Xavier: Vampires in Europe (Vampires in America Book 14) Page 24

  “Because I need you here to give the appearance that this is an ordinary night in the Fortalesa. It’s not at all unusual for me not to be seen for hours after sunset, and Chuy is frequently out pursuing some task or other on my behalf. But you, my friend, are on the wall, in the armory, the hospital, and always available if called to the gate. You’re visible and would be missed. Plus, I need you to verify Sakal’s arrival at and departure from the compound. Another vampire could do that, but he would have questions and might even have to be told about the mission. And every new person adds a new layer of danger.”

  Joaquim sighed gustily. He was still unhappy, Xavier knew. But he’d resigned himself to the reality. It was critical that this mission be carried out with the utmost secrecy. He trusted his people—vampire and human—most of whom had been living in the Fortalesa for years, if not generations. They could still betray him. It did happen. Their lives would be forfeit, and the remainder of it brutally painful once he found them. Which he would, since the only way they could escape was to secure the protection of a stronger vampire lord. And there were none stronger than Xavier in Europe. Lachlan was possibly his equal, and Quinn was not only powerful, but had a truly fearful offensive ability. But they seemed to be content on their islands, and anyway, he couldn’t see either of them taking on a vampire who’d betrayed his oath to Xavier.

  The humans within the Fortalesa were another matter. He trusted them, too, but humans could be too easily forced to betray others against their will. Once confronted, he would know if they lied and could dig the truth from their brains. But the damage would be done. If one human knew a secret, it was no longer a secret.

  “Any other issues?” he asked his most trusted aides. “The vehicle for tonight is set?”

  Chuy nodded. “It’s already checked out, parked in a space downstairs.”

  “Joaquim?”

  “I’ll cover the farm compound both nights, and call you with the necessary updates.”

  “Some of Layla’s people are likely to be there tonight,” Xavier cautioned. “So consider what you’ll tell them.”

  “They’ll never know I’m there.”

  “Good.” Xavier stood and pushed back his chair. “Chuy, you’ll bring sufficient arms for both of us.”

  “Yes, Sire.”

  “I’m going now to check in with Dr. Nowak. The two most seriously injured guards from the last attack are still hospitalized. I can’t afford to be weakened before tomorrow night, but I’m more than strong enough now to at least assist in their healing.” He thought of Layla’s hot, delicious blood, which he’d feasted on twice in the last few hours, and knew he was about as strong as he’d ever be. Even so, he had to conserve that power for the fight he was likely to encounter the next night. Because Joaquim was right about one thing—they had no idea who or what might be stashed away in Sakal’s Barcelona lair.

  The sun was a red threat in the western sky when Xavier walked out of Dr. Nowak’s small hospital and headed toward the ground-floor entrance to the vampire wing. He could remain awake until the sun had completely cleared the eastern horizon over the Mediterranean, but with every minute that ticked off before then, every burning slice of light that became visible, he would grow fractionally weaker. And the same instinct that was seared into the brain of every vampire warned him with a stab of heat at the base of his skull that it was time to seek shelter. For his part, Xavier preferred to be in his own secure quarters within the underground vault long before his strength was in any way diminished.

  He was still under the covered walkway outside the hospital when a flash of movement caught his eye a bare second after he became aware that Layla was near. He pulled deeper into the shadows, not wanting to draw her attention. If he did, he’d seduce her into bed with him, which might end up with her waking next to him at sunset. The chances of that were low, since she had her own duties to tend to, but he couldn’t risk it. If his plan was to work, he had to slip out of the Fortalesa with no one but Chuy and Joaquim even aware he’d left, much less knowing where he’d gone.

  That didn’t stop him from watching her, however. She strode for the stairs to her parents’ apartment, walking with a casual grace that showcased the controlled lean muscle of her body. She swung around and climbed the stairs, ignoring the wrought-iron railing and everything else, except the ever-present smartphone in her hand. He almost winced, waiting for her to trip as she held the device in one hand and tapped away with the other while climbing. But of course, she never did.

  The stairs split into two directions, with Layla going left, providing him with a clear view of her perfect ass moving smoothly from side to side as she climbed. He admired the view longer than he should have, then crossed the narrow, U-shaped courtyard to the door he sought. While he entered the complex digital code, he overheard one of Layla’s fighters crossing behind him. Thinking he must have come from the vampire wing, he frowned, wondering what the human had been up to. But found his curiosity satisfied a moment later when his vampire hearing picked up the man’s phone conversation, which involved female vampire stamina and how come no one had ever told him about it before.

  Xavier grinned as the lock clicked and he pushed the door open. He didn’t at all mind that Layla’s crew included two strong men. Especially when those men knew how to take care of themselves, and were probably armed to the teeth. He didn’t have nearly as many female vamps as male in the Fortalesa, but there were a few. And most of those were unattached. One of them had no doubt enjoyed the human’s fresh blood, in more ways than one. A human had to be very strong indeed if they hoped to be a suitable bed partner for a vampire.

