It was Soleria’s heart she spoke of.
That fucking bitch knew my female was going to die in this battle!
And yet, trusting her is the only option I have. I thought I had it all figured out before, then I fucked up beyond compare. You’ve lied to me before.
“No. I misdirected you, just to try to leave your free will alone. What did you do with your free will? We all know. Now, I’m fucking telling you this time. You want your female back? Get. Captured.”
Cyake approaches us. “We need to get back to Enzyria.” He kneels to reach for my female.
The instinct roars to life, obliterating the small bit of coherence I have. Snarling, I snap my jaws at him.
“Bro, chill! I’m just trying to help,” he snaps.
“I’ll do it,” Zeniel says. In the grid, he’s nothing but power—blue, gray, black-and-red power. More proof that he and Mavrak are now one.
He’s also one of Soleria’s ancestors. His mate adores my female. I can trust him to watch her.
He seems to kiss Eve’s cheek then heads to pick up Sol. As I watch, another aura sparks to life in my consciousness.
Lisrn, among others. With them, the pathetically weak energy signature that belongs to his brother.
The God of Strength seems to have been nearly killed.
And they’re dragging him away, getting farther.
“Now, Ianthen. There’s no time.”
Tell me I’m going to see her again.
“You’re so going to see her again.”
No time to decipher what that tone of hers means. I nuzzle my snout into one of Soleria’s dangling hands, taking her scent into me one last time.
Then, I’m gone, heading in the direction of those fucking brothers. I hear the others calling my name, but I ignore them. What seems like mere minutes later, I skid around a corner between two buildings.
There’s five of them. Three humans. Enteax is on the floor, Lisrn leaning over him. The scent of blood blasts out of that alley.
That red-haired freak swings in my direction. “Are you fucking serious?”
I feel my lips pull back from my canines, a low, nasty growl aimed in his direction.
The humans scramble to their feet, aiming those bullshit weapons at me.
“You’re really that fucking stupid, Hunt?”
More growling. No. You are. And as soon as I’m done being “captured”, you’ll be the first one I’m coming after.
“He isn’t moving,” one of the human males mumbles.
“Who the fuck cares? Shoot him!” another shouts.
I lock eyes with Lisrn, letting him see how badly I ache to have his throat between my teeth . . . right before two of the humans shoot me at once, the dark energy robbing me of strength in an instant.
The agony is sharp enough to shock my vision back to normal. As I struggle to stay awake, Lisrn strolls up to me, leaning down to grin in my face. “You dumb fuck. You’re obviously too weak to take me on right now, and you still had to come looking for me.” That grin widens. “Oh, I know exactly where I’m going to have my new friends put you.”
I know, you dick. I’m fucking counting on it.
Chapter 27
SOLERIA
“B y Illion. Look at you. If I don’t calm you down, you’re going to end up like Eve did.”
Someone’s talking to me, someone familiar.
“You’re sheer power, Sol. Sheer fucking power.”
Not power. Agony. Wrath.
It burns. God help me, it burns.
“Can’t believe she put this in you. You’ll have to fight all three now.”
Fight what? Fucking hell, why does everything hurt? Why does everything sound so loud?
A warm weight bumps into my side. Someone sitting next to me? A huge hand slips into mine, skin to skin, fizzling with energy.
“Going to try to connect with the Erencei in you. One-on-one, you know?”
I know that voice. I really, really know it. Why can’t I—that fizzle slips into me, heading straight for the core of my chest.
“There you go. That’s it. Don’t focus on all the contradicting instincts. Focus on my voice.”
More probing, as if that warm force is trying to sink deeper inside me . . .
Suddenly, all I hear is two heartbeats, the sound lulling. Each second that passes, those two beats align, until they seem to merge into a single beat.
I hear a sharp gasp; think it came from me. Back arching, I suck in another breath, feeling that connection pulling me back from the brink . . .
My eyes fly open.
