She couldn’t hope to outrun him, not while carrying Jennifer. If she meant to get past him, she’d have to find a way to kill him.
T he Yucatán Peninsula lay below them, the remains of the ancient Mayan city of Chichén Itzá tantalizingly near. Mencheres rose and instructed the two pilots to land on the first empty road or adequately long flat stretch of land they came across. He couldn’t have the pilots land at an airport, not while Radje might have spies there as an extra precaution, watching for Mencheres or any of his people. Another flash of his gaze, and the pilots began to search for an unorthodox runway. The plane was small enough that it shouldn’t take much to land on safely.
He was almost back at his seat when his mind seized with a pain he hadn’t felt in several months—and never expected to experience again. Mencheres froze in disbelief, too stunned to reply even as a part of him registered that Vlad asked him what was wrong. Images filled his mind, somewhat dimmer than he was used to, but unmistakable.
Kira running through the jungle, a woman clasped in her arms. A vampire lay in wait ahead, others farther away but closing in. Kira set the woman down, turned and ran toward that vampire, grappling with him as she fought to strip away his silver knife . . .
He strode back to the pilots. “Go lower,” he ordered them, his gaze lit up with green. “Fly over Chichén Itzá. When you are northeast of it, descend as low as you can.”
“What are you doing?” Vlad demanded.
He swung around, determination and astonishment swirling inside him. “Kira’s not in the Temple of the Warriors at Chichén Itzá anymore. She’s in the jungle just north of it.”
Vlad started to smile. “You saw that?”
“Yes.” Mencheres’s voice thickened with emotion. “In a vision.”
T he vampire rammed his knee into Kira’s stomach. Pain blasted through her, but she kept her grip on his knife. His fangs tore into her shoulder next, ripping into flesh, but while that shot more searing pain into her, Kira reminded herself that he couldn’t kill her that way. And she had fangs, too.
She twisted them over until she was on top of the vampire. All the training at police academy plus several years of defense classes came rushing to the forefront, mixing with her supernatural strength, Mencheres’s power, and the hunger that still burned inside her. She slammed her elbow into the vampire’s face, feeling bones break in both of them, but she didn’t hesitate before ramming that same elbow into his face again. And again.
Her fourth blow blinded him. Then her knees smashed into his ribs before she scrambled lower, using her fangs to tear the knife from his grip. Before she allowed herself to think, Kira shoved that blade into his chest as hard as she could. His instant shout was cut off when she shook the blade roughly, feeling all his strength suddenly vanish. His body went limp, his head fell back, and that green light faded from his eyes.
Kira suppressed her urge to fling herself away from him out of repugnance. She had no time to second-guess the necessity of killing him. She yanked the blade out of the vampire’s chest, clutching it as she doubled back to get Jennifer. With all the other sounds in the jungle, including the roar of an airplane flying overhead, Kira couldn’t use Jennifer’s heartbeat and breathing to track her. That was a good thing, though. It meant the other vampires couldn’t, either.
Impatience, anger, and desperation unexpectedly filled Kira, almost overwhelming even the burn from her hunger. She ran faster toward where she’d left Jennifer. Had another vampire gotten to her? Was that why her instincts were all of a sudden going wild? Damn it, Jennifer had been through too much already! If one of those guards had found her, had hurt her again, Kira was going to kill him next.
Her grip tightened on the knife as she ducked, hurtling herself through the dense undergrowth. That desperation grew stronger, throbbing inside her along with the painful hunger. Sounds jerked her head to the left, then the right, and even echoed ahead of her where Jennifer was supposed to be. Dread ran up her spine. The guards. They’d managed to surround her.
Kira slowed. She might have some of Mencheres’s incredible power fueling her, but she couldn’t take them all on. Her only chance was one at a time, and even those odds were slim. Still, she wasn’t about to drop the knife and give herself up. She whirled, heading for the closest sounds to her, feeling almost consumed by the desperation inside her. There! her subconscious seemed to scream. Right there!
