Chapter 23
Kira watched the dozen vampires descend on them like it was something out of a nightmare. They moved past the people in the park as if they weren't even there, with a single-minded purpose that made her debate running over to them and giving herself up.
She couldn't stand it if a fight broke out that left the park's innocent guests - men, women, and children - in the line of fire where they could get hurt. Or worse.
She gasped out something to that effect to Mencheres, but he escaped from her frantic grip and his reply to the Enforcers stunned her.
"If you want me, here I am. "
The open challenge in his voice said that he had no intention of going quietly. Oh God, he couldn't mean to fight them! Not here with all these families around!
Kira let out a horrified noise as the advancing vampires, men and women both, drew shiny blades out of sheaths in their belts and quickened their pace. A few people paused to stare, but Mencheres didn't even flinch. He just stood there with his arms spread out and his feet squarely planted.
"Mencheres," one of the Enforcers called out, "by order of the Guardian Council, you will come with us. "
A muted blasting sound followed by multiple showers of sparks filled the air in the next instant as all the lights went out in their section of the park. Even the emergency ones imploded with small popping noises, plunging Frontier Land into shadows for Kira but darkness for anyone human. Around them were various sounds of the park's rides grinding to a halt.
Several people gasped. Some children began to wail, but aside from giving Mencheres a dirty look, the Enforcers didn't react. They kept coming.
Kira attempted to run to them, trying to stave off a deadly confrontation by turning herself in whether Mencheres liked it or not. But after two steps, she found that she couldn't move. Her body felt like it had somehow been encased in a concrete block up to her neck. She could still turn her head, though, so she did, right in time to see Mencheres give her a censuring frown.
"That is not necessary. No blood will be shed tonight. "
Then power flooded the air in a tidal wave, Mencheres standing at the center of it. All of the Enforcers abruptly began to slow; their quick, precise movements becoming sluggish. At the same time, the humans around them, adult and children alike, backed away in perfect, rapid synchronicity. Soon the area was empty of everyone but Mencheres, Kira, and the Enforcers, whose momentum had now slowed to the speed of a crawl.
"Release . . . us," the one who'd made it closest to Mencheres demanded in a strangled snarl.
He closed his fists in response. Another wave of power was released, resulting in all the silver knives the Enforcers held being yanked from their grip to land in a pile by Mencheres's feet. Then as one, the Enforcers were flung up into the night, past the height of the nearby roller coaster, before being slammed down onto the ground. Their impact broke the concrete and sent a shock wave trembling through their section of the park.
Screams came from the perimeter even though few people would have been able to see what happened.
Just as abruptly, those dozen vampires were launched into the air again, this time slamming into each other instead of the street. Kira was stunned as she watched the powerful Enforcers reduced to looking like they were participants in some sort of kamikaze puppet show.
"You came to arrest me for a crime I did not commit," Mencheres said calmly below them. "Tell Radjedef I will present myself to the Guardian Councill. . . once I have proof of who truly committed these acts. "
Then the Enforcers were flung upward before slamming down into the ground again, and again, and again. Kira was too shocked by their macabre bouncing routine, which loosed more concrete each time to notice that Mencheres now stood at her elbow.
"We must leave. "
Almost numbly, she nodded, putting her arms around his neck as he held her to him.
Then Mencheres rocketed them away, the Enforcers still thumping solidly on the ground below them.
Mencheres kept one arm around Kira as he blasted them straight up into the sky. He kept half his concentration on the Enforcers below, trying to stun them as much as possible with the repeated impacts, but soon his power over them broke as the distance between them grew.
Once he felt that mental snap, Mencheres turned all of his focus on propelling them higher into the sky, farther up than he would have dared when Kira was human. After several seconds, the air chilled, and the lights below them became dimmer. Still, he did not ease up. He knew the mettle of the Enforcers. They would recover swiftly, then they would be after them.
Soon enough he felt another swell of power in the currents below them. He focused on it, sending a concentrated burst of force downward toward the source. He was rewarded by a muffled scream and the abrupt dissipation of that trailing energy. The Enforcer would probably recover before he hit the ground. If he didn't, mountains were now underneath them instead of the thousands of humans innocently gathered at an amusement park, and a hard landing wouldn't kill a vampire.
Two more sets of power rode on the air currents after them. Mencheres gave a grim shake of his head as he used more of his strength to deliver a pair of high-force impacts that sent them tumbling toward the earth. Killing them at the park would have been much easier, but Radje wanted Mencheres to kill them. Slaying even one of the Enforcers would ensure that all of the Guardians united against him. He couldn't do that, but that didn't mean he would allow them to capture him or Kira. The only surprise was that Radje hadn't come with the Enforcers to assist in their attempt to bring him in.
"Cold . . . too cold," Kira muttered.
Frost started to cover both of them, but he couldn't risk going lower. It took a great deal of his considerable power to keep them this fast and this high. Most of the Enforcers would not be able to match this height and velocity. It was their best chance of getting away without him resorting to slaying the ones who chased them.
A vast expanse of dark blue ran alongside the intermittent lights below them.
Mencheres gave it a speculative glance. Perhaps there was another way to slip the Enforcers without depleting his strength on this altitude or those blasts of power needed to deflect his pursuers.
