Vampire in Atlantis

Chapter 21

Still warm from Daniel’s lovemaking, Serai waited in the moonlight for the man who was to have made her queen of all Atlantis. She’d pictured this moment in her mind so many thousands of times, when she’d been held captive: her first conversation with whichever Atlantean prince would rescue her. Then, when she’d known Conlan was to be hers, she’d tried to listen for news of him during her brief periods of wakefulness each year.

Sleeping Beauty waiting for Prince Get-me-the-hellsout-of-this-glass-coffin.

But now she’d rescued herself. No more waiting. There was no need for the flutter of nerves churning through her stomach.

“Not exactly how I’d hoped to spend the hour after making love to you for the very first time,” Daniel said, a rueful grin quirking up one corner of his mouth.

An unexpected glow of warmth and happiness curled up through her, carrying with it a boost to her confidence. She had no need for nerves here. Conlan was the one who should be nervous. She’d show him what it meant to be a princess of the true Atlantis, the Seven Isles when they still rode the seas and Atlantis was a power unmatched in the world.

Or she could always turn back into a tiger and bite him.

“They’re coming,” Daniel warned, but she had no need for his vampire senses to know this.

She could feel them, High Prince Conlan and his brother Ven, named the King’s Vengeance by tradition and right. She lifted her chin, squared her shoulders, and—for only an instant—wished she were wearing one of her rich gowns instead of the drab and masculine hiking clothes. But her gowns were rotted to dust by now, surely. Cloth could not survive the passage of time as well as magically preserved maidens.

“Serai? Are you all right? I can keep them from you if you want me to. Just say the word. Ven is my friend, but I’d be happy to kick his ass for him if you need me to do it.”

He glanced at her, his concern clear in his eyes, but he was smiling for her benefit. He rolled up the sleeves on his shirt, and her gaze was drawn to his muscled forearms. The arms that had held her so tenderly.

“I love you, you know,” she told him. “Don’t respond to that, please. I just wanted you to know it, no matter what happens on this quest.”

He opened and shut his mouth a couple of times, but honored her request and didn’t speak. Instead, he pulled her close and kissed her with so much fire and passion she was surprised they didn’t both burst into flames.

A loud whistle interrupted them, but Daniel didn’t release her until a few seconds later. He smiled down at her with that hot, seductive smile of his, the smile that was only for her, and she relaxed even more.

“If you need me, I’m right here, mi amara,” he said, for her ears only.

She nodded and turned to the Atlanteans, sweeping a perfect court curtsy, as if she did indeed wear a silk and velvet gown. “Greetings, Your Highnesses.”

They returned the gesture, bowing deeply. Conlan’s eyes were wide, but he didn’t say anything. Perhaps this meeting was as awkward for him as it was for her. They were stunning, of course; the Atlantean bloodline bred incredibly gorgeous men, and the royal genes held true in these two. Dark hair, eyes that looked ocean blue in the moonlight, and tall, strong, warrior bodies. But she had no false modesty about her own appearance, so she knew she held her own. She would be no humble maid in awe of the princes during this meeting.

“Oh, boy,” said the one who wasn’t Conlan, and therefore must be Ven. He swept his keen gaze over her and then looked at Daniel standing next to her, holding her hand. “So, Daniel, is this your version of the princess and the frog? Beauty and the beast? Galadriel and Gimli?”

Daniel stared back at the man she knew to be his friend, nothing but hard challenge plain on the lines and angles of his face. However, she’d seen a tiny flinch at the beauty and the beast reference. Something to pursue later, perhaps. For now she stared down the princes as if they were recalcitrant children who needed a nap.

The thought of naps made her want to yawn, but she held it in. She would not show any weakness, even so tiny as that. Also, using a negotiating technique her father had taught her, she wouldn’t be the one to speak first. She waited.

Conlan finally nodded, as if acknowledging that she’d won this round, and bowed again. “Lady Serai, I wish to formally welcome you to Atlantis and ask you to return.”

Ah. Bad, bad beginning.

Bad.

“I have no need of your welcome to my home, youngling,” she said, putting all the haughty arrogance of a princess of ancient Atlantis in her voice and stance. “I walked the fields of our lands when you were not even a wish in your great-great-grandmother’s heart, or a drop of seed in your great-great-grandfather’s sac.”

Ven started laughing. “Oh, are we going to be great friends or what? Also, please don’t call me Highness, Lady Serai. Just Ven.”

He crossed to her, extending his hand, and she took it almost without meaning to, because she was so surprised by his reaction. He bowed over her hand, but he was still chuckling. When he straightened, he grinned at Daniel and then lightly punched him on the shoulder.

“You’re in big trouble now, aren’t you, my friend?”

Daniel pressed his lips together, but she could see the answering grin trying to escape. “I had considered that thought,” he said, flashing an amused glance at Serai.

“You presume too much, vampire,” Conlan said. An edge of menace turned his words to daggers, meant to wound or warn.

