Blood Ascendant (Blood Stone Book 5)

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  He concentrated on moving up the edge of the raft to the head of the bed. He gripped the corner post and reached out with his foot and put it on the edge of the pool. He pushed off with his hand, to transfer his weight to his leading foot and that was nearly his undoing. He was not used to boats and water and had forgotten that if he pushed, the boat would respond. The raft drifted away, leaving him without the support he needed.

  He threw himself forward, his arms wind milling, using all the strength in his torso to keep himself upright. It was close. Far too close. By the time he stood on the very edge of the pool with the brickwork firm beneath his feet, his heart was thundering, echoing in his temples.

  His temper stirred.

  Winter and Sebastian came over to him, both of them smiling and laughing. “You did it!” Winter said.

  Sebastian patted his shoulder.

  Dominic came up to them. “What do we do with the bed?” he asked, looking at the furniture floating in the pool.

  Sasha shrugged. “Tell the person that put it there to put it back where she got it from. I care not.”

  “Before you go inside, you might want to put some clothes on,” Winter suggested.

  Sasha looked at her over his shoulder. “I am not shamed by this. I will not cover up.”

  Winter raised a brow. “Okay, then.”

  Sasha headed inside. There were people all through the house and every light seemed to be blazing. The clock on the wall oven said four-sixteen. It was nearly dawn, then. He had slept the afternoon and most of the night away and he wondered if someone had slipped him something to make him sleep with extraordinary soundness.

  Not that it mattered.

  Efraim and the gate guard who had let him in the first night were standing in the kitchen, talking about something that was making them both smile. As Sasha walked through, they applauded.

  He nodded acknowledgement.

  Most of the people Sasha had seen standing in the window were still in the big living room. Dante was among them. They also started clapping when they saw him. Someone whistled loudly. Dante was clapping as hard as any of them.

  Sasha brought himself to attention and gave them a formal Russian bow.

  The only person not on their feet was Rory. She was sitting on the same ottoman he had found her upon earlier that day. She did not look up as he walked over to her.

  So he bent and lifted her chin, making her look at him. “Just one question,” he said quietly, so that no one else could hear. He knew she would hear him just fine.

  Her face was like marble, the eyes deep blue and glittering like crystal.

  “Did you do this because I nearly kissed you? Or because I didn’t kiss you?”

  Her lips parted slightly. A reaction.

  Sasha was content. He stood and headed for the stairs. The room was still clapping and cheering. At the foot of the stairs, he turned and gave them another short bow. Then he climbed the stairs. By the time he reached the top he was smiling, his anger gone.

  All that remained was the memory of her blue eyes and her parted lips. When Dante joined him later, even that memory was pushed aside.

  Almost.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It was another torrid, unbearable day, although the phone call from the cross alliance headquarters had been peremptory and mysterious, forcing Nial to drive downtown just to find out what they wanted. He didn’t like moving around the city during the day and there were things to do back home. Far too many things, these days.

  He parked in the usual bay in the underground parking area and hurried into the building, eager to reach the air conditioning and take off his sunglasses. Now that everyone knew about vampires, a minor compensation was not having to think up reasons for not sweating even in this heat.

  Lucas Ford was sitting at the big table, staring out the plate glass windows, when Nial reached the meeting room. He looked up and his eyes narrowed. “Want to tell me what the hell this is about?” he asked.

  “I have no idea. I was told to report. I’m reporting.” Nial frowned. “This must be a military thing, then.”

  General Price stepped into the room, every fold of his shirt sharp and not a touch of sweat showing anywhere. “Gentlemen,” he said.

  “I hope this is critical,” Nial said dryly. “Screwing with human sleep patterns is the quickest way to get them killed out in the field.” He lifted his hand toward Lucas Ford, who had the heavy-eyed look of someone who had been hauled out of bed in the middle of a REM cycle.

  “I guess we’ll find out when Kurtz gets here,” Price replied. “Now you know as much as I do.” He frowned. “And I assure you, the military knows exactly what sleep deprivation can do.”

  The door opened and they all turned to look. Nial expected Colonel Kurtz to stride through as he usually did. It wasn’t Kurtz who stepped through the door, however.

  Seven tall Elah filed into the room, their eyes wide. Nial judged using his limited experience that they were all male. Their eyes were naturally big, yet they did seem to be opened even wider than usual.

  The most bizarre aspect of the group was their clothing. All seven of them were wearing suits. Ties and all.

  Colonel Kurtz came in behind them. He wore a small smile, as if he found this to be amusing. “Sorry to haul you all away from your affairs,” he said shortly. “I figured this was worth it. This fellow here is Standis, the spokesman for the group.” He pointed to the shortest one of the group, who was nearly as tall as Nial anyway.

  Standis looked quite comfortable in his human suit. The tie matched his brown eyes and the flecks in the suit were green. Colors of nature, Nial realized. None of the suits were blue. None of them were black, either. They were all colors that might be found out in a forest or the countryside. The Elah’s natural affinity for the earth and trees was showing.

  He wondered if the choice was deliberate or subconscious. How self-aware were they?

