Death Deceives: Book Three (Mortis Vampire Series) (33 page)

I retrieved the
black cloak and blanket from the mouth of the tunnel, glad to finally have something to put on over top of the tattered loincloth. I’d wait until I could clean myself up before donning one of my final two remaining outfits. The only part of the suit I did put on was the boots. If my bare feet touched the sun warmed ground, they’d probably melt right off.

A soldier found a blanket for Nicholas and my new bodyguard
insisted on leaping the short distance into the open back of the truck first. When he gave me the ok, I followed him and we huddled in the shadows. Steam drifted from both of us for a few moments.

I wished I had a mobile phone so I could call
Luc and tell him I was ok and that I’d won the battle with the First. It finally sunk in then; I’d won. Instead of dying horribly or being turned into a baby making machine that snacked on human flesh, I’d vanquished the leader of the imp army. With the help of the American and Russian troops, the grey clones had been utterly destroyed. We could now live out the rest of our unlives in peace. At that thought, I had a flash of my last two weird dreams and shivered. I had no idea what kind of omens they’d been and frankly I didn’t care. All I wanted was to see my friends again and enjoy a normal undead life for a while.

As promised, my new minion and I were driven directly to an underground facility. The heat of the sun baking off the metal that surrounded us cut off abruptly as we descended into coolness. When we’d travelled down two levels, the truck pulled to a stop.

After a short wait, the door swung open. Motioning me back, Nicholas jumped out first
. He spread his arms wide just in case this was an ambush. Expecting treachery myself, I jumped out and landed behind him. Thankfully, we weren’t faced with dozens of gun wielding soldiers. Only one soldier was standing nearby. “Follow me, please,” he said politely in Russian.

We were taken
up a flight of stairs then down a series of corridors. Finally, we were shown into a windowless room. There was a single cot, a basin and toilet. Basically, it was another prison cell. “Please remain inside this room,” the soldier requested. “Once night falls, you will be free to leave.” He came close to snapping a salute, hesitated then clomped off down the hall.

Testing the door handle, it moved easily so I pulled the door shut. It was made of much thinner metal than the last prison door that had barred my escape. I was pretty confident we’d be able to break out if we had to. Since the door didn’t lock
after being shut, it was doubtful we’d have to resort to such measures.

I wasn’t crazy about sharing a room wi
th a vampire I barely knew but Nicholas wasn’t at all uncomfortable. He stripped down to his undies and proceeded to clean off an accumulation of grime. Free at last of dirt, he ran his hands through his dripping hair and smiled at me.

Now that he was no longer covered in crud, I saw
why he’d been chosen to be a courtier. His hair was dark brown, his skin was pale olive and his face could make horny women fight to the death just for one kiss. Then there was his body. He wasn’t overly tall but he was muscular. Almost too muscular. His thighs bulged and so did his package inside his tight underwear.

“I am afraid I can no longer resist the pull of the sun, my
Liege,” Nicholas said.

Almost in a daze at his beauty, my response wasn’t very
intelligent. “Huh?”

“I
do not wish to leave you unprotected but I must sleep.” Moving over to the cot, he lay down, closed his eyes and turned back into the corpse he really was.

Drinking in his male perfection, I moved closer to the bed without even being aware of it. My hands hovered over his chest, about to caress his cold, pasty skin when I managed to snap out of it. My flesh hunger had risen and was raging out of control. “This is not good,” I whispered to myself. Luc flashed into my head and that helped a bit. I might have uncontrollable hungers but that didn’t mean I had to give in to them. In a few short hours I’d be back with my trusted companions agai
n. Surely I could hold out for that long. A large part of me was glad Nicholas had turned into a corpse. Vampires in his current unanimated state tended to be unappealing.

Since I had a few hours to kill, I also used the basin. The single towel that had been provided was already dirty after
Nicholas had used it but it was all I had. Spying a camera, I covered it with a fragment of loincloth. I wasn’t sure if it was real or just my imagination when I heard groans of disappointment echo from somewhere in the building.

Checking that Nicholas was still down for the day, I
cleaned most of the crud off my skin before donning one of my suits. The water ran cold before I managed to wash all traces of ooze out of my hair. Squeezing most of the water out, I finger combed it and left it to slowly drip down my leather clad back.

Bored but reluctant to
fall asleep and leave myself vulnerable, I paced up and down the small room. I wanted out of this cell and to be on my way again.

Moments after
I felt the sun fall down for the night, Nicholas’ eyes sprang open and he sat up. Muscles rippled in his chest and stomach and I turned away before my flesh hunger could override my will and force me to jump the guy. I hadn’t been this desperate for sex since the first time the unnatural hunger had risen within me. Luc had reluctantly surrendered to it but had quickly changed his tune that sleeping with me was a bad thing. The three centuries of abstinence probably had more to do with his capitulation than any bedroom skill on my part.

“Are you ready to go?”
I asked my new companion. I hadn’t heard any rustling of clothing but had been distracted with my thoughts. Turning, I found Nicholas standing right in front of me. My gaze instantly started to slide downwards. It jerked back up again when it reached his hips and encountered his snug tighty whities. “You have my permission to get dressed,” I said pointedly.

“As you wish, my
Liege.” Somehow, he’d sensed my hunger and seemed disappointed that I wasn’t going to unleash it on him. Being a member of the Court, he was probably highly attuned to the hungers of the flesh.

“Well,” I said as he began to dress. “I guess this is where you and I part ways.”

Halting with his pants halfway up, Nicholas made a noise of protest. “But I am yours, my Queen. You own me body and soul.” He fell to his knees and clutched me around the waist. “Do not leave me to fend for myself against the Comtesse and her lackeys.”

