Death Deceives Read online

  In mutual silent agreement, we travelled to the end of the hall and entered the Comtesse’s suite first. The heavy wooden door hadn’t yet been replaced. The foot-sized hole I’d made when rescuing Luc had been covered with a sheet of flimsy wood. Taking a quick glance around the sitting room, nothing seemed to be out of place. The heavy furniture was undisturbed and there were no puddles of ooze on the floor.

  With my weapons held at the ready, I pushed open the door to the Comtesse’s bedroom. Red was the predominant colour. It covered the ceiling, walls, floor and bed. Variation wasn’t in the tiny blonde’s makeup.

  Luc’s jaw tightened when he stepped inside. This was where he’d been forced to be the sexual slave of his master yet again. He’d managed to escape from the Comtesse’s clutches three centuries ago when he’d become a lord. When his pretend maker, Monique, had been killed, he’d been elevated to her former position. It had given him enough power to determine who he would sleep with. Luc’s choice after being granted the title of a lord had been to sleep with no one. Until I’d come along and had dragged him into the sack with my newly risen flesh hunger, that was.

  After a brief glance to verify the praying mantis wasn’t hiding under the gigantic bed, we left the suite. Luc relaxed once we were back in the hallway and offered me a tight smile. I slid my arm around his waist to offer him comfort. He was being brave but it must have been painful returning to the mansion again after having escaped from it so recently.

  We performed a quick search of the rest of the bedroom suites on the top floor. All were decorated in tones of blood red. We’d spent the night here once and I’d privately thought the rooms were tacky. My opinion hadn’t changed at all since the last time I’d visited.

  All of the suites were empty of life and unlife so we headed downwards. Over the past few days, everyone in the mansion had just up and left. Lights had been left on and the windows were unshuttered from the third floor downwards. I was reminded of the stories I’d read of whole towns suddenly becoming deserted or ghost ships floating around the ocean without a crew. If the courtiers had been human, food would probably still be sitting on plates waiting to be eaten. I could almost believe they’d all been beamed up by aliens to a mother ship and then spirited away. Maybe they had been, our creator had been an alien after all.

  We both heard a car approaching and went to investigate. After taking the long trip down the driveway, it parked near the doors to the mansion. Luc glanced out through a window at the end of the hallway. “Our friends have arrived,” he informed me. I squeezed in beside him to watch our friends pile out of the large black car. All carried weapons despite Luc’s advice that the house was deserted. Since I currently had a sword clutched in my hand, I couldn’t really blame them.

  Our companions caught up to us when we were in the ballroom on the second floor. Dark red drapes covered the windows, sweeping from nearly ceiling height to brush the floor. The floor was polished wood, stained the same dark shade as the four or five hundred year old furniture. A stage had been erected at the far end of the room so that the Councillors could look down upon their minions.

  I frowned when I counted the plush chairs that were lined up side by side on the stage. “Why are there only eight chairs?” I asked Luc. “I thought there were nine Councillors.

  “One of the Council members disappeared a few months ago,” he replied. “The Comtesse assumed he had turned traitor and ordered his chair to be removed.”

  Since none of the council members had been created by the praying mantis, they still had the freedom to make their own choices. I could hardly believe one of them had had the balls to run from her after being her lackey for so long.

  Hearing footsteps approach, we turned as our friends entered the room. “We’ve just searched the ground floor and could see no signs of attack,” Gregor said as he entered the ballroom first. “What do you think has happened to everyone?”

  “My guess would be that the First has called them in,” I replied. It was the only explanation that made sense to me. The First could control all possessed vamps. They wouldn’t be able to resist his long distance mental imperative to march to their doom.

  Geordie scratched his head in puzzlement. “But not all of the courtiers were ancient enough for their shadows to be in possession of them.” Igor frowned in agreement but remained silent.

  “It doesn’t matter how old they are,” I said in resignation. “The Comtesse is possessed by her shadow. Since she owns almost everybody, she just has to order them to follow her.”

