by Alicia Ryan
Ariana’s confusion was visible on her pale features. “Why not?” she asked.
“Memnon, the vampire responsible for last night’s carnage, can apparently tune in to any vampire he wants and see whatever they see. He saw Toria attack you, and thinks you are dead. I don’t want him to know that’s not the case.”
“He can’t do the same with you?” she asked.
Luc shook his head, ignoring the note of suspicion in her voice. “Apparently not,” he said. “I seem to be a little too human for it to work on me. Who knows,” he tried to smile reassuringly, “maybe Ash did away with Memnon last night and there’s nothing to worry about.”
He stood up and took Ariana by the hand. “Come on,” he said. “You need to lie down. You’re about ten shades paler than you were when you came out.”
Ariana stopped short and Luc quickly turned to face her. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not becoming a vampire, am I?” she asked.
Luc shook his head, silently grateful that he’d thought of another option. “No,” he replied, “that isn’t what’s happening. You had lost a lot of blood, so I did give you some of mine, but not enough to trigger the transformation. The rest of the blood was external and it seems to have only done what it was supposed to do—heal your arm.”
She acquiesced to the pressure on her hand and let him lead her into the bedroom. Luc pulled the covers up and sat next to her for a moment, smoothing her hair back. “There’s one other thing,” he said reluctantly.
Ariana looked up at him. He wished she didn’t look so fragile.
“I think Memnon also killed James,” he said softly.
For some time, Ariana said nothing, and no expression registered on her features. “What do you mean, you think?” she asked him finally. “Are you sure?”
Luc nodded. “I didn’t see it happen, but Memnon is capable of it, and there’s no reason I know of for him to lie. Looks like he killed all the other missing vampires as well.”
Ariana turned her head into the pillow.
“I know it’s a lot to take,” Luc murmured. “You should rest here for a while. I’ll run out, see if I can find Ash, and maybe pick up some food on the way back. Okay?”
Ariana nodded mutely, and Luc got up and left the room.
CHAPTER 60
Deciding his first stop should be Council House, Luc pulled his bike out of the garage and weaved his way through evening traffic up into mid-town and down the street where the monstrous Gothic mansion should have been. But wasn’t.
Only smoke and ruins now rose from its foundations.
Luc didn’t even stop. He just gunned the bike and kept heading east toward Ash’s townhouse.
At least that was still standing, he thought as he pulled up in the drive. He parked his bike in front of the garage door and bounded up the front steps to the large wrought iron gate.
A buzzer sounded somewhere inside when he pressed the bell, and after a moment, the gate opened of its own volition. Luc passed through it into yet another entryway. He didn’t have the patience for this, he thought, trying the handle on the big mahogany door without knocking.
“Make yourself at home,” Ash said as Luc crossed his threshold uninvited.
Luc raised his brows when he saw Ash coming to greet him in old jeans and an untucked white shirt. “I thought you had servants for this sort of thing,” he remarked.
Ash shrugged and for a moment neither said anything. Luc could see the question in his eyes, but he couldn’t go there yet. He wasn’t relishing what he had to do.
“So,” he asked, “what happened to Memnon? I see you survived.”
“Please,” Ash said, his face returning to its usual guarded smirk, “try to contain your relief.” He motioned for Luc to follow him into the sitting area. There he poured two glasses of Scotch and handed one to Luc before continuing. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “I can only assume he survived and fled somewhere.”
“What happened?” Luc asked, taking a pull of the sharp liquid.
“I wounded him with the sludge left over from the poisoned vampires.” Ash absently sampled his own drink. “I got lucky. Apparently, it doesn’t have to be ingested to be effective. Even greatly diluted, it just has to come in contact with the bloodstream.”
So why didn’t you finish him off?”
“Thanks to your handiwork,” Ash said disapprovingly, “I got sidetracked having to rescue Nancy from Keller.”
Luc shrugged. “I didn’t want him running away,” he said by way of explanation. “Stabbing him was all I could come up with at the time.”
“At any rate,” Ash continued, “I left Memnon hanging on the wall and brought Nancy and Keller back here to nurse them back to health.”
“Are they okay?” Luc asked.
Ash nodded. “They’re both fine now, though Keller is having a hard time accepting his role in what happened. And Nancy refuses to talk about hers.”
Luc nodded, but he didn’t really care about Keller’s hurt feelings or Ash’s domestic problems. “You haven’t been back to Council House today then?”
“No,” Ash replied, “I was waiting for the sun to get low enough.” He studied Luc more closely. “But, judging by your question, you must have.”
Luc nodded. “I think it’s safe to say that Memnon is still alive,” Luc said. “Unless he spontaneously combusted and just happened to burn the place down.”
Ash turned to refill his drink; his eyes were full of questions when he looked back at Luc. “What was it Memnon called you, Lucas—a born vampire? Is it true?”
Luc nodded. “Yes, I was the biological child of my vampire father and my human mother.”
Ash lowered his glass and stared at Luc, his forgotten drink sloshing perilously close to the edge. “I’ll be damned,” he said. “That explains a lot.” He looked at Luc with new eyes. “You’ve lasted longer than any of the others. I’ll give you that.”
