Sleeping With The Vampire (Immortal Vampire #2)

Chapter 11

Izzy

As soon as I heard about the attack on the Grey Castle, I needed to check on Lucca. We were in our rooms, having a simple breakfast of coffee and fresh bread with lashings of homemade butter. We’d been planning to go home today. Costello had found the parts he wanted for some or other car he was working on and I had been all over the Citadel, talking to people and gathering information. I was pretty sure I knew what was going on now. I had been sending messages to Lucca but none seemed to be getting through to him.

It was weird.

Then, this morning, the captain came in and told us of some sort of network outage in the outlying parts of the lands. “No radio or mobile coverage, seems the whole place is down.”

Costello and I looked at each other, basically thinking the same thing, something was wrong. Then the captain said, “I heard of an attack in the West.”

I sat up, “The West?”

“Grey Lands,” he nodded. “There is fighting all over the place, sounds bad. Some of the men on the product delivery told me this morning. All supply lines are down. The price of blood will go up.”

He leaned in. “The vampires are going to go to war again, we’d better keep our heads down, go into hiding if we must. The wife has already gone down to the basement, she won’t come out, she says.”

He winked at Costello. “Good news for me, I reckon!”

But this is not good news for me.

“I have to go there, see if he’s okay,” I said.

Costello was not happy to hear that but I’d told him what was going on with Lucca and I and he understood.

“If you’re right,” he said. “And the vampires are at war, then humans should stay out of it. You’ll get hurt,” he said to me.

“Are you insane, you want to go there now?” the captain said.

“You’ll never get through anyway,” he added.

But it was daytime and I knew that it would be quiet now. I’d contract a plane and put it on Lucca’s account.

“I’d come with you,” Costello said, “But…”

“No, it’s fine, really. I’m okay with this. This is my responsibility now,” I said.

As soon as breakfast was over, I said goodbye to Costello and headed over to Lucca’s son’s house in the Citadel. I had heard about Sunil the previous day and I was surprised that Lucca was so fond of him. Word on the street was that he was corrupt and in league with wrong people on the Council.

The sun was up but it was not yet out in full force. I was hoping to talk to Sunil, but when I got to the house, no-one would open the door. I figured some servants might be around, but nothing. I eventually found an open window and let myself in. The place was beautifully furnished, very tastefully and I recalled that Lucca said his first wife had decorated it. I peered into doors, went down the stairs and along a beautifully carpeted hallway until I found what had to be Sunil’s study. I started rifling through papers, trying to look for something incriminating, when I heard voices upstairs.

I softly walked out the door and into the hallway.

I could hear someone talking upstairs on the phone, snatches of the conversation floated down the stairs. I made my way up the stairs as far as I dared.

“Injured? Is he dead?”

I didn’t know who he was talking about, but I had an idea. There was an urgency in his voice that made it clear.

“....my brothers? No… I don’t think so.”

He ended the call and I feared he would be coming down the stairs, heading for his study. I went into an adjoining room, some kind of storage room and heard him on the phone again.

I only managed to catch a few words.

It was enough to turn my blood cold.

I made my way out of the house as quietly as possible but when I got to the top floor, I walked into an old crone with a tray of product, heading down to the study. She was as surprised to see me as I was to see her. Before she could do anything, I pushed her out of the way and ran for the window, slamming the door behind me. As soon as I was outside, I quickly crawled in under a car and not a moment too soon as the front door opened and Sunil peered out.

The sun was stronger though, he didn’t want to risk coming out, but he scanned the street for movement. After the door closed, I waited a while before sliding out and running crouched among the crowds of people until I was sure that I had managed to get away. There was no way I could get one of Lucca’s planes now. Sunil would find out and put a stop to that. He would know that I was onto him.

I checked my mobile phone and tried calling Lucca, but couldn’t get through.

In the end, I went to the capital, found the fastest car I could nick and headed West. I found the way to Grey Castle easily enough, with the road leading up to a rampart at the foot of the mountain.

It was an impressive sight to behold, Grey Castle with its blackened turrets rising into the sky. It seemed formidable and impenetrable. I stopped outside a huge iron gate and I had to get out and call for guards to let me in. I followed the winding road up to the entrance of the building, parking to one side. It was after midday but the sun was strong and I didn’t think there would be too much activity around here.

I got out of the car and walked up the steps, knocking on the door.

After a long time, it was opened by an old lady with long white hair.

“Good afternoon,” she said, in a friendly voice.

I told her I was here to see Lucca but would wait until he could see me later. In the meantime, I wanted to know how he was.

“Oh, he is much better. May I offer you some refreshment?”

I accepted even though the woman seemed odd somehow. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Some tea or cordial perhaps? We have a very good water from the mountains,” she said.

“Anything, really.”

Now that I was here, I could feel him somewhere in the castle.

It was an odd sensation, this pull from inside the building. It was like he was calling me, drawing me to him. I wanted to go to him, but I wasn’t sure that this was entirely the right thing to do. What if he wasn’t well and I caught him in a vulnerable position? He’d be resting and I could wait. The fact that it felt like he was calling me didn’t mean that was what was happening. I could be imagining it, being worried, the way I was.

At least he seemed better.

