Becoming the Enigma, page 39
Then again, what if Lord Michael had been lying. What if he did probe her memories like he said that he could? Firstly, if she knew vampires could do that, she wouldn’t have put herself in so many precarious situations where her mind could be harvested for information. She had no doubt that he could reach into her mind and read her thoughts somehow. If he could make a chair move and Martel could make her stand perfectly still while he kissed her, then there was no telling how far the vampire psychic abilities could go.
But, what if he was telling the truth all along? If she was the savior of the loups-garous, what did that mean? What was she supposed to do? And how could she be expected to save the future of two warring races when she couldn’t even save her fiancé and pack?
As soon as they walked through the ballroom doors, an eager Martel greeted her. His smile was infectious and she tried to silence her thundering heart at seeing the excited sparkle in his eyes.
Almost everyone had taken their seats in chairs around the room or lounged on the floor by the Christmas tree in the far corner. The roar of voices had lowered to a dull murmur. It must have been time for the gift exchange, but Katey’s thoughts were far from festive.
Martel took her hand and pulled her away from Lord Michael. “Katey, come with me. I saved us a spot near the tree.”
Katey looked back to see Lord Michael join Yaverik on the far wall as he monitored the activity of the ballroom. If her suspicions were true, then the old vampire might have been her only known relative on this earth.
She and Martel wandered through the crowd until they came to a pair of empty chairs near the tree. Katey took her seat beside him and let her eyes skim over the many pale faces around her. A hundred questions, new and disturbing, flitted in and out of her mind so quickly it made Katey dizzy. How many would have known her mother? She spotted Julia in the crowd and wondered how long she and her mother had been friends. Who was there for her execution? Who knew about Michael’s pacifist and sympathizing tendencies to the loups-garous? Who experimented on her father with the liquid silver bullets? Were the assassins that hunted them down here in this very room?
It was then she remembered her chronic dreams. The cabin. The blood. The woman with the blonde hair and white gown. Had those been memories? How could she have remembered something like that as a baby? Was that why Lord Michael’s voice and accent was so comforting? Because he hid her from the assassins that came to arrest her parents?
And if that dream was also something of a memory, what did that mean for her other dreams? Were they premonitions of the future? The past? Had they been guiding her to this destiny all along? She thought of that dream she had of the pack before she knew what they were, and how they ran together as wolves. Then what was that giant black loup-garou that ended her dream? What did it all mean?
She swallowed hard and bit down on her lips to keep herself from slipping into a panic attack. If she let herself slip into such hysteria, then she’d never make it until dawn when Michael promised to help them escape.
Several volunteers sifted through the hundreds of gifts laid out under the tree, calling out names and tossing them to their respective owners. Once the first few gifts were passed out, the racket of paper ripping, joyful glees, and general merriment resumed.
Martel had received several gifts, mostly from other ladies who watched him with hopeful gazes. He gave his cordial thanks and set them aside with perfect impartiality, much to the dismay of the ladies, who waited for a flicker of interest.
It was amusing for a little while to see someone open their gift and either squeal in delight or laugh at the gag inside. On more than a few occasions, she let her eyes slide a glance toward Lord Michael across the room, observing the way he interacted with the other vampires.
No one would have known that he was somewhat of a defector, the way he laughed and socialized with the others. If any vampire could read memories, wouldn’t they have known that he had helped his daughter escape and elope with a loup-garou? Or were they only able to read the feeble minds of a human? Or maybe Lord Michael was just powerful enough to block out any psychic invasion?
As the gift exchange drew to a close, the vampires scattered, carrying their goods to the edges of the ballroom, where they set their presents down and retreated back toward the center to continue mingling. Numerous blood servants, including Helga, who looked to have recovered from the attack earlier, came out to the floor to clear away the wrapping paper and trash while others took the chairs and pushed them toward the walls to get them out of the way.
All the while, the band tuned up their instruments.
“What now?” Katey asked.
“Time for more dancing. The night is still young!” He gave her a wide grin as he led her away from the center of the hall to take their seats and gifts out of the way of those gathering together to dance.
He must have seen her eyes light up with the thought of dancing. If there were any good dancers out of this bunch, it would be them. Katey remembered waltzing with him on her first day in the ballroom dance club. She was so nervous and constantly stared at her feet, but he asked her to dance and they learned the basic box waltz pattern together.
As Katey watched couples pair up for the first sets, she began to wonder which dance they would do first. No doubt it would be something traditional, and her mind rotated through all the possibilities.
Katey didn’t notice that Martel had momentarily walked away and came back with an oblong shaped box wrapped in beautiful shiny green paper and a golden bow.
She glanced down to the gift and her heart rose in her throat. “Whose is that?”
“Yours,” he purred.
She blinked in surprise that she would receive a gift at all from anyone, let alone him. Katey smoothly took the box from his hands and carefully unwrapped the gift, being careful not to make a mess of shredded paper that the servants would have to clean up. Upon opening it, she was met with a pristine rose in full bloom.