Before me, aqua-and-hazel eyes widen. “Gods almighty, never seen Erencei eyes like that before. Baby-blue on black with red swirls. Amazing.”
Vedlyl.
My hand tightens around his on a reflex. “Were you, like, just merging with me or something?” I whisper in a reedy tone.
Wait. Erencei eyes?
His pupils start flashing between blue and yellow as he looks me over. “The war Erencei in you is amplifying your Vy’shi powers to an insane degree. And the other . . .”
What other? What is he talking about? Disoriented, I move to sit up—it happens in a blur of sheer speed, my upper body rising in a fluid move.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I catch a glimpse of tattoo-like red-and-black markings.
All over my skin.
Curving up my arms, biceps, and higher.
War Erencei markings.
I’m alive. I survived. I’m—another look at my arms—mutated?
“Easy, Soleria. Just try and take it easy, okay? You are the first of a new species, with an uncontrollable power inside you. One wrong move and your contradicting instincts will drive you instantly mad.”
Hearing his voice above the roar of so many other voices nearby is nearly impossible. I can hear what seems to be hundreds of beings. What sounds like Nylicia and my friends.
Small tremors begin spreading from the tips of my fingers, up my hands. I survived. I’m going to live forever.
Forever with this hole in my chest.
“Which—” Licking my dry lips, I wonder why my voice is this hoarse. I didn’t scream when I died; I remember that. “Which powers are you talking about?”
Vedlyl doesn’t seem to hear me, scanning me with those awe-filled, exotic eyes of his. “I can’t believe she gave you Desian’s powers.”
The tremors have reached my chest now. Soon, I’ll be shaking all over. “Vedlyl, please. Which—”
As if through a microphone, Nylicia’s voice suddenly booms into the medical wing from downstairs. “M-Kon captured him. They have Ianthen.”
They have Ianthen.
Ianthen’s been captured.
An enemy has taken him?
Vedlyl jumps away from me. “Sol . . .”
The room around me disappears.
I appear in the main hall, at the bottom of the steps, my veins burning.
The same fire exploding out of me, shaking the walls.
An unfamiliar voice spirals to life, blinding me to everything except . . . “What the hell did you just say?”
Nylicia reappears amid the chaos. “M-Kon has Ianthen?”
RAGE.
They have him. Took him.
His life is ours. Only we can kill them.
A second eruption of power. A loud crashing sound in front of me. Above me. Gold flecks and debris rain down, mixing with the tendrils of white, blue, red, and black. Coming from me?
Nylicia holds up her index finger; it takes all of my willpower to push past the voice in my head and focus on her. “I can tell you where to find him. You just gotta promise me you’re gonna kill everything that gets in your way.”
They threaten his life. Kill them. It shouldn’t matter to me. Why does it matter? He’s the reason . . . he’s the reason I didn’t want to wake up. Didn’t want to come back. And, yet, nothing in the world can stop my next response. “Done.”
Nylicia walks up to me, when all aroun
d beings seem to be edging in the opposite direction—away from me. Do I really look that bad?
“Ianthen’s been delivered. Now that he’s there, I can finally see that pesky location.” Her unfocused eyes lighten with astonishment—and glee. “Fuck, they took him there of all places? That’s just too perfect.”
Behind Nylicia, Cyake appears, staring at me with that same awe and panic Vedlyl seemed to feel. “Nylicia, how could you put that in her?”
Again: what’s inside me?! I can’t even ask. My mind wanders once more. They have Ianthen. They think to win this battle.
Bring them to their fucking knees.
Beings continue to move all around. To my left, I see Evesse and Ismini approach. I can pick up on how impressive their auras now are; I barely pay mind to that.
“Sol, you okay?” Eve asks.
Ismini is staring at me with the same worry.
I want to talk to them, run to them—hug them—but I can’t form the words. Breaking the hold of that voice in my head is impossible.
