Darkness Avenged (Guardians of Eternity) (13 page)

“How many?”

“We started with a couple dozen or so, but once the keg ran dry a lot of people began returning to town.” Her bottom lip stuck out, reminding Nefri of just how young she truly was. Barely more than a baby. “There was some stupid dance at the high school.”

“But you stayed?” Santiago asked.

“Yes.” She gave a slow nod. “I’ve waited forever for Robert to notice me and he . . .”

“Go on,” Santiago urged.

The girl burrowed her face in Santiago’s shoulder. “It’s embarrassing.”

“You can tell me,” Santiago said, threading his words with a trace of compulsion.

Nefri lifted her brows at his delicate touch. It was rare for a vampire to be able to influence a human without seizing complete control of their minds and destroying their free will. At the same time he was able to soothe her hysterics despite the fear that continued to pulse in the air.

Amazing.

With a tentative motion, Melinda pulled her head back to meet Santiago’s dark gaze. “There were six of us left and we started kissing and stuff,” she admitted in a husky voice.

“And?” he prodded.

“Santiago,” Nefri softly protested.

He lifted a silencing hand, his gaze never straying from the humiliated girl. “Melinda, tell me.”

She hunched a defensive shoulder. “I think someone must have spiked our drinks because one minute I was making out with Robert and the next we were all on the ground . . .” Her head dropped, a blush staining her pale cheeks. “You know . . . together.”

“And that’s something you don’t usually enjoy?” Santiago asked.

“Of course not.” She tilted back her head. “I’m not a slut no matter what Vicky Spearman might say.”

“So you just couldn’t stop yourself?”

“No. We were all out of control.”

Santiago shot Nefri a glance and she gave a slow nod. The girl was incapable of lying under Santiago’s compulsion, which meant that she was truly horrified by her participation in group sex.

Lust...

As powerful an emotion as violence and fear.

Santiago shifted his gaze back to Melinda. “Then what happened?”

She trembled. “The air was suddenly freezing and when I opened my eyes I realized there was a stranger standing over us.”

“Describe him.”

“Not super tall, thin with dark hair.” She licked her lips, her heartbeat quickening. “Weird eyes.”

“Weird?”

“It was like he was looking at us, but he wasn’t really seeing us,” the girl explained. “I thought at first he must be some crazy crackhead who wanted to be closer to the fire.”

“Was he alone?”

“Yes.”

Nefri leaned forward. Gaius was alone? Surely the girl had to be mistaken. “You’re certain?”

Melinda never allowed her gaze to stray from Santiago. “I didn’t see anyone else, I swear.”

“I believe you,” Santiago assured her. “What did the stranger do?”

She paused, as if struggling to remember. “At first he just stood there, but then Brian jumped up and tried to take a swing at him.” She made a sound of distress. “The man laughed and grabbed Brian by the throat and . . .”

“Ssh. You’re safe,
mija
.” Santiago’s voice eased the rising panic, as soft and beguiling as dark velvet. “Go on.”

“He bit him.” Melinda lifted a hand to her own neck, touching the wounds that still leaked a trickle of blood. “Like he was an animal or something.”

“What did you do?”

“I wanted to run, but I was so freaked out I couldn’t move. None of us could.”

Had Gaius been able to shift the humans’ emotions from lust to fear? Or had the mysterious spirit been hidden nearby?

“Did the stranger hurt your friends?” Santiago continued.

“Yes.” Melinda bit her lower lip, tears filling her eyes. “I think . . . I think they’re dead.”

“And what did he do to you?”

“All I remember is being lifted off my feet and a pain.” She pulled her fingers away from the wound, frowning as she noticed the blood staining her skin. “I woke up alone here.”

Santiago brushed the tears from the girl’s cheeks, accepting that she’d revealed everything she knew of her encounter with Gaius.

“Melinda, I need to speak with my”—he glanced up to meet Nefri’s steady gaze—“companion.”

“No.” The girl dug her fingers into his chest, her eyes wide with terror. “Please don’t leave me alone.”

“We’ll be just outside the door,” he promised, genuine sympathy stabbing his heart.

The girl might physically recover, but mentally . . .

Just one more reason to track down Gaius and gut him like a pig.

“He’ll come back and get me if I’m left alone,” Melinda sobbed.

“He’s long gone,
mija
.” He ran his hand down her cheek, using his powers to try and comfort her. “I promise you.”

Beyond even his talents, Melinda quivered in fear. “Take me with you.”

“Melinda. Melinda, look at me.” Cupping her chin, he forced her to meet his gaze. “I want you to relax.”

She blinked, struggling against the compulsion in his voice.

“Please . . . I . . .”

“You’re tired.”

Her face went slack. “Tired.”

“You need to sleep.”

“I’m so scared.”

“Close your eyes, Melinda.” His voice hardened to a direct command. “You’re safe.”

“Yes.” Her lashes lowered.

“Now sleep,
mija,
” he whispered next to her ear. “Sleep.”

Waiting until her body was limp and her breathing was steady, Santiago laid her on the floor. Then, grabbing the sword he’d set aside when he’d found the girl hiding in the corner, he rose to his feet.

