Emerald Fire (A Blushing Death Novel Book 6)

by Suzanne M. Sabol

  “And yet, I did,” I said, raising Gladi high over my head. With an unsteady hand and a weak arm from the blood loss, I swung her down. She sliced into his neck, severing his head and spinal cord. Reaching down into my gut, I focused all that hot energy on the necromancer’s head and the heart in my hand, sending the fiery heat of Dean’s power into the necromancer’s skull and hard tissue.

  Beneath my hand, hair, skin, and muscle burned with an emerald-green glow. His heart turned to ash in my hand and a grayish substance I could only assume was his brain oozed out of his nose until his head was nothing but scorched bone and a few patches of blackened skin.

  I stumbled away from his body. Collapsing in a heap with Gladi across my lap, his body shriveled and dried into a husk of dead skin and bones. I bowed my head and closed my eyes as I breathed in the first lungful of air I’d had in several minutes. It was almost a luxury and I listened to the serene silence around me. Raising my head, I opened my eyes and froze.

  Standing before me with bright shining eyes and a delighted grin upon her thin lips was Baba Yaga.

  “Aw fuck!”

  Chapter 31

  “What are you doing here?” I barked as I got to my feet.

  “Watching my pride and joy bathe in the blood of her enemies,” she cackled. An unknown breeze whipped around her, shifting her heavy skirts about her legs. Her stringy silver hair blew back from her face and those dark eyes that had haunted my dreams were focused entirely on me. Her gap-toothed sneer made me take a step back to get a safe distance out of reach. I glanced around and panicked. I couldn’t feel Patrick or Dean beyond the circle or anywhere. It was as if nothing beyond the circled existed. Just me and Baba Yaga.

  My heart thundered in my chest as I searched beyond the glittering red wall of my own making. They were there on the other side. Dean stood curling his lips and his hand raised as if to beat the wall in. Patrick crouched at the ground, his hands in the dirt as he attempted to tunnel his way inside. Both of them stood frozen in mid-motion where they had been only a moment ago. Beyond them, vampires and werewolves were all frozen in time, cleaning up the dead—both zombie and our own.

  “What have you done?” I asked, my voice weak, still disbelieving, not trusting even my own eyes at this point.

  “I wanted to talk to you alone. They would interfere. They always interfere,” she almost whined.

  “What you’ve done shouldn’t be possible,” I said, still staring at Dean and Patrick.

  “Such insignificant foresight considering what you’ve done this night.” She spoke in Russian and just as before, I understood every word with a clarity that frightened me. I understood better than when I’d been studying the language in college.

  “What do you want?” I asked. I couldn’t conceal the defeat from my voice. My arm ached from holding Gladi tight in my grip for so long and the blunt trauma of the fight. I fought beings that were bigger and stronger than me. On top of that, they didn’t die easily and it wore me down.

  I had a moment when I thought I should protect myself but I knew I couldn’t. Baba Yaga had managed to get through my circle when a necromancer, hundreds of years old or more, couldn’t. If Baba Yaga wanted to strike me down, there wasn’t a damned thing I could do to stop her. What was the point of hurting my arm more for something I couldn’t prevent anyway?

  “To warn you.”

  “Oh, that’s rich,” I scoffed.

  “Your friends are not your friends, and your enemies—”

  “Let me guess,” I snapped. “My enemies are not my enemies.”

  She cackled at that, throwing her head back in amusement. I had the distinct feeling she was playing with me, like a cat with a mouse. “You are smarter than you look,” she said, wiping a tear from her cheek. “You’ve learned this lesson already.” It wasn’t a question.

  “I have,” I admitted, anger making my voice hard and my expression cold. My insides burned with my fury. Before this night was over, I’d have to deal with the betrayal I knew lingered in our mists. I couldn’t think about that now, not with Baba Yaga standing before me. “Again I ask, why are you here?”

  “To help you rule them,” she said simply.

  “But, I don’t want to rule them,” I argued. Her simple statement was the basis for all of Lebensblut’s fears, for the attacks, and for the deaths of so many innocent people.

