When Twilight Burns

taut silence that had descended.

Then… “Damn you,” Max said. Very quietly, as though he had no breath. His eyes were black pits, and she could see the renewed tension in his arms as he steadied Kritanu there. “You cannot… be so foolish.”

“I cannot retrieve the ring without your assistance,” Sebastian added suddenly. “You must come with me. I’m too weak to get to it.”

Victoria could see the calculation in Sara’s eyes, could fairly hear her mind whirring. Which would put her in the best favor with Lilith, which combination had the highest likelihood of obtaining the greatest leverage…

Refusing to look at either of her two comrades, Victoria waited.

“If you are so eager to be traded for them,” said Sara at last, looking at her with a delighted gleam in her eyes, “then I am content that you will indeed come, bearing the ring. And at that time, I’m certain we can accommodate your wishes to be traded.” Her dimple flashed. “You have two hours.”

Victoria looked directly at Max, though her words were meant for Sara. “I will bring the ring. I’ll be there.”

After Sara and George left, with Max carrying his burden between them, Victoria returned to Sebastian’s side to cut away his restraints. Long before he was loose, his unmaimed hand whipped out to grab her arm. “What in the bloody hell did you think you were doing?” he said, gripping hard, shaking her. “How could you do such a thing?”

“It didn’t work, did it?” she replied sharply, still cutting ferociously.

My God, they had been taking no chances with him getting free. The bonds were so tight, she was surprised he could breathe. And all the blood, oozing from his skin. Her stomach twisted, remembering the look in Sara’s eyes. She would have butchered each of them, piece by piece. She released Sebastian’s left hand, bloody and missing half of the last finger. “I’m so sorry, Sebastian.” She raised it to her face and his fingers closed around her hand.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “She didn’t get the parts that matter.” His smile was a bit lopsided, but genuine all the same. “Merely a badge of my long-questioned heroism.” He looked up at her, his ravaged face already showing a mottle of bruising. “You don’t really mean to bring the ring.”

“Of course I do, Sebastian!” She was horrified that he would even suggest such a thing that she stepped away. “I should have gone in the first place.”

“Are you addled? You’re Illa Gardella!” He pulled to his feet more smoothly than she’d expected, standing over her. His eyes burned golden as he took her shoulders. “What will happen to the Venators if you’re killed, or captured? You can’t.” He wrapped her against him, smelling of blood and sweat and Sebastian. “You can’t.”

“And as such it is my duty to protect.” They bumped the chair. A leather restraint fell to the floor with a soft whump as those words echoed in her mind.

Duty to protect.

Indeed… a duty to protect even when it wasn’t easy. When the choice wasn’t simple. In fact, when the choice was impossible. That was what mattered.

Could she do it? Could she be selfless in protecting the mortals she was charged to save? Even one for whom she might be bound by hatred and loathing?

It had been easy… so easy… to offer herself for Max and Kritanu. She’d seen the flash of expression on Max’s face when Sara produced the gun: sick with fear. He’d known his fate then. Not fear that he would die, but knowledge that Lilith would have him once again. And this time, without the strength and power of his vis bulla to help him fight her thrall.

Victoria knew that Kritanu would not last. Lilith had no use for him, and the blood would be too much for the vampires to resist. When Kritanu was dead, would Max use the silver ring to join him? She had to get there before he did.

Sebastian seemed to read her thoughts. “Victoria, Kritanu is as good as dead. And so is Pesaro. He’ll make certain of it himself.”

“Where is the ring?”

He sighed, tightening his arms, and then released her. His damaged hand smoothed along her cheek as he tried to smile. But it faltered. His fingers trembled. “I knew better than to hope you’d listen to me. This is who you are. This is who you’ve become: changed from the selfish, superficial Society girl, poorly disguised in man’s clothes and playing at a double life… to this. And… I love who you are, Victoria. I’ve never met a more fascinating, intelligent woman.”

A wave of guilt and affection overwhelmed her, and at that moment she drew in her breath to speak. But he shook his head sharply, the same way Max would have. “Don’t. Let’s get the ring. And hope that Brim and Michalas arrive soon.” He released her and stepped back, that charming smile unsteady on his lips. “But perhaps we should think of a plan first.”

Relieved that she could concentrate on the rescue, Victoria returned his smile with a grim one. “I already have.” 

Twenty-Five: The Vampire Queen Receives Her Guest

When Victoria and Sebastian left the Brodebaugh home, there was an additional surprise, and something that gave Victoria an even greater sense of urgency. They found Kritanu in a heap on the front stoop. He’d been left there for some reason-a happenstance that was both relieving and terrifying. She couldn’t imagine why or how, and assumed that Max’s cleverness had somehow achieved it.

Thus they would be able to save Kritanu’s life; but that left Max on his own, with no one to protect. No one to stay alive to protect.

He knew she was coming. She’d told him. But, would he wait? Could he, in that hell?

Should she expect him to?

Do you never do anything for yourself?

This might be the one time he did.

She wouldn’t be able to blame him.

During the retrieval of the copper ring from the rooms Sebastian had rented, and the trip back to Victoria’s town house, Sebastian tried to argue with her. He wanted to approachLilith in her stead, or at least, with her. But Victoria was adamant.

“You and Brim and Michalas-if they’ve arrived at last-will come in through the secret passageway, which, God willing, they’ve not yet discovered. If you have to fight your way in, at least they won’t be expecting three Venators.”

When they reached the town house, they were relieved to find Brim, the mountainous, coffee-colored man with barely a brush of wiry hair and a vis bulla in his eyebrow. Michalas, the lithe, whip- slender Venator with tight, burnished curls, had also arrived. They, in fact, had been making ready under Wayren’s direction to travel to the Brodebaugh residence and provide their assistance.

Victoria couldn’t have been happier to see them. Her confidence surged as she told them her plan.

“I need not tell you to take care,” said Sebastian, a short while later, as the hackney left Victoria off near the entrance to the sewers. His face looked marginally better, for he’d washed away the blood and sweat, and had changed clothes. However, nothing could hide the mottling purple and red on his skin, and the strain in his eyes. The last knuckle of his maimed finger was bound and poulticed, thanks to Wayren. “And I need not tell you why it is important that you return.”

Brim and Michalas nodded. But they said nothing.

Indeed, there was nothing left to be said.

Victoria slogged through the sludgy underground canal as she and Sebastian had done weeks earlier.

The back of her neck was cold. Red-and some pink- eyes burned, glowing in the darkness of the sewer tunnels, but none made a move toward her. They blinked, and there was impatient rustling in the shadows, but