The Ripple Effect

by J. A. Saare

  She bit her lip to keep from screaming, but I heard the muffled cry just the same. Blood dripped from her mouth, a red line creeping down her chin. I told the vampire holding her other arm to move away, only this time Victoria didn’t stay still. She tried to bring her arm to her chest and protect herself from further injury.

  “Now, now,” I said. “Earlier you were talking about how wonderful devastation felt. I’m assuming that only applies when someone else is the victim.” I hiked my chin at the vampire who’d released her. “I want her arm on that railing. Hold her by the wrist. Don’t let her move.”

  She tried to prevent him from getting hold, but it was futile. Once her hand was in position, I sank the second butterfly knife in the same place as the first, nailing her hand in place with the blade. Again, she muffled her scream, but I saw the red tears in her eyes and knew that it hurt like a bitch.

  Fan-fucking-tastic. Maybe now she’d be more agreeable.

  “Where are Gabriel and Jenny? What have you done with them?”

  I’d rather have killed Victoria, but since Disco hadn’t reestablished our mark I knew he was still unconscious. It would be hell to find him in a house this large. They’d said the slave quarters, but I had no idea where those were. Even if the slaves showed me where they lived in this hellhole, he could be anywhere. Then there was Jennifer. What had they done with her? Where would you put a newly turned vampire? Disco said he’d been placed in the earth, but Marius had changed him and Paine in the open, following a Civil War battle. Would Jenny be above or below ground? In a bed or in a shallow grave?

  I shivered at the thought.

  “Do you honestly think I’d risk Revenald’s wrath by answering that question?” Victoria scoffed, her glossy red lips thinning. “You’ve lost your mind.”

  “Not yet, but I’m getting there.” I bent down and removed the patent leather heels from Victoria’s feet. Her toenails matched her fingernails, painted bright cherry red. It was a shame I was resorting to torture tactics, but she wasn’t leaving me much choice.

  Sucker buzzed in my hand when I removed it from its sheath, hungry for more blood. Victoria must have had a clue what I was up to, because she balled up her toes. Oh well, that just meant I couldn’t take her little piggies one at a time. I decided to cut past the final knuckles of her foot, so that it took off a quarter of her tootsie. This time, she did scream, so loudly my ears rang.

  “We don’t have to do this,” I reminded her, moving to her other foot, wishing she would just tell me what I wanted so I could end this. Even though she’d hurt Jenny, torture wasn’t my thing. “All you have to do is tell me where they are.”

  “Fuck you,” she snarled, a wild beast now, feral and out of control.

  “Sorry, I don’t swing that way. But thanks for the offer.”

  I wished I’d had the foresight to bring earplugs. When Victoria screamed, she really screamed. The sound seemed to go on and on, echoing loudly inside the room.

  “Answer my question.”

  “Fuck you,” she repeated, huffing through heavy tears.

  I was plotting my next move when I heard heavy footsteps behind me. Instinct told me to move, but I didn’t have time. I was sent across the room, thrust away from Victoria. I rolled when I hit the ground, trying to get my bearings as I went to my hands and knees and lifted my head.

  I could have slapped myself. Stupid is as stupid does.

  A facepalm was definitely in order.

  For some reason I hadn’t paid full attention, otherwise I’d have noticed a necromancer had snuck from the room—Victoria’s familiar, Dimitri. The son of a bitch had managed to get me away from his mistress, but that was small potatoes in the larger scheme of things. It was what was standing beside Dimitri that made my holy-shit-o-meter shrill like an old-fashioned alarm clock.

  The largest demon I’d ever seen studied me, standing at least seven feet tall. Like all demons, its features were androgynous. Its long, dark red hair flowed down its back, and it was dressed in a cloak straight out of Star Wars.

  Oh shit.

  “End her life, Labre, and I will consider our debt paid,” Victoria said, her voice a shriek of anguish. “Kill her for me.”

  “Why would I want to do that?” the demon chided, clucking its tongue. “It’s obvious she’s about to end your life, thereby nullifying our debt. I gain nothing in the exchange.”

