Defying Eternity (An Obscure Magic Book 5) Page 5

  “Do you want to dance?”

  She blinked. “Want to, yes. Will, no.” Leo smiled tightly at Matthias.

  “I believe I will have to make it an executive order then. Come with me.”

  He held out his hand, and she winced but placed her palm against his.

  “I am a very bad dancer.”

  “I will take my chances. I have suffered much more than bruised toes in my day and survived it all.”

  She was hauled to the dance floor, and at the mayor’s nod, a slow song began to play.

  Leo swallowed as he pulled her against him, one hand at the small of her back and his other hand holding hers. She put her hand on his bicep as he steered her around to the slow saxophone wail.

  “You are doing very well, Leonora.”

  “You, too. This isn’t nearly as painful as I remembered.” She blurted it out, but it didn’t matter, he swayed with her around the dance floor. Other couples gave them a wide berth, but this time, she knew it was about Matthias and not her.

  When the song finally faded away, he led her back to the couch and the requests for appointments began again.

  Leo could see when dawn was approaching. The packed club suddenly emptied.

  Matthias smiled and got to his feet. “Well done, Leonora.”

  “Thank you, sir.” It seemed appropriate.

  He took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow. He flipped the summoner open and called for Nathaniel. Leo could see the timer, and it was less than a minute.

  “So, what did you learn tonight?”

  Daniel and Salleth waved them off as they walked into the growing light.

  “I learned that the places the vampires bite as they are made are many and various. They are also worn with pride, or, at least, they blatantly display them.”

  “Very good.”

  Nathaniel pulled up, and when the door was open, Leo slid into the back seat.

  When Matthias settled in next to her, he asked, “What do you think those marks mean?”

  “Mean?”

  “Of course. Each location has a meaning. It shows the capacity that the vampire was created for.”

  He took her hand and stroked her wrist. “A bite on the wrist is rare. It is for administrative capacity.” He trailed his fingers up to her bicep. “Here is for a guard or warrior. This is a common mark.”

  His cool fingers caressed her throat. “This is the most shameful of changes. This indicates that the new vampire was originally a food source. And a mark over the heart is a lover transformed.”

  “Interesting and more complicated than I imagined. Are there ever bites in the back?”

  “No, the topography makes a proper bite difficult. You want something over a vein that will allow for appropriate drainage.”

  His fingers were still at her neck.

  “I will bear that in mind.”

  “Now, I had to fend off a few offers for you or, at least, a taste of you. Will you consent to wear my mark the next time we go out?”

  She blinked. “What would that entail, and is it permanent?”

  “It could be reversed with a bit of effort, I mean, if you should ever leave my service.” He made it sound unlikely.

  “The moment that my kin are safe and I have paid my debt to you, I will seek other employment.”

  Matthias smiled. “In that case, there is one mark that must be renewed every year that should do just fine.”

  “Is it painful?”

  He shrugged. “That depends on you.”

  Leo scowled. “How long would it take?”

  “You would have to put two hours around midnight in the schedule. Feel free to move things around. It isn’t something I can do during daylight.”

  From her vantage point, she could see Nathaniel’s eyes widen in shock.

  Matthias spoke clearly. “I trust that you will be circumspect about what you have heard, Nathaniel.”

  “As always, sir.”

  Leo asked, “Why is this such a big deal?”

  “I am effectively making you my apprentice. It will leave no marks that can be seen by others, but your aura will change. Other blood drinkers and predators will know that you are in my service.”

  “Is Nathaniel marked like that?”

  The car wobbled as the driver snorted.

  Matthias chuckled. “No. He does not need it. He isn’t human. None of those in my employ are human, with you being the notable exception. I had not counted on what that would mean until tonight. If I am to send you to represent me, you need that protection.”

  There wasn’t much she could say to that. The contract she had signed accounted for reasonable alterations to her physiology in order to ensure she could fulfill her duties.

  She took out her phone and checked his schedule. “You have an opening in two days.”

  “Good. Put your name in. If you are planning on visiting the shifters that I can’t work into my schedule, you need to be a little more than human.”

  Leo didn’t know what that entailed, but at least, it was more than human and not less than. She liked being human. In Redbird City, being human made her special. Only fifty percent of the population were visibly human and out of that, only five percent was actually plain, old human.

  She watched the flashes of the rising sun as it struggled through the heavy tinting on the windows.

  Her thoughts turned to Minny and the baby. She wondered if she could sneak out to visit them. There might be room in the schedule if she got everything updated.

  “When we get back to the manor, go for a visit. Have breakfast with your sister. Be back by noon.”

  She blinked. “Really?”

  “Really. Are the updates to the schedule on my computer?”

  “They are. The shared file has been updated.”

  Excitement flared in her. She wasn’t going to have to sneak away after all.

  She knocked at the door and waited until Minny came up to open it wearing nothing but a nightshirt and fuzzy socks.

  “Leo, oh, thank god.”

