Authors: Aja James
It was only midnight, but she couldn’t wait, even at the risk of running into him.
Pausing only briefly in front of his door, she did not bother to knock before turning the knob and entering.
He was not there.
She breathed a sigh of relief and slowed her steps, walking around his bedroom more leisurely, taking in the sparse but rich and masculine furnishings, the gigantic bed that dwarfed everything else in the room, the wall of weapons, the closet of entirely black clothes, with the occasional dark gray thrown in.
After a thorough tour of his personal space, she stopped beside his bed. Affectionately, she petted the dark blue coverlet, so dark it was almost back. She extended her fingers, then curled them back into fists, then extended them once more as if finally making up her mind, and snatched a large pillow off the mattress.
It was the pillow he slept upon most often, she knew, based on her experience with his bedside preferences. He always slept on the left side of the bed, while she used the right. But more often than not, when they slept together, they were so entwined it didn’t matter which side they were on.
Her heart constricted painfully at the thought and she hugged the pillow tightly to her chest, dipping her head down to bury her nose in the satiny casing. She inhaled deeply his heady scent, and her body immediately responded with blissful delight, sending a rush of hot liquid to her core.
How she missed him!
Would it always be such torture? After their shared experiences, she couldn’t imagine ever being so close to him, under the same roof, and not have him. Did time really wear down all edges? Would her emotions become less intense, more controllable?
And then her eyes alighted on what was beneath the pillow. The handkerchief she’d given him ten years ago.
“Why are you here?”
Rain spun toward Valerius with a startled gasp and hid the handkerchief in her fist behind her back. She’d been so engulfed in her own thoughts and desires, she hadn’t noticed when he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
Involuntarily, her face lit with happiness at the sight of him, but just as quickly it fell when she noticed the blood and sweat streaking down his face and arms.
“You’re hurt,” she blurted out, stumbling in her haste to reach him.
“Don’t.”
With one brusque word, he halted her movement. Shifting his gaze away, he pulled off his ripped shirt, revealing more blood, sweat and bruises, and stalked to the bathroom, completely ignoring her.
Tentatively, she followed him to the bathroom threshold and peeked inside. He’d turned on the shower and was in the process of stripping off his sweats.
Worry overrode desire as his beaten body was fully revealed to her. Why did he insist on taking things too far? Surely the training didn’t require him to put in a pound of flesh everyday along with his energy and time?
Standing beneath the shower, Valerius closed his eyes and let the full blast of the ice cold spray drench through his hot, too-tight skin. He was fully aroused at the mere scent of her. But seeing her hugging his pillow the way she used to hug his body made every one of his nerves scream to be with her.
“Valerius…” her soft voice wrapped around his cock like loving hands, and the swollen bastard jerked eagerly in response. He couldn’t take any more of this!
“If you want blood, come and get it. If you’re here to fuck me, just name your place and position. Otherwise, get out.”
Rain reeled back as if slapped. Why was he saying such ugly things? Why was he being so cruel?
But before she could formulate a reply, he suddenly twisted to face her, though his gaze was focused upon something beyond the bathroom door.
“Get down!” he growled, one second before he leapt upon her and brought them both crashing to the hard floor.
“Wha-”
Before she could finish her thought, the bathroom wall exploded in a blast of bricks, glass and debris. She gasped as one small splinter of mirror bit through her forearm, but she knew Valerius bore most of the damage, for he was bent over her like a protective cocoon of solid muscle.
Barely able to take half a breath, Rain abruptly found herself jerked upright and shoved across the room as Valerius pulled on his sweats in the next second.
“We need to get out of here and find the others,” he said urgently as he grabbed hold of her arm, “the Shield is under attack.”
Pausing to take a few weapons off his wall, Valerius pulled Rain behind him as he made his way down the pitch black corridor. They were engulfed in a blackout. The main circuits were probably cut, and the central alarm had been disabled. Only someone from within would know enough to infiltrate the Shield.
Rain struggled to keep up with Valerius’ rapid pace, and then she concentrated on the strength and warmth of his grip on her forearm and took a deep breath. She harnessed all her energy so that she could match his speed and determination; she vowed she wouldn’t be a liability.
