Vampire Assassin League Bundle 4 - Eternity by Jackie Ivie Page A

the mythological Hindu cosmos. It was meant as a heaven on earth, featuring corridors that ran for a half mile, every bit of them carved with deities from the Ramayana stories. Someone also said that interpreting the carvings and praying to the gods created an elixir of immortality.
    Hmm . All that work and everybody still died. Len shrugged. The builders of Angkor Wat had it wrong. They should have worked for the Vampire Assassin League. Immortality wasn’t an issue. It was in his future...when he was ready. And he got to visit unbelievably cool places. Like this one.
    Len had done a bit of brushing up on the place during the flight and hotel stay. It helped temper the droning voice of the audio course on Khmer language basics. He probably should’ve paid more attention. Then again, maybe he’d be lucky and everybody he’d run into would speak English. Of course, he could always talk to Stan, over there. But talking to Stan was exactly what it amounted to. Talk. And it was Len doing the talking. Stan was a closed book. No history. No interests. No life. This little camera jargon was the closest the guy came to small talk. That was the first he’d heard of the guy’s stint in an army.
    Maybe he was as good as Akron said.
    The pictures and video feed of Angkor Wat didn’t do it justice, either. The entire acreage exuded a mysterious quality, not just the Ta Prohm Temple, although it was the most picturesque. It was almost sacrilege to have the place overrun by Hunters. One was even perched atop the platform at the east gate. The one used by King Suryavarman II and his heirs. That platform was built so a rider could mount his elephant right from the stone. That was a wasted vigil but it told Len what he needed to know. The vampire’s lair wasn’t there. And they hadn’t found it yet.
    He and Stan were on assignment, all right. But it wasn’t to shoot photos. This came from the big guy, himself: Akron. It involved protecting one ancient vampire with a badass complex, from a shitload of Hunters. That’s what happened when said vampire drained the blood from a supposedly well-known German archeologist intent on this place...along with three of his team members. And since they were at a world heritage protected site, a 4D Team was the last option.
    Len hadn’t been given much information on this vampire, but he’d turned the page, unread, anyway. He’d get back to it after he learned the language – which was never. He’d rather meet a new vampire cold. Make up his own mind. Besides, a vampire was a vampire. Most of them arrogant as shit, bull-headed as hell, and completely immune to Len’s charm, or even his cute phrasing.
    So. Akron had called. He wanted this done with real humans. And here, Len was beginning to think Akron had shelved him, what with an extended vacation at Bora Bora, followed by weeks of tedium that Len called a life. It felt good to get back into the ring. He was also overseeing the new recruit, Stanislaw over there. Len watched the guy spin his lens, focusing on the roof containing one high perched Hunter. Stan was dressed in nondescript khaki slacks, an almost-matching shade of shirt and jacket, and a baseball cap. It was getting plastered to him with the rain. Len was a match, although his attire was black, and he’d foregone a hat. He was having the same issue with the heat and humidity. Everything stuck. Defined. He hadn’t wasted any of his off time on his butt. He’d been at the gym every day. He’d had to move up a t-shirt size because of it. Not Stan. Len hoped Stan had more to him than it looked. The guy was thin. Wiry. Hungry-looking. Then again, Len hadn’t much knowledge of eastern bloc army life.
    Back to the job at hand. The Hunters. They were absolute bastards. Zero compassion. And zero integrity. Len had learned that from his recent stint in Texas. He wasn’t interested in a replay of being in their hands. Wait a minute...
    Len sucked in on a cheek as if pondering light.