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Authors: Dianne Duvall

Tags: #Romance, #Paranormal, #Fiction

Night Reigns (34 page)

BOOK: Night Reigns
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Regaining some of his former coolness, the man seated himself in the desk chair. “Every cause requires sacrifice.”
Dennis wondered how the other soldiers under this man’s command would feel if they knew how quickly he would sacrifice them for his own gains. “Why are you here?”
“As I said—”
“I don’t work for anyone.”
“I wouldn’t speak so swiftly if I were you. A partnership of sorts could prove very beneficial to us both.”
“Really?” Dennis questioned skeptically. “What can
you
do for me?”
“You want to be king, don’t you? Rule over your own vampire subjects?”
“I already am and do. All without your puny help.”
The man relaxed a bit, leaned back in the chair. “And how’s that going for you?” A touch of the laptop space bar set the movie on the screen into motion. Artificially brightened video of last night’s battle burst into life in slow motion, reducing the eradication of his vampire soldiers to human speeds. “Not so well, I think.”
Dennis took an irate step forward.
The gun in the man’s hand jerked.
Dennis felt a sharp sting, like that of a wasp, in his chest and yanked out another dart.
The mild weakness that plagued him worsened. His head swam. His balance faltered.
“Perhaps now you will listen,” the man said.
Dennis didn’t have much of a choice. If he gave in to the urge to rip the man’s throat out, he’d likely be hit with another dart or two in the process. And he would rather not find out if the bastard had been joking about removing his family jewels while he was out.
The man began to speak. Dennis’s curiosity increased. What the man planned, what he said he would do if Dennis joined him, was straight out of the freaking movies. Movies that centered around power-hungry military leaders who went totally off their nut and strayed far from their designated course.
Except Dennis wasn’t so sure this guy was military.
“Are you serious?” Dennis asked, leaning limply against the wall. What the man suggested tempted him. The benefits might just outweigh the irritation of having to deal with the arrogant prick. And once the arrogant prick delivered everything he promised, Dennis could always kill him and move on without him.
“Yes.”
“So, what’s in it for you? You’ve told me all you can do for me. What do want me to do for you?”
“This.” The man motioned him over.
The video of the battle sped up to normal speed. The motion of the immortals and the vampires appeared blurry and indistinct. “There.” The man hit the button bar, and the video paused. “Do you know this woman?”
Dennis considered the small, feminine figure onscreen. She had been paused in the act of swinging two katanas. One blade carved a long wound across a vampire’s side. The other blade sank into a second vampire’s arm. Her fair features, speckled with blood, bore an expression of intense determination.
Dennis could understand why she appealed so much to Roland. The chick was hot. “That’s Sarah. Sarah Bang’er.”
Wait.
Was her last name
Bang’er
or was that just the last name his men had given her? “Bang’er. Binger. Something like that.”
“Sarah Bingham?”
“Sure, why not?”
“You’re wrong.” The man opened an image file in the bottom left corner of the screen. “
This
is Dr. Sarah Bingham.”
Dennis stared at the attractive woman in the picture. Pale skin. Brown hair. Hazel eyes. A pretty smile. “It can’t be. Sarah Bingham is human. That woman is immortal. She was at the fight last night. She was the one who carried Roland and Bastien away to safety.” The thought of it, of their slipping from his grasp would have driven him into another violent rage if the stupid drug weren’t dulling everything.
“If she’s immortal,” the man said, “then she’s been transformed, because I assure you, this woman”—he pointed again to the photo in the corner—“is Sarah Bingham.”
Roland had transformed Sarah? What had happened to their
protect humans at all cost
bullshit?
Or maybe Bastien had turned her.
Dennis’s eyes narrowed as they traveled back to the frozen video. Sarah—the real Sarah—could be seen way in the back, cutting down vampires left and right. She was as hot as whoever the redheaded human chick was.
If she had only recently been turned, maybe she was a vampire. How long did it take to discover which she might be? Montrose had droned on about DNA and some other crap, but Dennis hadn’t paid attention. His only interest in immortals was in wiping them off the face of the planet and finding a way to gain their special powers.
Sarah Bingham. Dennis had never contemplated sharing his reign with a female vampire, but if Sarah ended up not being immortal ... he wouldn’t mind having her by his side. Or in his bed.
