Deliverance

by Adrienne Monson

  Yawning loudly, Liam stood. The boy walked over to Rinwa and hugged her from behind. “Goodnight, sister. I’m glad to have finally met you.”

  The blonde stiffened for a second before she tentatively patted the boy’s hand on her shoulder. “You, too,” she said quietly.

  Leisha stood and leaned down to give Liam a hug herself. “Would you like me to tuck you in?”

  Smiling, he kissed her cheek and shook his head. He walked a few steps down the hall, then turned back. “I would love to hear some more stories of your life, Tafari—Father. Would you sit on my bed and tell me some of them?”

  Tafari’s chest expanded with pride. Without saying a word, he followed his son to the bedroom.

  “Cute kid,” Rinwa said as she continued her work on the computer.

  Pride flushed through Leisha as she sat in the chair next to Rinwa. “Yes, he’s amazing.” She looked at her daughter. “I have two incredible children, but I’m afraid I can’t take credit for their being so wonderful.”

  Her daughter’s tan cheeks filled with color. “I wouldn’t say that. After all, it was my hatred for you that kept me so motivated all these years.”

  Instead of taking offense, Leisha laughed. “I love you, too.” Leaning over, she pulled her daughter in for a hug. It was the first loving contact they shared since she was a toddler.

  Rinwa froze, her face tight and unreadable. Slowly, her arm came around Leisha and she squeezed back.

  Leisha didn’t want the moment to end, but when her daughter leaned away, she let go.

  Silence filled the room and Rinwa didn’t look at Leisha as she typed on her computer.

  “Is there anything I can do to help find them?” Leisha wasn’t as proficient with computers as Rinwa, but she knew enough to be of some use.

  “Yeah,” Rinwa said. “Stop distracting me.”

  Chuckling to herself, the vampire rose and headed in the direction of the bedrooms. She went into the one she and Tafari shared, but could still easily hear her husband talking to their son.

  “I could not understand how the others did not see her beauty. She was like a goddess to me, and I felt incredibly fortunate that she returned my affection.”

  A smile played across her face as warmth filled her. She remembered how wonderful it had felt to have someone love her. Her whole life in that little African village, people had thought she looked odd. And no one respected her; they thought she was a bad omen and would bring destruction upon them.

  A thought occurred to Leisha then. Would they have still created vampires if she hadn’t been there? After all, she wasn’t the cause for the chaos demon being released, and she certainly had nothing to do with her father using voodoo to pull that demon into Ptah’s body, but tremors prickled along her back nonetheless. She couldn’t explain it, but it felt that, for some reason, her presence influenced the disaster. And even after two thousand years, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was somehow responsible.

  “You look like you are brooding,” Tafari observed as he stood in the doorway.

  Shaking off the strange emotion, Leisha smiled. “Just lost in thought. I’m fine.”

  He closed the door and sat next to her on the bed. “Do you need to feed again?”

  “I won’t need to for a while. Your blood sustains me much longer than mortal blood.” Glancing from the corner of her eyes, she threw him a sly look. “Unless you want to use that as foreplay again.”

  Tafari’s silvery blue eyes smoldered as he leaned his face into her neck. “I would not complain.”

  “Mm.” She turned her body toward his as he kissed along her jaw line. Her heart beat faster and she could feel his pounding harder as her hands roamed over his chest. “Well, it’s definitely a great way to keep up my strength.”

  He pulled her over so she was straddling him. “It would be wise to keep you strong.”

  Their lips met in a familiar, sensual kiss. Tafari took his time in undressing her, kissing every bit of skin he exposed.

  After they were finished, holding each other in the afterglow, Leisha was surprised to realize that she was content. She was still concerned for Samantha and Nikita, not to mention the anxiety of keeping Liam safe. But with everything going on, she was somehow able to feel complete when she was secure in Tafari’s arms.

  Leisha woke when their bedroom door opened a few hours later. Their daughter stood in the doorway, her sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose, regardless of the dark.

  “I’ve got a pretty good idea where they might be,” Rinwa said, showing no guilt for barging in on them.

  Tafari sat up, making the sage-colored sheet fall to reveal his broad shoulders and sculpted chest. “Where?”

  “Helsinki.”

  “You think they’re in Finland?” Leisha leaned up on her elbows. “How on earth could you have figured that out?”

  Her daughter wasn’t able to suppress her smug smile as she explained. “I spotted them on the traffic cameras going back to the airport in Liverpool. From there, I had to tap into every security camera at the airport. I figured they’d take a private plane, so it was easy to find them in one of the private hangars. Once I knew which plane they departed on, it was simple to find out the flight plan.”

  “They could have uploaded a false one,” Tafari pointed out.

  Rinwa slid her glasses down to give her father a look. “Yes, I’m totally aware of that.” She pushed her sunglasses back in to place. “That’s why I hacked into the system at the airport in Helsinki and spotted them leaving that airport after the sun set. I even tracked their car to a parking garage that sits between a theater and a hotel.”

  “Good work,” Leisha said as she got out of bed. Not bothering to hide her nudity, she pulled out some clothes. “Can you get us a flight to Helsinki as soon as possible? If we’re lucky, we can arrive during the day and surprise them while they’re stuck inside.”