A couple of twists and turns down the hallway, and they’d arrived at the training center, where a few lowburning torches provided enough light to see by. Aella was hunkered down along the wall with Alexandros, each with weapons and shields drawn.
Valerius and Rain joined them along the adjacent corner, and he asked, “Damage?”
“Explosions throughout the West wing and central atrium,” Aella reported. “We should expect our exit through the throne room to be cut off and they’ve probably destroyed most of our vehicles and sealed the exit through the garage.”
His Hayabusa might still be safe, Valerius thought, for he kept it in the East wing where the forge resided, directly above the Vault. That part of the Shield was currently under construction for the stables Tristan was building beside the forge. Their only exit option now was in that direction.
Their enemies knew the Shield’s weaknesses well. Exit through the East wing required going down two levels to the library and into narrow tunnels. They would have little room to maneuver and Valerius would bet his life there would be a vampire
welcoming committee lying in wait for them along the way. Without illumination, vampires had an added advantage, for their night vision was far superior to Pure Ones and humans. After all, they lived for the night.
“The others?” Valerius bit out.
“Dalair, Cloud and Tristan are rounding up Sophia, Orion and Eveline. Ayelet is already with them,” Alexandros replied. “If the Scribe and Seer are in the library, they should be protected from the blasts. I believe the Queen is with them.” He frowned at that. Sophia should never be without an Elite guard. In fact, Aella should have been watching her, but the Amazon was here instead.
“Unless the vampires have infiltrated the library already,” Aella stated grimly.
“What about Wan’er and the humans?” Rain asked, a spark of alarm coursing through her.
“The human trainees and servants have already gone home, I’m fairly certain none remains,” Aella answered. “As to the handmaiden…”
“I will find her,” Valerius said. He thrust Rain forward into Aella’s awaiting arms. “Take Rain and head to the Vault. I will meet up with you when I have Wan’er.”
“No!” Rain reached out to Valerius, trying to keep him with her, or make him take her with him, but he was already gone, disappearing without a sound into the blackness that surrounded them.
*** *** *** ***
Sophia limped as fast as she could along the narrow passageway leading from the library to the exit three levels above on a side street behind the Prudential Tower.
She tried to blot out the pain from her ankle and leg, shoulder and side. If Orion hadn’t pushed her forcefully out of the way of the barrage of throwing stars and daggers, she would probably be dead right now.
She had no time for pain. She had to get out and get help. She didn’t know who to call on, but she didn’t think that far ahead. She didn’t care if she had to scream down the bloody neighborhood, she’d find someone.
Orion and Eveline were still back there, trying to keep the vampires from coming after her. She knew that they would fight to their last breath to keep her safe, though they were no match for trained assassins. She’d wanted to stay behind and fight alongside them, but they kept shoving her back. She would only distract them, they argued, she needed to get out and hide. Do whatever it took to keep herself alive.
Sophia blinked away her tears and refused to give into the despair that welled up within her. She would not let their sacrifice be in vain! By sheer force of will, she trudged onward, up a long flight of stone stairs and around a tight corner.
And then she hit a brick wall.
But it wasn’t a wall, for large hands with the strength of steel manacles locked upon her shoulders, making her wince at the instant pain in her injured side.
“I have been waiting for you, my Queen,” a familiar deep voice reached her through the darkness.
Sophia gasped in recognition.
Leonidas.
An oppressive silence descended upon the Shield as the remaining Dozen took in the extent of damage and loss.
They’d eliminated all vampire infiltrators and restored electricity and connectivity to the
underground fortress, but not without severe casualties and sacrifices.
Orion was one such sacrifice.
Eveline was the last to see his body upon this earth, as with his final breath, he used all his strength and concentration to send a wave of ancient weapons, that were mere decorations on the library wall, in a deadly barrage against the vampire assassins advancing upon them. Two of the remaining vampire foes lost their heads in the unstoppable onslaught. The remaining vampire was so severely wounded, Eveline marshaled her injured limbs into action, took a nearby discarded axe and ended his miserable existence.
