Page 16 of Reapers Don’t Ride

He gestured, and Herald came forward with fencing foils, sharp tips glittering beautifully. Perfect. They’d match my dress.

Herald handed a sword to Rose, who took it with a vicious smile then slashed the air a few times. After he bowed to the king and her, he came over to us.

“This is for you,” he said, holding it out handle first.

I didn’t take it and neither did Gavriel. “It’s customary to ask for a dance.” I looked up at the vampire king, refusing to smile, viciously or not. He was supposed to summon us for a word, not publicly put on a fencing show for his supporters. I wasn’t anyone’s slave to perform at their whim.

Herald cleared his throat loudly, uncomfortably. “The host of tonight’s festivities would like you to show your dancing skills. Quid pro quo.” He lowered his voice to a whisper that no one else in the room would be able to catch. “He wants to be sure that you’re stable enough to be within arm’s length. You are stable, aren’t you?”

I flashed Herald a smile and took the foil. Rose would do her best to infuriate me to bloodlust so I lost control and started ripping people apart. The only way to lose was to lose my temper.

I gave Gavriel a small smile. “No deaths. See? We’re all in accord.” I spun around and raised my sword just in time to block Rose’s slash. I knocked the sword back and then kicked her stomach, sending her stumbling. She bared her teeth and fangs at me and came at me with a scream. I parried and stepped aside, allowing her to use her momentum to carry her past me and into the crowd. It was a crowd of vampires, so no one got trampled, and she was back in a flash.

The thing about weapons is that as wild and feral as I’d been, my training had been incredibly meticulous. Tralcon didn’t want to lose his favorite slave, and he invested in my skills. Mr. Good hadn’t cared about my training. He expected me to take care of it myself, other than sending his goons to give me some exercise in jail, so I’d gotten sloppy in the last decade, but it came back quickly enough.

I followed her attack through several styles and time periods while Gavriel stood on the side, arms crossed, looking irritated and sultry. He was so handsome. Was that female edging closer to him? I almost didn’t block Rose’s swipe at my neck, I was so distracted.

“He’s pretty,” Rose murmured.

“I know,” I said.

She flashed a smile while I shrugged. Was I supposed to deny something so obvious?

“You shouldn’t have come here.”

“I shouldn’t do a lot of things.”

She spun around and then boxed the side of my face with her fist while her sword arm came at me down low.

It was on the side of my sword arm, so I let her hit my face, although it sent a shower of sparks across my vision.

Rose hissed, “If Tralcon is rising, then it’s best if you run and hide. You know the King would be happy to hand you over to him.”

I bared my teeth at her. Finally, something useful. “Your concern is touching, but I would love to be turned over to him, the easier to kill him. He doesn’t own me anymore. No one owns me.”

“Not even the pretty angel? They don’t like to have unreciprocated feelings.”

I struggled not to look over at Gavriel and succeeded well enough to block her flurry of blows that drove me back until I went under her and shoved my sword deep into her stomach, hit the right nerve in her wrist that she dropped her sword and held her, my hand at her throat, in sudden stillness and silence.

She gurgled as blood welled from her mouth, but she didn’t move or complain.

The king came forward, clapping steadily as he approached.

“Well done, Ruby Blood. You have won an audience with me. Won’t you and your companion join me as I take a turn about the room?”

I slid my blade out of Rose and went back to Gavriel so I could reach him before the Host. Herald took my foil with a bow and disappeared into the crowd.

I said, “No need for a walk. You know what I want.” I pitched my voice low so everyone didn’t hear me.

The king waved a hand negligently. “How could I know what you want? I haven’t seen you in over a decade.” He slid his arm in mine and the contact was so revolting, I almost lunged at his throat to rip it out.

Gavriel put his arm in mine, tugging me close, like he could tell I needed to get away from the Vampire King’s corruption, but not until we’d gotten some information about the demon. We walked through the ballroom, not talking, but being seen. My anxiety rose at every vampire we passed who looked at Gavriel with flared nostrils. The Vampire King was leading us through his people so everyone could catch our scent. Were we going to play chase-down-the-intruders after his show of civility was over?

“Have you seen my gallery?” the king asked, giving me a smile that showed off his bleached incisors.

“Yes.” He had paintings done of all the great vampires and other monsters he’d known through the centuries.

“But your new friend hasn’t.” The king tugged me towards a doorway that led out of the ballroom and to the gallery. What was his game? Would he give me a head start before sending his court after us?