Chapter 21
CALLIOPE
I stood. Silent. In shock, listening to Asa and Godric fight. Naram was alive—barely—but still alive. That was all that mattered. A Lamassu could spell the amulet Rose had made. Give me and my sisters another chance. Give me a chance to remain in this life. I might not have to die and start again to protect the world from what he would do.
The large door into the castle swung open to reveal Miles’s face, but just his. I didn’t see or hear the others behind him. I dipped my chin, acknowledging him. He flitted his gaze to the two arguing siblings, and I shrugged. “He thinks I’m his. She yanked me away from him and blinked me back,” I whispered, knowing he would be able to hear me, even over Asa and Godric’s racket.
Part of me wanted to smile. I remembered fighting with my sisters. It’d been so long. We’d been separated when I made the deal with Rose. They’d reluctantly left me, both grateful and saddened over my sacrifice. At least they’d gotten to have somewhat of a normal life. That’d been the deal. Rose couldn’t have all three of us. My baby sisters got to live free, sharing in the protection Rose had provided, but not bound by repayment of said protection.
“Is it true?” Miles asked, stepping outside the castle. “Does Rose’s mate still live?”
“Yes, he’s in bad shape and chained up with something only dragonfire can get him out of.”
Miles’s face twisted in disgust, and he backed up a step, retreating behind the teleporting barrier.
I’d known he wouldn’t leave Diana. He’d said what he did to placate his mate earlier, but he had no intention of leaving her side. He would certainly defend the castle. But traveling across the world and leaving her vulnerable, pregnant, and alone…even I could understand why that was a hard stop for him.
“I’ll go.” The voice was similar to Miles’s, but not as deep. Mikjáll stepped out from behind his father and joined us in the street. “Let’s go get him. Then we’ll get the Djinn woman.”
“No, Manda comes first.” Asa snapped out of the argument with Godric, and her eyes widened. “The deal was my daughter first. Then I give you the Lamassu’s location.”
Mikjáll stalked toward Asa with a purpose. He stopped, toe-to-toe, leaned down and growled before speaking. “You get nothing until Sanctuary has the ability to defend itself. We will not protect your family before we protect the blood of our own.”
“There’s something you’re not sharing about Manda,” Mikjáll huffed. “I can smell the deceit on you like a stink.”
I had to admit, the way the female Djinn straightened her back and held her own against an angry seven-foot-tall Drakonae was impressive. She wasn’t going to win, but it was still impressive.
“I need a firebreather to get Manda out. She’s wearing some sort of jewelry that’s blocking me from taking her. I’ve seen her try to take it off. She can’t,” Asa said, her tone quickly deteriorating into sobs. “I need to help my baby. I’ve been right there so many times. I could’ve saved her, if not for the spelled jewelry. And that monster knows I can’t. He won’t be expecting me to come with help. We have the element of surprise.”
“Jewelry? You expect me to what…burn it off of her?” Mikjáll reared back, shock drawing his face up tight.
“Pick her up and fly away with her. Then if that’s the only answer to removing the jewelry, I—”
“Fuck,” Godric spoke again from right beside me. My hand was in his a moment later, and I couldn’t help the peace that his touch propagated in my soul.
“There has to be a way,” Asa said, her words more a desperate plea than a statement. “There has to be a way. I can’t leave my baby girl there to die at his hands.”
“We won’t.” It was Jared’s voice this time. Miles moved aside to let the Phoenix through. “I’ll get her out.” He turned to Mikjáll. “I’ll need help. Need you to draw fire with your Dragon. I can’t take the heavy artillery fire like you can. I’ll need a few seconds to get high enough once I’ve got her.”
“I can do that. But we get the Lamassu first. Then we go for your mate. We have to protect Sanctuary first. You know that, Jared.” Mikjáll straightened, giving Asa a bit more breathing room.
Jared nodded his head and breathed out a slow sigh. “We have to do this fast.”