  He went down the stairs and into his office with vampire speed, since there were no humans to observe him down here. Striding directly through the office, he entered the bedroom he’d so recently shared with Layla. He generally preferred the vault, but the time spent admiring his luscious lover had cut into his margin. And while he could easily make the vault before he collapsed into his daylight sleep, most of his vampires couldn’t. He could key himself into the vault even after it was shut, but some of his people might hear the intrusion, and there was no need for them to fall into their own sleep with that worry on their minds. This sleep chamber was just as secure, if not quite as spacious.

  Once in the bedroom, he stripped off his clothes, letting them fall where they would as he went to the bed and pulled back the blankets. Layla’s scent rose to envelope him as he slid inside and lay back on the pillow. His cock went rock hard when the scent reminded him of everything they’d done together. Damn it.

  His last thought before he dropped into his daylight sleep was how that fucking erection was going to make for a very unpleasant wakening at sunset.

  XAVIER BROUGHT together the usual briefing group roughly two hours after sunset that night, which allowed time for Layla’s team—and Joaquim, though she didn’t know it—to observe Sakal’s arrival at the farm compound. He listened to her report on their daytime observations, although she admitted that they’d seen nothing of any note. He was relieved to learn that there’d been no additional infiltration, on her part, of the main building. He had full confidence in her skill, but the risk wasn’t worth any possible benefit.

  Layla didn’t—couldn’t—understand fully yet, which was his fault. A good part of his reluctance was rooted in the ages-old vampire distrust of humans. He hadn’t even shared completely with her father, who’d been his loyal retainer for decades. He’d never put her parents, or any of the other humans living in the Fortalesa, in danger. But there were things they simply didn’t need to know.

  As for his covert plans against Sakal, he reminded himself that by not telling her of it, he was keeping her out of danger. If the sorcerer had somehow discovered her importance to Xavier, he’d have spared no effort to kill her in the most painful way possible. He’d have done it in front of her own teammates, so
they could know what he’d done, before he killed them, too, just because he could. And he’d have recorded the whole fucking mess, so that Xavier would know exactly how much she’d suffered, and know the raw helplessness that Sakal had experienced when Josep had ripped away his magic.

  His reasons for keeping her in the dark were valid. But she would never have accepted them. Would never have accepted so much as the idea that she would be unable to defend herself against the damn sorcerer, or even that ignorance would keep her any safer. Hell, she wouldn’t believe that he was any safer for not involving her, no matter his reasons. She was too damn sure of her own abilities and wouldn’t accept the possibility that she, too, could be killed.

  He, on the other hand, had been haunted by the too-real possibility of her death when she’d been away. The inevitability of it happening if she stayed away too long. And now that she was back, now that she’d been in his bed, he was not going to lose her to something preventable, when he could make her safer simply by keeping her in the dark about matters that involved only vampires.

  “Sakal arrived tonight, within a few minutes of his arrival time last night,” she was saying. “We hung around a little while after, just in case it was a short visit. But again, like last night, there was no movement in or out of the building for the time we were there. When we left, however, we took the long way around so we could see into the windows of the cafeteria, which they also use as a lecture hall. And we took some photos.” She shoved six pictures to the center of the table. “That’s two sets of three photos. They’re not the best quality, since they were taken at the extreme high end of the long-range scope, and through the windows, too. But you can make out what sure looks like Sakal on the stage, especially since we’d just watched him arrive.

  “One more thing,” she added, and tossed six more photos onto the table. “We’re confident that the three women who accompanied him tonight are not the same ones who were with him last night.”

  “I didn’t know you’d photographed him last night,” Xavier commented.

  She looked at him with raised eyebrows and an expression that said, “You’re not the only one who can keep secrets.”

  If it had been more important, he would have been furious. But since he already knew that Sakal was the one behind the attacks on his people, and most certainly the one planning even more and deadlier attacks, he let it go. For now. There would be a time for them to have a discussion about secret-keeping. Preferably when she was naked and in his bed—the one in his vault, so she would be unable to escape.

  “You may be right,” Joaquim said, sliding the six pictures over for Xavier to see.

  Each showed a single woman, with enough detail to establish that there were no duplicates among them, despite similar, but not identical, builds and hair color. Which meant there’d been an entirely different trio of women last night.

  “It’s possible there are even more than the six, my lord.”

  “Possible,” Xavier agreed. “But still all human, correct?” he added, in a telepathic aside to Joaquim who, unknown to Layla, had been there that night to see the women for himself.

  “Yes, my lord. Definitely human tonight.”

  “They’re probably still human,” Layla observed, not knowing he’d already confirmed it. “But humans can be highly-trained and deadly, too.” She lifted both hands palms up to indicate herself, then added, “Especially if they know they’ll be fighting vampires. They’ll come prepared.”

  “You’re right.” He pretended to ponder this news. “I’m not convinced they’re a threat, but let me think on it later. If that’s all for now?” he asked, eyeing each of them in turn. “Good. We’ll meet again tomorrow night. Layla, if you would remain a moment?”

  The two vampires, knowing why he was not offering further consultation or planning for future operations, said their farewells without comment. Once they were gone and the door closed, Xavier pulled Layla from her seat and kissed her.