  I’d recently learned that we didn’t actually need to be ancient before our shadows began to change. One of the vamps I’d culled from the Japanese nation had only been turned fifty years ago. I hadn’t shared this fact with my friends because I didn’t want to freak them out any more than they already were. So far, we were all safe so what was the point in worrying them unnecessarily?

  “When the Comtesse is possessed by her shadow, she has no power over us,” Luc reminded me.

  I gave him a look that probably looked as jaded as it felt. “You were smart enough to figure that out but obviously no one else is.” After centuries of following the Comtesse’s orders, it was ingrained in the courtiers and servants to obey her every word. It had taken guts for Luc to defy the praying mantis. Probably more guts than I’d ever be able to understand. I’d only been Silvius’ slave for five minutes before I’d killed him and that had been five minutes too long. Luc had been under the Comtesse’s spell for centuries. I personally thought his hatred of her had helped him to override his automatic instinct to obey.

  “How could they spirit so many of our kin away while we were watching the mansion?” Gregor wondered. “Surely we would have seen a convoy of vehicles leaving the area.”

  “I bet they used the trucks stationed near each of the exits to the catacombs in case of invasion,” Geordie said as he nervously toyed with his knife. We all turned to regard him and he hunched his shoulders at being the centre of attention. “But you probably already knew that.” His French accent deepened slightly with embarrassment.

  “I didn’t know that,” I said. “Where are these catacombs?”

  “They lie beneath our feet,” Igor replied. “A series of rooms and tunnels were created to house the courtiers and servants. Several exits leading to the surface were constructed to aid our escape if it ever became necessary.” He seemed insulted that his young helper had thought of the escape routes before he had. Geordie smirked but his smugness was half-hearted.

  “I’d almost forgotten about the catacombs,” Gregor said softly.

  Luc nodded thoughtfully. “They are not a place that one wants to remember.”

  “We might as well take a look and make sure no one is hiding down there,” I decided. My curiosity had been aroused at the thought of secret tunnels that had been dug beneath the sprawling grounds.

  Luc and Gregor exchanged a glance. They knew something that I didn’t, which wasn’t hard since I had zero knowledge of the catacombs at all. Igor looked uncomfortable and Geordie was downright grim. It was strange to see such a serious expression on the teen’s usually mischievous face.

  Taking the lead, Igor headed towards the back of the building. We passed a servant’s staircase that led to the upper floors. It was the entrance I’d used when breaking Luc free several days ago. Turning the corner, we entered a narrow, dark hallway. It stopped abruptly and Igor pressed a recessed button that was almost invisible even to my sharp eyes. A cleverly hidden door popped open.

  I didn’t like the look of the staircase that awaited us. It brought to mind a dungeon with a mad scientist waiting at the bottom. Being at the mercy of a mad vampire scientist once had definitely been enough.

  Down we went and the air quickly turned stale and damp. Since we didn’t need to breathe, there was no need for air conditioning. Rough concrete stairs gave way to a smoother, paved floor after we’d traipsed downwards for twenty or so steps. Lamps that had burned out hours ago
were spaced out at regular intervals. A faint odour of smoke still lingered.

  Igor quickly strode down the hall, forcing me to almost trot to keep up with him. He made a few turns, pushed open a door and we ended up in a gigantic, lavish living area. It was nowhere near as opulent as upstairs but it was far from shabby. The couches, coffee tables and other assorted furniture were antique and well kept.

  I couldn’t see any books, TVs, stereos or entertainment of any kind. I’d been told that vampires slept, fed and had sex and that was all. Gregor seemed to defy the odds and enjoyed reading. So did I. I wasn’t sure about the rest of our friends. We’d been too busy trying to stay alive to discuss what we liked to do in our spare time. At the moment, we didn’t have any spare time.

  Doors and hallways branched off on three sides. We performed a quick sweep of what turned out to be numerous well-appointed bedrooms but found no one lying in wait or trying to hide.

