These lovely characters and the world they inhabit are the brilliant creation of the incredibly talented Jeaniene Frost.

Malia, Candace, Van, Ash, Leanna, Jasper, Johanna, Sam, and the Pizza Guy are ours.

To our wonderful betas, the amazing Kristin Elizabeth and A Redhead Thing — thank you, thank you, thank you.

Any mistakes are all ours.


Chapter 29

Kira sagged in Mencheres's arms, her body exhausted. She didn't want to move, or maybe she didn't think she could, since every part of her felt warm and liquid. "Beds are overrated." She slid her arms up and around his neck and pulled his face to hers. "Thank you for taking my mind off of things, my Master of Distraction. Is everyone still downstairs?"

He pressed his weight against her just to hear that little hum she made. Mencheres nuzzled her neck, kissing a path to her lips. "No, but they will return soon. And while I would love nothing more than to take you a third time, we have some work to do." He felt desire rise in him again as her scent sweetened, but before he let it take hold of him, he threw her over his shoulder and headed for the bathroom.

Mencheres regretted not being able to linger in the shower with Kira, but based on the images in Kira's dream, he was convinced it was time to prepare for this fight with Candace. He expected Candace to use Tina to barter for whatever she wanted, giving them the opportunity to get Kira's sister back. The mysterious accomplice concerned him, as did the demon he was certain would be part of this fight, but he might be able to do something about that. He gave Kira a quick kiss and left the shower, running a comb through his hair before toweling off and pulling on the robe he had grabbed from the back of the door as he walked to his closet.

Kira tied the belt of her white, silk robe as she came out of the bathroom, her hair wrapped in a towel. "So do you think we should...Mencheres?" She looked around the bedroom surprised he wasn't there.

"In here, darling." His muffled voice came from his closet.

Kira peered in and didn't see him. "Where are you?"

The clothes parted and Mencheres's head appeared. "I'm back here. Come, let me show you."

Kira walked to the back of the closet and looked behind the clothes. There behind the shirts was a doorway into a small room. She could see Mencheres inside. Separating the hangers, she slipped between the clothes to join him. Her jaw dropped when she looked around.

"What's this?" She could hear the soft whir of the air exchange system when she walked in. Her eyes widened as she looked around the room. Every wall was lined with display cases, the kind used in a museum. The glass compartments were different sizes, depending on what they contained. There were bowls, sculptures, and many pieces of jewelry, all very old from the look of them. She stared at a jewel encrusted gold crown and wondered if it had been his.

He watched her marvel at the items stored in the room. "Just some of my collection. These are items I like to have with me, whenever possible."

Kira looked around the room again and shook her head. "When this Candace crap is over, will you show them all to me and tell me about them? This is so amazing."

"It would be my honor." He turned to the wall, and she couldn't see around him.

"What are you doing back there?" Kira asked.

"I have something that might tell us more about this demon and some other items we may need for the fight. I have them locked in this safe." He moved his body so she could see what he was doing, and then went back to the lock.

After a few seconds, the door of the safe swung open and Mencheres reached inside. He pulled out a small wooden box and a long tube with caps on both ends and handed them to Kira. Then he reached in again to pull out an elaborately carved wooden box, encased in its very own lucite display case, about one foot square in size. He held the box close to his chest and closed the safe with a push of his hand.

"Let's take these back out to the bedroom."

Kira followed Mencheres, still amazed that there was a small museum hidden inside his closet.

When he got back to the bedroom, Mencheres placed the box on the bed and then took the other two items from Kira. He opened the small box first.

"This is the knife Malia gave me. It is made from the bone of a demon, and it is the only weapon that can be used successfully against them. Malia warned me about him, and since she was kind enough to leave this with me, I would assume she suspects the demon will not be happy with his payment. Your vision may have just confirmed that."

Kira looked at the small knife in its custom-fitted box. She touched her finger to it. The white blade was smooth, hard, and very sharp. She looked closer at the handle and stopped.

"May I look at it? The handle—," Kira said without taking her eyes from the knife.

"Certainly." Mencheres lifted the knife from the box and held it out to her.

She examined the handle, turning it over in her hand. "This is the bird, the one from my dream," she said.

He took the knife back and looked at it. The handle was carved into the shape of a bird, with its large, feathered head and beak forming one end, and its huge talons curled around the base of the blade as if they held it in place.

"We have seen this before." He pulled the amulet out from beneath his robe and looked at the bird etched on the red stone.

"So the bird has something to do with Malia?"

"It would appear so. Malia is half demon, and demons can shape shift, but the bird in your dream could have also been the very same demon that accosted you at the end."

"What do you think my dream means, Mencheres?"

