“By setting us up?”
“Leto said it was important for you to be here. And now you’re the badass new Queen of the Night. The way I see it, you owe me.”
“We need to take control of the situation now,” Armando said in a low, terse voice. “Stop arguing.”
Taking his cue, Leto spread out her arms and said, “Alisha Socoli is your new mother. You must vow your loyalty and obey her word. Let the years of bloodshed be behind us.”
“We are betrayed!” Lorelei shouted, clambering to her feet. “Leto betrayed us all! This was her doing! She sought to destroy Aeron and replace him with another!”
“Yes, I did,” Leto replied dismissively. “And it is done.”
Nearby, Pólemos was obviously pondering the situation. The werewolves in the room continued to gather around him, which was clearly making the vampires nervous.
The room was swiftly separating into sides. Leto’s werewolves stood with her, while most of the vampires moved to stand behind Lorelei. Only a few vampires other than her friends remained near Alisha. She hoped it was out of allegiance and not to ambush her.
“Kill Alisha and take the vial!” Lorelei screeched. “We will create our own leader!”
“A coup already. This is going well,” Alisha whispered to Armando.
A wry smile was his only answer.
* * *
Alisha’s words were facetious, but Armando understood the underlying concern. There was no other choice than to fight. He recognized that immediately. Aeron’s progeny and their offspring, along with his werewolf allies, would have to die to bring about peace. There would be no negotiating. Blood would have to spill, and lots of it. Though he would most likely die, Armando didn’t care as long as Alisha and the others lived. He’d watched Vanora die, and he was ready to follow her into the afterlife.
“Kill Leto and Pólemos leads the werewolves. Kill Alisha and I will be your source!” Lorelei clenched her hands until blood drizzled from her fingers.
“Pólemos, what do you say?” Lorelei demanded.
Shifting his gaze from Alisha to Carlotta and Francisco, he saw all that could have been in another time and place. He’d loved Carlotta long ago, and if he’d known he had a son (or half-brother.) he would’ve done his best to support them. Now all he could do was make sure Alisha stayed alive so that they could remain safe.
Carlotta observed him looking their way and gave him a tentative smile. Francisco scowled, but that was to be expected.
Alexander caught Armando’s eye and slightly jerked his head in Pólemos direction. Lorelei was definitely vying for a fight and Pólemos seemed about ready to hand it to her.
With a sharp nod, Pólemos said, “Kill the traitors. Create a new pact.”
Lorelei grinned, her razor-sharp teeth flashing.
“Awesome,” Greg said with a feral grin. “We get to fight now.”
A split second after those words left Greg’s lips, Armando and Alexander were on Pólemos. As the taller vampire grabbed the firearm filled with silver bullets, Armando slashed the strap with the dagger he’d been hiding in his pocket to free it. Alexander hurled the weapon across the room to Hank’s people.
“You can’t win this, Armando,” Pólemos growled through mouth full of sharp teeth.
His claws caught Armando under the ribcage and tossed him over his shoulder. Armando fell into a cluster of transforming werewolves. Clutching his dagger, he launched himself onto Pólemos’s back before any of the wolves could grab him. Together, with Alexander, Armando rode Pólemos to the ground. The werewolf was swiftly transforming underneath them, muscles rippling beneath sprouting fur. If the head of the wolf pack was killed, the others would scatter until a new leader was chosen.
Yelping and growling, Pólemos shredded the vampires’ clothes and flesh with his claws. The vampires ignored his assault as they struggled to pin him long enough to either tear out his heart or rip off his head. Armando took several hard blows from the pack trying to defend Pólemos, but he determinedly held onto Pólemos as he bucked wildly, straining to throw off the vampires.
Screams echoed throughout the room and Armando caught sight of green flames consuming a werewolf about to attack Alexander. Silver bullets flashed through the room, tearing through both vampires and werewolves. One caught Armando in the thigh, but he didn’t dare let up on Pólemos. As he restrained the giant wolf, Alexander stabbed at his ribcage with his dagger.
