Wardbreaker: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “How interesting,” she cooed, and I felt a finger trail along my cheek and settle on my collarbone. “You weren’t out for long. You must be strong.” Her face loomed over mine. It was the same female vampire from earlier. She pursed her ruby-red lips as she studied me with her dark eyes. “I bet you taste delicious.” She licked her lips and a little tremor went through me.

  My cheeks burst into flames as I tried to look away, but couldn’t. She grinned at me and shook out her hair so it fell about her shoulders in a dark wave. “I’m going to ask you this once,” she purred, leaning down toward me so her lips were just above my own. “Would you be a doll and answer for me?” Her tongue flicked out of her mouth and touched my lips. Electricity shot through my body, tightening things low in my body.

  “Maybe,” I whispered, unable to take my eyes off her lips. The brief touch of her tongue had felt so good, nearly everything in me wanted her to do more. Intellectually, I knew I shouldn’t want that, knew she was using her magic to charm me, but that was the thing with succubae. They could make you do things you didn’t want to do and be happy about it, and when it was over, you’d beg for more.

  Even worse, I got the feeling this one was particularly powerful. So what was such a strong vampire doing here?

  “Why are you here?” she asked, breathing the words into my slightly parted lips. Her magic rolled over my skin like silk and made me shiver. “What is your objective, Dioscuri? Why do you interfere in our plans?”

  I swallowed and shut my eyes. As soon as I did, some of her power over me seemed to diminish. A little shocked gasp exited her throat. Was she surprised? Why? Was I not supposed to be able to shut my eyes? Either way, I was glad because it let me think, at least a little bit.

  “The vampires in this city are being too open about their existence. The humans cannot know about the supernatural. That is the first law.” I swallowed again, and as I did so, some of the pressure in the room eased. Well, that was good. If they were less concerned, maybe they wouldn’t try to eat me. “Your kind knows this, but they are not complying. I need to know why.”

  “Interesting,” she said, and her voice was very near my ear lobe. “If we agree to stay hidden, to rein in those who would seek to reveal us to the humans, will that be sufficient?” Her words seemed strange to me. Was she using vampire speak and trickery to get me into agreeing with her? It sure seemed like it, but why? Was she trying to get me to sanction what they were doing? Why would she care? Unless… unless they weren’t supposed to be doing whatever it was they were doing?

  Was that why they hadn’t just killed me? Were they worried I was just scouting them out? That I was the first in a long line of Dioscuri coming to crush them? If that was true, they were definitely up to no good, and I needed to stop them.

  “When I bring my report to the Dioscuri high council, they will have to decide,” I said, and the succubus huffed in frustration. She was so powerful even that tiny sound made me ache with the need to console her.

  I slowly opened one eye, risking a glance at her, but she wasn’t looking at me. The vampire was looking beyond me at someone else and part of me was disappointed. She shrugged her shoulders, and her tiny movement made me realize just how sheer her top was. If she’d move just a little to the left…

  The male vampire from earlier stepped forward, distracting me from the thoughts I really shouldn’t have been having. His sudden presence was even more unnerving because I hadn’t known he was there.

  “Look,” he said, voice strangely scratchy and high-pitched. “By the time your people come here to stop us, we’ll be done.” He waved his hand dismissively. “As for the newbies, we’ll relocate them to Alaska or something. They like it there. It’s cold and dark. All you have to do is let us finish.” He gave me a look that made me realize it was the best deal I was probably going to get.

  “I don’t have the authority to make a deal like that,” I replied, hoping the lie wouldn’t make them think I was useless and kill me outright, but would buy me time to think of a plan.

  “When you lie to us, it makes me unhappy. Do you want to make me unhappy, Lillim?” the female asked, leaning down and grabbing my chin. She squished my cheeks together so my lips puffed out. “We know who you are Lillim Callina, Hyas Tyee of the Dioscuri. You have more than enough rank to agree to our terms.” Her words sent a chill running through me. So they did know who I was, and if they did and were still holding me here, trying to make an agreement, what they were up to was likely very, very bad.

