Isabel churned my stomach more. An ache started in my chest.

Another click echoed, this one even louder considering where we were and the wall opened into a room beyond. This room was small. Like a tiny cave. Or cage. My muscles trembled at being locked away. A werewolf needed to run. I understood that much about myself. I’d learned more by reading Isabel’s books, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing I’d learned could have prepared me for what had happened since I stepped into this deadly curse.

“I’ll be back to question you again,” Lucian’s voice echoed eerily in the cavern. My prison.