Powerful Moves [L.U.S.T.] (Siren Publishing Classic) (10 page)

Elena threw back her head and laughed. “Gideon loves this shit.” She pulled on his arm. “Come on, follow me.” She led him through the crowd to a set of descending steps then down a long, dark hallway.

Tavius stepped into the large office behind Elena. Training and skill had him doing a cursory scan of the room. Decorated in stark white with splashes of blood-red, he found the color scheme to be lacking in taste despite its elegance.

Four bodies occupied the room. He recognized the man with the ebony hair and matching eyes sitting behind the desk on sight. His twin perched on the edge of the desk, one hip hiked on the corner.

Michael and Gideon, no doubt about them apples. A closer study told him who from who.

Tavius scented the beast within the second twin as the werewolf pushed off the desk and rushed to fold Elena in an exuberant hug. Gideon, he deduced, even as his interest rose. Michael remained seated behind the desk. Tavius noted the pleased smile in the vampire’s otherwise-dead eyes as he peered at Elena.

Another man and a woman sat to Tavius’s left on a plush white sofa along the wall. He took in their presence with a sensory glance. A tap into his transparent vision revealed the weapons they concealed under their clothing.

A Glock much like the one Elena carried sat comfortably in a holster on the female’s upper thigh beneath an ankle-length skirt the color of desert sand. She wore an orange blouse that wrapped around her torso sarong style, giving her the look of a school teacher, especially when the tight bun of auburn hair and silver wire-rimmed glasses were taken into account.

The man cloaked an array of knives sheathed at his ankles, right calf, and left hip beneath jeans much like the ones Tavius wore. A holster encasing a very sweet Ruger SR9 Tavius would love to get his hands on hugged the man’s shoulders over a solid-black cotton tee. An overcoat lay on the arm of the sofa near the man.

None of the weapons Tavius saw raised any alarms. The powers the man and woman possessed, the type and magnitude of each, however, did.

“We seem to be a body short in here tonight,” Elena commented, stepping back from Gideon’s embrace. “Am I to gather your mission didn’t go as you hoped?”

Tavius watched her, his curiosity piqued by the hint of pleasure in her tone.

“Not precisely, but not a failure either.” Gideon hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his leather britches and rocked back on the heels of his combat boots.

Tavius frowned. If the werewolf could get away with wearing clothes like his, why did Elena insist he wear this ball-chafing denim?

“Michael and I will explain in due time.”

“Right now we would like to hear your explanations, Elena.” The vampire’s tone resonated through the room like a leaf cascading along a summer wind.

Tavius stiffened. He usually felt indifferent toward vampires. So why did he feel an instant dislike for this particular one? Maybe it was the fact that he’d come to this realm hot on the trail of another bloodsucking vamp just like Michael. Maybe it was the uncharacteristic jealously twisting his insides over Elena’s relationship with Michael. Maybe it was simply the fact that Michael thirsted for blood while the vast majority of vampires in Atnalta were succubi, feeding on sex instead.

“It appears you have brought a, shall we call him a
friend
, with you this evening.” Michael’s elegantly heavy emphasis made Elena squirm. The man on the end of the sofa rose and moved to lean against the wall closest to Elena as if standing watch over her. “Would you kindly introduce us?”

“Would you kindly stop mocking me?” Though Elena mumbled the words, her voice travelled to all ears in the room. Tavius figured she meant for it to.

The vampire’s lips twitched, but he didn’t respond. He sat posture-perfect straight behind the desk, hands folded on the desktop. He wore a coat in Victorian black with velvet-lined cuffs and collar over a staunchly pressed, pleated white shirt.

Elena stepped back until she stood next to Tavius. She reached for his hand. Her grip was firm and steady, in control, warm. The contact took his mind to a place he didn’t need for it to go right now. A place where that grip closed around his semihard shaft, firmly and steadily gliding up and down until his cock filled with enough blood and hormones to keep him rock-solid for days.

