The Surien Series Blood Guardian (7 page)

“That first night when you saved me from drowning, that wasn’t a dream was it?”

“No, that was real; that was the first time we met.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I don’t get embarrassed easily,” Symarah said, remembering the way she’d flirted with him that first night.

“I do recall you flirting with me, shamelessly in fact,” Daire teased.

“I was not flirting,” she lied.

“Hell never looked this good.” “Isn’t that what you said?” Daire smirked.

He had the sexiest smirk she had ever seen.

“Yeah, well at least I didn’t try to see you naked by pretending it was just a dream,” she reminded him.

He was hoping she wouldn’t remember that. The truth was he remembered everything about that night. He remembered the touch of her fingers on his lips, her intoxicating scent, the way the moonlight illuminated her snow white skin but most of all he remembered the imagined kiss.

“You can’t blame a guy for trying can you?”

“No, I suppose not,” she chuckled. She couldn’t help but smile thinking about that night, about how good it felt to be in his arms as he carried her back to her bedroom, remembering how good it made her feel when he had flirted with her. She wondered what it would be like to kiss him; if it was anything like she had imagined it that night by the tree, it would be the most amazing kiss in history.

“Would you like more wine?” Daire offered.

“No, one is my limit; I’m not really much of a drinker.”

Daire poured himself another glass from the bottle of wine they had been nursing since dinner.

“You might want to slow down on that wine,” she teased, “you wouldn’t want to end up in the shower with some naked lady like Jareth did.”

Her comment conjured images of the two of them in the shower together; the hot water streaming down their bodies as he pinned her against the shower wall. What was it about her that made him want her so much?

“It might not be so bad,” he smiled, “as long as you promise not to hit me with your back scrubber.”

She couldn’t resist that mischievous smirk; the thought of his lean muscular body pressed against hers stirred a desire in her that she hadn’t felt in years and even then it had never been this strong.

“So you don’t like it rough then?” she flirted back.

Her flirtatious comment was almost more than he could handle. He wondered if she had any idea the effect she had on him; her sexy smile, those pouty lips. All he could think of was kissing her, pressing his lips against hers.

“I’ll try to be gentle,” she joked, as she put her hand on his chest.

Her touch was like fire, melting away his last ounce of restraint. He caressed her face as he leaned in and gently kissed her. She smelled like sweet candy. Her hair was like silk. She slid her hand up his chest to his neck. The feel of her soft touch on his skin made him burn with desire, he kissed her more forcefully now. She moaned softly and moved her hand up the back of his neck as his tongue entered her mouth. She had never wanted anyone this much, her whole body ached for him. She gently grabbed a handful of his long black hair as she sucked his tongue deeper into her mouth. Daire could barely control himself; he was so hard it hurt. He longed to be inside her. He leaned her back on the couch and dipped his head down to kiss her neck. She pulled hard on his hair as she felt his fangs lightly scrape her skin. She could feel his lean hard body pressed against hers. She knew she should stop but she couldn’t. Daire knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her, he could feel it. He thrust his hips hard against her cursing the fabric that restrained him; he imagined her naked body pressed against his, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. He could rid them both of their clothing with a mere thought but he didn’t want to push her into anything she wasn’t ready for.

“I got a lead on Vaiden,” Jareth said as he flashed himself into the family room.

Daire and Symarah jumped up from the couch trying to hide what they had just been doing.

“It’s late; I should be getting to bed,” Symarah said.

“No, that’s okay, we can talk about this tomorrow,” Jareth said apologetically.

“Really Jareth, it’s fine,” Symarah assured him.

With one last meaningful look at Daire, Symarah bid them both goodnight and headed up to bed.

“You ever heard of knocking old man?” Daire said.

“Have you ever heard of a bedroom and a locked door lover boy?” Jareth teased.

As annoyed as Daire was at Jareth’s interruption, he knew it was for the best. What was I thinking, he scolded himself; this whole situation is screwed up enough as it is, the last thing I need to be doing is making it worse by getting involved with her. Thank the gods Jareth showed up when he did.

CHAPTER
5

“So you had sex right there in the family room? You slut,” Kassie teased.

“NO! You should know me better than that,” Symarah said.

“Calm down, I’m just teasing; besides, who am I to judge.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look, all I know is if a man that gorgeous ever looked at me that way, I’d be all over him.”

“What way, he doesn’t look at me in any certain way.”

“Please, if looks were actions you’d be pregnant by now.”

“Kassaundra Leanne Sims, don’t be so crass!” Symarah scolded.

