Vampires Dead Ahead (11 page)

He’d severed his own head.

The Vampire
had severed his own head.

I jerked my attention to the Vampire up against the wall. Gary had a wooden stake in his hand that hed pulled from his pocket, and was raising it up as if to drive it down and into his own heart.

Colin and I dove for him at the same time. I grabbed the stake and Colin grabbed the Vampire. “No!” he shouted. “I will not be taken!”

I straightened, holding the stake in my hand. “Yes. You will.”

Colin tossed me a pair of silver handcuffs and I snapped them on the Vampire’s wrists.

TWELVE

“We need to interrogate this scum,” Ice said in a low growl that reminded me of his jaguar form.

“Nyx.” Desmond’s eyes had a half-wild light to them when I turned to face him. Desmond had an accent from the world he was from, and the Scottish-like brogue was strong as he spoke. “I have to go to the apartment where Rodán disappeared. Now.”

“Why?” I said, feeling off balance from the intensity of his expression and the depth of conviction in his tone.

Desmond took my hand and led me away from the Vampire I’d just cuffed. “A moment ago I had a vision. Just a flash of one, but a vision nonetheless,” Desmond said. “We can’t wait.”

“What did you have a vision of?” Those black snakes were back wriggling in my belly.

“It was brief. A flash.” Desmond pushed his hand through his already messy hair, making it look in even more of a disarray than usual.

“What did you vision about, Desmond?” I tried to breathe, but a feeling of panic rose within me.

“Rodán,” he said. “I visioned about Rodán.”

Air didn’t want to come into my lungs.

“We have to go to the place he disappeared,” Desmond repeated and took a couple of steps away from me. “Once we’re there I should be able to tell you more. I might even be able to show you.”

Breathe in. Breathe out.

“Okay.” I clenched my hands as I tried to keep calm. “But the others need to see, too.”

I explained to Joshua, Ice, and Colin that Desmond had something to show us. We had to wait for the PTF before we could leave. Fortunately that took only moments.

In our various forms we were able to get to the Wall Street apartment quickly. Colin took me and Desmond, and Ice transformed into a snow-white falcon. Every form Ice took was white.

Joshua traveled as a shadow. He’d saved my life once when I’d been blasted out a window by Volod and fallen twenty-four stories. Joshua had shot down from the shattered window as shadow, passed me, then transformed into a human and caught me on the ground. I never knew how he got to me so fast.

When we were all together, we headed up to the apartment we’d been in earlier that day and made our way inside.

A horrible, sick feeling came over me as I took in the wreckage. I faced Desmond, a dread so vast building up inside me that it was almost crippling in its intensity.

Desmond had his eyes closed and a pale green light seemed to roll up and down his arms and over his body, something I’d never seen before. The tendons in his neck sto v>

His body trembled as he seemed to absorb energy from the room. Negative energy, I thought. It couldn’t be good.

Joshua, Ice, Colin, and I circled Desmond, waiting. I didn’t know if I wanted him to hurry or not, because I was afraid of what I would see.

Desmond opened his eyes and held out his palm. A small ball of light floated above his hand. It reminded me of the first time he’d shown me Zombies in a hologram.

He released the ball so that it drifted up until it hovered in the air between us. He made a motion with his fingers and the ball expanded … until there were three forms floating in front of us all.

Nymph One, Nymph Two, and Rodán.

The Nymphs’ bodies were slender and petite, their faces stunning, their hair long and golden. Their perfect breasts threatened to spill from the bodices of the matching red dresses they wore, and their nipples were hard enough to show through the gauzy fabric.

“Come to our place this time,” Bubbles was saying to Rodán as he put his arms around each of their shoulders and walked them toward his chambers. “We have something we want to share with you.”

Rodán paused, bringing the three of them to a halt. “What would that be?”

Bubbles gave a wickedly sexual smile. “You’re going to love what we have in store for you.”

“Absolutely
love
it,” Trixie said.

No,
Nyx wanted to yell.
Don’t go.

But Rodán seemed to gain more sexual energy from the way the pair looked at him, the excitement they appeared to have for the night to come.

“And what would that be, ladies?” Rodán repeated, his voice low and sensual.

Bubbles leaned closer. “We have whiteberry potion.”

Rodán raised an eyebrow. “How did you come upon something so rare? Are you certain it’s authentic?”

