Vampire Sheikh (6 page)

T
he sun cast a warm, pink glow over the temple garden as Nephtys sat by the sacred Pool of Re-Horakhti, gazing into its still waters hoping to catch a glimpse of something, anything, that brought a sign from Seth-Aziz or Khepesh or even Josslyn Haliday.

She hadn't had a vision all week. Not since arriving in Petru. She dearly missed the Eye of Horus, her favorite scrying bowl. It had been left behind in her rooms when Haru-Re had sprung his sinister trap and spirited her away from Khepesh.

She ground her jaw as, instead of a glimpse of the future, a scene appeared from the recent past—the worst day of her life.

“Bring the Haliday woman to Petru!” Haru-Re had ordered his minions as Nephtys looked on in despair.

“No!” she'd protested. “What do you want?”

“You know my price,” he'd told her, his eyes glittering with imminent conquest.

She'd known only too well what his price would be.
Nephtys herself.
Her freedom in exchange for Josslyn Haliday.

But she had paid it willingly. The mortal woman's union with Seth may be the last hope for the survival of Khepesh. She didn't know how, but she knew their fates were somehow linked. But more important, Nephtys had wanted to safeguard her brother's happiness. She would rather die a slow death herself than deprive him of the future he deserved.

So she had given herself over to Haru-Re. To become the consort of the enemy, bound to him forever.

There had been a short time after her capitulation that Ray had changed and seemed to turn almost…kind. And happy, of all things. She had thought against all odds that the goodness deep within him had shown itself at last. That she'd been right about him. But then he'd become angry again when she'd insisted they wait to wed. And the result had been his visit to Josslyn last night. It infuriated her!

She thrust her hand agitatedly into the pool, churning the still waters into a whirlpool, shattering the unwanted vision and the vexing memory. Jerking away, she glowered up at the disc of the sun, traveling along its golden path across the sky, just as it had yesterday and the day before and a trillion days before that. Doomed to repeat the same journey forever.

Just as she seemed to be.

She couldn't believe after all this time she was right back where she'd started.

The bastard had won, after all.

She took a deep, calming breath.

No. Not necessarily. There may yet be a way to achieve her desired revenge and come out on top. But only if she executed her plan very, very carefully…

And to do that, she needed to know if her first move had succeeded.

Once again, she endeavored to empty her mind and gazed down into the waters of the pool, seeking a different vision. One that would be more productive. But it was impossible to focus. Irritating thoughts of Haru-Re kept invading her mind, ruining her hard-won serenity.

She should just give up and wait until her agitation waned. But she didn't know how much time she had. Ray probably wouldn't be gone much longer, and she'd already incurred his wrath this morning by slipping out to find Josslyn. She'd made the excuse of going for a ride, which in the end he may or may not have believed. She didn't want to push her luck.

He was currently out chasing down some unfortunate
shabti
who'd had the questionable judgment to run away from Petru during the night.

Poor thing. Nephtys didn't like the creature's chances once Ray caught up with her. He didn't tolerate deserters. The woman would feel his anger, for certain. Nephtys just hoped she herself didn't bear the brunt of his displeasure when he returned. After their run-in last night, and again this morning, his patience with her was on a very short fuse.

“Well?” a breathless voice asked, hurrying up to her.

It was Gillian Haliday, a hopeful expression on her
face. Nephtys put aside her frustrations and smiled in greeting. She'd grown quite fond of the young woman in the short time they'd spent together, here and before they'd both been forced to leave Khepesh.

“You were right,” Nephtys told her. It had been Gillian who'd unknowingly presented her with exactly the information she'd needed to set her plan in motion. “Josslyn was at the Winter Palace Hotel, just as you guessed.”

She thought it best not to mention the fact that Ray had also been there. Thank the goddess Nephtys had shown up when she did, or Josslyn Haliday would now be living a nightmare, and Nephtys would be faced with the untenable choice between her growing friendship with Gillian and her fury at the bastard for having it off with another woman when he'd promised himself to her.

