Infinitas 1 - Warriors of Faith (14 page)

»You mean, just a few weeks ago he was a human, too?«

Shia nodded again in agreement.

»To me he seems like a vampire with a lot of experience and power.
He’s so flawless.«

»It’s the blood.
After his accident he had a lot of transfusions and since he was in a coma, he didn’t feel any pain during the transformation.«

»Is it painful?« Eva was curious.

Even though she’d never considered the possibility, it was still an interesting topic for her.

»It’s something you wouldn’t want to do a second time.
Imagine that your entire body has to be repaired.
There’s a reason we look so flawless.
The muscles rebuild themselves and you have more power.
We develop better vision, sense of smell and hearing than humans and your body needs time and energy to do all that.« Shia avoided looking at Eva.
That morning she hadn’t responded very well to the topic, but now she wouldn’t stop.

»How long does the transformation take?«

Shia shrugged his shoulders. »That depends on your body.
A healthy person only needs a day.
If not, it could take up to two days.
Why are you asking?«

»I’m just curious!«

Shia nodded.

»We’ve only know each other two days, too,« thought Eva softly mumbling to herself. He squeezed her hand tenderly.

»No, I’ve known you all my life.« Eva sighed.
She didn’t want to rehash the same story again so she let it go.
The topic was going to come up again sooner or later anyway and then she would know how much Shia’s love was really worth.

Royalty

Chapter 12

C
hanning wasn’t surprised to see Ruben and Jôrek standing at the entrance to the Empire channeling guests into the club with a trained eye.
Like all the others, he and Sara were standing in line waiting to get in.
Aragón, who was in the front of the line, spoke with Ruben briefly and then entered the club.
He stood waiting for Channing and Sara at the coat check.

»Ruben says the operator of the club is a man named Stavros Dimatros. He just runs the place. The owner is someone else.
No one knows him around here, at least the employees don’t seem to.«

»Is Dimatros a mortal?« Aragón nodded.
They entered the room with a large dance floor.
There were two other rooms.
A restaurant was located in one and then there was another room where different music was played.
On the main dance-floor they usually played techno.

»I’m going to take a closer look around,« said Aragón standing in front of the large entrance to the techno area making it clear that the others should check out the other rooms.

Although it was still early, the Empire was filled to capacity.
Channing let Sara go ahead of him and she decided on the smaller room where the music was more her taste.

»What do you want to drink?«

»A ginger ale, please.« He ordered two and led her to a table in the gallery away from the dance-floor where they had a good view of the entire room.

Sara looked around the room, but besides a couple of vampires enjoying the music, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

»What do you think of Eva?« asked Channing trying to start a conversation. Sara was nipping at her drink and thought about it for a second.

»Shia thinks she’s his soulmate.«

Channing looked up in surprise. »She’s a mortal,« he whispered softly.
Sara nodded in reply.
 

»Yes, but he’s totally convinced that she’s the one.
Only a transformation could prove it.« »You mean, if the tattoo reveals itself?«

Sara nodded again. »Shia isn’t the kind of guy who just falls in love with anyone.
Eva’s the first woman he’s brought home in over one hundred years.
It’s so dangerous to tell mortals about our secret.
I hope he’s right about her.« Channing could only agree.
Even though Shia was impulsive, he had him to thank for his life.

»Do you want to dance?« asked Sara looking out at the crowd.

»Might as well, since we’re here.« She stood up and walked out onto the dance floor without turning back around.

›
Can’t get with that
‹ was blaring out of the speakers as Channing pulled Sara into his arms and turned her slowly to the music.
Because her dress was cut so low in the back, his hands were touching her naked skin.
He had to pull himself together so that his hands kept to themselves.
He knew how dangerous it was to hold her in his arms and he thought that here in public, he would be able to stand being so close to her.
But he was absolutely wrong about that.
She was the perfect height in her high-heels, able to stare directly at his lips.
His mouth grew dry and he was having trouble swallowing.
When he couldn’t stand her stare any longer, he pulled her closer to his body, but noticed instantly that he’d made a fatal mistake.
Her every move and the heat radiating off her body were too much for him to bear.
Sara rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck.
She didn’t only feel him physically, but there was something different since they had exchanged blood.

Channing wasn’t quite as skilled and therefore didn’t notice anything, but Sara was getting clear signals that he was about to lose control.

»We’re not here to play around,«
Sara said telepathically.
Annoyed, Channing stopped dancing and stood still on the dance floor looking into her eyes.

»Didn’t anyone tell you?«
A slight smile emerged on her lips.

Channing looked at her confused.

»I didn’t just imagine that?«

Sara shook her head. »No, mental telepathy is a privilege of the vow.«

»You can just get into my head and read my thoughts?«

»What? You wouldn’t like that? Calm down.
I can’t read your thoughts or anyone else’s thoughts, but I can communicate with you telepathically.
I send you my thoughts and you send me yours.«

»How?«

She laughed softly. »You have to focus on me.«

»As if I haven’t been doing anything else.« He looked deeply into Sara’s eyes and channeled all his concentration onto her.

»Like this?«

This was also a new experience for Sara and she nodded without being able to take her eyes off him.

»
Ok, so I can tell you that tonight I’m going to make love to you until you scream and no one will be hear me?«

The music had changed to a faster beat, but the two of them were still turning slowly in a circle.
Then, shocked by his thoughts, Sara stopped moving abruptly.

»
Dream on!«
she thought. Channing continued to stroke her back.

