She shook her head. “I have to make sure—”
He moved so fast, she didn’t see it coming. Suddenly, he was no more than an inch away, his head lowered until they were practically nose to nose, those gleaming eyes staring into hers. “Don’t push me tonight, Layla,” he hissed. “I need a briefing, and you’re going to deliver it.”
“You took my prisoner,” she accused.
“She’s my prisoner, not yours.”
“Bastard.”
“Hardly. My mother was a lady of the court, and my father was her husband under Church law. I’ll thank you not to sully her good name.”
She glowered, wondering if any of that was true, or if he was just being an arrogant ass.
“No comeback,” he gloated. “How very disappointing . . . for you.” He took another look around and apparently didn’t like what he saw. “We’re taking this to my office,” he said, looking down at her. “The only question is how you’re going to get there.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she muttered.
“You’ve been gone far too long, if you think that’s true. And you wouldn’t be able to stop me any more than your boyfriend would.”
And they’d been getting along so well, she thought, gritting her jaw hard enough that her teeth hurt. “Fuck,” she snapped.
Xavier gave her a look she couldn’t interpret, a cross between gloating and indulgence. And what the hell was that supposed to mean? “Walk with me,” he said, his tone so gentle that it completely disarmed her.
“Ugh,” she groaned, but began walking in the right direction while he turned to join her.
They’d taken only a few steps, when Xavier said, “He’s in love with you.”
It was such a non sequitur that she gave him a startled look. “What? Who?”
“Your man Brian. He’s in love with you.”
“No, he’s not,” she said, letting him hear, in her voice, what an absurd idea that was. “Brian loves me, yes. But as a friend, a brother. There’s never been anything else between us.”
“So you say.”
“So I know. We’ve known each other for years. We served in the military together, before creating this team. Trust me, there’s nothing between us.”
“Captain.” Brian’s shout drew her attention with impeccable timing.
She looked up at Xavier. “I’ll catch up.”
“I’ll wait,” he snarled.
She walked back, meeting Brian halfway. “What’s up?”
“You okay?” he asked softly, glancing at Xavier over her shoulder, making his meaning clear.
“Fine. He was angry, but he’d never hurt me.”
“So what’s the story between you two?”
“What? There is no story,” she lied.
“Yeah, right,” he scoffed. “Tell that to someone who hasn’t known you for ten years. You have a thing for him.”
“Did. Past tense. As in, no longer.”
“Uh huh. For what it’s worth, he likes you, too.”
“He likes everything with a pussy.”
Brian laughed. “Now I know you like him.”
“Drop it, Hudson. Get yourself and the others settled and fed. The communal kitchen’s that way. They’ll just be serving dinner. And stop dissecting my non-existent love life.”
“Sure thing, Cap. I take it you’re heading for a debriefing and strategy session with the vampire gang,” he said with way too much enthusiasm.
“Unfortunately. I’m hungry, too, you know.”
“Want me to save you something? I imagine there won’t be much to eat among the vamps.”
She sighed. “You’re right about that. Maybe I can persuade his highness to order something. But just in case, put something in the refrigerator for me.”
“Will do, but hey, as long as you’re all plotting the future, remind the vamp about the kids. All of them, young and old, need to stay out of school until we’ve neutralized this threat. They failed this time, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try again.”
“Good point. I’ll get someone to call the schools, get assignments or whatever. Xavier’s a good politician, always supports the town government, contributes to pet projects and the like. They won’t fight on home-schooling the kids until we can guarantee their safety again.” She shot a look back to where Xavier waited, probably hearing every word they were saying. Damn vampire. “I have to get to this meeting while I can still keep my eyes open. Don’t forget to save me some food, and don’t try swapping bedrooms while I’m gone either.”
Brian snorted. “Your stuff’s already in the biggest room. Too much trouble to move it.”
She slapped his arm with a grin, then spun on her heel and rejoined Xavier.
XAVIER HAD WAITED in silence while Layla and her subordinate spoke, presumably including his orders for the next few hours. They sure as hell didn’t look as if that was the only thing going on, though. They stood as close as lovers and touched easily. What the fuck was that? It was obvious that Brian loved Layla, and he couldn’t believe she was so blind that she didn’t see it. She’d always been smarter than the others in her age group, and nothing he’d seen so far indicated that had changed. She was also incredibly observant, especially of the people around her, with an intuitive sense of human behavior—something he obviously lacked. She hadn’t been so quick to notice though, when she’d denied there was anything more to her relationship with the human. She had a big blind spot there.
Not that it mattered. In the end, she would be his. It had taken all his strength to walk away once. He wasn’t going to do it again. Not now that she’d returned, with all the beauty and sensuality that had been only a promise in the teenager, and was now fully realized in the woman. Not even her physical strength and military experience could take away from her desirability. She was lush and curvy, despite the lean muscles and battle-hardened gaze. And damn if he didn’t want her more than ever.
Layla joined him, her dark eyes raised to meet his. “What’s with the scowl, oh great one?”
