Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

O leg drew in Tatyana’s scent, alternately pleased and annoyed by it. She’d been an irritant in the back of his mind for over a month as he traveled around the world, forming agreements and soothing allies who’d heard he’d killed his child.

Reactions had been mixed.

While everyone agreed that Zara’s loss was nothing to be mourned, more than one vampire expressed concern about his actions setting a precedent in a precariously balanced world of predators. Even more were worried that Laskaris would find some way to avenge his lover, plunging the Black Sea region and its abundant resources into vampire war.

In the end, immortal politics usually came down to money.

Oleg’s brothers in Moscow were no longer speaking to him, but that was more a relief than a problem.

But through all the political wrangling, this human woman had lingered in Oleg’s thoughts, rubbing at his memories like a burr. And like a burr, the more she lingered, the further in she’d dug until he found himself rejecting his usual blood donors because their scents were… wrong. He’d taken nothing but blood-wine since she hadn’t answered his call the week before.

An unacceptable situation.

“Claiming me?” she finally whispered. “What does that mean?”

As Oleg breathed in the scent of her blood, Tatyana’s heart raced like cornered prey, provoking his instinct to hunt.

“What does it mean to claim you?” He roused his amnis and warmed his body, making his breath warm against her skin. “To drink from you, of course.”

Her body went immediately stiff. “No.”

Oleg had known it wouldn’t be an immediate yes. He was prepared for that. She was new to his world and didn’t know how the hierarchy worked. “You will think about it. The vampires in this city know you are my employee, so they will respect that, but personally you belong to no one.”

“And I’m fine with that.” Her voice was cutting. “I belong to myself.”

“That’s not how it works, little wolf. You’re a human in the vampire world. If you don’t belong to me, that means you’re fair game for their pursuits.” He pulled away, tipping her chin up until she met his eyes. “And some of them might be quite persuasive.”

Her eyes were haughty. “If I work for you, they wouldn’t dare. Aren’t you their lord?”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “I am. But in this place, I’m simply a humble immortal like everyone else.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t lie to you. You may not want to believe me, but I do not lie.” He took the opportunity of touching her chin to rub his thumb over her jaw.

Delectably soft skin.

“I don’t believe you’re humble,” Tatyana said. “Ever.”

His mouth curved into a full smile, and he felt the cold night air touch his fangs. “I do enjoy your teeth.”

“Oleg.”

“Yes, volchitsa?”

She whispered, “You’re still holding my chin.”

“And you’re not pulling away.” He moved a little closer. “Maybe you do want me to claim you.”

Her lips were flush with blood as her heart rate picked up. “You’d feed from me in the middle of the restaurant?”

“Oh no. When I take blood from your pretty neck, I don’t want to share the experience.” He moved a little closer. “But I will put my mark on you, Tatyana Vorona. If you want it.”

He felt her hesitation in the set of her jaw.

“I don’t want anyone else?—”

“That’s excellent news.”

“—to bother me,” she continued, “while I’m just trying to have a drink.”

“Hmm.” He nodded. “So you’re saying that if I kissed you right now, it would be… convenient?”

“It would be for show. To keep others away. Would that be enough?”

“For me? Of course not.” He glanced to the side. “For them? Yes.”

She was already his. Not a single vampire in that club would touch her; everyone knew that Zara’s bookkeeper belonged to Oleg Sokolov now. No one would attempt to bother her, and only a fool would try to get near her while Oleg’s scent was even a hint on her skin.

But she didn’t need to know that.

He could smell her arousal and her resistance. The combination was heady. His cock was hard and wanting, but he ignored it for now, focusing on the delicate flesh at her neck where he could see her pulse fluttering.

“A single kiss…” He bent down and brushed his lips against her pulse, his amnis touching her skin and spreading near-burning heat. “…would be enough.”

Not too much. Just enough to excite her senses. Her hand lifted to his shoulder and her fingers dug in, drawing him closer even as the rest of her body was frozen with indecision.

“Do you like that, Tatyana?” He could feel her soften, could sense her surrender as her body grew wet and heated for him.

So tempting. He could have her alone in seconds.

“Shall I give you more?” he murmured against her neck.

Oleg lifted his head, meeting Tatyana’s hooded eyes in the dim light of the corner booth. A single candle flickered on the table. One hand gripped his shoulder, and the other dug into the smooth velvet of her seat.

“Do you think” —she swallowed hard— “a kiss like that will be enough?”

She wanted more.

Oleg lowered his head, sliding his hand to the small of her back, letting a single finger trail lower to the curve of her ass. Her breasts arched up and touched his chest as her lungs pumped air into her heated body.

She was on fire. Bending to her neck, he trailed the tip of his tongue along her collarbone, letting his fangs scrape along her skin without breaking the surface.

