What Happens in Vegas...After Dark (26 page)

Unlike their passionate encounter earlier, when no one had seemed to give a passing glance to them, all motion stopped. The music screeched to a halt, and the babble of voices was indiscernible.

“I need a vampire.” Mal spun in a circle, stil clutching Devi.

From the corner of her eye, Devi saw the blonde from earlier shrink into the shadows.

She pointed in her direction, remembering the bared fangs and willing to entertain the possibility they hadn’t been an elaborate costume prop after all.

Mal turned toward the blonde, but another man stepped into their path first. He was tall, with skin almost as dark as Devi’s. Though he appeared to be no older than thirty, something about him suggested ancient wisdom. “What does a warlock need with a vampire, Nixa?”

“It isn’t me who needs you, Anai Shol. It is this woman, this latent vampire.”

Devi squeaked in protest when the stranger lifted her from Mal’s arms. She reached for him instinctively, and he grasped her hand.

“It’s okay, Devi. Let Master Shol see what he can do for you.” Mal’s voice was soothing, but the fear in his eyes did little to calm her.

Master Shol cupped her bald head in one of his large hands. The touch was startling, but somehow relaxing, and the tension flowed from her. With wide eyes, she stared up at him, caught in the hazy golden glow of his irises. Peacefulness radiated from the man, flowing into her. She ceased to be aware of the hot blood flowing down her neck, or the pain from the wound.

“I can help you, miss, but it requires a full conversion.” He must have seen the confusion in her eyes. “I must fully make you a vampire, or I cannot save your life. Your power-source is depleted from something, and you are too fragile to heal the wound even if I found a way to replenish your power. Do you consent to the conversion?”

Devi started to nod, but Mal interrupted. “You can’t do that. She’s too weak. The conversion will kill her.”

Master Shol nodded. “She might die, Nixa, but this one has a strong spirit, and she is half vampire. If I don’t attempt to transform her, she wil certainly die.”

“Do it,” Devi rasped, barely managing to make sounds. Apparently, Master Shol understood her desire, either by her tiny voice or some other means, because he nodded once more.

She braced herself as he lowered his head. Uncertain what to expect, she was surprised to have warmth flood her when his mouth touched her wound. The area was numb, and she couldn’t know for certain what he was doing, but imagined he was biting her and drinking her blood. The thought was both repulsive and appealing, leaving her to wonder how strong the latent vampire side of her nature was. Latent no longer, she reminded herself with a twist of her lips as a fog descended over her.

Adrift in a state somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, Devi let herself float, making no attempt to move toward either state. Eventually, Mal’s voice intruded into the blissful oblivion. Much as she tried to ignore it, his words soon drew her back to him. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring up at a velvet expanse of darkness. Her other senses told her she was lying on a soft bed, and she felt around with her palms, finding the cover under her was buttery-soft leather. “Where am I?”

Mal loomed over her, gathering her into his arms. “I thought you were gone. Master Shol said you could go either way, and I thought you’d left me.”

Devi frowned when drops of moisture fel on her cheeks. She lifted a hand to feel her eyes, finding them dry. It took a moment to sink in that Mal was crying. Automatically, she put a hand on his back, patting lightly. “I’m fine.” She was, Devi discovered after a mental inventory of her physical state. Strength flowed through her. Robust. That was the word to describe how she felt. Never before had she been so alive. All her senses were keener, and the sense of weakness that had plagued her all her life was gone.

When Mal finally released her, she sat up. Something slid down her chest and dropped into her lap. Puzzled, she lifted the item, finding herself holding the port-a-cath. Her hands caught her attention, and she examined them in wonder. Where there had once been bitten, ragged nails, she now had perfectly shaped, long fingernails. With wonder, Devi lifted a hand to her head, finding a profuse growth of tight black curls springing where no hair had ever grown before. Driven to look for a mirror, she climbed from the low bed and walked around the lavish room. “What is this place?” Only the smal est touches of dark red enlivened the matte black décor. Shivering, she wrapped her arms around herself, aware of an underlying chil permeating the room. It didn’t seem to come from the room’s temperature so much as from a presence in the room itself. “I don’t like it.” All she wanted to do was escape the bedroom, her quest for a mirror abandoned.

