“How did that stop him, it's just a legend.”
“To my people it is not.”
I didn't know what to say to that. It was just a legend, but it had got us out of a tight spot, so who was I to complain?
“Why did he believe you?” Another dodge around a group of younger people, loud and boisterous. They have teens in Egypt too then. Huh.
The streets had become more narrow, the buildings so much older. There were parts of walls bisecting alley ways that looked as old as time itself, or at the very least perhaps Roman in their origin. It was a rabbit warren of paving, low walls and crooked buildings. At any other time it would have been a lovely place to stop and take photos. Why is it on my first trip to Egypt I don't even get to be a tourist? I had no doubt I would not be seeing the Pyramids any time soon.
He shrugged, a simple yet elegant movement on him. “It is easy to see with you.”
That didn't make any sense at all, but just as I was about to voice that, he took hold of my wrist and steered me into the shadows, slowing our pace down to just a creep.
“We are almost there. Let us be cautious.”
“What's the plan?” I whispered as we were hunkered down behind a low wall some ten metres from The Coptic Museum. The Cadre hadn't settled for a simple dwelling as their hide-out, they had commandeered The Coptic Museum, a beautiful old sandstone building engraved with arched designs and delicate mouldings along its roof line. The main entrance was a squat building, compared to the rest of the museum around it, with a flat roof. The glow of master vampire eyes obvious, every now and then on top of the entrance building, standing guard. Between us and the main entrance was a courtyard with two perfectly square green grass areas, each planted with a mini palm tree, and a large expanse of paving. Not an ounce of cover anywhere to be seen, crossing the courtyard unnoticed was going to be impossible.
“We go in from the top. Take out the guards there and enter through the roof access.”
It was good as far as plans went, the buildings on either side of the museum were the same height as the outer buildings of The Coptic, which were all higher than the entrance building. If we could enter one of those and jump from their rooftop to The Coptic and then down to the entrance building, we might just be able to do it. Nero started moving off, back away from the entrance and towards the building on the left.
The neighbouring building was made up of various shops with what appeared to be apartments above. Nero ran his hands over the door to one shop, muttering his magic words quietly and the door clicked open. Dark inside, we negotiated our way past touristy objects, brightly coloured materials, Hookahs and small figurines of Pharaohs and Sphinxes, with the odd Pyramid or two.
At the rear of the building was a store room, a workshop and kitchen facilities, I guess for making morning tea and to the left a stairwell leading up into darkness. We quietly stepped on the stairs, expecting them to creak, but they remained silent as we ascended up past the closed door to the living area. A T.V. could be heard, passed unattended bedrooms above and finally reaching the door to the fire escape and roof access.
Another muttered word from Nero and a wave of his hand over the door knob and we were out on the external fire escape and climbing. The final steps to the roof top surrounded by dry heat and the noises of the city settling for the night.
Nero crouched at the edge of the building, trying to remain unseen. I knew we would have to move fast, the vampires guarding the roof would sense us well before we approached. Initially, they would assume our heartbeats belonged to the occupied buildings surrounding The Coptic, but once we landed on that building and made our way towards them, they would know an attack was on. There was just simply no way to sneak up on a vampire.
We both looked at each other, Nero's eyes shining in the dim light of the streets. I couldn't see their colour, but I knew there'd be gold and cinnamon and maybe coffee flecks dancing there. Right now they looked big and dark and endlessly deep. He reached up and ran the back of his fingers down my cheek, resting his hand at the side of my neck.
“Whatever happens here tonight, Kiwi, it has been an honour and delight to have finally met you.”
I smiled, how could I not? He was warmth and light and everything good in this world, I couldn't imagine a world without him in it. He leaned in and lightly dusted my lips with his, a soft, warm meeting, too brief, not enough.
“Let us do this.” And then he was over the edge of our building and running full speed across The Coptic's roof.
I launched myself after him, feeling my heartbeat rise and knowing the alarm bells would already be ringing through the vampire guards' minds and probably on to those inside as well. Vampires can communicate telepathically, it was a given we had just ruined our element of surprise.
Nero made contact first, rushing straight at the first vampire to greet his approach, he launched into the air in a spin and sailed past the guard leaving him a trail of dust behind. He paused only briefly to prepare for the next and began his spin again. I pulled my gaze away from him towards the vampires coming from the side. They had spotted Nero and were heading straight for him, they hadn't registered my heartbeat or presence in the storm that was Nero right now. I took advantage of their distraction and lunged at the back of one of the stragglers.
My stake slid home with a satisfying squelch, then dust coated the air and everything in it. Two vampires who had moments ago been hell bent on getting Nero, spun around and came for me. Oh goody.
Their eyes glowed eerily in the night and we circled each other briefly. It wasn't long before one came at me from the front and I rolled out of his approaching grasp slicing my stake across his stomach. His growl was low but controlled, a minor gash that would heal almost instantly. I had come to a stop in a crouch, but didn't stay there long, launching myself at the other vampire and managing a strike to his upper chest, that bounced off with the flick of his wrist. Unfortunately, I went spinning too at the tremendous force behind that casual movement.
