Lethal Rider

by Larissa Ione

  Arrogant sons of bitches. Tension winged through the air, and as much as Than wanted to pulverize these guys, he remembered that they were here to protect Regan. No matter what he might think of the bastards, she held them in high regard. She…needed them.

  The protector in him, the male that would lay down his life for his mate and child, let out an injured growl at the idea that Regan needed these other males for anything, but the more civilized side of him understood. Sort of.

  So he’d let them live for now.

  “Are you okay, Regan?” Juan shuffled his feet, and Than caught a whiff of nerves. At least that one was smart. “Has he hurt you?”

  People kept asking that. It was getting old.

  “No.” Regan stepped between them, and Than resisted the urge to pull her back. “Trust me, Thanatos isn’t a threat.”

  “Not to you.” Thanatos met each of the four Elders’ eyes. “But I’ll kill anyone who fucks with what’s mine.”

  “Dickhead,” Lance muttered.

  Regan made a little growly noise that probably shouldn’t be sexy, but that cranked his engine again and had him wanting to drag her to the bedroom, caveman style, to finish what they’d started in the library.

  After he strangled Lance with his own intestines.

  He must have voiced his thoughts out loud, because Regan rounded on him, planted her palm on his chest, and got in his face. So. Fucking. Sexy.

  “Manners, Horseman. It’s what separates us from … well, people like Lance.” She shot a glare at the Elder before turning back to Thanatos. “Could you give us a minute?”

  He knew she needed to discuss Aegis business, and he understood that there were things he shouldn’t know—if his Seal broke, he could use the knowledge against them. So yeah, he got it.

  But that didn’t mean he liked it. “You have five minutes,” he gritted out. He needed to check in with Ares and Limos anyway. He lowered his voice and put his lips to her ear, his blood still stirring so viciously that his fangs scraped her lobe. “After that, I need—”

  Her hands slammed into his chest, the force not violent, but sensual. “I know what you need, Horseman.”

  She did, didn’t she? What a remarkable woman. A rumbling purr rattled his chest even as he scowled at the Guardian intruders. Yup, he’d worked himself into a frenzy that Regan somehow understood.

  Blood or seed … something was going to spill.

  Once Thanatos and his storm cloud of energy was out of sight, Regan rounded on her fellow Elders. “What were you thinking, showing up here without Kynan? He should be the one dealing with the Horsemen.”

  “And hasn’t that been the problem,” Lance said, and what was that supposed to mean?

  Juan opened the front door and gestured outside. “Come on. We need a little more privacy than this.”

  Shit. Whatever they needed so much privacy for couldn’t be good. “What’s going on?”

  “Just trust us.” Juan walked out, and Regan followed, dying of curiosity.

  The Guardians who had accompanied the Elders had spread out, all armed to the teeth and holding either crossbows or swords, their weapons’ belts packed with wooden stakes.

  Lance cocked his head at the helicopter, where the side cargo door was wide open to reveal rows of seats. “Hop in.”

  Pregnant women didn’t hop anywhere, and Regan stopped dead in her tracks. “Why?”

  “The inside is rigged with a sound-dampening spell,” Juan said. “Whatever we say inside can’t be heard outside.” He glanced back at Omar, who had gone down on one knee just outside the keep’s door to tie his boot. “I know it seems like an extreme measure, but what we have to tell you is critically sensitive.”

  A ramp had been placed at the base of the helo, and she awkwardly climbed into the huge chopper that appeared to be a modified military troop transport. Juan, Lance, and Takumi followed her inside, and when Juan slammed the door closed … and locked it, her gut dropped. In the next instant, the pilot started the rotor blades, and her heart joined her plummeting stomach.

  “What are you doing?”

  Lance’s pacifying smile didn’t boost her confidence. “The rotors help block sound.”

  She didn’t like this at all, and neither did Thanatos. Through the front windshield, she saw him burst out of the keep and run toward the helo. Behind him, Omar, who had still been kneeling, leaped to his feet, a pistol in his grip.

  “Thanatos!” Regan shouted, as if he could hear.