Mal followed her headlong rush to the door, intercepting her as she opened the glossy black knob. “This room belongs to the owner of Darkness. He kindly loaned it to you for your recovery or crossing over.” He grimaced. “He’s unreadable, so I couldn’t tell which outcome he hoped for.”

“I have to leave.”

He put a hand on the wood to hold the door shut. “Just wait. Please. We have to talk.”

She shook her head. “I think I’ve figured out everything. There’s another world of which I remained unaware until tonight. One of my parents was a vampire. I assume my mother wasn’t, since she died at my birth. I have an undead-beat father, and now I’m a vampire.”

“But—”

She lifted her fingers, pushing them down as if bulleting her speech. “There are also warlocks and who knows what else? You needed my blood to save your father, so you dragged me into all this. Have I forgotten anything?”

“Your power.”

“What?”

Mal raked back his hair. “I needed your untapped power, not your blood.”

“Whatever.” She shrugged.

“You’re forgetting that I changed my mind and was trying to undo the spell.”

She refused to let the hardness suffusing her heart to dissipate in order to soften to him. “Have you?”

He nodded. “The spell is broken. Your power is your own again.”

Reluctantly, she asked, “And what of your father?”

Lines creased Mal’s face, making him look older. He seemed to crumple in front of her.

“He wil die soon.”

“Dammit.” She cursed her own emotions as surely as she cursed Mal for putting her in this position. “Can my power save him?”

It seemed to pain him to shake his head. “No. It’s too late, and you no longer have the reserve of power now. Once you became a ful vampire, the power suffused you. There is no way to separate it now, save for another vampire draining you.”

“Yuck.” She recoiled from the thought. It reminded her there would be new rules to learn and live by, probably chock-ful of equally morbid addendums. The words gave her an idea though. “What if we made your father a vampire? Could that work?”

“I don’t…” He trailed off, clearly lost in contemplation. Slowly, his eyes warmed with a trace of hope. “It might work. He is in a weakened state, and the transformation isn’t an easy thing. It might kill him.”

“But he’ll die if we don’t try?” she asked softly, moved in a moment of compassion to touch his arm.

He nodded, but the spark of hope fizzed out, making his eyes dull green. “Master Shol has already departed for wherever he dens. By the time I find him, it wil be too late for Father.”

Devi sighed, marveling at the man’s thickheadedness. “I’m a vampire now, aren’t I?

Can’t I change your father?”

“In theory, but you don’t know how.”

“You saw how Master Shol did it, right?” At Mal’s nod, she said, “I’m sure we can figure it out.”

“We’ll have to arrive before sunrise, which means an astral portal. If you’re caught out in the sunlight, I don’t think you’ll survive.”

“Great.” She sighed. “I guess this means my allergy has been upgraded?”

Mal nodded. “I don’t know all the rules of your new existence, but I do know that only a few vampires can walk in sunlight. Master Shol is one of them, but he is thousands of years old. All others are destroyed within minutes.”

“Just great.” Devi squared her shoulders, pushing back the fear and uncertainty that accompanied her change in lifestyle. “Let’s go then.”

Mal seemed like he wanted to protest. He took her hand, holding it between both of his. “I don’t want to put you through this, Devi. I know it isn’t fair to ask it of you, especially after everything I’ve put you through.”

She put a finger to his lips, unsurprised by the tingle the simple touch gave her. Even knowing he had never truly been attracted to her didn’t kil off her attraction so easily.

“You can thank me later. Time is wasting.” Devi stiffened when Mal embraced her.

“What’re you doing?”

“Portalling. You have to be close since you don’t know how to create your own portal.”

The pounding of her heart made it difficult to ignore her reaction to his proximity, but she managed to feign indifference. “Okay.”

Before, she had been so exhausted and drained that she hadn’t really been aware of the experience of traveling through an astral portal. This time, she was awake and unnerved.

Barometric pressure dropped drastically, and the air seemed thin. She dragged in deep breaths, but still didn’t have adequate oxygen. Her body tingled everywhere, and cold spread through her. As the light surrounded them, it was as though she could feel every molecule in her body separating from each other. She might have screamed, but couldn’t be sure as her body ripped apart, absorbed by the light.

