The guards hesitated at the door for silent consent to enter and then finally the doors swung open and the main vampire guard led the way in. The room was as white as the club was, but thankfully free of colourful flashing lights. White floors as I remembered them, white loop-pile rugs here and there. We passed a white couch and low lying white tables, and came to rest before a large white desk, before which stood Amun Nadeem.
I had prepared myself. I had thought I'd done enough to not show any reaction at all. But despite how Dark he now was, how different from my old Nosferatin trainer that Dark made him, he was dressed in white, like my dear friend always wore. And he was the spitting image of Nero.
My heart sank as my knees threatened to give out. Nero stood before me, but what should have been a moment of joy to see his likeness again after losing him so painfully all those months ago, was cast in a shadow of pure angst. Nero draped in Darkness. How cruel were the fates to make me see this?
It wasn't fair. My Nero was full of Light. So kind and compassionate. So caring and considerate. So loving and loyal. I missed him so much and this... this replica before me was a travesty, a brutal slap in the face.
I'm not sure how long Amun let me take him in, how long he fed off the emotions clearly gracing my face. It was Sophie's hand on my arm which broke the wicked spell I was under. I sucked in an audible breath and then fisted my hand across my heart and bowed low. I didn't wait for Amun to accept my respectful greeting, to verbally allow me to stand again. I simply stood up and looked him in the eye, wrapping my Light around me, to seal the pain from my heart and ensure he wouldn't try to glaze me with his eyes.
He'd told me last time I saw him he couldn't, but last time he'd not been this Dark. I wasn't taking any chances.
"Lucinda. What a delightful surprise."
Goddess, he still sounded just like Nero. I nodded in greeting, but couldn't form the words my mind wanted me to say. I had to get myself together. It really shouldn't have been that hard. I had known he looked like Nero. I had known this for some time. It shouldn't have been that hard to steel myself against his looks. Because that's all they were; just looks. A physical similarity that went only skin deep.
I kept telling myself that. I kept reminding myself of all the Dark this vampire was and how different from Nero that would always be. Nero had been a shining beacon of Light, who filled every room he entered with brilliant white light. Amun was nothing like that.
I sought out his Dark, I concentrated on what I could see. I committed the image to memory and I swore to never forget. Even when I stopped seeking and no longer saw the Dark manifest in a physical way, I needed to remember what lay beneath the veneer.
He wasn't my Nero. My Nero was dead.
"Master of the City, thank you for seeing me this night." The words finally found their way out, but the damage had been done. Amun knew he unsettled me, and I was betting he remembered the reason why.
Never show fear in front of a vampire. Always stay on guard. Never give an inch. I was thinking of adding a new mantra to that list: never let them see your weaknesses. Because sure as Amun Nadeem was a Dark vampire, he'd use this weakness against me, to get what he wanted in the end.
"Lucinda, the pleasure is all mine," he murmured in a way I had heard Nero use so many times before. Was Amun doing this on purpose? Did he know exactly how Nero spoke? Behaved? He was even standing like Nero did, leaning back on his desk, ankles crossed, legs stretched out before him. The only thing missing, was his hands clasped behind his head.
Any second now I expected him to do just that, but instead he thrust his hands through his slightly dishevelled short dark hair, a move seemingly innocuous but which sliced through my heart. Dear Goddess, if Amisi was here, what would she say?
I cleared my throat. I was here for a reason, regardless of how painful being in this vampire's presence was.
"I believe, Master of the City, you have some guests which are friends of mine."
His face broke into a beaming smile, a white toothed grin complementing his dark skin. He looked gorgeous when he smiled, for a moment you could almost forget the Dark.
"Now, Lucinda," he said softly, stepping forward from the desk and slowly approaching where I stood. I didn't take the step back I so wanted to. I didn't stop breathing, but forced myself to suck in one lungful of air after the other. I held his gaze, a neutral mask on my face and prepared myself as best I could for whatever he had planned.
