She knew when she opened it that there would be no slaves inside, and she was right. Alexandra and the queer boy were gone. Pulling her phone off her belt, she alerted Maksim. He hit her back on the two-way.
“Go ahead.”
“We have two missing slaves, Maksim. The Eurasian and the male.”
“What the fuck happened?”
“There was a little trouble subduing the triplets, and I guess either Nicholas or I left the door to their room unlocked.”
“Find them,” Maksim growled into the phone.
She alerted Drakov and Nicholas next. The three of them met in the hallway to plan the search.
“I don’t think they would go below into the hold,” she said.
“No,” Drakor snarled. “They’ll go up. Let’s find them.”
They jogged down the gangway to the ladders and went up a deck.
“Look,” Mina said. “There’s a ship approaching from the west.”
“Looks like a bunch of small boats to me,” Nicholas said.
Drakor ran to the rail and stared out at the approaching vessels. “They look like pirates.”
Mina shuddered. “How do you know?”
Drakor shrugged.
“You’re a jerk, Drakor. You don’t really know. You’re just trying to freak us out.”
Mina ran up to the bridge, grabbed a pair of binoculars and trotted back to the rail. When she focused in on the swiftly-moving boats, she gasped. “You’re right. They look like Somalis.”
Drakor took the binoculars and counted. “Looks like four, five maybe six boats. They’re all armed with Russian-made automatic rifles—AKMs. I know because we’re carrying some on board.”
“Why are they coming for us?” Nicolas asked.
“Because we’re in the friggin’ Gulf of Aden. That makes us fair game, right, Drakor?” Mina snatched the binoculars back and stared at the rapidly approaching force. They looked young, mean and deadly.
Drakor nodded. “We’re fair game, all right.”
“I don’t understand.” Nicholas said. “How do they know we’re here?”
“GPS and radar, my friend. All the good technological innovations can be had for the right price. The pirates have money to spend. Somalia’s about a hundred miles that way.” Drakor pointed westward. “Somali pirates have been harassing the shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden for a couple of years now. Where you been?”
“I’ve been in the U.S., that’s where. Fuck me. You think they’re going to attack?”
Drakor headed for the ladders. “I better warn Maksim.”
Chapter 16
Traditional methods of transportation were for mortals. Africaisi and her sisters flew.
“Why are your two friends in prison?” Oseye asked as they landed inside the barbed-wire compound at the military base in Suez.
Africaisi smoothed her waist-length braids and straightened her linen skirt. “Our military believes they are terrorists.”
“How are you planning to free them, Mistress?” Zalika asked.
Zalika was a very old vampire who had performed the duties of handmaiden to Cleopatra in 30 BCE. Africaisi was older. In fact, she could not remember being young or living with her parents at all. Her name meant “woman from the Egyptian hills.” She remembered coming out of the hills as a vampire when she was only eighteen, long before Egypt rose to greatness, even before the pyramids were built. She did not remember being turned into a vampire.
There were five other Daughters of Anubis with her on this rescue mission. All were old; many had been members of the cult for centuries.
“We are very powerful, Zalika. There will be no problems. We will free my lover and the lion. It is the full moon. The lion may very well change into his animal form. We have to get to Antonio before this happens.”
Night fell quickly in the desert. The moon would rise soon.
The six women were dressed in the garb of ancient Egypt. Their breasts were bare, but out of deference to the Muslim religion, a new faith but the current one of their land, they covered their hair with gauzy white scarves, which they also wrapped around their torsos.
Africaisi spotted a group of guards standing in front of a concrete structure that looked like the one Antonio had described. Floating an inch off the ground, she approached the group, followed closely by her sisters. All around her the wind howled, stirring up sand and dust as it shrieked and whined.
“Stop.” They were halted by the upraised hand of a florid soldier with a large hooked nose. The soldier and his two compatriots goggled at the women as they fought to hold onto their helmets and their weapons in the gusty wind.
“How did you get through the gate?” He had to yell to be heard over the maelstrom.
