The Dormant (The Sublime Electricity Book #4)
Page 41
It was my thirst for revenge that forced me to act; the noble will to rid the Empire of the power of a bloodthirsty monster, capable of outdoing Caligula and Nero together in her madness was just an excuse for my own unreasonable act.
I returned to the guest room of the heiress to the throne’s chambers, picked up the cable gun Lieutenant Grace had left on the floor and looked thievishly into the room with a missing wall.
The succubus was standing there, her naked female figure enshrouded in wisps of ghostly smoke, the remnants of the otherworldly power that had yet to fully burn away. Elizabeth-Maria was feeding on these particles greedily. Slowly but surely, the gloomy luster of the black nimbus of a fallen one was forming around her head.
Then the succubus suddenly threw her hands over her head and shouted out in rage, shaking her frail fists:
"I'm on top of the world! Forever!"
Then I caught her feminine back in my sights and plunked down on the trigger of the pneumatic gun. It clapped and the spool unwound with a shriek, unwinding the wire. An imperceptible instant later, the lance went straight through the succubus and stuck out of her chest with two bloodied points.
Elizabeth-Maria stayed on her feet and fitfully grabbed the steel prongs with her hands, hurrying to pull them out, but then the shock flickered up. Electricity started lacerating the succubus, changing her body and returning it to its initial appearance. But the transformation from ungainly heiress to the throne into a seductive creature with a high chest, waspish waist and long legs was not her final one. Soon, the pale skin of the succubus was covered with slippery scales, and sharp fangs sprouted from the mouth. Her back warped into a disgusting hump with two long scars, seemingly left by lost wings.
The demonic being turned and stumbled, but stayed on its feet and walked toward me, burning with desire to tear me to shreds. The electric jar in the backpack had already begun sparking and smoking, so I threw the cable gun away and took a step back, feverishly looking around for another weapon, but then the electric power finally overcame the succubus. Her deformed body fell onto the floor and began twitching in endless convulsions.
Electricity is stronger than magic. That was for certain.
"I should have done that from the very beginning," I gasped out hoarsely, picking up the kitchen knife from the rug and, standing over the motionless succubus, gave a crooked smile. "Anyhow, some things are better done late than never..."
A QUARTER HOUR LATER, I left the palace, covered head to toe in vile sticky blood and holding a glass jar under my armpit. It had once housed the coca leaves, but now there was a muscular chunk of demonic heart in it, beating measuredly. I hadn't taken it out of some desire to consume it, it was just too dangerous to leave the receptacle of dark power in the broken body of the succubus.
The light of day seemed unexpectedly sharp and bright. My eyes burned unbearably. I had to pull my dark glasses with cracked lenses from my wide-open shirt and clip them on my nose.
My eyes were no longer gray. My illustrious talent had returned after the death of the succubus and my body had also returned to normal.
The scars, tattoos and sores all came back.
But I didn't regret a thing.
Curses! I was happy.
I had become myself again!
I heard the sonorous clacking of iron heels on the stones, turned and saw the leprechaun in his rumpled accordioned top hat, dirty green camisole and boots with no toe jumping from one granite tile of the square to the next.
"You have to remember not to step on the cracks!" he shouted, continuing his simple game. "Remember, boy! If you step on a crack, you'll have to marry a witch!"
I just shook my head and walked away. And I didn't even turn when the tapping behind me suddenly cut off and I heard an annoyed: "Bugger!"
In the sky over the haze of clouds, there was the faintly glowing luster of a second sun. At the same time, I could hear the sharp echoes of another's heart stronger and stronger in my head. Because of that, I was not going stay in New Babylon for an hour, even or a minute longer than I had to. I had no desire to figure out whether her angelic majesty the Queen Empress Anna intended to begin her rule with retribution against the apostates for their sins or would suppress her righteous anger and not turn her subjects into pillars of salt left and right.
I knew perfectly well already what I would do and sticking around had no place in my plans.
I was intending to cross to the continent on the first ferry, find Liliana and take her as far away as I could. To Siberia or even Zuid-India. Even to the edge of the world, or past it! Anywhere, as long as it was far from New Babylon.
This cursed city had drunk enough of my blood, and it would be stupid to give it another chance to put me in the grave. In the end, there were plenty of places on earth where Leopold Orso, the illustrious Viscount Cruce hadn't fallen into scrapes...
End of Book Four
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ALSO BY PAVEL KORNEV
The Sublime Electricity Series:
The Illustrious (The Sublime Electricity Book #1)
The Heartless (The Sublime Electricity Book #2)
The Fallen (The Sublime Electricity Book #3)
The Dormant (The Sublime Electricity Book #4)
Leopold Orso and The Case of the Bloody Tree (Sublime Electricity: The Prequel)
Short Stories:
You're in Game!
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About the Author
Pavel Kornev is a popular Russian author whose writing crosses the boundaries of the sci fi thriller, fantasy adventure and steampunk. Genre mashing has long become his signature style.
“His books are a page-turning mix of non-stop action and hard-boiled detective stories in the edgy atmosphere of steampunk noir. Far from being a knight on a white charger, Kornev’s typical protagonist is an everyday man with his fair share of flaws who puts his talents to good use. His heroes struggle to survive and win their places in the sun; but most importantly, they manage to preserve their humanity even in the direst of circumstances.”
Pavel is a professional economist who spent years working for a large bank – until his first novel, The Ice, became an overnight bestseller, allowing him to quit his day job. In his spare time Pavel jogs, swims and is an avid beer brewer.
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[1] For whom the crime advances, he has done it (Lat.).