She’d reached Orion just as his eyes began to close. The last thing he saw was her sad, heartfelt smile of goodbye. Holding his head in her lap, she watched as his body loosened, as the weight of him began to lift. As his soul departed from his corporal form, his physical self began to lose substance, slowly unraveling into stardust that drifted like dandelion puffs into the air surrounding her.
Until finally, there was nothing left to hold.
Eveline had barely a few moments to grieve and regain her composure before the others joined her. Just before she lost consciousness from her wounds, she informed them:
“The Queen is taken.”
Without waiting for anyone else to react, Dalair immediately took off down the narrow tunnel that led to the only remaining exit from the Shield.
“I’ll go with him,” Alexandros said, bounding after the Paladin, “I have enough to trace their exact location. No doubt that is what our enemies want, but there is no other choice. Time is of the essence.”
Rain knelt before Eveline’s crumpled body and began to assess the damage, initiating the healing process with her
zhen
. Thankfully, the Seer had not been poisoned in addition to her physical wounds. It would take at least a couple of weeks to heal the broken bones and internal bleeding completely, but she would make a full recovery.
Distantly, Rain was aware of Tristan, Ayelet, Aella and Cloud debating their next course of action. Rain’s sub-group with Alexandros and Aella alone had encountered and subdued half a dozen vampire assassins on their way to the library. She imagined the others must have dealt with much the same odds. Such a large-scale invasion with a veritable army of trained vampire assassins was unprecedented and regrettably unexpected. They should have bolstered the security of the Shield the moment they suspected that Leonidas had been turned. Either that, or they should have relocated to a new base, one of which the Spartan had no prior knowledge.
But it had happened so fast. And perhaps part of their error in calculation was due to the fact that none of them wanted to accept that Leonidas was lost to them forever.
They all knew that Alexandros and Dalair were headed into a trap. Goddess knew how large a vampire Horde was awaiting them. Whoever it was behind these attacks wanted all of the Royal Zodiac demolished. Methodically, their enemy was hunting each and every one of them. If they only wanted Sophia, they had many opportunities to obtain the Queen without the full-on assault, without losing so many of their own in the process.
Rain had a feeling the evil mastermind did not care how many vampires he or she sent to their deaths. Somehow she knew that their nemesis wouldn’t quit until they were all eliminated, no matter the cost. It was as if the vampire was targeting the entire Pure race, as if they wanted to bring the ancient civilization to its knees.
As her comrades debated their plan of action nearby, a flash of light burst in the middle of the library, just in front of the fallen Orb of Prophesies. The white light rapidly coalesced into a nucleus of energy, then elongated into the shape of a man.
Seth.
“I was afraid this would happen,” he spoke to them in his projected, transparent form, “I am deeply saddened to be two steps too late.” His eyes scanned the damage littering the once regal library and hovered regretfully on Eveline’s unconscious form.
“But the critical battle is yet ahead,” he continued with intense determination. “Doubtless you know that taking Sophia is a ploy to lure us to their playing ground. For some of us,” he looked briefly at Aella, “this was probably expected, even anticipated. With the destruction here, they aim to separate us into smaller groups, the easier to pick us off like stragglers from a herd.”
“Nonetheless we must act,” Tristan said gravely. “They leave us no choice.”
“Perhaps not,” the Consul conceded, “but we have a few surprises up our sleeves.” He turned to face the new Elite member. “Though they have experienced a bit of your lethal abilities, Cloud Drako, I wager no vampire left here alive to tell about it.”
The warrior blinked once in confirmation.
Seth nodded his admiration. “You shall remain one of our sharpest weapons. But you will not be alone.” The Consul met each pair of eyes in the room one by one. “We will fight fire with fire. We will have our own vampire Horde to combat our foes.”
Shocked gasps and gapes met his bold words. Aella was the first to recover.
“What do you mean? Why would vampires help us? How is that even possible?”
A flicker of pain crossed the Consul’s stoic mask, but it was so quickly gone, it was as if it was never there.
