A Stone-Kissed Sea

  “I told you I hadn’t agreed to any…” She blinked and looked down at her feet sunk in the mud at the edge of the lake.

  “Makeda?”

  “Something is coming,” she whispered. “I can feel it in the water.”

  Lucien whipped around, snapping at Gedeyon and Hirut, who had stood as soon as he felt Makeda’s alarm. His friends flanked Makeda as Lucien stood on the edge of the water. His shoes were off and his feet drew energy from the earth he stood on. He sank his energy down into the soil, past the rock and into the lake bed. He felt the foreign energy vibrate in the murky water, felt the massive surge of power.

  Who would dare?

  This was Saba’s land. No one was foolish enough to come at her people. Not unless they wanted to be wiped from the earth.

  “Lucien?”

  “I feel it.”

  It was in the air. A sucking vortex of water appeared in the distance. It looked like a waterspout, but Lucien knew this was no air vampire. The column moved across the water at ferocious speed, heading straight for them. Makeda vibrated behind him, and he could sense her control about to snap.

  “Gedeyon.”

  “I have her.”

  This was no time for Makeda to lose it. Newborn vampires could be fierce in combat, but only against an unskilled opponent. Any water vampire able to construct and travel in that column was more than skilled.

  He was a master.

  Lucien caught a scent on the breeze. It was familiar… and it wasn’t. Something about it didn’t make sense. Gedeyon and Hirut must have noticed it at the same time. They both frowned in confusion.

  “Mother?” Hirut said. “But how could she create—?”

  “She can’t.” Lucien stepped farther into the lake, wading up to his knees as the stunning column of muddy water came closer. As it did, the water column shrank, grew shorter and wider until its maker was visible through the swirling water.

  His beard was trimmed and his bronze hair tamed into a barely savage mane, but the olive skin was the same. The piercing blue eyes and fearsome visage. Lucien stepped toward Kato, and the ancient vampire’s face broke into a wide smile even as the vortex calmed and fell around him to settle back into the lake. And still Kato walked upon the surface, a creature of such enormous strength that ancient peoples had seen him and named him a god.

  “Theio.” Lucien bowed from the waist, his heart surging with fond memories. Behind Kato, Saba emerged, holding Kato’s hand as the two walked toward him. “Mother.”

  “Lucien.” Kato’s voice boomed. “Son of my heart.” Kato stopped in front of Lucien, his feet sinking into the water as he brought his arms around Lucien in a tight embrace. “It is so good to finally see your face.”

  Lucien felt tears come to his eyes when Kato kissed his forehead. He wrapped his arms around his uncle and offered a silent prayer of thanks.

  Lucien had not seen Kato in centuries. Not since Ziri and Arosh had concocted the fiction of their battle with the old king—a battle widely believed to have caused the death of both Kato and the legendary fire king. Lucien had mourned bitterly at the loss of them both, but especially of Kato. He’d discovered Kato and Arosh were alive only when they revealed themselves in Rome, but he had not seen his favorite uncle since then. They had both been recovering from Elixir poisoning. Both had been in seclusion. Kato was still believed dead by many in the immortal world.

  “I have missed you, Theio,” Lucien said.

  “I was so pleased when your mother told me you had recovered.”

  “And you… how?”

  Kato’s amnis had been broken by the Elixir virus for centuries. His sire was dead. From everything they knew about Elixir infection, his uncle should not have recovered.

  “We will tell our stories,” Kato said, patting the back of Lucien’s head, “after we greet new friends, yes?”

  “Of course.” Just then, Lucien realized Kato’s arrival could not have come at a better time. “I am so glad you’re here.”

  Saba grinned at Kato’s side, then she grabbed Lucien’s face and kissed his cheeks. “You look so much healthier, yene Luka. Who have you brought to me now? Is it the doctor you spoke of in your letters? Did we surprise you?”

  “You frightened us,” Lucien said. “The waterspout was a nice touch.”