His focus jumped back from that place only when he felt a faint zing of the power that rendered him near madness the night before. He looked down at Elena, found her gazing up at him, but saw nothing of the recognition in her expression.

“You’ve probably already guessed Mr. Humor over there is Michael,” she told Tavius.

Tavius shifted his attention to Michael. “I’ve never met a vampire with a sense of humor. It’s a trait that seems to die along with their soul.”

Elena’s hand turned to ice in his a split-second before a rush of tremendous heat burned his palm.

Tavius sucked a quick breath through clenched teeth.

“You would be wise not to piss her off,” Gideon advised, his tone on the brink of laughter.

“Now you warn me,” Tavius muttered. He figured he didn’t piss her off too badly when she didn’t release her hold on his hand or burn it clean off his wrist. “We need to talk later,” he told her softly.

“Are you looking for a little one-on-one power confession time?” The challenge in her eyes shouldn’t have had him thinking about handcuffs and leather bindings, but it did.

“I think I need it.”

“Ah, I must say it is refreshing to see our Elena butt heads with such a
rock-solid
male.”

Tavius closed his eyes on an inward sigh. He was definitely falling far below his game tonight. When was the last time he’d walked into a room full of power beings with his shields down?

About five minutes ago.
Shortly before his mind took the dick-teasing trip down Jerk-me-off-Elena Lane. A trip where the vampire obviously travelled along for the ride thanks to his mind-reading abilities. Hell, as far as Tavius knew, the werewolf, the still-anonymous male, and the friggin’ female were right there with him.

Tavius raised his mental shields. Better late than never.

Elena ignored Michael and continued with her introductions. “The man currently scowling at you is Cedric Steele. Not to worry. His bark is bigger than his bite.”

Tavius wasn’t so sure he agreed given the set line to the other man’s lips and the muscle jumping in his jaw, but he decided to leave it alone for now.

“On the sofa we have Meredith Duncan.” Elena nodded to the woman. “And finally Michael and Gideon Delacroix, whom you recognized them from the photos in my apartment, I’m sure.”

Tavius looked for any signs of surprise that he’d been in Elena’s apartment and saw nothing. Not that vampires weren’t masters at the poker-face game when they wanted to be. Gideon wore an expression of interest as if he couldn’t wait to grill Elena on the details. Meredith appeared quietly amused. As for Cedric, if Tavius put a bet on anyone in the office to jump, Cedric would be the man. In a word, the guy looked pissed. It made Tavius wonder if there was something between Elena and this guy that he didn’t know about, something intimate perhaps.

Tavius reached around his shields to gain another sense of the power level in the room. It didn’t take much probing to figure himself as one of the weaker beings here. That didn’t bode well for his self-esteem, but it confirmed the fact that he would need these people to help him if he intended to complete his mission unscathed.

Best not make anymore wisecracks about undead souls. After all, he’d come here to request their help, not get in a fang-and-mind match with Elena’s vampire mentor, his shifting twin, and their loyal followers.

“This is Tavius Zolan.” Elena splayed her free hand flat on Tavius’s stomach.

His muscles jumped in reflex of the burn he expected to feel from the second contact. When he met her gaze he saw the grin she didn’t allow to show on her lips. Devious little witch.

“The floor is yours, handsome. You convinced me to bring you here. Now you have to convince them to help.” She left him where he stood and joined Michael behind the desk. She slid onto his lap looking every bit like a young girl crawling onto her father’s knee.

Tavius realized then the deep-set bond Elena shared with this vampire. No wonder she nearly singed his hand off his arm. He should’ve sensed it in the pictures he’d seen back at her apartment, should’ve understood from the span of years the photos covered that this man likely became more than a mentor to her long ago. He became her father.

Relationship explained and understood
.

Tavius locked gazes with Michael. Man and vampire exchanged a lifetime of knowledge in that gaze, understanding on his part, acceptance on Michael’s, and an agreement to tread more carefully for Elena’s sake.