Nephtys didn't give a damn about his accursed carnal needs. She only hoped that after sending Josslyn to her brother, Seth had more control over himself when it came to such things than Nephtys's own betrothed.

“So you found Joss?” Gillian asked, elated. She looked excitedly around the garden, as if expecting her sister to be sitting here, too. “Where is she? You brought her here to Petru, right?”

“Not exactly.” Nephtys patted the granite edge of the pool beside her. “Sit.”

“What?” Gillian sank down on the stone rim, looking crushed. “Why not? Surely, she didn't refuse to come? Not when—”

She glanced over at an older couple sitting on a bench on the other side of the garden.

Oh, dear. This was not going to be easy. “Gillian…”

The young woman turned back to her and comprehension suddenly dawned. Her mouth dropped open. “Oh, no. Nephtys, please, God, don't tell me you sent her to Khepesh!” Gillian jumped up, a stark portrait of accusation.

Nephtys grabbed her hand and pulled her down again. “
Kitet,
little sister, you know better than anyone about the vision I was sent of the future. Seth needs—”

Gillian put her hands over her eyes. “Seth!” She lifted them to reveal a pained expression. “Seth-Aziz is a freaking
demigod!
He can have any woman he wants!
I'm
the one who needs her. Josslyn should be
here,
in Petru, with me and our parents!”

This time they both looked across the garden's splash of brightly flowering plants to the older couple. The man was holding the woman's hand, patting it, speaking softly to her. The woman was staring vacantly at the horizon, seemingly unaware of the man beside her.

“
We're
her family. Not Seth!”

Nephtys's heart went out to Isobelle Haliday, and especially to Trevor Haliday, for what they were going through. But she also knew her brother needed Josslyn far more than they did, regardless of what Gillian thought. What was the happiness of one small family against the fates of so many? If Nephtys's vision was correct, Josslyn could be the key to saving Khepesh. How could she take the chance of not allowing it every opportunity to be fulfilled?

In addition to serving Nephtys's purposes.

“I understand how you feel,” Nephtys said. “But you know what she will suffer if she comes here.” She folded
her hands in her lap to keep them from balling into fists. “Haru-Re also knows about my vision. There's little doubt he would take out his antipathy for Seth by ruining Josslyn.”

Despite a vain attempt to deflect it, pain razored through her at the thought. Selfishly, not for Josslyn's sake, but for her own. Because she would then be forced to watch Ray's dalliance with another woman. Until he tired of toying with her, and Josslyn ended up in the same pathetic state as Nephtys herself. Vamp-addicted, alone, and abandoned.

Men were such cruel brutes.

At least this one.

Gillian bit her lip, frowning. “He wouldn't do that. Not after he's chosen you to be his consort. That would be—”

“Despicable?” Nephtys's attempt to keep the cynicism out of her voice failed. “Obviously you don't know him as I do.”

“Then why the hell do you love him?” Gillian asked in exasperation.

The woman was so incredibly naïve. “Who says I do?”

Gillian made a wry face. “Don't even try. I can see it in your eyes, whenever you look at him.” She glanced over at Trevor and Isobelle Haliday, where the love on her father's face shone like the sun that was rising behind him. Nephtys sighed.
Sweet Isis.
Was she equally transparent?

“You're wrong. I don't love him,” she said firmly, “I hate him.” But her statement lacked conviction even
to her own ears. “I do, however, love my brother, and I know you love your sister. Therefore, I don't want anything bad to happen to either of them. That's why I sent her to Khepesh. I hope you'll forgive me one day.” She took Gillian's hand. “And at least she'll be close to Gemma.”

Gillian jetted out a breath. “This is so stupid. We should all be together. My sisters and I and my parents. You and Seth. Hell, you and Haru-Re. Jeez, someone should knock some sense into those two idiots. Why keep fighting each other in a war that no one wins?”

Nephtys smiled wanly. “For the same reason the sun shines in the daytime and the moon lights up the darkness.”