  Victoria panicked, realizing her mistake. “Name your price!” she squawked, moving her hands trapped by the blades stuck to the chair, her fingers wriggling.

  “A child, Victoria Delcroix. You will come to me each night until you conceive. The fruit of our union will then be given to me.”

  Victoria balked at the notion, the color in her face draining away. “You expect me to have a child with you?”

  “No, I expect you to give me a child. You will serve no purpose aside from carrying my son or daughter and giving birth. I have no patience for your foolish games. You are nothing more than a means to an end.”

  I managed to scrounge up the empathy to feel sorry for Victoria, bitch though she was. Her baby, plucked from her arms like a puppy taken from its litter.

  Jesus. Spoken like a true demon.

  I didn’t bother going for my Brownings this time, removing the vial of salt from a pouch in my belt. I quickly poured the contents around me, keeping my hand steady. My brain went into overdrive as I tried to piece together a plan. Demons could only travel to our plane with a summoning and would only return to Hell once they were dismissed or forced to the other side. I hadn’t brought any special tools of the trade, so if Victoria accepted the deal I’d be forced to fight the damned thing and pray I survived.

  Sucker wasn’t the best option for cutting into my palm, but since my trusty butterfly knives were currently embedded in Victoria’s hands, I made do with what I had. I made a thick cut at the base of my hand and pulled the edge of the blade away before it soaked up the blood, allowing the warm, red liquid to drip to the ground, spinning in a circle to bind the salt to my lifeforce.

  “I bind this circle with my blood and will,” I whispered, pouring all of my energy into the spell and using the amulet to fortify my words. Latin would have been better, putting more oomph into the magic, but I was untrained with the language, which was something I had to rectify if I lived to see another day. “This place belongs to me. Those who enter it answer to me. If I will it, once inside none shall escape.”

  Who was I kidding? Goose and I just tried this same thing with a poltergeist and failed. I said a silent prayer, hoping God would hear me, that He’d find it in His heart to forgive me of my sins and give me the chance to redeem myself at some point in the future.

  Not that I deserved it, considering all I’d done.

  Victoria took a deep breath, released it, and nodded. It was obvious she didn’t want to agree to the deal. But the importance of a child didn’t mean much when her life was on the line. I remembered her treatment of her daughter, Isabella McDaniel. So unlike her mother, a pawn forced back and forth between her parents. Victoria had tricked Goose to get pregnant. Then she had used their child as a tool to keep him under her control. The Victoria of the future was becoming the one of the present, only this child wouldn’t follow her orders. It would thrive under the rule of a demon father.

  Yikes.

  “I agree to your terms. Kill Rhiannon Murphy, and I will give you what you desire.”

  “Rhiannon Murphy.” Labre looked at me, as though seeing me for the first time. “Rumors of your bargains have spread through Hell.”

  Will every demon I meet tell me that? Word for fucking word?

  “So I hear.”

  “It’s a pity I have to end you.” The demon paused. “I am willing to offer you an exchange. Give me the child I want, and I’ll allow you to live. You can end the life of Victoria Delcroix with my blessing.”

  “Even if that was possible, which it isn’t,”–thank God–“I’d have to decline.”

&n
bsp; “Then consider our bargain made, Victoria Delcroix,” Labre said, eyes narrowing as he locked onto me. “The deal is done.”

  I crossed myself and called on the full power of the amulet, nearly falling over when it answered readily as Labre removed his cloak, revealing an enormous, muscular body. Jesus H. Christ, he was big, built like a freaking tank. He rushed in my direction.

  Fast didn’t come close to describing how Labre moved. One second he was in front of Victoria. The next he was in front of me. I didn’t see the uppercut coming, caught completely unaware. I soared through the air, hovering above the ground like a New Year’s Day parade balloon, and landed flat on my back several feet away.

  Labre was on me before I could move, pinning me beneath him as he brought his hands to my throat. The amulet wasn’t enough. I needed more if I was going to survive.

