Isabel and the Werewolf Beast (Vampire Tales #1)

38. Dante

Chapter thirty-eight

Dante

A sher was in a coffin. My mind fixated on that time and time again as the steady cadence of the train rattled over the tracks. Even Isabel’s hand in mine wouldn’t take my mind off the fact I might never get my brother back. He might be stuck in the curse. Might never wake. Never live again.

We stood on the gray concrete platform as the train attendants loaded the shiny dark timber coffin into the baggage compartment. Only one attendant emerged from the dark depths, nodded at us, and strolled over the other bags on the luggage cart.

“I mesmerized the attendant to keep watch of the coffin the entire trip,” Isabel said. “He won’t move until I say so.”

My insides twisted at not being by my brother’s side. I’d watched Isabel use her vampire powers to mesmerize the train attendant but seeing it for the first time meant it was hard for me to wrap my brain around.

“It’s risky if we stay in the baggage car, but we can if you need to. I’ll mesmerize anyone who sees us.”

“No, I trust you,” I said, turning my attention from where Asher was now lying in an endless sleep to my mate.

She threaded her fingers through mine and led me along the platform, passing through the crowd of people milling about, waiting for the doors to open. As though on cue, the train doors hissed open and the crowd surged forward, disappearing into the train. We followed into the passenger car closest to the baggage car. Isabel assured me we’d hear if anything happened in the other car even over the noise of the train. Another perk to becoming a werewolf that I hadn’t considered in the two years I’d been one. Isabel had opened my mind and heart to accepting all of who I am.

“I should feed before we arrive,” Isabel whispered, tugging my hand into a compartment behind a man.

The man lifted his chin as he surveyed us from the leather seat. Isabel’s vampire power flared as she stared into his eyes.

“Stay still. Don’t say a word,” she commanded.

My heart hammered as my tongue twisted in my mouth. I wanted to stop her, but I didn’t at the same time. This was who she was. A vampire who fed on humans. But could I stand to see her feed from another man? I touched the moonstone necklace and concentrated on staying calm for her.

“In one minute, you’ll fall asleep for the entire train ride. You’ll wake refreshed with no memory of us.”

Isabel sat on the seat beside him. The red velvet fabric suited her and her pale skin as she lifted his wrist to her mouth and buried her shiny white fangs into his flesh. The beast inside me roared with protectiveness, but Isabel drank a couple of pulls into her mouth, then released the man’s hand. She winked at me before gently setting the man back into the seat, patting the floppy brown hair on his head like he was a good boy. Isabel tugged me out of his compartment and led me across the corridor to our compartment. She settled into my side as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

For her, it hadn’t.

But this was my mate, my life now. I accepted her for who she was even while I was jealous she’d fed from another man.

“My grandsire wouldn’t have offered help if he didn’t believe it would work,” Isabel said, tracing her thumbnail over the back of my hand.

The scenery outside the window whizzed by in a blur of buildings in the city to rambling hills to the ocean lapping at the shore with waves of silver moonlight. Any other time I might be happy to be traveling out of my village, out of my country to a place where monsters were accepted and taught in an academy.

But all I could think about was Asher. And my mate.

“Ludwig wasn’t too fond of me when he first met me.” I dragged my gaze from the window to the beautiful woman by my side. My mate.

“He’s never too fond of anyone to start with.” A delicate smile pulled at her blood-red lips. “You’re still frowning,” Isabel said, leaning over my arm, peering into my eyes with the concern of a woman who had nothing but love in her eyes .

I never thought I’d see that look aimed at me. Let alone now I was a monster. She accepted me too.

“Just me being jealous you fed from another man.”

She laughed huskily. “So you’d be fine with me feeding from a woman?”

My grin stretched lopsided as I contemplated her words. “I’d be jealous of anyone you fed from. Can’t you feed from only me?”

“We both know what happens when I feed from you.” She fluttered her thick black eyelashes.

I let out a long drawn-out sigh and draped my arm around her shoulders. “I won’t ever get used to this.”

“To us?” Her delicate throat worked as she swallowed. “Or to me as a vampire?”

“To being loved so wholly.”

“Dante, you will and so will I,” she whispered.

“You were the first person to accept me for who I was as a beast. How could I not accept you as a vampire?” I leaned down and kissed her. “I love everything about you.”

“I love every part of you too.” Her luscious red lips stretched into a happy smile.

The train slowed, the steady click of the wheels echoing in a softer tune now. Brighter lights flickered on as most people slept the journey through the night. Shuffling noises sounded from the compartments around us as people prepared to disembark. I stood and balanced easily as the train lurched to a stop on the tracks. Isabel joined me and together hand in hand we walked from the train onto the platform.

