What Happens in Vegas…After Dark

by Jodi Lynn Copeland, Anya Bast, Lauren Dane

  Chapter Four

  She was quiet as he drove her back to the club. Devi had lots of questions, but no energy to voice them. Instead, she conserved her energy and tried to think of a way to escape this madman when he stopped at the club. She needed an emergency department, not some hocus-pocus magic trick. Surely, one of the beefy bouncers would find it suspicious if he carried her in wrapped in a blanket. She would just have to find the strength to struggle out of the covering and get the bouncers’ attention. They would help her. Clinging to that plan helped her maintain consciousness as they pulled into the parking garage closest to the club.

  “They need valet parking,” said Mal as he came around the car to open her door. “If you weren’t so weak, I would have used an astral portal, but I don’t know if you could take that right now. It’s daunting having your molecules stripped apart and rearranged.”

  “I’m sure.” It was easier to agree with his ramblings than to try to argue. What was the point? It didn’t matter what he believed once she was free of him. She’d never see him again. The thought brought an accompanying pang in her chest, and she chastised herself for her lingering attraction. Mal Nixa was certifiably insane. While she didn’t expect perfection in a partner, since she had so many challenges herself, insanity was just too much to deal with. There was absolutely no future possible with this man, and she had to accept that.

  If she didn’t get help soon, she might not have any future. That sobering thought had her struggling against him, trying to free herself from his hold.

  “Shush, just calm down, Devi. I’m going to take care of you.”

  “I’m certain that eases all her fears,” said a mocking voice from the shadows.

  Devi lifted her head in an effort to identify the speaker. Slowly, he coalesced from the shadows, revealing a man strikingly similar in appearance to Mal, though older and somehow…dimmer. Age had touched his temples with strands of gray, and heavy lines underscored his eyes. “Who’re you? Mal, who’s that?”

  “My brother, Eli.” Mal seemed displeased to see him.

  She was relieved. “Please help me. If he’s really your brother, you have to know he’s insane. Just get me to a hospital. Please.”

  Eli stared at her with cold eyes. They were the same shade as Mal’s, but with none of the warmth. When he spoke, his gaze shifted to Mal. “I counted on you failing, and you have done so spectacularly, haven’t you? Muck-up Mal. That’s what I used to call you, wasn’t it?”

  “I don’t have time for this, Eli. I have to reverse the binding spell, or she’s going to die.”

  Eli didn’t move from their path. “I really don’t care what happens to your little whore.”

  Devi winced when Mal laid her on the hard cement. “What’s happening?” He couldn’t just leave her there. She couldn’t possibly make it to a hospital on her own, weak as she was.

  Mal ignored her. “I can’t let you have her power, Eli, even to save Father. He wouldn’t approve of killing someone to save himself.”

  “I’m sure you’re right. He is a bleeding-heart old fool.” Eli examined an overly long fingernail, as if bored with the conversation. “He’s weak, just like you. It was so easy to slip the poison into his nightly glass of port. Anyone could have done it, as lax as he is about security.” A cold smile split his face into a chilling expression. “I did it myself, though. I knew it would be done properly if I put in the poison. That, and there’s the personal sense of satisfaction I get from knowing I have single-handedly set in motion the events that will lead to my immediate ascension as Magister.”

  Devi watched the exchange, growing more confused by the moment. Either Mal and his brother were both delusional, or Mal had been telling her the truth all along. How could that be? It was crazy to contemplate the existence of warlocks, covens and magic. Wasn’t it? And if she accepted that part of Mal’s story, she had to believe it all, right? It was impossible to imagine she was a latent vampire. Suddenly, it was difficult to breathe when the full impact of events hit her. Mal had deliberately chosen her and seduced her in order to gain some kind of power from her, not because of any desire he felt for her. She shook her head, rejecting that. Still, the realization pounded at her. Whether or not Mal really was a warlock, he thought he was and had taken her to bed because he believed he could drain her magic. He had never really desired her.

