Free The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason

regarding my weakness,” she said as the coach lurched into movement. “Regarding my failure as a Venator. Bitten by a vampire. A great laugh for you, O Master Executioner.”
    Max glared at her from his seat across the coach. A small lantern hung in the corner, casting a soft glow over the interior, enough that she could see his mouth set into a thin line.
    He hesitated for only a moment, then he reached toward his throat and whipped the cravat from its perfect anchor, stripping it away and tossing it aside. Victoria watched, dumbfounded, as he yanked open the ties at his collar and yanked it wide, exposing his neck. He turned to one side, displaying the four small marks of a vampire bite: two from the top fangs, two from the bottom.
    With a steady look, he turned in the other direction and showed her the other side of his neck, right at the juncture of his shoulder. A more serious bite that had not quite healed.
    â€œThe reason I carry a vial of salted holy water.”
    He settled back in his seat and turned to stare out the window.
    Victoria closed her mouth and said not another word.
    Â 
    + + +
    As the carriage lumbered along, Victoria could not put aside the events of the evening. How easily she’d succumbed to the vampire’s allure! When his lips had touched her neck, she’d softened, swayed, under his influence. His teeth, needle sharp, had played there…scraping gently over her skin, taunting, stroking, glancing over her pulse point as she lay in his arms, malleable and soft as a puddle of wax.
    And then, just as he sank his fangs into her skin…as the painful pleasure flooded over her, into her…she’d somehow managed to collect every last bit of reality that swam in her mind, and closed her fingers over the stake. He moaned in ecstasy, and she struck.
    Poof.
    He was gone, and suddenly Maximilian was there. And now he’d brought her to Aunt Eustacia’s house.
    â€œThe Guardians had found her by the time I arrived,” Max explained as he hustled Victoria into the salon. Her neck was still throbbing, thanks to another generous application of Max’s salted holy water during the ride in the carriage driven by Briyani.
    â€œGuardians?” Victoria asked as he directed her toward a chair. She sank into it and sat placidly while Eustacia and Kritanu bustled about the room. They were preparing something that smelled nasty and she expected would soon be plastered over her bite. Or, worse, that she would have to drink.
    â€œGuardian vampires,” Kritanu told her in his gentle accent. “Fierce and loyal to Lilith, they are her elite guard. She turned each of them herself. They are her personal servants. Many of them have been undead for centuries or more. A common, less powerful vampire has eyes the color of blood. You can tell a Guardian by the color of his eyes—they are not so red as that, but lighter, ruby pink.”
    Victoria nodded. “Is that the only thing that makes them different from other vampires?”
    â€œGuardians carry a poison in their fangs, unlike other vampires and Imperials. If it is not stopped, it will cause death—even in a Venator. That is why Max was so determined to bring you back without delay.”
    â€œImperials? What are they?” asked Victoria. “You didn’t tell me there were different types of vampires.”
    â€œGuardians and Imperials are not common, and since there is so much you must learn, I felt it necessary to focus your time on learning to fight them, and teach you other aspects of the undead as time goes on,” Aunt Eustacia confessed. “I see that I have done a disservice in trying not to overwhelm you, Victoria. You might have been better prepared to recognize them tonight.”
    â€œImperials are the oldest vampires,” Kritanu explained kindly. “Many of them are centuries, even millennia old. They carry swords, and they can fly or move about with such speed