If he tasted her blood, he’d try to take her in the club. And in the state she was in, Tatyana might let him.

Oleg didn’t like to share.

He lapped up her neck, and the hand that was at his shoulder moved to his nape, stroking the hair that fell over his collar and pressing into his skin.

In a single movement, he circled her wrist in his fingers and brought her hand to his chest. It wouldn’t do to let others in the club see her hand at his neck.

Other than fire, the only way a vampire could be killed was to take their head off. That made the neck a singularly vulnerable position, and no vampire was going to see Oleg with Tatyana’s hand on his neck.

She didn’t seem to notice the gesture, because her fingers gripped the front of his sweater and her head fell back.

He felt the flame under his skin, his element aching to release.

Enough.

Enough.

Oleg pulled back from teasing her neck with his tongue and fangs. He put both his hands on her cheeks, framing her face before he angled her head to the side and bent down, placing a firm, closed-mouth kiss on Tatyana’s lips for a few long seconds.

Then he pulled away and glanced around the rooftop club.

Every immortal eye was on them along with those of quite a few humans.

Tatyana didn’t seem to notice, but her eyes weren’t as sharp as his. She probably couldn’t see.

“There.” He stroked her cheek. “No one will bother you now.”

“Good.” She sat up straight and angled her body away from his, picking up her wineglass with trembling fingers. “I like to come up here to read at night. I don’t want anyone talking to me.”

What a good actress you are, little wolf.

“They won’t.” He picked up his glass of blood-wine and adjusted the hard cock in his pants. “I’ll finish this glass of wine, and then I have another meeting tonight.”

“About… her?”

“Don’t worry.” He touched her chin again. “I’m very good at cleaning up messes.”

A haughty Greek water vampire named Kastor sat across from Oleg in the luxury of Oleg’s suite at the Admiral, his legs spread wide and his arms stretched across the back of the velvet sofa, taking up as much space as possible.

How utterly common.

Oleg glanced at Mika and Ludmila in the corner and saw his two boyars heroically suppressing their smiles.

If Kastor had lifted his leg and pissed on the coffee table, his need to assert dominance might have been more subtle.

“Tea?” The hotel server held out a delicate cup she’d prepared from the brightly painted samovar on the side table. They were enjoying a full tea with all the accompanying sweets prepared by the excellent bakery at the Admiral.

Kastor was unimpressed, but he took the tea and sipped it before he set it down on the table between them. “Just because Zara is gone doesn’t mean anything will change. Your tariffs to Alitea remain unchanged.”

Alitea was the hidden island fortress in the middle of the Aegean Sea where Laskaris and a council of ancient vampires ruled. They had dominated shipping traffic in the Mediterranean for centuries, growing lazy and greedy under Laskaris’s leadership.

“Is this because I killed his newest plaything?” Oleg sipped his tea, eyeing Kastor’s abandoned cup on the table. To not partake in this hospitality told Oleg all he needed to know about the grating immortal. “It was a family matter. Nothing personal.”

Kastor shrugged. “Laskaris enjoyed your daughter’s company, but this has nothing to do with Zara or your” —he curled his lip— “barbaric discipline.”

He glanced at Mika, who raised a single eyebrow and shrugged as if to say, I told you so.

Oleg smiled at Kastor. “Consider it a favor to all our kind. She was probably stealing from your boss just as she stole from me.”

The slight twitch in Kastor’s expression told Oleg that Zara had definitely been stealing from Laskaris, and they’d probably only found out when she fled.

“If she was stealing from us, even more reason to keep your tariffs as they are.” The vampire leaned forward. “Or perhaps we will raise them to compensate for the loss.”

“Tell Laskaris to keep pushing and see what happens. A hungry wolf is stronger than a well-fed dog.”

“Are you calling yourself a dog?”

“I’m calling myself a businessman who has ports in three oceans while Laskaris rules one.” Oleg smiled a little bit. “Tell him to think twice about what will happen if I divert my business. I have my own resources, and I don’t need to ruminate for a decade with an ancient council to make decisions.”

Kastor’s fangs dropped in his mouth. “Are you threatening Alitea?”

“I am simply reminding you that once, my sire ruled the rivers of this continent, and while I choose to conduct my business with more” —Oleg sipped his tea— “modern practices, I am not without the people and the resources necessary to control and exploit my territory.” He finished his tea and set down his cup before he looked the Greek emissary dead in the eye. “The Bosporus is one strait. Istanbul is one city. A far eastern outpost for your master, is it not?”

Kastor’s eyes narrowed. “You are threatening us.”

