For Richer (Vampire Assassin League Book 24) (7 page)

She should pinch herself. Somehow get out of this dream. And then hope like hell that Mikhal wasn’t just a figment of an over-active single woman’s imagination. Because she was already head-over-heels here. Or something equally as drastic. Even if love was an impulse-driven biological reaction to stimuli, she couldn’t discount the physiological symptoms that happened to her from just thinking of him. Her body warmed. Her heart beat faster. All kinds of parts tingled and throbbed.

And that decided her. She could wait to wake up from this fantasy. What did it harm? Besides, Mikhal said he had a
khipu
collection. He’d promised her a look. Why break out of this dream before she got to see them?

Or maybe this wasn’t a dream.

Maybe it was much worse.

Maybe she’d had some sort of accident or seizure and was in a medically induced coma while they waited for her brain to heal. She’d seen that plot device used more than once in a fictional series. Maybe that’s what was happening here. Anything else was too unbelievable. It might as well be an alien abduction.

Stop it, Becky. You have a science degree.

Right. She didn’t believe in paranormal stuff. Despite what was happening. And how unbelievable she found it. The shower was as just another example. It was unbelievable, too. It was akin to bringing the rain indoors. The water had splashed and soothed and as it warmed, creating steam and wetting everything in the enclosure. It streamed down rock walls, dousing everything on the outcroppings that were used for shelves. Mikhal had an array of opaque-glass jars and decanters with all kinds of concoctions arrayed on those shelves.

Well, of course he would. Didn’t every man?

Becky had snickered at her thoughts before opening and sniffing. She didn’t know what potions were in the containers. If the contents lathered up and smelled nice, she washed with it. Becky stayed in there long enough to affect his hot water heater level, before drying off on unbelievably thick and lush towels, and then getting dressed in a gossamer silk slip thing worn beneath a sky-blue woven dress. It was a recognizable shade of blue. It matched Mikhal’s eyes.

Oh. My.

There went the heart stutter and tingling again.

Becky stopped everything for a bit and just enjoyed the sensations, before moving toward the attire she’d pulled from one of the trunks. The sky-blue dress had silver and black embroidery about the cap sleeves, square neckline, and it even decorated the hem that ended just below her knees. She didn’t recognize the design. It wasn’t Incan. They usually used a sunburst emblem, the llama, a monkey. Recognizable patterns. This was a geometric design of some kind, mainly circles. There was a circlet thing she assumed went atop her head. A belt. And sandals. The circlet looked like silver and gold strands had been braided together, and studded with all sorts of rough-cut gems. She put it on like a necklace. It was heavy. The belt was worse. It had the same design, only the braided strands had been formed into loops that were all linked together with golden knob things. The sandals had the same design, only on leather. She hoped the accessories weren’t fashioned from real silver and gold. And real jewels. She felt and probably looked like an early American princess. A rather risqué one, since the only thing touching her skin was the silk chemise. She didn’t even have panties.

That sensation was unbelievable, too.

She really needed a different adjective.

Becky took a deep breath and regarded a large shadow in the mirror that had to be her image. That was odd. The bathroom had a really crap mirror. Becky picked up a tortoiseshell comb and started working it through her hair by feel. Totally crap mirror. Another oddity was that he didn’t have a commode. What bathroom comes without a toilet? And what human after a lapse of this much time wouldn’t need one?

She set the comb down on the slate rock sink, looked at the blob of shadow in the mirror again, and then checked her watch. This watch had been expensive. It was proving why. It was still ticking away, racking up time. It had been almost four hours since she’d awakened in the gold room. Atop the trampoline bed. Oh. That was a really nice bed. Had an amazing bounce to it...

She sighed. The physiological symptoms came again.

Focus, Becky
.

Right. Focus. Time check. She’d gone into this dreamscape four hours ago.
Wait.
There had been a weird time lapse when she’d first met him, too. She’d better add in that two-and-a-half hour gap in, too. So...it looked like she was closing in on seven hours in this la-la land. It must be evening. Her dial told her it was 8:46.