  The epiphany came to her in an instant, but Mal’s reaction to his brother’s words pulled her back from the thoughts. Visibly shaking in his anger, each word Mal issued came in staccato bursts. “You did it? You poisoned Father? But why? You’re going to become the Magister when he dies. Why couldn’t you wait a few years?”

  Eli seemed on the verge of yawning. “Let’s just say, I’m tired of waiting. Certain political alignments are open to our coven that Saul has ignored.”

  Mal launched himself at Eli, making Devi gasp at the quickness of the attack. She could see his eyes glowing again, this time a chilling green that sent a frisson of ice up her spine. Finding a reservoir of strength, she sat up, pushing away the blanket. Her intent was to stand, but that proved impossible, and she soon collapsed to the ground again. Now would have been the time to escape if she’d been able to manage it, but Devi found herself glued to the drama unfolding in front of her.

  “I’ve never wanted to kill anyone before, but now I understand the impulse.” Mal knocked Eli to the ground, and they wrestled, each vying for the dominant position. “You’ve always been a cold, selfish bastard, but I never expected you to stoop this low.”

  Grunts and the sound of blows landing filled the air for several seconds before Eli replied. “I have been methodical and calculating, while you have been weak and ruled by emotion.” With a vicious expression, he flipped Mal, pinning him to the cement. “Father indulged your weakness by allowing you to become a musician, living in the human world. He caters to Sabine’s desire to play artist, but I was groomed to be his replacement from birth. When did I have the choice? Never! I am the future Magister, and I can’t allow Father to pass up a chance to increase our power base.”

  Devi gasped when silvery-gray bands of light snaked around Mal, holding him in place. He struggled against them, but seemed unable to free himself. She feared for his safety, wondering what Eli would do to him. That changed to fear for herself when Eli stood up and walked her way without another look at Mal. She tried once more to stand, but couldn’t muster the energy. A feeble scoot backward was all she managed and soon bumped into the wall of the parking garage. “What do you want from me?” she asked when Eli stopped walking, towering over her. “If you don’t want to cure your father, why do you need me?”

  That same chilling smile curved his lips. “I don’t need you.”

  A scream escaped her when he revealed a steel dagger taken from the pocket of his trench coat. The handle’s elaborate carvings were beautiful, but didn’t detract from the deadly sharpness of the silver blade. She brought up her hands to shield herself when he knelt beside her. Eli subdued her struggles easily with one hand. Devi met his gaze, hoping she looked defiant instead of terrified. Though she tried to hold his gaze, the sight of the blade nearing her throat forced her to close her eyes instinctively. Her spine was rigid from pushing herself against the wall, and there was nowhere else to go. The blade sank through her throat with a hot, sharp flash. Once more, she screamed, but had no voice to give life to the sound.

  The first pulse of light made her think she was already dead, but the second cleared her thoughts. A spark of hope surged as Mal rose into the air, the bands of power that had confined him gone. Her eyes widened when scarlet light raced from his hands and hit Eli in the back. Her attacker shouted and reeled away, leaving the job of slitting her throat only half-finished.

  In a millisecond, Mal was out of the sky and crouched beside her. “Hold on, love.” He gathered her into his arms, and before she could process what was happening, a bubble of silver engulfed them. She had figured out they were in an astral portal
just as they appeared in the center of the dance floor.

  Unlike their passionate encounter earlier, when no one had seemed to give a passing glance to them, all motion stopped. The music screeched to a halt, and the babble of voices was indiscernible.

  “I need a vampire.” Mal spun in a circle, still clutching Devi.

  From the corner of her eye, Devi saw the blonde from earlier shrink into the shadows. She pointed in her direction, remembering the bared fangs and willing to entertain the possibility they hadn’t been an elaborate costume prop after all.

  Mal turned toward the blonde, but another man stepped into their path first. He was tall, with skin almost as dark as Devi’s. Though he appeared to be no older than thirty, something about him suggested ancient wisdom. “What does a warlock need with a vampire, Nixa?”

