Emrys shouted as loud as he could to me, “How are we going to find a person we don’t even know in this crowd?”
“Let’s go to the bar and get a drink. I’ll figure something out.” I winked
We made our way through the crowd. The closer we got to the bar the more it became apparent. Emrys and I shared a glance.
Neil noticed. “What? What’s wrong?”
I answered, “The bartenders are all vampires.”
“Fuck,” Neil mumbled. “Now what?”
“Like I said, let’s get a drink.” I shrugged.
Of course Emrys had to know I knew the answer to his question so I assume he asked for Neil’s sake. “You realize the mirage won’t work on vampires. They will see us in leathers and with swords.”
“Uh huh,” I replied.
“Sometimes I ask myself why I always come with you on these quests. I suppose I’m a glutton for punishment.” Emrys rolled his eyes as he spoke.
“It’s because I’m great fun.” I smiled.
My head pounded with the bass. How anyone could spend hours in this place on purpose for fun was beyond me.
One of the vampire bartenders saw us before we could get to the bar. He said something to a couple of the others. One scurried off and the other two came out from behind the bar to meet us.
The shorter of the two vampires said, “We know who you are. You’ve been hunting our kind for the past year. You’re fools for coming here.”
Before I could reply there were eight other vampires surrounding us.
The smug short one spoke again, “You’re outmatched this time. Our King has told us what you are. Tuatha? Is that what you’re called?”
They all laughed. I kept my face placid, as did Emrys. I could see Neil seething but he followed our lead and kept calm.
“There are only three of you. You won’t make it out of here alive. But before we kill you I’m going to take you to our King. He may want to question you first,” the little shit said. Then he leaned in and poked his fangs out. “Once he’s done with you, I will drain you personally.”
We still said nothing. I enjoy the witty banter between two rivals in movies, but in reality it’s best to say nothing. Take their head when you can.
“Don’t make a scene, and follow me. If you make one wrong move we’ll kill you,” he said, looking at Emrys this time.
Emrys played with his fingernail and nodded.
We wound through the crowd to the back where there was a staircase roped off. Two werewolves guarded it.
I raised an eyebrow at Emrys. He spoke in my mind. “Well I guess you got us the audience with their King that we’d been looking for. Still doesn’t get us any closer to finding the clown we need to meet in order to get us to the Godless. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
I was winging it, of course. Praying that whomever we were supposed to find might find us. Hopefully we would live long enough for that to happen.
The werewolves kept their eyes trained on us. Though they were in human form I could see the hair on the back of their necks rise. They wanted to take our throats but showed restraint. They followed orders.
We climbed stairs that opened up into a waiting room of sort. The carpet was red and the walls gilded, covered in Baroque artwork. At the other end were large double doors, the golden handles shaped like serpents. It was ostentatious and gaudy.
The short one turned and ordered, “Remove your weapons. And no tricks.”
“No,” I replied.
He looked stunned. They looked at one another, unsure of what to do.
I could feel the challenged ego of the vampire flare. He stepped closer, baring his fangs at me. “Bitch I said remove your weap—”
Before he could finish his sentence I unsheathed one of my shorter swords and took his head. The others hesitated. Before they could react and this ended in disaster, I placed it back into the sheath and said, “We will not remove our weapons, but as guests we will wait to see your King.” I took two steps to the black leather couch and sat.
Emrys nonchalantly sauntered over and sat next to me, grabbing a magazine off the table. Neil shook his head, gathering his wits, and walked over to the couch, tripping over his foot once.
One of the vampires went through the double doors. The rest stood on the balls of their feet waiting for us to attack. Occasionally they would look at the pile of ashes their friend had disintegrated into.
I kept my face blank but was on alert. I knew Emrys was as well, but he was flipping through the magazine. He broke the silence by ripping out a page. I looked at him as if he were insane.
He shrugged. “It’s a recipe for jambalaya and it looks really good.”