  Saba laughed from her belly. “So much fun to travel with Kato! I forget. Ziri has speed, but Kato—”

  “Has style.” The ancient winked at Saba and pinched her chin. “We came up the river. It seemed the fastest way.”

  “The river” must have referred to the Nile, which flowed from the Mediterranean all the way up to Lake Tana in the mountains. Because who else would walk the Nile river as if it was his own personal pathway?

  Only Kato.

  “Who… are you?” Makeda whispered behind him.

  Lucien turned with a wide smile, Kato’s arm still around his shoulders. “This, yene konjo, is your new teacher.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Makeda stared at the two vampires across the fire. If she’d had no knowledge of the vampire world—knew nothing of immortals or amnis or elemental power—they would still not seem human. The air around them crackled with energy. They moved through the world with inhuman grace. Saba’s wrist turned up, and six rocks appeared around the fire pit, perfectly smooth and suited for each person’s height. Hirut brought a pan of coffee to the fire and handed it to Saba, who roasted the beans as she and Gedeyon chatted about the island and her people who had been left in his care.

  Kato sat beside them, legs stretched out on the ground as he leaned his massive shoulders against a rock. When Saba handed him a clay jebena filled with water, he held it in his hands and Makeda saw steam pour out of the neck. He handed it back to her and she set it over a warming fire until the coffee had roasted.

  “Incredible, aren’t they?” Lucien whispered in her ear.

  “Completely.” She glanced at him but looked away before the intimacy of eye contact tempted her too much. “Are they… together?”

  Lucien stared at his mother as she performed the coffee ceremony for Gedeyon and Hirut, waving the smoke from the roasting coffee toward them so they could enjoy the offering of fragrance.

  Makeda wondered if she’d be able to stand the richness of traditional coffee with her new taste buds. Most of her food Hirut had made bland so Makeda could become accustomed to flavors again. White bread and shiro were about as daring as she got these days. Well, white bread, shiro, and blood.

  “Hmm?”

  “Kato and Saba. Are they…?”

  “Lovers?” Lucien frowned a little. “I don’t think so. They were a long time ago, but Kato generally prefers men.” Lucien shrugged. “But who knows? If either of them needed affection, the other would offer it with no hesitation. They are very close.”

  Makeda watched Lucien observe the others. She had never seen him more profoundly at ease. “You love them.”

  He looked down and smiled before he put an arm around her. “Very much. And you will too. Ziri and Arosh… I’ll let you form your own opinion.” Lucien tensed. “Don’t have sex with Arosh.”

  Makeda’s eyebrows rose. “Excuse me?”

  “Not just because I want you for myself, but because… Well, he’s Arosh. You’ll probably want to. Just know it’s a bad idea.”

  Saba called out, “Sex with Arosh is never a bad idea, son. Don’t be so possessive.”

  Makeda’s eyes went wide. Had Saba heard their whole conversation? If her cheeks could flame with embarrassment, they would have.

  “Saba and Arosh are devoted lovers,” Lucien said. “They just aren’t constant ones.”

  Saba waved her hand. “What is constant when you are as old as we are?”

  Kato leaned back and looked up. “The stars. They are constant.”

  “Even stars burn out occasionally.” Saba leaned over and gently kissed his mouth. “And then sometimes they shine again.”

  “Why would I want to have sex w
ith someone I don’t know?” Makeda asked. “I’m genuinely curious why you think I’d be tempted by that.”

  Saba laughed out loud. Even demure Hirut smiled a little.

  “Arosh is the fire king,” Kato said, also grinning. “His women love him, and he loves women. His harem is well-satisfied, but he always enjoys a challenge.” Kato nodded firmly. “You would be a challenge.”

  “Why?” She frowned. “Not that I’m going to have sex with a complete stranger, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

  “Your loss,” Saba said.

  Kato looked at Lucien, and his smile grew impossibly bigger. Makeda looked over her shoulder.

  Oh.

  Lucien was staring into the fire, his jaw clenched. His fingers dug into her hip.

  “Lucien.” She nudged his knee with her own. “I’m not going to have sex with the fire king. Just the name makes him sound like a pretty bad bet.”

