Masquerade (Vampires Realm Series Book 7) (Reading Sample) - Felicity Heaton (paper ebook reader .txt) 📗

gift. The ball was a single night in which the pure bloodlines cast aside their differences, donned masks, and threw away the rules. Those lucky enough to attend the masquerade were no longer lords or ladies, or Chosen Sons and Chosen Daughters, or even commanders and elite guards. Their rank, their bloodline, the laws, none of it existed at the ball. They were one species, born of one master, all the children of his creation.

They were vampires.

Many dreamed of attending the masquerade. Few achieved that desire. Only the highest-ranking members of the bloodlines received invitations to the ball.

Which was why the gathering of hunters seemed insane.

Even if the hunters worked together, they were only a match for vampires of Vivek’s age and strength or possibly lower. The members of the seven pure bloodlines of Europe attending the ball were the strongest and included some of the oldest vampires in existence.

Lord Hyperion of the Validus was over three thousand years old and could probably defeat all nine hunters without even breaking a metaphorical sweat.

Nine hunters wasn’t the entire force. It couldn’t be. If Aleksis were serious about attacking the ball, then he would have more hunters based in different locations throughout the city. This was just one cell. How many more were there? How many hunters did Aleksis have under his command?

It didn’t matter.

There could be one hundred hunters, one for each of the attendees, and the ball would still go ahead. The lords and ladies of the pure bloodlines would sooner face the hunters disturbing them than forgo a Creator Day masquerade. Especially this one.

Another century had passed since the birth of their creator. In honour of this special occasion, the ball would last two nights.

Forty-eight hours of freedom from duty and laws for the elite of their kind. The lords and ladies wouldn’t give that up, not for anything.

The guards could live without it.

The masquerade normally started in the evening and ended before dawn, with guests leaving immediately. A two night celebration meant that every lord or lady, Chosen Son and Chosen Daughter, of each of the seven bloodlines would be sleeping in the Venia mansion.

In the day.

When none of the guards could venture outside.

Many of the bloodlines had proposed to bring guardians with them.

Werewolves.

The recent steps towards peace between the werewolf and vampire species by Lord Hyperion of the Validus bloodline and the remaining lord of the werewolves, Dmitri, brought with it added complications. Lord Hyperion, Lady Prophecy of the Caelestis bloodline and Lord Valentine of the Aurorea bloodline had forced agreement from the other lords and ladies that in an effort to improve relations between vampires and werewolves, only free werewolves would be used as guards during the ball.

Tensions were running higher than usual between the bloodlines because of that.

The Venia’s guardian compound was on lockdown, Lord Timur convinced that the werewolves Dmitri brought with him to guard them would attempt to free their kin from Venia rule. Lord Hyperion had apparently assured him that no such thing would happen but Lord Timur wasn’t taking any chances. Without the guardians, the Venia household was vulnerable to attack during the day.

Many in the bloodline believed that the Venia should stop keeping werewolves like rabid dogs in the compound and seek to employ them instead, following the lead of the Validus and Nocens bloodlines just as the Aurorea and Caelestis had. Lord Timur was intent on keeping them as slaves, in following with tradition. The Tenebrae and Vehemens bloodlines were in agreement with him for now.

The bloodlines were divided on the matter.

Lord Hyperion was a powerful and cunning foe, and had threatened Lord Timur, reminding him that tradition also stated that Saint Petersburg and its environs were Validus territory.

Therefore, in following with tradition, Lord Hyperion was perfectly within his rights to remove the Venia by force.

Lord Timur was no fool. The Venia bloodline was strong but they were no match for the Validus. There were barely a handful of vampires in Vivek’s bloodline that were over five hundred, fewer still who had reached one thousand years old. The guards of the Validus bloodline, known as Watchmen, were all over five hundred years old, with most over one thousand.

Lord Timur had conceded.

The free werewolves would guard the mansion during the ball.

Vivek wasn’t looking forward to having to patrol with the mangy dogs.

Although, he was curious to see their lord, Dmitri. The tales painted him as a fierce warrior of monstrous stature in both human and wolf form.

And he was equally curious about whether the once-darling princess of the Venia bloodline, Mia, would dare to come with him.

Creator Day masquerade or not, the Law Keepers wouldn’t stand for there being a mixed species couple at the ball.

It was one thing to work with a werewolf, completely another to mate with one.

Vivek froze when his senses sparked. Sophis stopped dead too.

Vampire hunter.

A slim man with overlong dark hair and a short leather jacket that bulged out at the chest in a way that reeked of concealed stakes came out of a side street just ahead of them. Vivek tugged Sophis against him, buried his fingers in the satin of her long hair, and held her face close to his so it looked as though he was kissing her. All the while, he watched the man. The human glanced their way and then turned and entered the park across the road, heading into the darkness. He was probably the one who had left the building before they had exited the one beside it.

