Kallias ignored their banter. “What happened to the Rose that questioned everything?” he challenged. “The Rose that asked nosy questions that weren’t any of her business? Now, you suddenly want to keep your mouth shut?”
Rose scowled at him. “I usually draw the line at asking questions about someone’s sex life,” she grumbled. “And I prefer the word curious, not nosy.”
“I don’t trust her,” Kallias said. “She’s in a relationship with our enemy.”
“I wouldn’t call it a relationship, exactly,” Kara muttered, “more like a bad habit of having really hot sex and then trying to kill each other afterward.”
Rose frowned at Kara’s strange remark. Then, she shook her head and returned her attention to Kallias. “You don’t trust anyone, Kallias,” she pointed out, “and I also don’t think it’s fair to judge her based on her past-ish lovers.”
Kara laughed at her. “Past-ish,” she repeated. “I like that.”
“So, you suggest that we just trust her—with no evidence that she is on our side—and just wait for her to hand us over to Alana?” Kallias asked Rose.
Rose sighed at his cynicism. “I suggest that we give her the benefit of the doubt,” she corrected. “If she wanted to turn us over to Alana, she could have let those vampires take us, but she didn’t. So, I don’t think that’s her plan.”
“You can give her the benefit of the doubt,” Kallias muttered. “I won’t.”
“This way,” Kara said suddenly as she veered off of the paved road and led the way into a dark, overgrown patch of trees and brushwood. She paused long enough to lift a tree limb out of the way for them as they followed. “The camera that films this side of the gate stopped working last night. We should have an easier time getting into the tombs without being seen if we go this way.”
As Rose ducked underneath the tree limb, she mumbled, “Thanks.”
“Anything for you, sexy,” Kara purred in a low, seductive tone.
Rose blinked in surprise. “She called me sexy again,” she hissed at Erik.
Erik snorted. “Yes, that means she thinks you’re sexy, Rose,” he said slowly, as if he were explaining something to a child. “It’s really not that hard.”
Rose just frowned at that, as if she found it hard to believe.
“You’re sneaking us into the Tomb of Blood?” Kallias asked as Kara let the tree limb fall back into place. “Do you really think that is going to end well?”
“You want to talk to Aaron, don’t you?” Kara asked pointedly.
“No. Not really,” Kallias muttered under his breath.
Rose ducked through the trees, stopping as she came up on a waist-high fence, made of metal and wire, that separated the brushwood from a dark, eerie cemetery. “There’s a fence here,” she announced, “in case you haven’t noticed.”
Erik, having already been to the Tomb of Blood more times than he could count, climbed over the fence without even waiting for Kara. Kallias followed after him, practically stepping over the fence that reached Rose’s waist.
“This is it. Home sweet home,” Kara said as she leapt over the fence.
Rose scowled at the ominous, overgrown cemetery, lit only by the moonlight. Nearly every headstone and tombstone in the graveyard was broken into two or more pieces, and it looked as if it hadn’t been touched in a hundred or more years. Creepy, broken statues in the shapes of angels, crosses, and saints scattered the grounds, and large mausoleums and crypts towered over the ruins of the ancient cemetery. “Sure,” she said sarcastically, “if you’re a poltergeist.”
Kara laughed softly and turned toward her. “Are you coming?”
Rose sighed and braced the heel of one of her Converse near the bottom of the fence. The fence wobbled in warning. “This is not safe,” she muttered.
“It’s not even tall. Just step over it,” Erik taunted from the other side.
Rose glared at him. “That’s easy to say when you’re six and a half feet tall,” she grumbled as she placed the other shoe near the top of the fence.
“But I’m not six and a half feet tall,” Erik teased. “I’m only six-four.”
Rose rolled her eyes at him as she swung her leg over the fence.
“I can catch you, if you want,” Kara offered.
“But then, she’ll use that as an excuse to grab your ass,” Erik added.
Kara laughed. “My hand might slip a little,” she admitted playfully.
Rose stared blankly at both of them. She shook her head, and then, finally, she jumped. She landed unsteadily on her feet and nearly fell forward.