  “I guess this is where the courtiers sleep,” I said to no one in particular when we regathered near the stairs. I also guessed it was where they practiced most of their naked entertainment. Some of the rooms had contained chains, handcuffs and sex toys that would have made me blush if I’d still been able to.

  Geordie nodded in response to my guess. “The servant’s quarters are on the levels below this one.” His answer was decidedly glum and my curiosity was peaked again.

  We took the stairs, descending deeper into the earth. Almost immediately, the wealth and comfort were left behind. Reaching the next level down, the hallways were roughly dug and the dirt walls and ceiling were bolstered with cracked or rotting boards that badly needed replacing. Doors stood open, revealing rows of small cells furnished with a thin pallet on the floor and not much else. There were no comfortable living areas or bedrooms down here.

  “Don’t tell me you and Igor live down here,” I said in appalled shock. I’d often lamented that my one bedroom apartment had been small and shabby. It had been a palace compared to these bare cells. I mentally vowed never to complain about my life as a human to any of my friends. Their sympathy would be understandably lacking.

  “We do, chérie. Or did.” Geordie looked even glummer now. I wondered which cell was his but didn’t ask. Just knowing he’d been living here for two centuries was bad enough. If the Council and Court truly had been called to the First then Geordie, Igor and Luc would now have the mansion all to themselves. How long would it be before they were discovered by curious humans once the bills stopped being paid? I could picture them fleeing from a crazed mob bearing flaming torches and pitchforks all too easily. Now that I’d joined their merry band, I’d also be fleeing from the mob when they found us.

  We listened for any sounds of movement and I sent out my senses once more but came up blank. It was far too quiet for anyone alive or undead to be hiding on this level. After a glance at Luc and Gregor, Igor shrugged at their reluctant nods and took another staircase downward.

  Chapter Six

  Geordie squeezed in front of Luc so he was directly behind me. He was so close he was all but treading on my heels. I trusted his instincts so if he showed any signs of nervousness I’d know we were in trouble. “I do not like this level of the catacombs, Natalie,” he whispered suddenly, almost making me jump.

  Neither did I and I didn’t have any particular reason for it. “Why not?” I asked just as quietly.

  His response was gloomy. “It is said to be haunted.” I threw a look over my shoulder to see if he was joking or not. His grin was weak and half-hearted as if he wasn’t sure whether to believe the stories he’d been told or not.

  “Haunted by what?” We were the walking dead. If anyone was haunting the earth, surely it was us.

  “By the ghosts of those who were slain as food or entertainment for the Comtesse, the Council and the Court,” Igor intoned. He cast a dark look back at me that didn’t ease me at all. “This is where the humans are kept.” Gesturing to a long, pitch black tunnel, he nodded for me to precede him.

  Luc had once told me that there were no such things as ghosts. Maybe that had been wishful thinking on his part. He seemed to be just as uncomfortable as the rest of us at being down here.

  Ok, I told myself as I squeezed past Igor, remember that you are Mortis, mistress of death. You are the bane of vampirekind. You are strong and powerful and you aren’t afraid of anything. That was a big, fat lie. I was afraid of plenty. I was especially afraid of making a fool of myself. It happened all too frequently for my liking.

  Luc gave me a reassuring nod and Gregor gave me a smile that didn’t quite make it all the way up to his eyes. My friends were spooked and were hiding it badly. They also seemed to be ashamed, either of themselves or simply from being members of the Court in their various ways. Even Gregor, who lived as far apart from the Court as possible, hung his head a little. I suspected their shame revolved around the deaths of generations of poor human captives who had provided food for our kind.

  It was far too quiet down on the lower levels. It was still pretty early and humans were noisy creatures even when they were asleep. I should have been able to hear them breathing, twitching, crying, farting and making all the usual sounds humans couldn’t help but make.

  With a serious case of the heebie-jeebies, I pulled my second sword free and passed my backpack to Geordie. I was the fastest, strongest and most impervious to death so it only made sense for me to go first.