Close enough.

She should be hungry, but the thought of a meal-replacement bar made her slightly queasy. Water had the same issue. She turned on the faucet, looked at the stream of water. Cupped her hand, filled it, and tried to drink. Yep. It tasted awful. Well. If she didn’t need to eat and drink, she obviously wouldn’t need a commode. And that must be why there wasn’t one in here.

Problem solved.

The door was a massive chunk of metal-inlaid wood. Looked fairly substantial. Probably weighed half a ton. She might have trouble with it. Nope. It moved easily and soundlessly. Becky pulled it opened, stuck her head out into the corridor, and gasped as Mikhal moved out of the shadow directly across from her. He moved into the light cast from those florescent tubes so high above them. As if entering a theatre production.

Oh.

Holy shit
.

They’d switched looks. She’d taken on the native ensemble, while he’d found his way into a Western wardrobe. It didn’t hide much. Black denims hugged his hips and thighs, while the pullover nicely showed off his pecs and abs. He had his lengthy black hair back in a queue. Not a shadow of beard muted any of his perfection. She would never be able to hide him at her apartment. She’d have a hard time just getting him in a taxi without modeling agencies tossing contract offers.

“Oh wow,” she said.

“
Kiichpan. Yana
.” He said at the same time.

“You think so? Beautiful? Too much so? Really?” She twirled. He sucked in a gasp.

“Beyond words,” he answered.

Oh.
This was such a great dream. She had a gorgeous guy. Saying things like that. There wasn’t a bad side to anything that she could tell. “You’re speaking Mayan again?”

He flushed slightly. It made his blue eyes stand out more. “I have been amiss.”

“Amiss?”

Becky joined him in the corridor. From the corner of her eyes she saw a flash of movement. She’d never had this spectacular eyesight. Or hearing. She didn’t have to move her head to recognize one of his jaguars. The black one. It was hunting something besides her.

“Is that the wrong word?” he asked.

“It depends on what you mean.”

“I brought trouble to my home.”

“I’ll try not to be
that
much trouble.”

He smiled. Dang! She loved that grin of his. “I did not mean you. Here. I have something for you.”

He’d had a hand behind his back. And what he offered took her breath. It was a pristine
khipu.
Maybe the one from his niche. He had it rolled into a tubular shape and secured it with the primary cord wrapped about it. She’d heard that was how they transported these. From messengers called
chasquis,
who ran the roads delivering these hand-to-hand.

“Oh. Sweet. Mikhal. Do you know what this is?”

“Yes. A
khipu
.”

“I’ve never even seen such a perfect one. Let alone held it! I don’t even dare unroll it. Oh wow. Wow.” She held it to her breast.

“It means so much?”

“I am trying to prove that the Andean cultures had a language. That a
khipu
was more than just a numerical device.”

“That is my commendation. For bravery in battle. It lists more than numbers. I may not be a
khipucamayuq
, but I know that much.”

“Oh. Wow.” Her hands were shaking. Her entire body felt like she’d stepped on a live wire or something. “There are words on here?”

“Yes.”

She gave an excited cry. He grinned again. Her heart skipped and did a heavy hammer effect before deciding it would keep beating. He stepped closer. The gleeful feeling slowly changed. Her gaze connected with his, and got hooked. His expression probably mirrored hers. Was this what love felt like? Because it was pretty damned awesome.

“I love you, Becky. You are my mate. I am gratified my gift has found such favor.”

“And I think I l—.”

Wait a second here.

Something he’d said stopped her, despite how she tried to hush it. Something beyond huge. Titanic. And scary.

“Wait a minute. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.” She lifted a hand to hold it between them. The other kept the
khipu
against her breast.

“Yes?”

“How do you know this has words again?”

“I told you. It is my warrior commendation. Given to me for bravery in battle.”

