Vampire Elite

by Irina Argo

  After dinner, everybody left and retired to their quarters. As Simone’s apartment was uninhabitable, she went to one of the many guest rooms. She locked the door and checked the windows, and then she stood very still, sharpening all her vampire senses, listening, making sure that nobody was spying on her. The villa was enveloped in a blanket of stillness. Everybody appeared to be sleeping or preparing to go to bed. She was safe. She grasped the phone and dialed the Legacy’s number. An unfamiliar male voice on the other end of the line made her a little nervous, but she ignored her intuition, cupping the receiver in her palm and saying in a low voice.

  “This is Simone. I need to talk to Antar.”

  “He is currently unavailable, Miss.”

  “Then I need Rock or Sargas or someone from his family.”

  “The whole Alpha family is away on important business. I can’t connect you with any of them, I’m sorry. I’m substituting for Antar; my name is Sharrit. Maybe I can help you?”

  “I ask Sanctuary for a female.” She’d take the risk of talking to this stranger. It was the Legacy who provided Sanctuary, not Antar. “She is in danger. Can you provide her Sanctuary and guarantee her safety?”

  “Yes.”

  “I also would like the Legacy to take this female out of the country and hide her somewhere far, far away. Can you do this?”

  “Yes, of course. Where is the female?”

  “In Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.”

  “Bring her to the Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport. Our people will meet you at the entrance to the car rental lot. Look for the warriors with Tyr’s tattoo, an upward-pointing arrow, on the back of their right hand.”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will never forget this.”

  “When are you going to deliver her?”

  Simone glanced at the clock. It was just after midnight. “Let’s do it in two hours. But I might be late, so please wait for me for another couple of hours just in case I run into any problems on this end.”

  “Don’t worry. They will wait as long as needed.”

  They disconnected.

  The plan was in place; now Simone just had to make it work.

  * * *

  “Good job. You were very convincing.” Anock clapped Blade on the shoulder. He’d just hung up the receiver. They were in the Guardians’ office in Sharm el-Sheikh, monitoring all outgoing calls from the Royal villa. “She believed you. Now, who should we send to meet Simone and the Queen at the airport?”

  Chapter 71

  Simone walked through her rescue plan, considering every potential loophole or setback, thinking it through in precise detail. Clothes: she needed to get Arianna something other than the bloodstock uniform. What an idiot she’d been to trash her own apartment; as far as she knew, she’d destroyed every piece of clothing she owned. But there must be something she could work with. She could give Arianna the dress and wear whatever she could find.

  Soundlessly, like a hunting feline, Simone stole back to her apartment, where she rifled through the sodden pile of clothing on her closet floor until she found a pair of black linen pants and a tight black tee-shirt, wet but intact. She wrung them as dry as she could, then took Ismen’s dress off and put them on, checking herself out in what remained of the big closet mirror. The wet clothes clung to her body and absorbed the light, making her sleek and dark like a cat burglar.

  Before leaving the room, Simone grabbed the least damaged blanket from her bed, but on her way to the garage she had a better idea and stopped at a linen closet to exchange the blanket for a buff-colored one that closely matched her car’s interior. She stopped by the garage to drop off the blanket and check her car’s tank. Good: it was almost full. Having taken care of the transportation, she took the elevator to the bloodstock cells beneath the estate.

  In the gloomy corridor she was greeted by a handler. “May I be of assistance to you, ma’am?”

  “Yes, you may,” answered Simone, capturing him with her hypnotic eyes. “Take me to the redhead.”

  “Do you mean number six, ma’am?”

  “I don’t know her number! Take me to the bloodstock, the girl with long red hair and different-colored eyes.”

  “Of course. Follow me please, ma’am.” The handler turned around and walked to the last door on the right. Simone followed closely behind him, a numbing terror working its way through her. She had never felt this depth of fear, not even at the arena under the threat of a death penalty. Was she a spineless coward or just neurotic?

