She knew it was not mere bloodlust.
He wanted her.
He still loves me.
Of all the strangeness of this modern world, that struck her as the oddest. She considered this now, knowing she would wait for the right opportunity to exploit it.
To break free.
Perhaps to break them both free.
The automobile passed a row of rustic Italian houses. In a few windows, she glimpsed people moving about inside. She envied them the simplicity of their existence—but she also recognized how stifled they were, trapped by the span of one lifetime, living lives of frailty, forever worn down by passing years.
Such fragile and fleeting creatures, these humans were.
After more driving, the automobile entered a vast field of the same hard material as the road and pulled beside a giant metal structure with massive open doors. The soldier turned the key, and the automobile’s growling ended.
“What is this place?” she asked.
Rhun answered, “A hangar. A place that houses airplanes.”
She nodded. She knew airplanes, having seen their lights in the night sky often over Rome. In her small apartment, she had pored over pictures of them, fascinated by such wonders of this age.
In the shadows of the hangar, she spotted a small white airplane with a blue stripe on its hull.
From a doorway in its side, Nadia appeared at the top of a short set of stairs. Elizabeth’s fangs drew a fraction longer, her body remembering the countless small humiliations the tall woman had subjected her to.
Rhun guided Elizabeth out of the automobile, their movements clumsy because of the burning shackles that bound them together. They followed the others into the deep shadows of the building.
Nadia joined them. “I’ve checked the aircraft thoroughly. It is clean.”
Rhun turned to Elizabeth. “It is dark enough inside here. If you like, you can remove your veil for now.”
Happy to do so, she reached up with her free hand and pulled the cloth away. Cool air flowed across her face and lips, bringing with it the smell of tar and pitch and other scents that were acrid, bitter, and burnt. This was an era that seemed to run on fire and burning oil.
She kept her face away from the open doors. Even the diffuse sunlight hurt her, but she did her best to conceal her pain.
Instead, she watched the soldier as he stretched his back and stamped blood back into his legs after the drive. He reminded her of a restless stallion, loosed after being stabled for too long. His title—the Warrior of Man—fit him well.
He kept close to the woman, Erin Granger. He was clearly besotted with her, and even Rhun seemed more aware of the woman’s presence than Elizabeth liked.
Still, Elizabeth had to admit the historian had an athletic grace about her and a fine mind. In another time, another life, they might have been friends.
Nadia headed back toward the airplane. “If we’re to make our rendezvous, we must leave now.”
The group followed her up the stairs and into the aircraft.
Ducking inside, Elizabeth glanced to the left, to a small room with two tiny chairs, angled windows, and red and black switches and buttons.
“That’s called the cockpit,” Rhun explained. “The pilot flies the plane from in there.”
She saw the youngest of the Sanguinists, the one called Christian, taking a seat inside. It seemed the skills of the Sanguinists had adapted to this new age.
She turned her back and headed into the main space. Rich leather seats lined each side of the small airplane with a narrow aisle down the middle. She paid heed to the small windows, imagining how it would be to view the world from the air, the clouds from above, the stars from the sky.
This was indeed a time of wonders.
Her eyes strayed past the seats and settled on a long black box in back, with handles on the ends. The box was plainly of modern construction, but its shape had not changed since long before her time.
It was a coffin.
She stopped so suddenly that Rhun collided with her.
“Forgive me,” he said quietly.
Her eyes had not left the coffin. She sniffed. The box did not contain a corpse, or she would have smelled it.
Why is it here?
Then Nadia smiled—and Elizabeth immediately understood.
She lunged back, bumping hard into Rhun. With her left hand, she pulled Rhun’s hooked blade from its wrist sheath. In one quick motion, she swept it at Nadia. But her target danced back, the blade catching her on the chin, drawing blood.
But not nearly enough.
Elizabeth cursed the clumsiness of her left hand.
Behind her, a door slammed. She turned and saw that Christian had stuffed the two humans in the cockpit for safekeeping. She was flattered that he thought her such a threat.
She tightened her grip on the knife and faced Nadia.
The woman had slipped free a length of silver chain, readying it like a whip, and carried a short sword in the other.