  She resisted for a second or two, but then surrendered to the undeniable passion between them. He felt it, and was sure she did, too. It was like two parts of a whole that were inexorably drawn together to create the “one” where they belonged. She grabbed onto his neck, pulled at his hair, and pressed herself against him until he could feel every curve and swell of her breast, despite the athletic bra she wore under two layers of clothing.

  She’d gone up on her toes to reach his mouth, but he tightened his arms and held her there, to prolong the kiss. He wanted nothing more than to carry her into his bedroom and spend the rest of the night there together. But he couldn’t risk her getting curious about why he had to leave for a meeting in the wee hours before dawn, and then have her decide to spy on him in one of a thousand ways he could imagine her doing so successfully. And if he could come up with that number of vulnerabilities, with all the knowledge he had of his own abilities and the surrounding territory, he was damn sure she could figure out a sufficient number to make it possible.

  But fuck, she was succulent.

  He released her gradually, letting her slide down, with delicious, almost painful, friction, along his body until she stood on her feet once more, gazing up at him with a question in her eyes.

  He met those eyes and sighed. “Business, cariño. I have a conference call with several of the vampire lords who share this continent with me. And once that is complete, there will be the inevitable individual calls which will certainly follow.”

  “Wow. You guys talk to each other? I thought vampire lords were all, “Don’t set foot in my territory,” she quoted in an extra-deep voice.

  “We are, but aside from that, we have agreed, after the model of your American vampire lords, to cease aggression against each other’s territories, in the interest of preserving peace. Which is better for all of us, especially now that humans are becoming more and more aware of our existence, and are prying into our affairs. We can no longer pass off ourselves as medieval lords fighting for land, or heeding the call of the Church to drive out non-believers.”

  “Well, hell, it’s been a long time since you could do that.”

  “Ah, but you humans are such a violent and bloodthirsty lot. There’s been no shortage of very believable wars for us to camouflage our battles.”

  “I suppose I have to admit that, given the way I’ve earned a living for all these years.”

  He smiled, and though she once more tried not to respond to him, her smile, while grudging, lit her eyes with stars. She loved him. She wasn’t willing to tell him yet, but he knew she loved him.

  “What will you do with your evening without me?” he asked teasingly.

  “Oh, you know, gambling. Sex. Maybe combine the two into a game of strip poker. There are two of each of us in the barracks. That works.”

  “I know you’re joking, but I am not amused.”

  “How do you know I’m joking?”

  “Because I know you. You don’t fuck more than one man at a time.”

  “Crudely spoken, but regrettably true. No, I’m going to bed early, maybe read something that has nothing to do with fighting or war or anything violent. Not even sports. And then I’m going to go to sleep early and catch up on all the hours I’ve lost burning the candle at both ends.”

  Xavier had to think about that saying, but it clicked quickly enough. She was tired from getting up early to command the Fortalesa in daylight, and still contribute to the investigation in the evening, not to mention the much later hours she’d kept with him.

  He kissed her again, needing to feel her soft and warm and his, before walking her upstairs to the outside door, and wishing her a good night’s sleep.

  IT WAS TWO HOURS after sunset the next night when Joaquim brought him the news he’d been waiting for. Sakal had arrived at the farm compound and had disappeared into the building, just as he had on previous nights.
Joaquim had even copied Layla’s maneuver and swung around the building before leaving, to sneak a look through the cafeteria windows, although he’d been able to get closer and hadn’t required a long-range scope.

  “He was there, my lord, just as before. Though I can’t imagine what he has to talk about night after night.”

  “And the scouts in the city? Were they able to confirm his departure before that, from what we believe to be his daylight lair?” Xavier asked.

  “Yes, they did, my lord. The building is not as . . . golden, as the prisoner described, but its location and description fit. They also agreed that the women are bodyguards, and exceedingly well-trained.”

  Xavier grunted a response. Human bodyguards were hardly a threat, but if his plan worked, they’d be more of a challenge than their master, Sakal.

  Chapter Fourteen

  LAYLA REMAINED in bed late the next morning, the first time she’d done so in weeks, it seemed. When they’d been on assignment in France as glorified bodyguards, she’d rolled her team out of bed early every morning for no reason other than to keep them on a schedule that would suit future assignments. They rarely had the luxury of more than a day or two to allow their bodies to adjust to any time zone shifts. And since her full team wasn’t necessary to do the vineyard job, anyone not actively working had engaged in drills. She wanted them physically and mentally in shape for future assignments.

  But this morning, though she was aware of Brian and the others thumping about, laughing and arguing over breakfast, she inserted ear plugs and went back to sleep. Or she tried. Her brain just wouldn’t shut up about that fucking vampire. She argued back and forth with herself, reminding her of those cartoons where the main character had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.

  The angel, obviously, argued for her to stay the hell away from the esteemed Lord Xavier, even if it meant leaving the Fortalesa and bunking in town. Or worst case scenario, placing her team under Brian’s command and getting the hell out of Spain altogether. He was just as capable as she was. Not quite as compulsive about knowing every damn thing, and more willing to trust other team members’ judgment when it came to performing their assigned roles, but nonetheless quite brilliant and utterly committed to the safety of every member of their team. The devil, on the other hand, told her to stop being such a frightened little pussy and go after what she wanted.