  Gunfire rang out, and Thanatos hit the ground, a crimson-tipped dart sticking out of the back of his neck. Vampires swarmed from the side courtyard, but the Guardians were ready, and as they picked off Than’s staff, Regan screamed. She tried to get to the door, but Lance, Juan, and Takumi blocked her.

  “This is a goddamned rescue, Regan!” Lance snapped.

  “I don’t need to be rescued, you idiots!”

  At the front of the bird, Omar leaped in, and then the helo was airborne, and Regan was trapped.

  “What the hell are you guys thinking?” she yelled, grabbing a handbar to steady herself. “Take me back!”

  From the front, Omar shook his head. “Regan, we have a plan. This is what’s best.”

  Shake it off. Think. The helo was in flight, so right now, she had no choice but to go along with their plan. She didn’t like it, but until she knew exactly what was up, she had to stay calm. Which wasn’t easy, given that she wanted to throw each one of them out of the helicopter for hurting Thanatos.

  She sank stiffly into a seat. “What’s the plan? And why didn’t we discuss this before you attacked Thanatos and kidnapped me? I’m tired of getting kidnapped.” And boy, Thanatos was going to be homicidally angry when he came to. “You used hellhound saliva on him, didn’t you?”

  Lance shook his head. “Qeres. We had to test it to make sure it would work on Pestilence.”

  “That was stupid, guys. And you’ve probably destroyed our alliance with the Horsemen.”

  When they said nothing, a sour suspicion fell over her. “You know that, don’t you? You know and don’t care. Why?”

  “Because,” Takumi said, “after today it won’t matter.” He looked out the window and back to her. “Regan, you have to trust us. We only want what’s best for you, and for the world. We’re going to end the Apocalypse today.”

  “What?” She looked between them. “How? Do you have Pestilence?”

  The helicopter banked hard to the right, and she nearly slid out of her seat. As she righted herself, Lance leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his knees.

  “Right now isn’t the time for questions or suspicions or doubts. It’s time for you to prove to everyone, once and for all, that The Aegis was right when we didn’t put you down as an infant.”

  “How dare you.” Her voice quavered with emotion. “How dare you imply that I’ve somehow been disloyal. I’ve done everything The Aegis has asked of me, which includes bedding and betraying a man who could have killed me with his pinky. So don’t you dare talk to me as if I’ve wronged you.”

  “Regan,” Omar said softly, “no one is questioning your loyalty.” He shot Lance a disgusted glare. “What Lance is trying to say—badly—is that what’s happening today isn’t going to be easy, but you’ve got to trust us more than ever, and you’re going to need to be strong. We’ve got to stick together.”

  The helicopter jolted, and she looked out the window to see that they’d landed on a huge ship. As the door slid open, she turned back to Omar. “I don’t understand.”

  “You will.”

  A salt water breeze stung her skin as she was escorted from the big bird past an open chest full of Aegis weapons and supplies to a door on the deck. They led her through a maze of hallways until they arrived at a metal door large enough to allow a rhino to enter. She walked into what appeared to be a medical facility. Her fellow Elders followed her inside and closed the door. The ominous clang vibrated through her bloodstream, but she felt silly about her apprehe
nsion when the obstetrician who had been treating her for months entered from a connecting room.

  “Regan.” He smiled warmly. “It’s good to see you. How are you feeling?”

  Two nurses entered, as well as two burly male technicians carrying trays of medical instruments, and the ominous sensation of doom returned.

  “I feel great,” she lied, as she eyed the syringes on one of the trays. “But I think it’s time you told me why I’m here.”

  Dr. Rodanski cut a sharp look at Lance. “You didn’t tell her?”

  “Tell me what?” Regan placed her hands protectively over her belly, a fierce instinct kicking in and telling her that something was very, very wrong here.

  Lance held up his hands in a gesture she was sure was meant to calm her but failed on an epic scale. “We need the kid, Regan. We need it now.”

  “It’s not the kid,” she snapped. “He’s my son. And what do you mean, you need him now? Have you captured Pestilence? We need Thanatos and Deliverance—”

  “We don’t,” Omar interrupted. “We believe the translation of the prophecy you’ve been following is wrong. We have new information that changes everything.”

