Traitors' Gate Read Free Page B

Ravenglass is an
honorable man. He was just not very battle savvy. After the battle, the other
lords beat Christian to within an inch of his life, then hanged him as a
traitor. I got to him just in time, nursed him back to health. When he was well
again he pleaded with me to turn him into a vampire.”
    “So where is he now?”
    “With my friend Tolliver. As you
probably gathered last night, I’m less than enthusiastic about my immortal life.
I thought Christian deserved a sire with more spirit left. He told me about
this place, that his home had been burned and looted. I came to assess the
damage and well, you know…”
    “End it all,” I whisper. He looks
so sad, and I’ll probably go to hell for this, but beautiful too. Like a really
dangerous dark angel. We stare at one another for a moment, until I realize
that I have no idea who this man actually is.
    “What’s your name?”
    “Nicholas,” he said, scooping up my
hand to gently kiss it, “Nicholas Lord, at your service, milady.”

 
    Chapter Five
     
    Nicholas got rid of Appleby’s body.
I didn’t ask where and how. He then helped me back to my house. All the while
he chatted about his life, yet somehow managed to give very little away. I
asked him how old he actually was, and he turned strangely coy.
    “Old enough to know not to answer
that,” he said.
    Nicholas left me at the front door,
his vampire speed making his departure a blur. So now I knew a few truths about
the vampire myth: they are immortal save for a chop to the neck, they can
easily move around in daylight, they are very fast, they drink blood and they
are the most noble of all the men I’ve ever met.
    Mistress Leighton opens the door
and all but sucks me into her arms.
    “Oh, my darling,” she gushes, “We
were so worried about you. The maids said that you didn’t go to bed last night.
Where the devil were you?”
    “The devil indeed,” I whisper, then
realize that that probably came out very suspicious.
    I am quickly taken to my room,
bathed and tended to. I don’t mention what had happened with Appleby, or that I
ran to Ravenglass. The less I say, he less lies I have to lay to cloak the
truth. Also, I’d rather not be accused of seducing a lord, then having my
vampire lover kill him! How quickly everyone turned on poor Christian, and for
a simple mistake. I was sure that, with facts like these I would be locked up in the Tower of London within the hour.
    My father had gone to a neighbor’s
estate, obviously unconcerned over my absence, so I spend the day in the
kitchen with Mistress. Leighton. We make bread and cakes and I also decide to
experiment a little with a spiced black pudding recipe—after all, the chief
ingredient is blood.
    While we bake, Mistress Leighton
fills me in on the whole Ravenglass traitor story. Apparently everyone thought
that Christian was dead, and with no living heirs the estate was going to be
divided between my father and the neighbor he was currently breaking bread with.
How convenient!
    “I’d love to see Ravenglass again
though,” I say to her.
    “Oh dear, it was burnt. Not much
left to see.”
    “But still, Christian was a good
friend to me growing up, regardless of what he did and what he is now.”
    “Well, he’s a dead traitor now.”
Mistress Leighton looks confused.
    “Yes, of course, that’s what I
meant.”
    “Well, I tell you what, why don’t
we ride out there this afternoon together? With your help all the baking has
been done early.”
    “I’d much prefer to go alone, if that’s
acceptable” I smile sweetly at her and I see her resolve crumble.
    “Course it is, poppet. I’ll ask for
a horse to be saddled.”
    Within the hour, I am riding back
toward Ravenglass, dressed in a beautiful gown of red velvet and clutching a
basket of goodies. Oh dear, I’ve heard a frightening folk song that starts
something like this…
    He must have seen me approaching,
as Nicholas meets me at the front gate.
    “You came back!” he