I would gladly, but it would serve no purpose. I simply wanted to frighten away his monks and disable him, albeit temporarily. Jane, I believe, will pose us no threat.
I caught the whisper of a thought that Eleanor might be an entirely different subject, but wasn’t sure if that was just my inner devil being snarky, or something he was truly worried about.
“You have the Tools of Bael?” Jane asked Brother Ailwin.
He looked furious with himself, and shoved away the poor monk who was trying to bind up his left leg. “I do. You may bow down before me now, before the rush to curry my favor.”
“Oh, for the love of—no one has the Tools,” I couldn’t help but say, moving around to Alec’s side.
Beloved, please stand behind me, so that I can protect you.
Pfft. I’m a frickin’ Tool. I can protect you, I answered with bravado.
He sighed into his mind, and pulled me up against him, which I had to admit was what I wanted all along. Just the feel of him, so warm and solid, and bristling with indignation, made my inner self sigh with happiness.
Dammit, Alec, I’ve gone and fallen in love with you, I told him.
He almost fell over. You what?
You heard me.
His eyes glittered with a combination of ire and desire, so green they almost glowed. “And you pick now to tell me? This exact moment?” He waved his gun toward the liches. “You couldn’t wait until we were alone?”
“Tell you what?” Pia asked.
Kristoff shot her a look.
“Oh. That.” She giggled and gave me a thumbs-up. “I’m so happy for you both. You’ll have to invite us to the wedding. Kristoff didn’t want to marry me, because he said it was a human thing, and meaningless to Dark Ones, but in the end, he gave in, because my family would have gutted him if he didn’t.”
Kristoff rolled his eyes, and murmured something in her ear. She giggled again.
I eyed Alec.
“I will be happy to marry you in a mortal ceremony,” he answered the look.
“In a church? ” I asked. “My family is like Pia’s—they’re big on weddings.”
“In a church,” he agreed solemnly, but his lips twitched.
“A wedding!” Sally said, clapping her hands excitedly. “Oh, I love weddings! You have to let me do your hair and makeup, though. When May—she’s a doppelganger and the sweetest wyvern’s mate you ever did meet—when she was becoming the consort to a demon lord, which really is the same thing as a wedding, you know, I did her makeup and hair, and she looked absolutely gorgeous. Well, except for the little nothing that Magoth made her wear as a wedding outfit, but you know how men are—if a few leather straps and bit of fur covering the naughty bits aren’t included in the ceremony, they just lose interest.”
If you even think of asking me to wear—
Don’t worry, my tastes are quite different from those of a demon lord, he answered, adding after a moment’s thought, Although if you wanted to wear a little nothing made up of leather straps and fur, I wouldn’t object.
I pinched his hand and twined my fingers through his.
“I’m so confused,” Jane told Eleanor.
“I’m not, unfortunately,” the latter answered, shooting both Alec and me a testy look. “Although I don’t understand why all of the Tools have been brought together. That seems foolhardy to me.”
Jane leaned to the side and whispered in her ear. Eleanor shrugged her off with a harsh word.
“I demand that you leave this instant!” Brother Ailwin shouted. “They are my Tools, and I don’t intend to have any upstart lichmaster get her grubby hands on them! Brother Anton, smite the two women, and then bring the Tools to me.”
The poor monk glanced hesitantly at Jane. “Er . . .”
“Must I do everything?” Brother Ailwin looked mean enough to do as he threatened.
Maybe you should shoot him a few more times. He looks like he’s recovering.
That’s not a bad idea, Alec answered, raising the gun.
“Really, you know, you’re such a disturbing force here, I just can’t take it any longer,” Sally said wearily. “Normally I like disturbing, but now . . . no. It’s intolerable. Sable, please return them to the mortal world.”
At the name, a thickly muscled man appeared out of nothing, obviously one of Sally’s minions. He had absolutely no neck, and muscles on his muscles, all clearly evident because he was clad only in a leopard-print G-string.
We all gawked as Sable picked up a now-swearing Brother Ailwin under one beefy arm, and Brother Anton under the other, before he did that fabric-ofbeing tearing thing, and stepped through the tear, taking the two men with him.
