He put the box aside and signed on to the company’s private network, the one that he had established to help Araminah Gemini keep her books, which had since become his. The network was his greatest contribution to the Kris. It contained information that had been carefully gathered from kumpanias, vampires and humans all across the world, and it was the most extensive database anywhere for all things vampire: locations, sightings, financial data, and intricately detailed lists of contacts - vampires, humans, victims, enemies and friends. If anyone had seen Svetlana, the information would be here. He paid a staff of vampires and humans exceptionally good salaries to keep this information up to date. Every vampire in the world, no matter what their clan, had detailed dossiers in his system.
He input Svetlana’s name and reviewed the information that came up. Her file was fairly large, since she was both old and busy, with many connections. His own name was linked many times, a relic of their history as frenemies. Saul looked through the sightings for the last time she’d been noted by one of his spies.
She’d been in Moscow up until January 1983, and then she’d been traveling Europe, hitting all the old hot spots: East Berlin, Prague, Sarajevo, Paris, London. Then, in July 1985, she’d been seen in New York, where she stayed for several months. The last time she’d been noted was in Cleveland, Ohio, of all places, in November of that year.
Saul had been in Cleveland at the same time on business. And he’d been living in New York when she’d been there. The pattern was obvious.
She was following him.
He could have been disgusted at himself for not noticing that he had a tail, but at the same time, he knew how extremely stealthy Svetlana could be. If anything, he had to applaud her skills. With a shake of his head, he input data about her apparent presence in Chicago, including the details of her gift to him.
Sneaky girl, he thought with grudging admiration.
When he was done updating his network, he signed on to the web and accessed a private chat group. There was only one other person who had access to this dark corner of the digital world.
He didn’t address his note. He didn’t need to.
Thank you for the gift. It was a little dry. Perhaps a meeting in person for something wetter?
Satisfied, he signed off and left his office, box in hand.
The Silk Tiger was packed when Saul arrived, but the raised corner booth was empty. It commanded a clear view of the entire place, and it was reserved exclusively for Tobyn Gemini and his exquisite sister, Araminah. The dance floor was a sea of movement and music blared from every speaker. Behind the bar, Billy Chang and his staff were busy, but he looked up and acknowledged Saul when he came in. He motioned for Saul to come to the bar, and he complied.
“He’s in the office,” Billy shouted to him with his Georgia drawl. “He has a special guest.”
“Who?”
“Go in and see.”
Saul was wary, but he knew that if this guest were any kind of threat, Billy would be much more flustered. He was a great bartender but his courage was somewhat lacking in the face of combat.
“Thank you,” Saul said.
Still carrying his box and its noxious contents, he left the counter and walked through the double doors to the right. The noise level dropped considerably once the doors closed behind him, and he found himself in a short hallway that connected the main club area with the kitchen. The bathrooms were immediately inside the entrance, and there were two closed doors beyond that. He went to the door on the right and knocked.
The door opened, the knob held by Peter Tolliver, the deputy from the kumpania in Prague. Saul smiled broadly when he saw him.
“Peter!”
The two old friends briefly embraced. Inside the room, Tobyn sat behind his desk, his handsome face pensive. Araminah occupied the sofa, her legs curled up onto the seat and her shoes on the floor before her. In the chair opposite Tobyn sat Elena Porzikova, the leader of the Prague kumpania.
“Elena, what a pleasant surprise,” Saul said, making a mental note to update his network.
She nodded to him. “Not that pleasant when you hear what I have to say.”
Tobyn sniffed. “Qu’est-ce que the fuck esta?”
Saul suppressed an eyeroll at his king’s brutalization of three languages in one sentence. “A gift from Svetlana Lidorova.”
“Ah,” Elena nodded. “Then you know.”
Araminah took the box and looked into it, her petite nose wrinkling. “Ugh. Nice.” She tossed the box to her twin, who caught it and looked inside with a snort. “So she’s here to see you. We wondered why she’d made the trip.”
