A Vampire's Dominion

by Vanessa Fewings

  “Who are they?” Ingrid asked.

  “No one we can’t deal with,” he reassured her. “I’m always wary for thieves. Tomb raiders. I try to stay one step ahead of them. It’s been my life’s work. I know I seem paranoid but I’ve seen too much. Back in Egypt, thieves wait until it rains and then go looking for dents in the sand that reveal hidden tombs beneath. These men desecrate the burial site and then sell the artifacts.” He shook his head. “Decimating history without remorse.”

  “Dr. Hanson mentioned your father?” Ingrid said.

  He gave her a look of the obvious.

  She shook her head, realizing. “Of course.”

  “I’ve used my fake lineage to remain prominent in his field without arousing suspicion,” he admitted.

  “So when Hanson was talking about your father,” Ingrid said, “she was actually talking about you.”

  He let out the longest sigh as though still coming to terms with his lifestyle.

  “I’m afraid we are being followed,” I said.

  Lucas pretended to be interested in the one of the glass cases containing a mummified rat. Ingrid stood close and feigned she was reading the description of the shriveled specimen.

  I slid Lucas the credit card sized room key. “Take Ingrid to the Savoy.”

  He shoved it into his pocket. “Sure you can handle them?”

  “What’s going on?” Ingrid peered through the cabinet at me.

  “Go with Lucas.” I tried to get another look at their faces.

  Lucas grabbed Ingrid’s hand and guided her away.

  Strolling leisurely through the exhibit, the two well-dressed vampires disappeared behind a black curtain. I headed after them, quickly entering the museum’s fifty seat theatre, reassured to see we were alone.

  Playing upon the large screen was the film Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.

  The two nightwalkers sat in the back row and I edged along the one in front of them and sat.

  Both of them were dressed in jeans and blazers and they were easily two of the most ridiculously pretty twenty-something vampires I’d seen in a while. They’d easily pass for aristocracy.

  The dirty blond sat forward. “William, we need your help,” he said.

  I detected his sincerity but not so much in his dark haired friend who seemed impatient.

  I locked on him. “How do you know who I am?”

  “We saw you at Belshazzar’s,” the blond said. “With Marcus.”

  I sincerely hoped it wasn’t the night I was covered in blood. “You know my name, how about you tell me yours?” I said.

  “Raven,” the darker haired one gave his name, dismissing the way his friend had started. “Where’s Orpheus?”

  “You assume I know?” I looked over at his friend.

  “You’re well acquainted with Belshazzar’s.” The blond sat back.

  I went quiet waiting for his name.

  “Angus,” the blond said, sounding like he regretted telling me.

  “Belshazzar’s closed down,” I said.

  “On whose authority?” Raven asked.

  “Orpheus, of course,” I replied flatly.

  Raven seemed reassured. “We must speak with him.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  Angus became agitated.

  “I’ll pass on your message,” I said. “What is it?”

  “So he’s not dead?” Raven asked.

  I gave a bored sigh. “You’ve interrupted my visit to the museum. Can we hurry this up?”

  “You’re good friends with Lucas Azir,” Raven said. “As is Orpheus.”

  “And Marcus,” Angus added. “Orpheus’s closest ally.”

  I folded my arms. “What’s your point?”

  “We can only assume you’re in contact with Orpheus?” Angus asked.

  “He’s in Italy,” I lied with panache.

  “How might we persuade you to help us?” Raven leaned forward and pouted, sending a wave of pleasure between my legs with merely a thought. He sat back and his lip curled upward triumphantly.

  I used the same trick he’d just thrown my way, only mine penetrated his solar plexus and jolted a shocking frisson directly into his spine and downward, staying there, vacillating.

  Jaw slackening, lips quivering, Raven dug his fingernails into the armrests, clearly taken by surprise.

  I arched an eyebrow. “You were saying?”

  Raven’s back stiffened and he blushed wildly, gesturing he needed a moment.