The old lady was back before I had realized it. She moved very quietly, I had barely heard her. It was disquieting. She was obviously not a vampire, being able to move around in the light of day without it affecting her in the slightest, but there was something else. Perhaps she was a witch of some sort? Lucca had told me about his closest confidantes and he said he trusted them implicitly.

“Here, have some tea,” she said, pouring me a cup of something that smelled bitter. She handed it to me and I put down the cup.

“Have the tea,” she insisted and her voice sounded less friendly now.

My instincts kicked in and I jumped out of the chair as she lunged the cup at me, trying to throw it at me. The contents of the cup spilled onto the chair, burning a hole into the upholstery.

What the fuck!

I moved out of the way, lightning fast, grabbing my dagger and throwing it at her. But for an old lady, she moved like the wind. My knife flew through the air and hit the wall.

“You don’t belong here!” the witch shouted at me.

I was shocked by the venom in her voice.

“This is not your fight!”

She came flying through the air towards me and I stepped out of the way at the last minute, grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her back, but she nimbly turned around and scratched my face.

“Ow!” I yelled as I punched her in the stomach, expecting her to fall, but she recovered remarkably quickly as if I’d barely touched her. She threw the saucer at me and I dodged it, lunging forwards with my small silver dagger and stabbing her in the side.

She staggered back.

In that moment, a great sword pierced the air and pinned her against the wall, killing her instantly.

I turned to the door and saw Lucca standing there, holding his bandaged side.

“Izzy! Are you okay?”

I looked at him. “What happened to you? I came as quickly as I heard!”

He shook his head, there was clearly too much to tell.

“Come upstairs,” he said.

He glanced at the dead witch and shook his head.

“I can’t believe it,” he said. “She had always been so loyal to me. I would never have expected this. But then…lately…” he shook his head.

It was hard going up the stairs, but Lucca said his injury wasn’t serious, that he just needed to rest.

“I’m sorry if I interrupted,” I said.

“I felt you,” he said, with a tender smile. “I knew you were here. It didn’t make sense but I had to check. Then, as I came down, I saw what was happening.”

“I’m glad you came when you did, but I had it under control,” I said, standing straight.

“Yes, I saw that,” he chuckled.

We reached the top landing and rested for a bit before continuing to his rooms. The castle was bare and basic, it lacked the luxury of the city housing, but it was imposing nevertheless.

The view from the top was magnificent.

“My sons, Ragnar and Layrr, are resting now. They came back last night, exhausted after chasing around a group of bandits. But they were not the real enemy,” he said, pausing.

“It is The Servant. He is taking over, or wants to. He is telling people that I have been selling tainted blood. I think it is the Council’s way of weakening my power.”

I nodded. “What do you make of him?” I asked.

Lucca said, “There is a malevolence about him. He definitely wants me dead and will keep trying until he succeeds.”

His words gave me the shivers.

“What about the old woman?” I asked.

Lucca seemed saddened by her betrayal. “She had many visions of you, and all of them seemed negative. She was trying to warn me off you, but I wouldn’t have it. I didn’t realize that it had more to do with her own wishes.”

I was silent.

He said, “Since I’ve met you, I’ve been getting the answers I’ve been craving for so long. I have been turning to her less and less. I don’t know, maybe she was jealous?”

“Or maybe she is with those who are trying to overthrow you?”

I knew I had to tell Lucca what I had overheard in the house in the capital.

“I think one of your sons is plotting against you.”

“Who?! Ragnar?”

I shook my head. “I am not completely certain.”

He stared at me and then jumped up, ignoring his wound, “You can’t come to me with this and not have proof.”

I bit my lip. I knew he was right.

“I heard someone say that ‘until he is dead, there is no point going further’.”

Lucca said, “But that could mean anyone, even the Servant!”

“Your family name is not spoken of favorably in the Citadel,” I said. “There is a feeling that you are somehow involved in the bad things that are happening. The toxic blood, the ambushes.”

The atmosphere between us changed. Lucca was looking at me with distrust. “Those are lies, you know it.”

“But it is coming from somewhere,” I insisted.

I got up, slowly.

“There is something else,” I said. I didn’t want to continue, but I had come this far and this had been the job he had contracted me for from the beginning.

“I spoke to someone who was at the dinner, the night Tanata was killed.” I took a deep breath. “They saw Layrr going into the maze shortly before the attack.”

“Layrr? He wasn’t there that night! What are you talking about?”

“This guest was surprised to see him. She wanted to talk to him, but he seemed very focused and didn’t hear her calling.”

Lucca’s eyes narrowed and I could see the anger building in him.

“It seemed like information I should share with you,” I said.

“I’ll leave you to rest and get better,” I said, quickly turning around and walking down the stairs. I was shocked by the tears that I felt prickling behind my eye lids. As I got to the bottom of the stairwell, I nearly bumped into Ragnar and Layrr.

“I remember you! Nice to see you again. Izzy, right?” Ragnar asked laconically with a smile.

I nodded.

“You’ve been to see Father?” The other one, presumably Layrr asked. He was shorter, stockier, his face tense. Ragnar was an arsehole but I was fairly sure he was the honest kind of arsehole.

I left without saying goodbye, keen to get out of vampire country before dark.