Serai was unimpressed.

Apparently, so was Daniel. “You might want to think again, if you’re going to tell me what I may or may not presume to do, Atlantean,” Daniel said.

Serai thought for a moment and then raised her hands, palms up, and called to small spheres of energy to manifest in each; a clear visual warning that she was not defenseless. She waited until she had the attention of all three of them, after Daniel and Conlan stopped the ridiculous male posturing.

“I need no one, least of all a child of a prince, to tell me what I may do. You lost all right to give advice on my future when you abandoned me to my crystal prison in order to claim your human woman, Prince Conlan,” she said.

Conlan’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open a little. Not used to anyone speaking up to him, perhaps. Too bad for him.

She inclined her head as another memory surfaced. “My congratulations on your marriage and the birth of your heir. I trust both mother and son are well.”

“Yes, they are very well, and Riley is anxious to meet you. If—if that would be acceptable to you,” he said stiffly, probably suddenly realizing exactly how awkward that meeting would be.

Hello, my wife, meet the woman who was meant to be my wife. Let’s all have a glass of wine and discuss.

She smiled at the thought and allowed the energy spheres to vanish.

“Good you have a sense of humor. You’re going to need it,” Ven said. “But we’re on the clock here. Do you want to tell us what happened? How the stasis pod exploded?”

He glanced at Conlan, and they appeared to have a mental conversation. Ven nodded and turned toward Serai, taking her hands. Daniel tensed and stepped closer, but made no other move. She could feel how much he trusted at least the younger prince and, if not trusted, exactly, still respected Conlan.

“We have some very bad news,” Ven said, no trace of his smile remaining. “Delia—she died. Some sort of malfunction in the Emperor’s power, and—”

She cut him off and pulled her hands from his. “I know. I felt her die. More will die if I don’t find the Emperor soon; I know this, too. Is that what you came to tell me? Surely your brother didn’t come to apologize to me after all this time.”

“I apologized to you, Serai,” Conlan said, stepping closer, his gaze searing into her. “You were asleep, of course, but how else was I to do it? We have had our finest minds trying to solve the problem of the stasis pods so that we could release you and the others, but apparently the Emperor has been malfunctioning for quite some time, unknown to us.”

“How is that possible? How is possible that the king-to-be of Atlantis can be unaware that the six surviving citizens of Atlantean ancient civilization were in danger of dying horribly, trapped in crystal cages? Trapped for thousands of years beyond what we were originally told; for millennia past what we were promised.”

Conlan threw his hands in the air, frustration written all over his face. “How could I know what you were originally promised? All records of the event are lost.”

Serai had started pacing, but then she whirled around in shock to face him. “Lost? Lost? In an underwater city trapped under its own prison—an all-encompassing dome? Where, pray tell me, O High Prince Conlan, where could those scrolls possibly have gone?”

She turned to Ven and tilted her head, pasting a polite expression of inquiry on her face. “Did giant fish swim by and steal them? Did the people get tired of ordinary food and eat them?”

Ven made a choking kind of noise, and she rolled her eyes and turned back to his brother.

“Did the children of Atlantis decide to use them to wipe their bottoms? Please, Conlan, oh future king, tell me how your lineage managed to lose the only means to release us.”

Daniel suddenly shot up off the ground and flew straight up into the air and vanished. Serai stared after him, not understanding why he would leave her at such a time.

Had she sounded like such a shrew that he needed to escape?

Before her mind could circle around that unpleasant idea, he was back, dropping silently out of the sky and landing lightly next to Serai. He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

“Sorry. Thought I heard something. It was only an animal.” He grinned at her. “You were doing so well on your own, I knew you wouldn’t mind.”

She impulsively rose on her toes and kissed him. “Thank you.”

When she turned, Conlan was practically shaking with repressed energy. “You cannot be involved with a vampire,” he said. “Poseidon will never allow it.”

“Oh, like Atlanteans can never wed a human? Hypocrisy, thy name is Conlan.”

Ven wandered off a few paces and sat on a boulder. “She has a point. Also, this isn’t a vampire. This is Daniel. Daniel who has saved our lives—who has saved many Atlantean lives—on more than one occasion.”

“Daniel is a vampire,” Conlan pointed out through clenched teeth. “She is a princess of ancient Atlantis, a woman with the pure blood of the ruling elders, fit to one day be queen—”

“If you say anything at all that has to do with breeding stock, I will blast you with energy spheres until you cry for your mother’s teat,” Serai said sweetly.

“Speaking of blasting, I am standing right here,” Daniel said, sounding surprisingly cheerful. “If you want to debate my worthiness to be with Serai, you can talk directly to me.”

“You are not a part of this conversation,” Conlan growled.

“Actually, he is, since he helped relieve me of the unfortunate burden of my virginity not an hour ago,” Serai said, taking a small and perhaps petty joy in telling Conlan about it.