I landed in a heap to the side and glanced up to see Nero had stopped spinning and was now battling hand to hand with three vampires. More were coming out through the roof top access, I could only hope we lured them all outside and managed to kill off the bulk of the guard on Amisi, even before we entered the museum itself. If there were still the same amount inside, then God help us.
Two more vampires joined my attackers, the odds were rapidly depleting on my side, but Nero wasn't doing much better. Had he realised there'd still be so many here at their hide-out? Did he care? He certainly wasn't showing any shock at their approach, just a single minded concentration and an increased look of dogged determination on his face.
I had already moved from my position and now found myself facing off with two vampires in the front and the other two circling around the back. I did not want them to make it there, so I struck out quickly to the vampire on the right, gashing his arm and receiving a shriek in return. I spun around behind him in a move I didn't even know I was capable of, flying through the air and watching the horizon spin slowly around me and landed a blow to the second vampire across his neck. I needed to get more accurate, none of my strikes were connecting where they should, but these vampires were fast, super fast and I just didn't have Nero's speed.
I continued to move in that slow spin aiming for my next victim and praying for a just a little break in my luck. But as my arm came out to land the blow, stake tip already resting on the vamp's back, right above his heart, I felt an excruciatingly tight grip on my wrist and a sudden pull of my body as I went flying through the air to only be hit by the bulk of a solid wall. The solid wall turned out to be a vampire and he didn't waste time in getting a boot into my side as I lay at his feet. He was pulling back his size 12 shoe, ready to go in for the next rib cracking hit, when I stabbed my stake through his other foot and watched the blood begin to well around its tip.
He screamed out a curse in Arabic, but by then another vamp had hauled me to my feet a
nd was attempting to strangle the life out of me, his face inches from mine, his red eyes blinding in their intensity. I had not been able to pull the stake out of the other vampire's boot and was trying alternately to grab my second from inside my shirt and also pry his fingers from around my neck. Neither was working, my breathing was shallow, my heartbeat pounding, my head had started thumping, the pulse in the side of my neck sending shockwaves into my skull with each ever increasing beat. Flashes of bright white interspersed with strobing black, had already begun their deadly dance before my eyes. All of this happening in less time than it takes to think it, I was running out of time and that meant so was Michel.
I was only too aware of what Michel was feeling right now, somehow the nearness of my death made me more in tune with him. I could feel his efforts in the battle he was fighting, his determination to win at all costs, the desire to protect me from death so strong. He was not concerned for his own safety at this point, only in so much as his death would mean mine. He was fighting like a man possessed, holding his own, as none of those around him had even remotely his power level, but despite this, the numbers were vast. The Cadre had been so much bigger than we had expected, those facing Michel and Nafrini amounted to over 50 still and yet there was already so much dust. The chances of overcoming those odds were slim, yet Michel never wavered. His only thought to preserve his own life so that I would not die.
I was struck by the sheer selflessness of his emotions, he was taking a beating, but only because he was holding back from placing himself in a position that would mean my death. The overriding thought in his brain was of me.
I couldn't let him down. I tried to think of what I could do to get out of this situation. Get a stake and stab him. I couldn't feel my fingers, couldn't even tell if they were near my shirt, near my stake, if they could grip around it. Pry the vampire's fingers off my neck. Yet again my hands weren't working, I now realised they were lying limply at my sides, my arms just tingling, but not able to follow the commands from my brain.
I could feel my heartbeat faltering, my chest was so tight from lack of air, the world had grown dim and a sense of fear laced with stillness had begun to envelope me. I couldn't remember why I was here, what was happening. Nothing made sense any more, but I knew I should be scared. Strange though, I wasn't.
What was I doing here?
Why am I so tired?
Maybe I should just let that blackness that's coming in arrive, maybe I'm meant to sleep. That's it, I'll just sleep. Sleep sounds so good right now.
Fight back! Don't give up!
What was that? It sounded so far away. Can't be important.
But sleep is, back to sleep. I want to sleep.
Lucinda! Fight!
OK, I heard it that time and it really was a voice. A loud and demanding voice, but also it wrapped me up in warmth and light, then slapped me in the face.
I opened my eyes and stared straight into the depths of hell, two red glowing orbs hovering in front of me. I took what little breath I could and croaked, “You're going to let go of me now.”
Nothing happened, he just continued to grimace and sneer and kept on with his pursuit of crushing my wind pipe and throat to smitherines. So, stubborn girl that I am, I repeated it and this time I really meant it.
“LET GO OF MY THROAT, NOW!”
He immediately released me and the air came rushing in my mouth and down my sore throat like a wave of burning fire. I doubled over trying to catch my breath and was immediately grabbed from behind by another vampire. The first was still staring at me, slightly puzzled, so I shouted at it, holding his gaze, “KILL ALL THE VAMPIRES. DO IT NOW!”
And with that he was off, racing around in that vampiric speed, ripping one head off after the other. It was only after he had left me in the grip of vamp number two, that I realised I should have commanded him to help free me.
