16. Rose

ROSE

My heart raced as I slipped through the shadows, hands grasping Eyrik’s fur, so I didn’t miss a step and fall down and kill myself. I did as James asked, and we were headed back to the sewing room. But I wasn’t going to just crouch in there and cry. No. I was going to get the evidence we needed to prove to Gabriel that James and I weren’t traitors.

Of course, this plan only worked if Gabriel also wasn’t a traitor. But I’d seen the way Eve had said his name and asked James to watch out for him. She hadn’t meant watch out like be careful, she’d wanted us to care of him and make sure he was safe.

That was not the request of a woman who thought her man, umm vampire, had betrayed everything they fought for.

I pushed open the door and froze when Eyrik growled so deep and low I felt the rumble in my chest. There, standing in front of me, was a mirror image of myself. It was uncanny. She was the same height, had the same curves, even the same hairstyle. But there was something off about her expression, a wicked gleam in her eyes that sent shivers down my spine. I knew immediately that this was Anna, the Bathory assassin.

“Tell your wolf to back down, or I’ll bring out the silver bullets.”

Eyrik snarled and gnashed his teeth, putting himself between me and Anna. I could barely see over the top of him. “I think that’s a myth, dummy. He’s a wolf shifter, not a werewolf like in the movies.”

“Shall we test that theory?” Anna did indeed bring out a very old-fashioned looking gun. But she didn’t point it at Eyrik. Instead, she aimed for a figure in the shadows.

I squinted, and dammit all to hell. Mary O. was there, tied to a chair. From what James had explained, Mary could definitely be killed by a gunshot. But I had more intel on Anna and The Order’s plans than she knew. “You won’t kill her. If you do, she won’t be able to wear the poisoned dress and kill all the rest of the Immortal Royalty coming to the party. Good try, Anna, but I’ve got your number. So just hand over the gun and come quietly.”

That was a line straight out of some British crime show I’d seen on Netflix or somewhere. Sounded good. Didn’t work in the show either though.

“Ah, so you finally figured it out,” Anna purred, a malicious grin spreading across her face. “What gave it away? My impeccable taste in fashion?”

“Your tastein murder is more like it,” I retorted, gritting my teeth. “You won’t get away with this. The VIA have got you surrounded.”

“Please, call me Rose,”she mocked, her laughter cold and hollow.

“You only wish you could be me. I’ve got more than you can ever dream.”

“Oh, your precious fated mate? You think James is going to save you? He’s the patsy for this whole thing,” Anna sneered. “You honestly believe that a vampire could ever love you? You’re nothing but an abomination—a pathetic, desperate human clinging to the hope that you’ll somehow be worthy of a creature like him.”

“Shut. The fuck. Up.” I kept my voice calm, but filled with all the venom I felt for this woman who’d ingratiated herself into my life and then stabbed me in the back. Almost literally. “You may have a whole ass file on me, but you don’t know anything about me.”

“Oh, but I do,”she purred, stepping closer. “I’ve been watching you, studying you. I know your deepest fears, your darkest secrets. And I know that deep down, you’re just like me—hungry for power, desperate for love. That’s why I chose you, Rose. Because I knew that you’d make the perfect pawn in my little game.”

Sounds like she was projecting. I could work with that.

“Your game?” I asked, my hands clenching into fists. Where was a baguette or a plate of spaghetti when ya needed one.

“Killingthe Immortal Princess Mary of Orange and every last guest at her event.” Her eyes gleamed with malice. “With them out of the way, there will be no one left to stop me from taking control of the supernatural world.”

Oh, right. That game.

I was done playing. A dead Bathory assassin was almost as good as proof to show Gabriel as a live one. I hoped.

“I have a game of my own, it’s called fetch.” I released the fur on Eyrik’s back that I’d been holding so tight. “Get her, boy, I mean big, scary wolf man.”

