by Lili Zander
Her blood is a weapon that cannot fall into the wrong hands.
I stand in the doorway. They can’t all rush me at once. “Come get me.”
The woman who killed Robert lunges at me, a blade glittering wickedly in her right hand. She throws her weight into her stroke, aiming for my stomach.
Too fast, too close. She would have been better off throwing the knife. She’s left herself open. I push back against her torso, blocking the attack. Lowering into a crouch, I lock my arms around her knife-wielding arm and flip her over my shoulder. She flies through the air and crashes into the wall, her neck at an awkward angle. I hear it snap.
She’s dead.
Jun regains consciousness. She shakes her head to clear it, reaching for her weapon at the same time. She fires off a short burst at the vampire in front of her. Her aim, even when she’s almost certainly concussed, is true. The vampire’s face explodes, and warm blood and pieces of brain splatter against the wall.
Once upon a time, seeing a man die used to make me throw up. Those days are long gone.
There’s just two of them now, facing up against two of us. We’re more than evenly matched at this stage. Jun is highly trained, and she has rage on her side. Robert was her partner. In time, the anger will be replaced by grief, but right now, Jun advances toward the nearest vampire, fury radiating off her body.
She can take care of herself. I transfer my attention to my own assailant. “Thought this would be easy, did you?” I ask him conversationally. “You thought you could walk in here, six vampires against five humans, and you thought that was enough.” I shake my head mockingly. “You shouldn’t have underestimated the humans. Every single person who works for me has earned their right to be here.” I let my rage build. “I liked Robert. He was a good, decent person who deserved better than to be cut down by slime such as yourself. So now, I’m going to kill you. And because I’m very angry, it’s going to be slow, and it’s going to be painful. You, my friend, are going to become an object lesson.”
His eyes go feral, and he lunges at me with wild slashes. Perfect. The blade slices into my left arm, just below my elbow. I ignore the pain and block his next stroke. His moves are erratic, but fuck, he’s fast, and he’s heavy, and he’s unpredictable.
His knife cuts my right forearm. Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I need to put an end to this now. I close in on him, bringing my knee up to his groin. I land several short, brutal kicks, but it barely slows him down. He keeps coming, keeps slashing at me.
The blade glistens blue. Narzis, probably. A variant of the same poison that my soldiers used to incapacitate Raven. It’s slowing me down, making the air thick and heavy. My arms feel numb…
The knife bites the air, inches from my eye. I dance backward, clamp my hands around his wrist, and twist. The bone shatters, and the knife drops to the ground. I kick it out of reach, wrap my arm around his neck, and squeeze.
He doesn’t die easily. He fights for his life. He kicks and scratches. His elbow lands painful jabs into my gut, over and over again. I ignore the pain and hold on. His movements slow, his face turns red…
And then it’s over.
Jun’s disposed of her attacker. She’s sitting on the floor, Robert’s head cradled in her lap. Tears roll down her cheeks.
Fuck.
I should have fired them the moment I found out they were together. Everyone who serves with me is a loner. Working for me is dangerous. It’s not meant for families, for people in love, for people that have something to live for.
I swallow the lump in my throat. As much as I want to close my eyes and shut out the grief on Jun’s face as she cradles her dead lover, I can’t. Robert worked for me. I am responsible for his death, and I will make it right. I will hunt down the person responsible, and make them sorry for the day they decided to stand against me.
The first vampire Robert shot is still alive. Good. His breathing is labored, and his eyes are bleary, but he’s awake, and that’s all I need. I crouch next to him, ignoring the narzis in my blood. I’ll take the neutralizer as soon as I’m done questioning this man. “Who sent you?”
“Go to hell,” he spits. “You can't make me talk.”
“That's where you're wrong.” I bare my teeth in a smile. “You will talk, one way or the other.”
His eyes are fixed on the blade in my hand. He’s prepared for torture. He probably has an implanted pain monitor that will kill him if he’s at the point of breaking. I’ll need to approach this a different way.
The virus.