Katey was never one for romance and simple gifts like these usually made her want to roll her eyes. Gifts like roses, chocolates, and teddy bears shouldn’t have been the go-to for any man. Thought was what mattered, not clichés.
But as she stared at the soft, silky petals of the rose, she smiled at its simple beauty. A rose meant many things. To some, it was just a flower. To others, it was a symbol of love and devotion. To Katey, it was a gift and in this wintery world of vampires, loups-garous, and mysteries, this rose seemed to pull her back from all the desperate and disquieting thoughts. For a moment, she forgot about it all.
She lifted the single rose from its tissue bed and brought it to her lips to take a deep whiff of its pleasing aroma.
“I thought a girl as beautiful as you deserved to be reminded of what she outshines,” Martel whispered intimately.
She looked up to Martel, wondering what exactly she was feeling. This gift and the peace it brought to her mind, combined with their passionate kiss from the night before, stirred something within her that was kind of exciting in a dangerous way.
This pull of affection she felt for Martel came all too easy, resurrected from a life she had left behind when Logan turned her. One side, the side that neglected to remember her mating bond, enjoyed the rush of it. The other side of her screamed that she should run, slap him, anything to break the spell that he cast over her. Because, that’s what it had to be. A spell, an enchantment, a trick of the mind. What else could make her forget Logan and everything they shared so quickly?
Katey didn’t want to return the flower back to its case, afraid that if she let go of it, the chaos would charge back in and take away that peace.
“Katey,” Martel began shakily, taking her free hand in his. “Even in school, I knew you were special. I had thought about asking you out, but there was such an age difference that I didn’t want you to get scared and turn me down. But now that we’re older, the difference doesn’t matter so much.”
She held back the urge to laugh. If age ever played a factor in whom she loved, then she wouldn’t have adored Logan so much, but Martel didn’t know that.
“You are an amazing girl, and any man would be blessed to have you. I would be even more grateful if you would be mine. I know I haven’t exactly put the best foot forward, and a lot has happened since we last saw one another. I am a different man than I was. That can never change. But when I’m with you, I feel like… like I’m human again, just a little.”
Katey bowed her head and closed her eyes, wishing Martel would stop. Even if she wanted to be his, even if she had a crush on him as a freshman in high school, they could never return to the way things were. He was not the first one to give such a speech. He was a few weeks too late to claim her heart, if that’s what he wanted.
She braced herself, hoping she would have the heart to say what she needed to. “Martel, I don’t know if I can just ignore everything that’s happened to me over the last few years. And I can’t ignore what you are. I don’t have a problem being your friend, but I can’t see us in the way that you do.”
When she lifted her gaze, she saw the brokenness in Martel’s eyes and she wished that she could have taken away his pain. Short of accepting him, there was little she could do, but accepting his request for a deeper relationship was completely out of the question.
Martel forced a smile, and she could tell it took probably all the strength he had. “Then we can be friends.”
She absolutely hated how she had to throw him into the “friend zone” like that, but he would never understand. His hatred of the loups-garous was too deep, too consuming. There was no use in telling him that she was already taken by one. To his knowledge, it wouldn’t have mattered in the end, but he didn’t know that her mate would not die the following night.
“You have dozens of women here who would throw themselves at your feet. Why not go dance with them?”
The vampire huffed. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to dance with you again? I’m not leaving your side.”
The band began to play a light, swaying melody that flowed sinuously through the ballroom, cutting through their conversation. The music took on a life of its own and twisted its way around Katey’s mind. She watched the couples begin to twirl, skirts billowing out from their legs as they stepped and swayed like elegant sprites to the rhythm of their own world.
In the excitement of the rose, the music, and the beautiful people dancing, Katey began to lose herself and the wolf slipped away into the darkness.
All of the sudden, Katey was glad to be right where she was at that moment with Martel. The knowledge that her fiancé was below her in a prison cell and that his death sentence was scheduled for the following night, was a distant concept. The idea that she could bring peace between vampires and loups-garous was a faraway nightmare. The feeling of homesickness and loneliness was little more than a memory as she saw Martel gracefully bow and offer out his hand to her. She felt herself drowning in the murky forgetfulness that crept upon her mind and heart.
Katey took his hand without hesitation and set the rose aside.
Martel led her to the dance floor, guiding her through the moving bodies with ease. They waited for the beat and began their graceful spin. All around, skirts whirled and brushed by each other, but never collided. Everyone knew where everyone else was and each couple was in sync with their part in this grand display that seemed to require no rehearsal.
Martel held Katey with perfect posture and she did her best to hold her own as they traveled across the dance floor. He spun her, dipped her, and led her in moves that even Katey had never learned. The smile on her face couldn’t be willed away and the building ecstasy within her shined through every graceful move.
“You seem happy.” The corners of Martel’s eyes crinkled in a smile.
Katey giggled. “You know what? I am.”
“See, it’s not so bad to be with me.”
The dress, the makeup, and her companion all made her feel like the belle of the ball, though there were plenty of other vampire ladies present that might have surpassed her in looks and refinement.