  “That is irrelevant now.”

  “And then what? I rule them and you rule me?” I snapped, gripping Gladi at my side.

  She grinned at me with a dangerous light in her dark eyes. “See, so intelligent. You’ll be one they fear.”

  I made to protest that I wouldn’t let her rule me or any of the people I loved but she stopped me with a quick wave of her hand. Her magic crept below my surface until I felt as if tiny bugs crawled beneath my skin. No matter how hard I concentrated I couldn’t force the magic from me. My Eithina growled at the invasion and I felt the reverberation up my throat as I verbalized her anger.

  “Be alert,” Baba Yaga said, a serious edge to her shrill voice as she ignored the primal warning vibrating across the still air. “Trust only the parasite and pup.”

  “Why should I trust you?” I scoffed.

  She cackled again, the piercing sound stabbing inside my eardrum until I thought it would burst. In a whirl of black smoke, the ancient witch I knew transformed. Her heavy wool dress fell away to reveal a glittering gown of no color and all colors, reflecting the light until I was almost blinded by it. Her silver hair thickened and grew out into bouncing ebony tendrils and her skin which had once been wrinkled and covered in dark liver spots was now porcelain white and smooth. Bright white teeth smiled back at me from the face of a beautiful, voluptuous woman. She was beautiful and she was Riona’s mirror image. Where one was fair and lovely, the other was dark and threatening. Riona’s eyes were the vibrant blue of a summer sky. Baba Yaga’s eyes were the color of the darkest night. Those bottomless irises stared back at me with knowledge and the familiar dark tingle of her magic boiling through my blood.

  “You shouldn’t,” she answered.

  In what sounded and felt like a bomb going off, Baba Yaga vanished in a cloud of glittering gray smoke.

  “Sonovabitch!”

  Chapter 32

  “Ev!” I strode in the front door, covered in blood, dirt, and grimy body parts but I didn’t care. We’d lived. We’d won.

  Ev came bounding down the stairs, his face set in a hard line of anger. “She’s going to be fine. I gave her some iron pills to help with the blood loss but—” He shook his head.

  “What?” I whispered.

  “You killed him, right?” Ev bit out and the harsh tone threw me a little. I’d never heard something so visceral and so angry come from him.

  “Yeah.”

  “He killed her mom and some older lady in front of her. She couldn’t do anything about it. She watched those things eat her mom, Dahlia!” A flash of sea-foam green streaked across his navy blue eyes, and I understood that maybe this wasn’t all about Brittany. Maybe, just maybe, this helplessness that made his entire body tense was a little bit of guilt for Soraida bleeding through. Ev hadn’t been able to help Soraida when Marabelle and Cordero had taken her, tortured her, and skinned her. But he was stronger now, and he could help Brittany.

  “Why don’t you stay with her so she’s not alone? Make sure she’s all right.”

  His shoulders sagged and he bowed his head as he whispered, “I helped her. I did. I got to her in time.”

  “You did. You saved her,” Dean said. His firm, rumbling baritone was so sure and the anxiety eased from Ev’s shoulders and the lines of his furrowed brow smoothed.

  The kid turned, his shoulders slumped, as he trudged up the stairs back toward Brittany. I watched him, wishing I could do more for him.
r />   “He’ll be fine,” Dean said.

  “He’s better than he was just a month ago,” Patrick offered, and I turned to look at him. I hadn’t realized he’d been watching Ev that closely. “I take an interest in what you take an interest in. He’s important to you.”

  I grabbed his hand in mine and squeezed, taking the comfort he offered. Heat pulsed through my body as Dean’s large hand pressed against the small of my back.

  “Come on,” he said, his voice a rough growl. “We’re not done yet.”

  The front door swung open and slammed against the foyer wall.

  “Alex?” Nova asked from the foyer. Around the corner, Alex strode into the living room. Her bleached-white hair was stark against her dark Spanish irises. Behind her, Konstantin and Milagra flanked Isidro. His full lips turned up in a cocky grin as he took in the room.