  Leo hugged her sister and whispered, “I will take her. You go take a shower. Breakfast will be ready when you are dressed.”

  “You know I love you.”

  “I know. Now, go.”

  Leo found a clean blanket and draped it over her shoulder. She walked into Minny’s bedroom and saw the bright blue eyes of her niece staring up at her from the pink face.

  “Hello, Melody. I am your Aunty Leo. I know it is weird, but I will be coming in and out of your life in the next few years.” Leo scooped her up and took her to the changing table, clearing her diaper and putting on a clean onesie.

  Once the wee one was clean and dressed, Leo went to prepare her famous one-armed breakfast. She perfected it when she was a teen with a broken arm.

  Of course, a broken arm didn’t squirm, but she still managed an omelette and toast without too much spillage.

  Minny looked relieved and refreshed when she emerged from her bedroom. The fluffy slippers screamed comfort.

  “Have a seat, Minny.”

  Leo rocked the baby slightly, and Minny looked at her, the food and the baby and then burst into tears. “I can’t do this without you. I need you here.”

  Leo walked over and stroked her sister’s damp hair. “I am here. I just am not at your beck and call twenty-four seven. Have you heard anything at night?”

  Minny nodded. “There was snarling and growling last night. Melody didn’t like it, but then, there was a sound like a windstorm and everything went quiet, including her.”

  “Eat your breakfast. We will sort this out.”

  Minny bent her head and attacked the food on the plate with ravenous energy.

  After the breakfast was underway, Leo made one-armed coffee. Melody seemed content to doze on her shoulder.

  A knock at the door got her attention. She handed Melody to Minny and dropped the blanket, walkin
g to the door to answer it.

  A young blonde woman with perky and pointed ears was smiling at her. “Hello, you must be Miss Leonora.”

  “Um, yes.”

  “I am Leela Arguth. Mayor Matthias sent me. He said that you were looking for a nanny for your niece.”

  Nathaniel was standing in the driveway and giving a thumbs-up, so Leo let her in.

  “Oh, of course. Come in. The final decision will be my sister’s, but at this point, she would probably accept an ogre as a nanny if she could get a shower.”

  “Oh, I am no ogre. I am a half-fey half-human with training in early development of magical skills.” She smiled brightly again.

  Minny called out. “She is hired.”

  Leo snorted. “Come in and have a seat. Would you like some coffee?”

  “Please. I finished my last assignment a month ago, so when the mayor called, I was ready to start immediately. He asked that I wait until this morning.”

  Leo scowled and went to get coffee. Leela took a seat.

  “Miss Arguth, when did the mayor call you?”

  “Three days ago. He mentioned that there was an at-risk baby being hunted and that is just the kind of thing I am very good at.”

  “Three days ago? Huh.” Leo mentally saluted Matthias. “Cream or sugar?”

  “Both please.”

  Leo assembled a tray with coffee for all and brought it to the table.

  “Are vampires precognitive as far as you know?” Leo gave Leela a smile.

  “No. Their purview is the past, not the future. Why?”

  “Because he knew I was looking for a nanny before I did. I wonder how much time this is going to cost me. I am pretty sure that I am going to be in a walker before I pay this off.”

  She thought about the evening’s events and how close she had come to being a snack and mentally added, If I live that long.

  Chapter Eight

  Leo felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Leela would be moving in that afternoon and taking on her duties as Melody’s nanny and Minny’s companion.

  It hurt a little to be replaced, but she couldn’t be everywhere in this equation and still do her part. Her part was at the mayor’s side. Her presence there was paying for all of it.

  Two nights of normal business activities and taking notes during meetings and she felt she was getting along fairly well. That night was the night she was to be bound to Matthias.

  He hadn’t told her what it would entail, but she had taken a shower just in case. She was supposed to meet him in half an hour. She wasn’t sure what sort of wardrobe choice was appropriate for the activity she was going to engage in. She had no idea what was about to happen.

  She was towelling her hair and walking into her closet when she paused. “Well, that solves a problem.”

  A long, pale, lacy gown was hanging from a hook in the ceiling. The layers would cover her skin and hide what needed to be hidden, but if they shifted at all, she would be as good as buck naked.

  It didn’t look like underwear was an option. Leo paused and dropped her towel, blanking her mind and simply getting dressed without thinking. If she thought too much, she wouldn’t go through with this.

  She fluffed her curls out and left them to hang. If she was going au natural, she was going to commit.

  She put on some white slippers that had mysteriously appeared on her shoe shelf and checked the time. She had five minutes.

  There was nowhere on her dress to put her phone, so she left it in her room in the hopes that once whatever this was was done, she could get back to her new routine.

  She desperately wanted to fast forward past what was happening next to get back to her new routine. It was the first time since coming to the manor that she felt actual fear.

  This was not a moment she could blush her way through. There was no information on being an apprentice to a vampire in any documentation. She had gone to sleep with her laptop on the covers in search of the missing piece of information. It was plugged into the spare charger in her quarters right now.

