Death Deceives: Book Three (Mortis Vampire Series) (16 page)

Raising
his eyes heavenward, Luc leaped forward before the soldier could correct his aim and make another attempt to cut me in half with his gun. Taking the soldier’s chin in his hand, he redirected the man’s gaze. The instant the trooper’s eyes met Luc’s he went still. It took longer than usual but his expression changed to the dreamy-eyed worshipfulness I was used to being on the receiving end of.

“
Huh, I guess he must be gay,” I cleverly deduced.

Luc, even more uncomfortable
with the idea than me, nodded. “So it would seem.”

Even under Luc’s spell, the Russian was indignant.
He understood English well enough to know what I’d just said. “I am not gay,” he protested almost grumpily in his native language. “I like vaginas, not penises.”

Now that I
wasn’t sidestepping a hail of bullets, I examined him more closely. He was young, barely in his twenties. A flush of either anger or embarrassment made his pale cheeks rosy. “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that,” I said mostly to myself.

“Take your clothes off
but leave your underwear and shoes on,” Luc ordered. I lifted an eyebrow at the order. “He might be bugged,” Luc said in a whisper low enough that the human couldn’t hear him. I nodded wisely, kicking myself for not thinking of the possibility. The army might very well now be taking precautions with their employees after I’d munched on one of them.

A
blush spread right up to the soldier’s hairline this time but he did as he was told. He stripped down to his shorts, revealing a skinny body that was almost as pale as mine. He folded his uniform neatly and placed his weapon on top of the pile. As he did, police sirens burst into life, zeroing in on our location.

Luc gestured for the soldier to follow him and I brought up the rear. W
hen we were several blocks away, Luc ordered our captive to leave his clothes and weapon in the dark shadows of an alley.

We
retraced our steps, making sure to remain unseen as we entered our hotel from a side door. Our captive walked between us. He fought against the hypnotism, shaking his head and muttering beneath his breath. Privately, I was beginning to think we’d chosen a poor subject to question. The soldier wasn’t sure of his own sexuality. Apparently, this prevented him from falling completely under Luc’s spell. One thing was certain, I obviously did nothing for the guy. My ego wasn’t particularly bruised since I was well used to underwhelming the opposite sex in my previous life.

Back on our floor,
I checked that the hallway was clear before gesturing for Luc to bring our captive out of the stairwell. Igor opened the door before I could even lift my hand to knock. His face registered no surprise at the sight of the mostly naked soldier as he was propelled inside. Sweat stood out on our prisoner’s pale forehead. His face twisted with the effort of fighting against the dark spell that controlled his mind.

Luc sat the soldier on one of the chairs and
our captive looked at each of us one by one as we came to stand in front of him. The hypnotism was fast wearing off and fear was replacing it. His gaze moved from me, to Luc, Igor, Gregor and finally came to rest on Geordie. One glance into Geordie’s still slightly blue eyes and the soldier was lost again. The usual dreamy smile blossomed as his will to resist disintegrated. This time he was under deep and wouldn’t try to fight his way free.

“Yeah, he’s not gay,” I said sarcastically. “You can tell how much he likes vaginas.”

Gregor clapped Geordie on the back, making him stagger forward a step. “Congratulations, my young friend, it looks like you will be doing the questioning tonight. After one bite he’ll tell us everything we want to know.”

Geordie
immediately screwed his nose up. “I do not feed from men. I truly
do
like vaginas.”

Not hiding
my enjoyment at the teen’s discomfort, I handed him some advice. “Suck it up, princess and bite the guy.”

Seeing us all watching him with varying degrees of amusement, Geordie’s lower lip pooched out
rebelliously. “I can’t feed from him with all of you staring at me!”

Containing his smile
, Gregor turned his back and motioned for the rest of us to copy him. “Let’s give them some privacy.”

Geordie glowered at us until we complied. I managed to hide my grin until my back was to the pair. “This is so wrong,” the
teen muttered. Luc elbowed me in the side and sent a forbidding look at me before I could voice the laughter that bubbled up. I’d had to bamboozle a lesbian in an airport once but I hadn’t had to bite her. My amusement faded a little when I put myself in Geordie’s shoes.
It’s not like he has to have sex with the guy. He just has to take some blood from him.
But to vampires, feeding was like sex in a way. It was usually a very intimate moment.

A moan
of either pain or pleasure came from behind us and my head was turning before I could command it not to. A bare glimpse was enough to make me turn away again. Geordie had positioned himself behind the soldier. He had a handful of short, light brown hair in one hand, using it to angle the food’s neck for easy access. His teeth were buried in the smooth, pale flesh as he drank. Blood ran in a tiny stream down the soldier’s neck to his chest and dripped off his nipple.

The moan had definitely been pleasure. My glance had been enough to
tell me the soldier was enjoying the experience. His eyelids fluttered and his expression was pure ecstasy. Also, a large lump had risen against his undies. Mortified and feeling like a pervert, I tried to pretend I hadn’t just witnessed the spectacle.

“Ok,” Geordie said a short while later. “I am done.”

He looked and sounded so dejected that my shrivelled heart went out to him. Moving to his side, I have him a hug that he instantly took advantage of by rubbing against me and grabbing my butt with both hands. “Are you
sure
you like vaginas?” I asked him doubtfully. The soldier wasn’t the only one who was excited.

“
I was thinking of you as I drank from him,
chérie
,” Geordie told me then batted his eyelashes like a girl.

“I’ll give you everything I have if you do that to me again,” the soldier slurred. His head was still
cocked at the same uncomfortable angle but he was smiling happily. From the distinctly unhappy frown Geordie gave him, I was pretty sure the chances of that happening were zilch.