“Others?” Luc had assumed there were others, but he’d never known for sure.
Ash nodded. “There haven’t been many, but you are not the first.” Ash thought for a moment. “You may be the first to survive into full adulthood, though.”
“Why?” Luc wanted to know.
Ash shrugged. “No born vampire has had the strengths of both species,” he explained. “Vampire genes, though dormant at first, eventually become dominant. All the offspring of human/vampire unions have been perfectly human until about puberty and then began to change into full vampires.”
Luc nodded. “That’s what happened to me,” he said.
“Not quite,” Ash said. “You clearly have some lingering human traits—the heat you give off, and apparently an increased tolerance for sunlight.” Ash studied him again. “You can’t stand full daylight can you?”
Luc shook his head. “No, just the in-between times.”
“You should consider how to use that to your advantage,” Ash commented.
Luc wondered at the level of arrogance it took to assume he’d never thought of that. “Thanks,” he said. Wanting to get back to why he’d come, he asked, “Do you think Memnon really killed James?”
Ash raised his glass and took a long slow pull at the amber liquid circling there. “I don’t know,” he said. “Probably. Memnon’s not one to draw things out.”
Luc closed his hand for a second and then finished what he came to do. “He didn’t lie about Ariana, either,” he said slowly, knowing it was necessary, yet hating the lie. He could see his words twist across Ash’s face.
“Toria did go after her,” Luc continued. “My apartment was all busted up when I got there. Toria had... dissolved, or whatever it was that happened to the rest, but not before she got in some good licks. It looked like she put her fist through Ariana’s chest.”
Luc stopped and looked at the man in front of him. He mirrored the sadness he saw there in his own voice to make the lie more believable.
“They were both dead when I got there.”
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Luc put his glass on the sideboard and turned to look at Ash. “I’m sorry,” he said earnestly. “There’s nothing else I could do.” His drawl blurred the tense of his apology.
He turned and headed back the way he had come, stopping just short of the front door.
“What do you intend to do about Memnon?” he asked.
Ash had his back to him and didn’t turn around. “Find him and kill him,” he responded, “what else? He’s bound to be hiding somewhere in the city.”
Luc nodded. “Good luck,” he said. “I’ll keep an eye out as well.”
“Don’t try to fight him, Luc,” Ash called out to his retreating guest. “You won’t win.”
That brought Luc up short. He turned back to Ash. “You know,” he said, “I just may have an idea of where to look for your missing warrior.”
Ash looked surprised. “Really? Where?”
Luc shook his head. “I think I’d prefer if he didn’t know everything I was thinking.”
Ash opened his mouth, but quickly swallowed his objection.
“Give me a few days to check it out,” Luc said. “When I know something, I’ll give you a call.”
***
When Luc was gone, Ash sank down onto the settee and put his head in his hands. He had lost Delilah, and he couldn’t look for Memnon. In one day, he’d gone from being all-powerful to being Keller’s babysitter.
Maybe he had just lived too long, he thought. He had outlived everyone he knew and most of the vampires he’d created. He had even outlived his hatred of Delilah, something he hadn’t thought possible. Even with everything he now knew, he couldn’t summon any hate. Maybe it had never truly been hate at all.
He shook his head, remembering all she had put him through. Surprisingly, it didn’t matter. Hate or love, friend or foe, she was a worthy companion.
Fear reminded him of the creeping nothingness that had begun to color his life before he’d found her again. Without Delilah, without even his hatred of her to keep him warm, how long before he would feel nothing at all?
Ash raised his head. First things first, he thought. He was responsible for unleashing Memnon on the world, so he would also be responsible for killing him.
CHAPTER 61
Luc left Ash’s townhouse and made his way back downtown to Vamp. It was early yet; no pounding music greeted him down the block and Derek and Willie weren’t even at their posts. Luc opened the large faux-gothic door and went in.
People milled about inside, but most were just sitting at the bar. The music hadn’t started up yet, so the dance floor was empty, though the lights underneath it were on and cast an eerie blue pall on the surrounding tables and patrons.
Luc took a seat at the bar.
“Whiskey,” he said, raising two fingers when the bartender looked his way.
“Nine dollars,” the man said, putting the drink in front of him. “You wanna start a tab?”
“No,” Luc said, paying the man. Not for nine bucks a pop he didn’t. Plus the bartender was a human, so Luc needed to find someone else to pump for information.
He left the cushy bar stool and took his drink to a booth that faced the door. Finally, people started to trickle in, and then the trickle became a stream.
“Willie,” Luc shouted when he saw the bouncer appear. Not a moment too soon, he thought. He had almost broken down and bought another nine dollar shot.
“Luc,” Willie said when he got closer, “what are you doing here?”
“I couldn’t make it the other night, but I thought the Tournament went on for weeks.” He looked around at the mostly empty bar. “I guess there’s no show tonight?”
Willie shook his head. “No, not for two more days. I guess you haven’t heard that someone burned down Council House and killed most everyone inside.”
Luc decided to play dumb. “What?”
