Reign of the Vampires

by Rebekah R. Ganiere

  “Fine.” William sipped his drink and raised his goblet toward Chin Lee. “We go in, we look at the menu, and then we leave.”

  “Now which do we choose?”

  “I like the one called ‘Bliss,’ but I doubt we will find what we are looking for in there. I guess ‘Passion’?” he said.

  Chin Lee appeared at their side. “Have you decided then?”

  “We’d like to see the Passion room.” Danika smiled.

  “Very good. I’ll need a credit card please for the deposit.” Chin Lee led the way to the Passion room.

  “I’m Lord Danika Chekov. Any bill that you might incur can be sent to my home.” Danika and William stepped into the room and sat on the couch.

  “Very good.” Chin Lee bowed. “When you’re ready to order, lift the phone and tell the operator what you’d like. Enjoy.” She smiled, then let the curtain close behind them.

  The room was so red, Danika felt like she was surrounded by blood. The spicy scent hung thick in the air, filling her nostrils and forcing her to relax. William walked to a small table. He took a swallow of the blood from his goblet and picked up the menu. He scanned it, then handed it to Danika. She downed the last of her blood as well, and set the glass on the table, taking the menu from William. As she did so, a chill skittered up her spine. Passion did not begin to describe the things on the paper. The debauched indulgences of their society was a better name for it. Every item involved a human, and every one was worse than the one before. After reading the first five, Danika had to set the menu down. William was as pale as she felt. This was definitely the place that the rogue had gotten human blood; the question that still remained was why.

  “We should go.” She stood. The room swayed, and William reached out his hand to steady her, but he, too was unbalanced.

  “Something’s wrong,” he said.

  Danika nodded. She looked down at the goblet on the table with bleary eyes. William pushed open the curtain while trying to hold Danika steady.

  “Going already?” Chin Lee moved to them from the now empty bar.

  “I think we don’t have enough time this evening to properly enjoy what the room has to offer. We’ll have to wait until we have more time. Perhaps the owner would squeeze us in somewhere, if at all possible.” Danika knew she was swaying, but refused to fall down.

  “I think that can be arranged,” said a male from behind her.

  Danika froze on the spot. Goosebumps rose on her arms, then the scent hit her, that familiar scent. She turned to see a vampyr standing behind her. His once light brown eyes, now pale blue, shone against his pale, no longer bluish, skin. His bone structure had refined as William’s had and his hair was a lighter shade of blond. Pearly white, short fangs peeked out from beneath his upper lip. He looked impeccable in his tan suit. This was not possible. She was seeing things again. It was the blood causing her to hallucinate.

  “What? No hello for your old friend?” He pouted. “I’m hurt, Kitten.”

  “Xenock,” she managed. Her mind screamed at her to run, but her sluggish body wouldn’t obey.

  He smiled. “Well, isn’t this lovely. And who’s your new friend?”

  She looked from William to Chin Lee, they were both staring at him as well. She wasn’t seeing things. “This is William, my fledgling.” Her mind blazed with questions, fighting against whatever drug had been given her.

  “Your fledgling? Why, Danika, how maternal of you. I didn’t know you had it in you. Good for you.” Xenock eyed William.

  Danika’s grip grew tighter on William, and he put his arm around her waist. She was trapped.

  “You’re the one who sent the rogues.” She stalled.

  “Did you enjoy them? They did their job well. They led you here,” he said with a flourish.

  “And it was you that night at the office, outside.”

  “I wanted to see your new slave. I’d heard news that you’d paid quite a sum for him. He’s a big one, isn’t he? You always did have a thing for big men.”

  Danika ground her teeth together. He acted as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn’t tried to kill her, but more than that, as if he wasn’t supposed to be dead.

  “What do you want, Xenock?”

  “Danika, how can you even ask me that?” He pouted again. He stepped forward and caressed her face with the palm of his hand. “You know what I want. What I’ve always wanted.”

  Danika’s head reeled. All this time Xenock was supposedly dead, he’d been watching her, waiting to strike. But how had he done all of this? Who was really pulling the strings? Chin Lee no longer smiled. Standing in front of the exit curtain, she barred the way out. The bartender relaxed at the bar, but Danika got the feeling that he was anything but. She’d seen Mason relax that same way before. With Mason’s blood inside her, she’d be able to take Chin Lee, and possibly the bartender, but Xenock was another story, especially with her being drugged. Her biggest concern was for William.

  Danika breathed in deeply. “If I give you what you want, will you let William go?”

  “Touching.” Xenock smiled. “So touching, Danika. I wish you’d done that for me.”

  “You tried to kill me, Xenock,” she yelled, swaying slightly. Her anger was beginning to show. She needed to control it if they were going to make it out of this alive.

  “I didn’t want to kill you. I just didn’t want anyone else to have you.” His eyes held the same crazed look that she had seen in them the night he’d attacked her. And his face bore the scar where she’d struck him with her nightstand lamp. Somehow, the two seemed to add to his already fierce appearance.

  “All right, Danika, if you wish it, I’ll let him go.” Xenock motioned for William to leave.

