Blood of the Nile (11 page)

Maliyah inhaled
deeply to help steel her nerves, then turned toward her lover, rejection the
intent. “I’m sorry, Ramses. With my father’s killer still gunning for me, I
can’t handle any distractions. I was hoping we’d spent one night together to make
us forget. But this is all too much.”

“Understandable,”
Ramses said as he pulled on a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt. Then he
covered his head and shoulders with a thin swath of cotton material. “I’m
headed down to the bar for a drink. The time apart will give us both some time
to think.”

“But the sun’s
still out. Your skin might burn.”

“Don’t worry about
me. I’ll survive.” The vampire swung open the door to the suite, then slammed
it shut, leaving Maliyah alone to wallow in guilt and regret.

***

Ramses couldn’t
blame her. He knew that revealing his true nature would result in Maliyah’s
not-so-subtle rebuff. Nonetheless, the sting from her rejection still hurt like
hell. Alcohol seemed to be the most efficient way to douse the flames of his battered
ego. After his third scotch, Ramses began to feel a bit numb. The blow Maliyah
had delivered hadn’t fully healed, but at least it wasn’t bloody and festering
any longer.

An hour into his
pity party, a petite brunette sat down next to him at the bar. The woman was
slim and attractive. She wore stretchy black jeans and a loose-fitting sequined
top. Her arms and legs were trim and well defined. Obviously, she took great
care to ensure her physical appearance.

“Can I order food
from here? My dinner reservations aren’t until nine and I’m in dire need of a
snack,” she asked the bartender who stood behind the counter. Ramses heard an
indistinct grumbling sound. Then, the woman rubbed her slightly round belly. The
purposeful gesture forced Ramses to look down, recognizing that her abdomen
bulged out a bit as if she were with child.

The stranger
peered up at him sheepishly,
then
giggled softly.
“Sorry about that. The baby’s a bit temperamental like his father. When it’s
time to feed, he gets impatient,” she said as she rattled off a list of
appetizers for the bartender to order from the kitchen. Just as he was about to
take another sip of scotch, the woman stuck out a hand and waited for Ramses to
greet her. “You’re Ramses, right? We haven’t officially met. I’m Eva, Andreas’s
wife.”

Eva’s revelation nearly
caused him to choke. If nothing else, it forced alcohol to the back of his throat,
and burned his esophagus before it shot up through his nostrils. He’d heard
rumors that the prophecy of
Thy One
had been fulfilled, but he sure as hell didn’t believe them. What were the odds
that a passage in a thousand-year-old tome would ever come true? In terms of
the entire vampire population throughout history, it seemed a statistical impossibility.

Nonetheless, the
folktale first printed in
Vampyre
: A History of
Our People
had prophesized the birth of a half-breed child, a biological
anomaly. As it was, procreation proved rare amongst his kind. Only purebloods,
those who were born instead of made, were able to produce offspring. Even then,
a child had to be conceived under a very specific set of circumstances; a
perfect storm of sexual pheromones spawned by two individuals who shared a
similar genetic code. One born half-human, half-immortal had never existed
before.

“Forgive me, Eva. I
don’t mean to be rude.” Ramses said as he reached out to accept the woman’s hand.
“It appears the gossipmongers were telling the truth. When are you due?”

Once more, Eva
patted her protruding belly. Her cheeks flushed a bright red. “I’m five months
along. The prophecy of
Thy One
right
here in the flesh.”

Ramses’
eyes widened in surprise.
The Prophecy of
Thy One
was a legend passed down from
generation to generation among his people. It promised to unite his kind with
mortals after thousands of years of hatred and bloodshed. Could it truly be
fulfilled? Was she carrying the offspring of a pureblood in her womb?
Impossible! Vampires and humans were not meant to procreate. If Eva really was
pregnant with Andreas’s child, Ramses was staring at a living, breathing
miracle.

