Part 1 (1/2)

A Tempest in the Night.

by K. R. Wilson.

Prologue

Alec Vladimir Sinclair-Wulf sat at the head seat of the Haemo High Council. The Council he inherited from his grandfather the previous King of Vampires gasped in amazement, shock, and disbelief. He knew it would get worse. He felt the collective shudder in the conference room. Nosferatus and the human looking vampires became ill at ease over the nomination.

”Daedalus Sqourakis will make an excellent Enforcer, and I stand by my nomination.”

”I second that nomination.” His wife, Tania Williams, the new Queen of Vampires, was his staunchest supporter and fighting partner. She agreed with his decision, even when he had doubts, and he had a few. But, he couldn't forget how good it felt to fight along side his long-lost younger brother.

He shut out the stir of voices both mental and auditory in the room and thought back only a year ago, when they'd fought side by side against the latest rival group the Jacquerie...

Daedalus was sleek, bathed in black, and silently stalked and killed his targets like a panther hunting prey.

With his sword, a beauty of a weapon, he swathed his way through the rival vampires, dispatching the enemy without so much as a blink of an eye. To watch him was to watch someone awe-inspiring. He is beautiful, deadly, and c.o.c.ky... Yes, he had that smile that said, ”I can do it. Just watch me, but don't get in my way...”

Alec and Tania stood outside the abandoned church in Jamaica, Queens directly under the Long Island Railroad. She was on one side of the heavy, ornate door and he was on the other. Alec gave his wife a critical look. ”You shouldn't be here,” he whispered.

”I don't do the Stepford wife thing very well,” she whispered.

She didn't. She liked to fight, and she was good at it. She liked getting physical. He'd discovered when he found her half-dead from a beating she'd received from an irate client's husband. She gave as good as she got, but she wasn't strong enough to defend herself totally. Her former job as a Battered Woman's Court Advocate had been demanding and dangerous. She reveled in it. Now as Queen she fights along side him, but at a terrible cost. She wants to have his baby, and he is terrified she'll die before that happens.

She raised her sword in the air, and the equivalent of a human heart attack came on.

The air rippled around Alec. Power flowed and danced over his skin. His brain tingled. From his third eye, he saw a figure in black racing toward them in a deadly charge. Tania is more vulnerable. She was closest to him and was aware of the coming attack. ”Why don't you let me handle this?”

Tania shook her head and raised her hand halting him. She'll never change and she'll never let him keep her inside a safe bubble.

With vampiric speed faster than any human eye can see, but detectable by vampires, the stranger jumped over their heads onto the brick wall above them.

Alec raised his sword at the stranger. The tip of it rested on the vampire's esophagus. If he falls, he'll embed himself on the sword through the throat.

Tania grasped his hand before he dangerously moved it. Blocks of thought flowed into his mind from her. He's on our side, Alec.

How do you know?

Wickedly, the stranger smiled, and with his fingertips touched the pointed edges of Alec's sword and pushed it to the side. Alec's face almost cracked a smile at the stranger's guts. He's entertaining, dead, but entertaining.

With his gloved hands, the stranger grasped the molding on the doorway, somersaulted down landing without a sound on the crumbling cement stairs. The c.o.c.ky smile remained on his face. His hair, parted on the side, pointed in every direction. He was dressed in skin-tight black from neck to toe. A cowl wrapped his neck. A mask, maybe. Pleated armor material adorned his broad shoulders. The rest of him was covered in a black breathable flexible material. Where Alec's body was long and muscled bulk, the other's was long, lean, and powerful, with burly legs. ”h.e.l.lo, Tania.”

”Your Highness,” Alec reminded him, his eyes trained on Tania. She smiled warmly. Alec glowered at the stranger. His obvious attraction to his wife angered him. ”Who are you?” Alec whispered.

”Alec, I'm hurt. Don't you see the resemblance?” he asked in hushed tones and feigned indignation. ”I'm you're long-lost brother from Santorini.”

”Daedalus?”

What held Alec riveted was the younger stranger's face. Though his piercing violet eyes reminded him of Radu, his face was Greek. His Romanesque nose, cupid-bow lips, cleft chin, and olive-skin made a startling effect. His close-thatched wavy, black hair combed over his forehead not so much for effect but for immediacy. All of his weight leaned to the left side, his body curved towards the door. Alec marveled at his brother's feral beauty.

”Long time no see,” Tania said.

Daedalus had never returned his letters. Alec had hoped he was still alive, and now he had his proof. ”Good G.o.d!”

Daedalus merely smiled, lowered his head, and silently loaded two guns. ”I hear you've been having problems with these jerks.”

He was efficient with guns as well. In less then five seconds, they were both fully loaded. They were no ordinary guns. Bullets never slowed vampires down.

”Two of the newest members of the Haemo High Council are being held here,” Tania whispered. ”Upstairs in cages- probably starved to near death. Those a.s.s-”

Alec cut his wife off. ”Women should not curse.”

Daedalus shook his head and sighed in a lazy, irritated tone. ”You two should have security to handle this.” With one powerful kick, the doors burst open. Gunshots rang over their heads.

The Jacquerie scattered like mice running from the exterminator. Daedalus ran towards them firing at anything that moved with deadly accuracy.

Alec swung his sword. Heads rolled.

Tania jabbed, puncturing bodies.

Alec caught sight of Daedalus' blur running up the stairs. He followed, willing to take a back seat to watch Daedalus in action.

Alec? Watch your step. The floors are fragile.

Startled Alec stepped back but not because of the floor. It was difficult for any vampire to communicate with him telepathically without him opening a pathway for them. Daedalus had breezed through his defenses as if he blithely walked through an open door.

They're in here. Doors locked.

Daedalus put his gun in the holster then unsheathed his sword.

Ready?

Always.

Daedalus kicked the double doors open. Two thugs ran towards him swinging swords. Daedalus sheathed his sword, produced six silver round star-like discs and tossed them at the thugs. They went down, bleeding out.

Tania came up behind him, ran to the hostages. They were in cages. Their eyes were sunk in-hollowed with pinpoints of light in the middle and their skin yellowed-starved of blood. Tania grasped the lock of one cage and bent it, breaking it in two. She did the same with the other. ”The three of us will have to donate blood.”

Daedalus walked forward making a gash in the inside of his palm. ”I hope they won't mind getting furry,” he said.