For Love of a Vampire

Chapter 31

I was blissfully displaying my gorgeous engagement ring to anyone with a pair of eyes willing to admire it when Isabelle finally raised the question of what to do about both Lady Margaret and Lord Rufus.

According to vampire law, Lord Rufus was first to impregnate me and therefore was my official husband. Since it was rare for a vampire to find a mortal he or she wanted to mate with, this was a law that was supported and held sacred by every vampire on the planet. Every vampire except Duncan, that is. Duncan stayed away from other vampires as much as possible while integrating with mortals on a daily basis in an attempt to lessen his vampirism. Even so, just because he seldom associated with them, it was still necessary to abide by the laws put forth for vampires; which was why he'd agonized so heavily over what to do about me. My only saving grace was the fact that I'd aborted the child before Rufus learned of his actual success. He only had his assumption to go by.

Duncan was raised to be a man of honor and admitted he'd battled long and hard within himself during my recovery on what to do. He'd actually learned the outline of my story from Lady Helen before he came to visit me. I'd really only filled in the gaps. He was angry about it to begin with, but the information in those gaps sent him into a rage. Although he was raised to honor and respect laws as they have been put forth, this was one time when he would have to go rogue. There was no way he was going to allow a woman abuser possession of the one person who brought him back to life. It took that moment of wresting with right and wrong for Duncan to realize he'd do anything to keep me by his side; including breaking one of the most sacred vampire laws in existence. I'd been tricked by Lord Rufus by the use of magic. In Duncan's opinion, this fact voided out his need to observe their law. He'd battle every vampire on the planet, rather than let me go.

I hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Duncan took the time necessary to update us on who and what we were dealing with. Thinking she was serving Duncan his ultimate demise of a slow and painful death, the prim and proper Lady Margaret had opened up and confided her deepest, darkest secrets to him and shocked him from his head to his toes. The dear ward of his father and his childhood companion turned sweetheart and fiancé had been the one to bind his powers and arrange to have him attacked by a vampire just before their wedding. Duncan flippantly informed her that, rather than going to all that trouble, she need only to say she didn't want to get married. She'd growled at his arrogance and reveled in elaborating about how she hadn't expected him to survive the vampire attack and become vampire. She gloated on how she'd simply passed the time away abroad while keeping his father and everyone else under the impression she was time-traveling to find him after she'd planted the rumor that the wicked Vivian cast a spell to send him there.

Surprisingly, Lady Margaret didn't believe anyone could travel through time until I showed up and proved her wrong. Of course, she couldn't confront me on it without divulging her trickery.

Being a ward of the Earl of Winter Spring and bride to be of his heir had given Lady Margaret a considerable number of perks. The earl had already provided an enormous settlement as a bridal gift to his ward, which he followed through with allowing the completion of its legalization even upon the disappearance of his son. Being single had given her freedom that she knew would be lost as soon as the vows were said. Her plan was to remain the grieving ward and almost daughter-in-law. She was aware that the earl also provided for her handsomely in his will. The dowry and bequeathing of his estate, along with her inheritance from her own parents, would have left her independent and happy for the remainder of her days. When I showed up on the scene, followed by Duncan, who was clearly enamored with me, her plans were sent askew.

She thought she wouldn't have to do a thing on her own, since that foolish Vivian was doing a good job of trying to get rid of me. Once I was out of the picture, she'd see that Duncan fell in love with her again or at least agreed to marry her and then she'd dispose of him the right way, but somehow I kept escaping.

Recruiting the aid of Lord Rufus was her ingenious idea. Since he was completely and totally enamored with her and I was the image of her, it didn't take much persuasion to get him to go along with the scheme. The fact that he found me delightfully irresistible and far more agreeable than Margaret was an added bonus. Margaret's plan was for Rufus to court me and get Duncan jealous enough to fight him; at which time, she'd use magic to make sure Rufus destroyed Duncan. For that, she would allow him the favor of being with her for a night or two. She hadn't expected Rufus would fall head over heels in love with me after only one meeting and take matters into his own hands. Impregnating me to seal his claim on me under vampire law was his ingenious idea, not Margaret's.

Duncan played right into their hands when he called Rufus out. The duel was fixed from the start. He might as well have just stood there with his arms spread wide and said, "Do with me as you will." Rufus was so protected by witchery that Duncan never stood a chance.

I was so overwhelmed with what I was learning I barely heard Duncan finish his story by relaying the heroic rescue of Senora Rosalie's dragon guards when they swept like lightning speed into the cave and scooped him up, cage and all, before anyone knew what happened. They carried him far away to safely, put the cage down, and released him before continuing on with him on one of their backs. The cage contained Margaret's magic and could easily be traced by her. It wouldn't do to bring such a homing device into Rosalie's parameter of protection.

He praised them highly for their forethought.

The fact that Margaret was the instigator of my being at the mercy of Rufus sent me into a rage equal to any Duncan could muster. I demanded to be given the wherewithal to take her down and it took the better part of an hour for them to convince me to calm down. I don't recall ever being that angry. I wondered, in the back of my mind, if my anger might have been influenced by the fact that a significant amount of Duncan's blood was in me, but I said nothing. I only hoped that if his blood could intensify my mood to that degree it would also intensify other aspects; such as strength and comprehension.

When I finally calmed down enough to be reasonable, we sat together for the remainder of the day discussing what we were up against and the best strategy of attack. There were two separate dynamics to be dealt with. First we had Margaret and her powerful witchcraft to contend with and then we had Rufus and his vampires who felt Rufus had the right to declare I was his eternal wife. Just one of these issues would have been all consuming, but two... well, I don't even have a word to describe it.

It was decided that we we'd tackle getting Margaret out of the way first. Lady Helen was adamant that Margaret should stand before the coven for her crimes. In truth, I would have preferred to just get rid of her completely, but I understood why she wanted it that way.

We discussed our strategy to entrap and capture Margaret. This is where it got tricky. Because we still had to deal with the vampires and needed an 'in' with them, I was to pose as Margaret and get close to Lord Rufus. Rosalie would attach her magic to me and assist me in destroying Rufus and any other vampires necessary. Since Lady Margaret was a powerful witch in her own right, Rosalie's magic moving through me wouldn't be enough to stop her if we faced off. Rosalie herself would have to be there in person for Margaret to be defeated and that was something she wasn't willing to do. I didn't argue the point. I knew the unborn child she was protecting in her womb was my very own Isabelle.

It was a tricky and dangerous assignment that I was actually eager to do. Once again, I attributed it to the vampire blood flowing through me.

I have no idea how Rosalie obtained much of the information she managed to come up with, but she somehow discovered the vampires were holding an emergency meeting to determine how Duncan managed to escape and devise a plan to re-capture him. This meant that Margaret and Rufus would be in attendance.

It was time to strike.