  This was the first time Nial had been close to an Elah, apart from the toddler whom Winter and Kate were tending back at the house. He had only looked in on her once. He was getting used to the bony, raked back protrusions on their heads that seemed to substitute for hair. Their skin had a naturally gray cast to it, although it wasn’t unpleasant to look at the way gray skin on a human would be. The flesh looked alive and healthy.

  “Standis, when you presented yourself at the United Nations building, you asked to speak to representatives of the human alliance against the Summanus,” Kurtz said. “These are the people you should speak to.”

  “You flew them in from New York?” Price said shortly.

  Standis nodded. It was a purely human movement. “Thank you for speaking with us,” he said. His English was understandable and there was an accent to his words Nial had not heard before. “We began with the United Nations, because it represents all countries equally and we are making a global offer. However, Colonel Kurtz assures me that even though you work locally, you are the representatives of the global effort against the Summanus and can speak on behalf of those who look to you, from around the world.”

  Lucas Ford frowned. “I’m not an official world representative of hunters, although I have contacts almost everywhere and they have contacts of their own, so word can pass down to all hunters, eventually.”

  Price was stroking his chin thoughtfully. “There have been mechanisms in place for decades that allow world military organizations to share information. I happen to be part of two or three of those coalitions and committees, so that would be a fair statement about me, too.”

  Nial crossed his arms. “Perhaps that is a conversation for later,” he said carefully. “If the Elah could not determine who to contact, it points to a weakness in our command structure. We should formalize global linkages, as fast as we can.”

  Standis nodded. “That would be most useful to us. We are spread as far around the world as you, these days, although information flows more freely among us.” His lips moved in a way that made Nial think
he was amused. It was a smile. Sort of. “The Elah all speak the same language, which helps.”

  “You wished to speak to us?” Nial said.

  “We do. I speak on behalf of Dai Chi, the one who leads us. You will accept my credentials?”

  “You’re asking for diplomatic status?” Price said shortly. “That’s a bit out of our sphere.”

  Standis frowned, sorting out Price’s analogy. “I apologize,” he said. “Diplomacy is the sphere of others. We speak to you for a specific reason. I want only to assure you we speak on behalf of all Summanus, that we have not taken this project on by ourselves.”

  “Got it,” Price said. “Go ahead.”

  “We would help you defeat the Summanus. Our knowledge of the enemy stretches back for many generations, yet we cannot build the force that you can. If we work together, we might defeat them at last.”

  There was a little silence in the room, while Price and Lucas Ford stared at the assembled delegation in their formal suits and serene stance. Nial was staring, too.

  Price stirred. “You have the knowledge, while we have the numbers, hey?”

  Standis inclined his head. “Exactly. A wise human friend explained to our greatest one, some time ago, that we should stop fighting to maintain a life that has long gone. We should work with the life that is now presented to us.”

  “You’re talking about assimilating,” Lucas Ford growled. “That’s why you’re getting jobs and going to school.”

  “Indeed,” Standis said in his pleasant tenor voice. “The results of that assimilation have encouraged us to consider other ways of adapting to our new world. However, the Summanus are limiting us at every turn. We would be as glad to be rid of them as humans would be. Therefore, it seems wise to pool our efforts.”

  “The Summanus eat you, too?” Price asked, sounding merely curious.

  Standis’ face shifted. His mouth worked. He didn’t have lips the way humans did, although the flesh around his large mouth seemed to serve the same function, even though it was identical in color to the rest of his face. “The Summanus eat any creature with heat and blood. They are often hungry.”

  “Then they’re not just traditional enemies?” Ford said.

  “They have been our enemy long enough to call it a tradition,” Standis said. “The Ĉiela, too, spent weary days and years trying to contain a species that considers them food and nothing more. All three of us—human, Ĉiela and Elah…we have that in common, although humans were bred specifically to feed them. The Summanus were manageable for as long as their food supply was limited. Now humans have filled the world with their numbers and this will allow the Summanus to breed in numbers that will overwhelm us all in a year or two.”

  Nial shivered as invisible fingers walked up his spine. He hadn’t shivered like that in decades and it shuddered through him, now, sending icy little stabs into his chest. “Hatching season,” he breathed. “There’s more food for them to eat, now, so more of the hatchlings with survive.”

  Standis inclined his head in another regal nod. “You understand.”

  Price rubbed at the back of his neck. “Hell and damnation,” he muttered. “Isn’t hatching season right around the corner?”

  “A week or two, no more,” Standis said.

  Lucas Ford grunted. “I guess you guys might be useful after all. No one else thought of hatching season as anything other than a pain in ass. And the numbers thing. Hell, I was just thinking that there’s more than enough of the fuckers already. I never connected it up with there being more humans on the planet.”

  Kurtz stirred. “The Elah can provide us with an historical perspective that may help in ways we can’t anticipate right now. While we’re exploring those possibilities, we can certainly use whatever fighters they can field.”

  Standis moved his mouth in the way that Nial had first suspected was a smile, or an indication of pleasure. “These are our thoughts, too. Humans have a grasp of technology developed over millennia that we were not privy to while locked in the Blood Stone. It is one of your strengths.”

