“I haven’t had a chance to meet her. It’s been very hectic here with all the soldiers coming in.” Neona stepped out of her shoes. “Which one is the Grand Tiger? Rinzen or Tenzen?”
“Neither. They’re Rajiv’s uncles. He’s the Grand Tiger.”
Neona gasped. “Rajiv? But he’s so young.” She winced. “I don’t think Freya knows.”
Zoltan shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll tell her when he’s ready.” He led her inside the bathhouse, then closed the door and slid the bar into place. “I promised you a date. I hope this will do.”
She looked around. “It’s lovely.” The room was dominated by a large sunken tub. The surface of the water glimmered in the light from two candles.
She knelt down to touch the water. “It’s warm.”
With vampire speed, Zoltan threw off his clothes. She straightened slowly, watching him. Then she smiled as he approached her.
“I won’t undress you that fast. I enjoy it too much.” He untied the sash at her waist and peeled off her tunic.
She smoothed a hand down his chest. “I enjoyed watching you. If I were a vampire, my eyes would be glowing red.”
“Like this?” He cupped her bare breasts, and his vision turned pink. His groin tightened at the thought of giving her climax number eight and nine. He teased her taut nipples, pinching gently at the hardened tips.
“I want you. Now.” She wiggled out of her pants. “Actually, I’ve wanted you since last night. Ever since you came to rescue us at the monastery.”
“Did I tell you how terrified I was? I thought I’d lost you.” He climbed into the tub and pulled her in with him. “I’ve been desperate to hold you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I didn’t realize how much I loved you till I feared I would never see you again.”
He kissed her hard, and she kissed him back. He couldn’t get her close enough. Couldn’t kiss her enough. Or touch her enough. He lifted her so he could suckle her breasts. Then lifted her more till she was perched on the edge of the pool and he could dive between her legs. Within seconds, she was crying out and her core was throbbing against his mouth.
With a satisfied growl, he plunged inside her. She wrapped her arms and legs around him. His pace was fast and hard, but she urged him to give her more. Desperation drove their desire. He pumped harder, faster, deeper, and she bucked against him, matching his every move.
With a shout, he grasped her hips and ground himself against her. She shattered with a scream just as he climaxed.
They slumped back into the pool, clinging to each other as their breathing returned to normal. And still they held each other, even as the water began to grow cold.
The first tug of death-sleep pulled at Zoltan. “The sun will be up soon.”
She nodded. “When will the army arrive at Beyul-La?”
“The night after tomorrow. Can I talk you into staying here, where it’s safe?”
“No.” She kissed him. “I’m going to be with you.”
The night arrived, and everyone was in their appointed place. Russell confirmed the army was crossing into Frederic’s valley. Zoltan waited with Neona at the top of the rock wall. Lydia, Freya, and Freddie were there, along with Angus, Robby, and J.L. Tashi was in Tiger Town, helping Emma take care of the dragon babies.
Zoltan squeezed Neona’s hand, then they readied their weapons. The Vamps were using dart guns. The women had bows and arrows, with the arrowheads treated with the same drug as the darts.
With his superior hearing, Zoltan could detect the soldiers coming down the hillside. “Just a few more seconds,” he whispered.
Neona drew back her bow. He readied his pistol.
As soon as the soldiers cleared the forest, Zoltan and his companions let loose the first volley. Eight targets hit, and they reloaded to fire again. Eight more.
“Down!” Angus yelled just before a spray of bullets went over their heads.
“Let’s go,” Angus ordered, and each Vamp grabbed a warrior woman to teleport away. They’d done their job, luring the soldiers to the rock wall, which was the best way to access Beyul-La.
Zoltan materialized with Neona at the fire pit. Damn. They were supposed to have landed next to the cave entrance. He picked her up and zoomed to the cave at vampire speed.
“What the hell was that?” Angus asked. He and the others had arrived at the right place.
“Long story,” Zoltan muttered.