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.” Xenock motioned to the exit. “See, Danika, I can be civil. I mean the young man no harm. He’s free to go.”

  “I’m staying,” said William stoically, staring at Xenock.

  Danika turned to William. “Go.”

  “No. I won’t leave you here.”

  “William.” She laid her hand on his cheek. “You must go now. Go to the car. I can take care of this.”

  He blinked several times and she sent him a silent plea to understand what she’d said.

  “My offer is good for another thirty seconds.” Xenock flashed his fangs at William.

  William pulled her into an embrace and whispered in her ear. “We’ll come for you.”

  “Tick tock.” Xenock tapped his watch.

  Reluctantly William let go of her and crossed to the exit. He took one last look in her direction, then stepped through the curtain.

  “There now.” Xenock wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “It’s you and me, Kitten. Just like old times.”

  * * * *

  Mason was finally over most of the electrical shock waves. His biceps still twitched, but he’d gotten his breath back. He unbuttoned the collar of his shirt and rolled up his sleeves. He hated prostituted fae magick. Not that he hadn’t been around it before. He had, in abundance. But twisting the natural order of things for money went against everything he believed in. He felt Danika inside the club, but it was muted. He paced as the minutes ticked by. Then something happened, terror filled him. He rushed the barrier again, the magick prickled the hairs on his arms. Cursing in frustration, he took a step away.

  He was about to go for it again when William staggered out, alone. Mason’s heart sank.

  “Where is she?” he demanded, stepping to the edge of the barrier.

  “She’s in there, with him. She didn’t know...” William slurred.

  “Know what? What are you talking about?” Mason shook William. “What’s wrong with you?”

  William looked up, his eyes glassy. “Xenock, he’s got her.”

  “Xenock’s dead.”

  “He’s a vampyr.”

  “What does he want?” Mason already knew the answer.
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  “Her.”

  Mason slammed into the shield and was hit by wave after wave of electrical magick. He tried to step inside, but was dragged back by Paul.

  “Stop, you are going to kill yourself,” William yelled.

  Mason stooped over, inhaling with his head between his knees. Inside the beast roared to life, knowing the danger his mate was in. There wasn’t much time before the beast took over. Mason tried to concentrate through the pounding in his ears. He could get into the club, but it would open the door to his destruction. For her though, it would be worth it. He raised his head, his resolve set. She was his, and he was hers. Nothing would keep them safe now from what he would unleash on them all.

  “Step back.”

  “Mason, what are you going to do?”

  “I said, step back!” Mason yelled.

  William moved away, his eyes wide. Mason knew his voice was no longer his own. It was too deep, too reverberating. His limbs shook as the beast crawled out of his cage, closer to the surface. His fingers cracked and his knuckles popped. His skin itched and stretched.

  Staring at the building, Mason took deep breaths, filling his nostrils. At first, all he smelled was the city. He focused on Mother Earth, the dirt, the trees, the sky above, every piece of what made up the Earth, even the air around him, filled him. Communing with nature herself, he felt the order of the way things were supposed to be.

  Mason reached deep inside, awakening the ancient magicks that had lain dormant for the past two hundred years. At first, he thought he might have lost them, for all the times he’d pushed them away. Then something stirred. They were warm, like his mother had been. Bright lights danced before his eyes, and for a split second, he could swear he saw her: the long raven hair that swung down to her waist, her slender tan arms and legs, clad in the barest of thin gowns. He smelled her, the ever-present scent of night-blooming jasmine. She smiled at him, her violet eyes flashed; then she was gone. The magicks merged with his inner beast and their power stirred in his veins.

  The connection was made. The beast laughed and stopped his ascent, reveling in the pleasure of the dark power. Mason concentrated on the task before him, feeling the brick building underneath the spell. The air shifted like a curtain had been lifted. The metallic threads of magick lit up the black night. They covered the building in a fine silky web that snaked and weaved over it.

  Mason straightened and chanted in the language of his mother; speaking words in the deep voice of the beast. It surprised him how easily the ancient language rolled off his tongue and demanded mother nature herself obey his command to show the purchased magick. “Si meage dask edar ekess show ve batobot svabolen tepohaic coanwor thirkua. Si require ekess ocuir wer arcaniss kacka mrith hrekim batobot tepohaic defiled wer zarlathil gavir.” When all the webbing was visible, Mason stopped. William and Paul gasped behind him.

  “What the... How did you do that?” William breathed.

  Mason didn’t answer. He inspected the threads before him as they glistened in the moonlight. Then he spoke to the night air in a voice he’d not used in a hundred years.

  “I am Maelstrom, son of Mephisto. I pronounce this magick void, and command it to return to Mother Earth from whom it was drawn and bought with a price.”

  The web quivered and shook. Mason watched it unravel, sinking into the ground. He felt the pull on the magick in his veins as the web was sucked into cracks in the sidewalk, the ground, and a nearby tree, vanishing. Mason’s limbs shook with pain as Mother Earth exacted her price from him. A loud clap of thunder cracked through the night, followed by a bolt of red lightning that struck the tree, splitting it in two. From the split, a thousand wisps of red light fanned over him, swirling across his body, searching him for information. They came to rest on his runes, then ripped through his chest and burst into the night carrying his true name out onto the wind. His beast stepped back uncertainly. He knew what would be coming now.

