Blood Talisman (5 page)
“Oh, Jeez…” Alex frowned for a moment. “Jason just asked if I would go with him up
to Big Bear for the weekend.”
“Damn,” Tommy muttered. “Well, that’s okay, I don’t want to bust up your plans.”
“Is it real important?” Alex stared at him keenly. “You definitely look like you’re
worried about something.”
“It’s Andrew,” Tommy said, sighing. “He’s flying off to Iraq this afternoon. He doesn’t
want me to go with him, but—”
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 27
“But you’re thinking of going anyway, right? What’s he going over there for? Isn’t it
still pretty dangerous for tourists?”
“It’s uh—more of a business trip, but I don’t like the idea of him being there. You’re
right, it’s still dangerous, and Americans are not very popular.”
“I thought he was Hungarian.”
“He is. You know what I mean.”
“Well, lemme call Jason, see if he’s okay with us taking the trip next weekend instead.
’Scuse me for a second.” Alex grinned. “He gets kinda mushy on the phone.” He stepped
away to a corner of the locker area where no one was sitting, and Tommy watched as he
called his boyfriend Jason.
Tommy was happy for his best buddy. A few months before, the demon Dakar had
forcibly recruited Alex along with hundreds of other men and women to strengthen his
demon army in his bid to take control away from their Kardis, the ruler of the underworld.
Alex and all the other humans had almost been killed, but vampires had saved the day, and the upshot had been that Alex had met Jason who had also been ‘recruited’. They’d been seeing one another regularly since then, and it looked like their romance was going well.
Alex was smiling ruefully as he walked back over to where Tommy waited. “He said
okay, but only ‘cause it’s you. He knows how tight we are.”
“Thanks, Alex.” Tommy gave him a quick hug. “Tell Jason I love him. Well…” He
winked at Alex. “I’ll tell him when I see him next.”
“Hey, ‘nuff o’ that!”
“Just kidding. Now I just have to get the chief to agree.”
“He’ll agree. You’re his boy wonder!”
Tommy smiled ruefully. The chief might, but Tommy wondered if Andrew would still
consider him his ‘boy wonder’ when he told him he was joining him in Iraq.
Oh, the air is gonna be blue, but I’m not backing down—not this time!
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 28
The Lady Andorra drew herself up to her full height of five-foot-four and glared up at
the man who towered over her, meeting his dark eyes with a fierce stare of her own. Though diminutive in stature, Andorra knew she still managed to exude an intimidating persona even while restrained and faced with a lethal enemy.
“Where is Tony, my companion?” she demanded in fluent Arabic. “What have you
done with him?”
“You will not demand information from me,” the man who had identified himself
earlier only as Azid snarled at her. “Nor will you find me or my men threatened by your
arrogant ways. We know what you are, and we know what daylight can do to you. Answer
the questions I shall put to you again, or this time you will hear the screams of your
companion as he has hot coals applied to his naked flesh.”
Andorra strained against the silver chains that bound her to the wall of her cell—chains that weakened her and took away her vampire powers. Unbound, she could destroy this man in an instant and his cohorts with him, but unless by some miracle she was freed, she had no way of overcoming her captors and rescuing Tony from whatever hell these men had planned for him.
“Marcus!”
Her silent pleas had so far gone unanswered and Andorra knew it had to be because of her weakened state. If Marcus had heard her he would have replied in kind and most likely would be on his way to help get her out of this mess.
She had been betrayed. Someone who knew of her mission had informed the terrorist
group that now held her and Tony prisoner. They had also been informed of her powers for they had got to Tony first, using him as bait to lure her to their headquarters. Tony was human, and although made stronger than many men by Andorra’s vampire blood, even he was no match for the five thugs sent against him.
Despite the fact that Tony was attacked in broad daylight and in front of several
witnesses, no one came to his aid or alerted the police. Violence was an all too common
occurrence in the daily life of Baghdad and for the most part people preferred to look the other way. The thugs had sent a note to Andorra’s hotel room telling her where she would
www.total-e-bound.com
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 29
find Tony, and that if she wanted to see him alive, she should come alone, and without her vampire aggression. Andorra had at first thought she would be able to simply overpower the terrorists and rescue Tony—but now she blamed her own arrogance in thinking it would be quite so easy. The silver net that had dropped on her as she entered the building had
weakened her enough to allow the men to use chains of the same metal that now bound her.
“What is it you wish to know?” she asked, her eyes never wavering from the tall man’s
sneering expression.
The terrorist heaved a long and exasperated sigh, his breath sour on Andorra’s face. “I
will repeat the questions I have asked for two days, but only once more. Who is it that you have been sent to protect? Where is the meeting place, and for when is it scheduled? You have one minute to tell us or your friend experiences the ultimate in pain, and you will have to listen to his cries of agony, his screams for mercy.” Azid stepped back and folded his arms, his eyes sweeping over Andorra’s face and body. “You know, you are a very beautiful woman. Too bad you are what you are, or I would have enjoyed having my way with you. It
would bring me much pleasure to hear you scream your ecstasy as I fucked you. Too bad…”
Andorra laughed. “But good for you that you have not given in to your disgusting
thoughts,” she snapped. “Were I free of these chains I would rip your head from your body and give it to the crows for lunch!”
Azid’s eyes widened with shock. “Women do not speak to men like that,” he rasped,
pushing his face close to Andorra’s. “You should be lashed to within an inch of your life.”
“This woman will speak to any man in this manner.” Andorra turned away in disgust.
“And take your stinking breath out of my face.”
Azid scowled, then his expression of anger became smug as he sneered at Andorra.