  “It isn’t me who needs you, Anai Shol. It is this woman, this latent vampire.”

  Devi squeaked in protest when the stranger lifted her from Mal’s arms. She reached for him instinctively, and he grasped her hand.

  “It’s okay, Devi. Let Master Shol see what he can do for you.” Mal’s voice was soothing, but the fear in his eyes did little to calm her.

  Master Shol cupped her bald head in one of his large hands. The touch was startling, but somehow relaxing, and the tension flowed from her. With wide eyes, she stared up at him, caught in the hazy golden glow of his irises. Peacefulness radiated from the man, flowing into her. She ceased to be aware of the hot blood flowing down her neck, or the pain from the wound.

  “I can help you, miss, but it requires a full conversion.” He must have seen the confusion in her eyes. “I must fully make you a vampire, or I cannot save your life. Your power-source is depleted from something, and you are too fragile to heal the wound even if I found a way to replenish your power. Do you consent to the conversion?”

  Devi started to nod, but Mal interrupted. “You can’t do that. She’s too weak. The conversion will kill her.”

  Master Shol nodded. “She might die, Nixa, but this one has a strong spirit, and she is half vampire. If I don’t attempt to transform her, she will certainly die.”

  “Do it,” Devi rasped, barely managing to make sounds. Apparently, Master Shol understood her desire, either by her tiny voice or some other means, because he nodded once more.

  She braced herself as he lowered his head. Uncertain what to expect, she was surprised to have warmth flood her when his mouth touched her wound. The area was numb, and she couldn’t know for certain what he was doing, but imagined he was biting her and drinking her blood. The thought was both repulsive and appealing, leaving her to wonder how strong the latent vampire side of her nature was. Latent no longer, she reminded herself with a twist of her lips as a fog descended over her.

  Adrift in a state somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, Devi let herself float, making no attempt to move toward either state. Eventually, Mal’s voice intruded into the blissful oblivion. Much as she tried to ignore it, his words soon drew her back to him. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring up at a velvet expanse of darkness. Her other senses told her she was lying on a soft bed, and she felt around with her palms, finding the cover under her was buttery-soft leather. “Where am I?”

  Mal loomed over her, gathering her into his arms. “I thought you were gone. Master Shol said you could go either way, and I thought you’d left me.”

  Devi frowned when drops of moisture fell on her cheeks. She lifted a hand to feel her eyes, finding them dry. It took a moment to sink in that Mal was crying. Automatically, she put a hand on his back, patting lightly. “I’m fine.” She was, Devi discovered after a mental inventory of her physical state. Strength flowed through her. Robust. That was the word to describe how she felt. Never before had she been so alive. All her senses were keener, and the sense of weakness that had plagued her all her life was gone.

  When Mal finally released her, she sat up. Something slid down her chest and dropped into her lap. Puzzled, she lifted the item, finding herself holding the port-a-cath. Her hands caught her attention, and she examined them in wonder. Where there had once been bitten, ragged nails, she now had perfectly shaped, long fingernails. With wonder, Devi lifted a hand to her head, finding a profuse growth of tight black curls springing where no hair had ever grown before. Driven to look for a mirror, she climbed from the low bed and walked around the lavish room. “What is this place?” Only the smallest touches of dark red enlivened the matte black décor. Shivering, she wrapped her arms around herself, aware of an underlying chill permeating the room. It didn’t seem to come from the room’s temperature so much as from a presence in the room itself. “I don’t like it.” All she wanted to do was escape the bedroom, her quest for a mirror abandoned.

  Mal followed her headlong rush to the door, intercepting her as she opened the glossy black knob. “This room belongs to the owner of Darkness. He kindly loaned it to you for your recovery or crossing over.” He grimaced. “He’s unreadable, so I couldn’t tell which outcome he hoped for.”

  “I have to leave.”