Kara caught her, her hands landing on Rose’s waist. She felt Rose’s soft hands on her arms as Rose instinctually caught herself against Kara. Rose’s body was close enough to embrace, her lips close enough to kiss. Kara could smell the soft, sensual scents of vanilla and honey on Rose’s skin and in her hair. She watched as Rose looked up and noticed their closeness, her eyes darkening. “I guess you did want me to catch you, after all,” Kara said with a flirty smile.
Rose blushed. “Just…don’t touch my butt,” she blurted awkwardly.
Kara burst into laughter, giggling so hard that it made her stomach sore. She stepped back and held up her hands in a show of surrender, still cackling.
“Damn, Rose, you’re as graceful as a rockslide,” Erik mocked.
Rose narrowed her eyes at him. “Shut up.”
Kara finally recovered from her laughing fit. She straightened and pointed her thumb behind her at an inconspicuous, concrete mausoleum in the center of the cemetery. Her eyebrows lifted. “Well? Are you guys ready for this?”
“Not really,” Kallias grumbled.
Kara turned around and started walking toward the tomb. “Follow me.”
Erik fell into step beside her. “I already know the way,” he bragged.
Kara shoved him playfully with her shoulder, but the playful shove nearly knocked him over. “Careful. You don’t want to go in without me. They don’t like you too much in there, if you remember. You’ll need me to save your ass.”
Erik grimaced and rubbed his arm. “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.”
Rose followed them through the cemetery, trying not to notice how the tight leather pants hugged Kara’s lean hips. She squeaked as she tripped over a broken headstone. “Why don’t they like Erik? Not that I blame them…”
Erik flipped her off.
Kara laughed. “I like her more and more every minute,” she told Erik.
He snorted, “I knew you would.”
Kara glanced over her shoulder at Rose. “Alana used Erik and his abilities for her own purposes. One of those purposes was torturing anyone who pissed her off. And let’s just put it this way: Alana gets pissed off very easily.”
“Very,” Erik agreed.
“Oh,” Rose said. “This suddenly doesn’t sound all that safe.”
“You think?” Kallias said bitterly.
Kara winked at her. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.”
Rose scowled. “I already said that I don’t expect you to keep that…”
“Kara? Is that you?” yelled a deep, male voice with a distinct Russian accent. The voice echoed across the cemetery as he stood and peered through the dark cemetery at them. Within less than a second, he stood before them.
Kara continued walking. “Just passing through, Igor.”
Moving in a rapid blur of movement, just as he had done before, Igor appeared directly in front of her, forcing her to stop. He looked relatively tall, though not quite as tall as Kallias or Erik. Kara glanced up at him with a sigh of frustration. His inky black curls hung over his face, obscuring his brown eyes. He motioned toward Rose, Kallias, and Erik. “You have vampires with you.”
Kara patted his thickly muscled arm. “Brilliant observation, big guy.”
Igor scowled at her. “You’re taking vampires into the Tomb of Blood.”
“Huh, taking vampires into a vampire colony. How strange,” Kara said.
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“Has Aaron approved this?” Igor asked skeptically.
Kara rolled her eyes. “I’m his second-in-command. Do you really think the interrogation is necessary? I wouldn’t risk my rank by breaking the rules.”
“Yes, you would,” Igor stated simply.
Kara sighed, “Fine. We’ll do this the hard way.”
Igor gasped as Kara, moving so swiftly that no one could even anticipate her movement, leapt onto him from behind, wrapping her leather-clad legs around his waist and pressing a dagger firmly to his throat. His brown eyes widened with fear as she dug the blade into his skin, drawing a thin line of blood.
Rose blinked at the sudden change in pace. “She’s clearly a pacifist.”
Erik snorted at her sarcasm, “Yeah, and nukes are peace negotiations.”
“If anyone asks,” Igor said nervously, “I didn’t see anyone with you.”
Kara smiled and hopped off of him. She patted him on the arm again and said, “That’s a good boy.” As she walked past him, toward the mausoleum, she tossed her dagger in the air and caught it by the handle without even looking.
