Enemy Mine

by Karin Harlow

  With all the fires of Hell burning in his eyes, Vetis contorted his body, realigning it until it was once again whole. Selena looked past him to Nikko, who slowly moved up the slippery embankment. Thank God.

  In that split second, Vetis struck again. His sword sliced into her shoulder with such excruciating heat, she cried out. He ran her through, pinning her to the ground. He was strong, stronger than any other daemon she had faced. But she could beat him. If she was patient. His human form gave him a distinct advantage over the others with their animal forms. Her left hand was nearly severed in half and no use to her. But it would regenerate. If she lived. He kicked her sword from her right hand; snatching it up, he turned it on her.

  “The necklace.”

  Selena tried to rise. For her efforts, he impaled her other shoulder with her own sword. Son of a bitch!

  Selena lay staked to the ground, and for the first time in her quest for the stones, she doubted her skills. Fervently, she called to the stones for power. They flared hotter in answer, so hot the scent of her burning flesh assailed her nostrils.

  Selena lifted one shoulder high enough so she could grab her sword, and yanked it free from her shoulder. She used her feet to kick up off the ground, and the velocity of her move pulled the daemon sword from the ground. She grabbed it with her damaged hand barely able to wield it. She had no such difficulty with her good right hand. As Vetis had done to her, Selena turned the daemon’s own sword on him.

  “You underestimated my power, Vetis.”

  Nikko rose up behind the daemon and ran him through from behind, the blade slicing at an angle near his heart. The daemon screamed in rage. He grabbed the sword protruding from his chest and pulled it through. And once again he was armed.

  “As you underestimated mine.” He propelled backward, slammed Nikko into the ground, then grabbed him up by his shirt and flung him toward the house. Nikko’s body flew like a missile toward the stucco, but he used his power to slow his velocity, barely touching the wall. Red eyes glaring, fangs bared, Nikko turned on the daemon.

  “As you underestimated mine,” Nikko taunted, hovering just above the ground.

  Nikko moved in behind Vetis. The daemon’s eyes burned an unholy crimson.

  Selena stalked from the front. She struck, slicing another angled cut into his chest on the opposite side of the wound Nikko had inflicted. She yanked the sword back and struck a third time. Half of the pentagram was cast.

  Vetis shrieked in rage, grabbing his chest with one hand, thrusting his sword with the other.

  Selena pushed him back toward the water. Nikko lunged at the daemon, hitting him hard in the chest. As they tumbled to the ground, Selena struck again, this time from behind, slicing another angled cut around the daemon’s heart.

  Four!

  He shot up into the air, furious flames contrailing behind him.

  “You have no host to aid your retreat, Vetis,” Selena said, standing stalwart beneath where he hovered. “And no legions to carry you.” She smiled and beckoned him with her sword. “Come, take your chances with me, my lord. I will carry you home.”

  Vetis belched great balls of fire at her. Easily, Selena deflected them. “Is that all you have left, Keeper of the Seventh Hell? Surely you can dig deeper than that.”

  “The daemon kingdom is afire with word of your father’s quest for your daughter. Unite with me and together we will slay him.”

  “Why unite with you when I can kill him myself?”

  “Only with the seventh stone do you have a chance, slayer.”

  She smiled. “I’d say my chances are pretty good.” She cocked her head sideways. “Yours, on the other hand, not so good.”

  “If you defy our king, he will not rest until you and all your loved ones burn in his private Hell!”

  “Your king will have to answer to the Order first!”

  “As will you! Unite with me, and we can have it all!”

  “That you bargain with me now, Vetis, tells me you are weak. I give you a choice: fall upon your sword or I will cut your heart out myself.”

  “I can save your daughter!”

  Selena calmed the storm in her heart.

  “She is in no danger,” Nikko said, stepping closer. His eyes met Selena’s, urging her to remain calm.

  Vetis hissed his putrid sulfur breath. “No mortal is safe from Paymon. His disciples are ruthless and determined. They will find her if they have not already. He will demand the stones for her life.”