  A heavy metal door waited at the end of the tunnel. It swung open at my light shove with a rusty creak that added to the overall creepy atmosphere. A nauseous smell hit me and I understood why the humans were so quiet. Geordie muttered something beneath his breath about the odour as I stepped through the door.

  Cages lined a room that stretched too far into the distance for me to see the end of. Humans were crammed in together, up to twenty per cage that should have only housed fifteen at the most. Their living conditions were equally as appalling as the captives I’d dreamed about in the cavern of doom. These poor souls had only bare dirt to lie down on and would have to take it in turns to sleep. Naked and malnourished, they wallowed in filth like penned animals. I resisted an almost overwhelming urge to turn and rake a scornful glare across my companions. I reminded myself that the Council was at fault, not my friends. If they’d made any kind of protest, they no doubt would have been punished for it.

  It wasn’t just the smell of human waste that tainted the air. It was also thick with sticky, congealed blood. Every single man, woman and child had been slaughtered in their cages. Their pitifully thin bodies held multiple stab wounds. Many were missing limbs and most had claw marks on their abused bodies.

  “Imps did this,” I concluded as the men gathered beside me in front of the nearest cage.

  “How can you tell?” Gregor asked. He eyed the dead calmly enough but I sensed his fury and pity at the fate that had befallen the captives. By his pained expression, he found their living conditions to be as abhorrent as I did.

  “Because some of them have been partially eaten.” I pointed at teeth marks in an arm that had been torn off and dropped to the floor. Vampires drank blood, we didn’t eat meat. That could only mean that our transformed kin were responsible for the slaughter.

  “There’s no point searching through the entire catacombs,” Igor said wearily. “They are too extensive for just the five of us to search effectively. Besides, the courtiers and Councillors are long gone by now.”

  “And we have no way to track them,” Luc said grimly.

  Gregor studied my face, reading me far more easily than I cared for. “Natalie, do you know of a way for us to locate them?”

  “I might,” was my reluctant reply.

  Luc gave me a long look then gestured to the tunnel entrance. “Let’s head back to the safe house. We can discuss our options there.” I wasn’t about to argue, not when I wanted to get away from the smell so badly. It was bound to linger in my hair and clothes as well as in my memory.

  I took the lead ag
ain, more to avoid any questions than because I thought it was necessary. No one was going to attack us here. My senses were on high alert and they were coming up empty. The First had called the entire Court to him and he hadn’t left any nasty surprises for us.

  We had a silent ride back to the safe house and didn’t stop for a quickie this time. Even Luc wasn’t in the mood for it, which was rare. The fact that I was still holding one of my swords might have been a minor deterrent for him. My reflexes were so quick that startling me could end badly for the startler.

  Back in our safe house, I took a seat in the living room and waited for everyone to settle into place before telling them my idea. I felt secure enough to put the sword away. “You know it’s possible for me to sense the imps,” I began. They all nodded. “You also know the First can mask them from me somehow.”

  “Yes, chérie,” Geordie said and made an impatient gesture. “We all know these things.”

  “Well, what you don’t know is that I can also sense other vampires.” I ignored their startled looks. “It’s a skill I picked up during my short vacation in the cemetery a few months ago.” Geordie sniggered then cringed at a dark look from Luc.

  “How close do they have to be for you to sense them?” Gregor wanted to know.

  I gave him a shrug. “I don’t know exactly. I’m hoping it will be easier to find a large group.”

  “Is this going to put you in any kind of danger?” Luc demanded.

  “I don’t think so.” How the hell would I know? I didn’t get the Mortis manual when I was turned by Silvius. I hadn’t received any instruction at all from the creature that had created me. Once I’d realized what he was, I’d been too busy trying to kill him to ask him if he had any tips to pass on. The only thing Silvius had taught me was that holy objects had a tendency to make us burst into pretty blue flames when we touched them.