She felt a blast of electricity then, as sudden and overwhelming as a bolt of lightning. Kira froze so abruptly that it felt like she’d run into an invisible wall of cement. For a split second, she was panicked, looking down to see if she’d been pierced with multiple weapons to explain why she couldn’t move. But then something else washed over her subconscious, replacing that former desperation with waves of relief and impatience.
That’s when she realized what she was feeling weren’t her emotions. They were Mencheres’s. He’s here.
Hard arms seized her in the next instant, swinging her up into an embrace that crackled with familiar power. Kira’s paralysis vanished, allowing her to twist around to face him. Mencheres’s eyes blazed emerald, his expression fierce as he stared at her. She yanked his head down before she could even think, glorying in the bruising passion as Mencheres kissed her like this was the last chance he’d ever get to do so.
All too quickly he drew away, reminding Kira that they were surrounded by enemy guards and now was not the time to show him how much she’d missed him. Mencheres stroked her face before he stepped back, then spread out his arms.
Rolls of invisible thunder shook the jungle. Kira’s eyes widened as everything went silent with an abruptness that was startling. Even the sounds from the birds and animals ceased, leaving only the rustle of the countless leaves and trees to break the sudden awesome hush. A weight seemed to press on her, the vibrations from his power thickening the air into a denseness that was palpable.
“There you are,” Mencheres muttered.
That weight lifted, and the animals resumed their nocturnal foraging and calls. The thick feel of his power still lingered in the air, though, and it didn’t escape Kira’s notice that her pursuers had fallen silent at the same moment that she’d felt like she was struck by lightning.
“Do you, ah, have them all?” she asked.
A tight smile crossed Mencheres’s face, relaxing the fierceness in his expression only a fraction.
“Yes, I have them.”
Then slow shuffling sounds came from around them. One by one, Radje’s guards walked toward them, forming a circle. Their steps were perfectly synchronized, but the fear on their expressions made it plain that they weren’t in control of their actions.
An eerie blue light broke through the jungle a hundred yards ahead. Kira glanced at Mencheres, but he didn’t look alarmed, and the brush of emotion she felt from him was icy determination and relief, not fear. So she said nothing as that light came nearer. After a few moments, Vlad Tepesh appeared through the brush, his dark hair swinging with his strides, one of his blue-flamed hands wrapped around the throat of a vampire he half dragged alongside him.
“Hello, boys,” he drawled as he entered the circle of vampire guards who were now standing still. The flames on his hands grew brighter, streaming down the vampire in his grip until the guard’s body was engulfed. Vlad flung him into the center of the circle, not even a thread of his own clothing burned although the screaming vampire was writhing in a sea of flames.
“So then,” Vlad said with pleasant cruelty. “Who wants to talk, and who wants to burn to death?”
Chapter 34
Mencheres wasn’t surprised that it only took killing a few of the guards before the rest were all too eager to tell everything they knew about the rest of their numbers, their locations, which of them Radje was supposed to contact, and anything else he asked them. Radje hadn’t picked older, seasoned mercenaries who would require far more incentive because they’d realize their fate was death anyway for their participation i
n these crimes. He’d picked younger, foolish vampires he’d changed himself in secret. Ones who would do his bidding without many questions asked and could easily disappear when Radje no longer had use for them.
Kira stayed with the human girl Mencheres recognized from the club, just out of eyesight. It was obvious she didn’t care to witness the fiery interrogations, but she never questioned their necessity. She wanted to go back to check on the other humans at the temple where she’d been held, but Mencheres urged patience. They had to make sure no guards remained in other parts of Chichén Itzá who would alert Radje to their presence. His senses didn’t pick up more than the seventeen vampires who’d chased Kira into the jungle, but he would take no chances.
Only after those still living revealed that they made up the entirety of Radje’s guards on Kira did Mencheres venture back with Vlad and Kira to the temple ruins. Was it arrogance or paranoia that had made Radje leave so few of his people to guard Kira? Did he fear that larger numbers might betray him if one of his acolytes were loose-lipped, and word reached the Guardians of what he’d done? Or did he truly believe Mencheres cared so little for Kira that he hadn’t expected him to take any measure possible to save her, knowing Radje would not release her as agreed?