“It is your warrior commendation?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“It is
your
warrior commendation?” She asked it again only this time she stressed the ‘your’.

“Yes,” he repeated.

“H-H-How...is that possible?”

He grinned again, as if this was funny. “I told you. I have had a lot of time. And I did not spend it sitting—.”

She interrupted him. “Don’t do the ‘sitting on my ass’ routine again. Just don’t. This is too serious. Okay? How did you get a warrior commendation written on a
khipu
?”

“I earned it. I took the most prisoners. Had the most kills. Earned the most coup. Took on all challenges and won. How else?”

He was totally sober now. He looked entirely capable of killing. And he had spikes showing through his upper lip.
Fangs.
Becky started shaking. It wasn’t with the warm, pleasant sensation. It was because she was cold. And the freezing feeling was centered in her chest and moving outward.

“You’re a...murderer?”

“Of course not. We were at war. How is that murder?”

“I am not the fainting type,” Becky told him. It was more to keep the little dots at bay. “And this is not happening.”

“I can explain.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

An obnoxious tweeting noise came from somewhere behind him. She watched Mikhal snag a cell phone from his back pocket without taking his gaze from hers. She paid him back in kind. She wasn’t taking her eyes off him. Those fangs of his were looking pretty long and pretty real. She slid a foot backward as he answered his call. His eyes narrowed as he noticed.

“Yes?” he barked into the phone.

She heard something about Hunters. Imminent. And then he slapped the phone shut and chucked it down the corridor somewhere. She heard it shatter. Neither of them looked.

“We have to leave.” He told her.

“You go on ahead. I’ll be right behind you,” she replied.

“You will come with me.”

“Give me one good reason why.”

“You are my mate and I love you.”

“Besides emotional ones.”

“There is a team of assassins arriving at my home to destroy it. I will not have you harmed.”

“You have a team of what? And they’re going to what? Destroy it? All the artifacts? The gold? The...
khipus
?”

“Becky. It does not matter. They are just objects. There is nothing on earth of any value if you do not have love. Now come. Please?”

Why was she waiting? The guy was eloquent. He was gorgeous. He was ripped. This was a dream. And he was probably taking her back to open air. And maybe reality.

“Mikhal?”

A rumbling went through the rock. The ground beneath her rolled, tossing her. And Mikhal snagged her to him. Wrapped both his arms about her. And then he went airborne. The corridor was collapsing about them. Pebbles and debris was raining. Boulders right behind it. Dust clogged everything. And Mikhal wasn’t running. He was flying. Totally unbelievable.

“Women. And their arguing!”

She heard his mutter as they swooped and dodged. She stuck her nose against his chest and tried to breathe.

“Damn!

Mikhal’s curse accompanied a slide of his body. He spun to glance off a wall, and then reached down and hitched her legs about his waist. The dress hiked into obscenity level as she linked her ankles and smashed her body into him. She didn’t care.

“What’s...happened?”

“Steps are caved.”

He took off again. They passed a row of really tall gold-covered statues, and then another, but with his speed, the statues meshed into a solid line of incredible archeological wonder. It was hard to tell the scope and culture. Debris was everywhere. The air was alive with rocks and dirt and shards of what might have been priceless treasures hitting and bouncing everywhere. One statue trembled as she watched from over his shoulder, and then it fell onto its face. She lost the view as he rounded a corner, this time going fast enough hair slipped across her face with the wind.

Mikhal!” Fear should have made his name a scream. Instead it was a squeak.

“Hold tight. Do not slacken.”

“How...are we going to get out?”

“Utility shafts.”

He leaned forward, compacting her into a scrunch of discomfort. A boulder struck his back, the thud sending them to the floor. Mikhal kept her from smacking the rock with his elbow. He grunted and then was up and moving again. Becky didn’t have enough air to scream. It was stuck in her throat.

A shadow started accompanying them, running through the slipstream Mikhal seemed to be creating. Becky watched the spotted jaguar race toward them, coming through a tunnel of destruction. And then Mikhal slowed. Stopped. Took a deep breath. Becky echoed it, getting the impression of fresh air. The smell of rain. And then a droplet of it.

