Vampire in Atlantis

Chapter 33

Daniel shot out of the cave like a bat out of the worst of the nine hells the second the sun finally hid behind the horizon. Now that he and Serai were connected by the soul-meld and the vortex magic, he could feel the Emperor almost as intensely as she could.

Which meant he could leave her safely behind while he went after it.

Unfortunately, she had no intention of letting him do anything of the kind. By the time he turned around, she was already down the carved stone side of the cliff and standing on the ground, hands on her hips, staring up at him.

“You can forget that idea right now,” she informed him.

“Did the soul-meld give you psychic powers? And if so, can you snoop in everybody’s brain or just mine?” He landed next to her and stared her down with his fiercest glare.

Also unfortunately, she wasn’t intimidated in the least.

“You know, you’re kind of sexy when you scowl like that,” she said, flashing a seductive smile, and then blinking innocently when he growled at her.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Was that meant to frighten me into staying here, cowering in the corner like a good little princess?”

He shook his head and gave it up as a lost cause. “I’ve been around long enough to know defeat when it smacks me in the face. Let’s go. We need to find out why the army or P-Ops or who-the-hells-ever is heading in the same direction as the Emperor.”

“I have never believed in coincidence,” she said, braiding her hair back from her face.

“Neither have I.”

She bent to retrieve the backpack and he stopped her. “No need for it now. If we succeed, we can stop back and retrieve it if we need to hike out of here. Do you think you could be up for flying—no pun intended—if we have to do it to escape?”

She frowned but then nodded slowly. “You know, I have your magic inside me now, as well as my own. That should surely sustain me long enough to fly away from danger with the Emperor. And I have no time to harbor childish fears.”

“It’s not childish, mi amara, but I respect your courage,” he said. “It’s time to go, and we need to go fast.”

She threw her arms around him and kissed him, and then the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked shattered the early evening stillness.

“Going fast shouldn’t be a problem, sir,” a voice said. “Stand down and be prepared to surrender, or it will go very badly for you.”

Daniel cast a quick, reassuring glance at Serai, but he needn’t have bothered. She was perfectly calm, smiling out into the velvety blue darkness of twilight.

“We’re willing to come with you peacefully,” she said. “We’d certainly hate for things to go badly.”

Daniel held up his hands in the universal sign for “I surrender,” but he started laughing. He just couldn’t help it. He was still laughing as the very polite soldier—P-Ops according to the insignia on his black uniform—held a scanner up to Serai and then to him. As soon as he realized Daniel was a vampire, the soldier stepped quickly back and then motioned to one of his underlings to bring the silver stripcuffs. The silver was on the outside of the hard plastic cuffs so it wouldn’t burn him but would keep him restrained and helpless to break free of them.

Or so it would have been, under usual circumstances. He had soul-melded with Serai, and he had tasted her Atlantean blood. Twice. For the first time since he’d been turned, the proximity to silver wasn’t hurting him.

Not the slightest bit.

Things weren’t going to go badly at all.

Serai remained silent while the soldiers took her and Daniel to a large vehicle and politely escorted them inside. But when the men conferred outside the vehicle’s closed windows, evidently to gain privacy for their conversation, she took the opportunity to do the same.

“They are far more civilized than I expected,” she said. “More like the king’s personal guard than invading soldiers. What is this force? What does the lettering ‘P-Ops’ on their jackets mean?”

“Paranormal Operations. They’re a federal police force that deals with all things supernatural. That’s why they’re so nice to you. They must think you’re a plain vanilla human.”

She tried on her most seductive smile and glanced at him through her lashes. “Plain vanilla? Really?”

He blew out a long, slow breath and his eyes darkened. “Only you could get me hot when I’m handcuffed in a P-Ops transport. Let’s talk about what we do next, instead, maybe, sex kitten.”

A thrill of pleasure tingled through her at his reaction, but she quickly stifled it for more urgent matters. “They want to take us to the center of the action, I would anticipate. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” He stared out the window at the men, whose conversation seemed to be wrapping up. The one in charge was heading to the driver’s side of the vehicle.

“That’s where we want to be, also agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“Then this is perfect. Saves wear on our boots.” She leaned back in the seat and folded her hands demurely in her lap, the picture of civility, prepared to unleash the full extent of her beautiful court manners on the young soldier.

Gun or no gun, the poor man didn’t stand a chance.