by Stephen King
"Let me get my glass slippers," she said, and together they walked forward to face the future.
Chapter 31
Quinn walked around for hours, exploring Atlantis, enjoying the celebratory spirit of the people, and loving the feel of the ocean breeze on her face and the dispersal of her slight feeling of claustrophobia. Alaric was busy; Riley was busy; everyone had tasks to do and people to meet, except for her, and she was perfectly fine with that. She needed time to process what had happened with her life and her career.
She also needed time to absorb the fact that she was now soul-melded to a magical Atlantean high priest--who was definitely a wizard in bed. Her cheeks heated up at the thought, and she deliberately ignored the slight soreness between her legs. After so many years of famine, she and Alaric had definitely had a feast, and she was feeling the aftereffects a little. Mostly, though, she just wandered around, smiling blissfully like a schoolgirl with her first crush, which was not only uncharacteristic for her, but also kind of embarrassing.
The day was sunny and clear--perfect weather for a lost continent to suddenly reappear. Quinn continued to walk, in no particular direction, content simply to observe. The Atlanteans were so delighted to be free of their long captivity under the waves that everywhere she looked, people were laughing and hugging and, in a few memorable cases, breaking into song. Everything was absolutely wonderful, and Quinn felt a little like singing herself, which made her laugh.
A cold breeze swept over her, chilling her flesh and carrying a dark sensation of impending danger that only an emotional empath should have been able to sense, but as she watched, the people nearest her shuddered and drew closer to one another, looking around themselves in mild alarm.
The first pings of unease snaked down her spine, and she opened her emotional shields to see what she could pick up. At first it was only the expected--the ordinary. People were excited and curious about the outside world. Most of them had already brushed off that ill wind as an unaccountably cold ocean breeze, which, after all, most of them had never felt in their lifetimes.
Sure. That must be all it had been. Except . . . no.
Quinn had seen far too much to discount her instincts at this stage of the game. Her skin kept trying to crawl off her arms, and her fingers were itching to go for the guns she wasn't carrying. Her muscles tensed involuntarily, steeling for a blow, and she was suddenly absolutely, one thousand percent sure that something--somewhere very near--was preparing to go spectacularly wrong.
Alaric. We have a serious problem.
She broadcast the message as loudly as she could, in the same manner as she'd called to him before, and she counted on the powerful connection the soul-meld had forged between them to carry it to him.
What is it?
Not a single word of question or doubt; she could feel his belief in her, and his confidence bolstered her own.
I don't know, but it's bad. Could it be Anubisa? Can she travel here in daylight?
I do not think so, but we have never known the full extent of her powers. Let me finish this and find you.
He left her with an impression of a meeting with Conlan, Riley, and a roomful of dignitaries and ambassador types, but also with the sure knowledge that he was on his way to her.
The chill wind brushed by her again, carrying its haunting message of dread and despair, and she knew it couldn't be fast enough.
It took them quite a while to pass through the crowds on the way to each other, even though she could feel his exact location in her mind, like she was suddenly a human GPS system, due to the soul-meld. It was simply a matter of working their way through all the people, both Atlanteans and guests. Everyone wanted to meet the Atlanteans and see the mythological lost continent, and no matter how his impatience raged--and Quinn could feel every bit of it--she sternly ordered him not to blast them all out of his way with "just a small windstorm."
She hadn't been able to understand how everyone had been on hand to see Atlantis, but Riley had explained that Conlan had been preparing for the event for a couple of years now, and he'd arranged some kind of notification system so that when Atlantis did begin to rise, the magical community of the human world would recognize what was happening and convey the news to everyone else.
Which was wonderful for international relations, but Quinn's dark feeling of premonition grew stronger and stronger as each minute passed. When several Atlantean children rushed by, shouting about a party and staying up late, she realized that the sun was suddenly sinking in the horizon, which meant that dusk was coming. When night fell, for the first time in millennia, Atlantis would be fully unprotected from outside supernatural forces.
In the ocean, in the dark, with no protection.
Quinn started running.