An attendant dressed in a yellow button-down vest and black pants rushed forward and led us to where they’d unload Asher and Isabel’s very large travel case. By the time we threaded our way through the crowd of people the coffin and Isabel’s case were on a trolley and being wheeled to a tall black horse snorting steam in the frigid night air, shuffling from hoof to hoof, leather creaking under the strain of the fidgeting animal. The carriage behind it was tall and long, intricate swirls of carved wood decorated the exterior and the same insignia as the professors wore on their suits glowed under the golden lights dotted along the outskirts of the train station.

“A horse and carriage?” I whispered in Isabel’s ear.

“The professors are old. Ancient. Plus the track to the Nightshade Academy is only accessible this way unless you want to walk?”

“I’m not leaving Asher’s side.” My claws threatened to burst through my skin, but I held the beast inside.

The attendant and the carriage driver loaded the coffin and the case onto the top of the carriage and strapped them in place with ropes.

“We should have gotten your clothing from your house,” Isabel said as we watched the men work. Well, I assumed the driver was a human, but he could be a vampire.

“We have a few items from your house and I’m not even going to ask whose they are.” I folded my arms over my chest.

She laughed and then rose on her tiptoes to kiss me quickly on the lips. “Most of them are spare clothes I keep for guests.” She tapped a fingernail to my frown. “The others belong to Maximus.”

“Great I’m wearing your brother’s clothes. Very sexy.”

The laughter coming from her lips was like tiny drops of rain on the outstretched face of a sunflower. Happy. My mate was happy. Happy to be with me.

“Where are we heading?”

“Up there.” Isabel pointed to the dark, tree-dotted hills in the distance.

The attendant opened the door of the carriage while the driver claimed his seat up high above the prancing horse which now looked ready to race home. Isabel’s feet glided up the steps into the carriage as though she’d done this a million times. Her blood-red dress swirled around her legs before they disappeared inside.

A fog rolled in through the night air. Thick and heavy with moisture and the promise of darkness. But we were the darkness. The creatures humans feared. I hurried up the steps of the carriage and claimed the space beside Isabel.

The whip of the leather reins over the horse’s rump was muffled in the thick night air. Hooves clattered on the tarmac as the horse jumped into a gallop and took off into the dark night as though the devil himself chased it. The carriage bounced and bobbed side to side. At least they’d strapped Asher to the roof otherwise the coffin would have flung off the top into the wilderness by now.

Isabel grinned as I clutched the edges of the seat. “Do we have to go so fast?”

“Yes, I can’t be stuck out here in the daylight. Even if the carriage is designed to protect vampires.”

“Right. Sorry.” I glanced at the darkened windows of the carriage, the tinted film making the outside appear even darker still.

But there was nothing to see outside, fog had rolled in fully, covering us and everything in its path.

“How does he see the way to go?”

“They know the way. They travel it often like this.” Isabel’s fingers stroked the sides of my face until I turned to stare into her beautiful face. “The day I arrived was exactly like this. Dark. Gloomy. Fog rolling on for endless eternity. It made my first impression of the Nightshade Academy stand out.”

“What does it look like?” Curiosity was getting the better of me.

“See for yourself.” Isabel’s delicate finger pointed out the window .

The carriage rounded a curve and the tall spires of a gateway came into view. The fog rolled gently around the top but the tall peaks stretched into the fog. A curved gateway holding a wrought-iron gate with deadly spikes on top sat closed. Beside the gates on the stone wall were two statues standing guard over the entrance. Above was a curved window as though a vampire stood watch over the entrance.

The curve in the track ended, and I lost sight of the gates as we entered through them and under the curved arch. The horse slowed to a trot, hooves clacking over stone once again and then it jolted to a stop almost throwing me from my seat. My heart clanged inside my chest. I was in the den of vampires. Vampires who hated werewolves. Who killed them on sight.

But Isabel and I had changed everything with our love.

Still, I didn’t know whether to trust them.

The carriage door opened, and the driver waved us out. Isabel glided down the steps and stood on the immaculate manicured green grass. The fog was no longer in existence. I jumped from the carriage and landed beside her, ready and willing to end any threat to her, but we were alone. Apart from the driver who was unstrapping the luggage.

I glanced up and up at the tall building before me. Stone of murky gray stood in an impenetrable mask of gothic creation. Dark windows faced us from the curved archways over them but not a single light was on in the building.

Strange since vampires were nocturnal.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, my deep voice echoing through the courtyard.

Footsteps echoed across the pavement. A single set. Ludwig strode toward us, his immaculate black suit in place but now a flowing cape hung from his shoulders and billowed behind him .

