Pure Surrender Read online

  Dalair used to be part of the team as well, but he had been missing for over a year. They presumed that he was still behind enemy lines, perhaps even leading their armies, if intel from the Cove could be trusted.

  But at least they knew that he was still alive.

  Though, based on what Aella had witnessed with the turning and death of Leonidas, the sufferings of Tal-Telal, and now Dalair, life was not always preferable to death for the person doing the living. For the individual’s friends and family, however, being alive meant that there was still hope of recovery.

  Aella turned resolutely from depressing thoughts and focused back on Cloud, who was securing jugs of water and pouches of dried food to his stallion’s saddle bags.

  She snorted derisively under her breath—it wasn’t as if her unhealthy fascination with the warrior was any less depressing than pondering death and destruction.

  Just different.

  She eyed him with a narrowed gaze and considered not for the first time, for her own vanity’s sake, whether the warrior batted for the other team.

  But no, he never showed any interest or attraction to his own gender either.

  Perhaps he was asexual? That would certainly explain his monkish countenance.

  Alas, Aella was too intelligent to lie to herself effectively. She knew that Cloud was no more sexually reserved than any other Pure One. Just because he didn’t express it didn’t mean he didn’t feel it.

  He just didn’t feel it with her.

  By biological imperative, Pure Ones didn’t fool around sexually in general. If one of their race made love to someone who did not return it, they would die an excruciating death within thirty days.

  The key word was “love.” Something Aella avoided like the plague.

  Except that one time…

  Hastily, she shoved that memory back into the deepest recesses of her mind.

  As instinctively sexual and sensual as Aella was born to be, she knew countless ways to toe around the Cardinal Rule without explicitly breaking it. Sex without love was risky but permissible. And for most of her long existence after being reborn a Pure One, she indulged in physical pleasures quite liberally.

  She loved males. All kinds of males. Their smell, taste, sound, physique. Their personality too.

  But if she had a favorite type, Cloud might be the exact opposite of the kind of male she liked best.

  He was too reserved. Too mysterious. Too pretty.

  She never knew what he was thinking. He was all ease and friendliness with the other members of Sophia’s inner circle, but he was always standoffish with Aella.

  He was infallibly polite, however. Blastedly polite.

  And annoyingly cool.

  Apart from the one instance when they’d first met when he scowled at her after giving her a sudden, splitting headache, his expression was always stoic and implacable around her ever since.

  She’d flirted with him shamelessly, like she always flirted with handsome males, in the beginning (though with less confidence—damn it!—because he made her ridiculously nervous). He ignored her completely. No reaction whatsoever.

  She then spent a good number of months giving him the cold shoulder. He didn’t seem to notice at all.

  It didn’t matter what she did around him, whether she tried to engage him or rebuff him, he never indicated that he cared one way or the other. She could have been a piece of furniture, for all the notice he gave her. No more and no less than an irritating roommate in the Shield, the headquarters where the Pure Queen was based.

  Which made it all the more maddening that she was more attracted to him than any other.

  At least Bai Long, or White Dragon, loved her.

  The stallion softly nickered while nudging her shoulder affectionately, as if he knew what an unsociable ass his master was being and tried to compensate for Cloud’s inattention.

  She grinned and stroked her hands down the stallion’s forehead, scratched behind his ears and petted his silky cheeks.

  “I love you too, big guy,” she cooed low, pulled the treat she always brought for him from her back pocket and fed him from her open palm.

  Aella absolutely adored the warhorse. She was often paired with Cloud on nightly vampire hunts when they were back in the City, but rarely did White Dragon come out with them. After all, a white horse galloping about the streets of New York City at night was not conducive to stealth missions.

  When there was a respite in Elite warrior business and whenever their task required traveling to remote, less populous places, Aella took up the habit of stretching out White Dragon’s legs in brisk pre-dawn gallops across still sleeping lands.

  She missed the freedom of her human life. She missed the uncharted terrains of the ancient world.