I looked over at Neil to gauge how he was holding up. He looked tense and was forcing himself to remain still. I could sense he wanted to draw his sword and start fighting. He was young and inexperienced, he needed to learn patience.
The double doors opened. When I saw who walked through, my blank mask dropped for a second and I struggled to replace it. Cian, son of the King of the Fomoire. My ultimate nemesis.
Emrys was folding the recipe he had torn out and placing it in his pocket. His eyes bugged out for a moment then he looked at me. I only shrugged.
He spoke into my mind. “What the fuck?”
I couldn’t help it, a small smile pulled at one side of my mouth.
Cian strode across the room as if he were greeting dinner guests. He was as tall as Emrys. I’ve known him hundreds of years and faced him many times in battle. He was smart and fierce and arguably better with a sword than me. I’d never been able to defeat him, only escape, hoping to live another day to take his head.
He wore black trousers that flowed down his long legs and a black shirt that covered his lean muscles. The last time I saw him his black hair came to his shoulders. The day of the great battle before we were put into our long sleep. It was now cut short, making his sharp jawline more prominent.
He smiled warmly as he approached. We all rose from the couch. Cian extended his hand to me, his ice blue eyes bored into mine as he said, “Hello there, long lost friend. Long lost enemy. I am nothing more than a memory.”
The words. The words that were there when Emrys had been released from the long sleep. The words I had memorized and poured over hundreds of times. The words left by the person who awoke Emrys. The words from the one who had saved us. He was the one we were to find.
I felt Emrys open a communication connection between us. I let him.
Cian shook my hand, and in it placed something. I needn’t look. I could tell what it was. It was a stone. It was the stone. The one that would get us into the land of the Godless.
I took my hand away and put it in my pocket, keeping the stone safe. I could feel Emrys and Neil staring at me. I couldn’t peel my eyes from Cian’s. I couldn’t move.
“Morrigan, I’m so fucking confused. Is Cian helping us or helping to kill us? He’s the guy we’re supposed to find? Does any of this make sense to you?” Emrys said into my mind.
I was still recovering from seeing him. I couldn’t reply to Emrys.
I felt Neil sense something was off, but he remained poised.
Cian said, without looking away from me, “Please come in. The King would like to speak with you.”
We followed Cian. The remainder of the vampires followed us in.
The King sat at a desk at the far end of the long room. Like the garish décor of the lobby, it was large and ornately carved. Shelves were lined with rare artifacts and it looked more like a museum than an office.
Four werewolves were on each side of the King. They looked like statues flanking their master. The King stayed seated. He was handsome. His olive skin, dark hair and sharp features made me think him to be of Italian descent. He had on an expensively tailored grey suit with a blood red tie that stood out against his crisp starched white shirt. He looked like one would imagine a vampire King would. I wondered to myself if he poured over every
vampire movie ever made to make sure he looked the part, or if he created this look of his own accord.
He spoke and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t in an Italian accent. “You have killed many, many of our kind. Why do you come here today? Are you here to kill more of us?”
We stood four feet away from his desk. There were no chairs between us. Cian leaned against a shelf next to one of the werewolves. The vampires stayed back by the door. There were no windows. Emrys, Neil and myself were trapped in a room with a vampire King, seven vampires, eight werewolves, and the greatest Fomoire warrior that ever lived. The situation was bleak, to say the least.
“We came here for a drink, actually,” I answered. “We were unaware that this was your place, or that vampires and werewolves would be crawling all over it.”
His dark brown eyes were furious, though he showed no expression on his face. He might be a very old vampire, but I wagered I was older. He was not as practiced at masking his thoughts as I was.
His smile was disingenuous. “You say you came here for a drink? I think you came here to kill me. My Prime has taught me all about you Tuatha. You are arrogant and think yourselves to be better than us, but that’s where you’re wrong. There aren’t that many of you, and we are many. More than you can imagine. We were unprepared before, but now we are not. You will no longer hunt us down.”
