Rockley—so that was his name—looked at Max again, then back at Victoria. "I see. Well, my lady, I regret that I was not able to quench your thirst this evening. Good night. "
"My lord, wait. " Victoria pulled away from Max and reached for the marquess's arm. He stopped and looked down at her, and even from Max's view, he appeared cool and untouched, although surely one of the most beautiful women in the room was pulling him back. "May I present to you my aunt's personal guard, and my cousin"—Max heard her stress that last word—"Maximilian Pesaro. He came to fetch me to her side. Urgently. "
Rockley gave Max another of his measuring looks, then the barest trace of a bow. "Phillip de Lacy, Marquess of Rockley, at your service, er, sir. "
Max's patience was gone. The niceties of society and the flirtation between a debutante and a titled fop meant nothing in the grand scheme of things—namely that the beloved niece of Eustacia Gardella was currently carrying a vampire bite on her neck. "My pleasure, I'm sure. Victoria, I must insist we be on our way. Your aunt is in desperate straits. "
To his surprise, Victoria allowed him to practically tow her off in his wake; she had to take quick steps in order to keep up with him, but she did so with a minimum of fuss.
"You appear to have no concept of how little time we have to address the situation in which you've so foolishly placed yourself," he snapped, shoving her into the coach that had been waiting for his return.
Victoria stumbled in and crawled over to a far corner, dragging her skirts and cloak. Despite her bravado in fac-ing him, she looked more than a little terrified about the result of her weakness. However, she recovered much too quickly.
"I suppose you will have some sort of nasty remarks to make regarding my weakness," she said as the coach lurched into movement. "Regarding my failure as a Venator. Bitten by a vampire. A great laugh for you. "
Max stared at her from his seat across the coach. A small lantern hung in the corner, casting a soft glow over the interior, enough that she could see his mouth set into a thin line.
He hesitated for only a moment; then he reached toward his throat and whipped the cravat from its perfect anchor, stripping it away and tossing it aside. Victoria watched, dumbfounded, as he snapped open the buttons on his collar and yanked it wide, exposing his neck. He turned to one side, displaying the four small marks of a vampire bite: two from the top fangs, two from the bottom.
With a steady look, he turned in the other direction and showed her the other side of his neck, right at the juncture of his shoulder. The one that had not quite healed.
"The reason I carry a vial of salted holy water. "
He settled back in his seat and turned to stare out the window.
Victoria closed her mouth and said not another word.
Victoria could not forget how easily she'd succumbed to the vampire's allure. When his lips had touched her neck, she'd softened, swayed, under his influence. His teeth, needle sharp, had played there… scraping gently over her skin, taunting, stroking, glancing over her pulse point as she lay in his arms, malleable and soft as a puddle of wax.
And then, just as he sank his fangs into her skin… as the painful pleasure flooded over her, into her… she gathered every last bit of reality that swam in her mind, and closed her fingers over the stake. He moaned in ecstasy, and she struck.
Poof.
He was gone, and suddenly Maximilian was there. And now he'd brought her to Aunt Eustacia's house.
"The Guardians had found her by the time I arrived," Max explained as he hustled Victoria into the salon. Her neck was still throbbing, thanks to another generous application of Max's salted holy water during the ride in his carriage, driven by Briyani.
"Guardians?" Victoria asked as he directed her toward a chair. She sank into it and sat placidly while Eustacia and Kritanu bustled about the room. They were preparing something that smelled nasty and she expected would soon be plastered over her bite. Or, worse, that she would have to drink.
"Guardian vampires," Kritanu told her in his gentle accent. "Fierce and loyal to Lilith, they are her elite guard. She turned each of them herself; they are her personal servants. Many of them have been undead for centuries or more. A common, less powerful vampire has eyes the color of blood. You can tell a Guardian by the color of his eyes—they are not so red as that, but lighter, ruby pink. "
Victoria nodded. "Is that the only thing that makes them different from other vampires?"
"Guardians carry a poison in their fangs, unlike other vampires and Imperials. If it is not stopped, it will cause death—even in a Venator. That is why Max was so determined to bring you back without delay. "
"Imperials? What are they?" asked Victoria. "You did not tell me there were different types of vampires. "
"Guardians and Imperials are not common, and since there is so much you must learn, I felt it necessary to focus your time on learning to fight them, and teach you other aspects of the undead as time goes on," Aunt Eustacia confessed. "I see that I have done a disservice in trying not to overwhelm you, Victoria. You might have been better prepared to recognize them tonight. "
"Imperials are the oldest vampires," Kritanu explained kindly. "Many of them are centuries, even millennia old. They carry swords, and they can fly or move about with such speed that they appear to fly. Their eyes are dark red-purple, and although they do not have the poison that the Guardians do, they are the most fearsome of the vampires. And the rarest. "
"And that is why I did not feel you needed to know that so soon. " Eustacia looked over at Max. "I did not expect them to be so bold. Usually the Guardians stay close by Lilith; and Max has not fought an Imperial for two years. "
"It was obvious they were looking for Victoria; they sought her out at the ball. "
"Did you execute them?" Eustacia asked as she bent toward Victoria's neck, bringing a lamp so close it heated her skin. "You did well, Max," she added, brushing her fingers over the sore area. "Your quick thinking will make this much less painful. "
"Victoria staked the one who was biting her. I happened to stop the other. " Max appeared to be perusing the page of an open book quite studiously. The page whisked as he turned it.