»Then you shouldn’t wear dresses like this.«

Although the techno club was totally overcrowded, it wasn’t difficult to find Aragón amongst all the people.
His real strength as a warrior was his origin.
He wasn’t only called Aragón, but he’d once been the King of Aragón. His real name was Ramiro II of Aragón.
In those days he’d lived a quiet life as a monk until his brother Alfons I, died.
His land was willed to a spiritual order of knights, which presided over Aragón, but the States didn’t recognize the will and so Ramiro was made King.
He wasn’t a born ruler, however.
He was a peaceful man by nature, someone who would rather mediate than unleash a war.
In the year 1135, he married Agnes of Aquitaine in order to secure the crown.
Roughly nine months later she bore him a daughter named Petronella. Ramiro was so disgusted by all the intrigue in the court, that after one year, he decided to marry his daughter off to Count Berengar IV, and thus passed new regulations for governing the throne.
He then retreated into the monastery, which proved to be a fatal mistake.
That same year, the abbey was attacked by a group of vampires and the monks were killed.
Only Ramiro survived, badly injured and transformed.
Until meeting the warriors of faith, he’d lived a secret life just like the others.
But his appearance, his majestic presence, the pride in his eyes and the wonderful way he moved were all proof of what he once was:
the King of Aragón.

His eyes drifted over to the mirrored wall on the other side of the room when Channing joined him.
He gestured with his chin in the direction of the wall.

»Hola, there’s a room behind that wall.
I can hear voices and they aren’t those of mortals,« he snarled at Channing, who could understand him regardless of the blaring music as if Aragón were only whispering in his ear.

Channing glanced over at the wall of mirrors and then around the entire room.

»I can smell them.
There’s a vampire and at least three creatures.
We should check out how we can get into that room.«

Sara was watching both of them.
How they put their heads together and were concentrating on something.
She was proud that these warriors belonged to her.
She’d known Aragón one hundred years already and he was a righteous and honorable man.
In the flickering light of the club he had a commanding presence, reflected in his noble features, aristocratic nose and stern lips.
His long black hair shimmered like silk and his small goatee made him look like a Musketeer.

Sara knew about his royal origins and she smiled to herself realizing that Channing had no idea at all who he was talking too.
He knew just as little as all women in the club who were looking over at him longingly.
They would all probably faint in front of a real king.
Without wanting to, her eyes drifted back over to Channing.
His aura was magically pulling at her even though she was trying extremely hard to fight it.
Holding him and dancing with him was intoxicating.
My God. It was only a dance, but Sara felt like he’d done wonderful things to her body.
She thought he was arrogant and incredulous, but with a snap of his finger, he could do things to her that she just couldn’t do without.

How could he not want her? Over the last centuries there had been enough men, but she’d been waiting for her soulmate, and now that she’d finally found him, she realized that he was much different than what she’d always dreamt of.
She’d dreamt of a strong warrior, someone who would support her and fulfill every wish. Someone who’d fall in love with her before knowing that they were destined to be together.

And what did she get?
A vampire who didn’t believe in either the twists of fate or intuition. Naturally, she was able to arouse him, but that was all.
And Channing was strong, yet he wasn’t aware of how strong and how to use his strength properly.
She liked his looks too, maybe even a little too much.
He stirred up emotion inside of her, although differently than expected.
She constantly wanted to rip his head off for being so unreasonable.
When she looked over at his graceful figure, she could feel his warm hands on her back again. How he’d caressed her skin gently with his fingers.
The thought gave her goose bumps and sent a chill through her entire body.

She looked over at him and noticed that he’d already been watching her for a while. A little embarrassed, she stared into his dark gray eyes.
Their eyes locked as if they seeing each other for the first time.

»Excuse me, aren’t you Sara Keane?«

A young girl was blocking her view.

»Oh yes, it is you!« she shrieked excitedly, »Can I have your autograph? I’ve seen you in the theater.
You’re so wonderful!«

In no time at all, Sara was surrounded by young people holding pens and paper under her nose trying to get an autograph.
»Sara!« Channing fought his way through the crowd and she waved at him calmly.

»It’s okay.
All they want is an autograph.«

He looked over at Aragón, who was standing next to him nodding.

»It’s always like this when we go somewhere with Sara.
She was a well-known musical star in the theater here.
Everyone knows her.
That’s why she stopped singing. It was all getting to be too much for her,« explained Aragón. »Maybe you should bring Sara home.
I can’t imagine that she’s enjoying this,« he whispered to Channing and then made his way through the crowd, but before they could get to Sara, someone put a hand on her shoulder.

»Nice to see you again so soon!«

Philippe Orlandie’s deep voice managed to penetrate through the crowd trying to get to Sara.
She looked up at him and returned a pen to one of the girls.
 

He had a beautiful dark haired woman on his arm and Sara noticed, not only her flawless looks, but also that she was a vampire.
Her scent gave her away.

Startled, she murmured: »Philippe!«

»Yes, didn’t expect me, did you? Quite a lot of attention you’ve got here.« »Philippe, you have to get away from here as quickly as possible.«

»But America is the land of opportunity.
I have the same right be here as you.« He pulled his date closer to him and kissed her demonstratively.
He was trying to provoke her, but Sara just looked at him with pity.

»You don’t have the slightest idea who you’re getting involved with, do you?«

Philippe laughed out loud. »Now you’re jealous. I can see it in your eyes.«

»Listen to me, please,« she pleaded, but he just shook his head laughing.

The black haired woman looked over Philippe’s shoulder at Sara and flashed her fangs for an instant.
Resigned, Sara shook her head.
»I only wanted to help you, but now there’s nothing I can do for you.« She turned around towards Channing, who’d been standing behind her, took his hand and followed him towards the exit.

Outside they ran into a couple of other warriors.
Aragón had informed them what had happened in the club.

»You should take Sara home.
She’s attracting too much attention!
We’ll take a closer look at the rooms,« said Maroush turning towards Channing.

»But we can’t leave Philippe in there alone,« said Sara reflectively.