Love Me to Death (Underveil) (19 page)

“Like Nik’s sword.”

“Yes. There are a limited number of them, thanks to Fydor. He imprisoned a light elf named Aksel, the only craftsman who could forge the swords. He locked him away centuries ago in some unknown location, in order to halt their manufacture. It wasn’t until recently that I realized the significance. The fewer swords there are, the better Fydor’s chances of survival. He had been planning this war for a long time—centuries before his brother died.”

She strolled along the beach, trying to organize this new information in some kind of cohesive fashion. A week ago, she was studying blood cells through a microscope and analyzing blood anomalies. Wars, swords, and imprisonments weren’t even on her radar, now she was supposed to be some Uniter person who could end wars. There had to be a punch line to this, but sadly, she doubted there was. “What about you, Stefan? What’s your Achilles heel?”

A strange look crossed his face, and then was replaced by a slight smile. “I have none. I cannot be killed by any hand but my own.”

She finished off her drink, studying his perfect face over the rim. “I guess that makes you your own worst enemy.”

“Aren’t we all?” Stefan’s phone rang. “Excuse me,” He turned away from her and answered. It sounded like a business call because he asked about the authenticity of something and then told the person on the other end to buy it regardless of cost.

Must be nice
, Elena thought. She had struggled for years just to make ends meet. Now she was hobnobbing with Mr. Buy-A-Plane. She pulled some hair that had blown across her face out of her eyes and sighed. It was an overwhelming concept to wrap her head around that this man had unlimited funds and would live literally forever if he wished it.

His phone rang again. “Yes?” he answered. His eyes met Elena’s. “I will bring her now. Thank you.”

He took her hand, and she braced for the low level current she always felt with his contact. Instead, she felt nothing but his smooth, warm hand. He gasped and immediately withdrew. Then, he smiled. “Well, well, well. You are full of all manner of surprises.”

“What?”

“You shocked me electrically when we touched. It’s supposed to be the other way around. It’s new, and honestly, a bit troubling.”

Aw, crap.
She didn’t need any more troubling things in her life. “Why?”

He gestured toward the house. “I’ll tell you over dinner.”

“Tell me now. I’m not hungry.” Which was troubling, too, because it was probably her true vampire nature kicking in. A lifetime of a blood-only diet would suck. Literally.

“You
are
hungry. You’re simply depressed, which suppresses your appetite.”

“I’m not depressed.”
Freaked out, yes.

“Of course you are. You have been separated from something you cannot live without.” He struck out through the powdery sand ahead of her. She remained rooted in place for a moment while she reconstructed his words in her head.

“Wait a minute!”

He didn’t even slow his pace.

“Hey, what can I not live without?”

Still striding on ahead, he didn’t respond.
The jerk.
Glaring at his retreating form, she imagined herself standing right in front of him and just like that, she was there.

He stopped short of walking right into her, a surprised look on his face. Yeah, she could get used to this superpower stuff. “Stop screwing around with me, Stefan. Say what you mean, or just shut up.”

His eyes narrowed. “You know exactly what I’m talking about, or you wouldn’t be so agitated. You’ve both had adequate time to come to terms with what is facing you. It’s time for you and the Slayer to put your petty differences aside and accept fate.”

“I don’t believe in fate.”

“What a splendid luxury.” He threw his arms up, exasperation in his tone. “What would I not give to be in your shoes? To have my perfect mate only a phone call away. To be able to hold her in my arms without it being a death sentence for us both!” His voice cracked on the last word.

Stunned, Elena watched him stride away. His phone rang as he climbed the porch stairs, but he didn’t answer it. It stopped ringing as he disappeared inside the house.

He was wrong. She could live without Nikolai. She missed him, yes. But she didn’t need him—anymore than he needed her.
Yeah, just keep telling yourself that, moron
. She took a deep breath and climbed the steps to the house.

“W
hat are you doing here?” Aleksandra asked, lowering her sword.

