A Shade of Midnight

by Renee George

  “I can’t. Aalia is too powerful. We have to weaken her first.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Preparing for your sacrifice.”

  Mina let out a breath as if gut punched.

  “Get her out of here, Keane,” Gav said. “Don’t worry about us.”

  “Do it, Keane,” Eric agreed. “You have to protect Mina.”

  “You two aren’t getting rid of me that easy,” Mina said.

  “She is an aural, Mina,” Keane said. “Like you. We might be able to use emotions to weaken her.”

  “Not like me,” Mina told him. “Not like me at all. I don’t have the ability to do any of this. She’s gained power from killing my mother. You said so. She’s stronger than me. Too strong.”

  Keane narrowed his gaze on her. “You are the strongest person I know.”

  That and two bucks would get her a cup of coffee, but it wouldn’t get her any closer to getting her lovers free or any of them out of the situation safely. A strong energy washed over Mina. “She’s here,” she whispered.

  “Keane Silvertail,” Aalia said. “I should have known. All these years. You were the one hiding the girl from me.”

  “You can’t have her, Aalia. I won’t let you kill her like you did our sister.” Keane handed a gun to Mina. “She loved you, you know. Malia never believed you would actually go through with it.”

  “I’m doing this for our kind, Keane.”

  Mina could feel the sincerity in Aalia, which made what she was doing all the more abominable. “You’re doing it because you’re a power hungry bitch,” Mina said.

  “No,” Aalia denied. “Never that. We were meant for ascension. We were meant for immortality. Our kind is meant to be gods, Semina. You don’t know what an honor it is to be my chosen sacrifice. It’s a testament to how much I loved your mother. How much I love you.”

  No three words could have surprised her more. “This is not love.”

  Aalia stepped out of the darkness. She wore a white gown that billowed as if caught in a gentle breeze. A trick of her power since there was no wind in the warehouse. She held out her hands in a gesture of goodwill. “If you willingly join with me. Join your energy, your soul, to mine. I promise your lovers will go unharmed.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “If I ascend, I will be above such petty earthly problems. There will be no need for me to harm them, Semina. I give you my word.”

  Hesitantly, Mina took a step toward her.

  “No,” Keane said. “Don’t.”

  “Stop her,” Gav said. “Mina, don’t do it. Not for us.”

  Keane jumped, landing in between Mina and Aalia. “I won’t let you have her, sister.”

  “You can do nothing to stop me, Keane.” Aalia flicked her wrist. Greer raced out of the darkness. He flew through the air toward Keane, twisting, as the end of his tail knocked the ex-warden chief in the back of the head.

  Keane fell to the ground.

  “No!”

  “I don’t want to hurt anyone else,” Aalia said. She gestured again Greer moved to stand over Gav and Eric. “But I will.”

  She could sense an energy trying to worm its way inside her mind. It reminded her of the times her Trace Calder had forced his thoughts into her head.

  Join me.

  “Stop it!” Mina shouted. She put her hands over her ears as if that could stop her from hearing her aunt’s call. Panic churned her gut as she fought to throw up psychic blocks. “Please stop.”

  “I’m doing nothing,” Aalia said. Mina could feel the aural’s curiosity. Her surprise. “Tell me what’s happening to you.”

  “Fuck you,” Mina said through gritted teeth. Join me. Make the sacrifice and join me.

  “Your eyes,” Aelia said. “Why are they black?”

  “Help me,” Mina said, but she didn’t know to who or what. Let go, and join, my daughter. You have embraced the gift of three. Now you must choose. What will you give up?

  She turned her teary gaze to Gav and Eric.

  “Tell me!” Aalia said. Mina felt the cold doubt in Aalia’s rage.

  And suddenly, Mina knew. It wasn’t Aalia who’d spoke in her head. “Qetesh,” she said. “Qetesh has chosen me.”

  “No!” Aalia shrieked. “It’s not true. She speaks to me. Only me.”

  I have not, Qetesh told Mina. Not for a very long time.

  “She says she no longer speaks to you. You are unworthy.”

  “No, no.” Aalia fell to her knees. A sob escaping her. “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you all.”