“Why are you middle-naming me, I’m just being honest.”

“Well, you don’t have to be so disgusting about it, and for your information nothing happened.”

“Let’s see, you made out, he kissed your neck, you pulled his hair; yeah that sure sounds like nothing to me,” Kassie smiled.

“I meant nothing else happened,” Symarah said as she pulled into the parking garage behind her publisher’s office building.

“Why the hell not, have you seen him? He’s a god … literally.”

“Looks aren’t everything Kass, besides it’s just too complicated; even if they do find and kill Vaiden, there’s still the whole Athena thing to deal with.”

“What has she got to do with it?”

“Jareth and Daire keep saying if she finds out about the books it’s their asses.”

“So?” Kassie was confused.

“So if she doesn’t want me writing about him, she probably wouldn’t want me dating him either.”

“What are you going to do about that anyway, it’s not like you can undo it. The books are already written and they still have one more movie to make.”

Symarah had been worrying about that herself. She had fulfilled her book deal with the publisher for three books in the Guardian series and was supposed to be starting a new series, but the movie deal was for all three books. One was already out on DVD and the second in the series was about to be out in theaters, but the third book, the one she’d just had the launch party for, had yet to be filmed. She had no choice but to honor her agreement but she had already decided to stop writing about Daire. She didn’t want to get him into any more trouble.

“I don’t know, I mean obviously I won’t write about him anymore, but what if she finds out about the books I’ve already written, not to mention the movies?”

“I don’t see why she would even care, it’s not like anybody would believe it anyway,” Kassie said.

“You know as well as I do that people fear what they don’t understand, and they hunt and destroy what they fear. The Atlanteans are just protecting themselves.

“It’s not like we could hurt them, they’re gods,” Kassie argued.  “Besides, people are smart, I think they could handle it.”

“I don’t think they could, people are always doing stupid things in the name of fear -
Y2K
, the
Mayan Apocalypse
; hell, they’ve been predicting the end of the world since the beginning of time. People would panic, and unfortunately for the Atlanteans, Poseidon’s curse makes it easy to hurt them, even kill them.

“A person is smart; people are dumb, panicky, and dangerous,” Kassie quoted
Men in Black
, agreeing with her friend.

“You watch too many movies,” Symarah laughed, and shook her head as she got out of the car and headed for her publishers office.

“I’ll be at the arcade across the street,” Kassie waved, as she headed in the opposite direction.

“I don’t understand,” Jareth said, “if you don’t think it’s a good idea to date her then why would you lead her on by kissing her last night? It’s not like you to be so cruel Daire.”

“I didn’t mean to be cruel; hell, I didn’t mean to kiss her, it just happened. I can’t explain it, when I’m around her I feel things I haven’t felt since…….”

Jareth knew why Daire hadn’t finished that sentence; it was too painful to think about the loved ones they’d lost when Atlantis sank. He knew Daire was thinking of his fiancée, Meissen. His pain was all too familiar for Jareth; he too had lost someone dear to him. His wife, Illiana, was human and although he managed to save her from Atlantis before it sank he was still forced to watch her age and slowly die. He could have just shared his blood with her and made her half-god, had it not been for Poseidon; thanks to that nasty little curse of his, the blood of an Atlantean god is like poison to a human now, just one drop and they become a mindless slave. The more they drink, the more deranged they become, and if they drink too much they will die.

“I don’t see why you’re being so stubborn about this, it is not forbidden for us to date humans,” Jareth said.

“But we are forbidden from letting the humans know our secret,” Daire argued.

“Vaiden gave our secret away, not you; besides, there’s nothing we can do about it, we tried to alter her memory and it doesn’t work on her,” Jareth reminded him.

Daire raked his hands through his hair and growled in frustration.

“You don’t have to be alone Daire. We are immortal beings, should we be condemned to spend eternity alone?”

“Better to spend eternity alone than repeatedly watch love wither and die; you of all people should know that best Jareth.”

Just then Symarah and Kassie entered the dining room, interrupting their conversation. “So you said you got a lead on Vaiden,” Symarah said, as they all sat down to dinner.

It was Kassie’s turn to cook so after leaving the publishers office and having to pry her away from an old pinball machine, Sym stopped by the grocery and they picked up the ingredients for dinner. Kassie loved Mexican food and she was actually a really good cook. She made Sym’s favorite, fajitas.

“Yes, it seems that someone has been looking for a silversmith to make two rather large cages.”

“Why would Vaiden want silver cages?” Kassie asked.

“Because of Poseidon's curse not only will silver burn the flesh from our bones but it also blocks our powers as well,” Jareth explained.

