Eternal Kiss of Darkness

"We are leaving," Mencheres told Flare, his voice daring the other vampire to object.

Footsteps approached. Mencheres glanced up, expecting to see Gorgon, who'd come here by car instead of flying as Mencheres had. But the vampire striding into the room wasn't his loyal friend. It was his oldest enemy.

Radjedef smiled. "Menkaure, you look surprised to see me."

"Radje." Mencheres's voice was a barely contained growl. "You follow me now? How empty your days must be."

"I followed him," Radje said, nodding at Gorgon, who appeared behind him in the doorway. "You were a bit too hasty for me to track, but to my luck, he was not."

"My apologies, sire," Gorgon said, sounding both frustrated and contrite.

"Who's he?" the bald one Flare introduced as Patches asked.

Radje drew himself up to his full six feet. "I am a Law Guardian."

"Don't f**kin' believe it, a cop when you need one," Flare muttered.

"What do we have here?" Radje asked, coming closer. Mencheres shifted as if bored, but by doing so, he placed himself squarely between Kira and Radje. From his old enemy's smirk, the action hadn't gone unnoticed. "This same human again? Menkaure, do I detect an unusual interest from you?"

"If by interest you mean coming to collect my property, then yes, I am interested," Mencheres replied coolly.

Kira took in a sharp breath at being referred to as "property," but Mencheres didn't turn around to look at her. She was safer if Radjedef believed Kira was worth no more to him than any other human he'd claimed under his line.

Radje appeared to be mulling Mencheres's sincerity. "You are very protective of your people, even property. But there's something more here, I believe. You." Radje's gaze swung to Flare. "You implied that you were glad a Guardian was here. Why? What transpired with Mencheres and this human?"

Flare glanced at Mencheres before he spoke. "Uh, I grabbed that human when I heard her tell my girl that she had a silver-filled gun to take her away from me. Then she wouldn't tell me who she belonged to without prompting, but finally she says she's with Mencheres. I called him, he came, seemed pretty pissed at us for smacking her around, but it's not cool for someone to try and steal my property, right?" Mencheres silently cursed himself for not ripping the heads off Flare, Patches, and Wraith as soon as he arrived. Radjedef would have nothing on him then. Only the other vampires' Masters would, if they chose to war with Mencheres over Flare, Patches, and Wraith's deaths.

Radje had a sly smile on his face as glanced from Mencheres to Flare, sensing the noose tightening. "Did Mencheres threaten you? Remember - I am a Guardian, so you must answer me honestly."

Flare shuffled his feet. "Not really. He was just about to leave with her when you showed up."

Radje laughed, so loud and merry, Kira jumped. "Oh, you poor fool. If he was leaving without even a harsh word uttered at you, he had no intention of letting you live to see the next moonrise. When my old friend is truly angry, he never bothers with words. He only kills."

Mencheres kept his expression impassive, but he did not bother to deny it. Radjedef knew him too well.

"These are serious charges against you, Menkaure," Radje went on, still in that same cheerful tone. "How do you plead? Do you admit that you sent your human to steal this vampire's property?"

"No, he didn't."

Mencheres swung around to face Kira. He'd been about to say yes, he'd directed all of her actions, but she'd spoken up before he could utter a word.

"Do not say anything else," Mencheres growled. Radjedef could only impose steep monetary penalties on him and damage his standing with the Guardian Council, but Kira was far more vulnerable to the Guardian's judgments.

"I'm not going to stand here and let you be blamed for my actions," Kira muttered.

"Do not - " Mencheres began.

"Silence!" Radje roared, all pretense of geniality gone. "I am the Law, and unless you choose to have the charges against you grow even more severe, Menkaure, you will not interrupt her again."

Frustration coursed through him. If he forcibly rendered Kira mute with his power, he'd be in direct defiance of a Guardian's order - with witnesses. Radjedef had been waiting countless centuries for Mencheres to make such a mistake. If he spoke at all now, his co-ruler and his people would pay for it, not just himself.

"I haven't seen Mencheres in over a week," Kira went on, her jaw set in that stubborn line. "He had no idea I was coming here. I'm a private investigator, and I recognized Jennifer from one of the case files at my job. She clearly wasn't here of her own free will, so I offered to help her escape. And yes, I told her I was armed. Mencheres only got involved when Flare caught me and called him."

" 'S about right from what I know," Flare muttered. Patches and Wraith also murmured their agreement.

Radje looked disappointed, but it was all Mencheres could do not to roar with pain.

Kira had no idea what she'd just done.

"Once he knew of your actions, Menkaure did nothing to reprimand you?" Radje sounded skeptical. "That's tantamount to authorizing your activities."

"We didn't get that far. I'm sure Mencheres is very angry at me." Kira glanced at him with those words, blind to the trap she'd dug for herself. "But you showed up right after he got here, so he didn't have a chance to do anything about it."

Radje let out a disappointed noise. "Very well, Menkaure, your human has exonerated you. Will you be killing her now, or shal I?"

Chapter 14

Mencheres listened to Kira seal her fate as if he were trapped inside a terrible dream.

For several frozen moments, he could almost see her death happening before him; Radje snapping her neck with a careless flick of his wrist. Or opening her jugular to leave Kira choking on her own blood as it streamed from her throat. What it would feel like to watch her die? Would it bring back the antipathy he'd had about living before he met her, making him once again view the impending darkness in his future as something to be welcomed?

If Radje were anyone else, Mencheres could kill him. He could slaughter every vampire in the room and hide all traces of their remains. He could raze this entire building so that even if his actions were recorded, they would never come back to harm him or Kira. All of these things he could do, were it not for the smirking Law Guardian across from him.

"Ah, my old friend, I do believe I've finally cracked that impenetrable sarcophagus of yours," Radje said with satisfaction. "This one did mean something to you, didn't she?