Tentyrian Legacy (39 page)

After three bites, though, my stomach feels
stretched full. My fangs have retracted.

“You said you made some of the Tentyrian
Brothers. How do you do that?”

“It’s complicated. But they are given a
combination of our venom and blood.”

“So you can turn humans into vampires?”

“Tentyrians, Ari, not vampires. It’s like
calling all Asian people Chinese.”

“So you take it as an insult?” “Yes.”

“Interesting, I didn’t take you to be the
sensitive type.” He gives me deadpan look.

“Fine. So you can turn humans into
Tentyrians?”

“Yes, but they are different from us. They
don’t have the unique powers that come to every naturally born
Tentyrian. They have our strength and self-healing capabilities,
and they feed on blood. But beyond that, their powers of persuasion
over humans are limited, and they’d never be able to read minds
like you or enter dreams like me. They are also incredibly
bloodthirsty if they are not trained very carefully. It can take
years to train a human you’ve changed to control himself.”

“If your whole race was eliminated, why don’t
you just create as many Tentyrians as you want? And maybe add some
women while you are at it. Aside from Shashandra, I haven’t seen a
woman around here.” “Because I wouldn’t impose this life on a
human, man or woman, unless there was no other choice.”

“Wow, that’s a solid vote of confidence for
our kind.”

“I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true. I
wouldn’t choose this life if given the choice.” Neither would I, I
think. “All of the Brothers were chosen because they were on the
brink of death and they wanted this life. They proved themselves
capable of the burden and responsibility that comes with being a
Tentyrian Brother. As for why no women, there hasn’t been a need .
. . It would only be a distraction. It would also be a significant
time investment. Unlike the Dark Coven, we change a Brother only
after much deliberation. It also requires one of us to give him a
significant amount of our blood to become his maker. We then have
to work with him intensely for long periods of time to help
assimilate him back into the human world. Because they are created
by our venom, as opposed to natural cell process, their urge to
feed is very powerful.”

“So the Dark Coven has changed people
too?”

“Yes, but those they have turned are called
Subordinates. There are two types—Human Subordinates and Tentyrian
Subordinates. The first are humans who have been practically
drained of all their blood and given just enough Tentyrian venom to
turn them into mind slaves. They will do anything that is asked.
The second are humans who are also drained of their blood, but they
are given large doses of our venom combined with natural Tentyrian
blood. This is what was done to the Brothers. The difference,
though, is that the Dark Coven intentionally never trains their
creations. They let them run wild, as long as they basically follow
orders. Unfortunately, the Brotherhood spends a significant amount
of time hunting them and cleaning up after them.”

“So that’s what the Brotherhood does? Kills
Subordinates?”

“We are always looking for the Dark Coven and
their disgusting creatures. Not to mention their destructive
enterprises. We intend to eliminate them all. It’s for vengeance,
yes, but it’s also to protect the humans. That is what we were
tasked to do.”

“By whom?”

“Hathor, our Visionary Queen, goddesses rest
her soul . . .” The whoosh of the opening door interrupts, again to
my frustration. I consider ripping it off its tracks. With my
strength, I probably could do it. But instead of Shashandra
emerging, it’s Ryan, Hale, and Philip. They are still in their
black fatigues. You would think they’d be hot in the tropical-like
weather, but they appear perfectly cool. Maybe it’s their stern
expressions that give the effect? But now that I think about it, I
should be hot too. The shadow cast by the umbrella doesn’t offer
much protection from the Mediterranean sun. I register that it’s
warm, but instead of sweating or even my skin getting burned, I
feel perfectly comfortable. It must be part of my new powers. Now
all I have to do is “hone them.” Easy task, right? As soon as the
GI Joes leave, I’ll ask just how I’m supposed to do that . . .

“Max, we need to speak with you in the
Control Room,” says Ryan, who I eye suspiciously.

“Hello, little one.” He smiles. I bare my
fangs at him and am surprised, if not a little proud, by my own
viciousness. Even though Ryan may have been trying to help me, he
mocked me and dragged me back to the compound like a sack of
potatoes.