“Couldn’t you just do that flashy thing and flash yourself out of the cage?” Kassie asked.

“No, our powers would only work inside the cage they cannot pass through the silver bars.”

“So if he were to get you into those cages, you would be helpless against him?” Kassie asked.

“No, his powers cannot pass through the silver either so he couldn’t hurt us unless he’s inside the cage with us,” Jareth said.

“Then why bother putting you in cages at all?” Kassie was confused.

“We have to feed every three days or we will die, he’s planning on depriving us of blood,” Daire answered.

“I don’t understand, if he’s building cages that will render you powerless against him how is this good news?” Symarah asked.

“Because, a cage of pure silver large enough to hold a grown man is a very dangerous item and there’s only one god to go to when you’re dealing with dangerous items,” Jareth answered with a smile.

“Dacian,” Daire smiled.

“Who’s Dacian?” Symarah asked.

“He’s an Atlantean god like us, but he’s former-military,” Daire told her.

“So he was a surien?”

“No, U.S. Marine Scout Sniper, deadliest shot on the planet,” Daire stated.

“Well yeah, he’s a god,” Kassie said.

“That’s just it though, he refused to use any of his powers to kill people; said it wouldn’t be fair. Even if he wasn’t a god, he would still be the deadliest man on earth.”

“And he’s one of the good guys?” Kassie asked sarcastically.

“One of the best,” Daire answered.

“How do we find him?” Symarah asked.

“He owns a bar in Alaska called The Lone Wolf,” Jareth told her. “We can flash there tonight after dinner.

“Oh yay, frost bite,” Kassie groused.

“Actually the summer nights aren’t that bad, it’s about 50 degrees.”

“That’s not too bad; it’s about the same as the winters here in Sarasota.”

When dinner was done the girls raided Symarah’s closet. After the fire they had purchased some new clothes for Kassie but since it was summer and they hadn’t bought anything for the warmer months she would have to borrow something of Symarah’s.

“So how does this flashing thing work?” Kassie asked as they stood in the living room in their newly donned winter outfits.

“We just think of the place we want to go and we are there,” Jareth answered.

“Yes, but for us to take you along you will have to be touching one of us,” Daire added.

Symarah placed her hand on Daire’s shoulder while Kassie opted to put both hands on Jareth’s chest.

Symarah rolled her eyes at her friend’s choice.

“Now just make your mind go blank,” Jareth instructed, choosing to ignore Kassaundra’s flirtations.

“I thought you said we had to think of where we want to go,” Kassie said.

“No,” Daire corrected her, “
we
have to think of where we want to go;
you
have to keep your minds blank so that you don’t interfere with our powers.”

“Flashing requires a level of concentration that humans are not accustomed to. The fact that you’ve never been to Dacian’s club will make it even more difficult,” Jareth explained.

When they felt that the girls had cleared their minds enough, Jareth and Daire flashed themselves, and their passengers, to the street right behind The Lone Wolf.

“That was awesome, I didn’t feel a thing!” Kassie said.

They walked around to the front of the building; it looked more like a huge log cabin than a bar.

“This is a bar?”  Kassie asked. “It looks like someone’s house.”

“It’s beautiful,” Symarah agreed.

“It was purposely made to look like a private residence,” Jareth explained.

“It’s not open,” Kassie said, as she pulled the handle of the front door unsuccessfully.

“It’s not open to the public, only the gods know of its existence,” Daire explained as he opened the door.

As they entered the club, Symarah couldn’t help but notice that everyone there looked like a super model, she had never seen this many beautiful people in one place. She also noticed that they all seemed to be looking at her and at Kassie as well.

“Why is everyone staring at us?” Kassie asked.

“Because you are the only humans to ever enter The Lone Wolf,” Jareth answered.

The inside looked much like the outside. There was a large bar that ran the length of the back wall. In the far left corner were several pool tables and on the far right were about three dozen tables with chairs around them for people to sit. Separating the pool tables from the seating area was a dance floor, which was currently empty.
Survival
by
Eminem
filled the room.

“Stay close, not all the gods here are good,” Daire warned as they headed for the bar.

“We’re looking for Dacian,” Daire said to the bartender.

“Dacian sees no one, least of all one who would keep the company of any eino,” the man spat in disgust, using the Atlantean term for human. “Daimul nealt lai,” he muttered under his breath.

“I suggest you watch your tongue,” Jareth warned.

“What did he say?” Kassie asked, surprised by Jareth’s threat.

“I said the wicked deserve death, human,” he snarled.

