“Mierda,” he breathed, an unfamiliar unease trickling down his spine. “Who are you and how the hell did you get in here?”
She tilted her head to the side. “I presume you are here to find the seer?”
“I asked you a question,” he snapped.
She stiffened and Santiago smothered a curse as a crushing pressure surrounded him, warning him that he was right to be unnerved by her presence.
She had enough power to rival Styx.
Something he would have claimed impossible of any vampire only a few seconds ago.
“Take care, Santiago,” she purred.
He wisely shifted backward, lowering the sword that was all but useless against a vampire of her strength.
“How do you know my name?” he demanded.
There was a short pause, as if she was considering whether or not to answer his question. Then she gave a faint shrug.
“I am well acquainted with your sire.”
Santiago hissed. No one knew of his sire. It was something he refused to discuss with anyone.
Including Viper, who was his clan chief and closest friend.
“Impossible.” He glared at the vampire with a savage suspicion. “Gaius went beyond the Veil centuries ago.”
She offered a slow nod. “He is a most welcome member of our small clan. Indeed, he sits upon the Grand Council.”
Santiago took another step backward as realization slammed into him with painful force.
“You’re an Immortal One,” he rasped.
“I am.”
His gaze lowered to the medallion hung about her neck.
“Nefri.”
“Yes.”
Well, it all made a revolting sense now.
The female’s ability to make a sudden appearance. Her outrageous power. Her knowledge of his sire. Her formal pattern of speech.
Immortal Ones were vampires who had left the world centuries ago to create a clan within another dimension where they were allowed to exist without the primitive passions that plagued this world.
No hunger, no thirst, no lust.
Just endless days of tedious peace they devoted to studying in their vast libraries and meditating in their supposedly endless gardens.
Most of the bastards had the mistaken idea they were somehow superior to their more “barbaric” brothers.
And this woman was one of them.
No, not just one.
The one.