Prince of Power (14 page)

Anton jerked forward to get in the king's face but didn't make it very far. “I'm telling you, I didn't fucking know.” Thad and Siddoh had brought him back to the tiny, cold building with the thick stone walls. This time, no more mister nice king and bodyguard.

This time, they'd decided to use the shackles.

Anton had talked Siddoh down from nearly ripping his throat out before the car trip back, and the bulky vampire now only stared him down in stony silence. Just an angry tic at the large male's temple and the flare of his nostrils separated him from a wax statue in appearance. Thad paced, stopped to growl at Anton, and paced some more.

The king stopped and ran a tongue around his fangs. His blue eyes were icy and unforgiving “Thing is, I want to believe you. Siddoh here says you appeared to be legitimately distraught over what you found at your father's den. But I don't need to tell you what a cluster tonight turned out to be or how it looked real fucking bad for you.”

“I cannot help how it looked.” Anton jerked again. Metal dug into his wrists. Even in nothing but a black T-shirt and fatigues, his blood boiled at a million degrees. “You have to let me out of here so I can find Tyra.”

“I've got guys looking, Anton. No offense, but you've got minimal combat experience, and while your refusal to take part in the wizard power-exchange ritual is commendable, it leaves you ill-equipped for fighting.”

Red. Literally, Anton saw red. And black and spots. Pain radiated through his neck and jaw. His wrists. And fuck, he was burning up. “Listen, Thad. It isn't my fault you were dumbass enough to send her out with a shitty guard on her.”

He ducked his head just in time to steer clear of Thad's fist. The smart thing might have been to stop antagonizing, but rage coursed through Anton's veins like battery acid. This was about trust, not fighting ability. Anton shook his head and kept going. “I didn't sabotage jack-shit. I have been trying to help your asses. No.” He all but spat the words on the floor. “No, I've been helping
her.
” He stretched to the length of his restraints, not to threaten but to meet the king eye to eye as best he could. To show the full force of his rage. The truth of his words.

“Shoulda torn you apart when I had the chance,” Siddoh muttered again.

“Save it, asshole.”

“How about both of you save it,” Thad snapped.

Every inhale seared on the way down like he was breathing fire. Anton had to fucking get out. He had to get to Tyra. “Let me the fuck out of here, Thad.”

“Look—”

“No,
you
fucking look. They
do
teach us to fight at the evil overlord boot camp, you know.”

“You can't go after her alone, man. And no one wants to be your backup.”

“The fuck I can't. Thad, come on.” Anton stared hard, male to male, into the king's impassive face. “I go in there to get her, I may die. Something happens to her because I didn't, I'm dead anyway. That's what all of this has been about from the very beginning.”

Deep inside, a giant, invisible fist squeezed his heart hard and the contents gushed out, hot and heavy, and the tears came without warning. Thad was good enough to pretend like something on the wall was incredibly interesting. Finally, when Thad sighed and relaxed his posture, relief seemed to be just around the corner.

But then Thad dropped the axe on him. “I'm sorry, Anton. I can't in good conscience—”

A horrible sound echoed in Anton's head. It must have been his voice because his throat burned so damned badly, but the sound was oddly distant. His blood burned him from the inside out, and he barely noticed when the metal bracelets fell from his wrists and hung by the wall, twisted and
glowing
.

Oh shit… His body was bright red. As in hot. And very, very naked. The clothes he'd been wearing were burned to ash and long gone. Every bit of him glowed. As in
every
bit.

“What the good goddamn…”

Siddoh's astonished utterance took Anton's attention away from his radiant naughty bits. “I… I…” Thank fuck he started to cool off as his anger subsided, if only mildly. He looked from Thad to Siddoh and back again. “I didn't know I could do that.”

For a while neither spoke. “So it seems you participated in the blood ritual after all,” Thad said finally.

Anton set his feet wide and lifted his chin high, despite his total lack of clothing. He would not apologize for this. “Never actually said that I didn't. I was against it. I got out of it when I could. But I did what I had to do to survive.”