The transition was timeless. It could have been seconds or hours between leaving Las Vegas and arriving on the grounds of what she presumed was the Nixa estate. After they stepped out of the portal, Devi clung to Mal for several seconds. Ostensibly, she was regaining her equilibrium, but she had to admit part of her motivation wasn’t nearly so practical. Her body still responded to his as though the passion between them was real and tangible for both of them, not al one-sided.

Mal’s cursing startled her, and she stepped away as he pushed her behind him. The combined effort nearly sent her sprawling, but new, catlike ref lexes saved her. Devi twisted, landing in a crouch beside him. “Whoa.” Being a vampire was definitely going to have some perks.

Someone in a red robe came toward them, hands held out in front. Devi looked at Mal, who seemed clueless about the other man’s identity. She approved of him attacking first, binding the other in scarlet bands of energy before the man could do the same to Mal.

They stood over him. “Do you know him?”

Mal shook his head. “He’s probably one of Eli’s men. Judging from the emblem on his robe, he’s from another coven, maybe the one that Eli seems so gung ho to join with.”

His foot against the other man’s side made the robed man grunt. “Who are you?”

“Tam Rippa.” He spat his name at Mal.

Devi didn’t like Mal’s frown. “What is it?”

“The Rippa Coven is even older than the Nixas. I don’t know a lot about the composition of the Council, but I know my father displaced a Rippa when he achieved Chief status.”

Devi massaged her temples, overwhelmed by the information. “I thought your father was the Magistrate?”

Mal grinned as he stepped over the Rippa Coven member, offering her a gentlemanly hand to do the same. “He’s the Magister of our coven. That means he leads our coven, which is not just Nixa family members, but other witches and warlocks who have chosen to band with us. I think there are six hundred or more members of the Nixa Coven.” His posture straightened, and his voice dropped as they rounded the corner. “The various covens draw up laws to abide by through a council. The Magister of each coven attends Covens’ Council once per year.”

A pause followed as Mal dealt with another of the red-robed warlocks, leaving that one bound as he had the last. They moved on at a cautious pace. “The Chief of the Council referees the meetings, I guess you could say. It’s a prestigious position, though I don’t know how much added power there is with the title. The Chief is elected.”

“Hmm. It all sounds as complicated, futile and pointless as American politics.”

His laugh was barely above a whisper as they made their way through garden hedges to close in on a rear entrance. Devi ducked instinctively when they neared the edge of the topiary, and she saw several men and women in red robes milling around the patio. “Is there someone else you can call for help?”

Mal arched a brow. “What do you mean?”

“You’re kind of outnumbered. There must be six or seven of those coven people out there.” It was impossible to hide her exasperation. “What about Sabine? Who’s she?”

He frowned. “How do you know about Sabine?”

“Eli mentioned her during his villain rant.”

A crooked grin lightened his expression. “Sabine is my little sister, currently in Paris.”

“Can’t you just portal to her?”

With a shake of his head, he said, “The longer the distance, the more draining it is to create the portal. I could portal to my sister, but by the time we portal ed back, neither of us would have much strength left for fighting.”

“What about friends? You need some help.”

He looked away from the tableau to meet her gaze. “I have you.”

“That’ll be a lot of help,” she muttered under her breath as Mal stood up, hands poised to do his magic trick to bind the enemy. How was she supposed to help him, being the newbie vampire that she was?

D evi followed Mal’s lead. When he burst out of their temporary hiding place, powers blazing, she ran beside him. He managed to restrain three of the seven people on the patio before they had a chance to react. By then, Mal and Devi had reached the melee.

One man jerked toward Devi, hands extended. Acting purely on instinct, she lunged at him, lifted the man, and tossed him several feet over her shoulder, all with minimal effort.

For a moment, she marveled at her own strength.

Mal’s struggles with the remaining three brought her back to the moment, and she hurried toward them. A woman spun from Mal to face Devi. Before she could duck or block, a bolt of energy hit her in the stomach. Devi howled with pain, dropping to the ground. She curled up like an infant in the fetal position, cradling her sore stomach. Her enemy approached her, standing over Devi with her hands extended. Contempt visibly distorted her features, motivating Devi to compartmentalize the pain and spring to her feet. Her body responded effortlessly to the thought, and as she gained her feet, only a lingering discomfort remained.