He closed his eyes briefly. She could push him as no one else could. Mostly because he wouldn’t have tolerated it from anyone else. “The day’s events don’t lend themselves to laughter,” he growled. “May we leave now?”
She made a noise that was half laugh and half snort—nothing that a lady would have permitted to escape her delicate lips. And yet he found it charming.
“I’m hungry,” she said simply. “And since I’m probably going to be the only human at this meeting, I need one of your minions to bring me some food. A sandwich will be fine. A big sandwich, with no onions. Everything else is good.”
“I don’t have minions, but I will be happy to request a sandwich for you, especially one with no onions.”
She laughed, and they walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence.
CHUY STOOD WHEN they entered, and gave Xavier a slight bow from the waist. “Sire.”
Xavier waved his lieutenant back down, and Layla noticed that he was drinking rum tonight, rather than wine. She personally despised the stuff, but since the vampire symbiote metabolized alcohol too rapidly for it to have any real effect, vamps mostly drank for the taste. And rum had a very distinct taste. Blech.
Joaquim walked in a moment later, while she was pouring herself a good old-fashioned whiskey.
“Good evening, my lord,” Joaquim said, then added, “Commander,” with a look in her direction. He ignored the bar, going straight to the conference table, where he sat facing the room.
“Layla?” Xavier said, once they were both seated at the table, with him at one end, and her sitting next to him—a seat, she couldn’t help noticing, that both his vampires had left carefully open. “Tell us what happened today. In detail, if you would.”
She looked up, rea
dy to begin, but paused when one of Xavier’s vampire guards walked in and set a plate in front of her, with the requested sandwich, along with some sliced fruit, and an unopened bottle of water.
“Gràcies,” Xavier said. “I sense visitants,” he added, indicating there were to be no visitors, no interruptions.
“Sire,” the vamp said and closed the door behind him as he left.
Layla gave the sandwich a longing look, but settled for a slice of fruit and a sip of water before beginning her report. “It started with a call from one of the teenagers, Alícia Vilar. There was a rumor running around the school that the children’s van had been attacked, and the children taken. I want to add at this point that I don’t think whoever took them expected us to respond as quickly or effectively as we did.”
She leaned forward, warming to the topic. The kidnappers’ motivation had bothered her almost from the beginning, but especially after her team had found the children practically unguarded, and had freed them easily. It certainly had been different than other hostage rescues they’d executed over the years.
“First, the kidnapping was not just daytime, but morning. They could just as easily have taken the kids on their way home in the early afternoon. They knew my father was gone, but they didn’t know that I’d replaced him, or that I’d immediately go after them. And they sure as hell didn’t know that some of my team had arrived in town on the very heels of the kidnapping.”
She sipped some water before continuing. “We found the children drugged to sleep, and guarded by two inexperienced teenagers who were also sound asleep. Why were the children being held in a house thirty minutes from here? Why hadn’t they immediately left town, or at least taken the hostages to Barcelona, where they wouldn’t have every person on the street noticing the damn van driving by with its windows all shot to hell? Because they expected you and your vampires to respond, expected to have the entire day to take the children to wherever their plan was. Granted, it was simple good luck that my guys showed up when they did, and were able to pinpoint the kidnappers’ house so fast.
She swallowed a piece of melon, letting the sweet juice wet her throat, although it only served to make her more hungry.
“And then there’s this.” She handed Xavier the note that had been delivered under a white flag, just as she’d been taking off to meet her team.
Xavier froze when she laid the envelope on the table in front of him, with the note inside, and the seal intact. “Where’d you get this?” he demanded, his eyes flaring with power for an instant, before they went back to normal. Or his normal.
“Another teenager, a little older than the prisoner and her dead friend—certainly bolder and more confident than either of them—arrived at the Fortalesa. She was walking, though when we search tomorrow, we’ll probably find indications that somebody had driven her most of the way, and they’d later left together. She was carrying a white flag and specifically asked whether we would honor it before she handed that letter over.”
“What do you think she’d have done if you’d refused?”
“Good question. I wouldn’t be surprised if whoever had brought her here had a long-range rifle aimed at me, or whoever else might have come out to speak to her. You know the guard and driver from the van were butchered, both of them dead. And the two guards in the escort vehicle were severely wounded. These people clearly don’t have any qualms about killing to get what they want.”
“Which is what?” Joaquim asked.
Layla would have shared her own confusion as to that, but she was staring at Xavier and realized that he knew who Sakal was. “Xavier?” she asked softly. “Does that name mean something to you?”
“Fill de puta,” he swore softly, then looked at her and added, “Something,” in a voice hoarse with an emotion.
Anger she would have understood. But this was more than that. There was a history there, one she needed to know if she was to have a hope in hell of understanding what was going on.
“Sire?” Chuy said, concern in his voice. “Who is it?”
Xavier spun the note down the table where both vampires could read it. And when they did, they looked up with expressions every bit as distraught as his.
