Chapter 21

Leandro

As I came back down, momentarily sated by Anais and the wonderful way our bodies fit together, I knew I could spend hours and hours in her company simply lavishing attention on her body and showing her what could be hers.

The reminder that this was nothing but a job to her, however, and I was nothing but a vampire she had to work with to get it done, stung and brought me back from that reality. I lifted up and off her, before helping her to her feet and making her decent again.

"You should keep practicing all that. I'm going to go back out there and see what I can learn. Rest if you need to after that."

"And if I don't need to rest and want to help learn what we can?" she asked, her gaze on my face as if she could see through to my soul. I hoped she couldn't see how I truly felt and how much I wanted her. I didn't want to be asking her to fight like this or be putting her in danger, but I didn't know how else to complete the mission.

"Leave it at least a little while. I've got to talk to my uncle and let him know what we do so far. Even if we don't know exactly what Ludis is planning, it will help him to know that it will only be a problem in two days."

"Then come meet you in the lounge?"

I nodded, knowing that would mean we would have to act as if we were even more involved again. If she came to the lounge again before sun up I would be expected to enjoy her and I didn't know how much more I could take of pretending when I wanted so much more.

A part of me didn't care. I wanted to make the most of it. To touch every inch of her and explore every piece until the memory of her was burned into my mind. That way, if I never saw her again I could remember her for the rest of forever.

The last, small part of me wanted to insist that I should keep her. That no one could ever give her what I could and she should stay with me and I should get her as addicted as possible so she never left, but I knew that I had to ignore that part. It wouldn't be love and wouldn't feel the same if I knew she was only still in my world because she found it difficult to leave. I couldn't hurt her like that.

To help clear my head and get my focus back to the task, I needed to put some distance between us.

Without another word, I straightened my clothes, grabbed my suit jacket to hide the creases and marks she'd made on my shirt and made my way out of the suite.

I knew that I was leaving her a little vulnerable, but I wouldn't be far away and I knew that if I went down a deck and onto the private deck for the wealthier members who had booked the suites that I would be able to hear if anything major did happen to her. I could stand just below the bedroom.

It was all the security I could offer her when I was a danger to her myself, and it would have to be enough.

For a few minutes I simply calmed myself down and tried to think of the best way to tell my uncle what was going on here. I didn't have as much information as I would have liked, but the hunter had certainly complicated the mission. She had also given me a way to earn Ludis's trust though and I needed to remember that.

So far, the information we knew had also come from Ludis bragging to her, a move I hadn't expected. It was almost as if he couldn't decide if she was a threat, so he was sizing her up and bigging himself up at the same time.

While I was potentially another vampire looking to make it big off him, I was possibly exactly the wrong sort of undercover to have gained the information I needed. Being more aloof was about the only element that might have been working for me, it appeared now.

I could continue to do so. It might even help my cause if Ludis thought I had plans of my own. He might begin to see me as a potential threat and either let his guard down, make a mistake, or try to show me up and reveal his intentions in an attempt to keep me in line.

All this time I had been trying to earn his trust when it appeared that I should have been trying to play off his insecurities instead. But I would figure out how to do that from now on. Now I knew it was how I could play this.

Thankfully, I had time. We had time. No matter how alone I felt, I needed to remind myself that Anais wanted to stop him as much as I did, even if she had different reasons. She had been as shafted by life as I had. Another reason I liked her as much as I did.

Taking another breath, I did my best to push my thoughts of Anais out of my head again and focused on the task at hand. I pulled out my phone and began messaging my uncle.

It took me several minutes to get my report worded the way I wanted, but I focused on just giving him the definite details I knew so far. Ludis was definitely up to something, was going to be making some kind of pick up or trade in two days and he believed that as soon as the trade was complete, he was going to be far more powerful.

I knew that my uncle would want more information so I looked up the cruise we were on next and what port we would be arriving at then. We had got on the boat in Italy, but I'd not bothered to see where we were going. It never mattered to me when I wasn't planning on committing crimes of any kind.

It appeared that our next day would be at sea, but we were heading down the coast of Greece afterwards and would arrive in one of the ports that allowed people to check out some historical areas of Greece. I frowned, not sure who would be in the area and if there were any warlocks, witches or other magical folks who might be interested in trading with Ludis.

Of course, someone could be flying into the area, but I doubted so. If someone would be flying in, I was almost certain it would be the day after and they would meet Ludis in Athens.

The location had to be important, but I wasn't sure how, yet.

Exactly as I suspected, my uncle responded to me swiftly and made it clear what he thought of my efforts so far. I read the response several times, trying to decide if I wanted Ludis to possibly put an end to my uncle after all.

You have been out there for almost a week and you have only this information for me? On top of that, I hear that there was a shooting in Vegas and the hunters academy there are riled. The strings I had to pull to keep everything quiet is beyond the pale. Find out where he is going in two days and make sure you stop him before then. I hope you've also thought about how to prevent him from ever planning something like this again, or you have evidence to present to the Brethren if I am to act instead. I also hope that I don't have to remind you what can happen to our family if you fail.

