LITMIR.BIZ

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had to admit that he often found himself battling the green tentacles of envy when he compared his life to his brother’s. Marius was married and in love. Nicholas habitually tried to convince himself that love and marriage weren’t for him. He was a self-proclaimed rogue and enjoyed every moment of it. There were just too many delectable women out there in need of his attention.

      Alexandra turned her bright eyes to Marius as he pulled a set of keys from his pocket. “Oh, no, I can’t accept it,” she protested as he leaned over to open the showcase.

      Nicholas shook his head and turned away to assess the work they’d done setting up the gallery. His brother was forever showering his wife with diamonds and emeralds, many of which were a part of their display and worth a hefty sum. If she saw something and took a fancy to it, then it was hers.

      Nicholas snorted. He’d never doted on a woman so relentlessly. Then again, he and Marius were quite the opposite in most things. On the surface their relation was undeniable as they were tall, dark and striking—true to the Drakon bloodline. But Marius catered to their mother’s disposition and was patient, gentle and thoughtful. Whereas Nicholas was intolerant, demanding and forceful. Yet, somehow they managed to work together and maintain a lucrative business.

      Nicholas stalked out of the showroom toward the large vault at the rear of the gallery. He had no intention of keeping the rune stone in New York permanently, only holding it in the vault until the renovations in Romania were completed. When that time came he would return it to his brother Simion, who’d chosen to remain in their homeland.

      He quickly punched in the security code at the vault’s exterior door. He entered and did the same for the interior door. A small antique wooden box sat on one of the shelves to the right. He opened it carefully and set the rune inside. He left the room, securing the doors behind him.

      When he returned to the showroom, Alexandra was lifting up her long black hair as Marius secured an elegant ninety-eight-carat sapphire necklace about her neck. Many years ago it had belonged to a countess. Now it would serve to accessorize the blue maternity dress Alexandra wore.

      “Shall we be leaving soon?” he asked with a suppressed smirk.

      “Yes,” Marius replied. He turned Alexandra to face him and smiled with satisfaction. “You look lovely.”

      Her hazel eyes flashed with joy as she assessed her reflection in a small gilded mirror that sat on the top of the showcase. “It’s beautiful!” She sent Nicholas a wary yet friendly look. “What do you think?”

      Nicholas nodded his approval and experienced a pang of guilt when she quickly looked away. She had every reason to fear him. He only hoped that one day she’d be able to overlook the great wrong he’d done her and learn to trust him. His brother offered him a very wan but encouraging smile. Only time and patience would procure those results.

      Nicholas flinched as an ache shot along his right hand. Of late, on nights like this when his emotions took precedence in his mind, he often experienced the same crippling ache in his joints and tasted the putrid bile that had always accompanied his transformation.

      Whether he wanted to admit it or not, this unnerved him; a year and a half had passed since his family’s curse should’ve been broken. However, there were many nights that he missed the liberties he’d enjoyed as a gargoyle. Nothing could compare to soaring through a star-strewn sky and surveying the quiet lands below. But he’d had his fill of becoming stone. The short thirty days he’d enjoyed as a man each year during the spring equinox—a pagan season that was marked by the sun’s crossing over the celestial equator—hadn’t prepared him for the freedom associated with humanity.

      Marius shot him a curious look. “I see old age has finally taken a toll on you,” he stated with a hint of amusement. “Perhaps you should consider a reprieve from all this.” He turned and guided Alexandra toward the doorway.

      Nicholas flexed his right hand, trying to subdue the cramping that was fast moving up his arm. “I am no more an old man than you,” Nicholas returned with budding mirth.

      His humor was short-lived as another ache shot up his arm and along his shoulders. He flexed his hand again. There was a chance that after so many years of enduring such a vicious cycle of being stone by day and gargoyle by night, his body was only lingering in its acclimation. Perhaps the dark creature he once was still lurked within him, looming in his subconscious, waiting to take possession. And if it was no longer being manipulated by the curse, then who or what was in command?

      Daniela held her breath as she eased the two-inch-thick portion of glass out of place. She slid it to one side and detached the small suction device.

      “Beautiful.” She exhaled as she paused to admire her handiwork.

      She prided herself on always having a clean entry, and the hole she’d burned through the skylight was just that. She stuffed the small laser into her backpack and pulled out another device. About the size of a matchbox and called the Defragmenter, it had the ability to disable any low-powered security defenses within a twenty-foot radius: cameras, lasers, motion-triggered bars.

      She activated it, slipped it through the hole and attached it to the underside of the glass. Her equipment was always top of the line; a necessity for the complexity of her work.

      Daniela lowered the rope she’d bolted to the roof. The Defragmenter beeped, signaling its completion. She detached it and used the rope to lower herself to the floor. Once on the ground, she activated the earpiece connected to her cell phone.

      The voice of her best friend and partner in crime, Mai, greeted her. “You in yet?”

      “I’m in.”

      She’d met Mai in New York’s Chinatown two months after her mother’s desertion. Mai had been a runaway, and it hadn’t taken long for Daniela to become entangled in unscrupulous behavior. However, Mai had also been the one to introduce her to the local dojo. The sensei, taking pity on them, had offered the girls free training, if only to aid them in protecting themselves. Daniela had become an avid student of an art that she’d also excelled in.

      Daniela shot a quick look about and confirmed what she already knew—the gallery was deserted. She moved silently down the dimly lit hall and toward the heavy door of the vault. Mai had given her a complete blueprint of the building and she knew that a security fence lay behind the door. But she’d come prepared.

      Pulling out her laptop computer and a small battery-powered screwdriver from her backpack, she glanced at her watch. Once she started tampering with the security control panel the alarm would be triggered; she was sure the Defragmenter wasn’t capable of disabling something so complex.

      Mai’s voice invaded her ear again. “How are you doing?”

      “Ready to infiltrate,” Daniela replied. “Looks like we’ve got some state of the art equipment here.”

      She quickly unscrewed the four screws that held the metal plate to the wall. She started the timer on her watch then quickly clipped the wires that connected the main computer to the panel. She stripped them and connected them to wires that were attached to her laptop. Immediately, a password request appeared on the monitor.

      “Ok, I need a seven digit code. Do your thing.”

      “I’m on it.”

      A moment later numbers leapt to the screen, scrolling left to right in a random order. Daniela placed her laptop on the floor and waited.

      Having a partner certainly made things easier. Mai always worked behind the scenes, as that was where her talents lay. She made all the connections, cracked all the computer codes, communicated with clients and infiltrated Chinatown’s black market to purchase the latest in spy gear. The proceeds from every heist were always split fifty-fifty, and they used them for their own individual causes. Daniela chose to provide assistance to less fortunate families and children. She checked her watch just as the sound of locks being released could be heard. The heavy vault door eased open a crack. A smile crept to her lips. “Good job.”

      Nicholas slammed the

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