“I cannot answer you at this time,” he replied quietly, his expression calm and confident. “I can only ask you to trust me in this. When you have located the assassins’ base, when you storm their compound and engage their numbers, know that if you see vampires with red satin bands around their necks, they are not your foe, but rather your friend.”
“What –” Tristan and Ayelet both started to speak at the same time, burning questions on the tip of their tongues, but Seth’s projection was already dimming as he pulled back his presence from the Shield.
“I will alert Dalair and Alexandros as well,” he said as his figure became so airy he was like the shadow of a ghost, “remember the red bands around their necks.”
With that, the Consul disappeared, leaving the Dozen with a ton of unanswered questions but also new hope.
As Aella called the Elite together to regroup and plan for their imminent invasion of enemy ranks, Valerius staggered into the library carrying Wan’er in his arms.
“You’re safe!” Rain eased her healing
zhen
away from Eveline and ran toward her warrior as fast as her legs could carry her.
She skidded to a halt a foot away from Valerius as he set Wan’er gently on her feet. The handmaiden hobbled slightly but righted herself against one of the floor-to-ceiling marble columns that supported the entryway to the library.
“Are you all right?” Rain asked her faithful companion with concern.
Wan’er shook her head, “It’s just a sprain. Don’t waste your healing energy on me. I can tend to it myself.”
Nodding with relief, Rain focused back on Valerius and would have thrown herself into his arms had his pained scowl not make her hesitate uncertainly. Beneath rivulets of blood, sweat and grime from countless wounds, his entire body vibrated with tension, throbbing with the silent neon sign to “back off.”
“There’s no time to waste,” he said to his comrades, looking beyond the Healer’s small form. “We must take this fight to them. Aella, what is the plan?”
“Alexandros has discovered their hideout. He’s sending us his coordinates as we speak. If we hotwire a car, we can be there within fifteen minutes. You may be able to get there in twelve on the Hayabusa, assuming it’s still intact.”
“It is.”
“I’ll explain the rest on the way,” Aella said as she became a blur of motion. “Tristan, with me. Valerius, you take Cloud. Ayelet, you know the emergency protocol. Wait in the safe room until we return.”
The Guardian gave one firm nod.
As the four Elite warriors assembled their weapons and protective gear, preparing to depart within minutes, Rain hovered near Valerius, struggling to tamp down her selfishness. But in the end, she couldn’t contain her plea:
“Don’t go,” she begged the Protector. “Please stay with me – with us,” she amended after a pause. “You are severely wounded, both from the earlier explosion protecting me and now from engaging the assassins. I don’t need to probe you to know that you are an inch away from collapsing… please …”
She tried to grab his forearm, but he shrugged out of reach.
“It’s nothing,” he said brusquely, avoiding her touch and her searching eyes, methodically securing triple the amount of weapons to his person. “Take care of Wan’er and Eveline and stay out of sight.” He turned his back to her and took the first step to leave.
Swallowing her pride, her fears, her insecurities, Rain took a gamble on Fate. She threw herself at his back and locked her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly from behind, plastering herself to him like a second layer of skin.
“I was wrong, I’m sorry,” she cried against his leather-encased back. “I didn’t mean any of the things I said. I want you forever. Only you. Please don’t go. Please, please,
please
don’t go. I can’t bear to lose you. I don’t want to live without you!”
Their comrades paused in their movements as if suspended in time, watching the exchange between Rain and Valerius with awe and compassion.
Rain didn’t care who witnessed her outburst in this moment. She didn’t care if she looked like the world’s greatest fool. She knew with every fiber of her being that if he left her now, he would not return to her whole. She knew she should put her people, her Queen above her own selfish desires, but she couldn’t let go of him. Not when it had taken thousands of years to find him.
Valerius turned slowly in her arms until her tearstreaked cheek pressed hotly to his chest. Tenderly, he lifted her chin so that he could look down into her deep brown eyes.
“It’s too late,” he said quietly so that only she could hear, absorbing more the rumble of his voice rather than the sound of his words, “you cannot save me even were I to stay.”
