Ancient Blood: A Novel of the Hegemony (The Order Saga Book 1) (32 page)

Ash nodded and left.

She turned to me. “I’ll take care of apprising Iago of the situation and turning Julia against Sebastian. Go put on one of Ash’s day uniforms. You’ll go to Jade Tiger and explain the situation but don’t let anyone see you. We need her to use her creatures and servants to help us contain the house before sunset. Don’t worry, I’ll also leave a note for Draco so he doesn’t think we’ve been invaded and go berserk.”

“Just a second,” I said when the spinning of my head slowed a bit. “You want me to go conduct sensitive negotiations with the Shen?”

She kissed me and held on, looking me in the eyes as she spoke. “You can do it, Avery. Just be polite, tell the truth and give her anything she wants. She’s welcome to take total credit for figuring out the plot and stopping it—and make sure to mention it’s an opportunity to embarrass Draco by doing it during his
judicatus
. She shouldn’t be that hard to convince. I mean, we’re literally talking about the end of the world here.”

* * * * *

“I still am not convinced that my interests are served by doing what you ask,” Jade Tiger said a half-hour later.

“But, Your Majesty, we’re talking about the end of the world here. Literally.”

“Hardly the end of the world. A few atom bombs, a few military sites and cities. What of it? We hide while our humans retaliate.”

I knelt before her, bowed so my forehead touched the Persian rug and heard her take a bite of a very juicy peach. I’d already told her Sebastian’s plan and used all the arguments Caroline had suggested.

“Majesty, millions of people will die!
Your
people.”

She made a
humph
noise and shrugged. “We have billions. Why should we care about some human deaths? We are demons set upon the Earth to torment the living!”

Put that way, I suppose she had a point.

“And, besides, what have I but your words to tell me all this is so?”

I decided to follow her change of topics. “Majesty, I’d be willing to let you hypnotize or cast a spell on me to prove I’m telling the truth.”

I listened while she slurped her way through another bite of peach. I glanced up and watched her majordomo, Flea, clean the juice from her chin with a wet cloth.

Her suite is decked out like a throne room and has the look of a Pier One display gone mad. Priceless rugs, furniture and art pieces from China, Japan and India clutter the place in an obscene exhibition of wealth. The only open space is her round monstrosity of a bed, which is at least ten feet in diameter and piled with enough silk sheets and tasseled pillows to swim in.

“I have already seen that you speak the truth as you know it,” she said at last. “But what if you are mistaken? What if you are being misled? Then I will have thrown my lot in with fools.”

She was talking about losing face. I’d done some research into Chinese social customs as well as their folklore and metaphysics when I was researching my novel, so I understood some basic concepts. Still, I was hardly the “expert” Caroline seemed to think I was.

“True, it’s a risk, Majesty but please consider how much there is to gain. If we were being misled, who would have to be behind that? Judicis Iago. Since he’s a friend, he’ll certainly do everything in his power to shield you from any embarrassment. Draco is loyal to him, so he’d have to follow suit and Iago has blackmail on Hegemon Julia that will be enough to make her and Valmont take sides against Sebastian. Imagine how clever you will appear to Iago, having anticipated his need and fulfilled it without being asked.”

From what I knew, it was the perfect argument to answer the question of face. Hell, I’d almost convinced myself.

“The Judicis does indeed possess a clever mind,” she admitted. “However, my bargain with him requires that I vote in his favor when the time comes. That I shall do, regardless of any threat your Creator makes but any action beyond must be negotiated between the Judicis and myself.”

Granted, my understanding of Chinese customs was shallow but she should have jumped at the chance to do a favor for Iago. He had superior status, was probably her elder and this would put him in her debt! What the hell did this woman want?

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, I swear I would inform the Judicis of your assistance after Sebastian’s been stopped. As an honorable man, he would understand that he owes you a great debt.”

“Ha! Convenient promises are conveniently forgotten among Vampyrs. Experience teaches me that. Shen understand
guanxi
, Vampyr do not.”
Guanxi
is the term for reciprocal obligation in Chinese society.

“Your Majesty,” I began, not knowing how else to proceed. “I have no experience in important negotiations like these—for which I sincerely apologize—so I beg you to tell me if there is anything I can do to secure your cooperation?”

Dropping the half-eaten peach onto the rug, Jade Tiger held up her hands for cleaning. “I grant you permission to gaze upon me.”

I did, hoping this small favor was a good omen.

“Do you find me desirable?” she asked.

She wore a curve-hugging modern dress in gold with white designs. Her gorgeous hair draped down her chest and back without a strand out of place and the full force of her perfect features, accentuated with subtle makeup, was directed at me.

I wasn’t the least bit interested.

“Of course, Your Majesty, you’re very beautiful,” I told her. Maybe getting to know the personality behind that pretty face had put a damper on the heat.

“Yet I do not feel your desire,” she said. I remembered Jade Tiger’s interest in my “energy” back in the library and cringed inside.

“Majesty?” From helping Caroline theorize about how Shen physiology might function, I already had a hunch what she wanted.

She sighed. “You westerners have no subtlety. While Shen may consume many things, it is only passion which truly feeds. I desire your pleasure and lust, for your energy is strong and sweet with youth. I shall take you to my bed and we will give each other pleasure. Do this, in addition to all else you have promised and my
Guaiwu
shall seize his fortress this day.”

Okay, now, I realize that for most guys, this would be a no-brainer. “But, honey, I had to have sex with the gorgeous Asian nymphomaniac to stop a madman from destroying the world.” The problem was, aside from the fact that I’ve never thought cheating was okay, my complex storm of feelings for Caroline had finally condensed to a simple, all-consuming love for her. It was for her sake that I was here, not the world’s and certainly not Iago’s.

