Jabril by D. B. Reynolds

Author:D. B. Reynolds [Reynolds, D. B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: ImaJinn Books
Published: 2012-08-03T01:43:42+00:00

Chapter Twenty-six

Malibu, California

It was nearing midnight when Cyn pulled her Land Rover up to the front gate of Raphael's Malibu estate. The guard, one of six in obvious attendance, nodded to Elke and recognized Cyn, but he gave the truck a careful once over anyway, frowning when he saw Mirabelle sitting in the passenger seat. Raphael's guards were hypervigilant after last month's attack on the estate, and Cyn approved of their caution.

"Alexandra's expecting us,” Cyn assured him.

He glanced nervously at Elke who didn't say a word, just sat watching him with those pale gray eyes of hers looking almost white in the dim glow of the gate lights. The guard paused, then seemed to make a decision and waited until his partner got off the estate phone with Alexandra's guards before signaling the okay for the gate to open. Cyn heard Elke chuckling softly to herself as she drove onto the estate proper, and she realized the guard had been torn between following routine and giving them a pass because of Elke's presence. She took it as a good sign that the female vampire was amused. Although, come to think of it, if Elke had been offended, the guard probably would have been on his back and begging for his life. Elke wasn't a member of Raphael's inner security team for nothing.

She drove by the expansive main house with its clean Southwestern lines and infinity pool, passed beneath an overhanging canopy of eucalyptus trees and entered the small clearing where Alexandra maintained her own residence. It was a French manor right out of the 18th century, complete with ivy-covered walls and blue-tiled roof. The drive swung around the side of the house, delivering them to the kitchen door, which was the only one anybody ever used.

Cyn parked and one of Alexandra's security team approached the car as they got out. Elke walked over and conferred briefly with him before coming back to where Cyn and Mirabelle were waiting. “No more shopping tonight, right?” she asked. Cyn was taller than Elke by several inches and the female vampire was looking up at her with a forbidding scowl, as if daring her to suggest otherwise.

Cyn smiled. Elke had been a good sport, but she was in no danger of becoming a shopaholic. “Not tonight,” she agreed. “Mirabelle's staying on the estate, either here or the main house."

"Great,” Elke said, sighing in relief. “Mirabelle, we'll talk. Leighton...” She paused uncertainly, settling for, “Whatever.” She gave Alexandra's guard some sort of signal, and then she was gone, racing down the driveway and disappearing into the shadows beneath the trees faster than Cyn's human eye could follow.

Cyn gave her own sigh. That was a neat trick. She could think of more than a few times it would really have come in handy. She turned to Mirabelle with a grin. “Come on, Mirabelle, it's this way."

They went through the kitchen and down a long hallway to find Alexandra waiting for them, standing at the bottom of a wide staircase and obviously posed for dramatic effect.

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