“Ailwin can be delightfully entertaining sometimes, but other times . . . well, I’m sure no one here will complain at him being removed. Now, where were we? Oh, yes. As delightful as it is to chat with all of you—and, Cora, I’m quite, quite serious about my offer to do your hair and makeup for your wedding—I do have other things to attend to, and would like to wrap up this business now. So if you don’t mind, please join the other two Tools of Bael, and we’ll be out of here in a few minutes.”
I stared at Sally in abject disbelief. “You have got to be out of your ever-lovin’ mind!”
“Not really, no, although sometimes I admit it’s a tempting thought. Come here, Cora,” she answered with a little gesture.
“There is no way in hell that I’m going to let you use me after what you did!”
She gave me a look that was filled with disappointment.
“No!” I said again, pressing into Alec. “And that’s an ‘over my dead body’ sort of no!”
“Really? That’s an awfully definite statement.”
“Yes, it is. I’m definite that I’m not going to let you use me to destroy everyone.”
“Oh, I won’t destroy everyone,” she said with an airy wave of her hand. “Just the people who annoy me most.”
I clung to Alec’s arm. “I don’t think so! Diamond, you really should move away from Sally. She’s clearly a nutball.”
Sally sighed. “Such abuse from you, when really I’m just trying to help.”
“Yeah, but the question is, who are you trying to help?” I snarled. “It’s certainly not us!”
“Beloved, this is not doing any good. Cease baiting Sally,” Alec said with a little squeeze. “The seneschal promised us that she would assist us with our plans, and despite the recent events, I expect she will do so.”
Sally giggled. “Well, as for that—”
“Right. I think I’ve had just about enough of this,” Eleanor interrupted as she strolled forward to Sally. “I know I’ve had enough of your inane comments, and as for you . . .” She turned to face Alec and me, her eyes narrowed slits. “I’ve definitely had all I intend to take from you two. Wedding, indeed. Not with my Dark One, you don’t. It sounds cliché to say this, but I’m going to nonetheless: If I can’t have him, no one will.”
I screamed as Alec shoved me away from him, not so much because of the fact that I stumbled over a bit of twisted floor tile and ended up careening into the tangled legs of a piano that lay upside down, but because Eleanor grabbed Diamond and, holding her in front of her, directed a massive blast of black-edged light from Diamond directly at Alec.
“Nooo!” I shrieked as Alec was thrown backward a good forty feet, blood flying in an arc, splattering against the wall as he hit it before sliding down to slump into a pile on the floor. My heart stopped dead in my chest as I stared at Alec, the dark power channeled by Diamond having torn open his chest and shoulder, and ripped away half his throat.
Kristoff and Pia ran to him as I slowly turned to look at Eleanor, my heart, my blood, everything in me, frozen in horror as I realized she had just killed the man I loved.
I started toward her, my movements at first jerky, but by the time I took three steps, I was running, bent on nothing more than her utter and complete destruction. She killed Alec! My Alec!
&nb
sp; Kristoff ripped off a strip of his shirt and bound it around the remains of Alec’s neck. It would do no good, I knew. Alec couldn’t possibly survive such devastating damage. He was dead, and with him had died my heart.
“Vengeance, you know, can be either a satisfying thing or one that lacks satisfaction,” Sally said absently, polishing one of the rings she wore.
I stopped as Eleanor, who had been watching Kristoff look up and shake his head at Pia, smiled.
“Diamond,” I said softly.
She glanced at me, her face ashen as she watched Kristoff bow his head over his friend. Pia dropped to her knees, sobbing. The two other vampires moved over to examine Alec’s body.
Rage filled me, consumed me, gave me strength when I wanted to do nothing more than scream the agony that I knew was just on the edge of my awareness, waiting to suffocate me.
Alec was dead, and I would destroy Eleanor if it was the last thing I did.
“Go to Sally,” I said, my gaze on Eleanor.
Diamond moved quickly, sliding out of Eleanor’s reach to stand on Ulfur’s far side.
