Dancing Dragon

by Nicola Claire

  “I don't take nicely to being tricked. Your boss and I had an understanding, he reneged on the deal.”

  “There was never anything agreed to that covered his influence over you, human.” This time Nataliya spoke. Her voice was deeper than I was used to in a female, a strong accent, but not as thick as Sergei's. It did match her square and masculine physique though. This was no lady who painted her toenails. She was all muscle and razor blades underneath those long lashes and round brown eyes.

  “There didn't need to be, fanger.” If she was going to call me human, a definite slur as I am most surely not all human, then I would call her names too. Immature, I know, but a girl's gotta have some fun. “It goes without saying that an alliance entitles a level of trust. I no longer trust your boss. Ergo, I do not trust the alliance he has made with me.”

  “It is an alliance none-the-less. You are obliged to uphold your end.” Sergei again, looking bored. “We are here as a show of good faith. Lead us to the vampire and we will protect you from the Fey Prince.”

  The vampire. Alastair. Who had already stopped hunting, he was no longer registering on my Sanguis Vitam Cupitor scans and so had already killed four more humans tonight. I was getting a little inured to all the bloodshed and death. I was starting to feel numb. There is only so much heartache and pain you can stomach before it starts to all look surreal. Or, before you break down completely and can no longer operate at all.

  I was angry though. I wanted to lash out. All that was left for me to lash out at was the two Dark vampires in front of me, who didn't give a toss about the deaths of four more humans this night and whose boss just wanted revenge. And maybe the chance to control a powerful Nosferatin at the same time. If I killed Alastair, would Viktor become Master of the City? Would he want the Prophesied at his beck and call? I know technically Michel did, but at least with Michel I chose when his powers influenced me. With Viktor there would be no choice.

  I'd made a mistake when I entered into this alliance. Sure, the fear of Lutin's control was a great leveller, but I could have found an alternative to safeguard me against the fairy's influence. I didn't need to sell my soul to the devil. And here I was facing the devil's hell hounds. What to do?

  I couldn't renege on the alliance. That would create problems I wasn't equipped to handle. But, if Viktor could bend the rules and call me to be his little lap dog, then I could too. I took another look at the two vampires in front of me, assessing their level of Dark and then began to gather my Light.

  I've got particularly good at gathering it without letting anyone see what I am doing. I used to leak a little, you know, start to glow a bright white Light, but now I can hide it all inside. They don't know what's about to happen, until they get the blast of my Light. Until they lose their Dark - or at least part of it - and embrace Nut's Light. I am Nut's emissary, I am the Light.

  I didn't allow myself time to consider my actions, I just lifted my hand and let the Light flow. My Light is very fast, but Sergei and Nataliya, surprisingly enough, are faster. Sergei flashed behind me wrapping a gloved hand around my throat, Nataliya flicked her knife into my arm and Ricardo smashed his fist into the side of her head. I had no idea where Antonio was, but I knew he'd show his face before too much longer. That just left the vampire behind me to deal with.

  Plus the blasted knife sticking out of my arm. I ignored the pain and blood that began to seep out of the wound and thrust my stake backward, straight into Sergei's muscled thigh. He grunted, but tightened his hold. I twisted the stake further, knowing the silver was causing him unbearable pain and threw my head back against his face. He lifted his chin at the last second and my skull met his jaw in a head cracking clash. Pain shot through my head and black spots flashed before my eyes. But, I don't think he had feared any better. His arms loosened enough for me to roll out from under him, leaving my first stake where it was and grabbing my second from my pocket before I even made it to my feet.

  Ricardo and Nataliya were in full-on combat mode. Each one with fangs down and red glowing eyes flashing in the night. Circling one another and then simply streaming towards each other and turning into a blaze of swirling colour. I could hear snarls and curses, the crack of fist to bone, the snap of fangs and the wrenching sound of torn flesh. Vampires fight dirty. And there is nothing more dirty than a vampire on vampire clash.