“Yep,” Willie said. “We haven’t figured out quite how they did it yet, or who, but Aleksander declared three days of mourning. The Tournament is suspended until then.”
“That was nice of him,” Luc said, a little surprised.
There was a gleam in Willie’s eye. “Not entirely,” he said. “Aleksander wants his new warrior to make it to the Tournament’s final round. The rumor is that he was injured in the fire and wasn’t ready to fight today, so Aleksander put the whole thing on hold.”
“Is that right,” Luc said dryly. “Lucky break, him not dying in the fire along with all the rest.”
Willie grinned. “There’s been some talk along those lines, but Aleksander shut it down quick. I’d advise you to keep those thoughts to yourself around here.”
“Thanks,” Luc said. “So, the fights will be back on in two days then?”
“That’s the plan,” Willie said. “You thinking of entering or just watching?”
“Definitely just watching,” Luc replied.
“That’s for the best. You’re way too young to tussle with these guys.” Willie thought for a moment. “On the other hand,” he said speculatively, “getting thrown out of Council House probably saved your life, so maybe lady luck is on your side.”
CHAPTER 62
Two blue stars stared down at Ariana like accusing eyes as she turned onto Ash’s street. Her steps slowed under the weight of all the secrets she carried and the fear that lurked dangerously close to the edges of her consciousness. Fear of Ash, fear of Memnon, fear of all vampires, in fact.
She reached into her bag and fingered the knife she had stashed there. Luc didn’t know she had taken it, but after they’d argued again about her coming here, she’d just wanted to leave quietly. Its silvery length on the nightstand had caught her eye and she’d pocketed it, figuring Luc could get along without it better than she. She and Ash needed to talk, but she wasn’t taking chances. She owed him the truth, not her life.
She paused at the stone staircase outside Ash’s townhouse. Instinct told her he was here. She pushed the button on the intercom, ignoring the other instinct that bid her stop and consider.
“May I help you?” asked a voice she recognized.
“Nancy,” Ariana replied, “it’s Ariana Chambers. I’d like to see Mr. Samson.”
There was a brief pause, and then a buzzing sound as the heavy metal gate clicked open. Ariana continued up the stairs and pulled the gate shut behind her.
When she turned around, the front door had been opened and replaced by an even more impenetrable barrier. Ash.
Emotions ravaged the hard landscape of his face, coming so fast and varied that Ariana was reminded of time lapse photography. Before she could tell for sure what he was feeling, he had wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his broad chest.
“I thought you were dead,” he whispered.
She didn’t know what to say. “Does this mean you don’t still want to kill me?” she asked.
Ash relinquished his hold on her. “Of course not,” he said, looking questioningly at her. “How could you think that?”
Ariana’s jaw dropped. “You went to an awful lot of trouble to do just that,” she pointed out.
“Not really,” he said. “I’m not sure I ever really wanted to kill you.”
She closed her eyes. “Then you should have left well enough alone,” she said. “And you should have left James out of it.”
Comprehension flickered in his eyes and he stepped back from the entryway. “I think you’d better come in,” he said.
Ariana noticed as she stepped over the threshold that his stony mask had slipped back into place.
“I don’t know what Lucas told you,” he continued when he had shown her upstairs into his study and closed the door, “but it’s not as diabolical as you must think.”
Ariana swallowed a biting response and looked around the gleaming, masculine room. She tried to remember how many days had passed since she last stood here, kissing him, before she knew how wrong it would all go.
“No?” she queried. “Tell me then,” she said, seizing on her
last train of thought, “did you know James was alive the last time we were in this room together?”
There was a damning pause, and she sat down on the sofa behind the door and tried to collect her thoughts.
“Yes,” he said finally, “but as a new vampire, James couldn’t go anywhere near you, for your safety. New vampires are dangerous, Ariana, even if they don’t intend to be. Regardless of my involvement, it was essential that he stay away from you and that you believe he was dead.”
“And when did your involvement begin?” she wanted to know.
Ash turned from her, but continued talking as he prepared a drink. Ariana noticed he didn’t offer her one, and also that his hands seemed to be shaking.
“I did turn James,” he admitted, “but only to save his life. Toria had already left him for dead when I found him, purely by chance.”
She raised her eyebrows and felt her arm start to ache at the mention of Toria’s name. But it was only an ache. For that she had to give Luc credit. As much as she didn’t like being bathed in vampire blood, two days later, her arm was completely healed. Well almost completely, but an occasional ache and a little fatigue were a small price to pay to still be among the living.
“It’s true,” he said, catching her look in a quick glance over his shoulder. “It wasn’t until later that I found out James’ wife and my—” He stopped and cleared his throat. “And Delilah were one and the same.”
“And how did you know that?” she asked, not wanting to leave the subject of James, but indulging her curiosity nonetheless.
Ash came back to lean against his desk and gave the ice cubes in his glass a quick swirl. “I can see traces of the souls of humans,” he said, “enough to recognize people I knew well, even in a different body.”
“Not to downplay the whole vampire thing,” Ariana mused, “but finding out that we get reincarnated has been the most interesting thing I’ve learned so far.”