His distress was either real or an extremely convincing act. I had to
pull his face off my waist with both hands before he’d meet my eyes. “I don’t even know you, Nicholas. How do I know I can trust you?”

“Because you are all I have, my
Queen,” was his starkly honest answer. “The Comtesse now knows that I am a traitor. I am masterless, friendless and alone.” If he’d still been able to produce them, tears would have been standing in his midnight black eyes.

Covering my face with both hands, I felt trapped and not just because he had his arms wrapped around
me with panicky tightness. “Ok. Fine. You can come with me on one condition.”

“Anything, my
Liege.” Gratitude shone from his beautiful face.

“Stop calling me ‘my
Liege, my Queen and your highness’. I’m not anyone’s ruler.” Geordie would rupture himself with laughter when I told him about this. “My name is Natalie.”

A frown furrowed his perfect brow but he eventually nodded. “I will try, my…Natalie.”

“Good. Finish getting dressed, I want to get out of here before they decide to riddle our corpses with bullets.”

Footsteps approached
shortly after Nicholas pulled his jacket on. He’d left his filthy shirt on the ground, deeming it to be unfit to wear. His chest and abs were displayed each time he shifted and I forced my attention towards the door.

I was ready for anything when
it swung open. I was surprised to see that Colonel Sanderson himself had come to see us off. His expression was gravely formal. To my relief, he wasn’t pointing a bazooka at us. I wasn’t sure even I’d be able to survive one of those. I’d seen the remains of the imps that had been targeted and they’d been melted lumps of blackened meat.

Sanderson offered me his hand and I took it, careful not to crush any of his bones as we shook.
“On behalf of the human race, I’d like to thank you for your assistance at putting an end to the monsters.”

“No problem, Colonel.
Call me anytime strange creatures rise up and try to take over the world.” I meant it as a joke but he nodded solemnly. “I guess Nicholas and I should be going now.”

“This way, I have a vehicle ready for you.” We followed
the Colonel downstairs to the parking area. A dark blue, nondescript sedan was waiting for us. “No offense, Natalie, but I hope we never meet again,” the American said with all seriousness when we reached the car.

“Yeah, me too.”
If we did, it would either be due to some other kind of disaster or because he’d decided to eradicate me and my kind.

Nicholas
insisted on driving so I climbed into the passenger seat. I waved to Sanderson and he lifted his hand in response. His expression was hard to read but I believed it was a mixture of relief and regret. It was the regret that bothered me. He’d had three vampires in his clutches and had let us all go instead of keeping us to see how and why we ticked. His government would probably be less than happy with him for allowing us to go our merry way.

I kept checking to see if we were being followed
as the kilometres passed but I didn’t spot a tail. My new minion followed my general directions and we ended up back in the large town where my friends were hopefully still safe and sound.

“Stop here,” I said and
Nicholas eased into a parking space. “We’ll go the rest of the way on foot.” There was a good possibility the car was bugged so we it was only sensible to leave it behind. We sprinted the last few kilometres to the small and shabby hotel.

Sending out senses
that were no longer blocked, I located four vampires on the second floor. With Nicholas at my back, I took the stairs and pounded on Gregor’s door. It was yanked open a second later and Luc’s relieved face was the first thing I saw. I grinned at him then rudely pushed him aside and entered.

Yanking
Nicholas in after me, I gave my friends a quick explanation. “Everyone, this is Nicholas, just in case you don’t already know him.” Geordie’s upper lip lifted, indicating he did know the newest addition to our group and that he didn’t like him very much. Igor gave the courtier a cautious nod. Gregor’s face was uncharacteristically blank, hiding his emotions. “Nicholas is the guard who buried me in consecrated dirt and gave Igor the map,” I elaborated. “He’s on our side so play nice.”

Geordie opened his mouth but I’d run out of time to stick around and answer his questions. I had to do something about my flesh hunger or I was going to embarrass myself horribly.

Grabbing Luc’s hand, I tugged him out into the hallway and sped up the stairs to the fourth floor. He wore a bemused smile as I waited impatiently for him to unlock the door. “I take it your flesh hunger has risen?”

“In
the worst kind of way,” I confirmed. “You’d better take your pants off quick or I’m going to tear them to shreds,” I warned him. I reached back and struggled to undo the laces of my suit. By the time the leather suit hit the floor, Luc was already lying on the bed crooking a finger at me invitingly.

Leaping through the air, the bed groaned
in alarm when I landed in a crouch over Luc. He braced himself an instant before I enveloped him and I began to ride him hard and fast. Dents appeared in the wall as the bedhead slammed into it repeatedly. One of the legs buckled and we were tossed to the floor. Luc rolled until he was on top and winced when my legs slid up around his waist. I eased up on the pressure and he rewarded me by dipping his head and taking a breast into his cold yet talented mouth.

“I missed you,
Ladybug,” he mumbled then nipped me almost hard enough to break the skin.

“Me,
too.” I groaned then tried not to snap him in half with my legs as he thrust even harder and deeper. If I’d still been alive, my back and butt would have burst into flames from carpet burn.

He nipped my other breast then sucked it deep into his mouth and that was enough to push me over the edge. My girly parts almost sighed with relief when my first orgasm hit me. Several more rockets went off before Luc finished up and slumped
over my inert body.

“Did I break anything this time?” I hadn’t heard any bones snapping but I’d been distracted
by my own need.

Rolling onto his side, Luc went up onto one elbow with his face resting in his hand.
“Only a couple of my ribs.” From the quiet pops and crackles, they were already healing. “You were very gentle considering your level of need.”

“I was pretty desperate,” I admitted sheepishly.

“Why did you not sate your flesh hunger on Nicholas?” Luc studied me calmly, unaware how badly his question stung.