I pick up one of the syringes. Making sure the soldier can see me, I let a drop of Raven’s blood fall on my knife. I walk back to the man. “A demonstration, if you will.” I plunge the knife into the dead body of the vampire next to him.
Harek isn’t stupid. He doesn’t really want to kill billions of people in his quest for power. The more awful the death is, the quicker people will yield. I saw the bodies in his laboratory. Those vampires died in agony.
This should be showy and gruesome.
It is. Boils begin to form on the dead man’s skin. They grow, each reaching the size of my fist before they burst. Greenish liquid seeps from the sores onto the ground, and the smell turns my stomach. The vampire’s skin falls apart. His insides turn to mush; his bones start to liquefy.
What the fuck has Harek created? Even for him, this is reckless.
The boils burst open less than a minute after I plunged the tainted blade into the man’s bloodstream.
It’s so fast. What if we can’t create a cure for this? What if we can’t stop the spread of this disease?
I push back the fear and drag my focus back to the interrogation. “One drop is all it takes.” Jun is still holding Robert, and I’m not minded to be merciful. “Here are your choices. Tell me what I need to know, and I will grant you a quick death. Don’t talk and I will torture you, and then I’ll use the blade on you. I will watch you die in agony, and I will feel nothing. Do you understand me?”
The man is a professional soldier. Torture, he can take. But this weapon of Levitan’s turns him into a white-faced mess. “I don’t know who hired us,” he blurts out, never taking his eyes off my knife. “We were paid anonymously. Only Mala knew the identity of the person who hired us.” He nods in the direction of the first soldier who attacked me.
Mala has a broken neck and cannot talk. Damn it.
I lift my knife. “Wait,” the man screams. “There's one more thing. The payment came through the Chipwa Sector.”
Ice-cold satisfaction drenches me. Two members of the Ruling Council are from the Chipwa Sector. Gerra Clay and Patrik Kevis. Nothing happens in their territory without one of them knowing about it.
So which one sent the assassins? Gerra or Patrik?
“Put that blade down.” Jun’s voice is dull and lifeless. “You’re bleeding. You can’t risk contamination.”
Oh. Right. I let the blade drop to the floor, glad that one of us is thinking clearly. The assassin is looking at me with pain-filled eyes. “Kill him,” I tell Jun. “Make it quick.”
I don’t watch. Turning away, I find my comm and call Tomas. “I need intel. Assassins were sent to kill me on Antaras Seven. They were sent by either Gerra Clay or by Patrik Revis. Find out which one.”
“It could be both.”
The narzis is making me stupid. Of course, Tomas is right. Neither Gerra nor Patrik has dared to take me on alone. But together…
I take the neutralizer and attend to my cuts. “They’re monitored on Starra. If they’re plotting, it wouldn’t be there.”
“Hmm.” He searches through information. “If you’re looking for evidence of their treachery, it’s not going to be easy to find. They’re not going to record their conversation for you to listen to.”
“That hadn’t struck me,” I say dryly, slapping a bandage over the cut on my forearm. “I don’t need something that’ll stand up in front of the Council. I just need to know which of them to kill.”
“Ah.” His expression brightens. “Look at this.” He expands the cube in front of me. “We monitor Gerra Clay’s comm, of course, and Patrik Kevis’ as well. Their comms are never switched off.”
“Not a surprise; neither is mine. Where are you going with this?”
Tomas gives me an impatient look. “Three weeks ago, both their comms were switched off at the same time.”
“Where were they supposed to be?”
“Gerra Clay was scheduled to be at a Family meeting on Banaras.”
Her home planet. One of the few places I don’t have any eyes. “They’ll lie for her.”
“Yes.” He scrolls through the screen. “Patrik Kevis was signed up to address a merchant trade association meeting on Forion Nine, but he didn’t show up. His son attended instead. According to his aides, he was sick.”
There it is. Saber’s right about one thing. I am ruthless. This is all I need to act.
“Thanks. I have to go.” I hang up on Tomas and move over to Jun. “I’m sorry. This is my fault.”