Radje might have been correct had he taken anyone else but Kira. Only the knowledge that her life hung in the balance gave Mencheres the strength to finish the ritual to summon Aken. No soul’s location was invisible from the ferryman of the dead, though Radje might not even know of the ritual to summon Aken. Few in their race knew the darkest magics. The only reason Patra knew how to wield the spells she’d used was because Mencheres taught them to her when they were together—a mistake he’d paid for dearly.
Yes, some knowledge was best left lost to the world. He cast a glance up at the moon. He’d have to leave in the next hour in order to make his meeting with Radje.
A familiar wave of energy reached across his senses. Only two days ago, there was just one vampire he could feel this way. But now that he’d shared a portion of his power with Kira, she was irrevocably tied to his senses as well.
“Bones is here,” Mencheres stated.
Vlad raised a brow even as he nailed another guard to the walls of the temple with silver knives.
“He must have been farther south than we were when we first left. You called him less than two hours ago.”
Kira appeared in the archway, her expression sad and angry. “I found six bodies here, but from what Jennifer said, there were even more people killed. The guards would dump the bodies in the jungle in shifts at night.”
Vlad shoved another silver knife into a guard’s wrist. Mencheres held them immobile now, but once he was gone, this would help secure them.
“Vampires like you piss me off,” Vlad muttered. “Leaving a trail of bodies for humans to be suspicious over when there’s no need to kill to feed. Ever had a mob of villagers armed with torches and pitchforks burn your house down while screaming ‘death to the wampyre!’? I have, and it’s irritating beyond belief.”
“You know those old Romanians.” Bones’s voice drifted in from the entrance of the temple. “Just bloody unreasonable.”
“You promised you wouldn’t start with him . . .”
Cat’s voice, speaking far softer than Bones had. Mencheres ignored both of their comments in favor of sliding his arms around Kira.
“I need to leave soon. You’ll be safe with the three of them here.”
Her green gaze pierced into his. “I’d tell you not to go because Radje’s too dangerous, but you’d just repeat the same indisputable proof needed argument that I used when I talked you into letting Radje kidnap me from my sister’s, wouldn’t you?”
“As I’ve often said before, you are wise,” Mencheres murmured. A strange exhilaration filled him, an excitement mixed with purpose that he hadn’t felt in . . . he couldn’t remember how long. His visions had not deserted him. The glimpse of Kira in the jungle proved that, and, if they hadn’t, then he had a chance for a future after all.
What made the difference? Was it completing the ritual that, by rights, should have killed him? Or was Kira correct, and the wall of darkness blocking his vision was of his own making? Perhaps the touch of the god when Aken showed him where Kira was removed that block. Or he’d managed to tear it down earlier but didn’t see the fruits of that right away. He didn’t know. All he knew was that now, only one obstacle stood in his way from a life with Kira.
Radjedef. Mencheres intended to remove that obstacle.
“I smell Radjedef here,” a voice he hadn’t expected stated from the room outside theirs. “Something else, too. Old, and . . . familiar.”
“Veritas,” Mencheres said, surprise coloring his tone.
“She caught a ride with us,” Cat announced, her brows rising as she came into the room and saw Vlad nailing the guards into the wall.
Vlad paused to give her a slanted smile. “I’d welcome you with a fond embrace, Cat, but as you can see, I’m a little busy. Bones, feel free to make use of the remaining knives on those three guards.”
“At a time like this, you must miss your long wooden poles,” Bones noted as he began to gather up knives, giving a cold glare to the guards who were waiting in the corner.
Vlad grunted. “Do I ever.”
“Brought something for you,” Cat said to Kira, holding out a shopping bag. “Didn’t think they’d keep you fed while they had you.”
Mencheres gave Cat a grateful look as Kira opened it to reveal several sealed bags of blood inside. She’d flatly refused to feed from any of the humans held captive, saying they’d suffered enough. Now he didn’t have to take her to the hotel that bordered the ruins for Kira to slake her burning hunger on unsuspecting guests.