A series of explosions sounded at the end of the valley. Han’s army was acting just as expected. They’d used grenades to blast away the rock wall. Any second now, the soldiers would be streaming into the valley.
“You know what to do?” Angus asked the women.
“Yes,” Lydia whispered. “We scream ‘Save the dragons’ and run into the cave.”
“Start screaming as soon as they draw close to Nima’s house,” Zoltan said. “By the time they reach Neona’s house, you’ve got to be in the cave.”
They nodded. The night before, the Vamps had tested the range of the AK-47s to make sure the women would be out of range of the approaching army.
Zoltan squeezed Neona’s shoulder. “Be careful.” He and the other three Vamps slipped inside the cave.
Since they wanted to lure the soldiers quickly into the cave, it had seemed best to make them believe that only a few frightened women were guarding it. Then they would charge straight for it, thinking an easy victory was in their grasp.
Zoltan waited, his fists clenched as he imagined an army charging straight toward Neona. He and the other Vamps had captured more raiding parties the night before, so Han’s army now numbered around one hundred and ninety.
He heard the women scream, then shout in Chinese. Then explosions burst so loud that he could no longer hear their voices. His heart lurched. Had the bastards shot some sort of rocket at the women? He lunged toward the cave entrance.
The women stood just outside, staring at the valley with stricken looks on their faces.
“Neona!” he shouted. “Hurry!”
She and the other women ran inside, and he grabbed her.
“What’s wrong?” His heart clenched at the tears in her eyes.
“They blew up my house!” she cried.
“Let’s go!” Angus shouted.
They teleported the women away before the soldiers could reach the cave. The designated landing spot was the forest above the burial mounds.
Zoltan landed with Neona behind Minerva’s burial mound. Quickly he pushed her down so they were flat on the ground. Below, in the valley, soldiers were charging for the cave. Smoke rose from the ruins of the houses.
“What’s wrong?” Neona whispered. “We’re supposed to be in the forest.”
He winced. “My teleportation is off. I think it’s because of the Living Water.”
He scooted to the edge of the mound and peered down into the valley. As expected, many of the soldiers ran straight into the cave, hoping to be the first ones to find the dragons so they could share in the glory of pleasing Master Han. To lure them into the second, larger cavern, the shifters had moved the empty nests there and hidden a tape recorder that played the sound of crying babies.
Some of the soldiers lingered outside the cave. It was the shifters’ job to make them go inside. The shifters were hidden in the nearby woods and fired AK-47s at the ground in front of the soldiers. The soldiers retreated inside the cave but remained in the first cavern room. Tremendous roars shook the forest, then three grizzly bears, three tigers, and two panthers charged toward the cave. The men screamed and ran toward the second cavern.
A trapdoor had been tied in place along the ceiling in the corridor. Ian was levitated and hidden on the ceiling, and once all the soldiers entered the cavern, he would cut the rope, and the heavy door would swing down and block the only entrance. Then he would slide the
steel bars into place, and the men would be trapped inside.
Zoltan stood and helped Neona to her feet. The valley was empty now, except for the shifters in animal form who prowled around the entrance of the cave.
Angus and the others emerged from the forest to join him by the burial mounds.
“Is something wrong with yer teleporting?” Angus asked.
Zoltan sighed. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“I do worry. Ye’re no’ going into the cave with the rest of us.”
“Angus—”
“I mean it, lad.” Angus scowled at him. “If ye’re off a few feet, you could materialize into solid rock.” He turned to look at the rest of the Vamps. “Jack, ye’ll take his place.”
With vampire speed, Robby carried a large duffel bag from the forest and handed out earplugs and gas masks with eye protection to Angus, J.L., Dougal, and Jack. He kept one set for himself, then passed out the stun grenades.
Zoltan cursed inwardly as the five men got ready to teleport without him.
Russell cursed out loud. “I didn’t see Han with the army. Did anyone spot him? He always has that stupid gold mask on his face.”
“I was looking for Xiao Fang.” Freya sighed. “But I didn’t see him.”