  I had my hands full though, so I didn't spare them much of a glance. Sergei had recovered and was stalking me like the prey he thought I was. His sister's knife had fallen out, leaving a free flowing gash in my arm. Blood was slowly dripping off the end of my fingers and I was beginning to lose all feeling in that arm. Luckily it wasn't my fighting arm, so I hefted my stake and prepared to spin.

  Maybe it was the lack of blood, but I can't believe I'd lost that much already, but the spin failed, miserably and I ended up in Sergei's arms. Again. I was beginning to realise that Sergei and Nataliya were not your average Rogues. I usually only dealt with rogue vampires, those vampires given over to their blood lust. They are crazed and unpredictable, but also not nearly capable of any intelligent acts. They operate on base instincts. Food. Sex. Kill. Eat. Nothing more. They are the ones my Sanguis Vitam Cupitor and Prohibitum Bibere skills deal with on a daily basis. Vampires like Sergei and Nataliya, usually hunt with enough control not to warrant a stake through the heart.

  That didn't mean they didn't deserve one.

  I struggled in the solid arms of Sergei for a few more seconds, then swapped my stake for my silver knife and simply stabbed him in the side of the neck. Sometimes the most obvious move is the one your attacker overlooks. He snarled in fury and sank his fangs into the vein on the side of my neck. I'd overlooked that one. Pain shot down through my body replaced by rage. His rage, but mine would have given it a run for its money. Now, I was pissed off.

  I noticed Antonio rounding the corner in the distance with Avery in tow. So, that's where my other shadow guard had got to. Keeping an eye on Avery. Clearly Michel did not trust the Plucking Pervert either. I almost allowed myself the luxury of believing rescue had arrived, then felt Sergei begin to worry at my neck. He wasn't just feeding, he'd decided to maul. If he tore out my jugular nothing could save me. I fumbled for my stake. But, Sergei was a guzzler and the loss of blood from the knife wound, coupled with the loss of my blood down his throat, was taking its toll.

  I felt weak and nauseous, sweat building across my brow. My knees buckled beneath me, but Sergei held me tight. I'm sure it all happened faster than it appeared. I mean, Avery could have flashed there in a split second. Even Antonio could have bled into the shadows and then appeared at my side in the blink of an eye. But, for some reason the world seemed to slow down and I felt everything as though it was one long kiss goodnight.

  I did the only thing I could think of, because thinking was becoming a little hard. I took what was probably going to be my last breath in and let it out with the entirety of my Light. I knew it was every last little bit of Light I had in me, because as it left my body it felt like my soul was being sucked right out along side it.

  Normally, two things can happen when I let loose my Light without conscious thought. Firstly, the most harmless, yet most embarrassing; I blast the object of my focus with a post coital bliss. That's the one that happens most regularly. But, on occasion, my Light has a mind of its own. It decides bliss is not on the menu and simply goes for blast. That's the blast of a death ray. Firing out in a sharp line of Light and practically disintegrating the vampire before me into dust.

  That second manifestation of my Light is not controllable. It happens when I'm in mortal danger, but I have no choice. My Light just takes over and ends it all in one swift flash of white. I hate it, but I will admit it has got me out of a tight spot or two in the past. Still, it's not my favourite thing and has made me question more than once just what the hell I am and what side I am actually on.

  So, when I let my Light go towards Sergei I had braced myself for one of those two things to occur. I
would have settled for orgasm. It at least would have got me out of his clutches and given Avery or Antonio time enough to get to my side. But, I was always prepared for the death blast. Not psychologically prepared. I don't think you can ever mentally prepare yourself for what my Light can do. But, I was prepared to be appalled, at the very least.

  What happened though was equally uncontrolled by me, but not nearly as deathly. But I didn't know this at the time. My Light blasted into Sergei with the force of a two tonne truck. At exactly the same moment - maybe because my Light decided to branch out a little, to include a few more vampires in its reach - Ricardo let go of Nataliya. Who had been in a headlock about to lose said head. It saved her from the final death, but not my Light. She was too stunned to follow Ricardo, who had bled into the shadows in an instant. So, she simply did the only other thing she could under the circumstances.