Gillian simply didn't comprehend the forces at work. How could she? She'd only known the immortals for a few short weeks. This war had been going on for millennia, ever since the dawn of Egyptian civilization. Between the Sun God and the God of the Night; between order and chaos, between enlightenment and darkness.

There were those who believed it boiled down to the essential fight between good and evil.

But that was wrong, Nephtys knew. Both Seth and Ray were good men, each in their own way. Neither condoned real evil, as many of the ancient rulers had done. They were both beloved of their immortal followers, and had long ago left mortals out of this war between demigods.

No, she knew it was a much more personal battle going on between her brother and her captor. Of which, unfortunately, Nephtys herself was at the heart.

She just prayed Josslyn Haliday had not now been tossed into the volatile mix like an accelerant in gunpowder.

“It's just the way of things,” she said. “There has always been strife between them, and there always will be, until one
per netjer
is irrevocably defeated.”

Gillian shook her head. “That's what Rhys says. But I still don't get it.”

“Listen to your man. There is much intelligence under that rakish exterior.” Nephtys squeezed her hand and let it go. “I'm sure it must be hard on Lord Rhys, being here,” she said sympathetically. True, the pair had betrayed her brother, but only because they were in love. And Seth had been working with faulty information, thanks to Nephtys's incorrect interpretation of her vision, or he would surely have blessed their union. Seth only wanted his people to be happy and content.

Sitting on the rim of the pool, Gillian raised her knees and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on a fist. “He misses his home and his friends terribly.”

“I know he does. He and Seth were very close.”

They sat in contemplative silence for a few moments. Nephtys dipped her fingers into the warm water of the sacred pool and stirred it. “If you and Lord Rhys could go back to Khepesh, would you?”

Gillian glanced again at Isobelle and Trevor Haliday. She shook her head, though Nephtys could see that thinking about it hurt her—the prospect of having to choose between her parents and the man she loved. “No,” Gillian said. “I couldn't leave them. My father needs me.”

“Rhys loves you. And your father made his choice
when he left you and your sisters behind,” Nephtys reminded her gently.

“That was different,” Gillian said, forgiveness softening her voice. “He knew we'd be okay. We had each other.” Her gaze settled on Isobelle. “Mom had no one to take care of her here. She would have spent eternity alone. Like
that.
” Her lips thinned. “Damn, I wish there were some way to…” Her words trailed off.

But Nephtys knew exactly what Gillian was thinking, because she was thinking it, too. “To reverse the magic that turned her into a
shabti?
I've never heard of a spell like that. But I promise, I'll make it my business to find out.”

Gillian smiled in gratitude. “If anyone can do it, you can. You're amazing at magic.”

Nephtys smiled back and touched her fingertips to the young woman's cheek. “And you,
kitet
, are getting quite handy with the spells, yourself. I'm very proud of your progress. What does Lord Rhys think of his lady becoming a temple acolyte and learning the ways of mystery?”

Gillian rolled her eyes. “He says he wishes Petru were the
per netjer
of Isis instead of Re-Horakhti.”

Nephtys let out a laugh. The temple maidens of Isis were notorious odalisques, their skills honed in a magic of the…more earthy variety. “Typical male. Thinking only of his pleasure.”

“And is that so very wrong?” Ray's deep voice cut across the garden from a shadowed doorway leading to the palace. How long had he been standing there listening? He ground out an aromatic cigarette and stepped out into the pastel glow of the spell-filtered
sunlight. Nephtys's heart skipped a beat. “After all,” he said, “doesn't a man's greatest pleasure lie in giving pleasure to his woman?”

Nephtys barely resisted an unladylike snort. “
Lie
being the operative word,” she returned sharply.

Ray's eyes narrowed. “You insult me already, and the day has barely begun.”

Gillian sprang to her feet and cleared her throat. “I, uh, just remembered there's something I need to be doing.” With that, she hurried off.

“A wise woman,” Ray murmured, watching her timely retreat.

“As opposed to me, I suppose,” Nephtys said pleasantly.

He leveled his gaze on her. “Did I say that?” he snapped.