Aris Reigns (4 page)

Aris glanced in the rear view mirror. He would feel much more at peace when they were all four on an airplane heading to London.

“The amazing thing is,” Richard continued, “the situation has worked to our best advantage.”

“Our advantage? How so?”

“The Queen ignored the King's command. With the help of one of the King's most important generals, this new man, Esteban, one by one, they impaled and burned the guards. When the King heard of her actions he became livid at her treason. He commanded her and Esteban to death and they fled into exile before they could be captured. All of this within twenty-four hours of Sarah's escape.”

“I still do not understand how Mariska and this Esteban's exile aids our cause? And who is Esteban?”

“Quite simply told, actually. Esteban was the King's hand-picked general. He is relatively new to their coven. It seems DeMarco changed him for the express purpose of being the commander of his troops. He was a famous bullfighter known for his cruelty in and out of the bullring. DeMarco knows his crude vampires must be taught the finesse of evading an impaler. Apparently, he felt none could be better at finesse than a bullfighter., Even though he joined them only recently, he is a most powerful and charismatic leader and when he left with the Queen, almost half the army rallied to follow. The Spanish coven's forces are split; civil war begins between them.”

“I see,” Aris spoke, a slow smile of comprehension lighting his eyes. “Their internal conflict will give us more time to train our soldiers, more time to prepare while they do battle with one another.”

”The Queen's army with Esteban in command retreats from the castle even now as we drive toward Barcelona.”

“Did Simon have any idea what their destination might be?”

“Rumor in the coven is their ultimate objective is London. Now they travel through the Pyrenees Mountains to find a place suitable to train for war. Their way is difficult for in order for such a great number to stay out of the sight of humans they must travel the snow banked gorges of the mountains. Their progress is slow but they continue forward. The Queen is determined to murder Sarah and take over the Catacombs with or without the King beside her. Without him,
her hope is Esteban. Her troops are diminished by half and there are factions within factions. They are all ill-trained and undisciplined. Esteban must gain military control of the coven immediately. The exiled vampires must be brought into harmony before they can be taught to fight together against King DeMarco and then a war of extinction against the Immortals. The Spanish royal conflict is our windfall; we have a greater window of time before we must depart London for Spain.”

“Richard, we must keep constant watch over Sarah. She must never be alone. Mariska took her once. She can do it again.”

“Aris, she was taken from the hotel with Gabriela in the next room. Sarah has human needs, how can one of us be constantly in her presence?”

“I will not leave her alone. In London or Chicago or anywhere on this planet. Never again.”

“But you cannot spend every moment with her. You are needed in the Catacombs. Without you, there is no leadership for the army. Without an army our society is doomed. You are the core of whatever becomes of our military. Aris, the Immortals need you if we are to survive.”

They sat quietly listening to the hum of the tires against the paved road. Aris was deep in thought until at last, he broke the silence. “I will speak with the Council. Under the circumstances perhaps they will offer Sarah sanctuary in the Catacombs. I know she will be safe beneath the ground with our people.”

“They will never agree. Never before in all of our history has a human visited the Catacombs and left without being changed into an Immortal.” Richard shook his head. “Aris, they will never agree.”

“Strange times breed strange acts. I will approach Bartholomew. As head of the Council, perhaps he will listen to reason. We shall soon see.”

A freezing wind blew the high drifts of snow in blinding swirls as Esteban drove the coven forward. Even with vampire vision it was a struggle to see more than just a few feet in front of him as Mariska trudged through the blizzard at his side.

“How much farther to the caves?” She could barely see him through the wall of white flakes.

“Not much farther if the trackers are correct.”

“We must settle and feed on the herd of humans we have brought before they all die of exposure. We have already lost several.”

“They were not lost.” He smiled. “They made good fare and their blood will sustain us until we come to rest.”

Turning to look behind them, Mariska could hardly see the herd being driven forward by her coven. Their own food was strapped to their backs as they staggered through the waist- high drifts.

“You were brilliant to collect them from the villages that we circumvented.”

“And you, my Queen, were fast thinking to steal a supply of the blood taken from blood banks and stored in DeMarco's vault.”

“Yes, without it we would not have the sustenance we need. It is tasteless and there are no death throes that are so delicious, but it will keep us strong and able to fight.”

Stopping in his tracks, Esteban turned, raising his hand to halt the bedraggled army behind him. “There.” He pointed to a huge sharp overhang of rock. “That is the cliff. Come, the caves are just below.”