“I’m in awe of
you, my lady. I suppose congratulations are in order.” Ramses lifted his shot
glass to her in salute. “By the way, how’d you know it was me?”

Eva waited until the
bartender had gone about his business before she leaned in. “I’m sort of an
expert when it comes to your kind. Besides, bloodsuckers don’t generally
frequent beachfront bars before sundown. I spotted you from a mile away.”

“You’re a huntress?”
Eva’s chosen profession suddenly dawned on him. She killed vampires for a
living. “Andreas mentioned that you worked in law enforcement, but I never
would have guessed. So how on earth did you end up pregnant and married to a
vampire?”

“You want the long
or the short version?” While Eva’s tone came out as a tad sarcastic, the wide
grin and sparkling green tint of her eyes radiated pure joy and contentment.

“How
about the short version?
I’m fairly well-sauced
and I not sure my stomach could swallow a long, drawn out tale.”

“Bottom line is
that you can’t choose who you love. Somewhere up there,” Eva pointed toward the
open sky. “The gods have a plan. All we can do is accept and embrace what life
has in store.”

“What wisdom from
a woman so young and beautiful!” Ramses meant it too. The words she spoke not
only seemed to ring true for her and Andreas, it also made a lot of sense in
terms of his relationship with Maliyah. From the moment he’d laid eyes on the
doe-eyed adolescent, he knew they were destined to be together. If only he
could get her to let her guard down long enough to see past his least
attractive character trait – his immortality.

“Well, I’m heading
to my room to freshen up before dinner.” Ramses said as he slung back the last
swig of scotch in his glass. Then he stood. His knees were wobbly from
intoxication. “Here’s to hoping you can impart some of your astute knowledge to
my dinner companion later this evening.”

Luckily, once he
made it back to his suite, Maliyah was in the shower.
All for the best.
I’m not ready to face her just yet.

Chapter Thirteen

The Altercation

Maliyah’s fingers
caressed the smooth, deep burgundy fabric of the cocktail dress she’d laid out
on the bed. Its soft, sexy silhouette would hug each and every one of her curves
perfectly. The scoop neckline and immodest slit up the side seemed almost too
tempting. She yearned to wear it, if only to spy the look of sheer disapproval
she would be sure to elicit from their dinner guests.
Ramses,
most of all.
She knew, however, that her fashion statement lacked a
certain amount of practicality. Staking out the hideout of her father’s
murderer in an evening gown didn’t make much sense.

Next to the wine-colored
frock, a pair of sleek, black leather pants and a matching silk chemise lie
draped over one of the bed pillows. While Ramses was preoccupied in the
bathroom with a shower and shave, Maliyah took the liberty of removing her robe
and slipping into the more sensible two-piece ensemble.

A few minutes
later, Ramses sauntered out, naked excerpt for a scant cotton towel that sat
low on his hips. Maliyah’s breath hitched momentarily, robbing precious air
from her lungs. The man possessed one hell of an impressive physique. Broad
shoulders and bulging muscles hinged atop a pair of powerful thighs. Maliyah
had dreamt of those legs wrapped around her slender waist, delivering a
multitude of pleasurable sensations to her neglected libido.

Smack dab in the
middle of her reverie, Ramses cleared his throat. Maliyah jumped slightly,
extricated from the short-lived fantasy by
Mr.
Talk, Dark, and Handsome
himself. An impish, half-hearted smile was plastered
across his face. The egotistical son of a bitch had caught her staring and he
had the nerve to gloat about it.

“I can see you
need your privacy. I’ll just head into the parlor to apply my make-up,” Maliyah
said, her cheeks already flushed.

After about ten
minutes, Ramses came out of the bedroom looking like a model on the cover of
GQ
Magazine
. Donning a pair of luxurious
gabardine slacks and a gray
v-neck
sweater, his
shoulder-length locks had been combed back and tied with a thin leather strap
at the nape. He slipped on his Italian loafers and brushed past her, smelling
of fragrant musk and masculinity.

