“Is she the one who made Titus?” Lost politely asks. Smiling at the way the others shoot her quizzical looks, she bounces on her toes and gains enough height that she could easily clear the table. “Luther, Bob, and Titus told me their stories when I became a Vengeance Hound. He mentioned being turned by someone who hated you. Sounds like it’s this evil jewelry woman, so he must know where she’s hiding.”
“Maybe, but I already said she took him too.”
“No, you only mentioned Clyde.”
“I’m pretty sure I told you that she took my brother, Xavier, and some of the new councilmembers too.”
“If I say yes, will you stop being angry even though I’d be lying?”
“This is a pointless argument.”
“Oh, you must be angry that the man you love is in danger.”
“I don’t lo . . . I mean, we’re partners . . . This is not the time!”
Clearing his throat, Gregorio hands Mab a piece of paper and neatly folds the other one before walking around the table. “I agree with Lost that you’re obviously focused on your enemy taking Clyde more than the others. Yet, you are right that this is not the time to discuss your feelings. We have no idea where Jewelz is hiding or why she’s taken so many. Don’t forget that there have been a lot of disappearances claimed by the Vampire Queen over the last few months, which means she’s amassing prisoners. You know her best since you trained together and, while it was many lifetimes ago, were friends.”
“Titus was obviously taken to hurt me and get revenge for the volcano, which I hope left her as some kind of skeletal, melted monster,” Mab explains as she sits on the edge of the table. She takes a glass of water that Lost floats to her, but struggles to move it to her mouth due to the womb-born trying to be overly helpful. “I would think she took Clyde to draw me to her and use him as a hostage. The fact that she took Xavier and so many others could be an attempt to throw me off the trail? Except those two things cancel each other out. Jewelz loves treasure, power, and revenge. If she’s become a Dawn Fang then she could have abilities that would transform her prisoners into slaves. That would give her an army, which means she can gain all three of her goals in one march. Then again, she isn’t a military-minded person. Look, I don’t care about her reasons. All I want to know is where she is and how to get there. She can scream her ambitions as I’m carving her into tiny pieces that I’ll feed to Clyde’s eusu. That four-jawed beast has been very useful in disposing of bodies over the years.”
“I’ll bring the cutlery!” Lost happily declares. She waves at her bunny, which flies into a nearby room and comes back with a backpack that is on the verge of bursting. “I packed weapons, food, three bedrolls, plates, shoes, no socks, fire, water, dirt, clothes, tomatoes for bunny, a skull I found last month, a book on demon summoning, a book on why you shouldn’t summon demons, and-”
“You’re staying here,” the burglar hisses as she tries to hold onto her remaining speck of patience. Gesturing for Gregorio to help, she curses at how he calmly shrugs and opens his arms for a hug. “Useless fossil. You see, Lost, it isn’t that I don’t want your help. It’s just that this is very personal and I don’t want anyone getting hurt besides Jewelz. Maybe Xavier can take a few hits if we need a shield. Anyway, I should have made sure she was dead and now Clyde’s in danger. This is my fault, so it’s my fight.”
Letting her bag crash to the floor, the womb-born pouts and crosses her arms behind her back. “I won’t let you get in the way of my purpose. They took Titus and I’m a Vengeance Hound. My job is to help bring my boss home, so I’m not going away. What if I go to my mom’s and see if I can get information? I promise not to follow when you leave for the real fight even though you shouldn’t do this alone.”
Mab clicks her tongue and considers disappearing without giving the silver-haired girl an answer. The overly serious look on the womb-born’s face is enough to tell her that it is better to give Lost a task. Left to her own devices, the excitable vampire could make the situation worse or turn herself into another hostage. Without knowing Jewelz’s plan or goals, Mab begins to wonder if her rival is out to isolate her from her friends. It would not surprise her to learn that Jewelz already knows about the entire gang and that Lost was the target of the attack on Gregorio’s lair. The thought of being so far in the dark causes her to growl in added frustration and rage. She opens her mouth to tell her friend to go to the Scrumptious Siren when a moth flies into her throat and causes her to gag. She grabs the fluttering insect before it can escape and sighs when it transforms into a fingernail. A flock of crimson moths flutter out of the ceiling’s shadows and gather next to Gregorio, who is already holding out his other letter.
