The next outfit, all black and white crystals, with a choke collar and platforms seven inches tall, became a different kind of trauma. But Eve stuck close, using her whip for effect until Claire got to the top of runway once more.
Good news, Claire. The men have each had three drinks and some of their excitement has given way to that glazed look, more lascivious than alert. We’re almost there.
Claire took her time, giving the whiskey a chance to do its work.
The last outfit, however, freaked her out all over again. “There’s nothing to cover even an inch of my breasts.”
“Yeah, I debated about this one, but the side panels will push everything together.”
Claire stared at her. “And that makes things better, how?”
Eve shrugged. “Not one of their guards will be looking anywhere but at your assets.”
She focused her attention on Lucian. The vampire needed to be warned.
Eve says you’re set to attack as soon as I appear on stage in this third costume, is that right?
Yes.
His voice sounded edged-up.
I’m ready but listen, don’t look in my direction. Got it?
Why?
Eve saved the worst for last, and by “the worst” I mean there’s not much there and what is there is pushing things around. Lucian, just don’t look. I’ll get off stage as fast as I can. You have to stay focused. How’s the disguise holding up?
Like a cloak I’ve always worn.
Perfect. Now let’s get us some bad guys.
The music changed, and Eve beckoned for her.
Claire trembled as much from the fact that she was all but naked as from the knowledge that an attack was about to follow. She focused on the latter, on how important it was to keep the attention of the bad guys focused on her and to sustain the disguise.
Eve’s commands flowed once more through her mind. Claire began to move, slinking and turning, knees bent, back arched, down the runway.
She hoped to hell somebody did something soon because she was ready to bolt as Arsen leaned forward in his seat and shouted, “I need some of that and I need it now.”
As the two vampires started to levitate from their seats, she met Lucian’s gaze.
If you’re going to do something, do it now.
* * *
Lucian’s rage flowed hot toward Arsen and Salazar as each levitated toward Claire. His blood boiled and a red hue covered his vision.
Drop the disguise, Claire.
The next moment the wavy violet lines disappeared. Rumy’s team went straight into action as each man shifted to levitated flight and let out a war cry. The guards turned, startled, and a flash of blades ran up and down the line.
Lucian flew faster than he ever had before, landing in front of Arsen, whom he gripped around the neck, then flung off the stage. From his peripheral vision he watched Claire hurry from the stage, Eve with her.
But Salazar, the bigger of the two, had more fight in him. He lowered his arms and shoulders, bending his knees, a knife in his hands.
Lucian drew his own blade from his battle leathers. He circled, watching Salazar’s dark eyes as he turned his blade in his hand. Salazar lunged. Lucian shifted away from the strike, but Salazar’s momentum brought him close. Lucian struck down hard on Salazar’s arm. He heard the snap of bone. Salazar shouted in pain then began to shift to altered flight.
But Lucian caught him midair, preventing his escape, and with his Ancestral power kicking into high gear he threw Salazar against the red-crystal wall to the right of the stage. Dislodged crystals flew everywhere.
The entire theater was alive with battling vampires, but Lucian needed to make sure that he had control of both men. He glanced to his left and saw that Arsen was out cold; one of Rumy’s men stood guard over him, nodding to Lucian.
Turning, Lucian saw that Salazar was rising up quickly. Lucian body-slammed him back into the wall. Salazar’s head connected and a cracking sound ensued. He slid the rest of the way to the floor and fell inert.
Lucian reached down and felt for his pulse. Good. The bastard still lived.
At the same moment he sensed an attack coming from behind him. He went with his instinct and dove out of the way, which sent a bodyguard’s dagger hard into the stone wall of the cave.
Lucian, on the floor, flung his dagger before the vampire had even turned in his direction. He halted mid-flight, dropping to the tile floor, both hands on the hilt of the blade. Lucian took out his thinnest chain, got behind the man, and decapitated him. Blood spurted everywhere.
Killing like this was damn messy work.
He turned and saw that Rumy’s men fought hard. Time to get to work. He whisked one of his long battle chains from his leathers and started the weapon spinning. Using levitated flight, he maneuvered swiftly, up and down then sideways.
One of Salazar’s men had just killed one of Rumy’s.
Lucian gave the whirring chain a jerk of his arm, a flick of his wrist, and the chain wrapped around the vampire’s throat. He tugged swiftly, pulling the man backward. The man struggled trying to get the chain from around his throat.
Lucian drew close and drove his blade deep. He left the chains where they were, felt movement behind him, turned and met a ramped-up vampire. He blocked the arm that held one blade, then blocked a second blade in his opponent’s other hand.
Lucian threw himself in a quick slide against the vampire’s feet, knocking him off-balance and onto the floor. He slammed an elbow into one arm and grabbed the blade; before the man, could bring his other arm close, Lucian slashed deep across his wrist. The vampire screamed.
Lucian continued on in this way, helping Rumy’s men to finally gain control of the remaining security force. Within fifteen minutes, the theater fell silent.
Turning around toward the stage, he saw that Rumy had brought in a second team and that both Salazar and Arsen were bound in preternaturally charged chains. Those two weren’t going anywhere.
Lucian headed toward the dominant Salazar.
Leaning against the red-crystal-encrusted wall, Salazar said, “I’d heard you’d somehow escaped Daniel’s grasp. But I never imagined you’d fight so dirty given what a Boy Scout you are.”