“Um . . .” Jane backed up a couple of steps. “I think maybe we should go.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Eleanor said, a brittle smile on her lips as she eyed Sally. “I have five hundred years of revenge to dole out, and I intend to enjoy every moment of it. I don’t know who you are, missy, but I do know that you have annoyed me, and I don’t intend to put up with anyone annoying me ever again. First you’ll go, then I’ll use that blond strumpet to take down the one who stole my soul, and then I may just clean up the room before I head out to bring order to the chaos that is the world. You, Jane, you may live, but you’re no longer in charge—I am.”
Sally, oddly enough, wasn’t paying Eleanor any attention. Her gaze was on me, speculation evident in her eyes, and just the merest hint of a smile softening her mouth. “Do I take it you’ve had a change of heart?”
I met her gaze, allowing her to see the full measure of my fury. “I have no heart left.”
“Very well.” Sally inclined her head in acknowledgment, turning to face Eleanor as I moved over the few yards to Sally’s side.
This would be my last act, I knew. I would go out in a blaze of righteousness, though, claiming vengeance for Alec’s death.... A sob caught in my throat, threatening to choke me. I swallowed it down, fighting to focus on the woman before me. There was no time to grieve for Alec, to mourn the loss of our future; there was only time for me to do what needed to be done, and then I would allow Bael’s power to consume me.
“Just what do you think you’re going to do? ” Eleanor asked suspiciously, shooting a nervous glance at Jane as the lichmaster began to back up toward the door. “You don’t . . . no, you couldn’t. Jane, she doesn’t have the power to use the woman, does she?”
Sally’s smile grew.
“She’s a demon lord,” Jane almost stammered—the words tumbled out so fast. “She can do anything she wants. I think I hear some members calling. I’d better go see what they want—”
She was out of the door before Eleanor could do so much as blink.
“Such a smart woman, Jane. I’ve always liked her. Caring, too. And so good with the liches,” Sally told me. “She has endless patience with their fussy ways.”
“A demon lord? Oh . . .” Eleanor’s demeanor changed from aggressive to subservient. “I . . . uh . . . I didn’t mean any offense, if you took it. It’s just that she took both my soul and my Dark One.” Eleanor pointed at me.
Sally considered me with newfound interest. “Mercy. I had no idea you had all that in you. Did you threaten her with untold torments, as well?”
I stared at Eleanor, my throat tight with pain. I couldn’t speak, so great was the agony that threatened to claim me. Tears burned in my eyes, but I blinked them away, wanting to see Eleanor’s face when she realized that I would give up my life to ensure she was utterly and completely destroyed.
Sally touched my shoulder. “I can see we’d better begin before emotions run too high. If you three would join hands, please.”
Eleanor’s eyes widened as she, too, started to back up. “I’m sure Jane needs me. I promised to help her.... What the devil?”
Sally made a gesture at Eleanor, evidently one of those binding things that she’d mentioned earlier. “Ward,” I think, was the word. I started to reach out to Alec’s mind to ask him if that was the correct term, my inner devil collapsing in anguish when I realized that I would never again feel the brush of his mind against mine.
Never is such a very long time, came the softest of whispers.
“Look, I know I said a few things that probably were unwise, but really, I think they’re perfectly understandable given the situation,” Eleanor said, struggling to make her feet move. “What on earth did you do to me?”
Diamond took my hand as I half turned to the side to look at Alec’s body.
“Oh, dear, and you looked like you had so much potential, too,” Sally said, tsking at Eleanor. “But you don’t even know about a common, ordinary binding ward.... Such a shame. You could have gone places.”
I ignored Sally, peering intently at the scene on the other side of the ballroom. Kristoff was holding a weeping Pia to his chest, his head bent to hers. Beyond them, the two vampires stood in consultation. Alec’s body remained where it had slumped, his head at an unnatural angle, blood everywhere, soaking his shirt and jacket, seeping out to form a thick pool around him.
Alec? I asked, half-convinced I had conjured up his voice out of desperation.
