The Rest Falls Away

be able to mask herself from Venators.

Victoria swallowed. The book hung heavy in the bag at her side, along with her conscience. Her heart was numb.

Phillip stood, panting, next to her. Victoria looked at him, and he faced her as if drawn by some invisible thread. The red had faded from his eyes, and his fangs retracted. He looked like the man she loved. The one she'd stood up at the altar with, promised her love and fidelity to.

The one she'd pledged to be bound to for the rest of their lives.

You should have confessed this before we were married, Victoria. It is unforgivable that you did not.

His last words to her hung in her memory, harsh and brutally true.

She had wronged him beyond anything he could have imagined, damning him to hell once his immortal life was ended by someone like her… or to hell on earth as an evil creature living off the blood of helpless victims.

She loved him, and she'd brought him to this.

She could save him… and she could also get what she wanted: freedom from this life. A clear conscience. A mind ignorant of these evils. The same blissful ignorance her mother now had.

And protection from them.

Isolation from the knowledge and reality of the undead.

Victoria's heart beat faster. Her hands moved, digging into the satchel. The leather cover of the book felt rough, the binding split. The pages crackled when she moved them.

'Give me the book.' Lilith stood close, but she didn't dare touch it until Victoria gave it to her. Freely.

Victoria could feel her anxiety, her lust for the set of bound pages.

What was she trading? Her life, Phillip's life… for a book.

A book that contained… perhaps… great powers. And perhaps not.

'Stand back,' Victoria said to Lilith. Her decision was made. 'I will make the trade.'

Chapter Twenty-Seven Most Fortuitous Length of Rope

When Lilith stepped away from him, focusing all of her power and attention on Victoria, Max was finally able to set the rhythm of his own breath. His neck throbbed and burned, but he knew from experience that it could have been worse.

Much worse.

Warm blood trickled over his skin. He pushed himself upright with trembling arms, forced himself to his feet, and shot a hard look at the Guardian who dared to move toward him. No one would risk touching the property of Lilith, which branded him safe—in a manner of speaking.

Rockley had been turned undead. Max had suspected, but wasn't certain until now, when he saw the way Rockley gazed with unleashed lust on his wife. At Lilith's word, he'd feed on Victoria until she died—or worse. But not until he was given leave by his mistress. Not only had she allowed him to feed from herself, but Lilith was holding him off to ensure his complete devotion.

Touching his vis bulla, Max closed his eyes, inhaled the power, and let Lilith's evil seep from his pores. They had to find a way to get out of this place with the book. There was no hope for Rockley.

Then he heard Victoria. 'Stand back. I will make the trade.'

What?

Give Lilith the book? Undo all they had worked for?

No!

He moved, started down the steps of the dais… and was blocked by the swords of two Imperials.

Victoria had seen; she looked at him. Hard. Then her eyes swept away to his left, quickly up and then down. Back to the satchel, which hung across the front of her body. She was feeling through the bag with one hand; the other fell alongside the loose white trousers she wore.

She'd dressed for battle, so to speak. Her hair was pulled back, severe and black, twisted into a knot at the base of her neck, leaving her eyes wide and dark in a face the color of health… not death. Despite Lilith's vibrant hair, Victoria was the one who glowed, standing next to her.

Max took a deep breath. Focused. To his left was the large, shallow dish of fire, sitting in its cradle of metal arms. Next to it was a pile of wood… much too thick to be used as stakes. But the fire itself…

'Stand away,' Victoria said to Lilith, and suddenly Max saw why. She had a pistol in her hand. That was helpful.

Lilith stepped back, but did not appear surprised. 'You took that from your husband. There is no bullet in there that can harm me. You are the only one in danger from such a weapon.' Then she turned to look at Max, still held captive behind two crossed swords. 'Or he.' Her brows lifted and she sent him a scorching smile. 'Perhaps you wish to eliminate any witnesses to your… change of heart.'

Victoria raised the pistol and pointed it at Max. It had been a while since he'd been on the wrong side of a barrel, and he hadn't missed the predicament one whit. The Imperials even shifted their swords, as if to give her a better shot. 'I would not wish my aunt to know that I had forsaken my vow; instead, Max and Phillip and I will simply disappear.'

'I am not finished with him yet,' Lilith replied.

'Nor am I.' Victoria looked at Max again and, giving a spare nod, pointed the pistol straight above her head and pulled the trigger. The black-painted dome burst, and shards of glass rained down on the center of the floor… and noon sunlight blasted through the opening in the ceiling.

Lilith screamed and fell away, rolling out of the generous ring of light in the center of the floor. Phillip, who was standing on the edge of the sunlight-infused area, dodged from the danger zone.

Max had moved just as Victoria nodded, shoving the vessel of fire onto the Imperials. One of them caught flames at the edge of his trousers, and when he dropped his sword Max leaped for it.

Max vaulted to his feet, slicing the head from the burning Imperial. He whipped around and took two more heads from the unprepared vampires who stood gawking along the walls, and spun toward Victoria.

Victoria hesitated, looking at her husband, but then Max was storming toward her. He leaped, landing next to her in the middle of the room. Sunlight bathed them both standing in the circle of safety. The fire he'd tipped over caught at the upholstery on Lilith's chair, and began to tear through the carpet. Smoke clouded the fringes of the room, rising to the open air above.

Most of the vampires had advanced, collecting around them, blocking them into the round yellow area that spanned perhaps eight feet. Lilith stood a short distance away, screaming orders and rubbing her hands over her body as if to brush away the burns from the sunlight. One of her Guardians was wiping a fine layer of burned skin from her face and bosom, leaving, raw pink underskin in its wake.

Max looked down. He noticed the warm yellow had dulled at their feet. A cloud was moving over the sky and soon would block the sun. Their sanctuary would disappear.

'I don't suppose you thought this through any further,' he said, brandishing the sword at a younger undead who dared take a step toward them.

'I was rather hoping that, since I got us this far, you'd have an idea.'

The smoke was getting thicker, and some of the furnishings were starting to kindle. It would be a very short time until the entire room erupted in flames; the dry, rotting curtains that hung at the black windows were already suffused with angry orange and red tongues.

Something quick and dark snaked from the circle of vampires, whipping in, and Max turned in time to see Victoria struggling in Phillip's arms. The light and dark divided them: She was in the sunbeams, he in the safety of shadows, trying to pull her into the shade. Part of his arm was in the sun, and his face twisted from the pain of sunshine blasting down on him, but he did not release her. Victoria's feet were planted far apart, her arms pulled behind her, and as Max watched, Phillip looped an arm around her waist and swept her out of the light.