Lucian sneered. “You don’t know me at all, Salazar. I’ve been after you for years and now I have you. Your business is done.”
Salazar frowned and his lips formed a tight line, but he looked away.
Rumy called out orders, and his security team stuck close to both him and the traffickers. Shortly after, a medical team arrived to care for the wounded and the dead, followed by a serious cleanup and repair crew. The theater would be restored completely within the next few hours. Rumy had one hell of an organization. He could run a small country.
Approaching Lucian, he suggested they move their party to his interrogation room.
“Good idea,” Lucian replied, but his gaze raked the stage where Claire had given her show and distracted the men enough to put Arsen and Salazar in their current predicament. “But I can’t go without Claire.”
“That’s right. Your proximity issue.”
Absently, he touched the chains.
Hey, you there?
He sent the words softly, not wanting to scare her. But even as he spoke telepathically, he felt a tremor run through him. Battling did that to a vampire, increased his blood-needs. He even felt the familiar sensation of more blood-madness on the way.
Yes. Is everything okay?
He gave her a quick rundown, adding that Rumy wanted to take Arsen and Salazar to his interrogation room.
I’ve got my robe on, but my clothes are back at the photo shoot.
His mind wanted to slide all the way there, but he protected himself and pulled his thoughts back, focusing on what was important right now. Her robe would have to do.
Come to me so that I can fly you with the men.
Okay.
She appeared a few seconds later at the top of the runway. Rumy’s team had charge of Salazar and Arsen.
Rumy ordered his men to take their captives to the interrogation room, then took off. As a group, the vampires shifted to altered flight and disappeared.
Lucian flew to Claire, then held out his arm to her. With a deep sigh and her eyes filling with tears, she stepped onto his booted foot. She slid her arm around his neck and buried her face against his throat.
I can’t tell you how glad I am that the runway show is over.
Me, too.
Understatement.
But you did really well and your shields held, which gave us the advantage we needed.
He drew in a deep breath.
You ready to find out what these bastards know about the extinction weapon?
She smiled.
Hell, yeah.
He chuckled softly, then flew her down and down.
He arrived with her at Rumy’s interrogation room, a black granite space large enough to house a couple of tanks. Lucian felt the location, deep in the cavern system, which made sense given the downward trajectory.
Rumy had Arsen and Salazar seated in chairs, each spattered with blood.
He didn’t want her here, though, not for this, not with the stubborn expressions on the men’s faces.
Listen, they’re not going to give up their information easily. Maybe you should wait in the adjoining room for a while, just until they’re ready to talk.
Claire glanced around.
Maybe I should.
Lucian took her through a doorway into a smaller office. She sank into one of the chairs, looking relieved.
When he returned, one of Rumy’s men drew his fist back to punch Arsen, but Lucian called out, “Please. Allow me.”
Part of him wanted to beat both these men to a bloody pulp for all that they had done and what they represented in his world. The vampires now gathered around clearly felt the same way.
But he had something far more important to accomplish, and now that he had Ancestral power his approach was completely different.
“You got a new idea, boss?”
Lucian glanced at Rumy and nodded. He ignored Salazar since the man was the stronger of the two and went straight for Arsen’s head. He put his hand over his skull and let the power flow.
Arsen blinked then started to scream.
Lucian sent the words straight into Arsen’s mind.
Tell me what I need to know and the pain stops.
Lucian knew exactly what that pain felt like. Daniel had hurt him in a similar way.
About ten seconds later Arsen cried out, “I’ll tell everything.” Tears streamed down his cheeks.
Salazar tried to argue with him, but Arsen lifted his bound hands and said, “Just how the hell do you think we’ll ever get out of this? We’ll be lucky to be alive in the next ten minutes.”
Salazar’s eyes glazed over and his chin sank. “Tell them. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
Arsen met Lucian’s hard stare. “I suppose you want to know about the extinction weapon.”
“First, I want to know one thing. Assuming you have information on where to locate this weapon, why would you turn even one scrap of a clue over to Daniel Briggs?”
“For thirty million.”
Lucian shook his head. “You fucking bastard. No, let me rephrase that: You fucking idiot. If Daniel gets hold of that weapon, what do you think will happen to you? Do you think he wouldn’t be able to find you, or your clubs, or whatever disguises you can create or buy? Do you not understand that ever since Daniel took over the Council of Ancestrals he’s become the most powerful vampire on the planet? So what exactly do you think he intends to do with an extinction weapon?”
Arsen stared up at him for a long moment. Even Salazar murmured, “Shit.”
Lucian shook his head. “So you’re both telling me that until this moment, it never occurred to you that Daniel might use this weapon against you? You never thought it possible that Daniel would show up at your compound one day, hold the weapon to your head, then politely ask for his money back, oh, and maybe the keys to your organization?”
He tossed up both hands, shaking his head. “How the hell did the pair of you build an empire together? No, don’t answer that. Just tell me where the fuck I can find the weapon before I kill you both right now for your sheer stupidity.”
Arsen spoke quickly. “We went on the hunt ourselves, tortured any number of our sources, and hit on a promising clue.”
“A clue.”
“Look, rumors have been around for decades about these weapons. Scientists who developed them worried about their potential. Some of them were hidden or left clues to their locations. We tracked one of these rumors all the way to what turned out to be a layering of disguises neither of us could penetrate. Either the weapon is behind those disguises or there’s a clue to its whereabouts.”