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

The darkness clung to the hall, broken at intervals by a single lamp on the wall that cast insipid light in a small semi-circle around it, barely chasing back the gloom.

Sophis hurried down the stone steps to the basement, her heightened vision and her memory providing her with the position of each tread. The flat heels of her knee-high polished black leather riding boots were loud on the cold stone, echoing along the hall coming into view before her and marking the quick rhythm of her steps. She could have moved silently if she had wished, but she wanted everyone in the corridor ahead to know that she was coming. She wanted them to hear her anger before they managed to sense it.

She ground her teeth until her slightly extended canines cut into her gums, flooding her mouth with the sweet perfume of her own blood. The taste of it stopped her in her tracks and she drew a deep steadying breath, searching for some calm amongst the storm of her feelings so her fangs retracted.

This wasn’t just about her missing men. Vivek was getting to her again and she was playing right into his hands. He wanted her angry, wanted her to slip up and give Tynan a reason to lose his faith in her abilities as a captain. She couldn’t give Vivek the satisfaction of winning.

Regardless of what he thought about her, she was a good guard and a strong leader. She had fought for her position within the ranks and she wasn’t going to throw it all away, no matter what he did or said about her. She wouldn’t let him win. The guard was everything to her. It was her life.

Sophis strode along the dimly lit hallway, passing servants quarters and the blood store. The smell of it tainted the air, causing her stomach to twist and grumble. It had been days since her last feed. The preparations for the upcoming Creator Day masquerade had everyone rushed off their feet, especially the guards, and feeding hadn’t crossed her mind since she had returned to duty. She would have to soon or she would grow weak and would be of no use to her bloodline during the celebrations. After her duties tonight had ended, she would request permission to head into Saint Petersburg to hunt. There would be enough time before sunrise for her to locate, distract and kill a suitable male human. Strong blood would allow her to last through the celebrations without needing to feed again and would restore her strength, giving back what she needed to prove herself a worthy captain of the guard.

She would show Vivek that she was strong and capable, that what had happened was just a glitch, nothing more than a mistake, and he was wrong about her. She was worthy of her position. She would prove that.

The door for the guards’ rest room came into view along the grey corridor and she straightened her back, tipped her chin up, and quickened her pace. Noise came from the room, drifting out of the open door along with warm light. She focused her senses, trying to detect whether her men were there, slacking off and disobeying orders. None of the voices coming from the room were familiar to her. She stepped inside, sharply coming to a halt and drawing all eyes to her. Several of the men quickly rose from the dark couches and armchairs scattered around the dull windowless stone-walled room and saluted her by pressing their hand against the breast of their black mid-thigh length uniform jackets. She scanned their faces, realised that neither Vivek nor her men were present, and then nodded and turned away.

Heat coiled in her stomach, anger blazing there and slowly pouring into her veins like acid that ate away at her restraint, giving free rein to her desire to unleash her feelings on Vivek even when she knew it was wrong of her to aim all of her fury at him. It wouldn’t be the first time they had fought outside the training room. When she found him, she was going to give him a large piece of her mind and find out just why he had felt the need to emphasise everything she had done wrong that night in his report.

She passed another room where guards were relaxing between duties. Her men weren’t there either.

Where were they?

Sophis hurried along the dim corridor to the steps at the other end, took them quickly, and pushed the heavy wooden door at the top open. The brightly lit vestibule of the house greeted her, warm with its pale yellow walls and grand crystal chandelier. The servants were already decorating the double-height room. Elegant arrangements of red roses stood in huge antique vases on the black-cloth-draped side tables and the pedestals placed around the large room. Several women dressed in plain black clothing were threading garlands of roses through the banister of the mahogany staircase that curved upwards to the first floor. That area would become the guest suites for the most important attendees during the ball and her family had spared no expense to ensure their comfort. They had even moved some of the less important members of the Venia bloodline to the second floor where her room and those of other ranked guards were to free up their stately rooms for the guests. The theme of red roses and gold would run throughout the entire first floor and the rooms on the ground floor that remained open to their guests during the ball.

Several guards entered from the ballroom beneath the balcony to her right and she saluted their commanding officer.

“Have you seen Vivek?” Sophis stepped towards Seth, a blond man of impeccable neatness who had come through the ranks at the same time as her, although he was closer in age to Vivek. The two men had never seen eye to eye. She now shared Seth’s dire opinion of Vivek and he had grown supportive of her, even fighting her corner more than once when Vivek had chosen to start on her in his presence.