“Elena does not often expose who and what we are to a stranger.” Michael’s voice took on a steady cadence of warning Tavius didn’t miss. “She obviously came to trust you in a very short time. That, too, is unusual. So, tell us, Tavius Zolan, who are you, where do you come from, and what would you have of us?”

Tavius pursed his lips.
Where to begin
?

“The beginning is always nice.”

Tavius slid a slide-long look at Cedric and lifted a questioning brow. Cedric shrugged, his expression smug.

“Shields don’t work on me. Once I trust you, I won’t intrude anymore, but for now…” Cedric completed his statement with another lift of one wide shoulder.

Tavius held the man’s gaze for a long moment as a myriad of retorts beat at the shield in his mind. It only infuriated him more when the bastard smiled.

“The beginning it is, then. Are you aware there are other realms parallel to yours?” he asked no one in particular.

“You mean like
Sliders
?” Meredith asked.

Tavius looked to Elena for confirmation. “Sliders?”

“A television show pretty popular in the midnineties. Guess Terra missed that one, too.” She bit her lip, obviously holding back a laugh as she nodded at Meredith. “Yes, something like that.”

Tavius eyed Elena. Her anger at him hadn’t lasted long, it seemed. Quickly forgiven. Quickly put on the spot. And the little wench was enjoying every second of it!

Just wait until I get you alone again
,
muirnin
.
I’ll make you
…

Cedric sharply cleared his throat, and Tavius cut off the thought.

Damn it, this is going to get old
.

That made the other man chuckle, and Tavius shook his head and continued.

“I’m from Terra, a parallel realm to Earth. I provide security for ZWRD. That’s Zolan Weapons Research and Development in the city-state of Atnalta.”

Elena sat up straighter in Michael’s lap. “
Zolan
Weapons R and D?”

Tavius met her gaze and nodded. “My father’s company.”

“And yours apparently.”

“Only by name alone. I’m not smart enough to make the weapons, only to use them.” Tavius preferred it that way, finding more enjoyment in the utilization of the weapons created at ZWRD than figuring out the schematics to design them.

“Sounds to me like you’re selling yourself short.”

Tavius smiled at Elena but let her comment ride. “A couple of months ago we discovered one of the employees of ZWRD, a dark elf by the name of Lerak, had been writing down weapon plans and sneaking them out of the facility.”

“A dark elf?” Cedric said. “I thought those were only in Dungeons & Dragons and shit.”

“There are many different species on Terra. Most you’ve likely heard of but that do not exist here on your Earth.”

“And he was
writing
down weapon plans,” Elena said. “You told me paper is a high commodity on Terra.”

“It is. Hence the reason Lerak drew attention to himself with his chosen form of theft. All records on Terra are kept in electronic files. All research, all notes, all documents. Only the oldest records of our realm, the centuries prior to the years of near extinction, can be found in written journals, and those are locked in a safe below the main township.”

“You don’t have books, magazines, newspapers?” Meredith sounded skeptical.

“We have them. They just aren’t printed. They’re in electronic files. You have that technology here. Data files, JPEG and PDF…”

“Why would this dark elf take such a risk when he knows paper is such a scarce item in your realm?” Michael asked.

“Why not back it up on an external drive or whatever you have there?” Gideon chimed in.

“Good questions and ones we asked ourselves. That’s part of the reason I was assigned to follow Lerak rather than simply turn him over to the regime. Dark elves can sense the presence of others. They have infravision and can become invisible at whim.”

“Not easy to follow something you can’t see.” Cedric commented.

“No, and the bastard kept sensing me, despite my shields.”

“Which aren’t all that strong.”

Tavius gritted his teeth over the response that sprang to his tongue. “Last night I followed Lerak for hours, thought I finally had him.” He sighed. “The son of a bitch made me again, but I didn’t realize it until it was too late. What I did realize, however, was that he led me on a wild-goose chase around the township. I started thinking about the places I followed him, the places he led me around, and realized he kept me from one specific area.”