“If you don’t mind, Winthrop,” Nadia says as her body returns to its natural form. She takes her maker’s message and reclaims her nail, which hisses as it fuses to her finger. “I do apologize for dropping in unannounced, but I wanted to know what was going on. My husband is missing and, much like Lost, I refuse to be left out of the fight. Do not think I am being intrusive and cold, Winthrop. I understand that this Jewelz is your rival and has taken two of your loved ones, but she has also struck a blow against me. At the very least, I wish to be informed about who we are dealing with.”
“I have to work with you?” the burglar asks, the idea having repeatedly come to her mind over the last few hours. Seeing a hint of disgust in the noblewoman’s eyes, she takes some solace in the fact that neither of them are happy about the prospect. “Fine, I’ll add it to the list of reasons for me to make Jewelz’s final moments painful. We’ll talk outside since I’m going to need some fresh air for this. Your perfume is an affront to my nostrils. Let’s go.”
“Excuse me, but you can’t leave yet,” Gregorio urgently declares. Climbing onto the table, he opens his arms towards Nadia and grins. “It’s been too long, so I deserve a hug from my favorite daughter. Clyde and Xavier can take care of themselves. Please let this old man catch up with his wayward child.”
“For the love of Lorvis the Dead One, I don’t have time for this,” Mab angrily hisses. She is about to extend her claws when she spots a golden shine to the gnome’s skin. “Take an hour. I’ll be waiting outside. Go ahead of us, Lost, and tell the others to gather at the Scrumptious Siren for a meeting. At least one of us should make progress while our loved ones are probably chained to a wall and being tortured.”
“Do you have to be so dramatic?” Nadia asks in horror.
The burglar points a claw at the noblewoman, but the cruel insults that she wants to say come to her mind too quickly for her to do more than sputter. Losing her patience completely, she grabs the table and flips Gregorio to the floor. With the furniture dragging behind her, Mab storms across the room and disappears into one of the larger shadows.
*****
“I wondered what the table was for,” Nadia says as she leaves Gregorio’s lair. Doing her best to bend over in her elegant dress, she picks up a scrap of wood and turns it over in her hands. “Hope you didn’t take out all of your rage on the furniture, Winthrop. From the sound of things, we’re going to need you to stay angry and vicious. Your old enemy must be very talented to keep herself a rumor for so long.”
“Stop talking,” Mab whispers from where she is standing. Claws drawn, she has her eyes closed and sways from side to side. “Jewelz was always good at hiding, but she tended to reveal herself too early. Guess she learned her lesson, which means she’s become even more dangerous than I remember. Now, be quiet and take three steps to your left when I stomp the ground. Don’t hesitate even for a second.”
Confused by the request, Nadia is about to speak when she sees the burglar swiftly raise and lower her foot. The noblewoman does as she has been told and suddenly finds herself standing between two naked Dawn Fangs. Both men have dropped from the branches above and swing their arms, which are edged like swords. Having missed their target, the assassins try to hit her as she awkwardly jumps out of reach. The one on her right manages
to deliver a cut across her stomach, but Mab pounces on his back and slices him in half before he can try again. Undeterred by his ally’s death, the second killer sprouts blades from his chest and leaps at the wounded noblewoman. She disperses into a swarm of mosquitos that spread out to avoid getting hit and recombine on the ground. Grabbing part of the dead vampire, Nadia uses it as a club to knock her attacker high into the air. The blow is enough to stun the man, who shatters the branches as if they are twigs. Fixing her crimson hair with one hand, she calmly walks over to a mushroom-covered log and balances it on her palm. She hurls the rotting projectile at the assassin, whose head is taken off and sent flying into the forest.