Down below, the shifters returned to the forest to turn back into their human form. Dressed once again, they ran toward the burial mounds to join the others.
Ian materialized beside them. “The trapdoor is down! They’re all inside.”
The five Vamps vanished. Zoltan knew exactly what they were doing, since he was supposed to be with them. They would teleport close to the ceiling, levitate instantly to keep from falling, then drop the stun grenades and teleport out.
Neona gasped. “Someone’s appearing!” She pointed toward the fire pit.
Zoltan whirled around to look. Master Han had materialized in the valley, and he was holding Xiao Fang. Either they were escaping the cave, or they had just arrived.
“Han!” Russell teleported downhill and drew a pistol.
Zoltan zoomed down the hillside.
Han turned to face Russell, holding the boy in front of him as a shield.
Zoltan ran up behind him, cursing silently that the only weapons on him were a dart gun and a knife. He shot a dart at Han, then threw his knife.
Han stiffened as both struck his body, then he vanished, taking Xiao Fang with him.
“Dammit!” Russell shook clenched fists at the sky.
Angus and the other four Vamps materialized by the fire pit. As they removed their gas masks, a series of loud bangs sounded inside the mountain. The stun grenades were going off.
“Han was just here with Xiao Fang,” Zoltan told them. “He’s injured, but he escaped.”
Angus sighed.
“Poor Xiao Fang,” Freddie whispered. “He must be so afraid.”
J.L. patted her shoulder. “We’ll get him back.”
The bangs inside the mountain stopped.
“Ready?” Angus asked the four other Vamps. “We shoot as many soldiers with darts as possible. If they look like they’re recovering from the stun grenades, we toss in more tear gas. And shoot some more.”
A loud explosion shook the ground. The mountain rumbled.
“What the hell?” Zoltan asked.
“The fools!” Angus shouted. “They’re trying to blast their way out of the mountain.”
More explosions sounded as the disoriented and frantic soldiers detonated more grenades. The mountain shook. Rocks tumbled down.
“Run!” Zoltan picked up Neona and zoomed toward the burial mounds at vampire speed. Beside him, other Vamps were carrying women. The shifters were right behind them. The ground trembled under their feet.
Zoltan stopped close to the forest and set Neona down. They looked back at the rumbling mountain. With a huge creaking sound, the mountain imploded, the top part caving into the giant cavern, crushing the men inside. The impact was strong enough to shake the ground where they stood.
Zoltan grabbed Neona as she stumbled beside him. Smoke and debris rose into the air, clouding their vision, yet they all continued to stare, stunned by a mountain that was suddenly half the size it used to be.
“The devil take it,” Angus whispered.
“The devil will take them,” Robby said. “I doona think any of them survived.”
“Bloody hell.” Angus ripped off his gas mask and threw it down. “We were trying to save them.”
“Our . . . our Living Water,” Lydia whispered. “It’s gone. We cannot get to it.”
“Oh, my God!” Freya cried. “We’ll grow old now!”
“The dragons can never come back,” Freddie added. “Their home is gone. And our homes are gone.”
Zoltan winced as he saw the tears on their faces.
“What will we do?” Freya sniffed.
Lydia heaved a forlorn sigh. “I suppose I’ll have to live with Tashi and that farmer of hers.”
“But we’ll be separated,” Freddie protested.
“It is the end of Beyul-La,” Neona whispered.
Zoltan closed his eyes briefly. What had he done to these women?
“And we didn’t even save Xiao Fang,” Freddie mumbled.
“But he’s still alive,” J.L. told her. “We’re all still alive. And we beat the bad guys.”
“We creamed them!” Jimmy shouted.
“Yeah!” Jesse yelled.
“They creamed themselves, the puir bastards,” Angus muttered, looking at the crumbled mountain.
“We’ve lost everything.” Lydia collapsed on the ground by the burial mounds where her mother and two of her daughters were interred. “What did they die for? After three thousand years, it’s over.”