“I am suggesting that you return to Alitea with a proposal to ease the tariffs through the Turkish Straits for all the immortal organizations who must use them as a shipping channel. Not only me. Everyone. Consider it a gesture of goodwill. After all, it’s only with cooperation and peace that all of us can prosper.”

“Barbarian.” Kastor curled his lip and stood up. “I see that you’re as unreasonable as the Poshani bastard and the Georgian bitch.”

“Please keep complimenting my allies, Kastor. I’ll be sure to pass your praises to all the vampires of the Pontos Axeinos. Let Laskaris continue insulting our people and he will discover just how inhospitable we can be.”

Kastor turned his nose up and stormed out of the hotel suite, no doubt retreating to his own accommodations at the hotel before he returned to Athens the following night. Or maybe he would go jump in the ocean.

Oleg didn’t care either way.

Mika strolled over and sat in Kastor’s seat. “That went so well. Ever the diplomat, my lord.”

Ludmila snorted from her perch near the door.

“The man is a peon.” Oleg held his teacup out, and the server began to mix him another glass of tea. “He has no power.”

“But Laskaris does. Do you really want to start a fight with Alitea? Their allies are formidable.”

Oleg looked at Ludmila. She was one of his oldest boyars, and while the sniper enjoyed her silence, when she spoke, it was always perceptive. “What do you think?”

Ludmila looked at Mika, then back at Oleg. “Alitea is weak. And they are ripe for takeover. The council are slow to make decisions, and they rest in victories that are centuries old.”

Oleg turned his eyes back to Mika. “I agree with her.”

“You’re going to do what you want, no matter what I say.” Mika picked up Kastor’s teacup. “He didn’t even finish his tea.”

“Terrible manners.” Oleg snapped his fingers at the server, and the young woman came over. “Thank you, my dear.” He held her hand and flooded her mind with amnis. “What a boring meeting that was. Nothing at all was said, and he spoke about olive oil shipments the entire time.”

The young woman’s eyes swam as she smiled. “Such an odd man.”

“Very odd.” Oleg squeezed her hand and smiled as he released her. “You may go. Please tell Marina we won’t need anything else tonight.”

“Of course, Mr. Sokolov.”

Ludmila opened the door, and the young woman wheeled the samovar and the cart out of the hotel suite, leaving Mika, Ludmila, and Oleg alone.

“Laskaris will keep pressing,” Mika said. “Even with Zara out of the picture, he has no motivation to negotiate when he’s had control for so long.”

Ludmila moved from her sniper’s perch in the corner to sit on the arm of one sofa. “Laskaris isn’t the only power in Alitea.”

“But he is the dominant,” Oleg said.

There were five immortal powers in the Black Sea region. The Poshani exercised a surprising amount of control for an itinerant clan, but that was mostly in coordination with Oleg and Petre, the vampire lord in Bucharest. That left Alina in the East, and the Greeks controlling the southern coast and the straits.

Oleg, Petre, and Alina were all fed up with Laskaris.

“An alliance would not be out of the question.” Mika leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “But in the end, it would still come down to one power controlling the straits.”

The chokepoint of their access to the wider world was the Turkish Straits, two narrow ocean channels that bordered the Sea of Marmara. Whoever controlled those straits controlled the Black Sea.

And for thousands of years, that control had rested in Alitea.

“Tell me…” Mika and Ludmila exchanged a look before Mika turned back to Oleg. “Are you willing to meet with someone much older and more powerful than you are?”

“If you’re talking about Arosh, I want nothing to do with the Fire King.”

Arosh was the oldest fire vampire known to the immortal world, and he was situated far too close to Oleg’s territory for his liking. The ancient fire vampire’s favorite castle was in the Caucasus Mountains, less than five hundred kilometers from Oleg’s eastern compound in Sochi.

Luckily, for the past millennium the Fire King had been content to rule his small territory and collect beautiful human women for his harem. He had little use for any interaction with the outside world.

Which was good for everyone because if Oleg faced Arosh—even for a parlay—the chances that one of them would try to kill the other were high.

“Not Arosh,” Mika said. “But someone who knows him. Someone I think might be able to help.”

The following night, Oleg was standing in front of the sea again, listening to the waves crash on shore as he danced with the fire that burned in a hearth overlooking the ocean.

A tall glass enclosure protected the decorative fireplace from the ocean breeze, but when Oleg was around, the fire had more than enough energy to combat the wind.

His shirt was removed and he wore loose canvas pants that hung low on his waist. The air was crisp with an icy edge, but the fire warmed him and the ocean air soothed the prickling sensation that lived under his skin.

The flames danced as Oleg listened to the memory of an orchestra in his mind. He could see her, dancing in an eerie white gown across a stage in Vienna, playing the part of Giselle as the dancer she had once been.