Something sharp slammed into Armando’s back, knocking him to the side. He grunted as he caught sight of a silver-tipped stake sticking out of his chest a little below his heart. He could feel the silver burning through him, causing excruciating pain. It had almost been a killing blow. Pólemos almost managed to get enough traction to push Alexander off, but Angel landed squarely on his chest.
“I got it,” Carlotta hissed in Armando’s ear, and for a second he thought she was the one who tried to stake him.
Instead, she jerked it out of his back. Francisco helped drag him away from the intensifying battle with Pólemos. Away from the life and death struggle, Armando could now see how protected he’d been by Leto and her wolves. As Alexander and Angel tried to kill Pólemos, the likos fought off the opposing pack and any vampires venturing close. Across the throne room, Lorelei was fighting Alisha. Green flames flashed through the crowd as Greg scorched vampires and werewolves.
Carlotta and Francisco half-carried Armando up to a pillar and propped him against it. The silver stake had done quite a bit of damage. He hadn’t fed well, so it was hard to heal.
“This is all your fault!” Carlotta shouted at him.
Francisco’s surly look seemed to be in agreement with this assertion.
“I’m sorry,” he answered, but wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for.
Carlotta clutched the stake in her hand, scanning the area around them. Their enemies were being kept at bay by Leto and the likos, but Carlotta was ready to fight. Francisco kept close to her side, holding a pistol he’d stolen off one of the guards.
“If only you hadn’t become a vampire, Armando, we could’ve lived another life.”
Digging the silver bullet out of his leg, he sighed with relief. Healing was making him weaker, but he was almost ready to return to the battle. He’d fight until he died. It would feel good to finish his life in a battle for a cause he chose to fight for. Getting to his feet, he was a little wobbly, but Francisco helped steady him. “I’m sorry for everything. You deserved better and I was never there for you like I should have been.”
“You’re a stupid man,” Carlotta sniffed, but there was affection in her eyes.
“I know.”
“But I love you anyway.”
“And I love you.” He kissed her cheek one last time.
At last they were truly friends. Armando was grateful that they were now at peace as his life grew to a close. He believed his life was coming to a close and he was resigned to it. Even through the sorrow, he had hope of seeing Vanora once again. It was an additional consolation to leave his friends in a safer, less brutal world.
Now that he was steady again, he was eager to return to the battle. “You and Francisco need to escape. Try to keep to the wall until you reach the exit. Once you’re out, keep going. Get away from here.”
“What about you?” Carlotta demanded.
“I will try to follow,” Armando lied.
“No he won’t,” Francisco stated. “He plans to die. Like a coward.”
Armando was about to retort when the area where they were standing was peppered with gunfire. Silver bullets blasted into the marble walls. Grabbing Carlotta and Francisco, he hurled them to the ground and covered them with his body.
Shouts and shrieks followed the barrage.
“Get off her!” Francisco shouted angrily, shoving Armando.
Armando scrambled off of Carlotta and grabbed her hand to pull her to her feet. Her fingers disintegrated in his hand.
“Carlotta!”
A
rmando saw the awful truth. She’d caught several silver bullets in the chest, one of them ripping apart her heart. Francisco hunched over his mother, sobbing as her beauty faded into ash.
Armando looked over to see Greg setting several armed guards on fire. A few feet away, Leto held up a bloody heart. At her feet was a very bloody Alexander, a vampire turning to ash, and Pólemos with a huge hole in his chest. It took Armando a second to realize the dead vampire had to be Angel.
“No, no,” Armando gasped.
Angel had died in his place.
* * *
The moment the battle started, Lorelei was on Alisha. The tiny vampire hurtled off the dais and landed close to Alisha’s location. As her group of supporters scattered into battle, Alisha almost panicked. Dexios, Kallos, Tracy, some unknown vampires, and several werewolves stayed with her, but Armando, Alexander, Leto and most of her pack plunged into a violent battle with Pólemos and his wolves. Greg gleefully rushed into a throng of vampires and started setting them on fire.
“Protect Alisha!” Dexios ordered, obviously disgusted with Greg abandoning them. Shedding his shirt, he started his transformation into mikos-likos.
