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"Ease off." The warning came from Jacob and David at the same time. Lyssa stepped forward, but whatever she communicated to Jacob stayed his forward progress. Alexis bit her lip against the pain, trying to control her reaction so things didn't escalate. The challenge from both males had Dante's power rushing to the forefront like an approaching torpedo, alarms blaring louder and faster in her head. Mina might have been correct, that her presence was more detrimental than useful here. The smell of singed flesh told her the collar was working. She wasn't sure if she was more concerned about it hurting Dante, or Mina realizing how little of a deterrent it was to him.
Lyssa cocked her head, her expression that dispassionate mask that Alexis knew could hide so much. She felt little from the queen but calm readiness, however. "A vampire's servant is his to command, Dante. To punish if he sees fit. But there is a bond there that should never be abused. It is the one constant in a vampire's life. Do you understand me? Of course you don't. But you will." She held out her hand. "You are trying to protect her, but maiming her is not the way to do it. Release her and let her hand me this picture."
"I want her out of here," Dante hissed at Mina. The witch moved forward another step, so she and David were both close to Dante, close enough to act against him, Alexis realized. They felt the imminent violence from him as she did.
"You insisted she come along. So did she. Now let go of her, before I take your arm off at the elbow." The witch's voice was frost.
Dante, they're trying to protect me. That's why they're acting this way. They see you as a threat, because of how you're holding me. Believe me. Please let go of my arm.
A long pause, and then she heard his grudging response. Very well, but do not move from my side. Agreed?
Agreed. Please, you really are hurting me.
His fingers loosened and she drew a steadying breath, cradling the arm against her in the hopes the throbbing might subside. She might have lost her nerve entirely then, but her attention was caught by Jacob's emotions--encouragement and surprising wry commiseration. When she met his direct blue gaze, it was as if he'd said it aloud: Vampires. What can you do with them? The quirk at his lips made him seem almost human. Thank Goddess, it also gave her the necessary fortitude to hand the picture to Lady Lyssa.
Slim, elegant fingers bedecked with rings took it. Lyssa studied it, her hair falling forward over her shoulder. With the ease of long habit, Jacob came and slid her hair back so it wasn't in her way. As he did, he placed a kiss on her throat, below her ear. Tilting her head away, she gave him that access, murmuring as he straightened and they looked together.
She looked up at Dante. "I did know your mother. Come inside."
"SHE was nearly two hundred when she disappeared. Not very old for our kind, just embracing her adult years, really."
Jacob had taken them to a library, which held a circle of comfortable chairs and an impressive compilation of hundreds of books lining the walls. On the desk, Alexis was bemused to see a small stack of superhero comics. They rested in skewed fashion on top of a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit. Under the desk was a small rubber bear, a toy an infant might use for teething.
Lyssa sat down in the desk chair and Jacob took a position on the wall behind her, arms crossed. While he wouldn't move in front of his lady, Alexis had the same sense she'd had when David imposed himself between Mina and the male vampire. He was protecting what he considered his to protect, and would do so, even if it cost his life.
Dante had been directed to take a chair across from the desk. While David stood behind Mina's chair in similar fashion to Jacob, Dante apparently did not want Alexis at his back where he couldn't see her or control her movements. Easing her down to the floor between his knees, he kept a hand on her shoulder there. Lyssa and Jacob did not seem to find that unexpected, but David gave her a quizzical look, confirming that Alexis was all right with the position. She gave him a slight nod.
Males were strange animals, she knew, and it seemed when a girl was dealing with one closer to his primal roots than others, he became even stranger. The atmosphere wasn't quite as charged in the library as it had been out in the courtyard, but there was still a wariness among the males keeping everyone on alert. They were too far away from the craft room environment of earlier in the day, and suddenly, she'd had enough of it.
"Lady Lyssa," she said politely, "do you have a child?"
Lyssa's jade eyes riveted onto her face. Alexis held her gaze until Jacob made a slight noise, gaining her attention and breaking the contact. The intent regard had been unsettling, but more than that, she felt some shift had occurred, possibly not a good one.