“Did you hear me?” the man asked.
Dennis sighed.
Arrogant pain in the ass.
“Yeah. You said the human isn’t Sarah.”
“You asked what you could do for me.” The man closed Sarah’s photo and enlarged the frozen video image until the redhead filled the screen. “Bring me this woman.”
Dennis smirked. “Online dating service not working out for you?”
The man’s expression turned glacial.
Dennis remained unfazed. “If you want her so badly, why don’t
you
go get her?”
“I assume you know how many men I have in the forest?”
“Yeah. Not enough.”
“You knew they were there before you arrived?”
“Way before.”
“Then you see my problem. We can’t get anywhere near her because of the immortals that surround her.”
But Dennis could. He had held her in his arms last night, brought her to this very basement. Had she not been unconscious, he would have fed from her. But he preferred blood donors—and sexual partners—who struggled and put up a fight.
“So, if I bring you this woman, this human, you’ll do everything you promised?”
“You have my word.”
Which meant jack shit. This man had probably given his word to the soldier he had fed to Dennis, too. But that didn’t matter. Dennis would best decide how to use this situation for his own benefit.
“Fine. Consider her yours.”
A triumphant smile slid across the man’s smarmy features. “Then we have a deal. Bring me an immortal, too, and I’ll sweeten it.”
Dennis nodded at the tranquilizer gun. “I’m going to need another one of those. And darts with a stronger dose.”
“I can arrange that.” Reaching into his blazer pocket, the man withdrew a cell phone and held it out. “I’ll call you when it’s ready. A number where you can contact me has been preprogrammed into it.”
Dennis pocketed the phone. “Don’t you think you should give me a name since we’re going to be
partners?
”
Another of those tight smiles formed. “The name’s Emrys.”
Chapter 16
 
Ami stood still while Marcus fastened the belt supporting her 9mm holsters around her hips. “Thank you.”
He smiled, slid his hands to her waist, and placed a tender kiss on her lips. “My pleasure.” Kneeling before her, he took the thin leather straps at the bottom of her right holster, looped them around her thigh and tied them in a double-knotted bow.
Her flesh tingled at his touch.
He looked up at her as he did the same with the other. “Some of my immortal brethren believe that
gifted ones
possess more advanced DNA because we are descendants of aliens.”
“I’ve heard that rumor,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t ask her straight out if it were true. She couldn’t betray Seth’s trust.
“Do you think some of our ancestors might have been Lasaran?”
Relieved, she shook her head. “I’m the first Lasaran to visit your planet.”
“What about one of your allies?”
“As far as I know, the only other people from our solar system who have visited Earth are the Sectas.” She wrinkled her nose and hoped he would read the apology in her expression. “And the Sectas view humans with too much derision to ever mate with them.”
He rose. “Now they have even more reason to despise us.”
“Because of what happened to me?”
“Yes.”
“They don’t know. They probably never will.” Nor would her family.
He frowned. “Ami, isn’t there any way you can contact your world?”
“No. My ship was destroyed. As soon as it was damaged enough to force a descent, my crew set the auto destruct so humans wouldn’t be able to gain any of the technology it contained. Nothing salvageable remains. And, though I know how to use an interstellar communicator, I have no more knowledge of how to build one from scratch than you have of creating a cell phone.”
He took her hands in his. “Then there is no way you can return to your home?”
A fist squeezed her heart. “No. No one knows I’m here. And I doubt the alliance will change its mind and send a party to warn the people of Earth.”
Again he brushed her lips with his. “If you ever find a way to return to Lasara, will you take me with you?”
She stared up at him, shocked. He would do that? He would leave his friends, his life here, so he could remain with her?
Wouldn’t
you
consider staying on Earth to be with him?
She smiled. “I wouldn’t return without you.”
When he drew her into his arms, she rested her cheek against his chest and listened to his strong, slow heartbeat.
He lowered his chin to the top of her head. “I think I would like your world,” he mused. “No war. No violence.”
Ami missed it. Missed her family. Her friends. The peace. “What would you do with your nights if you didn’t have to hunt vampires anymore?”
“Spend them with you.”
She laughed. “You already do.”
“I guess that settles it then. War ... peace ... as long as you’re at my side, I’m happy.”
Ami leaned her head back and kissed his chin. “Sweet talker.”
