Vampire Elite (53 page)

Her mouth opened in a silent scream; huge eyes locked with Eric’s in terrified understanding, reflecting the agony of betrayal and a broken heart. Erec stood propped against the wall with his arms across his chest, his face expressionless.
 

“Erec, stop it! She’s in pain!” Zlata yelled.
 

“Of course she is. When you burn your blood-bond, kid, you always have to remember
their
victims. How do you think her victims felt when they were on the altar having their hearts cut out?” He leaned over Riona; his words were for her ears.
 

Riona only squeezed her lids tight, unable to endure the torture, blood and tears pouring from beneath her burned eyelashes.
 

“Stop it!” Zlata shrieked again, grabbing at Erec to pull him away from Riona. Annoyed, Erec pushed her away.
 

Zlata yanked a fire extinguisher off of the wall at the entrance to their apartment and smashed it against Erec’s head. Erec’s eyes rolled back into his head and he crashed to the floor.

Zlata knelt next to Riona and lifted her head. It was a bleeding, burning mess, totally unrecognizable as the once well-sculpted, classical face of Sekhmet’s high priestess. Zlata forced her wrist to Riona’s mouth. “Drink. Fast.”

The priestess clenched Zlata’s hand, and her fangs ripped into the Amiti’s flesh. She sucked greedily, pulling the blood from Zlata faster than she could swallow it, choking on it. When Riona’s flesh stopped burning, Zlata withdrew her hand and stood up, trying to pull Riona to her feet. “Get up. We need to get out of here.”

Riona tried to stand but she was like a newborn deer, her legs spreading apart and buckling. “I can’t.”

“I’ll help you.” Zlata focused on her blood cells in Riona’s body, charging them to stop the pain and expedite the healing. The ugly blisters on the priestess’s face began falling off, revealing new pink tissue.

“Get up now. Hurry; you can walk.” Zlata pulled her up, supporting her with a hand around her waist, and kicked the door open. She grabbed her jacket and a scarf from the closet by the door and walked Riona down the hall to the elevator.
 

Once they were inside, Zlata leaned against the wall, her mind muddled. This was the same priestess who, if Odji hadn’t interfered, would have butchered her on the Sekhmet’s altar a year ago.
 

The elevator stopped. Zlata wrapped her scarf like a hood around Riona’s head to conceal her still gruesome face, put her hand back around Riona’s waist, and slowly proceeded with her through the lobby to the front door. She flagged one of the taxis parked at the curb and they got into the back seat.

“Where should we go?” she asked the shivering Sekhmi. Riona gave her an address, which Zlata recognized as Guardian headquarters. Serena had made her memorize it, explaining that it was one of the Sekhmis’ primary nests. A gazelle was heading into lions’ territory.

“Here we are,” the taxi driver announced as he pulled up to iron gates emblazoned with two shields depicting standing lions in a swordfight.

Two huge, intimidating Sekhmi promptly approached them. Recognizing Riona, they opened the door for her. After a brief discussion, one of them made a phone call while the other walked with Riona over to Zlata’s side of the taxi
.

“Get out, girl.” Riona opened the taxi door for her. “You’re my blood-bond. I can’t let you leave; they’ll kill you.”

Zlata allowed Riona to pull her out of the taxi and, with her brain feeling like scrambled eggs, watched the gates open and four more vampires appear. One of the vamps fixed his eyes on the taxi driver, obviously working his vampire mojo. Another one, who had long, shimmering white hair and ghostly pale purple eyes, approached Zlata. “Surprise, surprise.”

He was incredibly spooky, the kind of person whose aura could haunt you forever even if you only met them once. Zlata recalled that he was the Alpha of the Hunter pride; she’d first seen him in Venezuela where she was held prisoner before they decided to sacrifice her. Her courage disconnected itself from her body and leaped into the nearest bushes.
 

“It’s the girl we lost a year ago. How could anyone ever forget this hair?” The white-haired vampire picked up a lock of her hair and wound it around his finger. Then, addressing Riona, he asked, “How did you capture her?”

“I didn’t,” Riona answered, moving to stand next to her. Was she protecting her? “This Amiti girl saved my life.”