Africaisi waved her hand in front of the guards, and their eyes closed. When she spoke, the wind died down. “Is this the prison where you have detained two men suspected of plotting a terrorist attack against the canal?”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Africaisi laughed and moved closer to the guard. He smelled of garlic and onions. Beneath his dark skin, blood pulsed in a tempting rhythm. She picked up a slack arm and bit into his wrist. Sweet blood, life for her and her brethren, flowed down her throat. She needed the additional strength. The rest of the daughters closed in behind her.
“Oooh, Mistress, may we taste one?”
“Yes, but be quick.”
The women grabbed the three soldiers and dragged them into the dark building. Inside, two more men stood guard.
“Zalika, distract them.”
Zalika dropped her scarf and bared her chest. The two men froze in place and stared. Mesmerized by Zalika’s beauty, the two were oblivious to the other five women swarming the three guards, biting into them and sucking their blood. When Zalika dropped her skirt and stood naked before them, they dropped their weapons.
“You may have me,” she said.
The two men closed in on her. Zalika accepted their embraces, lifted her face for their kisses and opened her thighs. They stripped down in no time and pushed her over the desk. Zalika was putty in their hands, allowing all caresses with a serene smile. One entered her from behind while the other one stroked her naked flesh, fondled her fleshy nipples and ran his hands between her legs. Neither noticed the blood orgy three feet away.
One finished and the other one took his place, shoving his swollen cock into Zalika. Africaisi watched this as she waited for the other women to drink their fill.
When they were done, Africaisi walked to Zalika and tapped the man with his dick in her on the shoulder. “Zalika, these two are now yours.”
Zalika hissed, turned and sank her teeth in the man behind her. She tore out his throat and drank the fountain of blood. Then she whirled, snatched a dagger out of the other man’s discarded belt and disemboweled him with his own weapon. The other Daughters of Anubis gathered around to clean up the blood.
Africaisi patted Zalika on the head. “You have always been so violent and blood-thirsty. Dress, Daughter of Anubis. The fun is now over, you are fed and it is time to find Antonio and the lion.”
The women swept down the dark stairs and into the depths of the building where cells lined a long corridor. Africaisi moved between them, searching for Antonio. She felt him, his essence called to her. Floating six inches above the ground, she sped to his cell.
The lion was in the middle of his transformation.
Antonio rushed to the bars. “Hurry, my love, I believe he will try to kill me, and I am weak.”
“Shall I take care of him for you?”
Antonio smiled. “No, my darling. He has become a friend.”
She sighed. “Very well.”
“Zalika, pull down these bars. You consumed the most blood.”
The vampire grabbed one bar on the door and pulled. The metal groaned, screeched and bent as Zalika yanked the door off its hinges. Antonio walked out.
Inside, the lion man had finally morphed into a huge, tawny cat with
glowing yellow eyes.
“Mistress, will he hurt us?”
“I don’t know. I doubt if he has total control of himself inside that body.” Africaisi entered the cell, removed her golden belt and stood in front of the animal. They stared into each other’s eyes. She saw recognition in the golden gaze, reached out and touched the lion’s head with one hand. The fur beneath her fingers was soft as she stroked. When she bent down and wrapped her belt around the mountain lion’s neck, the creature growled, but stalked out of the cage behind her, moving its big head back and forth to stare at each daughter out of those glowing golden eyes.
* * * *
Antonio went back into the cell and scooped up Baine’s discarded clothing. For a few moments, he’d thought he was lion food. Africaisi’s arrival was in the nick of time.
Outside the prison, Africaisi stopped her women. “Return to your homes; you, Zalika to the Oracle at Siwa, you, Oseye to your cave in the desert, the rest of you to Cairo and Giza. I will escort Antonio and his lion friend to their destination and help them find the ship and the woman they wish to rescue.”
With the Daughters out of the picture, Antonio quickly scouted up a meal. After draining a guard, he searched for transportation. His only option was a Jeep from World War II. Africaisi climbed in, followed by Baine still on his leash.
