She heard the commotion coming from the back of the apartment, and Jacobs burst into the room, his hat in his hand, his weathered old face creased with worry, Nanny Maude close behind him.
“She’s gone, miss,” he announced.
There was never any question who he was talking about. “What do you mean, gone?” Elinor said, jumping up. “Is she dead?”
“No, Miss Elinor,” Nanny said, her voice thick with worry. “Your mother managed to find the last of the money I’d had for food, and she put on her fancy dress and left.”
“Oh, dear God. How did she manage that? I thought she could barely move,” Elinor said, chilled. “We can find her, can’t we? She can’t have gotten far.”
“I almost caught her, miss,” Jacobs said miserably, crushing his hat with his big, strong hands. “I thought I recognized her running down the streets, but she got in a coach before I could catch her.”
“A coach? Are you sure it was my mother? I didn’t realize she still knew anyone with a coach.”
“It was her,” Jacobs said grimly. “And I recognized the coach. Even in the streetlights I could see the crest.”
“Oh, Lord,” Elinor moaned. “What new disaster has she gotten us into? Whose was it?”
“St. Philippe.”
“Bloody hell,” Elinor said. “Don’t look at me like that, Nanny Maude. I know you raised me better, but if any occasion deserved a curse then this one does. You know who St. Philippe’s friend is, don’t you, Jacobs?”
“I don’t,” Lydia piped up, her blue eyes shining with curiosity.
“You don’t need to know,” Elinor snapped.
“It’s that devil, isn’t it?” Nanny said, her voice grim. “She’s gone and taken herself off to the devil’s lair, where there’s orgies and such, and she’ll lose the tiny bit of money we have left and probably end up sacrificed to the dark one.”
“I don’t think they do sacrifices, Nanny,” Elinor said in her most practical voice, trying to ignore her own racing heart.
“They do,” Nanny said, nodding her head so vigorously her lace cap slipped off her silver hair. “Women go in there and are never seen again. They kill virgins and drink their blood.”
“Well, if it’s virgins they kill then I think our mother’s safe,” Elinor drawled, determined to take the terrified look off her sister’s face. “And I doubt anyone will be so besotted with her that she’ll disappear. She’ll gamble away the money and then come crawling home, sick and helpless.”
“You don’t understand, miss,” said Nanny. “It’s the only money we have left. And she took the diamond brooch.”
A cold chill ran down the center of Elinor’s body. It was the last thing of value they owned, a poor piece with tiny, flawed diamonds that was worth very little, but she’d kept it hidden for an emergency that didn’t involve their deliberately self-destructive mother. She straightened her shoulders. “Then I’ll simply have to go after her.”
She ignored Nanny’s howl of protest. Jacobs said nothing—he knew there was no other choice. Lydia rose. “I’m going with you, Nell.”
“You certainly are not. If I walk into that den of iniquity I know I’m safe. They’d be on you like a pack of ravening wolves.”
“I think you overestimate my irresistibility,” Lydia said with a grin.
“And I think you underestimate it. Nanny said they drink the blood of virgins, remember?” she said with just enough lightness to allay her sister’s fears.
Unfortunately Lydia could see right through her. “You’re a virgin too, darling, unless you’ve been keeping something from me. They’ll drink your blood too.”
Elinor didn’t even flinch. “They won’t be drinking anyone’s blood. They thrive on scandal and secrecy, but I suspect they’re not nearly as dangerous as they pretend to be,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice.
“Hush,” Elinor said. “I’m hardly a baby. Jacobs will take me to the house of the Comte de Giverney and we will extract our mother and be back before midnight.”
“Begging your pardon, miss, but they were heading out of town,” Jacobs said. “I think they’ve gone to his château.”
Elinor remained calm. “And how far away is that?”
“Not far, miss. An hour out of town if we hurry.”
“Then we’ll be back by dawn,” she said. “Safe and sound, and this time we’ll tie mother to the bed when we can’t watch her.”
“And how do you intend to get there?” Lydia said. “Last I heard we had no coach, nor horses, nor money to rent them. Are you intending to walk?”