“We knew the dangers when we signed up, my Prince.” Jun’s reply is automatic; her loyalty is deeply ingrained. Even now, cradling the body of her partner, she doesn’t have a word of blame for me. “You didn’t kill Robert.”
They came for me, and because of that, Robert died. I look down at the red-haired man. He was quick to anger, quick to forgive. Always had a joke ready when we needed one. I crouch next to Jun. “We got drunk on Starra once, Robert and I.”
A ghost of a smile appears on Jun’s face. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“We were both undercover, of course. So the evening progresses, and someone calls for a song, and Robert, being Robert, decides to oblige.”
Jun barks a laugh. “The man couldn’t hold a tune, and yet, he’d insist on singing.” She gives me a sidelong look. “He proposed to me in song.”
I clench my eyes shut. “You were to be bonded.”
“We should have told you,” Jun sighs. “Robert had his eye on a bar in the capital. Another couple of years, and we would have saved enough to buy it.”
Footsteps sound. Both Jun and I reach for our weapons, but it’s just Gregory, Yanos, and Akim. They enter and take a look at the scene, and sorrow flashes across Gregory’s face. “The woman has been returned to her companions.”
At least that went right.
I get to my feet. “Whatever you need for funeral arrangements, I will take care of it. You want to buy the bar, let me know, and it will be yours.”
Jun shakes her head. “If you’re going to take out Kevis and Clay, I want to be there. I want to fight.”
She should let herself grieve. So should I. But we’re in a war, the same war I’ve been in for twenty-one years, ever since my tutor tried to kill me. There’s no time for grief.
My comm chirps. It’s Astrid. “Now is not a good time.”
Her face is serious. “For you and me both,” she says. “I just came from a Ruling Council meeting. Patrik Kevis brought forth a motion to stop the clean-up of the Uncharted Reaches. He said, and I quote: ‘We are vampires. Humans are food. They are not our allies, and they are not our concern.’”
That’s what this is about. Patrik is about as virulently anti-human as it gets, and Gerra is the kind of scum that eats children. Today’s assassination attempt wasn’t a bid to move up the ladder of power. No, it was an attempt to derail Astrid’s reforms. “Did the motion pass?”
“No. Levitan voted for me, as did Bela Karinsky and Kaleb Nedwa.”
My eyes narrow. Levitan isn’t in favor of this war either. Why didn’t he use this opportunity to stop it? “That’s surprising.”
“Not really.” Astrid’s expression is grim. “If he votes against the clean-up, his vote goes on the record. It’s much better that I fail on my own.”
Ice prickles up my spine. “What did he do?”
“Nothing I can prove,” she replies. “But the boarium meant to power our fleet keeps going missing. I have warships but no fuel, and nobody can figure out where it goes.” She leans forward. “If word leaks, the public will clamor for Levitan to take over. The Council, even Bela and Kaleb, will vote to strip me of my powers. Ragnar, this isn’t good.”
No. She’s right. This is a catastrophe.
12
Nero
The most potent effects of the anthurium wear off in twenty minutes. It takes the same amount of time for Lin Perscule to notice that his drones have been hacked. I’ve just managed to stagger to my feet when he comes running up, a squadron of Jowth soldiers behind him. “Are you alright?” he gasps, his chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath. “What happened?”
Rage boils in my blood. “This is your so-called life debt?” I snarl. “Five soldiers appeared, shot me with anthurium, and kidnapped Raven.” I have to get back to the Valiant. We need to find Raven. I have no idea where to start looking for her, but Saber and Zeke might. They’re usually full of good ideas. “Where’s Zeke?”
“He went to your ship.”
I set off in a slow, uncoordinated run. Perscule catches up with me in five minutes. He’s driving a skimmer. “Get in,” he says, handing me a small bottle. “It’s the neutralizer.”
I get in. “How does the Constellation of Jowth have access to an antidote for one of our most secret weapons?”
He shrugs. “You spy on us, we spy on you.” He pulls into the spaceport, and I jump off and rush up the Valiant’s ramp. Perscule follows me.
Saber and Zeke are both clustered around workstations, looking worried. When they see me, relief fills their faces. Then they realize that Raven’s not with me. “What happened?”