Well, that answered Nikolai’s question about the identity of the other Slayer who had visited Stefan’s penthouse. He slid the sword back in its sheath, and she did the same. “I might ask you the same thing.”

“I’m there to see the Time Folder.”

“For what purpose?”

She strolled over to the wall of windows and stared out. Nikolai scanned her body, looking for signs of injury or abuse, but found none. Good. Fydor hadn’t hurt her—at least not recently…or not where it showed.

The bastard
. He’d kill him if he hurt Aleksi.

She faced him. “Where is the human? She’s in extreme danger. So are you.”

Nikolai stopped next to a glass and chrome table. “She’s no longer human, and I have no idea where she is. I followed her here, and then the Time Folder took her to another location.”

“Well, tell him to bring her back.”

If only that would work. He was going mad without her. “It’s complicated.”

“Aw shit. Now you sound like a bad made-for-TV movie.”

Nikolai crossed the room and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Why are you here, Aleksi? You didn’t come looking for Elena or me because you had no way of knowing we’d been here. You seek the Time Folder. Why?”

She didn’t answer, so he gave her a shake—a hard one.

She gasped, and then her eyes narrowed. “Remove your hands from me, Niki, or I’ll slice your balls clean off.”

With a curse, he released her and retreated to the other side of the room. He’d never used physical force on her before. What was wrong with him? Desperation—that’s what. He’d searched for Elena everywhere he could think of, including her home and the hospital where she had worked. He was terrified for her safety and sickened that she had cut him off. But he had no right to take it out on Aleksi. “I’m sorry. I was out of line.”

She slumped into a chair. “It’s okay. We’re both on edge.”

He moved to a chair opposite her, and they sat in uncomfortable silence for a while.

“How bad is it?” he asked.

“What?”

“Your situation… Fydor?”

“Not nearly as bad as yours.” She stood and paced the wall of windows like a large, lithe panther, her thigh-high boots silent on the carpet. “The shit is totally about to go down. Fydor’s gone all comic book supervillain, complete with maniacal laugh and plans to rule the world.” She stopped and met his eyes. “I’m scared, Niki.”

He took a deep breath through his nose. In the centuries he’d known Aleksandra, he’d never heard her say she was scared of anything. “Why do you seek the Time Folder?”

“I believe all of this revolves around what happened between the two kings up there on that mountain ridge. I don’t think they killed each other. I’m here to ask Darvaak to fold back to the fight again and see if he can figure it out.”

Nikolai ran a hand through his hair. “He has already witnessed it. He, as well as the two other Time Folders. All of them say the same thing: the event has been masked.”

“They missed something. There has to be a clue there somewhere as to what really happened.”

“The real question is who masked it and why? There are only a handful of beings with magic that strong.”

“The elves tell me there are only two: the twins Borya and Zana,” she replied. “And both of them have gone missing since that day. One of them must have been there.” She flipped her long, black hair over a shoulder. “A spell that strong requires proximity. Whichever one was there knows what happened because he or she cast magic that hid it.”

Zana, Gregor Arcos’ seer, was capable of great magic, but she’d never been involved with black arts or anything deceptive like masking a murder—at least not that Nikolai knew of. Borya was equally powerful, but worked freelance. Little was known about him other than the Itzov family had called on him from time to time. He’d only seen him once when he was just a boy. His uncle had called Borya for a conference while Nikolai’s father was out negotiating with the wood elves. He shuddered at the memory. Dressed in flowing purple robes, Borya had looked at Nik with his jet-black eyes and ordered the boy removed. “He’s dangerous. I will kill him if he so much as looks at me again,” the sorcerer shouted, the ground shuddering in a magic-induced earthquake under his feet. To this day, he could still hear his uncle’s laughter and taunts about the terrible, powerful seer being afraid of a smooth-faced boy.

“If Borya and Zana don’t want to be found, you won’t find them,” he said, “And three Time Folders have gone back to the event and found nothing.”