  A sacrifice is needed. You must release the very thing that keeps you tied to this mortal existence. You must choose. Choose, Qetesh said. Or I will destroy you all.

  “Mina,” Keane said. “Talk to me.”

  “She wants me to make a sacrifice.” Mina stared at Gav and Eric. “She says if I don’t, she’ll destroy everyone.”

  “That’s the same choice she gave me. She promised to join me if I chose,” Aalia said. “I chose, but still Qetesh left me.”

  “You chose wrong.” The words came from Mina’s lips, but it wasn’t her speaking. “Now the choice belongs to someone else.” Mina’s hand raised, a lasso of power whipped across the space between her and Aalia. It wrapped around her aunt’s throat. “You have no power here, mortal.”

  Mina fought for control in her own body. She wouldn’t let Qetesh take her over. She wouldn’t let her kill her lovers or her friend. “No,” Mina said. “You have no power here. Not unless I allow it.”

  Qetesh’s power must have weakened Aalia, and the magical binds holding Eric and Gav broke. Greer staggered back as Gav roared, his body shifting into that of a huge beastman. Mina dropped to her knees to fight for her will to win. Gav and Eric grappled with Greer, dodging his lethal tail and venomous snake hair.

  Keane staggered to his feet, sword drawn. “I can feel the goddess,” he said.

  “Help me,” Mina told him. She was fighting a war on all sides, even the inside, and she worried she wouldn’t be strong enough to protect the people she loved.

  She could hear Gav and Eric shouting, coordinating their attack on Greer. The negase was no match against the leogenus or the leiol. Not when they worked as a team. A sharp cry of surprise followed by a deafening roar split Mina’s focus.

  Eric and Gav stood over their fallen foe. Greer was down. Dead. And no longer a threat. She turned her gaze to Aalia. “I can’t fight her.” She was talking about Qetesh. The goddess had a firm hold on her mind now.

  “Kill me, then child,” Aalia said. “Kill me, and ascend.”

  “Unworthy,” Qetesh said. Choose before it is too late for you.

  Mina raised her hand. She was gripping the 9mm tightly. So tight her hand shook. “You have to go,” she said to Eric and Gav. “I can’t…” She pointed the gun at one man, then the next. “I can’t stop this.”

  They both crossed the short distance to her. “Please don’t make me do this.” Tears leaked from her eyes. She’d killed so many over the years. It had barely bothered her in the past, but she wasn’t that Shade anymore. She was Semina Vail now. And she loved.

  “It’s okay,” Eric said. “Choose me. I’d gladly give my life for you.”

  Gav nodded. “As would I.” He moved the barrel end and placed it over his heart. “I will die for you, Mina. Whatever it takes as long as you live.”

  Eric moved the gun to his chest. “As long as you live.”

  “No,” she whispered.

  Choose.

  “No.”

  Then I will take them both, Qetesh told her.

  “I love you,” Mina said. “I love you both.” She struggled against the entity inside her until she could move her own hand. “Here’s my choice,” she said. In one quick movement, she put the gun to head. “Without me, you don’t exist.”

  Before Gav or Eric could stop her, Mina pulled the trigger.

  The blinding pain left Mina almost instantly. A sense of perfect peace se
ttled through her, although it really wasn’t her anymore. Or was it? She floated above her body, the astral right above her. She wondered why she didn’t feel the separation from her flesh. Kind of a letdown, really. Something like death should have more pow or kick to it. Instead, it was like… moving on.

  Lingering for a moment, she worried for her guys, who were wracked with grief as they held her lifeless body. She didn’t really believe she’d make it back to them. Not now.

  Your choice is made.

  Damn straight, Mina told Qetesh, who was now a disembodied yellow light. I couldn’t let you take them.

  I never wanted them, child.

  I don’t understand. You told me to choose between them.

  No, the light said. I told you to make your choice. Your sacrifice. And you did. It was the choice Aalia should have made.

  The light of Qetesh floated nearer to her. You have embraced the gift of three, and you have made the ultimate sacrifice, that of self. You are worthy.

