Eternal Kiss of Darkness

No doubt Radje left instructions for the guards to kill her at once if there was an attack.

"Tell me where she is," he said.

The ferryman touched Mencheres's forehead. Images of a sprawling, decrepit city consisting of crumbling temples and monuments bordered by a vast jungle exploded in Mencheres's mind, combined with flashes of Kira manacled to a wall and guards milling in and around a large temple surrounded by pill ars. His jaw tightened. He recognized those ruins. Kira was in Yucatan, Mexico, somewhere inside the Temple of the Warriors in the ancient Mayan city complex of Chichen Itza. And he was in Chicago, over a thousand miles away, with an appointment to meet Radje in Atlanta at midnight or he'd order Kira's death.

Aken dropped his fingers from Mencheres's head and set the silver knife down in front of him. "Once summoned, my boat does not return to Duat empty. Either spil a worthy surrogate's blood on this blade before dawn, or I come for you."

"Agreed," Mencheres rasped.

Then the ferryman steered his boat out of the circle and disappeared into the blackness of the River of the Dead. As soon as he was gone, the circle dissolved, flinging Mencheres back in his own time. Vlad's amazed expression was the first thing he noticed, his friend's face bent close to his.

"I don't believe it, you're not dead."

Vlad grasped Mencheres's arms and pulled him to his feet. For a moment, Mencheres actually felt dizzy as the effect of traversing between two worlds clung to him. But then his mind cleared enough for him to notice that the sun was not quite as painfully bright as before.

"How long was I away?" he demanded.

"After those things tore half your flesh from you, you lay as if dead for over an hour," Vlad said, muttering, "If I never see any creatures raised from black magic again, it will be too soon."

Mencheres grasped Vlad's arms. "I need a plane. Now."

Kira just finished pulling her final foot free from the ankle clamp when she heard someone coming. If vampires could sweat, she'd be covered in it. Her hands might have hurt when she pulled them free, but crushing her feet had been almost more than she could bear. It took all her will not to thrash around screaming at the top of her lungs from the pain. Freeing her feet took far longer, too. Especially adding in all the times the guards would wander in and she'd have to abruptly fake sleep while clutching the wrist irons and hoping the guards didn't look closely at them.

She tensed in a moment of indecision, the pain still radiating up her leg as her foot healed. Should she pretend to still be shackled and hope the guard didn't look at her irons closely - or at all? But then Kira heard the heartbeat accompanying those footsteps. Whoever was coming into the room was human.

She braced herself to let loose all the power she had in her gaze to shut the person up if Radje had human as well as vampire guards here, but then her jaw dropped when she saw who it was that edged inside. Only the knowledge that she'd give herself away kept Kira from gasping out her name.

Jennifer Jackson, the young girl Flare had forced into stripping. The same girl who'd gone missing from the club after Radje torched it and murdered those people.

Jennifer's eyes were wide as she crept into the room. No lights, she probably couldn't see much. Kira was torn. If the guards came looking for Jennifer, they'd find that Kira had slipped her irons. If she said anything to get Jennifer to leave, they'd hear that, too. And she had another problem. Jennifer's pulse was so tantalizingly near, her heartbeat sounding like nothing as much as the dinner bell. More pain twisted in her gut, and her fangs sprang from her gums. Only a few feet separated Kira from more blood than she could even begin to drink.

Jennifer gasped, her face lit in a pale green glow. Kira sprang soundlessly across the room, covering Jennifer's mouth. The contact with her warm, pulsating flesh was almost her undoing. An avalanche of need slammed through her, coating Kira like burning tar.

She had to drink from Jennifer, but only a little. She'd stop before she took too much . . .

You'll kill her.

Her instincts shouted a clear warning that even her hunger-addled mind couldn't deny.

She stared at Jennifer, forcing her attention away from that intoxicatingly pounding pulse only a few inches from her mouth, trying to listen for the guards over the sound of Jennifer's racing heart. She was too far gone to trust taking even a drop. If she started to feed, she wouldn't stop until Jennifer was dead.

You need the strength to get away, her hunger tempted her. Taking one life is worth all the others you'll save later if you can just return to Mencheres. The guards will probably kill Jennifer anyway . . .

Kira shook her head, forcing that hunger down with a strength that no normal new vampire would have. She would not murder an innocent girl, even if it did mean a better chance to get away. Radje treated life so dismissively. She wouldn't. Jennifer might die anyway, but it wouldn't be by her hand. Not while she still had an ounce of control left in her.

Kira put her finger to her lips in a gesture for silence, then slowly removed her hand from Jennifer's mouth. The sooner she wasn't touching her, the easier it would be not to sink her fangs into Jennifer's closest vein.

Jennifer didn't speak, but tears made her eyes shiny. She grabbed her hand when Kira tried to set her away, holding on with a grip that was surprisingly strong.

Take me with you, Jennifer mouthed.

Kira shook her head. Finding a way to slip past the guards would be hard enough alone. Trying to do that with a slower, louder, weaker human? She'd never make it.

Jennifer glanced back at the open doorway that led to the room where the guards were, then glanced back at Kira again.

I know a way out, Jennifer mouthed.

She wavered. Jennifer could be telling the truth. If she'd been here since the night of the club fire, she might be very familiar with the temple's layout or the expansive ruins beyond it. Kira had only gotten a brief look at the imposing temple, with its hundreds of pill ars, stone warriors, and steep steps before Radje's guards hustled her into a pyramid hidden inside the crumbling pyramid. That had been a maze of corridors, inner vaults, and partially crumpled rooms that would be very difficult to navigate without alerting the guards to her escape.

But Jennifer could also be lying out of fear of being left behind. Kira couldn't blame her for that, but she couldn't risk taking Jennifer, either. She would still have a much better chance alone, even if Jennifer was telling the truth.

She shook her head no again, more emphatically.

The tears that had been welling in Jennifer's eyes spilled down her cheeks. Please, she mouthed, despair and desperation growing on her features.