  “Because you’re up to something, and I don’t know what it is.” I tried to nod toward the weight on my chest. “You have me trapped here, and I get the distinct impression you want to drown me like a bag of unwanted kittens.” I exhaled sharply. “Those things make me think I shouldn’t help you. Not even a little. You know, ignoring the fact that you’re monsters.”

  “What if we showed you what we were doing?” the male asked, arching one dark eyebrow at me. “Would that be better?”

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure. On one hand, they were vampires, but on the other, if they were willing to show me what they were up to, how bad could it be? Maybe not that bad since the Dioscuri had a very low tolerance level for shenanigans. Then again, it could be a trap. They were evil after all.

  “It’d be a start—” I started to say when the succubus cut me off.

  “We’re not authorized to do that, Logan,” she said, looking up from me and glaring daggers at her compatriot.

  “Danae, we don’t have a choice. Ariel wants a signed and delivered contract.” Logan the vampire gestured at me like I was exhibit A. “We have to do what Ariel says, or well, I don’t want to think about what she’ll do.”

  “There’s no way…” Danae trailed off and shook her head. “If she gets free, it’s on you.”

  Logan gritted his teeth but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he reached down and pulled something off my chest. The weight of the world eased. The necklace he’d been wearing earlier was in his hands, and without another word, he fastened it around his neck and tucked it under the collar of his black button up. Watching him put it away made me uncomfortable. Not just because he’d used his magic to bind me to the table really easily, but because he was making a point of keeping it hidden. What was it?

  “Let’s go, Dioscuri.” Logan crooked a smile at me. “Time’s a wasting, and before you get any bright ideas, yes, when I said Ariel, I meant the Ariel.”

  I know a name shouldn’t make me shudder and my knees tremble, but that one did. It was stupid. I know. But Ariel was one of the scariest vampires on the planet. She was the founder of a caste of vampires specializing in blood magic, and I’d been out of commission for more than enough time for her to have gotten her hands on some of my blood. If she had, she could turn my blood into acid, or worse. I didn’t even want to think about what the worse would be. Use the blood in my veins to walk me around like a puppet?

  “Well, at least she recognizes who is here.” Danae scowled at me and turned away, her fingers playing over her top button again. It was weird because she seemed too old and powerful to still have nervous gestures. Time tended to strip away all human gestures from the creatures, leaving the older ones more like statues than not. Then again, she was a succubus. Maybe having human tics helped her seduce her victims.

  “It’s one of the perks of working with the Dioscuri,” Logan replied, taking my hand in his and pulling me into a sitting position. It was weird because his flesh felt cold and clammy even though I was pretty sure vampires didn’t sweat. “They’re all so well educated. It makes it easy to impress upon them the importance of the situation. Imagine how much more difficult this would be if she didn’t know who Ariel was?”

  Danae tsked, letting out the sound through clenched teeth. She definitely didn’t like whatever was going on. I wasn’t sure that was a bad thing. If there was strife between the vampires, maybe I could use that to my advantage.

  The room they had me in wasn’t muc
h to look at. Aside from the steel table I’d been laying on, it was empty save for a couple of metal folding chairs. There was a doorway to our right, but it didn’t even have a door. I wasn’t quite sure where we were, but the cobblestone walls and floor made me think dungeon. Still, this place was built beneath a modern looking building, so how old could it have really been? Unless, of course, whoever built it had a thing for old fashioned dungeons, but if that was the case, where were the bars?

  I was about to ask when Logan pulled me to my feet and led me toward the doorway. The tips of my shoes caught on the cobbles, and I almost slipped, but the vampire held me upright with ease. He smirked at me, and I got the distinct impression he was enjoying himself.

  Danae followed behind us, muttering in a language I couldn’t understand though it sounded sort of like French. Near as I could tell, she didn’t actually like me at all, let alone in that way. It made me wonder how far she would have been willing to go with her ‘interrogation.’ The thought made me shiver and not in a good way. She’d probably interrogated lots of people she didn’t particularly care for.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, glancing over my shoulder at her instead of watching where I was going.