  Angus pretended not to catch his reaction. “We need to get a message to Orpheus.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  Angus glanced at Raven.

  Raven sucked on his lips still seemingly recovering, and then said, “We need his permission.” His shoulders slumped. “Marcus refused to tell us where Orpheus is. This is the first time anyone’s mentioned where we can find him.”

  “Where in Italy, exactly?” Angus asked.

  I emphasized my impatience.

  Raven lowered his chin in a gesture of respect. “We can’t advance with any action until sanctioned by the ruling Status Regal.”

  “Proceed with what?” I asked.

  Raven hesitated and then said, “Killing him.”

  I tried to read him. “Who?”

  Raven swapped a glance with Angus. “Dominion of course.”

  “You want that?” I kept my tone even.

  “Don’t you?” Angus asked, surprised. “If he’s allowed to take up his position of authority with the Stone Masters . . . we’re all in serious trouble.”

  I glanced away.

  “If Dominion sides with the Stone Masters,” Raven said, “We’re all vulnerable.”

  Angus sat back, questioning my reticence with a frown. “So you’ll help us find Orpheus?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” I turned to Raven. “How many are there of you that want Dominion dead?”

  Raven looked surprised. “All of us.”

  Chapter 30

  THE TIP OF THE KNIFE pressed against Ingrid’s neck.

  “Please put the knife down, Sunaria,” I said casually and threw my jacket onto the back of the armchair.

  Sunaria glanced over at Lucas.

  My gut wrenched to see him lying face down on the carpet, unconscious, his throat slit and blood oozing, staining the hotel room’s plush carpet, scarlet.

  Telling Lucas to bring Ingrid back to the Savoy had been a terrible mistake. From the disarray in the hotel room, Lucas hadn’t gone down without a fight. With my mind closed down, Sunaria wouldn’t know just how full of panic I really was.

  To save my friends, calmness was needed; a clear head.

  I took a seat in the high-back chair. “How are you?”

  “What a ridiculous way to begin,” Sunaria snapped.

  “You do realize Ingrid’s one of your descendants,” I said.

  Sunaria sighed and her fingers loosened around the handle of the knife.

  I reached for the copy of Time Magazine resting on the coffee table.

  “Ah.” I threw it down. “Last month’s.”

  Suspicion burned in Sunaria’s eyes. “You’re taking too long to find a way back.”

  “We’ve been looking for the scrolls.” I glanced over at Lucas. “You do realize he’s the only one who can interpret them.” I grimaced. “Lucas is my only way back.”

  Sunaria’s attention slid back to Ingrid. “Why her?”

  “She’s helping us.” I gave a shrug. “Simple.”

  The knife lifted off Ingrid’s flesh leaving a tiny ooze of blood.

  Ingrid was begging me with her eyes to save her.

  “Sunaria,” I said, “Lucas really was looking forward to meeting with you.” I rose from the chair and strolled over to him. “He’s obsessed with all things Sumerian.”

  “He refused to tell me where you were.” Sunaria sounded bitter. “And then he refused to leave me with her.”

  “He was obeying my order,” I said.

  Sunaria p
ressed the knife deeper against Ingrid’s throat. “What is she to you?”

  There was no other choice but to look at Ingrid and hope I’d not give anything away. “How was Cornwall?” I asked.

  “I never went,” she said.

  Sunaria reminded me of an Egyptian goddess and the memories I’d held at arm’s length flooded in, and I shared them with her, using the mind gift so that she too could relive those daring moments of our once-love burning brightly; torturing each other with our obsession for each other . . .

  “You don’t love me anymore.” It sounded more like a question.

  Raising my chin, I persisted to woo her . . .

  Recalling our tempestuous relationship, during those neverending nights when I’d provoked her, shown her nothing but affection.

  “I want that again,” Sunaria whispered, her eyelids fluttering in response.

  “It was you who left me, remember?” I took a step closer. “I begged you to stay at Belshazzar’s.”

