Incubus Moon (29 page)

Primed to rush back to the safety of the tunnel, I quickly discovered that this heat wasn’t lethal. So I took a few tentative steps toward
one of the narrow shafts of light and paused directly under it. No Austin flambé.

I let go of the breath I’d been holding and felt a smile spreading across my face. I was free of Dimitri’s blood at last!

Niko smiled back at me. “I must secure the door.”

I wanted to jump up and down with joy. Instead, I simply breathed deep of the fresh air, laced with the wonderful aroma of plant life and salt water. They might not be unfamiliar scents, but they sure felt new and wondrous to me in that moment.

“Niko, can you believe I—”

He’d vanished, along with the door! Why then could I hear the distinct clicking sound of metal tumblers locking into place? It was coming directly from the spot where the door and Niko had once stood, and where now only solid rock appeared.

“What is wrong?” Niko asked.

I stumbled backwards. “Jesus!”

Like a mirage in the desert, Niko emerged from within the solid rock.

He glanced over his shoulder to see what I was staring at, and then turned back to me wearing another of his adorably impish grins. “The doorway is enchanted. Master Dimitri had Eva do it so that intruders would not find the entrance.”

Mystified, I was also loath to move closer to the spot where Niko had just
materialized
.

Nevertheless, I forced myself to reach out a hand. The air rippled around it, consumed it, though without any pain. I moved closer still and watched in fascination as a portion of my forearm disappeared into the warm wrinkle of air. This had been the source of the heat I’d felt earlier. I’d passed through some form of mystical barrier.

“Part of the enchantment is not wanting to go near it,” he said.

“Yeah, I get that.” I pulled my arm back. “So your sister’s a witch?” Next he’d be telling me that Harry Potter was a real wizard.”

“A powerful sorceress. There are other magical creatures on the island, too,” he added, walking toward the dense wall of dark green shrubbery camouflaging the canyon entrance.

I caught his arm in time to ask, “What kind of magical creature are you?”

He looked down at his feet, then back up at me again and shook his head. “There is nothing special about me. I have no magic.”

I was tempted to say, “Wanna bet?” Because if incubi and succubi were the seducers of the supernatural world, then this charming young man was their mortal equivalent. Niko had plenty of magic; he just didn’t realize it. Now, however, was not the time to explore it.

“Wait!” I called out as he approached the dense thicket.

How had he (hell, how had I) missed the angry swarm of bees increasing in alarming number above his head? I pointed frantically to the dark, buzzing cloud.

Niko looked up and laughed again. “Another glamour,” he said, reaching up to pass his hand through the center of the swarm. “To keep away the curious locals.”

I rushed up behind Niko and hugged him with more than passing relief. Would I ever get used to this bizarre new world of which I was now a part?

We emerged from the very real thicket of tall shrubs and out into a truly glorious day. It was still early, which meant that few tourists had found their way to the base of the acropolis. For the moment, I allowed myself to bask in the warmth of the morning sun.

Again, the thought of Dimitri being cursed to live in a world of endless night cut through to dampen my joy. How did he do it and stay sane?

Dimitri…

Second thoughts began to creep into my head, which the incubus in me rose up to quash. I was doing the right thing—the only thing. “Where are we?”

“Rhodes,” Niko replied. “Down there is Lindos.”

The quaint seaside town was surrounded by the deep blue Aegean in every direction, the small fishing boats in the tiny harbor bobbing on the surface of the water, their masts swaying to a silent rhythm, the way they had for thousands of years. The picturesque setting was idyllic, except that real-life monsters were out there waiting for us, as were Mark and Christie Gold. At least I hoped they still were!

“We need clothing and a way off the island.”

“Clothing is no problem.” Then his brow furrowed. “But I have no money to book us passage.”

Our first snag, and one that I should have foreseen.

My wallet and cell phone undoubtedly lived in a police Ziploc bag in Los Angeles. Dimitri hadn’t thought to retrieve them before tossing my ass through a plate-glass window.

Then I felt a grin start to form. “Money’s not gonna be an issue for us.”

CHAPTER 31

Thanks to a week of pure insanity, I’d overlooked one of the more practical aspects of life: having a sizeable chunk of change at my disposal. All I needed to get at it was a computer or telephone.

Armed with this knowledge, Niko and I set off from Lindos to the Old City of Rhodes, a hot and dusty twenty-mile ride in the back of an old flatbed truck. We were almost free!

The driver took us as far as the hotel
Castello di Rodi
outside the main city, where Niko charmed the proprietress into helping us. He explained to her that he and his American friend had been robbed of all their possessions and could sure use some assistance. The woman went from clutching at her chest to shaking her head to clutching at her chest again. By the end of his story, she’d produced the oldest-looking telephone I’d ever seen from beneath the check-in desk, which she now pushed in my direction.

And Niko said he had no magic.

God, did it ever feel good to be clean.