  She looked up at me, her dark eyes a mixture between curiosity and annoyance. “For what?”

  “For you having to pretend to like me.” My cheeks heated up as she quirked one well-manicured eyebrow at me. “You know, in that way…”

  “Apology accepted,” she stated mechanically, voice even as she stared at me. For a second, I thought I saw a thought swim through her eyes. Then she shook her head and strode past us, disappearing through the door, her short black skirt swishing around her hips in a way designed to catch the eye. I tried not to watch, but even without effort, the succubus was so strong, I couldn’t keep darker thoughts from running through my mind.

  Beside me, Logan chuckled. It was a weird sound because it seemed amused rather than cold and maniacal. “I’m not sure if you pissed her off or impressed her,” Logan said, turning to shrug at me, his lips spread into a wide grin. “She doesn’t actually like…” he waved his hand at me, “you know.”

  “Girls?” I asked as we exited the room and found ourselves in the hallway. There appeared to be other rooms like ours every few feet, but otherwise it was just a long hallway for several feet in either direction. Like the room I’d been in earlier, lights were embedded into the ceiling, so instead of feeling dark and dingy, it felt cold and unfeeling.

  “Dioscuri,” he replied and the tone of his voice made me incredibly uncomfortable, like he was picturing me and her in his mind. “She doesn’t mind girls so much.”

  “Good to know, I guess,” I said, looking around for some clue as to where we were going, but finding none. I had half a mind to try to escape, but what would be the point? Logan had said he’d show me what was up. If that was the case, I ought to let him lead me to it. If it wasn’t, well, I could try to escape then. It was a bad plan because, for all I knew, he could be leading me toward a pit filled with monsters, but I’d ridden that particular rodeo a few times now. The only problem was that I was without my swords. Still, I could tell they were close by.

  “It’s not your fault.” Logan shrugged. “Her mate was killed by a Dioscuri.” The way he said the words made me feel a little sad which was crazy because she was a vampire. That meant her mate was probably a vampire too. I was not about to feel bad for killing creatures that literally sucked the life from people. You know, unless it was a really sad story. I had a heart after all.

  “What happened?” I asked even though I probably shouldn’t have. I didn’t want to go forming attachments to a creature I might have to kill. We passed by another room, but it was empty inside save for a table and chairs similar to the ones that had been in my own cell.

  “She was a human girl hung in Boston a little before the Salem Witch Trials,” Logan said, staring off into space like he was trying to remember something. “A Dioscuri accused her of being a witch, and it worked because people weren’t quite so forgiving of the whole lesbian thing back then. He was trying to use her as bait to lure Danae out of hiding, but she wasn’t even in the state at the time. Needless to say, she was quite enraged when she returned.”

  I squinted at him, trying to decide whether or not I believed him. “You’re telling me a Dioscuri accused an innocent person of being a witch to lure out Danae, but she wasn’t even there?”

  “Pretty much,” Logan replied, and I suddenly felt sick. The Salem Witch Trials were the example of why it was important to keep the supernatural world secret from the humans because they tended to overreact, and well, kill everything in their path until they felt safe again. To think that the event may have been perpetrated by a Dioscuri was even more unnerving. “I wouldn’t feel too bad about it though. Time heals all wounds…” Logan shrugged.

  “You seem like such a caring friend,” I grumbled as he placed his hand on a door at the end of the room. It was shiny and metallic. I got the distinct impression it might actually be made from silver or at least coated with the substance.

  “Oh, make no mistake,” Logan replied, glancing at me and narrowing his eyes. “We’re not friends.” With that, he shoved me through the doorway. The threshold felt heavy and warm, sliding over my skin like I was being shoved through a vat of warm raspberry jam. Magic zipped over my skin, and for a moment, it was all I could do to stand there and not feel overwhelmed. Wards flared to life all around me, blue flame bursting from their edges as we stood there, unmoving.

