Victoria Gardella: Vampire Slayer Read Free

identify the villain.
    She’d pushed her way between a milkmaid
juggling two, thankfully empty, pails and a doublet-garbed Romeo
when she suddenly came face to face with the golden-haired lute
player.
    “Why, my dear Venator,” he murmured, slipping
his hand around her arm in the crowd, “how delighted I am that you
should have followed me so quickly. Shall we slip away to finish
the…discussion…we began at the Chalice?”
    “Sebastian,” she replied, tugging her arm
discreetly away so as not to draw attention. If her mother saw her
tête-à-tête with a man who not only wasn’t the Marquess of Rockley,
but was also without a title at all, she’d come barreling over to
separate them immediately. “What are you doing here?”
    She didn’t know much about
Sebastian—particularly whether or not he should be trusted—but one
thing she did know was that he wasn’t the vampire she sought.
    “Why, I’m attending a masquerade ball…the
same as you, I presume. What a delight to see you here, ma
chér, although I must admit that your costume could be
considered in poor taste…considering the fact that her majesty met
a most unpleasant end. According to my Grandfather Beauregard, it
was rather a bloody incident.”
    She drew back a bit. Was that some sort of
warning? A renewed prickle lifted the hair at the back of her neck,
reminding her that she had other business to attend to. “Why are
you here?” she asked again.
    Those sensual lips smiled knowingly, lifting
his mask a bit. “Perhaps I came simply because I knew that you
would be here…and I find that masks, though obscuring, can also be
quite…freeing.” His hand slid through the crook of her arm, easing
her flush against his side—or at least as flush as he could, with
inches of skirts, crinolines, and panniers between them. “I noticed
that you extricated yourself from Lord Rockley quite directly, as
soon as you recognized me.”
    She realized he’d begun to guide them through
the crowd, away from the dance floor, and toward the rest of the
house. Since that was the direction she wished to go anyway, she
allowed him to think he was in charge.
    After all, with her vis bulla strength, she could snap his grip and stop him in his tracks at any
given moment, as the lascivious Mr. Bendleworth had discovered a
week ago when he tried to lure her into a dark corner.
    Aside of that, since she didn’t trust
Sebastian as far as she could throw the well-padded Duchess of
Farnham, Victoria felt it might be best to keep an eye on him for a
bit. Especially if there was a vampire about.
    As they pulled free of the party-goers and
found themselves moving into the house’s grand entrance, Victoria’s
neck grew colder, confirming that she was heading in the right
direction.
    Suddenly, she heard a low cry from one of the
rooms beyond, and she pulled free of Sebastian’s grip. Heart
beating, she slipped the stake from its little loop beneath a
flounce and began to move quickly down the corridor. Her gown
rustled, causing her to curse the fact that she’d listened to her
mother’s costume suggestion instead of dressing the way she wished:
as Diana, in a flimsy, light gown. She would have even been able to
put stakes in a bow quiver and wear it over her shoulder.
    Victoria reached the only door that was
closed tightly, certain this was where the soft cry had come from.
Her neck was still cold, but there was silence. A quick glance
behind told her that Sebastian had disappeared, blast it, but she
couldn’t worry about him now.
    The stake gripped hard in her hand, she
listened again, and closed her fingers around the cool door knob.
Then, she heard it again. A low, pained cry from the other side of
the door.
    Victoria twisted the knob and eased it open
quickly and quietly. Inside, the room was dark, lit only by a fire
needed more for its illumination than warmth. Shadows danced, black
and red, and she darted her gaze around quickly.
    There. In the corner, the shapes of