Aris Reigns (3 page)

Three darkly handsome manservants entered the chamber carrying two comfortable chairs and a round, carved wooden table. One built a glowing fire while the other two placed the furniture at a comfortable distance from the blaze. They were followed by a lovely young female vampire carrying two jewel-encrusted golden goblets on a matching tray. As she placed them on the table the gems glistened in the firelight.

Turning from Sarah as if they had forgotten she was there, Mariska and DeMarco moved across the room to sit in the chairs. They raised the goblets to toast one another, their eyes locking with an unspoken hunger more sinister than their desire for blood. They drank; neither paused while there was a drop left. Sarah shuddered, thinking what must have been in the goblets and, even more frightening, what might come after their taste of blood.

DeMarco rose and crossed to his Queen. He glanced at Sarah as if in defiance, then bending to Mariska, kissed her deeply, wildly. She buried her hands in his hair as he dragged her to her feet. Pressing her hips into him, she leaned backward, exposing her throat to his bared teeth. Sarah wasn't sure if it was just the reflection of the dancing firelight, but his canine teeth appeared to grow longer and sharper just before he plunged them into her throat.

Sarah's heart raced as she turned away, shutting her eyes against their blood union. Still she was unable to block Mariska's burning cries of anguish and ecstasy echoing throughout the stone room as her mate drew the venom from her veins. Sarah was terrified, yet fought against an uncontrollable desire to turn, to watch the strengthening of their forbidden bond, to watch the vampire bloodletting.
Then there was silence.

Slowly Sarah opened her eyes. Her captors had returned to their chairs. They sat quietly for a moment, staring into the fire.

A loud banging on the door brought them quickly to their feet. “Enter,” the King spoke. A slender incredibly muscular man walked into the room, his long black hair caught in a braid that touched his waist. “Ah, Esteban. What news?” The King gestured the newcomer to join he and Mariska as they rose and crossed the room to the window.

Sarah thought she heard whispers of spies and war. Breathing slowly and deeply to calm herself, she listened carefully. She knew she heard mention of the Catacombs, but they spoke so softly she was only able to catch a few words. Knowing any information she could glean would help the Immortals, she leaned forward in her chair as if to adjust her shoe. Their words were more clear, yet still she could only hear scattered phrases. After a hurried exchange, the vampire called Esteban hurried from the room as the King and Queen approached her.

The Queen was the first to speak. “You, human, will die a slow and tortuous death.” The shadows the firelight cast on Mariska made her face appear to be an eyeless skull. When she spoke, the words came from the mouth of a death's head. “And then the true carnage begins. We march on the Catacombs. We will slaughter their King and Queen. Our army will eliminate every underground citizen.” She spoke as an afterthought. “Ah, yes, and DeMarco and I will personally take care of those who mean the most to you. One by one we will slowly eliminate your loved ones. I want you to ponder that as you wait for your own death. And I assure you, human, we will take the greatest care with your precious love, Aris.” Sarah's heart raced. She knew she had to escape, to find a way to warn her Immortal friends.

Mariska drew DeMarco to her side. “We will rule in the Catacombs. We will own the Infinity Diaries and know the secret workings of the universe. With the power of the knowledge of life and death in our
hands and hate in our non-beating hearts, we will rule the human world and feed on them openly like the sheep they are. We will use the knowledge of the Immortals to find any evil humans who will rally to our cause, who will help us enslave the human race. We will be the most powerful beings on the earth. All will bow down to us. We will begin the next evolution of the human species and we will be its King and Queen.” Mariska stared silently at Sarah for a moment more, then shouted toward the door. “Guard.”

As the soldiers entered the room, DeMarco turned to stare out the window at the star-studded sky. Without looking toward Sarah, he lifted his arm to wave her away, condemning her to her chamber to await her death. She heard the muffled tapping of stilettoes on the stone floor behind her as the soldiers took her into the hallway and closed the door after them.

“
Escape. Escape. Escape.”
Her mind ran in circles as they marched her through the vast hallway. “
But how? How? I only know I'm somewhere in the mountains in Spain. If I can get away, where do I go? I've got to get away. How can I get away? And where the hell do I get away to?”
Her mind ran like a hamster on a wheel, continuously moving, going in circles and reaching no conclusions.
“The bars. I've got to get the bars loose. I'll figure out where to go once I get out of here.”
At least she had the beginning of a plan as the door to her prison loomed in front of her. It crashed against the wall as the soldiers slammed it open and shoved her inside. Stumbling and falling, she hit her head on the cold stone floor. She lay unconscious, a trickle of blood pooling beneath her forehead.

