Both he and Novac stare at the hole for a few moments. Bits of brick lie at their feet, and debris is still falling to the floor as a group of Upgrades throws off the door to barge inside. The Executioner holds up a hand.

  “We don’t need assistance, please return to your business.”

  The Upgrades hesitate and still hover around the door, but one final glare from the Executioner sends them on their way.

  “One of our men runs a construction business here in town, I’ll ask him to see to that,” the Executioner says, motioning to the hole. For a moment there Nathaniel worries the green-eyed devil is going to pat his shoulder or something, but luckily that doesn’t happen.

  “Still, don’t forget that everybody here besides your small retinue of Upgrades, Alice and me just met you,” he continues. “Gino says they already fear you and respect you even more than before, which is understandable, since the energy of your presence alone is enough to crush them if it must be. But this—” He motions with his hand to the hole again. “This proves you’re not in control, and that’s scary as fuck.”

  Nathaniel laughs a self-pitying laugh. “I need anger management.”

  Novac walks behind the desk that used to be his, and sits in the dusty leather swivel chair, while Nathaniel takes a seat across from him, leaning back and rubbing his face with his hands like an exhausted man.

  “You look tired.” Novac states. “Unusual for an Upgrade.”

  “I’m not tired, I’m emotionally overwhelmed.”

  Novac keeps looking at Nathaniel, assessing him. “Why did you decide to come and protect Leona yourself?” he inquires. “Why didn’t you send another? Gino or the Conjurer, for example, they’re two of our strongest.”

  “Her dark powers, Damian.” Nathaniel drops his hands on his thighs, realizing he just called the Executioner by his first name. But he’s felt a genuine urge to do so, and it seems it doesn’t bother Novac. “No one in the Order is a match for her temptress allure, it turns out not even me. The shadow stalker has a dark influence that pulls the worst out of her, plus that he can do things we don’t even know about yet, so we’re fighting an invisible enemy. Any other Upgrade would have been at risk, I had to take on this myself.”

  “And now you need to take it up a notch. You have to mentor her all the way to the best version of herself, prepare her to draw the stalker to her, and then draw him in a trap.”

  Nathaniel ponders, eyes up at the ceiling. This is the second time he hears this plan. Back in the piano room, the Executioner went into a little bit more detail, and Leona agreed immediately, of course. She wants to spend more time with him.

  “I can’t be alone with her,” Nathaniel finally decrees, shaking his head. “I won’t be able to control myself, I’ll sleep with her again, take advantage of her feelings for me. Fleeting, shallow temptress feelings that will leave me clutching the broken pieces of my own heart after she forgets me and falls for another, but what matters is that she’s in love with me now, and I won’t be able to resist that. Damn it, what am I turning into?”

  Damian leans forward on the desk, trying to get through to him. “Viscount, what you feel is normal. I’ve been there, too.”

  “Call me Nathaniel. After all, you know my darkest secret—I lust after a woman, a human one no less.” He lets out a growl of frustration, running his hand through his black curls. “Even now, all I can think about is what she’s doing. Is Armando Gabor there with her? Is he licking the wounds that I inflicted? Fuck, I want to squash the life out of that little prick when I think about it.”

  “You’re jealous beyond belief because you don’t have a legitimate claim on her, which I experienced, too. I believe this kind of sick passion is due to our inclination to evil. Like me, you have a demon inside of you, even if yours is latent. The Dark Lord gives your love dangerous depth. Listen.” He pulls his chair closer to the desk. “If your brother is right, you have the blood of the underworld running through your veins. The planet corresponding to the underworld is Pluto. I bet you can already see where I’m going. Back in your day, you studied astrology in med school, right?”

  Nathaniel nods. “The alignment of stars at the moment of birth is supposed to regulate biorhythm, and the energy of star alignment, especially in transits, to determine energy flow and chemical reactions in the body. Still, I don’t use astrology in my research anymore.”

  “But you’re aware of the influence of Pluto. Pluto is the planet of emotional extremes. Love turns to despair. Pleasure turns to pain. Demonic natures such as you and me need to be in every breath of our beloved, we crave them so much that our lust can destroy them.”

