“Whffk-” I choked, then sagged forward in the chair. “Fhkk yh.”
He smiled, turned away and climbed two steps of the stairs. “Get it off her.”
“But, my Lord,” a voice said, female-and scared. “She’s a skindancer, his protege. We all know how dangerous their magic is. You warned us about her, specifically. You showed us her killing your own master. If we let her speak a word of power-”
“You knew she was his protege and didn’t think it significant enough to tell me?” Transomnia said. “No wonder the Stone did not react to her presence.”
“Oh, but it did, ” the female voice said. “The blood marks resonated when she passed the barrier. That confirmed the tip we received.”
“So, technically, she has the right to be here-and again you didn’t tell me? Oh, get that thing off her,” he said, cracking his neck. Then he turned back, and his eyes were filled with calm menace as he stared over my shoulder. “And let her out of that chair.”
There was the briefest of pauses, then hands fumbled at the back of my head, and others fumbled at the arms and legs of the chair. As the gag peeled off and I coughed, I caught a glimpse of a goateed, handsome male guard and a pale, beautiful, violet-haired female vampire.
The collar came off. I spat and bleahed and wiped my hand with my free arm, which was stinging and stinking, pins and needles mixed with pungent rubber. My other hand came free and I hunched forward, massaging my right nervously with my left through the sticky gloves. My legs were freed, I put my hands on the armrests, I gritted my teeth, and I stood.
I swayed forward, dizzy, and saw a black velvet coat, saw a white hand reach out and steady my shoulder. Oh, God, he was touching me. I twitched, feeling magic trapped beneath the suit burn against my skin. Then I leaned back out of it and looked right in his face.
Transomnia stood before me, the man who’d taken two of my back teeth, my confidence and nearly my life. He was precisely positioned on the steps to give him an ever so slight advantage over my height. And, within arm’s reach, holding a sword, was his hand. The hand. That awful hand, that had held those awful clippers, with which he’d nearly taken my tattooing fingers.
He could kill me in a second. He’d nearly maimed me for life. And I was defenseless. But I held my ground before him, damnit. I straightened defiantly-and so did he.
“Well, well, well, Dakota Frost,” he said, voice careful and controlled. “I did not recognize you with that hood wrapping your head. What did you want to say?”
“I said, what the fuck, Trans? We had a deal!”
“ Did we?” Transomnia said-and seized my right hand. My eyes bugged, but I stayed frozen: he could kill me in an instant with that sword, or, hell, just with one backhand. “Ah yes, I remember. Our first deal, more of a covenant, really: never cross me again, or I’ll leave you with bloody stumps. Do you remember that, Dakota Frost?”
My knees began trembling, and I nodded.
“To think,” he said, raising my hand to inspect it, “one little squeeze a few months ago could have destroyed this fine, precision instrument, and you would never have tattooed again.” My rubber-gloved fingers now began trembling in his grip, and I felt my teeth grinding against each other, with a sharp cracking pain on the right side where Transomnia had kicked out two of my molars. “That would have been a loss to the world, don’t you think?”
“Y-yes,” I said, absolutely terrified.
He raised my hand to his lips and kissed my two fingers. “Once again,” he said, raising his voice to address the hall, “see forbearance brings more than small favors. I spared Dakota Frost’s hand, and she, in turn, helped me free myself from my master.”
He released my hand and turned away, ascending the steps to his throne, behind which the Sanctuary Stone that was supposed to be protecting me was hanging like a useless gong.
“Following that, I recall, we made a new deal,” he said, throwing himself down abruptly on the throne, one leg over the side, hand resting on the sword like a cane. I appreciated the increased distance between us, but somehow that deliberately casual pose made me feel even less safe. “That we would leave each other the hell alone. Why are you here, Dakota Frost?”
“Why am I here?” I said, stunned. “ You kidnapped me and brought me here.”
“Do not dissemble,” Transomnia hissed, shifting forward abruptly, steepling both hands over the hilt of his sword, hair rising up above him like a frozen bonfire. “Why have you pursued me to Blood Rock, Dakota Frost?”
“Why have I pursued you? ” I said-then laughed. He actually thought I had tracked him here for some reason? “Not everything is about you, Trans.”
Something immensely strong struck my cheek with a loud slap, and I staggered sideways. Transomnia had not moved, and I looked to my left, straight into the blazing green eyes of the cruelly delicious female vampire. Eyes watering, I flinched away, coming face to face with the other, goateed vamp. But I didn’t have time to think through the horror of standing defenseless between two hostile vampires, because the female vamp reached out and seized my neck.
“Do not speak to my master with such familiarity,” she hissed. She jerked me close, and I could hear the strands of her hair brush against the suit, could feel her breath against my ear, echoing hollowly against the slick, icky rubber. “His name is Lord Transomnia-”
“Nyissa,” Transomnia said. “Don’t. And do not make me say it a third time.”
Both the vampire at my throat and I jerked at the voice. It was quiet, even, and filled with deadly menace. Nyissa let me go, and I straightened, looking up at Transomnia, calm face tilted towards me, eyes following Nyissa away. Gone was the pasty wannabe spouting threats, gone was the sick whiny serial-killer taunts. All the masks were gone: this was a vampire lord.
“How old are you?” I whispered.
Transomnia’s glowing red eyes settled on me again, and I looked away. “Not as old as you think,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “But that is the advantage of turning early. I can look as young as I want.” Then the humor vanished. “Why are you here, Dakota?”
“To see Arcturus, my skindancing master,” I said. “To ask how to fight magic graffiti.”
“Magic graffiti?” he laughed, leaning back onto his throne before the Stone in that oh-so comfortable, almost mocking slouch. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen, Dakota.”
“It’s incredibly strong. It killed Revenance and tried to kill Tully.”
“Revenance was a vampire,” Transomnia said, smiling down at me. “And you hate vampires. Why would you come all the way out here to avenge one of us?”
“He was nice to me and Cinnamon,” I said defensively. “Besides, Calaphase-”
Transomnia raised a hand. “Do not say that name.”
Calaphase had kicked Transomnia out of the Oakdale Clan-and forced him back into the arms of the serial killer who had controlled him. I swallowed. “Well… he… and Sav-the Lady Saffron… wanted me to investigate Revenance’s death.”
“My my my, so many vampires in your life, and you’re doing so much for them,” Transomnia said. “Surely you’re not developing a taste for vampires? I’m sure any of the vampires here would love to get a taste of you and that hot skindancer blood.”
“Yes, indeed,” Nyissa purred.
“My leads had run dry,” I said, swallowing. “My master is the next logical person I could turn to. I didn’t know you’d moved into town!”
“ I was here first,” Nyissa said, oddly petulant. “Before that Chilean jerk took over.”
“But all of the House Beyond Sleep stand with you now, and Blood Rock is yours again,” Transomnia said. Strange that he’d said the city was hers, not his. “Odd that Arcturus didn’t warn you the balance of power had changed, Dakota.”
My brow furrowed. That was odd. I could see Zinaga not warning me; she hated my guts. But why had Arcturus not bothered to tell me a new crop of vampires had rolled into Blood Rock-or that Nyissa was here all along? Why hadn’t I seen her? Was I that oblivious?
Then I remembered what Arcturus was really like, and grimaced.