They probably want to bend the powers of Hunt to their cause. Meaning, they don’t have their own tracker. Exploit their lack. Take Hunt from them. Twist their weakness to your advantage. “Where is he?” is all I can force out.
“Mount Teide on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Earth, for any of you that have forgotten.” Nylicia’s eyes become unfocused. “From what I can see, the base is inside the dormant volcano. The entire island, however, has sensors in place, both technological and spiritual. You’ll have to approach by sea at night, under a Gnetica. Once you touch foot on the island, you’ll have minutes to get to the volcano. All the alarms will be triggered instantly.”
“I’ll leave right away,” Cyake tells Nylicia.
Behind him, Crius and a black-eyed man that looks identical to him nod. “Us as well.”
“None of you,” comes out my mouth, my voice splitting in two, “will go before me. I go in first, and I go alone.”
Evesse and Ismini gape at me.
“What did you put inside her? Why does it seem so . . .” Iss trails off.
“Tainted? Because the last being to hold those powers was an evil, twisted motherfucker. But that’s okay”—Nylicia smiles happily—“Soleria can be even more evil and twisted. Going to bring the cray-cray down on them, aren’t you, girl? It’ll all be fine.”
Eve storms towards Nylicia. “What—did—you—put—in—her?”
“Conquest,” Nylicia answers happily as everyone in the hall lets out a vile curse. Her eyes meet mine, crinkling at the corners from her smile. “Soleria is now the Goddess of Conquest.”
An utter uproar bursts out of everyone in the hall. A suffocating sensation in the air that can only be panic.
Realization? They’re all afraid of me.
Aurora Complex—M-Kon Base #129
- Mount Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
IANTHEN
When I come to and find myself strapped to an operating table, pulses of that dark energy crawling along the surface of my skin and weakening me, I’m not even surprised. After all, I know who the fuck I’m dealing with. Lifting my head, I try to look behind me. “You’ve always been a sick, sadistic bastard.”
Multiple beings move above us. Mortals. Of no consequence for now. My attention is on that dick.
He laughs that smooth, conceited laugh, his heavy boots slamming into the floor. “Only with you, baby. Only with you.”
I let my head drop back onto the table. The dark metallic ceiling is dissected by massive, recessed LED lights. Right above me? Medical lamps. “If only I were so lucky, huh?” Red, beige, and black enters my peripheral.
No need to look at him. I know who he is. His energy signature is one I never forgot.
He yanks what seems to be one of those medical stools closer to me and plops down. “Do you have any idea what it’s been like hiding from your ass this whole time?”
A huge smile tugs on my cheeks. My eyes remain fixed on the ceiling. I’ll look at him when I’m good and ready. “Yeah, I know. I’m good like that.”
He scoffs. “Then why did I capture you?” Is that a playful note in his tone?
A mindfuck, this one. Always has been. And not just because of his powers of Fear; powers I can still sense bound inside him.
When’s the last time I saw him face-to-face? Eons. Maybe five or six millennia. Before that, I hadn’t seen him or his brother since the beginning of the Dixieme Eductu. Yet that easy camaraderie we always had is still there, reminding me of my seething hatred.
We were friends.
Then, when the moment came to pick sides, they chose the Aviraji. He and his brother chose to war alongside our enemies, becoming monsters by choice.
“Not going to answer the question? You know, I might’ve always been a sick, sadistic bastard, but you’ve always been such a petulant bitch.”
I finally stare at him out of the corner of my eye, letting him see how bored I am. “You can pump me full of that dark shit all you want, but I’m getting out of here. You know it.” Lifting my head, I smirk at him. “Know why? Because that motherfucker you hate for no good reason is still the king of it all. And he’s on our side.” Not to mention the Watcher is as well.
Lisrn’s lips, the same color as his beige skin, curl with a bitter smirk. “For no good reason, he says. Oh, and you forget. That daughter he adores so blindly? She in turn adores her mother. And guess who’s side her mother is on?”