She removed the scarf, exposing her face. It was in the final stages of healing, but traces of the burns were still visible. All of the vampires, including the white-haired one and the jaw-droppingly beautiful one with the sexy obsidian hair and angel-blue eyes, stared at her in stunned silence, understanding everything without any words being spoken.

Zlata took advantage of the moment. “Well, I guess I’ll be going now. Riona, it looks like you’re safe here.” She took an unsteady step away from the group toward the road leading to the city, but one of the vampires appeared behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Why in such a rush, kitten?”

The blue-eyed one, whose whole demeanor conveyed that he was their Alpha, gaped at her as if he’d seen a phantom. “I know her too.”

His gaze into Zlata’s eyes was direct, kind. “You’re Odji’s mate. I thought we’d lost you. Thanks Sekhmet, you are back. Come on, treasure.” He took her hand. “What’s your name?”
 

Zlata’s courage, which had been hightailing it down the road to downtown Brussels, skidded to a halt, turned around, and flew back into Zlata’s body, settling into place and inflating like a hot air balloon. Serena was right; the Sekhmi knew she was Odji’s mate. They wouldn’t dare touch her. On the contrary, they’d protect her as a real blood-bond.
Now you can show your teeth, girl.

“My name is Zlata, Golden.” She used their way to introduce herself. “But it doesn’t matter, because I’m leaving now. And you will let me go.”
 

“Nice to meet you, Zlata. I’m Anock. Consider me your brother-in-law. And as your closest relative here, I’m personally responsible for you. Now, would you please come with me.”

It was incredible, the distance between bloodstock and blood-bond. A year ago she was a nobody, a bloodstock prepared for a sacrifice. Now she was a
treasure
. Nice.
 

She had to play these cards wisely. She might be able to save the Amiti who were going to be sacrificed.

“Here’s the deal, Anock. If you want me to go with you, then free the Amiti you’re getting ready to sacrifice for your damn bloody ritual.”

He didn’t respond, just contemplated her with his heavenly eyes.
 

Hmm, looked like she needed a much stronger motivator.

“See these two.” She pointed at two Guardians standing a few steps away from him; they were among her six blood-bonds. She sensed them, and she could tell they recognized her too.
 

“If you want them to live, you’ll release the sacrificial Amiti.”

But instead of following through with her demand, Anock asked, “Why did you save Riona?”

He was playing games with her. Zlata wasn’t stupid.
I’ll play with you anytime, gorgeous, but you’ll have to play
my
game.

“Honestly? At the time, I didn’t know. I just couldn’t bear to watch her burning. But I think I know now. Violence creates more violence, and we’re trapped in this endless cycle. I guess I was trying to break it. I’m returning your priestess in exchange for the Amiti.”

“Okay, you’ve convinced me, golden child. We’ll let the bloodstock go, as you request. But
you
stay here. That is my condition.” He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up.

* * *

Anock had cracked this tiny girlfriend of Odji’s like a nut. She wasn’t a murderer; she wouldn’t be killing anyone. It required certain character traits to kill someone, and she didn’t have them. She was a pure child of the Goddess of Love; the Lioness’s powers were not yet accessible to her. At least for the time being, Odji, Riona, and his six Guardians were all safe.
 

Zlata was among those blood-bonds who would rather die than kill, which made her precious to the Sekhmi—but it also made her harder to deal with, because the methods they ordinarily used with Amiti would not work with her. She had more rights than a bloodstock.
 

So let’s be flexible with her. Someday I may owe this girl my personal happiness.

Zlata’s unexpected appearance had turned his Wheel of Fortune. Things were back on track; he was no longer responsible for the disappearance of Odji’s mate. It meant that Odji would have his blood-bond. And so might Anock, someday; Cara hadn’t been among those chosen by the Lioness for the upcoming sacrifice.
 

Anock winked at Crian, his eyes cunning, and Crian replied with a subtle nod. Then Anock carried Zlata into the mansion and upstairs to a guest apartment with windows facing the central alley.

“Now we look this way.” He set her down and talked to her as he would to a child, turning her head so she could see the front entrance. His hand glided along her hair; it was so smooth and soft. She would make a nice pet. Crian was right. Amiti were born to be Sekhmis’ pets. Anock felt a sting of guilt for what he was about to do, but right now it was his only option.
Sorry, kitten; I do what I must do.

