Vampire in Atlantis

in Washington were thinking, he didn’t know. Just because the banker running this scam on the region’s head vamp happened to live in the same state as the legendary gunfight, didn’t mean it had fuck-all to do with this op. Whatever asswipe had decided the men needed to salute indoors was another paper-pushing moron, too.
    But nobody’d asked him. He was just an old pilot, stuck behind a desk, ready to hand off the reins. Ready to meet his grandkid. Ready to make love to his wife again.
    He pushed a button on his phone, and the lieutenant’s crisp voice sounded through the line. “Sir?”
    “Better get them ready to go, son. Just in case.”
    Never hurt to be prepared.

Chapter 31
     

     
    Daniel had taken a step back before he even realized he’d done it. “Sunlight? Serai, you know that the sun and I don’t exactly get along.”
    “Trust me,” she repeated, as if saying it again made it more sensible.
    “Look, you know I trust you, but telling the flammable vampire to walk into the sun with you might sound romantic, but it’s actually a little bit nuts.” He leaned down to retrieve his boot and pull it on, and then revised his statement.
    “Okay, a lot nuts.”
    “Nuts means ill-conceived, correct?” She put her hands on her hips, and he steeled himself to get blasted.
    “Ill-conceived is a polite way to put it. Crazy, lunatic, bat-shit insane.”
    Serai narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think I appreciate that very much.”
    “So what you’re saying is that soul-meld or no soul-meld, I still have the capacity to royally piss you off?” He grinned at her in spite of the crazy-ass conversation. She was just so damn beautiful. Especially with her freshly dry waves of hair curling down to her hips, instead of trapped in that braid.
    She pulled out the bit of cord from her pocket and started to tie her hair back, and he groaned. “Okay, okay. I give in. If you promise to leave your hair loose, I’ll take a chance on getting my ass fried.”
    She blinked and then stuffed the cord back in her pocket. “You are truly mad, aren’t you? You don’t really trust that I can keep you safe, but you’re willing to risk burning to death over how I wear my hair?”
    “It’s a guy thing.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Somehow I knew you’d say that.”
    She stepped back into the shadows and held out her hands. “What if we stand here, just out of reach of the sun, and I call to the vortex energy from here? I’ll leave my hair down and you’ll feel safe from getting your bottom fried, as you put it.”
    “Ass,” he said, grinning at her like the wild, wicked man he was.
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “I said getting my ass fried. If I said getting my bottom fried, my guy card would be revoked, probably permanently. Then we could sit around and braid each other’s hair.”
    He strode forward, all long, lean, elegant muscle, a predator in motion, and her mouth dried out a little. She loved him so much, and had for so long, that sometimes she forgot just how deadly he really was.
    This was not one of those times.
    He held out his hands and clasped hers. “Okay, Princess, you’re up. What now?”
    She took a deep breath. “Now we call the vortex energy and hope it answers a vampire and an Atlantean.”
    He nodded, serious now that it mattered, and she realized he’d been trying to help calm her nervousness with his teasing. It had worked, too, she had to admit.
    “The vortex energy in this area is deep earth magic. Elemental magic. I learned about the power of the elements as a girl, but have never experienced it directly, at least not nearly as strong as it is here. The magic is so strong, but subtle enough that I almost didn’t notice it running counter to the Emperor’s pull.”
    “What do we do?” Daniel leaned forward and kissed her, a quick but firm pressure of his lips on hers, more for reassurance than passion, she suspected.
    “We call to the elements, and hope they answer, and then we use the power of the soul-meld to join our magics into a whole much stronger than the individual halves.”
    “Kind of like us,” Daniel said, and she smiled.
    “Yes, exactly like us. Here goes. And don’t be alarmed, but part of the ritual involves offering my blood.”
    “I’ll offer my blood,” he said firmly, and she didn’t bother to argue. His blood would serve as well.
    Still holding his hands, she moved as far into the sunlight as she could without allowing the deadly rays to fall on