Holiday with a Vampire 4 (7 page)

More than all right.

Kane took her by the arms and shifted her gingerly, pulling her face to his. He kissed her lips as he ran his hand over her stomach to her breasts, working at the buttons of her shirt. His fingers found her nipple, erect beneath her undershirt.

Fiona didn’t know if he was fully aware of what he was doing. She only knew he was still in need—in need of
her
—and she wouldn’t deny him. If he could find strength in joining their bodies, there was nothing she wanted more.

If they were to die in this place, first they would share everything life had to give.

Without waiting to remove her undershirt, Kane lowered his mouth to her breast and sucked at her nipple until the material over it turned transparent. She gasped and arched into him, tangling her fingers through his hair.

But soon it wasn’t enough. She wanted to feel his mouth and tongue on her naked skin. She urged him to pull her undershirt above her breasts and whimpered as he teased her nipple with the tip of his tongue. She began to ache almost unbearably, growing wet with the need to have him inside her. She gasped as he loosened her pants and slipped his hand past her belly into the nest of curls below. When his fingers found her most sensitive area and began to circle around it, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to control her response.

Somehow, though, she did. She undid the buttons of his shirt and pushed it away from his chest. His skin was warm and firm underneath. Somehow between them they managed to remove her shirt. He slid his hand back up over her belly and ribs, and pressed her breasts together, burying his face between them, then began suckling. She dug her fingernails into his shoulders and bent her head back, urging him to take her blood again.

His mouth moved to her neck, but he didn’t bite or attempt to open the wound that had already closed. He braced himself on his arms and looked down into her eyes.

“Be sure, Fiona,” he said hoarsely. “Once I begin...”

“I don’t want to stop,” she whispered. “I want
you.
”

He hissed through his teeth and closed his eyes as she reached between them and cupped his erection.

“I can make you pregnant,” he said abruptly.

She laughed without meaning to. No one had ever seen a child of a Nightsider and a human. No matter what he thought, it couldn’t be possible.

But even if it
had
been, it didn’t matter. This was their one and only chance to be together. With growing urgency, she shimmied out of her pants. Kane shed his. The length of his body covered her, his cock nestled between them. She opened her thighs and wrapped her legs around his waist, too hungry to wait a moment longer.

She didn’t have to. He eased into her, almost as if he were afraid she had never been touched before. She moaned, feeling him hard and full inside her as he began to move. At the same time his mouth came down hard on her neck, and she felt the slight prick of his teeth as they punctured her skin. She clawed at his back, feeling the flex of his muscles as he pushed deep inside her and began to drink her blood in an ecstatic rhythm of erotic bliss. His own hunger seemed to consume her, burning outward from the very core of her body along her sensitized nerves to her neck and back again.

She knew he could have killed her then if he’d chosen to, and she would not have fought it. This was the peak of her existence, a pinnacle of joy that could never be reached again.

But she was wrong. A great wash of overwhelming sensation began where their bodies joined, shuddering, quivering, forcing her to cry out as the wave engulfed her. Kane groaned as she pulsed around him, and a moment later he stiffened and reached his own completion. His teeth closed on her skin once again, a slight pinch she hardly felt in the midst of her euphoria. A healing warmth flowed into her as he withdrew, easing her down from the heights.

He kissed her lips, her forehead, her chin, her cheeks, her eyelids, murmuring her name. Contentment she had never known erased every fear, every doubt she had borne since she had met him. He rolled onto his side, carrying her with him. She tucked her head into the crook of his arm, and he held her close.

It was part of the miracle of that special night that nothing interrupted them until, by unspoken agreement, they gathered their clothes and dressed again. They both knew that nothing had changed outside the hangar walls; the only difference lay within themselves.

Kane, his skin unblemished and his body strong again, crouched behind the crates and stared toward the door. The snow continued to fall peacefully.

“They’ll be coming soon,” he said.

“I know.” She knelt behind him, resting her cheek against his back. “Let’s make the most of the time we have left.”

He turned to meet her gaze and smiled. They knelt facing each other, and he took her face between his hands. He didn’t speak, but his eyes told her everything he couldn’t say aloud.

