Read Online Dancing in Red (a Wear Black novella) by Heather Hiestand, Eilis Flynn - Free Book Online

Right now I’m taking control of all his devices so I can give them a
thorough look.”
    Something occurred to Lucas. “Maybe the
device exists, but it’s not in the shadow castle.”
    “Maybe he had a partner. Consider that,
old man.”
    “I have,” Lucas said, shaking his head.
“I’ve only been with the Society a few months, but I’m living proof that some
of the Society members have interests outside of our cause.”
    Lucas, then Baron Fitzrobbins, had been
in London planning his wedding only a few months before when he was killed by a
footpad seemingly intent on robbing a lady. He was given a potion that restored
him to life…rather, an afterlife, as a science-created vampire.
    He learned His Royal Highness Prince
Albert, the late consort of Queen Victoria, was inadvertently killed and
brought back to life by his cousin. Henry Coburg had hoped to cure the prince
of his fatal illness. He had only partly succeeded, however, because he’d made
Prince Albert a vampire—and the prince could never inform the Queen that he
still lived, albeit in altered form.
    Thus was the St. George Society created.
In the nearly three decades since, Albert had kept a close eye on his beloved
family, knowing he could never communicate with them again. The society grew as
the potion was offered to royals, scientists, visionaries—everyone who could
aid the organization in protecting the empire, and the Queen, from underworld
threats.
    “There’s more,” Williams warned him.
“The Society’s like a maze. There’s always something around the corner you
don’t expect. It still surprises me, after all this time.”
    “Nothing simple or straightforward,”
Lucas said with a sigh. “It is times like these that I miss the army.”
    “It’s times like these I’m glad I’m here
and not in the army,” Williams said, with a flash of a grin. “Simple and
straightforward can be boring after a while, Dudley. A little mystery does
wonders. Gives you a reason to wake up every day. Or every night, depending on
your preference.”
    “I can think of better reasons,” Lucas
said. One last glance around the lab, and a glance into what remained of the
hidden room, and he was ready to move onto other priorities.
    He didn’t think Williams would notice he
left. The transporting device Fotheringay had claimed he was working on lay in
pieces on the work table now, and Williams stared at it as though the
box-shaped machine was his entire world.
    That had to be nice, Lucas mused as he
let himself out. The world was a simpler place for those like Williams, in
which Science was all.
    Lucas had had an eventful year, one that
had radically changed his own world view. First his brother had died, forcing
Lucas to leave the army to take up his title. Soon thereafter, he himself had
died. Now, he served a calling other than the army, though he still served the
British empire. But he wasn’t always sure what was best to do on a daily basis.
    Certainly he shouldn’t be at the beck
and call of the vampiress who was waiting for him, even if she was his superior
in the Society.
    Lady Emerald Downey, who had been a
duchess in life and distant member of the royal family, stood in the grand
entry of the shadow castle, dressed impeccably as always in her trademark
green. Today she wore a suit, up-to-date and fashionable, sure to be the envy
of any woman who glanced at her. She was the very model of a major modern
matron, bringing to mind an opera he had seen some time ago. She too had
information about vegetable, animal, and mineral, but no one could know the
extent of her actions.
    In fact, Lucas would never have known
she had orchestrated his murder if not for a series of events that led him to
discovering who had stolen the crown. And yet, though his murderer, she was
also his ally.
    Today.
    “Ready, Lucas? The German ambassador
awaits,” she said cheerily, donning the special spectacles that hid the oddly
shaped and colored eyes that marked many