Taking a gulp of breath, Rain looked upon him more alertly, the needles of her hair skimming millimeters above his skin.
He had been poisoned, she realized as her heart fell to the soles of her feet. And in his already weakened state from his Service, the vile tentacles of death were spreading through his system at an accelerated pace. Even if she were to use all her energy to try to heal him now, she wasn’t guaranteed success.
But there was also something else, something that made death inescapable.
Even before a few of her
zhen
inserted into his pores, she came face to face with the truth: Valerius was in the final stages of Decline.
No!
The word ricocheted in an echoing scream within her skull.
“Hear me well, my heart,” he spoke to her in the deepest, gentlest, calmest voice, “I love you. I have ever, and ever shall, love only you.” He wrapped his arms around her when she tried to push away, keeping her securely in his warm embrace.
“It is my choice to give myself to you,” he continued inexorably, “just as it was his choice in the beginning.”
She knew that he meant her first Consort, he was telling her that none of this was her fault. Her breath began to hitch wetly, her hands clawing into the leather at his back.
“It is my deepest regret not to be able to fulfill my Service to the end,” he said huskily, “I wanted to give you everything. I let my pride get in the way, I let my demons keep me from you.” He shuddered slightly and bent his lips to her ear.
“I know I am unworthy,” he said, holding her so tightly against him she couldn’t even shake her head. “I am honored and grateful to have Served you… my healing Rain.”
And then, before she could brace herself, he was gone. One moment her arms encircled the heat of his body and the next there was only cold emptiness and silence.
The echoing screams in her skull magnified in volume and force until Rain could no longer contain the shattering wail of loss that exploded through her body.
*** *** *** ***
Sophia sat on her haunches with her knees drawn before her, her arms wrapped around them, her chin resting on her linked hands.
As prisons went, her golden cage was rather luxurious, as if she were an exotic bird to pet and pamper. There was a cozy bed in one corner, covered with fresh-smelling sheets and heaped with thick blankets and goose-down pillows. A small escritoire and chair took up the opposite corner, with pen and paper neatly arranged on top.
Was she supposed to be writing a suicide note? Sophia thought darkly. Yeah, good luck getting that out of her.
If only she knew how to pull a Jason Bourne maneuver and use the pen to gouge out one of the eyeballs of the vampire guard standing beyond the bars of her cage. But alas, she probably wouldn’t be able to get very far before the Cyclops took off her head in retaliation.
How could Leonidas do this! She thought futilely for the hundredth time. Even if he’d been turned into one of the enemy, surely he remembered enough of her, of his friends, to abstain from the fight?
Sophia wasn’t given the opportunity to talk some sense into him since he’d gagged her for the entire abduction. And then he’d dumped her
unceremoniously into this gilded cage and left her alone without a word. She saw no remnant of the man who used to bounce her on his knee when she was a child, or tease her mercilessly about her youthful crushes when she started liking boys.
This Leonidas had blood red eyes that seemed to stare through her rather than see her person. And then there were his long, white fangs. He’d actually looked at her strangely for a few heartbeats when he’d shoved her in the cage as if he were thirsty and she were a tall glass of lemonade.
Sophia shuddered with revulsion at the memory. Her abductor was no longer the Pure Ones’ Sentinel. He had turned into a conscience-less blood-sucker.
Speaking of which, Sophia raised her chin a fraction as the creature she assumed to be her host floated soundlessly into the chamber. The aura around her visitor was so powerful, Sophia lost her breath for a moment, as if the creature had sucked all the air out of the room with its commanding presence.
The vampire was tall and stately, lithe and slender. Sophia could not tell whether it was a female or male, for its figure was hidden in a long, loose robe, its face obscured by a large, attached hood. She could see the long, wavy hair cascading freely down both sides of the vampire’s chest and shoulders, however, but again, with creatures this ancient, one could not assume a luxurious mane equated to the feminine sex.
“What an honor to have the Pure Queen amongst us,” the vampire said in a sing-song voice, both fragile and strong at the same time. There was a masculine undertone with a higher feminine pitch layered on top.