The vampire queen gave a subtle jerk of her head, but Victoria was ready. She whirled as two undead swarmed behind her. Stake in her hand again, she knocked away the hands that grasped for her, grabbing one of the vampires and shoving the creature toward the other. Then, quickly, before they could regain their balance or react, she stabbed one. He poofed into ash, and the other stumbled backward. Victoria followed him with her own lunge, pushing him to the ground then following through with her stake.
Standing in the pile of ash, she faced Lilith. “Keep your goons away from me. ”
The tall vampiress looked at her with burning red eyes. The blue had narrowed to the thinnest circle. “That was incomparably rude, Victoria Gardella. But don’t worry . . . I won’t allow you another chance to misbehave. Come with me, or I shall take out my frustrations elsewhere. ”
Max stood as though pulled by a puppet string, and Victoria did not miss Lilith’s implication. She watched him move, still smooth and graceful, yet reluctance be-laboredevery step. The vampire queen was tall, nearly as tall as he, and she circled his wrist with her skeletal fingers.
Sara moved toward Victoria, and she saw that the blonde woman still carried the pistol that had stopped their escape earlier. Using its barrel, she pushed Victoria toward the door at the opposite side of the chamber.
Victoria hadn’t been in this room before; in fact, she’d hardly noticed the entrance to it the two previous times she’d been in the throne room. The smell of blood was stronger here, and the space was lit, unlike the other, by two massive fireplaces—one at each end—and wall sconces. The flames danced black shadows on the stone walls so that they seemed to undulate in every direction. This chamber was much warmer than the other, nearly stifling with its heat.
Or perhaps it just felt that way because of the thick bloodscent, the leaping shadows, and the warm light.
The furnishings in this room included a long, low divan piled with cushions, tables and chairs, and, in the center, a dark shadow in the floor. On the other side of the shadow was another doorway.
A low growl caught Victoria’s attention, and she turned to see three pairs of red eyes burning near the floor in front of one of the fireplaces. Six pointed ears cocked toward them, and then the three dogs rose, massive nostrils quivering.
The hair on the back of Victoria’s arms lifted. They were huge wolflike canines with vampiric eyes and long fangs that curved outside their muzzles when closed. The head of the smallest one would be as high as her waist.
They streaked over to Lilith, who commanded them with a mere flick of her fingers. The dogs sat promptly, but their attention, Victoria now saw, was focused on Max . . . on the fresh blood that oozed down his skin. One of them was furiously licking, half biting, at the finger Lilith had drawn through the blood moments before, but the other two sat at attention: eyes sharp, ears perked, mouths closed, fairly vibrating with bloodlust.
“Now,” said Lilith almost kindly. “We shall see how strong you are, Victoria Gardella. And then it will be all over. ”
A cold web of fear covered her as she breathed hot, bloody, sluggish air and felt a drop of perspiration roll down her back.
Everything happened very quickly, but Victoria could have done nothing to prevent it. Sara’s gun barrel poked her in the side, and the dogs sat sentry in front of her as three vampires moved forward at Lilith’s command. They placed heavy, clinking manacles on Max’s wrists, crossing them together at his lap. When they first approached, he stepped back, his teeth baring ferally . . . but when Sara prodded Victoria with the gun, he acquiesced.
“That’s it, Maximilian. Don’t put an end to the experiment before it begins,” said Lilith. “And you need not worry, Victoria Gardella. I have no intent of harming your lover. This is merely a precaution so that he does nothing foolish. ”
Victoria looked at Max. His stony face gave no indication of what was in his mind. Even his eyes were flat and emotionless, and though he met her gaze, he gave her nothing else.
Nothing for her, but also nothing for Lilith.
The shadow in the middle of the floor turned out to be not a shadow at all, but a pit. As she realized this, Victoria turned cold again. She knew what awaited her.
Before she could think further, the three vampires who’d chained Max came toward her. She fought them with stake and foot and red-clouded desperation, but in the end she was subdued by two of them. She took little satisfaction in the pile of ash that the other had become. Red burned her vision and her body trembled. Her mouth salivated. It took them all of their might to hold her steady when Lilith approached.
Her fangs dipped into her thin lower lip. It was purplish in color and the incisors left little dark dents, revealed when she smiled. Victoria held her breath, expecting anything . . . but not the sudden swipe of nails over her cheek and neck.
She felt the three claws dig into her face, and the burst of blood that followed as though it had been simmering below the surface . . . waiting.
And then, before she knew what was happening, she was flying through the air, falling down, down, down . . . into the black pit.
Twenty-six
A View from the Stands
Max saw the scarlet weals of blood erupt on Victoria’s skin. It would be over very soon. Whatever it would be.
Damn her. Why in God’s name did she come here?
At the scent of such fresh blood, the dogs surged to their feet, heedless of their mistress’s command. They snarled and drooled and tore after Victoria, leaping into the hole where she’d been flung.
“Open your eyes, my dear Maximilian,” crooned Lilith near his ear. Her breath was hot over his flesh, almost liquid in its promise . . . and malignance. The scent of roses was nauseating. “You needn’t worry that she’ll die down there. I have the utmost confidence in her abilities. Now, come closer, so you can watch her at her best. She truly is magnificent. ”
She prodded him forward, and he obeyed. He understood what Lilith meant to do, and his palms grew damp as his insides churned. Hot tears burned his eyes.
The silver ring was heavy on his finger, yet useless, dammit. Bloody useless.