The King paused before continuing his seemingly well-rehearsed speech. Cian pulled two samurai swords off the wall, one with each hand, and took the heads of the four werewolves he was standing next to in two fluid slashes.
He looked at me and yelled, “Get the wolves before they shift! Emrys, wall!”
Emrys created a magical wall between us and the vampires that had guarded the door. They dashed forward and smacked into it. I pulled my shorter swords and was on the wolves, Neil at my side.
I slashed through the neck of the werewolf closest to me. Black blood squirted out all over me as his body turned to ash. The wolf next to him lunged at me, beginning to shift. I stabbed both swords into his chest, keeping him from reaching me, as Neil used his sword to behead him.
Though Neil and I worked well as a team, we were not quick enough. The two werewolves remaining had time to shift. They were as massive as I remembered the ones in New Orleans to be. The lifeless, blood red eyes looked at me as their lips curled up over the large canines. One let out a howl. A warning to the others.
The larger of the wolves jumped at Neil and me. We parted. The wolves were smart. They were trying to separate us. Neil now stood next to Emrys. I found myself next to Cian. The King stayed out of the fight but did finally get out of his chair. He had his back against the wall.
I aimed one sword at Cian and the other at the werewolf.
Cian rolled his eyes then readied his swords at the wolf. He grinned as he said, “Really Morrigan? You couldn’t fight both of us at the same time. You know I would win.” He paused and grinned even wider. “Lucky for you I’m here to save you.”
My anger swelled but I fell in beside Cian. The wolf leapt at us. Cian and I separated so the wolf was between us. We drove our swords deep into its side. The wolf didn’t react. If he felt pain he didn’t show it. His large mouth seemed to unhinge, making it abnormally wide, and bit at me. I swung one of my swords through his neck. I misjudged how tough he was. The sword only made it halfway through and stuck. I used the other sword to stab through the other side. He moved quickly so it barely pierced him. His teeth steadily gnashed at me. My right hand was on the sword lodged halfway through his neck and I was working the sword in my left hand trying to get a shot, any shot, at the other side of his neck. I needed leverage but I couldn’t get far enough back without letting go with my right hand. The second I did that, he would have his teeth in my neck.
I looked back to see if Emrys could be of any help. Neil was steadily landing shots with his long sword into the wolf they were battling, but like this one, it didn’t slow nor show any pain. Emrys had his sword out, making no more headway than Neil.
Cian appeared on the back of the beast I faced. He stood as if he were king of the mountain looking down at my struggle. The teeth were getting closer as I was losing ground. The heat from the beast’s breath radiated onto my face. It smelled of rotten flesh.
Cian seemed to enjoy the predicament. “Would you like my help now, love?”
“Yes, now would be good,” I answered impatiently.
Cian twirled his sword a few times then winked. His cocky grin melted into the hardened lines I was used to seeing. He gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands and swung with all of his strength. The head was severed. Gallons of black blood gushed over me as I fell onto my back. My hands were still on my swords. The body of the wolf turned to ash.
I was about to stand up when Cian appeared, standing gallantly in front of me. Not a drop of blood on him nor a hair out of place. He extended his hand to help me up.
I was about to accept it, worn from struggling so long when he said, “I’m a sucker for a damsel in distress.”
I put my hand on the ground and kicked my leg out, sweeping his legs from beneath him. He landed hard on his back. Right in the ashes.
I stood and muttered, “You’re a douchebag,” to Cian. He laughed and sat up, dusting himself off.
I turned to help Emrys and Neil to see them standing above a pile of ash as well. We had defeated the werewolves.
The vampire King stood motionless. I’m sure he was hoping we had forgotten about him. The other vampires, still behind the invisible wall Emrys had put up, pounded helplessly, trying to save their King. Or just to kill us. Probably a little of both.
I was soaked in the black ooze and the smell of sulfur and death curled my nose. Emrys walked up to me, shaking his head.
“I know this is the only reason you ask me to come on these outings with you,” he said, snapping his fingers, returning me to my clean self.
