Prince of Power (7 page)

“Whoo! Yeah, baby.” Amid shouts of encouragement and flashes of laser light, Alexia managed to do a shot of a Buttery Nipple on the scarred wooden bar without using her hands, while a dozen or so of her new buddies looked on. One of her arms was slung around the shoulders of a bleach-bottle platinum blonde whose sequined shift barely held in the bounty of her gravity-defying knockers. Her new BFF Tanya… Tonya… cool chick, whatever her name was. Terrible clothing choices and the fact that she was kind of a weepy drunk aside.

But Siddoh coming at her from the other end of the bar, and the sour look on his face, meant that the fun was about to be over.

“Shit, Lexi.” Siddoh jerked his head and pointed to the burly earbud-sporting males stationed at the far end of the crowded room. “You're drawing too much attention, and I don't want to have to tangle with security. I manage to make those types nervous.”

She supposed she could see that. Siddoh was a big vampire. Not quite as tall as Lee but broader and a little more muscular, if such a thing were possible. His disheveled hair and tattoos made Siddoh look exactly like the kind of guy who might start a bar fight. He also looked like the kind of guy not to fuck with, which was why Alexia enjoyed having him along as a drinking buddy. Until he poured cold water on all her fun.

“One more round, Siddoh.” She stuck out her lower lip, and for a second it looked like she had him, but the final straw came when a shady-looking guy in a shiny, dragon-covered button-down decided to try and put his arm around Alexia's shoulder. She'd talked to him a little earlier in the night, and she and Siddoh weren't an item, but it was the wrong time to get territorial.

Siddoh pushed his way through the gathered cluster of gin-soaked onlookers, wrapping one hand around the nerdy guy's upper arm and the other around Lexi's. “C'mon, girlie. I'm about to turn into a pumpkin, and I think you are as well.”

He pushed Nerd Guy a little too hard, and the man's indignant yell of “Hey, asshole”—plus the flailing limbs that almost knocked over a dancing bar girl—got security's attention. Okay, Siddoh could
not
blame Alexia for this one.

Definitely time to go. The cold gust of night air was exactly what she needed to take the edge off her buzz and her irritation.

Siddoh's impatient growl carried on the chilly wind. “You were having a little too much fun in there. If you keep that shit up, you won't be allowed in the door any longer.”

For a minute or so there was silence, punctuated by the frantic clatter of Lexi's high-heeled boots as her short human legs tried to keep up with his longer, faster ones. “You didn't have to come with me, you know. And I'm not the one who almost started a bar fight.” Chances were good that he wouldn't respond to that last bit. She'd learned fairly quickly that vampire males refused to be wrong. Come to think of it, maybe that was all males.

When they got to their parking spot, Siddoh beeped the locks on his black Land Rover and held the passenger door open while she sidled past. “Lexi.” She stopped in the opening of the door. His expression softened a little. “This area isn't safe enough for you to go out on your own.”

She gave him the defensive side of her chin. “I can take care of myself.” Back home in Orlando, she went out by herself all the time. She could do it here, too. She didn't want someone spending time with her who didn't
like
to spend time with her. She hated to be a burden.

Her hands rubbed briskly over the gooseflesh rising on her bare arms. Why didn't she ever remember to wear a coat?

He pulled off his jacket and put it around her shoulders. It so dwarfed her that it completely covered the dress she was wearing. Now she looked like a dork. “You're the queen's best friend, Lex. You know full well that Thad would have my balls if I had let you go out alone. It's not the same here as it was back in Orlando. Heaven forbid a wizard spotted you leaving the estate. Besides…” Siddoh took a step back, simultaneously hunching his shoulders and running a tongue around his fangs. “Besides, I'd like to think we've become friends, haven't we? I like hanging out with you.”

A smile tugged at one side of her mouth. She hadn't been aware of the tension in her chest that leaked out now. “You seemed mad back there.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Didn't want to have to tangle with security, is all. What's this about? Are you okay?”