Sophis broke free of Vivek’s embrace and scowled as she smoothed out her uniform. Undeterred by her reaction to his touch, Vivek grabbed her hand, slipped his fingers between hers, and started walking with her. Her hand was soft in his, small and delicate feeling. His skin tingled where her fingertips pressed into his knuckles, holding him tightly. Was this how she would hold the hand of her lover?

He liked the pressure of her grip, the way it made him feel as though she would never let go, conveying a sense of attachment and need.

It was a lie.

Pretend.

Telling himself that didn’t change how it made him feel. What the hell was wrong with him recently?

His heart mocked him, saying he knew exactly what was wrong and exactly why his attitude towards Sophis had taken a sharp downturn.

Seeing her hurt again, seeing another hunter coming close to killing her, had sent his desire to protect her spiralling into overdrive and he couldn’t deny why that need existed in him.

He couldn’t admit to it either.

Her hand shifted against his, sending a fiery jolt shooting up his arm to his shoulder where it melted into his blood, heating his body through despite the cold night. His senses zeroed in on her, sharpening his awareness of her proximity and the subtle but alluring scent of the trace of blood on her cheek mixing with her perfume. She had to move close to him as they entered the park through the open wrought iron gates and her breasts brushed his arm. If his heart had beat, it would have gone off the scale. He tried to get his focus off her but it was hard when she was so close to him, clinging to his hand even though the vampire hunter they were tracking would no longer be able to see their charade as lovers through the darkness.

Vivek’s eyes changed and the world brightened until it looked as though someone had turned on floodlights in the park. Silver skittered over everything, pulsing with life, outlining it all for him.

Everything including Sophis.

She glanced up at him when he looked at her, her irises shining silver, telling him that she had changed too, and then stared ahead again.

Vivek told himself not to take pleasure from the feel of her hand in his and her body so close. He was just reacting so strongly to everything because their fight and his hunger for violence and blood had him fired up, and Aleksis and Izabella had him on edge. He repeated that in his head, focusing on it and the park, shutting out the presence of Sophis at his side. It didn’t stop the little shivers that tripped up his arm each time she brushed against it or the way his gut tightened and he wanted to groan whenever she loosed a breathy sigh. All of it sent his mind racing down avenues best reserved for times when he was alone, preferably asleep and dreaming so he could pretend this was all a nightmare and beyond his control. She didn’t send him careening off the deep end into hunger so intense and consuming he was close to losing all control with barely a sigh and a casual, probably accidental, brush of her body against his.

His gaze crept to her throat, gliding slowly over the short stand-up collar of her black jacket to the smooth creamy flesh above it. His fangs pressed down on his lower lip, hunger curling through him and pushing him to move closer to her, to take what he wanted. He groaned internally. What he wouldn’t give to sink his fangs into that soft skin and taste her.

Vivek frowned.

His eyes dropped to her jacket, and then to his.

And then darted to their surroundings.

The vampire hunter was gone.

“Damn it,” Vivek muttered and tugged on Sophis’s hand, making a break for the trees that edged the open expanse of grass. They needed cover.

“What the Devil is wrong with you?” Sophis tried to twist free of his grasp but he tightened his grip on her.

He wouldn’t allow her to slow down, not when they were both in danger.

“Uniform,” he pushed the word out and doubled his speed.

Sophis barely managed to keep up with him but he didn’t relent. They crashed through the bushes and into the cover of the trees. He pulled her behind one of the broad trunks and pinned her there with his body, placed his hand over her nose and mouth to silence her breathing and held her as she struggled.

It was a cruel way to force her to stop breathing when she hadn’t forgotten the need but he wouldn’t risk her giving away their position.

He leaned in close when she wouldn’t stop thrashing around and clawing at his hand, bringing his mouth near to hers.

“Silence,” he whispered softly. “I will release you if you will not breathe.”

He felt her swallow and nod.

Vivek eased his hand away from her mouth, ready to replace it if she so much as drew a single breath. He knew it was difficult for her not to breathe but it was necessary. He had forgotten the need himself shortly after turning one hundred, far earlier in his vampire life than most. It was rare for him to feel the need to breathe at all now but sometimes he couldn’t help himself.

Like when he was fighting Sophis.

Vivek leaned to his right and peered around the tree trunk. A crossbow bolt zipped past his ear and thudded into the tree a few metres behind him. How the hell had the hunter spotted them? Vivek growled and scanned the darkness in the direction the bolt had come from. He had a few seconds before the hunter reloaded and could fire again.

He spotted the man in the trees that lined the side of the park at a ninety-degree angle to the one where Vivek hid with Sophis.

Night vision goggles.

Damned hunters and their toys.

The crossbow was a compact model, a type that folded out. No wonder Vivek had thought the man would be only carrying stakes. What other weapons was he concealing in that jacket of his?

Vivek wasn’t about to hang around to find out.

He watched the hunter raise his weapon, dodged the bolt that flew at him, and then started to make a break for the man.

Sophis beat him to it.

She broke cover on the other side of the tree and was halfway across the grass before Vivek could react.

He growled and went after her, sprinting