“I said watch your tongue, you’ll not get another warning,” Jareth growled at the man.

Kassie and Symarah exchanged startled glances, it was very uncharacteristic of Jareth to threaten anyone; he was usually so laid back and easy going.

The bartender smirked at Jareth and then turned his eyes on Symarah.

“Not this one though,” he said with an evil smile, “no I would turn her, make her my iphun unden.”

Before Jareth could even react, Daire had leapt over the bar and grabbed the man by his throat, pinning him to the wall.

“What’s an iphun unden?” Kassie asked Jareth.

“A sex slave,” he answered.

“Apologize to the lady,” Daire ordered.

“I will never apologize to an eino,” he said defiantly.

“Apologize or I promise I will make you regret it.”

But before Daire could make good on his threat something jumped over the bar and attacked the two men. A wolf, black with white markings and eyes like sparkling blue sapphires. It would have been the most beautiful animal Symarah had ever seen had it not been for the fact that the creature was growling ferociously and threatening to kill Daire and the bartender. The wolf slowly inched closer to the men, snarling and snapping its teeth at them.

“Sybris dyette!” a man ordered from behind them, using the Atlantean term for cease.

Symarah watched as the wolf walked over to the man and happily wagged its tail as if nothing had happened. The man looked as if he had been plucked right off the front lines. Dressed in arctic camo with dog tags hanging from his neck and a Desert Eagle strapped to his thigh, he looked every bit as dangerous as Jareth and Daire had claimed him to be.

“Apologize to the lady, Anso,” the man told the bartender.

“I’m sorry,” he said to Symarah, with a look of distaste.

“Very good, now get out of my bar, you’re fired.”

“But I didn’t…”

“Which would you rather be, target practice or a snack for Sybris?” he said with a smirk, as he lightly tapped the pistol with his finger.

As if he understood what his master had just said, Sybris took a few steps toward Anso and licked his chops growling menacingly.

“Neither,” the man answered nervously.

“Then don’t lie to me boy,” the man said in a deadly tone.

As a terrified Anso ran from the bar, the former Marine turned to Symarah and Kassie with a charming smile. He was tall and lean with short blond hair, gray-blue eyes, and the face of an angel.

“I am Dacian,” he introduced himself, “and this is Sybris; say hello Sybris.”

“I’m Symarah and this is my friend Kassaundra,” she said, as the wolf trotted over to the girls and sat down in front of them waiting patiently to be petted.

“He’s so beautiful,” Symarah said, as she and Kassie knelt down to pet Sybris, “and his fur is so soft.”

Daire walked over to where Jareth and Dacian were standing.

“You need to be more careful who you hire Dacian.”

“It’s hard to find good help these days,” he joked. “Not that I’m not happy to see the two of you, but what brings you all the way out to my corner of the world?”

“We have a situation,” Jareth answered.

“I gathered as much,” Dacian replied. “Let’s take this somewhere more private.”

Daire, Jareth, and the girls followed Dacian up the stairs to his private living area, with Sybris following behind them wagging his tail. Once they were all seated around the fireplace in Dacian’s living room with the wolf seated between Symarah and Kassie, Daire explained everything and asked if Vaiden had come to him looking for the cages.

“I’ve not seen Vaiden in hundreds of years, but you’ll never guess who did come in inquiring about silver cages; Farkas,” Dacian said.

Daire rolled his eyes at the sound of the familiar name. He must be working for Vaiden then.

“I take it you know this Farkas person,” Symarah said. “Is he dangerous?”

“He’s an idiot,” Daire answered.

“He is an Atlantean god like us but nowhere near as strong, he doesn’t have as many powers as we do and he’s not playing with a full deck, he is not very bright and he is emotional and impulsive,” Jareth explained.

“So he’s like the village idiot of Atlantis,” Kassie said.

“He is also an alcoholic,” Daire added.

“He seems relatively harmless then,” Symarah said.

“Never underestimate your opponent,” Dacian advised them, “no man is harmless, and stupidity can be a very dangerous trait in an enemy.”

“He’s right,” Daire agreed, “Farkas may be an idiot but he is still a threat, especially if he’s working with Vaiden.”

“Do you know where he is?” Jareth asked.

“No, but he comes in every night, has for the past month now. I’ll have my staff notify me as soon as he shows. In the meantime why don’t you go downstairs and try to enjoy yourselves, have a few drinks on the house.”

As they all got up to head back downstairs and wait for Farkas, Sybris got up and followed the girls.

“You should feel honored,” Dacian said, “he never follows anyone unless I tell him to.”