  Rinwa raised an eyebrow. “I just did all the work and now you want me to play secretary? You can book the flight while I go pack up my stuff.” Turning on the ball of her foot, her daughter left and went across the hall to her own bedroom.

  Leisha chuckled. “I should have known better than to ask her to do that for me.”

  Tafari’s hands slid around her waist from behind. “I think you two are getting along fairly well, considering.”

  “Yes, I think so, too.” Turning in his arms, Leisha kissed her husband. It was supposed to be a simple peck, but turned into a scorching, opened mouth kiss. They reluctantly pulled away, and Leisha walked into the main room to see what flight she could find.

  It turned out that no flights were available until the next day. Leisha was tempted to drive further to a different airport with flights open that same day, but once she calculated everything, she realized it would take the same amount of time.

  She hoped that Annette and Victor hadn’t damaged them too badly. Leisha knew Nikita could handle it, but Samantha . . . The young woman certainly didn’t need to add any more trauma to her life.

  I failed her. After all her efforts, Leisha still admitted to defeat. Guilt washed over her until it settled painfully in her chest.

  Small, warm hands tenderly stroked her hair. “You didn’t fail her,” Liam soothed. “Samantha knows this was out of your control. She’d never even think to blame you for this.”

  Reaching behind her, Leisha pulled her son into her side and rested her head on his shoulder. “I know that, Liam. But I just can’t help feeling that all these bad things are because of me somehow.”

  Looking up, she noted that the boy had his lips pursed to the side in thought. Without saying anything, he went into the kitchen.

  24 BC

  Iliana finally confided to Sadra about Turney. She was pleasantly surprised to learn that the healing woman believed her.

  “You cannot stay here
,” Sadra cautioned when Iliana was done with her tale. “And you must not travel by road. He will find you.”

  The certainty of her words made Iliana shiver. She clutched her sleeping baby to her chest. “Then what am I to do?”

  “There is a place to the south. I learned the art of healing from shamans down there. I doubt he would go to that place because the largest city in that country is next to a big desert with little population. The people live well within the desert and can disappear easily. No one stands a chance of finding them unless they want to be discovered. I’ll tell you who you can trust to help you meet these desert people. If you are accepted into their tribe, they’ll keep you hidden and safe. Hire a ship to take you.” Sadra placed a hand on Iliana’s shoulder. “The journey will be rough, my friend. Especially with such a young babe. But she’s strong and healthy. And since her father is a god, she should fare well. I’m sure of it.” Her forehead wrinkled. “You have done well to evade Turney, but he is surely still hunting you, and you have stayed here too long. He will arrive soon, mark my words.”

  Iliana believed Sadra and followed her advice. She still had some money to hire a ship, but it was only a large fisherman’s boat, nothing that was meant to cross the sea. Even then, her meager savings weren’t enough. After much finagling, Sadra stepped in and offered some of her money to finance the voyage. The fisherman finally agreed, and they were to leave with the morning tide in two days’ time.

  Packing her few belongings took little time, though Sadra added food to her bundle.

  “You will starve if you send all your fare with me,” Iliana protested.

  Shaking her head with a rueful smile, Sadra insisted. “You will need it to keep milk in your breasts. Otherwise, the babe will go hungry.” She handed over the pack filled with more food than Iliana could eat in two weeks. “I wish you a safe journey, my friend.”

  Tears spilling onto her cheeks, Iliana embraced her. “You have been more kind to me than my own family. I am going to miss you.”

  “And I you. It has been pleasant to have you and such a sweet baby in my home. But if you stay, you’ll both lose your lives.”

  Nodding, Iliana reluctantly turned and walked carefully down the gangplank to get on the boat. A crew member assisted her in finding her small cabin and then left her so he could tend to his duties.

  Within the hour, the vessel was picking up speed and heading into deeper waters. Iliana went on deck to enjoy the breeze across her face. Snuggling her daughter against her neck, she walked to the rear and watched as the village grew fainter until she could barely see it.

  She was about to go below deck when large, black clouds gathered in the distance over what she thought was the village. She could not see clearly, but those clouds looked angry, roiling as if they were raging violently against her beloved village. The wind picked up then, propelling the boat faster into the ocean while beating against the land.

  Iliana could no longer spot the shoreline, but she did see the wave. It was bigger than the mountain by her home village, and growing ever higher. The men were scrambling around the boat, shouting in chaos. The captain looked completely baffled, but they put all hands to work to rush away from the apocalyptic storm.

  Iliana noted all that was happening around her, but couldn’t keep her eyes off the monstrous wave. After what seemed like an eternity, it began to descend. It landed on the shoreline and whooshed further up. Though she couldn’t see the land anymore, Iliana knew that every person in that village had just drowned or been dashed to pieces by the force of the wave.

  She also knew that Turney had found her, and she wasn’t certain she would be able to escape him this time.

