Vampire Elite (14 page)

She woke up alone, drenched in sweat, raging with horniness—and with bloodlust beyond anything she’d ever imagined. Her whole body ached with it.
 

Simone stripped off her soaked pajamas and sat on her bed, staring out the window in a stupor. The rays of the rising sun highlighted the misty treetops with a beautiful pink glow. It was morning. She’d slept through the rest of the afternoon and through the night.
 

She heard helicopter engines in the distance: Girtab and his team preparing to leave for Manaus to pick up that day’s crop of tourists.
 

Tourists. Humans. Blood.
Sharp as nails, the words hammered into Simone’s brain.
 

Three days ago, Simone would’ve scoffed at the mere suggestion that she might ever feed on a human. The Vampire Elite considered it terribly vulgar, beneath their dignity—not to mention bad for their health. Human blood could keep Sekhmi alive indefinitely, but it drained their powers and in the long run created health problems, like when humans lived on junk food. But right now? Her arrogance was gone, buried under a mountain of bloodlust. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, and she needed blood. Any blood.
Right now
.
 

The realization had her calling up all of her vampire speed, and within a few seconds she was dressed and out on the tarmac, charming Girtab into taking her along. A half hour later she was helping them pick up tourists in Manaus. Having been on the tour several times, she knew what was coming: they’d fly back to Anavilhanas, have lunch in the jungle in a small indigenous restaurant, and after lunch, the tourists would have some free time to relax. She’d do it then.
 

The predator in Simone was thrilled to be on a real hunt for the first time. There were no other thoughts in her brain, just the pure animal drive to catch her prey and satisfy her hunger. The bloodlust had even subsided, as though it knew she was trying to feed it and needed her brain for planning.

As planned, the group stopped for lunch at a cozy, secluded restaurant that jutted out on to the Rio Negro, affording a perfect view of the river and the colorful jungle foliage surrounding it. Several rough paths wandered along the riverbank or into the nearby jungle and were often used by tourists for after-lunch walks. The place was a combination of homey comfort and true wilderness. Tourists loved it.
 

While everyone took their seats at the tables on the terrace, Simone identified her prey: a young woman in her late twenties, fresh-faced, tidy, and traveling alone. With a friendly smile, Simone took a seat at her table.
 

“Hi! I’m Simone,” she introduced herself. “Do you mind if I share this table with you? I see you’re alone here. Me too.”

“Of course!” The woman returned Simone’s smile. “Please, keep me company. I’m Jennifer.”

They began chatting. A biology teacher from Louisiana, Jennifer was thrilled to come to this paradise and see all the wildlife firsthand. Simone feigned interest in biodiversity as they ate lunch and then when Jennifer finally set down her fork, Simone suggested that they check out a stand of unique plants just a few steps away from the restaurant. The two women followed one of the paths off into the jungle—and since their behavior was exactly what the tourists were expected to do, nobody paid any attention.
 

As soon as she had Jennifer alone, out of sight of the restaurant or the customers wandering around it, Simone turned to Jennifer and stared into her eyes, telling her to be still and silent, that she was about to experience something intensely pleasurable. Jennifer immediately froze, blinking at her serenely as though waiting for Simone’s next cue. Simone flinched inwardly at Jennifer’s vacant eyes—so like Arianna’s when she’d last seen her—and then in the next heartbeat Simone’s misgivings were gone and she was a hunter once again.
 

Her heart accelerating from anticipation, Simone captured Jennifer in a predatory embrace, fisting her hair to pull back her head, exposing her throat. She stared at Jennifer’s pulsating jugular and panicked.
Dear Goddess
, she’d never taken a human vein before—never even
thought
she’d ever do it. But then the predator roared inside Simone, urging her to strike. She remembered how she’d done it with Arianna, remembered her incredibly detailed dream of doing it with Antar—and, trusting her beast, she put her mouth to her prey’s throat and pierced the jugular.
 

