All three put down their evening tea and gave him their full attention. “Is tonight the night, then?” Chuy asked.
“It is. Are you ready?” His question was directed at the group, and they all answered with a bob of the head and single word.
“Sire.”
“Victory awaits us.”
THE OTHER VAMPIRE was waiting for him. He was older than was typical for a vampire, well into his thirties when he’d been turned, Xavier would guess. But he’d been a vampire long enough for its healing effects to have worked on him. And that wasn’t the only aspect of the vamp that drew Xavier’s attention. He’d seemed weak the previous night, as if struggling to remain hidden. But Xavier saw now that it had been a ruse, a mask of sorts to fool the challenger he’d known had been searching for him.
Xavier smiled inwardly. That was all right. The power burning inside him had been hungry for violence and it would certainly get it from this one. “Xavier Prospero Flores,” he said by way of introduction, when he stood no more than twelve feet from the other vampire.
“Leonardo Gilberto,” the vamp replied, letting his true power gleam through his eyes just enough to be seen.
Xavier smiled at the show of power and said, “Portuguès. Is there not enough blood in your country to feed its vampires? Or perhaps what remains is too weak?”
The other bared his fangs in a grin. “We’ll see whose blood is the weaker tonight.”
“No more hiding, Leonardo?”
“I wasn’t hiding,” he growled. “I had other business.”
“A shame to spend your last night on earth conducting business.”
“It would be. I trust you were better engaged.”
Xavier returned the grin. “Is our little chat sufficient to establish mutual honor?”
Leonardo removed the short cape he’d been wearing and tossed it aside. “Sufficient to me.”
“Do you have a blade?” Xavier inquired. The physical blades weren’t necessary, but some vampires preferred them, and he did want to be a gentleman.
The other vamp held out both hands to show they were empty, and since there was no blade at his hip, Xavier removed his own sword and passed it to Chuy. He looked around. “This seems private enough. Anyone who decides to watch does so at their own peril.”
“Suits me.” Without further warning, Leonardo raised a rainbow- colored shaft of power and threw it at Xavier like a javelin.
It glittered in the air as it flew . . . and disintegrated into a shower of colors when it crashed against Xavier’s rapidly formed shields. It was for attacks just like this one that he’d spent so much time designing and working with his personal shield. It drew away from his power when he fought, and many vampires didn’t have the energy to spare. But he did, and it was well worth it.
He grinned at his opponent’s look of dismayed surprise, and with practiced ease raised his own blade of power, adding a ray of icy blue to the color show. Stepping forward with vampire speed, he slashed at Leonardo, who managed a last minute riposte with a second, shorter blade that remained stable barely long enough to defend against the strike before shattering into useless sparks.
Xavier plunged closer, taking advantage of Leonardo’s shock, hoping to end this one fast, despite the thirst for a bloody victory he’d enjoyed earlier. He’d had his fill of blood and gore when he’d arrived. But it seemed Leonardo wasn’t finished yet.
In a burst of multicolored energy, he crossed two big blades in front of his chest, repelling Xavier’s strike and shoving him several steps back. Xavier recovered immediately, forming a second blade of his own, shorter but just as deadly. It was the fighting style he’d preferred as a human and perfected as a vampire.
They moved on each other, energy-driven blades flashing like lightning in the black night, filling the air with sizzling magic and the smell of burning energy. Xavier managed to slip his short blade beneath Leonardo’s defense and slide it into his gut. The other vamp grunted, but kept fighting. It hadn’t been a fatal blow, Xavier knew, but it had been deep enough to cause blood to flow freely down Leonardo’s tunic and to his leg. He’d either have to spend power to heal it, or bleed power away uselessly.
Leonardo crossed both blades and shoved Xavier backwards, taking two quick steps back himself to increase the distance between them. He’d chosen to heal the gut wound. But Xavier was under no obligation to give him the time and space to do so. He attacked, taking power from his shield to push closer, wanting to get inside Leonardo’s defense and inflict more damage.
But the other vampire saw him coming, and unexpectedly threw both blades into the air, where they dissipated into nothing, while at the same time a huge cudgel of power grew from the grip of his hands. Swinging the new, brutal weapon, he took Xavier on the shoulder, sending him stumbling backward. Xavier’s blades flew from his loosened grip, when he matched Leonardo’s move and manifested a brutish weapon of his own. Holding it in both hands, he deflected what would have been a fatal strike, then jumped to his feet and hardened his shield as he prepared for the furious and bloody battle his vampire soul longed for.
Blow after blow fell. Cudgels slammed into each other with bone- breaking force as often as they were deflected. Xavier’s left shoulder was screaming with pain, but he kept fighting. Barely avoiding a strike that would have broken his leg and probably ended the bout, he swung behind Leonardo and struck him in the shoulder and upper back, then continued his dance to the other side of his opponent, and manifested a knife. Stabbing it quickly into the vamp’s other shoulder, he left the blade buried in flesh, to drain power from the bloody wound.
Leonardo’s gaze had dimmed from his earlier proud display, and for the first time, Xavier could glimpse the possibility of failure in the other vampire’s eyes. He was much like Xavier in that he hadn’t expected a real fight from anyone. He’d been so confident in his own strength that failure hadn’t even been considered. Unfortunately, Xavier wasn’t in this fight to draw, or even to accept surrender. Victory was the only acceptable outcome, and there was no such thing as compassion in a battle to the death. He struck with the cudgel first, a powerful blow that scraped along the similar weapon Leonardo raised in defense. Without pause, Xavier continued with a backward strike, just as he would have if holding a fencing blade, rather than this crude weapon better suited for the brutes who’d first created it, rather than two gentlemen of the aristocracy.
The idea made Xavier laugh. There was nothing gentlemanly about this battle, no matter how they’d begun. It was brute strength vs the same, with the pitiless addition of vampire magic and ambition. Leonardo released one blade, but advanced with a new great sword gripped in both hands, swinging it before him with skill and determination.