by Alyssa Day
Not nearly enough.
“Call the water,” Tiernan insisted. “Do the ice spears.”
Brennan did just that, but for the first time in more than two thousand years, neither power nor water came easily to his hand. Perhaps the lightning had ruined him. Killed the magic.
“Now would be a good time for some help,” Daniel yelled, and then he went down, buried under a half dozen vampires.
“Brennan,” Tiernan cried out. “Help!”
She pointed up and he saw a vampire crawling on the ceiling toward them, hanging like a bloated spider but faster than any spider had ever moved. Before Brennan could react, the repulsive creature leapt down through the air and grabbed Tiernan, then threw her across the corridor so hard that she smashed into the opposite wall with an audible crack.
She screamed and held up her arm, which dangled in an unnatural way, clearly broken. Slumping back against the wall, cradling her wounded arm, she slid down until she was sitting on the floor staring up at Brennan, her face strained with the pain.
Tiernan’s pain blasted through the barrier in Brennan’s mind, and he called the water again. “For Atlantis!” he roared, and this time the water came. He created spears of ice and arrows of pure, shining water, and it came to his call and followed his command, shooting through the corridors in swirls and ribbons like a deadly ballet; dancers pirouetting on blades of death.
The vampire who had harmed Tiernan was the first to die.
When Brennan lowered his hands and finally released the water, there was no one left standing. The corridors in both directions were littered with piles of disintegrating vampires, and he saw the backs of several more who were fleeing the battle, having evidently decided they did not care to face the true death just yet.
He ran to Tiernan and carefully lifted her in his arms. Her face was white with pain, but she gritted her teeth and didn’t cry out.
“Daniel?” she said and he looked around, prepared to regret having destroyed his ally, but knowing he would have sacrificed far more for Tiernan.
“I’m here,” Daniel said from behind them, his voice cracking. “But Deirdre isn’t doing very well.”
Brennan turned around, carefully so as not to jostle Tiernan. “Did I—”
“No,” Deirdre, who was lying on the ground with a stake in her chest, said. “No. It was one of them. He was going to stake Daniel.”
Daniel, covered with wounds himself, pulled Deirdre into his arms, anguish in his eyes. “She did it for me. She stepped between the stake and my back.”
Daniel looked down at Deirdre, bloodred tears streaming down his face. “Not for me. You should not have done this for me. You were still too weak from the torture to survive this trauma.”
Deirdre smiled a little, then gasped and doubled over. Daniel cried out, but she wasn’t dead. Not yet. But Brennan could tell from the way she looked that it wouldn’t be long.
“You saved me once, now I return the favor,” Deirdre told Daniel. “You can still accomplish so much good. I am broken and more than ready to rest.” She looked up at Brennan. “Please give my love to my sister, and tell her I died with a prayer in my heart for her.”
Then she grasped the stake and, before Daniel could stop her, pushed down until it angled into her heart and shoved it farther into her chest with one powerful movement.
“No,” Tiernan cried, but it was too late, and they watched, unable to look away, as Deirdre dissolved into pale, silvery ash in Daniel’s arms, and even that faded and vanished before their eyes.
“No,” someone cried out, but it wasn’t Tiernan this time. Brennan jerked his head to the right to see what new danger was approaching, but it was Quinn, running down the corridor toward them, keeping pace with Alaric, who juggled spheres of blue-green power.
Quinn stopped and fell to her knees beside Daniel. “No,” she said again.
But it was too late.
Daniel threw his head back and screamed a long, wild, feral cry and Quinn flinched back. Alaric reached for her, but stopped himself before he touched her shoulder, instead turning to Brennan.
“We’re here to rescue you,” Alaric said, raising an eyebrow and scanning the area.
“Great timing,” Tiernan managed to say.
Alaric’s lips moved a fraction, which for him was almost a smile. “Perhaps I could at least assist with that?” He pointed to her broken arm.
