“They make me think of Shelley,” Demitri said beside him. The tall man had his hands behind his back, his dark gaze steady as he took in the statues.
Leon had no idea what he was talking about. “Who?”
“His poem, ‘Ozymandias.’ ” Demitri gestured out the window. “The Colossi of Memnon were part of a temple bigger than Karnak, a monument to the greatness of the pharaoh Amenophis. But later pharaohs looted what they wanted of the gold and silver adornments, and the Nile washed away the rest. The statues are all that remain, a monument to futility.” Demitri stood silently a moment, then went on in a sonorous voice. “ ‘ “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” . . . Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.’ ”
“Don’t be maudlin,” Val said from the sofa. She lay with her head propped on a cushion, her long legs crossed at her ankles. “Amenophis is happy in his afterlife, where I imagine he’s built a temple twice that size. He’s probably frolicking with his darling Tiy and has three times as many concubines as he did when he was alive. And anyway, Shelley was writing about Ramses.”
Leon didn’t know enough about history to follow what they were talking about, but he moved to the sofa and sat down. He took Val’s feet in his lap and began to rub them.
“How’re you doing?”
“Fine,” Val said, her voice tense. “Fine for a woman who doesn’t know when she’ll turn into a sex-crazed demon. Aphrodite just had to lift that oath, didn’t she?”
“Why’s that bad? One less thing to worry about, right?”
Val gave him a tired smile. “She was right; I hid behind my vows. It’s easier to deny yourself something when you take an oath—it makes your decisions black and white, life or death. Do I do this? No, I took a vow. It’s so much easier to make a concrete promise than simply try to be good in general.”
Leon thought about how comforting it could be to follow orders in the army. He knew what he had to do every day because the company commander made the decision and it came down the channels through his platoon sergeant. Leon had in turn relayed the orders to those beneath him. No indecision about what they were going to do, just thinking on how they were going to do it to the best of their ability. And how hard they were going to party when the mission was done.
At home, away from the army’s discipline, Leon had found himself rudderless. Waking up every morning not knowing what he’d do that day had been terrifying at first. What if he made the wrong decision, or worse, what if he harmed someone with that wrong decision? It had taken him a long time to find and get used to a new routine.
“I guess I get it,” he said.
Val squeezed his hand. “I’m so glad I met you.”
“Likewise.”
“But I dragged you into my problems, and you might be killed because of it.”
“Maybe, but I know what I need to do now.” Leon ran his thumb over the back of her hand. He was going to save Val, no matter what. If she decided afterward that she wanted Demitri and not Leon, he’d bow out. A lady like Val belonged with a rich guy like Demitri anyway.
He looked at Demitri, wondering why his heart gave a strange twinge. Leon realized he didn’t want to bow out or shrug this off. Val had touched something in him, and he wanted time to explore it.
Demitri wanted to go to Remy’s excavation site before the day got too hot. Val didn’t seem interested, but Leon agreed with Demitri that she shouldn’t be left alone, so they all went.
Unlike the quiet of their hotel suite, the Valley of the Queens was bustling. Tour buses belched forth hordes of passengers who lined up to look upon the wonders of the painted tombs. Remy’s dig was a bit off the beaten path, but more adventurous and interested tourists ventured to take photos of the holes Remy’s team had dug in the base of the cliffs.
“Ready to start?” Remy looked happy to have his face and hands grimy, his knees plastered with white dust. “Your friends going to be all right?” He glanced to where Demitri and Val, pristinely dressed, had gone back to the tent where they’d sat before.
“They’re used to Egypt,” Leon said. If all the shit they spouted about Val living here in the time of the pharaohs was true, they were more used to it than Remy and his archaeologists would ever be.
Remy took Leon to where members of his team were sifting through rubble that was being cleared from the tomb. Remy’s team was a mixture of American and Egyptian students of archaeology plus local men who were experts at digging up artifacts. Remy explained that while Leon wasn’t waiting to bandage people up, he’d help out looking through the fill for potsherds and other tiny artifacts.
Felicia showed him what to look for, and stressed that even the tiniest bits could be important clues to the puzzle of ancient life. The limestone felt almost silky beneath Leon’s fingers as he picked through it, hoping Remy’s faith in his ability to find artifacts in this dirt wasn’t misplaced. Remy left Leon to it, but Felicia, in charge of this part of the team, remained. The woman was damn enthusiastic about sifting through dust.
While Leon worked, he casually mentioned the necklace with the broken pendant. “It was pretty,” Leon said. “I’d love to get something like that as a gift for my mom.”
“You can’t take real artifacts out of Egypt,” Felicia told him. “But you can buy reproductions in all the souvenir shops. I’ll tell you which are the best dealers. Your friend Val can help you pick something out.”
“Where did that necklace come from? You think you’ll find any more?”
Leon had always been good at guileless inquiry. All he had to do was mention his mom and let his hard face look interested, and people told him everything he wanted to know.
“We might. We aren’t sure if the necklace was meant to be in the tomb at all. It might have been taken from another tomb and dropped by robbers. I looked it up, by the way. I couldn’t find any references in the databases or in any articles to a curse that used a pendant like that. Why did your friend think it was used for magic?”
