I rose as the candles guttered out. I upended the table, allowing Vayl to see the pedals at Disa’s feet and the levers on the table legs at her hands’ level, all of which had been hidden by the tablecloth. I yanked a lever and one of the windows closed. Another caused the fire to go out and the room descended into darkness. I could feel the fury and fear of the accomplice. His indecision would not last long.
“We must leave, Vayl,” I said. “Someone else knows what we have discovered, and they will not suffer the knowledge to spread.”
For a moment I was not sure Vayl heard me. He stood as still as a man who has just prophesied his own doom.
“This will not stand,” he whispered, so softly even I barely heard him.
“Vayl, really, we have to go now. Later. Later we can— ”
“No.”
“But—”
“No!” he bellowed. He strode to Disa, who had backed almost to the fireplace. He grabbed her hand just as she raised it to the mantel, pulling her away from the spot even as the fireplace— mantel, wall, and all—began to pivot. It revealed a hidden doorway and, stepping from it, a broad-shouldered, bearded man with wide, fear-filled eyes. He was armed with a large crossbow.
With barely even a glance in his direction Vayl backhanded the man, sending him and the crossbow flying into the back of the fireplace so violently that I suspected he was dead. Disa gave a little scream, which eroded to a whimper when Vayl slapped her across the face and snarled, “No more from you, woman. Not a word. Not a sound.”
I followed him out of the house, feeling like a stranger in my own skin having seen such behavior from him. He’d never even been rude to a woman before this night. And yet now I’d seen him hit one even as the bloody tears from his supposed reunion with his beloved sons still stood upon his face.
He hitched Disa’s carriage to her team, threw her into the back, and ordered me to drive. Though I didn’t see what happened next, I heard it. Vayl said, “You heartless bitch. Six months you played me. And meant to for how long? Another six or eight before you disappeared? With as much of my fortune as you could get your hands on, I suppose. And I, pitiful wretch that I am, fell right into your grasping hands. We both deserve this.”
“And then,” Niall said, “he ripped her.”
I grabbed the arms of my chair. Felt my nails dig through the tattered material to the cushioning underneath. “Did you say . . . ripped?”
“Yes.”
Huge sigh of relief. I think. “What is that?”
Niall had finished pulling the silver from Trayton’s body. He set the towel he’d been using aside and rubbed both hands across his eyes, as if he didn’t want to visualize what he’d witnessed that night. “Humans believe you must choose to become a vampire. Most of the time that is the case. However, very occasionally, a person is ripped, or forced, into vampirism. The risk of permanent death for both parties involved in such a turning is so extreme it’s almost never attempted. However, sometimes, as in this case, the vampire feels justified in the attempt.”
“I don’t . . . Are you saying he tore away her chance at eternity in heaven by forcing her to spend forever here on earth?”
“I suppose you could see it that way. But that was never his intent. Because he didn’t plan for her to live beyond the next dawn. Already maddened by the desire to see his sons again, he allowed the pain and humiliation Disa caused to destroy the remainder of his self-control. He did in five minutes what a purposeful vampire would have taken a year to accomplish. He took her to the brink of death. Then he brought her back. After which he left her tied to a tree to watch the sun rise.”
Here it was. The thing I knew I’d have to face about Vayl. He’d hinted at his shadowed past. Had even told me I wouldn’t have wanted to know him back when. So how did it feel to be romantically involved with a reformed ripper?
No clue.
My insides were so jumbled I couldn’t have made sense of them if I’d been a professional code breaker. “So.” I cleared my throat of whatever had suddenly become lodged there. “She’s obviously still kicking. Did you go back for her?”
Niall laughed without a trace of humor. “And invite Vayl’s wrath? Do I look suicidal? No, indeed, Vayl himself returned. He heard her weeping, even from miles away. That is how strongly the turning connects you. In the end he couldn’t leave her to die. So he brought her into the Trust.” Niall’s eyebrows arched. “An enormous risk in itself, since turning was, and still is, forbidden. But, as you may have noticed, Vayl is a survivor. A skill he passed on to Disa. It is amazing to me, the Gifts that are transmitted between Maker and mate. But then, that still was not enough to make him forgive her, not even when she begged him to on the day he left.”
“Excuse me,” I said, Lucille’s polite smile frozen on my face. “Just now. Did you say Maker and mate?”
“Yes.”
I laughed. Because I was getting real stressed, real fast, and that’s my funky way of showing it. “Ha, ha-ha-ha. My understanding was that Makers kind of guide their, um, makees. Like teachers. Maker and student,” I said, loud enough that Trayton opened his eyes.
“I understand that is the case in North American nests and many of those found in New Zealand and Australia. But Trusts view the relationship much more seriously. They grant those who are turned the power to bind their Makers to them for a specific length of time, which is why we call them mates. When Hamon decided to allow Disa to stay, he did as much for her.”
“Why?” I clenched my fists, realizing if Niall didn’t answer I’d willingly resort to violence for the information I needed.
