I lifted my mouth from his neck with great reluctance and nuzzled his ear for a moment. Focusing my powers on his neck, I closed the wound, leaving behind only a slight redness in the area. “We cannot, my angel. Not this time.” Leaning up on my forearms, I looked into his face. He watched me with wide, heartbroken eyes. “If sunset had come but an hour sooner I would happily linger over you, but time will not allow.” I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, drawing in the last bit of his blood, and he sighed, moving his hands up the back of my thighs, keeping me pressed against him.
I laughed and shook my head as I got off the bed. “But you are a temptation,” I said, unbuttoning my shirt.
“Not enough of one,” he said with a little bit of a pout. He watched as I stripped down and walked over to my bag of clothes, which lay at the foot of the bed.
“Sorry, but this is not a pleasure trip. There are serious matters I must handle.”
His eyes greedily followed me as I pulled on a pair of red silk panties, then a black cotton skirt that fell to my ankles. Then came a red lace bra and a black button-up shirt with short sleeves. Michael sat up, resting his back against the headboard when I sat on the edge of the bed next to his hip. He was a little paler than he had been when he came in. I never took so much blood that his life was in danger or that he couldn’t fight, just enough to take the edge off of my hunger. With any luck, I would begin the return trip home tonight and hunt again in my own domain tomorrow night.
“Are you sure you don’t want Gabriel and me to accompany you?” he asked as I drew on a pair of socks.
“No, I’ll be fine.”
That was a lie. I was anxious and confused, but telling him my fears wouldn’t have made him feel any better. His job was to protect me when I could not protect myself, which was only during the daylight hours. Michael and Gabriel protected me against humans only. They were no match for any of the other dark creatures that lurked in the night. How could they hope to protect me against Danaus or the naturi?
I shoved my feet into a pair of black boots with a low chunk heel that laced up to nearly my knees. These were built a little better for the terrain than my usual high-heeled leather boots. I ran my hand through my tousled hair, wishing I had time and access to a quick shower.
“But he will be going with you,” Michael said. There was something sharp and bitter in his tone that startled me, breaking my mind free of the last lingering tendrils of desire that had clouded my thoughts.
Turning my gaze back to his handsome face, I was surprised to find lines of anger and jealousy furrowing his brow. “I do as I please,” I quietly reminded him.
“I’m sorry, Mira,” he said, hesitantly touching my shoulder. A look of fear flashed through his pale blue eyes. We both knew this budding relationship was a strained and uneasy thing as we sought out each other’s boundaries. “I didn’t mean anything.”
I sighed, placing my hand against his cheek. He relaxed instantly and pressed a kiss to my palm. “I know. Danaus is part of the matter that I must take care of. Rest for a while. I am going up to the deck. I will meet you and Gabriel at the hotel before dawn.”
Walking up to the main deck, I ran my hand across Gabriel’s shoulder as I passed him. He followed me at a discreet distance, hanging back toward the shadows as I strolled over to the railing of the barge. The dark night sky was filled with glittering stars. It had been a while since I’d seen so many stars, but they were quickly being overwhelmed by the growing brightness of Aswan. When I had last appeared in the town, it was only a scattering of huts, low buildings, and a single wooden dock. While it was nowhere near the size of Cairo or Alexandria, it was swelling in its own right. The tourists were starting to grow weary of the pyramids and were traveling farther down the Nile to see the mysteries of Philae and the beauty of Abu Simbel.
The wind played with my hair, tossing it about my back. I closed my eyes and slowly reached out with my senses. It was like running my hands over the people in the city, gently touching each mind for less than a heartbeat then moving on. I let my senses reach out as far as the Tombs of the Nobles and down through Abu Simbel before pulling my powers back into my body. I could not feel Jabari, though I’m not sure if I was expecting to find him.