Mencheres placed the knife back in its box and closed it, setting it on the bed. "I cannot say for certain, but the references to Detroit seemed meaningful, and the warning regarding the demon cannot be ignored. Other than that, I do not know. Maybe a better question is what it meant to you."

Kira smirked at him, loving how he always encouraged her to think these things through. "Okay, there were a few things that seemed really significant. When Gorgon came into the room I just knew that Van was dead. He didn't die in my dream, but I just felt it. And I truly believe he didn't betray us. When the ticket master came and took him away..." Kira paused, lost in her thoughts. There had been something familiar about him. What was it?

"What's wrong?"

She looked up at Mencheres. "There was a man, the ticket master. He greeted me, told me you sent the train and then later took Van away. There was something about him; I can't place it though."

"Keep thinking and it will come to you. Your visions are very detailed, and that is where they say the devil is, which in this case, seems a very appropriate analogy, don't you think?" He smiled. "Anything else?"

"The bird. And the tour of that train station because that's exactly what it felt like. The rooms were all empty but I tried to pay attention to the layout as the bird flew me all through the building. For some reason that seemed important."

"Yes, the train theme, and the references to Detroit seem very strong in your dream. I won't be surprised if we end up there." He then took the caps off of the long tube and pulled out a long, white knife. Another weapon made of bone.

"This demon bone knife is for you to use, if necessary." He ran his hand across the top of it and looked down the blade. After all these years, it was still straight and true. He would never forget the day he acquired it. "I made this knife from a long bone of a demon I killed many centuries ago." He looked at Kira intently. "Killing a demon is no easy feat. You must stab them in the eye with a knife made of their bone."

Kira took the blade made of bone from Mencheres' outstretched hands. She fingered it delicately. "In the eye, got it."

He gave her a sideways look. "You know how to fight, Kira. Just use what you know with your new strength as you did in the jungle against Radje's men. Bones, Cat, Vlad and Ian will be there to back us up and keep the others from us. You should be able to conceal that within your clothing, along with other weapons."

"Right, um, aren't we getting ahead of ourselves here? What about Tina?"

"Candace will undoubtedly use Tina as a bargaining tool to get what she ultimately wants from us. Her revenge for Radje. Everything she has done has been done with magic, not force. I'm not underestimating her, but I question whether she is as powerful as she would have us believe. Why not just kill us both? Why the cat and mouse game with your sister? She wants something from us."

Kira pulled the robe tighter around herself. "What do you think she wants?"

"I do not know for certain, but I'm guessing she wants to sacrifice us to the demon as her payment after she is done with us." He touched her face softly. "We will not let that happen."

"Do you think Tina is okay?"

"Candace will lose any advantage she has by harming her. If she turns her, we will have cause to start a war with her. I think she will want to trade Tina for one of us. That is when we will make our move, and I'm also guessing that Candace knows that as well."

Kira looked up at that. "I would gladly trade places with Tina."

Mencheres reached over and pulled her close to him, stroking her cheek with his fingers. "We are getting Tina back. Candace gets nothing from us. We may let her think that we would be willing to do a trade, but we will not give in to her."

Kira held his hand to her cheek, leaning into it and closing her eyes. "I love you."

"And I love you, and I promise you we will get through this."

"Yes, as long as we are together we can get through anything." Kira squared her shoulders. "Okay, what else should I know before we face Candace and her demon?"

He placed the bone knife back in its tube and laid it on the bed next to the box Malia had given him. Then he reached for the larger box, the one he had carried from the hidden room. She watched as he carefully opened the outer Lucite box, and lifted the box from within. She was getting a good look at it, the detailed carving inlaid with what looked like ivory and other colored stones. This box he opened too. Inside was a book. A very old looking book.

"What's that?"

"This is a record, handed down to me from my sire, who received it from his. A compendium of our past. I will give this to Bones someday."

"Like a bible?

"Something like that. I want to see if there is anything regarding the demon in here. Candace had to know how to call him and what the spell required. Her line may have something similar to this."

"Oh, so it's more like a supernatural reference book."

"Yes, you could say that." He opened the pages and started to look at each one, taking his time to be as gentle as possible to protect the delicate paper, and also to allow Kira to look over his shoulder. She wouldn't be able to read most of it, as it was in written in a number of old languages, some that hadn't been used for many centuries or longer. Around a third of the way through the book, he stopped.

"Here is something."

Kira leaned in closer to look. She couldn't read any of it, but the pages were beautiful, full of ornately drawn symbols, with what she assumed to be words written in a hand that would make a calligrapher envious. "What does it say?"