Thad paced slowly. In the back of Anton's mind a clock ticked.
Ticktock, Anton
. Precious moments were slipping by while he was locked in this room. Arguing.

“Thad, I don't know what my father has planned, but I have plenty of guesses and none of them are good. You want to fry me for the vampires I killed, you can do it when Tyra is safe and my father is dead. Christ, I'll lie down naked on the lawn out there, and you can let all the angry villagers fucking have at me if you want to, but
now
is
not
the
time
for
this
!”

Anton's chest heaved and burned. He couldn't delude himself that Tyra returned his feelings. For him, she was the closest thing he would ever get to a true connection with someone. He could go out more than happy, knowing he'd made the world safe for her and her kind before he died. And at her brother's hand? Hell of a lot better than at another wizard's.

Thad glanced at his watch. “Okay. I still don't like it, but at least you might not get your ass handed to you out there. Siddoh, get the man some clothes.”

***

Would telling the wizard leader she'd been expecting somebody taller change her chances of leaving this scenario alive?

Tyra suppressed a shiver in the frigid, stone-walled room. She stood face to face with the “Master” in the austere confines of a small space that reminded her a great deal of the interrogation cells Thad kept on his property. There wasn't much in the way of stuff to focus on in there, other than Anton's father. Boy, she really wished there was.

At first, she hadn't found him terribly intimidating beyond his threat that he might destroy the shelter if she didn't play nice. He hadn't even put out the kind of evil vibes she would have expected from one supposedly so powerful. She'd wondered if he might be a decoy until she'd looked into his eyes again.

And then, then she could admit that she was frightened.

His eyes were… voids. No, not even that. Void implied dead and soulless. This was… she'd noticed it back at the shelter, but she couldn't put a finger on just what it was. There was emotion there all right, but it was a kind of hate she couldn't put a name to. And obsidian burning… Damn, it was just the strangest thing. “I'm glad to finally meet you, my dear.”

Her lip curled just a hair. “I'm not your anything.”

“You have no idea how wrong you are, my girl.” He smiled. Strangely, another rather charming smile. She could see where Anton got his gray eyes and the strong features of his face, and how disturbing was that?

Always a fan of personal space, Tyra longed to take a step or five away, but she refused to be the one to back down, and old Master here clearly didn't mind being a close talker. “So enlighten me.”

The wizard picked at what looked like a hangnail. “It isn't all about power, you know. We also need the blood to survive. After childhood we age rapidly without it. Far faster than humans.”

Huh. The mental leap wasn't hard to make. They knew that vampire blood affected wizards biologically. It seemed to extend their lifespan and turned their bodies to ash with full exsanguinations. Handy for the vampires when it came to body disposal. That also might explain why Anton looked older than he was. Nevertheless… “You don't have fangs.”

“As you know, we've gotten our blood through different means.” He leaned a hand against the side of his face. It changed the way he looked to sad and tired.

She hated that even more than she hated him
.
Feeling even an infinitesimal amount of sympathy toward him was something she could not allow.

“Our race is dying.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. The wide-eyed expression he wore was practically earnest. “Primarily, we've reproduced over the years by mating with humans. Over the centuries we've diluted the bloodlines. Bound to happen, I suppose.” One evil wizard palm rubbed over the other slowly, as if there was dirt or dust he might brush away. “I'd hoped our wizard genes would be strong enough to overcome, but I've been seeing the signs for some time now.”

Tyra's body shook inside; she had to get out of there. Why was he telling her this? Did he honestly expect sympathy? “Good.
Good
.” Tyra forgot herself and stepped backward. “All the better if your species dies out and stops killing ours. I will
not
feel sorry for you.”

“You are entitled to feel however you wish, but this is about vampire survival as well as ours. You may have noticed greater numbers of your vampire kind being killed by my wizards of late.”