Vampires. Conlan had talked about Daniel, but they'd forgotten about the more prevalent kind of vampire. The murderous kind. And Anubisa was out there, boiling with rage and madness, and no longer with Ptolemy to run interference.
Quinn pushed her pace to run even faster. She started calling out to Alaric on the mental pathway between them, and she finally found him and filled him in on her new suspicions. He listened and instantly understood, and he grabbed her hand and headed for the palace.
"Conlan is meeting with foreign dignitaries," he said. "We have to find him, now. If you're right, it's going to be a very bad night."
"Why does Anubisa hate your royal family so much?"
His face hardened. "It's a long, complicated saga. Basically she once wanted an Atlantean prince who chose an Atlantean woman over a vampire, and all Anubisa has done ever since is plot and carry out revenge against Conlan's family and his ancestors before him. She murdered his mother quite brutally."
Quinn pointed to the sky. "Alaric, does sunset come early in the Bermuda Triangle this time of year?"
"We have to move, now," he said, and they started running.
Alaric burst into the throne room, startling Conlan and scaring a foreign ambassador who was wearing a top hat, of all improbable things.
"Conlan, crisis. Now," Alaric snapped out, and the prince immediately excused himself and strode across the room at top speed.
"Quinn has a bad feeling," Alaric said, and Quinn felt like a fool.
"I have an Anubisa feeling," she corrected, and Conlan's jaw tightened.
She filled him in on Anubisa's interaction with Ptolemy and the vampire goddess's evil plans, and Conlan grew angrier by the second.
"You thought you would keep this from me--why?" he demanded, but Alaric stepped between them.
"Do you forget what she did for us? Can you blame her for forgetting details in the exhaustion of the moment? If you would blame anyone, blame me. I should have known that evil bitch goddess would use our welcome as an excuse to attack. We are unprotected for the first time in millennia."
"But it's so far. How would she get any of her minions and thugs here? It's not as if the navies of any of those countries will transport her. They all hate her," Quinn pointed out.
Conlan slowly nodded. "You may be right. If the gods be benevolent, you will be right. But we must plan as if for attack. I will discuss the issue with our new allies and see what resources they will be able to offer."
"I will inform the warriors," Alaric announced, and he and Quinn headed out to gather the forces. "At least for once they're all here."
"I bet that will be an interesting story. Why the portal suddenly went around collecting everyone. Noriko can probably explain some of that," Quinn said, all but jogging to keep up with Alaric's long legs.
Alaric stopped suddenly. "I want you to know that after this crisis is over, we will return to Japan and do whatever we can to help Jack. I pledge you this."
She hugged him, speechless for once, and the soul-meld flared hot between them. "You are amazing."
"I know," he said smugly. "You had nine orgasms."
He started walking again, leaving her standing there in shock, face flaming hot, scanning the area
for anyone who might have heard. Nobody seemed to be openly mocking her, so she ran after him and punched him in the arm, hard.
"That's the kind of thing you don't talk about in public," she whispered.
"Why not? It was the best night of my life. Had I the time, I would hire the youngling with the gliding apparatus to paint a sign extolling your virtues and fly it over Atlantis," he said solemnly, but the edge of his mouth quirked up, and she realized he was teasing her. Trying to take the edge off her worry.
That, alone, was enough to make her nearly fall over.
Sex, playfulness, teasing, and jokes. From High Priest Warrior Man. It would be the best day of her life if the vampires didn't attack.
Please, please, please, don't let the vampires attack.
Alaric paused to speak to several warriors, but Quinn saw Riley strolling around the garden fountain, carrying Aidan, and she ran across the grass toward her and started talking before she even reached her sister. "Riley! We've got to get you somewhere safe. It may be nothing, but we're a little worried--"
Quinn's words fell off into a horrible gurgle when the sharp edge of a very shiny sword suddenly appeared between Riley's breasts, barely missing the baby who lay sleeping against her shoulder. Quinn's sister's eyes opened very, very wide and she held Aidan out to Quinn.
"Take him. Love him. Raise him," she whispered, and then she fell to the ground.