At first she almost choked: human blood tasted awful, with nowhere near the delicacy, the purity, of Amiti blood, with its variety of unique aromas and flavors. But her bloodlust roared up again, this time beating her palate into submission, and she drank voraciously, savoring the fact of drinking if not the taste of the blood.
 

She was nowhere near satiated when Jennifer’s body suddenly went limp in her arms. What? Surely she’d only been feeding for a second, nowhere near enough to cause real harm. But when she pulled away and listened, there was no heartbeat. Irritated, she released her grip—dead blood was useless to her—and Jennifer’s lifeless body fell to the ground like a bag of sand. Simone stared at it with empty eyes, her brain refusing to process what had just happened.
 

“You killed her.” She heard the horrified whisper, felt the rush of air as Girtab blew past her and dropped to his knees next to Jennifer’s motionless body.

His voice echoed like a thunderstorm in Simone’s brain.
 

Her world blew into a billion pieces that circled around her in the air, creating an almost impenetrable mist through which she could barely distinguish dark shadows and indistinct voices. Completely disassociated, she watched herself and the ensuing events from a distance. This wasn’t happening to her. It was just a movie she was watching. A terrible movie.

Girtab was shouting for Shaula and the two other guys, ordering them to declare an emergency. He was picking up Jennifer’s body and carrying her somewhere. He was ordering an evacuation of the tourists, something about an animal attack.
 

Someone—Shaula—seized Simone, dragged her with him to a helicopter, and threw her in. As they rose into the air, Simone looked out the window at the distressed crowd gathered around Girtab and the dead woman he held. Girtab’s face suddenly whipped around, his accusatory eyes meeting hers, reaching far deeper inside her than they should have been able to, especially from that distance. She remembered that winged demons had a sixth sense for what happened when someone died a violent death.
 

The crowd was retreating from them, further and further, and then it completely disappeared from view, and Simone was starting at the empty blue sky. She heard a voice come over the radio, informing the Legacy about the incident.
 

She was the perpetrator. The murderer. And she was probably going to be executed for it.

Chapter 17

Simone was back in her bungalow, but it wasn’t the haven of comfort and safety that it had been only the day before. Now it was literally her prison: she was under house arrest. Antar had told her father what had happened, and now Tor was on his way to Anavilhanas, expected to arrive that evening. The thought of facing her father was killing her. Why didn’t the Legacy just end her life right here, right now, and spare her the torture? There was no way she was going to make it through this whole ordeal alive anyway.

The Confederation of Immortals, the political body that the Legacy of Tyr served, had been enforcing the No-Kill and No-Show laws with ever-increasing severity during Simone’s lifetime. Every technological advance that humans touted as making the world smaller, making communication easier, also made human discovery of immortals more inevitable. The Code—the laws of No-Kill and No-Show—were seen as the last defense against that discovery. And they were also seen as immortals’ only chance to insure that when that inevitable day finally arrived, it would not mean outright war between humans and immortals. The Confederation’s zero-tolerance policy regarding code violations would show humans that immortals could and would police themselves.

She really needed to stop thinking about this, she told herself for the hundredth time as she glanced at the old-fashioned clock on the bedside table—also for the hundredth time—to find that about a minute and a half had passed since the last time she’d checked.
 

She was sitting motionless on her bed staring at the opposite wall, trying with all her willpower not to think or look at the clock again, when she heard a soft knock at the bungalow door. After a brief pause, it opened and Antar came in.
 

He sat on his heels in front of her and took both her hands in his. “Simone, let’s go. I know a place where I can hide you. Nobody will find you there and I’ll take care of you.”

“Antar ...” She couldn’t believe her ears, couldn’t believe the offer he was making. This wasn’t about his loyalty to Tor; it was just about her, about keeping her safe. Goddess, he cared for her.
 

“Let’s go, Sim. I’ll take you far, far away. You know the Legacy can’t provide Sanctuary for people charged with violating Confederation laws. So this is the only way to help you. Let’s go.”