  “We caught him skulking in the shadows,” Milagra snapped, jerking his arm.

  “Good evening,” Isidro said with an elegant bow. His deep voice vibrated along my skin, tingling my senses as his cold power stabbed along my spine. He seemed unmoved by Milagra’s rough handling as a smirk of malicious delight crested his full mouth.

  Milagra slapped her hand against his back, shoving him forward and into the living room.

  “Careful, Darling, you wouldn’t want to damage the goods.” Isidro sneered at her. “She is a vicious little bitch,” he commented, goading her into a response.

  “Believe me,” Patrick said with a knowing grin, “I’m well aware of Milagra’s talents.”

  Milagra had tortured Patrick in Likho’s castle at the monster’s bidding. Patrick and Milagra had a tenuous relationship at best.

  “You were warned to leave,” I snarled, ignoring Patrick’s little barb.

  Konstantin grabbed Milagra’s hand and jerked her back, holding her trembling body in his much larger embrace. “Don’t worry, Love,” he cooed. “The Liege and his Tiye will not let the insult go.”

  She relaxed against him, and I knew Konstantin’s words were the only thing holding her back from ripping Isidro’s throat out.

  “You’re still here?” I repeated.

  “How very astute. However, I convinced Konyam to send me as a formal envoy into your territory,” Isidro cooed, bowing at the waist toward Patrick. “He is very concerned about your progress.” His gaze scanned the room, meeting each and every set of eyes.

  Anger and the smallest trace of fear boiled in the pit of my stomach and I knew it wasn’t mine. Patrick stood stark still, meeting Isidro’s gaze without the merest indication of how he felt and how nervous this news made him. I could almost feel Patrick’s mind working, going over strategies and contingencies, seeing miles ahead of everyone else.

  “Who is Konyam?”

  “The Director of the Lebensblut board and the oldest vampire in living memory,” Alex answered.

  “Patrick?” I asked under my breath.

  “He’s serious, Pat,” Alex said.

  “He can’t do that? Can he?” I asked, knowing the longer Isidro was in our territory the more dangerous it was for all of us.

  “I’m afraid I can, My little flower,” Isidro said, a smirk curling his lips. The vampire’s eyes narrowed on me like a laser and my mind clicked everything into place that it hadn’t been able to puzzle out before with that one stupid pet name.

  It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be. I wouldn’t accept it. I. Would. Not.

  My face flushed and my heart raced as Isidro’s pet name for me and the realization of its implications crashed in on me. Glancing over at Nova, he met my eyes and smiled. So innocent. So beautiful. So naïve.

  My stomach churned as anxiety boiled in my gut. I fought the bile rising up my throat. No matter how much I didn’t want it to be Nova, I knew deep down it couldn’t be anyone else. Betrayal burned through my veins, making my fingers itch to draw Gladi, to shed blood. In the heated emotion of anger I could think and everything became crystal clear.

  I turned to Isidro leaning his shoulder against the doorjamb between the dining room and the living room. His arms were crossed over his chest and his shoulder-length dark hair shone in the soft light. His knowing gaze watched all of us too closely. “You’re either in or you’re out, Isidro,” I said.

  “I’m just an observer here, Love,” he answered, amusement twinkling in his tone.

  “This is a war. There are casualties in war,” I answered.

  “Is that a threat?” Isidro growled.

  “No, brother,” Alex said, “it is merely a statement of fact,” she answered for me.

  Feeling a heat surge up my spine and power radiate through every cell of my body, a flash of light burned behind my eyes and I knew my irises burned silver. “Stay out of our way, Isidro, and we won’t have a problem.”

  He gasped as he met my silver gaze but recovered quickly. “I wouldn’t dream of interfering.” He smiled but it wasn’t pleasant. Something sinister lurked behind his expression.

  I rounded on Alex with a hard stare and stiff shoulders. Pointing to Isidro, casually lounging on the sofa, I said, “He doesn’t leave.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.” Alex smirked.