Eyrik attacked and I sprinted for Mary. The ridiculously loud sound of gunshots reverberated off the stone walls, and I sure as shit hoped wolf-shifters really weren’t killed by silver bullets. The wolf did give a little yelp, but it was covered up by Anna’s screams.

Good. I hope he shook her to bits like a dog toy.

I literally skidded to stop myself from grabbing Mary straight up out of the chair. She wasn’t even tied to it, but she was wearing the most godawful floral print dress I’d ever seen in my life. I did not design that shit. It looked like it was made for one of those Americana dolls, but by someone’s grandma instead of from the store.

Yikes. This was the poison dress.

Couture handmade fabric, my ass.

“Mary, are you alive?” I looked around for a set of cutting shears so I could shred this piece of trash right off her.

Her head lolled, but she moved it from one side to the other. “Hurts.”

Yes. I did the tiniest of fist pump celebrations. She wasn’t dead. “Okay, hold really still. I’m going to get you out of this.”

The dress wasn’t finished, and if I hit just the right seams, the whole thing would fall right off her. I grabbed another bit of fabric nearby that looked nothing like this floral monstrosity, so I was hoping it was safe enough to cover my own hands with while I touched Mary and the poisonous dress.

The shears were oh, so sharp, and in just a few snips, the whole thing fell onto the chair and the floor beside her. I gathered some of it up as proof and wrapped it in the safety material.

But now Mary was in her small lacy things, and I had to guess they had residual poison on them as well. They were going to have to go too. Sad, because they were super pretty and probably mega expensive. Plus, there was no way I was dragging a royal princess around a castle bare-ass naked. She wasn’t a wolf shifter who was used to that kind of thing. Probably. What did I know?

That I wouldn’t want to be dragged around a castle in my birthday suit. The muslin I’d been laying out for Mary’s dress approximately four billion years ago, before I’d been kidnapped, was still on the dress form. It was only partially pieced together, but that would just make it easier to get on her.

I grabbed it off the form and yanked it over her head. Then I snipped her bra straps and band, so it fell off, and did the same to the sides of her panties. “Sorry, sorry. Just trying to make sure you don’t die.”

“But I want her dead.” Anna’s hoarse, broken voice came from behind me, and she yanked me back.

I stumbled, but managed to stay upright, scissors in hand. “You’re going to have to go through me.”

That was a really strange thing to say out loud to someone who literally looked just like me. But it was really just to buy some time. Because behind Anna, Eyrik was getting up off the floor. He had blood all over him and was still bleeding out of what looked like bullet wounds in his chest, shoulders, and face. But even in the few seconds that I watched him, I could see the wounds healing right before my eyes.

In a desperate bid to give Eyrik a head start on attacking and, hopefully this time, killing Anna, I first flung the scissors at her, haphazardly. Then I hurled a nearby sewing machine at her, the heavy object connecting with her head and sending her stumbling backward. Ooh. Was this one of my new immortal perks, super strength? Fun.

Seizing the opportunity, I grabbed Mary by her floppy arm and dragged her from the room, my heart pounding in my chest as we raced down the shadowy corridors that I could barely make out. Please don’t let me fall down the stairs and break my neck.

As we neared the main entryway, the sound of a fricking video game style fight, with enormous crashes that sounded like whole buildings fell down around us, reached my ears. Skidding to a halt, I peered around the corner, squinted hard, and saw James still locked in a heated battle with Gabriel, both of them snarling and baring their fangs. It seemed that whatever fears the two of them had about each other had come to a boiling point.

“Gabriel,”James roared, “Get your head out of your arse and listen to me,” James insisted, his eyes blazing with that scary blood red. “There is a Bathory assassin here in the castle, right now, and we need to stop her before it’s too late.”

“Why shouldI believe anything you have to say?” Gabriel spat, his handsome face contorted with rage. “It’s clear where your loyalties lie—not with the Vampire Intelligence Agency or our mission, but with your human lover.”

“Enough!”I cried, stepping into the room and interrupting their argument. The two vampires whirled toward me, surprise flashing across their faces. “I have proof of the assassin’s identity and her gruesome intentions.”