  “With more reason then. I can’t be anywhere near Leona, I can’t....” Nathaniel presses his fist against his mouth again, speaking through his teeth. “I can’t be near her and not have her.” He pushes himself from the chair and starts pacing the room like a lion in a cage. “Plus, I can’t do this to our people, to the Order. I can’t pose as their incorruptible leader, free of any human cravings, and savor a woman’s love behind their backs.”

  “Take it easier on yourself.”

  “I can’t afford to take it easy on myself, Damian, I’m head of the Order.”

  “I was in your shoes once, too. I was the Executioner, incorruptible, resistant to all temptation. Varlam even thought I didn’t have a soul, remember? I’d been a killing machine for a decade, and then, boom, Alice happened.”

  “Yes, Alice happened, and you became... Don’t take this wrong, but she is the reason and the way that BioDhrome got to you. You fell in love with her, and your sharp mind that had kept them at bay for so long gave way to passion that made you vulnerable.”

  Damian stands and walks to Nathaniel. “That’s true, but you know what? I wouldn’t change any of it for the world. Let me ask you this. If you could turn back time and undo what happened with Leona—would you?”

  Nathaniel remembers Leona’s hot lips crushed to his chest, her loving eyes drinking in his sensation as he entered her, splitting her walls apart; his skin pebbling at the feel of her tight inside peeling him back and clenching on him, the pleasure of releasing his sap inside his woman.

  “She’s not my woman,” he whispers to himself.

  “Nathaniel, you won’t be able to fight this,” the Executioner says. “Once an Upgrade catches feelings, they’re never going away. Our kind of love is set in stone, and it can only grow over time. If you refuse her closeness it’ll tear you apart day by day until the jealousy becomes unbearable. Do you want to end up stalking her house, creeping on her, killing her dates in dark alleyways? Because that’s where you’re heading if you insist on staying away from her, and letting her live her life without you. Your bond can’t be broken.”

  “But we can’t live it out either. The Order depends on me, I can’t deceive them. I can....” He throws his hands in the air. “I can force her to live as a nun, keep her at the monastery forever, no one will get—”

  “And you think you’ll feel better if you do that? You think you’ll be able to live with yourself, knowing you stripped the life away from the woman you love? Knowing you’ve locked her in a prison?”

  “But I can’t let another man have her either, only thinking about it...” His fists ball until the knuckles protrude, white and deadly. “And I can’t be with her. Hell, I cannot take her to the mountains to mentor her, I’ll rip her clothes off and make her mine the first chance I get.”

  Damian lets out a long breath, folding his arms across his chest. “Okay. All right. Alice and I will help—Leona is like a sister to my wife, I’m sure she’ll agree.”

  “Help? How?”

  “We’ll come with you. At the monastery, you’ll meet Leona only when she’s ready for the last stage of mentoring. She’ll spend the rest of her time with us.” He shrugs. “That will make your job easier, too. You can sharpen Leona’s powers and focus them, teach her to use them selectively, after Alice and I help her with the basics. Plus that you’ll need her protected at all times, day and night, because the shadow stalker is sure to follow her there.”

  “Which is what we’re counting on. To be honest, the more I think about your plan, the more I like it. Many innocent people will be spared his danger, since he’ll be following us.”

  The door flies open, and an Upgrade walks in dragging Armando Gabor by his ear.

  “Forgive the intrusion, Viscount, Executioner.” He hauls Armando forward, the young man stumbling and bucking over the chair in which Nathaniel had sat. “I found this one eavesdropping by the door. No idea how long he’d been there, but I’m sure since after the—” He glances at the hole in the wall. “After that.”

  “Let’s say I’ve been successfully eavesdropping since I can’t be alone with her,” Armando says through his teeth.

  “Leave us,” Nathaniel commands the Upgrade before the boy says too much. The man nods and leaves the room, pulling the door after himself. He throws Armando one more I’ll-kick-your-ass-someday glare right before the door clicks shut.