  He put a hand on the wood to hold the door shut. “Just wait. Please. We have to talk.”

  She shook her head. “I think I’ve figured out everything. There’s another world of which I remained unaware until tonight. One of my parents was a vampire. I assume my mother wasn’t, since she died at my birth. I have an undead-beat father, and now I’m a vampire.”

  “But—”

  She lifted her fingers, pushing them down as if bulleting her speech. “There are also warlocks and who knows what else? You needed my blood to save your father, so you dragged me into all this. Have I forgotten anything?”

  “Your power.”

  “What?”

  Mal raked back his hair. “I needed your untapped power, not your blood.”

  “Whatever.” She shrugged.

  “You’re forgetting that I changed my mind and was trying to undo the spell.”

  She refused to let the hardness suffusing her heart to dissipate in order to soften to him. “Have you?”

  He nodded. “The spell is broken. Your power is your own again.”

  Reluctantly, she asked, “And what of your father?”

  Lines creased Mal’s face, making him look older. He seemed to crumple in front of her. “He will die soon.”

  “Dammit.” She cursed her own emotions as surely as she cursed Mal for putting her in this position. “Can my power save him?”

  It seemed to pain him to shake his head. “No. It’s too late, and you no longer have the reserve of power now. Once you became a full vampire, the power suffused you. There is no way to separate it now, save for another vampire draining you.”

  “Yuck.” She recoiled from the thought. It reminded her there would be new rules to learn and live by, probably chock-full of equally morbid addendums. The words gave her an idea though. “What if we made your father a vampire? Could that work?”

  “I don’t…” He trailed off, clearly lost in contemplation. Slowly, his eyes warmed with a trace of hope. “It might work. He is in a weakened state, and the transformation isn’t an easy thing. It might kill him.”

  “But he’ll die if we don’t try?” she asked softly, moved in a moment of compassion to touch his arm.

  He nodded, but the spark of hope fizzed out, making his eyes dull green. “Master Shol has already departed for wherever he dens. By the time I find him, it will be too late for Father.”

  Devi sighed, marveling at the man’s thickheadedness. “I’m a vampire now, aren’t I? Can’t I change your father?”

  “In theory, but you don’t know how.”

  “You saw how Master Shol did it, right?” At Mal’s nod, she said, “I’m sure we can figure it out.”

  “We’ll have to arrive before sunrise, which means an astral portal. If you’re caught out in the sunlight, I don’t think you’ll survive.”

  “Great.” She sighed. “I guess this means my allergy has been upgraded?”<
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  Mal nodded. “I don’t know all the rules of your new existence, but I do know that only a few vampires can walk in sunlight. Master Shol is one of them, but he is thousands of years old. All others are destroyed within minutes.”

  “Just great.” Devi squared her shoulders, pushing back the fear and uncertainty that accompanied her change in lifestyle. “Let’s go then.”

  Mal seemed like he wanted to protest. He took her hand, holding it between both of his. “I don’t want to put you through this, Devi. I know it isn’t fair to ask it of you, especially after everything I’ve put you through.”

  She put a finger to his lips, unsurprised by the tingle the simple touch gave her. Even knowing he had never truly been attracted to her didn’t kill off her attraction so easily. “You can thank me later. Time is wasting.” Devi stiffened when Mal embraced her. “What’re you doing?”

  “Portalling. You have to be close since you don’t know how to create your own portal.”

  The pounding of her heart made it difficult to ignore her reaction to his proximity, but she managed to feign indifference. “Okay.”

  Before, she had been so exhausted and drained that she hadn’t really been aware of the experience of traveling through an astral portal. This time, she was awake and unnerved. Barometric pressure dropped drastically, and the air seemed thin. She dragged in deep breaths, but still didn’t have adequate oxygen. Her body tingled everywhere, and cold spread through her. As the light surrounded them, it was as though she could feel every molecule in her body separating from each other. She might have screamed, but couldn’t be sure as her body ripped apart, absorbed by the light.