Blood, Body and Mind (3 page)

Sara knew that one or all of the other vamps would feel him missing soon, if they had not already, so she moved forward into the room immediately, killing the next one as she came into the door in much the same manner as the first. Severing the head from a vampire was the only true way to kill them, and it was also the quickest.

Scanning the room with her mind, Sara located and sent a telepathic message to Demetrius to get to his wife, as she was in mortal danger.

“
April is in Danger. One of the rogues is headed toward her now. She is working in her office.”

He did not even ask Sara how she knew or stop to think how she had communicated with him. He just flashed from the room toward his life mate.

When Sara looked back at the two remaining rogues, she saw that the fourth vampire had a gun pointed toward her, and that the last had the older vamp by the throat and a jeweled silver dagger to his neck—Mexican standoff.

Mentally, Sara reached out to the hostage, not holding out much hope that she could talk to him. “Can you hear me?”

“
Yes. Can you help me?” he asked her. “My name is Aaron MacManus. I’m the new Master Vampire in this realm.”

Sara was pleasantly surprised to find he was open to her.

“
I only came in here to save the Carlovettis. That’s done, if Mr. Carlovetti can get to his mate in time.” She focused on him for a second and said, “He has her; she’s safe now. I have no interest in you, or saving you, Mr. MacManus.”

She started to turn away when he stopped her. “Wait, I’m asking for your help. What would it take to get you to save my life?” he pleaded.

“
My death.” She answered him quickly.
Death would be an end to so much,
she thought.

“
I can offer you eternal life, yes. You want to be an immortal. Done. But I must be alive to give you—” She stopped him.

“
No. Death. Nothing more. I want my life to end. Today. If I save you, you’ll end this life as I know it.” When he agreed with a short nod, she moved slightly closer to her target.

Long minutes passed as Sara tried to reason with the closest rogue. She was making no progress with him; he had an assignment and he wasn’t deviating from it.
Plus,
she thought,
he was stupid. He had to know the others were dead, yet here he stood like he had a chance to get out alive.

Sara knew that he was ready to strike against them seconds before he moved. She lunged forward, twisting around. She pulled the blade from between her shoulder blades and sliced the vamp with the gun in half at his midsection just as the gun went off. As the momentum of her twist brought her full circle, she dropped to a crouch, and jabbed forward between the hostage’s legs, severing the right leg of the vamp, and the last man dropped to the floor. This allowed the vampire who had already proclaimed himself as master to take out his captor by severing his head from his bleeding body with a quick morphing of his hand into a claw.

Sara, still on her knees, watched while he then proceeded to the vamp that she cut in half and dispatched him into nothingness as well.

As he moved toward her, she managed to stand again and bring her blade to the forefront, taking a stance that showed she still had a lot of fight left in her, even though, in reality, she was nearly done.

Blood was pouring out of the bullet wound at her side at an alarming rate. She hadn’t even realized that she had been hit until that second, adrenaline surging through her body. She knew that it had not hit any major organs, but that didn’t mean it would not bleed for a while. Her body had an unnatural ability to heal itself very quickly up to the point where she was no longer in mortal danger. Major wounds would heal in a matter of hours rather than months, then she would heal like a normal human, weeks to heal deep bruises, and less if it was just cuts. As he moved within a foot of her, she brought the blade to his throat, stopping his progress. He showed her the jeweled dagger that he had taken from the dead vamp in his open palm to show he meant her no harm.

“
Do you truly wish to die, little warrior?” Aaron asked her.

“
Yes, yes I do. We had a deal, you and me. Mine for yours. Are you a man of your word, Mr. MacManus?”

Sara watched him bristle at that.
He was probably not used to having people refute him,
she thought with a grin.

The large vamp was very handsome, she realized. His hair was long and straight, hanging in a curtain of black halfway down his back. His face was beautiful, full lips, high cheekbones. His nose had a small bump in the middle, like it had been broken once. That should have detracted from his good looks, but it only seemed to enhance them. His eyes were a startling shade of blue, the color so deep that they looked almost black. He towered over her five-eleven frame by as much as eight inches and he weighed at least two-fifty. He looked fit; his dress shirt hung well across his broad shoulders and his pants hinted at muscled thighs and long legs.

Aaron stared at her too. He seemed to know she was assessing him. She flushed slightly when he grinned.

“
Yes, I’m a man of my word. You still wish for me to kill you after you’ve just saved my life? You have no second thoughts?”

“
It wasn’t my intention to save you at all. I told you that. All I ask is that you make it quick and clean.” She staggered slightly, dizzy for just a second.

“
If we stand here long enough and debate the finer points of life and why you should live, you’ll die anyway, I think.”

Sara felt him try to touch her mentally and she tightened her shield. When he could not reach her, he continued.

“
Why is it that I can see that you’re bleeding, yet I smell no blood on you? I can’t even pick up your human scent. Are you even human? I find that to be very curious.” He looked her up and down and she felt heat rush through her.

What right did he have to size her up?
she thought. It didn’t matter about my size minutes ago when I was saving him. Arrogant bastard. “Because I don’t want you to be able to smell me, all right? That isn’t what matters. What will it take, vamp, an attempt on your life again? A stab to a vital area with a bit of silver? Tell me. We had a deal, yours for mine. Lop off my head and be done with it.”

Demetrius and April chose that moment to enter the room. She felt their shock as though it were her own. Demetrius tried to reach through her shield, but she was a little busy right now.

“
Master, she saved our lives. I beg for her life, sire. Without her none of us, you included, would be here.”

Sara chanced a glance over at him and frowned. She wanted to say, “Stay out of this. I helped you, now leave me alone.”