Before they left,
Ramses dropped another bombshell. The couple they were about to meet, the ones
that were supposed to help find
Anat
and her father’s
killer, were different from most. Like Ramses, Andreas was a vampire - the
leader of the New York City coven, a location with one of the largest
concentrations of immortal bloodsuckers on the planet.

Eva, on the other
hand, was human. However, she battled supernatural beings on a daily basis as a
huntress. Her job was to hunt down and kill vampires. From what Ramses told
her, Eva had been tasked with shutting down the vast network of businesses
associated with AK Oil International, and sending Andreas,
its
CEO, to the afterlife. Fortunately, fate stepped in and played its own card,
forcing the long-standing enemies to accept one another as soul mates.
 

“Shall we go meet
them? Our dinner reservation is at nine.”

“I’m still not
sure about this…” Maliyah started to mutter the same lame excuse, but her
companion whisked them passed the threshold of the door. Before she could
finish the thought, Ramses grabbed her hand, entwining their fingers.

“You may not trust
me with your heart just yet. But I’m a vampire, remember? One thing I can do is
keep you safe. So relax and be your usual charming self.”

As the couple
walked down the corridor to the elevator, Maliyah felt his fingers caress the
inside of her wrist. Desire gnawed its way through her belly; but so did anger.
How could she let him affect her so completely? Maybe it was because
this
man could turn her to mush in a
matter of minutes. Either way, Maliyah would not be undone.

Too proud to admit
he was
right,
Maliyah squared her shoulders and jerked
her hand out of his grasp. She walked two steps ahead of him, which she knew to
be an insult. In the Egyptian culture, men ruled the roost. By striding into
the dining hall before him, her rebellious nature screamed in the face of
tradition.

Although soon
Maliyah realized that she didn’t know exactly whom they were meeting for dinner.
She’d seen a picture of Andreas
Kristopolous
with his
ailing father, but she wasn’t one hundred percent certain she’d be able to pick
him out in a room full of strangers. She stopped short just past the
maître
de’s
station, where a man in a tuxedo
with a French filigree moustache stared her up and down. He appeared clean and
well-manicured. Yet his gaze emanated an eerie mix of lust and disapproval. It
reminded her of the men they’d encountered in the marketplace in Aswan who
appeared to be searching a lot of heifers for the perfect one to be put to
slaughter.

Maliyah rolled her
eyes at him. She’d been in her father’s homeland for less than a month, and already
she’d grown tired of the chauvinistic standards of behavior men displayed when
it came to the opposite sex. She scanned the crowd, searching the room for
their dinner companions. Before she could spot them, Ramses came up behind her.
His hot breath skirted over the bare skin exposed by the straps of her chemise,
causing her to shiver.

“This
way,
habibti
.”
Ramses said as they brushed passed the podium where the maître de was still
perched. Ramses turned his head to the left and snarled under his breath. The
other man sneered back at him as if the duo had suddenly been thrust into a
territorial battle of wits. Then, Ramses snatched Maliyah by the wrist and
dragged her from sight.

“Mine,” he whispered
into her ear as they meandered through the crowded restaurant. Was he jealous?

Fuck! Over the last
few hours, they’d worked one other into a covetous stupor - something Maliyah
wasn’t accustomed to. Truth be told, the situation frustrated the hell out of
her. Not only were her hormones going haywire, fury had been unleashed as well.
She hated feeling so out of control.

As Ramses yanked her
through the maze of tables toward a dim lit corner of the room, he must have
sensed her inability to regulate emotion. He, too, appeared to suffer from a
similar lack of composure. Abruptly, Ramses stopped before they reached their
destination. He blinked a few times and squeezed her hand tight. Then, he
turned her in his arms. He strategically placed her palm over his beating heart,
forcing her to gaze into his eyes. Maliyah watched his irises narrow until they
were nothing more than two tiny slits. For a moment, she felt light-headed.
Almost dizzy.
Eventually, the strange sensation subsided.