"I think not. I'll take that baby," Anubisa said, appearing as if by magic from where she was hiding behind Riley. The vampire snatched the child from Quinn's hands with preternatural speed and flew up into the air.
Alaric screamed vengeance from behind Quinn, but he couldn't attack without risking Anubisa harming the baby.
"Now you will see what my wrath costs, Quinn Dawson," Anubisa said, and, terrifyingly, she didn't sound the slightest bit crazy.
"What did you do?" Quinn asked, falling to her feet next to her sister. "What did you do? I'll kill you!"
"I think not. I played the poor madwoman for your Ptolemy, in order to assess the extent of his power, but he's disappeared from this dimension, hasn't he? Would you care to tell me what happened to him?" Anubisa floated just out of Quinn's reach, holding the baby in front of her, wearing a long white dress that looked like a shroud and would prove to be prophetic, if Quinn had anything to do with it.
Quinn rocked back and forth on the ground, devastated with grief, as she dimly heard people running toward her.
"Your Atlanteans are mine now," Anubisa cackled. "I could kill you, but I think it will hurt you much more if I leave you alive to watch."
"You have need," whispered a familiar deep voice behind Quinn, and when she frantically nodded, the portal appeared--in the sky over the top of Anubisa's head, and a familiar shape came soaring out. A quarter ton of tiger, with a small Japanese woman riding on his back, flew through the air and crashed into Anubisa, who dropped the baby. Quinn sprinted for Aidan and caught him on the way down in a perfect football hold. The baby blinked up at her and then started screaming for his mother, and Quinn wanted to scream, too.
Anubisa, currently on the ground, lying flat on her face underneath the enormous tiger, screamed, too.
The only ones who didn't scream were Alaric and Noriko, who both bent down to examine Riley. Their gazes met over her body.
"You're too late," Anubisa hissed, and then she vanished, and Jack fell over with a thump.
"I am never too late," Noriko said, placing her hands in the air about an inch above Riley's chest. Alaric added his supercharged new magic to hers, and together they formed a blue-green shield above and around Riley's body. Long seconds passed, and then Riley coughed and sat up, looking around like she'd just woken up from a very bad dream.
"She was still alive, only hanging on by a thread, but her kami--her spirit--is very strong," Noriko said, rising to her feet and holding out a hand to Riley.
"Konbanwa, Riley-san," Noriko said. "You will need to rest."
Riley stared up at the ex-portal spirit/Japanese woman combo as Quinn stared at them both, tears running down her face. "And you are?"
"It's complicated," Quinn broke in. "For now, let's get you and the baby to a safe place before Conlan finds out about this."
But they were far too late for that. Conlan hit them at top speed, nearly bowling over Alaric, about two seconds later.
"What in the nine hells happened to my wife?" he roared.
Quinn made a face at Riley, faking a nonchalance she was worlds away from feeling.
"Your Atlantean is overprotective, too? This is going to be a very long night."
Riley blinked, dazed, and touched her shirt, and her fingers came away soaked with blood. "What happened?"
"We will tell you on the way," Alaric said. "Now move."
Chapter 32
Quinn knew that Alaric wanted nothing more than to sweep her up and deposit her someplace safe, but he could feel from the soul-meld, burning brightly between them, that she'd try to kill him if he even attempted it. Not to mention that she was currently wrapping her arms around an enormous tiger.
"Jack, you came. You came," she repeated.
The tiger licked the side of her head in one giant slurp, and Alaric glared at them.
Please tell Jack that I will punch him in the head as soon as I am able to make him human again.
"You can punch anybody you want, as soon as we defeat the vampires," Quinn said.
Jack turned his enormous shaggy head toward Alaric, and she could have sworn that the beast was laughing at him.
"Now, Quinn," Alaric said. "We need to get Riley to safety, and I think if you would stay with your sister and the child, you could--"
Quinn stood, one hand still on Jack's head, and glared at him. "This is what I do, Alaric, and you know that about me. I fight."