He grinned down at her and lowered his head. His lips were an inch from hers when he paused. Straightening, he frowned and turned his head. “Someone is coming.”
Ami dropped her hands to the 9mm’s. “Friend or foe?”
“Friend. It’s Roland.”
She followed Marcus out of the armory and down the hallway. As he crossed to the front door, she couldn’t keep her gaze from falling from his broad shoulders—encased in a tight, long-sleeved, black T-shirt—to his muscular butt.
Sparks of warmth heated her blood as she remembered gripping it with both hands and urging him on as he drove into her. Her pulse leapt. Her breath shortened.
“Ami,” Marcus said without turning around, “you’re killing me, honey.”
The longing in his deep voice made her chuckle.
Marcus opened the door at the same time the doorbell rang. “Roland, what’s—”
Marcus’s head jerked as a thud sounded. Flying backward, he landed at Ami’s feet. Blood gushed from a broken nose.
“Marcus!” she cried.
Face tight with pain, he blurted out, “Ow! What the hell, bad?”
When Roland entered, slammed the door behind him, and stalked forward, Ami drew her 9mm’s and planted herself in front of Marcus. “Stop right there, Roland!”
He halted, face mottled with fury. “Step aside, Ami.”
She shook her head. “Touch him again, and I’ll empty the clips into you.”
“Dab, Abi,” Marcus huffed beneath her. “How cad you turd me od whed my face feels like it just exploded?”
“Are you okay?” she asked without taking her eyes off Roland. The older immortal still looked ready to attack.
“Yeah,” Marcus grumbled, climbing to his feet beside her. He glared at Roland. “What the hell is wrog with you?”
“Sarah saved your life, you miserable bastard,” Roland shouted, “and you condemned her for it?”
Mouth falling open, Ami lowered her weapons. “Oh, Marcus, you didn’t!”
His jaw clenched as his face darkened with anger. “She left you there.” He wiped the blood from his mouth and chin with one sleeve. “She knew you couldn’t defeat two dozen vampires without her, and she left you there.”
“I asked her to,” Ami said. “You and Roland were out. If she hadn’t gotten you to safety—”
Much to her surprise, Marcus transferred his anger to her. “You don’t
ever
put my life before yours!”
She raised her eyebrows. “Marcus, I’m your Second. My job is to keep you safe. If that means—”
“Then you’re no longer my Second,” he decreed.
From the corner of her eye, Ami saw Roland cross his arms over his chest and tilt his head to one side as he studied them.
She holstered her weapons. “Well, lucky for me,” she said, determined not to let anger take hold of her as well, “that decision isn’t yours. Seth decides who serves as whose Second, and he decided I should be yours. And, even if I weren’t your Second, I would still put your life before mine. That’s what you do when you love someone. So, even if you
could
fire me, it wouldn’t make a difference. If the same thing happened tomorrow, I would beg Sarah to take you to safety and take my chances with the vamps again.”
Marcus looked like his head might explode.
Ami had to fight to hold back a grimace as the broken bones in his nose shifted beneath the skin and slid back into position.
“Ami, honey,” Marcus said, a pleading note entering his voice, “you can’t do that. You’re not immortal.”
“Neither are you. Not really. You can be killed, too, Marcus. What makes you think I would mourn you less than you would mourn me?”
He didn’t seem to know what to say to that.
Roland sighed. “All right. I see the way things are. I didn’t realize... .” He motioned to the two of them, then threw his hands up in surrender. “Just get on the phone and apologize to Sarah so she’ll stop tearing herself up inside. If she sheds one more tear over your sorry arse, I’ll come back and finish what I started.”
Afraid Marcus might yet hesitate, Ami reminded him, “It wasn’t just you she was saving, Marcus. Her husband’s life was at stake. If it had been you, me, Roland, and Chris, and Roland and I had been drugged, would you have left us there and taken Chris to safety?”
Roland and Marcus suddenly turned their heads to the east.
Roland swore. “I’m not here,” he hissed in a hasty whisper. “You never saw me.”
Ami frowned at him.
What?
“Roland Warbrook,” Sarah called from outside a moment later, “I told you to leave Marcus alone!”
Ami looked at Roland, who—eyes wide—shook his head and held a finger to his lips.
“Don’t even try it,” his wife warned. “My senses are as acute as yours. Did you forget that?”