“Yes,” Mikjáll answered then turned toward Godric. “Godric, you will take us to Naram,” Mikjáll growled out. “You’ve been there now.”
“I’m not taking you anywhere,” Godric snarled back, standing up a little straighter. Godric was big, but nothing intimidated the seven-foot-tall Drakonae male. Still, he didn’t back down. “I came for Manda, just like my sister. You help us. Then we help you.”
A snip of a whine came from Asa, but Mikjáll threw her a hard glance over his shoulder, silencing the former queen of the Djinn.
“No deal. You want my dragonfire. You help me get the Lamassu out first. The ball stops with me. I’m the only way out for your sister, and I say we do the less risky mission that benefits an entire fucking town first.”
“The town needs Naram,” I said softly, running my hand along Godric’s back. “More people will help save Manda if you do this first.”
“Fine.” Godric’s tone was dark and swathed in anger.
“We’ll need Calliope and one of Sanctuary’s witches to get through the wards where Manda is being held,” Asa said, taking a step toward the castle and looking straight at me.
“There’s only one left.” I spat out, thinking of Hannah up in the library, having a mental breakdown.
“There are wards everywhere. She will be required.”
She will be required? Like she was a fucking tool to be used and then thrown back into a box. Wards were hard magick to break or change or get through. Mikjáll was right about Naram being the less risky mission. Getting Manda out of the Pentagon would cost lives. The real question was how many.
Godric slipped an arm around me, tugging me closer to the warmth of his body. “She will help, Asa. Once we help them.”
I tensed at being included in the mission to save the Djinn woman. I just needed Naram. Once he was back safe and sound, he could do the ritual of protection that Rose had done a thousand years ago. The amulet would work again, but I’d still have to get to Russia before…him. I probably had only a few days before he’d have my sisters and it would all be for nothing.
“Calliope, what are we walking into with Naram?” Jared asked, glancing at Mikjáll before his gaze settle on me.
“He’s in a large chamber of some kind. I thought a cave at first. But the floor was hewn granite. It was so dark, though; I can’t see like you can.”
“There were pillars spaced through the room. It wasn’t always underground. I think Xerxes put it there to keep Naram inside. The only way in and out is to teleport,” Godric said. “He was cuffed on his hands and feet, dragging chain from both. The strength of those bonds has to be—”
“Spelled,” Miles said, his voice a low rumble from the doorway—his distance a reminder that he wasn’t truly in favor of either of these missions.
I didn’t particularly look forward to owing another Lamassu a favor. The gods only knew what Naram would desire as payment for the spell. No matter what, I would pay it. To keep my sisters safe. To keep the world safe from him. I would sacrifice my life over and over. Whatever it took. My shoulders slumped ever so slightly, but Godric didn’t miss it. He leaned closer, putting his mouth next to my ear.
“What is it?”
“Nothing you can fix,” I whispered back.
“You might be surprised.”
“We need to go,” Asa said, her tone rising with each word, urgency bleeding from her voice like a fatal wound. “We don’t need the witch or the Siren for Naram. Just the Dragon.”
“I’m going with Mikjáll. No one from Sanctuary goes anywhere with you alone,” Jared said, moving to stand next to the large Drakonae.
“Fine. Let’s just go. Every minute we waste is a minute M
anda suffers.” Asa reached tentatively toward Mikjáll’s arm. “Godric, will you bring the Phoenix?”
“Jared. My name is Jared,” he muttered.
Godric guided me toward Miles, his palm against my lower back. “Keep her safe. I’ll be back shortly.”
“I can keep myself safe,” I said, exasperation coating my tone.
“There’s something going on with you, and I need him to keep you safe.” He glanced up at Miles. “Please.”
Miles nodded and gently shoved me behind him into the foyer of the castle. “She’ll be here when you get back.”
“She can take care of herself,” I growled and stomped off. I didn’t want either of them to see how much I was being affected by Godric leaving. The absence of his touch only seemed to be feeding the fire raging in my blood. The hunger to have him completely. To be possessed by him. Gods, I needed him to fuck me. And I hated that feeling. Hated not being in control. Hated that somehow I’d let myself become attached. Dependent. Fate was screwing with me in a big way.