“But then
you’ll
be breaking the law. You’ll lose your job and be a wanted criminal. I won’t do that to you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

Simone cupped Antar’s face in her palms. Goddess, the expression on his face: he wasn’t just worried about her; he was miserable.
 

She shook her head. “No. I can’t. Even if I was willing to do that to you—which I’m not—it would be weak. I won’t run away. My father would be ashamed of me ... I can’t.”

“It’s not about honor or shame, Simone. It’s about your life.”

“I’m the daughter of the King. I am the princess. It
is
about honor for me.” She leaned forward and kissed Antar gently, almost without touching his lips, and felt his body tense in response.

What if this was the last time she ever saw him? Simone’s heart wrenched at the thought. If they executed her, she’d die without ever experiencing, even once, what it was like to be with someone she loved. All her affairs had just been games, tests of her charms, explorations of her sexuality. But Antar was so
real
. And Simone’s feelings for him were real, too; he wasn’t like the others.

Yes. She’d decided. “I want to be with you. Now.” She brushed Antar’s lips with hers again. His eyes occupied her entire universe at this moment.

“
Simone.
” Antar held her fingertips to his lips, his hot breath on them warming her from head to toe. “You don’t love me.”

Simone was staring at him, blinking—torn between anger that he dared make assumptions about her and longing to reassure him that yes, she
did
love him; she dreamed of spending her life with him—when Sargas ducked his head in the door.

“Sorry to interrupt you guys, but your father has arrived, Princess.”

When she stepped outside, Sargas and Rock moved discretely to flank her.
Sweet of them to be so subtle about their prison-guard role
, she thought. Her ears caught the throb of approaching helicopters.

While she’d been inside, the village had changed dramatically, lushly decorated with garlands of tropical flowers and leaves that now hung along walkways and from the roofs of bungalows and had been strewn plentifully through the bushes and trees. The village inhabitants had changed, too, out of their everyday camouflage and into bright, colorful indigenous clothing. And it had all been lit by hundreds of flickering torches that cast dramatic shadows over every surface. She noticed several daring demon children sitting on bungalow roofs, swinging torches above their heads.
 

Simone might have been locked away, contemplating her impending execution and her father’s wrath—but it was party time in Aldeia Alada.
 

She spent so much time with Tor at their residences or going to elite social events that she never saw how much the locals rolled out the red carpet when the Vampire King visited them. For a second, she felt a frisson of pride—and then she was back to being terrified. All of that decoration might have looked like exotic beauty, but for her, it was just another sign of her father’s power. He was going to kill her. Or just be incredibly, horribly disappointed in her. And she wasn’t sure which would be worse.

A wave of excitement rolled through the crowd as the King’s two helicopters moved into view above the village, hovering over the landing pad, projecting their searchlight beams downward as they prepared to land. The welcoming party—Girtab, Antar, and others whose positions she didn’t know—moved into position. As the helicopters landed, Simone thought she might actually faint.

As the main helicopter’s rotors slowed down, four intimidating Sekhmi—the King’s bodyguards and members of the Royal pride—descended the stairs and positioned themselves around the copter.
Damn, Odji and Anock.
Of course, what else did she expect?
 

The last time she’d seen them, they’d been at Arianna’s house, unconscious—because she’d knocked them out with Anock’s own weapon. She wondered if they knew that the King hadn’t even been angry with her about it; if they knew that, they’d be even more pissed.
 

And now on top of everything else Antar was somehow going to find out that she’d been having sex with them—both of them, and sometimes both at the same time—and even though it was just fun and didn’t mean anything, it’d kill whatever chances she might have had with Antar.
 

The King stepped on the ground, his powerful aura spilling across the village and sending a shiver up Simone’s spine. Tor always made a dramatic entry; the power he radiated was palpable. Even with their eyes closed, vampires could discern that they were in the presence of their King. Simone didn’t know about other immortals, but she couldn’t imagine anyone
not
feeling it.