Before she could answer, he released the power spheres he’d been holding and let them roll down her arm, where they re-formed, coalescing into a sleeve of pure light.
Tiernan made a contented humming sound deep in her throat, her head falling back while the magic did its work, and then the light winked out. She held out her arm and cautiously stretched it and bent it and then looked up, her eyes wide, and smiled at Alaric.
“Thank you very much. That was hurting a bit,” she said.
Alaric inclined his head. “Think nothing of it.”
Tiernan took Brennan’s hand. “Okay, I won’t. After Brennan brought me back from the dead, fixing a broken arm seems kind of ordinary.”
Alaric trained a piercing stare on Brennan. “I will need to hear more of this.”
“Fine. Later. Let’s get out of here,” Tiernan said. She knelt down by Daniel. “I’m so very sorry for your loss, Daniel. She saved us. She was very brave.”
Daniel stared blindly at her, not seeing Tiernan or anything else, Brennan suspected. “She was mine to protect, and I failed her.”
“No,” Brennan said. “She made her choice, and she died a hero.”
Quinn put a hand on Daniel’s arm. “We need to go.”
“Yes, please,” Tiernan said. “Can we please get out of here? I can’t die or face death one more time down in these miserable tunnels.”
Daniel nodded and stood up, leaning on Quinn. His nostrils flared when he came close to her, and his face hardened, taking on a predatory cast for a split second, but then he pulled away from her, shaking his head. Brennan noticed that Alaric tensed, like he was ready to lunge at the vampire, and didn’t relax at all even when Daniel backed away from Quinn. They started down the corridor in the direction from which Alaric and Quinn had come, and met no more resistance along the way.
“Lucas is rounding up the rest of the scientists in the conference room upstairs,” Quinn said.
“I will remove their memories of anything to do with this horrible procedure,” Daniel said.
“You’ve been going by the name Devon?” Quinn asked. Evidently the rebels knew quite a bit about what had been happening here, as usual.
“Yes. I was here for the same reason you are. Enthralling shifters and humans is wrong. Categorically wrong. I’m not going to let power-mad vampires take over the world and turn everyone on the planet into a sheep.”
“Will you still be Primator?” Tiernan asked.
“I must. Nothing less will be enough to succeed.”
“If you take their memories, will that damage their minds?” Brennan asked, suddenly flashing back to his time in that godsdamned chair.
“It might.”
They were silent then, climbing the stairs that led back to the fresh air and the light, each contemplating what moral ground he or she was willing to offer up for the greater good, Brennan suspected. Or, at least, he was.
“I have no problem with that,” Tiernan finally said, breaking the silence. “But not for Susannah, who’s in a place beyond vengeance. For all the people who might have been caught and experimented on in the future. Let’s make sure they never have to suffer this ordeal.”
“Agreed,” Brennan said, wrapping his arm around Tiernan’s waist as they crossed the lobby to the door. “For the future.”
A high, keening shriek was his only warning before a heavy weight dropped on his back and he realized it was a vampire screaming in his ear. The vampire reared back, fangs glistening, and struck . . . but didn’t connect with Brennan’s flesh.
Instead, the vampire’s head slid sl
owly to one side and fell off its neck. Its body followed, collapsing to the floor, and leaving a clear line of sight to Smitty, who stood there with a short sword in his hand, the blade bloody.
“You!” Tiernan said.
Smitty’s dead stare lightened for a fraction of a second, admitting an ounce of human emotion, as he glanced at Tiernan. But then he returned his gaze to Brennan, and it was as icy cold as ever. “Just stopped by for my final pay-check. Couldn’t stomach any more. Now we’re even.”
He wiped his blade on the back of the vamp’s shirt and then crossed the floor to Tiernan. He stopped and lifted a hand, almost touching her hair. “I’m sorry,” he said, so quietly Brennan almost didn’t hear it, and then he headed toward the door.
“Brennan?” Alaric said, but Tiernan shook her head.
“We’ve had enough killing,” she said. “And he was almost kind, in his own, murderous way.”