  A quiet knock on the door got her attention. She opened it. Reed was standing there, and a smile crossed his features. “Excellent. Come this way, please.”

  She left her room and closed the door. There were no locks on her door, but as this was an obscure part of the manor, no one frequented the area.

  Her lace dress fluttered and let any and all air caress her skin as she walked. “Reed, is it you that sneaks into my room at night and messes with my wardrobe?”

  “No, Ms. Wicks. That is the province of Dorn.”

  “That just elevated this to a level of creepy I didn’t think it was possible to reach. He doesn’t like me.”

  “He doesn’t like strangers. Give him a decade. He will loosen up.”

  She nodded and tensed up as they left the familiar halls and he led her outside into the gardens behind the manor. Leo held in her gasp. She hadn’t realized that it was a night garden, but that made sense.

  “This way, please.”

  Reed led her through the hedge maze lit by a rainbow of glowing flowers.

  Matthias was sitting next to a fountain in the centre, reading by the light of the glowing roses.

  Reed left the same way they had come—without a word.

  Leo stepped forward until she was next to Matthias, and she waited.

  He patted the stone bench beside him without looking up.

  Leo took the seat and winced at the cool surface under her skin. The heat from the day had long since dissipated.

  “Before there were vampires, there was the wave. It brought magic to the world but not all of that magic was used for good. I lived in a small city with my parents and other family, including my brother. Our city was at war with a neighbour. The king of the next city cursed us with a plague that swept through the children and elderly first, taking our parents with it.”

  He turned a page in the book. “We had been told that the tree of life could save the rest of our people. My brother and I were still alive and reasonably healthy, so we went in search of the tree.”

  The picture in the book was an old, gnarled tree with fruit in the low-slung branches.

  “We walked for days and nights, sleeping only when we had to and eating what we could find. We were near death when we finally found it. It appeared in front of us, and my brother pushed me to the side, running for the tree. Instead of gathering the fruit, he used his knife to slash at the trunk and stab at the tree, drinking in its sap. Night was coming, and he grew strong as he took what he wanted.”

  He laughed slightly. “I ran up and tried to stop him. He batted me aside then smashed me into the tree itself. I felt myself dying. Life was fading away. I asked him if he would take the fruit to our people. He called me a child and laughed again, the new fangs of the hunter showing in his mad expression.”

  Leo didn’t say a word. She listened.

  “I felt myself leaving my body, but then, a cool touch on my lips woke me, brought me back. A bough from the tree was bent, and instead of the red sluggish sap my brother had taken, I was given bright, green life. The tree fed me through the night and into the next morning. When I was strong enough, I asked for the fruit, and the tree gave it, whispering how to use it in my mind.”

  “I ran home as fast as I could, but as fast as I could move, I could not outrun death. He had already visited and gone.”

  He sighed. “There was no one to save, so I went out looking for other victims of the demon-witch who had destroyed my family. I found another village near a rich mine, and it was in the early stages of the plague. I fed them from the fruit and healed them. One of the young survivors had lost her parents in the first wave of disease, and she asked to come with me. I felt the whisper in my mind of what I needed to do, and I made my first vampire. I gave her purpose, and she followed me.”

  “A century later, my followers and I met the followers of my brother, and we st
opped their rampage of gore and abuse. It was the first fight between us. He had created hundreds of those just like him. We sought them out, looking for the source, until the day came that I faced my brother, and I did what I had to.”

  She wanted to ask, but she kept quiet.

  “I gave him an eternity of silence. I retrieved what he had taken from the tree and returned it to the earth. I became the ruler of his followers and my own, but there was never peace between us. They are driven to kill; we are not.”

  He flipped the pages again. “In my lifetime, I have spoken with the tree at length. I asked it why I had to be alone.”

  Leo was confused; he said he had followers.

  “The tree told me that I had to find someone who valued life above anything, to make them my apprentice and teach them my ways. When they made the choice to join me permanently, it would be joyous and I would no longer be alone.”

  She had to ask. “How many apprentices have you had?”

  “Twenty-three. Each seemed a good choice when we began, but as time went on, we drew further and further apart until they sought out someone else.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “Most have surrendered to eternity after long and happy lives.”

  She blinked. “They were human?”

  “Until the day they died. This will not change what you are, but it will provide a layer of protection that you currently do not have.”

  He looked at her, and his gaze drifted southward and then up again. “The dress isn’t strictly necessary, but I do enjoy it.”

  She blushed. “Dorn brought it.”

  “Dorn will have you dressed like a hooker if you let him.”

  She laughed at the frank statement. “What comes next?”

  “I mark you. It won’t be anywhere that can be misconstrued as a maker’s mark, but it will be a definite mark that connects us.”

  “How long will it last?”

  “A year from tonight. If you don’t wish to continue under my protection after that, it will fade away.” He got to his feet, put the book down and offered her his hand.