  Mason didn’t wait for the strands to disappear before taking off toward the club with William right behind him. The door had been locked, but it did little to deter Mason. Grasping the handle, he seared it red-hot, then twisted the metal, throwing it aside. Pressing his lengthened nails between the door and the jamb, he yanked until it flew open.

  Mason turned to Paul. “Call Neeman, tell him where we are.” He ran into the club and ripped down the blue entrance curtain, stepping into a bright room. It was empty but he smelled her.

  “They’re here somewhere; they couldn’t have vanished into thin air.”

  He ran to the first curtain and threw it open; there was no one inside. He ran to the second, same. The third was empty, as well.

  The fourth was barred by a door. He gave it a swift shove, and it cracked on its hinges. The bar was silent. Black paint covered the inky room, covering bloodstains that Mason knew would be there. In the middle, a metal bar hung from the ceiling, and a pair of shackles dangled from it. A table with leather straps and various other pieces of furniture, if you could call them that, were the only other items. The beast within Mason came closer to the surface at the sight of such painful implements. He wanted to come out and play. The beast wanted to take Xenock and tie him to the pole and—

  Mason ran into the middle of the front room, trying to calm himself. He spun in a circle to figure out where they went.

  “Mason, there’s a hallway,” called William from behind the first curtain.

  Mason darted for the red curtain. Inside, William held back a second curtain, which connected to a hallway. William didn’t look too good.

  “We’d just come out of this room when Xenock appeared behind us. He must have come through this way.”

  “What’s wrong with you?” Mason sniffed him.

  “Xenock put something in our blood. But it’s clearing.”

  “Danika’s drugged?”

  William nodded.

  Mason swore. His blood would do little to help her if she were out of it. Mason rushed past William to a small passage. He ran down the hallway to a door. Mason slammed into it, and broke the door with a crash. A dark staircase led down to another underground tunnel. Taking the stairs three at a time, he hit bottom at a run. It was an old access tunnel, which Mason was sure connected to others all across the city. He ran flat out and came to the end of the hallway within seconds. The hallway split and he looked both ways; he couldn’t hear a thing. His beast sniffed the air and caught her scent coming from the left. Mason took a minute to try and control him.

  “What’s wrong?” William caught up.

  “Nothing,” said Mason. It’s not your turn yet. The beast howled in frustration. Mason looked down the hall and took off again at top speed.

  Chapter 21

  Xenock moved Danika down the long passage. The drugs in her system made it hard for her to focus. She’d forgotten about the tunnels under the city. They’d used them during the war, after the outbreak, to get from place to place in the daytime to avoid the human lynching parties.

  The smell of the wet, moldy tunnel was only outdone by the dirt and cobwebs that housed numerous vermin and insects. Water dripped from cracks in the ceilings. Dimly glowing candles burned in sconces lighting the way, casting an eerie radiance over piles of trash and debris that littered the walkway. The sound of Chin Lee’s heels clicked on the stone behind her, pounding through the fog in Danika’s head like gunshots. The smile had left the small Asian’s face; she was now all business. The tall bartender brought up the rear, holding an automatic pistol and glancing behind every once and again, as if waiting for something.

  Xenock, on the other hand, beamed, oblivious to anything and everything except for Danika.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To our new home, my dear.”

  “I already have a home, Xenock, you know that.”

  “You did have a home, but new arrangements have been made, and since that wouldn’t have been your home for much longer, I decided to help
you out by saving your life.”

  “What are you talking about?” She stopped abruptly, pulling her hand from Xenock’s and almost causing Chin Lee to run into her.

  “Lord Garon was planning on having you killed soon after you were mated,” Xenock said with a shrug.

  “How do you know that?”

  “I heard him say as much few nights ago.” He yanked her forward again.

  Her heart sank. Garon had planned to kill her all along to get his hands on her company. She knew he wanted to use her, but not that he wanted her dead.

  “And why were you and he in the same place?”

  “He was having a conversation with my mentor. They were discussing the technicalities of the arrangement. I must say, to my credit, they didn’t realize I was listening. But then again, my mentor has always underestimated me. You see, he was the one who first gave me the human blood. After you had, well, broken my heart, he took me under his wing. He explained to me that you’d had too much pain in your life and that you were afraid of losing me as well, which was why you had ended things. He told me that I should do anything it took to get you back. That’s why I came to you that night. Unfortunately, you didn’t understand. You belong with me. We’ve been through so much together.”

  “My coven will come looking for me.”

  “Yes, well, I doubt that, Kitten.” He frowned.

  Xenock might be right about that. Except for Chase and Mason and William, she’d kept her distance from most of the other coven members. Doing so might now have cost Danika her life.

  Xenock pulled her around another left turn. The passage widened into a larger corridor lined with dozens of branching tunnels. He let go of her hand, and she tried to steady herself against the cavern wall. The fuzziness of the drug was receding. She had to do something, anything, to leave a clue as to which direction he was taking her. Most likely Mason was still standing outside the club trying to figure out how to get in, but she had to try.