I couldn’t have a mate.
He’d die.
How would I ever live with myself if I caused my fated mate to die?
I felt him blink away, and the hole through the walls of my heart widened. Tears welled in my eyes, but I scrubbed them away with the swipe of my sleeve. No one would see my pain. I could conquer this just like everything else.
Chapter 22
KILLÍAN
Eira sat in the corner of a bedroom down the hall from Diana’s suites. I’d gone to Diana’s first and had a moment of panic after realizing my mate was not present. The Dragon queen had assured me Eira was resting in the quiet of another room. And she was. Thank the gods.
She was dozing peacefully in a large armchair. Her long dark hair swathed her shoulders, covering the thick leather bodice she insisted on wearing. She couldn’t fit her old one, but Calliope had made her new clothes that adjusted for her changing size. A bodice that doubled as armor and leather pants that never failed to make my dick stand up and take notice. Her sword stood against the wall within arm’s reach, and she faced the doorway.
Always the warrior.
I chuckled. And she called me her soldier.
We were so much the same.
I knelt on the floor next to my mate and leaned my head against her swollen belly. The heartbeat of our child sounded loud in my ear, and he or she wiggled beneath my cheek. This baby. My mate. They were everything, and all I wanted to do was take them and leave. I’d fought so many wars through my lifetime on earth. I didn’t want to fight another, especially one filled with supernaturals. Beings that could take a hit and keep coming. Beings that could wield magick and nearly be in two places at once. How could you hit a Djinn if they were constantly jumping from one point to another?
Then there was the elephant in the room.
Xerxes himself was coming. We all knew the power Rose had possessed. At least some of it anyway. We’d seen her use it. There was no fighting a Lamassu. It couldn’t be done…except by a Dragon, and Xerxes had already killed Eli. Would the others die too? Would Diana lose her humanity and kill the rest of us in a cold glacier of ice?
“You worry too much, love,” Eira whispered, drawing her fingers through my hair.
“I’ll never stop,” I said. “You and that baby are my life. And we’re here in this fortress instead of leaving this broken world behind and starting anew.”
“There are no assurances that Veil will be better than Earth.”
“I know. But—”
“We must protect our friends. Our family.” She gestured around the room. “The people within these walls are what matters, Killían.”
A loud rap at the door broke our moment and I stood. “Killían?” It was a female voice. And not one I particularly recognized.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and a young woman—a Sister—in a white dress slipped inside. I recognized her as the one who’d spoken to me earlier about the vision of the next Protector. “Javier is downstairs and wishes to speak with you.”
“Tell him I’ll be there shortly.”
“Yes, sir.” She whirled and left the room as quickly as she’d appeared, shutting the door behind her.
Eira shifted in the chair, and I turned back to face her. “Not a chance. You stay put and rest. I’ll take care of everything.”
Her face turned to a pout, but it was forced. Exhaustion pinched at the corners of her eyes. The pregnancy had been rough thus far. One day she craved food. Then the next everything made her sick but blood. She’d taken it in stride, and not once had I heard her complain. “Perhaps that is best,” she said quietly and settled back into the chair with a quick glance at the wall—always checking on her sword.
I took her mouth hard, tasting her lips and her essence and reminding myself I was the luckiest bastard on the planet to have my mate and a baby on the way. She parted and let my tongue thrust inside to parry with hers. I ran my hands up the back of her neck and twisted my fingers in her hair, pulling just hard enough to make her hiss with pleasure.
Drawing away slowly, I bathed in the love and lust in her gaze. She was truly the most exquisite being I’d ever laid eyes on. “Rest, my love, I’ll be back at your side as soon as I can.”
She nodded. “I may go back to sit with Diana. She’s not doing well…with—”
“You are a good friend, but if she gets unstable, you need to leave her. Promise me.”