  “I must say, I’m impressed by your guts of playing tough in front of creatures so much stronger than yourself,” Nathaniel says.

  “I’m not gonna let you use her like that,” the boy threatens. He’s still a bit bent from his waist forward, grip on the chair. He’s hurt, the Upgrade must have gone a little too rough on him. “I’m coming along to the monastery. If you refuse, I’ll tell all your faithful puppies out there that their worshipped leader is dying to eat some gypsy pussy.”

  “You little rat.” Nathaniel snaps forward, but the Executioner holds him back.

  “He doesn’t mean it offensively,” he tells Nathaniel. “He’s angry, and it’s just the way that gypsies talk. Leona wouldn’t feel insulted by his choice of words.”

  Nathaniel’s teeth crunch audibly against each other. He breathes in and out slowly, getting a grip.

  “Why do you want to be where she is? Are you in love with her?”

  The boy grins defiantly. “Why you asking? Wanna kill me for it, get rid of the competition?”

  “If you want to come along for the chance of getting close to her, forget it.”

  “Don’t worry, it’s not my intention to sleep with her. She’s one of my own, let’s say I feel protective of her.”

  “Cut the crap,” Nathaniel says. “You’ve been drooling after her for months, you even got her in trouble at school with your attentions.”

  The boy shrugs. “Okay, I might have jerked off thinking of her once or twice. Or about a hundred times.”

  Nathaniel’s arm flexes, but the Executioner’s hand tightens on his shoulder. Armando grins provokingly.

  “Relax, big man, things changed now. Since the deep shit with Tudose and the police and all, she was the only one I could turn to. Believe it or not, even though I feel a strong bond with her, it’s not a sexual one.”

  “Damn,” the Executioner says. “I think he’s telling the truth.”

  “Yes,” Nathaniel replies, eyes like slits as he analyzes the kid’s biometric data. He’s beyond caring about private sphere and other luxuries right now. “Me too. The question is—how is that possible? Leona is a core temptress, the strongest type, there’s no resisting her. There’s no not wanting her.”

  The kid holds his palms up, still grinning. “I’m not saying I’m not attracted to her anymore. Only that I don’t intend to act on it, now or ever. I don’t think I’d do it even if you weren’t involved. To put it simply—I respect her too much to try and fuck her.”

  “Stop using words like that related to Leona,” Nathaniel warns, the need to crush the guy rippling through his muscles.

  “Guards.”

  Two Upgrades walk in at the Executioner’s call. The Executioner motions with his chin in Armando’s direction. “The young man needs some rest now. Give him a room, and make sure he can’t leave its comfort this time. He’s coming to the monastery with us too, so don’t forget him when we leave.”

  Before the Upgrades usher Armando out the boy turns one last time. “Viscount.” And when both Nathaniel and Damian look at him, “If you ever hurt Leona, be sure that I’ll find a way out of the comfort of any room. And I’ll find a way to kill you.”

  CHAPTER XIII

  Lilith Rising

  LEONA

  The monastery gates close heavily behind them, sending a chill down Leona’s back. She knows this place all too well, she knows it’s not very different from a high security prison. Once in, there’s no chance you’re getting out and, even if you are, you’re never again really free.

  The confinement was bearable a few years ago, when she lived for the glimpses she got of Nathaniel and for the hope that, by some absurd chance, he might be feeling the same for her. Now, hope is obsolete—now he’s had her, so even if he fostered some small crush it’s now extinguished; curiosity satisfied; and he’s made it crystal clear intimacy would never happen between them again.

  Two Upgrades escort her to the same sanctum that she occupied the years before. Small, familiar and simple. As soon as the Upgrades leave her alone, she drops her small bag on the divan by the wall, staring at the wooden cross hanging above the head of the divan. It’s the same one from years ago, she can tell. She knows its every ridge and every spot of faded lacquer, since she used to gaze upon it without blinking for hours while she meditated and prayed. By the window, the same small desk with one stool, and the same empty flowerpots meet her eyes as if frozen in time. As if no one has ever entered this room since she left, except maybe to dust.