“No, I—” Could she even be certain? Over a week in torpor to recover from a near-fatal power drain, and before that she'd been focused on her volunteer work at the homeless shelter. She hadn't gone out to fight during the weeks while Thad was searching for his queen, for Isabel. So really, could Tyra even be sure what had gone on out there? Very vaguely, she recalled Siddoh having said he suspected that the wizards were stepping up their efforts.

She shook her head. It wasn't as if she could trust this guy. “That's not a reason for us to help you.” If anything, it was a reason to strike back harder. Recruit more fighters, if they could. Now that they knew for sure there was a chink in the armor… Her entire body perked up at the thought. She couldn't wait to tell Thad.

“Of course not.” And now his smile was disgustingly indulgent. “But consider this. The more diluted the bloodlines of our later generations, the more difficult to absorb vampire powers and the faster they will age. They're more bloodthirsty with each passing day, you see? Our kind is being compelled to kill yours in greater and greater numbers.”

She looked then into those dark gray eyes and longed to touch him. To feel him out for the truth. Then hated herself even more because there was no way in hell she could do it. Not the way she would need to in order to glean his emotions.
Come
on, Ty. Yes you can. Don't be weak. Don't be stupid. You can handle just grabbing his arm, can't you?
She took a step.

He stood. “You, though. You have the strength of both species. The ability to absorb powers without having to consume organs or flesh.”

What?
Oh, no. Noooo. If he was implying what he sure as hell seemed to be implying… hell, motherfucking, no. “My mother was human.”

He pursed his lips. “I can see why you would have thought that. I can assure you she wasn't. And I can assure you that your father knew. He tried to kill me four months ago. I suppose he thought it would keep us from having this very encounter.”

Instinctively, she reached for a weapon she no longer had. Shit, she was going to kill this bastard. Her palm heated with the beginning of a fireball.

“I know what you're thinking. I didn't kill your father.” He turned to offer his back and bowed his head. “And since we're sharing information just now, I'll trust you not to attack while my back is turned. I hadn't planned on killing you either, but plans can change. Look closely at the birthmark, right at the top.”

She did. It was the shape of a perfect heart. “Okay. So?”

“You have one just like it in the same spot.”

“So what? I have birthmarks all over.” Hers wasn't really like that. Was it? Who gave more than passing attention to all the random spots on their bodies?

“I mark all of my own kind with them. Every wizard offspring is born with one.” He turned and looked at her again. Now his grin was sinister.

She stared. At the eyes. At the smile. She didn't respond. There wasn't anything she could think of to say.

Without warning he clasped hands with hers. Her nerves and veins lit up like the Beltway at nighttime. A rush of power flew through her bloodstream. Similar to what she experienced just after drinking blood but stronger. Louder. The buzz in her ears was fulminating and lovely. Her heart nearly flew from its confines in her chest cavity. “My God.”

“Use one of your powers. Any one. Go ahead.”

This had to be some kind of trick.

He stepped back and raised his arms, palms facing the ceiling. “No tricks. I only want to show you the possibilities that are open to you. Try to. Go ahead.”

“I—” Curiosity got the better of her. Like she had the morning she'd been examined by Dr. Brayden, she focused on the intent of making flame engulf her hand. Not only did it take barely any focus, but there was a wall of fire between them in a matter of seconds. Holy shit.

Holy
shit.

On the inside, Tyra cringed. She wasn't one of these assholes. She wasn't. Her hand dropped to her side and the fire died out, as did the heady buzzing in her system.

“I hadn't realized until just recently that the females can absorb powers without the ritual.” He continued. “Or maybe it's only you who can because of your vampire blood. Obviously, the first step is to find the female wizard offspring. We can't breed with them; we gave up on that long ago. But they'll die if they're not brought into the fold.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I'm not foolish enough to think that our two species can simply broker peace after so many centuries. I only want to study your power. If we can acquire powers without killing, perhaps wizards and vampires can one day have a new relationship. I'm after survival here.”