“Have you seen her in person, or did she just leave you this little present?” Tobyn asked.
“The box was waiting for me in my office when I showed up for work this afternoon.”
“I don’t understand why you feel the need to work,” the Kris leader said, shaking his head. “You’re immortal and you’re filthy rich. What’s the point?”
“I need something to do with my time.”
“I can think of better things.”
Araminah interrupted the conversation. “Does anyone have any idea where in the city Irina might be hiding?”
Peter leaned against the closed door. “No, but I’d bet that she’s right under our noses somewhere.”
Tobyn looked at Saul. “Check the building you just moved into. That would be her style.”
Saul stayed silent, but he was certain that he was more familiar with Svetlana’s style than Tobyn would ever be. He doubted she would be that obvious. Aloud, though, he said, “I’ll check.”
Tobyn lobbed the box at him, and he caught it when it collided with his chest. “In the meantime, get rid of this. It’s stinking up the place.”
“I’ll take it,” Peter said.
Saul took out the stake and let his friend dispose of the rest. While Peter was on his errand, he turned to Elena. “I take it that you’re here to warn us that Svetlana is coming?”
“More than that,” she said.
Tobyn stole her thunder. “Svetlana has taken over as the Prime leader in Moscow.”
“Then why is she in Chicago?” Saul asked, frowning. “Surely the demands of her new role are sufficient to keep her at home.”
“She probably wants to see you,” Araminah told him. “There’s unfinished business there.”
He was well aware. “Indeed.”
Tobyn sat back and ran his finger tip over the arm of his desk chair. “So, when you were up against her all the time, what was the final score?”
“We didn’t keep score.”
“Bullshit.”
Saul had to smile. “We were even.”
“Ah! Then she wants to break the tie.” The Romani vampire nodded sagely. “I would, too, if I were her. Watch your back.”
“I always do.”
“Not well enough to prevent her from sneaking into your office.”
“At the time, I was in my apartment, not at work. But your point is taken.”
Tobyn smirked. “Is it well taken?” he teased.
“Not particularly.” Saul smiled at Elena. “If Svetlana has taken control of the Moscow Trads, then what has happened to Alexei?”
“Dead, of course. No promotions happen in the Prime unless there’s blood.”
Araminah laughed. “You’re so Eastern European.”
“Poland has seen a lot of warfare and tragedy over the years, and I’m a product of my homeland,” Elena shrugged. “Our origins color us all.”
“Not all of us,” Tobyn disagreed. He was probably arguing just to be contrary. He could not have been more Romani if he tried.
“Yes, all of us,” Araminah said. She rose and put her feet back into her high heels. “I’ll come with you, Saul.”
Tobyn frowned. “Why would you do that?”
She turned and fixed her twin with an icy glare. “Because I want to.”
He shrugged. “Fine. Just don’t call me when you get jumped by a Russian
Trad you can’t handle.”
“Don’t worry.” Araminah looped her arm through Saul’s and turned her back on Tobyn. “We can handle her just fine.”
They walked out together, and Saul escorted her to his car. He held the door open while she sat. Araminah smiled at him, tossing her long black curls out of the way so she could latch the seatbelt. He got behind the wheel and looked at her.
“It’s good to see you again.”
She leaned over and kissed him, and he was more than happy to kiss her back. She pulled back, biting her lip.
“Take me to your place,” she said. “We’ll look for Svetlana later.”
They got to his apartment, and before the elevator doors even closed, she had wrapped him in her arms for more kisses. Saul smiled against her scarlet lips, feeling the thrum of her vampiric energy vibrating in time with his. It was an aphrodisiac, but only the first taste of what was to come.
The elevator opened and they swayed their way toward his door, their arms around one another. The nearness of her and the power in her blood sang to him, and his feral teeth descended, ready to be put to use. She looked up at him, and her green eyes had turned to silver, showing her own eagerness to feed.
“I’ve missed you,” she told him as he fumbled to open the door behind his back.
“And I you.”