  “It was all too much.” Her lips trembled.

  “I understand.”

  “I lost you,” she said, “lost everything.”

  “We’re close to a resolution,” I told her. “I need you to hang on for just a little longer.”

  “Orpheus?” she asked desperately.

  “Sunaria, please don’t do this.”

  Voices carried from outside the door; other guests were deep in conversation, strolling toward their hotel room with no idea of what was unfolding in this one.

  It fell quiet again.

  Kneeling beside Lucas, I bit into my wrist and rested it against his lips, giving a little blood at first, just enough to heal his gash, before he came round and realized the state he was in.

  “Get rid of her,” Sunaria’s tone was scathing.

  One wrong move on my part and Sunaria would slice Ingrid’s throat.

  “The London Eye is over four hundred feet high,” I said. “It’s an observation wheel on the Thames.” I glanced down at Lucas who was clutching my wrist to his mouth, sucking furiously.

  “So?” asked Sunaria.

  “I want to show it to you,” I said, easing my arm away from Lucas and ruffling his hair with affection.

  Sunaria caught my tenderness toward Lucas and threw me a disapproving look.

  I knelt in close to Lucas’s ear and whispered, “You always did prefer Piccadilly.”

  He squeezed my hand that he’d understood.

  I headed for the door and opened it.

  Ingrid tumbled forward, burying her face into the carpet and though I didn’t wait to see her cry, I knew she would.

  As Sunaria and I left, I wrapped my arm around her waist and said, “I hear the view from the London Eye is spectacular.”

  * * * *

  When we reached the London Eye it was closed to the public for a private event. Undeterred I led Sunaria into the crowd of thirty late night party goers before we were guided through to the landing zone.

  The gigantic Ferris wheel loomed over the River Thames from Parliament Square, situated between Hungerford Bridges and Westminster. What might once have been considered a modern day monstrosity had become a beloved city landmark.

  And this was the first time Sunaria had seen it.

  Cursing myself for choosing this location so hastily, I’d seemingly forgotten my fear of heights.

  It was too late now.

  Sunaria and I stepped into our own private pod and sat upon the central wooden seat. We took off effortlessly, gliding upward in its seamless rotation, its glass panels allowing a magnificent, if not terrifying, panoramic view.

  Just beyond this small closed-in space, life was suspended, if only for a while.

  Both of us were awed by the dramatic nightscape that unfolded beneath us, brilliantly showing off Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Bridge and then reaching out farther, unveiling all the way to the vast dark horizon.

  “You’d have told me anything to have gotten me out of there,” she said.

  “What you did to Lucas was despicable,” I said.

  With a turn of her head she brushed off my statement.

  I wondered if anything good could come from this meeting, questioning my judgment for locking myself in here with her.

  “Well, you saved him, didn’t you?” She faced me, her silhouette lit brilliantly by the city lights.

  “How can it be fair that Orpheus is lost to me?”

  “That’s not exactly true.”

  “You’re moving on.” She caressed her hands, full of angst.

  “I’ve been trying to find a way back.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, trying to cope with the words as I spoke them. “Facing my mortality . . . is challenging.”

  “Did you ever grieve for me?” she asked softly.

  “I punished everyone including myself for losing you. Pushed everyone away. Marcus and Lucas stood by me when everyone else was too scared to even be in the same room as me.” I rose and joined her by the window. “This,” I clutched my chest, “is the result of my self-hate.”

  “Don’t say it.”

  “I’m also Jadeon Artimas.” I took a breath. “Everyone seems to forget that.”

  “You blame me for this?”

  I pressed my hands up against the glass. “I’m done blaming.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Haven’t you heard about the poisonings? Vampires have been dying.”

  “And why is that my concern?”

  I threw her a look of disapproval.

  She acknowledged her regret for her words. “Lucas told me you know what’s causing it.”

  “And then you slit his throat?” I snapped.

  She folded her arms defiantly.