  She did what any vampire would do when faced with what looked like imminent death. She did whatever she could to survive. It's deep down in their DNA. Survive at all costs. And her vampire was telling her - or maybe just seeing her brother so close to me and my Light made her do it - to fly directly at me. With her hands outstretched before her, she came straight for my chest.

  I didn't have time to prepare. I was no longer in control of my Light. So she connected with my chest, Sergei still wrapped firmly around me, his fangs still embedded in my neck and we all went arse over feet and ended in a pile of limbs and bodies and blood. The street we were on was blinding. Even I couldn't see past my Light. I dreaded to think what had happened to Antonio and Avery. I knew Ricardo would probably be safe in the shadows and I could only assume his counterpart had done exactly the same. And I did know that Avery could fly up and away with phenomenal speed, so I consoled myself with the fact that it was just the two Russians I was taking with me. And no one else.

  I don't know how long the Light lasted. How long we all laid there unable to move. I'd lost so much blood that part of me thought my Light had fried me too. That it wasn't just the vampires on top of me who were toast, but I would soon be facing the sweet, sweet music of Elysium. Which to me always sounded like children laughing in a playground in the sky. I waited for that sound, but all I heard was a ringing in my ears accompanied by a pounding in my skull, both of which sounded out of kilter and definitely lacking any rhythm at all.

  It was warm, soft hands on my face that I noticed first, a stream of French words that made no sense forcing their way inside my head. Dulling the ringing and pounding to a background noise of thumping soft beats. There, but not there. I felt his Sanguis Vitam wash over me, but I was unable to lower my shields and let him in. It was Avery who did it. I don't know how, but somehow he had got inside my head and lowered them so Michel could enter.

  Michel's healing wave of power swept through me, filling me with warmth and chasing away the cold. The pounding petered out. The ringing became a buzz, then a hum, then nothing more. And I finally took a deep breath in and felt my lungs expand making me gasp in shock at how long it had been since I had last breathed in at all. Michel crushed me to his chest, still speaking in French, still making absolutely no sense at all. And I looked over his shoulder to see Antonio and Ricardo holding the Russians, who were both kneeling but firmly contained in the shadow guards' grasps.

  No dust. Still solid. But I noticed immediately, no longer all Dark. I felt it then. The connection. The one that told me they were now mine. I groaned in disbelief and outright fear. I'd had no intention of adding to my line. Samson was enough. And even when I do use my Lux Lucis Tribuo powers to balance out the Light and the Dark in a vampire, I don't touch. I never touch. By not touching they simply get to choose. Good or bad. Light or Dark. But, they had been touching me. Sergei with his arms around my waist and his fangs in my neck and Nataliya with both hands flat against my chest.

  I had not been thinking of balancing them out, let alone bringing them over to my line. But, my Light obviously had.

  Add to the list of uncontrolled Lucinda Light events: Adding a vampire to my line. Crap.

  Michel's arms finally loosened from around me and his French was replaced with murmured words in English. I felt his fear at the sight of me when he had arrived. Called here by Ricardo and Antonio. I felt his despair that he couldn't heal me without Avery's help. I also felt his anger that Avery had that ability at all. To get inside my head and lower my shields. The repercussions of such an ability were frightening. But, I pushed them all aside, drawn to my two newest members of the family. Of my line.

  Out of nowhere Samson appeared. He stared at the Russians for a few moments, then knelt down before me as well. I got to my feet with the aid of Michel's hand on my elbow and took a shaky step toward all three. Samson looked shocked, a little pale and also a little upset. I couldn't tell why. The connection we share isn't that specific. But, I could hazard a guess. He had to share me now with two others. Two vampires who were much more powerful than him.

  Didn't he know that a mother always has a soft spot for her first born? I ran my hand through his blonde hair and rested it on his head while I watched the two Russians. He leaned into the touch and I felt his shoulders relax just a little.

  I could feel Michel humming behind me, his Sanguis Vitam thrumming in the air. It wasn't a spill over from healing me. It wasn't even in response to the emotions he had recently shared. It was all an intense thrill. Excited at the thought that I had demonstrated again, just how powerful a Nosferatin I am. To steal a vampire from another takes clout. To break the blood blond of a master like Viktor is impressive. I wasn't thinking much on that right now, but I could feel Michel was.

