by Alyssa Day
"And what function did we… did they serve?" Riley asked.
"They were among the most valued of the royal counselors, naturally, given the nature of their talents. They were essential to trade negotiations and the like. Also, they would often choose to serve Poseidon in his Temple and were very popular in the priesthood."
"I can see how the ability to sense emotion would make someone pretty awesome in the confessional," Ven said. "You did what? Buzz! Wrong answer! You really did something much worse!"
"Shut up, Ven. You're not helping," Conlan snapped.
"Back off. I'm trying to lighten up the mood. You're both scaring Riley to death," Ven growled.
They all turned to look at Riley, who lifted her chin. "Hey, I'm the one who used an axe against a vampire last night, remember? Talking about the old days doesn't really compare with having brains on my legs." She shuddered. "So don't worry about scaring poor little Riley."
"Back to the point, here is my speculation," Alaric said. "I believe that Riley and Quinn are descendants of those ancient Atlanteans and have our DNA in their blood. Furthermore, I believe that they manifest these ancient gifts in fulfillment of one of the most secret prophecies in the Temple scrolls."
He drew a deep breath. "I believe that they herald the time when Atlantis must intermarry with the humans to bring a new and better generation to the world."
Ven whistled. "That's blasphemy, dude."
Alaric nodded. "Not only that, but it is in direct contradiction to the teaching of the Council that any person of royal lineage who violates the royal marriage strictures will bring a second Cataclysm upon Atlantis."
"What?" Riley could only follow the formal speak for so long before her tired and scared brain cells glazed over.
"No stud farm, end of Atlantis," Ven put in tersely.
"Not just Atlantis. End of the whole damn world, is what I've had drummed into my head for my entire life," Conlan said slowly.
"How do we know which it is?" Riley asked. "I mean, not to jump the gun here, Conlan, since we've known each other for less than a week, but I'd rather go with the intermarry thing than option B: cause the world to end."
Conlan felt her trepidation and admired her courage all the more for it. By the gods, she was beautiful. And brave.
And she loved him.
The wonder of it nearly brought him to his knees.
He put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "In case you didn't hear me the dozen or so times I said it last night, I love you. We'll figure this out."
She hugged him back, but he felt her trembling. "How do we figure this out?" she repeated.
"That's the problem. We can't get back to Atlantis, and Poseidon isn't answering his phone," Ven said, face grim.
Alaric and Riley spoke at the same time. "The Trident."
Then they stared at each other, eyes widening.
"Tell me," Alaric demanded.
"I don't know. Just a feeling I had when he was talking to me last night. He was so arrogant—all 'you do not bargain with a god.' I get the feeling that he can be capricious—"
"You have no idea," Alaric replied.
"Yeah. So maybe this whole thing has been about 'the best man wins.' You know? If Conlan and you get the Trident, you deserve to win the throne, Atlantis, the free stay at a beach resort of your choice, whatever."
Alaric nodded. "That has a decidedly correct feel to it. The gods are ever changeable, and Poseidon has often demonstrated his admiration for the champion in any challenge."
Conlan tightened his arms around Riley. "So. We recover the Trident, or Atlantis may be lost to us forever?"
Ven laughed, but he didn't sound the least bit amused. "Damn gods and their games. Well, that's a sound enough theory to get us going on, then. Now all we have to do is find the Trident. Alaric?"
Alaric closed his eyes, held out his arms to channel power. Several moments passed, then he shook his head. "Nothing. But I felt it only in flashes the other day. I will continue to try."
Footsteps sounded in the hall, and Christophe rounded the corner, holding something out in his head. "Sorry to interrupt, but Riley's cell phone kept ringing."
He held it out to her. "It's your sister, and she says there's trouble."
Nobody but Conlan noticed Alaric flinch.
Chapter 33
Riley snapped her phone closed, noting that the batteries were going to die any minute if she didn't charge it. "You didn't happen to bring my tote bag with us from the other house, did you? My purse and cell charger were in it."