“Thank you,” she said to Cat. Then she turned her attention to Veritas, who scanned the room with silent thoroughness.
“You smell Radje. His guards can verify that they were ordered by him to kidnap me. I can sure attest to Radje holding me here against my will, and he didn’t tell any of the Guardians about it. Is that enough proof that he’s gone rogue?” she asked in an unflinching tone.
“For me it is.” Veritas approached the guards, giving them a critical evaluation. Then she turned around, sniffing again, her brow furrowed. “But for the rest of the council, some of whom are close friends with Radjedef, it is only circumstantial evidence backed up by questionable witness statements.”
“You can’t be serious,” Kira began.
“Even if the council were satisfied, I would still go to Radje,” Mencheres interrupted her angry response. He brushed her cheek. “Not only for evidence. For recompense.”
Cat’s nose wrinkled as she sniffed lightly near him. “Not to be rude, but what is that smell? It’s like you bathed in dead bodies or something.”
“I noticed it, too,” Kira said. Her gaze clouded. “It worried me.”
Vlad kept securing the guards, his face carefully blank. Bones raised a brow at Mencheres, waiting. He said nothing, but Veritas’s gaze narrowed. She strode over to him, inhaling deeply near his chest, then as close to his head as she could reach without floating.
“Exactly how did you know where Kira was?” Veritas demanded.
“From a vision,” Mencheres replied. That was part of the truth. Just not the entirety of it.
“I knew you could push past that block in your mind,” Kira murmured, giving his waist a squeeze.
Veritas inhaled again, then she stepped back, her sea-green gaze turning hard.
“You smell of Aken .”
Vlad muttered a curse. Cat and Kira asked, “Who’s that?” at the same time. Mencheres said nothing, holding Veritas’s stare.
She recognized the lord of the underworld’s scent. There was only one way Veritas would be able to do that—if she’d previously summoned Aken herself.
It seemed he’d not been the only one Tenoch had shared the secrets of that ritual with. He and Veritas were at a stalemate. Summo
ning the ferryman was an act of black magic and a breach of vampire law. If she confronted Mencheres about his crime, she would have to confess her own.
“Now you know the other reason why I must go to Radje,” Mencheres said evenly.
Veritas acknowledged their impasse with an inclination of her head. “I do. I wasn’t always a Guardian.” Then her gaze hardened again. “You must hurry. The ferryman does not tarry, and his boat never leaves empty.”
“What are you two talking about?” Kira asked.
He kissed the top of her head. “I shall tell you when I return.”
Cat cleared her throat. “I know I’m missing a ton of subtext here, but I understand ‘hurry.’ The three of us came in on one of my uncle’s new jets. You know that the government has access to the fastest planes available, so if you’re in a rush, you can take my ride. You’ll have to squeeze into the weapons area, so it’s not comfy, but it’s quick.”
Mencheres mulled her offer. He preferred to stay away from anything to do with human governments, but he was running short on time. “I have a plane, but it needs fuel.”
Cat smiled. “Mine doesn’t—and did I mention it was fast?”
Chapter 35
The Bank of America building towered imperially over the rest of the skyscrapers in the Atlanta cityscape. Lights reflected off the gold-plated steel girders that crisscrossed in an open lattice design to form, of all things, a gleaming pyramid at the top. Mencheres stood on the roof of the nearby Symphony Tower, staring up at the thousand-foot skyscraper. How fitting that Radje chose this place. Their enmity had started on the sands of the Giza Plateau; but it would end here, inside the gleaming pyramid built not by ancient Pharaohs, but human industry.
He flew the other few hundred feet and landed on the exterior of the spire, sliding between the girders into its domed interior. Lights from the buildings below him paled against the dramatic golden glow that infused this metal cobweb of space. From this height, wind snatched at his clothes and hair as Mencheres spotted his old enemy standing on a beam forty feet above him, his back to Mencheres, looking out over the city spread below him.
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