“She spared your life, but know this. If I see you again, I will kill you,” Brennan said.
Smitty paused but didn’t turn around. He simply nodded, resumed walking, and left the building. When they walked through the door only a few seconds behind him, he was already gone.
Chapter 46
Brennan walked out into the daylight and praised the gods that they had made it out alive. He pulled Tiernan closer to him, realizing that he wouldn’t be willing to let her out of his sight for a long time, if ever. Not until he could feel safe again, after losing her.
“That might take years,” he murmured, and she glanced up at him, puzzled, but he just smiled and kissed the top of her head.
Lucas, who’d been leaning against the front of a shiny black vehicle, walked over to them. “You’re alive,” he said, grinning. “Thank the goddess. Honey was going to kill me if I let something happen to you.”
Brennan smiled, feeling joy—simple, grateful, joy—slowly wash over him. “I thank you for the rescue,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Perhaps next time you can remain in your vehicle and listen to music on the radio.”
“Hey! I took care of the goons out here on patrol,” Lucas protested. “I wasn’t slacking off.”
Tiernan smiled. “Thank you. Thank you all. I’m feeling pretty great right now for a woman who was dead recently.” She turned her face up to the sunshine and closed her eyes, snuggling closer to Brennan, who enjoyed the feeling very much. “Maybe next time we can have a nice beach vacation?”
Lucas laughed. “Your boyfriend has some nice underwater property.” But then the shifter’s face turned grim. “We lost one of ours and two of the rebels to the gunfire. Quinn’s people and mine are heading down into the tunnels with Alexios for a search-and-destroy mission. We need to make sure every bit of that mind-control equipment is demolished.”
“We got a good start on it,” Brennan said.
“Take those damn chairs apart piece by piece and burn them, is all I ask,” Tiernan said, shuddering against him. “No one should ever have to endure that again.”
“We’ll handle the cleanup,” Lucas said. “You go. Heal. Rest. But come back in a week for the boys’ naming ceremony.”
“We will,” Brennan promised. He and Lucas clasped arms, and Lucas pounded him on the back, and then the shifter bounded over to the institute and disappeared inside.
“Where is Daniel? Oh, wait,” Tiernan said, looking up again. “Sunshine.”
“He will stay and help in the tunnels,” Alaric said from behind them, making Tiernan jump.
“I hate when you do that,” she muttered.
He smiled a little. “I know. In any event, Daniel will stay and help. His exact words were ‘the third time is a charm.’ His undercover days are over, since he is too well-known now. He was also voted Primator, or so he claims, and I choose not to look into that claim too closely.”
Alaric’s eyes glowed hotter, and Brennan turned to follow his gaze. Quinn was coming out of the front door of the institute, and her face was white and strained. She crossed to where they were standing.
“Daniel said good-bye,” she said. “He’s going to work openly with us and with you from here on out.”
Suddenly Tiernan made a small, startled noise and slipped out of Brennan’s grasp, falling to the ground. She looked up from where she was sprawled in a clumsy sitting pose, her face comically surprised.
“I think all that energy you gave me when you brought me back to life just vanished with a thud,” she said. “My legs turned to rubber.”
“Brought her back to life?” Quinn said, her eyes widening. “What?”
“Long story. I’ll tell you later, when you finally come to Atlantis to meet your nephew,” Brennan told her, bending and scooping Tiernan up off the ground. “Alaric?”
“Already done,” Alaric said, pointing to the shimmering portal forming in the air. “Rest well, both of you. Job very well-done.”
Tiernan smiled. “You, too. Nice rescue,” she mumbled, her eyelids drooping.
“I’m taking my woman home,” Brennan said, feeling the power of it fill him with peace. As he stepped through the portal, Tiernan whispered into his ear.
“Yes, take me home, please.”
Brennan was never sure, later, that it had actually happened, but at the moment he stepped into the portal with his sleepy mate in his arms, he could have sworn he heard the portal speak to him.