Leaves rustle and the ground shakes as more enemies flood out of the trees and an emerald barrier appears to prevent the women from reentering the lair. Knowing she needs to have better mobility, Nadia tears the side of her dress and kicks off her shoes. Having to damage a gift from Xavier, she lets some of her anger rise to the surface and gives her wedding ring a kiss. As Mab slashes through her side of the mob, the noblewoman slaps her enemies with enough force to decapitate whoever she strikes. Having avoided battles for over a century, the vampiric orc has trouble remembering the basics of combat and settles for dodging until she sees an opening. Her blows are sloppy and do not always kill her targets, but she is proud to be able to hold her own while heavily outnumbered. Her growing smile fades when another wave of assassins charge out of the forest, several of them abruptly yanked into the shadows by clawed hands. With Mab pulling enemies into the void, Nadia is left to battle alone against the horde that refuses to give her a moment to create a golem or turn into a swarm.
Backed against the cliffside and swinging wildly, the noblewoman bares her fangs and is on the verge of making a desperate charge. She is stopped when she hears a roar from the trees and a full-grown maple is sent crashing into the clearing. The assassins begin to fade away when Lou comes barreling towards them, a screeching Dawn Fang impaled on his horns. With his head down, the ogre does not see what is around him and he tramples everyone in his path. He slams into the gemstone barrier with enough force to shatter it, the shards slicing into his helpless enemy’s back. Wanting to get rid of the vampiric elf that is blocking his view, he violently shakes his head until she slips off his horn and he can catch her leg. Holding the Dawn Fang in front of his face, a slight flick of her pointy ears causes Lou to repeatedly bash the assassin into the trampled earth. He only stops when Nadia whistles and turns around to show that she is unharmed.
“Looks like somebody has a price on her head,” Mab says, her voice coming from the ogre’s shadow. Instead of coming out near Lou, she steps out from behind Nadia, who she pats on the shoulder. “There were only three real assassins. The others were phantoms created by the one your guy just turned into vulture food. I spotted the first two a few minutes before you came out here and thought they were after me. Seems I was wrong because they didn’t move until you showed up. The Vampire Queen wants you dead.”
“But Jewelz hates you,” Nadia states, the thrill of battle having left her feeling weak and numb. Gazing at her dress, she tears off one of her sleeves to turn into a belt that stops the damaged skirt from billowing too much. “What does this mean? If she wanted to kill me then she could have done it at the party. The crystal cloud would have been the perfect cover for an assassination.”
“Change of plan?” Lou asks with a shrug.
Picking up the half of a head that is left of one of the assassins, the burglar begins whispering under her breath. Her brow furrows when she meets resistance in contacting the Dawn Fang’s spirit, which she can tell is still nearby. Using one of her claws, she calmly stabs the corpse in the exposed cerebellum and flinches at the horrific screech she receives. Ignoring the blood dripping from her ear, Mab casually makes circles with her finger, which gradually purees the vampire’s brain. Seeing that she is not getting anywhere with her whispered questions, she changes her tactics and taps on the man’s inner thigh. Her claws leave shallow cuts and slowly make their way towards his intact genitals. Placing one of her nails in a very sensitive place, the burglar starts to make a cutting motion that drives the panicking spirit to spew information until those of his friends pounce. Begging for her to stop defiling his body, the man is dragged into the ether and his voice is abruptly silenced.
“Even dead, some men are strongly attached to their balls,” Mab declares while removing her jacket. She takes a flask of oil out of an inner pocket and pours it on her hands before rubbing her claws together, which ignites the liquid. “This hurts, but I’m sure the only way to truly be clean is by burning my flesh. Feel free to ask nature to drop some rain on us in a minute if you can, Lady Sylvan. I should probably share what I just learned, so you two stop staring at me. It seems the Vampire Queen has agents spread throughout the world. None of them know where her hideout is since they were turned locally. Some were sent into our ranks to act as spies while others were left to stay in the shadows. These three were under orders to watch Gregorio’s lair and were recently told to kill you.”