  She had every reason to be either—or both. It had been a year and a half since she had last seen Arianna. For Simone, the time she’d spent with Arianna, their closeness, was like something out of a past life. But she had never stopped thinking about her sister. The guilt of her betrayal had seared an open wound into her heart that would never heal. She had a recurring dream of falling through a black abyss and never reaching the bottom. The dream was bugging her so much that she wished she’d just hit the heavy rocks already, her skull cracking open like a ceramic pot and spilling her brains out onto slick, algae-greened stones. Maybe that would stop the dream from repeating.

  “Open the door,” she told him in a voice that she hoped was casually authoritative.

  The handler dialed the combination on the door and it swung open. Simone stepped into the dark, miserable cell. Arianna was lying on her bed. If she’d been any paler, she could have passed as a corpse. Her blazing red hair had grown so long that it fell to the floor like molten lava. She had awoken at the sound of the door being opened and stared at Simone.

  Simone stood rooted to the spot. The female on the bed was not the sister she once knew. She still had Arianna’s angelic features, but something about her had changed dramatically. This female looked more mature, and there was ancient wisdom and dignity in her eyes. She was a stranger—and to Simone, an enigma.

  Simone took a few hesitant steps toward the bed. Arianna struggled to lift her head. Damn, she was as weak as a newborn kitten. She had recently been drained—of the blood that Ismen had brought to her. Disoriented, Simone’s first impulse was to get the hell out of there and bury her head in the sand like an ostrich. She should just leave everything as it was and accept that this was the way things had been between their two races for thousands of years. Her sister had been born Amiti, so it was her fate. It was as simple as that. Just accept it, and you’ll forever free yourself. No more inner tumult. No guilt, no self-loathing, no self-judgment. Just the peace of mind she yearned for. She could walk away from all this and just luxuriate in her carefree, comfortable, and elitist existence as one of the master race ...

  “Arianna,” was all she could say.

  “Why are you here.” Arianna’s voice was flat.

  “I just found out that you’re being held here, and I’ve come to get you out. Here, put this on.” She handed her Ismen’s blue dress. It would be huge on her, but so would anything else Simone would be able to dig up, so it would have to do.

  Arianna struggled to sit up in bed. Then, with her frail hands, she began pulling off the bloodstock uniform’s top but it got tangled around her neck. Still not entirely sure what she was doing, Simone helped her change and get off the bed, but once she tried to stand, Arianna swayed and lost her balance. Simone caught her and called the handler into the cell.

  “Pick her up and carry her to the elevator.” Being able to hypnotize humans definitely had its advantages.

  She ignored her flashback to the first human she’d hypnotized, the one she’d drained, killed.

  The handler carried Arianna into the elevator and down to the garage. Simone opened the back door of her jaguar and had the handler lay Arianna on the floor behind the front seat. “Now lie down. Quiet as a mouse, okay? We need to get through security at the front gate.”

  Obediently, Arianna pulled the blanket over herself and flattened herself along the floor. She was so tiny and thin that she disappeared into the floor.

/>   Simone started the engine and turned to the handler. “Now, go back to work and forget everything that’s happened during last half hour.”

  She opened the garage door and drove to the gate, her heart pounding. Please, Goddess, please make this work.

  As she’d expected, a guard stepped out of the guardhouse and approached her side of the car. He smiled as he recognized her. “Good evening, Princess.”

  She smiled in return. “Hi.” He wouldn’t question her; it was none of his business where she was going at this late hour.

  She was right. He pushed a control and the heavy gate opened. “Have a great time, miss.”

  “I will.” Relieved, she waved cheerfully at him as she drove through. Once she was safely out of sight, she accelerated and sped off toward the airport.

  “Ari,” she called to Arianna as they left the villa far behind. “We’re out of danger now.”

  Arianna kicked the blanket off and pushed herself up onto the seat. She rolled the window down and let the ocean breeze rush in. The road wound along the coastline, and all the way to the airport Arianna stared at the dark waters of the sea as if she couldn’t get enough of it. She still hadn’t once looked at Simone and hadn’t spoken a word. The silence between them was intense. Simone tried to read her mind, but Amiti weren’t like humans—there was no way to get into their thoughts—and Simone had broken their blood-bond by bonding with Oberon, so she couldn’t use that channel either.