Seth waved his group of young guards on and then closed the gap between them. His deep blue eyes expressed more than his handsome schooled features. He wasn’t happy.

“Not since Commander Tynan ordered us both to patrol the grounds and ensure there were no intruders. We split up to head around the perimeter wall in opposite directions and he was not at the meeting point. I waited with my squad for more than thirty minutes before realising that Vivek was not coming.”

Sophis frowned, her eyebrows meeting tightly. Vivek was annoying as Hell when he put his mind to it but he wasn’t someone who shirked his duties. It wasn’t like him to leave a fellow officer to lead a patrol singlehandedly, especially when Tynan had given him orders to assist him. Something must have happened.

“Perhaps he finished before you and decided to return to the house.” The words sounded weak even to her ears. She wanted to give Vivek the benefit of the doubt, but it was difficult to see past her anger over his report and her missing squad members.

Seth didn’t look so sure.

“Listen.” Sophis glanced around the double-height room, making sure no one was close enough to them to hear her whispered confession. Seth would never tell on her. They had confided a lot in each other over the past ten years. She told him all the things that she would have gone to Vivek about in the years before he had turned sour towards her. “I’m having trouble locating some of my squad. Three men. They’re new recruits. I don’t suppose you’ve seen them?”

“Perhaps they are with Vivek.” Seth’s expression remained flat and serious.

“Why would you say that?” The question sprung from her lips before she could stop it. It was obvious why he would think it.

Her men had spent time under Vivek’s command while she had been recovering in the infirmary. He had probably taken the opportunity to corrupt the newest members of her squad. It was one thing to openly challenge her right to her position within the ranks of the Venia bloodline and completely another for him to convince members of her squad to mutiny against her.

Sophis closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, ignoring Seth as he spoke. She was jumping to conclusions again, basing everything on her feelings rather than fact. It was just her anger clouding her judgement. Vivek would never disobey Commander Tynan and he had only been honest in his report. It had pained her to hear the cold hard truth and know that he felt she was unfit to act as a captain. That pain was pushing her into reacting in a way that was unlike her. She was directing all of her anger at Vivek, pinning the blame on him to deflect it away from herself. This was her fault. She had acted rashly, behaved in a way unsuited to a captain, and had got herself injured and taken off duty. Now she was paying for it. If she hadn’t rushed into the fight, Vivek wouldn’t have had to rescue her, he wouldn’t have had to file a report on her actions, and her squad would have remained faithful to her.

The scar on her back burned with the memory of the scrape of the holy wood arrow shaft and the fiery heat of the toxin. Fear threatened to seep into her veins again. She shunned the emotion, unwilling to allow it to control her. She had survived and she had learnt a valuable lesson, one that would see her survive her next fight against the vampire hunters.

When she found her men, she would see that Vivek wasn’t responsible for their actions and that she was wrong to aim all of her anger at him.

She had to hold on to the faith she had in him and needed to remember what he used to be like. He was still that man inside. She was sure of it. Something had changed him and if she could discover what it was, she could set things right between them and restore the friendship they had once shared. That felt like too much to hope for. Vivek had changed so much that thawing the ice in his heart seemed impossible.

Seth was staring at her.

Sophis shunned her thoughts and looked him square in the eye.

His lips quirked into a smile. “Perhaps it is that female who distracts him.”

Female? Anger lanced her gut again, spreading fire into her chest. She hadn’t noticed Vivek chasing a female. If he was, it could prove that she was wrong and he had disregarded his orders tonight. Around twenty years ago, a female had caught his eye and he had shirked his duties then in order to pursue her. The feeling inside Sophis increased, burning through her blood, and she turned her frown on herself. What did it matter to her if Vivek was chasing anyone?

She pitied the poor female he had targeted. That was all this feeling was. She was just confusing it with something else, something she definitely wasn’t about to consider, not even for a split second.

“If you see my men, can you please come and tell me? If I find Vivek, I’ll reprimand him and send him to Commander Tynan to file his report,” Sophis said.

Seth’s look turned sour and he frowned. “The idiot will get what is coming to him one day.”

Sophis couldn’t agree more.

She saluted Seth and he pressed his hand to the chest of his crisp black jacket, nodded, and walked away.

Sophis stared after him, her focus wavering as her gaze tracked him until he disappeared down a corridor. She blew out a long sigh, her thoughts weighing her feet down. There was no point in putting things off. Her men were here somewhere. She wasn’t sure what she would do if