“So, my death is a new part of her plan,” Nadia says, her hands signaling to the clouds. All she can convince the environment to do is shake all of the trees, but nothing comes to help put Mab out. “Seems nature does not want to work with me. There’s something in the air that is making the world nervous. Use your night cloak on her, Lou, and I will give you a new one once we get home.”
“You two aren’t going back to Nyte,” the burglar declares, the statement coming as a surprise to her as well. Plunging her hands into the earth, she pulls them out and shakes the dirt off her charred bones. “I told you that Jewelz put agents in both of our kingdoms. That means you have assassins lurking in your house. We’re going to Chastity’s and making a plan. I can think the plan to Lost since I sense her listening in on our conversation. As much as I don’t like you, I’m not going to let you get killed. Last thing I want to do is give that vindictive hag a victory.”
“Are you sure Chastity’s place is safe?”
“No, but I’m out of options.”
“We could have Archillious-”
“Wait, he’s going to be there?”
“He is one of our best warriors.”
“Oh . . . Hope you’re ready to pay for the damages.”
*****
The patrons scatter when Archillious is knocked into the ceiling menu and lands hard enough to dent the Scrumptious Siren’s dance floor. Jotting down the cost of repairs, Chastity Sullivan calmly sits on top of the bar and watches the destructive fight. Hearing her goblin bakers begin chattering and hissing, the Dawn Fang casually releases a pink mist that covers her employees and calms them down. She waves at the confused bard, who is standing on an elevated stage near the stairs, and gets him to play a fast-paced song on his lute. Using her telekinesis, Chastity prevents Archillious from getting thrown beyond the tavern area, but she does very little else to stop Lost from continuing her assault. Running a hand through her blonde hair, the vampire stares at the strands between her fingers and frowns at the bright color. Pulling a vial from her cleavage, she drinks it to regain her ebony tresses and blows a kiss at the young halfling who she had been flirting with for most of the night. To put his mind at ease, she runs her finger around the edge of one of the pink handprints on her black dress and greedily licks her lips. Distracted by her adorable customer’s eager smile, Chastity almost misses when Archillious fires a fang at Lost and the dodged projectile comes flying at her head. The sharp tooth cuts the hostess’s cheek, which spews a charm mist that she uses to put all of her patrons to sleep. With a flick of her hand, she launches Archillious out the front door where the grinning Dawn Fang collides with Lou. The ogre snorts before tossing the man over his shoulder and waving for his companions to enter.
“I actually expected the place to look worse,” Mab admits as she locks the door. Hearing a knock, she opens it to let the ejected madman back in, but she quickly grabs him by th
e front of his jester costume. “I’m going to be honest. As much as I don’t like a lot of these people, I know them. You’re still an outsider to me, so I will unleash Lost on you if you even think about causing trouble.”
“I don’t remember you being this sexy,” Archillious responds, his tongue slipping out of his mouth. The slimy projection is speared by one of Mab’s claws at the same time Decker’s axe hits the wall an inch from his head. “My conflict with Lost will be put aside for now. I will only fight her if she starts with me. From this moment until the rescue mission is done, Archillious is on the side of Nyte and Nytefall. My loyalty is to Lord Tempest, who is in danger. I assume this is where we exchange information and head out to wherever this Vampire Queen is hiding. What have you got, my voluptuous vision?”
“Nothing more than disgust and that’s a lot coming from me,” Chastity replies while she hands out drinks to everyone. Taking a seat next to the snoring halfling, she strokes his furry foot with her own. “I hate to admit failure here, but I’ve got nothing. The Vampire Queen has been considered a rumor for so long that nobody takes the stories seriously. If she has any agents around here then they stay far away from me. Considering this is Jewelz, I’m betting she’s been operating in a way that would keep myself, Luther, and Stephanie in the dark. We’re all associates of you and Clyde, which means we’re her enemies too. She would have planned for all of our methods of information gathering. All I can do is explain what little I know about your past with her, Mab, but it really isn’t my story to tell.”
Rivalry (War of Nytefall Book 3) Page 8