So many sensations moved within her that she could feel it overflow within her soul and swell to unimaginable depths. Her blood raced with each turn and her spirit soared with the music. Katey couldn’t remember a time when she felt like this, not even when she danced with Logan did she feel this free.
Then, all of the sudden, Katey could contain her delight no longer. She lost control of herself. As Martel sent her into a final dip, Katey threw back her head and released a great, loud… howl.
In that moment, time stood still as her wolf song must have echoed through the entire castle. Martel raised Katey up from the dip, brows furrowed and lips parted in utter confusion.
She lowered her head as the final notes of her howl faded. Everyone in the ballroom grew deathly silent and motionless, all staring at her with shock and contempt. Even the band had abruptly stopped their music on a sour note.
Katey’s eyes darted around to all the glaring vampires and up to Martel who had released her suddenly and backed away from her. His blue eyes looked her up and down as if she had transformed into something detestable and otherworldly. It was then that she realized her own eyes were a bright, glowing loup-garou gold.
She turned her frightened gaze to Michael and Yaverik. Michael didn’t move but donned a wistful expression, as if all the puzzle pieces finally came together for him. Yaverik slowly rose to his feet, borderline furious as his face contorted with rage.
With her heart pounding and chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, she looked to Martel again and wordlessly pleaded for asylum. He would not give it. His words of love and devotion from before became meaningless now. He knew the truth. They all knew the truth.
A few pregnant seconds passed, and then every one of the loups-garous below her feet returned her howl and sent shudders through the ballroom. It was as if they were in the room with her and their power surged through her soul. It quickened her loup-garou blood and she could feel her inner wolf stir with a renewed vigor since the night she almost changed. She longed to be with her pack.
It wasn’t hard to make her next decision.
She ran.
Katey bolted out of the ballroom doors at lightning speed, knocking over stunned vampires in her way. When she reached the stairs, she kicked the heels off, and sent them flying across the marble floor. She ran as fast as she knew how down the halls and corridors, tears streaming down her face.
She made her way to the dungeon doors. The loup-garou howl still rang in her ears as she took the lock in one hand and ripped it off with one quick tug. She didn’t want to be anywhere else but with her pack. No one else could comfort her at a time like this when she couldn’t tell what was real or a fantasy anymore. She was probably bound to end up in a cage anyway after that episode and it would save the vampires the trouble of dragging her into the cell.
Katey hurried into the dungeon, slammed the door shut behind her, and flew down the stairs so fast she didn’t even think her feet hit the stone.
Every pair of golden eyes turned to her. Some charged forward, drawing dangerously close to the silver. Others continued to stay at a safe distance and watched it all unfold. But beneath it all, the atmosphere of the place was thick with mounting tension, as if one wrong move or word would send every loup-garou over the edge into a wild and uncontrollable hysteria.
Darren came daring close to the silver bars to meet her. “Katey! What happened?”
She grabbed the bars and pressed her body against the metal that would not burn her, willing to get closer to her pack and pull on their bond for strength and stop the wave of sobbing. “I’m sorry, Darren. I’m so sorry! I should have told them the truth. I’m so sorry!” Katey gripped the bars tightly between her trembling hands. She fell onto the damp floor, ruining the precious fabric of her dress as cold, filthy water seeped through to chill her skin.
Darren crouched down, ready to console her in whatever way he could while the silver separated them. Tears streamed down her powdered cheeks, leaving streaks of spoiled makeup.
“Wait, just calm down. What happened? Why are you dressed like that?”
“Katey?” Logan’s choked voice called from amongst the pack inside the cell. He sounded weak and disoriented. Had he degraded that fast since she left just a few hours ago?
Her head shot up to see her fiancé step forward, scrutinizing her appearance. Her guts knotted together knowing what he saw, a girl who had allowed herself to step into a place she never belonged.
She wanted to crumble with the shame of it all. He didn’t know what she had felt, what she had thought, how she had betrayed him.
Nonetheless, he ran to Darren’s side and squatted down with him, still keeping a safe distance from the harmful silver. Katey reached out her hand beseechingly, hoping that he would take it despite everything he knew and didn’t know yet.
He did, but it was a weak and unsure grip. The hunger must have been taking a harder toll on him. Dark circles hung under his eyes and after she took a quick look at the others, she knew they had all reached their limit. Haggard and tired faces turned to her for an answer or some comfort that they would escape this terrible place soon.
“They were doing a gift exchange. Martel gave me a rose and we were dancing, and I was just getting so excited that it just came out. I feel so embarrassed about everything.”
“Embarrassed that you howled and showed who you really are?” His words came out in a growl. “Embarrassed that you’re one of us?”
Logan’s words were like knives in her chest.
“No, not like that!” Katey implored, feeling more tears stinging at the corners of her eyes.
“Well, that’s sure how it sounds,” Logan dropped her hand like it would sting him, and snarled bitterly.
“I was confused, Logan! I didn’t know what I was doing!” Katey reached out to him as he slipped just past her fingertips. “I was in the middle of the room, and everyone was staring, and Martel looked so disgusted with me.”