He stopped within a foot of me, his chocolate brown eyes flashing copper and cinnamon as he looked down at my face. He reached forward and swept a lock of hair behind my ear. I blinked slowly, but otherwise didn't react.
"Master, I'd like to see my friends," I announced in a firm and steady voice.
"And I'd like to know," he said slowly, wrapping his large, warm hand around the back of my neck, his thumb running menacingly across my throat. Alarm bells went off in my head, but I was aware of my actions reflecting on Michel, and was valiantly attempting to let this play out before I called on my Light. "Why it is you haven't introduced me to your companion." His voice lowered ominously. "And why she does not offer me due respect."
Ah, crap. He could see Sophie? How? I had no idea. He was laced, washed, in Dark. He shouldn't have been able to see her Light at all. I licked my lips and flicked my eyes to the side where Sophie stood, unable to turn my head as Amun's hold had increased to such a degree I was immobilised. She looked equally shocked, but then recovered quickly, displaying the education she had received from Yves in Paris.
"Master of the City," she said softly, hand fisted across chest, head bowed low. "Forgive my impertinence. But I have been inexplicably affected by your presence. I have let myself down. My Nosferatin teacher will be ashamed. I am ashamed. Please forgive me."
I thought perhaps she was laying it on a little thick. But who was I to argue? I had an irate Master Vampire's hand clasped securely around my throat. A vampire I couldn't blithely strike out at for fear of political ramifications. Sophie could play this any way she chose fit.
"You are immature?" Amun asked, his eyes still on my face. I'm not sure he had glanced at Sophie once, but he had known she was there all the same.
"Yes, Master. And unjoined." Why the hell was she telling him that? I was beginning to think I was missing something here.
"Is that a fact?" Amun said in a silky voice, laced with Sanguis Vitam. Ah-oh, I knew what was coming next. "I accept your apology, Nosferatin." He said 'Nosferatin' with power, putting the force of his Sanguis Vitam behind every syllable. I jerked in his hold, but he didn't release me, so I couldn't get a clear line of sight as to what Sophie's reaction would be.
It would be something significant. All immature unjoined Nosferatins react in some way to a vampire using power to say the name of our kind. It's how the Nosferatu ascertains if we are suitable kindred partners for a joining. For some reason Amun was testing his compatibility with Sophie and she had purposely set the scene so he would do just that.
Suddenly my neck was released and Amun was no longer standing before me. My hand reached up and soothed the bruised flesh at my throat before I could stop the motion. I sucked in an audible gasp of air which felt like pure hell as it burned down my windpipe and swung to face my sidekick, praying she hadn't pulled silver and was staking London's Master in that second.
What greeted my eyes was alarming... and a little disconcerting. I think I grimaced. I was certainly feeling a frown of some sort on my face. But there was no denying Sophie had a positive reaction to Amun's Sanguis Vitam and that Amun was equally as happy that she had.
His arms were wrapped around the petite Frenchwoman's shoulders, his lips hovered over her slightly parted mouth. He inhaled her scent deeply, a growl-come-purr rushing up from the depths of his chest, rumbling around the room. Sophie sighed, Amun's arms clenched her tighter...
...And then to my shock - and disbelieving eyes - they kissed.
And not just any kiss. It started out sweetly
, almost tentatively, as they savoured that initial taste. Then it escalated to hungry, then passionate. Then bypassed decency and slammed right into get a room.
Oh. My. Goddess. What the friggin' hell?
Chapter 15
Hold The Dark Dear
I shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, as I waited for the blatant show of lust before me to finish. A Nosferatin's reaction to a vampire saying the name of our kind with power is a personal thing. It varies from vampire to vampire. With Michel, I fell asleep. Not really a sign of the passion our relationship would develop, but at the time Michel visited me in my dreams. I felt free to love him there, where as I didn't in reality when awake.
Another vampire who tried that line on me received silver. My stake thrust against his chest. Needless to say, he and I would not have been compatible kindred. With Avery it had been a love/hate reaction. I fell into his arms, but cussed him out at the same time. We were compatible, but not a strong match. Evidenced by our weak joining and the fact that the Iunctio began to lose my joining power so soon after the event.