Igor moved the second chair until it was facing the soldier. Reluctantly, Geordie took the seat while the rest of us
gathered behind him. “Ask him what the army knows about the grey monsters,” Igor instructed. It was the first of many questions but the answers we received were minimal at best.

The tall, thin
, blonde American soldier we’d seen on the news was named Colonel Sanderson. He was in charge of the operation to hunt down the imps. The army was calling them ‘the unknown entities’. They had narrowed down where they believed the unknown entities had originated from but hadn’t found the entrance to the underground lair as yet. They were also still trying to figure out how to rescue the human captives with as few casualties as possible. As Igor had predicted, the two armies were having difficulty agreeing on anything.

“It is as we
had feared,” Gregor said when the soldier stopped talking. “The soldiers are no closer to a solution than we are.”

“We should scout out the mountain, locate the cave and move in now,” Igor suggested. “Before the soldiers can become more of a
nuisance.”

“I wish there was some way we could send a spy
into the cavern,” I said. “If we could capture one of the possessed vampires…,” I trailed off when my imagination ran out.

“We
have
captured a vampire,” the soldier said suddenly. “Or something we think might be a vampire. Some of the Americans thought he was a zombie at first.” His upper lip lifted in a sneer at their supposition.

Since
I’d woken up dazed and unbreathing yet somehow still alive a couple of times, I’d also come to the erroneous conclusion that I was a zombie. I wasn’t about to criticize the Americans for making the same mistake that I had.

“
Why did they think he was a zombie?” Geordie asked.

“
Because he does not breathe yet is still alive and speaks in a language no one can understand.” That told me the vamp had to be possessed. His shadow had ascended and was speaking through his mouth with our father’s alien language. “Of course, we knew it could only be a vampire after seeing the video of
her
,” he nodded in my direction without taking his eyes off Geordie. Ignoring my young looking companion’s snigger, I had no comeback for that one so remained silent.

Gregor
was wearing a thoughtful look and I knew he was concocting some kind of plan. “Where is this vampire being kept?” he asked the bedazzled human.

“At
a building the Americans have commandeered.” The town the young soldier named was several hours away, closer to the mountain. It had already been attacked by imps and the survivors had been evacuated in the event that the grey monsters might return. He couldn’t tell us exactly which building our kin was being kept in. It would require stealth, cunning and brains to locate the vamp and break him free.
That means you’re out of the running,
my subconscious said nastily and I winced inwardly at the barb.

We gathered close together and spoke quietly so our captive wouldn’t be able to
overhear us. “It will be very dangerous to attempt to break the possessed one free,” Igor cautioned.

“Why don’t we just capture one of the smaller groups that are heading this way and
follow them to the cave instead?” Geordie asked.

“Because they all drop off my radar as soon as they get within a few hundred kilometres of the First’s lair,” I finally admitted. I’d noticed this happening but hadn’t mentioned it
before. “If we lose sight of them we’ll never find the cavern.”

“Then we have no choice but to use the possessed prisoner,”
Gregor said.

Luc gave him a shrewd stare. “What plan have you concocted, old friend?”

Giving Luc a crafty smile, Gregor replied. “Our captive kin has heard the call of his master and he has no choice but to go to him. I suggest we relieve the American soldiers of their specimen.”

Geordie looked confused but I began to grin. “He’ll lead us straight to the cavern of doom,” I guessed.
The vamp would be our version of a homing pigeon. We’d have to restrain him somehow so he didn’t try to kill us but the plan could definitely work.

“Correct.”
Gregor gave me a single nod.

“
We can then infiltrate the cavern and carve our way to the First.” Igor’s usually stoic face was almost happy to be finally taking action.

“A
s soon as he sees us, he will turn us into grey skinned, drooling, flesh eating monsters,” Geordie said dejectedly. Our brief mood of euphoria instantly evaporated.

“Geordi
e’s right,” I said into the silence. “It isn’t safe for any of you to enter the cavern.”

Luc turned to me and I saw dread deep in his black eyes. “Natalie, you can’t fight the First and his offspring alone.”

“If I’m lucky, I won’t be alone,” I said with a smile. Self-doubt kept it from being as reassuring as I’d intended.

“Kokoro, the Japanese prophetess, told me I’d have an army to help me when I battle the First,” I explained when I received four identically sceptical looks.

“You believe she
was talking about an actual army of human soldiers?” Gregor asked, frowning and flicking his hair back from his face.

I shrugged then nodded. “
If I can speak to this Colonel Sanderson, maybe I can convince him that we need each other.” My convincing skills usually turned out to be fairly inadequate but I was hoping this time would be different. I’d be dealing with humans instead of vampires and my dark mojo should give me an edge.

“What if they chop your head off like the Japanese did
when you tried to talk them into becoming your allies?” Geordie said. His lower lip was trembling slightly. He might not love me the same way Luc did but he was fond of me in his own way. I’d be equally distressed if I thought Geordie might be in danger of dismemberment.

“Then I’ll reattach it and try again.” I could already imagine the screams of panic that would follow
that little demonstration.

“I will not let you face
the soldiers alone,” Luc said. “I will be coming with you.”

This time, it was my turn not to
be argued with. “No.” The word was short, sharp and final. “You’d all be doomed as soon as you step foot inside the cavern. Since I have four shadows, I’m not going to be instantly converted into an imp. I think my shadows will have to duke it out for dominance before that can happen. This should buy me some time to try to kill the First,” I explained in a slightly less harsh tone.