voice, he shook his head and turned back to the map. “Yes. They are. Hello, Elizabeth.”
The woman had appeared sitting on the end of the table, a glass of red liquid in her hand. She was beautiful, with chestnut hair and surprisingly warm-colored skin. She had all the hallmarks of a youthful thing.
But it was a careful façade. She was a dangerous monster—one of their strongest elder vampires. While she was one more step removed from their Master’s blood than he was—the product of a sire Dracula had made directly—she was no less frightening for it. Beneath the sweet and charming exterior was a cold and calculating fiend.
“Boys. Tempt them with a sweet prize where they might lay their seed, and they lose their minds.” She sighed and reached out to pull a few pieces of paper over to her, scanning them quickly. “Bees cannot resist a flower in bloom. Well,” she eyed him, a playful glint in her green eyes, “most can’t. How is our dear uncle fairing? Does he have his new pet back?”
“No. He wishes to test her strength of will versus his horrors.” He ignored her flirtatious expression as he ignored all her advances. He had withstood them for three hundred years since she had answered “Uncle” Dracula’s call to serve him. He had no intention of cracking now.
She could not be trusted.
Elizabeth laughed and lay back on the table, draping herself across the papers and notes without any care in the world. “The fool. He cannot simply allow himself some happiness, can he?”
“No.”
“Sounds familiar.” She winked at him. “Like father, like son. Try not to be too much of a hypocrite, Walter. You wear it poorly.”
“He is not my father. Nor is he your uncle.”
“The humans measure their names by blood relationships. Why shouldn’t we?”
“It’s childish and sentimental.”
“I suppose, then, he would be my great-uncle and you would be my true uncle. And that would make my advances on you quite revolting, wouldn’t they?” She smiled. A painfully thin and practiced expression. “Oh, well. No matter.”
Gods in Hell, I redouble my prayer for patience. “Why are you here, Elizabeth?”
“To help you! Left all alone to round up the humans and to defend our new home from the rest. You will need assistance. And I am quite brilliant, after all.” She toyed with a lock of her own chestnut pooling around her head.
He did not bother arguing the last point. It was true. She was a manipulative mastermind, and that was precisely why he did not, nor would he ever, trust her. But he did need the help. He was never one to place his pride before logic. Even if it did mean he would have to put up with her smirking commentary.
Better her than the alternatives of Zadok and Mordecai.
“Very well, Elizabeth.”
She sat up from where she was lying and smiled wickedly. “Good. Where do we begin?”
Zadok.
Maxine sighed drearily. “Damn it.”
The vampire smiled at her and placed a hand to his chest and bowed. “Wonderful to see you too, my lady.”
Eddie raised his gun to fire at the vampire, who seemed entirely unalarmed by its presence. And for good reason. Maxine reached out and put her hand on Eddie’s gun and lowered it. “Save your ammunition. He is not really there. He is a mirage.” She could not sense any soul or emotions coming from the apparition.
“Very good! I would hardly be so foolish as to stand here before three capable hunters. Don’t think so little of my intelligence. And I am called the Illusionist, after all. I have not come for a duel, regardless.”
“Then go away, fiend.” Alfonzo had his sword in his hand all the same. He rightfully didn’t trust the vampire, illusion or not. “Unless you fight us, we have no business with you.”
“Oh, but I have come to welcome you to our new city. This place is ours now, make no mistake. I come with an offer to you. Give me the Master’s new prize, and the rest of you may leave here alive. Turn back, hunters, and save your own lives.”
“No.” Alfonzo’s tone left no room for discussion.
“Very well. But I’m afraid you will not get much farther into our city than this.”
“You cannot stop us. We will fight through whatever you put in our way.”
Zadok chuckled. “Therein lies the naivety of mortals. You think you can simply punch and slash your way to Dracula. You will make it not an inch closer if he does not allow it.”
“What do