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This would make things very much more difficult for Tommy, if his best friend was allied with the enemy.
He sent out a warning to Marcus and all vampires within reach of his mind. Jared, his once-time lover, would be returning soon to Los Angeles. He might even be able to pick up on Andrew’s message.
“Andrew…”
It was Marcus, always so quick to heed any warning or cry for help from his people.
“You are probably correct in your assumption that Tommy’s friend is in danger. On no
account must Tommy try to interfere. Use all your power to prevent this. Constantine tells me that
Lord Kardis is aware of Dakar’s plot to overthrow him and will use every tactic at his disposal to
destroy Dakar and anyone who follows him.”
“But if Alex is among them…”
“It is regrettable, Andrew, but we must think first of those in harm’s way—the unsuspecting
humans who may get caught up in the fight.”
“Alex is human.”
“Not while he is in Dakar’s thrall, if that is what has happened to him. Only Dakar, or Dakar’s
death, can free Alex now.”
Andrew’s cell phone rang seconds after he finished communicating with Marcus.
Tommy…
“Andrew, it’s me. I can’t get away from the station, darn it. There’s an emergency on the 101 freeway so I’m needed.”
“I understand, Tommy. In the meantime, I will talk with Marcus and see what can be done about finding Alex.”
“Thanks Andrew. I love you.”
“Love you too.” Andrew was not about to tell Tommy what Marcus had said about the situation with Alex. His lover was not yet ready to hear that kind of bad news, and probably never would be.
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Alex awoke to the sound of what seemed like hundreds of voices all talking at once. He sat up in the narrow camp bed he was lying on and stared about him, then gave his head a sharp shake in order to clear it of the fogginess he felt clouding his memory. How had he got here? Here, in this strange place surrounded by strangers, men and women in some kind of military uniform. He glanced down at what he was wearing and gasped. A dark green sleeveless T-shirt and camouflage pants. Where the hell had these come from?
He looked up, his surprised gaze taking in the cavernous space that soared above him.
The place appeared to be a huge aircraft hangar, certainly big enough to house two or three jumbo jets.
What the hell?
He searched in his pocket for his cell phone. He had to call Tommy or Chief Lambert and explain why he wasn’t at the station. But how exactly was he going to explain this? The point was moot in any case—his cell phone wasn’t in his pocket. He turned to stare at the man lying on the bed next to his.
“What is this?” he asked. “What’s going on?”
“Damned if I know,” the man replied, sitting up and rubbing his forehead. “I just woke up. Helluva headache…”
“Yeah,” Alex muttered, acknowledging the dull throb between his eyes. “Only had a couple of beers last night.”
“I didn’t even have that much!” The man gave Alex a rueful grin. “Jason Bradley, by the way.” He held out his hand.
“Alex Benson.” Alex took the proffered hand in a firm shake. “So, maybe we should go find out what this is all about.”
He stood, noticing that Jason was dressed in an identical uniform to his own. He also noticed the man was just slightly taller than him, with broad shoulders, dark, short-cropped hair and warm brown eyes. Despite the strangeness of the situation, Alex was never slow to appreciate a hot guy, and Jason certainly fit the bill.
“Guess you don’t know anything about the fatigues either.”
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Jason stared down at what he wearing, obviously seeing the uniform for the first time.
“Damn…someone’s got a bunch of explaining to do.”
Around them, other men and women milled about aimlessly, obviously all wondering why they were here—and where exactly
was
here? Their attention was suddenly and noisily drawn to a raised dais onto which strode a tall, blond-haired man followed by four other men, all in military gear, all shouting for silence.
Alex’s eyes widened as he recognised the blond man. “Hey,” he muttered at Jason.
“That guy was talking to me in the bar last night. And, funny thing is I seem to remember seeing him again later.”
“Oh, yeah?” Jason gave him an appraising look.
“Nothing like that,” Alex said quickly. “I’m trying to remember, but it’s like…just blank. Weird.”