“The students are in the assembly hall,” Ludwig’s voice echoed the same way mine had expect his held a note of authority and age, so much age. “We’re informing them of the new curriculum. I’m hoping you two can help us implement it.”

“Us?” Isabel asked.

“You were my best student, and while I can’t show you favoritism as your grandsire, this new turn of advent means you’re the most suitable candidate for a role as a new teacher here. One who can persuade the students to see werewolves as friends instead of enemies they should kill on sight.” He ran his hands down the sides of his cape, settling the thick material around his body.

“You brought us here on false pretenses,” I said through gritted teeth.

“No, I did not. I may have had hopes you’d agree to stay as teachers though.” He flashed his fangs as he smiled.

“We’ll think about it,” Isabel said. “I have my pets back at home to consider. Maximus will only pet sit for so long.”

I wanted to laugh at the notion of Maximus pet-sitting those two creatures that had tried to kill me, and Isabel. At least they were no longer under Silas’s curse.

A loud thud sounded behind us and we all turned to find the driver had set Asher’s coffin on the ground. I rushed over and flipped the heavy wooden lid open. Asher lay inside. Eyes closed. Shallow breaths, but still alive. My shoulders sagged with the weight of relief that I still had a chance to save him.

I wanted Isabel to have Asher as her family too.

“Come,” Ludwig said. “I’ll take you to the private wing.”

I hauled Asher’s body over my shoulder, keeping him in the coffin was no longer necessary and I couldn’t bear the sight of it any longer. His weight was heavy on my shoulder but comforting at the same time to have him close again. My little brother. It was my duty to protect him and he was in this state because he’d protected me instead.

We walked under an archway toward a part of the school building that appeared to be connected but separated as though the students weren’t allowed in this section. The heavy door clicked open as Ludwig turned the carved face of a monster on the doorknob. The eyes seemed to watch me as I entered the building.

“This is the professor’s quarters. You’ll be safe here,” Ludwig said as the door swung shut sealing us inside a long corridor.

“Safe from what?” I glanced left and then right but there was nothing but dark timber doors along the hallway. All were shut.

“This change will take time. We won’t stop centuries of hatred in one day.”

“Are you saying vampires will try to kill Dante?” Isabel asked, a note of steel and death in her voice.

Ludwig nodded as he walked down the hallway and stopped at a door. I hadn’t noticed until now that each door held a different tiny carved monster face on the doorknob. His hand turned the knob and pushed it open. He ushered us inside. The air was icy like walking into an arctic tomb. A ginger cat sauntered forward, lifted its chin, tail high in the air, and eyed us like we were intruders in its home. I hadn’t thought the vampire would be a cat person. Ludwig closed the door and locked it then crouched on the floor.

“Elise, I’ve brought people to talk to you.”

The air shimmered with orange, yellow, and red around the cat. The shimmering grew higher into the air as though a flame of magic extended from the animal. But then the animal morphed into a floating cat head, then disappeared entirely and a woman stood before us. My brain struggled to make sense of what I’d seen.

A woman with long ginger hair in the same matching cloak as Ludwig stood before us.

“Elise,” Ludwig said. “We need your help with a Constantine curse.”

Her cat green eyes narrowed to slits. “And what makes you think I can help?” She lifted her angular chin.

Ludwig lifted his lip in return. “Don’t forget my dear who has kept you hidden all these years.”

“How could I ever forget that?” Elise asked, her gaze dragging over me and then Isabel.

“They’re mated.”

Her eyebrows rose high on her freckle-spattered forehead. “A vampire and a werewolf!”

“Can you help?” Isabel asked, facing the vampire.

“Get the Constantine who put the curse on him to remove it,” Elise said taking a step back as the air shimmered again like she’d shift back into a cat. “I want nothing to do with my family.”

“We can’t. He’s dead. He somehow connected himself to Asher with a curse,” I said.

She stepped forward and eyed the slumped body of Asher over my shoulder.

“He’s the last Constantine warlock, Elise,” Ludwig said. “You can end this by helping now.”

“The last?” Her nose twitched side to side.

“I’m Isabel,” my mate said, offering her hand to the witch. “And that’s Dante holding his brother, Asher. Please, help him. If it wasn’t for me, Silas wouldn’t have cursed him.”

“Nonsense,” I said, “It’s not your fault Silas tried using you to make him a vampire.”

“Still up to his old tricks I see.” The witch placed her hand in Isabel’s. “I’m Elise Constantine. The original Constantine witch who made vampires and werewolves.” She lifted her lips revealing a set of shiny white vampire fangs. “Welcome to my home.”