  As the First General in a powerful nomadic tribe of all-female warriors, upon which the myths and legends of Amazons were based, Aella was raised from birth practically attached to a horse’s back. Every warrior caught, tamed and trained her own steed. The horses became their most steadfast companions in peace and partners in battle.

  Much more valued than men, who came and went in their lives purely for fleeting pleasure and procreation. Horses were second only, in importance, to a female child in an Amazon warrior’s life.

  Aella cast another disgruntled glance at Cloud and decided that her continued silence around him was too telling. She didn’t want to behave awkwardly with him. She didn’t want to give him so much power over her.

  “I was only going to steal him for a little while,” she said abruptly, as if they were in the middle of a conversation, her tone defensive even though she intended to convey devil-may-care neutrality.

  Right. Not awkward at all.

  “You’re up extra early today.”

  And now she sounded accusatory as well as defensive. Fantastic.

  He turned toward her, standing to his full height from the crouch he’d been in.

  As usual, he regarded her coolly, his expression giving nothing away.

  After a long pause, he said, “Take him for your ride. We have time. We’ll wait.”

  Curt. Polite. Emotionless.

  Aggravating.

  Aella gave a brief nod, swallowing down a sigh of relief and gratitude, before effortlessly swinging onto White Dragon bareback.

  With a gentle nudge of her heels and a whisper in the stallion’s ear, horse and rider took off like a bullet, leaving Cloud in their dust.

  *** *** *** ***

  The moment Aella and her uncanny senses (when it came to him at least) were out of range, Cloud gave in to the scowl he’d been fighting to keep off his face, as he rubbed at his temples with the heels of his hands.

  Confounded headaches.

  Whenever he let himself feel anything around this particular female, whether the emotion was positive or negative, the mother of all migraines attacked his temples like little devils stabbing into his brain with pitchforks.

  When they first met, he thought he only suffered from the backlash because he tried to force his will on her through telepathy. At the time, she’d been blatantly fucking him with her eyes, and he’d tried to make her cease and desist.

  As if she erected a force field around her mind, the moment he reached out with his telepathy, his powers slammed back into him twice as hard. He’d blacked out for a split second from the repercussions, and Aella had complained of a splitting headache.

  He never tried to force his will upon her again.

  His Gift wasn’t precisely mind control, so much as the ability to heighten the function of certain brain cells to induce specific emotional and physical reactions. Similar to the effect of hallucinogens, and sometimes sedatives.

  He wielded it with varying degrees of impact with different individuals because everyone’s brain and chemistry worked in different ways. But he was always able to have some impact, especially when he focused his Gift.

  Not with Aella.

  That fact always made him feel naked when he wa
s around her. Stripped of his defensive armor.

  Vulnerable.

  And it didn’t help that she eye-fucked him every time she looked at him. But that wasn’t the worst of his “issues” with her.

  She was the only being across the whole of his existence to ever make him feel through the connection he had with Bai Long. She’d accused him of waking up earlier than usual...

  She was the cause!

  How could he sleep when he felt her hands stroking his face, neck, back, sides, buttocks—all of the places she’s touched his stallion, in fact—in dreams so vivid they might as well have been real?

  He’d heard every word she said to Bai Long. How she called him “baby,” “gorgeous,” how she promised to ride him hard and fast and make him sore.

  If felt like she’d said those words to him. And the kind of riding he imagined she wanted to do hadn’t been equestrian in nature.

  The connection was unique between every Immortal and their eternal familiar, should an animal spirit choose them. Bai Long and Cloud’s spirits were so entwined they were virtually one. This made them an unstoppable team on the battlefield, each lending the other additional strength and speed.

  But only with Aella did Cloud feel and hear whatever Bai Long did with her. Not always, though. He didn’t know why he shared the stallion’s experience vicariously sometimes but not others. He did not think the link worked the other way—that his stallion was affected by Cloud’s interactions with the confounding female.