James lookedat me with concern. “Rose, are you alright? Where’s Eyrik? What happened?”

“Words later, proof now,”I said, yanking Mary’s dress down to cover her up, and then pulling her out from the shadows.

Her head lolled, but she was standing, so... I slapped her. I slapped a princess. Whichever gods she was descended from, forgive me. “Tell them what just happened.”

“Doppleschmanger,” Mary slurred.

“There,” I said, thrusting Mary O. toward Gabriel, who, luckily, did his duty and caught her before she fell at his feet. “Anna, my so-called assistant, she’s the assassin. She tried to manipulate me into being part of her twisted plot. I think Eyrik might be eating her face off right now, or you could see that she clearly used some kind of magic spell or something to look like me.”

I held the sack of material out and shook it around. “She made this fugly dress for Mary and look what it did to her.”

Gabriel stared at Mary for a moment, then at the material I held aloft, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, he lifted his gaze to meet James’s. “Fuck. James. I was wrong to doubt your loyalty. This never should have happened on my watch.”

“Apology accepted,”James replied, his voice strained but sincere. “Now, let’s figure out how to stop this maniac before she kills everyone at the event.”

My heart swelledwith relief that they were both on the same side now.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure she’d dog food right now.”

Both men looked at me like that was the grossest thing anyone had ever said to them. “What?”

Gabriel gave me a smirk that might have melted the panties off a lesser woman. Not that I thought Ms. Eve Primrose was lesser than me. I did wonder if she’d had her panties melted off though. “You’ve integrated far too easily into our world, Ms. Abernathy.”

“Why thank you, Mr. uh...”

“Just Gabriel.”

“We don’t know that Anna is the only member of The Order here,” James interjected, bringing us back on task, “and I haven’t been able to get a sitrep from Silvanus since we entered the castle.”

“I had Fleming put up jammers when I thought you’d gone rogue.”

“Was that before or after you tied him up?” James poked at Gabriel.

It was probably going to be a while before these two trusted each other fully again. I clapped my hands, putting on my bossy boots voice,?”Time is of the essence, boys. Let’s get everyone out of here.”

“Agreed,” James replied, his strategic mind already at work. “Let’s get Fleming first, so he can get comms back up and running. Then we’ll evacuate the ladies and their staff.”

“They’re all down in the dungeon. I thought it the safest place to contain everyone.”

“Ooh. I bet those princesses did not like being locked in the dungeon,” I sing-songed like Gabriel was in trouble.

He shrugged. “Not the first time for several of them. They’re fine.”

“Everyone, you must leave immediately,” Gabriel bellowed as we entered the room, his authoritative voice cutting through the chatter like a knife. Or rather, the giggles.

All the princesses were in a clump, surrounding someone who was getting all of their attention.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

The princesses parted, and we found Fleming, still tied to his chair, in the center of the circle of women, his magnifying glasses askew, the top few buttons of his shirt unbuttoned, and covered in lipstick kisses. He had quite the goofy grin on his face too.

“Just having a little fun to pass the time while mean old Gabriel had us locked in the dungeon,” Margaret said, and snapped the top back on a tube of lipstick.

I almost hated to interrupt. “We just thwarted an assassination attempt on Princess Mary O.,” I explained, keeping my own giggles in. This was serious business. “We need to get her to a, um, supernatural doctor? And evacuate the rest of you until we know it’s safe.”

The ladies all gathered themselves up and began filing out of the room single file like recalcitrant schoolgirls.

“Head out the back door, ladies, and you’ll find some wolf-shifters waiting to escort you to the airfield,” I continued to direct them.

“Oh, yay, puppies,” one of the princesses clapped her hands and hurried the rest of them along.

Gabriel leaned over to James and stage whispered so that I heard him perfectly well. “Who put her in charge?”

James chuckled and said, “I’m not sure, but I think it might have been V.”