  “It’s also a damn weakness,” Price growled. “Computer guided this, that and the other, drones and more…they all have a tendency to fritz just when you need ‘em.” It was the complaint of a traditional military man. Price would have been much happier with war in simpler times, when a horse and a rapier were all that was needed.

  “I have a geek friend or two you might speak with,” Nial said.

  “Vampires like tech?” Price said and laughed softly.

  “We take an interest in everything humans do, General,” Nial replied stiffly. “We were human.”

  “Yeah, two thousand years ago. Didn’t you watch Rome fall? There wasn’t much technology around in those days.”

  “ON the contrary,” Nial said, smiling. “The Romans invented indoor plumbing and false teeth, aqueducts, roads and bridges. They improved everything.” He carefully didn’t add that the lead-lined water pipes eventually sent most of the city mad. More tech startups failed than succeeded even in the twenty-first century.

  One of the Elah leaned forward slightly, drawing Nial’s attention. “Do your friends know how to use the Commando application?”

  “If that’s a computer program, then Sebastian probably can figure it out if he’s not already using it,” Nial said. “I couldn’t tell you exactly. Opening email is a big day for me.” He wasn’t embarrassed by his lack of computer savvy. He just hadn’t had time, yet, to master computers. One day, he would have time. There was always time, sooner or later.

  Kurtz looked at Price, who nodded. Then Kurtz cleared his throat. “Nial, this is…Koca, if I remember the name properly.”

  Koca nodded. “You remember properly.”

  “Perhaps Koca should be assigned to you, Nial,” Kurtz said. “Everyone in the delegation, here, is in a position of authority in the Elah command structure, with access to communications channels. Embedding them in among our human and vampire organizations will help with coordination and the flow of information.”

  Nial nodded. He wasn’t going to turn down such a unique source of intelligence and help.

  Koca glanced at Standis, who gave a single blink of his big eyes. It was an Elah nod. That meant the nods and inclines of his head that Standis had used before had been merely imitations of human speech and body language.

  Nial’s respect for the Elah shifted up a notch. They were smart, fast learners and adaptive. If anyone was to survive being enclosed in the Blood Stone, they would. They were determined to try, at the very least.

  He beckoned Koca over to him with a wave of his hand. “If that’s all, Colonel, I’m heading back to the house.”

  Kurtz waved him away. “Go back to your coffin, Nial. Sorry to drag you out on such a stinker of a day.”

  Koca, who had been heading toward Nial, halted, looking at Kurtz with an expression that Nial had no trouble interpreting as alarm.

  “He’s joking,” Nial told him. “Vampires have never slept in coffins, except in the movies.”

  Koca stayed frozen, though. “It does not seem funny to me.”

  So they understood humor, then. “It’s not funny to me, either,” Nial said flatly. “Although we must accommodate the eccentricities of all, yes?”

  Koca tilted his bony head to the side. “Yes,” he said at last. “We must.”

  Nial left, with Koca following.

  He walked back to the car, deep in thought. Things were shifting. Moving. The game board was changing.

  One of the first things he was going to do with Koca was sit him down with Rory and let her suck out all the tactical data she could about Elah strengths and weaknesses and patterns of thought and reaction. He badly wanted to know how having the Elah actively working with them against the Summanus would change things.

  Or would Koca be like Azarel and dive into the deep end of human depravity, rolling around in it like a hormone-riddled teenager, experimenting with the best and worst of human behavior, trying
them all on like coats in a clothing store?

  Or would Koca help improve their odds against the Summanus, even a little bit? They needed all the help they could get.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Nial introduced Koca to Rory. The tall, spindly Elah bent from the waist in an old-fashioned form of acknowledgement.

  Rory stared at him openly. He was the first Elah she had met in person, although she had seen many of them out on the streets, mingling with humans as they hurried to work. She had seen more of the Elah wearing the clothing of laborers and unskilled workers. An Elah made her coffee at the local coffee shop. Another worked behind the counter at the cleaners. More of them populated kitchens, cleaned offices and picked up garbage. She had seen a road construction crew that had been more than half Elah and they had not been leaning on their shovels, either.

  This was the first Elah she had met who had been wearing a suit. He had loosened the tie and undone the top button of his shirt just as a human would, too. It looked strange on him, while at the same time, reassuringly normal.

  She recognized her own discomfort in response to Koca’s appearance and made herself smile at him with as much warmth as she could muster. “Koca, it is very good to meet you. There are so many questions I want to ask you about your people and your ways.”

  “Nial warned me that you would feel that way,” Koca said. “I will be very happy to answer all your questions, although first…I am sorry to make demands as soon as I enter your home, but I am hungry. There was not anything on the military transport that we could easily ingest.”

  Rory glanced at Nial, startled all over again.

  Nial frowned. “What can you eat, that humans would stock as food?”

  “Vegetables, fruit. Most especially, nuts. Some of us can ingest dairy. I am not one of them.”

  “There are many humans who can’t eat diary, either,” Rory told him. “What do you normally eat?”