  Far more.

  I slammed my hand over the amulet, evoking more of its power, and did the only thing I could—by taking the energy from all the vampires in the room. They groaned as I absorbed their strength, their cries in unison. I brought my palm up and slapped it against the demon’s chin, stunned at the strength behind the blow. It hit him hard enough that this time he took the trip above and beyond.

  I had to get him into the circle—now.

  He was too overpowering, impossible to defeat. The only way to force him back to Hell was to get him into the area that belonged entirely to me and demand he depart. As I made it to my feet, I saw Labre had done the same. We faced off, gazes locked.

  “This is a fight you can’t win,” Labre said, but I was relieved there was a lack of conviction in his statement.

  “We’ll see,” I wheezed, thinking ahead as I lunged to the left toward the circle.

  Obviously he didn’t feel threatened by my magic. I groaned when he missed the circle, forcing me to endure another bodily clash. Fucking hell, the bastard was huge: at least three times my size. I managed to duck under his arm and get away. I made a beeline for the circle again, almost running through the damned thing. As I spun around, I saw Labre had followed and inadvertently placed himself right where I wanted him.

  I held my breath, allowing the radiating thrum of the amulet to grow. It felt was if the amulet was merging with me, becoming a part of me. My necromancy and magic built and increased. I willed the circle to remain mine, to be the one area inside the room no other could overtake. It wasn’t until Labre tried to take a step forward and hit an invisible wall I realized I’d done it.

  Thank you, God.

  The bastard was trapped.

  “What is this?” he snapped. “What do you think you’re doing, Rhiannon Murphy?”

  “Banishing you back to Hell,” I answered, focusing on my power, calling on it. “By strength of my will, I order you to depart.” I basked in the hum of energy wafting off my body. It sizzled through me, a radiant and beautiful fire.

  “I do not answer to you.”

  “Yes, you do.” I made my way to the circle, the waves of power like liquid ecstasy, and pulled out Sucker. I turned the blade so Labre could see his reflection, creating the mirror that would send him back to Hell. “Depart now. Heed my will. Do as I command.”

  And it was my will, my command, that compelled him—steely and unbreakable.

  This was the real deal. What I could expect if I sought the full power of my necromancy, if I rode the waves of darkness within me.

  He roared as he started to fade, sinking to his knees as I shoved the blade toward him. It wasn’t large enough for him to pass through in his whole form. Instead he seemed to lengthen and contort, like Mister Fantastic stretching his limbs beyond their limits. Inch by inch he vanished into the knife, until he passed through the reflection and disappeared.

  I was so caught up in the moment that when the power abruptly vanished, I collapsed in a heap. The world started spinning, the walls appearing to move. In an instant, everything stopped. But it wasn’t a good thing. For one, the hum from the amulet was gone. For another, the vampires in the room were no longer looking at me in fear.

  Their gazes, once was threatening as lambs, were now fully coherent and livid.

  Sweet baby J. Now I’d gone and done it.

  Why did I have to discover a demon banishing was the one thing that would drain the amulet beyond its limit? Now? When so much was on the line?

  Because it was my dumb fucking luck.

  The amulet was nothing more than a decoration. I’d managed to use up all of its energy. Research had informed me that every charm had limits, each one only able to take so much before they were useless. I’d preferred to believe Marigold’s thrifty little stone was different.

  Oh, how wrong I was.

  Only time would tell if the amulet would recharge, but I might not get the chance to learn how the fucking thing worked with and without batteries. All the vampires in the room stalked toward me like the predators they were, eyes gleaming wickedly in the ballroom lighting.

  I slipped Sucker into its proper place and went for my Brownings, getting into a fighting position as I rose. If I was going to survive this ordeal in one piece, there was only way to make it happen.

  I was going to have to do it on my own.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I fired a quick succession of shots, aiming for the vampire’s chests. At first, none of them seemed to care, continuing forward as I moved back. Then those I’d hit started crashing to their knees. I heard their servants’ horrific wails as their masters died. I was aware of just how profound their loss was. Once the mark was gone between a necromancer and their master, it left behind an enormous void.