The battle at Machu Picchu five centuries ago had not gone well, despite the fact that we were the victors. Two weeks earlier I’d been kidnapped from Sadira’s care in Spain and taken to the Incan city in the sky. Surrounded by members of the naturi light clan at all times, Nerian tortured me by moonlight while all-too-sweet voices promised that the pain would stop if I only promised to protect them from the evil vampires. If not for my constant thirst for blood, I would even have forgotten, under the weight of the unrelenting pain, that I was a vampire. For two weeks there was only pain and hunger.
And then Jabari arrived. The rest of the triad was with him, as well as a great nightwalker army, yet looking back, I recalled only him. His white robes seemed to glow in the firelight, his dark skin almost as black as the night itself. He had saved me and fought the naturi. But still, only the triad and a handful of others escaped that wretched mountain, while some of the naturi disappeared into the surrounding jungle.
While Jabari hunted the naturi, he left me a wounded Nerian to finish. I broke his legs and slashed his stomach open, but dawn was coming. I was out of time. I left Nerian to die while I ran from the mountain. In the jungle, I buried myself deep into the earth to escape the sun’s rays, confident that Nerian had died on the mountaintop.
The next night, Jabari returned for me. Held tightly in his strong arms, he carried me off to the safety of his home in Egypt. I remained with the Ancient for one century. He helped to keep the nightmares at bay during both the night and the day, when I should have been able to escape my battered psyche.
Jabari gave me something I had managed to find only briefly during my human years and never as a vampire: a home. Within his domain, I was always welcome. I was viewed as a beloved child, a talented protégé to be taught and encouraged. Sadira had taught me to read, to play instruments, and even various languages. But with Jabari, I gained true knowledge. He taught me the history of our kind, of the naturi and the bori, and the war that consumed all of the races before the bori and naturi were finally exiled.
While I was with Jabari, he encouraged me to explore my ability to manipulate fire. For the Ancient, it wasn’t about being a weapon, but honing a skill, becoming better at something. Under his guidance, I took back control of my life, no longer a pawn for Sadira or the naturi.
Opening my eyes, I frowned, a chill encasing my lungs. There were no other nightwalkers within the area. Egypt had always been sporadically populated with my kind because of Jabari’s presence. No one wanted to risk catching the attention of an Elder. Yet, it had been a long time since I walked into a region that didn’t have several nightwalkers lurking in the shadows. I might not seek out another nightwalker, but there was something comforting in knowing that he or she was there. That I wasn’t completely alone in the darkness.
I turned my head, catching sight of Danaus out of the corner of my eye. He had approached while my focus was on the city and surrounding area. The leather duster was gone, but he still wore his black cotton pants and black sleeveless T-shirt. There were several knives strapped to his waist, wrists, and thigh. He was prepared for battle.
“I see you’ve fed,” he said as he stepped closer to the railing. I resisted the urge to run my finger over my lips. I generally wasn’t a messy eater. “You’re…pink,” he continued, filling in the silence. The word stumbled and tripped from his throat as if he struggled for an appropriate description.
Throwing my head back, I laughed, the sound drawing the attention of several deckhands. I always looked a bit flushed after a good meal, my skin taking on a pinker, more lifelike color for a few hours, but I hadn’t expected him to notice. He wasn’t looking particularly happy with me; not that he ever was, but his glare seemed more censuring than usual.
&nbs
p; Leaning back, my elbows rested lightly on the rails. “Have you eaten?” He nodded, his gaze directed at the dock as we pulled in. “I bet something died for your meal.”
His narrowed eyes jerked to my face. “It’s not the same.” His jaw was clenched and his lips pressed into a hard, thin line. Hot, angry power bubbled within him, pulsing against me in waves that would have rivaled the midday sun that baked the Egyptian landscape. “Why not?” I turned and walked toward the bow, my eyes on Aswan. I didn’t expect an answer or want one. There shouldn’t be a difference. I didn’t care what he thought. We both did what we had to in order to survive; it was as simple as that.