With a nod of his head toward the door, he led Nefri out of the classroom into the narrow hall.

“Talented, indeed,” Nefri murmured. “How long will she be out?”

“Long enough,” he said, annoyed by his flare of pleasure at her words of admiration. Dammit, he was still sulking. “I’ll call Styx to have the local clan chief take her to a safe house until one of the Ravens can collect her.”

She arched a dark brow. “The Oracles might want to have the first right to question her.”

“I’ll let Styx and the Commission hash out jurisdiction.” He slid the sword into the scabbard angled across his back. “I have no interest in politics.”

Some elusive emotion flickered through her eyes.

Relief?

But why?

Because he had no political ambition?

Yeah, right.

“I’ll ask Levet to keep watch on her until the clan chief arrives,” she offered before glancing around the rapidly decaying building. “Not that anyone would willingly come here. Even the animals have fled.”

“Yes. Fear.” He grimaced at the thick emotion that poured off poor Melinda and filled the air. “It’s as potent as the violence was in the swamps. And no doubt as potent as the lust that swayed Melinda and her friends into their first orgy. Do you see a pattern?”

“Emotions,” she readily admitted.

Of course she would have connected the dots, he wryly acknowledged.

Her intelligence was as lethal as her powers.

“Strong, primitive emotions.” He narrowed his gaze. “Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Mierda.”
He rammed his hand into the pocket of his jeans, pulling out his cell phone. “Why do I bother?”

“Santiago.” Her fingers landed lightly on his arm. “Wait.”

“What is it now?” he growled, not giving a damn how rude he sounded. She’d slammed the door in his face for the last time. She wanted all business between them? Fine. They would be all business.

“I’ll tell you what I do know,” she said softly.

He froze, frowning at her with open suspicion. “Why?”

She blinked, clearly having expected him to jump for joy at her grudging offer. “I beg your pardon?”

“Why are you suddenly willing to share?”

She hesitated, then, stepping back, she wrapped her arms around her waist in an oddly protective gesture.

As if she was feeling . . . vulnerable.

“Because you were right.”

He was right?

Was the sky falling?

“I need you to say that again,” he said slowly.

“You were right,” she repeated. “It’s not fair to ask you to assist me in hunting Gaius without fully understanding the danger.”

Hmmm. He wasn’t sure he trusted her abrupt change of heart, but he’d never been a vampire to look a gift epiphany in the mouth. “I’m listening.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard rumors about the creation of the Veil?”

Santiago snorted at the ridiculous question. Like every vampire, he’d heard the fairy tales surrounding the Veil.

“The one where it’s a rift in time and space that sucked you and your people through?” he asked. “Or the one where you ascended godlike to a higher plane of existence?”

She grimaced. “The Commission circulated a dozen different stories after they created the Veil.”

So the Oracles had been responsible for the wild tales. Interesting. “Why?”

“So no one would guess their true purpose.”

“And that was?”

“To trap a creature on the other side.”

Santiago took a minute to consider her startling confession. Of all the stories that had circulated over the centuries, he’d never heard even a whisper that the Veil was some sort of cosmic prison.

“What creature?”

“I’m not entirely sure.”

He snorted. Did she think he was stupid?

“How can you not know?”

She paused—not like she was going to refuse to answer, but as if she was carefully considering her words. “From what I was told, it’s more a spirit than an actual creature.”

He frowned. Spirit was a broad term. It could mean anything from a genuine ghost to a hundred different species that had no corporeal form in this dimension.

“So what made this spirit so dangerous that they would cage it behind a magical curtain?”

“They didn’t share that information with me.”

He studied her pale, perfect face. He couldn’t sense a lie, but that didn’t mean anything. This female was a master at disguising her true emotions.

“You agreed to live in the same prison as a spirit that was so dangerous the Oracles had to create a rip in space to protect the world from it and you didn’t even ask what it could do to you?” he drawled in disbelief.

She shrugged, her gaze steady and her expression unreadable. “The spirit had been in hibernation for centuries and most assumed that it would never awaken,” she said. “I was merely there to be an early warning if it began to stir.”

“How were you supposed to know it was”—he deliberately paused—“stirring?”

She shrugged. “The Oracles claimed that the peace my people sought would be disturbed.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

So, the Oracles create a rift to protect the world from some mysterious evil. Then, instead of letting sleeping evil spirits rest in solitude, they eventually sent Nefri and her clan to the other side.

There was something missing. Hell, there was a whole lot missing.

“Why you?” he abruptly demanded.

 

 

Nefri clenched her hands. Was this vampire never satisfied?

She’d revealed far more than she should have. Certainly enough to get her in trouble with the Commission.

Never a good thing.

But was he satisfied?

No.

He had to poke and prod and—

“Nefri,” he repeated, his expression predictably stubborn.

She absently toyed with a lock of hair that had fallen on her cheek and sternly reminded herself that Santiago was risking his life to assist her in finding Gaius.

He deserved the truth.

The
whole
truth.

“The Commission was aware that I sought asylum for myself and my clan.”

