Stakes & Stilettos - Michelle Rowen [19]
Veronique had saved him. She’d been hungry and he’d apparently looked appetizing enough for her to pull his half-dead body from the pile of burning corpses.
The plague had long since left Europe, leaving behind a path of death and destruction. Thierry was still alive. Still breathing. His heart still beat, but now he had to drink the blood of others to keep it that way.
It was a monstrous life.
The only thing he had was Veronique. Yes, the woman who was now seated upon her sire and old lover’s lap with his tongue down her throat. Thierry watched them from the shadows. Veronique hadn’t even noticed his departure from the table.
She would be unfaithful to him. Thierry was surprised that the thought didn’t bother him as much as it should have.
He watched as a man approached Marcellus to touch his shoulder and then whispered something in his ear. Marcellus nodded and disengaged from Veronique’s embrace long enough to stand up, smiling as he left the table to venture outside. Thierry followed, keeping to the shadows, watching as Marcellus’s easy smile faded to a tense but determined expression.
“And the man who told you this?” he asked the man next to him sharply after he’d taken the stairs to street level.
“A solid source. It is good, reliable information. They are almost upon us.”
Marcellus’s expression shadowed. “I only wish I had more time. There are arrangements to be made.” His serious gaze then moved to where Thierry stood silently. “You there. Perhaps you can be of help to me tonight.”
“I didn’t mean to overhear anything,” Thierry said, feeling exposed and ashamed to be caught lurking in the shadows.
Marcellus’s lips curled. “Of course you did. And I can’t say that I blame you. After all, I have been preoccupying Veronique all evening.”
“Are you apologizing for that?”
“No.” His gaze was steady and unflinching and Thierry felt uncomfortable for a moment.
“What do you want from me, then?”
“Leave us,” he told the other vampire, who bowed and with a glance at Thierry left them in privacy.
Marcellus pulled a chain out from under his collar. There was a key on the end of it. “If I ask you to do something for me, will you do it?”
“It depends what it is you ask.”
The smile returned as he slipped the chain over his head and glanced down at the gold key. “This is the key to my home near the city wall.” He told Thierry the precise address. “I want you to take this key and let yourself into the house. Destroy the papers you will find there.”
“Why?”
“Because tonight I shall die, and if those papers get into the wrong hands, many others shall die as well.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I don’t suppose you do. I am a very good judge of people. I know those I can trust by looking into their eyes. Do you know what I see when I look into yours?”
Thierry didn’t reply.
“I see a man who has suffered, and even though that which has caused your suffering has left, you still hold on to that pain. However, I sense that you are honest and honorable. I don’t know how you came to marry Veronique, nor does it matter anymore.”
“You left her.”
“Only because I had to. For her own safety. You see, I am a hunted man. There are those who wish to do me great harm, and they have finally found me. I cannot escape. They will end my life tonight and I must embrace it. My death must be on public record so my secrets shall die with me.”
“The papers.”
“Yes, the papers must also be destroyed. There is no other choice.”
“Why can’t you simply leave?”
He walked off to the side and gazed out at the dark, empty street outside the tavern. “Have you ever heard of the Diable Rouge… the Red Devil, Thierry?”
“Yes.” The Red Devil was a vampire rumored to save other vampires from the threat of hunters. His identity was not known, but his deeds were legendary.
Marcellus turned to him. “The Red Devil dies tonight. The hunters believe that they know his true identity and they want to end him.”
Thierry frowned deeply. “I don’t understand.”
Marcellus smiled. “It is best that Veronique