The tall man on the dais held up his hands indicating he wanted silence. “Some of you already know who I am,” he said. “To you I say, the time draws near when you will be the fighting force that will end the reign of the man who has grown weak and worthless. I, Dakar, will replace him and all of you will be richly rewarded. To those of you who are new recruits, I say, come forward and be inducted into my glorious company. Today, you will join the ranks of those who will bring me to victory.”
Dakar held out his hand again and beckoned. About thirty men and women moved towards the dais. Alex exchanged a glance with Jason and gripped the other man’s arm.
“No, this isn’t right. We don’t belong here!”
But even as he said the words, Jason jerked his arm free and followed the others heading for the dais, and despite every part of Alex’s brain screaming “No!” he found he could not resist the powerful force emanating from Dakar and the other men standing next to the—the
demon
.
Then he remembered.
Oh, God, last night! On the street, Dakar and Arturo. I was on my
knees before Dakar, pledging my loyalty, giving myself to them for…for…
this
.
Inexorably, he felt his will slip away again and he stumbled forward, reaching out to grab Jason for support. Jason turned to him and slipped an arm around Alex’s shoulders as they walked together towards the men who now stared down at them with satisfied smiles.
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“I don’t care for the way those two men seemed to be outside your thrall at the beginning of the ceremony.”
Dakar glared with annoyance at the demon who had spoken. “They were drawn in again quickly enough, Bazul,” Dakar snapped.
“Yes, but it shows a weakness within the ranks that we cannot afford.” Bazul looked around at the others. “I say dispose of them now before they cause us problems.”
“We need every man and woman we have recruited,” Dakar said.
“We need total subservience from every man and woman,” Bazul retorted, his small eyes narrowing at Dakar. “What we don’t need are men or women who are not completely under our control. At the moment of our strike against Lord Kardis we must be absolutely sure of our army. Any weakness of will cannot be tolerated.”
Dakar snarled silently as he stared down at the mass of men and women comprising his
‘army’ now being put through rigorous drills in preparation for the first strike against Kardis. He didn’t want to get rid of Alex—he was a link to the vampire he still lusted after. In his mind he’d hatched another plot, one he kept hidden from his supporters. He felt sure that Andrew, at Tommy’s bidding, would try to rescue Alex and would fall into his trap. Once they were face to face, Dakar in demon form this time, Andrew would bend to Dakar’s will and be only too happy to join him after he had taken the throne from Kardis. Together they would rule the demon underworld—demon and vampire—they would make history as the first bonding of its kind.
Dakar was forced from his reverie by Arturo muttering at his side, “Bazul may be right, my liege, and he is powerful enough to cause dissension among the others.”
“There is a way to secure their loyalty,” Dakar replied, turning with an arrogant pose to glare again at Bazul.
How dare this upstart even question my purpose?
“Give them both a dose of
ger
. It will bring them to heel, and take away any doubts as to why they are here. Arturo, see to it immediately.”
“
Ger
?” Bazul raised a bushy eyebrow. “It has been known to drive humans to madness, Dakar.”
“Only if taken in excess,” Dakar snapped. “We will ration it carefully.” He looked down to where Alex and Jason were engaged in martial combat, their sweat-slicked muscles displayed in superb definition as they strained against one another. “See how well they fight, www.total-e-bound.com
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Bazul. It would be foolish to dispose of these two fine specimens. The
ger
will only add to their skill and strength. Make it so, Arturo.”
Dakar pointedly ignored the scowl Bazul threw his way as Arturo left to carry out his orders
Arturo wasn’t too happy either with Dakar’s decision to not dispose of the two humans who had appeared, for a short time, at least, to be free of his thrall. But Arturo’s displeasure was of a more personal nature than Bazul’s. Arturo suspected that Dakar had not given up on his desire to make the vampire, Andrew, his mate—something that would cause a great deal of conflict, if not downright mutiny when Dakar’s intentions were discovered. Such couplings were forbidden, but Arturo was sure that when Dakar defeated Kardis and replaced him as Lord, he would change the law, at the very least for his own purposes, and place Andrew on the throne at his side.