Fiona kissed him. “I love you,” she said.

Chapter 7

K
ane and Fiona lay together, their bodies entwined as the snow drifted down, piling up around the hangar entrance like a mother wrapping her child in a blanket of white.

He took a deep breath, holding her scent in his lungs as if he would never need to breathe again. It was no more than an hour, maybe two, until dawn, and he knew the Opiri forces would have to attack soon.

Why they hadn’t done so remained a puzzle to him. Fiona had told him of the scout leader’s offer after they had made love, but the two hours had already passed.

If Alfie had escaped, he might still reach Fiona’s team. But there would be no rescue. Two lives meant nothing against the hope of an enduring peace.

But if those two lives could be put to good use by continuing to distract the enemy...

Maybe one life would be sufficient.

He bent over Fiona, who was just beginning to stir. She reached for him with a sleepy murmur. He pulled away carefully.

“Kane?” she said, opening her eyes.

“Forgive me,” he whispered. He bent over her, sank his teeth into her neck and altered the chemicals in his body just enough to achieve the necessary effect. Her head rolled to the side. He covered her with his jacket and kissed her forehead, begging her silently to understand.

“Human!” a voice shouted. “Your time is up!”

Kane walked out the doorway and stopped. He could see several Opiri waiting a few yards away, their pale daysuits almost blending with the carpet of snow. One of them had marks of rank on his helmet, the insignia of a Freeblood scout
dekarchos,
a leader of ten.

Kane held up his hands to show them empty of weapons.

“Where is the human?” the officer demanded.

“Dead,” Kane said. “I killed her.”

The
dekarchos
looked past Kane to the hangar. “Why, when she seemed so eager to protect you?” he asked.

“For mercy,” Kane said. “To spare her a life of servitude.”

“The life you have tried to escape.” The leader shook his head. “You should have killed
yourself,
deserter.”

So the Opir knew who he was. Perhaps he’d been told to look out for a vassal matching Kane’s description.

“While you were occupied with us,” Kane said, “my comrade has gone back to the humans to warn them.”

“Your fellow deserter? Did you think he actually escaped us? He is leading your ambassador to us.”

Kane laughed. “If you expect the humans to come to you, you badly underestimate their intelligence. They won’t endanger their mission for their captain’s sake, and certainly not for mine.”

Or at least so he and Fiona had believed. But he knew he didn’t dare assume anything now. All he could do now was prevent the Opiri from entering the hangar and finding Fiona while she was unconscious.

“What will you do with me?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“It seems the Bloodmaster Erastos took a particular interest in your disappearance,” the
dekarchos
said. “He promised a substantial reward for your capture and return.”

“I’m honored by his interest,” Kane said. “What am I worth? A few prized serfs? Elevation to Bloodlord?”

The leader removed his helmet. Kane felt a moment of utter disbelief. He
knew
this man. Not his name, nor anything about him save that they had once faced each other across a field of mud and blasted trees over a century ago.

“You were once a fine soldier, Kane,” the Opir said. “I regret the necessity of taking you back to die in torment rather than on the battlefield.”

“I remember you,” Kane said, swallowing his shock. “Were you taken during the War or after?”

The Opir’s sharply cut face revealed nothing. “Does it matter?” he said.

“It can’t have been long after,” Kane said. “You’re no vassal. You must have served your master well to have won your freedom.”

The Opir’s mouth thinned. “One does what one must to survive. Apparently you did not serve well enough. If you were a Freeblood, you would have had some control over your own fate.”

“Would I?” Kane smiled wryly. “I’ve seen the rogues, like animals squabbling over any human they can find because they see no reason to serve any lord. I’ve made the same choice, but I’ve elected to keep my dignity and strive honorably for what I want.”

“Like the female?” The leader cocked his head. “Did you not pause in your flight to help her and her kind, when you might have obtained your freedom by moving beyond the bounds of your Bloodmaster’s influence? Why would you sacrifice so much for humans?”

“The strange thing is that I continue to remember what it was like to be human. To fight for what you believe in, no matter what the odds.”