The four men in the room looked at her like she'd just asked them to go shoe shopping.
She narrowed her eyes. "This is important, okay? Quinn's only way to contact us is my phone, since you don't exactly carry phones around in your water particle state."
"Your bag is in the front hallway on a table," Ven said. "Now maybe you could fill us in on the other half of that phone call."
"Bear with me, because this is kind of crazy. But Quinn says that Senator Barnes is really an ancient vampire named Barrabas, and that he's the same Barrabas—"
"Freed by Pontius Pilate instead of Jesus Christ. Yeah. We know," Conlan said.
She blinked. "Are you kidding me? You knew this? You might have mentioned it sometime. 'Oh, hey, earthlings, your new Senate leader is one of the worst criminals in history' for example." She heard the anger and sarcasm in her voice, but didn't care.
"Really? As if a people who allowed bloodsuckers to take over their government were going to listen to us about Barnes?" Ven snapped, his anger matching hers.
"Focus, people. This doesn't help now. What did Quinn want?" Conlan asked.
"She found your people. Well, Reisen and his people. She says she had a meeting with a high-level vamp who is working with the revolution undercover. Somebody named Daniel. He is going to help her get them out tonight."
Alaric stepped forward, eyes gone savage and glowing a fiery green. "Help her? Help Quinn? Is she insane? She's going to storm the fucking Primus?"
"Daniel says Barrabas has the Trident. Plans to torture the Atlanteans until he figures out how to use it. So my insane sister is helping to save your ass, priest." Riley didn't understand what board Alaric had up his butt about Quinn, but she wasn't going to put up with it.
Quinn might not be as fragile as Riley'd thought, but it was still Riley's job to protect her. She thought of Bastien and smiled grimly. I've got your back, Quinn.
Conlan stepped forward and effortlessly took command of the room. Whatever X factor it was that made a man into a king, Conlan had it in a big way.
Her insecurities mocked her. So what makes you think you 'refit to marry a king?
Hove him. That's all. That's enough.
"An hour max to get loaded up. We're on our way to D,C," Conlan ordered. "Riley, you—"
"No way am I staying behind, so get that out of your mind," she interrupted.
"But I need to know you're safe," he said in what must have been his "reason with the peasants" voice.
She folded her arms, sent a big wave of stubborn through their bond. "Not. Happening. Besides, look how well that turned out last night."
She felt the capitulation in his mind before he nodded. "All right. But you stay out of the line of fire, do you understand? If anything happens to you…"
She went to him, put her arms around his waist. "I know. I get it. I feel the same way about you."
Alaric stalked to the doorway, paused to look back at them. Riley saw the wildness in his eyes. "I'm leaving now. I'll meet you there."
"You can sense the Trident now?" she asked him.
"No. But I can feel Quinn." She caught the flash of pain before he slammed shut his own mental shields. Wondered at the cause.
What exactly had happened between Quinn and Alaric during that healing?
She added it to her mental list of "things to officially worry about later" and headed after him to the hallway to get her bag. She had an hour to charge
her phone.
Oh. Yeah. And to prepare for the end of the world.
Less than four hours and fifty or so broken traffic laws later, they were on the outskirts of D.C. in a neighborhood so bad even the police didn't like to hang out there.
Riley could feel Quinn long before they arrived. She sent out a push to try to communicate in words instead of just emotions. Somehow she felt like her talents in that area had increased a little bit since she'd had a chat with a god.
Quinn! Can you hear me?
Riley? How are you—oh, you've changed. The power emanating from you is lighting up my corner of the world. What the hell have you been up to?
I had a heart-to-heart with a sea god, who apparently claimed me for his own. Life is… interesting.
There was a silence, as if Quinn were choosing her words carefully.
Riley, what is this? Is this big and bad on an apocalyptic level?
Yeah. Yes, it is. I'll explain as much as I can as soon as we get there.
Another silence. Finally Quinn spoke in Riley's mind again.
Okay, get here soon. And, Riley?
