Immortal Dynasty (6 page)

He knelt down next to her body and felt for a pulse. He felt no fluttering of life, yet her body felt soft. A dead body would be hard with rigor after thousands of years.

Before his better judgment opposed it, Darius tilted her head, pinched her nose, and covered her mouth with his. Despite the flames he had seen and felt, her lips were ice cold. He gave two quick breaths. Nothing. He pumped her chest, and blew in her mouth again.

* * *

Oh, goddess. Help me.

The first tingling of reality brought fear. Sensations prickled nerve ends, zinging across old pathways to her brain. Moisture trickled through dry veins, bringing life to gray, dormant blood cells. The first pumps of a renewed heart sounded like thunder inside her head.

What was happening? She wanted to scream with the sheer terror of it. Her flesh burned icy hot as cool air caressed it for the first time in millennia. An excruciating pain flared in the center of her chest. It vibrated unmercifully, demanding something.

Something answered. A burst of pure energy radiated from her heart. The feeling brought relief and joy at first.

Voices. There were voices around her, but they had stopped. Where had they gone? Are they frightened of her? Did she look hideous? She felt hideous.

Oh, goddess. What has become of me?

She drifted, floating weightless in gray shadows. As if she were drowning, her lungs burned. Like a nightmare, she could not seem to call out for help.

A warm breath caressed her. Every cell in her body hummed. The dark veil of despair lifted. Shaila pushed aside her fears and called upon her astral spirit to return and guide her.

* * *

Suddenly, the woman expelled a cloud of dust from her lungs. She choked and gulped in fresh air. Wrinkles on her skin filled, becoming taut and firm once again. She glowed with a more natural tone. Her arms and legs rippled with goose bumps.

Darius put a gentle hand on her shoulder, and a low moan escaped her lips. Her breathing fell to a more natural rhythm.

Now that she was no longer hidden under a golden glaze, he saw that she wore only a hip belt. The leather was dyed to a dark shade of green. He could envision that at one time the white linen skirt had proudly held starched creases. Now, it limply clung to her, just long enough to cover what was necessary.

Time hadn’t sagged her figure. Tiny lotus petals had been tattooed on the areolas around pert nipples. A sudden image of tracing the path of the tattoos with his tongue sprang to mind. A lower part of his body wanted to spring to life too. He iced that line of thought.

Still unconscious, she rolled over and curled into a fetal position. With her naked back facing him, Darius could see two long, straight scars running diagonally across her shoulder blades. The top end of each scar came within a couple of inches of joining at the nape of her neck, almost forming an arrow. Between the scars, a dark dragon tattoo curled around a quiver with seven arrows of red flame.

Papa Shadi had said to find her. That she would help him. Would she?

He was probably down to his last few minutes alone here. He needed to act, and he needed to act right now. He mentally sent his grandfather his apologies, but promised that he’d come get him very soon.

Darius tried to look inconspicuous as he made his way back to the ballroom. Within a couple of minutes, he was back in the gallery with a large rolling bin filled with old drop cloths. He lifted her up and into it, covering her body with the drop cloths.

Praying that the security system was still disabled, he slowly pushed the bin back across the length of the house. The workers were all completely engrossed in their tasks, and they seemed to take no notice of him. The mid-morning sun spilled into the back entrance. Darius pulled his shades out of his pants pocket and put them on. He joined a line of workers pushing their trash bins out into the back alley.

Instead of heading for the dumpster, Darius wheeled quickly down the long sidewalk toward his borrowed van. His loot still seemed to be unconscious, and he silently hoped that she’d stay that way for a while longer. He stole a glance under the sheet. At least the look of pain was gone from her face. Now, she looked almost peaceful.

He opened the side door of the van, and lifted her out of the bin. Darius winced when he bumped her head on the edge of the van door. Gingerly, he laid her down. He felt a bit sorry that the van he’d picked didn’t have cleaner carpets, but that couldn’t be helped. Pushing the bin away, he rounded the van and climbed into the driver’s seat.