“I don’t know. I’m not really up on Egyptian stuff like he is. If you find another one, will it give you a clue?”
“Maybe. But necklaces of faience were pretty common, not worth a lot. This one was broken, so someone might have simply thrown it out.”
Leon agreed it was an interesting mystery, then they went on with their work. It was dull, but Leon discovered that he wasn’t bad at it. Life in the army was a lot of routine, and you did it until you got the job done. He could see that excavating was much the same.
He didn’t find any treasure, but he did come across a couple of small beads, which made Felicia very happy. When Leon finished, he discovered that Val and Demitri had left the tent, to go back to the dig house, someone told him.
But when he arrived at the dig house with Remy, Demitri and Val weren’t there, either, and according to the housekeeper and her husband, they never had been there. Leon stepped back outside, scanning the desert. The tired team streamed in along the path to the site, laughing and talking, eager for food and drink.
Leon saw no one else against the stark hills and broken terrain, no silhouettes against the darkening blue sky. Val and Demitri had vanished.
9
LET go of me,” Valenarian said fiercely. Demitri hung on to her, pulling her around an outcropping that hid them from the site and the dig house. They’d been quietly sipping bottled water in the tent when Val suddenly turned to him and said, “I’m bored, lover. Let’s find some nice, deserted tomb and screw until we scream.”
“I shouldn’t have brought you out here,” Demitri growled at her now. He addressed her in ancient Athenian, the language he and Val had spoken to each other when they first met.
Val looked back at him with her dark demon’s eyes. “But you couldn’t leave me alone at the hotel, either, could you? I might devour a delicious man.” She curled her tongue sensually.
“Control this. You can.”
“Why should I?
You like Valenarian better than that mealy-mouthed Valerie. Would you like me to go down on you right here in the dust? Like old times?”
Demitri would like it, that was the trouble. He’d loved everything Val had done to him, everything they’d shared. He’d loved it too much.
Val wet her lips, making them red and moist. “What did you do without me all these centuries, Demitri? Really, I want to know how you survived.”
“I had lovers.”
“None like me, I’ll bet.”
“No, none of them were evil incarnate.”
“I’m not quite evil incarnate.” She draped her arms around his neck. Her body was hot with the desert heat and her own latent power. “I did a job, that’s all. Performed an important function.”
“Until you went insane with it.”
“Well, perhaps I did go a little overboard. But I’m a good girl now. Do you believe me?”
“I wish I could.”
Her body rubbing against his drove him crazy. Demitri pinned Val against the rock wall, holding her wrists over her head.
She laughed. “Just like old times. What are you going to do to me?”
“What I want to do is fuck you with my hands and tongue and then my cock, but I’m not going to.”
“Oh, you’re no fun.”
“Because that’s what Valenarian wants. Sex hard, rough, and fast, with a little kink to it.”
“Keep talking dirty, lover. It makes me wet.”
Demitri pushed his face close to hers. Val’s breath was hot on his lips, her breasts tight against his own chest. “Which is why I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to do it because you want it so much.”
“Tease.” Val extended her claws a little, pressed them into his neck. “Do you know what I do to men who tease me?”
“I’m not a man. You can’t best me with strength.”
“That’s why I’ve always bested you with seduction.”
“Not anymore.” Demitri let his voice go soft as he brushed his lips across hers. “You’re getting it when I say you are, and you’re getting what I say you’ll get.”
Her breath tangled with his. “That sounds like fun.”
“It won’t be fun. It will be hell, and you’ll do anything I say until I’ve tamed you.”
“I don’t want to be tamed. Aphrodite tried to tame me, but as you can see, it hasn’t worked.”
“You must have had some of Valerie in you already. Aphrodite didn’t paste a new personality on top of you; she brought out what you had suppressed.”
“Oh, please.”
“I’m afraid it’s true, my love.”
Val tugged him closer, opened her mouth over his. He allowed one burning kiss, then he lifted his head. “No, sweetheart.”
Val seized his obviously aroused cock through his pants. “You want me, lover.”
“I do want you.” Demitri kissed the line of her hair and drew his tongue down her cheek. “I want it bad. But I’m not going to let you have it.”
“You will.”
Demitri smiled, grimly determined. “I won’t.” He yanked Val’s hands from him and stepped away, right into Leon.
“So, what are y’all doing?” Leon asked. He voice was a soft drawl, his green eyes glittering with anger.
Demitri switched abruptly back to English. “Is there a way to get her out of here that’s not through the site?”
Leon looked past him to Val, and his eyes widened. “Is she . . . ?”
Val laughed. “Of course, darling. Demitri doesn’t want anyone to see me, in case I decide to seduce and kill your brother’s colleagues.”
“I can’t argue with him for that,” Leon said.
“As if I’m interested in them. I have all I can handle right here.” She arched against Demitri.
“We need to get her back to the hotel,” Demitri said.
“I can see that.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll go quietly.” Val stepped out of Demitri’s embrace and wound her arms around Leon’s neck. “If Demitri won’t fuck me, maybe you will.”