Ven whistled again, but Conlan stumbled back a few paces as if she’d stabbed him. He speared Daniel with a hot glare that would have killed him had it been a dagger.

“I will murder you with my bare hands,” Conlan told Daniel, fury all but radiating off his skin. “I will—”

“You will do nothing at all, as you have no right to be angry, or defensive, or hostile over this news,” Serai interrupted. “However, it will be interesting to tell High Princess Riley of your reaction.”

“I spent centuries thinking my duty would be to protect you,” Conlan finally said. “I don’t . . . I don’t know how to give that up, especially to think of one of our most cherished citizens of ancient times giving herself to a man with no soul.”

Daniel made a small noise, as if he’d been struck, but she couldn’t look at him. Not yet.

Words never spoken hung heavy in the air between she and Conlan, the maiden-no-longer and the prince who had scorned her. There had never been love, but between them they had hurt pride in gracious plenty.

The realization stabbed at Serai’s heart, and she knew she had to let her anger go. At least until they recovered the Emperor and rescued the maidens. “This is unspeakable of us, Conlan,” she said softly. “I apologize for the part my wounded pride has played in this conflict. Those women depend on us, and every minute we spend in this foolish debate is perhaps another minute less that they have to survive.”

Conlan hesitated, and then he bowed to her, more deeply than he had before. “Of course you’re right, and you shame me with your graciousness, Princess.”

She shook her head. “Princess no longer, please. Just Serai. Now we have to get moving.”

Daniel swung his backpack over one shoulder, but then stopped. “You didn’t mention Jack. Is he okay? Did Alaric find a way to help him?”

Conlan glanced at Ven, who shrugged. “Alaric did not return to Atlantis, and certainly not with Jack. We don’t even know if Poseidon will allow shape-shifters in Atlantis, so one of our warriors who married a panther shifter has not brought her to visit yet. Why? What happened to Jack?”

Daniel quickly told them what had happened, and Conlan and Ven’s faces grew darker with every word.

“We have to find them,” Conlan said. “Alaric may be essential to saving the maidens. Horace knows the stasis pods, but only Alaric has the caliber of magic to handle a backlash from the explosion.”

“We have to help them,” Ven countered, gesturing at Daniel and Serai.

“We will be fine on our own, until you find Alaric and return,” Serai said, increasingly anxious to get moving. “Go, find your priest, but be warned he may not willingly leave his consort.”

“Jack?” Ven said, looking stunned.

“Quinn is with them,” Daniel told him. “Alaric swore a vow never to leave her, and Jack’s humanity may be lost—it’s complicated. Go. Figure it out and send help when you can. We have to leave now.”

“I can stay,” Ven offered, but Serai shook her head.

“If you don’t know where he is, both of you will need to look for him. Do whatever it takes to find him so he can protect my sisters, in case the witch wielding the Emperor doesn’t relinquish it willingly.”

“Your sisters?” Conlan’s head rocked back. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Serai—”

She made a dismissive motion with her hands. “Later. I’ll explain it all later. Go, now.”

Daniel followed her as she started running, as if pulled by a force too powerful to resist, down the bank of the stream and farther toward the northwest.

Conlan raced across the distance separating them and caught Daniel’s arm, yanking him to a stop. “This conversation is not over. You cannot hope to have a future with a princess of Atlantis, no matter how great an ally you have been to our people. You don’t even have a soul to meld with hers. She deserves better, Daniel.”

Daniel twisted his arm in a blindingly fast movement and pinned Conlan’s hand behind the prince’s back. “Don’t ever touch me again, Atlantean. Not if you wish to keep this hand and not end up like your friend Reisen.”

He shoved Conlan away and started after Serai again. “And don’t worry,” he said over his shoulder to the angry prince. “I agree with you. Serai definitely deserves better than me. Right now, though, I’m what she’s got, and I would die before I allowed her to be harmed.”

Lord Justice, securely hidden behind a stand of trees, slowly released his grip on the hilt of his ever-present sword. Twenty or so paces away, Conlan and Ven were entering the portal, and Daniel and Serai had disappeared into the distance. Conlan had been right; the vampire didn’t want them around.

Too bad. Justice would follow them until they found the Emperor, retrieve the gem and the princess, and return to Atlantis with both before Keely had time to miss him.

Whether Daniel liked it or not.

He shot into the air, taking mist form, and followed the unlikely pair farther into the canyons, concentrating on the breathing exercises Keely had taught him that helped him control his Nereid side’s unpredictable furies. That a vampire dared to violate a princess of Atlantis was bad enough, but that he’d dare to do so to a maiden only hours out of stasis and clearly so vulnerable was enough to enrage both of the dual natures who maintained a wary peace in Justice’s soul.

We will kill him slowly, the Nereid half of him announced. A mad glee underscored the words.

We do not kill our allies, Justice corrected himself.

We will at least hurt him. A lot.

Justice put on a burst of speed, so he could catch up with Daniel and Serai. Yes, he agreed. We will hurt him. A lot.