Alexia scowled. A lot of things weren't okay, but she couldn't discuss them with anyone. Not even Siddoh, although she felt she could trust him as much as anyone. She was the only human in a microcosm of vampires. She missed Isabel. Sure, they still lived in the same house but now Isabel was pregnant and learning to be queen to a vampire race. And Lexi was jonesing hard for a seven-hundred-year-old vampire who thought she was inferior at a basic biological level.

Talk about culture shock.

At the same time, she knew from past personal experience that bad shit happened when she kept everything inside. She didn't have to give him her life story or anything. “It's just been a rough transition since I came here. I've been thinking maybe—”

“I'm sorry, sweetie. Hold that thought for a second.” Siddoh took another step back, pulling a buzzing cell phone from his pocket while Lexi scrambled into the vehicle. “Tyra's calling.”

As he flipped the phone open, Alexia rummaged in her purse for a bottle of water and some pills. Dramamine and ibuprofen. Her favorite anti-hangover cocktail. No, it didn't speak well that she
had
a favorite anti-hangover cocktail, but that was a different issue.

“What's up, Ty?” The door banged and Siddoh was a blur of motion, rounding the front of the car and jumping behind the wheel. “Ty, honey. What's wrong?” Siddoh's voice was as tight and controlled as his body language. So unlike his usually laid-back manner. He threw the car in reverse and punched the gas.

Wheels spun on pavement, and Lexi flailed, making a hasty grab for the “oh shit” handle when he braked again and switched into drive just as quickly.

“You hurt, Ty?” Another beat of hesitation. “What happened? I thought you were on break for a while. Ty.
Ty.
” Siddoh flipped his phone shut and stopped a hair's breadth from slamming it on the console. “She fucking hung up on me.”

He picked it up again and punched the speed dial. “Hey there, Abel. It's Siddoh. I need you to get over to Tyra's place, stat. Sounds like an injured fighter. I don't have the details.” The phone flipped closed, and he chucked it into the console with far more force than necessary. His foot pressed heavily on the gas.

“What's wrong?” The glow of the dashboard instrument panel illuminated Siddoh's white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

“Don't know exactly, but I guarantee you it's bad.” He cranked the stereo, his fingers tapping in time to vintage Nine Inch Nails as they flew back toward Ash Falls, Virginia.

God willing, Lexi wouldn't puke before they made it back to the estate, because it didn't look like he was going to slow down. Forget about pulling over. “I guess you'll find out soon enough.” Her stomach lurched.

“Guess so.”

“Siddoh, don't you think you ought to slow down till we get out of DC at least? It won't help Tyra if we get pulled over on the way back.”

He blasted through a yellow light before it turned. “They'll have to catch up with me first,” he said.

***

The way Thad was pacing Tyra's living room, he was going to wear a track in the carpet. “I swear, with God and everyone here as my witness, Ty, I am going to kill you myself and bring your ass back so I can kill you again. I cannot
believe
my own sister would do something this fucking stupid.”

Thad had hired a new doctor, Abel something or another, in Tyra's absence. Backup to ensure medical coverage for the couple of pregnancies on the estate, as well as the soldiers who might need care. The older vampire bustled around Anton, checking vitals and cleaning up his wounds.

Tyra did her best to tune out Thad and his pacing. She rocked back on her heels, measuring the gentle rise and fall of Anton's chest. The worst of his injuries, an oozing gash that ran diagonally from his lower back to below his right nipple, finally seemed to be drying up. It had taken a good couple of hours.

The tan microsuede of her comfy, overstuffed sectional sofa would never be the same. Nor would the creamy plush of her living room carpet. And there was a chance that a tiny patch of wall in the foyer would need to be repainted. She had lost her footing bringing Anton's body in the door, and she suspected that blood didn't clean off flat latex too easily.

She stood and shook her head sadly. “I tried to tell him to get out of there so he wouldn't get hurt.” That he
had
been hurt was doing funny things to her ability to breathe. Guilt, that was what it was. Without supernatural powers of any kind, Anton had been ill-equipped to go into that situation. She should have put her foot down.