Again, pain gripped his heart. He hated the idea of leaving his grandfather behind. He knew Papa was there. Lilith had confirmed it. Shouts bellowed from inside the estate. Men poured out of the entrance, spurred by some commotion.

Darius was out of time, but he took a moment to look back at the woman on the floor. She would help him, or she’d make a great bargaining chip. Either way, he vowed he would get his grandfather back.

Just before turning out of the alley, Darius took one last glance in his rearview mirror. Therion was running out of the house. A roar of rage thundered across the cobblestones. Darius smiled broadly for the first time in days. After twenty years, life came full circle. Darius had finally taken something special away from his childhood bully.

A few blocks away from the Troy Estate, his earpiece buzzed faintly. He could hear Marcus’ scratchy voice. “Dare? Can you hear me?”

“Tell me you saw all of that.”

“All of what? Everything went black not long after you had to hide.”

Darius drove the van across the new bridge over to Cambridge. “Meet me at the house just like we planned. I have to ditch this van first.”

“Did you find Papa Shadi? Did you get him?”

“Well, no.” Darius gulped down a lump of regret. He glanced at the reflection in the rearview mirror. Her unconscious form jostled limply with the motion of the van. “But I have a huge surprise for you, and it’s better than any of those dusty old bones you like to dig up.”
Way better.

* * *

“Who did this, Mother?” Her son’s anger bellowed through the halls. “I know you can see these things. Who stole her from me?”

Lilith stepped away from the path that Therion was quickly wearing into the floor with his pacing. “Calm yourself. Your anxiety is interrupting my—”

“Oh, cut the karma mojo crap!”

Flame burst bright and hot above her palm. She would go to the Underworld before taking such condescension from him. Therion halted his disruptive pacing.

Dousing the flame, she crossed the room and pointed to the funerary boat display. “Here. He lay here, watching us.” It was a man. The trail was weak, but not too weak for her to miss the feel of masculine energy.

“Who?” Shards of crystal crunched under his boots.

“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you know?”

“It’s not someone I’ve ever met. He left a trace amount of energy here in this spot.” For emphasis, she toed the area behind the boat. Dust clung to the tips of her sandals. “Negative energy. Anger. Hatred, maybe.”

“If you can feel him, why can you not tell who it is?”

“I have tried. I cannot read his energy trail. It’s gone.” She shook her head. It aggravated her that she couldn’t see the owner of such a virile energy stream. Another possibility occurred to her. “Or he has masked his trail.”

“I will rip his heart out and feed it to the demons.” Therion reached for a vase. Lilith barely grabbed his arm in time. He was worse than a bull in a china shop. He was an enraged bull with his sac cinched…in a china shop. This was not going well.

“I can’t believe that nobody saw this man. In broad daylight, he just waltzes in and out with a large
statue. Incredible.”

“Or brilliant.” Lilith rubbed up and down his arms, trying to soothe his agitated spirit. She needed him calm so she could think. “The chaos around here provided excellent cover. Hide in a large group. Everybody is too busy to notice details.”

“Why would someone steal
her
?” He sneered. “I mean, look around. You have hundreds of items of much greater value and much easier to run off with.” A wave of his hand indicated the wealth around them.

She knew he was right. However, of all the pieces in her collection, that statue was unique. It was all that was left of a special tomb discovered many years ago.

The thief’s energy finally faded from the room. She shuddered with the chill it left behind. The warmth she’d felt before was born of old hatred. She believed that memories served to guide one’s soul. She had bitter memories too.

Being born of a mother from a weaker bloodline had relegated Lilith to the position of being a handmaiden to Inanna, her beautiful half-sister who was the pride of their kind. Her birth had another curse to it. As the daughter of the Lady of the Underworld, she’d been a highly sought-after consort for information…and for pleasure.
Rutting pigs!

No, she would not miss that statue. Its image of Inanna’s daughter had been a constant reminder of where she came from. She hated those memories. Yet, they also served to keep her focused on finding the amulet that contained Therion’s immortal spirit. The key to unlocking the powers he was born with. They had ripped the spirit from Therion’s soul even before she’d given birth to him. All of it…was Inanna’s fault.