  But, really, Simone didn’t need to read her sister’s mind. Her conviction that Arianna hated her grew with every passing minute, every turn on the highway. As Arianna’s aura spilled over her, Simone vividly felt her hostile energies, along with expanding vibrations of confidence and self-sufficiency.

  The predator in Simone sensed another predator—and something unforeseen happened to Simone’s inner lioness. She tucked her tail between her legs and bolted to the farthest corner of Simone’s mind. The last traces of Simone’s dimming enthusiasm winked out. Her intuition urged her to turn back, but without knowing why, she stubbornly ignored it and kept driving, even though she knew without the slightest doubt that she’d regret her actions.

  At the airport, Simone followed the signs to the rental car lot and pulled off to the side at the entrance gate.

  “I trust you had a safe trip, Princess?” asked a sonorous male’s voice. Three athletic, well-toned males were approaching them; Simone immediately sensed that they were some type of wereanimal. On the back of each of their right hands was an upward-pointing arrow tattoo, the rune Tiwaz that was the Legacy’s symbol. Simone heaved a sigh of relief, the infusion of air to her lungs making her realize that she’d barely breathed throughout the entire trip.

  “Thank Goddess that you came.”

  “There was no question of it. Our word is our bond. I assume this is the female you requested Sanctuary for.” The weres squinted golden-brown eyes at Arianna. Simone nodded and lowered her mouth to Arianna’s ear.

  “Ari.” It sounded foreign on her tongue; the name didn’t suit her sister anymore. “The Legacy will take care of you. They’ll give you Sanctuary, and you’ll see Antar soon. He’ll make sure you’re okay.” She stopped briefly and exhaled. “I wish you happiness, and ... ” she paused again, drawing on all her courage, “Arianna, please forgive me.”

  Arianna just looked through her, impassively. Finally, she slowly nodded her head, the nod of a Queen.

  Not even a single word? That’s it! Simone wanted to scream. She’d risked everything for her and couldn’t even get a simple thank you?

  “Okay, ladies. We need to keep it moving so we can leave while the corridor’s still open.” One of the warriors helped Arianna out of the car and into the back seat of their car. From there, Simone assumed, they’d head across the airport to the Legacy’s private jet.

  Feeling defeated and incomplete, Simone got back into her car. There was nothing else to say. She watched them drive away and disappear into the night.

  Chapter 72

  After watching the lights of Sharm el-Sheikh fade into the distance, Arianna turned in her leather seat, assessing her surroundings. The three Legacy warriors—werehyenas, they’d called themselves—sat in rows near her, occupied with magazines and movies. The plane stretched back behind her, and she thought she felt the presence of more passengers, but she’d have to stand up to be sure and she didn’t want to call attention to herself.

  Everything seemed normal, but Arianna couldn’t shake the nagging sensation that something was wrong, had been wrong ever since Simone had shown up in her cell. It didn’t make sense that they’d been able to get away that easily. Tor and the Royal pride were powerful enough that once they made the decision to lock her up, she’d stay that way until they decided otherwise.

  Yes, something was definitely very wrong here.

  “Hi, beautiful. Champagne?” With a flute of champagne in each hand, Anock settled into a seat across from her.

  Well, if that didn’t confirm her suspicions, she didn’t know what would have. Her saviors, the three werehyenas, weren’t with the Legacy at all; they were working with the vampires. She was right back where she’d started—or worse, depending on why they’d bothered staging such an elaborate setup.

  Now save your butt, girl. Do something before it’s done to you. This might be the best chance she had, and she had to take it. She couldn’t fight all the males on the plane, but maybe she could gain control over the one sitting in front of her, the one who was calling the shots.