With a devious grin, Trixie leaned in close. “We gave a private performance to a very wealthy individual. And yes, it is real. We tried a tiny bit.”

“And we’ve been saving it for you.” Bubbles rose up on her tiptoes and nipped his earlobe.

“Not a drop will go to waste.” Rodán kissed Trixie, then Bubbles. “Shall we go?”

I shook my head, wanting to tell this memory of Rodán that he was heading into a trap.

The hologram swirled, everything blending together like oils in a painting. Then the apartment we were in appeared—only everything was intact. It was exceptional, even by human standards. Rich mahogany furnishings, crystal chandeliers, original oil paintings, and polished wood floors.

All of it lying shattered and broken in the present.

In the living area, Rodán settled onto the couch, the cushions of which were whole and beautiful, not shredded. Trixie scooted onto his lap and straddled him. She kissed him and slid her fingers through the length of his hair.

“No fair hogging Rodán.” Bubbles knelt beside him on the couch, took his hand in hers, and placed it on one of her breasts. He tweaked her nipple.

“Why is this still on?” Rodán lightly pulled at the material.

She gave a blissful sigh of pleasure and nuzzled his ear before tracing the point with the tip of her tongue.

Rodán’s love of females and sex might be his undoing.

“First things first,” Bubbles murmured. “A drop of whiteberry potion.”

Trixie leaned back as Bubbles brought a tiny vial to Rodán’s lips. A minuscule drop landed on his tongue.

No, no, no!
I cried in my mind.

Rodán frowned. “It should not taste bitter,” he said. “Whiteberry is as sweet as a cherry—”

His words cut off and he suddenly looked dizzy.

Trixie and Bubbles watched him as if expecting something to happen.

“Wrong potion,” he whispered. “Something’s wrong.”

“Is it working?” Bubbles said as she looked at Trixie. “He’s relaxing like they said he would.”

Rodán’s eyes looked bleary and when he tried to move he seemed tired, lethargic. As my heart pounded and my mouth grew dry, I could almost feel his muscles turn to limp blades of grass, his bones tired and old, as though every year he’d lived was now etched upon him.

Unwanted thoughts and images came to me … As if Rodán was a frail being with no past, no future—instead of the Elvin prince he was.

My jaws hurt from clenching them so tightly as Rodán struggled to talk, struggled to move. I’d never seen him like that. Never. Rodán, helpless?

“You’ll have fun, Rodán.” Trixie kissed him on the lips and slid off his lap. He watched her stand, and she looked away. “You can come by and thank us tomorrow. We can get a double payback on this one. We love you, Rodán. Enjoy the experience.”

Bubbles joined Trixie. “Where’s our potion?”

“It will be given to you,” said a female voice I thought I recognized.

When I saw her, I stepped back from the hologram in shock. The San Francisco Proctor.

“Monique,” Rodán managed to say to the Elvin female, her name coming out raspy and impotent from his lips.

“Move.” The power in Monique’s voice had the Nymphs scrambling to get away from Rodán.

Monique sat beside him. She was gorgeous w {as o get awayith her hair long and shining, dark around her shoulders and her delicate features. Her fair—no, pale—skin was a lovely contrast with her dark hair, and her pointed ears peeked through the strands.

A single diamond pendant glittered at her throat. She wore a tight thigh-high black dress, her legs smooth and elegant, and her feet clad in expensive designer shoes. She looked exquisite, one of the most beautiful beings I’d ever seen.

“It’s so wonderful to see you.” She reached out and caressed the side of his face. “I’ve missed you.”

I sensed Rodán’s feelings—something wasn’t right about the beautiful female beside him. But his senses were dulled from the potion.

“Leave.” Monique waved away the Nymphs with one hand. “
He
is in the sitting room. He’ll pay you there and give you your vial of potion. A couple of males, the lookalike Vampire friends that you were promised, are in there with him. I’m sure you two will enjoy them very much.”

Vaguely I wondered who was in the sitting room. The males had to be the two we’d dealt with tonight.

“Thank you,” Trixie said, bubbly enthusiasm coming from her as she turned away.

“Have fun, Rodán!” Bubbles waved before she and Trixie giggled and ran toward a door on the far end of the living area. In moments they were gone, closing the door behind them.

“What has been done to me?” Each word sounded difficult for Rodán to say, almost painfully so.