  His fingers relaxed, and his frown eased into a smile. “Good.”

  “Not that I’m agreeing to anything else, so get that smug smile off your face.”

  Kato laughed. “I like her.”

  Saba poured the coffee, but her eyes met Makeda’s and she winked.

  ❖

  The excitement of the previous night couldn’t be matched by the routine of the second night, but Makeda enjoyed it more. She passed another quiet day in Lucien’s bed. This time, because she’d fed before she went to sleep, there was no raging hunger to overwhelm her. She woke to a soft kiss on the cheek and quiet words urging her to drink.

  It was affectionate and so soothing she had to fight the urge to curl into him and sate her hunger for Lucien’s body. Every night she felt more and more in control of her emotions and instincts, except where Lucien was concerned. Her hunger for him only grew. Even when they fought, she wanted him.

  In fact, she might have wanted him more.

  That night, while Makeda and Kato walked out into the water, Lucien was running an analysis on a sample of Kato’s blood he’d asked for.

  “Like you,” the giant vampire said, “my preference is for saltwater. But the basic practices are the same. You’ll only be stronger, more in control, in the sea.”

  “The Elixir virus broke your connection to your element,” Makeda said. “But you’ve recovered fully?”

  He didn’t seem offended by her question. “I wouldn’t say fully, but I am nearly whole. My children are all dead, but they had their own children, and their blood strengthens me.”

  Makeda flipped through what she knew of current Elixir treatment. “Partial transfusion?”

  “Total exsanguination followed by partial transfusion.”

  Something wasn’t adding up. Even total exsanguination wouldn’t have killed off the virus in his marrow. At least, not that alone. “It’s startling that you have survived.”

  “I’m vampire.” Kato smiled. “And I’m still the strongest of my kind.”

  “Do you mean the strongest of water vampires?”

  “Yes.”

  Makeda paused. “The strongest in the world?”

  Kato shrugged. “I believe so.”

  “Because you’re the oldest?”

  “I don’t know that I am,” he said. “Though it’s possible. There are rumors of some ancients in the South Pacific who may be older than me. But in my world, I am the greatest.”

  Makeda supposed that for an ancient Mediterranean king, the world still revolved around his sea. “You’re the common ancestor Baojia talked about. The one all the water vampires are descended from.”

  “Am I?” He cocked his head. “Possibly. It’s been so long that none of us really remember our origins. The elders in the East claim to have accounts of the earliest vampires—they call them Sida—but they could be lying. Ziri believes them, but that could be because the Sida were supposed to have been wind walkers like him. He said his sire was one of the horse people.” Kato put his hands on his hips and looked at Makeda. “History isn’t interesting to me. We should play with water.”

  Makeda couldn’t stop her smile. Lucien was correct. She was quickly growing to love Kato. He was jovial and humorous. And though his power was frightening, Makeda’s fear was tempered by his charm. There was an innocence to Kato. To him, the world was still a simple place. He spoke warmly of his friends and children’s children. He spoke of obliterating his enemies with a deft levity that confused and charmed Makeda at the same time.

  As for Saba, Makeda found the other woman too intimidating to be lovable.

  Kato and Makeda waded into the water and dove deep. Kato had demanded Makeda wear as little clothing as possible for her lessons, so she’d stripped down to only panties and an undershirt. The freedom in the water felt incredible.

  “I feel everything,” she said, surfacing after long minutes and floating on her back to watch the stars. “I can feel the fishes and the hippos. The birds as they float or dive. How is that possible?”

  “Because you’re connected to the water, you feel the void where the animals exist,” Kato said. “That is why Lucien couldn’t understand. Earth vampires reach for the substance, while we look for the void. Much as your mind assumes information to paint a cohesive picture of a mosaic, your amnis fills in the information you’re sensing from the water.” He pointed to his right. “A group of six hippos is over there sleeping.”

  Makeda laughed. “Hippos are easy to sense.”