“You have fought and lost,” the leader said. “And if other humans come, they will quickly find themselves surrounded.” He nodded to his followers. “Take him.”

“Stay where you are!”

A blinding streak of light cut across the ground between Kane and the Opir like an ancient warrior’s blade. A human soldier appeared, the light blazing from the top of his helmet. Two others came up behind him, weapons trained on the Opiri. Kane didn’t need to see their faces to recognize that one of the humans was Commander Goodman.

They had come after all. And they had walked right into a trap.

* * *

Fiona woke alone and shivering under the weight of Kane’s jacket. She touched her neck, aware of a faint throbbing under the skin, and shook herself out of her stupor.

Kane was gone. But it wasn’t only his absence that told her that something was terribly wrong.

She scrambled to her feet and checked her weapons. The rifle was still propped against the crates, her sidearm within easy reach. She holstered the gun, shouldered the rifle and started toward the hangar door at a run.

The shouting stopped her in her tracks a few feet from the entrance.

She knew the voice: Joel Goodman’s. Her heart clenched.

No.
Whatever he’d done, he was the only hope the ambassador had of reaching Sacramento. He would have no reason to try to save her, much less Kane. If anything happened to the senator because of
her...

Where in God’s name was Kane?

More shouts, more voices she recognized. She ran half-crouched out the door and flattened herself into the snow just outside, preparing to fire. She could see a half-dozen Nightsiders—there had to be more out of sight—and three of her own soldiers facing them from the west.

The Opiri leader had removed his helmet, and she could just make out his pale, craggy face. No one was moving. Lights bobbed in the air behind the human soldiers, and she could see—reinforcements, God knew how many.

If she had been less of a soldier, she might have wept. For her own foolishness, for her people, for the senator and the peace he might have brought.

For Kane.

But Kane was there, too, standing between her and the Opiri troops. What in hell was he hoping to accomplish? He would be caught in the cross fire, and even a vampire couldn’t survive a hail of bullets from every side.

She stood up, shaking the snow from her fatigues. The Opiri nearest Kane saw her and aimed their weapons. She threw her rifle aside.

“Captain!” Goodman’s voice called. “Are you all right?”

Fiona advanced slowly, arms raised, to stand beside Kane. “Commander,” she called, “go back. Retreat.”

“I think it is too late for that now,” the Opiri leader said. He gestured at Kane with his rifle. “You see, we anticipated the arrival of your underlings. They are now surrounded by my troops.”

“You think we’re that stupid, bloodsucker?” Goodman shouted. “We have a soldier for every one of yours, and two of yours are already dead. All we have to do is wait until sunrise. I’d say you’ve got about half an hour. Your suits may buy you a little more time, but all we have to do is pin you down and wait for them to fail.”

“Then we will all die,” the Opiri leader said, “my troops and yours. But others will come after us to find your so-called ambassador, no matter where you have hidden him.”

“If you think you can stop negotiations,” Kane said, “you’re wrong. Even if you kill or capture this ambassador, those on your side who favor peace will eventually succeed. Too many want an end to this war.”

“He’s right.” Senator Sandoval stepped into the blaze of the lights, hands raised. “You can kill me, but your victory will be temporary.”

Ignoring the Nightsider guns, Fiona turned to the ambassador. “Why did you come?” she asked. “Why did any of you come?”

“He insisted,” Goodman said, a strange note in his voice.

“No,” Sandoval said. “The commander said he would go after you alone. I refused to let him.”

Fiona closed her eyes. In the end, Goodman had remembered
his
honor, but at a terrible price.

“Not for my sake,” she whispered.

Kane took her hand. “Your senator wouldn’t trade even a single life for his,” he said. “He once told me he knew there would be sacrifices to achieve a lasting peace, but I think he believes that peace cannot be bought with more death.” He squuezed Fiona’s hand and met the Nightsider’s gaze. “I would say that’s the difference between your kind—
my
kind—and humans. But I believe there are some Opiri who haven’t forgotten.”

The leader was quiet for a long time, staring at Kane with a quizzical expression on his angular face.