I patted the shower towel over the remaining moisture on my face and neck and took in my reflection in the mirror of our hotel room. Any
trace of the violent episode aboard the yacht was gone. Incubus me was looking pretty damn good again.

After a call to an American Express office on the mainland, that good feeling began to fade. Paranoia sent me back to the pages of thrillers I’d enjoyed reading in college. Use a credit card for anything and—
wham!
—the bad guys showed up on your doorstep in the very next scene.

Hopefully, Haemon and Kassandra didn’t have access to that kind of tech.

Even if they did, I had no plans to spend the night here. A man like Dimitri Ravello would have spies here on the island. Supernatural powers aside, it wouldn’t be difficult to spot a tall, blond foreigner in the crowds of the Old City.

As for my complete lack of a passport, I had an idea.

“Documents,” the ticket agent said.

Niko handed her his identity card, recognized by all EU countries. She regarded me quizzically when I failed to produce mine, then smiled, handed us the tickets I’d purchased earlier through Am Ex, and wished us a safe trip. Hey, if I could mind-fuck a vampire as old and powerful as Dimitri Ravello, everyday folk weren’t going to be an issue.

The Custom’s official at Venizelos Airport in Athens proved equally as persuadable and waved us right through.

“You are amazing,” Niko chuckled on our way to the sea of idling cabs and buses just beyond the main terminal exit.

At this rate, obtaining a new passport seemed a waste of valuable time. Who knew how long Haemon would keep Mark and Christie alive.

Within minutes, we were in a taxi en route to downtown.

How I’d missed big city life. The chaos of traffic and people moving here and there. To the individuals we passed along the way, it was just another day, business as usual. Not too long ago, I’d been one of them, dashing off to work, heading out for a date, meeting up with Mark and Christie for dinner, playing volleyball on the beach at the weekend, or any number of common yet wonderful things. That world was gone forever. All this new one seemed to promise was real-life monsters and constantly having to fight for my life and the lives of the people I loved.

And yet, it had brought Niko to me.

I turned to regard him staring out the opposite window with all the enthusiasm of child at Disneyland. “Athens,” he said with a hand pressed to the car window. “She is so beautiful.”

“Hey.” I reached over and rested my hand on his thigh. “After we hit the American Express office, let’s go shopping.”

We were on a collision course with the worst danger imaginable. That didn’t mean we couldn’t confront it looking stylish. Besides, this might be the last chance I got to do something so common yet wonderful.

Niko and I checked into the Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel just as the sun was setting. Housekeepers had turned down the plush bedding, placed two crystal flutes on the nightstand, and a bottle of champagne left to chill in a nearby silver bucket. A tray of half a dozen chocolate-covered strawberries sat next to the glasses.

Not quite the spectacle that was Dimitri’s digs on Lindos, this elegant room had genuine windows that looked onto a real cityscape. I almost felt normal again.

I filled the champagne glasses while a porter deposited our purchases in the sitting room, and then quietly departed. Niko collapsed onto the soft duvet of the massive bed in his stylish new duds and I quickly followed suit. Who knew that shopping could be so exhausting? I rolled onto my side and used the tip of my index finger to trace his profile. It was a silly gesture, but it made him smile and touched a part of me I thought I was losing.

“Beautiful,” he said in a sleepy voice, continuing to gaze out the large window.

“Very,” I whispered back.

In the near-distance, the Parthenon jutted into the nighttime sky, its colonnades illuminated by powerful floodlights. A beacon in the dark night. To think that structure had been in existence a mere sixty or seventy years when Dimitri was born. Hell, the house I’d grown up in was older than that when I came into this world.

Stop thinking about him
.
Dimitri Ravello is relieved to be rid of you
.

It was true. He’d told me as much with his mind back at the sanctuary, and he wasn’t alone in his sentiment. More of my kind were out there, had to be out there, somewhere. Trouble was they were in no hurry to help the rookie. I hated them for that.

Chafed feelings aside, I reminded myself that my sole focus should be aimed at rescuing my friends and eliminating their psychotic captors in the process. Keeping my existence a secret from the High Council of Vampires in Rome was a dangerous move on their part. But doing so would only expose the fact that Haemon had survived their assassination attempt hundreds of years ago. What else might the Elders do if they were made aware of the truth?

Of course, I’d have to expose myself to the Council in order to do just that.
Not
an option.

Which brought me back to Haemon and Kassandra. They’d captured my friends and were using them as bait in a ploy to lure me out of hiding, according to Dimitri Ravello.

The book he’d had me read contained a passage about a
somnium deum
, a dream god or incubus, and how through dark ritual he could be stripped of his powers. But what would accomplishing such a thing do for either of them?

“What are you doing?”

“Bringing you back to me,” Niko said, letting droplets of champagne fall onto my lips from the finger he’d dipped into one of the glasses on the nightstand.