  “A faction has broken away from the Stone Masters,” I continued, hating the silence. “They call themselves Sovereign. They have the scrolls I need, apparently. And I need Lucas to interpret them. Ingrid’s using her detective skills to help us.”

  “You’re in love with her?”

  I pressed my forehead against the glass. “My relationship with everyone is skewed.”

  “What’s in Piccadilly?”

  I stared dead ahead.

  She folded her arms. “Jacob’s been lying to you.”

  “About what?” And then I saw it in her eyes. “You met with him?”

  “I needed answers.”

  “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t care.”

  I backed away, unwilling to see her pain; the agony of how much Jacob’s betrayal had hurt her.

  “I needed to hear the truth,” she whispered.

  “Jacob saved you from the Stone Masters.”

  “With no intention of ever waking me.” She shook her head. “I’m not the only one Jacob’s betrayed. Your beloved Lucas is Jacob’s eyes and ears. He’s been watching over you and reporting back to Jacob.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Jacob convinced you that Lucas would assist you, but what he’s really doing is keeping you distracted.”

  “What?” I studied her, not wanting to miss a single nuance she might give away.

  Her eyes widened. “Jacob is still a Stone Lord.”

  “Impossible, they killed his wife!”

  “Seems he forgave them.” She lowered her chin. “How do you think Jacob knew about Paradom’s existence?”

  “Lucas told him about him.”

  “Why do you think Jacob is so obsessed with protecting Paradom?”

  I shook my head, annoyed with what she was insinuating.

  “Paradom is Dominion,” she said.

  As her words spilled out, I tried to comprehend them.

  All this time I’d fought my rising doubt that I was doing the right thing, my mind so muddled that I’d struggled with making the right decisions, walking the path that would lead me to the truth. Betrayal bestowed the bitterest taste causing me to doubt everything and everyone I’d trusted.
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  Sunaria clutched my shirtsleeve. “Find Paradom and kill him.”

  My fangs tingled, my rage stirring. “Fabian convinced me finding Dominion was . . . our only hope.”

  “He knows where Dominion is!”

  “How do you know this?”

  She lowered her glare. “I too am an ancient. I get to see inside the minds of others.”

  “Fabian told me to find Dominion.”

  She looked defiant. “Were those his exact words?”

  I broke her stare and thought back to Fabian’s last words to me at London Bridge. “Keep Dominion safe,” he’d said.

  I resisted frowning, showing my reaction but Sunaria was right. Fabian had hinted that I might know where Dominion was. Fabian’s modus was extraordinarily eccentric. Rubbing my eyes, I tried to ease the tension out.

  “If Fabian trusted you,” she said, “why abandon you on the day you were transformed?”

  I tried to shake off the nagging doubt threatening to blind me from everything I believed, the dawning realization that the world I’d left behind when I’d stepped inside this claustrophobic pod was not the world I was returning to.

  And I’d forgotten all about my fear of heights.

  “Did you really believe they were ever going to trust Orpheus?” Her words faded into the background. “The only worthy leader of our kind. Dominion threatens Orpheus’s rule.”

  As I allowed myself to see beyond the glass, I did for a moment sense the face of the man staring back; that invisible reflection if seen would show the true colors of the vampire standing before it.

  Tormented. Betrayed. Damned.

  “Find a way to reverse this,” her voice sounded distant. “I want him back.”

  What if I don’t make it?

  “Then Ingrid will pay the price for your failure.”

  Chapter 31

  BLINDED WITH CONFUSION, riddled with fury, I flew toward Piccadilly.

  Lingering in the foyer of the Ritz Carlton, I tried to still my frenzied thoughts, hoping I could stay calm long enough to have a reasonable conversation with Lucas. Threatened with his possible betrayal, I tried to unravel actuality from conjecture, the truth out of deceit.

  If Paradom was Dominion, the plan had been brilliantly executed. No one would have suspected this mad vampire to be the one to lead the rest of us through the twenty-first century. He could just about lead himself to open a can of cat food.