Thad's rapid pacing stopped abruptly, and courtesy of his newfound firepower, his feelings on the matter couldn't have been more obvious if he had set her ablaze. Not that she needed verification of his anger. The blast of heat might have knocked her backward if the cold granite counter of her breakfast bar wasn't already digging into her ass. Thad stalked over, fists clenched and temperature soaring. She drew in a deep sigh and let it out slowly.

Here it came.

“You. Bring. A human. Not a human. A
wizard
inside the walls of this estate. A wizard you should have taken care of the
second
you knew who he was.” He stopped to rub a spot above his eye, and while Tyra was vaguely aware of the irate heaving of her brother's chest and the muscle jumping in his jaw, it took all of her self-control not to make him move from her line of sight so she could tell what the doctor was doing to Anton.

“And you bring him
here
, Ty, after going out without telling a soul to do what? Try to kill their leader, who has been around longer than you or I have been alive. By yourself. I'm going to say it again: how fucking stupid are you?”

“You said Lee went out on a solo mission to find the wizard leader. I, at least, took backup.”

“Lee,” Thad ground out, “is older, stronger, and has about six-
hundred
more years of fighting experience under his belt than you do. And yeah, if you had stopped to think before running off into the night kamikaze-style with your new enemy boyfriend, you would have realized that your little mission to kill the wizard leader was pointless. Not even Lee was able to get it done.”

Tyra's eyes flicked up to the stamped pattern on her ceiling. “He isn't my boyfriend. Besides Lee didn't have inside information.” She gestured to Anton.

“You know what, Ty? Save it. I have to get ready for an Elders' Council meeting, and frankly I can barely stand to look at you right now.” Thad jabbed a finger in Anton's direction. “If he so much as causes a paper cut around here, I am holding you personally responsible. And God help you if a single one of his brethren shows up on our doorstep because he blew the whistle on our location.” He thrust both hands into his short, dirty blond hair. “Jesus Christ, Ty, we've been safe in this location for over a century, and now we're at risk of you bringing it all down like a house of cards.”

The thought made Tyra squirm, but damned if she'd ever voice her doubts to Thad. She
had
to believe that Anton was on their side. But she acknowledged, if only to herself, that it was one serious motherfucker of a risk.

“I told you, Thad, he isn't like that. They tried to kill him because he wanted out.” Okay, so that wasn't exactly accurate. She'd been forced already to lay most of her cards on the table. Otherwise, there was no good way to explain where she'd been or how Anton had gotten injured. But that he'd nearly died in an effort to protect Tyra because the wizards were out for
her
specifically? That would only make Thad more nervous.

Thad's mouth opened like he was about to respond, but a pained moan from the couch shut it again.

“And how are we feeling, sir?” That was the voice of Abel, who seemed to have a rather jolly disposition. Probably a necessary attribute for tending to cranky, injured vampires all night.

Anton mumbled some sort of response to the doctor. Tyra should have been able to hear it, but the roar of Thad's lecture made it impossible to catch a word. She took a step, ready to push past Thad so she could get a look at Anton, but her brother was still staring her down with murder in his eyes.

Thad sucked in a breath and pointed toward the sofa one more time. “For everyone's sake, you better pray to whatever deity is listening that you're right about this guy.” He drew back, pointing in opposite directions to Lee and Siddoh, who until that moment had been standing so silently on opposite ends of her living room that she'd forgotten they were there. “I'm posting a guard on him,” Thad growled.

Well, she should have expected that.

“Lee, you're coming with me. Siddoh, take the first watch with our guest here.” Thad's sneer of distaste was impossible to miss, if for no other reason than that it was completely out of character for her once mild-mannered brother. Clearly, a lot had changed.

Lexi, who had come in with Siddoh, was backed into the corner of Tyra's living room between the entrance to the underground tunnels and the coat closet. They'd been on the way back from somewhere. Alexia still wore Siddoh's jacket and a very wary expression. Tyra couldn't blame the girl for giving Thad a wide berth. Aside from bending down to remove her foot-murdering high-heeled boots, the human hadn't moved.

The small blonde almost shot into the air when Thad snapped his fingers in her direction. “Alexia, come back to the house with us. Isabel could use the company.”