“Yes, it is.”
“Fine.” He released her arm, then addressed another issue. “You’re a locator, we know that. And so far, you’ve had little success getting a fix on the weapon. But with this change of mine, I’m hoping that you’ll be able to do better. Can you give it a try?”
Lily’s hazel eyes widened. “Absolutely.” She closed her eyes and touched the chain at her neck.
He felt her effort, even that his increased power was assisting her, but after a moment she opened her eyes and shook her head. “The tendrils were more active, but seemed to be reaching out in every possible direction.”
“That would make sense,” Gabriel said. “I know that when the Council shut down the scientific experiments all those years ago, many of the documents and more than one of the actual weapons were hidden in a bunch of cavern systems.”
“Then we need more information.”
Lily nodded. “So, it’s on to The Erotic Passage.”
Adrien slid an arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him. As she had been doing, she put her left foot on the top of his right boot.
She slung an arm around his neck and for a long few seconds desire for her rose, as it always did when he got this close to her. Only this time, given that his power level had been bumped up, a wave of need poured over him like a brushfire.
He trembled—not just because of what he felt, but because his desire ignited hers. This terrible attraction between them, which shouldn’t have existed, roared to life.
With every ounce of strength he possessed, however, he turned away from his need, dipped his chin at Gabriel, and took off in a streak of altered flight that stunned him, straight up through the cavern, up and up.
Lily’s arm around his neck tightened.
Are you in pain? Shit, I’m sorry. I’m going too fast.
He started to slow down, a process he found incredibly difficult since he’d launched them well through the cavern system and into the night sky.
I’m fine. Her arm relaxed. Adrien, there’s no pain at all. Don’t slow down. You don’t need to. You were right about this; more power has changed the experience for me. I have no pain.
He rocketed through the air, heading north back to Italy. But as he passed over the Mediterranean, then the Italian landscape, before he knew it he found himself well over the Alps, having overshot his destination.
That’s never happened before.
What?
I’m having a little difficulty gauging distance.
Well, just remember what Gabriel said about landings.
Right.
He spun around, headed south once more, then promptly overshot Lake Como by about fifty miles. And he kept overshooting. Again and again.
Eventually, he made enough adjustments to finally reach the lake, but it still took three landing attempts before he finally brought Lily to Rumy’s private side entrance.
The bouncer knew him well and didn’t even glance at Lily as he opened the door for them. Adrien had brought lots of women to the club over the years, and Lily, in her halter, short skirt, and damn sexy boots, fit right in.
Of course he’d donned a new set of battle leathers and was armed to the teeth. He also wore a black tee made of soft cotton, which seemed to make Lily happy since she kept touching him, or maybe it was the chains, or the sex. Hell, he didn’t know. Didn’t care, only that she stuck close, because that’s where he wanted her, which begged a new question: How had he come to care so much in just a few hours?
He heard Lily gasp.
He stopped and turned toward her. “What? What’s wrong?”
But she was staring at the carvings on the wall. “These are couples doing it, in about every position imaginable. Oh, that one is really inventive.” She tilted her head sideways.
Instead of following the direction of her gaze, he looked away from the wall. He didn’t need a reminder of what he really wanted to be doing right now. “I guess I should have warned you.”
“I should have known. I mean, come on, The Erotic Passage?” She laughed.
He took her arm and gently put her back in motion.
“Are all the walls carved like this?”
“No. Some have bigger etchings.”
“Well that’s not going to help anything, is it?”
“Tell me about it.” Her sweet feminine scent rolled around him now, and if that wasn’t bad enough the new double-chain told him the rest of the story. He could sense the level of her desire and it matched his. He took deep breaths and started doing sums in his head.
A few yards more and the tunnel branched.
He made a right and after another ten yards, he came to Rumy’s office. He glanced up at the security camera, red light winking. He rapped on the arched, wooden door. Black wrought-iron hinges and a ring-pull above the latch fit the club’s overall feel, very dominance-based.
A masculine voice, muffled by the heavy wood of the door, called out, “Adrien, get your fucking ass in here.”
He smiled and leaned down to Lily. “Rumy’s home.”
“Oh, goody.”
At that, he chuckled once more, depressed the latch, and pushed.