“We are here, my love. Soon. I will have you out.”

“Your cat,” she gestured over her shoulder.

“Kaiya?”

He addressed the cat. It slunk around them, its back grazing her thigh where it was still wrapped about Mikhal’s waist.

“Where is Shadow?”

The cat yowled. Mikhal’s mouth tightened. And then he was unwrapping Becky from him. He started by unlocking her ankles at the small of his back. Pulling her legs apart and from him. Setting her on her feet, and then making her legs support her as he stepped back.

“I must go.”

“No!”

“I must find her mate.”

“But...Mikhal?”

“This is a utility shaft. If I do not return, you are to lead Kaiya up it.”

“Don’t leave me!”

“I will never leave you, Rebecca. Ever.”

He touched a kiss onto her nose and disappeared into the destruction-filled blackness.

“Mikhal! Wait! I saw it! The black cat was by the bathroom!”

She shouted it after him, but received nothing. He was gone. Leaving her beneath a huge black space that had all kinds of lines and hoses running through it. She might have to climb up there? Paired with a killer feline?

The earth slowly settled. The mountain was going back to sleep. That had been a major earthquake. Major. It was odd that Mikhal had known of it. No. It was weird that he’d gotten a phone call that alerted him to it. She couldn’t believe it. Because if she believed that, she had to believe the nonsense about assassins who would destroy a work of archeological wonder. And then she had to believe that this wasn’t a dream. She was really experiencing this. She’d actually been in a treasure-filled ancient site, lined with gold, she’d found a fantasy-created man, had the best lovemaking session imaginable, and she was actually standing here right now in the dark, breathing fresh air with a woman-eating cat for company.

It was too mind-blowing.

Becky lifted her arm to check her watch. More unbelievable stuff. She still had his warrior commendation
khipu
. She’d had it held so tightly, the impression was imprinted onto her forearm. And exactly four minutes had elapsed since she’d left the bathroom.

No way. It couldn’t be true. None of it. Because believing meant she had to accept that Mikhal...electa-whatever he’d-said-his-name-was – had to be exactly what he appeared to be.

A vampire. A real one.

Shock clawed at her brain while fear claimed her body. Freezing cold caused massive shuddering as the rain-filled fresh air added to it. Becky hugged herself to stop the quaking. It didn’t help. He was a vampire! A real, holy-shit, vampire? She’d made love with a vampire? And this was how he’d left her?

“I can’t believe he left me!”

The cat seemed to have the same reaction. She turned and snarled at Becky before prowling across the width of the space they were in. And then she went across its length. Then she circled it. And then she started over. The cat occasionally turned her head to stare at Becky with yellow eyes before resuming her pacing. She had huge paws, too. They made a soft, swishing sound as she moved.

Seconds lengthened into minutes and then they went to hours. That’s what it felt like. She checked her watch. One minute, five seconds had elapsed. Time was passing with excruciating slowness. And then Kaiya started making the most heartrending sounds. The cat never stopped it’s pacing, but every so often she’d stop, put her head back and send a soft cry into the enclosure. Becky’s eyes watered. She blinked rapidly against tears. Her heart hurt.

Where could they be?

And if anything happened to Mikhal? Her heart pained again. The next time Kaiya did her soulful cry, Becky almost joined her. She swiped at a tear before it went down her cheek.

“It’s okay, Kaiya. He’ll find him. Shadow will be here. Mikhal will bring him.”

This was more unbelievable stuff. She was commiserating with a jaguar. She wondered if the cat might be upset if she joined her in pacing. It couldn’t hurt. Becky started following Kaiya. It helped. But just barely.

The cat stopped. Gave another mournful cry before starting her prowling again. And that’s when Becky knew. Mikhal had been exactly right. Nothing in the physical realm was of much value without love. And she’d had it. With him. It didn’t matter what he was. Where he’d come from. Or even what planet. She loved him.
That
was what mattered.