“Uh…” Igor swallowed uneasily. “Someone came by to see you earlier.”
Kara stopped dead in her tracks. She spun back toward him, her boots digging into the mud. “Someone came here? To the cemetery? Who was it?”
“A human,” Igor answered. He loosened the collar of his black button-down shirt. “I think that she may have been one of your…um…girlfriends.”
Rose couldn’t help but notice the hint of fear that flickered in Kara’s icy blue eyes. Kara hid it quickly, but Rose was positive that she’d seen it. Just a hint, but it had been there. That tiny flicker had caught Rose’s eye because fear looked so unnatural on Kara. Confidence—that looked natural on Kara. But fear—not so much. Rose watched nervously as she wondered what could’ve scared Kara.
Kara shook her head. “I have never told a human where I live.”
“She was human,” Igor assured her, “and…I believe she was dying.”
Kara straightened. “Dying?” she repeated. Her voice sounded strained.
“She was bleeding. She said she didn’t have much time,” Igor explained.
Kara looked away, her jaw tightening. “What was her name?”
“Olivia, I believe,” Igor said. “She had long, brown hair and…”
“Yeah, I know what she looks like,” Kara interrupted.
“She asked me to give you this,” he added, reaching into his pocket.
Kara didn’t look up at him. She just held out her hand and waited.
He dropped a small, rusty pendant that vaguely resembled a woman in the center of her palm. Kara glanced down at the pendant with a pained look.
“I need a phone,” Kara said evenly. “Does anyone have a phone?”
Kallias stepped forward and offered her his cell phone.
Kara glanced up at him in surprise. “Thanks,” she mumbled as she took the phone out of his hand. Her fingers moved rapidly across the screen.
“I doubt she’s still alive,” Igor said uncomfortably.
“I’m not calling Olivia,” Kara said as she pressed the phone to her ear.
Rose heard the ring of the phone as clearly as she would’ve heard it if the phone had been placed against her ear. Her sensitive hearing made it impossible not to eavesdrop on the call. She listened as the dial tone rang twice. Then, a click echoed through the line as someone answered. Her eyes widened as an incredibly familiar voice answered the call: a soft, soothing, accented voice.
“Hello?” the seductive voice murmured into the phone.
“Alana,” Erik whispered, his green eyes widening in disbelief.
“She better be alive, you sick, manipulative bitch,” Kara snarled.
Alana giggled, “I missed you, too, Kara.”
“Let me talk to Olivia,” Kara demanded, shifting nervously on her feet.
“I would,” Alana said, “but you’re about twenty-three minutes too late.”
The sigh that escaped Kara’s lips was so full of audible pain that it actually hurt Rose to hear it. “She had a family, Alana,” Kara said tiredly.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have slept with a married woman,” Alana said.
Kara ran a hand through her blue-and-black hair. “Why did you do it?”
“You have killed hundreds of my men,” Alana accused.
“So you murdered an innocent human,” Kara said impassively.
“I warned you long ago to stop getting attached to them,” Alana stated.
“Fuck them and kill them, right?” Kara said. “Is that what you want?”
“I would never be so vulgar,” Alana chided. “But yes. That’s the idea.”
“Okay,” Kara growled. “I’ll remember that the next time we meet up.”
Alana giggled at the implied threat, “I look forward to it.”
Kara’s grip tightened on the phone. “If you have ever cared for me at all, Alana,” she said, her voice quiet and sad, all of the sudden, “do me a favor.”
“Of course,” Alana said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
“Don’t leave her body in the streets like the rest of the humans that you’ve murdered,” Kara pleaded. “I don’t want her children to find out that way.”
“Of course, darling,” Alana murmured seductively. “Anything for you.”
“Fuck you, Alana,” Kara said tiredly, a quiet note of despair in her voice.
“Now, you do me a favor, love, and put Erik on the phone,” Alana said.
Erik straightened, nervously sweeping his gaze around the cemetery.
Kara’s cornflower-blue eyes shifted up to meet his gaze. She firmly placed one finger against her lips, warning him to stay silent. “Erik?” she said.