  The same void I experienced when Paine’s life had been snuffed from existence.

  There were only fifteen or so vampires in the room—of which I’d taken down four. Even with my silver bullets, eleven to one odds sucked. One of the necromancers who’d lost her master charged me and I took her down with a slug between the eyes. I wanted to feel guilt, but my adrenaline was pumping, my heart racing.

  Do what you have to do, find Disco and Jenny, and get the hell out.

  “I don’t want to kill you,” I told them all, shifting my weight from side to side as they headed in my direction again. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”

  The bastard emotion known as hope was stupid to hold on to. The vampires in the room were out for blood—my blood—and they weren’t going to let something like silver bullets stop them.

  Damn it.

  Left with no other choice, I started shooting, continuing to aim for their hearts. Another two went down, then a third, fourth, and fifth. I didn’t have time to reload when the chambers in the guns emptied, so I tossed the guns to the ground and pulled out the Desert Eagle. I managed to get one shot off—taking down a sixth vampire—when the final five rushed me and took me to the ground.

  The gun flew from my hand, spinning across the floor like a pinwheel. One of the vamps grasped a handful of hair and bashed the back of my head against the ground, making me see stars. There was no way to fight back. They held down my arms and legs, keeping me flat on my back.

  “Don’t kill her!” Victoria shrilled, and I turned my head, seeing that Dimitri had pulled the knives from her hands and was helping her stand. She glowered at me, a beautiful hot, bloody mess. “You’re going to beg for death, but I’m not going to give it to you. You’re my toy now, destined to suffer for eternity. I’m going to do things to you that you can’t begin to fathom.” She smiled through a grimace, a few of the red tearstains on her face dried and flaking. “You will pay, Rhiannon Murphy. You will pay.”

  I’d faced death before, and I wasn’t afraid because I knew it was only a transition, going from one place to another. What Victoria said scared the piss out of me. An eternity under her control? I’d prefer to die. She was right; I’d probably beg for death. I’d seen how she was in the future; I had witnessed how evil she was in the present. The bitch didn’t simply feed on blood—she also needed pain and suffering to make
her meals complete.

  I closed my eyes, picturing Disco. He didn’t deserve what had happened to him. Now it would be even worse. When he woke and our mark was opened, he would know the atrocities I endured, and he wouldn’t be able to do shit about it. Instead he’d have to witness my treatment, stuck beneath the ground.

  By the time he was freed—if I was still alive—I probably wouldn’t even be a woman he could love anymore.

  “Don’t be so certain about that,” Disco whispered in my mind, and my eyes flew open, revealing the vampires holding me down, their fangs bared.

  It was another trick, I thought. My mind fucking with things, trying to warp them into something I could accept. Then I heard a bitter laugh in my mind—Disco’s laugh—and knew his presence was very real.

  “No more tricks. No more games. It’s me, love. I’m here.”

  Joy, relief, and love cascaded through me as the mark between us opened and flowed. I could tell he was weak, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him.

  Not now.

  Fury, resentment, and torment consumed him and poured into me, turning the lover I knew into one I’d never truly seen before. He had made a mistake in abiding by vampire law—laws made by half-demons—and it was a mistake he wasn’t willing to repeat. For over a century, he’d existed by their rules, despite the humanity it sucked from him. No more. Never again. From this point forward, he was making the rules.

  His life.

  His decisions.

  His wrath placed upon anyone who dared stand against him.

  No mercy.

  Holy shit, he was pissed.

  “Brace yourself,” he warned, his husky baritone a low growl. “This ends now.”

  I knew the precise moment he took over my body, flinging my arms and legs up and out with a strength that I didn’t possess. The vampires were dislodged and sent back several feet, giving Disco plenty of time to manipulate my legs and get me on my feet. It was a strange sensation, unlike what I felt with Marigold. This didn’t feel awkward or unnatural, instead it felt as if I’d finally found my place.