  “Thanks.” She accepted the glass with what she hoped was a purr and a provocative smile. She couldn’t afford to drink the champagne at all, really: she needed her wits about her, and she had no food in her stomach and no flesh to metabolize the alcohol. But she closed her eyes and took a tiny sip, rolling it on her tongue and letting its decadence help her get into character for just a second. Yes, she’d been drained, and what was left of her felt leaden, hardly in a good position to play the seductress, but she was running out of time and options. Time for a pep talk.

  No bloodletting now could ever rob her of her immutable nature; she was the child of the Love Goddess; she was sexy and alluring. It was Tor who had taught her to believe in herself. He’d seen her beauty, and through his eyes Arianna had learned to see it, too. Goddess, how much she missed him ... as much as she hated him. When she got her powers—and she knew she would; her rage would unlock them—there’d be retribution. An eye for an eye; blood for blood. Tor would be the first to experience her wrath. She’d burn him alive with the rays of the sun, the power of Ra becoming lethal in her hands. She’d do it slowly, very slowly, watching him convulsing in agony for hours, days—no, better even, for centuries—and she, impervious and callous, would watch him weep bloody tears while the flames devoured his merciless evil heart. She’d revel in his pain like he must have reveled in hers. And when there was nothing left of his magnificent body but ashes, she’d collect them and hide them under her pillow drenching it with her tears every night for millennia ... Goddess, help her have the courage to kill him.

  Well, that wasn’t how she’d imagined psyching herself up, but it would work just fine. Revenge was a powerful motivator, helping her tap into more energy than she’d thought possible.

  She opened her eyes to appraise Anock with a provocative smile and crossed her legs, letting the hemline of her dress ride up to expose her thigh, high enough to make him want to see more.

  “Where are you taking me this time?” She held Anock’s eyes over the champagne flute as she pretended to take another sip.

  “To Brussels. Does it matter?”

  Arianna shrugged. “No, I guess it really doesn’t. You don’t provide luxury apartments with nice views or anything fun to do. In fact, the life you offer is boring. Why don’t we enjoy ourselves while we still have a chance?”

  Coup de main: a surprise attack. She cupped the delicate crystal glass in her palm and squeezed with all the strength
left in her. The glass broke and sliced into her palm, releasing the rich scent of her blood—the Amiti Queen’s blood—to fill the air. She jumped up and closed the distance between Anock and herself. Using the largest shard of crystal, she sliced an X across her chest, then slashed across her cheek, splattering blood everywhere.

  “What are you doing?” Anock leaped to his feet and grabbed her wrists, taking the piece of glass from her. “Get back in your seat,” he commanded, shoving her back.

  Blind rage exploded in Arianna at the thought that she’d lost without even having a chance. “Go to hell!” she shouted, attacking him and reaching for the glass. He gripped her shoulders, pressing her down, but she kicked him in the groin, brutally, ruthlessly, twisting herself free, and bolted toward the back of the plane.

  She found the other passengers she’d sensed on the plane when she crashed into them. Two Sekhmi loomed in her path and tried to catch her, but she dropped to the floor and slithered between them, elusive as a snake. One seized the skirt of her dress just as Anock caught her in his arms and pulled her up, tearing the thin fabric apart. She twisted and kicked like a wild cat, biting into Anock’s biceps.

  She screamed as a searing pain sliced down her back and shoulder. Anock shoved her behind him.

  She turned to see two werehyenas stalking them, their features melting like wax as they morphed from human to hyena before her eyes. It was hideous, and even in her panic she wanted to gag.

  Crap. They were reacting to her blood, too.

  This hadn’t been part of the plan. Between the weres and the Sekhmi, everything had changed. For now at least, Anock was her ally and protector, seemingly the only one on the plane who wasn’t trying to rip her to shreds. She pressed herself against his back.

  The weres attacked.

  In a blur of motion, Anock threw them aside like toys, and then his voice boomed out over the roar of the plane. “You need to Stand. Down. Now. Get back to your seats. Don’t make me kill you. You know I will if I have to.”