The last sentence was what annoyed me most. My uncle had raised me after my father had been killed and for that I was grateful, but there were times he said things like this that made me wonder if he had been behind it or hadn't cared as much as he pretended that he was now in charge when he said he had never wanted to be.

Sometimes I wondered how much he also schemed. Of course, I had no proof that my uncle had ever done anything he shouldn't, but the more I was dragged into the world of the Brethren, the more I was noticing that they all schemed on some level.

While they liked to pretend that they all held their power because of duty and respect for the order of things, weak vampires were taken out by stronger ones all the time. Our numbers never grew out of control because too many of us died still at the hands of others.

And I had hidden from that a lot of my life, but my uncle wasn't going to let me hide from that much longer and I was beginning to suspect I didn't want to anymore.

I held off replying to him for a little longer and instead looked up the area we were going to on a map. There had to be something in this part of Greece that had importance.

As I researched, looking up a few ancient vampire prophecies and all sorts of different angles that might hold some truth to them I also messaged another friend I thought I could trust who studied old vampire magic to see if he knew of any reasons Ludis might consider this port to be important in some way.

Now that I had some information, I was going to make use of it. And I had a nagging feeling deep in my gut that there was something to the location, I just couldn't remember what.

When nothing I remembered of old vampire lore came to mind, I cursed myself for not studying harder when I was younger and decided to try another angle. I began searching for the tourist destinations and looking up the planned cruise trips. While I didn't think Ludis would book himself on anything like a cruise trip and I knew that he would struggle out in the day, even as a turned from our clan, whatever it was, there would need to be plans to get him there in a car or shade.

None of us traveled during the day without making plans, usually. Not without an artifact that might help us, or some serious skin problems for a few days after. There was a chance that whatever item or magic Ludis thought he would gain, that it would take care of that as well. I had to consider that he might just be getting himself a ring or amulet that allowed him to day walk unimpeded.

Just being able to move among the living during the day could make a huge difference to a vampire's life and plans. While I was looking at a map of the area, I frowned and wondered if I was missing one possible option.

It was only a rumor, as far as I was aware, but there was an old true-blood tale that the original Greek Olympians. The gods of Greek mythology, had truly been true-blood vampires from the various clans. The whole Hades and Persephone myths had held a personal fascination to me and made me wonder if they were true.

But it had also implied that their power had been granted by some very powerful magical artifacts. Ones like the slightly more easily acquired day walker enchanted relics here and there. If they did exist, they could be wielded by the turned as well as Brethren.

Given how confident Ludis was, I suspected that one of these might have been discovered. It was a wild theory, however, and I didn't know if I truly believed it. I would be clutching at straws and trying to find an answer where there might not be one. Just because they might have existed and they might be in this area, didn't mean there was anything to the story.

If I was going to assume that was the case, I needed to have some more evidence and a corroborating piece of information. And I couldn't afford to be wrong. This investigation was far from over, but it was all I had to go on for now and I knew I would need to appease my uncle a little more. He would be expecting me to tell him more information, or I might find he showed up on the boat himself and made sure the task was completed another way.

Or worse, I could see my clan fall and Ludis would become its new leader. That I couldn't let happen.

After quickly looking for information on any archaeological digs in the area, I was surprised to easily find news of some near what was suspected to be the original Mount Olympus. I sent these on to my friend as a hope that he might have some idea what was there and then considered a response to my uncle. I was close to done with this whole situation.

It appears he is looking for an old relic of Greece. I will get one of my own people to identify what and make sure I get to it first.

The message was brief and I had to hope it would satisfy my uncle for now, even if I didn't know if it was actually the truth or not. With that sent, I wasn't sure how much I could do alone. I knew I had to tread carefully.

I also knew that if this was right, I was creating a potential second threat by involving another vampire who might take it, but I trusted the one I had contacted more than Ludis, that was for sure.

If this was what I was looking for and I could get to it first, or my friend could, then the problem would be solved and it would be time to end this mission entirely. All I'd need to do is get Anais to finish the vampire off.

Working out how to do that would be another element entirely. I didn't know if Anais was up to it. She was progressing and she was eager to learn, but she was still a human and not strong enough for this. Not really.

I had to trust her to do her part in this mission, but that was also something I had to consider. Trusting others wasn't high on my common choices and I still knew very little about this woman other than what she had chosen to tell me. If I was even able to trust her stories.

Shaking my head, I tucked my phone in my pocket. I had gotten so used to seeing duplicity and looking for danger, that I was struggling to accept that someone might just be totally trustworthy. Anais had no reason to be putting herself in this much danger unless she was trying to complete the mission she claimed to be doing.

No matter what, I had to trust someone in this whole affair.