The three Immortal comrades, Aris, Richard and Gabriela, quickly
concealed the car they had rented at the Barcelona airport with loose brush, then raced through the forest effortlessly leaping over huge fallen branches and trees. They were determined to reach Sarah before it was too late. At last they could see the top of the castle tower in the pale light of a crescent moon. Richard touched Aris on the shoulder signaling him to stop. At the same moment a tall dark figure stepped from behind a tree.

“Simon.” Gabriela embraced their comrade, a spy from the Catacombs. It had been years since she last saw him, his most recent life spent in subterfuge in the evil coven. He held her for a brief moment before turning to embrace the males. “Aris. Richard.”

Frantic to secure Sarah's safety, Aris ignored the niceties of his ally's greeting. “Is Sarah alright? Where are they keeping her?” It took all of his patience to stand still and wait for a reply. He ached to storm the castle, to free the only woman he had ever loved, but knew rash actions would bring him no victory.

“She is being lodged in the castle keep, the only tall tower left standing.” He pointed toward a stone wall atop the stark rocky crest of the hill separating them from her prison.

Aris made to leave but Richard held him fast. “Wait. We are in need of more information.”

“I am in need of nothing.” He tore out of his friend's grasp. “I am going to find her.”

“No, Aris.” Simon stepped in front of him. “She's been taken for an audience with the King and Queen. Wait until she returns to her chambers. The castle is close by, we must take care.”

“Wait? I wait for nothing.” He turned from them, racing in the direction Simon had directed them.

Sarah groaned as she opened her eyes. The huge lump on her
forehead was throbbing and she was shaky on her feet as she staggered toward the window. She had no idea how long she had lain on the floor, but the sky was still dark. She still had time before morning. Her hand was shaking as she reached to grasp the windowsill. The wind whistled through the bars and echoed throughout the chamber. Sarah's imagination played cruel tricks; she swore the wind called her name. Leaning her aching forehead against the cold metal separating her from her freedom, she heard it more clearly.

“Sarah. Sarah.”

Suddenly, long powerful fingers wrapped around the bars and quietly lifted them from their foundation, bending them as if they were made of soft wood. Sarah knew she must be dreaming as Aris leaped through the opening, landing silently before her.

“Aris.” It was a whisper. She reached for him as if she were suddenly unaware of where she was, sleepwalking, wanting only to be in his arms.

“Come. We are in great danger. We must hurry.” Lifting her as if she were weightless, he wrapped her arms and legs around him. “Hold on tight. The only way out is down.” She breathed in his fragrance as he climbed out the window. Leaning her cheek against his powerful shoulder, all of her fears fell away as he made his way, spider-like, down the ancient stones of the tower.

Loud voices and a wolf's howl halted his progress while they were still hidden in the shadows of the fallen foundation stones. Sarah buried her face in his chest to stifle a gasp as three male vampires crossed the courtyard beneath them. One had a huge black wolf on a leash. The wolf strained at the lead, snarling and howling, struggling to get away. He kept turning his huge head toward the escaping couple clinging to the side of the castle, his snout working as he took in their scent.

“What is wrong with him?” the tallest of the three questioned.

“Nothing, he hasn't eaten. Maybe he'll get the remnants of the
human when the Queen is finished with her.” The animal's handler laughed as he finally gained control of the beast and they walked on.

Aris waited in silence, preventing her attempted query with a tender kiss. “Wait,” he whispered so softly she had to strain to hear his words even though his lips touched her ear. She shivered as she felt his warm breath against her skin. “We are still in danger. They are still within ear-shot. When they have gone, we will continue to safety. Once I have you out of harm's way, I will answer all your questions.”

As soon as the three vampires disappeared from sight into the castle, he resumed their descent. He carried her close to him as he ran through the forest to safety and the waiting circle of her Immortal friends.

CHAPTER 2

A
ris' hands gripped the steering wheel as the car sped toward the distant horizon; the early morning sky glowed with the first rays of the rising sun. Richard spoke quietly into his cell phone so as not to wake Sarah sleeping soundly in the backseat, her blond head resting peacefully against Gabriela's shoulder.

“What was that about?” Aris kept his voice low.

“Simon. He will meet us in London in a few days. Demitri and Alexi will stay on to keep watch on the coven.” He checked to see if Sarah was still sleeping before he continued. “It seems Queen Mariska went raving mad when she heard of Sarah's escape. She ordered the male and female who had served Sarah in the castle to be extinguished. Then she single handedly, stone by stone, destroyed the tower, leveling it to rubble. She railed at the King, yet when he remained unruffled, she further demanded he eliminate the guards who had taken Sarah back to her chamber. The King refused. According to Simon, she stormed from the audience chamber, the entire castle ringing with her shouted accusation that DeMarco still loved the human woman.”