  It was as if Bai Long purposely pulled Cloud’s soul halfway into the horse’s body every time the Amazon was near.

  And Cloud could almost hear the steed’s silent snickers as it lapped up Aella’s affection while she shot daggers at Cloud.

  It had been three years… He needed to get over this… whatever this was.

  Cloud resolutely shook his head to clear it. He had a job to do.

  He’d joined the Elite warriors for a specific purpose. It was no coincidence that Ayelet had tracked him to the remote mountains of Yunnan, China, when the Pure Ones had searched for critical replacements for their fallen comrades.

  He’d led her to him, even though he also gave her the impression that he didn’t want to be found. He made sure the Dozen believed that they’d sought him out, rather than the truth:

  He’d been waiting for them for a very long time.

  His immortal soul had been inserted into this time, this place, this particular Pure One’s body for a reason.

  He didn’t remember his life as a human. He only knew that he hadn’t been on earth for very long in that fragile shell, only two or three decades at most, before his soul was suddenly pulled back to the heavens.

  His purpose was to watch over the Pure Queen Sophia, as a member of her inner circle.

  And to protect the world from the Destroyer, if Sophia ever let the Darkness inside of her eclipse the Light.

  As such, he, along with the rest of the Elite warriors, had to keep the mayhem escalating all around them at bay.

  The Pure Ones’ enemies, led by the mysterious and maniacal Medusa, were gaining ground. Not only against their race, but against the vampires, or Dark Ones, as well. Even though Medusa herself was a Dark One.

  Humans, unfortunately, contributed to collateral damage and were used generally as pawns in the undeclared war between Immortals.

  After her defeat at the claws of her twin sister, Ishtar, years ago, Medusa had gone into hiding. But she was not truly vanquished. Somehow, her twisted machinations gained momentum; her armies grew in number and strength; and Medusa herself transformed into something other.

  Neither the Pure nor Dark Ones knew what she was becoming, but the strongest among them, the Pure Bloods, could feel her burgeoning powers.

  Cloud could feel it for a different reason. He knew exactly what Medusa had become. She was an aberration in the universe that made his very soul recoil.

  Something had to be done to stop her once and for all. The violence and carnage unleashed by Medusa’s mind-controlled minions had escalated to unprecedented extremes.

  The search for a solution, the quest to solve millennia-old mysteries, was what led a small group of the Dozen to accompany Sophia on her journey of self-exploration.

  Now that she was Awakened, the memories of her past lives haunted her. She didn’t share the details of what she knew, but between Eveline, Aella and Ayelet’s research into the Zodiac Scrolls and Prophesies, they surmised that Sophia’s Gift was both miraculous and terrifying, depending on her ability to harness it.

  Hence, Cloud watched the young queen closely.

  If the time ever came, he wouldn’t hesitate to end her.

  “Where’s Aella?”

  Speaking of the queen…

  Cloud turned to Sophia as she approached the makeshift stable, no more than a shaded, secluded glen offered by a copse of cypress trees.

  They were traveling through uninhabited, remote parts of the Iranian desert, and riding horses instead of vehicles allowed Cloud to more effectively use his Gift to disguise their presence from potential enemies and humans. In addition, much of the unforgiving, rocky terrain wasn’t conducive to wheels.

  Behind the young queen, Inanna led a mild-tempered mare, trained for long journeys, and her Mate, Gabriel, led two other horses, upon one of which sat their son Benjamin.

  Sophia’s human friend, Ere, and the Pure Ones’ Seer and temporary Scribe, Eveline, brought up the rear with three more horses, including a spirited Arabian thoroughbred that Aella had chosen for herself.

  When she wasn’t stealing off with Bai Long.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Benji chirped before Cloud could reply. “She took White Dragon for his morning ride.”

  Then, the precocious boy speared Cloud with a knowing look.

  “Why didn’t you go with her, Cloud?”

  Cloud started to frown, but quickly neutralized his expression.