  “New information? What new information?”

  The doctor came forward with the syringe. “Just relax, Regan. I’m going to sedate you, and I’ll perform a C-section to deliver the baby.”

  They couldn’t touch her. She knew that, and yet, her heart began to pound painfully hard. “And then what?”

  “Regan,” Juan said gently, “you don’t have to be part of it. We’ll put you out.”

  Oh, God. More pounding, and now her head was throbbing. “Put me out for what?”

  Lance’s gaze dropped to the floor, and when he raised it again to meet hers, they glinted with both sympathy and resolve. “In order to stop the Apocalypse, we have to sacrifice the child.”

  Twenty-seven

  The sounds of battle penetrated Thanatos’s black haze. Whatever The Aegis bastard had darted him with hadn’t been hellhound saliva, or Than wouldn’t have blacked out, even for a few seconds, and it wouldn’t have made him fuzzy in the head. No, everything was crystal clear when you were paralyzed by hellmutt venom.

  Had to be the qeres. Those fucking assholes had knocked him off his feet with the weapon they’d promised to use against Pestilence.

  Fuckers.

  And Regan… His body shook like a washer on spin cycle as his body stirred back to life. How involved had she been in this attack? He waited for the insane anger to set in, anger at her deception, but nothing happened. Maybe because no, he didn’t believe that after all they’d shared over the last couple of days, the talking, the love-making, she’d betray him again.

  He’d give her the benefit of the doubt. Everyone else involved in this scheme, however, was going to die.

  Snarling, he rocked himself up off the ground and onto all fours. All around him, Guardians were battling his vampires, and about fifty yards away, a pack of hellhounds was bearing down. Good. Let them tear the Aegis assholes to pieces.

  “My lord.” Viktor, one leg broken badly, tried to help Than to his feet. “We’ve failed you—”

  “No, you didn’t.” Than staggered to his feet and flicked his fingers over his throat. Instantly, his armor folded into place. “I let down my damned guard and trusted the wrong people.”

  Viktor opened his mouth, but only a gasp and a rush of blood came out. A wooden bolt blew a hole through the vampire’s chest and shattered on Thanatos’s armor. In a puff of greasy smoke, Viktor crumpled into a pile of blackened ash on the ground.

  “No!” Roaring in anguish, Thanatos summoned his scythe and in one lighting-fast motion relieved the Guardian who’d killed Viktor of his head. The hellhounds fell on the remaining Aegi, but Than didn’t wait around to enjoy the show.

  Hurry! We need to get to the ship! Someone had shouted as Thanatos went down, the voice barely audible in the chop of the helicopter blades, and fuck, that meant he couldn’t use a Harrowgate. Water affected the destination gate, and one wrong calculation could dump him right into the ocean… where he couldn’t gate himself out.

  His brain stewing with revenge, he released Styx, mounted the stallion, and took off in the direction of his son.

  Styx ran as if he was being chased by the hellhounds they’d left behind, and with every stride, Thanatos’s fury mounted. He panted through the growing desire to kill, needing to stay in control. Regan had shown him what she did to stay calm, and right now, he borrowed the trick, clicking his thumb on the saddle’s pommel. One, two, three. Breathe. One, two, three. Breathe.

  It worked. Only slightly, but it worked. Oh, he was still going to rend Aegi bodies from limb to limb, but he’d do it in an orderly, calm fashion.

  And if either she or the baby had been harmed in any way, the calm thing was going out the window. If The Aegis wanted a war, they’d gotten one.

  Sacrifice? Sacrifice, as in kill? Regan backed away from her colleagues so fast she slammed into a rolling tray, knocking it over and sending instruments clattering to the floor.

  “Fuck you,” she breathed. “Fuck every one of you. You’re not touching my son.”

  “Regan,” Lance said, so calmly her hair stood on end, “you agreed. When we came to you in the beginning, you agreed—”

  “I agreed to get pregnant. Jesus Christ… I didn’t agree to kill my baby!”