He grumbled something Ami couldn’t make out that made Marcus’s lips twitch and looked toward the door. “Sarah, sweetling, I was only trying to help Marcus ... ah, see the error of his ways.”
“Marcus has every reason to be upset with me,” she said, softer, sorrowful.
“No, he doesn’t,” Ami said. She didn’t bother shouting. She was the only non-immortal present. Any shouting on their part was for her benefit.
“Ami?” Sarah said, voice brightening with hope.
“Yes.”
“Oh, thank goodness. Darnell said you were okay, but ...”
Marcus turned to Roland. “Why isn’t she coming inside?”
Roland’s features tightened. “Because she doesn’t think she’s welcome, asshole.”
Marcus shifted uncomfortably, then crossed to the front door and opened it. “Come in, Sarah.”
So much shame and regret shadowed Sarah’s pretty features as she eased inside and eyed Marcus that Ami hurried to close the distance between them and threw her arms around the other woman.
“Thank you so much, Sarah.”
Sarah hugged her tight. “I’m so sorry I left you.”
“I’m glad you did. You did exactly what I hoped you would. You got Marcus and Roland to safety.”
“I thought I was leaving you there to die.”
“You were,” Marcus spoke behind Ami.
Ami lashed out and unerringly found Marcus’s shin with the heel of her boot.
“Ow! You didn’t let me finish,” he sulked.
“Then finish,” Roland rumbled, the low tones laden with warning.
Marcus looked at Sarah. “Thank you for saving my life. Again. And for saving Roland’s.”
Moisture welled in Sarah’s hazel eyes. “I’m so sorry, Marcus.”
He opened his arms. “Come here.”
Small shoulders slumping, Sarah stepped into the hug.
“It was an impossible decision,” he conceded.
Ami thought that was probably as close as he could get to telling her she had made the right one. He would always put Ami’s life before his own.
Roland shifted from foot to foot, then stomped forward. “All right. All right.” He took Sarah’s arm and pulled her away from Marcus. “Enough. You forgive her. It’s over.”
Ami bit her lip to suppress a smile.
“Not quite,” Marcus said. “I want you both to promise me here and now that, should a situation arise in the future that would require you to choose between my life and Ami’s, you will choose Ami’s.”
“No way,” Ami objected.
Marcus met and held Roland’s gaze. “Promise me you’ll protect her.”
Roland nodded. “You have my word.”
Sarah’s brow furrowed. “I promise.” Ami knew she must be hoping she would never again have to make such a choice.
Marcus smiled, once more the amiable warrior she loved. “Then we’re good. What’s going on with the d’Alençons?”
Sarah curled her arm around her husband’s waist. “Étienne and Lisette are still groggy, but getting stronger. Richart finally called in and said he’s in the same condition.”
Marcus closed the front door and motioned them over to the living room. “What happened to him? Where did he go?”
“The drug screwed with his gift,” Roland said as he sat in Marcus’s favorite armchair and pulled Sarah down on his lap, “made him get his wires crossed. You know how your thoughts were all over the place right before you passed out?”
“Yeah.”
When Ami sat on the sofa, Marcus sank down beside her and looped an arm around her shoulders.
“Mine were the same way. So were Richart’s. Except, when Richart had a stray thought regarding a certain human woman, he unexpectedly found himself standing in her living room instead of teleporting Ami to safety.”
Marcus’s eyes widened. “What?”
Ami gasped. “Did she know he wasn’t human?”
“No, but she does now.”
Marcus grunted. “Who is this woman? I didn’t know Richart was seeing anyone.”
“More stalking than seeing,” Roland muttered.
Sarah elbowed him in the ribs. “Apparently he’s been drawn to her for some time.”
“He actually blushed when he admitted it,” Roland drawled. “Can you believe it?”
Ami found the notion of a two-hundred-year-old warrior blushing over a woman rather charming.
“He’s been a little hesitant to act on his feelings,” Sarah went on, “because of the whole Immortal Guardian thing. And we don’t know who she is. He won’t say. He’s afraid Chris will frighten her in his determination to gain her consent not to reveal what she knows to anyone.”
Roland snorted. “I don’t blame him. When I met Sarah, I threatened to kill Reordon if he came near her.”
BOOK: Night Reigns
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