“You can say it in front of Ari. It’s better
that she become accustomed to what is going on,” says Maximos. Ryan
eyes Hale and Philip with doubt. “Spit it out, Ryan,” Maximos
demands.

“It’s her friend, Laura Delia. The Dark Coven
has her.”

2010 AD, July

Ambrosine Island, Ionian Sea

“How did this happen!” I demand. “Laura Delia
was to be watched 24/7. We assigned her a designated surveillance
team to prevent this, damn it!”

If they were careless, they will be answering
directly to me. Ari’s hand is gripped tightly in mine, and her face
is stricken with worry. Since Ryan delivered the news, she has gone
completely silent. She didn’t say a word when I shifted us into the
villa’s Control Room. The Control Room is the heart of our
operations, filled with cutting-edge computers, plasma screens, and
state-of-the-art weapons. Ari looks fragile and out of her
element—so different from last night when she was in the throes of
passion. Or even this morning when she looked ready to rip my hair
out. I’ll take her anger any day, compared to her fear.

“It was Aglaia,” Ryan explains. “The Brothers
say she went right into Laura’s office after she arrived for an
early morning meeting and shifted her out. There was no way we
could have anticipated this, Maximos.” That may be, but I promised
to keep Ari safe, and that also means the people she loves.

“The Dark Coven rarely show themselves in
person. For Aglaia to do this, it’s significant. Was there any
indication of where she took her?” I ask the obvious question.

“No,” responds Ryan, “according to
Dimitri.”

“I’m working on getting him and Estaban
online now,” answers Aristos, who is furiously typing away at his
triple-monitor workstation. The technology that keeps our
operations thriving is his pride and joy. “They should be arriving
at the NYC safe house and will be logging onto the secure telecom
system in a matter of minutes.”

I guide Ari over to the massive black granite
conference table that can seat the entire Brotherhood. She sits
down slowly into a chair, as if her body is still trying to catch
up to what she has heard. I crouch down to come face-to-face with
her.

“We are going to get her back,” I say. But
her piercing green eyes are filled with doubt.

“Yes, but in what condition, Maximos? Dead or
alive?” she whispers. “If you haven’t found Raad yet, how will you
find her?” I don’t have an answer.

“The link is up. Conferencing them in now,”
says Aristos curtly as the plasma monitors come to life with
Dimitri and Estaban’s faces. Although they only became Brothers ten
years ago, they are two of our most trusted. I stand up immediately
and am joined by Aristos, Evander, Philip, Hale, and Ryan around
the table that faces the main teleconference screen. We’re all too
anxious to sit. Ari remains in the chair to my right with her head
in her hands.

“What went down?” I ask firmly, keeping the
anger out of my voice until the Brothers explain themselves.

“Max, she was sitting in her office when
Aglaia literally swept in and took her out,” Dimitri says in his
heavy Italian accent. “I was less than ten yards away, watching her
from my temp cube. There was no indication that the Dark Coven had
even been watching her. Estaban had periphery surveillance and
didn’t see anything.”

“I swear I did not,” chimes in Estaban,
Dimitri’s routine surveillance partner and biological twin brother.
They have never slipped up—until now.

“Shit,” I hear Aristos say under his breath.
His gaze flits nervously over to Arianna.

“Did people see?” Evander asks.

“Yes, a few. We took care of it, though.”
Dimitri runs his fingers through his brown locks; his olive
complexion is marred with stress. It’s clear he is taking this
failure personally.

“Aristos, where do we stand with the
remaining facilities?” I ask. “Same as it was eight hours ago. We
have it narrowed down to five.”

Aristos touches his fingers to the conference
table keypad, and the projected image on the screen splits to show
a map with the locations the team has worked tirelessly to
find.

When we started going after the Dark Coven’s
latest crop of businesses and facilities about five years ago, we
had over a thousand possible targets. After dismantling them one by
one, we are down to just a handful as of now. The problem is that
every time we take one down, another pops up. There is also no
indication that Raad or Laura are at any of them. With their
shifting abilities, the Dark Coven could stash them anywhere. What
Ari doesn’t understand yet is that there is more at stake than just
Raad and Laura’s lives . . .