Unfortunately, he met three automatic weapons pointed straight at him, all held by men in black robes; more fucking fanatics.
Rumy stood to the side of his guests offering a shrug and a roll of his eyes. He wore the usual extra-snug black T-shirt that emphasized that he worked out. He was short, maybe five-five, his black curly hair oiled and glistening in the dim light. He wore a silver belt and tailored Italian slacks, leather tasseled shoes, his typical style.
With a wry smile, he shrugged again. “Sorry, Adrien. There’s a bounty on your head and the prize is a portion in the Rio Crystal Casino. I couldn’t turn it down.” His gaze shifted to Lily. “Of course the bounty includes your woman here. You must be Lily Haven. Heard a lot about you.”
Adrien’s hand naturally dropped to Lily’s waist, especially since her body had stiffened. Holding her close, he said, “I guess somebody wants us bad.”
Rumy glanced at his armed guests. “And don’t try any of your altered flight shit. I’ve been assured these boys know how to use their weapons and you’ll be full of holes before you punch past even one of these walls.” The points of his fangs showed as he spoke, which almost gave him a lisp. He’d taken so much Double-V in recent years that he could never fully retract his fangs. He had permanent calluses on his lips from daily use. Nothing like a black-market vampire Viagra to change things up.
His operations suite had been carved out of granite in an intricate maze of rooms, each with a curved polished ceiling, marred only by discreet black tubes carrying electrical and air-conditioning. This front room had a couple of large black leather chairs near the front door and a wide wooden desk opposite. All three armed, hooded men, as well as Rumy, stood in front of the desk.
One of the back rooms of the office suite included a central command for his extensive security staff.
New question: Where were Rumy’s men?
Adrien had the beginnings of a plan, but he wanted Lily’s input, so he sent a telepathic stream. Lily, he doesn’t know that I have an increase in power and my gut tells me I could fly us both out of here, without injury, but we still need information and this is the best place.
What do you suggest?
That we ride this train to the next stop. Can you handle it?
Hell, yeah. Take them all on.
He held Rumy’s gaze. “As you can imagine, I’m not crazy about the idea of turning my woman over to your friends. Got any other ideas? I have a fortune I’d happily spend to change this scenario. Care to make a trade?”
One of the fanatics started to protest, but Rumy held up his hand. “Not to worry, my fanatic friend. My course was set the moment you stepped into my office bearing your guns.”
Inwardly, Adrien began to smile. Rumy, for all his shortness of stature and absurdly callused lips, didn’t allow anyone to bring firearms into his club, not without repercussions at some point. The fanatics with their religious bent couldn’t possibly understand the rules of an underground.
To Adrien, Rumy offered a subtle jerk of his head toward the archway at the back corner of his office, which led to the security center.
Adrien understood the signal. Rumy’s men waited in place for their boss to give the word.
Good.
As he assessed the hooded men, he didn’t know which he despised more, his father and the weak-willed Council of Ancestrals that he now owned, or these fanatics, who in the name of spirituality killed the innocent.
Spit gathered in his mouth.
But the faint pressure of Lily’s hand on his arm reminded him why he was here, that he wasn’t alone, and that these men were hopefully just a bump in the road to get where they needed to go.
Funny how just her touch reined in his all-over-the-map emotions and drives.
He covered her hand with his and gave a squeeze. He felt her try to reach him telepathically, but he blocked her, a strange event all on its own. He needed to figure this out, though, and do it quickly. The middle bastard was sweating and had his finger too close to the goddamn trigger.
“Again, don’t even think about altered flight,” Rumy said. “You’re not fast enough.”
Rumy was giving him a hint about how he wanted this to go down.
He opened up his mind to Lily and said, I need you to stay right where you are and ignore what I’m about to do. Got it?
Yep.
“I wouldn’t think of altered flight,” Adrien said.
Then he did.
He moved fast—a little too fast, shooting past the first gunman. He adjusted, gripped his gun, took the next, and just as the third asshole would have fired, he took him out of the room, carrying him straight over the water and dropped him into Lake Como.
When he flew back into the room, Rumy’s security staff had the two remaining assassins on the floor. One of them was using the butt of his gun to pound the vampires in turn, over and over, although purposely avoiding the head.
The men screamed and balled themselves up.