He’s fucking right about that. Gods damn it. Most of the time it feels like we’re all just pawns trapped in a galactic custody battle. Nothing but collateral to those two going at it.
Lisrn leans closer, his grin morphing into a real one. “Want to know something else?” He raises a gloved hand and points towards my left. “See that over there? That’s why I know you’re not fucking getting out. You’re mine, bitch.”
I look where he’s pointing, fully taking the place in. It’s a massive, army-grade operating room, with holding cells built into the walls. Most are empty behind the thick, glass doors. On the landing above us, mortal doctors and personnel are standing at the railing, watching us.
The shimmer of a Gnetica is barely discernible.
“Didn’t want our little love spat overheard?” I raise an eyebrow at him.
He looks right into my eyes, his face a mere two feet from mine. “Bitch look over there.”
“Keep calling me a bitch. Watch what happens to you,” I growl, but I do as he said.
The second-floor platforms opens into a hallway large enough for two cars to drive through. At the opening to the hallway, near the wall of holding cells, is at least two dozen mortals. They’re standing around five portable holding cells on wheeled platforms. Lights flash in the hall, and the humans begin driving those cells away—
But not before I get a glimpse inside them. At the forces flaring within.
Water.
Soil.
Air.
Fire.
A dark, whirling void that makes all my instincts tense with foreboding. Aether. The ether.
My jaw unhinges. There’s no fucking way—
“We both know how long they’ve been missing. Care to take a guess where they’ve been all this time?”
“That’s impossible,” I mumble, watching those very mortal-looking, portable prisons disappearing down the hall. “They’re too primal. Could never be held—”
“Believe it. It’s happening.”
This is why Nylicia wanted me here, I realize on a sudden moment of clarity. It wasn’t just to get this place’s location. It was to confirm the location of the Ethys.
The primal elementals.
They’ve been missing for millennia. The fact that Maeltzkon has had them all this time . . . “You call them new friends, but something tells me you fuckers are the reason this organization of mortals has been such a pain in our ass since ancient times.”
“Well, I said they were my new friends. Didn’t say the same h
olds true for my other associates.” Lisrn stands, motioning for the humans to wheel what looks like a high-tech bone saw closer.
Suspicion arises. “You’re really looking for me to torture you for eternity.”
“I think you have that twisted. Don’t take it personal, though. They need immortal tissue samples to study—although . . . I remember how excruciating it is for your kind to lose your legs. The love of mobility and all that.”
Wouldn’t be the first time it happens, but it’s been thousands of years, and it’s still hell every time regardless. Feeling like a band is tightening around my neck, I stare as he picks up the saw, grinding my jaw to hide my reaction. “They’ll grow back.” After hours of agony and the panic of being prostrated.
“That’s the point.” Lisrn turns to me, grinning again. “They’ve been dying to have a regenerating supply.”
He doesn’t get it. My earlier fury at Nylicia notwithstanding, she’s our major ace in the pocket. The one being that keeps delivering. She told me I wouldn’t be here more than twelve hours tops.
She told me this is the road to getting Soleria back.
And I now have valuable information to report back to her.
I’m getting the fuck out of here. “Do what you must. Just try to aim the jizz away from me when you come. Sadists like you tend to have a problem with lasting once the blood starts leaking.”
“Always knew your love life was dirty as fuck.” The saw turns on. I have no hope that it’ll be a regular mortal weapon, the kind my bones would destroy. Before it even touches me, I know it’s going to do the job. No way he would be wielding it otherwise.
This fucker is about to take my legs.
Closing my eyes, I bring up Sol’s face, shutting the world out.
Part 2:
Conquer
Chapter 28
SOLERIA
M ake them kneel.
I ignore the command for the umpteenth time. Not that that stops it from coming. It’s a relentless litany. A brutal hunger. It took me a few hours of ignoring the physical and mental symptoms to gain enough clarity to understand what this new voice inside me is demanding.
Blood Drenched Conquest (Ryze Book 3) Page 24