Lorelei slashed her way through the first layer of defense around Alisha. There was blood in her eyes and she was determined to destroy Alisha. It was as if her hatred empowered her. Werewolves and vampires both fell at her feet, either dead or dying.
Jostled about in the center of those attempting to protect her, Alisha watched with growing fury as Lorelei decimated the line.
Gunfire and screams pulled Alisha’s focus from Lorelei. A large segment of vampires were swarming Greg, but most appeared on fire. When she looked back toward Lorelei, the small vampire had set upon Dexios. Her teeth and sharp nails were her only weapons, but she raked him with savage blows. He managed a few well-placed slashes to her torso, but she managed to evade a death strike. As momentum carried Dexios off balance, she shoved him off his feet and raised her hand for the kill.
Alisha and Kallos both darted forward to stop Lorelei, but it was Kallos who managed to place herself before Dexios just as Lorelei lashed out. Alisha gasped as Dexios howled. Kallos seized Lorelei’s arm, but it was too late. The blond vampire had punched through Kallos’s sternum and destroyed her heart.
Lifting her eyes to gaze at Alisha, Lorelei licked her lips. “You’re next.”
Tossing Kallos aside, Lorelei attacked.
Dimly aware of Dexios clutching at Kallos’s crumbling body, Alisha caught Lorelei’s first blow with both her hands. Something primal and instinctive took over her actions. Swinging her about, Alisha hurled the small vampire into the wall head first. When Lorelei whirled about to face her, Alisha kicked her square in the chest, crushing ribs and knocking her back again. Spitting blood, Lorelei snarled and attacked. Alisha ducked under a volley of thrown punches, then came up and cracked Lorelei’s chin with a sharp strike with her elbow. With the sweep of one foot, she knocked the smaller vampire to the ground. In retaliation, Lorelei wrapped her legs around Alisha’s and rolled sharply to one side, toppling her.
Alisha hit the marble surface with a hard thud, but was instantly scrambling to get a hold of Lorelei, who was crawling away past dead werewolves and piles of vampire ash.
“Trying to escape?” Alisha taunted.
A vampire with dark red hair darted forward, attempting to grab Alisha, but Dexios tackled the enemy to the side.
It wasn’t until Lorelei jerked a weapon off a dead guard that Alisha realized Lorelei hadn’t been trying to evade her. She barely had any time to roll to one side before Lorelei pulled the trigger. Lorelei underestimated the recoil and the automatic weapon spewed silver bullets wildly across the room.
As soon as it clicked empty, Alisha dove onto Lorelei. The thrashing vampire had murdered her parents and brother and there was no way in hell Alisha was going to let her live. Digging her knees into Lorelei’s side, she wrestled the empty weapon from the girl’s hands. With brutality she didn’t know she had in her, Alisha hammered the butt of the firearm against Lorelei’s head. The blow was more violent than she had imagined and crushed the vampire’s skull. It wasn’t enough to kill her, for Lorelei slashed at Alisha’s face and chest with her sharp nails.
Somewhere nearby, several guards fired into the battle, but Alisha paid them no heed.
“I am the Queen of the Night,” Alisha whispered. She tossed the weapon away and grabbed Lorelei’s throat with one hand. The power of the Seven Sisters was now hers, and Alisha unleashed it. With a quick twist and sharp tug, she pulled off Lorelei’s head, rolled off her body, and stood upright. Holding the quickly decaying head up over her head, she saw Leto raise a bloody heart at the same time.
Their enemies were vanquished and the battle was at an end.
“Surrender or die!” Alisha shouted.
Most surrendered, a few died, but in a matter of minutes, it was over.
* * *
Alisha sat on the steps to the dais, watching the cleanup of the throne room. Vampires and werewolves took binding blood oaths to the established leadership and the vestiges of resistance were wiped out. Death had claimed more friends.
Angel and Carlotta were gone.
Out of all of Roman’s vampires, the only known survivors were Alexander and Tracy. They were still with her, seated nearby, comforting each other. Tracy’s dark skin was sallow in the aftermath of battle. She’d lost a lot of blood, but refused to drink from Aeron’s human minions. Alisha wasn’t quite sure what to do with the people Aeron had kept as slaves. She had so many decisions to make and not all of them had easy resolutions.