"This page mentions Sonneillon as one of the oldest and most powerful demons. He feeds on feelings of hatred toward ones enemies. It makes sense that Candace and her accomplice used their hatred to call this demon. Malia said he would be the one to grant the spell we are under."

"Do you think that is the demon in my dream?"

"Possibly. If this is the demon we must face, then one strategy is to shield ourselves so he cannot feed from our negative feelings toward Candace. It will only make the demon stronger if we allow it."

"Can we also use those feelings of hatred to get close to the demon, close enough to kill him if we have to?"

He looked at her, wondering if she had any idea what she was saying. " No, Kira. That is too dangerous. You must not do that."

"I'm just trying to think of all our options here. You said we needed to be prepared."

"Yes, but that does not mean throwing yourself into the arms of this demon. We know he is strong. We should not give him any reason or means to grow stronger."

Kira reached up and touched his face. "The only arms I want to throw myself into are yours. If you think this is a bad idea I won't pursue it, but if he is as strong as you say he is, it might be the only way to get close enough to kill him."

He closed the book and set it aside, then drew her into his arms. "Malia was much stronger than I, and if this demon is as strong or stronger —" He shook his head. "We cannot risk it. Please tell me you won't do such a thing, even if you believe it is our only option."

"I won't, I promise. I know you'll find another way to defeat him."

"We will defeat them all…together. Now my lovely, little vampire, you should get dressed so we can go downstairs. Everyone will be back shortly." He gave her a quick kiss.

Kira finished dressing and came back into the bedroom to find Mencheres waiting for her, the book and the bone knives nowhere to be seen. He held out his hand and she walked straight into his arms. She was not going to let him down, and she was not going to disappoint him. She was going to play this his way, including this next part.

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her lips. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be. I'm the bad cop, right?"

He let out a laugh. "You, my darling, could never be bad. But if you would like to play at it, I'm sure I will enjoy watching."

"Hmmm...maybe when this is all over..." She gave him a wicked smile. "Okay my big, bad ass vampire, let's go."

Mencheres smiled at her and raised his eyebrows. "I think I may hold you to that, Kira." He took her hand and brought it to his lips then led her out of the room.

As they approached the library they heard the raised voices.

"...a peasant like you should have no trouble blending in..."

"Watch it, Drac."

"Oh Catherine, please, I'm sure..."

With one last look at each other, Mencheres and Kira opened the door to the library and entered. The room fell silent.

Mencheres went to his desk, while Kira sat down next to Gorgon, who sat alone in the shadows of the room.

"You have reports for me?" Mencheres asked.

"There was nothing of use at the rail yards where Van's remains were found. Poor sod lost his head. No clues as to where Kira's sister might be, unfortunately." Bones shrugged,

Kira reached over and placed her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Gorgon."

"It's been too long." Gorgon shook his head. "She's going to turn her…or worse."

"Tina's smart. She's going to find a way to stay alive until we can rescue her. She's pretty feisty you know, and she isn't going to do anything foolish." Kira hoped she sounded convincing.

"What if she gets sick?" Gorgon turned and looked at her.

"I don't know. Let's hope that doesn't happen. She's had your blood recently, right?"

"Yes, but—"

"I'm worried about her too, but Mencheres thinks Candace won't harm her, and I believe him. If I know my sister, she's probably just as worried about you."

Gorgon gave her a little smile and got serious again. "I hope that Mencheres is correct, but if she has been harmed in any way, I want a piece of Candace too."

"Perhaps this is a good time to talk about our strategy. I suspect that Candace will soon offer us a trade, and that is when we will put an end to this once and for all." Mencheres said as he took a seat next to Kira.

"Right. Kill Candace and her army of slaves. The secret accomplice must be among them. What other strategy is there?" Ian quipped.

"We must make sure that we have Tina before we go after her and her people. Vlad, what have you found out from Veritas? Can Candace be arrested?"

"If it can be proved she stole your property, she can be arrested. But if she is arrested, Mencheres, you may never uncover the accomplice and will not be able to break the spell permanently. Veritas had some business to attend to, but she did ask me to deliver a message; she wants a private meeting with you."

"So the plan is, we need to get Tina back, find the accomplice, you and Kira kill them, and then what? Something about a demon?" Cat asked.

"Kitten—"

"Itching for a fight, Reaper?" Ian asked.

"I guess you could say that. All this waiting around just makes me twitchy."

"Be patient, Kitten. We don't even know where they are. I agree with Mencheres; she is going to call soon with a deal."

"Okay, Bones. But how do we fight this demon? Maybe I should call Denise and have her come along?"