“I am curious,” he said at last, “whether you would give yourself to us without struggle and make no attempt to escape should I promise to let your human friends go.”

Kane must have known that the Nightsider was merely playing a game, but he answered without hesitation. “Yes,” he said.

“Even though you know you will suffer a painful death?”

“Yes.”

“Would you sacrifice this female for the ambassador?”

“Yes,” Fiona said. “He would.”

Kane looked at her. “No. Never.”

“You would do it,” she said, gazing into his eyes, “because you fight for more than your own freedom. Because you are a soldier. Because you believe in what the ambassador is trying to achieve.” She faced the Opiri leader again. “A friend told me a story about a war when his soldiers and the enemy came together on Christmas Day in the name of peace...because they recognized their common humanity.”

“
We
are not human,” the leader said.

“But you were once. Maybe
you
remember, too.”

The Nightsider stiffened. “You presume too much. Just because Kane and I—” He broke off, but Fiona knew he’d been about to say something important. Possibly something that could save all their lives.

“You what?” she demanded.

“He and I faced each other across that battlefield on Christmas Day,” Kane said. “As I recall, I gave him chocolate, and he gave me a pack of cigarettes.” He looked into the Nightsider’s dark blue eyes. “You know my name. It seems only right that I should know yours before we finish this.”

“There can be only one end,” the Opir said.

“Victory for one side and humiliating defeat for the other?” Kane asked. “Or an endless stalemate until no one is left to fight?” He took a step toward the leader. “Neither you nor I saw the end of that war. But we can help put an end to this one. Not just a truce for this single day, but an armistice that will let us all, human and Opiri, share this world in peace.”

The hush was profound, as if the whole world were holding its breath. The first blush of dawn lightened the sky over the hills to the west.

Slowly the Opiri leader removed his right glove. His hand was pale, fine-boned, like that of a man who might play the violin or caress the fragile pages of antiquarian books.

“Von Grunwald,” the leader said. “My name was Leutnant Hermann von Grunwald.”

He offered his hand. Kane took it.

“Jonathon Kane,” he said. “Lieutenant, British Expeditionary Force.”

“American,” von Grunwald said. “You joined the fight before your countrymen.”

“It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

“And this female?”

“Captain Fiona Donnelly, Enclave Special Forces.”

Fiona felt something change in the air, a subtle shift from open hostility to a sense of...not friendliness, but acceptance.

It felt like hope.

“We lost much in the War,” von Grunwald said, dropping Kane’s hand. “More than our humanity.”

“Yes,” Kane said. “The future we could have had.”

“True death, too,” the Nightsider said. “But that, at least, would have been honorable.”

“We can still find our honor again,” Kane said.

Von Grunwald glanced at Fiona. “You truly care for this woman?”

“I love her.”

The German smiled sadly. “You are fortunate. She is most extraordinary.”

“Dekarchos!”
one of von Grunwald’s Opiri said. “It’s nearly dawn.”

Looking toward the east, von Grunwald nodded. “It is true that we could fight in daylight, for a while. But it seems those we sought have disappeared.” He sighed and tugged his glove back on. “We will have to return empty-handed.”

Fiona could hardly believe what she’d heard. Were the Nightsiders giving them up?

“The ambassador?” Fiona asked.

“He escaped us.” Grunwald signaled to his men, who began to fall back. “So, alas, has the rogue vassal we hoped to locate.”

Kane inclined his head. “If your lord finds out what you’ve done,” he said, “you’ll suffer for it. I’m still prepared to go with you.”

“No!” Fiona said.

“It is not necessary,” von Grunwald said. He shrugged. “We are very good at what we do. The Bloodmasters and Bloodlords can hardly afford to kill every vassal or Freeblood who displeases them. And perhaps, I, too, have not forgotten what it is to have free will. And honor.”

Joel Goodman and his men rose from their defensive positions and moved toward the Opiri with lowered guns. Fiona immediately saw that Goodman was carrying the VS120.

“What is this, Captain?” Goodman asked. “Did you authorize a cease-fire?”

“I’m doing it now,” Fiona said, facing him. “There will be no fight today. The ambassador is safe.”