  Chapter 14

  Leisha looked at the small monitors of Rinwa’s security system that crowded one side of the van. Her daughter had hacked into more traffic cameras and then placed some of her own in more strategic spots. They’d been surveying the place for half the day and were able to determine that the vampires most likely were in the hotel to the left of the parking garage. There had been a lot of activity at the theater on the other side of the garage, but nothing happened at the hotel except a human couple walking into the lobby, and then getting turned away by the receptionist. Leisha speculated that the receptionist was likely a human servant.

  “The sun is still high in the sky,” Rinwa observed. “Now is the best time to infiltrate.”

  “We need to come up with a better plan than just blowing our way through the front door,” Leisha protested. “Just because the vampires can’t go in the sun doesn’t mean they’re all sleeping.”

  Tafari placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “You are both correct.” He looked at Rinwa. “Now is the time to get inside and save them.” Glancing at Leisha, he asked, “Are you familiar with this lair?”

  She shook her head. “This must be a newer one. They’ve never had a place in Finland before.”

  Her husband nodded as if he’d expected that answer. “We will try to sneak through the garage and enter from there.” He held up his hand when Leisha started to protest. “I realize that human servants and vampires will be guarding the entrances, but my hope is to quietly take them out so as not to set off any alarms.”

  Twining her fingers together, Leisha strove to remain patient. “They may have cameras in there that we can’t hide from.”

  Tafari blew out a breath. “I realize that. However, since I am unable to call the other immortals for backup and a better plan, this is what we get to do.”

  It was his tone that made Leisha understand that he was nervous. It made sense, since he and Rinwa usually operated as part of a larger team of immortals. Their resources used to be limitless. Now they didn’t have half the weapons they were used to, with even fewer team members.

  Forcing a smile, Leisha stroked his cheek. “You’re right, my love. We’ll do just fine with this plan. We will sneak in there, get Samantha and Nikita, and then run like hell.”

  Rinwa was sliding two machetes into a spine sheath as she glanced up at her mother. “That’s right. We’re going to kick some vampire ass and they won’t even know we were there.”

  Leisha’s grin was genuine then. She glanced over at Liam, concern melting the corners of her mouth.

  Before she could say anything, the boy sat at the screens. “Don’t worry about me, Mother. I can defend myself from here and warn you if there are any surprise attacks coming your way.”

  The vampire shook her head. “You’re right of course, Liam. I know how capable you are.”

  “But you worry for me anyway.” His emerald green eyes shone with amusement. “I know.”

  With everyone all set, the three of them quietly exited the van they had rented for the day. The side of the white vehicle advertised a popular cleaning company in Helsinki. Leisha was impressed at how lithely Tafari and Rinwa moved. They may not have had vampire speed, but they certainly made up for it with honed skills.

  A few passersby gave them strange looks, eyeing the weapons strapped to their backs and hips as the trio continued down the sidewalk to the garage. Leisha jovially told them in broken Finnish that they were going to a play rehearsal.

  One couple laughed and glanced at each other in relief. “Onnea matkaan!” they called after the trio to wish them luck.

  “Kiitos,” Leisha said as she waved at them in gratitude.

  Once inside the overfilled garage, they spread out, Leisha taking the middle. She leapt up and clung to the ceiling. Using the support beams, she slid herself closer to the hotel entrance, her triceps and forearms bulging with the effort. It was tedious crawling along as if she were Spiderman, but she figured it would be an advantage if she could avoid detection from the security cameras.

  All that sneaking turned out to be superfluous, however, since the doorway was completely unguarded and hung slightly ajar. Dropping and landing on her feet, Leisha glanced around an
d peered through the door. There was nothing alarming to be seen, so she signaled to the others, and Tafari and Rinwa were at her side in an instant.

  Rinwa pointed to the corner of the ceiling. There had been a security camera there, but it looked like someone shot it to pieces.

  “Something’s off here,” Leisha said softly, her voice laced with foreboding. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. “I smell gunpowder, smoke, and sulfur mixed with lavender and menthol and some other things—maybe a gas of some kind?” She opened her eyes. “They’re residual scents so I can’t make out exactly what weapons were used.”

  Tafari cautiously opened the door. When nothing happened, he stepped through and slowly walked down the hallway, his sword raised in front of him. “Do you hear anyone nearby?”

  “No,” she answered from directly behind him. “My hearing doesn’t cover the entire place, but I think no one’s here.”

  Tafari glanced back at Rinwa who was next to Leisha. She lowered her machete and turned to her mother. “How could they have just disappeared? They have to be here.”

  Shrugging, Leisha gestured them onward. “Maybe something happened while we were flying over here. There’s no way you could have known about it while we were on the plane.”

  “Maybe the other immortals found them before we did,” Tafari suggested.

  “I hope not,” Leisha murmured. She knew how much the immortals hated Samantha for helping the vampires almost four years ago. The girl had aided Ptah and Annette under duress, but they wouldn’t forgive her that easily—and Leisha knew firsthand how her friend would be treated.

  There were rooms on either side of them as they moved forward. Rinwa wanted to check out each one, but Leisha knew from her heightened senses that there was nothing to find.

  Once they were in the main lobby, the scents of battle assaulted Leisha. She could smell the same things as before, but much stronger. There was also the prominent smell of blood. Most of it was vampire, but some of it wasn’t.