  “With the seventh stone, I will kill him.”

  Vetis screeched and flew past her in through the shattered window. Noslov’s muffled screams followed.

  “He took possession of Noslov!” Nikko said, running for the house.

  Just as they entered, Noslov dropped to the floor. He turned his icy eyes on them both.

  Selena didn’t hesitate. She tossed her sword to Nikko and leapt into Noslov’s head.

  As she did, Vetis leapt past her and—

  Nikko!

  It happened so fast Nikko could not get to Selena’s body before Vetis took possession of it. The daemon didn’t leave his physical body behind as Selena did when she took possession of a body. These Hellkeepers completely vaporized, making it more difficult to gain the advantage.

  The daemon who now controlled Selena’s body laughed and pirouetted around Nikko, stroking the necklace. Terror he had never experienced before shook violently inside Nikko. He would not raise a sword against her. But if he did not—

  “Come to me, vampire,” Vetis hissed, the words coming from Selena’s lips. “Come to me now and I will kill you quickly.”

  Noslov slammed into Selena, sending her body careening into the carved alabaster mantel. She lay stunned. Nikko rushed to her, but Noslov shoved him away.

  “Do not touch the host,” Noslov warned. He grabbed Selena’s sword and raised it above her. Nikko kicked it from his hand. Noslov turned and hissed, “Let me kill him!”

  Nikko stared at Noslov, stunned. He spoke with Selena’s voice. The daemon was in Selena’s body, she in Noslov’s. But if she killed her own body, would her soul wither and die with it?

  Selena’s body grabbed the sword from where it had fallen, but Noslov kicked it from her hand. Nikko tackled her body and, not knowing any other way to keep the daemon from fighting back, sank his fangs into her neck.

  The daemon screamed and struggled. Noslov’s body crumpled to the floor beside him, and Nikko watched Selena’s vapor swirl around her head, then dive into her open mouth.

  Nikko released her body and waited, praying it would be Vetis who emerged next. He had both swords in his hands ready to carve the final two cuts for the pentagram.

  “I know your secrets!” Vetis’s voice screeched from Selena’s mouth. “I am the tempter of the holy. I will corrupt the priest and take the child for my disciple!”

  “The Hell you will!” Selena shouted from deep within her.

  Vetis’s agonizing screams reverberated.

  “I cast you from me, by all that is holy, I cast you from me!” Selena’s righteous voice chanted.

  Vetis screeched. Small wisps of vapor puffed from Selena’s mouth.

  “Begone from me, daemon!” she commanded. A long, thick orange vapor rushed from her parted lips. Although Selena had rejoined with her earthly body, it lay motionless on the floor.

  The vapor began to solidify. Nikko impaled the torso on each side of the heart so that the six angles of the pentagram were cast. Vetis screeched, thrusting against the swords, grabbing them and trying to pull them from his body. Nikko stood over him, pushing all of his body weight into the hilts, holding the blades secure.

  “Selena!” Nikko urgently called.

  Her body slowly roused beside him. He looked down into her dazed eyes. “Now, Selena.”

  She shook her head and sat up, then focused on the writhing Hellkeeper. She crawled over on her hands and knees and looked up at Nikko.

  He smiled, and at that moment he felt more lo
ve and pride for her than he ever thought he could. “It’s all yours, baby. You earned it.”

  Selena turned back to the Hellkeeper. His skin was flaming, his hair sizzling, his horns flaring. “I’ll see you in Hell, Vetis,” she whispered, then thrust her hand into his chest. He screamed, trying to gouge her with his fiery horns. Selena slapped his head back and pulled her hand free of his chest, the bloody nanorian beating in her hand.

  She looked up at Nikko in wonder. He dropped the swords and pulled her into his arms. “Your quest is nearly complete, Selena.”

  He took the stone and pressed it firmly into the necklace’s last setting, then splayed his hand over her thundering heart. He lowered his lips to hers and deeply kissed her.

