Read Online Liaison by Anya Howard - Free Book Online Page B

another charm learned from Irmhild and proceeded between the archways.
    It was darker than I had imagined within this intimidating corridor, and the thorns shivered as I passed through. My ears picked up the distinct sound of vines rustling across the stones, but I did not walk into any of them, and to the relief of my suspicion, they did not offer to touch me. Another, more agonized cry hastened my gait, and soon I exited the dreadful passage and stepped onto a courtyard of the same black tile.
    I stood silently, allowing my vision to adjust to the open night air again. A peafowl screeched close to my left, but when the ungodly sound faded, I heard the cry again. My eyes moved to the direction it issued from and alit upon a large object in the center of the courtyard. After a moment or two, my scrutiny clarified so that I knew what I looked upon was a very deep rectangular stone sarcophagus. Its flat, unornamented lid, however, had been edged away slightly. I saw movement suddenly behind it, and raising my eyes, I made out two or three shadowy silhouettes.
    Lowering the lantern silently, I took a few steps until I could make out their dimensions clearly: two lean, robed and cowled monks, and between them they held Carina by her wrists. She struggled to release herself from their impassive hold; her flimsy gown was torn, and her hair smudged with mud. The monks ignored her struggle, and when one of them peered suddenly over his shoulder, I saw another monk advance out of the shadows from the far side of the courtyard. The cowl of his robe was pulled back so I had a good look at his sickly white face and pious sneer. He walked up behind Carina and snatched the ends of her hair with one hand. With her head forced back on her neck, she had no choice but to endure his scrutiny. Chiseled, porcelain scorn was the glare that bore down on my Carina.
    He tapped her brow with a bony forefinger, making not only Carina jump, but my heart as well. My breath was anxious, but I dared not move, at least not until there was an undeniable indication of violence from the vampire monks.
    I listened as the one gripping Carina’s hair spoke (and if disease had a voice, its resonance could have been no unhealthier than the one I heard at that moment): “Your continued effrontery to our mother is unforgivable, Urdhel fräulein. It is time you learn to serve properly, with that simplicity and humility that is our condition and duty. Just as we, you shall not insult the laws of the universe by assuming the passions that our gracious mother has sole prerogative to indulge and the wisdom alone to utilize.”
    Carina’s mouth quivered. “Please,” she sobbed, “just let me die!”
    “You will be grateful for the state we have offered you, after you have learned to serve properly.”
    Carina shook her head. Her tender eyes glistened with contempt. “No, I will not nurse Marcel’s thoughts again—not as a passionless leech as you, or even as a glutton of flesh and blood like your vain and greedy mother! I would rather die than serve her!”
    A sharp hiss cut through the night air from beyond them. Before Carina could turn her head, Griselda emerged. As graceful as a gazelle she moved, but she strode up to Carina so quickly that the uncowled vampire jumped timidly and backed away from the other side of the sarcophagus. Griselda grasped Carina’s face between her trembling hands. The other two held on to Carina all the firmer, but their mother’s luminous scowl cowered them visibly.
    “You will die, human sow, when I am ready for you to die,” Griselda said. She had spoken in Carina’s own language, but now that I was unaffected by her startling physical allure, I perceived a distinctly coarse but undefined Anglo timbre in her accent.
    One of the vampires holding on to Carina made a low and uncertain murmur. At once Griselda snarled at him so savagely that his knees buckled slightly as he cringed.
    “She is unworthy, you fool. How dare you