What made the difference? Was it completing the ritual that, by rights, should have killed him? Or was Kira correct, and the wall of darkness blocking his vision was of his own making? Perhaps the touch of the god when Aken showed him where Kira was removed that block. Or he'd managed to tear it down earlier but didn't see the fruits of that right away. He didn't know. All he knew was that now, only one obstacle stood in his way from a life with Kira.
Radjedef. Mencheres intended to remove that obstacle.
"I smell Radjedef here," a voice he hadn't expected stated from the room outside theirs. "Something else, too. Old, and . . . familiar."
"Veritas," Mencheres said, surprise coloring his tone.
"She caught a ride with us," Cat announced, her brows rising as she came into the room and saw Vlad nailing the guards into the wall.
Vlad paused to give her a slanted smile. "I'd welcome you with a fond embrace, Cat, but as you can see, I'm a little busy. Bones, feel free to make use of the remaining knives on those three guards."
"At a time like this, you must miss your long wooden poles," Bones noted as he began to gather up knives, giving a cold glare to the guards who were waiting in the corner.
Vlad grunted. "Do I ever."
"Brought something for you," Cat said to Kira, holding out a shopping bag. "Didn't think they'd keep you fed while they had you."
Mencheres gave Cat a grateful look as Kira opened it to reveal several sealed bags of blood inside. She'd flatly refused to feed from any of the humans held captive, saying they'd suffered enough. Now he didn't have to take her to the hotel that bordered the ruins for Kira to slake her burning hunger on unsuspecting guests.
"Thank you," she said to Cat. Then she turned her attention to Veritas, who scanned the room with silent thoroughness.
"You smell Radje. His guards can verify that they were ordered by him to kidnap me. I can sure attest to Radje holding me here against my will, and he didn't tell any of the Guardians about it. Is that enough proof that he's gone rogue?" she asked in an unflinching tone.
"For me it is." Veritas approached the guards, giving them a critical evaluation. Then she turned around, sniffing again, her brow furrowed. "But for the rest of the council, some of whom are close friends with Radjedef, it is only circumstantial evidence backed up by questionable witness statements."
"You can't be serious," Kira began.
"Even if the council were satisfied, I would still go to Radje," Mencheres interrupted her angry response. He brushed her cheek. "Not only for evidence. For recompense." Cat's nose wrinkled as she sniffed lightly near him. "Not to be rude, but what is that smell? It's like you bathed in dead bodies or something."
"I noticed it, too," Kira said. Her gaze clouded. "It worried me."
Vlad kept securing the guards, his face carefully blank. Bones raised a brow at Mencheres, waiting. He said nothing, but Veritas's gaze narrowed. She strode over to him, inhaling deeply near his chest, then as close to his head as she could reach without floating.
"Exactly how did you know where Kira was?" Veritas demanded.
"From a vision," Mencheres replied. That was part of the truth. Just not the entirety of it.
"I knew you could push past that block in your mind," Kira murmured, giving his waist a squeeze.
Veritas inhaled again, then she stepped back, her sea-green gaze turning hard.
"You smell of Aken."
Vlad muttered a curse. Cat and Kira asked, "Who's that?" at the same time.
Mencheres said nothing, holding Veritas's stare.
She recognized the lord of the underworld's scent. There was only one way Veritas would be able to do that - if she'd previously summoned Aken herself.
It seemed he'd not been the only one Tenoch had shared the secrets of that ritual with.
He and Veritas were at a stalemate. Summoning the ferryman was an act of black magic and a breach of vampire law. If she confronted Mencheres about his crime, she would have to confess her own.
"Now you know the other reason why I must go to Radje," Mencheres said evenly.
Veritas acknowledged their impasse with an inclination of her head. "I do. I wasn't always a Guardian." Then her gaze hardened again. "You must hurry. The ferryman does not tarry, and his boat never leaves empty."
"What are you two talking about?" Kira asked.
He kissed the top of her head. "I shal tell you when I return."
Cat cleared her throat. "I know I'm missing a ton of subtext here, but I understand
'hurry.' The three of us came in on one of my uncle's new jets. You know that the government has access to the fastest planes available, so if you're in a rush, you can take my ride. You'll have to squeeze into the weapons area, so it's not comfy, but it's quick."
Mencheres mulled her offer. He preferred to stay away from anything to do with human governments, but he was running short on time. "I have a plane, but it needs fuel." Cat smiled. "Mine doesn't - and did I mention it was fast?"
Chapter 35
The Bank of America building towered imperially over the rest of the skyscrapers in the Atlanta cityscape. Lights reflected off the gold-plated steel girders that crisscrossed in an open lattice design to form, of all things, a gleaming pyramid at the top. Mencheres stood on the roof of the nearby Symphony Tower, staring up at the thousand-foot skyscraper. How fitting that Radje chose this place. Their enmity had started on the sands of the Giza Plateau; but it would end here, inside the gleaming pyramid built not by ancient Pharaohs, but human industry.
He flew the other few hundred feet and landed on the exterior of the spire, sliding between the girders into its domed interior. Lights from the buildings below him paled against the dramatic golden glow that infused this metal cobweb of space. From this height, wind snatched at his clothes and hair as Mencheres spotted his old enemy standing on a beam forty feet above him, his back to Mencheres, looking out over the city spread below him.
"Do you remember when the tallest building was Khufu's pyramid?" Radje said, not turning around. "It took thousands of men and dozens of vampires to construct it. I used to sit at the top and look out over the people, marveling at how much smaller they appeared from that great height. Now look. The mortals make structures that dwarf Khufu's most magnificent accomplishment, and they erect them in under a year. How the world has changed."
Mencheres looked not at the dozens of impressive buildings Radje gestured to but at the man who'd been in his life since his birth. When Tenoch killed himself, Radjedef became the last person who'd known Mencheres since before he was a vampire. He and Radje were the last of the Fourth Dynasty Pharaohs still living. Pity Radje's insatiable jealousy and lust for power had brought them to this.