Yes?
He's here. Alaric. I can feel him in my blood. He's… near.
I know. We need to talk about that, too.
She cut off the communication, feeling a headache center itself over her eyes from the strain. She may have become more powerful, but unused muscles needed to be trained.
If she lived long enough.
She shook her head, put her hand out to rest it on Conlan's leg as he drove. He glanced at her, eyebrows drawn together. "Are you all right? Was that Quinn?"
"Yes. We're almost there."
He nodded, concentrating on the road and the always hideous D.C. traffic.
Almost there. And tonight the shit hits the proverbial fan. What have I gotten myself into this time?
But she looked at his strong profile and knew there was nowhere she'd rather be.
Conlan took point going into the abandoned building that Riley assured him was Quinn's headquarters and base of operations for the East Coast cell of her freedom fighters. He couldn't persuade Riley to stay behind, but he could damn well protect her from at least the front wave of any ambush.
Ven and the rest of the Seven fanned around and behind her, weapons at the ready. "I wonder how long the hubcaps on the Hummer will last?" Ven said under his breath, probably trying to get Riley to smile.
"Oh, they're already gone, I bet," Bastien said. "Never liked that car anyway."
Christophe laughed. "I put a little zinger on the cars. If anybody goes after them, they're in for a surprise."
Conlan ignored the banter, led the way down a battered and graffiti-covered staircase at Riley's direction. Didn't like it one bit.
They hit the bottom step and found a dozen armed guards waiting for them, all dressed in old jeans and leather jackets. They looked like hoodlums or homeless people, until you noticed the very new, very shiny guns in their hands.
Conlan and the Seven immediately drew their weapons and aimed them. Riley pushed her way through to stand next to Conlan and shook her head. "Nice show, Quinn. Now call them off."
The man in front, huge and built like a warrior, slowly bared his teeth in what he probably thought was a smile. Civilization was a bare veneer over the savagery in the man.
Conlan knew instantly that this was the leader. Nodded his head to the man. "I am Conlan of Atlantis. This is Riley, Quinn's sister. If you're not the people we seek, we'll walk out of here. Try to hinder us, and you'll die for your trouble."
The man gave an almost-imperceptible signal, and the men with him lowered their weapons. "Quinn! Looks like it's family reunion week," he called out.
He held out his hand to Conlan. "Jack Shepherd. I help out."
Quinn walked out of a small door behind Jack, arguing with somebody on the telephone. "No, it's now or never. I need that stuff tonight. Or by morning at the latest."
She held her hand over the receiver, nodded to Riley, looked at Jack. "Dawn?"
He nodded, body radiating a fierce tension. "Dawn. If your friends agree that it's better to hit the bloodsuckers at daylight?"
Conlan inhaled deeply, subtly called power. The elements sang to him, but the earth's song was the most piercing. He looked at Jack. "And how about you? Is it better for you and the other shape-shifters to hit at dawn, too?"
Chapter 34
While Ven and the Seven made nice with Quinn's strike force, Conlan, Riley, and Quinn and her buddy the alpha werewolf sat around a scarred metal table on chipped and battered wooden chairs.
Quinn looked at Conlan. "He's not."
"He's not what?"
"He's not a werewolf, if that's what you were thinking. He's… Jack, is it okay if I tell them?"
Jack shot a hard, measuring stare at Conlan. Oh, yeah. The man was definitely a warrior, no matter what kind of animal he turned into under the moon's pull.
"Fine. I guess knowing about Atlantis is about as tit for tat as we can get on this op," he said.
Quinn smiled briefly. "He's a weretiger. Not indigenous to North America. But when the vamps—"
"When the bloodsuckers destroyed my entire streak—my family group—I decided they were going to die. And the best way to take them down was to come to the source," Jack said, voice bleak.
Riley sent an affirmation through the bond. The man was telling the truth. That was good enough for Conlan. "We need to recover the Trident. Its power in the hands of Barrabas or—gods help us—Anubisa could well signal the beginning of the next Cataclysm."