It said: “About time.”
Brennan pushed the damp hair back from Tiernan’s face, inhaling her clean, sweet scent. She’d insisted on a very long, hot shower when they’d reached his rooms, after the brief but very painful task of telling Conlan about Deirdre. The prince had promised to give Erin the news when she and Ven returned.
Brennan had needed to hold Tiernan up in the shower; she was too exhausted to stand. Not that he was complaining. But even though his body had responded to her as usual, he’d ignored his straining cock and simply helped her wash the stain and stench of the days of captivity from her lovely body. He, too, had scrubbed frantically, not stopping until she spoke his name and looked up at him, understanding in her dark eyes.
“It won’t work. We can never wash away the memories,” she said.
“I would give much if I could remove the memories of that horror from your mind,” he said, lifting her into his arms and holding her close.
She put her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “No. I need to keep those memories, for always. Especially Susannah. That one moment pays for all the rest.”
He kissed her, deeply, showing her without words how much she meant to him. “And this moment?”
“And especially this moment.” She suddenly yawned hugely, her eyes drooping shut, and put her head down on his shoulder. “Can we sleep now?”
“We can.” He lifted her out of the shower and carefully dried her hair and body while she stood, slumped with exhaustion. He quickly dried himself and then carried her to his bed. She burrowed under the covers, but he stood there for a moment, looking down at her, thanking all the gods—yes, even Poseidon—that she was finally home where she belonged.
Safe.
And his.
She patted the bed next to her and he climbed in, pulling her close, wrapping his arms around her, sinking into the peace and joy of knowing she was with him.
She stirred suddenly, twisting her head to stare into his eyes. “Brennan, you can’t fall asleep. Remember what happened before? Wait—how did you remember me after they took me away?”
He realized he hadn’t told her any of it. Turning onto his side so that he faced her, he related what had happened in the cell. His memories returning, when she’d died.
A dawning realization spread across her face. “My soul had definitely fully gone,” she said, when he’d finished. “The terms of the curse—we met them. Of course! Poseidon didn’t have modern defibrillator equipment around when he threw in that part.”
“Exactly. Since that part of the curse was fulfilled and my memories fully returned, I must assume that the rest is bro
ken, as well.”
“But what if we’re wrong?”
He shook his head and then kissed her, a slow, lingering brush against her soft lips. “We cannot think that way. I am unable to stay awake nonstop for the rest of my life, and I refuse to believe that I have found you and carried you back from death itself, only to lose you each dawn when I awake.”
She smiled but still looked worried. “I hope you’re right. I think we’re going to find out soon, since I can’t stay awake a single second more.”
As she curled up against him and her breathing immediately slowed and lengthened into the steady rhythm of slumber, he offered up a silent prayer.
Please, Poseidon, please may it be so.
And then Tiernan’s warm, sleeping body seduced his own deep into the same respite and refuge.
Tiernan woke up and lay still for a moment, reveling in the warmth of the hard chest underneath her cheek. The sunlight flooded the room from the large windows, and she felt like she rested in a circle of peace that had embraced her and would hold her close for as long as she needed sanctuary.
She touched Brennan’s chest with her fingertips, drew circles around the muscles of his abdomen, and lightly stroked—just a tease—the erection tenting up the sheet.
He tensed underneath her touch, and she smiled up at him. “You’re awake.”
He blinked sleepily a few times, those gorgeous green eyes filled with contentment. “I am awake. How did you sleep?”
“Wonderfully. You?” She stretched luxuriously, enjoying the delicious feeling. Most of her bruises and cuts and aches had been improved enormously by whatever Alaric had done to heal her arm yesterday. Apparently the healing power didn’t confine itself to only one body part.
“I slept very well,” Brennan said, lifting his hand to cup her breast. Her body instantly responded, and she turned toward him, twining her leg between his.
“I only have one question,” he said, his forehead furrowing. “Who exactly are you?”