“I need to get to the Gulf of Aden,” Antonio said. “Maybe we can locate the Interpol inspector and get a ride to the ship.”
“The best way to do that would be to go back, cross the bridge at El Qantara, and drive south to Yemen. That’s where the town of Adan is, and Yemen has a long coastline on the Gulf.”
“Africaisi, it’s a long and dangerous drive to Yemen. You should return to your home and let me and my friend travel alone.”
Africaisi shrugged and smiled at Antonio, a smile he loved and knew very well. “No, my heart, I will travel with you, and we will spend time together as we did so long ago.”
They crossed the canal on the Peace Bridge. With his strength regained and Africaisi in the Jeep, they encountered no trouble. Once out in the open desert, Antonio increased their speed, driving as fast as he could through lonely sand dunes with the moon high overhead, casting a bluish light over the barren landscape.
They crossed the border into Saudi Arabia and more desert.
“Pull over,” Africaisi said. “And drive us to the top of those hills.”
Antonio looked at her and felt the thrill of her obvious desire travel up his spine and into his sex organs. She reached over and traced the length of his erection with one finger. “I would love you under the open desert sky with the stars and the moon shining down on us from the heavens.”
High on a hill overlooking the lonely road and rolling mounds of sand, Antonio parked the Jeep.
Africaisi climbed out and removed Baine’s leash. “Run, lion man. Enjoy your freedom.”
The tawny cat took off across the hills, racing into the darkness in the cool night air.
“Will he come back?”
“When he has enjoyed his freedom, he will return,” she said.
He swept the beautiful Egyptian woman into his arms and they kissed, her body pressed against his. She wrapped one long leg around his waist and lifted herself. The folds of her skirt fell open. He dropped his pants to release his straining organ. Africaisi slid onto it, moaning with pleasure as he filled her. Both her legs wound around his waist.
Antonio cupped her buttocks with his hands and lifted her up and down on his cock as she buried her fangs in his neck. The pleasure was unbearable. He fell to his knees, dropped her into the sand, and then covered her body with his own.
Joined, they rolled in the sand, him on top one minute, her the next. The hard tips of her pointed breasts chafed his chest as he struggled to gain the upper hand. Sex with Africaisi was always a battle for control. She hated giving power to anyone.
He shoved her head away from his neck and bit her under one arm. The taste of her sweet blood filled his mouth, arousing him even more. She screamed and fought, her sex as tight as a vise around his dick as he pounded her into the sand.
Suddenly, she capitulated, turning soft under him, accepting his body inside her. This was always the way with her, first the fight, then the surrender made even sweeter by the struggle.
Antonio rose above her. The moon bathed her white body in blue light. Her erect nipples were delicious rosebuds; he bent and sucked each one. She arched her back and lifted her hips. Pressing herself harder against him, she grabbed his ass and pulled him even deeper.
The feel of her fingers digging into his butt drew him into a swirling vortex of ecstasy. He collapsed on her chest as his cock spewed and throbbed inside her.
They lay joined beneath the stars and the glowing moon. He rolled over, taking her with him, keeping her close as they gazed at the black desert sky studded with millions of sparkling gems. A cool breeze caressed his damp skin as their blood pulsed to the same rhythm. Then Baine’s phone rang from the Jeep.
Antonio leaped to his feet and ran to answer. It was Inspector Lefevre.
“May I please speak to Baine Tenbrook?” Lefevre asked.
“I’m sorry, Inspector, he’s currently occupied elsewhere. I’m his friend, Antonio Salazar. Please tell me your message. I’m working with Baine to rescue the captive women.”
“Aaah, the friend I have heard so much about. Yes, Baine told me. There is only one message and it is bad news. Pirates are attacking the Russian freighter as I speak to you. The French Navy received an SOS call from the ship only a few moments ago. They are sending help. But the Naval vessel is over eighty nautical miles away. It will take time to reach the ship’s position, and by then the pirates could be gone with the women and the vessel.”