  TWO MONTHS LATER, LEONA opens the window to attend to the flowers she’s planted. She was never a flowers person, but people change; or, without the influence of the outside word, they discover new things about themselves.

  It’s a beautiful morning, the birds chirp merrily, and Leona must admit the monastery is doing her good. Tending to the flowers calms her down and keeps her focused on the beautiful. The only problem after all this time is that there was no sign of the shadow stalker either lurking outside the monastery’s fortified walls, or in the village down the hill. As for Nathaniel, she hasn’t laid eyes on him at all, and her training has been left to Damian and Alice, who’ve made sunny experiences of it, full of good and light energy.

  Not seeing Nathaniel is better, she keeps telling herself, it makes life easier, it puts her emotions to sleep along with the pain. With a little luck, she might even be able to forget him.

  “Pssssst,” she hears.

  Frowning, Leona leans over the windowsill, squinting along the veranda and the windows of the other sanctums.

  “God damn it, look the other way.”

  Leona’s head turns in the opposite direction and bam! She has to step back, and hits herself against the window frame as her eyes bump too closely into Armando’s face.

  “What on earth,” she says, rubbing the back of her head. “What are you doing here? I thought you were staying down in the village.”

  “They brought me in today. I need to tell you something big right now, it can’t wait.”

  Confused, Leona just stares at him. With his eyebrows knitted in the same aggressive way she’s always known, Armando looks around nervously and motions toward her door. “They’ll catch me if you don’t let me in already.”

  “Catch you? Why catch you, are you doing something wrong?” She lets him and locks the door on the inside.

  “You’re the temptress, and the Viscount made it clear to the entire keep that no man is to dwell around you alone. Not even Upgrades except for the few who are resilient to your magnetic powers, and that would be only Alice and Damian Novac because he’s completely under his wife’s spell and immune to all others.” He heads to the bowl of water that Leona keeps in the room for her hands and face. He throws off his shirt, tossing it on the divan and displaying his olive-skinned back with lean sinews of muscle snaking as he splashes water on his face and the back of his neck.

  Leona narrows her eyes and tilts her head to the side. “I must say I’m impressed. The Executioner doesn’t play personal trainer for just anybody. In fact, it’s just you and me.”

  “Both the Executioner and his wife have grown on me. Your boy the Viscount, on the other hand.” He scoffs. “I could live without ever seeing his face again. Unfortunately, I did today, when Damian brought me in. Whole clusters of Upgrades kept coming, none going, security tightened all around the fortress. It was a no brainer that they were having an important meeting of some sort.”

  Armando walks over to her, grabs her shoulders and looks closely into her eyes.

  “The Executioner had to attend as well, and left me in a sanctum, but I sneaked into the church.”

  “How come they didn’t catch you?” She narrows her eyes suspiciously. “They’re Upgrades, you know. Not even the most skilled of humans can sneak up on them.”

  Armando grins, loosening his grip. “Turns out I’m a natural spy and infiltration agent, with skills that Damian has helped me train all this time. How do you think I made it to your sanctum, even though you’re the best guarded gem around here?”

  The look in Armando’s eyes deepens with gravity. “Listen Leona. As you well know, the result that Damian and Sinclair counted on when they brought you here was to isolate the shadow stalker, making him follow you into their territory. But that didn’t happen yet, and the members have grown worried about your presence. You’re a still-human with dark abilities better suited for the villains than for the Order, and you’re being trained into a superhuman at the monastery.”

  Armando’s deepening tone marks the gravity of his conclusion. “They’re afraid you’re a Trojan horse, Leona.”

  Ice creeps up Leona’s throat. “They think I’m the enemy? I think I’m gonna throw up.”

  “Leona, it’s—

  “No.” She holds up a hand and turns away from him, walking to the window. “I don’t think I can take more right now.”

  “I’m sorry,” he whispers behind her, but he doesn’t leave. She can hear him there, breathing behind her for moments.

 

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