Cian walked up next to me and said, “Brother how about a little help for me? I’m covered in werewolf ash. It’s disgusting.”
Emrys glared at Cian and retorted, “It suits you.”
Neil stood next to Emrys. He only had a few drops of the blood on him. He looked at me. “Are you okay, Morrigan?”
“She is, thanks to me,” Cian answered for me.
Before Cian could unnerve me I turned my attention to the vampire King and raised my sword to his neck. “Emrys, can you take his memories?”
“Let’s see,” he answered, walking to the vampire.
“You will die. You will all die. You have no idea how powerful the Prime is. You can kill me but he will defeat you in the end. We are his creation.” The vampire was beginning to panic.
I had both swords to his neck crisscrossing each other, one on each side. Emrys placed his hands on the vampire’s head. Both of their eyes went white. No matter how many times I’d seen this done it gave me the creeps.
Cian looked at the invisible wall holding the other vampires back. The door that we entered into the room was now open. Werewolves and vampires were piling in. The arrogance had left his voice as he said, “We need to hurry and get out of here.” He turned to me. “You still have the stone?”
I nodded, looking between Emrys and the invisible wall. Hoping that he could manage to hold it while sifting the memories of the vampire.
The seconds dragged but the color returned to their eyes and the connection broke. Emrys stepped back and nodded to me.
Without hesitation I removed the vampire’s head.
Neil let out a small involuntary gasp. I suppose he wasn’t expecting it. The vampires and werewolves were in a frenzy and were piling on top of one another from floor to ceiling trying to get through the wall.
Cian broke the silence. “We need to get out of here. Emrys, any chance you can blast through this back wall? It will open up to the outside of the building. We can hoof it from there.”
Emrys looked insulted. “You know damn well I can blast through this wall. But the bette
r question is why in the hell do you think I’m going to let a Fomoire come with us?”
Cian’s temper danced around the edges of his icy eyes as he said, “I fucking saved you, Emrys. I found a way to raise you so that you could raise the Tuatha. We don’t have time to go into all of this right now. I’ll tell you what I know when we don’t have a few hundred vampires and werewolves waiting to rip us to shreds.”
Emrys was close to losing his temper as well, gauging by the steel in his voice. “You might have saved us, but I know you, Cian. It was for your own gain. I don’t know what it is yet that you want. But I know with everything that I am that you have an angle you’re working. You gave Morrigan the stone. Give us the Cup of Plenty and we’ll be on our way.”
Cian’s cocky grin returned. He rubbed his hands over the stubble of his square jaw. He unbuttoned the cuffs of his sleeve. His eyes twinkled as he said, “Geez, Emrys I’d love to do that and all but oh wait…”
He rolled his right sleeve up to his elbow. On his forearm was the tattoo of a chalice.
He continued, “Looks like the Cup of Plenty has been magically tucked away, to be released by me only when I see fit. And I think I will see it fit when we’re in the land of the Godless.”
Emrys’ eyes bugged out of his head. “Who said anything about going to the land of the Godless?”
My swords were drawn in an instant as were Neil’s. We stayed ready.
Emrys said, “We knew we were to find someone here who had the stone and the Cup of Plenty. But how did you know our plan? We only just came up with it.”
Cian had perfected the half grin he gave. I’m sure every woman he met melted at it. I wanted to smack it off his face. He acted as though he didn’t have swords within inches of his neck. He answered, “You have your ways, I have mine. You think Druantia is the only enlightened one in all the realms? While she may have told you to come find the person with the stone and cup. I have my source that said I would need to free you. By the way, why the fuck did it take you so long to awaken the Tuatha?” He shook his head for effect. The asshole. He went on, “And that when all the pieces were in place the Tuatha would seek me out so that we can go on a great adventure to the Godless. That way we can get the swords and build an army and defeat the evil and all live happily ever after.”
Awakening - The Morrigan Chronicles Page 11