  “Be reasonable, Regan. It’s not your baby. It belongs to The Aegis.” Juan stepped closer, and the room began to spin. “It’s not really a baby anyway. It’s a demon. A demon whose death will save mankind from untold horrors.”

  “Untold horrors? You sound like a narrator from one of those fifties nuclear preparedness films.” Regan’s chest tightened around her madly beating heart. They were serious. They honestly had no problem murdering a newborn infant. “You idiots! Thanatos can sense this baby. He is going to find us, and he’s going to slaughter every one of you.”

  Lance shook his head. “We planned for that. We have it on good authority that the Horsemen can’t open a Harrowgate on a boat.”

  Regan grew lightheaded, so dizzy that she threw out a hand to catch herself on the wall. “Who told you that? It’s a lie.” She had no idea if their claim was true or not, but at this point, she’d say anything to stop this insane plan of theirs.

  “We know it’s true.” Omar flanked her left side, and now she was surrounded. “Let’s make this easy on everyone. It’s the only way, Regan.”

  Okay, calm down…think…think. “You can’t touch me.” She doubted the hysteria in her voice was helping anything. “This demon, as you call him, is protecting me.”

  Lance smiled. “Again, we planned for that.” He gestured to one of the techs standing near the doctor. The tech opened a cabinet and removed a tray laden with candles, packets of powder, a ceremonial bowl, and a few objects Regan didn’t recognize. Another tech brought in a cage containing a live rabbit.

  “Blood magic?” She was going to throw up. “You’re going to neutralize him with an evil spell? You can’t know it’ll work. You could kill him!” She realized instantly what a stupid thing to say that was, given that the goal was to kill the baby.

  They’d been possessed. That was the only answer. Her colleagues, the people she considered to be her family, the ones who had fought beside her, shared her Aegis ideology, and given her a home, had to be under the influence of evil. Somehow, Pestilence had gotten hold of them, that son of a bitch.

  Well, fuck this. Pivoting, she slammed her fist into Lance’s face. Power sang through her, and he went airborne, crunching into a bulkhead and sliding motionless to the floor. Hands grabbed her from behind, but again, the baby’s energy exploded, and she turned in time to see Omar cartwheel into a doorframe and slide bonelessly to the floor.

  “Stay back,” she snarled. “You’ve seen what I can do. Next person who tries to hurt me gets a taste of my soul-sucking talent.” Another bluff, since it wasn’t even tingling inside
her.

  Keeping her eye on everyone, she reached behind her and opened the door. Once in the passageway, she ran as fast as she could toward the deck, hoping to force the helicopter pilot into flying her off the boat, but when she heaved open the door, disappointment shrouded her like a sodden blanket.

  Son of a bitch, the bird was gone.

  She heard the fall of running footsteps behind her. Don’t panic. With as much calm as she could muster, she slammed the passageway door and spun the locking mechanism. A mop propped nearby became her best friend as she grabbed it and jammed the handle through the door’s lock handle to prevent it from spinning. It wouldn’t hold them for long, but she figured she only needed a couple of minutes. She hurried to the chest of Aegis supplies and grabbed a crossbow. Beneath the weapon was a large wooden box. Inside, lying on top of gray egg crate foam, were vials of milky liquid.

  Qeres.

  She snared a vial, and with adrenaline boosting her, she rushed to the motorized lifeboat on the starboard side of the ship. She could see the shoreline from here, and thank God the seas weren’t rough. This was doable.

  Awkwardly, she climbed into the hard-sided raft, grabbed the control box, and flipped the switch. In a grind of gears and a jolt that left her gasping for breath, the craft lowered down the side of the ship.

  She heard shouts above, and as the little raft plunked into the water, the shouts turned to curses.

  “Fuck! Reverse the winch. Pull her up!” The mushy voice belonged to Lance, and she almost laughed at the knowledge that the blow she’d delivered must have broken a few teeth.

  “Too late.” With a flick of her wrist, she disengaged the clamps that held the raft to the rigging, and her little boat floated free. She aimed the crossbow at Lance’s head as he peered over the side of the ship. “Go to hell, assholes.”