Eternal Kiss of Darkness

Kira faced Mencheres, her jaw set in that stubborn line. He cleared his expression back into an impassive mask as he waited for her to argue about his refusal to surrender her to Radje or the other Law Guardians.

Then, unexpectedly, her hands wound into the round collar of his T-shirt.

"Come down here," she said.

He bent almost cautiously, but his hesitation ended when Kira closed her lips over his.

He savored the feel of her full mouth, then the delights of her tongue when she parted her lips. A slow heat began to build inside him. So many hours left until dawn . . .

She broke their kiss to stare into his eyes. "How long do we have before we're meeting your next set of all ies?" she whispered.

A glint of emerald appeared in her light green depths, growing darker and brighter. He stopped stroking her face to curl his hand around hers. "Until tomorrow," he said thickly.

"Good." Kira's fangs had already started to lengthen with desire. "Then let's go back to the room now."

Power washed over the air in the next moment, whipping Mencheres around toward its source. Bones ran through the crowds, too fast to be observed by the humans as more than a rush of wind, Cat right behind him.

"Enforcers," Bones announced when he reached them. His eyes flashed green. "

'Round a dozen of them entering the park's main gates now. Don't know how they managed to follow me, but they must have."

It was unfortunate, but it wasn't a complete shock to Mencheres. Bones was smart and careful, but a vampire didn't become an Enforcer before turning five hundred years of age and completing a rigorous training process. They weren't the soldiers behind the powerful ruling body of all vampires because they were unexceptional. That was why Mencheres had chosen the park. It would be a relatively easier place to escape from.

"Go," he said with a growl. "If you fight them, you could be condemned by the Guardians along with me. Leave here and renounce me as a fool who would not listen to your urgings to turn myself in."

"I will not," Bones rasped.

Mencheres gave him a quick, hard glance. "Doing things you don't always want to do is the price that comes with Mastering a line. Now, protect our people and go." He shoved Bones and Cat away from him then, with a blast of his power that hurtled them through the air far away from the park. Kira let out a shocked noise and a few humans looked up in confusion, no doubt their minds rejecting what their vision had just caught a glimpse of.

"We need to go, too," Kira said, tugging on his hand. "Come on, fly us away from here.

"

He would, but not just yet. "Wait."

A dozen Master vampires from the elite ranks of the Guardian Enforcers filed into the entrance of Frontier Land. Beside him, Kira's grip tightened on his hand.

"I won't be the cause of any deaths, Mencheres. It's my choice, and if you won't get us away from here, I choose to give myself up."

He uncurled her hand from his with a light tweak of his power. Then he spread his arms out to the Enforcers.

"If you want me, here I am."

Chapter 23

Kira watched the dozen vampires descend on them like it was something out of a nightmare. They moved past the people in the park as if they weren't even there, with a single-minded purpose that made her debate running over to them and giving herself up.

She couldn't stand it if a fight broke out that left the park's innocent guests - men, women, and children - in the line of fire where they could get hurt. Or worse.

She gasped out something to that effect to Mencheres, but he escaped from her frantic grip and his reply to the Enforcers stunned her.

"If you want me, here I am."

The open challenge in his voice said that he had no intention of going quietly. Oh God, he couldn't mean to fight them! Not here with all these families around!

Kira let out a horrified noise as the advancing vampires, men and women both, drew shiny blades out of sheaths in their belts and quickened their pace. A few people paused to stare, but Mencheres didn't even flinch. He just stood there with his arms spread out and his feet squarely planted.

"Mencheres," one of the Enforcers called out, "by order of the Guardian Council, you will come with us."

A muted blasting sound followed by multiple showers of sparks filled the air in the next instant as all the lights went out in their section of the park. Even the emergency ones imploded with small popping noises, plunging Frontier Land into shadows for Kira but darkness for anyone human. Around them were various sounds of the park's rides grinding to a halt.

Several people gasped. Some children began to wail, but aside from giving Mencheres a dirty look, the Enforcers didn't react. They kept coming.

Kira attempted to run to them, trying to stave off a deadly confrontation by turning herself in whether Mencheres liked it or not. But after two steps, she found that she couldn't move. Her body felt like it had somehow been encased in a concrete block up to her neck. She could still turn her head, though, so she did, right in time to see Mencheres give her a censuring frown.

"That is not necessary. No blood will be shed tonight."

Then power flooded the air in a tidal wave, Mencheres standing at the center of it. All of the Enforcers abruptly began to slow; their quick, precise movements becoming sluggish. At the same time, the humans around them, adult and children alike, backed away in perfect, rapid synchronicity. Soon the area was empty of everyone but Mencheres, Kira, and the Enforcers, whose momentum had now slowed to the speed of a crawl.

"Release . . . us," the one who'd made it closest to Mencheres demanded in a strangled snarl.

He closed his fists in response. Another wave of power was released, resulting in all the silver knives the Enforcers held being yanked from their grip to land in a pile by Mencheres's feet. Then as one, the Enforcers were flung up into the night, past the height of the nearby roller coaster, before being slammed down onto the ground. Their impact broke the concrete and sent a shock wave trembling through their section of the park.

Screams came from the perimeter even though few people would have been able to see what happened.

Just as abruptly, those dozen vampires were launched into the air again, this time slamming into each other instead of the street. Kira was stunned as she watched the powerful Enforcers reduced to looking like they were participants in some sort of kamikaze puppet show.

"You came to arrest me for a crime I did not commit," Mencheres said calmly below them. "Tell Radjedef I will present myself to the Guardian Councill. . . once I have proof of who truly committed these acts."