Greg bounded up to her. His clothes were a wreck and his skin looked a bit like a bad Halloween makeup job, but he was grinning. “Okay. So I did what I promised. I helped you out and now I’m ready for my reward.”
“Reward?” Alisha was incredulous at his gall. “What reward? You betrayed us.”
“Technically, I helped Leto get you here so you could power up to your next level. Or did you get a god mode cheat code? Doesn’t matter. All I did was help you become Super-Alisha.”
“So you did it out of the kindness of your heart?” Alisha cast a doubtful look at him. “Right.”
“Actually, I did it to see my wife one last time. Leto was going to try to get Vanora to break Aeron’s edict over her so she’d take down the wards protecting this haven, but Vanora went all White Queen creepy. So my wife had to die so the wards could go down. How do you think I got your buddies out of that cell?” Greg folded his arms over his pudgy chest. “I helped you.”
“Did you kill the Oracle?” Alisha asked timidly.
“No. Leto did that. With a rosewood stake. So I got to hold Siana one last time. Leto can deal like the devil.”
“She did get what she wanted, didn’t she?”
“Yup. Aeron is dead, along with most of his people. You’re the new big bad vamp.” Greg sat next to her on the steps with a heavy sigh. “Leto is a goddess. A real fucking bad ass manipulative as fuck goddess. Like all gods, she plays everyone around her like we’re pieces on her chessboard. And she just checkmated Arianrhod.”
“We were all pawns in their game, you think?”
“Oh, I know it.” Greg shrugged his brawny shoulders. “But that’s how it is with the powers at the top. Until someone deconstructs the whole fucked up system and fixes it, people are just pawns.”
“And now I’m one of those powers at the top.”
“So fix it.”
Alisha chuckled. “Wow. That doesn’t sound hard at all.”
“Never said it would be easy. Now. My reward.”
“What do you want?” Alisha looked at him suspiciously.
“Your sweet--”
Alisha knocked him off the step.
Lying on the ground, Greg chortled.
“Do you really want something? Or are you just being an ass?”
Greg rejoined her on the step and handed her a slip of paper. “I want you to say that.”
Alisha studied the words written out phonetically. “What language is this?”
“One that no longer exists. Just say those words for me.”
Tilting her head, she gave him a doubtful look. “Why?”
With unexpected emotion and tears in his eyes, Greg said hoarsely, “You’re a witch and only you can help me do this. I want to see my wife again. For once in a very long time I know where she is, and I know that, given time, I can find a way to be with her.”
Alisha held up the note. “Will this kill you?”
“I can’t die. I’m a demon. That will vanquish me. To Tartarus.”
“Hell?”
“Well, that’s one word.”
“Your wife is there?”
“No. No. She’s in the Elysian Fields. She’s where the good go when they die.”
“So you’re going to somehow make it out of hell, break into heaven and…”
“Bring her back here. To earth so when can be together.”
“Wow. That’s pretty romantic. Do you think you can do it?”
“I know I can. It’s just going to be all sorts of tricky. And I’m good at being tricky.” The incubus was clearly being sincere, which was disarming.
“Will this hurt?” She pointed to the words.
“Like a bitch.”
“Tell me when.”
“Now.” Greg gave her a sharp nod and set his hands on his knees.
Alisha straightened her spine and studied the words. She sounded them out in her head a few times, then spoke them aloud.
Greg muttered an agonizing, “Fuck me!”
Engulfed in black flames, he lost his human appearance. Alisha glimpsed curving horns and a spiny tail a second before he vanished, leaving only a blackened mark on the marble stair.
Alisha slowly crumbled up the piece of paper and glanced around. If anyone noticed Greg’s exit, they didn’t show any evidence of doing so. Combing her hands through her hair, she sighed.
“We’re going to go now,” Armando said, approaching her. “Francisco wants to find an urn for his mother before the sun rises. And we both need to feed.”
In Darkness We Must Abide: The Complete Third Season Page 38