Leon’s eyes flickered yellow, his arousal obvious. He sucked in a breath and pulled Val’s hands away.
“There’s a path that leads around the other ridge to the entrance of the valley. It’s a long way, but it circles around the dig house.”
“Lead the way.”
Demitri held Val’s arm as Leon took them along the dusty path in the light of the setting sun. The sky flushed golden and red, the blue softening as the sun slid westward. Once twilight set in, the desert cooled quickly.
Val walked close to Demitri, not speaking, but when he looked down at her, she sent him a wicked smile. Tightening his grip only made her smile increase. If she wasn’t looking at Demitri, she let her gaze run over Leon walking ahead of them.
“You have a gorgeous ass, Leon,” she said. “Demitri thinks so, too.”
Leon glanced once over his shoulder, obviously uncomfortable, but he continued to lead the way in silence.
The hotel was a mile from the entrance to the Valley of the Queens, and they walked to it rather than bother with a taxi. Once upstairs, Val smiled at them both and sank to the sofa, her eyes dark, her hair in tight red black ringlets.
“Val, will you be all right while I shower?” Leon asked, wiping sweat and dust from his face.
“Go on, lover. I’ll keep Demitri company.”
Leon threw Demitri a dark look and went into the bathroom.
Demitri stood in front of Val and folded his arms. “Let Valerie come back.”
“I don’t think so.” Val lounged against the cushions, her arm over her head, returning to the dialect of ancient Athens. “Not for a while.”
“You might regret that.”
“Why? What can you possibly do to me?”
“Stand up.”
Val yawned. “What for?”
Demitri reached down and yanked her to her feet. Val laughed as she fell against him. “All right, lover.” She squeezed his ass.
Demitri seized her wrists in an iron grip. “If you’re going to touch, it has to be nice.”
“You never liked it nice before, Demitri. As I recall, you preferred it so very rough.”
“I like it both ways,” Demitri said, his voice low. “But you only know one way, don’t you? You don’t know what it’s like to be tender.”
“I can be tender.” She stroked her thumb over his wrist then stroked again with one claw, nearly drawing blood.
Demitri didn’t flinch. “Do you see? You can’t do this without hurting, and liking it. I’m going to teach you how wonderful it is to be gentle.”
“Wussy, you mean.”
“That proves you don’t understand. Undress for me.”
She looked startled, then her smile came back. “You don’t understand, Demitri. You pretend to be in so much control, but you can’t control yourself at all. You burn.”
“That doesn’t matter. Undress.”
“If that’s what you want.”
She stripped slowly, unbuttoning her tunic, sliding it over her head to reveal her delicate, lacy bra. She slipped out of her long pants, her panties a thin black slash across her skin. A lacy garter belt was another band of black, and silk garters clasped sheer black stockings.
She was breathtakingly erotic. She was right about Demitri having difficulty controlling himself. His erection was tight, his blood hot. But he’d hold it in. He had fourteen days to save Val, and if he had to be horny and unfulfilled to save her, so be it.
“Keep going. Take off every single stitch.”
Val’s lips curved seductively. She unsnapped the garters and rolled off her stockings, then pulled off the bra. Her breasts were firm globes, white, whereas her neck and arms were tanned. As a priestess Val had kept herself covered.
Instead of stripping off her panties, Val raised her arms to her sides and began a slow belly dance. Her hips undulated, accented by the curve of the panties. Then she raised her arms above her head and
slid her torso from side to side, breasts gently moving.
Demitri caught her in his arms. He kissed her, loving the feel of her bare flesh beneath his hands. He pushed her panties down over her hips, briefly cupping her buttocks before he let her go.
Val tried to continue the kiss, but Demitri pressed her away. He laced his fingers through hers. “Slowly.”
“You don’t want to be slow.” Her eyes burned dark blue, and her nipples were hard little points. “Neither do I.”
“I don’t care.”
Valerie tried to yank away. “I’ll find Leon. He’s happy to take it fast.”
The shower was still pattering in the bathroom. “Leave Leon be for now.”
“He was very good.” Valerie subsided, but her look was wicked. “He fucked me hard and kept going until he couldn’t do any more.”
“Are you trying to make me jealous or turn me on?”
She smiled sweetly. “Both.”
“Hearing that you were willing to screw a man until he dropped dead of it doesn’t do it for me.”
“Bullshit.”
“Leon was lucky he had a shifter’s stamina. It wasn’t nice of you to drag him into this.”
“You’re glad I did,” Val said. “You like him, too, don’t you?”
Demitri did. “That’s another reason why I want to save you, because it will save him, too.”
“Aw, how sweet.”
Demitri tightened his clasp on her hands. “He doesn’t deserve to die because of you. And I have a feeling you don’t want him to.”
“Well, no. He is cute.”
Demitri leaned closer. “You care what happens to him. I’m going to find the core of that care and drag it out of you.”
Her eyes flickered. “How do you plan to do that?”
“Carefully. It might hurt.”
“Mmm, now you’re talking.”
“You won’t like it.”
“Bet me.”
Mortal Seductions Page 11