Quinn nodded. "They have your people, too. Daniel told us he's planning a coup, and we—"
"Daniel?" Riley interrupted. "Who is he, and why do we trust him?"
"Good question," Jack growled. "He's one of Barrabas's top generals, and I don't trust him. Ask your crazy sister what the hell she's thinking."
A dark, swirling shadow swept through the room, driving an icy wind before it. Before he'd even materialized, Quinn stood up, hands outstretched. "Alaric."
He swept down, took her hands, and pushed her back and away from the shape-shifter.
Jack obviously didn't care for that at all. He was on his feet, gun in hand, in the blink of an eye. Conlan had nearly forgotten how fast shape-shifters could move.
From the look of it, maybe weretigers were the fastest of the bunch.
"Step away from the lady, magic boy," he growled, in a low, rumbling roar.
Next to him, Riley shivered at the jungle sound resonating through the small room. Conlan jumped up, flashed across the table to face Jack. "Calm down, he's with us."
"I don't care who he is, he needs to keep his hands off my partner, or he's going to be fertilizer." Jack's eyes glowed an eerie yellow-green shade and the pupils lengthened to slits.
Quinn's voice came from behind Conlan. "Jack, stop it. This is Alaric, and he healed me from that gunshot wound. He has… civility issues."
Heat and light shot through the room, and Conlan didn't have to turn around to know who was generating it. "Alaric! A little control, if you please. We've got a lot to deal with, here."
Alaric's voice was rusty, strained. "A word, if you would, my lady. I need—I need—" He broke off, breathing harshly.
Riley started to go to Quinn, but Conlan stopped her with a hand on her arm. This was something Quinn and Alaric had to figure out before they could all work as a team to storm the Primus. Riley glared at him, then felt his emotions and signaled that she understood. Nodded and sat back down.
Quinn finally spoke, her voice unbearably weary. "Yes. We need to talk. Especially since that's all we will ever do with each other. Come with me. The rest of you, please just wait. Get to know each other."
She laughed. "Eat a cookie."
As Quinn and Alaric left the room, Conlan achieved a moment of clarity. The realization that Quinn had trapped Alaric in her empathic net as surely as Riley had done to Conlan.
But certain sea creatures f
ounder and drown in nets.
And Alaric was looking like one of them.
Then they were gone, leaving him alone with a creature that everything in his heritage told him he should destroy.
Riley watched them leave, then heaved out a sigh. She leaned forward, elbows on the table, and smiled at Jack. "So. Tell us about being a tiger. Where are you from?"
Alaric faced Quinn on the roof of the building. Fighting desperately for self-control. For calm.
For the courage not to fall on his knees in front of this human female and beg for her touch.
How Poseidon must be laughing at his high priest now.
She watched him, wariness in every line of her body. "You're the most powerful with the magic, aren't you? I can feel it singing in your veins, thrumming underneath my skin. What did you do to me when you healed me? And thank you for that, by the way."
He stalked her, paced in an ever-diminishing circle around her position. Knowing he should stop.
Unable to do so.
"I did nothing unusual, although current events suggest that Riley may have aided in your healing," he said roughly. "What was unusual was what you did to me."
She wasn't even beautiful. He'd always thought he'd fall someday, into grand and gloriously unrequited love with an amazing beauty. A goddess among women.
Among Atlantean women.
Yet this scruffy human—this rebel—wasn't anything like what he'd imagined. She was so thin as to look starved, all huge eyes with black circles under them over hollow cheeks. Her short hair looked like she'd cut it with that knife she kept in her pocket. Her clothes were no better than what he'd seen on beggars on the streets.
He wanted her so badly it was an actual physical pain squeezing his balls.
"I don't know what you think you see, but I'm not like my sister," she said, voice and emotions filled with sorrow. The heat and colors of her emotions swirled around him, tortured him. Wine red, dusky gray, and the blue of the sea at twilight danced into him, through him, piercing him with poignancy.