"Fight later, if you please, but now we should run," Noriko said, bowing to both of them.
"Alaric," Conlan shouted, as he swept his wife and child into his arms and started running.
"Already doing it," Alaric replied, before briefly closing his eyes.
Before he'd even opened them again, an overpowering wave of fear buffeted Quinn. The people all around them blasted her with the powerful emotion as they turned to look at Alaric, either nod or bow to him, and then began herding their children toward the nearest available buildings.
"I sent out a warning," Alaric said. "They will arm themselves and protect their families. My concern is that, other than ceremonial pieces and the odd family heirloom, none but the warriors keep weapons."
Quinn dodged to get out of the way of a woman running with one child by the hand and a baby in her other arm. The woman's emotions were a mixture of fear and determination. She'd fight hard for her children--of that Quinn had no doubt.
"Well, they haven't had to protect themselves for a long time," Quinn said. "But they'll do their best. Are we on the way to find weapons for ourselves?"
Alaric simply nodded and sped up his pace, until they were practically running.
"Wherever Anubisa disappeared to, I have a bad feeling she didn't go far," Quinn said, shivering as goose bumps rose on her arms.
"Evil is never far enough away," Noriko said, keeping pace next to Quinn. The former portal spirit glanced at Alaric. "So you did find a measure of peace, and the soul-meld. I am pleased for you."
Jack, who was padding along between them, snarled, and Quinn rolled her eyes.
"Arigato," Quinn said. "I don't want to know how you know that, though. And you? Have you found peace? Also, would you have any idea what the current portal spirit is up to? He has been kidnapping people left and right and sending them wherever he feels like sending them."
"He?" Noriko shook her head. "No, I have no idea. But Poseidon has much control over our actions. It is he who released me from my bond."
"And Jack?"
Jack's ears flicked back, but he didn't look at Quinn.
"Nothing has changed, unfortunately," Noriko said, but she
did briefly touch Jack's head.
"We don't have time for this now," Conlan said, pointing up. "That doesn't look like anything good."
They all looked up to find swarms of darkness covering the twilit sky. A blinding burst of pure, primal terror flooded Quinn, and she couldn't breathe for a moment, until she realized most of it was coming from the Atlanteans who were still outdoors. Of course they wouldn't have seen vampires before. Their fear tasted like acid in Quinn's mouth--there was nothing more primal than the loathing and terror of creatures who wanted to drain your blood, and these were attacking in such masses as to block out the first sunset the Atlanteans had seen in eleven millennia.
"She's back, and she has reinforcements," Quinn shouted, slamming shut her emotional shields so she could survive the massive amount of terror pounding her brain. "Run!"
Seconds later, the swarm of vampires hit Atlantis like a plague of locusts, attacking everyone in sight. Alaric turned and walked backward, hurling energy spheres as he moved. Wherever one of his deadly little balls landed, vampires screamed and died.
But most of the screaming and dying was happening to the Atlanteans and their guests. Quinn flinched as three of the bloodsuckers attacked a man and ripped him apart.
The palace finally rose up in front of them and she raced Jack indoors. Once inside the palace, Conlan stopped running and let Riley walk on her own.
"I'm taking her to the safest place in the palace," Conlan said. "Our rooms are warded and defensible."
"Take Noriko," Quinn advised. "She has a killer force field. She can help protect Riley and the baby."
Conlan nodded, and they sped away. Quinn headed down a corridor after Alaric.
"The armory is this way. How are you with a sword?"
She rolled her eyes. "Not all that great. I don't have much practice with boiling oil or cannonballs, either."
Ven met up with them and caught the gist of what she was saying. "Stick with me, kid. We non-magic types have to work to our strengths."
He opened a locked door just past the larger doors to the palace armory, which was swarming with warriors gearing up before running back outside to protect their people. Ven threw open the cabinet to display an impressive range of all the best tech for the serious gun enthusiast. Quinn chose a Glock similar to the one Ptolemy had melted, another just like it, a selection of throwing knives and stabbing knives, and then she slung a mini-Uzi over her shoulder.
