Hunting Tess by Kathryn Summers (best novels to read in english .TXT) 📗

have to say goodbye to these outside dinners. I put up with the goon squad that accompanies Kleidion in order to enjoy this small outdoor luxury even though all the bodies make the balcony somewhat crowded. But he will not tolerate an act of disrespect in front of his subjects.

Already garbed in a heavy red velvet gown, I’ve jumped through the hoops he’s asked to gain what little I do have. A small hand-held mirror, for example. Not for vanity, but to get a visual for things sneaking up behind me. Glass can be used as a weapon and therefore kept to a small size which they deem can do no real damage to a vampire. Everything in my rooms are soft, plush, and completely useless in a fight.

“It would appear you are through with your meal.” My food disappears within moments of the implied order, whisked away to some basement kitchen in this fortified labyrinth.

I did manage to scramble out of my rooms once when a maidservant made the mistake of turning her back. Kleidion wasn’t pleased with having to dispose of a body on my first night here, but I didn’t make it far. Unconscious when they kidnapped me, I wasn’t fast enough to solve the intricate tangle of halls.

“Leave,” he orders the crowd on the balcony. Instead of looking at each other as if questioning his command, they clear out without hesitation. I wonder what the punishment is for dithering.

The fine silken tux he wears is black as night, his cravat perfectly in place. The picture he portrays is one of wealth and sanity. “Tomorrow I expect you to behave with better etiquette.”

“Etiquette?” I repeat. “I’m the one with behavioral issues? You had my parents killed and then kidnapped me. And now you expect everything to smooth itself over because you’re what, ‘a catch’? Newsflash: You missed the etiquette course during the academy you attended three hundred years ago.”

“Others would find themselves grateful to be in your place.”

“Well then ‘others’ need therapy.”

He takes a pause before continuing, “What happened to your parents was a regrettable action. I assure you the person responsible was dealt with swiftly.”

“Wow, great apology.”

“It is the most you will get,” he bites, “and more than is deserved. You are here to further the vampire race, creating a new age for my kind. The extent of my civility reaches to those I deem worthy. All else are lower than dirt; I care neither for their feelings nor scruples. I have given you a period to adjust, but it is time you learn your place.”

Eliza would say that some are a glutton for punishment. “Strike a nerve, did I?”

His fangs descend in a flash but my nails are ready to go, manacled and all. He’s physically faster than me but if I can get him close enough to the balcony’s ledge, I may be strong enough to flip him over.

“Your Grace,” a vampire calls from inside my sitting room. “Your eleven o’clock appointment has just arrived.”

Breathing heavily, his fangs remain visible as he directs me back into my prison. He waits as the servers rapid clear away any trace a meal existed, never taking his eyes off me. Once the dishes are cleared and the door to the outside world locked, I expect him to leave with the rest since he has a previous engagement. Instead, he stays behind accompanied by the same two vampires from the bathroom.

Unsure if he’ll try to attack or use verbal remarks to cut me to ribbons, I don’t expect him to slowly peruse the length of my body in a painstaking fashion. The longer he takes the harder my heart beats from fear.

“If you so much as come near me,” I utter, “I will rip out your heart.”

He ends the protracted perusal at my face, staring into my eyes. “As I seem to recall, you were incapable of stopping me from taking what I wanted last time. What makes you think this time will be any different?”

How seconds can be such vastly different lengths of time is beyond me, but this one seems never ending. Only when he leaves, a touch of a smile ghosting his lips, does time snap back into place. My knees shake and I nearly collapse into a chair, fully aware he succeeded in attaining his desired result. Because the truth of the matter is that I can’t stop him. Which means the only thing I can do is die fighting my way out, or find a way to jump. But I won’t jump without taking him with me.

***

“Emily?” I ask, rubbing the corner of my eye to make sure she isn’t just some hallucination from staring at green patterned wallpaper for the last four hours.

“Oh, Tess, you are here! Why didn’t you tell me about your past? I can keep a secret.”

She bounces into the room, leaping onto my bed sending ruffled movement across the thick down comforter. A headache forms behind my right eye thinking how in the world Emily got here and what possible reason she could have for being here. It’s not like this is a great tourist spot.

“Emily, what are you doing here? Do you know where you are?”

“Of course I do,” she giggles, her blond curls bouncing on her shoulders. Before I can register why she would have a syringe in her hand she’s stabbed it into my arm, pushing the contents into my body.

“Emily!” I shout, rolling off the bed and away from her. Yanking the syringe out of my arm, I chuck it to the ground.

She gets to her knees on the mattress and fishes out a second needle from her back pocket. “Now hold still so I can get this—”

“Are you crazy? What was in that syringe?”

“Just something to relax you a little, that’s all. Now I have to do the second dosage—”

“Why did you stab me!”

“It’s the only way I can become like them,” she pleads, tears forming in her brown eyes. “I’ve dreamed of