It wasn’t long afterward that we docked at Aswan, our little boat skirting several larger cruise ships to settle at a less crowded berth. I jumped down to the wooden dock, not looking back to see if Danaus had followed. But I could feel him a few steps behind me, his anger simmering. I was irritated with him. At least, I think he was bothering me. It could have been that I was forced to cut short my time with Michael, or that I didn’t know where the hell Jabari was. It could have even been the fact that the naturi were once again threatening and I didn’t want to face them. It could have been any or all of these things, but right now Danaus was an easy target.
I paused on the Corniche el-Nil for a moment, gazing up and down the road as I tried to get my bearings. The road ran north-south along Aswan closest to the Nile, housing a variety of travel agencies, which in turn managed the various motor launches and feluccas that ferried tourists to the islands that dotted this stretch of the Nile. We had landed farther south in Aswan than I’d anticipated. Directly in front of me was the Nile and Elephantine Island, and beyond that, Kitchener’s Island, with its exotic botanic gardens. One block over behind me, the rich sounds of the souq could be heard. Vendors would be at their trade for another few hours, hawking their wares to anyone who passed close enough to be considered a potential customer. Vibrant Nubian music filled the air, played on pear-shaped guitars called ouds and shallow douff drums. The sun had set, but the city was just coming alive as people finally escaped the oppressive heat of the day.
During my stay with Jabari, we had passed most of our time farther north, in Thebes and occasionally in Alexandria. Because I needed to feed more frequently than he did, the Ancient thoughtfully lingered near populous areas, though I suspected he would have preferred to move to a more remote, secluded location. On two occasions we took trips up the Nile to Aswan, where we stayed within the local Nubian villages; Jabari’s true home.
Just prior to moving to the New World, I encountered Jabari in Venice during one of my infrequent visits to the Coven. He spoke of moving south to Aswan to oversee the construction of the first Aswan dam. It would flood the areas that had once been the heart of the Nubian empire. While I never had a chance to ask him decades later, I was confident that the Ancient Nubian had also overseen the construction of the High Dam and the careful moving of Abu Simbel and Philae to a safer, drier location.
Walking north along Corniche el-Nil, I weaved my way through the crowds as they stepped off their feluccas and headed back toward their hotels, with Danaus following like a dark rain cloud. The people barely looked up at me as I passed by. The city had a feeling about it that whispered of darker things than me. Jabari had spent his entire existence in this part of the world. He had ventured elsewhere, seen the green lands of South America and the cold tundra of Russia, but he always came back to his beloved Egypt. I think the people of Aswan could feel him when he was there. They never understood what it was they were feeling, though; perhaps assumed it was one of the old gods lingering in the temples or a pharaoh’s ghost.
I wondered if they felt his absence. The people hurried down the streets with their heads down, careful not to make eye contact. The Middle East had always been rife with civil unrest, but now there was an edge to the people that I couldn’t understand. Maybe they knew their god was missing.
After a few blocks I finally found what I was searching for. Unfortunately, the ferry to the West Bank was closed for the night. Aswan lay on the East Bank, overflowing with rich vegetation, hotels, and shops. The West Bank was mostly desert, with only a few monuments visited by tourists throughout the day. However, all those monuments closed by 5:00 P.M., so there was no reason for the ferry to remain open past that hour.
Shoving my hand through my hair, I turned where I stood, gazing up and down Corniche for an open felucca. It was only a guess, but I truly doubted that Jabari would have settled near the busy heart of Aswan. There were two types of nightwalkers: those that ran from their past, such as myself, and those that still embraced their human history, like Jabari. I knew where he would have gone. I just had to get there.
A smile lifted my lips as my eyes fell on a young man with skin like rich coffee as he was tying up his small felucca. It couldn’t have held more than six people, smaller than most used by tourists, but he could have easily advertised it as a more private excursion.
I bargained for the price of a quick jaunt across the Nile to the landing for the Tombs of the Nobles. He was polite enough to at least ask if I was aware of the fact that the Tombs were closed, but he didn’t push the matter. What did he care? He would get paid whether I was turned away at the entrance or not.