“She’s been kidnapped.” Hot shame floods me. I’d been so busy flirting with her that I let my guard down. She’s gone because of me. If something were to happen to her…
“Hold it together,” Saber orders. “Who took her? How many of them were there? Describe them.”
I make myself calm down. “There were five of them. All human. Dressed in black. Two women, three guys. Professional soldiers, from the way they held themselves. They had guns and anthurium.”
“Guns?” Perscule’s fur stands on end. “And the drones didn’t flag them. Fuck. This is a major breach.”
“They didn’t want to kill me. They just wanted Raven.”
Zeke steeples his fingers. “We decided to land on Antaras Seven only after Gratvar took out our long-range communications. That was slightly over twenty-two hours ago.”
“Got it.” Lin Perscule gets on his comm. “I want a list of all human arrivals on Antaras Seven in the last twenty-two hours.”
The list shows up in five minutes. I spend them pacing back and forth in the small recreation room of the Valiant. When it arrives, I jump forward, desperately glad to be doing something, anything.
A man’s face jumps out at me. It’s the soldier who shot me. “Him. He’s one of them.”
Perscule peeps over my shoulder. “They came on a migrant ship,” he says. “Landed four hours ago.”
“Migrant ship?” Saber asks.
“The upcoming war’s making people nervous,” Perscule answers. “Especially humans. You know the saying. Whenever vampires fight, humans lose. They’ve been pouring into the Constellation ever since Astrid announced her intentions.”
“Humans are the reason the Empress is cleaning the Uncharted Reaches,” Saber grits out. “Astrid wants to help them.”
Perscule rolls his eyes. “Don’t be willfully blind, Hafsson; you’re too smart for it. Humans have no reason to believe anything a vampire tells them. The Empire of Shayde has squandered the goodwill of humans. Astrid needs to earn it back.”
Saber clenches his fists and then unclenches them. “You’re right. We need to be better.”
Zeke’s fingers are flying over his keyboard. “Fake identities,” he murmurs. “Given time, I can uncover who they are.”
We don’t have time. I turn back to Perscule. “Someone hacked your d
rone network. Maybe we can start there. Find out what areas of the port the drones weren’t recording, and maybe that’ll lead us to the kidnappers?”
The Jowth shakes his head. “That’s a dead end. Every drone on the planet went down for twenty minutes.”
“Okay, that’s a start.” I project a map of Antaras Seven on the wall and center it over the Falls of Kamut. “They needed twenty minutes to get to their destination. They shut down the drones so we couldn’t track them.” I draw a circle on the map. It includes two spaceports. My gut tightens. What if Raven is already gone? If she’s in space, we’ll never be able to find her.
What if she’s already dead?
Panic flares in my gut. “I’ve shut down the spaceports,” Lin Perscule says, accurately interpreting my expression. “Whoever they are, they’re stuck on Antaras Seven.”
“It’s not enough,” Zeke snaps. “Damn it, Lin. Don’t you take precautions? Who the fuck is skilled enough to take down your entire drone network?”
“You are, for one.” Lin types something on his comm and gets to his feet. “I’ve just given word for that area to be cordoned off. I’ll get my soldiers ready. We’ll go door-to-door. We’ll find her.”
There’s a knock at the door. I look up, and my heart skips a beat. Raven’s standing there. “No need,” she says. “I’m right here.”
13
Raven
Great Spirit, they were worried about me. I knew they’d be concerned, of course. I knew they cared. But somehow, seeing their expressions of heartfelt relief really brings it home.
Ever since we left Boarus 4, there’s been a wall between us. Enough. I’m ready to burn it to the ground. These are my vampires. They care about me, and I care about them. I don’t want to stew forever in my hurt feelings. I want to move on past the mistrust. I want them in my bed, and I want them in my life.
Saber strides toward me and envelops me in his arms, his breath catching in a hitch. Lin Perscule takes it as a cue to leave. “Fill me in later,” he says to Zeke as he makes his way to the Valiant’s exit. “I want to know who hacked into my systems.”