Sophie and Amun's reaction was explicit also, but in a much more obviously sensual way. If Michel and I could share such an intimate joining, I wondered just how close Sophie and Amun's could be. If he wasn't such a Dark vampire. If he wasn't the reason why London's Nosferatin community were about to be sent to their deaths. I would wish them luck merrily. As it was, I felt panic and alarm on Sophie's behalf.
Eventually I was forced to clear my throat. A none-to-subtle reminder that I was in the room and they were acting quite inappropriately. I expected them to jump apart, having had reality wash down on them like a frigid bucket of water. But the kiss just down-shifted, became more languid and sweet instead of downright debauched. Little noises of contentment were being made by both parties. Their obvious reluctance to pull apart teasing out the final moments as long as they could.
I cleared my throat again. Killjoy.
Amun was the one to pull back, with a definite look of the-cat-that-got-the-cream on his face. Sophie seemed dazed for a moment, then as the realisation that she was still within Amun's arms registered on her brain, she began to look shocked. Well, at least that told me she hadn't intentionally planned this from the get-go. Her reactions, her words to elicit this response, had clearly been subconscious.
Nut had said once that we all have our destinies in life set out for us at birth, but although the end of the journey is unavoidable, the paths we take to get there are our own choice. One could look at what had happened here as a choice; Sophie having chosen this path, albeit subconsciously. But something told me this was a destiny. Nut had reason for this to occur.
I just couldn't fathom what that would be, because I was sure Sophie would have a kindred already prepared to join with her back in Paris. It seemed to me that Amun's interest would throw a dirty spanner in the works.
And Amun. He just didn't seem like the type of vampire to share his power, because although a kindred joining would double his own Sanguis Vitam, it would require a sharing of himself with someone else. He may crave power - like most vampires do, and his craving is almost an addiction bordering on illness - but he is also a very singular vampire. Amun Nadeem likes to take credit on his own.
This was all very enlightening, but not why we were here.
"Master of the City," I began, intending to get things back on track. I had a team of Nosferatins to locate and liberate. Snogging sessions could wait.
"You are enchanting," he said to Sophie, ignoring my words completely. "I have a mind to not let you go."
Oh boy. I took a tentative step towards them both. Amun reacted with all the lethal grace a predator at the top of the food chain would, when something they covet was threatened. He pushed Sophie behind himself, protecting her from the 'threat' and bared his fangs. I stopped mid step and cocked my head at him, pulling my Light around me like a metaphysical cloak.
"Sophie," I said in a soft, non-threatening voice. "Are you OK?"
"Yes," she squeaked, belying her words. Her fear only made the predator more determined to protect her, he lashed out instantly with his Sanguis Vitam, buffeting me against my chest. My Light cloak held, but the force of his attack made me take a step backwards to maintain an upright position.
I gritted my teeth and sent a pulse of Light back towards him. Not enough to do harm, more along the lines of a quick slap on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. If he was behaving like an over protective dog, I'd treat him as such.
Amun growled low, ducked his head down and snarled showing extremely long fangs. Vampires have various settings when it comes to the length of their fangs. Usually this long they are either turned-on or about to kill. Despite the previous entanglements with my Nosferatin sidekick, I was going to go with the latter.
"You need to calm down," I instructed, feeling my Light back up the words. I knew glazing the Master of London City was not the wisest move, but things were already out of hand.
He batted the glaze away with an actual swipe of his arm through the air. He didn't really need to make a show of it that way, but clearly the movement calmed him some, because he rose out of the semi-crouch he had been in and scowled instead.
"She is mine," he announced, in that way vampires do. Caveman-like. Possessive to the extreme.
"Not yet," I replied automatically and then watched - stunned immobile for a second, maybe two - as he lifted his own palm to his lips and slashed his fangs through the flesh. Then repeated the action on Sophie's palm, that had been resting in his other hand.