Neona sniffed as more tears rolled down her cheeks.
Zoltan’s heart twisted in his chest. It had been his idea to trap the soldiers in the mountain. Now the dragons had lost their home. His beloved Neona had lost her home. All the women of Beyul-La had lost their homes and their Living Water.
Queen Nima had been right all along. He had destroyed their world.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Three days later
Neona woke with a jerk and sat up on her pallet in the guesthouse at Tiger Town. She’d fallen asleep again? Ever since the battle at Beyul-La, she couldn’t seem to lie down without falling fast asleep. She suspected it was her mind’s way of escaping a reality she was having a hard time accepting.
The life she’d lived for two thousand years was over. Jia, the were-tigress, had been very kind when Neona and the other women had arrived three days earlier. Jia had said they were welcome to stay in Tiger Town as long as they wished.
Neona stood and wandered over to the window. The sun would be setting soon. Where was Zoltan doing his death-sleep? At his castle? When night fell there and he woke up, would he teleport back here?
She hadn’t seen him the last two nights. After dropping her off in Tiger Town, he’d gone back with the other Vamps to collect soldiers. There were some unconscious ones in Frederic’s valley. Zoltan had returned to the guesthouse shortly before dawn with a grim look on his face.
“I love you,” was all he’d said before falling into his death-sleep. She’d taken Norjee to breakfast, then to the school. She’d helped Emma with the dragon babies, then that afternoon, she’d fallen asleep. When she woke up, it was past sunset, and Zoltan was gone. He’d left a note.
I never quit a job till it’s done to my satisfaction. I will fix things. Remember I love you.
What did he mean by fixing things? She’d read the note over and over, trying to decipher its meaning. Had he gone to his castle to fix things there? Was he planning for her and Norjee to live there with him? Or was he arranging things there so he could live here in Tiger Town? Why hadn’t
she heard from him?
She paced about the small room. She should have kept one of those sat phones so she could call him. Tashi had taken one with her when the Vamps had teleported her and her mother to the village, where her farmer lived.
Freddie and Freya were still in Tiger Town. They were helping Emma with the dragon babies, since Emma fell into her death-sleep during the day.
Neona leaned over to roll up Norjee’s pallet. He seemed happy enough. He was going to the Tiger Town school with the other children and learning self-defense and archery. At night, he still cried, worrying about his friend Xiao Fang. She knew he wanted to stay here so he could be close to the action and the ongoing search for Xiao Fang.
It was interesting here in Tiger Town, but after centuries of taking care of herself, Neona grated at the thought of living off the were-tigers’ charity. Jia assured her she would be earning her keep as a healer, but Neona still felt uneasy. She was used to mountains and valleys for as far as she could see. Rushing streams and crisp, cool mountain air. For days on end, she would roam the forests, hunting, with her pet leopard at her side.
Her heart twinged with worry for Zhan. When they’d teleported away from Beyul-La, she’d called and called for him. He hadn’t come. Was he all right? Was he finding food to eat?
And where the hell was Zoltan? She could hear her mother’s voice announcing with glee that she’d known all along he couldn’t be trusted. He had abandoned her.
No! She shook that thought away and left the guesthouse.
As she approached the large courtyard, she spotted Norjee with two dozen other boys, learning martial arts from Rinzen and Tenzen. Norjee waved at her, grinning. She smiled back, then chuckled when Tenzen tapped the boy’s head for not paying attention.
She wandered over to the top of the stairs that led downhill. Before her lay the Mekong River and the village of were-tiger houses built on stilts along the river’s edge. The sky lit up with shades of pink and orange as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Her eyes filled with tears and she blinked them away, irritated by how emotional she’d been lately. She was homesick, that was all. She missed her sister, her valley, her pet leopard, her house, her way of life. How soon would she start aging now? Would she have to become a vampire like Zoltan in order to live with him forever? Would she have to lose the ability to be alive during the day? Would she lose the sun, too?