Arturo sucked in a hissing breath at the thought. The vampire was handsome without a doubt, beautiful, in fact, but even if he acquiesced to Dakar’s advances, which Arturo considered highly unlikely, he would never find acceptance among the demon populace. It could mean Dakar’s ruin—could he not see that for himself? Arturo was tempted to expose Dakar’s obsession to Bazul and the others. That would put an end to Dakar’s dreams once and for all—and yet he felt he could not betray Dakar. A small part of Arturo still hoped that one day his liege lord would look on him as more than just an accomplice to his ambition, but as a friend, perhaps even as a lover.
Maybe, once the battle had been won, Kardis and his followers destroyed, Marcus Verano ground to dust, Dakar would reward him with more than just occasionally allowing him to pleasure his liege. Perhaps if he played his cards carefully, perhaps if he used the humans to his own purposes, he could both serve his lord and stop him from making a mistake that might cost him his leadership, and his life. Arturo wasn’t quite sure how he could manage all this, but if the
ger
he was about to give the humans was not at full strength, if they were not completely numbed into obedience, and if he pretended to befriend them, especially the one named Alex, then perhaps he could use them to his own ends.
His plan was not without fault, not fully formed, and certainly he was putting his own existence at risk, but as he strode across the warehouse floor towards Alex and Jason he determined that it had to be done.
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75
Marcus surveyed the vampires gathered in front of him. He had called an emergency meeting to relay what he had learned from Constantine. He could, of course, have informed everyone by mind message, but he considered the situation important enough for them to meet and exchange ideas as to how to deal with the danger Dakar now posed. Jared, Andrew, Joseph, Micah, Jean-Claude, Carlos and his own lover, Roger, regarded him intently as he stood before them.
“I have informed our council leader Jacob Quince and the Vampire Council of the situation,” he said, “and they agree we must be prepared for any threat from Dakar. Through Bernard in Rome, Quince questioned Constantine about the likelihood of a pre-emptive strike from Kardis against Dakar. Constantine had not heard rumours of that kind, but he is sure Kardis knows exactly what is going on and is prepared for an all-out fight to the end.”
“Who has the advantage?” Roger asked.
“Well, Kardis will be fighting on his own turf with an army of those most loyal to him.
Dakar, from all accounts, has raised quite a considerable force, but from what I understand from Constantine, his army is partly made up of men and women he has placed in his thrall.”
“So they don’t really know what they’re fighting for, or who Dakar really is,” Andrew remarked.
“No, and I’m afraid Dakar will not act in their best interests.”
“You mean they’ll be like cannon fodder,” Micah said.
Marcus cast a wary eye at Andrew before replying. “Yes, I’m afraid that is exactly what they will be.”
“Gods, we must stop him!” Andrew paced about until Jared caught him by the arm to try and calm him.
“Yes, we must,” Joseph said quietly. “Such a mindless waste of humankind cannot be allowed. Those in government who know of our existence will put the blame squarely on our shoulders. They have always looked to us to control any threat from the Underworld. We were fortunate last time, but it seems this is on a much larger and more developed scale.”
“What if we were to offer our support to Kardis,” Jared suggested. “That might deter Dakar from his plan for a wholesale attack.”
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“Join forces with demons?” Roger almost yelled. “After what they tried to do to us in Rome? Why don’t we just take on Dakar and his henchmen
before
they get a chance to attack Kardis? We have enough allies—Marcus can gather support from all over—Andorra in Spain alone can whip up dozens of vampires ready and willing to beat up on some demons!”
Marcus chuckled. “Calm yourself, Roger. Both you and Jared have made valid points. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to approach Kardis with an offer of support as a deterrent to Dakar, and at the same time send out the call to rally our vampire allies. But our leader, Jacob Quince, should be the one to talk with Kardis. I’ll see what he thinks of the idea.”