"She doesn't know, my lady," Jacob noted quietly, and Lyssa lifted a shoulder, expression unreadable. He glanced at Alexis, and then at Dante. "Human servants don't meet the gazes of vampires unless invited to do so."
"Oh. My apologies, my lady," Alexis said, then discovered the difficulty of speaking to someone without looking at them. She recalled Jacob had not seemed concerned when she'd met his gaze earlier, but he was also a vampire serving as another vampire's servant. It was confusing, but from Mina's sharp glance, she realized now was not the time to get mired in speculation.
"Er . . . was my question inappropriate?" Damn it, unless they could all unbend enough to have a real conversation, this wasn't going to go well.
"No," Lyssa said at last. "You may look at me, child. It makes me dizzy, your eyes darting all over the place. We have a son." She glanced up at Jacob. "His name is Kane. Right now he is with the majordomo of our estate, Mr. Ingram, probably being allowed to wreak havoc in my rose garden."
"But you're both--I thought, two vampires couldn't . . ."
"It's extremely rare, but it does happen. Jacob is a made vampire. We conceived Kane when Jacob was my human servant."
"I still serve you, my lady," Jacob replied, his hand curved around the back of the chair, fingertips brushing her shoulder. Lex felt the unmistakable bond between them. The vampire queen loved this male with all she was. This, despite the reproving look she sent him.
"When it suits you."
His grin loosened the knots in her gut. But before Lex could draw an easy breath, Lyssa returned her attention to Dante. The muscle in his calf was taut beneath Alexis's fingers.
"Were you old enough to know your mother's name before she died?"
"She never told me her name. She never named me, either." Dante's impassive expression deepened.
Lyssa nodded, considering that. "When I knew her, she called herself Lana Devereaux, though I suspected she changed her name. She was a made vampire, sired in the early 1800s. She stayed with her sire for some time and then went on her own path, as vampires often do. She liked to design clothes. Before she was made, she was a seamstress for a royal tailor who took all the credit for her design work. But after she became a vampire and gathered more resources to her, she opened her own dress shop. She was accomplished, intelligent and overly romantic, hence the name. In the early twentieth century, she had a fondness for the cinema."
Lyssa lifted her hand to intertwin
e with Jacob's. "Lana was in love many times, but she thought she'd found her soul mate in Lord Willingham, who was a vampire overlord in London at the time, and is now a Region Master. Unfortunately, he was torn between two female vampires, one of them being your mother. The other was Eleanor. She kept a female servant whom she shared with Lord Willingham on occasion. When he conceived a child with Eleanor's human servant, his choice was made, for vampire children are so rare they can be considered a compass direction for Fate. He bound himself to Eleanor."
Alexis looked at Dante. He was staring fixedly at the queen, but he could have been a statue. The tension in him had changed, become something she couldn't define, which she now knew meant he was feeling something he probably didn't understand himself. She tightened her grip on his calf.
"Lana fell into a deep depression when he rejected her. When she disappeared soon after that, it was assumed she'd chosen to meet the sun." Lyssa passed her free hand over the drawing in an attitude of regret. "Vampires do that at times. Though she was young for such a decision, she was romantically inclined, as I said. It was not improbable. She designed a dress for me, all those years ago. That is how I knew of her. We were not friends, but she spoke during my fittings, as women will, revealing more personal things about herself. It is also my business to know a great deal about many other vampires."
She angled her attention back to Dante. "Mina has told me things I did not know, and likely did not want to know. About angels and Dark Ones, and rifts in our world. Unlike the humans, we of course did not forget the Mountain Battle, but still we knew little of what had actually happened. While I will say it's useful to have a greater understanding of these matters, the knowledge may bring me more nightmares than comfort. I don't know how your mother was taken by Dark Ones, though her depression likely lowered her guard, made her more vulnerable to predators."
Lex pictured an elegant woman who would have been besotted with Greta Garbo and Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr. Had she not been taken by Dark Ones, she could have designed their gowns, a fashion designer renowned by Hollywood and fitting into their eccentricities perfectly by only working during night hours.