“Diana would never hurt me.”
“Promise me,” I insisted again, grabbing her hand and pressing the top to my lips. Gods, I loved the taste of her skin. Sweet and citrus and sex all rolled into one scent. I was drunk on her and would be for my entire life.
Not that I’d have it any other way.
“I can’t go until you do.”
Her promise was solid. She wouldn’t promise something she wouldn’t do. Not ever.
“I promise.”
“To?” I pushed further.
“To leave Diana if she becomes dangerous.”
“Thank you.” I kissed her hand again before leaving the room to find Javier.
I nearly collided with Miles as I closed the door to the bedroom Eira occupied. “I was looking for you,” the big Dragon shifter growled.
“I’m here. Just got back from getting the—”
“The refugees, right.” Miles turned and walked with me down the hall toward the front staircase. “Did anyone share with you that Naram is alive.”
Air shot from my lungs in a quick burst. My chest seized up, and I coughed. “W-what? Rose’s Naram? The one that died in the fall of Babylon?”
“Yes. My son and several others have gone with the Djinn visitors to get him.”
“Get him from where and what Djinn visitors? What the fuck, Miles?”
“I said much the same when told. Calliope witnessed, so I believe it is so. I wouldn’t have let my son go if not for her word.”
“How is Calliope mixed up in this?” I continued down the semi-lit hallway to the front staircase, shock keeping me from asking for more details.
Miles easily kept pace and followed me downstairs. “One of the Djinn is claiming her as his mate.” He chuckled, surprising me with his levity. “I’ve never seen her so fit-to-be-tied.”
“She’s fighting it?”
“Just a bit.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” I answered. “Walk with me to the basement. Javier is back from locating the next Protector.”
Miles paused a moment and stared. “Really?” He finally got out, his tone barely audible.
“That’s what the Sister’s claim.” We walked quickly down the long corridor filled with Lycan’s and pixies and brownies—all tending to the wounded and comforting the children who’d lost their parents or caregivers in the attack. Sanctuary was a haven for so many Lycan families. There were more mated pairs here than I’d seen in my life and more children than any other pack I’d encountered. It cut my heart in a way
I didn’t know was possible. It hadn’t been…not before Eira had become pregnant. But now I saw everything through different eyes.
The eyes of a father.
And this sight would break me if I stayed much longer.
I picked up the pace and reached the door to the Sister’s quarters in the reinforced basement along with the club rooms and facilities the Dragons had built for them. We knocked on the heavily fortified door and waited. Locks clicked and turned, and the door opened, revealing a young woman’s face.
“They are in the main living space, sir,” she said, her face bright with hope. I couldn’t help but feel the same hope. Eira and Diana didn’t want to go to Veil without everyone. And now…just maybe…we’d be able to pull it off. I needed to speak with the Oracle again and press her about the last Protector. We needed another vision. Seven wouldn’t do us any more good than the six we already had. The spell demanded eight.
We had to find all of them.
I walked down the claustrophobic stone hallway, hunched over and uncomfortable until we reached the first open space. The main meeting area of the sex club. Now it just looked like a hospital triage. I tried to focus past the cries of pain and sobs of grief.
This was the hard part of war.
Not the fighting and killing and spilling of blood. But this—the pain and loss. Friends hurt. Dead. Dying.
Fighting was the easy part. The part that made my skin itch. The part that made me want to leave all of this, draw my sword, and kill every creature that dared to threaten my home. The home of my mate. The life of my mate. Of our child.
This was the horror I had hoped to avoid.
A warm hand rested on my shoulder. I glanced down at the floor and my stilled feet. When had I stopped walking?
“We will save as many as we can, Killían. We promised both our mates.”
My head jerked at his words, bringing me out of my momentary haze. “I know. But we won’t save them all,” I said, keeping my voice low. The Drakonae dropped his hand from my shoulder and bowed his head.
My Vampire Knight (Sanctuary, Texas Book 6) Page 10
