Page 69 of The Agent and the Outlaw
His smirk faltered and suspicion passed through his gaze. “What an absurd notion.”
“Is it?” I accused. “Why else would you have sent Louis to him? What could you possibly have to gain by offering your only grandson to a known monster? It couldn’t just be for influence. As power mad as you are, you have enough influence on your own. No, it had to be something else. The way the blood plague has alienated the human aristocracy—you saw the writing on the wall. What better way to protect yourself from vampires than to have your own militant force of the undead? It was never about protecting France. It was about saving yourself.”
“Have you gone completely mad?” he growled. “Perhaps you should be in an asylum.”
“How did it first come about? Did you approach Sade with your plan? Or was he in on it from the very beginning? Let me guess—you knew in order to convince perfectly respectable Catholic soldiers to abandon their promise of Heaven in a blood-drinking bargain, you’d need the funds to secure their loyalty and their souls. You approached Sade then, didn’t you? He could help finance your private army of the damned, and you would give him your own flesh and blood as payment.” The words were ash in my mouth, and bile rose in my stomach. I felt sick as I laid the accusations before him, as if the truth was poison itself.
He stilled, wary. “That’s ridiculous. And anyway, even if it were true, you don’t have a scrap of proof. Everyone will think you’re just the dimwitted, bitter son of a well-appointed and honorablegénéral.”
“I’m not leaving here without that proof,” I threatened, cocking my pistol. My father’s grip on the letters tightened and his eyes cut to the fireplace. “Even if you burn them,” I continued. “I have the testimony from the Order and the word of two very powerful aristocrats. That’s enough circumstantial evidence to rip your whole world away from you. In the court of public opinion, you’ll be as good as gone,” I said.
He frowned. “You know, Antoine, I am sorry to hear you say that. You always had such potential—not that I ever truly expected you to fulfill it, of course, but I did what I could to give you a promising start.”
“You gave me nothing but cruelty and disdain,” I hissed. “The only good thing you ever gave to me was Marie, and you took her away from me as certainly as you sent Louis to his death.”
He narrowed his eyes and stomped twice on the floor. In an instant, there was someone else standing in the doorway.
Hugo.
“I believe you have some unfinished business withLieutenant de Vaux,” thegénéralsaid. He turned to me, hatred written across his face. “He no longer has my protection. He is no longer my son.”
Hugo’s eyes darkened and he grinned viciously, showing off his fangs. He rushed toward me, grabbing me by the throat and pinning me back against the wall. He lifted me easily off the ground and, try as I might, I couldn’t reach my weapons. As I struggled for air, I saw Hugo’s fangs extend and he leaned forward, preparing to bite.
Thegénéralstrode to the fireplace, casting me one triumphant glare as he raised the letters in his hand. “You fool,” he snarled. “You should have shot me when you had the chance. You’ll never win against me. You never had it in you. You’ll always be—"
An explosion of wood and glass sounded from below. I used the distraction to grab for my short sword, slashing wildly at Hugo’s stomach. A gash appeared and he hissed in pain, but his grip on my throat only tightened. Distantly, I heard thegénéralshouting. Darkness began to creep into my vision from the loss of precious air, just as I felt Hugo’s fangs sink into my throat.
The pain was intense but fleeting.Am I dead?Hugo suddenly released me, dropping me to the floor. The pain that resounded throughout my body informed me I was still alive.For now.Shaking my head to clear it, I looked up to see why Hugo had dropped me. Across the room, he was entangled with a massive, terrifying, wolflike beast.
Charlotte!
Gasping for breath, I watched them battle each other, almost evenly matched in strength and speed. Hugo grappled with Charlotte’s massive form, twisting around to avoid her snarling jaws closing around his throat. Thegénéralshouted at Hugo, goading him on while he feverishly gathered his papers from the desk. He had backed against the wall and was skirting the fight, inching closer to the door to make his escape, the forgotten letters still clenched in his fist. Hugo shrieked as Charlotte’s claws raked gashes along his chest, and he sank his teeth into her shoulder. She yelped in pain. Thegénéralshouted in triumph.
Desperate to be useful, I struggled helplessly on the floor. I tried to call to her, but only gasps came out. I reached up and felt blood gushing from the wound in my neck.Merde.I crawled across the floor to the fight, intent on reaching her. If this was to be my fate…my end…so be it.Dieu,let me die close to the woman I love.
I looked up to see thegénéralshouting, screaming at Hugo to kill her. He had his pistol raised, taking aim at her enormous shoulders.
No!
A shot rang out. Time slowed to a crawl.
Thegénéralstaggered backward, surprise written on his face. He stared at the smoking pistol in my hand, then down at the bullet wound in his chest—his bright blood staining the crisp blue and white of his uniform. With a solitary tear and a huff of astonishment, he fell to the ground.
Dead.
My pistol slipped from my blood-slick hand, and I fell back to the floor.
Charlotte froze, gripping Hugo’s throat with her claws. She turned to me, red-brown eyes wide and howled an unearthly, terrifying howl. My strength began to wane. I closed my eyes, prepared to accept the end.
“Charlotte,” I whispered to the gathering cold. “If only you would have loved me, I would have been yours for eternity.”
25
CHARLOTTE
No.No!
I’d spent days searching for Antoine. It wasn’t hard for me to pick up his trail at first, but I’d been thrown off by the snowstorm. It had been hard for me to track his scent. I’d lost precious time in finding Sade’s estate, and by the time I came in, I’d only caught the tail end of his confrontation with thegénéral. Then, Hugo had materialized, damaged and scarred from his encounter with the beast, but very much alive.So, he hasn’t been dead all this time!