The door opened at last, and they stepped inside. He pushed the door closed and locked it, and then all he saw was Araminah and all he tasted was her lips. They left a trail of clothing on the floor all the way to his bedroom. He lifted her in his arms, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He lowered her onto the bed, and he moaned softly when her fangs slid into his vein. Mind-numbing pleasure flooded him, and his body responded. He entered her in a single thrust. She moaned against his skin, and he closed the circuit of blood, pushing his feral teeth into her neck. They fed from one another while they made love, uniting as only vampires could. When they came, the pleasure was amplified by their double union, and the ecstasy was shattering.
When it was over, it was all he could do to release his hold upon her vein. She was older than him, much older, and her power was a drug that he was loath to relinquish. Araminah sighed brokenly and pulled back from his neck, too. The bite wounds healed shut almost immediately, and they fell into a happy and exhausted puddle.
Chapter 3
Araminah pillowed her head on his shoulder, and Saul held her close, his arm around her as if to keep her from getting away again. Ara’s slender fingers toyed with his chest hair, and she sighed happily.
“I’m glad you came to Chicago.”
“I’m glad I was asked.” He kissed the top of her head.
“You didn’t need an invitation, but I know how polite you are.” She smiled. “I’m glad you were made Sergeant-at-Arms so that you had a reason to come.”
He chuckled. “You didn’t happen to have anything to do with that appointment, did you?”
She shrugged and slid her arm around his waist. “It’s good to be the queen.”
Saul laughed, and he was about to comment further when he felt a soft pulse of vampiric energy on the limits of his senses. Ara, who was much more sensitive to such things, sat bolt upright.
“She’s here.”
“Bedside table,” he told her, trusting her to understand what he meant. He slid out of bed and took a longsword from under the bed before he followed the feeling to his living room balcony.
The main curtains were pulled back, leaving only the white filmy secondary curtains closed over the balcony doors. He had not arranged the curtains in that way. He could see a woman’s silhouette through that fabric, and he approached carefully. Behind him, Araminah stepped out into the living room, his Indonesian kris knife in her hand.
Saul pushed the curtain aside and opened the balcony door. Svetlana stayed leaning against the railing, looking out over the city. She spoke without turning around.
“Put on some clothes and we’ll talk.”
“What are you doing here?” Araminah demanded.
Svetlana’s power signature was different from Araminah’s, and the two didn’t mesh well at all. Saul could feel himself already developing a headache as he grabbed his trousers and put them on. Ara put on his shirt, which hung halfway to her knees.
“You can turn around now,” he told his uninvited guest.
She turned, a smile on her face. She was a lynx-eyed blonde, angular but curvaceous, with an almost stereotypically Slavic face. She was as beautiful as ever, and he remembered times when they hadn’t been so opposed.
“May I come in?”
The Prime, like demons, could not enter someone’s dwelling without an invitation. He shook his head. “No.”
“Ah, come, now. It’s cold.”
“You can stand it.”
Svetlana laughed. “I see.” She leaned over to look around him at the Kris queen in his living room. “I also see that you’ve made powerful friends… if that’s the right word.”
Saul slightly shifted his stance, ready to defend his lover if need be. “What do you want, Svetlana?”
“Quite literally? I want to come in from the cold. Let me in.”
Saul glanced at Araminah, who looked at him silently, shrugging one shoulder. She was leaving the choice up to him. He turned back to his old nemesis and stepped back.
“Come in, then.”
Svetlana strolled in and looked around. “I’m surprised, given how much you love the holidays. There’s no tree, no decorations… but then, you did only move in two days ago.”
Araminah advanced with Saul’s knife. “Why did you come here from Moscow? Did Dumas send you?”
Her eyes turned hard at the mention of her king. “I came on my own. Dumas doesn’t control everything in the Nightworld, you know.”
“He thinks he controls you,” Saul pointed out. “Are you no longer his loyal subject?”