They watched two Guardians lead three Amiti, one male and two female, out of the building. A car appeared in the driveway and stopped next to the group. The Sekhmi driver got out of the car and waited until the Amiti had all gotten into the back seat, then closed their door and got back into the driver’s seat. The vehicle sped toward the open iron gates, soon dissolving like a ghost in the gathering mist of the Brussels suburb.

“You see,” Anock breathed into her ear. “They’re gone. The ritual has been canceled. You saved them. Are you satisfied?”

Zlata turned to him, her eyes two clear lakes reflecting a glow of sincere gratitude. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” Damn.
 

You cheated a naïve girl, hero.

Shut the hell up!
The voice in his head was grating on his nerves. He turned his attention back to Zlata. “I’ll take you to Odji shortly. He’s at the pride’s estate. Unfortunately, he’s still in a coma. But until I’m done with my work here, I need you to stay here in this room and wait for me.”

“But ... ”

“Hush. There is no
but
; there is only
yes, Anock
. Got it?” He placed a finger to her lips and smiled. “There will be Guardians at the door. I don’t trust you—
yet
. If you try to run, you go to the cells. The choice is yours. Behave well and you’ll get everything you want. Got it?”

She blinked.
 

“Good girl.” He kissed her forehead.
Exceptionally beautiful girl. Odji does have excellent taste
.

He left her room and called two of his Guardians. “She is not allowed to leave this apartment. But treat her well. Bring her chocolates, ice cream, magazines, whatever, anything girls usually like.”

Anock walked to the elevator that descended to the basement and then to the floor below the bloodstock cells, where the Guardians maintained their sacred chamber of Sekhmet. Crian, Blade, Theores, Ken, and Leon, plus five other hunters and twenty or so Guardians had already arrived.
 

Riona, dressed in her ceremonial robe, took her position next to the black marble altar of Sekhmet. Something was not right about her; even though her face had healed completely, her skin was as pale as snow and her eyes had lost their usual spark. They were ... lifeless. Anock understood: to be almost burned by one’s blood-bond was a deathblow to a Sekhmi’s ego.
 

Carried away by his thoughts, he missed the grating sound of the heavy metal door opening and saw three bloodstock hunters in white robes leading three Amiti to the altar—the same male and two females who just a half an hour ago drove away from the mansion,
for a few brief minutes believing that a miracle had happened and they’d been freed.

Anock attuned to them and suddenly slipped into a separate reality. He saw himself drowning in a bottomless ocean, surrounded by black water and deathly, dark skies sprinkled with blind, heedless stars. He was struggling to keep himself afloat, but a sinister force kept dragging him down beneath the black surface. He was utterly alone, forgotten and abandoned by everyone. There was no one to hear his final howl or his last breath of agony.
 

Anock raised his eyes, fixing his gaze on the Lioness, a statue in the center of the chamber.
Do you really want this sacrifice, Goddess?

He waited. Stillness. In exasperation, he shouted in his mind, projecting his plea through the dark matter of the universe, tearing apart the fabric of space, trying to reach the Goddess’s ears:
Talk to me! Talk to me! Talk to me!

His eyes began to sting and his vision blurred. Was he
crying
? He blinked and saw a bloody tear slide down Sekhmet’s cold black marble cheek. Anock blinked again, and it was gone; there was nothing there. Had he been hallucinating? He looked around; had anybody else seen it? Everyone’s eyes were on the first Amiti sacrifice, who was lying in position on the altar. No one seemed to have noticed anything unusual.
 

“Stop the ritual!” Anock stepped forward; all eyes turned to him in surprise. Riona froze, her dagger held high above the female’s chest.
 

Crian frowned. “Anock, what’s the problem?”

“The Goddess rejects our sacrifice. Don’t you get it? She sent Odji’s mate to save our priestess. The girl was acting on her behalf. She communicated it pretty clearly; Riona’s life was spared in exchange for the sacrificial victims. Sekhmet doesn’t want them killed; She wants them freed.”

Anock’s words echoed around the chamber. No one spoke.
 

Finally Riona lowered her dagger and placed it on the altar at Sekhmet’s feet.