“They weren’t looking for seers; they were trying to witness the murder.”

He shrugged. “It’s your money. Suit yourself.”

She covered her face. “I don’t have the money.”

Of course she didn’t. She’d been on a spending spree unlike anything he’d ever seen. A time fold cost one million dollars, nonnegotiable. “Then why are you here?”

“I was hoping to appeal to his…” She took a deep breath. “I was hoping he was a typical man and I could barter.”

With her body, no doubt. Nikolai shot to his feet. “No. Absolutely not. Even if he weren’t some kind of biological eunuch, I would forbid it.”

“What on earth do you mean, ‘biological eunuch’?”

“He only desires one person, and you’re not it.”

She turned back to the bank of windows. “I didn’t know that. Pity. He’s pretty.”

He was sure his head would explode. “I suppose anything is preferable to Fydor.”

She spun on him, crossing to come toe-to-toe, fists clenched. “Fuck you, Niki. I’m not discussing that right now. And I’m not a little girl you can intimidate anymore. That’s what your human is for.”

They glared at each other until he conceded defeat and looked away. She was right. That was what he had done to Elena. He had been an overpowering ass, which was why he was alone and miserable right now. He’d realized that over these last days. She wasn’t like the Slayers and needed a different approach. And he needed her. More than anything before or perhaps ever again, he needed Elena Arcos.

Aleksi took a step back. “Do you know how to reach Stefan Darvaak?”

“Yes.”

“Please do.”

“There’s a price.”

“You sound like your uncle.”

“And you act like a whore.”

“How dare you!” Her punch to the jaw sent him reeling. “How dare you judge me for keeping you safe! Safe while you fuck a vampire! Who’s the whore, Nikolai?”

He placed his hand on his aching jaw. “I did what I had to do.”

“So did I,” she shouted. “So did your mother.”

He’d never seen her this worked up. She was usually unnervingly cool. It was as if he were watching a stranger. “What do you mean?”

“Do you really think she wanted to marry him? To…” She shuddered. “She did it to buy you time to get your shit together and find the Uniter.”

It had never crossed his mind that his mother had married his uncle for any other reason than it served her own purposes. For two decades, he’d convinced himself she had betrayed his father and turned her back on him. He’d looked at it through the lens of a selfish, self-righteous grieving son who had loved and lost his father. Not a man trained to lead his people. A sickening dread pooled in his gut. What else had he missed while he was off blindly slaying every rogue vampire he could find in order to alleviate his grief?

“She did what was best for her people. Now it’s your turn. Pull you head out of your ass and help us. Fydor says your human is the Uniter. You said she’s your fated mate. It doesn’t get better than that, does it?” She ran her hands through her hair, moving it out of her face. “For fuck’s sake, Niki. It’s time to end this. We need to stop Fydor, and I need to uncover the truth about the murder.”

Deep down, he knew the truth. Somehow, his uncle was behind the death of both kings. He’d just been too selfish and stupid to acknowledge it. Rather than take his rightful place as king all those years ago, he’d turned the throne over to the very person who least deserved it. He took a deep, painful breath. “What do you need me to do?”

“Other than make it right with your human so you can help her scrawny ass save the world? I need you to contact the Time Folder.”

He collected the phone from the bar and dialed the only number entered. When no one answered, he left a message for Darvaak asking that he return to his penthouse as soon as possible.

Nikolai had no idea where he had taken Elena, but he knew it would take a while for him to return since he couldn’t teleport. Nikolai wondered if he would bring her with him, or if he had her at another safe house where she could remain hidden. He hoped she would come if for no other reason than he could see her. That alone would make him feel better. He had never needed anyone like he needed her—and not just physically, though
that
certainly kept him up at night.

He poured two glasses of Scotch and took one to Aleksi. She accepted it and sipped, studying him. They sat and for several minutes, remaining silent. He felt like such a prick. “I apologize,” he said. “I had no right to say the things I said.”