Hatred?
It was a powerful ally. A sustaining force. Lilith could think of none in this time that hated her. Since she’d been freed from her immortal prison more than thirty years ago, life in this new world had been wonderful. She had earned success and money, and best of all, the humans adored her.

She didn’t understand why, but she knew the statue had been of significant value to Therion. He had earned many enemies in his lifetime, but none that would be connected to the statue.

Lilith sucked in a quick breath. “The old man’s grandson.”

“Darius? That makes no sense. If rumors are true, he has the skills to do it. But, if he had gone through the trouble to sneak in here, he wouldn’t have run off with a statue. The little thief would have been here to find the old man. Darius would never have left without him.”

She didn’t agree. The anger the thief had left behind felt almost violent. Male antagonism that she was now convinced was directed at her son.

At the mere mention of Darius Alexander, her son’s aura would flare hot with malice. He hated Darius. She wondered if the feeling was mutual.

“It is an odd item to try to fence. Whoever has it may try the black market.”

“I will know if they do.” Lilith rejoined Therion by the empty platform. “There is no provenance for that statue. There is nothing to lead back to us.” Which made her think again of the old man in a coma downstairs. She knew very little about Shadiki Aria, but he’d been asking a lot of unusual questions about her collection.

“Why would I care about that?”

Lilith rubbed her temples. Men could be so obtuse sometimes. She realized that he had no clue why it was so important to avoid entanglements with the Art Fraud Investigations department. She definitely wanted to remain off their radar screen, and especially now before the gala. She had too much to think about. A dull ache bloomed behind her eyes.

“Because it would destroy your political aspirations.” She put her palms on his cheeks, but he brushed them aside.

“They are already destroyed, Mother. Those political bastards changed my fate the day they forced my retirement from the army. I will make them pay for that. I should be General by now. I am too young and too powerful to be a
retired
Colonel.” He sucked in a deep breath, turned on his heel, and headed for the staircase.

Lilith followed him to the library. He went straight to the liquor cart and poured a double shot of brandy. She watched his aura simmer down to a calmer shade as the liquor drained from the glass. “I wonder how much about us that old man knows.”

“Your powers have been quite useful these past few days, Mother.”

She ignored the sarcasm. “Whatever the old man knows…maybe he shared with Darius.” She deliberately stressed the name of his rival, and put on her most wicked of smiles. His aura burned red again as he slammed down his glass and refilled it.

“You know the prophecy, Therion.”

“Hocus pocus, bull shit. I leave it all to you.” He wrinkled his face from the spicy burn of the liquor. “You told me that the prophecy said that I, your son, will rise up and smite our enemies, bringing death and destruction to the world of humans. I would love to smite the leaders of the government for retiring me, but just because it was painted on a wall will not make it come true.”

“Don’t mock my powers, Therion.”

“Your powers are weak, Mother! There is nothing left of your kind. Those that are here are as weak as humans.”

“I‘m not weak!”

“You are alone.
Your kind is scattered and leaderless.
Now, there is only man. Men need power, and those beneath the powerful…pray. They pray to whoever gives them hope! I am not weak. I do not need to pray to anyone for help. I
will
rise up, Mother, and take back that which I earned with my blood. I conquered the world for those bastards. I cleared away the terrorist camps, and what did I get in return? They put me to pasture. Oh, they softened the blow with a noble position in some useless department.”

“It is not useless. I will help you.”

“No offense, Mother. Your witch powers are fun, a real show stopper, and great for your own stardom. But I do not need your help.”

“Do not dismiss my powers so easily. They have benefited you before. You begged for me to use them just moments ago.” Lilith sucked in her breath suddenly and clutched at his arm. “Therion, what if it was--”

“One of your own kind?” He finished for her the question she could not speak aloud. She’d known there were others still here on Earth, but she didn’t know who was left. Only in the darkest of nightmares did she experience the terror. She feared her own kind coming after her again. She wanted to live. She loved the adoration of the world, even if it was only from humans.