  “I wasn’t invited,” he replied matter-of-factly.

  “Did you ask her if you could go?” Benji persisted, much to Cloud’s chagrin. “You like to take morning rides too, I’ve noticed. But you let Aella have White Dragon and you take her horse instead. And then you ride in the opposite direction from where she heads.”

  “Uh…”

  Cloud had no better words to convey the extent of his discomfort.

  Benji often made very truthful, insightful, and therefore highly unnerving, observations.

  “Benji, it’s barely sunrise. Give the poor man a break,” Inanna said gently, trying to help Cloud out.

  “It’s like you and Aella are two repelling magnets,” Benji kept saying, as if he didn’t hear his mother’s admonition. Or chose to ignore it.

  “But if one of you just flip over or turn around, you’d stick together like superglue instead. That’s how magnets work.”

  “People are not magnets, Benjamin,” Gabriel interjected. “Stop badgering Cloud. Let’s go get breakfast for everyone. We can come back here and have an outdoor picnic before we get on the road again.”

  “Ooohh,” Benji exclaimed excitedly, effectively distracted by the thought of food. “Can we get that bread I like and the pudding? And yogurt! Goat cheese! Passion fruit! Apricots!”

  Each item rattled off from his list was punctuated by a rise in volume. The adults barely resisted wincing at the enthusiastic shouts. Apparently, eight-year-olds only had three volume selections—loud, louder and loudest.

  “I’ll come with you,” Eveline said, smiling at Benji’s infectious zeal.

  When the threesome departed, Sophia turned back to Cloud and quirked a corner of her lips.

  “So why didn’t you ride with her, Cloud? I’m sure Aella would have welcomed your company.”

  She said this with guilelessly wide eyes, but Cloud wasn’t fooled. Whereas Benji’s questioning accidentally made him uncomfortable, Sophia’s teasing was always intentional. She seemed to think their dynamic was hilarious.

  Except, Cloud was
n’t laughing.

  “Let’s have a look at the map,” he abruptly changed the subject. “You wanted to head west toward Baghdad, correct?”

  The gleam in Sophia’s eyes indicated that she knew exactly the diversionary tactic he just used.

  With a slight shrug, she let up on the teasing and came to stand on Cloud’s left as he projected a holographic map he’d created that juxtaposed ancient empires with modern cities. Ere and Inanna stood on his right side.

  They had spent two months trekking through what used to be the hinterlands of the ancient Persian Empire, within a two hundred kilometer radius of the capital city of Persepolis, close to modern day Shiraz. Between Ere’s academic and diplomatic connections and Cloud’s ability to influence thoughts and emotions, their group had obtained access to top secret, closed-to-public museums and archeological sites.

  They didn’t know exactly what they were looking for, and in the first few weeks, all they did was soak up primary and secondary research about the Persian Empire. Sophia led them from town to town, desert to desert, like a blind man searching for an imaginary oasis.

  But it was clear that their wanderings had not been in vain, because the more time they spent traveling through Iran, the less “lost” Sophia seemed to become.

  It was as if she was searching for the woman she used to be—her previous incarnation as an Egyptian princess who married into Persian royalty in a political alliance. A princess who had inexplicably disappeared without a trace from all of the written histories.

  Right after a plague of biblical proportions swept through the empire, wiping out tens of thousands of Egyptians and Persians.

  When an old woman from Khatounak had told them, in hushed, fearful tones, of the beautiful Peri, a mythical, terrifying angel sent by the heavens, who razed the lands and shriveled the souls of the living, only Cloud and Sophia herself had not seemed surprised by the tale.

  After all, she’d lived it.

  It was on the outskirts of Shiraz, close to the village of Kian Abad, that they’d discovered a container of ancient scrolls. Inanna had been the one to serendipitously find them, since she had the Gift to see through any object. If it wasn’t for the fact that Benji wanted to pee and accidentally stepped into a hidden pit, Inanna would never have used her Gift to look at exactly that spot.