The one question that nagged at me was whether Caroline had suspected that Jade Tiger might make a demand like this when she sent me.
“Give her anything she wants,”
she’d told me. Was this what she’d meant?

Then I realized that it didn’t matter.

This choice was about me and where I chose to draw the line. Whatever Caroline might or might not have intended when she sent me was irrelevant, because she wasn’t the one sitting here. I didn’t have to be a crusader or superhero to have the courage of my convictions. I just had to stand up for what mattered to me when the time came.

My love for Caroline mattered. More, even, than the fate of the world.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty but I can’t do that.”

For a second, it looked like she hadn’t heard me but then her features screwed up in confusion. “Impudent toad!” she shouted, standing. “My station is as the mountain top to yours and my charms legendary among the gods themselves, yet you believe yourself above them?”

As she ranted, her Yeti-like
Guaiwu
approached from the corners, talons clicking and mouths drooling at the prospect of ripping me to pieces. Flea held up a finger and the creatures paused a few steps away on both sides, waiting for the command to strike. I tried to not glance up at their blood-red eyes and shark’s grins.

“You think to make me lose
mianzi
before my very own servants, in my own royal apartments!” she continued. Though she caused her own loss of face, or
mianzi
, by letting her fury get the better of her, I thought some gesture of subservience might be in order.

Putting on an expression of horror, I spread my arms out sideways and put my forehead back to the carpet.

It worked. After tossing what sounded like a couple of choice Chinese insults at me, I heard her take her seat again. Then I figure she studied her nails for the next minute or so to let me wait. Finally, she said, “What have you to say for your horrible insolence?”

I lifted my head just a bit, so I wasn’t shouting into the rug. “A thousand apologies, Most Majestic One! I meant no offense, only that I could not possibly take pleasure from defiling a goddess such as you!”

“But I know ways to give pleasure to any man. How are you so different?”

I weighed my options for a few furious seconds and decided to tell the truth. “Majesty, if you need honest passion to feed, then you won’t get it from pleasuring my body. You see, I love Caroline, my true Creator. I … love her so much that it would be impossible for me to enjoy something I thought would hurt her, I’d be too ashamed. I think that when you noticed something different about my energy, it was my love for Caroline you felt. It consumes me, leaving no room for anything else…”

I waited and wondered if I’d managed to offend her further by placing Caroline above her.

“How would taking pleasure from me hurt your Creator?” She sounded almost hurt, though she disguised it by exaggerating her tone into poutiness. “Did she not take her pleasure from Jean-Paul? Did she not publicly shame you? How can you not wish to revenge yourself upon her in kind?”

“Majesty, none of that matters. Valmont didn’t pleasure her. He hurt her. Even if Caroline would never know that I’d been unfaithful to her, I still couldn’t enjoy being with you because I’d know I betrayed her. I beg you to feel the truth of what I’m saying.”

“I—” she began. “I find it difficult to believe that such a feeling is possible. I feel the truth of what you say but still cannot imagine…”

She sounded like a child trying to grasp the size of the ocean.

“Your Majesty,” I said, lifting my face a bit more to see her. “If I may, I’d be honored to lie down with you and concentrate on thoughts of Caroline so that you can feed on my pleasure.”

“Your suggestion is acceptable,” she said after a suitable show of deliberation. Flea spoke a command in Chinese and the
Guaiwu
returned to their former positions with undisguised reluctance.

Jade Tiger rose and reached out her hand to me, I accepted it and allowed her to lead me to her orgy-sized bed. I’d never been so close to her when she wasn’t seated and I noticed how small a woman she is. The hand touching mine was so soft I could believe it had never performed a day’s work and it felt so delicate that I thought I’d break it if I squeezed too hard. Up close, she looks very young but her eyes are so jaded that the contrast is chilling.

I lay back, resting my head on one of the many bolster pillows in the area and closed my eyes. When she curled up beside me and put her head on my chest, I did my best to convince myself that it was Caroline’s weight that I felt, her hair that tickled my chin, her hand that caressed my ribcage through my new khaki shirt and her perfume that smelled like orchids.

Wasn’t easy but I managed.

I gotta admit it felt nice to lie down and cuddle with someone, even if it was the wrong someone. The first few seconds were awkward but it got easier to let my thoughts and memories flow in a bittersweet daydream. I remembered my first night together with Caroline, recreating it in as much detail as I could, every touch, kiss and sigh played across my mental screen to the point where I felt a fierce erection pushing at my zipper. Jade Tiger noticed, of course and slid her hand onto my crotch with the intention of “helping” me. She kept her fingers on the outside of my clothes, so I decided that diplomacy could allow her that much.

Her move distracted me for a second or two but reminded me enough of the similar activity Caroline and I had engaged in two nights before, that I switched tracks and thought about that. I don’t know if most people are like this but when I fantasize about Caroline, it’s the memory of the kissing and the rush of emotions that get me off rather than recreating the sex itself. I put my arms around Jade Tiger and hugged her close to me as recollections of a thousand kisses raced through my mind, competing for my attention as I climaxed.

Sometime during this tidal wave, I felt Jade Tiger lift her head and heard her make a noise like a reverse hiss as she drew deep breaths through her teeth. A tingling sensation took hold of my body, very much like when it felt like Valmont was pulling the lust out of me.

That made me remember Valmont and Caroline in the library but I forced myself to move past it. I thought of Caroline saying she loved me over and over again, I thought of that kiss, I thought about all the things I’d wanted to do with her in that moment and grew hard again. I slowed my thoughts down and explored how I’d wanted to pick her up, run her into Ash’s room, throw her onto the bed and tear the clothes from her body while I covered her with kisses before making love to her hard enough to break bones, then as gently as possible, then back and forth again and again in every possible variation. Vampyr regeneration works on every aspect of the body, a very cool bonus for guy Vampyrs.