“Don’t play coy, darling. You don’t do it as well as I do,” Alana scolded.
“Erik Olafsson?” Kara asked in a disbelieving tone. “I haven’t seen him in over a thousand years, Alana. Why would you assume that he is with me?”
Rose raised her eyebrow at how sincere Kara sounded.
“He arrived in Norway tonight, and I sent a few of my men to collect him, but they never returned,” Alana explained. “I assumed you intervened.”
“Why would I?” Kara laughed. “He’s your toy, not mine. Have at him.”
Erik narrowed his eyes at Kara. “Toy?” he mouthed at her.
She shrugged unapologetically.
“Hmm,” Alana murmured thoughtfully. “I suppose he may have killed them himself with the help of that Greek telepath and that cute little redhead. But if he did, I assume he will seek you out, and I want to know when he does.”
Kara shot a suspicious glare at Erik. “Why would he do that?”
“I put the idea in his head,” Alana answered shamelessly.
All of them glanced at Erik, who suddenly looked pale.
“If he does come to me,” Kara said evenly, “why would I tell you?”
“Because sweet Olivia isn’t the only woman you’ve been with recently,” Alana warned, “and I would hate to have to kill more of your pretty girlfriends.”
Kara’s eyes flashed with anxiety. “Kill them. I don’t care about them.”
“Oh, Kara,” Alana cooed. “You have always been such a good liar. It’s almost believable. But alas, you already gave yourself away with poor Olivia.”
“She had a family,” Kara said evenly. “The others don’t. Kill them.”
“Hmm,” Alana murmured. “I suppose we will find out soon enough if you’re lying. Or…you could just bring Erik to me, and I won’t kill any of them.”
“Go fuck yourself, Alana,” Kara growled into the phone.
“Ah, but why would I,” Alana giggled, “when you do it so much better?”
Kara hung up the phone and shoved it into Kallias’s hand. “You coming?” she snarled as she spun around and marched toward the mausoleum.
“Don’t you think you should warn those women?” Kallias as
ked.
“Why would I? I don’t care about them,” Kara muttered.
Erik and Rose exchanged a skeptical look as they followed her.
Kara sprinted up the stairs to the door of the mausoleum and shoved open the oversized, concrete door that looked much too heavy for a human to open. Dust scattered up into the air as she stepped inside the ancient building.
When Rose reached the top of the stairs, she noticed an inscription carved into the wall. She traced the words with her fingertip. “This is Latin.”
Kallias stopped behind her to read the inscription. She felt the heat of his body against her back. “Hic jacet mortis,” he read. “It means, ‘Here lies death.’”
“What a cozy Welcome Home sign,” Rose muttered sarcastically.
Kara turned toward them, laughing softly at Rose’s remark. “This is all that humans see of the Tomb of Blood. It is meant to frighten them away.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s frightening,” Rose said. “Just creepy as heck.”
“But I assure you,” Kara added, “you’ll find my bed very cozy.”
Rose blinked in shock. “She bounces back quickly, doesn’t she?”
“Kara could be on her deathbed, and she’d still flirt with you,” Erik said.
“So, she’s like you, then?” Rose asked.
“Ah, but I’m way better at it,” Kara bragged.
Kara stepped out of the way as Kallias and Rose entered the mausoleum. She kept her back pressed against the heavy, concrete door, holding it open for them, and when Rose mumbled a quiet thank you, Kara winked at her. After they were all inside, Kara stepped forward, and the door slammed behind them with a sudden, thunderous crash. She started walking toward the end of the hall.
As Rose followed the strange, flirty vampire, she glanced around at the rows and rows of unmarked tombs that lined the walls. “Please tell me there are no corpses or skeletons inside those compartments,” she said uneasily.
“I’m sure the skeletons have turned to dust by now,” Kara assured her.
“Oh. How nice,” Rose muttered sarcastically.
When Kara reached the very last tomb in the mausoleum, she shoved the concrete slab that enclosed it into the floor, and it landed onto the dusty, concrete floor with an earsplitting crash. Then, she hopped inside the tomb.
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