Mencheres swung them toward that continual stretch of blue, dropping their height until ice no longer began to crystal ize on Kira's skin. At the same time, he felt the charge of three more Enforcers coming from below them. He let them get closer. Closer, closer . . .
He sent a triple blast of power that spun them back toward the mountains. A stretch around with his senses revealed that the other Enforcers were not nearby. Satisfied, Mencheres wrapped both arms around Kira and bulleted their bodies in a straight downward line toward that inviting indigo platform.
"Mencheres, no!" she screamed.
Their bodies torpedoed into the ocean a moment later.
The blast of impact shook Kira, sending sizzling pain through her body. For a few seconds, she was stunned. Then the pain dissipated, replaced instead by an inexplicable rush of panic. She had to remind herself there was nothing to be afraid of.
She didn't need to breathe anymore, but a part of her still wanted to scream as Mencheres hurtled them deeper into the ocean. He was slower underwater than he'd been in the skies, but still so fast that she felt like they were being yanked downward by a great invisible chain. The water surrounded her with an ever-tighter embrace, the pressure increasing until she felt claustrophobic. Nothing but liquid was all around her, yet it compressed against her with the force of a fist slowly closing over her body.
Then their downward momentum stopped, and she was flying sideways through the depths. Water cleaved around them with the powerful bursts Mencheres used to propel them, slicing horizontally into the deep as though their bodies had morphed into a single torpedo.
Finally, that rushing sensation stopped. Kira held tightly to Mencheres, expecting another explosion of movem
ent any second, but he remained still. She wasn't even aware that she had her eyes squeezed shut until salt stung her gaze when she opened them. Mencheres had them suspended in the deepest shadows she'd ever seen as a vampire, only the bright emerald flash from his eyes providing a welcome form of ill umination.
Kira rubbed her eyes, but it didn't help the stinging. His grip on her loosened until only one arm held her to him. He looked upward, then back at her, and shook his head.
She supposed that meant they couldn't go to the surface anytime in the next few minutes, which, though she knew the odds were slim, still had been what she hoped would happen. The tight pressure around her added to the feeling that she was being smothered - even though she'd gone hours without a single breath every day for the past week. The murkiness also increased her unease, which made no sense. Just recently, she'd lamented that she'd never see darkness again, yet here was a decent substitute all around her, and she hated it. How quickly she'd gotten used to the ability to see everything around her with crystal-like clarity.
Kira wasn't wearing a watch, but she tapped the top of her wrist with what she hoped was a questioning look. Mencheres held up two fingers in response, almost leading her to attempt cursing while underwater. Two hours down here? If she saw a shark, she'd scream for sure, even though she had some sharp teeth now, too.
Something stroked across her back. Kira whirled with a silent shriek, but there was nothing but dark blue as far as she could see. That stroke came again, from her shoulders down to her lower back in a soothing, firm caress. She relaxed. Mencheres.
She turned back to face him, his face lit in the glow from her own gaze. His hair floated around him in a black cloud, his T-shirt edging up to reveal that taut, smoothly muscled stomach. The striking planes of his face looked almost eerily beautiful against the backdrop of that endless indigo canvas, the underwater currents gently rustling his hair.
He was so stunning . . . and the amount of power he was capable of wielding was terrifying.
He'd knocked Bones and Cat out of the park as easily as brushing lint off his shirt.
Then he'd disarmed those Enforcers. Moved people out of harm's way. Repeatedly slammed the Enforcers onto the ground as easily as a child bounced a ball - all without touching any of them. Then he'd taken her up to the limits of the sky before plunging them into the depths of the ocean while making it look effortless. Kira couldn't even grasp the magnitude of his abilities. She was already disconcerted about how she could control any human's mind with a flash of her newly bright gaze, and that was nothing compared to what Mencheres could do.
He watched her, his face wearing its usual hooded expression, but slivers of troubled yearning ghosted across her subconscious. Not her emotions. His.
Did Mencheres believe his jaw-dropping display would scare her away? On an abilities level, they were grossly disproportionate. He was easily a thousand years older than her, too, which was hard to even contemplate. Plus, he had that unfortunate tendency to do other people's thinking for them, as he'd admitted before and proved again when he wouldn't let her turn herself in to the Enforcers.
Yet for all of his staggering power, Mencheres still had a strong conscience. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, he'd quipped to her once, yet he'd repeatedly proven otherwise with his actions. For all of their power inequality, Mencheres kept himself on equal emotional ground with her, always giving her the freedom to accept him or reject him.
Her practicality warned her that their differences were vast enough to shatter them, even if they weren't in serious danger from Radje, the Enforcers, and the other Law Guardians. Yet her instinct said Mencheres was meant to be hers.
Kira found herself smiling at the thought. Mencheres, hers. She reached through the water separating them, stroking his face, feeling the spark of his power against her skin.
Mine. It felt right. It felt more right than anything had before it, in fact.
He pulled her into his arms, emotions too strong for her to name brushing against her subconscious. Suddenly, the thought of two hours in the ocean like this wasn't unpleasant. Not if she could hold him and feel everything he hadn't allowed himself to tell her yet.