Kaiya next cry stabbed at Becky’s heart. She went to her knees. Put her hands over her face and shook violently. She felt the cat join her. Kaiya leaned in as she circled. Then the cat stopped, stood for a moment with her face on the same level as Becky’s, and she didn’t balk as Becky flung her arm over her, planted her nose into the fur and started sobbing.

~ ~ ~

“Becky?”

Her head shot up at the whisper. Becky extricated her arms from about the large cat and rubbed at her eyes, turned her head, and felt the instant stab of absolute joy as a dust-covered Mikhal came into view. She was on her feet a moment later, and then she slammed into him, rocking him backward, hugging her entire body against his.

“Mikhal!”

“You are okay?”

“You came back!”

“I promised I would.”

“You were gone hours!”

He grinned. “Minutes, love. I had trouble.”

“Shadow? Is he—?”

She couldn’t bring herself to put it into words. Kaiya had also gone to her feet, and had the most hopeful look to her eyes as she looked up at them. Becky wondered how she’d ever thought them murderous.

“He is right behind me. I had to extricate him.”

“He’s okay?”

“He is a bit worse for wear.”

The joy contained in Kaiya’s next cry said all that mattered, as a bloodied and extremely dirty dark jaguar limped into view. Becky watched the cats circle each other and then entwine their necks and nuzzle. Then Mikhal’s lips touched hers, her heart swelled even larger with the kiss, and a vista of light opened throughout her body that should have lit the entire space.

She had never felt as loved. Nor as rich.

“You are a vampire,” she told him the moment he pulled back.

“Yes.”

“Am I one?”

“Not yet. But you will be. When you are ready.”

“Well. That was not how I had my life scripted...but I love you, Mikhal. I do. I really do. And I really love your killer grin. Yeah. That one.”

“We must go now. All of us. This only works if there is no heat trace.”

“What...only works?”

“We must disappear. That is one of the ‘D’s of a 4-D Team. Deploy. Destroy. Disinfect. Disappear.”

“Okay. But...how are we going to get up this air shaft?”

“I am a vampire, Becky. I will have no trouble. But you will need to hold onto me. Tightly.”

“Like that’s a problem.”

His grin came again. Her heart surged with it. That was a really amazing sensation. She loved it, too.

“I shall be carrying Kaiya and Shadow. There is nothing for them back here, and an Amazon jungle out there. We ready?”

“We’re...going to the Amazon jungle? I may be...a trifle overdressed.”

“Where we are going, my
yaah, y
ou are perfect.”

“Where...are we going?”

“I have property in Guatemala.”

“Is it nice?”

“It is another undiscovered ancient site. It is Mayan.”

“Like Chichen Itza?”

“Much bigger. More like Tikal.”

“Please tell me you have another library of
khipus
?”

“Sadly, no. We must wait until it is safe to return here to retrieve them. It may be years. Centuries.”

“Bummer.”

“I do have a library of Mayan codices, though.”

Becky’s eyes went wide. “Oh. No way. There are only four in existence on the planet.”

He grinned again. “Correction. There are only four that are known to be in existence.”

“Oh. Wow.”

“I must call in now. Let the VAL know we have survived. Then, I will get us to my airfield, and we will be off.”

“Oh. That’s right. You have a private jet at an airfield near Moyobamba.”

“Yes.”

“And you know how to fly a jet, I assume?”

He grinned again. “I have had a lot of time. I did not spend it—.”

“I know. ‘Sitting on your ass.’ Am I going to hear that for the rest of our lives?”

“Probably. And that is going to be a very long time. Eternally long.”

He moved one arm from her to pull another thin cell phone from his back pocket. Slid it open with one hand and pressed four numbers. And she couldn’t resist. Becky pressed her lips to his throat as the call connected, and then she ran her tongue up toward his ear, giggling while listening to him try and talk.