He stepped forward, gently brushing her fingers aside so he could tuck the lock of hair behind her ear. “Asylum from what?”

Her lashes lowered to hide her eyes. “It’s a long and boring story.”

“It might be long, but I seriously doubt that it’s boring,” he said dryly. “Tell me.”

A tiny shiver of pleasure raced through her body. “As you’ve so kindly pointed out, I’m ancient even by vampire standards.”

“You can’t make me believe you’re sensitive about your age,
cara,
” he protested, his fingers tracing the line of her cheek before moving to outline her lips. “Not when the years have given you the regal beauty of a queen and the powers of a goddess.”

She pulled away from his touch. How could she concentrate when his lightest caress was sending distracting jolts of arousal through her body?

“Very pretty, but not entirely accurate.”

A knowing smile curved his lips at her revealing retreat.

Aggravating vampire.

“No?”

“My powers haven’t come with age,” she corrected him. “They were a part of me from the night I was made into a vampire.”

His smile disappeared as his eyes darkened with astonishment.

Not surprising.

Most vampires gained their powers in a slow evolution over their foundling years. Some gained more than others, but it was a fairly predictable progression.

She, on the other hand, had been blessed with a profound excess of power from the night she’d been “turned.”

At least she was told she’d been blessed.

It had felt more like a curse.

“Dios,”
he murmured. “That must have been a shock to your sire. Always assuming he stayed around.”

It had happened so long ago Nefri barely recalled awakening alone and naked on the banks of the Euphrates River. She had a vague memory of roaming alone and disoriented, unable to recall her former life, before a man had appeared in the cave where she was hiding and carried her away.

At the time she’d been relieved to have someone explain what and who she was. But that relief hadn’t lasted long.

“He returned for me once he realized I could be of use.”

Santiago’s features hardened. “I can imagine.”

“Yes, I’m fairly certain you can,” she said softly, struck by a sudden revelation that he was one of the few who truly could understand.

Was that why she felt so drawn to him? Because they shared similar scars from their past?

Well, that and the fact that he was insanely gorgeous, sexy, powerful, and fiercely loyal.

“Nefri?” he prompted, frowning in confusion.

“I wasn’t placed in the pits,” she said, turning to glance down the shadowed hallway. More to hide her expression than to make sure they were alone. Although the fear swirling through the air was muted as Melinda remained in a deep sleep, it was still potent enough to prevent any unwelcome trespassers. “But I was trained to become a weapon for my clan chief.”

“You defended the clan?” he easily guessed.

She nodded. “When we were being attacked, but more often I was used in our battles to conquer other clans.”

Santiago muttered in sympathy as he cupped her face in his hands, gently urging her head back to meet his searching gaze. In that moment, Nefri’s earlier speculations of why she found this man so fascinating were instantly dismissed.

Yes, he was gorgeous and sexy and loyal. And yes, they both had suffered.

But it was his swift empathy that truly touched her heart.

What other vampire would so easily understand that far from taking pride in her battle prowess, she was horrified by what she’d done?

“You were forced to kill?”

Disjointed memories of bloody battles and mangled corpses flared through her mind, making her wince. “More times than I can count.”

His fingers skimmed down her throat, his touch offering a blessed comfort. “It’s no wonder you’re so desperate for peace.”

She knew she should push away his hand. His ability to offer her a sense of safety was as dangerously alluring as his potent sensuality.

Instead, she leaned into his lingering touch.

Foolish.

So very foolish.

“That wasn’t even the worst,” she said, the ancient pain a dull throb that never truly went away.

He scowled. “You don’t have to go on.”

“No, please.” She stiffened her spine. She knew herself all too well. If he allowed her to scurry behind her defensive walls, then she’d never crawl back out. “Let me finish.”

He gave a slow dip of his head. “Okay.”

“The fighting was something I learned to endure, simply because I had no choice.”

“Survival can be a bitch,” he said. He, of course, understood exactly what she meant.

“Yes.”

His thumb rubbed the sensitive hollow just below her ear. “What was your breaking point?”

“When my chief started hiring me out as a weapon for other clans.”

“He pimped you out?” He made a sound of disgust, although it hadn’t been unusual in the past for the chiefs to use their people for profit, whether it was as soldiers, whores, or just for sport.

“I was always available to the highest bidder,” she said. “No matter what they wanted me to do.”

He shook his head, his thumb stroking the line of her tightly clenched jaw. “It wasn’t your fault,
cara,
” he murmured. “You were at the mercy of a man consumed by greed and ambition.”

“It didn’t matter if it was my fault or not. The outcome was the same.”

Accepting he wasn’t going to be able to convince her that she was blameless, he studied her with a brooding gaze. “What did you do?”

“I bided my time and when I felt prepared I entered the battles of Durotriges to become a clan chief.” She didn’t have to say that she’d nearly died during her trials, or that she’d been forever altered by staring death in the face over and over. Only a small percentage of vampires went into the battles and came out the other side. It was accepted that they would gain a greater appreciation for life. Their own and others. Which made them particularly suited to becoming a clan chief. “I wasn’t ever going to be a weapon for anyone again.”