  Something amazing happened. Each stone hummed one after the other until all seven of them united into one loud sustained hum. Red, gold, and orange sparks shot from each stone, fusing into a spectacular rainbow of color; the hot pricks bounced off Selena’s skin. Nikko could feel the power vibrating between them and into Selena. Wave after shocking wave built until, in a deafening crescendo, it zapped her with a sharp electrical bolt, the infusion illuminating her skin a shimmering gold and silver.

  Wide-eyed, she stared at Nikko. He stared at her in equal awe. “The powers of the seven have fused as one, creating a superpower,” Selena breathed. Gingerly she fingered the warm stones. They glowed beneath her touch. “My father does not stand a chance.”

  “I’ll tell you where the cask is,” Noslov’s terrified voice said from behind them.

  Startled, Nikko and Selena turned to face him; they’d forgotten he was there.

  “You said you had no knowledge of its whereabouts?”

  “I lied.”

  Selena rose and strode toward him. “You lied to me when your son’s life was at stake?”

  “I am an expert liar, but after what I just witnessed, I’m going to become a priest. So long as you save my son, the cask is yours.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Was there anyone else with the daemon?” Selena asked the pale, trembling Noslov.

  He looked down at the pile of ashes on the floor. “My God!”

  Selena snapped her fingers under his nose. “Was he alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did he say to you?”

  Noslov shivered and covered his mouth as if he was going to vomit. His body convulsed, then he turned and retched. When he was done, he looked up at Selena and Nikko, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

  “He was alone when he came to my room. He took me outside and waited for Juju to go downstairs and then call you. He told me how he was going to kill her and how upset you would be. He—then he told me what he was going to do to you and then to me.” Noslov’s body was wracked with shudders. “He slit her throat. Then he hung me from the chandelier and waited.”

  Selena’s heart broke for her friend. She collected her emotions. Juju was avenged, but she knew Vetis had not come here on his own initiative. She smelled her father’s hand in this. “Nothing about who sent him?”

  “No.” Noslov’s body began to convulse again. He turned and dry-heaved for several minutes.

  Nikko took Selena’s hand. “I’ll take care of Juju, and the body out back. Then we need to get Noslov to my team and figure out what we’re going to do.”

  Selena nodded but said, “Other than you and Juju, the only other person who knew Noslov was here is Balderama. I want him.”

  “So do I.”

  Selena yanked Noslov up by his arm and said, “Let’s get you cleaned up. Then we’re out of here.”

  Even though it was the middle of the night, Selena called the convent. The sleepy sister who answered the phone assured her all was quiet. Selena insisted she check on Marisol. The minutes dragged by like hours while the nun checked on her.

  “She is fast asleep,” she reported to Selena at last.

  “Thank you,” Selena breathed, her voice cracking with emotion. With a relief she could not express, she hung up.

  Nikko hugged her and said, “We’ll get through this, Selena. I promise.” She swallowed hard, wanting to believe him.

  Using the same landline, since their cell phones had been destroyed in the water, Nikki called his team with the news that Noslov did in fact know the location of the cask.

  A half hour later, Selena, Nikko, Noslov, and the sheet-wrapped body of the stranger, who had no ID and whom Noslov swore he didn’t recognize, motored back to Miami. As they approached the dock, two blacked-out Suburbans were idling at the end of the pier. “My team,” Nikko said.

  The body was loaded into the back of one of the Suburbans. Nikko, Selena, and Noslov piled into the other one. The woman, Cassidy, was behind the wheel, and one of the men from Paris in the passenger seat. Nikko didn’t make a formal introduction and Selena didn’t ask for one. She got that they needed to maintain anonymity, especially in front of Noslov. The man turned and handed Nikko a blindfold. “For our Russian friend.”

  Once the blindfold was secured, they drove off. Twenty minutes later, they pulled into a driveway and then into a cavernous garage. The doors came down behind them. Noslov was unloaded and taken inside. Selena didn’t give the sprawling hacienda much notice. She wanted to get down to business. As they walked into a small viewing room, a large flat screen flashed blue.