“
You beg for something that she is very willing, and wanting, to forfeit, Demetrius.” Aaron nodded toward her. “Little Warrior here has asked me to take her from her subsistence. I haven’t yet decided what to do about this.”

Sara jerked back toward him. “We had a deal, damn it. Are you going to back out on your word? You said could be trusted.”

“
Sara, drop your knife, I beg of you. He’s my master. I cannot allow you to harm him, nor will I stand by and watch while he cuts your throat. Please, drop the knife and let us sort this out in a friendlier manner.” She felt Demetrius move toward her after sliding April behind him as he did so.

“
Demetrius,” Aaron said tightly. “I would prefer that you wouldn’t give her any more reason to cause me harm today. I’ve had a really shitty day so far and I’ve only just become master, and would like very much not to be taken out by one small human. She would do it just to have you end her life, I believe. Wouldn’t you?”

“
I’ll not cause Mr. Carlovetti any problems. I like him. But I tire of being a failure. There are people who would do the job you seem reluctant to do, but they wouldn’t make it quick, I think. We can stand as we are and I bleed out, weakening me, or I could kill you and you’ll either slit my throat or die too. It matters little to nothing to me.”

She was getting weaker, and she thought he knew it too. If she passed out, she knew that he would not complete what he had promised. If his promises meant anything at all.

Sara had failed so many people. Her friend Mel had suffered the greatest loss. The queen had lost her unborn child and it had left her magic weak, unable to protect herself from her mate, Sherman. Also, because of her failure as Mel’s guard, she was being hunted by the High Council, the governing panel of magick within the magical realm of Molavonta.

Sherman would kill her. He had told her that often enough whenever he managed to find her. But she also thought that he would enjoy it too much and it wouldn’t be quick.

“
Drop the knife, and I will do as you ask. I will take away the life you live.” Sara reached out and found that while Aaron was not happy with it, he was sincere in his promise.

Immediately, she dropped the knife. Its blade quivered in the wooden floor between them. The master took the last few steps toward her, bringing his body very close to hers, and he bought his hand to the back of her neck. He tilted it at an angle, bringing the long column of her neck up for his mouth and his very sharp fangs. She did not fight him or resist in anyway. Closing her eyes, she relaxed against him.

Suddenly, she felt nothing as her world went black. Her last thought she sent to him was, “Thank you.”

~
CHAPTER TWO~

“
Master?”

Aaron had forgotten the man and woman behind him. He continued to look into the face of the woman in his arms. She was a quandary, and he loved puzzles.

“
She’s strong, isn’t she? And stubborn. Who is she? What do you know about her?” he asked without turning around.

He did not want them to see him just yet. His eyes had turned; the need to feed from her was making him see her in a red haze. That and the touch of something more he wanted from her.

“
Her name is Sara Temple. She is one of our pilots. Sire? I beg for her life, please? She saved our lives, all of our lives.” April, too, was begging for Little Warrior’s life.

Aaron had not met April yet, but he had heard a great deal about her from her mate tonight. Aaron guessed that she had been the reason Demetrius had left the room so quickly when the beauty had entered.

“
Yes, as you have said before. I’m well aware of what she has done for us, and I have no intention of ending her life just yet, no matter how much or how prettily she begs. I have merely put her into a state of deep sleep until we can get her medical help. It is still a few hours until sunrise, and we have a lot to do. My car is just outside,” Aaron decided quickly. “We will need to get her to my estate, and you two are coming with me. So I suggest that you make whatever arrangements you need to and do so now.”

Aaron did not even turn around to see if they were doing as he said. He was a man who was used to having his every command obeyed without question, and luckily, the Carlovettis understood that, and jumped to do his bidding.

With the girl still in his arms, he leaned down to pick up her knife, careful not to touch the silver. Carrying his would-be killer, he walked to the big, black SUV and climbed into the back seat with her. He laid her gently across his lap as he pulled out his cell phone. He was just finishing his last call when the doors to his car opened in the front. The Carlovettis got in, Demetrius the driver.

Putting his cell phone away with a snap shut, he said, “I have contacted a doctor friend of mine, Thomas Reilly, who deals with humans as well as vamps. He will meet us at the mansion. What can you tell me about her?”

April looked over at her husband, then back at the vampire in the back seat. He was holding Sara in his arms and checking the wound while he waited for an answer. He looked up at April with a questioning expression.

“
Do you plan to take her life, sire?” she asked him.

“
Aaron.”

Aaron wondered why they thought he would end her life so quickly, or be so willing to do so. Then he thought of Carlos Sanchez, the former master of this realm, and realized that therein lay the problem.

As the way of vampire law, when Aaron had challenged the previous master for his realm, the two strong forces fought to the end. It had been a bloody and horrific battle, lasting nearly three hours—a very long time in vampire battles. In the end, Carlos was beheaded, and Aaron himself had been nearly mortally wounded. It took him almost a month for his energy and strength to be built back to what was normal for him. But of course, no one knew that for sure, and he wanted to keep it that way.

The winner, in this case Aaron, had been declared the Master of the Realm, and he had been afforded all of the riches, property, and anything else the previous master owned, including subjects.
The loser?
In this case, Aaron wondered who had been the loser.
The realm was a total mess and—

April’s question pulled him from his thoughts. “I’m sorry?” Her confusion was evident in her tone.

“
My name, it’s Aaron MacManus. Please call me Aaron. And no, I don’t, at least as long as she doesn’t become a threat to us. You do realize that she single-handedly took out four rogue vampires without so much as a scratch on her? The bullet wound happened while she was begging for her life, or death, as it were, with me. She has abilities that go beyond a mere human; she walked up on all of us without anyone being the wiser. Surely you are aware of what that can mean to our race? To us?”