  Even though she didn’t have a physical body anymore, Mina felt the light enter her. The blending tingled. It felt pleasant. Safe. Its color began to change, and she changed as well. Her spirit turned bright pink. Man, I hate pink. Qetesh didn’t speak, but Mina heard the tinkle of laughter, then all was silent.

  They were now one.

  She waited for whatever would come next. But nothing happened. She looked down again. Gav and Eric grieved with anguish over her dead body. She ached to comfort them. She wished they could know that she was okay. She felt no pain. Qetesh had stripped Aalia of her power, and Keane had the aural cuffed to a pole as he made a phone call.

  Really? I’m dead and he’s making a call?

  She waited, expectantly. Would she finally meet her mother? Her dad? Would she have made them proud had they lived? Had they raised her?

  After a few minutes, she began to feel the warm pull of something on her spirit. It was as if she were being sucked downward, like a vacuum. Would she go to heaven? Was there a heaven or something else entirely? She’d never been a believer, but she figured if there was a heaven, she’d done too much bad shit to get a ticket through the pearly gates.

  The anguish in her men tore at her soul. She wished she wasn’t leaving them, but she’d made the right decision. Suddenly, the weightlessness of her free-floating spirit went away. She felt heavy, solid, like being encased in stone. Oh no, I am going to hell. Her position there would not be unwarranted.

  “Mina.” She heard her name being called. “Oh, God. Mina!”

  Great, they knew her in hell by name.

  “Can you hear me? Open your eyes, babe,” another voice came.

  Babe? Who in the bowels of hell would call her babe?

  She blinked. And there was light. Sitting up, she sucked in a deep breath, coughing and sputtering as her lungs grew used to taking air again. “Jeezus,” she wheezed. Was this really happening? Or was this some trick of the devil? Had she somehow made it back into her body?

  The alarm of sirens drew near. Mike. He must have called the cops.

  Quickly, her fingers went to her temple where she should have had a massive hole. Excellently enough, the skin felt smooth—not even tacky from the blood. “Holy fuck that hurt.” But it had only hurt for a second. She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the blissful peace.

  “Yeah, getting shot doesn’t feel so hot, does it?” Gav grabbed her into a bear hug.

  She could hear the room filling with police officers. “Where’s Keane?” They had some major OW clean up on their hands. The human would freak at the sight of Greer. In death, the negase hadn’t shifted back to human passing.

  “Keane left with Greer and Aalia as soon as he heard the sirens,” Gav said.

  “Always the warden.” Mina shook her head. “Duty first.”

  Eric wiped the wetness from his cheeks. “I can’t believe you came back to us.”

  She couldn’t believe it either. “What happened? I mean, how did I come back?”

  “You lit up like a pink neon sign, then bang, the bullet popped out, the hole closed in your temple and your heart started beating,” Eric said. “Your eyes are still glowing sort of a hot pink.”

  “Crap, I hope that goes away,” Mina said. “I really do hate pink.”

  “I hate to ruin our moment,” Gav said. “But we need to get our story straight.”

  “We should just go,” Eric said.

  “No.” Mina caressed his cheek when they helped her to stand up. “Mike will have told them we were here and being held captive. We can either face it now or deal with the questions later.”

  “We can’t exactly tell the truth,” Eric said.

  Mina smiled. “We won’t have to.”

  * * * *

  Tobias Tolliver lay in bed. Worried. He hadn’t heard from Jennifer since she’d left the bar with her henchman. It took a few hours, but he’d just drifted to sleep when a firm smack across his face woke him up. Mina Vail stood over him with a gun in his face.

  “Wake up, fuckwad.”

  Intense spike of fear tensed his body. Her eyes were inky black wells of darkness. They promised an ugly death. Wetness brushed against the back of his thigh and he realized he’d pissed himself.

  “Please don’t kill me.”

  Vail grabbed a handful of his hair and dragged him to a sitting position. He couldn’t move. It was as if he were a marionette and Mina Vail pulled the strings.

  “You will confess to Samuel Wilson’s death. You will confess to two other murders as well. I’ve left the files on your nightstand. The police are on the way to your house now,” she said. “You are wanted for kidnapping me, Gavriil Doyle, and Eric Bishop.”