Recognizing that this was something more than just secret-keeping between them, Layla swallowed her frustration, and even took a long drink of water before she touched Xavier’s hand where it lay on the table and said quietly, “I need to know what this means. I can’t defend the Fortalesa and its people if I don’t know what to expect.”
He’d been staring at the empty envelope which lay with its wax seal face up, but now he lifted his head and spoke to his vampires in a furious voice. “We’re taking that nest tonight. We’ll leave well after midnight, when they’ll assume we’re staying home and licking our wounds. When they’ll be returning to their beds, confident that they’re safe for another night. But in the meantime, be visible. Walk throughout the Fortalesa, let everyone—vampire and human—see your confidence that the enemy will soon pay the ultimate price.”
Then he stood. “I’ll call you when I’m ready to interrogate the prisoner.”
The vampires rose and left without another word, while Xavier followed them to the door and locked it. Then he returned to the table and held out a hand to her.
She took it and stood without question, hoping this meant he was going to tell her who the fuck Sakal was, and why his involvement had all of them looking as though the devil himself had shown up at their front gate.
XAVIER LED AN unresisting Layla through the door to his bedroom, surprised when, though her fingers tightened on his, she didn’t offer an immediate protest. What had he been thinking earlier, that she was unusually sensitive to the moods of people around her? Perhaps she’d read his and known that he wasn’t planning to throw her on the bed and fuck her until he felt better, and she no longer had the strength to ask questions.
“Drink?” he asked, lifting a crystal decanter identical to the one in his office, and with the same whiskey inside.
“Sure, though . . . is it okay if I eat my sandwich? If I drink any more on an empty stomach, I’ll probably get sick instead of drunk.”
“Get your food,” he said, gesturing toward the door. “If you’re to understand who Sakal is, I’ve a long story to tell.”
She blinked in surprise, probably at the idea that he would tell her anything about his past. But she hadn’t been around long enough as an adult to hear his stories. They certainly weren’t fit for anyone younger.
He poured two drinks, left one on the side table closest to the door, then walked around to the side of the bed and stretched out, his own drink in hand. Sipping slowly, he waited until she sat cross-legged on the bed next to him, her plate of food carefully sitting on the cloth napkin that had been wrapped around the fork and knife delivered with the meal. Presumably, she’d taken that precaution to protect the bed’s comforter, although he would have told her not to bother.
“Okay, if I start eating?”
“Of course. I’m not that delicate, cariño. You, more than anyone, surely know that.”
“True, but I’m trying to be polite. I’ve never been in your bedroom.”
She’d probably meant that to lighten his mood, but knowing that Sakal was even alive, much less returning to trouble him again, it would take a hell of a lot more than a casual quip to cheer him up. The bastard’s death would be a good place to start.
He shook his head at that and muttered, “He should be two hundred years dead already. At least. How is it possible that he’s survived this long?”
“Sakal?” she asked around a mouthful of sandwich.
“His full name is Ori Sakal, and he’s a vampire, though weaker than a strong human. He should have starved, unable to enthrall a human well enough to feed. That is, if he wasn’t killed by some other vampire first.”
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He let a sigh come then, sipping his whiskey for a while before continuing. “Sakal was a sorcerer of considerable skill before he was turned. I was just past my hundredth year, and my power had already eclipsed that of my Sire, Josep Alexandre. I no longer lived under Josep’s roof, but we were allies of a sort. There was plenty of territory to go around then, unlike now, which made it possible for us to coexist peaceably, as long as we saw each other rarely and only for short visits.
“I remember when my Sire first approached me about this sorcerer he’d met. The man was not the most powerful sorcerer in our world, but he was uncommonly strong, and my Sire wanted him in his court in a way that ensured no other could make use of his talents. That, of course, meant making him a vampire, loyal only to my Sire.” Xavier paused to take a sip before continuing. “You might think that made it simple. Turn the sorcerer, make him yours for eternity. The problem, and the reason my Sire hesitated enough to seek my opinion, was twofold. First, there was always the chance that the newly-turned vampire would end up as I had, more powerful than the Sire. That didn’t happen often, however, and so it wasn’t the major concern.
“No, the biggest problem was that attempts to make a vampire out of a sorcerer were so rare that most believed them to be the stuff of fable. What was taken as fact, however, was that no vampire had ever succeeded in turning a sorcerer . . . without that sorcerer also losing his magical abilities. They retained not even the small amount of magic that most vampires are capable of. Or at least, that was the accepted truth.”
He paused again, thinking back to those days with his Sire. They’d been friends as well as allies, something that was still uncommon. Powerful vampires were known to murder any of their children who surpassed them. Not all vampires, of course, since he was still alive, but still, most strong offspring were usually eliminated. He drew another long sip from his glass and caught Layla’s wide-eyed expression, not of eagerness for the rest of his tale, but exasperation, wanting him to get on with it. He smiled slightly in her direction, and took one sip more than he would have otherwise before continuing.
Xavier: Vampires in Europe (Vampires in America Book 14) Page 18