  “I need to make a call,” Selena said to Nikko.

  He looked at her like Who the hell do you have to call at this hour?

  “Joran.”

  He scowled. “Excuse us for a minute,” he said, steering her from the room and into the great room. He handed her a landline.

  Selena dialed the number. On the fifth ring, Joran answered, “Cadiz.”

  “It’s me. Do you have the package?”

  “Barely, and you owe me big-time.”

  Selena gave Nikko the thumbs-up, but he’d heard and was nodding. She let out a long, relieved breath. If anything had happened to that little boy, she would never have forgiven herself. “Hold on to it until I call you back.”

  “I don’t know what to do with a crying two-year-old!”

  “Entertain him. And, Joran? Thank you.” She hung up to his loud grousing. “We’ve got our leverage,” she said to Nikko.

  Noslov was left in the media room while Nikko’s people assembled in the great room. Introductions were quickly made. Selena smiled at Satriano as she shook his hand.

  “How’s the shoulder?”

  His dark eyes narrowed but his lips twitched. “No worse for the wear.”

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  He shrugged it off. “It happens.”

  The flat screen in the room blipped on. They all turned to face it.

  Once again, the screen was blue, but this time Mr. Black’s voice was not computer-regenerated. It was deep, authoritative, and knowledgeable. “De la Roja, I understand Cruz has brought you up to speed on Balderama?”

  “Yes, sir.” She noted Mr. Black no longer used formalities but spoke to her as if she were one of the team. She liked that.

  “Bring us up to speed on your end.”

  “Noslov has been in my care since Paris. On the flight to the States, he convinced me he was only the agent for the cask and did not have actual knowledge of its location. Since I was holding his son’s welfare over his head, via Balderama’s instructions, I believed him. As you know, he was lying, but having the boy, I had leverage to manipulate the auction to Los Cuatro’s benefit. I convinced him that it would be in his son’s best interests to give the nod to Balderama at the auction, regardless of his bid. I also convinced him it would be in his best interest to have the auction at Lost Souls. I guaranteed the safety of the bidders through the use of my private island, Ilusion, as the entry point into Miami.”

  “How many have purchased a seat?” Mr. Black asked.

  “Six including Nikko.”

  “And the boy?”

  “A business associate owed me a favor and picked him up earlier this eveni
ng.” Selena paused, then added, “From Balderama’s Little Havana residence.”

  “Does Balderama know the boy is no longer his bargaining chip, and if so, does he know you had a hand in the kidnapping?”

  “I don’t know the answer to the first question, but even if it’s yes, he would have no reason to suspect I had a hand in it. However, after I had a discussion with him earlier this evening regarding our conversation yesterday, I believe he has lost some confidence in me.”

  “I take it he didn’t want to make the compromise.”

  “No. He was adamant. I understand his trust issues. But he would not even entertain the thought of vetting Nikko.”

  “You understand now why he was so rigid?”

  “Yes,” she said, feeling greatly saddened and more than a little foolish that the man she’d believed to be a great philanthropist and friend was nothing more than a thug. And she had been his handmaiden.

  “With a few tweaks, I want the auction to commence as planned. To accomplish that, we’ll need you to keep up the pretense of loyal compadre and play along with Balderama. We have much to gain by allowing the players to assemble later tonight. In one fell swoop we can nab a handful of the highest-ranking terrorists in the world.”

  “That will mean the end to my club.”

  “A small price to pay when you consider the cache of criminals we’ll be taking off the world market.”

  Selena looked at Nikko, who regarded her quietly. It didn’t matter anyway. Because after the auction, she was going after Paymon. If she survived that, she would not need the club. She’d have Marisol and Nikko.

  “Okay.”

  “I understand you could use our help in a little matter concerning your father? We’re happy to lend a hand.”

  Selena’s head snapped back and she looked at Nikko, who nodded. The others in the room nodded in agreement. Other than Nikko, these people didn’t know her from Adam, and they were willing to put their lives on the line for her? She didn’t know what to think. How to take it. All she felt was humbled.