  “They won’t believe me.”

  Mine put her face close to his. In her eyes, he saw unspeakable horror. “Make them believe.”

  “Yes, yes,” he panted. “I’ll make them believe.”

  “Good.” She smiled but it was a more a baring of teeth. “Don’t make me come back, Tobias.”

  “I won’t,” he promised. Jail would be a cakewalk compared to what Mina would do to him if he didn’t do as she said.

  “See you at the arraignment.”

  Chapter 14

  Personally, Mina was just thrilled to be home safely with Gav and Eric. The night at the police station had been long and arduous. Of course, Officer Patterson, Mina’s nemesis in blue had been the first cop on the scene. He took great pleasure in treating Gav like a victim. Asshole. Mina had discovered an interesting aspect of her new incarnation, for lack of a better word. Her rebirth had given her the ability to project herself to other places. With a little guidance from Qetesh, who still spoke to her, Tolliver had been her first experiment. She’d concentrated on locating him, and the next thing she knew, she’d found herself in his bedroom. When she’d returned to the police station, Gav and Eric had told her that it looked like she’d been sleeping.

  How freaking cool was that?

  Tolliver had confessed the three murders. He had enough details to make the confession sound real, and it stopped the human justice system from digging further into the events surrounding the night at the warehouse. Bobby had a concussion, but the doctor said he should make a full recovery with time. Unfortunately, though, he’d be off details until then. It was okay. Mike had proved himself capable, and with Mina’s new abilities they’d get by. Charlie had been another story. She wasn’t happy about the Eric, Mina, and Gav arrangement, but she was a human, so it would be harder for her to understand. Mina hoped she’d eventually come around. She loved Charlie, but she couldn’t live without Eric…or Gav.

  Keane had called. Aalia was going on trial for her crimes. She no longer had an agenda, since Qetesh had turned her back on her, so she made a deal with Grayman. They were moving in on several rebel groups because of her intel, and without Samson Technologies, the money was drying up. Now that she knew Keane was her uncle, he offered to answer any question about her past. She wasn’t quite ready to confront t
hat part of her history yet, but she was sure she’d want to know some day.

  Right now, she had enough on her hands trying to figure out how to love two men equally. Gav and Eric were dealing with their new relationship like champs. Better than she was. Their love for Mina had bonded them together. They’d even become friends. Sorta.

  The three of them had been bed-hopping for several weeks, taking turns at each other’s apartments. It seemed to be working. Their hours weren’t always the same, so everyone got their alone time when they needed it, but they were still cohesive. So no one was more surprised than Mina, well, maybe Gav, when Eric announced at dinner one night that he was giving up his ginormous loft to move in with Mina.

  Gav scooted from the table. “Nope. Not happening.”

  “Why not?”

  Mina put her hands over her ears. “Do I get a say in this?”

  “Look,” Eric said. “I’m rarely home and it makes no sense to pay several grand in rent a month on a loft that I’m not living in.”

  “You’re not moving in with Mina, and that’s that,” Gav argued. “Not unless, I move in too, and she’s already said she not ready for that.”

  “Hey! I’m in the room.” She drew a circle with her finger. “I can speak for myself and make up my own goddamn mind, thank you very much.”

  “Well, what do you think?” Eric asked.

  “Well, boys…” She grabbed them both by the arm and escorted them to the door. “…I think…” She opened the door and pushed them out into the hallway. “…that I have a one-bedroom apartment. Gav has a two-bedroom apartment. You should both live over there. Oh, don’t worry. I’ll let you come by and visit. But not until you stop arguing.” She slammed the door shut in both their shocked faces.

  Dusting her hands on her shorts, she sat back down at the table to enjoy her plate of spaghetti and meatballs Gav had so lovingly prepared. She could hear them arguing as she happily ate the garlic bread and salad that Eric had made. It went down yummy as well. After a few minutes, Mina opened her door. Both Gav and Eric stood on the other side and waited.

  “I think we should all move in together,” Mina said. “We don’t need a bigger apartment.” She smiled. “Just a bigger bed.”