Number two wasn't wasting any time, he wrenched my head to the side with one hand, whilst still gripping me from behind with the other and then I felt his fangs pierce the skin at the base of my neck and the immediate drain of blood being sucked. It was torturous, like every vein, every nerve ending was being pulled out as he sucked. I could feel the nerves straining and tightening and then simply retracting, all the way up my body. The threads of agony from each line of nerve went from my toes, up through my legs, over my entire torso, my arms, my chest, my neck and tearing out through his mouth. I heard myself screaming, but it only seemed to make him more determined, his grip tightening and the sucking sensation deepening. Oh God, this was it. It had to be it, he was taking so much more from me than Michel ever had. This was going on too long.
I couldn't glaze him, he was behind me, his face buried in my neck, covered by my sweat soaked hair, I couldn't look him in the eyes, something that was essential in order to be glazed. I fumbled for my stake, I could feel it, against the skin of my stomach, stuck down the sheath in the waistband of my pants, but I couldn't grip it. My shirt was in the way, or my trousers were, or his arm, or something, but I simply couldn't grip it. And now the lights were back, dancing a pretty pattern in my face, a mesmerizing duel of colour, not just blinding white and strobing black, but glinting greens, blazing blues, rushing reds, and sunshine yellows. It was beautiful. It spun and ducked and dived and weaved, it twirled around me and wrapped me in its glow. So beautiful.
I don't remember what happened next. The colours all came closer, surrounding me, bathing me, they were everywhere and nowhere, they were so dazzling and so welcoming, but I was ripped from their warm embrace and thrust instead into cold darkness.
So deep and black and complete.
Chapter 36
Death Becomes You
I came to lying on the hard bitumen smelling rooftop of The Coptic, the concerned face of Nero looking down at me, the stars shining brightly around his head, striking against the deep blackness of space. He looked a little worse for wear. His clothing was torn, revealing deep gashes along his shoulder, blood was oozing out of the side, making a slow track down his chest, my eyes followed its progress, until I could see it no more beneath the white linen of his shirt.
He smiled, that all encompassing, brightly beautiful, smile. I sighed. I felt extremely light headed. Even lying still on my back on the flat and level surface of the roof, the world was slowly spinning, but the blurriness that had at first rimmed my vision was fading and I noticed too, that the spinning was becoming more apathetic, more lethargic in its twirling of the world.
“Did we win?” My voice was barely a whisper, my throat still dry and sore from the strangling, my strength almost non-existent.
“Only because of you, my little Kiwi.” Nero looked at me a little strangely then, as if seeing me for the first time, his eyes devoured my face, his hands stroked my arm and cheek. “You were amazing. If it were not for you, we would have succumbed.”
Huh? I just had the crap beaten out of me, nearly died, twice, and I saved the day? How was that possible?
I felt my eyebrows furrow, I frowned at him and managed a very ineloquent, “What?”
He chuckled, still stroking my arm, but now raising me slightly into a sitting position. I leaned against him as the world swam and then slowly stilled again. His mouth was against my head, right above my ear, I could feel his warm breath as it traced the line of my neck, down, so softly. His words were soft against my ear. “I thought I was lost. There were too many of them, I had led us into a trap. I was barely holding my own and then a vampire started running through the midst culling out one after the other. They had barely realised what was happening by the time he killed ten of their men. They rallied, more coming out from inside. My hopes were again dashed and then I saw you. In the arms of that vampire,” - he stopped, took in a deep breath, then let it out so very slowly. I could feel him shaking slightly beside me. - “you were so pale, so white, your eyes were closed, you were no longer fighting. And then, and then you started glowing, all these colours, so bright, so vivid, so beautiful
and after a moment that light started dancing around you, through you and then suddenly out from you in every direction and where it landed on a vampire, they simply turned to dust. I have never seen or heard of anything like that.”
He pulled away from me then and looked me in the eyes, his so serious, so intense, swirls of gold and cinnamon dancing in their depths. He looked like he was going to say something, then quickly changed his mind, giving a small shake of his head.
I didn't know what to say to that. Who would? I was going to get a reputation for glowing in ever more bizarre and completely brilliant ways. Part of me wondered numbly, if I might just blaze myself out one day. I had no idea what had happened, I was sure it had been someone else who had come to our aid, someone like Michel, swirling around in colours of light so blinding, so perfect. But now this. It was all too much to comprehend.
“Where's Amisi?” I decided the best course of action was inaction, as far the glowing was concerned, getting us back on track seemed like much more steadying ground.
“I have not been inside, I came straight to you.”
I pushed him away and stood up, the movement momentarily making the world go black and I reached out instinctively to steady myself. Nero grasped my hand and held tight.
“Are you all right, Kiwi? Do you wish to rest, I will go and get Amisi. I do not think there are any more vampires, no more have come to the rooftop in the past few minutes.”
I took a breath in to calm myself and chase away the cold sweat that had broken out against my skin. I hated feeling faint, it's one of those sensations that rip right through to the core of you, taking away any sense of control.
“We don't know that. And I'll be fine.” I glanced around and spotted my stake, the one I had lost in kicker's foot, it was now just sitting lonely in amongst the dust. I managed to get over there and bend down and pick it up without vomiting or falling over, so that was a bonus.
Kindred (Kindred, Book 1) Page 37