“The only known thing that can weaken the powers of Elves is a potion made from the center of the eye of a Basilisk,” Monique said. “Many beings died to produce this potion for you.”

Potion from the eye of a Basilisk. As far as I knew, no one had used such against the Elves in centuries. I only knew about it from my father’s stories when I was a youngling. It had been so long that my father had thought the recipe for the potion had been lost.

“Why?” Rodán didn’t try for long sentences. It seemed that any effort made him weaker.

“It had to be done.” Monique caressed his arm. “This is so very important and we need you to listen.”

Rodán managed to straighten a little in his seat. Perhaps the potion wore off sooner than expected?

“We?” he said.

Through the connection I had with the holographic vision of Rodán, I felt him struggle to keep Monique from realizing that the effects of the potion were beginning to fade.

She shifted on the couch so that she could look at him better. “Soon you will meet him. Or rather you will meet him again. I understand you’ve had encounters before.”

Rodán frowned. “Who?” he mumbled.

Monique’s smile was radiant. She looked more beautiful than I could have believed possible for anyone to look. “I cannot express how pleased I am to have you here,” she said. “To have you become one of us, a { on1em">

The female was making no sense whatsoever. She leaned forward as she cupped his face in her palms. “You feel so warm, and you look so good to me, Rodán.”

“Your hands are so cold,” he said.

Monique brushed her lips over Rodán’s and he recoiled.

“Vampire.”
Rodán looked stunned. “You have been turned.” Shock compounded on shock made me weak.

The San Francisco Proctor was now a Vampire?

Suddenly it made sense that the two Vampires in the Nymphs’ apartment were also paranorms.

“What happened to you?” A hard look came into Rodán’s expression. “Who did this?”

“It is not what you think.” She was standing now, talking with her hands. “It is wonderful. Amazing. There is nothing like it.”

Rodán narrowed his gaze. “There is
nothing
wonderful or amazing about Vampirism,” he said as he pushed himself to his feet.

Monique flinched as he spoke, and she looked shocked that he was able to stand. “You have no idea of the truth. But you will.” Then as Rodán took a step toward her, she yelled, “Backups.”

Rodán turned to face a new threat. Six Vampires rushed the room and were coming at him.

I felt him using every bit of mental focus he had to generate power to fight through the cloud of the potion that now controlled him.

He seemed to sense something else to his left and turned.

And came face-to-face with Volod.

I almost screamed.

But for Rodán, it was as if he’d been expecting to see Volod from the beginning.

“Rodán.” Volod smiled. “Listen to Monique. It will be easier for you.”

The other Vampires were coming after him, and he glanced at them. Monique came up from behind. The San Francisco Elvin Proctor was powerful, but she could not possibly be a match for Rodán.

I sensed a power surge within him. He sent a mental blast of magic at a wooden table six feet away. The table exploded in splinters. Each leg split in half, leaving eight shards of wood.

A second blast of power sent the splintered legs hurling in different directions at the eight Vampires.

Six of the splintered stakes buried themselves in the chests of six Vampires.

All six collapsed. Dead.

But Monique and Volod were not affected.

How could that be? Rodán seemed as surprised as I was.

I’d seen the stakes make it all {s m

Volod and Monique advanced on Rodán.

My heart beat faster as I watched the holographic scene unfold. I cried out and ran forward to help Rodán without realizing what I was doing.

The hologram vanished like sparkling dust all around me.

“No!” I looked around me and saw the grim faces of my teammates, then met Desmond’s gaze as panic sent razor-sharp arrows of fear throughout me. “Bring it back.”

“Step away,” he said. I realized I was in the center of the room.

When I was out of the way, Desmond released another ball of light. My heart wouldn’t stop racing so fast that it felt like it was going to burst through my chest.

The ball spun before it dissolved into images again.

Volod and Monique were going after Rodán.

Monique fired her own blast of power.

Rodán stood his ground. Somehow, despite the remnants of the potion, he still had the strength to withstand her. He sent a surge of concentrated energy her way and then one at Volod.

Monique gasped as she flew back, over the couch, and landed on her knees. Volod was thrust against the wall and then fell to the floor looking slightly dazed.

“You don’t know what you are doing, Rodán.” Monique slowly rose to her feet. “It is better for you if I do this. Don’t fight me.”

He held his hand up. His strength had not fully returned, but I could feel power building within him. Centuries of magic was breaking through the hold the Basilisk potion had on him.