“I never was. I’m Soviet. As you recall, we take a dim view of royalty.” She sat down on the sofa and made herself comfortable. “Do you have any blood on hand? I’m thirsty.”
“Sorry,” Saul told her, his voice betraying that he wasn’t sorry at all. “Fresh out.”
“Hmm. Too bad.” Svetlana looked at Araminah. “So, Kris Queen. Or Ice Queen, as they call you. Do you know how many spies we have in your clan?”
The Romani vampire lifted her chin defiantly. “Do you know how many spies we have in yours?”
“We’re finding them. We’re destroying them.” She looked at both Armainah and Saul to see what their reactions might be. When they stayed impassive, she chuckled. “As I assume you’re doing with ours when you find them.”
Saul lowered his sword. “You came a long way, Svetlana. I’ll ask again. What do you want?”
She sighed. “I’ve already said. To come in from the cold.”
He paused. “You’re defecting.”
Araminah lowered the knife. “Why?”
“Dumas is insane. He’s mad with his obsession over your brother,” Svetlana answered bitterly. “He’s allowing the Prime to disintegrate while he makes plan after failing plan to steal or win Tobyn back to his side.”
Saul was surprised. This was an aspect of the war that he hadn’t heard. “Why would…”
Araminah put a hand on his arm, and he fell silent. “The Prime are in disarray?” she asked incredulously.
Svetlana nodded. “Completely. And I’m done working for organizations that don’t deserve my loyalty.”
“And you think the Kris deserve your loyalty now?”
She smiled at his question. “No. Nobody deserves my loyalty but you, Saul. And that’s why I’m here. Over the years, I’ve come to respect and even like you. You’re the only vampire who’s ever been my equal, and at times you bested me. You did it as fairly as a spy could do anything. You’ve never been cruel or abusive, and you’ve always been honorable. Nobody else seems to have any honor at all. And that’s why I’ve come to you.”
Aramina
h nodded. “You know him well, but he doesn’t speak for the Kris.”
“He is now your Sergeant-at-Arms, is he not? The enforcer of your brother’s edicts?”
“And mine.”
Svetlana waved a hand dismissively. “Yes, yours too. Not that you’re really anything but a pretty bauble at your brother’s side.”
Araminah scowled and raised the knife again. Saul interjected, “There’s no need to be insulting, Svetlana, and you know that’s not true. She’s our queen and Tobyn’s equal.”
The Trad vampire gave the Kris queen a resentful, jealous look. “If you say so.” She turned back to Saul. “I came to warn you, before I vanish. There are those among the Prime who are very worried about your rise to a position of power. They’ve been watching you for decades, and they feel you’re too formidable an enemy to be allowed to live. One of them, who owns a witch with the power of foresight, believes that you’ll be the end of our clan.”
Saul frowned. “That’s preposterous.”
“Is it? I don’t know.”
“Who is sending these agents?” she asked.
“The Secondary Prime, and the Tertiary Prime supports her. Dumas isn’t part of this. God forbid that he should risk his precious Tobyn.” She rolled her eyes at the mention of the Kris king. “Nobody knows what happened when he Made Tobyn, or why things went so sideways, but whatever it was, Dumas just can’t let it go.”
She rose and walked to him. He stayed where he stood, allowing her to approach. She put her hand over his, covering his grip on the sword. He looked into her eyes, and she smiled up at him. “I know what you can do, if you allow yourself the freedom. You’re more powerful than any of these fools.”
“If he’s so powerful, then he doesn’t need to worry about your kind,” Araminah grumbled.
“Assassins are skilled at killing from a distance. Even our kind can be killed without a chance to defend themselves. Be wary… both of you.”
Saul asked, “Are there assassins coming? Or are they already here?”
“They’re in the United States. Whether they’ve made their way to Chicago or not is anyone’s guess. If I were you, I would disappear, as well. Get out of Chicago tonight.” She put her hand against his bare chest. “You have a heartbeat. How strange you Kris are.”
Holidays Bite: A Limited Edition Collection of Holiday Vampire Tales Page 31