Danaus and I boarded the small boat and the captain pushed off from the dock and immediately unfurled the white sail. Between the brisk wind and the swift flow of the Nile, we were able to cross to the West Bank in only a few minutes. Something in me wished for more time, though. I would have liked to head farther up river to see the Temple of Philae in her new home, bathed in the glow of golden floodlights. Or even gone down river to Edfu and the Temple of Horus. While a Roman replica of ancient Egyptian architecture, the temple still outdated my lengthy existence and was magnificent to see. But for now, I sat in a tiny boat with a vampire hunter while I searched for an Ancient vampire that might or might not be dead.
Ten
Danaus said nothing until we hired a pair of camels and started riding northwest into the desert, past the Tombs of the Nobles. I looked over my shoulder once as we topped the massive hill to see Aswan spread out before me, glittering in the night, with the Nile gliding like a black asp toward the north. We were leaving behind the last signs of civilization.
“Where are we going?” the hunter called from his camel behind me.
My gaze remained on the rock formation to the west that was steadily growing in size. It was the western quarry. “Seeking the key to the triad.”
“Which is?” he prompted after a few seconds of silence.
“Who is, you mean.”
“Mira…”
I smiled. There weren’t too many creatures that could reduce my name to a low warning growl, but Danaus was quite successful. “Jabari.”
“I thought you said he was dead.”
A warm wind swept across the desert from the south, carrying with it the faintest hint of the Nile. The only sound in this vast wasteland was the muffled footsteps of the camels as they steadily maneuvered through the soft sand. There was no life out here beyond the snakes and scorpions. Not for the first time, I wondered if I was gazing at the reason why the Ancients of my race were dwindling. As time passed, Jabari spent less time in the company of the living, preferring the solitude of the vast desert terrain he ruled. And while Tabor had been barely more than half Jabari’s age when he was murdered, I knew he had taken to spending more time in Russia’s icy tundra than in the western cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
While we never aged and were completely immune to disease, my species struggled to last more than a few millennia at best. What was the point of immortality if you couldn’t live for more than a couple thousand years?
I bit back a sigh and absently patted my camel’s neck, running my finger over its coarse hair. “I don’t know. Jabari was always the strongest of the triad. If he is gone, I would like to know if the naturi are responsible.”
I didn’t know
what had happened to Jabari. I suspected that I should have gone straight to the Coven, but I wouldn’t have been able to keep the hunter at my side, and for now, I didn’t want him out of my sight. Besides, my interaction with the Coven had always been through Jabari. I didn’t know how to directly contact Macaire or Elizabeth, the two other members of the ruling vampire body. I didn’t think anyone in the Coven would have tried to destroy Jabari. He was one of the oldest and strongest of the Elders, just below Our Liege. Besides, getting any kind of answer from the Coven was proving to be a waste of my time. And for the first time since becoming a nightwalker, I had a feeling that time was in short supply.
After a thirty-minute ride through the desert, we finally reached the great rock outcropping that rose up around us. An anxious knot tightened in my stomach as I dismounted from the camel. The wind had stopped and the desert seemed to hold its breath as the shadows created by broken slabs of rock watched us in silence.
Danaus started to walk around me and enter the quarry, but I placed my hand in the center of his chest, stopping him. One last time I stretched out my powers, scanning the area. I reached out into the desert and back toward the Tombs and to Aswan, searching for any sign that a nightwalker was near. There was nothing, and it hurt. It hurt more than I wanted to admit. There was no Jabari. Only something dire would draw him away from this area for so long. Maybe he already knew about the naturi and was with the Coven, but for some reason, I didn’t believe it. I’d left messages with every contact I had with the Coven and heard nothing. I’d even checked one last time when I awoke in Egypt, but no one responded. With a slight shake of my head, I headed into the quarry with the hunter close at my side. We were on our own.
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