Antonio’s hand clenched around the tiny cell phone. “This is terrible news. What will the Somali pirates do with the cargo?”
He could almost hear Lefevre’s shrug. “They will do what they do. They will sell the women, of course.”
“Isn’t Istanbul the best marketplace for white slaves?”
“Yes—it is a not-too-well-kept secret—the old slave market still operates there.”
“Won’t the Somalis know this?”
“They should. They have many connections with the underground crime world. But first, we must hope the Navy gets to them before they have a chance to get away.”
“Where can I meet you?” Antonio asked, glancing around at the desert, hoping against hope to spot Baine trotting up. They needed to get moving.
“I will be in Adan, Yemen for two days. Can you get there? If the pirates head to Istanbul, they will still have to go through the canal. It is not possible to pass through so many hostile countries over land. From this vantage point, I will be able to monitor all ships steaming toward the canal.”
“We’ll be there.”
Chapter 17
When Alex heard the ship’s alarm sound, she grabbed Lyle’s foot. “Lyle, there’s some kind of emergency going on out there. Maybe this is our chance to escape.”
“Alex, duh, they’re only sounding the alarm because they discovered we escaped.”
“You could be right.”
“You know I am.”
“Shhhhh,” Alex hissed. She heard someone outside the storeroom door. It flew open, and she froze with her hand on Lyle’s foot, her heart hammering like an African drum.
The door shut, and someone began pulling boxes of sweet potatoes and bags of rice out from their hiding place. Nicholas’s face appeared, and Lyle automatically reached out to his former master.
“Nicky, darling, what’s going on?”
Nicholas slid under the shelves and pulled sacks of rice back around the three of them. “Be quiet, Lyle,” Alex heard him whisper. “Pirates are attacking the ship. If they find you, they’ll either kill you or make you into a slave for their own use. I couldn’t stand that to happen.”
Alex rolled onto her back, conscious of Lyle and Nicholas holdin
g each other inches away. The slave had become the master. Nicholas was in love with Lyle.
“How did you find me?” Alex heard Lyle ask Nicholas.
“I knew you would never go into the hold, so you must have gone up the ladders, and this is the only place I could think of for you to hide. I’m sure the others would have thought of it, too, but the pirates killed Drakov and took Mina prisoner. Rukovskya is loose along with the Turk. They barricaded themselves on the bridge with the surviving crew.”
Alex shuddered and pushed herself closer to the wall. The sound of gunfire erupting outside the storage room soon reached their ears. Her heart rose into her throat as fear filled her. Tears dripped down her face, and she wondered how she’d become involved in anything so insane. All her life, she’d lived conservatively, her only problems arising from her unexplainable allure to all animals, and her bad marriage. Jerry was a terrible father. Poor Ollie. Who would look after her boy if she died?
When the door to the storeroom was jerked open, Alex released her bladder. She’d been holding it for an hour, and her fear loosened her grip. The light came on, and booted feet tramped through the storeroom and stopped when they splashed through her puddle of urine. She heard rough voices speaking a strange language. One bent down and looked under the shelves. A black man stared into their hiding place and smiled, revealing white teeth, several covered with gleaming gold caps.
The sacks were jerked away, the boxes pulled out, and Lyle, Nicholas and Alex yanked into the open. Lyle sobbed while Nicholas put an arm around his shoulders. Alex was rudely jerked away from her friend. A leering Somali tore away the top of her scrubs and pawed her breasts. She screamed, drawing the attention of a man wearing a uniform standing out in the corridor.
“You, do not touch the merchandise.” The tall African shouldered his way into the room and cuffed the pirate groping Alex. “Keep your filthy hands to yourself. This is obviously a valuable slave.”
The chastised pirate groveled and backed away. Alex saw he wore little more than rags, torn khaki pants tied around his skinny waist with a piece of rope and a cotton shirt, faded from sun and water. The shirt buttons were long gone. It hung open to reveal a thin brown chest.
The Secret, the Shifter and the Sex- Slave Shanghai Page 11