  “Because they displace so much water. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “What you need to learn is how to coax the water.” He swam to her and grasped her hand. “Hold on to me. Feel what my amnis does first, then try it yourself.”

  They floated for hours, most of which consisted of Kato demonstrating how to coax the water and Makeda fumbling through some poor imitation of it. Nevertheless, her teacher was endlessly patient.

  “Remember, Makeda, your own body is over half water.” He stood behind her, her hands cradled in his giant palms as she felt his amnis move. “Water is in the air. In the soil. It’s everywhere. Water is what came first of all things.”

  “But how do I manipulate it?”

  “You have to find its energy first,” he said. “Don’t think. Feel. Allow yourself to listen to your instincts.”

  “I thought I was supposed to fight my instincts.”

  She felt his chest rumble in a quiet laugh. “Why would you do that?”

  “So I don’t kill anybody?” she said. “That seems like a good reason.”

  Makeda felt him shrug massive shoulders.

  “People die all the time. It’s the way of things. You shouldn’t kill innocent people because there is no honor in killing that which offers no harm. You shouldn’t let your hunger consume you. But self-control is a weapon like anything else. Be careful you don’t let your armor weigh you down.”

  “So learn self-control. And also learn when to let it go?”

  “If you can’t ever let it go, it becomes a prison.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Not a tool.”

  Makeda wondered if Kato could read minds. Waking that night, she hadn’t been hungry for food; she’d been hungry for Lucien. She’d slaked one thirst, but the other still burned.

  “If you don’t listen to your instincts and learn to read them, you’ll never master your element. Find the water within you. Let it connect to the water without. Once you feel the tie between yourself and your environment…” He broke away from her, stepping to the side and lifting his arms as if in prayer. The lake rose in a sheer curtain of rippling, living water. Fish danced in it. Curious birds swooped by and shook their feathers. “…you will know your power, Makeda Abel.”

  He let the water come crashing down and turned to Makeda, the spray billowing around him, drawn to his bare skin. “This world belongs to us. Water is the true cradle of life. The whole of this world is nothing but a stone-kissed sea, a playground for our kind.” A wide smile broke through the darkness. “No matter what the others might t
hink, in our world, she who controls water can rule the earth.”

  ❖

  Makeda was still trying to figure out the trial protocols for Dr. McTierney two nights later. She wondered if she shared Kato’s assertion with the Irish physician whether he’d be more amenable to her requests.

  Just so you know, Dr. McTierney, I’ve been told by a former emperor that I could possibly rule the earth, so you should probably just send me daily reports and not bitch about it.

  That might not work as well as she hoped.

  Makeda had spoken to Brenden McTierney on the satellite phone the previous night and was reasonably content with his competency. She also warned him she’d expect nightly updates once the trials were underway, even though the doctor balked at that amount of oversight. She was micromanaging, but he’d just have to live with it. She’d never run trials from a distance before. It was infuriating on several levels.

  Lucien strode into the lab carrying a handful of papers. “I think I’ve figured something out.”

  She glanced at him and quickly glanced away. The normally aloof vampire had kept up his steady and affectionate behavior, leaving Makeda wondering what had come over her former antagonist and when whatever switch he’d flipped would flip back. She wasn’t accustomed to Lucien’s affection, and in the absence of her normal support system, she didn’t want to become dependent on it. That couldn’t lead to anything good.

  “What did you figure out?” Makeda asked, keeping her eyes trained on her calculations.

  “I’ve figured out where the virus originates.”

  “In the marrow,” she said. “We knew that.”

  “I mean before that.”

  She looked up. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s a virus. It doesn’t spontaneously generate, it’s transmitted. Replicated. But it’s the only virus in history that seems to affect vampires,” he said. “Why?”

  “I… don’t know. You’re the vampire-biology expert. I assumed you had—”

  “Immunity.” Lucien pulled up a stool and sat on it, so close she could feel his amnis crackling with excitement. “And we do. We have centuries of it. Every antibody our sires and their sires ever had. But we have nothing to fight off this virus because it looks like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”