  The wards lifted up in the darkness in front of me until they coalesced into a seething mass of light before exploding into a million scintillating shards that cascaded across the ceiling, illuminating the room before me.

  We were standing on a marble balcony overlooking a room about the size of a basketball court. The stone floor was made up of darkening shades of red rock so it started off as bright as blood in the far corner of the room and flowed into a sort of black morass beneath where we stood.

  A marble altar stood in the center of the room surrounded by acolytes dressed in purple robes with gilded owls embroidered onto their backs. The altar looked like it was big enough to sacrifice a bull on top of it. Only there wasn’t a bull on it at all. Jean Luc lay in its center. He had been stripped down to his underwear and tied to the dais with his hands splayed out to the sides.

  One of the acolytes lifted a copper bowl encrusted with glittering gemstones and gestured toward Luc with it. Foul smelling pink liquid sloshed inside as another acolyte produced a jeweled bronze dagger and raised it in the air before sweeping her hood off her head to reveal her blonde hair. The little girl Luc had saved earlier turned and looked up to us, her lips twisted into a smile.

  “Hello, Lillim,” she said, eyes twinkling as she gestured at Luc with the dagger. “You’re just in time to watch the show.” The way she spoke made me think she wasn’t worried I’d try to stop her. But why? If she was misbehaving, I’d have to stop her. Then again, it’d be really easy for her to use the blood in my body to turn my brain into mush. Was that why she wasn’t worried, or was it something more?

  Logan’s grip tightened on my wrist, and my heart pounded in my chest as she turned back around and raised the dagger over Luc’s chest. I’d been a fool. These vampires were planning on sacrificing Luc, and I’d been almost feeling sorry for them and chatting?

  Words in a language I didn’t understand spilled out of the girl’s mouth as Logan removed his necklace and leaned near to me so his lips were nearly touching my ear. “If you want to save your friend from Ariel, now is your chance. Her speech will be almost a full minute long.” Before I could even ask what he was doing, he fastened his necklace around my neck and took half a step to the side.

  I glanced from him to Ariel and back again. I wasn’t sure what Logan’s necklace did exactly, but as it rested against my skin, I could feel power emanating from it. So why had he given it to me? And what sort of game was he playing?<
br />
  He leaned forward on the balcony and clasped the marble like he was enjoying the show and made a shooing motion with his hand. “Move along, little Dioscuri. Times a wasting.”

  I glared at him before turning my gaze on the scene below. I didn’t have my weapons, there was an immeasurably strong vampire down there about to sacrifice Luc, and worse still, she was surrounded by several other goons. The odds didn’t look good. But I was Lillim Callina, and I didn’t let little things like impending doom stop me from being stupid.

  As she raised her dagger into the air, I leapt over the balcony.

  Chapter 13

  The air rushed around me as I fell with my hands outstretched. I gathered as much power as I could in the time it took me to fall from the second story balcony down to the ground. It probably would have hurt, but thankfully, I had a vampire to break my fall. He crumpled against the stone altar as the impact traveled up my body, but I’d been planning for it. The vampire beneath me? Not so much.

  Ariel’s eyes opened wide in shock as she turned toward me, but bless her heart, she kept chanting. It made me wonder what would happen if she was interrupted. It was time to find out.

  My blood pounded in my ears from the thrum of energy next to the altar as I threw my hands outward, slamming my palms into her pint-sized body. I released all the magic I’d been gathering at once. The surge flung her backward across the floor, slamming her haphazardly into the stone wall at the far end of the room. The wet smack of it was so violent, it almost made me cringe away, but as she slid to the floor, the vampire narrowed her eyes and glared daggers at me. She slowly got to her feet, acting like I’d barely hurt her. That wasn’t good. Not at all.

  The closest vampire came at me, but I managed to dodge his clumsy swing and drive my foot into the side of a knee. A horrible crack filled the air as he toppled into the dais, but I was already moving past him. A swipe of claws tore through my sweatshirt and pain shot through me. Scarlet flames leapt from the wound, drowning me in agony as I staggered.