With the image of Luana’s arms outstretched, Oleg spread his own to catch her in a flaming pas de deux, his fire courting the memories of his dead mate.

On nights where the moon was full, he felt the emptiness in his blood where Luana had lived, her passion, her talent, and her madness inextricably linked.

She had been everything to him.

Everything.

At one point in time, Oleg would have died for her. He had killed for her many times. He would have crawled through mud and scraped his hands to the bone to make her smile.

And Zara carried the last of Luana’s amnis in her rotten, conniving veins.

“You told me that I’m not allowed to kill her. That she belongs to you.”

Oleg coaxed the flames higher, building them and making them dance as Luana had danced, circling above him as his fire leaped across the celestial stage.

He closed his eyes and saw his mate rise up from the grave, ghostly smoke around her, her arms crossed over her chest and her golden-blond hair glittering in reflected candlelight.

She came to his memory like a vila , her ghost intent on revenge. She rose and danced in mad whorls, laughing with the agony and betrayal of love.

His mate was a beautiful monster with a shattered mind, one that Oleg couldn’t forget even though she had been dead for years.

“Luana never should have stopped dancing.”

Oleg turned and saw Mika standing at a distance, watching his element pirouette above the shore, a swirling company of red-gold flames.

“All the performances were at night,” Mika continued, watching Oleg’s fire dance and whirl in the darkness. “She could have kept dancing.”

“She would have killed the entire company. Sucked the blood from the tiniest ballerina.” Oleg whispered to his element, and it calmed from its mad performance, settling back into the hearth where it flickered and snapped at the wood. “She would have sucked the marrow from their bones.”

Mika leaned against a stone wall. “I see that you’re feeling sentimental tonight.”

Oleg cut his eyes at the impertinent man. “She was too beautiful after she changed. No one would have believed she wasn’t a witch.”

Nothing about Luana’s features had changed when she turned into a vampire. Even her eyes, which often changed color with immortality, had stayed the same sky blue. But her body had changed, as had her abilities.

Vampires did not tire or faint from exertion. They had no need to catch their breath because oxygen was only necessary to speak.

“True.” Mika sat on a bench a small distance away. “Saba has asked to see you.”

Oleg turned to look at Mika. “Saba? Saba is the ancient you were speaking about?”

“The Alitea problem may not be a problem for long.” The corner of Mika’s mouth ticked up. “Laskaris seems to have pissed off the wrong vampires.”

Saba of the Simien Mountains was the oldest immortal known to their kind. According to legend, she was an earth vampire of unspeakable power and one of the creators of the only poison that could destroy them. A poison that his mate had once encouraged him to reproduce.

If Laskaris had angered Saba, that could be very good for Oleg.

“What does she want with me?”

“A favor.” Mika shifted on the stone bench. “There were whispers and then a message from her people.”

“Am I going to Ethiopia?”

It wouldn’t be a convenient trip, but if the mother of all immortals asked to meet, no vampire would refuse unless they wanted to die.

“No.” Mika grimaced. “She’s coming to see you. She’ll be in Sevastopol next week.”

That was either a good sign or a very, very bad one.

Oleg stared at the sky swirling with gold and ice-white stars. “I see fate is coming for me.”

“Do you think she wants you to atone for your sins?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure she will tell me.” He crossed his arms over his bare chest. “I’ll take the woman.”

Mika sighed. “I really wish you wouldn’t.”

“She can visit her mother. It will be good for her.”

“That’s not why you’re taking her.”

Oleg smiled a little bit. “Oh? Then why am I taking her?”

“Just fuck her and get it over with. The fascination will die, and she won’t be a distraction anymore. It’s been far too long since you’ve had a proper lover. Just get the woman out of your system.”

Oleg had a sneaking suspicion she might be even more distracting after he’d fucked her. “And then you won’t have to worry about dangling my little human farther out on a tree branch?” He stretched out his arm and flicked his fingers in a coaxing gesture. “Here, kitty, kitty. Come get your bookkeeper, Zara.”

“You want me to protect the human and catch your daughter without killing her.” Mika narrowed his eyes. “These are not complementary goals.”

Oleg leaned against a rock wall that faced the sea. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. When was the last sighting?”

“There was a rumor that she showed her face in Plovdiv a few nights ago. Someone reported it to Radu as if he’d seen a ghost.”

“Do you think Radu knows she’s alive?”

“Knows? No. Suspects? Probably. He won’t say anything.”

Oleg nodded. “I’ll take the woman to Sevastopol. She can meet Saba. After she meets a vampire like that, nothing in our world will scare her.”

“And she might just run into your arms for protection?”

“She might.” His mouth watered at the memory of her scent, and his fangs ached in his jaw. “And once she comes to me, I will do as I wish.”