Immortals After Dark 05 - Dark Needs at Nights Edge

busy.
    Drunken ghost tour patrons laughed raucously as they smoked cheap clove cigarettes and marked Xs on a tall pediment tomb.
    Nikolai muttered, “That’s not even Marie Laveau’s crypt. Though Myst says that the priestess does get a kick out of it.”
    Conrad roared at the group. “Leave—us!”
    After a moment of thunderstruck silence, tourists shoved each other down into the wet gravel as they fled.
    Once the place was emptied, Nikolai said, “Conrad, you have to prepare for the possibility that you might not find what you’re seeking. Or that you might locate her grave only to find what this woman... what she once was.”
    Her remains. Conrad shook his head hard. “I understand,” he said, then he went still, holding his breath to listen for Néomi, willing his own heart to slow its furious pounding. He strained to hear over the cicadas and distant traffic—
    He jerked his head to the left. There. The faintest rhythm. “I hear her!”
    “How can you be sure it’s her?” Nikolai asked.
    “Know her heart.” He homed in on the sound, tracking it to a vast, bleached white tomb, standing at least seven tiers high. Dread built like ice in Conrad’s veins. Was she truly within this place? In one coffin among so many? How terrified she must be. I’d dreamed her choking on her terror...
    No! Can’t think about that now, need to keep my mind focused.
    He pinpointed the sound to a third-level bay. The marble closure tablet was eroded beyond deciphering.
    Swallowing hard, Conrad punched in the marble, crumbling it. Inside the vault was a small black coffin.
    He slid it out from the space, easing it to the gravel path.
    “Conrad!” Nikolai clamped his shoulder. “Just be prepared.”
    Conrad nodded, then gripped the lid, wrenching it free... .
    “Néomi!” he rasped.
    Her eyes were closed, her body still as if dead. Remnants of rotting lace and ribbon were scattered over her naked body. Dust marked her pale face and long hair. With a yell, Conrad snatched her out, clenching her to his chest.
    “My God,” Nikolai breathed. “You weren’t... does your female live?”
    “Néomi, say something to me!” Nothing. Conrad brushed the backs of his fingers over her face. No response. But why? He held her away from him. She looked perfectly formed. Her skin was warm and pinkened. Jostling her in his arms, he said, “Please, baby, anything—”
    Her eyes fluttered open. So blue.
    She coughed, gasping, “... knew you’d find me.” Then she burst into tears.
    With his gaze averted, Nikolai handed Conrad his jacket to wrap around her. Once he had her covered, Conrad cupped the back of her head, pressing her too tight to his chest, but he couldn’t let up.
    Trembling against him, she whispered, “I-I knew you’d come for me, Conrad.”
    “Always, koeri, always,” he murmured, gently rocking her. “My brave, brave girl.”
    Then he met Nikolai’s astonished gaze. “My vengeance is no more.” His voice broke. “You have my gratitude, brother.”
    “I’m sorry I doubted you,” Nikolai said sincerely. Then he asked, “But did you just call your female bait? That’s an endearment for you, Conrad?” At Conrad’s annoyed look, he held up his hands. “None of my business.” To Néomi, he said, “Welcome to the family.” Then he traced away.
    Conrad took her from there as well, tracing her directly into their bathroom at Elancourt. Without releasing her for a second, he drew a bath, then lowered her into the steaming water.
    As he washed the dust from her skin and hair, she sat with her eyes dazed, still steadily crying.
    “Are you warming up?” She gave a nod. “Néomi, are you... hurt?”
    “N-non, just shaken. Can’t seem to stop crying.”
    “This is killing me, koeri. Tell me what to do to help you.”
    “I’m sorry. It’s just... even when I knew you’d find me, being in the cof—being there was... difficult.”
    He tucked her hair behind her ear. “I know it must have been terrifying.”
    She frowned. “Was that Nikolai with you?” When Conrad nodded, she said, “How did he get free?”
    “I... broke them out.”
    “Did you go alone?”
    When he nodded, she gasped. “Were you injured? I haven’t even checked you over.”
    “Not at all,” he said, pleased that she’d become more animated at least.
    “What were you thinking?”
    “I needed Nikolai’s help to find you. I would’ve done anything to get to you.”
    “He welcomed me to the family. Did you tell him