Far behind them, one of their captives fell to his knees. One of the guards swooped down upon the fallen human and began to feed. When he was satiated, he passed the dying man to his comrade. Once drained, the limp form was tossed aside as the vampires forged ahead through the blizzard.

Thick fog surrounded the castle as DeMarco sat on the window ledge of the highest turret. Gazing out over the dense forest below, his thoughts were of Sarah. Raw feelings of love and hate filled what should have been an empty heart. A battle raged inside his head. Her denial of him drove him to the brink of murder. He dreamed of draining her to her death as a captive Aris watched, powerless to save her. His mouth watered as he imagined the smell of her throat, the taste of her blood. He remembered the look of fright in her beautiful blue eyes as he told her who he was and who he had been to her.

Memories of their life in a past century flooded his mind and his heart filled with sorrow that she was so unfaithful to their love. He knew his true wish was not for her to die. His true wish was to have her a vampire, ruling by his side, Queen to his King.

“Sire?” DeMarco turned to face the aid that had entered his chamber. He nodded to Julian to speak. “The plan is in place. I have chosen the two who will travel to London to kidnap the woman.”

CHAPTER 3

S
itting in front of the fireplace in Aris' flat, the two Immortal men waited while Sarah bathed. Exhausted by the ordeal she had suffered, she slept most of the airline flight from Spain to England. Once their plane was on the ground, her first conscious thought was a hot shower. As their car sped through the night to Aris's apartment, all she could think of was a cascade of tiny drops of hot water pelting her skin, washing away the un-Godly experiences of the last few days.

Her legs quivered as they rode in the elevator of Aris's building. Wrapping his arm tightly around her, he steadied her as the door opened and they made their way down the hall.

Once inside, she kicked off her shoes, falling onto the soft sofa with a sigh. “At last.” She spoke in a barely audible whisper. Overcome by exhaustion, her eyes closed as she began to drift into sleep. “No. I can't allow myself to sleep until I've washed that awful castle off my skin.” She pushed her exhausted body off the couch, standing and stretching her arms toward the ceiling. “I'm going to take a shower, then I'll sit with you.” She turned and left the room.

Gabriela sat with her while Sarah scrubbed and put on fresh clothes.
As she entered the sitting room, she was dressed in comfortable gray sweats and her clean blond hair was still moist. Settling in on the sofa next to Aris, she felt truly safe for the first time since her kidnapping. He wrapped an Afghan around her as Richard handed her a China cup filled with her favorite Earl Gray tea. Smiling, she smelled the bergamot fragrance as she lifted it to her lips.

“Ummm, so good. I wasn't sure I'd survive to ever have another cup of tea.”

“That is behind you. You are here with us now, safe and warm.” Gabriela squeezed her human friend's hand, then brushed a damp blond curl off her forehead. “We are here to make sure you are safe. One of us will be constantly with you until this madness is settled once and for all.”

Panic filled Sarah's blue eyes as memories of the dark King flooded her mind. “You must warn the Immortals. DeMarco wants the Infinity Diaries. He wants the power of the knowledge of life and death so he can rule over all the humans on earth.” She shivered as she spoke, drawing the blanket more closely around her. “He wants to breed them for food and worse.”

“We assumed as much, Sarah, however, your evidence will prove to all below ground that we must march on Spain. DeMarco must never get his hands on the Diaries. Knowing the past and the future of every being on the planet would enable him to control the whole human race. Through the Diaries he would be able to locate and recruit the vilest of the human species to aid him in his slaughter. He would know who was weak and frightened; who he could easily control. No, he must never possess them. We must stop him.” His voice was confident as he spoke, but deep inside his soul the nagging doubt as to what the true outcome of the war would be reared its nasty head.

Determined to keep his eyes on winning the battle, he changed the subject of conversation. Aris reached for Sarah's cell phone,
smiling as he handed it to her. “But before you do anything else, you must telephone Colleen. She phoned you on the second day of your abduction. I answered when the caller ID registered her name.”

“Good grief, she must be worried to death.” Sarah hadn't thought of her Chicago friends since her kidnapping. She had no idea what she would say to them. “What did you tell her?”

He grinned. “Your practice of yoga gave me an easy story.” He refreshed her tea then leaned back, wrapping his arm around her, drawing her close.

“What story? Just what did you tell her?”

“I told her that you and Gabriela were on a yoga retreat for a few days. I said it was a cloistered affair and that you were not even allowed to have your cell phones with you. You were to have no contact with the outside world.”