"No!" Mencheres said, in a tone much louder than his usual composed voice. Everyone looked at him. "The demon that we may face is very strong, and I don't know what he could do to another of his own kind. I'm not risking that. Let us leave Spade and Denise out of this. It will be your job to keep Candace's people away from us, once the accomplice has been identified. Leave the demon to me."

"What do you know about this demon?" Bones asked.

"He is an old one, very powerful, and thrives on the feelings of hatred from those around him. Not much else is known about him, but I will do more research into that matter, and I will ask Veritas. She may know something. You must not feel hatred for your enemies in his presence or it will make him stronger. Are we clear on that? If he is not satisfied with Candace and her accomplice as payment, then he will come after us. I am thinking that Candace will try to give us to him as a sacrifice, to free herself of her obligation to him."

Bones crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't like the sound of this, Mencheres. Candace isn't going to just stand around and let us take out her army."

"Until we know more about where she plans to make the trade for Tina, if that is what she is going to do, we can only go so far with our preparations. We will know more once she calls."

"I hope, for everyone's sake, she calls soon. I'm with Cat, enough of this bloody waiting. In fact, I think she and I should head to Detroit tonight. Perhaps check out the old Michigan Central Station."

"That's not a bad idea. There is also the matter of Ash and Leanna. She has been enslaved by Candace for centuries, she must know something. I thought Kira should question her."

"Oh, bloody good. Now you're talking. I'm tired of dealing with those two."

"Gorgon, have the guards bring the prisoners to the library."

Just as Gorgon was about to get up, Kira's cell phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket and looked at the number. There was nothing, only a block of zeros. Her brow furrowed as she showed the screen to Mencheres.

"Answer it," he said.

She pressed the button and spoke. "Hello?"

"Kira?"

"Tina, is that you? Where are you? Are you all right?" Kira squeezed Gorgon's hand, hard, tipping the phone so they could hear.

"Kira, it's so good to hear your voice. I'm so sorry. Is Gorgon..."

"He's right here, Tina. He can hear you. He's worried about you, but he's all right. Where are you, sweetie?"

In the background, Kira could hear voices.

"She's going to turn me, Kira, unless you do what she says. Tell Gorgon I love him and—"

There were more sounds, but Kira couldn't make them out.

"Tina? Tina! Are you there?"

"Yessss, she is here. And she is safe, for now. But I have grown weary of your country. I think it is time I moved on. Your little sister will make a wonderful pet."

No! Never! Kira wanted to scream it, but instinct told her not to. That would be playing right into Candace's hands. She wanted Kira rattled, and she wasn't about to give her the satisfaction. Mencheres raised his eyebrow in question and held out his hand for the phone. She handed it over to him and then turned towards Gorgon, who wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

"I believe you have something that belongs to me."

Candace snorted. "Belongs to you? I think you are mistaken. Your lover made a deal with me, and she broke it, so I have done what I said I would do, Menkaure, that is all. I keep my word."

"You took my property so that you could blackmail Kira into making an agreement with you."

"Blackmail, what a harsh word. I prefer to call it persuasion. And really, it didn't take all that much convincing to get Kira to break your bond. Although I am curious how you are able to be together right now. Not that it matters. I am enjoying my new pet."

They could hear a scream in the background, and it was all Kira could do not to scream herself. Gorgon held her tighter as her eyes swirled with green, and her anger rose.

"We will settle this Candace. I want my property returned to me unharmed immediately, or you will feel the full measure of my wrath come down on you and your people."

Candace let out a hearty laugh. "Now who is threatening whom?"

"Consider it persuasion, Candace. Or perhaps you would rather face the Law Guardian Council, and let them render a decision on your recent activities?"

"Pfft. I care nothing for your laws. Your laws did not save my Radjedef. Besides, once I go back into hiding neither they nor you will be able to find me. Then your former property will be mine, forever, and your lover will know for all eternity that you did nothing to save her, unless..."

Mencheres put a hand on Kira's trembling back. "Get on with it Candace. What do you want?"

"What I have wanted from the beginning. I want you to pay for what you did to Radjedef. Both of you. So I will propose a trade. I will return your property, in exchange for either you or Kira. If I cannot be with my lover, then neither canyou. I think that is a fair exchange. I will give you until tomorrow at midnight to decide. And whatever means you have found to counteract the broken bond and the weakening sickness, you will remove it when you come to me, is that understood?"

"And if I refuse?"

"Kira will never see her sister again. She will never know if I have turned her or whether I have tired of her. Have a plane on standby, and I will call at midnight for your answer. If you agree, I will name the place we will make the exchange. And if you are thinking of double-crossing me, you may find I have some surprises in store for you."

They heard Tina scream again as the line went dead.