  “You have my full attention,” Isidro said, and I thought the cocky edge to his voice had disappeared. His icy power seemed almost manageable and his gaze never left mine.

  “Milagra,” I called behind me.

  The petite woman glanced up at me from within the cage of Konstantin’s arms with an excited grin on her full lips, her hair wild and free from the ponytail, and her clothes covered in corpse goo. “Yes, Eithina,” she said, bowing her head but I saw the grin still plastered on her lips.

  “Will you check on Aoife and make sure she can keep up the glamour until we get the fucking mess cleaned up. We can’t afford for humans to see a mound of bodies once dawn comes.”

  “I will return shortly,” she said, grabbing Konstantin’s hand and bolting from the house. He waved over his shoulder at me and I couldn’t help but wave back. If Milagra was happy, then Konstantin was happy. I envied his simplistic demands.

  I ignored the questioning glances and the wide-eyed surprise from a few of my people. I needed something to drink. For some reason, my throat was dry as a desert. I turned and strode into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. Just some water, anything to make this scratchy ache leave. Once the glass was filled, I slung it back and gulped until there was nothing left. Slamming the glass down, I turned back around. Why was I hesitating? Why was I so apprehensive to do what was necessary?

  Because you loved him, that’s why, you idiot.

  Squaring my shoulders and raising my chin, I strode back into the living room.

  Dean and Patrick were no longer there. Konstantin came back into the house and bowed at the waist. “My Queen, Aoife is exhausted but she will hold the glamour as long as she can. She believes it will be long enough. Milagra is staying with her.”

  “Good,” I said, feeling suddenly very alone. I wanted the support of Patrick and Dean, needed it. I didn’t have to search for them too long. The minute I stepped onto the second floor, I felt them above me and headed to the attic.

  The attic was dark and empty but the window overlooking the park was open. Crossing the span of the house and dodging the exercise/training equipment littering the floor, I peeked out. On the tiny balcony with wrought iron trim only six inches high, two large men stood in the space of only five or six feet.

  “So this is where you hide,” I said, crouching through the open window. I stood between them but didn’t dare move. There was barely enough space for all three of us to stand without touching shoulder to shoulder. I’d already jumped from a three-story house once when mine had been on fire. I didn’t want to repeat the experience.

  Patrick and Dean stared out
over Schiller Park where vampires and werewolves worked under the cover of Aoife’s glamour to clean up hundreds of bodies. We’d suffered minimal losses but corpses and limbs were scattered over the park. As I watched them, I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “We won’t be able to hide for much longer? Will we?”

  “From humans?” Patrick whispered.

  “No,” Dean grunted in answer.

  My heart pounded in my chest. Vampires and werewolves had remained hidden, a mere myth from human existence since fire was discovered. Now, because of me and their stupid fear of our powers, Lebensblut was willing to risk everything to kill me. Even exposure.

  “They must be mad!” Patrick growled.

  “The children’s hospital,” I whispered, considering our options. “It won’t be enough.”

  “What?” Dean said, finally turning to peer down at me.

  “No, sweetheart, it will not be enough,” Patrick said, turning those dark eyes on me with an understanding and pride that made me warm all over.

  “We’ll need to do more and throughout the territory, not just Columbus. We’ll have to be beyond reproach,” I said.

  “What’s she talking about?” Dean asked, glancing from me to Patrick.

  “Perception.” Patrick smirked down at me.

  “When the public finds out, we’ll need to have them on our side,” I said. “Humans will have to believe you and Dean are just like them.”

  “Coming out!” Dean almost shouted behind me.

  I turned and clutched his heated face in my hands as his scorching power roared through me like a wild fire.

  “We can’t hide. Not if that damned board keeps coming after us like this. There isn’t enough magic to hide all of this,” I said, waving my arm over the carnage below, “and us from humans. What will they do next time?” I kissed him, just a soft brush of lips but I felt the tension in his body leave him as his hands delved into my hair.