  I had broken their blood bond with Viktor, but I had replaced it with a Light bond with me. I could feel the Light inside them as though it was my own. In a way it is. Their Dark, for now, held dear by me. I couldn't feel it. I can't even tell where exactly the Dark is held. But, the Prophesy is clear on this fact. I don't destroy their Dark, I hold it dear. The Light will capture the Dark and will hold it dear. You would think that having solved the mystery of the Prophesy and come into my powers, it would all be over. But, the Prophesy was only the start. Every day I battle for the Prophesy. I battle on its behalf. The war isn't over, we're just slap bang in the middle of it now.

  I took a deep breath in and just let my body go. There was no point being angry or scared. What was done was done. I looked into the eyes of my newest vampires, their faces no longer such sharp, hard angles, but with softer edges somehow. More beautiful, more at ease. As though they had fought the Dark daily and finally had found some relief. I waited for the words they all say. Well, at least Samson had said them, so I assumed these two would too.

  Together they both intoned the pledge. “Mistress. We are your servants forever more.”

  I smiled, but I don't think it reached my eyes. “Sergei and Nataliya, I accept your fealty. Welcome to the family.”

  My eyes came up from the twins and rested on Avery at their backs. I hadn't noticed him there. So consumed with what had happened and how fate kept throwing me a curve ball or two. Two new vampires to protect and keep safe. Two new vampires to offer me loyalty and service. Avery's eyes glowed jade and amber, just a hint of ochre left in their depths. His lips were curved in an appreciative smile.

  Then his words floated in my mind, jolting me from the moment and forcing me to throw every conceivable shield I had up to keep him out. It probably wouldn't do a blind bit of good.

  You will do nicely, Sanguis Vitam Cupitor. Very nicely indeed.

  Great. Just one more reason for Avery to hunt me. But I was prey that would bite back.

  Before I even knew what I was doing, I threw my last stake through the air towards his chest. Knives I can throw with accuracy, stakes not so much. Nero was good at chucking a stake, but I needed a bit more practice. The stake curved tip over base, over tip over base, flashing in the lights of the street and Avery simply stepped sideways, out of its path. Then threw back his head and laughed as the
stake smashed a window at his back.

  His laughter died abruptly when my silver dagger found his thigh. I hadn't thrown it. Sergei had.

  It was my turn to laugh.

  Welcome to the family indeed.

  Chapter 34

  Cravings

  We retreated to Michel's house for two reasons. One, it was bigger than Samson's and we now had a fairly large entourage. And two, it was closer to Knightsbridge and I was getting tired of finding Alastair too late.

  Alastair. Four more dead and I failed again to do my job. As much as there was to discuss, I excused myself from the horde of vampires, or would that be nest of vampires - how many vampires constitutes a nest? Three or more? - in the front room and went upstairs to Michel's bedroom. I needed some space to think. And pray.

  Nut doesn't answer, but I know she hears. So, I prayed for guidance. I prayed for forgiveness. I prayed I was strong enough and good enough to do what she had tasked me with. I prayed for those lost souls I had failed to protect. I don't know if it makes a difference to any future outcome when I pray to my goddess, but it helps to get the past all straight in my head. I felt like a failure. I felt incompetent. I felt bereft with guilt. But, I knew Nut had chosen me for a reason. She had faith in me that I could do the job, even if I sometimes failed to see. I had to have faith in my goddess. Without it, where would I be?

  Michel found me a half hour later curled in a ball, knees up to my chin, arms wrapped tightly around them, sitting on the chaise longue in the bay window of the bedroom, taking in the night time scene on the street. I wasn't feeling sorry for myself, that had been and gone, I was just existing in a bubble of quiet, letting my thoughts have free rein. He came and sat down beside me without a word and pulled me back against his chest. My legs uncurled and stretched out in front of me and I let his warmth cocoon me instead.

  “Are you hungry, ma douce?” he asked quietly, kissing the side of my neck behind my ear. “Nataliya has made you soup. Ukha I believe. She wishes to make amends.”