The smell of blood on the air broke the ice I had been encased within. Coupled with Sophie's alarmed yelp, I felt myself move. My Light proceeded me, hitting Amun square in the chest only a split second before my body did. Sophie managed to pull free as Amun and I rolled head over legs to the other side of the room. In an instant we were both on our feet and fighting.
Hand to hand combat when not armed with a stake, or at the very least a silver dagger, is not my preferred method of controlling an unruly vampire. I used my Light where I could, but his fist connecting with my jaw distracted me. Or maybe that was the pain of my cheek fracturing that did it. A hitched breath later and his Sanguis Vitam joined the assault.
I was vaguely aware that his vampire guards had entered the room, and that Sophie was in a battle of her own. At least she was armed. Somehow - either she kept them away from us or Amun instructed them to leave my death to him - they didn't interfere in the bone jarring, skin splitting, blood splattering, fight we were engaged in.
Amun's teeth grazed my neck just as I sent a mental thought out to Michel to call my own vampire guards to me. Then before Michel could reply - no doubt with an alarmed, irate, or possibly even Sanguis Vitam filled power boost - I was scrabbling to keep exceptional long and sharp fangs from piercing my skin.
I grunted as my back hit the white marble floor and Amun's chest - as hard and unforgiving as the marble beneath me - hit my front. All air was forced from my lungs and I began to see splotches of bright white light flickering on the edges of my vision. I grabbed hold of my own Light and forced it through my hands as they scrunched up the white lapels of Amun's suit jacket. So much white around me. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, Amun's clothes, the white splashes affecting my eyesight and my Light, made a blazing show all around us. I was sure he was blinded as much as me.
But it was my Light through the contact of my hands on his shoulders, clasping his jacket lapels, that did the most damage. He was thrown back off my body, several feet high in the air, and crashed against the far wall. Scattering several of his own vampires on either side.
I rolled to my feet, feeling surprisingly agile still, despite the bruises that were no doubt already forming across my entire body. My Light thrummed through my frame, like a physical accompaniment to the rapid beat of my heart. Blood thundered in my veins. My eyesight sharpened. Hearing became acute. And the room glowed an unearthly bright, white light.
I kn
ew I was no longer alone. Nut stood within me. Offering support, guiding events. I wasn't sure which, but something was giving me strength when in all honesty, I should have been failing. Amun had dealt some well placed harsh blows. My cheek alone should have been aching. I should have been out of breath. And the nausea I had felt as Amun had tried to join with Sophie earlier - blood to blood, palm to palm - had vanished completely.
All that was left was Light.
It was heady. Beautiful. Way too addictive to mean anything good. And I... Loved... It.
I rolled my head on my shoulders and I prowled towards Amun. He'd recovered from the insult of being hurled at a solid structure at over one hundred kilometres per hour. The broken plaster at his feet made a crunching sound as he shifted his weight into a defensive crouch. Could he see how much more powerful than him I was? Did he know attacking right now would be futile?
What did he see? White Light, like I did? Or his final death walking towards him across the room. I was physically unarmed. No stake to thrust through his Dark and silent heart. I thought I could perhaps twist his head off, decapitate him with my hands alone. There was enough power thrumming through me to accomplish it, I was sure. My fingers twitched at my sides in anticipation.
Within only a couple of feet of him, my vampire guards and the shifters - already in dragon form - stormed the room.
Maybe it was being so close to vampires who were laced with my Light that did it. But I jerked to a halt and just stared at my foe. I had been contemplating bringing him the final death. Severing his head from his body... with only my hands. I balled them into fists at my side and took a shaky breath in.
Noise surrounded us. The sounds of flesh meeting flesh. The grunt of air being expelled forcefully from straining lungs. The clang of metal against metal. The short and sharply barked commands of the guards. Both Amun's and mine. Plaster shattering, walls crumbling. The rumble of the floor as a body hit the marble with shocking and brutal strength. Heat washed over my body, the crackle of a dragon's flame sounded so far away, yet it was scorching. Claws raking down walls and rending flesh. Roars from vampire and dragon deafening on the air.
Kiss of the Dragon Page 15