“All right, I’m willing to admit I made some mistakes, just a couple of tiny ones, and assuming you were all show was one of them,” Eleanor told Sally. “But that doesn’t mean you have to do anything rash. Why don’t you unbind me, and we can talk about this like civilized people.”
Silence answered my mental plea.
“Ah, but who ever told you I was civilized? ” Sally asked with one of her toothy smiles. She placed two fingers on my shoulder, and two on Ulfur’s, standing behind the three of us now locked together by Diamond’s firm grip. “Besides, I think you’ll want to stay for this. It should be very exciting.”
Hope, which had lifted up its head, curled up into a ball and withered away again. There was no hope. Without Alec, there could be nothing.
You’ve come a long way from wanting to stake me every chance that presented itself.
Alec, you are alive ! My heart, formerly shattered into a million pieces, miraculously re-formed itself, my skin tingling with electricity as Sally started chanting.
Barely. What happened?
Eleanor used Diamond against you. Oh my god, Alec, you’re alive! I thought you were dead. I was going to destroy Eleanor for killing you, then die, myself.
The tingling ramped up to that familiar sense of power flowing through me, but my heart and mind were concerned with one thing only—Alec.
As flattering as it is to know you’d kill yourself because I was dead, such a thing doesn’t please me at all. You could survive me, Beloved. I would want you to continue to live, to find happiness should I be destroyed.
Alec?
Yes?
Shut up and heal yourself. . . . Jesus wept! The power flowing through and around me suddenly turned back on itself, moving from an explosion of power to an inversion . . . straight through me to Sally.
Her chanting stopped abruptly as she said in a loud, clear voice, “Bael, lord of Abaddon, ruler of seven hundred legions, by that which makes thee, I summon thee to my hand.”
What is it?
Sally!
I tried to stop the flow of power going straight to her, but it was no use and I knew it—I was merely a Tool, a channel through which the power moved.
What about her?
She’s gone rogue! “What the hell, Sally? You’re supposed to be destroying Eleanor, not summoning Bael!”
“I thought that was the plan?” Diamond asked, her voice breathy as she, too, obvi
ously felt the effects of the power now pouring into Sally. “Aren’t we supposed to destroy Bael?”
That makes no sense, love. She’s here to help us.
You poor, deluded man. You just don’t understand—she’s not one of us, she’s a bad guy. Very bad!
“That’s what Corazon said she wanted,” Sally said, and began the summoning again. “Bael, lord of Abaddon, ruler of seven hundred legions—”
“Yes, but she won’t do it!” I told Diamond. “We can’t trust her to actually do away with him. She’ll just bring him here and wipe us all out! Don’t you see? They’re buddies!”
Diamond shot me an astonished look. Beyond her, Ulfur looked confused, and distressed. His horse bore a similar expression. “Sally is what?” Diamond asked.
“Bael’s friend, and I use that word with air quotes around it.”
“His friend?”
“Air-quotes friend,” I corrected. “More like she was rubbing herself all over him in the hotel room, and sold us out to him.”
“I did no such thing,” Sally interrupted a third repetition of her summons to protest. “I never sell out. I may opt to do things that perhaps are open to differing interpretations than that of which I’d prefer, but sell out? Pfft. There’s no material object I desire enough to do that.”
“I notice you didn’t dispute the rubbing-yourself-allover-him statement,” I snapped.
She smiled demurely. “Well, some of his mortal forms are really quite handsome, and you know, I’ve always had a passion for bad boys. You don’t get badder than Bael. There were times when it was just too delicious an opportunity to let pass by.”
“See?” I told Diamond. “She’s turned on by Satan. Only someone extremely evil would get the hots around Bael.”
“Cora, my dear, you’re wrong. You don’t understand about Sally—”
Sally giggled and cut her off with another summons. “Bael, lord of Abaddon, ruler of seven hundred legions, by that which makes thee, I summon thee to my hand.”
I heard Pia cry out Alec’s name, and glanced toward them to see Alec attempting—but failing—to pull himself up into a sitting position. You try to move before I get there to see how badly you’re hurt, and you’ll be one hurtin’ cowpoke. Er . . . more hurtin’ than you are.
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