“The Dark Coven is either getting sloppy or
they are inviting us to engage in all-out warfare,” says Evander in
his blue lab scrubs.

“Maybe the crackdown we started is changing
the game. Maybe they are getting desperate?” suggests Ryan.

“I think we are putting a serious dent in
their Subordinate head count,” Hale says with a smirk.

“We may have been successful,” I announce to
my men, “but it’s not enough. Something has changed, and I don’t
feel it’s us who are prevailing. Stavros is too smart. The Book of
Hathor says the Event is two years away, but maybe if they’ve
figured out what Ari is . . . they’ve accelerated their plans? We
forget sometimes that Hathor’s visions were not always guaranteed.
We could already be out of time.”

Aristos moves his hand over the touchpad, and
the screen splits again to reveal six locations the Brothers raided
during the night. After Ari slipped into sleep, following what I
can only describe as the most intense and mind-altering experience
I’ve ever had with a woman, I went to the Control Room to monitor
the mission. Missions, my businesses, and my men—these are all
things I understand. The same can’t be said for how I feel about
Ari. I’m more confused than ever before. But now isn’t the time to
ponder my emotions; there are too many lives at stake.

“In the last twenty-four hours, we’ve
deployed our teams to these six facilities,” Aristos explains. “We
looked for weapons, drugs, illegal activity, Subordinates, and
Raad. It took us three months to plan this mission, and we
leveraged almost the entire Brotherhood in this coordinated effort.
These were the most high-risk facilities.” Aristos points one by
one. “But when we arrived, they were abandoned. We came up empty.
We usually find something, which means the Dark Coven could have
consolidated or already moved their assets. They may be gearing up
for an attack. Now that they’ve taken Laura openly, I’d say they
are ready for a fight.”

“So there are five more facilities we have
left to check,” I say.

“We labeled them as low risk, but at this
point we have no other options. We should consider raiding them.
And we don’t negotiate with the Dark Coven. I know you’ve been
monitoring them throughout the morning—any new movements in
personnel?”

Aristos points to the red dots on the map in
New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Georgia, and Texas. “These
locations have significant numbers of human personnel. If they are
being used as weapons caches, for example, it would be highly
unusual to have this many people present. The Dark Coven is
notorious for keeping a streamlined staff while utilizing select
Subordinates to protect the locations. The Brothers on the ground,
who are standing by, report no suspicious activity. We aren’t even
completely sure these are Trebuchet’s . . .”

Ari’s head snaps in my direction. “You said
Trebuchet? When I went to Georgia to look at Apex, Travis
Ridgefield was working with a company called Trebuchet. I don’t
know about what exactly, but he was doing business with them,” she
says.

“Which is what we suspected and why this
facility in Georgia is Apex,” Aristos explains as he points to the
corresponding red dot.

“Trebuchet is a front for the Dark Coven,
Ari. They sell weapons, and from what we can tell, they are now
dabbling in pharmaceuticals. A dangerous combination,” I say to her
confused expression.

“What are we waiting for? If we suspect in
the slightest this is the final wave of Trebuchet’s holdings or
they are affiliated with the Dark Coven, then let’s get in there
and bust up the party,” enthuses Hale. While I appreciate his
spirit, the cowboy in him needs to be reigned in every now and
again.

“Because it may be premature,” I reply.
“There is a process to everything, and with every raid we do, there
is always the inevitable fallout.”

“Damage control isn’t a problem. We’ll secure
the area like we always do and give the humans mind wipes,” Hale
replies breezily.

“It’s not as simple as that and you know it,”
Aristos growls. “To raid the six we just did, it took us months to
plan—everything from securing the floor plans to understanding the
surrounding areas. Now we want to go into five with less than one
day’s planning and put dozens of humans at risk? You all know how I
feel about the Dark Coven, but I’m not one for being careless.”

“Not to mention none of the Brothers are
rested,” warns Evander. “I’m ready to bust up those Dark Coven
Subordinates any day,” says Ryan as he cracks his knuckles. “Sleep
or no sleep.”