“Your man will feel even more pain to pay for your insolence. Perhaps you would like to
reflect on that while you listen to his screams.”
“Tony is more important to me than any other human being,” Andorra said quietly.
“He is also very strong and will not scream when you torture him. Nor would he wish me to be disloyal to those who sent me here. So even though I have been betrayed by someone paying you to do this, I will not tell you what you want to know. Tony will forgive me.”
“Tony will die,” Azid rasped. “He will not be around to forgive you.” He turned to one
of his henchmen and snapped, “Tell them to begin torturing the human infidel.” He smirked
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 30
at Andorra as the man left the cell. “We will see just how strong your man is. Not even the bravest can hold out very long when their flesh begins to burn and melt under the coals.”
Oh, Tony, forgive me my darling. When this is over, I will heal you and give you immortality
and invincibility so you will never have to go through this kind of pain again.
Andorra hung her head in sickening expectation of the sounds she knew would soon
reach her ears. Azid was right—not even the bravest could withstand the kind of torture
these vile men were about to inflict on Tony.
A few minutes crept by with excruciating slowness. Azid grumbled with impatience
then growled out yet another order to one of the two men still with him in the cell. “Go see what is happening. Find out why they have not started the torture. I want to hear the infidel scream and beg for mercy, and I want to witness the effect of all that on his vampire mistress!”
Andorra raised her head and looked around her. Azid and only one man remained. If
she could only break the chains she could deal with them both and rescue Tony. With all her mental will she strained against her bonds, then stiffened with shock as a terrible wail of terror erupted from outside the cell.
Tony.
The panicked cry was suddenly cut off. Somewhere a metal door clanged shut and an
eerie silence permeated the air around them.
That was not Tony
.
“Marcus!”
Azid and the other terrorist cried out and stumbled back from the cell door when it was
flung open with such force it burst free of its hinges. The men’s faces were etched in horror and Andorra watched with cold satisfaction as Marcus and Roger, in full vampire mode, strode into the cell, grabbed both thugs by their throats and slammed them brutally against the stone wall.
“Now you tell us who you are working for!” Marcus snarled, his fangs inches from
Azid’s sweating neck.
Another vampire whom Andorra did not recognise, rushed in, accompanied by Tony
who immediately wrenched the silver chains from Andorra’s body and pulled her into his
arms.
“Tony—forgive me,” Andorra murmured against his chest.
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 31
“For what? Nothing happened, Andy. Marcus and his buddies saved the day. This is
Andrew, by the way.”
Andorra acknowledged the handsome vampire with a nod of thanks, then slipped from
Tony’s embrace and stared at the two hapless men in Marcus’ and Roger’s grip.
She smiled. “Shall I tell you now, what you wanted to know—before we kill you?”
“But not before they vomit up the name of the man who betrayed you,” Marcus said,
letting Azid slide down the wall until he knelt in front of him.
“I do not know his name,” Azid squeaked. “We were hired to extract information and
pass it on, that is all.”
“To whom would you pass it on?” Andrew asked.
“No one uses their real names—only codes.”
“Then give us both code names, coward,” Andrew said. “The one who betrayed the
Lady Andorra, and the one to whom you would relay the information.”
Azid hesitated long enough for Marcus to expose his fangs again and growl deep in his
throat, while Roger squeezed the other terrorist’s throat enough to make him croak—just
barely, “Tell them, Azid, for pity’s sake, tell them!”
“I only have the one code name to be used in dispatches—it is Krautman,” Azid
muttered, scowling. “That is all I know, I swear.”
“I wonder why they needed this go-between,” Andorra mused, with a speculative
glance at Tony. “The government informant must surely have a direct link to this Krautman person.”
“Perhaps he was afraid of a direct communication being intercepted,” Tony said. “He
could always say he was checking these guys out for future spy work.”
“So what do we do with these jerks?” Roger asked.
“The same as we did with their friends before releasing them,” Marcus replied. “Wipe
their memories clean of all that has taken place here. Although what they planned to do to Tony merits stronger measures, too many dead bodies pose too many questions. Now, Roger!”
Andorra watched with grim amusement as the terrorists’ faces, once twisted in fear and
hatred now became calm, if puzzled, masks.
“You may go,” Marcus said quietly, and without argument, the men shuffled away, not
even giving him and the others so much as a backward glance.
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 32
Andorra stepped forward to embrace Marcus. “Thank you for this,” she said, kissing
his cheek. “I was beginning to despair for Tony’s life. And you too, Roger.” She smiled at the young vampire. “I see you’ve become quite the aggressor. And you have brought a new friend—Andrew?”
Andrew smiled, took Andorra’s hand and laid a soft kiss on it. “Andrew Berés, my
lady,” he murmured, his old-world manners to the fore.
“He helped lay out those creeps that were looking forward to singeing my skin,” Tony
said, clapping Andrew on the shoulder. “You should have seen the looks on those bozos’
faces when three mad-as-hell vampires came bustin’ into the room!” Tony laughed, but
Andorra could tell her human companion had been really shaken up by the whole
experience. Perhaps it was time to give up this liaison she had with the World Council. Why should she needlessly endanger the life of the man she had loved for over a hundred years?
“How did you find us?” she asked Marcus.
“There are informants in every camp it seems,” Marcus told her. “I could not reach your
mind so I knew that whoever held you had weakened your powers somehow.” He gestured
at the silver chains now lying on the cell floor, and grimaced. “Whoever betrayed you
instructed the men to take this precaution, but they had reckoned without our vampire
network. I sent out a message for help to every corner of the globe, and as luck would have it, our old friend, Andre—you remember him of course—is here in Baghdad on business.”
